"First Season Finale: Part III"

[WorpeX]

"Airazor and Aurora, escort those two to the brig with Dinobot,"

Airazor nodded to the Rat and retrieved her talon blaster again. Aiming it towards Arachnitron, she began to lead her towards their destination. However, the mission turned south before they even took one step. Starshadow jumped onto rattrap as if to take on the entire crew of Maximals all by herself. To no ones surprise, the incident was immediately taken care of, however, the one who acted first was the innocent and young Aurora. Airazor hadn't really spoken much to her, but seeing the presence of such a young bot made her smile. She was a fast learner and seemed to be capable of doing just about everything. With time, she was sure that Aurora could be a great leader. However, there was still plenty to learn before that would happen.

"Don't do anything," she said sternly. "Just listen. If you shoot me or touch me, this explosive goes off killing me and all of you....and if your leader is successful, it will be all for nothing because there won't be anyone here to come back to," Arachnitron told the Maximals trying to sound calm. "I will go with you peacefully," she told Aurora and Airrazor. "But DO NOT touch me! Especially you and that....thing!" she continued pointing at Aurora and her taser. "I've spent my whole life chained to a wall inside of a cage. If you had any compassion at all you wouldn't lock me up, but I know you have to follow your orders. I just want to walk there on my own. I'm not getting thrown or shoved into another cell. I will walk into the cell on my own or I die and you all die with me. Have I made myself clear?"

"Besides, I told them to ESCORT you, didn't I? Nobody's gonna hurt ya as long as you don't make a wrong move. So take that explosive off yerself and hand over your weapons. Dis is as good as it's gonna get for you 'cause I ain't gonna let anyone blow up themselves or anybody else."

Airazor listened to Rattrap go off on Arachnitron and laughed to herself. She found this situation quite hilarious. The two most dramatic bots in this entire war were put under her and Aurora's care and before they even left the room, they BOTH had to make a scene. Starshadow didn't last long before being taken down, but Arachnitron might actually get her own way this time.

"Fine." Airazor responded to Arachnitron and shrugged her shoulders. She put her blaster back into its holster. "But you get to carry Starshadow to the brig." She finished, pointing to the pile of machine laying on the ground at their feet.

---

"By the pit!,"

Megatron's reaction to Manterror's mission was less then satisfactory. Instead of putting a large hole in the critters he was chasing, he turned his attention away from him and began working on other projects. So rude of him! However, it didn't take long before the Mantis completely forgot about his futile mission. Something far more important was brewing.

"What a delicious turn of events! The command codes have been changed. The ship is being piloted by.."

"Optimus.."

"Now, my Predacon brethren,""You are about to witness the end of the beast wars!"

The mantis looked towards megatron with his toothy grin. "Do you plan to behead Optimus today? I HATE OPTIMUS. BAHAHAHHA!!!" While he was still oblivious to what was about to happen, it was quite clear that Megs had a plan to end the Beast Wars... likely because, those were his words exactly.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Nice posts everyone! Now I guess we're waiting for Blazemane again.. and to some extent BRF. Hopefully not for long. Hope I can do the evilness justice when Megs' gloating spree comes up. Poor Oppy..)

[DarkSpark]

(ooc: Nice posts everyone! Now I guess we're waiting for Blazemane again.. and to some extent BRF. Hopefully not for long. Hope I can do the evilness justice when Megs' gloating spree comes up. Poor Oppy..)

OOC: thanks Phoenix, I'll look forward to more of Megatron's megalomania

BTW, is anyone playing Terrorsaur or Scorponok? Will they be killed off or will they go transmetal like in the toys? Terrorsaur at least lol. Also been curious about what's gonna become of Airazor & Tigatron this time around (though I guess that's up to their players lol).

[Blazemane]

((OOC: I will try to post tonight or tomorrow... Research papers... owning life...))

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Those blasted research papers! Blazemane, why couldn't you do a research paper on our game?

As the others have said, great posts, guys! Winding up to the end here. I think we also need Blackrosefencer to post for Arachnitron. The sooner the prisoners are taken to the brig, the sooner everyone can gather in the command center and watch Optimus explode.

