"Well, it's not every day the Maximals win in every battle they've taken by far..." Ironhide mused. "Just like we do. We can't always win over in every battle we've gone through in the Great War..."

"I hoped Depth Charge would focus on the mission to defeat the Predacons well enough so that he can focus on his revenge on Rampage..." stated Ratchet.

"Time to find out. Omega Scion?" Prime asked.

"Take your seats, prepare your confectionaries. In three...two...one."

In the valley where the protohumans struggled to live as a family of them wander about, a mysterious predator lurks about in the bushes and snatches one of them while they are vulnerable.

The Autobots gasped.

Thunderblast wickedly cackled "YES! Finally, some violence! Feast on those worthless sacks of flesh!"

Such made even Vortex, the resident psychopath of the Combaticons, look sane in comparison.

Their leader, one armed with the very weapon Dinobot had used before his heroic demise looked and stood in defense to intimidate the creature: a utahraptor similar to Dinobot's Beast Form, but pale, and cybernetized as it chased the bigger protohuman with it's laser eyes blazing. When the family was seperated, the protohuman younglings took to hiding.

They felt terrified.

"Oh, thank Primus, they're safe-" Ratchet was about to say.

but not for long as it then broke out of it's cover, snapping it's jaws, terrifying the younglings, but fortunately, help came in the Maximals.

"I stand corrected. Again." Ratchet facepalmed.

"Don't be! Cause help is on the way!" piped up Warpath.

"Protect those children!" Primal ordered.

Silverbolt complied firing his projectiles at the raptor, yet the raptor blasted him down with a point blank blast of his lasers. Primal fired his cannons to knock the raptor to a wall which ended with a boulder falling on it, crushing the monstrous construct.

As soon as they landed, the young protohumans looked at awe before their saviors.

"Just like the humans when they saw us, right?" Bulkhead asked.

"Totally." agreed the young Autobots.

Afterwards, they took to analysis of the creature that attacked the protohumans in their base.

"Hmm... metallurgical analysis shows that component parts are made of Cybertronian alloys." Rhinox stated upon the completion of analysis.

"So, Megatron's behind this." Primal stated.

"Cloning long-dead raptors, infusing them with Transmetal technology. There's possibly others." the rhino Maximal replied.

"Which means... we could have trouble." as Primal stared deep into the new creation of the Predacons.

"How dare you... how dare you..." Prime cursed silently.

The Autobots hated that. The future Megatron was following the former footsteps of his ancestor. One that the current Megatron abandoned long ago.

Megatron was feeling uncomfortable right now.

As Rattrap passed through the halls of the Maximal Base...

[Door opening.]

Rattrap took to cover, where he peeked, seeing Blackarachnia passing by as well.

[Door closed.]

"Hey watch where you're-" Blackarachnia walked by the two protohuman children running about, which caused her to drop the capsule she was carrying. Which slightly fell apart until she bumped into Cheetor. "Hey, whoa!"

"Uh, hi." Cheetor nervously greeted.

"Oh, what is this, a military base, or a day care center for under-evolved bipeds?" Blackarachnia complained, startled by two children who just ran by her.

"Sorry, they're just here until we can find their... tribe." Cheetor explained. After an obviously long silence permeated between the two of them together.

Jazz objected. He hated the "cheating girlfriend/boyfriend" trope.

Silverbolt sighed. "Well, at least Cheetor seemed better."

He got clouted by Jazz himself.

"Let go of me." Blackarachnia demanded pushing Cheeor off him.

"Uh, this is my fault, so lemme help." Cheetor offered. Blackarachnia ignored him.

All while Rattrap looked as Blackarachnia picked up Maximal data with suspicion.

"Is she planning to return to the Predacons? You know Megatron nearly killing her meant that she's no longer a Predacon." Ultra Magnus pointed out.

"Yet carrying confidential Maximal data may have meant that she's trying to win back her place with the Predacons, Ultra Magnus." Prime stated.

"Bah! No way my 'descendant' would be that foolish to bring her back to his fold." Megatron sneered.

With the children going around the base, the Maximals assembled as Primal stated "Someone needs to escort the children back to their tribe. Blackarachnia?" he suggested to the former Predacon.

"Me? Give the job to someone who can fly." she suggested suprisingly.

"Hmm... our sensors don't register organics properly. Not much chance of locating the tribe from the air." Rhinox explained.

