Nemesis Rewrite

(for lack of a better title)

By: Michael

---

 

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

 

It was the final hour of the Beast Wars.  Megatron and his scattered band of Predacons felt it.  Optimus
and the Maximals knew it as well.  With the death of Tarantulas and the destruction of the Predacon base,
Megatron knew that they were outnumbered and at a disadvantage despite his possessing the spark of
his infamous ancestor. 

"So.. it would seem that we entered the final phase of the Beast Wars..," speculated Megatron, "Although
the Maximals are searching for us, I do believe I have one more trump card up my sleeve."

Little did he realize Rampage behind him with eyes full of hate. 

Turning around, he had only a nano-klik's moment of surprise on his face before a giant red hand
smashed into his face knocking him to the ground.

"You're the one who caused all of this!  I don't give a slag for your Predacon cause and I care even less
about your ambitions but you are the one who chained me to eternal slavery and for that, I WILL rip out
both your sparks and torture them until they descend to the Pit!  That time for my complacency is
OVER!!!"

Megatron licked the sides of his mouth and tasted mech fluid.  Somehow, with much restraint, he
managed to hold back the anger and fury of the original Megatron to look at Rampage with a mocking
glance.

"My dear Rampage," he said with his usual suave tone, "You have not the power to do any such thing
to me anymore.  You forget that I hold within myself, the spark of the original Megatron, the one who
nearly destroyed the Autobots, the one who caused the death of Optimus Prime, and the one who
inspired generations of Predacons to keep on fighting against Maximal oppression!  With all my great
power, I could destroy even you easily!"

"BWAH! That's where you're wrong!  You see my spark is a duplicate of Starscream.  When you cut out
part of my spark, you took away almost half of my power away.  Right now, my power is only at 60%, with the
other 40% with in the shell of that abomination!  And seeing how I caused a trickle of mech fluid to drip
from your mouth, I'd say right now, I'm still more than your match even when I'm not at full power!  Prepare
to die, you infidel!

"I think not," said Megatron, "So long as I am planning on conquering the galaxy, not even you will
stop me," as Quickstrike, Waspinator, and Inferno all leaped in front of Megatron with all guns pointed
at the giant transmetal crab.

"BWAAAHHH!!! You are just insects!" cried Rampage as the three Predacons open fire on him.  Walking
slowly but grimly towards the three, Rampage laughed maniacally as their combined firepower
bounced off his armor.   Whipping out his large plasma rifle, he quickly blasted Waspinator into a
nearby palm tree. 

The fuzor was the next in line of Rampage's path of destruction.  Flipping through the air, Quickstrike
landed on Rampage and used his snake head to bite down as hard as he could on the crab.  Fortunately,
cybervenom could not penetrate Rampage's thick armor.  Transforming into beast mode, Rampage
grabbed the unfortunate fuzor with his claw and smashed him into the ground several times before
crushing his face into a large rock. 

Finally, Inferno was the last standing in the way of Rampage's desire for revenge.  Armed with his twin
blasters, the masochistic ant cried his battle cry as he fired on the mutant crab.  Rampage had to give
the deranged insect some credit however.. he still fought on and was extremely determined to defend his
"Queen" even though he had little chancee against an immortal.  Rampage quickly transformed back into
robot mode and beckoned Inferno to come closer.  As Inferno was not exactly the smartest of the
Predacons, he flew directly at Rampage only to be met with a backhand into the ground.  Getting up,
Inferno wasted no time in charging at the giant crab again.  This time, Rampage was through playing
around.  He immediately smashed his fist into the fireant's gut, causing Inferno to fall over in
pain.  As Inferno  got up, he was immediately smashed down by Rampage again.. and again. 

"Hmm, can't get up now.. can we?" taunted Rampage before giving Inferno a nasty left hook followed up
with an uppercut to the jaw.  "You use to be Megatron's strongest soldier.  Now look at you!  How does it
feel to know that your 'Royalty's' super soldier is one who would gladly scrap him, given the chance?!?"

Rampage lifted Inferno up and punched him across the face one more time before asking, "Anything you
wish to say, insect?"

