-1Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.
Note: This story takes place one week after "A Different War".
Going Home, Chapter 4
By TVfan
The Nemesis
"I have been waiting for this for a long time," Megatron said triumphantly as he faced Dinobot, and ignoring the stasis locked Cheetor near him, "All the traitors have paid so far. Tarantulus has been terminated. Blackarachnia has been knocked senseless. Now, you the greatest of all the traitors will pay for your crimes."
"My only crime was thinking you had any honor to begin with," Dinobot growled, his optics narrowing and lunged forward.
Dinobot slashed at Megatron's dragon head hand with talons, and managed to nick some of the wires on the underside of the limb, but failed to cut the entire hand off. Megatron cringed with pain as Dinobot's transmetal two talons did their work. He was certain that his armor was stronger then the Maximal raptor's, but the raptor's talons appeared to sharp enough to cut through just about anything. While the Predicon tyrant struggled with Dinobot's initial attack, Dinobot pressed his attack and kicked Megatron into his throne in the center of the bridge area.
"Now, I will finally get the chance to balance out noble acts with my past mistakes," Dinobot spoke in a firm voice.
"Your mistake was betraying me," Megatron snarled and fired out a fire blast from his dragon's head hand.
The attack didn't work well. While a fire blast was fired, it was not as concentrated as it should have been, and Dinobot only ducked down behind the armor around his shoulder. Most of the flames scattered into the air, scorching parts of the roof, floor, and even the walls. It was then that Megatron noticed the damage Dinobot had inflicted on his armor and frowned.
"So, you managed to render my energy weapons to practically useless," Megatron mused, "It is no matter."
Megatron then moved forward that threw a punch that sent Dinobot flying in a series of computer panels and he landed on the floor near Cheetor. He quickly rolled away so that while he was up and moving, Megatron would be too distracted to attack any of the others that he had defeated. Megatron only followed him slowly.
"I am still far stronger then you," Megatron said triumphantly and grabbed Dinobot in his dragon's head hand, "And I will enjoy squeezing the life out of you."
"Enjoy this!" Dinobot raged as he slashed out at Megatron's face with his talons.
Megatron screamed with pain as sparks flew from his face and he released his prisoner to he ground. As he moved his hands away from his face, Megatron found that while Dinobot had done damage, he had not blinded the Predicon tyrant. Dinobot then delivered another powerful punch that made Megatron step back a few steps. While Megatron then struggled to regain his balance, Dinobot prepared to attack again.
Dinobot lunged forward, talons ready and tried to slash at Megatron's chest with them, in the hopes of cutting his way into Megatron's spark chamber. He succeeded in digging them into the outer part of Megatron's armor when the Predicon tyrant grabbed and threw him off. Megatron flinched with pain as he did so. Megatron knew that he had to find away to knock Dinobot out quickly as the Maximal's skill in close quarters combat was far higher then his own.
"I'm growing tired of this," Megatron growled and then shoved Dinobot into the computer paneling nearby.
Megatron then held Dinobot down, insuring that Dinobot would be exposed to the raw power running through the panel. Dinobot screamed with pain as raw electrical energy flooded into his body. He struggled to free himself but Megatron was more then strong enough to hold him down, and after awhile he fell into stasis lock.
"Now to finish you off, once and for all!" Megatron exclaimed.
Megatron was about ready to use his dragon's head hand as a spear and run it through Dinobot when he was hit by two powerful missiles that threw him against a different section of paneling. He looked up to see Optimus and Tigerhawk standing in the doorway looking at the battle scene that was the Nemesis's bridge.
"Step away from him Megatron," Optimus ordered.
"Or what?" Megatron snarled back, "You know full well that if you win your Council of Elders will imprison him for his participation in my theft of the Golden Disks when the Beast Wars began, and that is a fate that a warrior such as he would not care to face."
"And being stabbed in the back while he's unconscious is an honorable death?" Tigerhawk asked as he stepped in, trying to get between Megatron and Dinobot's form.
"It would spare him the later embarrassment and shame," Megatron responded.
With a growl, Tigerhawk moved forward quickly and knocked Megatron back through the heavy glass window that looked out over the exterior of the crashed warship.
