The Intergalactic Highway

Dinobot needed to get that repaired, but it wasn't a severe injury. His pride more hurt than his body. He growled at the fact that his old comrades got the better of them, but the little ermine was right. He couldn't obsess over it now. When Optimus told him to be ready, Dinobot merely acknowledged, "I will. This attack should not go unpunished."Dinobot sat on the bridge and used a kit to seal up the wounds on his chest before he went out. Other than that, he was ready for anything. Just like Aurora, though not as verbal or visible, Dinobot was glad that Rattrap was recovering.


Tigratron knew that Rattrap was Rhinox best friend, and though he might not be aware of these two pasts, he was aware that Rhinox cared deeply for the rat who was full snark and bombs yet had a heart gold underneath it all. Tigratron himself had been worried when he seen Rattrap's state, but now that the littlerat was in the CR Chamber, everyone could breathe a little easier.



Whitegrazer knew Rhinox would disapprove of what she was doing, and poor Tigratron was trailing behind her, trying desperately to get her to stop and turn back and let him finish patching her up, but she couldn't. She wanted to be there. She wanted to help, limping forward toward Nemesis and Optimus . Nemesis looked at herr, telling something she understood well. She just smiled. "I have a knack for going and being in places where I shouldn't be. I a m bit stubborn. No, more than a bit." She just carried a conversation between Nemesis and herself like nothing had happened, but she knew something happened to get Optimus and the rest of teh Maximals furious at the female Decepticon turend Predacon, but no one had specific stated what Nemesis had done that drew their ire. When Nemesis shouted and backed away from her, drawing her weapon, Whitegrazer remained still, leaning on the wall with her hand raised to show Nemesis she had nothing to fear from her. She wasn't here to attack Nemesis, only wanted to talk and try desperately to ask her where Zodiac was. That was all she wanted to know, but she could tell by Optimus. There was more to it than that. When Nemesis was no longer a threat, Whitegrazer just stood there for a moment, listening to what Optimus had to say to Nemesis, nodding at his words, agreeing.

"Nemesis," she limped more forward, staring down at Nemesis, "We have to try." She smiled at her. "We helped you when Zodiac had framed you. We gave you sanctuary when Megatron and the Predacons wanted you. Zodiac, despite it all, deserves the same chance." It was at this moment she felt more pain from Zodiac. There was a burning sharp pain on her side. The sharp tingling sensation of being electrified. Her body began to shiver like she was cold, almost numbing. Tigratron noticed the symptoms, looking at her with concern, but she just held up her hand. "It's not me." She gazed at Optimus. "I feel him. I feel his pain." The same pain that forced her to come and see Nemesis. Her spark ached, wanting to rush outside, but she couldn't blindly and not with a leg bleeding profusely. She gritted her teeth, putting pressure on her abdomen like something had been ripped out from her guts. She closed her optics, taking a deep breath. Zodiac didn't respond to her calling out, and she couldn't pinpoint where he was. The only thing she felt was the suffering he was enduring now, and she tried to keep herself calm and focused, trying to not let her emotions get the better of her. She needed to remain calm and collected, think rather than feel, but that was easier said than done.

Frilla entered inside, and when she noticed her friend, she brightened up a bit, "Frilla." She had seen the woman in so long. She was aware that Frilla went to study the Vok and the sites, learning more. She had been worried, as she knew how her people reacted to those they labelled interlopers, especially after what happened to Wintersong. "It's good to see you uninjured. I know this isn't probably the welcome you had in mind." Whitegrazer noticed Frilla staring at her intently. Oh! That's right! She wasn't aware of her... appearance change. "A gift from the Vok. Can't say I like it, but don't really know beauty salon anywhere." She chuckled softly.

"Whitegrazer, you are bleeding a lot,"Tigratron pointed out the trail. It wasn't so much her wound, but when she decided to go walking around, she might had tear open the wound more. "I know you are worried, but you can't do much with your leg bleeding out. It won't take long. Like Rhinox said earlier, Optimus can handle this." Tigratron saw Frilla and smiled. "Frilla, it is good to see you. I can't wait to hear about what you learned."

Whitegrazer sighed with a smile, "All right." She gazed at Optimus then at Nemesis then at Wintersong, noticing the subtle change in her optics, not forgetting about what the female tigress is going through, making her even more determined to save Zodiac as fast as they can, before she turned around. Tigratron made sure she went to the medbay. Airazor, who she gave a smile and grateful that Tigratron's other half wa well, left the medbay as they were entering again. She saw Cheetor and smiled. Saw Aurora and smiled as well. Then looked at her foot injury. Whitegrazer already figured out that it must have been from a blade of some sort like small sword or a dagger, a dagger, a sai, Nemesis. whitegraer just shook her head inwardly. But it didn't damp her smile towards the little ermine.

"Airazor,"Tigratron smiled lovingly at Airazor, glad to see her herself again, as he made sure Whitegrazer was heading and staying inside the medbay this time. He paused for a moment. He took Airazor's hands into his hands before embracing her, his shoulders relaxed, relieved that she was all right. "I will be joining shortly."His spark's ache lifted, knowing she was back on her feet and ready. He released her from his embrace and continued his way towards the infirmary, following behind th elimping white mare. "That could be you too, Whitegrazer, if you didn't decide to go limping around." Tigratron said with a bit of humor in his voice. Cheetor was there, and so was Aurora. ((OOC: I hope I read that right since Aurora was heading towards the infirmary, Phoenix. If not I will edit this. )) "Little cat,"Tigratron nodded towards Cheetor. He looked at Aurora's foot injury. "You should get healed up in no time." His mind went to Rattrap, and he wondered if Aurora was aware that he too was okay. "You are aware that Rattrap is in the CR chamber?"

Whitegrazer just sat down on the cot again, letting tigratron finish his work. But her spark trembled and troubled her with images of Zodiac's pain and the thought of losing another. "Stay alive, Zodiac, fight. We are coming. I am coming. But there was also something she heard around. She asked, but no one seemed to answer her. "I haven't seen Rattrap. What happened to him? Is he all right?" She asked to everyone in the medbay.


Blackarachnia scuttered around, carefully, unhooking and dsiarm little explosives and poison sprays at corners and intersections. Tarantulas went to work, probably to avoid anyone following him or just to be a little pain in the aft towards the Maximals.

"I'll have to refer you to Rhinox,"

Aurora had remained silent after Optimus dismissed her and referred her to their chief medical officer. It wasn't that she was particularly upset by his dismissal, but it really didn't make her feel any less anxious as far as knowing how the others were doing. Then again it was possible Optimus didn't really have all the details yet, even if he had been present when part of the brig collapsed.

Well, at least she could find some comfort in knowing that Rattrap was safe and getting repaired in the cryo chamber, and she was fairly certain Primal would have announced it had anyone gotten severely injured or, she dreaded to even think it, had died. Still, she didn't really want to have to speculate.

She remained silent for a moment as Cheetor finished his temporary repairs on her foot and helped her stand up. The fuzor grimaced a bit from some pain as she attempted to put some weight on that leg, but at least doing so hadn't caused the repairs the cheetah had made come undone. In fact they were actually holding up fairly well considering the hurried work and the young male's experience level.

"Maybe you should consider becoming Rhinox' apprentice?," she complemented Cheetor while taking the first couple of shaky steps, drawing a sigh of relief as the pain didn't really worsen too much as she walked. Dinobot lingered nearby, ready to assist if needed, or at least so the fuzor assumed he would. He might be grumpy, and a former Predacon, but he was very much so a Maximal alongside the rest of them now. Even if the transition may not have been as smooth for the raptor as it had been for some of the other recruits.

"I will. This attack should not go unpunished."

True.. But as far as the fuzor knew, all the Predacons had safely retreated by now. So that punishment would have to wait until a later date.

“If we lose something else we got problems.”

The fuzor agreed with their assessment of the situation, but she didn't really say anything about it. During her relatively short time alive she had already lost more than most would during a lifetime, so it wasn't something she cared to focus on more than what was absolutely necessary. Doing so would only lead her down a dark and depressing path, she knew that much from experience, and it wasn't a mindset she had enjoyed in the least. So she tried to keep up a healthier spirit and not to dwell too much on things.

“Rattrap is tougher than he looks, we can be thankful for that.

Oh, Aurora didn't know about that. The first time she met the rodent she had actually thought he looked kind of mean and tough despite, or perhaps as a result, of his size, but her opinion of him had changed as soon as he had opened his mouth. Ever since she had enjoyed the high spirited rodent's company, even finding herself emulating his behaviors and often the way he expressed himself. When her own repairs were done and Rattrap was in better shape as well, she couldn't wait to talk to him and give him a nice hug.

"Would be nice if we could give the Predacons a taste of their own medicine," she muttered as she limped her way to the infirmary while using Cheetor for support. Indeed it would. Of course she was as of yet unaware of the fact that one of those Predacons was still very much so still present at the Axalon. It took them a little longer than usual, but they eventually did reach the infirmary without any additional incidents. Rhinox and a few others were already there, prompting the fuzor to smile at them before continuing.

"You should get healed up in no time."

"Yeah.. I'd still feel better if I had a true expert like Rhinox repairing me, but I suppose the CR will have to do.. this time," the fuzor responded to Tigatron, who had been waiting for them there. Well, he was actually busy repairing Whitegrazer, who looked like her leg could use some extensive repairs as well. The little fuzor smiled briefly at both the tiger and the equine before turning her attention to the CR chambers.

"You are aware that Rattrap is in the CR chamber?"

She nodded to that. Indeed, she did know, but only thanks to Wintersong's report. And the rodent's survival was yet another thing she was eternally grateful for right now. This day could truly have ended much worse than it had.. Whitegrazer, too, appeared concerned about Rattrap. Perhaps she didn't know yet. "Yeah, they managed to get to Rattrap in time. He's in one of the CR chambers," the fuzor responded to the mare's inquiry.

Aurora wasted no time locating an available CR chamber and climbing in, even though part of her felt very uneasy about them after witnessing Icebreaker take his last breath in one of them. That particular chamber had since been removed, of course, and thoroughly examined without finding any evidence that his death had been the result of a malfunction in the chamber. Still.. Every time Aurora had to set foot in one of these things, she couldn't help thinking about the traumatic moment she had realized there wasn't anything that could be done to save the penguin's life.

Fighting that slight feeling of panic that she always felt whenever the chamber doors closed, sealing her in, Aurora soon settled down and let the chamber do what it needed to do to complete the repairs.

"Nor do I,"

Optimus' voice was cold, almost frigidly so in fact, causing Nemesis to inadvertently lower her gaze to the floor again at that moment. She felt.. strange, honestly, torn between a state of guilt and a sense of urgency to depart this place. She really had wanted to avoid meeting up with Primal like this, not having any desire to face him after he had witnessed her earlier actions. It really wasn't that she'd been trying to kill Rattrap, no, it had been a necessity to force the Maximals to lower the shields. Many words could be used to describe the Maximal leader, such as honorable, compassionate, accepting of those around him. But foolish wasn't one of those descriptions she could have used, so Nemesis had been certain he wouldn't have lowered the shields unless forced to do so. But in forcing his hand the way she had, she knew his wrath would be turned to her. And she knew his disappointment and anger towards her would hurt. She just hadn't known how much.

Until now.

"Get out of my way, Optimus," she told him, trying to keep up a stern facade that was rapidly crumbling. "You don't understand what's at stake here."

It was true. Megatron may not share many of the admirable qualities found in his Maximal counterpart, but he had shared enough of his plans for the future for Nemesis to know where she needed to stand in this war. Sure, the tyrant hadn't indulged her with every tidbit of knowledge, no, but he was going to change the future and create a better world for their kind. That much she was sure of. And Zodiac was merely a loose end that needed to be done away with, a threat that couldn't be allowed to linger any longer. His fate had been sealed the moment he plunged his sword through Megatron's abdomen and left the tyrant for dead after sabotaging his private CR tank.

"His body is too small to handle that kind of energy,"

Despite all the disagreements between the rodent and his leader, it was clear that the Maximal in front of her cared a great deal for his tiny friend. Nemesis crossed her arms, allowing Optimus to finish without interrupting him. It wasn't that she was putting on a display of defiance as much as just not quite knowing what to do with herself while Primal raged at her. She supposed she could attempt to force her way past him, but that much seemed futile. This was still Primal's base, after all, and despite its present condition it would appear his Maximals were still alive and managing surprisingly well. So unless she wanted to haul an armada of Maximals with her as she returned to Megatron, she needed Primal to let her go willingly.

"He could have survived one shock, but surviving two is unlikely."

His comment resulted in her narrowing her optics at him.

"He's still alive!," Nemesis protested the accusation, "Or at least he was when I left him. Shouldn't you be tending to him rather than yelling at me about something I can't undo?" Besides.. Even if the rat did die, it wouldn't be like it was the first life Nemesis had taken. There had been a few, more than a few, on her track record. And she had never made any claims of otherwise. Of course if he did die, it was unlike that Optimus would ever let the matter rest. He would hunt her down, or at least that's what she would have done in his place. Honestly it was difficult for her to fully comprehend the Maximal way of thinking, since Predacons and Decepticons viewed the world quite differently.

"All things considering,"

She let out a sigh, realizing this was a discussion she couldn't win. Optimus had been angry with her before, but never like this. Whatever this friendship they had established was based on, she had effectively ruined it. Without realizing it, her shoulders slumped together a bit as she bit into her lip.

"As if there was some redeeming quality behind your actions."

His words stung more than she cared to admit. Truthfully she hadn't really given a second thought to anything but the mission after she had left Rattrap in that relatively safe location near where she had electrocuted him, but Optimus' anger was forcing her to reassess her own actions.

"Who knows how long it took for someone to help him,"

True.. But at least she had given them the opportunity to come to his aid. Unless, of course, some of her fellow Predacons had gotten to him first. No doubt Primal would hold her responsible for that as well.

"Only the future can determine if those actions were forgivable or not," she reminded him after a brief pause, however they were likely considering very different outcomes in this war. It didn't appear that she'd be able to persuade Primal of this, however, still she made one last effort to shift the blame onto him instead, even if she knew perfectly well that the choice had been hers alone. "You forced my hand. We both know you wouldn't have given into our demands otherwise."

The word were difficult to get out, but she was still trying to maintain a certain level of arrogance as not to appear weak. Weakness was a trait Predacons scoffed at and since she was their second in command, appointed by Megatron himself, she had to hold herself to certain standards. No matter how difficult it was at times.

"Who am I even speaking to right now?"

The real me, she wanted to tell him in a spiteful tone. But she refrained from doing so, oddly enough finding it difficult to lie to Optimus. She respected him too much for that, and despite their difference in opinion she still cared about him. Like she had ever since their first sit down so long ago when she had opened up to him about her experiences.

"Listen.. I am genuinely sorry for what happened here today. But it was necessary. If it's any consolation, know that you fought impossible odds to save Zodiac and I'm confident your selfless actions were noticed by the condemned bot. And you should know that Zodiac's suffering won't last long. Megatron vowed to kill him after what happened between them, and I'm sure he won't waste any time doing it."


Hopefully her words would be enough to dissuade him from taking further action. After all there was a good chance Zodiac was already dead. Hopefully not, though, since she was certain her presence there for the event was expected.

"Perhaps it was weak of me to grant you refuge when you needed it..."

Primal's expression softened, at least for a moment, yet Nemesis wasn't prepared for the words the Maximal was about to utter. And with those few words he managed to shatter that wall of confidence she had put up to protect herself. Her voice was a lot more quiet when she spoke up again.

"I didn't mean.."

She then stopped, turning her gaze away again. Oh how she hated how seemingly effortlessly Primal was able to break her down, he certainly had an uncanny ability to halt someone in their tracks with mere words. And try as she might to sound strong and confident, her response sounded anything but convincing.

"Perhaps it was.. Cut your losses, Optimus, and learn from those past mistakes. Just step away and allow me to depart."


Her voice carried a bit more desperation than she wanted, but she really didn't have much time before the other Maximals would arrive to intervene as well. And they wouldn't have such emotional stakes in all of this as Primal did, or at least she didn't think so.

"I was making progress with him, Nemesis,"

Maybe.. Nemesis recalled Zodiac as being very different from the arrogant and pompous jerk who had showed up and tried to kill them all. He'd been a mere child when she knew him, someone who was always getting picked on by the guards and others. Someone who was always trying to prove himself, yet wasn't often given the chance to do just that. Someone who grew into a rebellious teenager, intelligent and dangerous... and unpredictable as few. Perhaps she had been too rash.. too quick to jump on the bandwagon, so to speak.

"Others have said similar things about him and they are now dead," she reminded Primal, yet she didn't sound entirely convinced herself.

The ensuing brawl between the two friends fighting on opposite sides was surprisingly short lived, in part thanks to the appearance of a few of the other Maximals. Initially Nemesis had struggled quite a bit while Optimus gripped her tightly, but she calmed down considerably after Wintersong fired that strange looking weapon that turned out to be an EMP at her. Even so, as the nanomachines went into a state of slumber, Nemesis cringed ever so slightly from the burning sensation in her abdomen. Yet Optimus didn't let go, if anything he held her a bit more tightly as her legs started giving out and she nearly collapsed to the ground. Despite it all Nemesis still attempted to pull free, but quickly stopped as she realized it was futile to do so until her strength returned to her.

"Wintersong, get some energy bonds,"

Glancing back at Primal who had locked his wrists around her waist and one of her arms, also trapping one of her wings in the process as well, Nemesis faintly shook her head. Feeling helpless wasn't an emotion she enjoyed, and even now she was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic just thinking about having to wear restraints. "Please don't..," she whispered to Optimus, barely loud enough for him to hear her. But she was interrupted from finishing her sentence when the Commander reaffirmed his position further.

"The brig is demolished, so, we can't use it to house prisoners, but I have a smaller, more confined space in mind,"

Nemesis' reaction was instantaneous, and she made a jerking movement to try to pry away from him. Still with no success. "Not that, please," she begged him, sounding a lot more desperate than before. "You can't.. You know what it will do to me." Sighing at how pathetic she sounded and acted, Nemesis then stopped her struggling entirely, realizing that it was her own refusal to cooperate that had resulted in this.

A short distance away she could hear the other female still talking to her, as if nothing had happened. It was an uncanny ability the white mare possessed, one that separated her from those around her, and one that likely would have annoyed Nemesis a fair amount had she not just gotten the wind knocked out of her.

"I have a knack for going and being in places where I shouldn't be. I a m bit stubborn. No, more than a bit."

You think?, the avian female almost replied yet she refrained from doing so due to the situation she was now in. "Why are you trying to help me..?," she then pondered out loud, feeling.. something.. from the other female. Honestly the Predacon didn't quite know how to process the calming effect Whitegrazer usually had on those around her. Whatever it was, it seemed to be working as Nemesis started calming down. Or perhaps it was the way Primal was holding her, no that couldn't be it, she normally hated close contact like that. Must be the effects of the EMP then.. Maybe.

"Nemesis," "We have to try."

"It's better this way, now he won't be able to harm us ever again," Nemesis protested, or at least tried to, yet she no longer sounded as convinced that this was actually the case. Her movements at this point had decreased to only some faint twitching now and again, as if she'd given up on trying to break Optimus' steel grip.

"We helped you when Zodiac had framed you. We gave you sanctuary when Megatron and the Predacons wanted you. Zodiac, despite it all, deserves the same chance."

Why did Optimus always have to put everyone else's life before his own? Nemesis still remembered that awful day when she'd watched Primal's pod that had been rigged to work as a one person vessel, explode as he reached the alien device in space. While the other Predacons cheered the event, Nemesis had remained silent, solemnly watching the monitor which clearly showed Primal had been destroyed. She still didn't know how he'd come back, and to be perfectly honest she didn't really care, yet she had been quite relieved when she had come to realize who the new Maximal who had appeared to save the day truly was.

"Going there in your current state would be suicide," Nemesis replied, hoping to stall them still. Megatron would have his revenge one way or another, and she really didn't want to be on the receiving end of his rage.. again. Yes, she was well aware that the Maximals had helped her and perhaps even saved her life in the past, but this was now and the situation had changed drastically. Now she was no longer being hunted for a crime she didn't commit, no, now she had climbed the ranks to second in command and actually held some influence over how things turned out.

"I have to try, Nemesis. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't, at the very least, do that much. If your roles were reversed, and you were in trouble with Megatron, I would do everything I could to save you."

Slowly shaking her head, Nemesis then lowered her gaze to the floor again. For someone so intelligent, Optimus could sure come across as something of a naive idealist sometimes. And stubborn as a mule. Indeed, he and Whitegrazer were perfect for each other in that sense.

"They will only kill you as well," the avian female said with a disgruntled sigh. "And you won't be able to come back next time. Just let it go, Optimus, please.."

Her words lacked the conviction they held only a short time before, likely because somewhere deep down she already knew they weren't going to listen to her. And Primal would lay down his life for anyone, he had proven as much on more than one occasion.

Moments later Wintersong returned with the energy bonds, but for some reason Nemesis did not struggle as her arms were adjusted and the cuffs were placed on her. She blamed it on the fatigue left in the wake of the EMP strike, but truthfully it was more likely that Whitegrazer and Optimus had more to do with it. Even now that the white mare had left with Tigatron to complete the remainder of her repairs, Nemesis stayed calm despite her instincts telling her to flee. Once the cuffs were in place, the female eyed them somewhat dispassionately for a moment before finally glancing back at Optimus again.

"You can let go now..," she told him.

"After everything you both have been through together, you're willing to just throw it away with his life? Are you honestly tired of him and see his life entirely unworthy to try and help? Or are you merely following Megatron's orders because of the fear he has instilled in you?"

And there it was. Primal had just seen through all those levels of hurt she tried so desperately to hide, as if he already knew her answer.

"There's more to it than that," she confirmed in a quiet voice, despite the fact that most of the others had already left. Slowly raising her bound wrists, she drew another sigh. "You're not playing fair, Optimus.. He'd kill me if I took this away from him," she continued, referencing Megatron rather than Zodiac at this point. "Or he'd let that creepy spider do his dirty work for him since he has recently taken an interest in the technology within us," she explained, for once admitting that Zodiac and her were two of a kind. "Tarantulas approached me the other day, telling me he wanted Zodiac for himself. And that if he couldn't have him, he'd get the samples he needed from me instead." And that genuinely seemed like a fate worse than death.

Frilla had joined them as well but Nemesis only barely glanced over when the former Predacon deemed traitor addressed her presence there. By some strange coincidence the last time the two of them saw each other was when Nemesis had sought refuge at the Axalon after Zodiac framed her, which had been a considerable time ago now.