"Terrific. Their base doesn't have the sophisticated sensor systems the Axalon once had." stated Air Raid.

"So what's going to be their next options, then?" asked Brawl.

"The children will have to lead the way, on foot." Primal suggested.

"Oh, make my day." Blackarachnia deadpanned. "A nature walk?"

"A dangerous one, but necessary." Primal stated, with one of the two children hanging around him. "The cyber-raptors are Megatron's handiwork, and you know Megatron better than anyone."

"Much like with Dinobot when he defected to the Maximals." stated Arcee.

"I would have crushed Pred-Megs' skull frame with my bare hands for killing the best bot I've known in the future..." Grimlock cursed.

"You're not the only one..." Dreadwing and Predaking agreed.

"Having been his little eight legged lieutenant..." Rattrap sneered.

"Rattrap, be quiet." Primal silenced, yet the rat's derision elicited a frown from the black widow ex-Predacon.

"I could consider this convienient, since Rattrap doesn't seem like he trusts Predacons, current or former." Arcee stated.

"You're not giving Blackarachnia a chance to redeem herself, Arcee." Elita pointed out.

"Terrific - me and the junior forest rangers." Blackarachnia groused sarcastically.

"I'll accompany her." Silverbolt offered

"Negative - you've sustained damage." Primal belayed then continued. "And besides, I want Blackarachnia's full attention on the job at hand."

"Aren't you worried that she'll throw a knife at your back and take command of the Maximals like Dinobot tried to do?" Arcee questioned.

"I'll go with her." Cheetor offered.

"Agreed." Primal accepted.

Blackarachnia shook her head in irritation and departed the base to carry out the mission.

"The rest of us will stay here. We've got plenty of work to do installing the defense systems." Primal stated.

"Ah yes, because without Sentinel to protect them, the Maximals will have to use what resources they have to make a new defense system." Starscream pointed out.

As Cheetor left, Silverbolt glared at him out of jealousy.

"Somebody's propping up the jealous circuits." Sideswipe pointed out.

"I'm seeing a love triangle coming. Hope it goes to a square!" Cliffjumper joked.

No one but Ratchet laughed and Cliffjumper got whacked in the head by a irate Jazz.

Breakdown and Barricade looked at each other. The very time they fought over a femme named Clicker, a Decepticon spy was then they realized that Clicker was manipulative and preferred to go with who was the best she knew of. Since then, they restored their friendship when they left Clicker to the Energon saw that Shockwave devised as an experiment.

And yet, they never earned their payback against the scientist for putting them through an insane experiment that resulted in the Energon saw being taken to either of them depending on their weight and strength.

"Is it just me, or is our boy looking particularly bushy-tailed today?" Rhinox noticed.

"It's just Cheetor going through his life-cycle. Or what the humans call 'puberty', which is when a a human child transforms from a young adult to a matured adult, at best." Ratchet stated.

"Eh, it's the web lady I'm wonderin' about. Call me paranoid, but I don't trust Preds, I don't trust spiders, and I don't trust dames who sneak in and out of classified areas when they think nobody's watching." Rattrap replied.

"You trusted Dinobot because he fought with you until he passed to the Matrix. Heck, you two even respected each other as if you were old friends." Dreadwing reminded.

"What are you saying?" Rhinox asked, concerned of Rattrap's suspicion at Blackarachnia.

"I'm sayin' that our little spider chum... is a credit to her web spinnin' species, and I don't know what we ever did without her." Rattrap stated, having changed his tone when Silverbolt converged upon him in anger for badmouthing the woman he loved.

"Hehehehe, doggy-bird there didn't want the rat to talk bad scrap about his lover." Knockout laughed.

Silverbolt fumed while Jazz chuckled.

"That way, huh?" Cheetor asked when the protohuman pointed to the direction where his home supposedly is.

"Don't bug me, kid, your forehead slopes." Blackarachnia dismissed when one of the two young protohumans bothered her. While they were on the way to send them back home.

"Yesss, very good. The prey is in the field." Megatron hammed as his drones observed Cheetor and Blackarachnia escorting the young protohumans. "So let the hunt begin." and chuckled sinisterly.

"I admit; this Megatron is WORSE than OUR Megatron." Bumblebee stated.

"You take back what you said about our leader, you filthy-" Starscream got silenced by Megatron himself.

