The Intergalactic Highway

Tarantulas and Blackarachnia stared down at each other. Quickstrike went away with the rocket launcher, making her look back, which was a mistake. Tarantulas came at her with a flying kick. A kick that sent her flying against the wall of rock beside her. Before she could recover, he charged at her, grabbing her throat and started banging her head against the rock, calling her a miserable witch and if he had known she would have been this treacherous, he would had destroyed her. He squeezed and squeezed, tearing pieces of metal off her neck. Tarantulas had his legs wide open, so she gave him a kick inbetween his legs, which made him fall back and cough. She laughed and gave him a flying to his head, pay back for that surprise attack earlier. She didn't know why she looked back at Quickstrike. Part of her wondered if she was checking to make sure he wasn't going to stab her in back or if she was... worried about her temporary comrades. Yuck! She wasn't like that! She just let that fuzor distract her, that's all.

She winked at Tarantulas, "Let's make our fight interesting. Come and get me, if yo really do want me sooooo badly," She swayed her hips and grappled herself back up on the cliff.

Tarantulas growled, shaking a fist as he chased her back up the cliff.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-

Whitegrazer watched her darts bounce off Terrorsaur's wind blades. She aimed again.

"Well, if it isn't Primal's girlfriend!" he taunted the hideous equine in robot mode.

She remained unfazed by Terrorsaur's failed attempt of an insult. Aimed right at his face...

"Hey, if a tree falls onto a Maximal and nobody's around to hear it scream in agony, does it still make a sound?" He laughed as he intentionally referred to Maximals, including herself, as inanimate objects and fired his lasers at the tree's trunk she was perched in to make it fall almost effortlessly. "TIMBER!"

"Whitegrazer, look out!"

"Whitegrazer!"

She shot a couple of darts at Terrorsaur, but they missed as he fired his lasers at the tree. The tree cracked, and it, along with herself, as she lost her balance, fell onto the ground. She was all right, though. She shook off some dizziness, pulled out the twigs from her mane and a branch that landed on her back. Standing back up, she saw Rhinox fighting Terrorsaur. She raced over to help him out, placing the tranquilizer gun where her small pistol used to be before she lost it during the Metal Hunter Incident.

As Terrorsaur was about to blast off, Whitegrazer made a grab for him, and before he could blast off, she grabbed his leg, spun him around a few times, so he could be dizzy and slammed him down on the ground. Pulling out her tranquilizer gun, she took the opportunity to shoot a couple of darts on his head and body. Then she reloaded.

((OOC: Hey, OOP, if you have a problem with this, I will fix it.))

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X had surveyed the battles. Playing eenie-meenie-minnie-moe with which one he should interfere with hsi own bridge of torment, but when he noticed Umbra getting out of the young Maximal feline's grasp. He saw the octopus kneeling behind a boulder X chuckled to himself. Oh, my dear sweet, don;t worry. I will come to your aid. He chuckled as he transformed into his beast mode, to keep himself a little more hidden as he sneakily made his way behind Umbra, rubbing his claws against each other. As he positioned himself, he made a jump towards Umbra, hoping to crush him underneath his massive weight.

"Hello again," X greeted himself as he bared down. "I was hoping to see you again. I wonder... If I rip off your arms one at a time, like a little child would pluck the petals off a flower, how many arms would it take until you screamed in agony and terror?"

((OOC: Imma use Star's Maximal name to avoid confusion!))

Nightstar's thrusters kicked in, taking herself to the air to avoid the acid pellets and landed on her feet. With the smokescreen that clouded Umbra, she lost him. She had to be extra careful of that sneaky octopus since he is known to be a silent killer.

Come on out Tentacle's, theres no point in Hid-ing..? Where'd he go?!

Nightstar sighed at Cheetor before responding sarcastically, "to his mom's. No, he's camoflaged you idiot. Pay attention and watch your own back!" she started walking calmly even when the battle is starting to heat up. Then along came a giant crab who jumped out of nowhere. The mutant panther's ears went back in annoyance. If X has caught him and finish him off, she is going to set fire to the rain. Figuratively.

"I was hoping to see you again. I wonder... If I rip off your arms one at a time, like a little child would pluck the petals off a flower, how many arms would it take until you screamed in agony and terror?"

She approached X with a dark cold look in her optics and stood behind him, "None. I've cut off his limbs before...He's resilient, I'll give him that. Now sweetspark, I know we used to share our "homecooked" meals but I'd like to butcher and grill him myself," her optics turned red once again, speaking in Starshadow's voice, "step aside..."

(ooc: And here I held up the game again.. Been a craazy week. And I need a new job, this one is killing me. I worked dayshift on Tuesday.. Was supposed to be done at 3:30 pm. Spent that portion of the shift precepting a new nurse, passing meds, treatments, assessments, and caring for a dying patient. Confused people acting up the whole shift. Then one of the next shift's nurses didn't show up and they got 4 admissions, so I offered to stay and get the orders cleared away and put in for them. The dying patient passed away at 4 pm so I had to call it, just a whooole mess.. I finally left at 8 pm.. )

"Yes,"

The fuzor let out a barely audible sigh. Was it relief? Or concern for her fellow Maximals now that she knew the Predacons were attacking? Disappointment? It wasn't easy to tell.

"Will it ever be over?," she muttered, barely louder than a whisper, as Primal carried her furry form outside. It wasn't meant to be a question, exactly, as much as a statement of how futile this ongoing war seemed to be. It was all the fuzor had known, and she was tired of it. It was obvious to those around her, especially, perhaps, to the clone now cradled in Primal's arms who had trained for a lifetime to be able to impersonate others.

"No," he told her. "We don't have time. And if anyone is still in there, we can't risk being ambushed. The others need us right now."

The ermine fuzor's gaze dropped so rapidly a long lock of fur on her head immediately fell into her face. But she didn't bother brushing it away, not this time. Disappointment was written all over her features.

"I.. understand," she muttered, a hint of bitterness in her voice. Just then another female decided to join them, but it wasn't someone the fuzor was especially glad to see. Primal immediately stepped in front of her, shielding the little ermine from view.

