AN: Alright, I'm going to be bringing in several new OCs. Some will have rolls in the story and some will just be fillers. They won't be based on the toy line or comic characters. They are my own.
#31 - New Faces
Part 1: Trial and Error
It had been a mad dash to the river. Currently, the stasis pod was at the bottom of the river. Terrorsaur could see Megatron and what remained of his crew all too clearly on the other riverbank, all lined up and in their respective beast forms. He and Waspinator were as well. Megatron stared them down.
"Ah, Terrorsaur and Waspinator. How good to see you again," he greeted them in a silky manner. The pterodactyl gritted his teeth.
"I missed you too, sir," he ground out. Waspinator, however, chose not to play along.
"Hmph, Wazzpinator not mizzz Megatron."
"Quite, yes. So tell me, my old minions, just why you chose to join the losing side?" Megatron continued, ignoring the wasp.
"On the contrary, Megatron," Terrorsaur scoffed. "The Maximals have won most of the battles we've fought since landing here. I don't know why I didn't leave sooner."
"Or did you just leave because of my dearest's influence on you?" By now, the Predacon leader had dropped his sickeningly sweet disposition, replaced by a dark and bitter tone. If Terrorsaur's beast mode had fur, it would all be standing on end.
"Starfeather is not yours and has never been yours! And no, she had almost nothing to with it." This was not true, but even though he was on the Maximal side for the time being, Terrorsaur was not going to admit what he once thought were weak emotions to his ex-commander.
"Hmm, indeed. In any case, Terrorsaur, you are on the enemy side now and, as you can see, you are outnumbered, yes." Megatron narrowed his eyes. Now the pterodactyl put on a cheeky grin.
"I beg to differ." At his words, Optimus Primal and Airazor leaped out from the brush behind him and Waspinator. Megatron growled in irritation.
"Predacons: attack!" he bellowed. Immediately, both Maximals and Predacons took to their robot forms. Inferno went airborne and met Terrorsaur head-on.
"Traitor! You shall buuuuurrrn!"
Meanwhile, the other fliers got to the opposite bank to properly combat their opponents. Waspinator held his own against Blackarachnia, Airazor darted around Tarantulas, Optimus and Megatron were going strong.
When Megatron had given the order to attack, Scorponok slipped unnoticed under the gently lapping waves and swam down, feeling and scanning his way toward the stasis pod through the murky water. Once he reached the pod, he went to his dirty work. The pod searched for a suitable form, commenced replication, and the hatch opened. Poor Scorponok could have jumped right out of his mainframe when a pair of long, tooth-filled jaws snapped at his face. He flailed his limbs to swim up to the surface, the newborn crocodile gaining on him effortlessly. He broke the surface and, to his dismay, watched hopelessly as Waspinator fell right on top of him just as the crocodile opened its mouth to take a chunk from his leg.
If one could see through the river water, one would see the comical sight of Scorponok's aft shoved deep in the mouth of the croc. Its eyes widened and it spit out the scorpion, shaking its head to clear its sight of static. Enraged now, it growled and propelled itself at the two robots struggling in the slow current to getaway. They obviously weren't built for maneuverability in the water.
"I'll teach you to trespass on my territory," the crocodile hissed in a slightly deep feminine voice with a hint of what a human would recognize as an Australian accent. She propelled herself at the green and yellow one. Waspinator saw it coming and spun to the side. The she-croc missed and flew from the water, landing squarely on Optimus Primal's back. He grunted when he hit the ground, the air knocked clean out of him. The croc lashed around, hissing angrily, her jaws snapping. Having only bitten air in her blind rage, she had quite enough.
"Deltasurge: Terrorize!" she roared. Her legs folded against the side of her body as her underbelly opened up and folded back. Slender yet sturdy robotic legs and high-heeled feet stood firmly on Optimus's back and arms appeared with clenched fists. Her crocodile head folded down onto her prominent chest as she stood upright and her dark pink metallic face was revealed, blood-red optics flaring. Her tail folded up and tucked onto her back. She pulled out a long thin sword from her back subspace and dug her heels into Primal's back, satisfied with the pained groans he emitted. She was no bigger than Rattrap, but the rodent wasn't there to comment on that aspect. Deltasurge glared around at the astonished stares she was receiving.
"Anyone else want some of this?" she taunted, pointing her sword at Megatron's chest plate, just daring him to make a move. He did not flinch and remained calm.
