"More Than Meets The Eye: Part III"

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"At ease, soldier," "It's me, old friend.." "You're safe, I will make sure of it."

"No one is safe," Optimus emphasized when he looked at Nexus again to correct him. Contrary to the Admiral's attempt to keep the situation calm for the Commander's obvious distraught state, Primal remained on edge, walking on egg shells and desperately trying to keep himself together. Well, mentally anyway seeing as a lot of his armor and paint had already fallen off during his less than satisfactory stay at the Darksyde.

"You know I would never hurt you. But I need you to trust me now. We have to finish the scan.. "

This was his teacher, though. The biggest role model in his life, his mentor, and his greatest admiration and inspiration. Of course he could trust Nexus Prime. He cleared the scan earlier. "Just a moment," he told him. Whitegrazer obviously had something important to say or report, so Optimus left the scanner paused and gave his attention back to her.

She was clearly out of sorts. Tears staining her cheeks, fear-struck optics. He followed her gaze down to her hands when she opened them with her palms facing up and noticed the self-inflicted wounds she gave herself just by clenching them as tightly as she had.

"Forgive me, Optimus."

There was nothing to forgive. When she closed her eyes, Primal very gently wiped some of her tears away with his thumbs before cupping her hands in his, holding them carefully and frowning sorrowfully at her.

"I believe we should have everyone leave the hangar bay immediately."

He shook his head in disagreement. "Just in case Ironclaw wasn't the shapeshifter, I'm not going to risk him slipping away by moving everyone out of this room before we're finished with this scan." He slowly lowered his hands from her's.

"Are you not feeling well, Whitegrazer? You look like you need medical attention, perhaps it would be wise if you had Rhinox look you over,"

"I'm fine."

Optimus looked curiously between them, patiently waiting for the mare to continue.

"I believe the scanner is wrong. Ironclaw isn't the shapeshifter nor do I believe the shapeshifter is down there." "Ironclaw is too easy a target. He has a problem with authority,I know, especially authority that clashes with his views no doubt forged inside him by horrific experiences of cruelty. I believe him to be misguided, reckless, and even too trigger-happy to point worse than Rattrap towards Predacons, but no matter how I disagree with Ironclaw, I know that he only wishes for our preservation, not our destruction. Survival in it's most pragmatic terms."

Whitegrazer's first sentence intrigued Primal the most out of her entire statement since he was already fully aware of the rest of Ironclaw's description. But how could she be so certain that the shapeshifter wasn't down there? Where else would he be?

"While I was talking to Umbra, he was about to tell me the identity of the shapeshifter when Sentinel shot out the wall beside him, crushing him."

"Umbra knows who he is?!" Optimus suddenly became excited, looking down at the Predacon from the room above who had rolled himself up on the floor. How would he know? How was he so certain? He was working for the Predacons after all, he could just be lying to save his own skin. He might say anything to obtain the antidote for the hallucinogen if that's what he was truly after.

"Sentinel has never acted this aggressive before, Optimus. Sentinel will do its best to protect us and the base, but most of it's tactics are defensive. Offensive tactics are only programmed for the most extreme and dire circumstances. Also, I find it convenient that when Umbra was going to speak the name, he was suddenly sneak attacked."

At first, he wasn't sure what her point was about Sentinel, unaware of what had transpired with Umbra and Landslide, but then the last thing she explained seemed to wrap it up, and he put it together. "You're saying Sentinel is to blame for excessively attacking Umbra before he was about to reveal who the shapeshifter is. As if the shapeshifter has control over Sentinel..." Well, if that was the case, then all of the fuss Rattrap had been making over Sentinel being buggy was more validated now and should be taken seriously after all. You fool, he told himself with disappointment, his facial expression morphing into a more disgruntled appearance.

"Where I'm going with this is that I believe Sentinel has been tampered with, and if it has been tampered with, then Ironclaw would be the least likely candidate of such an act. He is a soldier. True, soldiers are taught basic skills in technical areas, but we are no experts. Especially in tampering or creating new complex actions in a mere minutes." "The shapeshifter has proved to be cunning so far. He wouldn't place himself in a situation he would be vulnerable, and he wouldn't run. Ironclaw was scared, panicky. I saw it in his optics, Optimus. The shapeshifter doesn't get scared or panic. He would fight."

Would he? The Maximal leader didn't know anything about this mysterious guy except he was intelligent and planned ahead. Did any of them really know anything about him? He shook his head in frustration. The only part Optimus was more accepting of was the look she explained that she saw in Ironclaw's optics. If it was authentic fear, then perhaps he really was innocent. But since he ran off, they couldn't question him. Why did he run? It wasn't like Optimus would have ordered them to open fire on him. He just didn't understand.

"He isn't there, Optimus," "But he is here. He would have planned for such an act like this, and he would make sure he was far away as possible, but not too far to not manipulative how the events unfold. He probably planned this even before he came here. That's just my speculation, though, but from what my vision showed me, it may be true. And if what I said is to be true, then what I have figured out now would make sense and troubles me deeply."

Here...? His brows furrowed and his gaze slowly drifted away from her's. Her visions were usually quite accurate, and whatever she had seen must have been absolutely terrifying. Why wouldn't she just tell him what she saw? As far away as possible but not too far... Was Whitegrazer giving him hints? Was Nexus Prime's presence causing her to avoid saying too much?

"You are being set up."

For a moment, his orange optics locked with Whitegrazer's as she stared into his before they thoughtfully fell. What if... No. He couldn't even consider it. However... Primal recalled Rattrap, Whitegrazer and Aurora witnessing Nexus speaking with Night Terror and Dirge when they first arrived, and Nexus not being around when the shapeshifter was pretending to be "Aurora" at the Darksyde, or when the shapeshifter was playing Optimus himself and gained access to the Axalon's brig in order to give Sonar the hallucinogen, and every time Nexus refused to use a repair chamber, and how Nemesis was framed to look like she had been fraternizing with the Maximals. Some wheels and cogs were turning in his mind but... Could there even be the slightest possibility? No... No, not when it came to Ironclaw attacking Nexus in the CR chamber earlier. ...Unless that had been manipulated as well. Primus. Whoever the shapeshifter was obviously had intimate details on their files and could imitate all of them to a tee. Which also meant whoever he was pretending to be now ever since he arrived was putting on a pretty good and convincing show. Control over Sentinel, essential and limitless data on every Maximal there, none of this happening until Nexus showed up... He shook his aching head, confused and refusing to accept that Nexus had anything to do with this. He couldn't. There had to be another explanation, someone else who was infiltrating them.

"I have to finish the scan and make sure no stone is left unturned. I have to be certain," the Commander said and then reached over to the button, but hesitated to press it. He didn't understand what Whitegrazer was so afraid of. If the shapeshifter wasn't down there, then why not continue the scan? What harm would it do? What if the shapeshifter was hiding in there somewhere? The scanner would flush him out. Then again, if he could manipulate the computer, what was the point of continuing it? Growing terribly frustrated now, his whole body still pounding and aching, his legs wobbly and his breathing stabbing himself, Optimus slammed the palm of his hand on the button and reactivated the scanning.

"Go ahead and run, you pathetic coward!,"

The rat and rhino looked at each other, sighing at Nemesis' remark.

"For once I agree with you, rodent. We should be going after him."

"Yeah, unless dat's exactly what he wants us ta do and it turns out to be a trap. I ain't no match for dat guy unless we got a plan," Rattrap confessed. Zodiac was turning out to be incredibly dangerous and unpredictable, after all.

Ah, no. With sentinel under Zodiac's control, the CR chamber is a death trap at the moment.

"It literally kills me ta say it, but the squid is right, Big Green. I bet even though Optimus secured Blackarachnia in one of the other CR's, anything can still happen ta her, and she could escape. Ain't nothin' secured around here, and ain't nobody safe. Not until we shut down Sentinel," Rattrap said.

The autoguns already attacked me earlier.

Clearly they didn't win that engagement..

"See? We got a whole pile o' problems because of dis Zodiac jerk."

Rhinox gave a few nods, agreeing with the Predacon, Landslide and his smaller, TransMetal friend.

As for proving your friend's innocence.. it's rather simple really. In the Maximal armory, you have spares and copies of all your weapons.. the one miss "Frilla" used, the Electro scrambler.. that is the key. Someone with nanomachines inside them has a much more violent and unusual reaction compared to a normal cybertronian.

"True. I did find out how useful a taser is on Nemesis. Seems the little nanobots don't get along with electrocution," Rattrap subtly smiled in Nem's direction.

"I get it," the engineer told them. "The only thing standing in our way right now is being released from the hangar. Optimus must not be certain yet who the shapeshifter is, despite Ironclaw's outburst, so it's safer for us to hang tight right now." His red optics curiously looked back up at the observatory room, wondering what was going on with Whitegrazer and the two higher ranking officers.

[Mystrea]

Droplets of mech fluid formed a trail to which led to a subdued soldier. He had made his way to the edge of a lake. Leaning over, he could see his reflection in the rippling water. The real me he thought to himself. All his resolve had been ripped away from him when the lie was forced on him. Ironclaw had never been trained for this, when your own kind turn on you. The evidence against him was solid, he had to admit that but he knew the truth. He also knew that it was partially because Optimus was now compromised. A sickness, a sickness in him and that corrupted his mind and would lead to his doom. Contemplation over the ape had left badger distracted to the distorted reflection in the water. His optics widened quickly followed by him swiping at the water with his clawed hand. He obscured the image before he could really see what it was. There was darkness in him.

Ironclaw stood up from his single knee position and looked out over the lake. He placed his hand against the cut on his lower chest. The leak had stopped, his internal systems had isolated the damaged area so that he could remain in combat for longer without bleeding out.