Inferno glared balefully at Rampage and declared, "With the last bit of circuitry in my body, I WILL
FIGHT FOR BOTH QUEEN AND COLONY!!!"  Unfortunately for him, Rampage had enough of this battle
and smashed Inferno's skull against his own, knocking out the ant.

"AND NOW FOR YOU, MY OPPRESSOR!!!" shrieked Rampage as he charged at Megatron with every
intent of exacting a painful and sadistic death upon the Predacon leader.  However, within five feet of
Megatron, Rampage fell to the ground in pain, writhing in agony. 

Out of the forest clearing stepped Transmetal 2 Dinobot who glared at Rampage with a glimmer of
amusement in his eye at being able to cause his own "brother" so much pain by just the squeeze of a
spark. 

"No.. matter..... what... I... will annihilate.... YOUR SPARK!!!!!" roared Rampage in pain towards Megatron.

"I think not, my antagonistic arthropod," replied Megatron who shot a fireball that knocked Rampage
down again as he noticed that the sadistic crab had managed to get back on his knees.

"Still, petty squabbles such as this are not what is occupying my mind right now," said Megatron to
himself.  <<What I found from our dearly departed Tarantulas may help swing the Beast Wars in my
favor, yeessss...>>

"Gloat.. while you can, tyrant.... for one day.. I shall free myself from your bonds..." moaned a weakened
but still defiant Rampage.

"Oh I do get tired of this," groaned Megatron, "Dinobot, if you please."

TMII Dinobot nodded and with his claws, slashed open a large gash in Rampage's stomach.  Rampage
cried in agony but the clone was not through.  Aiming directly at the gaping wound, Dinobot aimed
meticulously and blasted his eye laser into the wound while squeezing his own spark, causing much pain
to the mass murderer.  Certain that Rampage wouldn't be a threat to his master anytime soon, Dinobot
floored Rampage with a powerful roundhouse kick.

 

__________

Later that night at the Maximal base, with most of the Maximals asleep, only one Maximal stayed up on
guard patrol.

Depthcharge looked at the stars and sighed.  Ever since Protoform X broke free and massacred Colony
Omicron, he had sworn that he would hunt the murderer down and bring justice for all who died that
fateful day.  He remembered the first time he encountered the behemoth in battle.  X looked at him with
amusement in his eyes and taunted him with the head of Cybershark, a young lieutenant under
Depthcharge's watch.  With all the rage and fury gathering within him, Depthcharge snapped and blasted
towards Rampage starting their age-old conflict.  He had brought down the murderer that day but he also
knew that without all the anger and hatred he felt for X, he would not have been X's equal in terms of
strength and raw power. 

Turning around ,he faced the winged tiger known to the Maximals as Tigerhawk.  Depthcharge had heard
about the Maximals having two former comrades who went MIA during the course of the Beast Wars and
that they had now come back as this bizarre entity. 

"Whaddya want?" said Depthcharge gruffly.  "I am merely out tonight to view the stars and
constellations of this planet," replied Tigerhawk, "Nature is so abundant on this planet and when we
return to Cybertron, I will no longer be able to witness such beauty."

Depthcharge snorted.  "Hmph, all I care about is the making sure X doesn't leave this planet alive!"

"Why is it that you hate him so?  I know not about your past but why is it that you hold such great
hatred for him?" enquired Tigerhawk.

"Well, since you're so interested, I'll tell you, cat. I was once a security chief on the planet of the colony
Omicron.  One day, we were handed a being of unknown origins.  The creature came to us in chains and
was sent to our labs for further research.  Nobody on the colony knew anything of it partly because
we were kept in the dark about it by the Maximal Elders.  A few days later, that thing broke loose and
destroyed the entire colony, razed it to ground, massacred all the inhabitants, and took away everything,
my family, my friends, and my life!  I swore that I would bring that creature then known as Protoform X
down.  I did manage to defeat it but the Maximal Elders, being the senile and corrupt fools they are,
decided to send X into exile!  I discovered this and found that it was to be sealed aboard Optimus
Primal's ship.  I implemented a tracking device aboard the ship before it took off.  I tracked the ship until
it crash landed aboard Earth.  Now you see the purpose of my being!  The only reason I even live is to
destroy X and avenge all who died by his hand.  I will NOT rest until he is destroyed!" shrieked
Depthcharge.

