Author's Notes: Not too many reviews for this yet, but maybe after you've had the chance to read Episode Two you'll have more to work with comment wise; if you're still unsure about the characters I'll have a few links ready next update that might be of use, but for now let us resume where we left off in a sense...
A hulking dragon hovers above Cybertropolis; it is Megatron in his beast mode, as he flies to an unknown destination the logo appears in the sky alongside him Beast Wars Second Coming and then Megatron converts into robot mode firing a burst of flame from his dragon-arm hand. "We now Return to Beast Wars."
The hulking Predacon sipped his mech fluid with his lone hand slowly; it hadn't been easy, but the Council got them all released on a technicality, which had irked Big Convoy and his crew. It was said the Maximal Elder had taken off for deep space; the unknown Predacon eyed his current shorter companion, having adapted beast modes off planet they received wide berths by most of the Cybertronian citizens.
"You're sure about this?" He asked; the smaller unit nodded and his companion stroked the cup in thought.
"We've been at half strength since we lost the Angolmoise energy." The short unit pointed out; his taller companion's yellow optics flickered with remembered power.
"But how do we know Magmatron will be able to lead us again?" He questioned; the shorter one chuckled.
"Prison has been known to never keep a Predacon for long." He reminded; the taller unit shook his head with a sigh.
"I'll come to this meeting, but I make no promises Dead End." He relented; Dead End nodded, the Predacon hadn't expected much of his former ship mate after all they had still spent over a stellar cycle in lock up.
"There's no commitments at this first meeting Killer Punch; Magmatron is weeding out the unwanted elements." He informed; Killer Punch nodded and chugged the last of his mech fluid slamming the empty glass down, the way his cranial unit had been crafted it almost looked like he wore the helmet of an ancient Earth warrior.
"The days of Maximal superiority won't be much longer." He stated a dark glint in his optics; Dead End would have smiled if he had a mouth, instead he did his best to approximate the gesture and ordered a mech fluid of his own to celebrate recruiting Killer Punch again.
Elder Rutherford sat behind his home office desk contemplating the recent escape of Megatron; the Council had sent out the defense forces and Optimus Primal was hunting the convict as well, he was most displeased that his plan to eliminate the threat of Megatron had failed, then again it had always been distasteful to him.
"You have every right to feel such a thing." The voice announced speaking inside his head; Elder Rutherford sighed as he sealed his office. "There was no other option; Megatron will destroy you and your family." The invisible entity informed; Allan Rutherford directed his glare inwards at the seemingly unknown voice.
"So you've claimed; I have listened to you for a long time Primus at least when it counted, you seem less inclined to seek out peaceful methods." He remarked; the God sighed there was little else he could do at the moment.
"Things haven't always gone according to plan; I must be more vigilant in this dark time." Primus returned; Rutherford narrowed his eyes slightly, but kept his suspicions to himself.
"Where is the Matrix?" He asked; Primus seemed to ripple as though sighing, he didn't answer.
"You must stop Megatron." Was all he said and then the presence was gone; Rutherford frowned as he unsealed his office, he was starting to hate being a pawn and Primus wasn't acting exactly as he was used to. Blindly following the orders of a God wasn't in character either, but then again after so many years Elder Rutherford had grown more subtle in his ability to play out events as was necessary. No longer did he blindly go forward to fight; he had a rather extensive family to think about after all, and perhaps he was getting a little senile in his five hundred plus years.
Still if a trap was involved his only true option was to spring the trap and deal with it, if he could; and he wasn't about to let anyone else into his confidence that he didn't fully trust.
"I wish Q or Roma would contact me again; at least then perhaps they could help set an old man straight." He sighed and then got to his feet; it was time to see to Sonar who was currently being held at the Citadel, fortunately the Elders had placed him in charge of the Security Forces. Just item one hundred and fifty-seven on his daily duties list; it was why he got along so well with Snarl rather then the other Elders, it was also how he managed to deactivate the security systems to let those two hapless Predacons into the Citadel, a pity someone beat them to the punch. "Computer; seal Citadel Office, initiate transport." He ordered; with the familiar sensation of transport Elder Rutherford vanished accompanied by the ever present whining sound, sometimes it paid to have Federation technology.
