Dinobot writhed on the ground, still reeling from Inferno's attack. Optimus and Rhinox were on their way, but Rattrap was the first to step out, since he heard the commotion first.
"Where they at, let me at 'em! ...Whoa!" Rattrap dove behind the nearest boulder and tried to make himself as small as possible. The raging fire from Inferno's hell gun had almost roasted the rat.
"Muahahaha, I'm unstoppable! Just give in, fools!" Inferno was on fire, you could say.
"Rattrap!," Kyle yelled out to the Maximal as he was hunched over Sabrina. They hadn't moved from that spot yet. Blackarachnia's rapid fire had kept the two humans pinned down. Although, it's a good thing that the Predacons needed them alive.
Rattrap felt guilty for not being on standby and broke out of his normal cowering. He motioned over to Kyle and Sabrina. "Over here, quick!" He stood up and returned fire with his gun. "Suck on this, Preds!"
"Argh!" Blackarachnia took a round in the shoulder and had to retreat momentarily. This gave the humans enough time to reach where Rattrap was.
Kyle started to run behind the rocks past Dinobot. It seemed cruel to leave him there, but there wasn't much they could do for him. "Jesus H. Christ, they weren't kidding about the war!" Kyle ran as fast as he could.
"Yeah, really!" Sabrina tried to run as fast as Kyle, but she was having trouble catching up.
"Yeah yeah, get a move on!" Rattrap directed them towards the elevator.
"Ngh... You fool... Inferno, he's right...gahh!" Dinobot struggled to warn Rattrap, but it was too late.
Inferno came buzzing from the flank and knocked Rattrap to the ground. "Air superiority! Bawhaha! Blackarachnia, now!"
"Hihiii, with pleasure." Blackarachnia transformed into her beast mode and dashed towards the humans, snatching them both in her web rather quickly. And with that, she swiftly crawled back to her base, dragging the human-loaded web with her. The screams of Kyle and Sabrina could be heard for miles.
"Ugh! Get off me, ya brainless bum!" Rattrap desperately tried to fight Inferno, but he was well aware that he wasn't a match for the fire ant. However, he did have something that would help him... bombs. He quickly took one out of his 'armory' and planted it on Inferno's body.
"Wha...? AHHHHH NO!" Inferno started to franticly fly away. However, that wasn't going to help him... and soon enough, he blow up in mid air.
At this time, both Rhinox and Optimus had finally shown up. They were too late, though.
"NO! They're gone!" Optimus yelled. "We thought something like this would happen." He sighed in a disappointed way and turned to Rhinox. "Help get Dinobot to the CR chamber. Rattrap and I will hunt down Blackarachnia." Without delay, Optimus pulled Rattrap onto his back and used his jets to start flying. "I'm wondering though...how did Megatron find out about them...?"
"Easy there, Dinobot. We'll get you fixed up in no time." Rhinox dragged him to the elevator rather effortlessly. "I hope Optimus can get the humans back. In Megatron's hands, they could be quite dangerous," he said to himself.
"I..gahh...I have failed," Dinobot said weakly as the elevator took both him and Rhinox back up to the base.
Blackarachnia approached the Predacon base. She spotted Megatron waiting for her outside. "I have the hairless apes! Open up, and hurry! We have company." She saw Optimus flying towards the base with Rattrap on his back.
Megatron was already a step ahead, though he liked to believe he was always ahead regardless. "Bring them in, quickly. Don't worry about the Maximals, I'll handle this. Waspinator, Scorponok, over here!"
Waspinator was the first one out. "Bzzzzz, Wazzpinator at your servissss."
Scorponok barreled out in robot mode. "Where are they? Let me at 'em!"He got his answer as Optimus came into view.
"Megatron! I won't let you do what you please with those humans!" Optimus pointed his arm weapon at Megatron.
Waspinator moved to intercept. "It'sssss my time to shine!" He seemed quite happy.
Optimus flew through him like a wrecking ball, and scrapped him into several pieces. "Not today, I'm afraid."
"Yeah! Today, we're crashin' the party, Preds!" Rattrap grinned as he got off Optimus' back.
While lying on the ground, the head of Waspinator said in a depressing tone, "Wazzzpinator never gets to have fun."
Megatron intended to fix the situation. "Megatron, TERRORIZE!" He fired at both Maximals, forcing them to get behind cover quickly.
Scorponok fired a few rounds at them as well. "Come out, Maximals! Looks like there's more than one rat on your team, har har!"
Optimus had to take a risk in defeating Megatron. He charged quickly at the Predacon leader. "Raaahhhh!" He punched him with all the power of a jet-powered fist.
"Argh!" Megatron reeled from the force of the attack straight to the face. "You'll pay for that!" He initiated an epic grapple.
"Return...the humans!" Optimus applied sidewards pressure and broke the stalemate.
"Curses!" Megatron fell back and turned on his comlink. "Terrorsaur, where are you? Get over here, now!" No answer. "...BLAST!"
