A Simple Mission

by Leaf Ranger

It was supposed to be a simple mission. But now the crew of the Axalon find themselves in a fight not just for their lives, but for the future of Cybertron. Prepare for the Beast Wars! Rated T for violence and action. Will contain OC's and genderswapped Dinobot. You've been warned.

34. A Question Answered

Well here we are. After it took me forever to write my Mass Effect chapter, I've finally gotten around to my Beast Wars chapter. Hopefully those of you who are reading this aren't too upset at the wait. Sorry about that.

RagingStar19: Yeah, that took you quite a while, didn't it?

Leaf Ranger: Yeah, I had some stuff going on here at home, and the chapter was…annoying to write. Kept re-doing it over and over again. Still, it's done and up, so let's move on.

Vixtrion: So what's on the agenda today?

LR: …a chapter that is going to be just as intense to write as my Mass Effect one was.

Everyone: ….oh shi-

LR: BUT…it'll be...more happy? I hope?

Lycanok: I'll believe it when I see it. *looks over to ME area, where Alicia Shepard is looking very catatonic at moment*

LR: …yeah…anyways, let's get going, shall we? Before I start though, I have a couple of reviews to reply to. To anonymous guest: here is the update. And to anonymous guest reviewer Machala: I cannot guarantee anything on that front with Tigertron. We'll have to see what happens.

Ripfang: That's it?

LR: That's it. On to the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beast Wars. It is the property of Mainframe Entertainment and Hasbro. This is a non-profit work of fan-made fiction. Please support the official release.

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Chapter 34

A Question Answered

Nightwing took a deep vent as she stood in the middle of the scanning platform in one of the repair bays, with Rhinox nearby at one of the consoles. "How's it looking big Green?" She asked him. She was trying to recapture some of her old teasing banter with him, but it was very hard to remain upbeat and playful. She felt a large amount of guilt for what she, or rather the Predacon version of her, had done to the Maximals. And she could also feel fear buried deep in her Spark still. Fear that Rhinox wouldn't be able to remove the corruption slowly and steadily working its way towards her core consciousness and that'd she end up being wiped eventually. Fear that even if they stopped it, they'd never be able to remove the Predacon version of her. Fear that it would take her over again one day and she'd be lost forever.

She trembled, trying to suppress the emotions welling up inside of her, suppress the growing panic that was eating away at her cycle by cycle the more she thought about it. She had to have faith in Rhinox. She dimmed her optics long enough to try and focus herself before lightning them up again. She found herself looking at Rhinox's faceplate, seeing the support and concern there.

"Are you okay Nightwing?" He asked worriedly, causing her to nod and give him a small smile. He gently grabbed one of her servos to give her a supportive squeeze, and she felt a sense of relief from the simple pressure. He pulled away and quickly moved back to the console.

"I've managed to isolate the location of the Predacon shell program. I've been running scans on it to try and understand how it works exactly. I've gotten some data on it, even identifying the transwarp energy that is corrupting it. The problem is I don't have nearly enough data to even begin theorizing about how to remove it," he said, looking up from the console as he gained a hesitant look on his faceplate. "I do have one way we could get more data but…I am fairly certain you're not going to like it."

Nightwing shivered at his words, already guessing what he was going to say. "You want to reactivate the Predacon programming," she said quietly, her voice wavering a bit.

"Yes, but not to the extent you're thinking," Rhinox assured her. "I'll set up partitions to keep the Predacon personality separate from your systems. It won't be able to seize control again. It'll be little more than a voice in your processor at best. But with the shell program active I'll be able to gather more information on how it functions."

He saw the fear on her faceplate, fear that caused him a pang of guilt and sorrow at causing it. He tried to reassure her some more. "I won't keep it active for long. The more active the shell program is, the faster that transwarp corruption spreads. But this is the best way I can gather the data necessary to remove it, short of ransacking Tarantulas' lab or interrogating him. And Primus knows where he is," he added.

Nightwing slowly nodded, taking another deep vent. "…I trust you Rhinox," she said softly. "But I'm just….I…I'm terrified…you don't know what it was like," she said quietly. "I woke up a prisoner in my own body…with brief flashes of memory of seeing you so angry…so hateful as you looked at me. And then I realized I was stuck in the Predacon base as some…some…program was using me, using my frame to hurt you, hurt all of you. I can't…I can't let that happen again. I can't," she whispered, her whole frame trembling as she felt the fear start to take her over again, her arms wrapping around herself.

Rhinox immediately moved to her, placing his servos on her shoulders and causing her to look up at him. "That won't happen Nightwing. I promise."

She started at him for a few nano-cycles, the room silent save for the occasional beep of the machinery, before she slowly nodded. "I know. Thank you," she said with a slight smile, his words causing her to feel relief. That, combined with his touch, also sent a familiar warmth though her systems. "It's good to be back here with you, big Green," she added, trying to move on.

"It's good to have you back," he replied, a smile on his faceplate before he stepped back and returned to work. One way or another he was going to save her. Even if it did mean tracking down Tarantulas, he'd do whatever it took to save Nightwing.

Elsewhere in the ship Sauria was kneeling in her cabin with her helm lowered; her optics dimmed as she half-meditated and half struggled with her thoughts and emotions. The room lighting was very dim with only a single circle of light over her, shining down upon her frame and the blade laid out before her. It was not her usual sword, the multi-jointed blade currently sheathed inside her quantum storage unit. This instead was her father's blade, the one gifted to her when she had finished her training with him. The blade she had carried until she had felt like she would dishonor it too much by continuing to carry it. This had been after Rattrap had saved her functions during the mission where he had posed as a traitor to infiltrate the Predacon base. She had considered it a dishonor both in how she treated him, but also in being saved by him. And so she had removed it from her frame.

Now though, there was a different reason. Her betrayal of the Maximals, her betrayal of everything her father taught her, her betrayal of her ideals and beliefs was why she would not carry this sword.

She continued to kneel there, contemplating the blade before her. Her studies of human warrior cultures, especially the samurai, had included what warriors who were dishonored might do to try and regain it. The human samurai, who she found herself greatly admiring, had a method of regaining honor outside the battlefield. A disgraced warrior would commit ritual suicide, aided by another in ensuring their end was a glorious and honorable death. It was something that had briefly appealed to her in her darkest moments for many mega-cycles after she had betrayed the Maximals. She felt she had little reason to remain online. The Maximals would never trust her, and even if they accepted her back did they really need her? She was a skilled warrior, but she found some of her power and abilities paling in comparison to some of the Predcons who now opposed them. Even Megatron had grown more powerful and capable then her.

And yet…it was Rattrap that had unknowingly helped her bury those thoughts. The two of them now understood each other on a level they hadn't before. Their brief meld when their Sparks were returned to their frames had given each of them a level of insight into each other, and with it a degree of trust that hadn't existed before.

Sadly, the same could not be said for the other Maximals. While things had improved somewhat, there was still a great deal of mistrust from the others, especially Cheetor and Vixtrion. Silverbolt seemed to be the most understanding, and both Optimus and Lycanok seemed to be the most trusting after Rattrap. But she did feel like her only friend among the Maximals was, ironically, Rattrap.

All of this left her with one continuing thought, one slowly growing obsession: she needed to make things right. She knew what the Golden Disc was capable of, and she had delivered it into Megatron's hands. So she needed to fix the problem to regain her honor, and to prove herself to her comrades once again. The problem was how to do so.

She shook her helm, finally giving up on her attempts to meditate. Her thoughts, her emotions, they raged too much within her as an unending storm. Too much had happened, too much was going on for her to find her center.

She slowly stood and reached down to grab the sword, pausing as her servo closed around the hilt. The feel of it was so familiar to her, fitting almost perfectly within her grip. She remembered all the times her father allowed her to practice with the blade, moving with each attack and defensive maneuver. The blade had felt like it weighed nothing to her, as if it was sharp enough to cut the air before her swings. The briefest flicker of a nostalgic smile appeared on her faceplate as she slowly squeezed the hilt, before shaking her helm and placing it on the wall hanging. It was not for her. Not as she was now. She turned away and headed for the door out of her cabin to perform her duties. Behind her the blade hung silently on the wall, soon cast into shadows as the light turned off.

Unknown Location

Blackarachnia let out a vent as she leaned back on the small boulder she was perched on, slowly scanning the sky as she idly kicked her pedes back and forth. It was a clear sky and she could feel the warm of the sun against her proto-matter. She knew most would describe it as a lovely day. Personally she hated it, and would have preferred an overcast day or a nice dark cave. But for her purposes this would do.

She continued to search for the one she had contacted and set up this meeting with, while also scanning for any signs of the other Predacons. She doubted any of them would be out here at the moment but it never hurt to be careful or paranoid. Still, since she was 'on patrol' they likely would not suspect her as she used this moment to arrange a special meeting.

As she continued to wait though, she found herself reflecting on recent events. Megatron's reaction to Nightwing's escape had been typical…for a single mega-cycle. He had been furious and enraged at the plan's failure, at the loss of one of their own and the Maximals being strengthened. And then he had suddenly stopped and began acting as if nothing had happened. Indeed, he had started to seem almost…cheerful. And this had her worried, as the only thing that would put him in such a good mood was a plan he thought was absolutely fool-proof.

Hence why she was here now. She needed to finalize her own plans before Megatron won this war. If she was going to succeed and gain all the power she needed to ensure her own survival and rise to dominance, she needed him distracted by conflict with the Maximals.

She cut her musings short as she saw a speck on the horizon heading towards her through the air, slowly growing in size as it approached. She smirked as she heard the soft beating of wings on the wind before slowly standing and dusting herself off as the form of Silverbolt circled over head and then came in for a landing. There was the familiar whir of shifting metal and parts as he transformed and landed in his robot form, which she eyed appreciatively.

"Glad to see you made it," she said, leaning her weight on one leg while placing a servo on her hip. "Should we be expecting any company?"

The Maximal fuzor approached her, though she could see he was cautious in his approach. "I came alone, as requested. Can I expect the same of you?" He asked, his optics searching the area as well. There were some boulders and rocky terrain, most of which though was too small for the majority of Maximals or Predacons to hide behind. But that meant little with the likes of Specter.

Blackarachnia shook her helm. "Trust me wolfie, I didn't bring anyone along. I wanted this to be just you and me," she said. "So it seems my warning helped your side out, didn't it?" She asked him with a knowing grin.

Silverbolt focused on her again. "…it did, yes. Though the others would most likely have been very hesitant to trust your words alone if we hadn't received a similar warning from Tarantulas as well."

Blackarachnia's optics widened slightly at that, the only sign of surprise she gave off. "Well, glad gruesome is useful for at least something these days," she said. "No doubt though you're very curious as to why I warned you?"

"…a part of me would hope because you felt it was right, but I imagine that is highly unlikely," Silverbolt said with a vent, lightly leaning back against a boulder.

Blackarachnia giggled at that. "C'mon bowser boy, do you see me doing the goodie-goodie two shoes thing?" She asked him with her satisfied smirk. "I did it entirely for selfish reasons. It distracted Megatron, which I wanted. It kept you Maximals alive, which I wanted. And…it gave me a reason to reach out to you, so I could ask for your help."

