Zodiac's voice sounded distorted at first as Primal's systems rebooted and started registering his surroundings again. His entire body felt numb but as the aftermath of the electrocution subsided, he started feeling the deep stings of the lacerations across his chest whose blood dribbled downward to his abs and also rolled off his sides. Optimus coughed as he began recollecting what had transpired moments ago before he blacked out and coping with the pain and the electrical shock. This wasn't exactly how he predicted this would go but he still had a mission and he was still very eager to succeed. His body began to cool down from the immediate heat that the bolts had caused, and the sweltering smoke stopped seeping off of his TransMetal frame while he welcomed the blustery air. At least it seemed he had accomplished taking the hit for the Empath to spare her the pain. On the other hand, this stunt could have cost them the mission. He was running out of time."Oh Optimus,"
As his vision slowly came into focus, the gorilla heard a loud smack of metal to metal when Zodiac's arm slammed into Whitegrazer to knock her out of his way. Optimus released a light gasp in retaliation as he witnessed this abuse happen to someone he cared deeply for but could do nothing to go to her aid. Then he felt a hard, deliberate and sharp kick to his abdomen that made him roll and land on his back again. He coughed more trying to catch his breath from the kick that nearly out-winded him and curled up a little bit into a fetal position as if it would help reduce the pain. It didn't. There was lingering nagging throbbing and pounding. He turned his head toward the pretender's devious voice, seeing him somewhat twitch. He didn't know why; perhaps it was from his nanotech frantically repairing his abdomen where Primal had shot him repeatedly. Maybe it had something to do with Whitegrazer. His gaze slowly drifted to the white mare again and to Landslide."You struggled valiantly but in the end it was all for nothing. For you see.."
Still weakened as his systems gradually recovered, Optimus felt Zodiac grab his chin and abruptly force him to look into his revengeful, angry and mysterious optics. He glared back up at him having his own anger toward the way he was treating Whitegrazer while his mind replayed those same words he had heard from Megatron before he was about to die: "The Beast Wars are over, Optimus! You lose. You lose. You LOSE. YOU LOSE!" they echoed with emphasis. Fear and desperation from that moment revisited him and he grew frantic. He couldn't escape that outcome, so how was he going to escape this one? Was this the end? Zodiac snapped him out of this terror when he twisted his head to the side to see Whitegrazer. He growled in retaliation and anguish, licking the scar on his lips, but grew somber upon observing Whitegrazer. He had no idea what she was going through but he imagined that it was awful and unbearable because of Zodiac. While she was blaming herself for bringing him, he was blaming himself for bringing her and for his involvement in creating the monster that haunted them now and wanted to end all of their lives. But he couldn't focus on that right now. He had a job to do and he would do it while the other Maximals remained diligent and engaged the Predacons."You lose."
"It's not over yet, Zodiac," Primal told him coldly, unappreciative of his enemy's cruel words and callousness. Slowly, so as not to draw any attention to it while it was out of Zodiac's sight, he moved his right hand to his subspace and retrieved the syringe. He kept it hidden in his hand beside his hip where his gun was normally attached to when he noticed the Predacon fliers invade their battle from above. He still didn't see Megatron from his position laying on his back in the snow, and didn't know if the Predacon tyrant even bothered to show up to the party, but the three stooges overhead were a good distraction for his plan that would hopefully end this madness."I wouldn't count on her to save you this time," "As she is about to join you in the smelting pits!"
"FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROYALTY!!! DDDDDIIIIIIVVVVVVVE!"
Optimus tried to keep his body shielded by using Zodiac's size towering over him as he crouched beside the ape in order to avoid getting hit by Inferno's and Terrorsaur's fire power which sprayed all around them, snow and the rocky dirt underneath it being blown into the air from their powerful shots. He flinched a little as he could feel the heat from a couple of them that hit nearby where the new Predacon had already trampled through in his vehicle mode, but fortunately none of them impacted him. In an attempt to use their distraction to his advantage, Primal lifted his right arm and tried thrusting his hand gripping the needle into Zodiac's side under his arm..."Yeah yeah, for the Royalty, just shut up and shoot! Eheheheheheheh!"
-----
Rattrap heard the widow but didn't respond as he kept his focus on the other two Predheads."So that is the little gizmo that was being plaguing both sides, huh?
"Trust me, it ain't 'cause of you. The only thing I'm nervous about is dose aliens comin' back and pickin' another fight," the rodent said while he kept his gun targeted on Nemesis. "We'd hate to have ta save your sorry skidplates again.""You sound nervous, Maximal,"
"So what? I'm a rat. I don't get claustrophobic, and I'm a great digger, so I'd be outta here in no time. But you certainly sound a bit more nervous about it," he mocked her. Ugh, how he loathed these Predacons and their egos and attitudes."Lest you forget that you would be trapped in here as well, rodent,"
It was then when Rattrap reached out to try and grab Blackarachnia who suddenly sprinted off toward the machine, but she slipped away out of his reach. Either she was trying to shut off the beam or she was trying to confiscate the Vok's weapon's power. "What're ya doin'?! Get back here! The best thing ta do is blow this place ta smithereens!" he called after her.
-----
"Yes, I do," Rhinox told Aurora without any hesitation, hoping to put her mind at ease about them. "Hurry along now and give me a damage report. I'll do my best to reach them," he added as he glanced over his shoulder at her before returning to his work. He rebooted and re-calibrated their communication system and tried again."Do you think the others are all right?,"
"Rattrap, Whitegrazer, Landslide, do any of you copy? Can you read me?" the engineer sent over the Axalon's long-range transmission. He made some more adjustments when all he received was static and then tried again. "Rattrap, Whitegrazer, Landslide? This is Rhinox. Do you copy?"