"Nemesis,"

The black and red avian female tilted her head ever so slightly, taking in the coldness in Primal's voice. Not surprisingly he wasn't exactly thrilled to see her. She couldn't blame him for that given how tense the situation got due to them being on opposite sides.

She took note of his protectiveness for the fuzor, shielding her with his own body as if she was his own child. Not that he wouldn't be protective of any of his Maximals, but the young fuzor was different. Nemesis hadn't spent a lot of time with her, but still enough to realize the fuzor was a bit of a prodigy. A child with a thirst for knowledge well beyond her years. Perhaps that's why Megatron had suddenly taken an interest in her.. or perhaps the tyrant felt she could be used to control Primal.

Nemesis suspected she'd find out what those secret motives were soon enough.

"I don't have time to talk. My crew is under attack,"

Well.. that much was true. And it was a pity that the Predacons had already initiated the attack since it immediately made her job a lot more difficult.

What could she possibly tell him to keep his attention on her, away from the other Maximals?

Nemesis briefly glanced over in the general direction of the Axalon, the sounds of battle already filling the air.

"I know..," Nemesis then responded, her voice a little quieter. "Megatron wants X for himself. Such a formidable weapon he could be if in Predacon clutches," she continued, building on what the tyrant had told her to say.

She then turned her gaze straight at Optimus, her determination building.

"I know this is hard for you to believe, but I came to warn you. There is more to this than merely wanting X for himself. The attack on the Axalon is merely a distraction so that you won't see the real threat that is heading your way."

Upon hearing this, Aurora peered out from behind Optimus, her ears perking up.

"Megatron salvaged something from the Vok base a few weeks ago. A powerful weapon he plans to use against the Maximals. He is not part of the attack party since he's guarding the weapon personally during its transport. When he gets it into position, he plans to call off the attack and then use the weapon on the Axalon," Nemesis continued, her tone serious.

"Despite everything that's happened between us, I don't wish to see the Maximals in ruins.. I want to help you. To give you a chance to destroy the weapon before he can use it against you. I can take you to where it is."

(( OOC: una, as much as I'd love for Whitegrazer to gain the upper hand with Terrorsaur, I still need him to be functional. But her attack will be a valiant effort. 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. ))

There was a grip on Terrorsaur's ankle that suddenly yanked on him just as his feet had left the ground. It pulled him backward, and he quickly found himself being spun around and around several times before he was thrown to the ground onto his back. Dizzy and a little out winded, the Predacon coughed and tried desperately to regain his sense of awareness and surroundings. He thought it had been Rhinox who grabbed him, but to his surprise, as his vision came into focus, it was Whitegrazer. That slagging, Vok-infested freak had done this to him?! How could he have been so careless?! Ugh! Noticing her reaching for the tranquilizer gun, he just as swiftly wielded his one of his wing blades and used it to shield his head from the darts. The TransMetal armor deflected the shots, and then he used his thrusts to blast away from her backwards across the ground to avoid the shots she had taken at his body. Squawking angrily at her, he fired his optic lasers at the equine and swung upward in his flight blasting off back into the sky as his navigation systems re-calibrated from her attack. Next time, he was going to make her pay for that.

"Inferno, the auto-guns are destroyed. Let's focus our firepower on Protoform X and Starshadow now!" he radioed the ant. There was a moment when he wondered where Nemesis had gone to. Clearly, she had vanished from the battle, but Megatron had failed to say why. He hated how both of them were not present. What was Megatron up to? And where was Primal? Glaring at these thoughts, he veered off and started to descend when he spotted Landslide looming over Quickstrike.

"Affirmative!" the Predacon pyromaniac joyfully confirmed with his teammate. He eagerly ran across the Axalon's roof and leaped into the air as he ignited his engine and flew off toward the crab and cat's location, reloading his large weapon.

You got guts lad.. Let me see them!

The Predacon Fuzor watched as the large Maximal beetle deflected his rocket with his shield. "Uh oh," he muttered as he tried to stay hidden behind his only cover that was a boulder with recently shredded edges from Landslide's relentless bullets. At least that gun fire had stopped. But why...? Now what? There was no where for him to go. Swallowing, he suddenly jumped with a yelp when the Maximal's huge sword struck the boulder and effortlessly sliced it in half just missing Quickstrike's shoulder. Out of panic and instinct, not fear, the tiny Predacon bit the sword with his cobra's mouth before the Maximal could lift it away from him and injected his TransMetal venom in hopes that it would travel through the metal sword and up to Landslide's hand to paralyze it with his entire arm.

Terrorsaur swooped in and fired short bursts of laser blasts from his optics at Landslide's back and shoulder joints as he flew around the gigantic lug nut to distract him. Then he came to Quickstrike's aid by extracting him from his position, lifting him up with his rocket launcher as he did a fly-by, grabbing his other arm that was his beast mode's legs and flying off away from Landslide.

"What're ya doin'?! I had that under control!" Quickstrike yelled at the flying fossil.

Terrorsaur rolled his optics, saying, "Not from my view point. You should get your small-Predacon-syndrome checked out!"

"Why, you blind, tin-horn dinosaur! You don't know what yer talkin' about!" he squirmed in his grasp.

"Stay still, you idiot! We still got a lot of Maximals to take down! Where's Umbra?"

"How should I know?! He's probably camouflaged somewhere." Lucky squid, he thought, jealous of his ability. "Where's Megatron and Nemesis?"

"No clue. Wherever they are, that's probably where Optimus is since he's also M.I.A."

Quickstrike grumbled under his breath while wondering how long they were supposed to keep up with this charade.

"Umbra, you and Quickstrike need to handle the Maximals!" Terrorsaur reiterated to him over his comm. link as he flew down into the forest nearby and dropped the Fuzor off. Then he blasted away to rejoin Inferno.

Reverting to his beast mode for better cover and traveling through the forest, Quickstrike tracked down Whitegrazer and Rhinox. He transformed back to robot mode and targeted the two Maximals with his rocket launcher as he crouched on a knee. "Suck on this, flee bags!" he said as he fired a rocket them.

Rhinox turned and fired at Quickstrike but he was too late. The rocket exploded in the ground between him and Whitegrazer as they stood just outside of the tree line, sending Rhinox off of his feet. He landed on his stomach with a thud and unconscious.

