Epoch:

Harder to Breathe

By: Joshin Yasha

Beast Wars and all related belong to Hasbro. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

Disclaimer: No money, no rights, no life. I own all original characters unless otherwise specified.

Dedications: Like usual, the story is dedicated to the writers for their excellent work. It's also dedicated to all the voice actors, especially David Sobolov and Campbell Lane, for bringing these wonderful characters (especially my favorites) to life. As well as the writers of Beast Wars, it's also for the people I love in hopes that this will show that one day I can do something better.

Author's notes: Well, it's my original series, revamped for a fourth time, but now with a lot less stereotypes (I hope). "Cruel" is copyright Default, and "Harder to Breathe" is copyright Maroon 5.

"Where are we going?" Ultimatum smiled as he hopped from one foot to the other until he was next to next to Zeppelin. He leaned forward, tucking his arms behind his back and humming a tune.

"We are going to the shuttle train, and then to wherever Misery decides," he did not turn his head, but he knew which side Ultimatum was on. His attention was more focused on the female Decepticon in front of him. Zeppelin had requested Misery be his guide to the shuttle, and with her nanites now 'alive' she was a brighter beacon to him.

"Oh," he widened his optics in child-like innocence. "So . . ."

Zeppelin twitched, "Yes?"

"Are we there, yet?"

"I will hit you, then kill you, if you do not shut up right now."

"Awww, you're so cruel," Ultimatum pouted, which was pretty interesting all on its own.

"Interesting," Nainsook laughed, glancing towards his partner. "I didn't know you listened to those oldies."

"Eh?" Ultimatum raised an optic and questioned the Maximal.

Nainsook smiled, turning towards the two behind him and walking backwards. His smile widened, and then he began:

"Thought about the dream is so real now
These are dreams of mine you're so aimless . . . so aimless
You baby, you're so cruel

Wonder what you're gonna think of yourself
When the phone calls fade away
As you hold his shoulders, did you think it would come to this day
Ask yourself why he's off
When others surround you
He was one of many on the day that he found you

Oh you're moving . . . moving on again
Yeah you're moving . . . moving on again
Yeah you're moving . . . moving on again . . ."

Nainsook walked in front of Misery and lowered his face towards her, smirking, "Baby, you're so cruel." Her eyes narrowed, and then she raised an optic arch. Nainsook's face slacked, an exasperated look. "Ya have no idea what I'm doing, do ya?"

"On the contrary," she grinned, "You seem to know just where we are going." The other blinked, but he nodded slowly, falling back into pace after her and the other two. Within minutes, they were at the shuttle train and boarded, heading through the Predacon home colony.

"Are we there, yet?"

"I will kill him, now, no matter what treaties we have."

"No, you will not."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll do it for ya."

"The Maximal hates it as well, see? I can kill him now, yes?"

Misery turned her head to Zeppelin. "I do not care what the Maximal does, but you will not kill the Autobot. I may still have use for him as a decoy."

"Decoy?" Ultimatum blinked.

"Hm, true, you do always pick good cannon fodder," Zeppelin smiled, relaxed his head against the wall of the train, and closed his optickless sockets.

"Cannon fodder?" he gulped.

Misery tuned them out, closing her optics and feeling about her with only her mind. There was a distant buzz in the forefront of her mind, whispering to her that there was another problem for her. "Miz," she turned her head to face Nainsook, who was now sitting on her left. The buzzing in her forehead shifted to the right side of her skull, and she narrowed her optics towards the Maximal, trying to will him and the annoying sound away.

"Chickypoo?" he whispered, his mouth slowly moving, but that was not where Misery's attention was fixated. Her optics watched as his throat worked; a mess of metal, wires, and other things that looked so easy to rip out. "Misery," he tried again.

"What is it, Maximal?" she questioned; however, her gaze remained fixated on his throat. Such a lovely piece of metal that appeared so dainty and tender. She felt the growing urge to rip out his throat.

