Metallionettes

The wind rustled through the leaves, the only sound in the stillness of the night. Inferno marched over the leaves in his seemingly never-ending patrol of Sector Gamma. It was a chilly night, and he shivered as the breeze scattered the leaves around his feet. It was cloudy, without a sign of the two moons or the stars, and despite himself Inferno began to feel uneasy. He tightened his grip on his flamethrower and looked around warily. A line of white fire appeared across the sky, and his optics widened. He reached down and switched on his comlink.

“What is it, Inferno?” The gruff voice of his leader crackled loudly through the speakers.

“No, Scorponok and Tarantulas are still working on them. The buffoons probably won’t have the system up until tomorrow. Why do you ask?”

“Move to that location and stay there. Guard the pod. I will send someone to assist you shortly.”

“Oh for Pit’s sake, will you stop calling me that?” Megatron growled over the comlink. Inferno did not hear him, as he was already in the process of transforming to beast mode and crawling to the pod.

In the darkness behind him, a pair of optics glowed menacingly. They disappeared as soon as they came online, and a shaded figure followed the hapless ant.

Half a megacycle later, Inferno reached the crash site. The pod was smoldering at the end of a path of broken trees, flattened bushes and trenched earth. It was coated in dust and mud, and was smoking slightly. Inferno crept forward, touching the pod with his antennae, and then drew back sharply. The pod was still hot to the touch.

“Inferno, terrorize.” The ant’s skin split apart and shifted into different locations as he transformed into a tall, dark red menacing robot, with metallic blue optics, a massive mouth filled with sharp, needle-like teeth and a large flamethrower slung across his back.

He walked up to the pod and stared at the statistics board. It was blank. Something about that wasn’t right, as the pod probably would have been scanning for a proper beast mode by now. The pod was still sealed tightly, so the protoform couldn’t have left the pod. But why would the Maximals pack an empty stasis pod?

Wait, maybe they kept a few empty pods as a precaution, so that they themselves could be converted back into protoforms. The Maximals that were on the ‘Axalon’ when they crash-landed on this planet were only a few members of a much larger crew, most of which had been converted to protoform status. Inferno was not quite sure how he knew this, he just did, and remembering random things and facts like that made him rather uncomfortable. He just shrugged it off and brought his fist down on the pod with a sharp crack to make sure that it was empty.

There was a sudden rustling in the leaves, and, unlike before, there was no wind blowing. Inferno whirled around, reaching back and whipping out his flamethrower in one smooth motion. He cocked it, looking wildly about. Nothing was there.

He snorted and relaxed, mentally berating himself for jumping at shadows. All the same, he kept his flamethrower by his side. He reached down to switch on his comlink, intending to report to Megatron that it was a blank pod, but froze as the tips of his fingers brushed the switch.

He turned and walked into the woods, seemingly at ease. But in his vocal gears was a scream that could not escape.

“Big bot! Incoming stasis pod at four o’ clock! Grid Phoenix, Sector Gamma, Sub-sector Vegas!” Cheetor exclaimed, excitement in his optics.

“Hmm, that’s near Predacon territory. Call in all of the units closest to Grid Phoenix.” Optimus ordered.

“That would be Tigerton, Rattrap, Airrazor and Dinobot.” Rhinox intoned from his spot on the monitor.

“Well that’s fortunate. However, considering how close it is to active Predacon territory they may need some backup. Cheetor, head straight for the assigned coordinates.”

“Alright! I mean, yes sir!” Cheetor yelled before running out of the Axalon. Optimus bit back a smile at his youthful enthusiasm.

“So, with everyone else out it looks like it’s just you and me.” Rhinox stated. Optimus grunted and turned back to whatever it was that he was working on. For several nanocycles there was nothing but silence in the control room. Then Optimus glanced slyly over at Rhinox.

“Be on your guard. I think that one predacon has already been here, judging by the scent.” Dinobot growled. He was the only one in beast mode.

“What do you mean, ‘has been here’? Isn’t there one here now?” Rattrap said sarcastically. Dinobot ignored him, and instead concentrated his audio sensors on the soft discussion between Airrazor, the only femme on the Maximal side, and Cheetor, the youngest member of the crew.

“So why are you here Cheetor? Shouldn’t you be back at the base?” She asked.

“But thanks for coming out anyway.” Tigertron said, sending a pointed glare at Dinobot. “As you were saying about Predacon scent.” Dinobot lowered his head and sniffed the ground carefully, once, twice.

“Judging from how close we are to Sub-Sector Vegas, I’d say that it was Inferno and that he was here...” he paused, sniffing again, “only a quarter of a megacycle ago. I only hope he hasn’t beaten us to the pod.” They traveled on in silence, a very solemn air about them as they walked. The moonlight shone down upon their backs, hands and faces as they continued on, their feet brushing through fallen leaves. The foliage above them was still colored with living fire, but during the night it looked dead. They walked in this environment for several nanos before coming into a clearing in the forest, and at the other end of the clearing was the pod, hanging open. Every Maximal in the clearing forced down a cry of dismay. Dinobot leaned down and gave a few short sniffs.

“Inferno was here, and he has handled the pod. We were too late.” His voice was grave.

“Great. Just great. We came too late to save it. Even getting here while Inferno was doing that stinkin’ grapeface’s dirty work would have been better than this. At the very least we would have been able to slag the pest.” Rattrap huffed. Though nobody else said anything, in their minds were versions of the same thought.

“Why don’t we wait here for a couple of megacycles?” Tigertron suddenly spoke up. “Just in case the protoform activated before Inferno got here.” This immediately caused an argument, with some saying that Tigertron’s circuits were fried, while others agreed with him. Dinobot was the only one who stayed silent. He had his head close to the ground, putting his beast mode instincts to work. He had picked up Inferno’s scent, but instead of leading back to the Predacon base, it was leading away, and there was no new scent mixing with it. If Inferno had activated the pod, then the very first place he would have headed to would be the Predacon base, the Darkside.

“Gee, thanks.” Tigertron muttered sarcastically. Dinobot pointedly ignored him.

“Inferno’s scent leads away from here, but his is the only one. I suspect that the protoform had already activated and left, and that Inferno left to go look for it. We might as well stay near the pod, where the protoform is most likely to return.”

“Why don’t we split up and look for the new recruit ourselves?” Cheetor asked.

“Because if we split up we may have a better chance of finding the protoform, I agree, but our chances of meeting Inferno one-on-one will also increase significantly.” Dinobot replied.

“What, are you afraid of him?” Rattrap taunted. Dinobot snarled and would have lunged at him if it wasn’t for Airrazor stepping between them.

“Shut up Rattrap. Dinobot is right, the risks are too great. We simply do not have enough information about Inferno’s strengths and weaknesses to be able to face him by ourselves. And before you say anything stupid, I know for a fact that I couldn’t.” She repressed a shudder.

“Fine then, we’ll stay here for a couple of megacycles.” Tigertron said, effectively ending the argument. The wind picked up again, tearing a few golden leaves from the branches overhead. Rattrap shivered. With the exception of Dinobot, their beast modes were all warm-blooded, so they could all feel the bitter cold.

“I don’t see why not. It should attract the protoform, and if worst comes to worst and Inferno stumbles upon us then we can, oh shall I say, vent our frustrations.” Tigertron chuckled darkly. The thoughts of revenge weren’t normal for the white tiger, but it was understandable considering the last time Tigertron encountered the ant, the tiger was almost killed.

They quickly started to gather up fuel in the woods around the clearing, snapping off dead branches and getting rid of dead trees. Occasionally a few insects would scuttle away from under their feet, but other than that there was hardly anything else in the woods. The creatures that usually inhabited the forest had either gone into hibernation, migrated, or had come to the end of their lifespan. The only birds that seemed to be around were ravens, which occasionally let out sharp cawing sounds if the Maximals got too close for comfort. At one point a massive owl landed in one of the branches above Tigertron’s head. Bird and beast quietly observed each other for a few nanoclicks before the owl let out a hood, spread its mottled brown wings, and flew away into the darkness.

They returned to the clearing soon after, all of them carrying huge bundles of firewood. Airrazor had cleared all of the dried leaves and grass from a spot in the clearing, close to the pod, and had placed a large ring of rocks around the bare spot. They piled their brush inside the ring, and Dinobot switched into robot mode and used a low level of eye-laser settings to set the thing alight. They all gathered together, holding out their hands and occasionally their feet to the flames, letting the radiant energy warm them. Nobody said a word for a few nanos, and the only sound was the crackling, popping and whooshing of the fire. Then Cheetor spoke up.

“They heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them. And then they all knew…” Rattrap paused dramatically, and then continued. “The sword of Ratatat was haunted!” He grinned insanely, looking around the circle. Most of his listeners wore bored expressions on their faces. Dinobot let out a fake snore. Rather childishly, Rattrap stuck out his tongue at him.

“No offense, but I kind of liked the story of Kartolh, the Spark-Stealer better.” Cheetor said. Dinobot smirked. He had told that tale earlier.

“Oh yeah? Could any of you tell a better story then the sword of Ratatat?” Rattrap challenged.

“I can.” From the other side of the fire Tigertron scootched forward. The firelight reflected eerily off of his face and optics, and he stared at the flames as one who is hypnotized as he began his tale.

“I grew up in the coldest region in Cybertron, and this is a true story that I heard from my uncle.”

“Is this one of those ‘it happened to a friend of a friend of mine’ kinds of stories? Those always bugged me.” Airrazor interrupted.

“They annoy me too.” Tigertron said, not even appearing slightly annoyed at the interruption. “Fortunately I know that this story is a true one.”

“Who’d it happen too?” Rattrap asked. Despite himself he was getting interested.

“It happened to my mother.” Everyone’s optics were trained on Tigertron. Back on Cybertron he was known as an expert storyteller, rivaling Kup and his stories of the Great War. As the shadows and the light danced around them, they knew that he was truly in his element.

“It happened during the Big Freeze, twenty-one of the coldest solar cycles in Cybertronian history, very unusual for Cybertron. No one was able to go outside for more than a few nanos, and those who did often came back with frost on their bodies and icicles hanging off of them. I was but newly created, so I do not remember that time, but to this very solar cycle they still talk about it.

“About six solar cycles after the Big Freeze, my mother realized that she hadn’t seen her best friend, Henna, since the Freeze began. So she and her parents went to check on them.

“Well, nobody was home at their place, but there was a heater in the house that was going full-blast, plus, strangest of all, a roaring fire in the fireplace. It was hotter than the Pit in there. Seeing nobody, her parents went outside, but she stayed indoors.

“She started staring at the fireplace, into the flames, just as I am doing now. For a moment, she swore that she saw twisting, leering faces. Then, the room temperature dropped, though the heater was still going full blast. She felt an icy blast of wind on the back of her neck and whirled around. A scream clogged in her vocal processor, refusing to come out.

“It was Henna, standing behind her. Her whole body was covered with a thick layer of white frost, and icicles were suspended from her arms, fingers and head. She stared at my mother for a moment, and then she spoke.” Here Tigertron paused. Everyone leaned in closer to hear what he said next.

“She said simply ‘I’m so cold, and I can’t get warm.’” Tigertron spoke the femme’s words in a high pitched, piping voice. Out of the corner of his optic he noticed Dinobot, who flinched slightly at the last line. Even he was being affected by the story.

“My mother ran out of the house, the scream finally escaping from her vocal processor. Her parents grabbed her as she babbled on about seeing the frozen Henna, terrified almost out of her wits. Once they got the gist of what was happening, her parents ran back inside, and, rather reluctantly, she followed. Once she stepped inside she got a massive shock, for nobody but her parents was there, and it was icy cold. The heater was off, almost in a complete state of disrepair, and the fire in the fireplace had disappeared. There wasn’t even any ash in the grate.”

“That’s so creepy! Airrazor exclaimed. The other maximals silently agreed with her.

“Her parents knew that my mother wasn’t crazy, for they had seen the fire and the heater earlier, so they believed her about Henna. Ever since then, nobody has ever dared to enter that building. But every once in a while, when the temperature dips, Transformers can still see smoke rising from the chimney of that house. It is said that the smoke comes from the fires of Henna, forever trying to get warm.”

A deadly silence spread out around them as Tigertron finished his tale. An icy breeze picked up around them, and everyone instinctively inched closer to the fire. Cheetor shivered.

Suddenly, Airrazor went stiff, then cocked her head to one side, as if listening or something. Her optics widened, and she hissed, “I hear something! Voices!”

Instantly everyone was on the alert, looking around warily, listening carefully. They heard nothing.

Airrazor straightened violently, letting out a short, sharp cry. “The voices!” She sank down, trying her best not to let out a childish whimper.

“You sure you haven’t gone out of your processor? There aren’t any ‘voices’ that I can hear.” Rattrap said, giving Airrazor an incredulous look.

“What do you mean ‘you can’t hear them’? They were screaming!” Airrazor exclaimed, sounding furious.

“Where from?” Tigertron queried. Unlike the others he had a firm grasp on earth biology and knew that falcons had an excellent sense of hearing as well as sight.

“It was coming from over there. It’s gone now.” Airrazor said, pointing vaguely in one direction. Dinobot let out a snort, and then grunted “Maximize.” His parts shifted into robot mode, and he stood up and looked to where Airrazor had pointed with a growing sense of unease. She had pointed towards a large mountain, off in the distance, but that wasn’t what made him uneasy. What made him uneasy was that Inferno’s scent wandered off in that very direction.

“Maybe we’re just getting creeped out by all of the horror stories…” Cheetor started to suggest, before everyone glared at him.

“Yeah right, like we’re afraid that Kartolh the Spark-Stealer and Henna are going to come out of the trees and murder us all.” Rattrap taunted.

Everyone there yelped and whirled around, weapons at the ready, as a small figure approached them, stepping into the firelight. It was a rabbit, slightly larger than Rattrap’s beast mode, thin and wiry in built, with sharp brown eyes. Its fur was thick and was a dull metallic grey. It looked rather old and tired, like it had seen far too much in its lifetime.

“What side do you claim?” Dinobot baked. “Is your allegiance with the Maximals, or does it lie with the Predacons?”

“I’m a Maximal.” The stranger said. The voice gave away her gender and was quite raspy, yet warm.

“Protoform? Oh yes, that’s right. It’s starting to come back to me now.” The protoform blinked. “Are you Maximals too?”

“We are.” Tigertron said kindly. He leaned forward so that the newcomer could see the vivid red Maximal symbol on his brow. The protoform looked relieved.

