"So, what's your name?" asked the feline transformer flying along side of her.
"Not that it is any of your business but my name is Nightshade." She replied in a tone that made it clear she thought he should drop the subject.
The cat had been doing that ever since they left the Ark in pursuit of her target and it was beginning to annoy her quite a bit. All she wanted to do was catch up with her target, destroy him and then return to the Ark to begin guarding it as it had been specified in her mission briefing. She did not want to make friends with these pint sized transformers who apparently brought their only little war right into the last place a war should be fought. Returning her attention to her scanners she tried to determine how close they were to the target based on the concentration of carbon in the exhaust they were following. From what she could tell they were about three minutes behind them and gaining which meant that the two cowards should come into visual range soon. When that happened she was going to go in with guns and rocket launchers blazing so as to turn the target into the carbon he was leaving behind.
"Huh? I don't remember any Autobot by that name much less a female 'bot." , the cat commented in confusion, "What about you Optimus?"
"Nothing in the official Maximal archives but then her existence might have been classified by the Maximal elders." The unusually shaped transformer said in his flight mode.
Just then her sensors picked up on something and after enlarging the area in question by 10 she spotted her quarry and his soldier not more then half a kilometer ahead. Not even waiting to inform the others present she fired her rockets and surged forward in a massive increase of speed. She could hear cries of surprise from those who had accompanied her on this little jaunt but she ignored them in favor of the target she was rapidly gaining on. Bringing her two laser gatling-guns out she carefully adjusted her position and thus brought the target more and more into the middle of her crosshairs. Unfortunately the roar of her engines alerted both of her quarry of her approach causing the one that looked like an ant to stop and try to block her from shooting her main target. This caused her no end of frustration as she tried briefly to get around the insect-bot but each time her way was blocked.
"You shall not harm my queen Autobot!!" , the ant yelled as it pulled its weapon from subspace, "DDDIIIIEEEE!!!!"
With that it began to fire what appeared to be micro-missiles loaded with thermite plasma which was somewhat different than what she had been expecting. A few of the shots managed to hit her but only did moderate damage to her armor since it had been designed to take a direct hit from Megatron's fusion cannon. Deciding it was time to get this particular nuisance out of the way Nightshade adjusted her targeting sensors to the attacking 'con and gave him a full barrage. It was almost comical watching the impacts of her lasers hit the transformer, causing him to jerk this way and that, until he rained down towards the ground nothing more than scrap metal. With that done she returned her attention to the last know position and direction of her main purple target but was surprised to see that the transformer carrying Prime's spark had already taken care of him. He had apparently ripped the bot's weapon from his hand and used it to jam the turbines that allowed grape face to fly.
"It's over now Megatron!!" the large 'bot declared.
"Is it?" 'Megatron' asked sarcastically, "Rampage, as I instructed, NOW!"
With those words the target Megatron dropped to the earth below like a stone but it was not that which struck a cord but the words he had just spoken. They hinted that he had a contingency plan in place should the possibility of capture or destruction become a certainty. What that plan was only her two annoying companions seemed to have a guess because they increased their speed dramatically but stayed on the same heading. She shook her CPU a little to keep herself from getting sidetracked, her only mission was to terminate the target and then return to the Ark to begin setting up a defensive position. If these smaller unfamiliar transformers got slagged or had to be slagged in the course of her fulfilling her mission then so be it. Beginning her descent she set her scanners on high sensitivity in order to see through any attempts by her prey to hide himself.
"Hey where are you going?" the flying cat asked in surprise.
"Completing my mission. My target must be terminated at all cost." She replied offhandedly as she concentrated on what she deemed more important.
"But we need your help! Rampage is probably destroying our base at this very moment." The cat-bot said in an obvious attempt to appeal to her better nature.
"Your base, not mine!" she stated as plainly as possible.
