11.Nov.06
BEAST WARS REKINDLED
Chapter Eight: History’s Mysteries
Knucklehead sat atop the ledge overlooking the Great Forest waterfall. It was
his favorite spot to meditate, due to the fond memory he had of watching the
beautiful falls with Twinbrush. As he looked at them now, though, he felt a
sense of sorrow. They reminded him too well of the ocean over which the Dark
Legion hovercraft carrying the offline Speedbat had flown, escaping from his
grasp and preventing him from saving the female Transformer.
Knucklehead bowed his head, thinking of the enormous responsibility he carried.
Twinbrush, the Freedom Fighters, and the Chaotix had appointed him leader of any
and all Maximals who emerged into this conflict. Though he was honored by their
confidence in his abilities, he couldn't help but wonder if it was misplaced.
His thoughts turned to the commander of the ship that had brought him here. How
had he fared in these Beast Wars? Had he faced the same kind of problems that
now plagued his successor?
Suddenly, Knucklehead sensed a presence behind him. Before he could react, he
felt gentle hands rubbing his back, and he relaxed, sighing as some of the
tension slipped from his body. Smiling, he looked over his shoulder at Twinbrush.
"Sneaking up behind somebody isn't excused by giving them a back rub, you
know."
Twinbrush raised an eyebrow at him jokingly. "It's not?"
Knucklehead pretended to think for a moment. "Well, not entirely."
She laughed, then pulled her hands away from his back. Moving, she sat down next
to him. Knucklehead found himself rather uncomfortable being scrutinized by his
love's eyes, which seemed to see right through him. After a moment, she spoke
again. "What are you thinking about?"
He turned to look at the waterfall. "Speedbat."
Twinbrush sighed. "What happened to her wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was. If I'd been fast enough, I could've gotten to her before
Deathstreak did. I could have saved her. By now she's probably been made into a
Predacon, another enemy to our cause. And it's my fault, because I failed to
fulfill my responsibility as the protector of our stranded brethren."
She looked at him for a moment, then spoke. "You couldn't have done
anything more than you did. You were weak from fighting her, and Deathstreak is
faster than you. You promised to protect all the other Transformers in stasis,
but you can't save them all. Ultimately, you'll have to lose at least one before
this war is over."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"Then listen to this. We'll find a way to get Speedbat back. And if more
stasis pods are found, then she'll be the exception, not the rule."
Knucklehead smiled, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. As she put
her head on his shoulder and he put his on top of hers, she heard him whisper,
"What would I do without you?"
Twinbrush smiled and replied, "The same thing I'd do
without you."
The two stopped speaking, content in their closeness and in the beauty of the
waterfall.
Inside the Dark Legion headquarters, Dimitri's scientists were working rapidly.
On the computer monitors were various pages of data from Speedbat's brain.
Working carefully, the scientists adjusted the readouts, altering the
programming.
Moritori Rex watched quietly. Finally, he became impatient. "Report,"
he said to a nearby technician.
"Reprogramming is nearly complete, sir. We have altered her personality
programming, as well as erasing her memory and adjusting her faction loyalties.
All we have to do now is finalize the changes and bring her back online."
"Excellent."
Moritori turned to see Dimitri, who had spoken. Bowing, the
secondary Grand Master moved over to stand at the side of his ancestor. Dimitri
nodded at him, then spoke. "Activate her."
Deathstreak, watching from a corner of the room, tensed in anticipation as the
wires connected to Speedbat's head disengaged. Then, as here body hummed with
the sound of activation, her eyes opened slowly. They were a pale blue, the
color of ice, and they carried no hint of kindness or compassion. As she moved,
Deathstreak's eyes widened appreciatively.
Speedbat moved with all the grace of a cat. She deliberately moved her body in
such a way as to emphasize her feminine form, seductive and enticing.
Deathstreak felt a powerful attraction towards her beauty, and only his desire
to remain in control of any situation prevented him from lunging at her to
satisfy his instincts.
Looking around, she caught sight of him, smiling wickedly as she saw the look in
his eyes. Stopping her advance, she addressed the whole room in a purr.
"Hello all, is this a private club, or can anyone join?"
Dimitri smiled in approval at her casual attitude. "Welcome to the Dark
Legion, my dear Speedbat."
She focused her attention on him. "The metal look doesn't suit you, pops.
If you're going to turn yourself into a machine, at least make yourself
symmetrical. Maybe then you'll actually be pleasant to look at."
If Dimitri had still possessed eyebrows, one of them would have arched upward.
Pops? The rest was hardly surprising, given that just about everyone else had
the same opinion, though they weren't so quick to voice it.
At this point, Deathstreak walked up to Speedbat. He looked her up and down,
admiring her form. "Well, Speedbat, I guess you're my new partner. Just
what can you do?"
At this point, Moritori interrupted. "Due to the extraction of the alien,
she no longer controls cosmic energy. However, she still possesses sonic powers
in both Beast and robot modes."
Speedbat smiled seductively. "I like to make a lot of noise."
Moritori cleared his throat, not affected by the Predacon's charms. "It's a
good thing we've got you on our side now, Speedbat. Thanks to information
gathered from Deathstreak's stasis pod, our scientists have found a way to
detect things that are Cybertronian in origin. We have picked up a large object
made of Cybertronian alloy, and we want to recover it. You two are going to
accompany a Legion taskforce to acquire it."
