Thanks to SkyDragonMC for urging me to continue this fic.

Changed the title of this chapter, and I still don't own any rights related to transformers.

A Dangerous Mistake

Cheetor was pacing around the base in beast mode, more than a little annoyed. The others had insisted he remain in the base for a while, but after just four days of confinement, with only some boring programming to work with, Cheetor was really feeling the need to run.

It didn't help that the others were treating him like he was suddenly going to fall apart. 'Or maybe they think I'm going to go all Rampage-y on them.' His darker thoughts popped up again, and Cheetor had to push them back to the least visited parts of his processor. It didn't make the thought any less true, though, as the others did seem worried whenever he ended up snapping at them- he was already in trouble for an argument with Silverbolt, over the positioning of a chair of all things.

Everyone had pretty much sided with Silverbolt on that, chiding him for getting so worked up over something so trivial. And while a part of him agreed and recognized it was a pointless argument, another part had been snarling in rage, wanting a fight.

As he started another circuit he ignored the presence of two mechs in one of the side rooms that served as a galley.

"Y'know Optimus, I think we're going to have to let Spots out of the base sooner than later." Rattrap noted, watching the tail of the Transmetal II lash before disappearing down another hall. "He's going to start climbing the walls soon."

"I know it's not ideal, but we need to be careful, Megatron's up to something."

"When isn't the old dino up to something?" Rattrap retorted, gulping down energon. "But Spots' mood is wearing on everybody's last patience circuit, and if we don't let him out, we might have to deal with him going feral again, that beast mode of his still has some glitches."

" . . . I guess you're right." Optimus sighed. "I'm just not sure about letting him go on patrol."

"Eh, Depth Charge is hunting Rampage in an entirely different sector, than the one Cheetor patrols, don't worry so much. Anyway, I gotta go meet Rhinox." Rattrap finished his energon, and left to help the rhino with de-bugging security systems.

A few cycles later, Silverbolt landed in front of the base. His greeting to BlackArachnia, who was soldering some circuitry, was cut short as a blur of tan and metal-gray suddenly charged past him.

"Whoa!" He regained his balance, and looked to where the blur had disappeared over the edge of the rocks. "Does Cheetor have permission to leave?"

"I heard Optimus and Rattrap discussing our Tabby earlier, they thought it might be safer for all of us if he gets to let off steam." BlackArachnia put down the soldering gun, and lifted the panel back into place. Silverbolt quickly came over to assist her. "I quite agree."

"He was getting rather . . . difficult." Silverbolt nodded, still not sure why Cheetor had taken the argument with him so far, Silverbolt had thought the other was going to lunge at him at one point, before Optimus had come in.

Miles away, Cheetor kept running. He was supposed to be on patrol, but he couldn't really focus on doing that. Instead, he ran as fast and as far as he could, before a familiar smell made him skid to a stop.

"Big Cat?" Cheetor looked around, despite knowing he wouldn't see the white tiger. It was Tigertron's scent, faded a little, but still strong enough for him to recognize. Curious, he followed the faint trace, and found a den, practically hidden under a large old tree.

Tigertron must've recharged here, whenever he wasn't at base. Cheetor's tail lashed, and he wished that Tigertron was actually still around. He might have been able to help with some of the peculiarities of his new beast mode.

Cheetor sat back on his haunches outside the den. He should have started back to base by now, but he just didn't feel like going back. He let his tail lash back and forth as he debated with himself, and then quickly sent a databurst as a report, adding he was going to stay out, before following an even fainter scent trail of Tigertron's.

He didn't pay his chronometer any attention, too keen on exploring the scent trail left by Tigertron.

In another sector, Depth Charge focused on tracking Rampage's trail, he needed to end the crab now, before the other pulled Cheetor into their game. He had a bad feeling about the crab's plans for the cat, and it would not be good for any of them.

Rampage was not as fast as Cheetor, so after laying out a false and winding trail for Depth Charge over a couple days, he'd decided on tracking the cat from a distance, figuring out his most likely destination based on his trajectory and then finding the shortest way for them to meet.

It had worked. The cat would be coming close to his position, and they were both well out of Maximal sensor range- and even farther out of Predacon sensor range.

The problem was the cat was likely to run, and if Rampage hurt him to keep him from running, the cat wouldn't listen. He'd only get one shot at this, so he had to hide. As the cat passed him at a trot, Rampage slipped out from his hiding place.

"Shouldn't you be in your base, cub?" Cheetor whirled around, and Rampage smirked. "After all, you never know who you're going to meet so far from home."

"Rampage . . . what are you doing here?" Cheetor was annoyed and confused. Rampage should have attacked by now, but hadn't. In fact, Rampage was just calmly watching him, almost leaning on the nearby tree.

"Why, I just wanted to talk." Rampage drawled, and looked straight into Cheetor's optics. "I imagined you might have some questions you wanted answered."

"You . . . you did this to me." Cheetor would have smacked himself for stating the obvious, but his focus was on Rampage. "Why?"

"Of course I did, who else do you know with an immortal spark?" Rampage smirked. "Did you think your comrades did it to you?"

