Rewritten in the Stars

By Onyxfang 2009

Life doesn't promise a bed of roses

Or white knights

Fields of emotions I'm trapped in darkness

Why me

Save me

To win this twisted war inside me

Won't justify the pain

Life doesn't promise a bed of roses

Lightening strikes the pages keep on turning

Help me to be strong

I'm floating in a sea of strange believers

Where do I belong?

They paint you a picture of perfect nowhere blue skies

Within every lie there's a web of comfort

For them

Not me

To win this twisted war inside me

Won't justify the pain

They paint you a picture of perfect nowhere

Where do we go from here?

I wish I would disappear

I'm a lonely soul

So far from home

Where do I belong?

~Anastasia, Where Do I Belong, 2004

***

Terrorsaur was in a foul mood, made none the better by the fact that shortly after returning to base the computer had notified them of the downfall of three stasis pods within their territory. However, upon locating the pods, they found all three empty. Inferno and Scorponok had been sent to locate and capture the new beast warriors so they could be reprogrammed after the scorpion did a few minor readjustments on damaged ant's CPU to shorten his grieving process over the departed Megatron. Fortunately, many fire ant colonies maintained more than one queen, though they tended to number in the thousands. In smaller colonies, if they were raising another queen, it would develop to fill the roll.

Terrorsaur was none too pleased about being relabeled "Princess" by the fire ant, but until he was fully accepted by the entire colony, it was a title Inferno insisted on and he required Inferno's support. And currently there was still no sign of Blackarachnia or Tarantulas.

Currently he lay on his back under a control panel, rewiring the some of the burnt out circuits to the Darkside's mainframe computer. Not something Megatron would have helped with. Rather the old tyrant would have glowered from his throne and complained about it taking so long for the base's systems to become fully operational. However, they were short handed at this point in time and Terrorsaur was, on account of his own nature, wary of the Maximals launching a counter attack while the Predacons were in a weakened state. After all, it was what he'd done, and no self-respecting traitor would ever a lot the enemy more opportunity than he would give himself. Plus, by force of habit, it somewhat soothed his frayed nerves to be doing something he was accustom to.

"Waspinator, hand me the sincro laser.."

Sitting next to the black and purple Predacon, the wasp buzzed cheerfully. Of all the Predacons he seemed to be adapting to the changes most agreeably. "Terrorsaur haz not said magic word!"

"What??" He squawked in discomfort and covered one of his topaz optics after unthinkingly sitting up partially in response to Waspinator's comment, banging his face plat on the underside of the console, "I've got a magic word for you...NOW!"

Waspinator razzed sourly and placed the tool in the dactyl's expectant purple hand which promptly vanished from site. "Wazzzpinator thinkzz Princezz Terrorsaur iz a grouch!"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!" The transmetal shrilled in annoyance at his wingmate who doubled over in buzzing fits of giggles."I mean it, it's not funny! If we didn't need that ant, I'd…"

Waspinator patted his friend's knee comfortingly, though if his hand lingered a little longer than it should have, Terrorsaur was too busy to notice, "Wazzpinator go out and make sure shields working?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Thanks, Waspi. I still have to reprogram all the voice code activations to match my vocal signature instead of Megatron's."

"Terrorsaur figure it out! Wazzpinator hazz faith in him!" The optimistic insect chirped with affection only a deaf bot could have missed, or a very preoccupied one, and at current Terrorsaur's processor was over run with schemes and preparations for them. Waspinator just sighed when he didn't respond and headed outside, beast moding.

It was gloriously full moon out on this particular evening and Waspinator couldn't help feeling a slight pang at the remembrance of such nights he'd spent on patrol with Terrorsaur at his side. Though the dactyl was far from ideally aesthetic in his beast mode, a sharp contrast with his nearly perfect bot mode, Waspinator had more than once found himself marveling at the outline of sinewy muscle and shining scarlet scales under the light of the twin moons…

He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully as something before unnoticed caught his attention, "Hmm...one moon now.. Those markings…" He suddenly jerked with a shock of excitement, "Wazzzpinator KNOWZZ!!"

Without a second glance he zipped into the Darkside, so excited he completely forget the hatch behind him which he'd left open and unguarded. Moments later he transformed and stood in one of Megatron's private chambers, watching the two golden discs rotate lazily in the suspension of an anti-gravity beam. He reached out an emerald green hand to touch one and was sent crashing backwards by a protective force field. Laying on his back in a daze he stared up at the ceiling, shaking his head. Of course they would be guarded! How silly of him! He should have gone to Terrorsaur first and together they could devise a way of deactivating the energy shield around the two artifacts. How pleased his wingmate would be when he told him…

Thud. Thud. The sound of metal footsteps on the deckplates jarred him back to reality. He buzzed eagerly,"Terrorsaur, Wazzzpinator knowzzz! Wazzpinator found markingzzz..."

"Worthless Bug!" Dinobot snarled as his claw-tipped digits clamped down around the smaller bot's head and lifted him off the floor. Panicked, Waspinator grasp for his stinger gun but it was shot out of his hand nano-clicks later by the raptor's optic lasers. He whimpered and shook his stinging hand, the digits on fire from having the weapon ripped from his grasp. He shuddered fearfully as the tall Maximal brought him face to face so he was staring down that blade sharp nose into his burning red optics, "You saw the moon?"

