BEAST WARS REBIRTH: Chapter 15 - Reincarnation

[Jagna]

Okay....this is officially....THE LAST CHAPTER OF VOLUME ONE!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm very excitied. Don't read my comments at the end if you don't....oh whatever, go for it. The very end is quite obvious, I think XD

CHAPTER 15!!!!!!













Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

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Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 1

Chapter 15: Reincarnated

Having left Porta Magma several hours ago, Rattrap was rolling along a river bank in vehicle mode, muttering to himself about how he got the short end of the stick and so on.

As his, or rather his host's, wheels rotated beneath him, the Predacon had a sneaky suspicion he was being watched. Much like his host, this Rattrap was also very instinctive, and readied himself to transform for battle if need be.

He tried to listen out for the faintest sound, but all he heard was the gentle splashes of the river.

But suddenly those splashes became a lot louder. Before he could comprehend the cause of this, he felt a large weight suddenly flatten him and his wheels dug into the ground.

"What the…?"

Once again, his face was shoved into the dirt of the moist riverbank. Once he pulled it out, he transformed using the unnatural sequence of, "Rattrap, Terrorise!"

He turned around and spotted the back end of his ambusher diving back into the water.

"Oh, yeah?" he sneered. He withdrew his pistol and began to fire round after round into the rippling water. The bullets penetrated the surface one after the other, leaving a jet stream of bubbles in their wake. Until one of them hit something.

"Ha!" he yelled triumphantly. He refused to enter the water himself, but he crouched at the bank and peered into the depths, squinting his optics. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Despite his care not to enter the water, he was suddenly drenched by a facefull of it. A powerful jet of water suddenly shot out from under the surface, sending the rat flying backwards. He was pinned on the floor by the water, his limbs flailing pathetically. As soon as it stopped, he coughed and spluttered as he pulled himself onto his feet.

"You're asking fer it, fish lady," he jeered at Signia, who now faced him in robot mode, her jet shooter ready in her hands.

"I think not," she replied angrily.

"Ain't you supposed to be in a fish tank right about now?" he asked her nastily, grinning smugly.

"You've done enough damage, all of you. I need you to snap out of it!" She raised her weapon again and fired. He was flung backwards even further. Though determined, the dolphin was reluctant to go so far as to hurt him. For even though she had not known the Maximal Rattrap long, she knew that his reprogramming was not voluntary.

She repeated her attacks again and again so that she followed him as he went further backwards because of the force of her water jet, between each shot pleading to him to snap out of it.

"Stop it! BLBB STOP IT!" Rattrap yelled imploringly between soakings. He was getting more and more agitated and desperate by the minute, and after several cycles, he cracked. He yelled at the top of his voice and shot blindly in Signia's direction. She didn't expect a counter attack, and so the barrage of bullets caught her completely off-guard. The bullets caught her neck, torso and arms. She dropped her weapon and was forced backwards herself.

Blind with rage, Rattrap continued firing and forcing the dolphin backwards. Suddenly, she fell into the river behind her. He breathed in and out slowly and seethingly, he watched her float away.

He shook his head violently.

"What're you doin'?"

He looked at the unconscious body floating away in the river.

He grabbed his head.

"What did you do?! Get out…"

He fell to his knees.

"Get out…GET OUT!"

On his last cry Rattrap threw his head up. He yelled in pain as his optics glowed the brightest white. The light seemed to try escape his sockets. Then the white light tried to leave his body through all available holes and joints. His back was arched and his arms outstretched as he yelled.

Then the light left him completely, but not in the form of light: it resembled smoke but it was not a gas; it had the fluidity of water, but neither was it liquid. It left his body, and his Predacon colourings flickered and faded. Rattrap fell on his side and gasped. An enormous weight seemed to disappear from within him immediately.

"I beat you…" he uttered breathlessly, "…I beat you…I'm a Maximal again. Now get lost, Predacon…"

But it was not entirely gone yet.

With a lot of effort, he lifted his head to look up. The glowing white entity remained close to him. It looked like it was about to advance on him one final time, that entity that possessed him.

Suddenly, a dark figure came at high speed towards the Transmetal. The light entity turned on it as it reared.

Then everything went black.

…
……
…

Rattrap groaned, complained about something, and got up slowly. Where they heck was he? All he could tell by the dampness and eerie echoing was that he has in a cave…deep in it, too.

“H’lo?” he called into the abyssal darkness, “Helloooo? Anybody home?”

