"Aftermath: Part I - New Introductions"

[NaitoKage]

As the two cephalopods road in pursuit of the Predacon flier team, Umbra's optics narrowed as he noticed the familiar sound of gunfire, and the visible sight of tracer rounds in the distance. Geez.. just how did they screw this up so fast? We'd best take cover until we get a better understanding of the situation.. Lady Cecaelia, have you ever acted as a Spotter before? he asked, then leaned, using Cecaelia's controls to guide her towards a small rock pile coming to a stop near it.

He climbed off her, then moved up towards the rocks pulling the scoped rifle he acquired from the armory from his back. Unconciously his body updating it's camo to match the color patterns of the rocks.

He glanced into the scope, noticing the source of the gunfire. a large Cybertronian that easily dwarfed Manterror and most the Predacons he'd seen so far. Unknown target sighted in confrontation with Manterror.. Can't make a identification of his faction in this low lighting.. is this that.. Orcariner you and Steelclaw were talking about ma'am? he then leaned away from the gun, offering it towards Cecaelia to allow her to take a look.

[WorpeX]

"Airazor! Wh-heh, Why haven't you ever told any of the rest of us!?,"

Airazor had been flying for a few minutes when she got the message from Cheetor. The breeze had been going in her direction which made progress very quick. Turning on her com, she smiled and gave him a reply, "I enjoy the peace and serenity of the air! Her voice was a bit broken up and hard to hear from the wind blowing past her. "I can't let everyone know how great flying is or that peace will turn into traffic jams!" She finished and continued on to her destination...

...Only a few moments later, she heard gunfire in the distance. With her optical zoom eyes, she took a closer look at what was happening. It seems the predicons were firing on the new protoform!! They got lucky that the predicons hadn't got to the pod in time but now it was Airazors turn to make sure that the new maximal didn't die before joining her teams ranks!!! Turning on her com one last time, she sent a message to Orcariener and the rest of her team: "Maximals, this is Airazor. I spotted the new Protoform and its engaged in battle with the Predicons. I'm moving in to assist!!" She spoke quickly, as she flapped her wings to pick up more speed. She couldn't let the predicons win this battle!!

---

Manterror felt the giants weapons hammer against his armor. It wasn't until pieces of his body began to fall away that he decided to get out of the way of gunfire. Now with only one leg and multiple bullet holes, the mantis steered himself aside from the gunfire and repositioned himself. "FOOLISH MAXIMAL!! Feel the wrath of the PREDICONS!!" He yelled as he eyed up his opponent. He intended to launch a volley of blades towards the new protoform and moved his arms backwards to wind up the throw....

---

But was unable to fire as Airazor burst onto the scene!! "Maximize!!" She yelled, transforming into her glimmering robot form. Her smooth curves and features were accentuated by the setting sun in the background. Aiming her wrist blaster, she quickly fired at the unsuspecting (and half destroyed) Manterror and scrapped him with a single rocket. The shocked look on the predicons face as his wings, arms, leg and other parts fell to the ground was enough to make her feel proud of her achievement.

Moving down towards Tantrum, Airazor introduced herself. "I'm Airazor. Welcome to the Maximals!" She said with a warm smile. "We better find cover, the rest of the Predicon's will be here soon!"

[starshadow]

Cecaelia was about to complain about the aching pain on her back until Umbra spoke.

Geez.. just how did they screw this up so fast? We'd best take cover until we get a better understanding of the situation.. Lady Cecaelia, have you ever acted as a Spotter before?

She had an unexplainable feeling when he called her a "Lady". No bot has ever called her that with such respect! Now back to his question, "Well yes, a few times," she transformed and peeked above Umbra's head to see what was ahead of her.

Unknown target sighted in confrontation with Manterror.. Can't make a identification of his faction in this low lighting.. is this that.. Orcariner you and Steelclaw were talking about ma'am?

"Hmmm...No. Orcariner's a giant whale. This guy here is more of a...cow.." then things get disturbing when she noticed the giant cannons on the new guy's chest. Cecaelia then looked at her own chest then back to his and looked at the cow bot in horror.