"I will drive him away from here," Tigerhawk shouted back to Optimus, "You see that the others are taken care of."
Tigerhawk then flew out of the Nemesis's bridge after Megatron. Optimus, meanwhile slowly made his way into the center of the bridge and looked around. It was then that he found that Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and Inferno also lay in stasis lock on the bridge. He sighed and prepared to get things ready. It was then that Rapther and Depthcharge made their way into the Nemesis's bridge, although Depthcharge looked like he could use some time in a CR chamber.
"Where's Rattrap?" Optimus asked as the other two approached the Maximal commander.
"Waspinator gave up the fight and has surrendered," Rapther answered, "Rattrap is walking him back to the Ark."
"Where's Megatron?" Depthcharge asked.
"Tigerhawk took that battle outside," Optimus answered, "We must get the Predicons that have already been defeated ready to be taken back to Cybertron, and move our wounded back to the Ark as well."
Depthcharge sighed and nodded, "I'll get the ones out in the hall. By the time I'm done, you should be done in here."
"Are you alright?" Optimus questioned.
"It's only a weak dosage of cybervenom, I should be fine," Depthcharge responded.
Optimus only sighed and watched as Depthcharge made his way toward the stairway again. He then turned back to see Rapther pulling Dinobot's body out of the computer paneling that he had been thrown into. Optimus then set to placing Rhinox's new cuffs on Inferno, before the insane ant came back online.
Outside
Megatron shifted into his beast mode once he was outside the Nemesis. While his wings allowed him to fly in both his robot and beast modes, he was much better at it in his beast mode. He also found out that in beast mode, his internal repairs quickly did enough to allow him to use his fire breathing abilities again, but only while in beast mode. Tigerhawk came flying out of the crashed Nemesis at high speed and landed a punch that knocked Megatron back several feet through the air.
"Will you surrender now, Megatron?" Tigerhawk asked.
"NO!" Megatron swore violently, "I will never surrender to any Maximal. Not to a scientist like Rhinox or a warrior like Dinobot. I will not even surrender to Optimus Primal, himself. This war will go on until I alone am the victor."
"Fine," Tigerhawk sighed and readied the two missile launchers under his wings.
Tigerhawk then fired his weapons in the hope of taking Megatron out quickly. Megatron only dodged the projectiles and flew around to attack Tigerhawk from behind. He was successful in doing so and quickly sank his fangs into Tigerhawk's neck while using the electric-charge units on his tail to disable Tigerhawk's missile launchers. Megatron then flung Tigerhawk toward the ground. Megatron then took his robot mode in an attempt to crush Tigerhawk when the Maximal fuzor hit the ground.
Tigerhawk did not miss Megatron's actions, however, and fired his mounted gatling guns up at his attacker. The rounds hit Megatron with great force and allowed Tigerhawk the time to roll away and get to his feet. Megatron barely managed to land on his feet on the nose of the Nemesis after Tigerhawk had ruined his attempt to crush the transmetal two fuzor.
From is position, Megatron quickly forced a nearby weapons panel using his own strength and aimed the rocket launchers housed in the compartment at Tigerhawk. He then frantically began playing with the wires behind the rockets, hoping to get a short-circuit that would fire the rockets and hopefully take Tigerhawk out of the fight. In the end, Megatron was in luck and the rockets fired. He cringed silently as the barrage of rockets knocked Tigerhawk out.
"Oh that had to hurt, yes," Megatron smiled in triumph.
Megatron then turned to see Optimus leap from the Nemesis's bridge and stare down his rival and chief enemy. They were silent for a few moments as they each attempted to analyze the other. Eventually, it got the better of Megatron and he challenged the Maximal commander directly.
"Oh well, let's have it," Megatron challenged, "The usual 'destiny and honor' speech."
"Speech this," Optimus growled and landed a blow on Megatron that threw him through the weapon's unit that the Predicon tyrant had employed against Tigerhawk.
Optimus then began to slowly walk forward toward the Predicon tyrant.
"I am tired of having to deal with you, Megatron," Optimus said firmly, "And you've come far too close to killing various members of my faction."
