Beast Wars and all related characters belong to Hasbro and Mainframe. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

What Lies Within

By nightdragon0

Syndrea heard an odd thumping.

What was that?!

Following the sound, she traced the noise to a room just two blocks round the corner. She pressed her ear to the door. The thumping was definitely coming from there. Some other indistinguishable, muffled sounds could be heard as well.

Syndrea pulled out her weapon, a shiny Magnum pistol.

She wasn't one who believed violence and firing were the solution to all problems. It was simply natural of her to only use resort to violence as finial option. Still, everyone had gone through basic military training back on Cybertron and she could at least shoot and hit the targets.

Shooting at targets with a low-power toy gun, however, was nothing compared to the real thing. Syndrea knew she still had a tendency to panic and freeze up in during a battle.

Carefully, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. It was a lab room, probably for research on large specimens. She recognized the standard issue equipment that filled the room.

Computers, lab stuff, tons of tables, more lab stuff and…huh?

At the back of the room, there were three transparent cages. It wasn't unusual for a research ship to install these, however one of the cages actually had something alive in it. Some creature inside was being restrained by dozens of steel cables.

Unable to make out what it was, Syndrea moved closer. The creature was almost completely wrapped up in the cables, concealing all but its eyes and making muffled sounds.

"Magnificent specimen," Syndrea gasped, "I wonder how it survived down here?"

(Now I'm a magnificent specimen. Coming from you, that's just great! )

Syndrea jumped. She'd heard the voice, but not aloud. Telepathically. That could only mean…

"Nightfire? Is that you?"

( No, I'm the three-headed demon dog from hell. Hey, I know I look pathetic, but do I look that bad?? )

"Actually, it's kinda hard to recognize you with all those restraining cables wrapped around you."

( Then I guess it's lucky I'm a telepath. Now just get me outta here! )

"Ok, let's see." Syndrea pushed a few buttons on the console. An electric jolt ran through the cables.

( Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh! )

"Sorry!" Syndrea typed in a few more things. "There!"

The restraining cables withdrew and the door opened. Nightfire staggered out.

"Took you long enough." The dragon muttered.

"What happened to you?"

"Don't ask." Nightfire bent over and picked up his new sword.

"Something I happened to find lying around," Nightfire said, showing it off, "pretty fancy, huh?"

"Anyway, what are you doing down here?" Syndrea inquired.

"I was about to ask you the same question. How bout you explain first?"

Syndrea opened her mouth to speak, but then a loud scream was heard.

"Is that…" Nightfire started to ask.

"CHEETOR!" Syndrea shouted.

Nightfire was already transforming and sprinting round the corridor, checking his assault rifle as he did. Syndrea was several steps behind, fumbling for her pistol.

There was another scream, followed by several gunshots.

"Here!" Nightfire had traced the source of the noise.

He tried the door. When it wouldn't open, the dragon broke it down with a swing of his strong tail. His eyes went wide with shock for a moment, and then he started firing.

Syndrea reached the doorway and finally saw the source of the commotion.

To say that the creature looked like a huge bull would've been a pretty good description. Except for the fact that it had a snake-like face and a muscular, powerful tail. And it didn't look very happy. Syndrea didn't need any more encouragement to start shooting.

Cheetor was hiding behind several fallen tables. He was firing, but his shots did as little damage as those of his comrades.

Enraged by its new attackers, the creature turned and grabbed Cheetor's leg in its mouth.

"Aarrrgghhhh!"

Nightfire took aim and fired. The creature roared in pain, dropping Cheetor roughly onto the floor. He quickly rolled out of the way of its giant tail.

"Get over here now!" Nightfire shouted. He fired several shots to distract it.

The young Maximal took the opportunity to half-limp, half-stumble over towards them.

"Thanks for the rescue!" he breathed.

"You can thank us if we survive!" Nightfire replied. Nightfire dragged him out of the room and slammed the door shut. The creature was bashing against the door from the other side as the three struggled to hold it shut. Nightfire used his fire breath to weld the door shut. The creature continued bashing on the sealed door. Fortunately, it held.

"What the spotting heck was that??" Cheetor gasped.

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us." Syndrea panted, leaning against the wall for support.

Another loud roar came from around the passageway. The group turned and could just make out the outline of another of those creatures in the darkness.

