"While I understand how you felt with Blackarachnia and Airachnid, Arcee, I hope you can find it within your Spark to let it go and give her a chance. Besides, she's already on her way to redemption as the Maximal at Spark, even if she is a Predacon at programming." Smokescreen assured.

"I'll be the judge of that when she decides to stand with the Maximals instead of deserting them." Arcee said sternly.

"That being said, Omega Scion, if you may?" Prime inquired.

"Alright then. Next viewing in three...two...one..."

In Beast Form, Cheetor wandered to visit the forest where the protohumans were in, in Beast Form no less.

"Cheetor, maximize." he transformed. But before he can go further he was jumped by the same protohuman children he escorted with Blackarachnia.

"Wow, totally ambushed!" Cheetor played along. "Oh yeah, I'm doomed now. OK, you got me."

"Awww!" Bumblebee gushed.

Everyone else so far was creeped out, except Prime.

"Cheetor!"

"And now they can talk, rather barely. Great." Thunderblast facepalmed.

"Evolution, Thunderblast. Evolution. We Cybertronians had that at the Age of Beginning." Knockout said.

 "Una!" the protohuman female child whom Cheetor named began to pin him by his arms.

"Excellent hammer-lock! But here's a tip." Cheetor countered the lock by playfully throwing them off him without even hurting them.

"When you're battling bots, hack at the hinges."

Swindle grumbled. Ironhide likely did the same to him before back in the Third Assault of Kaon. Now every 6 megacycles or so, his left shoulder joints erratically twitch in pain.

"Chak, my man! You ready for lessons?"

"Yeah!" the protohuman male child he named started to agree.

"Give it up, will you, Blondie?" Rattrap said upon arriving, irate of Cheetor's fondness for children.

"Back off! Cheetor's teaching them to defend themselves!" Bumblebee shouted.

"These kids are primitive. They're way out of their league." he pointed out.

"Hey, they're smart!" Cheetor retorted. "Besides, I don't remember inviting you along."

"Hey, I've got orders to watch your back." Rattrap retorted, seemingly offended. He spotted one of Tarantulas' cyberbugs and squished it with his tail sword.

"Heheheh, when it comes to Dinobot, Rattrap's got a sword like his." Knockout pointed out.

"Looks like it." Grimlock agreed emotionlessly.

"Yuck. These arachnoids are crawling all over the place." Rattrap said in disgust.

"What are you up to now, Megatron?" Prime frowned.

"I'm surprised you did not refer to me, Optimus." Megatron stated sarcastically.

"Ol' Pop-Op figures Prune-face is up to somethin' major." Cheetor then placed the children down. "Whatever. Just sit down and be quiet."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." while Rattrap sits as the class dunce, because Cheetor had him wear the dunce hat.

"Story of my life. Now, today's lesson for the advanced anthropoid are: The lever."

"lev-er." with their intellect growing, the children began to understand what Cheetor was saying.

"The pulley."

"pul-ley." They understood again what Cheetor was saying when he began to demonstrate what he meant.

"Reminds us of our academy days, eh guys?"

Everyone didn't need a reminder to what Swindle was saying.

"Yea, educational stuff." Rattrap groused.

"Don't ruin the moment." Arcee snapped.

"Me, I'd rather watch things explode." he continued.

"Then join Warpath in blowing things up." she said to her grand-nephew.

Meanwhile, the Predacons were working on a strange device fueled by Energon. "Right there!" Once they activated the device, the Energon source began to affect the Predacons negatively.

"Quickly, get those shielding plates attached!" Megatron ordered. "Predacons, retreat!"

Once the crew vacated the unstable Energon source, Megatron turned to his computer, monologing "The bipolar energon source affects all Cybertronians. Yess. The Ark is protected by Teletraan 1... But the Maximals are not. Oh, yess.  My disruptor ray will destroy them. However, I need a non-Cybertronian to finish the job. The early humans would be perfect..."

Prime's frown deepened. "How dare you...."

"You tried to kill them, now you want to enslave them to finish your weapon? How low have you sunk!" Ultra Magnus spat out.

Megatron felt guilty for setting his 'descendant' to the path of the oppressor he abandoned long ago.

"Were they capable of following instructions?" Megatron turned to Tarantulas.

