CONFESSIONS OF DARKNESS

By Snowblaze

Snowy's notes: I know this is the hundredth time you've read this stuff but oh well! =P Snowblaze and the BW form of Prowl are my own copyrighted characters. Slasher Red is the copyright of Slasher Red. All other BW characters are the sole copyrights of Hasbro, Mainframe, Alliance etc. This and all my other fics are for entertainment, I'm not gaining any profit from these. So please don't sue me, the dollar ain't worth much these days. = 7

If you haven't guessed by now all my fics run one after the other, so this one happens only a couple days after the incident in "Black Lightning." I'd read it first. Without further ado, my new fic....

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PART ONE:

"He's still stable Rhinox." Airazor told the green second in command, as she stood on the other side of their unconscious leader's medbay berth. Frowning, Rhinox hazed his optics and wiped his hand over his coolant drenched face. Optimus lifeless form lay flat and cold on the medbay berth, a series of cables and tubes hooked up to his exostructure, the green mech fluid glimmered as it flowed down the tubes into Optimus energon flows just below his fore arm. His once bright red optics were now a dim crimson. Airazor looked over at her comrade as she noticed he was studying their commander. The femme lifted one of her hands to grasp on her alternate arm and she gently bit her lower lip in concern. Rhinox hadn't been the same since Optimus was knocked offline and was now on life support. Airazor studied his expression so sullen and distraught. She knew he must be going through quite a hard time at the moment, leadership had been thrown in his face, his best friend was responsible for their current situation and was now in confines, and to top it off half the Maximal force wasn't in functioning order.

Gently clearing her throat, Airazor tried subtly to grab Rhinox's attention, he shook his head once and came back to reality, he had spaced out for a second. "What? Oh I'm sorry Airazor, that's at least some better news on his status. This is going to be hard on me, I've never led the Maximals before, but Optimus and the others are counting on me to restore things the way they were." His voice was raspy and dripped exhaustion. Airazor nodded her head in agreement, she then slipped her glance past Rhinox's head to gaze at the cryogenic sleep chambers, knowing that Polar Claw was in a deep cold sleep. Rhinox looked back over his shoulder to see where she was looking, blinked his optics and then turned back his head slowly to her position. "I know what you're thinking, but we can't undo the sleep he's in, only Dinobot fully understands the cryogenic chambers, after all he designed them. He had gained that knowledge from the

Darkside when he was a Predacon."

"I know Rhinox, but I have no idea how to restore our friends right now. I can only see one potential link to undoing their current state, and that link is Rattrap." The green male knew she was right but he didn't want to think what they would have to do to his best friend to fix the situation. The past few days had been hell, and Rhinox felt the flaming effects every time he had gone to observe Rattrap behind the containment cell. The little Maximal would always be

hunched over in one corner of his cell, the red light from the energy bars shining off his metal as he continued to huddle alone. The green male knew that feeling would always haunt him before he tried to recharge, the results made him get less than a few mega cycles a night, in the morning he looked like a large combat bot had beaten him silly. Airazor was helping out with every moment she could spare, running between the scanning duties, base repairs, to ensuring the stabilization of her lifeless leader. She was only one of the five mechs to survive the blasts from Rattrap's out burst. Everyday that went by the Axalon was tensing tighter in atmosphere, like a tight knot getting tighter. Airazor knew that the link had to be Rattrap, and still she felt that the situation was futile, her systems aching from the work beyond her control.

"We have to figure something out sooner or later.... this is getting worse every cycle." Rhinox let his optics drop from his view of Airazor to Optimus, he clenched his jaw hard and contorted his face with slight pain which was welling up in his chest. Fuel pump twisting in frustration, the new commander collected his thoughts. "Do you suppose that Rattrap has everyone's essence within his systems? I mean, no one who's functional and got blasted is themselves." The femme straightened her lithe frame and waited for his comply to her opinion. "I'm betting something in that context is what is happening but I need to analyze his systems. Rattrap his untouchable, if I touched him or got to close the indigo light would just zap me too. Less one more of the Maximal fleet. I think the only way I can truly find out what's going through his mech fluid flows is I've got to deactivate him." His face became stern and Airazor became rigid with surprise.

"That's going to be something to pull off. Maybe some of the effects will wear off."

"I don't think so, I mean Prowl's been on a roaring rampage for the last few days. He can't stop

his obsession of terminating Cheetor. It's been so bad that we had to move him, his spark would

expire without ANY recharge. Snowblaze told me that she's seen him in recharge for about half a

night. That’s the only recharge we believe he's gotten for the last three days."

