After Earth: When the Tide has Turned

Note: Because my series started with the Beast Warriors leaving earth before they went transmetal, all of them still look like they did in the first season. This reminder will apply later in the story. Other than that, enjoy!

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The water took her form and twisted it, changed it, coloured it. Her reflection became distorted, messed up, like herself. Another breeze sent shivers through the water and she hugged herself for comfort more than anything. For days now, she had been tortured by frightening nightmares and visions occurring both day and night. Whisperings in her ear, the continuous crying in the night. She had put it down to shock from what had happened to her. An aftershock, as Hyra put it. But Diamond couldn’t help the feeling that these visions went deeper than psychological scars, but were in fact something entirely different. She leant against the rails, searching the lake below for any advice it could offer. The lake was large and ended in a river leading off towards the parks and past little country houses. It was never polluted as it only passed through clean areas, purely for people’s enjoyment. There were other dams where water was stored for technical purposes. So, for once, she could feel she was staring into something pure and wholesome. Something good and clean. But still she shivered and occasionally fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing over her shoulder back at the empty park. Her trust had been shattered and she felt alone. But in a sense, after all the past events, she preferred it that way.

Rattrap rarely had time for a stroll through the park. And he usually never was compelled to do so. But sometimes, when life became complicated, he thought there was no harm in getting out and away.

The park was rather quiet with one or two lovers resting under a tree. Trees were things that had been taken from earth and so was the idea of a park. Even though he’d hated every minute on earth, he still was awed sometimes of its beauty. Every city had a huge glass shield over it. The entrance into each city was guarded so bots with passports and correct identification could get in. This usually happened when the city was close to its population limit and there was strict control of how many more entered the city. But this city was special. It was one of the few cities to contain a suitable atmosphere for parks and trees, which was why most of the bots from the Beast Wars lived here, so the oxygen could keep their organic form healthy. It was a burden, this beast mode, and he had the option to get rid of it, but it had helped in more ways than one. It was great to sneak around in as almost all scanners didn’t pick up organics and were to weak to probe beneath the skin to pick up his robotic side. So he’d snatched up a few good stories from going into certain areas he wasn’t supposed to go into. He chuckled to himself at the memories of the faces of some of the bots that had spotted him in his Beast form. Some looked like complete bimbos.

He smiled and walked on, glancing up at the trees as if half expecting Blackarachnia to come flying down from the canopy to ambush him. His senses had been heightened and still were, even seventeen years later. There was, of course, no giant spider preying on him, and no large wasps hovering noisily in the bushes. He missed that feeling of expectation, and excitement. That living-on-the-edge feel. Life was so plain now and it was no wonder he often visited the training arena to watch like and old man all the youngsters doing what he did so often and so well, all those years ago. He frowned; he was like an old man saying ‘those were the days!’

But then again, he had some young influence in his life. Tourmaline was every guy’s dream, drop dead gorgeous but not downright dumb. She had deep intelligence behind those eyes and a knowledge of life he had yet to discover, which made her very interesting to be with, not to mention very good to be with. He couldn’t wait to bring her to the office and watch all his pal’s jaws drop, especially his ex-girlfriend Track. He grinned at the thought. Yes, Tourmaline had certainly spiced things up.

He turned out of the little forest and into a clearing. It was there he saw a fem, leaning against the railings so still, watching the lake below. He narrowed his optics and could make it out to be Diamond. From what Tour had told him, she’d been in the wars. In fact, so had Tour. She was quite disturbed at what Toby had done, and how he had tricked them all. She was going to need time to mend, but Diamond had most definitely come out worse in that bad situation. He sighed. He was no psychologist, but he could try and cheer her up. He knew Dinobot couldn’t so much as cheer up a clown. He walked over silently, his feet making gentle crunching noises which Diamond probably would have heard a mile away, but she was deep inside herself and currently deaf to the world. He knew that feeling.

He came up beside her and leant on the railing, looking down at the water below. A cold breeze stirred the trees and sent miniature waves through the water. He shivered.

He looked at her and could see her eyes were not focused, but she was dimly aware of his presence.

She spun around and walked away, leaving him with his mouth open ready to finish what he had started to say.

“You know, I really shouldn’t start off conversations with that,” he mumbled.

“Hey, Dimes, wait up!” She turned around and he stopped dead in his tracks. Every inch of her was saying ‘back off!’

Her eyes were filled with sadness, anger and fear and she was trembling from head to toe.

“Rattrap, leave me alone. I know you mean well, I just…need…some time…alone,” she choked before spinning on here heels and taking off.

“Agh!” he cried. It had given him a fright, as that comm. hadn’t been used in almost two decades.

“Agreed! Rattrap, if you have time, I’d like you to come down to the lab. I have something that would be of interest to you. It’s something I’ve created that could do a lot of good, and a lot of bad. Perhaps you’d like to come see it?”

“Sure big green, I got nuthin’ better ta do. I’ll be there in a couple a cycles. Rattrap out.”

The comm. link died and he was left standing and wondering what it was his old friend sounded so excited to show him.

Hyra bent over to pick up the coffee mug she’d left by the couch. As she did so, she felt her already heavy heart sink further. She’d been crying for hours inside herself, confused and shocked. It had been over a fortnight since his death, but it was still so very fresh in her mind. She had grown to like Toby more and more everyday and was beginning to believe they were becoming more than just workmates. Then everything had happened. Diamond, the fire, Switchblade…

She shook her head and rose to her feet, almost trembling. She headed towards the door to the kitchen and spotted Dinobot just leaving it. She gave him a weak smile and he returned the favour. She pushed past and dropped the mug into the clean bar, a handy device that cleaned cutlery and utensils in seconds. But she was tired and turned away, not wanting to wait even a few seconds to take it out and put it away. Her throat was in a knot, or so it felt like it and she felt she was dancing on the edge of a blade, waiting to slip and get hurt again. She walked briskly to the front door, her mind a miserable whir. She exited and bumped into something. She felt herself stumble and fall and she let out a small gasp of fright as she was curtly brought back to reality. Something grabbed her and propped her up. She looked up weakly and saw Dinobot, looking just as concerned as she was depressed.

She nodded weakly and took a step. But she collapsed again and broke into tears.

It was then she felt a weight being lifted, as the tears which she felt she’d been holding for a thousand years escaped and she sobbed, not caring what anyone thought, or what anyone would think from now on. She’d been betrayed by someone she cared for and it hurt. It hurt more than anything.

He knew Hyra hadn’t been acting herself and he knew why. Yet still she’d managed to keep on a smile and stay her bright happy self, only recently a heavy cloud had blocked that sunlight. But now she was literally sobbing at his feet and he was clueless as of what to do about it. He’d never been good with helping Diamond when she was upset, and recently, she had been unreachable even to the best psychiatrist. He’d always avoided this but now it was literally staring him in the face.

