"More Than Meets The Eye: Part I"

[una]

"We're alive," he answered.

"Thank the Matrix." She said softly with a warm smile.

"I don't know what you did, but you need to teach me that sometime."

She noticed Orcariner walking up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. She just chuckled despite her own shock at how quickly Tantrum and Buster fleed, "I guess it is as my mentor once said: The most fearsome enemy in a war is not one with weapons blazing, but one who opens their arms towards their opponent. Of course, that saying has two different interpretations, but I think this one serves it well here, don't you think?" She smiled at the Maximal orca before she looked at him in concern, "Are you all right? You have been in battle as well as dealt with an explosion."

"Back to Base, guys. There's nothing left here for us," said Primal, but he wasn't entirely disappointed, after all, they had all survived and were leaving with another addition to their team. "Aurora, Whitegrazer, did you manage to salvage anything useful from the Akira?" he inquired as they walked together in the direction of the Axalon.

Whitegrazer nodded. Though she was relieved that the Predacons retreated, she wondered if they retreated because they felt beaten or was there another reason? She heard Optimus' question and sadly shook her head, "I'm sorry. With the coolant breach, there wasn't much time. Again, I'm sorry for what happened to the Akira, Nexus. It was a great ship and I will forever thank her for protecting Aurora and I as we tried our best to defend ourselves against Tantrum." She stared at Nexus for a bit. Oh, he really needed a recharge time in the CR chamber like Optimus had spoken about. She followed Optimus while making sure everyone else was close by.

Though, a strange feeling overcame her. But what was it? She couldn't read it well.

Foreboding? Darkness?

[New Moon]

Feralnight's gaze briefly went to the ground for a long moment, thinking about what Rhinox just said. Indeed, memeories seemed to play a heavy role in shaping people and she knew her past had eventually led to her taking a new change in life compared to her old one and what made her who she was today. So, those words couldn't be more true. The only fact was she never shared any of her past and was one of many who tried to forget it entirely. Though she had nearly let it slip aroud Rattrap who she quickly had changed the subject shortly there after.

"I suppose you are right about that one. As for what happened..."Feralnight took a moment to recall the event, or what she thought happened that day when she had flown off without even telling a soul. "I was just patrolling again after we were returning, I guess looking to make sure no Predacons had followed us back and the attack was unexpected. Glowstick surprised me and after that I just remember waking up beside the river out cold. After that I just returned to base." She explained to him, not een sure if this was what really happened or was the false memories that had been altered. Though she wanted to know what happened a part of her decided it was best not to worry about it. "As for the wings no thanks Rhinox, I figure I just will have to be more careful in battle. After all, the fliers are usually the ones they take down first." She said as she slipped off the cot and stood on her own two feet.

~~~~~~~~~~

Frilla nodded towards Dinobot as she quickly began yo follow the two mechs, having listened to the conversation and not liking the sound of things. The Predacons seemed to be getting the advantage which wasn't a good thing. In fact, she wondered if the protoform was even in their side. She'd have to wait and see as she moved along until finally reaching the battle field at the moment Banshee gave her true alliegence yet stated she wasn't all for violence. Seems Frilla wouldn't be the only one in this war who was a former Predacon with such ideals, which might be a relief for once.

Though she noticed Cheetoe taking some firepower from the newest Predacon then, seeing he would need a hand in trying to get Banshee and not end up scrap. "Well she's not Megatron but think its time to send this bot packing." Frilla this time grabbed her Electro-scrambler, knowing it wouldn't have a same effect on bots as it would Nemesis due to her nanobots but she had come to decide she would use it sparingly in battle, or as a last resort and this seemed a good a time as any.

Taking aim the grilled lizard began to fire a few shots, only enough it would short out the dino-femme's circuits and weapons. Maybe even help to take out one Pred from this battle.

[starshadow]

Starshadow simply laughed at Saber. At this rate, she was going to get herself killed which pleases the thundercat. Her electroblades formed on the side of her arms and Starshadow knelt down a little, bringing the blades straight forward with the tip pointing upwards as Saber leaped with her claws out, hoping she might land on it.

"Poor choice for an attack. How disappointing.."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These guys don't listen to reason Xychona! We're just an open target out here, come on!

The bat lady already knew her kind well but she was one of the few who would offer chances. Everyone deserves one...it was just their choice to either give it up, misuse it or redeem themselves. She blinked as the young Maximal dragged her away the center of the battlefield. As the spider fired out his missles, she pulled out her laser rifle and shot at the ones that were coming straight towards her and her fellow colleague, causing the missles to explode.

"The mission was doomed from the start Megatron, the protoform had been a predacon from the start, a predacon who willingly serves the maximals!"