Mean while, in the depths the marine life swam around peacefully near a random formation of rocks. Then suddenly they al darted away as if something had disturbed them. The rocks started to move, all at the same time. This was no rock formation. The not so likely rocks shuffled in different directions to reveal an exoskeleton followed by two red lights which resembled eyes blinking and then finally his his large jaws jerked. The Hellgrammite lived! With new orders, he started the search as he swam through the lake with his large form

[starshadow]

"Good, someone both real and expendable to punish"

Starshadow hissed in rage at that, the blue glows on her body turned red as she charged up her arms with electricity. The image of Megatron slowly transformed into a certain Imperial Peace Marshal from way back her past.

"You should have stayed in your room kitten, I'm not in the mood to play with you, not gently at least"

The blast sent by the tyrant ruined her concentration to send a powerful bolt foe she quickly avoided the laser by going on her fours, dashing towards him to get a better shot. Her planned attack got delayed as the T-rex fired more lasers from his tail cannon and Tarantulas' cybervenom shots, forcing her to take cover behind the computers.

"I spare your life rather than flat out vaporize you on the spot for your transgressions and this is how you repay me Starshadow? So be it then, far be it for me to get between a suicidal fool and their coveted death wish"

Code: Select all

"SLAG YOU! SLAG YOU STRAIGHT TO THE PIT! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!"

"REPAY?! YOU SENT ME IN THAT LAB PRISON TO STAY WITH THAT BEAST, DEPTHCHARGE! YOU SPEAK OF JUSTICE YET YOU ALLOW THOSE CREEPS TORTURE YOUR ENEMIES LIKE THEY WERE RABID ANIMALS!" she roared in anger. It took a moment for her to settle down.

"No matter..." she drew out Mortem, charging it up, "Colony Omicron will not be the only thing that falls... Soon, Cybertron and rest of its colonies will soon be devastated by my swarm. You and all the rest of the Cybertronian will experience true fear first hand WITH ALL OF YOU BEING EATEN ALIVE AS I WATCH!" she stood up firing Mortem at Tarantulas and Megatron, laughing madly.


((OOC: I'll try to post Banshee ASAP. Really busy with school work.))

[DarkSpark]

OOC: I have no idea what Mortem does so I hope this post checks out XD

Starshadow wrote:
"REPAY?! YOU SENT ME IN THAT LAB PRISON TO STAY WITH THAT BEAST, DEPTHCHARGE! YOU SPEAK OF JUSTICE YET YOU ALLOW THOSE CREEPS TORTURE YOUR ENEMIES LIKE THEY WERE RABID ANIMALS!" she roared in anger. It took a moment for her to settle down.

"Making up imaginary friends to blame for your transgressions now? Pitiful, even Terrorsaur has never sunk that low, and honestly, I'm not in the mood for torture just now, but I can destroy you piece by piece instead of all at once if you rather!" Megatron shouted back, firing another volley of laser beam blasts.


"Depthcharge? Who the burning Pit is Depth...Oh forget it, just shut up and die you harridan! I don't have time to figure you out!" Tarantulas yelled, fueled by his rage as he fired more cyber venom shots in her direction.

Starshadow wrote: "No matter..." she drew out Mortem, charging it up, "Colony Omicron will not be the only thing that falls... Soon, Cybertron and rest of its colonies will soon be devastated by my swarm. You and all the rest of the Cybertronian will experience true fear first hand WITH ALL OF YOU BEING EATEN ALIVE AS I WATCH!" she stood up firing Mortem at Tarantulas and Megatron, laughing madly.

Colony Omicron? That colony had been dead for ages, this psycho was even more far gone than Megatron had been moments ago, she didn't even recognize any of them, that's how strong her delusions had taken hold of her....A fate that awaited him as well if he didn't cure the virus before its effects began to impair his judgement as it had everyone else it had touched.

"Swarm? Eaten alive? Fool, no one would stand with the likes of you, and for the record, I alone stand at the top of this planet's food chain!" Megatron snarled, activating his shoulder guns & adding to his already impressive firepower, explosive armor piercing shells joining his barrage of violet beam shots.


"I'll bleed you dry personally if there's enough left of your smoldering shell to scrape off the deck!" Tarantulas added as he fired his shoulder missiles in Starshadow's direction, his firepower and Megatron's engulfing her hiding place in smoke and flame.

In turn, Megatron used his own equipment as shields against Mortem's shots, while Tarantulas barely managed to take cover, even as two of his spider legs were shot clean off by Starshadow's attacks.

[Phoenix]

ooc: Joint post between Una and myself. Posting it a bit sooner than planned but I have a double shift at work tomorrow so I don't want to hold things up even more.



Nexus' optics lingered on Optimus as the Maximal-protegee-turned-commander seemed to withdraw from the admiral's grasp, his face unreadable. Of course he understood how traumatic the recent events Optimus had gone through must have been on the transmetal gorilla, even if he deep down believed that the ape deserved it and more. There would be consequences to the actions of the past, retribution for crimes committed against his kind.. against him. Very soon now.

Desperate bangs on the door and pleading voice begging..

The admiral's fists balled up just a little more tightly as Primal then proceeded to allow the pesky female inside, the same one who had gotten in his way before when he had been disguised as the fuzor. Obviously he would just have to get rid of her as quickly as he could, a feat that would hopefully not take long despite the desperation clearly visible on the female's face. Soft-hearted as the ape was, he decided to hear what she had to say. And Nexus merely stood back and listened at first, even though he already knew what she was here to accomplish. That near panicky look on her face, the little tremors in her eyes, the tears in her eyes all gave her away. Umbra had talked to her, that much the pretender was sure of. The question that remained, however, was how much she knew..


"Umbra, yes, he did give me a name." Whitegrazer smiled a bit when Optimus wiped some escaping tears from her cheeks, opening her optics to see Optimus holding her scratched hands with his new replacement hands, which were similarly to what he had lost. She was careful and gently as he held her hands. She wondered if it would be all right if she grazed her thumb against his. But her smile dropped gravely, slowly moving her optics upwards, seeing the damages hat still plagued him. She didn't need to know that he was still wounded, only standing through strength of will. She looked upon his optics, searching what she couldn't feel from the connection since he blocked her. As she spoke to him, she could tell that deep down he knew who she was implying. You know, don't you? You know who I'm talking about. But she knew it would take more convincing as he dropped her hands.

"You're saying Sentinel is to blame for excessively attacking Umbra before he was about to reveal who the shapeshifter is. As if the shapeshifter has control over Sentinel..."

"I have to finish the scan and make sure no stone is left unturned. I have to be certain,"

He hesitated to push the button. She take the opportunity to place her hand on the button. Not pressing it, but keeping Optimus from restarting it. "I understand, Optimus. That's what I am saying. If the shapeshifter has control over our security system, it may be unwise to continue. It means he has been watching, which would give credibility the fact that the shapeshifter might have been spying over the conversation between Umbra and I. " She stared at the viewscreen then looked down at Rhinox and Rattrap then back at Optimus. She needed more time.

"Optimus, I believe we should at least make sure Sentinel isn't being controlled by an enemy force. We can have Rhinox or Rattrap run a diagnostic on all key systems. If everything checks out then we can begin the scan again." And if Optimus agrees, she would have more time to talk with Optimus. Alone.

"Forgive me, Optimus."

Nexus waited, albeit a bit impatiently, for the female to get on with it. To say what she came her to say, so that he could dismiss it all as utter nonsense and persuade Optimus to send her on her way. Despite Primal's earlier small display of defiance, the pretender was confident that the Maximal leader didn't have it in him to go against his teacher's wishes.

"I believe we should have everyone leave the hangar bay immediately."

The shapeshifter drew a silent sigh at that statement, albeit he did find her warning curious given the urgency she gave this matter. Even if she suspected he was not who he claimed to be based on whatever Umbra may have told her, there was no way she could know about his true intentions behind the scan.. Yes, he was aware or at the very least highly suspected her of having some peculiar abilities but he was fairly certain they were limited to a strange mental connection to Optimus and perhaps some other empathic capabilities as well.

"We cannot endanger the lives of everyone just because some are growing impatient," the admiral countered with a snuff. "The scan will not take long and we can sort out any issues afterwards when we know for certain that there's no more surprises lurking among the troops." The last sentence was directed more towards Optimus than Whitegrazer.

"Just in case Ironclaw wasn't the shapeshifter, I'm not going to risk him slipping away by moving everyone out of this room before we're finished with this scan."

"I believe the scanner is wrong. Ironclaw isn't the shapeshifter nor do I believe the shapeshifter is down there."

Now she was finally starting to get to the point, peeking Nexus' interest yet again. Optimus, too, seemed keenly interested.

"While I was talking to Umbra, he was about to tell me the identity of the shapeshifter when Sentinel shot out the wall beside him, crushing him."

"Umbra knows who he is?!"

Nexus remained stoic as ever, hardly surprised by this turn of events.

"If I may remind everyone present that Umbra is in fact a Predacon and as such should not be trusted," Nexus calmly added.

He avoided using the term 'cannot', believing that Whitegrazer would no doubt argue that point with him. 'Should not' was a much more subjective term which seemed appropriate in the heated discussion this had the potential to lead into.

"Where I'm going with this is that I believe Sentinel has been tampered with, and if it has been tampered with, then Ironclaw would be the least likely candidate of such an act. He is a soldier. True, soldiers are taught basic skills in technical areas, but we are no experts. Especially in tampering or creating new complex actions in a mere minutes."

Now the female's assumptions were starting to get a little irritating. So they suspected Sentinel being under someone else's control..Well then, should they try to act on that suspicion he would just have to let Sentinel defend itself.

"Forgive me for asking, but isn't Sentinel's core programming to defend the Axalon from invading forces? I'll agree its methods might seem a bit excessive, but at the same time they were effective. The Predacon spies are in custody after all."

