Back at the carnage-strewn landscape of Grid Epsilon, a black and green king cobra slithered towards a pile of rubble. It flicked its forked tongue around its base and hissed, "Serpentia, Terrorise."

The Predacon stood tall, then lifted her whole body several feet off the ground with her tail to get a better look at the sector. She said in a sinewy voice, "I think it's a sssafe assumption that the Maximalsss gave our boys some trouble."

Her compatriot, a mountain lion, leapt onto a nearby boulder surveying the area. His silky voice rumbled as he spoke. "Indeed. Too bad I wasn't here. I would've enjoyed taking out one of those Maximals to replace my last toy."

The snake scoffed. "You'd be hard-pressed to last against a ssssingle Maximal," she sniffed the air with her tongue again for confirmation. "Let alone three."

"Like you could do better, dear?" he said huffily, with condescending intonation on the last word.

Serpentia gave a light chuckle and replied, "I have done better, pussycat. Now make yourself ussseful, Lionus, and ssscan that area over there."

He jumped off his perch. "How rude. You could at least be polite about it."

"I am the epitome of nicety...for those of equal stature," she said with a sneer. "Now do as you're told. That'ssss an order."

Lionus answered with a sarcastic sneer, "Whatever you say, dear." He transformed into robot mode and began scanning.

The serpent's optic twitched irritably. "Without the inssssolence, you cretinous cat." She transformed back into beast mode, slithering around the rock pile, using her forked tongue to detect scents that might not register on scanners.

Lionus eyed the snake, his offence evident, "Cretinous cat? Why, I never. How can you utter such offensive taunts?" However he quickly noticed he was being ignored, so he huffed and continued his investigation.

Serpentia had found a series of scents, "There were two Maximals initially. Then a third." As she moved further away, she came across Waspinator's forearm. "I believe I have located a piece of our comrade," the snake informed her colleague, transforming back into robot mode to pick it up.

The mountain lion walked over to her. "Honestly, he needs to keep better track of his limbs."

"Sssave the snark for your down time," Serpentia snapped at him. "I have managed to locate our missssing crewmate. Or part of him, anyway. And what about yourssself? Have you actually done anything?"

"Of course!" he replied indignantly. "I'm not incompetent. I may have picked up on something," he crossed his arms defensively. "It's possible an additional two Maximals arrived some time later. It's difficult to confirm, with all these other scents mixed up."

The snake inwardly laughed then sarcastically commented, "Oh, how very ussseful. Not vague at all. It's a shame you're not a real lion. Their sssenses are far more attuned." She smirked mockingly at him, knowing she was hitting a nerve.

At that, Lionus whipped around and growled at the snake, "How dare you? I am a real lion!" He paused, his expression slightly softening, and slowly added, "Just...not as big."

She chuckled, amused. "Perhapssss we should ask our comrade in...arms!" The serpent hissed with laughter.

"Very amusing," Lionus said sarcastically.

Still chuckling at her own joke, she said, "I believe I can sssmell his head in that direction. Fetch him, won't you?"

He nodded and complied. He searched behind rocks and in ditches. In no time, he located his quarry. "Found him," he shouted back to Serpentia. He bent down and picked up Waspinator's head and said to him, "I see you are having one of those bad days, friend."

"Wassspinator always have bad daysss," the insect grumbled in response. Lionus carried him back to Serpentia, turning him so he could face her, like a bizarre hand puppet.

"I see the ssituation with the Maximalsss left you a bit light-headed," she commented with a snicker. The lion had to hold back a laugh, which came out as a cough.

Waspinator groaned. "Snake bot big comedian. If it wasn't for tiger bot, Wassspinator wouldn't be in piecesss."

"You should be used to it by now, don't lose your head." Lionus commented, unable to resist. Serpentia grinned approvingly, taking the wasp's head from him.

"What precccisely happened here? Report," she demanded, lifting him to eye level.

The wasp explained; engaging the Maximals, Tarantulas' absence during the battle, and burying two of the three enemies in a rockslide.

Lionus was almost impressed. "You eliminated two Maximals? And one of them was my previous toy. What a pity."

"Let'sss not jump to conclusionsss. I doubt very much that our comrade succeeded, given his track record."

"Hey!" Waspinator objected.

"We must report this to Megatron," Lionus said decisively. Serpentia nodded in agreement. Both Predacons activated their com links, trying to contact the base, but all they heard was crackling static. "Curious," he murmured.

