Another two-parter heading your way...but if it gets long enough, it may become a three-parter.
Episode 36: Frenemies Part 1
Rampage continued to sulk in his cell with Razorclaw and Divebomb with him. There weren't many mechs in jail so there was rarely in trouble. The more time Rampage spent in the cell, the less he talked which made his friends uncomfortable. He stood at the small window staring out into the sunlight.
"Uh, Rampage, you haven't said anything all morning. You alright?" Razorclaw asked.
"I'm...fine..." Rampage said in mono-tone.
"You sure...I mean...you've been quiet a lot lately." Divebomb said.
"I said I'm fine." Rampage let out a growl.
Just then, an enforcer walked over to their cell and knocked on the bars.
"Rampage, you've been scheduled for therapy." The enforcer told him.
"Therapy? What for?" Rampage came close to the cells bars.
"It's mandatory, I would've taken it if I were you." The enforcer said opening the doors.
Two other enforcers arrived in case Rampage tried anything. But the mech simply let the enforcers place cuffs on him and escort him out of the cell and down the hallway.
"I don't need it, I'm perfectly fine." Rampage scoffed.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Another enforcer said and they laughed at him.
Rampage growled and clenched his cufffed hands into fists. This was ridiculous...why him? He'd much rather be in the cell instead of going to therapy. He was placed in a trailer and hauled off to the home of Perceptor, a scientist and a therapist. His home was modified so that there was a room for the patient to be in...and also a little empty room used to let patients express their anger. Once they got there, Perceptor was waiting outside for him.
"Ah, Rampage...good to see you!" Perceptor said.
"Whatever, I shouldn't be here." Rampage snarled as he was escorted inside and released from the handcuffs.
"Oh I think you must, after all, I have two other mechs in here that you know very well...or at least one of them." Perceptor said as they walk through the house.
"Who?"
"You'll see. Let's just say that hopefully things will be different when you three leave here."
"Why are they here, same as me?"
"If you're talking about anger issues, then one of them has that. The other is mainly because I forced him."
"Bumblebee?"
"Nope."
As Perceptor opened the door to the therapy side of his house...the tension rose quickly and the sense of anger rose.
"YOU!"
"YOU!"
"SCRAP!"
Rampage was shocked to see Depth Charge and Waspinator in the same room together. The doors and windows suddenly locked and guarded by two enforcers. Rampage and Depth Charge locked optics on each other while Waspinator looked between the two.
"I'm trapped with these two?" Waspinator asked Perceptor.
"Yes...I brought you three together to solve your differences." Perceptor said sitting his chair and scooting up to his desk.
"DIFFERENCES!" Rampage, Depth Charge and Waspinator gasped.
"Wazzpinator doesn't even know these two very well." Waspinator complained.
"But you blew like half of Rampage's neighborhood did you not?" Perceptor asked.
"Yes..." Waspinator groaned.
"That's pretty sad." Depth Charge shook his head.
"SO YOU WERE THE ONE?" Rampage growled walking up to the green Predacon.
"It was an accident." Waspinator said nervously.
"ACCIDENT MY RED AFT, YOU NEARLY KILLED PEOPLE! ESPECIALLY ME!" Rampage growled.
"Hey I thought they were empty since they were just lying around the way they were."
"WHY WOULD YOU TOUCH THEM?"
"I planned to use them for target practice since I thought they were empty. THEY WERE LIGHT!" Perceptor growled.
The guards were starting to think this was like a "Jerry Springer" moment minus the romance. Perceptor could see blows were about to come between the two. Waspinator may not have looked like a fighter, but he was honestly way tougher than he looked.
"Wanna take a shot at Waspinator?" Waspinator growled.
"You idiot I could crush you!" Rampage snarled.
But he was taken by surprise when Waspinator delivered a strong right hook knocking Rampage into a guard who held him back. Another guard stepped in grabbing Waspinator. Depth Charge just stood there surprised.
"Guards, escort Depth Charge and Waspinator into the back room." Perceptor ordered.
While they were taken into the other room, Rampage was forced onto a couch and he laid down. Perceptor scooted in his chair close beside him while guards stayed in corners.
"Okay Rampage, I'm going to ask you a few questions...mainly about your childhood and your rivalry with Depth Charge." Perceptor said.
"Okay...ask me. I got nothing else better to do besides beating those two slaggers up." Rampage said laying on his back looking at the ceiling.
