Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.
Note: This story takes place shortly after "Deep Trouble".
Transmetal Madness, Chapter 4
By TVfan
The Ark
"Interesting," Rhinox commented as finished another scan on both Dinobot and Cheetor.
"What is?" Cheetor asked.
"Well," Rhinox sighed, preparing to explain, "It's obvious that both of you are transmetal twos now. That isn't in question. What is interesting though is the manner in which your armor is configured."
"It still works, doesn't it?" Cheetor asked while Dinobot approached in silence.
Rhinox nodded, "It does work, and in fact it is stronger then a standard transmetal, like Rattrap or Depthcharge, and definitely more powerful then the 'original' armor that I still use."
Rhinox then pressed a few buttons on the control console to display his findings.
"It's a shame you and Blackarachnia didn't take the transmetal driver while you were still in the Predicon base," Rhinox went on, "Then I could study the device itself. It might help shed some light on the results it has produced."
"What are you talking about?" Dinobot demanded, not wanting to be involved in a scientific lecture.
"While the metals in your armor are clearly the among the strongest that Cybertron has known, it is their bonds that is the most interesting," Rhinox explained, "Many of the atoms in your armor are arranged in the same patterns that Carbon atoms go through. They're non-metallic bonds. Yet in these sections, your armor is actually stronger then it is elsewhere."
This activated Cheetor's sense of curiosity.
"But, Carbon is a key feature of organic life," Cheetor pointed out, "Cybertronians aren't organic. How can metals be arranged in organic patterns?"
"I don't know," Rhinox answered, "That's why I wish we had the transmetal driver. You two were advanced by alien technology. Technology we know little about. With out it, I can only explain what has happened, but not the 'why' this happened."
"Then maybe we should go get it," Cheetor suggested, "We go in, get the device and get out."
"Can't do that," Rhinox sighed, "At least not now. We still need to recover from the last battle and Megatron is likely to keep all his forces near his base for the time being."
"Will he be able to advance any other Predicons to a transmetal two level?" Cheetor asked.
"I don't know," Rhinox sighed.
Elsewhere inside the Ark, Blackarachnia was involved in a very different discussion. One that she did not like being in.
"You should have at least told us what you were doing," Optimus scolded, "You could have been put offline."
"Would you have allowed me to go in alone?" Blackarachnia asked back, somewhat frustrated that the first thing she had to do after leaving the CR chamber was get chewed out by the Maximal commander.
Optimus sighed, "No."
"And that's why I went without saying anything," Blackarachnia answered, "Even if your little rescue attempt succeeded in defeating Megatron outside his base, Sentinel would have chewed you up once you got to the base, and that isn't taking Megatron's original base defenses into account. I'm the only one that could have gone in there."
"So you went in to rescue Dinobot, all on your own initiative?" Optimus asked.
"Well, you all wanted him back so badly," Blackarachnia answered, "I just couldn't stand by… so I did something idiotically heroic. Isn't that what the Maximals stand for?"
"We don't do stupid things to try and be 'heroic'," Optimus answered, "We try to stand for what is right. And we stand together."
Blackarachnia nodded, "Is that all?"
"Not quite," Optimus replied, "I still have to thank you for freeing Dinobot. Just talk to the rest of us first before you decide to go off and rescue someone."
"Right," Blackarachnia answered and slowly left the area that the Maximal commander was in.
Blackarachnia sighed, and headed directly for her quarters after she left Optimus's office. She still had the transmetal driver hidden away in a secret compartment, but she knew that was only storage. Having it on her wouldn't help; she would need to harness its energies somehow. Megatron had already done that, and the accidental exposure to its energies had upgraded Cheetor and Dinobot.
It was one of the few things that the female Predicon truly wanted. She wanted to be transmetal, it represented power and the female spider had felt cheated at the fact that she didn't become a transmetal during the quantum surge. Now that she had the transmetal driver, Blackarachnia felt that she now had her opportunity to even that score, but she knew that Optimus and the Maximals would never allow that. Rhinox would surely want to study the device. That meant that she couldn't use the Ark as she originally intended, since the Maximals had set up camp there. She needed a secret lab.
Predicon Base
Megatron sat angrily in his command chair, as if trying to stare through the steal walls of the Darkside's bridge.
"Has everyone recovered from the most recent fiasco?" Megatron demanded.