[Phoenix]

Nemesis had been watching the confrontation between their own lunatic Manterror and the strange, enormous shape of the bovid now known to be called Tantrum with a great deal of interest. Fortunately the insect was too insane to realize that he was getting torn to pieces by the barrage of shots getting fired at him, or this would have been a very short lived fight indeed.

So she felt a mild degree of annoyance when Terrorsaur's voice interrupted an otherwise entertaining scenario only to order her to be a distraction.

Terrorsaur to Nemesis, try to get the big lug's attention so Waspinator and I can nail him from the air...And support Manterror if we feel like it I suppose. But try not to damage this "Tantrum" too badly, we're all predacons here after all, no need to waste a perfectly good new recruit before he's even had a chance to slag a maximal, eh?"

Well.. she could always show off with some fancy aerial acrobatics, she supposed..

Yet as she began planning her approach, her radar picked up another air combatant entering the zone. Nemesis delighted in the fact she identified the newcomer as a Maximal, one who disposed of the obnoxious insect before making her introduction as a Maximal to the self-proclaimed Predacon giant.

Oh this was simply too perfect!


"It would appear that your old friend AirRazor has volunteered to do the task for us," she responded to Terrorsaur, all the while keeping her optics trained on their targets.

(ooc: Onyx, where are you? :p Megs' team is in limbo.)

Aurora arrived at the bridge. She looked a little bit beaten up, but the damage wasn't too extensive. Staying in beast mode to allow the repairs to continue, the little fuzor glanced around to locate her friends.

[una]

((OOC: Sorry for taking so long and how short the post is compared to most I had done. At least, my writer's block is gone. Hooray for motivation!

@Blackrosefencer: Don't you want to post for Arachnitron before I post? It is your turn. ))

"Everybody, watch out,"

Inferno's shouts were getting closer and his chaotic fiery would rain down upon them. She concentrated. Facing him head on, Rhinox and her were big enough to take him. But to avoid less carnage, she hoped they could take him out swiftly. Inferno was a full house of unrestrained rage that she ever saw in a being before. Despite his simplicity, he was still a soldier, tough to defeat, and won't go there fast. Especially with that flamethrower of his. Hiding behind the wall edging out towards the hallway, she hoped to disarm him when he got close enough and try to disable from doing any harm. If not, she knew everyone around would back her up.

She saw Aurora coming into the bridge, who didn't seem worse for wear.

Whitegrazer smiled warmly before she, quickly, whispered at her, "Aurora, get behind something quick."
____________________________________________________________________________________

"What is this?""What are you doing?!"

"You have nothing to fear from me. I promise that much."

What he spoke was the truth: Optimus really had no reason to fear him. It was They he had to be afraid of. But he would discuss that later with the Maximal leader. Now, he had to focus on the task at hand. Since the connection was broken, he is the only one who could repair it. Because of how violent the death was and herself holding on to the connection, the connection didn't just break from his student but left a hole. Though, that can be easily fixed now.

This would be over before he knew it.

He focused hard, using his spark's own connection with her.

"I'm going to reconnect you to her."
___________________________________________________________

Whitegrazer felt that dull pain in her spark again, but it was different. It wasn't as powerful as it was before. Was it healing?

[Wildfire94]

Silverstreak had nodded when Rattrap indicated she was going with his group, preparing to head to the lift before she heard the sound of Inferno's voice echo throughout the ship making her hesitate to leave for a moment. But upon seeing Cheetor beginning to leave she decided she might as well follow his example and hope things would go alright there on the Axalon unlike when the arachnids had snuck up on them and poisoned them by surprise. And when the lift came to the ground SIlverstreak ordered her systems to transform to beast mode, turning to her silver fox form, before she took off to the coordinates Rattrap pointed out, following after the now flight-able cheetah.

============================

Onyx was surprised at the sight when they arrived, two just recently activated cybertronians that looked like fuzors from the Maximals were squabbling already which made him wonder what they would be like when it was stopped. "Uh, yes sir."Onyx said, a little doubtful this would be easy,"Terrorize." Upon transforming the robust black stallion moved forward, watching as Quickstrike and Silverbolt wrestled about before managing to move swiftly to grip Quickstrike's tail that was also the cobra's head and part of Silverbolt's back between his wings, using his strength to pull them part. Of course doing it this way was very well risking one of them still attacking him and trying to once more go at it so he dropped them some distance apart like a teacher would with fighting students.

