I finished this before I went to bed last night. I was determined. I was relentless. MWAHAHA!
Ahem. That's probably why I'm a little hyper-tired right now. Meh.
Anyway, this is actualy quite short by my standards. At least, IMO, seeing as Unearthed was over 30 pages before I made it a two-parter. *snickerharhar*
So here it is. Chapter...NINE! WHOO!
Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars Transformers © Hasbro. I do not own any of the canon characters; however the plot line and original characters are mine.
VOULUME 1
Chapter 9: THREADS UNTANGLE
“Tarantulas! You?”
“Yes…at long last, Optimus Primal!”
The mechanoid Optimus knew as Tarantulas was no longer a disfigured bundle of parts in a test tube. And his voice now lacked the gasping and wheezing he adopted in his former state. He stretched out his arms, as if to embrace Primal. But red lightening shot out from his hands to the wall, overloading and destroying the energy compartments that had given him life again.
“But…you were destroyed…by the Vok…it’s impossible!”
“You know him?” enquired an equally astounded Jagna, “You’re kidding!”
“Oh, no he’s not, my beloved opponent. Primal and I go back a looong way…”
Optimus remained on his knees, unable to move because of the shock. “But how? How long…?”
“You still haven’t figured that out, Optimus? Tsk, tsk, I’m disappointed,” he jeered, “Transwarp technology was always tricky, but even a monkey could have figured it out by now…pun intended…” he snickered, “You’ve been gone for well over four thousand years.”
Four thousand years? It couldn’t be…They had barely been away three stellar cycles…
The newly formed spider moaned, growing impatient with the metallic gorilla, “There has always been a time lag between universes. Some big, some small. Between here and Cybertron, it seems to be only a few days. But as space stretches across universes and dimensions, so does time, elongating the days on Cybertron to years on Earth…Much like the Inverse Square Law. Your first day here equalled one day on Cybertron. The days increase in inverse proportion to the square of the time on Cybertron…” They both gave him very confused looks, “Every day you spend here is at least twice, maybe three or four times longer than one day on our beloved home planet…simpletons…”
“Impossible…” Optimus stated, dumfounded.
“Mmm, not so. Although I admit my calculations may be a teensy bit off, I mean, four thousand years compared to three, am I right? Oh well, the universe has its puzzlers, even for a genius like myself. But really, how do you think this puny little kitten managed to build up her so-called community? Not through great leadership, as she’d like to think…she simply had…time…”
Jagna snarled menacingly, but Optimus could see the pain caused by some possible truth in the arachnid’s words.
“As did I…”
Optimus, now over the initial shock of seeing an old enemy long thought annihilated, grew angry. He stood up and stepped forward.
“Tarantulas…”
“Enough with the pleasant formalities, Optimus. Call me as I have been known for a millennium…Arachnikahn!”
He laughed again, louder and more menacing than before.
“Perhaps you would like to know how I still live, hm?”
“Actually, I would.” Optimus replied dryly.
“Bah. I’m not in the mood for story-telling. Story-showing, on the other hand…” he cast his glance over to Jagna, who’s face turned white, if that was possible.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, backing against the wall, “not again. I won’t let you!”
Arachnikahn chuckled. “Too bad. No choice.”
He ‘summoned’ an item from a hidden chamber in the wall using a magnetic field created by a device on his arm. Then he ‘summoned’ Jagna towards him by encasing the feline in a pool of purple magnetism. She struggled, but to no effect. She flew closer to the arachnid. He aimed his device at her.
“No!” cried Optimus. But as he reached out to grab her, he too was caught in Kahn’s zero-gravity magnetic field. The spider chuckled again.
“Pathetic. Even in your Optimal form, you were an easy target to take down Optimus…you might as well have painted a bulls eye on that enormous chest plate. Oh, by the way, how do you like my new toy?”
As Optimus struggled, many of the things that had happened to him and his crew since their re-arrival on Earth began to make sense. The standard organic Predacons were able to take down his Transmetals because of Tarantulas, or Arachnikahn, or whatever his name was. He had intimate knowledge of Transmetal technology, as well as the influence the Vok had on it. He gave this knowledge to his band of Predacons to incorporate into their weapons and plans. And he was using that advantage against all the Maximals.
“You bore me, Maximals, you’re losing your fight. This is no fun at all.” Kahn stated, disappointedly, “I shall explain my story…with the help of Jagna’s memories…” he cackled threateningly. Her optics widened as she tried to struggle free again.
“No!” she cried again.
“How are you going do that?” inquired Optimus, now rather worried.
