Once a Pred, Always a Pred
A Beast Wars Fanfiction
by Triceratron

It had been a long month for the Maximals. Shortly after Triceratron had landed, the Predacons had determined he was a threat to their domination and began to step up their assaults, mostly on the Maximal base. Megatron had also become increasingly hostile towards Triceratron himself, as he began to reduce his contact with the Predacons and would not reveal information about the mysterious visitor from the future that had spoke only to the Maximals. Megatron no longer tried to convince the self-proclaimed defender to give him information; now he only wished to take it by force.

The battles began to wear the Maximals down, and fearing his protectorate would fall to the enemy, Triceratron decided he needed to take action, before it was too late.

* * * * *

The small band of Maximals that consisted of Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor, Silverbolt, and Rhinox, headed to an area containing stabilized energon cubes. One of the few deposits left in the near territory was just through a valley. They needed to replenish their supply. "Man, I'm tired. I need some serious downtime or I'm not going to be able to fight," said Rattrap defeatedly.

"We're almost there. You'll feel better with an energon boost," said Optimus.

"Ya know, I feel like a sittin' duck out here. Sometimes you wonder why we didn't bring Dinobot. I could use some of his brute force and complainin' right now. It would make me feel better to have a decent argument," said Rattrap.

"Well, he's in the CR chamber after that last battle. It can't be helped," said Optimus.

"Yeah, well I just want to know how the Preds are keeping this up. They must be running out of energy too."

"They're prepared for these fights. When we are attacked, our guard is down. We expend too much in the fights," explained Optimus.

"I guess you're right," said Rattrap.

"Indeed he is," said a voice from somewhere. Megatron stepped out from behind a rock outcropping in front of them. "Well, what do we have here? Drained Maximals with their guard down. This may well be the victory of the Predacons, yesss."

"Ahh, I knew I felt a sick wind blowing," said Rattrap.

A number of Predacons appeared in the rocks around them, pointing their weapons at the Maximals. They prepared to fire. Triceratron peeked around a corner behind a rock watching the ambush that his ship detected. He kept his distance for the time being.

"Predacons, attack!" yelled Megatron. The Maximals transformed and began firing at the enemies as the battle suddenly erupted into full fury. The valley was being bathed in bright flashes of light as both sides laid out a barrage of laserfire. Cheetor hit Waspinator with a sharp blast, knocking him senseless, but the Maximals were still outnumbered.

Optimus looked forward at the row of Predacons standing in their way. He saw Blackarachnia, Megatron, and Quickstrike. The energon needed to be secured or his troops would never win this battle. His weapons flipped over his shoulder and fired at Quickstrike and Blackarachnia. They fell back, damaged. Triceratron decided it was time. He jumped from behind the rocks and fired a single shot. It flew out toward Megatron, but stopped short of him. The hovering ball of energy hovered in front of his face and brightened. It quickly became too bright to look at; it exploded in a blinding flash of light. When the light had dissipated, all of the remaining Predacons laid on the ground, unconscious.

Triceratron looked at Optimus hurriedly and yelled, "Get out of here, the Starburst's effects will wear off soon. I'll take care of them." Optimus only gave a sign of acknowledgement and they all ran out of the valley. As soon as they had left the area, Megatron had already begun to recover. Triceratron's ship appeared behind him and fired a series of stasis fields at the Predacons. "It's time I found out a few things," said Triceratron. He pulled out his scanning device and pointed it at each Predacon. He stopped at Blackarachnia. "She's been severely damaged. Something else--she doesn't appear to have the usual Predacon configuration. She must have been one of the Maximal protoforms Megatron took. The other two I know about are so Predacon that I can't help them, but she still has some of the base hardware for a Maximal--I wonder," he thought. He told the ship to send all the units except Blackarachnia to the base. He then had the ship release her onto the ground in front of him. He picked up her unconscious body and carried her to his ship.

He placed the Predacon in his seat and activated the CR hatch. His chair rotated and connected with the hatch to form a CR chamber. He stood in front of the computer and typed in a set of commands. "Computer, activate reformation procedure."

"Choose form," said the computer, running a number of animals in the database.

"Computer, activate controlled Fuzor program." He looked at the screen and hit one animal, then another.

"Choose attributes from base animal," it said. He typed a code. "Choose attributes from secondary animal." He typed again. "Fuzor form created."