“And Nemesis...do you ever not find yourself coming back here.”

The avian female shook her head with a sigh, since in truthfulness she wished she was anywhere but here right now.

"Yes, it's like I'm drawn here like a moth to the light. Although I have been trying to make my departure," she mumbled in return while glancing back at Optimus.

"I played a part in making Zodiac who he is, and despite everything he has put me and my crew through, I'm still willing to risk my life to save him and put him on a different path. What does it say about your character when you support his termination; that you won't even help me help him? Compassion goes a long way, Nemesis, especially for someone like Zodiac who hasn't been given any his entire life. He's still capable of learning. He's not completely lost."

"You're willing to die for him..," Nemesis stated meekly, taking a moment to contemplate her feelings for the Maximal commander as well as the respect she held for him. "So you're going after him with or without my cooperation then. Oh Optimus, sometimes I wonder about you.."

After another pause, Nemesis finally turned her head to look at the commander again. Only this time there was a certain regret and even sorrow visible in her optics, likely due to the fact that she just didn't see any way for Optimus to pull this off without getting himself killed.

"Fine..," she then muttered as she finally gave in. "You're a fool for going, but it's obvious I won't be able to stop you. So here goes.. Megatron wanted to make sure you wouldn't be able to intervene, so he took Zodiac to an area in neutral territory. The coordinates there are 103.28.11. Just please.. stay safe. I don't think I could live with myself knowing you died because of me."

"Well, I am always the exception to the rule,"

Naturally.. Of course this had been Cryotek's philosophy for as long as the shape shifter had been alive, so it was no wonder that his protege shared it. It seemed to be a common theme among those with tyrannical tendencies, of course Megatron had been known to take it to a whole new level. Well, Zodiac still wasn't about to grovel for his life. He knew that would accomplish absolutely nothing and he didn't wish to give Megatron the satisfaction.

"Who's to say that all of this was not Cryotek's idea to begin with, hm?"

That.. seemed unlikely. Zodiac had been there to see Cryotek's reaction when Megatron had deserted after stealing the golden disk from him. The rage and disappointment had been genuine. Cryotek was many things, but he wasn't one to hold back on his emotional state. When someone had disappointed him, he would let his displeasure be felt. The renegade would know this, as he'd been on the receiving end of Cryotek's rage more than once.


"Oh Meggy, there were were certainly lessons to be learned from growing up in your shadow," the renegade said rather cryptically and surprisingly honestly.

"Perhaps I have been his pawn all along. Perhaps we have been partners. Either way, you were always destined to be the fall-out,"

Yeah.. that stung a bit. Even if he knew it wasn't true. It couldn't have been. Although even now, the younger male didn't know why he'd always been treated so differently from Megatron, who seemed to have been placed on a pedestal. Even as a traitor to Cryotek, the war criminal held Megatron up to certain standards. In fact his decision to go after Nexus Prime had been a result of the fallout of his protege leaving. And in a sense Zodiac held a bit of resentment about that as well. He had never met Megatron in person before he came to Earth, and even while Megatron served as Cryotek's confidant and second in command the latter would always make sure to keep the two separated. Based on the tyrant's reaction to first meeting the renegade, he couldn't have known about him or his abilities. So obviously Cryotek kept some secrets, even from those closest to him.

"I could provide you with an advantage," Zodiac muttered, but it was becoming blatantly obvious he was speaking to deaf audioreceptors. No, he still wouldn't beg for his life, but at this point his own hope rested with persuading the Predacons they were making a mistake. "You could benefit from the knowledge I hold about both Cryotek's recent operations as well the Maximal elders. And you can make use of my abilities to further your own gain when you return to Cybertron."


Would he stay loyal if given the opportunity? Of course not. But if there was a shred of hope he could get out of this situation alive, he would grab it.

"Is this the same nonsense you attempted to spin on Primal?" he asked him accusingly. "It sounds remarkably... perfidious,"

And just like that Megatron shot down his efforts to talk his way out. Zodiac shook his head, letting out a slight and humorless chuckle since his only option now would be to best the tyrant in battle.. without weapons and surrounded by his goons. So be it.

The battle actually seemed to go in the renegade's favor at first, as he had been able to land several punches against the tyrant's smug face and had managed to trap him. In fact it almost seemed too easy, yet the renegade had been too caught in the act of murdering this scumbag he had always heard such high remarks about to fully realize he was being set up to fail. And the combined efforts of Spineback's sedatives along with Megatron's own brutal attack to his abdomen, not unlike what the young renegade had done to him back during their meeting in the tyrant's private chamber, managed to bring the shape shifter to his knees. And then even lower, as he collapsed on the ground.

"Let this incompetent fool be an example for anyone who dares to outwit me!"

Megatron's bellowing laughter echoed through the area, and it certainly did nothing to ease the headache that the renegade was already feeling due to the attacks on his nanomachines. In fact it felt as if his head was about to explode, as well as his abdomen, and the rest of his body was still twitching rather violently as the spasmodic contractions that originated from his gut area slowly started calming down now that his nanomachines were starting to shut down. Tarantulas remained next to him as well, chuckling in a more subtle but still very much so creepy fashion, as he enjoyed seeing his handiwork in action.

"Excellent, Tarantulas,"

"Ehehehe, always my pleasure to serve you," the spider responded. Of course he wasn't being genuine and Megatron knew it, but as of right now the tyrant was about to give the spider what he wanted. His new toy, as it were.

Megatron moved in closer, only to rip the dagger violently out of the renegade's abdomen. This prompted a pained grimace and a whimper from the barely conscious shape shifter, and he inadvertently curled himself into a fetal position as he grasped his throbbing abdomen, his hand covering the gaping hole left in the weapon's wake.

"Let us reserve his terrified spark for Rampage's consumption, shall we?"

Even though his mind was in a haze, his body seemingly frozen in its current position, and the pain overloading his sensors, Zodiac could still hear them talk around him. Gloat at him, or at least that's what he presumed they were doing since he had a hard time processing what was being said. And perhaps that was for the best, honestly, since he didn't want to know what they planned to do. Whatever it was, it would be a terrible way to go. And yet as he lay there, only occasionally twitching a bit due to his overloaded circuits, he found his thoughts drifting away from all of this. Away from the nightmare he had gotten himself into, away from the Predacons he had alienated and the events that had taken place after his arrival on this planet. Perhaps it was due to the effects of the drugs in his system, or.. whatever it was he had been injected with, or maybe it was a self-defense mechanism.. his last, as it would seem, detaching him from the harsh reality surrounding him.

Yet even in this state, he felt her presence as she tried to calm him and soothe his spark to mask the pain of it all. And while he would normally dismiss her, this time he didn't. It did help him feel a little better knowing that at least in some small way, he wouldn't die alone.

"Stay alive, Zodiac, fight. We are coming. I am coming.


Although he didn't believe for even an instant that there was anything Whitegrazer, or Optimus, or anyone else could do at this point. They were too far away, and they didn't know where he was even. How could they save him? Why would they even want to after everything he had done? Perhaps it was just as well that this would all be over soon, since the knowledge that Tarantulas had other plans for him as well would no doubt have been even more frightening..

"I can't..," he whispered, unaware that he'd vocalized the words for the nearby Predacons to hear rather than merely thought them. And then everything went dark.

Tarantulas looked down at the now unconscious shape shifter at his feet, his prolonged chuckle finally fading into silence as he looked on with interest. "I find your lack of insight appalling, Megatron," Tarantulas then remarked to discourage the use of such a magnificent scientific achievement as mere food for Rampage. He had already started scanning the still form on the ground with his equipment. "I'm picking up some rather interesting results." Indeed, if his readings were correct then Zodiac was a mixture of both Vok and Cybertronian technologies. The two shouldn't even be compatible, yet here he was laying in a pitiful heap at their feet.

Megatron and the others seemed more concerned about which limb to start disassembling first, a thought that made the spider let out a slight cackling sound. While it was true they could try to dismember him, chances were it would only result in the presently dormant nanomachines waking up and defending their host. Of course that would be rather amusing to watch, so Tarantulas wasn't going to try to stop them. No, the concoction he had injected Zodiac with wasn't meant to kill him and certainly not harm his nanomachines. No, instead it was designed to make the host, or Zodiac as it were, more.. willing.. to serve his new master. The spider didn't want to have to deal with another unruly underling like BlackArachnia, after all, no. This time he wanted to make sure his slave wouldn't cause him any trouble or future regret. And to do that, the individual Zodiac was had to go.

(ooc: In case someone already read my post, I did add a small part about Nemesis addressing Frilla towards the end of Nem's part..)

"I will. This attack should not go unpunished."

Well, that wasn't quite the reason for Primal's planned retaliation on the Predacons, but Dinobot may have been right anyway. After what their enemy had done to them and their base, perhaps it was time the Maximals stood together to fight back and show them how strong and capable they really were against their cruel and barbaric tactics. The Maximals were not to be underestimated. ...Was Optimus beginning to think like a soldier instead of a scientist? Or was Dinobot merely wearing off on him a little bit? Either way, his priority was rescuing Zodiac.

"Get out of my way, Optimus," "You don't understand what's at stake here."

Zodiac's life? Maybe even your life? Primal thought bluntly. Was he missing anything else? He refused to let her by.

"He's still alive!,"

The Maximal leader simply narrowed his orange optics accusingly at Nemesis. She couldn't know that just because that's the way she had left Rattrap outside. He was barely conscious judging by the video feed. Who was she trying to convince? It must have been herself since her words did little to persuade him. He was still unaware of the rodent having been placed inside of the hangar's CR chamber.

"Or at least he was when I left him. Shouldn't you be tending to him rather than yelling at me about something I can't undo?"

Was she being serious? Now Optimus was just feeling insulted. He wasn't the only one who knew Rattrap had been left out there, so while he was dealing with Nemesis, he was certain one of his other Maximals had come to the Spy's aid. So, he didn't budge. Her suggestion could merely be trying to take advantage of his emotions and distract him so she could slip away, but he couldn't let her go.

"Only the future can determine if those actions were forgivable or not,"

Apparently, no matter the outcome of Rattrap's damage, Nemesis couldn't care less. It bothered Optimus greatly, but he had to remind himself of who she was, her past, and what she stood for. He couldn't expect or force her to care the way he did. He did hope, however, that Rattrap was alright, and that her deliberate action - after basically electrocuting him - to place him in a safer location where Megatron couldn't witness her doing so before abandoning him was her way of showing the tiniest bit of compassion and being apologetic for her actions.

"You forced my hand. We both know you wouldn't have given into our demands otherwise."

So, this was his fault? Her shoving Rattrap into the shields was HIS fault?! Primal couldn't believe what his audio receptors were hearing. "Let me get this straight," he began angrily with some bewilderment. "I forced YOUR hand by you, Megatron and the rest of the Predacons coming to MY base to infiltrate it by holding two of my Maximals hostage so that I would lower the shields allowing Megatron to steal Zodiac and you to cause even more harm to my youngest Maximal, implying that this whole plan concocted by Megatron was my fault because Zodiac was my prisoner?" The audacity! His fuming summary of the events was rhetorical, of course, since he just wanted her to hear how insane that sounded. What he didn't know was that most, if not all, of the plan had been Nemesis's idea.

"Listen.. I am genuinely sorry for what happened here today. But it was necessary.

The Commander's jaw dropped at her apology that was immediately turned around on itself. She was sorry, but it was necessary? So, she wasn't sorry. He didn't even know how to respond to that without going off of the deep end, so he remained speechless as he tried to make any sense out of it. Fortunately for Nemesis, she continued which gave him the chance to focus on her next remarks.

If it's any consolation, know that you fought impossible odds to save Zodiac and I'm confident your selfless actions were noticed by the condemned bot. And you should know that Zodiac's suffering won't last long. Megatron vowed to kill him after what happened between them, and I'm sure he won't waste any time doing it."

Impossible odds? Optimus had been up against even more impossible odds than this, so he refused to accept her words, mostly because he was not about to quit. There was still a chance to rescue Zodiac - and not just from Megatron - he was sure of it. How was he so certain? Because of Whitegrazer. She would have felt it if anything happened to her son, especially anything as traumatic as death but she hadn't reacted to anything that tragic yet. ...If Nemesis would only give him the location! Primal slowly shook his head at the female Predacon, incapable of accepting the outcome she was casually laying out for him as though she was trying to convince Optimus that it wasn't worth his time or the risk to go after Zodiac and save him. And maybe she was right... As he began to doubt himself on the notion, his grip on her slightly loosened. Was this worth risking his life and the lives of his Maximals to track down the shape shifter, stop Megatron and the other Predacons and bring Zodiac back so this could happen all over again? Hadn't his Maximals been through enough today already? Enough emotions and injuries? They had so much work to do on the Axalon and Sentinel as it was, why chase down the Preds to rescue someone who had tried killing all of them and caused so much trouble ever since he showed up? ...Because it was the right thing do. And Primal was hopeful that this gesture would have some kind of positive impact on Zodiac... should he survive...

"I didn't mean.." "Perhaps it was.. Cut your losses, Optimus, and learn from those past mistakes. Just step away and allow me to depart."

Nemesis didn't mean that. Did she? His spark sank as well as his gaze, and he felt like a fool even though something faint in her voice told him that she wasn't being completely honest. Still, her painful words reminded him of one of his greatest weaknesses, which was trusting too much. Sometimes it landed him or his Maximals in trouble that could have been avoided had he not been so naive and blind. Cut my losses, and learn from my mistakes, he thought as he considered her words. Did that include the trust and respect he had or once had for her since it appeared that he had been wrong about her after all?

"Others have said similar things about him and they are now dead,"

Another blow to his confidence while Nexus Prime crossed his mind, his long lost mentor and father-figure that had perished by the hands of the one he was now willing to save even if it meant risking his own life to do it. Maybe Optimus was beginning to go insane. It probably didn't help hearing distant voices in his head by the Vok from time to time.

No. No, she hadn't seen and heard what he had in the brig before the attack. There was something different about Zodiac, like a tiny crack that Optimus had managed to create in his hardened shell of hatred, anger and indoctrination. He was sure of it. As Nemesis slumped over from the EMP pulse that Wintersong had fired at her with the specialized rifle, his grip had immediately tightened in response to keep her standing instead of falling to the floor.

"I'm on it."

Watching the tigress leave to retrieve a pair of restraints, he heard Nemesis whisper to him.

"Please don't..,"

"You're forcing my hand," he told her with her own words almost in the same volume that she had used while he waited for Wintersong to return.

"Not that, please," "You can't.. You know what it will do to me."

Optimus successfully maintained his arms wrapped around her when she jerked her body a bit awkwardly considering the lack of control that she had with her nanobots that had been temporarily shocked. He really didn't want to resort to torturing her with her own fear of small spaces since he felt awful about it, especially listening to her actually beg him not to do it, but he wasn't going to use it against her if she just cooperated. Hopefully his bluff would work...

"It's better this way, now he won't be able to harm us ever again,"

"Interesting choice of words, Nemesis," Optimus interjected as he found his stronger voice and confidence again despite the toxicity from hers. "You've harmed us. Maybe I should 'cut my losses' and follow your advice so you can never do it again. I could submit it to Megatron to do the deed for me, that way my hands would be clean." It was a much darker remark coming from someone who made it a point to preserve life instead of taking it or even assisting with the loss. His tone had turned a little frosty again as he attempted to give her a different perspective and find some empathy for Zodiac's situation. And what he said wasn't a fair comparison between her and Zodiac since she was far more remorseful and reasonable than the shape shifter had ever shown. He didn't know if she would take him seriously though since it was rather obvious that no matter what she put Optimus through, he was never going to tell Megatron about their friendship which certainly put her in a very tricky spot. It would likely be a death sentence for her if he ever found out. Either that, or Megatron would exile her to the Maximals only to have her destroy them from the inside of their ranks, if she was even capable of such an order despite what she proved to Primal that day by nearly killing Rattrap.

"They will only kill you as well," "And you won't be able to come back next time. Just let it go, Optimus, please.."

"I appreciate your concern, but I can't, Nemesis." His voice may have hardened, but truthfully, her words pulled on his emotions, as though she really did care for him. And maybe she did. Had he influenced her that much without realizing it? "It sounds like a challenge that I simply cannot pass up." Now his tone sounded lighter, almost like he was mocking himself and his inability to give up despite how serious she was being and the severity of the situation.

"You can let go now..,"

Primal continued holding on to Nemesis as he spotted Wintersong hurrying back with the energy bonds and apply them to Megatron's Second-in-Command officer's wrists. As the tigress did so, he got a closer look at the progression of the Voks' contamination that seemed to be integrated into her systems. The spot on her chest had spread, her optics were definitely a different color now, and the feral instinct he felt from her earlier were all signs of something going awry with her. This worried him greatly since it seemed to be getting worse quicker than he thought it might. He didn't address it at that moment, however, since he needed to stay focused on the matter at hand.

"I have a knack for going and being in places where I shouldn't be. I a m bit stubborn. No, more than a bit."

The TransMetal gorilla in robot mode peered over Nemesis's shoulder at Whitegrazer while she limped toward them and bled from her leg leaving a slippery trail of fluid on the floor. She was definitely right about her stubbornness, but she was also delaying her much-needed repairs.

"Why are you trying to help me..?,"

"Nemesis," "We have to try."

At least Optimus no longer felt alone for his desperate endeavor. Most of his Maximals would probably agree with Nemesis's assessment on leaving Zodiac to his demise and being rid of the nuisance and practically unstoppable force that he was.

"We helped you when Zodiac had framed you. We gave you sanctuary when Megatron and the Predacons wanted you. Zodiac, despite it all, deserves the same chance."

"Going there in your current state would be suicide,"

Nemesis seemed to be avoiding Whitegrazer's point, but Optimus opted not to interrupt this time. After all she was right about the Vok's physical impairment that she had failed to allow Tigatron to finish in her rush to catch Nemesis before she either escaped was thrown into isolation or stasis lock.

"It's not me." "I feel him. I feel his pain."

Frowning at Whitegrazer, whom he watched suddenly cringe and tremble in pain, with sadness that she was feeling what the shape shifter was going through with the Predacons despite the distance between them, he said pointing out the silver lining, "But he's still alive." Which boosted Primal's optimism to save him. He wanted to hurry over to the equine and hug her tightly, to take some of the pain away, but he stopped himself and remained with Nemesis. Whitegrazer could handle it for now, although she shouldn't have to, but she had been through worse. Then another Maximal showed up in the corridor there. Well, a Predacon-turned-Maximal to be precise.

“Optimus, Whitegrazer, Wintersong.” “And Nemesis...do you ever not find yourself coming back here.”

Frilla...? Frilla! The joy in Primal's optics upon her return was quite evident. He almost shouted her name but chose to remain calm considering what was going on. He wanted to tell her that Nemesis wouldn't be hanging around for long, but then that would diminish his threat to the Predacon that he made earlier. Fortunately, Frilla's attention was soon diverted to Whitegrazer's extremely different appearance, which reminded him just how long the lizard had been gone.

"Frilla." "It's good to see you uninjured. I know this isn't probably the welcome you had in mind." "A gift from the Vok. Can't say I like it, but don't really know beauty salon anywhere."

A gift? That's not how Optimus would have described it, but Whitegrazer was much more forgiving toward her race than he was considering everything the Vok had done to him personally and put his crew through. He was curious to know if there was anything Frilla had learned about the sites that she had set out to visit, but they didn't have the time to dive into that at the moment.

"Whitegrazer, you are bleeding a lot," "I know you are worried, but you can't do much with your leg bleeding out. It won't take long. Like Rhinox said earlier, Optimus can handle this."

"Frilla, it is good to see you. I can't wait to hear about what you learned." "All right."

Primal was glad to see Whitegrazer listening to Tigatron and heeding his advice. He was right. And as they both left to return to the medical bay, the mare's calming and tranquil energy followed in her wake, leaving the area feeling somewhat empty to Optimus. Coping with the void and feeling more confident about Whitegrazer's repairs, he moved on with his conversation with Nemesis.

"There's more to it than that," "You're not playing fair, Optimus.. He'd kill me if I took this away from him," "Or he'd let that creepy spider do his dirty work for him since he has recently taken an interest in the technology within us," "Tarantulas approached me the other day, telling me he wanted Zodiac for himself. And that if he couldn't have him, he'd get the samples he needed from me instead."

Fair? Nothing about any of this was "fair". What she had done. What Zodiac was going through. What his Maximals had endured. The whole situation he and his crew had found themselves in ever since they were ordered to chase down Megatron and the Darksyde. Losing Nexus Prime. None of it was fair! But they were survivors. Optimus was as fair as he could be when it came to the unique war that they were in. Sometimes though fairness couldn't be played in the cards that were dealt.

What Nemesis continued to explain captured his attention. He wasn't the least bit surprised by it though. Of course someone like Tarantulas would want that kind of technology. And Megatron would certainly want that kind of regeneration. But he didn't think he would actually go the lengths it would take in order to incorporate the nanotech into his own body. First of all, it was a very risky procedure, and secondly, the nanobots may not accept a new host. A transfusion likely wouldn't work without anyone who had the proper skills to do it. Primal's own experience was limited unlike his knowledge with Rampage's spark. So, who else could pull it off? Maybe Tarantulas. Maybe. In any case, what if Nemesis was just fabricating the spider's intentions to make Optimus cooperate with her and release her? He wasn't going to fall for it. It sounded too convenient, although it did prompt Primal to make an even bigger effort to save Zodiac and keep him out of Predacon hands.

"You're willing to die for him..,"

"I'd rather not let it come to that," he told her calmly. "But yes, I am," the leader added. Forgive me, Aurora, he thought with a heavy spark.

"So you're going after him with or without my cooperation then. Oh Optimus, sometimes I wonder about you.."

"Wonder, or worry?" Perhaps a tiny smile could have been detected in his voice even if one didn't appear on his scarred face.

"Fine..,"

Optimus almost stopped breathing when Nemesis finally gave in to his demands and turned her head to look at him with such intensity. But her optics also showed him contrition and self-reproach, which tugged on his spark.

"You're a fool for going, but it's obvious I won't be able to stop you. So here goes..

Was he a fool? Maybe. Maybe not. Only the future would be able to determine that outcome. He eagerly waited for her to share the valuable information that would certainly mark her as a traitor within the Predacon ranks, if they ever knew about it. And if it was true about Tarantulas targeting her if he couldn't acquire Zodiac by Optimus interfering, then maybe there was something he could offer her to keep him occupied and avoid stalking her. No one wanted to be his prey. It was creepy and unpleasant.

