Beast Wars Anonymous:

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Old Enemies
by Annex (annex1@mailcity.com)

After Depth Charge's attack on Optimal Optimus and the newly accepted Rampage, the Maximals were more vulnerable than they had ever been before. Blackarachnia was still in the CR-Chamber recovering from Rampage shooting her point-blank with his massive Gatling gun. Cheetor still hadn't been fully repaired from Inferno nearly cremating him. Silverbolt still wasn't eating or sleeping, all he did was sit in front of the CR-Chamber waiting for Blackarachnia to come out. Optimus was injured, though not severely, at the hands of Depth Charge. Rampage had been very heavily damaged, also Depth Charges doing, but his regenerative abilities had already fully repaired him. Rhinox was the only Maximal who hadn't been hurt, except for being punched across the room.

And to and insult to injury, Depth Charge also stole the Transmetal 2 Driver that he had taken from Megatron.

Optimus kept asking himself what did he do to make Depth Charge hate him so much and more importantly where was he now. They had to find him and bring him back.

But where was he...

Depth Charge soared through the skies at high speed, boiling with rage. Why had Optimal let Rampage join the Maximals. It was basically Optimal's fault that Rampage had even lived long enough to get to Earth. Now it was once again his fault that Rampage was still alive, he could have killed him back at the Ark, but he didn't. And know it would be even harder for Depth Charge to fulfill his quest for revenge against Rampage.

There was only one way to have a good chance at killing Rampage.

Join the Predacons.

They might not accept him, but Depth Charge had brought a little incentive that would surely entice Megatron.

The Predacon Base loomed in the distance. Depth Charge knew there was no turning back now. he converted to robot mode and landed outside of the defense grid. He spoke into his com-link.

"Megatron, this is Depth Charge, I-" He began.

"What do you want Maximal?!" Megatron interrupted.

"Rampage has joined the Maximals," In the background Depth Charge heard Inferno yell "Traitor to the colony!" Depth Charge continued "You know I want to kill him, so I have come to join you."

"Why?"

"To have a better chance of killing Rampage, of course."

"Very well, come forward."

Depth Charge took a hesitant step forward. He saw Inferno step out of the base.

"The Royalty demands your presence immediately!" Inferno called.

I'm comin' insect!" Depth Charge replied.

Soon Depth Charge was at the entrance to the base. Dinobot and Inferno prodded Depth Charge down the hall with their weapons. They went down several halls until they reached the command room.

Meanwhile Megatron had been discussing the situation with Tarantulas.

"Depth Charge has many Predacon traits, Megatron. Hatred and Revenge, to name a few." the Spider cackled.

"Yes Tarantulas, you are right. He joins out of his hate for Rampage, we may be able to trust him." Megatron considered.

Depth Charge walked into the room followed by Inferno and Dinobot.

"Hello Depth Charge, tell me why we should trust you, and not just kill you right now." Megatron questioned.

"I have proof right here." Depth Charge stated. He walked over to a computer terminal, under the close observation of all the predacons in the room. Information beams fired from his eyes into the computer. On the screen the scene of Depth Charge attacking Optimus played out from Depth Charges point of view. Megatron face broke into a huge smile at the look of shock on Optimus's burnt face.

"Now do you believe me?"

"Depth Charge, that image could easily have been falsified-"

"But this evidence couldn't be faked." Depth Charge interrupted Megatron, much to Inferno's horror.

Depth Charge reached behind his back and pulled out the glowing Transmetal 2 Driver.

"The Transmetal 2 Driver, is yours if you let me join." Depth Charge annouced triumphantly. Megatron's face instantly lit up with joy at the return of his device.

"Very well, Depth Charge, you shall have your chance to prove yourself" Megatron stated.

Depth Charge handed him the Driver.

Depth Charge and Megatron stood in a valley looking to the sky.

"You want to join me, Depth Charge, yes. But your loyalty to me remains untested. Now, however is a sterling opportunity to test your loyalty." Megatron announced.

Up in the sky, Cheetor now fully repaired, was flying through the air searching for Depth Charge. Megatron pointed to him.

"Destroy the Maximal cat and you will be truly one of us."

Depth Charge instantly jumped into the air.

"Depth Charge Terrorize!"

Instantly he shifted into his jet mode. He flew at top speed up to Cheetor. The Transmetal 2 cat saw Depth Charge coming. Cheetor was about to call to him when he unleashed a massive volley of disks. Cheetor was too startled to react. The disks struck Cheetor and blasted him with a tremendous explosion. Stasis lock took over instantly and he dropped all the way to the ground.

"Welcome, Depth Charge, to the Predacons. Now we must return to base and prepare a full scale assualt on the Maximal base." Megatron ordered. With that, they both flew at top speed to the Predacon base.

The CR-Chamber opened for the first time in 8 days. Out of the steam inside the chamber, Blackarachnia stumbled out into the waiting Silverbolts arms.

"Beloved are you alright?" Silverbolt asked with concern in his voice.

"I think so, Silver." the Arachnid replied.