"Computer," said Triceratron, and looked at the sealed chamber, "replace Predacon chip with a Maximal chip."

* * * * *

"He did what?" screamed Megatron.

"He, err, kidnapped Blackarachnia," said Tarantulas uncertainly.

Megatron held his head and then punched the computer display next to him. The thin screen shattered as his fist flew through it. "So this is it. He has proven himself an enemy to the Predacons. Any thought I had of him becoming a Predacon was misguided, so I have no other choice than to declare war on this rouge Cybertronian!"

* * * * *

Cheetor looked up from his computer in the Axalon Bridge with surprise. "Optimus," he said quickly, "Triceratron is coming in on foot!"

"Why are you acting surprised?" Optimus asked.

"Because he has someone...err...thing with him!" All the Maximals jumped up and ran to the windows. They all looked somewhat startled at what they saw, Silverbolt especially so.

Moments later, two forms rose into the entrance lift. They stepped out of the dimly lit opening into the light. Triceratron was being followed by what appeared to be a white winged horse.

"Triceratron, what is this?" asked Optimus. The horse looked at him.

"What do you think it is?" asked the horse in a female voice. "One moment. Silvermane, Maximize!" The horse changed into a robot.

Triceratron began, "Allow me to introduce--"

"Silvermane!" said the horse robot.

"But how?" asked Optimus extremely confused.

"A simple explanation," said Silvermane confidently, "I was known to you before as Blackarachnia."

Rattrap pulled his gun and aimed directly at Silvermane. "Whoooa there Rattrap! I'm a Maximal now," she asserted.

"Oh yeah? I don't trust ya. 'Once a Pred, always a Pred!'."

"Look, she was a Maximal protoform to begin with. After scanning all the Predacons at the last battle, it appeared that she was the only one with enough Maximal circuitry left to successfully change her back. I also tested my procedure to create controlled Fuzors. I chose a combination that would create a mythical animal from the history of one of the races in my datatracks--a Pegasus," explained Triceratron. Optimus looked at him disapprovedly.

"You left her memories? Why?"

"I will not kill any Cybertronian, and erasing her previous memories would in effect kill Blackarachnia," he looked at her. "She has Maximal programming now, a Maximal chip, and is in effect as much of a Maximal as you are." He looked back at Optimus. "Surely you can see that it is part of my mission to protect the Maximals from the Predacons, and that entails preventing protoforms from falling into enemy hands, permanently at least."

"Well, where are my quarters? I want to get to work!" Silvermane interrupted.

Optimus frowned and furrowed his brows. A defeated look came over his face and finally said, "This way, glad to have you aboard," his voice part disappointed and contented at the same time.

* * * * *

Silvermane carried her scanning device around in front of the Axalon. Triceratron came down the lift and looked at the readings. "So what have you ascertained?" he asked.

"There are no Predacons in the near vicinity and the nearest stable energon deposit is about 30 clicks from the base, about a day's walk," she replied.

"Good. I see my training has paid off already."

"This device is the most powerful I've ever seen," she said, slightly amazed.

"It's a second generation device, with some of my own modifications."

"You mean..."

"I was once a second generation Decepticon, yes." She looked at him slightly astonished, and then she smiled.

"Why, you're just full of surprises. I find that...interesting."

"I see a little of your old personality," Triceratron said.

"Don't say that! I regret everything I did while I was a Predacon. I wish I could forget it."

"That is why I left it in. Some Maximals wonder what it would be like to be a Predacon, every once in a while they become corrupted and defect. Your experience gives you an edge over those Maximals," he said. "Consider it a learning experience."

"Well, with that attitude, I'm not sure whether I want to thank you or punch you."

"Do nothing. I expect no thanks and intend no harm. I only want to aid all Cybertronians," he finished. He looked at her face.

Suddenly, Silvermane's device began to beep. She pulled it out and looked at the readings. "Predacons in the near vicinity, and closing fast!" Triceratron activated his wrist communicator.

"Optimus, put Sentinel on full alert!" he said.

"Way ahead of you," was the reply. The blue shield flew up around the base. Megatron and the other Predacons appeared running toward the Axalon. The other Maximals came down the entrance lift and drew their weapons. The Predacons stopped.

