"Very well,"
It pleased Megatron to hear such cooperation from Nemesis.
"Not Visia, just me. All for the sake of vengeance,"
Primal shook his head with great disappointment while he began to compose himself after witnessing the traumatic event. Even though he didn't fully understand the history between them, it wasn't right to take someone else's life by her own judgement or desire. What happened here reminded him of Depth Charge's obsession over Protoform X. And if that large Maximal could find a way, he would surely track him down to where and when they were presently on Earth and do the same thing to him.
"Both the High Council and the Tripredicus Council have agendas and secrets of their own. They both have their own sins to pay, but you are no different or better than they are."
"That is where you are greatly mistaken, my dear Whitegrazer. I am much, much different than they are, yesss," Megatron corrected her in his deep, cold voice.
"All you want to do is continue this ongoing loop both sides are stuck in. One side defeats the other, dominates them, then the other side works to circumvent and overthrow them, and the cycle continues on and on and on and on.
The tyrant chuckled darkly at her words.
"There will only be one side left with no contenders."
You may rise, Megatron, but you will fall sooner or later. Of course, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves here. The Beast Wars isn't over yet, and no matter what ever scheme you are plotting, we will always be here to stop it."
Optimus almost smiled at what the equine said. He would have entirely had it been under better circumstances. He just lost another Maximal under his command... And yet he knew he still had to be strong despite the sorrow and the burden because there were still others counting on his leadership to get them through this mess the Predacons dumped on them. He had to channel his mourning into strength, and perhaps even anger and aggression to fight back to not let Banshee's death be in vain. He may have physically appeared weakened, and he was mentally exhausted from this day of events, but he still had some bite left in his energy that he had been reserving.
"We shall see. I surmise that your greatest challenges have yet to come." He grinned at Whitegrazer showing his overly confident nature. Of course, he still wasn't entirely sure what power he may have possessed; tests needed to be run first to be certain. But if his calculations were correct, then this was going to be a war to be remembered throughout Cybertronian history, even more memorable than the Great War of their ancestors.
"So you dragged me here in order to save someone who is so near death? Oh dear, don't you realize? Let her life end. It's better than living in pain. Isn't it? Trust me. One blast of Megatron's weapon there, one snap of the neck would do the trick, or one squeeze of her fragile spark. Ease her pain. You can do that, can't you? You can ease everyone else's painful existence right now. Yet, you don't do it. Out of what? Some sense of morality? Or maybe... it's because you don't feel at all."
"Hmmm," Megatron sighed thoughtfully, realizing that this bot already knew his name, although someone else could have easily forwarded that information to him whether in battle or through the Vok's spark.
"I rather like this creation of yours, Primal. Dark, hungry, powerful, and invincible. He's all of the components to an apocalypse." And X's explanation of Whitegrazer's power was a somewhat welcomed confirmation. She was far more powerful than he had realized but it didn't frighten him. It did, however, put him a little on edge if only for the sake of his own survival. He never wanted to feel his spark tainted by someone else's touch again. Did she honestly not want to end the Beast Wars by simply snuffing out their sparks because of her misguided senses of empathy and ethics? What a fool to hesitate. Well, she may very well regret it in the end after it's too late.
Optimus had narrowed his optics at his foe while returning his hand to the wound on his side, sensing the pain as his adrenaline subsided from Nightstar murdering Banshee.
"Oh, dear Optimus, that's one nasty wound you have there."
"I appreciate your observational concern," he said with some sarcasm before glancing once more at Aurora's faint whimpering by Megatron's feet.
"It's not her time."
"What do you know about time, my dear? It has been my time ages ago, and yet, I still live this painful existence." "You regretted your actions against me. I wonder if you could tell me what I was before this happened to me? My other name? Who I was? Did you and I know each other? But it doesn't really matter anymore, does it? Whoever I was, you and your colleagues, destroyed him... created me. Because of you and your colleagues, I am forced to endure, and it pains me everyday. So..."
