Beast Wars: Symmetries

Armor of the Sentinel Pt 2

Cheetor and Silverbolt both stood still, nervously anticipating what Tarantulas would do next.

"Heh heh hee!" Tarantulas giggled.

Finally, Cheetor had had enough. He rushed forward, transforming to beast mode. With his jets activated, he soared into Tarantulas, slashing him across the side with his claws before landing and turning around.

Tarantulas looked down on the wound made across his side. In a matter of moments it was sealed up again.

"Ready to try your luck again?" he beckoned Cheetor with one hand.

Snarling, Cheetor attacked Tarantulas with several waves of punches. Just as quickly, Tarantulas dodged the punches, bobbing from left to right as Cheetor launched his furious attack.

Striking back, Tarantulas caught one of Cheetor's punches with an open hand, squeezing down on it and holding it in place. In reaction, Cheetor threw a punch with his other arm, which Tarantulas caught as well.

"The fusion with Sentinel and the Darkspark has made me practically invulnerable," Tarantulas explained to Cheetor.

From above, Silverbolt flew down grabbing Tarantulas from behind with a chokehold.

"Oh, you want to get in on the action too?" Tarantulas sneered.

Several spider legs erupted from the Predacon's back, lifting Silverbolt into the air.

"Agh!" cried Silverbolt.

With miniature pinchers, the spider legs clutched onto Silverbolt's body and threw him off.

From his side, Tarantulas materialized two extra pair of arms which he used to begin pounding Cheetor mercilessly in the stomach and chest.

The young Maximal howled in pain as Tarantulas laid in several heavy blows into him. Finally, the Predacon stopped and struck Cheetor aside with one of the spider legs from his back.

"Tarantulas!" cried Silverbolt, rushing towards his enemy once again.

"You again, Fido?" Tarantulas mocked.

He pointed his hand at Silverbolt. From his wrists emerged a small short burst of cyber-venom webbing. The webbing enveloped itself around the fuzor's ankles, tying him down and tripping him, causing Silverbolt to fall down chin-first on the floor.

"And stay down," Tarantulas snorted.

From behind Tarantulas, Cheetor slammed into him and sent him stumbling forward.

"Annoying feline!" Tarantulas fumed.

Tarantulas launched three of the liquid metal spider legs from his back. Cheetor dodged all three of the attacks and grabbed onto a forth leg which narrowly missed him. Using his natural limberness, Cheetor swung up, catching Tarantulas in the chin with both legs. Before Tarantulas could stumble back, Cheetor maintained his grip on that leg and swung Tarantulas' whole body over his head, bringing the Predacon spider back-first onto the floor.

"Ack!" Tarantulas sputtered.

"Had enough?" Cheetor smiled, allowing himself a moment of overconfidence.

"Hardly," Tarantulas replied.

Before the cat knew what hit him, Tarantulas unleashed a powerful dose of webbing which covered Cheetor's eyes with the flick of a wrist.

"Aaagh!" cried Cheetor.

Tarantulas lifted himself into the air with both hands and planted both feet into Cheetor's chest, kicking him down. Cheetor howled and got back up, ripping off the webbing on his eyes. A murderous glint now filled his optics.

Now much more nimble than ever, Tarantulas somersaulted over Cheetor, webbing him from behind. With a tug, he yanked Cheetor back, whirling him around in a circle before throwing him directly into a large tree.

Cheetor grunted in pain as he hit the tree but before he could move, Tarantulas shot several strands of cyber-venom web onto him, effectively webbing him to the tree. The strands of webbing were stronger than steel, giving Cheetor a difficult time in breaking out.

"Now for Silverb—"

Before Tarantulas could finish what he was about to say, Blackarachnia swung down from the trees and kicked him, sending him flying back.

"I was hoping to see you again, widow," Tarantulas stood up, dusting himself off.

Blackarachnia responded by shooting three cyber-venom darts into the chest of Tarantulas.

"Good to see you too, legs," she said sarcastically. "Hate the new look."

Tarantulas used one hand to brush off the darts she had shot into him. The cyber-venom in those weapons had barely made an impact on him. Whatever chemical properties they contained were absorbed into his new system without so much as a scratch.

He was glad the widow was here. There had been a lot that had gone unsaid between them and he was happy to clear it up here and now, especially if it involved tormenting the wretched female arachnid.

Taking a step back, Blackarachnia was incredulous.

"I pumped enough cyber-venom in that to take out a gestalt!" she pointed out. "You should be snoozing by now!"