"Ah yes, the Maximal habit of making friends," Megatron answered, "You can at least be glad that you have suffered lighter casualties in the Beast Wars, up until now. The Vok focused their attack on me, when they came here. You all focused on destroying Ravage. I have suffered far more in this war then you have."
"And yet you continue to demand those sacrifices in the name of your own megalomania!" Optimus accused, "It ends here."
"Yes, it ends here," Megatron responded and lunged forward, tackling Optimus, "and I will see to it that my 'megalomania' shapes the galaxy! You will be nothing more then a figment in history."
Megatron then threw a series of punches at Optimus's face, hoping to send the Maximal commander into stasis lock through a blur of physical blows. Optimus, however, was successful in flipping Megatron off of him and throwing him into the raised structure that lead toward the Nemesis's bridge. Optimus then got up and readied his primary weapons and prepared to fire on Megatron.
Megatron managed to avoid the direct hit from Optimus's attack, but the explosion of Optimus's laser projectiles against the Nemesis's armor threw him off balance, and the Predicon tyrant ended up sliding off the side of the massive warship and landing hard on his back next to the ship. Optimus then leaped from his position, and if Megatron hadn't rolled away at the last minute would have crushed the Predicon tyrant's neck by the force of his impact.
Megatron then took his beast mode again and began breathing fire on Optimus, forcing the Maximal commander to stumble back. He then took to the air in an attempt to flee, sensing that the damage he had sustained so far was too much and that if he stayed longer, he would wind up being seriously hurt, if not captured. As he began to fly away he noticed Optimus shift to his jet mode.
"You won't get away that easily!" Optimus yelled after Megatron and began firing his blasters after the fleeing transmetal two dragon.
Optimus continued firing as he landed several hits on Megatron's form, slowing the fleeing Predicon down. After awhile, a shot finally hit Megatron in the back of the head and the Predicon tyrant fell out of the sky. Optimus then returned to his robot mode and began putting the new cuffs on the stasis locked Megatron.
"Finally," Optimus thought to himself as he lifted Megatron over his shoulder, confident that the Predicon tyrant could not escape.
The Ark
Rhinox sighed as he was now in charge of all the transformers that had been wounded in the attack on the Nemesis. Some of which were more seriously damaged then others and the distance traveled between the Nemesis and the Ark did not make the fact that they would repairs easier.
"We have two transformers coming in," Silverbolt reported from his monitoring station, "It looks like Rattrap and Waspinator."
"Why is he the only prisoner?" Rhinox asked.
"I'm not sure if 'prisoner' is really the word," Silverbolt answered, "Waspinator isn't wearing any cuffs."
That really caught Rhinox's attention and he moved over to look at the security screens. Sure enough there was Rattrap leading Waspinator to the Ark, and the Predicon wasp was not wearing cuffs or any other sort of restraint.
"You keep monitoring," Rhinox sighed heavily, "I'll check this out."
By the time Rhinox had made it to the entrance to the Ark, Rattrap was just shutting the doors behind himself and Waspinator, who appeared to be curious about his surroundings.
"Where is the shuttle?" Waspinator asked, "Rat-bot said Maximals had a shuttle."
"The shuttle doesn't take up the entirety of the Ark," Rattrap answered, "And you won't be seeing it until everyone is ready to leave."
"At least you're keeping it safe," Rhinox spoke up as he approached, "But why didn't you cuff him?"
"Waspinator kinda got tired of being used as a target by Megatron and quit," Rattrap commented, "and sense Megatron is the one that's been the one controlling the Preds, I figured, even if he isn't 'defecting' to our side, if he quits working for Megs, we can't entirely count him as an enemy."
"Waspinator does not like being shot at," Waspinator added from where he was standing.
"And will 'Waspinator' also not do anything that would be considered 'Predicon' behavior?" Rhinox asked, turning to glare at Waspinator.
"Waspinator behave! Waspinator behave!" Waspinator buzzed back, stumbling back, "Don't shoot Waspinator."
"This is Waspinator, we're talking about," Rattrap whispered, "So long as we keep anything breakable in a place where he can't trip and fall on it, we should be fine. He won't start a fight unless he wants to get blown to scrap."
