Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Beast Wars. HASBRO does. If I DID own them, Rampage, Depth Charge, Airrazor, Dinobot, Tigatron, and Rhinox would NOT have died...and Waspy would have had a better ending.
Megatron sat back as he watched Rampage tap his foot against the floor as he leaned against the wall. Ever since the crab had brought the new femme, Beta, he had been a little…distracted to say the least. The rex heard that he had taken Beta to Tarantulas immdenatly instead of dropping her in a CR Tank, which is what every single other mech would have done, so he was going to find out exactly WHY Rampage seemed to care about this new femme…maybe he could use her against him…
The Predacon leader left the control room and headed towards his quarters. Once he was out of the mass murderer's audio shot, he commed Tarantulas to find out what was so important about this new Predacon. "Tarantulas." He growled.
A gasp and a loud crash was his response. Tarantulas whimpered, but answered his comm.. "Yes, Megatron?" He asked, calming down. "What is it? I'm…busy, you could say…" He muttered, sounding very…nervous.
Megatron 'hmphed'. The spider was busy, that much he knew, and he also knew he wanted to know why…Megatron entered his quarters and replied, "I want to know what Rampage has instructed you to do to the femme he brought to you. Do not lie to me, spider, I know he brought her to you." He heard whimpering, "And if you do not tell me, I will do things to you much worse than what Rampage has planned if you told me…" The rex threatened, growling loudly.
Tarantulas eeped. He swallowed, but nodded. "Okay, okay…Rampage told me to remove the programming that the Maximals placed on her. I told him to do that, I would have to remove her Predacon programming as well, making her a neutral. He told me do it anyways or…he would have my spark for dinner…" At this point, the spider gulped louder. "When I asked why he wanted it done, he threw me against the wall and got in my face…and said if he told me, he would have to kill me…so I…"
"You did it…without consulting me…" Megatron snarled. He was mad, not only at Rampage for going behind his back and making his newest Predacon a neutral, but also at Tarantulas for going along with it. He would make sure to make the two pay…dearly. The rex cleared his throat, "How long until her reprogramming is completed?" He asked, regaining his composer.
"It's finished, Megatron…he's here…" Tarantulas said. A loud crash was heard and the spider cut their connection.
Megatron growled loudly. He punched the wall. "Insolent spider!!" He roared, backing away from the wall. He let out another loud, long growl and then a deep breath. "They'll pay…"
Tarantulas had just barely cut his connection with Megatron when Rampage stormed in, looking very pissed. The spider hid his frightened expression as the crab stomped over to him and smiled. "Back already, are we?" He chuckled, though his optics showed fear.
"Don't try to hide it, spider," Rampage hissed, "I know you're afraid of me…" He growled, narrowing his optics. He backed away a bit, "Where is she? You called me to tell me that she was ready so where is she?" He snarled, grabbing the spider's throat.
"Ack!" Tarantulas' optics widened and he gagged, trying to get the crab to release his throat. "She's in there! She's in there!" He said quickly, pointing to a slim CR Chamber Tarantulas had converted to…something… "She'll be waking up soon! I doubt she'll want to wake up in there…and be afraid…" He chuckled the last part and yelped as he was thrown against the wall.
Rampage stomped over to the slim CR Chamber and ripped the door right off. A young femme moaned softly as steam escaped from the chamber and fell into Rampage's waiting arms, unconscious. The crab carried her over to a metal table that was covered in mech fluid and swore loud enough for Tarantulas to hear that if any of it was Beta's, he'd kill the spider. The crab looked over at Tarantulas. "What did you do, Spider?" He growled, "Don't lie to me…I can sense fear coming from you…great amounts of it…"
"Nothing!" Tarantulas swore. He crossed his fingers. He'd tell the crab once his femme friend woke up. "I swear!"
Rampage growled, "Perhaps you're right…" He muttered, though he doubted it. He took the opportunity to look Beta over.
Beta's robot mode was basically her beast mode. Her slim legs, which were obviously good for running, like the liger and chameleon's, were scaled and so were her arms. She had a tail that, right now was wrapped around her legs. Her arms were scaled as well and her torso was furry; her head was golden, like her body, and she had tiger markings going from side to side on her cheeks. The fuzor's blue optics were angled like a lizard's and her face was built so she looked like a proud queen.
Rampage huffed. He looked over at Tarantulas and saw him snickering. Just as he was about to ask what was so funny, Beta let out a soft moan. He turned around and looked at her as she clicked on her soft blue optics. The crab helped her sit and then stand up. "Beta…?" He asked as the femme looked at them.
Beta was quiet. She blinked. "…X?" She breathed, looking at him. She gasped quietly. She could speak freely now! No Maximal programming could hold back her emotions anymore. Beta looked at the spider, "Who are you?" She asked, cocking her head.
