Plays of Shadow

By: Amber Dawn

Chapter 18: Blast from the Past

Disclaimer: Beast Wars and its characters, plots etc. belong to Mainframe and Hasbro. I own my character, Fleetshade, and a seriously overactive imagination. That is all.

Airazor looked around Tarantulas’ lair and shuddered for the umpteenth time. There was just something about this place that never stopped getting to her. She maintained that it was the spider’s lingering presence. She didn’t like being in here one bit, even if it was with the purpose of blowing it to the Pit.

At least Fleetshade was recovering. The girl had amazing regenerative powers, even so soon after being nearly sucked dry. Her time in the energon mines must have been harsh indeed for her systems to have a compensation program that responsive.

The deer-bot knelt a few meters away, busily setting the last charge she had stolen from Rattrap. Apparently, when she had been convinced that her power had run out for good, she had taken them to make sure she wouldn’t be completely defenseless should Tarantulas come for her. Now she was setting them around the spider’s lair, hoping to create an energon radiation blast big enough to return the power he’d leeched from her.

“All set,” the deer-bot reported. “Let’s get outta here.”

With that, she clicked the timer on one of the charges. Once it exploded, in thirty nanoklicks’ time, it would set off the others in a gigantic chain reaction.

Both femmes took off running, emerging into the open air with a few nanos to spare. Airazor transformed to beast mode to protect her from most of the radiation and took cover behind a large boulder, while Fleetshade skidded to a halt and stood, feet planted slightly apart, facing the entrance to the cave. It was a strange effect, the last pink clouds of sunset gliding by over the cave’s entrance and shining an eerie light on the deer-bot’s lithe form, standing there waiting for the explosion to hit her. Airazor had only a moment to admire the image it all created before the explosion knocked her back. She let out a birdlike screech as she flew backwards, sailing off the ledge on which Tarantulas’ lair had rested. She flapped her wings and managed to stay airborne as the sound of the explosion died away. The rock shelf had become a swirling cloud of dust, blue sparks and waves of potent radiation. Even in beast mode, Airazor could feel the energon saturating her circuitry, making it hard to continue pumping her wings.

Then the radiation started to dissipate, leaving her feeling energized and empowered. The dust started to settle, and Airazor glided forward. She was still afraid to transform for fear of the remaining energon, but she landed and scanned the area with her falcon optics for any sign of Fleetshade.

After a few cycles of finding nothing, she spotted a tiny lump near the edge of the cliff that wasn’t a rock. She waddled over and saw that it was a pile of dust and rubble. And the pile was glowing, pulsing with blue radiation.

The pile twitched, then a few rocks tumbled from the top. Airazor fell to it, brushing away rocks with her beak and wings until finally the source of the pulsing was revealed. Fleetshade gave a heave and the remaining dust sifted off her slightly dented form.

“You okay?” Airazor asked.

“Uggh…my head,” Fleetshade replied, laying a long-fingered hand to her temple.

“Did it work?” Airazor asked, knowing it was a stupid question. The neutral femme nodded, then obviously regretted it as she cradled her head. Suddenly, she stood up.

“Let’s go,” she said. She wavered slightly, but kept her feet.

“You sure you’re okay?” Airazor asked tentatively. “I’m surprised you weren’t knocked right of the ledge, like I was.”

“I probably would have been,” Fleetshade agreed, “but I got nailed in the head by a flying rock and that took me down, then that rubble and stuff came down on top of me. I’m okay, though. C’mon. B needs our help.”

“According to Cheetor, so will everyone else,” Airazor commented as she caught Fleetshade’s outstretched arms in her talons and lifted off.

Fleetshade whimpered and closed her optics, and Airazor smiled. The neutral femme could stand there and let an explosion hit her, but she was still terrified of heights.

Blackarachnia grunted as she heaved a large boulder down the hillside, then put a claw to her back, which she’d strained a dozen times already. Every circuit in her frame protested with the amount of work she’d been doing, hauling and lifting huge rocks out of the way. But she was determined to get through that pile of rubble, determined to get to the Ark. Especially since she’d found that somebody had already been in there.

