NINE: FRIGHTENING IN THE DARK
Predacon Fortress, Savage Land
Wheelie was used to sitting in cells. He was also used to breaking out of them.
As such, the moment his Predacon captors closed the door to his cell, he immediately began looking for a way out… and it wasn’t long before he found one. As he squeezed his small frame through the opening he had exposed by removing a loose stone in the wall, he could not help but lament the sheer easiness of his escape. He chalked it up to the fact that even his enemies underestimated and overlooked him in favor of locking down his much larger comrades.
He tried to force such thoughts out of his processor, at least for the time being. Now was not the time to dwell on his own insecurities and how others viewed him; he needed to find the Dinobots and release them so they could help the Maximals escape.
After crawling for a few minutes, Wheelie reached the other end of the small tunnel in the wall and emerged on the other side… only to find himself in another cell. Occupying it was a larger green mech, their armor plating indicating a vehicular alternate mode. Upon noticing Wheelie, the strange Autobot stirred where he sat.
“You’re not one of them,” he said quietly.
“No, I am an Autobot named Wheelie. I am looking for a way to roam about freely.”
The Autobot tilted his head, no doubt put off by Wheelie’s odd manner of speaking. Wheelie was used to such looks by this point.
After finally parsing the meaning of Wheelie’s words, the bot said, “Well, good luck with that. This place is riddled with ‘Cons. Even if we get out of this cell, they’ll be lurking around every corner.”
“My friends the Dinobots are nearby,” Wheelie said. “If we rescue them, we can turn the tide.”
“I’m sure we could, but finding them and getting to them would be a whole ‘nother thing.” The bot paused for a moment before looking back at Wheelie. “Did Prowl get my signal then?”
This time, it was Wheelie’s turn to look confused. “Prowl?”
“He sent you to find us, didn’t he? After getting my signal?”
“I know not of any signal. My friends and I have come here to aid the Maximals and solve the mystery of this island.”
“Oh.” The other Autobot frowned. “Well, better than nothing I suppose. I also need to find JP-Twelve, but I worry that the ‘Cons might’ve already killed him….”
“JP-Twelve?” Wheelie asked. “I might not be one to judge, but that name is one I would begrudge.”
The bot sighed. “It’s his codename, not his real name. Mine is JP93. Our real names are supposed to be classified… but I suppose at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore.” He extended a servo to Wheelie. “You can call me Paddock. My partner’s name is Wrangler.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance,” Wheelie said as he shook Paddock’s hand. “Now it is time to take a chance.”
“Wow, you’re really reaching with some of those rhymes,” Paddock muttered.
Ignoring the remark, Wheelie approached the door to the cell, inspecting it to see if there was some way either of them could bring it down. At that moment, the handle began to jiggle and he immediately took a step back. He frantically looked around the room for a hiding spot, only to find nothing of the sort. With no other option, he converted into his car mode and parked himself just behind Paddock, hoping to be out of sight to whatever Predacon entered the cell.
The door finally clicked and unlocked, swinging open wide. Standing there was no Predacon, but rather a silver and red Velociraptor.
“Hello, friend!” the Dinobot said cheerfully to a stunned Paddock.
“Slash?” Wheelie transformed back to robot mode and stepped around Paddock. “How… how did you get out?”
“Oh, hi, Wheelie!” Slash beamed at him. “These doors are pretty easy to break out of. I’ve been doing it ever since they first locked me up back on Eukaris. Even Ripclaw had hard time keeping me in one place!”
“So, how do you open the doors?” Paddock asked.
“With this!” Slash wiggled one of her claws.
Paddock smirked. “Clever girl.”
“Let us make haste then,” Wheelie said. “We must find the other Dinobots, and then we can free the Maximals.”
“I can sniff them out!” Slash said.
“Good. But Autobots beware; Predacons may be lurking who knows where.”
“Oh, right. You mean the guys that have been chasing me?”
Both Wheelie and Paddock blanched as they heard the angry cries of Predacon guards coming from down the corridor.
“We should probably get a move on,” Paddock suggested.
* * *
“THOSE FRAGGERS STOLE MY GLORY!”
Tyrannocon roared as she punched the wall with her right arm, leaving a massive crater in it. The impact of the blow caused the whole room to shake, sprinkling dust and pebbles from the ceiling onto the heads of the room’s occupants. It elicited a growl of annoyance from the purple and green Predacon bat hovering over his Autobot captive.