"Interesting you should say that, mighty Megatron, for I may have discovered just the anthropoidal upgrade you require." as one of his bugs began to spy on the Maximals in their recreational activity with the protohuman children.

"YOU MONSTER!" Bumblebee yelled.

"That is so uncool." Jazz spat out.

"What kind of a monster uses children as tools?!" Cliffjumper said, as his afts in his back began to burn with fire.

Fortunately, it was too close to them, prompting Cheetor to throw it to Rattrap who swatted it away home-run style.

"Ok, cool." he continued mentoring the children "Now you've shaped your stone, you attach it to the stick with a vine, and you've got a useful, non-violent tool."

"Hey, this bot tries for positive programming." Cheetor mistook Chak's fright for want of fun.

"Time to change channels Friskie." Rattrap suggested as he spotted Predacons flying overhead. "These Preds are demanding some entertainment!"

"For the Royalty!" Inferno yelled as he fired upon the Maximals.

"Get to safety, kids!" Cheetor commanded as he readied his weapon. "This cat got butts to scratch."

The immature of the audience snickered.

"Waspinator sees helpless target. Oh, happy day! Beast mode!" 

"Leave them alone, you miserable bug!" Bumblebee screamed angrily.

Waspinator transforms and snatches one of them then flees.

"Una! No!" Cheetor yelled yet he was taken down a peg by Inferno.

Missiles overhead struck at Inferno, forcing him to fly away. Depth Charge had arrived. While Rattrap checks on the damaged Cheetor.

The Autobots were livid.

"Much like when Agent Fowler was kidnapped by Starscream. For collaborating with us." Ratchet snarked angrily.

Primal opened up communications in Maximal Base and hailed "Optimus to Cheetor. Sensors detected a lot of fire-power up there. What is the situation?"

"Waspinator... took Una." Cheetor gasped. "I have to go after him."

"Forget it, Cheetor, you've sustained too much damage." Primal belayed. "You just get Chak home safely. Rattrap and Depth Charge will have to retrieve the girl."

"But..."

"Trust me on this, Cheetor." Primal cuts off Cheetor's objection. "It's the only way."

"I swear if the preds lay a finger on that kid..."

"Megatron said he needed one of them to finish the weapon's shielding since they could not be affected by the Energon used to power the disruptor ray, Grimlock."

"Doesn't make it less horrible, Ratchet..." the leader of the Dinobots silently growled.

"Hey, ah... Don't get your spots in a knot, kid." Rattrap assured. "We'll bring her back in one piece.

"Knock yourselves out. I've got Preds to catch." Depth Charge transformed and departed.

"Oh, not alone, you don't!" Rattrap caught up riding Depth Charge by his frontal lobes.

"Get off me, mouse!" Depth Charge snarled.

"Eh, you gonna talk, you gonna rock." Rattrap quipped then demanded "Now get going!"

"Back when Bumblebee rode me to get across Iacon faster because the roads were laced with Decepti-Creeps." Air Raid said. 

"I said I was sorry, Air Raid! It's not I was going to make it back to have them drag me back to Megatron." Bumblebee whined.

As soon as they departed, Chak spouted "Una, Una, Una!" out of worry for his sister.

"She'll... be OK, Chak. I hope..." then, per Primal's orders, began escorting Chak back home. "When you're battling bots, hack at the hinges."

"Hin-ges." Chak began to comprehensively read Cheetor, rather slowly.

"Silver in the gripping hand..." Knockout quipped, having a tape full of Earth music in his glove compartment.

Back in the Predacon weapon site, Waspinator reported "Waspinator to Megatron. Waspinator has female fleshy bot, but there is problem."

"She'd better not be injured." Megatron growled.

"No! She injuring Waspinator." he whined as Una tore right at him in resistance of her capture.

The younglings of the audience snickered, laughed and chuckled.

"Much like when Jack saved me from Airachnid." Arcee pointed out.

"Or Miko when she donned the Apex Armor." Bulkhead said next.

"Ah, situation normal then. Yess." Megatron replies, apathetic of his minion's well-being "Well, make sure she arrives safely. Megatron out."

"Waspinator want to renegotiate contract." the wasp Predacon whined as he begrudgingly carried Una back to the site, announcing "Waspinator deliver fleshy bot safe and sound." then fell to pieces.

