Return to the Main Page
Episode 6: Mutations Part 2 - Synchronism
Last time, on The Waspinator Chronicles...
Injector gave a quick tap to his comlink. "Injector here. I've cleared my patrol of grid Hawkins, sector T. Permission to return to base?"
Waspinator's voice came through the comlink. "Waspinator read bee-butt. Waspinator grants permis- Huh? Waspinator has problem here..."
Injector squinted his eyes unhappily. "What sort of problem?"
Icefire frantically cut in. "Injector look out! We're detecting two enemy energy signatures behind you!"
The two walked stepped forward towards a small ditch ended at the base of a tree.
Pointing, Icefire said, "Crash marks."
"Right," Torca replied, following her. "And that must be the way they dragged him," he said, pointing at skid marks in the ground, leading away through the trees.
Poison Bite, in open defiance, reached out his right claw for Torca's left knee. Hesitating only a fraction of a second, Torca swung his rifle till it pressed against the claw. As the claw began to snap down, tearing through the metal in his knee, Torca fired. The lower joint of the claw went flying, and most of the shell around the upper half was destroyed as well. However, what was left was not what either warrior expected. Instead of wires and gears underneath his shell, what shone through instead was a heavy duty blaster. Both were caught completely off guard by the discovery, and Torca realized he had to act fast. Unfortunately, Poison Bite moved faster. The Autobot twitched his wrist to aim for Torca's chest, and he unleashed a continuous charge that began to crush the Maximal against a tree.
Buzzclaw, amazed at what he saw, began to cheer on his teammate. "Right on, fish-face! Let's slag these Maximals!"
Poison Bite, hearing Buzzclaw's shouts, eased off his attack. He turned towards the noisy green lizard-bug. Buzzclaw paused, uncomfortable with the strangely disturbing stare he was receiving from his teammate.
"What're you doing? Finish off the Maximal already...And stop looking at me. You scare me."
Buzzclaw barely managed to dodge Poison Bite's blast. He dove, rolled, and crouched behind a tree.
Razor Claw shouted angrily. "You...are the enemy!"
Poison Bite's movements were too fast even for Razor Claw to react to...The left claw clamped around his neck while the right claw jabbed against his head and let loose with an explosion of firepower. Razor Claw collapsed to the ground as a dark figure moved forward.
"What should we do wit dis guy?" it asked.
"Leave ‘im for now," Poison Bite snarled. "His stupidity cost him his consciousness; he'll be here a while. We need to take care of you first."
"Ok Buzzclaw, I'm comin' for ya, wherever you are!!" Poison Bite snarled through the comlink.
Buzzclaw cut in hastily with panic setting in. "No wait, boss, don't listen to him! He's-"
"-The only one between the two of you bright enough to escape," Atlas finished. "He'll rescue you. If not, I'm sure he'll take good care of whoever is responsible. And we can promise you highest honors when you're recycled."
"But he's going to be the one recycling me!" Buzzclaw cried. "...Hello? HELLO!?"
Atlas had already cut him off. Buzzclaw kicked a tree. He slowly and unhappily turned to face Torca, both arms lowered. He had to take a gamble, or else he was dead.
"So...Want me to owe you a favor, fish-boy?"
Torca, having listened to the entire discussion, shook his head sadly. He half heartedly tapped his comlink, but got no response, as he expected. The thing got fried under Poison Bite's assault. He looked back up at Buzzclaw and sighed wearily.
"I swear, if anyone ever again accuses me of having too much stress..."
For the continuation,
We rewind the clock to the beginning of last episode...
Atlas squinted into his newly acquired stasis pod.
"A spark, but no core consciousness you say? I don't think I've heard of such a thing before..."
Scavenger shook his head, tapping away at a nearby console.
"Well, it seems reasonable enough...A core consciousness can act free of a spark. I suppose a bot can undergo enough immense amounts of damage to cause such a situation. Theoretically speaking, being in a stasis pod increases the potential of this happening."
"As we can clearly see now," Atlas finished, nodding. He gave a quick tap to his comlink. "Buzzclaw, Noctorro...Report to the command center."
After receiving a quick affirmative from each, he turned to Scavenger. "Scavenger, which of the Maximal traitors are on patrol right now?"
