Chapter Six
**Earth, Indeterminate Timeframe
Skyfire looked at Primal, something between rage and utmost respect flickering there.
The foolish Maximal captain had no idea with whom he was dealing, and all for the better,
he thought. It will give me time for my plans...
"Unicron is eternal," he muttered. Primal didn't hear it. "Much to my chagrin..."
"You say something, kid?"
Skyfire turned to see the femme standing in the doorway, and his spark leapt.
HER! he sneered internally. O, the Fates do me a great service this day! To rend her
spark from its core would be the greatest--
"Nah, just thinking aloud," he replied, hiding the leap of malicious joy he felt.
Skyfire stood, straightened his wings and mantled them across his back, wiggled his tail a
bit, and walked toward Blackarachnia. "Hi, I'm Skyfire," he blushed.
"Blackarachnia," the spider-woman replied, totally uninterested in the kid, more
preoccupied with the computer terminal he was blocking. "Excuse me," she ordered, her
words sounding less like a request and more like a threat. The legs brushed past Skyfire
like dead treelimbs, and he extended a hand to feel one. Oh, the silky metallic feeling of
transmetallic chitin... Skyfire caught himself and made a disgusted face.
Later, he thought... Later she'd die horribly. Later he could rupture her spark so
that it would dissipate and never meet the Matrix. Later, he'd have his revenge.
"If she's here, where's that idiot Waspinator?" Skyfire muttered as he strutted
down the hallway in his cockatrice beast form. It was almost a hop, Skyfire's swagger,
since the avian legs of a cockatrice barely brought the creature a foot off the ground. The
result, though comical in appearance, was not particularly humorous when one considered
Skyfire's demeanor of late. "And that dullard Predacon captain..." Skyfire snickered.
He ran almost headlong into Rhinox, as the larger Maximal made his way down
the corridor. "Not getting into any trouble, are you, Skyfire?"
As much as the cockatrice wished to rend Rhinox limb from limb for his
impertinence, Skyfire played along. "Of course not," he replied cheerfully. "Wouldn't
dream of it."
Copperhead knew something was up with the kid. So did Pantera. Tyrannix had
an inlkling, and Tera's kids got the same feeling Tera had. It was dark outside when the
group assembled. "That kid is bad news," Nari growled, pacing back in forth in beast
mode. "Wulfie thought she saw him trying to access the bases's security grid."
The black-striped white wolf nodded. "Mamacat said she gets this chill down her
spine every time she passes him, like he's trying to grab her attention or something.
Copper, you know anything?"
The snake nodded. "Yeah, but I don't think you want to hear it. The cursory
mental scan I give everyone echoed. The only person my telepathy's ever bounced from
has been dead for millennia."
Pantera knew who Copperhead meant.
"But he showed up recently," the jaguar growled. "Didn't he, Copper?"
A grim nod was the only answer she needed. "So, you think it's him?" she
queried.
"Think about it..." Copper began. "Every time any of us sees him, he's all
goody-two-shoes, but the moment we turn our backs on him, he's hacking into the base's
systems... sound like anyone you know, Tera?"
Blancwulf and Inuarai looked at Pantera. Tyrannix looked at Copperhead.
"Something you're not telling us?" they asked in unison.
"Starscream is here... again. The bastard must have a death wish!" she roared,
transforming and bursting through the Ark base's main door. "Skyfire!" she barked.
"Skyfire, get your green scaley skidplate out here this moment or I am coming in there
handcannon blazing!"
Rhinox and Blackarachnia stared at her blankly. "What's goin'--" Rhinox began,
but Tera interrupted him.
"Where in the slot is he?!" she growled.
"Down near the residence quarters... he's..."
Tera stalked past him, exuding an air colder than space. Close behind was
Copperhead, then the two children, and Tyrannix.
"I wonder..." Rhinox muttered, a bewildered look on his face.
Blackarachnia snickered. "I knew there was something off about that kid," she
muttered. "They're going to lynch him."
"Sounds like fun," Rhinox sighed, then went back to tinkering on the control
panel.
Skyfire had locked himself behind Primal's office door. "Come OUT!" Pantera
screamed, pounding her fists on the blast shielding. "Get OUT of there!"