Infrared was doing him little good, so he took out his portable blow torch and set it alight. But all he needed was a little spark to illuminate hundreds of luminent markings and engravings on the cave wall. They were not quite Cybertronian, so he could'nt figure out what any of it meant. It was a mixture of his own language, the Predacons’, and even Vok glyphs that he had become so uncomfortably familiar with.

They continued to glow, even when he extinguished his torch. Slowly and cautiously, he examined one of the carvings. They were so technologically complex in their illumination, yet the simplicity of the art was…awe inspiring.

“Yo, uh, if anyone's there,” Rattrap continued, growing ever unsure of his safety, “show yerself. Or am I gonna hafteh smoke yeh out?”

He barely had time to consider his own threat before a blinding spot of light appeared from deep within the cave. He narrowed his optics and shielded them. The source of the light was a silvery sort of colour, and it was moving towards him.

He didn’t know what to do at that moment. His instinct said ‘run like the wind, scrapheap!’, while something else was keeping his feet glued to the damp floor.

As the light source drew nearer, a shape started to form. It towered above him twice in height, but not in a looming or threatening way. It looked like an extraordinarily tall transformer, but something was wrong with the bottom half of its body. It looked too big and bulky.

There, stood in front of Rattrap, was a transformer…but not like any he had met before. He didn’t seem to have a beast mode at first glance, but with a second look the rat saw the bulky bottom half of his body was made up of a technological and organic mix of a horse’s body, but the top half of the mech himself was completely metal.

A carbon-metallic centaur. He looked down at Rattrap with a warm and knowledgeable smile.

“Aw, man,” Rattrap said softly, “Now I seen everythin’…”

“Greetings, my friend. I trust you are now healed?” the centaur cooed in a deep and melodic tone. Rattrap stared. He recognised this guy…

"You're the one who helped me…" he half-asked, half-stated, referring to his Predacon 'counterpart'. The centaur nodded with a small smile. "Thanks. But…how'd you do it?"

"It was not me," the fuzor answered simply. When Rattrap raised a confused brow he continued, "It was already gone by the time I arrived. You just needed a little help."

Still confused, Rattrap took a few seconds to look over this strange individual and therefore change the subject.

“You, uh…you ain’t got no beast mode…” he observed. The mech’s robot half had no beast mode parts to suggest he transformed into anything…which was odd, to say the least.

The mech had a mane composed of carbon-metallic fibres that stretched from his head all the way down to the tip of his horse hide’s tail. He had red markings all over both halves of his body, similar to those embedded into the walls of the cave. The centaur nodded slowly in response.

"So who are you?"

"My name…" the bot replied slowly and mysteriously, "…is Saggitare."

“And, uh…you Maximal or Predacon?”

“Does that matter to you?” the centaur asked, titling his head, his silver dome reflecting some of the patterns on the wall like a curved mirror.

“Kinda, yeah…”

The horse/bot smiled again. “I am, technically, a Maximal…”

Oh, good, thought Rattrap, a little prematurely.

“…but faction is irrelevant when one is on a constant quest for peace and spiritual understanding.”

Oh, boy,

"Wait, wait, how come I ain't never heard o' ya?" Rattrap asked, now with s hint of suspicion, "Yeh ain't on any o' the databases,"

Saggitare smiled and shook his head. "That is…complicated…" he stated with a slight grimace.

"Well, I ain't got nowhere to go," Rattrap stated simply.

"Very few know of my existence, and they are rather secretive about me…”

"Like…?"

“I don’t think I should appoint names to the curious faces I have met, but they have promised to conceal my existence for the time being.”

“Uh…huh?”

“They are doing it per my request, you must understand. I prefer solitude. And they have been faithful to their word.”

“So, in theory, I could be the first to meet ya, and no one could say otherwise, ‘cause o’ their promise?” the rat said slyly, rubbing his chin and smirking. Saggitare raised his brows and chuckled.

“Your logic is often woven into the threads of satire, is it?” he asked, still laughing.

“Uh, yeah, sure…”

Saggitare's smile quickly faded, and his face softened to a more serious tone. "We must move quickly. Though my faction does not hinder me, I do object to possessing people against their wills. You know by now, I'm sure, that you are not the only one to have been used as a host…"

"I knew from the beginning…" Rattrap replied rather painfully.

"How?" Saggitare asked.

"I felt ev'ry feelin'…thought every thought…but I couldn't do nuthin'. I thought really hard, which really hurt by the way, but I couldn't stop him. I saw…everything."