The ones effected had been getting worse as time went by. Prowl wouldn't stop his rage, Dinobot

was still a little kid in spirit, Snowstalker was always low on energy, Polar Claw was inactive,

Optimus wasn't responding to life support, Cheetor was still pacing in his cage obsessing over

the lack of interface he got and Snowblaze was slowly verging on an attitude not like herself.

"Speaking of her. Have you seen Snowblaze lately?" Airazor questioned Rhinox. The green

commander cocked his head lower and let a little worried sigh pass through his mouth. "She's in the brig. She hasn't left Prowls side at all, I asked her why she was there and she said to guard

the two male cats. She also told me that she had to ensure that Prowl kept his sanity intact, her

being around him maintained some of his logic circuitry."

"You mean she hasn't left him since he's been moved?" Airazor had shot her optics wide open,

Rhinox took a second to catch a breath of the still air. "Nope, not left at all. She's recharged, ate

and been on guard duty for the past three days in the same room. What's weird about her though

is she's very jumpy, like she doesn't trust anyone." The new commander was very tired, and at

that he gave a yawn. "That's not like her at all, I think I'll go talk to her later. Anyway, everything

which can be done for Optimus is done. for now. I'll go check on Snowstalker’s progress." She

saluted and turned to leave the medbay, leaving the green Maximal to himself with Optimus.

Rhinox had watched her leave and he craned his head up to look at the life support screens, he

felt a stab of pain shoot through his systems. He knew what had to be done, his friend had to go

off line, and he was the only one to do it. The Axalon couldn't go on this way, he couldn't go on

like this either. He was a soldier not a leader. He threw his thoughts aside and took the same

way out as Airazor did but turned left toward the brig, he had work to do.

Airazor had completed the vitals on Snowstalker and gave both her and Tigatron the news.

Snowstalker was still not able to get up and help every time she did she lost considerable

amounts of energy, so she was confined to her quarters. Tigatron was by her side for most of the

working day, but he knew that he had to help out with the rest of the functioning team. The news

made the white male's face turn sullen. Snowstalker only blinked her optics in acceptance.

Throughout the whole visit, the news about Snowblaze unsettled Airazor and she was eager to

talk to her friend. She wasn't exactly sure what to expect but it was something worth a try. She

left the two tigers and made her way over to the brig.

Hunched over and head in his hands, the smallest and yet at the moment deadliest Maximal,

never moved or looked up. Rattrap was crushed at what he had done, no one else could ever

understand the turmoil he was going through. In his mind he had heard that voice speak to him,

he had thought it was his own sanity he was loosing. The rat never uttered a word to anyone

after the last attack had happened, Rattrap wasn't joking around this time. <Who was she? That

was so weird, I've never been more captivated by something I couldn't only hear but feel flow

throughout my systems. What does that matter, now I'm really classified as a *rat*. Optimus... I

don't know what happened, I'm sorry...I can't even look at my best friend in the optics. How can I

even explain what's going through my circuits.> His thoughts continued along those lines, and he

never lifted his head to look around, he just stayed....isolated.

Rhinox had made his way down past the confinement cells containing Cheetor and Prowl. As he

was passing them, from out of no where Snowblaze had charged out into his path in her beast

form, hissing and growling. She was low to the metal ground, ready to strike. Her claws where

outstretched, her wings where spread wide to reach both sides of the entire hallway, but what

made Rhinox throw this optics wide was her teeth bared and a loud growl emerged from her.

He was thrown off by this, she was dead serious about tearing him to shreds. "Whoa..!

Snowblaze, it's me Rhinox!!!" She shook her head once and somewhat relaxed her body, but

she looked confused in her ice blue eyes. "I'm sorry, Rhinox. I thought you were an intruder."

Rhinox could detect some shakiness to her voice, she was tense too much for his liking. What

made him think this as something more than exhaustion was that she had had a clear view of him, and she should've been able to recognize him. The lights were bright and his green metal was unmistakable. <Why would she attack me? I was clear in her face, something's odd about this.> The snow leopard brought in her wings to her body, and she sheathed her claws back into her soft paws. She turned without a word and swished her tail quickly behind her as she went back to sit beside Prowl. There she sat back down on her haunches and stared at Rhinox who hadn't moved at all from his spot from where she first confronted him.

