Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.
Note: This story takes place shortly after "Stasis".
A Different War, Chapter 4
By TVfan
Ocean Floor
Rampage slowly moved forward along the railway tracks that Tarantulus had placed in order to get his submersible to the ancient Decepticon ship, Nemesis. Small fish swam quickly out of his way and he crushed a few other small pieces of ocean life with his tank treads. While the transmetal crab was extremely happy to be unleashed on a target, he was still curious about the entire situation. Tarantulus couldn't swim, at least not well, and his circuitry would probably short-circuit when completely underwater and he would be crushed to death at the bottom of the ocean.
"You ever wonder how that spider managed to build a railway underwater?" Rampage questioned into his radio.
"He probably just manufactured some sort of robotic drone to do the work for him," Megatron answered back over the radio, "Have you located the ship yet?"
"Not yet," Rampage answered, "That spider's scale must be off by quite a bit. There's also a lot of raw energon in the area."
"Raw energon?" Megatron asked, temporarily distracted from the present mission.
"Yes," Rampage answered.
"That will be something worth investigating later," Megatron spoke, "Continue at full speed until you reach the Nemesis. Once there kill Tarantulus and whomever he's talked into joining him and pilot the ship to a suitable landing zone."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Rampage answered, "So you can get your precious new base."
Ahead of him, Tarantulus's submersible finally arrived inside a small hanger inside the Nemesis. Tarantulus was feeling absolutely triumphant while Carpenter still looked like she needed more convincing.
"So it's a big ship," Carpenter commented as they stepped into a turbolift that would take them to the main bridge, "I've still yet to see anything that would convince me that this ship can destroy the Ark."
"Patience my dear femmebot, patience," Tarantulus cackled, "The others are probably just now awakening from their periods in stasis lock and probably do not know that we are not there yet. If you want more proof, then we'll happily blast a few of the surviving Maximals and Predicons with the Nemesis's primary weapon."
"It had better destroy someone like Optimus of Megatron," Carpenter commented back, "There are quite a few Predicons that I think the native organic life forms of this planet could destroy."
Tarantulus only cackled some more.
The Ark
"The Nemesis?" Cheetor gasped.
Optimus slowly nodded.
"Excuse me for asking, but what is the Nemesis?" Tigerhawk asked.
"The Nemesis was the most powerful ship in the ancient Decepticon space fleet," Optimus answered with a sigh, "And would probably still be considered more powerful then any modern Maximal or Predicon ship. And with the Ark sitting here defenseless, it would be an easy target for Tarantulus."
"But, um, if Tarantulus destroys the Ark, wouldn't that kill him too?" Rattrap asked, "I mean we got both ancient Autobots AND ancient Decepticons in the hold."
"According to Megatron, Tarantulus and some members of the Predicon alliance are actually descended from Unicron himself," Optimus replied, "Not from Autobots or Decepticons. He would survive the time storm."
"So what can we do?" Cheetor asked.
"Right now, I want you to get every Maximal that has flight capability into the CR chambers," Optimus answered, "We'll need them if we are to take on the Nemesis. Once that is done, I want you to help Rhinox get the Ark ready to be moved."
"Move the Ark?" Rattrap gasped, "We're under a mountain, and we haven't even tested the engines. The Ark ain't gonna move, boss-monkey."
"We need to get it to move," Optimus answered, "The Ark's weaponry was destroyed when Megatron collapsed the cave on it and the Nemesis's armor is strongest on its belly. We've got to get the Ark to a spot where Tarantulus won't be able to find it."
"Oh boy," Rattrap groaned, "We're all gonna die."
Optimus then turned to Tigerhawk who looked very fearful at the moment.
"As much as I'd like to welcome you back Tigatron, now Tigerhawk, I'm afraid I'm going to need you to come with me," Optimus answered.
"Of course," Tigerhawk nodded, "I assume we will be providing the front line defense against the Nemesis?"