He sat down on the step outside the front door and wondered numbly why depressed females always gave him such a hard time. It was as if they were torturing him because they knew he was no good at the emotional stuff.

“All I’ve ever seen Dinobot, is the dirty side of town, the dirty people, the dirty things they do. And just when I think I’ve struck gold, all that dirt comes tumbling down in showers everywhere. Everywhere.”

It seemed to quieten her and she squeezed every bit of air out of him as if he were a giant teddy bear. And being a teddy bear was NOT Dinobot’s favourite past time.

She shivered, whispering her life story to herself softly and holding him tight for comfort, he guessed. He was not particularly comforting, but he’d realised she was desperate and remained still.

Eagleite counted up the money carefully, with a slight smile on her face. It was time to pay Sivilon’s training fees and because he was away at a friend’s party, she’d have to do it. Another excuse to go and see Dinobot. She shoved the money into her subspace pocket and cursed herself for behaving like such a teenager. She’d hoped as a young fem she’d grow out of the ‘crush’ stage, but it was not so. Problem was, she was lonely and bored and needed someone to pick on and annoy, as was her nature. As well as someone to love and care for, as was not her nature but she tried.

Dinobot had always been a target and now that she’d found him again, that old crush had been renewed. And she was somewhat irritated with that, which was why she was constantly bickering with him. She sighed, left her house and walked down the street; he only lived a few blocks away. But she soon grew impatient and transformed, spreading out her long wings and soaring elegantly for about one minute before landing clumsily outside the house of his neighbour. A young bot sitting by the window saw her and his jaw dropped. He started screaming and pointing at her and his brother or friends came rushing to the window. She sighed again. An eagle wasn’t an everyday sight on Cybertron. She transformed into and equally strange looking bot to their eyes and they continued to stare. She threw a Cybertronian zap sign at them and walked off irritably. She moved over hastily to his house and took the money out as she approached. She looked up with a smile and stopped immediately. There was the most gorgeous, sexy fem she had ever seen cuddled up with a rather helpless looking Dinobot. But that fem was not a happy one and was crying her heart out and Dinobot was simply listening. He looked straight at her and his eyes widened with horror and she was certain he turned pale. He closed his eyes with a grimace and opened one meekly, as if waiting for the verbal blow. But Eagleite was not stupid. She rushed up the stairs and put her hand on the fem’s shoulder.

“Hey, I’m a friend of King Callous here and I can see when he’s doing a typically bad job of cheering someone up.

“She’s lost someone who betrayed her. I don’t understand it!” He snarled.

“Shame! Here, take my hand and let’s go inside. I’m the master of emotional trauma advice. Believe me, I’ve been through enough to know.” She said and helped Hyra up.

“Thanks.” She sniffed. Eagleite put an arm around her and gave Dinobot a scowl before disappearing inside with the perfect excuse to stay longer than expected.

The guard was holding him by the shoulders after the tiny thing had tried to get inside by just walking past!

“Put me down ya bolt brain! All da other guards let me through. I’m telling ya, da scientist wants to see me!”

The guard dropped him and the little bot landed with a clunk and immediately glowered up at him.

He spun away from him and went inside the lab, shouting loudly: “Sir, a pipsqueak’s here to see you!”

Rhinox frowned but it soon disappeared when he heard the angry comments flying from outside the door accompanied by the accent he knew belonged to only one person he knew.

“Let him in, Sam. I am expecting him.” He called and put down the screwdriver and looked toward the doorway.

“It sure has. I think the last time I saw ya was at that science fare!” He exclaimed.

Rhinox turned to a shelf and held up a small, anvil shaped black box, with multiple coloured buttons littering two sides of it.

“Come with me Rattrap.” He said and he turned to another door and it slid open as he approached it, revealing a big empty room filled with what looked like complicated CR chambers.

Rattrap walked cautiously inside, the chambers letting off an eerie sense of deja vu. He looked around before halting, folding his arms across his chest and waiting for what Rhinox had to say.

Rhinox put the device onto one particularly complicated chamber and turned to face him.

“Rattrap, we all know what a pain theses beast modes can be, but at the same time an advantage.”

“Well, how would you like to look more robotic again, but still keep part organic? You will be more powerful and will have a whole lot of special features. I’m talking of upgrading you and your beast mode to transmetal. Until now, it hasn’t been available for you bots but now I’m offering you an opportunity. Although the results of this change will vary. You will be the first of the Axalon crew to undergo these changes.”

A while later he smacked his hands together and cried: “Eh, I’ll give it a shot. I like power.”

A look of relief and excitement spilled across Rhinox’s face and he reminded Rattrap of a little kid eager to test out his new toy.

Rhinox motioned him to step inside the chamber and Rattrap went inside a bit hesitantly. It was certainly a visit he was not going to forget, this one.

Rattrap shrugged but was feeling rather uneasy, more so when the lid closed and metal bars came down and held him in place. He could see through the glass Rhinox hurrying toward a computer then coming back to adjust a few setting on the device attached.

But it was too late. Five white beams shot out from the sides of the chamber and into his arms, legs and neck. They started getting hotter and hotter and it did hurt!

They grew brighter and he could just make out Rhinox diving behind a table, which was not in the least bit comforting.

Suddenly the beams stopped, it grew dark and all he could hear was a growing high -pitched sound of something charging up.

Rhinox heard the wailing noise followed by a strange sort of hummed bang. It wasn’t very loud, but it didn’t sound good. There was a bright flash and then everything went dark and silent. It had used up so much of the laboratory’s power that the lights had gone out. Slowly he rose up and peered over the table. The room was thick with white smoke. He squinted and peeped out: “Rattrap?”

Rattrap stepped outside, in robot mode looking pale and shocked. But it had worked. Instead of having grey rat fur around him, he had on his shoulders reddish-pink plates and what looked like a possible beast mode head. He had a few other small changes around his arms and legs, and the occasional new colour but besides that, he looked pretty similar to the old version. Rattrap stepped out of the smoke.

If they could, Rattrap’s eyes would have been watering. His voice was a squeak and he looked a bit electrified, as was expected.

The next thing Rhinox heard could have been defined as a rusty door swaying on its hinges.

It was an even faster transformation than before and Rattrap’s Beast mode couldn’t have looked more different.

He was pinkish red from head to toe except for a few brown features on his face and sides accompanied by big green eyes. He was a vehicle bot with two large back wheels and small front ones with his rat feet turned backwards. Rhinox couldn’t help chuckling. Rattrap looked more adorable than ever, but with a mean looking tinge to him.

“Nothing, you look…great. Rhinox toppled the table over for a mirror and Rattrap found himself staring at a foreign face.

“That ain’t me! That looks like a badly decorated mini owned by an over boyish fem!”

