Beast Wars REBIRTH
VOULUME 2
Chapter 22: Old Friends, New Enemies
Saddleback's death hit home hard. Even those who hardly knew her were unsettled by the news of the first death in their history.
The funeral, though touching, was very unsettling. No one knew quite how to handle it, especially when Dragonstail was spotted.
It was two days before he gave up her body. They didn't even know if she was alive or not. As far as anyone knew, he hid away for that long, willing for her to come online again. When he finally came to terms with what he had done, he contacted Greyback. He had said that he knew where she was. When Greyback arrived at the coordinates the stallion gave him, he wasn't in a good mood at all. Jagna was still only just recovering in the repair bay, and despite his 'professional capacity', he would have liked to tear him apart.
He arrived to a solemn sight. Saddleback had been laid on her back with her arms crossed over each other under her favourite tree, looking peaceful and rested. Her body, when hit by the weapon, was disfigured, but Dragonstail had done well to repair it, or at least make her look like her old self. Greyback wasn't convinced she was…he could hardly bring himself to think about it. He went up to her and kneeled down carefully, and placed a hand on her face. She was cold as ice. He looked up, having heard something, but saw no one. What he did see, something he hadn't noticed up until that point, was the weapon that killed her…destroyed.
Little did he know that Dragonstail was watching close by to make sure his mate's body was treated properly.
Greyback had then called for back-up to escort him back to base. The last thing anyone wanted was a Predacon attack at this point. Hopefully, even they would have had decency enough to respect their loss.
When they arrived, everyone fell silent. Their footsteps echoed through the cove of Pangaea One, sending chills down everyone's spinal panes. Jagna, with the help of Cheetor, came to meet them, and when she saw Saddleback, she quickly turned away. She didn't remember what happened after they fell; only the horrible notion that something was wrong as the mare landed on her, when she couldn't detect a spark pulse.
Preparations would have begun straight away if Greyback, as acting leader with Jagna out of action, hadn't sent out a search party for a few Maximals that had gone looking for Dragonstail. Among them were Slapstix, Quickstep and Sunset, the mare's closest friends. The Maximal lieutenant harshly explained that it was brash, irrational and stupid, as well as an insult to her memory just days after her death.
Not only that, but the Maximals faced a brand new threat: Megatron. Optimus, Rattrap, Rhinox and Cheetor were stunned at Jagna's retelling when she was strong enough to speak.
"I won't be doing anything for a while…" she said hoarsely to the group, including Greyback and Skylark. "Optimus, you know better than anyone what kind of danger this malevolent metalhead can cause. I'm placing you as second-in-command. Promise me you'll do all you can to…" She began to trail off as she got weaker. Optimus placed a finger on her arm, and nodded.
"I promise."
Greyback was thus in charge, but he took it on with a heavy heart. One of his teammates had died, his leader-and-partner was in a critical state, and he had a funeral to arrange. Not the best way to start out. But everyone assured him of their confidence in his leadership.
And so, after a relatively quiet week or so, Jagna was almost back to her normal self to attend the ceremony. Almost. She now had a very basic prosthetic left arm that didn't match the rest of her body. Not even the repair chambers on the Hercules could have fixed that kind of damage. They did, however, salvage her hand, so she was not completely unidextrous.
It took place just before sunset. Rhinox had told them that the cremating stand still stood near where the Axalon once was. He did not say why it was there, just that it was. It was difficult to think that it would be used again.
Her body was laid carefully on top, and when it was activated it lifted her gracefully into the air and span, slowly and hypnotically. That was when Dragonstail arrived.
All bases were left on high auto-alert, so that every single Maximal could attend. Some had not seen each other for decacycles, but the occasion did not permit happy reunions. One person spotted a dark figure looming over a rocky outcrop several hundred yards away. Then another bot spotted it and another and so on. Thought at first to be a Predacon, a few weapons were drawn. Even when they discovered who it was, guns were still at the ready.
Slapstix was the first to head towards him, but Skylark held his arm to stop him.
"Leave him," she said quietly, tightening her grip on his arm. "He should be here."
"He doesn't deserve to be here," Slapstix snarled back, wrenching his arm away. "I don't care how you look at it, he's the one who fired the gun, he's the one who killed her!"
Skylark nodded solemnly, "But he's also the one who destroyed the weapon and gave her back to us. They were mates, and he knew the right thing to do…" She tried her best to comfort the seal, but he was having none of it.
"The right thing to do would have been to shoot himself," he said bitterly. She grabbed his arm again, only tighter and angrier.
