Part 4
By: Taratron
Cat
and mouse
tis
but a feast
in
the end, who will eat
but
the beast?
“…it’s
still in all of us, but most of you struggle so hard to hide it from yourselves,
to convince yourselves that you’re something cleaner and better than what you
really are. The irony is, if
you’d just for once acknowledge your reptile nature, you’d find the freedom
and the happiness that you’re all so frantic to achieve and never do.”
He shook his head as if saddened by the sight of her.
“Untouched and alive? What
kind of existence is that, Chyna? Not
one worth having…embrace the cold and the dark.
That’s what we are.”
-
Dean Koontz
Intensity
The
protoform formerly known only as X awoke in near darkness.
There was light, but what little of it there was had a dim, shimmering
quality to it. Light under water,
light passing through water from an
outside source.
His
optics slowed glowed online, and even then he was uncertain as to his location. He was obviously in a very small room; there was enough space
for him to stand (which he did not) and perhaps walk around a bit (still no)
before he would slip into the water at the base of the spacing.
The light was coming from that water, dim and shimmering with organic
life. There, and from a small lamp
in the semi-round room’s corner. The
light it gave off was eerily blue-green, as colorful as the walls.
He
was alone.
Rampage
slowly sat up; somehow he had been leaning against a wall, and while his head
ached, his memories were rather intact. The
last thing he remembered was the beach…DepthCharge, perhaps Meagos…and then
Megatron. He had only had a slight
glimpse of the tyrant before the sheer agony of that damned box echoed inside
him. He barely remembered falling
down, and then only blackness…and now a room of watery light.
Well,
this is new.
The
water shore surged suddenly, and, transforming as he left the waves, DepthCharge
stepped into the area. For a moment
he only stared at Rampage, then waited, the water lapping around his feet.
Waiting
to escape? Somehow Rampage didn’t
think so. His optics widened as the
ray removed something bright from subspace, and then he truly knew he was
damned.
Oh,
you thought Dihex was bad? Or
Megatron?
I
never believed in Hell, but it seems it does believe in me.
The
core of his spark, encased in Megatron’s infernal spark box rested in
Omicron’s Guardian’s hands. But
the box was not clenched; it was not compressing.
Yet.
Rampage
watched and waited in shocked silence. He
still had no idea how he had gotten here, wherever here
was…but a look at DepthCharge hinted very clearly.
So
he has my spark now…and Megatron did. So
he attacked that tyrant fool and now he has it.
Rampage
stared into DepthCharge’s optics. A
raw streak of fear rippled through him dimly, and he barely acknowledged it.
Crimson optics stared back impassively.
“Well,”
Rampage finally said after an eternity of red, “which of us is going to speak
first, Fishface?”
That
seemed to snap the Guardian’s attention, and he blinked. A surge of hatred echoed through his spark and Rampage’s
systems, and the crab could barely hide his smirk.
So he had been right after all. Not
a slagging thing, not a damn thing
left.
But
other than that blink, DepthCharge had yet to move.
Somehow this was worse than outright threats, or even compressing the
box.
Rampage
tried a new tactic; or rather, a very, very old tactic.
“What am I doing here?”
The
Guardian’s face seemed to twist with the effort of thought.
“I have you now,” he said after a pause, nearly brandishing the spark
box.
“So
I see,” replied the crab softly. “And
now what do you plan to do?”
Silence
from DepthCharge.
“What
do you plan, DepthCharge? What’s
on the agenda for my spark?” Rampage’s
optics gleamed. “For me?”
Silence
still. Not a flicker of animation.
“Do
you plan to….oh, drop it in a lava bank somewhere?
Or perhaps use it as bait, attract some large sea creature?
Offer it to Optimus as a sign of goodwill, and THEN break it?
Allow that overstuffed rhinoceros to sit on it?
Play toss over some lava?”
Silence.
Rampage
paused. “So you have me now.
What will you do with me?”
Again.
“Take
me back to Cybertron?” mused the crab, shifting more upright.
“Dihex is dead, unless they’ve rebuilt it in our absences.
So, take me there? Back to tests and experiments?
Back to certain death for anyone else?
Or…elsewhere? Take me to
some gladiatorial planet, earn some fast credits?
Sell my parts for scrap? Use
that spark box as a toy, as Megatron did?”