“Jeez, this is gonna take some getting’ used to!” He said before transforming.

“Hey! My robot mode don’t look so different! And my weapons, they’re improved! What’s this?” He asked excitedly holding up his tail, which had become a spear.

Rattrap started swiping the spear around before suddenly transforming and scowling at the mirror.

A split second later Rattrap shot through the window at mach 1 flying onto the highway before screeching and spinning around and zipping down the road and out of sight. Rhinox stared through the shattered glass wide-eyed and could hear the sound of distant police sirens wailing after him.

“I hope that’s not too MUCH power for that little guy. Primus knows what he’ll end up doing with it all.”

He sighed and headed back to the upgrading machine, at least satisfied that his device had worked and knowing full well now that he must keep it safe, away from abusive hands.

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The arena was closed today. It was a weekend, though transformers only got one day off at the end of the week. Only two people could access it now. And she was one of them.

Diamond stood in the centre of the dusty arena. The ground was a mixture of desert like sand and grey dust. The wind swept the dirt around her feet and blew through the piles of empty pipes stacked in the corner, making loud, deep whistling noises. She stood alone, in silence, letting the air wrap itself around her with its bitter touch. It was cold here, so far from the sun, so very, very cold. And somewhat lonely.

She could smell the metal from the swords that were locked up in a cabinet, save her own which rested against her leg. Her body had been healed, but her mind was a different story. The wind whipped around the arena, carrying in screams and the clang of swords. She could hear the noises of metal hitting the floor, the panicked gasps and the cutting of the air with a fatal swipe. She heard the gut scream of a soldier as the sword drove into him and she winced and turned away. The screams rose up around her and the noise of gunfire piercing the air becoming louder. Orders were being shouted above the thunder of bombing and amongst them she could here a familiar one. She battled to remember until her brain registered it as being Daistran, a friend lost to war. The thunder became louder and she gasped and a deafening explosion sounded off around her. It lasted only a second before abruptly fading away back into the depths of her mind carrying with it multiple hisses, all warning the same thing.

Run! Run! Run! Or else the resonance of his past will find you…find you! Run! Run! Run!

She shrieked and the voices stopped and the explosion faded completely and she was left standing, panting. She looked down at her golden sword with wide-eyes.

It’s tip was dirty and looked like it was rusting. She shuddered and began to bend to pick it up and examine when it started to spread. She stopped and watched as the rust became blood and the tip of her sword slowly began to bleed. Trickles started to run down the shiny surface and a layer started to ooze down. Her sword was bleeding, accompanied by multiple voices rising up again, crying in pain, begging and pleading, screaming and shouting. She shook her head as the sword began to get covered with it.

She screamed and kicked it over and immediately it stopped, as did the voices. Only the chant she’d heard a few moments before hissed and died.

She closed her eyes and fell to her knees, opening them again and glancing at the sword, which was lying spotlessly on the ground.

She breathed steadily and held her head with her hands. She had been tortured with more and more nightmares, more and more visions and she was unwittingly beginning to believe she possessed some kind of clairvoyance.

She could take no more and she stood, grabbing her sword and holding it up screaming: I will fight to the death! You will never bring me down! Never!”

Her scream echoed and came back to her in an eerie sense of those very words being its answer to her.

Diamond was terrified out of her limits and a few seconds later she took off, holding her sword close to her and heading home for the first time in the past forty-eight megacycles. The message was clear, her visions were of pain and death and if that was what was to be bestowed upon her, then she was ready for it. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.

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He had become the leader of this group of nine criminals, though he liked the term death warriors. For that was what they were going to be once Switchblade joined forces with him. But that hope was shattered when Sting, his second in command, brought him news he didn’t want to nor expect to here.

“So Sting, where is he?” Megatron asked calmly, though his impatience was clearly evident. Sting shifted uncomfortably.

“I did a bit of research in the town near Relentrax and I spoke to Iron, who said he last saw Switchblade with a bunch of female detectives. He said to find out where they went and I’d find him. Well, sir, I did just that and I have to report to you that Switchblade is no longer with them.”

“He was found in an alley way, torturing and nearly killing a female friend of the detective girls he was with, and the father of the girl murdered him.”

Megatron paused for a painfully long time. Absorbing and processing the information. Whoever it was that had brought down Switchblade, must’ve been powerful with super-charged weapons, surely. He shook his head slowly, feeling an odd sense of insecurity settling like a thin sheet over him.

“There are some of the details, I’ll go get more.” He growled and turned and left.

Megatron carefully took the news disk and slipped it into a computer they had in their hide out, which was nothing but a small secluded house near a small town, owned by Sting’s sister, who although not a part of their group, was as dark and cold as her brother but fairly trustworthy. Besides, if she came anywhere near the police Sting would kill her. The computer displayed the various articles, and he chose the most likely one. ‘Mass Killer Found And Executed.’

The text rolled down the screen as Megatron discovered the town he was killed in, which was in fact the town near by them, the name of the street and other unimportant details. Then he read about how he was killed. According to a witness, the father of the tortured fem had caught Switchblade unaware and had fired continuously, blowing him into a fire and killing him. No names ‘for security reasons’ had been given. Megatron growled. Almost no information had been given on the killer of his saviour, but he trusted that sting would find out who the girl was, and most importantly, whom the killer was.

With an agitated snarl, Megatron rose to his feet and moved over to the next room, where his followers waited, to deliver the news and the next plan.

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Eagleite gave the fem, whose name she had learnt was Hyra, a mug of hot energon.

“You know,” she said and she sipped the hot liquid. “We went to war over this stuff I’m drinking.”

“I know. I almost lost my son to that war. Do you know how worried I was? Especially seeing as he was under old fang face’s command.”

Dinobot, who was leaning against the washer on the other side of the kitchen, rolled his eyes.

Hyra giggled. She’d cheered up a lot now that Eagleite had comforted her and taken her mind off things.

“Hey girl, don’t worry about theses things. You’ve got it all going for you! Good looks, intelligence, a sense of humour. I’m sure someone nice will find you and you two will get married and live happily ever after.” Eagleite said.

“Yes, Hyra,” Dinobot began. “Your chances are an awful lot better than hers.”

“There’s a difference between falling at your feet they worship you so much, and falling at your feet because they’re damn right depressed, especially with you around.”

“Well, miss bird brain, I think you’ve over stayed your welcome. I believe you have some money for me?”

“Don’t see what I’m paying for.” Eagleite mumbled and took the money out of her sub space pocket again and handed it to him. She turned and put a piece of paper on the table.

“Here’s my number and if you’ve got any problems Hyra, call me.” She said.

“Well I’ll be off. Have a nice day.” She said sarcastically to Dinobot and she spun on her heels and left.

