True Colours
Part Two
By: Sapphire
Writer's Note: Because of their precarious situations, both bases have their scanners and sensors on the highest alert and sensitivity.
The soft bleeps made by the submersible as it reversed were suddenly lost in a cacophony of sirens. Tarantulas jumped right off his chair, his optics wide as the alarms tuned to his radar alerted him of the fact that there was a unit incoming. He scooted over to the radar screen and gurgled an exclamation. Slag it! How had he found him?!
"Sub-reverse on maximum speed!" Tarantulas ordered the computer and then rushed to the porthole on the right. He squinted into the murky waters, but could see nothing.
His position was abruptly disturbed as the submersible jolted; Tarantulas flailed as the entire vessel came to a standstill. He glanced at the radar. Rampage was moving in fast! He hurried over to the main console to find his digging had caused some rocks to roll onto the tracks leading back to the ship. Yelling expletives, he used the backhoe to remove the obstructions. Twenty seconds later the path was clear and the submersible was speeding towards the entrance of the Nemesis. He had switched off the alarms but turned up the volume of the radar beeps. He waited nervously by the submersible's exit, keeping his eyes on the radar screens, watching as the glowing red signature of the incoming Transformer blinked across the grid. He knew it was Rampage even before his internal scanners started blaring warnings. Had it been Depth Charge, the Maximal signature would have popped up with the readings, as he had programmed it. The only bot whose signature would not have appeared until he was in close-range was Rampage, thanks to that accursed signature blocker he'd been forced to give him. He'd not had time to incorporate scanners into the submersible that would detect the crab specifically. Tarantulas's own internal scanners could penetrate the masking anti-signals when he was within a two hundred meter radius. At any moment now, they would be going off.
The shuttle jolted again as it connected with the entrance to the Nemesis. Tarantulas all but slammed the lock button, and the doors slid open. He crossed over onto the platform that would take him up into the bridge just as his internal scanners went wild. "Raise platform!" he screeched. The platform jerked and started rising. Tarantulas stared at the open doors of the submersible which, in his hurry, he had not commanded to shut. They would shut automatically in a few seconds. The urgent bleeps of his scanners increased in rapidity as the creature they warned him against closed in on his position. Seconds before he was raised out of the hold entirely, Tarantulas saw the doors of the submersible close. He sighed in relief.
The warm lights of the bridge greeted him as the platform stopped, level with the rest of the floor. He raced across it and tuned all his monitors to the external cameras. He scanned each visual for movement and was disquieted when he found none. He turned to the Nemesis's radar screen and sure enough, the crab's signature was right on him. Rampage was outside, how could he not see him?!
Shaking his head in disbelief, he rushed to the power cells and punched in the code to initiate the power-up needed to get the ship off the ground. One by one they lit up and the Nemesis began to hum with life. He scuttled back over to the computers and typed in the take-off sequence. He'd have to wait a few cycles before there was enough power to activate the thrusters. In that time, he took out his special weapon and stared at the platform. The other portals into the bridge were sealed and the passageways leading to them booby-trapped. The only way in now was the platform which only moved on voice-recognition. The entire ship began to shudder and tremble with strain and Tarantulas trembled with it.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a distant explosion. For a second Tarantulas thought a generator might have blown, but the next announcement dispelled that theory. "Warning: Breach in Hold."
"Location of breach?!" he shouted.
"Submersible Connection Point."
"Slag it slag it slag it!"
It was the weak part of the plan, the one vulnerable area where if Rampage attacked at that precise moment, he'd be exposed. The crab’s timing was impeccable, and for Tarantulas, terrible.
Still, this game was not lost yet. There were plenty of autoguns in the hold and the platform would not activate unless he personally ordered it to do so. It was made up of three-meter thick titanium so there was no way Rampage, even with his powerful missiles, could break through.
"This ship was designed to withstand Autobot fire. You are NOT getting through!" Tarantulas hissed. He checked the power cells and found there still wasn't enough for take-off.
