Blurred Lines

By Dannn Sanew

Silverbolt walked back to his room with his head down. Images flooded his mind, images of Transmutate. He had tried to save him, but in the end he caused his demise. He had failed, as a warrior, as a Maximal. What was a Maximal? Those lines seen blurred more than ever. He had joined the Maximals believing that they were the greater good. They had wanted to put it in stasis.

Maybe Transmutate would have been better off with Rampage. No, Rampage would have twisted it innocent spark to match his own. Then again, Rampage was just reaching out to find another like him; one who could understand him. That one thing that they all shared in common, they were different, considered mutants. If Rampage and Transmutate weren’t accepted by their fellow Transformers…what made him any different?

“Hey Birddog! Feeling any better?” Cheetor said as he and Rattrap came up behind him.

“Don’t call me that!” Sliverbolt growled. When he saw the shocked look on Cheetor's face he apologized. “Cheetor I am sorry…I am not sure what has gotten into me.”

“It’s okay. If you need to talk or just wanna hang out, we’re right here.”

“If ya ask me Bolts, you’re gettin’ upset over nothin’. The tireplug would’ve ended up hurtin’ someone.”

“No one is asking you, Mouse!” Silverbolt exclaimed as he headed for the nearest exit. He just needed to get away. Cheetor just glared at Rattrap.

“Fine kiddo, I’ll go after him and apologize. Geez, everyone is making a big thing… outta of that…that thing!” Rattrap said as he made his way after him.

Sliverbolt landed in beast mode in an forest not too far from base. He took in the beauty of it all. The plants, animals, the moon. He saw a group of wolves and approached them. At the sight of Sliverbolt they retreated into the night. “Am I some kind of monster?”

“Nope, just a idiot who thinks he can save everyone.”

Sliverbolt turned to find Blackarachnia there. She sat casually on a tree branch. “What do you want?”

“Oh, just to say I’m sorry about what happened to your friend,” Blackarachnia as she slid off the tree branch. “Heard about it back at base. If Rampage was upset about it…”

“I’m handling it well enough.”

“Are you now? So why are you here so far from your base? Have you finally figured out that the Maximals have their rough edges too? You think the Predacons are all bad. Did they make Rampage? Did they try to get rid of him because he didn’t fit their plans? By the Pit, if you heard half the stories from the guys back at base and know about what happened there, you’ll wonder why we aren’t all Preds.” She let her words sink in before she continued. ”You think that Rampage is the only dark secret the Maximals have been hiding? Why do you think Maximals are restricted from all of the information?”

“That is not true!”

“It isn’t? How much do you know about the Great War?”

“Umm….”

“Yeah, I thought so. Why don’t you stay here and I’ll be back in five megacycles with some data tracks to prove my point.”

“Alright, but why are you doing this?”

“Sliverbolt, you’re lost and I’m going to help you find your way back,” Blackarachnia cooed. She left with a wink, leaving Silverbolt to ponder about the things she said.

Inferno was on night shift. His red optics roamed the many displays before him. He was awarded with an interesting discovery. In Vector Sigmal there were two signals. One was moving away from the other, but the other just stayed in place. The one moving away was Predacon, so why hadn’t he received a report? The one staying in place seemed to be a Maximal with a third signal moving toward it. The third one also appeared to be Maximal. “Maximals so close to the colony? They shall not remain unchecked!”

Inferno laughed as he checked his flamethrower and flew into the night. On his way there, Inferno commed Waspinator so he could take his shift earlier. Waspinator wasn’t exactly happy about it.

“Why doez Waspinator have to start shift early?”

“Just do as you as you are commanded to, drone! What you are doing is of great importance to the colony! You should take pride in being awarded with such a task!”

“Waspinator would take great pride in ....”

Inferno turned off his comm link before Waspinator could finish his statement. He had to focus on the task at hand: protecting the Queen’s land. “FOR THE ROYALTY! HAHAHAHA!”

Rattrap saw Silverbolt moping on the forest floor when he got there. It took him longer to get there because of all the rough terrain he had to travel over.

“Aww man, I can’t believe I’m doin’ this. I must have crossed a circuit or something!” Rattrap said to himself as he approached Silverbolt. “Um…Bolts, I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry about what happened.”

“I sure you are. You can tell Optimus that I accept your apology…”

“Hey, Optimus didn’t send me!”

“Then someone else did!”

“Okay, you got me. Cheetor did send me after you, but I didn’t have to. Plus, I really mean what I just said!”

