(( OOC: Hm. No one wasn't really given the opportunity to "hunt" Nemesis, which kind of changes the orders I had in mind. Oh well. Not going to waste anyone's time with that now. She was meant to escape anyway. Moving on.
))
"If there were fleas, Wintersong. That proves you didn't shower for a month."
Well, at least Starshadow had a sense of humor and some wit. For a moment, he wondered she and Wintersong would "get along" much like Rattrap and Dinobot. Now, that would be an accomplishment all of its own!
"Ever heard of a-", "ugh...nevermind.."
Optimus narrowed an eye at Starshadow, briefly, until she stopped herself.
"It's not like he's going to shoot himself or anyone with it. He can take it as a token of apology.." "Ahh much better.."
Growling ever so faintly at the panther's continued debate, although it should have been more directed toward Ironclaw, the alarm sounding from inside the
Axalon captured Primal's attention in a sparkbeat. Immediately he entered the base (with whoever else) and assessed the situation. Something was making him fear the worst. Was it something Whitegrazer was detecting and he could feel it too? Or was it his own instinct?
"Maximize!" the leader exclaimed and converted to his robot, ready to defend his crew and his territory.
"oh? is it the giant songbird or the annoying flying rat?"
Over hearing Starshadow, Optimus had hoped it was Sonar, but things were about to get worse than he would have liked to have imagined. Feralnight was the first to declare it as she had hurried to the monitors and pulled up the video feed from the brig's security cameras.
"Optimus Sonar or Nemesis has escaped and Valkyrie was...she's in one of the cells but I'm afraid she's gone sir."
Stepping quickly over to Feralnight, the Commander's face was full of despair and horror at first. Then, the longer he studied Valkyrie's body on the screem, or what could still be recognized of it, the more rage and guilt was beginning to errupt within him.
"ARRRRGH, NOOO!" hollered Optimus as he lifted his fist and slammed it down so hard on a nearby console that his strength twisted the metal panel, smashed the buttons and controls, and snapped wires which began randomly sparking through the descimated cover. Another Maximal lost?! This wasn't happening. He knew that was the cell Nemesis was in;
she did this to Valkyrie. But why was Valkyrie there in the first place? Why had she disobeyed his orders? How was Nemesis able to use her nanites the way it had appeared? It should have been too cold for that. WHY?! Although everything pointed to the former Decepticon, Optimus met himself at a crossroad of emotions. As angry and sad as he was, he couldn't blame this on Nemesis. Not after what she had told him. She couldn't control them. If she could, everyone, including Megatron, would be in a lot of trouble with her running around loose. No, this was his fault. He should have never had held her prisoner. Another death of a crew member on his conscience.
No. NO! First Icebreaker, and now Valkyrie? And Nightmist. NO! Suddenly everything began cascading inside, swirling in confusion and grief. Taking a step back, almost stumbling, Optimus held his hand to his forehead and tried keeping himself together. For the sake of the rest of his Maximals, he couldn't fall apart. No matter how much it hurt, how much it weighed on his shoulders, how much they might be wondering who's next and his ability to lead at all by this point, he couldn't afford to break down in front of them. Suppressing his deepest sorrow and holding back the tears of frustration and loss, Primal lowered his hand and took a deep breath.
Following everyone else into the base, Rattrap gasped at everything that was happening and quickly maximized. Val was... dead? How was even possible?! As angry and upset as Optimus appeared to be, watching him bust the junk out of that console with just one swipe, the Maximal Spy felt the same way. They had lost too many Maximals now, too many friends. Immediately he wanted to know how this happened. He wanted to investigate. But first, he reached over and disengaged Sentinel's looping alarm message, but left the red flashing emergency lights on so everyone knew that there was still a situation.
"We definitely have a situation here. One of the brig cells is open, looks like whoever was there is nowhere near the brig now."