Xychona narrowed her optics at the last part. She was no servant but an explorer. So Megatron was the one leading the Predacons...that does not sound good at all. As he fired cybervenom at her, she pushed Cheetor out of the way and threw her rifle to him before taking out a durabyllium throwing knife and deflected them skillfuly. She was not an ex-predacon soldier in Cybertronian army for nothing. "I gave you a chance, Predacon...and you wasted it," she sighed and rubbed her temples then gave him the serious look, "you brought this upon yourself," and with that, she fired a sonic blast at him.

[Phoenix]

"Of course, Nexus,"

Nexus smiled warmly at his one-time protege, a grateful and caring smile that surely would calm the other's nerves, as they walked together towards the rest of the Maximal crew.

"Our CR chambers will be able to easily repair you,"

The smile faded a little bit without disappearing altogether as the older warrior glanced down at the gaping hole in his chest plate. He truly did not feel nearly as bad at the damage would indicate and he was barely able to hold back a snuff as he responded.

"I appreciate your concern, Optimus, really I do.. But I can assure you that I do not require the use of a CR chamber for this."

He kept his voice a little lower than normal, not wishing to share their private conversation with everyone around. Although he didn't mind the company of the other Maximals, he didn't know them nearly as well as he did his former pupil.

"If at all possible I'd like to simply allow my body to heal on its own, perhaps with a little aid from one of your medical personnel. But I have never set foot in a chamber for repairs before and I do not intend to start now," he added, seeing the concerned look on Optimus' face. His philosophy on the use of CR chambers was backed up by the many old scrapes and scarred areas covering his armor. He wore his battle scars with pride, each of them telling a story of the many battles of his past. Of course the major damage had healed, his body was capable of basic regeneration over time like any of the beast warriors, provided he could rest up and the damage was not too extensive.

Aurora was happy to see Orcariner back on his feet. Even though his injuries hadn't seemed too terrible, she had seen fellow Maximals not recover from wounds before. So it was a relief that wouldn't be the case this time.

"Aurora, Whitegrazer, did you manage to salvage anything useful from the Akira?"

"There wasn't enough time," Aurora concurred with Whitegrazer, sending a slight smile at the taller female as they walked.

"It had better not be their NEWEST recruit. Have you secured the stasis pod? If not do so and return to base! Megatron out."

Well.. Megatron certainly sounded cranky.. If at all possible, even more so than usual. From the sound of his voice his own mission had left some things to be desired.

Unfortunately this particular pod had turned out to be empty, but on the positive side at least the Maximals had not gained anything from it either. She didn't have long to ponder it, however, as a pair of grenades exploded too close for comfort. She withdrew from the heat of the explosions, just in time to notice the larger bug rushing towards her. A pair of back flips gave her a bit more space to avoid the impact and she glanced briefly over at where Terrorsaur was now attacking Rattrap.

"The pod was empty upon impact," she radioed Megatron back, hoping for some different orders since dragging the empty, but still heavy, pod back to base would slow them down considerably. "The Maximal engaged in battle is simply too large to fit in the pod so there's no way he is the occupant," she continued, "No sign of the protoform, if there even was one present."

She made several quick rolls as she spoke, trying to stay out of reach of the slower-moving bug. Unfortunately the constant movements prevented her from firing her weapon again also.

[Night-Hunter]

Dispite being driven by pure animal instincts, the beast was smart. It saw Starshadow position herself below, hoping the beast would impale itself on those glowing blades.

Luckily, the beast had missed judged its leap and ended up jumping clear of Starshadow and her blades. Once back on the ground, it tackled the transmetal feline and sank its teeth into her leg and biting down hard.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"I appreciate your concern, Optimus, really I do.. But I can assure you that I do not require the use of a CR chamber for this."

Primal was almost as skeptical as Rattrap would have been with the Admiral's decline of a CR, and he was about to object when Nexus continued.

"If at all possible I'd like to simply allow my body to heal on its own, perhaps with a little aid from one of your medical personnel. But I have never set foot in a chamber for repairs before and I do not intend to start now,"

"Alright," the burnt Maximal finally agreed, though not fully convinced. "Can I at least offer you your own quarters where you'll be able to rest peacfully?"

"I'm sorry. With the coolant breach, there wasn't much time. Again, I'm sorry for what happened to the Akira, Nexus. It was a great ship and I will forever thank her for protecting Aurora and I as we tried our best to defend ourselves against Tantrum."