"Actually we will be joining Megatron as the second line of defense," Optimus answered as the two exited the Ark and took off into the air.
"Second?" Tigerhawk questioned.
"Megatron has sent Rampage to dry and destroy the Nemesis while it's underwater and can not shoot back," Optimus answered, "And since Depthcharge was among the transformers still in stasis lock, we couldn't send a Maximal with him to make sure that Megatron doesn't give the crab any sort of 'secret' orders."
"You think Megatron would issue such orders?" Tigerhawk asked.
"Given that our past truces with Megatron have been nothing but a joke, I wouldn't put it past him to double cross us when the time seems covenant," Optimus replied, "and since the aliens have been defeated, the time is now covenant."
"But if you think Megatron will betray us, why should we go?" Tigerhawk questioned.
"Unfortunately, Megatron controlling the Nemesis will be less dangerous then Tarantulus controlling the Nemesis," Optimus sighed, "Largely since, Megatron would not survive the time storm."
The two then flew in silence for several moments until the came to a spot where they saw Megatron in his beast mode hovering above the ocean. The waters were largely calm below him.
"Anything happen yet?" Optimus asked as they got close.
Megatron looked up and nearly fell out of the sky when he saw Tigerhawk.
"Blast you Primal!" Megatron cursed, "Why have you sided with that thing? How is it even alive? It was completely offline when we left Tarantulus's cave."
"The alien Tigerhawk is dead," Optimus answered, "But Tarantulus didn't destroy the body."
"Somehow I doubt you've merely reanimated him as a drone," Megatron commented, "That doesn't sound like Maximal scientific morality."
"I was Tigatron when you last saw 'me', Megatron," Tigerhawk spoke, deciding to try and settle the matter quickly, "The aliens kidnapped Airazor and I and used our bodies to create Tigerhawk, but did not destroy our sparks."
"So that falcon transformer that had taken the name 'Airazor'?" Megatron asked.
"Was the original Airazor who had returned to Earth and activated a blank stasis pod," Optimus replied.
"I don't suppose you know where they are?" Megatron asked, "The rest of the blanks, I mean."
"I do not know," Tigerhawk answered, "I've lost a lot of what the alien Tigerhawk new as my spark has retaken control of my body. The only thing that I can remember that the alien Tigerhawk remembered is that Tarantulus intends to destroy the Ark."
Megatron only gave a growling sigh, indicating that he both didn't care and that he was still angered by the fact that the Maximals had put a Maximal spark inside the former Vok leader.
"Has anything happened?" Optimus asked again.
"Not at the moment," Megatron answered, "Rampage has yet to reach the Nemesis, and the ship has not risen above the waves."
"All we can do is wait then," Optimus sighed and looked down at the ocean below him.
The Nemesis
Tarantulus still looked triumphant as he and Carpenter made there way into the bridge of the ancient Decepticon ship.
"Most excellent," Tarantulus cackled as the two approached the main control panels, "The ship is still completely functional. My drones did their work well."
"Your drones?" Carpenter questioned.
"Yes," Tarantulus answered, "I've known about the Nemesis's location for as long as Megatron knew about the Ark's. The problem has been that the Nemesis was under water, and Megatron has this habit of being a tyrant. So I had my drones do the work of getting this ship back in order."
Tarantulus then pressed a few buttons, turning on the ship's main functions. Once those were online, he checked the status of all the equipment that was required onboard the Nemesis.
"And the drones have done their job well," Tarantulus said triumphantly, "There was no damage to the transwarp drive and the rest of the ship's damage has been completely repaired."
"So if this was an ancient Decepticon ship, how come there are now dead or stasis locked Decepticons here?" Carpenter asked, "I haven't seen any. And why are these controls fitted for our sized hands?"
"Again, that would be the work of my drones," Tarantulus 'smiled', "They're such hard workers."
"So, now I suppose we start the engines?" Carpenter asked.
"Yes," Tarantulus spoke in a triumphant voice, "Thrusters online!"