Muffled noises of gunfire came from below and Tarantulas stiffened. The autoguns were firing. They continued in erratic blasts and explosions for several cycles. Gradually, the noises petered out and there was silence. Tarantulas remained motionless, listening intently for a while after, and then he quietly made his way across the bridge to the computers. If Rampage had retreated, he would see him on the cameras. He stared at the screen that viewed the submersible, and saw that its left side was destroyed. By Unicron, he had been close behind! He must have entered the submersible seconds after the hold doors closed. Tarantulas hadn't counted on him breaking through both the sub's doors and the doors into the hold, which by now must be flooded with...
Tarantulas went cold.
The autoguns couldn't work underwater.
He switched to the camera in the hold. The sight it filmed confirmed his fears. Water was gushing in through a hole in the doors and had already filled the hold with at least six feet of liquid, but it had not yet risen high enough to affect the autoguns. Tarantulas panned the view and saw that the dozen heavy-duty autoguns were all smoking and sparking. The evidence of a break-in was there, but there was no sign of the vandal.
I've got to get this ship off the ground before it gets too weighed-down with water!
The power was still charging and there currently wasn't enough of it to attempt lift-off. He knew he was expecting a lot from this ancient, crashed Decepticon warship, but nevertheless he felt as though it was taking an agonizingly long time.
There was absolutely nothing he could do to speed up the process, leaving him to a frustrating, anxious wait.
A missile came from below the camera and struck the top of the hole, widening it and allowing more water to come rushing in.
"Warning! Breach in Hold. Warning! Breach in---"
"I know I know!!!" Tarantulas screamed and watched in dismay as the water level began to rise. The ship was going to be held down by the weight of the water if that hole got any bigger.
It was do or die. Tarantulas would have to go down there and put a stop to Rampage's sabotage, or he'd be trapped in a permanently sunken ship. He prepped his weapon and headed for the platform.
* * *
Rampage glanced up at the camera that he knew was filming the damage he'd just caused. He was directly beneath it and so out of view and that was how he wanted to stay. Tarantulas could not ignore him. It was obvious that the spider planned on reviving this ship, but he wasn't going to achieve that with a few tonnes of water in its hold.
But the only way for the spider to prevent any further damage was to come down here and deal with the problem directly. Rampage knew that it was only a matter of time before he accepted that.
'Come out, come out...'
He had to be prepared, though. That arachnid was a tricky one, and could very well have something up his proverbial sleeve. He'd have to keep hidden until he'd properly assessed the sort of threat that Tarantulas posed, if any.
"We can't just sit here."
Waspinator's whole body tensed at the sound of Myst's voice and he spun his chair around and glared at her. She was still sitting in the same seat she'd slumped into half a megacycle ago.
"We can't just bide our time while everything unravels around us."
"And why not? What elzze is there to do?" Waspinator questioned irritably.
"Make preparations, back-up plans. Rotting in here for the rest of our days isn't something I want to do."
"Here we have CR tanks, energon feeders, sleeping quarters! What else fuzor-femme want?"
"Yes, we have those things, but Rampage needs them, too. There's a fairly strong possibility he won't care to share these facilities with us."
"So we flee base and rot in wilderness instead?" Waspinator asked exasperatedly.
"No, I suggested we made up back-up plans, Waspinator. You don't have to jump to conclusions. All I'm saying is---"
A rapid beeping noise cut her off. Waspinator nearly lurched onto the computer, he spun around so fast. "CRABBOT?!" he yelled in fright. Then, "No...not crabbot... What this reading?"
Myst walked over to the monitor Waspinator was scrutinizing. A reading of some distant disturbance on the planet was displayed. "Computer, report!" Waspinator barked like he'd seen Megatron do so often in the past.
"Energy anomaly detected in grid Zelo Five. Signature unknown."
"Signature? The anomaly has a signature?" Myst murmured aloud.
Waspinator tapped a few keys to try and glean some more information from the vague report. "It a major disturbance, " he buzzed. He paused as he read where grid Zelo Five was. "It under water."