All three immediately let loose with every weapon they had. Nightfire emptied his rifle and replaced the spent cartridge, snapping in the reload before the empty clip even hit the floor.

Damm! I knew I should've brought more ammo!

The shots weren't slowing the creature down a bit. Nightfire realized they had to try something else. Desperately, he looked around. Nothing but walls and doors all around.

Hey, wait a minute!

There was a row of steel cylinders on a thick shelf cut into the wall, held in place by a steel bar. Nightfire noticed there was a release button.

"Get round the corner!" he instructed his comrades.

"But…" Syndrea started to protest.

"Just go! I have an idea!"

As she was dragging the damaged Cheetor to safety, Nightfire slapped his claw onto the button. He shook the shelf so the canisters fell onto the floor. He'd guessed that they'd be holding some kind of highly pressurized gas.

It took all of his strength to lift one of the huge objects and move it into position. Slamming in to the floor, he could see the beast still a fair distance away.

"Come on!"

Nightfire stuck his foot to the canister and shoved with all he had. By some incredible stroke of fortune, the corridor had some slant to it, allowing the canister to roll towards its intended destination.

This always works in the movies…

The cylinder and the beast met head –on, the creature grabbing it in its mouth.

Yes!

Nightfire continued backing away, firing but being careful not to hit the cylinders. He waited till the creature was close enough, then pulled out a grenade from his belt pouch.

"Fire in the hole!!"

He threw the bomb, sprinted and dove round the corridor to the others, just in time to avoid the blast. The blast of igniting gases and burning metals shook the whole ship.

For a few moments after, no one could come up with anything to say as they slowly uncovered their heads and staggered to their feet.

"You know that that was crazy, right??" Syndrea finally managed to scream.

"Yeah," Cheetor agreed, "no kidding."

"As they say, sometimes crazy just works." Nightfire shot a wide grin of satisfaction at his companions.

"OwOW!" yelped Cheetor.

They'd found some sort of medical bay in a nearby room. Cheetor was now lying on one of the bunks and having his damaged left leg tended to.

"Just relax." Nightfire reassured him.

Cheetor could see him twist and connect something. From what he could see, the damage was pretty bad. The creature's teeth had torn right through the armor plating, ripping out several wires and dislocating some components.

"Ok, this may sting a little."

Nightfire had a saw-like tool in his claw. He brought it close to Cheetor's leg and activated it. Cheetor immediately felt like his leg was on fire.

"Yyyyaaggg—humpp!" Cheetor started to scream, but Nightfire clasped his claw over the cheetah's mouth.

"Do that again and I'll pull your vocal cords, got it?" Nightfire said in his usual, serious tone. He tapped his other claw on the side of his narrow head. "I've got very sensitive ears."

"I hope you know what you're doing." Syndrea muttered.

"Well, I know that I won't accidentally kill him."

"Oh, I had to ask."

"There, this'll do it until they can get repairs done." The dragon finished by tying a splint, consisting of two metal bars, around the damaged part.

"Hey, you're actually pretty good at this." Syndrea commented.

Nightfire indifferently waved a claw, as if to say 'nothing to it'.

"By the way, weren't we supposed to meet up with the others," Cheetor asked as he shakily stood up.

"Others?" Nightfire inquired.

"Rattrap and Dinobot are here too. We were supposed to meet them back at the control room." Syndrea said, "hopefully, they've found some info that'll help us get out of here."

The hallway was clear, no signs of danger lurking nearby.

Dinobot checked every direction again, then moved towards the door. It was completely dark inside the room, not to mention his light had run out of power a while ago. Not even a bit of light from the outside corridor entered the room. Still, running on minimum power, the lights were not that bright at all.

Dinobot was not a transformer to be easily frightened, but he knew groping around in darkness didn't bring much benefit. Fumbling along the wall, a satisfied grin crept across his face when he managed to find a light switch. However, it was short-lived.

When he flicked on the light, what he saw made him jump back and draw both his weapons.

The room was strewn with transformer bodies and parts of transformer bodies. The crew of the ship, no doubt. And who or what ever did that might still be around.

For a tense moment, Dinobot scanned the room, his mind conjuring up every possible danger. Finding none, he stepped in for a closer look.

Big mistake.