Reborn in Ash
Atlantis; crown jewel of Cybertron or so it was meant to have become until the recent assault by Magmatron, an assault that couldn't have been foreseen. The Predacon had worked in secret to gather the mysterious Angolmoise energy after Galvatron failed in his bid for total conquest; Magmatron had successfully collected the energy and used it in a massive weapon dubbed the Hydra Cannon.
It had decimated the city of Atlantis killing hundreds; Big Convoy managed to destroy it in the end thankfully and a shaky peace returned to Cybertron, but the damage had been wrought and Atlantis no longer housed the living. Both Galvatron's and Magmatron's bids for power and conquest had been covered up by the Council of Elders; a feat not altogether simplistic, the Tripredacus Council were suspected as being involved, but the Convoy's had failed to find any proof linking them to the so called rogue elements.
It was here; in this burnt out city that they came, former criminals, a few disgruntled citizens and one lone warrior intent on making a name for himself. The meeting place was the Council Citadel; for indeed there had been more then one, before the Convoy Council was replaced indefinitely by the Elders' and most Convoys' relinquished their names in favor of others. The criminal element had gathered; Killer Punch and his partner Dead End stood in the center of the ruined Hall of Audience waiting for the meeting to begin, the larger unit was sharpening his sword out of habit slightly nervous at the prospect of seeing his former leader again. A small organic crab based unit called Razorclaw and a Fuzor called Skyshadow were also present amongst the other dregs of society; the two of them had originally been part of the Axalon crew, their stasis pods stolen and reprogrammed by Tarantulas in the early twenty-first century.
The full history of the duo was convoluted and definitely confusing; suffice it to say after Tarantulas's first death at the hands of Elder Rutherford and the Axalon survivors left in the past by destiny, General Lio Convoy and his trusted crew used their own Transwarp capable vessel to retrieve them. They had not been alone; Hardhead would later join up with Magmatron and was slain during a lengthy conflict with the Maximal called Longrack.
"So when do we get to kill some Maximals?" One of the unknown units demanded. "I've been waiting a long time to stick it to them." He added twirling a small pistol in one hand.
"Patience Lazorbeak." Dead End informed the smaller aerial unit. "First we need to let our benefactor present his long term goals to us." He pointed out; the purple armored flyer glared at the ammonite shell sporting Predacon, but chose not to speak again.
"I just want to know why we all had to adapt beast modes." A female unit spoke up her new gossamer insect wings beating rapidly in frustration. "Some of us don't enjoy being forced to join your clique's organic appearances." She added disgustedly; a sentiment shared by many Cybertronians in secret, some believed that the adaptation of beast modes weakened their Cybertronian heritage to the extreme.
"Your adoption of organic modes is necessary; our goals are not to fight on Cybertron, but to force the Maximals to weaken their defenses on the home front by scattering their forces." A deep baritone informed as the architect of this meeting revealed himself at last; the massive and powerful form of Magmatron, self-proclaimed Emperor of Destruction in Galvatron's stead slowly emerged on one of the hydraulic lifts, which led below the Citadel's ground floor. He was unique; the only Predacon of his kind capable of separating into three distinct modes, some believed he was an attempt by the Predacon leaders to recreate the ancient Duocon technologies. "Should you choose to join us permanently you will accompany us to planet Gaia where we will attempt to rediscover the veins of Angolmoise Energon; if not, well I can trust you'll keep your mouths shut." The Predacon leader threatened with a sinister gleam in his optics.
"How do we become part of this crew?" A tall thin gangly mostly dark toned unit queried; he too possessed an insectile form, that of a Terran Mosquito judging by his wings and the head acting as a chest manifold.
"Quite simple actually; all you need to do is survive for ten cycles." Magmatron replied; an uneasy air filled the room as some Predacons began to share looks of confusion, Dead End however seemed to have been expecting this.
"Survive?" Killer Punch repeated confusedly. "Dead End what the pit is he talking about?" He demanded whirling on his smaller partner; in response lights flickered on all around the upper echelons of the former citadel, one lone red optic roving back and forth as a battalion of strange hulking Cybertronians appeared. Magmatron vanished receding back into the floor and the small army marched forward weapons screaming; mass panic filled the Predacons save for a few, one of those few began firing on the mysterious soldiers intent to join this crew no matter the cost.