"Knock it off, there will be time for a fight when we see the Maximals."He said in a sharp, firm tone while standing between the two combatants and hoping Megatron would be able to settle this next to him pulling them apart. Quite frankly however, the stallion wasn't so keen to be fighting the Maximals so suddenly after everything that had happened already but for now he said this to merely appease Megatron when he wasn't exactly on the right terms with the t-rex at the moment.

[Wintersong]

It was just a short distance now towards the bridge, and with all the commotion Inferno was making behind her she was certain the others would be prepared if the fire ant got past the white tigress. Well Wintersong wasn't about to let the ant have an easy way in getting to the bridge, it was time to give him some difficulty one way or another. So instead of running the final distance just yet she turned back to face the on-coming foe who was as maniac as ever until he came around that last corner she passed and in her sights,"Eat this bug breathe!"She growled, raising her hand as a compartment opened to reveal the mini-missile launcher hidden inside which she was somewhat glad to know she kept along with her single laser pistol and she waited another second before firing the little missile in Inferno's direction, quite hoping the explosive force would keep him at bay.

With that fired the compartment closed and Wintersong at the same time bolted once more down the hall,"Beast mode!"She called out as she transformed to her new transmetal beast form, skidding around the last corner and shooting into the bridge past Whitegrazer before coming to a skidding halt just before she hit the wall, panting heavily from the charge. But as she looked around once catching herself the white tigress realized the others were on high alert and some of them were already gone, likely going after the pods and luckily Aurora made it safely. "So what'd I miss?"She asked, while hoping that Inferno following her would lead to him being scrapped for good for a while and being able to get him out of the Axalon.

[NaitoKage]

Quickstrike quickly protested at being separated from his fight He-hey!

The Cobra head hissed snapping just out of reach of Oynx's face with narrowed eyes.

"Knock it off, there will be time for a fight when we see the Maximals."

I don't know what you're jabbern' about feller.. But git in line, I'll whoop yer keister too! he quickly responded, then grabbed onto Oynx's leg with his claws. It was fairly clear Quickstrike was not impressed or intimidated.

_________________________

(taking over for Big Convoy until he returns.)

Waspinator made a buzz noise in respond to Terrorsaur's orders, then spun in the air as he transformed into robot mode drawing his venom blaster. With his new transmetal body, maybe his luck had changed as well, or so he'd hope.

As he flew in, he observed Airazor flying infront of Tantrum bzt! Birdbot! Wazzpinator hatez birdbot! he shouted in irritation, strifing to the left of the two as he began fire opening fire wildly with his blaster.

_____________________

Umbra raised an optic ridge as he observed Cecaelia Erm.. I don't think those are the same Lady Cecaelia. Well.. maybe they are, but I'm not one to judge unique lifestyle choices.

He returned to looking through the scope of his rifle, having difficulty seeing from the dust shot up by Terrorsaur, then watching as a unknown bird cybertronian flew in, and Waspinator's attack. There seemed to be an abundance of fliers, perhaps his choice in beast mode would make his missions harder then he though..

From.. what I can tell, those large chest guns appear to be battleship class armament.. In other words, our bovine friend here is a literal walking cannon and titan class..Then there's also a unknown birdbot on the battlefield..

He zoomed out, pointing his rifle into the direction Airazor came from seeing a large metallic object moving towards them, as he zoomed in, it appeared to be a fish or whale like creature. Where there's one.. more follow.. Maximal reinforcements are arriving shortly.. I can't order you to do anything Lady Cecaelia, but I'd advise going to beast mode and using your camouflage if you still have it. While the Maximals are distracted by the battle, we can circle around and take them from behind..If he doesn't take them apart first. Beast mode. he moved the gun to his back, transforming into his octopus mode.

He curled his body up, mimicking the texture and color of the ground he flattened his body out,taking a flatfish like shape as he creeped forward around the rock, observing the landscape for his next point of cover.

[Phoenix]

(('Wulf here. Too lazy to log in on my computer.))

"FOOLISH MAXIMAL!! Feel the wrath of the PREDICONS!!"