Terrorsaur and Inferno flew beside each other as they approached X and Starshadow. They split up at the last moment to make it harder for anyone to target them and shoot them as they flew over and fired their weapons at the two below. Just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone, and then flew around for another round.

I don't benefit from doing that.

"Yeah? Well, I don't know that for sure," the paranoid rodent told the drone. Rattrap had reentered the base once Inferno had retreated from his gun fire. He looked around the bridge as he noticed the drone had left. Great. Where'd it go now? He instinctively ducked when he heard the Predacon's feet scramble across the ship's roof fearing Inferno would blast his way in and attack him, but the ambush never came. He hurried to the consoles and checked on the auto-guns. All of them were disabled or destroyed. "Slag!" he said with frustration. "What's takin' Optimus so long?" he pondered. His and Aurora's signatures still weren't showing up within range of the ship's sensors, which worried him.

"I know..," "Megatron wants X for himself. Such a formidable weapon he could be if in Predacon clutches,"

"I'm well aware of that," the damaged Maximal leader told Nemesis with little patience. "He made his intentions quite clear earlier today."

"I know this is hard for you to believe, but I came to warn you. There is more to this than merely wanting X for himself. The attack on the Axalon is merely a distraction so that you won't see the real threat that is heading your way."

Primal raised a brow before narrowing his orange optics at her quizzically. "Is that so," he said as a statement rather than a question. "And that is...?" he inquired, but he didn't really expect her to elaborate.

"Megatron salvaged something from the Vok base a few weeks ago. A powerful weapon he plans to use against the Maximals. He is not part of the attack party since he's guarding the weapon personally during its transport. When he gets it into position, he plans to call off the attack and then use the weapon on the Axalon," "Despite everything that's happened between us, I don't wish to see the Maximals in ruins.. I want to help you. To give you a chance to destroy the weapon before he can use it against you. I can take you to where it is."

At first, Optimus suspiciously glanced around the area again looking for any hostiles that might be lurking about during their meeting with this Decepticon-turned-Predacon. He didn't detect any, and her words and tone were convincing. It sounded like a genuine threat. And since Aurora had been out here with her Vok-detecting equipment, it was possible that it was leading her to this alleged weapon, if it really existed. He had trusted Nemesis before during the duration she had spent seeking refuge with his Maximals, and she had attributes he respected, but there was the matter of past encounters that suggested just how dangerous and deceitful she could be. At the moment, Primal was torn in his decision making. Follow Nemesis in case this threat was real? Or call her bluff and return to the Axalon to help his crew?

Meanwhile, Megatron flew around in a large arc to approach Optimus and Aurora from behind as stealthy as he could. The cave offered some cover from the mountain it was attached to, so it was easy for him to stay out of sight until he wanted to be seen. Terrorizing, the ruthless Predacon held his tail gun in his hand and charged it to a powerful setting as he targeted Primal. "Well done, Nemesis," he said with a grin to make his adversary turn around.

Gasping upon hearing his voice, Optimus realized what happened as it was a set-up, but it was too late. Between feeling incredibly gullible, tricked, maybe even a little betrayed by Nemesis, and now finding himself and Aurora in a bad situation secluded from everyone else who were probably relying on them to return soon, he lifted his gun to fire at Megatron but the Predacon succeeded with the first shot which tore into Primal's side exactly where he had hammered him earlier. It easily blew off his temporary repair and sent him flying sideways into the ground rolling onto his stomach with sparks flying out of the gaping hole and some fluid dripping on to the dirt.

"Tisk tisk," Megatron taunted the downed leader who was barely conscious. "There's almost little fun to be had when it becomes so easy." The cocky tyrant landed on the ground with his purple toes, deactivating his twin engines, and looked down at Aurora. He straightened his weapon and charged it again as he aimed it at her. "Fear not, little one, for I don't intend on taking your lives. I merely require... a little co-operation against your will, yesss." He smiled at the ermine Fuzor and fired his powerful weapon upon her. "Restrain them, Nemesis," he ordered her as he tossed four energy bonds to her with his free hand; two for their wrists and two for their ankles. "I will investigate this cave of which they found so fascinating." Maybe Primal had hidden his golden disk in there. Or perhaps there was something more. But he didn't have time to doddle since his Predacons might be struggling to maintain any advantages over the Maximals. He brightened his tail gun without having to use the energy to charge it with the ammunition, using it as a flashlight or lantern instead of a weapon, and then he turned around and entered the darkness.

Primal groaned from the pain and damage, struggling to stay functional. He incoherently moved slightly as he laid on the ground coping.

(( OOC: I hope I didn't go too fast with some of this; I get carried away sometimes, especially now that I play so many characters. Let me know, and I will adjust my post accordingly. ))

Quickstrike wrote: "Uh oh,"

Landslide turned off his chainsword's edge as Quickstrike attempted to bite the blade, then stared as the Cybervenom attempted and failed to travel through the blade. Yeah.. that doesn't work on me. he then said, suddenly leaning forward as he's hammered in the backside by Terrorsaur, parts of his wings being damaged from the laser fire.

Landslide then turned watching as Terrorsaur flew off with Quickstrike. With a frown, he turned and started to roll towards where the others were before.

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One of the octopus eyes on Umbra's legs shifted as it suddenly noticed movement, Umbra's tentacles instinctively swinging up as X suddenly came at him in a jump, grabbing onto X's claws, then rushed in towards X's direction with his thrusters moving under and using X's own weight in mid air to flip him onto his back.

una wrote: "Hello again," X greeted himself as he bared down. "I was hoping to see you again. I wonder... If I rip off your arms one at a time, like a little child would pluck the petals off a flower, how many arms would it take until you screamed in agony and terror?"

Umbra's tentacles released X's claws as he got up, then looked towards Starshadow as she spoke up. Cheetor just watched in surprise at the Crab being thrown onto his back, though Umbra was fairly strong with all those tentacles.

starshadow wrote: "None. I've cut off his limbs before...He's resilient, I'll give him that. Now sweetspark, I know we used to share our "homecooked" meals but I'd like to butcher and grill him myself," "step aside..."

Umbra casually tossed the democharge in his hand onto X under his crab face with a click as it stuck with the timer set to two seconds, then walked towards Starshadow going into a stance. Your boyfriend talks too much.