With that she shut off her comm System and focues on the task at hand. She could sense that the rookie was still trying to talk to her by radio but she knew if she ignored him that he would eventually get the message. True to form only a few minutes later the green tailed cat dropped the subject and shot off to catch up with his leader leaving her to resume her activities without interruption. Looking back at her displays to see if her scanners had tracked down the exact location of her quarry she was frustrated to see that despite the efficiency of her sensors this new 'Megatron' had somehow lost her. Once reaching the ground she could see the indentation of where he hit the ground but aside from some small debris there was really nothing to see but dirt. Transforming to warrior mode she made a visual scan of the area hoping to see with personal observation clues that her scanners could not pick up on their own. This fared a little better because she could now interpret what she saw in the form of a wounded adversary trying to get away and that would help her deduce where he could have run off too. About fifty meters to her left she could see little droplets that she instantly recognized as energon which indicated that while her target was mobile he was also leaking fuel. That meant that it was only a matter of time until he ran dry and dropped into emergency stasis. When that happened it would be simple to target his spark and end his foul existence once and for all. Of course it wouldn't be as satisfying as her Megatron but she would make due with what the matrix had provided. Just then she was shaken by a sudden surge of power and energon seemed to bombard her circuits from places other than her fuel cells. It only lasted a moment as her energon dampening field soon kicked in and returned her systems to normal. Shaking off the weird sensation and doing a quick systems check she was glad for once that Ratchet had put that invention of his into her all those years ago.
It had been on the day the Ark had been destroyed, information from the Autobots recon forces had discovered that Megatron had planned to use some sort of energon cannon to overload their systems to the point of triggering an explosion. The Autobots had managed to outfit most of their number with dampening fields to shield them from the attack but the attack came too swiftly to protect the Ark. It had been one of the most devastating losses to the Autobot forces had ever taken and it heralded the turn of the tide in the Decepticons favor. Every Autobot after that moment had been equipped with a dampening device even though the likelihood that ol' buckethead would use the same weapon twice was unlikely. The bolt-brain never did seem to think of improving on a weapon, he only cared about coming up with something even more powerful as soon as possible. Still given the energon rich environment that her sensors were showing her the gadget was definitely going to earn its keep on this mission.
After making some quick adjustments to the dampener she headed off in the direction the energon droplets seemed to be going.
Well that was a slaggin' waste of time Nightshade thought to herself as she entered the cave that would lead her to the Ark.
She had searched the area from her starting point thoroughly for her target but every single time it seemed as though she were making progress the trail seemed to vanish. It was like playing hide and go seek with Mirage during her basic training soon after she became a transformer. Her job during the training was to get used to using her new abilities and attributes to the point where it would become second nature. Of course it didn't help that her instructor could turn himself invisible even to the base's sensors but that of course was the second part of the training. To get her to train her mind to see what her sensors couldn't but those scorch marks she had gotten from Mirage's training blaster was enough to make her want to get skilled soon so she could deliver some payback. Payback against her present quarry was going to have to wait since she had lost his trail about fifteen cycles ago. With the chances of her picking up his trail before he received reinforcements decreasing with every cycle she had decided to return to the Ark and begin constructing a defense. It would take some careful manipulation of parts and materials but she was sure she could get at least one laser battery out front here to back-up the fusion cannon that was currently hanging in shambles above the entrance.
"Well look who's back?!" came a sarcastic voice to her right.
Turning she saw that it was coming from the mini-transformer that looked like he transformed into a rat judging from his shoulder plates. He wasn't the only one who seemed to be giving her a frosted look but most of them were too busy trying to cobble together a base of operations from a pile of scrap. Apparently their attempt to save their base from destruction didn't work out quite as well as they had anticipated. From the looks of things the ship had been sheared in half and all of its contents spilled out into a body of water. Needless to say it looked like the little ones had quite a bit of work ahead of them and were none to happy about her role in everything that had happened.
"Go scurry through a maze mouse!" she retorted with a look guaranteed to freeze molten metal in two point one nano-clics.
She would not take any scrap talk from these bots, as far as she was concerned they were lucky she was allowing them to stay there at all. If she did everything straight by the book she would just slag all of them and guard the Ark entirely on her own rather than risk one of them turning traitor and killing one of the Autobots. So what if she didn't help them to save their base! That wasn't a part of her mission and besides it was their own fault for leaving their base completely unprotected. Any competent commander would have left at least two troops behind to protect the home base while he went off to complete a mission. It didn't matter how serious a mission was to them, a proper commander would have anticipated continuing hostilities with the enemy and made sure their base remained in their possession. So really it was not her fault at all and she did not deserve this flak from them. With that she entered the Ark proper and began to make her way down to the armory where the laser battery would be stored. Once she got her hand on that she would place it at a strategic position on one of the islands of solid rock surrounded by lava. That way she would be able to scrap either her primary target Megatron or her 'comrades' here should they become a problem.
