The plot and Paraleasion are mine. I am not making any profit.
Chapter 4
Proposition
Depthcharge patrolled the seashore where he crashed.
He heard the sound of beating winds and thought it was Silverbolt coming
to take over his circuit but was very surprised to find Paraleasion, robot
mode, standing in front of him.
"You. What do you want?" Depthcharge asked,
glaring at her.
"Depthcharge, do you want to help me destroy Rampage?"
Paraleasion asked, smiling at his suspicious look.
"Why should I trust you?" he asked, "It could be
a trap."
"Why should I do you harm? It's Rampage I
want to kill, not you." she said, "If I wanted to kill you I would have
done it already and not try to lure you someplace, then kill you."
He stood there and blinked, not used to a femme being that frank.
"Okay. What do you have planned?" he asked,
staring at her. She seemed familiar, yet he could not place her.
"I've got everything we need for planning at my
place." she said. He regarded her for a moment, then nodded.
"I'll come with you." he said.
"Okay," she said, reverting to beast mode, "Follow
me."
>
Over the dense forest Depthcharge circled down after
Paraleasion, careful to mimic her moves so he doesn't inadvertently crash.
They land outside a cave and she goes in, Depthcharge following.
"Cozy." Depthcharge said, looking around.
Paraleasion shrugged, slithering through the opening, out of sight.
She came back a few clicks later with a computer.
"Now," she said, sitting down on the ground and
getting comfortable, "Here we have Rampage. Mass murder, torturer,
and psychotic. Supposedly he's immortal. In other words he
lives longer and is harder to kill."
"Really?" he mocks, she looked up at him and frowned.
"Nothing lives forever." she stated.
"You're serious." he said.
"Yeah. Why shouldn't I be?" she said, looking
back at the computer screen. "This is not a matter to be taken lightly.
Tell me all you know about Rampage."
"Uh, okay." Depthcharge said, trying to think where
to start.
Optimus looked at the computer, disturbed at the
sudden Predacon activity at the crash site. There were three Preds
around what he assumed was left of the ship, but the scanners were having
trouble picking out the objects. The only things they seemed to be
getting clearly were the Predacon signatures.
"Whatcha lookin' at dere Boss Monkey?" Rat Trap
asked, startling Optimus.
"There is a large amount of Predacons at the crash.
I don't know what they would want. When I went back the ship was
stripped and completely useless." Optimus said.
"Maybe dey're stripping the paneling off to repair
their own ship." he suggests.
"Perhaps, but I'd still like someone to check it
out." he said, "Silverbolt and Depthcharge are closest, I'll have
them go."
>
Inside the remains of The Icarus, Megatron searched
for any clues of the person. Not to mention spare parts, those they
needed, especially since some of their equipment had been fried during
the quantum surge. He decided that they needed parts more than they
needed another bot in their ranks. Preferably he wanted both but
knew that it would not happen anytime in the near future. The only
ones that were helping him sift through the wreckage were Waspinator and
Quickstrike. Inferno and Dinobot were in the CR bath and Rampage
was somewhere on that wretched mud ball. Megatron hit his fist against
the wall in frustration, knocking some of the residue off and causing a
secret drawer to pop out. Fascinated, he pulled it out farther and
peered in. Inside lay various parts for computers, weapons, and many
miscellaneous things that needed repaired on his ship. The only thing
that was not there that he needed was a transwarp engine for his ship.
"Waspinator, Quickstrike, get in here." Megatron
bellowed. The two Predacon flunkies hightailed it in there, posting
themselves before their leader. "Take these things back to base,
and do be careful. If I find one thing broken, I'm going to break
you. Understand?" The two gulp, nodding quickly. "Good.
Now get these out of here."
>
When Depthcharge got done talking he felt empty and
left Paraleasion's mind whirling with information.
"Optimus to Depthcharge. Come in." his comm
said, voice echoing in the cave.
"Depthcharge here." he said.
"You're to meet up with Silverbolt and investigate
some unusual Pred activity at the crash site." Optimus said.
"Okay, Depthcharge out." he said, cutting off the
link.
"What could they possibly fine? I stripped
that sucker." Paraleasion said, looking up at the ray.
"I don't know." Depthcharge said, "I'd better go."
"Will you be back?" she asked.
"Maybe." he said, "I'll radio ahead of time."
"Okay. Have fun Pred bashing." she said as
he went out. Paraleasion went back into her hideout, crawled upon
the recharging bed and fell asleep.
>
Silverbolt circled above the canopy of the forest,
waiting for Depthcharge. Everything seemed peaceful until a missile
came out of nowhere and nearly knocked him from the sky. Kicking
himself for not being alert, Silverbolt watched his surroundings
more carefully.
>
Silverbolt and Depthcharge landed at the crash site.
It wasn't very hard to miss because of the hole punched through the canopy.
"Well, it appears there is no one here now." Silverbolt
said, looking around.
"Protoform X detected." Depthcharge's internal computer
said.
"You go on back to base. I've got a perimeter
to finish patrolling." Depthcharge said.
"All right. I shall see you later." Silverbolt
said, taking off. Depthcharge looked around, trying to detect rampage.
A missile came out of the brush, hitting the ship. Rampage emerged from
the woods, missile launcher pointed at Depthcharge, who had a
weapon pointed at the crab. Rampage shot again and Depthcharge
returned fire. Both hit their target. They repeatedly exchanged
fire but never got close enough to trade physical blows. Depthcharge,
heavily damaged, was forced to retreat. Rampage was unharmed and
savored his recent victory, but was also frustrated that he did not destroy
his enemy.
>
Paraleasion was knocked off her feet by an unseen
force. She had not been up long and was the only one in her lair.
Somehow she was damaged and the most recent hit had sent her against the
back of the cave. As suddenly as the assault started, it stopped.
Slowly Paraleasion got her feet and went over to her computer, trying to
find any nearby anomalies. None. She was alone, completely
and utterly. Puzzled, she pondered what could have caused such a
thing. She briefly considered going to the Maximals for repairs but
immediately shot the idea down. She did not trust either faction
at the moment because each considered her a potential recruit. If
she chose to go to one of them to get repaired, that gave them the opportunity
to mess with her circuitry. That she did not want so she stayed in
her hideaway.
"There isn't that much damage anyway." Paraleasion
muttered.