"Yezz…" he choked out, terrified, unable to draw a breath to scream for the help of his wingmate. Just when he was certain his life of daily scrapings was over. "One moon now. Planet changed. And that means…"

"Earth...yesss" Dinobot hissed, mocking the deposed fallen Predacon leader's way of speaking before he carelessly dropped the couching, gasping insect on the floor, stalking closer to the discs, "It means Megatron was right, and the discs.."

"Give record of the future. Ultimate power," Waspinator confirmed, feeling a little better now that he could draw in breaths much more freely. He was also feeling a twinge of curiosity as to why Dinobot was suddenly here. After all, it was not in Maximal nature to invade an enemy base so boldly. Did that mean the raptor, upon realizing the planet of their location, had had second thoughts about his alliance to the Maximals? If so, then he might try to take control of the Predacons, which could only cause trouble for Terrorsaur. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he scooted on his skid plates towards the doorway, "If legend holdz true. Maximal legendz could be false…"

"Imbecile, do you think I would have risked so much to aide in stealing the Maximal disc if I were not certain it was genuine?" Dinobot growled, whirling on Waspinator and making him cower in fear.

"No, No, Wazzpinator not think that!!" He whimpered, putting his arms up to shield his face, "But Megatron have discs guarded. High security level force field, will take many mega cycles to decode and deactivate!"

"Perhaps…if I were concerned for your safety," the raptor sneered then before the wasp could move he hefted him bodily and flung him head first into the force field, causing it to fluctuate erratically and short out, all the while frying Waspinator's circuitry. The wasp wailed so loudly it echoed all the way down to the control center when Terrorsaur looked up sharply in surprise. While the beam of energy was entirely focused on dismantling the insect Dinobot calmly plucked the two discs from where they were suspended then watched with little sympathy as Waspinator's pieces were deposited in a compactor which crushed him into a compact cube.

The cube was then ejected and sent skidding across the floor till it bumped into Tarantulas's still curled up, stasis locked body which Blackarachnia was kicking into the room. She took one look at Waspinator and decided the chaos of Predacon life had not been tamed in the least by Terrorsaur's leadership. In fact, it seemed the same as ever. "HEY! What's going on here?"

In response Dinobot opened fire on her and the wall behind her, searing an exit through the metal. She ducked down as Terrorsaur opened fire from the other side on Dinobot, almost singing her in the process. Her optics brightened to an unearthly green as her form went rigid, Tarantula's voice snapping from her vocalize, "He's taking the discs! STOP HIM!"

"Forget it! He's leaving, and I'm not risking MY body to go after him!"

"Fool, those discs are more valuable than…erg…never mind!! For now…"

Terrorsaur halted mid pursuit of Dinobot, his optics wide, staring at Blackarachnia who seemed to be having a seizure of some sort by the rigid, quivering way she was standing and the tilt of her head, "What the slag is wrong with you??"

She whipped around so quickly he took a step back as the eerie green glow from her normally dark optics illuminated his face. But what made him nearly drop his blaster in shock was when Tarantulas's voice snarled from Blackarachnia's body, "None of your business, you low-grade metal moron!"

"Tarantulas…how…what..." having had some limited experience with a situation like this when Waspinator was possessed by Starscream, Terrorsaur was in no mood to go through it again, "How in the Pit did this happen?"

"I have no time to waste on your likes...easy there, that's my body!" Tarantulas barked as Terrorsaur tripped over his curled up transmetal shell.

The dactyl's lips curled in disgust then he smirked suddenly, a gleam entering his optics, "This is you...is it?" He gave the stasis locked shell a vicious kick and Tarantulas let out a howl of fury. Feeling almost gleeful, Terrorsaur gave the transmetal spider another kick which sent him skidding down the hall. "You want it? Follow me."

Tarantulas fumed but allowed Blackarachnia to take control of her own body once more to follow Terrorsaur back to the control room. Waspinator, as he was not in immediate danger of terminating, was forgotten for the moment, although he managed to get one claw out to pull himself along, mumbling the entire time, "Oh, sure, don't mind Wazzzpinator…dragging self to CR tank...not fair…"

Terrorsaur stood with one foot on top of Tarantula's helpless form by the edge of the upper platform as Blackarachnia and her unwanted guest arrived. He looked far too smug, admiring his claws as if he had all the time in the world. "So it seems like you're in a bit of a spot, spiders…"

"You brainless flyer if you…NO!" Tarantulas gasped, Blackarachnia's form going rigid in shock as Terrorsaur casually nudged the curled up spiderbot shell closer to the edge. Below the lava which had dissolved Megatron to non existence bubbled, lapping eagerly at the rock face as if it remembered the taste of sentient life and hungered for more.

"Oh, don't worry, I wouldn't think of disposing of a crew member as valuable as you, Tarantulas…not if you swore fealty to me, of course," the cunning pterodactyl cackled in undisguised glee, watching every tense line of the widow's exostruction, knowing neither host nor parasite would dare open fire on him at the moment.

