Primeval

Chapter 11

The moment Ultra Magnus heard about the incident in the medical bay, he quickly started making his way down there. He would have been there sooner, but his previous wounds from his last Predacon encounter still haunted him, even though it was forever ago since it happened. He expected that the rest of Team Prime made it down there already. The warning from the intercom was shut off, so they either contained the Predacon, or something had gone wrong.

When he arrived in the medical bay, Ultra Magnus saw Knock Out and two other medics standing outside of the operating room when Knock Out had performed the procedure on the female Predacon. They were all looking into the room. Ultra Magnus noticed that some instruments were flung onto the ground. The medics didn't notice him until he came up behind them.

"What happened?" he asked flatly. They all jumped a little and turned around. Knock Out caught his breath when he realized it was just him.

"Ah, sir, yes," he stammered, "We've, uh, been able to get things back under control. There was a slight mishap with the procedure."

Ultra Magnus looked down at the wreckage, "It looks like more than a slight mishap."

Knock Out laughed nervously. He let Ultra Magnus step into the trashed medical bay. At first, he was confused. Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen we standing in the middle of the room looking up at the overhead light. The Predacon, however, was nowhere in sight.

"What happened in here?" he demanded to know. They all looked over at him in surprise.

"Magnus," Arcee started, "We have it under control now. She just went a little wild for a minute."

"I gathered that, but where is she?"

Smokescreen pointed up at the lamp. When Ultra Magnus looked up to see what he meant, he finally understood. Though he couldn't see her entire form, the Predacon's servos and pedes hung over the edge of the lamp. It swung back and forth slightly, and she wouldn't look down at them. He frowned, "What is the meaning of this?"

"You might call it 'firmly resisting the law,'" Bumblebee told him, "After we got some information on Shockwave, she pulled herself back up there and said she wasn't coming down."

"And you've done nothing else?"

"No offense, sir, but I decided long ago that I would never get on her bad side again," said Smokescreen. Ultra Magnus glared at him in annoyance. Without a word, he went over to a control panel next to the exit of the operating room. There was a switch that lowered the overhead lamp when needed. He turned the switch all the way off and let the lamp crash to the floor. Everyone jumped back in surprise, glad that they weren't standing underneath it before. The female Predacon screeched in surprise.

"Well, now she's on my bad side," Ultra Magnus said. Still on her back, the female Predacon looked up at him with a mixed look of humor and anger. She pushed herself off the ground and onto her pedes, turning and walking up to him slowly, her anger somewhat seething. Ultra Magnus was somewhat surprised; he knew that since Predacon males were much taller than Cybertronian males, it would make sense that the females would be taller as well. Still, he wasn't quite expecting her to be just slightly taller than him.

"Bad side?" she asked in a smooth tone, "Oh, sweetspark, if you're going to talk bad sides, I'm all audio receptors. Tell me, is a bad side for you when a pint size bot can't remember every article in the Autobot code, or when you have to smile in order to stop a swarm of Nanocons? I'm always on my bad side, there's never an actual good mood for me. So unless you want to see my worse side, I might suggest not dropping me several feet above the ground!"

Ultra Magnus narrowed his optics at her. He knew from experience that Predaking would know what amount of respect to so, and he would make sure that his followers would do the same. This Predacon, however, completely lacked that kind of respect, and it annoyed him beyond belief.

They glared at each other for what seemed like forever. The threat of an attack felt like it was choking the air. Finally, Bumblebee intervened, "So, uh, Terraclaw, any ideas now about how to find Shockwave?"

Terraclaw turned to him, "I didn't have an idea a few minutes ago and I don't have one now. I may like to think I'm a super computer, but I'm sadly not. However, I do believe that I was promised a one way trip out of here once I was all better."

"Yeah, once you told us how we can find Shockwave," said Bulkhead. She turned to him, "Well, aren't you so good at keeping track of things? Given the fact that I don't have an idea on how to find him yet, and the fact that none of you have an idea either, we can't exactly go anywhere with that. Now, if no one minds, I'll see myself out."

