"First Season Finale: Part III"

[New Moon]

Everything seemed to happen al at once as Frilla heard the call for help from Arachnitron followed by the massive energon surge and Optimus calling in for the Maximals to return to base at once. The frilled lizard was now conflicted in sending some of the Maximals out to help the spider but if she was indeed damaged they had to get her quickly though Optimus' team seemed too far out, there was no telling yet if Tigatron and Aurora were on their way, and most of the others seemed to have gone to do their own thing or had some plans of their own. Glancing back at who remained Frilla contemplated of sending Feralnight with Silverstreak but the fuzor was their last flier and would be faster without an extra passenger. "Feralnight I hate to ask this of you when Optimus wants everyone here but can you check out Arachnitron's coordinates? Right now your the fastest one we got."

The fuzor at first seemed hesitant however, knowing full well she had already disobeyed orders enough as it was but Arachnitron would still have been a comrade to the Maximals and a friend so she finally nodded."I'll get to her as quick as I can Frilla,"Feralnight promised before flying up as the top hatch opened and she soared up into the night sky while transforming before heading to the coordinates in which the widow had given. But the energy captured her attention as she flew as quickly as she could, watching as the second moon was turning into something different, a structure of some kind that made her uneasy. Was this the reason Optimus had ordered a code X? If so she didn't have much time to get to Arachnitron, least what she thought she was doing, and get back.

Back in the Axalon Frilla was watching the whole scene from the bridge, never seeing anything like this before in her life. "What in the name of Primus are these aliens planning to do now?"She said to herself, her gaze shifting to the moon that remained.That made things even more odd, making the frilled lizard wonder if this meant they really had come to Earth in the first place but it would have to wait. Right now they had to think of something that could stop the Vok's latest threat, whatever that could be now residing in orbit of the organic planet.

[Wintersong]

Wintersong listened to Ironclaw and could understand the badger hadn't wanted advice from Starshadow, which she had no doubt the panther said the same things like in the bridge, but at the same time she couldn't exactly blame her for trying to be kind too. Finding the right words to say for the situation was proving difficult for the white tigress, mostly because she wasn't the best with words and certainly wasn't someone to give very good advice which she risked making this all the more worse. More so then it was. "She was at least trying to be kind this time Ironclaw but at the same time I can understand why your upset if she said the same things like back in the bridge."Wintersong said after some time of thinking, resting a hand on his cheek and bringing his face up so they met optic to optic."But everything will be alright Ironclaw, I promise."

Though it seemed no sooner had she said those words did the alarms go off, the white tigress glancing up suddenly before hearing Optimus' urgent call over their com-link frequencies warning them of something going on, something very wrong. 'Of course I've been wrong before, several times.' She thought to herself as her ears flattened slightly,"We better get back to the bridge and see what's going on, this doesn't sound good at all."Wintersong said looking back at Ironclaw though she waited patiently for him first.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: No problem, Blazemane! I just didn't want to get too far ahead of myself in case OOP had more to say, but it worked out perfectly.

Speaking of OOP, welcome back and nice comeback! What is mushroom shaped and goes boom?)

Nemesis soared through the skies, leaving the Maximals in her wake. Megatron had wisely enough called for a retreat, a decision that appeared more and more to have been the right one. In the distance she noticed the Maximal Air Razor carry off the squirming rodent although they were heading in a different direction than she was so they were rapidly disappearing in the horizon.

Deciding she had reached a safe distance, curiosity got the better of her and the avian Predacon slowed to a hover. She glanced back just in time to see a beam of light shoot out of the alien structure, aimed straight for one of the two moons orbiting this planet. As she watched the beam hit the surface the entire moon started changing. It was if a camouflage had been uncloaked to reveal a much more menacing looking metal surface underneath.

"They called it a termination sequence,"

Optimus' warning repeated in her head as more of the newly revealed alien device, which she could only assume was a weapon of mass destruction of sorts, became apparent in the clear sky above. Lingering stories of the past involving Unicron, the planet eater, flickered through her mind. It was a daunting thought at best.

As she finally managed to divert her eyes from the sky to the ground below, another thought hit her.