"Foolish widow!" Tarantulas pointed out both arms and shot two strings of webbing past her, latching on to a log sitting on the forest floor.

With a strong tug, he pulled the log forward and slammed it right into her back, knocking her down.

As Blackarachnia tried to get up, this time Tarantulas webbed both her claws together.

"This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me!" Tarantulas told her.

He grabbed onto his webbing and pulled, slamming Blackarachnia into a nearby tree where Cheetor had been tied up. This time too he webbed Blackarachnia up.

"Beloved, no!" Silverbolt cried.

At this point Cheetor was still chewing his way through the webbing that Tarantulas had encircled him with. Had his ears been deceiving him? Did Silverbolt really call Blackarachnia that? Just what in the slag was going on between them?

"When will you ever stay down!" Tarantulas howled.

Again and again, Tarantulas laid into Silverbolt with heavy punches until Silverbolt sank down to both knees. Tarantulas grabbed Silverbolt by the head and yanked it back.

"What did you call her?" he demanded.

"Do not lay a finger on Blackarachnia, fiend!" growled Silverbolt.

"Hmph!" Tarantulas snorted, punching Silverbolt in the face again and again.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and a burst from Cheetor's gun struck Tarantulas in the back and knocked him away from Silverbolt.

"Get away from him gruesome," Cheetor warned.

Blackarachnia, too, was free as Tarantulas noted. They both had their guns trained on him. How quaint it was that former enemies were teaming up against him now. It was most definitely a humorous sight to behold.

"I've got to be going for now," Tarantulas told them. "But don't fret. I'll be back."

With that, Tarantulas shot webbing into one of the overhead trees and launched himself in the air. As he landed on a tree branch, he leaped up again, this time far above the clearing where a rocket packet appeared on his back, granting him the ability of flight. The Predacon scientist flew off as the remaining two Maximal and one Predacon looked on.

"Well, toodles," Blackarachnia waved at Silverbolt and Cheetor. She shot some of her own webbing into the trees and vanished in a flash.

Now only Cheetor and Silverbolt were left. The other Maximals at the moment were still unconscious. There were so many things Cheetor wanted to ask Silverbolt but his mind could only process one thing which he could put into speech.

"Beloved, huh?" Cheetor stared at Silverbolt.

"I…" Silverbolt didn't know what to say.

"How long has this been going on?" demanded Cheetor.

Silverbolt stared at the other Maximals. They were slowly beginning to become conscious again. He had little time to explain.

"Please Cheetor," begged Silverbolt. "Do not tell the others!"

Cheetor hesitated before answering. Now he was aware that something indeed was occurring between Blackarachnia and Silverbolt. While the length of such a relationship was unknown to him, he was planning on exacting all the answers from the fuzor later.

"Fine," Cheetor replied.

"Thank you Cheetor," Silverbolt breathed more easily.

"But you owe me an explanation later in private!" Cheetor whispered to Silverbolt, staring at him intently.

"Yes of course," agreed Silverbolt.

Cheetor walked away from Silverbolt to help the other Maximals up.

Before joining Cheetor, Silverbolt glanced up into the sky. Sighing deeply, he joined Cheetor.


"Predacons, assemble before me in the main hall," Megatron's voice boomed across the speakers.

Scorponok, Terrorsaur, Waspinator, Ravage, and Thrust put down their cards. For the past hour they had been engaged in an intense bout of poker.

"Wonder what that's for," Terrorsaur shrugged.

"Whatever it is, we should check it out," insisted Scorponok.

"You guys go ahead and go," Terrorsaur told them. "I'll catch up with you later."

From behind Terrorsaur, an enormous hand grabbed him around the neck.

"We go now," Strika insisted.

"Yes ma'am," Terrorsaur croaked.

Dinobot and Obsidian stood there, watching the others, looking for any signs of disloyalty or mutiny.

"Anyone else wish to disobey Megatron's orders?" asked Obsidian.

Not a single Predacon in the room had any objections.


"Everything has gone perfectly…" Tarantulas mused. "New armor, new powers, and even new lab."

The Predacon scientist glanced around at his gleaming new lair, one which Sentinel himself had furnished. Of course, there was always the chance that Sentinel would try to come back, perhaps hacking into the lab equipment itself. Which was why Tarantulas had to spend quite a while virus-proofing the computers and inspecting each and every one of the equipment to ensure that Sentinel would not return.

And now he was finished. Doing so was almost like spring cleaning for him. Not one machine had been left unturned. Sentinel always did have that nasty habit of reappearing every time he was destroyed.