Cheetor held his arms aimed at Umbra, waiting for an opening to fire on him.

Umbra then heard on his comlink from Terrorsaur

Terrorsaur wrote:"Umbra, you and Quickstrike need to handle the Maximals!"

Umbra responded back I'm working on it.

With the sudden airborne attack from Inferno and Terrorsaur, Umbra took his chance with the distraction, curling four of his tentacles into a huge fist he rocketed suddenly punching the massive limb into Starshadow, knocking her into Cheetor.

____________________

Making his way back, Landslide reached his arm out as Rhinox suddenly hit the ground from the explosion NO! , the large beetle rolled on his landing gear over to Rhinox and Whitegrazer's position, putting his sword away. He held his shield up standing infront of them, with his electro laser popping out of his right arm he then started firing at Quickstrike's position.

((OOC: Oh, that's all right, OOP. I didn't plan on Terrorsaur being out of commission. I was worried my post took too many liberties. I just glad it didn't. Also, about X, I hope what I said in my Pm didn't make me sound angry. I was just joking there. I just wanted people to know that X is out in the open for anyone to take a potshot at him. ))

As she reloaded her weapon, Terrorsaur's eye beams blasted the rifle out of her hands. The rifle flew over her head and onto the ground. Her hands stung a bit, due to the hot lasers, so she shook them. She picked her weapon back up, and quickly, reloaded before Terrorsaur or any other Predacon decided to take a pot shot at her. As she did, she began looking around. Terrorsaur, Quickstrike, Tarantulas, Inferno, and Umbra... Those were the Predacons she saw come out of the woodworks and fight them. Yet, Megatron was the one who wanted X so badly. He planned something, and yet, there was no sign of him. At all. That made her wary. Surely, this was the main objective even since X's pod landed here. Was there something she was missing? She felt like she was missing something. Something important.

"Suck on this, flee bags!"

NO!

She herd Landslide's cry. The rocket knocked her back hard against a tree. Her vision swirled around her in greens and browns. She shook her head, unconsciousness tried to overtake her as she looked for Rhinox, who was also was knocked back from the blast, "Rhinox!" She went to his side. "Rhinox, are you all right?" He was knocked unconscious. She shook him, trying to wake him up, "Come on, we have to go and help the others." Landslide was protecting them from anymore attacks from Quickstrike.

She looked around. Where was Optimus and Aurora? Optimus should have been back by now.

She could reach out to him through their bond, and yet, she hesitated. The memories of what her own people did still burned into her spark. Used her own links towards him, and the others to try and killed them. She was appalled at them, for doing the thing that haunted her as well as used that as the reason for her exile, and how hypocritical of them to do it willing against people she loved, punishing her. How dare they, despite her loyal and protectiveness.

A feeling of dread washed over her. It came from the direction of the cave.

"Something is wrong. Something is not right here." She looked for her transqulizer rifle and picked it up.

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None. I've cut off his limbs before...He's resilient, I'll give him that. Now sweetspark, I know we used to share our "homecooked" meals but I'd like to butcher and grill him myself," her optics turned red once again, speaking in Starshadow's voice, "step aside..."

It warmed his sadistic, agony-ridden, immortal spark to hear his sweet Nightstar once more. "As you wish, my sweet.

He played with Umbra bit, dangling like he was a puppet, but Umbra didn't like that very much as he did. Umbra flipped him on his back, making him shout in surprise. He slowly got up.

Your boyfriend talks too much.

The democharge took X by surprise. The explosion sent him back. His hands holding his face, choking and coughing out smoke. He chuckled in delight. Though, due to the octopus' little explosive, his voice processor came out with harshness static to his words. It made it difficult to talk, but not too much he couldn't speak. After all, he had worse.

"That's what I wanted!" X jumped back on his feet. He looked up in the air, seeing that flying pterodactyl and ant firing at him. He covered his face and turned around as they fired. They flew away, but he could see them coming back to give him more pain. He took out his minigun. He turned around to see Umbra, making gigantic fist to punch Starshadow. He fired full blast at Umbra, laughing as he did. "We will make sure to take out the bullets from his corpse! As the two flyers made another round at him, he fired at them, giggling. "You two want a taste of my pain as well?"

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Tarantulas and Blackarachnia were still fighting each other. They hated towards each other, blinded them towards the battles that was happening around them. So much so their bodies rolled between Landslide, who was protecting Whitegrazer and Rhinox, and Quickstrike. Tarantulas was strangling her. Her legs got out from underneath him, and she kicked him off towards Quickstrike.

"As you wish, my sweet.

Starshadow looked unphased when Umbra managed to get X off him and was approaching towards her.

Your boyfriend talks too much.

"Mhmmm~ I know you do~ Though you do more than just talk..." she positioned herself to an unfamiliar battle stance. Though Terrorsaur and Inferno attacked X, she did not pay much attention since the crab is a big boy and can take care of himself. Her ears perked up when he formed a giant fist and the catbot brought her arms out to brace for the impact and flew backwards from it, crashing into Cheetor the rookie who got in her way and not knowing how to pick his own opponents. Starshadow took some time to recover and rolled off him hissing angrily, "you stupid kitten! Run back to your cat bed where you belong!"

Looking back to focus on Umbra, she noticed X fired his minigun at him. Her own prey she had wanted to shred to pieces by herself for a long time, "NO!"

"I'm well aware of that, He made his intentions quite clear earlier today."

Nemesis crossed her arms and glanced around, almost a bit nervously as if verifying that they were truly alone. After a moment she turned back to face Optimus once more.

"Look.. I'm taking a big risk by coming here to warn you, so the least you can do is hear me out," she told the male in a lowered voice. "It would be a lot safer for me to simply let Megatron evaporate your precious Maximals."

The last statement was followed by a sigh, as if making it clear just how uncomfortable she was with all of this. Indeed, she was uncomfortable, but not for the reasons she had just told Primal. Truthfully she would rather have been back at the battle right about now, or pretty much anywhere, as she wasn't exactly overly keen on what she was doing. Yet Megatron had given her little choice in the matter, not if she valued her own life and position within the Predacon ranks.

