Author notes: I really have nothing better to do with my time.

Disclaimer: AHAHAHAHAHA --- *coughwheezeburp*

Foreign the currency, your payment in blood to be

Death is the destiny of all of our ways

In the dark you hide away for who or what you can't say

When I see the power of the demon come alive

You know that sanity is not as ti was meant to be

And now that misery has taken a new stand

-- "My Spirit Will Go On", Dragonforce

Mal Vu: Chapter Four

Despite the fact that his wounds ached terribly and damage reports clamored for attention, Silverbolt found himself completely and utterly annoyed with the situation. Who could have known that such a catastrophe could occur in less than two days time? The attempted escape hadn't gone very well at all, and although the Maximals knew of his dire situation, they hadn't made the glorious attack/rescue Optimus had promised.

Not that he blamed them; Rampage was a devious and powerful creature. Really, the fact that he had prisoners that functioned at all was a small miracle.

Perhaps the annoyance was a coping mechanism. He found that, really, he didn't care. All he knew was that he felt annoyed, and it was a more preferable emotion than terror.

All this was mused over as the monster in question happily strolled along in his beast form, holding the fuzor in the air above his head. The gigantic transmetal crab barely fit through the halls of the Predacons' former base; even as he passed Tarantulas's unmoving body -- in stasis lock, it seemed --, he tossed the spider on top of his crustacean back and kept on moving.

Silverbolt assumed they'd end up back in the cages over the lava. Different cages, perhaps, considering they had let the doors to their prisons fall to the boiling rivers below. When the crab walked right by the hallway that would have led them to the cages, humming pleasantly, the fuzor started to worry.

"Where are you taking us, monster?" He growled it as he asked, knowing it really didn't matter if the creature was in a pleasant mood or not. It seemed Rampage inflicted pain no matter what he was feeling at the time; no need to try and placate him with silence.

For some reason, Rampage decided to humor his prisoner. "The Maximals are bound to come for you, now. May as well prepare." He chuckled softly.

The fuzor froze for a moment; his allies had either seen or heard his recent torture, then. The realization evoked a growl, ashamed that his love may have heard him beg. He fell silent, then, not knowing what to do or say.

Rampage continued to hum merrily, a rather disturbing sound to the only conscious captive -- although he doubted Tarantulas would have found the sound any more joyous than he did -- and continued to walk along the halls. He stopped outside what was marked as a storage room and dumped both Maximal and Predacon on the floor. The fuzor hissed as he hit the metal floor hard, glaring daggers at the gigantic crab.

There was no surprise when Rampage walked in to the storage room, returning seconds later in his standard form with a handful of stasis cuffs of various sizes. The destroyer of Omicron paused for a moment over Tarantulas, likely considering exactly how to handcuff a transmetal spider, before simply settling on locking one entire set of legs to the other. Then -- much to the chagrin of Silverbolt -- what was left of his front legs were handcuffed together, as well as the stumps that were his hind legs. The only real purpose of being bound would be to keep him from transforming.

Still humming, Rampage walked back inside the storage room, door sliding shut behind him, leaving the deformed fuzor to silence.

"Blackarachnia, are the tunnels between Tarantulas's old lab and the Predacon base still intact?" Optimus Primal spoke quickly, looking towards the femme.

"They were the last time I checked." Blackarachnia nodded just as fast, eager to leave the Axalon. "Tarantulas was a paranoid slagger, but wasn't very creative with passwords. I can get in easy."

"Good." Primal took a deep breath. "Rhinox, Cheetor, stay here. Contact me if Rampage leaves or if anything changes. Rattrap, Blackarachnia, you're with me."

"What?!" Cheetor sputtered, shocked at the order. "Big bot, I can --"

"Stay here!" Primal frowned. "Help Rhinox, keep the shields up as high as they can go!" The youngest Maximal was brash and impulsive; he simply knew Cheetor would end up in trouble if he came along with the rescue.

The transmetal feline sputtered, actually pouting. "..Fine. Fine.." Clearly, he was unhappy with the decision.

"Good.." Primal looked at Rhinox. "If we don't come back --"

"I know." Rhinox nodded once. "Stay here and keep the shields up."

Without another word, Optimus Primal, Rattrap and Blackarachnia left the Axalon. Not even Rattrap grumbled with his atypical sarcasm, the seriousness of the situation bearing down on them all.

Rampage didn't emerge from the storage room for what felt like a long while. Perhaps the silence made the wait feel more extended than it really was. Regardless, when he did finally come out in his crab form, he carried several large, closed boxes on his crustacean back. How he balanced them all there without any sort of bindings was unclear. Still humming what sounded suspiciously like a lullaby, the large crab simply picked up Silverbolt and Tarantulas and kept on walking without skipping a beat.

Silverbolt frowned deeply as they went further and further in to the Predacon base. He had only been inside the Darksyde once, and he didn't recognize where they were from the brief memory. After several halls were passed by, they made a sharp turn in to an open door; his canine jaw dropped in shock at the sight that met him.

