Inferno's History
Inferno was the second sub-commander that served under Megatron during the Beast Wars.
When a stasis pod landed on prehistoric Earth, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia immediately set out to claim the protoform inside as their own, intending to create another spider-bot using a Predacon shell program. In the midst of the procedure, however, the stasis pod's DNA scanner had already activated and selected an appropriate beast mode - a fire ant from a nearby anthill. The beast mode instincts completely overwhelmed the newborn Inferno's logic circuits, causing him to become wholly convinced that he was an actual fire ant and that his stasis pod was his "colony". Airazor arrived at the scene and was immediately attacked by Inferno and Blackarachnia. During the fight, Tarantulas escaped with the stasis pod, which was his real goal, and an enraged Inferno followed. Pursuing the Predacons, Tigatron was able to destroy the stasis pod before Tarantulas was able to get it to his lab. This act put Inferno completely over the edge, and he went even crazier. Before he could finish Tigatron off, however, Optimus Primal and Airazor showed up and blew him to bits.
However, Megatron took an immediate shine to the brutish psychopath, and had him restored, possibly with some mental improvements. Thereafter, Inferno was fanatically loyal to Megatron, thinking of him as his "Queen", which Megatron found very annoying. A few death threats convinced Inferno to call Megatron "the Royalty" instead, although he occasionally backslid.
Inferno took part in the Predacon hunt after the Maximals' beast instincts had overtaken their programming. He merrily shot at their quarry, at least until the Maximals were able to overcome their beast instincts. Then he was shot out of the air by Cheetor. He led a diversionary assault on the Axalon with Waspinator and Terrorsaur to allow Tarantulas to deliver an energon discharge virus, and later accompanied his Queen to Tarantulas's lair to find more of the virus. Unfortunately, this meant he was at ground zero when Rhinox blew the Predacons away with an enormous fart.
Though supposedly under Terrorsaur's leadership for an attack on Cheetor and Dinobot, Inferno didn't wait for the signal to attack, instead plunging into frenzied battle. Though he had Cheetor pinned down for most of the fight, he was blasted out of the air by Tigatron. The three Predacons later ambushed Dinobot, defeating the Maximal before Terrorsaur and Waspinator were both taken out by Optimus. Inferno had Dinobot and Primal in his sights when Tigatron turned up to defend them. Inferno's act of igniting a nearby tree only made the Maximal more furious, and Inferno was soon blown away.
Sent on a mission by the Royalty, Inferno discovered a Golden Disk and managed to retrieve it, even as his systems were suffering from energon overload. After returning to base, he underwent repairs and subsequently took part in an attempt to stop Tigatron escaping the Darksyde. He plummeted out of the air after Primal disconnected his jet thruster, and he had to be hauled back to base.
It wasn't long before he was given a new mission by the Royalty, and he tailed Blackarachnia and Tarantulas to the Axalon, though he was temporarily delayed by having to dig a tunnel under the ship's force field. He found the two spiders in the hold of the Axalon, working on a stasis pod. Blasting Blackarachnia and setting Tarantulas on fire, Inferno barely had time to check out what they were doing before Blackarachnia recovered and shot him back. After pulling himself together, he attacked Rhinox and Dinobot on the Axalon's bridge, eventually being defeated and thrown bodily from the ship. The Royalty, faced with imminent defeat, gathered up his loyal soldier and retreated.
With Scorponok's demise, Inferno was promoted to Sub-Commander. After the two Fuzors were "born", Inferno attacked them vigorously until the Royalty batted him aside and talked the pair into joining the Predacons. Quickstrike later rode Inferno into battle against Dinobot, Cheetor and Rattrap. A mid-air collision saw Inferno and the Royalty temporarily swapping heads. The Predacons were on the verge of victory when Optimus Primal appeared, reborn as a Transmetal. Inferno accidentally blew away Tarantulas and Quickstrike before failing to beat Primal in a quick draw, and the Predacons were eventually forced to retreat.
With Scorponok's demise, Inferno was promoted to Sub-Commander. After the two Fuzors were "born", Inferno attacked them vigorously until the Royalty batted him aside and talked the pair into joining the Predacons. Quickstrike later rode Inferno into battle against Dinobot, Cheetor and Rattrap. A mid-air collision saw Inferno and the Royalty temporarily swapping heads. The Predacons were on the verge of victory when Optimus Primal appeared, reborn as a Transmetal. Inferno accidentally blew away Tarantulas and Quickstrike before failing to beat Primal in a quick draw, and the Predacons were eventually forced to retreat.
Inferno and Waspinator were assigned to construct a jamming tower, a mission they quickly completed, though in a manic fit, Inferno brought the new tower down on Waspinator's head while the latter was reporting to the Royalty. Tangled Web The pair then teamed up with Quickstrike to ambush Dinobot and Rattrap. Inferno managed to pin Dinobot down but ran out of ammo, and he would probably have been torn apart by the Maximal if it wasn't for Waspinator managing to take out Silverbolt and Dinobot with one shot. After commending Waspinator for serving their Queen well, Inferno gathered up Dinobot and flew his prize back to base.
