Lady Nemesis, I've detected seismic activity outside the Maximal base, not sure if this is natural or not considering recent events.. Proceeding with the mission.
Nemesis had barely gotten to regain her balance before Umbra's brief update chimed through.
Seismic activity.. at the Maximal base? How peculiar. The Axalon was located on a rocky ledge in a fairly stable region compared to that of the Darksyde, yet it appeared that they had been struck by a random earthquake. Probably the same one the Predacons had just felt the aftereffects of.
"Delay your approach," Nemesis responded,
"Survey the area first. I'd like to know what the Maximals are doing." If this had been a force of nature, chances were the Maximals would stay where they were. Or perhaps they would remain close to their base. If, however, they decided to send out a team to investigate then chances were they suspected foul play. With Zodiac on the loose provided Dirge's escape attempt had been successful, anything was possible.
"Attention all personnel, this is Commander Deathroll, and as you can obviously tell there is a major seismic disturbance affecting our base at the moment, everyone report to their stations immediately! Deathroll out"
Commander Deahtroll? Well. She supposed she could let his little slip of the tongue go.. for now. Meanwhile it seemed that the quake had caused everyone in the base to be on high alert. Just as well, perhaps, as she was getting rather bored with having to remain here. She was a creature of the sky, after all, not meant to linger. She'd done enough of that during her youth when she had no choice but to stay put. Now she was quite satisfied with being able to go wherever she wanted to.
Nemesis then joined the others. Surely the sudden earthquake had gotten Megatron's attention as well.
"I could. But I don't really want to," Whitegrazer looked at the little one sadly, "It wouldn't be right of me to take control of his own body. Forcing him to do something against his will. It might awaken certain emotions within him that might... be traumatic. Zodiac may be our enemy, but he is also a victim. Even if his actions here are inexcusable."
Whitegrazer's words echoed within the smaller fuzor. She didn't quite understand her reasoning on this matter. Zodiac was clearly a threat and had made it obvious that he would stop at nothing to see them all perish in the most painful and brutal manner imaginable. Almost worse yet, he had attempted to get Optimus to pull the trigger thus placing the responsibility on their leader. What he planned next was anyone's guess, but Aurora was certain Optimus would have met his end while devastatingly grieving the loss of his companions. So if Whitegrazer had the power to stop Zodiac in his tracks and bring him to his knees without any further bloodshed, why not do so? It was obvious that they wouldn't be able to talk the shapeshifter out of this and honestly she wasn't sure how her concoction would work out. There wasn't enough time to test it even. And they were taking a huge risk by having to get so close to the shapeshifter to inject the substance into him. Rendering him helpless at a distance seemed a more logical choice to her.
Still she decided not to pursue the matter. It was futile to try to argue with Whitegrazer, she'd learned that long ago.
"Besides, Aurora, I got a plan. I just hope it works. Though, it's not going to be pretty."
Her curiosity once again peeked, Aurora's green optics settled on Whitegrazer.
"What is this plan?," she wanted to know, not liking it when she was left in the dark.
"I'll make it count," Optimus said, a bit colder and angrier than he had intended. Then, after staring at it longer than he should have, he finally stored it away in his subspace where it was safe and sound. "Thank you, Aurora. This could be the turning point,"
After Optimus spoke up after a lengthy pause where he seemed to just be lost in his own thoughts, Aurora's lips curled into a smile. Seeing all the Maximals mobilize, she was starting to let herself believe they might actually win this thing. Even with an alien machine at his disposal, the little fuzor didn't think the shapeshifter would be able to withstand an assault from all of them. Surely he'd realize it too, perhaps even do the sensible thing and simply surrender.
But even if he did, she wasn't sure what they would do with him. He'd already proved that he was capable of breaking out of their cells, at least as long as his nanomachines remained functional. Perhaps after Optimus had injected him with the virus, that would change. She hoped.. maybe.
"I know you will," Aurora responded, the smile still brightening up her face. She had faith in Optimus. Even now, after he'd shown certain signs of mental deterioration, she still believed in him. Regardless of the fact that he wasn't really the one leading this operation due to the same psychological issues he had been struggling with ever since he was held captive by Megatron. Optimus still hadn't talked to them about what happened to him there, but whatever it was it clearly had left some lasting effects.
Poor Optimus.. Hopefully when this was over, he could take a nice long break and fully recover.
She had followed them as they split into teams, even though she knew she wasn't going. She just wanted to see them off and wish them good luck. Albeit seeing the female spider prepare to ride to their location with Optimus, left the fuzor feeling a little uneasy. It hadn't been long since the she-spider had infiltrated their base.. or worse yet.. battled against them on Megatron's side. Yes, her motives seemed to be clear enough right now, but Aurora couldn't bring herself to trust the female spider wholeheartedly just yet. She'd need time to let all this sink in first.