Using the opportunity, Rattrap shot Scorponok with a few bullets. "Heheh, see ya later, Pred!" He then hurried over to Optimus' side.
Optimus delivered another powerful punch to Megatron. "Let the humans go! They don't belong with you!"
"They're in our possession now, and it will STAY that way." Megatron acquiesced, firing his purple beam at Optimus.
"Gahhhhh!" Optimus was hit directly by that beam. He landed on the ground roughly, but he got back up rather fast. "Megatron...I'm warning you! Let them GO!"
"Yeh, ya heard the boss monkey! Hand 'em over, or else you'll be handed over to Cybertorn in tiny little pieces!" Rattrap pointed his gun at Megatron.
The Predacon leader looked thoughtful in a devious way. Instead of attacking, he said to them, "Tell you what. How about a simple trade? Yes, just a trade and we can stop this foolishness."
Optimus stared at him. "A...trade you say? Hm...I'm not so sure about this. I don't trust you."
"Here is the trade offer. I'll give you back your precious Golden Disk. But in return, we keep the humans." Megatron grinned in a evil way.
Optimus initially moved to deny this proposition. However, while it was a difficult choice, he knew that the full Maximal crew would be able to help get the humans back later. "All right... You have a deal." He reluctantly agreed.
Megatron grinned in his usual disturbing manner. "I knew that you would see the light of reason. I'll go and get the disk now." Megatron no longer needed the golden disk. Everything he needed from it was copied on his computer for later reference...
Back at the Axalon, Optimus and Rattrap were about to report the bad news. Although Optimus was happy to have the stolen golden disk back from Megatron, he had Kyle and Sabrina on his mind during the whole trip back.
Once they were back in the base, Rattrap opened his trap first and filled in the details. "Y'see, monkey-brain over here traded the precious humans for the golden disk."
Cheetor was aghast. "You did WHAT? No, no, no! This is the worst thing that could've happened. They won't survive a cycle in there. We have to go in and get them back! Come on!"
"Wait," Rhinox urged caution. "They outnumber us. Going in there now is reckless."
Optimus chimed in for his own defense. "He's right, Cheetor. I made a tough choice, and I'm not happy about having to do it, but we need to recover our full fighting strength before we can hope to get those two back. Let's just pray that Megatron won't immediately jump to the unpleasantries."
Cheetor would be the hardest to convince. He'd go in there by himself if he had to. "Aw, man... I don't like this."
"None of us do." Optimus continued, "But the sooner we get our full strength, the sooner we'll be able to fight and get them back."
Megatron was now sitting in his floating chair, looking at the two humans standing below him. "Yeeessss. Consider yourselves honored to be part of my master plan. You see, mere animals of flesh and blood have only received my contempt and my teeth before today. However, the Maximals are obviously interested in you. That means that I, too, am interested."
Kyle stared at this bot. "Gee, thanks. How fortunate for us." He couldn't help but think that it was cool that Megatron's beast form was a Tyrannosaurus rex.
"Simpletons. You're not even aware of the gravity of the situation you're in. There is no chance of escape, no. I will do what is necessary to extract all the information contained in those spongy little heads of yours," growled Megatron.
"W-What are you going to do to us?," Sabrina asked, scared.
Megatron looked at the female human. "Oh, nothing much. Just ceaseless torture until you divulge to me the exact layout and vulnerabilities of every nook and cranny of the Maximal base. Speak of nooks and crannies, maybe I should forcibly convert you into Predacon slaves. You can sabotage the enemy base by keeping a low profile. Yeessss, I think I will do just that. But, only after you've told me what I want to know. After all, there's no guarantee that you'll survive the procedure."
The other Predacons were all standing on floating platforms. Just one little mistake could cost them their lives, since there's lava below. That was something Kyle and Sabrina had noticed and feared first upon seeing the Predacon base.
Terrorsaur decided to speak up. "Megatron! What are you doing? Hurry up and get the information, and then kill these worthless insects!"
Waspinator was fully up and running now. And he wasn't happy with what Terrorsaur just said. "Wazzpinator resents being compared to a human!"
"Shut up, bee-brain." Terrorsaur moved his platform over to where Waspinator was.
Megaton roared. "Both of you, OUT! I'm in charge here and I don't want any of you interfering with my plans!"
Terrorsaur and Waspinator both looked disappointed and they took off in their beast modes.
Tarantulas was perhaps too infatuated with the idea of a full stomach to bother listening to anyone. 'Finally...a decent meal has arrived. The Predacon in me wants to use you both for my own agenda, but the spider in me wants to feast on your succulent innards and tasty morsels,' he thought to himself evily. Then, he started to laugh. "Heeheeheee, what should I do? Heehehahahaha!" He was laughing in his mad scientist manner.
Everyone else stared at Tarantulas as they watched the spider laugh uncontrollably.
