"More Than Meets The Eye: Part II"

[una]

Thank you for your assistance, TyCross.

You already knew what to do. I just screamed it at you. And besides, who else knows better than we do? Now, I'm only going to say this once: Don't. Do. That. Again.

"Whitegrazer....?"

I won't.

"Whitegrazer! Are you okay? What's happening?"

"Hang in dere, 'Grazer,"

"I'm all right," she smiled at Rattrap and Dinobot.

She didn't know how she lost control like that. No, no, she did. Even she wasn't immune to such attacks of previous scars. She was and still is a soldier. She had been in Optimus's shoes more times than she could count. These feelings she had for torture, the flashbacks of what was done to her combined with what was happening to Optimus, and the overwhelming of emotions she and he felt: love, anguish, guilt, and unbridled rage. That unbridled rage... that was from Optimus. She understood that well. How was anyone supposed to take such humiliation and cruelty? But rage made Empaths like her susceptible to what she had experienced. Especially during this trying time. How could he not know what she hadn't told him? That was her failing and weakness. Not his. It was water under the bridge now. She had control and when she has control, so too will Optimus. Though, her thoughts turned towards the nanites. She didn't know why. Maybe Optimus was thinking about them. Which led her thought processes run with the possibilities that Nemesis' own nanomachines may do her the same way.

I apologize from earlier. I promise it won't happen again. She kept caressing her spark. Optimus seemed to be more relieved and focused for now. She smiled. She was relieved too. But they both must remain ever vigliant. She stood up, staggering a bit. She held on to the control oval to keep herself steady until she was equalized enough to walk alongside Nemesis. You are doing really well, Optimus. Aurora has an idea for the cure. Whatever is, I have faith in her that she will have this cure created in no time.

Those spiders were pulling something. She felt it from Optimus. They needed to get him and Nexus out of there now. She felt something placing a fire behind her back, but she remained still, caressing her spark.

"Look, either way, as soon as we show up, dey're gonna know we're up to somethin' and the only thing we want is Optimus. ...And maybe Nexus so he can answer some questions. So matter what, we're not gonna be able ta catch 'em by surprise," the Spy-turned-Commander explained. "I think we're all on de same page with ya, Banshee, but we gotta find out if the disks got any value to the Preds, specifically Megatron. If so, maybe we can draw some of 'em away from the Darksyde ta meet for a trade in neutral territory or even at our base since we got our autoguns and shields to help us out. I'd hate ta give them the actual disks without us studying them first or make copies of 'em. If we can't get Optimus back with just the golden disks, then I say we use the virus, infect a few Preds with it, and offer the antidote."

Before she exited the bridge to follow Aurora, she listened to what Rattrap had said. She was glad that they did now have a plan to rescue Optimus, but something came to her mind, "I suggest we tried to get them to bring Optimus and Nexus up here. We know they are alive, but the Predacons don't know that. They would expect us to ask them for confirmation." Actually, she still didn't know about Nexus, but she had hope that he was strong as Optimus and was alive too. "Optimus and Nexus would need full medical attention quickly. So the closer we can bring those two here the better." If they could do that, "If the Predacons agree, maybe we can use the time they get here to copy what we can from the alien disk." If not, then they will just have to improvise with what they have. They have a plan and something the Predacons want as well as an insurance policy with the virus if they so chose to use it.

Whatever may come, they were prepared and they will get their people back. She felt something hit her like a slap to the face. Her cheek radiated a painful sensation, which made her caress it for a bit before she caressed her spark again, sensing Optimus conflicting emotions towards their connection and his resistance towards the spiders.It's all right. Not all resistance has to be physical. Whatever they tried to do, I will help you through the connection to fight it away. It then she felt a sore around her head area. She felt like someone was grabbing her in places... it was unnerving. But she remained focus, taking deep breaths, shaking off the grips. Twinge in her skull. She shook it off, mentally shaking off whatever those spiders attempted to do. Sharper... Sharper... Then nothing.

Silence. What's happening?

She turned and walked with Nemesis. She glanced at her, but realized that her staring was making Nemesis uncomfortable. She decided to reassure her, "I'm sorry. It's not my intent to cause you any discomfort. I don't know any details. I only empathize with the emotions, feelings you radiate through my own experiences." She smiled warmly at Nemesis, "You might disagree, but despite our differences, I think you and I are a lot alike. "

Aurora was outside the lab, which was odd and meant something was going on, "Aurora, what's the matter?"

[NaitoKage]

Waspinator let out a gasp as Starshadow has drained some of his energon, then tossed aside while suddenly feeling rather lethargic. On impact with the missiles volly, Waspinator's backside exploded open, falling to the ground in a pile of pieces.

Landing on the ground, Waspinator's head then spoke up Ouch.. before a part of his arm then landed on his head, knocking him into stasis lock.


Umbra let out a low sigh observing from the computer as Waspinator and Terrorsaur were swiftly taken out by Starshadow. Fliers are down.. Sub commander move! You're all that's left!

___________________________

As Landslide worked on the shotshells, he heard a noise as the CR chamber behind him opened up. The large old bug tilted his head speaking up Evenin' lad. The others are in the bridge.

Cheetor looked towards Landslide Ug.. Optimus..

Landslide looked back to the shells, crimping a few more Aye, we'll get him back lad..

