Disclaimer: Nooot miiiine. Beast Wars belongs to Hasbro. Now go away. No, wait, I mean, read the story!!
A/N: Phew! Finally! Sorry for the delay but there were exams and… BEAST WARS: THE MOVIE project!!! Which is going really well :D Thanks to everyone who is participating!
Quickstrike's nickname for Inferno is a little wink for someone from the movie forum.
Now, don't you worry, this story is going back to regular updates now that I'm less busy :D.
There's a huge author's note at the end but read it if you like, it explains the dedication.
Chapter ten
Dedicated to Gerry because they could never get her mad enough.
"Hey, Rhinox, Rattrap, we found Silverbolt but Blackarachnia has been kidnapped and…" Cheetor skidded to a halt at the sight of both Rattrap and Rhinox gaping at him.
The rhino was frozen with Rampage's spark gripped in his hand.
"What are you…? NO!"
The cat dashed forward, transforming in mid-stride and snatching the item from the green robot's now limp fingers.
Rattrap finally managed to close his mouth and shake off the shock he had experienced at seeing Cheetor (whom they had imagined dead a few moments ago) bust into the control room at full speed.
"Hey, kiddo, what happened to ya'll? You were gone for ages and we sorta assumed… Rampage had somehow gotten ya." He finished a bit uncertainly.
"He helped us!" Cheetor enunciated hotly, his optics shifting indignantly from the spark in his hand to the two bots exchanging glances.
"Slag." Rhinox muttered and slumped into a chair but immediately jumped up again as Optimus announced his arrival trough the radio.
Nanos later the Maximal commander deposited a rasping Rampage face down on the floor, too tired to carry him further.
He glanced at Rhinox and Rattrap.
"I'm assuming you two panicked."
"Eh… It wasn't like we didn't have a reason to worry!" the rat defended.
"Maybe we should have waited longer." Rhinox admitted apologetically. "I am sorry. But between the possibility that you might be killed because we didn't act fast enough and the possibility of causing Rampage undeserved pain… Well, I'll get him something for the pain. But your death would have been irreversible."
Optimus nodded his understanding. He had to admit he would have probably done the same. He leaned down towards the crab.
"Let me hel- "
Rampage's growl was so feral that the much larger transformer quickly withdrew his hand as if burned. The other three unconsciously took a step back as the red robot slowly pushed himself from the floor with his hands and stood to his full height. Head still bowed, his flaming green optics were barely visible but they were narrowed to slits and glaring dangerously.
Rattrap had drawn his weapon and was pointing it firmly at the crab.
"Eh… fearless leader, mind getting this thing outta here now? 'Cuz it's starting to look like it's gonna bite."
And that was it.
Cold terror gripped the Maximal leader's spark before his teammate had even finished the sentence. He sensed something terrible was about to happen before his mind comprehended it.
"Rattrap!" Optimus shrieked as Rampage moved with lightening speed and tackled the small robot to the floor.
The rat screamed, first with panic and then with pain as a big piece of metal from his shoulder was torn away.
Everything happened incredibly fast.
Rhinox tried to help his friend but a kick from Rampage threw him across the room.
Optimus opened fire but the shots hitting him in the back at such a small distance seemed to only enrage the crab more.
The last of Rattrap's shrieks ended in an ugly gurgle.
Primus, it's over!Flashed trough the ape's processor with a chill so cold it burned.
At that moment Cheetor unfroze and squeezed the spark he was holding with all his might.
At the same time Depth Charge burst into the room, still carrying Silverbolt on his back.
Rampage gave a vicious, alien cry of pain and rage and clawed at his victim one more time before the agony made him roll over and curl into a ball, his own fingers digging an inch into his chest.
For a moment the scene froze.
In a growing dark puddle, Rattrap rasped weakly and spat mech fluid. His throat was torn and he was half dismembered.
It had only been fifteen nanos since he had made his remark.
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"So, what have you boys been up to since I've been gone?"
Blackarachnia had decided that since she was hanging in a cage from the ceiling, it was unlikely she would find anything better to do than talk to her former comrades. It wasn't on her list of favorite things to occupy her time with but she had come to the conclusion that she couldn't escape from the position where she was now. Maybe she could trick these slagheads into releasing her somehow.
Since she didn't have any particular ideas right now she would just have to start talking to them and wing it. She might even learn something valuable while she was here.
"Any new gossip?" she asked again.
"Wazzpinator been shot a lot." The bug shrugged neutrally.
"No kidding." Blackarachnia murmured and wandered for the briefest moment if that wasn't in fact a demonstration of some cunning from the grammatically challenged Predacon. The fact that Waspinator had been shot was the oldest and most unhelpful news in the world and it was almost as if he was rubbing it in her face that there was nothing to milk in this siuation.
But even if it was possible that he wasn't as dumb as he looked, she knew for a fact that the other two were twice as dumb as they looked on a good day.
"We have been protecting the Colony, traitor!" Inferno bellowed predictably and just as unhelpfully.
"We've been plannin' on kickin' some Maximal skidplates, yahoo!" Quickstrike supplied enthusiastically.
"Charming." The Widow rolled her optics.
"Hey, whydya join them Maxies anyway?" Quickstrike asked.
"Because there is only so many times I can here the word 'yeeeesss' before my circuits start shorting."
"It's cuz of that stupid wolf ain't it? I dunno what you saw in 'im! We got better men here in the Predacon's, ain't that right, Flames?"
It took all of Blackarachnia's self control not to burst into hysterics at the image of those two as great womanizers. That is to say, Quickstrike on his own was bad enough but adding Inferno to the picture was just mind-blowingly hilarious!