Outside the Nemesis, Rampage took his robot mode and looked up at the massive ship that 'lay' above him. There was a set of large closed doors in front of him that the track that he had been following led to. The transmetal crab then tapped the doors with one hand.
"I don't got enough missiles to blast through that," Rampage muttered to himself.
"Rampage, come in," Megatron's voice cut in over the radio, "Rampage, what is going on? Have you arrived at the Nemesis yet?"
"Yes," Rampage nodded as he looked to see a large outcropping of raw energon laying around the area and began to walk towards it.
"Is there any sign of Tarantulus's submersible?" Megatron demanded.
"Not outside the Nemesis," Rampage answered as he pulled a shard of energon from the ground, ignoring the pain that the unprocessed energon was bombarding him with, "I think he's already inside."
"Then destroy him you fool," Megatron ordered, "The Maximals have already arrived. I can not allow Tarantulus get the ship into the air and out of the ocean."
Rampage slammed the energon blade into gap between the doors and began to pry an opening that he could fit into. Once he was able to fit through, Rampage dove through the opening and landed hard on the floor of the hanger that he had entered. He found that in opening the doors manually, he had also half filled the room with water, but that wasn't a problem for him.
"No problem," Rampage answered as he began to walk towards a flight of nearby stairs.
"We have a guest," Carpenter commented as she looked at a security screen towards the rear of the bridge area.
"Hm?" Tarantulus asked and walked over to take a look and then saw Rampage leave the hanger into the hallway that would lead him to the turbolift to the bridge, "Megatron regained consciousness sooner then expected."
"That's not Megatron," Carpenter pointed out.
"Yes, but Megatron is the only one who can control Rampage," Tarantulus answered.
Tarantulus then turned to a different set of consoles and deactivated all the turbolifts in the Nemesis, making it impossible for Rampage to use them.
"There," Tarantulus said clapping his hands, "That should buy us enough time for my drones to destroy that crab, or at least weaken him."
"They're still onboard?" Carpenter asked.
"Of course," Tarantulus nodded, "The ones that laid the track for the submersible are quite large. I couldn't have them wandering around where Megatron could easily see and plan for them."
"Ah ha," Carpenter nodded, "The engines are ready to be fired."
"Excellent," Tarantulus answered.
The Ark
"They aren't supposed to look like that, are they?" Rattrap asked as he and Rhinox looked over the Ark's engines.
"No," Rhinox groaned, "It's just as I thought. The Ark's engines were damaged, both from its battle and the crash."
They looked over the scene and it was obvious that parts of the engines appeared singed and others looked like they had been knocked out of place.
"It's fixable though, right?" Rattrap asked.
"If all of the Maximals and Predicons were online as trained mechanics?" Rhinox commented, "If we weren't all too busy fighting one another? If we had an organized spacedock with all the possible tools and replacement parts? Then yes. Here, with as few as we have, we might manage to get the engines to fire… but that won't be enough to even budge the ship."
"Might be enough for us to slide down the mountain," Rattrap mumbled, "Cheetor clears out all the rock above us and we get the engines to give us just a little lurch and we slide down the mountain."
"We don't have the power for that," Rhinox said firmly, "We'll be lucky if we get enough power to register a power reading on a scanner."
"Great, so, we're gonna die?" Rattrap asked.
"Yep," Rhinox sighed, "I don't see how we're gonna get out of this one."
"And how much longer before the other fliers are done in the CR chamber?" Rattrap asked.
"About half an hour," Rhinox answered.
"Do you think they'd stand a chance against the Nemesis?" Rattrap asked, "If we got them all in the air in time?"
"Not a chance," Rhinox shook his head, "It took practically all the Predicons to do damage to the Axalon when were still using that as a base. The Nemesis and the Ark are much more powerful then the Axalon could have ever been."
Rattrap looked down with a defeated look on his face.
The Nemesis
Rampage was knocked off his feet as he suddenly felt the ship shake violently. He was already enraged when he found that the lifts didn't work and was now stuck walking through the ship's long hallways.