His voice began to shake, so he stopped. Even though he had helped him, he had just met this guy and would spill nothing if he could help it. But Saggitare looked on him sympathetically.

"But the fact that you eventually overcame that ordeal and took your life back is a good sign that we can save your friends."

"Woah, woah, what happened to 'I prefer my solitude'?" Rattrap asked dryly. Saggitare shrugged.

"It had to happen some day. Come, we must go…"

…
……
…

Much later, Peruvia stood guard over the captive Maximals. Misty had been returned to them, and she was in stasis lock. Accinon tended to her, angrily muttering to herself whilst trying to hold back bitter tears.

A voice suddenly erupted from the doorway, "Yo, Fluffy!"

Peruvia turned her head. "Oh, it's you Bucky…"

Rattrap leaned against the doorframe, "Ha, funny, the teeth, yeah, hey listen…" he hoisted himself off the frame and veered his way over to her, "…the boss has ordered a swap. I'm takin' over for ya, so you can go chew on some grass or something', kay?"

"I wasn't informed there was a swap before tomorrow," the llama sneered suspiciously. The Transmetal rat shrugged.

"Orders 'r' orders. Now git. And put those toothpicks down, will ya?"

Peruvia's visor scanned him quickly. "Fine."

Once her second blade was safely put back into her subspace, Rattrap whipped out his gun and shot her twice in the chest. She didn't see it coming, and so fell to the ground quickly. There was a gasp of surprise from both the Predacons and he Maximals. Before any could retaliate, however, the rat spun on his heel and shot down Elektra and Sabergem too. Then he turned to the Maximals.

"Let me guess…" Optimus said darkly, "…this is a takeover plan?"

"Eh, I guess yeh could look at it that way, Fearless Leader…" the rat replied, returning his weapon to its holster.

Fearless Leader? The rodent hadn't called him that since before…

"…Rattrap?" he asked.

"Rattrap!" Cheetor exclaimed enthusiastically, for once pleased to see the rat.

"Hold yer applause please! Yer gonna need hose hands for shootin' our way outta this mess. Yo, Hoofbeat, cut 'em loose,"

The Maximals wondered who he was talking to. His head was turned behind him, but there was nobody to talk to.

Another gasp erupted from the crowd as out of nowhere, a cloaked materialised and reared up. Saggitare's powerful carbon-metallic hooves pounded the bonding mechanisms o the Maximals' prison, making them flicker and fade.

"Saggitare!" Moonhawk squealed with delight. She leapt up and grasped the fuzor by the waist, hugging him tightly. The centaur smiled and returned it.

"You know this guy?" Wildcat asked, baring his fists as he had no weapon anymore.

The hawk looked up at Saggitare for permission, and he nodded. She grinned, delighted at the idea of finally being able to tell someone about his existence.

"This is Saggitare. I met him a few years ago…"

"Years?!" the cougar exclaimed, astonished.

"Yeah, he asked me not to tell…" Moonhawk continued defensively, "But we can trust him, I swear!"

"Fine…" said Spanner, "but I'm still not convinced about you…" He took a step towards Rattrap and looked down into his optics, "How do we know this ain't no trick?"

"Pretty elaborate trick," Rattrap stated simply, "And back off, would ya? You smell,"

Spanner did not respond for a moment.

"A'ight. I'm convinced," he said with a shrug.

Optimus beamed. "Can't take you anywhere, can I?" he asked with a wide smile, looking down at the three fallen Predacons, glad to get his friend back.

"Eh, what can I say? Now c'mon, we gotta kick these bums out…"

"But you don't look like Rattrap," Accinon sneered, still unconvinced.

"Oh, this?" he swept his hands down at his still-black paint job, "It's a temporary fix." He pulled off the holographic disguiser and his natural colours returned.

"And what about the Predacons?" Saggitare asked, "The converted ones, I mean?"

"Yeah, about that…" Optimus began, hoping Rattrap would reveal how he became a Maximal again.

"No time, Scrape Ape, we gotta move."

…
……
…

"Spanner to Greyback, Skylark and Rhinox, are you guys alright, do you read me?"

Rhinox woke with a start when he heard the communication. He looked quickly around to make sure Jaggid was still being watched. He could just about see Skylark sitting on a rock close to their captive, apparently asleep.

"Sky!" he whisper-called to her.

"I heard him…" she whispered back, keeping up appearances. She pretended to slowly wake up and made her way over to him. Greyback then came from behind the same tree he slumped behind earlier.