Tantrum was further enraged by the repeated insinuation that he was a Maximal. He would show them... he would show all of them! He grabbed a boulder the size of a small house and hefted it over his head. Carefully balancing cumbersome object, he prepared to heave it at the bot that had the audacity to besmirch his name by calling him a Maximal.

"I show you, little butterfly!" he yelled as he wound up to throw. However, he found his target was no longer there.

"I'm Airazor. Welcome to the Maximals!"

Timing could not have been better... or worse. Tantrum stopped and staggered, nearly losing his balance under the heavy rock. He looked from Airazor, to Manterror, and back again. He didn't know who his earlier foe was... but he knows this must be a Maximal. The very people who imprisoned him and that other one in stasis pods bound for who knows where -- some pathetic Maximal penal colony, perhaps. He would make them pay. He would make her pay.

"Maximal!" he hissed the word like an insult. "You! YES, YOU! You are DEAD!"

With that, Tantrum shifted to throw the boulder and turn this Maximal into scrap. However, fate would again interfere. The vibration and concussion of Waspinator's shots threw off Tantrum's aim and balance, sending the rock hurtling towards the wasp instead. Tantrum realized his throw had gone sour toward this unknown wasp.

"Ooopsie," he shrugged it off. "No matter, I have gun!" And with that, Tantrum deployed the outriggers from his legs and loaded high explosive rounds into his twin chest rail guns. "Bye bye, Maximal!"

And with that, he fired both barrels.


* * * * *

Meanwhile...

"Knock it off, there will be time for a fight when we see the Maximals."

Silverbolt struggled to get free for a moment. But realizing that this newcomer did not mean any harm, he composed himself. "Sir, you may unhand me. I have no quarrel with you, nor these 'Maximals'."

[una]

((OOC: I would have had this post up earlier, but I have been busy doing research, research, and more research. It wasn't until now that I finally got some things done. *headdesk* Well, at least that's over. Now to kick my butt and do some writing tomorrow. Now, I post.))

Blackarachnia landed next to one of Tarantulas' secret passages to his lair, lifted the rock up, and threw Tarantulas' body down the hole with a smirk. It was just a slide so it wouldn't hurt it. She jumped within, relieved of the weight she had to carry. Mostly Tarantulas' anyway. As the slide reached its end, she noticed how even the underground tunnels seems shaken, rattled from the surface destruction above. She was glad there wasn't, surprisingly, cave-ins. Though, as she walked forward, bunch of stalemites laced the ground and some equipment Tarantulas had was damaged. Oh, he wasn't going to like this.

I just hope none of the equipment needed to get him outta my head is beyond repair.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Sorry.....I'm so exhausted that I didn't really put as much time or thought into this as I normally do, but I didn't want to hold every one up any longer. I've enjoyed the experience I'm getting in the classroom this week (I've been subbing for two weeks in the same classroom), but when you normally work nights, you aren't used to getting up so early. This 6 o'clock wake up call is for the birds!!! (no pun intended)

Also.....where has OOP been???

BIC:

Inferno continued to chase the white tiger female down the halls of the Axalon. He watched her disappear around a corner. He laughed manically as he shouted which made his presence known to any maximals in the area. He didn't really care though as long as he got a chance to destroy some Maximals.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROYALTY!!!"

He saluted respectfully despite the fact that his "Queen" was not present. It didn't matter. He still needed to show his unending loyalty to the leader of his colony even if no one was around to witness it.

He raced after the tigress.

When the ant rounded the corner he was surprised to see that the Maximal had laid in wait for him to arrive. She had armed herself with a small missile launcher and fired the tiny weapon his direction. He took the shot in his chestplate and was sent flying backwards a bit by its impact. Undeterred by the bullet, he laughed again.

"Fool! Pain is my friend! Allow me to introduce you to it! HAHAHA!"

With that, he sent one of his rocket launchers in her direction in return.

Still laughing, he stood up and raced onto the bridge of the Maximals' base following behind the Maximal female.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackarachnia landed just in front of Tarantulas' lair. Arachnitron hopped off her back slowly and followed her inside watching her slide Tarantulas' body across the floor.