Depthcharge managed to stop as he realized that he was making a spectacle of himself and his long
tirade. 

"And what shall become of you once he is destroyed?" asked Tigerhawk softly.

Depthcharge looked at the night sky once more.  "I don't know..." he said even more softly, almost to
himself.

 

---------------------

The next day, a sense of anxiety and nervousness pervaded throughout the Maximal base as they
planned their next move to deal with the Predacons.

"The time is now, Maximals!  With the spark of the original Megatron in him, who knows what further
damage could be done?  We have to take down Megatron and all the Predacons now!" declared
Optimus.

"Agreed.  Without their base and without Tarantulas' technological and scientific understanding, they
are left out in the cold.  But still, they're like cornered animals now.  They definitely wont' be going down
without a fight.  And what a fight that's gonna be!"  asserted Rhinox.

"Agreed!" said Optimus, "Which is why we'll need our firepower and our sensors on maximum."

"But ehh... you don't think ol' Megs is gonna attack our base, do ya?" asked the diminutive Maximal
known to everyone as Rattrap.

"He won't make it that easy, Rattrap. I've been fighting in this war long enough to know that if
anything, Megatron will be waiting for us to make the first move and to capitalize on our mistakes,"
replied the giant Maximal.

"There's gotta be something we can do though," said Cheetor, "Who knows what else Megatron will
try to do."

All the Maximals shook their heads as they continued with their meeting on how best to deal with the
Predacons before Silverbolt flew in with his ears perked up.

"Optimus, sir!  While scouting, I noticed the Predacons moving out to a location which seems to mark
an underground tunnel!" exclaimed the breathless fuzor.

"I.. think I know what it may be," said Blackarachnia, "While I shared minds with Tarantulas, I read into
his mind deep enough to discover that he was already working on a project to revive something big and
something powerful.  The funny thing is, while he could control me and read my mind all he wanted, he
never knew that I could also read into his thoughts and plans just as easily.   I saw how he was working
on some sort of tunnel that led to the ocean and while I never went that deep into his perverse brain, I
heard him repeating over and over to himself one word, Nemesis!"

Optimus gasped.  "Then if Megatron is out trying to do what I think he's doing then it would be the very
end of everything we know.  Should the Nemesis be revived, Megatron will have enough power to
destroy the Ark and the entire universe if he succeeds!  We can't take this lying down.  We have to move
out and fast, Maximals!"

"But Bigbot, what is the Nemesis?" asked Cheetor.

"Before the Great War took place on Earth, the Ark was shot down by a Decepticon warship called the
Nemesis," explained Optimus, "If this very warship is what Megatron is planning on bringing back online,
it will the the end of everything!  Rattrap, Rhinox, Blackarachnia, Cheetor, you four stay and guard the
Ark.  Silverbolt, Depthcharge, Tigerhawk, you're with me!  LET'S MOVE!!!"

"Oh great, leave me with the dominatrix femme-bot," muttered Rattrap.

The echoes of "Shut up, Rattrap!" reverberated throughout the walls.

 

----------------------

 

Megatron was thrilled.  He had finally figured out the right coordinates to the deceased Tarantulas'
scheme.  The underwater shuttle was fully functional at last.

"Inferno, Waspinator, and Quickstrike!  I will need the three of you to divert the attention of the Maximals
from our true plan.  I care not how you do it but they must not suspect my true motives until they are no
longer in a position to stop me!  Now go!"

"As you command my Qu---urk!"

In a much more violent mood than usual, Megatron grabbed Inferno and threw him against the wall.  "I
told you NOT to call me that again, now GO!"

"Yes... royalty," replied Inferno meekly.

"As for the two of you, I require both your strength and firepower to ensure my success with the revival
of the greatest war machine ever created!  Rampage, as you are an water-based creature, transform into
tank mode and scour the depths of the ocean to make sure that we are headed in the right direction.  As
for you, Dinobot, come aboard with me in the shuttle.  I will need your services aboard the Nemesis.  Oh,
and Rampage, should the slightest thought of attacking our shuttle cross your mind, I think Dinobot can
show you the consequences of harboring such negative thinking."