"Now, I wonder what I should do now," Tarantulas stroked his chin.

One particular plan he had in mind was the destruction of Megatron. Though he had tried and failed in the past, this time there was a fair chance he could succeed, considering the power of the new armor he possessed.

Return my body to me at once!

Tarantulas blinked.

Return me to my body or suffer the consequences!

He had always considered himself a bit crazy, but never before in his life had Tarantulas heard voices in his mind. Even he wasn't that screwed up in the head.

Then he recognized it. Sentinel had not shut down and transferred his memories into another computer. Sentinel was still here, residing in his body.

"Sentinel, is that you?" Tarantulas held back some laughter.

Affirmative. You shall return my body to me or be destroyed.

"Then it begs the question," asked Tarantulas. "Why haven't you killed me yet?"

No reply.

"Could it be that you're incapable of such an act?" Tarantulas pressed on. "Could it be that you're helpless in this state?"

You will relinquish the body you have stolen from me, Tarantulas. That is all.

All Sentinel could do at this point was to speak directly to the spider. There was not much more he could accomplish. Tarantulas had full control of the body.

"That's a good Sentinel," Tarantulas cooed. "You just stay back there all comfy and cozy in the back of my subconscious and I'll do all the work."

Sentinel said nothing more.


"Silverbolt…" Cheetor looked up.

"Cheetor…" Silverbolt stood passively.

Silverbolt had just entered into Cheetor's chambers. Originally Cheetor had never stated exactly when or where they would meet up but Silverbolt thought it best that he find Cheetor and tell his side of the tale. The sooner the better... He was not sure how long his conscience would be able to last hiding the truth.

"I am here to state the truth," announced Silverbolt.

"Go ahead," Cheetor replied, not knowing what else to say in this awkward moment.

"You are probably wondering about my current relationship with Blackarachnia," Silverbolt began.

"Yeah, guess I was," Cheetor looked down.

"I guess you could say it began during one of my adventures in the European continent," explained Silverbolt. "I had just foiled one of Tarantulas' plans. In that battle, I was severely weakened and had it not been for Blackarachnia, I might have perished."

"Whoa," Cheetor's ears perked up. "You mean she saved you?"

"Yes, that would be factually correct."

"So you two just hit it off like that?"

"It was a difficult process at first," admitted Silverbolt. "But eventually I came to trust in her and she in me."

"Wow, just wow," Cheetor shook his head. "I never thought you and Blackarachnia of all people…"

"I love her dearly," Silverbolt said. "You must see that."

Cheetor blinked. "I can definitely see that. But you know Optimus ain't gonna like finding out you're head over heels for a Pred."

"I realize that," confessed Silverbolt. "Please Cheetor, I will eventually tell the truth of my relationship with her to the rest of the Maximals. Until then, I must ask you to promise not to tell a soul."

"Fine," Cheetor agreed.

"Thank you Cheetor," Silverbolt was relieved.

"But I'm warning you," Cheetor cautioned. "If she hurts any of my friends, I won't hesitate to shred some Pred."

Silverbolt bristled. He did not like hearing Cheetor threatening his beloved. Though in some ways he could see where the cat was coming from. Still, a threat against Blackarachnia was still not something to be taken lightly.

"I understand," Silverbolt replied. "But know that if that time comes, I will do what I must do to protect her."

"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Cheetor tensed up as well.

Before a full-out brawl could erupt between the two, Cheetor's door slid open to reveal Rattrap.

"Yo Cheets! Bolts!" Rattrap called. "C'mere, got something on the news you gotta see."

"Meanwhile, this mysterious new creature continues to wreak havoc downtown in Crimson City," the news reporter announced. "What he is and where he came from remains unknown!"

"Well that's just Prime," Optimus scowled.

On the TV, the image of a creature wrecking the city was projected across the airwaves. It was Tarantulas on all fours, running like a wild animal, destroying almost everything in sight. Crowds of people fled from the carnage in frenzied masses.

"Hah hah hah hah hah!" Tarantulas laughed, lifting up an entire bus with both arms.

"Whoa, is that Tarantulas?" Cheetor ran up, followed up by Silverbolt.

Another explosion rocked the background. Slowly, Tarantulas turned his glance towards the reporters.

"Uh oh," the anchor gulped.

Several spider legs erupted from Tarantulas' back, impaling the camera instantly and cutting off the channel. Now the only thing left on the television was static.

"Get ready Maximals," Optimus ordered.


"Look at how these humans run!" laughed Tarantulas. "Bwahahaha!"