"You probably don't want to damage that. Otherwise you might never be rid of him," she reminded her. As much as Blackarachnia hated to admit it....for the time being anyway, she needed to be nice to Tarantulas.

Arachnitron wondered how Tarantulas was going to move his consciousness from Blackarachnia's body back into his own. And what if he couldn't do it? She doubted that Blackarachnia would let him stay inside her mind forever. She would rather be dead than let that happen. Arachnitron could only imagine the concern Blackarachnia must have right now about her future. What was Tarantulas going to do? And would it work? Blackarachnia was probably quite anxious right now. The Hybrid sometimes felt that way too. Every time she lost control of the body she often wondered....would that be the last time she would ever be in control?

Something Aurora said crossed Arachnitron's mind.

"Yes.. Tarantulas helped the personality currently in charge. But what of the other voices that he silenced? Do they not possess the same right to be heard as you do?"

Did her alters have that same fear when they lost control of the body? Did even the Predacon fear that if she gave up control of the body, it might be for the last time?

She shook her head free of the Maximals' sentiments. She couldn't think like that now. She was finally free of her prison. She couldn't let the child fuzor confuse her into going back to the way things were. Besides, the damage was already done. It was no longer a fight for control of the body.....it would be a fight to destroy the Hybrid. She had no doubt it'd be the first thing the Predacon personality would do once she regained control. Could she be destroyed at the hands of one of her alters? She wasn't sure and she definitely didn't want to find out.

[Blazemane]

Dinobot made a quick calculation; he was, perhaps, two-fifths of the way to the landing site of the stasis pod Rattrap had sent him to. It was likely that Airazor would be there in mere moments.

He quickened his pace, but then he looked up to the moon again.

Four pods, three locations. Megatron--opportunist; shrewd strategist. Megatron's team lacking five players--Inferno, Blackarachnia, Tarantulas, Arachnitron, Starshadow. Potential response team spread thin. If Megatron would want a secured victory over the Axalon, he would wish to find that security in extra recruits. Hopefully... At any rate, he hadn't attacked yet; if he was waiting to attack the Maximals' headquarters while they were gone, he wouldn't have anyone to protect his own base. No, he was at the pods--not the Axalon.

And not at the Darksyde either.

Dinobot looked forward grimly, and then back up. And then he turned sharply. This was the time. If this was indeed abandoning his comrades... no, he could not think of that right now. Whatever the implications--whatever the results--of his actions, this was more important.

((OOC: I'm holding off on Steelclaw for whenever Phoenix has the chance to post with Megatron. And with Cheetor, because I don't want him to get too far ahead of the rest of the team fending off Inferno. And... hopefully the next post with Dinobot will be something a little more cohesive. I was hit by an idea, but then I realized I didn't really have the time to run with it. I'll see if I can put it in next time...))

[DarkSpark]

Phoenix wrote: Well.. she could always show off with some fancy aerial acrobatics, she supposed..

Yet as she began planning her approach, her radar picked up another air combatant entering the zone. Nemesis delighted in the fact she identified the newcomer as a Maximal, one who disposed of the obnoxious insect before making her introduction as a Maximal to the self-proclaimed Predacon giant.

Oh this was simply too perfect!


"It would appear that your old friend AirRazor has volunteered to do the task for us," she responded to Terrorsaur, all the while keeping her optics trained on their targets.

"The bird?" Terrorsaur snarled as he too picked up the maximal's energy signature and then watched her actually throw herself right smack into the middle of the battle, clearly convinced she was coming to the aid of a fellow maximal.

"Well, well, well...Things just got really interesting."

WorpeX wrote: Manterror felt the giants weapons hammer against his armor. It wasn't until pieces of his body began to fall away that he decided to get out of the way of gunfire. Now with only one leg and multiple bullet holes, the mantis steered himself aside from the gunfire and repositioned himself. "FOOLISH MAXIMAL!! Feel the wrath of the PREDICONS!!" He yelled as he eyed up his opponent. He intended to launch a volley of blades towards the new protoform and moved his arms backwards to wind up the throw....

---

But was unable to fire as Airazor burst onto the scene!! "Maximize!!" She yelled, transforming into her glimmering robot form. Her smooth curves and features were accentuated by the setting sun in the background. Aiming her wrist blaster, she quickly fired at the unsuspecting (and half destroyed) Manterror and scrapped him with a single rocket. The shocked look on the predicons face as his wings, arms, leg and other parts fell to the ground was enough to make her feel proud of her achievement.