“You forget…I’m an evil genius! HaheeheeheeHYAGH!” He noticed Jagna writhing in his magnetic grasp, and muttered cruelly, “This won’t be as fun as the last time, but I’ll get a kick out of it, all the same.”
On the device he held was a console of different coloured buttons. He pressed a few, the combinations flowing through his fingers like a river of expertise.
“I’ll soon have my revenge on you both…” he muttered. There was a knob on the console of his devious device. Taking pleasure in the pleading looks on their faces, he turned it. There was another blinding light, and…
---
The femme bot crouched behind a rock. She was always careful in this area; a pride of lions made residence there, and they did not take kindly to other felines in their territory.
She had not been on the planet long, and yet it felt like home already.
As for where she was at the moment, something was drawing her there…something familiar.
She made her way towards a very rocky landscape.
As she gingerly placed her feet on the flattest part of the rocks, something attacked her leg. Though used to it by now, it always gave her a fright. She yelped and brushed it of. It scuttled between her legs and in and out of gaps in the rocks. She extended her claws, waited, and pierced the thing through and through when it emerged again.
This was the first time she actually caught one of the little menaces, therefore it was the first time she got a good look at one. They looked like walking torches, with six legs and spider-like pincers. Why were these strange things following her around? And where did they come from? As far as she knew she was the only metallic creature on this planet…for the moment.
A little later, she came across what had been drawing her to that place. Her eyes lit up immediately at the sight of another stasis pod, like hers.
Eagerly, she made her way to the pod, and opened up its console. The buttons cried mockery at her inexperience with pod technology. After a series of trial and error, she finally got the specs of the protoform inside…it was a blank.
“Slag!” she cried, slamming her fists on the keyboard. She had been travelling for days in hopes of finding another transformer on this unknown, organic planet.
She sat herself down on a moss-covered rock, and banged the back of her head against the rocky wall. She appeared to be in a glacial corrie, the water in the tarn glistening under the mid-afternoon sun, reflecting the blackness of the slate back wall, where thousands of years of ice had taken its toll on the mountain.
She must have been on stand-by, for when she activated her optics some time later, a miniature army of those weird torch things surrounded her. She scrambled backwards; now they had joined forces to get at her. She extended her claws and growled.
However, they did nothing. They did not attack her, or even advance. They just stood there, watching her.
All of a sudden, a voice spoke to her.
“Thank the Matrix, another has arrived!” it said.
“Who’s that? Where…?” she replied, looking frantically around.
“I am as you are. Alone, unsure, and in need of a companion of my own species. Thank the Matrix!” it exclaimed again.
“Where are you?” she inquired once more.
She looked down at the walking torches. They were vibrating, and looked very peculiar. That’s when she discovered the voice was being emitted from little speakers on their bodies.
“You’re not…you…all of you?”
“No, I am merely communicating through my arachnoids.”
“So you’re the one who’s been stalking me?” she asked in an accusatory manner.
“I only wanted to talk to you, as I am now, but you always ran away…”
“Oh…yeah…” if she had flesh, she might have blushed.
“I am dreadfully sorry if I alarmed you in any way, but now that we are both here, I beg for your assistance.”
“…With what?” she asked, suspiciously.
“I understand it is strange to hear my voice coming from several mini bots, but there is a valid reason for that.”
“And that would be?”
“I was activated on this planet, not long ago, as yourself. All to accompany me were these arachnoids, which I salvaged from the wreckage of old ships on this planet of transformer design, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,” she nodded, “I wandered endlessly in search of others, but in my search, I ran into…trouble.
“I believed there might have been a stasis pod in a highly volcanic area…but I went too far somewhere….I do not know how, but my body was destroyed…”
She did not know how to respond to that. “Then how are you here now?”
“Technically, I am not,” the voice replied, “but my spark survived, miraculously. These arachnoids found it and have kept me alive. But every day I wondered, what was the point? There is no one but me…until I saw you…”
He said it in a grateful way, but she could not put her finger on what was iffy about his tone. There was something else going on here.
“So what do you want with me?”
“I implore you…” the voice begged, his desperation obvious, “…help me get a body. I have lived too long a loner, with no physical form, with no purpose. But now I know there are others like me, and together we can find them!”
“And why would you want to do that?” she asked, placing a hand on her hip.
“Why would you?” he asked back. She could not answer. It was something she had to do.
“All you have to do is insert my spark into that blank protoform, and activate the DNA scanning sequence. Then we can set forth on our search for our fallen comrades…”
She still wasn’t sure. Something was off. There was something about his story that wasn’t right. But he seemed genuine in wanting to find other transformers…and get a body of his own.