Myst's posture slumped at the words and her optics widened. "Primus..."
Waspinator turned to her rapidly. "What?"
Myst stared at the co-ordinates of the grid. It wasn't too far from where she'd seen Rampage entering the ocean.
"It's... I...I've gotta go," she breathed and turned around quickly.
"Whaaaat? Fuzor femme can't just leave Waspinator like thizz!!" he yelled after her.
Myst didn't pause to answer him. She ran straight out of the control room and the next thing Waspinator knew she was in the sky speeding away from the base. He stared slack-jawed at her disappearing form on one of the monitors. Gradually, a frown formed on his face.
"Waspinator sick of flimsy alliances!! Taking matters into own hands now! Screw stupid femmebot!"
He slammed his fist down on the button which closed the camera feed and then he slumped in his chair with a groan. He sat there thinking for a long time afterwards whilst Myst, a thousand thoughts and fears running through her mind, flew towards the co-ordinates of the unknown disturbance.
The platform hummed quietly as he descended into the hold. Tarantulas knelt, gun perched on his left knee, eyes scanning the area for his foe.
The floor was flooded with roughly ten feet of water. Crates and metal rubbish were afloat along with other flotsam, and the lights were flickering in places where the water had reached. The darkest areas, where there were no lights at all, worried him greatly. He stopped the platform’s lowering when there was a gap suitable for his size, one that Rampage would have difficulty squeezing through in order to pursue him if he had to beat a hasty retreat.
"All right, Rampage. You have made your point. You have successfully attained my attention. Now show yourself!"
He waited, all sensors on high alert, but Rampage did not reveal his position. He hadn't really expected him to. "If you're going to play that way, then hear this. You and I both want to get off this planet. I don't think you want to remain here rusting for the next few million years with nothing to chew on but dumb animals. What I have discovered and repaired is a means of transport off this dirt ball. So... I was hoping we could come to some sort of arrangement that would...satisfy us both."
There was no sound other than the hollow creaks and moans the ship made as the water flowed in. Tarantulas glanced at the hole worriedly. "If this place fills up with any more water then there'll be no escaping it at all!" he cried in a culmination of fear and desperation. His cry echoed in the metal belly of the ship. A distant noise of bubbles breaking the surface caught his attention. He narrowed his optics and aimed his weapon at the ripples only fifteen meters away. All the while his spark was shuddering and he could feel a scream prickling at the back of his throat.
Deep, quiet laughter rose up around him, reverberating off the walls and confusing him as to where it came from. The laughs were dark and menacing; Tarantulas couldn't help but quiver at the sound of them.
"An arrangement, you say? Hmm, yes, I came with one in mind."
Tarantulas turned sharply to his right to where he thought the voice had come from. All he could see lurking in the dark was a large, light-weight metal box bobbing on the water.
Tarantulas tensed at Rampage’s tone. There was not even a touch of benevolence in it. He edged back a little and aimed his gun in the direction of the voice.
"Reveal yourself now and we can discuss terms."
The second he'd finished his sentence, there was a high-pitched explosion and the weapon on his knee was blasted straight off him. The impact sent him sprawling to the side. He hadn't even properly registered the pain of such a direct hit when he felt something snag one of his legs dangling off the side. The next thing Tarantulas knew, he was being yanked roughly off the platform and pulled down into the water. He flailed and kicked, claws and feet connecting with metal. He was thrust to the surface again and pinned by his upper arms, slammed against the cold steel wall; it was then that he was finally granted a view of his enemy. Rampage glared at him, clearly demented. Tarantulas gurgled in terror and opened fire with his multiple shoulder guns. The blasts hit and bounced off Rampage's face, which crumpled up into an ugly expression of anger as he pulled back his left arm and thrust it forward, directly into Tarantulas's gut. The Predacon scientist gasped and retched and ceased fire.
"The only terms will be my terms," the crabbot snarled. He smashed his fist into the left side of Tarantulas’s shoulders, ruining the gun mechanisms embedded in them. He quickly did the same with the right set. Tarantulas wheezed and croaked in pain.