“I can’t remember, but I think it is Greyfur.” The rabbit said hesitantly.

“Well, do you know how to transform?” Cheetor asked. Greyfur shook her head.

“That’s fine, I’ll show you. First you get into beast mode by stating your name, then ‘beast mode!’ Like this, ‘Cheetor, beast mode!’” Cheetor swiftly morphed into a slim, splotched wildcat. The rabbit started in surprise, and then took a few small hops to settle beside the empty pod.

“No, only of you’ve been injured, or your transformation cog’s been damaged. Now, if you want to change into robot mode, you state your name, then ‘maximize!’ Cheetor, maximize!” He transformed back with a whir of metal, and then nodded at his pupil. “Now you try.”

“Very well,” Greyfur murmured, “Greyfur, maximize!” She began to transform, though she took several seconds longer than Cheetor had. Once she finished transforming and she stood before them they all realized why this was so.

Greyfur’s body was only about Cheetor’s height and was very well worn. Large patches of rust covered all of her joints, and the breast plating was cracked in places, exposing different colored wires and the faint electric blue light of a spark. The same thing happened with her arms, though her legs were in far better shape. Her face was worn, scratched and cracked. She was in rather horrible disrepair, but it didn’t take a medical-bot to realize that this was from age more than anything else. On her shoulder was the blood-red Maximal insignia, contrasting strongly with her silver and rust-covered body.

The only other unusual thing about her was that the rabbit fur hadn’t disappeared completely, and it seemed as if the majority of it had settled on top of her head. This gave her face the appearance of peering out of a grey haystack. The grey mass descended to her shoulder plates.

Dinobot resisted the urge to snort in distaste. The protoform is completely useless, he thought, she won’t be able to last for a nanoclick in battle! She doesn’t even have any weapons!

“Err, Greyfur, have you ever been in a battle?” Airrazor asked, reading the look on Dinobot’s face.

“I…I have, yes, once or twice, when I was serving in the Great War.” Greyfur said hesitantly.

Instantly, all of the maximal’s optics widened visibly. Several jaws sagged open incredulously. The same thought was running through their processors. Primus, how old is this protoform? Is she lying?

“Well, you’ll have to tell us all about yourself when we get back to the Axalon.” Tigertron said reassuringly. Greyfur nodded, and a smile tugged at her mouthpiece. Her craggy features seemed to soften, giving her almost a grandmotherly air.

“Eh, Big Bot, we’re home!” Rattrap sing-songed as they all stamped into the Axalon’s main console. Rhinox and Optimus were playing a card game, but whisked away the cards before anyone could comment. Dinobot managed to glimpse the words ‘Old Maid’ on the back of one card before it was out of sight. He had to bite back a snicker, as it would have been undignified.

“Duh, of course we found it.” Rattrap replied snarkily. “And, in case you guys were totally blind, we found the protoform too.” He nodded at Greyfur, who, being rather shy was close to the back of the procession. She stepped forward.

“Optimus, this is Greyfur, our newest crew member. Greyfur, this is Fearless Leader, A.K.A Optimus Primal. Feel free to call him whatever you want.” Optimus rolled his eyes at the last statement. “The jolly green giant over there is Rhinox.” Rattrap jerked a thumb over in Rhinox’ direction.

“Hey.” He rumbled. Seeing that formal introductions were over, Dinobot, Airrazor and Tigertron left to go to their respective quarters. As they left, they heard Greyfur say, “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

Optimus shook her hand, welcoming her with a smile. “It’s good to have another member of the crew with us.” He said, though there was the slightest flicker of doubt in his optics as to how useful Greyfur was going to be.

“Optimus, now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. A descendant of Prime, I take it?”

“No, but thanks for the comparison.” Optimus beamed. He couldn’t help but warm up to the new arrival immediately, and it looked as if most of the rest of the crew had done the same.

“Cheetor can show you around the base, then later this evening we can talk some more and get to know you better.” He said. Greyfur nodded, but before she went to follow Cheetor, she turned to Rattrap.

“When I first met everyone, I couldn’t help but hear you mention Kartolh. Isn’t that a character from a predacon legend?”

“Heh, we were telling horror stories around the campfire to each other, waiting for you to show up because new protoforms like yourself tend to stick around their pods for the first few megacycles of their time on this planet, and Dinobot told us that one.”

“Yeah, when we first crash-landed on this dust ball he was, but then he had a major fallout with Megatron--”

“Megatron?” She cried out, sounding frightened. “Don’t tell me that son of a glitch is still alive!”

“No, not that Megatron.” Rattrap started laughing. “This one just named himself after him. Optimus was named after the original Prime due to his excellent leadership skills, but apparently Megatron just took the name for himself. I don’t know, it’s kind of confusing and Dinobot hasn’t explained how that works out in predacon culture, but apparently it does. Anyway, as I was saying, Dinobot fell out with Megatron, decided he had enough of those clods, said ‘Sayonara!’ to the Preds, and joined our side. How he did that is a long story that involves a bridge of doom, a mountain of energon and an explosion, but you ‘ll have to find that out later.”

“C’mon Greyfur, let’s go!” Cheetor called from the hall. As Greyfur left, a pair of thoughtful eyes followed her out, and only they noticed the flicker of disdain on her face, before it disappeared behind a mask of contentment.

Several solar cycles had past, and Megatron was livid. Well, he was normally prone to anger, but this time he was furious.

“Where is that blasted ant? We sent him out two solar cycles ago and he disappears without a trace! No warning lights, no Maximal energy signatures nearby, no emergency comlink messages, nothing! The computer can’t even find his energy signature!” Frustrated, Megatron slammed his fist down on his armrest. “If that worthless drone has lost the protoform, I’ll--”

“You called for me, Megatron?” The sultry voice of Blackarachnia cut into the middle of his rant like an energon knife.

“Yes, I did.” Megatron collected himself, “We are in the middle of a situation, Blackarachnia, as you may already know.”

“I don’t know much, but I take it that it has to do with the stasis pod Inferno found?” She asked. Megatron had informed the rest of the Darkside crew about Inferno’s discovery shortly after the comlink conversation.

“It does, yesss. Inferno has become MIA, and I need you to find out what happened to him and the protoform.”

“Where do I start looking?” Blackarachnia asked. She knew better than to sass Megatron when he was in this ugly of a mood.

“Grid Phoenix, Sector Gamma, Sub-sector Vegas. Report back to me once a megacycle. Now go.” Blackarachnia sighed. She hated going out on the graveyard shift.

Rhinox pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stop the massive headache that was invading his processors with waves of pain. It was the graveyard shift, and his beast mode, being a creature which like to go about during the day and sleep at night, was affecting his thought processes again. In short, he couldn’t think straight. Pity, because he had plenty to think about. He stared at the computer screen with bleary optics, trying to put his suspicions in semi-logical order.

For starters, the Axalon had a relatively young crew. He, Optimus and Rattrap were supposed to be the oldest members of the crew, yet here was Greyfur, easily double his own age.

Secondly, Rhinox couldn’t remember anybody even remotely resembling Greyfur in any way, shape or form on the crew or the Axalon. Unfortunately, all of the stats of the crew were lost in the crash due to damage, so he could not check to make sure.

Thirdly, Cheetor had told Rhinox that apparently Greyfur had told them that she had fought in several battles in the Great War. Rhinox wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not. One thing that bothered him was the inevitable question: why in the world was a supposed ‘warrior’ like Greyfur doing on the Axalon with a bunch of explorers? It just didn’t make any sense. Rhinox’ head nodded, and then snapped up again. He shook himself to drag himself from slumber.

Unless a miracle happened and he managed to get the stats back online, he was just simply going to have to ask Greyfur, preferably about her supposed ‘time’ in the Great War. Rhinox was no historian, but he did know enough about the battles of the Great War to be able to call her out if she was lying, and if it was true, then he wanted to hear all about it, just as he wanted to hear all about it as a sparkling when he heard Kup’s war stories.

He peered at the screen, trying to make the blurriness of his optics clear. That was another thing about beast modes; apparently they affected your senses as well as protected you. For Rhinox, that meant rather shoddy eyesight, but excellent hearing.

His sight finally cleared enough to see the screen properly, and he gave a jolt. There were several Predacon signatures on the map, along with the signatures of the Maximals on patrol that night; Cheetor, Greyfur and Tigertron. He could see Dinobot’s signature as well, but the former predacon had just finished his patrol shift and was almost at the base for some well-needed recharge time. The predacons were Waspinator, Scorponok and Blackarachnia. Waspinator and Scorponok were in Grid Xaron, which was close to where Cheetor was, and Blackarachnia was in Grid Phoenix.

Rhinox reached over lazily and pressed a few buttons, leaning over and speaking into the comlink microphone. “Cheetor, Predacon activity in Grid Xaron. Could you go check it out?”

“If they’re just out on regular patrol, leave them be. Try not to be seen.”

Rhinox idly watched Waspinator and Scorponok for a few more nanoclicks, then got up to get himself some fresh energon, as he was running low. When he returned, he saw that Waspinator and Scorponok had moved to Grid Zelak, and that Cheetor was close behind them. How boring. From the entrance to the Axalon he could hear Dinobot stamp his feet as he came in. Rhinox took a sip of energon as he absentmindedly looked for Blackarachnia’s energy signature.

Rhinox nearly spewed out his energon. Gulping it down quickly, he commanded Sentinel to locate Blackarachnia.

“What the…” Rhinox said aloud. It was a very rare occurrence when a transformer’s energy signature completely disappeared. The only other time it happened on the planet was when Optimus was abducted by the alien probe.

Strange, he thought, and then spoke aloud. “Maybe it was just a glitch…”

Rhinox nearly hit the ceiling. He whirled around and came face to face with the smirking Dinobot.

“What the slagging—by the Pit, Dinobot, how the heck did you manage to sneak up on me like that?”

“You can learn a thing or two from the vermin if you can stand to be around him for that long,” Dinobot stated. “And I see that you’re ignoring my question.”

“I don’t know. Probably scout patrol, or something along those lines. Anyway, when I looked just now, her energy signature seemed to have disappeared. I asked Sentinel to scan for her energy signature, but no dice. That enough for you, nosy?”

“Yeah, it’s weird, almost like she isn’t on the planet anymore.” Rhinox wasn’t sure why he was telling Dinobot this, but maybe it was because there was concern in Dinobot’s optics, something that wasn’t very common with him.

“Only once,” Rhinox suppressed a shudder. It was one of the things that he feared the most. “That was when Optimus was abducted by the alien probe.” Dinobot was silent. He appeared to be thinking hard. Abruptly, he said, “Do you suspect alien activity?”

“To be honest, no. I suspect system glitches. It’s a possibility though, so don’t throw away that idea just yet.”

“Have it your way then.” Dinobot turned away, stifling a yawn. Though he was uncomfortable with this new turn of events, his exhaustion was getting the better of him. “Goodnight.”

Rhinox grunted and turned back to the screen. Sighing, he began to run a systems check.

“Alert! Alert! Predacon attack!” Sentinel blared over the main speakers. As if they didn’t know already from the flashing red lights, siren and explosions. Dinobot tumbled out of his bunk, lurching towards the door and grabbing his sword, tail shield and best gun. He jammed in a code in the room’s keypad, and the door slid open. He stumbled on the doorjamb, rubbing his head and swearing loudly. “What the slag?” Dinobot yelled as another explosion rocked the base. He glared at his watch and saw that it was about 5:30 AM, human time. The sun would be barely peeking over the horizon by now. He had only received a few megacycles of recharge time, and he did not appreciate being awoken from a lovely dream in which he was hunting.

“Frag you, Megatron.” Dinobot grumbled under his breath as he raced down the corridor towards the control room.

When he got there, Optimus and Cheetor, who had just come back from his shift of patrol, were already by the main console. They were gathering information and preparing themselves for battle. Rhinox was nowhere in sight.

“Oh man, like we need this right now.” Rattrap groaned as he ran into the room from the opposite direction. A rather drowsy Greyfur, still in beast mode, loped in behind Rattrap.

“My, it seems as if the Predacons choose the most inconvenient times to attack, am I right?” She said bemusedly.

“Yeah, but I don’t get why they’re attacking when we’re getting more light by the nanoclick. Not like old Grape-face.” Rattrap retorted, strapping two pistols to his back.

They ran out of the Axalon, charging straight at the predacons, which, in this particular battle, consisted of Megatron, Terrorsaur, Waspinator, Tarantulas and Scorponok. Blackarachnia and Inferno were nowhere in sight, making Dinobot wonder whether this battle was merely a distraction, something to cover for them as they snuck into the Axalon. Rhinox was still in the base, however, so they probably wouldn’t get very far if that was the predacons’ plan.

Instantaneously, both sides began shooting at one another. The maximals ducked behind whatever cover they could find as the barrage of explosives, bullets and plasma blasts intensified.

To Dinobot’s right was Rattrap, and to his left was Optimus, and he could see Cheetor to the far left, shooting like mad, and Greyfur....what the slag was she doing? She was sneaking towards the predacons, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows, and she was still in beast mode. She wasn’t even toting a gun!

You idiot! Dinobot mentally screamed. Get your cotton-tailed aft back over here, you dumb bunny! Or at least maximize, for Primus’ sake!

At that moment he was distracted by something Megatron was yelling. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but Optimus apparently did.

“What the slag are you talking about?” he roared, “We don’t have them! Primus, you’d think that you could keep tabs on your own crew!” Dinobot had to duck the next set of plasma blasts, so he couldn’t catch Megatron’s reply.

Out of the corner of his optic, Dinobot noticed that Greyfur had made it, so far unobserved, to an outcropping of rock. To his utter annoyance, she was still in beast mode. She was standing up, bracing herself against the stone so that she would not overbalance and topple onto her back. She tapped her paws on the outcropping, once, twice.

The predacons charged. With a well-aimed optic blast Dinobot knocked over Scorponok. He fell backwards with a smoking crater in his chestplate, out of commission. The other predacons were still coming on strong. Even Waspinator was still on his feet, though the bumbling mech had taken some damage. They were almost at the outcropping of rock.

Greyfur maximized, and Dinobot saw that she didn’t even have a gun with her. A lot of good transforming is going to do her now. He glanced over at Rattrap and saw that he had seen what the rabbit was doing as well. Rattrap looked dismayed.

The predacons were still advancing. Dinobot braced himself for the full on barrage and the clash of two warring sides.

There was a thunderous crack, and the outcropping of rocks shattered and collapsed, burying the charging predacons in one fell swoop. From where the outcropping used to exist Greyfur was standing, covered in dust and gravel. She was smiling.