"Only Waspinator, Inferno, and Ravage," Quickstrike answered nervously from one of the computer panels, "but they should be healed soon."
"We're going straight into battle after being beaten so easily earlier?" Rampage asked from the opposite end of the room, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Megatron turned to face him, scowling as he did so.
"Blackarachnia took the transmetal driver," Megatron growled, "An alien device that I need to win the war against the Maximals. With it in their hands, the Maximals could find a way to defeat us."
"Like the transmetal twos it has created have really helped," Rampage snorted.
Megatron glanced at the new Terrorsaur, who stood at attention, watching the entire argument. The clone transformer nodded and opened a small circular portion of its chest, revealing its spark. The clone the squeezed its spark as hard as it could. Rampage then dropped to the ground in obvious agony.
"I don't need the energon cage anymore," Megatron smiled, "That is one of the functions of Terrorsaur and the new Scorpinok. They will keep you and Tarantulus in line, and they will not fail."
Rampage only groaned in response.
"We are going to get the transmetal driver back," Megatron announced, "And we are going to get it back as soon as possible."
Maximal Base, Next Day
"You're willing to take a patrol sector?" Optimus asked in an almost confused voice, "Megatron holds you prisoner and we barely get you back for a day, and you want to go out on a patrol?"
"Wars are not won by slackers, Optimus Primal," Dinobot answered, "Besides, I am fine, and Megatron will assuredly try to do something. I will be returning to my patrols."
"I thought you'd want some time to rest and recuperate," Optimus commented.
"I did plenty of that yesterday," Dinobot answered.
Optimus nodded and let Dinobot go to his patrols.
Blackarachnia meanwhile made her way through the Ark's engineering bays, smiling inwardly to herself. Optimus had her establishing a listening post in the area south east of the base. That area was full of hidden caves and so forth. She could easily establish a secret lab there.
Predicon Base
Megatron frowned heavily. He was already behind schedule in his attempt to attack the Maximal base and recover the transmetal driver. On top of this, when Ravage came back online, he insisted on talking the Predicon tyrant out of his decision.
"It's not that I want the Maximals to keep the transmetal driver," Ravage argued, "But the fact is that the MAXIMALS don't have it. Blackarachnia has it."
"And she is with the Maximals," Megatron pointed out, "We assault the Ark, destroy the Maximals inside, and recover the device. Why are you defying me?"
"I'm not defying you," Ravage answered glancing at Scorpinok and Terrorsaur, "But it is unlikely that we could beat through the Ark's defenses and then through the Maximals, just as they could not beat their way through the Darkside's defenses and then through us. And Blackarachnia has the device. She is the key to the entire situation."
Megatron sat back in his chair as Ravage continued to explain his point.
"Blackarachnia wants the device for her own power," Ravage said nervously, "She's not about to share it with the rest of the Maximals, and since they are using the Ark as a base, she's bound to take the device to a different location."
"I see," Megatron commented, "And given that silver fuzor's attraction for her, he is likely to follow. We observe her, and when we strike we get to destroy one Maximal and one traitor."
"Or more," Ravage commented, "Any strike team that goes out may run into one of Optimus's patrol teams or Maximal reinforcements."
"Which would make a later assault on the Ark stand a much better chance of winning," Megatron smiled and then turned to face the other Predicons who had remained silent, "Waspinator, Scorpinok, you two are to shadow Blackarachnia and any Maximal that accompanies her, most likely Silverbolt."
"Of course, Megatron," Scorpinok answered as he and Waspinator left.
"Meanwhile, Terrorsaur, Inferno, you will scout the perimeter of the Maximal base," Megatron commanded, "If Optimus tries to reinforce whatever position the she-spider takes up, you are to deal with it."
"At once, Royalty!" Inferno bowed and headed of the room.
Elsewhere
"There," Blackarachnia commented as she finished constructing the listening post.
The female spider then activated her own radio to communicate with the others back at the Ark.
"Okay, your listening post has been established," Blackarachnia reported, "I'll be back at the base soon."
The spider then transformed to her beast mode and moved toward a small cave nearby. Inside she had established a series of devices that she thought would activate the transmetal driver. Most of it was small computer panel and wires that would connect directly to her from the transmetal driver itself. She had also installed a small metal bowl to hold the transmetal driver. She also established a small cot nearby to lie down on while her frame would undergo the transmetal transformation. After inspecting the cave, and determining that it was satisfactory, she left.
