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This fic is Copyright Zinou 1999. All Beast Wars characters and all stuff related are Copyright Hasbro, Mainframe, and stuff, 1999.
(Prequel to All Things Amiss)
But the scene of beauty fell upon narrowed eyes that could appreciate it for no more than a terrain to be studied for strategical advantages. No more than an addition to the thousands of other square miles of land he had seen. No more than a potential battlefield.
The eyes of a warrior -- Dinobot.
Dinobot was on patrol, stalking along the hilly perimeter of an immense crater, scanning the valley below with his sharp eyes. He was careful to keep his footing as he hiked slowly, rocks crumbling occasionally at his sheer weight.
As he surveyed the valley below, a quick flash of something that reflected
the sunlight caught his eyes. Not being able to identify it at such the
distance, he carefully stepped over the edge and began his descent into
the crater to check it out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A while later, as he neared the shiny object, he discovered it was a stasis pod. Apparently, just like all the others, it had crashed. Since it was still closed tight and encrusted with dried mud from past rains, Dinobot assumed that the protoform inside as well as its spark had been lost.
He continued closer.
It had been over five lunar cycles since the alien device's signal had caused all the pods to crash from their planetary orbit. If the pod hadn't done anything by now, it probably never would. Dinobot merely shrugged to himself. Though the pod wouldn't provide any new recruits, he knew that his Maximal comrades always desired the spare parts that the pods provided. He activated his internal comlink.
"Dinobot to Maximal base.." he snarled.
There was nothing but a bleep and static in response.
"Maximal base, do you read?"
More static.
After several more failed attempts at communication, Dinobot gave up. He neared the stasis pod even further as if to see if he could carry it himself. He was surprised by a sudden: Click! Beep!
His eyes narrowed in slight surprise. He approached further. Was the pod still functional? If it was, why had it before not scanned a life form and completed the protoform within? He reached out to touch one of the tarnished panels. Suddenly, with a low drone, and another confirming beep, a computer screen clicked upwards from the pod's small console.
The pod's computer said in a monotone voice:
"Maximal energy signature detected. Reinitiating DNA scanning and replication procedures."
After a short pause and apparent problems on the pods' part, it murmured again:
"Unit -- Dinobot -- Maximal; begin repair sequence upon pod circuitry immediately."
Dinobot looked surprised, eyes narrowing further as he looked the console over. He had no knowledge whatsoever on what to do in such a case. Brows furrowing and lifting, he hesitated. The computer then droned again:
"Unit -- Dinobot -- Maximal -- begin pod circuitry repair immediately or loss of protoform spark imminent."
Dinobot's eyes widened slightly, having no idea what to do, but feeling some degree of responsibility -- after all, he had activated it by coming near it. He transformed, and then stooped over the console, trying to figure out what he should do. His robotic claws were nervously suspended over the controls as his mind raced in thought.
A few seconds later, however, he was alerted by another sound. The high pitched whine of powerful jet engines. Dinobot's optics raised skyward in query for a moment, before falling upon the descending form of Megatron, in beast mode.
The pod's computer droned again: "Unit -- Dinobot -- Maximal -- begin pod repai--" he silenced it with a whack of his sword as he glanced to his approaching archenemy.
Megatron landed some distance away, apparently having not yet seen Dinobot. He started slowly in his clunky T-Rex gait towards the shorting pod, which still beeped insistently.
Dinobot then stood to full height, glaring towards Megatron.
Megatron paused, his beastmodian optics widened, and he grinned, placing his four short T-Rex fingers together in thought.
"Ahh, yes, Dinobot.." Megatron blandly began," .. how fancy meeting you here." He murmured, feigning surprise. "Oh, and look, with a stasis pod no less." His optics narrowed. "Stand down, you treacherous cretin. That pod is MINE, now."
Dinobot drew his sword, glaring towards Megatron.
"Treacherous indeed," he snarled, preparing to attack.
The face-off was cut short by another one of the pod's insistent warnings, this time more imminent.
Megatron's attention was averted to the pod, optics narrowing to slits.
"Oh nooo.." he almost hissed, taking a few stomped steps towards the pod. He glared towards Dinobot, whom glared back. Dinobot held his sword at ready and was crouched to strike.
"Fool," Megatron sneered, " .. can you not see that the helpless protoform within is dying? Step aside, Dinobot, and let someone whom knows what he's doing do something .. worthwhile."
Megatron jerked transformation, getting closer to the pod.
Dinobot just watched, form tense, robotic fangs bared with a low hiss.
For a moment yet again they faced off, looking one another in the optics.
Megatron wasn't really in the mood. He'd come here to get the pod, that was that. End of story. He reached to the holster on his 'belt' and drew his tail gun, optics narrowing.
Dinobot, seeing Megatron's tail gun lift slightly and start to charge with a low whine, struck first and fired his optic lasers.
Megatron's firing arm was struck, but his transmetal form seemed unfazed by the blow. He chuckled lowly, firing off in return a few haphazard pot shots, striking Dinobot's less than optimum armor and sending him flying backwards into the brush. Apparently he sent Dinobot in unconsciousness too, for the only sound that resonated from the blast was the faint crackle of disturbed plant life.