“What do I do?”
20 cycles later, all the arachnoids were assembled in a circle around the stasis pod. The femme typed away with every instruction 'he' gave.
“So…” she said, not knowing which arachnoid to look at for her question, “…now what?”
“Leave that to me.”
All this time, Optimus Primal had been watching. He knew not how, but every time he tried to intervene, he could not. He tried to stop the arachnoids, and warn Jagna about the voice of Tarantulas, but she seemed to ignore him. She did not even acknowledge his presence.
Then he realised he had no presence. When he looked down, he saw that he had no body; he wasn’t even a floating head. This must have been what Kahn meant: he was travelling within Jagna’s memory. And yet, how was that possible? The leopard could not have seen herself do all this.
It was a strange phenomenon. One he could not comprehend, nor believe could ever be explained to him. Tarantulas had always been crazy, but a genius all the same.
He watched helplessly as the arachnoids began to glow. Something small, glowing whiter and brighter than any star rose from each of them. The hatch of the pod was open, and the glowing anomalies hovered in a circle above the blank, defenceless protoform.
Jagna took several paces back when they started to spin in a circle, moving in closer and closer to each other. She gaped in awe as they grouped together and descended down into the stasis pod.
Primal could not help but ‘take a step forward’ to prevent what he felt h knew what was coming next. He seemed to almost reach them…
But all of a sudden Optimus was transported through a vortex of both light and dark, and was being pulled away from the scene before. The notion of flying through unknown space soon ceased when he ‘landed’ on hard ground
He was in a large chamber hall…it looked like one back on Cybertron. There was a door, slightly ajar, opposite him, with strange sounds coming from it. It seemed oddly familiar to him.
He made his way towards it with his mind. He wanted to push it open, but he had no physical body to do so.
But through the crack he made out four bots: three standing and one in a chair.
The three bots standing were speaking, but he could not make out what they were saying. One of them reached for the one in the chair. He had something in his hand.
Optimus watched him as he…
“NO!”
The scene was cut off like an interruption of static on a holographic video. Optimus was sharply pulled back into reality. He was back in Kahn’s chamber, but it was no longer glowing purple around him. The spider had lost his zero-grav grip on them both. Infuriated, he attempted to regain it. Optimus saw Jagna leaning against a wall, seething. She must have done something to make him lose his focus, or something like that.
She took his break of concentration as an opportunity to charge at the much larger Predacon. An unwise move, Optimus believed, but it proved effective. Kahn was caught completely off-guard and was thrown onto his back. Blind with uncharacteristic rage, the ferocious feline extended her claws and jammed them into the arachnid’s torso plate…to no effect. He laughed.
“I have not spent the last 900 years in that pickle jar for nothing, you little fool!” And at that, he flicked her off him with ease. She was once again slammed into the wall.
Optimus saw his opening. He targeted the Predacon with his chest laser, and fired. It did little damage, but it knocked him back a little. Clearly, Tarantulas had incorporated his knowledge of Optimus’ Optimal form into Arachnikahn’s body. Had he anticipated the return of old enemies?
The time for questions was not at hand, however. Jagna looked around her, and knew it was time to get out. She signalled to Primal that he must daze Kahn again, and they would head for the only door out of that dreadful chamber.
She spotted one remaining energy compartment, dim but still glowing. She gestured to it, and pointed to Kahn. Optimus nodded, understanding exactly what she was saying.
He fired continuously at Arachnikahn. His fire still had little effect, despite his overwhelming size in comparison, but the force of the blasts knocked his opponent back several paces. Meanwhile, the leopard shot at the door panel controls. The three Predacons that had guarded them were standing guard outside, and turned on their heels as soon as they heard the door opening. They were met with a nasty shock: several slashes to the face, torso and arms.
Whilst this took them by surprise, the leopard by no means held the advantage. Three against one was tough for any bot. but right now, her main priority was getting her and Optimus out.
Fortunately, Optimus had managed to get Kahn into a corner and close enough to an energy compartment to temporarily overload the arachnid's circuits. He ran out of the room as fast as he could, shooting the door panel from the outside, locking Kahn in.
Now the Maximals definitely held the advantage. Optimus was prepared for their tricks, now that he knew how they did it. With one swoop of an enormous hand, he sent two of the three Preds flying down the corridor, landing in a heap. That left Webneck and Jagna to duke it out. Optimus assisted by giving her a shock with her own taser.