She was about halfway to her destination when the mini-Autobot who had contained Prime's spark but obviously not did not now rounded the corner ahead of her causing her to stop. Judging from his appearance it was unlikely that he had been damaged trying to save his base so Optimus Prime's spark was probably intact as well. That was a good thing since she had taken a slight gamble when she had chosen to go after their Megatron instead of staying close to Prime's spark. Still she had believed that it was in everyone's best interests if the cause of the Autobot leader's death was dealt with rather than allow him to try again later with a better plan. True her quarry had gotten away but everything had worked out well in the end. It was unlikely that this Megatron would attack any time soon given the damage he would have received from that fall and that bought her the time she needed to prepare a few surprises for him. For the moment though her problem was dealing with this leader and his troops who didn't have too high an opinion of her at the moment.
"Mind if I have a word with you?" the 'bot asked casually although it was clear by the look in his optics that he would press the matter if he had to and she didn't need that kind of grief.
"Fine. Walk with me." She said as she continued on her way to the armory.
"Let's start with something simple. Who are you?" the smaller bot asked.
"Lieutenant Nightshade of Earth-Autobot resistance cell Phoenix." , She replied casually, "Your turn."
"Commander Optimus Primal of the Maximal exploratory ship Axalon." Optimus Primal replied.
This shook her a bit but she didn't let it show how surprised she was that the transformer who had help Optimus Prime's spark had an almost identical name. To her knowledge it was very rare for two transformers to be given similar names much less virtually identical ones. Those that did have similar names usually had them becomes they could combine with one another to form a larger robot or needed to be together to perform a specialized task. This 'bot seemed to be different since she hadn't seen any other 'bot outside the Ark who looked anything like him at all. Still it was something to think about later on once all her preparations were done.
"What are Maximals?" , she asked as she tried to decide whether it was a division of the Autobots or a new race of transformers entirely, "You don't look like any Autobot division I've ever seen."
"The Maximals are the descendants of the Autobots and the current rulers of Cybertron." Primal replied casually though he definitely caught the flicker in her face.
Descendants!? Current rulers of Cybertron!? Than meant that the Autobots had won the war against the Decepticons and had retaken Cybertron like they had always wanted to from the beginning. That meant that her mission was going to turn out all right and that everything was going to be much better for everyone. Add to that Primal himself and that had to mean that Optimus Prime would also survive to the great awakening to lead the Autobots to victory. It was incredibly relieving that her mission was going to succeed beyond its creator's greatest dreams but she tried to force down her elation anyways. She had to continue to treat this mission as though it were still unstable, she couldn't let knowledge of the future cause her to slack off now. Chances were that the only reason things turn out as well as they did was due to her unyielding stubbornness and determination to complete her mission. Therefore she would proceed as though she had never heard Optimus Primal's answer.
"Your turn." Primal said in a way that made it clear he had said it more than once without getting her attention.
Taking a deep breath she began to explain about Prime's death and the affect it had on the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. She explained how without Prime and the Matrix of leadership the surviving Autobots could not match Megatron's ruthless strategies. Nightshade gave summaries of some of the more important battles whether they were victories or defeats and ended with a description of Project Gateway.
"As I learned when called to a meeting with the leaders of the resistance there had been a project underway for years to undo the damage caused by the unknown Decepticon agent. It was right then that it had been completed and was ready to be put to use." , she explained carefully as the memories were still fresh in her mind, "My team's mission was to go back to just before the Ark launched, sneak aboard and hide in some of the lesser used portions of the ship. We would remain hidden until the Ark crash landed on Earth where we would be awoken by our emergency stasis inhibitors and proceed to scrap Prime's killer and protect him until the time of the awakening."
"Time however was against us and thanks to an ambush by the leader of the Decepticons I was the only one to make it to Iacon in one piece. Once inside the city I changed my quantum signature to make myself part of that time period and after some troubles I made it aboard the Ark and accompanied Prime to Earth. The rest I think you know."
Primal took this in stride but he had an odd look on his face that hinted at something more, something sad. Despite what he was thinking he did not let it come out into words but instead merely proceeded to walk along with her to the armory. It bothered her a bit, like a rust spot she couldn't clean herself, but she was sure he was keeping something important from her. Not something about the future but about her situation in particular and it bothered him a great deal. Still he would probably tell her eventually and if he didn't then that was okay as well. In any case she now felt she could trust him and his troops a bit more than she did before but as for that female spider out there the jury was still out on that.
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't go with you to help protect the Axalon but I have my own mission in this timeline and I can't afford to get sidetracked." She said in an as-close-as-Nightshade-came-to-an-apology voice.
"I understand but my crew and I are on the same mission." , Primal said accepting her apology, "It only makes sense that two groups with the same mission should work together."