Peering up at X's large form, the Maximal leader had replied,
"It always matters to remember who are and where you came from. Maybe one day you will grant me the opportunity to tell you... If you desire to fulfill your curiosity." He remained on his knee while X cocked his weapon, maintaining his aim on him. There was no fear from Optimus for he had already faced death, but there was sorrow and guilt to see firsthand what X had become and how much the experiment had tortured him and twisted his spark.
"Is it wrong to share my pain with everyone? I find it a very intimate experience. Don't you?"
"You have every right to share it with me, X, but not with anyone else here. I oversaw the project, I'm responsible for what you went through and what you're still going through," Optimus told him firmly. Whitegrazer may have played a role in it as well because of her background and the power that the Vok influenced others with, but it was his duty to take blame of the overall experiment; his and the Elders.
"X.. stand down."
Careful, Whitegrazer, thought Primal. Protoform X, so free and powerful now, was not one to have a stand-off with or to boss around.
"Know when you are beaten, Vok!" "And let's enjoy the show!"
Finally, Megatron thought to himself when Tarantulas jumped into the scene and attacked Whitegrazer. More troops and more firepower would ensure his success here. Now, if only Nemesis would hurry along and increase his odds even further. Glancing to the sky, he spotted her inbound not too afar.
"Whitegrazer!" Primal watched as she struggled with the TransMetal tarantula until X approached and gained the upper hand by nearly knocking her unconscious with the butt of his weapon to her head.
"No one interferes!"
Which was exactly what Optimus was about to do, but he stopped himself. As much as it pained him to see her trying to fight against the dizziness and darkness that was surely attempting to overcome her after a hard hit like that, he would not have made anything better for either of his Maximals by retaliating. It was sickening, however, how Tarantulas made her watch helplessly the brutal and violent demise of one of their comrades.
"I enjoyed the show."
Primal balled his fist and licked the scar over his mouth while attempting to suppress his rage toward the spider who was stomping all over Whitegrazer's back and purposefully digging in his heels.
"Didn't you?"
"That's quite enough, Tarantulas," Megatron told him. At first he was pleased with his actions, but as the spider got carried away, he grew more embarrassed by his childish antics on the Vok's back. They had to remain diligent and focused. Reactions like that caused mistakes.
"Release her spark now."
The TransMetal t-rex ignored what else continued between Whitegrazer and Nightstar and picked up Aurora with his hand so that he could still use his tail gun if necessary to protect himself. He wasn't going to waste a single moment while X was down after he shot him. He then carried the Fuzor over toward Optimus and trained his weapon on him.
"Stand," he commanded the ape.
Primal got to his feet though his optics were entirely focused on Aurora as he finally got a closer look on her wound and deteriorating health. She was in very, very poor shape. It was a miracle she was still functioning at all.
Hold on a little longer, Aurora. ...Please... We're going to get you out of here. But the injury to her head was peculiar... Among the brutality of it, it was quite deep, as if Zodiac was digging for something. He couldn't quite fathom what, however. Frowning for a moment, he watched her slip in and out of consciousness. She desperately needed repairs.
"Proceed toward Protoform X," he then instructed his nemesis.
Optimus complied and approached the downed crab with his faint limp who was desperately clawing at Whitegrazer.
"Kill me. Kill me now." "Do it. Do it. Or I swear the next time we meet, I will end your life the same way as my dear sweet sadistic kitten ended your friend's life. Or maybe I will give her that honor since she is the jealous type.
"I will not end your life."
"You want to save me? Then kill me. Do it. Use your power. Squeeze my spark! Squeeze it until nothingness, so I could feel it's embrace! LET ME SEE MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!"
Disgusted by this "weakness" of X's and his awful pleading, Megatron stomped on his wrist and twisted his purple, clawed toes before kicking away his grip of the Vok to make him release her.
"I didn't run chasing you around Cybertron so you could die...I came to you because I'm giving you a chance to seek vengeance to the ones who wronged you...wronged us...wronged every broken mind body and spark who has done nothing but try to survive in a corrupt system that the Maximals created only to be beaten down when they try to stand. You could've used your powers to bring TRUE equality to Cybertron and you lie here, screaming that you want to be dead?! I would kill you for that but I can't because..." "you know... as for you..." "call me a traitor for all you want and I don't care explaining my intentions because you don't care either. Try anything on X and I will do something much worse than what I did to Banshee."