"The shapeshifter has proved to be cunning so far. He wouldn't place himself in a situation he would be vulnerable, and he wouldn't run. Ironclaw was scared, panicky. I saw it in his optics, Optimus. The shapeshifter doesn't get scared or panic. He would fight."

"You're saying Sentinel is to blame for excessively attacking Umbra before he was about to reveal who the shapeshifter is. As if the shapeshifter has control over Sentinel..."

Nexus shook his head briefly upon hearing Optimus repeat what she had just told them.. and add a few more pieces to the puzzle as well. He was definitely considering the possibility even if it seemed almost impossible. And Nexus had been careful about how he took over Sentinel, using a trojan horse program to do so rather than a more direct method which might have alerted them sooner.

"Very well. After we're done here, you should have Rattrap run diagnostics on Sentinel's systems. Just in case."


Of course there wouldn't be a Rattrap or anyone else besides Optimus and himself by the time the scan was over so that was all a moot point. But whatever it took to make Optimus hurry up and start the scan again.

Again Nexus' face revealed nothing as Whitegrazer went on to describe the shapeshifter's qualifications. She was right about most of them if not all but so what? Zodiac was all too keenly aware of his abilities and worth, which stretched way beyond anything any of the Maximals could possibly imagine. He had been designed as a new breed of transformers after all, superior in every way.

"He isn't there, Optimus, But he is here. He would have planned for such an act like this, and he would make sure he was far away as possible, but not too far to not manipulative how the events unfold. He probably planned this even before he came here. That's just my speculation, though, but from what my vision showed me, it may be true. And if what I said is to be true, then what I have figured out now would make sense and troubles me deeply."

Her choice of words intrigued him. More and more he believed she was trying to point the finger of blame at him.. Nexus.. Optimus' teacher and trusted friend. Now things were starting to get interesting..

"You are being set up."

"I have to finish the scan and make sure no stone is left unturned. I have to be certain,"

"I understand, Optimus. That's what I am saying. If the shapeshifter has control over our security system, it may be unwise to continue. It means he has been watching, which would give credibility the fact that the shapeshifter might have been spying over the conversation between Umbra and I. "

This female would never give up, would she?

"Optimus, I believe we should at least make sure Sentinel isn't being controlled by an enemy force. We can have Rhinox or Rattrap run a diagnostic on all key systems. If everything checks out then we can begin the scan again."

"I fail to see what you're so fearful of," Nexus responded, not overly concerned about the prospect of the Maximals suspecting Sentinel of foul play. They would be long gone way before they found any proof of such, after all. "The scanner is harmless. Several of the Maximals, myself included, have already been scanned without any issues. It will only take a short while to finish the rest of them and then we can run those diagnostics."

Tempting as it was to turn the accusation around and claim Whitegrazer was a likely candidate given her sudden conviction that performing the scan to find the culprit was a bad idea, he managed to refrain from doing so. Instead he placed his faith in Optimus' undying loyalty to his teacher and his eagerness to protect his Maximals at any cost, a decision that turned out to be the right one quickly enough. Optimus returned to the button, and albeit a bit unsure for a few nanoclicks, he still hit the button with his hand and restarted the machinery running the scanner.


"It's not fear nor impatience, Nexus. If the scanner's point is to fish out the shapeshifter and if you believe the shapeshifter is Ironclaw, then continuing the scan is unnecessary." She disagreed with Nexus' argument. Why continue the scan if Ironclaw was believed to be the shapeshifter? It's clear everyone were unsure. "We should send a couple of people to help Ironclaw. Return him here and recheck him. If he checks out, which I believe he would, then we may continue the scan. If not, then we caught him and there is no use to scan everyone now. We only have a few people left to scan. "

The scanner was inching it's way closer and closer to the end of the hangar bay. She didn't have much time left. She needed to make her words count, "I believe Umbra. He may be a Predacon, but the Predacons have no more loyalty towards the shapeshifter. He betrayed them when Night Terror infected Megatron and the rest of them. They might have been after him as well. They came here for the cure, Optimus. They were desperate and dying. Why not give him up if it could save them?" She stared at the button. Her spark was beating rapidly. She closed her optics and breathed in and out. She must remain calm. She mustn't let the shapeshifter take advantage of such a weakness, "I believe the shapeshifter suspected that as well. It's beginning to become clear that the shapeshifter has some personal agenda. Something more than what Megatron and the Predacons at the Darksyde hoped to achieve. But I believe he wasn't worried about it. For one, he would deduced that we may not listen to them, for what they put us all through for the last days."

"Sentinel was clearly hunting Umbra and Blackarachnia down specifically. The only reason they were alive was due to our intervention. If we hadn't, I have no doubt in my mind that Sentinel would have exterminated them. I wonder still, though. If he has Sentinel, why hasn't he used it to target any of us? Unless... he had something else planned."

She pointed to the viewscreen implying the scan then gazed at Optimus softly, "We can't allow emotions to cloud our reasoning. I know it is difficult. So much has happened, but we will get through this. Just like always. Together."

"It's not fear nor impatience, Nexus. If the scanner's point is to fish out the shapeshifter and if you believe the shapeshifter is Ironclaw, then continuing the scan is unnecessary."

Albeit he managed to maintain a calm exterior for the most part, in his head he mainly wanted to scream out his frustrations at this female. "You are failing to grasp the severity of this situation, Whitegrazer," the admiral insisted after a brief pause, "We have no reason to suspect that Ironclaw was working alone on this matter, so we have to finish the scan to make sure." There was no hiding the fact that the admiral felt little admiration for the Maximal badger who had gained quite a bit of infamy for his attitude and anger problems.

"We should send a couple of people to help Ironclaw. Return him here and recheck him. If he checks out, which I believe he would, then we may continue the scan. If not, then we caught him and there is no use to scan everyone now. We only have a few people left to scan. "

The admiral was renowned for his patience with his troops and his double had done everything in his power to capture that same essence that made up the unique components of the admiral's personality. Still he was truly getting fed up with the constant delays and with the mare's endless chatter. She needed to leave soon or he would end up saying or doing something uncharacteristic of Nexus Prime.

"Did you not hear what I just said?," the admiral suddenly snapped at the female before catching himself. "The fact that only a few remain is exactly why we should finish this now rather than later. Now stop interfering and let us do what needs to be done."

Fortunately Optimus was listening and within moments the faint humming of the scanner resuming could be heard. Not that it prevented the white mare from continuing, much to the shapeshifter's dismay.

"I believe Umbra. He may be a Predacon, but the Predacons have no more loyalty towards the shapeshifter. He betrayed them when Night Terror infected Megatron and the rest of them. They might have been after him as well. They came here for the cure, Optimus. They were desperate and dying. Why not give him up if it could save them?"

Well.. The Predacons had certainly been quick to assume that he had been behind their little viral infestation. While there may have been some truth to it since he had provided Night Terror with the virus, he had actually not specified to his lieutenant when to release it.. It was more of a backup in case things got out of hand, which they did when Night Terror made the call. But calling Zodiac out as a traitor to the Predacons may be taking it a bit far since he'd never considered himself a Predacon in the first place.

An army upon yourself.. Those were the words Megatron had used to describe him, and he could not have been more correct. Now that the Predacons were suffering from the ailment, he certainly didn't pity them. But unlike the situation with the Maximals he did not really desire their destruction either. Some fatalities were acceptable, of course, but when the madness had consumed them.. when they were left vulnerable with no will left of their own.. he planned to use the survivors to further his own goals.

"I believe the shapeshifter suspected that as well. It's beginning to become clear that the shapeshifter has some personal agenda. Something more than what Megatron and the Predacons at the Darksyde hoped to achieve. But I believe he wasn't worried about it. For one, he would deduced that we may not listen to them, for what they put us all through for the last days."

Not an unreasonable deduction, the pretender thought to himself as the female continued. A never ending stream of nonsense pouring out of her mouth as it started becoming abundantly clear that she was stalling. She needed to go.

"Sentinel was clearly hunting Umbra and Blackarachnia down specifically. The only reason they were alive was due to our intervention. If we hadn't, I have no doubt in my mind that Sentinel would have exterminated them. I wonder still, though. If he has Sentinel, why hasn't he used it to target any of us? Unless... he had something else planned."

The answer to her inquiry was simpler than the mare probably realized.. Indeed he had the power to order Sentinel to hunt down each and every one of them, but what good would that do? The instant he ordered Sentinel to attack one of the Maximals, the others would realize what was up and would scatter. Powerful as the Sentinel system was, it still wasn't able to hunt them all down without risking being shut down in the process. No, their end would have to be swifter than so.. Unexpected and fast enough that they couldn't escape. And horrific enough that Optimus would break down after realizing what had happened. That, too, wouldn't be possible if he had simply used Sentinel against them.

"Well, your theories are certainly entertaining and it will be interesting to hear about them in greater detail soon..," Nexus began saying as he took a step closer to the female, "But I do think it's time you joined your friends below so we can finish this."

She didn't move from her spot. Instead her hand pointed at the view screen showing the Maximals and a pair of Predacons below. They were all starting to get fairly uneasy down there, the hold-up further proof that not everything was as it seemed.

"We can't allow emotions to cloud our reasoning. I know it is difficult. So much has happened, but we will get through this. Just like always. Together."

Such heroic nonsense.. and ultimately so futile. Nexus had closed the gap between them by now and he was not wasting any more time. If this female wouldn't leave willingly, he would just have to throw her out. In a few nanoclicks the scanner would reach the pod in the corner, igniting the bomb within.

The admiral reached out his hand with surprising speed, wrapping strong fingers around the white mare's arm and tugging roughly at it to pull her away towards the exit.

[starshadow]

"Making up imaginary friends to blame for your transgressions now? Pitiful, even Terrorsaur has never sunk that low, and honestly, I'm not in the mood for torture just now, but I can destroy you piece by piece instead of all at once if you rather!"