Silverbolt stood up at that, a curious but cautious look on his faceplate. "You want my help?" He asked her. "You do know I won't do anything that betrays my comrades."

She did her best to put on a charming smile, slowly walking towards him with a sway in her hips. "Oh I'd never ask you to do that. I know you're too noble and heroic. Trying to get you to turn on them would be foolhardy," she said, her voice husky as she slowly raised up one of her duo-digit servos and slowly dragged one of the claw tips down his chestplate. He let out a shudder as he felt the sensation of the tip slightly grinding and dragging across him, as well as his systems heating up from her tone and the look on her faceplate.

She smiled as she saw the reaction out of him. So sweet and innocent; he'd be just as easy to manipulate as Quickstrike was. Though he had the added bonus of being handsome. "Actually…I think you'll find helping me to be…beneficial to the Maximals in the long run. I have plans, Silverbolt. Plans that will let me take control of the Predacons here. And when I do…well…I think we could maybe start talks about how we can end this little war between our two sides. Don't you think that'll be worth helping me?"

Silverbolt took a deep vent before slowly grasping her servo and removing it from his chestplate. And she would deny vehemently that she liked the feel of his strong grasp on her digit, watching him steady himself and regain his composure. "…what exactly do you have in mind?"

She just grinned at him as she began to outline her plan.

Axalon

Optimus strolled onto the bridge of the Maximal base, his optics scanning the room as he did so. It was mostly empty at the moment save for Airazor at the communications console and Rhinox at the sensor station. He immediately moved to the engineer, a bit surprised to see him present. "Rhinox?" He asked, joining his friend.

Rhinox looked up at him briefly before looking back to the sensor station. "Optimus," he greeted, his digits moving over the keyboard. "I hope you don't mind but I had an experiment I wanted to get back to while waiting for the data from Nightwing's scans to compile," he said.

Optimus nodded, realizing now why the Maximal engineer was here and not working on his friend's situation. "I hope things are going well on that front," he said.

"It could be better, but it could be worse," Rhinox said quietly. "I'm going to have to re-activate her shell program in order to get adequate scans of it and get a better idea of how to remove it. That'll be next after I finish studying my initial scans. After that…after that, she'll likely have to enter a stasis pod to prevent further contamination from the transwarp energy infecting the shell program."

Optimus could hear the quiet pain in his friend's voice and reached out to place a servo on his shoulder joint. Rhinox looked up at him and nodded before sitting a bit straighter. "Anyways, that reminded me of an experiment I've been running for some time now. The transwarp wave front caused by that explosion. When I was initially studying it to try to understand the transmetal forms, I made a startling discovery."

He showed Optimus the screen where a series of mathematical equations and graphs were being displayed. "Whatever was powering that planet destroying device was powerful enough to supercharge the energy released from the transwarp cell. The wave-front released from the explosion has been dispersing at such a slow rate that even now it's still going strong…and it's moving forward in time as well."

Optimus optic's widened and he now was paying more attention to the display. "Have you figured out how far forward in time it's moving?" He asked, feeling a faint glimmer of hope in his Spark.

Rhinox grinned as he pointed to one graph. "I haven't finalized the numbers yet…but if these calculations are correct…it'll reach present day Cybertron. And the energy potency should still be high enough for them to get a good scan of it. With some calculations they'll be able to track it back to the source location, and hopefully to our current time period."

"Which means…we could be rescued," Optimus whispered before quickly standing straight. "I want you to finish this experiment as soon as possible. How long do you think until it reaches Cybertron?"

Rhinox, feeling the same excitement that Optimus was feeling, brought up another equation. "Not certain at this point, but I'd say at least a dozen or so mega-cycles. Maybe more."

Optimus nodded before turning to Airazor. "Airazor, I want you to send a message out to all field units that they're to return immediately. Then call for all hands to report to the bridge."

Auirazor, who hadn't heard what the two were discussing but seeing how excited they were, nodded and quickly set to work contacting the others as Optimus moved to the command table and began studying the same graphs and equations Rhinox had.

Darksyde

Megatron quietly sat in his command chair, studying the display before him. The display orb was currently swiveled in front of him, the screen showing a series of charts, graphs, and calculations that were, unknowingly, very similar to the ones that Rhinox was studying. Megatron growled softly as he was quickly coming to a similar conclusion as the Maximals were.

After he was denied his easy victory in the aftermath of Optimus' apparent destruction, a loss compounded by the Maximal leader returning in an improved transmetal form, Megatron had begun work setting up multiple contingency plans. Ancient Earth provided him with so many possibilities to achieve his goals, and he just needed one of his plans to succeed. Unfortunately his chances at winning were slowly decreasing. The abundance of Energon on this planet could not earn him a victory if he was forced to constantly squander said resources in conflict with the Maximals. His attempts to use the aliens to his advantage had ended in failure on more than one occasion, either due to Maximal interference, his own minion's treachery, or the aliens themselves proving to be too powerful. After the last debacle with their ship, it seemed unlikely he would even be able to exploit them again. This left him with two options now. Two plans for achieving his goal of leadership over the Predacons and of Cybertron itself.

Unfortunately his time was running out. He had not expected to run into this information when he had been studying the transwarp energy that had altered their forms, but it proved to be both a blessing and a curse. He now knew he had a time limit before his likely defeat, and that he needed to move quickly before Optimus and his team gained reinforcements.

And yet at the same time…this news could prove to be a blessing as well. A dangerous, double-edged sword of a blessing…but a blessing all the same. If certain parties acted as he thought they might…then things might not go as he feared. They might instead be a way to guarantee his victory. But such a gamble was too dangerous and costly. He would save it as a last resort, especially when he had a plan that offered more of a guarantee.

Deactivating the image he turned to the intercom and activated it. "Rampage, prepare to depart. I have something I require your help with," he ordered curtly before typing a few commands into the command pad on the left arm rest. The chair lowered to the ground and he rose from it as a cylinder descended from the ceiling. The metal walls of it retracted, revealing the Golden Disc suspended within a security field that Megatron deactivated. He slowly, almost lovingly reached out, pulling the disc free of its containment and bringing it up to his faceplate to admire it. Such a simple thing, and yet it potentially held the power to change the entire cosmos. With a chuckle he slid it into his quantum storage unit and transformed, soon floating out of the command room on his hover jets as he took the first steps to seizing his destiny.

Axalon Bridge

"So there you have it," Optimus stated, finishing the explanation to his crew currently crowded onto the bridge. "If Rhinox's calculations are correct, then there's a very real possibility of us receiving rescue."

The Maximals began to murmur at that before Lycanok spoke up. "Any idea on when we can expect this rescue?" He asked, the barest hint of excitement in his voice.

"I can't say for certain yet. I'm still running the numbers on it. But I'd say a safe bet is any point within the next thirty mega-cycles," Rhinox said, a smile on his faceplate. "If we can hold out that long…I think we'll see Cybertron again."

This was met by more happy exclamations from the Maximals at this, with only one present not being as happy. Sauria, in the back, instead looked pensive as she took in Rhinox and Optimus' words. After a few moments she finally spoke up. "Would it be possible that Megatron also knows of this?" She asked.

Almost immediately everyone was silent at that, all optics focusing on her. Rhinox let out a vent as he rubbed the top of his helm. "It's possible. If he's been running similar experiments to what I've been doing, it could lead him to the same data as well."

"Then it is possible he knows about this as well. And if he does, it is likely he will increase his attacks and efforts to win our conflict here before Cybertron learns of our situation and sends help," Sauria stated quietly.

There was silence for a few moments before Vixtrion spoke up. "Way to bring things down," she muttered, crossing her arms as the mood on the bridge was dampened considerably with Sauria's words.

"She is correct though," Optimus said. "If Megatron has the same information we do, he will reach the same conclusion. We should immediately begin work on re-fortifying the base. I want everyone to get to work checking all systems, replacing damage or worn tech, and coming up with any ideas on how we can improve our defenses," he ordered. "I'll begin assigning duty areas shortly. In the meantime, start gathering together supplies and tools. Silverbolt, Cheetor, Airazor. I'll have you three rotate patrols while we work on reinforcing the base," he ordered.

The Maximals soon were scattering to follow his orders, save for Sauria. She remained behind until it was only her and Optimus, causing him to look at her. "What is it Sauria?" He asked, turning his attention back to the table where he was already putting together a duty schedule for the crew.

"Optimus, this news could make Megatron desperate," Sauria started quietly. "If he knows he has only a limited time before Maximal reinforcements arrive, I don't think he'll worry about attacking us. He'll focus his efforts on a far more effective method of winning. With the Golden Disc in his possession he has the ability to read the future. If he attempts to alter time with it-," she said, only to be cut off by Optimus.

"He would have done so. He's had more than enough time already to use the Disc for that purpose," Optimus said, the edge in his voice a clear indication that while he didn't say it, his words carried with it the blame he laid on Sauria for Megatron's retrieval of the disc. "If he hasn't already, it is likely he won't do so. Especially since there is no guarantee his attempts to alter time would even work, or would work out how he wishes them to."

Sauria had flinched at Optimus' words but pressed on. "Even still, if we strike at the Predacons and secure the Disc or remove Megatron from play, it would-."

Optimus turned to her, optics narrowed. "No Sauria. If Rhinox is correct we are close to being rescued. I've already lost four of my crew to the Predacons, one of whom we barely have rescued. And another one was lost to those aliens. I will not risk anyone else unnecessarily. Especially not so you can prove something to us or yourself," he stated, his voice hard and firm.

Sauria reeled back, as if his words had been a physical blow. She stood there for a moment, feeling her Spark pulse harshly at the sting of his words before she lowered her helm. "As you command, Optimus," she said quietly, turning away and leaving the bridge.

Optimus let out a groan and covered his faceplate with one servo, already regretting his words. He hadn't meant to come across so harshly, but he had no desire to needlessly throw the crew into battle, not when they were potentially so close to being rescued. And like he said, why hadn't Megatron attempted to alter time already if he had the capability to do so? He felt mostly certain that Megatron wasn't going to attempt to alter time anymore then he had by them being stuck on pre-historic Earth.

He lowered his servo and focused on the screen in front of him, trying to shake the slightest sliver of doubt in his Spark.

Meanwhile, Sauria was moving through ship to maintenance storage, to follow Optimus' orders. Her back remained straight, her gaze firm. She would not let any see the storm raging within her.

As she approached the storage room, however, she was forced to pause as she heard voices within. "Vixtrion, don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Cheetor was heard, his voice sounding uncomfortable.

"I'm just saying, I think we should check anything Sauria is assigned to work on, just in case," Vixtrion could be heard saying while she shuffled through the equipment in the storage room, pulling some pieces down. "She's already betrayed us once, she could do it again. We should be ready."

"Big bot let her come back. He obviously trusts her," Cheetor hesitantly replied back, earning a snort from Vixtrion.

"But not enough to restore her full access, remember? And she hasn't been on a mission by herself either since then," the femme countered. "If Optimus doesn't fully trust her still, then how can the rest of us?"

There was some silence for a few moments as Sauria stood in the hallway, her frame rigid, each word from Vixtrion feeling like a stab through her chestplate. She barely even heard Cheetor when he responded to Vixtrion. "Rattrap trusts her. And he'd have even more reason to mistrust her then any of us. If he's willing to believe she's with us, doesn't that mean something?"