Nodding in agreement she extended her hand for a handshake to finalize their partnership and when he took it a warm spot blossomed in her spark. She had comrades again. None of the Maximals could ever replace Jazz or Angelfire but at least she wasn't alone anymore and that would do nicely for the moment
.
Two Weeks Later, The Cave of the ArkNice to see that things stay lively around here! Nightshade thought to herself as she looked at the Maximals repairing the holes in the makeshift door blocking the entrance to the cave.
Since the initial repelling of the Predacons upon her awakening they had returned several times to blast the dormant volcano from all sides. There were several theories as to why they were doing this but it was her opinion that Megatron was just trying to keep them off their guard. The more time the Maximals spent trying to do repairs the less time they had to come up with any new surprises that might cause problems for their enemies. Still nothing beyond the holes in the door had occurred in terms of damage which was something in their favor. She grinned slightly as she heard Rattrap's whining off in the Maximal command center and wondered what it was this time that had gotten the transmetal rodent so worked up. In the past two weeks she had come to see the Maximals less as potential enemies and more as comrades in arms. After all if they really were the descendants of the Autobots then they were the descendants of her friends and that comforted her greatly. Back in her own timeline none of her friends had really considered the idea of offspring or even anything beyond a casual romantic relationship. It was because they all knew that the chances of a potential mate making it through his next mission was even credits at best and at worst doubtful. To know that the future they would now live through would allow them to truly live rather than just survive which in the old days was the best you could hope for most days caused warm tinglies in her spark.
Still there was always the fly in the mech-fluid that soured such emotions and that femme-bot's name was Black Arachnia. According to Rattrap she used to be on Megatron's side and the only reason that she was allied with them was a sick love-hate relationship with the Fuzor Silverbolt and the fact that she was made from Maximal parts. That meant that if Megatron succeeded in what he was planning she would be wiped out of existence just as easily as the rest of them. This made her something of an unknown quantity and if there was one thing that she hated it was an unknown quantity. It made planning strategy a pain in the skid-plate and a serious security risk if the arachnid's scheming nature got the better of her ties to the Maximals. Out of respect for Primal's decision to let her join them Nightshade would try and at least be civil towards the golden and black transformer but one suspicious act and she was slag. Fortunately Rattrap felt the same way which meant when she could not keep an optic on Black Arachnia she could rest easy knowing that he could and would keep her under surveillance.
Speak of the devil. , Nightshade thought to herself as she watched the Widow-Gal walk towards the front doors apparently heading to man the external guns, There's the wolf in spider's clothing now.
Scrutinizing the subject with her optics she tried to determine if the Spider was coming back from or just going to do something shady. She couldn't do an in depth sensor scan because the Predacon's own sensors would pick it up but that didn't mean that she couldn't make some surface observations. Unfortunately though her gaze was noticed and Black Arachnia stopped to give her a withering glare before walking in her direction. Obviously she had just trampled on the Widow's last circuit and the Arachnid was coming over to vent some frustrations at what she saw as a convenient target.
"Something on your mind Autobot?" Black Arachnia asked making it clear that she did not appreciate being looked at in such a manner.
"Let's cut right to the chase Spider instead of wasting time on all this posturing." , Nightshade replied as she intended to be direct with the femme, "I don't completely trust you or your loyalties to the Maximals and expect that it is only a matter of time before you concoct a scheme to get back in good graces with Megatron and survive his planned obliteration of the Autobots. As such I'll be keeping an optic on you so you'd best stay on your best behavior Widow or I will slag you."
This seemed to shock the femme, not used to someone being this direct with her much less an ancestor of the Maximals. Still the grin that came on Arachnia's face seemed to indicate that she respected the trait and that was an improvement.
"Well you can keep your blasters in sub-space because I have no intention of doing something that will threaten my chances of survival." Arachnia said in as friendly a voice as she was capable of given her Predacon personality.
Nodding in acknowledgement Nightshade decided to leave their conversation at that and resume her defense of the Ark. In truth she believed what the spider said about not doing anything to get herself scrapped but the question was how long this would last. The femme was a consummate oppourtunist which meant as soon as something more profitable came along her loyalties to the Maximals and her apparent infatuation with Silverbolt might not be enough to hold her back. In any case she would have to begin planning some upgrades to the security system to thwart particularly cunning widows and potential enemies.
I can't believe Primal talked me into this!! Nightshade thought as she flew along the clear blue skies in her aerial mode.