“Do you ever know what you’re sorry about, Mouse?” Silverbolt asked.

“Yes. You lost someone ya cared about. I still get upset about Chopperface… It’s just that… I cover it up. Kid, everyone here lost someone in this war: Snowstalker, Tigatron, Airazor, Dinobot and now your pal. Look, I made a mistake when I made fun of him an’ I’m sorry.”

Sliverbolt looked up and saw the hurt in Rattrap’s face. He wondered what Dinobot would had thought about this. He must have known what it meant to be an outsider. At one point he was considered a traitor by most bots in this war. Dinobot made decisions so he could find answers and in the end he found it. Any other thoughts were cut off as the howl of a engine came closer. Silverbolt and Rattrap transformed, weapons drawn.

They opened fire before Inferno could do anything. Inferno was still powerful despite not being a Transmetal and on top of that he was a nutcase. They weren’t taking any chances. He dodged most of their shots and blasted Rattrap into a pile of rocks.

“RATTRAP!”

“Don’t worry about him, fuzor, for you will be joining him soon enough!”

Silverbolt threw one of his wing missiles at it Inferno, but it was melted by the latter’s flame thrower. Silverbolt quickly contacted base as he dodged Inferno next barrage. Much to his disappointment, he found that they were in an jamming zone. Unknown to the fighters, someone was watching the battle, savoring the emotions that flowed from them: fear, anger, hopelessness. He would have remained hidden, but he was here to add to the mix.

Revenge was the only thing on Rampage’s mind as he shot Inferno out of the sky. Inferno had hardly begun to get up when Rampage reached him. He put his gun away and grinned. He was going to enjoy this!

“Rampage why have you shot your…”

“SHUT UP AND DON’T GET IN MY WAY, HERO!” Rampage roared as he kicked Inferno. “Worthless bug, you will pay for what you did!”

Inferno struggled to get back up. “YOU DARE ATTACK ME, DRONE!”

“Good, you still have some fight in you. It wouldn’t be any fun if you didn’t fight back!”

Rampage charged at Inferno with lighting speed. Inferno flew out of the way and kept on going. Rampage stopped before he could hit anything. Rampage pulled out both his guns and shot Inferno out of the sky again. Inferno’s eyes dimmed as sparks shot out of his body; he was going into stasis lock. Silverbolt couldn’t let Rampage continue his madness. “RAMPAGE, STOP!”

“Now why would I want to do that?”

“Is one life worth another?”

Rampage stroked his chin as to think about it. “Now that I think about it, you’re right. Transmutate’s death isn't worth another life. IT'S WORTH TWO!” Rampage said as he shot Sliverbolt. “You know, I expected more from you. Can’t you see what I’m trying to do here?”

Sliverbolt slowly got up. Every movement he made took great effort. “All I see here is murder.”

“I call it justice. You were there! He needed to pay with his life!”

“Yes I was there and if anyone should, pay it’s us.” Silverbolt said as struck Rampage with his wing missile. The blast only sent the titan a couple of feet back. He took out another one and held it ready to use. “Inferno didn’t destroy him, WE DID!”

“You’re right, looks like we have to pay. You go first!”

Both of them fired off their weapons at each other. The last time it had cause the death of a transformer. Would it do so again? Explosions went off as the missiles collided with each other. One of Rampage missiles got through and hit the rocks behind him. Silverbolt shielded himself with his wings against the rocks that headed his way.

When Silverbolt let his wings down he saw Inferno shooting at Rampage. Even Rampage was caught off guard by Inferno’s attack.

“HOW?” Rampage roared. He wasn’t hurt by the attack, but pissed off by it. “I’ll make sure I finish you off this time! You, hero boy and the… Oh slag. WHERE’S THE RAT?”

“Right behind ya, Crabby!” Rattrap said as he hopped onto Rampage’s back. He slapped on two bombs and jumped off. Rampage couldn’t reach the bombs due to his size.

“CURSE YOU, RAT!” Rampage managed to say before he blew up.

Rampage was out of the picture, but Inferno was still online. If they didn’t convince the ant to go into stasis lock his spark would extinguish. “Inferno look, we just going to leave. Then you can call help for you and Rampage.”

“YOU MUST BURN FOR INVADING THE QUEEN’S LAND!”

“Ya did what ya could Bolts. Let me give it a shot.” Rattrap said as he aim his gun at Inferno. He let off a quick burst that brought Inferno into stasis lock. He could see that Silverbolt was about to give him an “Optimus” speech.