"Maybe for him, but how can the rest of us trust her? Besides, maybe something was done to Rattrap when their frames were switched. That could be why-."

"Yo, what's da hold up dame-a-saurus?" Rattrap asked as he came up behind Sauria, seeing her standing there rigidly in the hallway. He moved beside her, catching sight of Vixtrion and Cheetor now peering out of the maintenance storage unit with growing looks of horrified realization and guilt on their faceplates. Looking up to see Sauria's own frozen, emotionless face led to him putting two and two together. "…I don't know what youse two were sayin', but I suggest yeh get movin'," he said, his voice growing colder and harder.

The two younger Maximals quickly grabbed the tools they were gathering and ran, leaving Sauria and Rattrap standing in the hallway. Rattrap moved in front of Sauria, looking up at her as she continued to vacantly stare down the hallway. "Sauria…yeh don't snap out of it, I'm gunna grope yer aft-plate," he said in as much of a joking tone as he could muster, which wasn't much considering how tired and weary his voice sounded.

Sauria merely moved past him, heading into the storage unit. "We should gather the equipment quickly," she said, her voice a quiet monotone, empty of any emotion or life in it.

Rattrap sighed as he followed her. "Yeh shouldn't let da pipsqueaks get ta ya," he said to her, watching her gathering more tools and equipment.

"Their words are accurate. They are right to be suspicious of me," she replied in that same tone, only for Rattrap to grab her arm and forcing her to stop.

"Maybe, but I know better. And yeh know better. Yeh made a mistake but yer here now, ready ta fight ta da bitter end. If dey don't wanna see dat, too bad fer dem," he said, his voice rising a bit. He moved in front of her again, forcing her to finally look at him. "Yeh can't keep beatin' yerself up every time someone say's crap like dat. Yeh never let it get ta yeh when I did it."

She looked down at him before looking away, setting what she had gathered down. "…before my betrayal…when your insults were filled with venom…they meant nothing to me. And when they were…mere banter…I enjoyed it," she said softly. "But after what I did…your words and theirs…they ring true now. I cannot deny what they say." She pulled away from him. "I thank you for your words, Rattrap…but denying the validation of their words and feelings won't make my betrayal any less of a reality. All I can do…is try to make up for it. To right my wrong."

Before he could say anything else she left the room, and he heard her heavy ped-falls as she moved down the corridor. His optics narrowed slightly before he spoke up. "Sentinel…track unit Sauria. Inform me if she leaves da base."

"Acknowledged," the computer spoke up as Rattrap set to work getting tools together.

Sauria, meanwhile, simply headed to her quarters. She couldn't hold it back anymore. The words of the two young Maximals, added with Optimus' earlier words, were too much for her. She now knew there was only one course of action before her, one that none of the Maximals would approve of. But it was the only way.

She entered her quarters and quickly moved to the wall of her weapons. Quickly grabbing a few, she began to slide them into her storage unit before pausing. Her optics landed on her father's blade. Her servo stretched out towards it, stopping and trembling for a moment before she seized the hilt. Her mouth twitched slightly as she felt the familiar weight of the blade, raising it up and slowly swinging it before bringing it up to look at it. "…father….one last time…please give me strength so that I might regain my honor as a warrior and as your daughter," she whispered.

Hesitating only a moment, she stashed the blade into her storage unit, and then turned to her desk console. She sat down and quickly opened the recording function.

Half a decacycle later she was slipping out of the base, transforming into beast mode before darting away as quickly as her form could move. A few cycles later another figure was exiting the base and transforming, doing their best to follow her trail.

Darksyde

Within the Predacon base, the Predacon fuzor Terrok was quietly studying data on the screen before him. Megatron had ordered him to run an analysis on their stores of Energon, to see if it was possible to somehow stretch their reserves out so they could spend less time mining and more time focused on other things, such as defeating the Maximals.

Terrok frowned before inputting some calculations, watching as the computer began running simulations. As he waited for the programs to finish, he found his processor returning to recent events. More specifically, the failure of Megatron's plan regarding Nightwing that led to the Maximals recovering their crewmate.

Terrok knew that most likely the reason that plan failed was due to a traitor informing the Maximals ahead of time. At the time there were only two likely culprits. The first was Tarantulas, who more than likely had listening devices planted within the base that would allow him to learn what Megatron was planning and act accordingly. Given how he had recently begun actively working against Megatron, it was possible he was responsible for the plan failing.

The other was Blackarachnia, who Terrok had been responsible for investigating under Megatron's orders. An investigation that had revealed that Blackarachnia was also up to something, right under Megatron's nose so to speak. Though whatever it was, Terrok wasn't sure. Megatron had not been entirely forthcoming on what exactly he thought Blackarachnia had done beyond perhaps working towards her own goals. All Terrok knew was that Blackarachnia was occasionally seen leaving the base on her own, or entering and exiting areas that she had no official reason to be in. At first she had seemed to be able to easily give him the slip, but after he had set up a few hidden sensors in portions of the ship he had been able to more easily keep track of at least some of her movements.

So it was very possible either of the arachnids was the cause for the latest failure of Megatron's schemes. It was even possible both of them were. Or it was possible the Maximals had some hidden spy tech of their own onboard. Matrix knows the number of times Rattrap had proven he was able to slip into their base, and semi-recently another Maximal had managed to slip in to steal the prototype Spark extractor.

All of this was causing Terrok to come to one conclusion: Megatron was perhaps not the best leader to follow. Perhaps it was the Terrorsaur in him causing him to think this way, but the more Terrok saw of Megatron's failures, the more he was becoming convinced that ultimately the Predacon leader had no idea what he was doing. At least, that was what he was seeing from his perspective.

So where did that leave him? Terrok leaned back as he contemplated this line of thinking. The parts of him made up of Scorponok demanded he remain loyal to Megatron no matter what, but the conniving power seeking aspects from Terrorsaur were tempering that loyalty. Terrok had been content to see where things went, to follow Megatron's lead, but now…perhaps it was time to start looking into a replacement of leadership.

Terrok was drawn from his thoughts by another console beeping nearby. He turned to it, quickly pressing a button to activate the console's screen. A slow grin spread on his faceplate as the image of Blackarachnia sneaking back into the base popped up. Slowly, a plan began to form in his processor as he closed the console down.

Unknown Location

Airazor could only smile to herself as she jetted across the sky, feeling the wind rush over her 'jet' form. The cold air slipping past her as her engine roared, her hearing almost drowned out through a mixture of rushing air and jet propulsion. This was something she had always lived for. She didn't remember much of her life before awakening here on Earth but she knew, from the first moment she had flown through the air on falcon wings, that she always loved the thrill of fast flight.

At the moment she was on patrol, being the first one on the schedule Optimus had set up for her and the other two active fliers. The other two would be busy back at the base, helping to begin work on reinforcing the defensive and power flow systems. Though she remembered Optimus being a bit upset when he learned neither Sauria nor Rattrap was in the base to receive their own assignments.

Airazor did not wish to think ill of the fem saurian but if she was not in or near the base, it was possible that she might be up to something. Airazor wanted to believe Sauria truly was back on their side but it was hard for her to fully trust her after what she did. A sentiment she knew many of the other Maximals felt as well. The only one who seemed to have gotten past it was Rattrap, who had become Sauria's staunchest defender now in the past few megacycles.

Truth be told though Airazor had also not paid much mind to Sauria, not since she herself had been transformed into a transmetal and rejoined the Maximals. She had been lost in her own feelings of grief and loss concerning Tigertron. Feelings that she had been slow to deal with, but that she now felt like she could finally have some closure on. Speaking to Tigertron one final time had done a lot to help her, as did the help given to her by a certain wolf mech.

She let out a soft sigh as she thought about Lycanok. She wasn't blind to the fact that he seemed to harbor…feelings for her. But she didn't know if she could return them. Not after what happened to Tigertron, and while they were still in this war. A part of her thought he was certainly someone she'd be interested in, but at the moment she didn't think she could return those feelings.

She was drawn from her thoughts by an alert on her scanners, causing her to slow down and revert to bird form. Catching the rising warm air under her wings and using it to soar and hover, she now was more easily able to scan the area with her optics. Her 'eyes' began to search as she went into a slow banking turn.

It took her only a few moments to spot the two large moving units below. And as soon as she saw the large crustacean form of Rampage she felt her systems nearly freeze in fear at the memory of seeing him in the jungle for the first time. And remembering how he shrugged off their attacks like it was nothing.

She was barely able to pull herself out of the fear to take in the second figure with him, the unmistakable form of Megatron in his beast form as he plodded along slightly in front of the crab Predacon. A quick scan around them revealed no other Predacons, at least visually. Deciding to try and get a closer look she began a gentle dive, so as not to draw attention to herself from rapid movement. At the same time, she opened up her comms back to the base.

"This is Airazor to Maximal base. I am currently on patrol near Sector Gamma and have spotted Megatron and Rampage on the move, heading in a southerly direction. Moving to observe," she reported before cutting the communication. She continued her focus on the two, angling back up from her dive.

She didn't know if perhaps they caught her on sensors, or if some ingrained sense of paranoia tipped them off, but just as she was leveling off the two Predacons transformed and drew their weapons, aiming skyward at her. She was forced to quickly roll away as plasma bolts and cannon fire ripped through the air up towards her, forcing her to take continuing evasive action as they tracked her.

"Scratch last report, am now under fire! Repeat, I am taking fire!" She called out over the comms before switching to a general Maximal channel. "This is unit Airazor to any Maximals, do you read?!"

A few klicks away, Sauria was crouched in beast form behind a rock outcropping, studying the area below her. There was an open area with some rock pillars, between two of which was strung a rather large cyber-web. A clear sign that her quarry was somewhere nearby. Since news had reached the Maximals of Tarantulas breaking from Megatron's group, they had been attempting to lock down the location of his lair, so as to have an idea where the rogue arachnid scientist might strike from. While he wasn't a part of their enemy's forces anymore, he certainly wasn't an ally either. So having an idea where his lair was located would give them a better chance of dealing with him or countering him if he should decide to act against them.

Unfortunately the arachnid scientist had proven to be quite adept at covering his tracks, and the Maximals had only been able to narrow down the potential location of his base to a rather sizeable area. Far too big for them to be certain of where his base was. Sauria, however, believed that he had potentially that entire area was his lair, consisting primarily of a large underground tunnel network similar to his old base.

The cyber-webbing was proof at least that she had found one of the likely entrances or exits to Tarantulas' lair. Reports from Rattrap in past encounters with Tarantulas indicated he had been heavily influenced by his beast form, taking up habits and actions an organic tarantula would do. Such as trapping and feeding on live prey.

Sauria continued to study the area, seeing some gazelle grazing nearby. It would not take much to perhaps chase one into Tarantulas' webbing and thus luring him out. She was about to proceed when her comm unit activated. "Airazor to any Maximal unit, do you read me?!"

Sauria quickly backed away while responding. "This is Sauria. What is your situation Airazor?"

"I'm engaged in a firefight with our unfriendly neighborhood megalomaniac and his psycho monster henchmen. They're giving me some live-fire dodge practice right now. I need some as-GAH!" Sauria flinched as she heard an explosion and a cry of pain.