Barely
a flicker in the ray’s optics.
“Perhaps
use me against the Predacons? Win
this stupid war of stupid people? And
then what? Turn me loose on the
Maximals?” He eyed the ray. “No…not quite your style anymore, is it?”
He
finally stirred. “It
never was, X.”
“There’s
no lying to yourself…well, save the fact that you’re doing it quite well,
actually.”
A barely strangled sound hissed from the Guardian’s throat.
“I never said you were right-”
“But
you can’t prove I’m wrong either,” purred Rampage softly.
“So here you stand upon the cutting edge, old friend…here you are,
finally, at long last, you have me.
You own my spark, you can either make me shriek for mercy or just keel
over and wish for death. Or…you
could spare my spark, give it back…destroy that box-”
“Shut. Up.” Cold,
cruel, and very clipped. Yet the
Guardian’s optics seemed to waver.
Rampage
was silent for a moment. “How do
you love the life inside that ship, Meagos?”
“Don’t
call me that.”
“Answer
the question. How much do you love
those Maximals? That ape, who seems
to delight in having a crew whose stupidity just barely
surpasses his own. The rhino who
never leaves the base. The Fuzor
and his spider. And don’t get me
started on that idiot rodent and cat.” He
smiled suddenly. “A rat and a
cat, Meagos…or better still, a kitty.”
A
dangerous flicker in those crimson depths.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” leered the crab. “I know you remember that…and Omicron and all the bodies,
all the corpses. That place was as
well guarded as Altair-5.”
Flicker,
like a moth caught in the flame. Whispering,
hissing, burning in living death.
“A
cat and rat…cat and mouse, Meagos.” He
smiled. “You’ve been hunting
for me forever. Or at least it
seems like it. The hunter and the
prey…tell me, which one do you want to be?
Which one did you want to
be?” He chuckled darkly.
“And then even when you helped in capturing me that second
time…someone set me free. High
Command ordered me to a barren place.” He waved a hand dramatically.
“So here I am. The mouse
has been caught.” His optics
gleamed. “Or has he?”
“You
can’t get away.” A flat
statement.
“I
never said that. But I did
ask which one you were. The cat,
always on a blind hunt for his hunger…or the mouse, which is on the same
quest, only different targets. Which
animal are you, Meagos….DepthCharge, which beast are you?”
Silence.
“Has
it ever occurred to you that we each may be both?
Both predator and prey at the same time?”
He grinned. “That’s
nearly philosophy, isn’t it? Rather
good for someone who was never supposed to be able to speak.”
Silence.
The ray only watched him warily, the hand on the spark box relaxed but
holding it easily.
“But
back to reality: you have Megatron’s spark box.
You have my spark. You have
me. All right, I can buy that,
because it sounds like your wildest fantasies.”
Rampage’s optics glittered with malice.
“But what I want to know is why.”
“Why!”
sputtered the ray. “You want to
know why-”
“Why
you brought me here,” the crab interjected quickly.
“The spark box, I can guess why as to that, and Megatron too. You are, after all, a Maximal,
and we are in a war, as stupid as it is. But
why did you bring me here?” He
paused. “To gloat?
But that’s not quite your style, is it?”
“You
don’t know anything about my style.”
“Not
anymore, perhaps. But I’ve seen
enough.” Rampage smiled. “You know why I tracked you down from Omicron and Rugby.
You know I was looking for you. And
you now know why. It did
have a motive, it all did have a
purpose. So I now want to know
yours. Why drag me here?”
“To
show you this.” He raised his
hand; Rampage’s spark core illuminated the cavern.
“That’s
not it, and you know it. It would
have been so much….easier and surely
more entertaining to leave me on that beach, and then
squeeze that damn box. Use enough
pressure to nearly knock me in stasis, and then
let me see who has my spark now.”
He
shrugged. “Dihex had it for the
longest time. Then Megatron. And now you. It’s
the spark that keeps sparking,” he added with a sardonic grin.
“If you ever built descendants, you can pass it down the chain.
Unless, of course, my ultimate fate is the lava.”
Silence.
The spark that kept on sparking continued to gleam like a falling star.
“Why
did you bring me here?” asked Rampage coolly.
“To have me inspect your choice of decor?
To taunt me with my new ownership? Why?”
“Because.”
“That’s
not a reason.”