It had started as a relatively normal week, the same as all the others that had come and gone, except for the fact that she and Rattrap had been arguing for the better part of it. They had begun simply by comparing her own history with what the rodent knew of the Great War between the Autobots and Decepticons. She had been interested to see how things had gone now that the timeline had been changed from what she knew and figured it would be more interesting to hear it from a fellow warrior's point of view. She couldn't ask Primal or Rhinox because for all their positive attributes they were explorers more so than warriors and Cheetor was just a kid who had yet to see any real combat. It had been intriguing to see the various ways history had diverged from the paths she remembered the metal rat agreed. What caused the problem was when he started to talk about his only family in particular and in retrospect she knew she had overreacted. Apparently his mother's sister was the female Autobot Arcee who had married Hot Rod about three years after the war had ended with the defeat of Galvatron. Whether this Galvatron was any relation of Megatron's was beside the point as far as she was concerned. The real thing that had caused her gears to grind was the fact that a bot she had experienced feelings for had wound up with the femme that had betrayed the entire resistance movement. Logically she knew that the Arcee in this new timeline most likely would be nothing like the traitor she had come to hate but nevertheless it affected her opinion of Rattrap's Aunt. It took awhile but after five cycles of hearing how great their marriage had been she just snapped and told the buck toothed transformer just how great she thought his Aunt was and why she didn't deserve Hot Rod. It was completely irrational and if she had been given a few moments more she would have reigned herself in and apologized but before she could the cheese-eater bit back with his own choice words. One thing led to another and by the time the others had come to see what the problem was she was tossing the Maximal around the cavern and he was putting pot holes in her armor.
Unfortunately for the both of them it took only one look from Primal to make them feel like complete idiots for letting their emotions get the better of themselves. After repairing some minor damage to the Maximal base Optimus decided that they would both be better off if they spent some time apart. However instead of sending Rattrap out on patrol he asked her to do it instead stating that it would be helpful to her mission to become familiar with the lay of the land. After all knowing the terrain would help her anticipate potential enemy attacks as well as which areas were particularly vulnerable. He made it sound all so reasonable and logical that it had taken two mega-cycles before she realized she had been had. There was several meters of solid rock between the Ark and any outside approach vector the 'cons might try and the prime route of advancement was already covered by the defenses she had set up a month ago. For a moment she had thought about turning right around and giving that tin-plated monkey a piece of her processor but decided that it wouldn't accomplish anything. She might as well do this one patrol for him and try and cool her jets like he had suggested since she knew she would have received far worse from Jazz had she pulled a similar stunt with Angelfire or someone else.
Just then something caught her eye in the sky and she focused all sensors in its direction trying to identify what it might be. Cheetor had mentioned once that before they had been forced to crash on this world with the Predacons they had ejected the majority of their crew into a safe orbit inside stasis pods. Apparently these things occasionally fell from orbit and once they were detected it was a mad dash by both sides to claim it before the other side did. That apparently had been what happened with Black Arachnia, the 'cons had managed to scavange a Maximal communications decoder chip and used it to listen in. That had been enough to cause a few major headaches but thanks to some clever planning on the part of Primal they had gotten everything sorted out and smashed the purloined chip. If this was one of those pods she had better call it in and secure the touch down point before grape face got wind of it.
"Nightshade to Maximal base, come in." Nightshade said into her comm. System as her onboard computer began to calculate the most probable landing sight.
"Cheetor here, what's up?" came the overly enthusiastic transformer's voice.
Ugh! Did it have to be him on communications duty?! , Nightshade thought before answering , "I'm in grid theta and have spotted something hot coming down from orbit. Could be a stasis pod but I need to get closer for my sensors to give a more conclusive answer."
"I'll tell Optimus!!" came the cat-bot's voice making it seem as though he had barely stopped himself from dashing away to do that right away instead of waiting for her to finish her report.
"So far touch down seems to be just a little ways from shore. Looks like the Maximal inside is going to get a bit wet when he or she wakes up." , Nightshade said almost distractedly as she studied the sensor readings she was receiving, "I'll head there and secure the landing sight but I could use some back-up in case the 'cons try something."
"Right. Me and Optimus will be there in thirty cycles." Cheetor said as he was no doubt marking the co-ordinates on his screen.
"I'll be waiting. Nightshade out." She said as she shut off her communicator.