I hope so.. Cheetor responded, then waved to Landslide I'll go meet up with the others. he then ran off towards the bridge.

Landslide shrugged with a gruff grunt and continued work on loading pellets and loading them into shells.

Moments later, Cheetor came into the bridge, noticing Banshee and Rattrap and over hearing them.

"By the way, who's 'the polite one'?" "'Cause I ain't aware of any polite Preds."

Cheetor responded She means that tentacled ninja freak Umbra. Every time we retaliated he told us to surrender peacefully, then threw us both around like helpless toys. Not sure anyone around Megatron knows the words "peaceful" anyway.. he muttered.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"Aww, what's the matter? Don't like our generosity?"

The gorilla in robot mode inwardly sneered at Blackarachnia.

"Ah, music to my audio receptors"

There was a slight darkness developing within Primal. While Tarantulas continued to take great delight with the leader's agony, he wanted to pull off each leg and limb from the spider's body one at a time and watch him squirm in pain like a mean child would to any insect or arachnid.

"I would have if only you had cooperated with us, but that's no longer an option for you, so now I have to take matters into my own hands"

Optimus cried out again when the evil scientist started firing at his feet. His thrusts were rendered useless as the TransMetal arachnid's bullets decorated them with dings, scratches and soot. They looked as though Tantrum or Buster had gnawed on them. He couldn't very well move much while the bonds continued to squeeze him, practically paralyzing him against the wall and the floor.

"You bring all of this upon yourself Primal"

Wrong, he thought angrily, clinging to consciousness again. It didn't have to be this way. This was all their fault.

"Hold him ladies."

The Maximal Commander turned his head slightly to watch the female spiders.

"Maybe I should let you get underneath him and see how you fare!"

"No thank you witch, I prefer to be on top, & Primal simply is not my type"

If he could shudder in his predicament, he would have.

I apologize from earlier. I promise it won't happen again.

Whitegrazer... my fault, he admitted, knowing his outrage had contributed to the rift in their connection, especially when he had felt her break a little, but he couldn't help it. He knew she was feeling everything he was, absorbing it like a sponge, and depending on what torture she had been through herself in the past, she could easily relate to it and lose control as he lost his. So much pain and atrocities. If not for Whitegrazer, he would be losing this battle.

It's all right. Not all resistance has to be physical. Whatever they tried to do, I will help you through the connection to fight it away.

Primal wasn't sure that the mare understood what exactly Tarantulas's intentions were. If the spider gained access to his core processor, he likely would not be the same bot ever again if he even survived this ordeal and could return to his precious Maximals who he missed dearly. Still, he always had faith in Whitegrazer since she was quite strong in many aspects, so he continued to keep streaming their connection. She refused to give in and remained as focused as she could in order to help him so he did not want to fail her. Whitegrazer was giving everything just for him. How could he ever repay her for her selflessness, compassion and empathy? Her deep breathing helped Optimus to a small extent. If he breathed any deeper, it would simply be too much pain to bear but it helped relax his pressured spark.

"Don't you ever give up?"

No. But he cringed from the widow's sharp kick and coughed.

"He does not alas, foolish though it maybe. It matters not, once I'm in his mind he'll be unable to hide anything from me. The mental plane is where I am stronger, not him. Now, as I said once already, restrain him"

Optimus wasn't so much frightened while Tarantulas approached him as he was desperate to get away for he knew what was coming. Unfortunately, with his feet beat up and his entire upper body restrained, there was nothing he could do to get away quickly enough without any of the spiders immediately stopping him. He tried to move his head around to keep the tarantula's slimy claws off of it, but the spider grabbed a hold and firmly held his head in place. Primal struggled to get free. This was the last thing he wanted because Tarantulas was notorious for messing with others' minds and programming. Gasping and growling, the Maximal's attempts were futile. He couldn't believe right then what had crossed his mind but there was no denying it; he wished for Megatron to come to the rescue and stop this.

"Its okay, I'm a doctor, bwahahahahahahaha!"

He felt him open the port on the side of his head and Optimus grew even more desperate, grinding his bent teeth and peeling his split lip more. His breathing increased dramatically as his orange optics filled with outrage while they glared at the spider. This was all against his will, much like what Tarantulas had done to Blackarachnia's programming and whatever he had done to Arachnitron to keep the Maximal personality at bay. And they gained enjoyment out of this? To watch him do it to someone else who clearly didn't want it done? It was extremely invasive and unethical.

"My word, what mischief have you been up to in my absence?"

Wish granted! Everyone in the cell stopped what they were doing to see Megatron enter the scene, including Tarantulas. It seemed as though something was hidden behind his back but under all the stress, exhaustion and pain, Optimus did not focus on that. Could it have been Nexus? ...A piece of Nexus...?

"Primal has been uncooperative, so I decided to extract the information we require directly from his core processor"

As relieved as he was to see Megatron interrupt the spider's ambitions, a hint of panic rose within him again, awaiting to see Megatron's reaction to this. Would he allow it anyway? Or would he vote against it because he knew as well as everyone else that NO ONE wanted Tarantulas in their heads. Ever. Would the tyrant grant Optimus that much mercy? Or perhaps it didn't matter since the t-rex was so certain of the Maximal's demise.

"Is that so? I trust you intended to contact me first for permission? Yesss?"

No, judging by his smugness it wasn't mercy. Primal figured that Megatron just didn't want Tarantulas to gain knowledge that the spider would use for himself and never share with Megatron.