It was Megatron's room. At least, it used to be, if the throne was any indication. The disembodied head of the Predacon leader on the grandiose chair was also an omen of where they were. The rest of Megatron's body was nowhere in sight, but pieces of Inferno's corpse littered the room, surrounding the throne in a macabre fashion. Although the stench of mech fluid had been frequent as of late, the sheer level of it now actually caused Silverbolt to cringe.

Still, Rampage did not stop; he simply kept on walking, heading to the back of the room. Without a warning, the transmetal let loose a single, startling blast; it took down a wall, revealing a secret stairway. Silverbolt boggled at the secret exit.

Miraculously, Rampage could fit through. He waddled down the stairs, met a long corridor, and -- after nearly an entire hour -- out an open door that resembled a cave and in to the light of day.

The first thing Silverbolt noticed was the grass on the ground; the Darksyde had been at the base of a volcano and surrounded by ashen soot and lava. A quick glance spotted said volcano and the broken, half melted ship that served as the Predacon base of operations only a short time ago. It was all very, very far away.

"Where are you taking us?" The fuzor would have obviously been worried even if Rampage couldn't feel his emotions.

"You, dear Maximal, are going home." The crab chuckled.

"What?" His avian tail twitched in nervousness.

Rampage only chuckled, declining a response. His vehicle-mode treads came with a sudden whir; then, they started to move at a much faster pace.

When they finally did stop, the two prisoners were, again, dumped unceremoniously on the floor. Silverbolt yelped, this time, as his injured legs met the ground first. He bit his tongue to keep from yelling in pain, instead choosing to glare at the large mech. The still unconscious Tarantulas wasn't too far off, and, soon after, the cargo of boxes were carefully set on the ground next to the pair, set down one by one. Whatever the boxes held was obviously very important to Rampage.

"Terrorize." The crab transformed, opened one of the smaller boxes, and retrieved a long chain. He seemed to grin, wrapping the chain around the fuzor's canine neck and closing it shut with a small, simple lock. The other end was tied to a nearby tree. Then, he happily walked away, leaving the two prisoners and his cargo.

Silverbolt fumed at the humiliation; did the giant Predacon really believe he would run off in his condition, or was he simply trying to antagonize him? The spider wasn't tied up. Although, Tarantulas couldn't run or transform with the way he was bound, even if he were to wake up. Glaring after the crab, his gaze caught sight of an unexpected feature in the distance.

"Primus.." The Axalon was practically right in front of them. Had they really gotten so far in such a short amount of time? With growing horror, he suddenly knew what the destroyer of Omicron intended.

"..Slag.." The groan caught him by surprise; Tarantulas stirred, twitching. "Wha --" He flailed in his bindings. "That Unicron spawn!"

Silverbolt snorted at the unusual insult. "Agreed, although I would not call him that directly."

The spider stopped for a moment, arachnid eyes blinking slowly. "..Are you on a leash?" At the growl that served as a response, he shook himself slightly, clearing his thoughts. "Where are we?"

"By the Axalon." Silverbolt frowned deeply. "Too far away to call for help, not close enough to know why."

"Wonderful." Tarantulas seemed to slump, noticing the state the fuzor was in with subdued interest. "..Did he do that to you?"

Silverbolt growled, annoyed by the less than intelligent query. "Who else would? Besides you, of course."

All nine of the spiders' eyes rolled a bit, but his thoughts focused again. "..And he didn't do anything to me."

Silverbolt only growled, yet found himself understanding why the spider was confused and concerned; he had, after all, asked similar questions of the spider not that long ago. "Nothing that I'm aware of."

"..Slag." Tarantulas slumped a little further, pensive.

The two stayed in silence for several long minutes; the spring birds above sang in ignorance. Somehow, their ordinarily beautiful symphony now carried an air of sadness; neither of them knew what would happen to them now or where they were going to end up, if they would even survive to see the next solar cycle.

The rumination didn't last long; the sound of blaster fire filled the air, heard clearly even at this distance from the fallen Axalon ship. Silverbolt perked up in nothing less than horror, a deep fear that only increased when he heard high pitched shrieking. Neither of the two prisoners said anything yet, only looking to the distant ship in wide-eyed shock.

Not a breem after the shrieking had ended, familiar tank treads rumbled across the ground. Rampage, clearly delighted, quietly moved towards the boxes and piled them on his back. Then, he picked up the spider and wingless wolf -- snapping the chain but leaving a portion of it as a collar -- in each of his pincers and rolled towards the Axalon.

The elevator lift that went up to the Axalon was down now; Rampage carefully piled the boxes inside it and set both mechs on top of them. After a quick transformation, he calmly walked inside and pressed the button to bring the lift up.