Sonar was forced into the seat across from Elder Rutherford and Citadel Security Commander Snarl; her arms were shackled behind her with energy bonds, her optics narrowed in disgust at the Elder.
"That's everything Snapper, Minor you may leave us." Snarl ordered; the two of them nodded and left the room, Sonar's disgust deepened and she turned her head aside so as not to look at the human or the Maximal. "Are you a Predacon?" Snarl began. "Or a Maximal Traitor?" He demanded pacing across the room and examining the data padd he had; Sonar kept silent. "Drill Bit is still in the CR Chamber, Silverbolt and Hammer Strike are in intensive care and you almost killed Skydive with that stunt of yours, so tell us; who are you working for!" He barked slamming one clawed hand onto the table across from her; Elder Rutherford chose to remain silent throughout the brief interrogation, he watched as Snarl threatened to become more and more physically violent with the traitorous security guard.
Through it all Sonar remained silent; Snarl was beginning to show his more feral side thanks to his beast mode, but at last Rutherford felt he had kept silent enough.
"Enough." He finally growled; Sonar eyed him with uncertainty. "Forget who she works for; I want to know who let Megatron escape?" He demanded leaning forward and eyeing the femme with a strange fire in his eyes; his hand briefly went to his side, where Sonar glimpsed the hilt of some weapon she couldn't identify.
"Why should I tell you?" She asked. "I'll just go to prison anyway." She pointed out; Elder Rutherford smiled, a smile that did not instill the prisoner with much warmth.
"Because I can guarantee your survival; do you honestly think they'll let you live after this failure?" He asked slyly; Sonar shifted nervously in her seat, Snarl smirked secretively he did so enjoy playing bad cop, good cop when Elder Rutherford was around. Sonar's gaze flickered slightly; she glanced around in slowly mounting fear, Elder Rutherford was growing impatient again, but he knew how to play these things out.
"Elder; I can't tell you." She finally admitted once again showing the proper respect to a man of his station. "He kept to the shadows; and then Megatron froze me with that cryogenic blast, whoever it was sounded familiar though." She added; Snarl growled low in his throat, this interrogation had gotten nowhere and seemed to be a total waste of time. Elder Rutherford did not concur; he could use Sonar to get at the Tripredacus Council, some of the Maximals might not agree, but they would obey his orders.
"Snarl, release the power bonds." He ordered; Snarl and Sonar both eyed the Elder in utter shock, but the seemingly young man did not change his expression.
"Why, if I may be so bold to ask?" Snarl wondered; Elder Rutherford smiled.
"Because I have a special mission for her; one I can entrust to only those I trust implicitly." He explained; Sonar's optics widened surprised, Snarl chuckled knowing where the Elder was going with this and did as commanded. Sonar rubbed her wrists briefly eyeing the Elder in confusion; she didn't trust him, but she knew her true masters would kill her for failing to eliminate Megatron so what did she have to lose?
"What sort of mission?" She asked curiously; Elder Rutherford smiled, a cold smile that made Sonar shudder slightly and she shied back uncertain if agreeing to this wasn't a bad idea.
"You'll see soon enough; Snarl see to it she doesn't leave the Citadel until I've brought the specialists in." He ordered; Snarl nodded understandably and quickly stood beside Sonar clamping a warning hand on her shoulder. Elder Rutherford climbed to his feet and swiftly took his leave; tapping a hidden fold in his robes a tiny chirp emanated from them, the sound of a secret communiqué line being opened. "I found her." Was all he said and then he headed to the personal transports area; he had someone to meet, and plans to make.
Rattrap looked around; the place was just as he remembered it serving bots walking around minus their torso plates, loads of raucous individuals having a good time, but for some reason he just couldn't get into that mood anymore. Something was missing and he just didn't understand it; sitting at the bar he nursed his mech fluid, just the way he liked it with a touch of radium, but still… He had noticed when he came in that a lot of people seemed to be wary of him; despite his Transmetal bod he was still an organic in their eyes, and beast modes weren't all around liked by the status quo, especially on Cybertron.