"Back there, in the lab, were you planning on killing me?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

She closed her optics, suppressed a yawn of exhaustion, and then answered painfully, "Yes."

Nainsook widened his optics, "Ya hate me that much? Gee, I must have rubbed ya the right way."

Her optics opened, a smile across her face, and she replied, "Trust me, Nainsook, once this is over, I will rip you open and play with your insides."

He smiled, "I can't wait to see ya try."

"Are we there, yet?" Ultimatum whined.

"Shut up!" they all barked to the ex-Autobot.

"Okay, okay . . ." he pouted in his seat, placing his elbow on his knees and his chin in his palms. "You guys are so mean."

Nainsook sighed and grabbed for the safety hold when the shuttle train jerked to the left. His hand, however, missed the handle and he was thrown into corner of his seat. He was not the only one catapulted by the turn; Zeppelin and Misery had been moved as well.

The Maximal cursed when he straightened himself, blinking only when Misery looked him over. "What?"

"Something . . ." she paused, trying to explain what she was seeing, "something inside of you. I can see inside your chest. It is almost as if I can watch where your spark sends your pulses."

Nainsook slowly twisted his arms, forcing his expression to emotionless. "Please, just shut up. I don't want to hear that . . ."

She shrugged, crossed her arms, and settled back into her own seat. "That is fine," she paused, turned to Zeppelin, and watched him finally find his seat again. "Brother, we shall be arriving soon. Do you think it wise to start instructing their behavior?" Misery indicated to the ex-Autobot and the Maximal.

Ultimatum glared daggers in the direction of minute droids crawling about the ceiling and walls. A pestilence, but possibly an aid --or hindrance to his cause. Nainsook's elbow to his side shook him from concentration. "Hey," he mouthed, then finished whispering his words, "they're talking about us. You need to pay attention to them."

Ultimatum tuned in just in time to hear Zeppelin speak. "--and Stricture . . . they aren't going to like Maximal or Autobot company in their flat. Let alone if they are having a party."

Misery continued, "Correct. Too many Decepticons and Predacons would find them as fresh metal off the assembly line." She faced Ultimatum, then, carefully searching for her words. "It is not the first time I have allowed an Autobot to follow me into Decepticon lines. But this time, it is under different circumstances."

The ex-Autobot blinked. "You've had Autobot prisoners in your territories."

"Not the circumstance I was referring to, but it is . . . close enough to my original idea," she braced herself as the shuttle train came to a jerky halt. "We are here," her red eyes narrowed, casting a darker glow across her body.

Zeppelin smiled, picked up his small cart of baggage, and followed behind Misery after he reconnected his visor to her optics. "Sister," he whispered, secrecy now of most importance, "remember the Maximal and Autobot still bare their insignias. It would be wise to convince them to change them."

She turned back to him, "Would you change your Decepticon insignia to walk into an Autobot home?" He remained silent. "Then, Zeppelin, I suggest you not caution what they should do or should not do."

Ultimatum rushed up to her side, keeping a consistently watchful eye on the Predacons who bore him glares, and he placed a hand on her shoulder as she continued to walk. "Misery, could you tell us who we're looking for, Nainsook and I could possibly help assist you."

She barely paid him mind, but continued her way through the streets. "Old friends. They were two of the best in my squadron. Taciturn and Stricture. Decepticons," they all stopped in the middle of the street as the lights to the massive colony dimmed.

"What's going on?" Nainsook glared at the space once occupied by light. No change could affect their eyes, but the sudden change was worrisome to him and Ultimatum.

"SOP," Zeppelin answered, "must be the birds going past. Probably just a flock of haemaptera galaxias. Our station crews shut down the lights for the birds." Zeppelin smiled in Ultimatum's direction, "They think it funny when they crash into the outer walls."

"Slaggards," Nainsook mumbled, watched Zeppelin turn to him, and never regretted his swear.