Scavenger tapped the console some more, a grin growing on his face. "I'm reading Injector and Razor Claw at the moment...And if I can guess what you're thinking, I'd recommend you stay away from the mutant. If he's anything like ours..."
Atlas smiled back, "...Then he's a better candidate to be receiving this treatment, rather than dispensing it."
Buzzclaw roared in through the entrance, ricocheting off the top of the doorway in his hurry. He stopped and spun, pointing and laughing back into the hallway.
"HA! The loser fuzor eats my wake, yet again!"
Noctorro burst through the entrance, tackling Buzzclaw the ground.
"Sadly, there is no trophy for the event, because then I could not only pummel you, but steal it from you as well."
The two paused at the sound of a light cough. Turning, they found Atlas looming over them, arms folded across his chest with a dark frown upon his face. Noctorro and Buzzclaw hopped onto their feet, doing their best to avoid eye contact with their disgruntled commander.
"Ah, uh, sorry sir..." Buzzclaw began.
Atlas began to tap on Buzzclaw's face with his sword. "I did not join the space militia to run a day care center for underage bots. Do try to maintain a sense of order, if for no other reason than to keep me happy. Hmm?"
Buzzclaw and Noctorro nodded dumbly, though Buzzclaw was far more careful in his nodding. Atlas slowly lowered his sword.
"Now then. Scavenger, if you could brief these two on their mission? I'll continue preparations for the operation."
Scavenger glanced at the fuzors in annoyance. "Of course, sir," he responded.
Poison Bite dashed through the icy seawater. At the moment he was near some of the northernmost mountains of the continent. The massive peaks made it difficult to get scanner readings of the entire area, and the mutant took his time, glad to be out from anyone else's control. However, this time was different from the rest. While normally there was never anything of interest, save a few delicious creatures that roamed too close to the shores, a certain creature caught Poison Bite's eye. He had seen only a few polar bears before in this region, and he had NEVER seen one with wings. He swam inwards and leapt out of the water, transforming to his scorpion mode. With his bright red colors contrasting against the plain white snow, most animals fled at his presence. This strange beast differed though...
"Hello...are you more than one animal, like me?"
Poison Bite paused, unsure of how to react to this. The bot was dense, no doubt about that. He needed to know more of what was going inside its head though.
"Hm. Yes, somewhat," Poison Bite growled. "...Have you heard the word ‘maximize' before?"
The winged bear looked at him blankly.
Suddenly Poison Bite's comlink cut in. "SQUARK -- on Bite? What is -- SQUARK -- or location? Retur -- SQUARK -- mediately!"
Poison Bite squinted at the bear/bird thoughtfully. "How fast can you fly?"
Soon, Poison Bite was cutting along the surface of the ocean, with his newfound friend keeping pace just above him.
"Yes, I understand your orders," Poison Bite growled sourly into his comlink. "About the other energy signature you're reading by me...I found a new ally. But he's dumb as a rock."
Atlas's voice returned through the comlink. "Understood. Keep him to the sidelines of this fight if you can...I want him checked out before he enters battle. Besides, there's no need to reveal him to the Maximal forces just yet."
Poison Bite hesitated...He wasn't much of a strategist, but he knew his words in this next part would be crucial. "Ah...boss...This guy isn't very powerful or bright. I figure we could try a little something with him, something using the green fluid we have in that one stasis pod."
He waited, worried at what Atlas might say. On the other end, Atlas was impressed by the unexpected show of thought from the mutant. He raised a his brow and leaned forward, intrigued.
"Please, go on, Poison Bite."
Having arrived at Buzzclaw's position, Poison Bite squatted down in the brush, having left his large friend in grouping of trees a ways off. Buzzclaw nodded at him.
"Alright, when you grab one, I'll take the other."
Poison Bite grunted at Buzzclaw, and shooed him away with a claw. He shrugged and zipped into heavy greenery above.
Up in the trees, Buzzclaw grew uncomfortable very quickly, on a number of levels. The barely patched mech fluid tubing in his exposed chest was not being gentle on his pain circuits. To make matters worse, his only backup for this fight was the violently unstable mutant. And as he saw it, the freak hadn't shown much more intelligence than a large brick. He sighed and adjusted his weight, trying at least to ease the physical discomfort.
