The Intergalactic Highway

I finally got my head down to finishing this chapter. There was literally ONE paragraph that was bugging me, but I got it. Whoohoo!

Tada! Chapter 13. Two more chapters to go till the end of Volume One! I'm looking forward to it!











Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 1

Chapter 13: Catalyst pt 2

The Maximals had been rounded up in the central control cave of their own base like sheep, their own kind forcibly turned against them. Kahn was tapping away at the old Axalon console.

"Pitiful as it ever was…" he muttered, "…Lieutenant!" Jagna stood to attention, "Round up our…'allies'."

Jagna nodded, and turned to the rest of the crowd, "Hope you don't mind, but we've made some alterations as to how we are to be addressed, so you simple-minded Maximals don't get your tiny little minds confused," she mocked at the group on their knees in front of her.

"Hellcat," she announced.

"Right here…"

Caricaal came through one of the tunnel ways with Accinon's neck in her surprisingly ironclad grasp. Thoroughly enjoying herself, she threw the lynx on the ground next to the rest of the Maximals.

"Eradicator," Jagna called. The bot once known as Shellshock hollared.

"And…" her gaze landed on the Transmetal rat, who held up his hands before she could say anything.

"Eh, stick with Rattrap. It's gotta nice…" he slammed his fist into his hand in front of his chest, "…punch to it…" he added with a grin, cracking his knuckles. Jagna shrugged.

"Whatever. Blockade?"

"Here." It was Stampede.

"Strider." She received a grunt from behind her, which turned out to be Sandskimmer.

"Drifter?" The bot who used to be Nomad nodded, sneaking in a punch to Rhinox's head.

"Good. One more…Peruvia."

"What?" grunted a grumpy llama femme looming over Spanner. Greyback shook his head in disbelief at the extent of this infiltration. So many of his comrades, his friends, had been converted.

"And then of course," Kahn stepped forward and announced, "my loyal lieutenant, Jaggid. As in jagged edge, am I right?" He raised his brows, and she smirked, extending her claws close to Greyback's neck.

"Jag…" he said, desperately, "…it's me. Snap out of it…"

"Sorry, pup," she mocked, edging her hand closer so that the tips if her blades touched his throat, "these Maximals have left the building." Her optics narrowed, and Grey's hopes were slashed, as he thought his neck would be too. But she withdrew.

Optimus was seething. He knew Tarantulas well enough to be aware of the extent of his madness, but this was going too far. To turn so many Maximals against their wills into Predacons? And for what purpose? That question was soon to be answered.

"Now that Pangaea One is in my possession," Kahn began, striding up and down in front of his captives, "I think it is time to extract the command codes for your old security systems, Jaggid. I want them now."

The incarcerated Maximals gasped. They were surely slagged now; their leader, who had all the codes locked away in her memory banks, had been converted into one of their enemies. Jagna, or Jaggid as she was now known, nodded and dimmed her optics. Green grid lines transformed into codes that scrolled down; she was scanning for the codes

"As for you, Primal…" Kahn began, advancing towards the other Maximal leader, "…this is going to be fun…" he said with his characteristic cackle, "Let's see if I can personally dismantle you…"

"I don't think so…" Optimus rose to his feet, aiming the laser in his chest at the Predacon leader.

The enemy he used to know as Tarantulas threw his head back laughing. "I. Think. Not." He raised a finger, and lowered it again. His original Predacons aimed their weapons at the newly converted transformers surrounding Primal, causing them to step back in surprise. Then Kahn took out his own weapon and aimed it at Jaggid's head. Sho was still in semi-stasis lock, looking through strings of code, unaware of what her new leader was doing.

"Your choice, Optimus. Would you have them die…as Predacons?" He smiled menacingly. He knew how every Maximal was programmed with a pathetic code of heritage. Not only would it be a horrible death at the hands of Predacons, but as Predacons would surely set off a few sparks in his honour circuits.

