BEAST WARS REBIRTH: Chapter 12 - Catalyst Pt 1

[Jagna]

Second chapter tonight! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Ahem....here it is....






Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 1

Chapter 12: Catalyst pt 1

"Predacons, TERRORISE!"

…
……
…

No one knew what happened. One minute the Predacons were charging down the slope, the next, they were retreating, having bludgeoned half the Maximals into the ground.

"Status report," Greyback demanded when they were back in the base. There was a lot of hustling and confusion inside after the battle. There were queues for the repair chambers and a crowd was gathered around Skylark, who needed fixing herself.

Spanner was the one who reported to his lieutenant. "You want the good news, or the bad news?" he asked cautiously.

Greyback sighed exasperatedly. "Good…" he answered slowly.

"Good news is, everyone's a little shook up, but nothing serious,"

That was a relief.

"…And the bad?" the wolf mech enquired, not sure if he wanted to hear it.

"The bad news is…" Spanner began, wincing slightly, "…not everyone's here…"

"What? Who's missing?"

"Carry and Nomad. They'd flanked the desert boundaries when the Preds attacked, and we haven't heard from them since," the macaw squawked nervously.

Greyback turned quickly to Shellshock, who was standing not far away.

"Shellshock, get a team together. I want a recon party to scout that area. Find them."

"Yes, sir!" the reptile responded just as quickly. He had a list of names ready in his mind when Greyback was only halfway through his sentence. "Sandskimmer will meet us in the quadrant, he's close by, so's Stampede. Llamara, Rattrap, let's go!"

Rattrap and the llama femme followed the tortoise out of the mountain. Rattrap hadn't really spoken to her yet, but he was about to find out what she was like.

"Name's Rattrap," he stated as he rolled beside her.

"…I know who you are" she replied with a surprised tone, as if he thought she didn't.

"Yeah, well, thought a formal intro might be a good idea under the circumstances," he continued. She laughed.

"Llamara," she said with a smile.

…
……
…

Back on Cybertron, a bot was sitting alone in a dimly lit room with a single laptop console on his knees. He was inspecting video footage of two Maximals: a spider and a fuzor.

There was a timid knock on the door, and a head peeped through a crack in one of the walls where there was presumably a door.

"This better be good," grumbled the bot with the laptop.

"Y…Y…Yessir. I've been told to inform you that…'It has been acheieved'…whatever that…"

"Good. Now get out."

"Yessir!"

The smaller bot darted back out of the room, forgetting to let go of the handle. His arm hooked itself onto it and he got stuck in the doorframe. He panicked; all he wanted to do was get out as quickly as possible. The phrase, 'Don't shoot the messenger' had little meaning in this place.

Once he had gone, the bot's green optics glowed gleefully and he looked back down at the image of the Maximal spies.

"Perfect."

…
……
…

Later, on Earth…

"This is Shellshock calling Pangaea One, come in home base,"

"Greyback here," the wolf replied to the reptile's communication, "How's it going out there?"

"By the looks of it, Grey, Nomad and Caricaal have been apprehended," Shellshock reported, "Rattrap overheard Pteradonna and Serpentia gloating about it…"

He waited tentatively for a response, which came after a moment's silence.

"Alright. Do one last sweep of the area then head on back to P One," Greyback instructed.

"But Grey, we've swept the whole sector," Sandskimmer protested, "and it's crawling with Predacons. Mate, even if we do find them, we're likely to 'ave a run in with some nasties as well!"

"That's an order, Skimmer," Greyback affirmed, "Over and out."

The com-link went silent.

"He's barking mad," the jerboa exclaimed quietly, "We can't all sweep this sector without getting caught, especially Stampede…"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean, you little pipsqueak?!" Stampede snapped, highly insulted by what the rodent had just insinuated.

"Can it you guys. We'll split up," Rattrap suggested.

"Woah, woah, I don't like the sound of that," Llamara said, nervously cowing her hooves, "it's only a small area we have to check, we might as well do it together."

"Whatever! Let's just get it done and get back, please?!" Sandskimmer moaned, much to Shellshock's annoyance. He began to walk away.

"Skimmer, you don't knew where you're going," the tortoise warningly advised. The jerboa laughed.

"Mate, the desert is my territory. I know this place like the back of my AGH!"

He disappeared suddenly into the sand.

"Kid!"

Then, one by one, the same fate occurred for each of them.

…
……
…

Later, Greyback was rubbing his temples while sat in front of a scene of confused Maximals. There was only one person on his mind…

Until Shellshock returned. His group had found Nomad and Caricaal.

"Where have you two been?" the wolf scorned the desert units.

"We were apprehended, sir," Nomad answered monotonously, "the Predacons were about to take us to their base until the rescue party showed up."