"He's right." Megatron admitted.

"Ready? Hang on." Cheetor stated as the male young protohuman rode on him and propelled forth.

"Guys! Oh, they're only young once, but they can act juvenile forever." Blackarachnia muttered while working on a device that may map her location. "Hmm... can't get a reading."

Though the female young protohuman approached her wearing headgear out of the coconut she had finished eating, in mock-appearance of Blackarachnia herself.

"Ho ho, totally cute. She wants to be you!" Cheetor teased upon arriving.

Some of the audience, mostly Vortex blew raspberries from their mouths.

"Let's get this straight,okay?" Blackarachnia tried to clarify to the female youngling mocking her appearance. "I'm a black widow spider, I don't make friends, I can't stand kids, and I truly despise... cute."

"Hadn't you thought that the protohuman hasn't earned enough intelligence to comprehend what you're saying?" Perceptor stated.

"Oh, pointless." Blackarachnia facepalmed when the youngling did not understand her. "How do you squelch someone who communicates in cave paintings?" she snapped to Cheetor.

"She just thinks you're kinda cool." Cheetor replied, in empathy for the protohumans as he converged on her. "And... you know what? "

"Don't... even... start." Blackrachnia rebuffed, checking on her device as it detected another of the transmetal raptor creatures Megatron had created as the latter began to attack.

"BLAST THAT THING TO SCRAP! DON'T LET IT TOUCH THOSE KIDS, YOU HEAR ME?!" Warpath demanded.

"Look out!" Cheetor dragged them to safety, yet it was too easy a target for the raptor as he fired, prompting Blackarachnia to return fire at the monster.

"You like this little maneuver?" Cheetor taunted as he jumped off the branch that was nearly destroyed and fired back, leaving the frightened younglings.

"Two choices. One, bail out of here like any self-respecting spider, or two... play little miss hero, like some sort of pathetic warm-blood." Seeing the young protohuman reaching out to her, Blackarachnia relented. "Ugh! Sometimes I disgust myself." and prepared her machine gun appendages, firing rapidly at the raptor.

"Heh, I knew there was part of her that was still Maximal inside!" Grimlock stated.

"I still don't trust-"

Air Raid slapped a hand in Silverbolt's mouth "Shush! Blackarachnia's redeeming herself here!"

She transformed and snatched the children, tethering down to lower ground via cyberwebbing as she then snapped to Cheetor "Here's the plan -you fly the brats back to base, then come and get me."

"Not gonna work. I can't fly." Cheetor replied "My jets got damaged in the fall."

"Oh, great. I get stuck with the one cat in the world who lands on his head." Blackarachnia groaned.

"Cheetor to Optimus, we got a problem here."

"Blackarachnia to anyone, come in!" Without a reply from their Maximal bretheren, she realized "Someone's jamming our signals...and three guesses who that would be."

"Another Predacon jamming tower. They must have established one around the area they're both in." Prime stated.

"My humble self, indeed." Megatron gloated.

"The traitoress can now be destroyed, Royalty, and the cat as well." Inferno stated.

"Yesss, but not too quickly, for I have a greater plan in mind." more of his minions arrived, prompting Megatron to address them "Waspinator, Tarantulas, to your mission."

"With pleasure, Megatron. A chance to field-test an amusing little device I've developed." Tarantulas wickedly snarked wielding an experimental weapon he loaded.

"And a few companions, to amuse you further." Megatron presented forth more transmetal-organic raptor hybrids. "Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!" he declared.

"Brilliant. Megatron's isolated Cheetor and Blackarachnia, sent forth more of those foul abominations upon them, what else would he plan now?!" asked Sideswipe.

"To assault the Maximal base, and continue what he nearly succeeded: ending my Spark." Prime stated.

The Autobots gasped.

Back in the Maximal Base, Primal hailed for an update "Cheetor, Blackarachnia, do you read me?" yet he received no response from either.

"Something has gone wrong, she is in danger, I... I can feel it." Silverbolt stated, worried about Blackarachnia.

"Eh, maybe the two of them just decided to take a little break." Rattrap suggested.

"If that innuendo were not beneath my contempt, rodent, you would be required to give satisfaction!" Silverbolt snapped at Rattrap.

Rattrap backed away and questioned "I forget,did he talk like this before, or did fallin' in love do somethin' to his circuits?"