Meanwhile the alien machine had entered the final stage of the process. At last it was tapping into the full power of the Earth, energy building up in the machine at an alarming rate. The shapeshifter tried to keep his focus as the remaining machines powered on. It was almost rather mesmerizing to watch, to have that kind of power at his fingertips. Had it not been for the fact that the machine required his full attention and that his nanomachines had to keep the process steady in the absence of a key, Zodiac would have raised his arms in the air in celebration. Go figures the aliens would have taken such a basic part of the machine with them when they departed this world, but Zodiac could only assume it had been a deliberate choice to avoid other creatures gaining control over the machine. Of course they had not counted on this creature being someone capable of changing his form to anything he desired, so it really wasn't a big problem for the shapeshifter to use his abilities to mimic the movements of the missing key.
Granted the process would be simpler without the constant interruptions from within his own head.. That Maximal female was way too talkative, constantly trying to persuade him to surrender himself, using the only weapon she had available to her. Her thoughts. Her thoughts transmitted to him via their shared link. On occasion he could sense a trace of an emotion as well. They seemed to be changing quite frequently, ranging from frustration to hope to concern. The shapeshifter just wanted it to stop. Without the female's training, he had a hard time coping with it. His own powers, granted to him by the nanomachines, were very much physical in nature whereas hers seemed foreign to him. Well.. it wouldn't be much longer now. And when the Maximals were gone, perhaps he should turn the weapon on his old Predacon friends. They had attacked him during his escape, after all, as well as killed one of his crew mates. Zodiac was not about to forgive them for that.
People tell soldiers that when they kill for the first time, the second time gets easier. But that's not true, is it? It's an excuse. To try and desensitize them, so they can keep killing for them. And that person... believes it. Finds a way to cope. You find a way to cope, didn't you, Zodiac? It was the only way. The only way to keep you from feeling... guilty. Remorse. Sympathy. Or... worse... Empathy.
Zodiac merely shook his head slowly, realizing the female had picked up on his innermost thoughts and long suppressed memories. It was something he really didn't want her to know. A part of his past that stood in great contrast to how he attempted to portray himself now. A remnant of a time he tried so hard to forget. If at all possible, her latest observation made her an even greater threat than before.
Are you referring to me.. or to yourself?, the shapeshifter pondered, remembering bits and pieces of the white mare's earlier memory that had depicted her in a much less favorable light. They may have turned out very differently, but something told him that Whitegrazer had experienced a similar ordeal in her past. The details were still more than a little shaded to him, but those fragments of distant memories that he had glimpsed told him that the female Maximal had much to make amends for.
Why she bothered, he wasn't quite sure. He attempted not to dwell on the past or the crimes he had committed. Yes, those memories haunted him from time to time, but he had no desire to let them do anything other than fuel his rage and his desire to get revenge.
A perfect soldier required years of training and refinement to become one. The same could be said of him. Designed to be the perfect weapon, the perfect spy, the perfect specimen of the Cybertronian breed. Yet it had been a long trip to get there, one that had certainly not been completed without making sacrifices. Only the strongest of them got there, only the best survived. And even though his path had been littered with pain, drastic physical and emotional challenges and changes, he had eventually made it. The first of a new breed, the scientists had called him. But they weren't able to replicate the process, not completely anyway. The project had been abandoned with only a single true success to show for it. He was one of a kind instead of one of many. A single specialist where there should have been an army.
An army upon yourself?
Megatron's words echoed briefly in his mind.
Yes. Yes, he was. Despite the fact he was being hunted and the unfortunate reality that he had the female Maximal's voice stuck in his head, he would beat them all.
His conviction became even more set in stone when Ironclaw arrived, his optics immediately drawn to the object the transmetal badger proceeded to throw at him. It landed a mere few feet in front of him, swaying from side to side a few times before settling down. Zodiac'd optics narrowed in disdain as he immediately recognized the object as being Dirge's head. Dirge had been another experiment where they attempted to create another perfect soldier like himself. It hadn't been as successful, of course, but they had accomplished some minor achievements with him. He was already aware that Dirge was dead, having seen it happen through the scope of a sniper rifle, so if it was a shock factor Ironclaw was after it didn't work as well as it might have if Zodiac had not been aware.
Zodiac stared at the lifeless head, a sneer forming on his face as his anger continued rising within him. When he started feeling sickened by the sight of the damaged amputated head, the shapeshifter merely kicked the head back at Ironclaw in a fit of rage.
"Its over Zodiac"
"Do you honestly think I will be as easily taken down?," he hissed back at the other transmetal. His weapons had powered up, the cannons automatically targeting the intruder, following his every move.
"Show me what passes for fury among your misbegotten kind"
Zodiac didn't respond. Instead he let out a feral roar and fired his dual cannons multiple times at Ironclaw's frame. He kept firing as he moved surprisingly swiftly across the room, closing the gap between them until he was close enough to lunge himself at the other transmetal. Sharp claws had started extending from his knuckles as he soared through the air, the edges sharp enough to shred cybertronian steel when he brought them down upon Ironclaw's form.
))
But they might have company soon anyway. How come the Preds can't feel the earthquakes at the Darksyde? Vibrations of tremors and aftershocks can travel pretty far through rock underground and their bases aren't hundreds of miles apart. ))
)
So the Preds and Maximals could have a common goal on stopping Zodiac, and then Megatron, of course, might try to confiscate the alien weapon from his control.