Moving down towards Tantrum, Airazor introduced herself. "I'm Airazor. Welcome to the Maximals!" She said with a warm smile. "We better find cover, the rest of the Predicon's will be here soon!"

"Cannon fodder, gotta love em" Terrorsaur crowed as he watched Manterror get blown away by none other than his least favorite maximal flyer, Airazor!

He couldn't help but be pleased by her arrival, not only had she not been chosen by fate to become one of the transmetal elite like himself, but she'd literally landed herself right in the middle of a predacon internal conflict, and provided him with the perfect means by which to win over the titan that was Tantrum.

Naitokage wrote: Waspinator made a buzz noise in respond to Terrorsaur's orders, then spun in the air as he transformed into robot mode drawing his venom blaster. With his new transmetal body, maybe his luck had changed as well, or so he'd hope.

As he flew in, he observed Airazor flying infront of Tantrum bzt! Birdbot! Wazzpinator hatez birdbot! he shouted in irritation, strifing to the left of the two as he began fire opening fire wildly with his blaster.

"You and me both brother" Terrorsaur murmured in agreement of Waspinator's statement, again recalling his first meeting with Airazor, and relishing the idea of paying her back in full at long last.

Warwulf/Phoenix wrote:Timing could not have been better... or worse. Tantrum stopped and staggered, nearly losing his balance under the heavy rock. He looked from Airazor, to Manterror, and back again. He didn't know who his earlier foe was... but he knows this must be a Maximal. The very people who imprisoned him and that other one in stasis pods bound for who knows where -- some pathetic Maximal penal colony, perhaps. He would make them pay. He would make her pay.

"Maximal!" he hissed the word like an insult. "You! YES, YOU! You are DEAD!"

With that, Tantrum shifted to throw the boulder and turn this Maximal into scrap. However, fate would again interfere. The vibration and concussion of Waspinator's shots threw off Tantrum's aim and balance, sending the rock hurtling towards the wasp instead. Tantrum realized his throw had gone sour toward this unknown wasp.

"Ooopsie," he shrugged it off. "No matter, I have gun!" And with that, Tantrum deployed the outriggers from his legs and loaded high explosive rounds into his twin chest rail guns. "Bye bye, Maximal!"

And with that, he fired both barrels.

"Waspinator watch out you twit!" Terrorsaur yelled, not wanting the only truly trustworthy subordinate he had to be taken out of the fight too early, tested out his upgraded shoulder cannons, firing twin missiles at the boulder flying towards his partner, blowing it to dust with explosive impact.

Terrorsaur marveled over the incredible firepower his new missiles possessed, far more so than his old ones, which on one occasion hadn't even detonated properly during an attack he and Waspinator had launched on Tigatron during the Flying Island incident. However, he quickly got over how awesome he was and turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

"Our course of action is obvious my fellow predacons, let us aid our new brother in arms in scrapping this maximal and put his fears of our allegiance to rest. Waspinator! Nemesis! Back me up" Terrorsaur ordered, before firing two more shoulder missiles at Airazor as he proclaimed "DEATH TO THE MAXIMAL! GLORY TO THE PREDACONS!"

Una wrote: Blackarachnia landed next to one of Tarantulas' secret passages to his lair, lifted the rock up, and threw Tarantulas' body down the hole with a smirk. It was just a slide so it wouldn't hurt it. She jumped within, relieved of the weight she had to carry. Mostly Tarantulas' anyway. As the slide reached its end, she noticed how even the underground tunnels seems shaken, rattled from the surface destruction above. She was glad there wasn't, surprisingly, cave-ins. Though, as she walked forward, bunch of stalemites laced the ground and some equipment Tarantulas had was damaged. Oh, he wasn't going to like this.

I just hope none of the equipment needed to get him outta my head is beyond repair.

"BY THE PIT! What have they done to my lair!?" Tarantulas screamed in absolute rage, disgusted by the state of the place, in even worse shape than the time Rattrap had snuck in to rescue Cheetor...It had taken him weeks to clear out the rubble, but now he doubted he could salvage the place at all.