"Of course Sir"

"Of course. Did you learn anything at all of importance?"

"Primal was apparently ignorant of the Golden Disks theft, in regards to both the culprit's identity and their current whereabouts. No access for Sentinel yet either"

"Unfortunate, but perhaps an unexpected visit from one of his friends shall loosen Primal's lips, hhmm?"

"You.. monsters! What did you do to him?,"

It was as though it happened in slow motion when Megatron revealed the captive behind his back. Pure white, fluffy, small, young... And her voice of desperation... Primal's optics enlarged in horror and suddenly he had forgotten about all of the torture and anguish he had endured thus far. Gasping for breath and trying to find his voice, tears rolled his face again but this time they were of great sorrow. Logic seemed to fade away from him for a moment, after all this bot looked just like Aurora, ruffled fur and all. How could it not be her? "No..." he whimpered, watching the Fuzor trying to run to his aid only to be snagged. Coughing and growling, they were testing his strength now. Despite being ensnared as tightly as he was, Optimus slowly pulled himself up to his knees. Pieces of his armor and more flakes of his paint that had been loosened and bent out of place from the bonds fell to the floor. Anger and rage from the furthest depths of his spark began rising like hot magma in a volcano, gradually working toward an eruption. From his knees, he got to his recently banged up feet, and although he wobbled and used the wall to help prop himself up with his shoulder, he glared defiantly at Megatron.

Sweet, innocent Aurora... How did this happen? This was NOT supposed to happen! Had this been part of his Maximals' attempt to rescue him and Nexus and Aurora was captured? Why hadn't Whitegrazer told him of this? Where was Nexus? Dead? Alive? With the adorable but helpless little Fuzor in Megatron's grasp, Optimus had no choice but to co-operate in hopes of sparing her life, and that realization slowly crossed his beaten, tear-stained face. He gently licked the inside of the gash on his lip while it continued to leak a little fluid down his chin, trickling down his neck now as he staggered there feeling defeated once more.

"Care to rethink your oath of silence now Primal?"

"Please... Please don't... harm her..." Optimus coughed in a strained but soft voice as he looked on to Megatron, pleadingly. "I'll... I'll co-operate... as long as... no harm comes... to her."

You are doing really well, Optimus. Aurora has an idea for the cure. Whatever is, I have faith in her that she will have this cure created in no time.

Was he? He sure didn't feel like it. So tired he was. So very tired. Wait... What...? he asked of Whitegrazer. On the outside to the Predacons Primal suddenly appeared confused. Aurora... is with you? But she's... she's right in front of me. Megatron is... is holding her captive... before me... He didn't understand. Was this not her? His legs started to weaken but he refused to fall. His orange optics mysteriously lingered on "Aurora".

-----

"I'm all right,"

"Yeah right," Rattrap said, unconvinced. "You ain't foolin' no one." He helped her up to her feet with his free hand until she grabbed hold of the center console. He couldn't really fathom what she and Optimus were going through right now, but at least it told him that the monkey was still alive. "You guys better take it easy with that emotional stuff," he recommended. Deep down, however, he was gravely concerned for their fearless leader and Whitegrazer's well being.

"We share a history, that much is evident, but until I get to see his true form I really have no way of knowing for sure who he is,"

His true form. That still bugged Rattrap. How can someone evolve that easily into someone else's form? Well, Umbra had a somewhat similar ability but the Spy would have called it camouflage not necessarily shapeshifting. He thought. He hadn't really encountered the Pred much to study him. She ain't recollecting hard enough, he accused Nemesis in his mind but it didn't really matter. They were acquiring their weapons that should hopefully prove effective on Darkwind as well as a plan that was as good as any.

"I suggest we tried to get them to bring Optimus and Nexus up here. We know they are alive, but the Predacons don't know that. They would expect us to ask them for confirmation." "Optimus and Nexus would need full medical attention quickly. So the closer we can bring those two here the better." "If the Predacons agree, maybe we can use the time they get here to copy what we can from the alien disk."

Rattrap nodded thoughtfully as he returned to his seat, watching Whitegrazer carefully slip away after Aurora and Nemesis down the corridor toward the med lab. On a monitor, he pulled up the frequency for the tracker on Nemesis which revealed her current position and movement as a red blinking dot along with data that constantly updated. He wasn't thrilled with her knowing that they had the disks and where one of them was because she could likely use them to her advantage as well, but at least they could still keep an eye on her.

"What do ya think, Chopper Face? We should give a call to yer old pal Megs and find out how badly he wants his disks back, but I guess we gotta wait until we're certain we can beat dis hallucinogen virus," he said to the warrior. "We gotta be able ta back up the files, though. Or give 'em fake disks so we can keep the originals. If you went to all dat trouble betrayin' everyone, den they gotta be pretty valuable and we need all the advantages we can get in dis slaggin' war."

She means that tentacled ninja freak Umbra. Every time we retaliated he told us to surrender peacefully, then threw us both around like helpless toys. Not sure anyone around Megatron knows the words "peaceful" anyway..

"Hey, Spots!" Rattrap said more excitedly than he had intended in front of the others when Cheetor showed up. He tried rectifying it by clearing his throat and quickly moving on. "Umbra, eh?" He rolled his optics and said, "Yeah, neither polite nor peaceful."