"There wasn't enough time,"

"It's all right," Optimus assured Whitegrazer and Aurora, smiling gently at them. "I'm just glad you made it out of there unharmed. You both did a phenomenal job getting its weapons systems on-line and holding the line with Tantrum," he commended them with much appreciation. He briefly slowed his pace so Whitegrazer would catch up to him, taking her hand in his black hand and squeezing it gently while they walked with others. He felt something obscuring her focus but couldn't fathom what it could possibly be. Primal glanced at Orcariner and Silverbolt to take in any physical damages they had acquired during the battle but they looked well enough for a good stroll back to the Axalon with the rest of them since Orcariner had lost his flight ability early in the fight.

"Silverbolt, you did well stopping Quickstrike from advancing," the leader complimented the Fuzor knowing his past history of disobeying orders and poor conduct on the battle field. To see this improvement gave Optimus hope that Silverbolt would continue to gain experience and be a valuable team player.

"Orcariner, your line of defense was unquestionable. Thank you for consistently and effectively shielding us from the Predacons' onslaught and buying time for Whitegrazer and Aurora to work with the Akira," Primal praised him with great gratitude. The battle probably couldn't have gone better than it had, if one could measure such a thing.

"What caused Tantrum to retreat with Buster so abruptly?" Optimus asked no one in particular since it was apparent that the tank was already on his way out before Megatron gave the order.

-----

"Surprise vermin!"

Rattrap's only reaction was skidding with his feet across the ground when Terrorsaur had suddenly fallen from the sky and landed directly in front of him. He didn't even have time to fire his gun when felt his face plow right into the Pred's fist, knocking him off of his feet and landing on his back. Rattrap groaned from the aching and pain that swallowed his head as he rolled onto his side and gripped his gun as he reached for one of his hubcaps over his shoulder.

"Funny thing about all this? Dinobot will probably regret not hacking you to bits himself after he sees what I've done to you mousy! HEHEHEHEHEH!"

"Yeah, it's hilarious, Bird Brain," the smaller Maximal sarcastically agreed as he got to his feet just as the annoying Predacon advanced in his attack with his swords. He would never give Terrorsaur that satisfaction. Rattrap jumped backwards to avoid his opponent's first swipe, then he held up his hubcap as a shield to block the next blade that immediately followed the first. It took a lot of his own strength to stop the sword as it clanged loudly against his small, red shield, feeling the pressure and vibration down his arm. Following his block, the TransMetal rat fired his gun in close proximity at the wounds that Terrorsaur had already been inflicted with, hoping to get him to back off so he could call a retreat and get his team out of there before it was too late for some of them. Or him.

-----

"I suppose you are right about that one. As for what happened..." "I was just patrolling again after we were returning, I guess looking to make sure no Predacons had followed us back and the attack was unexpected. Glowstick surprised me and after that I just remember waking up beside the river out cold. After that I just returned to base."

The lack of detail in Feralnight's explanation told Rhinox that she either wasn't remembering everything or remembering it correctly. Unfortunately, since she didn't want anyone tinkering with her memories, they may never know what really happened with her and Glowstick and the time during what sounded like unconsciousness. Without anymore prying, he moved on as she did. He could think more about it later.

"As for the wings no thanks Rhinox, I figure I just will have to be more careful in battle. After all, the fliers are usually the ones they take down first."

A small smile appeared on the scientist's green and gold face as he stepped back while the Fuzor stepped on to the floor. "I must agree with your observation. Diligence in awareness is key for aviators. But you'll be alright," he assured her. "Now, perhaps we should return to the bridge and check on Sonar via his cell surveillance as well as communications for anyone else who might be returning to base soon." He hoped they would be hearing from someone soon. It had been a long while now without any of the teams reporting in, and it was unlikely that any of them had interference since all of the sites had not been too far from their base of operations; something that finally worked in the Maximals' favor. Turning, Rhinox headed out of the infirmary and toward the command center.

[Wintersong]

((Alrighty Worpex, I'll come up with something for now and hope things turn out alright for you.))

Spineback didn't give up trying to fire upon Cheetor but when she expected counter fire it never came, instead his attentions when towards the bat that came right smack in the middle of the battle field. Even the former Decepticon soldier had to look at Banshee with disbelief at what she was hearing, the Predacon that wasn't much for violence was rather unusual and it made the soldier-turned-medic frown at hear that they likely lost a possible ally which made this mission a waste of time overall. 'All well, only one thing left to do then.' She thought as she turned her weapon towards the two as they were trying to leave at the same time as Tarantulas turned to firing on both.

But as she was charging her weapon the blast from Frilla's Electro-Scrambler caught the femme by surprise, making her growl slightly as the wave of electricity went through her systems and short circuited all her weapons systems. But it took several moments for Spineback to recover a bit to realize this, and attempting to access any of her personal computer systems or her weapons became futile after a few attempts causing the sauron femme to turn towards the reptile with a look of anger in her optics. "You'll pay for that Maximal, I'll make sure your death is quick and painful." She said as she resorted to her Tail Lance and moved towards Frilla while bringing her lance back and swinging it close towards her, using it more as a club than a lance for now.

