FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Beast Wars Transformers (Shattered Glass)

Story:

Centuries before the Great War between the evil Autobots and heroic Decepticons ensued, their ancestors, the biomechanical beings known as the Maximals and Predacons were living in relative harmony on a technorganic Cybertron, then known as the Biocron. A unified race, these two factions worked together to ensure peace and prosperity on their almost utopian planet.

At least, on the surface.

In reality, the Maximals were tired of the tranquility that had blanketed their world for aeons, having secretly given in to their animal passions and corrupted their embers with decadent, feral revelry. They schemed to overthrow the joint council that maintained the order of their world, and reshape society into one of cruel anarchy and depravery. And only one lone Prdacon knew of this plan.

Megatron, a lowly T-Rex archiver, had discovered in his time at the government libraries an unusual silver disk containing the so-called "Conspiracies of Unicron", a collection of Nostradamus-like predictions of the future that no one cared to believe in. However, through his painstaking research and code-cracking, he discovered several ominous portends of future events: the eventual split between factions, the loss of the planet's beloved technorganic biosphere to a harsher, more vicious metallic landscape, a brutal and bloody war that would rage throughout the centuries. Taking his research before the council, Megatron attempted to warn the joint leaders of his findings, but was largely rebuffed, his words falling on deaf audiio processors as he was laughed out as a kook and conspiracy theorist.

However, he would not be denied, not after the hideous visions of the future that he had discovered in the Silver Disk. As such, he stole the disk from the library and, gathering up a small crew of whichever Predacons he could find that would believe his warnings, set off into space in his own personal transport, the Darksyde, to the one alien planet that featured prominently in the Conspiracies' datatracks: Earth. Unfortunately, the Maximal council, while not believing any of the dinosaur's drivel, agreed that his quixotic quest could alert the other Predacons to their secret plans, and ordered a skilled team of assassins from the Maximal Secret Police, lead by the brutal and strict Axalon commander Optimus Primal, after Megatron and his crew, intent on silencing them before all Matrix broke loose.

Unfortunately, in the ensuing battle between the two ships, the Darksyde's transwarp engines were damaged, causing a rip in space-time that hurtled both ships far into the future and causing them to crash-land on a barren, post-apocalyptic wasteland of a planet, with little animal life save for a large handful of survivors of the planet's one dominant species: humans. Beseiged by these humans as prey, and unable to survive the harsh conditions outside in their normal animal forms, both groups were forced to scan the humans for a suitable alternative form, allowing them to transform into a bidpedal, largely-humanoid "Robot" mode. It quickly became evident to both factions that they had arrived on Earth, some 200 years after the Great War prophecied in the "Conspiracies of Unicron", and with this knowledge, both factions have their own agendas to fulfill: The Predacons discovering a way to avoid the war and restore peace to Biocron, the Maximals gathering future technology to shift the politics of the past and ensure their rise to decrepit victory.

But they are not alone; a third, unseen force is at work on this planet, a force that has attempted to destroy it and all its inhabitants for aeons, and sees the newcomers from the past as a means to finally achieve this goal...

Heroic Predacons:

Name: Megatron

Function: Predacon archiver, savior of the future

Quote: "For the seeds of the past to be planted, the weeds of the future must not bloom."

Bio: Mild-mannered and not typically given to the grandiose or theatrical, Megatron was well-rooted in reality, rarely if ever allowing himself the privilege of flights of fancy. As an archiver for the joint Maximal/Predacon council, he was surrounded by facts and figures, a situation that well-suited him, in his opinion, as he had an abhorrent hatred for fiction, and often chided his fellow archivers for daydreaming or aspiring for greater things that he knew they could never achieve. So, when he came across the Silver Disk, and the contents within, he was just as skeptical as everyone else, and would've filed it away as usual, had it not been for a particular coded sequence digitally etched along the disk's edge, a message that seemed to come from an unusual mechanical man calling himself Megatron, warning of the terrible destruction to come in the future. Through various tests and decryption sequences, the technorganic T-Rex realized that the message, while unusual, was real, and did, in fact, reflect horrific changes yet to be.