"Good…" said Greyback, a little uneasily. Nomad never called him 'sir' before. He turned to Shellshock, "Anything happen out there?"

Shellshock stared for a moment…

"…Nope."

Greyback squinted slightly. He had a feeling Shellshock wasn't telling him something. But he shrugged it off, and turned his attention back to Nomad.

"Did the Predacons mention anything about…" but the dromedary cut him off.

"They did not sir."

"…Okay…" This was very strange. They were all so quiet. "Anyway, come with me. We've got some planning to do…"

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……
…

Half a megacycle later, Greyback had assembled every unit into the control centre of Pangaea One. He felt somewhat awkward as the onlookers gazed on him alone for answers. He had to shrug off his nerves and get straight to the point.

"…This is a real problem, Maximals. We're going to have to devise a plan to get our leader back…"

During Greyback's speech, Shellshock was feeling strange. It felt like there was a big gnat crawling around in the back of his head, giving him a throbbing headache. He tried to shake it off, but the sensation continued.

"…The Predacons have sunk low this time…"

It grew, and got stronger…

"…Now is the time to act!"

Without warning, Shellshock let out a ferocious yell, causing everyone to turn and face him, startled optics wide. His cry continued as he pulled out his weapon and fired randomly at his comrades. Every unit in the base ducked to the ground, several of them cursing and many others asking the tortoise "what the shell" he was doing.

His yell had slowly turned to laughter, and there was a different glow to his optics. He finally stopped firing, but before anyone had time to make any queries, he pulled out a remote control from his subspace.

"All units, ACTIVATE!"

He pressed the biggest button on the remote, and immediately chaos ensued. It became immediately clear that the device Shellshock wielded was what was used on Jagna to turn her against her own kind, when 'friendly fire' suddenly erupted faster than a chain of volcanoes in Pangaea One, undercut by screams of manic laughter.

Aside from Shellshock, units like Nomad began to run rampant around the base…

"Everybody out! We have a breach!" Greyback yelled over the disorder, pointing to the exits.

Further confusion followed as a swarm of Maximals began to head for safety outside. Optimus, Nightshaft, Skylark and Rhinox ran towards the main entrance. They had barely reached the tunnel at the top of the stairs when…

"Not so fast…"

They all screeched to a halt, and Primal's optics widened.

"No…"

Rattrap was blocking their path with his gun drawn and aimed straight at them. "Goin' somewhere, Maxies?" He sneered, his optics burning. Now that they were standing still, they could see that, like Jagna, Rattrap's colour scheme had changed. His blue helmet and blue tinted armour now had a black sheen to it.

"Rattrap…" Rhinox began, taking a step forward, "…fight it, whatever it is. Come on…" He held his hand out to his best friend, hoping that whatever the Predacons had created had not consumed him completely.

Rattrap seemed to consider it for a moment. In fact, his optics dimmed slightly and he shook his head. "Rhinox?" he asked, seemingly confused. The rhino's spirits were lifted a smidge, and he edged forwards even more.

Rattrap's head twitched violently, and the eerie glow returned to his eyes. "Get bent, Maximal!"

He fired. His missile hit Rhinox square in the chest, sending him flying back into Optimus' arms. The four of them looked at each other, then at Rattrap.

"You ain't goin' nowhere…"

…
……
…

Elsewhere in the base, Greyback was trying to organise himself and his comrades. "Last chance, emergency exit! Go, go, go!"

As he and a few remaining Maximals ascended the escape tunnel, the sealed exit was suddenly blown apart. They crouched down and covered their heads with their arms to protect themselves from the ricocheting rocks and dust. They looked up, and saw a pair of bright red, narrow optics headed towards them.

"No…" Greyback exclaimed.

The transformer they had formerly known as their commander stepped dramatically out of the billowing dust with a broad smile on her face.

"Miss me?" she asked, before signalling the Predacons that emerged behind her to open fire.

When all her former comrades were down, she turned behind her to beckon someone in from outside. His enormous bulk stepped in one massive foot at a time. He observed his fallen enemies, and smiled triumphantly. He raised his arms high above his head.

"At last, the Maximal base is MINE!"

Arachnikahn's laugh echoed through the cavernous tunnels of Pangaea One, reaching every unit, Maximal or Predacon, spreading a sense of foreboding triumph throughout.

Standing next to Kahn, his new lieutenant twitched, the Maximal inside her dying to get out and stop this. But she could do nothing but watch as her new Predacon self smiled.













OMG, cliffhanger or WUT?

Yes, yes, at last my plot device is revealed! I was so psyched about writing this, even more the next chapter!

And can I just say, this was written well over two months ago. Yup. It's just taken me ages to write the chapters before it ^^;

Later peepz. I hope others will enjoy this as much as I have ^^