Many of his equipment and inventions had been scrapped, crushed or buried by falling rubble, and he didn't like the looks of the ceiling overhead, so many stalactites had fallen, possibly leaving the roof unstable, meaning this place was no longer viable as his home away from Megatron and the rest of his merry band of miscreants!

His lair had been more than his private getaway from the other predacons, or a quiet workplace, it had been his real home since this war had begun, the only place he could find any privacy! And now he faced the real possibility that it was gone beyond repair! And he knew exactly who to blame for it.

"The aliens will pay for this, THEY. WILL. PAY!" Tarantulas thought darkly to himself, clenching and unclenching Blackarachnia's pincers as he imagined ways of making his faceless alien foes suffer for this insult.

Blackrose wrote: Blackarachnia landed just in front of Tarantulas' lair. Arachnitron hopped off her back slowly and followed her inside watching her slide Tarantulas' body across the floor.

"You probably don't want to damage that. Otherwise you might never be rid of him," she reminded her. As much as Blackarachnia hated to admit it....for the time being anyway, she needed to be nice to Tarantulas.

"Very wise advice Arachnitron" Tarantulas praised his underling as he shifted through the ruins of his beloved lair, her voice having brought him out of his angry daydreams of revenge, reminding him of the task at hand, namely getting his spark back into his body.

"Shift through the wreckage and salvage whatever you can, we may have to resort to "borrowing" equipment from the base itself if what we need here has already been destroyed, and I'd rather not risk a meeting with the others in our current state unless absolutely necessary" Tarantulas ordered to the other spiders present.

OOC: sorry for the wait gang, lemme know if there's anything wrong with my posts this week, or if I missed someone >_<

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC:

Also.....where has OOP been???

Lurking everyday. Three of my characters have been waiting for Inferno to make his appearance toward the command center. I had nothing to post until then, except for Optimus.

Just Dinobot and Airazor against 6 predicons? Greeaaattt

That's because everyone wanted to have fun with Inferno running amok in the Axalon which consequently put a huge halt on all of the orders Rattrap just demanded because some seem to be having a difficult time writing beyond the show's script. Nothing has to be done like it was in the show anymore. We did enough of it in the first season, people complained that it slowed things down too much and it wasn't creative enough, so the second season is free game. I've already explained this. The Maximals (and Predacons involved) out in the field right now to retrieve the protoforms will either have to wait until the others can catch up or be slagged. I intend on resolving this issue with Inferno quite soon and with haste so we can MOVE ON to the pod rescues and so Inferno can start some fires elsewhere if he's lucky enough to leave in one piece. ))

IC:

"Am I glad to hear from you, cheese breath!,"

Hah! That brought a smile to Rattrap's face despite the situation at hand with an oversized, pryomaniac ant running loose. He was certainly relieved that Aurora was all right; it only built more confidence in him to know she could defend herself.

"We ran into the Predacons as they were leaving the brig. That crazy ant showed up and attempted to kill us so we both ran. I think he is heading your way, so please be careful!"

"Okay," replied Rattrap, his voice getting softer. "Yeah, he's comin'. We can hear him from five miles away," he smirked. "We're ready." He held his weapon upward, his finger just barely touching the trigger as Inferno's bellowing grew louder and closer.

"Aurora, get behind something quick."

"So what'd I miss?"

One, then two, both female Maximals back in the command center after some explosions were heard. That was quick. "Nice goin', guys," he commended Wintersong and Aurora with a quick grin. "The spiders an' Starshadow are also gone, I take it," he presumed outloud before returning his attention to the corridor anticipating Inferno's arrival.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROYALTY!!!"

"Fool! Pain is my friend! Allow me to introduce you to it! HAHAHA!"

The Maximal Spy-turned-leader could only roll his optics and shake his head. "What a nut," he muttered. Peering around the corner, just as he was about to fire at Inferno, something happened...