He was right. Looking around him, Optimus saw the confused faces of who used to be Llamara, Stampede, Sandskimmer, Caricaal, Shellshock, Nomad, Jagna…and Rattrap. With painful dignity, he sighed and disabled his weapons. He lowered his head, defeated. Greyback shared in his despair. His comrades were no longer within reach. They were far gone, for once the other Predacons lowered their weapons, the new Preds laughed hoarsely.

"Rattrap," Kahn ordered.

"Yeah?"

This'll be good, the spider thought, twiddling his fingers, "I would like you to tell me exactly what modifications have been made to Optimus' exostructure since arriving on Cybertron. Now."

Rattrap saluted and repeated the same process as Jagna, and thought. But wait…Rattrap was one of he few bots who knew first-hand what had been done, why would he need to think about it?

After a few minutes, he coughed uncertainly, pulling himself out of his trance-like state. "Uh…ahem…uh, boss?" the rat began awkwardly.

"What?"

"I, uh…I can't."

"Can't what?"

"Well…" he beckoned Kahn to a quieter corner of the room. When they were out of earshot of the Maximals, he continued, "I can't get to the info…"

"What?"

Rattrap winced and covered his head, ready for a blow of some sorts, but he was saved by a black leopard's intervention.

"I can't either…" she said.

Kahn began to fume. The pair in front of him shrugged. "This cat is extremely stubborn…" Jaggid said defensively.

"You've noticed that, have you?" Kahn scorned about his former nemesis. Wow, this was confusing…

"How d'we get past this?" Rattrap asked loudly, stirring Greyback's attention. The rodent received a sharp slap on the head from the leopard.

"Easy, will you?" she hissed warningly, "Try not to blow our cover, eh?"

Cover? thought Greyback. What was there to cover? He narrowed his yellow optics suspiciously, and nudged Optimus as inconspicuously as possible. Still disheartened, Optimus lifted his head and caught sight of what Grey was obviously listening in on.

"No need to worry about that. The Maximals haven't a clue even of your existence, let alone your presence here…" Kahn's voice stated calmly.

Greyback and Optimus looked at each other. Whaaaat?

"The Council will be pleased by our success…" Rattrap said, rubbing his hands together.

"No! The Council is not to hear of any of this until I say so!" Kahn snapped. Both Rattrap and Jaggid, Optimus and Greyback were taken aback by this, for different reasons.

"Council?" Greyback asked Optimus.

"When, then?" Jaggid asked Kahn.

"You will find out I due time, my dear…Now then," The large, deformed spider marched back to the centre where his captives were, signalling his followers to form a threatening ring around them. "It appears we will have to do this the fun way." He chuckled maniacally. He pointed to Rhinox, Skylark and Greyback. "Take them back to Porta Magma."

Without another word, six Predacons, both original and new, grabbed their assigned hostages, immobilised their upper limbs with energy bonds, and began to march away, led by Arachnikahn.

Greyback was being held by Wretch (who was a female fire ant, and a fairly new addition to the Predacon clan) and Stampede…which was awkward. Equally as awkward was Rattrap holding his gun gleefully at Rhinox's back, aided by Llamara…or Peruvia…or whatever. Skylark was to be accompanied by the terrible duo, Pteradonna and Khronus.

"Stampede…" Grey began.

"That ain't my name no more, gearhead, it's Blockade now. Duh," she replied patronisingly.

"What's happened to you?" he continued, ignoring her harsh, sadistic tone, "Snap out of it…" he whispered hoarsely so that the ant would not hear him. Blockade pretended to think about it, but quickly resided to punch him hard in the stomach. Considering her size and strength, it winded him completely, and he had to be carried (or rather, dragged) the rest of the way.

Khronus and Donna were having the most productive collaborative mission they had ever been on together. Skylark not only had her arms tied, but the Predacons had disconnected the wiring to her wings. They enjoyed themselves, tossing her to and fro, passing her and 'accidentally' dropping her a few metres every now and then.

Rhinox said nothing the whole way. He wasn't thinking about what Tarantulas would possibly do with them. All he could think about was the bot behind him, wielding the sharp blaster barrel digging into his back, snickering to Obertron.

…
……
…

Back at Pangaea One, Jaggid was frantically tapping away at the console, her red optics narrowing. Optimus observed her carefully. What was she trying to do?