No response from behind the sealed door. "That's it." She took a step back and
cocked her hand cannon, aiming it at the locking mechanism. "Get back, kids," she
ordered, firing a bolt into the lock and setting it sizzling. Still, the door didn't open.
"Primus DAMMIT!"
"Perhaps I can be of assistance," Tyrannix offered, unsheathing the claws in each
of his fingertips. "Tritanium alloy can only be cut by..." He drove the talons into the door.
"...tritanium alloy." The door was rent from its hinges like so much paper being shredded.
"There we go," he smiled, throwing the 20-foot, two-ton door aside as if it were nothing.
Pantera stepped through, handcannon still charged, eyes glowing almost white
with rage. "Come out," she hissed.
Skyfire crept out of the shadows, wings spread, eyes glowing the same near-white
blue as Pantera's.
"Something you've neglected to tell me, Arty?" Skyfire asked, his voice changed
from its normal bouyant teenager tone to a gravelly drone that was instantly recognizable.
"Why did you do it, Flyboy?" Pantera demanded, training her blaster on the kid.
"Where's the real Skyfire?"
"Oh, he died long ago... it was the price for this shell. His spark didn't even make
its way into the Matrix. It just... evaporated. The poor child... all that's left is some
control protocols and the little latent ability he left me as his legacy."
"You... bastard!" she shrieked, leaping on him with catlike fury. "You murderer...
not worth all the pain..." The claws on her fingers ripped at the bot's faceplate, digging
deep routs in the metal plating, her razor edged tail dashing itself into his side like a
scorpion's strike. "I'm going to make you pay--"
She was stopped short by a horrible jabbing pain in her chest, a pain which seemed
to spread throughout her entire body, affecting every fiber of her soul.
"Nice try, Arty," Screamfire chuckle-hissed. "Don't forget the old power
possessed by the cockatrice. The ability to stun with a glance."
Pantera strained to move her head, but her body refused.
"The ability... to kill... with a thought. Look into my eyes, my love."
The cockatrice-bot cackled as he wrenched Pantera's spark, overriding her
personal controls and tilting her head so that her optics met his.
==You know what to do?==
==Yes, Little Snake.==
Copper shot a glance to Inuarai and Blancwulf as well.
Skyfire's arms were cleft from his body at the joint. The long, writhing tail was
exploded by a shot from Blancwulf's railgun, sending him writhing in pain.
"Unhand me!" he shrilled. "I shall have your sparks for this misdeed! When I rule
Cybertron you shall be first against the wa--"
Stasis lock. Primal had entered, and Primal was mad.
He towered over all of them, even hunched over in his beast mode-- a form he
seldom used unless extremely agitated-- and he was livid. "What are you doing? You'll
kill him."
"He can't be killed, Primal."
Optimus blinked.
"This is Starscream."
He blinked again.
"You're not serious. He was--"
"Shut up! Right now, Primal, SHUT UP! He can transcend time and space, and
you know that. He CHOSE to follow me here... the little bastard... I am going to kill
him, I don't care if it's not possible, I am going to do it and then I'm going to resurrect
him and I'm going to do it again!" By now, Tyrannix and the recently arrived Cheetor
were holding the livid, almost colorless transformer by her shoulders. One shoulder was
flaring violet as her eyes crackled ice blue. A bestial growl-- like an angry jaguar--
bubbled up and around her voice, showing exactly how enraged Pantera had become.
"Someone... get that body to CR!" Primal ordered. "Pant--"
"No, you idiot! Heal him and he'll just wreak more havoc! You have to do
WORSE than that..."
"Get him out of here... get Pantera as far away from Skyfire as possible. She's
confined to quarters. Rhinox, Arachnia, get in here!"
The immense rhino plodded in as fast as his stumpy legs could carry him, followed
by a multicolored spider scuttling across the ceiling. "Something we can do?" Rhinox
offered, transforming.
"Rhinox, get Skyfire to a CR chamber. Blackarachnia, help Pantera to her rooms."
Optimus's optics had narrowed to slits, which he kept locked dead center on Pantera.
