To Dwell in the House of Rancor
(Chapter 2)
1 By Laserbeak
1.1 The sun glinted off his metallic skin as the manta ray glided eastward, using the celestial bodies and his own internal navigation system to calculate the time he'd been patrolling. Another day wasted and no X.
His com crackled to life with a burst of watered down static, then Optimus Primal's voice. "Depth Charge, Rhinox picked up a faint moment off to your right, 100 yards. It might be our unknown ally. Track and identify."
Of all the idiotic tasks…taking orders from a monkey. He fought done his frustration and muttered an affirmative, scanning for the disturbance. In the distance he sensed a movement in the ocean, a ripple that could only be the echo of living beings shifting in it. Then he relaxed, or as much as he ever did, The creatures as they appeared proved his hypothesis. They head large, rounded heads and were rich black in color, roughly about the size of orcas. Dozens of them swam together in perfect sequence, frolicking to and fro as if life were merely a game and they it's chest pieces.
"Relax, Primal," he grumbled into his com, "Just a herd of pilot whales. Depth Charge out." What a joke. These Maximals were the ones supposedly chosen to safeguard the future of the Transformer race? He shook his head.
Flouting just under the surface, he rested a moment, neither enjoying his surroundings nor detesting them. To him this was simply a battleground, nothing more or less. Without warning his com erupted into static again. "What now, Primal.." He stopped short a crackling and clicking took its place, interrupted by the occasional low thrum. "What the slag? Whale sonar shouldn't be interfering with.."
"Alpha, do you copy? Beta, Beta, answer!" a high, distinctly feminine voice replied suddenly, sounding frantic and confused.
"Who the Pit is this?" he demanded, irritated. If this was another of Rattrap's practical jokes..
"Tidal-wav, survivor. I am nar. Alone. Who are you?" The voice seemed uncomfortably unused to basic language. Could it be the unknown bot? Another stasis-pod activated?
He swam toward the signal slowly, wary of attack. "Depth Charge, Maximal Recon and Aquatic Forces Commander. Show yourself."
There was a pause on the other side then a slightly smaller, streamlined form emerged from the cove. It was the same horned beast he'd seen before. He transformed, his energon cutlass in hand. The outsider tensed, then almost reluctantly took robot form. She held no weapons currently but was alert to forewarning signs. Her purple optics glinted in sharp contrast with her green and white speckled humanoid form.
"You heal quickly," she noted, glancing over his exostructure and seeing no sign of his wounds before returning her gaze to his face. "What is it you want?"
"An explanation for starters," he spat gruffly, closing the space between them, "If you won't offer one willingly I can take you back to the Maximal base to extract it from you."
Her optics narrowed at this. "Among the land dwellers? I think not. I do not associate with beings from the surface and I am on a quest that can not be detained. Even now you are wasting my time."
"And you're chatting my audio sensors toward burnout, Fem. I have a job to do and you don't exactly have a choice in the matter." The water hissed as he instantly snapped a pair of electro-charged cuffs around her slender wrists, jerking her toward the shoreline.
The female started in shock then began to struggle with the desperation and anger of a netted porpoise. "Let me go! Unhand me, you..you barbarian!!"
"Watch me."
* * *
Cheetor 's head jerked up from the monitors he'd been watching,"Yo, Big Bot! Got Depth Charge coming in at top speed …and he's got someone with him. the computer can't identify the signature."
"Hmmm," The hulking 25 foot commander of the Maximals leaned over the beeping black and green screen, rubbing his chin thoughtfully "Open the blast doors, Cheetor, but be ready with the autoguns just incase."
"Yes, Sir!" The teenage cat snapped off a slightly overdone salute and typed in a number of commands, his chest puffed out in exaggerated self- importance. It seemed you could put a child in battle, but you couldn't force them to grow up. Optimus allowed himself a smile as he turned to greet the opening blast doors and was met with a disturbing sight. Depth Charge stormed in, dragging a struggling female bot who was repeatedly kicking him and screaming profanities. Not the most common of entrances. The transmetal 2 gorilla raised an optic ridge and stepped forward to intercept them.
"Release me at once, you metal moron! I'll rip your spleen out and use it to stab you through the gizzard, you bloody minnow!" she shrieked, kicking him in the shin while twisting around and trying to bite him, "I demand you set me free!"
Depth Charge whirled and seized her by the throat, snarling in her face," Look, I've had enough from you, so pipe down you little.."
"Depth Charge!" Optimus thundered, now towering over them. "Let her go."
"My Pleasure, Primal," The manta hissed, dropping her prompting so that she stumbled and collapsed to her knees, still bound and unbalanced by the electro-cuffs.
She gritted her teeth and got slowly to her feet, optics flashing defiance up at the massive maximal that was Optimus Primal. "You have no right to treat me in this manner! I have offered you no offense and thus this confinement is of grave insult! Take these off this instant!" She thrust the cuffs up at him, her poisonous gaze daring him not to do as she asked.
