"Well... that was something." Ultra Magnus commented. "A new Maximal has joined the Beast Wars... of his own accord, that is."
"Still, I hope he can come around his obsession for Rampage and help the Maximals with a due cause." Jetfire stated.
"We shall see. Omega Scion?" Prime inquired.
"Very well, prepare in three...two...one..."
In the Maximal Base, Rhinox was making circuitry and frames based on their technology and that of the Autobots.
"One last connection, and we should be able to use Teletraan 1's force field to protect the base." Rhinox stated, making certain the lever he was testing would consistently connect to the ancient circuitry he was using.
"Let's hope so. The Preds have been blowing holes in our doors on a daily basis." Cheetor replied, assessing the damages caused by a recent Predacon attack just moments afterwards.
"What do you expect them to do? Ring the doorbell?" Rattrap questioned.
"Ready, Rhinox?" Primal asked.
"So far, so..."
Once Rhinox attempted to test the device capable to using Teletraan-1's systems to protect their base, everyone braced. But it backfired, resulting in smoke blown into Rhinox's face.
"Autobot tech is different from ours. Mixing the two is... tricky." Rhinox explained after wiping off smoke from his face.
"I wouldn't blame him. Our technology has taken eons to develop. Eons they may not have at the moment. Especially when their priority is protecting us from the Predacons." Perceptor pointed out.
"Which means that they must need an alternative to defend themselves." Prime said. "I think I know what it is."
"Well, so much for Plan A." Primal groused.
"Does that mean that there's a Plan B?" Rattrap asked.
"We have to salvage Sentinel." Primal stated.
"Are you loopy? The Axalon's in itty bitty pieces. And uh, underwater." Rattrap reminded.
"Brilliant. They need Depth Charge for that underwater mission, yet he still hunts for Rampage no less." Ultra Magnus commented.
"Which is why we'll need special help." Primal turned to their recently activated console to call by comms "Optimus to Silverbolt, do you copy?"
As the aforementioned Fuzor was on a routine flight, he replied to Primal's call "Silverbolt here."
"Any sign of Depth Charge yet?" Primal questioned.
"I am afraid not. I believe he may be inside Megatron's jamming field." Silverbolt replied, flying around still with no sign of Depth Charge to be found in his vicinity.
"Abort search and return to base immediately." Primal ordered.
"So much for Plan B." Rattrap groused. "I knew we couldn't count on that waterlogged wirehead."
"Someone here has common sense..." Arcee muttered, arising concern for her colleagues.
"There might be another way..." Primal opened up a suggestion. Which confused Rattrap until he stared before a makeshift subsible the size of a golf ball but with a large propeller at the back and an armored frame.
The Autobots raised eyebrows...
"With Depth Charge unable to respond to command, Rattrap will have to carry out the salvage operation himself." Prime stated.
"It's what I loved about you... you always know what's going on." Elita praised lovingly.
It made Ultra Magnus pretend to ignore it and Ratchet to shake his head.
"What the heck is it... besides ugly?" Rattrap asked.
"It's a sub-aquatic stealth vessel, garbage-breath." Blackarachnia replied for him. "It's powered completely by hand. No noise, no energy signature." while inspecting the subsible for any faults she may have left. Upon seeing it operating in optimal capacity, she left it as it is.
"Really? That thing's too small, I bet Silver-Bee here can pilot it." joked Smokescreen. He got slapped in the face by the aforementioned warrior for that limmerick.
"Clever." Rhinox commented.
"It should do the job." Primal said next.
"Naturally. So when do I leave?" Blackarachnia inquired upon checking the computer.
"Who will you turn to now? You're not welcome with the Predacons anymore, and I doubt you would last a thousand years being independent, unlike Tarantulas." stated Megatron.
"Except Tarantulas was a double agent, yet he seems to not be able to establish contact with the Tripredacus Council so far after Ravage's destruction." Onslaught pointed out.
"That may be so, or he's looking forward for his personal agenda."
"YOU don't." Primal refused.