She started to walk out, but Ultra Magnus grabbed her servo with his claw hand. Everyone held their breath in anticipation. Terraclaw looked at Ultra Magnus, smirking, "I'd love to see what you do next. The wait is killing me."

"You knew about the agreement and you're only now telling us that you can't hold up your end of the bargain?" said Ultra Magnus, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you in the stockade right now."

"Because if you do, or at least try to, you'll not only incur my wrath, but that of Predaking as well, or whatever that goon calls himself."

"She has a point, sir," said Arcee. Ultra Magnus looked over at her, and then back at Terraclaw. Reluctantly, he released her servo and tuned to face her.

"Does this mean that you do not intend to help us locate Shockwave?"

"Oh, no," Terraclaw shook her helm, "No, I intend to contribute in any way possible to crush that glitch into rust. But what I'm telling you is that there's nothing I have that could help you find him at present. He's very good at leaving no loose ends when it comes to relocating. All of his computer systems are wiped and every stock of supply is transported out so it looks like there wasn't a spark that stood there."

"Wait, wait," interrupted Smokescreen, "If there are a whole lot more Predacons out there like you said, couldn't we just find them and have them take us to Shockwave?"

"It's not that simple, shorty. Not every Predacon has the privilege of speaking to Shockwave on important matters. You have what are called den masters who oversee entire… wait. Wait."

Terraclaw stopped talking and thought for a moment. Everyone watched her, wanting to know what she meant. A smile suddenly appeared on her faceplate and she went over and picked up a welder.

"Who oversee what?" Knock Out asked impatiently. Terraclaw walked over to an empty wall, "The best ideas and solutions only come two ways: either after a quick vent, or during an explanation. Fortunately, I've had both."

She started drawing something on the wall with the welder. Everyone came around to see what it was.

"You," she pointed at Smokescreen, "What was your name again?"

"Smokescreen."

"Okay, Smokescreen, this is why you can't talk to just any Predacon and expect him to know everything." She drew a square on the wall. "Think of this as a sector somewhere on the planet. It would be someplace that is far from here and completely ruined. When you think about it, that's about every other place outside of this city."

She drew four circles in the square. "Now, think of these as areas where Predacons live together, underground of course. They live in dens, which number four total in each sector. They are assigned different jobs according to size, strength, agility, blah, blah, blah. Those are what you might call 'common Predacons.' Unlike Shockwave's place of work, they don't move around. It's too much work to even try."

Then she drew a Predacon symbol above the square. "Then you have a den master, who looks over the entire sector of Predacons. He makes sure that everyone follows orders, gets enough rations, and is the only one who actually talks to Shockwave. They're often times the more intelligent, or someone who Shockwave feels like he can trust enough to know what he's talking about."

"How many of these sectors are there?" Bumblebee asked. Terraclaw thought for a moment, "There could be about five now, with the rate Shockwave is spewing out new embryos."

"And how many are in each?" asked Arcee. Terraclaw sighed, "Each one could easily hold a hundred, maybe even a hundred and fifty. You see why it's complicated now?"

All helms nodded in agreement. Their hope of finding Shockwave before he could launch a full- scale attack on them was growing more and more faint. Bumblebee thought for a moment, and then looked back at Terraclaw.

"But it's not impossible to find a den master and try to persuade them to help us?" he asked. She shrugged, "Not impossible, but dangerous. I don't know who could be in charge of the new sector, or who Shockwave found to replace the sector I looked over."

"But we could find someone to trust in there?"

She nodded. Bumblebee smirked and looked back at Ultra Magnus, "We could put together teams to search each of these sectors, find whoever is in charge, and get them to lead us to Shockwave. One Predacon and one Autobot, so they know they can trust us and we'll have someone to explain what's going on. Good idea?"

