Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Never will. Own TriDrac, Tolero, Pantha and Orcus. Don't sue me. Please.
Pantha: (Drags in a VERY beat up RG) Write the next chapter. Now!
RG: I jus' finished. Ow.
Pantha: Good. You killed off who I wanted to kill off, right?
RG: (Nods slowly)
Pantha: Good.
RG: Can I go now?
Pantha: (Lets go of RG and the girl runs for her life) Right...onto the newest chap!
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TriDrac sighed a heavy sigh as he tapped his claws against the desk in front of him, making a rapid and somewhat annoying "Click, click, click, click, click." He swallowed nervously as he looked at the "clock" on the wall. Pantha had been in the CR Chamber for over four Megacycles and still no word on whether the young commander would live or not. TriDrac sighed again and stood up. He walked away from his desk and headed towards the control room. Once the Komodo had the Transmetal 2 Dinobot in his sights, he ran over to him and swallowed. "Any news, Dinobot?" TriDrac asked, his optics showing the hope he tried to hide.
Dinobot looked at TriDrac and let out another one of his famous sigh/growls. "Yes." He muttered, growling slightly. The dino saw the eagerness in the lizard's optics and he continued. "Pantha's out of the chamber. She's in her room, resting."
TriDrac turned to go, but Dinobot shook his head. "What, Dinobot?" The Komodo asked Dinobot, looking at him. "What's wrong?"
SilverBolt walked into the room before the dino could answer and looked at Dinobot. "She won't say anything. I tried talking to her, but all she did was stare into space, her optics dull. I'm afraid whatever that monster did to her..." The mech stopped when he realized that TriDrac was still in the room. "Uh-oh."
"What's wrong with Pantha?" TriDrac growled. When SilverBolt, the lizard growled louder, "What's. Wrong. With. Pantha. Tell me, SilverBolt, unless you want me to rip your optics out." He threatened.
SilverBolt sighed and shook his head, unfazed by TriDrac's threat. "I'm afraid Pantha won't speak. Her optics are dull and she continues to stare into space..." He sighed again, only heavier, and looked at the two mechs in front of him. "I don't know what to say that will make her snap out of it."
"I'm going to go talk to her." TriDrac growled. "I know her better than any of you. I need to talk to her."
"Is that wise, TriDrac?" A new voice asked. Everyone turned and saw Cheetor. The cat continued to address the lizard. "I mean, if you see her the way she looks right now, won't that make you angry? Won't that make you do something rash? Something you'll regret?" He asked.
TriDrac swallowed. He remained silent for a moment and then looked at Cheetor, his optics showing an emotion no one had ever seen the Komodo use before. Desperation. "Please, Cheetor." He said after a minute. "I need to see her. I need to talk to her. I could be the only one that'll get her to talk." He begged.
Cheetor sighed. He looked at the other three mechs in the room and then nodded. "Alright. You can see her."
TriDrac smiled and ran out of the room, his lizard tail making a "thump" each time it hit the ground. The other three Maximals watched TriDrac head off towards Pantha's room and SilverBolt shook his head. "Those two...have a bond." He said after a minute. "A deep bond I don't think anything can break."
"Yeah." Cheetor nodded. "Maybe that's why TriDrac ran off when he did. Because he sensed Pantha's pain through their bond?" He guessed, folding his arms.
Dinobot snorted and walked off, though, in his mind he wondered the same thing the other two Maximals were wondering. If the two did have a bond, why was it so deep. After all, the two were only friends. Beast friends, sure, but even that isn't strong enough to make a bond like the one TriDrac and Pantha had. Then again, it had to be. After all, they were just friends. Right?
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Footsteps and loud "thumps" were heard echoing through the Axalon II's halls as TriDrac ran towards his friend's room. The dragon made a quick, left after a minute and stopped running as his entered the femme's room. He saw Pantha sitting on her bed, staring into space, a look on her face that was unreadable. "Pantha?" TriDrac asked softly, walking into the room, his tail above the ground so it didn't make a loud noise that would startle the femme. "You okay?"
Pantha looked away from the same spot she had been staring at since she had came out of the CR Chamber and looked at TriDrac, optics dull. However, her optics brightened back to their usual bright green when she saw it wasn't SilverBolt who had come to check on her, but TriDrac. "Tri!" The femme smiled, standing up. "Yeah, I'm okay. Any luck on finding Orcus?" She asked, no trace of the fear and hate TriDrac had seen earlier left in her optics.