Rhinox scooped up the severed limbs of the twitching, static-locked Skyfire and
gingerly spirited them out of Primal's office, while Blackarachnia, Cheetor, and Tyrannix
kept the Elder Maximal from rushing after Rhinox with her guns blazing. "Traitor!" she
screamed after the TM2 pachyderm. "How can you help that... ABOMINATION?!"
Rhinox had gone, and with him, some of Tera's rage... perhaps getting him out of
her sight had calmed her some, perhaps some of his mental influence was waning as he
slipped into unconsciousness. Either way, Pantera's tension had melted to the point where
only Cheetor needed to restrain her.
"I'm okay now," she muttered, falling to her knees. "I'll be fine in a sec... could
someone help me up?"
Blackarachnia's clawed hand reached out first, and Pantera grabbed it, hauling
herself up and stabilizing herself with her opposite hand on Arachnia's shoulderplate.
"Where's Primal stowing me?"
Arachnia turned and lead Pantera into the corridor and back to her quarters.
"Ain't the Sunstreaker Arms, but it's home," Blackarachnia chuckled as she slid
the door open. "Sit here for a bit and calm yourself... you'll feel better tomorrow
morning, I bet. Say, wanna go on a recon mission? I'm supposed to rendezvous with
birddog at sunrise, and with his libido lately, I'd like some feminine companionship. I
could work it out with Primal..."
Tera, almost teary eyed, gazed at the arachnid. "I'd like that-- thanks for the
offer," she accepted. "Goodnight."
"Get some rest. Just try and relax."
"Easier said," Pantera sighed and leaned against the wall.
"G'night, prettykittybot."
"'Night, prettyspiderbot."
The door closed, leaving Pantera in the swallowing, comforting darkness.
***
Rhinox quickly keyed in the repair sequence, but he knew something was amiss--
there was little actual danger to the spark. All his systems were pretty much nominal. The
sound of Blackarachnia's clattering feet alerted him again, and he looked in the
she-spider's direction.
"What's going on with Tera?" he asked, splitting his attention between the CR pod
and the shapely femme.
"She and... it...," Blackarachnia reported with a derisive sneer, "have a somewhat
romantic past. During the Wars. When Starscream got vaped by Galvatron, she'd
thought he was gone forever. Little did she know the Air Commander was-- is-- an
immortal. So he's followed her around for the past 300 years, give or take his 'vacations'
into the past and future."
"Sounds like the ultimate lost puppy."
"Yes, but when has a lost puppy been responsible for the deaths of millions?" she
chuckled. "It's like they're linked."
"And Starscream, the Great Air Commander," Rhinox mused sarcastically, "is
floating in our CR gas."
"Yeah... unnerving, isn't it?"
"And we're resuscitating him why?" Rhinox wondered.
"I think Primal doesn't believe Pantera." Blackarachnia shook her head. "He's
going to get us all killed, or worse."
Rhinox sighed defeatedly. "I am exhausted. Would you mind watching the tank
for a while? It feels like I haven't recharged since the Great Upgrade."
"Get some rest, big guy," she smiled, patting Rhinox on the shoulder. As he got
up to leave, and as Arachnia took the seat he'd vacated, she wondered aloud. "So if he
can't die, how was he ever born?"
"Search me... I'm too tired to argue quantum metaphysics. Good night."
***
If your name was Rampage, you'd probably be interested in few things other than carnage,
murder, and, well, existing to rampage. Of the seventy Predacons, Decepticons, and
Autobots with that name over the millennia, sixty-seven of them were sentenced to AI or
shipped off to Webworld for their murderous tendencies. Two of them-- including the
original Predacon tiger Rampage-- were killed in action fighting for their cause (generally
under the banner of rampant destruction). The last one, Rampage number seventy, had
been born with the designation Protoform X. He was the last reminder of a character
most Maximals-- and Predacons, Decepticons, and especially certain Autobots-- had
wished to purge from their collective minds. But in their hubris, the Maximal Council of
Elders had decided to go ahead with their pet project: to clone the immortal, unsnuffable
essence of an ancient Decepticon Air Commander. And thus was born Protoform X.