"When you've gotten beaten so badly by a mere ape who's yet to evolve to a human... you're worse than pathetic!" Thunderblast laughed sadistically. "And I don't tolerate pawns."

"Royalty! The Maximals are approaching!" Inferno yelled upon detecting two Maximal signatures in his radar.

"Excellent." Megatron grinned then ordered "Activate the disruptor ray."

"Are you mad?! You haven't installed the shielding yet!" Onslaught stated.

"What? Without shielding or stabilizer circuits?" Tarantulas questioned "The whole thing could blow!"

"A low power test. Short range. And quickly." Megatron corrected his order.

"You're insane! You haven't even finished creating the weapon!" Barricade said.

As both Depth Charge and Rattrap fly closer to the last known Predacon position, they noticed the glowing mountain top...

"Wait a cycle! What the slagging binary bucket is that?" Rattrap asked.

"Get away from that weapon, Maxies!" Warpath yelled.

"Fire!" Megatron ordered.

The unshielded disruptor ray fired it's weapon like a lightning arc right at Depth Charge, causing a disruption never imagined before. In the process, the firing sequence also leaked out Energon that affected the Predacons, all but their captive, Una.

Shockwave facepalmed. "This is why I do testing before I make such rash decisions. Fools. They are not worthy to live on to our legacy as Decepticons before."

"What is happening?" Dinobot would soon feel the Energon surging through his circuitry, as well as Waspinator.

"Circuits overloading! Going to blow!" Tarantulas announced.

Megatron groaned and ordered regretfully "Shut it down! Now!"

Tarantulas eventually stopped the firing sequence, but it weakens the intercepting Depth Charge in the aftermath.

"Hey, what are ya doin'?" Rattrap asked as Depth Charge began to turbulently fall to the ground. 

"Energon circuits... fried! No power." Depth Charge replied.

"Oh, then, switch to... glide mode or something!"

"I don't have a glide mode, mouse!" Depth Charge retorted.

"No landing gear then?" Air Raid suggested.

"That still requires power that Depth Charge doesn't have, Air Raid." Jetfire pointed out.

"Gotta do something!" Rattrap panicked.

"I'm open to suggestions." Depth Charge said.

"Uh, okay! How about we crash down into the mountains and die horrible, agonizing deaths?!!!" Rattrap screamed as they were now heading towards the ground, yelling "Pull up! PULL UUUUP!"

Afterwards, looking at himself, damage yet still active, Rattrap sighed in relief "I ain't dead! This day's just full of disappointments." then turned to Depth Charge. "So, ah, how you doing there, Charlie Tuna? Them Energon circuits still sizzled?"

"They'll recover. Just dig me out." Depth Charge retorted.

"And leave you exposed to Pred fliers? No way! You just lie there and get your juice back." Rattrap prepared to depart. "Where are you going?" Depth Charge asked.

"Hey, this is STILL a rescue mission, remember?" Rattrap transformed and speeds off, leaving Depth Charge alone.

"Marvelous. Again." Depth Charge groused sarcastically. "You again. What are YOU looking at?" he asked to the same butterfly that landed on his chest and looked at him in the face.

"Much like back then at that cave region after Dinobot jumped on them." Wheeljack pointed out.

"I remembered a certain warrior saying the same thing right after Soundwave jumped on him back on Earth..." Bulkhead said.

"I still don't regret it, Bulk." Wheeljack said with a smirk on his face.

Back in the Predacon weapon site...

"I detect no Maximal energy signatures. They may have been destroyed!" Tarantulas assumed.

"Almost, Tarantulas. But Almost doesn't get the job done." Starscream taunted.

"I'll take no chances." Megatron then snapped to Una "You there! Ah, yes. Finish installing that shielding plate. There, put it on those bolts." as Una struggled to do menial labor.

The Autobots couldn't get more livid than that. The future Megatron was basically enslaving the human to finish making his diabolical weapon.

"You... you..." Bumblebee's fists were quaking with fury.

"No, no, there, y... yes, there! Oh, for the lof... NO, no! Right there! Do you understand?"

Yet Una was likely doing the welding wrong.

"Yes, There! Now, now use the wrench to fashion it down.

"W-w-wrench?" she picked up said object.

"No, the wrench, you imbecilic anthropoid!" 