"These things happen," she hissed. "No matter what we try to do or tell ourselves, no one deserves anything like that. So don't you dare think that way. Do you understand me?" He had never seen her so stern and assertive, so he lowered his head, and continued to mourn, occasionally casting his gaze over to the stallion.
Saddleback's body was lifted higher and higher into the air. The glare of the sun was bright, and it shone off her like a crystal. The serene blue energy particles began to engulf her completely. A procession of flying Maximals took their places. All at once, they took to the air and circled over the device, gracefully swooping in and out of each other, releasing a trail of petals that disintegrated when they landed near her body.
That was the cue. With heavy hearts, Jagna placed a hand on a dial on one side of the device and Greyback took the other. Together, they turned them, and the process completed itself.
The blue particles swarmed peacefully around the fallen Maximal, and she disappeared, transforming into the most glorious golden stars. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, trying to get a last look itself, and its rays caused the stars to dance joyously as they ascended into the atmosphere.
Every Maximal stood to attention and saluted as the gold star-like entities came together and formed into her spark. It lingered for a moment, and made its way upwards. Then it took a detour no one expected.
As if drawn by a magnet, it went in Dragonstail's direction. It stopped next to his face where his tears were illuminated by an eerie blue glow. Then it moved on, past the planet's atmosphere, past the boundaries of space, time and being. A large shimmer of spark energy indicated its completed journey to the Matrix. At one with those who had been and will be.
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…
A rift appeared in the fabric of space. A small jettison craft plummeted its way out of the anomaly and down towards a blue and green marble. The occupants were hurriedly trying to control their vessel as it cascaded out of control.
"Thrusters at maximum!"
"There are no thrusters on an escape pod!"
"Well, there should be!"
The outer layers of the pod began to glow bright white.
"Hold on to your skidplates, we're coming in for a landing!"
Across the planet, detection radars went crazy. The scanners at Pangaea One, Two and Porta Magma were the first to pick up the incoming ship's signal, followed by the small outposts dotted across the grids. But no one heard their alarms, for the signal was lost once the pod broke through the atmospheric layer.
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…
Jagna stood in the repair bay, brooding and facing away from the door. She had been staring at her new arm for nearly a megacycle now, pondering its price: a Maximal life. She did not know if Saddleback had tried to save her or to stop Dragonstail, but either way she was gone now.
Plates of slightly rusted steel covered the damaged parts of her cheek, a chunk of her left shoulder was gone, as well as her entire left arm, and so was replaced by a rough steel skeleton. Rhinox and Skylark had bit-by-bit been building it up, so there were wires wrapped around the frame, and there was different coloured plating here and there. The only thing left of it was her hand, reattaching which seemed more painful than having it blown off. The complex circuit rewiring took several megacycles, and the only reason Jagna allowed that time to be wasted on her hand was because she was out cold. Snaky buggers. But she was grateful nonetheless.
She resented being restricted to this dismally confining chamber. In fact, it was the first time in a long time she had been given orders. But the medics were insistent, and she wouldn't be much good to anyone. It gave her time to recover, but it also gave her plenty of time to regret.
She heard a knock on the door. When she didn't respond, Optimus' voice asked, "Can I come in?"
She shrugged, and he did so. He walked into her peripheral vision, and stood for a while to see if she would look his way. When she didn't, he slowly sat down within her line of sight.
"I came to see how you were doing," he said tentatively, observing her closely.
She huffed, clenching her shabby new fist and finally taking her eyes off it. "Well, I'm doing fine…" she replied, strolling over towards Optimus but stopping halfway. She was about to continue, but her posture collapsed with a deep arduous sigh.
"Jagna…" Optimus began slowly and tenderly, leaning forward, "you can't blame yourself for what happened. Trust me, I know what you're going through."
She shook her head and laughed painfully. Optimus cocked his head when she began to speak. "You don't…"
"Jag, please don't assume…" Optimus began in a more defensive tone.
"I'm not," she interrupted, turning her left side away from him so only her good eye could see him, "You were close to the friends you lost, weren't you?" When he nodded, she continued, "That's the problem. This has never happened to us before. Saddleback was so quiet, so reserved. She's gone now, and…" She struggled with the next sentence, "…and I barely knew her…"
Her voice started to break and she turned away quickly, and Optimus got up slowly.
"What kind of a leader am I to…"
Primal walked decisively over to her, placed a finger on her shoulder and turned her to face him.