Megatron wanted to make sure you wouldn't be able to intervene, so he took Zodiac to an area in neutral territory. The coordinates there are 103.28.11. Just please.. stay safe. I don't think I could live with myself knowing you died because of me."

Primal's orange optics studied hers intently as he hoped she was being truthful with him. Finally loosening his arms around her, the injured one feeling tight and throbbing now as if he had a difficult time moving it to slip it through her arm that had been bound to her other wrist when Wintersong applied the bonds, he seemed to pause as he stepped around to face her while keeping her standing as he slightly re-positioned his arms around her with an added squeeze that was almost unnoticeable. Had it been a hug? Anyone watching them wouldn't have realized it considering how quick and inconspicuous Optimus was about it before he finally withdrew and helped her lower to the floor without dropping her since she couldn't yet stand on her own. But truthfully, yes, he had meant it to be an embrace to show her his gratitude for her cooperation. "Thank you, Nemesis," he said quietly to her as he crouched beside her. "You'll persevere," he added as if it could very well be the last time they saw each other. "And maybe I can help you too." Why, some might ask? After what she had done to Rattrap and Aurora, why should he help her? Because Nemesis might have the power to change things with the Predacons as Megatron's Second-in-Command. It may have been a terrible decision, but what he was willing to give her could get her out of two possible scenarios; one being punished for treachery, and the other being Tarantulas's guinea pig. She could spin her lie to Megatron anyway she wanted to save herself, pretending she had nothing to do with the Maximals finding them and Zodiac, being delayed by fighting them off alone to escape, and her lack of injuries would merely be due to her ability to regenerate. And offering some nanobots to Tarantulas without him having to get them from her, which she could have easily stolen from the Maximals.

Taking a small container and a taser out of his subspace, Optimus lifted the taser to the left side of his chest and set it to the lowest voltage that would inflict very little pain on him. Essentially electrifying himself, he pressed the taser against his armor and activated it to awaken the nanobots that occupied that isolated area on his body from the nanogel Aurora had created and applied to him some time ago as a potential healing agent for the entire crew when they would be out in the field. The dormant nanobots bristled to life in a bluish glow, and he used the container to scrape only a few them off and preserve them. They were unique since they seemed to be able to survive - albeit inactively - without a host, but still required one as well as that external jolt of power in order to function. Putting the taser away, he sealed the container and stood up to walk over to Frilla with his faint, permanent limp, and hand it to her.

"It's good to see you have returned unharmed, Frilla," the dirty and banged up commanding officer greeted her with relief after what Wintersong had unfortunately suffered through with her own Vok-site encounter back when they discovered the Metal Hunter and Megatron had commandeered it. Looking at the TransMetal tigress, Primal took the EMP rifle from her and also handed that to Frilla. "I expect a detailed report from you later, but right now I need you to guard Nemesis. She shouldn't cause too much trouble," he hoped. "If she tries to escape, this will scramble her nanobots," he gestured to the weapon. "Give this to her only when I let you know that we've found Zodiac," Optimus pointed to the container with the tiny robots inside of it. Whether Nemesis would decide to take it or destroy it was completely up to her. Maybe she would devise a better plan to protect herself, but he wanted her to know that he was willing to be her scapegoat. First, he needed to make sure that she wasn't lying about the location in neutral territory that she had provided. Time was against them and Zodiac, so he needed to formulate a plan quickly.

“I think I might take up that challenge. After we heal up of course.” “If Optimus needs more aid just let me know, I will be ready as much as I can be.”

Rhinox nodded to Tigerhawk before he placed himself inside of a CR chamber. Hopefully his repairs would be quick considering that the more help Optimus had, the more successful they would be against the Predacons, a few of which were damaged.

"Guess everyone wants a shot at the Predacons today."

"They did a number on us today," he admitted somberly to Airazor.

"Excellent job as ever Rhinox." "But I should go find Optimus and the others, make sure none of them do something they'll regret."

The Chief Medic smiled lightly at the falcon's gratitude for his quick work as he watched her test out her knee. He knew she would take care of herself despite her handicap since Airazor never foolishly pushed herself too far in combat. She was wise and graceful in that aspect. Whitegrazer and Tigatron had soon returned after their walkabout, the equine still bleeding from the gash in her upper leg which was dripping everywhere. Rhinox sighed and lightly shook his head in disappointment.

"Airazor," "I will be joining shortly."

Rhinox's smile lingered long enough as he observed her and Tigatron's caring interaction with each other.

"That could be you too, Whitegrazer, if you didn't decide to go limping around."

The engineer nodded at Whitegrazer in agreement with Tigatron, and he moved over to them to start assessing her serious wound. When Airazor exited the infirmary in search of Optimus, Cheetor arrived with Aurora, and he was happy to see them both until he frowned at Aurora's limping and critically injured foot that the younger cat had effectively tended to.

"Hey Airazor." "Rhinox."

"Cheetor," the rhinoceros announced in return. "What happened?" he inquired as he gently wiped and applied pressure to Whitegrazer's wound to see what he was dealing with.

"You should get healed up in no time."

"Yeah.. I'd still feel better if I had a true expert like Rhinox repairing me, but I suppose the CR will have to do.. this time,"

Big Green appreciated her confidence in his abilities, and he understood her hesitation using the repair chambers after what had happened to Icebreaker, but right now it was the quickest option while his hands were about to be occupied with someone else who also needed medical attention.

"I haven't seen Rattrap. What happened to him? Is he all right?"

"You are aware that Rattrap is in the CR chamber?"

"Yeah, they managed to get to Rattrap in time. He's in one of the CR chambers,"

Rhinox quietly listened to all of them as he continued working on Whitegrazer before he finally broke in addressing his patient. "How are you feeling?" he asked the Empath. "My sensors are detecting a depletion of energon in your system."

"Airazor," Optimus called to her as soon as he spotted her limping down the hallway toward them while the emergency lights still flashed from the attack earlier which helped illuminate the windowless corridor. He glanced at her bandaged knee and hoped it would hold up, not that he doubted Rhinox's skills. The fact that she was putting some weight on it now was astonishing considering what it had looked like prior to the repairs; mangled and malfunctioning. "We have the coordinates," he told her, his voice suggesting that he was ready to move out. "One-zero-three, two-eight, one-one. Scout ahead in beast mode to avoid detection." She was the stealthiest flier he had on his crew since she wasn't a TransMetal, and her beast mode was the fastest above water and land, so as long as she kept her distance, the Predacons wouldn't even know she was there. "Do not engage. Just confirm the Predacons' location. The rest of us will be right behind you." His following nod was an unspoken order for her to make haste.

"Rhinox, status report on the injured," he hailed his old friend through his comm. link.

"I'm currently working on Whitegrazer. Tigerhawk, Aurora and Rattrap are all occupying the CR chambers," the engineer replied without pausing on the equine's leg, finally managing to stop the bleeding.

Rattrap had survived after all and was already being repaired? What a huge relief. He didn't know who rescued him, but he was extremely grateful. All that time he spent wondering, but now he knew that he was safe. Time to get back on track then as he patched his comm. link through to the remaining Maximals. "Dinobot, Cheetor, Tigatron, and Wintersong," he glanced at the tigress standing beside him as he added her name to the list, "you're with me. Arm yourselves and meet me in the hangar," he instructed the other three. "Do it quickly."

"Rhinox, send Tigerhawk as soon as he's repaired." He forwarded him the coordinates. "Blackarachnia is still in the ducts deactivating any traps Tarantulas graciously left behind for us."

"Alright. Will do, Optimus," he responded as he began to reconnect the severed wires and tubing in Whitegrazer's thigh, working as sufficiently as he could.

"Frilla is guarding Nemesis in the main corridor. She could use some company, Whitegrazer," Optimus suggested to her. He'd rather her not follow them to confront the Predacons and rescue Zodiac, but she often disobeyed his orders. However, if she was longing for a chat with Nemesis, now was her chance. And if she wanted to help Zodiac, then she could do so by using her spark and not even have to physically be by his side. Although, unbeknownst to any of them except for maybe the mare, the renegade was already unconscious. In addition, if Rattrap was going to emerge from his CR while Nemesis would still be there, he didn't want Frilla to be the only one to keep him calm and from attacking her for what she did to him. He had a feeling he might lash out at her.

-----

"Oh Meggy, there were were certainly lessons to be learned from growing up in your shadow,"

Meggy? Ugh. The tyrant almost gagged in a cough at the nick name coming from Zodiac, but he ignored it. "It would seem you failed to accomplish even a task as simple as that," he further insulted the pretender, not that it was true, but Megatron didn't care about honesty here. He much rather enjoyed verbally beating the changeling while he was already down.

"I could provide you with an advantage,"

"Unlikely," Megatron had challenged him, merely considering this as Zodiac's last pitiful attempt at delaying the inevitable. "Partnerships do not seem to bode well for you."

"You could benefit from the knowledge I hold about both Cryotek's recent operations as well the Maximal elders. And you can make use of my abilities to further your own gain when you return to Cybertron."

"As enticing as that sounds, Zodiac, you can not possibly fathom the power I hold." Megatron paused as he leaned in a little closer to his face before adding more quietly, "For you see, none of that matters." His smile was ominous, secretive and confident as he lifted his pummeled head away from his.

"Ehehehe, always my pleasure to serve you,"

"Indeed," the t-rex almost said with a disgusted sneer, narrowing his dimmer optic sensor at him in blatant skepticism. After pulling the dagger out of Zodiac's body, he proceeded to wipe off the blood on its blade on to the black dragon's arm while he was rolled into a fetal position full of agony. Hearing him whimper, Megatron thoroughly enjoyed his suffering, almost as much as he had when Primal had been tortured by the Vok within their alien bungalow.

"Why not a wing and a leg my liege? Hard to hobble around on a single wing or one foot, and he's too far off from anything that could properly regenerate a lost limb."

"Yesss," he agreed happily with the Predacon medic's assessment. She would know best after all considering her knowledge in their advanced robotic anatomy.

"Right, because he treats you so well. Bah! Your blind loyalty is sickening sometimes Inferno."

Of course Megatron treated him well! Inferno knew how the hierarchy worked, and as a drone and worker to his Queen, he would follow him to the end no matter what end that might be. "As is your intentionally incompetent treachery," the pyro snapped back at Terrorsaur.

"I can't..,"

Can't what? thought Megatron while he observed the pathetic shape shifter curiously until he suddenly realized that Zodiac might have been communicating with that nightmarish Maximal/Vok. Would she be able to figure out their location through Zodiac? Impossible. Zodiac didn't know where they were, and she certainly wasn't prying around in Megatron's spark anymore to find out. Trying not to overthink it or panic, the Predacon leader watched the nuisance's body go completely limp as he finally succumbed to his injuries, damaged nanobots, and Spineback's sedatives. "How unfortunate. I had hoped to keep him conscious while dismembering him," he said to no one in particular while the disappointment was clear as crystal in his deep voice.

"It was fun while it lasted."

The Predacon warlord glanced at his troops as they squabbled and moved in closer, but he eyed Terrorsaur and Rampage the most considering their histories while Spineback kept an optic on the TransMetal arachnid.

"I find your lack of insight appalling, Megatron,"

How dare he to speak to me in that manner! the egotistical tyrant bitterly thought toward Tarantulas, and his accompanied glare provided the spider a good idea as to how he felt about it, not that he would care in the slightest.

"I'm picking up some rather interesting results."

Megatron hesitated to follow through with slicing the blade across one of Zodiac's wing to rip it off when the scientist uttered those words. All these delays! But curiosity got the better of him. What if there was something Megatron could use to his advantage from Zodiac's body? Not that he wanted any part of him being attached to him in some way. The thought of it practically made him shudder. Irritation and impatience evident in his tone, growing tired of the interruptions, Megatron inquired, "What is it, Tarantulas?!"

"Oh please insect, your puny weapon wouldn't last against me."

Inferno gasped in offense toward the crab's comment. Puny weapon? It was incredibly large and powerful! Was he blind?!

"Isn't Megatron just lucky to have such loyal servants to back him up."

"You should be punished for your sarcasm and insubordination," the fire ant protested against Rampage's tone and maintaining his aim on him just in case.

Quickstrike merely tried remaining "unseen" since he had failed terribly at his job earlier and didn't want much attention on him at the moment to remind anyone, especially Megatron, that he still hadn't received his thrashing yet. However, he moved in closer to Zodiac like Megatron had gestured so he wouldn't be obvious about standing back away from the group. He was no coward when it came to engaging the Maximals, but when he faced the end of Megatron's plasma tail cannon, he was much more compliant and quiet.

Frilla gave the three a warm smile, curiously watching the struggle between Optimus and Nemesis and listening to their exchange briefly as Wintersong left to get energy bonds. She could only wonder what the avian had done to anger Optimus like this, having never seen the ape this furious. He had been angered sure, but this was...different.

Deciding not to distract the Maximal Commander, Frilla turned her attention back to Whitegrazer who explained about her appearance. “A gift huh.” The frilled lizard wasn’t quite sure what to make of that considering past encounters. “You’ll have to tell me about it once all this craziness blows over ‘Grazer.” Frilla told her before Tigatron would lead her away to get her damage thigh taken care of properly. Frilla herself had to stop from speaking up about the mare being so careless with her wounds and stubbornness, but could figure Rhinox and Tigatron has given her that scolding already. Though the fact Whitegrazer had a half skeletal appearance and Wintersong’s strange patterns and optic color change did have her thinking, wondering if it had to do with the sudden energy spike she had picked up at one of the other sights she had been examining.

It would have to be something to look into later however. Given how long she had been gone may the events the past few months would fill in the gaps of some of her findings.

The transmetal lizard was surprised Nemesis would answer her, figuring the avian would see her as not being worth noting. “I’m surprised you would still risk everything for someone like Megatron, especially everything you’ve gone through. Sooner or later he will leave you and the rest of the Predacons for dead.” She replied, sometimes wondering what kept the Predacons remaining by Megatron’s side. Perhaps promises they couldn’t resist? Strict loyalty for a cause? Mutual hatred of the Maximals? Either way, it would never make sense to her. With nothing more to say, she went quiet as Optimus went about handling Nemesis once she was bound and subdued, seeming to give into the fact she wasn’t so easily escaping this situation. Given how Megatron was though, Frilla did somewhat feel bad for Nemesis and what she might face if she ever escaped again.

But, with the situation under control for the time being, Frilla finally turned her attention to Optimus, raising an optic as he gave his shoulder a small jolt of electricity, triggering a kind of blue gel. It vaguely reminded her of the nanomachines Nemesis and Zodiac had in fact. “Better get your morning energon and a few bananas then Optimus, you’ll be in for a long read.” Frilla joked a bit as she took the strangely shaped rifle in hand, glancing at it briefly as she listened to Optimus and also took the container he offered, now filled with the substance he had just brought to life briefly. “Got it, and hopefully I don’t have to resort to using it, or my own weapons.” Frilla recalled the last time she had used her Electro-Scrambler on Nemesis once and the horrifying sight it had left her in. That was a sight she hoped to avoid as she moved to stand near Nemesis but out of reach, silently praying the others would be alright.

Wintersong had missed the rest of the conversation Optimus, Whitegrazer, and Nemesis had had while retrieving the energy bonds. Not that it bothered her to do so. She was still seething over what the avian had done to the rodent and now Aurora, as if they hadn't gone through enough as it was and now all this.

Sometimes she even wondered how Optimus or Whitegrazer could be so forgiving when it came to certain individuals, such as Nemesis or Zodiac.

The transmetal tigress kept her loathing for the desperation the two held for finding Zodiac to herself, although barely by this time. As she approached the two unlikely friends on the floor, Nemesis barely keeping herself on her own two feet from the EMP blast, Wintersong kept her eyes fixated on Nemesis, watching her all the while as she placed the energy bonds on her somewhat roughly and ensuring they were slightly tighter than necessary. The action and the flash of hatred she felt towards the Predacon were the only indications of her barely contained fury, but nevertheless saying nothing as she backed off at last to allow the Maximal leader to handle Nemesis from there.

"You have a weird definition of a "gift" Whitegrazer." Wintersong spoke with disbelief at her description of her half skeletal appearance, sharing Optimus' silent opinion on the matter. If what all of them had endured from the Vok was a gift, she would hate to see what their curses were like. Dropping the subject as Tigatron managed to convince the equine to return to the infirmary, she turned back to look towards Nemesis, wishing she could feel sorry for the female Predacon and her predicament, but in this moment she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

"Truthfully, it seems they're getting more confident and violent with each passing month." Airazor's voice as solemn at the thought. The Predacons had always been a problem since she could remember upon emerging from her pod, but as the years seemed to have gone by it just seemed to progressively get worse each time. A harsh reminder that even if their war was small, it still had made its mark on all of them.

But, that couldn't stop them now. The avian summed up all her determination to shake off the concerns she held for such a drastic growth in the Predacons' tactics and limped her way out of the infirmary in time to meet with a few of her other teammates, including Tigatron before her leave. The seriousness melted away for the briefest of moments as the white tiger took her hands, the falcon giving them a light squeeze, "We really should stop meeting like this today." She chuckled softly, referencing their only passing, brief glimpses and exchanges between one another that day, most not in the most greatest of circumstances. Nevertheless, as the falcon femme embraced the mech she loved dearly she couldn't help feeling it was these small fleeting moments that made the fight worthwhile.

Sadly, as soon as the embrace had happened it ended, causing her to let out a saddened sigh but she knew they couldn't linger forever. "I know you will." She gave him the most loving of smiles before she left them to their duties, soon coming upon her three fellow Maximals, giving a nod of acknowledgement towards Frilla as she arrived, and eyeing the bound Nemesis. As much as she should probably hate her avian counterpart for her role in what had happened to their dear friend and the possible permanent damage to her knee joint, she couldn't. In fact, she felt almost sorry for the situation Nemesis had got herself into. "Spying on the troublesome neighbors again, got it. I'll let you know as soon as I find them." Airazor confirmed before limping her way towards the hanger, which was the nearest exit location, her green optics briefly gazing at the CR chamber containing the rat, "Stay strong Rattrap, you can pull through this." She murmured softly, before taking off into the air wincing as she converted to beast mode and taking off towards neutral territory.

Wintersong watched as Airazor made her way to the hanger before looking back towards Optimus, nodding in acknowledgement as she popped her mini-missile launchers open to check. She had a few missiles to spare and her rifle hadn't been used that day, so far as she was concerned she was already ready to move out. "Time for some payback, wouldn't you say boss?" Wintersong spoke as she shifted to her beast mode making her way back to the hanger.

Cheetor gave a soft laugh at Aurora's words, "Nah, think I'll stick to just being the explorer type, and I guess warrior at this point. I just have picked up a few things along the way." The transmetal cheetah told her, "But thanks, glad to see my rough patch got the official medic approval." He joked slightly, trying to lighten the mood somewhat during their slow journey to the infirmary so Aurora could get into a CR chamber. By the time they got there it appeared quite a few of them had already visited and gone already.

The younger mech shot a quick smile towards Tigatron, glad to see he got back to the ship alright after all since they had separated for a time due to him handling Tigerhawk's wounds back at the river. "Nemesis is what happened." Cheetor leaned against on the empty cots, growling softly, "Her and Terrorsaur were trying to sabotage Sentinel, unfortunately Dinobot and Aurora were caught in the middle of their part of...whatever this was by the time I arrived." He shook his head then, ignoring the fact Whitegrazer might feel this anger towards Nemesis wasn't without some bright side as she normally did. In his optics, there was no bright side for what her and Terrorsaur had done. "They had Aurora hostage and had us pinned down, just enough they completed what they needed to do. Sentinel is toast Rhinox, Dinobot has a nice little gash on his chest, and well...my armor has seen better days." The teen cheetah glanced at his own slightly healed wounds, some torn open from this latest confrontation.

But he had little time to dwell before Optimus patched in to him, Dinobot, and Tigatron to join him. "Man, I'm going to need a long cat nap after today." Cheetor sighed. But, it was hard to miss the slight eagerness and restlessness present at being called into action again, the young Maximal on his feet to rush to the armory since it sounded like Optimus would be mobilizing any time, deciding to grab a rifle as a back-up firearm while his energy levels took time to return before heading towards the hanger.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Far as Spineback was concerned, her assessment was the right one. Should Zodiac, by some odd miracle, regain his bearings to some degree, the loss of a limb in some way that would avoid a potential escape seemed the most plausible course of action. Whether the nanomachines were active or not was something they would have to risk if they wanted to be rid of this nuisance once and for all. Considering the damage Megatron had taken again it would be in their best interest to do so. Though she did note his obvious disappointment, “Might be the sedatives mostly my Lord, I didn’t know how he was going to react after being shocked.” Spineback admitted, knowing she had taken a risk since she had no idea how swiftly the nanomachines would have purged the sedatives.

But Tarantulas speaking up delayed this, her own glare returning to him, especially at that low cackle he tended to do. It usually meant he was up to something. Stepping forward, the Chief Medic pressed her weapon against the back of the arachnid's head, giving a low growling voice, "Please enlighten us spider, some of us would like to get this over with sometime in the next century." She hissed before adding, "And do let us in on your little joke." She coolly suggested, almost calmly demanding. Though she didn't bother hiding her disgust and loathing for the arachnid either. Quite frankly, part of her wished she had her old form back, a size she could quite literally crush Tarantulas beneath her feet like the bug he was.

Terrorsaur had to bite back a sharp retort for the insect's words, instead giving him a glare in response. 'At least I'm able to think for myself and not let my beast form take over my processor.' He thought to himself, rolling his optics at the clearly futile attempt to argue with Inferno. He could argue the ant's point many times over and it still would be like talking to a rock wall, almost quite literally. Letting out a "Bah!" instead, he simply turned to the delayed tearing apart of the shapeshifter, growing ever impatient with the indecision going on. "By the pit, someone do something already! I'll rust before you numbskulls decide on what to do with him." Terrorsaur squawked with impatience.

“Oh please, I’m practically a walking weapon myself. Your puny little flamethrower is a flea bite in comparison.” Rampage retorted with a snort of disbelief, shoving the weapon away from aiming towards him, “But keep aiming it my way insect, see where it ends up.”. The ant was probably more delusional than he was, which was saying something. If it wasn’t the pride in his durability and powerful weapon he was defending, it was also his loyalty and Megatron. Sensing such admiration and deep loyalty was as sickening as the compassion, kindness, and sentimentality among the Maximal forces. Ugh! He wanted to vomit just thinking about it.