------------

The take down of Manterror seemed quick, quicker than she had ever expected with how stubborn and resilient he turned out to be. In the end she leapt off the Predacon bug, watching him retreat as she saw no need to kill the psychotic Predacon and this being one thing the Maximals tried to avoid among their ranks. Least most would have, but there were the occasional few who didn't mind killing as much as most Predacons did. Quite frankly Wintersong was starting to be glad this battle was almost over, leaving just a few Predacons to deal with as of now as she looked towards her comrades who were still engaged with their stubborn foes. Though the closest one to her was still Rattrap who was now engaged against the likes of Terrorsaur.

Though she was about to come and give the Transmetal rat some aid she had barely taken two steps when she watched the field commander fire in close proximity to the flier, and right into the wounds he already had gained in the earlier parts of the battle. "Rattrap, do you need a hand with buzzard brain over there?" She called to him, currently in a crouched position, ready to strike when the moment was right or if Rattrap needed the support.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: I can alter my post to have Megs not give a crap about the pod at all if ya just want to bamf Team Nemesis out of there Phoenix, but I figured after the day he had Megs may want to acquire even the smallest bit of intel or tactical advantage he could find by at least acquiring a stasis pod (Legs blew the other one up so that's a no go lol)

Phoenix wrote: "The pod was empty upon impact," she radioed Megatron back, hoping for some different orders since dragging the empty, but still heavy, pod back to base would slow them down considerably. "The Maximal engaged in battle is simply too large to fit in the pod so there's no way he is the occupant," she continued, "No sign of the protoform, if there even was one present."

"SLAG!!!" Megatron cursed as he continued his flight home, furious that thus far NONE of his useless underlings had managed to secure anything of value out of this ordeal.

"Then bring me the blasted pod, we may be able to extract useful data or codes from it, if not, I can at least bury one of you fools in it! Megatron out!" Megatron roared, his rage subsiding only slightly as he reached the predacon base at last, eager to soak in his private CR tank to heal his wounds and relieve the tension he felt over this exasperating ordeal.

A maximal admiral, ANOTHER predacon turned maximal, and an empty stasis pod which may or may not have carried a protoform at all! So many opportunities squandered today! SQUANDERED! As soon as he was fully healed, and the rest of his witness troops had licked their own wounds, he would have to launch an immediate tactical strike against the maximals, he could not allow Nexus Prime to live, his experience would give Primal too much of an advantage, something he could not allow to stand. Megatron's foot prints left dents in the floor as he stomped down the hallways of the Predacon base to his personal chambers, the transmetal t-rex slinking into his CR bath like a crocodile returning to the river, eyes glowing red as he pondered how to destroy his enemies and regain the advantage as his wounds began to heal.

Starshadow wrote: Xychona narrowed her optics at the last part. She was no servant but an explorer. So Megatron was the one leading the Predacons...that does not sound good at all. As he fired cybervenom at her, she pushed Cheetor out of the way and threw her rifle to him before taking out a durabyllium throwing knife and deflected them skillfuly. She was not an ex-predacon soldier in Cybertronian army for nothing. "I gave you a chance, Predacon...and you wasted it," she sighed and rubbed her temples then gave him the serious look, "you brought this upon yourself," and with that, she fired a sonic blast at him.

Tarantulas' optic narrowed as he watched the bat deflect his attacks and fire yet another sonic blast his way...Which he evaded by jumping to the side, firing his cybervenom blaster as he did in the hopes of scoring some hits on her before reverting to beast mode and speeding away on his wheels to make himself a trickier target.

"You had YOUR chance to destroy me when I was off guard and unaware of your existence little bat...You won't have another!" the spider menaced as he turned around to face her again, sped forward, and transformed, beginning his next attack with a swarm of missiles.

OOP wrote: "Yeah, it's hilarious, Bird Brain," the smaller Maximal sarcastically agreed as he got to his feet just as the annoying Predacon advanced in his attack with his swords. He would never give Terrorsaur that satisfaction. Rattrap jumped backwards to avoid his opponent's first swipe, then he held up his hubcap as a shield to block the next blade that immediately followed the first. It took a lot of his own strength to stop the sword as it clanged loudly against his small, red shield, feeling the pressure and vibration down his arm. Following his block, the TransMetal rat fired his gun in close proximity at the wounds that Terrorsaur had already been inflicted with, hoping to get him to back off so he could call a retreat and get his team out of there before it was too late for some of them. Or him.

"For the last time, I AM NOT A BIR...RAWK!" Terrorsaur screamed as the obnoxious rat not only blocked his sword swings, but actually shot him in the wounds he had already!