He sliced through several traffic lights with his spider-legs and leaped across the buildings, clinging to the walls. Opening his mouth, he spat a gob of acid towards a fuel station's pump, destroying it in a ball of flames.

Then he landed neatly on both feet, taking great relish in the destruction he had caused.

From the distance, he could hear the sound of jets.

"Hmm, my spider sense is tingling," Tarantulas turned around.

Above him were the Maximals. Rhinox rode aboard Optimus Primal's surfboard while Silverbolt carried Rattrap with him. The first to attack was Cheetor, leaping down at him in robot mode.

Tarantulas launched two of his spider-legs at Cheetor but the Maximal blocked both of them with his forearms, punching Tarantulas across the jaw viciously.

Stumbling back, Tarantulas held his now-broken jaw. With a quick snap, he jolted it back into its proper position. In anger, he swiped at Cheetor with one spider-leg on his back but Cheetor caught it and gripped it tightly, swinging Tarantulas right into the side of a building. Rapidly recovering from the attack, Tarantulas grabbed onto the young Maximal with four additional spider-legs and did the same, slamming Cheetor into another side of that same building.

Then he lifted Cheetor up, throwing him right into statue of a marble lion. Cheetor smashed through the lion, smashing it to pieces. Just as Cheetor got up, however, Tarantulas leaped on top of him, biting down on his shoulder with his powerful incisors.

"Aaaahhh!" screamed Cheetor.

Just as Tarantulas released his grip, Cheetor slammed the back of his head into Tarantulas's face, knocking him off.

"Cheetor!" shouted Rhinox.

Both Rhinox and Optimus attacked Tarantulas at once but the spider grabbed both of them with his spider-legs and threw them in separate directions.

"What did you do to me?" demanded Cheetor, getting up woozily.

"My bite now contains a toxic dose of cyber-venom," explained Tarantulas. "Don't be surprised if you pass out soon."

With his remaining strength, Cheetor lunged at Tarantulas. The spider merely struck the now dazed Maximal across the face with an open hand, knocking him down.

From the side, Optimus tackled Tarantulas but Tarantulas kicked him off, right into the side of a van. Optimus leaped up to avoid one of the spider-legs striking him and held on to a street lamp, taking out his gun and firing a shot.

The shot struck Tarantulas on his chest but did not take him down. In anger, Tarantulas grabbed onto a nearby abandoned motorcycle with two of his spider-legs and threw it at Optimus, knocking Optimus to the floor. As Primal got back up, Tarantulas grabbed onto a pickup truck and hurled it, slamming Optimus into the pawn shop behind him.

Several more shots were fired at him by Rattrap and Rhinox. Tarantulas flipped through the shots and landed in between them. With one uppercut he sent Rhinox flying back and knocked Rattrap on his back with a single sweep kick.

Silverbolt flew down but Tarantulas avoided him by stepping to the side. He aimed both hands and fired a web strand which tied Silverbolt's legs together. Yanking down, Tarantulas brought Silverbolt onto the concrete.

"Agh!" shouted Silverbolt.

Quickly, Tarantulas leaped over Silverbolt, webbing together both his wings as he did so. Then he proceeded to web up the rest of the fuzor's body, minus his head.

"You will not escape justice, fiend!" growled Silverbolt.

Tarantulas responded by kicking Silverbolt aside with one foot. Silverbolt rolled across the ground until he hit a street sign. Sensing immediate danger, he rolled to the side just in time before the razor-sharp legs on Tarantulas' back stabbed him. This had the fortunate side effect on cutting loose the webbing ensnared around his body.

The fuzor rolled back to his feet and hurled two wing daggers at Tarantulas. They struck Tarantulas directly in the chest, hitting their target.

Indifferently the Predacon looked down at the two wing daggers embedded in his chest and arm. Pinchers emerged from the spider legs on his back and yanked them off.

"Was that supposed to stop me?" Tarantulas asked.

Tarantulas fired a strand of webbing which sailed past Silverbolt. As it latched on to a mailbox planted on the ground, Tarantulas yanked back, pulling the mailbox off its hinges. The large metal object sailed right into Silverbolt's back, knocking him down.

Silverbolt struggled to get up by Tarantulas grabbed onto the mailbox this time with both hands.

"You canines always did like to chase mailmen," Tarantulas joked. "Why don't you play fetch then?"

With that, he smashed the mailbox right on top of Silverbolt's head, bringing him down.

"Urgh…" groaned the barely conscious Silverbolt.