His red optics took in her cold expression, her ice blue optics were fixed on him as he started to

pass by the room. She was following his every move with her optics and her head moved slowly

as he walked ahead. Something which made him stop for a moment in his tracks was her optics

glowed a bright blue and he thought he saw an indigo bolt of light, edge its way out of the corner of her eye. He turned his head and kept going but noted the change in her. He knew that the black lightning was in her. Wouldn't be long now before she would be in caged. Still he was racing to change everyone’s condition. Going as fast as his feet would carry him, the green scientist moved ahead to Rattrap's containment cell. The red energy bars coming into his view, as he approached the room.

Snowblaze shook herself, what was going on? This was weird, not only was she tense and

acting totally unlike herself but she was driving away her friends. Still in beast mode she was

looking over Prowl, her lover. He was pacing and panting heavily, the upheaval made him

furious, he thought Rhinox was an invader, during the whole thing he'd been growling, hissing,

clawing and spitting at the doorway. Now that the green male was gone he had relaxed

somewhat. Lowering herself to the cool metal, Snowblaze flexed her clawed paws and tensed

herself for any other intruders. The Ideas of hating anyone who came near her were processing

through her mind. She had tried to push them back and fight it but soon she couldn't with hold

the strain anymore, now what ever was happening to her made her angry all the time. Something

which was starting to erupt in her logic circuits was that the black male snow leopard behind her

wasn't an ally. Still she flared her optics and the indigo hinted itself again in the center this time.

Rhinox came into the room and behind the glass which separated himself from Rattrap he stood

with one hand placed palm down on the glass. Studying the properties which Rattrap had

displayed allowed the scientist to devise a plan of how to deactivate him for about a mega cycle.

By then he'd have all the energon from Rattrap that he needed, or even more. Transformers

breathe like other organisms do, and Rhinox decided to knock Rattrap out by sending in an

argon bensoate gas compound which would send his systems into hibernation for about a

mega cycle or so. Rhinox decide to risk this, he had to start as soon as he could. Without a

second thought Rhinox turned to the computer console behind him. The computer controlled the

security grid surrounding Rattrap, but Rhinox was brilliant, he could patch into his laboratory

computer data tracks and divert a gas flow into the containment cell where the rat still stayed

motionless. And typing out some simple codes the computer blipped out an acknowledgment

and soon the gas was on its way to the vents entering the room. Rhinox wouldn’t be effected

because he was separated by the glass shield and the gas would only enter the designated zone

selected by him. The blue gas started to surround Rattrap.

Airazor came around the door way into the containment area where Snowblaze lay next to Prowl, she growled low in her throat, but eased herself down to keep herself from attacking the femme. "Snowblaze? Are you feeling okay?" The question was easy enough to answer but she took a moment to find her vocals. "Everything’s fine. I'm arrrrggggghhhhh.........." The snow leopard surged and she shook wildly. She pushed harder in her mind, but the throbbing pain enveloped her totally and to Airazor's horror, the surpressed black lightning jetted straight up and lit up the whole room. The bolts of indigo light danced out of Snowblaze’s optics and she screamed. The lightning bolts surrounded the femme and Airazor noticed with wide optics that the snow leopard was slowly pushing herself to her feet, wings out stretched. The electric beams of light surrounded over every feather, fur, and curve on her body. The scream turned into a loud roar. Airazor was still glued to one place and was shaking her head in disbelief, and Snowblaze's

mate regained some of himself and over her scream he could be heard, roaring out "Snowy! No,

by Primus NO!!!"

He turned back to his rage, but the male knew that his lover was going to do something

horrendous. The snow leopard had her eyes closed but she flew them open and the black

lightning surged out through them, they had turned to a bright purple light and she started to eye

Airazor. Snowblaze lowered her body, ready to pounce and she growled low, her white teeth

bared and gleaming. Airazor was in shock, and she was soon plowed over onto her back, as she

felt a huge pressure ram into her front. Snowblaze was growling, she had Airazor pinned down

and a set of sharp claws close to vital circuits. The lightning surged around the snow leopard and

the sound of a male snow leopard yelling out was heard to the sound of shredded metal.

The commotion was heard by Rhinox as he kept watching the blue haze enter the room surrounding his huddled up friend. His audios detected the sounds of fierce slams and thumps from down the hall. "What the slag?" Rhinox turned away from his work, collecting his thoughts quickly as he reached for his chain gun from his subspace, a funny expression of curiosity on his face. The sounds became more clearly heard as Rhinox raced down the corridor, he heard the distinct sounds of Airazor scream, slashed metal, slams against the metal walls of the Axalon and Snowblaze’s deep roars of anger. The large green male then knew now that Snowblaze lost control over the black lightning which had manifested her. He gasped for air as he made his way to the containment cell block D, hoping to Primus he could save Airazor, or what was left of her.