Rhinox, having positioned himself in a room just before the bridge, leaped out right as Inferno was passing the doorway and purposely rammed his entire body of bulk and strength directly into the tall Predacon, t-boning him and pinning him chestward to the wall with his forearm - also carrying his chain gun in that hand - against the Predacon's back and using his free hand in an attempt to disarm Inferno from his weapon. "Go!" Rhinox told the other Maximals, glancing at those peering from the bridge. "Frilla and I can handle this. You must rescue our fallen comrades!" Clearly the rhinoceros was not in a good mood, and that was a dangerous circumstance for an enemy like Inferno.

Watching Big Green for a moment, contemplating quickly, Rattrap nodded and joked, "You got it, Hulk." Lowering his weapon, he turned to the others in the room and said, "Let's go, guys! Those who already left are gonna need back-up. We gotta amscray!" With that, he hurried to the lift and it lowered him outside where much of the scenary had changed and the smell of smoke still wafted in the breeze from smoldering ashes of fires and energon despoits that had blown up.

Cheetor, Airazor, Silverstreak an' Dinobutt are already gone, thought the TransMetal rodent. We got a lotta time to make up. Slag. "Beast mode!" Converting to his alternative rat form and then lifting his paws up to lower his wheels, Rattrap spun his larger rear ones, kicking up dirt and small rocks, as short spurts of flames fired from his exhaust pipes and he took off, his tail curled up toward his back and a toothy grin to signal his newly found appreciation of this upgraded body. The speed and armor were a huge improvement for him. Now he didn't have to rely on someone dangerously carrying him during flight. He hated flying! Following Cheetor's and Silverstreak's route, he hoped to catch up to them soon.

Tigatron also lowered his weapon when Rhinox seemed to have the situation under control and looked to Aurora and Whitegrazer, waiting for them to make their exits and head to the pod that they were responsible for that wasn't too far from the Axalon.

-----

"You have nothing to fear from me. I promise that much."

Optimus wasn't so sure about that with the way TyCross had been acting. But, as always, Primal remained optimistic and tried sparing this guy any doubt. Thinking twice, he pulled his hand away from the string before touching it and glanced from Icebreaker back to TC.

"I'm going to reconnect you to her."

To Whitegrazer? he thought, suddenly thrown into joy and hope. Was he capable of doing that? What... What would Optimus even say to her? "What good will this do to have such communication between us?" he asked, still trying to understand. Well, besides giving her comfort that he was okay and they could still be together... in a long-distance, spiritual kind of way. Was there a bigger point to this? Of course the whole notion made him think about her even more. He could see her face as if she were right in front of him, hear her voice, and even the memory of her scent appeared if only for a moment. Why was he even questioning anything? If he could ever communicate to Whitegrazer again, then he could communicate to all of his Maximals through her as well. How he wished so much to see them again...

(( OOC: Kind of rushed through everything. Let me know if I missed anything. ))

[NaitoKage]

(Nighthunter: If your going to jump in, have Sonar run out of the Maximal base NOW while Inferno has the maximals busy. Otherwise it could be awhile before he gets another chance Nighthunter. Welcome back by the way! I'll add your profiles to the index.

Worpex:Airazor and Orcariner wont be fighting ALL those preds. Maybe three of them. If you want the odds evened more, that could be arranged. Edit: Seeing that Orcariner is going kinda slow,I guess we'll even the odds for Airazor even though.. OOP hates when I play hero. *LOL* )

Waspinator's optics widen, bugging out of his head at the sight of Tantrum lifting and throwing the gigantic boulder Oh no... he muttered to himself quietly, which came to the sudden surprise as the boulder exploded. While this was beneficial, Waspinator's luck did not completely work out with the laws of physics.. The concussive force of the blast combine with the massive debris of rock slammed into his body sending him into the ground. His body rendered into stasis lock on impact with a few pieces of bug legs popping off and scattering about on the ground.

______________________

As Tantrum prepared his massive cannons to fire, a sudden blur streaked through the air, at speeds unregistered by the group's optical sensors. Right before the cannons fired, Airazor seemed to have disappeared.

As the dust from the shots cleared, the female Maximal seemed to be held in the arms of a just slightly taller Transmetal, his back to the three predacons seeming not that concerned with any of them. His body adorned in gold, silver, and black with blue accent lighting. A strange mask and visor with a hexagon pattern slide back as he spoke That was a close one little lady, are you alright? Seems to be dangerous to fly alone out here.