"Primal, as much as I want to destroy you right now, my quarrel is with Triceratron." yelled Megatron.

"Yes," replied Triceratron, "I'm listening."

"You have something of mine and I want it back!"

"That something wasn't yours to begin with, and is not yours anymore! Leave this place," shot Triceratron furiously. Silvermane's face became filled with rage.

"Oh, but I assure you it is, for once a Predacon is born, they cannot change!" Megatron ranted.

"I'm not going anywhere!" screamed Silvermane. "Sentinel, stand down!" She walked forward, her weapon extended. She fired at Megatron, and he flew backwards, impacting against a nearby boulder. The other Predacons drew weapons, but Megatron picked himself up and said, "Hold your fire! She is obviously a lost cause at this point, so we must leave. I promise you, Optimus, that she will not remain a lost cause very long. She will be a Predacon again--very soon." With that, the Predacons turned back.

Optimus looked confused. "It shouldn't have been this easy."

Triceratron replied, staring at the Predacons as the left, "Is it ever?"

* * * * *

Back at the Predacon base, Megatron looked slightly pleased at what seemed a failure. Tarantulas took on a worried look. "Megatron, what is it? We accomplished nothing, yet you haven't become angry at the loss."

"Simple Tarantulas. I had to get close enough to activate the hidden protocols buried in her mind. It's only a matter of time before she is a Predacon again!" Megatron went to his seat and sat down to examine the console.

Tarantulas's face seemed to change as what could have been a grin on a normal face worked its way onto it. He left the base for his laboratory.

* * * * *

Silvermane stood in a dark corridor that seemed to be in the Axalon. She heard clanking noises in the distance. Strange patterns of light and shadow played on the walls. She walked, exploring the path she was taking. She did not recognize the corridor anymore. It began to twist in odd ways. She looked through one doorway and saw the Axalon's bridge. She stepped into it and picked up something on the console--two of Tarantulas's legs. The clanking became louder. She became gasped and ran out. She ran down the corridor, but it became the corridor of the Darkside. She tried to step on solid ground, but it crumbled and she stared into a lava pit. She turned to see Inferno's face just two inches from her face. He began laughing maniacally at her. She turned and jumped over the pit onto the other side. She heard voices laughing, first Inferno, then Megatron, Quickstrike, Waspinator, and Tarantulas. She turned into another corridor trying to escape the hideous chorus of laughs, but ran into Optimus Primal. "Optimus," she gasped. He looked at her.

"Yes, Predacon," he yelled in her face. She turned and was surrounded by the other Maximals, all brandishing weapons. She ran away down the corridor as the Maximals began laughing. The voices followed her as she ran towards a light at the end of the corridor, one that seemed to grow farther away as she ran to it. She looked back and saw a hoard of Maximals and Predacons chasing her. The ground gave way and she fell.

She found herself in a dark, empty room, and the others were gone. A single source of illumination glowed from the ceiling, not nearly enough light to show where she was. "Who are you?" came a calm voice out of the darkness.

"I am Silvermane."

"No you are not!" yelled the voice. "Who are you?"

"I don't know!" she replied hysterically.

"Yes you do. You have always known." The source of the voice came forward. "You have always known!" it yelled, and the speaker stepped into the light--it was Blackarachnia. Silvermane gasped and tried to turn but could not move. "You cannot escape!" She struggled and finally turned.

A giant head that looked like Taratulas's appeared in her way. It laughed crazily, "Tehhehehehehehehe!" She turned again, and another head appeared. She looked to another side and saw another. She looked back at Blackarachnia, whose eyes glowed in the darkness. "You cannot escape," she said in a voice that was Taratulus's. They closed in on her...

"Ahhhhhhahhhhhhh!" Silvermane screamed. She looked around and saw she was in her Maximal quarters, sitting straight up in her bed. Cheetor appeared at the door.

"What's wrong, Silver?" he asked concernedly. She looked at him and saw the worriedness in his eyes.

"Nothing. Nothing, just a bad dream."

"I shoulda known," said Rattrap from the doorway. "Probably wanted attention, poor baby!" He walked away angrily. Optimus looked in.

"Is everything all right?" he asked. Cheetor looked at him.

"Just a bad dream," he said.

"Well after all you've been through, you're entitled," Optimus said to Silvermane. "I would get nightmares if I went through half as much."