When his attempts to warn his superiors of his discoveries were rejected, Megatron, in a very rare show of defiance and self-assertiveness, gathered up a small crew and headed out on his own, determined to investigate his findings and find a way to prevent the oncoming storm. However, he was attacked by the crew of the Axalon, and forced to retaliate, a move that sent both ships and their crews into the future and onto the planet he was seeking to do his research on, Earth. Once there, he realized just how horrific the visions from the Silver Disk were, and vowed to find some way of stopping it from happening. Unfortunately, it was also at that time that he learned that Dinobot, his second in command, his friend and comrade for many years, was a traitor loyal to the corrupt Maximal council, threatening his group and their mission by defecting to the Axalon crew. Despite his desire to ensure peace among his people and prevent the catastrophe that will befall them, Megatron knows he and his crew will have to arm themselves for any retaliatory strikes from both the Maximal thugs and the hostile humans that populate the planet.

Personality-wise, he is soft-spoken and shy, often mumbling his trademark "Yes" and "No" at the start of his sentences at a barely-audible sound level. His focus on the hard facts of reality and his lack of interest in more metaphysical or fantastic elements makes him very naive in his social interaction, as well as leaving him ill-equipped to improvise and come up with complex schemes that require knowing what the opponent will do in a given situation; instead, he will often employ textbook battle strategies that he had read about in the council archives, searching his memory cores for the one strategem that best fits the situation on the facts available. He doesn't particularly like his robot mode, preferring to stay in his default T-Rex mode, even in the safety of his ship.

As far as armaments go, he has a black-light electron laser in the "dino-head hand" in Robot Mode, as well as a crushing pincer and depleted uranium anchor-missles built into his "tail" weapon.

Name: Scorponok

Function: Second in Command (after Dinobot's Betrayal), Scientist

Quote: "Discover the secrets to your own being, and the world will never be the same."

Bio: A biochemist in the prestigious Predacon League of Scientists, Scorponok had spent his career attempting to crack the secrets to his people's unusual biomechanical heritage. Although how the merging of organics and machine came about still elude him, he has been able to discover the genetic and technological basis for instinct and impulse, as well as the fine interactions that allows a Biocron to either suppress or embrace their feral natures. While he's been able to use this knowledge with his friend, the Predacon criminal psychologist Bruticus, to treat the very few criminally-insane members of their society, he is starting to suspect that his Maximal coleagues are swiping his research for more sinister purposes.

When Megatron came to him with his warnings of doom on the horizon, Scorponok was suspicious of the archivist, fearing he might be suffering from a lapse of animal rabidity, brought on by years of intense and serious study without mental relief. However, he gave the T-Rex the benefit of the doubt, theorizing that, should Megatron's portends prove true, he could possibly use whatever research they uncover about it to finally break through to a concrete discovery into their technorganic natures. Upon crash-landing on future Earth, his skepticism laxed a little, being forced to admit that Megatron's seemingly insane ramblings may have some credence to them, after all. He still doesn't entirely trust his new commander, though, and keeps an eye on the T-Rex for any signs that his investigations into this new world are sending him into a more primal and dangerous state of mind.

In his new Robot Mode, Scorponok carries a stockpile of negaton missiles in his claws. In both modes, his stinger tail carries a tranquilizing agent that will harmlessly render any organic or biomechanical entity unconscious within minutes. Also, through his skills at techno-DNA manipulation, and the procurement of a fossilized wasp, Scorponok has managed to create a technorganic "cyber-bee", which he uses as a scout to gather more traces of the planet's now-extinct biosphere, in an attempt to restore it to life.

Name: Terrorsaur

Function: Aerial Commander, Navigator

Quote: "Honored are the leaders, for their glory is reflected in those who serve them faithfully."