The Maximal leader faltered a bit, not used to being spoke to this way, then nodded to Depth Charge. "Take them off now."
Grunting in disgust, the manta deactivated and removed the restraints, tucking them away with a last scornfully look at Tidal-wav before stalking out.
"Forgive his…lack of manners," Optimus explained soothingly as she rubbed her wrists, "Depth Charge is a bit rough around the edges…"
"The man is an uncouth muscle-bound neanderthal," she shot back shortly, still dusting herself off in a manner that reminded him of a fancy bird who'd had it's feathers ruffled. He surpressed a chuckle.
"Well, I'm sure you'll find more agreeable member in our ranks. I'm Optimus Primal, Maximal commander. And you are?"
"Tidal-wav, the last surviving member of my pod." She glanced down at her robot hands and body, considering his words, then back at him, "And…a Maximal like you?"
He nodded. "Yes, you are. Don't be alarmed your pod was probably damaged in the fall to Earth, which is why you can't remember much from your files, but I'm sure that will come back to you in time. Come, meet the others. This is Rhinox, Rattrap, and Cheetor..you've already, ahem, meet Depth charge…there are two others, Blackarachnia and Silverbolt, but you'll have to meet them later. They're out on patrol."
"Oh, I'll not stay here!" she interrupted quickly, making him blink in surprise, then hastened to soften her words. "That is, I thank you for the offer, but while I am…of your kind…I prefer the sea to land and will return there, at least for now."
A flicker of something akin to remembrance passed through his optics as he nodded, "That is your right of course, as others have chosen before you, but I hope you'll call on us from time to time..we need all the help we can get."
"Yah and I bet that water mode of yours could come in ultra gear handy!" Cheetor chimed in, moving in closer to check her out that Tidal-wav necessarily thought comfortable. Her beast mode's flesh itched from drying out and she shuffled her feet uneasily.
"Yes, of course," she replied, moving away from the cheetah and the rodent who was eyeing her in a way that made her skin crawl. She stumbled back toward the door and out it, fighting the urge to make a run for the water. What kind of foolhardy operation had she thrown her lot in with now?
* * *
Depth Charge watched the new female leave the base and return to the shoreline, his gaze cold and critical. Another goody-two-shoed, idealistic Maximal who lived off the impractical notion they could save the universe. Like he cared. All that mattered was X. And if she interfered with his destroying X again she'd have to be dealt with. Permanently.
(Chapter 2)
1 By Laserbeak
1.1 The sun glinted off his metallic skin as the manta ray glided eastward, using the celestial bodies and his own internal navigation system to calculate the time he'd been patrolling. Another day wasted and no X.
His com crackled to life with a burst of watered down static, then Optimus Primal's voice. "Depth Charge, Rhinox picked up a faint moment off to your right, 100 yards. It might be our unknown ally. Track and identify."
Of all the idiotic tasks…taking orders from a monkey. He fought done his frustration and muttered an affirmative, scanning for the disturbance. In the distance he sensed a movement in the ocean, a ripple that could only be the echo of living beings shifting in it. Then he relaxed, or as much as he ever did, The creatures as they appeared proved his hypothesis. They head large, rounded heads and were rich black in color, roughly about the size of orcas. Dozens of them swam together in perfect sequence, frolicking to and fro as if life were merely a game and they it's chest pieces.
"Relax, Primal," he grumbled into his com, "Just a herd of pilot whales. Depth Charge out." What a joke. These Maximals were the ones supposedly chosen to safeguard the future of the Transformer race? He shook his head.
Flouting just under the surface, he rested a moment, neither enjoying his surroundings nor detesting them. To him this was simply a battleground, nothing more or less. Without warning his com erupted into static again. "What now, Primal.." He stopped short a crackling and clicking took its place, interrupted by the occasional low thrum. "What the slag? Whale sonar shouldn't be interfering with.."
"Alpha, do you copy? Beta, Beta, answer!" a high, distinctly feminine voice replied suddenly, sounding frantic and confused.
"Who the Pit is this?" he demanded, irritated. If this was another of Rattrap's practical jokes..
"Tidal-wav, survivor. I am nar. Alone. Who are you?" The voice seemed uncomfortably unused to basic language. Could it be the unknown bot? Another stasis-pod activated?
He swam toward the signal slowly, wary of attack. "Depth Charge, Maximal Recon and Aquatic Forces Commander. Show yourself."
There was a pause on the other side then a slightly smaller, streamlined form emerged from the cove. It was the same horned beast he'd seen before. He transformed, his energon cutlass in hand. The outsider tensed, then almost reluctantly took robot form. She held no weapons currently but was alert to forewarning signs. Her purple optics glinted in sharp contrast with her green and white speckled humanoid form.
"You heal quickly," she noted, glancing over his exostructure and seeing no sign of his wounds before returning her gaze to his face. "What is it you want?"