"Depthcharge? Who the burning Pit is Depth...Oh forget it, just shut up and die you harridan! I don't have time to figure you out!"

"Swarm? Eaten alive? Fool, no one would stand with the likes of you, and for the record, I alone stand at the top of this planet's food chain!"

Starshadow took cover again, hissing at the tyrant or rather chief security officer and the spider. Once Megatron started firing his shoulder guns, the computers exploded, sending her to the direction of the lava pits with large shrapnels flying through her. The shockwave almost knocked her unconcious, her vision distorted and glitching out. Starshadow quickly slammed her claws on the metal flooring as she skid causing loud piercing screeches. Unfortunately, one of Tarantulas missiles got through the explosion and exploded infront of her, sending her further away to the edge, causing her to fall. Fortunately, she grabbed hold of it. The extra shockwave dulled her vision even more, leaving the catbot groaning in agony, her systems showing signs of giving out from the intense fight. Will she survive or let her resting place be in the fiery pits of heat and doom?

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

Banshee sighed as Ironclaw ran off. Results showed that he was the shapeshifter. Her large ears perked up as her fellow Maximals started making their points with Sentinel.

"I believe the scanner is wrong. Ironclaw isn't the shapeshifter nor do I believe the shapeshifter is down there. Ironclaw is too easy a target. He has a problem with authority,I know, especially authority that clashes with his views no doubt forged inside him by horrific experiences of cruelty. I believe him to be misguided, reckless, and even too trigger-happy to point worse than Rattrap towards Predacons, but no matter how I disagree with Ironclaw, I know that he only wishes for our preservation, not our destruction. Survival in it's most pragmatic terms. While I was talking to Umbra, he was about to tell me the identity of the shapeshifter when Sentinel shot out the wall beside him, crushing him. Sentinel has never acted this aggressive before, Optimus. Sentinel will do its best to protect us and the base, but most of it's tactics are defensive. Offensive tactics are only programmed for the most extreme and dire circumstances. Also, I find it convenient that when Umbra was going to speak the name, he was suddenly sneak attacked. Where I'm going with this is that I believe Sentinel has been tampered with, and if it has been tampered with, then Ironclaw would be the least likely candidate of such an act. He is a soldier. True, soldiers are taught basic skills in technical areas, but we are no experts. Especially in tampering or creating new complex actions in a mere minutes.The shapeshifter has proved to be cunning so far. He wouldn't place himself in a situation he would be vulnerable, and he wouldn't run. Ironclaw was scared, panicky. I saw it in his optics, Optimus. The shapeshifter doesn't get scared or panic. He would fight."

She was not sure about Sentinel's programming but it sounded logical. that Ironclaw would be the perfect target to frame since he was not that cunning to come up with a complex plan.

"But he is here. He would have planned for such an act like this, and he would make sure he was far away as possible, but not too far to not manipulative how the events unfold. He probably planned this even before he came here. That's just my speculation, though, but from what my vision showed me, it may be true. And if what I said is to be true, then what I have figured out now would make sense and troubles me deeply. You are being set up."

The autoguns already attacked me earlier.

Now THAT was weird for a defense system to attack those it should protect. Nexus' behavior was getting really suspicious towards the bat femme. As Nexus grabbed Whitegrazer's arm, tugging her away, Banshee decided it was time to take the risk of breaking the military rules and flew up to the deck where Nexus and Optimus are, unfolding an armblade, pointing it on his neck with a murderous pastel yellow glare in her eyes, "Let. Her. Go. Before I break your face. She proved her point, it sounded logical, let her SPEAK. Don't give up on proving a bot innocent without trying all methods, Admiral Nexus SIR," she threatened him, not taking anymore nonsense that has happened today.

[una]

((OOC: I forgot she was a bat. My apologies.))

"You are failing to grasp the severity of this situation, Whitegrazer," the admiral insisted after a brief pause, "We have no reason to suspect that Ironclaw was working alone on this matter, so we have to finish the scan to make sure."

"I believe you are mistaken, Nexus. The shapeshifter's minions that we are aware of is Night Terror and Dirge.They are not here. And the Predacons down below, like I said earlier, have no loyalty to him." Whitegrazer glanced at the scanner, "The shapeshifter is alone."

"Did you not hear what I just said?," the admiral suddenly snapped at the female before catching himself. "The fact that only a few remain is exactly why we should finish this now rather than later. Now stop interfering and let us do what needs to be done."

Whitegrazer watched how the admiral snapped. He was losing his cool for a second. His true self was slipping through. "You really are adamant on finishing the scan, which I can't comprehend. It's unnecessary, Nexus. As the last remaining few, we know they aren't working with the shapeshifter nor are the shapeshifter himself. So if Ironclaw is your suspect, then it did it's job. We stop, find, and talk with Ironclaw. Make sure we aren't being deceived once more. I believe it is a reasonable request."

"Well, your theories are certainly entertaining and it will be interesting to hear about them in greater detail soon..," Nexus began saying as he took a step closer to the female, "But I do think it's time you joined your friends below so we can finish this."

Nexus grabbed her arm. Little bugs maneuvered around a frame. Nexus was pushing her to the exit, but with her experiences of using her horse beast mode, pressing her feet to the ground to halt and keep her steady, she pressed her feet, not bulging, "I feel them." But these nanomachines... felt different. Small critters with spiky legs crawled. There were no hollow screams, but an understanding. Still like water. Shifting. Ever shifting... a color, a placement of different circuits. Cutting and repairing. Gashes created then healed once more. Each moved straight, with a purpose. Delicate. Articulate. Nemesis's didn't feel like that. They were chaotic. Agonizing. Despite the fact Nemesis had find ways to cope with the pain, just like she had hers, it didn't change the feel. Wait a minute... she felt them before.

"I remember. We went to find Optimus and Nemesis was there." It was the time they were walking back from investigating Night Terror and Dirge's ship arrival. "At first, I thought... I was just feeling hers. But hers aren't as in control or methodical." She stared at Nexus, "They were your nanomachines." Her arm circuits hardened to the admiral's touch, keeping him from moving it, "You are Zodiac... You're the shapeshifter."

"Let. Her. Go. Before I break your face. She proved her point, it sounded logical, let her SPEAK. Don't give up on proving a bot innocent without trying all methods, Admiral Nexus SIR,"

She gazed at Banshee, at Optimus then at the viewscreen. The scanner... It was getting closer! "Optimus, listen to me. We need to turn off the scanner. You must trust me. Please." If Optimus didn't turn it off now, she would have no choice but to do it herself! "Our friends are all in danger, Optimus."

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"Umbra, yes, he did give me a name."

Who? WHO?! Primal demanded in his mind, but Whitegrazer didn't say. Why? He was beginning to suspect it was the other occupant in the room with them but it couldn't be. Not him. Not the one bot who had the biggest influence in his life.

"If I may remind everyone present that Umbra is in fact a Predacon and as such should not be trusted,"

"While we don't know him personally very well, Umbra is neither Predacon nor Maximal. He is whatever he needs to be to make a deal so both parties get what they want," Primal said somberly without looking at the Admiral. "At least, that is what I have come to understand. We have just as much reason not to trust him as we do to trust him." Umbra's position was like a paradox. And every word Primal's mouth formed stretched and pulled on the gash across his lips, but the pain merely numbed it by now.

"I understand, Optimus. That's what I am saying. If the shapeshifter has control over our security system, it may be unwise to continue. It means he has been watching, which would give credibility the fact that the shapeshifter might have been spying over the conversation between Umbra and I." "Optimus, I believe we should at least make sure Sentinel isn't being controlled by an enemy force. We can have Rhinox or Rattrap run a diagnostic on all key systems. If everything checks out then we can begin the scan again."

The Commander's optics slowly, thoughtfully, fell to the floor as he listened. It would be wiser for them to gain control over Sentinel again now rather than later, if they could. And Optimus was normally the more cautious type, so why deviate from who he was? Because it was predictable, and if the shape shifter knew every detail of them, then he would anticipate his caution. Right? Or would he play the reverse psychology card? A bot could go crazy thinking about this.

"We cannot endanger the lives of everyone just because some are growing impatient," "The scan will not take long and we can sort out any issues afterwards when we know for certain that there's no more surprises lurking among the troops."

Nexus was becoming more and more adamant about finishing the scan than Optimus felt was necessary. Instinct was beginning to kick in with Primal, both beast and spark. As a gorilla, the silverback form he had chosen prior to his TransMetal upgrade was the perfect choice as a powerful and protective leader to his troop, his Maximals. And with that animal DNA came a greater intuition than his spark alone beheld. Grave danger was afoot, and it was emanating from the one Cybertronian he trusted the most throughout his entire academy career. He was just having a very difficult time accepting it. However, the longer it would take him to do so, the more likely that he was going to lose even more friends and that was unacceptable.

"Forgive me for asking, but isn't Sentinel's core programming to defend the Axalon from invading forces? I'll agree its methods might seem a bit excessive, but at the same time they were effective. The Predacon spies are in custody after all."

"One of them is in custody because of me since Sentinel failed to do its job," Optimus corrected his teacher, glancing at him with a firm stance as if to say that no one should mess with him right now. His orange optics lowered through the window to the Predacon octopus below before adding, "And, although effective, it clearly acted too aggressively on Umbra than it's programmed to handle intruders." More and more now the Maximal leader was leaning toward Whitegrazer's persuasion instead of the Admiral's. "Rattrap should be able to re-trace the data tracks to see if who or what has been tampering with it."

"I fail to see what you're so fearful of," "The scanner is harmless. Several of the Maximals, myself included, have already been scanned without any issues. It will only take a short while to finish the rest of them and then we can run those diagnostics."

But what if the results were being tampered with? Including Nexus Prime's? The Admiral seemed so determined to disregard or ignore that vital point that had been made earlier since they were already aware of Sentinel being compromised just to get this scanning done. But what would keep scanning matter if the data could be manipulated?