-----

Watching Ironclaw's body language, Rhinox was grateful for his co-operation and understanding of the unpredictable situation. Having him stand guard outside of the medical bay was a far better place for the large badger in case Sonar got out of hand.

"We may have a cure,"

"Aurora, what's the matter?"

He heard voices on the other side of the door. Ironclaw was doing a good job protecting everyone right now because if Sonar escaped, he could infect all of them and then they'd never find a cure and would never get Optimus and Nexus back. He wondered how they were doing devising a plan for their rescue.

"We may very well have a cure. Do what you can to restrain him, but we do need access to that lab!"

"Hold on," he told Aurora. "I'll do what I can." But he immediately covered his audio sensors with his large hands when Sonar screamed out in pain and fell to his knees. His wing nearly knocked Rhinox over when the bat extended it so suddenly.

"It isn't real, Sonar! Whatever you're experiencing, it isn't real!" he tried telling him, but he didn't know if his booming voice was helping or making it worse. Rhinox attempted to grab Sonar's arms with his hands to lift him to the cot nearby so that he could restrain him to it again. Since Sonar's hallucinations were accelerating and climaxing again, it fueled the Maximal's own infection and fear of heights through him touching him. Rhinox gasped and nearly jumped backwards as it appeared to him that he was leaning over a cliff of great distance. His back bumped into a table that knocked over some equipment and tools, banging and clanging on the floor as they hit and scattered about.

[NaitoKage]

( Oh if only the Maximals could play the golden disks.. That alone is worth a good laugh. Outside of G1 Megatron's message, the disks are just the Voyager disk and it's cover. Which is a bunch of random pictures and some creepy sounds of earth for 12 minutes. *LOL* Ofcourse G1 Megatron's message being the problem since it lists the ark's location, earth's location, and the plot of killing Optimus Prime before he wakes up.. )

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Here we go! Hope you guys enjoy, probably will be busy this weekend so wanted to get this post in while I could (early Halloween shopping perhaps, depends on how the weekend plays out lol).

Naitokage wrote: Waspinator let out a gasp as Starshadow has drained some of his energon, then tossed aside while suddenly feeling rather lethargic. On impact with the missiles volly, Waspinator's backside exploded open, falling to the ground in a pile of pieces.

Landing on the ground, Waspinator's head then spoke up Ouch.. before a part of his arm then landed on his head, knocking him into stasis lock

"Ugghhh...You alive Wasp?" Terrorsaur groaned, annoyed by how he'd gone from the hero who downed an enemy ship and captured its crew to lying flat on his back in the dirt after a brief dogfight with a former comrade turned vampire.

Seriously, he HATED this damn planet, where else would nonsense like this just pop up out of nowhere? Junkion, a planet of garbage inhabited by bots composed of recycled parts who spoke in snippets of television clips, made more sense than half the crap they had encountered on this miserable rock...Sigh, at least the food was good. Terrorsaur promised himself he'd have bald eagle for dinner tonight once he recovered, if no one would reward him for his efforts than he would himself at least.

Phoenix wrote: The fuzor's optics darted from the wounded Maximal to Tarantulas before finally settling on Megatron. "You.. monsters! What did you do to him?," she demanded, voice sounding quite desperate. Then she attempted to make a run for Optimus, obviously not getting far before the tug of the chains brought her to an abrupt halt. After pulling at them a couple more time, the teenager appeared to realize how futile this approach was and settled down, merely staring wide-eyed and pouting at Primal.

Oh yes.. With a display like this, even Optimus would break in no time. On the inside Zodiac was quite pleased with his performance thus far. If this didn't tug at Primal's strings, nothing would. It wasn't even so much whatever Maximal secrets Primal could reveal that intrigued the shape-shifter, but more so the act of breaking him down. Yes, Zodiac had gained access to the weapon systems controlled by Sentinel, however there were files even Sentinel did not have access to. After all it would have been foolhardy to let a single system control absolutely everything at the Axalon, given how flawed even the best of defense systems had been known to be. Still, he had learned enough about the overall Maximal presence through the files he had acquired on the Akira.

No, this was a matter of a more personal nature. The pretender wanted Optimus to suffer as much as possible before ending his pathetic existence. After that, after that portion of his mission was complete, well..

Megatron's sinister smile grew brighter by the nanoklik as he enjoyed Zodiac's performance, the shape shifting mimic impersonating Aurora perfectly in both appearance and mannerisms. He wasn't certain if he could trust this rogue in the long run, slag, he knew he couldn't, but for now he was earning his stripes so to speak, while also showing Megatron why he should continue to be wary of him, not unlike Blackarachnia's vanquishing of Starscream had made him aware of how treacherous the she spider could be. Still, he could not help but admire Zodiac's work, especially its effect on his "dear friend" Primal.

OOP wrote: It was as though it happened in slow motion when Megatron revealed the captive behind his back. Pure white, fluffy, small, young... And her voice of desperation... Primal's optics enlarged in horror and suddenly he had forgotten about all of the torture and anguish he had endured thus far. Gasping for breath and trying to find his voice, tears rolled his face again but this time they were of great sorrow. Logic seemed to fade away from him for a moment, after all this bot looked just like Aurora, ruffled fur and all. How could it not be her? "No..." he whimpered, watching the Fuzor trying to run to his aid only to be snagged. Coughing and growling, they were testing his strength now. Despite being ensnared as tightly as he was, Optimus slowly pulled himself up to his knees. Pieces of his armor and more flakes of his paint that had been loosened and bent out of place from the bonds fell to the floor. Anger and rage from the furthest depths of his spark began rising like hot magma in a volcano, gradually working toward an eruption. From his knees, he got to his recently banged up feet, and although he wobbled and used the wall to help prop himself up with his shoulder, he glared defiantly at Megatron.