"The jamming ssstation the fliers were building was on a test cycle. It must ssstill be running," the snake surmised. She attempted to compensate with their descrambler codes, but nothing happened.

"Curious again," said Lionus.

"Who don't you find a more reccceptive area, rather than ssstanding there being ussseless?' she snapped at him.

He scoffed, affronted. "How dare you address me that way, I..." he began, but he was cut off.

"I outrank you, kitty cat. Perhaps if you'd ssselected a real lion as your beast mode you'd have a more favourable standing in Megatron's eye," she mocked gleefully.

He pursed his lips as his optics widened maddeningly. "For the last time, I am a real lion! I'll prove it to all of you!"

"Yes, yes, my feline friend," the snake said lazily. "Why not take that famousss fire of yours and fire us up a way to communicate with our leader?"

They stared at each other for several seconds; Lionus glaring at her, and Serpentia smiling casually in response.

"Very well," Lionus said through gritted teeth. He looked around the area and decided to try higher ground to get a signal. The lion transformed into beast mode, climbing up the rubble pile and hopping onto an intact ledge that overlooked the terrain.

Lionus activated his com link to see if he could get a signal: nothing. He proceeded to go higher, almost ending up slipping because of a few loose rocks. When he tried his com once again, there was, once again, only static. He decided that distance might be a factor, so he announced his intention to move further away, to which Serpentia waved an impatient and dismissive hand.

He moved further along the ledge and tried again. There was still static, but this time he could hear a voice attempting to cut through the interference.

"...atron to Ser...nd Lionus. Repo...Thi...s Megatron...ling Sepentia and Lionus, Report!" The Predacon leader's voice was gravelly and impatient.

"Lionus reporting in, my liege."

"What in blazes has been going on out there? I have been trying to contact you for several cycles now. And where is Serpentia?" The commander demanded frustratedly.

"My apologies, we had some difficulty getting a com link signal. I shall let patch her through." With that, the lion transformed and connected Serpentia's com link to his own.

"It'sss about time," she sneered through the radio. "Did you ssstop to chase some ssstring?"

Megatron's irritated voice snapped, "Save your petty squabbles for later, Serpentia!"

Lionus stifled a laugh as he imagined the look of shock on her face. She clearly had not been expecting Megatron to be on the line.

"Apologiesss," she said simperingly. "Ssserpentia reporting in."

"That's better," Megatron replied coolly, the static still cutting through his dialogue every now and again. He listened intently to their findings. Or rather, lack thereof. "And where is Inferno?" Megatron demanded.

"He appears to be way over there, my liege," Lionus answered, pointing to a burned, crumpled mess of a Predacon some distance away.

They could hear Megatron groan on the other end. "Clearly the fliers failed to ascertain the nature of the readings. And no sign of Tarantulas?"

"I followed his ssscent to a semi-buried cave entrance, Megatron," Serpentia reported. "It ssstands to reason that he followed the signals into it."

"Then you shall follow him, as well," Megatron instructed. Serpentia nodded, but Lionus spluttered defiantly.

"Megatron, I must protest. I was not designed to go underground!" he said indignantly.

"Were you designed to withstand a fall into molten lava?" Megatron replied silkily, but the malice in his tone was undeniable. Serpentia smiled amusedly at the look on lionus' face as he tried to maintain his composure.

"Of course, I shall obey, Megatron." He decided that if he was indeed going down there, then very well, he shall go all in. "And I will tear out the sparks of the Maximals who dared attack our comrades."

Megatron grunted. "Do not let that bluster get in your way," he warned sardonically.

"Yes my liege." Lionus responded nervously.

"What about Wassspinator?" the wasp asked imploringly.

Megatron ignored him, instead announcing, "I will attempt to contact the other Predacons on field duty. Leave a location buoy at the cave entrance so that we might follow you, despite these communication difficulties."

"'We'? Will you be joining usss?" the snake enquired.

"Indeed," he answered darkly. "Get after Tarantulas as fast as you can. Megatron out."

As soon as the transmission ended, both Predacos returned to the half buried cave entrance.

The cobra turned to her compatriot. "Come, Lionus. We will invessstigate this cave that so intrigued Tarantulas." She placed Waspinator's head on a large rock near the mouth. "You can provide lookout and await the othersss. Do try to keep a cool head, won't you?"

She and Lionus laughed openly as they descended, leaving Waspinator unable to turn and yell at them, so he was left muttering and grumbling to himself in the scorching sunlight.