- Look at first chapter for disclaimer.
Chapter 6: Code of Hero
I groaned as I woke up. It had been a whole week since the arrival of Rampage. Three days since we discovered he allied himself with the Predacons (as expected), that being confirmed by Silverbolt as he was the one who spotted the crab on patrol with two Predacons –Megatron and Quickstrike, if one must know.
"I miss home" I mumbled. My homesickness had not eased at all since my first day in the Beast Wars. If Megsy doesn't kill me this homesickness certainly will, I mused bitterly and clipped on my belt and slipped on my boots –and nearly jumped out of those boots as soon as someone knocked on the door. Scratch Megsy and homesickness, I'm gonna die by jump-scare! I walked over to the door and opened it, my next room neighbor waved at me.
"Hey, you look kinda pale-"
"If you say 'have you seen a ghost' I will smack you"
"Nah, I was going to ask if you were one-"
SMACK.
"AHAHAOW!" Trailblazer jumped away while he held his forearm "Your front hand is strong". Yes, I could get away with that because the transmetal horse had made it his role to be a 'big brother', and had thus made himself fair game in whenever he decided to be a smart-mouth. Yes, my palm hurt. So I nursed it whilst I gave Trailblazer my best stink-eye.
"You going to feed me snarky comments or is there something I can help you with?"
He laughed and stretched "I'm good, just wanted to say 'good morning'"
I rolled my eyes "In your own special way…" and sighed "…how about you? Did you sleep well? Or did Rattrap rig your berth to eject you from the ship?"
"My morning's pretty well…" he stepped back so I could walk out of my room "and I slept like a baby considering RatBoy knows better than to booby-trap my room". His cobalt optics flickered red for no more than a millisecond. I chuckled as we both started to walk down the corridor.
"At least your morning is good so far…"
"Hehehe, yeah it would considering what Primal will dump on ya" …and he just had to rub it in, Trailblazer had odd ways of expressing sympathy. Especially that fateful day when I had to be literally pulled from patrol when I was scouting on the ground, and as one would guess, it was Silverbolt that got me the hell out of there. Since then it had been pretty obvious that everyone, specifically Optimus, went out of their way to keep me inside. And to not make me feel like I was totally useless, I was often given monitor duty along with a variety of other menial tasks. So, with a huff (just as the horse maximal went down another hallway) I puffed my chest and exclaimed "Whatever he dumps on me I will shoulder it with pride" all while I gave a quick middle finger as I turned the next corner. The transmetal horse-former chortled a "Hey!" as I sprinted away as fast as my legs could manage. Because I knew my hot-headed 'big brother' would want to catch up to me and perform a noogie, I swiftly covered a number of hallways as I made my way to the command center-
Only to stop at the sound of two voices from around a corner:
"Well if it ain't the irascible raptor" seriously? I know they like to dish it out, but isn't it too early for this?!
"The base remains infested with vermin I see-" there was a loud clang.
"Yeeeeah funny. Ya know, not much changes around here…except for maybe the occasional allegiance"
Oh dear Primus this scene! In sensing the inevitable shit-storm, I raced around the corner. Dinobot thankfully took slow steps as he advanced on Rattrap, so I easily cut in between the two, "Are you guys incapable of addressing each other in a civil manner or what?! Cuz' I'm getting real frickin' tired of having to break up these stupid squabbles" I didn't expect my intervention to work, as I was greeted with silence. Dead silence, as neither bot had said anything, and after Dinobot had stared me down with beaming red optics, he wordlessly turned on his heel and stalked off…without a snarl or anything. I was worried to say the least. Upset, I spun around to face Rattrap; the rat pretended to be occupied before he finished whatever he was doing with some 'percussive maintenance' and then walked off. Guys… I knew of the fight beforehand, but, something about seeing it in person put a damper on my mood. However, I had a newfound resolve; I turned my attention back on Dinobots' retreating form and decided to pursue him. If I'm correct…I refuse to let that stubborn saurian out of my sight!
"Dinobot?"
No answer.
"Hmmmm…" with a burst of speed I ran out in front of him and stopped. My gaze was just as stubborn as his as I crossed my arms. A few more moments of silence passed before his stoic face melted into one that was both thoughtful and…sad?