Megatron, it seemed, had come already. He’d come and left without doing anything. Blackarachnia couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t just ended the Beast Wars long ago, the first time he’d found the Ark, but she didn’t allow herself time to think about it.

She’d had no idea Megatron had been captured until Silverbolt had told her, but her gut told her that Megatron was on the warpath. He was a smart ‘bot, and he wouldn’t stay locked up long, especially since his captor was an old Decepticon.

But they had to outrun him, which is why Blackarachnia sighed and was about to turn around and grab another boulder when she felt hands on her shoulders.

Instinctively, she jumped and whirled her head around. It was, of course, Silverbolt. The Maximal hadn’t made a hint of a complaint since they had started clearing the rubble, and seemed just as determined as she was to get to the Ark ahead of Megatron. She had to admire the pup’s steadfastness. She looked up at his face and realized he wasn’t looking at her, but upwards at the sky.

Megatron! Blackarachnia’s optics flew forwards and she scanned the night sky for any sign of movement, but there was nothing there.

“What’re you looking at?” she asked, still scanning the sky for hidden threats.

“That star…well, planet, really. Venus. It reminds me of you.”

That floored her. He was wasting time stargazing? Then something jogged in her memory and she grinned. Venus, eh?

“Hot, poisonous and deadly?” she teased, pretending to be deeply moved. “You’re sweet.” She reached up to touch his shoulder and gauge his response, and found his golden optics staring into hers for a moment before he realized what she said. She turned away, hiding a grin as he stammered after her.

“No, wait! That’s not what I meant!”

For the next few cycles, they worked in companionable silence.

“Look,” Blackarachnia finally cried, pointing to a tiny hole in the rocks where hot air and eerie red light was streaming out. “I think we’ve reached the end!”

Silverbolt was there in a nano, examining the gap.

“Then stand back!” he ordered, pushing her away. The she-spider’s optics widened when she realized what he was going to do. “Wait,” she protested, “I think we just have to clear--"

Too late. With a resounding boom, Silverbolt launched a couple wing missiles at the opening and the rocks exploded inward, raising a huge cloud of dust.

“Never mind,” Blackarachnia sighed, shaking her head.

She moved forward once the dust cleared, coughing slightly, and saw that the dumb mutt had actually created a neat little hole in the wall of rubble. He was looking at her proudly, like a little dog that had just successfully fetched a stick.

“What is it with guys and high explosives?” Blackarachnia muttered to herself, moving past the Maximal and into the cavern.

She was assaulted immediately by the heat. It was nowhere near the intense heat she had felt inside the remains of Fleetshade’s ship, but it was still pretty toasty. Rivers of lava crisscrossed the cavern like deadly red worms, exuding sulphuric fumes into the musty air. And at the back of the cavern, glittering in all its die-cast glory, was-

“By the Matrix! What is it?” Silverbolt exclaimed as he stepped into the cavern after her.

For a nanoklick, Blackarachnia was too overcome by awe to reply. Finally, her voice husky with reverence, she said, “That, bowser boy, is called the Ark.”

Silverbolt stood still for a moment, simply staring at the thing. Then he shook his head as if to clear it and scooped Blackarachnia up, spreading his wings. He launched them up and over a lava stream, depositing her in front of the Ark’s doors.

Silverbolt did a double take as Blackarachnia started forwards carefully across the rough obsidian floor, then stumbled after her, determined as always to be her protector.

“I have heard only legends,” he murmured.

“Oh, it’s no legend, JoJo,” said the spider-bot, taking in the sight of the beautiful ship before her. The Predacon in her stirred: so much ancient power, lying right there for the taking… Then her sense returned and she remembered that that power could very easily destroy her, which is why she was here in the first place.

Suddenly, the ground shook and both ‘bots were thrown sideways. Silverbolt’s ears drooped as he looked around.

“The area appears to be unstable,” he commented.

Blackarachnia rolled her optics. “It’s a volcano, bonebrain. When it explodes in 1984, your- our – ancestors inside the ship will awaken and start the Great War!”

“So Airazor told me,” the fuzor said, glancing from Blackarachnia to the Ark and back again. “Its power must be immense.”

