Code of Honor

Part II: The Agendas

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don’t own Transformers; I just own one minor character, so don’t sue me.

Note: I don’t know how G1 Megatron talks in the English since I only had one movie to go on and he’s not had that many parts in the movie, so I’m writing his speech based on some of the stuff he said in the Chinese cartoons.

As Dinobot made his way toward the Predacon base, he could not help but reflect. A part of him knew that his chances of officially being a Predacon again were minimal, but his spark was that of an Elite who held to the code of honor above all else. At one point, he had convinced himself that his honor was exile’s honor, but it was just code for ‘the so-called honor of a blasted traitor’. The raptor, in his turmoil, found himself scanning the landscape for iron and titanium, but shook off the thought and continued towards the Predacon base. Then was not the time to fashion more swords, even though he could use another backup and always used metalwork as a means of pushing aside turmoil.

The Darkside slowly came into view and a sea of emotions rose within Dinobot, but he brushed them aside. He had been in the ship twice since he defected to Primal, but the third time was different. This time, he was not in there to help Primal salvage parts and the ship was occupied. He was there to monitor the unpredictable Ravage to make certain that the former Decepticon did not fall under Megatron’s influence like he once had. Even though the ship was completely dark, Dinobot knew the layout well enough to still come within hearing distance of the command room. An instant later, some lights came on.

“So.” Dinobot heard Megatron say. From the reflections that the raptor could see, he knew that Megatron was under powerbonds and behind bars. “The Tripredacus Council still smooches the skidplates of the Maximal Elders, yes. Is it any wonder I rebelled?”

“The Predacons will have their moment.” Ravage mused. “But you? I served under the original Megatron. You have his name, but not his army.”

Dinobot tensed as he clenched his fists, struggling not to snarl or hiss noticeably. Even though he knew of his current disposition as an outcast and never forgot the Predacons’ secret plan of conquest, he did not like the reminder. He might have saved the Decepticons’ enemies, but the programs for conquest still vibrated within his every circuit.

“But the point becomes moot if your ship is too Energon-depleted by battle to return to Cybertron.” Argued Megatron.

“The Maximals…” Ravage began, but was interrupted.

“Have nothing. They were expecting rescue. I, on the other hand, have a secret store of Energon cubes, yes. Release me -- and it is yours.” Megatron finished.

“I think I will take it anyway.” Ravage scoffed.

“Its location is encrypted. And my minions have fled.”

“Remember the defense shutdown that triggered your capture?” Ravage asked smugly.

“Yes. How did you manage that?” Asked Megatron.

“Permit me to introduce Lt. Tarantulus of the Predacon Secret Police!”

Even though Dinobot could not see the display, he could still feel Tarantulus’ cackling presence, which the scientist never failed to project. Everything suddenly began to make sense. Of the Predacons, the idiot Scorponok joined because he was fired from a famed lab for his astronomical number of accidents on the job, Terrorsaur and Waspinator came because they were considered criminals in normal, Cybertronian society, but unlike the rest, Tarantulus, one of the most prominent scientists on Cybertron, had no reason to rebel. Ravage’s information perfectly explained Tarantulus’ lack of reason to join Megatron and disloyalty, for Dinobot never quite believed that the scientist came with Scorponok, who once worked under Tarantulus’ direction.

“A mole within my own organization!” Megatron reacted with melodramatic shock. “And I never suspected.”

“Energon cache located, Covert Agent Ravage.” Reported Tarantulus.

“I’ll have the Maximals retrieve it right away.” Announced Ravage.

“Yes, you do that.” Megatron said.

“How’s the head?” Optimus asked Cheetor as the two flyers streaked toward their destination in the cave.

“More fatheaded than fractured, Bigbot. Man, I’m a cat! I outta know better than to trust a dog!” Cheetor complained.

“Silverbolt believed he was acting in your best interests.” Optimus tried to cover up for Silverbolt.

“Well, I look forward to returning the favor, k-pow k-pow!” The angry Cheetor smacked one paw into the other as the dry, rocky landscape rolled beneath him.

“There’s the cave. Megatron’s energon cache should be right down there.” Optimus looked down and sent himself into a nosedive for the entrance. Cheetor silently followed suit before both bots landed at the mouth and transformed into robot mode, each holding weapons. They carefully walked in, pointing their weapons at anything and everything that moved or made noise. Then, on Optimus’ signal, Cheetor dropped the cathead mouth blaster and dashed for the energon stash at the center of the cave.

“Aww, man!” Cheetor protested dejectedly after analyzing the energon.

“What is it, Cheetor?” Asked Optimus, who still had yet to catch up to the transmetal cheetah.

“The energon’s here alright, but it’s raw!” Reported Cheetor.