But Inferno soon became rather insignificant in this moment as the rising tension drew Rampage back to what was really going on. He couldn’t help giving a twisted gleeful expression, thoroughly enjoying the turmoil the Predacons could offer. It was no spark, a true delicacy in his opinion, but it did feed his desire to prey upon such emotions. Maybe that was another reason Rampage bothered to stick around aside from Megatron’s possession of his spark piece, the dark feelings and conflict among their ranks being enough to “feed” the need of his spark in small increments. But only just.

From far above, Airazor was ahead of her fellow Maximals thanks to her chosen form. The peregrine falcon was one of their faster fliers, making good use of this to arrive to the coordinates given by Optimus. Or was it better said to thank Nemesis for the gracious contribution. Either way, the falcon finally found herself getting closer to the area, causing her to rise a bit higher to avoid the chances of being spotted so soon or at all from an optic’s view, but their sensors were blind to her presence.

As she came to circle above them, Airazor activated her telescopic sight to zoom in on the scene from her height, finding the Predacons gathered around Zodiac like vultures. But from this height, it appeared the dragon was unconscious, showing no or little signs of movement, Megatron dangerously close to amputating one of those massive wings of his. ‘Squabbling among the neighbors saves us time once again.’ Airazor knew though they are far from being out of the water yet, sooner or later Megatron would ignore the delays. “Airazor to Optimus, I got a visual on the Predacons and Zodiac, and I can tell you now you want to get here pronto. Zodiac is unconscious as we speak and the squabbling won’t delay the inevitable dismemberment I’m fixing to see.” Airazor reported with urgency, wondering if she may have to draw their attention after all. “And as much as I hate to suggest this, shall I draw their attention to slow them down?”

If it came down to it, Airazor did have a rarely used ability in her arsenal she had only used a couple of times throughout the Beast Wars, mostly due to the energy it tended to take out of her. But the shockwave she could generate, if timed right, could be enough to knock the Predacons away from the downed shapeshifter.

((Let me know if it’s too early to have Airazor find them, Phoenix or OOP. Not sure how much longer you wanted the stalling to continue on the Predacon side so I threw a small section towards the end for Airazor.

EDIT: Changed up Airazor’s arrival there a bit just in case you guys were fine with that action.))

Whitegrazer had not interfered during Nemesis and Optimus interaction. She merely watched and listened to both of them. It was then she heard quite clearly what drove Optimus's fury towards Nemesis in the first place. Nemesis had injured Rattrap severely, maybe even fatally, but due to Nemesis' outburst, which proved how Optimus's emotions and opinion on Nemesis' own opinions was starting to affect Nemesis, maybe even having reevaluate the actions she took for Megatron's plans to work. Whitegrazer's optics lowered their gaze as she wondered about Rattrap's status. After all, she never saw or heard of what happened to Rattrap. Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and herself had snuck through the tunnels to enter inside Axalon, not even seeing what happened outside of it.

When Nemesis turned to look at her and asked her why she was helping her, Whitegrazer then responded, "The same reason why I helped you when Zodiac framed you, the same reason why I believe Zodiac deserves a second chance." She smiled at the deceticon turned predacon. "You did spare my life when you could have killed me. But there is more to it than that. I might not have been here to see what actions you take here, but for what I could hear and what I heard from the others, I understand why you did, even if I don't condone them."

She knew Nemesis was far from caring to what happened to Zodiac. After all, Zodiac betrayed her. And Nemesis took that betrayal deeply personal. Which anyone would in Nemesis' shoes. But Nemesis might not be aware of the full grasp of what she has done. "I know that you might not care for Zodiac, and he has hurt you, but has it ever occurred to you that maybe handing him over to Megatron and Tarantulas could be dangerous to you?" she said with concern in her voice.

She wondered if Nemesis knew about the origins of her nanomachines like Zodiac did. Maybe she didn't. Maybe she didn't realize how deadly it could be for Megatron and Tarantulas to know more about the technology.

"Well," she looked behind her to see the trail of fluid she left behind, looking at her stained hand that held pressure against her wounded leg, then gazed back at Nemesis with a smile, shaking her head. "I didn't plan on any suicide runs today."

Her spark ached a bit about Zodiac, feeling the pain seizing her body, the feeling of something being ripped from her body, a hammer pounding her metal skull, making her feel nothing but sorrow and helplessly towards what was going on. Optimus comment about him being alive made her smile. "Yes, at least, we know. That we still have time." She said softly, smiling lingering towards Optimus, remaining optimistic as well as her gratitude, for everything.

Yes, she would have to explain everything later on to Frilla. There was alot to talk and a lot for her to digest. Wintersong looked at her weridly, "Well, to them probably, a message, to remind me of who and what I am."

As Tigratron lead her away, she still heard Nemesis and Optimus talking, and the coordinates of where Zodiac was being held. She couldn't help but smile at the fact that Nemesis did. As they entered back into the medbay, she could see Rhinox's sighing at her and shaking his head with disappointment. Yes, she remembered their conversation they had before. "I'm sorry. I will clean my mess." His statement about her energon levels didn;t faze her. "That was my fault. I aggravated my injury by walking." She just sighed at herself like Rhinox had. "Maybe it is a good thing I keep myself away from Megatron and the Predacons for awhile." Except for Nemesis,of course.

Whitegrazer looked over her shoulder, watching Aurora, before the CR chambers doors closed, "Don't worry, Aurora. We will keep an optic on you, if that would make it easier for you." She said with the utmost compassion towards the little one's fears, knowing fully well why she was hesitate to enter the chambers. As Tigratron was called by Optimus, Rhinox took his place and operated on her leg. Optimus said her name as well but to clue her in on Nemesis, who he assigned Frilla to guard. She wondered if that was a little hint from Optimus, a hint to not only talk to Nemesis, but also, to keep her from following them to save Zodiac. Well, part of her wanted to do just that, but she knew how well she has done with dealing with Predacons. Maybe she better talk to Nemesis. After all, she wanted to have a chat with her since for a long time.

Cheetor explained to her about what happened to Rattrap or at least filled her in on the gaps of what happened at the bridge. "So Nemesis, from what I gathered, used, hurt Rattrap, forcing Optimus to lower the shield for Megatron and the Predacons to enter inside the Axalon?" Hearing what hapedn on the bridge, she had deduced Aurora's injury had to been from Nemesis. To hear Dinobot being injury, but since Optimus called him out, dinobot's injury mustn't have drive him to a chamber, so that was good. "Despite what has happened, I am just glad that everyone is still alive and kicking." Hopeully, Zodiac would be too when the others arrived.

Once Rhinox was done fixing her leg, she stood up, doing a bit of leg clutches to test out how her leg was doing, "Thank you, Rhinox, and don't worry, no heroics for me today. I will go and do what Optimus suggested and speak with Nemesis." She smiled, placing a comforting hand on Rhinox's shoulder, "I know how much Rattrap means to you. You known him longer than the rest of us. I'm am glad that he is recovering, and can't wait to see him ome out of the Cr Chamber, as his charming old self." No doubt Aurora would jump for joy at him out and about, knowing how close the little one was towards Rattrap. Speaking of Aurora, she took a peak at Aurora's Cr Chamber, wondering if she was still awake or now resting as the chambers. Everything looked normal, so with that reassurance, she gave Rhinox one more smile of gratitude, swinging her thoughts back over to Optimus and the others who were being sent off to save Zodiac, "I pray for the Optimus and the others to return safely, and with Zodiac," and then she headed towards where Nemesis was being held. But first, she took a wet cloth and cleaned up her trail of fluid, then disposed of the cloth through the recycler module back at the infirmary.

She could hear Zodiac's reply to her words, which seemed discouraging, but she choose to send waves of warmth and hope through their connection. "You must hang on. Just hang on a little longer, Zodiac, just a little longer."

She headed down the hallway, spotting Frilla, waving at her, "I am going to talk to Nemesis for a bit." It was then she noticed the small container. "What is that?" She asked.



His spark flipped with joy as Airazor smile at him and he chuckled at her truthful comment about how they always seem to be apart due to circumstances out of their control. "A fleeting moment, but I am glad to have a moment rather than none." He kissed her hand after he released her from his warm embrace and watched her walk with a longing sigh before continuing on to bring the stubborn mare back to get her leg fixed up. They entered inside and he continued his work. Aurora entered inside. Oh, that's right, Tigratron remembered inwardly, Aurora still held a fear of entering the CR Chambers after Icebreaker's death inside one. He always remembered her getting her injuries healed by Rhinox or herself rather than inside the CR Chambers. When she nodded about Rattrap, he was relieved to know that she was aware of Rattrap's status. Some of the Maximals didn't, and he hoped they did already.

When Optimus called out his name, Tigratron stood up and acknowledged, "I am on my way, Optimus." Rhinox switched places with him in operating on Whitegrazer's leg. He walked side by side with cheetor. "I agree with you on that cat nap, Cheetor, but first, we still have a rescue mission to complete." Zodiac, of all people, but still, if Optimus still held hoped for the troubled yet dangerous shapeshifter, tigratron believed in Optimus's judgement.

He joined cheetor in the armory, reloading his cold gun as well as his blaster, cocking them both as well as carrying a few power cells with him. Then he joined the others in the hangar bay.


Dinobot heard his name be called as he finished sealing the gash across his chest. He was eager to tear apart some of his former Predacons. He went to the armory and got himself a gatling rifle attached to his back. With a nod and a lust for vengeance, he joined the others in the hangar bay. He knew that they really weren't there to fight Predacons but rather save that dishonorable shapeshifter. He disagreed wholeheartedly with wasting their lives to save someone who seemed irredeemable, but he respected Optimus despite his compassion and weakness for mercy as well as knew full well the past Optimus shared with Zodiac. It still caused him to question despite the eagerness he had before, the same Wintersong shared it seems "Optimus, are you certain that Zodiac is still alive? What if by the time we arrive, he is gone? What then? We can't allow Megatron or Tarantulas get away with such technology or knowledge to create their own."

Primal had remained silent throughout most of Nemesis' attempts to justify her actions to him, although it was perhaps a small blessing that she couldn't really see the expression on his face too easily given the way he was holding onto her. Only occasionally, when she attempted to glance over her shoulder, could she catch a glimpse of the barely constrained fury in his optics. When he eventually did speak up, his voice did nothing to hide the disappointment and frustration he was experiencing, immediately causing the avian female to go silent as not to provoke him even further until he'd had a chance to vent out some of those emotions.

"Let me get this straight,"

She let out a sigh and lowered her gaze a bit, having long since given up her physical struggles since it was quite obvious she wouldn't be able to break free. Instead she merely listened for a moment, not that she had much choice in the matter right now.

"I forced YOUR hand by you, Megatron and the rest of the Predacons coming to MY base to infiltrate it by holding two of my Maximals hostage so that I would lower the shields allowing Megatron to steal Zodiac and you to cause even more harm to my youngest Maximal, implying that this whole plan concocted by Megatron was my fault because Zodiac was my prisoner?"

The Predacon female paused for a long moment before even attempting to speak up again, not seeing much point to defending her actions anymore since Optimus had clearly made up his mind, yet still a part of her felt compelled to try to sway him with her words since frankly.. His anger being directed at her was irking her more than she initially thought it would. Well, at the very least Optimus remained in the dark about just how involved she had been in developing the plan to obtain Zodiac in the first place. In fact, she had likely been the one responsible for arranging the entire attack after Megatron had tasked her to come up with a way to break the renegade out of Maximal custody. Oddly enough it seemed she wasn't entirely hopeless in taking on more of a leadership role, and clearly she was willing to go to great lengths to please her commanding officer.

And she most certainly was not going divulge this information to Optimus, not if she was ever going to get out of this predicament she was in. No, a better approach would be to keep trying to break down his confidence, to allow his self doubt to hinder his clear thinking.

"Your Maximals resisted our efforts," she tried to explain as calmly as she was able to, "It was either fighting back or risking failing the mission, with the consequences that would have resulted in. Surely you can understand why I chose as I did..?," she continued, sounding a bit hopeful for a moment.

Yet despite her best efforts, Primal did not release her from his steel grip. Sure, his arms might have loosened just a tad as she kept chipping away at him with her words, but never to the point where she could force her way free. And then the EMP was fired at her, resulting in the immediate disabling of her nanomachines. At that moment Nemesis' legs gave out as well, her strength having been zapped away with the blast, but Primal had been ready for this. Again his arms tightened around her, not enough to hurt but still with enough force to prevent her from collapsing on the floor. Nemesis let out a slight whimper as she fought the effects of the weapon, failing miserably at it. It was then she realized there was no way out of this that could even remotely be considered favorable to her, prompting the avian female to resort to pleading with her would-be captor.

"You're forcing my hand,"

His voice had been barely more than a whisper, yet the message ran clearly through her audioreceptors when he played on the words she had used only a short time before. Nemesis let out a low sigh, and whatever struggling motions she had been making up until this point completely faded into nothingness.

"You can't win this fight," she told him implying Primal's ongoing attempts to save Zodiac's life.

"Interesting choice of words, Nemesis,"

It wasn't much of a choice anymore. If anything, her actions and verbal defiance had been more an act of desperation than anything. Megatron had surely noticed her absence by now, and that observation would likely result in an even more awkward and potentially far more dangerous confrontation than the one she was having with Primal at this very moment. That is if she didn't end up in chains for the unforeseeable future.

"You've harmed us. Maybe I should 'cut my losses' and follow your advice so you can never do it again. I could submit it to Megatron to do the deed for me, that way my hands would be clean."

He wouldn't.. He couldn't! It would be a death sentence for sure, or at the very least would result in hours of torture. And surely Optimus realized that. If he truly was serious about going through such efforts to save Zodiac, a bot with an even more violent rep sheet than her own, then she refused to believe he could seriously be entertaining the idea of condemning her to the Pit.

Slowly, surely, and weakly Nemesis shook her head. "Would you really let him kill me?," she asked rhetorically, almost a tad hesitantly, sounding far less confident about her own chances than before. It was then she realized the point Primal was trying to make, that whatever happened to Zodiac now would be her doing, even if she didn't pull the trigger herself. "All right.. You've made your point. I do have a lot to answer for, I realize that, however I don't believe you'll sentence me to death for it. That's just not your style, Optimus, and taking your anger out on me still won't let you save him."


Whitegrazer had lingered nearby as well, despite her leg bleeding from some unknown cause, and the other Maximals attempting to persuade her to return for repairs. The mare still waited until she had said what she came there to say.

"The same reason why I helped you when Zodiac framed you, the same reason why I believe Zodiac deserves a second chance."

The avian female lowered her gaze upon hearing that, feeling a sense of.. shame.. perhaps, since obviously didn't follow the same set of rules the Maximals did. It was odd the white mare had that sort of effect on her, as Nemesis was not accustomed to question herself the way she was right now. "You're all morons," she muttered, but without the same conviction she held earlier. "You should be focusing on your own kin, not some freak of nature who has done nothing but wrong all of us." Of course she had no idea about Whitegrazer's connection to Zodiac, and by default also herself. The compassion these Maximals held for others would surely be the end of them.

"I know that you might not care for Zodiac, and he has hurt you, but has it ever occurred to you that maybe handing him over to Megatron and Tarantulas could be dangerous to you?"

Dangerous..? Surely not more so than not letting them have what they wanted. Zodiac lost all rights for her protection when he turned his back to her and tried to kill her. What happened to him now was out of her hands.

"You don't know what you're dealing with here," the Predacon protested, "Zodiac deserves what's coming to him. He's a threat to all of us, he's unruly, uncontrollable, vindictive.. By eliminating him now we're saving ourselves from the trouble he will surely cause us in the future. Even if they do harvest his technology for their own gain, it won't pose a threat to me as long as I remain at their side." Or Megatron's anyway.. Tarantulas was someone she'd prefer to keep at a long distance.

Whitegrazer finally agreed to leave to get the repairs she so obviously needed, but even as she departed Nemesis merely stared after her and wondered if some of her words had been true. The vibe she was getting from the other female was that she firmly believed in what she preached, so Nemesis could only hope she was wrong.

Perhaps it was doubt, maybe guilt, or even a sense of fear after Optimus had threatened to throw her in a small, confined space, whatever the cause she then stopped resisting. Not that she had been making too much of an effort to do so since Primal first wrapped her in what seemed to be an impenetrable grip. And now, with the EMP having caused a system wide overload of her nanomachines, the avian female struggled to even stay up on her feet. Without Optimus holding onto her as tightly as he was, she likely would have collapsed by now.

"I appreciate your concern, but I can't, Nemesis."

Her spark sank when Primal rejected her plea to just let nature run its course. Not that she wasn't expecting him to do so.

"It's a small miracle you've managed to stay alive thus far..," she muttered silently, sounding a little disappointed.

"It sounds like a challenge that I simply cannot pass up."

While she wasn't unaccustomed to challenges herself, this one sounded like the odds were stacked against Primal and whichever Maximals unfortunate enough to go with him.

"We just wrecked havoc with your Maximals in your own home," she reminded him bluntly, "What makes you think the outcome will be any less than a slaughter if you bring what few Maximals you can spare to face off against Megatron's entire armada?"

Well, almost entire.. She, of course, wouldn't be there provided Primal didn't slip up, which honestly seemed unlikely by now. And what she also didn't take into consideration is that when they first launched their attack on the Axalon, they were keeping Maximal hostages while several other Maximals were still trapped elsewhere. It still seemed like a poor choice to make, one that would put Primal himself and his Maximals at addition risk.. and for what? The life of a lone bot who had tried repeatedly, and almost succeeded, at killing them all?

The white tigress Maximal, the one Nemesis recognized as Wintersong but who looked very different from how the avian female remembered her, returned with the energy bonds in hand like Primal had asked of her. Nemesis twisted uncomfortably in Primal's grip, visibly uncomfortable by the sight of the shackles, but upon receiving no leverage from the commander she let out a sigh and rolled her wrists over for the other female to grab. Wintersong, however, was far from gentle as she grabbed the captured avian's arms and twisted them to force them together before she applied the energy bonds. As a final act of showing her displeasure, the unusual looking Maximal tightened the bonds so much they felt more than a little uncomfortable. Which certainly didn't ease the uneasy sense of claustrophobia that threatened to creep up and disable the avian further. But for now she managed to hold it together, since at least she wasn't confined in a small room with no exit.

“I’m surprised you would still risk everything for someone like Megatron, especially everything you’ve gone through. Sooner or later he will leave you and the rest of the Predacons for dead.”

Frilla, who once had served under Megatron as well before defecting to the Maximals, stood a short distance away and was watching the entire scenario unfold. Nemesis scoffed briefly at her words, finding them a bit insulting and short-sighted. Had Frilla really forgotten everything the Predacons stood for already? She wanted to mock the other female, to threaten her, but with Primal still holding onto her she decided to play it safe as not to anger him further.

"He's always going to need soldiers to help complete his cause, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it," she replied to Frilla in a slightly louder voice for the other female to hear. "What he doesn't need is traitors like yourself in his midst," she then added in a more subdued tone.

"I'd rather not let it come to that,"

At least Optimus' voice had calmed down a bit, his anger slowly having dissipated when the avian female finally showed some cooperation. Still he held her tightly, almost in an embrace, which oddly enough was helping her remain calmer than she normally would as well. Or maybe it was due to Whitegrazer's presence, since the white mare/vok had something unique about her.. an aura of calmness.. that seemed to affect those around her. Nemesis felt a bit uncomfortable with having that kind of power exerted on her, truthfully, but she had known there was something special about Whitegrazer ever since that fateful day she had attempted, and failed, to ram a sword through the other female's spark.

"But yes, I am,"

"It's a fool's errand..," Nemesis countered, glancing back at Primal as best she could. But clearly he wasn't going to listen to her no matter what she said.

"Wonder, or worry?"

Perhaps a bit of both? Honestly Nemesis was a bit surprised by the way she was reacting to all of this, even if she had known of some of those feelings she had been harboring towards the Maximal commander ever since she watched him die in space on the monitors before retreating to her quarters while the rest of the Predacons celebrated.

"You've grown into your leadership role in a way nobody could have predicted," the Predacon female mused, almost a bit cryptically. If only Primal hadn't been a Maximal and by such the very force she had been taught to oppose her entire life. Yes, there were some Predacons who had defected to the other side, Frilla and Dinobot being notable examples of this, but as far as Nemesis could tell they did this due to a fundamental disagreement with Megatron about his approach in this war. The avian female still believed that Megatron's ultimate goal justified anything he had to do to get there.

Drawing in some air before letting out a deep sigh, the Predacon second in command finally surrendered the information Primal wanted to him. And in doing so effectively betraying her role within the Predacon hierarchy and more so Megatron's trust in her. She felt an immense disappointment in herself for not being stronger and able to withstand the questioning better, yet Primal and Whitegrazer compelled her to be truthful. It was a messy situation to be in. Nemesis' optics drifted to the floor and she avoided eye contact when Primal finally let her go so he could step around her to face her, only to surprise her by wrapping his arms around her again in a much more compassionate way than before. He still kept her standing, albeit not with such force and intensity as he had before.

Slowly, hesitantly, Nemesis leaned into what felt like a hug. She couldn't even remember the last time she had received one of those.. But it felt rather.. nice.. a welcome gesture in an otherwise hopeless situation.

"Thank you, Nemesis,"

Shaking her head slightly, the avian female only briefly met his gaze before looking away again. "You're still a fool for going," she mumbled under her breath, not accustomed to this sentimental nonsense at all.

"You'll persevere,"

Oh, she would. No doubt. Still, there was a sense of emptiness in her spark knowing Primal was likely not coming back from this suicide mission. After a time, Nemesis couldn't really tell if it had been too long or too short for her liking, Optimus finally released his grip on her and lowered her to the ground since her legs were still too weak to stand up on. She stared after him for a moment from her new position on the floor, where she used her cuffed arms to help support herself, a bit curious as to what Primal was doing when he revealed a small taser.

"And maybe I can help you too."

She winced ever so slightly upon seeing him use the taser on himself, by now fairly convinced Primal had completely lost his marbles. Yet as much as she tried to look away, her optics got drawn back to the area on his chest that was now glowing blue much like she did when she'd sustained injuries. She had seen Primal's glow before, but he had never really explained it to her in any greater detail. Yet now he was scraping off a small part of his armor and placing it in a container, which he promptly handed to Frilla. Nemesis didn't ask what he was doing, as it seemed she would find out soon enough. For now it was evident the Maximal commander was going to keep her here under guard while he went off to get himself killed. For Zodiac.