"Greyback to Spanner," he replied in a hurried voice, "are you guys alright? How did you…"

"Get out?" the macaw finished fr him, "Weeeell, we gotta little help, bro."

"From who?"

"Heeey, are you guys talkin' about me? My ears're burnin'," Rattrap's voice cooed over the com-link.

"Rattrap?" echoed Rhinox's astounded voice.

"Wait a minute!" Greyback interrupted urgently, "Keep your weapons on him guys, we've fallen for this already!"

"Yeeeaaah, about that…" Rattrap began to explain awkwardly, "…sorry. It wasn't me anyhow. I can vouch fer that."

"We've thought it through too, Skipper," Sandskimmer continued, "I think it's safe to say we got the real deal right here,"

"You mean…it can be done?" Rhinox asked, his voice alight with relief.

"Yeah, Rhinox. We're takin' back Pangaea One and kickin' the Predacon stuffin' out of our comrades. Literally."

Greyback, Skylark and Rhinox looked at each other, then to Jaggid. She was watching them, trying to listen.

"I've got a plan…" Skylark whispered.

…
……
…

"This is Rattrap calling all Iniquity Units to group at converge at Sector 2 in two megacycles, Boss' orders," Rattrap announced to the Pangaea One control centre.

"And whicccch bossssss iss thisssss?" Serpentia sneered inquisitively.

"Ah, a menial drone pipes up. Which leads me the inform you rookie bad guys, any o' you guys who aren't on the guest list will be swiftly dealt with, if yeh know what I mean, am I right, guys?" He looked over to a group of the 'Iniquity Units', who nodded but with a confused look on their faces.

"As you were, minions," Rattrap concluded, rubbing his hands together. He retreated into the private quarters tunnel behind him, where the rest of the Maximals were waiting, out of sight of the security cameras.

"That was mildly impressive, Rattrap," Optimus commented slyly when the rat returned, "In fact, I think I should be worried…"

"Hey. It wasn't completely one-sided. He could get into my head, but I got in his, too."

"Really? Then what's Iniquity?" Accinon asked curiously.

Rattrap raised his finger and opened his mouth to respond, but he got stuck. After a few seconds of contorted facial expressions, he said, "I dunno. Hey, don't look at me like that. There were things he couldn't get to either, so there!"

"So Ratface," Cheetor began, "what's it like bein' a Pred?" He had got an opinion previously from Rhinox, but what he and the others seemed to have missed was the severity of this instance.

"Please don't ask, I'd rather not…" Rattrap trailed off.

"Sorry Trap…" the cat replied sheepishly, "but how did you, well, become a Maximal again?"

Rattrap considered it for a moment, "Yeah, I dunno what it was, but somethin' inside me clicked. Like when yer Tuna Substitute super soaked my circuits…the Pred wanted the get outta that situation so bad, I kinda…woke up, y'know? He got so scared, and angry and confused. That way, I was strong enough to sorta, push him out. And, well, here I am…"

"So you're saying, we have to give all our comrades a near death experience in the hope they'll get pissed off?" Spanner asked, placing a hand on his hip.

"That about sums it up, yeah,"

"Hm. That poses a problem," Optimus observed, scratching his head. He ignored the anonymous 'No duh' and thought it over, "We'll have to meet wit Greyback and the others. In other words, we're going to have to get out of here."

"Leave that to the Rattrap," the rat stated confidently.

…
……
…

Jaggid fidgeted with her bonds. The harder she pulled, the tighter and more intense they became, but she persisted. Her three wardens were off somewhere, obviously plotting some clever way to coax her out of her hosts' body. Fat chance.

After what seemed like hours, she mustered her strength and pulled the energy bonds apart. Gasping silently from the effort, she brought her aching arms around in front of her and rubbed her wrists.

At last she was free again. Though she would like to pick a fight with those cocky Maximals, she had to get going. So she slinked silently away into the forest.

Once she was a reasonable distance away, she opened up her com-link.

"Jaggid to Drifter, answer me," she demanded. A few seconds later, the camel responded.

"Yes?"

"We need to have a meeting, soon…" she began, but she was interrupted.

"We know," Drifter answered her dryly, thinking she had forgotten already, "One megacycle, Sector2, Rattrap told us."

"What?"

"Yes, he said 'the Boss' called a meeting."

"Did he?" Jaggid cooed suspiciously, "Fine. Go to the meeting, and make sure everyone is there. We'll be ready for whatever these Maximals have planned."