“It’s
all you are getting.”
The
protoform formerly known as X stood up, leaning on the wall, optics boring into
DepthCharge’s torso. The ray had
ungunked his chest launcher, and Rampage could barely see the discs inside
gleaming with the promise of the future. And
what a bright future it looked to be indeed.
“That’s
what you said before,” he commented conversationally.
“What?”
“That’s
what you said, almost, when I asked you before why you took me from Dihex.”
DepthCharge
felt a snarl building…as well as the laughter within his head. “Why do you keep
saying that!”
“Because
it’s the truth.” Rampage looked
honestly surprised at the question. “And
you never told me what your optics said.”
“I
don’t have to,” growled the ray.
“And
why haven’t you used that box yet? You
can easily….or are you waiting for me to try and take it by force?
Or leave? And then use it,
cripple me underwater for the sake of irony or justice?”
“I
have yet to see a need to,” said DepthCharge slowly.
“Would you prefer if I did?”
“What
do you think?” growled Rampage. “I
still want to know why you brought me here.”
“Doesn’t
matter.”
“Oh,”
said Rampage, standing up a bit taller with a stretch.
“Yes. Yes it does,
actually, Fishface. Like I said
before…when we were leaving Dihex-”
“I don’t believe you!”
“Then
don’t. But I asked you then why
you took me out, why you set me free. And
you didn’t respond until days later. You
said it was because I didn’t seem as stupid as everyone else.”
He laughed coldly. “And now look at
the company you keep. Fools all
around. Tell me, if those Maximals
are so smart, why has this war gone on
as long as it has? Why did I
survive my pod? Why did I even get
put into a pod in the first place?
High Command’s orders…but I thought High Command was supposed to be
intelligent. Even the animals
around here, the organic slugs and birds and dirt worms seem to have more
intelligence than those Maximals. And here you not only are one, but you follow them without
question.”
“I
do not.”
“Don’t
lie to yourself. You know you’re
nothing more than a pawn to those people in control.
Have they ever listened to you,
Fishface? I know you have some form
of intelligence; I’ve seen it in action.
Even here, tracking me down.
Role reversals, I suppose. More
philosophy.” His optics gleamed. “But
you’re nothing. In the eyes of
those you blindly follow, you’re no better than me.
At least I have value to them.
But you…a Guardian? There
are hundreds, thousands of those people. There’s
only one of me. And you’re still
a worthless blob in the grand system of Maximaldom.
Not smart, not worthy, just there.”
“You
don’t understand anything, X!”
“I
understand your people well enough,
DepthCharge. And that is your name,
isn’t it? There’s no Meagos
left, is there?” His voice was
tight, toxic.
The
ray stared at him. “There never
was.” He winced suddenly, fighting the urge yet again to compress
not the spark box but his head; the laughter was louder than thought, and he
snarled faintly, Rampage watching with interest.
You
deny, came the same
thoughts, but from the different sources of Rampage and that dark voice.
You deny, you deny, fool. Pawn.
Idiot. The only thing worse
than an idiot is one who is pleased with THAT as his station in life.
“I
know otherwise,” said Rampage softly, but his optics had dimmed slightly, then
grew bright again in quiet rage. “Or
I did at least. Well then…DepthCharge,”
he said brightly, falsely, “tell me what you saw in your reflection. Was the beast still there?
Or was it only codes and reprogramming?”
The
ray exhaled sharply. “I didn’t
see anything, X.”
Deny.
Deny deny deny.
DepthCharge winced again, fighting the urge.
The chuckles were as dark as midnight water and as soothing as acidic
rain.
Go
on and keep denying, you fool. You
Optimus. You who sees the truth but
would prefer to send the protoform into space.
Give it a chance of survival. If
nothing else, why didn’t they drain out the quicksilver formation gunk so if X
ever DID survive to be scanned, he would be a tiny thing?
Something less than a foot tall? Why
ask why?
Why
are you such a fool? Why are you
Primal?
“I’m
not,” he snarled wildly. “I am not him.”
“You
were,” said Rampage softly, hands clenching to fists.
It was true, then. Everything
was true; his darkest and most private and personal qualms were true.
Damn
you Dragon. DAMN YOU!
And Dihex and High Command and everyone…why couldn’t you leave me ONE
thing?!?! My freedom, all right,
perhaps that is overrated…but this. No.