"HOW DARE YOU?! SHE'S A CHILD, NOT YOUR SLAVE!" Bumblebee shouted.

Prime was just as angry as he is, yet he had nothing to voice out his anger.

"W-wrench?"

"Yes, yes, that thing! Use it!" yet instead, she was basically smashing it to the bolts like a nail and a hammer.

Shockwave was not one for emotions, yet he felt completely embarassed by the sloppy work.

"Pathetic." Starscream said.

"Definitely pathetic." agreed Blast Off.

"Who sends a kid to do slave labor?! That's like sending a one year old drone to make a blaster!" Swindle groaned.

"Oh, whatever. Yes, ah, yess!" Megatron seemed pleased when Una managed her work, though she was not smart enough to know what she was doing.

"Now, for the final step. Install the stabilizer crystal."

Una didn't understand yet Megatron wouldn't have it out of ignorance "Oh, cease the simian simple-headedness. Install the crystal!"

"There, There, right there." Once Una did what she was told, the shielding was successfully installed.

Megatron then gloated "Yes, yess! It is done! My disruptor ray is complete. Triumph is before me!"

"And the rat is behind ya!" Rattrap said readying his weapon.

"GET HIM RATTRAP! GET THEM ALL!" that wasn't Warpath, it was Bumblebee.

"YEAH, LIKE BEE SAID! BREAK THEIR LEGS RATTRAP!"

"What?" Megatron looked confused.

"Oh no." until Rattrap was bereaved of his weapon by Dinobot. The latter approached the former, even destroying his tail sword.

"So much for breaking legs. How is Rattrap going to take them on without backup?" Breakdown asked.

"Tarantulas, it seems the anthropoid has suddenly become... shall we say... obsolete, yess." Megatron ordered in an indirect tone.

"NO!!!" Prime yelled.

"What?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"He's going to kill the child, Ultra Magnus."

The Autobots gasped.

Frightened, Una picked up a beam that she used to tip over the shielding generator.

"Look out, you fool!" Megatron pointed out.

Too late, the machine fell onto Tarantulas.

"Oh no!" he yelled, being turned to flat scrap as a result. But it also caused the platform to fall and capsize, sending Una falling as well.

"NO!"

"STOP STANDING THERE AND SAVE HER RATTRAP!" Warpath yelled.

"Una!" Rattrap transformed and sped under Dinobot to catch the girl in time.

"YES!" Bumblebee yelled.

"GET OUTTA THERE RATTRAP!" Warpath yelled again.

"I gotcha, kid!" as he sped past the Predacons and out of the mountains.

"Oh blast! After them!" Megatron ordered then snapped to Tarantulas. "And you, get that compression tower back up right! Once those others have located our targets, it would be time for a final test, at full power!"

"Something tells me that won't go as planned..." Cliffjumper said.

"How would you know?" Arcee asked.

"I just do." he merely replied.

"Oh man! Are you SURE you can't move?" Rattrap asked as he regrouped with a still weakened Depth Charge.

"Shut up and push me... to the water!" Depth Charge snapped. They complied and shoved him down to the river. "Sheesh! If only we had the simplest piece of standard equipment, a hover-wrench, even a grav-thruster." he complained.

"Lev-er! Ooooo!" Una gleefully picked up reassembling a lever.

"Hey!" they were found by the following Predacons.

"Quarry detected, grid Joona." Dinobot hissed. 

"Uh oh." Warpath gasped.

"What are you standing there for? Get that girl out now!" Grimlock yelled.

"All Predacons, attack!"

"Depth Charge, beast mode." he transformed to Beast Form.

"Let's haul some keel!" Rattrap suggested.

"Still can't move." he said.

"WHAT?! HE LEFT YOU TO RECOVER AND YOU STILL CAN'T MOVE?!" Smokescreen exhasperated.

"That disruptor ray's meaning tough business." Brawl said. "I wonder if we can have one?"

"I don't think we can have it fit in our bar, Brawl." Onslaught dismissed, prompting Brawl to droop in sadness.

"Well, then, just make like a boat and float, you big mackerel. 'cause we are outta here!" as both Rattrap and Una pedalled as quick as they can.

"Hurry!" Megatron snapped to Tarantulas "The rodent and DepthCharge had been spotted. Once we destroy them, this cannon's next target will be the Maximal base itself."