"Maximals wouldn't do that!" Cheetor snapped.

Rampage felt his rage flare, but held on as best he could, he needed the cat to listen. "It was the Maximals who experimented on me in the first place!" His hold wasn't quite as good as it could have been. "It was the Maximals, not the Predacons, who researched the possibility of making sparks immortal, it was the Maximals who kept me in a lab, spark bared to their experiments. And it was a Maximal who suggested they could cut up my spark to make others immortal, like cutting up scrap metal for spare parts!"

Cheetor backed up, but for some stupid reason, he found he couldn't turn and run. He knew Rampage was right, Optimus, Rhinox and Rattrap, they had admitted it was the Maximal High council who had condoned the experiments. He had known it, but he hadn't really accepted it . . . it just went against everything he'd known. "You still killed innocents."

"I don't regret it." Rampage shrugged, finally calming down. "It feels good to have someone's life in your hands, to know you have power over them." Rampage smirked again. "You're not running, I notice."

"You can't kill me." Cheetor retorted, and paused as he realized how true the statement was. It suddenly scared him for some reason.

"You're right, no one can kill you now. But that's not necessarily a good thing." Rampage watched the other's facial expressions. "Want to know why I'm helping the Predacons? I don't like them, I'd have rather killed them all along with the Maximals. It's because Megatron's given half my spark to that Dinobot II . . . and he's sick enough to cause himself pain as he cuts into it just to make me obey." Rampage took a step closer. "If I wanted to, I could do the same to you, cut out half of your now immortal spark and show you how much it hurts." He could practically smell the cat's fear, and could definitely see it in the way the Cat held himself so stiffly, ready to bolt and yet unable to move. "But I won't." Rampage pulled back, his expression becoming neutral. "I won't don't that to you cub, and I'll keep Megatron from getting you too."

"Why?" Cheetor asked again, and despite himself took a step forward.

"Hmm, I don't think I'll tell you this time, cub." Rampage decided, smirking at the way the Cat's tail lashed. "After all, you have to get back to your base … you don't want the Maximals thinking you're going to turn against them." Something flickered in the cat's optics.

"They're not like that!" Cheetor growled, almost crouching for a spring.

"Believe what you want. I'll be here if you have any more questions, cub." Rampage turned away, done with the conversation, he listened as the cat suddenly ran off, the rocket on his back igniting … and he began to laugh.

The cat would come back, and when he did, Rampage wouldn't waste any more time with words.

Cheetor raced away, before skidding to a stop. Why was he running? Rampage hadn't hurt him, hadn't even tried. The encounter had left him with an odd bundle of fear, confusion, and curiosity, and more than a little anger.

He should have attacked, not run, made Rampage explain- except Rampage had told him outright, and had even answered his questions. His tail lashed, and he glanced back to where he had left Rampage.

The denial of the other's intentions had been instinctual, but hadn't Cheetor been thinking earlier about how they seemed wary of him turning into Rampage?

It wasn't like Rampage was the type for mind games, anyway, it didn't seem to be his style. And Rampage had been right, in that the Maximals were the ones who had experimented on him.

He should talk to Optimus, or maybe even Depth Charge, but …

Cheetor looked in the direction the base was in, and then back towards where he'd left Rampage.

He wanted answers now, not more guesses and possibilities. Rampage was the only one with the answers.

Cheetor turned and ran back to Rampage.

In the Predacon base, Inferno and Quickstrike were listening intently to Megatron's conversation with himself.

"Yess, this will work splendidly …" Megatron studied his computer read-out. "Time to bring BlackArachnia back to our side; Waspinator, Dinobot II, I want you to attack the primitive settlement and draw out the Maximals, now."

Next up: Dark Glass- It's not gonna be pretty, folks.

What's Changed?

Well, I've combined Chapters 4 and 5 plots regarding Cheetor of the original version for this: in Chapter 4 of the Original, the title was 'Shaken, not Stirred'. There were a couple talks between Cheetor and the other Maximals, and Cheetor was rescued by Rampage- who then got permission from Megatron to take out Depth Charge on his own. Chapter 5, 'Fade to Grey' had an ambiguous situation that no longer fit into the story as a whole.

Here, Cheetor's been a bit more isolated by his frustration at not being let out of the base and as a result is a bit more impatient for answers, more in-line with the aggressive nature that his new mode has, (and his argument with Silverbolt was regarding moving one of the chairs, if you want to know), Depth Charge is hunting a false Trail for Rampage, not hunting with Cheetor for Rampage and Dinobot II because looking back, that had made no sense, and Rampage is already going after Cheetor, with a much different tactic this time.

I've also edited out Cheetor's dreams, and the Maximals are no longer hyper-aware of everything Cheetor does- for the most part because, as far as they're concerned, Cheetor having an immortal spark hasn't actually changed anything, and the only danger the rest are remotely concerned about is if Megatron finds out.

Also, I've added a bit of Megatron's plan … you'll find out more about that later.

Hopefully, it won't be a year before the next update, but I tend to cycle through fandoms, and I've got a few more stories being written.