“Eh?” Optimus dashed to a defensive position outside the main room, still cautious.

“No good for us. Megatron must’ve made a mistake!”

“Not if I know Megatron. Weapons online! Prepare to fall back!” Optimus quickly sensed a scheme.

“What? What is this?” Asked Cheetor, pointing to a hole in the ground. Immediately afterward, Inferno burst out of the underground hiding place explosively, almost knocking Cheetor off balance, except that the cat rolled off to the side harmlessly.

“By royal command!” Inferno shouted insanely as he threw flames at the two Maximals.

“Two words, Cheetor: a trap!” Optimus answered as he and Cheetor fired at Inferno, who eluded each and every shot until one of them freed a boulder, which crashed and nailed the bug to the cavern floor.

“This is Optimus Primal to Ravage.” Optimus hit the com to report the bad news.

“Ravage here, Primal. Have you the energon?” Asked Ravage.

“It’s a trap! The Energon’s useless!” Optimus answered over the comlink between shots.

“Uh-oh, look!” Cheetor pointed to Inferno, who, despite the energon surging over his body, fired wildly in the Maximals’ direction. “He’s got energon buildup!

“For… the… ROYALTY!!!!” Inferno shouted as he finally managed to get a good shot at the energon. When the flames hit, the energon began to glow a dangerous, unstable crimson, warning the Maximals to leave the cave. With a yelp, both Cheetor and Optimus soared out of range as the energon shattered explosively.

“So it was a trap.” Ravage snorted.

“No, really?” Megatron asked in a falsely startled tone.

“You’re a piece of work. Even imprisoned, you operate on your own agenda.” Sighed Ravage as he paced on the metal flooring of the Darkside.

“I am not naïve. You have no intention of returning me -- or any of us -- to Cybertron alive.” Megatron finally began to admit his true plan and Dinobot struggled to remain hidden. That meant that Maximal and Predacon alike were to be dumped or that Ravage was planning on killing them all. Knowing Ravage, it was most likely the latter. Dinobot wanted to act then, but held himself back and decided to wait for Megatron’s demise.

“That is true. But your crew is scattered and I want no witnesses. Still.” Ravage paused to push a control button that brought down massive, mounted autoguns from the ceiling. He then calibrated them to shoot directly into Megatron’s chest. “Why should I tolerate your existence any longer?”

Megatron smiled rather smugly for a prisoner who was about to executed. “Did you ever wonder why I stole the Golden Disks in the first place?”

“You were looking for energon.” Replied Ravage simply but suspiciously.

“That was a bonus. It allowed me to recruit a crew, and gave potential for power. But the real reason was this.” Megatron answered as the image of the Voyager and the golden disk glimmered in his optics. “The Golden Disk was launched from Earth aboard the Voyager Spacecraft just as the secret war between the Autobots and Decepticons began.”

“Hmph. That was hardly a secret war. The humans branded us enemies.” Noted Ravage, but he let Megatron continue.

“The original Megatron, your commander, had every intention of winning, but like myself, he covered his bets.” From the shuffling sound that Dinobot heard, he knew that Megatron finally had Ravage’s attention. He had the feeling that things were about to go from bad to worse.

Flashback

Just as the Darkside entered warp, Megatron played one of the golden disks. In the image, Dinobot saw the disk floating in space and the original Megatron’s reflection on the back of the disk. A laser beam streaked past the Decepticon leader and struck the disk’s edge, inscribing into it a message. Then, just as the message began to play, the ship shook and alarm klaxons blared. Without waiting for Megatron, Dinobot returned to the bridge to set up a defense, for there was no way that a scientist, an incompetent lab technician, and two criminals could know how to arm a ship or how to win a battle when outnumbered.

End of flashback

“He inscribed a secret message into the disk, a message which I myself discovered and decoded.” Megatron sounded hopeful.

“And I am expected to believe you?” Snorted Ravage and Megatron tapped the powerbonds in response. “Arm autoguns. Target the prisoner.”

“Targeting.” The screen behind the guns zoomed in to show an enlarged image of Megatron’s chest. After moments of eerily silent indecision, Ravage ordered. “Lieutenant Tarantulas, find all data pertaining to the golden disks.”

“Data found.” Reported Tarantulus. “This recording might interest you.”

“I am not expecting you to believe me, but watch this. Tarantulus, play track number five, segment delta.” Megatron ordered. Dinobot was not surprised to learn that Megatron had eliminated his first chance at freedom by backing some of the information up onto the Darkside’s computer.

Ravage snarled a snarl that Dinobot recognized as astonishment as a light flashed on one of the monitors. Careful not to be discovered but curious, Dinobot moved quietly down the halls until he had a good view of the screen, which showed Tarantulus making an outline in the light of the afternoon sun. The image flickered and one of the original Megatron replaced him.