Sweet, innocent Aurora... How did this happen? This was NOT supposed to happen! Had this been part of his Maximals' attempt to rescue him and Nexus and Aurora was captured? Why hadn't Whitegrazer told him of this? Where was Nexus? Dead? Alive? With the adorable but helpless little Fuzor in Megatron's grasp, Optimus had no choice but to co-operate in hopes of sparing her life, and that realization slowly crossed his beaten, tear-stained face. He gently licked the inside of the gash on his lip while it continued to leak a little fluid down his chin, trickling down his neck now as he staggered there feeling defeated once more.

The look on Optimus' face as he had revealed what he'd been hiding behind his back was one that Megatron would file away inside his memory banks for all eternity, it was the look of complete and utter hopelessness, spark crushing defeat, fear so deep and absolute, that even a heroic fool who'd actually died once already could not fight it, could not put on a brave face to hide it, not for Aurora's sake, or even his own. In one fell swoop Megatron had Primal on his knees and at his weakest, whimpering like a sparkling, and he accomplished this without resorting to physical violence or even holding an actual loved one of Primal's hostage, he did this through deception, and an unexpected wild card Primal could not possibly predict even existed...This was why Megatron was destined to rule, and why Primal was destined to die in despair.

Oh sure, he glared at him defiantly enough, but it was without his usual confidence, the ape was desperate now and uncertain, saving Aurora was more important to him than defying his greatest foe right now, and it was this weakness that would ensure Megatron's glorious triumph at long last.

OOP wrote: "Please... Please don't... harm her..." Optimus coughed in a strained but soft voice as he looked on to Megatron, pleadingly. "I'll... I'll co-operate... as long as... no harm comes... to her."

"Hhhmmm? What was that Primal? I can't quite hear you over the child's weeping, shall I silence her for you?" Megatron inquired in a tone of mock sincerity and confusion, reaching down to Zodiac and grasping him by his currently fluffy neck with his cutlass, squeezing slowly and deliberately, enough to make it look good but just enough so that Zodiac could continue his act & gasp out some words to further inspire dread and desperation in Primal's mind, the poor sap's optics never deviating from the pitiful sight of his surrogate daughter struggling in chains...And of course, he didn't overdue it either, knowing he couldn't really harm Zodiac in this fashion but knowing Primal didn't realize the deception, he wouldn't resort to serious violence against "Aurora" unless it was necessary or his was certain Primal had given him all he wanted to know.

OOP wrote:
Was he? He sure didn't feel like it. So tired he was. So very tired. Wait... What...? he asked of Whitegrazer. On the outside to the Predacons Primal suddenly appeared confused. Aurora... is with you? But she's... she's right in front of me. Megatron is... is holding her captive... before me... He didn't understand. Was this not her? His legs started to weaken but he refused to fall. His orange optics mysteriously lingered on "Aurora".

Tarantulas meanwhile watched the proceedings with arms folded across his chest, annoyed by his missed opportunity to unravel Primal's secrets himself but also begrudgingly enjoying the sight of the little fuzor being tortured before the big ape's gaze, his only regret being that he wasn't the one implementing this effective form of interrogation. Hero types often broke under these sort of circumstances, they were too sentimental and short sighted not to, though the spider did wonder where the Pit Megatron had found the fuzzball, though given the recent lack of success of the Darksyde's security measures and his own past encounters with inexperienced reckless maximals, it wasn't too far fetched to assume she'd come alone to stage an ill-advised rescue mission...Strange though it was that the maximals were careless enough to allow her to come alone given the circumstances, then again, they were usually quite lost without their "fearless leader" to guide them. Regardless, it was certainly doing the trick.

"Enjoying the show my dears?" Tarantulas asked of his fellow spiders, cackling as he watched Megatron at work...He hated the tyrant but that didn't mean he couldn't admire his methods.

"Well Primal, how about you show me your sincerity by giving me the access codes to Sentinel? As well as any files or portions of your ship's systems which may not be under Sentinel's influence, hmm? A fair trade for the continued well being of this precious ball of fluff wouldn't you say? Yesssss" Megatron cooed, now holding "Aurora" in his claw while slowly, gently petting her on the head as though she were little more than a pet, doing no injury to her but making it clear he could snap her scrawny neck like a twig at any moment.

He had him, Megatron had Primal right where he wanted him, beaten, broken, bleeding all over the floor and wide eyed with terror and confusion...He would be sure to relish this moment, and make a note of it in his memoirs, after all, his future subjects would want to know all the little details of how their glorious ruler rose to power despite all adversity. Everyone loved it when the hero won in the end.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Thank you, DarkSpark. And you've written an excellent post as well! You even described OP's despair upon seeing "Aurora" better than I did. I just couldn't find the right words when I typing it up but you found them perfectly. Nicely done.