Tarantulas looked around the battlefield. All his enemies now lay in a heap. There was nothing stopping him from killing all of them. But then, he didn't want to just yet. What he wanted was to further humiliate them and subject them to degradations of this scale in the future. It was the least he could do to pay back the Maximals for all their past victories over him.

He grabbed Silverbolt by the collar and lifted him up with one hand.

"I could end it here if I want to," Tarantulas told Silverbolt. "But I want you to remember this occasion. Because there's going to be more where that came from… a lot more."

Silverbolt grabbed on to the leg which held him up. Without Tarantulas even realizing it, he planted a small tracer on him. It was so small that it was barely detectable. And considering the beating he had inflicted on Silverbolt, Tarantulas seemingly had every right to gloat without concern.

Throwing Silverbolt down, Tarantulas fired webbing into the skyscrapers and swung away into the distance.

It took several minutes before the Maximals began to recover from their injuries. Some of them, by virtue of being Transmetal, began to heal faster than others.

"Well that went well," Rhinox rubbed his shoulders. Tarantulas' attack had nearly done them all in.

"Tell me about it," Rattrap agreed.

Optimus went over to Rhinox to help him up. Cheetor did the same for Silverbolt.

"What'll we do now?" asked Cheetor. "Tarantulas is still on the loose."

Devoid of warning, a news van suddenly arrived on the scene.

"Looks like we've got bigger problems to worry about right now," pointed out Rhinox. "We don't want to make it on the Channel Eight news."

"Maximals fall back," Optimus commanded.

He transformed to flight mode and helped Rhinox onto his surf board.

"My wing… it's been broken," Silverbolt proclaimed.

"I'll carry you and Rattrap," offered Cheetor.

"No time," Rattrap told him. "You take 'Bolts. I'll meet you guys back at base. I know this city pretty well."

"Agreed," stated Optimus. "Remember not to let anyone see you, Rattrap."

"I know these alleyways like the back of my head," Rattrap transformed to beast mode and scampered off into the darkest corner of the alley.

Before the news crew could even come out, Optimus and Cheetor flew off with Silverbolt and Rhinox in tow.

Just as the reporters were looking around with their cameras, Rattrap sneaked a quick glance at them before leaping over the fence of the alleyway and disappearing into the shadows.


Of all the Predacons present for Megatron's summoning, only three of them were eagerly anticipating the Predacon commander's words.

Dinobot, Obsidian, and Scorponok stood attentively, awaiting what Megatron would say with great relish.

What Obsidian and Scorponok anticipated most was the chance of a promotion. For all his faithful years of service, Scorponok had never once doubted Megatron. Every day he stood by to obey his master's will. In his spark of sparks, he knew that his leader was the last hope for Predacon-kind.

Obsidian, on the other hand, was different. Before his reprogramming he had already been a military commander of the highest caliber. Obedience was practically programmed into his every circuitry. He was not obedient out of personal feelings. He served the highest power there was, ensuring that every duty was carried out to its fullest. There was no room for sloppiness or laziness in his world. Megatron represented the potential to fulfill that perfect world of unity and order. And it was the duty of Obsidian, to carry it out.

Dinobot was something different altogether. He said nothing but loyalty shown directly through his own optics. He was a 'bot of many talents and if he ever wanted to, he could easily command the loyalty of these Predacons for his own ends. But such a thought was abhorrent to him. He was bound by honor to serve Megatron, the one who helped give him life.

"At ease Predacons," Megatron lowered his hands.

Ever since Megatron's return, the Predacon team had been augmented considerably. In addition, they had become far more professional, like an actual army or regimented militia should be.

Looking up towards Megatron, Scorponok recalled a time back when the Predacon team had been nothing but a bickering faction with little cohesiveness or unity. Those times were over, however, and he wanted nothing more than for those previous times to stay where they belonged, in the past.

"I call you before me today to announce something," Megatron told them.

Eagerly, the rest of the Predacons waited for him to continue.

"I seek a new second-in-command," he told them.

Already, looks of ambition appeared on a few of them. Terrorsaur, Tankorr, Thrust, and Ravage in particular appeared rather restless.

"But I cannot determine who is worthy," Megatron continued. "Unless of course I put you to the test."

"I agree!" Strika humbled herself. "What is your command?"

"The examination is simple," Megatron informed the Predacons. "Soon I will be holding a tournament. The winner shall become my sub-commander."

Apprehension cut through the room as the Predacons glared at one another. Almost all of them were willing to put their life and limb on the line to achieve such a status. And almost none of them would back down from such a challenge.

"Prepare yourselves Predacons," ordered Megatron. "That is all."