A smile lit up in Rampage's eyes and he increased his vice-like grip on Tarantulas's upper arms. "Oh, you don't want to keep struggling, spider. It will only cause you more pain and I... I delight in it."
Tarantulas's weak kicking tapered off and he stared in mute horror at the bot before him.
"That's better," he whispered. His left hand let go of his arm and slipped down into the water. Tarantulas felt it resting on his abdomen and his body bristled in objection to the gentle touch. Rampage's gaze took on a sadistic shine, and the next words he spoke turned the air frigid. "Now, you'd do well to hold still..."
Depth Charge blinked in the light as he exited the underground river and met the ocean. The dark storm clouds had thinned to a scattered light grey covering over the sky, allowing daylight to penetrate the waters. The tracks he'd been following continued across the seabed into the blue gloom. They seemed to go on forever, but Depth Charge knew he was only a few dozen miles away from his target. He was uneasy about what he might discover there. Who knew how long Tarantulas had been working on the warship?
As he made his way to his destination, his thoughts wandered to what he'd do in the worst case scenario. If Tarantulas had completely repaired that ship, then he'd be unstoppable. There was no way he would be able to take out such an enormous war machine once it was fully functional. His best chance was breaking into it while it was still underwater and taking out the pilot. Suddenly, getting hold of Tarantulas seemed like a life or death decision. If he didn't stop him now, he'd not only never destroy Rampage, but quite possibly he'd never have existed, nor any of the Maximals. Tarantulas had tried to blow up the Ark before, although no one knew why. Depth Charge just considered the spider completely insane; there didn't need to be a reason. Whatever the case, he was an enormous threat to the lives of all modern day Transformers and he had to be prevented from getting that ship airborne.
He opened up a comm. channel to his aerial ally.
"Depth Charge to Inferno. Did you get my last transmitted co-ordinates?"
"Affirmative. I'm catching up to you as we speak."
"Right." He paused for several seconds, while still keeping the connection open. "Inferno..."
"Yes?"
"It is imperative that we survive this mission, at least until Tarantulas is properly apprehended. If we don't...we...."
The silence on the other end of the line reminded Depth Charge that he had not explained to Inferno quite what the Nemesis was, and why it was such a bad omen to them now. He wondered, if he told him, would it motivate him even more to succeed in this mission? Probably not, he admitted. Avenging Megatron was enough. But still, even though he cared little for the Predacon, he had recently felt a kind of brotherhood with him. They were both united in destroying Rampage after suffering great losses on his account. For years Depth Charge had shouldered this task alone, but now he finally had someone on his side who was just as determined to see the murderer brought to justice. Then, perhaps, he deserved to know what was going on. He deserved to be made aware of all the facts.
"If Tarantulas gets that ship off the ground, it is highly possible he will use it to destroy the Ark. If he does that, not only will the forefathers of the Maximals be destroyed, but the Predacons as well. He will completely annihilate our race's entire existence. That includes you, and I, and Megatron and everyone else here and on Cybertron. So, quite simply---"
"We have no choice but to destroy the traitor," Inferno finished in a level tone of voice. There was no fear in it, only sturdy determination. Depth Charge felt a brief moment of respect for the antbot. He had unshakeable faith in his cause, which was something he related to.
"Yes. So be prepared for anything. We might have to go to extremes to stop him." He cut the connection after that, a grim expression on his face. He had no problem with going to his limits to destroy an enemy, but the extremes he spoke of were far more unsettling than any physical agony on his part. He might have to kill Tarantulas to stop him, which meant there'd be no one to finish the weapon. It would be a small sacrifice when saving the entire existence of his race, but to him personally, it would be great. He could only hope that it wouldn't come to that.
Rattrap for once wasn't vocal about his irritation in repairing the doors. They needed to be fixed, he knew this, but he was seething inside at having to do it alone. Depth Charge should be here. He should be helping! There were only three of them left - they could not afford to be apart like this. If Rampage chose to attack now, and with Optimus in his present state, they'd be destroyed and the Ark would probably follow suit. Why couldn't that demented manta get it into his processor that they needed him now, more than the deceased on Omicron did? He only sighed at these upsetting thoughts, because he knew no one would listen to him rant.