"Observe if you will, Nightstar, that you are greatly outnumbered and outgunned. Try anything on me, and you'll be deceased before any body part of yours hits the ground. Trust me when I say, I'm doing X a favor. Yesss." Megatron smiled at her. But just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone as he swiftly glanced at Nemesis, Quickstrike, and Tarantulas in a serious tone that implied they keep their weapons targeted on her and fire at her if she made any movement whatsoever. Quickstrike nodded as acknowledgement and kept his cobra head weapon aimed and ready to paralyze her. Megatron then placed Aurora on the ground near Whitegrazer before swinging his tail gun at the back of Primal's knees forcing him to kneel beside X who was laying on his back. They had to make it quick before he could start repairing the damage Megatron inflicted on his stomach.
With an exhaled,
"Argh," from the tyrant's rough hit, Optimus collapsed to his knees and looked over X before turning his quizzical gaze upward over his shoulder at Megatron who now stood behind him. Part of him expected Megatron to tell X to devour him, but instead, he watched the Predacon reach into his subspace and pull out a small object. It looked like some kind of small incision tool.
Upon activating the energon blade, the Predacon dictator could see the wheels turning in Primal's optics as he began to understand.
"What do you expect me to do?" Optimus asked.
"I'm not a surgeon," he spat at him.
"Perhaps not, but you do hold detailed information on his spark, its location, and what we can do with this blade. You will pierce his armor and splice his spark in half. And just in case you get cold feet, let us not forget whose lives are at stake. X will survive the procedure, your Maximals will not." Megatron charged his tail gun and directed it at Aurora and Whitegrazer before he handed the knife down to Primal.
Narrowing his optics at such a maddening and risky plan, he took the small blade and glanced at his Maximals nearby. So, do Megatron's bidding and find himself number one on X's death wish list - if he wasn't already - or refuse and watch Aurora and Whitegrazer die right before him just like Banshee. There weren't a lot of options here. If Megatron really intended on splicing his spark, what exactly was he going to do with it? How could he use it? ...To control him...? It was possible the more he thought about it. This wouldn't kill him, but it just might make him obey him.
"This is completely unethical, Megatron," he said as he tried stalling this endeavor.
"Oh? Now you wish to practice ethics?" He chuckled.
"You should have thought about the consequences of your immoral actions back on Cybertron long before he decimated Colony Omicron. Do it."
Optimus hesitated, licking the scar over his lips as his hand holding the knife hovered over the area of X's chest which housed his spark. His optics locked onto X's as he laid there vulnerable, still hesitating.
"Tick tock, Primal," Megatron encouraged him as the charge in his tail grew louder and brighter.
His gaze still lingering on X's green eyes, Optimus pulled the blade away from his chest.
"No. I won't do this."
A deep growl of irritation erupted in his throat as he balled his free hand into a fist.
"Your foolish Maximal morals will be the-" He suddenly stopped speaking when he felt the energon blade being driven through his abdomen. Looking down to see the handle of it sticking out also caused him to lose his focus on the Maximal females and lower his weapon away from them.
After stabbing Megatron, Primal spun around and used a boost in the thrusts of his feet to add more force behind his punch as he leaped upward and gave him a powerful upper cut to his chin.
The unexpected momentum made Megatron stumble backwards and trip over his footing and balance falling on to his back.
"Whitegrazer, grab Aurora and go! Quickly!" he ordered her. This would be their only opportunity to save the little Fuzor who was slipping away, and Optimus was
not in the mood to lose anymore friends. Grabbing one of his clubs from his back, he swung it and ricocheted some of Quickstrike's shots that he had just fired right back at him and Tarantulas, causing the smaller Predacon to dodge his own ammunition.