“What in the Pit was that?” Cheetor roared. Optimus stared in shock and awe, his jaw just about hitting his chestplate. Rattrap was giving her a thumb’s up. Even Dinobot stared at Greyfur, impressed.

Greyfur didn’t say anything. She just turned and walked over to where Scorponok had collapsed on the ground, looking down at his offlined body with that same smile plastered on her face. Though he wouldn’t admit it, his sense of awe was very quickly vanishing and being replaced with uneasiness. He really didn’t like the way she was looking at the scrapped mech.

“Greyfur, how in the heck did you manage that?” Rattrap’s incredulous voice seemed to snap whatever trance Greyfur was in. She looked up and called out “I’ll explain when we get back inside!” She started to walk towards the other maximals, walking clumsily over the massive rock pile. Underneath the chunks of stone and boulders, they could hear the sounds of shouting, swearing, and Megatron’s voice yelling out “Predacons, retreat!”

“Everyone, head back to the Axalon. We’ll put Sentinel on full alert just in case the predacons try anything else, but I doubt they will after that barrage.” Optimus chuckled, and then turned to Greyfur, saying mock-seriously, “Young lady, you have some explaining to do!” Greyfur cackled.

As they tromped inside, Cheetor asked Optimus what Megatron had said during the battle.

“Oh, Megatron was accusing us of holding several of the predacons hostages.”

“Blackarachnia and Inferno.” At Optimus’ words, Dinobot’s optics widened slightly. Rhinox’ earlier words came rushing back. It’s weird, almost like she isn’t on the planet anymore. He could feel his mech-fluid growing cold in his veins. Oh slag…

“Well, if Megatron doesn’t know where they are and we don’t have them, then where are they?” Cheetor asked, his voice breaking into Dinobot’s thoughts.

“I don’t know at this point, but I’ll have Rhinox look into it when he’s finished recharging.” Optimus answered.

“Heh, the two of them are probably gallivanting about somewhere.” Rattrap commented. A mischievous grin slowly spread on his face, and he stated, “Ya know, I never took Inferno to be that sort of mech, if you catch my drift.” He snickered.

“THANK YOU RATTRAP for that disturbing image.” Optimus shuddered. Only Rattrap was sick-minded enough to come to that conclusion. Inferno and Blackarachnia would be a match made in the Pit.

When I looked just now, her energy signature seemed to have disappeared. Dinobot knew perfectly well that Rattrap’s theory wasn’t the case. For a moment, he debated telling them what he knew, but a sixth sense held him back. Wait.

They all gathered around the main table, and Optimus nodded for Greyfur to begin. She cleared her vocal processor.

“Well, in order to explain about what you just saw me do, I’ll have to begin my story when I was a little femme. Is that fine with you, Optimus?” Greyfur asked. Optimus nodded. “Try to be brief.” Was all that he said.

“For starters, unlike most of you I didn’t grow up on Cybertron. I was created there, yes, but I was raised on one of the colonies, a small planet known as Gaiatron. You may or may not have heard of it, but it was one of the industrial colonies, specializing in secondary industries. The makeup of the planet was much like this one, only without the organic life.

“My parents, for I was created naturally, not with the Allspark, had originally left Cybertron because of the start of the Great War. For quite a while it looked to be a good decision, for the War hadn’t affected the colonies too strongly yet, so my early years were happy ones, and I was taught the trade of the Gaiatronians.”

“I’ll be able to show you in a moment, if one of you could be a dear and get a small boulder for me outside.”

“I’ll do that.” Cheetor offered. He sped out of the room before Greyfur could protest.

“So, when you first met up with us you mentioned that fought several times in the Great War.” Rattrap stated.

“I’ll get to that part in good time. You just have to be patient.” Greyfur smiled.

A few nanoclicks later, Cheetor came in, softly grunting, lugging in a boulder roughly the size of his torso. “The predacons were still trying to dig each other out while I was out there,” he reported. “Waspinator shot at me a few times, but I think that was more out of annoyance than anything else. Where do you want me to put this?”

“Right here is fine.” Greyfur motioned at a spot in front of her, and Optimus helped Cheetor set the boulder down at her feet.

“Thank you.” She beamed, kneeling down by the rock, her joints creaking. “Now, Gaiatronians, when they first discovered Gaiatron, discovered that there were vast amounts of natural energon and valuable minerals within the rock itself. So they devised ways of mining them, and soon mining became one of the chief jobs in Gaiatron.

“At first, they used the blasting method. This proved to be impractical and dangerous, and many transformers would die every stellar cycle because if accidents, cave-ins or, most frequently, ill-timed blasts. So, over the stellar cycles, they began to notice the weak spots of the rock, and how, if they placed the charges just so, more rock could be removed faster and safer. It was a mech named Slammer who finally discovered how to remove large boulders and other rocks from the ground by hand.

“Now, I’m only going to explain this in detail once, so you’d all better pay attention.” All the maximals present nodded. They were definitely paying attention now.

“You man those creatures that look like winged mice? Yeah, I’ve seen them around the base lots of times at night.” Cheetor said.

“Well, bats have horrible eyesight, so they use a process called echolocation to get around without slamming into things. The soundwaves that they generate bounce off of objects and convey images back to them, like an organic form of sonar. It’s the same thing with finding the weak spots within the rock, only, instead of using soundwaves, we use vibrations, like this. Beast mode.” Greyfur shifted back to her rabbit form, and then tapped the boulder with her paws. Her ears swiveled forward, and she closed her eyes and tapped the rock again.

“Now, I want to split this boulder in half, so I found out the flaws to find out where to place my fingers. Greyfur, maximize!” She quickly transformed to robot mode.

“I know where the certain flaws are, so I place my fingers just so. Now remember, I’ve been doing this for years and years, so I know what I’m doing. Don’t try this, or you’ll just end up with broken fingers.”

She placed her fingertip in an erratic pattern on the stone. “Stand back.” She instructed. “I don’t want rock chips hitting you guys in the head.” All of the maximals instinctively placed themselves behind something they could duck under.

Greyfur took a deep breath, then raised her hands and brought them down in a swift, sharp motion. There was a loud BANG! A small cloud of dust his Greyfur and the boulder. When it settled the maximals could see the boulder cut into two pieces, roughly about half-and-half. Though the edges were jagged, they could see that it was an expert cut.

“That was incredible!” Cheetor yelled, at the same moment Optimus and Rattrap chimed “Amazing!” Dinobot stayed silent.

“What you have just witnessed is something every miner in Gaiatron could do after several stellar cycles of intense training. The very best miners could easily break up boulders the size of the Axalon. These elite miners, masters of their craft, were known as ‘Earth-Shakers’.

No wonder she didn’t need a weapon, Dinobot thought ruefully, she IS the weapon!

“While I was living in Gaiatron I also learned to manipulate metal in a similar manner. Metal is much harder to shape and break apart because really good metal has little, if any, flaws. Only the Earth-Shakers could shape metal without using heat.”

“Wait, so that means that you could shape the Axalon completely differently if you wanted to?” Cheetor asked excitedly.

Greyfur laughed aloud. “I probably could in my youth, Cheetor, but I am an old femme. Goodness, just shattering the outcropping out there took a whole lot out of me.”

“So how does the Great War fit into all of this?” Dinobot asked. There was a sudden uncomfortable silence, and Greyfur looked away, sorrow in her optics.

“Ah, that was when my story took a turn for the worse. I was about your age, Cheetor, when the Decepticons began attacking the colonies. Being a rich industrial planet, Gaiatron was a prime target for attack. We were able to fend them off with what we learned from the mining, and the Earth-Shakers were some of the most ferocious opponents in the battle for Gaiatron. It was there that I learned to kill or be killed.

“Alas, the leaders of Gaiatron, though excellent in times of peace, were made fools by the War. We lost the battle for our home, and hundreds were killed in the process, including my own father. Gaiatron fell, and in the end there was nothing we could do about it.

“The Decepticons immediately took over the factories and mines. They took a census of every worker on Gaiatron, getting down their names, lines of work and addresses for their own files. They especially scrutinized the Earth-Shakers, though at the time we couldn’t really imagine why. Only later did I realize why they did this.

They started to make weapons for ourselves. The hours were long and hard, and the workers were only paid minimum wage, so many of them went hungry. It was a cruel time for Gaiatronians, but that wasn’t even the worst of it yet. The Decepticons were hard taskmasters, but they did have a small sense of decency and honour, and for a few lunar cycles there was an uneasy sense of peace. But alas, it wasn’t meant to last. Their ultimate plan was yet to come into fruition. The fate of the Earth-Shakers was sealed the moment the first conquering Decepticon ships were spotted in the sky.

“It was late at night, and my mother and I were asleep, when there was a thunderous knocking at the door. My mother was frightened, and called out ‘Who’s there?’

“‘Open up in the name of Megatron!’ A gruff voice called out. My mother got up and opened the door. Like a foolish sparkling I followed her.

“There were two surly Decepticons at the door. ‘Your daughter is to come with us, by order of the Decepticon council. If your daughter resists, then you will both be terminated.’ They said. My mother cried and begged for them not to take me, but they were adamant. Sobbing, my mother turned to me and told me to pack my things, for we both knew that there wasn’t a high chance of my ever coming back. The guards, for I figured that was what they were, told me I had five nanoclicks, so I gathered together a few things and left. The last thing I saw was my mother’s white face framed in the doorway. I wish I could remember more, because that was the last time I ever saw her.

“Here’s where my memory gets fuzzy, but I remember hearing the lie that the Decepticon council had summoned all of the Earth-Shakers for a meeting, and then going into a holding area with all of my fellow Earth-Shakers, my ‘brothers and sisters’, as it were. Meeting up with them was the only good thing I remember about that night. We were asked to put our belongings in a holding cart, and like total idiots we did. Then I remember a large black airship pulling in, and another lie being told, this one about how the Decepticon Council would meet with us on the ship. This was a lie that many of us did not believe, and there was a massive riot. We were corralled into a bridge that led to the ship by Decepticons wielding plasma guns, and when the riot broke out they shot into the mass of bodies. Several of my brothers and sisters were slaughtered, including one of my friends. As she crumpled onto the bridge, her mech fluid making the bridge slippery, I heard her last words. ‘Is this, then, Gaiatron?’” There was a deadly silence in the room. From where he was standing, Dinobot could hear everyone breathing.

“I turned around then, and saw my best friend, a worker named Gestelle. I managed to make my way to her, don’t ask me how, and she pressed something small and flat into my hands. She was the only one who realized what was happening, so she gave me the only thing she had on hand as a parting gift. I managed to say goodbye before the guards noticed me, then was thrown back into the throng. In the end, they overpowered us and forced us into the prisoner ship, for that was what the ship really was.

“Once inside, we were quickly and systematically overpowered, and put into energon chains. However, I was fortunate in that I managed to keep the gift hidden. It wasn’t until we were in the holding chambers at the bottom of the ship that I finally took a good look at it. It was a fine-tooth comb, carved lovingly from ebony. Along the ridge of the comb there was a simple pattern of circles and waves carved into it. It was the only thing I ever managed to save from Gaiatron, and I still have it, even today.

“I don’t remember much of the ride, but I remember when we got to Cybertron. We were put onto loading carts and taken to a specialized war-prison, a place known simply as ‘The Skull’.”

Dinobot’s optics widened. “I’ve heard of The Skull. Only those with no honor chose to work there. My uncle told me one of his so-called ‘friends’ worked in The Skull, and regularly described what went on in there.” He shuddered slightly. There were stories told about that trip that gave him nightmares when he was younger, though there was no way he would admit it.

“Good, then you’ll know the full implications of what went on there. Since I’ve taken long enough in getting to this point and because I still don’t really like remembering this, I’ll give you the condensed version. When we got there I was separated from my brothers and sisters and placed in a cage suspended above the ground. It was made from a material I could not manipulate. Whenever I was given energon, they would bind my hands and feet with strong rope, and fed me by hand. If there was any sign of trouble, then retribution was swift and terrible. I was in there for so long that I lost track of time. Maybe that was a good thing, for I was there for the majority of the war.” Here Greyfur shivered, placing her thin hands over her face as if trying to shield herself from a horrible memory.

“If this is too painful for you, you don’t have to continue.” Optimus said gently.

“No, I need to tell you this. The Skull is something that never appeared in the history records of the War, so I’m just making sure that this isn’t forgotten. This needs to be told.”

“I can’t really say more about The Skull, for over time the memories have been forgotten or blocked out. However, I can say that, out of all the Earth-Shakers, I alone escaped.”

Greyfur shook her head. “That I can’t discuss, not yet. It’s too painful. You understand, don’t you?” Cheetor nodded solemnly.

“After I escaped, I found my way to the Autobots and fought with them for the remaining stellar cycles of the Great War. When it was won, we danced in the streets, drunk with joy.” Here Greyfur smiled. “However, I never returned home again.”

There was utter silence for several moments, then Optimus said simply, “Thank you. This was certainly eye-opening, in more ways than one.”

They talked for a few more moments, and Cheetor and Rattrap left with Greyfur so that they could see the gift from Gaiatron. Dinobot left too, but it was too his own room. He had a lot to think about and certainly a lot to tell Rhinox... wait, why was he even going to tell any of this to the rhino? Somebody else could probably fill him in.

Blackarachnia and Inferno. The thought flashed across his mind, and his mech fluid grew cold again. Greyfur’s story was important, yes, but it happened in the past. This was happening right now. What were the chances of having two Predacons disappearing within the space of three solar cycles? The timing was too close for him to consider the whole thing a coincidence. It was a full-blown mystery.

Dinobot sighed and typed in a few commands onto the keypad by his chamber door. It opened with a whoosh. Dinobot trudged in and surveyed his room, which was rather bare, as he enjoyed a rather Spartan style of living. A bunk was in one corner, with a small desk and chair on the opposite side of the room. Beside his desk was a revolving sword rack that could hold up to four swords, one that he had crafted himself out of wood. Over his bunk, a velociraptor’s hide was tanned and stretched across the wall. Dinobot couldn’t help but grin at the thought of his clone’s demise.

He snatched a datapad off of his desk, sat down on the edge of his berth, and started to type a new document containing the facts, or what he knew about the disappearances.

Fact: Both Inferno and Blackarachnia seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet.

Dinobot put the pad down for a moment and stroked his chin thoughtfully. Any connections? Other than the one Rattrap thought up. Here he made a face. There’s something seriously wrong with him.