BTW, is anyone playing Terrorsaur or Scorponok? Will they be killed off or will they go transmetal like in the toys? Terrorsaur at least lol. Also been curious about what's gonna become of Airazor & Tigatron this time around (though I guess that's up to their players lol).

Since no one has shown much interest in playing them (except for when Alak was doing a superb job, especially with Scorponok), yes, Terrorsaur and Scorponok will be killed off. I'm also contemplating Waspinator be killed as well. Thoughts on that? But it has been agreed that we keep Tigatron and Airazor in the game.

I had also forgotten about Feralnight unknowingly being Megatron's little spy but I agree with NK that there is too much intereferance for Megs to be receiving that information from her. ))

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC : I will post as soon as I can. I'm busy tonight but will definitely get a post out after my shift tomorrow. But I just wanted to write OOC for the moment in response to Oop . I think we have a Waspinator but he has opted to wait to play him til season two. I think Big Convoy was supposed to be playing him. I suppose he could've changed his mind but maybe someone should double check before killing off his character.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Oh, that's right! My bad. Thank you, Blackrose. Such a terrible memory I have. ))

[NaitoKage]

( Yeah.. No killing Waspy. Only reason Big Convoy wasn't using him was because I put him in the CR tank a bit early. Once season 2 kicks in, he'll fly out there with the usual "I'm alive?!" and do whatever he wants to do. Besides.. the Maximals will outnumber the Preds and force them to lose another flier. Lost a few of em' with Glowstick and Sonar gone and Terrorsaur going.

Now instead, you guys should be plotting what to do in season 2. Alternate missions for story development or just keeping from having a gigantic battle infront of the Maximal base. Wulf has informed me how he plans to have Tantrum pop in, so there wont be a recovery mission for Tantrum which is convenient as people get bored with those..

Aphrodite and Scaleblade I have no idea at the moment, and Ironclaw needs to finish his Transmetal profile if he wants to go Transmetal, and Steelclaw needs to finish his Season 2 profile.. when Blaze isn't busy. Art/maps/icons wise wont be able to do for awhile as my computer has some serious issues, new harddrive is in the mail but I should be able to recover most of the stuff. )

[starshadow]

((Scaleblade seems kind busy. I can contact her through DA since she replies to my comments. What should I tell her?))

[NaitoKage]

(Well, we haven't hit season 2 just yet, so don't contact just yet since I'd rather she not feel teased and waiting still.. But ask if she still wants to join in or if she's changed her mind. That way we can do some quick plans accordingly.)

[starshadow]

(roger sir! )

[Venatrix]

((Season 2 is gonna be a blast! So much character development planned for Venatrix before she switches sides in an epic way. It's mind blowing.
Plus the whole Valkyrie slowly transforming into Phoenix before she rises from the ashes of her predecessor looks to be getting fun as well

So yeah.... had the thick, main, lines already drawn for my characters for season 2.
Might even think about taking a third, and kill him/her off when i start playing Phoenix in season 3.

Choices choices....

But first i need to finnish Venatrix her TM profile.))

[starshadow]

((Scales still in and very interested.))

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Sorry for the extended wait. I ended up going out to dinner with the family and we made a few unexpected pit stops on the way home. We got home way too late for me to post.

BIC:

Rattrap's reaction to everything that had been going on was, to say the least, not what Arachnitron had expected. He shouted at Arachnitron and Starshadow clearly frustrated by their extreme fear.

"You should be thankful our leader is so merciful! But yer just a bunch of ungrateful traitors! You know what? If I had it my way, instead of lockin' you up in our brig, maybe we should just drop you off at da Darksyde and see how Megatron deals with yer betrayal! I wonder if your punishment would be anything like Glowtstick's," Rattrap hissed. "Even Optimus, who was probably the only one outta all of us, was truly sorry for what happened to that squid, and he was the one who organized the whole attack dat ended up killin' Icebreaker! Optimus never wanted anyone to die, but your leader couldn't care less! So don't you dare curse our commanding officer to death like that! You deserve worse dan a prison cell!"