"I am Tarantulas." The spider introduced himself, bowing. He stood up strait and then smiled evily. "And you, my dear…are no longer Maximal Experiment Beta…you're now…Chimaera." He said, grinning from audio to audio.
Rampage knew something was up. He grabbed Tarantulas' neck and snarled, "What! Did you do?" He demanded, slowly choking the life out of the spider. Chimaera gasped at his out burst. "What did you do to her?" He demanded again.
Tarantulas gagged, "I gave her a name!" He said, struggling, "And I told Megatron about the project you forced me to do…" He grinned at the last part.
Rampage roared with anger. He threw the mech against the wall and went to rip him apart, but stopped when Tarantulas pulled out something. "What's that? You think that's going to stop me? ME! From attacking and ripping you apart, spider?"
"I'm guessing it's a good shot!" Tarantulas growled before pressing the controller's red button. He laughed and waited for it to take affect.
And take affect it did. On Chimaera. The fuzor gasped loudly upon feeling a sudden, sharp pain in her spark. She fell to her knees, clutching her chest where her spark was, and let out a pain filled scream as the pain went from bad to worse. It felt like a thousand white-hot knives were being plunged into her spark at once and they wouldn't let her die. The fuzor's optics flashed dangerously. The pain was so intense and getting worse by the second. She looked over at Rampage, the only person she knew and trusted, and mouthed a single word, "Help." The pain got worse and she screamed again.
Rampage had given up on ripping Tarantulas limb from limb when he heard Chimaera's scream. He turned around and looked at her, his optics widening when he felt the pain and terror rolling off of her. The poor fuzor femme didn't know what was causing her pain or why she was being hurt and it terrified her. Rampage narrowed his optics and turned around to face Tarantulas. He grabbed the mech's neck and shoved him against the wall. "If you know what's good for you, spider, you'll stop!" He roared.
Tarantulas glared at him. "If you know what's good for your friend, Rampage, you'll put me down. Only I can operate this controller, it's configured into my spark pattern, so if I die, your friend shall die as well. She can't live through long bursts of pain like that…hehehe…I made sure of that!" He said, grinning, as he held up the controller, "Though it would be a good experiment to see exactly how much pain she can take before going off line, don't you think?" He asked then laughed.
Rampage narrowed his optics. "Spider…" The crab snarled, choking him, "She dies and I shall rip your spark out and devour it!" He roared, glaring at him.
Tarantulas looked over at Chimaera, who's optics were still flashing dangerously and she was gasping for breath, and then pressed the button. "Fine. She wouldn't have survived much longer anyways…and I could use her." He grinned, but grunted as he was thrown into the wall. The mech slumped to the ground and groaned, rubbing the back of his head. Tarantulas stood up and waited for Chimaera to stop screaming and her whimpering to speak, "Now you know what I did to her." He said, a smug smile on his face. The spider looked at Chimaera, "I placed a tiny one of these," Here he held up a small black ball that fit in the palm of his hand, "into your spark, my dear Chimaera, so when I press this button, it shall send an electric shock throughout your very spark, sending waves and waves or pain through your body until I have decided you've hand enough." He finished by putting the controller away.
Chimaera growled and snapped at the mech, liger instincts taking over, but whimpered and shrank back into Rampage, who was standing behind her after he helped her up, when Tarantulas pulled out 'her' controller. She looked up at Rampage and then at Tarantulas, "Why?" She asked simply, her voice soft, yet there was a wild anger in her optics. Her beast modes had given her the anger of a liger and the cunning of a chameleon so she didn't go rash.
"Why not?" Tarantulas shrugged as he glanced at the controller in his hands; the spider saw the fury in Chimaera's optics and knew that, somehow, he was going to have to tame her of she wouldn't be of much help…other than as leverage against Rampage. He looked up upon hearing a growl and saw that Rampage had moved Chimaera out of his way and was storming over to him, looking pretty peeved. The spider put his finger on the red button and Rampage paused. "Ah, ah, ah." He teased, waving a free finger, "Calm yourself, Rampage. You wouldn't want your friend to go through anymore pain then needed, do you?" The spider asked. He then looked at him and raised an optic ridge, "But knowing you…maybe that is what you want…" Without even waiting for an answer, pressed the button.
Instantly, Chimaera was on the ground, screaming with pain and clutching her chest. She arched her back with pain and clawed at the ground with the talons on the feet and claws on her free hand. She started to thrash around when the pain got more intense until two large hands finally held her down. However, the fuzor continued to thrash as she struggled against the hands until, what seemed like an eternity, though it was only a moment, Tarantulas finally decided enough was enough and released the button. As the pain stopped, Chimaera stopped her thrashing and let out a soft moan of pain as hot tears ran down her soft colored golden brown cheeks. She looked over at Tarantulas and managed to ask, "Why?"
