#8 - Power Surge: Power Vs. Friendship

While Terrorsaur was out on a routine scouting mission, Megatron was showing the rest of his troops the improved base defense systems. Everyone was in their beast modes to hide from the energon fields. Starfeather pretended to be interested but her mind was still on her little chat with Rattrap yesterday. Why had he acted so snide when she showed him her belongings? It was like he had been taunting her about not being a human anymore. But how could he know who she was?

"I've programmed this target box with the Maximals' energy signatures. Now watch," Megatron was saying. The floating target box zipped around until one of the defense guns shot it down good. Tarantulas and Scorponok chuckled evilly and Waspinator ooed and awed. Starfeather nodded, bored.

Boys and their toys.

"With a few more of these in place," Megatron went on. "This area will become a deathtrap for the Maximals." He stopped talking at the sound of a loud screech.

"Raawk!"

Then Terrorsaur appeared, descending from the sky. Everyone stared up at him in confusion. Starfeather looked at him closely. It looked like he was suffering from an energon surge, but he wasn't acting like he was in any pain at all. And his voice sounded... different. Did it drop an octave?

"Just the sort of plan a cowardly lizard like yourself would conceive of, Megatron!" he scoffed, stabbing a finger at the defense gun. "Which is why I am now assuming command of the Predacons!"

"W-what?!" Scorponok was shocked.

"You idiot, what're you doing?!" Starfeather exclaimed. She knew Terrorsaur wanted to take over, but she didn't think he would go about it so recklessly. Things like this needed to be thought through, not to mention it helped to have a backup plan or two. There were just too many variables.

"I thought you had already learned your lesson about challenging me, Terrorsaur," Megatron lectured threateningly. As he said this, everyone else moved back. They knew a fight was imminent.

"Today, I am the teacher," Terrorsaur declared. "That is if you have the courage to humor me."

"Very well, I could use some amusement," Megatron retorted passively. He then transformed and immediately fired twice at his offending underling. Starfeather held her breath, refusing to look away, but was even more startled at what happened next. Megatron's shots didn't even scratch Terrorsaur. When the smoke cleared, Terrorsaur was... laughing.

"That was amusing," he chuckled. "But not as funny as this!" He activated his shoulder cannons and fired repeatedly at Megatron, successfully forcing him over the edge of a cliff.

I don't remember his cannons being that big! What's going on here? Starfeather thought, her beak hanging open as she watched. Everyone went tentatively looked over the edge of the cliff. Megatron had landed on a rocky shelf and was getting up.

"Megatron?" Scorponok called hopefully. Megatron was mad now.

"Terrorsaur, you traitorous worm... I'll finish you forever!" he roared and charged at him.

"I don't think so," Terrorsaur replied calmly as he pulled out his blaster. It was huge. It had gone from the size of a handgun to the bulk of an assault rifle. He blasted Megatron several times, bits and pieces flying off along with spurts of energon and hydraulic fluid, until he forced him right over the edge of the shelf. He fell to pieces upon his descent. Terrorsaur chuckled evilly with satisfaction.

"Megatron's destroyed!" Scorponok exclaimed, greatly disheartened.

"W-Wazpinator doez not believe it!" Waspinator razzed, just as shocked. Starfeather couldn't even find words to say anything. She had never seen such a brutal and merciless attack in her life. The sight of Megatron lying motionless and bleeding down below began to sicken her. She swallowed a gag and shuddered, looking away. However, Tarantulas had more valid wonderings.

"Hmm, Terrorsaur has never had that much power," he muttered to himself. He had to have found some kind of source, and a big one at that, to gain what he had. This could be useful. Before anyone could truly react, Terrorsaur came back up to them.

"Megatron is scrap, yes. I'm your leader now!" he declared, then gave each of them a stern look in the optics. "Does anyone want to argue about it?"

Everyone shook their heads rapidly, shying away from him.

"Good," Terrorsaur nodded, pleased with everyone's quick cooperation. "Now, charge yourselves for battle. The Maximals will be the next to taste my power! Here are my orders: Waspinator and I-" Terrorsaur was saying but suddenly flinched and hunched over a bit.