“Hey I got the job done. Now let gets these two some help.”

They called the Maximal base to pick up Rampage and Inferno. They were too injured to make it back to base on their own. When they arrived back at base, Silverbolt felt guilty. He knew that after Rampage and Inferno were repaired, they would be locked up. Until when? Until the war was over? They were going to be rotting in a cell on Cybertron forever once they got back home. Maybe he could save them. Silverbolt should have known then that some things were never meant to be.

Fifteen megacycles later

They had to sedate Rampage before they could put him in his cell. They were going to keep Rampage sedated until they could enforce his holding cell. Inferno had been sedated been too, but only to get him into his cell. That was where he was heading now. Cheetor was on guard duty when he arrived.

“Cheetor I want to speak to the prisoner.”

“Go ahead, but I warn you all he’s been doing is babbling.”

Sliverbolt pulled up a stool and sat with his back to Inferno’s cell. Inferno couldn’t see him, but he knew that Inferno could heard him. Inferno had once been a Maximal. Silverbolt knew he could save him. “Inferno, it is I, Silverbolt. We are going to help you get better. We are going to help you become a Maximal again.”

“Release me at once! You will all burn!”

“Like I told you, Silverbolt, he's been like that all morning. Um… why are doing this?"

“Can’t you see, Cheetor? I am trying to help him.”

“Silverbolt, you can’t save everyone and sometimes certain bots don’t want help.”

“YOUR MAXIMAL TRICKS WON’T WORK ON ME!”

“I guess… you’re right. I’m going to see if Optimus need me to scout.”

Silverbolt walked into the control room to find a very confused Rhinox and Optimus. “Hey Silverbolt, come over here and take a look at our scanners.”

Silverbolt did what Optimus asked him to and saw nothing. He was about to ask Optimus what he was suppose to be looking for when he saw it, a faint signal. It quickly disappear again. “How long has it been doing that?”

“We just notice it a couple of cycles ago. It so easy to miss, so it hard to tell how long.” Rhinox explained.

“What is it?”

“That is what we’re going to find out Silverbolt. Rhinox call Rattrap in. I don’t want anyone outside the base by themselves until we figure what that signal is.”

Optimus and Sliverbolt arrived in the lush jungle of Sector Awett. Rhinox reported that the signal was last seen coming from this sector. As it turned out the signal was moving most of the time. That meant it could be a new Maximal or a Predacon trying to lure them into a trap.

“Optimus, I found tracks… but they end here.”

“Do the tracks match any of the Predacons flyers?”

“No, I have never seen these tracks before, and the scent is different too.”

“Alright, let’s move.”

Three cycles later they found what they were looking for. The strange transformer sat on a rock, as if waiting for something. It look like a mixed of a bat and a bull, so that meant the new transformer was a fuzor. Its head was red and two long horns protruded from it. This only added to his demonic appearance. He looked more like a Predacon than a Maximal. The fuzor finally noticed them and stood up. “Can you leave? You’re scaring my dinner away.”

“You’re very hard to find…”

“Noctorro; and that’s due to my sonar tracking mechanism. Now excuse me, but I saw a bear that needs attending to,” Noctorro stated as he took off. Noctorro knocked into the bear and went claw to claw with it. “Get your own dinner! That’s right I saw it first!”

“He is a quick-tempered one, Optimus.”

“Yes, but he is still Maximal, Silverbolt. Noctorro, if you come with us you can have shelter and food.”

“What’s your catch?”

“There is none. You can come and go whenever you want.”

“Bear, you got lucky this time. Alright, I’ll go with you.”

“Welcome to the Maximals, my friend,” Silverbolt said as he took off.

“Does he always talk like that?”

“Yes, but you get used to it after awhile.”

Sliverbolt knew something was wrong when they saw Cheetor’s still form outside the base. Rattrap and Rhinox were starting to lift his body up when they touched down.

“What happened?” Optimus demanded.

“Rampage escaped, dat’s what! He awoke faster than we expected and broke outta his cell. He went after Inferno and Cheetor got in the way. Inferno got his hands on some guns and blasted his way out. Rampage and Cheetor followed and…”

“Which way did they go?”

“Inferno was heading back ta Predacon base with Rampage close on his tail.”

“Rattrap, take Cheetor to the CR chamber. I’ll be back.”

Optimus flew off, determined to make Rampage pay. He needed to stop Rampage. That bot had too much to answer for. He swore he would do whatever it took to take him down.