“Could you not be so loud?” Psychobat snarled. “I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Frag off, wings,” Tyrannocon snapped, spinning around and striking Psychobat with her arm-mounted tail. “You weren’t there! Victory was within my clutches and the Council just had to ruin it with their stupid bugs!”
Psychobat scowled as he got back to his feet. “Look, if you’re going to throw a tantrum, can you do it somewhere else? I’m trying to work on our patient here.”
“I’m not… telling you anything…” grunted the tan and black Autobot that was bolted down to a stone slab.
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me.” Psychobat grinned as needles extended from his fingers. “You just need to show me.”
Tyrannocon regarded the Predacon with disgust as he went to work on the Autobot prisoner. Some of the Predacons under her command had intercepted the Autobot while she had been leading the rest in the assault on the Maximal camp. Apparently, they had found the Autobot sneaking through the jungle and approaching some sort of strange facility to the southeast of the Predacons’ fortress. That would merit investigating at some point, but first Tyrannocon wanted to give the Tripredacus Council a piece of her mind for daring to interfere with her operation.
Leaving Psychobat to his devices, she stormed out of the room and marched straight for the Council’s chambers. She was about halfway there when she noticed several Predacons running past her, weapons at the ready as they turned the corner.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“One of the prisoners has escaped,” replied Retrax. “I think it’s one of the Dinobots. The little one.”
“Of fragging course,” Tyrannocon growled. “Never leave a Waruder to do the work of a true Predacon.”
Without warning, she transformed to her beast mode, startling Retrax and the rest of his team.
“Lead me to them,” she snarled, “and I’ll show you how it’s done!”
* * *
None of the Dinobots had any idea where Razorclaw was leading them, nor did any of them dare to speak up to ask the Predacon leader. At various points along the way, they were joined by the rest of Razorclaw’s fellow Predacon warlords; first by Rampage and Divebomb, the latter whom exchanged a sneer with Swoop, and then by Headstrong and Tantrum. The ten of them continued on in silence, making their way through the maze of corridors that seemed to make up the Predacons’ fortress.
Decorating the stone walls were several strange symbols, resembling cyberglyphics. It was difficult to tell whether they were made by humans or some other lifeform. Indeed, the whole fortress felt too alien to be made by or for humans, yet there was no other explanation as to why it was here on Earth.
Apparently the curiosity was too much for Sludge to handle, as he ended up being the one to break the silence. “What is this place?”
While both Slag and Snarl glared at him, Razorclaw let out a hearty laugh. “I’m glad you finally asked! I’ve been wondering the same thing myself.”
“You mean you don’t know?” Swoop asked. “I thought it was your fortress.”
“Yes, but we were not the ones to discover it. That credit goes to the Tripredacus Council.”
A low rumble uttered from Grimlock’s vocal processor, unable to contain his own curiosity. “And just who are the Tripredacus Council?”
“Patience, my friend. You are about to meet them.”
Several minutes later, they finally reached the end of the corridor and stepped through a door into a large circular chamber. At the center of the room was some sort of bottomless chasm, and looking over the chasm was an elevated podium where three Predacons stood. All three wore ceremonial garb that hid their beast mode kibble, although from what little they showed, Grimlock discerned that two of them had insectoid alternate modes while the third transformed into some sort of crustacean.
Stepping forward, Razorclaw raised his arms to the Predacon trio. “Council, I bring to you the five that shall become one!”
“Excellent, Lord Razorclaw,” said the leftmost councilor, the one with the claws of a lobster. “We can at last begin.”
“Now wait just a slaggin’ minute!” said Snarl. “We’re not doing anything until we get some answers!”
“You are not obligated to receive any,” snapped the center councilor.
“Now, now, Ram Horn,” said the rightmost councilor. “Perhaps we can entertain them. After all, our future Beast King stands among them.”
Sludge looked confused. “Future Beast King? What are you talking about?”
The same councilor bowed his head. “How easily our history is forgotten. Of course, you hail from Cybertron and thus would not be privy to the knowledge of how the Kingdom of Eukaris first came to be.”