She turned off her communicator and set off in beast mode in the direction of the Predacon base. From the leaves in the tree above, Greyback's voice could faintly be heard through Skylark's com-link.

"Did she go for it?"

"Yup. We're on…"

…
……
…

"Jaggid to Blockade, come in,"

"FINALLY!" an angry voice bellowed over the com-link, causing the black leopard to wince, "Where are you? I've been stuck with these bozos on my own for six freakin' megacycles!!"

"Alright, alright, watch that tone. I think we have a problem…"

"No slag! These freaks of Cybertronian nature have been badgering me all day! Do you realise how painful it is to have a so-called 'conversation' with a bunch of inbred insectoids? I swear, if we weren't about to…"

"OI! Talking here! We're having a change of plans,"

"What? and you were planning on telling me when?" the mammoth huffed.

"Back off, I've only just devised it. Rattrap didn't report back to you, did he?"

"No, he's been gone longer than you. What the slag happened anyway? They're all asking me. ME! What do I know, I don't even know, or care, where their flying rat Donna went…"

"My point is…" Jaggid interrupted sternly, getting more and more fed up, "…apparently, Rattrap relayed a message to the Iniquities from the Boss."

"Yeah, so? …Oh, wait. You're the Boss…you didn't know?"

"Hence the 'apparently'…" the leopard replied exasperatedly, pinching the ridge of her nose, "We're going to have to limit when we talk to each other" she added in a murmer.

"Soooo…what do we do? Is it the Maximals? Or is he up to his old tricks again?"

"Undecided as of yet," Jaggid replied, "We'll have to play it by ear. Now get moving, we've got one megacycle to get to Sector 2…"

…
……
…

Sector 2 slowly saw a precession of arriving Predacons, all rather confused. Rattrap braced himself and followed at the back of the small crowd that left Pangaea One, constantly checking behind his to see if the Maximal 'rescue party', as it were, were at a safe distance behind them.

Inside the mountain, Serpentia hissed loudly and cursed outwardly now that the Iniquity Units had left.

"The nerve of them! What right do they possssesss to hold ssssuch a meeting?!" she ranted, pacing up and down. There were a few mutters of agreement. "I cannot wait to get out of thissss Maximal moussssehole and get back to where we belong…"

"That can certainly be arranged," came a deep voice from behind them. The serpent gulped and swung around on her heel.

"Who…?" she stammered, looking a long way up at a face she did not recognise.

"Am I?" Saggitare finished for her, towering over her threateningly, "I am positive you will not be staying here much longer…"

He reared up and pinned the former Predacon lieutenant to the ground. Though shocked and winded, she managed to shout, "Predacons, attack!"

However, the Predacons did not anticipate all the Maximals they had captive to be out of their cage…and ready to fight. Fuelled by their rage, the Maximals swiftly dealt with the squatters.

…
……
…

Two megacycles had passed. Six Predacons awaited their comrades.

"What's this about?" Eradicator (Shellshock) demanded the leopard femme.

"You'll see," Jaggid replied. So will I, she added to herself.

Rattrap then arrived having checked his Maximal group were still out of sight. There was now only one Predacon missing…

"Where is Peruvia?" Hellcat (Caricaal) enquired the rat as he jogged towards them.

"Huh? Oh, uh," Rattrap shrugged as non-chalantly as he could, "she's gonna be late, tryin' teh keep Kahn's goons in order while we're away,"

"Good," Jaggid said, a little to Rattrap's surprise, "let's get down to business anyhow, shall we?"

She paced in front of her troope, hands behind her back.

"We have a problem," she began slowly, "As you all well know, the Maximals have discovered our identities, or rather that we are not who they think we are. But that's not the problem. If only it was. I believe…we have a traitor in our midst…"

Immediately, every weapon was drawn and turned untrustingly on one another.

"Well well well, I see we're all on our toes about this one," Jaggid said amusedly. Suddenly, all guns were pointed at her. She very slowly clapped her hands sarcastically, "Oh, yes, very well done. It's nice to see that the top minds in espionage put their heads to good use."

"And how are we to know it is not you?" Drifter sneered, his weapon pointed between the optics.

"Because I did not call this meeting," she explained slowly, "and I demand to know why it was called at all without my consent."

"Because you ain't the boss of us," Rattrap stepped forward defiantly, inwardly praying he knew what he was doing. Jaggid glared at him. "Yeah," he continued as confidently as he could, "you ain't the real boss anyway, are ya?"