"Airazor, are you injured!? What is your location?!" Sauria said, trying to pinpoint the location of the transmission.

"…I'm alright. But one of the rounds exploded a bit too close to me. Caught some shrapnel. I'm falling back. But Megatron and Rampage are moving through Sector Gamma, and somebody needs to keep eyes on them," she reported, her voice laced with slight pained grunts.

Sauria let out a soft growl. "I will move in to observe them presently. Return to the base and inform Optimus of what has happened," she said before cutting off the transmission.

Turning back to the clearing she hesitated for a moment, debating between making a run now or attempting to capture Tarantulas. Tarantulas would likely have information that could help her and she was sure she could 'coerce' him into taking her to Sector Gamma. But no….no, the longer she took to get there, the more chance Megatron had of slipping away or perhaps enacting whatever his plan was.

She turned around to leave, only to stop as she found herself face to face with said arachnid who was cackling as he pointed his wheeled blaster at her. "Well well well….I was hoping for a nice tender young gazelle for dinner…but I think you'll do," he said with a grin.

Sauria growled as she crouched down as if preparing to leap, only for Tarantulas to fire at her feet, causing her to step back. "None of that my dear. I'd hate to damage you before I've got you in my web and draining the energy from you."

"…yeh know…I was REALLY hopin' yeh got past dat crazy 'suckin' bots mech fluid' phase. Guess I was wrong," spoke another voice from behind, causing Tarantulas to whirl just in time to catch a blast to his chestplate. He was sent flying back right into a tail whip from Sauria that smashed him into the ground before she transformed and drove a clenched servo into his faceplate, knocking him unconscious as his helm became partially buried from the blow.

Sauria slowly stood up, eyeing the form of Rattrap as he approached. "What are you doing here?" She said, watching him spin his pistol on one finger before holstering.

"Besides savin' yer scaley hide…again…I'm wonderin' da same ding about yeh," Rattrap said with a smirk, before getting serious. "Yer goin' after Megs, ain't yah?"

Sauria looked away from him. "I will correct my mistake, Rattrap. Whatever the cost."

He shook his helm before transforming into his wheeled form. "Hop on den. Sector Gamma's too far away fer dem chicken legs of yers."

Sauria glowered at him. "This is not your fight Rattrap. Get back to base. I'll handle this," she snapped at him.

He glared up at her, his green beast eyes defiant. "Purple face's just as much my problem as he is yers. And he's got crab legs wit him too. Yeh figure yeh can take dem both on?"

Sauria looked at him, before letting out a vent. "…I hope you washed yourself recently," she muttered, half-heartedly sinking back into their back and forth barbs as she climbed onto his back.

"Nope! In fact I rolled through some garbage JUST fer you," he snarked back as he began to roar off, Sauria holding on to him the whole time.

It was a few mega-cycles later that Megatron finally stopped, smiling as he transformed. Up above, the sky was slowly turning from blue to orange as the sun was beginning to set. His optics roved along the skyline, picking out a mountain off in the distance. "Yesss…I believe this is a suitable testing area," he said, slowly pulling out the Golden Disc from his storage compartment. "Quite a magnificent sight, isn't it my ravenous crustacean friend? The sky, the clouds, and that mountain all coming together in an almost picturesque scene."

"It would be a more pleasant sight if we added in your remains strewn about the ground," Rampage growled out, clacking his pincers. Megatron let out an almost disappointed vent before switching the end of his tail into a strange clamp like device that he used to secure the Golden Disc in. Reaching into his storage compartment, he pulled out the device holding part of Rampage's Spark and proceeded to squeeze, driving the Energon crystals into the pulsing symbol of cybertronian life.

Rampage groaned out, shuddering and spasming in pain as his frame lit up with energy waves of Energon, all while Megatron watched him writhe in agony. The feeling of raw pure energy piercing into his Spark, into his very being, was too agonizing to comprehend. If it weren't being done to him, he might consider it to be quite the tactic to use on his victims in the future.

The pain eventually receded as Megatron relented, releasing the pressure he had on the device and storing it away again. "Your attitude is not appreciated Rampage. Remember that," he said before bringing up his tail. A small projector emerged from the top of the clamp as the disc began to spin within it. Within moments a small screen appeared, showing the same mountain that Megatron was focusing on. But there were differences between the two. The mountain on the screen was slightly different in its shape, as if weathered and beaten by the elements and time.

"Of course I did not bring you here for your company or ability to appreciate the scenery. No. I brought you here to finally put my theory to the test. And should the answer prove favorable…we may finally be able to win not just the Beast Wars, but the conquest of Cybertron as well," Megatron continued, pointing at the mountain with his free servo. "My dearest Rampage, I brought you here to utilize the services you're best at…wanton destruction," he said with a smile. "If you would kindly blast that mountain peak please? Preferable with a high yield warhead?"

Rampage, still occasionally spasming from the recent torture, glared up at Megatron before shifting from his crab to his tank form. His massive tri-barreled cannon, now aimed at the mountain, rotated to bring the largest barrel to bear. After a moment's hesitation he fired, the large shot streaking through the sky and disappearing. After a few moments' silence the mountain suddenly lit up in an explosion that engulfed the entire top of it. The sound of said explosion soon reached them a few moments later as the light and smoke cleared; revealing the upper portion of the mountain was gone.

Megatron's optics immediately sought out the screen, where the projected mountain remained. But only for a few moments, as soon the screen flickered and was filled with static before being replaced. Now it matched the mountain in front of them, the upper portion gone as well. Again though it appeared weathered, the jagged edges smoothed by the force of elements and time.

"…yes….Yes…YYYEEEESSSSSS!" Megatron screamed to the heavens, quickly stowing the disc away and turning to Rampage with a look of maniacal delight on his face plate. "My dear insane Rampage, do you know what this means?! Do you know what we've done here today?!" He turned away, not waiting for a response as he pointed to the destroyed mountain. "We have proven that time is malleable! That it can be altered! We have changed history!"

Rampage's small crab eyes narrowed on either side of his head. "And how do you know that?" He asked skeptically. "All we've done is destroy a single mountain."

Megatron turned back to him, too elated for Rampage's skepticism to ruin his mood. "Because the record in the disc, the one left by my namesake, altered to match our actions. The Decepticon Megatron left a record of Earth and the events of the Great War on the disc. If time was immutable, unchangeable, our destruction of that mountain should have done nothing to the record. But instead it altered to match our actions here in the past! We have the power to rewrite time and history!"

He turned his attention away from the mountain and Rampage and instead to another nearby feature. Another reason why he chose this particular spot. "And I know the perfect target for a follow up experiment," he said, moving towards the nearby valley that the two of them had been moving parallel to this entire time.

He smiled as he reached the edge of said valley, looking down into it. It was largely a very narrow but long valley, with high steep walls that would make normal attempts to climb up or down impossible without specialized gear. The valley floor was filled with planet life, as well as a small stream that made its way through it. Megatron's optics lit up as he spotted movement amongst the plant life, the sign of small primate creatures, no larger than a mechling.

"This…according to the historical records of Earth, this is the valley where the creatures humans will evolve from dwell. Here they will eventually rise up and begin to spread across this world, dominating it until the time of the Great War, where they will side with Autobots against the Decepticons. It is their aid which allows Optimus Prime and his followers to win the war and subject both Decepticon and Predacon to Autobot and Maximal rule…but history is about to change," he said, before turning away and activating his comm unit. "It's time," he said simply.

On the opposite side of the valley, both Sauria and Rattrap had been crouched behind some rocks, watching everything unfold. They had arrived just in time to see Rampage fire at the mountain, and witnessed all that followed. Rattrap could only groan as he slumped down behind the rocks, shaking his helm. "Man oh man, I can't believe what I'm seein'. Old Megs is dat insane, ta try and alter time?!" He questioned, looking to Sauria.

She was crouched down as well but was staring off into the distance, optics unfocused. Rattrap stared in surprise before realization clicked. "…yeh got yer answer," he finally said.

Sauria slowly nodded, her voice quiet and distant. "Yes…I have my answer," she said finally. "My actions, my choices….are my own…"

Rattrap shook his helm, turning back to look at Megatron. "Dat's great, but we still got ta deal wit Megatron and whatever he's plann'," he said.

Sauria finally returned to the moment, turning as well as she saw the incoming forms of the other Predacons moving to join Megatron and Rampage. "I think it is pretty obvious what he intends," she said, looking down at the valley. "He has the power to alter time, and it looks like he has chosen this valley to do something. Tell me…what do you think he plans to do here on Ancient Earth with the knowledge and power he now has?" She asked.

Rattrap's was silent for a few moments before his servos clenched. "He's goin' after humanity."

"Yes…but I do not think he is expecting me," Sauria said, pulling away to move further into cover. Rattrap followed, looking a bit confused.

"Yeh mean us, right?" He asked, stopping when she did.

Sauria stood there, her form stuff, before she answered. "…no…me," she said before whirling, her clenched servo slamming into the side of Rattrap's helm. The small Maximal, feeling like a sledgehammer slammed into him, would have been knocked to the ground if Sauria hadn't quickly caught him. His systems glitching and going offline, he could only stare at the fuzzy image of Sauria as she lowered him gently to the ground, a sad look of resignation on her faceplate. "Forgive me Rattrap, but I must atone for my mistakes….alone," she said softly, before impulsively leaning down and ever so gently pressing her lips to his forehead. "Thank you…for everything," she whispered, before he went offline.

Sauria slowly laid him out and did her best to make him comfortable, all while regret started to fill her. Regret at knowing how she must hurt her friends and allies one last time, in order to save them. Regret that she would never be able to stand before her paternal unit and show him the warrior she had become. And most importantly…regret as she was only now beginning to understand just how truly special her time with the Maximals was. How it was their efforts, their actions, her time with them, especially with the small Maximal laid out before her that had helped bring her to this point.

She slowly shook her helm before standing, turning to look across the valley. On the other side she could already see the Predacons gathered, with Megatron smirking before pointing down into the valley. The Predacons soon poured down, weapons firing as they dropped into the valley. Below, the creatures screamed in fear as they scattered, as weapons fire ripped through the air around them, setting the plants alight and cutting a few of them down.

She quickly activated her radio, setting it to the frequency of the Maximal base. "Sauria to Axalon. Level 1 Emergency, Priority Omega. Megatron is attempting to alter time by attacking the proto-humans," she said, her voice deadly calm, full of resolve as she reached into her storage compartment and drew out a pistol in one servo as she drew her shield from her back with the other.

"…say again, Sauria. Megatron is attempting to alter time?!" Optimus responded, his voice filled with shocked.

"Yes. He has confirmed that he can alter time and is launching an attack on the proto-human's in an attempt to erase humanity from history and alter the outcome of the Great War. Rattrap is currently non-functional at my coordinates. I am moving to intercept," she said quietly.

"Negative! Hold your position and wait for backup! Sauria, that is an order!" Optimus shouted, even as she heard faint shouts over the radio of the other Maximals preparing to leave.

"…I'm sorry Optimus, but I cannot…it was my failure that led to this moment…it was my fault that all of history and trillions of lives are in jeopardy. But I finally can rectify my mistake. I have my answer, Optimus Primal…and I'm choosing my fate. I am a warrior," she said, before cutting the communications. She took a few moments to center herself as she stood at the valley's edge.