"Feisty one, aren't you?" he remarked smoothly, waving her sword away as if it were a fly. "Predacons: retreat!" He then took hold of the new Predacon around her waist like a child, trapping her arms at her sides. She dropped her sword from the sudden movement. She protested loudly, writhing in his grasp as they moved away from the battlefield. She demanded to be let go and added several choice Cybertronian curses to the mix.
The other Predacons took their leave, Scorponok being courteous enough to pick up the crocodile's weapon as he fled, still dripping wet and humiliated. The Maximals were simply too stunned to react. What they had witnessed was rather bizarre. Optimus got to his feet, having regained his wits, and looked over his teammates with a solemn expression. No one was seriously hurt which was something to be thankful for.
"You all did your best. Back to base," he ordered.
-x-
By the time the base was in sight, Megatron had reached his rope's end. Even though he had passed their newest member on to Inferno to carry, her screaming and endless cussing was really pulling at his wires.
I hope this one is worth the effort, yes.
Once inside, Megatron took his place in his command chair and signaled for the fire ant to set Deltasurge on her feet, but keep a hold on her. She had stopped running her vocalizer for the moment. She showed her pointed teeth to Inferno and Megatron, gnashing in their directions like a feral animal. The other Predacons stood off at a distance to watch the initiation.
"Tell me, my good Deltasurge," the Predacon leader began. "Do you remember anything of your prior life before landing here?"
She snarled at him, having half a mind not to answer. Why should she? She didn't know where she was or who the Pit these morons were.
"All I know is that I was jerked awake, I'm on some Primus-forsaken planet and have been kidnapped by a bunch of aft heads!" she spat. "And you made me lose my sword!"
"Actually..." Scorponok stepped forward and held her sword up to the light so that she could see it clearer. Some of her bitterness evaporated at seeing her prized possession.
"Hmph, at least one of you mechs has an ounce of decency," she muttered. Despite himself, the scorpion couldn't hide a sheepish smile at her compliment.
"Yes..." Megatron murmured. "At any rate, I'm sure you are wondering why you are here."
"Yeah," she replied slowly. He then went on to explain that she was a member of a Predacon rebellion. She, as well as other members of the rebellion, had been placed into stasis pods to ensure safe transport to a planet called earth. There, they would be reactivated and acquire enough energy and supplies to take over Cybertron. However, some Maximals became wise to their plans and perused them to this unknown planet. For their safety, the stasis pods had been ejected into the planet's atmosphere until they could be recovered, but their orbits were decaying. They were currently stuck here with their Maximal enemies until the war was won and they could rebuild a ship Deltasurge was not in the slightest bit convinced, but what else could she do?
"Alright then, sir." She nodded. "Could you have hot shot here lemme go now?"
Megatron nodded his head to Inferno to do as said. The fire ant released her and she brushed herself free of any dust and dirt that might have collected on her pink and brown armor.
"That's more like it. Now, for my sword." She held out her hand, slender pointed digits beckoning for the Second to come nearer. She flashed him a charming grin. He did so and somewhat nervously presented the crocodile her primary weapon. She took it and winked her thanks at him as she put the sword away. Despite getting a mouthful of his aft, she concluded that he wasn't such a bad guy. After all, he was the only one who thought to pick up her sword. Maybe being stuck here wasn't going to be so bad if cuties like him had signed up for this crazy rebellion thing.
Megatron concluded the initiation and dismissed his men. They scattered to go about their duties, leaving Megatron to his plans, Inferno to stand by his queen to do his bidding, and Deltasurge standing where she was. Scorponok was taking his time in making his exit. The crocodile took the opportunity and approached him.
"Y'know, I don't exactly know my way around here," Deltasurge said, adopting a slightly alluring tone. "Maybe you could show me around?"
He could feel his claws and knees beginning to quiver under her gaze. To think that about an hour before, she had almost bitten his face off and would have been more than happy to scrap him.
"S-sure." He suddenly straightened up, puffing out his chest with confidence at realizing what he had. "Where would you like to start?"
"Why, where ever you want to." She wrapped her arms around one of his. She could feel his body temperature spike and watched him struggle to control his quaking claws. She giggled in amusement. This was going to be fun.
-x-
It had only been a couple of weeks and already another stasis pod had crashed. A brisk wind swept over the prairie land, rippling the long grass and a few wildflowers that were not blown clean of their petals. The sky was overcast, but rain was not part of the equation. This time, Optimus was not present for the recovery mission. Cheetor, Terrorsaur, Dinobot, and Rattrap had been sent out. Terrorsaur was flying ahead to scout out his former comrades. Zooming in on the area around the rising smoke of the crash site, he could see all of the Predacons approaching.