He was winging it. He didn't know if that was true or not, he couldn't actually remember. It seemed to be working, as Jaggid started to shuffle uncomfortably.

"You fools!" a voice cried from the edge of the crowd. Everyone turned to see Peruvia, two blast holes in her chest and a look of pure murder on her face. "They planned this! And you fell for it. You fools!" she repeated aggressively, "I should have taken over long ago!"

"Oh, so it was you I should have been worried about!" Jaggid exclaimed ferociously.

"Actually, it's us you oughta be worried about," said Rattrap. They al stared at him. "NOW!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

The ambush party of Maximals that consisted of Greyback, Optimus, Rhinox, Skylark, Spanner, Moonhawk, Wildcat and Accinon suddenly jumped out of hiding, taking the Predacons by surprise.

"Traitor!" Blockade yelled at Rattrap.

"Not exactly," the rat replied slyly, disabling the holographic disguise, and revealing his own colours again.

The battle ensued, with ducks and weaves between bullets and swinging fists. Blockade had cornered Greyback and was about to knock him out with one of her painful punches, but all of a sudden she was knocked sideways by a blackish green blur. It was Serpentia.

"Have I missed something?" the wolf enquired, utterly confused.

"I fffffollowed Peruvia oncccce your Maxxximalssss kicked ussss out. Even I know there'sssss a limit to getting information from victimssssss…every now and then you need them in one pieccccce."

"Wait, why are you helping us?" Greyback asked the serpent.

"I am not helping you!" Serpentia spat viciously, "I ssssssimply wisssshh thesssse ssssscum gone. And if allowing your plan to proccccceed as planned allocatessss that, then ssssssso be it."

"And what about your precious leader?"

The Predacon stared for a moment. "What he doesssssn't know won't hurt him…"

Skylark considered it, then nodded, and proceeded with rounding the iniquities up like a herd of sheep with their temporary ally.

At last, and only by means of outnumbering gunfire, all eight Iniquity units stood in a huddle, surrounded by a circle of their former comrades and Serpentia).

"If you're trying to threaten us, it won't work!" jeered Hellcat nervously trying to hide her anxiety, "We've been through much worse."

"No. We're not here to threaten you…" Greyback began.

"Why didn't you say so, Greyback?" Jaggid asked calmly with a malicious grin, "You're obviously desperate, so let's hear it…" She shot him a quick wink, at which he twitched.

"Nor are we here to negotiate," he announced firmly. He saw the leopard's ears prick once each, and Strider started cowing the ground. He recognised those tendencies. Their plan must be working…the Iniquities must be getting nervous.

"There's no point denying it. You said so yourself. They're gone. But if we can't get them back, we can at least avenge them…"

"You wouldn't…" Peruvia stammered, and she actually sounded anxious. Greyback shook his head.

"You've left us no choice. Optimus?" He signalled to the optimal gorilla to flick the switch. With as much visual remorse as he could muster, he pulled the lever. To him, the situation seemed real. Anything could happen; everything could go wrong. What if they called his bluff, and allowed their hosts to be destroyed? Though that was the worst case scenario, Optimus knew he would never be able to forgive himself. And he doubted Greyback would either. But the wolf showed great resilience in following his instincts, and Optimus admired that.

When the lever was pulled, a huge surge of electric energy filled the circle. Each Maximal held one of Skylark's experimental devices for creating an emergency power supply. The current started passing from the owl's catalyst device and passed through each device in the circle, and once a circuit was created the light shot into the centre.

After 30 nano clicks, Optimus disabled the device. A few of the smaller Predacons were on their knees, like Strider and Hellcat, the rest were doubled over.

"Is that all you've got?" jeered Peruvia, leaning on her knees, shaking violently.

Optimus restarted the device reluctantly. This time, everyone could hear them screaming in agony.

"Stop it!" a few f them pleaded but many demanded.

Primal stopped and started it again, the pain obviously getting more severe. He looked over at a few of the Maximals, and he could see that they too thought this plan was ethically flawed.

During the fourth surge, something started to happen. Just like it had with Rattrap, the joints and sockets of the Iniquities began to glow white. They all simultaneously dropped to their knees and thrust their arms and head back. There was a symphony of screams, but not of pain: of frustration and rage.

"Get out!" the Maximals in the centre chorused.

Convinced that enough was enough, Optimus turned off the device. The white energy left their hosts, who dropped into heaps on the ground.