“Oh yeah,” Blackarachnia agreed. “Which is why Megatron can’t have it. If he destroys-what the!”

Just then, Silverbolt jolted forward. It took a nano for the she-spider to realize he’d been shot from behind.

The fuzor fell forward into the Ark’s perimeter shield, Teletran-1, and was thoroughly zapped before getting blown backwards and skidding to a halt at her feet, barely online.

Blackarachnia was grimly satisfied that her first thought was not concern for the Maximal, but relief that Teletran-1 was operational; that would make it harder for Megatron to get in without her codes.

‘I’m still a Predacon after all,’ she thought as she whirled at their attacker.

It was Megatron. The purple ‘bot smirked at her before training his gun behind him and blasting the rocks above the opening that Silverbolt had created. The rocks tumbled down, effectively sealing them in.

“Slag, slag, slag, slag, slag!” Blackarachnia muttered, fumbling her gun. This was it. She’d failed. There was no way she’d be able to keep Megatron out without help, and there was no way help would arrive in time with the opening closed in.

But she couldn’t give up. She had to try. Megatron smirked as he fired up his rockets and landed with an ominous thump a few meters from her. Their optics met and Blackarachnia knew she was in for some serious pain. Then Megatron turned his back on her, showing her he had nothing to fear from her or Silverbolt, and reached out toward the Ark’s hatch controls. Blackarachnia felt no satisfaction when Megatron got zapped, only the reassurance that the pain she was in for had doubled.

“Teletran-1 must still be operating,” Megatron mused, turned back to face the she-spider. Blackarachnia steeled herself, finding it much harder than usual. It was only then that she realized she’d lowered her defenses, let go of the constant wariness she’d had to maintain around the Predacons. A glance at Silverbolt sent a shock of guilt through her for not being concerned about him, then anger for feeling that way. She really was becoming a lousy Predacon, but she made a lousy Maximal too.

Her frustration helped build up her nerve, so she lifted her chin and leered at Megatron.

“Shame,” she commented. “Don’t you have the codes from the Golden Disk?”

Megatron regarded her levelly for a cycle, then grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up to optic level. “The disk was destroyed,” he said. “But you have the codes, don’t you? Yeeesss. You downloaded them from my backup files, before you destroyed them!”

Blackarachnia shrugged. She knew he’d known all along, but there was still nothing he could do about it.

“So what if I did?” she taunted him. “They’re mine now, Grapeface!”

With a roar, Megatron tossed her away. She landed next to Silverbolt, but sat up immediately. And found herself facing down the end of his arm cannon. Fighting a wave of panic, she forced out a laugh.

“What are you going to do? Shoot me? You still don’t have the codes!”

Megatron looked down the point of his weapon at her and smiled casually.

“I never planned on shooting you, no,” he said conversationally. “I have a much more…effective target in mind.”

With that, his weapon shifted away from her – to aim at Silverbolt.

‘Slag!’ she thought with a panicked pang, ‘should have seen that coming.’

“The codes, Blackarachnia,” Megatron pressed, “produce them at once!”

Blackarachnia closed her optics and berated herself. ‘Idiot! Why didn’t you think of that?’

The she-spider opened her optics and blew out a deep breath, avoiding looking at Silverbolt. As she prepared to do what she had to, she wondered what was taking the Maximals so long.

As if the thought had summoned it, Blackarachnia’s comlink crackled to life.

All three sets of optics fell on Blackarachnia’s arm. Megatron’s weapon powered down as his optics widened.

“Blackarachnia, are you okay? It’s Airazor. What’s going on over there? Is Silverbolt with you?”

Fighting to stay calm, wondering whether she wanted to laugh or cry, Blackarachnia pressed her comm. button.

“This really isn’t a good ti-AGH!”

Before Blackarachnia could finish her sentence, Megatron hauled back and swatted her with his tail cannon, sending her flying back toward the Ark. She dove to avoid getting fried by Teletran-1, then rolled to avoid fire from Megatron.

“So you are in league with Maximals! Tarantulas was right after all! And that other female, as well! She’s alive! Where is she?”