"You blasted…!"

"Don't do it, Legs, he's got us both in a spot and you know it!"

"I'll never bow to him! NEVER!"

Seemingly unconcerned with the argument taking place, Terrorsaur shrugged, "No? Alright then…" Another small nudge sent the shell over the edge.

"NO!!!" Both Tarantulas and Blackarachnia screamed in unison, her claws outreached in panic.

Terrorsaur snickered, the shell now precariously balanced between the ledge and one foot talon, held by the most unsteady of means above the liquid flames of certain doom, condemning the two spiders to a shared form until their sparks extinguished, something neither of them wanted.

Blackarachnia shook with Tarantulas's fury before she slowly, rigidly dropped to one knee before the flyer, the male spider's seething voice hissing from her once more, "You..have my vow of fealty, Terrorsaur…" The name was ground out as if it were the most vile curse in Cybertronian language.

Terrorsaur snickered, raising an optic arch, "I believe that's one short..."

"ERG…Fine, you have my vow as well," Blackarachnia spat, "Now can we get this lunatic out of my head?"

The flyer shrugged then reached down and snatched up Tarantula's shell raking his claws over it to let them know exactly who remained in power, "Might as well. You two are no good to me bickering in there over one body."

***

Traveling in beast mode was hard on the paws, but then as of yet the fuzors were unaware they had a second mode. So for the past day they had wandered aimlessly up into higher territory, their signals blocked by the mountains, making them impossible for either faction to locate via scanner.

Over time the two males found that as what remained of her data tracks reconfigured themselves Cataclysm, like the others, sported and unusual accent, one a Human might identify as almost Cockney or Street British, if not quite as clipped.

She also proved to be a picky eater. On the occasion that she astonished both males by sprinting forward and leaping several times her own height into the air to snatch a bird in flight, she proceeded to shear the feathers from the meat neatly and discard the internal organs, plucking them out with her long fangs.

Quickstrike had taken to affectionately labeling her "Sugar-bot", something which earned a hiss from her on every occasion. It failed to discourage him, however and he and Silverbolt got in frequent squabbles over throwing themselves over mud holes and such to protect what they considered her delicate feet from being soiled. She responded with a glare then pointedly walked around them, making their effort useless.

Scaling a section of the rocker terrain in what they did not know to be designated by the Predacons and Maximals as Tanna-16, her tufted ears suddenly went straight up as she tensed. On a ledge not 10 meters above her stood a wild sheep with upward curving horns. Her tail flicked for silence and in unison both male fuzors ceased their current argument.

Cataclysm tensed her shoulders then sprang upward, bounding from foothold to foothold after the sheep. She did not notice the larger, spotted cat intent on the same prey from 14 meter above. The snow leopard, starved by the rarity of prey in it's domain following the quantum surge, leapt down and blocked the animal's upward escape route. Its fur long thick pelt bristled as it snarled at the smaller feline.

The prey animal bleated in dismay and confusion, turning to flee downward then cried out as Cataclysm sank her elongated fangs into its ankle, jerking it off balance. It slipped off the ledge and dangled, flailing, threatening to drag the fuzor down with it. She stubborn clung on, ducking when a rosette spotted paw, claws extended, swiped at her head and caught her flank, raking four deep furrows in her synthetic flesh and fur.

"Why I'll…" Quickstrike fumed but Silverbolt held him back with a talon.

"No! That ledge is unstable, more weight on it could break it!"

"Well we can't just..."

"Stay!" Cataclysm growled out around her mouthful, digging the claws of three paws into the rock and lashing out with her fourth, making the leopard recoil. Her pride would not allow her to let go or to back down and let the bigger cat take her prize.

The sheep bleated pitifully again, flailing, and when the bigger cat moved closer to strike at Cataclysm again Quickstrike and Silverbolt hissed and growled threateningly respectively.

Cataclysm felt her paws slide again and jerked her neck to one side, bashing the sheep's head against the stone face before releasing it. Silverbolt caught its neck in his jaws as the stunned animal fell and snapped its neck humanely. Now free to turn on her foe, Cataclysm whirled back and hammered swat after swat , claws out, across the leopard's face and flank, which was not suspecting so much strength contained in such a smaller enemy and turned tail, scaling back up the mountain side in a few nimble bounds.

Huffing for breath, Cataclysm leapt down next to her comrades, not unmarked but victorious from the encounter. They both gazed at her in new respect, but for different reasons. In her Silverbolt's shining eyes saw nobility and mercy, as well as a determination worthy of honoring. Quickstrike, on the other claw, saw ruthlessness, a lust for battle and conflict.

She said nothing, neatly tearing off a chuck of flesh for herself and leaving the rest for the others. After a moment they silently accepted their own choices and ate like the predators they were.

***

Rattrap was on the verge of a conniption fit. Not only were they decidedly outnumber with Airazor and Tigatron off searching for the protoforms that had fallen in Predacon territory, not only had Primal been vaped, not only had Chopperface up and disappeared without so much as a "by your leave", now Rhinox had it set in his processor to try out some kooky invention that would put him temporarily offline for Primus knew how long!!