"Ah, my lady, your face is more beautiful than moonlight-"

Horrible resonating laughter filled the room. All eyes turned to Rampage, who was sitting at a monitor. Blackarahnia aimed her weapon.

"What's he doing here?!" she asked.

Silverbolt gently pushed the weapon down.

"He is one of us now, my lady." Silverbolt said disgustedly.

Optimus moved over to Rampage and berated him.

"Rampage, if you want everyone to trust you, then you have to quit acting like a Predacon. Is that understood?"

Rampage looked stunned that such behavior was not acceptable to them. He quickly managed an apology.

"I'm sorry Optimus, it was the Protoform X side of my spark." he stammered.

"Well you better learn to control it because-"

"Predacon energy signature detected. Units: Megatron, Quickstrike, Inferno, Dinobot, Depth Charge." the computer droned, calm as always, even in the face of certain death.

"Depth Charge?!" all the Maximals shouted at once. The Maximals chorused questions

"Cap'n Minnow's a pred." "I thought he was one of us." "Could be computer error." "But Why?"

Rampage stood up to answer all the Maximals.

"He became a Predacon to kill me. It's obvious, he would have a better chance of killing me if he had allies."

Let's not jump to conclusions, we can't be sure of it until we see what he does." Optimus said, quieting everyone.

Several miles away from the Ark, Cheetor came out of stasis lock. His body had completed small repairs, but he still needed some time in the CR-Chamber. He stood up and began slowly, painfuly stumbling back to the Ark.

Outside the Ark 5 Predacons were discussing a strategy.

"Depth Charge, you will fly up and take out the defense turrets. If Rampage comes out you may engage him." Megatron commanded.

Depth Charge nodded in agreement.

"Obey the Royalty and you will do well." Inferno informed him.

"The rest of us will destroy any Maximals that come out, and press forward to get into the base as quickly as possible." Megatron told the rest of them.

All the Predacons, except Depth Charge stood on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Ark.

"Predacons, Terrorize!" Megatron bellowed.

Depth Charge in Vehicle mode flew over them and dove at the base as they all transformed. Megatron and Inferno flew down onto the plain in front of the Ark, while Dinobot and Quickstrike jumped down and charged forward.

Depth Charge banked to avoid fire from a turret then fired two shots from his cybershark. The missiles homed in on the turret with ease. They exploded right in the middle of it sending shrapnel out over the battlefeild. Then Depth Charge turned at high speed, strafing another turret with a hail of disks. The first three disks hit the ground in front of the turret, each one coming closer than the last. The next two atomized the weapon. Megatron smiled.

The doors opened, and Maximals came streaming out of the Ark. Optimus in jet mode fired two easy dodged missiles down on the Predacons. Quickstrike was hit by the shockwave and sent flying, he instantly got to his feet and fired at Optimus who flew up and away from the battlefield avoiding shots.

Rhinox stood in the doorway of the Ark firing his chain guns. Rattrap bounded behind a rock, then fired shots from his pistol before ducking back down. Silverbolt flew out and fired missiles down at Megatron, the first missile struck him in the chest and the second hit the ground in front of him, spraying him with dirt. Inferno was horrified at such terrible treatment of his Queen.

"Burn, Maximal, buurrn!" Inferno yelled as he took to the air after Silverbolt, spraying flames at him.

Dinobot moved his sighting laser over to Rhinox, then a blast of energy traveled down the length of the beam. It struck Rhinox sending him flying back into the base. Rhinox's flight was stopped by something which caught him easily. He turned around and saw Rampage running past him out onto the battlefield.

Optimal Optimus, in robot mode fell from the clouds to land behind a rock with Rattrap. The guns in his chest came out and started strafing the battlefield, hitting Dinobot and knocking him to the ground.

Depth Charge continued shotting the turrets until he saw a certain figure step out onto the Battlefield. Gatling gun in one hand, heavy rocket launcher in the other, was Rampage. He fired all his weapons simultaneously at Quickstrike. All four projetiles struck him full in the chest sending him back 100 yards in stasis lock. Depth Charge instantly dove towards him firing a volley of disks. Rampage rolled out of the way and came up firing. Depth Charge rolled dodging the Gatling shot, but the missile struck his left wing as he turned for another strafing run.

High above the Battlefield, Inferno and Silverbolt were locked in air combat. Silverbolt pulled out two wing missiles and threw one of them at Inferno. The flying ant moved out of the way as the missile went by. Inferno's weapon was on the verge of overheating, but he kept up his continous barrage of missiles. Silverbolt was having trouble manuveuring through the storm of blasts, trying to avoid getting hit. He pointed his wings at Inferno and fired two missiles, but the shot coming from Inferno destroyed the missiles before they hit him. Then some of Inferno's shots finally hit Silverbolt, blasting into his chest and spiraling him to the ground far below.

"FFOORR TTHHEE RROOYYALTY!" Inferno bellowed laughing insanely.

He shot toward the ground to finish off the Fuzor.