“Why would you care about her?” Blackarachnia asked, dodging yet another blast. If Megatron had been mad before, he was livid now. Her comlink crackled again and Fleetshade’s voice filtered through.

“Hang on, B. We’re on our way,”

Slag.

“That’s her!” Megatron said. “She’s coming here? What good fortune, yes. It seems my luck is finally taking a turn for the better. Now, give me those codes.”

But Blackarachnia wasn’t listening to Megatron. She pressed her comlink frantically.

“No! Don’t come! Stay away! Where’s the rest of the Max-?“

Blackarachnia broke off and screeched as Megatron shot her arm, causing her comm. to erupt in sparks and go dead. Shaking off the pain, Blackarachnia knew time was running out. And she was out of ideas. She was preparing to launch herself at Megatron, anything to distract him, when the cave rumbled again. But it was no volcanic tremor this time. There were sounds of blasting from outside the cave. Voices could be heard from outside; Blackarachnia recognized Primal and Rattrap.

“Finally!” she breathed. “You’d better get out of here, Megatron.”

“I think not, no. Not after all the trouble I took to get here. Now produce those codes, or you and your companion will be molten metal before your Maximal friends can help you.”

Blackarachnia’s optics darted to the lava pool and she gulped.

Rattrap plugged his audios and crouched behind a boulder as his charge blew, then was on his feet in a nano, gun at the ready. Cheetor and Optimus went in ahead of him, and Rhinox took up the rear. The Maximals stormed into the volcano and stopped dead, looking around at the scene before them.

The cavern was massive, with steaming streams of lava flowing through it. And there against the back wall was the Ark. The stuff of legends.

Right in front of the Ark a battle was taking place. Megatron was firing repeatedly at a black blur that kept dodging his shots. Behind Megatron’s opponent was a metallic form that had to be Silverbolt. He wasn’t moving. When the Maximals came in, Megatron and the blur- which turned out to be Blackarachnia – froze and stared at them.

“Finally!” Blackarachnia cried, and Rattrap noticed she was favouring one arm. “Don’t just stand there!” she shrieked.

Rattrap exchanged a look with Rhinox. Blackarachnia must be the resistance Airazor had mentioned. How and why Airazor had been in contact with Blackarachnia he didn’t want to know. But the she-spider was right.

Rattrap and Cheetor were the first to let loose with a round of fire directed at Megatron. None of the shots made contact, because the Predacon leapt out of the way. Suddenly the Maximals’ fire was headed right for the Ark! Optimus gasped, but just then the laser fire was absorbed by some sort of forcefield.

“Teletran-1,” Optimus breathed. “Thank Primus.”

At that, the four Maximals charged across the cavern, taking inaccurate shots at Megatron whilst trying to make their way over lava pools and loose volcanic rock.

Rattrap watched as Megatron continued to attack Blackarachnia, finally grabbing her and swinging her out over a river of flowing lava. The she-spider shrieked as the Predacon leader shook her violently.

“The codes, or I’ll make do without them!”

Rattrap glanced around. All the Maximals had frozen to watch the scene, but the rat-bot was closest. He dropped to his belly and crawled forward, staying under cover until he was right across the lava stream from where Megatron held the she-spider.

“Not a chance, Megatron!” Blackarachnia was saying hysterically. “You’ll drop me whether I give you the codes or not! You are not getting that ship!”

“You’re only half right, I’m afraid,” Megatron drawled, shaking the she-spider viciously. “I will in fact get inside the ship, with or without your help, despite the Maximals. If there’s one thing I’ve tried to teach you, Blackarachnia, it’s always to be prepared for betrayal. And here I thought you were a Predacon!”

That did it. Blackarachnia started fighting wildly, frantically, to get free. “I am a Predacon!” she shrieked. The femme had clearly lost her last logic chip.

From his vantage point, Rattrap saw something moving behind Megatron. Something that glinted in the reddish light of the cavern. Silverbolt!

The fuzor was staggering to his feet with one of his wing blades in hand.

“Wait, no!” cried Blackarachnia.

But Silverbolt ignored her. With a furious howl, he wound back and let the blade fly.

