"And yet here you still are, shackled, chained, and at my mercy, how the mighty have fallen when they have no weapons left to them but mere words...Words cannot save you, words cannot harm me, so go ahead and talk all you like Prime, whatever makes you feel better"
"Although I appreciate your sudden concern for my well being, all I'm hearing are the inane rantings of a fool. But by all means.. if you think us harmless, that is your mistake to make. You will learn your lesson soon enough."
Eventually their words would bother Megatron, Primal's always did. They just had to be the right words at the right time. For now, Optimus felt that there wasn't much he could add with Nexus's insults as much as he agreed with him on his last statement, not that he was ever the type to berate others (that was usually left to Rattrap since he was so witty at it), so he focused on other things instead like their location in the ship and examining the exterior of their newly constructed cells, personalized just for them. His orange optics swept across the walls taking in everything that Blackarachnia was mentioning...
"Well, well, well," "I think you two are going to love the accommodations we have built for you. You should be flattered." "I put some extra security. Though, the barriers and bond would be tough to break, I installed the sensors just in case. If some much a Maximal tries to escape or one tries to rescue, alarms would be sounded."
The Maximal leader's expression was oddly more thoughtful than anything else as his gaze drifted from the black widow, briefly recalling how she began as a Maximal protoform, back to the TransMetal t-rex. Then he was intrigued by what Terrorsaur reported to his master over his comm. link.
"Terrorsaur to Megatron, thanks to my skill and guidance, we've destroyed the enemy ship, but its two passengers survived and have surrendered to us...What do you want us to do with these clowns?"
Wouldn't it have been better "skill and guidance" if they had managed to salvage the one ship that hadn't crashed and actually use it instead of destroying it? Well, at least the Predacons were still in the same boat as the Maximals and had no way to leave the planet. Okay, maybe not in the same boat but still in the same pond.
"Bring these strangers to me immediately, they may prove useful, yyyyessss. Megatron out" "Seems you two shall have cellmates shortly, oh, and speaking of cells...Here we are!"
Cellmates? With Predacons they didn't know? Well, Optimus didn't know who they were. This should prove interesting.
"Excellent work Blackarachnia, yesss, you did think of everything didn't you?" "Why don't you two make yourselves at home? I do hope you like them."
"Not everything," Optimus finally spoke up casually as if he knew something they didn't and deliberately tried to make Blackarachnia second-guess herself and at the same time slip something into the back of Megatron's mind to think about. And he did know something that not even Nexus knew but it was nothing that he could physically manage himself, nor was it something that the Predacons could control. It was his bond with Whitegrazer, and he had recently found out that he could, to a certain extent, communicate details with her or fractions of them or even just feelings that could guide her as he had done so with Cheetor's and Banshee's location when she and Landslide picked them up.
Annoyed by the tarantula's suddenly loud laughter, Primal had turned his head to glare at him until he felt the power bonds around him tighten and squeeze him, to which he then growled in some pain and caused his shoulders to bend inward.
"Quickly now Maximals, mustn't spurn your gracious host's hospitality, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He wanted to retaliate and smash his shoulder into Tarantulas but the impending force of his bonds almost had him on his knees, so he thought better of it and stepped into his dark cell about half way as a low rumble of agony continued to escape his clenched, sharp teeth, hoping that the spider would release the pressure if he simply co-operated and did as they said. At the same time, he could feel the little nanobots in the nanogel scurry about. Could they be feeding off of the energy from the bonds? Or was it just the remaining charge of the last electrocution he gave himself earlier with the taser? He couldn't know, but if it wore off, what would happen then? What about the hallucinogen that was still inside of him? Optimus hadn't suffered any of its side effects for a long while now, which was good, but could it come back at some point? And what about Nemesis's warning on the nanotech?
One thing at a time, he told himself. He turned around to face the rest of them as he stood there in his new, temporary "quarters".
-----
Landslide to Axalon, coming in for a landing in the Cargobay. Cheetor and Banshee have been safely recovered.
"Copy dat, 'Slider," Rattrap returned. A part of him wanted the beetle to add that, out of some miracle and easy-way-out, they had also returned with Optimus and Nexus but that wasn't the case.
"We are back. Cheetor and Banshee were pretty beat up, but with a little time in the chambers, they should be fine,"
He would've actually liked to have seen them and met Banshee but he guessed that would have to wait; better for him to stay focused on all the footage he had to scroll through.
"Good job, guys," said the distracted rat with the monitor.
"At least somethin' went right today, eh?"
"I'll girly it up all right.. with your hydraulic lines,"
So feisty, he thought with a smirk with his exceptional hearing despite the Predacon's muttering.
"Big talk for someone at the bottom of the food chain,"
"Back off, Birdie, or I'll drop ya!" he warned Nemesis as her voice told him that she was suddenly too close to him for his comfort, and in a flash he had wielded his gun and turned a little in his chair to hold the barrel of it point-blank against her abdomen.
