As Optimus, Cheetor and Silverbolt approached the position of the Predacons, they kept as quiet as possible, not speaking with each other. Cheetor wanted to jump, being as excited as he was. Finally another female next to Blackarachnia, who had already been claimed by Silverbolt, and Airrazor, who had died what already seemed so long ago. And RatTrap had described her as hot. That just –had- to mean something. After all, RatTrap hardly ever gave a positive remark on –anyone-.
Placing paw for paw, Silverbolt made sure his wings were folded neatly on his back. He didn't make a sound, but kept his nose on alert, smelling the air for any trace of Predacon. He also was curious to this newcomer. He had been a Predacon once, but after he had learned he was originally a Maximal, he had switched sides. He was sure, especially after making Blackarachnia see it too, he could make this new lady see that too.
Optimus mainly kept his eyes on his teammates. He could perfectly understand what would be going through their minds. If only Cheetor wouldn't make a fool of himself and give away their position. As they took up defensive places to hide behind and listen in on the Predacons, Optimus could clearly here Megatrons voice.
"… and that's how our current situation is," he ended a little story, "But now that you are here, the scales will most probably tip in our favour, yesssss."
"That
is, if everything works out exactly as we want, which I doubt," the
newcomer said.
Even Optimus had to admit she was fair and had a
melodious voice which could make a man completely lost in it. From
his position, he could see Cheetors tail slinging from one side to
the other eagerly, a big grin on his transmetal II cheetor-face.
Silverbolt, a few feet away from the cat, seemed surprised by it.
'How could she be a Predacon?' Silverbolt thought. Just hearing her should make that impossible.
"And," she continued, "Preperations will take some time as well. If T is willing to cooperate with this at all…"
"I suppose," Megatron mused, looking at her sideways, "Though if you were to ask him, I doubt he could resist."
"Megs!" the transformer exclaimed, playfully whacking the slightly taller transformer on the shoulder.
This action stunned the Maximals. No Predacon in their right mind would ever call Megatron Megs, let alone whack him on the shoulder. Optimus frowned at this. If she was able to do that without getting her head blown off by the fiery Predacon leader, RatTrap might be right. Perhaps she really was a true Predacon. But how had she arrived? And who was she? Depth Charge seemed to know a fact or two more then he did. He would have to pry it out of the manta ray as soon as possible. He focused back on the two Predacons as they started talking again.
"Now that you're informed, I shall let Inferno put you into the schedules," Megatron said.
"Oh goodie, patrols and scannerduty!" the transformer said, using a huge amount of sarcasm.
Megatron
chuckled. "We all have to do our things."
"I did my 'thing'
back on Cybertron," the transformer said, then transformed to
beastmode and headed into the bushes, back towards the Predaconbase.
As Megatron flew off as well, Optimues wondered what she had meant with that last sentence. He signalled for the other two Maximals to head back to base, telling them he himself would go searching for Depth Charge. In the mean time, they were to make sure defences were running optimally.
Excited,
Cheetor walked alongside Silverbolt as they returned to the base.
"Oh
man, RatTrap was absolutely right! She is HOT!" he exclaimed
happily.
"Keep in mind, Cheetor," Silverbolt said, "She has yet to realize where her original programming lies, if she arrived here with a stasispod."
"So?"
Cheetor retorted, "You could flirt with Blackarachnia while she was
still a Predacon, what's to keep me from flirting with this
chick?"
Silverbolt opened his mouth to protest, but closed it
again. The cub was right.
In the mean time, somewhere in a cave, a crab and a metal velociraptor met. The cave started in a forest and ended in the sea. A perfect meetingpoint for the two. The crab transformed, as did the velociraptor.
"You wanted to speak with me?" Dinobot said as he sat down, his normal drone self forgotten.
"You know damn well what I want to talk about," Rampage said, "That girl. What do you know her from?"
"I…" Dinobot fell quiet for a few moments, "She was the best friend I had. Inside of battle and outside. Shares about the same sense of honour I do. She is a Warrior. A fine one at that."
"It was clear you recognized her. I hope no one else noticed," Rampage said, looking at him sternly, "That was a greater risk then simply telling her everything."
Dinobot nodded. "Though, I have to admit, telling her would be something I'd like to do. She's a great ally. Inventive, cunning…"
"And just as friendly to Megatron as she is to you," Rampage said, trying to make the raptor see some realism. Dinobot just shook his head though.
"She's
not. She just doesn't care which rank someone is. She treats each
equally," he said.
"That's very.. Maximal.. of her,"
Rampage said.
"She won't be a Maximal in a million year," Dinobot said, his head shooting up, glaring at his brother, "She uses what she can to get her way at times, and it's much easier to get favours if you've befriended the person you're asking."
Rampage raised a metallic eyebrow. "Then how do you know she isn't playing you in the exact same way?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Because I –know- her," Dinobot said, "We shared battles, we bled for each other. We shared secrets, even the deepest ones. We shared… intimate… moments."
Rampage smiled, though that was pretty invisible on his face. "Good. I know we can trust her. I felt it. But I wanted you to be sure of it as well."
"You felt it?" Dinobot asked, confused, "How? And what exactly?"
"I want to talk to her about if first," Rampage said, turning towards the oceanside of the cave and starting to walk away, "If she is indeed the friend you believe her to be, she will tell you in time."
With that, he departed. Dinobot snarled lightly and rose, exiting the cave as well. He transformed to beastmode and headed back to base. His mind kept racing on about DinoMiner. Why had she come here? How did she manage to escape? He really wanted to ask her those questions, but until Rampage had talked to her, he would have to keep quiet he feared. But he didn't know if he could. He had so much to tell her, so much to explain. Last time he saw her they didn't exactly part on friendly terms.
Absently he walked on until he reached the base. He entered and transformed like he always did, going to the command centre. Megatron wasn't there. The red dragon was most likely in his tub. With the rubber ducky he thought nobody knew about.
Two bots were in the command centre. Tarantulas and DinoMiner. Dinobot caught himself before freezing. Luckily, neither had noticed him flinching slightly, as they seemed to be arguing about something.
"Oh, come on, T!" DinoMiner half-whined, "It can't be that hard, especially for a scientist like yourself."
"That is not what I mean," Tarantulas said, shifting nervously, "I could do that for you, but not for our incom… leader.."
Dinobot decided to step in. "What are you two up to?"
Both spun around surprised. Dinobot smirked slightly, though inwardly he cringed at seeing the hurted look DinoMiner gave him. She probably thought he didn't remember her.
"We are discussing matters of great importance," Tarantulas said, chuckling nervously. If that blasted raptor had heard them talking, he would most certainly be in trouble.
"Elaborate," the raptor said, snarling slightly. Tarantulas had the funny feeling the raptor was checking DinoMiner out. He smiled to himself. He could use that to his advantage. After all, the raptor didn't remember a thing about his previous life.
"Megatron gave DinoMiner here control over a special mission and I have to make something for her," he said, his voice slurring slightly as he continued, "But you seem more interested in her then in that mission…"
Dinobots head shot up, a glare forming in his face. Was the spider on to him? He glanced at DinoMiners face. She was looking at Tarantulas, stunned, then back at him. He saw her blink confused. Without a word, he whirled around and left the command centre.
DinoMiner
looked at Tarantulas. "I have to go."
Without waiting for a
reply, she ran after Dinobot. "Dinobot! Wait!"
In the hallway, the big transmetalII bot stopped and turned around, waiting for the femme to catch up with him.