The Komodo Dragon shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, Pantha, but Rattrap and Dinobot are still looking and scanning." He said with a slight smile. TriDrac grinned and pulled his best friend into a hug, "Pantha, Pantha, Pantha! You sure you're okay? 'Bolt said..."
"Hey," Pantha smiled. "You can't throw anything at this femme that she can't and won't catch only to throw back at you." She said, breaking the hug. "Did that make any sense whatsoever?"
TriDrac laughed. "Yeah, it did." He smiled. "Pantha, I'm so sorry I didn't get to you in time to stop that creep from squeezing your spark. I should have-"
Pantha held a finger to his metallic lips. "No. It's my fault. Don't beat yourself up because I couldn't stand to be cooped up in here any longer. I needed the freedom and I was willing to take the risk. Look what being a stupid femme got me." She said, pointing to the scar going down her chest and the fang marks on her neck. "But don't worry, Tri, scars'll fade. These will too." The femme smiled and hugged the uncomfortable mech. "Like I said, don't worry."
Meanwhile, as TriDrac had said, Rattrap and Dinobot were scanning while SilverBolt and Cheetor were talking in the control room about the little werewolf. Cheetor held up his hand, telling SilverBolt to hold on for a minute, when Rattrap said something. "What was that, Rattrap?" He asked the rat.
"I said dat we got two Pred sigs." Rattrap sighed. "Terrorsaur and Waspinator. Also a third, unknown, signal." He added.
Cheetor nodded. "Dinobot?"
"They're...in Maximal territory." Dinobot growled. "And getting close to the base. Or, at least they were. Now, they seemed to have...stopped. They're not moving at all. They appear to be fighting the third signal."
SilverBolt flashed Cheetor a worried look. "Who appears to be winning?" He asked nervously.
"De third signal." Rattrap said gravely. "Not dat Waspy and Terrorsaur are strong, but you would expect dem to be somewhat of a match for dis guy." He sighed, shaking his head.
"What do you mean by that? What's going on?" Cheetor's and Pantha's voices said at the same time.
Everyone glanced at the Maximal commander and then went back to work.
"Yer 'friend' came out of hiding." Rattrap explained. He saw Pantha's optic twitch at the word 'friend' and decided, for the first time since the two met, to give the leader a little break and not push the issue. "Sorry. He's fightin' Waspinator an' Terrorsaur. An' the two Preds don't seem ta be fairin' too well..."
"Slag. Dinobot, Cheetor, let's go." Pantha said, narrowing her optics. She transformed into beast mode and waited for the other two to transform.
Dinobot and Cheetor looked at each other. They looked at Pantha and the femme let out a growl that said "say anything and you'll wish you never agreed to come on this mission". The two transformed immediantly. Rattrap looked at the three. "Eh, I'm comin' too, boss lady."
Pantha let out a growl, but nodded. She watched Rattrap transform and then ran out of the base. The three mechs looked at each other, nervously, and then shot out after their leader. The four headed towards the coordinates SilverBolt told them. After a little bit of running (okay, about two miles to be exact), the four transformed and causously walked through the brush and undergrowth until they were only a few yards away from the place where the battle was supposed to be. All four looked at each other as a foul odor hit their noses. Rattrap waved his hands. "It ain't me, I swear!" He said, shaking his head.
"For once, the vermin is correct." Dinobot growled. "This smell is far worse the rodent could ever hope to be. And I thought that wasn't possible."
"Thanks, Chopperface." Rattrap smiled. "Heeeeeeey!"
Cheetor and Pantha gave each other deadpan looks and then walked through the brush, leaving Dinobot and Rattrap to bicker. The two cats finally managed to get out of the brush and undergrowth and gasped. On the ground in the clearing in front of them, lay pieces of Terrorsaur. They were ripped, torn, battered and thrown around in a way that was identical to way that Pantha and TriDrac had found Midnight. Meh fluid and oil covered the ground and were thicker in some places than others. The cats felt sick to their stomachs instantly. "Big cat?" Cheetor asked, looking at Pantha.
Pantha shook her head and looked away. However, her head turned back to the carnage when a low groan was heard. "Shh, Cheetor. Did you hear that?"
Cheetor nodded. "What is it?"
"Shh. I'm about to find out." Pantha said, holding a finger to her lips. She walked around the clearing, carefully stepping over Terrorsaur's various body parts, and made her way over to a tree. The cat pulled out a taser and walked around to the other side of it. There, she let out a gasp. "Cheetor, Dinobot, Rattrap, come here! Now!"