“But she sure lightened things up. “Maybe that’s what you need Dinobot, someone to lighten things up.”

“Humph! More like something. I need some time away from all this.” He sighed.

“She went out two days ago to stay with Kyla. I don’t blame her, she hates me.”

“Aw, I don’t think she hates you. I think she just needs some time away, like you.”

Hyra sipped her energon and thought for a while; then a question arose in her mind.

“Um, Dinobot, I spoke to Tour yesterday and she said that she’s sharing an apartment with a friend of yours. So how is this friend of yours, is she nice? I mean, I’m just curious to know who she’s with.”

Dinobot turned and looked wearily at her, almost as if the very topic of this conversation annoyed him.

“It’s not a she, it’s a he. And he’s not a true friend. I just know him,” he muttered.

“A HE? She’s sharing an apartment with a HE? Nope, nothing new there. So how is he then?”

“Oh he’s just an annoying rat with a bad attitude. But she’s safe, I think.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me…” he said and headed for the lounge. Just then the front door flung open and in burst Diamond. She was trembling from head to toe and clutching her sword as though it was her very spark. Hyra stood up.

She turned hurriedly to Dinobot who looked like he was prepared to take on anything.

He looked at her anxiously. He’d realised she’d been through an incredibly traumatic time and that fighting in the inter provincial duels may not be what she wanted to do so soon, or altogether.

“I’ve decided I’m going. I know that doesn’t give you more than two weeks to prepare me, but I know we can do it. I want this scholarship, and nothing and no one is going to stand in my way,” she said adamantly.

There she stood, panting and looking up at him with determined eyes. What could he say?

“Alright then, today I’m holding extra training lessons for almost half the class, you are welcome to come along,” he said and her eyes lit up.

“Thanks dad.” She said and threw her arms around him. Dinobot’s expression practically said: “Not again. Why me?”

“Those two days must’ve really helped. She’s gotten over this quicker than me!” Hyra exclaimed.

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Rattrap glared at the two police officers, who were walking away with half a thousand bucks he’d just given them for speeding. He couldn’t get it into their thick heads that he was a test subject for the lab up the road and that it was an accident this speeding and that he had no control over it. He even gave them the phone number and address of Rhinox’s laboratory. But then again, who would buy that story? He sniggered and transformed, one saw him doing so and looked quite surprised and awed by what he’d just witnessed, but the other police officer that had not seen him hurried him along and they never came back to him. Rattrap sighed and started walking down the street towards his apartment. He had a few reports to finish and there was no use in sitting around and sulking. This new vehicle mode of his did go fast and he liked that. Also, these weapons looked nice and he decided he would give them a try tomorrow at the war -training centre. He chuckled to himself, he was sure none of them, excluding Dinobot, had seen weapons like these. He couldn’t wait to see what Dinobot had to say about his ‘makeover’, but he suspected it would be something insulting.

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Tourmaline stepped outside the building and into the dreary sunlight. She put her hands on her hips and looked around. There was no training for her today, so she had time off, which was nice. She’d wasted enough of it thinking about Toby and decided she’d get out and focus her attention on something else.

From up the street she heard someone give her a wolf whistle, but she had long since learnt not to pay attention to it. The streets were empty on this lazy afternoon, and for the first time in years a snug silence fell over her. She felt so much better getting outside, although it wasn’t all that warm. She walked down the small concrete stairs and turned and carried on up the sidewalk. She wasn’t going anywhere specific, but she had in mind a body-art shop she’d seen two days ago that she had wanted to go see. Rattrap’s apartment was in a nice area, there were lots of handy stores and nice shops near by and the training centre was only a ten minute walk away. And part of Tourmaline’s beauty was her athletic physique. She often took strolls to keep her systems healthy; exercise was good for them, as long as it wasn’t too much.

She gazed up at the distant sun and held up her hand and closed her fingers around, so it looked like she was holding it. It was a monstrosity, according to Rattrap, near earth and was sometimes too hot, but here on Cybertron it wasn’t generous with its warmth and light, most of the cities in domes had huge heaters underground to keep their gears from freezing up. This one did too, but it was still forever cold.

She came up to the shop and stepped inside, immediately feeling the warmth of internal heaters wrapping around her. It was a small shop lined with shelves and a multitude of colours as well as painting equipment. There were two others in the store, the shop owner and a customer, who was examining a nice shade of purple. Tourmaline herself hadn’t really used body paint much; almost everything on her, all the colours and patterns were natural. She only had a tattoo on her right arm of Daxlider, a blue star that had been ‘discovered’ by a great Autobot, hence the name. It actually had quite a symbolic meaning. A blue star was the hottest, brightest star you could get, or at least that had been found, and this particular star was also very large. It was a Super giant, blue star which on Cybertron became a symbol of power and protection. That is why she wore it, not so much as a power symbol, but more of the protecting side. The other thing she had was a white star painted on her palms. They also had a meaning. It was said that if you loved someone and wanted to be sure you were destined to be together, he/she would have a star painted in exactly the same way on his/her palm and once the palms were put together, a beautiful blue light would glow and the star would rise out of their hands and hover, glowing, as a symbol of their love. Very romantic, very Hyra. Hyra had told her to do it (one had to paint it on oneself) and she had, but for no real reason, they just looked pretty.

There was a nice selection and she moved across the shelves thoughtfully. She came closer to the entrance to the back of the shop where she supposed all the supplies were kept. The shelf near the entrance to the back had on it some lovely glitter colours. Tourmaline spotted that nice purple in glitter and move over excitedly towards it, but at the same time a fem came out the back holding boxes full of paint. She almost bashed into her but stopped herself in time. The fem was a mixture of oranges, yellows and reds and had painted flames coming off from her eyes. A very distinct black line around them as well.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you coming.” Tourmaline stuttered. She recognised her, but from where?

“Well, yes, but I like tattoos.” She started but faded off. She spotted a tattoo on her arm; it looked like some kind of fiery bird…

“Well, don’t over do it like I’m goin’ ta.” She said in a back street accent Tourmaline knew so well. She spent most of her time there.

The fem shoved past and Tourmaline turned and watched her pay for the paints and leave. She closed her eyes and tried to remember. She knew her, but not as a friend, but as someone she’d seen somewhere, something to do with Hyra. She shook her head and put the purple glitter back on the shelf.

She turned and left and walked briskly down the path, her mind still buzzing when a shot sounded off and something exploded by her foot.

She turned to the voice and saw Rattrap standing up the road, then she heard a noise to her right and she spun around to see an arm holding a gun, coming out of the shadows of a space between two buildings. She screamed and scrambled to her feet only to feel something tackled her and heave her three metres. Shots banged around her and her eyes glanced upwards to see Rattrap holding her with one arm, firing with another. He was firing at the attacker in the shadows and Tour could see by the flashes of laser beams a glint of a red shoulder. Rattrap then stood in front of her and she could no longer see.