"It is evident you have no intention of letting me pass"
I nodded tersely, damn straight, "Not until you tell me what's brewing in your processor-" I raised my palm as he tried to protest "I know it has nothing to do with Rattrap because, well, you two always argue and when I try to break it up you two continue arguing…this time you let my pitiful attempt at peacemaker actually work, I want to know why"
The raptor snarled, the sound barely audible, "…observant as always…"
"Why?"
"Because as much as I hate to admit it, the rodent would have won our little dispute with the direction it was headed…" he looked over at his reflection "…I…" he then looked over to me "…do not wish to share my internal burdens with you, they are…too great" and proceeded to walk past me. Even though I was nowhere near satisfied with his answer, I let him pass…
"You're going to do something detrimental to your health aren't you?" but continued to tail him. He didn't protest (probably thought I was being stubborn…something he was accustomed to) as he transformed to beast mode, and even slowed his pace in his naturally spry form. Once we entered a lift, he shot me a nervous glance because 1) what he was going to do was going to likely get us both killed and 2) I wasn't supposed to be off ship. But he kept quiet as we descended onto firm ground, "You know for someone whose against sharing his burdens, you seem to have no qualms with letting me accompany you"
"…I've…It would be best if I showed you" he pulled out a pistol and kneeled down, which was an absolute first. By Vector Sigma's CPU, Dinobot's giving me a lift! I had to contain my squeal in favor of being serious.
"Is Megatron involved?" I adjusted best I could. Sitting on a Utah-raptor was a far cry from riding a transmetal cat or horse.
"Indeed" and we sped off.
After we ventured through the wilderness for a mind-numbing and back hurting amount of time, Dinobot eventually found a lead important to his mission. As he examined a thread of webbing, I jumped as both our comm. units buzzed to life:
:"Cheetor to anybody, come in!":
We're getting there; I hope I can pull this off…
"This is Dinobot-" the raptors' head locked onto a herd of gazelle "speak feline".
I kept silent to listen into Cheetors' next words:
:"I'm teaching a solo lesson to Megatron and Rampage-":
Explosions sounded in the background.
:"trouble is their slow learners!":
I almost laughed at Cheetors' cheeky humor, but that would have been bad timing as the cat's pained cry followed shortly after.
:"Aaahhhhh!":
"Cheetor?! Are you injured?!" I yelled into my comm. link. He'll be fine, he can still fly…
:"Yeah I'll survive, but somebody's got a follow up on Megatron! Find out what he's up to!": the transmission ended. I hopped off of Dinobot as he gestured, with his head, for me to get off. He still had his attention on the gazelle herd.
"Fear not, someone most assuredly will" he then looked to me "do you still wish to tag along-?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Very well then"
After we successfully captured a gazelle, we both walked on as we acutely tracked a certain transmetal spider all the way to his lair. It was amazing how much scraps of webbing were lying about. And if that didn't make things any less challenging, the imprints of a two-wheeled vehicle that we spotted on a near-frequent basis were a tip-off. Aren't paranoid guys supposed to be adept at hiding their trails? I chuckled at the thought of Tarantulas being so careless. With an arm around its body and a clawed hand on the captured gazelle's muzzle, Dinobot cautiously walked up to a conveniently made web and placed the panicked gazelle securely onto the sticky substance. With a quick nod, the signal, I rushed to find a hiding spot while the raptor buried himself in the dirt (a humorous sight I assure you). And so we waited…
Something heavy scraped along the ground –Tarantulas' secret door no doubt- as it opened up. I peeked around the corner of my cover and saw Tarantulas eagerly twitching his mandibles. He looked both directions to survey his surroundings and with a greedy chuckle in anticipation, he proceeded. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuck…and to think he delights in sucking out organs! I was aware that Dinobot would like to hunt, however I had the fortune of never witnessing it. I readied my weapon as Tarantulas scuttled directly over my hidden comrade, ready to feast. Sadly for him though, a clawed servo with a pistol shot out of the ground and lifted the surprised spider as he got within a mere foot of his prey. I waited until Dinobot had a firm grip on Tarantulas' throat before I stepped out of my cover.
"Foolish spider, your base was betrayed by the stench of your perversions" he scowled and leaned in "The golden disc, I need to know what information it contains".
I dared get closer. What? It was like the show only better!