"Well, you need to go back to downtime rest, Optimus. There is nothing wrong with me a good night's sleep won't help." Optimus nodded and left. Cheetor followed. Silvermane lay back down and went back to sleep.

Far away from the Axalon, deep underground in Tarantulas's lair, Tarantulas sat at his computer console, wearing what looked to be a VR device on his head. Tarantulas took the device off of his head. He typed a code into his computer and began speaking. "Lair journal entry #552. I have successfully boosted my fading psychic link to Blackarachnia's mind through the computer. I went into her subconscious and began to wear down her mind's defenses. The Predacon recall protocols are currently reworking her mind's internal structure, returning her to--shall we say--normal. I much enjoyed the little nightmare I gave her, as well. Soon, she will be back. It's only a matter of time. Journal entry ends."

* * * * *

It was morning. Silvermane stepped out of her quarters to see Silverbolt with his feet up on a section of the control panel in front of him, careful to avoid the controls. He glanced away from the scanning device he held in his hand to Silvermane. "Oh, good morning," he said, looking back at the scanner's report.

"Hi," she said uncomfortably. "You know, this is the first time I've seen you alone here since I switched sides."

"Yeah, I have things I do away from the Axalon: patrols, scanning, cataloging animals, that sort of thing." He stared into space for a minute, then returned to his reading, and said, "I'm sort of a lone wolf, you could say." As he was speaking, Silvermane's hand noiselessly went to a control panel on the table and tapped out a code. It continued to do this for some time, but Sivermane didn't even notice it, as if it had a mind of its own. It left when it had finished, and she suddenly noticed something wasn't right. She reached over and rubbed the hand as if she thought it suddenly wasn't there, then it was back. She decided to ignore the feeling.

"You know, I have felt a little something about you for some time and I thought this would be the best way to tell you." She gazed at him; he turned slowly in his chair and stared at her, an expression that was both shocked and confused crept onto his face. "That loner act may work most of the time, but burying your loneliness in your work will only drive you mad."

He stood up and walked toward her, and looked into her eyes. "You know that I can't do it. In the middle of a war, with one of my comrades, it just wouldn't work."

"I know. I can wish, but only that." With that she turned and began walking away. She promptly collapsed onto the floor. Silverbolt's eyes widened and he gasped; he activated his wrist communicator.

"Maximal alert, code 4. All Maximals and Triceratron return to base immediately!" he rushed to help her.

* * * * *

Triceratron looked at his scanner while Silvermane lolled around in the chair. "Not good. It seems that Megatron is cleverer than he seems. He has incorporated a recall program into her psyche and triggered to go off on his command. It currently has control of her subconscious mind."

"Oh great! Soon we'll be short a Maximal and up a Pred," said Rattrap. He looked over to Dinobot and remarked, "Another one." Dinobot sneered.

"I can try to fix her, but this change seems to be making itself more permanent. It's even restructuring the Maximal chip," said Triceratron.

"I think the danger may be what she may have done while she was in this state, without knowing it," said Optimus. The base suddenly shook with a blast from a large weapon from the outside. "Why didn't Sentinel activate?" he yelled.

Rhinox ran to the Sentinel control and hit a button. "The button you have just pressed, shields, is not in service at this time. Please make a note of it."

"Great!" yelled Rhinox.

He hit another button. "The button you have just pressed, autoguns, is not--CRASH!" he slammed his fist into the panel. A gun came out of the wall behind him and shot flames across the top of his head. He ducked and rubbed the top of his head.

Optimus suddenly had a very bad feeling. "Sentinel, external sensors!"

"Sensors are not online."

"Internal sensors!"

"Sensors are not online."

"Slag! We'll have to take care of this ourselves."

"I'll stay inside and watch Silvermane," said Silverbolt. "You'll need Triceratron." The Maximals left the ship to do battle and Silverbolt looked back at Silvermane. He suddenly blacked out as he was struck on the back of the head with a blunt object.

Silvermane was coming out of the trance that she had been in and rolled her head. Her vision cleared from totally black to blurred. Suddenly, a hideous face was thrown into clear sight. "AHHHHHH!" she screamed at Inferno, who was two inches away from her face now. He laughed crazily; she slapped him across the face. "You fool, you scared the inferno out of me."

"The queen has commanded me to bring you back with me, my fellow worker."