Aurora's clone peered out at the avian female from behind Optimus. Something seemed.. off.. about all of this. The pretender knew Nemesis better than anyone, or at least so he liked to think, and something wasn't right. Was the clone imagining it?

Nemesis's attention was solely on Primal, barely even acknowledging the little fuzor hiding behind him. Of all the Maximals, it was Primal himself that she had grown to care about in a way. She couldn't really explain it, but the time they spent together when the Maximal leader confronted her after the attack she made against his Maximals only a few months after she crashed on this planet, it had triggered something in her. Something she didn't realize she was capable of anymore. Certainly not something she was proud of or wanted in any way, but it was definitely there.

The avian female had come to realize it when she thought she was watching Primal's demise back when he sacrificed himself to save them all.

Respect? Yes, there was that. But there was something more as well. She had actually felt a sense of regret when she believed the Maximal commander had died. Grief. Oddly enough she cared enough to not want him killed.

But when given the choice between betraying Primal's trust or risking her own life, of course she'd do what she had to do to preserve her own existence. She was a Predacon, after all, bound by different codes of honor than the Maximals.

Not that all Maximals followed Primal's conduct. Those lines separating them from Predacons had faded considerably over the years, destroyed by an ongoing war that had lasted millennia already and still had no end in sight. Yes, there was a supposed truce between the Predacons and their Maximal overlords on Cybertron, but that alliance was only a thin layer deep. More than anything it was a front to prevent the destruction of the Predacons.

Self-preservation.

Just like what she was doing now.

Primal still questioned her motives. Not surprising. So she went on to tell him a fabricated story about a new weapon Megatron had acquired. All the while she watched for a change in the expression on Primal's face.

And there it was. Primal's stern poker face melted, turning to an expression of genuine concern for the well being of his Maximals.

Nemesis merely nodded, gesturing the direction of where Primal needed to go to find this fictional weapon. "Come," she told them frankly, "We're wasting precious time."

"Well done, Nemesis,"

The distraction worked, giving Megatron the time and opportunity he needed to circle around them and approach from behind.

Nemesis immediately stood up a little straighter, forcing a hint of a smile as she acknowledged her leader's words. With Megatron there was no showing weakness, no pity or remorse or anything of the sort. She was smart enough to realize this fact early on, back before she had befriended Primal in her own way even. And so she maintained her composure, meeting Primal's disappointed stare with a blank one. Or at least that was her intent, even if it could have been possible the Maximal caught that flicker of doubt and regret she had felt at the exact moment Megatron fired his cannon at Primal.

Optimus went down, leaving Aurora gasping in shock as she took a hesitant step backwards, away from the direction the danger was in. Not that it would make the least bit of difference.

"There's almost little fun to be had when it becomes so easy."

Aurora's gaze shifted from the downed Primal, smoke emerging from the gaping wound in his side, to the menacing figure hovering above. Her optics narrowed, her hand instinctively reaching for a weapon that wasn't there.

Oh, that's right.. The pretender growled inwardly at realizing the form he was in wasn't equipped with weapons right now. And if he used his powers to form them, it would become obvious who he really was.

There was no doubt in his mind that Megatron would order each and every one of his Predacons to attack the shapeshifter on the spot. After all they hadn't exactly parted on good terms given the renegade's attempt at taking down all the Predacons by infecting them with a virus. Yeah.. It was probably a wiser choice to remain in his disguise. Should Megatron shoot him, he would be able to heal the damage accordingly. Something that wouldn't be the case if he was being targeted by each of the Predacons, their combined firepower would surely exhaust his own ability to heal.

An army upon yourself, are you?


Those were the words Megatron had used to describe him, perhaps even mock him in the past. And back then the renegade would have claimed those words to be true.

He had learned since that time.

Coming to terms with your own mortality was no easy feat. Certainly not a comfortable one. But almost getting burned alive in a volcano as well as all the wounds he had suffered as a result of Predacon and Maximals both trying to bring him down, well.. He had not resurfaced unscathed from that ordeal.

He now knew better than to tempt death so openly. Even though he had regained his powers, he planned to be more careful in the future.

So he upheld his flawless disguise, even as Megatron aimed his weapon at the tiny fuzor.

"Fear not, little one, for I don't intend on taking your lives. I merely require... a little co-operation against your will, yesss."

Great.. Just great. This was going to hurt.

He wanted to shout an insult back at the tyrant, but it didn't seem like something the fuzor would do. So instead Aurora took another step back, seemingly trembling in fear as the weapon charged. A pair of frantic optics drifted to Optimus' still form a last time, calling Megatron out on exactly how the real fuzor felt about him. "You monster!," her trembling voice called out just before the shot hit its target.

Her.

There was a burning sensation as the outer layers of the armor dented and cracked, then gave away to the powerful impact, the jolt powerful enough to send the ermine crashing backwards onto the ground. Immediately his nanomachines set out to repair the damage, which would have been considerably worse hadn't the renegade's armor been thicker than the real fuzor's, their intrinsic instinct to keep their host safe.

He stopped them, instead ordering them to make the wound from such a blast look believable given the real Aurora's small stature and frail form. Through millions of rapid calculations, they complied and created a believable wound in the lower midsection by the time her seemingly unconscious form hit the dirt. Smoke was rising from the damaged parts within, escaping through the gaping hole in her abdomen and side.

A slight whimper and then nothing.. The fuzor lay perfectly still, her head facing sideways in the direction where Optimus was laying.

"Restrain them, Nemesis,"

Nemesis grabbed the energy bonds, responding to Megatron even as he started moving away from her to investigate the cave. "It will be my pleasure," she told him, sounding quite pleased with what had just transpired.

"I will investigate this cave of which they found so fascinating."

"Want me to join you after I'm finished here?," she called out after him while kneeling next to the small fuzor, grabbing the young female's arms and forcing them behind her back before applying the smaller of the bonds to her arms. She met no resistance, the young one merely twitching from the pain and didn't even react as the larger female placed the second pair of bonds on her ankles.

Nemesis made sure to tighten the restraints as much as possible, knowing how she had underestimated the little fuzor in the past. Then she made her way over to Primal.