As she stood there, feeling the last of the sun's warmth and light hit her back, she could only smile sadly. In the end…she would get the ending she wanted for so many solar-cycles: to die in glorious combat, an honorable and fitting end. And yet now…she wished she had more time. But it didn't matter…she was a warrior, and battle must be joined. Without hesitation she leapt into the fray.

She hit the ground, quickly rolling on her shield and coming up on one knee, pistol raised as she searched for targets. With none in sight she quickly ran towards the nearest sounds of gunfire, a familiar insane cackle going off. She burst through the trees, feeling the heat of flames as Inferno stood there, turning and spraying flames wildly as he laughed and cackled. Nearby were Blackarachnia and Specter, both aiming at fleeing primates and firing. A few already lay dead on the ground their bodies riddled with rounds.

Sauria didn't hesitate, her pistol coming up and firing at Spectre, hitting him in shoulder and causing him to cry out in pain as he spun from the impact. Inferno turned in time for Sauria's shield to smash into his chestplate as she lifted him off the ground and continuing her charge as she smashed him into a boulder. She quickly pulled back, spinning around to bring her shield up as Blackarachnia quickly aimed and fired at her with her leg mounted machine guns. The shield held, the sounds of multiple rounds impacting it filling the air as it trembled slightly in Sauria's grasp as she huddled behind it. She quickly looked up long enough to fire her optical lasers, the blasts slamming into Blackarachnia and sending her flying.

Hearing movement behind her, Sauria rolled forward and spun around to launch a quick scything kick at Inferno, knocking the weapon from his servos. Before he could recover she slammed the edge of her shield into his neck joint, causing him to stagger back as his systems were jolted by the impact. She quickly followed with an uppercut with her shield, sending him flying onto his back. With a roar she drove the edge of the shield down all but severing his head from his body in an explosion of mech fluids and sparks.

Yanking her shield from the now downed Inferno, she whirled in time to receive a flying kick from Specter that sent her staggering back. He quickly attempted to follow up with twin slashes from his bladed SMG's, but Sauria stepped back and kicked at the same time to catch him in his rush forward to slash her. She brought her pistol up, rapidly firing as he dodged away, cloaking as he did so. Sauria found herself distracted when Blackarachnia came at her again, her chestplate smoldering as she attempted to fire a cyber-venom dart at Sauria.

The femme raptor parried the dart away with her shield as she charged at Blackarachnia, leaping over the smaller femme as she attempted to spin kick Sauria. Said femme rolled on the ground, turning and actually hurling her shield at Blackarachnia. The arachnid Predacon managed to duck in time, only to rise up into Sauria's grasping servo as it clenched around her neck, lifting her up and then smashing her hard into the ground. Blackarachnia let out a short cry of pain before the impact knocked her systems for a loop, and she barely regained enough coherencies to see Sauria's clawed ped come smashing down into her faceplate, rendering her offline as well.

Sauria moved to pick up her shield, only for it to suddenly rise up and smash into her faceplate, sending her sprawling. She turned in time to see it moving through the air, raising up to smash down on her much like she had done with Inferno. She rolled out of the way and quickly aimed her optical lasers right in the air under the shield and firing. She was rewarded with Specter's cry of pain as he was sent flying back, his colors returning to normal as he hit the ground.

Sauria slowly stood, shaking her helm before quickly grabbing up her pistol and firing it at Specter, hitting him in a knee joint as he tried to rise up. He screamed in agony as the knee joint was partially blown apart and he fell back to the ground, only to scream again as another blast ripped into his other knee joint. He scrambled to pull himself away, to grab his weapons, as Sauria aimed for his chestplate. She pulled the trigger but the gun shuddered, a jam preventing it from firing.

Specter let out a vent of relief, only for the pistol to smash into his faceplate as Sauria threw it with all her might and drew out her normal sword, grabbing up her shield as she did so. She rushed at Specter as he pulled himself away, before his servo landed on something. His optics widened before he swung his servo around at the same time as Sauria lunged at him. There was the sound of metal tearing through metal, then nothing in the small clearing, save for the sound of burning fires.

Sauria slowly pulled her sword out of Specter's chest plate before groaning, dropping the blade to reach down and touch her torso where there was a burning pain. She slowly yanked the bladed SMG out, grunting as she held her servo to the wound. It was not too serious at the moment, but it would slow her down. She cursed herself for being sloppy, spitting on Specter as she grabbed her sword and turned towards the sound of fighting off in the distance, rushing that way while leaving the three Predacons behind.

Above the valley, Megatron could only frown. According to his sensors, three of the Predacons were not moving. And he had faintly heard what could have been screams of pain from that direction. Turning to the two Predacons he had been keeping in reserve in case anything went wrong, he nodded to Quickstrike. "Go see what happened to Blackarachnia, Inferno, and Specter," he ordered.

As the Fuzor rushed off Megatron turned to Ripfang. "And you…go reinforce Rampage, Terrok, and Waspinator…and enjoy yourself," he added maliciously.

The bloodthirsty Predacon growled happily, glad to be released now as he dropped down, already dragging out his massive battleaxe as he landed. All while Megatron continued to watch from above.

Sauria grunted, staggering a bit as her side wound caused her to momentarily stumble and hit a tree, before shaking her helm as she pushed herself off and resumed her fast run. She had no time to worry about that now. Every nano-cycle wasted was another proto-human dead. She would not fail. She could not fail. Focusing again, she heard the sounds of weapons fire growing louder as she drew closer.

In an instant she was emerging from the trees, spying the forms of Waspinator and Rampage. She charged towards them, roaring out her battle-cry as her optics flared green. Rampage turned in time to receive the laser blast to his faceplate, temporarily blinding him from the damage. It would regenerate in moments, but it was moments that gave Sauria freedom to rush in slash across one of his knee joints with her sword. The damage was again not substantial, his reinforced frame negating some of it and the regeneration would heal up the rest. But it was enough to knock him down as Sauria spun, bringing her shield around to block a frightened reflex shot from Waspinator. Sauria growled as she leapt at Waspinator, slamming him into the rock wall of the valley. She didn't pull back to give herself space to slash or stab, instead simply rearing back and smashing the hilt of her sword into his faceplate and helm repeatedly, savage blow after savage blow slamming into the insect Predacon. He kept crying out in pain as hammer blow after hammer blow rained down on him, before Sauria pulled back and finally stabbed the blade into him, pinning him to the wall.

Unfortunately for Sauria, she had missed the third Predacon present. It was now her turn to roar out in pain as a plasma bolt slammed into her back, causing her to stagger forward. She whirled around as Terrok fired another blast, this one slamming into her barely raised shield. She growled, feeling her back flaring in burning pain before pushing the pain down as she charged her optical lasers and fired, forcing Terrok to dodge. She fired again, only to hear a roar and turned to see Rampage charging her, raising both his clenched servos up to slam down on her. She barely rolled out of the way, the damage in her back nearly causing her to scream in pain as she hit the ground. As she came back up she saw Rampage turning and reaching to grab her, causing her to do her best to back up. Yet she was forced to dodge to the side as Terrok fired at her again, the plasma round from his pincer scorching the ground.

Unfortunately, this dodge put her too close to Rampage, who managed to grab her shield and drag her close enough to lift and slam her into the wall next to Waspinator's pinned form. She let out a scream of pain as the burnt, damaged protomatter on her back hit the rock wall before Rampage grinned and slammed her into the wall again, drawing another scream from her. "Delicious," he whispered, preparing to pull her back for a third slam.

Sauria would not oblige him though, glaring at him before firing another blast from her optical lasers right into his optics. At this range it did more than just damage them, causing him to scream in a guttural, gurgling cry of agony as the optics were all but destroyed by the blast. Sauria hit the ground, dropping to her knee joints and barely steadying herself as Rampage stumbled back while flailing and roaring in agony. Struggling against the aches and pains wracking her form, the damaged systems protesting this continued abuse, she surged back to her pedes, grabbing her sword and yanking it from Waspinator's twitching form. She turned in time to see Terrok zooming in, both his pincers raised and ready to fire. With a roar she flung the sword at him with all her might.

Terrok barely saw it in time. And even then he wasn't quick enough to fully dodge. Instead of lodging in his chest, his quick roll caused the blade to bury itself in his wing instead. With a cry of pain he tumbled out of the sky and slammed into the ground, rolling and causing the edges of the tri-edged sword to dig further into his wing and tear up the membrane more before he came to a stop.

He slowly pushed himself up, growling as he reached back and yanked the blade out of his wing, turning to glare at Sauria who was slowly approaching him. Snarling, he looked down at the blade before smirking, gripping it between his two pincers and snapping it in half. Sauria stopped and glared at him as he tossed the two broken halves of the sword onto the ground before raising his pincers up to shoot at her. She quickly raised her shield, blocking the shots, before firing back with her optical lasers. He dodged to the side, only for his optical visor to go wide as the shield came flying through the air and slammed into his helm, sending him slamming back into a tree. Before he could recover, Sauria was on him, her shoulder slamming into his chest and knocking him back into the tree before she grabbed his helm and dragged him down right into a rising knee. For a third time he hit the tree, the trunk now cracked from the impacts, before Sauria stepped back and then shot a straight kick into his chest, putting him through the tree trunk itself. He hit the ground, his ventilation systems gasping for air as his systems overheated from the damage and exertion, before he let out a short lived cry as the upper half of the tree fell on top of him, pinning him and knocking him offline.

Sauria slumped for a moment, venting heavily as she gripped the still seeping wound at her side. She could feel now the aches and pains from everything she had been through, the exhaustion as her energy stores were heavily depleted. The stab wound and damage from Terrok's shot into her back both burned and her frame screamed in painful protest every time she moved. She limped over to her shield, reaching down to grab it, when a massive pincer swept into her view before smashing into her and sending her sailing. She let out a scream of agony as she hit the ground, rolling a few feet before stopping.

Rampage stood there in beast form, his crab eyes glaring at her. "Quite clever blinding me like that. I must admit, it's been a LONG time since I felt that much pain. But it seems it wasn't quite clever enough," he said. While his optics in robot form were too damaged to use at the moment, even with his advanced regeneration, his beast form's eyes worked fine. Though the image was still fuzzy due to some of his optical processes being damaged as well. Still, he didn't need perfect vision to finish Sauria off as he slowly advanced on her, his pincers clacking menacingly.

Sauria struggled into a sitting position, trying not to cry out in pain as she leaned her back up against a rock. With a growl she focused as much power as she could into her optical lasers and fired them at Rampage, only for him to raise a pincer to block. A second attempt met with the same fate as he kept slowly advancing.

"Keep struggling, little traitor. Keep fighting the inevitable. I want to see you struggle, so I can enjoy the moment you break all the more," he said sadistically, continuing his slow pace to sow more terror in her Spark, to savor her growing fear and hopelessness more.

Sauria grunted as she tried to push herself up, barely able to do so. Her frame ached, her systems were damaged and trying to rebel against her movements, but still she pushed herself up to her pedes. Shakily one servo reached back to her storage unit, drawing a second pistol. With her power levels reading dangerously low she couldn't risk using her optical lasers again. Though she knew that this pistol wasn't likely to fare any better than her lasers did she still raised it up, aiming for the crab.