Before Silverbolt could even see what state the inside of the ship he called home was in, he was thrown in to the control room. He slammed against a CR-tank and slid to the floor, coughing at a sudden catch in his intake. Tarantulas followed a short second later, hitting the floor.

"Silverbolt?!"

The fuzor in question turned his head in shock, only to stare in horror; a very familiar, terrified mech was bound and tied in stasis cuffs several feet away. "Cheetor!" Then, a deep pit formed in his spark; he had a very, very bad feeling about what would happen in the next short while. Silverbolt looked around for any sign of Rampage, only to find him -- and the boxes -- gone to who knows where.

"How did he get past Sentinel..?" Silverbolt sputtered, looking at Cheetor.

"He.." Cheetor shook a little. "..He just.. Walked right in. The shields didn't even DO anything..! Oh, slag, Rat-face was right, we're gonna die.."

Silverbolt winced. He stumbled, attempting to walk on what was left of his bound legs, crawling like a worm. "Where's Optimus?"

"The others went to the Preds to get you!" The transmetal cat was actually hog tied.

Silverbolt winced in guilt; his wounds opened slightly despite the internal wires in his legs having melted and fuzed when they met the lava, leaving a sickening trail of mech fluid in their wake. It took far longer than the fuzor wanted to get to the master controls, gritting in teeth in pain as he balanced entirely on his hind legs. Of course, without actual hands or talons to work with and barely able to reach most of the controls, he couldn't actually use them. He pounded what was left of his front legs on the inclined metal, spreading his own mech fluid further. "Will nothing work?!"

Cheetor's whimper was warning enough to turn; Rampage stood, appearing amused, not ten feet away. "At this rate, I'm going to have to remove your legs entirely."

Silverbolt snarled, basic survival forgotten with a threatened friend and ally in the room. As it was, he was ignoring his damage reports and the need to collapse. "What is it that you want with us?!"

Rampage appeared ready to burst out laughing. "I want you to suffer, mostly. It's entertaining. Something has to keep me amused until I get off this planet."

"You.." Tarantulas sputtered in sudden realization. "..You want me to rebuild one of the ships.."

This time, Rampage did burst out laughing. Hilarity rang in his voice. "It's taken you this long to figure this out?" He shook his head a little, chuckling. "The Darksyde had the problem of being half melted. This one doesn't have that issue."

"..Oh." Tarantulas seemed at peace with this. "It all makes sense, now."

Even Rampage gave Tarantulas an odd look, but quickly shook it off. With a chuckle, he walked slowly towards the bound Cheetor.

"Don't you dare!" Silverbolt snarled; he had never felt such fury in his life. Adrenaline ran through his systems, overriding even the basic survival mechanisms. It was the only reason he had the strength or energy to leap at the hulking transmetal's side, somehow even clinging on and biting down as hard as he could on a shoulder.

The crab in question yelped in surprise, taking a single step back. Then, he grabbed the canine's skull with one hand and the simple collar with the other, throwing him hard to the floor; the fuzor let out an animalistic howl of pain. This time, his body got the better of his mind, and he didn't attempt to get up again.

"Silverbolt!" Cheetor yelped, flailing in his binds. "You slag-sucking scrap heap!"

Rampage only chuckled and nudged the barely conscious fuzor out of the way. "You aren't a very bright child, are you..?"

A thorough search of the Darksyde had only found corpses and sickening displays. There had been no sight or sound of anything remotely useful until Rattrap had found the secret passage hidden in the back of Megatron's throne room.

"Son of a..!" The rat sputtered. He turned on his comm. "Yo, Optimus, we got an extra door leadin' out back here!"

"What?!" Optimus stopped mid-stride, deep in the half melted ship's hull. "I'm going to call Rhinox.." He pressed a few buttons on the comm. "Optimus to base, come in Rhinox." There was nothing but worrying static. "..Come in, Cheetor. Someone answer me!"

"Hello, Primal." A slow, deep voice; the grin was practically tangible. "The Maximals aren't able to take your call, right now. Leave a message after the beep."

Optimus's entire body went cold. How did he even get inside the Axalon?! With a few quick button presses, Blackarachnia and Rattrap's comm units lit up in alarm. "If you hurt any of them, I swear to Primus.."

"Now, that's not a very good last message." Rampage chuckled. "You should have killed me when you had the chance. Your mistake, Primal."

"You sickening..!" Optimus hissed, rushing for the Darksyde's exit.

"You want them? Then come and get them." Rampage laughed, ending the call.

You know that sanity is not as it was meant to be

And now that misery has taken a new stand

On the wings of eagles flying, staring on to the sun

Reaching for the gold horizon when the war shall be won

Can you see the debauchery and the blade of death that has come for thee?

In winds of torment forever more you will cry for just

One more time to escape from all this madness

One more time to be set free from all this sadness

And one last time to be the one who understands

-- "My Spirit Will Go On", Dragonforce

Author notes: ..What? Why are you staring at me like that? o_o