By now Megatron was no longer within earshot, so Nemesis took a moment to study the damage done. Primal had sustained quite the wound, probably not helped by his earlier fight over X. Sure, the fuzor's wound looked bad as well, perhaps even lethal if it didn't get repaired in time, but it was still a strange sight for her to witness Primal in such a helpless state. He was usually so strong, so.. enduring.

"I am sorry about this," she told the still form as she placed her knee on the mid lower part of his back to make sure he didn't move while she finished restraining him. She grabbed his arms just like she'd done with the fuzor, forcing them behind his back before placing the restraints on him as well. The transmetal avian female only got off him after shackling his ankles as well, standing up as she looked them over as if admiring her work. Of course she wasn't, however, and a moment later she grabbed some nearby vegetation and used it to apply pressure against the seeping wound, forming a makeshift bandage of sorts.

"Can't have you bleeding out and ruining Megatron's plans," she told him, unsure if she was being watched. But again, she wasn't doing it for Megatron's benefit. Afterwards she did the same for Aurora.

Meanwhile, in the cave, the real fuzor stirred ever so slightly upon hearing footsteps nearing her location. She still couldn't see anything in the pitch darkness, but she could hear something.. someone.. coming. Small pebbles soon started moving from the slight vibrations of heavy footsteps approaching.

Optimus! He must have come back for her!

(( 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. ))

( OOC: I'm assuming Minigun means Revolving rocket launcher, since Rampage had two weapons but mostly only used a rocket launcher. His other weapon was a automatic rifle that TM2 Dinobot carried like.. once and mostly just used as a flashlight, which is fantastic since not many seemed to carry flashlights for some reason.. )

X wrote: "That's what I wanted!" "We will make sure to take out the bullets from his corpse!" "You two want a taste of my pain as well?"

Before having a chance to move, Umbra suddenly got hit in the back by three rockets, sending him flying forward, breaking off many of the tentacles on his back and knocking his right arm off at the shoulder, leaving a gaping hole in his backside. He fell to the ground, Umbra's optics flickered as he fell into stasis lock.

Cheetor got up in surprise, then looked as the fliers made their rounds. Transforming to his cheetah mode, he took off into the air, flying up behind Inferno and soon catching up, Cheetor transformed to robot mode in mid air, starting to fire on Inferno's backside with his arm lasers.

____________________

Whitegrazer wrote:"Rhinox!" "Rhinox, are you all right?""Come on, we have to go and help the others."

Landslide listened, not looking behind himself as he aimed at the tree Quickstrike hid behind. He then fired his weapon, sending a bolt of lightning into the tree truck, some of the tree trunk exploding off with a burn mark visible.

Landslide's back then opened He might be too injured. That launcher packs more of a walop then I'd expect. I'll get him back inside. he then said, his cargobay's mechanical arms extended grabbing Rhinox by the shoulders, then started to load him into his back.

Rattrap wrote: "'Grazer? Landslide? Do you guys copy? I ain't seein' Optimus or Aurora on de scanners yet."

Landslide responded on his comlink This is Landslide. I haven't seen hide nor hair of em' lad.

____________

Rattrap wrote: "Thanks, uh... drones? I gotta run out and help de others,"

The drones continued working on repairing the CR chamber, one turning to watch as Rattrap left. Okay.. the drone responded, more surprised if anything, as even Glowstick's records knew how untrusting Rattrap was. Or perhaps more surprised the Maximals would leave an unknown in their base, though he had no real means of inflicting harm to the ship, perhaps hack it, but such a method wouldn't benefit Ghost in the long run.

((OOC: I don't know if he had that on the show, but I just remembered the minigun from the PS1 Beast Wars game that used to play a lot of before it crashed on me. I loved that game. I remember every time I tried to complete the Predacon campaigan, when I got to teh Axalon to face Optimus Primal, the game crashed with Optimus' fists in the air. ))

"What's the matter, Tarry? She too nimble for ya ta handle?"

Tarantulas' face had been planted into the rocky dirt when he fell. He lifted himself up, shaking his head and growled at the fuzor, "Shut up!" He already felt embarrassed enough by the witch. He didn't like be seen like fool nor be anyone's toy. He shook his fist at Blackarachnia who had been smirking at his predicament. "You will regret this, witch!" He jumped up, standing back up.

Blackarachnia just yawned, "You are losing your touch, legs. What's the matter? Not so tough without a partner?"

Tarantulas' three fingers wiggled before he took out his weapon and started firing at her. She backflipped and took cover behind a tree.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rhinox didn't respond to her. That rocket must have knocked him out. Hopefully, he would wake up soon. She had a feeling they would need his help soon. Though, she couldn't understand. For what, exactly? Her spark pulsed against her chest. Something was happening, and somehow, she could only guess it was from Optimu, Aurora, or from both of them.

"'Grazer? Landslide? Do you guys copy? I ain't seein' Optimus or Aurora on de scanners yet."

"Rattrap? Rhinox is in and out of consciousness." Her head turned into the direction of where the cave Optimus and Aurora were probably inside. "I haven't seen them. But Rattrap, I haven't seen Megatron here either." She could be wrong, but her instincts told her there was something she wasn't getting. "Megatron wanted X badly. You would think he would be here."

When Landslide helped the unconscious Rhinox into his back, she looked for her weapon. Ah! It was against the tree she was pushed against by the rocket's explosion. As she reached for her tranquilizer gun, a vise formed inside her mind. The green and brown forest changed into monochrome. The pressure built up until for a moment she saw purple and green optics staring straight at her. They growled at her. "Don't resist us." "You refuse to use your abilities? Why? "Megatron has taken a piece of us." "You need to reclaim it." I don't know what you mean. I need to focus on the battle. My friends need my assistance." Every time she made a grab for the gun, it felt like a hot iron to her fingers. "Stop it! Leave me be." "We are vulnerable yet hidden. You are aware of us, but you are vulnerable." "Do something rash. Put us in risk. We will interfere." "If you are so concerned for my safety, help me here." "This matter is the Maximals. It doesn't concern us, but this object does. You will get it." "Megatron must not figure out it's purpose."

The optics disappeared, the color returned to the forest, and as the vise lifted, she held her tranquilizer gun. She didn't understand what the Vok were telling her. She didn't even know where Megatron was, and what object they were talking about. There wasn't an alien site for miles, and right now, her friends and herself were fighting to keep X and Starshadow from being in Predacon hands.