After yet another unsuccessful attempt, she slammed her palms on several buttons at one time, causing sparks to fly out of the hologram projection chamber, as it had done once or twice before. She snarled and slashed at the machine with her claws, which had been modified to fit her new persona: double-bladed with sharp, jagged edges, ironically enough.

Serpentia, who had been sulking in a corner, noticed this and smugly slithered her way over to the bot who replaced her as second-in-command.

"Running into a few ssssnagsssss, are we?" she jeered. Jaggid, instead of acting out as she did with the console, smiled and slowly turned her head, the rest of her body eerily motionless. Then something happened, no one was quite sure what, that made Serpentia shiver, and suddenly she was hurled across the room. The original Predacons and the remaining Maximals followed the snake with their heads until she slammed against a wall and coiled onto the floor in a heap. The newest additions to the Predacons caught each other's eyes, and smiled broadly with Jaggid, a clear warning to all other bots in their presence to watch their tread.

There was definitely something odd going on, Optimus thought. He considered what Rattrap said earlier about the Council. It couldn't possibly be the Maximal High Council, secretive though they were. All he could fathom was the mysterious Tripredicous Council. He was fortunate (or rather, unfortunate) enough to know the very basics about them, for they were highly covert and not very well-known amongst Maximal parties.

Jaggid, Eradicator and Drifter approached the fallen reptile, and whispered inaudibly to her. Though furious, she slithered away submissively. She arrived at the console, transformed, and began attempting to decrypt the security codes herself.

"Take these Maximals to one of the off-tunnel caves," instructed Jaggid, "I believe I had some features added to this cone if ever such a…tragic event ever occurred!" She wailed satirically, sparking heaps of laughter from the Predacons.

"One thing before we go, Jag…" Accinon stated forcefully. Jaggid nodded amusedly, "…How is it you can't access your own files, huh?" Clearly, Optimus wasn't the only one who had caught on to her strange behaviour. The Predacon lieutenant hesitated.

"Uh…well…Skylark obviously changed the codes when she learned of my well-needed conversion…" she said slowly.

The lynx scowled suspiciously as she and her party were lead off.

…
……
…

In one of the relatively new 'holding caves', the Maximals had been herded and caged in with energy bars in the doorway. There was also a screen that cut them off from hearing any of the Predacons' plans.

Unfortunately for the captors, the Maximals could plan as well.

"I don't like this one bit…" Spanner commented.

"You and everyone else shackled up with you, bird seed breath!" Snapped Accinon, who had taken being captured and dragged by Hellcat very personally.

"That's enough." Optimus stated firmly. Gladly, they listened to him and quietened down, "I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's detected something very fishy going on," some of them shook their heads, "I don't know what it is yet, but if I know…knew…Tarantulas, it might be hard to get to the bottom of. Any ideas?"

"I might have one," Spanner suggested. The Maximals leaned their heads in.

…
……
…

Minutes later, Sandskimmer, or Strider as he was now known, entered the holding cave with a smug, superior look on his face.

"Well, well, Maximals, those of your friends lucky enough to have been absent during Greyback's stirring motivational speech will soon be captured. One thing we could get into was your tracking system. Primus, what a synch!"

"Yeah, about that…" Spanner noted inquisitively, "Your memory has been a little glitch-ridden lately, bro. I sure hope you managed to 'remember' the X-9-niner codes that only you know…"

The new Predacon stared blankly at the macaw.

"Oh? Oohhhh, right, yeah, 'course. Those, er, secret security codes for the, uh, shield generators are, uh, locked away safely, yeah…" he stammered, improvising feverishly, scratching the back of his neck as if there was a tick gnawing at it, "How do you feel about that? That, uh, X-niner thingie's gonna compromise the security of your entire establishment if…"

"Dude…" Spanner interrupted dryly, "…it's your favourite game console…"

The jerboa looked stunned for a second, but then he sighed and tried his best to recover.

"Fine, fine, you've caught me out. There are some little bitty thins I can't remember on account that there might have been some side effects of the conversion. But mate, there are some things…"

"Save your breath…" a voice from the doorway interrupted.