Something burst through the wall, throwing him to the other side of the room. Dinobot immediately sprang up to face his attacker. Actually, attackers was a better term.

There were roughly two dozen of them, with only their heads and upper bodies sticking out of the wall.

Snake-like in appearance, their bodies were covered in scales. Each had a mouth roughly the size of his fist, adorn with rows of razor-sharp teeth. They had no eyes, but seemed to know where Dinobot was and were hissing in his direction.

Dinobot fired his eyebeams and managed to knock out a few. The rest then sprayed waves of acid from their mouths. Dinobot rolled out of the way, the acid melting a hole in the floor he'd been standing on a moment ago.

Growling, he fired again. There were simply too many to take out at once. Some of the acid got onto his arm. Dinobot cried out in pain, feeling a burning sensation as the corrosive acid melted through the outer layer of his armor.

"Incoming!"

All of a sudden, Rattrap came crashing in through a ventilation shaft in the ceiling and began firing his pistol at the mutant snakes.

"What are you doing here you fool!" Dinobot shouted.

"Hey, I'm saving ya ass chopper-face!" came the reply.

Rattrap rolled out of the way of an acid spray and fired. Then, he had an idea. Pulling out his second detonator, he called to Dinobot.

"Get ready to bail, lizard lips!"

Without giving the velociraptor time to protest, Rattrap threw the bomb and scurried out, followed closely by Dinobot.

Both had just enough time to dive round the corner before the explosion shook the area and incinerated everything in the room. Dinobot had to cover his head as several pipes fell from the ceiling.

"ARE YOU INSANE!" he screamed.

"Huh, so that's the thanks I get for saving your good-for-nothing butt?" Rattrap replied.

"No one requested your assistance, vermin."

"Yeah, I so next time I just let ya get slagged."

"The situation was perfectly under control until your uninvited interference, mouse."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it all before. So, I take it that's your 'perfect' display of Predacon battle tactics."

"Grrrrrrrrr! Go scurry through a maze, cheese-lips."

"Try and make me…ya overgrown iguana!"

"Big words…from a low down rodent like yourself."

"Hey, ya want me to…"

The pair carried on for quite a while, standing there arguing in the darkness.

"Those two are way overdue." Cheetor muttered, checking the clock of his internal computer.

The cheetah glanced over to Nightfire, hunched over the main computer and Syndrea, leaning over his chair to look at the screen. The pair hooked up the power cell, which he had nearly gotten killed for, to the computer. It was still visible through an open panel at the base, humming softly and glowing with a light green color.

Nightfire had managed to get the lights on, but not much else.

"This time, do you know what you're doing?" Syndrea asked Nightfire.

"No."

"I thought you were a computer specialist."

"I'm a hacker, not a technician."

"Doesn't that mean you know a lot?"

"Not enough to start up a blasted, complex, high-tech computer system." Nightfire slammed his fist on the keyboard.

"Well, then let's go for plan B." Cheetor said.

"That's something we should have done from the start," Nightfire added in, "I suggested we re-trace our steps, pick up my scent trail with our noses and follow it back to where I climbed down into this place. But no, someone had to insist that we come here and wait for those two…"

"Ok, so that was a bad idea!" Syndrea admitted.

"Indeed."

"Don't push your luck, soldier."

"Oh, I'm petrified." He got up and converted to beast mode, followed by Cheetor and Syndrea, and left the room.

"This way," he said, sniffing the air.

Silently, the group followed him down the corridor. What they didn't notice was that, back in the control room, the main computer flashed and began an automated sequence.

"Oh yeah, I remember now," Nightfire said, breaking the silence, "the vessel Hyperion. Wasn't that the one whose crew was rumored to be conducting illegal genetic experiments, but could never be proven."

"You're right!" Syndrea exclaimed, "It mysteriously disappeared at some point and was never heard from again."

"Guess it all fits in," Cheetor said, "explains all the weird stuff we've been seeing in here."

"Yup. Seems these guys were pretty nuts." Nightfire shook his head, "makes you wonder what they were researching."

"They were supposed to be on the verge of some breakthrough," Syndrea explained, "but they wouldn't reveal it to anyone. Mighty suspicious if you ask me."

"Anyway, this is it. I…huh?" Nightfire suddenly stopped and stared up at the ceiling. It was definitely the way he'd come in, but now the roof had been covered up.