Inside an already unstable protoform mind, the essence of Starscream took over. X went
on rampage after murdrous rampage, killing countless dozens as he hopped from space
station to space station. He made a final stand at Colony Omikron, where the vast
majority of the station's civilian Maximal population was slaughtered mercilessly, given no
opportunity to run. There was only one bot strong enough to stand against X. The
station's cheif of security was a strong-willed Cybertronian who'd never felt it necessary
to claim an allegiance. He protected Cybertron and its people, that was all: no need for a
battlecry as he was not a warrior. He was the opposite: a peacemaker. Though, in certain
situations, this peace maker would be required to raise a little hell for the peace to be kept.
"Depthcharge," Primal muttered. "Where is he?"
The computer blinked on and displayed a small Maximal coat-of-arms moving
lackadaisically along the western coastline of the continent. "As usual... pacing," Optimus
sighed, and switched the monitor off. "He's lost his focus." He reached his orange hand
out again, this time to his communications console.
"Optimus Primal to Depthcharge."
A moment's delay, then a response. "Up your tailpipe, Primal."
"Top of the morning to you, too," Optimus chuckled. "Report to base
immediately. Pantera's having difficulties coping."
"On my way." There was no way Depthcharge could decline that order. Pantera
and the manta had... a past. He never bothered inquiring of either of them-- both were
extraordinarily private individuals-- but he knew they shared a very strong bond. He
didn't ask-- didn't want to know-- much more.
He'd arrived in minutes, rushing in through the main doors, brow furrowed in a
crackling rage that hid his sincere worry. "Where is she?" he stormed. "Is she damaged?
I swear it Primal if you've harmed the tiniest fur on her backside I'm taking it out of
YOURS as payment..."
"She's fine-- physically. But the moment she saw one of our new Maximals, she
became very upset."
"I don't blame her," Depthcharge sneered. "Whenever X is nearby she gets
nervous. Homicidal, even."
"But Rampage hasn't been seen in this sector in weeks," Optimus countered.
"He's probably inactive."
Depthcharge shook his head and chuckled scornfully. "Naif monkeyboy," he
insulted. "My computers are telling me X is nearby. As in, inside your base, nearby." He
grabbed the remora blaster from its subspace hutch and cocked it, then pulled out his
scanner. "Slot me running! He's... right there."
He aimed his remora blaster straight at the CR tank where Skyfire slept.
"Legs... move," he ordered, directing her with the double barreled shotgun-fish.
Blackarachnia knew rarely to argue with a loaded Sparkbuster rifle. She hurled
herself off the stool, letting herself transform to spider mode in midair. A sticky string of
energon gossamer shot itself toward the cave ceiling as the arachnid hoisted herself
upward. "You crazy son of a glitch, you could have warned me," she muttered.
"I'm going to fire on that tank in two nanoklicks, Primal, and then I'm going to
fire on you, unless you tell me why you're harboring that waste-sucking bastard in your
CR pod."
"Depthcharge!" Primal shouted, moving between the gun barrel and the pod.
"That's not Rampage." He made a quick grab for the remora and snatched it away,
crumpling the barrels. "His name is Skyfire, and he's... he's lost."
Deptcharge's optics narrowed. "Liar. My scanners are NEVER wrong!"
Primal pressed the actuator switch and opened the cr tank to show a small avian
and reptilian Maximal-- healed but still unconscious-- held firm by the energon bindings
inside.
"If that's not X, why the slot are my scanners picking it up?"
"I can answer that," Rhinox replied, rubbing his optics wearily. "For all intents
and purposes, the bot in there is Rampage's poppa. I did a little research from the sealed
records in the computer... and I cross referenced it with spark harmonics extant in this
area. Starscream is in two places at once."
Depthcharge took a look at his scanners again, and sure enough, there was not
one, but two instances of Protoform X's presence nearby. One was strong and vibrant,
coming from the direction of the stasis pod-- Skyfire's spark. The other was very faint,
deeply static-locked, in the Ark itself, not fifty meters away. "Well I'll be a son of a
glitch... he's right."
Primal looked at Depthcharge's computer screen. "Zoom out to a factor of 30 to
one."