"We may as well put up a banner that says "Hey Preds, C'mon in fer some oil an' cookies!!" he fumed, "Did it ever occur ta ya dat we might need yer core consciousness HERE??"

"It can't be helped. The window the alien device exploded it opened a window into transwarp space which won't last for long…"

"So what!?" Rattrap demanded, infuriated as his giant green friend lowered the lid of his invention over him, sealing himself off from the rest of the world. Rhinox was Rattrap's one bit of stability left on this crazy dust ball and he felt almost betrayed by the rhino's failure to confide in him what he was trying to do. He glared up at Cheetor, taking out some of his pent up frustration on the cat, whom, at least seemed to accept his orders. "What are YOU lookin' at?? Get yer shiny new butt skyward and see if ya can find Chopperface before da Preds do!"

"You mean fly??" Cheetor asked, looking exhilarated at the thought.

Rattrap palmed his forehead in disgust, "Do I mean fly…NO, I mean take a submarine! Of course I mean fly!!! Now get goin'!"

"Alright!" the younger bot cheered. Ever since he'd discovered his newly acquired side jets he seemed only too happy to burn fuel doing little loopy loops over the Axalon. As much as Rattrap wanted Dinobot back at the base, though he'd never admit how vulnerable he felt without the raptor there, Rattrap would have sent the kid cat out just to get him out of his transmetal whiskers. He shook his head in annoyance as the cheetah tore out of the base, "Oy...Optimus...how did ya do it..." he sighed.

***

Terrorsaur had immediately disliked the set up one laying optics on it which Taratulas planned to used to transfer his consciousness back into his own body. He'd only been inside the spider's lab once before, and perhaps it was only the lightning storm rocking the ship outside but it gave him the creeps even more this time.

"Are you sure about this?" He muttered as he connected a final cord to Blackarachnia, hating that both she and her creator were privy to his every word when he was trying to speak to just one of them.

"Like I have a choice?" She sneered, sliding the transfer visor down into place, but not before she caught a last glimpse of the flyer's yellow optics. Was that…concern? No, she must have imagined it. "Throw the third lever down."

He eyed the lever with distaste. It reminded him of a device from ancient Human culture used to electrocute unreformable criminals. His hand hovered over the lever momentarily before he pushed it down and it locked into place. The result was instantaneous, separating Blackarachnia's sounds of distress from Tarantulas's cackles as energy coursed through her body and transferred to the shell, upheld by a large neon blue web. Eight transmetal limbs uncurled. It was similar to a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, although not nearly so fanciful.

"My spark is restored, and my body is stronger than ever! I live!" Tarantulas raved, adding to the horror movie-like atmosphere as Blackarachnia jerked and struggled against an unseen enemy. "I LIIIIIVE!" His feet clanked as they landed solidly on the deckplates, revealing his new transmetal form in all its glory.

Terrorsaur moved to Blackarachnia's side as she ripped the exterior wiring from her exostructure, holding her head, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, back off, Screech!" She snapped, knocking his hand away. "Just because you boys are big bad transmetals now doesn't mean I can't vap you both if I wanted."

"Witless Widow...I…" Tarantulas paused, and then chuckled, reconsidering his words, "That is to say WE swore a Vow of fealty to our new leader…and as such we are bound to obey him…"

Terrorsaur missed the gleam of treachery in the transmetal spider's optic band due to soak up the flattery, but Blackarachnia did not. She knew instantly that whatever Tarantulas had in mind, it would be good for neither herself nor the flyer.

"That's right. And with our numbers so strong the Maximals will fall under our might like the rusted knockoffs they are!" Terrorsaur activated his com, "Inferno, Scorponok, return to base. This time we'll destroy the Maximals for good!"

***

Cheetor hadn't been gone for over a megacycle when he called back in with some very very unwelcome news. At the time he was in a decidedly distasteful position of moving his belongings into Optimus's room. The only bot he'd discussed it with so far was Rhinox, and even the rhino had stated what he already knew. If he was going to earn the respect of the remaining Maximals as their leader he'd have to call them together and say something…soon.

But it was all happening too quickly! He looked around the spacious quarters with their massive view port that faced the sunrise and felt a hollow pit deep inside. He could still clearly picture Optimus lying on that recharge bed when he was recovering from Scorponok's berserker virus. The flower Dinobot had brought him had since been transplanted into a larger pot but continued to grow.

He dropped an armload of explosive equipment on the desk with a sigh. It all felt wrong. He was never supposed to be leader! He was the demolitions and intelligence expert, that's what he had signed on for...not this. Anything but this. It felt like a bitter betrayal to Optimus's memory.

He hung his head. Primus had no intent of letting him wallow in his self-pity, however and not a click later Cheetor had radioed in to alert Rattrap, to a symphony of explosions and weapon fire, that he was leading a merry little Pred parade home and they weren't coming with a marching band neither.

"Rhinox, I hate ta interrupt yer nap…." He started as he skidded into the med bay, banging on the lid of the device.

"Attention: Unit Rhinox's core consciousness has extended beyond measurable limits. Any disturbance will result in permanent loss of spark." Sentinel's monotone voice replied.

"Oh...sure...now there's some GREAT timin' fer ya..."