Several megacycles later, the doors were repaired enough that they moved slowly on their make-shift hinges and no longer sported gaping holes. They of course would not hold if Rampage was serious about breaking in, but at least they weren't an open invitation anymore.
He packed his tools away and headed back to the control room. When he entered, he saw that Optimus was still in the corner, but his optics were shut off and his chest was rising and falling slowly.
"Optimus...you asleep?"
He received no response and so he assumed the Maximal had finally succumbed to exhaustion. He was relieved. Perhaps after a good rest he'd be able to think straight again. Rattrap could use the company. He was beginning to tire of being the leader in this situation.
"Not much of a leader, though. It's not like Fins will evah listen ta me."
At the thought of Depth Charge, his bitterness returned. He put down his toolbox and seated himself at the computers. He called up the scanner’s and sensor’s reports, intending only to give them a brief check over before he attempted to locate the raybot, but there was a reading that caught his attention. His optics narrowed into a frown as he read over an earlier disturbance in an ocean grid that, according to the sensors, bore an energy signature. What could possibly have emitted an energy signature from all the way out there? The time read that it had taken place only twenty cycles ago...
Rattrap pondered over this for several moments when a thought struck him. He froze, breath catching in his throat, fingers stiff over the keys of the control panel.
"Rampage," he uttered.
"...What about him?"
Rattrap jerked at the voice and spun his chair around to see a weary-faced Optimus looking up at him with concern. He felt a fleeting moment of relief at seeing him fully conscious again, but worry quickly took precedence.
"Uh...there's been an energy-shake up in grid Zelo Five. It has an unknown energy signature... Da only thing I can think of dat’s capable of emitting such a significant energy reading WITH a sig that's confusin' our scanners, would be---"
"Rampage. You're wondering how he could have caused such a disturbance," Optimus said quietly.
Rattrap nodded, gaze fixed on his demoralized leader. "Depth Charge is out there somewhere, Optimus. He mighta...I mean it's just a thought..."
Optimus covered his face with one hand and sighed, nodding slightly. A long silence followed.
"D'ya want me ta go check it out?"
Optimus removed his hand and looked at him blearily. "How? You can't get to that grid. It's over water. I'll have to fly there."
"An' leave this place exposed? I'm no good as a sentry, Pop Op. If anyone attacks---"
"Then tell me what you want me to do?! Do we sit here and wait to see what happens, or do I go out and investigate what could be a major turning point in this war?" Optimus shouted suddenly, taking Rattrap completely by surprise. He blinked and stared at the agitated Maximal still sitting on the floor. He was asking him what to do.
The problem was, he had no idea.
He shook himself out of his bewildered daze and said: "Wha---wait just a cycle. I gotta...I gotta think this one through..."
Oh...the agony....
As soon as he started to come to, he was swamped with it. The pain in his midsection was so intense it swamped him with sensations of illness; it felt as if his insides had been ripped out from him and replaced with hot ash. And it not only burned like the Pit, it ached. It ached so...much....
He inhaled suddenly and violently. He clawed forward in blindness, reaching out for some relief from the excruciating pain, only to be beaten back down by an unkind hand. He saw a flash of red as his head hit the cold metal of... Where was he?
Gradually, the blackness cleared and his vision returned to him. He found himself to be staring up at some high ceiling lights that he did not recognise at first. Then, he realized they were the lights of the Nemesis control room.
"Welcome back to reality."
The voice made his body prickle in revulsion. He tried to sit up, but his stomach seemed to knot in direct relation to the action, and the pain increased tenfold. He immediately lay back down, breathless from the spasm.
"I think you'll find standing difficult, for the moment. Your systems are in a rather shocking state."
Tarantulas cringed as a wave of energy passed through him. "Wha-hhh....what have you...done to me?"