Bio: Terrorsaur is, in a word, a bootlick, a grandoise synchophant who has little aspirations for himself beyond what his "masters" desire from him. He is perfectly content to serve as a slave and whipping boy to his superiors, and does very poorly in any sort of command position; not because he lacks the skills or the drive to do so, but because he is convinced it is not his place to lead. So you can imagine the panic he felt when his superiors back on Biocron felt the need to break him from his submissive attitude by making him commander of the Predacon Air Force.

When confronted by Megatron and his request for assistance with his mission, Terrorsaur leapt at the chance to abandon his uncomfortable and tedius command position, but only after Megatron managed to convince his superiors that he needed the pterodactyl's flight skills and get them to transfer him to his command. Although he's not smart enough to understand the nuances of Megatron's mission, he doesn't particularly care; all that matters to him is that he's finally back to serving, again, and cheerfully follows the T-Rex's orders without question.

Unfortunately, his synchophant behavior also makes him an ill-equipped soldier on the battlefield, being quite literally unable or unwilling to commit to any action in a firefight without the express approval of his commander. This proves to be a bit of an annoyance to Megatron, as it means he's forced to keep a tight leash on the Predacon at all times, something he doesn't particularly care for. Fortunately, this also makes Terrorsaur extremely loyal and unlikely to turn on him, as doing so would not only mean he'd have to take the initiative (perish the thought), but he'd still need to get his former commander's OK to defect.

Weapons-wise, Terrorsaur carries a pair of shoulder-mounted pulse cannons and wrist-mounted phased energy blasters.

Name: Waspinator

Function: Aerial Sub-Commander, Researcher

Quote: "Honor and glory have no meaning to those who truly know of its limitations."

Bio: Waspinator seems to have all the luck. He has a cushy, high-paying and respected job as Biocron's foremost historical researcher, has a way with the femmebots, and he's never been defeated in a battle, whether it be legal, political, social, or physical. He's the perfect 'bot, the poster child for what all Biocrons, Maximal and Predacon alike, should strive to be.

And he hates it.

All the publicity, all the fame, all the glory and riches...they mean nothing to him. He'd rather be left alone, in quiet solitude, and not have to deal with anything having to do with the limelight. In fact, the little wasp is starting to suspect his natural luck and charm isn't so natural, after all; that he's being manipulated by a force he can't see or control, or at least being handed his fame and fortune solely due to his popularity. Unfortunately, he can't buy an Angolmois shake without a dozen Biocron news reporters getting up in his face, trying to find out how much it cost, where he bought it from, and what flavor it was, so peace and quite comes to him only sparingingly.

It wasn't until Megatron came to him with his warnings that Waspinator finally saw his chance for solitude; although offput by the dinosaur's gushing over his expertise in history, and how it would be vital to his investigation, the prospect of a vacation from the prying optics of his peers, as well as the promise of a quiet place to study during the trip, intrigued him enough to join the hunt.

Unfortunately, his skills as both historian and warrior will be pushed to the limit on the strange, time-tossed planet the Darksyde crew has found themselves on. Not only will he be invaluable to unraveling the secrets to what happened to the ravaged planet, but his superior air combat prowess will help fend off both the Maximal mauraders and the human survivors that distrust both factions.

As far as weapons go, Waspinator carries a paralyzing stinger dart gun that can stun both Biocron and human alike, as well as polarized opical lasers.

Name: Tarantulas

Function: Scientist, Predacon Police Officer, Scion of Unicron

Quote: "Those who are ignorant about history fail to see its merits; those who are obsessed with history fail to see its dangers."

Bio: When Megatron presented his evidence proving the cataclysmic prophecies within the "Conspiracies of Unicron" as actual future events, no one within the joint Maximal/Predacon council would believe it, unable and unwilling to fathom that such a twisted state would befall their beloved planet. but the members of the Tripredacus Coalition believed. For you see, it was they who sealed the lexicon in the deepest parts of the council's libraries, they who encountered the Silver Disk before. For you see, they are not of this world.