"You are one of the most capable leaders I have ever met," he assured her firmly, "You have an enormous crew, and quite difficult some of them. I don't think I could ever handle it. But you're still only one bot. I'm sure they all know what you'd do for them. I certainly do…"
He had gradually gotten down to his knees so that he could face her eye to eye. When he finished, they exchanged eye contact for a small while. Eventually she hung her head.
"Thank you…"
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…
Meanwhile, Porta Magma had never been so quiet. All the Predacons were now eyeing each other with suspicion. They had heard of this Megatron character briefly before, but no one knew much about him. And no one knew who apart from Dragonstail could have possibly leaked information to him.
Except Steelclaw.
Ever since the incident at the canyon, the coyote had been more on edge than ever before. He was insisting on longer scout and monitor duties, and always insisted that someone be with him, but he was always specific. He made sure it was a different unit each time, and because he was so engrossed in the latest events, Arachnikahn paid no notice and simply said yes to his drone.
Today, it was Xaphron who was on duty with him in Grid Targon. She had been watching him very closely for the past few decacycles, even more so in the last few days.
As he clambered uphill through a pine forest, the fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet, he could feel her buzzing uncomfortably close to him. Inevitably, he turned around and she nearly flew into him.
"What?!" he barked the buzzing of her long wings ringing in his brain.
Her large insect eyes remained intently focused on him. "You know something…" she said suspiciously.
"Yeah, I know I'm getting' really slaggin' ticked off by my current scouting buddy," he retorted with a snarl, turning on his heel to continue. But she zoomed in front of him to block his path.
"You've never wanted a scouting buddy before," she continued, hovering strangely still, her wings glistening in the dusk light. "Either your hiding something for your own purpose, or someone's making you…"
Suddenly he Terrorised and grabbed they insect around the throat, she choked as a response, her wings flailing madly against his strong grip.
"How dare you even suggest that I'm so weak as to be cowering behind trees!" he snarled, his red optics practically on fire, "I don't answer to anyone, got me?!"
"Anyone but me…" Gammatron's voice echoed through the pine leaves. After a brief moment of pure terror, Steelclaw threw Xaphron to the ground and began to run. Unfortunately, he ran straight into the komodo.
"My, my, my, leaving so soon?" Gammatron asked in a singsong tone, "I haven't even introduced you to the family…"
"W-what family?" the coyote stuttered, petrified.
"You'll be seeing them in due course. In the meantime, explain yourself," he said, pointing to the crumpled mass of dragonfly he had left on the floor.
A thought suddenly occurred to Steelclaw. "Yeah…she's been bugging me about this for a while now…" He gritted his teeth as his brain mulled through his thoughts, "And I told her…and she wants in."
"In?"
"She wants to help you guys in…whatever it is you're doing!"
Gammatron stared at the much smaller Predacon suspiciously. Eventually he walked slowly over to Xaphron, who was beginning to come round.
"What possible use could she…" he began, but when he turned around Steelclaw had already pelted away down the steep hill. Gammatron grumbled and shook his head. "Cretin," he said darkly, "I'll deal with you later."
Xaphron finally stirred. She must have blacked out, she thought. As she rubbed her head, she saw two feet standing in front of her. They were not Steelclaw's. She looked up.
"You! Xaphron, Terrorise!"
Before she could completely transform, Gammatron grabbed her throat as easily as snatching a twig from a dying tree. This was certainly not her day.
"I hear you might be interested in assisting me, dear Xaphy," Gammatron began in his most charming voice. But she wasn't having it.
"Of all the Preds, I never would have thought…"
"Yes, that was the point," he answered a little impatiently, "Besides, a wretched little insect such as yourself, I'm surprised you suspected anything at all."
"I happen to be very observant," she snarled back, her wings twitching. "And I'm not helping you, traitor!"
"Ha. Traitor. I've never truly been under Arachnikahn's rule. There is so much to which you are misinformed, my dear. Especially regarding your precious leader…" He narrowed his optics and looked directly into hers. Then he realised something. "But then…you've never much cared for him, have you? I doubt you've even enjoyed being a Predacon?"
He must have caught her out, judging by her stunned silence.
"Well, whatever I believe, I'm still not helping you!" she yelled defiantly.
"Well then, perhaps a brief audience with my brother will convince you otherwise," he threatened menacingly, "He is very persuasive…" As he reached out to grab her, a shot hit his hand. The reptile growled and turned to see who had dared to fire at him. Then another shot hit him again, and again, and again, from all directions above him.
Eventually, having frozen with fear for a few seconds, Xaphron joined in the firing. Gammatron growled even deeper, but because of the surprisingly accurate onslaught of missiles he was forced to retreat.