Rampage chuckled, a horrible gurgling noise of amusement that promised pain and suffering. "Defiant to the end…why do you bother? You are about to die…and you will do so a failure. A traitor who failed even to save a bunch of animals in her last moments," he said, preparing to surge forward and grab her in his claws.

That is until a blur leapt over him, slamming down on his carapace. He staggered slightly in surprise, only to let out a roar as the figure planted their pistol into the back of his small crustacean head and began firing. "SUCK ON DIS YA OVERGROWN APPETIZER!" Rattrap yelled, firing round after round into Rampage's head.

The crab Predacon staggered and flailed as he tried to knock Rattrap off. His pincers couldn't reach though, and Rattrap kept his balance long enough to plant an explosive on Rampage and leap off. As he hit the ground next to a stunned Sauria the bomb detonated, engulfing Rampage in fire and smoke as he let out a brief shriek of pain. There was a large thud, then silence as the smoke slowly cleared, revealing the downed form of Rampage. The back of his form was heavily scorched and dented, with parts actually ripped open by the explosion. All of which was enough to render him offline, for now at least.

The pistol fell from Sauria's grasp as she slumped back against the rock she had previously been sitting against, barely staying on her pedes. Her gaze drifted to Rattrap, who was scanning the area for any more targets before turning to her. "Yeh look like slag," he said, eyeing her frame.

"You don't say?" She grimaced, slowly holding her wounded side. "I thought I was doing quite well so far."

Rattrap shook his helm, moving towards her. "Yeh would be if ya hadn't sucker punched me," he said, his tone heavy with accusation. "Wat crazy stupid glitch made ya dink yeh needed ta run off on yer own, huh? Yeh tryin' ta die?!"

Sauria grimaced at his words, looking down. "…I didn't want anyone else to suffer for my mistakes," she said softly. "This is my problem, my burden to deal with."

"Well dis problem is my problem too! Dis ain't just about yeh, ya self-centered bronto-brained femme!" Rattrap yelled angrily. "And did ya stop ta dink how'd we all feel if yeh died?! Huh?!"

"I-if it meant protecting all of you…it would be a worthy death," she said softly, causing him to growl in annoyance and turn away. She grimaced as she pushed herself off the rock. "We do not have time…there are still three active Predacons. We need to stop them," she said, starting to reach down for her pistol.

"Stop. Yeh'll damage yerself more," Rattrap growled out, grabbing her pistol and handing it to her. "Guess yeh picked somedin' useful from meh at least."

She nodded slowly before looking around. "We should split up…try to find the remaining Predacons," she said, stumbling as she tried to take a step forward. Rattrap immediately caught her, his faceplate filled with concern as he steadied her.

"Yer in no condition ta fight and-," he said, only to be interrupted by her.

"There is no time. We must end this threat," she grunted out. "Do you want to save these proto-humans or no?"

Rattrap watched her for a few moments before pulling back. "Fine. But when dis is done…you and me got a lot ta talk about," he said quietly. "So yeh better not die on me out here dame-a-saurus. Yeh still owe me fer all da times I've saved yer aft."

"I'd feel grateful if I wasn't concerned about your obsession with my aft plating," she dryly remarked back. "Now go…signal me if you see more then one of the Predacons."

Rattrap nodded and headed off, leaving her alone. She shuddered, slumping again as she felt the strength she had mustered with him present leave her. At that moment her onboard computer sent her alert.

"Warning. Power levels nearing dangerously low levels. Stasis lock will engage." Sauria's optics widened at that.

"Computer, override Stasis lock. Security protocol alpha-zero-blue." She ordered.

"Warning. Continued exertions could-."

"OVERIDE!" She shouted angrily. After a moment there was a beep of confirmation. Growling softly to herself, Sauria gripped her pistol and started to advance forward past the still smoldering form of Rampage. That is until she heard an all too familiar revving roar coming at her from the side. She barely managed to dodge out of the way as Ripfang's battleaxe cleaved the air where her helm had been, the chainsaw teeth a blur around the weapon's blades.

"Heh, still got some fight left in you? Good," Ripfang growled, gripping his axe as he approached her. "I'd still happily gut you if you were prone and helpless, but it's so much more fun if there's some challenge to the fight."

Sauria grimaced, having been hoping to perhaps catch whichever Predacons she came across off guard and avoid more fighting. But it seemed this would not be the case. She did her best to quickly raise and fire the pistol, but Ripfang surged forward, the butt of his battleaxe coming up to send the pistol flying from her grip. He suddenly reversed, slamming the blunt bottom of the axe haft into her face plate and sending her sprawling.

"Oh c'mon, don't make this so easy! Give me a challenge!" Ripfang roared, the axe revving up again as he stood over her. Sauria could only lie there, struggling to regain her bearings as her systems recalibrated. She finally managed to gain enough coherence to see her situation and quickly sweep his legs out from under him, lamely rolling away and grimacing in pain as her damaged back was again strained by her maneuvers. She slowly rose up as Ripfang angrily surged back to his pedes, swinging his axe around for an overhead chop down on her. With a sudden burst of energy she managed to reach back into her storage compartment as his axe fell, drawing her last weapon.

Ripfang grunted as his axe suddenly stopped, meeting resistance as he found himself looking into Sauria's optics as she stood as firm as she could, her father's sword held in both servos to steady it against his straining axe. The whirring chainsaw teeth were mere centimeters from her helm but she had stopped his attack. But he could see her straining, the blade twitching slightly as she struggled to hold him back.

If he had a mouth port he'd be grinning as he pushed down harder with his axe, trying to overwhelm her resistance. She grimaced as she dug her pedes into the ground, trying to bolster her waning strength. But it was to no avail as the axe dropped ever so slightly closer to her. In an act of desperation she stepped to the side, angling the blade so the axe slid down past her and thudded into the ground as she half spun, half stumbled past him, slashing at his backplate. He let out an angry roar of annoyance and pain as the blade did cut into him but it was, at best, a 'flesh wound'. He yanked his axe up, whirling to meet her as she tiredly retook her stance, holding the blade in shaking servos.

She knew she couldn't keep this fight up. She knew she was on her last legs. The blade felt so heavy to her that she could barely keep it up. But she had to keep fighting. Venting heavily she lunged forward, trying to go on the attack.

If she were at a hundred percent, Ripfang would have been hard pressed to handle her attack. As it was he easily knocked her attack to the side, one servo gripping the haft of his weapon closer to the axe head in an attempt for a quick short cut into her side. She barely stepped back from it, bringing her blade around for a cut at his neck that he leaned back from, only to find her reversing and going for a quick thrust. He barely dodged to the side, actually feeling the edge of the sword leave a slight cut in his flank as he stepped back some more, giving Sauria a chance to recover from her thrust. He spun his axe around his head, bringing it in for a long side sweep, which Sauria barely managed to stagger back from before stepping in for a downward chop. Yet she found herself walking right into the blunt top of the battleaxe slamming into her chest plate, staggering her back. Ripfang quickly followed up with a quick slash that scored home, and Sauria cried out in pain as the whirring chainsaw teeth cut into her chestplate, drawing more liquid Energon and mech fluid from her frame as she stumbled back. One servo came up to hold the wound as she vented heavily, staring at Ripfang who smirked as he slowly advanced on her. She could see the look of triumph in his optics, the belief that he had won. He was going to finish her off with his next move. She could see it. So decided to play the only ace she had left.

Ripfang growled in delight as he leapt forward, swinging his axe down with all his might. Yet he was blinded by a sudden flash of blue that swept across his vision, before he found himself overbalanced and staggering forward. He frowned, not knowing how he missed and also wondering why his weapon felt lighter before he raised up the halt of his axe, seeing the smoking cauterized end where the axe head had been. Said axe head now lay on the ground, a short portion of the shaft connected to it still but also ending in a smoking burned section.

Ripfang slowly turned to see Sauria standing there, raising the sword to deliver another strike. Except now the edges of the blade were glowing blue with a thin edge of super heated plasma. The blade itself had opened along its cutting edge just enough to reveal a series of tiny emitters generating the plasma edge.

"Well…how about that?" Ripfang whispered, just before the blade cut right through his neck unit and sent his helm flying from his body.

Sauria stood there, venting heavily, her frame trembling from exertion as Ripfang's frame slowly fell over now. She turned away and stumbled, dropping to one knee joint as she kept herself upright with her father's sword. She spat onto the ground, seeing a mixture of fluids landing on the ground before she struggled back to her pedes. As she slowly stumbled away from her newest victory, she was unaware of the optics watching her.

At the same time Rattrap was moving through the underbrush as quickly and quietly as he could, all while searching for any remaining Predacons. He had thought he heard something behind him a few cycles ago, back where he left Sauria, but with the sounds of the burning vegetation and the screeching of animals still fleeing or trapped by the flames, it was impossible to tell. And all the dense vegetation was also playing havoc with his sensors as well. He was relying entirely on his optics and beast form's instincts.

He soon came out into a clearing where he saw Sauria's handiwork from earlier. The forms of Inferno, Blackarachnia, and Specter laid out where she had left them. He whistled as he took it all in. "She really did a number on dem," he muttered, only to duck into cover when he heard a scuttling noise. His quick actions were rewarded as he watched Quickstrike quickly scurry into the clearing in beast form, letting out a cry at the sight of Blackarachnia.

"SUGAH-BOT!" He yelled, transforming and rushing over to her still form. "C'mon, speak ta me! Tell me yer okay!" He frantically begged, shaking her form.

Rattrap cocked an optic ridge at that before slowly stepping out, raising his pistol and preparing to fire. Unfortunately a burning branch a bit behind him broke and dropped to the ground, causing Quickstrike to look up. His optics locked onto Rattrap and his faceplate transformed into murderous rage. "I'LL KILL YAH!" He shouted, surging up and wildly firing at Rattrap.

The Maximal spy was faster, already dodging to the side as soon as Quickstrike stood up. The blast of sickly green energy missed him entirely as he rapidly fired two shots before hitting the ground and rolling. Quickstrike dodged away as well, firing at Rattrap who kept running from cover to cover, firing at Quickstrike. The two of them quickly both found shelter, Rattrap behind a large boulder while Quickstrike hid behind a tree.

"YER GUNNA PAY FER WHAT YA DID TA HER!" Quickstrike yelled, popping out and rapidly firing at Rattrap's cover. Rattrap just remained behind his rock, hearing the energy blasts whiz past or dissipate against the rock.

"Yeh shouldn't fight angry!" Rattrap called out, grinning as he pulled out another explosive from his storage unit, arming it before throwing it up high and over his cover.

Quickstrike saw it and on pure reflex aimed and fired at it. The device went off with a loud bang and a flash of light as it was struck. Quickstrike roared in surprise and anger, flinching back as his optics and auditory sensors were overloaded. It took him a few moments for the systems to recalibrate, only to find himself staring at Rattrap as his vision returned, the Maximal with his pistol at the underside of Quickstrike's helm. "Gotcha," Rattrap quipped before firing.

Seeing him drop to the ground, the underside of his helm a burnt mess, Rattrap turned away as he spun his pistol on one digit. That is until a round hit it, sending it flying. He whirled to see a haggard Blackarachnia slowly standing up, venting and glaring at him from her damaged faceplate.