The Maximals turned to see where the voice had come from. Peruvia, formerly known as Llamara, was leaning against the wall, inspecting one of her swords. Cheetor tilted his head curiously. He had never talked to her before…

"As much as I hate to admit it, rodent, they're not as dumb as they look. Besides, you're a terrible liar."

"Nobody asked you, Fluffy," Strider sneered nastily, but he was surprised that he hadn't noticed her lurking there before, "What, you got a better idea?"

"Give me two minutes and I'll prove it."

Strider squinted and reluctantly stepped aside. Peruvia glided forward, optics still glued on her weapon, her feet guiding her to Spanner. The macaw bot gulped and looked up at her. He didn't like being around Maximal Llamara with those swords, let alone Predacon Peruvia. She wasn't very good with them…But in that sense, he was relieved. She couldn't do much harm with them…

What a mistake to assume.

In the blink of an eye, she withdrew her second sword, crossed her arms and sliced Spanner's chestplate in both directions. He yelled and fell sideways onto the floor, gasping. There was a roar and Wildcat leapt forwards for a counter-attack.

But just as quickly, or possibly even faster, he was cut down as well. Underneath her visor, the llama femme scanned each unit in the room individually, searching for a twitch of movement. From her left, Nightshaft extracted her tail whip and aimed for the oppressor's arms, but it ended up sliced in half and wrapped tightly around the spider monkey's neck.

Peruvia had Nightshaft in front of her, holding her makeshift noose in one hand and pointing a sword at everyone with another. Nobody moved.

"Here's the deal," she began coolly, the primate choking restlessly in her grasp, "you're going to help us 'refresh our memories'. The more you do, the less time each of you will have to spend in a CR Chamber. Come along, dear," she addressed Nightshaft smugly, dragging her out backwards by her throat. As she passed him, she gave Strider a nasty grin.

"Fine, fine, you can start with her…" he shrugged submissively. When he said that, a few worried gasps emitted from the crowd of Maximals.

As they left, Peruvia glanced at them all and her wide small slowly disappeared and turned into a sinister scowl, sending shivers down several spinal cords.

"You'll never underestimate me again."

She left with Strider and Nightshaft. The stunned Maximals looked at each other wide-eyed.

"I think it's safe to say…" Accinon began darkly as she tended gently to Spanner, "…that they're not themselves today…"

…
……
…

Back in the control centre, Jaggid loomed over Serpentia at the console.

"Running into a few snags, are we?" she muttered cruelly at the irony. The reptile hissed softly but did not respond. Just then, they received a transmission from the Predacon base.

"They're not responding at all. We need you at Porta Magma. Serpentia should be able to handle things there." Kahn said lazily.

"Wishful thinking, I think…" said Jaggid meanly. The cobra hissed. "Okay, I'll be there in 40 cycles." She turned on her heel, "O woman's work is never done!"

As she left, Serpentia's cobra flap expanded to its fullest width and she bared her teeth. Darkwing made her way carefully to her former lieutenant.

"Well…?"

The serpent turned her head slowly towards the raven. "Don't worry. We won't need them for long…"

…
……
…

Much later at Porta Magma, Jaggid arrived in Kahn's chambers.

"Well, well, well, I must say I never thought I'd see the face of my enemy in my humble abode on such good terms," Kahn whistled amusedly. Jaggid nodded.

"What exactly is the problem?"

"My troops aren't having much luck extracting the necessary information from the Maximals," he explained, his hands behind his back as he inspected his computer screen, "I thought, as a seasoned interrogator, you might have something else in mind." He turned his head over his shoulders to glance at her. There was a smile on both their faces.

"Oh, I'll think of something."

…
……
…

Rhinox and Skylark were being held in a single room with three cells, separated by powerful energy bars. The third cell was empty. Skylark ruffled her fearthers uncomfortably.

"He'll be fine," Rhinox assured her unconvincingly. She attempted a smile, but it turned into a grimace.

"What do they want with us, anyway?" the rhino continued.