"Did you seal up the way you came in?" Syndrea asked.

"Not like this." The dragon replied, "Seems like something was activated. A second set of plating to seal off any breakage in the hull."

"Makes sense, this is a spacecraft after all. But without power, how?"

"Cause we turned it on! Man! Can't believe I was so stupid!"

Nightfire drew his rifle and fired. The shots only made dents in the hull.

"Must be reinforced." He muttered. Which also meant they were basically at a dead end. Huh, like we would've had any better luck waiting for rat-breath and dino-butt.

"Just great!" Cheetor said aloud, "locked doors, bull demons and a haunted ship. All the settings for a science fic horror film. Now just add in some brain-dead killer zombies and we'll have a whole set!"

"CHEETOR!"

A pair of hands suddenly burst out from a floor panel, clawing wildly for the young Maximal.

"Yyyaaagghhh!" he screamed, jumping away as the others fired.

The hands disappeared. Everyone had their weapons in their hands and was cautiously glaring around. All seemed silent and still.

For about a Nano-Klik.

The door Nightfire was leaning against suddenly burst open, throwing him to the floor. A figure was revealed standing in the doorway.

As he moved into the light, Syndrea gasped. He—no, it staggered forward with horrifying moan. It might have been an officer of the ship once for it had what remained of a uniform on. But now, there were huge rips and gashes all over its body. Mech-fluid was leaking out and pieces of circuitry hung out. The left half of its face had been ripped off, exposing the internal circuitry.

Nightfire dropped the creature with three shots. Syndrea realized she had frozen in panic. It fell forward with a spray of mech-fluid leaking out.

"By the Pitt!" Nightfire exclaimed, "Cheetor, you just had to ask for it, didn't you?"

"How…" Syndrea was lost for words, "is this what they were researching?"

"Seems so…argh!" Nightfire yelled. The thing on the floor had suddenly awakened and grabbed his leg.

Waving his arms and wings wildly to keep his balance, he brought his other foot down and smashed its head to pieces.

For a moment, no one could speak. Just stand and stare at the result of some horrifying experiment gone hideously wrong.

"I…don't…believe it." Cheetor staggered.

Then, there was another thumping sound. Before anyone could react, the next door burst open with more of the creatures stumbling into the room. Each seemed even more horrible than the last, with more parts missing, severed or hanging there.

The group didn't stay for a closer look. They turned and dashed back down the corridor.

As the three Maximals ran for their lives, none of them could have suspected that they were being watched.

Seated in a well-concealed hidden room, a dark, ominous figure was watching their every move through a hidden set of cameras. He'd learnt much from their conversations; who they were, how much time had past, what was going on the world above.

"To think I have these poor, unsuspecting fools to thank for awakening me from my stasis." He smiled with an evil grin, "All my plans, so much wasted time."

He got up and walked closer to the two screens showing the groups of Maximals.

"So, let them play my games, for now."

"This way!" Nightfire shouted.

He rounded a corner and literally ran into Rattrap and Dinobot.

"Whoa! Man, are we glad to see you! I'd thought…" Rattrap started to say.

"Not now, Ok?" Nightfire cut him off.

"Here!" Syndrea pulled open a nearby door, "it's safe!"

The five transformers piled into the room and slammed the door shut. There was a welcomed click as Syndrea locked the door.

"So, you two ran into the welcoming committee too?" Rattrap panted.

"You don't wanna know." Cheetor replied.

A little while later, the two groups had finished exchanging details. Rattrap and Dinobot had gone back to the control room, only to find it electronically locked. They'd run into more of the mutations as along the way and eventually met up.

"So to round it all up," Rattrap was saying, "we're trapped in a ghost ship which basically has all the settings for a Resident Evil game and who knows what else and no idea how to get out."

No one else had anything to say.

"Aw, man. We're all gonna die."

That, everyone had a response to.

"SHUT UP, RATTRAP!"

"You know, there just might be a way." Syndrea suddenly pitched in. She was reading a journal that had been hidden under a table.

The others looked up.

"All these creatures we've encountered are actually the products of this virus they'd been working on. It's really quite interesting. The virus seems to…"

"Eh, lady," Rattrap cut in, "since no one else here speaks your language, just get down to the details and you'll live long enough to discuss it with Rhinox later."