"Nemesis," muttered Optimus. Looking over at the rat now in robot mode, he simply said,
"Rattrap," and made a gesture with his head toward the scanners.
Nodding, Rattrap knew exactly what to do and sat down at the console that provided their ability for internal and external signature detections of the
Axalon.
Glancing at Ironclaw as he assured Aurora and then moved toward the corridor entrance, Optimus said rather coldly,
"Hold on a moment, Ironclaw," in case he was tempted to keep moving. The icy tone was not meant to be directed at the badger, but it was the warmest he could make it while speaking to anyone right now.
"Sentinel isn't going to activate its defense systems because we are still bound by that cease-fire agreement with Megatron. If that intruder leaves the ship, we might as well wave good-bye. The only way to stop that Predacon is to do it the hard way."
Listening to Rhinox, Primal wasn't so sure he wanted to chase their escaped prisoner at all. Why continue to hold her there if this could happen again? And lose another Maximal? Would the trouble really be worth it to track her down and recapture her? On the other hand, he knew many of them would like justice to be sought and provided. However, they couldn't understand that this was not entirely Nemesis' fault. Much like Nightmist's death. Even Icebreaker's might have been accidental but Optimus didn't have all of the facts on that yet either. Still, because they were all his responsibility, only he could take blame for their lives' lost. Anyway, even if they did chase her down, would she uphold the cease-fire, assuming she'd even take their word for it? Was Nemesis more of a rogue like Starshadow and thought that the truce wouldn't apply to her either? Why risk it? Just let her go.
"Optimus..," "We got the entire thing on tape. No sign of the other occupant of the cell now on the cameras."
The whole thing? Optimus didn't want her viewing that but it seemed as though it was too late.
"I got a read on her signature," Rattrap announced.
"She's already gone, airborne toward the Pred base," he explained, glaring at Nemesis's beeping signal that was already almost out of range. Turning around in the chair, Rattrap faced the others to see what was next.
"Sonar's still locked up in the brig. Stripes an' Orcariner are in the infirmary," he added quickly.
After focusing on Rattrap, Primal's gaze thoughtfully fell to the floor for a moment as a hundred things flew around inside his mind all at once. He was relieved that Sonar hadn't escaped, but also that Orcariner and Tigatron appeared to have been safe through the whole ordeal.
"Rattrap, take over the camera footage from the brig and Nemsis's cell. I want to know exactly what happened," he said firmly, lifting his red optics to meet his. With the threat gone, now it was time to clean up and secure the ship.
Nodding, the demolition expert stood up and walked over to Aurora and Feralnight, tapping on the ermine Fuzor's shoulder and signaling her to get out of his new seat.
"Move over, chica," he said with a lighter tone. A lot lighter than their leader's, anyway.
"Let me show ya how a pro gets it done." With a trained eye, he'd be able to pick up some things that might be accidentally overlooked by someone else. He still welcomed their help, though. The more eyes the less likely they'd miss anything.
"Cheetor, Dinobot, Ironclaw. Split up and do a quick sweep of the base, and check on Saber-Fang. Make sure Nemesis didn't damage anything else," Optimus ordered them.
"Rhinox, you're with me; we'll cover the brig." He didn't want anyone but him and Rhinox near Valkyrie's body, just in case there were nanites left on it that might cause harm to anyone else careless about taking precautions.
"The rest of you, stay here." With one quick but stern look at all of them, enforcing his current attitude so hopefully no one would disobey him this time, Primal turned and walked toward the corridor.
(( OOC: I'll leave it there with OP in case anyone wants to argue with him about chasing after Nemesis and making her pay for what she did. If not, then I'll move him forward to the brig and he and Rhinox will move her body to the medical bay and keep it confined and secured from curious eyes and hands. And then hopefully after all of this, we can move on to the debriefing and get all of that squared away.
I'm not sure what to do with Tigatron right now, and it's getting too late for me to add more to this, so if you want to move on with things, Alak, be my guest. I'll catch up.
))