Not far away, Waspinator and Scorpinok watched the female Predicon leave the cave and begin to head towards the Ark.
"Follow her!" Scorpinok commanded, "I will inspect the cave."
Waspinator gave a frustrated sigh and buzzed off, being sure to avoid being detected. Despite his upgrade to a transmetal two, Waspinator didn't want to risk damage, unless it was absolutely necessary. Scorpinok meanwhile crawled into the same cave that Blackarachnia had just left. The transmetal two clone looked around the cave and then activated his own radio.
"Scorpinok to Megatron," Scorpinok began.
"Yes," came the Predicon tyrant's voice over the radio.
"Blackarachnia is indeed establishing a secret lab, as Ravage hypothesized," Scorpinok reported, "It's hidden in cave near a listening post that she just established."
The radio was silent for a few moments before Megatron answered again.
"Interesting," Megatron answered over the radio, "Attack the lab when you know she's returned to it with the transmetal driver. Destroy the listening post on your way."
Predicon Base
Megatron meanwhile sighed as Scorpinok ended his transmission. The clone had reported a listening post in the area, which had undoubtedly picked up the radio transmission that Scorpinok sent back to the Darkside. He would have to monitor Blackarachnia's activities for a longer period of time now, as the Maximals had surely heard the radio communication between Megatron and Scorpinok.
"Problems, Megatron?" Tarantulus asked from a nearby computer terminal.
"Just the normal ones," Megatron sighed, "Nothing that a little brains wouldn't fix."
The Ark
Silverbolt leaned back heavily in the radio room of the Ark. Optimus had ordered him there to do monitor duty, and now, the Maximal fuzor wished he hadn't accepted the job. He heard all of the conversation between Megatron and Scorpinok. The implications of what was said were important. First of all, it meant that Blackarachnia had the transmetal driver somewhere in the Ark and that the Predicons were going to try and take it back from her. Second, since Blackarachnia had a secret lab near the listening post that she had just established, it was obvious that she intended to use the transmetal driver. This could only lead to the obvious conclusion that Blackarachnia had lied in her report that she had only gone into the Darkside to rescue Dinobot and didn't have time to try and get the transmetal driver. Silverbolt knew that any one of these things could get the female into trouble.
Silverbolt didn't want Blackarachnia to be in any trouble with Optimus. Despite her protests, the fuzor had done everything possible to try make her more of a Maximal. He couldn't report this. If he did, the female spider would surely be interrogated. But, on the other hand, Silverbolt also knew that Rhinox wanted the transmetal driver for the purposes of studying the alien technology. He couldn't let Blackarachnia hide the fact that she had the device forever either. Silverbolt hoped that the femme-bot would come clean on her own. He didn't want to have to betray her.
Suddenly he heard Optimus and Rhinox discussing something as the two robots entered the room.
"I'm not saying we assault the Darkside to get the transmetal driver, but we should be on the alert for any more alien signals," Rhinox commented, "They're scientifically interesting and in Megatron's hands, they've done more harm then good."
"I know, Rhinox," Optimus answered, "But the problem is that we don't control the planet, even if Megatron weren't here fighting us, we wouldn't control the planet. There's simply too few of us to find, identify, and protect all these alien signatures. And we are not assaulting the Darkside to get the transmetal driver. The information you've discovered with Dinobot and Cheetor is all very fascinating, but I'm not going to risk my men to try and figure out every scientific curiosity that we've come across."
"I'm not suggesting that," Rhinox insisted, "I'm merely saying that we need to be on the alert for these alien signatures and try to protect them. They're bound to Megatron's targets now, since we can't assault their base and they can't assault ours."
"I'll try that," Optimus sighed, "Thank you, Rhinox."
Optimus then turned around to see that Silverbolt had been following the entire conversation that he had been having with Rhinox.
"Anything on the radio?" Optimus asked.
"Everything's pretty quiet right now, Optimus," Silverbolt answered.
"Keep listening," Optimus commented, "Megatron is likely to try something and soon."
Optimus then turned back to Rhinox and motioned with one hand, "Come on, we'd best go on to check on Rattrap. See if Cheetor, Depthcharge, Dinobot, and Rapther have reported anything from their patrols."