“See how you like it…” he muttered as the reptile slumped to the ground. Jagna laughed hoarsely, then summoned Primal to follow her.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” he asked as they ran past the fallen and battered Predacons.
“Uh…yeah, I’m pretty sure. This place has undergone some changes…” She blushed at the look he gave her. “Things change over so many years, thank you very much!”
He shook his head, still unable to believe how long it had been, but kept on running. Once they turned several corners, something occurred to him: he didn’t know where on earth they were. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“What now?!” Jagna inquired, breathless and irritated.
“Where exactly are we, Jagna?” he asked.
She sighed. “They call this base Porta Magma…Gateway to Fire. We’re several klicks underground, ninth level. They use the geothermal energy to power their base, like us, but we also have hydro-generators and solar panels.”
“I still don’t understand how he survived,” he mused distractedly, “from what he showed me of your memory, it just doesn’t make sense…it’s not possible…” He dared not mention the door. But he could tell from her guilty expression she knew exactly how Arachnikahn came to be. She shook her head impatiently.
“Now's not a great time, Optimus. By now, all the Predacons will be after us. We have to move fast. And we’ve got quite a way to go, so come on. And…try to be as inconspicuous as Optimally possible…” she added with a hint of teasing sarcasm. Optimus resented the implication that his size would get them caught. Even if it did, he would surely make quick work of any Predacons that got in their way.
As he observed earlier, it was an impressive structure. Corridors wound over and around each other like the tunnel of a burrowing earthworm.
They ran and, as they anticipated, eventually ran into trouble. Optimus recognised the komodo dragon patrolling the corridors, and as soon as he saw them, sounded the alarm.
Before he could finish saying, "Gammatron, Terrorise", he was shot down by Jagna.
"I suggest you pull yours out, too," she said warningly. He nodded and complied, arming his chest canon.
Nearly ever turn they took, every corridor they darted down, they ran into a Predacon. This lot were much better organised than Megatron's old crew.
"How many are there exactly?" he asked over the occasional gunfire.
"I've lost track!" she yelled back, firing repeatedly at Steelclaw.
Optimus had also lost track of time, how long they had been running. He narrowed his optics, exhausted and fed up.
Optimal Optimus Primal quickly transformed into his flight mode, and charged his boosters to full throttle.
“Get on!” he instructed the Pangaea commander. She did so, and instinctively dug her claws into his wing; she knew how fast he could go.
With a roar, Optimus charged into the Predacon blockade, knocking them to the floor like bowling pins.
“Strike!” Jagna yelled, cheering the jet-bot on, “Left here, Optimus!”
“Fools!” screamed a furious Arachnikahn, who had been tracking their movement and had followed them, “Use the plasma venom charges, NOW!”
Slag…thought Optimus. He remembered those things, particularly from the fiasco with the TM raptors. He also guessed that Tarantulas would have upgraded them as all his weapons. That was not good news for him or his passenger.
He felt himself shake a little when a weight left his wing. He stopped immediately, turned (he was amazed the tunnels were wide enough for him to do so), and saw Jagna facing off an advancing troop of Predacons.
“Jagna!” he called to her.
“You’re close to the sealed exit, you’ll need to blast it open, 50 yards ahead. I’ll hold them off, then I’ll catch up…”
“I won’t leave you here…” Primal began.
“That’s an order!” she screamed resiliently. He stayed for a second, unsure. It had been a long time since he was ordered to abandon a team mate. But then, he was used to being the one giving the orders.
“NOW!”
He was forced to follow his code of conduct, and left her, the last he saw of her was in a reflective surface on one of the walls, taking an aggressive swipe at Darkwing, sparks flying as her claws clashed against the raven’s sai daggers.
Optimus arrived at his destination; the door looked thick. He got to work blasting it open, occasionally running into it with his shoulder when it was weakened by the blasts. He looked over his shoulder every now and again until there was room enough or him to get through.
He finally spotted Jagna running from around the corner. Had she fought off all those Predacons?
…No she hadn't.
Barely a second after she appeared, five or six Predacons were in pursuit of her. Optimus didn't bother to see who they were. All he saw was Jagna frantically waving at him to get moving. He did, without question. Once he was finally through the door, he readied a canon blaster and aimed at the top of the doorway.
He could see in her eyes as she sprinted towards him that she wanted him to blow it now. No. Not until she was close enough.
She dove towards him, and he took the shot.
The steel bars and slats reinforcing the ceiling were blown apart, and rocks began piling up in the hallway below them. Optimus grabbed the leopard femme before she hit the ground and rolled them both out of the way.