They are scions of Unicron, the benevolent and kind World-Creator, a mighty horned, silver organism, as big as a planet, whose mission in life is to seed the dead planets of their universe with peaceful, technorganic life, a utopia on every world. As such, the god had sent his heralds out to locate suitable worlds for him to populate, all the while keeping a lookout for his "brother", the vile and destructive Primus, whom he had long ago buried in a prison of metal and stone, a distant planet far-flung at the edge of the galaxy, hopefully to be forgotten for all of time. Unfortunately, Unicron's heralds weren't as cosmically aware of the dark god's presence as he was, and unknowingly seeded the very planet Primus was contained in with life. It wasn't until they realized their new creations were being imbued with embers, the fetid and corrupting fragments of Primus' own rotten influence, that these heralds realized their mistake and exiled themselves to the planet, taking the form of the very creatures they created to keep an eye on them and attempting to steer them toward a peaceful coexistence, despite Primus' seduction. The Tripredacus Coalition, and Tarantulas by extension, are the decendants of those heralds, and they continue their ancestors' mission.

Several centuries prior to Megatron's discovery of the Silver Disk, the Tripredacus Coalition discovered it, through one of their early tests in transwarp technology. The disk, they had learned, was the last chronicle of their creation's future decendants, detailing the terrible destruction that plagued their lives. Its creator, the Decepticon known as Megatron, had attempted to send it through time in an experimental last-ditch attempt to change the outcome of their war; an act that would prove to be the last thing the Decepticon leader ever did. Through research of the disk, the Coalition realized that these events were predetermined, and could not be changed by any means. In fact, it was the very act of sending the disk back in time that caused Decepticon Megatron to doom his entire race, and the entire galaxy; invariably, someone will find the disk, learn of its contents, and attempt to stop the events within from happening, giving the precursors to the evil Autobots what they need to set the chain of events going. They could not destroy the disk, however, as they did not have the means to do so in their current state, so they buried it, with the hope that it would remain so.

Unfortunately, those hopes were in vain, and as Megatron gathered what he needed to pursue his goal of stopping the events the disk foretold, the Coalition knew they had to do something to stop him from inadvertently setting those same events in motion. That's where Tarantulas came in; a level-headed and subdued scientist, and fair and just member of the Predacon Police, he was tasked with worming his way into Megatron's confidence and sabotage his efforts as much as possible. He knows secrecy is needed to ensure the situation can be contained, but he wishes he could warn the Predacon archivist of the danger he's facing with his mission.

Because of his people's legacy of creating and protecting life, he's very sensitive to the suffering of others, and cares very deeply about preserving whatever life remains on the future Earth both factions have found themselves on. He encourages Scorponok's experiments in the repopulation of the planet's biosphere, and explores the possibility of rehabilitating the humans from their savage, warlike tendencies to a more enlightened, peaceful nature. Unfortunately, his research has discovered a fearful influence on the planet, an extradimensional force bent on destroying humanity. Tarantulas and the Coalition had heard of this force before; the Vok, phantoms of the long-dead Swarm, a semi-sentient cloud of purifying energy that unfortunately became corrupted in the future by the corruptive energies of Primus contained in the Autobot Matrix of Conquest. Vile and cruel, they had no compunction with fulfilling their new master's will and destroying every hint of organic or technorganic material from the universe, leaving a cold, mechanical sterility, an empty graveyard from which it will rule.

Now, it seems like his mission is twofold: ensure Megatron doesn't unleash the very disasters he is striving to prevent (or, at least, minimize the danger to Biocron, should he fail), and stop the Vok from succeeding in destroying all life on Earth.

His weaponry in Robot mode comprise of an octuplet of machine guns, and a multi-purpose pistol which converts from a grappling hook to a taser missile launcher with ease.