Instinctively, Terrorsaur fired his eye beams at the vermin, something he wished he'd done in the first place at this point, a continuous stream of laser fire driven by pain and self preservation as he clutched at his injury, trying to fight off the pain as he backed up a few steps to prevent the rat from getting close to him in this moment of weakness.

[NaitoKage]

Landslide collided with the ground, a bit surprised as he watched Nemesis manage to dodge two point blank explosions and his own charging body with an act of acrobatics. His arm grenade launcher retracted as he pushed himself up, listening to Nem as she spoke to herself,likely responding to a radio call. He then glanced towards the battlefield, noticing Manterror run off, as well as Terrorsaur attacking Rattrap on the ground.

"The pod was empty upon impact," "The Maximal engaged in battle is simply too large to fit in the pod so there's no way he is the occupant," "No sign of the protoform, if there even was one present."

Stasis pod.. Stasis pod.. Why did they want that empty pod so bad? he thought to himself, then realized something. It was a big heavy container.. but it was still lighter then some of the boulders in the area.. it was worth a shot.

Landslide brought his left leg under himself, then activated his thrusters flying into the air and landing towards the Stasis pod, his leg sparking as he grabbed it by both ends and lifted it with his long arm span. He let out a low groan of pain as he activated his thrusters taking to the air again.

With Manterror gone and Blackarachnia unconscious. All that was left to clean up was Nemesis, Terrorsaur, and Starshadow. Nemesis couldn't be forced to retreat by any of them, even Landslide could tell this. Starshadow and Terrorsaur had to be taken down first to force her to retreat..

With Terrorsaur focused on firing the continuous beam at Rattrap, he was an open target. Landslide turned and tossed the Stasis pod towards Terrorsaur in a manner that could only be described as the Hulk tossing a refrigerator at an average man.(Or as Star calls it.. "Landslide smash!") The pod was already damaged, but it wouldn't break from the sudden impact with Terrorsaur and the ground.

_____________________________________

Cheetor flinched as he saw the missiles fly towards them, He might of had a chance to dodge them, but he couldn't leave Xychona behind. It was then to his surprise, she shot down the missiles with her laser rifle with skill that he'd only seen Rattrap able to perform.

His optics then widened as he was pushed out of the way being tossed her laser rifle, almost as if being asked to hold her purse, then started to deflect the cyber venom blasts with her knife.

"I gave you a chance, Predacon...and you wasted it," "you brought this upon yourself,"

Cheetor watched as Tarantulas transformed, driving to alter his position and transform again.

"You had YOUR chance to destroy me when I was off guard and unaware of your existence little bat...You won't have another!"

Here it comes.. Cheetor thought to himself and spoke up Says you, you eight legged creep! , transforming to his beast mode dropping Xychona's rifle to the side, he activated his thrusters as the missiles came flying towards them, and rushed inbetween the missiles as he launched at high speed at Tarantulas, tackling the spider to the ground Oof!

_____________________
(And since Blackrose is busy, I'll just have Umbra keep Ironclaw busy. )

Umbra slid down into the branches of the trees, starting to make his way through the trees as stealthy as possible, putting his Gauss rifle away as he made his way down towards the ground. As he landed, he reached for one of his swords, then spotted Ironclaw hiding among the foliage, aiming towards the battle field. But it was fairly obvious where he was aiming considering how far away Tarantulas was from Cheetor and the unknown woman.

Umbra spoke up with his hand held behind him on his sword hilt. Well well.. Looks like you're doing the job for me.. I don't usually like competition.. but if you want to walk down my path.. I'll welcome you with open arms. He smiled as his Camo shifted off, revealing his black and gold color scheme among the foliage.

___________________

Quickstrike returned to the Predbase, crawling into one of the CR tanks to be repaired. It had been a long day and strange day for the fuzor..

[Alak]

"Orcariner, your line of defense was unquestionable. Thank you for consistently and effectively shielding us from the Predacons' onslaught and buying time for Whitegrazer and Aurora to work with the Akira,"

Orcariner was a bit taken back by Optimus' compliment. Considering how the fight went and how beat up the orca felt, receiving commendation for his role in the fight was the last thing he expected to hear. The cackle of fire coming from what was left of the Akira left some doubt in the giant Maximal as to whether or not they should consider this a victory. Still, he supposed he should follow in Optimus' path by looking on the bright side of things. After all, they did have a new team member because of this mission.

"Thank you, Optimus," he replied.

There was nothing else he could really say at the moment. Orcariner only made a mental note to himself to try even harder next time. It would be an effort worth his friend's recognition.

"What caused Tantrum to retreat with Buster so abruptly?"

"I'll be honest," said Orcariner, "I didn't entirely see what happened. Whitegrazer stood up to the two of them while I was temporarily incapacitated by the ship's explosion. I don't know what she did. I only saw the results."