Airazor pushed on the snow leopard which was mounted on her front, pushing with all her force. As her strength went into the growling snow cat on her, she felt the agony of Snowblaze’s claws slowing digging out of her soft metal, energon dripping out of the punctured wound. The hard silver of Snowblaze’s claws were coated with her comrades mech fluid, the green tinge gleaming off the silver. All reason of resisting this new force had now abandoned Snowblaze, and she couldn’t fight the strong impulse within her mind. It kept spurring her on to kill, these weren’t her allies, she only saw them as her enemies, even her mate who was behind her raging on in fury. Roaring out at the thought of that, Snowblaze bared her teeth, her large white canines reflecting in Airazor’s green optics. Energon was flowing all over from the deep gashes which were marked by claw slashes.

The resistance during this struggle was enormous, on both sides. Snowblaze was digging her claws further into the femme beneath her, growling in uncontrollable rage. Raking her paws over the femmes armor with extreme hate. Rhinox made his way onto the scene and witnessed what was going on, and his mouth gaped a bit at the sight before him. Airazor’s body had deep gashes all over it, and pools of energon surrounded the two combating femmes. The male was struck in shock as he observed Snowblaze, on her fore limbs her fur was stained with greenish mech fluid, almost up to her shoulder. Airazors mech fluid also was coating the snow cats wings, which swept across the metal floor with every scrapping slash which Snowblaze gave out. The growls were matched to the cries of agony. Rhinox shook himself back to reality and acted immediately. He ran forward and with his hands he grabbed the raging snow leopard by her upper shoulders, feeling her pull back at his touch. He expected her to not say anything but hiss and growl at his move, truth in it she dId do those things, the only difference was she bared her teeth and glared deeply with her stone cold blue eyes into his. The force they threw out at him sent shivers down his spinal chords and he thought that his friend Snowblaze was truly gone forever at the vagueness in her eyes, the sound of her vicious vocals came clearly through. "LET GO OF ME!" She roared out, shaking wildly trying to break his grip as he dragged her off Airazor’s limp form. Her claws resisted the force pulling her away from her enemy, but she soon focused on him as her new target.

"Snowblaze! What the slag is going on with you?" The large green male was stern in his tone, although he had an Idea of what was going on he knew now that it wasn’t as simple as he thought she'd been changed. Her eyes became tiny slits as her eye ridges almost covered her eyes, she was furious, but still she had a strong intelligence flowing through her. She had always been very intelligent, but Rhinox had thought that the black lightning was just blinding her systems to thinking that all the Maximals were her enemy, but in truth she actually thought that it was true. "Why would you ask me that you slagging fat-ass rhino? You know the score, I’m a Predacon and you’re a Maximal, all which must die! Grrrr....rowr!" She had managed to break free of the strong grip which Rhinox had on her, she was quite agile and just twisted her way out of his huge hands. Now she was crouched low to the ground, ready to pounce on anything in her way. Rhinox was stunned that she mentioned the word Predacon, she wasn’t a Pred. She was a Maximal not only by birth, but she had always defended her allegiance greatly, never would she turn traitor. This wasn’t her at all, it was the power of the black lightning within her, Rhinox was absolutely sure of it.

All he could do at the moment was glance at her, then at the limp form of Airazor, to the pacing black winged cat in his cage, then back to the battle ready snow leopard. What could he do? "Well? Come on Rhinox, aren’t you going to fight me?" Her phrase made Rhinox ball up his hands into tight fists, he had to get her in confines, if she was able to get out of the Axalon and get to Megatron, he could manipulate her to any extent he wished, and Snowblaze wouldn’t know at all what was going on to her. He had to try though, he tensed his frame and made a lunge towards her. The femme reverted to her dark blue and silver robotic form, the gleam of her metal greeting Rhinox’s optics as she jumped into the air flipping over his lumbering form, watching her as she traveled over his head. Noting her flaming indigo and blue optics as they blurred by, they were fixed to his and it made his energon race. As she landed behind him, she grinned evilly at him, and a sly look plastered her face. "Since you aren’t into a serious fight right now I have better things to be doing!" Just before she was done her words her white and tan wings came around and aimed at Rhinox, simultaneously they sounded to the blast of their torpedoes shooting forward. They cut through the air, flying straight toward Rhinox, the male hadn’t much time to react. He did a flying sideways jump as the twin feather torpedoes slammed into his left leg, causing a serious fracture, most of the muscle cables and circuitry were exposed.