They both ended up on their backs, and Jagna twisted her neck to look at his makeshift cave-in. She got up and doubled over again, placing her hands on both knees to support herself as she caught her breath.
"You're stubborn, aren't you?" she asked, laughing hoarsely.
"I've had hands-on experience with compulsive subordination," he joked back, "guess I couldn't avoid it myself. But look who's calling the kettle black!"
She laughed breathlessly. "Let's get out of here…"
---
Outside, Greyback and Skylark were still in their hiding place, worried about how long Optimus had been gone.
"Just like old times, huh?" the owl commented as casually as she could.
"I approve of your phrasing, Sky. Thanks for not saying, 'the good old days'…" Greyback joked. His friend smiled.
"Almost exactly like it though, isn’t it? Well…to a certain extent…" Skylark paused, gathering her thoughts.
"Only this time, Kahn has an army…" Grey muttered.
"So have we." Skylark observed. Greyback broke out into a smile. Yes, they had an army of sorts…an army of friends. He couldn't ask for more.
"And ours is bigger…" He chuckled inwardly.
"How long till they get out, do you reckon?" the owl asked the wolf mech. Greyback shook his head.
"I dunno. What do you want to bet that arachna-creep has made some modifications to that worm tunnel of his? It won't be as easy for them to get out as…"
"Easy? You think that was easy?" Sky interrupted. They stared at each other for a moment. Then he submitted, chuckling.
"Okay, it wasn't that easy…" Then he shut up, and pricked his ears. "…Do you hear something?"
They both turned and observed the flat, rock-covered surface of the lava pits.
"Which one was the exit again?"
That question was swiftly answered when the ground began to rumble. The two Maximals abandoned their hiding place and backed slowly away, wondering what was going on. All of a sudden, Optimus Primal shot out of the ground in jet mode, dirt and stones trailing ff him as he exited the earth. Greyback and Skylark covered their heads to avoid getting hit by these wayward vertical missiles.
"Goin' up!" Optimus cried when he was in the air. He then transformed into tank mode and pulled up next to the other two, "And rolling out…"
Greyback transformed into beast mode and leapt up on Optimus. At least they weren't flying. Skylark took to the air. She looked behind her and saw Jagna, also in beast mode, crawling out of the enormous hole Optimus had created.
"What going on, Jag?" she asked eagerly. Jagna looked darkly up at her. Her comrades tilted their heads questioningly.
"He's back…"
---
"Hey rat face, I've been thinking…"
"Uh-oh…"
Cheetor was sitting at his new position at one of Pangaea Two's monitors, bored out of his mind. Rattrap had a shift off and was utilising his time unproductively.
"Okay, so we're stuck on this planet again, right?"
"Thank you, Captain Obvious…"
"I know it would be a little insensitive an' all, but why can't we just take the Maximals here back home? Right now? That was our mission, after all."
Rattrap rolled his optics.
"Yeah, kid, but think about it: there are an umpteen numbeh o' Predacons, and there's anoder Beast Wars goin' on here…or have you been too busy eyein' up the girls teh notice?" Cheetor blushed a little.
"No, but…yes, but…I know!" the cheetah stammered, much to Rattrap's amusement, "I'm just saying why can't we just take the Maximals, that'll be our mission done, and then let someone else handle the Predacons?"
Rattrap had to admit, the kid had a point. "I can't say I haven't thought about lettin' someone else do the dirty work fer a change…" he replied, stretching his arms out.
"It does seem pretty pointless us being here, we're not really doing any good…" Cheetor muttered.
"Nor are you doing any harm kid," came a voice from behind them. Dragonstail was walking up to them, smiling, "at least, not much," he added with a wink. Dragonstail was the resident stallion of the Maximal crew, who was in and out of Pangaea Two whenever he was called for. He seemed to have a very pleasant disposition, and had taken to the two new members quite quickly.
"Yeah, I guess," Cheetor replied, drumming his fingers on the console, "but I still feel useless…and kinda inadequate…" He flattened his ears and fiddled with the keyboard's joystick.
"Aaah, so that's what this is about?" jeered Rattrap, sitting up and rubbing his hands together, "…So which one is it, kid? Huh? Come on, yeh can't leave me outta the loop fereveh…" He nudged his head towards a group of three femme bots.
"What? I dunno what you're talking about…" the Transmetal Two responded defensively. He looked over to the stallion for support, but received none. He was smiling too.
"I must say, you're not very subtle, my young friend. Has he always been like this?" he asked Rattrap, who clutched the crown of his head.