“You may not remember me, but I sure as the pit remember you. Tell your bitch of a girl friend that what goes around, comes around!” Then the voice faded and all she could hear was Rattrap making funny ‘hoooo boy!’ noises.

“Jeez, did your friend steal her boy friend or somethin’, coz she’s really angry.” Rattrap said, his eyes wide with shock but sparkling with renewed life.

“I…don’t…know who she is. But I’m going to find out,” she whispered, her core still trembling from the fright.

She stared at him with fear etched in her eyes as well as a helpless kind of desperation; she obviously knew that it was now crucial to remember.

“Thanks, for saving me. Primus, that’s something I never thought I’d say to you.” She blurted.

“Eh, it’s nothing. I had ta save people’s butts all da time back onda dirt ball. It comes second nature ta me.”

But his grin faded when he heard the tell tale noise of sirens and he turned to see the same two police officers that had fined him earlier.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

There stood Sting, looking at him as if it were the most normal thing in the world to bombard in when someone was trying to have a bath.

“I have the names of those involved in Switchblade’s death, a few pictures of some of them too. I know where they live and I know where they’re going,” he snarled.

A smile flickered across the Predacon leader’s face and he sank back into his bath, taking the files with him.

“That green-blue one is called Tourmaline. She was part of the detective trio Switchblade had entered. The other one there is-”

Megatron sighed again; it looked as if his bathroom was a public meeting area now. Strange, he hadn’t even noticed her coming in…

“Oh yes, I most certainly do. And I know that one too,” she growled, pointing to Tourmaline.

“That one,” she snarled, pointing to Hyra. “Put me away in prison. And that one came out with the police and watched me get arrested; she was friends with that slag heap, Hyra. I just happened to run into her today.”

“I went to get body paints. I think we should all re-paint ourselves different colours and styles. The police and everyone else have probably seen our photographs on television and are on the look out.”

“It did, obviously, cross my mind, Phoenix. But seeing as you were so impatient, that is one thing I don’t have to worry about, for now. Now, you said you…ran into this girl?” he asked slowly.

“Yes, at the body paint shop. She didn’t seem to recognize me at first, but when she saw my tattoo, she seemed to wake up a little, so I left.

I-I fired at her from between two buildings…but then this strange other bot jumped in front of her and started firing back. He looked like you, I mean, only smaller and with a different kind of beast mode.”

“It was hard to see, he kept firing and I kept having to duck. But from what I could see of him…he looked a bit like that animal you get on earth…that…oh it’s times like this I wish I’d paid attention in biology class," she muttered irritably.

Megatron pressed a button on his wrist and a few seconds later, a cyber bee floated in with a built in hologram projector.

“Transmetal, I suppose. Well, we’ve found one, and where there’s one, there is bound to be others,” Megatron noted.

“And I found another of those ‘others’ you speak of; in fact, the very killer of Switchblade.”

Phoenix and Megatron both turned and for a moment, Sting had their full attention.

“I followed this Hyra back to where she’s staying. I saw another bot with a similar mode to yours there with her. Now, I read in another news report that the witness, who was Hyra by the way, was staying with the father of the girl Switchblade tried to kill. That was how they both knew to look for her. So, I assume that this male bot I saw, was him.”

“The girl Switchblade tried to kill was called Diamond. She is a war trainee and further research I did show that her father owns the training centre. I found out the name of the owner and I’m sure this should ring a bell Megatron, his name was Dinobot.”

The last word froze Megatron and if Megatron ever did look surprised, it was now.

“Dinobot? And…he has…a daughter? Oh this just gets better and better. Phoenix wants to uh, ‘rid herself’ of Hyra and Tourmaline and I want to terminate Dinobot and Optimus, and no doubt he knows where the Maximal leader is. Well, you have done well you two. I have a plan for Dinobot, but as for Tourmaline and Hyra, you can dispose of them,” he said, looking straight at Phoenix.

“But be sure, Phoenix, you do it so that it looks like an accident. I don’t want any suspicions raised. Understood?”

“Sting, find out where the vermin Rattrap got his upgrade from, but do not harm him. It will look too suspicious. Wait for that. And after that, Sting, I want you to find out as much as possible on Diamond. Be a spy, if you will. I intend to hit Dinobot where it hurts the most, when the time is right. The rest of the pack will be used for something else, something greater. You two just get me as much info as you can. Now go, leave me to my bath.”

The two glanced at each other and left the room, leaving Megatron to sigh and lie back, forming plans in his mind of how to destroy a few ‘old enemies’.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Diamond took a deep breath, before entering the arena. A few students were already sitting on the stands, even though there was still half an hour before training.

She held up her sword and stared long and hard at its tip, just waiting for it to bleed.

It was a playful attempt to cut his leg off. She knew he’d back out in time, but the fact she’d almost dismembered her foot brought back the harsh reality that she had lots of catching up to do.

“Come on…get out of there…you mole!” She strained to say as she pulled strongly.

Dinobot shook his head and took his own sword and thrust it in the ground and from underneath, pushed up her sword.

“I’m just a little stronger than you Diamond, that’s all.” He said and turned and walked to the weapons cabinet to unlock it.

She sighed and looked at the stands. It was going to be hard facing up to the same crowds again. Difficult and embarrassing. She spotted Tourmaline walking in and rushing up to Hyra, who was talking to Galtrex again. She looked excited in a smooth kind of way. She didn’t stay long, only a few cycles and she could see Rattrap waiting just outside.

She turned and spotted Zyda with a ray gun, which was used in battle to blind the opponent, but used on raw metal it just stung quite badly.

“Talking to yourself, Dimes?” She called. She was standing behind a few empty pipes a few metres away.

She felt the sting on her back now. She spun around and stepped away from the burning light.

Diamond growled and was about to move away when Zyda screamed: Don’t…move…a muscle. If you do, this little ray is going in your eyes.”

Zyda started to walk towards her and the sting intensified on her cheek as the ray became more and more close range.

“Oops, so sorry Dimes. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Now I suppose you’re gonna tell daddy who’s bullying you over supper tonight and I’ll get the sack, now won’t I.” She smirked.

“Zyda, I’m not out to get you and I don’t discuss anything over ‘supper’ as you put it.” She replied.

“Why’d you come back Diamond? I thought being disembowelled would have put you off violence.” She sniggered.

Zyda called after her: “What’s the matter, can’t face up to the past? Or can’t you face up to the future?”

Diamond stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath. Her cheeks were burning hot with rage and she turned around slowly and glowered at Zyda.

“And you think that’s gonna scare me? Using your lieutenant commanding voice and authority? We’re not at war here Diamond, and you have NO authority over me! So don’t you come using those ‘you talkin’ ta me’ lines. You don’t fool me.” Zyda sniggered glaring at her with contempt.