From his dodge, Rhinox slammed into the metallic floor in the containment room. Energon flowing from his leg as he glanced up at the femme who had inflicted his wound. He watched as she turned and ran out of the room, the unmistakable deep blue of her metal flashing by his optics as she heading off somewhere else, mainly out of the Axalon. The pain which surged from his leg made Rhinox almost want to scream out loud, and he gripped it with his hands. He couldnt pursue Snowblaze, she was too fast. Gazing around the room he was in, he saw the wreckage the snow leopard had inflicted, which was quite a lot. Energon and mech fluid were everywhere in pools, eagle feathers scattered the floor, enormous slashes were gouged in the metal walls and the floor, shredded metal armor and used ammunition laid everywhere, and snow leopard fur was in clumps in different areas, in other words one big mess was created by one raging femme. The large male got up despite his pain in his leg, he had to get Airazor to the CR chamber and he had to find a cure to this "black lightning" infection, this was too much. He reached his fallen comrade, she was very weak but she'd recover, none of her vitals were touched. A sign maybe there might be hope in recovering the estranged Snowblaze.

"Airazor, say something." Rhinox was holding the racked up femme in his arms as he shook her gently. Her green optics hazed to half power and she moaned lightly before uttering "What... hap......happened...to..her?" Rhinox was relieved that she could at least stay conscious. "Snowblaze thinks she’s a Predacon, its the black lightning........shes infected. But don’t worry about that right now, I have to get you to the CR chamber. He lifted the femme up as he stood up on his shaky legs, the pain shooting up his leg to his back. Every step he took to the comm room pushed him on to find a way to end this whole nightmare. He had to finish analyzing Rattrap’s systems to figure out what this was exactly, they also had to get their fleet back in line. Megatron had the upper hand now, even though he wasn’t aware of it, but he soon would be, because a female snow leopard was flying her way over to the Darkside.

When he reached the comm room, Rhinox placed Airazor into the CR chamber and pushed in the commands to start her repairs. It would take about a day or so before she'd be in top working order again. He looked through the observation glass as she powered down her optics and was in recharge while the computer worked its magic on her damaged systems "Alert! Predacon energy signature detected in grid Baxon." The Axalon computers monotone voice chimed out. "Slag. Not more bad news." Rhinox made his way over to the main computer console and pressed a few buttons on it, bringing up grid Baxon, the area between the two bases. On the projection was a Predacon symbol within the air above grid Baxon, flying steadily toward the Darkside. "Computer! Identify!" The scanners went out and read the energy signature. "Signature matches that of Predacon unit: Snowblaze, beast mode." "What?" Rhinox let his optics dwindle wide open in surprise, he quickly acted by bringing up the command reports in the computers data tracks. He looked under Snowblaze’s file and found that she had ordered the Axalon to change her activation code and energy signature, she was a Predacon now. "No. I've got to work fast." The green Maximal had placed an armor cast around his leg, it wasn’t much but it served his purpose, he had no time to log on some time in the CR chamber. Rhinox left the comm room and headed as fast as he could manage to the brig, Rattrap was the key.

The air pushed past her face as she flew on. The snow leopard was smiling deeply on her face, she kept heading further toward Pred air space. <~Time to go find my leader.~ Why did that feel a little bit strange, isn’t he inactive? ~NO! Stop thinking shit and go see Megatron.~> This alien presence was dominating the femme as she flew on. The blue sky she edged forward in wasn’t noticed, the only thing her blue and indigo optics were fixed on was the ever growing closer Darkside. As she might have thought before, she expected the autoguns to come up but they didnt. This was because the Darkside's computer recognized her energy signature. She swerved down with her wings to move herself down to a way into the Darkside. The alien thoughts still coursing through her mind.

Turning his head in surprise Megatron edged his massive frame forward to study the viewing globe from his command chair. There was hardly any light within the Darkside and the image which was lit up on the globe poured its light on to the Predacon leaders face. His face was twisting in confusion, not understanding why a Predacon was showing up on the screen, when all his troops were within the base. Punching a few buttons on the armrest of the chair, Megatron did an energy signature scan, what came up made his optics turn into tiny slits, his hand coming up to massage his chin deep in thought. The name flashing on the screen was Predacon unit: Snowblaze. <I wonder how she became Identified as a Predacon? Must be a malfunction in the computers data tracks.> He changed his mind though when he saw where she was landing, right in front of the Darkside. "Hmmm.... Maybe I can use this to my advantage. Yes, something is going on with her, she wouldn’t just leave the Maximals....or would she?" He quit talking to himself and powered up his comm link. "Megatron to Inferno, bring in our honored guest... heh heh." The message was answered with a "Yes my queen." Megatron placed a hand over his optics and shook his head, hating the title which the fire ant always called him.

