The plot and Paraleasion are mine. I am not making any profit.
Chapter 5
Revelations
Depthcharge had required several hours in the CR
chamber and had recently came out. Optimus was upset that the ray
had decided to send Silverbolt away and take on Rampage alone. Depthcharge,
in response, shrugged and walked out on the Maximal leader. He had
to go and vent some steam. He went to beast mode and took off, flying
in a random direction. When he landed, he found himself on Paraleasion's
"door step," if it could be called that. He went inside, and looked
around but she wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Hey, you there?" Depthcharge called, realizing
he didn't know her name. There wasn't any answer, so he went in deeper.
He noticed a crack at the back of the cave that glowed a faint light.
He crouched down to look in, and saw a small lair but no one was in it.
"What are you doing here?" an angry voice asked.
Depthcharge whirled around, hitting his head against a low hanging rock.
He was faced with an irritated Paraleasion.
"I got done with the crash site a few cycles ago."
he said.
"Lie. I was just there, no one was anywhere
near it." she said, "You came from the Maximal base."
"But..." Depthcharge replied.
"You were damaged by Rampage." she said. Startled,
Paraleasion clamped her hand over her mouth. Why had she said that?
She didn't know that was true or not. Maybe the beating had done
more damage than she thought. Depthcharge stood,
towering over her.
"That does not matter. What does matter is
that we kill Rampage." he said. She nodded, removing her hand, and
sliding past him to reach into the gap. She came out with the same
computer, and sat down.
"Okay, do you have any ideas?" she asked.
"Energon." Depthcharge said.
"What about it?" she inquired.
"It's the thing that can kill him." he said.
"That's how Megatron cut Rampage's spark in half."
Paraleasion said, "With an energon knife."
"How did you know that?" Depthcharge asked, "Even
I didn't know that."
"If we can get something like an energon knife and
drive it through his spark, then it would kill him." she said, avoiding
the question. "Now, how could we accomplish that? It would
have to be a trap or something similar. Where could we set it up?"
"You're avoiding the question." he said.
"Do you have any ideas?" she said, staring down
at the computer screen.
"Answer me." he said.
"Look, how I get my information is my business not
yours. Now, are you going to help because if not, get out." Paraleasion
snarled. Depthcharge considered her words for a moment and then sat
down next to her.
"We could set up an ambush site at the seashore.
One of us would have to be bait and the other would have to jump out and
attack him." Depthcharge said.
"Okay, do you have an exact place in mind?" she
asked, "Because I have the tools we need."
"Yes, I have a place in mind." he said.
"Okay, I'll get the stuff and then we'll go." she
said. Paraleasion squirmed through the opening, and came out a few
cycles later. "Lead on McDuff." Depthcharge gave her a strange
look and went out.
>
Silverbolt looked around for Depthcharge, he was supposed to be here to meet him. The Maximal sighed, and decided to wait for a little while longer. This wasn't the first time that the ray had been late.
>
Depthcharge and Paraleasion landed on a remote beach,
and got everything ready. They decided that Paraleasion should be
the decoy and Depthcharge would be the ambusher. When everything
was ready they waited. Paraleasion lay on the shore, acting unconscious
and Depthcharge hid behind a rock, energon knife in hand. They did
not have to wait long before Rampage rolled upon the beach and transformed.
He went over to the still form of Paraleasion. Depthcharge jumped
out behind him, stabbing him in the back. Rampage whirled around
facing his attacker, and knocked him across the beach. He approached
Depthcharge, grinning, and reached down, picking him up. Depthcharge
thrust the knife into Rampage's chest, missing the spark. He repeatedly
slashed the crab but the wounds disappeared instantaneously.
"Depthcharge, stop." Paraleasion yelled. He
ignored her, caught up in the task of trying to kill Rampage. Frustrated,
Depthcharge started to go for Rampage's hands but he was dropped.
Rampage collapsed to the sand, clutching his chest in pain. Depthcharge
looked past him, to Paraleasion, who was squeezing her spark.
"What are you doing?" Depthcharge demanded.
She opened her mouth but before she could say anything, collapsed.
Rampage, who has never felt fear before, did. The small femme could
control him, and while the two were distracted he crept back into the sea.
Depthcharge picked Paraleasion up, smearing his torso plate with mech-fluid.
He did
not know how she had gotten damaged. He stared down into those
distant violet eyes.
"What are you?" he asked.
"The balance." she said, eyes dimming as she went
into stasis lock.
>
Back at the Maximal base, Depthcharge paced across
the deck of The Ark for the umpteenth time.
"Hey, Captain Minnow, will ya stop doin' dat.
It's makin' me nervous." Rat Trap said. Depthcharge stopped for a
nanoclick, gave the rat a considering look and started up again.
"That really isn't going to help." Rhinox commented.
"You remind me of an anxious soon-to-be father."
Black Arachnia said. Depthcharge stopped long enough to glare at her and
she only smiled. He paced for many megacycles, waiting, thinking.