And then the Maximals arrived. Poison Bite watched intensely as they scouted out the area. After what seemed to be an extremely lengthy amount of time, they finally moved within his grasp. Ecstatic at his chance for battle, Poison Bite stepped forward, stabbing stinger directly into the large one's leg. Guns swivelled towards him as he was yanked out of the shrubbery. The smaller one began to step forward, but Buzzclaw finally took the initiative to help out. Poison Bite sneered internally at the fuzor. Buzzclaw liked to goof off too much, and he was not a true warrior. He took far too long to move despite his benefit of surprise, and his aim was off.
That's the problem with these fights, Poison Bite thought to himself. I never have to fear for my life, because all of these fools battle like children, unwilling to kill. Like this large one. He has a gun to my head, but he would never really fire there. I, however...
At that, he reached out with his right claw and clamped it on Torca's knee. Much to Poison Bite's discomfort, Torca blasted into his claw, ripping off the shell on the inside ... revealing a blaster. In that brief fraction of a nanoclick, Poison Bite remembered a thousand fragments of memories of wars. Memories of battle and destruction flashed through his head, and he TRULY remember how to fight with his body. Excitement surged through him, and he raised his claw, unleashing the fury of his weapon upon Torca. The Maximal was sent flying, unfortunately dismembering Poison Bite's stinger in the process. In the periphery of his awareness, he noticed his teammate. In his fury, he turned and looked at the loudmouth.
"What're you doing? Finish off the Maximal already...And stop looking at me. You scare me."
After a brief pause, he fired. Though the fuzor dodged, Poison Bite began to crawl forward to finish him off. He was little more than halfway there when everything around him erupted with explosions. He immediately sprinted away, grabbing his stinger as he left. As he dashed away, he felt immense amounts of pleasure coursing through his body. He was fighting again!
"Whud happened?" A deep voice cut in.
Poison Bite stopped suddenly and realized he had reached his ally. Squinting up at the huge beast, he asked, "You, what's your name?"
"Uh, Icebird...I guess..."
"Yeah? Well Icebird, keep your eyes open. We've got a friend that'll be around here soon enough. In the meantime...I'll be busy."
He drooped his wounded tail in front of him and began reattaching circuitry. He managed to get a few crucial wires attached before Icebird growled.
"Someding's coming."
Poison Bite squinted at a blur heading throughout some of the trees. He aimed his tail at the blur and fired, hitting it dead on with a nearly invisible beam. The blur froze, revealing itself to be a very confused wolverine. Razor Claw looked all around himself, trying to figure out what he had sensed.
Poison Bite concentrated carefully as he silently transmitted his words. "Brother...I have come for you."
He quickly turned to Icebird. "Lift me and fly me to a position right in front of him."
Icebird gave him an odd look but obediently lifted him into the air.
Poison Bite watched and continued to aim at Razor Claw from above. "Trust me. Appearances are everything."
He began to silently concentrate once more. "We are much alike, you and I...We could do much together..."
Poison Bite dropped to the ground in front of Razor Claw. The Maximal took a step backwards and bared his teeth, growling lightly. Poison Bite's mouth didn't move, but the words continued to come. "We share a power...Because of what Megatron did to us...And thus we share a bond...Brother."
Razor Claw's features softened. "Yes...‘Brother'. I...like the sound...of that." He smiled at the thought. Suddenly, circuits fired in Razor Claw's brain. He gripped his head in great pain, but the fireworks inside subsided as quickly as they arrived. "No!" he shouted angrily. "You...are the enemy!"
Poison Bite grimaced internally. He had hoped he could easily win over this mental wasteland of a bot. Sadly, this was not turning out to be the case. With newfound speed, he clamped his left claw around Razor Claw's neck while the right claw jabbed against his head, letting loose with an explosion of firepower. Razor Claw collapsed to the ground as a Icebird slowly stepped forward.
"What should we do wit dis guy?" it asked.
"Leave him for now," Poison Bite grumbled. "His stupidity cost him his consciousness; he'll be here a while. We need to take care of you first. Follow me...We're going back to base."
Atlas squinted into a stasis pod again. This time, he was checking wires and connections covering Injector's head. The wiring lead to the still sealed stasis pod, the one which Atlas had been gazing into earlier.
"I believe," Atlas declared, "We are ready."
"Excellent," Scavenger grinned darkly. He tapped a few buttons, and the nearby machinery began to hum. "This should go relatively quickly."
Atlas frowned. "Relative to what?"