“This is Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. If you are hearing this message, that means that I have failed this time.” He chuckled. “However, I know that Transwarp technology is being developed. And so I leave this message to any Decepticon descendants that may find this disk. Go back into this planet’s distant past and eliminate the weakling flesh and blood creatures called the humans. Then extinguish every Autobot spark on this planet, especially Prime’s. Victory and energon will be ours.”

For a moment, Dinobot considered rejoining Megatron, but then shook his head. As much as he had respected the original Megatron as a leader, he could not sacrifice the Maximals and Predacons whose existence depended upon his actions, even though such destruction was a likely result if he followed the plan. He muttered to himself. “I am a fool to forget so soon… Even the most noted figures in history are flawed, including Megatron.”

To Dinobot, the idea of extinguishing Autobot sparks would have been good had it not been a coward’s move and had Prime not had the leadership matrix, the weapon that detonated Unicron. With such a weapon in Prime’s chest, attacking the unarmed Autobot leader could result in the destruction of the Decepticons and the Predacons. That meant that even if they woke Prime up and managed to get themselves into a fair fight with the Autobots, they would have too much to lose. All for Cybertron. Dinobot mentally repeated the first half of the Predacon code as he prepared to battle for his people, the Maximals and Predacons of his world.

“Autoguns off…” Ravage began to order after a long, dazed period of indecision, but was interrupted.

“Ravage, I challenge you to a duel.” Dinobot grinned and flew into the light on a hoverboard, for he could wait no longer. Ravage was planning on leaving no survivors, which meant an eventual battle, and it was always better to challenge than to be challenged. He could not fix the mistake of betraying the Council and selling the honor of his warriors when they all depended on him, but he was going to do things right with his current set of allies. How ironic it is that I must battle the one who gave me my badge of honor in order to give us some. Dinobot mused as he drew out his sword.

“Very well. I accept.” Ravage stepped aside to face Dinobot as he waited for the former Predacon to state the terms, as was protocol in honor duels.

“The battleground is anything and everything on this planet. The winner takes the prisoner as he is, and the loser receives a funeral with full, military honors.” Dinobot offered and Ravage nodded. After the Black Panther hopped onto a hoverboard, Ravage cross-upholstered his twin guns and flipped them in salute. In a motion too fast for the naked eye to follow, Dinobot saluted his sword and then fired a pair of eyebeams at the former Decepticon.

“And you can prepare to be blown away if you don’t leave!” Snarled Blackarachnia after Silverbolt hopped aboard her stasis pod.

“I want you to return with me to the Maximals.” Silverbolt bluntly stated. The flash of Cybertron and Cybertronian vehicles was past and he could see and think clearly in the present again. Somehow, stopping vehicles was a familiar concept from a previous life, but what he was doing was not something from his memory.

“Get a clue, you canine cretin! I’m a Predacon! I’m evil! I will shoot you!” Blackarachnia growled.

Flashback

“We, as the guardians of our respective sectors, must keep in mind, there is good in every Maximal spark.” Said a black and white bot who stood in the center of a circle of bots with badges.

End of flashback

Secura. Silverbolt thought, even though he did not know why or how he was certain that the man was named Secura. Either way, that just reminded him that he needed to be patient with and never give up on the Maximal spark of Blackarachnia. Deep inside, he could feel that not only was there good in the spark, but also something special. He finally spoke. “My heart tells me that you will not.”

“Aaaarggh!” The black and gold black widow growled in frustration and could hold back no longer. Perhaps a shot would teach the dog to get off of her, so she took her weapon and fired.

“You shot me!” Silverbolt managed despite his pain as the razor bit into his leg.

“No slag, Sherlock! I’m evil! Now do you believe me?” Asked Blackarachnia.

“And yet, you ensured the wound would not be mortal. Your inner Maximal goodness prevented…” Silverbolt began, but was never given the chance to finish.

Blackarachnia grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. Even when shot, he still persisted. “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!”

“I know how you’re feeling. You don’t know whether to kiss me or kill me.” Silverbolt almost sighed, but there was much hope in his voice.

“I’m a black widow spider, you idiot! I can do both!” Blackarachnia forced herself to grin as she gave in to the rising feelings in her spark. Somehow, she was as pleased as she was frustrated. Before Silverbolt could react, she left the controls and pulled him into a wild, deep kiss.

Meanwhile, Waspinator hovered not far from the spider with the Predacon termite between his feet.

“Waspinator and many legs have reached coordinates, but where is… Ack!” The bug began to report to Megatron, but the now un-piloted stasis pod rammed into the wasp, causing for him to lose hold of the other Predacon. The stasis pod, its occupants, Waspinator, and the brown termite all tumbled like a massive ball until they all fell apart, with Blackarachnia and Silverbolt landing far ahead of the two bugs.