"Waspinator no start fight," Waspinator said very quickly.
"Fine, but he is your responsibility, Rattrap," Rhinox said firmly, "If he does anything to cause trouble, I'll let Dinobot eat you."
Rattrap only shrugged it off.
"Meanwhile, you can help Silverbolt perform monitoring duties," Rhinox sighed, "While I make some finishing touches on the shuttle."
Time went by slowly for the monitoring crew. While the fact that Waspinator was helping them was somewhat of a surprise to many of the other Maximals, none of them felt particularly threatened by Waspinator either. After about an hour Optimus, Depthcharge, and Rapther returned with Dinobot, Tigerhawk, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia. The four stasis locked Maximals were rushed to CR chambers while Optimus then turned around.
"Depthcharge, I want you to remain here as well," Optimus spoke, "You could probably stand some time in a CR chamber yourself."
"The cybervenom isn't THAT strong," Depthcharge replied, "but if it gets me out of lugging all of those Predicons back here, I'll be fine with it. I'll just guard the CR chambers, just in case Waspinator's defection is just an act."
Optimus nodded and watched as Depthcharge slowly sat down to sit beside one of the CR tanks. Optimus then moved out with Rapther following behind.
"Shouldn't we wait until some of the others are back online?" Rapther asked, "We'll be making an awful lot of trips if it's just two of us hauling 'unconscious' Predicons one at a time."
"We can't leave them alone for too long a time," Optimus sighed, "As individuals, I doubt they could break the cuffs we put on them, as I couldn't break them on my own, but if they work together, they might be able to pick the locks on the cuffs. We have to move quickly."
"Then let's take Rattrap," Rapther urged, "He'll provide an extra set of hands, which will mean fewer trips back and forth between the Nemesis and the Ark."
"And Waspinator will probably follow," Optimus nodded, "We'll need him if we are to take the Nemesis's transwarp cell with us. Go get them. I'll meet you outside."
Ten minutes later, Rapther and Rattrap appeared with Wasipinator following. As they got close, the transmetal two Predicon wasp buzzed right up to Optimus's face.
"Female lizard-bot say you need Nemesis's transwarp cell?" Waspinator asked.
"Yes, we do," Optimus nodded, stepping back slightly, "To make sure that it doesn't explode and destroy a fair portion of the planet."
"Waspinator can lead you to it," Waspinator volunteered.
"Thanks," Optimus replied, and then turned to Rapther and Rattrap, "You can start with the smaller Predicons first. I'll deal with Megatron specifically."
"Right," Rapther and Rattrap nodded.
Megatron had booby-trapped the transwarp cell chamber as well as the main hallways, and when Waspinator lead Optimus in, the Maximal commander was forced to push Waspinator out of the way and use his armor to protect the smaller transformer.
"You saved me," Waspinator commented as he looked up at Optimus.
"The force of that blast would have caused you serious harm, and for the time being we need your help," Optimus answered.
"Dragon-bot never would have saved me," Waspinator spoke.
"I'm not Megatron," Optimus told the wasp transformer.
"Can I stay with you?" Waspinator asked.
"For the time being," Optimus answered.
They then made their way into the main engineering area where the transwarp cell was housed. Optimus took it and put it in a containment unit he had with him.
"What do we do with the cell?" Waspinator asked.
"We take it back to the Ark and then return here for Megatron and the other Predicons," Optimus answered, "there is much work to do."
"Waspinator will help," Waspinator volunteered.
"Thank you," Optimus responded.
The work of moving the defeated Predicons to the Ark to be incarcerated for the return trip to Cybertron took the rest of the day. The Predicons did not take to Waspinator's switching sides or the fact that they had lost the battle very well. There was a lot of screaming and shouting, but all of them, including Megatron himself, were placed inside cells in the Ark and the cuffs still on them. This left the business of planting charges to make sure that the Nemesis could never be used by the Decepticons when the time for the 'Great War' to begin came. In the meantime, there were still things that needed to be discussed at the Ark.
The Ark, That Night
"My mind is made up," Dinobot growled as he stalked out of the Ark.