“No, I guess you can’t fool someone who’s already a fool by thinking they can talk to people like dirt without getting a comeback. What goes around Zyda, comes around.” And with that Diamond turned and walked up to help Dinobot with unpacking the weapons, knowing full well that by doing so, the fight would end. Zyda didn’t have the guts to insult her in front of him, and she knew that. Zyda pulled a face and turned away, muttering something under her breath.

Slowly the sun rose and the arena’s heating system kicked in after Dinobot had turned it on when they first arrived. The sun hardly offered any warmth.

Eventually, the stands filled, the register had been taken and the session was underway. It would be a while before Diamond started, and that worried her. With less than two weeks to the provincial duels she needed all the practice she could get.

She stood on the sidelines, practicing swings and kicks, ducking and diving, although there was no one really there. Most of them were just enjoying lying on the stands or chatting away with their friends. Diamond was pretty friendly with all of them, but at the moment, she just felt excluded. It was more of her own personal feelings though, and she knew that they weren’t the ones doing the excluding. She watched as Kyla, who had been so good to her for the past two days, flirted happily with a guy called Ionex. And she didn’t want to ruin her fun by asking her to practice with her. Eventually, Diamond gave up, dropped the sword and sat on the floor and watched Zyda and Galtrex battle it out with laser guns.

“Thought I’d come down here for a bit. ‘Sides, I’m a head of schedule with one of my computer games I’m making, so why not enjoy the extra time?” He said and sat down beside her.

“I wouldn’t think going to the war training centre would be that interesting.”

“No, I like to watch. It sort of brings back the old times. Life was so exciting then.” He sighed and gazed at the two fighting.

“I’m away for two weeks and when I come back, I almost stab my own foot!” She cried. “Once you’re in, you either stay in, or you stay out.”

He got up and disappeared into the stands. She frowned and looked for him, and spotted him coming back with a borrowed sword.

“I’ll practice with ya. I probably suck, but then remember, I’m seventeen years out of practice!” He exclaimed.

She smiled and stood up, aware of the lack of room but also aware that she finally had someone she could feel relaxed being around.

“But you play on the Cybernet, which isn’t that much different.” She commented.

“Yeah, but you don’t get hurt there. If you stab my foot I’ll probably scream like a girl.”

She took her favourite pose and swung at him with the sword, just missing his knee.

He leapt to the right and she was once again on the attack, and loving every second of it.

He blocked her blow with his sword and pushed her back a bit. She was incredibly strong for a fem.

She swept around him and he turned just in time to stop another blow from cutting him in half.

He charged forward but she rolled to the right and kicked him lightly on the right shin.

He swung around and tried to hit her while she was on the ground, but she crawled backwards and the sword plummeted into the ground.

He grabbed its handle and tried to pull it up, but with great difficulty. She approached him slowly, patting the sword into her hands.

“Hey, Dimes just wait, wait a cycle Dimes.” He said as he struggled to pull it out.

“DIAMOND!” He cried and closed his eyes and stepped back. There was a thump and he opened his eyes to discover she had thrust her sword in the ground and was pushing up his with her tip. Suddenly, as if the ground had spat it out, it when flying up with a spray of dirt that splattered all over his face. He caught the sword but with his eyes only partially open.

“I’m Ok, I’m OK.” He said, smiling slightly though she couldn’t really see past the mud.

“Hey, I’m gonna miss you if I go.” She said and pulled away and smiled awkwardly at him.

She looked a bit worried and the drying mud on his face suddenly cracked up as he smiled.

“No, seriously Dimes, I’m gonna miss you too.” He said and she looked relieved.

“Sorry about the mud, I tried to copy my father, but I made a messy job of it.”

The two sat down on the bottom step of the stands, holding hands and watching the duels below with soft layer of tranquility settling over them for the first time in a while.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Eh, they only believed us coz you pulled a few moves. If it was me on my own, hah, I’d be at da station for hours.”

Tourmaline closed the door and sighed heavily. After their little ‘chat’ with the very skeptical policemen (Constable Gowler and Sergeant Haxinder), she and Rattrap stayed at a bar for a few hours. Most people were out doing things on this rare thing called a holiday; either that or they were all sleeping in. So the bar was quite empty, and it was actually nice that way. She’d learnt quite a lot about him in the conversations they had had. She’d also noticed he’d been upgraded, and suddenly, he’d become a whole lot more ‘appealing’. But she was tired now and for once that uncomfortable couch looked welcoming.

“Yeah well, whoever that was who tried to slag me obviously doesn’t want me around. Thanks for saving my ass, Rat Face,” she yawned and slumped into the couch.

“Yeah, I’m beat. Come here, le’me give you somethin’.” She said and summoned him with her hand.

“Body paints, why’d ya need that? You're drop dead gorgeous to my eyes,” he said, a wry grin spreading across his face.

“Huh, I should think so. I like body paints, dunno why, but I just do, even if I hardly ever use them.” She shrugged.

“It’s like me and explosives,” he began. “I got a load of em still from the Beast Wars, I keep ‘em, but I never use em. Sad really, I like watching things explode,” he chuckled.

“Now uh, what was it you were gonna give me? A kiss for my heroic efforts?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh don’t you go looking at me with those goo goo eyes,” she said as she dug in her sub space pocket. She pulled out the spare key to his apartment.

“Thanks for the use of it, but I had another key made yesterday, I figured it'd be more practical,” she said and handed him the key. Now he looked disappointed.

“Yeah, well, good night Tour,” he said and turned and headed off to the light switch. He snapped it off and shot one last glance at her curled up on the couch.

She smiled lazily and blew him a kiss, and he shrugged with a smile and headed down the hallway to the study.

She lay with her eyes partially open and gazed at the roof, watching as the cyber cars went by outside, the pretty light patterns they made as they did so.

The sound outside was very distant and there was a lonely silence that hovered over her. Only one moon shone over this side of Cybertron tonight, and the silvery light that poured in wasn’t so strong this time around. She looked over to her right and gazed at the table, backed by various cabinets and shelves. She stared at the objects on the table, a few papers, a glass and a metal box where she knew he kept his laser gun. She looked at the table for a while, before she noticed something was missing.

She squinted and searched the table, and the floor, but it was nowhere to be seen.

She sat up and looked about. She heard a rustle from behind and she swung around.

Another, tall male bot slipped in front of her and silently started opening cupboards. It was clear he was looking for something.

Instead, she started talking to the male bot, who was covered in a black cyber cloak, to make him unidentifiable. He shuffled through the cabinets hastily.

“Ok, bitch, where does your boyfriend keep the transmetal up grader?” she suddenly snarled. Tourmaline felt a shiver of fear go through her.

