Disclaimer: I do not own Beast Wars. It belongs to Hasbro.
Chapter 5: Ready to meet your Doom?
The Triptych slowly lurches out of transwarp a ship of its titanic size and age of several million years takes time to get things done. Finally it fully emerges from out of transwarp and right into an asteroid field. Not that anyone inside could see that not could they see the numerous amounts of raw unstable energon crystals that littered the asteroid field. Though if they did they might also wonder about the energon's unusual color.
Back inside, Rhinox has recovered and was working on a terminal to see if he could access the external security cameras and find out where they were. For a moment all he got was static, but then the cameras started to work and he and the others were able to see outside.
"An asteroid field?" Rhinox said in wonder.
"An asteroid field? Is that it?" Rattrap said aloud before looking over Tarantulas who gives a dark chuckle.
"Its not the asteroid field you should be worried about. It's what's in the asteroid field you should fear." Tarantulas said before throwing his head back and laughing. It wasn't his normal mad laugh it was a laugh of despair and a bot without hope for some reason Rattrap found it to be far worse than his normal crazy laugh.
"What in the pit could get this reaction out of Tarantulas?" Rattrap said to himself in worry. His fretting was interrupted however.
"You are in the Triptych by the tezting lab." Waspinator said suddenly.
"What?"
"Didn't one of you just azk 'where am I?' so Wazpinator told you."
"No one said anything." Stinkbomb said. He and the others having now woken up and were currently just standing around checking out their new bodies.
"Oh, Wazpinator muzt be hearing thingz then. It haz been a long day." The bug said with a helpless shrug.
"Right." Rattrap said in agreement while thinking to himself, "all these Preds are crazy."
Outside the Triptych the energon crystals in the asteroids began to glow their dark purple light brightening the darkness of space. Then a number of smaller asteroids about the size of semi trucks start to move on their own will towards the Triptych building in speed as they went till they slam right into the ship's hull.
"What was that?" K-9 said quickly going on alert. Everyone had heard it: the sound of something large hitting metal.
"It sounded like something hit the ship." Injector said.
Then there was another loud bang followed by another and another. The ship's diecast construction held up against the space rocks, but even it couldn't stop the vibrations that started to shake the hallways nearest to the hull.
"Did Tarantulas transport us into the path of a meteor shower? Or an asteroid field?" Blackarachnia said as she uses holds hand against the wall to support herself.
"Either way my love let us hope the ship holds up." Silverbolt said as he stood behind her doing the same.
"Perhaps it would be best to go deeper into the ship and not be so close to the hull should it be punctured by an asteroid." Dinobot suggests. Everyone agrees with that idea and they move slowly inward away from the hull and the shaking.
"If this is the worst that dang spider could come up with I am not impressed." Megatron said to Optimus Primal. Minor and Sonar had woken up and were now walking behind Optimus and Cheetor. Minor was practically shaking in joy to be so close to his idol. Cheetor was giving him looks of annoyance every time he asks Optimus a question about something. For his part Optimus seem amused by the younger bot's curiosity and enthusiasm.
"Yes pounding us into oblivion doesn't seem his style." Optimus Primal nods in agreement.
They were interrupted by a cry of pain and turn to see several transformers start to surge with energon build up, but something was different about it, but Optimus couldn't quite place how just yet.
"Why aren't we affected?" Minor asks.
"Because we're transmetals." Optimus explains.
"Quickly everyone switch to beast mode." Megatron said but then realizes a problem with that order: not everyone had beast modes.
Polarclaw, Wolfang, Razorbeast, Manterror, Lazorbeak, Drill Bit, Powerpinch and several other switch to their beast modes while the transmetals remain in robot mode.
This however left them force to watch as those that neither had beast mode nor were transmetal begin to overload and one by one fall to the ground in stasis lock.
"Since when is energon build up purple shouldn't it be blue?" Drill Bit said. Being a former miner he'd seen plenty of energon build up in his day.
"Good question Drill Bit." Megatron said stepping forward to examine one of the fallen. Just as he was about to touch them the fallen's optics snap back to life but glowed a sickly dark purple and when they open their mouth to speak only an unearthly scream came out and they lunge up at Megatron who quickly stomps them back into the ground.
"Megatron!" Optimus said in protest of the violent act, but Cheetor nudges him and points to the other fallen transformers.
"Uh, big bot I think we got a problem here." Cheetor said as the other fallen began to rise back to their feet optics glowing the same sick dark purple, liquid of the same color dripping from their mouths, and all letting out eerie sounds as if trying to form words to speak, but couldn't.
"What in tarnation is going on?" Quickstrike said.
Something was wrong and Depth Charge knew it Rampage was staring at the wall muttering to himself as if in a trance.