"Yeesh…Sauria messed yeh up good," Rattrap said, even as he raised his servos in surrender.

"Remind me…to return the favor," she growled out, raising her pistol with a dart of cyber-venom loaded in it. "For now…think I'll start with you…to make myself…feel better," She spat out as she prepared to fire.

Rattrap dodged to the side as she fired, hitting the ground and rolling. He quickly came up with a rock which he threw at her with all his might. Under normal circumstances that rock would do nothing. Blackarachnia would have easily dodged it. But damaged and exhausted, she was an easy target. It slammed into her faceplate and knocked her back down and out.

Rattrap let out a vent, shaking his helm as he retrieved his pistol. "Gotta keep on meh toes next time," he muttered as he went off to return to Sauria.

Sauria currently was leaning against a tree, having stopped herself from collapsing as she felt her power surge and fade. Once again the onboard computer spoke up. "Warning. Power is nearing terminal levels! Loss of Spark imminent! Stasis lock must commence!"

Sauria ignored it, slowly pushing herself back up and starting to advance forward when she heard a chuckle emanate from ahead. "Aah my dear Sauria. Always so stubborn…so defiant. Yyeeesss. I'd say they were remarkable traits…if you had used them better to serve me."

The exhausted Maximal femme slowly looked up to see Megatron step out from behind a large boulder, smirking at her with the Golden Disc in servo. She growled as she slowly lifted her blade up, readying herself for battle, only for Megatron to scoff.

"Please, my dear. Do not try to bluff me. Look at you. Broken, bleeding precious energy with every nano-cycle you remain active. You couldn't even fight a garbage-drone at this point, let alone someone like me," he said, his voice heavy with smug arrogance.

"Then…you should have no trouble…defeating me," she whispered, her father's sword powering up once more as she took a shaky step forward, only for Megatron to raise his tail as it glowed with charged plasma. Yet he didn't aim it at her. He aimed it at a captive primate, a proto-human, who began screeching in fear. It couldn't truly understand what was happening; just that it was in danger.

"I think not, Sauria. I know you'd love nothing more than to die in a blaze of glory, perhaps even getting that one final blow in that could defeat me. But I think not. No. You will disarm yourself and die a pointless death, or I'll kill this proto-human. Who knows? Maybe this will be the one that ensures the end of humanity," he said gleefully.

"You'll kill it anyways," Sauria countered, her voice weak and tired as she struggled to hold on to what little strength she had left. "Surrendering to you would be a pointless waste."

Megatron shrugged. "I tried," he said before whipping his tail forward and firing. Sauria barely got her sword up in time, the blade taking the hit. But her grip was weak and the blade was sent flying from her servos while she was sent reeling to the ground. She struggled to stand, resorting to the last weapon she had, her optical lasers glowing and firing at Megatron. Caught off guard, the tyrannical Predacon was staggered back by the blow. Yet there was little damage to his frame as he looked down at his slightly scorched chestplate, before he grinned at Sauria.

She tried to fire again, but this time the optical lasers cut out, the power being shunted to keeping her Spark and other vital systems online. Despair began to grip her as she realized she was out of weapons. She'd never reach her father's blade, her guns were gone, her lasers offline. All she had was her own two servos, and she doubted her strength would be enough. But she had to try. As she saw him raise his weapon again, her optics landed on one last foolish hope. Turning she managed to stagger over to a large broken branch, grabbing it and half surging, half stumbling into the surprised Megatron. She began to wildly swing the heavy branch with all her might, a last act of defiant desperation. She had to protect the proto-humans. She had to protect the Maximals. She had to redeem herself.

Megatron was stunned for a few moments by the series of blows, as they did stagger him back even though they did no damage. Regaining his wits he laughed as he swung his tail, sending Sauria flying. "Really Sauria? After everything, that is what you resort to? A stick?" He scoffed, starting to stomp towards her. "What did you think that would accomplish? Did you honestly think this suicidal stubbornness would accomplish anything? Face it Sauria, even if you were at full power and fully repaired, you'd never have stood a chance anyways. You're old tech, obsolete. I am the future of Cybertron. The future of the Predacons. What could you possibly hope to accomplish against someone like me? How could you possibly have won against me?!" He demanded as he stood over. He slowly raised his tail up to fire, savoring his moment of victory.

Sauria slowly looked up at him before turning her head tiredly, feeling nothing left in her systems. She was going to die here. Megatron was still active and she would die. She had failed. In the end, she hadn't been strong enough. Her tired optics came to rest on a rock formation, a conical one. It was a strange final sight to see, staring at a rock.

Megatron grinned as he prepared to fire, only to hear a rustle in the trees. He swung his tail in time to see Rattrap emerge. The Maximal looked surprised as well, his optics wide as he saw Megatron and Sauria, his gaze locking on her form. "SAURIA!" He yelled out, pistol rising up.

Megatron turned, firing at Rattrap who dived out of the way. Megatron quickly turned to face the Maximal, quickly firing plasma bolts at where Rattrap was to keep him pinned. Sauria, who had turned her gaze towards Rattrap when he had shouted her name, let her helm roll back to the side. Her optics landed on the rock formation. And in a moment, one final desperate plan formed in her processor.

Megatron growled as he kept firing at Rattrap. "NO! NO! I WILLNOT BE DENIED MY VICTORY! NOT NOW!" He shouted as he kept the Maximal pinned, the plasma blasts chewing through the fallen tree trunk Rattrap was cowering behind. So focused on the Maximal in front of him, he didn't sense the figure rising up behind him. Not until he heard a quiet voice behind him.

"By…improvising," the deadly quiet voice of Sauria spoke. Megatron whirled in time to see Sauria swing the stick, now with the conical rock impaled through it, at him. The blunt end of the improvised hammer slammed into the side of his helm, denting the material there and sending Megatron staggering. Sauria managed to whirl the hammer around, slamming it into his side and sending him sprawling. He lost his grasp on the Golden Disc as he hit the ground, the disc landing at Sauria's pedes.

Sauria raised the hammer up, with one defiant glare at Megatron. And then with a wordless roar she slammed the hammer down with every last bit of her remaining energy. The rock head slammed into the disc, shattering it to pieces. Sauria, too weak to stand, stumbled and fell from the momentum of her swing, hitting the ground next to the broken remains of the golden disc.

Megatron sat up, his optics wide with disbelief before his faceplate morphed into uncontrollable rage. "NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He roared as he surged to his pedes and prepared to fire on Sauria's down formed. But he was stopped by a new noise.

Over the burning foliage and cries of animals, a new sound could be heard. The roar of engines as from over the lip of the valley flew Airazor, Cheetor, and Optimus Primal. The trio of Maximal fliers immediately transformed and began firing on Megatron, who scrambled out of the way, grabbing what shards of the broken disc he could before transforming and activating his turbo-fan engines, jetting away.

Optimus quickly holstered his weapon, pointing to the other two Maximals. "Get those fires under control! Move it!" He shouted while rushing to the downed form of Sauria. But Rattrap beat him to her, the Maximal spy quickly grabbing her and gently rolling her over.

"Sauria?! Sauria speak ta meh!" He yelled, shaking her to try and rouse her. Optimus soon joined him, the Maximal leader's optics wide as he saw the damaged, burnt, broken form of the saurian femme. "Slag it Sauria, yeh can't do dis! Not now!"

"Rattrap, stop it! You could damage her more!" Optimus shouted, quickly dropping to the other side of Sauria. "We need to try to stabilize her until Rhinox can get here and-," he was interrupted by the roar of a vehicle engine, and then Lycanok skidding to a stop near them in vehicle form, his frame sagging a bit under the weight of Rhinox. The Maximal engineer quickly got off of him and moved to Sauria's side, pushing Optimus out of the way as he set to work examining her. Overhead, Silverbolt joined Airazor and Cheetor in spreading fire suppressant over the valley, killing many of the fires before dropping down for a final sweep of the area. They would eventually join the others as they gathered around the form of Sauria.

Rhinox, after several moments, pulled back, his shoulders slumped. "…I can't do anything for her," he said quietly, looking up at the others. "Her energy levels are too low. The damage alone could be repaired but…her energy levels are too depleted. Even if she was in stasis lock, she wouldn't have the energy to keep her Spark going long enough to get her to the CR chamber. I'm sorry," he whispered.

Vixtrion let out a strangled gasp at that before turning and burying her helm into Cheetor's shoulders, guilt causing her to start crying into him as he did his best to hug her. Lycanok lowered his helm, optics dimming as Silverbolt's wings sank lower. All the gathered Maximals showed signs of sadness and grief save for one.

"No! She ain't dyin' here, yah hear meh!? She went through da slaggin' Inferno fer us, so I ain't acceptin' dat!" Rattrap shouted, only to feel a weak grip on his arm.

"Your voice….is irritating….vermin," Sauria said weakly, her optics dimly lit, her helm tilted slightly to look at him. "Grant me…one final favor….and silence yourself…"

"Sauria," Optimus said, kneeling down now. "I…I'm sorry Sauria…you were right. I should have listened to you."

Sauria's helm barely turned in his direction. "Do not…apologize….Optimus…I understood…your wariness…did I…succeed?"

"You did. You saved the valley Sauria. You saved us all," Optimus told her quietly, trying to comfort her.

"Then I have…almost no regrets," she whispered quietly, her lips forming the weakest smile. "I…fulfilled my duty…as a warrior…"

"S-Sauria…I-I'm sorry," Vixtrion sobbed. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean what I said! I'm sorry!"

The femme saurian tried to weakly raise a servo but that was finally beyond her, as her arm rose slightly but then fell limp. "There…is nothing to forgive," she whispered out before looking to Rattrap as something wet hit her faceplate. Her dim optics focused in on the lubricant falling from his optics. "I did not…think you would…cry for me…"

"I ain't cryin'," Rattrap whispered back. "…yeh stupid slaggin femme, why didn't yeh let me help you?"

"You helped me…so much already…Rattrap," she said quietly, as her optics dimmed momentarily. "I…couldn't ask…more of you…I only regret that…I will not…be able to…pay…you…back," she whispered, before her helm tilted down. "I…I'm…sorry…Rattrap…for...hurting…you…"

Rattrap tensed as he saw her optics dim again and her helm lolled, quickly shaking her. "No, no, don't yeh do dis! Don't yeh quit on meh! Not now Sauria! NOT NOW!"

"Rattrap…please stop," Rhinox said, moving to pull him away. He was caught off guard when Rattrap suddenly spun, grabbing the engineering kit Rhinox had with him. He yanked out a power transference cable, jacking it into himself as Rhinox's optics went wide "RATTRAP NO!"

"Computer, start transferring power!" Rattrap shouted as he slammed the other end into Sauria. Immediately the cable glowed, as slow pulses of light began moving from Rattrap to Sauria along the cable.

"What are you doing Rattrap?!" Optimus yelled, only for Rattrap to look at him with a defiant look on his faceplate.

"Yeh better get us back ta base fearless leader. Or yeh'll have two dead Maximals instead of one," the Maximal stated, gripping Sauria in his arms.

"…get on now," he ordered as he transformed into his flight mode. Lycanok moved forward, helping Rattrap get onto the front end of Optimus' flight board while shaking his helm.