The voice of his enemy came from behind him now. "Surely you can figure it out, genius. Where does it hurt? What symptoms of damage are you experiencing?"
Tarantulas closed his eyes as another, more intense shockwave rippled through his body. He felt as if he were about to faint, but every instinct in him was clinging to consciousness. He had to escape the danger...the terrible danger!
"No? I'll have to tell you, then."
He was aware of a looming presence as the light changed. He re-opened his optics a little, but they widened at the sight of the silhouette hovering over him. Rampage's bright green eyes glowed like embers against his dark form. He watched him curiously, malevolently.
"I performed a little operation on you, Tarantulas. One that I learnt from you." He simpered derisively. It was then that the meaning of crab’s reference dawned on the spider. Tarantulas groaned in horror.
"Yes!" Rampage laughed the word. "You're not much good without your power converter, are you? But you will survive for a few days, slowly destroying yourself from the inside out. It's a fate you left Myst to."
Rampage moved away from him and the light shone back in his optics. Tarantulas squinted at them, trying to figure out why they were out of place. He was in so much pain that concentrating proved immensely difficult.
"You're probably wondering how I managed to get you in here, considering you left such an ungenerous gap between the platform and this floor. Well, it wasn't easy, I'll admit. I really had to squeeze. Took off the top layer of my metal, clipped a few of my crab legs and grazed me painfully. It took all of three cycles to heal myself."
Tarantulas began to squirm. The enemy had successfully broken into his stronghold, and he was building up to something horrible. Rampage was chatting merrily for the moment, but when he reached the point, it would probably spell out the spider’s doom. More than ever now, he wanted to get away. But he couldn't move!!
"I of course did this only after sealing up that hole I made earlier. I had to completely wreck your submersible to do so but at least now it's patched up. It keeps unwanted visitors out, and you in. You see, as you correctly assumed, I'm quite partial to the idea of having a ride off this planet, when I want one. But for now..."
Tarantulas felt hands gripping his crumpled shoulder pads and he let slip a little cry. Rampage's demonic face appeared above him, upside down. "For now, I have other plans. Plans that you are going to help me with."
"C-can't...dah...do anything...in this ssstate!" Tarantulas spluttered.
Rampage's expression did not change and Tarantulas found it unsettling how he continued to look down at him motionlessly.
"No," he said at length. "But you won't be in this state for much longer. I'm going to repair you enough so that you're able to move, albeit painfully, for a megacycle or two before the deterioration becomes too advanced for you to function properly. In that time you will do as I instruct."
Tarantulas felt another burning inside him. This time it was anger. "Why would I do that?" he managed to say levelly.
Rampage's grip on his shoulders increased and he said: "Because I have hidden your power converter. If you don't help me, I won't tell you where it is, and you will die a slow and horrible death. It's as simple as that."
Tarantulas glared at Rampage for a few seconds but another shockwave made him arch up and cry out.
"This pain, as you well know, will only intensify. And with my...special ability, I can prolong it for days and days, healing you just enough so that you feel it at your most conscious, and go through the agonizing process of deterioration over and over again. With the Maximals and Predacons depleted to a scant few, I'm left to my own devices in this, you must agree, secluded location. I have all the time in the world to torture you, Tarantulas. Remember that."
Tarantulas eased back down, panting rapidly, claws curled into fists. Rampage watched him patiently as he writhed. Finally, it became too much for Tarantulas to take and he gave in.
Rampage drew up to his full height and the smile in his eyes vanished at the spider's shout of agreement.
"I knew you'd find it unbearable. At least you had the choice of a reprieve," he said with vague bitterness. He walked around him and came up along his right side. He gazed at his midsection soberly and held his hands over the ravaged area. "I'm going to repair you now. When I am finished, you will remain where you are until I instruct you to move. I want it known now that when you do for me what I ask, I will be fully conscious at all times. Is that clear?"
Tarantulas, too overcome with the pain to think rationally of what Rampage was implying, nodded fervently.
The next thing he felt were Rampage's cool hands slipping into the fire in his abdomen.