Ultra Magnus looked back at the diagram on the wall, and then nodded, "Excellent plan, soldier. The four of you and myself will pair up with each of the Predacons, in which we will search the planet for these 'dens,' assuming that we can trust whoever is in charge of them."

Terraclaw dropped the welder on the floor, "Great, I gave you a plan, you have a way to stop an attack, now can I leave?"

Ultra Magnus nodded, "We will send you a Ground-Bridge to Darkmount. Arcee, would you show her the way."

Arcee nodded and motioned Terraclaw to follow her. On their way out, Terraclaw looked over at Knock Out and hissed at him. He jumped back in surprise and she laughed. When they were gone, everyone looked back at the diagram. Smokescreen looked at Bumblebee, "Five sectors? A hundred in each? How many warriors do we have now?"

"More than that," replied Bumblebee.

"Then why do you sound so unsure?" asked Bulkhead. He had a point. They had the advantage in numbers, but the total of five hundred Predacons was unsettling, especially since they were still growing. And who was to say that their advantage would be enough, if they didn't find Shockwave in time?


In the lower levels of Darkmount, Predaking and Skylynx were making their way down to the ground level, discussing what Dreadfire had said about finding Energon in the most barren of places, or so he claimed. Predaking walked with his servos clasped behind him and listened to the points Skylynx made, although thorough complaining sounded like a better term at the moment.

"My lord, you can't honestly think that that dimwit would be able to find anything out here. I have spent cycle after cycle searching for the faintest traces of Energon, and what have I found? Barely enough to keep our sparks aflame."

"And you think you are the only capable one of finding Energon among us?"

"I have done my best to provide what I can for you and Darksteel. If I were to make a suggestion, we could look past the borders to see what Energon we could find. It would be out of the Autobots' way, and they would never have to know."

Predaking nodded. It sounded as though that had become their only option now. Before he could add another point, the sound of a Ground-Bridge opening entered his audio receptors. Not far ahead of them, they could see the open green portal swirling. After a moment, a figure stepped through and the portal closed. Predaking didn't recognize the figure at first, but then realized that it was the Predacon femme, Terraclaw. She looked around at the ruins of the fortress and eventually glanced in their direction.

"Room for one?" she called out. Predaking raised his brow as Terraclaw came up to them. She placed her servos on her hips and smirked at him.

"So you're the self-proclaimed leader of the Predacon race?" she mocked, "I figured you'd be taller, and not so old looking."

"How dare you speak to our king in such a manner!" Skylynx snapped. Predaking growled and held his servo in front of Skylynx. He stopped talking immediately and Predaking turned back to Terraclaw. She was still smiling at him, glaring into his optics with a sort of mischievousness. He glared back at her, "From here on out, it does not matter to me what you decide to do or say to the others in your own time, but I am your king, and you will show any amount of respect you can possibly scrap together and muster. Are we clear?"

Terraclaw pursed her lips together and said nothing. The sound of wings flapping echoed behind them. They turned and saw Darksteel flying over toward them. He landed on the ground and transformed into his robot mode. For some reason, he was covered with black splotches. He ran over and quickly bowed.

"Your Highness," he stood up, "You'll never believe this. Me and Dreadfire flew out into the plains and started digging and-"

He stopped when he realized that the third person was Terraclaw. He stared at her with wide optics for a moment, not saying anything. Then he gave her a toothy grin and reached down for her servo.

"At long last, the beautiful femme comes to join her kind. Lovely to meet you," he brought her servo up and kissed the top of it. Terraclaw narrowed her optics at him and smiled back. When he started to lower her servo, she ejected her wrist blade on her arm and held to tip against his neck cables.

"Ah, what the-?!" Darksteel held his servos up as Terraclaw traced the tip of the blade up his throat and under his chin. She clenched her denta and growled, "Keep your filthy paws to yourself. This is the last time I'm gonna be this nice. Got that?"