The hull of the Darkside was crumbling away, the rusted entrance way was one of the only openings to the ships interior. The snow leopard was coming closer to her landing point, and she eyed the spot for a precise landing. She beat her wings fast to the side as she maneuvered herself to catch the down draft of wind, she finally felt her paws touch the rocky soil and she brought her impressive wings back close to her body. She studied the entrance way with her blue optics and she sneered, some how this felt strange to her yet she knew it was where she was supposed to be. Walking toward the dark rusting hole, Snowblaze jumped back slightly as she saw a pair of glowing red optics coming out of the blackness. She tensed but didn’t attack the red mech coming closer to her, his flame gun aimed straight at her. "What are you doing here leopard?" Inferno was eyeing the femme in front of him and he had to wonder why she wasn’t in battle mode baring her weapons. Instead she was standing there in beast mode digging into his optics with her own, a stare which could make anyone want to turn around. "Stupid question ant. You know that I’m a Predacon as much as you are, I’m just returning from my mission, Megatron would probably want to hear my report." She let a grin which was almost predatory sneak up on her features, a hint of her white canines where seen through her grinning muzzle.

Optic ridge raising in question, Inferno turned his head and lowered his flame gun from his previous target. "All right, just stay put until I contact the royalty." He activated the comm link on his chest and Megatron’s voice came over the comm link acknowledging, Inferno explained what was going on and what Snowblaze claimed to be what she was here for. Megatron was surprised at what he heard but he let a sly grin creep on to his face, this was too easy. "Bring the snow leopard to me, I have some things to discuss with her. Yes." Megatron was no fool, he knew for certain that she was believing she was Predacon, this was because it wasn’t as see through as the time Rattrap became a Pred, she had willingly changed her codes, changed her allegiance circuits, and she now had the idea she was really a Pred. What more did Megatron have to fear from her, she thought he was her leader, and he could use her in any extent he wished. Inferno complied and looked over at the silvery cat, her grin never leaving her face. It wasn’t Infernos place to think, something he never did anyway, but he had to feel somewhat strange letting in, who he still considered, his enemy. He pointed his gun at her, "Get in the base, the royalty wishes to see you. Move!" He poked her hind flank with his gun and Snowblaze whipped around, "Lets get one thing straight bug breath, I’m a Predacon and I don’t like to be prodded like a hunk of festering slag! Unless you want to become that hunk of slag." She growled low and turned to enter the Darkside, the dazed fire ant was still confused over what had happened but brought himself to follow her as she walked on to see Megatron.

Energon was still dripping from the casing Rhinox had placed over his leg. He was working up a mad fury. The blue compound gas he had diverted to enter Rattrap’s cell was now gone. The rat was laying on his side, his optics dark and body lifeless. He wasn’t dead, the gas had knocked him out and now as he was laying limp, Rhinox was preparing an area for some of his mech fluid to be removed. Rhinox had to wonder what exactly was in his energon flows, this test would hopefully tell him that and a way to cure the infections placed on the other members of the fleet.

He slowly edged a small needle into Rattrap’s upper arm, pulling back a small amount of greenish blue liquid. It came out and entered the containment unit. Rhinox removed the needle and looked at the sample, holding it up to the light. The shimmering liquid surged with electrical bolts. "What in the world?" Rhinox knew that he could think all his questions later, right now he had to get out of that containment cell, Rattrap would be conscious soon and if Rhinox was still in there with him and he got touched, he'd be gone too. That vial of mech fluid was the only hope the Maximals had to unraveling their situation.

"So you believe you are a Predacon now? Yes." Megatron grinned wickedly at the femme now in front of him. The heat within the Darkside was immense as it came from the lava pits beneath them, coolant beading on everyone’s face. Snowblaze was on a floating platform in her robotic mode, the dark blue of her metal was reflecting the little light within her surroundings. She was confused that her "leader" had questioned her allegiance. "That is correct leader. I exist only to serve you Megatron." She stood straight and looked up at him with a set of obedient optics. Megatron thought on this subject for a moment, it still sounded to good to be true to him. This femme wasn’t normally treacherous to the Maximals, she defended that title before with vigor and honor. This revelation shook Megatron’s logic circuits, but he passed it by, if she was truly devoted why not have another soldier against Optimus Primal, especially one of his former troops. The Pred commander flexed his fingers and gave the femme a lopsided smile, optics flaring with manipulative evil. "In that case my dear Snowblaze, let me be the first to welcome you to the Predacons." Snowblaze saluted to her leader, but as she stood a small error crossed her peripheral vision, she paid a bit of attention to it, but it soon was quickly shut off. Did she do that or was it something else?