"Unless you want to break Maxie-Bolt's heart of your passing." Sideswipe commented.
"NO!!!!" Jazz wailed dramatically.
"Ohhhhh, no!" Rattrap objected. "If you think that I'm getting inside that Predacon beach ball, you got your wires crossed, fearless leader!"
Arcee shook her head in embarassment. "Stop being a coward and do your leader's orders already!"
"Blackarachnia wouldn't know what to look for, and you're the only one small enough to fit in it." Primal assessed.
"No way!" Rattrap still persisted in objection. "I ain't no water rat."
Arcee couldn't get any more embarassed than that.
"Without a shield program to guard the base, we're trapped in a defensive position. This war could go on forever. We'll never get back to Cybertron." Primal clarified.
Reluctantly, Rattrap gave in. "You just had to say the "C" word, didn't you? Okay, okay." he relented. He looked at Cheetor smirking and questioned "What are you grinning about, Litter Butt?"
"I was just thinking, with you inside, that would make a swell cat toy." Cheetor replied, imagining himself playing with the subsible like it was a yarn ball. Rhinox chuckled.
"Don't tell me he's planning to do the house cat routine." Knockout groused. He hated cats.
But he got clouted by Bulkhead, who was a lover of cats himself.
In the territory where the Axalon's wreckage remained, Silverbolt ferried the subsible where Rattrap was piloting. "We're approaching the target area. How are you faring in there, Rattrap?" Silverbolt asked to the nervous Rattrap.
"I'm... I'm cramped, I'm airsick." Rattrap replied.
Arcee facepalmed. "Grow some manifolds already!"
"-and the next time that big ape asks me to do something for him, man, I'm going to shove my blaster so far up his-"
"Target dead ahead. Prepare for drop." Silverbolt cuts off.
"Drop? Can't we talk this-" Silverbolt dropped the subsible to the waterfall, sending Rattrap plunging into the waters below.
Knockout chuckled. "Ooooh man, I just hoped the water's not an ocean of blood, Rattrap has a camera in that crate and there would be a fish looking to eat him alive."
Everyone was creeped out by what Knockout suggested.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man, this thing had better work!" Rattrap struggled with the controls. When he was able to operate it, he began to take back what he said "This is kinda... cool." as he began his journey to navigate through the underwater to the Axalon wreckage.
Bumblebee felt gladdened at the sound of that music ringing in his audio receptors.
"Silver-Bee's on a mood swing again, Boss-Bot." Jazz nudged to Prime.
"Silverbolt to Rattrap. What is your status?" the Fuzor hailed.
"Just call me Ratfish." Rattrap replied. "Looks like that Pred friend of yours finally did something right."
"Yes, my beloved has many skills." SIlverbolt complimented.
Silverbolt wanted to rip his optics out. He still didn't trust Blackarachnia.
"Do you see any sign of wreckage?" Silverbolt asked.
"Yeah, plenty of it. All in itty bitty...hold on." Rattrap replied. "I think we just got lucky."
"You found Sentinel?" yet unbeknownst to Silverbolt, he was observed by a Predacon surveiliance drone.
"Preds. They're here for Sentinel as well." Ultra Magnus deduced.
"But who could be nearby?" Ratchet asked.
"Rampage." Prime answered.
"Could be. I've located the ship. I'm going in to check it out. Just give me a few nano-kicks." Rattrap saw the wreckage and converged towards the ship, passing through the halls he wandered about before the Axalon's destruction. Onward and passing through a school of fish, Rattrap then moved on course of the core of Sentinel "Standing by." and began to scan for the core until it was spotted "Bingo!"
"Sentinel... named after Sentinel Prime himself... the automated defenses of the Axalon, yet intact..." Prime mused.
"No way it could be this easy." He prepared to extract the core with a retractable claw, but an eel sprawled out and hissed at Rattrap, scaring him.
Most of the audienced jumped back a bit to their seats out of fright of the jumpscare.