Nemesis briefly shook her head at this turn of events, yet didn't budge from her spot on the floor even as Primal made his exit after leaving Frilla with some instructions. The avian female didn't hear what they were since the two of them had been speaking in a low voice and were standing a bit further away from her. She waited until Primal was out of sight before trying to change her position ever so slightly, testing her own strength now that the initial shock of the EMP was starting to pass. Her nanomachines, however, remained offline. For now.

"Reduced to guard duty. How very fitting for the brave explorer you are," Nemesis then verbally threw at Frilla after a brief pause, of course having taken note of the fact Frilla had just returned to the base only a few moments before Primal made that call. And low and behold Whitegrazer returned as well, although for the time being she seemed more preoccupied with the small container Optimus had placed a small sample from himself in. Granted, Nemesis was a wee bit curious as well, since Optimus had said he'd help her just prior to placing the sample in there. But until Primal gave the word, she was stuck here at the Axalon under guard.. by these two. Could this day possibly take any more unexpected turns? Well, for the time being it appeared she had little choice but to wait for the effects of the EMP to wear off..

"I am going to talk to Nemesis for a bit."

Well then.. Although perhaps she could manipulate her way free using Whitegrazer. Of course Nemesis wasn't quite as adept at the art of manipulation as some others, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. Maybe. In truth she was rather conflicted about the whole situation, and wondered if she would be making a terrible mistake by trying to get away without anything to show for it. Surely Megatron would start asking some very uncomfortable questions about why she hadn't returned with the others, and how the Maximals managed to find their location..

"Nah, think I'll stick to just being the explorer type, and I guess warrior at this point. I just have picked up a few things along the way."

"If you ever change your mind, I'm sure Rhinox would be more than happy to teach you a thing or two," the fuzor replied with utmost confidence their resident expert engineer would do just that. She'd seen Rhinox perform amazing feats in the medical field, and she was certain he would continue to do so for as long as the Maximals needed him to. Yet that wasn't to say he couldn't use a helping hand here and there.. And Cheetor had certainly proved himself capable as well as far as the fuzor was concerned.

"But thanks, glad to see my rough patch got the official medic approval."

The fuzor had winked at him before climbing into the CR chamber, regardless of how she might have felt about it after past experiences. No, she was in good hands. And unlike Icebreaker at the time, her wounds were far from lethal in nature. So she would just have to keep reminding herself that it was the damage, not the cryo chamber, that had ultimately resulted in the penguin's death. And odd as it might have sounded, that made her feel a tiny bit better, knowing nothing they could have done would have changed the inevitable outcome.

Another familiar voice caught her attention as well, this one being very calming and genuinely caring. It was Whitegrazer who had returned after her sudden departure earlier.

"Don't worry, Aurora. We will keep an optic on you, if that would make it easier for you."

Since the fuzor didn't get a chance to reply before the doors shut, she decided to use Whitegrazer's spark link to reply. Aurora had found it quite easy to communicate in this fashion, as she had accepted the link quite easily and didn't try to fight it the way some others had. In fact, it had come in handy when the fuzor had been able to form even simple sentences thanks to Zodiac's interference.

I know you will. I'm just questioning when the last time these chambers got cleaned, that's all. Wasn't it Rattrap's turn?, she told the other female half-jokingly with an ever so slight fib included. As far as the fuzor was concerned, Whitegrazer had been through enough. And her wounds were likely worse than the fuzor's, so she didn't need more to worry about.

Just before the chamber doors closed, Aurora's gazed turned to their newest recruit, the larger tiger and hawk fuzor, and she gave him a grateful smile as well. The taller male had certainly proved his value to the Maximals time and time again, so he was a most welcome addition to the team. As the doors shut and Aurora got comfortable inside the chamber, as far as she could, she thought she caught a glimpse of Whitegrazer through the small window in the chamber's door. But she'd already been drifting off to sleep, or whatever this state of unconsciousness could be called, so that cryo chamber could do what it was designed for and make the repairs she needed. Maybe it had been a dream? Maybe it all had been? Honestly, Aurora couldn't tell in her present hazy state of mind.

Zodiac refused to grovel, even with the odds stacked impossibly high against him. What good would it do anyway, aside from further inflating Megatron's ego? Nor was the renegade foolish enough to actually believe Megatron would truly fall for his offer, but he still felt obligated to try to do anything he could to stay alive.

"It would seem you failed to accomplish even a task as simple as that,"

The renegade held his abdomen tightly, gingerly, as if trying to soothe the pain from the beating he had received earlier. He wasn't physically wounded though, at least not yet, but he still ached a bit from the rough treatment. Yet as numbing as the physical pain had started growing after a while of being manhandled, the tyrant's words still tore at him with enough force to break something within him. His spirit, perhaps, or his hope of surviving this? No, it couldn't be that. He had never been one to give up. Ever.

He sat up with some level of defiance, trying his best to ignore the pain in his abdomen as his wound got stretched from the movement. He wasn't entirely successful at hiding said pain, but all in all he was holding up fairly well. "You could perhaps be a better teacher than the ones who brought me up?," he offered.

Yet the tyrant's next words quickly shot down any residual hope he may have dared to keep that maybe he could lower the other male's guard.

"Unlikely," "Partnerships do not seem to bode well for you."

Maybe. Maybe not. While it was true most of his former partners had not fared well, his most recent attempt, Rampage, was still very much so alive. Although the crab didn't seem overly keen on the idea of coming to his aid after things had soured between the two of them.

"I was offering my servitude, not partnership," the renegade said in his very last ditch effort to appeal to the tyrant's ego. However this attempt, too, fell on deaf audioreceptors.

"As enticing as that sounds, Zodiac, you can not possibly fathom the power I hold." Megatron paused as he leaned in a little closer to his face before adding more quietly, "For you see, none of that matters."

And just like that, all hope of an easy way out of this shattered. Zodiac narrowed his optics at the other male, quickly deciding that his only remaining option to escape this place alive would be to make sure the tyrant didn't. So he fought for his life, only to have even that attempt foiled when Megatron rammed his dagger into his already aching abdomen and electrocuted him while one of his goons fired multiple rounds of sedatives at him as well. Unable to keep up any longer, Zodiac went down for the count.

While a few of the other Predacons started gathering around him and his newest toy, Tarantulas remained unphased by their presence. For that he was far too preoccupied scanning his new test subject, delighted with all the data he was collecting. Indeed, this specimen was unique in every sense of the word as far as the scientist was concerned, which left him cackling with glee.

"What is it, Tarantulas?!"

As usual the tyrant failed to see the whole picture and was only caring about his own petty lust for revenge instead of the scientific marvel at his feet. Oh well, it didn't matter. Tarantulas had no plans to share his newest creation with any of them.

"Oh thee of little patience," the spider replied the moment he stopped his cackling. The tyrant could only see the Cybertronian shell, but not the wonder underneath. Indeed, a hybrid that shouldn't be alive, consisting of a mixture technologies of the vile alien species they had come to known as the Vok and their Cybertronian counterparts. And not only was this hybrid alive, but he even had full control of both sets of technologies. Even his spark was unique as far as Cybertronians went, as if he hadn't fully been one at the time of his creation. It really was a most fascinating discovery to the arachnid. While it was true he loathed the aliens with every circuit in his body, he also couldn't help admiring their technological advancements as well.

He only paused his work when he felt the hard barrel of their medical officer's weapon pressing against the back of his head. But as she did, a swarm of Tarantulas' drones immediately surrounded her, nipping at her feet with their tiny mandibles, with more rapidly approaching the longer she kept her weapon there.

"Please enlighten us spider, some of us would like to get this over with sometime in the next century."

"Bah, you foolish fossil," he said addressing Spineback seemingly without concern for his own safety, "Leave the thinking to those of us who possess the intellect to do so." And with that he used one of his spider legs that were mounted on his back to push her weapon away from his head.

"And do let us in on your little joke."

"Oh it's no joke," he continued, now addressing both of the hovering dinosaurs. "I am merely pointing out that our specimen here is not entirely what he seems. It took a number of donors to create him, both of Vok and several Cybertronians. He even shares a bit of genetic code with you, Megatron," the spider added, finding his research highly interesting. "I would very much so like to do some more research to find out where he came from and if there are more like him out there. " Of course they might still ignore him and instead go for the savage approach of cutting his limbs off, but Tarantulas theorized that would only result in those limbs either getting reattached or growing back through some other means.

You must hang on. Just hang on a little longer, Zodiac, just a little longer."

Zodiac did not respond this time. For that he was too far gone, having retreated into his own little world of nothingness in his unconscious state of stasis lock. But at least he wasn't feeling the pain anymore, and if anything it was more like a dreamless sleep than anything. Thus remaining blissfully unaware of all the nasty things the Predacons planned to do to him, nor finding any comfort in knowing the Maximals had found his location and were planning a counter assault to save him.

"Your Maximals resisted our efforts," "It was either fighting back or risking failing the mission, with the consequences that would have resulted in. Surely you can understand why I chose as I did..?,"

Of course he understood, but she didn't seem to be comprehending what he was saying. "The point I'm trying to make, Nemesis, is that had you not come here in the first place, none of this would have happened." Although slightly calmer now, his voice was still icy. Had he made himself clear enough now, or was he arguing with a brick wall? "But apparently your self-preservation is more important than the lives of my crew." Which wasn't entirely true. She did after all leave Rattrap in less exposed spot after she fried him on the shields. And whatever she had done to Aurora hadn't gone as far as fatally wounding her or even putting her in critical condition when she could have. It was the principal of the matter. Maybe Optimus just couldn't understand those who only fought or cared for themselves instead of risking their life to save others.

"You can't win this fight,"

"Thanks for your confidence in my abilities," he said with some sarcasm, although this was hardly a matter to make light of. She may not have had faith in him, but he had confidence in himself to pull it off, and more importantly, his Maximals believed in him.

"Would you really let him kill me?,"

"Maybe we should both try harder to avoid putting ourselves in these positions that would require us to ask those questions," he recommended as he said it quietly next to her audio sensor.

"All right.. You've made your point. I do have a lot to answer for, I realize that, however I don't believe you'll sentence me to death for it. That's just not your style, Optimus, and taking your anger out on me still won't let you save him."

"Perhaps you're right," the leader determined even though she was 100% correct with her presumption. But he preferred to leave a little doubt in the back of her mind.

"The same reason why I helped you when Zodiac framed you, the same reason why I believe Zodiac deserves a second chance." "You did spare my life when you could have killed me. But there is more to it than that. I might not have been here to see what actions you take here, but for what I could hear and what I heard from the others, I understand why you did, even if I don't condone them." "I know that you might not care for Zodiac, and he has hurt you, but has it ever occurred to you that maybe handing him over to Megatron and Tarantulas could be dangerous to you?"

As Whitegrazer had spoken to Nemesis, the entire atmosphere of the hallway seemed to calm down, like an early morning in Spring with the sun just rising, the droplets of dew sparkling on the grass, and the fog lifting from the bodies of still water. Her very presence had an uncanny ability to soothe everyone's worries and anger without even realizing it. So, hopefully her words had some kind of impact on Nemesis if his hadn't succeeded in doing so.

"You're all morons," "You should be focusing on your own kin, not some freak of nature who has done nothing but wrong all of us."

Or not. Optimus made no attempt to physically punish her for her name-calling though. She was probably just lashing out in fear and selfishness.

"You don't know what you're dealing with here," "Zodiac deserves what's coming to him. He's a threat to all of us, he's unruly, uncontrollable, vindictive.. By eliminating him now we're saving ourselves from the trouble he will surely cause us in the future.

"On the contrary, Nemesis," Primal proceeded to correct her. "We know exactly what we're dealing with. In fact, I think we know more about it than you do," he decided to throw in to doubt her own knowledge, although she probably didn't believe him. But he had been a small part of his development, and he wasn't going to enlighten her with Zodiac's relation to Whitegrazer.

Even if they do harvest his technology for their own gain, it won't pose a threat to me as long as I remain at their side."

"Well, that's a relief," Optimus said with an added dramatic tone in his voice as if everything about the matter was suddenly okay. "As long as you'll be safe. Of course, it would certainly pose a threat to us, especially me," he pointed out to her because of their friendship. Then he grew much more serious again. "If I can't save Zodiac, then I have to at least stop them from gaining any kind of advantage with his nanotech, because that would surely make it a lot more difficult for my crew and I to survive this war and go home." In fact, it would probably be the end of them. It was bad enough that Megatron had Rampage under his control. And Nemesis was sided with them. So, the Predacons basically had two regenerative individuals on their team. That was two more than the Maximals had.

"It's a small miracle you've managed to stay alive thus far..,"

"Just a small one?" he asked rhetorically and almost sounding offended. Has he leadership, although sometimes unorthodox, not proven anything to her or the rest of the Predacons so far? "Maybe there have been several. How does one judge the significance of a miracle?" he pondered out loud. As far as he was concerned, any miracle was a huge game-changer. Like him coming back from the other side of the Matrix.

"We just wrecked havoc with your Maximals in your own home," "What makes you think the outcome will be any less than a slaughter if you bring what few Maximals you can spare to face off against Megatron's entire armada?"

"Some of them are still wounded. And they've used a lot of ammunition and energon already," he explained to her showing that he had already thought this through and that he wasn't jumping into it blindly, not that he really needed to explain himself to her. "Haven't the Predacons learned yet that the harder you knock us down, the stronger we are standing back up?"

"Well," "I didn't plan on any suicide runs today."

Nor have I, Optimus thought to himself since he didn't intend on dying that day by saving Zodiac despite Nemesis's doubts. He was glad that Whitegrazer was taking his advice into consideration though and taking care of herself before she would rush into anything else.

"Yes, at least, we know. That we still have time."

The leader's gaze lingered on her smile, absorbing her energy like parched dirt absorbing water before it dried up again. He hardly noticed her odd appearance anymore even though it could easily remind him of how much he loathed the alien race that had caused it, as well as what they had put Wintersong through who could no longer deny that something was "brewing" inside of her. Not much time though, he thought. Megatron won't risk losing this advantage that he's gained to end his life.

In the infirmary...

"I'm sorry. I will clean my mess." "That was my fault. I aggravated my injury by walking." "Maybe it is a good thing I keep myself away from Megatron and the Predacons for awhile."

"It would be wise," the Chief Medical officer reinforced Primal's command for her. "At least until you're repaired. We can use your help here after all."

"So Nemesis, from what I gathered, used, hurt Rattrap, forcing Optimus to lower the shield for Megatron and the Predacons to enter inside the Axalon?"

"She almost killed him," he reiterated the magnitude of her actions. "But that pretty much sums it up. Megatron and Inferno used Airazor as a hostage once they infiltrated the brig knocking me unconscious. Then Rampage and Tarantulas showed up, but I imagine Blackarachnia had been chasing after him through the ducts since she was quick to attack. We were fortunate that Tigerhawk had arrived as well pulling some of us out of the rubble."

"Despite what has happened, I am just glad that everyone is still alive and kicking."

Ever the forgiving spark of Whitegrazer. But he agreed. They had to be thankful for that much, all things considered, and stay focused on the positives.

"Truthfully, it seems they're getting more confident and violent with each passing month."

Rhinox sighed quietly to himself at Airazor's comment before she exited the medical bay accepting her analysis. Despite the setbacks that the Maximals often caused for the Predacons, they seemed more determined than ever and were growing more and more ruthless by the day. That wasn't good for the Maximals who were just trying to survive and stop them. It was exhausting, to say the least.

"Nemesis is what happened."

The engineer glanced up from his work only briefly to look at Cheetor and show him that he was listening while he tended to Whitegrazer.

"Her and Terrorsaur were trying to sabotage Sentinel, unfortunately Dinobot and Aurora were caught in the middle of their part of...whatever this was by the time I arrived."

Frowning slightly, Rhinox shook his head as he reminded himself to start working on Sentinel as soon as he was done repairing the equine in front of him.

"They had Aurora hostage and had us pinned down, just enough they completed what they needed to do. Sentinel is toast Rhinox, Dinobot has a nice little gash on his chest, and well...my armor has seen better days."

"From what I heard during the altercation through Aurora's comm. link, you three did everything right considering the situation that you were in. It could have been worse," Rhinox told the younger Maximal. He had made a mental note of Cheetor seemingly taking point during the confrontation with the Predacons, even more so than Dinobot. Despite his youth, he may have had some undiscovered leadership qualities within him. But he still had a lot to learn. Fortunately, if he ever was interested in such a position, he had Optimus as a great role model and mentor to learn from.

"Man, I'm going to need a long cat nap after today."

"I agree with you on that cat nap, Cheetor, but first, we still have a rescue mission to complete."

All of them were going to need some rest. But there was no time for that now. The robust Maximal silently prayed for both male felines to watch their backs and to be careful out there as they headed out of the room.

"Thank you, Rhinox, and don't worry, no heroics for me today. I will go and do what Optimus suggested and speak with Nemesis."

After patching up her leg, he watched Whitegrazer stand up and test out her leg. He still didn't like her low energon readings, but she didn't require his help in order to replenish it. Rhinox nodded but said, "No need to thank me. Just doin' my job," he added with a light smile, although he had wished that Aurora had been right beside him learning and assisting like she normally would. Hopefully she wouldn't need too much time in the CR. Same for Tigerhawk since he would be really beneficial to Optimus's team. Rattrap was obviously going to take the longest time in the hangar's repair chamber. "Just be wary of her words. We can't allow her to escape. I'm sure Optimus will release her when he returns."

"I know how much Rattrap means to you. You known him longer than the rest of us. I'm am glad that he is recovering, and can't wait to see him ome out of the Cr Chamber, as his charming old self."

Cleaning up his tools and the area in the room for the next inevitable wave of injuries, he finally stopped what he was doing altogether when Whitegrazer laid her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Reaching up to it, he gently patted his larger hand on top of hers a couple times in appreciation before dropping his back to his side. "Thanks, Whitegrazer. Me too. But I do worry about his attitude once his repair cycle is complete. If Nemesis will still be here, well, I'm sure you can imagine the grudge he's going to hold against her." And rightly so, but they didn't need anymore problems or injuries that day, no matter if it was Maximal wounds or Predacon.

"I pray for the Optimus and the others to return safely, and with Zodiac,"

"We all should. But maybe you can check in on Optimus from time to time and make sure he's alright?" Rhinox suggested to her and implying that she use her bond with him in order to do it.

As all of them eventually departed the medical room, Rhinox double checked the progress on both Aurora and Tigerhawk's chambers to make sure their vital signs were strong and their repairs were on target. So far, so good. And as much as he wanted to check on Rattrap, he thought it best to get to work on Sentinel immediately and get the shields back on-line. So, he headed out to the bridge to assess the damage caused by Nemesis and Terrorsaur.

"Spying on the troublesome neighbors again, got it. I'll let you know as soon as I find them."

Watching Airazor take her leave from the group gathering in the corridor, hoping that she'll be careful and safe, the Maximal Commander returned his attention to the others around him.

"Stay strong Rattrap, you can pull through this."

The rat awoke from his slumber when he thought he heard a friendly voice on the other side of the chamber's door. Even though he didn't find himself inside one very often despite his constant negative attitude, complaining and fear of dying, he didn't care for how quiet they were. Nearly sound proof. It left him to his own thoughts and emotions when he'd rather be distracted by someone he could tease or taunt, like Dinobot and Aurora. Had they seen what happened to him? He hoped not. He would hate to look so weak and vulnerable in Dinobot's eyes and in so much agony in Aurora's. But what about them? Were they okay? And the others? Hearing Airazor's voice gave him some hope that things were back under control with the monkey's guidance. Thanks, Birdlady, he thought. Such a loss at the battle prior to the attack at the Axalon left Rattrap doubting his abilities to lead. He didn't know how Optimus did it all the time, but he was obviously the right bot for the job. Stretching his silver toes a little bit as he laid on his beast mode's stomach, and feeling a little lonely, he curled up a bit more on the floor as the machine continued its repairs on him and closed his green eyes.

"You have a weird definition of a "gift" Whitegrazer."

Wintersong obviously felt the same way about the Vok as Optimus did. No one could blame her. She still refused to share her encounter with him, but if it was anything like he had endured in the past, then he could empathize with her. They had proven to be unforgiving and merciless. They did what they wanted to them as they pleased without any remorse. Abductions, experiments, torture, death. They had proven to be unreasonable, and Primal was near being fed up with them. As forgiving and patient as he was, he could only tolerate their senseless actions for so long before retaliating.

“I’m surprised you would still risk everything for someone like Megatron, especially everything you’ve gone through. Sooner or later he will leave you and the rest of the Predacons for dead.”

Optimus couldn't agree more with Frilla's comment. As someone who used to live and serve under Megatron's dictatorship, Nemesis could certainly relate to what she said. Right? Megatron would sacrifice any and all just for his own personal gain. He would do whatever it would take to achieve his goals, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop him, no matter who they were, including his Second-in-Command.

"He's always going to need soldiers to help complete his cause, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it,"

The Maximal Commander considered Nemesis to be a highly intelligent and reasonable Predacon, but she practically blindsided him with her retort to Frilla. It almost reminded him of Inferno's unwavering loyalty to Megatron, in which he could do no wrong, and even if he did brutally torture the ant to near death or actually killed him, Inferno would still hold his "Queen" in the highest regard and probably thank him for the opportunity of serving under him willing to sacrifice himself for Megatron to reach his goal. It sounded psychotic to Primal. Did Nemesis really think Megatron would spare her in his endgame if he had to trade her life for his in order to achieve it? Would she gladly and unequivocally sacrifice herself for him or the Predacon cause? Megatron's idea of the cause.

"What he doesn't need is traitors like yourself in his midst,"

Well, wasn't that the pot calling the kettle black. The gorilla only hoped that Frilla was going to be able to ignore Nemesis's words and not let her get under her TransMetal scales.

"It's a fool's errand..,"

"So be it," he said growing intolerable of certain Predacons continuously referring to him as a fool when he had sacrificed so much for them and the planet and their future, and had accomplished so many impossible feats. They still underestimated him.

"You've grown into your leadership role in a way nobody could have predicted,"

Was that a compliment? He wanted to accept it as one, but it sounded like something Zodiac would claim that Nexus Prime would have said, so he wasn't quite sure how to interpret her comment after the lies he had heard over and over again from the shape shifter. At least it was nice to know that he could, in some way, be unpredictable.