Fact: Inferno’s scent led away from the pod and the Predacon and Maximal bases. Strange.

Dinobot shuddered. That still gave him chills, though he would fight to the death rather than admit it.

Ok, so that was what he could remember from that night. Time to move on to Blackarachnia’s disappearance.

Fact: We saw this indirectly, from the screen of the Axalon’s main computer.

Fact: Her energy signature disappeared. This leads to the conclusion that she was either taken by the aliens or killed, as there are no known alternatives. I don’t know which is worse.

Wait a breem! She was in Grid Phoenix! The same one Inferno had apparently been in at least once the night he vanished. Could it be that he disappeared in Grid Phoenix as well? It was a definite possibility.

Hypothesis: If something or someone is capturing or killing Predacons, then, being of Predacon heritage, I’ll need reliable backup. Cheetor would screw things up with his ADD tendencies; Optimus already shifted the problem to someone else so there’s no use asking him; Airrazor and Tigertron are hardly ever around the base (though I might need Airrazor’s earwitness account by the time all this is over with); I can’t stand Rattrap, and I don’t know enough about Greyfur to trust her as efficient backup. That leaves Rhinox. He already saw the disappearing signature anyway, so I don’t need to explain in-depth what’s going on. I’ll talk to him and offer my assistance.

Dinobot saved the facts sheet, turned off the pad, and sighed wearily. He shut his optics and wondered how long it was going to be until Rhinox finished recharging. He got the feeling that it was going to be a long day.

Rhinox woke up with a start, looked over at his watch, and saw that it was almost evening. He had been recharging for the full day. He yawned and sat up, feeling much better than he had the night before. It was some of the best recharge time ha had in quite a while.

He wandered out of his chambers and stumbled to the control room, shaking off the hazy bonds of slumber as he went. He blinked and noticed the only ones there were Dinobot and Optimus, and both of them were on monitor duty.

Optimus glanced up when Rhinox let out a short “Hey.” He looked completely exhausted.

“While you were recharging there was a Predacon attack. Dinobot will brief you. Good night.” With that, Optimus left to recharge.

“I missed a Predacon attack? Primus, I must have been out of it…” Rhinox muttered. “So how’d it go? Any damage?”

“WHAT? Oh man, I’ve got to hear this.” Rhinox plopped down in the nearby computer chair, facing Dinobot. “How in the world did you guys pull that off?”

“Look, never mind how we won, something much more important happened during the battle.” Dinobot quickly glanced around the room to make sure that they were alone, and then lowered his voice. “Do you remember what we saw last night?”

“It’s true! The worst part is that she isn’t the only one. Inferno has vanished as well. Megatron attacked because he thought we were holding them hostage.”

Dinobot rubbed his temples with his brown, hooked fingers. “That isn’t even the half of what happened this morning.” With that, he began telling Rhinox that had happened, in detail, including Greyfur’s skill and her past. It took him about half-a-megacycle, with Rhinox interrupting every once in a while with a question. Once he finished, he left to go get his datapad, and Rhinox was left alone, staring thoughtfully at the monitors. They showed the two Maximals that were on patrol that night (Rattrap and Airrazor), as well as one Predacon (Tarantulas). All of the other Maximals were in recharge, and the Predacons, with the exception being Tarantulas, mostly seemed to be sticking close to their base. With the recent vanishings, Rhinox didn’t blame them. The fact that there were disappearances like that, even if they were on the enemy side, made him very uneasy.

His thoughts were interrupted by Dinobot’s return. For the next megacycle they poured over Dinobot’s fact sheet, trying to make heads or tails out of it.

“Ok, this is a mystery, right? To solve the mystery, we need to answer the questions of who, what, when, where, why and how. We know what happened (they disappeared), when it happened (the night the protoform fell and yesterday night), and we have a good idea where it happened (Grid Phoenix). We still don’t know who did it, why he/she/it did it, or how the disappearance was pulled off. These are the answers we need to concentrate on finding. Only problem is, we don’t have the information necessary to find out those answers.” Rhinox said.

“True. Right now, the only solution that I can see is to keep a close eye on the monitors and put Grid Phoenix on high priority. That way we can see who is going in or out of the grid. Other than that, I have no idea.” Dinobot stifled a yawn. He wasn’t about to let Rhinox know that he was getting tired.

“Ok, so basically we keep our optics open, especially at night, and we make sure that at least one of us is on the monitor. That should be easy enough.” Rhinox said. “If there’s another disappearance, we can head out to Grid Phoenix ourselves and camp out there for a few days, just to see if there’s any paranormal activity.” He sat back and massaged his temples.

“I don’t like this. Actually, scratch that, I really don’t like this, you know? If your theory about the alien activity is right, we might be stepping into something that’s bigger than both of us.” Rhinox turned to Dinobot. “Knowing Optimus, he’ll probably ask me to look into this anyway, so I’ll be in this situation regardless--”

“Yes, Optimus said something along those lines after the morning excursion.” Dinobot interrupted. “He probably just forgot to ask.”

“But how come you’re getting into all of this? I mean, your jumping into the shark-filled pool voluntarily!” Rhinox said. Dinobot smirked, and then his face grew serious. He was prepared for a question like this.

“Normally I don’t give Jack slag, excuse the term, for my former…comrades.” He chose his words carefully. “But in this case what’s happening to them may wind up affecting me as well, me personally. Even though I may wear the Maximal insignia and shout ‘Maximize!’ when I wish to transform, I am, and always will be, at spark, a Predacon, and I can not and will not deny my heritage. To do so would be lacking in honor.”

“I can understand that, but why do think that what’s happening to them might happen to you too? Though, as you said, you are a Predacon at spark, you’re a Maximal now. Whatever you did as a Predacon in the pass has been forgiven.”

“Oh really?” Dinobot tried his best not to laugh out loud. For a supposed genius Rhinox was awfully naïve sometimes.

“That’s touching, really,” Dinobot said sarcastically, “But did my side-switching have the same effect on Rattrap?” Rhinox lifted a finger to protest, but seeing that Dinobot had a good point, let it fall. “I didn’t think so. Whoever’s doing this seems to be targeting Predacons, and, since I used to be a Predacon, that puts me in their target zone. Thus, I need someone reliable who could help solve this dilemma and silence the threat.”

“Which would be me, right?” Rhinox stated. Dinobot nodded. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room for a few nanos, broken only when Rhinox typed in a few commands to put Grid Phoenix on high priority. Finally, Rhinox asked, “What do you think is the best and worst case scenario for all of this?”

“Oh.” Dinobot shrugged. “Whatever. Personally, I think that the best case scenario would be that they were killed by a rival Predacon. You already know what my worst case scenario is.”

“Right, alien abduction. So it’s bleak for the Predacons at best and completely disastrous for all of us at worst. So far, we’re the only ones who know the full extent of all of this. I’ll tell Optimus some of it, but I won’t mention you. Are you fine with that?”

“Perfectly.” Dinobot nodded. He was pleased that Rhinox was respecting his privacy, as he was helping out for personal reasons.

“Optimus is already stressed out enough as it is. Something like this could push him off the edge. We all know what happened the last time he lost it.” Rhinox shuddered at the thought of Optimus as a berserker. They had barely managed to get the antidote to him in time.

“Mmmm, indeed.” Dinobot still felt slightly guilty about that, as he was partially to blame for how that all came about. Abruptly, he realized that this was the first time he really had a chance to work with the rhino.

Dinobot sighed as he wandered through the halls, just barely avoiding crashing into Cheetor. He was exhausted. He and Rhinox had been taking turns keeping an eye on the monitors, and so far, they’ve had no luck at all. Blackarachnia and Inferno were still missing. The Predacons had been behaving themselves, so there had been no further disappearances. Everything had been completely ordinary.

The only really interesting thing that had happened was that Rhinox had asked Greyfur if she had seen Inferno. She said that she had, but she hadn’t liked the looks of him, so she had stayed away. When asked if she remembered what direction he was going, she said she couldn’t remember, as she was pretty turned around herself, but she could remember that ‘he wasn’t in a hurry’. In other words, they had no leads on the case at all.

Dinobot knocked on Greyfur’s door, tapping his foot impatiently. The femme had borrowed a wrench earlier, and she had yet to return it. He needed it for comlink repairs, so it was rather frustrating for him to have to stop working on it, even if only temporary.

As he waited, Rattrap sauntered down the hall towards the control room. As he passed Dinobot, he said “If you’re looking for Greyfur, she’s gone out grazing. Beast mode instincts and all that.”

“Slag. When will she be back?” Rattrap stopped and turned towards Dinobot, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. “In two or three megacycles. Why’d ya need to talk to her?”

Dinobot mentally swore. “She borrowed the torque wrench and I need it for repairs.”

Sometimes even the very presence of the rodent was annoying, like a mosquito in Maximal form. “I don’t know the password.”

“How’d you get her password?” Dinobot asked, and then shuddered. “Actually, scratch that, I don’t want to know.”

“Oh, ha ha, you’re a comedian. She told me. Unlike you Choppaface, I’ve actually tried to get to know her. For an old geezer, she isn’t half bad.”

“Yes, I’m sure she isn’t. Now what is the password?” Dinobot imagined Rattrap as a mosquito.

Dinobot mentally envisioned himself going after mosquito-Rattrap with a flyswatter. The thought was strangely comforting.

“Rattrap, I need your assistance!” A voice came from the control room. Thank Primus for Optimus.

“Coming!” Rattrap sang out, and then turned back to Dinobot. “Better guess quickly, Choppaface!”

If you’re looking for Greyfur, she’s gone out grazing. Beast mode instincts and all that. Dinobot quickly realized the significance of this, and tried for his final answer. “Clover.”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Who knew he had the brains to guess correctly?” Rattrap dodged a fist from Dinobot with ease, and then went skipping down the hall, calling out “See ya!” and cackling to himself. Dinobot muttered several choice words under his breath as he typed in the password. The padlock glowed green, and the door slid open.

He immediately spotted what he was looking for. The torque wrench was resting on a small table, which was next to a large metal cupboard. He picked up the tool, turned to leave, but glanced back. The cupboard was unlocked.

Now, Dinobot wasn’t normally a curious mech, but the cupboard seemed to peak his interest. He wasn’t quite sure why, as it was just a plain gunmetal-grey cupboard. There were no special carvings or words wrought into it, and no suspicious bulges in the doors or hinges. It just looked…ordinary. Yet he had the peculiar feeling of wanting to open it to see what was inside. Maybe it was because he had recently been reminiscing about a story that he had read as a much younger mech, a story written by a human. In it, a young human girl discovers something amazing in a wooden wardrobe, something that changes the life of herself and her family. Dinobot couldn’t remember what happened in the rest of the story, but for some reason that little detail stuck with him.

He looked out in the hallway to make sure no one was coming, grasped the cold metal handles of the cupboard, swung the two doors open—and immediately leapt back with a yelp, the wrench clattering to the floor, his sword out and pointing at the bodies in a flash. They just seemed to be suspended, hanging out of the cupboard…

Dinobot started laughing silently at himself when he realized that they weren’t bodies at all. “Where on Cybertron did she get a hold of metallionettes?” He said out loud. “I didn’t even know she could use them!”

Metallionettes were very much like the human marionettes, except metallionettes were made from metal, not wood. Dinobot remembered that his uncle had one, and how he himself had often played with it as a sparkling. These were rather worn, with crudely made faces. In spots, the paint was chipping off of them, giving them an eerie look, like they had just returned from the Pit.

Dinobot slipped his sword back into his sheath, then took out the closest metallionette so he could have a closer look. It stood at about three and a half feet tall, and it was depicted as a transformer mech who, if he had been real, probably would have taken the form of a helicopter. A leering grin was painted on its face. Though very well-worn, it seemed to work just fine.

Dinobot placed it gently on the floor to minimize the noise, and took a hold of the control bar. He hoisted the puppet to a standing position, and then began to gently move the control bar. The metallionette moved in a sort of clumsy dance, arms and legs jerking up and down. He continued this for a few moments, and then stopped, fearing that he would tangle the strings with his inexperience and ruin the puppet.

Something caught his eye, and Dinobot hefted the puppet to eye level, trying not to look to closely into its leering face. He peered at the left shoulder of the metallionette, and then nearly dropped the puppet in shock when the lessons of history came back to him and he realized what he was staring at.

Why on Cybertron would a Maximal have a Decepticon metallionette? Is this the only one? Dinobot quickly placed the puppet back on the floor and started taking out the other metallionettes. There were four others, two other mechs and two femmes. Three of them had Decepticon symbols, either on the head, chest, or one of the shoulders. But even more disturbing was the fact that one of the femmes had the Predacon insignia on her temple. She seemed to be in better shape than the others, and, had she been real, probably would have taken the form of a fox. There was something very off about her, but Dinobot couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

He decided that he’d seen enough, carefully put the metallionettes back in the cupboard, turned towards the door to leave, and nearly jumped out of his armor.

For a moment time seemed to stand still as Dinobot racked his brains for a solution to this sticky dilemma. She was just standing there, framed in the doorway. What made him the most nervous was that there was absolutely no expression at all on her face. There was no anger, no disappointment, no annoyance, no surprise, nothing. Just blankness, like seeing a giant former Predacon in her chambers rummaging through her cupboard was a normal thing. A deadly silence fell over the room.

Oh slag, I knew my stupid curiosity would get me killed someday! Curiosity killed the mech! Dinobot realized that the safest thing to do was to wait and see what Greyfur’s reaction would be.

The silence continued for several more moments, and then Greyfur walked in and closed the door behind her, locking off his only escape route. Uh oh…

“Do you like them?” Greyfur asked, jerking her head in the direction of the cupboard. Dinobot played it safe and nodded. This was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. Imagine, a warrior getting caught out like a little sparkling with his hand in the cookie jar! He fervently prayed to Primus that this wouldn’t get out, or else he’d never hear the end of it.

“I’m glad that you do.” She smiled, but it seemed quite forced. “I see that you’ve already met my little friends.”

She walked towards him. There was something in that walk, a jerkiness he’d never noticed before, but which seemed very apparent now. His embarrassment gave way to uneasiness in an instant. He took a step backward, then another one, his uneasiness showing in his optics.

Good Primus, Dinobot, are you afraid of the little elderly femme? A scathing, mocking voice rang in his head. It was countered by another, stronger voice, his sense of reason. She wiped out all of the Predacons in one swoop without so much as breaking a sweat. If it came down to a fight, I don’t know if I’d be able to win.