"Dinar for your thoughts?" A soft voice asked; Rattrap glanced up in confusion at the question, an even shorter looking femmebot was standing beside him he was amazed to find somebody shorter then himself who wasn't a pre-adolescent human.
"Eh; what's a Dinar?" He asked in return; the woman giggled.
"Elder Rutherford said it once in class; I think it's related to an old Earth culture." She replied; Rattrap shrugged made about as much sense as anything else from Earth, he indicated that she could sit beside him and took a sip, the zing was there, but there was no zip he wasn't feeling it.
"What's yer name?" He wondered; she smiled glancing around slightly and then leaned closer so as not to be overheard.
"Most people call me Poison Bite." She revealed; Rattrap quirked an optic node at that, it wasn't a name he'd expect from such a delicate lookin' femme. "So tell me; what's it like having a beast mode?" She asked; Rattrap shrugged.
"The same as any other transform; 'course not many of us can be Transmetal, gotta tell ya havin' this third wheeled mode makes travelin' places a whole lot better." He revealed surprised that he was being so open with the relatively unknown unit; she struck him as being a tad too young for being in a joint like this, but then again some Maximals who weren't up to specs in the eyes of their fellows usually became forgotten. There were even a few who turned to doing what would amount to sexual favors in human terminologies; Rattrap remembered the scorn he and his fellow shrimp Packrat got just because they were human sized, in fact his only real friend aside from Packrat had been Rhinox.
"Transmetal." She repeated thoughtfully. "Kind of like Ramulus I suppose." She added quirking her head to one side as though in thought; Rattrap didn't recognize the name, but then again he had noticed that a few Maximals seemed to have adopted Transmetal Two bods here on Cybertron. He'd been meaning to ask Optimus about that; he'd thought the Transmetal Two driver had been destroyed after they found legs with it, but maybe the ability to go Transmetal wasn't simply up to alien tech.
"Say what do ya want from me anyway?" He demanded suddenly; Poison Bite shook her head.
"Nothing; I thought you could use a friend, you looked so sad." She returned. "Was she special?" She asked jumping to the wrong conclusion, but her question made Rattrap realize what was making him so down, he smiled and shook his head.
"Nah; not a girl." He corrected. "Me an' ol Choppaface were more like bitter enemies turned friends; he didn't make it back though." He explained; Poison Bite looked intrigued now and inched closer eager for a good story.
"Who?" She asked seeking for clarification; Rattrap smiled and took a long hard swig of his drink saluting his lost friend beforehand.
"I'm gonna tell ya about a very good friend o' mine Poison Bite; his name was Dinobot and let me tell ya it wasn't always easy gettin' along with him." He began; Poison Bite smiled glancing up with a twinkle of wonder and eagerness in her optics, Rattrap liked that about her, her innocent quality it made him question why she was even in a place like this, but he shook aside those thoughts and continued to regale her with stories of Dinobot.
Killer Punch tossed the head of the attacking drone aside and shot a glare at Magmatron as he began to rise back up on the pedestal; two units had been killed by these sparkless automatons and Killer Punch didn't like it. He had served Magmatron before, but this; this seemed madder then his plan to destroy the Maximals and could lead only to death.
"Well now what?" Lazorbeak demanded; Magmatron smiled as he surveyed the carnage, though something went unseen behind his optics.
"Now we have our crew." He replied; Killer Punch eyed him curiously, what about the claims that there were no commitments at this first meeting?
"We?" Transquito repeated; a new warrior emerged from the shadows then, unlike the others this one still retained a vehicle mode. He wasn't as tall as Magmatron despite his bulk, but he was a legend in his own right.
"Megastorm." Razorclaw exclaimed in shock; the Predacon smiled revealing the similarities to the late Megatron of the Decepticons, it was said Megastorm was given this body design by his brother Galvatron who wished to instill fear of the unknown and unbelievable in his enemies sparks. Seeing him next to Magmatron his similarities to Megatron were uncanny; although there were a few flaws, the consequence of limiting his alternate mode to such an archaic Earthen form most likely.
