Short chapter, it's more like an interlude, I guess.

Deceit and Stratagems

It had been too close. Rampage scowled as he listened to Inferno give his report to Megatron about their scuffle with the Maximals. The cat had almost been discovered.

He had already explained why his shot had 'gone wide' and buried the cat in rubble after Dinobot II had shot him. Depth Charge was a known opportunist in battle, and strong enough to knock his aim away. As Inferno explained why they had called a retreat instead of pushing their advantage, Rampage refocused on the conversation- well, more like Megatron grabbing Inferno in anger and throwing him into a wall.

"You had the pussy-cat neutralized, and the rat trapped, yet you didn't destroy them?!" Megatron turned his attention on Dinobot II and Rampage.

"Primal reacted violently to the cat falling, as QuickStrike can attest." Dinotbot II explained. The Fuzor in question was still being repaired. "The energon was also becoming unstable, continued battle would have severely damaged all combatants."

"So I see, yes . . ." Megatron looked at Rampage. "And you, Rampage?"

"I want to savor his death, not rush it during an explosion." Rampage hissed, hands forming fists. "I'll have plenty of chances to kill him properly."

"I see." Megatron accepted the explanation, and leaned back in his bath. "It will take some time for the pussy-cat to be back in action, yes. You are sure you hit near his spark?"

"I would like to say I hit the spark casing, but I did not get a good look before he was buried by Rampage's shots." Dinobot II answered, clearly annoyed by his lack of information.

"Then we will continue as normal, yes." Megatron nodded. "Rampage, remove Depth Charge from the Maximals' side, then they will have another valuable player down, yes."

Rampage was about to tell Megatron off for telling him how to kill, when a thought occurred. "Depth Charge will be more likely to follow me if it appears I'm no longer under your control." Rampage braced himself for pain. "It'd take some time, but I'd have to operate alone, or the other maximals would interfere."

"I suppose we would be considered 'interfering' as well?" Megatron asked, deceptively polite. Dinobot II grinned as he prepared to cause Rampage pain on Megatron's signal. "You do remember who you belong to, I trust?"

"Perfectly." Rampage could barely keep the hiss from his voice. "I would return once Depth Charge is offline. But to make sure the other maximals do not interfere, it would be better if I was not in the company of other Predacons." Rampage watched warily as Megatron seemed to consider the idea, and was brought suddenly to his knees by Dinobot II squeezing the other half of his spark. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, and Rampage resisted the urge to kill Dinobot II then and there. He could wait for retribution.

"Very well, you shall have your time alone. But I will be wanting to know your progress, yesss . . . you will have to give reports on your progress every so often."

"As you wish." Rampage transformed into his beast mode, and left as quickly as he could once they were all dismissed.

Megatron was right in his wariness to let him go off alone, as Rampage was tired of following the Predacon leader's commands. He accepted it, as he hated the maximals slightly more than the Predacons, and this gave him the ability to hopefully kill them; but he would have much preferred to do so on his own time, without having to follow orders from someone that couldn't kill without making plans where so many things could go wrong and had, so far, let the maximals survive.

Rampage smirked internally as he made his way to the nearest stream, and slipped into it. What Megatron didn't know, though, was that he could take down Depth Charge anytime, the other would always come after his signal, no matter when or where he was. In fact, had Megatron not felt the need to mess up his plans, Depth Charge would have already been dead, and most of the maximals as well.

However, Megatron was a hinderance to his plans, and to remedy this situation, he would have to use his most recently created backup plan, the cat, a little sooner than planned, and in a different way. By now, he and the other maximals would know his spark had changed, perhaps even realize what Rampage had done. The other maximals would be desperate to keep the cat safe from him, and Depth Charge would be hunting him for that, and Rampage would leave him a false trail . . . the ray would easily fall for that ruse. Meanwhile, Rampage would be preparing an ambush for his new ally. After all, the cat would hate to be cooped up for too long, and when he finally was let out of the other maximal's sight and sensors . . . he'd be running right into Rampage's claws.

Short chapter, but that's the best place to stop. Next Chapter: Borderline.

So, what's changed? Well, for starters, we see more of Rampage's thought process. This combined the predacon bits of chapters 3 & 4 in the Original Version. Megatron might have let Rampage go a little easier in this version, but he's got his own plan in the works this go round, and needs Depth Charge away from the Maximals.