Megatron turned around and retreated into his chambers.

Looking around at each other, the remaining Predacons said nothing and went their separate ways.


"Remember how Tarantulas fused with Sentinel?" asked Rhinox.

The Maximal scientist poured a small test tube of chemicals into a larger vat. He was conducting experiments on the properties of liquid metal, from a sparkles protoform they had recovered from a long time ago.

"Yes, have you found a weakness?" inquired Optimus.

"Perhaps," Rhinox nodded. "But I'll need to conduct further steps on the alloy of this protoform. I think I might have a way of separating Tarantulas from Sentinel. This viral compound may be the solution."

"While Tarantulas was unaware, I was able to plant a tracer on him," Silverbolt announced, taking out a hand-held scanner. "With this we should be able to track him to whatever cave the spider crawled from."

"Good thinking Silverbolt," Optimus patted the fuzor on the back. "Our best chance right now is to take the fight to Tarantulas."

"I'm with Optimus," Cheetor pounded both fists together. "It's payback time."

"Don't get in over 'yer head kid," Rattrap reminded Cheetor. "Tarantulas is tougher than ever and it's gonna take more than fistfights to bring 'im down."

"You saying I can't do the job?" demanded Cheetor.

"Kid, all five of us together couldn't bring 'im down," Rattrap replied. "Whaddya expect?"

"I can take him down all on my own!" Cheetor got in Rattrap's face. "Just you watch!"

"Cheetor, enough!" Optimus got between them.

He waited a while for the two Maximals to calm down. Finally, Cheetor took a deep sigh and turned away. After a few seconds, he looked back again.

"Sorry Optimus," Cheetor apologized. "Just got carried away."

"That's the understatement of the year," Rattrap muttered when he was certain Cheetor and the others wouldn't hear him.

"Okay, got it!" Rhinox appeared before them with a new device.

"This carrier virus should be able to infect Tarantulas' new body," Rhinox explained, "weakening it enough so that Sentinel is separated from the host."

"How do we pass it on to Tarantulas?" asked Optimus. "That's the hard part."

"We'll need the element of surprise," Rhinox replied.

Naturally, the Maximals looked towards Rattrap.

"I'm 'yer bot!" the small Maximal declared.

"I can carry it out!" protested Cheetor.

"Cheetor, this mission requires stealth," Optimus tried to explain.

"I can do stealth!" Cheetor declared in a manner which was far from humble.

Both Silverbolt and Rhinox looked at Cheetor with a glance which bordered on incredulity.

"All those in favor of Rattrap?" Optimus raised a hand.

"Aye!" Rhinox and Silverbolt both raised their hands.

"Heh!" Rattrap snorted at Cheetor. "Face it kiddo, ya can't just barge into everything with both fists swinging."

"Whatever, Ratface," Cheetor muttered.

As the Maximals began to head out, Silverbolt lingered behind a bit. He turned on his com-link.

"Hey Silverbolt, what're you doing now?"

It was Blackarachnia. Her timing couldn't have been worse, especially now that they were about to go on a mission. While he was hesitant to tell her, Silverbolt had never been one for lying to her either.

"I am afraid you have caught me at a bad time," began Silverbolt.


After having snuck into the new lair of Tarantulas, the Maximals peered in from behind the wall.

Rattrap had disabled the security systems with the aid of Rhinox. As tedious as it was, it needed to be done to avoid detection.

In view was Tarantulas, sitting on his chair. Judging from the loud snores, it was safe to say that he had dozed off. Now was the perfect opportunity to strike.

"Are you ready, Rattrap?" whispered Rhinox.

"Yeah," Rattrap agreed.

"I still think I should be given this mission," Cheetor crossed both arms.

"Don't get your servos in a wad," Rattrap glared at Cheetor.

"Remember to be careful," Optimus reminded him. "If this is successful, we can permanently split Sentinel from Tarantulas."

Rattrap nodded. "Stealth mode."

Switching his gears to the espionage programming implemented into his core consciousness, Rattrap quickly put a stop to the grinding joint movements of his body. This was absolutely required for the mission since they would need absolute silence to accomplish their goals.

Tiptoeing carefully, Rattrap slowly made his way towards the sleeping Tarantulas.

Anxiously, Silverbolt, Optimus, Rhinox, and Cheetor looked on. Now Rattrap was within range of the spider.

Though they had already disabled the alarms in the lab, there was still one thing they had no counted on. Tarantulas was still wearing a living suit of armor.

Tarantulas you fool! Wake up! The enemy is at your gates!

Tarantulas snorted and leaped out of his seat.