"I -geh- can't tell you that!"
"Try tightening your grip Dinobot, he's bound to pop sometime"
"W-w-witch-!"
"Quiet!" Dinobot glanced over to me and smirked, and quickly refocused on Tarantulas as he did what I suggested. Well, almost:
He fired off a shot that was mere centimeters from spider boys' head. That is better…but he did that in the show –oh well, I won't complain, I snickered mischievously as the gazelle bounded off.
"I- I don't know! I don't know! There are no more copies! Megatron won't risk a security breach again! You'll need the original disc, but he keeps it with him!"
"Never realized that spiders could sing like canaries" I didn't flinch under a visored death-glare. Dinobot snarled thoughtfully.
"Then I shall go to Megatron"
"Hehehehe, good luck catching up to him, he's miles away nehehe"
I fired off a shot that grazed his head, which earned a startled squawk. I absolutely did not permit the chance of a smug Tarantulas. And neither did Dinobot as I saw a glint in his optics as he had the perfect plan formulate in his processor; a devious smirk slowly spread across both our faces.
"Transform"
"What-?"
"Just do it" we both ordered.
Confused, the spider transformed. Dinobot grabbed the spiders' metallic abdomen to prevent him from speeding away, and seated himself comfortably whilst he kept his weapon trained. With a swift gesture for me to 'get on' I plopped myself closest to Tarantulas' eyes, and also aimed my blaster.
"You'll both pay for this-!"
"Just shut up and accelerate"
One would be impressed with how much torque Tarantulas' two-wheeled mode could muster up, especially to carry two passengers with ease. It was a surprisingly speedy trip but an uncomfortable one as we arrived at a canyon. Our 'chauffer' urging us to get the hell off as we all witnessed Rampage blow up the tip of the mountain. Mount St. Hilary…it's almost showtime…
"Reality alters, the future alters with it!" Dinobot sounded concerned, as in genuine concern. His worried red optics then set on me, "You should-"
"No"
He down-casted his red gaze.
"…with the golden disc, Megatrons' power is limitless…!" he slapped his palm against the side of his head.
"Ohhhh so I suppose you wish to turn back now? Nehehe" Tarantulas mocked. I shot him a death-glare and cocked my blaster. He raised his arms in a 'white-flag' gesture, but still looked to be 'smirking'.
"No…I-"
"We" the butterflies in my stomach grew more restless.
"We will remain…" Dinobot eyed Megatron as the tyrant went about ranting "…and whatever Megatron is planning, we will foil it"
"Oh well you two have fun walking into an early grave, I'm just going to…-" Tarantulas' sad little attempt of a retreat was cut short once Dinobot stomped over and ceased him by his throat, "You are not going anywhere" the raptor snarled.
Tarantulas only murmured something pitiful under his breath.
Those hours were the most suspenseful, yet boring, hours during my time in the Beast Wars. They passed slowly as me and Dinobot spied on the two massive Predacons in the distance, one of us looking over our shoulder usually to check if our temporary ally (or rather pain in the ass) tried to make a hasty leave. Although I kept tabs on both Megatron and Rampage, I found that my gaze would often wander to the crab. His words 'Run, I'll catch up to you soon enough' echoed a few times or more in my head. At first I thought it was a subtle threat that implied that he would catch up to and kill me. But instead, he left me on the rocky outcropping. I didn't dwell on it too long though; Rampage was one of the more 'unpredictable' characters. Though I was a little unnerved as I observed him, I was very certain that one of his two green eyes would look right at me, but since he didn't report me or Dinobot, I figured it was all in my head. Hell, just for fun, I waved at him a couple of times…and his antennae would twitch…coincidence?
As two fliers (Waspinator and Inferno) closed in on Megatron, Dinobot activated his comm. link: "Dinobot to Optimus Primal-"
In that split second I decided to have my attention on the gathered Predacons, Tarantulas blasted Dinobot. I snapped my gaze on the spider, and grimly acknowledged he already had his weapon trained on me, daaaaaamn it I frowned as Tarantulas chuckled triumphantly.
"Nehe, you shouldn't take your eyes off a spider, they tend to be venomous" he admonished in a condescending tone. I didn't like that glint in his visor.