With that she sped off towards her target while keeping a target lock on her quarry every step of the way. She had her passive sensors keep an optic looking for Predacon activity but so far there wasn't even a blip. She doubted her luck would last long but hopefully it would stay with her long enough to set up a few surprises for her unwanted 'guests'. By the time she arrived at the crash site it had already sunk beneath the water leaving nothing but a plume of rising steam from the white hot metal heating the sea water. Transforming when she was about two hundred feet from the ground she landed with a loud thump which left cracks on the stone beneath her. With the target's position no longer in question she switched her active sensors to a more precise scan for the object's identity. Normally in her own time she would already have all the answers she would have needed but the energon field which permeated the Earth now was messing with them big time. Rhinox had tried to adapt some Maximal sensors to her Autobot sensor net but all that had done was give her a nasty short and temporary blindness. Needless to say once her optics had been repaired she decided to never let any of the Maximals touch her circuits again unless it was an emergency.
Focusing on the apparent descent pattern of the object she didn't have to wait too long before she zeroed in on it but what she discovered shocked her to say the least. It was a ship! Not a very big one, probably only big enough to have the pilot inside, but it was definitely a ship and from the markings she saw on it it was apparently Maximal in origin. This could be big since it might mean that the Maximal Elders who ruled Cybertron in Primal's time had somehow discovered their position. That meant that help could be on the way not only to capture Megatron and his minions but also take the crew of the Axalon back home. Not that she was eager to see them go or anything but it was clear when someone accidently brought up the homeworld of the transformers that they missed it terribly. Well if she had any say in it they were going to get home soon.
Activating her comm.-system she said "Nightshade to Primal, I've arrived at the touch down point and as it turns out the falling object was not a stasis pod but in fact a ship of some kind. Markings indicate it as being Maximal in origin."
"What kind of ship is it? How big?" came the Maximal's almost hopeful query.
"Not big, looks like a scout craft or fighter of some kind. I doubt there is more than one Maximal on board assuming it isn't some kind of automated craft." , She responded as she tried to find out more about the craft, "With your permission I'll head down and try to bring it back to the surface."
"Agreed. Be careful though if there is anyone on board it'll be quite a shock to see you coming at them." Primal said in agreement while at the same time advising caution.
"Don't worry. I promise I'll be on my best behaviour." She stated in a tone that made it clear she didn't like what he was implying about her appearance.
Shutting off her comm.-link she was about to dive in to bring the sunken ship to the surface when her combat systems activated warning her of incoming projectiles. Turning around she barely had enough time to bring her arms up to protect the rest of her when the missiles impacted and exploded with enough force to knock her into the water. She wasn't badly damaged with her extensive armor plating but the attack had succeeded in knocking her maneuvering jets off-line. Quickly activating the air tight seals around her joints and faceplate she made sure that no more water managed to make it into her systems. For a moment she considered activating her main engines to get herself back to the surface but decided against it when she considered the fact that it would probably do more harm to her flight systems than any good it might do to her situation. With that thought moved aside all she could do was allow herself to float to the bottom of the sea and hope that she could at least walk back to shore. To occupy her time she began to review the preliminary data her sensors had collected on where her attacker was when he/she/it attacked. She was almost certain that it had been a Predacon who had fired the missiles at her but which one was not so easy to deduce. The 'Con's had any number of weapons at their disposal that could have fired that attack at her but that act in itself would imply that they had been expecting her which was impossible. She had only detected the ship a short while ago which was not near enough time for even their fastest flyers to get to her position from Pred HQ. That left only one 'Con and she personally didn't look forward to her first encounter with Rampage. She had only caught glimpses of him during the Predacons' random attacks on the Ark Mountain but from what she had been able to glean from the Axalon's memory files and accounts from the other Maximals he was a serious heavy hitter. Capable of firing mini-nuke missiles and other assorted heavy artillery and he was not someone you tangled with unless you had an even bigger gun than him. Fortunately though the Autobot hardware she was packing meant that when she got to shore she was going to have fun blasting that metal crab apart.
[Warning! Transformer Spark detected. Co-ordinates 5-1-9-9.]
Looking in the direction her onboard computer she saw the cause of the sensor contact and had to quirk her mouth into a grin as she saw a tin-plated manta ray swimming towards her in a manner that indicated it was initiating a search pattern. It wasn't exactly his form itself that she found amusing but rather the color combo of dark blue, light blue, silver and yellow. It never ceased to amaze her how loud these Maximals were in terms of their plating colors. Didn't they know anything about blending into their environment? The blues might blend but the silver and yellow made it stand out like a rusted thumb joint.
Oh well! No sense in pondering such useless things. Nightshade thought to herself as her comm. System notified her that her that the object of her amusement was trying to talk to her.
Might as well find out whom I am dealing with. , she thought as she opened a comm. Channel, "Hi long, blue and fishy! What brings you to my neck of the woods?"