Greyfur stopped walking and opened the cupboard. The metallionettes fell forward with a clatter, and she selected the Predacon femme. Dinobot noticed that it had a blank face, showing no emotions, as Greyfur had done earlier. A strange, flowing piece of fabric was draped around it; one that Dinobot later found out was called a dress.

“This was one of my hobbies when I was younger, and the one hobby that I kept after my time as a prisoner of war.” Greyfur seemed to be examining the puppet and didn’t look up at Dinobot. Her fur slid forward to shield her face as she looked down at the metallionette. Her rusted hands clutched the control boards, and she began to manipulate the figure. She seemed to come to life right in front of him as it turned to him and gave a graceful curtsy.

“So, any particular reason why you were in my chambers without me?” She asked, seeming to concentrate fully on the strings she was pulling.

“You had borrowed the torque wrench earlier, and I needed it for repairs. You were out at the time, so I came in, found the torque wrench, and would have left except for the fact that I became distracted.” Dinobot figured it was safer to tell the truth than to tell a lie.

“I’m sorry for not giving back the wrench, Dinobot, but I was busy making repairs to these and it simply slipped my mind.” Dinobot blinked in surprise. She was apologizing to him?

“It is…not an issue. And…I’m sorry that I was looking without asking.” Dinobot said. Mentally, he sighed with relief. Glad I got that out of the way.

“Apology accepted.” The metallionette was dancing now, slowly at first, with delicate steps, then faster and faster, wilder and wilder, her skirts flaying outward, showing skinny metal legs. Dinobot stared at it, impressed. Greyfur really was quite good at this.

There was something off about the dancing figure. Dinobot couldn’t seem to pinpoint what it was. Maybe it was how the Predacon insignia looked on the nodding, bobbing head, or how the metallionette seemed to be moving faster than Greyfur’s hands were manipulating it. It wasn’t until Dinobot caught a glimpse of the puppet’s face, however, that he had to do a double take.

Where once the face was as devoid of emotion as a piece of paper, there was an expression of sheer terror.

What the—Dinobot looked again as the metallionette stopped dancing, but its face was, once again, neutral. I must have imagined it.

Greyfur smiled again, and this time it seemed much less forced, then put the metallionette away. She squeezed past Dinobot and walked over to a small table covered with personal items, including a hand mirror, a few elastic ties, and a black iron comb with a pattern of waves carved into the handle. She picked up the comb and began to run it through her fur, wincing as she encountered snarls. Dinobot took this as a cue to leave, so he quietly exited the room.

If he had looked back at Greyfur the instant before the door whooshed closed, he would have seen the smile on her face melt into a sneer.

Rhinox sighed and drummed his fingers on the armrest impatiently. He looked up at the screen, noticing that Rattrap, Cheetor and Greyfur were on patrol in various sectors. He glanced over at Grid Phoenix and froze.

Swiftly he reached down and switched on his com-link. He turned the dial to ‘private’ and punched in the code to Dinobot’s com-link. There was a moment of static, then Dinobot’s weary voice. “This had better be good.”

There was a pause, and then Dinobot replied “I’ll be there in two nanos.” Click.

As he waited, Rhinox kept his optics glued to the amber Predacon symbol that was flashing smack in the middle of Grid Phoenix. When commanded, the computer stated that it was Waspinator. Leave it to the wasp to stumble upon potentially the most dangerous sector in the area.

“What’s happening?” Dinobot emerged from one of the dark halls, fully awake and tense.

They observed the blip in silence, carefully scrutinizing and memorizing every move it made. The yellow insignia crossed the Grid from northwest to southeast, and then suddenly stopped near the southeast corner.

“Oh—what are you doing?” Rhinox muttered under his breath. He and Dinobot instinctively leaned forward towards the computer screen.

The symbol began moving northward, along the eastern edge of Grid Phoenix. They both though it strange that Waspinator had changed his course so abruptly. Then again, this was Waspinator, the Predacon who had the attention span of a goldfish.

Dinobot opened a special compartment in the console, and several wires stretched from the upper portion of his left arm to meet it. He began to download the footage, cursing himself for not thinking of it earlier. Rhinox raised an optic ridge, but said nothing.

“Oh slag!” Dinobot and Rhinox said at the same time. Rhinox frantically typed in a command.

“Slag, slag, slag!” Rhinox swore as he continued searching for Predacon Unit: Waspinator, to no avail. He had disappeared. Rhinox had expected this to happen, of course, but it was still rather unsettling.

“Do you think…?” Dinobot began hesitantly. A mental war was raging inside of his processor.

What do you mean, ‘what have I done’? I didn’t do anything to cause this!

That’s just the point. You didn’t do anything. Now Waspinator’s missing.

You could have warned him. You could have tried to piggyback on his com-link signal and attempted to send a message. You could have asked one of the nearby Maximals to chase him out of the grid. You could have saved him. But you didn’t. You just sat back on your metal aft and watched it happen. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?

This last thought was so forceful that Dinobot took a step backwards in surprise. Inner conflict had become a part of his everyday life, but never that strongly before. Rhinox’ voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“What? No, not really. I can see that you’re having no luck yet.” Dinobot replied.

“No duh, Sherlock.” Rhinox said, borrowing the human term. “Are you still recording this?”

“Yes, do you—HOLY PRIMUS!” Dinobot howled in amazement, staring at the screen.

“Cor, did you see that?” Rhinox said, followed closely by “By the Matrix, he made it out! He’s back! Waspinator’s escaped!”

“Look at that! The pest looks like he’s about to break the sound barrier. I’ve never seen him fly that fast before.” Dinobot was amazed.

“He’s heading back to the Preds. I wonder if he’ll tell Megatron what happened.” Rhinox was calming down now, but there was still excitement in his vocal processor.

“We’ve finally hit the jackpot tonight!” Rhinox did a little victory dance on the computer chair. “I can’t believe it! Somebody who had a direct encounter with, well, whatever it is, and survived! As soon as he heads out for patrol, we’ll head out to get some answers. With any luck he’ll be able to help us figure out what’s been happening!”

“What’s been happening?” A voice that sounded disastrously feminine said from directly behind them. All sense of joy vanished in the space of a breem.

“Slag.” Dinobot muttered under his breath as they both turned around. Airrazor was standing behind them, looking very intrigued.

“Erm, nothing to concern yourself with.” Rhinox said. Dinobot almost winced. That was most definitely the wrong thing to say, as Airrazor went from being intrigued to being exasperated in the blink of an optic.

“Uh huh, and I shouldn’t be concerned that Transformers are disappearing outside of their home base?” She sounded very annoyed. “Gentlemechs, read my lips. Bat. Slag. What’s happening?”

“We can’t tell what’s happening for sure, but if we do, we’ll tell you, ok? Don’t worry.” Rhinox said in an effort to calm her down.

“Fine then, but I’ll probably find out what’s going on soon enough anyways.” Airrazor turned and left. When she was out of earshot Rhinox turned to Dinobot and asked “Do you think that we should have told her?”

“Not immediately, but we’d probably have to ask for her assistance if we have to do fieldwork. She did hear screams on the night of Inferno’s disappearance where we couldn’t, so that makes her a secondary witness.”

“True.” The pair was silent for a nanoclick, thinking. Suddenly, Rhinox sucked in his breath. “Slag…”

“What?” Dinobot glanced up from where he was detaching himself from the computer panel.

“I’ll probably find out what’s been going on soon enough, anyways. She’s going to start asking around.”

“Oh slag.” Dinobot very quickly understood what a complete disaster that would be. Save for Optimus, none of the rest of the crew knew what was happening, and even Optimus didn’t know about Dinobot assisting Rhinox. “So basically, we have to tell her now. That femme is sharp.” He had a new-found respect for Airrazor now.

“It would probably be best if it were you, as I don’t know her quite well enough, and if anybody saw me entering her recharging chambers in the middle of the night they might make some…hasty assumptions.”

Rhinox laughed out loud, his deep voice booming around the room. “Good point. I’ll go talk to her.”

“So basically, that brings us up to where you barged in on us.” Rhinox finished. It had taken over half a megacycle to summarize what had been happening over the last few solar cycles. Airrazor was perched on the edge of her berth, silently pondering the facts.

“How come you’re so concerned about this? I mean, I know this could affect us, but isn’t this a good thing? I mean, I thought you hated the Predacons.”

“I do hate what they do, Airrazor. However…” Rhinox paused, wondering how to put it.

“I can’t hate them personally anymore. Not after I saw what lives they really live. Not after I saw them for what they really are.”

“Living, breathing individuals, with their own worries, their own sorrows, their own joys and triumphs. They’re just like you and me, but they’re corrupted and bitter because fate had dealt their whole race a hard hand.”

“I can understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t really follow.” Airrazor said.

“Well, I’ll give you an example then. Let’s say I’m charging towards the Predacons on a battlefield, turning them to scrap. Let’s jut say I start beating the living daylights out of Terrorsaur. All the time I’m doing it, a little voice in my internal processor is saying ‘He could have a Cam waiting for him back home.’ Now do you get where I’m coming from?”

“Thanks for telling me.” Airrazor smiled. “And I hope we can head back to Cybertron soon so that you can see Cam again.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate that.” Rhinox smiled, and then left. Inside, however, his spark was aching. He missed his sparkmate, and he wasn’t afraid of admitting it.

He went back to the control room and the first thing he saw was Dinobot, who was bent over a small gizmo with a viewing screen. He was watching it intently, occasionally tapping on a few buttons below the screen. He looked up, and Rhinox immediately noticed that his optic ridges were furrowed.

“Get over here and I’ll show you.” Once Rhinox was beside him, Dinobot tilted the screen so Rhinox could see it better.

“My recording for what we just witnessed. Look closely at this. It’s from the moment before Waspinator reappeared.

They watched the clip in silence. Other than Waspinator’s reappearance, other than Waspinator’s disappearance Rhinox didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Dinobot snickered when he mentioned this.

There was a swift flash of red, distinctly visible the split second before Waspinator reappeared. “Definitely didn’t see that before. Could you play it for me frame-by-frame, please?”

“Already on it.” Dinobot punched a few buttons. The screen slowed down, and Rhinox couldn’t believe his optics. “By the Matrix…”

There was a deadly pause. Then Rhinox breathed, “Please tell me that my optics are malfunctioning.”

“I can see it too.” Dinobot looked deeply disturbed. “Primus, what have we gotten into?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t think we’ll like the outcome of all of this. If we’re not seeing things, then I think that the solution to this might be worse than the crime.” Rhinox looked stricken.

They didn’t get any recharge time that night. When the sun rose they decided that the only course of action they could take at the present time would be to question Waspinator, Cheetor, Greyfur and Rattrap.

The three latter figures came in from patrol duty at sunrise. Rattrap filed a report on suspicious behavior, which was whisked away by Optimus before Dinobot and Rhinox could read it, but other than that all was normal. Then again, they could have been lying.

“Once they’ve recharged, we can ask them a few more thorough questions. Dinobot, you question Cheetor.”

“Hey, you can ask whoever, but I’ll be talking to Rattrap. You’ll never get any answers out of him. You two’d just end up arguing.”

“Good point. I’ll talk to Cheetor, and Greyfur’s fair game to whoever gets to her first.” Dinobot didn’t exactly feel like talking to her yet, especially considering their last encounter. “I’ll be going out on patrol soon, so if you see that Waspinator’s left the Predacon base, let me know and I’ll track him down.”

Typically, Cheetor was the first one out of recharge. Dinobot waited until Cheetor had received his morning energon ration, and then called him aside.

“Nothing much, I just have a few questions about last night. I’m just contemplating a few things, and I need some information to help clear any confusion.”

“Grid Xaron, Grid Taka and Grid Orion.” That was nowhere near Grid Phoenix. Cheetor couldn’t have been the one. Dinobot was slightly relieved. For all of the kid’s faults, he couldn’t help but like Cheetor.

“Did you get any strange com-link messages from any of the other patrollers?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. I got one from Rattrap about midnight. You remember the screaming Airrazor heard the night Greyfur came?”

“Rattrap said he thought he had just heard it, though he suspected that it was just the wind. He didn’t say anything else though.”

“Interesting.” Dinobot’s mind was reeling. If Rattrap heard screams last night, then Blackarachnia and Inferno might still be alive!

Cheetor raced off, and Dinobot began to look for Rhinox. However, before he could do anything, he realized that it was time for him to leave on patrol.

Dinobot trudged silently through the brush and trees at the edge of Grid Balak, his senses on the alert even as his mind was in turmoil. He had no time to jot down any more notes on his datapad before he had to leave, and trying to arrange his thoughts in some semi-logical order was giving him a headache.

Fact: At exactly two in the morning last night, there was a disturbance in Grid Phoenix.

Observation: He’d be a lot closer to where Inferno and Blackarachnia are then we were on the night of Inferno’s disappearance.

Fact: Just as he was about to exit the grid. He abruptly changed direction. Why?

Fact: After abruptly heading north, he vanished for approximately two nanoclicks.

Fact: A second before he reappeared, a Maximal insignia flashed on the screen.

Question: If the disappearances are faction-related, then how safe is it for me to be out here alone?

Dinobot slowed down and pondered this. He knew himself well enough to know that he could easily beat down almost anybody in a fight, but his sense of reason kept saying the same thing, over and over, like a broken record: Whatever this is, it took Inferno, one of the strongest Predacons. It could take you.

Dinobot was so preoccupied by his thoughts that he almost walked straight into two Predacons. Fortunately, he avoided the embarrassing and painful situation that would have followed if he actually did walk into them by quickly hiding.

It seems as if I have been both blessed and cursed. Slag, if only Megatron wasn’t there! Dinobot slowly reached down, took his com-link, punched in a few numbers, and muttered “Rhinox, if you can hear me, please respond quietly.”

A moment’s pause and then, “I can see where you are on the screen. I’ll be there in twenty nanos. Follow them, and hang tight.”

He silently switched to beast mode, and then softly slunk back into the shadows, keeping his long lizard-like body to the ground. Fortune and the wind were with him, as it blew against him, sending the scents of the leader and the follower towards him, meanwhile masking his own. He crept closer to hear what they had to say.

“Not so much of a mission, but I need your assistance…and cooperation. Yesss.”

“I have a few questions for you, about your patrol last night. Did you see anything unusual while on patrol?”

“No, Wazzzpinator not see anything. Wazzzpinator told Megatron this already!”

“Really?” There was a certain tone in Megatron’s voice that suggested to Dinobot that Waspinator was in some severe danger.