Dinobot and Rattrap ran over to Cheetor. "Did she-"
"C'mon!" Cheetor said before sprinting over to where Pantha was. He gasped.
There, pinned onto the tree like a trophy, was Waspinator. He had knives and shurikens through all of his wings and even through his arms and legs, pinning him to the tree. The wasp let out another groan as he looked up. His optics instantly widened with terror. "What Maximals going to do to poor Wazzpinator?" He asked, fear in his voice.
"Good question, bug boy." Rattrap growled. "What do you think? Leave him here?"
Pantha growled and wapped Rattrap upside the head. "We're Maximals, we can't do that!"
"I agree with the rat." Dinobot growled. "We have no use for the bug and he can't do us any harm sitting here."
Waspinator's optics widened even farther. He tried to struggle to get away from Dinobot as the dino sniffed him. The bug let out a cry of pain as the knives sug deeper into his wings, legs and arms. "Pleazzz help Wazzpinator. Wazzpinator hurt...Wazzpinator can't hurt Maxximalzz like this..."
"I still say we leave the bug." Rattrap growled, folding his arms.
Pantha looked at Cheetor. "Well? Don't you have an opinion?"
Cheetor sighed and looked at Waspinator. "He's hurt. He was attacked by an enemy both Maximals and Predacons now share...yet he is a Predacon..." The cat looked at Pantha, "I don't know what to say, Big Cat."
Pantha sighed and nodded. "I understand where you two are coming from, believe me, I do. But look at him. He's a sitting duck if this psycho comes back." She pointed out. "Does he think you're dead, Waspinator?"
Waspinator looked at Pantha, suprised that the Maximal leader would be talking to him like he was a normal person instead of a Predacon. "Wazzpinator thinks so. Wazzpinator acted dead after wolfbot pinned Wazzpinator up here and wolfbot left. Flyer's screams still ring in Wazzpinator's audios." He shivered.
Pantha nodded. "So think about it, my friends." She turned back to the other Maximals, "If this guys smells Waspinator and realizes he's alive...Think about what he'll do to the poor bot."
Rattrap growled, but thought about it. Dinobot, on the other hand, just turned the other cheek and started to sniff the air.
Pantha sighed and looked at Cheetor. The cheetah shrugged. "You're choice, Big Cat." He said after a minute. "We can't argue with you." Cheetor muttered. He looked at Waspinator and his optics softened as he saw the energon that fell from the wasp's wounds.
"Thank you, Cheetor." Pantha said before turning back to Waspinator. The femme held the wasp in place by putting her left arm around his waist and then looked Waspinator in the optics. "Waspinator, this will hurt. But only for a little bit. I promise."
Waspinator gulped. "What catbot going to do to poor Wazzpinator?"
"Catbot going to help." Pantha smiled softly before grabbing one of the knives in Waspinator's wings and pulling it out of the wing. She looked at Waspinator, concern on her face, when the wasp arched his back slightly and his wing went limp. "I told you this will hurt, just don't think about the pain and hold on." She said softly before pulling another knife out of the bot.
After about ten minutes, Pantha finally got all of the knives out of Waspinator's wings and limbs and held the injured bot in her arms. She looked at the other Maximals. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, what do we do with Terrorsaur's...body?"
Dinobot opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off as a laser shot hit his chest. He stumbled backwards, suprised, but did not fall. The Transmetal 2 raptor let out a loud growl. He charged up his optic laser and looked around. "Who's there?" The mech growled.
Rattrap and Cheetor looked around as they pulled out their weapons. The two shivered as a cold , loud laugh rang through the forest. Waspinator started to shake in fear and clug to Pantha. Pantha looked at Waspinator and then gave Cheetor a deadpan look that said "Oy ve. Why me?" She sighed and held Waspinator in one hand while pulling out her sword with the other. "Cheetor, Rattrap, Dinobot, that's him. I know that laugh. Be careful!"
"That's the guy that did this!" Cheetor asked, pointing to Terrorsaur's remains. "Oh great..."
The laugh echoed and finally died away as the voice spoke. "So..seems as if I let someone live...not my style, but then again, I let you live..." Even though they couldn't see him, the Maximals knew he was grinning and that sent a chill down Pantha's spine. He continued, "But then again, why should I let the wasp live? He's not valuble to anyone...and I did quite enjoy pinning him to that tree..."