Damn you all. I hope you
roast in the Pit!
And
I hope to see you there someday…
A
low, strangled growl forced its way from DepthCharge’s throat, and he stepped
from the water smoothly, his optics brightening radiantly as he pressed his
giant fins against an opposing wall. His
gaze seemed uncertain, even lost. “Get
out.”
“What
did you say?” Rampage eyed him
warily.
“You
heard me. Get out of here. As long as I have this,” and here he lifted that box again,
and then subspaced it, “I have you. Get
out of my cavern now.
Before I decide to do something before I think it all through.”
The
crab watched him warily; the Maximal seemed to mean
this. Even so…
He
slowly started forward, expecting everything but what happened, and that was an
unblocked path to the ocean. He
stepped into the cool water, nearly cold, and then glanced back at DepthCharge.
He
doesn’t mean this.
But
he did. The ray wasn’t looking at
him.
“Guardian,”
Rampage began, uncertain, unsure.
Still
DepthCharge didn’t look; Rampage had no way of knowing that he was trying to
drown out the midnight chuckles in his mind; the ray’s spark felt normal and
in reality, was. “Go.
Now.”
The
crab slipped away into the water, expecting to be drawn back screaming every
second. He had reached the surface
minutes later, still waiting for that cataclysmic agony.
It never came.
What
is going on? he blearily
wondered. What
is…what is going ON?
The
ocean held no answers for him. He
headed back to shore.
The
only thing worse than an idiot is one who is pleased with THAT as his station in
life.
“Shut
up,” growled Omicron’s Guardian. “Just…shut
up.”
As
Rampage said…“You listen because you hate me, yes, and even as Meagos I
think part of you hated the fact I could kill and kill forever and you would one
day die…and now my immortality has a price, and that is slavery.”
“He
deserves it…he deserves it for everything
he’s ever done!”
And
what was so bad that he deserves you to have his spark?
“Omicron-”
A
colony of people who left Cybertron because their religious beliefs were
limited. Of course, EVERYONE should
be allowed to practice as they preach…they merely wanted the right to
reprogram the Homeworld to do this.
“And
Rugby-”
A
starbase of Guardians? Most of them
corrupt? Such a big loss THERE.
“They
didn’t deserve X!”
No
one is innocent, you fool…don’t tell me you believe that, not really.
Silence.
Fine.
Believe it then. Believe that X killed all the innocent. That no one he murdered deserved to die.
You know as a Guardian that most crimes are never reported.
Attack, injury, death, well, granted.
But so many missing cases. Kidnapping,
reprogramming, the works.
“No
one deserved him!”
Not
even you?
Silence.
I
take it back. Not a fool,
merely…confused.
“I
am not,” he spat viciously.
Yes
you are. You understand, at least,
that you have been. Missing
memories, blanked missions. And the
taunts and the unanswered questions. What
if he is telling the truth?
“…he
wasn’t.”
And
you sound so certain of yourself.
“You
want me to listen to RAMPAGE?!?!?”
You
did before.
“I….I
did not!” Fast and furious in
denial.
You
did. And you know it.
He has no reason to lie to you…and this all matches up.
“It
was a glitch!”
And
now you feel so much better?
“I-”
Shut
up. Just shut up, just get out.
Don’t you realize you’ve lost?
The
ray was stunned silent.
You
have. You’ve lost now,
DepthCharge, Maximal, Guardian. Maximal?
That’s a laugh. And Guardian? Of
what? A carcass of a wasted city of
religious fanatics? Oh, yes,
please, pass out the congrats already.
You
know what Dihex was doing to that spark. They
called it research, Meagos called it torture.
And he was right: it wasn’t for the good of the scientific community.
Dragon and his fellow heads wanted the secret of immortality. They wanted it for themselves, they wanted it for their
friends, they wanted it for loyal drone armies.
X fled. He escaped that
fate, and Meagos helped him to do it.
“I
am NOT-”
Did
I ever say you were?
DepthCharge
was silent for a moment. “But-”
Quiet,
Maximal. Rampage was right, you
know. Nothing but a wild card in
the deck, that’s you. The joker
trying to pretend he’s a king or better.
Worthless and unimportant. A
pawn. But you consoled yourself
with the fact that what you did MATTERED. And
you know it doesn’t.