"Sorry. Well, basically the ship had a malfunction and crash-landed here. They decided to set up a base here to study the numerous life forms on this planet. The virus had many unexpected effects on the creatures on the planet. Then, there was this accident in one of the labs. The virus broke loose and infected the entire crew on the ship."

"Wait a sec. How?"

"That puzzles me too. The virus consists of a mixture of organic compounds and chemicals. It couldn't have been airborne, but had to be administered to take effect."

"Meaning…"

"Either they screwed up so badly that it got into their energon supplies for their re-charge pods, or…"

"Foul play." Dinobot muttered.

"Anyway," Syndrea continued, "when they set up base here, the ship was unexpectedly buried in a landslide and thus some tunnels had to be constructed, leading to the surface. They're here, at this room marked 'Escape Pod Launching Bay'."

"Guess it's our best shot." Cheetor said.

"Then, let's go. The room's located at the rear right side of level 1." Syndrea stood up, pocketing the electronic diary.

"Yeah, it's lucky you found that thing." Cheetor said.

"Almost…too convenient." Nightfire whispered to himself.

Rattrap pointed his gun around the corner, looked left and right, then signaled for the others to follow. He moved forward again and ran right into a zombie.

"Yarrggghhh!"

BAM! The creature's upper body was disintegrated by the other four Maximals, with their weapons out.

Rattrap sighed and signaled for them to come over.

"It's strange," Nightfire said as he approached, "I feel like we've been watched from the start."

"What do you mean?" Syndrea asked.

"I don't know. Like someone's playing a game with us."

Dinobot frowned, but kept his comments to himself.

"It's your imagination, kid," Rattrap said, "the place has been abandoned for years."

Either that or it's my instincts giving a warning.

"We're almost there," Syndrea interrupted his thoughts, "and…uh oh!"

The hallway behind them was beginning to fill with zombies. The group ran ahead to a T-junction and drew their weapons.

"Come on!" Cheetor said, "let's blast these things back to death…er life…"

"Oh whatever!" Rattrap shouted.

They opened fire, their shots tearing the creatures to pieces. Mech-fluid and mechanical parts went flying.

Nightfire pulled out a couple of grenades and threw them. The huge explosion took out most of the remanding creatures, but also had the unexpected effect of splitting the floor and ceiling apart.

Something fell from the floor above and knocked Nightfire down through the hole to the lower level.

After which, some cylinders fell and exploded between the remanding four. Dinobot grabbed Cheetor by the neck and dragged him to the right. Rattrap and Syndrea dove to the left.

The resulting fire was so huge and intense that it separated the two groups.

"Guys!" Cheetor called over the roar of the flames.

"We're Ok!" Rattrap shouted back.

"Meet up at the rally point!" yelled Dinobot.

"How about Nightfire?" Syndrea asked with a worried look.

"The dragon can take care of himself!" Rattrap grabbed her shoulder, "if he survived." He added softly.

Syndrea nodded. She stared down at the hole, eyes filled with concern.

"Let's go, lady!" Rattrap said as he pulled her arm and started running.

On the other side, Cheetor and Dinobot were doing the same.

I just hope you're all right…Syndrea prayed.

Groaning, Nightfire awoke, shaking his head to clear it.

"Ow, my ears are ringing."

He looked up and saw the ceiling above him on fire. Some of its supports began to bend and snap.

"Oh shit!"

He rolled away just as the entire ceiling came down, missing him by a hair. Shakily, he stumbled to his feet. The now roaring fire prevented him from flying or climbing back up. Nightfire saw only one way to go.

This section of the B1 level had been flooded, forming an almost mechanical-looking lake, sort of like the waterfall back on Cybertron where he used to hang out. Looking across the room, he could see a large ventilation shaft leading downwards and to the next area.

I guess a short swim couldn't do me any harm.

Storing his rifle carefully, Nightfire transformed and plunged into the cold, dark waters.

"Hey, wait!" Cheetor gasped.

Limping on his injured leg, he was unable to keep up with Dinobot. Dinobot turned around and scowled.

"So much for the 'Fastest Cat on the planet'."

He walked back, picked up the cat and slung Cheetor, chest first, over his shoulder like a sack of spare parts.