It struck Megatron in the arm with which he held Blackarachnia. The tyrant let go of her and fell backwards with a cry, leaving Blackarachnia tumbling towards the lava with a terrified scream.

Before he knew what he was doing, Rattrap hurled himself out of hiding and dove across the molten river, tackling the Predacon female and landing with her on the other side as the rest of the Maximals started advancing again, firing on Megatron.

“Oof!” she grunted, then went still. Rattrap rolled off of her, hoping she was still online. According to Megatron, she had the Ark access codes.

For a nano, Rattrap wondered why he hadn’t just let her fall, taking the codes with her. That way, nobody would ever be able to access the Ark. And besides, she was a dirty Pred.

“Rattrap.”

The rat-bot spun to see Silverbolt a few meters away, fighting to stay conscious. The fuzor was heavily damaged, and it had taken the last of his strength to fire off that missile.

“Thank you, my friend,” Silverbolt continued. “That was a Maximal thing to do.”

With that, Silverbolt’s body erupted in sparks and he keeled over, in stasis lock, leaving Rattrap with a squishy kind of feeling inside.

“Yeesh,” he murmured. “I must be goin’ soft.”

Airazor frowned and cursed as the connection cut out.

“Looks like Megatron’s already there,” she said grimly. She didn’t mention Blackarachnia’s warning; it went unsaid that neither she nor Fleetshade had any intention of listening to the Predacon.

“B’s a tough femme,” Fleetshade assured her from below, her optics still stubbornly shut off. “She’ll hold out. I only hope the others made it in time.”

Airazor glanced down at Fleetshade. The femme’s glow had steadily been fading, seeming to seep into her armor. Just the second-hand radiation she was giving off was threatening to short out some of Airazor’s circuits, but she wasn’t about to say that to the deer-bot. Once again Airazor felt a tiny thrill of fear: what sort of ‘bot could soak up that much energon radiation and still be online, let alone functioning normally? The sort you’re wary of, that’s what sort.

Airazor still couldn’t figure out why Cheetor and Optimus thought it was so important that Fleetshade be there. It wasn’t her fight, and Airazor knew she didn’t want to be involved. Yet at the same time, any firepower against Megatron, no matter from which faction, was good firepower.

Wasn’t it? Airazor glanced again at the last vestiges of bluish glow emanating from her friend and hoped she wasn’t making a mistake in bringing her.

“We’re almost there,” Fleetshade said suddenly, causing Airazor to look ahead again with an embarrassed jolt. The pair was coming up on a huge mountain chain, the largest of which had a large pile of rubble at its base. That must be the one, she reasoned.

“From one rocky pit to another, eh?” Airazor commented, and Fleetshade finally opened her optics. Taking an appraising look at the mountains ahead, finally nodding.

“You okay?” Airazor asked, suddenly worried. Fleetshade had been unusually quiet, even for someone afraid of flying.

“I’m fine,” the neutral femme replied hesitantly. “Just…a feeling.”

“Yeah, I’m getting one of those too,” Airazor said wryly, winging her way down to ground level. “Let’s hope we’re on time.”

When the two femmes finally touched down (with a relieved sigh from Fleetshade) they snuck up on the entrance to the cavern. Reddish light poured forth from it, as did waves of heat. Definitely a volcano, Airazor thought. The sounds of laser blasts came through the entrance, and flashes of light lit the darkness within. This must be the place.

Just then, voices started to come through. Airazor couldn’t make out what was being said, but she recognized first Megatron’s, then Blackarachnia’s voice, and the sounds of shooting ceased. For a nanoklick, it was dead silent. Airazor and Fleetshade exchanged a look and peeked into the cavern.

The sight that greeted them was enough to make Airazor panic. Megatron held Blackarachnia suspended above a river of lava and was shaking her viciously. Optimus, Rhinox and Cheetor stood frozen halfway toward the back wall, against which sat a gigantic, gleaming spacecraft that had to be the Ark. As the two femmes watched, something moved behind Megatron. Whatever it was stood, and it was recognizable as Silverbolt, looking severely damaged. He reared back and took aim with a wing blade, and in the next few nanos everything happened very quickly. Before Airazor could catch what was going on, Megatron was down and a blur enveloped Blackarachina, sending her flying backwards out of the way of the molten river. The rest of the Maximals were galvanized into action and rushed forward, firing at Megatron.