Dinobot looked menacingly at Rampage and tapped his spark chamber.

"And now," exclaimed Megatron, "The time of of my ascension has arrived, Yeeessss!!!  The universe
will learn that a new Megatron has arisen.  History will now remember ME as Megatron.  In time, I will
have enough power to dwarf even Unicron!  BWAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 

-------------------------

As Inferno flew with Quickstrike on his back and Waspinator by his side, he began to think about his
own loyalty to his Queen.  He was of course still loyal to Megatron but something told him that ever since the
Royalty gained the spark of the ancient Decepticon, his leader's attitude had changed somewhat.  He
couldn't pin down exactly what it was but it bothered him to some degree. 

"Hey, blender-butt, you feelin' alright?" asked the fuzor sitting on top of him.

"I will be fine of course but what we should really worry about is our success in our mission given to us
by the Royalty!" exclaimed Inferno enthusiastically but somewhat dejectedly.

"Well, ah know what's on yer mind.  It's that slaggin' Megatron!  He didn't have'ta do that to ya!  Why, I
should go back just ta kick his tail!   I'm tellin' ya!  Bossbot's been off the deep end! Who knows what
he'll do to any of us now.  He's so darned crazy that he'll scrap any of us if it means he'll get a chance at
destroyin' the Maxies or takin' over the galaxy!"

"Silence! I will not hear any such traitorous comments directed against the Royalty, Fuzor!  You will do
well to remember that he has given you another chance even after you and that treacherous arachnid
betrayed him!" cried Inferno.

"Well, ah will tell you one thing, bug-eyes!" snapped Quickstrike, "Ah may put on the act of bein' a
rootin' tootin' tough guy but even ah' know that in the end, even if ah' am the toughest Cybertronian out
there, ah' am still a 'bot in the end.  Ah know fear! Ah know pain! And ah' especially know what it's like
to live and think for ma'self!  Do you know any of that?!?!"

Waspinator looked at the two arguing and shook his head.  He had never found Quickstrike to be a very
likeable bot but this time, he agreed with him 100% on Megatron.  In fact, Waspinator wasn't sure that he
would survive the Beast Wars even if Megatron won.

 

-------------------

"There it is," cried Megatron joyfully, "The Nemesis!"

"Impressive!" said Dinobot, who was awed by the sight of the gigantic Decepticon warship."

"Oh, it is much more than that, my malevolent minion... it is much more than that.." said Megatron softly.

-------------------

 

Optimus, Tigerhawk, Silverbolt, and Depthcharge flew to beginning of the tunnel dug by the deceased
Tarantulas. 

"By Primus, if Megatron reaches the Nemesis, it will spell the end for for all sentient life.  Depthcharge! I
know we've had our differences in the past but this is beyond all that.  Great suffering will reign under
Megatron's corrupt reign.  You are the only water-based Maximal and this time, I'm asking you for the
sake of those who are and those who are still to come to stop Megatron!  We will assist you from above
if it is at all possible!"

Depthcharge stared at Optimus for a second and finally a slight smile crossed his face.  "Well, I suppose
Rampage can wait.  Besides, what's the point if there is no Rampage to destroy just because Megatron
wiped out time and space?  I'm on it, Primal.  Consider it done."

Tigerhawk also had something to say to Depthcharge. 

"Depthcharge, my friend, I know that we have had our collective differences but I want to
point out to you that despite the pain you feel, you are still a Maximal inside.  I know that deep down,
there exists a small part of you that wishes to help save the lives of others instead of trying to take
the life of one.  That is the Depthcharge you truly are. I hope that you will find out your true self and
when that time comes, the pain you feel right now will be gone.  Depthcharge, you are truly Maximal.
Ask yourself why you are fighting in this war.  You may not know it but inside, you are fighting for
more than revenge.  You are fighting for life itself.  Your spark is truly Maximal.  May the Matrix
watch over your spark, Depthcharge," said Tigerhawk gently.

The _expression on Depthcharge's face softened slightly.  "Thanks," he said and dove underwater to face
his destiny.

 

To be continued...