Much angered, Transtermite transformed into her train mode and began to generate a dust storm, but several of her control mechanisms were offline and as a result, she went off course, heading straight for Blackarachnia. Seeing that the lady was in trouble again, Silverbolt wasted no time in scooping up the gold and black femme and flying her to the safety of the air.

“Oh, you’re not saving my life again, after I shot you?” Blackarachnia groaned.

“It is my duty, ma’am, as a Maximal and as…” Before Silverbolt could finish, a dust storm drew both of their attentions to the mountain behind them. Transtermite, who was carrying some of Waspinator’s pieces, was suddenly drilling a gargantuan hole in the mountainside, displacing many massive boulders in the process.

When the bug finally stopped, Blackarachnia asked. “Aren’t you going to shoot her or something, Bowser?”

“No. I will not harm those who had no intention of harming us.” Silverbolt shook his head.

“Just what I thought.” Replied Blackarachnia. For a moment, she considered blasting both Waspinator and the brown termite herself, but decided against it. As much as she hated the bug, she had it to her advantage that the termite was too stupid to tell and too powerful to anger. To add to that, Waspinator was not loyal enough to make a report to Megatron when threatened.

“No fair, Waspinator and many legs mind their own business when BANG get whole stasis pod right up the…” Waspinator complained in the background as Silverbolt and Blackarachnia discussed the Predacons’ fate.

“It doesn’t make sense. It appears someone dug this tunnel, then blasted it shut.” Silverbolt commented as he began to remove the remainder of the rocks one by one. For a moment, he considered asking Blackarachnia not to speak of the last hour to anyone, but decided against it, for honorable bots hid nothing, even in the face of trouble.

“This give you any clue?” Blackarachnia held up a purple power casing she found in the rocks.

“Megatron?” Asked Silverbolt.

“Got it in one, Jojo. Now why do you haul your hero-hiney out of here? I don’t recall inviting you to the picnic.”

“Waspinator not invite spider-bot to picnic either.” Waspinator grumbled as he took a piece of himself from Transtermite and reattached it.

“Of course not.” Blackarachnia then sighed and gave in to Silverbolt’s implied desire to stay. “However, buzzbrain, if you leak a word of this to Megatron…”

“Waspinator quiet. Waspinator has no reason.” The wasp backed off a little.

“Good. Now, why don’t we drill a hole into this tunnel and see what’s in it?” Blackarachnia threw back her weapon in a casual manner as she offered her suggestion.

Before anyone else could respond, Transtermite faithfully grinned and started to work on the mountain once again. ‘Drill’ was among the words in her brand-new and rather small vocabulary and Transtermite found no reason to disobey the other femme. She repeated. “Drill…”

When the rocks collapsed, the four stepped into the tunnel in awe before splitting up into pairs to explore the place.

“Now why don’t you leave, Bowser? It’s probably a trap.” Blackarachnia whispered as she stepped carefully away from the cave’s entrance.

“Ah! Your inner Maximal goodness shows concern.” Silverbolt tried to convince the femme. At last, he was freed from the attentions for the annoyingly idiotic wasp. He almost shook his head as he struggled to forget the first time he met Waspinator, when he was still a Predacon. As his vision cleared back to the present, he saw Blackarachnia and the subtle something in her that convinced him that she was truly a Maximal on the inside. He saw the same glow in several other Predacons, but in Blackarachnia, it was the strongest.

“That’s it. Vital circuits this time.” Blackarachnia threatened, spinning around and pointing the weapon at Silverbolt’s spark.

“My apologies. I won’t call your bluff.” Silverbolt raised his hands in surrender.

“Then you’ll leave?” The black widow began to raise her voice in astonishment, but then grew quiet when she remembered that Waspinator was still somewhere in the cave.

“Not without you.”

“Aargh! Alright then, lead the way.” Blackarachnia let Silverbolt step in front of her. As he walked on, she contemplated shooting him, but lowered the weapon. What was she thinking? She had gone through it before, when they were stuck together in that strange jungle where X landed. Once again, something came from her spark and softened her circuits to the point where she could no longer hold up the blaster. When the two stopped before the next blocked entry, Blackarachnia pointed out with one claw as she scratched lightly on Silverbolt’s armor with the other. “See that boulder over there? Think you can blast that thing?”

In response, Silverbolt extended an arm nobly, pushing Blackarachnia back before flipping out his wing launchers. “Stand back, citizen!”

The fuzor then launched the grenades, which exploded to clear a path to a majestic ship that sat behind a large pool of lava.

End of Chapter 5