This was the same planet she had heard stories of the original Megatron arriving at during his search for more energy sources. The minor differences, such as the two moons and the excessive amounts of energon located here, could very well have been a thing of the past. If the moon was indeed a weapon designed to wipe out life, perhaps they intended to destroy the energon reserves to do so. The force of that would surely cause a massive blow to this planet and all its inhabitants, including the beast warriors who had made this their temporary home.

Nemesis did not know for sure how she'd gotten here since she'd been unconscious at the time, but the other Predacons had told stories of hitting an abnormality in space.

Could it really be? Was this.. Earth?

Finding she had no more time to ponder it, Nemesis resumed her course to the Predacon base.

(ooc: Will post as Aurora soon!)

[una]

Whitegrazer was enjoying herself alittle too much; it felt good to actually, without even using her hand to hand combat skills, take down an enemy or two without using any sort of violence. Megatron's lasers were everywhere. She felt the sensation of fire with the mix of burning synthetic flesh, but she kept going. Though, she was slowing down a bit when Manterror screamed at her loudly while Megatron made a hasty retreat.

She stopped, watching Manterror flee dizzily. She smiled proudly, but looked towards, in concern, her comrades and to see the extent of her injuries, they were minor so nothing for her to worry about. She just felt exhausted from all that running and exertion to create that fog with her feet stomping around. But she was stil happy despite the dread she felt. Some part of her questioned why she was feeling so content?

All the Predacons were retreating especially Nemesis, which was a load off her mind.

"Whitegrazer, Cheetor, return to the base immediately! We'll meet you there!"

She nodded in acknowledgment and looked at Cheetor then back at the mushrroom that was slowly imploding upon itself before she galloped off with her comrades. Her mind raced with questions, analyzing what she had felt while inside that mushroom.

That was the first time she actually set foot inside an alien construct, but why was her spark acting like it wasn't the first time? Why did her spark react so...warmly to it?

"...they will pay..."

Master? She slowed down abit.

"...blood on their hands..."

No, it wasn't him. The voice was whispering yet it spoke with an ominous, anguish tone.

"...we will make it right again..."

Who was talking to her? No, wait, who was talking through her spark?

"...take back..."

Take back? What did that voice mean?

Shaking her head, she kept forward, noticing the light covering the moon. The moon...wait aminute. Didn't Rhinox research the moons? What did he tell them again.

"Hollow...that moon was hollow."

That was her master's voice. But he didn't seemed to be talking to her. More like talking to himself...or someone else she wasn't aware of.

"TC?"

She called for her master but he didn't answer. She called again. Still no answer.

She continued on, following her comrades to base.


___________________________________________________________________

"Well, let's go."

Blackarachnia took the lead again towards the back of the Axalon. Taking out a device from her subspace back pocket, she smirked holding it towards them.

"You aren't the only tech head around here, partner." She stared at Tarantulas before she sat the device down and activated it.

"Go into beast mode and make haste. It only last for sixty nanoclicks." She transformed into her black widow spider form, " It's a precaution if anyone is following us."

She scurried inside the shield perimeter and waited for Tarantulas and Arachnitron, "Now, Tarantulas, you may lead us."

She smiled like she was doing him some type of favor.

[Mystrea]

Ironclaw listened to everything Wintersong had to say, he had a feeling she knew the situation well enough. She stuck up for Starshadow which surprised but also made him feel strangely more attracted her. She was fair, unlike many bots including himself. He wansn't able to make himself give Starshadow a chance, her being a Predacons and Aurora's whereabouts. As his head was low he felt Wintersong place her hand on his cheek. His head did then raise and his optics did meat hers. She promised him. This was something he did not expect. She had promised him something that was out of her control, even so it did reassure him slightly. He closed his optics and pressed his own hand against hers. He savoured the moment before he heard Optimus' warning and orders. He took her hand tightly and opened his optics knowing that they had to carry on. However she was already waiting for him. He smiled as he walked past her, tugging on her arm to follow.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC:

Was kind of hoping for a bigger rescue party than that, guys!!! But, oh well, the spiders will figure out how to deal with them. It would have been great if there were just 3 in the base...one for each spider, but maybe the spiders can just bypass the base and not even come across the Maximals???

1. Who is in the base? Ironclaw, Wintersong, Frilla, Rhinox, Dinobot, Starshadow, Silverstreak....is that it? Or are there more? 7???