"He just didn't like how you treated his lover with contempt, grand-nephew." Arcee stated.

"I don't like this either." Primal inquired "I'm gonna fly out and have a look around."

"I'm coming with you." Silverbolt jumped along.

"I can handle it, Silverbolt." Primal refused. "Besides, you're needed here."

"If my lady is in danger, then my place is at her side." Silverbolt insisted.

Silverbolt double facepalmed "WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU RISK YOUR SPARK FOR AN ENEMY?!"

"As you wish." Primal gave in and departed by flight but not before he ordered "You two stay here, and double check the defenses." with Silverbolt following.

"Eh, typical, who gets stuck with all the work?" Rattrap complained. "The rat gets stuck with all the work, while everyone else goes on a slaggin' picnic."

"This may be a risky move. The Predacons will capitalize on it while they still can." Prime stated.

"Ah, exactly as I anticipated. The base is under-manned, and unprotected, ours for the asking." Megatron stated, with the rest of his minions at his side as they positioned themselves at the outskirts of Maximal base.

"Aw, now we ain't gonna ask, are we? How's about we just blast our way in there, and slag everybody and TAKE IT!" Quickstrike suggested.

"Mmm... okay." The Predacons laughed sadistically. "Predacons- TERRORIZE!" as they all transformed to their robot forms.

"The mistake they've made by far is that they've brought Rampage. With him around, Depth Charge is not far behind." stated Ultra Magnus.

On a clearing of the badlands, they saw a jungly forest not farther from where they are.

"That's where you live, is it?" When the male protohuman replied with a nod, he assured. "Well then, we'll have you home before you know it."

But before they'd proceed, Waspinator, Tarantulas and a horde of transmetal raptors rushed forward in a sustained head-on assault.

"Stay down!" Blackarachnia harkened as she opened fire. Waspinator appeared and took out Cheetor but he was soon eliminated by Blackarachnia.

"GET YOUR AFT UP, CHEETOR! Blackrarachnia can't hold them off by herself!" Warpath shouted.

But as soon as the raptors converged onto them, reinforcements arrived, eliminating one of the attacking creature.

"Hang on, my soul's delight." Silverbolt called as he opened fire.

"Cheetor!" Primal arrived, relieving Cheetor.

"Bigbot! Are you a sight for sore eyes!"

But little did he know, Primal then screamed as he got paralyzed by a dart in the back.

"What is it?" Cheetor asked in worry.

"Some sort of... transmetal... YAAAHHHH!..cybervenom!" Primal fell into unconsciousness soon after.

"Darn it! This was Megatron's plan all along. Divide and conquer. He planned this to weaken the Maximal Base so that he can deliver the killing blow right inside!" Sideswipe stated.

The Autobots were stunned.

Meanwhile, the Predacons pressed their assault to Maximal Base, destroying the cameras and base defenses that spotted them.

"Oh, man, looks like we got company!" Rattrap whined, as he was now on high alert.

"Quickstrike, you may lead." Megatron allowed the Fuzor to go in first.

"Yeah! That's what I like to hear!" until he fell into a trap that had a metal fist slam him to an iron wall.

The Combaticons laughed. Usually, the recruits Megatron provided them went first to be bait of any Autobot booby trap or mine they'd laid around. So that they can assault the positions precisely.

"Royalty, why was I not chosen?" Inferno asked in confusion.

"Because, Inferno, when expecting booby traps...always send a boob in first." Megatron replied referring to Quickstrike's unfortunate caper that knocked him out.

"Autoguns online!" Rhinox called out as the automated defense immediately fire at the invading Predacons.

"HA! You thought they'd have defenses in the outer wall only?! You were wrong!" taunted Wheeljack.

"Looks like we're gonna get a little slaggin' in after all." Rattrap prepared his weapon.

"Looks like we don't have a choice." Rhinox concurred as he and Rattrap then opened fire, outnumbered.

"Where the heck is Depth Charge?! He should be here by now! Rampage is in the base!" Bulkhead asked.

"Calm down, Bulk, he's on the way." Ironhide replied.

"He'd better! Those defenses aren't going to last long!"

Back in the badlands, Tarantulas moved in well behind the Maximal defense line and fired his weapon, exposing the protohuman younglings. "Well look at this...a pair of pint-sized