Just as suddenly as the firing had started it stopped, but before she could get her bearings Xaphron was grabbed again, but this time pulled up into the trees. Before she could make a noise, however, a hand placed itself in front of her mouth to stifle her voice. But it wasn't an aggressive hand. Besides, its owner (she presumed) had helped her…
She managed to turn around, and staring back at her were two huge purple buy eyes.
"Who are you?!" she yelped, freeing her mandibles.
"Shhh! Fellow buggy bot need keep quiet!" said Waspinator in a hushed tone. "Wazzzpinator help you; Wazzpinator know Megatron, know Tarantulas too. Follow Wazzpinator!"
Elsewhere, Steelclaw had finally stopped running and had now slumped himself against a tree, panting.
This was madness. All of it.
After several minutes of simply staying still, his mind was finally allowed to think. He was caught in between two very powerful forces: Kahn, who he knew was powerful; and Gammatron and his mystery guest…who knew how powerful they were? He couldn't simply assume that they weren't, otherwise they wouldn't have got this far.
Then there was the Maximal traitor. No one had seen him for ages. He was certainly not welcome amongst the Predacons, and he had been rejected by his own kind.
Now Xaphron knew. That only left Antiquitora, who must have been helping Gammtron with…
At last it occurred to him. He was alone in this, but not entirely. He knew things about everyone. And knowledge is power…
"Oh yeah…" he snickered to himself, "I could definitely see an upside to this…"
He chuckled, and his laugh echoed across the hillside throughout the empty pine forest.
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…
Greyback sat in Jagna's chambers while she was refined to the recovery quarters, going through the reports from the day. Holy slag, did she have a lot of work to do. As he stared wide eyed at the buzzing reading screens, he couldn't imagine doing this every day. Perhaps he should just be happy with his lot and stay lieutenant, at least for a little while longer.
Suddenly there was a very urgent knock on the door, and he nearly fell off the chair. He couldn't remember how to open the door from the desk, he scrambled up and towards the door.
When he opened it he suddenly found himself on his back fro the force of the impact.
"Bounder?!" he yelled with difficulty as the trembling hare lay right on top of his chest, "What the heck?"
"Sorry," Bounder mumbled awkwardly as he clambered off and helped Greyback to his feet, "I just got a report, Sunset's scouting group hasn't reported in…"
"And?" the wolf replied, still a little angry from shock.
Bounder stared at him, dumbfounded. "…I think they've gone after Dragonstail. He was spotted near that area…"
Greyback sighed heavily, "Not again," he muttered, rubbing his temple. "We can't make any assumptions."
He instructed Bounder to return to the control centre with him. When they arrived, a small number of Maximals were dotted about the monitors. He spotted who he was looking for, and ran through the instructions in his head.
"Cheetor!" he called. The cat swung around in surprise.
"What, me?"
"No, I meant the Cheetor next to you…" Greyback answered sarcastically. He smacked his head when Cheetor actually looked around, but continued, "I want you to take Bounder, Sleek and Streakhorn and close in on Sunset's scouting group, make sure they're alright. And make sure they don't get into any trouble."
Still rather astounded, Cheetor nodded, and hesitantly looked about to see if the others were following him out. As they left, Greyback sighed and shook his head, hoping his faith in the eager young Maximal was well rooted.
He'll be fine…I hope…
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Outside, Cheetor's mind was buzzing. What was he expected to do, exactly?
But despite his busy head, his eyes managed to wander in Sleek's direction. Her name suited her, he thought. She was graceful, elegant…and very beautiful. He had spoken to her a few times, and each time ended up sounding like a fool. Before they began their mission, he thought he would establish a good start. He instructed Bounder to scout ahead and report back in a few cycles. That was one down, now to get Sleek alone…
While he braced himself, Sleek was deep in conversation with Streakhorn about the current situation.
"I really hoped they wouldn't do anything like this again," she was saying, while Streakhorn appeared to be listening, "I mean, I understand they're angry, they were her friends, but this isn't…are you even listening?" She noticed that the gazelle's gaze drifted past her head, her arms were folded and she was squinting at something. "Hon?" Sleek asked, slowly waving a hand in front of her, "What are you looking at?"
"He's looking at you again…" she growled, glaring at Cheetor. The swan subtly looked behind her, and when she caught the cat's eye, he shuffled and quickly looked away.