2. Tomorrow I will post for Inferno and have him follow the spiders in. I just wanted to give the Maximals in the base one last chance to decide if one of them wanted to take that part on for themselves. Like I said, it would give someone who doesn't get a whole lot of action a chance to partake. But now that I am playing Inferno, Inferno can just jump in where he left off.

[Wildfire94]

((Actually Blackrose only Frilla,Ironclaw,Wintersong, Silverstreak, and Starshadow remain inside the base. Not sure where Rhinox would be or Orcanier and Dinobot was going to meet with Primal's team the last I read. But that's about all I can sum up for that part.

And I'll edit this post for MEgs, Onyx, and Silver when I get the chance tonight just taking a quick peek.))

[Phoenix]

"If you blame yourself for not being present during that tragedy in order to prevent it, thinking Icebreaker was your responsibility, that can't be so. I could say the same thing, as could Optimus, and anyone else who would have given their life for him. Aurora, you were Icebreaker's responsibility and he was Optimus's. There is no fault in that scenario that's attached to you. It could have been anyone.

The little fuzor sighed deeply, obviously rather uncomfortable with talking about this. In a sense she enjoyed having Tigatron's company, having him comfort her and reassuring her of something part of her, deep down inside her, knew was true. In her young mind the intense grief and feelings of guilt had gotten entwined together in such a way they had become difficult to separate from each other.

She nodded in a reluctant agreement until Tigatron added,

" His death may not have even been intentional."

Not intentional? A big chunk of his face was barely recognizable!


There was no way she could agree with that statement, yet she refrained from arguing the fact. The inevitable frown on her face made her opinions all too clear, however..

But it soon faded as Tigatron continued, especially when he pulled her close for a hug of sorts. Slowly, almost grudgingly, she moved her arms around to return the gesture.

Do you see how many factors were in play?

"I.. think I do," she agreed quietly, still having a hard time taking his reassurance to heart but at least she was making an attempt at it. "It wasn't supposed to be this way. I'm still having a hard time understanding how all this came to pass. Just a few days ago everything was... well.. perfect. Icebreaker was supposed to take me out gliding. He.. He always had such a positive spirit that I'd be able to become proficient at it."

She paused for a moment, looking away as she unwrapped her arms from around her fellow Maximal.

"How do some bots get to be so.. evil?," she then mused as she returned her gaze to the waterfall. It was unclear if she was referring to what had happened to Icebreaker or Valkyrie respectively.

"Optimus Primal to all Maximals!" "Regroup at the base at once! Code X!"

Suddenly Optimus' voice chimed in through the radio. His voice held a certain urgency to it.

"Code X?"


"Seems rather serious. I wonder.."

Aurora glanced back at Tigatron, only to see him stare intently at something off in the far distance. His facial expression changed completely to one of extreme worry.

"The light at the end of the world,"

Huh?


She then followed the beam of glowing energy up into the sky to where it had impaled itself into what used to be one of the planet's two moons. And the moon was changing as a result.

Tigatron's next comment seemed like little more than a blur to the fuzor, as her full attention was directed at the now completely illuminated object in the sky. As the light faded, so did the object they had assumed was a moon until now.

"Aurora, I can't force you to come with me back to our ship, but this looks like nothing I have ever seen before and Optimus might need our help,"

"I'll come," she responded as she stood up. "Aurora maximize!"

As her clawed paws landed back on the rock she'd been sitting on moments before. "I move faster through the air," she told him moments before leaping off the rock and seemingly plunging down the waterfall before spreading her wings to catch an updraft.

[DarkSpark]

Blackrose wrote: Arachnitron looked at Blackarachnia and then looked back at Tarantulas. It didn't sound as though he completely believed that Blackarachnia could do what she claimed. What if she could't? How would they get inside? She supposed that they could climb aboard the lift once the Maximal rescue party came out, but that would be quite a risky move. Arachnitron pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Taranatulas would think of something, but she imagined Blackarachnia wasn't in the habit of making claims she couldn't actually do. That would be damaging to her ego which Arachnitron realized by now that all Predacons had a fairly large ego. It matched their hunger for power.

Arachnitron decided it was time to place the call to the Maximals. She took a deep breath and tried to sound as though she were in great pain. She gave it the most panic-stricken tone she could manage and hoped that she sounded like her Maximal programming.

"Arachnitron to Maximal base. The Predacon programming had led me to the Predacons. She's gone now, but she's done an aweful lot of damage. Please send help. I don't think I can go much further. I'm in sector 5 5 9. Arachnitron out."