Scavenger blinked. "Uh...Don't ask questions. You're the leader; you lead. I'm the scientist; let me...uh...science."
Atlas nodded. "Yes, I see. That makes perfect sense."
Scavenger scratched his head, trying to figure out what just happened, as Poison Bite shuffled in the doorway, head hung low. The massive Icebird lumbered in right behind him.
Atlas grinned broadly. "Poison Bite! Excellent work!"
Poison Bite avoided eye contact with Atlas. "Uh...Buzzclaw's in trouble. He's still there with the Maxis"
Scavenger looked up darkly. "Pardon?"
Atlas walked over to a control panel and called up some information. He shook his head sadly as he hit a few more buttons. "Scavenger, I'm sending you the scanner readout."
Scavenger watched his screen and grimaced as he saw two Maximal signatures by Buzzclaw. "Dandy. The bug's trouble yet again."
Poison Bite coughed lightly. "Ah, boss? Noctorro could help me with Icebird here..."
Atlas waved him away. "Yes, yes. Go take care of that. Noctorro, go help." He turned back to Scavenger heatedly discussing the predicament.
Noctorro, who had just walked in, followed the two down the corridor. "Pardon me for inquiring, but what is taking place here?"
Poison Bite stopped in another lab room with the other two on either side of him. "A very special experiment, batty. One I'd have a problem completing with you here interfering with me," he snarled.
His stinger jabbed into Noctorro's side, filling the small fuzor with a heavy dose of cyber-venom. With a tap of his claw, Poison Bite opened one of the spare stasis pods, revealing a greenish fluid within.
"Icebird, I'm going to need you crawl in here."
Icebird gave the solution a wary look.
"Trust me," Poison Bite said coaxingly. "Would I do anything that would hurt you?"
Icebird shook his head dumbly. "I don't tink so..." And he lumbered over to the fluid filled pod and laid down within it.
Poison Bite promptly sealed it and began hitting buttons on the controls at a rapid pace, almost laughing as he did so. Screams began to emanate from within, but disturbingly, they died out very quickly.
A sound chirped in on Atlas's comlink. "Boss, this is Buzzclaw."
Atlas and Scavenger immediately ended their heated discussion on hostage situation response. Atlas paused for a moment, letting the silence emphasize his frustration at the situation.
"I'm simply amazed, my boy. Why do my readings display you directly next to two of the ‘Maximal' traitors?"
"Er...uh...Well, see, it's a funny story-" Buzzclaw began.
Scavenger hung his head in exasperation.
"Not funny enough, I'm sure," Atlas snapped. "What are their terms, fool?"
There was silence at the other end. Scavenger and Atlas glanced at each other questioningly.
Another voice confidently cut in from the doorway. "Don't worry, Atlas. I'll bust ‘im out for you!"
Atlas and Scavenger snapped their heads towards the voice, finding a mostly patched up Poison Bite sitting there eagerly. Atlas smiled happily; the war machine would prove himself useful yet again.
"Excellent, Poison Bite. And when you encounter the Maximals, please exterminate them with extreme prejudice."
"My pleasure, commander," Poison Bite snarled. "Ok Buzzclaw, I'm comin' for ya, wherever you are!!"
Buzzclaw cut in hastily. "No wait, boss, don't listen to him! He's-"
"-The only one between the two of you bright enough to escape," Atlas finished. "He'll rescue you. If not, I'm sure he'll take good care of whoever is responsible. And we can promise you highest honors when you're recycled."
"But-"
At that, he clicked off his comlink. "Well Poison Bite, you're up for more battle already?"
Poison Bite grinned inwardly. "Yeah, well, there ain't much I can do to help Noctorro here, and besides, I really wanna bash some heads for Buzzclaw. He doesn't deserve this from those traitors."
Besides, he thought to himself, I don't need anyone revealing how powerful I am just yet. Always keep your advantages saved for a rainy day.
Atlas nodded. "Good thinking. Scavenger and I will be very busy with our guest here," he said, waving a hand at the two stasis pods. "We'll be very busy. Don't contact us unless it's an emergency."
Poison Bite nodded and turned for the doorway. As he shuffled out the door, dark clouds began to rumble, and a light drizzle began to fall.
TO BE CONCLUDED...
Return to the Main Page
Questions?...Comments?....Send mail to BottHead