Megatron scoffed lowly in apparent disgust, and normally would've gone after, but his mind appeared to be on other things as he tapped away commands on the pod's keyboard.
He turned to a small metal plate, and ripped it off, using his brute strength to his advantage. Beneath the plating was the delicate circuitry of the pod -- and the dislodged Maximal chip. The visage of the Maximal chip seemed to stare blankly up to Megatron's disapproving gaze, as he plucked it from the circuit board and tossed it aside.
He then produced from a slot in his side two other chips -- one the greenish Predacon programming chip and one that appeared to be homemade, that was marked 'transmetal II'. With a delicate yet assertive thrust, he placed both chips into the awaiting circuit board.
The pod's computer mindlessly accepted these 'repairs', and without further delay, started to scan for an acceptable life form of which to replicate the protoform within after. The DNA scanners' housing slid aside, and the spindly scanner stood erect, its yellowish beam of scan doing a sweep of the nearby, wildlife rich area.
Almost as if on some sort of haunting cue, a hyena in the distance whooped.
Megatron just looked on, pleased, as the pod did so.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the brush, however, the distance away Dinobot had been blasted, he laid there, head leaning forwards slightly as mech fluid dripped from the wound of the plasma cannon.
"Beast .. mode.." he hissed, clunking back to his raptor-esque self.
He struggled to right himself, internal damages having been severe.
"Initiate internal repairs..." he snarled to his computer, which beeped acknowledgment. He then staggered to his feet, hearing the pod being activated.
"Oh no.." he grimaced, seeing that Megatron would soon have another Predacon troop unless he did something, and fast.
Slowly, and staggering in his gait, he made his way towards Megatron, watching where he placed each step as not to make a noise. Looking to the ground, however, he saw the Maximal chip that Megatron had tossed aside. Knowing, at least, that this was necessary for the protoform to be a Maximal, he placed in on a nearby rock with his teeth, as for he wouldn't lose it.
He squinted slightly, now just upon Megatron. With a low growl, he sprang from the brush, clawing his way onto Megatron's arm and side furiously.
Megatron surprisedly bellowed out in response to the sudden attack, and swatted his other arms' tail gun at Dinobot. Dinobot was just able to jump off of Megatron and out of the way of the blow, landing on the ground ungracefully, tense and ready to strike. Glancing over to the pod, he saw it completing the final replication processes -- time was running out. He stared back up to Megatron, which, judging by the look on his face, didn't want to mess around.
Megatron aimed his tail gun again squarely at Dinobot, and fired it -- but Dinobot leapt aside in avoidance. Dinobot, as he was near the rock of which he had placed the chip on, grabbed the chip in his claws, and made a rolling dive towards the pod.
Megatron fired a few more shots at Dinobot, but stopped as he got near the pod.
Dinobot knew Megatron wouldn't shoot at the pod.
Megatron knew that Dinobot knew this.
It made him furious.
Megatron jerked transformation back to beast mode, charging at Dinobot with a growl.
Dinobot quickly snipped at the Predacon chip, dislodging it, and put the Maximal chip in its place. He was about to pull out the other, unidentified chip, but was suddenly knocked over by a forceful blow.
He'd just barely avoided being caught in the jaws of Megatron, the only thing keeping him from having been caught being his quick response to jump back.
Megatron, however, jumped up and took briefly to flight, allowing him to literally get the drop on Dinobot.
Dinobot tried to duck away again from being attacked overhead, but being that Megatron's aerial maneuverability was high, he hadn't a chance of dodging.
Megatron bent down his neck in a sharp arc, grabbing between his teeth the hapless traitor.
He used his massive T-Rex jaws in the way of which they were designed -- to crush. He grabbed Dinobot by the back of his neck, and started to bite down, relentlessly doing so.
Dinobot couldn't do much about it, being the position he was caught in, and struggled to get out of the grip. But it was to no avail, the jaws kept on closing around the back of his neck.
Megatron grinned to himself in malicious pleasure as he felt the circuitry and wiring of the Maximal traitor in his grasp grind and crunch. Dinobot tried to gasp out, "Maxim.. maxim.... MAXIM..." But his voice kept choking out on him as the pain became unbearable.
Back and forth he flailed, each effort losing strength.
Megatron just kept his teeth on the traitor, and growled muffledly, "You won't ruin my plans this time, Dinobot, nooo..."
Dinobot's raptor form went limp in the grip of the metallic purple jaws,
eyes glazing over and mech fluid dripping from his open mouth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In all this barbaric struggle, however, the pod, its progress, and its
inhabitant had been left to itself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Megatron suddenly felt something land on his back, and then a sharp sting of intense pain.
He screamed out, his own mouth opening wide, as he dropped Dinobot to the ground. He turned his head around to see what was on his back to cause such pain -- and into his optics gazed the bronze eyes of a female hyena-bot. Her body was slim and lithe, and she donned a black bodysuit. Currently, her energon blade was just being drawn out by her clawed paws from being sliced into Megatron's body.