She clicked off her comm link and looked towards Blackarachnia expectantly.

"Okay. Your turn."

Now it was all in Blackarachnia's hands. She had to get them in without Sentinnel knowing they were there. She hoped BA knew what she was doing.

"Excellent performance my dear, we'll make a proper predacon out of you yet" Tarantulas chuckled, feeling a bit of pride in his latest pet project & her new found acting skills.

Una wrote: "Well, let's go."

Blackarachnia took the lead again towards the back of the Axalon. Taking out a device from her subspace back pocket, she smirked holding it towards them.

"You aren't the only tech head around here, partner." She stared at Tarantulas before she sat the device down and activated it.

"Go into beast mode and make haste. It only last for sixty nanoclicks." She transformed into her black widow spider form, " It's a precaution if anyone is following us."

She scurried inside the shield perimeter and waited for Tarantulas and Arachnitron, "Now, Tarantulas, you may lead us."

She smiled like she was doing him some type of favor.

"Humph, we'll enter through the roof hatch" was all Tarantulas said in reply to Blackarachnia's little toy as he skittered past her on his eight spindly green legs, his drones following along in formation around him, before adding "Once we're inside follow my lead Arachnitron, I've been here before and have some knowledge of the Axalon's interior."



OOC: Did the spiders enter through a vent or air duct in the original series? I want to add to my post how they actually get inside the base, I recall the spiders sneaking under the base but I don't think they actually showed how they got in (I assume the air ducts because that's how the dropped in to ambush Dinobot)

[Phoenix]

(Doc: @Darkspark; I believe Tarantulas said" Humph. We'll enter through the roof hatch." In the show. Ps spiders better hurry up a bit. Primal and the other Maximals are returning to base.)

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: I am taking some liberties here to fill in the time gap regarding Inferno's whereabouts by saying that Megatron said something he didn't really say. Apologies.

I will write that the spiders are going in just in the interest of time. Darkspark or Una can specify where and how they got in when they post. I'm gonna leave it up to you ladies. Are we taking on the Maximals in the bridge? If we came in through a hatch under the Axalon maybe we could just bypass that part of the story to speed things up a bit? Maybe when Inferno sets Tarantulas on fire he sets off an alert or something in Sentinel's system and that's how they realize the spiders had infiltrated the base?

BIC:

"Perhaps I can radio the Maximals to let them know I have been damaged and give them false coordinates. A small rescue crew would leave the base leaving a smaller amount of Maximals inside. Since I have no energy signature and many of them are aware of that, they would not be suspicious if they didn't see me show up on their scanners at the location that I give them. I had been a part of their crew whenever the Maximal programming was in control of the body, so I am confident they would offer assistance."

Inferno had been traipsing through the woods on a mission of great importance. He had ben instructed to find the spiders. The Royalty had noticed their absence during their unexpected battle with the Maximals earlier. Instead of inviting him to join, The Royalty had insisted that Inferno go to look for the spiders. The red ant was more than happy to go on this mission for the good of the colony.

He had checked in the obvious places around the colony; anywhere that Tarantulas generally spends time made the top of the list, but his search turned up nothing. So he ventured away from the nest. He stopped in mid-step when he heard one of the female spider's voices. He had been wandering pretty close to the Axalon at the time and was certainly not expecting them to be that close to the enemy. He peered around the corner of a rock formation to watch.

He was intrigued to see two female widows instead of just one. Out of the three spiders gathered around the Axalon, the second widow was the smallest. He had only seen her once before when The Royalty called the members of the colony together to discuss the truce with the enemy. Inferno knew it had something to do with the trinket he had retrieved. She hadn't said much then, but now she was speaking more freely offering ideas about how to enter the Maximal's base. He looked at her face. He thought that her optics had been red before, but now they were bright green. Perhaps he remembered wrong. He was not, however, surprised tht she was in cahoots with the other spiders. It was a spider's nature to be treacherous. It was only a matter of time before she joined them.

What were these eight legged freaks up to? He only could hear snippets of their conversation, but the parts he did hear had to do with the destruction of the planet and tricking the Maximals. And then he saw a device in Blackarachnia's hands. He wasn't sure what it was- his expertise lay in combat, not technology- but he was certain that it belonged to The Royalty.