"The spider's got the engines working," Rampage grumbled, "I don't have much time."
Rampage took a few more steps as he searched for a flight of stairs to use when a large metal arm came out of nowhere and knocked him back against the far wall. He then looked up to see what looked like one of Tarantulus's drone robots, but it was as big as Rampage was. Tarantulus's face then appeared inside the light dome of the drone.
"I see you've finally found one of my toys to play with," Tarantulus cackled.
The drone then drove its arms down, intending to stab Rampage in the chest. The transmetal crab easily rolled away. Rampage then jumped to his feet and flipped the drone over and ripped its legs off.
"I'm going to kill you, you know that bug face," Rampage growled at Tarantulus's image.
"I highly doubt that," Tarantulus answered, "You don't have the time. The Nemesis is already rising to the surface of the ocean. Soon we will be heading straight for the Ark."
Rampage began to head for the stairway again and saw three more, large robot drones come walking toward him.
"And in regard to my toys," Tarantulus continued, "You might say I'm a collector."
In the air, Optimus, Tigerhawk, and Megatron tried to wait patiently. Megatron's radio link with Rampage had gone into intense static ever since Rampage entered the Nemesis, or at least since they assumed he entered the Nemesis, and the Predicon tyrant had been screaming into his radio ever since.
"Rampage!" Megatron screamed, "Do you hear me? Answer!"
"Let it go, Megatron," Optimus sighed, "The ship's signal itself is probably overpowering your radio signal."
"That could only be the case if Tarantulus has managed to start the Nemesis's engines," Megatron answered, "And that should not be possible. Tarantulus should be destroyed by now."
As Megatron finished speaking, there came a great rumbling noise from below them and the three transformers looked down to see the top of the Nemesis break the surface of the water and raise into the air. All three of them gasped in horror as they watched the massive ship rise before them.
"The Nemesis," Optimus spoke, fear and horror in his voice.
"That crab will pay for this!" Megatron fumed.
Before anyone could say anything, Tarantulus's voice came over a loudspeaker, sounding very surprised for some reason.
"Tigerhawk! My minion! Why are you not fighting the enemy?" Tarantulus roared, "I command you to fight."
"The alien controlled Tigerhawk and the drone you created are no more," Tigerhawk growled defiantly, "The spark of Tigatron now controls Tigerhawk. I am a Maximal, once more."
"A pity," Tarantulus's voice sighed.
On the Nemesis's bridge Tarantulus watched as his three most powerful enemies remained in a hovering position to watch his movements.
"You wanted to see how well the Nemesis works, well, now you've got your chance," Tarantulus cackled to Carpenter, "Now, ready the laser cannons!"
Optimus's optics widened as multiple forward facing laser cannons lifted up and began firing on him, Megatron, Tigerhawk.
"Incoming!" Optimus yelled as he dodged the first couple of shots.
"We've got to destroy his vertical stabilizers," Megatron spoke, pointing to a large fin-like structure that was underneath the bottom of the Nemesis, "Without them he can't hover and will therefore have to do more work to damage to the Ark."
Optimus converted to his vehicle mode and spoke, "I'll see if I can distract Tarantulus while you two destroy his stabilizers, then."
Megatron and Tigerhawk then watched Optimus flew away and up, drawing heavy fire from the Nemesis's main laser cannons. The Maximal commander managed to land a few pot shots against some of the laser cannons, but none were strong enough to do more then through off their aim.
"Come along," Megatron commanded to Tigerhawk, "He won't last long so we must make our shots count."
Megatron then began to fly down toward that fin-like structure with Tigerhawk following behind him. Megatron fired first by spewing out a long blast of fire from his mouth attempting to melt the metal structure where it met the rest of the Nemesis. Tigerhawk meanwhile fired the heavy missiles stored under his wings closer to the exhaust ports of the structure.
