"Excellent, perfect timing, bring our guest inside and meet me in the lab, most of the riff raff won't be hear to meddle in his revival. Megatron out"
Nemesis had been hoping Megatron would send someone outside to assist her with maneuvering the much larger Decepticon into the base, but it would appear Megatron had little concern for such trivial problems. She sighed briefly after Megatron had cut their connection, pondering the predicament for a few nanoclicks before she decided to use a few hoverboards linked together to do the job. The Decepticon was, after all, about three times her height and considerably heavier than her, so moving him in such small quarters wasn't going to be easy.
After fetching the hoverboards, she attached them to each other before placing a metal ramp from the end of the two nearest the Decepticon. She then used what little power was left on the tracking device Megatron had handed her to jump start the thrusters once more, if only a few brief jolts. Just enough to allow the Decepticon to slide, if not so gracefully, up the short ramp. When he was on the hoverboards, she could easily enough move inside with the giant fallen warrior in tow. She brought him straight to the lab where Megatron was waiting, not feeling like explaining anything to the other Predacons should she encounter any. And the longer she waited, the higher the chance some would arrive.
"Your device is going to need a recharge," she told Megatron as she brought her oversized companion inside the lab,
"But it served its intended purposes well."
Aurora stared in disbelief as Landslide continued his struggles with the large and odd looking Predacon, only to be seemingly swallowed whole when the freakishly big and now very much so scary attacker suddenly seemed to change his armor and engulf the smaller beetle. She let out a slight shriek as she watched the scenario unfold, unsure if they would ever see Landslide again. She watched in horror as the scaled creature coiled himself around Landslide, threatening to crush him, then Landslide's rather muffled voice appeared. She couldn't quite make out what he was saying, as she was standing further away than Optimus and Landslide's voice was cut off a bit by his foe trying to squeeze the life out of him.
Then the scaly creature suddenly made a noise as well just as it started to uncoil itself from around Landslide. In the process it flung Landslide a considerable distance away.
"Aurora, after him!"
Optimus didn't have to tell her twice. Aurora took off in the direction Landslide had disappeared in, running as quickly as she could.
Zodiac's grip on Whitegrazer's neck only strengthened as she struggled against it, making some feeble attempts at forcing him to release her. He was prepared for her counters, knowing enough about her close combat skills from his time as Nexus and also from her file that he had looked through while in control of Sentinel. She wasn't a threat, not against his greater physical advantage, not without any leverage on her side. Her struggling only caused him to grasp more tightly around her neck, almost choking her in the process. And he probably would have, too, had he not wanted her to remain conscious. He wanted her to experience, truly experience, the suffering he was capable of causing her. The painful death that she deserved for continuing to disrupt his plans and speaking up against him any chance she got.
When her elbow slammed against his arm, he resisted the movement. He was so intent to finish what he had started, nothing else really mattered right now. With any luck his original target, Optimus, would come barging through that gaping hole in the wall and witness his beloved torn to pieces by the nanomachines. He even went so far that he held the machines back a bit, as to prolong her suffering. Piece by piece they cut through her armor, leaving an ever growing gaping opening in her chest and neck region. The shine from her spark soon on display for the world to admire, for him to see before he extinguished it forever.
"N-no. Don't. S--S--Stop."
Her voice sounded gurgled, as if she was drowning. The shapeshifter paid it no heed. He had no intention of taking pity on her, no desire to stop. If anything her pleading voice fueled his desire to continue.
The female's eyes suddenly took on a white color, a bit puzzling to the shapeshifter and he involuntarily slowed down the process a bit still as he studied the changing emotions on her face. He had honestly expected the only emotions she would show by now to be fear and pain, but there was something more.. something hidden behind those white eyes.
It wasn't you, was it? You didn't do that, do you?
The voice startled him a bit, especially since her mouth wasn't moving. She also sounded stronger than she had mere moments ago, certainly not like she was dying. He tilted his head a bit in confusion, only to realize that the voice he was hearing was not coming from the physical body in front of him.
Just as unexpectedly, her struggling resumed.
No. No. Stop. Stop it, Zodiac.
He heard her again, louder this time, as if screaming at him. Yet she wasn't speaking, her throat now a gaping wound once he moved his hand a bit. For the first time his grip on her faltered, her voice repeating in his mind.. again and again.. louder each time.
The sound of gunfire caused him to look up. He was on the ground, covered in dirt. Slain comrades surrounded him on the battlefield, their mech fluid pooling around him. Someone was approaching. He couldn't see them, but he could hear their footsteps getting closer. They demanded that he got up, poking his backside with their weapons as they did. He did as they demanded, standing up quite steadily despite the damage he had received. One of the soldiers slammed the blunt portion of their rifle against his neck, forcing him back down again.
They laughed. Mocked him. Taunted him. He could feel his hands clench into fists, his anger rising. He attacked them, taking them down with his bare hands before they could even understand what had happened.
The memory faded. In its place another, more frightening scenario took its place. He was strapped down to a table, scientists working on him. They looked puzzled, as if they were not sure what to make of the person in front of them. Oddly he didn't recognize these scientists, they weren't the ones he had gotten to know so well.
"She is waking up," one of them said, his voice fading quickly into a background of the war zone again.
She..
He looked at his hands, only to realize they were white in color and much more feminine than his.. Unless, of course, he was in a female disguise. But somehow it didn't feel like it, in fact he couldn't even sense his nanomachines at all. Instead he felt.. different.. strange voices he'd never heard whispering in his head.
A green meadow briefly appeared, and images of Optimus and another male he didn't recognize, flashed through his mind.
His mouth must have dropped open in confusion, for the look he gave the female in his grasp was a completely lost one. An overwhelming sense of devotion, calmness, and caring overcame him for a brief moment, temporarily displacing his own hatred and anger. He shook his head, his grip on her loosening a bit more.
These were not his memories or emotions.. They were
hers!
He didn't have any more time to ponder it, however, before Rhinox forcefully slammed into him and forced him to break his grip on the female. He had not been prepared for it, and his mind was still a haze from what he had just experienced, so he was actually not that difficult to push away. Then the sudden surge of energy pulsed through his circuits, Rhinox having used his tool on him to subdue him.
Zodiac grimaced a bit in pain, however the surge wasn't powerful enough to really affect him this time. It did leave him staggering for a moment, however, and as the surge passed he was barely able to keep himself standing up.
Dirge's signal that he was ready caught his attention, clearing his mind of the haze he felt as a result of his unexpected mind-meld and consequent electric shock. Zodiac cast a last glance at the two Maximals, still not entirely sure what just happened, before he started making his way closer to the opening to join up with Dirge. As if on cue, however, a steady rain of shots started pouring in through the opening just as the shapeshifter was about to leave. He took cover behind the still intact wall on the side of it, briefly glancing out at the airborne attackers.
Predacons.. Of course.
Deciding he would have a better chance at destroying all his nuisances at a later time, he straightened out and let his nanomachines start the process of altering his form to one more familiar to the Predacons.. Namely that of Megatron himself. It had not appeared that Megatron was among them, and he did glimpse the tyrant's loyal but dimwitted fire ant among the attackers. Once all the details were finalized, he stepped out through the hole in plain view of the Predacons.
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