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC:

(And since Blackrose is busy, I'll just have Umbra keep Ironclaw busy. )

Sorry for the wait. I've been working late at work all week so I haven't had time to post. I've been reading the posts so I'm not really behind or anything, I just ended up not having enough time to commit to a response yet. We're switching from a paper medical records system to a computer medical records system at work. We already do assessments on the computer, but while we're making the switch from the one system to the other we won't be able to use the old system...so I've been doing extra hours to complete some work before the system is shut down for a bit. I have a post for Arachnitron....I'll get one up for Dinobot tomorrow since there was just that one character shooting at him and his player decided to switch targets...that'll give me more time to figure out what I want him to do...

Anyway, we'll just say that Airazor was hit by Arachnitron's gun shots.

BIC:

Though her original orders were to attack the bat, Arachnitron fired her weapon towards the falcon since she had opened fire on her to keep her away from the protoform. Tarantulas had gone after Cheetor in the mean time. Arachnitron was pleased to see one of her shots hit its target and send Airazor crashing to the ground. (OOC: Worpex can change that once he's able to post if he wants...)

She turned her attention to the others. Tarantulas was calling for Spineback and Umbra to back them up. Both sides had come to the conclusion that the protoform was a Maximal...which, she had learned, was not uncommon since a majority of the stasis pods that were falling had been a part of Optimus' exploration crew aboard the Axalon. She was just as surprised as everyone else when she learned that Xychona....Banshee, as she was called....was actually a Predacon.

Arachnitron cocked her head in confusion. A Predacon who had been commissioned to a Maximal exploration crew? That wasn't something she had heard of before...of course, she had been locked up in a cell most of her life so that was to be expected. Still, it seemed like others were a bit taken aback as well.

"even though I'm a Predacon, I abhor violence. Now stop this little brawl of yours and return to your respective bases before I'm forced to cripple you."

Tarantulas wasn't deterred. He sent some missile shots towards the new Predacon turned Maximal and destroyed the stasis pod in the act. Arachnitron could hear his voice speaking to someone, most likely Megatron since he had just radioed for a status report. (OOC: I'm assuming Tarantulas didn't send his message to everyone just to Megatron, but Megatron had made a point to address all Predacons). She couldn't tell what Megatron was saying back, but from the looks of it, Tarantulas had been instructed not to retreat just yet. Tarantulas continued to fire cybervenom at Banshee.

"I gave you a chance, Predacon...and you wasted it," she sighed and rubbed her temples then gave him the serious look, "you brought this upon yourself," and with that, she fired a sonic blast at him.

Arachnitron resisted the urge to jump to Tarantulas' rescue. She realized that she seemed to have a slight advantage. As far as she could tell, Xychona had not noticed the other spider since she had fallen out of the trees thanks to Airazor's wrist missiles. So she could use this tactile position to her advantage not to mention her skill in stealth. (OOC: This is a skill listed in her profile, I've just been under using it...I really should give her a sniper rifle or a bow and make her a sniper....)

"You had YOUR chance to destroy me when I was off guard and unaware of your existence little bat...You won't have another!" the spider menaced as he turned around to face her again, sped forward, and transformed, beginning his next attack with a swarm of missiles.

Tarantulas was continuing his barrage of missiles.

"Stealth mode," Arachnitron muttered quietly.

Slowly and silently, Arachnitron navigated the thick underbrush of the forest floor being sure to keep to the shadows and stay out of sight. She headed around to the side of Xychona and Cheetor to increase her chances of staying hidden. Then, she brought up her cybervenom launcher, took careful aim and fired two shots at Xychona hoping that at least one of the shots would hit its target.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: I was in a hurry when I typed up my last post so I feel like I missed stuff in it. But I decided against changing anything since the outcome would have been the same regardless. And NK, your character is being a bit of a douche. :p You're going out of your way to make sure they don't leave with that pod, I see.)

"Then bring me the blasted pod, we may be able to extract useful data or codes from it, if not, I can at least bury one of you fools in it! Megatron out!"

Sheesh.. Calling Megatron's mood foul would be quite the understatement. Whatever had gone down at the drop zone, it had certainly not ended up the way the transmetal dinosaur wanted. And now he was requesting the empty pod as a consolation prize.. Just great.

Nemesis had ended her maneuver in a crouching position, one arm resting on her knee as she was ready to jump back up when the giant Maximal bug made his next attack. Fortunately he was rather slow and his aim wasn't the greatest (speed of 5, skill of 6), so staying just out of his reach had not proved to be too difficult. Granted she was getting a bit tired of having to bounce around as much as she had been and would gladly have ignored Megatron's summons if it had not been for the fact the tyrant was renowned for his anger management issues and his extremely limited patience at times. And unfortunately the leader had the firepower to back up his threats, and past events had gone a long way to prove that the Predacon commander had no hesitations about harming or even killing his own troops should the need, or desire, arise. Not that Nemesis feared him, exactly, but her own need for self-preservation told her it was a bad idea to oppose Megatron's wishes.