"Obvious," the owl stated grimly, "We're the tech heads, and Grey…he has the back-up access codes to the secondary systems…"

Rhinox's optics widened. Skylark nodded.

"I don't wanna know how they're gonna try and get them from him…"

…
……
…

At that moment, Greyback was strapped to a board propped against a wall in an empty chamber. He struggled as hard as he could, but he was bound around his chest, hands and feet.

The door to the chamber suddenly opened, and he was almost blinded by the bright yellow light. He adjusted his optics, and they widened when a blurred silhouette at the door came into focus. Jaggid was standing in the doorway, her red optics blazing and her claws extended. Though he couldn't see it, she was smiling.

She casually closed the door behind her and dimmed the lights up. He could see her clearly now, and she him.

She observed him very carefully as he glared at her, not with his usual stubborn stare, but something that resembled true resentment. This was not the Maximal he knew. But he wouldn't give up just yet. She folded one hand across her torso and pressed the other against her chin as she walked towards him.

"You know, Grey, I rather like you tied up," the black leopard jeered maliciously.

"Okay, you're enjoying yourself a little too much right now, but snap out of it. Come on, Jag, what's the master escape plan? Or is it infiltration?" he asked eagerly with the smallest sliver of hope, starting to get a bit ahead of himself. She rolled her optics and sighed heavily.

"You're doing well today, my former friend. Two out of three, nice one. Yes, I am rather enjoying myself, thanks for asking, but it's a no to the escape plan. Despite what that massively overeager puppy act of yours wants to believe, Jagna is gone. Good riddance."

Desperately trying to ignore the very last part, he asked, "And what about number three? Infiltration?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

He sighed. He'd give it one more shot.

"C'mon, Jaggy," (he hadn't called her that for a long while), "fight it. The old you is still in there somewhere…come on!"

She only laughed.

"You really are a hoot. I never would have guessed, by looking at you,"

Wait…what? His optics narrowed to slits.

"What do you want?" he asked cautiously.

"It doesn’t mater what I want. It's how I'm going to get it that'll be fun…"

She smiled widely at him, but it was not the good kind of smile. At least not for him.

She took several paces towards him, and he was unable to stop whatever she was thinking of doing. What the slag was she thinking of doing?

"Don’t worry. I don't bite…hard…"

He almost found out when he felt her hand grab the fur on his chest.

Then Rattrap barged in.

"Yo! The boss needs yeh, pussy cat."

Greyback winced as Jaggid's grip tightened on him.

"Ugh. Can it wait? I'm working…"

"Yeeeeeahhh. Next time, try workin' faster. Now git."

The cat's grip loosened on her captive. "Fine." She left the room, and winked at Greyback before she turned the corner.

"That was…perturbing…" he stated uncomfortably. He tried to adjust himself but his bonds tightened. The black Transmetal rat smirked.

"So…" he said, propping himself against the wall, "…you gotta thing for her, huh?"

"What?!" the wolf's optics widened distractedly.

"Puh-leez, anyone with two optics and half a processor coulda seen it. But don't worry, it's between you an' me." He tapped the ridge of his nose.

"Yo, Blockade, throw this lugnut back in with the other rusty cogs," he instructed the mammoth when she walked in behind him.

Still in a slight state of shock, Greyback did not resist when Blockade practically yanked him off his holding board and flung him back into his cell. Skylark scurried as close to the bars as she dared to make sure he was alright.

"Cosy, ain't it?" Rattrap jeered.

"Ratface…" Blockade said coldly and suddenly, "You're inspection date has come early…"

Without knowing quite what was going on, Rattrap was dragged by Blockade and Khronus out of the holding chambers, leaving the three Maximals very confused.

"What the slag are they doing?" Skylark asked.

"You have not performed efficiently enough, rodent!" Arachnikahn's voice boomed throughout the tunnels from outside.

"Looks like we're about to find out…" Rhinox muttered.

"The only reason you were even considered was your long-term connection to the Maximals, and yet you have nothing!" The spider's anger was quickly rising like a shaken-up fizzy drink. "Your services are no longer required. You are DISMISSED!"