“Before
X, it did!”
Shut
UP about Rampage already! Or X.
Whatever. You know what
happened to him. And he left and
tried to find you. Tried to find
Meagos. And Meagos was gone.
Dead. Lost under
programming. Only you remained, and
that must have been such a terrible thing for Rampage to understand. His friend, dead? Because
someone thought he should be something else?
“I
wasn’t-!”
I
told you to SHUT UP, didn’t I? I
might not be able to erase your stupidity, but I can try! Trust me, you would not like the result.
The
ray was quiet for a while. “He
deserved that torture for what he did.”
Torture
for torture? Tit for tat?
Where do you people come UP with these things?
I
admit it. I once said X belonged
dead…but he was right about that too. Envy.
Jealousy even.
“What
are you talking about!”
DepthCharge stared around the cavern, uncaring that he was speaking to an
empty room.
Cool
laughter.
Have
you never realized that we all get what we deserve, DepthCharge?
“This
is Rampage!” cried DepthCharge in true agony.
“He deserves whatever he gets
for what he’s done to all those people…for what he’s done to me!
He deserves whatever he gets!”
Then
so do you, DepthCharge. So do you.
The
ray awoke with a jerk; he had not even known he had slipped into recharge. A quick check of his internal chronometer revealed two hours
had passed.
“Rampage,”
he barely hissed, when the echo of darkness chuckled, and he was still.
You
must stop blaming him, Guardian. He
did what he did, you did what you did, and I did what I did. We all get what we deserve in the end…it’s called
evolution.
DepthCharge
shook his head. “No-”
Oh,
but YES.
There
was surely more, but the Guardian’s ComLink bleeped loudly in the otherwise
silence of the cavern; for a moment he stared at it in surprise, and then
activated it.
“Captain
Minnow?” A loud, almost eternally
whiny voice.
The
rat.
Of
course it was the rat. “What is
it, rat?” he demanded, unnerved. The
chuckles continued.
Or…is
it the mouse?
“Eh,
da Boss Ape wantsa see you topside.”
DepthCharge
felt his gaze pass from the communications link to the water.
Back. The water.
Rampage had stood there, and he had let him leave….why?
“Fine,”
he snapped, and ended the transmission with a snarl.
And
THOSE things? Those things you
vowed you would defend? Those
idiots? You even call them that.
You can’t deny it.
“I
know.”
A
‘Boss Ape’ who wants and wants but never gets what he deserves, which is a
shot in the back. The rhino who
never gets outside the base. The
Fuzor freak who never loses that innocence that borders on stupidity. The widow, and what more proof do you NEED of these
people’s madness! She helped to
kill one of their own long ago, and they still allow her to join. And then the cat and the rat…
And
then there is you. And you
certainly BELONG with these people.
“This
isn’t about me.”
Everything
is about you, Guardian of a dead colony. Maximal
drone of a pyramid you can never hope to scale.
Every last little detail. Alphix
and Omicron both died because of you. Altair-5
and Sycorax. All those places
because or FOR you…and you are still stuck in the ‘Rampage deserves what he
gets’ phase.
“He
does!”
Everyone
does. Every last insignificant ant
does then. Every spark, every soul,
every colony and starbase and planet gets what it deserves. Some of them deserved Rampage.
Some of them deserved Rampage and Meagos.
“That’s
NOT-”
But
it is and you damn well know it. A
pause, even from the laughter. You’re
stupid but not mindless, and you know this is all about you…what you are, who
you are…as well as were.
This
is an ending now, Maximal.
“Who
are you?” cried DepthCharge in desperation.
Still unaware he had moved at all, his back was pressed severely against
the wall, his head cradled and compressed in his hands.
Who?
A
darker laugh. Yourself.
The
darkness rose, and bore him away with it.
No
no this isn’t me
Who
else would it be?
It’s
NOT me-
Then
that depends again
On
what?
On
what you mean with ‘me’
…I
am me! I am myself!
And
so am I
…
You
take that at face value, don’t you?
You
can’t be
But
I am. Rampage was right about you
He
is not ANYTHING about me!
We
all get what we deserve, remember?
…so?
Then
somehow he deserves you
He
deserves death
That
may well be the same thing but if he deserves you, you deserve him
…that’s
not right
Correct.