The labor Rhinox was giving to find a way to fix his comrades was paying off, he had only a few more cycles before he knew the exact compounds and effects of the mech fluid from Rattrap. He adjusted the Axalon’s scanners trying to pick up the basic components. The screen before him beeped out a warning, for it had only a few more nanos before it came up with the conclusions. In his anticipation, Rhinox glanced over at the CR chamber and remembered Airazor and the others, his holding tanks twisted in uneasy frustration. Once the Axalon’s computer had told him the compounds within Rattrap’s energon flows, he'd be able to figure out what to do with the others conditions. This had to work. The beeping ended to the computer throwing out a list of the components in the mech fluid. At the top of this list was a flashing item, it read: electronic blue energon. Rhinox let his optics stay wIde open, what the heck was that? Simply put he'd have to deal with it and use this information no matter how bizarre. The list of components weren’t the only things which the computer showed on the screen, it was a series of short explanations of what the capabilities of this particular type of energon were. Rhinox read over the main effects and smiled, this information was dead on exactly what he needed, he then ran out of the comm room, he had to revive Optimus. He now had the power to bring back their leader from life support. What was listed on the screen was this little bit of information: [Electric blue energon has an unstable ability to alter one area of circuitry within an individual. Ex, Logic circuitry is clouded by the element, thus making the individual act unlike theirself.]

The green energon still shimmered down the tubes connected to Optimus fore arm, as Rhinox rounded the bend to enter the medbay. He had a look of hope on his face, all he needed to do was direct the Axalons medical files to repair a certain area in Optimus. According to what happened to Optimus, three of his life cables were snapped. These could be replaced, but the black lightning energon still had to be filtered out of his mech fluid. This restoration would take about two mega cycles and Rhinox quickly thought of another he could bring back to functional order in a hurry. Skimming through the list of Maximals who weren’t in normal working order, one of the easiest to fix stood out in his mind. Prowl. Rhinox reached the medical console, he tapped into the main command function controls. He now had control of what the Axalon could fix on Optimus. After a few lines of code were punched in, Rhinox watched as the computer worked its magic. The bed which the Maximal commander laid upon was soon covered in a light plasma shield, the blue glow entering his body and repairing his life chords. The life support systems flashed off and the cable connected to his arm was soon taken out. A red cable was now attached to his arm and a vial which was off to the side. The commands were working! Optimus energon was pumped through the red cable, and as it passed through it would separate all the normal energon cells from the black lightning energon cells. It would be about a mega cycle before Primal was in top condition again. Rhinox needed to get another of the fleet on line again, he left the repairs on auto and headed out the door toward the brig.

Waspinator was at the computer console over looking some of the Darkside's data banks, primarily the one about 101 uses for sugar. He chuckled happily to himself as he looked over the uses. "Whhoooo....Wazzzzzpinator love this, have great Ideas for tonight!" He hovered in front of the console in wasp mode, his wings humming as he ate up the intriguing information. His pleasure was soon ended when a flash report came up over his previous screen. "What the?" The bug wasn’t that happy about this new interruption. "Alert! Status pod dectected!" The bug then relinguished all thoughts of displeasure he had before, for he knew that he could get praise from Megatron for this new discovery, a new Predacon would make the tyrant happy. "Oh Goody! A new Predacon for Megatron, Maybe one that doezzzn’t make fun of Wazzzzzipnator." He buzzed his way out of the observation deck to the command room, where he surly find his leader.