There was a loud crack and a flash of bright purple light filled the corridors. Stunned, the Maximals waited to see what would happen next…or find out what had just happened.

A few moments later Khronus returned with a lifeless Rattrap around his neck. The eagle hurtled the apparently unconscious rat into another empty cell, activated the bars and left, slamming the door behind him.

The rat lay still in his cell, limp as a rag. Skylark, who was in the cell opposite him, carefully leaned in closer to inspect him. He was no longer steel black, but his normal colours again. The owl medic looked at the other two questioningly, who both shrugged.

Suddenly, he began to stir.

"Oi, my head…guys? Ugh. What's goin' on?"

"Rattrap?" Rhinox asked cautiously.

"Nah, it's yer Uncle Wheeljack!" the rat answered satirically.

"Sounds like him," the rhino whispered to Greyback, who shrugged again.

"What…what happened? Where the heck are we?" the rat enquired again.

"You don't remember?" Skylark leant a little closer to the bars of her cell to get an even closer look at him.

"Weeell, if I did, I'd sure be askin, wouldn't I?" Rattrap replied sarcastically, "Rhinox, c'mon, fill me in."

Rhinox didn't know what to think at the moment. Then it hit him.

"Tarantulas! He must have salvaged part of Megatron's old machine that turned me Pred!"

"I'm starting to feel left out, aren't you, Sky?" Greyback muttered through the glowing bars. Rattrap continued to rub his head.

"What's this about Preds? Yer not tryin' teh tell me I went…"

"Predacon." Rhinox answered for him, "But Tarantulas didn't seem too pleased with you…you're a Maximal again, old friend." He gave the rat a smile. It was returned, though confusedly.

"Man, what a day…I think…how long's it been? What do they wanna know?"

"They want the access codes to Pangaea. You and Jagna were having trouble getting to the info you have. The Predacon programming must have been blocked out of your safeguard core memory."

"Well, uh, ok, let's go with that…" Rattrap said, still confused, "So what were these access codes then? Nuttin' too important, I hope?"

"Only the most important. Info on all of our projects; past, present and future, not to mention the security overwrites," Greyback began, but trailed off. He wondered if Rattrap remembered what he said to him in the other room not too long before.

"Okay then, so what are they?" the rat enquired again.

As Skylark began to explain, Rhinox spotted something attached to Rattrap's side. It looked like the casing that was found at Pangaea Two…

…It was a trick.

The rhino roared and grabbed Rattrap by the neck by plunging his arms though the bars. Shocked by this unexpected attack, the Transmetal rat suddenly changed colour…back to jet black, his Predacon colours.

"You're not Rattrap!" the rhino yelled, shaking the rat through the bars, damaging his arm on the plasma bars as he did so, "Who are you? WHO ARE YOU?!"

Rattrap's optics suddenly began to glow. He looked straight at Rhinox, and before he knew it the Maximal tech was flying through the air. He landed against the bars at the other end of his cell. He yelled in pain and fell to the floor.

A few moments later, he looked up to see Rattrap…or who used to be Rattrap, towering above him.

"Yer smarter than yeh look, hornhead." His voice was soft, venomous and uncharacteristically chilling. His optics were now bright white.

"Way to blow our cover, Aft Face…"

Jaggid had entered the room, along with Blockade. Their optics, too, were white. But they were not blind.

"Who are you?" asked a shaking Skylark, who was leaning against the wall of her cell, clutching her wings close to her as a form of protection, "You're not them…"

"And she's supposed to be in charge of our health," the large mammoth femme sneered.

"Blockade, seal the doors. Rattrap, pretend there was a glitch in the system and shut off the cameras," Jaggid instructed. The two complied, and were soon cut off from prying eyes of the outside.

The black leopard then did something very unexpected: she disabled the bars of each cell. Immediately, without thinking, Greyback lunged at her, rage pumping through him like liquid energon. But all she had to do was look at him to send him flying across the room like Rhinox. Skylark quickly darted over to him, Rhinox too.

The three…Predacons, or whatever they were stood in a line facing the three Maximals.