Megatron said nothing, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the woods. Even the birds stopped singing. Dinobot felt his muscles tensing, his spark pulsing faster. His beast mode instincts were warning him that the wind would not be with him for much longer. Come on Rhinox, come on. Am I going to have to take down Megatron on my own? Then again, that could be fun…

His thoughts were interrupted as Waspinator repeated his question. “Why Megatron ask?”

There was the sudden sound of swift rustling, a snarl, and a gagging sound. Dinobot chanced a quick look over the top of the wild shrubs, and saw that Megatron had his left hand around Waspinator’s throat, and his dinosaur head was pointing at Waspinator’s head. Waspinator’s gun fell from his hand and dropped to the forest floor with a clatter.

“Did I ever tell you that you are a terrible liar, Waspinator?” Megatron said smoothly. Waspinator’s optics had grown large with terror, and he struggled to breathe as Megatron forcefully picked him up and slammed him against the thick trunk of an oak tree. Megatron was furious now.

“Did you really think that we didn’t see it when you suddenly disappeared and reappeared on the console? Did you?!?” He tightened his grip on Waspinator’s throat. Waspinator let out a squeak, perhaps in an attempt to cry out for help. His limbs thrashed wildly about, and his life-preserving instincts kicked in as he grappled with the strong hand around his throat, desperate for air.

A plan was forming in Dinobot’s mind as he judged the distance between himself and Megatron. Just enough. I’m sorry Rhinox, but I’ll have to do this without you. Wait for it…

Megatron growled in pain as Waspinator gave him a violent kick in the shin. His dinosaur head was glowing now with the violet light of a plasma blast about to be unleashed.

“What happened then? What Occurred when you disappeared? TELL ME, VERMIN!” Megatron bellowed, his face contorted with rage. Dinobot mentally winced. The word vermin was HIS insult, not Megatron’s. He blinked as he saw that Megatron had loosened his grip enough to allow Waspinator to speak.

He leapt forward, transforming in mid-air, and kicked out with his legs, slamming into Megatron’s side and knocking him over. Megatron’s plasma cannon went off and shot out through the trees. They hit the ground, and Dinobot let out a war-yell as he shot Megatron in the head at point-blank range. Megatron shrieked with pain and lashed out with his fist, but Dinobot easily dodged it and jumped off, whirling around to face Megatron as he staggered to his feet.

Megatron’s left optic had been severely damaged, and silver mech-fluid was flowing freely down his face. Regardless of his now-limited eyesight, he began firing wildly at Dinobot. As Dinobot ducked behind trees and returned fire, he noticed Waspinator on his knees, his hands holding his throat, inhaling deeply. After a few moments of getting his breath back, he rose up and began to fly away.

Oh no you slagging don’t, you are not getting away from me that easily. Dinobot shot at the fleeing Waspinator with his eye lasers, and for once his aim was true, and Waspinator’s wings were shot off. Dinobot almost laughed at the comical sight of Waspinator crashing to the ground. The bug landed hard and lay there, stunned.

Score. Dinobot had no further time to think of this, as for the next few moments he was embroiled in the combat of a lifetime. He fired off several rounds at Megatron and cried out as the returning shots grazed his left arm. Snarling, he took careful aim, ignoring the mech fluid that was dripping from one of his fingers, and tossed a shot directly into Megatron’s dinosaur hand. The gamble paid off, and the gun was offloaded. Megatron charged forward, and Dinobot drew out his sword and tail shield and started to fight with that. The next few moments were a mass of confusion and swirling leaves, sky and ground, but once the confusion was over, Dinobot found himself standing over Megatron’s off-lined body. He raised his sword to give the final blow, but was suddenly alerted by a cry to his right. His head whipped around, and almost immediately he regretted it, because the side of his head exploded with pain. He held his hand up to the side of his head, and it came away sticky. Apparently in the melee he had attained some damage as well.

He looked up and nearly groaned aloud. “I’ll deal with you some other time.” He told the prone form of Megatron, then ran to help Waspinator put out the fire that Megatron’s first plasma blast had caused. The whole entire time he was grinding out flames under his heels his spark was in his mouth, for he knew the disastrous consequences that could occur if the other trees and the dry leaves underfoot ended up catching. Fortunately, it turned out that Waspinator had gotten most of the fire beforehand, so they had it out before it could do any lasting damage.

Dinobot glanced over at his former comrade, remembering why he had come in the first place and ready to demand some answers. With a jolt he saw that the bumbling Predacon was near tears, holding his hands close to him as if they pained him. Almost on reflex, Dinobot’s hands shot forward, grabbing Waspinator by the wrists and pulling his hands forward. Waspinator yelped as his palms were forcibly turned upwards. They were charred black. He had beaten out most of the fire with his bare hands.

Before Waspinator could say a word, Dinobot lead him at a mad pace through the woods, keeping an iron grip on one of his wrists, yet taking care not to brush up against his burned palms.

About a nano later they stumbled upon a beaver pond. Dinobot roughly shoved Waspinator towards the murky waters, and Waspinator gratefully plunged his hands in, letting the water soothe them, cool them down and wash the soot off. Dinobot didn’t know how long they stood there, but he felt that it was for far too long. Rhinox should’ve been here already. What was taking him so long? Did he always have the tendency to be this late?

Fed up, Dinobot grabbed Waspinator’s shoulder and grunted “Get up.” The wasp reluctantly obeyed, and Dinobot shoved Waspinator over to a nearby fallen tree. He grabbed Waspinator’s upper arm and forced him to sit down.

“Now, the only reason I haven’t reduced you to a heap of scrap is because I need answers. What happened to you when your energy signature disappeared?”

Waspinator gazed up at Dinobot, a defiant look on his face. “If Wazzzpinator did not tell Megatron, what makes lizard-bot think that Wazzzpinator will tell lizard-bot?”

Dinobot probably would have slugged him, but something held him back. Don’t be like Megatron. His tactics got him nowhere. Answer his question.

“Because I know where your comrades are.” Dinobot said, mentally wincing. Though it had its uses, he hated lying. It lacked honor.

“Lizard-bot do?” Waspinator asked, a little bit of hope showing in his large blue optics.

“Yes. I need your knowledge to help me find out who’s causing all of this, so it doesn’t happen again.” Very good, very good, flatter him, make him feel important. And for Primus’ sake, let go of his arm!

There was a slight pause as Waspinator thought this over, then, “Fine, Wazzzpinator will tell…on one condition.”

“When you find femme-bot and ant-bot, let them go. Don’t scrap them, just let them come home.” Hmm, that’s doable; I’ll just have to make sure that I’m there if and when we find them. Wait—did he just call the Darkside home?

“Just as you were about to exit the grid, you suddenly changed directions abruptly. Why was that?”

“What happened then, Waspinator?” The wasp said nothing at first, and looked away for a moment. Then he turned back, and Dinobot was very unnerved by the anguished look on his face.

“Wazzzpinator was flying.” The predacon began haltingly, “Was minding own business when suddenly, something came over Wazzzpinator. Wazzzpinator turned around in midair and started flying north. Flew lower and lower, until finally crashed into the ground. That hurt.”

“Wait, all of a sudden you randomly turned around and started flying north? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Wazzzpinator is getting to that! When Wazzzpinator crash-landed, was pinned to the ground like iron butterfly. Then, Wazzzpinator didn’t have control over own limbs!”

“Was being dragged along, couldn’t fight it, didn’t see what was happening, or who was doing it to poor Wazzzpinator.”

Dinobot felt his mech fluid grow ice cold in his veins. Never in a million stellar-cycles did he expect that type of answer. It was clear that the wasp was not lying, but what he was saying was almost impossible to comprehend. How could a Maximal pull off something like that?

“Wazzzpinator terrified, being forced towards big mountain in the distance--”

“No!” Waspinator’s forceful cry almost made Dinobot jolt, as he wasn’t expecting it. “Wazzzpinator cannot go back! Not back there! It will find Wazzzpinator, find lizard-bot, find everyone and steal them away like they did ant-bot and femme-bot!” He turned away, trembling. “No, will not show. Can never go back there.” He shuddered. For a moment Dinobot thought he was going to start crying.

“Fine then, I won’t make you show me.” Dinobot felt strangely sympathetic to the traumatized bug. “Could you tell me where it is? Then I can find it, and you don’t have to go back there.”

“Was in Grid Epsilon, southeast corner.” Waspinator stopped shivering as he got a hold of himself.

“Wazzzpinator getting to that. Wazzzpinator was struggling to get into beast mode, but didn’t succeed for several nanos. Just when Wazzzpinator thought Wazzzpinator was a goner, the control slipped, and was able to transform into beast mode and fly away as quickly as cat-bot on land.”

“Wait; there was no longer any control over you when you returned to beast-mode?”

At that moment there was a crashing sound in the distance, coming closer and closer. Dinobot braced himself for an attack, and then relaxed as Rhinox burst through the brush in beast mode. However, he was surprised when Airrazor dipped down through the trees to join them, also in beast mode. Within two seconds she had transformed into robot mode, and Waspinator shivered slightly, no doubt remembering their last encounter. However, he kept his cool, knowing in his current situation it would be impossible to flee, and simply stated “Welcome to the party. Drag up a piece of the floor,” as Airrazor stared at him.

“It’s about time you got here,” Dinobot stated gruffly. “What the pit took you so long?”

“I was waylaid, first by Optimus, then by Cheetor, then by the lady here.” Rhinox stated. “Primus, what a horrible time I had trying to get here! First Optimus wanted to know why I was heading out in such a hurry, and I told him it had to do with the missing predacons and that I’d explain in further detail when I got back, so he let me go without asking any other questions. Then before I could get out the door Cheetor ambushed me. Barely got out of the Axalon, he was asking so many questions about where I was going and what I was doing, and whether it had anything to do with Rattrap’s report and what Greyfur said…”

“I don’t know, something about not going out at night because it was dangerous.” Rhinox transformed into robot mode.

“Heck no! I had to lie like mad to get out of there, though it wasn’t any of the cat’s business anyway. Anyway, I had barely gotten out of THAT predicament and Airrazor called out to me in beast mode. By now I was incredibly frustrated, so I told her to follow me and not ask any questions until we got here.” Rhinox turned to Airrazor, who was staring with some distaste at Waspinator. “Do you have any questions?”

“No, not really. I’m assuming he’s the one who disappeared.” She jerked her thumb at Waspinator, who was twiddling his thumbs and looking at the ground in an attempt to not meet anyone’s optics.

“He was. Waspinator…” Dinobot turned to the smaller Predacon. “Could you repeat what you just told me? You’ll soon be free to leave if you do.”

“Ok,” Waspinator said nervously, before repeating his story. When he had finished, he looked up to see Rhinox’ and Airrazor’s jaws hanging open.

“In a moment. I just need you to answer one other question for me.” Dinobot gazed steadily at Waspinator, trying to gauge if he was lying. “Did you see who or what tried to take you away?”

“No.” Waspinator shook his head. “Why this happen? Wazzzpinator’s friends get dragged away; go missing, maybe even…dead.” Here he shuddered. “And for what? Just because of what they are?” Dinobot started. He didn’t expect the wasp to put two and two together so quickly.

“Well,” Airrazor slowly began, “I don’t know for sure why this is happening, but please understand that we’re trying to stop it.”

“Why are bird-bot and friends helping Wazzzpinator and the Predacons? Preds your enemy.” Waspinator asked, mystified.

“We are at war, it’s true, but this goes beyond the war. There are several reasons we have to stop this, our own safety being one of them, but we’re also trying to stop this because it is wrong. Trying to control people against their will is wrong, no matter who is being controlled, so we have to stop it.”

“Oh.” Waspinator said. He was staring at Airrazor with new respect now. “Can Wazzzpinator go now?”

“Yes, and if your looking for your pistol, it’s around where Megatron tried to use force tactics. Now scram!” Dinobot snarled. Waspinator took off running.

When he was out of earshot, Airrazor stated “So what the heck do we do now?”

“We find Blackarachnia and Inferno and free them, or drag out their bodies if they are dead.” Dinobot stated with grim determination.

“I have a good idea, yes. I just need to ask Rattrap something to confirm it.”

“In the southeast corner of Grid Epsilon, somewhere around a large mountain. That’s where Waspinator was being dragged to, and, unless my logic has malfunctioned, that’s probably where Inferno and Blackarachnia are.”

“Grid Epsilon is quite a ways away from here. You’d better contact Rattrap now and try to find out what you need to.” Rhinox nodded to Dinobot’s com-link.

Rattrap waded through the tall grasses of the meadow, the tips tickling his stomach. Greyfur was ahead of him, brushing aside the grasses as she made her way through. She had asked him if he had wanted to go for a walk and since he had happened to like the old femme (as a friend, not that way you sickos), he had said yes.

Greyfur abruptly stopped and turned around. “Do you mind if I show you a few things?” She asked.

“Depends on the kinds of ‘things’ you want to show me.” Rattrap replied cheekily.

“Rattrap, your mind is about as pure as driven slush.” Greyfur said, but she was laughing as she stated this obvious fact. “I was talking about ‘Earth-shaking.’”

“This maneuver is called ‘the lift and slam’.” Greyfur knelt down and dug her fingers into the earth, then pulled up. A jagged dirt pillar rose up. She then stepped back and jumped forward, sending the pillar flying across the meadow. Rattrap let out a low whistle.

“Did you know that I can travel under the earth faster than I can on the surface?”

“Nope. How fast do you think I’d be able to reach those trees over there?”

“I’d say in about a nanoclick.” Rattrap was grinning. “Don’t overexert yourself, or Rhinox will have both our hides for a fur coat.”

It took her a few moments for her to get down into the earth, but once she was ‘fully submerged’, so to speak, she took off like a bullet fired from a gun. She reached te trees in about half a nanoclick, stunning Rattrap.

Man, I wouldn’t want to fight opposite of her! She loped towards him, her fur covered in dirt, chuckling all the way.

“I’d hate to get on your bad side!” He called out as she approached. “Anything else you can do?”

“Oh, much more. Greyfur, maximize. I can maneuver earth with my feet as well as my hands, like this.” She stomped the earth, waited for a moment, then gave it a good kick. A wedge of earth exploded from under her foot, flying into a nearby tree. The tree snapped on impact and came crashing down on top of several bushes.

“In fact, you can take it even further.” She stamped her foot again then dug her foot in and swung it in an arc. The results were devastating. A thin blade of earth, sharp as a sword and shaped like a sickle, flew into a patch of nearby forest. Trees were sliced off and felled within the space of an instant, and any bird or beast in the trees very quickly found itself fleeing for its life as the trees cam crashing down.