Well, seemed she'd have to haul the pod back to base.. At least Terrorsaur was there to assist with this since the pod was quite heavy, too much so for her to effectively carry it by herself.

A pair of watchful red optics followed the giant's movements as he suddenly appeared to loose interest in pursuing her and instead turned his attention to the aforementioned pod. Slightly confused, she stood up, only to realize what the annoying insect was doing.. a split second too late.

"Terrorsaur, behind you!," she called out to her comrade, hoping to at least give him a moment to act on it. She certainly had no intention of carrying both a pod and pieces of her fellow Predacons back to base.

"I didn't entirely see what happened. Whitegrazer stood up to the two of them while I was temporarily incapacitated by the ship's explosion. I don't know what she did. I only saw the results."

Aurora was unable to hold back an amused smirk as the larger orca spoke, as he almost sounded a bit starstruck by what Whitegrazer had managed to do with a few simple words.

Whitegrazer had given that big oaf a piece of her mind.. and it seemed the oversized cow did not have the mental capacity to process such a turn of events. Or at least that's what it had looked like judging by the confused look on his face just before he ran off.

"Maybe he was feeling engorgement?," the ermine suggested teasingly, toying with the bovine's choice in alternative mode.

Nexus chuckled jovially at the tiny, but obviously spunky, Maximal, before looking back at Optimus. The younger leader still looked very concerned and seemed to hesitate ever so slightly before answering.

"Can I at least offer you your own quarters where you'll be able to rest peacfully?"

Thinking about the offer for moment, never being one to intrude, Nexus nodded. "I would appreciate that immensely," he said, eyeing the Axalon resting by the waterfalls in the distance. Once inside, he retreated to his assigned quarters for some much needed rest.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Wish I could draw cool looking stuff like that >_<. Any who, this post Terry introduces the Predacon equivalent of "bullshit!" XD

Phoenix wrote: "Terrorsaur, behind you!," she called out to her comrade, hoping to at least give him a moment to act on it. She certainly had no intention of carrying both a pod and pieces of her fellow Predacons back to base.

Already more than a little concerned for his own safety, and not wanting to experience any more pain like the one in his bullet riddle gut, Terrorsaur jetted away to the side to avoid whatever the Pit was coming at him from behind...And was immediately glad that he had given the rather sizable stasis pod that was soon dropped upon the spot he had been standing.

"...SLAG! I CALL COLD HARD SLAG!" Terrorsaur spat as he transformed into pterosaur mode, groaning in pain from his injuries as he did, and took off into the sky to avoid having anything else dropped on him.

"Thanks..." Terrorsaur begrudgingly said to Nemesis over the private pred coms, hating the taste of the word on his mouth but seeing an opportunity to gain an ally more useful than Waspinator, and added "Do we even have anything to accomplish here anymore? We're getting our skid plates kicked and have nothing to show for it."

Naitokage wrote: Here it comes.. Cheetor thought to himself and spoke up Says you, you eight legged creep! , transforming to his beast mode dropping Xychona's rifle to the side, he activated his thrusters as the missiles came flying towards them, and rushed inbetween the missiles as he launched at high speed at Tarantulas, tackling the spider to the ground Oof!

"NNNNNNYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAGGG!" Tarantulas yelled as the blasted jet powered feline evaded his missiles and tackled him to the ground, the impact of the little cat's body into his own causing him to wheeze in pain.

"Heh...Wretched cat...Heh...You think it wise to get this close to me?" Tarantulas menaced as he counted the cat's pounce by transforming into spider mode right under him, wrapping his legs around Cheetor and biting him on the neck with his fangs, giving him a sizable dose of cybervenom for his troubles.

"Tackle a spider, you get the fangs! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tarantulas laughed wildly, enjoying the satisfaction of having tasted the cat's mech fluid after all this time, payback for the time he and the rat had wrecked his old lair during the early days of the war.


Meanwhile, at the Predacon base, Megatron continued his bath, the scars on his T-Rex face from Nexus' attacks healing nicely, improving his mood somewhat, but still impatiently awaiting the return of his minions, hoping at least one of them had accomplished something remotely competent, whether it be bringing him back a stasis pod or killing a maximal, he didn't care, just SOMETHING WORTHWHILE. He returned to robot mode and opened his subspace pocket, withdrawing his favorite stress reliever besides beating or blasting his minions for their many shortcomings...His rubber duck, which he then proceeded to squeeze tighter and tighter, imagining it was Nexus or Primal, and that their mech fluid was oozing out their audio receptors as he crushed them in his grip!