"Is there a reason for this, aside from your plans to spread the Maximals forces thin; I mean?" Bazooka spoke up; the Predacon had been another of Magmatrons original crew, Killer Punch hadn't seen him since the ship blew up though and he was surprised to see him alive still plucking that ever present axe-blaster out of the body of one of their former attackers.
"Naturally; we wanted to test our new Tank Drones, a little surprise for the fools who remain behind on Cybertron." Megastorm replied his vocal pattern shattering the illusion of Megatron re-incarnate. "I regret that we lost any of you, but we had to be sure it would take a lot to stop them." He added; Bazooka gritted his teeth, but kept silent unwilling to be on Megastorms' hit list.
"Now we have our crew." Magmatron pointed out again. "And it is now time to leave Cybertron in favor of Gaia." He added with a smirk; the Predacons were still uncertain as to this arrangement, but they now suspected they had little choice in the matter. Killer Punch especially was suspicious of Magmatrons' new motives; he'd thought he'd known his former leader, but now he suspected things hadn't been so clear cut.
"As long as we get to slag Maximals I don't care where we are." Lazorbeak spoke up; Magmatron smiled at that and turned to Megastorm, the vehicular Predacon tapped a control on his left arm and a Predacon cruiser lowered from the sky. It landed in the far right sector of the former Citadel where the roof had collapsed and opened the access door; Magmatron swept his arm out to indicate the ship with his hand.
"If you'll all board we can announce our plans to the Maximal Elders." He stated; the Predacons shared a look and began to board the ship, some of them eager others reluctant, but all certain that they were going to be on the winning side.
"How was the test?" Megatron asked as a holo of his head appeared in front of Magmatron and Megastorm; the duo literally bowed their heads in a show of respect to their true leader, though Magmatron showed some reluctance.
"The Vehicons worked well, but their armor is not impervious; fortunately our new recruits didn't notice the spark extractions." Megastorm replied; Magmatron shifted his gaze revealing his true feelings in that one gesture.
"I still don't like this; we're talking ripping out the sparks of fellow Predacons." He stated; Megatron smiled darkly, but kept the expression to himself manipulating the transmission on his end so he appeared sympathetic.
"Don't worry Magmatron; that is merely a last resort." Megatron soothed; Magmatron nodded and headed for the ship, Megastorm smiled as he placed the sparks in the hand of an unseen ally.
"We'll keep in touch once on Gaia, now if you'll excuse us we have to leave a calling card for the Elders." He informed with a dark chuckle; Megatron nodded and vanished leaving his pawns to play their part, he always was good at getting others to do his bidding and springing the two of them had indebted them to his cause.
"Now all we need to do is find a way to fix the Cyber-Venom transformation inhibitor codes." He mused aloud to himself. "Perhaps the spider's legacy may yet prove useful." He added bringing up the data tracks surrounding the transformation lock lens his former lackey had perfected during the Beast Wars.
The space port always reminded Rutherford of something out of Star Wars; here and there alien dignitaries were spotted coming and going and the loud sounds of the usual ships engines lifting off were familiar in many ways to those of other planetary bodies. As he passed the garage reserved for the Shi-Ar consulate he wondered how the new queen of the empire was handling things; at least she didn't have to worry about the Phoenix Force.
One ship in particular however stood out to him as he now approached his own personal garage, which had been dubbed the Scattershot Garage in honor of the Technobot; it had in fact been built almost to specs identical to the Millennium Falcon. He'd called it the Peregrine and had commissioned it from the Maximal Corps of Engineers specifically for his sisters' use. An ebony toned femmebot appeared on the loading ramp as he drew closer to the ship; not many Maximals or indeed Predacons knew of his personal collection left over from Earth Prime, considering some of them would probably be freaked out by their plastic likenesses.
"Brother!" She greeted with a warm smile; her purple optics shone with her expression and Elder Rutherford sighed.
"Ebony; Synergy is my sister, not you." He returned hopping clear of the sky skimmer.