"Why?" Rapther demanded, "What purpose will you serve here? Alone?"
"I would not be enslaved for my past here," Dinobot answered and gazed out over the horizon.
"With no cause to live for?" Rapther asked, "Your spark would burn out before humanity will evolve enough to have honorable conflicts for you to fight for."
"And what would you suggest?" Dinobot growled back, "Go back and be arrested? And if not that, settle down? A warrior doesn't contemplate such things."
"And I told you before, love is not something that is dishonorable," Rapther growled back, "and there is no general requirement to 'settle down'. Cybertron has many colonies that need defending. We could go there, and defend those colonies. Or you could remain on Cybertron and train the younger Maximals who will go out to defend those colonies."
"Your Council of Elders live in a fantasy world where war is forever abolished," Dinobot answered with a heavy sigh, "They will not allow me to live free to do anything, should I return to Cybertron. I will become a burden on Optimus and I can not do that."
"He wants to help you," Rapther urged.
"Yes," Dinobot nodded, "I know that. It shows the honor in his character that he would stand up for a fool such as I. I can not allow him to dishonor himself before his leaders trying to defend one who is guilty."
"But you've done just as much to try and stop Megatron," Rapther reminded him.
"All that does is balance the mistakes I made in originally joining Megatron," Dinobot answered, "it does not change the fact that I have committed a crime. Not legally."
"You were deceived," Rapther said urgently, "Megatron lied and duped you."
Dinobot only growled, "I know that, but takes away a warrior's nobility to admit to that."
"Even if it keeps you out of prison?" Rapther asked.
"I can not live as a fool," Dinobot replied, "I would lose everything I have that is of any value in doing so."
"I didn't think you were the type to cower from other people's opinions," Rapther said pointedly.
"I do not cower from anyone," Dinobot growled.
"You're willing to hide in exile with no purpose to truly stay there because you're afraid that your only legal defense will make others think you're foolish," Rapther explained back, "I call that cowering. It may not be a fight, but apparently something very important to you."
"I'm not vain either," Dinobot growled.
"Sure," Rapther answered back and turned to go back inside the Ark, "Tell that to all the proto-humans while you sit here for a thousand years and do nothing."
Dinobot only glared back to watch the transmetal female raptor go back inside. After the Ark's doors closed he returned his gaze to the stars.
The Nemesis, Next Day
Optimus sighed as the Maximals went about planting explosive charges throughout the Nemesis. Most of these explosives came from the Nemesis itself as the Ark didn't have the weapons stocks to sabotage a large warship like the Nemesis.
"You think this will work, Optimus?" Cheetor asked curiously as he paused to place down the last box of charges that the Maximals had at the Ark.
"It must," Optimus shrugged, "There are no mentioning of the Nemesis in the history tracts after it crashed to Earth in its battle with the Ark."
"Yeah, but wasn't the Nemesis constructed in the same manner as the Ark?" Cheetor asked.
"Yeah, but we're using large sums of the Nemesis's own armament," Rattrap cut in as he approached and picked up one of the charges, "That should provide more then enough bang to destroy this hunk of junk."
"That'll blow it apart?" Cheetor asked.
"Anything will blow apart," Rattrap answered, "Some take more force then others, like the Nemesis here or the Ark in comparison to the Axalon and the Darkside."
Setting the charges and the Nemesis's own armaments caches in a position where they would do damage to the Nemesis took another two hours and an extra hour was needed for a series of wires to be laid to a safe distance where Rattrap could destroy the crashed ship without being destroyed with it.
"It's finally over," Optimus spoke a he looked in the Nemesis's direction, "The Beast Wars are finally over."
"I can't believe it," Rhinox commented, "We can step down from doing the impossible every day."
"Leaving this planet in a relatively 'clean' condition," Tigerhawk added.
"And goin' home to where things are much better," Rattrap said with a smile.
"It is an interesting event though," Airazor commented, "The beast wars. It all started over energon and ended up insuring our future as we know it."
"As far as we know," Dinobot corrected, "It may have been our destiny to come here."
"If it isn't destiny, it sure was one hell of a coincidence," Depthcharge commented.