"An explanation for starters," he spat gruffly, closing the space between them, "If you won't offer one willingly I can take you back to the Maximal base to extract it from you."
Her optics narrowed at this. "Among the land dwellers? I think not. I do not associate with beings from the surface and I am on a quest that can not be detained. Even now you are wasting my time."
"And you're chatting my audio sensors toward burnout, Fem. I have a job to do and you don't exactly have a choice in the matter." The water hissed as he instantly snapped a pair of electro-charged cuffs around her slender wrists, jerking her toward the shoreline.
The female started in shock then began to struggle with the desperation and anger of a netted porpoise. "Let me go! Unhand me, you..you barbarian!!"
"Watch me."
* * *
Cheetor 's head jerked up from the monitors he'd been watching,"Yo, Big Bot! Got Depth Charge coming in at top speed …and he's got someone with him. the computer can't identify the signature."
"Hmmm," The hulking 25 foot commander of the Maximals leaned over the beeping black and green screen, rubbing his chin thoughtfully "Open the blast doors, Cheetor, but be ready with the autoguns just incase."
"Yes, Sir!" The teenage cat snapped off a slightly overdone salute and typed in a number of commands, his chest puffed out in exaggerated self- importance. It seemed you could put a child in battle, but you couldn't force them to grow up. Optimus allowed himself a smile as he turned to greet the opening blast doors and was met with a disturbing sight. Depth Charge stormed in, dragging a struggling female bot who was repeatedly kicking him and screaming profanities. Not the most common of entrances. The transmetal 2 gorilla raised an optic ridge and stepped forward to intercept them.
"Release me at once, you metal moron! I'll rip your spleen out and use it to stab you through the gizzard, you bloody minnow!" she shrieked, kicking him in the shin while twisting around and trying to bite him, "I demand you set me free!"
Depth Charge whirled and seized her by the throat, snarling in her face," Look, I've had enough from you, so pipe down you little.."
"Depth Charge!" Optimus thundered, now towering over them. "Let her go."
"My Pleasure, Primal," The manta hissed, dropping her prompting so that she stumbled and collapsed to her knees, still bound and unbalanced by the electro-cuffs.
She gritted her teeth and got slowly to her feet, optics flashing defiance up at the massive maximal that was Optimus Primal. "You have no right to treat me in this manner! I have offered you no offense and thus this confinement is of grave insult! Take these off this instant!" She thrust the cuffs up at him, her poisonous gaze daring him not to do as she asked.
The Maximal leader faltered a bit, not used to being spoke to this way, then nodded to Depth Charge. "Take them off now."
Grunting in disgust, the manta deactivated and removed the restraints, tucking them away with a last scornfully look at Tidal-wav before stalking out.
"Forgive his…lack of manners," Optimus explained soothingly as she rubbed her wrists, "Depth Charge is a bit rough around the edges…"
"The man is an uncouth muscle-bound neanderthal," she shot back shortly, still dusting herself off in a manner that reminded him of a fancy bird who'd had it's feathers ruffled. He surpressed a chuckle.
"Well, I'm sure you'll find more agreeable member in our ranks. I'm Optimus Primal, Maximal commander. And you are?"
"Tidal-wav, the last surviving member of my pod." She glanced down at her robot hands and body, considering his words, then back at him, "And…a Maximal like you?"
He nodded. "Yes, you are. Don't be alarmed your pod was probably damaged in the fall to Earth, which is why you can't remember much from your files, but I'm sure that will come back to you in time. Come, meet the others. This is Rhinox, Rattrap, and Cheetor..you've already, ahem, meet Depth charge…there are two others, Blackarachnia and Silverbolt, but you'll have to meet them later. They're out on patrol."
"Oh, I'll not stay here!" she interrupted quickly, making him blink in surprise, then hastened to soften her words. "That is, I thank you for the offer, but while I am…of your kind…I prefer the sea to land and will return there, at least for now."
A flicker of something akin to remembrance passed through his optics as he nodded, "That is your right of course, as others have chosen before you, but I hope you'll call on us from time to time..we need all the help we can get."
"Yah and I bet that water mode of yours could come in ultra gear handy!" Cheetor chimed in, moving in closer to check her out that Tidal-wav necessarily thought comfortable. Her beast mode's flesh itched from drying out and she shuffled her feet uneasily.
"Yes, of course," she replied, moving away from the cheetah and the rodent who was eyeing her in a way that made her skin crawl. She stumbled back toward the door and out it, fighting the urge to make a run for the water. What kind of foolhardy operation had she thrown her lot in with now?
* * *
Depth Charge watched the new female leave the base and return to the shoreline, his gaze cold and critical. Another goody-two-shoed, idealistic Maximal who lived off the impractical notion they could save the universe. Like he cared. All that mattered was X. And if she interfered with his destroying X again she'd have to be dealt with. Permanently.