"Hey…" the young Maximal started to protest.

"Don't ask." Dinobot muttered.

"Well, we've got company!" from his position, Cheetor could see all that was behind Dinobot. At that moment, what was there was a bunch of zombies.

"I am currently engaged." Dinobot said.

The warrior knelt down and began firing, presumably at more zombies.

Hey, no way I'm gonna miss out the action!

He brought up his gun and fired at the zombies behind them. All of them seemed to crumble rather easily, taking only one or two well aimed shots to bring them down.

At least these enemies don't shoot back.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Syndrea blew another zombie to pieces. No matter what, there seemed to be even more than before.

"All this shooting isn't getting us anywhere!" she told Rattrap.

"I know! I know!" Rattrap replied, "so…RUN AWAY!"

He took off, running round a corner. Syndrea followed. He led them through several turns, past a few junctions and down numerous hallways. Finally, they took a right at a T-junction and ran right into a dead end.

"Great! I knew your sense of direction was messed up! I told you we should've taken a left!"

"Ok! Then we just go back!"

They started to run back, but a horde of zombies abruptly stumbled in and blocked their way.

"Got any more bright ideas Rattrap?" Syndrea said angrily.

"Well, I don't see ya contributing anything lizard lady."

"Never follow a rat unless you want to be trapped like one! Either that, or end up as spare parts littered across the floor!" she picked up a metallic object from the floor and waved it in front of him for emphasis.

Rattrap immediately beamed as recognized it.

"That's a power core!" he shouted excitedly, snatching it out of her hand, "lady, you're a genius!"

"I beg your pardon?!"

Rattrap spotted a large indent in one of the walls. Large enough for them to take shelter in.

"Get ready for a bang!" he threw the power core and fired a shot after it. Then he grabbed Syndrea by the hand and dragged her into the hole.

"AND TAKE COVER!!"

The following explosion was the loudest one yet. Rattrap saw the wave of flames rush past their hiding place. When the flames cleared, the entire hallway, as well as everything in it, had been incinerated.

"I don't know who's crazier about bombs, Nightfire or you." Syndrea muttered, inspecting the wreckage.

"Well, ain't it the truth." Rattrap grinned.

"So, come on! There's probably more of em' on their way already!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Admit it, you're impressed! I promise I won't tell anyone."

Syndrea kicked him between the legs and dragged him off by the scruff of his neck.

Using a few powerful strokes of his limbs and wings to propel himself downwards, Nightfire descended beneath the surface.

Feeling his way along the wall in almost complete darkness, he prayed his sense of direction wasn't disoriented. It certainty was not his element and Nightfire quivered at the thought of ending up lost in the pitch-dark waters. And if the tunnel came to a dead end…well, basically he was screwed.

Fortunately, the tunnel began to lead up and eventually, he emerged into a well-lit room. Like the previous, this room was also flooded, but otherwise, seemed clear of any impending threat.

And that was actually easy. Nightfire thought, then immediately slapped himself for thinking that.

Just several feet away from him, a large metallic fin had appeared.

Jeez, it's a cyborg shark!

Instinctively, he blew off a fire blast at it. Unfortunately, with his snout half-in the water, he had forgotten one important rule about his fire. That it didn't burn underwater.

The resulting hiss of steam had Nightfire cursing his foolishness as he swam away.

Even pushing his muscles to the limit, the huge shark still seemed to be gaining on him. Nightfire dodged it twice and dove under and clawed its belly. That distracted it long enough for him to scramble to shore and climb up onto a nearby ledge. There was a door there, which Nightfire sprinted for.

Not giving up very easily, the huge shark lunged out of the water, jaws aimed straight towards him.

Nightfire barged through the door just as the ledge behind him disappeared into the creature's mouth. With one foot, he kicked its gigantic head away from the door and slammed it shut.

Taking a few seconds to breathe and make sure he was still alive, Nightfire noticed another door in the room. He pulled himself to his feet and staggered towards the door.

Not before he noticed and gleefully pulled a lever in the room marked 'Emergency Drainage System'.

There were some flushing sounds, followed by the noise of water being drained out. Eventually, he heard the sound of one very big fish-out-of-water flopping about.

He knew that he should probably feel sorry for the poor defenseless creature, but instead found himself hoping it died a slow, agonizing death.