But before anyone of their comrades could rush to help them, the entities of energy accumulated above the circle of fallen Maximals. It became one energy, and it started to pulsate as if it were a living body. Then, without warning, it imploded, sending a shockwave through the still-standing Maximals, knocking them backwards. The entity broke up again into separate clouds of eerie white mist and began to advance on their new prey.

"NO!"

The former Iniquities were standing again, their true colours restored to them, the Maximal twinkle back in their eyes. They looked exhausted, but they stood firm and resilient.

"No more," Jagna breathed, a fresh dose of rage fuelling her, "you're finished…"

Her Maximals stood behind her, enforcing her statement. They would be controlled no longer. The Iniquity energy balls advanced on them now, and attempted to re-enter their caskets…

But when they hit them, the Maximals stood firm and the white mist disappeared.

An eerie silence swept the crowd. Every unit was on tenderhooks with bated breath as they waited to see what would happen.

After a moment or two, the stillness was broken when Shellshock dropped back onto his knees, not from exhaustion or pain, but sheer relief. He sighed, and their was a smile on his face.

His relief swept throughout the whole group, and they were no longer hesitant to run to their friends. There were many embraces, mostly out of joy to have them back, but also to catch them as they buckled.

Greyback slowly walked reluctantly over to Serpentia, who was standing very still, watching the Maximals with an odd look on her face. "What will you tell Kahn?" he asked her.

"He had his sussssspicions about them," Serpentia commented, looking to her left at where the recovering Maximals lay, "didn't think they were ssssstable."

"Thank you…" Greyback managed to mumble. Saying it felt like pushing boulders through his teeth.

"Thissssss meansssss nothing."

She transformed into beast mode and quickly slithered off into the night.

If only I agreed, Greyback thought. He shrugged it off, and went to help his comrades return to base.

…
……
…

The Maximals had claimed their base back, and were at last reunited. And though the feeling of relief and joy were defiantly present, there was an uncomfortable undertone to the celebrations. Friends stood side by side in Pangaea One, eyeing each other up and down, as not an hour ago they had tried to kill one another.

There were one or two distractions, however, to temporarily take everyone's mind off what had just happened. One of them was the newest member of the group, Saggitare. Skylark and Rhinox had taken particular interest in him.

"This is why I prefer my solitude," he sighed regretfully as they gawked at his carbon-metallic components. Skylark quickly closed her aping mouth and apologised.

"I'm sorry, but this…you…are so incredible! I've tried for years to create this kind of mergence so we could further understand our beast modes…how…how…how did you…do you know how you came to be like this?" She was becoming breathlessly excited, and thankfully, rather than taking it personally, Saggitare smiled amusedly.

"I'm afraid I have been like this for as long as I can remember. I cannot help you there…"

Her face dropped slightly, "Oh…"

"But if you like, I will happily assist you in any other way I can. I was always afraid I would be prodded and poked and examined like an experiment, but if you think I might one day be able to help you, then I am at your service," He bent his front leg and bowed lightly. Skylark giggled coyly.

Elsewhere in the room, Nightshaft was being tended to after being put in the CR chamber during the battle. Shellshock sat next to her.

"You left me in here? Aw, man…" she exclaimed as Moonhawk prodded her arm, "How can I be sure that everyone's back to normal then, huh?"

"You're just gonna have to trust us, Blackie," Shellshock answered with a small laugh.

"Really?" the primate replied, unconvinced, "Well, I'm sorry, but trust isn't exactly an easy thing to get around here…" She shot a nasty look at Jagna, who was taken aback by her insinuation. Shellshock meanwhile, looked rather hurt.

"You have to understand, Nightshaft, it wasn't us," the leopard tried to explain.

"And you have to understand, it's a little hard for me to take in!" Nightshaft shot back, pointing at her still-injured arm, "Come on…you'd feel the same…"

The tortoise mech stood up slowly and walked away, pretending he had something to do. Immediately, Nightshaft regretted what she said, and stared after her best friend hopelessly.

"Make sure she gets her rest," Jagna instructed Moonhawk distractedly.

…
……
…

Jagna left the tense atmosphere of the control centre and headed for her quarters. As she passed through one of the long residence hallways, she noticed Greyback's door was ajar. He was very fussy about his privacy, so she wondered what would compel him to leave it open.

She moved to close it, but saw him sitting on his bed, facing away from the door, slouching terribly. She considered leaving him be, but she could tell immediately there was something troubling him. Something other than the fact that not two megacycles ago she and the others were Predacons.

