Book One

Chapter Four:

Terrorize

Muted voices greeted Rattrap when he came out of stasis. Far sooner than he'd thought he would have after a glance inward to see how much time had passed. The maximal was aware of being inside something, it too small for a repair chamber but still too big. It hit him then as he felt around and realized he was inside a stasis pod, sheltered from the energon radiation and the still functioning pod itself had done most of his repairs as well as giving him enough energy so his shell's internal repairs could do the rest.

It wasn't the fastest way to do things but still effective.

The voices outside of the pod were still talking, it was hopeless however to try and pick out the words, the pod was too thick. It was surprising that Rattrap could even hear voices at all.

The pod too was big, even bigger than the ones he was use to coming online in. One of the draw backs of being so small, the bigger-than-normal pods had a lot of room. Or at least, to some it was a problem, Rattrap had learned a long time ago how to take advantage of everything he could. He didn't get as old as he was now by not doing so.

Rattrap shifted and felt around, looking for the latch to open the stasis pod from the in side, it should be in the middle of the lid so he had to scoot down. His foot brushed the top of something soft making him freeze. There was nothing soft in the stasis pods, at lest if you didn't count the semi-liquid state the protoforms or bots were in.

The next few cycles had Rattrap trying to bend and flex to reverse his position and see what was in here with him. He moved slowly, so to hear the voices and to keep the owners of said voices from hearing him. The Maximal ended up curling up in the 'head' of the pod, whoever was in here last had broad shoulders even as a protoform. It made it easier to slowly shoot around and ease himself back to the 'foot' of the pod.

The soft thing felt like a bag. Rattrap, laying down on his front, felt around and found straps. An image, a memory of a human way back when, with a pack on his back held by straps over and under his shoulders. It was a backpack he realized; a pretty self-explanatory name really. So now the question remained, why was there a human made bag in a Cybertronian stasis pod with him?

There was dim, almost nonexistent yellow-orange light coming semi transparent viewing window above Rattrap's back. He looked up at the same time something, or rather someone on the outside rapped on the pod. Rattrap forgot about his optics as he saw a blurry, darker shape against the subtler darkness above.

The shape must have seen his glowing red gaze because it vanished.

Then the sound of the locks holding the lid of the pod close disengaged before the lid was lifted up. Wide, silver optics with hints of red peered in, the sear bulk and size of the mech suggested this was who had been in the pod before Rattrap. The mech was primarily red with undertones of silver and grey.

"He is functioning Royalty." The new bot said in growling voice that oddly had hints of a... no, Rattrap wasn't hearing things. It was almost but not quite feminine under the grating quality.

A human head peeked over the lip of the pod, under the new bot's other arm. Blue/green eyes met red optics. "Hey you are! Are you okay?" The human female asked, most dependently a female, in sound and looks.

"Ehh..." Rattrap hesitated before saying slowly, to make sure he was getting the words right as part of his mind placed the human dialect. Still close enough to the standard he knew, more or an off accent than anything, "Yeah... seen better days."

"You and me both," the human said ruefully, glancing up at the far bigger red mech standing other them both. "I'm sorry about the other night. You, well, startled us."

"Startled." Rattrap repeated, staring in disbelief, "You call nearly crushin' me in half bein' 'startled'?"

The human didn't hesitate to replay, "Yep." She pointed up at the quite red mech who was looking around, watchful and on guard. "As for the crushing thing…that was from Inferno's beast mode. Ants are really damn strong you know."

"Royalty," Inferno said, looking down. "We must keep moving, those murders will be following my signal."

The human female looked up and then back to Rattrap, stepping back, "Well, ya going to sleep some more or get out? Better hurry up though."

"Why?" The maximal asked but knew even as the girl pointed to a cluster of semi clear Energon crystals. Inferno was stepping back and transforming, folding into himself and reforming into a crimson fire ant, those powerful mandibles snapped at the air in reflex.