That Night
Blackarachnia carefully made her way to the Ark's exit, with the transmetal driver securely hidden inside an internal compartment. She made sure to remain quiet to avoid Rattrap and Cheetor, who were on monitor duty. She smiled to herself at her success in avoiding them as she made her way outside the Ark. She converted to her beast mode and moved off toward her secret lab. There was a brief pause of quiet, before Silverbolt also slipped out of the Ark and began to follow Blackarachnia from the air.
"I hate spiders," Terrorsaur commented from his hiding spot next to Inferno as they watched Blackarachnia and then Silverbolt leave the Ark.
"We must locate Scorpinok and Waspinator at once," Inferno answered, "Since Megatron has ordered that this mission contain radio silence."
The insane ant then transformed to his beast mode and began marching toward where Waspinator and Scorpinok were waiting.
"Just remember we're supposed to make sure the Maximals can't send reinforcements to Blackarachnia's position," Terrorsaur commented as he began to fly slowly after the ant.
"This is boring," Waspinator whined from his hiding spot elsewhere in a forested region near the Ark, "Waspinator would rather be back in his bunk, asleep."
"Just remember that you can't," Scorpinok scolded from below him, the transmetal two clone was in his beast mode.
A few minutes later, Waspinator saw Blackarachnia moving close to their position, in beast mode.
"Female spider-bot is approaching," Waspinator reported excitedly.
"Does she have the transmetal driver?" Scorpinok asked.
"Waspinator does not know," Waspinator answered, "Wait a minute…"
The wasp had stopped his report when he saw another Maximal following Blackarachnia. It was Silverbolt.
"Doggie bot is following female spider bot," Waspinator finished.
"We need to follow them until we know that Arachnia has the transmetal driver," Scorpinok urged.
Inferno and Terrorsaur arrived almost at the same time. Terrorsaur noticed that Waspinator's optics were following the Predicon traitor and the Maximal.
"I see you've noticed that our little friend is on the move," Terrorsaur commented with a slight chuckle.
"Yes," Scorpinok nodded, "You two wait here and make sure that the Maximals can't help them."
Terrorsaur and Inferno nodded, Inferno somewhat reluctantly, and moved to watch for any possible Maximal reinforcements while Waspinator and Scorpinok continued to follow Blackarachnia.
Blackarachnia continued on her way until she made it to her 'secret' lab, still unaware of both Silverbolt following her and Waspinator and Scorpinok following behind him. Transforming to her robot mode, she produced the transmetal driver and placed it in the machine she intended to use to upgrade herself to the transmetal level. She was startled slightly when she heard a new voice from behind her.
"What are you doing?" came Silverbolt's voice from behind her.
"Silverbolt!" Blackarachnia jumped, turning around and then began speaking in a much harsher voice, "What are you doing here dog-boy?"
"One could ask you the same thing," Silverbolt answered, "What are you doing out here, alone, and with, if that's what I think it is, the transmetal driver?"
"I'm just out here," Blackarachnia answered, "And this is nothing. I don't have the transmetal driver."
Silverbolt sighed and transformed to his robot mode.
"Blackarachnia, I know you have the driver," Silverbolt said firmly, "I was on monitor duty when you were establishing the listening post in this area. Shortly after you left, I intercepted a Predicon radio message."
"That could mean anything," Blackarachnia shot back.
"It was Scorpinok reporting to Megatron that his recon mission was a success and that he found this lab," Silverbolt finished, "They know you have the driver and they're intending to get it back."
Outside the cave, Waspinator and Scorpinok stopped near the entrance to Blackarachnia's cave. Scorpinok, still in beast mode, looked over at the nearby listening station. The interlocking pieces of pipe that made up the radio tower barely reached the top of the trees.
"Alright, Waspinator, you go in and deal with the spider and the fuzor," Scorpinok ordered, "I'll take care of their listening station, then I'll come help finish them off."
"Oh, Waspinator get fun job," Waspinator said excitedly, "Waspinator will slag female spider-bot."
"Why are you doing this?" Silverbolt asked, "Why did you lie to Optimus?"
"Power, you moron," Blackarachnia growled back, "Get it through your thick skull that I'm not a good girl. I'm not a Maximal. The only reason I'm even helping your side is because I don't want to die so Megatron can conquer Cybertron."
"I'm sure the others would let you use the transmetal driver for whatever purposes you want to use it for…" Silverbolt began to argue.