"Now just relax your mind and get rid of all that anger. That's the main thing you need to control. Just vent in and out slowly and offline your optics." Perceptor said in a calm tone.
Rampage vented slowly and offlined his optics before resting his hands on his chest.
"Okay...so tell me about life back in your neighborhood when you were younger before Depth Charge." Perceptor said.
"Well...it wasn't easy..."
Many years ago...
Slaughter City...home to some of the most dangerous criminals ever. It made Kaon look like a paradise. Mainly downtown was the worst part...but in Rampage's neighborhood, it was pretty quiet and peaceful. As a little kid, Rampage was born as a wild but grumpy mech who usually stayed to himself. He didn't have a lot of friends and was a victim of insults and beatings by gangs. He started to hide in his house, but his parents wanted him to spend more time outside. They had to take him to the hospital several times because of injuries. He eventually made several best friends named Razorclaw and Divebomb who help to build up his confidence. They took him into their gang of Predacons who agreed to teach him how to fight. One night, the trio were walking down a street.
"Man, I can't wait to do more pranks tomorrow." Razorclaw said.
"I know, I got the best one yet." Divebomb said.
"Hey Rampage, you got any ideas?" Razorclaw asked.
"No...I'm still thinking." Rampage rubbed his chins.
As they rounded a corner, they are stopped by three more mechs who were young criminals and about their height.
"Hey Predacons, you shouldn't be around here!" The leader in the middle sneered.
"We don't see why not. This ain't your turf!" Razorclaw snapped back.
Then the mechs noticed Rampage.
"Rampage? You're finally done running around hiding? Took you long enough!" Another mech said.
Rampage said nothing and growled. These three have beaten him before.
"Look, we're just trying to get home." Rampage said calmly.
"You're not going anywhere." The mechs got in a fighting stance.
Rampage had been taught by the others to try to push the past back...but things just couldn't stay back forever. Deep inside him, a fire had started and was rising up and around his body. All the painful memories of abuse and torture rattled his processor. His optics switched into a dark shade of red. His claws extending slightly, his armor heating up. He strength increased as his energon boiled and his spark pulsed faster. He never thought he would feel such rage...but something had been begging to snap for a few years...that happened to be his mind. He could smell energon and wanted to shed it from these mechs...he wanted to kill.
"Rampage? You alright?" Razorclaw asked.
"Uh-oh!" Divebomb said.
"What's wrong Rampage, you gonna cry?" The criminals teased.
Rampage looked at the leader dead-on with tears slipping down his face.
"No...I'M GONNA KILL!"
Rampage rushed the leader and took a bite out of the mech's neck like a dog.
"AAAAAKKKK!" The leader fell to the ground.
His friends stepped back as Rampage punched in the leader's face and started to rip the mech's head off. Everyone else watched as Rampage savagely killed the leader and energon dripped from Rampage's mouth. It took nearly 10 minutes for Rampage to realize he actually killed him. The leader's friends stared at Rampage in horror, so did Razorclaw and Divebomb.
"Rampage...he's dead." Razorclaw said.
Rampage's face slowly changed from anger, to horror, to happy. He made a big smile and his optics grew.
"I DID IT! I KILLED HIM!" Rampage cheered.
He rubbed the energon from his mouth and stared at the other troublemakers.
"That...felt...amazing. No wonder there is crime on the planet...it makes me feel better. I know what I must do...I must kill everyone who went against me...AND YOU TWO ARE NEXT!" Rampage growled.
The two mechs attempted to run but were grabbed, beaten and killed by the Predacon trio. From that day on, Rampage vowed to get revenge on everyone who had abused him. All of his targets ended up dead and the trio became extremely dangerous. Rampage's mind had been messed up from the beginning...but now it was corrupted with rage and malice...things were going to be different from now on...
PRESENT DAY...
Rampage wiped tears from his optics as he onlined them while Perceptor wrote down a few things.
"Wow...I understand now. The past can be difficult to be rid of for some mechs." Perceptor said.
"Yeah, but they deserved to be killed. And I succeeded in killing all of them. I was done with killing...but that didn't mean I was done torturing others for fun...it's just what most Predacons do." Rampage said.
"Do you still enjoy it?"
"I don't know now...after what happened the night I went to jail...I feel different about it...like...I should stop. I started to think what Bumblebee said was right...that I've gone too far."
"So...nobody could get you to stop years ago?"
"Well there was one person, and that's when I met Depth Charge..."
To be continued in the next episode.
End of episode 36.