"Feh," the purple Decepticon, face in a snark, forcibly painful expression, and made his rebuttal. "The birds bounce off the shields, it doesn't hurt them if that's what you're concerned about."

"You just said they hit the walls."

"Fool, I shortened my words to refrain from explaining in lengthy detail --which, however, you have made me do anyway," Zeppelin snarled, most annoyed.

"Enough, you two," Ultimatum stepped in, placing himself between the two arguers. "We don't need a fight between ourselves." He looked around, getting awkward looks from passing Predacons. "Not the place nor time to have something happen between us."

"How dare you," Zeppelin stepped forward, but fought a failing effort to stay upright as Misery pulled him backwards. He landed on his back, on the ground, and all anger flaring. "You dare!"

Misery clamped her hand to his shoulder. "Brother, as the Autobot stated: pacifism is a virtue at the moment we must honor," she squeezed his shoulder, hard, letting him feel the strength in her hands.

Nainsook stepped up to Ultimatum's side. "You were talking about etiquette earlier. What do Ultimatum and I have to do to keep from having to beat the slag out of everyone?"

Arrogant, she thought. "Look around you, Maximal. See the doorways with the green marks above them." The Maximal and Autobot nodded, reading over the neon green letters. " 'Posterra' --'master of land.' Every doorway that bares that symbol means that the owners have something akin to their own country within the walls of their home. Their rules, their punishments. It is in contract with the Tripredacus Council."

Zeppelin narrowed his sightless optics behind his visor, "It's the same with almost every building, here. Separate, but part of the Predacon forces." He turned towards Nainsook as he stood. "So, you had best be on bad behavior while you are within Taciturn and Stricture's home."

Ultimatum turned back to Misery. "We should be going, I don't appreciate the stares from these Preds." For once, Misery agreed. She also did not like the glares by the Predacon descendants. Without further argument, the four continued on their way.

One, two, three, four shots to the back of the head, and the Predacon dropped out the broken window and onto the street. Zeppelin had to be pulled away by Nainsook just in time to keep from being hit by the body. They all gawked at the body, and then turned their attention upward to watch the party of loud noise and shadows disappear away from the window.

"Posterra . . ." Nainsook read the symbol above the door, counted the many flats, corridors, alleyways, and street lights, and like all good officers, he would know his surrounding front to back. "I take it that place has a Clause that says they can kill 'cons if they don't have fun."

"He's not dead," Zeppelin waved his hand across the body, stopping palm flat against the Predacon's backside. "His spark is still pulsing --faintly." He stood, turned to his consort, and motioned for her to complete the act. Misery walked forward, placed the muzzle of her gun to the Predacon's back. Ultimatum closed his eyes and jumped when the noise rang out.

"You best keep your eyes open, Autobot," Misery rose to a standing position, holstering her gun back into place, "you will have to watch your enemy once inside."

Ultimatum swallowed hard, working his throat and his mind clean. "I understa--"

"For precautionary procedures, Nainsook shall travel with Misery, and Ultimatum, you shall be with me," Zeppelin jumped his shoulders, rotating his cape into a better position. "Nainsook, if Misery has to save your ass, I'm personally going to beat you to death."

"As I recall," he smiled, "I beat her in our first fight, and I never even used all my strength, at that." He winked, a playful gist of friendship between the two. They may have fought, but the two had formed an unspoken understanding. In other words, 'I beat you up if you beat me.'

Misery's face never wavered, and Nainsook just broadened his smile. "Next time, Maximal," she holstered her gun to her side, "we shall see who is the victor." With that, she turned to the right, a smile overcoming her lips, and she instructed the three to follow her.

Ultimatum and Nainsook both counted: third flat down on corridor 3-C, Posterra marking almost small enough to miss. Almost. Without much hesitation, Misery wrapped her dactyls around the door handles and then flung the entrance open. Light, noise, and the alarming amount of bodies made the ex-Autobot flinch, the Maximal cringe, and the purple Decepticon move his cranium from side to side to regard the bright lights he was witnessing.