"I am not your 'fellow worker', and I can take care of myself. I will be returning on my own."

"So, the program has worked to satisfaction. The queen shall be pleased."

"Yes, it has, and if I spend another minute in this Maximal hole, I'll go insane," she suddenly looked confused. "How did you get in here?"

"Don't you remember? You deactivated the defensive capabilities and unlocked the stasis hold. You also sent the secret code to call the queen."

"Hmmmm....yes now I remember. We're to escape the same way?"

"Yes, follow me." The two began run down the corridor, but then Silvermane stopped him.

"Was that a Maximal I heard?" she asked.

"Where?" She hit a control on a doorway and kicked him into it, knocking over several objects on top of him. The door slid shut and she activated the lock.

"Insects are so gullible," she said and continued running down the corridor.

* * * * *

The battle was getting tense. Triceratron prepared to fire another one of his powerful weapons at the overwelming enemy when Sentinel came online and fired on the Predacons. Megatron glanced over and noticed something flying through the air. "Predacons, retreat!" he yelled and all the Predacons ran back toward their base. The Maximals, stunned at the victory, went back into the Axalon. There they found red lights flashing, Silverbolt unconscious on the floor, and Silvermane was nowhere to be found.

"Ohhh, man. Well, it looks like things are going back to normal," said Rattrap.

"Not exactly," said Rhinox, reading a control panel. "There's a Pred signature in the energon storage room."

Rattrap, Cheetor, Dinobot, and Optimus snuck down the corridor and came to the door to energon storage. Rattrap put his hand on the lock and looked at Optimus. He nodded in reply, and Rattrap typed in the access code. The door slid open and they all looked at a pile of energon cubes on the floor. It moved, and Inferno appeared from under it.

"Well Pred, what do ya have to say for yourself?" Rattrap asked.

"BRRRRAAAAAPPPP!" Inferno belched. A small cloud of blue gas floated from his mouth towards Rattrap's face. He pointed his finger at it and shot a small electrical spark toward it; it exploded and knocked Rattrap over.

"What are we going to do with him?" asked Cheetor, apparently unconcerned about Rattrap.

"We hafta do it soon, whew!" said Rattrap, sitting up and waving a hand in front of his face.

"I have an idea," said Dinobot evilly. "Call it inspiration."

* * * * *

Rhinox and Dinbot escorted Inferno down the hall in chains. "You Maximals cannot imprison me! You will all burrrrnnnnn!" said Inferno insanely.

"Shut yer yap!" said Rattrap angrily. They reached a place where the wall had two openings in it, covered with glass domes. Dinobot hit a control and one of the domes opened. They pushed Inferno in and the dome slid shut.

"Here goes," said Rattrap, and he pulled a lever next to the dome. Inferno was ejected out of the waste disposal system and flew nearly a kilometer before crashed onto his face. "Ahhh, out with the garbage."

They returned to the bridge of the Axalon and saw Triceratron there, looking slightly depressed. Optimus walked over to him.

"Don't worry, we know you meant well," he said.

"Yeah. It took real guts to try and pull that off," said Rattrap. "Of course, if you'd listened to me in the first place, this probably wouldn't have happened."

The other Maximals all looked at him and said, "Shut up Rattrap!"

"Besides," said Optimus, "I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Silvermane."

* * * * *

Blackarachnia's form slid out of the CR tank at the Predacon base. Megatron looked at her from a distance. "So, I see you've enjoyed your little adventure, yessss?"

"Yes, but I really can't vouch for being a Maximal. It was excessively tiresome. I can't explain it, but a part of my Predacon mind remained active the whole time, and it grew more and more disgusted at every sign of sentiment."

"A little something of my own design. As much as a Maximal hates being a Predacon, a Predacon hates to be a Maximal. It's just simple reasoning." He shifted his attitude. "Now, what information can you give me of the Maximals?" he asked.

"Nothing we don't already know. Their Sentinel was tuned to my signature as soon as I was aboard, so I never learned the command codes."

"And what of Triceratron?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"Ohhhh, well. We at least have learned that the base can be infiltrated, yessss." He walked away with an air of disappointment about him. When he was out of earshot, she giggled.

"Nothing--nothing I'm going to tell you, fool!" she said to herself and headed to her quarters.

The End