She did a backflip off of Megatron and landed on the ground perfectly.
The anthropoid hyena-bot growled, "Step away, fiend! You won't take such advantage over the wounded."
Megatron's optics narrowed, not only from his wince of pain but from curiosity as well. Mech fluid dripped from his jaws.
"Ahh .. you must be the new Predacon.." he murmured lowly, obviously have not seen Dinobot switch the chips, "Welcome. Oh, and a fiend I am not, I assure you." He glanced to the limp velociraptor who was strewn on the ground. "He is our enemy, yesss, and I was merely preventing him from damaging you, my dear. Tell me, what is your name?"
The hyena-bot warily eyed Megatron for a moment, gaze trailing to the wounded Dinobot.. Approaching him, under the stern gaze of Megatron, she looked over her shoulder and murmured, "Zinou."
Megatron's brows lifted slightly, bridging his four fingers together in thought, being only briefly interrupted by another wince of pain.
"I see. Well, Zinou, I do welcome you to the Preda--" he paused, seeing the red Maximal symbol present on Zinou's shoulder as she made her way towards Dinobot. " -- cons."
His optics narrowed in thought. If he didn't act quickly, Zinou's security circuits would come online and she would figure out who was who. His teeth gritted. He must not lose this new troop to the Maximals!
She was his, having been successfully rendered with the inclusion of transmetal II in her superstructure.
Megatron stalked up alongside Zinou as she knelt beside Dinobot, looking his limp form over.
"Zinou," Megatron began, "It would appear that this Maximal has interfered with your creation from the pod, and you seem to have been .. mistakenly .. programmed into one of them. If you'd just change your command codes, to that of a Predacon, we can be on our way back to base, as well as having this.. " he looked to Dinobot hatefully, "Traitor as a prize."
Zinou's eyes narrowed. "How can I trust you, fighting as unfairly as you were?"
She continued to look over Dinobot, examining the wounds that had been inflicted severely upon the back of his neck and shoulder areas.
Megatron knew he had to act -- faster. "Ahh, yes, I see that the faulty programming that this traitor input is already taking hold -- quickly, while there's still a chance. You must trust me and change your command codes, before you become a Maximal.. " he paused, growling slightly, "..completely."
Zinou's muzzle wrinkled. She continued looking over Dinobot, seeming preoccupied with seeing if he was OK. She sighed lowly, and bent down, with much strain, picking Dinobot up.
"Very well.....I will comply." she murmured lowly. " Come, let us take him bake to your 'base' to be repaired..."
"Repaired?" Megatron snorted..
Zinou's brows furrowed sharply. "Yes, repaired... I would not leave any one wounded so .. friend or foe.."
Megatron growled lowly. "We would not repair prisoners, female, merely lock them up." He glared to the limp 'raptor that Zinou was carrying, with much difficulty. "And then they would stand trials for their treachery, ESPECIALLY this one."
Zinou looked rather shocked, and as Megatron snapped out the words, he also approached Zinou and her cargo with a snort. In a smooth move she laid Dinobot back down, skidded back slightly, and drew her sword.
She growled. "I cannot possibly be the same kind as you, beast!"
She swiped her sword at Megatron, who drew back, growling. "I would never leave anyone wounded so severely!!" She swiped her sword again, and Megatron merely drew back, becoming angry at his failure.
Megatron sneered. "I .. see. Yes, well let me put it this way... you don't have much of a choice."
He jumped into the air with a powerful spring, activating his jet engines as he swooped towards Zinou as to grab her. Zinou, however, had other things in mind, ducking under the swoop, and jabbing her long energon blade up into Megatron's gut as he flew overhead.
Megatron bellowed out in pain, his flight becoming unstable, as he landed awkwardly to the ground and almost crashed. Mech fluid dripped out of the wound opened in his armor, and he turned back around to Zinou, eyes narrowed with hate.
Zinou wielded her sword. "A Maximal I most obviously am, and always will be, you piece of scum!"
Megatron growled and charged her again, she meeting the blow by dodging aside lithely and popping his snout sharply with a clash of her sword.
She jumped up, bringing her sword down in an arc, slashed across yet more of Megatron' armor. This time, Megatron tried to turn away as to avoid the blow, but instead caught the full force of it along the side of his face. It left a long gash along his snout, and hit some vitals on his neck.
Megatron glowered for a moment, wincing at the sharp pain, hissing his
anger at defeat. He jumped backwards into the air, activating his jet engines
and blasting off, going away as fast as he could...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zinou stood, looking after her 'victory' with gleaming bronze eyes. She sheathed her sword, panting from her exertions. She turned back around and looked to Dinobot, who still laid motionlessly upon the ground.
For some reason, she decided against going back to the base.
Picking him up, she started off towards lands unknown, driven by some instinct.
The anthropoid hyena-bot whom carried the 'raptor disappeared over the horizon.
Possibly never to return to where they called 'home'.