On the bridge of the Nemesis, Tarantulus and Carpenter followed the activities of the three transformers. The transmetal tarantula laughed when he saw two laser cannons score hits on Optimus, throwing the Maximal leader back some three hundred feet.
"Damage report on what the other two have done," Tarantulus ordered as he turned to look at Carpenter.
"They have attacked our vertical stabilizers," Carpenter answered, "If it should be destroyed, we can not hover in one place, and neither can we make an easy assent into space. However, the damage they've inflicted is barely noticeable."
Carpenter then pulled up a display that showed the region that Megatron and Tigerhawk were directly attacking.
"Megatron appears to be trying to melt the armor of the stabilizers where it meets the rest of the ship," Carpenter continued, "While Tigerhawk is attacking the exhaust systems."
"I don't want an analysis of what they're doing," Tarantulus growled, "I want the status."
"Nothing serious," Carpenter answered, sounding annoyed, "Megatron needs to raise the metal temperature 3000 degrees before the metal will begin to become 'weak' from the heat, and his first attack only raised the metal's temperature by one degree, and Tigerhawk's missiles have only blown the outer layer of paint off of the exhaust area."
Tarantulus then looked out at the rapidly approaching land.
"We can't afford to hold the risk," Tarantulus answered, "Arm the cluster bombs."
Tigerhawk was preparing to make a second run against the Nemesis's stabilizer exhaust system when he saw a series of compartments open from underneath the ship. Megatron was too busy trying to melt the ship's armor to notice.
"Look out!" Tigerhawk yelled as a series of small bombs fell out of those compartments.
Megatron looked up to only be hit by several of those cluster bombs. Tigerhawk easily avoided the remaining bombs that came his way, but saw that the bombs had knocked Megatron into stasis lock and the dragon transformer was doing a nose dive straight toward the ocean. Knowing that he couldn't just let the Predicon leader die, Tigerhawk sighed and dove toward Megatron's falling form.
"I hope the others are doing better then we are," Tigerhawk sighed as he carried Megatron toward the coast.
The Ark
"Will this work?" Cheetor asked as Rattrap and Rhinox used a set of high powered fusion lasers to melt and fuse some of the rocks that covered the Ark together.
"We don't have any other choice," Rhinox sighed, "The engines are too badly damaged to even consider getting the Ark airborne again. Our only hope is that we can harden the rock over the Ark to a point where it will act as extra armor."
Cheetor then placed another boulder that he had earlier removed when the idea was to move the Ark and then looked off toward the ocean.
"Wouldn't the Sentinel Shield work?" Cheetor asked.
"For a little while," Rhinox sighed, "Possibly longer then it would if this was the Axalon, but the Nemesis is simply to heavily armed. We need to do everything we possibly can to insure that the ship is protected."
"I got a bad feeling about all this," Cheetor spoke in a fearful voice.
The Nemesis
Rampage sighed as he finally was able to climb the stairs. He had been attacked by a least a dozen robotic drones that were at least as big as he was. He had destroyed every drone, and had done some serious damage to the interior of the hull near the stairwell, but the transmetal crab was not to be denied. He would find and destroy Tarantulus.
"I hate that Spider's toys," Rampage grumbled.
His progress however was not going unnoticed. On the bridge, Carpenter continually monitored the crab's progress. He was getting steadily closer to their level on the bridge.
"I don't mean to spoil your fun, Tarantulus," Carpenter commented, "But Rampage has destroyed most of your drones and is nearing our position."
Tarantulus walked over and looked at the screen for a few moments. His good mood disappearing instantly.
"Most of your remaining drones are stuck in a repair program and are fixing the damaged ones that they find," Carpenter reported, "The remaining ones are too small to keep up with Rampage."
"Blast," Tarantulus cursed slamming his fist down, "We'll need to forget about Optimus and Tigerhawk for now. We must make headway to the Ark."
Carpenter nodded and began to enter in the necessary change of course data.
"Also, be prepared to fight," Tarantulus answered and readied his own weapons, "If my drones can not catch up with Rampage we will need to hold him off long enough for the main computers to destroy the Ark."