"As are we," Dimitri added.
Deathstreak smiled wickedly. "What are we waiting for?"
Several hours later, the Dark Legion taskforce arrived at its destination.
Before them stood a large mountain, which looked completely solid. However,
scans revealed that a large cavern existed in the center, and it contained the
mass they had come to recover.
Surprisingly, they did not have to dig their way in. A long tunnel, tall enough
for the Predacons to stand up straight in with a couple of feet to spare, ran
out from the cavern. As they walked, Speedbat analyzed the tunnel. According to
her readings, it was only a few centuries younger than the mountain itself.
However, what caught her interest was something else.
"This tunnel isn't natural," she said.
Deathstreak, glancing at the tunnel, nodded in agreement. "You're right. It
appears to have been dug by some sort of claws. However, they were sharper than
anything I have ever encountered."
"Who cares how this tunnel got here, as long as it's here?" Kommisar
snapped.
The two Transformers glared at her, and she wisely decided to remain silent
after that.
Unbeknownst to the Dark Legion taskforce, they had been detected and followed.
Knucklehead, Twinbrush, and their Freedom Fighter/Chaotix allies were assembled
at the mouth of the tunnel. The only ones absent were: Knuckles, still
recovering from his encounter with cosmic energy; Sally, who had remained behind
to monitor the transmitter; and Antoine, who had volunteered to stay behind at
Knothole.
As they hiked deeper into the mountain, the two Maximals made the same
observation as their Predacon counterparts. "This tunnel didn't form; it
was carved," Knucklehead said.
"And according to my readings, it was only a few centuries after this
mountain came into existence."
"Which was when?" Vector asked.
"According to my scanner, around the same time as the cataclysm that
changed Earth into Mobius," Rotor replied.
"Talk about ancient," Charmy said.
"Quiet! I can hear the hoods up ahead!" Tails said urgently. Moving
quietly, the group stepped out into the cavern. There sat the source of
Cybertronian technology the Legion had detected: a massive spaceship, even more
ancient than the stasis pods. The group stared at it in awe. Looking closely,
Knucklehead and Twinbrush were able to detect a name written in Cybertronian
script. It read: Nemesis.
Suddenly, their attention was diverted by the sound of weapons being cocked.
Looking down, they found the Legion taskforce facing them, weapons armed and
ready. At their head stood the Predacons, eager grins on their faces.
Looking at his companions, Ray shrugged. "Charge!"
With that, the two forces met in battle. The Transformers went into robot mode.
Speedbat's face became humanoid, the large bat ears disappearing as the quills
became hair. Her torso and hands became metal, as did her feet. She opened her
hands to reveal speakers, which she used to unleash sonic blasts at Twinbrush.
Spinning her buzz saw, the female Maximal was able to deflect the attack. The
leaders were locked in battle as well, Knucklehead flying around and firing his
missiles while Deathstreak teleported, deploying his guns.
Elsewhere, the Chaotix and Freedom Fighters battled the Dark Legion. Vector,
Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, Charmy, and Ray charged into the common soldiers and
Mechanauts. Mighty grappled with Xenin, his powerful muscles pitted against the
elite cyborg's servos. Kommisar caught Julie-Su around the neck with her whip,
and pulled tight, attempting to suffocate her hated half-sister. However, a
shuriken thrown by Espio sliced through the net, allowing Julie-Su to rip it
off.
"Thanks for the assist," she rasped to the Chameleon.
"Knux would have my head if anything happened to you," he replied.
Meanwhile, Dimitri and Moritori moved closer to Nemesis to examine it. Opening a
hatch, the two walked inside. Unbeknownst to them, they were followed by Sonic,
who was determined to catch them off guard.
Dimitri's grin of anticipation as he reached the bridge faded as he saw the
damage that had been done. The front view port was shattered, and much of the
bridge wall had been torn apart by something large crashing through. Debris was
strewn across the area, including a Predacon-sized control panel. Dimitri
frowned at this, considering that the rest of the technology was built for
larger Decepticons, the ancestors of the Predacons.
"What happened here? This ship is useless!"
"Too bad for you, doc!" Sonic said as he stepped onto the bridge.
However, before he could attack, Dimitri's three fingered claw hand lit up with
electricity. A bolt of lightning shot from the cyborg's hand to strike Sonic,
stunning him. The two Grand Masters rushed past him. After recovering, Sonic
gave chase angrily.
Dimitri ran out onto the battlefield, calling to his troops.
"Retreat!"
The Legionnaires, having taken a beating from their enemies, agreed
wholeheartedly. The Predacons retreated grudgingly, wanting to continue their
battle. The Chaotix, Freedom Fighters, and Maximals cheered as the villains
fled. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling. Twinbrush realized that Speedbat had
unleashed a sonic blast, and that the cavern was collapsing. The others, upon
being informed, ran with all their speed for the tunnel, making it just as the
cavern collapsed, crushing the wrecked warship.
The heroes got out just in time to see the taskforce flying away on their
transport. Looking around at each other, they all knew the questions going
through their heads. Where had that warship come from? What had caused it to be
rendered useless? And what had carved that tunnel?
Mysteries that would have to be answered another day.
To be continued...