Name: Blackarachnia

Function: Saboteur

Quote: "A fembot's place has no place on the battlefield."

Bio: While on the future Earth, both factions of Biocrons discovered several deactivated but intact stasis pods, all containing Decepticon survivors. In a bid to expand their small army, the Maximals stole a number of these pods and attempted to twist them into their own image, using a mind-altering virus to change the protoforms' allegiance and memories and injecting them with tecnorganic DNA from their databanks to mutate them into biomechanical beings. The Predacons, knowing how devastating this could be to the past, makes it one of their missions to get to these stasis pods first and hide them away from the Maximals, or, failing that, liberate the altered Decepticons.

Blackarachnia was one of those unfortunate souls. Originally a _male_Decepticon whose name, function, and personality has since been lost in the mists of time, "she" was converted into a femmebot by the twisted Maximal biomechanic Rhinox so he and the other Maximals could "have something to oogle at". The Predacons, fortunately, managed to liberate "her" before the process was complete, undoing whatever brainwhashing had befallen "her", but the damage was already done: Blackarachnia had been transformed into a transvestive, submissive valley girl with a stay-at-home-wife attitude, almost exactly what the Maximals had programmed "her" to be (minus the transvestive part).

Not that this makes "her" any less an asset to the Predacons; "she's" very compassionate and learns to follow orders quickly, making "her" motherly behavior well-suited as nurse and counselor for any new protoforms the Predacons liberate. Unfortunately, "she" doesn't have much in the way of book smarts, making complex mechanical or tactical decisions difficult for her to commit to. "She's" also not able to function very well by herself, "her" need for a stronger male being strong enough to negate any attempts to teach "her" self-reliance and independence. Nevertheless, Tarantulas made sure to give "her" the same armaments as himself, as a means of protecting "herself" should the Maximals come to claim their "trophy slut".

Name: Inferno

Function: Infantry

Quote: "Pain is an enemy to be feared and respected. You cannot defeat it, only avoid it at all costs."

Bio: Another Maximal experiment with the Decepticon protoforms that the Predacons liberated, Inferno proved to be more messed up than Blackarachnia. Originally intended to be an invincible suicide battler, using the base instincts of his ant form as the core of his programming, the Predacons managed to rescue him and undo the mind-alteration before it could fully take hold. Unfortunately, as a result, Inferno had been turned into a craven pansy. Unwilling to risk his life out on the battlefield, and horrified at the intense pain and suffering of the world around him, he much prefers to keep himself out of the war entirely and devote his time to quiet study in the Darksyde's bulkheads. Eternally depressed and neurotic, the antbot cringes at the sight of spilled blood or mech fluid, and gets visibly sick at even the mere mention of the horrors of war.

If that wasn't enough, this paranoia and fear of death makes him incredibly insubordinate to his superiors, especially Megatron. In fact, Inferno's been known to broker a few deals between allies and enemies in the middle of a dispute, if it means the end of the bloodshed and his and everyone else's continued existence. This has made him somewhat of an outcast among the Predacons; while they understand his abhorrence of the violence they're forced to commit in this new "Beast War", they also know that trusting the Maximals with any sort of arrangement will only lead to betrayal, making his "deals" more of a hassle than they're worth.

Interestingly, Inferno's armed to the teeth, weapons-wise; he has a cold fusion generator that produces frigid "flames" of almost 0 degrees kelvin, as well as a cryogenic missile launcher. His ant mode's abdomen splits in robot mode to create a set of antigravity thrusters, giving him superior ground speed but minimal flight.

Name: Quickstrike

Function: Wastelands Combat Expert

Quote: "Well, tally ho and wot not, can't keep the crumpets waiting...I'm British, you know."