His Queen had cautioned him to be descreet, so he didn't radio The Royalty of his accomplishments just yet. He hadn't wanted the arachnids to hear him. He wanted to wait until they were inside so he could catch them in the act. He would have to teach these traitors a lesson and recover whatever they had stolen from the Queen.

Suddenly. the trio began to scurry inside. Inferno stealthily followed behind them keeping a far distance away.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arachnitron looked expectantly at the lift waiting for it to open with a small rescue party riding down. She had expected two or three Maximals to help her. She heard the roof hatch open before she saw the flier...one lone flier. Surely a search party for her would merit more than one Maximal! One Maximal did not cut down on their number of combatants nearly enough. She looked over towards Tarantulas apologetically fearing his disappointment that her idea didn't work. To her surprise, he praised her efforts.

"Excellent performance my dear, we'll make a proper predacon out of you yet" Tarantulas chuckled, feeling a bit of pride in his latest pet project & her new found acting skills.

She smirked back. "Well, I had been a Predacon protoform before they played with my programming. I suppose I didn't lose as much of my dark side as I thought," she said light-heartedly.

Blackarachnia took out a device and it opened up the shields covering the Axalon.

"Well, let's go."

"Go into beast mode and make haste. It only last for sixty nanoclicks." She transformed into her black widow spider form, " It's a precaution if anyone is following us."

She scurried inside the shield perimeter and waited for Tarantulas and Arachnitron, "Now, Tarantulas, you may lead us."

She smiled like she was doing him some type of favor.

Arachnitron nodded and transformed into her own black widow spider form. Arachnitron had heard over her comm a call from Optimus calling the Maximals back to base. They were running out of time. The planet's destruction was soon upon them and the Maximals' return was even sooner to come.

Tarantulas was first to enter and as he skittered past Arachnitron he spoke to her:

"Once we're inside follow my lead Arachnitron, I've been here before and have some knowledge of the Axalon's interior."

She almost reminded him that she too was familiar with the Maximal base and its layout, but she decided there was no need to bring that up especially not after his comment about her becoming a proper Predacon. A proper Predacon didn't belong with Maximals. She didn't belong with Maximals. So it was best not to bring that part of her journey up again.

"I will," She assured Tarantulas before following him inside. She'd make it a point to stay close to him until the moment he decided it was time to turn on Blackarachnia.

No one noticed the red ant sneaking in behind them.

[Wildfire94]

After some distance from the mushroom structure Megatron finally came to a brief halt, turning his gaze towards what was once the second moon now transformed by the surge of energy fired into the atmosphere it only proved his suspicions. The Vok had not only returned but they had been planning something big for the cybertronians and it was likely this strange signal had only been another way to lure the factions to them once more and now there was certain to be an end to this worthless dirt ball of a planet, and certainly the death of all the cybertronians. Whatever the mechanism would do they didn't have much time to stop it but maybe he could use it to his advantage somehow...

Shaking his head Megatron out that to the back of his processor then began his trek back to the Darksyde and hopefully to some form of success from the retrieval team who had gone after the fallen stasis pods or Inferno even on what the spiders were up to.

Following the T-rex Onyx had paused when his suppose to be leader did, his gaze fixed on the beam of energy shooting up into the atmosphere and transforming the second moon into some kind of spiked sphere. This did little to help the uneasiness he had felt since they arrived at the coordinates but it seemed the others had easily handled the situation like it was something they had come across every day, or just the fact they were so use to the aliens it did little to affect their nerves as much as it did the black stallion. Still he didn't voice any more against engaging in more battles when they had something far bigger to worry about, he wasn't looking to being whacked again off his feet or blasted for punishment. It seemed Megatron was doing well to live up to his namesake so far.

Perhaps I have misjudged this team more then I thought, he thought to himself as he began to gallop after Megatron again. Though he remained in deep thought and began to question if he could truly be loyal to a ruthless leader such as Megatron or truly risk being a traitor to his faction and turn to the Maximal side instead. But the only reason he was staying with the Predacons was for the cause of proving they could be equal to the Maximals back on Cybertron yet the goals for most of the team he was with now seemed the total opposite.