"Bite me." He laughed as he left the room.

"So, they play hard." The dark figure muttered.

He stared at his various screens, showing the groups of Maximals on them. Letting them find that misplaced journal had been a great error. But he still had one last hand to play.

He called up a screen and pushed several keys. A message came up:

Delete all files? Y/N

He pushed Y, then activated a control under the table.

Another message appeared:

The self-destruct sequence has now been activated. Total annihilation will occur in ten cycles. All personnel please evacuate immediately.

There, it has been done.

He walked over to the side of the room and opened a stasis pod.

I shall have to postpone my personal agenda… for now. Let's see where fate takes me.

He got in and closed the hatch. The stasis pod moved and positioned itself below a narrow tunnel. Its thrusters activated, propelling the stasis pod up the escape tunnel.

"The self-destruct sequence has now been activated. Total annihilation will occur in ten cycles. All personnel please evacuate immediately." The emotionless computer voice sounded.

"Oh, gimme a break!" moaned Rattrap as they ran.

"Oh, shut up!" Syndrea said, angrily.

After blasting their way through countless numbers of the ship's creatures and winding their way round the ships twisted corridors. Finally, they entered a hallway and saw Dinobot and Cheetor at the other end.

Both waved to them and then entered a door.

Syndrea and Rattrap were about to follow when the floor panel in front of them rattled and begun to shake violently. Both jumped back and drew their weapons, ready to fire.

The panel burst open and Nightfire's dragon head popped out.

"Hi people. Miss me?"

"Nightfire! You're alright!" Syndrea breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, but in about a cycle, we won't be!"

With less than a minute to spare, the group reached their designated room. Rattrap threw open the door and saw three elevators that had been constructed into the solid rock. The others had already left on one of them.

An explosion suddenly threw Syndrea into a wall.

"Lady!" Rattrap shouted.

Nightfire, who'd been just ahead of her, turned and raced back to help.

"Go on first!" he called over his shoulder, "we'll catch up!"

"But…"

"Just go!"

Nightfire heard the elevator door close as he grabbed Syndrea in his claws. Being careful not to accidentally cut her limp body, the dragon raced for their only means of escape.

There were just seconds remanding.

"Five…four…three…two…one…"

Outside, the other Maximals watched as the mountain in front of them erupted in flames and crumbled into pieces.

Rattrap covered his head as fragments of rocks went flying. When he looked up, the mountain, which the ship rested under, had been completely leveled. All traces of the mountain, and the ship as well, had been completely destroyed. Only smoke, dust and piles of rubble could be seen.

And…

The dust was beginning to clear now and Rattrap saw no signs of movement other than pieces of falling rocks. Cheetor shot him a hopeful look, but his face fell when Rattrap did not return it.

There was silence…for a moment.

Nightfire burst out from beneath a pile of rocks. He had used the huge, leathery wings of his beast mode to shield himself and Syndrea, held tightly in his arms.

Cheetor and Rattrap rushed over to them, through Dinobot was less enthusiastic about it.

"Whoa man! We thought you were a goner!" Cheetor exclaimed.

"It takes a lot to kill me." Nightfire calmly shook the dust off his wings, "This wasn't enough."

"Your actions were…commendable, through imbecilic." Dinobot huffed.

"Nightfire," Syndrea was on her feet now, "thanks for saving my life."

Nightfire nodded and began to walk away. Syndrea ran after him and pulled him back by his tail.

"Hey, I just thanked you for saving my life and that's all the emotion you can show?!"

"Oh, I sorry m'lady," Nightfire stood up on his hind legs and put a claw to his chest where his heart should have been, "but were you expecting this?"

He grabbed Syndrea and kissed her in front of everyone else.

Rattrap's and Cheetor's eyes went wide. Dinobot growled and turned away.

"Are we satisfied now, m'lady?" he said as he pulled away and resumed his normal walking pace. "Well, we've still got to get back to base."

Syndrea stood there, stunned for a moment. Until Rattrap came up to her.

"Look who just got kissed by his scaly lips. Heh, heh, heh!"

No doubt she, in robot mode, had just been kissed by Nightfire, in beast mode, Syndrea didn't find it funny.

Syndrea furiously kicked him in the mid-section, and walked briskly off without another word.