"Is something wrong Terrorsaur?" Tarantulas asked with a hint of suspicion. Terrorsaur paused before answering, clutching himself as if he had been stabbed.

"I must s-see to something before the attack." He flinched again. "Uh, Starfeather will command until I return." He rushed away from them, transforming to beast mode, and flew away. The raven was shocked. He gave her the authority to command? What had gotten into him? She couldn't command these brutes even if she wanted to. Scorponok then turned to her.

"What does he mean you command? I'm the Second in Command!" he growled, snapping his claws angrily. She shrank back, her feathers quivering.

"I-I didn't ask to command!" She panicked. "And I don't want to! You can keep it for all I care!" She flapped her wings at him in an attempt to make him back away from her. He did so with satisfaction. Then the real questions began forming in her frazzled mind. How had Terrorsaur been able to do all those things? Why had his weapons mushroomed to their immense size? She had to ask him herself. Without another word, she took to the sky and followed the direction her wingmate had disappeared.

"Well?" Waspinator looked to Scorponok expectantly, not wanting to follow the raven and mess with Terrorsaur in the state he was in.

"Well what?" the scorpion asked irritably.

"If you're in command, what iz your command?"

It only took one look at the broken body of Megatron and Scorponok knew what to do.

"Make ready the CR tank. We must salvage our true leader." With that, the two of them went to gather what they could of Megatron, who was merely in stasis lock.

-x-

Starfeather glanced all around as she soared passed tree and mountain tops in the direction she guessed Terrorsaur had gone. She continued to fly on for a while until she heard something to her left. She went that way, banking a jagged hilltop, and spotted who she was looking for.

"Terrorsaur! Wait up!" she called out. He squawked in surprise and hovered in place to face.

"Starfeather? What are you doing here? I told you to keep the others in line!"

She glared at him like he was stupid.

"Yeah, like I could do that," she retorted. "I'm here is because I want to know why you're acting so strange. You're scaring me!"

He considered telling her what he was up. He supposed that she had a right to know, but then she might try to do something to stop him. He knew that she wasn't too fond of violence and what he had done to Megatron was well beyond violent... Oh, what could she do? She couldn't stop him. She was just a femme, still in training no less.

"Alright, you see that mountain?" he asked, briefly pointing to it with his wingtip. She looked past him and nearly fell out of the sky with shock.

"Y-yeah," she squeaked, regaining her balance. "H-how did a... a mountain get up there?!"

Terrorsaur was amused with her rather comical reaction, but he shook it off.

"Unstable energon. I can absorb its power directly into my superstructure. That's how I was able to destroy Megatron."

"What?" Starfeather exclaimed, snapping her gaze from the mountain back to him. "Wouldn't that overload your systems?"

"When the charge gives out, it could. That's why I'm headed back there now," he admitted then something occurred to him. Maybe he could talk her into joining him. "I wonder if the same thing could be done to you..."

"What?! You-you're not thinking of supercharging me, are you?" Her optics widened. His optics narrowed.

"And why not? It would give us an advantage. The two of us, working together, to destroy the Maximals and rule the Predacons!"

"Bu-b-but-" she stuttered. "I-I don't know anything about leading armies!" He shook his head at her.

"Remember what I told you about weakness," he stated. "This is your chance to prove yourself, Starfeather. To grasp true power! To truly become a Predacon!"

She gaped at him like he had just asked her to throw herself over a cliff. She never wanted to be what he was or to have great power. She backed away from him.

"How can you say that? I've never had any desire to be a-a... a tyrant! A villain, maybe, but not a heartless, blood-thirsty monster!"

"Fine. Have it your way," he muttered darkly with a frown. "Go back to the others." He ordered then turned and headed for the floating mountain. Starfeather helplessly watched him go, suddenly regretting what she had said. She just realized that she had called him a "heartless, blood-thirsty monster". She drifted to the ground and hung her head.

"Me and my big mouth," she mumbled. When she saw Optimus Primal fly past overhead, Rattrap clinging to his back, she figured it was time to leave. Terrorsaur could take care of himself. Besides, after what had just happened, he probably didn't want her around right now.