@NK: Yeah, I haven't really been thinking that far ahead with the game and the show in that aspect pertaining to the disks. I haven't even watched the show for a few years now. But thank you for the reminder. ))

[una]

((OOC: Well, I don't think the Maximals would have time to copy the golden disk and since the alien disk is the closest, so I think it is safe to assume that the Maximals wouldn't get to it. Though, I think after "Maximal, No More" that Dinobot told Optimus what Megatron planned on doing anyway because on Agenda Part Three after Ravage goes down. Everyone is like it was over, but Optimus was like: Nope, follow Megatron. Because he remembered what Dinobot told him before Dinobot died.

I don't know what's going to happen to Dinobot here in our RP, but I think it might be interesting if the Maximals actually did get the information. Makes me wonder how the events would change and overfold if that happened. ))

[NaitoKage]

( Okay. Well if you guys do want the disks read off, the Voyager disk is the easier of the two to deal with since it does have.. vague instructions of how to use it. the Vok disk on the otherhand.. pretty much Rhinox only could figure that out.)

[DarkSpark]

OOC: I think at some point I'm gonna have to refresh my memory & marathon the show to remember every detail about the disks, I know they had Megs message & his instructions regarding the Ark, but I remember Megatron also used it to lead him to earth for energon & to figure out other ways of stopping the autobots from winning the war, namely the annihilation of the early humans...Poor Megs, he almost spared us the evils of Sam Witwicky & Miko XD

@OOP: Thanks for the praise, I didn't think I outdid you though, I could practically imagine the "slow mo" moment ya described when Primal drank in the sight of Megs pulling "aurora" from behind his back lol. Great stuff.

[Night-Hunter]

Sonar's claws were digging into his head as his "pain" intensified. His torturers were dissecting him while he was still alive! He could feel the blade of the scalpel slice into his chest, setting off every pain receptor, spilling his energon.

"It isn't real, Sonar! Whatever you're experiencing, isn't real!"

He saw the hand of his torturer coming towards his face, scalpel in hand. He was going to take his out his eye or perhaps both of them! He let out a savage snarl and sank his teeth into his captive's hand when it came close enough, drawing blood.

Pain exploded in his left arm, causing his optics to snap open. He hadn't just bitten his captor's hand, he had just sank his teeth into his own arm. This pain was real! Not the so called pain he had just felt at the hands of his imagined captors.

He let go of his arm, spat energon onto the floor and growled as the image of the imposter disguise as Optimus entered his mind.

"I swear," He panted as rage boiled in his spark. "I swear in the names of Primus, the all mighty Unicron, even the Quintessons... I WILL DESTROY THE PRETENDER!"

His angered roar of vengence echoed through out the Maximal ship, it wouldn't surprise him if his vow was heard by those currently in the Darksyde.

((OOC: I'm such a dork, I came up with Sonar's rage filled vow a few days ago while thinking of a reply.))

[NaitoKage]

I WILL DESTROY THE PRETENDER!"

Landslide tilted his head as he heard Sonar echo through the ship, then finished up on the grenade shells, scooping them up and walking towards the bridge.

"Hey, Spots!" "Umbra, eh?""Yeah, neither polite nor peaceful."

Cheetor heard Sonar shout, then rubbed the side of his head Or quiet for that matter.. So.. What are we going to do about Optimus? Cheetor looked towards Rattrap.

A moment later the heavy steps of Landslide were heard as he came into the bridge, setting down 12 shells next to Rattrap Yer lucky you had all the supplies on hand. I went with acid pellets to go with the UV pellets. Just be careful on that trigger, you can pump six shots in 2 seconds if yer fast enough. Such an attack would eat through even MY armor.. And just incase yer feelin' a bit naked.. take some of these along with ya. Landslide set down six limpet grenade shells next to the 12 acid/uv buckshot shells. (Limpet Grenades are Landslide's standard grenade ammo, they're essentially a sticky bomb that remotely detonates, kinda like the Demoman's weapon in Team fortress 2.. though in Landslide's case they were for demo work or strip mining.. So I'm sure Rattrap will enjoy those. )

Cheetor glanced at the ammo, rather surprised.

Though.. I have to wonder.. even if we defeat this Darkwind.. what do you plan to do with him?

Cheetor looked towards Landslide confused Wait.. So there's a new Pred to deal with, as well as the virus running around the ship? Cheetor then started to rub his face Why don't we ever get a break?

[Wintersong]

"System repairs complete." The first sound she heard was of the computer confirming her repairs were done at last, and slowly Wintersong's optics flickered on as her vision was at first blurry and everything seemed for the most part dark around here. But at least the computer's voice also confirmed she was at the Axalon, she had to be if she was being repaired fully. Certainly wasn't her internal computer's voice which had a slightly different tone to it then the CR chamber's.

Slowly but surely though, Wintersong was becoming more aware of what had occurred and that she was at least not alone in the bridge, clearly hearing the voices of Cheetor, Rattrap, and Landslide just outside. With a hiss the CR chamber finally opened up to reveal the repaired Transmetal tigress as she stepped out, moving her arms a bit since they felt stiff and she was reminded why no one liked being hit by a stray missile, least she thought it might have been a stray missile. In the chaos of a fight it wasn't unheard of and that's the first thing that came to mind or she had been blasted, something along those lines since her memory was fuzzy after going down and just ending up in stasis lock shortly thereafter. But the damage her been enough to send her to the CR chamber for who knows how many times now. Unfortunately, it seemed her injury prone luck hadn't yet failed her.