"Get a hold of yourself, it's just some kinda nutty snake thing, nothing to panic about." Rattrap collected his nerves and attempted the extraction, but the radar picks up enemy frequency in the midst of the Axalon wreckage. "Now... it's time to panic. Get me out of here..." he tried to flee with the subsible, but he was soon caught by Rampage in Beast Form.
"Rampage! Get outta there, Rattrap!" Warpath yelled.
"How droll. Rat in a can." Rampage's claws began to crack and pressure at the subsible, damaging it progressively, causing water to leak out of the watercraft.
Rattrap panicked and hailed "Rattrap to Silverbolt, I got a situation here!"
"Rattrap! I... I am not reading you!" Silverbolt was unable to read Rattrap's plea for help. "What's wrong?"
"Oh goody, Rattrap's too far from Silverbolt that he can't get a response from him." Smokescreen stated.
"Come out, come out. Time to play." Rampage taunted.
Until Depth Charge arrived on the scene, yelling "You wanna play, creep? Try me!" but he didn't seem to come to Rattrap's rescue. He fired at Rampage, forcing Rattrap off him.
"Depth Charge! Oh, man, I never thought I'd be glad to see him again." Rattrap gleefully spouted.
"Yeah, but I don't think he came to your rescue, vermin." Blast Off pointed out.
"Better clear the area, mouse." Depth Charge suggested. "X and I play rough."
"No can do, Captain Minnow." Rattrap refused "I'm on a mission. But you keep that crab off my back for a few cycles, and I will be outta your way."
"Deal, but make it quick." Depth Charge agreed and swam off to find Rampage.
"Rattrap! Come in! What's going on down there?" Silverbolt tried to hail, but no reply from Rattrap.
"What are you going to do now that your rat isn't coming back?" Thunderblast taunted.
All while Megatron sits and observes in the Darksyde. "Ah, yes, what indeed?" then he turned to his minions to relay orders "Megatron to Inferno."
"What is your command, Royalty?" Inferno asked.
"Well, it seems something has interfered with the Maximal attempt to salvage Sentinel. Move into designated positions."
"Yes, Royalty." Inferno rallied Megatron's minions to their positions.
"Oh yes, all while your minions play cards awaiting your orders." Swindle snarked. Cards and gambling was his forte.
"This is the last time you'll interfere with my fun." Rampage prepares a torpedo to fire at Depth Charge.
"Big talk for a crab cake." He retorted, firing a torpedo of his own to match his archnemesis', causing an explosion that shakes up the entire water.
"Jeez, all that fighting while Rattrap's working on getting Sentinel? Quite the beef they got going on there." Ironhide commented.
"Oh, man, nothing like comfortable working conditions to motivate you." Rattrap moved back to Sentinel's core console and extracted it. "Got it!" but when the subsible shook up again by another explosion. "Oh, man, time to blow the ballast and get outta here!" and departed immediately as the Axalon wreckage suddenly capsized and fell onto Rampage. He managed to get up on the surface as Silverbolt flew around.
"There he is!" Silverbolt regrouped with Rattrap, who asked "Well, where the heck you been, Bird Dog?"
"You got Sentinel. Oh, good work!" Silverbolt praised. "What happened down there?"
"What happened?" Rattrap scoffed. "Rampage happened! Him and Depth Charge are dukin' it out on the bottom of the lake right now. Now, pull me outta here, will ya?" he requested.
"Yes, uh, yes, of course." Once Silverbolt lifted the subersible, he moaned "This load is rather heavy!" while flying back to base.
"Not a good idea. Without backup or anyone to cover you, you'll be exposed to the Predacons converging on your location anytime soon." Jetfire stated.
"Waspinator help!" the wasp Predacon transformed and fired his weapon, separating Silverbolt and Rattrap, boasting "Waspinator one, doggy-bot zippo!"
"Told ya." snarked Jetfire.
Silverbolt transformed while Rattrap crashed like a pinball, landing, dazed as a result.