"We've got a full menu," he called back to the others. "Megatron brought everyone to the picnic."
"Too bad I ain't all that hungry," Rattrap grumbled sarcastically. There were no pleasantries exchanged this time around. The Predacons dove directly into combat. Inferno busied himself with firing madly upon the traitors to the colony and Cheetor and Rattrap were pinned back to back by the spiders, Deltasurge, and Megatron.
Once again, Scorponok was instructed to take advantage of the distraction and reformat the stasis pod. Unfortunately, this time Terrorsaur spotted him.
"Oh no you don't," he yelled, evading the fire ant and soaring toward the scorpion.
Cheetor saw what was going on. Terrorsaur was going to be the hero and he would get left out in the cold. Well, he wasn't having any of this. He was going to be the one to save the pod and impress Starfeather. Forcing himself out of the fray, leaving Rattrap to fend for himself, Cheetor attempted to lunge and take out the scorpion. Terrorsaur didn't see him in time and they crashed together, effectively taking each other out.
Now, out of harm's way, Scorponok was free to what he needed. This time, while performing the reformatting process, the scorpion stood back from the hatch just to be safe. Who knew what kind of critter could jump out and claw him to death. The pod searched for a suitable form, commenced replication, and the hatch opened. Instead of an explosion of teeth, a dark green pachycephalosaurus gradually lifted its boney head and took in its surroundings. It eyed Scorponok with suspicion and emerged fully from its pod. Stripes ranging from other shades of green to brown laced from the back of its head and down to the tail.
The Maximals were helpless to change the situation, barely even holding the Predacons back. Once Megatron was aware of the new Predacon, he called a retreat. By this time, Cheetor and Terrorsaur were regaining consciousness. Dinobot bore tell-tail scorch marks and Rattrap was missing. Terrorsaur was the first to notice after shaking his head vigorously to clear his vision. The cheetah took the brunt of the impact hence he was still in a dazed state.
"Hey, where'd Rattrap go?" the red mech wondered as he glanced around the area.
"From what I observed," Dinobot said. "Cheetor was pinned with him back to back by Megatron, Deltasurge, and the spiders. He might have been captured."
"But I ran into Cheetor, so..." Terrorsaur trailed off and looked out to where he thought he last saw the rodent. "Look." And look they did. When Dinobot and Terrorsaur crested the small hill, they found Rattrap's body covered with laser and stab wounds. He was in stasis lock.
"I'll get him to base and tell Optimus what happened." Terrorsaur looked back at Cheetor, who was just now sitting up, and narrowed his optics. Foolish youngling. What did he think he was doing, leaving Rattrap to fight Megatron and three other Predacons alone? He carefully lifted the smaller injured mech into his arms and took off, forcing his jets to full momentum.
-x-
Currently, the newest Predacon was standing calmly before Megatron. The dinosaur hadn't said a word so far to the Predacon leader's pleasure. This was certainly a far cry from Deltasurge's arrival.
"Would you be so kind as to tell us your designation?" Megatron requested of the pachycephalosaurus.
"Designation..." it began in a clearly masculine yet soft tone. He paused to ponder on his own name, having no recollection at even having one to begin with. "Designation: G-Force, sir."
"G-Force," Megatron tested the name and found it agreeable. "Would you care to transform for us?"
G-Force nodded in acknowledgment. Taking a step back, he voiced the activation code calmly. Parts of his body shifted and rearranged themselves until an imposing mech stood before the Predacons present. His shoulders were broad and his limbs were sturdy. His green armor glinted in the dim lighting. His yellow optics were fixated on his new commander as if seeking approval. Deltasurge gave a low whistle from where she sat, lounged out on a stack of crates by Scorponok. Blackarachnia made the motion of rolling her optics. The scorpion glanced at the pink and brown femme questioningly. Megatron fingered his chin thoughtfully and went on with the questioning.
"Now tell me, do you remember anything from your past life before this?"
When he answered no, Megatron told the same story he had to the crocodile. G-Force accepted it without question. After dismissing his soldiers, Megatron was feeling more confident about his situation. So far, he had successfully captured two protoforms straight without his flier squadron. Perhaps he still had a chance at victory.
G-Force, however, had indeed doubted the words of Megatron. He did know that he had been assigned to a mission of some sort, but he couldn't remember what. He knew he had been placed in charge of a small team of mechs to protect someone or something. He just couldn't remember what or who or where his team had ended up.