"It's not fear nor impatience, Nexus. If the scanner's point is to fish out the shapeshifter and if you believe the shapeshifter is Ironclaw, then continuing the scan is unnecessary." "We should send a couple of people to help Ironclaw. Return him here and recheck him. If he checks out, which I believe he would, then we may continue the scan. If not, then we caught him and there is no use to scan everyone now. We only have a few people left to scan." "I believe Umbra. He may be a Predacon, but the Predacons have no more loyalty towards the shapeshifter. He betrayed them when Night Terror infected Megatron and the rest of them. They might have been after him as well. They came here for the cure, Optimus. They were desperate and dying. Why not give him up if it could save them?"

"It would have looked a lot better on their part had they simply rang our doorbell, without hostility, and asked politely for the cure instead of breaking in, infiltrating our base of operations, and trying to steal it, injuring my Maximals in the process and bringing chaos in their wake," Optimus said with some anger, his gaze unwavering to Whitegrazer's. A part of him wanted to let the Predacons suffer, to make the war easier for the Maximals if they just let the contagious hallucinogen destroy them from the inside out. But that was very a dangerous, selfish side of Optimus that was being distorted by the torture Megatron had put him through just hours earlier. He couldn't let that hatred and rage consume him because not all of those Predacons were like Megatron, and so not all of them deserved to be terminated by such a chaotic sickness that the mind involuntarily absorbed. The right thing to do would be to give them the antidote, this he knew. And just like Rhinox had already suggested, Nemesis would be the best candidate to deliver it.

"I believe the shapeshifter suspected that as well. It's beginning to become clear that the shapeshifter has some personal agenda. Something more than what Megatron and the Predacons at the Darksyde hoped to achieve. But I believe he wasn't worried about it. For one, he would deduced that we may not listen to them, for what they put us all through for the last days." "Sentinel was clearly hunting Umbra and Blackarachnia down specifically. The only reason they were alive was due to our intervention. If we hadn't, I have no doubt in my mind that Sentinel would have exterminated them. I wonder still, though. If he has Sentinel, why hasn't he used it to target any of us? Unless... he had something else planned." "We can't allow emotions to cloud our reasoning. I know it is difficult. So much has happened, but we will get through this. Just like always. Together."

Whitegrazer's last words began to sooth Optimus ever so slightly. She told him that he wasn't alone in this madness. His cold optics softened a little bit. Still, Primal couldn't help but be emotional. He was severely wounded, and probably shouldn't have taken up the leadership role again so soon, not while he was still physically falling apart. But he was determined to get this done, to solve this mystery, so he and his comrades could finally relax in peace.

"You are failing to grasp the severity of this situation, Whitegrazer," "We have no reason to suspect that Ironclaw was working alone on this matter, so we have to finish the scan to make sure."

Optimus kept his gaze on Nexus, studying his body language and listening to his voice. He appeared to be growing impatient and agitated with Whitegrazer while she seemed to be deliberately pushing his buttons. His mentor might have had a point, however. What if Ironclaw wasn't working alone? Then again, what if Ironclaw wasn't the shapeshifter? They were already aware that Sentinel was compromised, and that any data in their computer system could be manipulated. With Whitegrazer having more knowledge about the shapeshifter, acquiring most of it from someone who wasn't a threat at that point and hadn't been manipulated or controlled by someone else, he was going to trust her more than he was going to trust the Admiral. By the end of his teacher's comments, Optimus disliked the way Nexus was beginning to treat to Whitegrazer. If he truly was trying to hide something, then his behavior toward the white equine was beginning to make sense.

"I believe you are mistaken, Nexus. The shapeshifter's minions that we are aware of is Night Terror and Dirge.They are not here. And the Predacons down below, like I said earlier, have no loyalty to him." "The shapeshifter is alone."

Primal's attention shifted from Whitegrazer to Nexus, waiting for his reaction since he seemed to have an answer for every objection she was making. He was taken aback by the information himself since he had obviously fallen behind on the details because of his injuries and unconsciousness.

"Did you not hear what I just said?," "The fact that only a few remain is exactly why we should finish this now rather than later. Now stop interfering and let us do what needs to be done."

"You really are adamant on finishing the scan, which I can't comprehend. It's unnecessary, Nexus. As the last remaining few, we know they aren't working with the shapeshifter nor are the shapeshifter himself. So if Ironclaw is your suspect, then it did it's job. We stop, find, and talk with Ironclaw. Make sure we aren't being deceived once more. I believe it is a reasonable request."

Paranoia was slipping in. What if this really wasn't Nexus Prime? But how could anyone pull off such a convincing replica of someone? Besides the clone of Dinobot Megatron once created. Of course, it couldn't transform so that had been a dead giveaway when the truth came out. Still, Optimus just couldn't fathom that this wasn't the real Nexus before him after everything they had been through together back on Cybertron and now here on Earth. But he was agreeing now with Whitegrazer that the scan wasn't necessary to keep running.

"Well, your theories are certainly entertaining and it will be interesting to hear about them in greater detail soon..," "But I do think it's time you joined your friends below so we can finish this."

"I feel them."

Primal let out a soft growl when he witnessed Nexus grab Whitegrazer by the arm and try escorting her out. It faded to silence when she spoke in some sort of surprise. And suddenly, everything stood still. Feel what? he wondered, his eyes on their connection.

"Let. Her. Go. Before I break your face. She proved her point, it sounded logical, let her SPEAK. Don't give up on proving a bot innocent without trying all methods, Admiral Nexus SIR,"

"Banshee, stand down!" Optimus ordered her, holding out his hand, not wanting things to escalate any further when she whipped out her blade, threatening Nexus. If he really was the shapeshifter, they had no idea what he was capable of.

"I remember. We went to find Optimus and Nemesis was there." "At first, I thought... I was just feeling hers. But hers aren't as in control or methodical." "They were your nanomachines." "You are Zodiac... You're the shapeshifter."

"Nexus, release her." Primal slowly reached for his gun that was mounted on his hip, but he only rested his hand on it rather than wielding it which would inevitably add more undeniable hostility to circumstances. He wanted to wait for Nexus's reaction, after all, he still had doubts. That is, until he heard that name again; Zodiac. Zodiac... His tired, aching mind frantically searched for any information he had on that name but it had been buried pretty deep and only appeared vague to him at the moment. A shapeshifter called Zodiac...

"Optimus, listen to me. We need to turn off the scanner. You must trust me. Please." "Our friends are all in danger, Optimus."

His optics glued to Nexus, he didn't look at Whitegrazer but he heard her and heeded her words that were full of concern and suggested immediate action. While Optimus kept his hand on his gun, he used his other hand to hit the button that deactivated the scanner once more.

Below, in the rest of the hangar, Rattrap had called after the bat when she suddenly hurried off up to the observatory room. "Banshee, get back here!" His words went ignored and he shook his head. "You know, fer a psychiatrist, she's pretty crazy. And quick ta result ta violence," he said to those around him.

Rhinox agreed, although he was tempted to follow her up there and see what was going on, but he stayed put with the others and remained calm. Then, the scanner was turned off again before it reached all of the large room. Then engineer glanced at Landslide, Rattrap, Umbra, Nemesis and Aurora.

"I say we bail and work on Sentinel," Rattrap told Rhinox.

"Not yet," he disagreed, keeping his grasp on the flask in his hand while he watched the room closely above them.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Nexus Prime is 11 feet tall. Banshee is 7. Just putting it out there.)

"Rattrap should be able to re-trace the data tracks to see if who or what has been tampering with it."

Well.. The pretender wasn't going to make that easy for them. With any luck Rattrap and the others would be little more than molten sludge before long but just in case Nexus made sure to notify Sentinel not to allow anyone else access to the network. He was way too close to allow any more delays.

"I believe you are mistaken, Nexus. The shapeshifter's minions that we are aware of is Night Terror and Dirge.They are not here. And the Predacons down below, like I said earlier, have no loyalty to him." Whitegrazer glanced at the scanner, "The shapeshifter is alone."

Nexus snuffed at her assumption, his grip around her arm tightening to the point of being quite painful. "For someone who is supposedly clear minded, you certainly come across as a bit naive," he snapped back, no longer bothering to hide his growing irritation with the female. "How do you know there's only one? That is a fairly dangerous assumption to make." He glanced down at the others down below, his stare lingering on Nemesis a little longer than the others. He did, however, catch a glimpse of the so called psychiatrist who had thus far proved to be anything but.

Just great..

"You really are adamant on finishing the scan, which I can't comprehend. It's unnecessary, Nexus. As the last remaining few, we know they aren't working with the shapeshifter nor are the shapeshifter himself. So if Ironclaw is your suspect, then it did it's job. We stop, find, and talk with Ironclaw. Make sure we aren't being deceived once more. I believe it is a reasonable request."

The male came so very close to simply smacking the stubborn female and then picking her up before literally tossing her out of the room. In fact he more than likely would have done so had the female bat not barged in and immediately started accusing him.

"Let. Her. Go. Before I break your face. She proved her point, it sounded logical, let her SPEAK. Don't give up on proving a bot innocent without trying all methods, Admiral Nexus SIR,"

Nexus groaned at that, getting so fed up with the stupidity of these Maximals. His optics turned colder as he turned his gaze on the new female, his voice bordering exasperation as he addressed her. "That is the second time you aim your weapons at me. Not a very wise decision indeed."

His shoulder mounted twin cannons popped up and into place while he spoke, his targeting systems immediately sensing the threat below and moving the cannons to aim at the base of the armblade where it attached to the bat's arm. He did not wait, did not threaten. He simply fired both cannons at his target simultaneously. At this close range there was bound to be some damage to her arm, but she should feel grateful that he was merciful enough to let her live.. At least for another few nanoclicks. With the immediate threat now gone, the admiral simply used his free arm to smack the annoying cretin out of his way before turning his attention back to the other nuisance.