"Shut up Sentinel!" he shouted. "Can't you see I'm trying to get my beauty sleep?"

Then he saw Rattrap in front of him with a syringe. The Maximal rodent's mouth was gaping open, shocked that Tarantulas had woken up, just like that. With no time to waste, Rattrap stabbed at Tarantulas with the syringe, intending to pump the spider full of the virus Rhinox had made. Hastily, Tarantulas averted the needle and grabbed Rattrap by the wrist, twisting it hard enough so that Rattrap yelped in pain and let go of the viral carrier.

Tarantulas grabbed the carrier and hurled it into the wall, causing it to splatter. Their last hope of removing Sentinel from the Predacon scientist was now gone. Angrily, Tarantulas grabbed Rattrap by the neck and tossed him into the monitor.

"You thought you could get the drop on me?" Tarantulas shouted.

Sensing that their moment of opportunity had passed, all the Maximals rushed out to attack Tarantulas.

"Fools," Tarantulas muttered.

Rapidly, two strands of webbing erupted from his wrists and latched on to Rhinox. Tarantulas yanked back and sent Rhinox sailing towards himself. But before Rhinox's body could hit him, Tarantulas arched his body back as his knees slid across the ground, causing the Maximal rhino to fly right into Rattrap. As the two crashed into one another, Tarantulas let go of the webbing he had attached to Rhinox and turned to his remaining opponents.

Silverbolt was next. The fuzor fired two wing missiles at him but Tarantulas leaped up, avoiding both in mid-air. Two more missiles followed up which Tarantulas avoided. One of them hit the wall behind them but Tarantulas grabbed the other with the webbing on his hands and swung frontwards, sending it back to Silverbolt.

Just in the nick of time, Silverbolt raised one of his own wings to protect himself but the shot struck him nonetheless. A small explosion sent Silverbolt crashing to the floor.

Optimus was next. He swung at Tarantulas with his mace again and again. Each time, Tarantulas dodged the strikes and avoided them all. In return, he blocked one of Primal's blows with an open hand and fired a small bolt of webbing into Optimus Primal's face, blocking his line of vision. As Silverbolt got up, Tarantulas back flipped into the air between both Maximals. During the middle of his flip, he fired strands of webbings at both of them. Then he criss-crossed both arms, sending both the Maximal leader and knight smashing into one another.

From the shadows, Cheetor watched carefully, plotting out his next step. Near his feet he saw a medium-sized sewer lid. Picking it up, he made his appearance by leaping out and throwing it right at Tarantulas' head. Fortunately for his heightened agility and senses, Tarantulas leaped side-ways in the air to avoid it. As he did so, one of the spider legs shot out through his back, catching the lid in mid-air. As Tarantulas landed one more, the spider leg hurled the lid right back at Cheetor, catching him right in the mid-section.

"Agh!" shouted Cheetor, falling on his back.

As Tarantulas moved in on the fallen cheetah, he heard a gust of wind from behind him. Twisting just enough to the side, he moved out of the way just as Blackarachnia launched a flying side-kick towards his chest. He shot a strand of webbing at her, latching on to her back.

Swinging in a circular motion, Tarantulas threw Blackarachnia into some heavy machinery.

"Don't you ever learn, witch?" Tarantulas laughed. "Hahahah!"

Blackarachnia ignored the throbbing pain and got up. She and the Maximals surrounded Tarantulas in a circular position.

"Listen up Maximals," Blackarachnia announced to them. "I don't like you and I'll gladly slag you the first chance I get. But I'm here with a vendetta against Tarantulas so let's play nice for now, shall we?"

Optimus look at her hesitantly.

"Alright," he agreed. "First we'll have to separate Sentinel from Tarantulas. Rhinox, do you have Plan B ready?"

"Got it," Rhinox confirmed. "But separating them is gonna be the hard part."

"Five Maximals and a traitor!" Tarantulas shouted. "This is going to be fun indeed! Ha ha hah hah!"

"Rhinox, go and get it ready," ordered Optimus. "The rest of us will hold off Tarantulas."

Rhinox nodded and obeyed. Tarantulas snorted, watching Rhinox run off. It didn't matter to him one way or another if one Maximal left. There were still four more plus a Predacon wench he could torture.

Suddenly, Cheetor noticed the center of Tarantulas' head. It was pulsating with an energy he had seen before. This familiar sight was something he had seen back on Cybertron when they battled Shokaract.

It was the power of the Darkspark. Somehow Tarantulas had gotten his claws on it. Cheetor smiled. Now he had an idea.