She quietly slipped through the gap and closed the door behind her. His ears pricked. He didn't look at who had entered but kept his eyes on the floor.

"Grey?" she asked tentatively. He ignored her, pretending not to acknowledge her presence.

She considered leaving almost straight away, but something glued her to the spot. She stood firm, and asked stupidly, "Something wrong?"

She winced when he heard him laugh hoarsely. Of course there's something wrong, you idiot, she scorned herself.

"Nothing," he finally said after a whole minute of silence, "Everything is…fine now."

"Now?" she asked slowly, "What was wrong before?"

"Gee, I dunno," he muttered, shrugging overtly, "something to do with the latest fiasco, perhaps?"

She huffed. She was not in the mood for one of his moods. But she said nothing.

He struggled with the words he wanted to express to her. He shuffled uncomfortably as he tried to string them together.

"I didn't mean what I said to you before…" he stammered uneasily.

"Yes you did," she stated coolly with her arms folded.

He coughed awkwardly. "I just…I dunno, I thought that…"

It was difficult to find the words to explain himself. 'Spur of the moment' wouldn't do, as she had already caught him out. He did mean it. But not in the way she thought…

"It shouldn't have been your fault," he continued, hoping that he made some lick of sense, "…If it had been me…instead of you…I don't deny I think about that a lot…"

She tilted her head. She guessed as much, but never thought she'd hear him admit it.

"But the last few days have shown me…I could never have done what you have. So whatever fault you may have had, mine would've surmounted it tenfold. I guess I'm saying; I'm glad you’re the one we're following…"

All the while he remained sitting on his bed while she slowly made her way to stand a few metres next to him. She could see the discomfort on his face as he spoke…but when he said that last part, Jagna could not help but laugh.

He raised his head to look at her, astonished.

"You're laughing…" he stated blankly, still unable to believe it, "Why are you laughing?"

Stifling a light chuckle, she replied, "You're unbelievable, Grey. Un. Believable."

He was dumbstruck, and a little insulted. "Why…?"

"All these years…and you didn't say a thing to me…Then again, I'm one to talk…"

"What do you mean?"

"You're a surprising person, Greyback. Ever since the day we met, you've surprised me in some way or other. But what surprised me the most, was that … you agreed to follow me."

He tilted his head, "What?"

She continued slowly, "Come on, Grey. I always thought you would be the one to lead us. To this day, I don’t know why you lot chose me over you. Every day I wonder what would have happened if you were in charge. I can't help but think…believe…that things might have been better…for everyone…"

Her voice trailed off and she lowered her head. She dropped onto the end of the bed.

"Why did you?" she asked him quietly.

"Why did I follow you," Grey asked back for confirmation. She nodded. "Well, let's see…I can't tell you, because I don't think I know for sure. When we met, I thought you were going to eat me, remember?" They both laughed wearily. He lowered his head again, staring at his hands, "I knew somehow…that things would be…better for everyone in the long run…if we had you to lead us…"

They finally caught each other's eyes. They stared at each other in disbelief. In all the years they had known each other, neither knew that the other thought exactly what they did.

After what felt like minutes, Greyback sharply turned his head away.

"What?" Jagna asked.

"These last few days have been…" He paused, "…We thought we'd lost you guys…"

His voice was quiet, barely audible, like he almost didn't want to say it, or her to hear it.

"…I thought I'd lost you…"

He was staring at the wall, so he didn't notice that she had edged closer to him. He felt her hand on his cheek and she gently turned his face towards hers. She gazed intensely into his big, yellow optics.

"You didn't lose me."

Time seemed to slow down for both of them. They leaned in towards one another, their optics slowly fading as they inched closer. The pair embraced each other gently as their lips met.

The two of them felt a great weight lift off their shoulders as they kissed. For that moment, the world stood still.






***********



WAHEY! AT LAAAAAST! I've been waiting to write that last bit into my story...practically since the beginning. Quite a few people have asked me about it, so I guess I'm as subtle in my writing as I am in real life XD

Onto VOLUME TWO! *does happy tap dance*

EDIT: I just realised I got the title wrong on the topic. Whoops XD

[Tor]

Jagna!

Sheesh woman! Stop making these! I cannot keep up!

Love da series btw

-Dinotor

[Jagna]

Thanks, Tor. But I shall not stop! Mwahahaaaa!

Very much appreciated ^^

[Tor]

AWWWWWWwWwwwwwWww

*big puppy eyes* pwease?

-dinotor