"My beast mode might be at de bottom when it comes ta food but my rank is at the top of the command chain, so step back before I order everybody ta kick you out."
"If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it."
Rattrap's gaze jumped to Whitegrazer when a thought came to him.
"I might. ...And maybe your's ain't a bad idea after all..." he said as he pulled his weapon away and placed it on his lap. With Whitegrazer, Dinobot and Landslide present, he felt a little safer but he still didn't like Nemesis in his personal space and looming over him the way she was, especially with his back turned to her.
"Look, Optimus died ta save this planet and all of our skidplates, so the least we can do is risk our lives ta save his. Does that put it inta perspective for ya, or do you still not care?" He really didn't care if she cared since she probably didn't, but he and the Maximals did and that's what mattered. They'd show her and the other Predacons what they could accomplish in desperate times. They held on as long as they could before and they'd do it again.
"What happened here?"
"A slight difference in opinion,"
"The operative word bein' 'slight'," the Spy threw in.
"Transmetal.. Black feline alternative mode, around my height or perhaps a tad taller. He carries a sniper rifle on his backside along with that blasted camcorder of his. More importantly he has regenerative abilities similar to mine, but I cannot recall ever having encountered him before. Yet.. I must have. He knew about my.."
Without having actually looking at her while she was talking since he had turned his attention back to the screen, he impatiently waited for Nemesis to continue and sighed in annoyance when she didn't.
"About yer what? Ignorant attitude? One-mindedness? Yer nanotech? What?" Shaking his head, he continued,
"So he can regenerate like you, big deal." Although, it kind of was a huge deal. Not many had that ability, so where did this guy come from?
"Just makes it harder fer us to slow 'im down. Which is great, more bad news for us, right? Well, electricity seems ta have an effect on you, so maybe it does with him, too. Sniper rifle's are typically used for long-distance campers, so we might have ta come up with some kinda way ta electrocute him when he's outta our reach. Did he have any closer combat weapons? Is he melee trained? Did he put skills ta shame?" Rattrap snickered to himself. Something else that bothered him a little bit was how come Darkwind was TransMetal and Nexus wasn't if they traveled through the same transwarp wave on the
Akira? It almost debunked his suspicions of Nexus but there was still the mystery of the empty pod they found. Which then occurred to him, why not ask her about that...?
"Do you recognize these symbols?" Rattrap asked Nemesis as he pulled them up on a separate screen for her to look at. It was the ancient Cybertronian engraving on the empty pod that allegedly came from the
Akira. Since she was originally a Decepticon and much older than the rest of them there, maybe she'd be able to read it.
... This day keeps gettin' weirder and weirder,Right lad? Do you need us fer anything?
"First of all, dat's my line," claimed Rattrap to Landslide.
"Secondly, 'weirder' ain't the word I'd use ta describe this day or yesterday. And, yeah, I could use ya right here ta keep an eye on her," he said, motioning to Nemesis with his thumb over his shoulder without looking at her.
"The more eyes on her the better I feel somewhat safe around here," because the tracker certainly wasn't enough. Not to mention, Landslide could weigh in on the ideas for rescuing the commanding officers that were being held prisoner at the
Darksyde.
Meanwhile, in the lab...
"Well, I wouldn't go as far as calling it a tantrum. It's more of an inconvenient panic attack. But that's comparing apples to oranges." "Fine. Fine. Basically, it's everything that I've done whether to people or creatures only ten times worse as I am the victim. Satisfied?"
Rhinox thought for a moment before he nodded.
"It's not much but it's something to work with." He wasn't going to release him, though, until Aurora showed up with someone else.
"We're here,"
While his expression lightened significantly upon the ermine's and badger's arrival, he still had to be cautious especially judging by Aurora's confused look. Despite everything that was going on, she appeared to be in good spirit. He would have thought that she'd be overly upset about Optimus leaving but maybe someone had spoken to her or she was just taking a it a lot better than he predicted. Whatever the case may be, he was glad to see that her performance right now was positive and motivational.
"We're not using him as a test subject, are we..?"
"It crossed my mind," Rhinox managed to joke lightheartedly.
"Of course not," he assured all of them in the room.
"He's infected as well and can be unpredictable. He claims he wants to help us cure this but I couldn't risk him getting away and possibly infecting others such as yourselves." With the room secured now and more eyes to keep on the bat, Rhinox felt a little more confident in letting him go.
"I'll keep my attention on Sonar and offer any guidance in the process that you might need, but I simply can't work in my condition, so you and Ironclaw will have to assist each other with Sonar. I have all of my tools and equipment here," he said as he pointed at a table that was right next to them but seemed as though he was pointing across the room. Then he turned and walked up to the cot that the Predacon was strapped to and started to release his restraints while keeping a close eye on him in case he'd try anything to harm him or the other Maximals.
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