"Pleeease, don't go there. Oi…" Rattrap was not in the mood for one of those headaches.
Cheetor's shoulders were up to his ears, and he was glaring and pouting at the other two.
"Give it up kitten, y'ain't foolin' nobody. Now who is she?"
"We could always guess…" Dragonstail suggested, stroking his chin. Cheetor seemed to levitate out of his seat, tense as ever. Dragonstail and Rattrap were rather enjoying themselves.
"Let's see…" the stallion tallied all the femme bots he could think of off the top of his head with his fingers, "There's Caricaal, Nightshaft, Misty, Sunset…"
"…Or Accinon…yikes…" Rattrap continued. He had almost forgotten how much fun it was to taunt his feline companion.
Cheetor, meanwhile, felt like he was about to explode.
Just then, they heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone had thrown a toaster down a laundry shoot. Rattrap, now rather bored, got up to see what it was. Pangaea Two was not as big as One, and so he only had to walk a few paces to find out what it was.
Bounder, in robot mode, had been running as fast as his long legs could carry him towards the swallow hole entrance. But he had crashed into a shield post, and then stumbled into the hole, crashing against the walls in the twists and turns of the tunnel entrance without stopping.
He landed in a heap at the bottom, his back legs in an awkward position over his head. Quite a few bots laughed at the misfortunate hare, but Accinon went to help him up (once she had untangled him).
"I got…news…" Bounder stammered between breaths as he tried to catch it.
"Where's the fire, Bounder?" Dragonstail asked, moving away from Cheetor.
"Greyback sent me a communication," the hare replied quickly, "told me to tell you to tell everyone to put the defences to full power at each base, and to tell all field units to return to base. He said any base!" he answered quickly before the stallion could ask that question. "Kahn is back!!"
The whole base went quiet. Bounder's loud exclamation echoed down the various tunnels, and repeated itself several times. Several jaws dropped to the floor, and Dragonstail stood there looking at Bounder very uncomfortably. Cheetor and Rattrap also looked at each other, not quite sure how to react. But, funnily enough, they weren't the only ones.
"Oh, yippee…" Accinon whimpered from the corner of the room to which she had slowly retreated. Dragonstail shifted his optics from side to side.
"You sure?"
"No time, they need back-up now!"
"What? Why didn't you say so before?" the stallion demanded, cowing his hooves.
"I was specifically told that the news had priority. Now come on, we gotta help 'em!"
"I'll go!" Cheetor volunteered, not only worried, but glad to get out of the cave. What was with these Maximals and being underground?
"Uh, yeah, ok…" Dragonstail murmured uneasily. Clearly, he had never been in a situation with such pressure as this one. What did he know what to do at a time like this? "Cheetor, uh…take some bots with you, I'll…I'll keep an eye on things from here…"
Without saying another word he shiftily walked away from the gathered group and out of sight.
Wait…me? Cheetor thought, bewildered by the sudden shift of command. He looked around at the other transformers, hurrying him to make a decision.
"Right, um…Sky Scraper, you fly ahead and keep us posted from the air. I'll go on ahead and get behind them and any Predacons that decided this was an open barbeque. Sandskimmer and Bounder, you run as fast as you can and create a perimeter with me, and Sunset will take the rear."
Several pairs of optics stared at him. Why me?!
"Well, let's go!"
Without further ado, the party left up and through the exit tunnel. Every other bot called either a field unit or a unit at the other two bases and the Hercules to warn them of the situation. Dragonstail had vanished down one of the smaller side tunnels. Rattrap stood in the doorway of one of them wondering what the slag just happened.
Did Cheetor just give orders? And were they followed??? He never thought he'd live to see the day. But what was the stallion doing, he wondered?
"Incoming communication," someone hollered in the background.
---
"This is Jagna calling all units. We have a Code Red emergency situation. Report immediately to the base closest to you. I don't care which one you're supposed to be at, I want everyone inside. That's a priority order. Repeat: every unit to base NOW. Jagna out."
The message rand through every Maximal's audios like a high-pitched whistle. Pangaea One went silent.
"Well…" began Nightshaft, trying to comprehend the situation, "…at least we know that whatever they were trying to do had something to do with the Code Red…"
"Dang, when's the last time we ever had a Code Red?" Spanner asked.
"Never in my lifetime…" Vixen commented quietly, "Sounds like it should be a Code Scarlet…"
"Which units are out in the field right now?" Nightshaft asked rather urgently.