"I'm looking for Proto-form X. Seen him?" came a gruff gunslinger voice that practically screamed workaholic.
"If you mean the motorhead with the big gun then he's probably on his way here to finish what he started with the missile barrage that knocked me into the drink." , She responded casually as if they were discussing someone they saw in a crowd, "Just head towards the shore and you should run right into him."
"Thanks." The mystery 'bot said as he began to swim off.
"Hey! I didn't catch your name!" she said hoping that his one-track mind would deign to answer her question.
"The name's Depth-charge." Replied the fish-bot.
15 minutes later, Shorline
If I never see another drop of H2O it will be too soon! Nightshade thought to herself as she vented what little water had manage to seep into her inner workings.
It was times like these that she wished she had a marine based alternate form of her own but since that would take more work than she was willing to go through she discarded the idea. Just then she heard what sounded like her new buddy yelling like he had been hit by one painful blast. Not trusting her flight mode at the moment she shifted into car-mode and surged off in the direction her audio receptors had detected the noise. It wasn't easy to maneuver on all this sand especially considering her tires were meant for pavement and dirt but she was a master of improvisation so she managed. When she arrived at her destination though she found that Depth-Charge flat on his back with Quickstrike looking to finish the job. Deploying her twin gatling guns from her hood she let loose with a ten second volley from each and despite her better judgement she followed Primal's directive to avoid hitting critical circuits. Once he was knocked back a few feet she began to scan the immediate area for Rampage's energy signature but unfortunately the crab 'bot was long gone. Ever since she had nailed down the Predacon forces' numbers she had been putting them on a list in her mind in order of threat magnitude. Those who posed the greatest threat to the Ark and it's occupants were at the top and idiots like Waspinator were right at the bottom. At the moment Rampage ranked right below Megatron in terms of who was the greatest threat with the difference between them being that Megatron was smarter and more devious. Rampage's arsenal and near indestructibility made him a potent threat that had to be dealt with in the harshest way imaginable. In any case the target had vanished which left her to deal with the sparking minnow in front of her and from the sound of jet engines coming from behind her she wouldn't have to do that alone. Transforming into her warrior mode she began a cursory scan of the damaged Maximal so she could both ascertain his physical status as well as make-up a data file for him. She had one for everyone involved in the battle for control of the Ark and made certain that each was in depth and detailed their strengths and weaknesses. Not that she anticipated having to use them against her Maximal comrades but she was always a strong advocate for contingency plans. That and given what the Arcee of her timeline had done she wasn't going to take any chances trusting anyone completely.
"Nightshade, what's the situation?" Optimus Primal asked as he came up beside her.
Looking down on him she still felt like laughing when she took the differences in their individual sizes. Here he was, Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximal faction on prehistoric Earth and the 'bot she had reluctantly decided to sign on with and he was just above half her size. She shook her head slightly as she realized that she was falling into the same stereotype that she had accused others of, that size was indicative of power and ability. She had always come down on 'bots who had thought she was weak or not smart enough for a specific mission and here she was making the same mistake. Deciding that there were a number of things that she would have to change about her thinking she pushed such thoughts aside.
"Well he took a hit of Quickstrike's cyber-venom in the torso plate and it looks like Rampage had a little fun with him before that but he looks to be holding on." , Nightshade replied as the final bits of information were coming in from her scans, "We should get him to the CR chamber soon though because tough or not those injuries will land him in the scrap heap for sure if left to themselves for too long."
"Then let's go." Primal said as he jumped into the air and transformed into his aircraft mode.
Before she could ask who would be taking the wounded Depth-Charge back to base he flew off and was already a small spec in the sky by the time she decided to frown. This reminded her of another thing she disliked about certain 'bots, specifically those who were in command, which was delegating the menial tasks to her. Letting out a slight grunt of frustration she jumped into her own aircraft mode and soon after attached her grappling hook to the damaged Maximal.
You'd better have some good news fish-bot! she thought grumpily as she carefully rose into the sky and headed off for the Maximal base.
"So, who is he?" Nightshade asked from the edge of the ledge that the Maximals had crafted into their base.
