Beast Wars Prime

Regroup and Recruit

Well, what do you know, I managed to get a chapter out this month after all. While not as action packed as the last four were, this does begin to set the stage for the rest of the story. Now, I believe I said in a previous chapter that I'd only use Transmetal 2 Megatron (as Galvatron) for this story, but as I planned it out, it became less and less feasible. So here is where we begin to see more of them. Enjoy.

Within Tarantulas' lab on the Nemesis, Galvatron was still trying to piece together how he'd overlooked the insidious Arachnids' allegiance to Unicron. When he'd first met Tarantulas (then Mesothalus) right after Arcees' betrayal, he seemed nice enough, if not a little unnerving at times. The two had signed on to the Decepticon movement early on even though they didn't believe Megatron was truly worthy of leading it. When Mesothalus admitted to being the one who performed senator Shockwaves' shadow play and still had a foothold in him, they began to plan. They'd let Megatron do the heavy lifting and then swoop in and depose him at the right moment.

That plan had gone off without a hitch. However, in all their grand schemes he had no idea he himself was being played. Now, while he had power, he was also enthralled by Unicron himself. And if there was one thing he and Megatron agreed on, it was that they'd be no one's slave.

Glaring around the lab, his optics came to rest on Megatron, still bolted to the wall without his voice or limbs. As the former Decepticon leader glared back at him, Galvatron smirked, as bad as his situation was, at least it would be only temporary. He would eventually break free of Unicrons control and make both the chaos bringer and Tarantulas pay for their transgressions. Yes.

Turning away from Megatron, Galvatron continued to look around the lab. Perhaps there was something he could use to his advantage. Passing over the partially vivisected Sparkstalker, he caught a glimpse of something unexpected. It looked like two halves of a broken shield that was horribly scorched.

"Tarantulas." Galvatron began. "Is that what I think it is?"

Looking up from his and Shockwaves' latest project, Tarantulas followed his line of sight. "Yes, that is, or more accurately, what is left of the Skyboom shield."

"What on Cybertron could have caused that level of damage? It was meant to be indestructible." He knew that it was one of the lesser-known artifacts created by Solus Prime. A shield so strong, it could block both the Star Saber and the Requiem Blaster. An artifact that would have been helpful a few days ago.

"I'm not entirely sure myself." Tarantulas replied. "I found it like that on Cybertron before we left. I've been searching for a way to either restore it or reuse the metals." He smirked. "However, with my new lab assistant, I should be able to crack it soon enough." He added, indicating the busy Shockwave.

Shockwave stepped back and looked at the twosome. "The new reformatting chamber is ready Tarantulas." He stated.

Looking at the completed work, Galvatron noted that there was a pod mounted to either side of the computer assembly, meaning that they could modify up to two troops at a time. On top of it, sat what appeared to be a canister of dark energon with a tube connected to it. Beneath it was what seemed like an orb of fused metal with a red glow. Tarantulas turned to Galvatron and began to explain how it worked.

"You see." Tarantulas explained. "By running raw cybermatter through dark energon and using the synthetic enigma frequency via our new driver unit, we can reformat our current troops into new, more powerful forms." He cackled. "I call it, Project Predacon 3.0."

"Provided it works." Galvatron replied.

Glaring at him, Tarantulas turned to the table containing Sparkstalker. "Well, if it's a test you want." He began to move towards the helpless Firecon.