Bio: When the Vok narrowly succeeded in wiping the rest of the human race from the planet, they turned their attention to the time-displaced Biocrons, seeing them as the next target of their genocidal rampages. Fortunately, they were thwarted in this attempt by a timely sacrifice by Megatron. The ensuing continuum void the Vox's machine left behind reversed the natural order of the Biocrons' technorganic bodies and striped away a good portion of their organic parts. As a result, they became more machine than beast, twisting the Maximals into more evil versions of themselves and even darkening the attitudes of the Predacons due to the loss of emotion and morality the removal of most of their organic components caused.

It also served to reactivate several of the protoforms the Maximals had confiscated, corrupting the biotech experiments being performed on them to the point where multiple animal sources were used to create their alternate forms. For two of their experiments, this proved to be a painful experience. Confused and angry over their resurrection, these two former Decepticons, Quickstrike and Silverbolt, were forced into the Maximal ranks by Optimus Primal, who intended to keep these experiments from getting away. However, whereas the amoral and piratical Silverbolt relished the carnage and anarchy the Maximals promised, the more Robin Hood-like Quickstrike would have no part in it, and immediately switched sides.

Dashing, brave, and sympathetic to the plight of the weak, Quickstrike found his place among the like-minded Predacons, finding their morals and goals for their people and the world they were stuck on touching and noble. A skilled and cunning scavenger, he's able to scrounge up whatever parts are needed for his friends' experiments, as well as spy on and steal whatever parts the Maximals need for theirs. He's also very useful in liberating Decepticon protoforms, his strong sense of justice combined with his patient and careful tactical skills allowing him and his comrades to snatch the offended protoform right out from under their enemies' noses with a minimal of conflict.

Unfortunately, this also gives him a bit of an intolerant streak against secrets and lies, and especially deceit. As such, he is an insatiable snoop, prying into the private lives of his comrades and digging up whatever dirt he finds, there. While he's too polite to reveal anything too personal, he is all too eager to report any suggestion of deception or betrayal he discovers. That, combined with his annoying British accent, has made him a bit of an irritant to the rest of the Predacons.

Weapons-wise, Quickstrike is armed only with a paralyzing "serum injection" laser, built into his cobra tail.

Name: Rampage

Function: Warlord

Quote: "Your pain is heartbreaking. Here, let me soothe your wounds."

Bio: Back in the old days, before Megatron's research into the Silver Disk, Rampage and his lover Depth Charge were charged with guarding the heated springs of Outpost Kappa, a popular tourist destination on Biocron. Throughout his tour of duty, Rampage believed the resort to be a peaceful and serene outlet for those on Biocron, Maximal and Predacon alike, to enjoy the springs in harmony.

He was so wrong.

Outpost Kappa was, in fact, a facade to hide a deeper, darker pleasure spot, a Maximal hunting ground and torture den where they could snatch up unsuspecting Predacons and snuff them out to their ember's content. Depth Charge was a prominent slavemaster in this underground, and reveled in his job, enjoying the feel of blood and mech fluid spray over his gills. He wished Rampage could join him in this debauchery, but knew the pacifist Predacon would never approve.

It wasn't until the Maximal Council secretly approved of tests investigating whether or not they could convert the Predacons into vicious sadists like themselves that the sting ray got his chance; tricking the naive Rampage to a secluded area of the outpost, Depth Charge and his associates kidnapped the crab and brought him to an unknown Maximal scientist for techno-genetic and mind-altering experimentation. When asked why he was doing this by the frightened and disturbed Predacon, the sting ray simply shrugged and responded with "Believe me, baby, I do love you...but i love _pain_even more."

However, the experiment didn't go exactly as planned; the Maximals were attempting to imbue Rampage with regenerative powers and a twisted, sadomasochistic personality, corrupting his natural empathic powers to feed off of the pain and suffering of himself and others, making him the perfect switch for their sadistic games. Unfortunately, the experiment had the opposite effect; his body became extremely fragile and his empathic abilities dulled to the point of near-uselessness, leaving him unable to feel the emotions and pain of others.