Tugging harder on Whitegrazer's arm, he finally noticed the curious look on her face. She was staring at him, so intently that it actually made him feel a little uncomfortable. But what she was about to say would make that sensation a lot worse.

"I feel them."

For that brief moment Nexus stopped in his tracks, his senses all of a sudden on high alert even if he didn't know exactly what she was talking about. His optics darted from the female mare to Optimus, then back again. Whatever she was talking about, it was giving him a sinking feeling. Like..

"I remember. We went to find Optimus and Nemesis was there. At first, I thought... I was just feeling hers. But hers aren't as in control or methodical."

.. He'd been found out. The nanomachines.. She could see them somehow, or at the very least feel them. But how?! On the outside he looked like an exact duplicate of Nexus Prime, down to the fine scars in the armor witnessing of Nexus' long military career. He had not been injured recently so he couldn't accidentally have revealed his secret through healing. Still.. somehow.. she knew they were there, a part of him that nobody had seen since the scientists finished implementing the technology within him.

His optics widened ever so slightly in surprise, his mouth opening a bit as he attempted to find the words to stop her from continuing. He failed.

"They were your nanomachines." Her arm circuits hardened to the admiral's touch, keeping him from moving it, "You are Zodiac... You're the shapeshifter."

Even though he was already sure by that point, it still came as something as a shock to hear this female speak his name.. A name he did not reveal very often. After all his job consisted of being someone else so any time someone used his name now it felt foreign to him.. a bit surreal. Especially coming from the mouth of this female.

So his secret was out. His cover blown. That wasn't something that happened very often.. if ever. And it left him without any immediate contingency plan. If Optimus listened to her, that is.

"Optimus, listen to me. We need to turn off the scanner. You must trust me. Please."

"Nexus, release her."

"Optimus.. Don't listen to this insanity," Nexus started, again locking optics with Optimus. He watched as Optimus' hand drifted to his weapon while his other hand pushed the button to turn the scanner off again. The machine immediately responded, the faint humming of the scanner stopping just short of reaching the corner that hosted the pod. Nexus slowly shook his head sadly, wondering how his great plan had come to such an abrupt halt within a few moments. Optimus was staring at him still.

Eyes are the most revealing part of your body, more so than any body language. The shapeshifter had been trained to look for those small cues in someone's body language, some way to tell what they were really thinking. Words alone meant so very little as they could so easily be used to manipulate a situation. He would know. Over the years he'd grown to be quite the expert in that field. Still.. It wasn't his highly convincing disguises or even intricate planning that went into his schemes that made him so dangerous. More so than that was his ability to read the reactions of others and play on them accordingly.

It was Optimus' eyes that gave it away. The normally warm, caring and vibrant optics now looked cold and distant.. The shapeshifter could see the doubt his his optics fading, replaced by determination, frustration, brewing anger.

"Optimus.."

He had lost him.

He.. had.. lost.. him!

The rage and hatred he had kept subdued for so long suddenly flared up, flooding his mind. His optics flashed as he whirled on the female he was still holding, an angry sneer now having replaced his normally calm and stoic demeanor. He had lost control, his primal instincts were now controlling his every action. And all he saw before him was the enemy, the one who had taken his victory away, the one that had destroyed his plans to use Optimus to kill off the Maximals!

In pure rage he grabbed her throat, squeezing it so tightly he could feel the armor bending under the force applied to it. He lifted her up by the throat, her feet dangling off the ground, as he brought his other fist hard into her upper abdomen. A sharp pair of spikes seemed to be growing out of his forearm as he slammed his fist into her gut, the spikes continuing to grow as they pierced through her armor, shredding it quite easily, before continuing on through her circuits. Due to the angle of his arm the spikes curved upwards into her chest, ripping apart and destroying her innermost mechanisms as they continued forcing their way through her until protruding through her backside. Once he had impaled her all the way through, the claws retracted as suddenly as they had appeared, allowing Whitegrazer to fall to the ground.

Aurora sighed of relief as the humming noise from the machine hovering threateningly over their heads fell silent once more and she turned her head to face Rattrap and Rhinox, a bright smile on her face. "Whitegrazer did it, she got through to Optimus!," the little fuzor exclaimed. Nemesis stood behind her with her arms crossed as she watched the Maximals gang up on Nexus through her vantage point. That female bat had joined in as well and took a more direct approach when she put her sword at the admiral's neck. Of course it didn't take Nexus long to deal with that situation. Still Nemesis wished she could hear what they were saying up there, curiosity starting to get the better of her.

And then, suddenly, Nexus attacked Whitegrazer. Aurora had turned around just in time to see it go down, and in horror she shouted out Whitegrazer's name before rushing up the stairs towards the room.

[NaitoKage]

Umbra observed as Banshee went for Nexus in response to grabbing Whitegrazer, he then looked towards Rhinox and Rattrap as they spoke.

"You know, fer a psychiatrist, she's pretty crazy. And quick ta result ta violence,""I say we bail and work on Sentinel,"

"Not yet,"

You might not get the chance.. Umbra then said, watching as Banshee was blasted away from Nexus.

Landslide drew his heavy shield from his back, then looked up watching Nexus as he then grabbed Whitegrazer, lifting and impaling her. The large beetle's optics narrowed, he'd already been annoyed, now he was just furious. He didn't care if Nexus was the shapeshifter or not at this point. As he was about to move, he saw Aurora rush by. His optics widened, reaching his arm out, but he'd never be able to catch her. Aurora no! he shouted, then saw a sudden rush move ahead of him. I'm on it!

Cheetor rushed towards Aurora as fast as he could, grabbing Aurora and pulling her back from the stairs No! It's too dangerous! Cheetor said to her, while he'd normally be the reckless type... Whitegrazer was able to take on Megatron by herself in the past, and now just got one shotted by this guy? They couldn't risk losing Aurora too.

Umbra looked towards the stairway, then looked towards Banshee Looks like I'll be doing my thing.. as he was, he couldn't directly fight Zodiac. He'd have to get into cover and strike when he didn't expect it, but for now at the least he could get Banshee to safety. His body deflated from the ball like shape, then released a jet of air as he sweeped across the floor towards Banshee, moving over her and grabbing her with his suction cups, then curved his body as he altered his direction, sweeping across the floor dragging Banshee behind some cargo containers.

Releasing and sliding off her, Umbra looked at Banshee and spoke up How are you holding up, miss?

[una]

"While we don't know him personally very well, Umbra is neither Predacon nor Maximal. He is whatever he needs to be to make a deal so both parties get what they want," Primal said somberly without looking at the Admiral. "At least, that is what I have come to understand. We have just as much reason not to trust him as we do to trust him."

"For someone who is supposedly clear minded, you certainly come across as a bit naive," he snapped back, no longer bothering to hide his growing irritation with the female. "How do you know there's only one? That is a fairly dangerous assumption to make."

Maybe... Maybe she was naive. Or maybe she wanted to give others a chance. Maybe she had faith in her comrades and Predacons down below. That together they would defeat this shapeshifter who threatens both sides, a being whose motives were still unknown to them.Only thing she knew was that the shapeshifter was going to kill all the Maxiimals and the few Predacons down below and seemed to have something against Optimus. Or did he?

"One of them is in custody because of me since Sentinel failed to do its job," Optimus corrected his teacher, glancing at him with a firm stance as if to say that no one should mess with him right now. His orange optics lowered through the window to the Predacon octopus below before adding, "And, although effective, it clearly acted too aggressively on Umbra than it's programmed to handle intruders." More and more now the Maximal leader was leaning toward Whitegrazer's persuasion instead of the Admiral's. "Rattrap should be able to re-trace the data tracks to see if who or what has been tampering with it."

"It would have looked a lot better on their part had they simply rang our doorbell, without hostility, and asked politely for the cure instead of breaking in, infiltrating our base of operations, and trying to steal it, injuring my Maximals in the process and bringing chaos in their wake,"

True, but she expected this from Predacons, especially when they were in no mood and dying. Like she had said, they were desperate and weakened. And Predacons never asked. Well, most of the Predacons. Asking was a sign of weakness to them unlike Maximals, who believed it is strength to ask when one needs help. They should have expected this and planned ahead. Maybe the Predacons wouldn't have caused such destruction, but it seemed it wouldn't make a difference.

Nexus, release her."

She saw how Nexus' whole body language seem to change, especially after what she said out loud. He didn't expect her to see them, did he? Good thing she kept what happened between Nemesis and her a secret. Well, not a secret per say. just omitted the fact. It seemed like something she should at least keep to herself. For various reasons, but this was a reason she never thought would surface. The idea of someone like Nemesis coming into this war with the same yet advanced nanotech. Some part of her wanted to tell Zodiac his fatal error in not killing her when he had the chance. Instead he shot Aurora who he used to hurt not just her, but Optimus himself. She had promised to be a nuisance and make sure the shapeshifter realize the mistake he made.

Optimus began to see what she was trying to tell him. Still, some part of her was saddened about how this shapeshifter pretended to Optimus' friend and mentor, using his face to gather Optimus' confidence and loyalty for a means to destroy everyone and everything he held dear to him. Especially what he already been through for the past two days. She could feel his pain. She saw it. She could feel the conflicting emotions of Optimus trying to understand and reason from his heightened emotions of frustration and aggression towards those who hurt him. But in the end, he was seeing through the lies, seeing what she saw and now, the objective the shapeshifter wished to achieved was now a colossal failure.

She watched with a great relief when Optimus turned off the scanner. She closed her optics, thanking Optimus through their connection... when she made an error.