"No they wouldn't," Blackarachnia retorted quickly, "Rhinox wants to study it because of what happened to Cheetor and Dinobot. He'll undoubtedly find it too dangerous for a transformer to use and Optimus will agree. They'll then either lock the device up or destroy it. Then, I'd never get a chance to be a transmetal."
"Why do you want to be a transmetal anyway?" Silverbolt asked, "You've taken on some of the Predicons's current transmetals in your present configuration and won. Why take the risk?"
Blackarachnia sighed heavily. Either the silver fuzor lived in a fantasy world or he was dumber then Waspinator.
"It's not that I feel inadequate," Blackarachnia gave an aggravated sigh, "It's the power that I want. A simple transmetal, like Rattrap or Tarantulus, is more powerful then the original configuration, like me or Rhinox. A transmetal two, like Dinobot or Optimus, is more powerful then a simple transmetal. It's that kind of power that I want."
Silverbolt sighed, and said nothing. He didn't quite know how to deal with the answers that Blackarachnia had given him. There were a lot of facts to them. Earlier in the Beast Wars, Silverbolt had nodded the power that the transmetals represented. While Inferno was the more fanatical fighter, and much more willing to risk his own destruction to defeat the Maximals, Silverbolt noticed that Tarantulus was always the more feared of the two in direct combat, despite the fact that the transmetal spider was fairly ineffective in direct battle. The transmetals more powerful weaponry and armor, compensated for the weakness of abilities in some transformers or enhanced others. While the fuzor knew that what Blackarachnia was doing was dangerous and probably shouldn't be done for other reasons as well, he understood the temptation to use the transmetal driver.
"So, where are the rest of the Maximals in this little attempt to try and stop me?" Blackarachnia asked, bringing Silverbolt out of his thoughts.
"They don't know," Silverbolt answered, "I didn't tell them anything."
Blackarachnia gave a low chuckle and began connecting the wires that were connected to the transmetal driver to herself.
"I think I'm rubbing off on you," Blackarachnia smiled, "Lying to your commander isn't very noble dog boy."
"Love is noble," Silverbolt argued, "And I love you too much to let you make a mistake."
"I'm not making a mistake, so don't go to mush," Blackarachnia said back harshly.
"Mush sounds like a good idea," came a new voice from behind them.
Both turned to see Waspinator standing at the entrance to the lab part of the cave. The wasp had his darts ready to fire.
"No!" Blackarachnia said nervously, "I haven't activated the device yet!"
Waspinator laughed as he fired his darts directly at Blackarachnia. The femme-bot was becoming very nervous that she'd lose her chance at becoming a transmetal know, as she had only just finished connecting herself to the wires that were already connected with the transmetal driver. Silverbolt saw this, and leaped in front of the incoming darts that Waspinator had launched. The darts exploded on impact and threw Silverbolt against the far wall of the cave.
"Silverbolt!" Blackarachnia exclaimed nervously.
"Fear not," Silverbolt answered, "I'll keep him busy while you do your experiment."
Silverbolt then sat up and fired his wing missiles at the transmetal two Predicon. The blast didn't do much damage to Waspinator, but it did throw the Predicon against the wall he stood in front off and allowed Blackarachnia to activate the machinery she had hooked both herself and the transmetal driver up to. Silverbolt glanced to see Blackarachnia lying on the cot and wrapped in an eerie red glow.
"I pray to the Matrix that I'm right," Silverbolt mumbled before charging Waspinator.
Outside the cave, and closer to the listening post that Blackarachnia had earlier established, Scorpinok stood in robot and was trying to destroy the tower. The cloned transformer had tried pulling the whole structure over, but it was too deeply cemented in the ground. Scorpinok then took a steep back.
"More then one way to kill a Maximal," Scorpinok commented with an evil grin and fired his pincer missiles at the base of the radio tower.
The resulting explosion destroyed the bottom part of the tower, and Scorpinok laughed as the rest of the radio tower then fell on the rest of the equipment needed to make the rest of the listening post work.
"One listening post destroyed," Scorpinok laughed, "Scorpinok to Megatron. Listening post has been destroyed, we're now moving in on Blackarachnia."
Scorpinok then began to run toward the entrance to the cave when he found Silverbolt literally carrying Waspinator out of it.
"What the?" Scorpinok asked in confusion.