Rattrap gripped the edge of the pod and swung himself up and out, landing beside the human who was taking a few polite steps back to give him room. With no one in the pod anymore, the computer closed the lid and shut itself down for the most part. The mech turned to face the human after a quick glance around the spot they were at, not a clearing but not in any jungle. Some trees and high ferns mostly.

For the first time in a long while, Rattrap found himself looking slightly down at someone else. No more then a hand span or so yes, but the feeling was still nice to know he was no longer the shortest on the planet. The human was about average height, blondish hair pulled back and mostly hidden under a hat, green pains, boots...

Rattrap did a double take on the hat, staring at it.

The human frowned up at him, blinked and her eyes widen slightly, "Was a volunteer." She said in an explanation for the Autobot emblem on the hat.

"Really?" the Maximal arched an optic ridge as he tilted his head, glanced at Inferno when the ant came closer to inspect the stasis pod.

"Yep."

"What did you do?"

"Most worked with kids," The human shrugged, it wasn't overly important to her. She turned partly at a sound that drew the attention of all three. For a tense moment they waited, the human stepping back, Inferno half climbed over the pod to see better and Rattrap's other pistol flicked into view from subspace as he stepped reflexively in front of the young woman.

Rattrap took a half step back so he knew where the human was, he could feel her against his back before she ducked under the stasis pod. "Good girl." The Maximal muttered, keeping his scanners up as well as keeping an internal eye on the Energon build up.

After a minute when nothing leapt out at them and starting shooting, biting and/or doing anything else violent to their persons, the three relaxed.

"Come on," Rattrap said turned and reaching under the pod to grip the human's arm and pull her back out, "We need to get back to da' ship."

"What?" She stumbled and hung onto Rattrap for a moment until she had her balance back.

"Da' Axilon." Rattrap explained, "It's da' ship he an' I came here on... well, crashed here on this planet." He pointed at the large ant that was watching him intently until he slipped his pistol back into subspace. "It'll be safer then here. Name's Rattrap by the way," The Maximal let go and offered his hand this time.

The human hesitated, probably surprised that he knew the greeting, before grasping the offered hand. "I'm Omicron." She said and nodded up at the giant red any, "That's Inferno." Then she added before Rattrap could spend more then a few confused moments over the woman name, "She's a she by the way, not a he."

"She?" Rattrap asked skeptically as he eyed the large ant fussed over both the pod and then him. The last part was a little freaky, if mostly harmless.

"Yes she. I was going by beast mode at first since ninety nine percent of ants in a colony are female. But we talked about it when you were napping in the pod." The human flicked her fingers at the stasis pod, "Inferno has decided to be referred to as a 'she' because she is obviously a solder and not a useless breading drone. The fact she doesn't have wings screams that last part as well. And that she is a she, just not feminine."

"...okay." Rattrap felt the first twinges of Energon build up and stepped back, folding into his beast mode. He tilted his head to look up before sitting up on his hunches to be at a closer level with this 'Omicron.' "You know, you're really slagging lucky kid. I don't know where h…she, got the translation program to-" he stopped.

Omicron wasn't looking at him, something had grabbed her attention to the side and now she was practically taut she was so tense. Rattrap turned at the same time Inferno touched his...her antennae on the human's shoulders. The beast mode ant could smell and taste the fear, but knew it wasn't directed at the Maximal.

"Well, well," a dark voice almost purred, "This day maybe worth all this effort."

Mandibles snapped together as Inferno swung her large head around to look at the new speaker. Not a moment later she was even tenser then her human queen. "Spider!"

"Tarantulas!" There was barely a span of a blink before rattrap hand his semi-automatic pistols in hands, the whine of them filling charging filling the air in counter point to their voices.

"...Holy shit!"

That last one was Omicron as she finally snapped out of her shook at seeing a giant spider that was bigger then her. The young woman back-peddled as her arachnophobia surged up to a level she never knew was possible. Omicron inadvertently backed up into open mandibles and before she or the other two knew what was happening, Inferno had picked the human up and put her down under the large stasis pod before swinging back around to face the new comer.

