(( OOC: Everyone, I will be moving to a new apartment by the end of November, so my activity here may be delayed every so often during that month. I have a lot of packing to do and all that jazz, along with setting up my new internet provider and other bills for the new place. Yay bills! So, please bear with me.
una also gave me an excellent idea for Megatron in this post. Thanks, una! ))
Yeah.. that doesn't work on me.
It was rather disappointing for Quickstrike to have heard that from Landslide while he watched his venom cause little harm to him. Suddenly, the tiny Predacon Fuzor had felt incredibly insignificant compared to the big brute. But he was lucky when Terrorsaur had swooped in and picked him up.
He later laughed at Whitegrazer and Rhinox when his rocket successfully exploded in front of them and sent them flying off of their feet, seeming to have knocked out the rhinoceros. Happy days!
NO!
"That'll learn yas!" Quickstrike cheered while he watched Landslide roll in and immediately shield the smaller Maximals in an attempt to prevent further injury to them. Well, smaller compared to the beetle, but much larger compared to himself. He quickly ducked behind a tree upon noticing Landslide aiming his laser weapon at him and firing. He remained there with his back against it to avoid getting struck when he looked over and saw Tarantulas flying through air right at him. Fortunately, his body hit the ground before he could collide with the scorpion/cobra Fuzor.
"What's the matter, Tarry? She too nimble for ya ta handle?" he chuckled at his expense.
"Rhinox!" "Rhinox, are you all right?"
The engineer gave no response as he laid there with his whole front side covered in black soot where he had taken the brunt of the fiery explosion.
"Come on, we have to go and help the others."
Rhinox felt his body shake a little from Whitegrazer trying to rouse him, and he thought he heard her familiar voice, soft and warm despite the current situation, but it sounded distant and muffled. Groaning, his optic sensors still dark, he moved a little but his systems were still recovering and recuperating from the blast as they slowly performed the diagnostics and calibrations that they could. There was little he could do as he laid there slipping in and out of consciousness.
Observing the battle from the safety of the
Axalon, Rattrap decided it was time to try and get the boss monkey back.
"Yo, Optimus, dis is Rattrap. Do you copy?" He still didn't see his signature on the sensors, nor Aurora's, and that worried him. He didn't get a response.
"Do you read me, Fearless Leader? We got problems!" Nothing.
"Hey, Big Green?" he tried calling to Rhinox, but since he had just been blown off of his feet, literally, he didn't hear a reply from him either. Now he was starting to panic.
"'Grazer? Landslide? Do you guys copy? I ain't seein' Optimus or Aurora on de scanners yet." Shaking his head, he decided to leave the base through the hangar to lend the others a hand outside. In doing so he came upon the drones and saw they were repairing the CR chamber that Starshadow had busted, which made him somewhat regret doubting their usefulness and trust.
"Thanks, uh... drones? I gotta run out and help de others," he told them. Reverting to his beast mode, he blew flames out of his exhaust pipes and drove off out of the
Axalon toward Cheetor, Umbra and Starshadow. He was reluctant to, of course, but he couldn't very well loiter inside while he watched his friends get hammered by the Preds.
"You two want a taste of my pain as well?"
Terrorsaur and Inferno laughed at X as they flew toward him again. They put some distance between themselves to flank him during their fly-by, making it pretty much impossible for him to fire at both of them at the same time. Terrorsaur shot his optic lasers at the large mini-gun in his hand, while Inferno fired off some shots along the ground at X's feet.
"Look.. I'm taking a big risk by coming here to warn you, so the least you can do is hear me out," "It would be a lot safer for me to simply let Megatron evaporate your precious Maximals." "Come," "We're wasting precious time."
Her words were so empty to Optimus now. Manipulative, full of deceit, hollow. He was confused and hurt, physically and emotionally.
This has not been a good day, he thought with some exhaustion.
"You monster!,"
"Thank you," Megatron had simply said to the little Maximal with a smile, taking her insult as a compliment. After he had shot them both, he watched them as if he was savoring the moment of his recent accomplishment. He took in the smells of their burnt armor and melted paint, and the sounds of their gasps, whimpers and labored breathing. The tyrant cherished these small victories, thirsty for the destruction of these nuisances called Maximals.
"It will be my pleasure,"
The Predacon leader had sent Nemesis a small smile with narrowed optics since he was still skeptical of her intentions and emotions toward their enemy, but he also wanted to pretend to affirm his satisfaction of her recent actions and how well she played Primal for the fool.
"Want me to join you after I'm finished here?,"
"No," he said bluntly as he walked to the cave without looking back at her.
"Remain here and guard them." He was not about to lose his prized possessions.
Having entered the dark cave, Megatron continued to use his illuminated tail weapon to guide his way. Little frightened him, of course, but he was still cautious. Cautious of traps, ambushes and other surprises. So, he took his time as he headed down the tunnel, shining his tail close against the walls and the ground in search of anything suspicious while he enclosed on the other Aurora's location deeper within. But something high above in the ceiling caught his eye when he waved his tail from one side of the tunnel to the other. Bringing his light back to it, the object nearly blended in with the rocks. Megatron squinted his optics and thoughtfully pursed his purple lips for a moment. Could it be a trap? Could it have been something forgotten by someone? Could it have been what brought Aurora and Optimus there in the first place? This certainly peaked his interest and he couldn't ignore his curiosity. Igniting his engines, he slowly flew up to the ceiling and examined the object closer with the help of his tail. It was black and silver, orb in shape with some odd textures, and it had Vok inscriptions written on it. Now Megatron was even more eager to get his hands on this artifact. As he hovered there, he used the tip of his weapon to gently dig around it and pull it out of the rocks and dirt. Whatever it was, it had hit the mountain hard enough to pierce through the rocky exterior and wind up trapped in the cave's ceiling. Megatron's carnivorous and unfriendly optics widened with wonder as he held it close to his face in his tail before placing it in his other hand.