"But they still squash!" green lasers shot over Tarantulas' head, causing a large chunk from the rock formation to fall and effectively squash the spider. I helped Dinobot to his feet.
:"Optimus here, what is it Dinobot?": the transmetal monkeys' voice patched through. Please hurry… I silently begged.
"Code red, situation extreme" we both looked over to the assembled Predacons. And as soon as Megatron bellowed out his orders, they all jumped into the valley and made it rain hell on the proto-humans.
:"We'll be there as soon as we can, in the mean time, fall back and wait for us-!":
"Negative!" Dinobot gently eased out of my supportive clutches, "The question that once haunted my being, is now being answered…" the valley erupted into hellish flames "the future is not fixed. My choice is all my own…" at that point it was as if I was invisible "yet, how ironic, that I now find…I have no choice at all…"
He exhaled deeply "I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined" and pulled out his sword. Although I wished I could have cried and gave him an encore, I found I didn't have the time to as he rushed into the mess that was the valley.
"Dinobot wait!" and so he leapt down without me. Damn you we were going to do this together! Frustrated, I eased myself onto the cliff face and began my descent, all while trying to keep tabs on Dinobot, I refuse to let him die! His speech may have been legendary –but damn it I guess I'm selfish. I couldn't see him anywhere. I huffed and scrambled down the cliff even faster, throwing caution to the wind. Once I touched down, it was already dark, yet the area was still well lit due to the area being ablaze. I immediately found that my thoughts had wandered to Trailblazer: Could he have been on patrol? I really hope he heard us, we were on a general Maximal frequency… my eyes scanned the area but even so, that was hours ago he could have returned to base by then stupid! I cursed as I ran further into the Cybertronian-made hell and prayed that Dinobot hadn't engaged the first set of Predacons. I rushed on through the dense foliage, only to come across another drop in elevation. I growled and hastily fell/climbed down my second obstacle. Though humorously enough, it wasn't the way down that damaged me too bad…it was the rocket that sent me sprawling through the bush and out into the open.
A pair of green optics widened with surprise and a faint hint of amusement at the sight of my battered form. O hai there! I didn't close my eyes or turn away. As we stared each other down, Waspinator then proceeded to intervene -but was shot down by one of Rampages' rockets. Hey he likes me better than Waspy –but will it really make a difference? I scooted backward as the massive Predacon lumbered over and kneeled with an outstretched hand, but jerked backward at the impact of fiery and explosive rounds being emptied into him. Dinobot, with Infernos' gun, landed next to Waspinators' twitching form. For what purpose you may ask? Well that was revealed when the frenzied raptor rushed an aggravated Rampage and stuffed Waspinator head first into Rampage's tank-form cannon just as the crab transformed and fired off a rocket. The backfire cooked both Predacons and sent Dinobot flying into a charred tree, which he quickly recovered. So much for helping him there…
"I was really hoping you wouldn't have followed me…"
Wait where did that come from?! I shakily got to my feet, wanting to say some words (mostly profanity) but instead just settled with "Let's…just…finish this" we both locked our eyes onto a smug Megatron, the tyrant applauded slowly.
"One turncoat and a measly human girl-" that motherfu- "-battling on against impossible odds…I'm…almost touched" he flicked an invisible tear as he scowled at both of us "fortunately such moments pass quickly. Quickstrike deal with them!"
"Yeehaw!" the fuzor landed directly in front of me "You first lil' lady!". I hadn't the slightest clue whether he'd kill or incapacitate me like the Predacons had tried to do so in the past, but I wasn't having it. With a quick-draw, I blasted off his snake arm "YOWWW! You little-!" and then blasted him a few times dead-center so he was sent into stasis lock. I gave a quick once-over of Dinobot, who nodded as if to say 'I'm okay' and then shot my eyes up to find…that Megatron was nowhere in sight.
Son of a blender! Where'd he go?!
I hobbled over to Dinobot, "Now are you convinced I got your back and I'm not going to run away like you so very much want me to?" the raptor smirked "Okay then, let's kick Megatron's sorry ass"
"Oh no, I think not" heavy footfalls sounded behind a large boulder, their owner being a transmetal tyrannosaurus rex. A very amused tyrannosaurus rex, much to my chagrin, "Dinobot!" he called out 'cheerfully' "what a delightful surprise! Let's see, where are we now? Ah, I have the golden disc-" he raised another talon "-I have the power to change the future-" he dropped his claws "and the only obstacles in my path to unimaginable glory…is yourself and...her" his red optics narrowed in a sneer "…a miserable and misguided human-"
Dinobot snarled aggressively. A miserable human that you've tried to get your hands on…I wonder what he could have possibly wanted… I shuddered.