"Sleek…" Streakhorn answered quickly and distractedly.
"Right, and…?" Shellshock enquired, "Anyone got the duty list?"
"Comin' up, Shelly!" Spanner flew to the consoles and brought up a list of all units.
"Okay then," Shellshock picked up a microphone and spoke into it, and his voice echoed throughout the base, "would all units please report to the main chamber. You heard the cat, this is a Code Red."
In the following few cycles, a tally was taken of all the Maximals present and missing from Pangaea One. Sleek made it back to base swiftly, and was avoided by Streakhorn, and other units such as Nomad, Llamara and numerous others arrived at various times after her, muttering and chatting amongst each other for updates.
There was a buzz of excited confusion murmuring through the hollowed-out caverns of the dormant volcano like the drone of a bagpipe. Everyone was waiting for the discordant melody to start.
"Now what?" Spanner asked.
Shellshock answered, "Now we wait."
---
Optimus was rolling speedily along behind Jagna, Skylark and Greyback, who were all running or flying in beast mode.
His mind was buzzing. He had to let someone know. His crew had to know. He slowed down ever so slightly so as not to be heard by the three in front of him, and opened a private communication to Rhinox, Rattrap and Cheetor. Cheetor could not respond, as he was occupied, but Rattrap and Rhinox could.
"Optimus! I was starting to wonder where you'd got to," Rhinox commented as lightly as he could without letting slip the worry that had taken him over not long ago, "What's been going on out there?"
"We have a bit of a situation, team," Optimus replied seriously, "Arachnikahn seems to have returned to a full state. Don't ask…" he threw in before having to explain himself.
"Yeah, so what?" Rattrap asked, without giving it much thought, totally unprepared for the answer , "What's so dangerous about this Kahn saurian anyway?"
"It's Tarantulas." Optimus answered quietly and simply into his com-link. Rattrap's jaw dropped open a little, and Rhinox's red optics widened. Though several miles apart, each could see the other's face.
"Oi vey…"
---
Cheetor had already passed the four returning Maximals, but did not stop to say anything to them, even Optimus. The others were actually depending on him to concentrate on what he was doing, and so he closed the perimeter behind them.
Sandskimmer and Bounder fanned out to surround them, and the jerboa ended up hopping next to Greyback, who was panting from exhaustion.
"Get back to base, you guys," the wolf instructed.
"But…" Sandskimmer protested.
"No buts. Back inside. We need to get to P One, and fast."
"We can get there just as fast as you mate, come on!" the jerboa protested.
"Everybody on!" Optimus piped in, quickly changing modes to flight mode. Greyback winced, but jumped up onto Primal's right wing. Sandskimmer was about to follow him.
"You stay! That's an order!" he yelled as Optimus accelerated and lifted higher off the ground. Sandskimmer screeched to a halt and watch them fly away, Greyback on the wing, Jagna on the left, their tails trailing like flags in the wind, and Skylark soaring next to them. The jerboa felt somewhat resentful of being cast aside like that, but Bounder's repetitive urging to head back kept his mind from brooding on it.
Cheetor, a few parsecs away and also heading back for P Two, was only running at half his top speed. His mind was on other things than running fast. As horrible to hear Tarantulas was still alive, his mind wandered to the time they had spent away from Earth.
Optimus had explained briefly over a private communication to him and Rattrap that it had been over four thousand years since they left in the Autobot shuttle. That explained quite a lot. His heart sank at the realisation that his human friends could not possibly be around, or even if their tribe still existed. But even more off-topic, he realised that at least some of the Maximals were at least that age…older than him, Optimus…even Rattrap (though he never really gave that much thought). And yet none of them seemed or looked it…
---
After not too long, the flying party were the last to arrive at Pangaea One from the field. Tired and impatient, Skylark used a remote device to activate the bridge before they got there to save any of them the effort to jump across the gorge. Quite an annoyance, actually, but that did not concern her right now.
As soon as they entered the main chamber, they were swarmed by a crowd of bodies and questions. Greyback and Skylark pushed a few of them back and Jagna held up her hand to give Optimus some room. She and him has endured a large amount of venom each, but Optimus had just flown them back.
Shellshock cautiously approached Greyback once the crowd had dispersed in clouds of whispers.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Now we wait." Greyback answered simply.
---
Half a megacycle passed, and nothing happened. Each nano click crawled by at an agonising pace as they waited. Anxiety quickly turned to irritation.
"What are they waiting for?"
"What next?"
"Is something supposed to be happening?"
These and more questions were scattered across and throughout the Maximal bases.