The lift behind him whirred to life as a muddy but more than welcome Dinobot stomped in. Rattrap was so happy to see him he even missed the chance to make a snide remark about the mess the former Predacon had tracked in all over the floor.

"What is happening? Sentinel is on alert!" The raptor growled, pointing out the obvious.

"Hey, Chopperface!" His red optics lit up then to cover his enthusiasm, Rattrap cleared his throat, "Hey uh...where have you been, out saving da universe er somethin'?"

"Possibly. Yes. Now what is the emergency??"

Rattrap glared as Dinobot lowered the reserve weapons hold, blocking off vision of the raptor so he wasn't even sure he was listening, "Oh...uh...nothin' much...Rhinox is off chasin' comets with his mind and uh, Cheetor's bringin' a squad a' Preds home ta play…of course if dey hit dis place Big green dere goes permanently offline."

"Well then…" Dinobot replied, sounding infuriatingly calm as the hold locked back into place in the ceiling, revealing he was , literally, armed to the teeth, "We must take the fight to the enemy" He tossed Rattrap a blaster. The rat blinked then nodded, clicking on his com.

"Three a' us against seven Preds? We may as well paint bull's eyes on ourselves and offer prizes for knockin' down all three. We nee back up. Bad. Yo Bird lady…ya read me? We got Preds comin' outta our tail pipes over here. They're gonna be swarmin' da base in less than a megacycle. We need immediate backup, like NOW!"

***

Airazor soared high above in falcon mode, her optics set on scanner. She and Tigatron had narrowly avoided a run in with Inferno and the newly transmetalized Scorponok earlier on their way back to the Darkside and she was none too keen on engaging the pyromaniac ant if it were avoidable. The pods had been empty and the Predacons had not thought to salvage them so Tigatron had destroyed them incase they came back.

For the past several megacycles they had been scanning the area surrounding the pods' landing location, gradually widening their search, but so far there was no sign of the new Maximals. She was just about to give up hope when Tigatron's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Airazor, I have detected three Maximal signals in the sector of Tanna-16 at the Predacon border. I am on my way to intercept them. Recon at my coordinates as soon as possibly."

"Will do, Stripes. Be careful."

"As always, but what have we to fear, m'lady? They are Maximals, after all."

***

After sharing her kill Cataclysm lay off to one side, as cats are known to do, swiping her tongue over her paw and cleaning her whiskers of blood drop lets. The sector had once been a place of great beauty with a towering mountain and shimmering blue lake but now all that was reduced to rubble and a great indenting dust bowl.

As the fuzors had never seen it in its full glory, they felt none of the sense of lose. Presently the only beauty Quickstrike was interested in admiring in any case was that of the female fuzor. Something about her red and gold coloring just set his processors on fire...in a pleasant way, of course.

"You sure do know how ta dish out the keister whooping destruction, iffen ya know what I mean, Sugar-bot."

"Oh, sod off…" she sighed in irritation, her fur bristling a bit. She tilted her head, her ever alert ears picking up the faintest crackling of paw steps on dead leaves and dislodged rubble long before her olfactory sensors located the tiger. After her recent experience with the snow leopard, she was in a distinctly attack first, ask questions later mood.

With a vicious snarl so whirled and threw herself into the brush onto the striped Maximals back. Tigatron growled, getting no chance to get out a word before Quickstrike and Silverbolt reacted in defense of cataclysm.

By the time Airazor came upon them they were tangled in a flailing mass of fur, claws, feathers, and fangs. Like a shooting star she dropped down with an earsplitting falcon screech," Stop this right now!" She yelped when Quickstrike's tail caught one of her wings by accident and knocked her from the air.

"Airazor!" Tigatron quickly detangled himself from the battle to check on his fallen mate, "Are you alright?"

"Fine. But why are you fighting? From the air I detected all three of these bots have Maximal energy signatures."

"He done snuck up on us an' attacked my sugar-bot!" Quickstrike hissed in accusation.

"I did nothing of the sort!"

"And STOP calling me that, ya bloody git!"

Under the fierce looks of both Tigatron and Cataclysm Quickstrike shrunk back and relented, muttering under his breath about tinhorn stripy sidewinders.

"We intended no insult, m'lady. Merely a grave misunderstanding, I assure you," Silverbolt addressed Airazor, his wings tucked back in the manner a gentleman might sweep back his cape in respect and apology.

She ducked her head in acknowledgement, "I'm Airazor. This is Tigatron. What are your names?"

"I'm Quickstrike! This here's Silverbolt, and over here..." he chuckled affectionately, "Is my Sugar-bot, Cataclysm."

"I'm not…" she sighed loudly through her teeth, "Whatever…"

Suddenly Airazor's com flared to life,"Yo Bird lady…ya read me? *static*...got Preds comin' outta our tail pipes…*static* immediate…*static* like NOW!"

"We're on our way Rattrap!"

"The Predacons are attacking the Maximal base, we have to hurry..." she shot a worried look at Tigatron whom returned it.

"What in tarnation's a' Maximal?"

"What the bloody Pit's a Predacon?"