Darksteel nodded and she released him. He gasped for air, holding his neck cables. Predaking rolled his optics, "What was it you were saying, Darksteel?"

"I, um, uh, well," he stammered, "I-I thought you would want to see this. Me and Dreadfire have been digging for a while in this hole, and we think it could lead to Energon, at least we hope."

"What? How is that possible?" Skylynx said. Predaking looked out at the horizon, and then back at Darksteel. "Show me."

Darksteel transformed into his beast mode and took off into the air. Predaking, Skylynx and Terraclaw did the same and followed him to where he and Dreadfire had been digging. The hole now was wider and looked deeper, and the dirt pile adjacent to it was larger as well. The Predacons all landed near the edges of the hole and transformed into their robot modes.

"Well, you've certainly been busy," said Terraclaw, examining the hole. Predaking walked over to the dirt pile. He had never seen material such as this on Cybertron before. It looked and felt organic, such as that found on Earth. He scooped up some in his servo and felt it between his digits. This dirt was gray and felt somewhat slimy. He looked back over at the hole and saw Dreadfire climbing up to the edge, covered in the same dirt as Darksteel was.

"So, what have you idiots been up to?" Terraclaw said as Dreadfire hoisted himself to his pedes. When he realized that she was there, he ran over and picked her up in the air, laughing and hugging tightly.

"Okay! Okay!" Terraclaw squeaked, "Nice to see you too! No more hugging, please!"

Dreadfire nodded and set her back on her pedes. He turned back to the hole he'd been digging in, "Check it out! We found a hot spot in the middle of the field. You can just smell the Energon from down there!"

Predaking walked over to him, "I do not understand. Explain this to me."

Terraclaw looked up at him, "It's simple, really. If you dig deep enough, sometimes you can find an Energon spring, completely unnoticeable until you get close enough."

"We don't know how big it could be," added Darksteel, "But maybe we won't have to scrounge anymore."

"Is this true?" Predaking turned back to Dreadfire and Terraclaw. Dreadfire looked back at the hole, "Only one way to find out."

He transformed into his beast mode and leaped back into the hole. They heard a thump as he landed on the bottom and started digging again. It was dark, so they couldn't see what was happening, but after only a few minutes, they heard a screech and the sound of transforming. In no time, Dreadfire popped back up at the edge in his robot mode, only this time, he was covered in both gray dirt and a blue gooey substance. He had a big grin on his faceplate, "It started leaking right from the side. It's filling up the bottom too!"

Predaking kneeled down and brushed some of the goo off of Dreadfire with his servo. He felt it between his digits, and tasted it with his glossa. It tasted different than what he was used to, more electrified and less concentrated. But no matter. The taste caused a smirk to appear on his faceplate. They finally had their own Energon well.

"Yes!" Darksteel jumped in the air like an excited sparkling, and pulled Skylynx up to his pedes to join him. Terraclaw helped Dreadfire up and shook his arm excitedly. They whooped and cheered in victory. Predaking stood up and looked down in the well. Sure enough, a faint blue glow could be seen at the bottom, rising very slowly. His expression suddenly became stern.

"Alright, now wait!" he shouted. They stopped cheering and looked over at him in confusion. He pointed at each of them, "Not one word of this to the Autobots, is that understood?"

They looked at the well and then back at him, nodding in agreement.

You know those moments when just one scene or line absolutely prevents you from writing? I really hate those moments.

Thank you those who have kept up with this. I've also been wrapped up with news about Robots in Disguise coming in March, and waiting for months is just making the anticipation worse. My current wishes for the show is that Thunderhoof has a mafia-Al Capone voice and that Will Friedle makes his Bumblebee-as-a-kid voice sound like his Ron Stoppable voice. And maybe Sideswipe and Knock Out can have a Glamor-Off :)

Upcoming chapters of this story are gonna be pretty important, so just bear with me! Thanks again and leave a review!