"Go slag yourself!" Pantha yelled, her nervous optics betraying her calm voice. "You're a worse monster than Rampage and Megatron put together!"
"For once, I agree with the boss lady." Rattrap growled, pulling out some of his bombs. "Yer sick!"
"Why thank you!" Orcus' voice laughed. "I enjoy what I do, I hope you like my latest work."
Dinobot growled. "You. Have. No. Honor."
"Oh?" Ocrus asked. "I don't believe I killed him while he was in stasis lock. He had enough time to fight me. He just didn't win." The werewolf shrugged from where he was hidden. All of a sudden, blasts came from one of the trees towards the Maximals.
Rattrap yelped and quickly managed to dodge. Dinobot, however, took the hit strait on, making him stumble backwards. Cheetor managed (somehow) to jump over the blast and Pantha rolled out of the way, still holding Waspinator. "Do you know how hard it is to dodge with you?" She asked the wasp as she threw a taser into the trees.
"Wazzpinator sorry..." The bug muttered as Pantha put him down to hide behind a tree.
"Stay there. You'll be safe...I hope." The femme muttered before running back to the others.
Dinobot growled as he clutched his chest. "I cannot...breathe...that well..."
"Posion." Cheetor and Pantha gasped. "The laser has posion in it! Slag!"
Rattrap looked at the two cats. "NOW ya tell us!"
"Shut up, Rattrap!" The two cats growled. They looked up into the trees and sniffed. "He's...gone!"
"What!" Dinobot growled. "That coward. How dare he leave when the battle just started!"
"Oh, sure, he can handle two Preds, but four Maxis, he cannot." Pantha smiled. "Let's get back to the Axalon. Dinobot, you need to get to a CR Chamber. The rest of us need to track this thing and figure out who he'll go for next."
Waspinator looked at the Maximals. "What about poor Wazzpinator?"
"Ya got 'im down, boss lady, let's go." Rattrap said, transforming.
Waspinator sighed. "Oh sure. Don't mind Wazzpinator. Wazzpinator just lie here and suffer. Drag himself back to base and into CR tank. Not fair. Everyone's always picking on me or leaving me..."
Pantha looked at the wasp and sighed. "We can't leave him here. He's too badly injured and his wounds are bleeding Energon. If he stays out here for too long and no one comes to save him..."
"Wazzpinator dies." The wasp sighed.
"So what? It's one less Pred to worry about." Rattrap asked before driving off.
"Even I can't leave the bug..." Dinobot growled.
"Code of honor. Gotta love it." Pantha smiled before picking the wasp up. She transformed and looked at the bot on her back. "Please hold on tight. Do not, at any time, atempt to stop the ride, fall off of ride or pull the ride's tail or ears. Thank you." The femme smiled before taking off towards the base.
Waspinator yelped as wrapped his arms around Pantha's neck, not tight enough to cut off any air, but tight enough so he wouldn't fall off. The bug closed his optics. "Wazzpinator thinks that Maximalzz don't like Wazzpinator..."
"Well, you did try to kill them." Pantha pointed out as Cheetor and Dinobot ran past her. The panther wasn't running as fast as she could because she didn't want to loose her injured passenger. "How long were you pinned up like that, Waspinator?"
"Wazzpinator pinned onto tree for about half mega-cycle. Wazzpinator wazzz pinned up when wolfbot killed flyer." The bug shuddered at the memory.
"Hold on, Waspinator." The femme said as she jumped over a fallen log. She felt Waspinator's head hit hers. "Ow! You okay?"
"Wazzpinator sick to stomach." The bug groaned.
"Great. Don't you dare throw up on the fur, Waspy, or I will drop you."
"Wazzpinator won't. Wazzpinator promiz."
"Good."
Pantha saw the Axalon and smiled. "Almost there, Waspy." The femme said as she transformed. She caught the injured bug and walked into the base, getting looks from everyone. She carried the bug over to a CR Chamber and put him in. "Don't worry, Waspinator." The femme smiled, shutting the chamber's doors and then turning it on. Pantha finally turned to her fellow Maximals. "I take it you guys have questions?"
"Yes." SilverBolt nodded.
"No duh, kitty cat!" BlackArachnia growled. "Why is the bug-"
"Because he was pinned to a tree and helpless." Pantha said, arms crossed. "And I, for one, wasn't going to let that psycho werewolf get another chance to kill him. Even Predacons don't deserve to be destroyed that way!"