“Countless centuries ago,” began the leftmost councilor, “the world that would become known as Eukaris was discovered by our ancestor Onyx Prime, who ignited the hot spot of his Titan Chela to bring forth the first generation of Eukarians.” He gestured to the councilor opposite him, next to Ram Horn. “It was from this well that Elder Cicadacon emerged, and he would go on to bear witness to the history that unfolded.”
“Indeed, Sea Clamp. The first to lead us was the Beast King Volcanicus,” continued Cicadacon. “The mightiest of us all, he was unique in his ability to divide himself into three separate beast modes, each one representative of the various walks of Eukarian life. It was that demonstration of unity and power that earned him the mantle of ruler.”
“I thought Domitius Major was the first Beast King,” Swoop murmured.
Ram Horn snorted. “Classic revisionism by your Primes. When the War of the Primes broke out, Volcanicus naturally sided with Onyx Prime, and it was for that reason that the other Primes had him assassinated. His lieutenant Domitius thus sided with the victor of the war, and when Eukaris was recolonized by Nova Prime, Volcanicus was effectively erased from history as Domitius took his place in the history books.”
“But Domitius Major lacked the same strength as Volcanicus,” said Sea Clamp. “It was for that reason that the Fateweavers rightfully declared Volcanicus’s kin, Magmatron, to be the rightful heir to the throne, and thus he took it back from the pretender.”
Grimlock grunted. “So what does any of this have to do with us?”
Cicadacon smiled. “When Volcanicus fell, he was believed to have perished. However, the Fateweavers foretold in their web of prophecies that he would be reborn and one day return to Eukaris to reunite the warring clans. At first, I had believed this to refer to Magmatron, who indeed united us and even bore an appearance similar to Volcanicus. But ever since his death, I have come to interpret their prophecy… differently.”
Grimlock stared at the three councilors incredulously as he slowly picked up on the meaning of their words. “No. You’re crazy. I’m not some fraggin’ reincarnation of your made-up demigod.”
“Are you not?” asked Sea Clamp. “Then why else have you always been present for every major event of our people’s history within the last century? From fighting in the Beast Wars to the return and fall of Magmatron to even here and now, on a planet far from Eukaris… you have always been there.”
Slag sneered. “Yeah, ‘cos he’s an idiot who always wants to help these blasted Maximals even when they don’t deserve it! All of you beasts are always getting up to trouble and we’re always the ones who have to save you!”
“Exactly!” Cicadacon exclaimed. “It is not just Grimlock but all five of you so-called Dinobots. Clearly you are meant to be together… which can only mean that Volcanicus lives on through you as well!”
“Oh, give me a break,” Snarl muttered. “That’s the biggest load of claptrap I’ve heard in a while.”
Sea Clamp shrugged. “Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t. Ultimately, there is only one way to find out.” He gestured a claw to the central chasm. “This fortress, which we discovered in our exploration of this planet, contains strange and unusual powers; powers that are beyond even our understanding. What we do know is that it can grant the ability of combination. Observe.”
Suddenly, the three councilors doffed their ceremonial attire and joined hands. Parts shifted and rotated as the three of them merged together, creating a monstrous fusion that towered over the other occupants of the chamber. From its large white head, a purple glossa extended from its mouth and slithered.
“Behold… Tripredacus!” the bestial combiner roared, its voice a fusion of its three components. “And now… bring forth Volcanicus!”
“Oh, no!” Slag exclaimed. “Ain’t no way are we jumping into that pit!”
Without warning, Razorclaw and his four fellow Predacons transformed and merged as well, taking on the form of the titanic Predaking. With one fell swoop of his arm, the five Dinobots were knocked off their feet and sent plummeting into the chasm below….
* * *
“I heard someone go this way! Come on!”
Paddock winced to himself as he, Wheelie, and Slash ran through the corridors of the Predacon fortress, the hallways being too small and tight for either of the Autobots’ alternate modes. “I think they’re getting close,” he whispered. “We really need to pick up the pace!”
“Okay, okay. Here’s one!” Slash stopped at a cell door and picked the lock with her claw. It opened and a rhinoceros came barreling out. “Hi, Rhinox!”
The large Maximal snorted in acknowledgment. “Have you freed any of the others?”
“Not yet. Predacons are close behind.”