“That was sweet!” Rattrap exclaimed. He paused for a moment, then stated “Pity about the trees though.” He said, looking down at the pile of wreckage.

“Bah, it’s all wooden poles and weeds anyway. Doesn’t matter.” Greyfur dismissed it with a wave of her hand. At that moment Rattrap’s comlink crackled to life.

“Dinobot to vermin, come in vermin.” Rattrap sighed and slapped his hand down on the ‘reply’ button.

“Cheetor told me that last night you heard screaming. Where exactly did you hear it?” If Rattrap had looked up at that moment, he would’ve seen Greyfur’s brown optics widen dangerously.

“Yeah, yeah, that gave me the creeps. I heard it at the corner of Grid Epsilon, near Grid Phoenix. Anything else?”

“Sheesh, slag sucking saurian.” Rattrap muttered under his breath. He turned to Greyfur and saw, to his complete surprise, that her face was blanched with terror.

“Well, yeah, but I think those were just animals, don’t worry.” Rattrap said in a reassuring voice.

“Oh thank goodness!” Greyfur slapped a hand over her spark chamber, sighing with relief. “Dinobot nearly gave me a turn. That brought back some bad memories.” She shuddered, and then composed herself. “Do you want to see the ultimate feat of earth-shaking?”

“I cannot do it now; the earth-shaking I did tired me somewhat. However, do you think I could show you later on? At sundown, perhaps? It would be just before our second night-shift of patrol.”

“You go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a nanoclick.” She replied. Rattrap nodded and left the meadow, and she was alone. The wind stirred the grasses to life and blew strands of her fur back from her face.

“How much time between then and now?” She murmured, squinting at the sun. There was silence for a few seconds, then “Seven megacycles. That’s it. Seven cycles to live.”

Dinobot shut off the com-link and nodded at Airrazor and Rhinox. “We have our location, now all we have to do is get there. If we start now we’ll be there by sundown.”

“Right,” Rhinox nodded, “we find Blackarachnia and Inferno tonight, find out who did this, and end this for good.”

“Beast mode.” They said all at once. Once they were in beast mode, Airrazor asked “If we’re going to be gone until sundown, does this mean that I get to skip my nightshift?”

“Yes. If Optimus gets sore, I’ll tell him to frag the nightshift, because this is far more important. Lives are at stake here, even if they are enemy lives.” Rhinox said. They all took off running as fast as they could for Grid Epsilon.

The sun was setting in the nearby distance when Rattrap and Greyfur made it out to Grid Phoenix, and the woods were glowing rosily. The foliage reflected the dying light, so that the light where they were was more of a scarlet then gold. It was a subtle warning, but Rattrap was too curious about what Greyfur had to show him to notice.

“Hey Greyfur, isn’t this where you crash-landed?” He asked as they came upon a clearing. Sure enough, it was. Rattrap could still clearly see where the pod had landed, digging a path of destruction and scarring the earth. The pod, of course, was no longer there. Optimus had it taken back to the base several days earlier so that the Predacons could not get their hands on it.

“Yes. I felt that it would be rather…fitting.” Greyfur said. She was looking much better than she had when they found her, for she had borrowed some oil for her joints, so they were not paining her. The skin that had not rusted had been shined, so it looked almost brand new, and her fur had been twisted up out of her face and pinned to the top of her head with a black iron comb. Several strands had escaped this arrangement and were now framing her face. All in all, she looked surprisingly good, especially if you considered her age.

“So, what’s this so called ‘skill’ that you wanted to show me?” Rattrap asked.

“I had to wait until now because, in order for me to do this, I need to be at the peak of my strength as it is very difficult to do.” Greyfur said. She paused, and then quietly said, “I should let you know that I was the one who invented this move.”

“I bet there’s an interesting story about that.” Rattrap said. Greyfur nodded.

Rhinox collapsed in a heap on the ground, gasping for breath. They had made it to the mountain in Grid Epsilon, having run all the way almost nonstop. Airrazor swooped down and landed on a nearby log, chuckling to herself. Unlike Dinobot and Rhinox, she was still full of energy.

“We call out for them and see if they answer.” Dinobot panted. He too was out of breath, having fallen behind slightly in their mad dash to Epsilon.

“Right then.” Rhinox said, transforming into robot mode. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted out, “Blackarachnia? Inferno?” His deep voice boomed in the cracks and crags on the face of the mountain. “Blackarachnia! Inferno!”

“Blackarachnia! Inferno! We’re here to rescue you!” Airrazor shouted. “If you are here, call out!”

“We split up to cover more ground.” Dinobot said. “If anybody finds anything, contact the rest of us via com-link.” He took off over the rocky ground, choosing to stay in beast mode because it would be better in the current terrain than his robot mode would. Airrazor transformed and took off, flying over the mountain, and Rhinox headed into the opposite direction that Dinobot had headed. For the next ten nanocycles their cries of “Inferno! Blackarachnia!” echoed around the mountain.

Dinobot was looking about wildly, trying desperately to figure out where whatever it was could have taken the two Predacons. He breathed in deeply to call out their names again…and froze.

Instantly he was almost flat out on the rocky ground, sniffing carefully. At first, nothing. Then…yes! There it was! It was Blackarachnia’s scent! He could smell Inferno too, although it was much fainter.

“I’ve got something!” He roared over the com-link. A moment’s hesitation, then Rhinox’ voice. “I’ll be over there in a nano.”

“What did you find, Dinobot?” Airrazor asked. “I can see you guys from way up here, but I haven’t seen Blackarachnia and Inferno yet.”

“I found a scent trail. It’s faint, but it may lead us to where they are.”

Rhinox slid to a stop beside him, huffing and puffing, having sprinted all the way from one side of the mountain to the other. “What do we have?”

“A scent trail. Let’s go.” Dinobot leaned down and started sniffing again. He was aware of the fact that he probably looked completely ridiculous, but he didn’t care. Several moments later he started walking, with Rhinox following closely behind. A shadow flitted over them, and Rhinox glanced up to see Airrazor circling overhead, keeping an eye out for danger.

They stayed this way for several nanos, until Dinobot abruptly stopped, letting out a shout of alarm. Rhinox halted and gaped at the small narrow canyon that they had almost fallen into. The canyon was only about 13 feet deep, 10 feet wide and ran alongside the mountain for about 30 yards. There was a small deer trail that led to the bottom of the canyon, and around the end of the canyon there was a tunnel that lead into the mountain itself.

“You’d never see that unless you were looking for it.” Rhinox breathed as Dinobot dashed down the deer path. He gave a snort at the cave entrance, nodding to himself.

“They’re inside the mountain itself.” He called out to Rhinox. There was a rush of air, and Airrazor was beside him, transforming into robot mode.

No wonder they didn’t answer,” She stated as she stared into the dark tunnel. “They probably couldn’t hear us.”

“Airrazor, you have better sight than we do.” Dinobot said, transforming into his robot mode and drawing out a pistol as Rhinox skidded to a stop beside him. “You lead, we’ll follow. Let’s go.”

They stepped inside and involuntarily shivered as a blast of cold air hit them. Dinobot stood up straight and stretched his arms up in the air. The tips of his claws scraped gently against the ceiling of rock.

Airrazor carefully lead the way, switching her optic sensors to night vision. She deftly avoided stalagmites that jutted from the rough, uneven stone floor and jumped over small fissures through which they could hear the sound of running water, leading Rhinox to theorize that there was probably an underground spring nearby. They continued on like this for the next several nanoclicks in complete silence, only broken by the sound of flowing water somewhere deep in the tunnel.

Suddenly Airrazor halted, letting out a cry of alarm. Dinobot slammed into her, and Rhinox slammed into them both. Airrazor would have gone tumbling into the chasm that had unexpectedly opened up almost underneath her feet if Dinobot hadn’t grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her back.

“Primus!” She exclaimed, staring wide eyed down at the bottom. She could clearly see and hear running water, and a soft wind was tickling her toes. “I hope they didn’t fall down there!” The chasm was only twelve feet wide, but it was an impressive drop.

“I don’t think they did.” Rhinox said. “Look!” He pointed to the right, and they saw, about twenty feet away, a small rock bridge. “That doesn’t look natural.”

“Did they cross it?” Airrazor asked. Dinobot made his way over to the bridge, growled “Beast mode!”, and carefully smelled the stone before the bridge started.

“They crossed.” He announced, before transforming back into robot mode and crossing himself, though he was wary as he did so, remembering the last time he crossed a stone bridge. Airrazor and Rhinox followed suit, and they continued on.

After a few more nanocycles, Rhinox said “Wait.” Airrazor and Dinobot stopped for a moment and looked at him curiously.

“Blackarachnia! Inferno! If you are here, please answer!” He yelled. His voice echoed in the tunnel. There was a moment’s pause, and then, very faint, very weak, “Help!” Dinobot’s spark skipped a pulse. Airrazor sucked in her breath.

Again, the distant voice, which almost sounded like a kitten, warbling “We’re here! We’re here!”

“Let’s go!” Dinobot shouted, transforming into beast mode so that he could run faster over the rocks. They took off like a shot, Rhinox calling out to them every so often so that the voice could answer and they could follow it. The replies grew louder and louder as they drew nearer. Several times Dinobot had to jump to the side or screech to a halt before he slammed into a stalagmite, but otherwise he and Airrazor were having much more success moving through the cave than poor Rhinox was. Rhinox’ bad sight and his bulk were hindering him, though he kept on calling out to the two predacons, giving them words of encouragement as the Maximal trio ran.

Dinobot squinted down the tunnel for a moment, not sure of what he saw, but suddenly realizing what it was. It was a dim, orange light, like the type made by a fire. He gave a shout and charged forward towards it, being able to duck and weave more easily now that he could see the pillars of stone.

All of a sudden the light grew stronger, and a large metal door loomed in front of him. Dinobot yelped in surprised and slammed on his brakes, but he was going too fast. Wham! He smacked straight into the door and fell backwards into the dirt, swearing under his breath. That really hurt.

Airrazor landed beside him, laughing. She glanced up at the door, then at what was causing the light. Two lit torches illuminated the gleaming iron door.

“Stand back.” She instructed to Dinobot, who was still prone on the stone floor. He complied, scrambling up, looking rather undignified. He walked over to where Rhinox was just arriving, and they watched as Airrazor launched her arm blaster at the door. The door exploded inward with a flash and an immense boom that echoed throughout the tunnel and caused some of the loose rocks to fall. Once the dust had settled, they could see that there was a big smoking crater in the door, just big enough for all of them to squeeze through. Airrazor nonchalantly plucked one of the torches from their holders, and then nodded at Dinobot and Rhinox. “Let’s go.”

Dinobot transformed into beast mode and followed after Airrazor, and Rhinox followed him. They went down the tunnel for a short ways, then rounded the bend and stopped in their tracks. Their jaws went slack.

The torchlight illuminated Blackarachnia and Inferno. Blackarachnia’s hands were chained above her head with thick metal shackles, and her feet were chained to the floor in the same fashion. She squinted at the torchlight, and then saw who had come for them.

“Yes, us.” Dinobot said. Rhinox stepped forward and was about to start working on the shackles that bound her hands, but Blackarachnia shook her head. “Inferno first.” She said.

They would have wondered about her selflessness, but one look at Inferno told them otherwise. He too was chained up like Blackarachnia, but when they had come in he hadn’t bothered to lift his head. He was waist deep in water.

“Airrazor, give me the torch.” Rhinox said calmly. Airrazor gave Rhinox a confused look, but complied. Rhinox walked over to where Inferno was chained, and noticed that he was chained in a rather deep hollow, about six feet wide and seven feet long alongside the wall, and that the hollow was full of water, which explained why Inferno was in water where Blackarachnia wasn’t. Rhinox thrust the torch in front of Inferno. The ant slowly raised his head, and his dull optics settled on the flames. He seemed almost hypnotized by them.

“Stay strong. You’ll be out of this Pit-hole soon. Do you hear me?” Rhinox asked. Inferno nodded slightly, barely strong enough to keep his head up.

Rhinox turned to Airrazor. “Come hold the torch. I’m going to free him.” Airrazor nodded and took the torch from Rhinox’ big hands, and Rhinox jumped into the water, yelping as he realized how cold it was. He immediately began to work on unlocking the shackles.

Dinobot turned to Airrazor. “Who did this to you?” He snarled. Blackarachnia’s lips twitched, a ghost of a smirk on her lips. “It was a witch.” She replied.

“Trust me, we didn’t have anything to do with this.” Dinobot said. “Did the witch say its name?”

“No. I know which beast mode it took though.” Blackarachnia said. “A rabbit.”

Dinobot felt all of the colour drain out of his face. He almost couldn’t believe it. Greyfur? Sweet little old Greyfur?

No, his reason insisted, not sweet. Remember the metallionettes? Remember the grin she gave to Scorponok as he was on the ground, completely helpless? Remember her history? She hated the Decepticons for what they did to her during the war. That hate would transfer to the Predacons.

Suddenly, he remembered something that Greyfur had mentioned when she was explaining how her earth-shaking worked, and he felt sick. Instantly his hand went down to his side, and he turned on his com-link. There was nothing but static. With increasing frustration he realized that com-link signals can’t go through solid rock.

“Yes. She’ll pay dearly for this.” Dinobot brooded in silence for several moments, and then asked “How come your energy signatures aren’t on?”

“What?” Blackarachnia sounded shock, but then switched to true anger. “That sick twisted glitch! She mush have found away to turn off our energy signatures when she dragged us in here!”

There was a sudden yelp from Airrazor, and a splash. The torch clattered to the floor, and Dinobot scrambled to pick it up before it rolled into the water. He held it up to witness the spectacle that was unfolding in the water.

Rhinox had freed Inferno’s hands. Inferno had swayed slightly for a few moments, and then had fallen forward with a splash, his legs weakened from days of standing. Airrazor had dropped the torch and jumped in so she could hold his head above the water, because Inferno was too weak to do it himself. The water was deeper for Airrazor, coming up to about her chest.

Dinobot sighed and placed the torch back on the floor, far enough away so that it wouldn’t roll towards the water, and called out to Rhinox. “Rhinox, I’m going to head outside to contact Optimus.”

“Did we find out who did this?” Rhinox replied from the water, where he was trying to free Inferno’s feet. Dinobot nodded. “This is an emergency!”