Outraged and humiliated by this turn of events, Megatron released a loud growl and got back to his feet as his entire jaw ached. He didn't bother removing the blade as his anger was concentrated so much on the Maximal Commander that he failed to feel it lodged inside of him anymore. Swinging his large tail gun at Primal, Optimus turned around just in time to block it with his club. Reaching for the other club on his back, he swung it into Megatron's side. The Predacon gave a small cry of anguish but it also gave him the opportunity to grab his arm and pull it toward him then twist it and bend it backwards behind him. Lifting his leg, he went to jam his foot into the back of Primal's knee, but Optimus rotated his other arm around and pulled his club from behind the Predacon's ankle that was holding all of his weight at that very moment. Again, Megatron fell to the ground with a loud thud and was forced to release his grip on the ape's arm before he could pull him down with him. Unfortunately, it was at that time when one of Quickstrike's shots of venom connected with the Maximal's leg and he was forced to kneel on the ground by the paralysis. Infuriated at that point, Megatron returned to his feet and back lashed at Primal's upper chest with his beast mode's tail to knock him down on his back. The force behind it pushed the air out of his chest with a gasp. Then the malicious Predacon thrust the clamps on the end of his tail into the hole on the Maximal's side, grabbing what he could inside of him and yanking it out. He hoped for his spark chamber but all he managed to do in his haste was strip wires and small hoses, pulling out some of their pieces and fluid.
Optimus cried out with the pain but quickly fell silent as his systems did an emergency lock down to immediately run diagnostics and reroute his energy and energon.
"This was going to be accomplished one way or another, Optimus," he told him coldly even if he couldn't hear him. Looking down at the knife, Megatron grabbed the handle and carefully pulled it back out with no more than a slight grimace. A small trickle of energon followed in its wake as it dribbled down his abdomen's armor.
"Megatron, what about the Maximal fembots?!" Quickstrike pointed at them.
"Leave them! I will be finished before any of their wretched reinforcements arrive. Keep your target on her!" he said as he pointed his tail at Starshadow. Keeping all of these Maximals around was turning into a liability. He didn't need them anymore so he didn't waste his time with them, nor did he want his Predacons wasting their ammo on them since he saw Starshadow as more unpredictable threat. Putting his tail away, he knelt down next to X, and without any hesitation, he pierced his armor with the energon blade where Primal's hand had lingered. Cutting along, it revealed the allegedly invincible spark.
"Yesss," he said with contained excitement, and he reached into his subspace again to pull out a contraption that was meant to hold the other half of his spark.
"Inferno, Terrorsaur and Waspinator, fall back to my position," he sent them with the coordinates.
"Let us see if the rumors hold any truth to your indestructible spark, shall we?" he asked X rhetorically with a devious smile. With that, he very carefully pressed the energon blade into his life source, splicing it in half...
(( OOC: I hope I didn't jump too far ahead without letting others respond to all of this, but I just wanted to finally make it happen without anymore interruptions. And I'm pausing there so una and starshadow can catch up. Assuming Whitegrazer actually follows OP's orders, she can also finally let the other Maximals know where and what's going on. The Predacons they're battling will fall back. I'm also bringing Rhinox back on-line. ))
Come on, you couldn't hit the broadside of a cruiser with that thing!
Inferno laughed at the cat.
"No. I would just set the whole thing ablaze and watch it buuuurn to ashes!" The ant switched to his rocket ammunition and fired a few at Cheetor and Rattrap while trying to keep his position in the air too erratic for them to lock on to.
While Cheetor kept the Pred busy, Rattrap managed to hit one rocket with his marksmanship as it exploded in the air as a fiery ball whose heat and force pushed Inferno backwards, making him tumble through the air as he hollered and fall on the ground.
"Dat'll learn 'im," Rattrap smirked giving Cheetor a thumbs up.
Then you shoulda run lad.
Waspinator swallowed a gulp in his throat and tried to fire off another missile of his before Landslide could but he was too slow. The lightning from the beetle's weapon fried his circuitry as his body spasmed in odd and contorting ways before finally falling out of the air and crashing on his head into the dirt and his legs and feet sticking upward. His fingers and wings twitched involuntarily.
"Inferno, Terrorsaur and Waspinator, fall back to my position,"
"Now he tells Wazzzpinator..." the bug said with his face buried in the ground as the rest of his body eventually fell over.
As the pyro heard his Queen's transmission, he slowly got back up and sputtered in his steps while he walked away from the two Maximals with a limp from his earlier injury.