She was so familiar, yet he could not place her anywhere. He wracked his
core processor, forcing himself to go back. Then he remembered.
The escapee from the labs, Aurora, the deaths. Paraleasion, the control.
Almost as if on cue, she stepped out of the CR chamber, looking around
in wonder.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"The Maximal base." Depthcharge said.
"How?" she asked, "Why?"
"You were badly damaged in a confrontation with
Rampage. Depthcharge found you and brought you here." Optimus said.
Paraleasion opened her mouth to protest but Depthcharge gave her a warning
look.
"Oh." she said. Optimus looked down at her
scrutinizingly.
"I know who you are and what you've done, Paraleasion.
If you decide to join our ranks, I'm willing to ignore your past." he said.
"If I don't?" she asked.
"We will be forced to put you in confinement until
we can get back to Cybertron, where you will be turned over to the proper
authorities." Optimus said. Paraleasion grinned, thinking that Optimus
must have been dying to say that for a long time. He frowned at her
reaction, taking it the wrong way, which made her smile even bigger.
If it got anymore wider, her head would split in half.
"No," Depthcharge said, "If we lock her up, we lose
a tool." The statement wipes the faces clean of everyone in the room.
"What?" Optimus asked, looking at the ray-bot.
Paraleasion just blinked at him.
"You don't know anything except for the lies recorded."
he said, "She is the one that is the balance of Rampage. Both were
created at the same time but their purposes different. His was to
destroy, hers was to control. She escaped from the labs, and when
they found her, they put her in jail. She didn't kill anyone, that
was just an excuse."
"Then why do I remember it?" she asked, calmly,
thinking that Depthcharge had finally flipped his lid.
"False memories. I was there when they programmed
them." he said.
"Aurora, Hygus?" she asked.
"Aurora was fabricated. Hygus was already
in the cell when you arrived." he said.
"Why?" she asked.
"To make a better soldier, one they could control."
he said. Paraleasion sat down, bewildered.
"What is to say that I'm not living in a lie?" she
though, "Or maybe I'm the lie."
"Woah, woah, woah, wait a cycle here. You're
sayin' she didn't do all dat stuff?" Rat Trap asked.
"Exactly." Depthcharge said.
"Wait," she said, standing suddenly, "What about
when I escaped from prison? Three, maybe four other did die. What
then? Is that a lie too?"
"No. They had though there was no way to escape.
It had the best security there. Nobody had ever escaped from there before."
he said. She shook her head again, refusing to accept all that has
been said. A predatory look entered her eyes as she looked at the
assembled Maximals, her gaze finally resting on Optimus.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, voice cold
and hard.
"Well, the offer still stands." Optimus said.
She gave him a considering look.
"All of it?" she asked.
"Yes." he said.
"That's blackmail." she said, narrowing her eyes,
"I can't."
"Then you leave me no choice." he said, taking hold
of her arm.
"No. You leave me no choice." she said.
She jerked her arm out of his grasp and bolted. She dodged between
everyone and pounded on the blast doors. The Maximals closed in around
her and she faced them, back pressed against the entrance. Her face
had a terrified look, almost like a child that had found out the monster
under the bed was real and it had friends over. Her chest heaved,
her eyes were wild, and then the cold, calculating part of her mind took
over. She calmed down, and contemplated her situation. There were
seven of them and only one of her. No problem. She smiled and
let the missing part of her conscious show, making her face cold.
"Give up Paraleasion, there's no way out." Optimus
said. She laughed, once an innocent sound that had been shattered
and turned brittle over the years of hard times.
"Oh, but there is." she said. He frowned,
thinking of no other way out. The blast doors were locked, there
was no way up or down and they surrounded her.
"Through you." she said, kicking Silverbolt in the
knee, dislocating it, making him howl in pain. Black Arachnia attacked
and with cat fast reflexes the tiger fuzor snapped the black widow's neck.
Silverbolt was unsure how to act, he had been attacked but by a female.
Paraleasion took the chance, backhanded him and he slid to the floor unconscious.
Two down five to go. She dodged past Optimal Optimus's hand, over
Rhinox and knocked Cheetor backwards.
"After her!" Optimus yelled, as Paraleasion ran
though the hallway and took random corners. The others, she could
tell, were not too far behind. Someone was guiding them through the
corridors via surveillance system. Her credits were on the rat.
She had to take him out to get away and possibly the others too.
Paraleasion rounded another corner, running straight into Rhinox.
She backpedaled into Cheetor, and Optimus was at her side. They closed
in around her and she felt cornered, trapped.
"Slag." she said, desperately looking for a way
out. She tried to duck past Cheetor, but he grabbed her.
"There is no way to escape." Optimus said.
They escorted her down to the containment area where they placed her in
a cell almost identical to the lab. The doors hissed shut and she
threw herself against them, clawing.
"No, not again!" she screamed.