"That is an excuse; Synergy was my sister first, and when she adopted you so did I." The Predacon returned; Elder Rutherford smiled as he and Ebony journeyed up the ramp. Onyx and Ebony had been twin Maximal sisters in their youth; both volunteered for the Protoform Mission and had been aboard the Axalon, their pods suffered separate tragedies. Onyx was damaged beyond repair and her spark would have perished if not for the intervention of a human by the name of Emmet Benton; he transplanted her spark into his special holographic generating computer Synergy and she became the computer's living AI. Ebony was found by Tarantulas and the Tripredacus Council in their past war against Rutherford when they served the goals of their true master, the dark God Unicron; she was reprogrammed into a Predacon and if it hadn't been for her sister she'd still be under their sway.
"Hello Elder Rutherford." A familiar voice greeted as the gunner rounded the corner; Ebony smiled and strode over to him wrapping him up in a loving embrace.
"My love." She greeted reaching up to kiss the larger unit on the cheek; he'd done so much for her, even going so far as to adapt a beast form.
"Where's the Captain?" Rutherford asked; in response a tinkling laugh emerged from the bridge access way, Rutherford turned to greet the woman who had become his lone extended family member. She was wearing tight black pants with red stripes down the side mimicking the Captain of the fictional ship her's was based on; and a purple shirt possibly a blouse. No longer confined to a holographic form; Allan had transplanted her spark into a synthoid-like form once he understood sparks better, the Synergy computer now was little more then a museum piece, a tribute to his late friends Jem and the Holograms.
"Hello dear brother." She greeted softly; Al smiled and moved to hug her.
"If not for you I'd go insane." He whispered a deep pain in his voice unable to be heard by the others.
"You have your family." She pointed out; Al smiled wistfully.
"That's not the same as brother and sister; my parents died centuries ago in an alternate reality, as did my biological sibling that ever annoying brother of mine." He pointed out with a slight tremor of loss in his voice; Synthia squeezed his shoulder in sympathy for she too had lost much when Jerrica and the others died, but then Al shook his head. "I didn't come here to depress myself though." He stated pointedly.
"Yes; you mentioned something about finding her." She returned; he grinned and took a seat on one of the familiar chairs, Ebony and Polar Claw moved to join them.
"Who was it?" The Maximal polar bear asked.
"Sonar; she's the one serving the Tripredacus Council." Al replied; Ebony smirked at that and unsheathed her claws, a peculiar feature of her robot mode, a result of her panther beast form most likely.
"I should have guessed they'd pick her; they always did like manipulating female units." She remarked with a chuckle; Rutherford grinned and propped his feet up, here he could be himself there wasn't any reporters hounding him or citizens demanding action for some imagined offense by their neighbors.
"I want her to accompany you on the mission." He requested. "I trust you to keep her out of trouble; she doesn't strike me as the cold blooded assassin type." He added; Ebony nodded and Polar Claw rolled his optics, Synthia sighed.
"Another newbie to break in." She exclaimed exasperatedly. "Well; as long as she's not like the last one." She added; Rutherford chuckled at that and would have said more if not for the sudden explosion of alarms and cries of fear from outside. Ebony and Synthia scrambled bringing up outside sensor displays and a pre-flight checklist; a Predacon cruiser was firing on civilian transports docked at the nearby Triskeleon station as it blasted towards deep space.
"Track that." Polar Claw growled spinning in his seat to activate the engines; Elder Rutherford placed a hand on his wrist to stop him.
"It's too late." He stated. "Transwarp signature lock?" He asked; Synthia nodded.
"They're going to Gaia." Ebony exclaimed narrowing her optics; Elder Rutherford shook his head.
"It figures; the Angolmoise Energon is potent stuff." He remarked; Synthia nodded as the ship flashed into Transwarp, Elder Rutherford got to his feet once again feeling the weight of the planet on his shoulders. "I'd better get to the Council Citadel; we'll need to send a ship after them." He stated with a sigh; Synthia got up and moved to hug him once more.
"We'll pick up Sonar later, good luck brother." She returned; Al nodded and headed back to the entrance ramp, this was going to get worse before it got better.
To Be Continued… Not much to say here... Time for another completely original Commercial Bumper; I do enjoy fabricating them.
The Beast Wars: Second Coming logo appears on screen again; a black and green Predacon unit is shown fighting against a massive Tank Drone, his beast mode is that of a dragonfly and he has no time to adapt to it as the Tank Drone tears out his spark... "Beast Wars will Return After these Messages."