“Go ahead then. We’ll probably have this big guy freed by the time you get back.” Rhinox said. Dinobot took his cue and left.

“Are you almost done?” Blackarachnia called out impatiently. It was easy to see that she was beginning to regret her selfless choice.

“Almost. Be patient.” Airrazor snapped. Inferno was strangely lighter than he looked, but was still quite heavy.

For several nanoclicks, there was nothing but the sounds of splashing, Rhinox’ occasional swearing as he wrestled with the chains, and Inferno’s ragged breathing.

“I think I…Yes! Got it!” Rhinox crowed in triumph, holding up several slimy chains. He and Airrazor helped Inferno to get out of the water and onto the dry rock, for Inferno’s feet were still shackled together. His flying equipment was completely waterlogged, rendering it useless, and his legs weren’t in the greatest shape either. Airrazor, not knowing what else to do, knelt by Inferno’s head and put a calming hand on his shoulder while Rhinox worked on the shackles around his ankles.

Inferno turned his head towards Airrazor, seemingly realizing who she was for the first time since they had arrived. “You…” He said weakly.

“Yes.” Airrazor relaxed slightly, yet suddenly felt rather sad at Inferno’s next words.

“I know. That doesn’t matter right now.” Airrazor had to turn away so she wouldn’t have to see the look of complete confusion on Inferno’s face. For the first time she found herself wondering what would have happened had Inferno been created a Maximal.

They continued on for a few minutes before Rhinox finally sighed and slapped his palm to his forehead.

“Darnit, I wish I had a key. I won’t be able to get the shackles off otherwise; they’re too tight to offer any leeway.”

There was the sudden sound of shouting from the tunnel, and Dinobot came running into the room as if all of the horrors of the Pit were after him all at once.

“Optimus just told me that Greyfur’s out at Grid Phoenix right now and Rattrap’s with her!”

There was a moment’s pause. Then, softly, “Greyfur?” Airrazor sounded like she couldn’t believe it. On the other hand, Rhinox could.

“Dinobot! Get out to Grid Phoenix NOW! Airrazor, go with him! Hurry, Rattrap is in some deep slag! I’ll join you once I have these two free.” He gestured to the prone Inferno and the still-chained Blackarachnia. “Go!”

“You see,” Greyfur said to a mystified Rattrap, “there was no way I could earth-shake while I was in that retched Decepticon prison. It was a horrible, cruel place, infested with lice-ridden vermin and lanky rusted drones and arachnodroids, the scourges of the prison, whose only job was to bite and skitter and jabber, so as to drive us mad.” She shivered. She had to choose her next words carefully.

“It was there in that Pit that I learned that there is earth and metal in places you never think about.”

“Really? Like what?” Rattrap sounded a little uneasy. The wind picked up and pushed back the dark veil of clouds that had covered the larger moon’s face. It was rising in the sky as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. It was large and full. The final red rays of light illuminated Greyfur, and Rattrap could feel the shivers rolling up his spine.

Her metal ‘skin’ had tightened, showing the tubing and gears underneath. She tightened her hands into claws, and with a sick squeak the skin became even tighter.

“The arachnodroids that scurried across the bottom of my cage like rats were nothing more then just moving lumps of metal.” She smiled wryly. “It was almost too easy to force my will over theirs.” Rattrap had to force down the urge to gag as he realized what her ‘greatest trick’ was, his optics widening.

“Once I had mastered them, I tried it on myself, as you see me doing now. Then, it was only a matter of time before my escape.” She smirked. “It was the guards who patrolled my cage that set me free.”

“Do you know why I told you about my special talent?” Greyfur said, turning to Rattrap, her arms returning to normal.

“I’ve been observing you. We are alike in the fact that we both love our freedom, and we both equally hate the Predacons.”

Rattrap blinked. Did he? Sure, he mocked them and hated what they did, but did he really hate them?

“Rattrap, think of what this means. We have the means to win this war, to end it, to go back to Cybertron. We can pass on this knowledge to other worthy Maximals, and we can wipe the Predacons off of the map once and for all. So, what do you say?” She held out her hand.

Rattrap paused for a moment. Yeah, sure, he’d love to end the war and go home, but…

Rattrap looked up, determined. “You psychotic, twisted glitch.” There was malice in every word. “You nearly had me there, ya know? But you’re asking me to betray my friend, just because of what he was.” He scowled. “I will never, never learn from you. Your days are over.” He pointed his finger at Greyfur. “I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them who you really are, and you’ll never control anyone else again.”

Suddenly his arm twisted sharply. He yelped and grabbed a hold of his wrist, wrestling with a force far beyond his control that was forcing him to the ground…

“You should have learned how to do it before you turned on me, you little snake.” Greyfur said viciously as she dragged him down. Her hands snapped up, and Rattrap’s body went ramrod straight. She began to drag her arms from side to side, making Rattrap dance in the dark as he screamed.

Airrazor was soaring above the treetops, her shadow covering Dinobot’s shoulders as he ran. She could see where Grid Phoenix began from where she was flying. They would be there within the nanoclick.

In the distance there was a sudden sound of screaming, and her spark skipped a pulse.

“Rattrap!” She cried out, doubling her speed. She could see that Dinobot had hastened his pace as well. “Hang on, we’re coming!”

Rattrap was being dragged down to his hands and knees as she made him bow before her. “Greyfur, please…”

“You should have taken the offer.” Greyfur said. She laughed then, a hard, rasping sound, very unpleasant to the ears.

It was as if time itself was frozen as Rattrap realized something. He took a deep breath to calm his racing spark and dug his fingers into the dirt, knowing that he only had one chance to do this.

“Why do you hate them?” He said. He felt a crushing weight on his frame as Greyfur seemed to break.

“They took me away from everything I loved, stole my family and culture away from me, and took what were supposed to be the best stellar cycles of my life and threw them in the trash!” She snapped. “Do you need any other answer then that? They are nothing but murderers.”

Rattrap struggled and pointed his left hand shakily at Greyfur. “Those were the Decepticons. You say that they are murderers, but aren’t you one yourself? You are no better than your jailers were.”

Greyfur let out a shriek of rage. The hand that Rattrap had worked so hard to hold up plummeted down to the earth with a sickening crack. It felt like the weight of a freighter rested on it, and mech fluid began to flow out from the joints in his fingers. It stained the ground silver beneath his hand, and he felt the control on the rest of his body lessen as it was all targeted at the hand. That was all that he needed. He grabbed a stone with his right hand and threw it at her head. The control broke for a second as she held up her hands to deflect it.

That was all the time that he needed. He howled “Beast mode!” and leapt at her, transforming in mid-air.

The next few nanoclicks were some of the hardest in his life. He would duck flying boulders, leap from sudden pillars of earth, and dodge Greyfur’s barriers as he danced around her, trying to get close enough to knock her out.

“Well well, aren’t you the little acrobat.” Greyfur panted. Rattrap said nothing, but ducked closer, trying to sneak in a nerve jab. He was met with a stone wall.

After a few moments they both stopped. The pause had lasted no longer than a quarter of a nanoclick when Rattrap suddenly heard the sound of crashing footsteps from the nearby bushes. A very livid Dinobot burst out of the woods in robot mode. Airrazor landed beside him, also in robot mode.

“Stop it Greyfur.” Airrazor snapped. “We found your hostages. You’re outnumbered three to one.”

Greyfur smirked, and Rattrap nearly groaned out loud. He didn’t even have time to shout out a warning.

Dinobot burst through the woods on a peculiar scene. There were random pillars of earth all over the crash site, and Greyfur looked ready to pound the slag out of Rattrap, who was in beast mode. He was looking at his comrades, and there was a mask of panic on his face.

He heard Greyfur say something, but he wasn’t sure what. Then, everything went to the pit.

His skin tightened, his shoulders hunched, and he was thrown forward like a boulder out of a catapult. He tried to stop it, tried to dig his heels into the earth and stop himself, but his body would not obey him. He barely saw Rattrap dodge past his charging form in a grey blur. He tried to cry out for help, but nothing came out. In the blink of an eye, the rescuer had become the one who needed saving.

Airrazor had found her voice, and she was shrieking as she punched at Rattrap while Rattrap dodged every blow. “What’s happening?!” She screamed. “This feels really weird!”

Dinobot was being tossed from side to side now, whirling in a grotesque and twisted dance. He remembered how the metallionette had danced, and how its face had been warped into an expression of pure terror almost right in front of him, yet he didn’t see, he had been completely blind…

To his complete horror, he found himself drawing his sword and running full tilt at the unsuspecting Rattrap, who was busy demobilizing Airrazor so she couldn’t hurt anyone else. He rushed past the manipulator, Greyfur, the witch.

“St-stu...” He stammered as he flew past her. She grinned then, the wide, cold, insane grin that she had given Scorponok the day he was lying prone on the field…

“St-stop it.” He finally said as he stood above Rattrap. He could feel the grip on his sword tighten, and his arm was wrenched high above his head for the final blow.

“Look out!” Airrazor screamed. Rattrap whirled around, and he could see the terror in the rodent’s beady eyes as the sword descended.

“I think I’ve just about…got it!” Rhinox exclaimed triumphantly, snapping the shackles away from Blackarachnia’s wrists. She stumbled forward for a moment, but smacked Rhinox hands aside as he reached out to steady her. She held her arms out to gain her balance, took a few tentative steps forward, then turned to Rhinox and nodded. She had been imprisoned for a smaller period of time than Inferno had.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Rhinox shot back. There was a sudden groan from where Inferno had forced himself up onto his elbows, and the two enemies ran over to him.

“Oh dear Primus!” Rhinox said as the full meaning of Inferno’s words hit him. “I’ve gotta get out there!” He transformed into beast mode and wiggled his shoulder-blades. “Get on.” He said. His tone told Blackarachnia not to argue, so she dragged Inferno sideways onto Rhinox’ back, twisting the ant so he was lying on his stomach, then hopped on behind her teammate. Rhinox said “Hang on!” and started to run. Needless to say, Blackarachnia was quite relieved to leave that place of torture behind.

Rattrap yelped and leapt to the side, barely avoiding being split down the middle. The blade of the sword dug harmlessly into the earth, but it only stayed there for a moment as Dinobot whirled around and swung the sword in an arc. Rattrap ducked down, then took several swift steps back as the blade flew towards him again and again.

“Stop it, stop it!” Dinobot howled at Greyfur. She only quickened the pace. One jab had disastrous results, and Rattrap yelled with pain as one of his ears was sliced open. The scarlet blood of his beast mode dripped down the side of his face. Dinobot glanced at the crimson-stained tip of his sword in shock . “Sorry…” was all that he could get out before Greyfur had him attack again. Fortunately, Rattrap saw an opening. Dinobot could only blink as Rattrap’s paw flashed out, spread out over his forehead, and shoved him back and down. His knees buckled, and before he knew it he was flat on the ground, stunned. Rattrap yelped “Sorry!”, leapt off of him and ran towards Greyfur. Dinobot could only murmur a groggy “S’okay, vermin.”

Just as Rattrap was about to reach Greyfur, a wall of earth slammed him back. He went flying, landing on the ground with a crash and tumbling for several feet before he gracefully leapt to his paws again.

Greyfur snarled. Her fur had tumbled free of her face during the fight, and the iron comb was nowhere to be seen.

“I couldn’t hurt you, and your friends couldn’t hurt you,” she shouted hoarsely, “but let’s see if you can prevent this!”

All of a sudden Dinobot found himself up on his feet again. He was running across the clearing, holding his sword out in front of him like a lance. With complete horror, he could see that Airrazor had burst her bonds and was running at an equal speed towards him. She was screaming. Dinobot realized what Greyfur was going to do, and he let out a terrified cry as he tried to lower his arm, but with no results. He couldn’t even shut off his optics. Rattrap was screaming “NO!” somewhere in the distance, but Dinobot could barely hear him.

Just as they were about to collide with one another, there was another horrible shriek, and Dinobot felt himself stopping dead. He looked up and saw that the tip of his sword was just inches from Airrazor’s chest plate. He realized that he was no longer under Greyfur’s control, and he dropped his sword with a strangled cry. It fell to the earth with a soft thump. Airrazor collapsed to her knees, crying.

There was a soft gasp, and Dinobot turned to see Rattrap’s horrified expression. He wasn’t looking at Dinobot. Dinobot turned his head slowly and nearly gasped aloud at what he saw.

Greyfur was lying prone on the ground, dead. Standing behind her was Rhinox in beast mode, his head lowered, and his horn gleaming. It was clear that he had run full-force into Greyfur to prevent her from killing Airrazor. Lying horizontally across his back was a near stasis-lock Inferno, with Blackarachnia sitting behind Inferno, keeping a steadying hand in the small of her comrade’s back.

“Rhinox,” Rattrap said, before running forward and giving his friend a hug. “Thank Primus. You saved us. You came just in the nick of time.”

“I know.” Rhinox said softly, looking down sadly at Greyfur’s body. “I just hope I never have to do something like that again.”

Blackarachnia looked down at Greyfur. “So the old witch is dead.” She stated.

“Yes. She was a sick-minded person who tried to torture and kill those who were not her kind. Yet, at the same time, she was a Maximal.” Rhinox shivered. “If this isn’t fate stating ‘beware’, then I don’t know what it is.”

Dinobot, Airrazor and Rhinox traveled with Blackarachnia and Inferno all the way to the border between Predacon and Maximal territories. There Blackarachnia radioed for help, and they parted. They later discovered that Megatron had Inferno’s memory tracks that had recorded the days he was missing completely wiped so that Inferno would not be traumatized by water or earth. Blackarachnia, on the other hand, kept her memories.

When they returned to the Axalon with Greyfur’s body, they told the whole entire story to Optimus. As a result, Rhinox was not charged with the murder of Greyfur. Greyfur was buried in a quiet ceremony the next day. She was buried with the black iron comb in her fur. After she had been buried, they dragged out her metallionettes and destroyed them.

As for Inferno’s information, they discovered that Greyfur was an excellent actress. She had escaped from Cybertron several stellar cycles earlier, had been chased by the Cybertronian authorities, and had disappeared through the time warp. She had crash-landed, and, seeing that her ship would never fly again, had used the metal to create her metallionettes and her prison chamber. After that, she just had to bide her time for the right moment.

In the end, the legacy of Greyfur passed on with no consequences…except for one.

For the rest of their lives Dinobot, Rattrap, Blackarachnia and Airrazor never again traveled to Grid Phoenix.

Author’s Notes: This fanfiction is based off of the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” season three episode, “The Puppetmaster.”