Nex-Zodiac grabbed her throat, staring back at her with a burning rage, contempt, and murderous intent. She felt the power of this bot, feeling his hand crushing through the armor. She tried to use her defensive tactics, trying to force his arm or wrist to release her. Then tried to force the hand to release her throat, but then he punched her abdomen. She didn't expect the spikes that stabbed through her chest. Her optics widened, face flinching in pain, facing upward. Spikes continued to cut through her body. Her computer screen went red, alerting damage in several areas. Close to her spark's area. Both energon and mechfluid were dripping down her body, spitting on the floor she once stood on. Someone shouted her name. It sounded like... like Aurora. Despite the pain, she still tried to fight. One hand still trying to get his throat away from her, and the other trying to get the spiky forearm out of her body, fighting desperately for her release. Her strength weakened and weakened... until her arms dropped to the side.

Zodiac dropped her.

She fell like a ragdoll upon the ever-increasing puddle of her own fluid. Her optics still open but slowly getting dimmer by the minute.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"For someone who is supposedly clear minded, you certainly come across as a bit naive," "How do you know there's only one? That is a fairly dangerous assumption to make."

Primal's optics were narrowing and zeroing in on the alleged Nexus Prime, very much disliking the way he was speaking to Whitegrazer, not to mention his anger and frustration was getting out of character at this point, further convincing Optimus that this really was Zodiac and not the legendary Admiral he had been lead to believe.

"That is the second time you aim your weapons at me. Not a very wise decision indeed."

And now he was speaking threateningly toward Banshee. Primal's hand cautiously wrapped around his gun's handle, ready to detach it from his hip and defend himself and his Maximals. His only hesitation was caused by shock when the fake Admiral suddenly activated his cannons and fired at the female bat. "Banshee!" he cried out. Optimus then wielded his weapon and targeted the impostor, furious at the turn of events, and especially angry at himself for letting it happen.

"Optimus.. Don't listen to this insanity," "Optimus.."

"You... You actually expect me to continue listening to you?" Optimus said with great disbelief. This couldn't be happening. Not to them. Not to him. Nexus arriving here was supposed to be a way out of this war for the Maximals, a savior of sorts, assistance with knowledge from a veteran of war, and an advantage. But just like that, it was stripped away from Primal. All of it had been a lie and false hope. Things were worse now than they had been before this fraud showed up. The Commander felt dizzy, his mind frantically searching for a way out of this and a way to cope. His head pounded and he felt weak in his knees. Ironclaw had been right. Everyone else was right. They saw past his seemingly flawless disguise. He had been the only one blinded by it for this long. He struggled to remain focused, and spoke without taking his optics and aim off of Zodiac.

"Cheetor, search for Ironclaw... Bring him back here." The gorilla's voice was apologetic and full of worry as he spoke through the intercom. ((OOC: I'm uncertain if their comm. links are still jammed, so I'm taking this route to make it easier. And I'm not sure how soon, if at all, that you may find Ironclaw; I guess that's really up to Mystrea. Since he still hasn't figured out his vehicle mode, he likely hasn't gotten too far, and a flier like Cheetor would have an advantage.))

"Landslide, Aurora, keep an eye on Umbra and Nemesis, unless they decide to leave." Not much of an order, but he didn't want the Predacons thinking they could just do what they wanted in the midst of all the chaos around there, not that he was expecting them to take advantage of it. And it would help keep the two Maximals around in case he needed them soon for something else. He didn't want to leave himself and a couple of the others vulnerable around this shapeshifter without some backup.

"Rattrap, start working on Sentinel. Either gain back control or deactivate it," he told him.

"Rhinox, give Nemesis what we can spare of the antidote for the hallucinogen so she can take it to the Predacons."

Then he came back to the situation that was playing out before him. "You made me believe... everything. You played me for a fool..." It was all taken away. He felt like he couldn't breathe. But matters were only going to get worse. As the fake Zodiac swiftly wrapped his fingers tightly around Whitegrazer's neck and lifted her off of the floor, his own aim was blocked by her body being between the two commanding officers. He didn't have a shot! No... No, no, no! And then everything stopped. In sheer horror, his gaze was drawn to some of the spikes that had suddenly pierced all the way through the mare's body, droplets of her energon and mechanical fluid dripping from the razor sharp tips, running down her body and spilling on to the floor below her. Optimus could only assume that the needles originated from Zodiac somehow; he couldn't see exactly what he did while he faced Whitegrazer's backside. And then he dropped her, limp and suffering on the cold floor. As outraged as he was, he fought back the tears. He tried breathing. It hurt. His spark hurt. His stomach sank and he felt constricted. He vaguely heard someone shout her name as he fell to his knees on the floor in her growing puddle of her own fluids and held Whitegrazer's upper body in his arms while she bled on him. For a brief moment, everything fell silent to him, as if he went deaf. He held the mare close to his own damaged body, looking frantically down into her optics that were gradually losing their illumination. His mouth opened to speak, but there was no sound that escaped.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!" came a deafening roar from Optimus that shook the windows, stretching his mouth wide open and making the gash on his lips bleed again. His connection with Whitegrazer exploded like an atom bomb, feeling the anguish she was experiencing from the multiple stab wounds, and involuntarily absorbing some of the pain for her. Parts of his compressed armor around his chest from the energy bonds were actually pushed outward from the amount of force and pressure that he expelled within his body. He couldn't take it anymore. All the pain, the grief, the torture, and now the harm that came to Banshee and Whitegrazer. He blamed himself for being blindsided so easily and allowing this to happen. SLAGGING FOOL! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! he bellowed at himself. Gently laying Whitegrazer back on the floor, he grabbed his gun again and stood up on his weak legs. "What have you done... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He started firing his gun nonstop, targeting the fake Admiral's head, shoulders, and upper torso, screaming while doing so. His orange optics were ablaze of fire and primal rage.

You might not get the chance..

"Whitegrazer did it, she got through to Optimus!,"

Aurora no!

I'm on it! No! It's too dangerous!

"Rhinox, give Nemesis what we can spare of the antidote for the hallucinogen so she can take it to the Predacons."

Handing Nemesis the flask of the antidote, finding it to be the least important issue right now, Rhinox gasped at the commotion in the room above and ran after Aurora up the stairs. Of course, she was much quicker than he was, but while Cheetor managed to intervene and stop her from going further into the fray, the engineer squeezed passed them and went all the way up, drawing one of his chain guns and watching Umbra assisting them by helping Banshee. He was grateful and gave a nod to the octopus before he made his way toward Whitegrazer in the observatory room. There was relentless gunfire coming from Optimus, so he crouched down and reached for one of the mare's arms with his free hand and tried dragging her out of the room, out of harm's way. She was critically injured, her "blood" smeared across the floor from him pulling her along. He guessed that Zodiac's secret was out and he really was the shapeshifter after all. He couldn't imagine how all of this was making Optimus feel. He had clearly been pushed to the edge, and Rhinox had never seen his friend so full of fury and violence, so lost and probably feeling hopeless possibly for the very first time for as long as he had known the optimistic leader.

"Rattrap, start working on Sentinel. Either gain back control or deactivate it,"

Rattrap, watching and listening to everything unfold, was taken aback by it all. I KNEW it! he told himself once learning about Zodiac being Nexus and the fake Admiral wounding his comrades up there. He drew his gun, ready to join Rhinox, but what Optimus asked him to do was more important. He didn't want to leave them in such a dire situation when Zodiac was probably more powerful than all of them at that moment because some were injured, but he reluctantly followed his orders and darted out of the hangar through the gaping hole in the door that Ironclaw had escaped through. He could hear Primal's roar down the corridor, and tried not thinking of the worst. Was he dead? ...Again? No, he can't be. Gotta keep goin'. I gotta fix Sentinel, thought the rat as he jogged onward down the quiet, messy, damaged halls and toward the command center, carrying his gun in his hand in case Sentinel made any attacks on him with any autoguns that were left functioning. And what about Ban Ban and 'Grazer? Were they okay? It was actually pretty terrifying what was happening to all of the Maximals right now. Worse than what the Predacons were also going through? Eh... that was a toss up. He wasn't even worried about Nemesis and Umbra right now. Zodiac was their primary target and their worse threat, for all of them.

[starshadow]

"That is the second time you aim your weapons at me. Not a very wise decision indeed."

Banshee was losing her patience. Instead of releasing Whitegrazer, he started firing on her arm, forcing it to swing backwards. "GAH!" she yelled in pain.

He is the one! The one that was responsible for the virus! The female bat was about to quickly turn towards him for a sonic blast but was smacked away, crashing on the wall with a bang.

"Banshee!"

She heard him and was relieved that Optimus could see his Nex- no, Zodiac's true colors. Optimus' sudden outburst of rage from what was done to Whitegrazer made her worried about him. If Zodiac manages to take advantage of it, there's no telling what sort of destruction would come out of it.

"Whitegrazer.." she held her arm tightly as sparks were emitted out of her joints. Banshee looked at Umbra while being dragged out of the area and placed behind some containers. Normally most predacons are not that nice to do such a thing for their own kind. Maybe he is one of the minority like herself.

How are you holding up, miss?

"I'm fine..Had it worse than this," she slowly stood up and clenched her teeth from the pain on her arm, "I have to get back in there..Will you cover me?"

[Phoenix]

"Landslide, Aurora, keep an eye on Umbra and Nemesis, unless they decide to leave."

One thing that always puzzled Aurora was just how quickly a situation could change. Mere moments before it had looked like everything was going to work out, that the Maximals would prevail against the intruder and all would be well again. But then that all changed within the pulse of a spark and now Whitegrazer and Banshee were injured.. or worse. There was simply no way Aurora intended to comply with Optimus' order, not after seeing the white mare collapse in a heap on the floor. She had waited a few seconds to see if she would get up again but there was nothing.. No movement.

Aurora no!