"-Exhausted, damaged, defeated...-"
I found myself gravitating to the front of the raptor. Ready to put up a fight, I aimed my firearm. Megatron merely clicked his tongue.
"Nah ah ah" he pointed his tail cannon at something behind the medium sized rock next to him, "Fire, and I promise it will rain pieces of early anthropoid…yeeesss". Oh no…it's coming…
I lowered my weapon, but stayed my ground. The back of my mind told me to not dare stray from my spot. I instead shuffled backward to be closer to my injured comrade. It could be worse, he's still strong enough to fight…I don't hear any warnings for stasis lock… I gulped.
"How so very Maximal of you my dear…" he addressed me "I'll be sure to change th-"
None of us saw the big red shadow close in on Megatron as he slammed a fist into the tyrant's faceplates. Caught completely off guard, Megatron was launched sideways, and a new bot stood in his place next to the proto-human. Trailblazer assumed his battle stance, "Talk about timing! You guys were a pain to track!" and began to pummel the purple tyrant. Whose shocked expression instantly shifted into an irate one.
"You imbe-"
Green lasers knocked the tyrant back, as Dinobot and Trailblazer, being the two opportunists that they were, decided to take turns wailing on their target. There's no such thing as overkill… I blinked, oh what am I doing! I then fired off my own rounds. But quickly ran out of ammo, damn, I shouldn't have wasted those shots to scare Tarantulas!
"Enough!" Megatron had somehow gained the upper hand as he knocked Trailblazer into a boulder and blasted Dinobot a couple of times in the chest. It was there that I heard the warnings. No…no! It happened too quick I- the tyrant swiftly advanced on me, and grabbed me by my neck, thus rendering me as a slagging hostage. And in seeing that his cheap move was an effective one, Megatron sneered "That's right, one wrong move and I'll happily snuff her. She seems like wasted potential anyway"
Seconds that felt like minutes passed. Both raptor and horse seemed to have had some silent plot being discussed among themselves. I was clueless as to what, as long as they keep each other alive… I just prayed it wasn't something stupid.
"…well…?" Megatrons' tail cannon hummed violently next to my waist "What will it be-?" a whistle and an explosion made my ears ring as a rocket slammed into Megatrons' back. I didn't see who did it though as we both collapsed onto the ground. Everything was silent, but I could still witness Dinobot as he appeared to do a battle cry and lunge for Megatron with a tree branch -a tree branch with a large chunk of pointed stone- and beat the living slag out of the purple-faced bastard. The extent of the damage so great, something was forced out of Predacon leader's sub-space.
He literally just beat the golden disc outta him… I watched in awe as Dinobot grasped the artifact and then blew it to smithereens. And despite being heavily damaged, the raptor still stood. The warnings were still blaring, but were barely heard over the sound of the cavalry. Once he was close enough, Optimus immediately bombarded his nemesis.
"Close…I was so cloooooose!" Megatron snarled as he transformed and flew off, not bothering to finish any of us off as he made a hasty retreat.
But it wasn't over yet. I rushed over to Dinobot, who was rested against a boulder holding his waist. "Dinobot?" I could still hear the warnings "you need to enter stasis lock" I heard heavy footsteps behind me.
"Now Dinobot, doctor's orders" Rhinox said firmly. Respecting the rhinoceros' words, he did exactly that. As a stasis locked Dinobot slouched to the ground, I walked over to Trailblazer. The transmetal equines' wounds were far less critical.
"Thank you"
"Meh, anything for you short-stack" he transformed and kneeled so I could get on "by the way, we're both gonna get reprimanded for hours"
"I can handle that" I sighed "by the way, you know who might have fired that rocket?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's your guardian angel? Whoever it is I ain't gonna complain, and neither will the other guys. Primus knows we'll need all the help we can get protecting your selfless ass"
"Shut up Trailblazer" Rampage is no angel…so why save me?