"What are you?" Rhinox asked, his voice trembling with anger.

"Spies to you, traitors to these Predacons, yada yada," Rattrap explained, waving hand, "it's a little complicated."

"Try us…" Grey spat, still seething, clutching his stomach, not taking his eyes off Jaggid.

"I suppose you've figured out that your friends have undergone a little more than an upgrade," the leopard said lazily.

"More like…an infusion," Blockade continued, "they were kind enough to waltz into our arms…or was it us that waltzed into their bodies?" The three 'agents' cruelly chuckled.

"Kahn…he's planned this…this is End Game!" Skylark said horrified.

Rattrap let out a loud, "Tcheh!"

"As if that eight legged moron could ever be truly wise to our cause," Blockade snapped, spitting at the mention of the arachnid, "He's a disgrace to the Tripredicus Council!"

"The Tripredicus Council? Impossible…" Rhinox exclaimed

"He has strayed from our cause and our sight since his 'death'…" Rattrap added, using his fingers for emphasis, "But we're here to set it straight. Oh, but don't tell him. He thinks we're working for him!" He and Blockade erupted with laughter.

That explains a lot, Greyback thought, optics still cemented on Jaggid, who had remained eerily quiet.

"We're not interested in your little Pangaea project…" she whispered, "We are here to complete our mission."

"Good luck," Rhinox spat, "For one, we know what you're up to, and second, there's no way you won't somehow be twisted to seeing things his way." Rhinox's memory wandered back to Tarantulas' plot to destroy the Ark.

The Tripredicus agents smiled. The pitiful Maximal fools had obviously missed a vital part of Tarantulas' confession about their origin.

"Say nothing, and you will all be spared…" Jaggid began.

"Squeal on us, and all your friends will pay…" Blockade continued.

"Piece. By. Piece." Rattrap finished, yanking his own arm off. Rhinox and the others saw a brief flicker of something familiar in his face…and it was in agony.

"Got that?"

The helpless Maximals nodded, huddling together. Rattrap reattached his arm as they rebooted the cameras and bars (the Maximals ended up in the same cell) and began to leave. Greyback shouted out.

"Where are they? They've gotta be in there somewhere!" Greyback shouted, choking on his words. Blockade was the last to leave. She turned and stared at him with a blank, empty expression.

"We told you. They're gone."

She stepped out of the doorway, but before she slammed the door, she said,

"For good."

…
……
…

"What happened in there?" demanded a furious Arachnikahn.

"Nuttin'." Rattrap replied, quickly adjusting his optic colour back to red.

"Nothing? Nothing?! You locked me out, shut off our security cameras and you tell me it's NOTHING?!"

"Ease up, legs. We were just, eh…'testing' our persuasion techniques, if yeh know what I mean. They should be ready teh talk soon."

"But, but…" Kahn protested.

"It wouldn't have helped to have you there. All they needed was the gut-wrenching, gushy Maximal pity-for-their-poor-comrades routine and bam! You ain't got nothin' to worry about, boss." Stampede interjected, making sure her optics had gone back to red, too.

"But, but…" Kahn tried to get a hold of himself. He turned to Jaggid, "Is this correct?"

She nodded, "Affirmative."

Awkwardly, the huge spider bot shrugged it off. "Very well. We'll resume questioning tomorrow. Are you sure you can't access those files, still?" he added in a more hushed tone.

"I told you, give us more time. I've nearly broken through this cat's eggshell of s core consciousness," the leopard gloated. Kahn frowned.

"It's not as easy as it first appears, not with this particular group of Maximals. If you don't have those codes one way or another in two days, I will go in myself."

"Ahem. I thought we agreed it was a no-no on the whole positronic lobotomy. I mean, I'm still in this body, hello…"

"If we are to succeed, it will be by any means necessary. Understood?"

She stared blankly at him, a flicker of resentment barely visible crossed her lips.

"Well?" he demanded again.

"Yes, my Lord."








DUDUDUDUMMMMM. Time to post some art related to this chapter at last! ...or was that the next chapter?.......OOH! Both! Wicked!