Airazor and Tigatron blinked in surprise, sharing another understanding look. Like the fuzors, their data tracks had been badly damaged upon planet fall. Only Cheetor offering his own data tracks to fill in the gaps on Airazor's and the maximal rescue of Tigatron and Snowstalker, his beloved former organic white tiger mate, had allowed them to realize their true Maximal nature. These poor bots had neither and were thus completely confused.

"On Cybertron because we are descended from two factions, Autobots and Decepticons, we Cybertronians are born into one faction or the other, Maximals or Predacons. Maximals are peaceful bots who only long to co-exist but the Predacons strive to destroy and control everything in their paths. We've been at war with them on this unknown planet for over a stellar year now. Our leader was recently killed and now the Predacons are taking advantage of that and our absence to attack our base.

Silverbolt stared in horror, "These Predacons sound like absolute cads…"

"Wankers," Cataclysm voiced her opinion.

"Er...what she said," Quickstrike shrugged, unable to come up with a new and creative insult.

Airazor had no idea what a "cad" or a "wanker" might be but she had little time to ask for explanation as she turned to Tigatron, "We have to get back as fast as we can. You run ahead. I'll carry you, Quickstrike. Silverbolt, you carry Cataclysm."

Quickstrike seemed ready to object, both to being carried like a sparkling and to the idea of Silverbolt putting his claws all over the scorpion fuzor's "Sugar-bot" but before he could say more than "This sucks hard slag…WHOA!" he was plucked from the ground and soaring through the air. To a bot made up of two distinctly terrestrial creatures the only way to keep himself from moaning in distress with nothing under his legs to support him was to cover his red eyes with his claws.

In contrast Cataclysm hissed at Silverbolt when he bent his front legs, lower himself so she could climb on his back, "I'll not be treated like a soddin' infant! My legs work just fine!"

"Please, M'lady, time is of the essence…" he gave her a guileless beseeching look that made her hackles lower somewhat though she huffed before she leapt up and sat between his wings, "If I'd wanted to fly I'd have scanned a bloody pigeon…"

***

Terrorsaur was in his element. Namely he was screeching order left and right and not one, not ONE of the Predacons thought to argue, or if they did, they knew better than to do so in the face of battle. Currently they had Dinobot, Rattrap, and Cheetor pinned down behind a large rock which was being chipped away at by explosives and laser blasts.

"We destroy Maximals eazzzzily!" Waspinator chortled on his left.

"Too easily…even Maximals have better logic circuits than this..." Blackarachnia scowled, on his right, "They should have fallen back to their base 20 cycles ago…"

Terrorsaur's trigger finger twitched then went lax as he looked at Blackarachnia in surprise, wondering why he hadn't thought of that, "What HAVEN'T they fallen back?" He frowned them narrowed his optics, zeroing in on the Axalon's location behind the trapped Maximals. That was the first time he noticed the strange energy beam radiating up from the crippled ship. He had no way of knowing what it was, but if the Maximals were defending it, that was enough, "Waspinator, take Inferno and bomb the ship. Tear it to scrap."

The wasp clapped his hands together, beaming, "Wazzzpinator iz in charge!" he declared as he kicked off, transforming to beast mode mid flip and lead the ant off, shooting past the Maximals.

"It would seem that have decoded our strategy," Dinobot stated manner of factly.

"No kidding! If we don't beat them back…" Rattrap winced as a large chunk of rock over his head was dissolved in a laser blast, "Cheetor, you gotta cut dem off…"

"I need a running start to take off," Cheetor stammered, no doubt picturing the stone they'd thrown up moments before into the Pred fire only to have a pebble remaining when it fell again.

"Oh fer bootin' up cold…" Rattrap fumed then gave the kid cat a good kick in the skid plates, sending him flying three meters into the air. It MIGHT have worked but no sooner had Cheetor engaged his jets than Blackarachnia opened fire on him with all six of her leg guns, blastin one of his jets clean off.

Terrorsaur cackled as the cat crashed to the ground then gave Blackarachnia an appreciative look. He was starting to feel more and more confidence that he had made the right decision not scrapping her after rescuing her from the tiger and the hawk.

"Cheetor!" Rattrap yelped, horrified as he pulled the cat back into cover, "Cheetor...Cheetor, speak ta me, kid!"

"Ow..." the transmetal cat coughed out a little cloud of smoke, "M-maybe you're right, maybe I do need a couple more...flying lessons..."

"More like landing lessons. Ferget about that fer now. We gotta get back tad a base before…" Rattrap froze, his optics wide with shock as an explosion rocked the ground and the base. From where he crouched he could see flames rising from the aft section of the Axalon as the beam of light which represented Rhinox's consciousness flickered, then vanisehed, "No..no..NO! NO! RHINOX!!!"

He struggled to stand only to be pulled back by Dinobot's vice like grip as the raptor held him down out of the range of enemy fire. "There is nothing you can do for him now! Do not be foolish, you'll only get yourself destroyed!"

"Shut up! SHUT UP! I gotta go...I gotta...Rhinox..."

"Is GONE, Rattrap," the warrior shook him hard enough to momentarily snap him out of his shock, though as much by the raptor using his actual name instead of "rodent" or "vermin" as the servo jarring shake. It showed how deeply the gravity of the situation effected Dinobot, though if he felt grief, he would not let it alter his actions until the battle was over.