The screen's display shifted, showing a set two purple X's and another with two
red ones, approximately 30 miles apart. "See? Rampage and Dinobot are over here."
Primal reached over again and closed the CR tank.
"I see that," he snapped, yanking his porta-screen back and stowing it. "Now the
question is... where does that leave me?"
Primal looked at Depthcharge. "Asking my opinion, or was that rhetorical?"
Depthcharge regarded Optimus blankly, then looked back at the pad. "Maybe I
could arrange some sort of altercation between the real Starscream," he muttered, looking
at the CR tank, "and the pretender..."
Optimus Primal's optics widened to the sizes of small satellite dishes. "I don't
think that's wise."
Depthcharge let out another sarcastic grunt. "Ya don't? Well when've I ever
cared about what you thought? One side, Apetimus, I'm getting Tera."
"I can't let you do that." His words were cold, his stature unwavering. "She's
been confined to quarters and removed from active duty."
"I don't particularly care," Depthcharge threatened. "Get out of my way or I'll
find my OTHER Cybershark blaster."
Primal crossed his arms. "Funny, I recall having the spark of Optimus Prime
feeding me from the Matrix. What've you got?"
"An angry Autobot merc who turned into a gunboat... with a bad attitude."
"What's changed since then?"
"Affiliation."
Primal snorted then deferred to Depthcharge. "Bring her back in one piece, ok?
She seems the most stable with you."
"It's 'bots that she cares about, Primal... she's perfectly normal if me or the kids or
Rhinox are around but... you must get on her bad nerve, bananabot. One side."
Primal sidestepped, allowing Depthcharge through.
Pantera heard a tapping at the door, but she ignored it, instead reaching into
herself more and bringing more, previously hidden, thoughts to the surface.
...why did her past keep coming back to haunt her? One would think 4 eons would
be enough place to hide...
...Starscream has to have some grander purpose for chasing me here again. Maybe
there's something between us I need to clear up...
...the grey kitten Fuzor with blue spots... the little black bird with her fur... the
female gryphon... who were they?... why'd they make her feel scared, but at the same time
secure?
"What?" she moaned toward the portal.
"Landshark," a normally somber voice joked from the other side.
"Get your tail in here or I'm coming out shooting," Pantera smiled, the first time
she'd felt lighthearted in hours.
The door slid open to reveal the immense form of her love, Big Blue, as she called
him, standing, sillhouetted by the light outside.
"Hey," she said calmly, leaning, facing the floor.
"How's the kitty?"
"Should be better... He's out of my hair for the time being. But..."
"Flyboy's not cooperating. You can feel him, can't you? It's just like I know
where X is at any given time... if he's near or far, if he's awake or resting or if he's..."
Depthcharge turned away for a moment, stricken for words.
"Quiet about that, you'll get yourself angry. You don't like me when you're
angry," Tera chided. "Whaddya want, Charlie Tuna?"
"Pussy," he chuckled, grabbing the feline Maximal.
"Depthcharge!" Pantera chuckled, swept up in the manta's heavy arms. "Where
are we going?"
"Away... for a while. Primal caved when I pointed a gun at him... How about a
long camping trip in the mountains? Or..."
"Hold that thought, big guy," the cat chuckled. "I've got a few things to deal
with."
"Not on my watch you don't." He did what cavemen do: slung her over his
shoulder roughly, giving her a playful smack on the skidplate. Her tail wrapped itself
around hhis neck for dear life, almost reflexively.
"No high flying, ok?"
"Of course."
Depthcharge spun on his half-manta head heel and trod down the corridor with an
uncharachteristic bounce in his step, Pantera slung over his shoulder, swearing at him
playfully. Her mood chilled as they passed through the main chamber, where
Starscream/Skyfire lay dormant. She lay herself across Depthcharge's shoulder, as if dead
or unconscious. Depthcharge distinctly felt a droplet of lubricant roll down his back as
she lay there, stunned.
"We're clear, kitten," he whispered, reaching his right hand to stroke her back.
"Daylight's here."
She lifted her head, looked around, then put it back down, this time, nuzzling
Depthcharge's shoulder. "My hero," she snickered.
"Hey, watch the paintjob," he smiled, then walked into the forest.