SilverBolt and BlackArachnie exchanged glaces. They knew the cat was right, but still it was dangerous to bring a Predacon into the Maximal base. The two sighed and then looked at the other occupied CR Chamber that held Dinobot. "That psycho has a posioness laser?" BlackArachnia asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah." Rattrap nodded as he and Cheetor walked into the room with a very worried TriDrac. "An' he's not afraid to use it. Dino-Butt only took one hit ta the chest and look where it got 'im. The CR Chamber for at least a mega cycle. De day jus' keeps gettin' worse and worse."
SilverBolt looked at Rattrap and Cheetor. He sighed. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Rattrap. How do we fight this guy?"
"I don't know." Pantha sighed, shaking her head.
"Great. We're all gonna die." Rattrap sighed, shaking his head.
"Not if I can help it." Pantha growled. "TriDrac, NightScream, scan for that monster. SilverBolt, scan for pods. BlackArachnia, you and Rattrap work on boosting sentinel's power. I don't want Orcus getting in here." She looked at the others. "I'll get Dinobot to help when he gets out of the CR Chamber."
"What are you going to do, Big Cat?" Cheetor asked, looking at the femme.
"I'll go grab Terrorsaur's body. Cheetor, come with me."
"Wait, yer goin' back out der?" Rattrap asked as he looked at the two. "Dat's crazy! He could..."
"I know, but we need to get to his body. He doesn't deserve that..."
Cheetor sighed. "I agree. Let's go."
"But-" Rattrap started.
"Rattrap, please. For once, don't question me." Pantha sighed as she transformed. The two cats ran out of the base.
Rattrap looked at the others. "Well, you heard the boss lady. Let's go!" He said before walking out of the control room, BlackArachnia behind him.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, a cerntain psycho smiled as he 'played' with a new mech. Orcus grinned as he grabbed the poor bear mech's spark and squeezed. He grinned his sadistic grin as the mech in front of him screamed. Orcus let go of the spark and smiled as the mech, who he had strapped down to a table with cuts and dents all over his body, panted. The werewolf grinned. "Now what did you say your name was again?"
The bear let out a growl. "My name...is...Tolero." He said weakly. "I expect you to remember it..."
"Now, now, I can't make any promises. After all, once I've killed every living spark on this planet, I can't guarantee I'll remember half of them." Orcus shrugged. He smiled as Tolero let out a long roar. "Don't bother. You can't break free."
Tolero growled again as the cuts on his face and chest bled freely. He glared at Orcus. "I came back to life for a reason..." He said in calm, yet angry, voice. "I won't let you kill me..not yet..."
"Back to life, huh?" The werewolf asked, his face twisted into a sick grin. "Well then...let's see how determinded you are to stay alive..."
Tolero mearly let out another growl as Orcus reached into his chest. The werewolf let out a loud, painfilled roar as the bear bit his arm. "You forgot about my teeth." He growled.
"We'll see about that." Orcus growled as he reached into the bear's chest and quickly squeezed Tolero's spark hard, but not hard enough to extinguish the bear's soul.
The mech arched his back in pain as far as the straps holding him down would let him and let out a painfilled roar that was much louder that Orcus'. "STOP!" He managed.
The werewolf's grin only grew as he tightened the grip on the spark. He smiled as the spark dimmed, but let it go before it could fully go out. "That was fun."
"You sick...sadistic..." Tolero gasped. He looked at Orcus with buring blue optics. "You did this to everyone you killed?"
"And two I haven't...yet." The werewolf grinned. "But soon, they'll die along with the others." He smiled.
"If you don't mind me asking, Orcus." It was killing the bear to talk like this to that psycho. "Which two?"
"A wasp and a panther. Not a bad looking one either." Orcus grinned.
Tolero's optics widened with terror. "No!"
"Hmm? Oh, you're worried. Don't. They're alive. For now."
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Pantha: Heh. You listened to me.
RG: Ow. I said I would.
Pantha: (Snorts) So who's the bear?
RG: You'll see. (Smiles evily)
TriDrac: I know. It's-(Mouth gets covered by RG)
RG: Nyah! They have to wait to find out!
TriDrac: (Muffled) Okay.
RG: Also, I would like to say that if you Read and don't Review, Orcus and Rampage WILL come after you. So Read and Review. Or else.
Orcus and Rampage: (Get out weapons)