Tarantulas simply shrugged and looked at Rampage before looking down at Chimaera's unconscious form, smirking, "While you're not powerful, Chimaera, Rampage, on the other hand, is very powerful…and that could be useful to me…so, with this…I get to, erm…helpers and only have to waste one of my shockers…" He said, holding up the black ball again, "Also…he seems to have a soft spot for you and I shall exploit that until I've had my fun…" Tarantulas slid the controller into his supspace pocket. He grinned evily when Rampage let out a growl, "Don't think about it, Rampage. She won't survive the next one. You know it. You can sense her pain and her weariness…I know she won'…I designed it so, as the humans say, third time's the charge."
Rampage growled loudly, but did not attack. He wasn't willing to loose yet another friend to forces he could not control. He had already lost Chimaera once and then he lost Transmutate. The crab looked Chimaera's stasis locked body and picked her up, cradling him against her gently as if he thought if he dropped her and squeezed too hard, she would break apart in his arms. As he walked out, he swore to get revenge on the damned spider for putting Chimaera through almost the exact same torture he had to go through. Rampage looked at the fuzor's face as he walked out of the spider's lair and it took all he had to keep from going back in there and ripping him apart limb by limb. As he walked, the crab thought about the torture Tarantulas was putting his first friend through. Hers was probably worse than the torture he was forced to go through for three reasons. One, because, even though she COULD die, Rampage highly doubted that Tarantulas would give up him 'leverage' against Rampage that easily so the spider probably put something in her body that kept her from dying from his torture. Second, because she was not a fighter; her body wasn't nearly as strong as the other Predacons and she couldn't handle as much damage as the others could easily. It hurt more and put her into stasis easily. And finally because, knowing Tarantulas, he probably put something else into her body, causing the damage. He was probably using her as a science experiment and figured, like he said, kill two birds with one stone. Use Chimaera against him and then use her for a science project at once. Maybe it was Energon he put into her spark? Maybe it was something even more painful…if that was even possible…
Chimaera groaned as she opened her optics. She arched her back in pain as a small shock was sent through her body, but relaxed after a second and put her hand over her spark area. The femme looked around. Where was she? It looked like a ship, but…when she passed out, she wasn't in a ship…she was with Rampage and Tarantulas in that spider's lair. "That spider!" Chimaera gasped out loud. She clutched her chest, worried, as her optics flashed angrily. Where was that blasted spider? Was he nearby? Oh she hoped so…she wanted to rip his spark out! Oh dear…now she was starting to think like Rampage…
"Ah, glad ta see yer 'wake!" A voice with a heavy Southern Western accent said, "Boss wanted me ta tell 'im when ya woke. Now that yer 'wake we can go talk ta 'im."
Chimaera looked over and saw a fellow fuzor looking at her. She blinked, but nodded. "I see…" She muttered. "Uh…I'm Chimaera." The fuzor said, standing up. She released her grip on her chest and smiled a bit, though her optics showed she was a bit nervous as well as furious. "Who 're you? Where am I?"
"Well ah'm QuickStrike. Fastest gun slinger in dese here parts!" The scorpion/cobra said proudly, making himself seem faster and stronger than even Chimaera knew he was. She could tell by looking him over how strong and fast he was. "As fer where ya are, missy, welcome to the Darkside. Dat's the Predacon base…which is also where ya are…" He muttered. He confused himself sometimes…
Chimaera chuckled a bit at QuickStrike confusing himself. She put a hand on her him and thought about it for a minute before realizing she had heard Rampage talking about the Predacons before her old programming was removed. "Wait a click…Rampage said he was going to bring me to some Megatron guy…said he was the leader of the Predacons…but…Tarantulas said that…I had no allegiance to him because he…" She trailed off and grabbed her head. Why couldn't she remember much since she landed on this planet? Rampage said, but Tarantulas said…
"Well ol' crabcakes was righ', Chi." QuickStrike said suddenly, noticing her look. He snapped her out of her thinking and smiled. He had already figured out a nickname to give this one incase things with 'suga bot' didn't work out. After all, Chimaera wasn't as beautiful as BlackArachnia, but she was cute. And a fuzor. She knew how he felt being different from the others. "In fact, Chi, boss said 'e wanted ta meetcha as soon as ya woke up." He informed the femme.
Chimaera nodded absent-mindedly. She wasn't really listening to him, though she did hear a few words that he said. She was actually thinking about who's voice in her head was telling the truth. In one corner, she had Rampage, her old cellmate back on Omicron and friend. They used to talk a lot. Mostly about life outside and if they were to escape, what were they going to do. Well, all that talk was before she was reprogrammed. Afterwards, it was…controlled talk. Then there was Tarantulas' voice. He had pain on his side. He was telling her that she belonged to him because he reprogrammed her…but then the side of her mind that was for Rampage yelled that the reason he did was because Rampage…'asked' him to.