"Bet you can't take us all at once!" he shouted at Tarantulas.

This infuriated Tarantulas further. All eight spider legs erupted forth, grabbing on to the remaining Maximals plus Blackarachnia. He lifted them all up high. With four of his legs, he dangled Optimus, Blackarachnia, Rattrap, and Silverbolt in the air. With his remaining four, he clamped down on Cheetor's arms and legs. Bringing Cheetor close to him, Tarantulas back-handed the Maximal across the face.

"Don't get cocky, whelp!" Tarantulas mocked. "I should pulverize you here and now!"

Cheetor smiled. There was one appendage he had which Tarantulas had not counted on. His tail swung upwards, catching Tarantulas right in the face with its sharp end.

"Yeaaaaaagh!" screamed Tarantulas, clutching his injured face.

Immediately, the Darkspark crystal on Tarantulas' head was sent flying into the air. As Tarantulas' hold on all the Transformers broke, Cheetor took the opportunity to leap up and plant both feet into Tarantulas' face, kicking him across the room. Slamming back-first into the wall, Tarantulas slid down.

Almost instantly, the new armor Tarantulas wore left his body. Sentinel quickly took shape once more, fashioning both his arms into sharp blades.

"You will pay for that indignity!" threatened Sentinel.

"Sentinel, my good friend," Tarantulas backed away from him slowly. "Surely we can talk this out?"

"What'll we do now?" Rattrap asked.

"We let them take each other out," suggested Blackarachnia.

"No, we wait for reinforcements," Optimus stated.

"You used me for your own purposes and now I shall derive satisfaction!" Sentinel raised his arm, preparing to strike down.

Suddenly, a cement truck burst through the wall interrupting both of them. Parking directly in front of Sentinel, the mixer on the truck hummed to life and let loose a torrent of cement splattering down on the supercomputer.

"Noooo!" shouted Sentinel.

"Enjoying the new cement flavor, Sentinel?" Rhinox peered out of the window.

"You Maximal fools!" shouted Sentinel, waving his arms around helplessly. "I shall destroy each and every one of you!"

Steadily, Sentinel's movements slowed down. He attempted to attack the Maximals but with each step, his speed deteriorated. Finally, he was frozen in place, having had his liquid metal alloys mixed in with cement.

"I… shall… terminate…" Sentinel's last words barely made it out before he shut down.

"Nice statue," Rhinox got out of the truck, observing his handiwork.

Tarantulas attempted to sneak away but a tapping behind his shoulder alerted him to the fact that the Maximal hadn't forgotten about him. Tarantulas gulped.

"Goin' somewhere?" asked Rattrap.

With one swing, Rattrap really let Tarantulas have it. The punch nearly knocked the lights out of the spider. As he fell, Tarantulas crashed near the Darkspark crystal.

"Stay away from me, all of you!" the spider cried.

Now that his near-invincible armor was gone, Tarantulas' true cowardice had become all the more obvious. In desperation he grabbed on to the Darkspark.

Without warning, the Darkspark hummed to life and enveloped Tarantulas in a flash of red energy. By the time it cleared, Tarantulas had vanished.

"Whoa, where'd he go?" Cheetor wondered out loud.

"Not sure," answered Blackarachnia. "But I have a feeling this isn't the last we've seen of ol' legs here."

Optimus looked at Blackarachnia warily.

"Thanks for your help," he said, unsure of what else to say.

"Don't flatter yourself monkey boy," Blackarachnia replied coolly. "Tarantulas needed his skidplates handed to him, that's all."

With that, Blackarachnia fired a grappling hook into the ceiling and swung away through a window the top.

"Good job Cheetor," Optimus told the young ward. "Your quick thinking really got the job done."

"Yes, you certainly have a knack for thinking on your feet," Silverbolt complimented the young Maximal as well.

"Thanks, and Silverbolt," Cheetor looked at the fuzor, "I owe you an apology. I was a major jerk to you. Sorry for the way I acted."

"There is no need," Silverbolt smiled. "We are, after all, friends."

"Don't I get an apology too?" asked Rattrap. "Ya acted like a bum to me also!"

"Nah," Cheetor patted the smaller Maximal on the head playfully and then raised his hand to a certain level. "You must be this tall to qualify."

"That ain't funny!" Rattrap leaped onto Cheetor's back. "You owe me!"

As Rattrap and Cheetor began wrestling each other on the ground, Optimus and Rhinox both cracked a smile, soon followed up by Silverbolt. Before they even knew it, they were reveling in laughter.