"Maximal, follow me," Misery moved to the left, finding an opening and taking it.

Nainsook blinked momentarily, clearing his head, and then dived in after her. For him it was much more difficult to swim through the crowd. Misery, on the other hand, was smaller than he, so she was having no problems whatsoever. "Miz!" he called after her, the ocean of bodies thick around him now, more than ready to obscure his vision of her. "Miz!" he called again, reaching a hand before him to help force others to move.

The massive crowd surged open, and a body flew into him. "Slot--" the black, silver, and blue bot who had smacked into the Maximal raised up, dozens of energon cubes stashed in his arms and a siphon hose going into his waist and one to his mouth. "A shlost'in' 'botsh insh heresh?" the Decepticon flowed back and forth on his feet, almost smacking into the Maximal a second time.

Nainsook tilted his head to the side in confusion as the music and crowd continued their loud cacophony. "Ya look a little under, 'con. How much you have?"

"Enoush to out drinshk your mommash shkidshplasht," the siphon hose popped from his mouth as he spoke, energon going over himself, the floor, and Nainsook's chest. The Maximal made a disgusted face and pushed the Decepticon back into the crowd. "Ehsy! Yoush . . . yoush fighshing wordedeshesh!" he belched up an energon bubble and tried to poke it with his finger. "Esh . . . esh . . . esh . . ." his gurgled laugh seemed unimportant as two Predacons picked their friend up and moved him towards the bar.

"Come on, Odin," one of them smiled, "we'll get you another round of energon."

"How dare you say that my behavior is unacceptable!" a blue, gold, and silver Decepticon stepped up the small staircase to take on the center stage roll. The mass of bodies jumped all at once, heightening the mood as the second Decepticon, a red and black colored, joined in the song. "So condescending unnecessarily critical!"

Unfortunately, Nainsook took an elbow to the face and was knocked into the transformer behind him. He yelped when he hit the floor, cascading until another Predacon had tripped over the two. "Hey, you son of a glitch!" the first Predacon snarled, punching towards the Maximal. Nainsook, however, threw his left arm up, caught the right forearm of his attacker, and pushed him back with the use of his right palm against the other's left shoulder.

The second Predacon advanced on him, and Nainsook, in the middle of rising to his feet, was forced to the ground by the weight of his other attacker. The Predacon raised his fists to jab at the Maximal's face, but Nainsook was able to detain the Predacon's left wrist with one hand. He then crossed his free hand over and grasped his elbow joint, holding on. Quickly trapping the other's leg, he rolled the Predacon until he was on top and punching away at the Predacon's face.

"What you are doing is screwing things up inside my head
You should know better you never listened to what I've said
Clutching your pillow and writhing in a naked sweat
Hoping somebody someday will do you Like I DID!!"

In seconds, a bullpen had formed of the bodies around the two fighting bots, and the Predacon's jeered at their fallen comrade for losing to a Maximal. Newly inspired, the Predacon punched solidly with Nainsook's stomach, forcing the other from his dominant position and then standing. The Predacon refused to wipe at his face, that would be too pleasing to others for him to indicate in any way to the severed mechline in his face, now dripping freely down to his chin.

Nainsook flipped over, standing up right and glaring at the Predacon. "You hit me first," he chided; it was childish, he knew it, but it did make him feel better as he dodged a kick to the shin and rolled to the left, closing the distance between his attacker and slamming his palm into the other's chin. With little resistance, the Predacon fell back into the bodies, his neck purely snapped.

Nainsook had not meant to kill, just merely injure. The Predacons constructing the bullpen had a different opinion.

"Does it kill
Does it burn
Is it painful to learn
That it's me that has all the control

Does it thrill
Does it sting
When you feel what I bring
And you wish that you had me to hold"

Nainsook rolled to the side as a Predacon stomped his foot where the Maximal had just been not a second before. "Maximal crash party!" the Predacon snarled, oblivious to all others who wanted to fight just as much. "Lunkhead crush Maximal!" Midway through getting to his feet, Nainsook took a punch to the chest and was lifted off the ground only to be thrown an extra ten yards into the side of the crowd.