The ermine fuzor ignored Landslide's warning, determined to make it up the stairs to Whitegrazer.. In her mind the scene that had just unfolded kept repeating itself, the white mare collapsing onto the floor again and again. Truthfully Aurora feared what would meet her up there but she wasn't about to sit back and simply wait for the news, not a chance! Unfortunately the stairs were long for someone of her small stature and sadly her wings had not been designed to fly, only glide on currents of wind.

From the room above she could hear Optimus cry out, an almost feral roar that sent chills down her spine, making her fear the worst. Still she didn't slow, even as she heard footsteps behind her.

Cheetor suddenly rushed by her, stopping her in her tracks. He blocked her from going further.

No! It's too dangerous!

"Get out of my way!," Aurora insisted, desperately trying to squeeze by the cheetah. "Please! I need to get to her, I have to see her!" Cheetor wouldn't budge. Behind her Rhinox had now caught up with them and forced his way by them on the relatively narrow stairway. When she attempted to follow the rhinoceros, Cheetor merely blocked her again.

Her green optics narrowing in growing frustration and desperation, Aurora then pulled out her taser and held it up near Cheetor. Nobody was going to keep her away, not this time!

"Let.. me.. go..," she then told him, her voice lower and sounding more dangerous than usual, "Please don't make me use this.." The taser was not a lethal weapon but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt quite a bit if she used it on him. She really didn't want to use it, but she simply had to get to Whitegrazer. She couldn't care less about the danger right now, all she wanted was to make sure the other female was okay. Frantic despair could bring out the worst in any of them.

Nemesis watched as the Maximals rushed up the stairs, all but Rattrap that is, and clutched onto the cure they had just provided her with. Finally.., she thought to herself as she secured the vial that would assure her safe return to the Predacons. Part of her wanted to simply leave, to quickly depart this place and let the Maximals deal with Zodiac. Still another part wanted to know how this would play out. Zodiac could have quite the vicious nature, especially if cornered. She'd know. After all she had been bred to be part of the same program as him. But whereas one had escaped the torture, the other one remained. What, exactly, they had done to him she didn't know. She knew he had disappeared for a length of time only to resurface a changed bot in many ways. He never spoke much of what he'd been going through but if the rumors were true he had been sighted working for the Maximals for a little while. She doubted it had been willingly if there was any truth to those rumors.

She had watched as the white mare fell, struck down by an invisible weapon. Well.. that much wasn't unexpected, really, as Zodiac had the ability to turn himself into a weapon should he so desire. Part of her envied him. She was meant to have that kind of power too, if she had just had the strength to complete the program. She didn't.

The scientists.. They didn't just torture their subjects during their experiments. Amidst the physical torment during the application of the new technology they also assured that their subjects were brainwashed as well. Complete loyalty and devotion was a must since the few subjects that survived the ordeal were granted power beyond imagination. It was for this reason that Nemesis was sure that Zodiac was not acting alone, that somebody had sent him here. Of course he had his own goals in mind as well, but someone else was most certainly involved in the overall mission.

Nemesis turned to leave, only stopping to look back as she was about to squeeze out between the partially closed hangar doors. Whitegrazer had still not moved and now Optimus' scream echoed through the hangar. Then the gun fire started.

"You made me believe... everything. You played me for a fool..."

Zodiac still in Nexus' form snorted at that. "You are a fool..," the shapeshifter corrected him, "I merely took advantage of the weak link in the chain."

There were no regrets, no sign of a conscience setting in. And why would there be? In Zodiac's opinion Optimus was as guilty as the rest of them and they all deserved what they were getting. Well.. since his secret was out and Optimus had ordered his troops to shut down Sentinel, there were no reason to keep sneaking around. For that reason the pretender didn't bother hiding it when he gave Sentinel its next order.

"Sentinel.. Activate self-defense protocols. Destroy anyone that leave the hangar. In fact extend that order to include all the Maximals."

"Acknowledged."


The automated defense system wasted no time and immediately started deploying drones after Rattrap as well as sending some down to the hangar bay. Upon hearing them coming down the track, Nemesis immediately closed the doors as to hold them off for a little while. The doors wouldn't last long against their combined firepower, she knew that, but hopefully they could at least be slowed down long enough for the others to deal with Zodiac.

The admiral stepped away from the bleeding form on the floor, a passing look of disgust on his face as he eyed his handiwork. Death was almost always so messy and this female's mech fluid had already tainted his armor. This female had been a pain in his side for a while now and even now, barely clinging to life, she annoyed him. He was going to enjoy watching her die.

Optimus' reaction was as desperate as he had expected it to be. The Maximal commander immediately rushed to the female's side, lifting her up gently in his arms to comfort her. It was sickening to watch. Still the fake Nexus didn't remain in that spot. Instead he almost casually moved over to the control panel where the scanner button was now unprotected. Obviously Optimus was not going to finish the job, so he would just have to do it for him. It may not give him the same sense of satisfaction but the end results would be the same nevertheless. Besides records could be falsified.

He reached out his hand towards the button..

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!"

Optimus' sudden and violent outburst was not the reaction the shapeshifter had expected. Primal had always been a sentimental fool, one that treasured the lives of his Maximals higher than his own, so Zodiac had mistakenly assumed the leader would be too far gone with shock and grief to even register anything else. He was proven wrong when a steady and relentless stream of shots came speeding towards him. The first bullet strafed his head so quickly that he barely even had time to register it before the next one embedded into his shoulder. His face grimacing from the pain, the admiral took a staggering step back as more shots found their target. Both arms went down to the console, using it to support himself while his nanomachines started repairing the damage in rapid succession. Another shot bounced off his chest but not without leaving a nasty dent in the armor, yet another went into his abdomen, another barely missing his optic and only did so because he twisted away at the last second.

"What have you done... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Primal was screaming at him as he kept pummeling him with shots. Fortunately his nanomachines were capable of repairing the damage almost instantly, that all-too-familiar glow appearing in each damaged area and within moments the wounds had been healed. They worked swiftly, relentlessly, to repair the damage. Still the numerous grunts, whimpers, and ever-changing pained facial expressions made it obvious that the treatment was hurting him.. even though he was able to heal up almost instantly.

Not one to stand for the abuse to himself, Nexus' shoulder cannons responded by targeting Primal's still damaged form and firing a number of shots back at him. As he fired, his aim a little off due to the many shots that had hit him in the chest region, he staggered forward a bit.. Just enough to reach the button. This time he didn't wait, did not hesitate, instead he slammed his hand down on the button that activated the scanner again.

[una]

Whitegrazer... Whitegrazer... You're dying. Again.

What am I going to do with you?

Optimus.... He's... ummm... not doing so good.

Whitegrazer? Hello! Say something.

Pain...

Yes, I know you are in pain, but...

No. Pain.

Her optics were dimming, but she could see partially still. She saw Zodiac's face. Strong arms were holding her for a time. Optimus looked at her. She saw his face. Pain. Horror. Did she really looked that bad? Oh dear. Something loud... a scream piercing not only her dull auditory sensors but her soul. Zodiac was being blasted by Optimus. No... She had to get up. She had to. But she couldn't move. She must try harder! That scream... the shots thrown at Zodiac.

Rhinox was dragging her away from the chaos. Banshee grabbing her hand. She tried to speak. All that came out was a horrible cough and more loss of mechfluid. She felt like she was dying. Everything hurt. She looked at Rhinox, trying to get his attention, "R-R-Rhinox."

Her arm limply made its way to Rhinox's forearm, "Help him." It hurt to talk. Some fluid was leaking out of her mouth, mainly because of the pain, but she had to tell. She had to. She coughed. It was a hoarse whirring noise. "Needs...you. Needs a friend right now. Nemesis, too.... if she wants to. If she hasn't left yet..." Nemesis was either watching how all this played out or was already on her way to the Predacons to cure them and be among them once more. She really wished Nemesis would have stayed, but she understood her reasons for wanting out.

"But you have to..." She coughed harder and started wheezing, "I don't want him to... do... something. Don't want...energon on his hands. Not now. Not like this. Even if the shapeshifter may deserve it."

Her hand dropped. She was still conscious. She should have known better. Because of her letting down her guard, she was too injured to be any use to her comrades who were still in danger. The scene remained her of the time Nemesis exploded a hole in her chest plate after giving her a chance to leave the area. Nemesis answered in injuring not only her but Arachnitron. Zodiac, though, didn't expose her heart and soul. He gutted her like a fish and left her to die a slow, painfully death. Still, she held no ill towards Nemesis. Nor did she with Zodiac. No hatred. No angry. Only wanted the violence and slaughter to end. The madness to end.

But she wasn't going to die here. Not like this.

Maybe you should die here. Why live? The war is going to get worse.

No, I will not let him win nor will I do that to Optimus and my friends. Why would you even suggest that?

But is that really all?

What do you mean?

You said it yourself once. I won't die until my purpose is complete. How would you know if you completed your purpose or not?

I will know.

Interesting.

She turned her head. She head Zodiac ordering Sentinel. Oh no... She heard some explosions outside the observatory deck. Sentinel must be firing at her friends down below.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia woke up with major aches all over her body, and a huge headache. Her mind flashed with the last several moments where Optimus shot her up. She relived that memory over and over while dealing with gruesome and horrific mind numbing flashes due to her connection to Tarantulas. It may be smaller now that she was far away, but she couldn't shake the feelings, the images, and that disgusting spider hovering over her with his slave, giggling at her misery. She lived for the day where she could skin them alive! She didn't know who she hated more, but it didn't matter! No one gets in her way. No one would EVER lay a finger on her again!

She banged against the chamber, "Hello?! Repairs done! Let me out!" She knew they wouldn't let her out. They all seemed preoccupied and busy. She heard mumbled shouts, a huge roar shoke the halls, and gunfire. Ooooo! Excitement! And she was stuck here!

"Yo! If anyone can hear me, can I help or maybe join in?" She made a mischievous face, flickering her optics like some innocent girl.