As Landslide was attacking Quickstrike, she decided to hide behind a tree, and slowly, she made her way closer and closer towards Quickstrike. Once she got closer, and once Quickstrike was distracted, talking to Tarantulas, she made a dash, grabbing his snakehead and outstretched it, so he couldn't hit her or Landslide with any venom. Then her other hand gave the Predacon a palm strike straight to his face.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

X let out a cry of laughter as he witnessed Umbra being pounded by his weapon, his tentacles dismembered, and watched his optics dimmed as he went into stasis lock. Nightstar seemed a little distressed by such. No doubt because she wanted to do that herself. "Sorry, sweetie, I didn't mean to take away your fun, but I promise you there will be another time." Right now, despite how much he wanted to going over Umbra's body and tear it apart and eat those arms of his, he must concentrate on those pesky flyers above. They were as annoying as flies.

The ptedacytl Predacon's optics fired at his mini-gun. The optics created a couple of craters into the mechanics, jamming his ability to fire, but that wasn't of consequence. He threw it and himself away as the second flyer fired at the ground beneath his feet. His head bashed against the tree trunk. He laid still.

(ooc: I was hoping Una would get a post in before my next one, but since it's my work weekend I won't be able to post again until maybe Monday.. )

"Thank you,"

The renegade was not usually one to give away his ace in the hole, but at that moment he briefly considered doing just that. Oh how nice it would be to wipe that smug smirk off the tyrant's face by destroying the cuffs like he had done the first time he revealed himself to the Predacon leader. The tyrant had been so furious, and the mischievous renegade had reveled in it. But all in good time, he decided, Cryotek's favorite pupil would suffer the consequences of his betrayal and attitude soon enough.

Keeping up the charade, Zodiac feigned actual injuries resulting in unconsciousness. Even as Nemesis cuffed the little fuzor's arms and legs, the pretender didn't move.

Nemesis still didn't know what Megatron planned to do with his two captives, and she certainly knew better than to ask. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good for them. Yet he was going through the trouble of taking them both alive, so obviously he needed them for something. Something vile, no doubt, that would ultimately lead to their demise in the end. Truthfully she didn't really care what happened to the fuzor, finding the small creature oddly unpredictable.

"No," "Remain here and guard them."

She glanced over at the tyrant as he disappeared into the cave, pondering what he hoped to find there. Why had the Maximals been out here anyway, away from the ongoing battle at their base? Yet curious as she was, she remained at her post like she'd been ordered to.

Inside the darkness of the cave, Aurora was barely able to move as she heard approaching footsteps. Still.. she could only hope it was Primal making a last sweep of the cave before leaving. Unfortunately her attacker had removed the only means she had of contacting the other Maximals or even for them to track her whereabouts.

The foot steps were coming closer, urging the fuzor to shift her gaze in the direction of the dropped flashlight. The small beam of light was reflecting off something metallic.. And purple.

"Do my eyes deceive me?"

Oh no.. It wasn't Primal after all!

Weak and getting lightheaded from the loss of mech fluid, the little fuzor clenched her optics shut, hoping this was all but a bad dream. One that would be over when she opened her eyes again.

"Oh, my dear, Aurora. You must be so frightened,"

But it was not a dream.. not an figment of her imagination.. The very much so unwanted presence next to her was real, and the realization of such caused Aurora to shudder. Despite his friendly words, she knew fully well that Megatron's intentions only meant bad things for her. In fact he was probably going to kill her now. All she could do was hope the blow came swiftly and without hesitation, so that she wouldn't be made to suffer.

She tensed up, waiting.. The seconds went by but the final blow she was expecting didn't come. Not yet, not now.

"Permit me to guide you to Optimus. I know exactly where he is, yesss. Surely, he has been searching for you."

Aurora let out a slight whimper as Megatron's weapon clamped onto her wing, tearing it a bit as he lifted her up by it as if she was little more than a piece of garbage. If she had been afraid before, now she was actually terrified. The tyrant's words and seemingly calm demeanor actually made her feel worse, a lot worse. Yet there was nothing she could do in her present state.

"Aurora? Is she... alright?"

Nemesis didn't respond immediately, mostly since she didn't know what to say. The little fuzor seemed severely injured and had not yet regained consciousness, yet she had proved to be strangely resilient in the past.

"She's alive," the avian female eventually responded, "But how long she stays that way depends on how well you two behave."

There was a certain truth to her matter-of-factly warning. It wasn't that she derived any pleasure out of saying them or doing this, but Megatron was not one to mess with. They all knew it.

"Aurora...?"

The pretender didn't move, merely laid there facing Primal. Unfortunately upon doing so, the fake Aurora didn't see Megatron emerging from the cave and much less what.. or whom.. he brought with him.

"Speaking of Aurora,"

The tyrant's voice forced the renegade to finally move and the fuzor turned her head to look at him. Optics immediately widened a bit upon seeing the helpless real Aurora dangling in Megatron's grasp. Nemesis, too, went wide eyed as her gaze darted from one to the other.

"One of these is not like the other. Can you spot the difference, Primal?"

Well.. darn.

Knowing the gig was up, the renegade immediately attempted to break free of his restraints, only to discover that he wasn't able to consume the metal joint like he had done the last time. By now Nemesis, too, realized what was going on and made a sudden run towards the fake Aurora only to send the fuzor rolling several feet across the ground with a well placed, hard kick against the abdomen. Zodiac groaned in pain as he came to a stop in a supine position.

"You bastard," Nemesis hissed at him before turning towards Megatron. "That was a good call you made when you had them alter the cuffs in the event we ever ran into this traitor again," she commented to their leader. Indeed, some of the improvements they had made would surely come in handy.

She then grabbed the fake fuzor by the scruff of his neck, hauling him to his feet by the fur.

This is Landslide. I haven't seen hide nor hair of em' lad.

Great, the rat thought sarcastically.

"Rattrap? Rhinox is in and out of consciousness." "I haven't seen them. But Rattrap, I haven't seen Megatron here either." "Megatron wanted X badly. You would think he would be here."