"You're suicidal, you know that? I'd expect this from anyone else but you," the wolf mech said as Rattrap just glared at him. Optimus didn't waste any time, immediately taking off with the jet engine set to maximum burn.

Cheetor watched them leave before looking to the others. "I…I don't understand. Why did…why didn't we pull the cable?" he asked quietly.

"Because it'd cause a feedback loop into Rattrap," Rhinox said tiredly, helm down. "If it didn't outright destroy his power systems, it could damage them to a point where he could only be active for short periods of time. The moment he connected himself to Sauria…we can only hope they get her back to the base before his power is too far drained."

In the sky, Optimus focused on keeping them steady, the flight made more awkward by the mass on the front. "…why couldn't you let her go?" He asked Rattrap, who was grimacing as he felt the power drain as his systems were struggling to keep his systems online while also feeding Sauria the power necessary to keep her Spark active.

"Worry 'bout dat after we're home," Rattrap grunted, focusing on shifting power from systems.

"Do you think she'd want this? You killing yourself to save her?" Optimus asked, only for Rattrap to scoff.

"If I die, she stays dead. Won't matter what she dinks. If she lives, well I'm probably alive too. So don't matter den as well," he said, holding tightly to Sauria's limp frame. It was a struggle as she was considerably heavier than him. And every cycle spent keeping her Spark active was another cycle that he got weaker. Yet it didn't matter. As he looked down at her faceplate, he knew this was the right thing to do. After everything Sauria had been through, after what he had put her through, he wasn't going to let her go. Not without a fight. She had just saved not only himself, but countless Autobot, Maximal, and human lives. At the very least she deserved someone risking their own functions for her the way she had for all of them.

Yet as the landscape swept past them, he felt doubt and panic began to grow the weaker he got. Were they going to make it in time? He knew Optimus was at full burn, but with their mass throwing him off balance and creating wind-resistance, he was struggling to move quickly. As Rattrap finished shunting power from his Energon shielding into his main power systems, he felt himself growing more panicked. His main power was already running dangerously low, and his reserves were being depleted as well now keeping them both going. He tried to focus on the landscape, to get an idea of how close they were, but when he felt Sauria start to slip from his grasp he immediately put all his focus again on keeping her frame secure in his arms. Yet he knew he wasn't likely to last much longer.

"Tell meh we're almost dere big Bot," Rattrap murmured, his voice tired and heavy with strain. Optimus didn't say anything in reply, causing Rattrap's helm to lower. His vision began to blur a bit and he tried to shake his helm. And that's when the warning came.

"Warning. Power levels are dangerously low. End power transfer ad initiate stasis lock," the computer advised, only for Rattrap to growl in response.

"Scrap dat," he muttered, looking down at Sauria's faceplate. He couldn't help but admire how peaceful it looked, even with the damage. Her features were sharp, but there was a definite beauty to them he hadn't really cared to notice before. 'She'd look real nice if she'd smile more,' he thought, before mentally 'blinking' at that thought, wondering where it came from.

His focus continued to wander as his energy grew lower, before he found himself wondering why it felt like they were dropping and what the large blob in front of them was. He felt himself slipping onto the ground, his arms barely holding onto Sauria, before two powerful arms seemed to wrap around the pair and drag them onto a hard platform. He could hear a voice speaking loudly but he couldn't really place it.

"Rattrap, disengage the power transfer! Disengage it!" The voice shouted.

"But…Sauria will-."

"DO IT NOW! SHE'LL BE FINE!" The voice roared.

Rattrap winced and spoke up in a slurred voice. "Computer…stop…power transfer," he murmured. There was a brief pause and then he felt someone pulling Sauria from his grasp. He was too weak to resist as he slumped to cold hard metal, the world darkening around him as he heard a voice faintly ordering something in the distance, before he heard no more.

Unknown Location and Time

It was strange, being in what seemed to be an endless void. Being deprived of any sort of sensory input. There was nothing to feel, nothing to see, nothing to hear. Being cut off from everything could be disconcerting.

But then there was the first sensation. The feel of metal underneath them and of more of it occasionally running over their frame. As the sensations grew stronger, the sound of machinery quietly whirring around them grew louder, and of muffled noises further out. There was something blocking those noises. Almost as if they were within something. Some enclosed structure.

Slowly, sight return. Their optical sensors came online and they found themselves looking out at darkness, with only the dimmest of lighting showing they were indeed within some enclosed area. Small metal probes and other devices moved around them, and it took a few moments for them to realize they were being examined. And with that, their processor began to clear. They began to remember more and more, as the fog began to lift.

There was a loud beep, and soon the front of the CR chamber lifted away, revealing the bridge of the Axalon. A few of the Maximals were gathered there, watching as they stepped out onto bridge. "How are you feeling Rattrap?" Cheetor asked.

The Maximal slowly shook his helm, trying to clear the last of the lag from his processor. "Wonderin' why da scrap I was in da CR chamber. I just suffered from power drain, right?" He asked, looking around quietly at the gathered Maximals, trying to find one in particular. Trying to find her.

"Your power transfer system was heavily strained by your stunt," Rhinox explained, his voice a mixture of disapproval and concern. "We couldn't just refuel you with more Energon, so we had to put you into the CR chamber."

Rattrap didn't hear him, his optics now more frantically searching. There was no sign of her. "…where's Sauria?" He asked, turning to Optimus, praying that the answer was a positive one and that his actions hadn't been in vain.

Optimus studied him for a few moments before answering. "Sauria…do you want to answer him?" He asked, a grin forming on his face as he looked past Rattrap.

The Maximal spy didn't even have time to respond before a powerful servo grabbed him around his neck and lifted him up while whirling him around, with rattrap finding himself looking into the rather angry looking faceplate of one Sauria. "WHAT IN THE SLAGGING INFERNO DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING RODENT?! HOOKING YOURSELF UP TO ME, POLLUTING MY FRAME WITH YOUR DISGUSTING ENERGY?!"

Rattrap yelped, absolutely shocked and stunned as Sauria continued her tirade. "I had finally earned my place in Silicon Valhalla and you yanked me away from my just reward! Even at the end you vex me! Forcing me to once again owe you a debt!"

"S-Sauria?!" He managed to gurgle out as she glared at him before looking to Optimus.

"I am going to deal with this vermin in private. Do not disturb me!" She yelled before storming off, dragging Rattrap with her as the various Maximals present chuckled.

Rattrap struggled to get a word out as Sauria dragged him to the crew deck, to her quarters, before almost hurling him inside. He stumbled and managed to right himself as he saw her close the door, yet she made no move towards him. Instead she was facing her now closed door, standing there before speaking up in a much quieter voice. "…why?" she asked.

Rattrap 'blinked' before growling out. "Oh no no no! You don't just grab meh and yell and drag meh off and den act like dis! What da slaggin heck was dat?!" He shouted back, only to stop when she turned and he saw the look on her faceplate. A look that was a mixture of happiness, worry, and sadness.

"…you could have died," she said quietly. "You nearly died…to keep me online…why?" She asked him quietly.

Rattrap's confused annoyance disappeared as he vented, looking off to the side. "…cuz I didn't dink yeh deserved ta die after savin not just meh, but trillions of others," he said. "I thought yeh deserved better den dat."

Sauria let out a throaty chuckle, sitting down on her berth. "Even though I was the one who put all those lives at risk in the first place?" She asked.

"Hey, at least yeh were willing ta do what it took ta fix yer mistake," Rattrap said, before shifting uncomfortable. "...so what now?"

Sauria looked at him. "…I don't know," she finally admitted. "Besides fighting Megatron…I don't know. I went into the battle fully expecting to die. I threw myself into it with everything I had, thinking there would be no tomorrow."

"Dat's da problem with yeh warriors. Always stuck on just da next battle," Rattrap joked. Sauria couldn't help but snort at that before looking more serious.

"…I know that if need be…I'll put my functionality on the line again," Sauria said quietly. "After dying once already…I'm not sure I wish to end up that way again…but I do know I'll do what is necessary to stop Megatron. I hope you understand."

"Den I'll have ta make sure I'm watchin' yer back ta make sure yeh don't die again. Provided yeh don't knock meh out again," Rattrap said with a grin, only for Sauria to give him a strange look. He shifted a bit as they both descended into an awkward silence, before Rattrap finally spoke up. "S-So ummm…did yeh get yer-mmmph?!"

He was cut off by her leaning in and giving him a rather short, awkward, chaste kiss on the lips before she pulled away, her helm turned to face away from him. "…thank you," she said quietly. "Thank you for saving me…"

"…n-no…no problem," Rattrap stated, his voice faint. "Anytime…"

The two remained sitting there in awkward silence until the intercom activated. "Rattrap, I need you to report to my office. We need to discuss your…actions," Optimus ordered.

"…on my way Optimus," Rattrap said, standing up. He headed to Sauria's door, before stopping. "…Sauria?"

She let out the barest noise to let him know she was listening, causing him to turn to her. "…wanna maybe…help meh work on my hand ta hand later?" He asked sheepishly.

Sauria looked up at him, surprised. "…It would be my pleasure…though don't expect any miracles," she said quietly.

He just grinned at her. "Den I guess we'll get ta spend lots of time together, huh?" He said a bit cheekily before heading off.

The femme warrior couldn't help but feel a small amount of warmth spread through her at the thought of that, before slowly standing up and moving to her desk. She activated the terminal before bringing up the message she had recorded, the one meant for the Maximals and set to be released upon confirmation of her destruction. She deleted it before turning to the holo-image of her family. Picking it up, she touched the image of her mother. "…I have my answer mother…I finally know the truth…I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough that day to do the right thing. I hope that wherever you are…you are proud of me now," she said before her gaze moved to her father. "…and I hope that I'll be able to show you the warrior I have become father. I hope that when I return to Cybertron…you will be proud of me," she added.

She set the image down and turned to her wall of weapons. Hanging in its usual spot was her father's blade, reclaimed from the battlefield by the others along with the rest of her equipment. There had also been a report that the Predacon's had all been missing as well. It seemed despite the damage some of them had taken; they would likely recover and soon be on the attack again.

Sauria straightened her posture before reaching out and taking the blade, sliding it into her storage compartment. With that done she turned and exited her cabin, ready to face the future.

---

Well crap. That took me a lot longer then I wanted. Damnit.

RS19: To be fair, you tried writing this with Christmas coming up.

LR: I know, but still, I should have been faster. Guess I just have to hope that the readers are okay with the delay. And with this chapter.

Lycanok: THAT was a roller coaster. Holy Primus!

Ripfang: *stumbles in with a bandage around his neck* You chopped my head off!?

LR: Sauria did, not me.

Ripfang: YOU WROTE IT!

LR: Oh c'mon, you know that's not anything serious. How many times were the Predacons blown to pieces and yet were perfectly fine? Megatron, Inferno, Tarantulas, Terrorsaur, and ESPECIALLY Waspinator. Walk it off.

Ripfang: *Growls then groans*

LR: Anyways, I am terribly sorry for the delay. There was Christmas stuff, there was the New Year stuff, there was some of my own issues, and then there was also a mixture of laziness and writer's block. Oh, and there was a COVID scare in the family as well. So I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, sorry again for the lateness of it, and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!