Nainsook shook his head, tried to get up, and fell back to the ground. The Predacon --Lunkhead-- advanced on the Maximal, picked him up by his collar, and growled. "Stupid Maximal crash wrong party!" The Maximal was still trying to remember his surroundings when he took a solid smack to the face. Lunkhead may have been slow mentally, but that could never apply to him physically.

The two on stage quieted, glaring over the crowd as Lunkhead threw Nainsook into the bottom of the tables acting as the stage. "Well, look at this, look at this," the blue, gold, and silver Decepticon dragged the Maximal upward by the back of his collar and out of reach of the bullpen. "Ladies and gents, I think it's time this party must come to an end!"

"No way!" shouts immediately shot out from the angry Predacons.

The crowd ducked for cover and disbanded as rubble rained down over their heads. Those who had been closer to the shooter had been left with their audios ringing. The blue and black Decepticon lowered her handgun and pointed it to the center of the bullring. "They gave an order, now obey it wisely."

The three on stage gawked at her and Ultimatum and Zeppelin moved up behind her. A few in the crowd immediately recognized the purple Decepticon and were out of the flat within minutes, dragging their friends with them. That still left a group of Predacons to deal with, but not as many now.

Zeppelin stepped in front of Misery, raised his cranium, and his eyes brightened, illuminating his visor. "Listen to me," panels opened from the walls and cables attracted themselves to the back of his neck, plugging into what openings they could find. "I am Zeppelin, Decepticon monitor and third under the great Shockwave. We have private business to attend to, now leave."

What numerous Predacons had remained nodded their heads eagerly and dispersed more quickly than Ultimatum had ever seen any almost-riot group. When they were gone, the Maximal spoke, "You must be very important or very powerful to have that type of effect on them."

The red and black Decepticon blinked from his position on stage. "You have caused a lot of grief for my wingmate and me," he growled. "You must have made some type of impression upon Misery for her to allow you to live so long."

Nainsook smirked, "Would it count that I beat her?"

The blue, gold, and silver Decepticon snapped Nainsook to his feet, glaring down at him from his foot taller stature. "Inconceivable! You -defeat -her!" he pointed from Nainsook to Misery. "That I would love to believe."

"Stand down, Stricture," Misery stepped forward, stopping only once she was within striking distance of the Maximal and blue and silver Decepticon named Stricture. "It is true what the Maximal says. He defeated me in combat without weapons. He is the physical stronger, and I acknowledge him as such."

The red Decepticon looked from his wingmate, Nainsook, and Misery. "Yes, he is sentry model, that I can see." He turned his attention solely to Misery. "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; / Rise up --for you the flag is flung-- for you the bugle trills; / For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths --for you the shores a-crowding; / For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning . . ."

"Finish that poem," she narrowed her eyes, "and I shall not include you in our adventure."

He smiled, "Forgive me, Captain Misery." He faced his wingmate once again, "Stricture, let loose the Maximal. Captain Misery has come a'callin'."

Stricture smiled, loosened his hold, and dropped Nainsook back to the floor. Nainsook pulled himself over the edge of the stage and dropped his feet to the ground. Misery glanced to the left to keep an eye on the Maximal, but held her head enough to be able to keep Stricture and the red Decepticon in sight.

"Nainsook . . ." she paused, and he turned to look at her. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"You show concern for the Maximal? My," the red one stepped down and sat on the edge of the stage before Misery, "he must have made quite the impression on you . . ."

"There are very few who can," she smirked. "Taciturn, I have a request of you and Stricture."

"Sure!" Stricture jumped down next to his wingmate and shoved his face in front of Misery's. "But under a few conditions," he smiled, yellow eyes wild, and then sat back next to his wingmate. "You understand, of course . . ."