Meanwhile, Greyback was deep in conversation with Skylark and Jagna. Shellshock made his way over to them.
"All units accounted for here, boss," the tortoise stated, more formally than he usually would have. Greyback shook his head.
"Then where's Nightshaft?" he asked, looking behind his shoulder for a glimpse of the steel black coils.
"She was…doing the count with me…a moment ago…" Shellshock looked around him confusedly, as if he thought he might have stepped on her. He even checked under his foot.
There was a loud thump. Jagna was banging her head against one of the wall-mounted consoles.
"What. Is. She. Playing. At?" she asked herself between bumps. Skylark grabbed her shoulders to stop her denting either the console or her head.
"She wouldn't…" the owl began. She turned her head to the others, "…would she?"
Jagna released herself from Skylark's grasp and banged her head even harder against the wall.
"Alright, Fearless Leader, that's enough." Greyback firmly asserted, grabbing her more tightly and walking far away from the wall with him. He spoke softly and assuredly to her, "Here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna…"
But before she found out what they were going to do, the alarm started blaring. A few individuals went into a panic, not sure how to cope with such a strange situation.
"Um…Jag?" Sleek squeaked, without turning her head from the monitor screen. "Crunch time…" Several units made their way over to her. "Kahn's outside…he's hailing."
"Looks like he wants to talk," Greyback observed, "You can do this. Just…be calm."
"Fine. And um, you can let me go now, I'll need those arms…" she replied, a little awkwardly.
"Hm? Oh! Yeah…sorry…" after a delayed reaction he let her go and he shuffled. She headed to where Sleek was setting up a microphone.
"Open communication channel, Predacon frequency," she instructed.
"Salutations, my fine companions!" Arachnikahn's voice and face appeared on a large projection in front of the Maximal. Many of them had never seen Kahn before, let alone the new Kahn. A chill spread across the room and crept down everyone's spine. Spanner, at the next monitor, relayed the ongoing message live to everyone else (at Pangaea Two, Base Three and the Hercules).
"You've all gone inside to play, and it's not even raining. Can't take a little wet, Maximals?" the spider jeered, his voice obnoxiously loud over the speakers.
"What is it you want, you oversized daddy long legs?" Jagna snapped impatiently, "The quicker we get this over with, the less we have to stare at your ugly mug."
"Oh, we're a bit touchy today, aren't we? My Predacon counterparts and I just want a little chat," he gestured to a selection of unidentifiable Predacons behind him. Dusk was approaching and the sun was behind them. The only reason apart from his voice they knew it was Kahn was his hulk of a new body that cast a threatening silhouette on the ground, "You should know we love a good bit of negotiating. Ask Optimus, he'll tell you…" he added with a cruel snicker.
Several people inside turned their heads to look inquiringly at Optimus. He kept his optics on the image of his old enemy to avoid their gazes.
"And what makes you think you're eligible for negotiations?" Jagna asked, crossing her arms.
"I have leverage…" He whistled, and K-Scale and Razorblade stepped forward.
The Maximals all gasped as they watched the screen in horror.
"You missed one…" Kahn sneered cruelly.
In their clutches…was Signia.
"Come out and talk, and perhaps we'll rethink the fish sticks special."
Everyone turned to Jagna. She was about to say something, but Kahn added, "Alone."
"No." Greyback affirmed. "…No." he repeated, turning to her.
"I've got to." She replied just as firmly. He was resilient, and continued to shake his head. "Look, whatever he wants, it…"
"He's not alone!" he interrupted, waving his hand at the image of a threateningly large group of Predacons, "Why should you be?"
"Because at the moment, Signia is. And I'm not leaving her out there."
There was silence. She swept the Maximals with a quick glance before confirming the meet with Arachnikahn. No one said a word as she passed them.
Except Optimus. He caught her halfway up the stone staircase, when she was level with his eye line.
"Please be careful. Tarantulas was deceptive and tricky…" he began slowly. She laughed hopelessly.
"Was. Even more now." She continued up the stairs. But before she reached the top step, she turned back to him.
"You've known him for a long time, Optimus," she said placidly, "…but technically, I've known him longer."
And at that, she left him and the others to make her way across the bridge and out through the tunnel.
To Be Continued…
Nothing spectacularly dramatic, spoiler-wise. At least, not like the last one. But what's this, Tarantulas a more fearful leader than Megatron? Hm, let's find out
I really do hope you guys enjoy this. Or read it, even. The more people who know the story, the less guilty I feel drawing BWR art with BWR spoilers
Manyana!