She coughed, half-chocking behind her pincer and deliberately looked away from the ant's earnest and completely clueless face.
And the strangest thought in the world crossed her mind. Maybe it was brought on by the very suggestion that she may be attracted to Megatron's obsessively loyal second in command. She tried to imagine him in Silverbolt's place just for the fun of it. And she was completely dumbfounded when she realized there was the smallest, weirdest resemblance to Silverbolt in that happily blank expression and the way the Predacon believed in a set of rules and was largely unaware of anything beyond that.
Well, that certainly proved she was loosing it.
Who in their right mind would compare her puppy to a mechfluid-thirsty deranged pyromaniac?
She shook her head.
It was actually the Maximals' fault! She would have never taken the time to analyze these morons before she had spent some time in a faction where everything had to be studied and explained!
"Wazzpinator thinkzz Zpider-femme alwayz been Maximal. Otherwize Wazzpinator don't think Zzpider-femme would fit."
"Very smart, bug eyes, but Dinobot fit with them before me." She countered.
"Huh, fat lot of good that did him!" Quickstrike laughed, causing Blackarachnia to wince.
She didn't feel guilty for helping destroy Dinobot. This was a war and he was a warrior. He had chosen his fate.
But in light of her joining the Maximals, she kind of wished she had called sick that day.
"Raptor-bot didn't fit. That's why Raptor-bot betrayed Maximals. No Predacon fitz there."
Blacharachnia squinted suspiciously at the wasp.
Why was she suddenly paranoid about Waspinator's non-existent intelligence? Well, she couldn't tell if he was doing it on purpose but this conversation wasn't heading in a direction she found pleasant. She bared her fangs.
"Well, you don't fit here either."
The small robot peered at her from the corner.
"Here no one fitz."
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"Is he… going to be all right?" Depth Charge asked.
He was mentally cursing himself. How had it happened? How had he let X hurt another one of his friends?
No more pity. Never again! Ever!
Rhinox looked trough the misty window of the CR chamber. He had been pacing in front of it like crazy. It was frightening to see the always calm rhino so disturbed.
"I've set the CR to the highest parameters just in case. But Rattrap wasn't lethally damaged, he should be fine."
Despite his words though, the technician seemed unable to stand in one place.
They were all much shaken.
It had been close, too close. And even if Rattrap's injuries weren't fatal, the whole situation had been utterly terrifying.
Cheetor had been unable to stop trembling since he had dropped Rampage's spark in Depth Charge's hands like it had burned him.
After Depth Charge and Optimus had dragged Rampage out and Cheetor and Rhinox had been reassured by the reading on the CR that their friend was out of danger, the cat had retreated to his room.
Silverbolt was in the other CR and the ray was hoping these things could repair psychological damage as well. The fuzor had had one too many shocks in the last few mega-cycles.
Optimus was sitting at the table with his head in his hands and for the first time ever Depth Charge actually felt he was in the same boat with his current commander.
This however didn't help the fact that waiting in front of the CR was driving him crazy. He had to get out.
"I'll, er…" he began.
"Go get some rest." Optimus waved him away tiredly. "It's been a horrible day."
The ray nodded and exited the control room.
Normally he would go outside. But this time he was afraid to go and instead felt the urge to stick around and constantly check if everyone was all right. And for once he also really wanted to get back to his quarters and recharge.
It wasn't meant to be.
In the middle of the corridor he suddenly froze.
A faint shout of 'No! Rampage!' could be heard from Cheetor's room.
The Guardian broke into a sprint.
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A/N: *rubs hands* Aren't you just dying to find out what's next? I'm not. Because I know ;P.
This scene with Rattrap brought a few slightly frightening memories that still make me shiver but many good ones as well. In case you were wondering what's up with the dedication, I'll explain it here.
My dog Gery died two winters ago. But while she was still with us and not very sick, my two cats would always attack her. And I mean really attack her! Especially the older one, who is an almost miniature and very fragile Siamese. On top of that, she's a little old.
Now, Gery wasn't a very small dog. Imagine that cat viciously attacking something about five times her size. You're bound to get a reaction. There were certain periods when all of us at home were on edge. We were sure someone would eventually get killed and it would be that bloody cat. These fights were big, noisy, frightening and I was covered in scars from trying to get the three of them apart. Now, my younger cat, Betty I wasn't very worried about. She's a big, tough, black and white streetwise gypsy, not at all easy to hurt (she survived falling from the fourth floor a few times) and on top of that she's generally mild-tempered. She had managed to strike a big friendship with Gery while she was little.
Turandot, the older one though… I love her to death but she's evil. Not so much anymore but she used to be the Spawn of Lucifer. And she's really fragile. Gery could have just snapped her jaws once and broken the little devil's spine.
She never did.
She had scars criss-crossing her nose and years and the worst that ever happened to Turandot was that she would limp slightly from time to time for a day or two.
That puppy was such an angel. You have no idea what a sweet creature she was.
And this one time the fight was really huge and Gery did bite Turandot on the back. And my dad said exactly what Optimus thought: "Well, that's it, it's over."
I. Went. Cold.
And Gery just threw her to the other side of the room.
There was not a single mark on the cat.
Amidst all the fighting and shouts and claws she had picked the little minx with her teeth so gently that she was perfectly intact and just tried to get rid of her.
They just never managed to make her so angry that she would seriously hurt them and I find that amazing.
Gery died of cancer. Turandot is still alive and well and I hope she will be for many, many years yet because, like I said, I love her to pieces. The same goes for Bernadette, that little gypsy ;)
But this whole story is a tribute to one of the kindest creatures I've ever known.
I don't know if all dogs go to heaven but this one definitely did.
To Gery xxx