"I still have the feeling that won't go to plan as he thinks it is." Cliffjumper commented.

While pedalling down the river, they were under heavy fire by the Predacons.

"Ow!" Depth Charge groused in pain. "Careful, you moronic mouse!"

"Hey, if you could ride a little steadier, maybe I could steer better!" Rattrap argued back as he pulled out his gun and fired back.

"You couldn't steer a garbage scow." he derided.

Brawl groaned. He was a garbage scow operator back in the day before Onslaught found him and inducted him to the Combaticons.

"Yeah, like a floating flounder's any better." Rattrap snarked as they fell to the waterfall, rather safely. When they regained their bearings, the rat Maximal then turned to Una who began pulling a patch of mud.

"Lev-er!" she barked happily.

Taking the suggestion at Spark, Rattrap then spouted "Huh? Oh, yeah, got ya, sister!" and jumped to Una's side, causing the mud patch to be tossed at Waspinator's eyes. 

"Oh, Waspinator cannot see!" as the wasp Predacon began to fly out of control.

"Fool! Your pitiful patch-ups are no match for me!" Inferno taunted yet Waspinator crashed towards him as they began flying like insane as a result of the mix-up.

Most of the audience laughed.

"That was sloppy!" Jetfire laughed.

But when they crashed to an obstacle in the river that blocked them due to Depth Charge's size, Dinobot easily caught up to them and announced "Targets immobilized, preparing to terminate!" yet he was caught up by the mix up by Inferno and Waspinator.

Only Grimlock stopped laughing while Dreadwing and Predaking were not affected.

"Oh no..." Rattrap said upon seeing the mountaintop's glow once again.

"All Predacons, return to my coordinates! The disruptive cannon is now operational. And, as it happens, our targets are right in line with the Maximal base.We shall destroy both in a single, glorious onslaught of energon devastation!" Megatron announced then snapped to Tarantulas "All power to maximum! Prepare to fire!"

The Maximals caught wind of what happened as a recovered Cheetor hailed Primal "Oh-oh. BigBot!"

"Battle stations!" Primal ordered as Cheetor, Rhinox, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia scrambled to their posts.

"Oh no..." Rhinox gasped upon detecting the weapon from observation range.

"Were it not for Cliffjumper's prediction, we would have been much worried by now." Ratchet stated.

Rattrap then turned to Una upon reaching shoreline with Depth Charge. "You better bail, sister. The ray won't hurt you... but our exploding bodies might."

"Yee-ha! Lucky going!" Quickstrike hollered. As Inferno and Waspinator carried Dinobot back to the site.

"FIRE!" Megatron ordered.

But unfortunately, the firing sequence caused yet again another moment of Energon instability.

"What? No, no!" Megatron despaired as the Energon source began to overload.

"Una, pretty." she revealled the stabilizer crystal that she began to wear like a flower on her head.

"A stabilizer crystal!" Rattrap and Depth Charge realized.

"Seems Cliffjumper was right after all." Perceptor realized.

"NOOOO!!!" Megatron yelled as the Energon Source exploded, destroying the disruptor ray and the site in the process. The entire chain reaction prompted both Maximals to dive back to the water for cover and shook up the systems of the Maximal Base significantly.

Cliffjumper smirked.

"Clever human. Without that stabilizer to contain the raw Energon, the weapon apparently malfunctioned and imploded, because it could not handle it's own power source: raw Energon." Perceptor deduced.

"And that's how the humans helped us against the Decepticons." Prime stated.

Those former Decepticons who were on Earth frowned.

Depth Charge resurfaced with Una and Rattrap, both coughing.

"You OK?" Rattrap asked as Una nodded.

"You know, those Preds are probably slagged and helpless back there." Depth Charge stated. "We oughtta go finish 'em off."

"Don't bother, they don't seem like they're going for more yet." Elita suggested passively.

"In case you haven't noticed, Scales, we're not exactly in fighting trim ourselves." Rattrap reminded then suggested "I say we go home."

"Why am I not surprised?" as Depth Charge then floats back home, to the protohuman habitat.

"Say, Uh...Una. Cheetor ever showed you my recipe for fried flounder?" Rattrap asked, yet Una didn't get what he meant.

The Orb cuts off shortly afterwards.