Underwater, Rampage pushed off the debris off him yelling "Rampage- TERRORIZE!" as he transformed "Now where did he..." as he noticed Depth Charge's tail beneath debris. He mocked "Buried and helpless. Life is good. Come out, come out..." as he inspected closer, pulling at the tail. After pulling the tail, he heard a voice "Shoulda looked closer... sucker." Depth Charge taunted. He then kicked Rampage across him as the latter transforms then fired another missile, turning Rampage overhead again.
"You got that crab, Depth Charge! Blow that crab away!" Warpath cheered.
"Rip his legs off! Rip him apart!" Grimlock cheered.
"Comin' at ya... X." Depth Charge then pursued Rampage attempting to flee.
Elsewhere, the Predacons inspected the wrecked subsible as Quickstrike picked up Sentinel's core.
"Get this back to the boss, bug-eyes. I'll clean up these here Maxies." Quickstrike ordered Waspinator.
"Sentinel make Megatron happy, make Waspinator happy too." the self-referring Predacon chortled as he carried the core back on flight.
"Sure was nice o' them bots to bring 'er up for us, just like the boss said they would." Quickstrike approached the weakened Silverbolt.
"Why isn't there anyone going to help them out?!" Bulkhead asked.
"With Rampage and Depth Charge brawling it out and with no help coming to the Maximal team there, it seems victory will be in the Predacon favor." Megatron stated.
"Let's finish this on dry land." Depth Charge then picked up Rampage by the pincers, swinging him around Mario-style and threw him upwards above water.
"I'll give your regards to sugar-bot." Quickstrike sneered, but he noticed something at the distance "What the slaggin'..." he didn't even dodge in time as Rampage then landed on Quickstrike.
The Renegatrons laughed their afts off at seeing the comedic show to pass.
"Reminds us of how we sat on Starscream as Bruticus, eh Onslaught?" Vortex reminded.
"Yeah, that was a lot of fun..." the Combaticon leader replied.
Quickstrike squealed being squished beneath Rampage's colossal weight "I... I been lookin' everywhere for ya."
Silverbolt regained his bearings to see Depth Charge surfacing up ground level and harkened "Quickly! We must... pursue Waspinator."
"Outta my way, I got a job to finish." Depth Charge rudely shoves Silverbolt aside for standing in his way.
"Hey! That's rude!" Bumblebee shouted.
"I don't think Depth Charge cares, Bee." Cliffjumper replied.
"NO!" Silverbolt objected "Waspinator has the Sentinel Control Module. If Megatron gets his hands on it..."
"That's your war." Depth Charge throttles Silverbolt "I've got my own."
"Oh- can't you save your revenge for once to help your fellow Maxies?!" Sideswipe stated.
"He can't. Not while he's close to putting an end to Rampage." Dreadwing stated.
"Perhaps you should remember what it means to be a Maximal, if you dare call yourself that again!" Silverbolt argued.
"Ehh, save your voice box, Bolt." Rattrap interfered waking up. "He's got what he wants. Come on, let's get after Waspinator."
To pursue Waspinator, Rattrap rode on Silverbolt to fly after Waspinator.
"Sorta like the scouts and warriors when they can't fly, do they?" exclaimed Air Raid, rubbing his shoulder where Bumblebee rode him.
Depth Charge prepared an Energon switchblade and turned but cursed "NO!" when Rampage was nowhere in sight.
"Megatron will reward Waspinator for victory over Maximals. Maybe give Waspinator vacation!"
"Yes, I will, perhaps your vacation will be serving me in my luxury apartment for a week." Megatron sarcastically noted.
"Yeah, looks like the module's slowin' him down." Rattrap assessed upon seeing Waspinator's reduced speed when flying with Sentinel's core. "You got enough left for a power dive?" he asked Silverbolt.
"Why, yes, but what-"
"Just get as close as you can." Rattrap cuts Silverbolt off as he takes aim.
"Waspinator having good day. Not get shot once." ironically, he did get shot once by Rattrap.
"Oh, the irony." Breakdown taunted.
"Let's do it!" Rattrap hanged from Silverbolt's paws as he grabbed the Sentinel module when they dove down to reach it.