“I don’t know; he got upgraded this morning somewhere. He didn’t say where."

Tourmaline shook her head as much as the tight embrace around her neck would allow.

“No, after he saved me from you, slag heap, we went to a bar, and talked about other stuff. I commented about the upgrade and he just asked if I liked it and I said yes...and he just smiled and we talked about something else,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Yeah right,” the femme said sarcastically. “If you’re going to war training, which by the way, we know you are, then an upgrade would most certainly interest you, as it would all trainees. It means more power, more speed, and more agility. So don’t talk slag to me, where the pit did he get it?” she growled, her voice as cold as ice.

Tourmaline immediately put on her usual, seductive act when she was undercover as a different approach to the situation. She knew that these guys wanted that upgrade for themselves, and she knew it was for evil, not for a good cause.

“Listen, I don’t care where he got it or how he got, I just care what it looks like, okay? An phew, it looks damn good,” she purred.

“Primus, not another empty headed slutty bimbo. We can never get info out of their heads cause there’s nothing in them,” the male bot moaned.

“Oh? Well then, why don’t you go in there and ask him? We’ll be at the door listening and if you say one word or hint at us being out here, then we’ll just kill you. We have a short range scanner that can see exactly what you are doing behind that door, and if you attempt to escape, we’ll hit you with perfect aim,” she growled.

Tourmaline stood up and made a move for the table, only to find that what she was looking for was gone.

“Looking for this?” said male bot, who was holding the box with his left hand and the gun with his right.

She felt hands grab her and spin her around. The femme bot was also cloaked, although she already knew what she looked like.

“But he won’t tell, he’s very secretive about these things,” Tourmaline whispered shakily, as a last attempt to get out of what was about to be a catastrophic situation.

“I don’t care. You make him tell, no matter what you have to do,” she said, eyeing her over in disgust.

“He wouldn’t tell if we threatened to kill him or you. He’ll know who we are even with the cloaks and he’s smart enough to know that if we get this technology, and use it for what we will do, well…” he trailed off.

Tourmaline could feel something twist inside her stomach and a raw sense of panic severed through her.

“Go on, slut. If you fail to do as your told, we’ll kill you both and find other means of locating the technology. This was just a shortcut.”

Tourmaline jerked forward and almost stumbled, but caught her balance and walked slowly to the door. Both bots hid behind the wall in the bedroom and waited.

Tourmaline froze a moment, before quietly knocking on the door, almost shivering.

She opened the door and a ray of light pierced the darkness of the hallway. She slipped inside.

Rattrap was sitting at the computer typing furiously, but he swung around in his chair and looked at her.

“Hey, uh, what’s da matter? You look like you’ve seen a dead bot,” he commented and stood up.

“Cold? Well ya can sleep in my room, it’s warmer in there, I’ll go sleep on da couch,” he offered.

“Aw, I’m not one for mush, but if it’ll make ya feel better,” he said and pulled her closer and into his arms. She stepped further in the room and away from the hallway. This was her chance.

“There’re two bad Pred bots in the bedroom who want to know where you got the transmetal upgrade from, they’re using me as a means to get info out of you,” she whispered quickly.

His eyes were wide with shock and confusion. She put her lips to his ears again.

“We’ve gotta bail, but act as if you don’t know, or they’ll kill us. I’m gonna ask you where you got it, but don’t tell, just delay the answer somehow,” she said quietly and pulled away.

“I couldn’t sleep, maybe you could bore me to sleep somehow. Tell me about your day, every single detail,” she said aloud, in a more confident tone. She was a brilliant actress.

“Aw…why would…you wanna hear that? It’s slaggin’ boring,” he said, his eyes shooting to a drawer in one of the side tables across the room.

He then put his hand over his wrist, pointing to his old bomb compartment. She paused a second then understood.

“Oh come on, they say counting sheep puts you to sleep, but I’ve tried that and it’s not boring enough,” she sighed.

She walked over to him, grabbed him and pushed him against the drawer and kissed and hugged him.

“I had a rough day today, I really need the sleep,” she said; trying to sound worried.

“Yyyyyeah, okay. For a while. But I’ll tell ya in da lounge while you’re on da couch, so ya can easily fall asleep, okay?” he said. For a moment, her actress style face faded and she looked him in the eyes, full of questions. He nodded as if to say “Chill, I know what I’m doing.”

“Alright,” she purred and turned and headed for the lounge, him close behind.

Rattrap stayed close to the wall and at one point, brushed against it and clipped the tiny bomb onto the wall just behind the open door to the bedroom.

He entered the lounge and she was lying on the couch, looking expectantly at him in two ways, one acting, one real.

“Ok, ya strange girl. Dis is what happened today, and how I got dis transmetal form,” he started, his eyes glancing towards a clock on the wall.

“I got up this morning, lying next to you, of course,” he began and he couldn’t help but feel like laughing when she pulled a face of disgust.

“Then I got up, gathered my stuff and went off to visit an old friend. Now, you’re probably wondering how I got this new look, and I’m gonna tell ya….” he said, building up the suspense for both her and the two bots next door, who were no doubt listening intently and probably getting incredibly impatient.

“And I’m gonna tell ya right after this bomb explodes!” He screamed and leapt onto her and pulled her down with him onto the floor. A moment later, there was a deafening explosion and the whole place lit up and shuddered. He dulled his hearing systems and lay on the floor with one arm over her. She put her hands over her eyes as she wasn’t on her stomach but on her back. The explosion only lasted a few seconds and a moment later, pieces were falling from the roof and everything had been knocked off the shelves, which were mostly on the floor themselves. They remained dead still behind the couch. It was only a small bomb, she had gathered that, but it was enough to have destroyed the majority of the room it was closest to.

Slowly, Rattrap rose up and peered over the couch, only to get a face full of smoke. He held his mouth to stop him from coughing as he didn’t want to give away their position, in case the bots were still alive.

There was silence except for the sound of a small fire and a few pieces occasionally falling down from various places.

He glared at her for a second before looking over the couch again. Most of the smoke had cleared and he could see the remains of his beloved bedroom, and two dormant, pitch-black bodies lying limply on the ash covered floor.

He stood up slowly and moved cautiously over to them, bringing out his tail spear in the process.

He finally was standing directly over them, holding the spear over one’s throat.

A sudden shiver of recognition went through him as he saw the face of the male bot. He knew him, oh did he know him. Sting. A terrorist who had taken control over a large amount of rebellious Predacons after the Great War and who had almost taken over a major city, but had been caught in time and locked away forever. Or at least, he thought so. Rattrap shook his head slightly, his eyes wide with surprise and perhaps a little fear. If Sting had escaped…then there could be others. He remembered Harine nattering on about some incident at a Prison not far from here… He shook his head and knelt down and put his hand carefully over Sting’s chest.