"Inferno Terrorize!" The ant form split apart and reformed into the massive shock trooper, "You dare come here spider?!" She demanded stepping over a gaping Rattrap and planting herself in front of him and Omicron and leveling one of her almost over sized weapons on the real Predacon.

Tarantulas snapped something. Something harsh sounding and lased with clicks and twisted warbles, making it totally alien to Omicron. She scooted backwards as fast as she could to the other side of the pod. At the same time Rattrap almost barked back in that same alien language, jerking his head up at Inferno. The shock trooper looked mildly confused, but seemed to default on her beast mode as well as the 'side' of the one defending her, and more impotently helping to defend her queen (or was it their queen?).

Using Inferno as a shield, he- she was big enough to be one, not to mention seeming to be instinctively very angry at the Predacon spider. It let Rattrap duck down and reach under the stasis pod to grab the human, getting a hold of an arm he pulled the woman out from under what he knew was a dubious shelter at best. Ignoring her yelp as he lifted her up with one arm, the rat mech reopened the pod and dumped Omicron in.

"Stay in kid!" Rattrap ordered slammed the lid down.

"Like I hav-" Omicron's words were cut off with a thud of metal hitting the seal.

Rattrap slapped his hand on the control panel, triple encoding his, well, personal code. At the same time transmitting a data burst of instructions for the pod to circulate oxygen rich air and not to attempt to 'repair' the new occupant. With his free hand he was covering Inferno be firing (somewhat blindly) at Tarantulas.

In hindsight, he should have been on the lookout for the other spider mecha.

Rattrap staggered as something impacted on his back, for a nano klick nothing happen. Then he felt in an odd detected way his body spasm, jerking gracelessly and unable to cry out at the pain from the cyber-venom arrow. The Maximal hit the ground on his knees before pitching forward face first in the earth. The position was somewhat uncomfortable even without the cyber-venom working through his motor systems and clawing at joints to set the sensor net on fire whenever they moved.

It was nasty feedback loop meant to drive a mech into stasis lock. Every now and then when Tarantulas was feeling more psychopathic and sadistic then normally he'd stop whatever poor mech he had from going into stasis. The results weren't so pretty, as Rattrap knew from personal history in the Predacon ship.

Still suffering from the spasms, Rattrap wasn't in stasis yet. Either this was a venom that just effected the motor systems, or the 'arrow' hadn't hit him dead-on. Thus not injecting a full dose of the veil stuff.

He just managed not to give a grunt as Blackarachnia stepped on his back in raw spite as she re-armed her crossbow like blaster, sneaking up on the distracted shock trooper. Normally, Blackarachnia had learn long ago that doing that kind of insult to Rattrap was a bad idea. She had been flipped unextectedy by her legs being knocked out from under her her, and a piston to the head by the rat playing possum. This time she was evidently confident with her back shot and venom that the past wouldn't repeat itself this time.

Oh... no ya don't... Rattrap shakily grabbed his energy pistol. He was far from quiet, but Blackarachnia didn't seem to think much of it as her attention was on the screaming trooper's back. She would later though, after she came out of stasis lock herself from such a lucky shot to the head, that Rattrap was sure it was a gift from Primus himself.

"Rattrap!" a welcoming, familiar voice called from above.

Rattrap didn't look up, but herd two different sets of jets. "H-help-p h-er!" he yelled as he prayed to Primus to keep up his luck as he fired between Inferno's legs at the twisted mech known as Tarantulas.

Energy blasts and arrows rained down from above on the true Predacon. Between the efforts of Optimus Primal, Airazor and Inferno, Rattrap watched as the three drove off Tarantulas. Who, almost as an afterthought, stopped just long enough to fling out a web line to grand and then dragged Blackarachnia none to gently after him. That left the Maximals with a very large, very well armed and rather upset shook trooper to deal with.

"This is gonna...to be fun..." Rattrap muttered as he face planted and jerked in another spasm, aware he was speaking human slandered. Just before his slipped into stasis at last, he heard a thumb as Inferno finally dropped to one knee and started prying off arrows from the purple mecha, as she just now started to feel the effects of the cyber venom herself.