Suddenly, everything was chaos. Megatron dodged, and the volley of shots hit some sort of shield around the Ark. As Airazor watched, the shield flickered briefly before snapping back up, and huge auto guns on the outside began firing at the Maximals, who were still shooting at Megatron. Megatron dodged again, and another round of fire hit the shield. It flickered again, and a few of the auto guns were blown out. Megatron was using them to break through the Ark’s shield! Airazor rushed forward, intending to yell at them to stop, but she was halted by Fleetshade’s surprisingly strong grip on her arm.

“Just wait,” the neutral femme said, pointing to something she was looking at near the Ark’s main hatch. Airazor gasped when she saw what it was, and what was about to happen.

By this time, Optimus had figured out what was going on. “Stop!” he shouted, but it was too late. At that exact moment, the Ark’s perimeter shield flickered a final time and fell. Out the corner of her optic, Airazor saw Fleetshade smile.

“Now!” the deer-bot yelled, and letting go of Airazor’s arm she threw herself into the opening to the cave and let loose with a burst of controlled energon radiation aimed straight at Megatron.

Rattrap realized he was stuck. He couldn’t even sit up for all the crossfire going on overhead. The Ark’s auto guns had come online and were firing over his and Blackarachnia’s heads at his oncoming teammates, who were returning fire.

Just then, Blackarachnia’s optics snapped on.

“You!” she hissed at him, drawing her weapon.

Rattrap recoiled, holding his hands out in front of him.

“Not so fast, sister,” he told her. “I’m the one who just saved yer sorry hide from gettin’ melted, so listen ta me.”

“No, you listen to me!” the she-spider replied. “You heard Megatron. He can get in there without my help. Call off your Maximals!”

“What? Do you have a glitch?”

“Call them off! Teletran-1 can’t hold that much weapon fire, and if they keep missing they’re going to practically hand Megatron the key!”

Rattrap glanced up and immediately saw that the Predacon female was right: Megatron was dodging the Maximals’ fire, which was all hitting the Ark’s shield. As he watched, the shield flickered slightly and a few of the auto guns were blown apart.

“Slag,” he spat. Much to his chagrin, Rattrap knew he’d better listen to the spider. At the same time, he wondered what was taking Airazor and Fleetshade so long to get here.

“What do I do?” he asked the Predacon with a sigh.

“Distract Megatron while I gain access to this thing. I still have the codes, and if he’s busy I might be able to slip in before he notices the shields are down.”

Rattrap’s optics must’ve bulged out of his head as he stared at the femme. “What do you think I am, a toaster? I ain’t lettin’ you in dere alone!”

Blackarachnia’s optics narrowed dangerously and her grip tightened on her weapon, but after a nano she sighed resignedly. “Fine, come with me if you want. But hurry up; we’re almost out of time.”

With that, Blackarachnia turned her back to him and started crawling her way across the rocky ground toward the entrance to the Ark, still favoring her blasted arm. Left with no other choice, Rattrap sighed and followed her.

Blackarachnia reached the door and glanced around: Megatron was a few meters away on the other side of a stalagmite, partially hidden from view.

“Computer,” the spider hissed. “Download datatracks ‘Widow’s Edge’ now.”

After a brief pause, the Predacon’s optics changed colour and a stream of code flowed from them and into a receiver on the Ark’s outer hull. Rattrap kept his optics on Megatron’s position, weapon trained on the tyrant as he continued to taunt the other Maximals into shooting him.

“Done!” Blackarachnia hissed beside him. All of a sudden, the shields flickered and died. From across the cavern, Optimus’ voice could be heard shouting a panicked “Stop!”

But before Rattrap could register anything else, the main hatch to the Ark opened and he was yanked inside by Blackarachnia. Within a fraction of a nanoklick, the hatch slid shut behind them and they were enveloped in darkness.