Always keen to shoot something, Inferno joined Blackarachnia and the Royalty on a mission to infiltrate the Axalon. While the Queen distracted Rhinox, Inferno and Blackarachnia slipped inside, and Inferno was able to blast the Maximal. Unfortunately, Rhinox quickly recovered and dealt Inferno a flurry of uppercuts to the chin, but this only gave the Royalty the chance to come to his loyal soldier's aid, and the trio were able to make off with the alien Golden Disk. The Predacons later visited an alien site and were blasted by an alien construct which appeared there. The Royalty was able to take control of the construct, restoring Inferno and the others to the land of the living, before sending him on a mission with Waspinator to retrieve a transwarp cell. Afterward, Inferno was pressed into action defending the construct from the Maximals, and thus wasn't aboard when it exploded.
Inferno, Quickstrike and the Royalty monitored Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, and Inferno wondered aloud why the spider didn't shoot the Fuzor. Bad Spark He merrily torched a valley full of anthropoids until Dinobot impaled him, used him as a shield, and then used Inferno's own gun to blow his head off. Inferno was sent to retrieve a new stasis pod, only to be disabled by Silverbolt. He recovered and fired on Silverbolt. and hit Transmutate instead, triggering the creature to unleash its attack on everyone present. Inferno was surprisingly the only one sensible enough to duck the blast, and later joined Rampage in presenting the newcomer to his Queen. After some negotiation, the Royalty agreed to give Transmutate a chance, and the trio ambushed Silverbolt. When Transmutate refused to finish Silverbolt off, Inferno pushed it aside to shoot Silverbolt, only to be blasted by Transmutate's sonic weapon.
With rescue for the Maximals seemingly impending, the Predacons mounted a full attack on the Axalon, only to be driven off by Ravage's cloaked transwarp cruiser. The Maximals subsequently teamed up to assault the Predacon base. During the attack, Inferno attempted to blast Rhinox, only to be perforated by a chaingun. Megatron's troops were scattered after the defeat, Inferno heading for a cave full of energon. There he was found by Primal and Cheetor, and he ended up sacrificing himself by detonating a huge cache of energon in a failed attempt to defeat the Maximals. Despite his apparent vaporization, he revived yet again, though with several holes in his chassis. He joined his Queen at the Ark, and they headed for the Axalon along with Waspinator. They never reached their objective, being intercepted by Optimus Primal and Cheetor while still en route. Optimal Situation
Inferno was assigned to attack the new Maximal base with Rampage. Inferno's plan to draw Optimus out seemed to work, but Rampage had gotten distracted and left Inferno to it, and the fire ant was swiftly crushed by a boulder dropped by Blackarachnia. Deep Metal Inferno was next teamed up with Waspinator and Quickstrike to attempt to steal the Sentinel module from the Maximals. After Waspinator was taken out by Silverbolt and Rattrap, Inferno pursued them relentlessly until he was able to snatch the module and return triumphantly with it to his Queen.
During a period when the Maximal base was undermanned, Inferno took part in an attack lead by his Queen. When Quickstrike was given lead position as they entered the base, Inferno asked why he hadn't been chosen, but the reason became clear moments later as Quickstrike was taken out by a sequence of booby traps. The Predacons stormed the base, but met with heavy resistance in the form of Depth Charge, and were forced to retreat. After Inferno plugged in the Predacons' new disruptor cannon too soon, he and Waspinator were forced to kidnap Una to complete installing the shielding. The task was completed, but Una escaped with Rattrap's help. Inferno, Waspinator and Dinobot gave chase, only to end up colliding after Rattrap flicked mud into Waspinator's face. They returned to the cave housing the cannon in time for its firing, but as Una had taken the stabilizer crystal, it merely exploded. Go with the Flow
As the Predacons attempted to disrupt the power in the Maximal base during an operation to save Blackarachnia, Inferno managed to find the blind spot for the Maximal auto-guns from which he could safely fire. While crowing that the traitor would soon be destroyed, he was attacked by Optimus. He managed to dodge the missiles, but the move took him out of the blind spot, and he was promptly blasted by the auto-guns. A new plan allowed the Predacons to conquer the Maximal base, and Inferno was left in charge of the unconscious Maximals. Blackarachnia, the only one still functioning, got him to chase her and tricked him into stepping outside the base so she could shut him out and turn the auto-guns on him.
The destruction of the Darksyde at the hands of the Voks' emissary, Tigerhawk, left Inferno distraught at the loss of their colony. A short time later, he, Waspinator and Quickstrike were literally blown away by Tigerhawk. After Inferno asserted that they needed to found a new colony, the Royalty sent him with Quickstrike and Waspinator to do just that. They soon found a potential new colony in the form of an anthropoid settlement and, after the setback of Waspinator abandoning the cause and having to be shot, Inferno and Quickstrike began their takeover. Unfortunately, the anthropoids had been learning and met force with resistance. Nonetheless, they seemed to succeed largely in driving the anthropoids out, and they celebrated as the Nemesis appeared overhead. The celebration was short-lived, as moments later, the ship's main fusion cannon obliterated the area, killing both Predacons. Inferno's head was used thereafter by the anthropoids as a drum, and his tail thruster was used for their cooking fire.