For the first time the level of Dinobot's warrior training and discipline really occurred to the smaller Maximal and he found himself looking up into the sharp blue face with a new level of respect. He closed his mouth and pressed his lips together in a grim line, narrowing his optics and nodding once. It slipped his notice that a barely visible glimmer of new respect had also entered Dinobot's optics.

For once, though it was very likely true, Rattrap did not blurt out his patterned "We're all gonna die" announcement but merely discharged his spent energy cartridge from his blaster and loaded the last full one he had from his sub-space compartment, "If we're going tad a Pit, let's take a few a dem with us."

"That may be the first utterance of yours I have ever fully agreed with, Vermin."

***

"By the Matrix…" Tigatron breathed as he stared down in horror upon the scared and burning battle field. Airazor and Silverbolt landed next to him with their respective passengers, all five wide eyed at the carnage. "We can not wait to assess the situation while our comrades fall. Tigatron, maximize!!"

All three fuzors reacted in shock as the tiger shifted into his white and green robot mode, charging his blaster.

"How in tarnation'd he do THAT?!" Quickstrike demanded, his voice going up a number of octaves.

"Use your activation codes. Airazor, Maximize!" The female falcon gracefully transformed into a sleek gold and brown robot as the stunned fuzors looked on.

"Now, hold on there…", Quickstrike objected, still processing this, "Ya mean, all's I gotta say is "Quickstrike, Maximize", and…WHAT IN TARNATION?!" He shouted out as he flipped forward into robot mode, his claws now firmly planted on the ground as feet, his tail swaying disorientedly from one shoulder as an arm. The other arm was made up of his multi-jointed scorpion legs.

Silverbolt and Cataclysm exchanged an excited look then in unison called out their activation codes, "Silverbolt/Cataclysm, MAXIMIZE!" before unfolding into two very different bots. Silverbolt's eagle wings now folded angel-like onto his broad back and his claws, like Quickstrike's have become his robot feet. More surprisingly his face very much resembled that of his beast mode with a blunt muzzle in place of a nose and mouth.

Cataclysm sported a lithe, athletic figure similar to Airazor's with a bit more curve at the chest and hip. In bot mode she was mostly red and gold with black trim. Her rattle snake tail remained attached to her skid plates as most of her best mode had folded onto her back except for her hind paws which had relocated and formed her bot mode feet with much longer claws extended. Her face, like Silverbolt's was reminiscent of her beast mode with a smooth feline muzzle, exotically tilted narrow cat optics and black markings on her face. Two sharp, pointed ears topped her head.

The three fuzors had little time to regard each others' new appearances, for they were soon caught up in the battle charge, letting out roars, howls, and in Quickstrike's case, "Yeeee-haws!" as they tore down the incline to attack the unaware Predacons from behind.

***

Rattrap crouched over the injured Cheetor, shielding his younger charge as one of Terrorsaur's missiles blew their last cover to shards and sent the three Maximals tumbling backwards. As the rodent sat up, coughing and hacking, he found himself staring up the black barrel of Terrorsaur's blaster rifle aimed right between his optics.

"As I said once before…this is just too good to be true…"

Rattrap swallowed hard but narrowed his optics, then jerked back in shock as a spinning blade whirled through the air and took Terrorsaur's hand off at the wrist, "Looks like ya jinxed yerself again, Leatherpuss!"

"What?!" Terrorsaur spun on his heel then shrieked as Cataclysm landed on his back, raking her claws down his armor like a can opener, spraying mech fluid in an arch as he flailed and screeched, trying to dislodge her.

"Foul Villains, prepare to meet thy doom!" Silverbolt trumpeted as he launched his feather missiles on Tarantulas and Scorponok.

Rattrap blinked in shock then shot Dinobot a look as Inferno and Waspinator returned, sparring with Tigatron and Airazor, "Well what're ya waitin' for, an engraved invitation?!"

"Accursed rodent…" the warrior muttered then launched himself into battle, hacking away at Inferno's rotator engine until the fire ant crashed. Even grounded the insanely zealous ant cackled wildly as he blasted away at his enemies with his twin flame throwers.

"I got this one!" Quickstrike called out, blasting the ant from behind with a burst of green cyber venom from his cobra head.

"Fools!! Pain is my friend! Allow me to introduce YOU to it!"

Rattrap and Terrorsaur rolled across the scorched ground trading punches as Cataclysm sprinted forward and used a surprised Dinobot's back as a springboard to launch herself into the air, her lethal claws slicing Waspinator's wings from his shoulders. The wasp fell like a stone as the feline landed in a crouch. Dinobot caught her optics, his own slightly widened in shock, then he nodded in approval. Unorthodox, but none the less effective.

Waspinator groaned as he laid face down, being trampled by dueling Maximals and Predacons who took little notice of him, "Oooooh, Wazzzpinator hatez Bird-bot AND Kitty-bot…"

"That's my Sugar-bot!" Quickstrike whooped.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" she snarled as she turned on Scorponok, taking out her frustration at her fellow fuzor on the arachnid's shiny black caprice.