"Depth-Charge was chief of planetary security on colony Omicron where the original experiments to create an indestructible spark were being conducted. When the scientists in charge finally came to the conclusion that Proto-form X was too unstable and dangerous to be allowed to roam free they imprisoned him. Unfortunately everyone underestimated X's cunning and he escaped his prison and fled to the colony proper. Most expected him to try and steal a ship and get off the planet but instead he did something that no one had seen coming." , Primal explained and from the tone of his voice Nightshade could sense something bad about to be spoken, "Instead of fleeing X began to attack the colony with a fury, killing any transformer that crossed his path. Before he was done the entire colony had been leveled and all except X and Depth-Charge were dead. Depth-Charge chased after X for three years before finally capturing him and bringing him to Cybertron to be dealt with. Depth-Charge demanded that the Maximal Elders find a way to terminate X's spark. Instead they handed him over to me to be deposited on an unknown and remote planet far away from civilization. Needless to say Depth-Charge wasn't too happy with that decision."
"Can't say I blame him. The Elders should have found a way to terminate Rampage." , she stated and shrugged at the looks she was getting, "Look I'm all for the 'cherishing life' philosophy that you Maximals seem to hold so dear but let's be realistic for a moment. If you had to choose between a quick termination and an indefinite amount of time alone on a deserted hunk of rock what would you want done? Personally I think it would have been more merciful of the Elders to put that insane spark out of its misery rather than allow it to continue. They never should have allowed experiments into an invincible spark to be conducted in the first place. There are just some places that transformers just weren't meant to go with science."
Shaking his head in what was probably a 'respect the opinions of others' move Primal Said "In any case I can't help but wonder what he is doing here. If the Maximal Elders had detected the trans-warp explosion that brought Ravage here they would have sent something more that just a single scout ship."
"Well its obvious that he's still hunting Rampage and as for how he got here I doubt he took the easy route" , Rhinox said as he adjusted the settings on the CR chamber, "Scout ships like the one you described nightshade have only minimal trans-warp capabilities and a limited fuel capacity. Several small jumps would have had to have been made in order to reach this point in time and space and with no positive way to refuel on energon the odds of him making it back this far on his own are slim."
"Well let's just wait for him to be repaired and ask him ourselves."Nightshade stated in order to stave off a theoretical debate that she knew was coming and wanted no part of at all.
Almost in response to her suggestion the familiar beeps and whirrs coming from the CR chamber indicated that the repair of the Maximal Depth-Charge had been completed. With a slightly jerking motion the hatch to the chamber opened up and with a release of mist a shiny and conscious fish-bot. Walking calmly out he looked around and came to a complete halt when he saw the strange assortment of beings before him. Given what the normal Maximal supposedly looked like she could understand his reaction since they looked more like a human child's playthings than robots in disguise. As for her he seemed only slightly surprised but curious more than anything else but it only lasted a minute before he returned his gaze to primal.
"What in the Inferno are you?" he asked with zero respect and more than a little hostility.
"It's been a long time Depth-Charge so I don't suppose you'd remember me." Primal said in a neutral tone of voice.
"Primal! What the heck are you doing here?!" Depth-Charge demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing." Primal countered with a little hostility of his own.
"I was tracking down X when I hit some sort of time distortion and slagged my ship" , Depth-Charge replied as he recalled what had happened to him, "Now where's the way out of here?"
Without further adou the metal minnow picked a direction and started walking but as soon as he cleared the Maximal's make-shift base he saw yet another site that made him freeze up. According to Primal the Ark was something that verged on a religious icon for the Maximals and over the last century or two had descended into myth. To suddenly find it right in front of him must have been quite a shock which Optimus decided to take advantage of immediately.
"Your on Earth Depth-Charge over four million years ago. My crew and I have been fighting a war against Megatron to protect our own future." Optimus explained with the gravity of the situation clear in his voice.
"Good. Then X is mine again." Depth-Charge replied curtly as he finally spotted the door and headed towards it.
When he reached it he pushed it open and just barely managed to squeeze himself through to the other side. She could hear the outer guns lock onto him as widow-gal and bowser-boy didn't know whether or not to just let him go.
"Rampage isn't alone. He's become a part of Megatron's forces, there are five of them…" Primal said attempting to plead his case for a joint offensive but was cut-off when Depth-Charge rounded on him and silenced him with a glare.
"I got to hand it to you Primal, when you mess up you do it big time." , the fish-bot said sarcastically, "But thanks for the info."
Before anything more could be said he jumped into the air and transformed into a flight mode that was a cross between his beast mode of a manta ray and the scout ship he had crashed in. Once the transformation was completed he flew off into the sky quickly becoming nothing more than a speck on the horizon.
"Do you think he'll ever come back big bot?" she heard Cheetor ask as she turned away from the entrance to return to her post.
"There was a time he would have never left. Rampage changed all that." Primal replied with disappointment.