"You're still a fool for going,"

After feeling her lean into his brief embrace, he was almost taken aback by her accepting it. He wasn't sure she'd even realize what he was doing, and considering that he had just instructed Wintersong to further put a damper on her capture by restraining her, he really didn't think she'd return any kind of a hug. But she did, and he was glad. It reaffirmed to him that neither of them wanted this dangerous friendship to end. But could either of them benefit from each other with it? Was it really worth having considering the consequences? Whether she meant what she said, or she was just continuing the facade with the others loitering around them, he couldn't tell, but it didn't really bother him. He knew he was doing the right thing.

“Better get your morning energon and a few bananas then Optimus, you’ll be in for a long read.”

"The more detailed it is the better," Primal told Frilla. He had picked up on the subtle humor in her warning, but his response was more blunt and serious per the norm, especially under the current circumstances. Optimus had a sense of humor, to an extent, but he didn't show it as often as he used to earlier in the war. He had hardened a little over the years, as most leaders do under such stress and grieving, but his no-nonsense attitude often helped keep his Maximals focused as well. At least he didn't mind the jokes at his expense; he was used to most of them from Rattrap by now, so he rarely reprimanded anyone for them. It was important to keep his Maximals happy for moral when the situation was ideal for it.

For Frilla to venture out into unknown alien territory and return unscathed, he was beyond grateful for it and was actually looking forward to reading about her findings even if they were going to stack more concerns onto his already heavy shoulders. Then again, she might also have answers or potential warnings to any of the Voks' next weapons or happenings. As curious as he was to know more, it would have to wait.

“Got it, and hopefully I don’t have to resort to using it, or my own weapons.”

Optimus gave her a nod as he recalled that her weapons could also help keep their intruder subdued. He looked from her and back to Nemesis who was laying on the floor with her wrists bound before he left with Wintersong and made a quick stop at the armory to obtain one of his spare guns since the other had been buried in the brig, and he didn't have time to search for it.

"I am on my way, Optimus."

Hearing Tigatron's confirmation, he picked up his pace to a jog with his light permanent limp and damaged arm as he and the TransMetal tigress headed to the hangar with haste.

"Time for some payback, wouldn't you say boss?"

While he agreed with her, he didn't seem to answer her on the matter. Instead, he wanted to make sure she wouldn't be compromised in the battle given the alarming changes to her body. "It's important to know that you're up for this challenge, Wintersong," he addressed her in a more serious voice. "Given your appearance, I have some concerns, because this is going to be a rough battle, and I'm going to need everyone focused on their tasks and watching each others' backs."

"Optimus, are you certain that Zodiac is still alive? What if by the time we arrive, he is gone? What then? We can't allow Megatron or Tarantulas get away with such technology or knowledge to create their own."

"Yes, he's still alive," Primal confidently answered Dinobot as he entered the hangar, his very presence seeming to demand their attention as their commanding officer. "And, no, we can't allow them to do that. Whether Zodiac survives or perishes, we must keep him out of their hands." He took a moment for his orange optics to scan over each of his Maximals standing there, visually measuring their readiness. Some of them were a little beat up, but for the most part, they seemed to be prepared and stocked up on their weaponry. If they needed any additional time to heal, then their beast modes would help them along the way until they reached their destination. Speaking of repairs, he couldn't help but glance at the CR chamber that Rattrap was occupying. If anyone had been having a bad day, it was definitely him. "We're heading to coordinates one-zero-three, two-eight, one-one. I've already sent Airazor ahead for reconnaissance, so let's give her some reinforcements," he encouraged them. Converting to his hoverboard flight mode, he flew out of the hangar and blasted off, obviously not wasting any time.

“Airazor to Optimus, I got a visual on the Predacons and Zodiac,

As if right on cue, Airazor's voice came through on his comm. link. And she informed that Nemesis had actually been honest about the coordinates. If she didn't want Optimus to die, did she also secretly want Zodiac to be saved? She could have easily lied to him and left Megatron to murder him. But she was also concerned about Tarantulas' interest in her and Zodiac's technology. He would have liked to have told Frilla to release her now that their location had been confirmed, but it would have been wiser to keep her in their possession at least until the battle was over. She would be one less Predacon to deal with.

and I can tell you now you want to get here pronto. Zodiac is unconscious as we speak and the squabbling won’t delay the inevitable dismemberment I’m fixing to see.”

Slag! "Copy that, Airazor. We're on our way," the blue and silver ape relayed to her. "Who's involved?" He only assumed that all of them had converged there, but maybe some had returned to base. It would help him if he knew which Predacons they would be dealing with.

“And as much as I hate to suggest this, shall I draw their attention to slow them down?”

He had a feeling she would suggest that, but he was on the fence about it. She was already injured and couldn't handle putting all of the Predacons' attention on her. She had the advantage of flight, but so did Inferno and Terrorsaur, assuming they were there. Fortunately, Inferno was already badly damaged, so it would be relatively easy to take him down. The power-hungry dinosaur with wings was another story. And Megatron wouldn't waste his time or firepower on her, so her distraction might only speed up his willingness to end the shape shifter's life before the Maximals could interfere. Of course, it wasn't like she would be alone for long if she did create a diversion. The rest of them were going to show up shortly. "Yes," he finally answered the falcon as he feared for Zodiac's life. "But do it carefully, I can't stress that enough, Airazor," he pleaded to her. Their best course of action for an attack would be an ambush, catching their enemy off guard and causing them to scramble in a panic. If they lost that element of surprise, then it would make things much harder for the Maximals.

-----

"You could perhaps be a better teacher than the ones who brought me up?,"

A teacher? Megatron nearly laughed at such a thought. He was not a teacher, or a mentor, he was a conqueror, and he didn't need a "pupil" like Zodiac to mimic him or to share his knowledge with.

"I was offering my servitude, not partnership,"

"You and I know that both would end with treachery, so let us not waste each others' time," the tyrant had concluded.

“Might be the sedatives mostly my Lord, I didn’t know how he was going to react after being shocked.”

"Perhaps you will be wiser next time to suggest such an action before taking matters into your own hands," Megatron lightly scolded Spineback since he was sure the taser would have been enough to stop him. As much as he enjoyed her always addressing him as "Lord" and "Liege", this time he didn't quite approve of her jumping the gun and knocking Zodiac out when he had wanted him conscious to watch him suffer.

"By the pit, someone do something already! I'll rust before you numbskulls decide on what to do with him."

"Keep your big beak shut, Terrorsaur!" the t-rex angrily told him.

“Oh please, I’m practically a walking weapon myself. Your puny little flamethrower is a flea bite in comparison.”

Gasping louder this time, Inferno was totally offended by the crab's words and how he blatantly pushed the barrel of his weapon aside as he passed him.

“But keep aiming it my way insect, see where it ends up.”

"Royalty, Ram-!" was all Inferno could say before he was suddenly whipped by Megatron's tail cannon.

"Enough of everyone's bantering!" he hollered at all of them. He obviously didn't seem too concerned about Rampage at the moment, so he didn't care what he was doing as long as his giant pincers weren't touching him.

Having stumbled about after his Queen viciously hit him with his weapon, Inferno merely frowned and blinked in disbelief. Why was he being punished for Rampage's disobedience? It must have been some kind of misunderstanding...

"Please enlighten us spider, some of us would like to get this over with sometime in the next century."

"Indeed," he agreed with their medic. "Please do," he repeated her in a more threatening manner toward Tarantulas.

"Oh thee of little patience,"

"Patience is not a luxury I can entertain. It may only be a matter of time before the Maximals find us, and I wish to be rid of this nuisance once and for all!" Megatron explained even though he shouldn't have to.

"Bah, you foolish fossil," "Leave the thinking to those of us who possess the intellect to do so."

"No more stalling," the Predacon warlord said, having lost all of his forbearance for Tarantulas and his nutty cackling, as he went to stab one of Zodiac's wings with the dagger and drag the blade downward to rip it.

"And do let us in on your little joke."

"Oh it's no joke,"

That wasn't enough to stop Megatron from what he was doing.

"I am merely pointing out that our specimen here is not entirely what he seems. It took a number of donors to create him, both of Vok and several Cybertronians. He even shares a bit of genetic code with you, Megatron,"

Now, he stopped his hand and squeezed the handle of the dagger more tightly. This fool shared a genetic code with him? "Impossible," he denounced the spider's finding. "Your equipment is malfunctioning." He refused to believe that he had anything in common with Zodiac. For all he knew, Tarantulas was just trying to persuade him and delay the inevitable, to spare his body and spark for his own personal gain. The sniveling spider always had his own agenda, which irritated Megatron to no end.

"I would very much so like to do some more research to find out where he came from and if there are more like him out there."

"I'm sure you can find out everything you wish to know with a limb of your choice. I have no interest," Megatron made himself clear, or so he thought. Despite his curiosity, he just didn't want to risk Zodiac escaping by some miraculous occurrence. Now was his best chance to finally kill him as the rage inside of him grew once more for the renegade's attempted assassination on him. Holding the dagger over the pretender's chest where he assumed his spark was located, he taunted Tarantulas by placing the sharp tip of it against Zodiac's armor and tracing it down toward his stomach as he applied a little more pressure. "To save time, we could perform an autopsy right now," he deviously suggested.

Still standing a little off to the side from the brood, Quickstrike's boredom left his gaze wandering up toward the sky. His red optics squinted in the sun while he observed a bird circling too high above to accurately identify. Was it Nemesis? He couldn't tell, but he doubted it. She would have swooped down and joined them by now. Even the vultures are waitin' for us ta stop wastin' time, he thought somewhat bitterly. He clearly didn't know his bird silhouettes. Sighing quietly, he lowered his gaze back at the group that had begun bickering while his cobra head seemed to do its own thing by gnawing on the tall grass that the small Fuzor was standing in.

(( OOC: Optimus will dish out orders for his team in my next post as they show up to help Airazor. ))

((Okay! I finished this last night but passed out, so now here it is!))

A reminder?

Frilla could only look at her friend with the deepest of curiosities rather than fear or unease. Being part Vok, now that was more interesting than anything the frilled lizard had ever found at their sites, at least the ones they knew of. “Well, that would explain your empathic abilities at least.” Frilla could piece together that much, offering a friend a quick smile. “Maybe you can be my fact checker then later.” The smaller female suggested before Whitegrazer and Tigatron has made their way back towards the infirmary.

It might be a long shot, but perhaps the equine could confirm certain suspicions or information she had wrote down in her observations. Something to address later as Optimus finished up his conversation with Nemesis and gave her the strange glowing substance he had scrapped off his armor. Admittedly, she was curious to what Optimus had just removed from his armor, recalling very well he had never had such a thing before. Perhaps an invention of some kind from Rhinox or Aurora, two of the most gifted individuals she could ever think of.

Nemesis seemed to be intelligent but blind, no doubt drawn into Megatron’s plan by his play and twisting of words, courting Nemesis into the insanity that was the tyrant. But the avian’s words struck a rare chord of irritation in the frilled lizard which she hid for now, not even giving Nemesis the satisfaction of an answer, glad for when Optimus answered her about the report. His humorless, blunt response was more than enough to draw Frilla’s attention from Nemesis for the moment, observing his demeanor and look that had drastically changed since the first time they had talked on the battle field those few years ago. “I’ll be as thorough as I can be Boss Monkey.” It was a response she had since picked up from Rattrap, quickly placing the container under her arm and placing it on Optimus arm and looking to the white tigress who seemed on the verge of exploding with fury, “Good luck you two.” It was all she could offer for now before she took the container and stowed it away in one of her subspaces.

And there it was...another insult at her expense that Frilla could no longer ignore, “Hm, and whose fault is it that we’re both in this predicament exactly?” She retorted sharply, “Its not the most terrible task to have Nemesis, contrary to what you might think. But at least here, I don’t have to worry about someone trying to figuratively and literally stab me in the back to get higher in the ranks or my commanding officer killing me in cold blood, you know kind of like a loyal Predacon I once knew called Glowstick. Maybe you know him.” She hissed in a rare break in her usually calm sarcastic demeanor. It was clear she still mourned the squid, one of the few Predacons she had considered a friend and highly respected due to their many missions together. “Then again, maybe you need to re-evaluate your view on what makes a Predacon, not all of them are Megatron’s crew.” She growled once more before Whitegrazer rejoined them, now properly healed.

She didn’t bother to wonder if Whitegrazer has heard anything she had just said, knowing she might sense the anger and sadness coming off her anyway. “Just keep your optic on her Whitegrazer, she’s still a Predacon after all.” She warned her with contempt towards the Predacon avian, merely holding the rifle at the ready while keeping her distance before shrugging, “Not sure what’s in the container either, something Optimus removed from his armor.”

“It should be a reminder you’re better than they are Whitegrazer, no matter how...unsettling it might be.” It was a little blunt and to the point, but Wintersong meant every word much to the chagrin of the Vok presence inside her. She could sense their annoyance with her words, only feeling a sense of smugness of still defying their influence, no matter how small. At least Whitegrazer she trusted, knowing she would be unlikely to go to the extremes her people would go.

Or, the tigress would like to believe that.

Turning back to the exchange between Optimus and Nemesis, the tigress could only wonder why Optimus bothered with the avian. It was clear she cared little for their safety and well being, being too wrapped around Megatron’s finger to see what Frilla was trying to warn her about. Far as Wintersong was concerned it was Nemesis’ loss and not a concern of theirs. Why should it be? They had tried helping the former Decepticon on multiple occasions and it had proven only to benefit her long enough to gain Megatron’s favor and for her own self-preservation. In Wintersong’s opinion, let the female Predacon dig her own grave and lay in it to rot.

Finally, her and Optimus could begin to head for the hanger, trotting along beside the gorilla who made a brief stop by the armory along the way. And not much to her surprise while they arrived addressed the latest changes to her form before the others could arrive, “I am focused Optimus, I met the others near the pod location and stopped Spineback from turning Rattrap in a rodent kabob without issue.” ‘Mostly.’The transmetal feline pointed out while adding the last part to herself, standing by her capability to stil function as normal as she could since returning a few days ago. “Besides, we can’t exactly afford more Maximals being on the sidelines given what happened today.” Wintersong insisted before turning to see the others arriving at the tail end of their conversation.

Cheetor gave an amused chuckle, “Maybe once we handle Megatron and his goons I might one day.” He assured Aurora before she has gone to the CR chamber.

Not long after they went into detail about what had gone on between the bridge and the attack in the brig. It made the young Maximal frown at how swiftly things had descended into chaos, the base left almost undefended when most of them had been captured or kept back, allowing the Predacons to overrun the rest with little resistance. “No wonder old grape face was in a hurry, took down half the group, trapped the rest, then came here to finish the job.” He never could understand how deep a grudge Megatron could hold for one bot. But then again, the young cheetah could figure many of the Maximals were likewise capable of holding a similar grudge but handle their issues on their own or with some help rather than using an entire armada to do their dirty work.

But the conversation was cut short when Optimus called to him and Tigatron, hurrying from the room alongside the older feline who shared his sentiment about needing a nap. “I just hope Zodiac is worth all this trouble Big Cat. I just worry where it could lead Optimus the most.” Cheetor admitted, having a deep respect towards the Maximal Commander who was practically like a father to him. Even if Cheetor never became a commander like him, he wanted to be half the bot Optimus had proven himself to be, a true role model both him and Aurora had come to look up to. Nowadays though, Tigatron also fell into that same role and it was hard for Cheetor not to worry about both of their well beings as well as the rest of their friends. But with all that said and done, he quickly made his way to the hanger, finding Optimus and Wintersong already there and Dinobot soon joining them as well.

Both felines though listened to Optimus intently, Wintersong deciding not to press the matter of coming along just because of the spread of...whatever it was the Vok had cultivating inside her. And Cheetor was ready as he ever would be. “We’re right behind you Big Bot.” Cheetor’s seemingly nerved ending enthusiasm shined through his worry as he reverted to beast mode, “Jets, maximum burn!” He didn’t know for sure if they were online, but the cheetah was taking a risk and was relieved when he heard the soft rumble of the jets that flipped out from his sides. Before he knew it, he was taking flight after Optimus, easily catching up to the Maximal commander who he quickly took note seemed to be speaking with someone, Airazor perhaps. Quietly the young Maximal listened, showing a look of concern when Optimus ended the transmission, “Optimus? What’s the update?”

While Optimus had talked, Wintersong had followed his gaze towards the CR chamber that housed Rattrap, lingering a bit longer as the others prepared to move out, wishing the rodent was riding out beside them. Silently wishing him a swift recovery, Wintersong finally turned away and charged out of the hanger, switching to her vehicle mode and turning her boosters to maximum power, most likely getting ahead of Tigatron and Dinobot, “See you two there.” She called to them as she raced by.

In the infirmary, one of the healing Maximals had been oblivious to the rest of the conversations around him, having shut down to allow his body to be worked on and return some of his energy.

Tigerhawk was out long enough the medical room had all but cleared out by the time the AI gave the response, “Unit Tigerhawk repair cycle complete.” Optics flickering back on, the larger fuzor gave a loud, wide yawn as he stepped out from the chamber, stretching his body and spreading out his wings in the process before folding them again, frame shaking somewhat from the strain of the stretch. Looking around, the tiger/hawk fuzor wasn’t surprised to find everyone had all but cleared out, no doubt going about their next tasks, bringing back the words Rhinox had said before he had shut down for a time. He would have to ask the rhinoceros the status of the situation, turning for now to curiously look at the second CR chamber, finding the much younger, smaller fuzor, Aurora, resting within. “Rest well young Aurora, I imagine you will need your strength.” He spoke to her, not knowing if she could hear him but unfortunately could not linger there much longer, making haste towards the bridge since he still had the rescue mission to be concerned with.

Once arriving, he found Rhinox to be there already, having taken a wild guess where the engineer and Chief medical officer could be, “Rhinox.” Tigerhawk announced his presence, “What’s the situation with the rescue party for the shapeshifter?” He inquired.

++++++++++++

“Aside from our Predacon guest back at base, all of them are present for the show.” Airazor reported as she circled above, keeping an optic on the events unfolding. It still seemed the situation was getting tense, shaking her head as Rampage and Inferno’s argument seemed to be trying Megatron’s patience.

But until Optimus gave the order, she could only observe...

The former Decepticon could only bow her head slightly in apology for her actions despite feeling the situation seeming to show otherwise. She couldn’t tell how powerful the taser would have been, whether it would only affect that one area of his abdomen or affect his entire body, so, the risk seemed justified in her opinion but she wisely decided not to question his scolding of her. But for now they had the concern of what Tarantulas found so interesting.

Spineback narrowed her eyes slightly, ‘This old fossil can tear you limb from limb spider. She kept the remark to herself however do not to further provoke Megatron’s rage. Though as the arachnid began to explain exactly what he found so interesting about Zodiac, she began to feel the small nips by the spider drones often accompanying the tarantula, causing her to growl in slight irritation. “Little pests.” She grumbled, stomping on a few of them while lowering her weapon when Tarantulas pushed it aside, listening to his assessment. She listened as she drew her lance, knocking some of the drones away while she took a couple steps back, ignoring the insult to her intelligence by the spider merely rolling her optics. Not the worst insult she had heard.

But, her curiosity was peaked at the mention of Zodiac being a hybrid of these strange Vok aliens and multiple Cybertronians. Maybe it would be worth researching, something that wasn’t unlikely whether the shapeshifter mech was dead or alive. “A few samples should suffice for research, or can a mad scientist like yourself not have the capacity to work without an entire subject.” The Decepticon-turned-Predacon inquired, openingly challenging his motives while looking over towards Megatron, hoping they could get this over with.

Terrorsaur clamped his mouth shut at Megatron’s tone, gulping slightly. He knew it might have triggered the tyrant, but he was the one who was impatient to get this moving along to get his revenge and had only been trying to get them to make up their minds. So, he had resorted to going quiet and crossing his arms in a huff, but snickered as Inferno was smacked aside and looking quite bewildered by being punished instead of Rampage.

Well, at least something entertaining happened.

Rampage rolled his eyes, growing bored with Inferno’s incessant attempts to defend his loyalty and justifying his need to point his weapon at him. It was pretty pathetic really, especially how offended Inferno was by his statement. Even if the ant was extremely durable and probably worth having around for his firepower, he was more of a nuisance than anything beyond that to the immortal mech and by now was ignoring him shortly after Megatron had deemed it necessary to discipline the smaller Predacon. With Inferno silenced he could now focus on the exchange between the two dinosaurs and spider, optics shifting between the three until Megatron decided to finally consider going through with his original plan to torture and dismember the shapeshifter at last. ‘Come on, come on.’ Rampage thought impatiently, salivating at the thought of having the treacherous spark of Zodiac at last.

From above, Airazor had patiently waited for Optimus to consider their options before giving her the okay and hearing his worry about taking on the task of being a diversion, “Don’t worry Optimus, I will and if I time this right maybe I can keep them from seeing the rest of you arriving right away to retaliate, Airazor out.” Pulling upward to gain more height, the falcon arched into a loop before going into a steep dive from towards the side of the Predacons, building up her momentum until she was creating enough force to create the shockwave she was going for. Hoping the power behind it would be enough to knock most of the Predacons back, and letting out a sharp cry as her talons were prepped for a secondary attack, aiming to knock Megatron away from the downed Zodiac. Even if she didn’t damage Megatron, she hoped the momentum could knock him back while she attempted to veer away at the last moment.

(( OOC: I don't know where una is, but I believe it has been three days, so perhaps we should keep moving. I will not be able to post from Thursday this week through Sunday, so my time is limited. If we do wait for una, and then Phoenix posts, then I will be able to post on Monday. ))

(ooc: Well.. Una's disappeared for sure.. No telling for how long this time. Le sigh. If you're lurking, una, please let us know you're doing okay at least.)

Slowly but surely Nemesis' struggles had ceased as if the very strength had been zapped out of her with the effects the EMP had rendered on her systems. In truth that was likely some of the reason, but another was that she eventually gave up against what seemed like unrealistic odds at that time. Of course her pride prevented her from entertaining such a notion, not wanting to appear weak in front of the Maximals. Even Optimus.

"The point I'm trying to make, Nemesis, is that had you not come here in the first place, none of this would have happened."

His voice still held an angry edge to it, but something in it had softened just a tad. The avian female's shoulders sank a bit as the male finished up his accusation, still trying her best to fight that sense of guilt his words had brought on. It's not that she truly had been given much of a choice in this matter, however, since Megatron wasn't exactly known for his patience.