“I’ll hold them off for you. Try to free as many of them as you can!” With that, Rhinox went charging down the hall, heading in the direction of the approaching Predacons. He turned a corner and within minutes Paddock heard screaming as the rhinoceros trampled right through them.
“Come on, let’s hurry,” he urged the other two and they continued on their way. Slash occasionally stopped to open more cell doors, releasing the likes of Airazor, Cheetor, and Rattrap. Before long, a war was brewing in the hallways as Maximal clashed with Predacon.
As they turned a corner, the trio was forced to come to an abrupt halt as they came face to face with three Predacons. Paddock recognized their leader as the one called Dinobot, who carried a spinning blade in his hand. With him was a stocky purple Predacon with thick armor and a green floating wasp.
“Well, well,” Dinobot said with a grin. “Look what we have here.”
“I call dibs on the orange one,” said the purple Predacon.
“Oooh! Wazzpinator looks forward to finally blowing up some Autobots!” chimed in the green wasp.
“Scrap,” Paddock muttered. “Let’s double back.”
He turned to head back down the hallway only for a massive Tyrannosaurus rex to appear, stomping in from around the corner. Upon seeing the three Autobots, a sinister grin crossed the dinosaur’s features.
“There you are,” Tyrannocon chuckled. “Looks like fun time is over.”
Paddock drew his blaster as he stepped in between the Predacon and his two comrades. “Get behind me,” he said to Wheelie and Slash. “I’ll hold her off.”
“And what about the other three?” asked Slash.
“Uh, see if you can deal with them, I guess.”
Dinobot snorted. “This is hardly a fair fight, Tyrannocon. We already outnumber them; there is no need to bring your might into this.”
Tyrannocon snarled. “Slag off, Dinobot. I’ve already been robbed of my glory. Don’t take the fun out of this for me!”
“This isn’t about fun,” Dinobot snapped. “You speak of glory, yet there is no honor in the glory that you seek!”
“Who cares about honor? I just wanna tear these Autobots to shreds!”
With a thunderous roar, Tyrannocon lunged at Paddock, jaws snapping. The Autobot agent fired his gun, managing to hit the T-rex in the nose, which only served to further infuriate the Predacon. Tyrannocon then swung her body around and her tail struck Paddock in the chest, sending him flying off his feet and knocking him into Wheelie and Slash. As the three Autobots fell to the ground, Tyrannocon transformed to her robot mode and aimed her tail cannon at the fallen trio.
“I already tire of this,” the Predacon roared. “Say hello to your maker for me!”
“Wait!” Dinobot stepped forward. “They are already beaten! Let us just take them back to their cells!”
“So they can escape again? I don’t think so.”
“The Tripredacus Council wants them kept alive. If they wanted them dead, they would have ordered it.”
“I am past caring about what the Council thinks.”
With a snarl, Dinobot charged forward and threw himself at Tyrannocon. Knocked off balance, Tyrannocon fired her cannon and the plasma bolt ended up flying over the three Autobots and went straight towards Waspinator, whose body exploded upon impact.
“Noooo! Why universe hate—”
The rest of the hapless Predacon’s words were drowned out by the deafening roar that Tyrannocon let out as she grabbed Dinobot and threw him off of her, sending him crashing into Skold.
“TRAITOR! I will make sure the Council has your head as well for daring to interfere with the execution of the enemy!”
Dinobot responded by transforming into his beast mode and pouncing again at his fellow Predacon, who converted to her alternate mode as well. As the two dinosaurs clashed, Paddock pulled himself back to his feet and helped Wheelie and Slash back at up.
“Come on. Let’s get a move on while they’re distracted.”
“Our journey may already be coming to an end, I fear,” Wheelie said ominously. “Something terrible draws near.”
Paddock frowned. “What makes you say that?”
It was only when he spoke the words that he realized something: the floor beneath them was shaking. Even the walls were trembling, with pebbles of stone dropping onto their heads… and it was not just because of the two Predacons fighting behind them.
Getting down onto one knee, Paddock placed a servo on the floor and used his sensors to analyze the vibrations that were coming from them in order to determine where they were coming from. When he was done, he looked up at Wheelie and Slash with a concerned expression.
“What is it?” Wheelie asked, forgoing his usual manner of speech. “Is the fortress coming down?”
“No,” Paddock said. “It’s going up.”