He sighed quietly with unstable relief and repeated the procedure with the other bot, and got the same result.

He looked back at the couch and spotted Tourmaline, who was now standing and looking on with unreadable eyes.

She was quiet but after a few moments, asked the question he knew she was afraid to hear the answer of.

“Hey, hey Tour, it’s ok. I know one of 'em…and they’re bad news. Or at least dey were,” he said, glancing back at the charred corpses.

“In all my years…I’ve never had to kill someone…I’ve never...never had to kill,” she choked.

“Ya did the right thing sista, otherwise you and I and da rest of da Maximals would have had our gooses cooked. Especially if…if what I think has happened,” he said, his mind racing with ideas and disturbing thoughts.

But it didn’t comfort her, him saying that, and he gave up and pulled her closer.

“But man, was that one hell of a kiss you gave me!” he cried, his eyes lighting up in remembrance.

Suddenly a piece of the roof came crashing down loudly behind him, which further increased the hole above his old bedroom. He was glad he was on the top story.

“Yes…yes Constable Gowler? It’s Mrs Cringley here…yes I want to report some disturbance in the area.”

“Well then make like a road car and let’s get lost,” she said, still shivering a bit.

“You know,” Rattrap began as they descended. “Today’s gun fighting, explosives and rescuing damsels in distress, really made me feel young again,” he said before his voice drifted away completely from the wrecked apartment.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Megatron eyed over his group of seven warriors who were standing side by side in a straight line.

They consisted of mainly killers and rebels but Megatron knew that they were capable of even more. Why else would Switchblade have released them?

Power Surge, a well built, strong fighter who was responsible for a mass murder of ten important Maximals when he blew up a house of parliament. He had in fact been leading a group of soldiers and was under Sting’s command. He was Megatron’s fourth in command after Phoenix. He moved on to Asphyxiate, who lived up to his name. This small but agile bot had built in energon ropes, which were semi alive. Once fastened around any part of the body, it tightened much like a python does.

It tightened until it cut through the metal, and severed the circuits. It was incredibly strong. Asphyxiate had a number of these ‘strangling ropes’ stored inside his arms, which shot out of his fingers when summoned to use. This Megatron found quite disgusting. He was a handy bot for one- man assassinations, but it would be no train smash if he was lost in battle. Then there was Kismet, a beautiful fem with a dark side. She’d actually been a Maximal Corporal to start with, during the Great War, but she’d been captured and re-programmed to be a Predacon. There was a long story behind it, some Predacon General had fallen in love with her and demanded she be captured and re-programmed, but he was killed shortly afterwards and never got to see her as a Predacon. She’d then gone out into the world confused and alone, and soon became a thief, and a very good one at that. She was very stealthy and agile and good at what she did. She soon paired up with Switchblade who had recognised her talents but unfortunately she had been caught whilst attempting to rob a fancy Cybertronian museum for surprise surprise, the Golden Disks, twenty stellar-cycles ago. Now she was working for him and although he had taken an immediate liking to the dark fem, he didn’t trust her fully. He moved over and glowered at a male bot called Vindictive. The bot had been called something else before and while he was in prison, but he had re-named himself recently. He was a medium sized, tough fighter. A real soldier but with few brains. However, he was capable of following instructions and would prove an advantage when it came to brute strength.

There was also Kyroid, a murderer who had once worked for Switchblade. He was very skilled and a good spy. Then there was Tarantulas, who Switchblade had also known somewhere along the line. Megatron knew Tarantulas couldn’t be trusted, but he knew he needed a scientist to assist him at times. And last in line was Blight.

He was a nasty little tick who specialised in cyber viruses, in fact, he’d created a few deadly ones, one so bad it had almost wiped out ten thousand bots during the Great War. He was a bad omen back then, but now he was just a nuisance. Megatron guessed he’d use him somewhere down the line, and although big-mouthed little blight didn’t know it, his life depended very much on that guess.

And that was the seven Predacons in a nutshell. Phoenix he had shared a cell with and had only been lucky enough to escape with him, and Sting was a distant cousin of Switchblade, and a terrorist. And that is where those two fitted in. It was with these nine Megatron would use to break into the highest security prison in the whole of Cybertron, and let loose the nightmares of the past, which had been so long locked away from the present and the future. They would be his soldiers, along with others that decided to join, and the Predacon rebels would rise up again, and Megatron would complete what Sting had started, and this time, triumph.

He wanted to start the meeting, to tell them of his plans, but he was waiting for Sting and Phoenix, who should have been here by now.

“Honestly, how long does it take to make a rat squeak?!” He cried suddenly, making all of the Predacons jump back.

“No, I don’t want the rat to know that I’m behind this, though he might already have guessed.” He sighed.

“Computer, locate units Phoenix and Sting.” He commanded, a sense of de JA vu filtering in. Back on earth he had had the dumbest, most useless bunch of Predacons he’d ever met, but here he expected more.

Megatron switched off the internal computer and turned to his troops, who were fidgeting and punching each other. A bunch of murderers and rebels: they were going to be a difficult lot to control.

“So where are they, I’m tired of standing like an idiot waiting for the slagheaps. And I’m constipated too.”

“I never knew robot’s could get constipated,” Megatron remarked darkly, shaking his head.

“I have bad news for you my Predacons, your upgrades are going to be a bit delayed. However, I have other things for you to do in the mean time.”

“I want you all to paint yourselves different colours, as a means of camouflage. It is permanent body paint, so it should carry through when you go transmetal, which will further change and camouflage you.”

“Go to your quarters, except you Tarantulas, and let yourselves go. Be creative for Unicron’s sake.” They all took a few cans of paint and left grumbling and swearing.

“And Predacons, don’t die during this upcoming mission. It’s most annoying.”

“Terminated. How they got terminated by the Vermin of all bots, I don’t know. But what now remains is the fact we don’t know where he got his upgrade. They do exist, but only to Generals and other, shall we say ‘worthy’ bots. I suspect he got it from the Maximal scientist Rhinox. I can understand him needing one, so that he is not so heavily affected by his beast mode. It can be quite a burden when travelling, as I have discovered.” He said, looking down at his chest plate. The skin was chapped and withering away from the lack of oxygen and exposure to other gasses that were not friendly to the organics.

“But I know the laboratory the scientist works at is heavily guarded. What I want to ask you is if you can create such a device and enhance it. I will supply you with whatever equipment you need.”

“Don’t worry, I’m used to failures and let-downs,” Megatron growled and turned away.

Tarantulas watched as the metal monster disappeared into the shadows, with all his plans and hopes.

And for a moment, Tarantulas thought he was more insane than even himself.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

If you are having trouble with remembering all the characters I have created, (which even I have trouble remembering) then click here for a little summary of each.

AFTER EARTH PART 5

When The Tide Has Turned