"Ya comin' er not?" QuickStrike asked from the doorway, yanking her from her thoughts again. "Boss is dis way."
"Huh?" Chimaera looked up. She nodded, "Uh, yeah! Yeah, I'm coming, sorry…" She said, following him. The femme hurried after him, looking around. After a bit, they came to a control room and, looking over QuickStrike's shoulder, saw Tarantulas and Rampage getting yelled at by a huge purple rex Transformer. Chimaera growled and bared her fangs, but gasped when, after Rampage said something, the crab clutched his spark and purple energy shot through him. Ignoring all logically thinking, the fuzor let out a cry and launched herself at Megatron and Tarantulas, thinking they were the ones hurting him.
Megatron heard the cry and looked up, surprised. "What the slag?!" He barked, moving his throne so he moved out of the way of Chimaera's attack. As he did that, he released Rampage's spark box, allowing the crab to finally have some peace. "Where did she come from?!"
Tarantulas screamed from where he was under Chimaera. He looked up at her fury filled optics and pressed the button on the controller. As the fuzor femme screamed in pain and fell off of him, the spider crawled away from her and towards Megatron. He looked up at the rex and grinned, "You have your servant…and I have mine…" He said, waving the controller. He released Chimaera from her pain and put the black controller away. "However, using her I have your servant too…"
Chimaera rolled over onto her hands and knees and growled loudly, but was yanked to her feet by Rampage. She flipped Tarantulas the bird and then looked up at Megatron. Cocking her head to the side, she said, "You look familiar…I know! You're that guy that the Maximals were talking about back in the labs! Megatron! You stole the golden disks!" She remembered. The femme then frowned, "Wait…" She cocked her head to the side and disappeared. Chimaera reappeared next to Megatron on his throne. She was sitting on his armrest, scaled legs crossed and looking very proud…and angry. She looked at Megatron, "You're the one that was causing my friend pain, weren't you? Why?" She asked, optics flashing dangerously.
Megatron was shocked. Not just because she had asked him that question or she had disappeared only to reappear next to him, but also because she had called Rampage, the mass murderer, her friend. "Hmph. Do you know his story?"
Chimaera laughed. "Do I know it? Honey, I was part of it!" She said, looking at him. "You think we met when he got me out of that pod? Not even close!" She scoffed, sliding off the armrest. She landed on her feet next to Rampage, "We were in the Maximal labs together. He was an experiment. I was an experiment. Figure it out."
Rampage flinched. He knew she should not have told Megatron that she was once a Maximal experiment as well as he. Now Megatron will force her to work for him like he did to the crab, knowing that is exactly what the rex was thinking because of the emotional waves rolling off of him. "Megatron," Rampage started, moving in front of Chimaera, "She's not a Predacon…I know what you're thinking and you cannot force her to join you or work for you. She belongs to no faction. I made sure of that."
Megatron glared at Rampage. He growled loudly and squeezed his spark box. "You will not speak unless I say something to you, hear me?!" He roared as he watched the crab wither in pain.
"Rampage!" Chimaera said, bending down to him. She swallowed and looked him over. "Stop it!" She yelled up at Megatron, "He was only sticking up for me now stop it!" She said, optics darkening. The fuzor whipped out her claws and narrowed her optics, but before she could leap at him, two mechs grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her back. "Bad move." She hissed before grabbing one of them by their ankle and throwing them across the room. The fuzor then flipped the second one in front of her and wrapped her tail around his neck, slowly choking him.
The mech gagged and clawed at her. It was a red ant bot that, surprisingly, was giving up a good fight. He pulled out a flamethrower and singed her fur, making Chimaera jump back. The fuzor hissed and backed away from him, looking at her burnt fur. Just as she was about to attack again, Megatron fired at her. "Enough!" He growled, "Tarantulas…" He looked at the spider to tell him to teach her a lesson, but the spider had disappeared. "Perfect…" He snarled.
Chimaera walked over to Rampage and tugged his arm. "Come on…I don't want to be here anymore…" She shot them a dark look that scared QuickStrike, BlackArachnia and Waspinator. "You said something about being a neutral…"
"I'm not a neutral…" Rampage growled, looking at her. He saw the anger and fury in her optics and brushed her off of his arm, "You don't understand. You have the choice to be neutral, but I don't. I'm a Predacon…" Here, he glanced at Megatron and Chimaera understood. He was his prisoner like she was Tarantulas'.
RG: Ya read now review. Please.