Outside and on the ground, Tigerhawk and Optimus regrouped as they watched the Nemesis begin to change course. Optimus only sighed at the situation and then looked at the stasis locked Megatron.
"How is he?" Optimus asked after a few moments.
"In stasis lock," Tigerhawk sighed, "I doubt we did any real serious damage to that thing."
Optimus sighed, "Everything is depending now on Rampage then. He may be crazy, but he's smart enough to know that it would be suicidal for him to destroy the Ark."
Tigerhawk then looked and analyzed the Nemesis's current flight pattern. His optics widened when he fully realized which direction the Nemesis was headed in.
"Rampage had better hurry up then," Tigerhawk said urgently, "The Nemesis has increased speed and is now on a direct course with the Ark."
"Well, that's just Prime," Optimus groaned, "We've got to catch up with it."
"You head back to the Ark," Tigerhawk urged, "You are faster then I. You can warn the others and make sure everything is ready to either move or protect the Ark and its occupants. I will try my best to try and slow the Nemesis down."
"Good luck," Optimus spoke with a sigh and then rocketed away in vehicle mode as fast as he could go.
Tigerhawk, meanwhile took off again, leaving Megatron on the ground, and flew as quickly as he could toward the rear of the Nemesis. Once he was within missile range, he armed the missiles stored under his wings and fired on the Nemesis's main engines.
The Nemesis shook from stem to stern under a massive explosion. Tarantulus was thrown off his feet and Carpenter was knocked into console in front of her.
"What the blazes was that?" Tarantulus demanded.
Carpenter checked the damage report screens and her optics narrowed at the report.
"Tigerhawk has landed two missile hits inside the external engine energy vent patterns," Carpenter reported, "Engine power reduced by thirty percent, and we have radiation and coolant leaks throughout the engine areas. Apparently, his missiles set of a chain reaction."
"Are we still functional?" Tarantulus demanded.
"Total power is at seventy percent," Carpenter answered, "Weapons systems are still fully functioning and the transwarp drive will still function, provided we don't push it."
"Better not give that cat a chance to fire again," Tarantulus grumbled, "Deploy seeker missiles. Shoot him out of the sky."
"Roger, that," Carpenter answered and pressed a button near her.
Tigerhawk watched as various compartments along the sides of the Nemesis opened. He then prepared to dodge whatever attack that Tarantulus was preparing to launch at him. He then watched two missiles launch from inside the compartments that had opened. Tigerhawk quickly dove down to avoid them, but quickly saw that they were homing in on his signature. Tigerhawk then frantically dove down and away to try and avoid the missiles, but they continued to follow him and drove him closer and closer to ground level. Eventually they drove him low enough that one of his wings hit a large rock that protruded up from the ground and forced Tigerhawk to trip over his wings and slide along the ground for a few hundred feet. He barely had enough time to raise his wings as a shield to block the missile blow.
The missile explosion did even more damage to Tigerhawk, whose armor was now heavily beaten and a few of his transmetal two feathers were missing.
"This is Tigerhawk to base," Tigerhawk spoke weakly into his radio as the Nemesis continued on, "I've slowed the Nemesis down, but it is still on its way, and I'm now too damaged to continue the fight."
Tigerhawk only got static as a response, and sighed. He then proceeded to begin walking back toward the Ark.
The Ark
Optimus landed to see Rhinox, Rattrap, and Cheetor finished fusing the rocks together above the Ark.
"How are things going?" Rhinox asked.
"Not good," Optimus sighed, "Megatron is currently in stasis lock, and we've lost contact with Rampage. On top of that, our weapons have done virtually nothing to damage the Nemesis."
"Where's Tigerhawk?" Cheetor asked.
"He volunteered to try and slow the Nemesis down while I try and find out what's going on here," Optimus answered, "I've since lost contact with him."
Cheetor looked down, fearful that he'd lost his friend and mentor again.