Sleek laughed lightly, "Oh, he makes me laugh…" Streakhorn remained unconvinced and continued to squint darkly. The swan placed a reassuring shoulder on her shoulder and caught eye contact. "How many times am I going to have to tell you, there's no need for you to…"
"Um, Sleek?" came Cheetor's voice from behind as he tapped her on the shoulder, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Sleek attempted to keep a straight face as Cheetor led her away, and as he did Streakhorn tensed up and her squint turned into a scowl.
"So…" Cheetor began, feigning casual confidence.
"So…" Sleek repeated, as plain faced as they come.
"So, yeah, I um, I gotta lead this thing…" he said shakily, leaning against the wall of the mountain as suavely as he could.
"Mhm, congratulations," the flyer replied. Stumped and expecting more of a response, Cheetor coughed and scratched the back of his neck. Inside, she was laughing, but was very good at keeping a straight face. She knew it was mean, but watching him writhe was absolutely precious.
After a series of well calculated moves, Cheetor continued, "So how you been? Haven't seen you around lately."
"Yeah, I've been around P Two, mostly," she answered.
"Well, it's nice seeing you now…" Cheetor, as subtly as a flying mallet on fire, put his hand on the wall next her and leaned in closer. Consequently, she leaned back in response.
Seeing this, Streakhorn was about ready to scream. Just as she was about to march up to Cheetor, Bounder caught her arm and said, "All clear, we can go on ahead…You ok?" he added, curious at her raged expression.
Still sneering somewhat in the others' direction, she said simply, "Fine. Let's get going…"
"Uh, what about them?" Bounder asked confusedly as Streakhorn dragged him away.
"They'll catch up…" she growled, not looking back.
Meanwhile, Cheetor inched closer and closer and Sleek leaned back further and further. Eventually, when his optics slowly flickered shut she slipped away subtly. About 10 seconds later Cheetor activated his optics with a very confused look on his face.
"Come on, speed demon, catch up!" Sleek cried from the air, having transformed and taken off. As she flew off to follow Streakhorn and Bounder, Cheetor slammed his head against the mountain wall.
"AAAARGH!"
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…
Sunset quietly prowled the foot of the mountain range, sniffing every inch of the ground carefully. She picked up several small mammals, a few birds here and there, until she finally found the one she was looking for.
"He's been here…" she said darkly. Behind her, Quickstep came to her and Slapstix brought up the rear in robot mode (as he couldn't even hope to manage as a seal this far inland).
"You're sure you just wanna talk to him?" Quickstep asked nervously.
"Of course…" Sunset answered absentmindedly, now sniffing the air to follow the scent.
"It's just…" the meerkat continued, twitching her nose and darting her head on almost every direction, "I don't want things to get out of control you know? But then, he might want to kill us too….oh Primus, what if that weapon he left was just a fake? What if…"
Slapstix patted her back assuringly, "Now, now, don't let your imagine run away with you again. You're being paranoid…again…" he added.
She looked at him for a brief moment. "…That's it? No pun, no badly timed joke?"
He shook his head. "I'm not in the mood…"
Quickstep then realised; she had never seen him like this before. He was always in the mood for a laugh. Always. Whether appropriate or not. She had been focusing too much on what hey were doing to realise how this had affected him. He was very close to Saddleback, in fact she was his first real friend.
She tenderly placed a paw on his arm. He nodded to her, and gestured they should carry on, as Sunset was already ahead of them.
Meanwhile, not far from their position, a herd of wild horses grazed the plains. They each happily chose their patch and stuck to it, heads bents and mouths busy chewing. One slightly larger stallion stood out from the rest at the edge of the group. His head was lowered to the ground, but he was not grazing. Instead he looked over to a pair of horses. One stallion had led his mare to the greenest patch in the field, and as a gesture of thanks she nuzzled his neck.
Dragonstail's spark sank, and he moped away, hooves dragging in the soil.
The ground began to rumble. He pricked up his ears and shook out his mane. He recognised that sound. It sounded like a stampede. He turned around and sure enough the rest of the herd was cantering in his direction. Hurriedly he looked either side of him. There was a clearing to the left, and he darted for it. The herd shot past him as such a panicky speed, he wondered what could possibly have set them off.
He soon got his answer.
A pair of razor sharp claws dug into his back. He reared up, flailing his front legs and pounding his back hooves into the ground, trying to throw his assailant off him.
Eventually he lost his balance and landed on his back, partially crushing his passenger. But it wasn't flesh and bones he heard crunching beneath him.
He rolled over and saw who it was.
"Sunset?" he gasped as she lay motionless where he fell on here. "Are you…?"