Rampage staggered as Depth Charge fired disks all over the place, most of them hitting the ground but some of them hitting him. The only advantage was that Depth Charge had to fire at high speed, then make a wide turn in the air to make another firing pass. Depth Charge passed over Rampage after firing his volley, it was then that Rampage jumped up with his Gatling gun and rocket launcher. He aim quickly and fired as fast as he could, while running sideways to get behind a rock. Depth Charge completed his turn and fired a volley at Rampage, who dove behind the rock to avoid the blasts.

Rampage popped up and fired wildly as he moved to the other side of the rock. Depth Charge took several hits to the belly. Depth Charge realized that Rampage was winning. I need a knew strategy, he thoought.

"Depth Charge, Terrorize!" Depth Charge transformed and blasted away with his Cybershark gun. Rampage hid behind the rock to avoid the shots, then he looked over and saw Inferno descending from the sky taking aim at the injured Silverbolt. Rampage raised his Gatling gun.

Silverbolt, lying on the ground in burning agony, could hear the ant coming down to finish him off. He painfuly turned around and saw Inferno land in front of him.

"Prepare to burn, Fuzor!'

The sound of heavy weapons fire split the air. Silverbolt winced then realized he was still alive. He looked up and saw Inferno several yards away smoking and sparking. Silverbolt looked over and saw Rampage lowering his gun. Depth Charge fired his Cybershark as fast as the weapon could reload, the shots were literally boring through the rock. Silverbolt would not let Rampage be injured, his wing flipped over his back and aimed at Depth Charge. The missiles flew through the air and struk Depth Charge in the chest, causing him to stumble back. Rampage took the oppurtunity to fire a missile at him. With a thunderous impact the shot knocked Depth Charge to the ground.

Megatron himself was firing wildly at Optimus, but was finding it difficult to hit him because the Maximal coward was hiding behind rocks with the vermin. Megatron took to the air and fired down at Optimus with his tail gun. The Maximal dove down behind the rocks. The vermin however stood up to fire at Megatron. The small bullets did almost nothing to him, but Megatron could not let such behavior go unpunished. The tail gun snapped on line with Rattrap and loosed a volley of purple energy bolts. The vermin took the bolts right in the chest, blasting him into stasis lock.

Depth Charge angrily got to his feet and blasted the already damaged Silverbolt. With a dogish howl of pain the Fuzor fell back down and went into stasis lock. Rampage choose that split second to strike. He jumped over the rock and punched Depth Charge as hard as he could right in the face. The impact sent Depth Charge flying into a rock, even as Rampage charged toward him. Depth Charge was up instantly, kicking Rampage savagely in the chest. The crab flew high into the air before crashing down again.

Dinobot charged into the Maximal base unopposed. No Maximals were inside the base beside Blackarachnia, and Rhinox was probably in stasis lock, or so Dinobot thought. Suddenly the room was lit up by gunfire. Rhinox walked out holding two chain guns, which were blazing away at Dinobot. Then suddenly Dinobot could sense another Transmetal 2 robot lurking nearby. The robot jumped jumped out and spin-kicked Dinobot in the face. Blackarachnia rapidly punched him several times in the face, sending him flying out the door.

Outside the base, Depth Charge jumped at Rampage and punched him twice in the head. Rampage grabbed his shoulders and hurled him to the ground, putting his superior strength to good use. Depth Charge was faster than him however and was up in an instant, kicking him in the stomach. Rampage doubled over and received a knee to the face, sending him flying. Depth Charge brought out his Cybershark gun and aimed it at Rampage's head. From on top of the cliff rockets flew down at Depth Charge. The traitor looked at the missiles flying toward him, his eyes widened. All the projectiles slammed Depth Charge one after another. Cheetor flew down onto the battlefield and fired again at Depth Charge.

Megatron managed to evade a torrent of gun fire from Optimus. Optimus stopped for a second and Megatron blasted him in the chest instantly. Then something hit him with heavy impact, it was the hurtling body of Dinobot. Optimus fired into Megatron while he was down. Megatron only had one option now.

"Predacons, Retreat!" he roared angrily.

Depth Charge jumped to his feet and and flew high in the air, then he swooped down and grabbed the destroyed Inferno. He continued across the ground at low level and snatched up Quickstrike. Megatron jumped up converted to flight mode and flew off with Dinobot holding onto his feet.

Rampage approached Cheetor who walking back to the base in beast mode.

"Thanks you, Cheetor." Rampage said.

Cheetor was shocked. Rampage was nicer to him than Depth Charge! At least Rampage never made any cat jokes about him.

"Anytime, Rampage!" Cheetor replied jovialy.

They both walked back into the base. Blackarachnia came running out to get Silverbolt. Optimus carried Rattrap back into the Ark, while Rhinox inspected the damage to the base.

It had been a hard fight and he had almost won, if that stupid cat hadn't interfered... I'll have another shot at Rampage soon enough, thought Depth Charge.

Megatron sat on his command chair looking at the Transmetal 2 Driver. He had a very good idea, yesss.

To be continued in “Showdown.”