"That status here isn't much better," Rhinox answered, "The Ark's engines need a space dock to repair them. There is no way we can move it. We've been trying to fuse the rocks together to try and add to the ship's armor and the Sentinel shield, but I don't know how well it will work."
"How much longer till we can get the other flyers online?" Optimus asked.
"A few cycles I suppose," Rhinox replied, "But it will take longer to explain the situation."
Optimus turned back to see the Nemesis on the horizon.
Nemesis
Rampage slowly picked himself up after the ship had finished shaking so violently. Apparently, Megatron and any Maximals that were helping him had landed a fairly significant hit on the Nemesis. He wasn't all that far from the ship's bridge, and was fairly determined to get there. He hadn't seen any more signs of Tarantulus's drones, and was confident that he could easily destroy whoever would be waiting for him on the bridge. He found the main door to it shut when he finally reached that level. Chuckling to himself, Rampage armed his missile launcher.
Focused on preparing to lay siege to the Ark, Tarantulus was startled completely by the sudden explosion of the main doorway behind him. Both he and Carpenter turned to see Rampage enter the bridge.
"Someone order an exterminator?" Rampage questioned.
"No," Tarantulus growled angrily, although some fear was evident and fired all his weapons at the transmetal crab.
Carpenter also fired on him with all her weapons. The attacks did little more then tickle Rampage.
"You call that an arsenal?" Rampage teased and lifted his missile launcher, "This is an arsenal."
Rampage then fired his weapons at both Tarantulus and Carpenter. Both Carpenter and Tarantulus easily dove under the missile fire, but Rampages barrage did succeed in destroying the control panels that controlled the Nemesis, which automatically began to lose altitude as the ship was no longer receiving commands from the bridge.
"You fool!" Tarantulus screamed, "You've killed us all!"
On the ground below them, Optimus and the other Maximals watched the massive Decepticon ship begin to crash toward the Earth. They noticed smoke coming from its bridge area.
"Oh, man, what is going on now?" Rattrap questioned as the Nemesis went over the Ark towards a long range of mountains in the distance.
"My guess," Optimus sighed, "Rampage finally reached the bridge.
All the Maximals then breathed a sigh of relief as the Nemesis disappeared behind the mountain range to the west of the Ark.
Tarantulus struggled to get to his feet as the Nemesis finally came to a stop. There was a pile of metal wreckage all around him, but he soon saw that the Nemesis was still largely in one piece, although now, very heavily damaged. He then saw Carpenter rise out of a different pile of wreckage.
"We're alive," Tarantulus stated in a surprised voice.
"No thanks to you," Carpenter growled, "You led us to defeat. You delayed too long. You relied on those worthless drones and now Rampage has destroyed our only means of destroying Megatron."
"A temporary setback," Tarantulus answered, "Easily recoverable."
"Stupid male," Carpenter retorted.
The rubble then shook beneath them as Rampage emerged in beast mode and quickly grabbed Carpenter in his pincers.
"Don't worry my sweat," Rampage said in a humorous tone, "You needn't worry about his stupidity any longer."
Before Carpenter could argue, Rampage tore the femmebot in half. Tarantulus then began to back away as Rampage turned to advance on him.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you," Rampage laughed and caught one of Tarantulus's legs in his pincers, "In fact you're the main reason I'm here."
Rampage then crushed the one leg in his pincers and began to slowly kill Tarantulus, relishing in the transmetal spider's screams.
Outside Tarantulus's Cave
Meanwhile, Scavenger finally awakened from stasis lock. He looked around to see the area had been heavily scarred by the previous battle between the Maximal and Predicon forces against the Vok invasion force. He also saw a few of his surviving members lying in stasis lock nearby and then looked out over the field. There was no sign of any living Maximal or Predicon in the area.
"Tigerhawk must have won," Scavenger commented as he looked out over the field, "I must get the others back to the Standing Stones. The real campaign against the surviving Maximals and Predicons will begin soon…"
To Be Continued…