"Coming, Royalty," he assured him over his comm. link, stumbling about before his engines started working enough to lift him off of the ground.
"He really did scare you into submission the last time you two had a confrontation, I see..,"
"Scare me?! I-!" Terrorsaur stopped himself before he said too much and took a breath.
"He sure did," he agreed with her a little too easily just to let her believe that that was why he cooperated more often now.
"I could say the same about you, you know, the way you came crawling back to him on your knees and groveling at his feet." He smirked as he purposely exaggerated the circumstance.
"The rodent is smarter than he looks so he won't make an easy target,"
The male rolled his optics.
I can handle him, he arrogantly thought.
"I'll leave you to it!"
Terrorsaur glared at her, curious and jealous as to what Megatron wanted her to do now that left him out.
"As much as I would love to see you try, Terrorsaur, I grow tired of your annoying screeching voice!
"Well, well, well, if isn't a trio of traitors!" he laughed at the ironic situation while Blackarachnia approached them.
"Aw! Don't leave yet, birdie! You forgot your going away present!"
"Really? You think you can stop me?" "Unfortunately I have places to be or I would love to stick around,"
Watching Nemesis depart, Terrorsaur grinned at the black widow and said,
"Looks like it's just you and me now, Legs, but as a TransMetal, I've got the upper hand." He delightfully and purposely rubbed it in her face that his body and weapons were more powerful than her low-standard and pathetic form. They were similar in a way when it came to obtaining power over others, like most Predacons. That and they were both traitors at one point. Well, she still was, and that made it fair-game to rip her limbs off one by one, which he would happily do.
"Why don't you just give me some of your webbing to make a noose so I can hang you from a tree and do us both a favor?" he laughed evilly.
"Inferno, Terrorsaur and Waspinator, fall back to my position,"
Ignoring Megatron's order since he was dead set on teaching Blackarachnia a lesson, Terrorsaur grabbed one of his wing blades and fired his laser optics at her.
Inside of the
Axalon, the only chamber that was still occupied finally opened with a soft hiss and Rhinox stepped out fully repaired. Immediately his thoughts raced from the last thing he saw before he blacked out to the whereabouts of the battle and those who were possibly injured or missing.
"Rattrap, status report," he called over his comm. link.
"Hey, Big Green! Yer just in time ta help clean up the Predacon scrap dat's layin' around," the rodent replied, joyful to hear his friend was back on-line.
As usual, it was an incredibly vague report from the rat.
"Has anyone sustained serious injuries? Where's Optimus?" Rhinox started to make his way to the bridge to look over the scanners.
"Uh, no, we're all still functioning. Eh, Optimus and Aurora never showed up... Whitegrazer ran off and she never came back either." At least not to his knowledge. He stood there in thought for a moment with Cheetor as he looked around.
"Come ta think of it, Blackarachnia's missin', and so is X and Starshadow." Panic started to settle in with him once he realized he had lost track of so many bots, which was probably the Preds' plan all along.
"De Preds are pullin' out. You pickin' anything up on de scanners?"
Rhinox picked up his pace hurrying to the command center, unbeknownst to him that there were any invaders in their base since they had been disguised and evaded Sentinel's internal scanners. Observing the monitors, he replied,
"Blackarachnia isn't far from you, but Terrorsaur is with her. Landslide, give her some back-up," he asked of the largest Maximal.
"Inferno's signature just disappeared from the sensor's range, but he wasn't heading back in the direction of the Darksyde. Aside from Waspinator, I'm not picking up anyone else." Then he opened a comm. link to those who were still missing.
"Optimus, do you copy? Come in, Optimus." Although there was no response, the transmission to him was much clearer now instead of just static as if his radio had been jammed earlier but no longer was. He grew thoughtful over this observation but continued to try the others.
"Aurora? Whitegrazer? Do read me?"
"Cheetor, follow dat pyromaniac, but keep a safe distance from 'im without drawin' attention to yerself. We don't know what he's up to or where he's goin'," Rattrap said to the younger Maximal.
"It could be a trap." Transforming to his vehicle mode, the Spy headed back to the
Axalon.
Also, forgive me if I can't remember everyone's injuries; I can't even remember all of my characters'. 
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