"Wouldn't necessarily be the first time that something like that has happened," Blackarachnia spoke up, "Considering who some of us were originally allied with."
"Yes," Optimus nodded, "but I think a lot of that is shown by their individual personalities."
"Yes," Silverbolt agreed, "And we have all overcome great evil to get here. Now that struggle is over."
"And a good thing too," Squeak added, "Everyone is safe now."
"For now," Optimus sighed, "But we should finish up here. I'd assume that everyone wants to go home."
"Hoo-hoo, I heard that," Rattrap replied and pressed the buttons to ignite the charges and weapons that had been placed.
They then heard a great rumbling in distance that was soon followed by a massive explosion that sent bits of metal flying into the air.
"What about the metal, Optimus?" Cybershark asked, "Do we gather that up as well?"
"No," Optimus sighed, "The Ark doesn't have the room and the remains of the Nemesis should be scattered enough that by the time that humanity finds them and identifies them, they might have already come in contact with Cybertron."
"Hopefully," Rhinox commented, "Although, even if they haven't, they're likely to record it as an unusual metal deposit, but not fully unnatural, as geologically, planets change over time. Earth especially."
"Then let's get back," Optimus said with a smile, "There is still some work to do."
While others moved of at their fastest possible speed, Dinobot deliberately slowed Optimus down. He largely remained silent until the others had moved out of range to hear his conversation with Optimus.
"Yes, Dinobot?" Optimus asked, "Is there something you want sent back here, since you've told us you intend to stay?"
"Actually, there has been a slight change in that regard," Dinobot spoke in a low voice.
Optimus blinked in surprise, but didn't say anything.
"There is nothing to 'rule' here at the present time, and humanity will not be ready to be defended befitting a warrior like me," Dinobot continued, "I would serve no purpose to remain here."
"I take it you now wish to return to Cybertron?" Optimus asked.
"Yes, perhaps I can find a new purpose there," Dinobot answered, "Megatron may be defeated, but our experiences here lead me to believe that the TriPredicus Council is not an organization to be trusted either. And there are colony worlds that are not necessarily one hundred percent safe from outside or 'native' dangers."
"And you seek to work with these colonists?" Optimus asked.
"Or train those who will be defending those colonies," Dinobot answered, "Your elders might accept me better that way if I am offering to help them."
"It might," Optimus replied, "and thank you for deciding to return with us."
"Save the sentimentality," Dinobot responded, "there is still work to be done."
Optimus nodded and took his jet mode and flew off, while Dinobot ran to catch up with the others.
The Ark, Later
With the Nemesis destroyed and the Predicons captured, the Maximals set to finish the work needed to allow the Autobot shuttle that they had to leave the Ark. Rhinox and Rattrap focused on preparing the shuttle itself while most of the rest continued to move rocks away from the top of the Ark. One or two were kept on guard duty, but this was only a formality to insure that the captured Predicons were guarded. That took the rest of the day. As the sun set, Rhinox in the hanger where the shuttle had been found flipped a lever that opened the doors above the shuttle. He then looked out through the opening as Dinobot, Depthcharge, Rapther, Cybershark, and Silverbolt began taking the captured Predicons into the shuttle to placed in restraining chairs to keep them from moving. The Predicons weren't happy and their opinion of Waspinator hadn't changed, but that was largely background noise.
"This is really the end, isn't it?" came Optimus's voice as the last of the Predicons were taken in.
"Yup," Rhinox nodded with a smile, "and fairly peaceful end, too."
"In a strange way though," Optimus commented, "I think I'll miss Earth… at least prehistoric Earth anyway."
"It is a site worth exploration and study," Rhinox nodded, "But, it is time we went home. With the transwarp drive, we can always return at some other time."
"Yeah," Optimus nodded, "It's time to go home."
They then walked into the shuttle as the rest of the Maximals boarded. Once everyone was on board, the doors shut while Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor, and Rattrap took seats in the piloting part of the shuttle. The rest took seats in the area behind them while Optimus and his original crew started up the shuttle's main engines.
"We're going home!" Cheetor cheered as he shuttle blasted off into space, leaving the Ark and Earth behind.
The End