"What would you've had me do?," she replied with a defeated voice, attempting to shift the blame onto another. "As Megatron's second in command, he holds me to certain expectations. He called the shots, I just obeyed his wishes. Going against those wishes have had serious repercussions for others under his command," she then added, reminding Primal of what had happened to Glowstick.

Her words, as genuine as they may have sounded, hadn't been entirely true. Indeed, Megatron may have been the one to express his desires to watch the shape shifter burn, but Nemesis held most of the blame for coming up with a plan to see that happen. As far as Primal was concerned, however, he was unaware of the extent of her involvement.

"But apparently your self-preservation is more important than the lives of my crew."

Well.. he wasn't wrong. And playing on that desire to stay alive seemed like the only way to persuade Optimus to be lenient with her.

"For someone with several former Predacons in your crew, you know surprisingly little about the Predacon way of life..," the female mumbled under her breath. "We're not given the freedom to choose for ourselves."

She let the words linger for a moment, giving Primal a chance to let them sink in before she continued.

"We weren't targeting specific members of your crew. Yes, I will admit that some of our actions.. "


Pause.

".. My actions.. could have put some of your crew in danger. But at the time the risk seemed justified."

No, those likely weren't the words Optimus wanted to hear, but lying to him was difficult enough as was. No, not lying. Withholding some parts of the truth. And it wasn't as if she was telling him anything he didn't already know, instead she was taking the less than subtle approach to try to change the focus away from herself.

"It was Megatron's decree that the traitor was made to pay for his actions. Still.. part of me wishes we could have done it without the damage done to your base.. and crew," she added, sounding quite genuine.

"Thanks for your confidence in my abilities,"

"Your abilities already led you into the cold grasp of death once before," she responded, sounding quite indignant that he was refusing to listen to her warning. "He's not worth dying for," she then quickly added, her voice quieting once more. Apparently this was a fight she couldn't win either and it was becoming more blatantly obvious by the minute.

"Maybe we should both try harder to avoid putting ourselves in these positions that would require us to ask those questions,"

As Optimus whispered the words to her, Nemesis couldn't help but twitch uncomfortably in his grasp. Of course she didn't really think Primal would put her in a situation that would basically condemn her to the tortures of the Pit before death, it just wasn't in his nature to do so, but still his words hit a nerve of sorts. Before replying, she turned her head a bit which caused the transmetal feathers that covered her head to brush up against Primal's face. And for a brief moment it was as if she was leaning into him more.

"If only we had met under different circumstances," the Predacon responded in a quiet voice as well. She felt a certain vulnerability around Optimus that she was still struggling to come to terms with. Her feelings clashed with everything she identified herself as, and frankly if she didn't believe in Megatron's vision for the future she likely wouldn't have sided with him against Primal.

It almost seemed they were doomed to repeat the actions that put them at odds with each other since neither would be allowed the opportunity to go against the role they had been given.

"Perhaps you're right,"

Oh she was certain.. right? It would be easy enough for Optimus to turn on her if his compassionate nature would allow him to. But no, Primal would always take the high road even if it came at the cost of his life. He had proven so again and again, foolishly putting himself as risk for his crew, his friends, this planet.. even her. And he was a fool for doing so. A stubborn fool. It went against every part of Nemesis' programming to be willing to sacrifice herself the way Optimus kept trying to do, yet a part of her.. a small part.. found the monkey's willingness to do this almost admirable. Nobody else had ever been willing to give up everything, including their life, for her. And as self destructive as such a display of compassion for others was, she did feel a sense of gratitude for it.

Nobody had ever treated her the way Optimus did. They always wanted something from her, whether it was her abilities or intelligence, yet Primal hadn't asked for anything in return for treating her with the respect and compassion that he did. Well, aside from sparing his crew.

"On the contrary, Nemesis," Primal proceeded to correct her. "We know exactly what we're dealing with. In fact, I think we know more about it than you do,"

Primal had certainly come a long way after he was forced to take command over this inexperienced crew of Maximals. There was no doubt about that. Most of them should have been dead already, whether from the aliens' presence, or by Megatron's hand, or perhaps some other thus far unknown danger on this planet. But now the male was talking nonsense. The Zodiac she knew would have guarded his secrets to the grave, or at least she always presumed he would. Some small part of her was starting to question that now, since Primal didn't make a habit of lying about things.

"No matter what he might have told you to change your opinion of him, he needs to be held accountable for his crimes," she finally responded after a few moments' hesitation, yet she didn't sound quite as adamant about it as before.

"Well, that's a relief,"

Nemesis sighed at her own inability to get her point across. It was clear Primal wasn't going to listen to reason.

"As long as you'll be safe. Of course, it would certainly pose a threat to us, especially me,"

"You know that's not what I meant," she grumbled back at him a bit impatiently, by now starting to wonder if Optimus was ever going to let her go or if she was doomed to spend eternity in his grasp. Yes, it was kind of nice in some small, strange way, but it was also very uncomfortable and humiliating given their respective sides in this conflict.

"If I can't save Zodiac, then I have to at least stop them from gaining any kind of advantage with his nanotech, because that would surely make it a lot more difficult for my crew and I to survive this war and go home."

"It could be years before they figure out an efficient way to actually use the technology to their advantage," Nemesis reminded Optimus before lowering her voice significantly since she didn't want the others to overhear what she was about to say.

"I told you about the poor success rate when they were trying to implement the nanotechnology into the test subjects.. There were hundreds of us being experimented on, yet only a handful were still alive when I left. And of those, only Zodiac seemed to meet and even exceed the scientists' goals."

Why had Zodiac been a success where so many others failed anyway? While it was true the nanomachines that were integrated into Nemesis' own circuits had given her some remarkable healing abilities, she still didn't possess nearly as impressive skills as Zodiac did. And somehow he seemed to control the technology with such ease, while her relationship with her tiny symbiotic companions was much more chaotic.

"Just a small one?"

Well.. no. Not exactly. But she didn't feel like discussing it right now.

"Maybe there have been several. How does one judge the significance of a miracle?"

Those feelings of regret and emotional pain she had felt upon watching him die, those had been new to her at the time. And she really didn't care to repeat them. Yes, him coming back had been the ultimate miracle. But that was not to say that Primal was invincible and could be brought back again. She still had no idea how the Maximals had achieved such a feat, and honestly she didn't really want to try to wrap her head around it since it would be a distraction. And those she didn't need any more of.

"Some of them are still wounded. And they've used a lot of ammunition and energon already,"

True.. Unlike the Maximals, who now had an opportunity to get repairs, the Predacons would have to wait with such until they had completed their goal and returned to base.

"You're willing to risk your Maximals' lives on that?," she questioned, since Primal clearly had no regards for his own life.

"Haven't the Predacons learned yet that the harder you knock us down, the stronger we are standing back up?"

"The odds are still stacked against you, but it's clear you can't be reasoned with about this so I'm not going to bother," Nemesis sighed. She then fell quiet as Optimus finally let her go and allowed her to slide to the floor. She still felt weak, of course, and her nanomachines were currently not functioning, but this weakness of hers was going to pass sooner or later. Or at least some of it would. How long it would take for the nanomachines to come back online was another matter altogether, but for now she made no effort to move from her spot.

What would the point of doing so be? Primal was still finishing up, leaving his crew with some last minute instructions, and in her state she couldn't possibly outrun them even if she could get back to her feet. Besides.. Where would she go right now? Run back to Megatron, with the Maximals following right behind her? Yeah, that seemed like a terrible idea.. She'd have to come up with some excuse for her absence before she returned to base. If Primal let her go, that is. She supposed that decision would be made after they reached Zodiac and found what kind of condition he was in. Honestly Nemesis didn't believe the renegade stood a chance, for that Megatron's determination to kill him had been too high. The best the Maximals could really hope for was to be able to give the shape shifter a proper funeral.

When Primal had changed his position a bit to give her what almost felt like an embrace, his touch growing softer when he gently moved her in his arms before eventually letting her go, Nemesis had only hesitated for a moment before leaning in. She wasn't able to return the gesture, of course, as her arms were firmly tied together at the wrists, but she still didn't back away when he pulled her closer. It hadn't been a conscious act, exactly, yet more so something that just felt right at the time. And welcome, in a sense. Perhaps everyone needed a hug once in a while, even those who normally moved away from close contact of any kind.

And yet now, that she was sitting on the floor and barely supporting herself with her cuffed arms, she sort of wished Primal hadn't let go. This really didn't seem like something he'd return from in one piece, so there was something final about that hug just now. A goodbye, of sorts, and Nemesis hated watching him go. Yet now that she was left behind with only the two other females to guard her, it did leave her with a chance to contemplate her recent actions and future ones as well.

While the two females briefly talked among themselves and Optimus handed Frilla the box with the samples he had scraped off his own armor, Nemesis feigned disinterest yet she was listening in as much as she could. They had moved a short distance away, however, so she couldn't catch all of what they were talking about. After a short while, the once-Predacon female turned her attention back to the avian.

“Hm, and whose fault is it that we’re both in this predicament exactly?”

"We make our own choices," Nemesis muttered in response, "As far as I recall, nobody held a weapon to your head and forced you to turn traitor on your own kin. So what does that make you, exactly?" As far as being a Predacon, however, it was clear to the avian that her words had struck a nerve somewhere.

“Its not the most terrible task to have Nemesis, contrary to what you might think. But at least here, I don’t have to worry about someone trying to figuratively and literally stab me in the back to get higher in the ranks or my commanding officer killing me in cold blood, you know kind of like a loyal Predacon I once knew called Glowstick. Maybe you know him.”

Oh yes, Nemesis knew Glowstick. They all did. And frankly it had caused a bit of a stir when Megatron had chosen to have him executed. But it wasn't something any of them openly questioned Megatron about, since most of them were respectful enough and perhaps a little afraid to question him. Nemesis, too, had been on the receiving end of Megatron's rage at one point.

Sighing at the other female's observation, the avian's gaze drifted to the floor.

"Whatever Megatron has done, he will still win this war," Nemesis then said a bit more quietly. But it almost sounded like she was trying to persuade herself as much as anyone else present. She couldn't and wouldn't tell the other female why she believed what she did, but what Megatron had shared with Nemesis of his future agenda had been enough to persuade her.

"But know this.. There is hostility on both sides in this. There was actually a Maximal agent under Primal's leadership who had been tasked to destroy those of us who have nanomachines incorporated into our circuits. Not sure what happened to him, if he left on his own accord when he wasn't successful in his mission or if he eventually got his skidplate banished.. Either way, you need to watch your back no matter which side you're on," she added.

As the two females started talking again, Nemesis finally used what strength she could muster to force herself to her feet. She left her weapons scattered on the floor, not really feeling up to a confrontation right now. And then, on shaky legs, she slowly made her way past the two females yet made no effort to try to hide her movements. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to escape," she mumbled to Frilla and Whitegrazer, having overheard Primal's instructions earlier. "But there's someone I need to check up on," she continued, turning to slowly make her way towards the infirmary. Sure, the two other females could and likely would try to stop her, but Nemesis was unarmed and in cuffs right now so she hardly seemed like much of a threat. And frankly Primal's words from earlier had been eating at her, so she wanted to see for herself how Rattrap was doing. Not that she especially cared about the rat, no, but she did care about Primal and she hated feeling his anger and disappointment directed at her the way it was for what she had done. Maybe, just maybe, she could somehow make things better by at least attempting to patch things up a bit with the rodent.

Upon finally reaching the infirmary, Nemesis stopped and looked around. Some of the Maximals were still here, finishing up their repairs, but at this point only a couple of the CR chambers were in use. Ignoring their hostile stares, she made her way over to the closer of the chambers, stopping right in front of it and peeking in through the window to see Rattrap still being repaired inside. The normally cold stare in her optics softened just a bit as she watched the machine frantically work on the small Maximal, finally giving the avian female some insight in how damaged the rodent had been after she forced him against the shields. She let her hands rest on the glass as she stared at him for a long moment, wondering when.. or if.. he'd wake up and what state he would be in when he did. She supposed Primal's final decision as far as her own future depended on the rat's outcome, or at least that's what she'd have done if their roles were reversed. And just like that a small twinge of regret filled her mind, perhaps intensified by Whitegrazer's close presence.

In another of the cryo tanks, Aurora was cycling through stages of rest and waking as the machines kept working on her. Her main injury was to her foot so that's where they put most of their efforts, and bit by bit the wounded parts were disassembled only to be put back together again in their normal state. Since her wounds weren't extensive, the fuzor's CR chamber was already starting to finish up with only the last few finishing touches left.

“Maybe once we handle Megatron and his goons I might one day.”

Cheetor's words repeated themselves in the fuzor's half-awakened state of mind and for a moment her optics flickered on as if she expected him to actually be there with her. "You should ask for those kind of assignments once in a while," the fuzor had told him before entering the tank. Of course whether or not such a venture would bore Cheetor in the long run since he was one to crave action, was an entirely different matter altogether.

Of course until she emerged from the tank, she had no way of knowing that Optimus and some of his crew were on their way to confront Megatron for what he had done. If she had known, she likely wouldn't have rested as peacefully as she was.

“Rest well young Aurora, I imagine you will need your strength.”

Another voice could be heard through the thinner glass lookout in the chamber. Even so the voice was muted quite a bit, since the chamber was remarkably self-contained even as far as noises went. Still Aurora thought she heard.. someone.. but she was still a bit too dazed to fully comprehend who it was or what they were saying.

Meanwhile Tarantulas didn't really let the other Predacons hovering nearby distract him overly much from his research. Of course he was going to do what he could to dissuade the tyrant from taking his newest test subject away before he truly had a chance to work his magic on him, but from the readings he was getting so far he suspected the nanomachines would defend themselves even if their host had been incapacitated.

“Little pests.”

Their resident medic was doing her best to rid herself of the small drones that had started swarming her the moment she began threatening their master, but Tarantulas paid no heed to her efforts and merely stepped over the shattered drones as needed when they got in his way as he continued examining his subject. Yes, the little creatures came in handy, but he was about to obtain technology far more advanced. And as a scientist that prospect was irresistible to him.

"Indeed," "Please do,"

“A few samples should suffice for research, or can a mad scientist like yourself not have the capacity to work without an entire subject.”

Letting out a very brief cackle that soon died down, the scientist spider then turned his optics on the resident medic since she was a little closer than Megatron.

"What you impatient imbeciles fail to grasp is the fact that without a living host, those samples will not survive." It seemed clear that Zodiac and the nanomachines were in a symbiotic relationship where both parts benefited from the union, so Tarantulas suspected the nanomachines would do everything in their power to keep their host alive. Of course he couldn't care less if Megatron or even this upstart female were on the receiving end of it. In fact he would welcome such a turn of event.

"Patience is not a luxury I can entertain. It may only be a matter of time before the Maximals find us, and I wish to be rid of this nuisance once and for all!"

Tarantulas made a shrugging movement with his shoulders as his optics followed Megatron basically crawling on top of the unconscious dragon. Well, if Megatron wasn't going to listen he might just come to regret it later.

"No more stalling,"

Zodiac made an ever so slight grimace as the tyrant pierced his wing and proceeded to shred through it, but even now he didn't wake up. The double dose of the sedatives had proven most effective against the already wounded shape shifter, so he didn't wake up when the brutal dismembering started. His nanomachines, however, reacted in an instant to the sudden influx of pain in their host's body, jolting them back to awareness again as the reboot process finished up. Zodiac's unconcsious form jerked a bit from the continued onslaught to his wing, but then he settled into an eerie calmness once again when Megatron stopped what he was doing for a moment in order to address the spider.

"Impossible," "Your equipment is malfunctioning."

"On the contrary," Tarantulas replied with confidence and quite a bit of smugness, simply because he enjoyed seeing Megatron so shaken by these news. "While I agree the design choice of including your genetic material is clearly flawed, it doesn't change the fact someone tried very hard to create a .. better model, shall we say?" And for a brief moment the spider smiled a bit slyly, just as his instruments detected the sudden surge in activity within the fallen dragon.

"I'm sure you can find out everything you wish to know with a limb of your choice. I have no interest,"

The tyrant wasn't listening as usual, yet this time the spider didn't try to dissuade his actions. Instead he took a few steps back in a subtle motion. Indeed, it seemed wiser to keep a little distance since there was no telling what the now very much so active nanotechnology within would do.

"Very well, have it your way," the spider replied, fighting hard to hold back yet another trademark chuckle that was threatening to erupt. He took note of the damaged area to the wing glowing brightly leaving the area repaired in its wake, but Megatron seemed too preoccupied with finishing what he had started. Tarantulas merely crossed his arms and watched from a relatively safe distance as the tyrant traced the dagger down to the abdominal area.

"To save time, we could perform an autopsy right now,"

The spider was about to make a remark about that, but he never got the chance since without any further warning two glowing arm shaped projectiles suddenly shot out of Zodiac's chest region, their fingers grabbing for any part of Megatron they could reach. Their appearance came so suddenly that even Tarantulas, who was expecting some sort of response from Zodiac, was taken aback by it. And just then another attacker seemed to join the fray, this one coming at them from above.

(ooc: Sorry for the delays.. Work is.. hell sometimes..)

(( OOC: With una's absence, I still need as many Maximals as I can get for the battle, so I'm going to try and cover Tigatron and Dinobot while she's gone, unless someone else would like to because that would be very helpful for me considering how long my posts already are and all the time I put into them. ))

"What would you've had me do?," "As Megatron's second in command, he holds me to certain expectations. He called the shots, I just obeyed his wishes. Going against those wishes have had serious repercussions for others under his command,"

Well, she could just abandon the Predacons and join the Maximals, but he dared not say it to her because that action would have even greater consequences from Megatron, much like Glowstick had suffered with whom she was clearly implying. As much as Primal wanted to try and convey to Nemesis how she could have at least been less violent, it was probably a losing battle, much like it had been for her as she tried to dissuade him from rescuing Zodiac. So, he decided to lay the topic to rest.

"For someone with several former Predacons in your crew, you know surprisingly little about the Predacon way of life..," "We're not given the freedom to choose for ourselves."

True. Optimus had never been a Predacon himself and couldn't quite fully understand their beliefs and what it must be like to be ruled under such ruthless tyranny and dictatorship, but he wasn't completely naive. Maybe he just couldn't grasp that if Predacons didn't like their way of life under certain leadership, then why stay there? Because of the target it would implant on their backs from their former colleagues? That didn't seem to stop Dinobot, Frilla and Blackarachnia. It took a lot of courage to betray Megatron knowing what could eventually happen to them, but there were some things in life that were worth more to some Predacons than having to worry about treachery, power, or death. Some wanted that taste of freedom. Some wanted the opportunity to know what it was like to not be punished so harshly for mistakes, to not be ruled over with an iron fist or constantly walking on egg shells, or being stabbed in the back, or used as a mere drone that constantly belittled their full potential but satisfied their oppressor's ego and selfish goals. Some wanted that equality, and some wanted real friendships. Optimus gave them those opportunities, and he was willing to defend them against Megatron to the best of his abilities, even if it would cost him his life. Some might say that was foolish or worthless. But it was part of Primal's meaning to his existence and what he advocated for, and the changes he hoped he could bring to Cybertron some day... Nemesis also had this potential. Unfortunately, she was being held back by Megatron, and there didn't seem to be anything Optimus could do to help her other than maintain their secret friendship between each other.

"We weren't targeting specific members of your crew. Yes, I will admit that some of our actions.. " ".. My actions.. could have put some of your crew in danger. But at the time the risk seemed justified."

Oh, I see, Optimus started to conclude bluntly in his mind, it wasn't 'personal'. But it had been. It had been very personal to the ones who suffered injuries and to Optimus since they were his crew.

"It was Megatron's decree that the traitor was made to pay for his actions. Still.. part of me wishes we could have done it without the damage done to your base.. and crew,"

The Maximal Commander appeared emotionless as he listened, but inside he was certain he could feel the authenticity behind her voice. But it hardly did anything to help Rattrap, Aurora, Tigerhawk, Whitegrazer and the rest who were wounded because of the attack that she seemed to be leading at the time.

"Your abilities already led you into the cold grasp of death once before," "He's not worth dying for,"

Some bots just didn't understand, and Optimus didn't have the time to try to explain why he was the way he was, and why he couldn't just let Zodiac perish. Maybe there were some Maximals and Predacons who would say the same about Nemesis, that she wasn't worth dying for, and yet, he would put his life on the line for her to save her. She wasn't innocent, he was sure. She had probably killed in the past, like Zodiac had, and had taken other immoral actions. The shape shifter had even murdered his mentor! He tried murdering HIM and his crew! And still Primal wanted to save him. And if he can, he hoped that in doing so would open others' eyes and sparks to forgiveness and understanding the value of life. Of course, there were probably some like Inferno and Terrorsaur who just didn't have it in their programming to comprehend or allow empathy and compassion, but Optimus hoped that they were the exception and not the rule. Maybe one day Nemesis would understand. ...Or maybe Optimus was entirely wrong and everything he had done and had yet to do would be for not.

"If only we had met under different circumstances,"

"If only," Optimus had repeated quietly to her. But they hadn't. This is where they were. This is what they had. And although she seemed to think that things wouldn't change, Primal had a feeling that something in the future would persuade her to doubt Megatron. She may have spent more time around him than Optimus did, but he felt as though he understood the lengths he was willing to go better than she did. He hoped he was wrong, but judging by the planet they were on and that it seemed as though they were in the past, their futures could very well be at high risk.

"No matter what he might have told you to change your opinion of him, he needs to be held accountable for his crimes,"

"Have you been held accountable for yours?" he asked her rhetorically since this wasn't about her, but just to make sure there wasn't too much hypocrisy happening there, he wanted her to think about her accusations. After all it was clear to him how she found it very difficult to accept responsibility the blame her poor decisions that affected others. "Yes, he does. But not like this." He deliberately didn't bother giving her any more information on what he knew about Zodiac.

"You know that's not what I meant,"

But she hadn't thought of that, had she? Because she was too concerned with herself. Optimus couldn't blame her though. Considering her past and everything that she had been through, of course her first instinct would be her own survival. It was probably all she ever knew in her entire adult life.

"It could be years before they figure out an efficient way to actually use the technology to their advantage," "I told you about the poor success rate when they were trying to implement the nanotechnology into the test subjects.. There were hundreds of us being experimented on, yet only a handful were still alive when I left. And of those, only Zodiac seemed to meet and even exceed the scientists' goals."