Of course, the mention of Megatron did not have the same impact on Arachnitron. She hadn't actually formally met him. She had been in the room with him for only a brief amount of time and hadn't actually interacted with him. He probably wouldn't even remember her. She stared at him expressionlessly as he threatened her.

"What do you Preds think we do with our prisoners?"

Arachnitron decided that she didn't need to mention that her fear and anxiety, and probably Starshadow's too, came not from what they thought the Maximals were going to do to them, but what had already been done to them. She kept silent and still as he continued.

"We don't torture anybody, and it ain't like we're gonna keep ya locked up forever!" He shook his head unable to understand Predacons at all. "We just want ya outta our way while our leader puts his own life on the line to save yers and dis whole slagging planet!" So ungrateful, he kept repeating to himself. "Besides, I told them to ESCORT you, didn't I? Nobody's gonna hurt ya as long as you don't make a wrong move."

Hurting her was not really Arachnitron's fear. She didn't want to be touched....she thought she made that pretty clear. She could count on one hand the number of times she had been "escorted" without being touched in some way, shape or form. It didn't happen too often in her experience. Usually, her "escorts" pulled her roughly with them or dragged her through the halls. She did not want to be touched.

"They can escort me all they want, but they're not touching me," she repeated.

"Take that explosive off yerself and hand over your weapons. Dis is as good as it's gonna get for you 'cause I ain't gonna let anyone blow up themselves or anybody else."

One thing was for sure....Optimus was a much more compassionate leader. She definitely took that for granted. There was no compassion in the rat at all. Interesting that he called himself a Maximal. His hatred and prejudice for Predacons mirrored the Predacon's hatred and prejudice for Maximals. She didn't think a Maximal was capable of that much hatred.

But she didn't plan on putting away the explosive though. She opened her mouth to say so.....

.....and then Blackarachnia woke up.

"Arachnitron, put the explosive away." She gave a wink and smirked almost mirroring Tarantulas', "It's not over yet." She didn't care if the Maximals saw her.

Arachnitron looked over at Blackarachnia innocently. She shrugged.

"What?! I said I'd go with them." she responded grinning mischievously.

Suddenly, Blackarachnia's optics changed color. Arachnitron knew immediately that it was Tarantulas. Blackarachnia's head shook in a way that showed that Tarantulas clearly disapproved. Arachnitron frowned.

"Fine," she sighed. She disarmed the explosive and put it back in her wrist compartment. She then pulled out her cybervenom launcher and energon pistol and put them gently on the floor in front of her captors.

She stood up and turned to go just as the Maximal female approached her with a response to her requests.

"Fine." Airazor responded to Arachnitron and shrugged her shoulders. She put her blaster back into its holster. "But you get to carry Starshadow to the brig."

Arachnitron turned back to look at Airrazor with her optics narrowed. "It may be best I do," she replied. "At least that way I can be sure she will be treated right."

Arachnitron walked over to Starshadow and picked her up. She looked at Aurora and Airrazor. "Well, ladies, let's get this over with," she said to them.

Silently, she carried the panther to the brig and gently set her down in one of the cells. Then, somberly, Arachnitron walked over to the cell next to it. She paused before going in remembering her past. She swore she'd never go back into another cell again, but that promise to herself hadn't lasted long. She took a deep, unsteady breath, but after a few moments finally walked into the cell. She turned around so that the Maximals could see her face as they locked her in. She waited uneasily for them to lock her up worried that they'd go as far as shackling her as well. If they did, she would let them. She wouldn't fight them on it. She wanted to be strong. She didn't want to put on the same kind of show Starshadow had.

[Blazemane]

((OOC: "MAXIMAL TORTURE CHAMBER!"))

Dinobot's instincts kicked in immediately as Starshadow hefted Rattrap by the throat.

But Aurora's response was perfect. Perhaps she could still be made a warrior, yet.