"Raah!"
All of a sudden another set of claws was on him, only smaller and not so sharp. Then another body wrapped its arms around his neck. He managed to turn his head enough to see that it was Quickstep and Slapstix.
Panicking, he started bucking frantically. As soon as she was awake, Sunset rejoined the fray. Claws dug into his back, neck and sides, Dragonstail ran. He ran as fast as he could in no particular direction, bucking all the way. Occasionally someone would lose their balance, but clambered back on using his mane or tail.
His neighs of panic carried a long distance, and were picked up by Bounder's sharp ears nearly four cliks away.
"Oh slag…" e quickly sent a communication to Cheetor saying, "I think they found him."
Cheetor immediately replied asking where they might have been, and as soon as Bounder told him he said, "Right, meet me there. I'm faster, I'll get there first. Contact Sleek and Streakhorn and bring them to my position. Now get going!"
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…
Back at the plain, Dragonstail was still bucking, but he had started imploring the three youngsters to get off. Either they didn't hear him or were ignoring him completely, for they continued. He finally resorted to slamming himself into rocks, for they were actually starting to damage him. There were rips in his coats and wires were exposed in several places.
At last, when he felt his strength leaving him and his knees started to buckle, a loud roar echoed through the valley.
Something leapt at Sunset, tackling her to the ground. It was Cheetor.
"What do you think you're doing?" he screamed at the white female.
"Get off me Cheetor!" she screamed back.
"This is no way to do things!" he scorned, having pinned her firmly to the ground.
But suddenly, a brown blur of fur leaped at Quickstep from the other side. Steelclaw. He snarled at her with his yellow stained teeth, but she kicked him off. He transformed and fired at the Maximals. Cheetor quickly got off Sunset and Maximised himself, growling in battle stance.
"Hello again, kitty cat!" cooed Steelclaw, "Ready for me to pound you again?"
Without responding, Cheetor lunged in the coyote's direction at top speed, forcing them both into the ground.
Despite what was happening, Slapstix remained wrapped tightly around Dragonstail's neck. He was squeezing so hard the stallion was having trouble breathing.
"Stix!" shouted Quickstep, having finally got up, "We gotta help Cheetor, stop it!"
He held on. Not knowing what to do, she transformed and ran at Slapstix, pleading him to let go.
Sunset had finally come to her senses and now faced off against Steelclaw with Cheetor.
"Give me your hand," he instructed.
"What?"
"Just do it!" he ordered again. She complied, and with a winking signal he tossed her towards the Predacon. She slid under his legs and kicked him from behind.
While she kept him busy, he sent a silent message to each of his field Maximals. The only ones who didn't seem to hear it were Quickstep and Slapstix.
"You kids think you got a chance?" Steelclaw sneered, "Quit wastin' my time, I'm not in the mood for babysitting…"
"Yeah?" Cheetor retorted, straightening his stance to a more confident one. "Alright then, I guess you win…"
Steelclaw (and Sunset) gave him a stunned stare. "What?"
"You're right, I don't stand a chance. Come get me."
Before taking a chance to consider what the cat was up to, Steelclaw made a lunge for him.
"NOW!" shouted Cheetor.
From above, Sleek bomb-dropped Streakhorn, who transformed in midair and fired on the Predacon while her flying companion joined. From behind, Sunset began an onslaught of rapid fire, and Bounder came from a hidden burrow hole, throwing himself at Steelclaw before he got to Cheetor.
For the final step, Cheetor took Steelclaw by the throat and hurled him aside. The Predacon landed in a crumpled heap, and the Maximals gave each other congratulatory cheers.
Amongst their celebrations, however, Steelclaw stirred and noticed the three remaining Maximals: Quickstep and Slapstix still entwined in a struggle with Dragonstail. He seized this opportunity to get what he came for. Immediately he fired in their direction, first hitting Quickstep, then Slapstix. Once the seal fell off him, Dragonstail transformed to face Steelclaw, but he too was shot down.
At last, the rest of the Maximals noticed the new fray and rushed to aid their comrades. They arrived to see Steelclaw grinning maniacally at them with the stallion mech over his shoulder.
"I'll be saying sayonara…for now…"
And at that, Steelclaw ran off into the distance, cackling as he went.
"No," Cheetor ordered as Sleek and Sunset attempted to follow them. "We need to get back to base. Now."
Slowly, they made their way home. On the journey, the older units kept a close watch on Sunset, Quickstep and Slapstix.
"You guys have a lot of explaining to do…"
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Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.
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