"Put Waspinator down!" Waspinator screamed.
"Alright," Silverbolt answered and threw Waspinator into Scorpinok.
After throwing the wasp, Silverbolt fired his wing missiles again. The blast did little, if any, damage, but pushed the two Predicons back. He then activated his own radio.
"Silverbolt to Maximal base, come in," Silverbolt said urgently, "Come in."
"Cool your gears, Bird-dog," Rattrap's voice answered over the radio, "Whatcha got? And why are you outside the base?"
"Blackarachnia and I were out for a walk and we've run into Waspinator and Scorpinok," Silverbolt quickly as he dodged several of Waspinator's darts.
"Just know all the romantic points, don'tcha?" Rattrap teased back, "Hold on, I'll see what I can cobble together for a rescue team."
"Please hurry," Silverbolt said into the radio and fired his wing missiles at the two Predicons again.
The Ark
Optimus and Depthcharge quickly blasted out of the Ark after hearing Rattrap's report. Both flew as fast as they could toward where Silverbolt and Blackarachnia were as quick as the two of them possibly could.
"You ought to tell the knight to keep his romantic endeavors closer to base," Depthcharge grumbled, "Or with a Maximal for that matter."
"That's unimportant," Optimus responded, "If they're destroyed, we're short two Maximals. Even if Blackarachnia's official allegiance is to the Predicons."
"Whatever," Depthcharge snorted back, "It still ruined my night."
Optimus remained quiet, wanting to avoid an argument. They flew a little ways until a powerful laser blast hit the Maximal commander unaware.
"What the?" Depthcharge questioned as he watched Optimus get thrown back through the air by a few yards and then recover.
The transmetal manta ray then looked down to see Terrorsaur taking flight to challenge them and Inferno firing on them from the ground.
"I'll deal with this one," Optimus said as he recovered, still in vehicle mode, "You deal with Inferno."
Optimus flew past Depthcharge and began firing his blasters on Terrorsaur as the Predicon attempted to gain some altitude. Depthcharge sighed and drew his shark blaster and dove down toward Inferno. The insane ant was firing fire blasts out of the flame throwers mounted on one arm. Dodging them, Depthcharge fired several blasts from his shark blaster at Inferno. The ant dodged two, but was hit by another two and knocked to the ground.
Depthcharge then landed on Inferno's chest, and put his full weight on the Predicon. Depthcharge then fired his shark blaster again, this time at point blank range at Inferno's head. The resulting explosion threw Depthcharge back into the air and knocked Inferno out. Depthcharge fired three more blasts at Inferno to make sure.
Terrorsaur dodged a few of Optimus's shots, but the Maximal commander did manage to land a few hits that forced the other transmetal two clone to lose some control of his flight. He occasionally managed to get a shot off at the Maximal commander, but Optimus dodged most of the shots or maneuvered so that the shot hit where Optimus had extra layers of armor. The impact of two powerful energy blasts in his chest plate armor broke his flight pattern and surprised the clone. Terrorsaur looked down to see Depthcharge coming in at an angle that would pin the clone down between the transmetal manta and the transmetal two gorilla. What surprised Terrorsaur more was that Inferno lay unconscious on the ground.
"We got you now," Depthcharge smiled.
"Slag," Terrorsaur cursed and broke off his engagement, diving hard and fast for the ground and grabbing Inferno as he went.
Depthcharge only growled at the sight of the fleeing Predicon.
"Come on," Optimus sighed, "We still need to save Silverbolt and Blackarachnia."
Outside the Cave
Scorpinok was growing tired of the battle with the Maximal fuzor. Silverbolt had managed to dodge most of his shots and had suffered little damage, and Waspinator had done little to help. The wasp fired at almost everything that Silverbolt stood in front of and gave the Maximal plenty of shattered rock to hide behind.
"I'm gonna end this," Scorpinok growled and raised his tail and fired a missile from where the stinger would be on a real scorpion.
The missile flew toward the silver fuzor, and while Silverbolt dodged the missile's first pass, this missile unlike the others was locked onto Silverbolt and turned around and came back after it missed. Waspinator then fired his darts, hit Silverbolt as he was preparing to dodge Scorpinok's missile for a second time. The combined explosion of Waspinator's darts and Scorpinok's missile threw Silverbolt against a large rock near the entrance to the cave where Blackarachnia's secret lab was. Silverbolt groaned as he looked to see that his wings were damaged.