"This is all wrong… this isn't how it was supposed to go at all!" Terrorsaur shrieked, looking around in bewilderment at his battered troops, most of them unable to hold their own against the fresh Maximal reinforcements.

"Stick it in yer command module, Beak-face!" Rattrap snarled, upper cutting the flyer hard enough to make him stagger back. He tripped over Waspinator's body and fell on his skid plates. He shot another glance around the battle field then gathered up Waspinator's wings and the wasp himself, "Predacons retreat!!"

"Yes, my Princess!" Inferno saluted, no longer able to fly but retreating on foot at a brisk pace. The spiders and Scorponok needed no further encouragement before doing the same.

Winded but proud of their stand, Rattrap stood surrounded by his comrades, old and new, bloodied, dented, but alive. He felt a cold dread in his spark though as he looked back towards the base, knowing what they would find there.

***

The damage was repairable, for the most part, and after short introductions, the Maximals set about assessing the damage. To rattrap, not of it mattered, not the hole in the roof or the scorched hallways or the friend computer components… all that matters at the moment was the cold green shell he sat silently in the same room as.

The rodent sat with his head in his hands, hunched over, hardly noticing when Cheetor cleared his throat from the doorway, "Um...Hey Big R...we cleared out the burnt metal and patched the hole in the roof temperarily."

Rattrap wiped at a drop of clear moisture from the edge of one optic housing and straightened up, "G-good...good job, kiddo. You uh...better clock some megacycles in the restoration chamber." He glanced up at the three fuzors as well as the two long distance scouts, "I know yer uh...all damaged but we only got da one operation restoration chamber without Rhi..." His vocalizer failed him and he tried again, "Without our medical officer, we don't got no body ta do patch up jobs…"

Silence fell for a long moment then suddenly an accented voice spoke up, "Bloody Inferno that we don't." All optics turned to Cataclysm and for the first time since her reactivation, the femme smiled a bit nervously.

***

"It's all wrong…" Terrorsaur growled, beating his helm against one of the walls in his quarters, formerly Megatron's quarters. Despite their defeat no one had offered criticism, just drug themselves off to the CR tanks with mutters of discontent. After depositing Waspinator in one of the tanks Terrorsaur had stalked off to seclude himself and brood. Now he was starting to understand why Megatron talked to himself so much. They should have had a victory. He was so sure this battle would end in the ultimate victory.

Not even his new spacious quarters could improve his mood. And they were a considerable upgrade from his old ones. The recharge berth itself, situated in the middle of the room instead of crushed up against one wall, was twice the size of the one in his former quarter. If any room could be said to have a decent view on the Darkside, this one had at least an interesting one of the lava beds underneath the ship.

"What?" he snapped as someone knocked on his door. He hadn't meant to snap. His nerves were frayed. He felt a twinge of guilt knowing it was likely as not Waspinator coming to check on him. He sighed and entered a code in the keypad by the door, "Look, I…"

He froze, finding himself face to face with a smug looking Blackarachnia.

"Stress of the job already getting to you, Screech?"

"No," he frowned then peered around her. There was no one else in the hall. He couldn't begin to phantom what possible reason the she-spider had for approaching him until she traced the tip end of her claw up his chest slowly.

"I suppose it is a big change...those huge quarters…and no one to share them with…" Her claw made a soft squeaking sound as she traced the contours of his torso armor. "You know transmetal armor looks pretty good on you."

He swallowed, trying to come up with a scathing retort, something that would really get her spinnerets in a tangle, but found he could only choke out, "You…think so?"

She smirked slyly and he felt his fluid pump speed up into over time. Naturally, there were few males, Predacon or Maximal, whom had not had some thoughts about the slender and shapely femme fatale but Terrorsaur had always felt particularly drawn to her. In his optics, they were two of a kind, both repressed for their cunning and intelligence, both knowing they were meant to be more.

"Why don't we step inside and I'll give you a full debriefing on what I really think..." she all but purred and after a nano-click he let her enter.

Neither saw poor Waspinator as he stood at the end of the corridor, his green hands clenched into fists, then slowly, slowly, they went lax at his sides and his wings drooped as he turned and walked away.

***

~Who am I? Where do I belong?~ A lost mind pondered hopelessly.

Curled up in a nook inside an old tree, the small lost bot in her even smaller beast mode wrapped her wings around her to shelter herself from the cold. Like Terrorsaur, like Rattrap, her world was strange, full of surprises, and she was carefully feeling her way along through it, like a blind man. However, unlike them, she had no one to share the experience with. She was alone in every sense of the world because she no longer remember she had comrades out there, seeking her, trying to bring her home safely.

~Where do I belong?~

To Be Continued---

***

Author's Notes: Tanna-16 is property of Shockbox, literally. A little salute to my friend and amazing completed fic "The Scarlet Star". As are the little hints of Terrorsaur/Waspinator slash. My first battle scene in years and I'm pretty proud of it, really. Like I said before, one thing changes, so many things change. For those of you that are Rhinox fans, sorry, he's very very hard for me to write. After this, things depart from the original plot a great deal. Surprises are in store! Loves to all!