There’s only me…
I
am NOT you!
No.
But I AM you…and you know it. Give
in to me. Give in to yourself
You’re
insane
So
are you
You’re
mad!
Look
in the mirror
I
won’t!
What
do your optics say, Maximal?
They
say nothing about you
Perhaps
it’s because you’re not doing the looking then
…
This
is me, DepthCharge, and this is you.
You’re
not me
Then
you deserve me as I deserve you…
STOP
saying that!
Take
some responsibility then. look in
the water. what do the eyes of the
beast say?
I’m
not a monster
I
never said we were
STOP
that!
Then
look. Shut your face and look…and
know what you see is a balance. It’s
an…embrace.
Of
what.
Of
you and me, fool. Of yourself and
myself…what do you see?
This
time he turned and looked, and saw it all.
A
little under an hour later, he pulled out the spark box, watched the spark dance
within its prison. He was not aware
he was smiling as he did so, nor aware that his fingers were clenched on the
grooves left by Megatron’s smooth fingers.
Voices
swirled in his head, lost memories, lost screams.
Do
you remember nothing? How they
dragged us down and had to send in over ten bots apiece to subdue us?
He
turned the box over, his smile growing. He
knew what he could do with this box now.
How
they stuck a prod on you and gave your spark a jolt of electricity so great it
went into shock? Do you remember
the screams and then realize they weren't from prey but from me, being tormented
and tested on by those slagging scientists, by Dragon?
“We
all get what we deserve, after all,” the ray whispered darkly.
Do
you remember releasing me from that damned table of operations?
What do you remember, Meagos?
“Nothing,”
he said again, softly, and then activated his ComLink.
“…..Rampage….?”
“Rattrap?
Has DepthCharge checked in yet?”
The
Maximal rodent quickly deactivated his computer monitor; he had been warned
several times, and usually ignored the warnings, of playing card games on
monitor duty. The sole reason he
turned it off now was because the
Grape Ape had been in a bad mood about the Captain Minnow for a few days now.
That kind of temper could be very
hazardous to computer games and monitors.
He
checked the computer console’s radar quickly, then frowned.
“I thought I saw him, Boss Monkey…”
Using his internal computer’s radar, yes, the ray’s energy signature
appeared further back in the Ark. “Yeah,
he’s here.”
Optimus
nodded. “When did he get here?”
“Uh…” A quick scan of internal radar revealed what Rattrap already
knew: he hadn’t had his radar active
when DepthCharge had come in a little under an hour ago.
“If I knew,” he said truthfully, “I’d tell ya.”
“Have
the computer do it.”
“I
would, Boss Monkey…but da radar’s busted.”
“Since
when?” demanded Rhinox from another console; a quick check into the main
computer revealed that Rattrap, for once, was correct.
The rhino eyed the console in concern.
“When did that happen?”
“I
dunno,” admitted Rattrap, “Couldn’ta been too long ago, I just checked in
wid da White Knight and the Pred.”
“She’s
a Maximal, Rattrap,” sighed Rhinox, his fingers working hard on the console.
For some reason, the radar had
been shut off…intentionally, it seemed. And
the program was now blocked.
None of this was reassuring.
Optimus
sighed, and again wondered what he had ever done in this life, or a past one, to
deserve this kind of fate. Karma,
perhaps. “Rhinox is right,
Rattrap.”
“I
call em as I see em,” the rodent insisted.
“Eh, Rhinox, you find dis block too?”
“Yes….”
Rhinox
did not sound certain, and they had been in this war long enough for Optimus to
realize that if his friend was uncertain, things really were
bad. “Rhinox?”
“It
shouldn’t take too long,” admitted the rhino.
“It’s just a block…”
“Preds,”
announced Rattrap firmly. “Gotta
be them.”
“It’s
always the Preds!” came Cheetor’s desperate snarl as he stalked
into the room, tail coiling around his feet.
“In
case ya haven’t noticed, pussy cat, we ARE still in dis war!”
Optimus
shook his head as the two submerged into a discussion that was still too light
to be called a real argument, and the ape was struck again, as he often was, a
tender misery chord inside him aching from memory.
Tigatron and Airazor, yes, their disappearance had been terrible, but
they could still be alive. The
Maximals had watched Dinobot die.