"Yes! Back in Maxie hands where it belongs!" Bumblebee cheered.
"Hey, we sure buzzed his beehive! Hey, nice flyin', Bolt!" until they flew right into a log pushed down as an obstacle by Inferno, seperating them again and accosting Sentinel right out of their hands. Thankfully, Silverbolt managed to catch it but Inferno caught up with him.
"OOOOOH!" said the audience.
"That's gotta hurt." Elita stated.
"Give me the module or buuurrrn, Maximal!" Inferno threatened.
"NOOO, just burn him already, ant!" Thunderblast chortled.
"Don't give it to him Maxie-Bolt! Just run!"
"You do realize Inferno would shoot him down before he'd even flee, right, Smokescreen?"
"Shut it, Sideswipe!"
Seeing Rattrap preparing his gadget, Silverbolt feigned "You want it, Predacon? Here it is. I'm tired of carrying it."
"No tricks, or I'll destroy you." Just as Inferno reached for the module, Rattrap caught it like a fisherman. "I'll take that!" he transformed and boosted off.
"Stand and fight, vermin!" Inferno cursed firing at Rattrap.
"Oh yeah? Shrivel up and die, ant!" Rattrap kicked up smoke at his face and accelerated.
"Get outta there Rattrap! Get back to base!" no one knew who shouted that.
While on the hunt for Rampage, Depth Charge hears gunfire not far from where he is. "Sounds like Primal's bozos got trouble. Depth Charge- MAXIMIZE!" and transformed, taking off to the air.
While accelerating hard from heavy gunfire from Inferno, Rattrap tried making his way to the land bridge, but Inferno noticed and fired, destroying the bridge. Rattrap was too late as the bridge fell apart, taking him falling to the ground, but Silverbolt was around to catch him in time.
"We did it! Let's get this gizmo back to base-" until they crashed into Depth Charge who was flying to intercept.
Starscream laughed the loudest. "Pathetic."
Thunderblast just went along with the laughter.
The Maximals recuperated briefly before they saw Inferno taking off with the Sentinel module at his hands.
"Sentinel is ours! The Royalty will be pleased!" Inferno chortled.
Thunderblast smirked; she accomplished what she can for her god, Megatron.
"Oh, man! We almost had it!" Rattrap whined.
Back at base, the Maximal team had to return to deliver the bad news to Primal. "Man! If it wasn't for this fish-faced crab cook, we'd have Sentinel right now."
"It was an accident." Depth Charge retorted.
"You ran into Rattrap and Silverbolt. That was anything but an accident." pointed out Skyquake.
"Oh yeah? When Bolt asked you for help, you turned him down. Was that an accident too?" Rattrap challenged.
"Is that true?" Primal questioned.
"I was kinda busy with Rampage." Depth Charge replied.
"If you weren't damaged, I'd scramble your circuits." Primal stated sternly, apparently despondent at Depth Charge for indirectly contributing to their failure.
Elita sighed. She knew Prime had tried SO HARD to talk Goldmine off his path for revenge, to no success.
"Don't let that stop you, Primal." Depth Charge sneered.
"Let me take him, Optimus!" Rattrap offered, but he was held back by Rhinox.
"I knew saving your hide was a mistake." Depth Charge derided.
Now the Autobots frowned. Did the Maximals themselves mean that little to Depth Charge?
"Rattrap?" asked Primal.
"Doh, well, yeah, technically he did kinda do that. Thanks." he gratefully said to Depth Charge.
"Looks like you did give us some help after all." Primal stated.
"Don't go gettin' all gushy on me!" Depth Charge backed off.
"I'm not! You also cost us a major strategic advantage." Prime chided. "That's why you can't continue to act as an independent. We need you, Maximal."
Prime deepened his glare, hoping that Depth Charge could see reason.
"I'll think about it." Depth Charge stated. "This crew sure needs something."
"Sentinel, online!" As Megatron laughs after installing Sentinel to the Darksyde. The very automated security that ensured the failures of his assaults of the Axalon is now his.
The Orb cuts off shortly afterwards.