Megatron smiled large as he heard the news the bug had to tell him, this day was just too good to be true. Two new troops would be entering the Predacons helping to tip the balance of power. the Maximals came to mind though at first thought, he didnt want the opposing side to gain another of their pods. This protoform would walk on the side of darkness, he ensured it. He thought about Snowblaze, maybe she remembered what condition the Maximals were in. Megatron hadn’t heard from them in a while, the battles between them were next to nothing. The last major conflict they had had was the Teletron Sentinel ordeal. "Good work Waspinator. Uh Snowblaze could you please come here for a moment." The femme flew over from the other side of the room to meet up with her leader, she was interested in what he wanted to learn from her. "Snowblaze, do you remember the last current condition of the Maximals before you returned to base." Megatron sneered at this because he never had sent her on a mission, this was just something she believed. "Almost the whole fleet was off line or altered. Optimus included." Her words stuck a wry grin on Megatron’s face, he thought of the plan he would now execute. "Co-ordinates!" Waspinator buzzed his wings to meet up with the two, "9-2-6, Trion quadrant."

"Predacons! Inferno, Waspinator, Snowblaze and myself will go to get this protoform. Until then Scorponok is in command." There were a few faces of disapproval to the decision but it passed, the group of four then headed out of the darkness of the base to the gray fogged light of day.

"Whoa! Easy Prowl!" Struggling with all his strength to bring the black winged jaguar under control Rhinox was trying to bring him over to the medbay. The computer had to run the plasma scan over him or he'd be like this until he was fixed. Rhinox thought of Prowls condition, his protection circuits weren’t functioning. Now the large green male was trying with all his strength to drag the hissing and growling black cat. He had placed a maximum security chain around the cats neck but he had to pull him down the corridors with enormous force, he heard Prowls claws dig into the metal, it gave off an undignified shriek as they dug down into the floor. Prowl was hissing and baring his white canines, he was furious. "Prowl! I’m just trying to help you Slag it! I don’t think you want to know what Snowblaze is doing now!" The black jaguars optics flickered somewhat and he eased his tension a bit from the mention of his mates name. That ended very quickly, and he continued to put up a hissing fight as Rhinox dragged him into the medbay. Rhinox pulled extremely hard, choking Prowl somewhat, and he retaliated by swiping the air just before Rhinox’s chest. "Well that’s just prime." Rhinox heard the familiar voice and had to smile wide. Finally something was helping him out. "Thank Primus you’re all right, I've been playing the miracle worker too much. Do you mind helping me out though Optimus." Optimus was standing in all his power, revived and ready to get started. They pulled quite hard on the chain and together they were able to place Prowl under the plasma shield. The blue plasma entered Prowl, the protective circuits being fixed within seconds. His energon was wiped clean of all the influential black lightning, he collapsed under the power which ran through his body, his four weary legs too weak to support him any longer.

Prowl shook his head and he slowly opened his eyes. The blurry vision of two figures soon was in focus as he looked on to see who they were. The world around him was recognizable but still it felt weird since he hadn’t been in control of his body for the past couple of days. His head throbbed and soon he found his vocals, wanting to know what was going on. "Agggghhhh.....Oh Primus do I have a head ache." He shut his eyes and shook his head again, trying to get back on track. "Opt...Opt.. Optimus, what’s going on? Last thing I can remember are being shot by Rattrap, and some brief images of Snowblaze and Airazor in the brig. Prowl, Maximize." With a twist of his gears he was standing in his stunning silver and black mode, the Maximal insignia on his right shoulder stood out proudly, and his wings were straight on his back, his black jaguar head was now on his wide chest part of it and peering out its blue optics amongst the black of it, Prowl was back. "Too much has happened Prowl, we need you now. I was alerted by Teletron Sentinel that another protoform pod had been found. We need to dispatch some of us." Optimus looked at Rhinox and was uneasy. "We need to leave now. Rhinox who is still functional?" "WHAT?" Prowls optics shot wide open, "What do you mean still functional?" His face was contorted in pain, he was confused. Optimus told Prowl the black lightning incident with Rattrap, his words struck Prowls memory chips hard. "By the matrix no!......Snowblaze. She was hit by Rattrap I remember now! Primus no! Snowy!" He was about to run out of the medbay when Rhinox quickly stole out his hand to grab Prowls shoulder. "Searching the base wont do you any good Prowl, she isn’t here." His tone was sullen. "What do you mean? Where is she?" Prowl felt his heart ache, something wasn’t right. "What is it Rhinox?" Optimus asked, an optic ridge raised. Rhinox had his gaze lowered to look at the floor, fists in tight balls. "Snowblaze isn’t in the base, she’s with the Predacons." "They took Snowy? I’ll slag them all to...." He was cut off when Rhinox replied "No Prowl, she wasn’t taken by the Preds, she IS a Predacon."

No words were found in Prowls vocals, he just stood there in the door way. His optics wide with dread, mouth slightly open in disbelief and his heart crushed under the force of Rhinox’s words.