Upon choosing his quarters, he entered and inspected the room. A layer of dust had collected on everything and there was something under the desk. When he picked up the small object, it was a balled-up piece of cream-colored paper. When he unfolded it, he found writing in a language he didn't know. Deciding to decode the writing later, he put the paper in his subspace. Looking under the recharge berth, he found a black feather. By now, he was certain someone had occupied this room before. Disposing of the feather and the thought, G-Force made himself comfortable on the berth before off-lining his optics.
-x-
Terrorsaur finally reached the Maximal base just as his body could take no more of the energon radiation. Everyone was shocked at the sight of the rodent. Rhinox asked no questions and went straight to work on stabilizing Rattrap before he could be placed in the CR chamber. Terrorsaur did his best to explain the story. Optimus was very disappointed, Airazor was speechless, but Starfeather felt sick. She knew why Cheetor had acted so rashly. She took Optimus aside and voiced her suspicions. He had suspected the same things and comforted her. Rattrap was going to be fine and all this wasn't her fault.
"Somehow I doubt that, sir," she mumbled to herself when the gorilla had turned away. She clenched her fists. Why did Cheetor have to be so- so... She couldn't find a word to describe him. She couldn't put it off any longer. She had to talk to him now before someone else was seriously hurt or killed.
-x-
Cheetor knew he was in for the Pit when he got back to the base. Dinobot not saying a word since Terrorsaur left didn't make things any better. The cat was trailing behind the raptor, putting as much distance as he dared between them. The more they walked in silence, the more he realized how stupid he had been. His need to try and win Starfeather's affections could have cost Rattrap his life. When the base came into sight, Cheetor set his mind anew. He wasn't going to slink into the base with his head down and tail drooping. He was going to march right in and take full responsibility for his actions. That would certainly get the raven's attention.
Once inside, Dinobot took his leave. Cheetor stood alone on the lift and looked around the empty command center. The CR chamber was running so that must mean Rattrap was in there. The quiet sound of someone clearing their throat caused him to look in the direction of the main entrance. Optimus was standing there. He had possibly the most serious look on his face that the cheetah had ever seen. His confidence suddenly evaporated and he swallowed.
"Big Bot...?"
"Normally, Cheetor, I would confine you to quarters in punishment for your actions," Optimus began. "But it's not my place to intervene in my men's personal matters unless requested to. In which case, I'll let you two work this out."
Starfeather stepped out from behind the Maximal leader. Her face was a mixture of emotions, but the one most prominent was guilt. Cheetor wondered why she would be guilty. She didn't do anything at all. Optimus motioned for them to go somewhere that they could talk privately. Starfeather took the lead and led him to one of the larger storage bays, loaded with equipment that they hadn't needed to use yet. Once the big doors shut behind them, she turned to face him, her guilt seemingly gone, replaced by utter fury.
"What has gotten into you lately?" she began, letting her anger lace her tone. "Ever since I gave up being a spy and came here, you've been acting like a jerk."
Cheetor didn't know how to respond. Had his actions really pushed her that far away from him?
"I, uh..."
"I've tried and tried to let you down easy, but now you leave me no choice." She paused to make sure it was sinking in. "Cheetor, you're a good friend... but that's all we are. We might have shared something special once, but it's over now."
"So what do you expect me to do? Forget about you?" he snapped. He didn't want to believe what he was hearing.
"No," she retorted. "I just want you to understand that I don't love you the way you want me to. I'll love you like a friend or even like a brother. I want you to accept the fact that my affections are elsewhere. Please, Cheetor. Two people have already been hurt by our problems. I don't want that to happen again."
By this time, she had taken his hands in her own, looking into his golden optics, pleading with him to understand. He gazed back at her, unable to form words. He didn't know how to let her go. He didn't want to let her go. He also didn't want anyone else to suffer on their behalf. He dropped his gaze to the floor, overwhelmed by shame. Slowly, Starfeather pulled him into a hug. She pressed the side of her face against his.
"If you say you love me, you'll want me to be happy. Please, Cheetor... Do this for me," she murmured into his audio receiver. He held her tightly to him, savoring the feeling of her body against his. He felt tears prick at his optics and he blinked them back. He drank in her sweet scent, like a bed of fresh grass on a spring day. He knew she was right, he knew what he had to do now.
When they finally parted, they parted as friends.
AN: To get an idea of G-Force's transformation, check out a video of (or if you already have one) universe class Dinobot figure review on YouTube. Of course, the head, hands, and other features are different. Force isn't really supposed to look like Dinobot, but hey, I'm not all that creative with original transformation sequences.