==========================

The alarms suddenly going off made Silverstreak glance up with her ears perked, becoming tense to where she was ready to spring into action if it was needed but she was more in wonder of what was going on. Suddenly a voice rang out through the communication systems of something urgent but she didn't yet know who this bot was only suspecting he was the one in charge or one of the superior officers of the crew.

Coming towards the monitor and peering over the frilled lizard's shoulder to look at the monitor her cyan optics seemed to widen with shock when she saw the burst of light aimed towards one of the moons. Or what had been a moon. Before their optics it burned off a layer covering what seemed to be a giant spiked metal object in the sky, something very menacing and eerie that had 'doom' written all over it. "What in the name of Cybertron is that thing?" She asked with an edge of fear in her tone, ears drooping a bit and tail twitching with nervousness of what they were about to face.

[Blazemane]

((OOC: I know I'm incredibly late, and I'm sorry about that. I will be posting tomorrow.))

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: *watches a tumbleweed bounce by* Been waiting for WorpeX and Blazemane, me thinks. I'm going to post tomorrow whether not people catch up just to have some conservation between everyone on OP's team on their way back to the Axalon to give the spiders more time and get their act together.

Also, Alak? What's going on with you and your characters? I'm missing Orcariner a great deal by now and Rhinox needs to wind up in the CR.

Great post for Inferno, Blackrosefencer!

Yes, I was hoping a couple more Maximals would be sent to rescue Arachnitron as well. I know it goes against OP's orders, and things are going to get crazy real fast, but they wouldn't ignore a plea for help from her, and if it's a trap, as a precaution probably at least three Maximals should go. However, we don't really need half the Maximals too injured to witness what happens to the fake moon and Optimus, so try to refrain yourselves from getting your characters seriously injured. We won't really have time to rescue the rescuers when the energon desposits are going to start exploding. ))

[Blazemane]

Whitegrazer, Cheetor, return to the base immediately! We'll meet you there!

Cheetor, now standing on his four paws in beast mode, stared at the alien dome, mesmerized and scared by its bright-white flashes.

When he noticed Whitegrazer glance over to him, he returned to her look with a dumbfounded one of his own. And as soon as she started running off, he turned around and fled after her. Funny how he didn't even realize the alien site had been flickering like that while he was mad enough fighting Megatron... Now the aliens were all he could think about.

The moment that the site's light focused and shot towards the moon, the violent, high-pitched sound made Cheetor glance over his shoulder long enough to see that the energy had extended beyond the planet's atmosphere.

He caught up to Whitegrazer and put himself on equal pace with her, calling out between panting breaths, "Did Big 'Bot say... what was going on here... or what we're supposed to be do... be doing next?... Code X means it's got to be bad... bad news."

Just as Cheetor ran through between two trees at the borders of a small forest, waiting for Whitegrazer's answer with his head turned, he felt something just brush to his side and he whipped his head in the opposite direction in time to see Dinobot stumbling away from his diagonally. Just as Dinobot regained his balance and glared at the cheetah through balefully slit eyes, Cheetor skidded to a halt, kicking up thick layers of dirt and dead leaves. Then Dinobot let him have it.

"I don't know why you continually make it your business to run into me head-on, but if you don't learn to watch where you're going, I am prepared to teach you, furball!"

Cheetor countered quickly, "I didn't run into you head-on. You moved out of the way."

"Exactly," said Dinobot. "A miss is still an attempt."

"But I didn't actually try to--"

"What is our status, Whitegrazer?" Dinobot interrupted, having turned to face the mare. "I see that aliens are up to their usual theatrics."

* * *

Massive energon surge emanating from Grid Trion. Communications impossible.

Steelclaw rushed over to a computer terminal suspended near their position on the ground and torqued it towards him to see a live video feed of the surge emanating from Grid Trion.

Steelclaw attention was taken away from the screen when he heard Waspinator, and then he watched the entire encounter silently, staring at Umbra with fascination when he made himself look exactly like Waspinator, putting his hands up while Waspinator grew more and more agitated, and then finally flinching sympathetically when the Predacon's attack came to its inevitable conclusion.

Heh.. I guess that Joke went a little too far..?

"Absolutely," Steelclaw replied with a straight face. "You're fired."

After a beat, he went on. "Don't worry about Waspinator." He turned back to the monitor, watching the alien scene unfold. "He gets set off real easy and blown up even easier. He's used to it."

"Megatron," he muttered, "you better get back here quick."