-x-

Starfeather was now in robot mode. She was slouched in front of the monitor watching for any sign of Terrorsaur's return. She had been sitting there for over an hour. Megatron, being fully repaired and anything but happy, had ordered her to stay there until the offending Predacon showed up.

She knew that Terrorsaur wanted to scratch Megatron out of the picture for good so he could become the leader but she didn't know he would be so ugly about it. Or that he would want her to join him in his ruling. She had been flattered to some degree but she just could not bring herself to accept his offer. She didn't want to be feared or to be hated or to kill people when they didn't agree with her. It sickened her every time she remembered Megatron lying there... She shuddered. Suddenly, Terrorsaur's energy signature appeared on radar.

"Megatron, he's coming back," she reluctantly called. She knew that Terrorsaur was in for a serious pounding. She wished there was some way she could get him out of this mess, but there wasn't one. She felt so guilty and helpless.

"Good," Megatron growled. He regained his composure and watched and waited for Terrorsaur to land. After a moment, seeing as the traitorous Pred in question had landed, Megatron spoke.

"Follow me," he said quietly then slowly headed out with a threatening air. The others followed, including Starfeather, though she really didn't want to. "Well well, look who's back," Megatron taunted threateningly to Terrorsaur. This statement made Scorponok chuckle. Terrorsaur then turned very pale.

"Slag..." he squeaked.

Starfeather looked down at the ground. She knew better than to interfere but she didn't want Megatron to do this. Why? she thought sadly. But she knew why. Megatron was the heartless, blood-thirsty monster, not Terrorsaur. Terrorsaur would never be a monster to her. He could be nasty, yes, but not a monster. Megatron seized Terrorsaur by the throat, preventing him from flying away. As he bellowed and ranted, he would hit and kick the pterodactyl. Starfeather flinched and looked away. She didn't want to watch her wingmate suffer.

Leaving the red mech to think about what he had done, Megatron went back inside the base followed by Waspinator, Scorponok, and Tarantulas who had crawled back from whatever it was that he had been doing.

Starfeather lingered. She looked down at Terrorsaur who was now in robot mode, but had some limbs detached and was gradually bleeding into stasis lock. She slowly and cautiously walked up to him. She stayed silent for a moment, trying to find the right things to say. Finally, she spoke softly.

"I'm sorry about... about what I said before," she began. Terrorsaur weakly looked up at her.

"Doesn't matter, I shouldn't've asked you..." he muttered. "You're younger than Waspinator, I shoulda put him in charge."

"No, it's okay." She knelt beside him, looking him over anxiously. "Do you want some help?" she asked.

"I don't want your pity," he tried to growl, but it ended up sounding like a whimper. Starfeather crossed her arm indignantly.

"I'm not pitying you," she retorted. "I just thought I'd help you seeing as your legs are all the way over there and that your other arm is missing-" She pointed to where his battered limbs were strewn. "-but if you don't want my 'pity', I guess I'll just leave you here to put yourself back together."

She stood angrily and turned to leave. She should've expected that from him. If he wanted to lie there and feel sorry for himself until he went into stasis lock, fine by her. Waspinator would come out for him eventually.

Terrorsaur clenched his teeth in frustration and pain. Why did he have to be so stupid? Even if she really did pity him right now, he knew that he couldn't get to the CR tank alone. By the time Waspinator got the courage to come out and get him, he could be in stasis lock or worse, but he wasn't about to beg her to come back and help him. He had lost enough dignity already.

Starfeather reached the hatch and her anger seemed to slide from her shoulders and guilt once again take its place. She glanced back at her downed wingmate and sighed.

"What am I doing? I can't just leave him out there," she murmured to herself. She jumped when Waspinator suddenly appeared in her path.

"Bird-bot already help Terrorsaur?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Not yet," she answered then managed a smile. "Want to come help too?" His features brightened.

"Okay," he said and followed her out. Terrorsaur was surprised when Starfeather came back with Waspinator. He stared up at them, searching for an explanation. The raven smiled awkwardly.

"We fliers should stick together," she said, quoting what he had said to her from weeks previous. At that, Terrorsaur managed to smile back.