And even if Optimus truly did not miss the constant fights between the
raptor and Rattrap, he knew Rattrap did. A
part of the rat had disappeared with Dinobot’s death, and these half-hearted
snarl sessions with Cheetor only proved it.
“Well,
who else woulda done dis? You been
playing with radar, kiddo?”
“I’m
not a kid, Rattrap! And
you know I wouldn’t!”
“…Optimus?”
Rhinox stopped his questing on the console, and turned a worried glance
to the ape. “I’m not picking up
Silverbolt or Blackarachnia either.”
“What?”
Not as if the two had never not
strayed from their posts…but Optimus had seen them in the outpost above the Ark
only minutes (admittedly, several of them, but still) before. For once
they had seemed to have their minds on the outpost, and not each other.
He
sent a transmission to both of their communication links.
Static was his reward. Long,
blank, buzzes of static, and then silence.
“Eh,
I bet dey’re busy,” leered Rattrap. He
quite failed to see Cheetor’s toxic glare.
“I
talked to them about that,” Optimus said, and left it at that.
He knew Rattrap would make the statement into whatever he wanted.
Rattrap
did, naturally, and was about to respond when his radar picked up another
signature, and he could only blink. No, he thought,
I gotta be malfunctioning!
He
stared at the console, the broken radar system on the monitor before him, then
at the others; either they had not picked up the signature, or they had…and
were in shock themselves.
No
WAY. No slagging WAY!
DepthCharge’s
signature was on his radar, but there was another signature.
It make sense, in a way, Rattrap had to admit…save that other signature
was steady and strong and coming from the opposite direction than the minnow.
“Optimus,”
he started to say, and that was when the others finally looked at their radar,
and less than a second later, the monitors in front of Rattrap and Rhinox
exploded in a flurry of metal and shard, flinging the two of them into the
opposite wall with shocked and pain-filled cries.
Cheetor barely missed having his torso smashed by the falling rhino, so
Optimus was the sole person to see the shooter, and even then he could only
pause and stare in utter shock.
No.
But
it was so, and another blast from the large launcher spun and knocked Optimus
nearly to his knees. He managed to
stay upright, however, and stared. How
had this happened?
No!
This can’t BE!
They
then stared as one: Optimus, Rhinox, Rattrap, Cheetor.
And still the disbelief held them paralyzed; even Optimus, who had
finally thought enough to raise his blaster, was stunned still.
How this had happened? Was
it even possible? And yet
there Rampage stood before them in his hideous glory, smiling like a deity of
death.
Silverbolt,
Blackarachnia, the ape could
only think dimly, and suddenly the static made sense to him. The unanswered ComLinks.
Somehow Rampage had gotten to them…and somehow he was inside the Ark,
and the shock was enough to warrant paralysis; not one of the Maximals could
move. Rampage had not moved either,
but the mech fluid that dribbled from his digits and chest was enough as
evidence. He did not seem aware of
the mech-smeared feather stuck on a crab-leg, nor the black spider-skin shard
between his finger joints. His
smile was, in the same way a forest fire or volcano eruption can be, beautiful
and terrifying to behold.
He
did not say a word, only smiled. The
protoform with the spark that kept on sparking…whose spark and signature had
not been located by the radar. Or
rather, the lack of it.
The
clattering behind them did not startle them all into moving, any more than the
steps leading into the control room did. Cheetor
and Rattrap turned quickly to stare, however, at the low chuckle from the other
side of the room, and both saw both items at once.
The clattering had been a metallic box.
Megatron’s spark box, and it was kicked and ricocheted and struck the
opposing wall. It was empty.
It
was the shot from behind that spun Optimus around and to the ground, tearing his
horrified attention from the protoform X; by that time the others had become
unfrozen enough to fire, but Rampage’s aim was superb at such close range.
The other three went down, but certainly not out.
That would have, of course, ruined all
the fun.
Optimus
blinked; all of this, including Rampage entering the command room, had taken
under a minute, far too little time to understand, even less time to react, and
he found himself staring up at DepthCharge.
The ray’s remora blaster was smoking.
“….DepthCharge?”
he asked in utter disbelief and shock, and knew then that he was going insane.
It can’t
be…
The
ray seemed to be laughing.
“Wrong…as
always, Maximal,” said Meagos with a smile, and fired the same time Rampage
did.