She may have been correct there, but even though he considered his old friend, Rhinox, a genius and a miracle worker - and even Aurora had invented some surprises, - Tarantulas was incredibly intelligent, diabolical and creative when it came to viruses, infiltration strategies, and programming. He wouldn't doubt the spider's ability to whip up something much quicker and just as effective that would benefit the Predacons and give them a huge advantage over the Maximals. It was better to just try and avoid the situation altogether by keeping Zodiac out of their reach.

"You're willing to risk your Maximals' lives on that?,"

I know what they're capable of, he thought rather bitterly toward her words that were doubting his leadership and his Maximals' abilities. He was very confident in their success for this mission. If he didn't think they could achieve it, then he wouldn't be sending them with him to face off against the odds.

"The odds are still stacked against you, but it's clear you can't be reasoned with about this so I'm not going to bother,"

Optimus had given a small smile at her and said, "I appreciate that you care, to a degree, Nemesis, but you should have more faith considering my venturing out into this grave danger is due in part by your actions." Because of her forcing him to lower the shields by using Rattrap as a hostage, it had given Megatron the chance to storm the Axalon and steal Zodiac, and now Optimus was forced to go after the renegade to stop Megatron from killing him or using his nanotech. Did she understand that?

-----

“Aside from our Predacon guest back at base, all of them are present for the show.”

All of them. Terrific, Optimus thought sarcastically. However, it meant that the Maximals were only outnumbered by one, until Tigerhawk could join them. Primal liked those odds regardless since half of the Preds had suffered some kind of damage, and their ammunition was much lower compared to the combined firepower of the Maximals.

“I’ll be as thorough as I can be Boss Monkey.”

Good. He was certain he could trust Frilla to uphold her word.

“Good luck you two.”

Primal had returned a slight smile with his scarred mouth in appreciation of her encouragement, but there was a very faint hint of uncertainty behind it. Not necessarily because of their potential success, but whether or not he would return himself since Nemesis had seemed so adamant about him going on a suicide mission. He was determined to prove her wrong, of course. Only time would tell.

“Don’t worry Optimus, I will and if I time this right maybe I can keep them from seeing the rest of you arriving right away to retaliate, Airazor out.”

All he did was worry. It couldn't be helped. Even when it came to the simplest tasks or missions, things could easily take a turn for the worst, and he had already lost too many friends in this war. It wasn't that he underestimated his Maximals - each and every one of them were phenomenal bots with extraordinary abilities and pure sparks - it mostly came down to their ruthless enemy who always had tricks up their sleeves and the endless desire to take lives. Earlier that day was a prime example of how quickly the tables turned on Rattrap's team. When the Predacons were actually organized and cooperating with each other, they were nearly unstoppable. The Maximals should count themselves fortunate enough that the Predacons spent most of their time bickering and stabbing each other in the backs. In any case, judging by Airazor's plan of attack, Primal increased his velocity with his hoverboard. It burned more energon, but he could reserve the rest for battle instead of flight.

“We’re right behind you Big Bot.” “Jets, maximum burn!”

Optimus often found himself in the air with Cheetor ever since they gained their TransMetal bodies from the transwarp explosion with the Vok's moon-sized weapon. Whether it was leisure or teaching him aerial acrobatics and maneuvers, he enjoyed the younger Maximal's company. It hadn't taken Primal long to realize the relationship that had developed between them. He felt like a father to Cheetor, which made his mission for equality and compassion all the more important as a role model for the younger generation and for everyone else really. Essentially, he had taken Nexus Prime's place who had been Optimus's father figure. After all everyone needed someone to look up to for guidance and wisdom, to keep them on the right path and to support them. Nexus had given all of that to Primal, and now it was his turn to pass it along to Cheetor and Aurora. Cheetor, ever the enthusiastic, playful and courageous one within his crew. Sure, he often got himself into trouble and tough spots, but that's what adolescence was all about; learning from one's mistakes. The TransMetal cheetah was still a valuable member on their team, loyal and friendly, and fast, despite his immaturity, but he was growing up and growing more confident. It wasn't easy being thrown into a war of survival with little to no military background at such a young age and continuously succeeding time and time again, rather miraculously as Nemesis would claim.

“Optimus? What’s the update?”

Looking over at his airborne partner who maintained his speed with his own, Optimus answered Cheetor over the soft roar of each other's thrusts. "Airazor claims that Zodiac is already unconscious. And she's confirmed that every Predacon is present." His mind started working on a plan as he considered his options and their destination came into view on the horizon. With no trees or large rock formations to obscure his vision or hide the Predacons, the shiny, blue gorilla zoomed in with his pink optics to get a closer look at their situation just before their friendly falcon made her attacks. "They're huddled fairly close together," he said to Cheetor. "That'll make for an easier attack."

"Our destination is straight ahead," Optimus informed his team over his comm. link. "Flanking maneuvers, Maximals," he instructed them. "I'll take point. Dinobot, take the right. Tigatron and Wintersong, go left. Airazor can provide aerial cover. Cheetor, veer around them and fly in from behind. Surround them with an ambush while I keep Megatron away from Zodiac. We'll need to keep the pressure on them to force them to retreat." Without Tigerhawk's help, it would be difficult to transport Zodiac back to the Axalon, so grabbing him and leaving with him wouldn't really be a viable option. They should be able to drive the Predacons away if they can inflict enough damage on them, and Optimus was prepared to deliver his worst onto Megatron. "Ready yourselves, and let's show these Predacons what happens when they destroy our base and hold our friends hostage," he reminded his team as the anger strengthened inside of him so that he could use it to his advantage.

“Little pests.”

Megatron had only wasted a glance with his better optic at Spineback to see the annoying arachnoids that Tarantulas had "attacked" her with. Everything that spider did aggravated his hatred toward him even more, even if was something that helped him succeed, like how he had infected Zodiac with his concoction of... what ever it had been. The t-rex would just as soon as turn the dagger on to the tarantula had his abilities not proven as useful as they had in the past. That was the only reason he allowed him to be in his presence and assist his Predacons when it was in his favor.

“A few samples should suffice for research, or can a mad scientist like yourself not have the capacity to work without an entire subject.”

The tyrant almost smirked at her insult to Tarantulas. "My sentiments exactly," he added to enforce their medic's point.

"What you impatient imbeciles fail to grasp is the fact that without a living host, those samples will not survive."

"And your continuation failing to notice how little I care about your desires is beginning to aggravate me, spider!" Megatron yelled at Tarantulas and his whining over something that the tyrant didn't feel was worth his time because he simply wanted Zodiac DEAD!

"On the contrary," "While I agree the design choice of including your genetic material is clearly flawed, it doesn't change the fact someone tried very hard to create a .. better model, shall we say?"

A loud growl rumbled deep within Megatron's throat toward the tarantula's insults, and he was very tempted to turn the dagger on his neck instead of Zodiac's. As much as the warlord hated to admit it though, there was a slight curiosity that had developed when it came to the technology that had been infused into Zodiac somehow and how any of Megatron's genetics ended up making who he was. Perhaps he should see it as a compliment instead considering how superior everything was about the Predacon leader.

"Very well, have it your way,"

Megatron hadn't really noticed the mad scientist step back while he was fixated on the illuminated nanobots that were almost as quickly repairing the tear he had just sliced through on one of his wings. As fascinating as the anomaly was, he was almost discouraged to cause more damage if it was simply going to regenerate. So, as he traced the tip of the dagger down to his abdomen, he thought about taking care of this problem at the source; his spark. But as he lifted the dagger and lowered it back down above where he presumed his spark chamber might be located, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by two hands that had formed from his tiny robots out of his abdomen. It was one of the most unusual things he had seen. Even though Zodiac was unconscious, his nanobots still reacted to their environment and protected their host. This might be a problem after all. But what would happen if an arm or a leg was severed from the body? He wouldn't have the time to find out. Gasping in both bewilderment and shock, he tried not to panic as he pulled his hand away from the new appendages that wouldn't easily let go. He feared that they might start consuming his arm considering how his neck had been left scarred by Zodiac hand's earlier. He pulled harder until another attack came from above and distracted him...

Noticing the bird above suddenly start diving down toward, it dawned on Quickstrike too late to realize that it wasn't a vulture but was, in fact, a falcon. A peregrine falcon. Didn't the Maximals have one of them on their team...? Uh oh, he thought before her speed was too quick for him to warn any of the other Predacons. The shock wave she had created in her dive surprised him and blew his small, light body off of his feet and onto his skidplate.

As wobbly as he already was, Inferno also stumbled back by the attack that seemed to come out of no where. Airazor was so fast that he didn't even see what happened or who it was. His biggest worry was for his Queen's well being. Wait a second. As soon as he heard the familiar screech, he spotted their attacker that was on his him with her talons!

Megatron had instinctively lowered his body closer to the ground next to the shape shifter while his wrist was still being grasped by Zodic's new hands as he felt the impressive shock wave slam the area so that it would have little effect on him. But he wasn't prepared to feel the sharp talons digging at his armor immediately following it. "A Maximal scout!" he hollered as he tried to reach around and grab for the bird of prey with his free hand. But he refrained himself from ordering anyone to fire at her considering her close proximity to him and how poorly his Predacons' aims often were.

Still, it didn't stop Inferno from taking action. He got back to his feet the same time Quickstrike did and targeted Airazor with his shaky arms due to his injuries and poor vision. Firing his weapon with a fire ball blast, Megatron gave a quick gasp and ducked lower as Airazor had already released him and the blast skimmed over him and hit the Fuzor on the other side instead.

"What in tarnation?!" yelled Quickstrike as he was hit square in the chest and knocked onto his back, disoriented and temporarily out of breath.

"Inferno, you fool!" Megatron angrily singled him out for his incompetence while he kept pulling on his arm to release it from Zodiac's unconscious grip. "Predacons, take her down NOW!" he ordered them. While they covered him, he took the dagger from his restrained hand putting it in his free one and wasted no more time ensuring the shape shifter's death as he held the blade downward, lifted it up and drove it into Zodiac's chest fast and accurately, or so he thought. In his haste, the blade had actually narrowly missed his corrupted spark. Despite his certainty, he didn't get a chance to make sure he had finished him off when he suddenly felt a large, blunt force slam into his shoulders and knock him away from the helpless renegade, forcing the nanobots to release his wrist while leaving the dagger in his chest.

Optimus had flown in on his hoverboard and used it to push his nemesis away from the downed dragon not realizing that he had been "attached" to him. Maximizing to robot mode and landing on his feet, he grabbed his plasma blaster from his hip and turned around to fire at Tarantulas in order to keep him back while the rest of his Maximals would show up and converge their fire power on to the spider and the rest of the Predacons to keep them distracted and force them to defend themselves or surrender.

His head aching and his shoulders throbbing, Megatron groaned a little in pain and pushed himself up with his hands as he slowly got to his feet turning to find Primal standing there. HOW DID THE MAXIMALS FIND THEM?! Beyond furious, he grabbed his tail cannon and targeted the ape, but he hesitated to fire since his vision was still focusing at least in one optic sensor. The other one that had been damaged by Zodiac's beating wasn't offering him much sight anymore.

Returning his gun to his hip, Optimus grabbed one of his clubs from his back and spun himself around to face Megatron, using the momentum in his step with the swing in his arm and driving his club upward into his Predacon counterpart's bottom jaw.

Connecting with so much force, Megatron's head snapped back and he stumbled backwards but miraculously maintained his balance. Granted, he was a little dizzy and in even more pain, but he desperately tried to compose himself as quickly as he could.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn't quick enough, and Optimus wasn't going to give him the opportunity to recover when so much was at stake. So, he swung his club up again at his jaw with another loud bang as the metal weapon clashed with Megatron's head.

This time, the t-rex stumbled and fell backwards nearly unconscious, but he forced his systems to recuperate before his opponent could inflict anymore damage.

Optimus was more concerned now with Zodiac's current state while Megatron was down. He knelt beside the shape shifter and gave a quick visual examination to see the injuries he had sustained so far - and they were quite extensive - as well as the two arms that had formed out of his abdomen, which he had to admit was a bit abnormal. Overall he was in bad shape, and he frowned at the sight of his body before him since he had promised to keep him safe from Megatron. He had failed and let him down. "Zodiac? Can you hear me?" he attempted to communicate with him or his nanobots. He reached for the handle of the dagger when a fiery blast whizzed by his hand forcing him to immediately retract it before it even touched it.

"Buuuuurrrn, Optimus Primal! BUUURRRN!" Inferno fired more blasts of his hot ammunition at the Maximal in retaliation for brutally attacking his Royalty.

The Maximal leader deflected them with his club ricocheting them back in the ant's direction as a distraction while he grabbed his gun again from his hip and fired a few plasma shots at his already badly damaged body.

Inferno had no time to strafe the firepower and was knocked off of his feet in a cry of agony and temporary defeat.

Turning his attention back to Zodiac, Optimus suddenly felt a burning sensation on his side and a push of force which nearly knocked him over but his hand with his club stopped himself as he planted it on the ground. Growling from the pain, he turned his head to see Megatron back on his feet with his tail gun targeting him and the iciest glare that he had ever seen from his nemesis. For the most part. He knew he hadn't inflicted all of that damage on his face by just slamming his hoverboard into his shoulder. "I take it Zodiac still had the strength to do a number on your face there," he almost smirked to add salt to his ego that must have been wounded a little bit as well.

"You're too late, Primal!" he tried to talk him down ignoring his observation of his beaten face and optic sensor. "This was one life you could not save! Nor was he worth risking your own!"

As Megatron fired more shots at Optimus, Primal tried to defend himself with his club, but he couldn't keep up with them. The first few he managed to deflect, and they bounced off in all different directions, but Megatron's desperation to stop him overpowered his previous desire to conserve his weapon's ammunition and he sent a barrage of plasma at the TransMetal ape which forced him to hunker down as much as he could and take the hits mostly with his back that was covered in more armor than his chest. Eventually, they had spun him about and knocked him to the ground, and he laid there on his back while his systems rebooted.

The dust and debris that had been caused by the shots clouded the area around him and Zodiac making Megatron move in closer to them with more caution until he could see better out of his one optic. Leaning over Zodiac, he grabbed the handle of the dagger quickly before those hands could reacquire a grip on him and yanked it out of his chest turning it instead onto his adversary. Looming over Optimus, he leaned in closer and stabbed the blade into his shoulder near his chest and then activated the voltage that was built in it to cause further agony onto his foe.

The sudden pain jolted Optimus awake and he cried out in a growl until he felt the electricity that activated the nanobots in the gel that Aurora had applied so long ago and some of which that he had put in a small container and handed to Frilla earlier. The area around the dagger began to glow similarly to that of Zodiac and Nemesis, and he could feel that odd, tingly sensation as they crawled frantically around to the closest wounds and began repairing them at an alarming rate. Well, alarming to Megatron. Seeing the surprised expression on his face made Optimus to smile, and he quickly started feeling better after the onslaught that the Predacon had just subjected him to.

That's impossible..., thought the tyrant as his optics widened in disbelief and his throbbing mouth hanged open for a moment.

Optimus lifted his gun and began firing at Megatron's stomach to force him away from him while his nanogel kept working to repair some of the shots he had taken in that area of his body and keeping the dagger in him for the moment as he got back onto his feet as if he didn't bother him. It did, a little, but he didn't have time to stop and pull it out.

After taking the first two shots to his abdomen, he held his tail in front of him to block the rest and moved back away from Primal as the ammo kept coming, slamming into his own weapon that he was using as a shield. His head was a mess, aching and pounding, he could barely focus. But witnessing what had just happened both infuriated him and left him to wonder if Tarantulas was right about examining and using Zodiac's technology for themselves instead of just killing him. Of course, in Megatron's mind, it was too late for that. Surely, the shape shifter was dead now, his nanobots having lost their host and dying with him, but he almost regretted it after witnessing what happened on his adversary's armor. How did the Maximals discover that? How did it work? How was it implemented? And why hadn't Tarantulas or Spineback thought of doing something similar sooner?! What if ALL of the Maximals had some kind of regeneration like that?! It wasn't possible!

Getting to his feet without letting up on his firepower so that Megatron wouldn't have a chance to fire back, he realized he had to change his strategy now that his opponent kept blocking his shots and he was merely wasting his ammunition. He finally paused to return his gun to his hip before grabbing the handle of the dagger and pulling it out of his body, tossing it to the grass off to the side and then lunging at the warlord with his club.

Lowering his tail when the firing halted to see what Primal was up to now, and if he could squeeze in a shot, he found the Maximal fool leaping at him with his other weapon and he immediately swung his tail cannon at it to counter attack. Both weapons clanged against each other in the confrontation, Megatron having more difficulty seeing clearly and standing his ground. Nevertheless, he pushed forward with the fight and swung his tail at the ape again.

Optimus swung and blocked him again, but then he lifted his foot and slammed it against one of his knees.

The tyrant faltered in his footing when he felt the pain in his knee and started to lean forward until he felt another thump against his abdomen when Primal immediately rammed his knee into it. He stumbled backwards and tumbled to the ground.

Primal stopped in his attack as he watched his enemy fall, his scarred face stoic. "Yield, Megatron," he warned him angrily. "Your vision is compromised!"

Rolling slowly on to his side with his back to Optimus, he groaned a little and prepared his tail gun for another shot as it charged out of his foe's sight. "Perhaps you are right... Primal...," he said through his pain and pretending to sound defeated.

The Maximal narrowed his orange optics at him suspiciously. Megatron never surrendered that easily... A bright, purple blast of of plasma suddenly flew at him, and he lifted his club to successfully bounce it away even though the force of it made him step back to find his balance again. But it was merely a distraction to give the Predacon enough time to transform to his alternative form.

"Beast mode!" he hollered as he got up and his body shifted quickly. Then he swung his rear end around to use his tail and knock it into Primal who was just finding his footing again.

Optimus was slammed in the side that had been hit earlier with his cannon, and he fell to the ground on his chest with some stinging pain that forced him to move slower in his recovery as well as drop his club.

"I will just have to rely on the alternative!" The powerful t-rex stomped his way over to the gorilla and leaned down to clamp his jaws around one of his legs below the knee. Primal reached for his fallen club but Megatron's sharp teeth sank in through his armor and he started to drag him across the grass away from his weapon and Zodiac's body.

Primal's holler in agony as he felt several of his teeth pierce his lower leg trailed off into a growl while he looked back at him over his shoulder and struggled to free himself or grab onto a large rock that might have been hidden in the terrain as his body flattened the tall grass while being dragged across it. Nothing was in his reach. He ignited one of his thrusts in the foot by the dinosaur's mouth as an attempt to make him release it, but Megatron squinted his eye from the heat and shook his leg vigorously to make him stop. It worked as the pain from all of his teeth that now left like they were shredding it apart shot up his leg and into his torso.

Megatron then planted his feet in the ground, lifted the Maximal leader up in his mouth by his leg and used as much strength as he could to swing his entire body and throw the annoying TransMetal monkey away from him as he released his jaws-of-life around his limb. Satisfied with the distance between them, he returned his attention to the rest of the battle to see what his Predacons were doing.

Thrown into the air, Optimus landed hard and rolled uncontrollably through across the ground before he finally came to a stop, covered in grass and dirt. He slowly pushed himself up and the dizziness gradually subsided. Glancing at his leg, there were several large punctures in it as some fluid bled from the holes, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. Standing up, it was difficult to put weight on it, and he figured he would be forced into his beast mode like Megatron had. So be it. He was only making him angrier, and he was far from giving up.

Reverting back to his flight mode, Primal blasted off toward Megatron who wasn't paying attention to him and wrapped his arms around his neck just below his mouth. Holding him tightly in a head-lock, nearly choking him, Primal suddenly cut the power to his hoverboard and pulled down on Megatron's neck causing his entire t-rex body to flip over head first and slamming his head on the ground while he maneuvered around him as he reignited his thrust and flew off enough out of his reach before deactivating his hoverboard and landing on the ground with his feet facing him. Optimus thought about his Maximals who had been wounded and taken hostage earlier that day, and nearly losing Rattrap, his base that was in shambles now, and Megatron stealing Zodiac. The fury and rage was building inside of him, and he knew he had the upper hand over his opponent this time. Primal had access to his weapons in his beast mode, Megatron didn't.

Meanwhile, Dinobot and Tigatron had caught up with the location of the battle and maximized to their robot modes. They had split up per their leader's earlier instructions, the raptor opting to take on Rampage while Tigatron headed for Spineback.

Dinobot pulled out his sword with his tail that split into his rotating shield and fired several blasts of green lasers at the large crab's back.

Tigatron wielded his gun and fired several shots at the Predacon's medic's back as he "pounced" from behind her through the grass.

Quickstrike finally back on his feet and watched everything unfold. "Yehaw! Now, this's what I'm talkin' about!" he happily jeered as he fired some of his venom up at Airazor before noticing the other Maximals that were entering the scene.

-----

“Rhinox.” “What’s the situation with the rescue party for the shapeshifter?”

After fixing the large, round center console in the command room, Rhinox had begun working on the wires. In his haste, he accidentally shorted a few of them which resulted in sparks and some minor shocks to his large, green fingers as he knelt beside the table where its primary circuits were located behind a panel. He often left his steadier hands for his surgeries, so his work on Sentinel was a little sloppier. Just as he heard Tigerhawk enter the bridge, he shocked himself again and gave a soft sigh as he paused on his work to give him his attention. The engineer's fingertips were blackened by now, but the slight pain didn't seem to bother him. He was happy to see the large Fuzor standing there and looking much better and stronger. Tigerhawk was a brave soul, as well as kind and reliable. His size and weaponry were a great advantage to their team, much like Rhinox himself, so they had a little bit in common. "Optimus, and most of the others, have already left, but I was instructed to tell you to join them as soon as you can. They're headed to one-zero-three, two-eight, one-one. It's neutral territory, and it doesn't provide much cover," as he recalled from his long nights of studying the natural habitats surrounding the region, "so be careful and watch your back."

Rattrap continued in his slumber inside of the CR chamber, completely unaware of Nemesis who was standing right outside his door, the very Predacon who nearly killed him. His body was motionless as he laid there on the floor with his tail wrapped around his side and its speared tip that reached to his nose. His ears were relaxed, and he looked peaceful and quiet than any other time Nemesis could probably remember. The machine replaced and rebuilt as quickly as it could fixing him up from the inside out and repainting his armor accordingly.

((I can cover them for you guys until Una returns OOP. I only play Frilla as it is, so I can take on the two temporarily when I do my post tonight and the next rounds.))

(( OOC: Thank you, New Moon! That would be awesome. I really appreciate it. ))