"Something wrong king crab?" Razorclaw said. For a moment the destroyer of Omicron said nothing. Razorclaw and Snapper exchange looks as they wait for a response.
"I sense something." Rampage said at last, "a dark presence one filled with such hatred for life that it makes mine pale in comparison."
Well that sounds ominous Depth Charge thinks to himself, what else could go wrong? And that was when Snapper, Razorclaw, Cybershark, and Claw Jaw began to suffer energon build up and had to revert to beast mode.
"Well this is going to make getting around difficult." Cybershark said with a grumble as he flops on the floor.
"Tell me about it." Snapper said in agreement. Being a turtle he was rather slow on land.
However the few non-beast mode transformers with them weren't so lucky and like in other areas of the ship began to convulse with purple energy and fall to the ground.
To Depth Charge's shock Rampage actually takes a step back.
"It devoured their sparks. This can only be him." He said with a hiss.
"Him who?" Snapper asks.
Before Rampage can answer the bots they all thought were in stasis lock get back up on their feet drool dripping from their mouths their eyes glowing a sick purple. One locks eyes with Snapper and lunges only for the bot to be grab by Rampage and slam against the wall and follows up by tearing out his chest exposing his spark or rather his lack of one.
"Gone just like I thought." Rampage said.
Depth Charge would of lunge at Rampage for doing that to an innocent bot but he was currently trying to fight off several of those supposedly innocent bots himself.
"This some sort of virus?" Depth Charge said addressing Rhinox.
"No I'm not detecting any spark signatures either! They might as well be drones now!" Rhinox shouts as he fires away with his chain guns. Depth Charge chooses to cut loose with his energy disk missiles and fires away cutting several in half only to see them continue crawling towards him.
"They're zombies aim for the head or the spark chamber!" Armordillo shouts from where he's hiding behind Rhinox.
"Heads up more coming this way!" Razorclaw said pointing to several figures headed their way.
"Not zombies! Not zombies!" Spittor said with a shout waving his arms in a 'hold your fire' gesture. He was with several other Predacons, Retrax the isopod, Jetstorm the dragonfly, and Insection the stag beetle, all currently stuck in beast mode thanks to the energon radiation.
However they were being chased by a horde of a dozen actual zombies. Rampage was already blasting away and soon the zombies were in pieces thrown about the hallway.
"Well that was fun. Let's never do that again." Snapper said as he crawls forward to poke one of the severed heads to see if it was dead. The head then tries to bite his finger off and he pulls away. Rampage's foot comes down crushing it.
"Uh thanks big guy." Snapper said. Rampage merely grunts in reply.
"We need to regroup with Primal and fast." Depth Charge said to the group.
"Problem with that is some of us can't walk!" Snapper said motioning to himself, Cybershark, and Claw Jaw.
"Some of us will have to carry them," Rhinox said he then transforms to rhino mode and then to vehicle mode. "Put Cybershark on my back I'll carry him."
"I'll carry Snapper." Razorclaw said volunteering and the snapping turtle hefts himself onto the fiddler crab's back.
"Not very comfortable." Snapper said with a grumble.
"Sorry I'm not a luxury model." Razorclaw said in retort.
"I'll carry Claw Jaw. Think you can wrap your tentacles around my shoulders like a backpack?" Depth Charge asks the squid who merely nods in reply.
After a minute where everyone got 'seated' or adjusted to their passengers, the group sets out resuming their quest to the hangar bay.
"Can I ask you something bowser?" Blackarachnia said as she kicks a zombie away into another one.
"Yes Blackarachnia?" Silverbolt asks as he throws a wing missile destroying the two zombies before they could get back up.
"Are you reminded of our first date?" Blackarachnia said as she suddenly leans into his chest reaching out behind him with one hand and using her telekinesis to push away several more zombies that were coming up from behind.
"I'll admit it did cross my mind. If you are to fall once more I promise to catch you." Silverbolt said as he spins her around before reaching back and firing two wing missiles at the horde as they tried to come at them again.
"Oh aren't you sweet." Blackarachia said with a coo as she leans in for a kiss, which Silverbolt gladly reciprocates.
"Will you two kids stop flirting? More are coming!" Noctorro said with a shout as more zombies barrel down upon their group.
"Where in the pit did you send us Tarantulas?" Terrorsaur shouts as he blasts away with his shoulder cannons. He and the rest had form a firing squad in order to shoot the zombies that once been their allies.
Watching as the undead horde approach them Tarantulas laughs at the looks of horror on the faces of his enemies and former allies. Now they would understand. Now they would know they were all doomed.
"Welcome to Unicron's Belt." He said.