"Geez, I need to keep track of my lives, think I'm on number six by now." She said as she walked forward to allow the CR chamber to close but as she came forward enough to see what Landslide had put together followed by the echoed sound of Sonar's yell she couldn't help raising an optic ridge, looking towards the three mechs quizzically as she seemed to miss...a lot. More then she realized. "Uh, what's been happening? And why does it sound like the rat with wings has finally cracked?" She asked, obviously not having any knowledge to what had transpired over the many hours.

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

Elsewhere, one Predacon was not having much luck herself. Next to being damaged from the fight a while earlier in order to retrieve Banshee her systems were also just recovering from being scrambled, all thanks to the tango she had with the little frilled lizard who she now crushed beneath her foot like a little insect. Not that she was the first either who wanted revenge for something Frilla had done. In fact, Spineback's navigational systems had shortened out and whacky, making her sense of direction out of sync and confused to where she was going or where she was for hours until her self-repairs had been able to fix the problem and handle most of her wounds which weren't serious but the worse of it had been her navigation and targeting systems.

With her sense of direction restored Spineback was finally making her way back towards the Darksyde, which her previous attempts of contacting them had gone unheard thanks to her communications also being scrambled and rendered useless at that time. Frustrating as she had become from wandering the forest for so long she had not allowed this to entirely cloud her better judgement, having taken it slow and steady until she could find her way or until her navigations were restored. She had learned by now patience often went a long way and it had served her well over the years, especially since her time as a Decepticon and what had kept her alive all these years. Though that didn't mean Megatron would likely have her hide for this later for her failure to return on time and for her absence in the recent events that were taking place, all of which she wasn't aware of except for the fact the Maximals had likely succeeded in getting Banshee and her teammates had returned to base hours ago.

Finally, the landscape became more familiar as she ran across the open barren landscape, her feet kicking up dust and make faint thuds as she moved thanks to her size. Soon the smell of burning rock hit her olfactory sensors, her optics zooming in to see the faint red glow of the lava pools that could be found not far off from the Predacon base which the further she got the more the base came into view. A few minutes later she slowed down slightly, the base now feet from her as walked but found it strangely quiet outside as she approached,sniffing the air a few times before she realized there was also Maximal scent around the area which made her wonder if the Maximals were invading or had made an attempt while she had been out causing her to quicken her pace into the hanger and to head inside the fallen Darksyde.

Of course, she had no way of knowing what was going on within the cells.

(Hope this is alright guys. I only know a little bit of what's going on from Una telling me and going off with some suggestions that NK and OOP suggested of getting back into the game.)

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Welcome back Wintersong

[una]

((OOC: Awesome to have you back, Wintersong!

I'm just giving more time for Blackrosefencer to post before I post for BA. ))

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Sorry for the wait....this week just got away from me.....it's been long and busy. And I am a wreck with my sinuses.....but here's what I have so far..... the rest will come tomorrow.

BIC:


Arachnitron was surprised by Optimus' response to her demands...or attempted demands.

"YOU DARE ASK ME TO GRANT HER MERCY WHEN IT HAS NOT BEEN GRANTED TO ME?!" he hollered at her.

His anger took the she-spider by surprise, but she was even more surprised to hear that Optimus call her demands "mercy"? She didn't really much care what he did to Blackarachnia nor did she care about Blackarachnia period. She just was doing her job of assisting Tarantulas and she couldn't very well assist him with the ape running rampant around the room!

"I wasn't asking for mercy," Arachnitron corrected calmly compared to Optimus' booming response. "Unless doing what the femme with the gun orders you to do is considered mercy.....in that case, you should really show that mercy more often."

"No," he told her firmly, maintaining his defiance.

"I appreciate your efforts my dear, but the ape is subdued, no need to trouble yourself"

Arachnitron looked over at Tarantulas as he spoke and nodded. She put away her weapon and lowered her gaze as she realized that he must have seen her erradict behavior and taken it to mean, as Blackarachnia pointed out, that her chip needed to be calibrated.

"Help Blackarachnia up and prep Primal, its been fun, but we're running out of time and I'm done playing games. It is time to extract the information direct from the source"

Arachnitron looked up at Tarantulas again. "Right....." she replied and took a few steps towards Blackarachnia and Primal.

Before she could reach the Maximal, he spoke up in defiance.

"Stay... out of my... head," the leader struggled to say in a much softer voice now that he could barely speak. And before Arachnitron and Blackarachnia could put their hands on him in order to "prep him", he ignited the thrusts in both of his feet this time and blew himself across the floor, the loud sound of his metallic body scraping and creating some sparks echoing around in his cell. He didn't care where he went so long as he was further away from them, so he ended up driving himself right into a wall, slamming into it with his back. He deactivated his thrusts as his make-shift bonds flickered, probably from the dramatic force of being squished between his body and the unbreakable wall, but they remained intact and functional. Unfortunately. He laid there on his side with his back against the wall while his mind wandered to Whitegrazer.

Arachnitron took a step back away from the blast of Optimus' thrusters. Tarantulas took quick action to further subdue the ape by shooting at his thrusters.

"I would have if only you had cooperated with us, but that's no longer an option for you, so now I have to take matters into my own hands"

"You bring all of this upon yourself Primal" Tarantulas explained, raising his hands as if to say "what did you think would happen stupid?" before snapping his fingers and ordering "Hold him ladies."