"Waspinator get him!" Waspinator exclaimed in triumph and ran forward.
"I don't think so, insect," came Blackarachnia's voice from inside the cave.
Waspinator paused and looked into the cave and saw a small bluish disk with two orangish-yellow jaws on a powerful cord come flying out and hit the transmetal two wasp. The jaws easily managed to pierce Waspinator's armor, and within seconds, the Predicon was in stasis lock from exposure to cybervenom.
Silverbolt looked up to see a transmetal two femmebot walk out of the cave. She was mostly a midnight-blue in terms of color, although the armor around her upper chest area and a set of raised shoulder guards were a red-violet color. Her hips, shins, and mask that went around part of her face and head were golden in color. She looked out through ruby red optics. Eight spider-like legs held out behind her back were jet black. Silverbolt also noticed that she had three digits on each hand, and in addition to that, had two raised golden colored talons on each hand that moved as she moved the finger that was under them.
"Blackarachnia?" Silverbolt asked, "Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me," Blackarachnia nodded, "You okay?"
Silverbolt nodded, "I'll be fine."
"Not for long!" Scorpinok yelled and fired several pincer missiles at the two transformers.
Blackarachnia quickly grabbed Silverbolt and leaped away from cave entrance. Scorpinok's missiles only destroyed the rock that Silverbolt had been leaning against. Scorpinok then looked up to see Optimus and Depthcharge coming in from the air. It was now two transmetal twos, a transmetal, and a heavily damaged fuzor. And Waspinator was also damaged as well. The clone couldn't stay there.
"You win this fight, Maximals," Scorpinok conceited, "But there will be other days."
Scorpinok then grabbed Waspinator and ran off. Optimus and Depthcharge landed near Blackarachnia and Silverbolt as the Predicon disappeared among the trees.
"Blackarachnia?" Optimus gasped in surprise at seeing her transmetal two form, "How did this happen?"
Silverbolt began to say something, but Blackarachnia silenced him.
"Well, first I've got to confess something," Blackarachnia sighed, deciding to repay Silverbolt for not telling Optimus earlier, and taking on Waspinator and Scorpinok to allow her to become a transmetal two, "I lied to you in my initial report about rescuing Dinobot from the Predicon base. I did rescue him, but my primary purpose for being there was to get the transmetal driver…"
"So you go do that to yourself?" Depthcharge guessed.
Blackarachnia nodded. Optimus then sighed heavily and crossed his arms.
"You've broken more then half a dozen Maximal protocols," Optimus scolded, "If it weren't for the fact that you still identify yourself as a Predicon allied with my faction, I would have you punished for your actions. But in coalition warfare, I can't expect you to be one hundred percent loyal or obedient. Right now, I can only say, I hope you've gained what you needed with the transmetal driver, because you will hand over the device to Rhinox for study. That device has caused a hell of a lot of confusion and trouble. The sooner we know it works, the better."
"What?" Depthcharge growled, "You're not going to punish her for this? Silverbolt's been seriously wounded because of her!"
"Silverbolt left of his own accord, I'm sure," Optimus answered, "Probably to try and get her to change. He probably succeeded on some level if Blackarachnia was willing to confess all this to us."
"She should still be punished," Depthcharge growled, "I know you wouldn't let me get away with this."
Optimus sighed again, and turned to face Blackarachnia, "Neither of you are to leave the Ark without notifying Rhinox or myself that you are leaving and what your purposes are. And neither of you are to leave without the other."
Blackarachnia glared at Depthcharge and then said, "Fine."
"As you command, sir," Silverbolt answered, "I do feel possibly responsible. I should have done something sooner…"
"It's nothing," Optimus sighed.
The Next Day
"Well," Rhinox commented, "It's junk."
"What?" Optimus asked.
"I've examined the transmetal driver as thoroughly as I can," Rhinox answered, "And the only thing I've found is that it's out of power."
"It's out of power?" Optimus asked, not believing a word.
Rhinox nodded and threw the transmetal driver into waste disposal unit nearby, "And on top of it, we have no clue as to what it needs for power, so there was never a chance of knowing what could have recharged it."
"At least it means that all this business involving new transmetals is over then," Optimus sighed, "Megatron can't create any more."
"That madness is indeed over," Rhinox agreed.
The End