You should be thankful our leader is so merciful! But yer just a bunch of ungrateful traitors! You know what? If I had it my way, instead of lockin' you up in our brig, maybe we should just drop you off at da Darksyde and see how Megatron deals with yer betrayal! I wonder if your punishment would be anything like Glowtstick's. Even Optimus, who was probably the only one outta all of us, was truly sorry for what happened to that squid, and he was the one who organized the whole attack dat ended up killin' Icebreaker! Optimus never wanted anyone to die, but your leader couldn't care less! So don't you dare curse our commanding officer to death like that! You deserve worse dan a prison cell!

So, this was Rattrap when his buttons were really pushed. Dark proclamations for a Maximal, and bold ones for a rodent. But Dinobot certainly couldn't disagree.

Don't do anything Just listen. If you shoot me or touch me, this explosive goes off killing me and all of you....and if your leader is successful, it will be all for nothing because there won't be anyone here to come back to. I will go with you peacefully. But DO NOT touch me! Especially you and that....thing! I've spent my whole life chained to a wall inside of a cage. If you had any compassion at all you wouldn't lock me up, but I know you have to follow your orders. I just want to walk there on my own. I'm not getting thrown or shoved into another cell. I will walk into the cell on my own or I die and you all die with me. Have I made myself clear?

From one thing to the next...

But after the situation progressed and Arachnitron eventually let go of her bomb and her weapons, Dinobot picked up Inferno's body and followed Whitegrazer towards the brig.

Maybe we should be cremating his body...rather than locking it up.

Dinobot looked at Tarantulas' frame.

"Do you mean that he has not been cremated already?" he remarked with a humorless smile.

* * *

The floor in the command center complained with a soft, high-pitched whine as Cheetor's feet skidded across them. As he came to a halt in front of the console in the middle of the room, he had to work to keep himself from falling over.

He turned to the two CR chambers at his side and gave a brief glance at the diagnostic charts trailing slowly across the virtual screens by the chambers' doors. He wasn't an expert, but... Ironclaw was definitely going to make it. Rhinox was, too. But it was going to take him more time than Optimus had to complete his mission.

So, then, there had been a good reason for his curiosity all that time ago... that was the same day the bear and the squid had stolen a bunch of info from their database. And the same day that a certain Maximal slammed into side of the Axalon, came inside, and lit himself on fire. And brought a bunch of friends with him.

Time for that later... he thought, already turned back to the console and typing away rapidly at a keyboard in spite of the shaking of the ship. Only nanoclicks later, a green schematic phased into view above the circular computer. It listed off a bunch of details about the shields' functionality--a lot of it was really technical, and was best left for someone who really knew what they were doing. But there was a basic readout for how much of the ship's core power was being diverted to the shields, a projected time that the shields would last under given conditions (conditions which a glance out the window would prove were only going to get worse), and even a visual schematic which displayed the shape of the shields around the base with indications of which regions were taking the most pressure in real time.

Cheetor typed a simple command and this last schematic maximized to become the only thing visible on the hologram.

O.k. So... it wasn't cutting off power to a few points in the shield... As he typed, the image began to zoom in and rotate until it displayed the under-side of one very small section in line with the direction Optimus' had taken up to the alien weapon. This zoomed further and further until Cheetor was being shown something at a microscopic level.

Now, Rhinox had said that if you shaped the whole in the coordinates correctly, the structure would still hold...

He kept his focus on the keys, buttons and hologram display as the other Maximals began to come into the command center.

He finally saw on the green schematic that one tiny "plate" of the shields' component parts had leaned inwards. Now came the easy part.

The extreme zoom stayed on the schematic, but that display itself switched into a small piece of the hologram as Cheetor opened a program for the controls on the ships' broadcasters. He typed in a command to send out a spectrum pulse and then waited nervously. The flashing red alarms and the droning warning signals only added to the intensity.

He started mouthing the words but then spoke them out as he got more agitated. "Come on, come on..."

Then it was there--the alien weapon, the beam of energy, a small sphere representing the position of Optimus' pod, and... generally, almost an entire hemisphere of the planet.

"Got it! There's Big 'Bot!"