OOC: Wasn't sure what to do for Megs this time so I just had him take his frustrations out on poor Predaduck, not easy making something so humorous also somewhat menacing lol. Not sure if I pulled it off XD.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Alright, here's Dinobot.....

BIC:

Dinobot and the rest of his crew lumbered through the woods towards Airazor and Cheetor's position. He heard the commotion before he saw what was going on so he wasn't able to make much sense of it, though he was a bit confused at the sudden halt in missile fire.

He heard a voice he didn't recognize speaking out to what Dinobot imagined was an onlooking crowd of Maximals and Predacons alike as they also tried to make sense of the situation.

"I should correct you that I am not a Maximal neither am I a protoform. Terrorize!" "My name..is Xychona, but you can call me Banshee. I am a Predacon and a member of the Axalon exploration crew," "even though I'm a Predacon, I abhor violence. Now stop this little brawl of yours and return to your respective bases before I'm forced to cripple you."

So she wasn't a Maximal after all? Dinobot hadn't known that there were Predacons assigned to Optimus' crew! The female voice it seemed was attempting to stop the barrage of weapons fire. But it didn't seem that she was successful, not that Dinobot had actually expected his former crew members to adhere to requests of a cease fire. He could hear the sounds of gun shots start up again as he and the other Maximals neared the clearing where the commotion was taking place.

Suddenly, a searing pain halted his ascent into the skirmish. It started near his feet and ascended to his knees, thigh and hips! He fell to his knees to better handle the stinging pain. Dinobot motioned for the others to keep going. He watched Ironclaw and Frilla each pick a different direction into the woods in front of him and disappear into the brush before his eyes! He was all of a sudden alone.

Dinobot wasn't sure which of the Predacons had shot him....the pain felt very similar to cybervenom so he suspected one of the spiders, but there were other creatures that carried a similar, if not the same venom darts so he really couldn't be sure.

The most intense pain lasted only a moment or two. Once it had become merely a slight annoyance, Dinobot rose from his kneeling position and headed off in the direction of the shots fired ignoring the tingling in his leg. That is where the new Predacon would most likely be anyway and he was interested in getting a good look at her.

Once he arrived at the clearing, he noticed Cheetor and Xychona, as she had called herself, engaged in battle with Tarantulas and Frilla had taken on the newest Predacon recruit from their previous encounter with the Predacons. Dinobot took another look around the clearing. Tarantulas and Spineback? That was it? That couldn't be right....Hadn't Cheetor said "Spiders"? Dinobot scanned the area again, but didn't see any of the female spiders. He quickly clicked on his comm link and radioed Ironclaw.

"Dinobot to Ironclaw.....Frilla, Cheetor and I are engaged in battle with Spineback and Tarantulas. Airazor is unconscious," he added noting the falcons stilled body lying on the ground near the remains of the stasis pod. "There is at least one other spider with the group of Preds, but she isn't here with us so keep your eyes open for one or both of the widows! Dinobot out!"

Feeling confident that Ironclaw was effectively warned that there was at least one other Predacon roaming around, Dinobot turned his attention to Spineback and Frilla as he remained still hidden in the woods beside them.

"You'll pay for that Maximal, I'll make sure your death is quick and painful."

Spineback lunged towards Frilla with her tail lance in her hands. Dinobot readied his own tail-shaped weapon and jumped out of his hiding place.

"And I'll make sure yours is slow and agonizing!!" Dinobot snarled and thrust his sword at Spineback's side!

[starshadow]

Starshadow fell backwards and snarled in pain as Saber sank her fangs on her leg. Just watching her mech fluid flowing out of her wound just made her pissed. How could she let the Maximal have an opportunity to have a bite?! Starshadow concentrated the flow of the electricity to her right fist and started slamming it on her face continuosly, hoping that she would release her jaws off her leg so she could rip of that face of the speartooth and wear it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You had YOUR chance to destroy me when I was off guard and unaware of your existence little bat...You won't have another!"

Says you, you eight legged creep!

Banshee simply flew up to avoid the missles, then she saw a cybervenom shot zipped past her and another hit her arm causing her to drop the knife and nearly falling on the ground from the arm paralysis. While trying to maintain balance in the air after that last shot, she noticed that Cheetor was engaged with the Predacon mech. So much violence...it has to stop.

"This ends now whether you like it or not!" and with that, she took and threw another throwing knife at the spider and another to the direction where the other cybervenom shots came from before letting out an audio piercing sonic cry even though her fellow Maximals would be affected. (OOC: Here comes nausea! )

((EDITED~))