Arachnitron nodded again and walked back over to Optimus. She stood next to Optimus while Tarantulas readied himself for the procedure.

"Don't you ever give up?" As the Maximal was laying on his side, she gave a humiliating kick to his body, where the bonds let their marks, as she helped in making sure he will be a good little experiment and be still for Tarantulas' little extraction.

"He does not alas, foolish though it maybe. It matters not, once I'm in his mind he'll be unable to hide anything from me. The mental plane is where I am stronger, not him. Now, as I said once already, restrain him"

"Its okay, I'm a doctor, bwahahahahahahaha!" Tarantulas cackled wildly as his claws graced Primal's hide, the cables inches away from accessing his core processor as he pried open the side of his helmet to gain access.

Arachnitron also knew, as Tarantulas did, that the Maximals were head strong and tenacious. They held strong to their beliefs....they didn't back down....especially Optimus. But she worried that if she did too much more speaking out of turn, Tarantulas would continue to think the chip was deteriorating and ask that she leave. While she disliked having to torture the Maximal, she did not want to disappoint Tarantulas...she wanted to help him any way she could. She did as she was told and held Optimus still while Tarantulas began securing some cables to his head and tried to open up the port on the side of Optimus' head. .

Suddenly, before Tarantulas could begin, Megatron walked back in. Arachnitron gasped and let go of Optimus quickly. She had never actually been given orders to guard the prisoner; in fact, she thought she was technically supposed to have remained in the bridge studying Starshadow's mech fluid sample...which was, of course, completely normal thanks to the fact that she switched the sample with her own mech fluid.

Arachnitron did her best to stay quiet and blend in with the other two spiders hoping to just stay off of Megatron's radar, so to speak.

"My word, what mischief have you been up to in my absence?" Megatron mused, stifling a laugh as his minions turned to face him.

"Primal has been uncooperative, so I decided to extract the information we require directly from his core processor" Tarantulas explained, annoyed by the interruption, angry he had missed his chance to access Primal's mind before Megatron.

"Is that so? I trust you intended to contact me first for permission? Yesss?" Megatron inquired smugly, knowing the spider had not and his timing had been perfect as usual.

"Of course Sir" was all Tarantulas could say in response as Megatron nodded and repeated "Of course. Did you learn anything at all of importance?"

"Primal was apparently ignorant of the Golden Disks theft, in regards to both the culprit's identity and their current whereabouts. No access for Sentinel yet either" Tarantulas admitted, hating to list his own failures, knowing he would have had the info he wanted for himself and enough to pacify the tyrant if he hadn't returned so soon.

"Unfortunate, but perhaps an unexpected visit from one of his friends shall loosen Primal's lips, hhmm?" Megatron said with wicked triumph as he revealed what he had been hiding behind his back, Zodiac, or rather, Aurora, to the optics of everyone else present in the room.

Arachnitron was confused to see Aurora revealed to the room as the newest Maximal prisoner. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the other...perhaps he was locked up in a cell somewhere. Now that Aurora had appeared, the older Maximal, Nexus Prime, didn't quite matter as much. Aurora was a much better bargaining chip. She remembered Terrorsaur discussing prisoners with Quickstrike....perhaps she was one of the prisoners he had brought with him?

"You.. monsters! What did you do to him?," she demanded, voice sounding quite desperate.

Arachnitron grinned, but stifled a reply. After her encounter with the young Maximal in the cargo hold just before Optimus untimely, but temporary death, she disliked the little fuzor. Now that Aurora was present, things changed. Her anger towards the Maximals returned and her apprehension to partake in the torture dissapated.

"Please... Please don't... harm her..." Optimus coughed in a strained but soft voice as he looked on to Megatron, pleadingly. "I'll... I'll co-operate... as long as... no harm comes... to her."

Arachnitron looked on silently. She was half jealous of Megatron and half jealous of Aurora. She had never had anyone so devoted to her to be so moved by the prospect that she might be in danger. The look on Optimus face spoke volumes as to how much he cared for the little ermine/butterfly. His expression morphed from defiance to desperation faster than one of Arachnitron's mood swings.

But on the other hand, Arachnitron was horribly disgusted that Megatron was able to do what she failed at pulling off. He had gotten Optimus to agree to turn over the codes to Sentinel...something she had never known given the fact that she was never allowed to roam the Maximal base alone. They thought they were being so discreet about it, but she knew they were watching her every move the entire time she was part of their crew. She hated the thought of failing in a task Tarantulas had appointed her.

But as she stood watching all of this take place, she reminded herself about one thing Arachnitron had that Megatron didn't....Starshadow's actual mech flud sample. She had successfully secured it for Tarantulas. Hopefully that would make up for her being unable to acquire the codes to sentinel or the location of the missing golden disks.

"Enjoying the show my dears?"

"Of course," she replied grinning. She enjoyed watching Aurora experiencing this pain and fear after looking down on Arachnitron for the way she reacted to pain and fear. Perhaps she would now learn how quickly it can change someone and how devasting it can be.

"Well Primal, how about you show me your sincerity by giving me the access codes to Sentinel? As well as any files or portions of your ship's systems which may not be under Sentinel's influence, hmm? A fair trade for the continued well being of this precious ball of fluff wouldn't you say? Yesssss"

Arachnitron impatiently waited for Optimus' response....