What a fascinating device, he pondered as a grin gradually grew across his face, realizing that he may have stumbled upon something of great significance that would hopefully offer him another advantage in this pathetic, on-going war. Lowering himself back to the ground and deactivating his twin engines, he carefully placed the sphere in his subspace for closer inspection at a later time and in privacy.
Although he eagerly anticipated doing his research, Megatron had to remind himself that this mission was to procure Protoform X. This may have been what the Maximals were seeking. And just as he was about to turn around and leave, a faint glimmer of light projecting across the ground further down the tunnel made him hesitate and continue forward. The bright pink glow of his tail gun shined down the tunnel as he eventually followed the light to a flashlight that had been dropped and left on the ground. And right beside it was Aurora.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" he asked rhetorically in his deep, cold voice that echoed off of the walls, slowly approaching the little Maximal laying on the ground. She appeared to be helpless, vulnerable and injured; exactly the way he preferred Maximals to be. Megatron started to laugh in his throat as he put the pieces together.
"Oh, my dear, Aurora. You must be so frightened," he told her in the warmest and friendliest tone that he could muster as if he was trying to gain her trust by empathizing with her.
"Permit me to guide you to Optimus. I know exactly where he is, yesss. Surely, he has been searching for you." He smiled big and reached down with his tail to pick her up by one of her wings in the clamps at the end of his weapon, lifting her up off the ground as if she had some kind of disease or illness that he might contract by touching her. Then he turned around and started to walk back down the tunnel to the exit with the Maximal Fuzor in his grasp.
Meanwhile, outside of the cave, Primal still stirred a little. He groaned when he felt Nemesis place her knee on his back to pin him down as she grabbed his arms and pulled them behind himself to cuff him.
"I am sorry about this,"
He didn't entirely believe her remorse or regret for what had just transpired. Optimus understood that some of the Predacons acted the way they did in order to survive and avoid Megatron's wrath. But if they really didn't agree with his antics, abuse and ideals, then why remain at his side? Why carry out actions that they weren't comfortable with? Why not find refuge under Primal's command? They must have feared for their lives so greatly that it was unimaginable to Optimus. He simply couldn't fathom it because it was not how he operated at all. Without addressing her apology, he turned his head to see Aurora's body nearby, and asked Nemesis,
"Aurora? Is she... alright?" His concern for his Maximals was still blatantly evident over his own welfare while Nemesis finished adding the energy bonds around his ankles. He didn't struggle; he couldn't. His wound caused him anguish and it looked as though his youngest Maximal was in no better shape. He feared more for her life than his own.
"Can't have you bleeding out and ruining Megatron's plans,"
Optimus cringed with a growl while Nemesis applied the make-shift band-aid to his side to keep pressure on it and stop his fluids from leaking. She didn't offer the gentlest of touches, and he was even more confused about her true intentions than he was earlier, but at least it seemed as though she was trying to help. Either that or simply prolonging the inevitable so Megatron succeed with his plan, whatever it was, thus covering her own hide. He moved a little to watch her as she returned to Aurora's side. He couldn't see past her back and wings, but her movements suggested that she was doing the same thing with the vegetation to aid her wound.
"Aurora...?" he muttered again as he laid on his stomach, insisting on knowing her condition, feeling his wrists and legs bound as he tugged on them.
"Speaking of Aurora," Megatron said loudly as he emerged from the cave holding the double in his clasp up high, glancing at Nemesis as he noticed the bandages she was addressing to their injuries.
"One of these is not like the other. Can you spot the difference, Primal?" he smirked tauntingly. The Predacon couldn't decide which was more humorous to him; the fact that Zodiac was one of these right before his very optics whom he so desperately wanted to rip apart limb by limb, or that Optimus had been so easily duped yet again.
Carefully rolling on to his side that hadn't been damaged, he watched Megatron approach them as his orange optics widened upon seeing the second Aurora. No...
"Zodiac...," he said when his optics drifted to the Aurora laying on the ground next to him and recalling how she felt heavier when he was carrying her. He started to fumble more with his bonds realizing how desperate the situation was becoming. How could he have been so blind?! He had to warn the rest of his Maximals. Searching for his link with Whitegrazer, it was still severed by her during their last encounter with Vok, so he tried his comm. link.
"Maximals... Come in. Do you copy?" But all he received was static.
"I'm afraid not, Primal," Megatron said with no surprise.
"This sector's Maximal frequencies have been jammed, yesss. It was a risky move so close to your base of operations, but we clearly succeeded undetected."
Optimus briefly closed his optics with a frown across his mouth as if he was about to give up, but he was merely tired and in pain and just needed some time to think so he and the real Aurora could escape their predicament some how.
"Inferno, what is the status on Protoform X?" he radioed the ant.
"Terrorsaur and I are currently engaged, Royalty!" he immediately responded.
"And he has graciously secluded himself from the Maximals!"
"I see. And what of Starshadow?"
"The last I saw Umbra was handling her."
"Good. Inform me when you have ceased X's mobility and weapons."
"Yes, my Queen!" Inferno eagerly responded.
Megatron glanced upward at the sky for a moment and shook his head at Inferno's very annoying name for him before returning his attention to the mess of Maximals and impersonators in front of him.
(( OOC: This is all the time I have for tonight. I hope I didn't take too many liberties with Megatron, Phoenix. ))
I also wanted to attack X since you had set him up as such, but I had already written a lot for my characters and didn't want to keep going on without others being able to respond. I just wanted you to know that that part of your post didn't go ignored. ))
Let me know, and I will adjust my post accordingly. ))
I just wanted people to know that X is out in the open for anyone to take a potshot at him.