"He's here. He's gotta be," Rattrap was willing to bet as he radioed it to Whitegrazer. He frowned in his vehicle mode when she disclosed Rhinox's condition, and hoped he would be alright. "Can't you communicate with Optimus ta find him? Or are you guys, uh, still on a 'break'?" he tried to somewhat step lightly on their relationship after everything that had happened when the Metal Hunter showed up and revealed Whitegrazer's true identity. He continued driving toward Blackarachnia's position as he saw Cheetor fly up into the sky after Inferno. "Landslide, get Rhinox to a CR pronto," he told the beetle.

"Shut up!"

Quickstrike couldn't help but laugh at Tarantulas regardless of Landslide's lightning gun which shredded and burnt the tree he was hiding behind. The distraction of the numbing electricity which had traveled through the trunk, into the ground and straight for his feet, however, made him forgetful of the freakish horse until he felt someone grab his cobra's arm and pull hard, forcing him to face the taller bot. Wide-eyed at this sudden happening of events, all he saw next was the palm of her hand thrusting upward into his face. The Fuzor, dazed, fell backwards and laid motionless on the ground.

He might be too injured. That launcher packs more of a walop then I'd expect. I'll get him back inside.

Rhinox mumbled incoherently under his breath, slightly moving his head in his weakened state. He could hear Landslide's voice, although like Whitegrazer earlier he couldn't process the words correctly. He thought he felt as though he was being lifted but his optics were still dark.

"Direct hit!" Terrorsaur proudly cheered as his shots nailed X's large weapon and rendering it useless. He flew onward near his top speed and made a wide turn to come back.

Inferno laughed at the crab who threw himself into a tree. He seemed to have knocked himself out! This was the perfect opportunity to burn him! But then some green shots flew by the flying ant from behind, one hitting his left leg, and it prompted him to look over his shoulder and find out who was responsible for it. "Ah, the cat!" he yelled angrily. How could he have let such a weak, young Maximal catch him off guard? Inferno immediately stopped and turned around as he spun his big gun in his hand and changed the setting to the flame thrower. He then waved it back and forth to shield himself with the hot flames and to block Cheetor's vision from taking aim again. But more importantly, he wanted to keep the flying cheetah distracted since his partner in crime was coming up behind the Maximal fast.

Witnessing Cheetor attacking Inferno, Terrorsaur smirked to himself and accelerated, approaching the feline from behind. Since the Maximal couldn't shoot and fly at the same time, it should be fairly easy to take him down. Even though Cheetor was quick and agile in the air, he was also known for easily letting his pouncing on others get the better of him, allowing others to capitalize on his mistakes. Heading right for him, Terrorsaur unleashed the powerful lasers in his optic sensors, firing them at Cheetor. "Cover X, Inferno! I'll take care of the kitten!" he squawked over his comm. link.

Agreeing, Inferno deactivated his flame thrower and flew down to Protoform X's position. Landing about a yard away from him, and favoring his right leg since Cheetor had damaged the other, the Predacon pyro kept his weapon targeted on the king crab while he slowly approached him step by step.

"She's alive," "But how long she stays that way depends on how well you two behave."

Primal had frowned at her words and thought it best to cooperate. For now. For Aurora's sake. Were there no limits to these Predacons' ruthless ways? It saddened his spark. But he was in a real bind now. He couldn't transform with these energy bonds around his wrists and ankles. There was no way to deactivate them, and no way to escape. How could he have been such a fool?!

"You bastard,"

Megatron gave a bellowing laugh as he watched Nemesis expel her frustration with kick to Zodiac's stomach, pleased to see her hatred toward him for he despised the shape shifter as well.

Optimus watched as he laid on his side, cringing as though he could feel the kick, too. So, Zodiac had survived after all of this time, which was surprising and not so surprising at the same time, only now to entrap himself and fall right back into Megatron's hands, though he doubted he had planned it to happen that way. His optics swiftly returned to the real Aurora who was still in Megatron's grasp. She was in very poor condition to say the least. He could see the mech fluid dripping down from her wound and onto the ground, and she looked exhausted and in pain. What happened to her? Did Zodiac do this to her? Why?

"That was a good call you made when you had them alter the cuffs in the event we ever ran into this traitor again,"

"Indeed," Megatron basked in her comment which only fueled his ego. "Adaption is key in a war for survival. Isn't that right, Optimus? You had died but miraculously returned with a TransMetal upgrade. Your little friend here, however, is still as fragile as we once were." He bent Aurora's translucent butterfly wing a little more as he slightly and slowly rotated his tail gun's clamps. He watched her squirm before grinning and looking at his nemesis.

Primal, with horror in his orange optics, swallowed in his own pain and said pleadingly but firmly, "Stop, Megatron. You have me. I'm... I'm at your mercy. So let her go."

The tyrant's grin slowly transitioned to a scowl, and he responded coldly, "No." Although he was satisfied with the Commander's reaction, he wasn't about to give up his leverage. It was exactly what he sought.

Optimus grew weary as he took deep breaths and looked at the real Aurora with sorrow and forgiveness. Whatever Megatron had planned, it seemed to involve them both. But for what purpose? Wasn't he just after X?

"Inferno, status report."

"Protoform X appears to be unconscious," the ant replied.

Could it be? Had his Predacons actually succeeded with their tasks? "Excellent. Remain with him. I'm sending Nemesis to assist you with his extraction."

"As you command, Royalty!" The pyro proceeded to jab X's foot with the tip of his weapon's barrel to see if he would flinch or react in anyway. And his finger lingered on the trigger for an automatic release to defend himself if he needed to.

Megatron looked to her and said, "Leave him," as he referred to the fake Aurora that Nemesis had by the scruff of his neck. "Rendezvous with Inferno, make sure X is incapacitated, and the both of you will carry him back here so that I may persuade him in joining our cause, yesss. Make sure that no Maximals follow you." If X was to attack them, Nemesis stood the best chance for a quick recovery because of her nanotech. And she and Inferno were large enough to carry him together, and bring him to this location since it was already jammed and out of the Axalon's sensors' range. But what of Primal's connection with Whitegrazer? How was it that she hadn't arrived with the cavalry yet to save their precious comrades?

"Sorry, sweetie, I didn't mean to take away your fun, but I promise you there will be another time."

Starshadow's red optics glowed brightly with an angry growl. Then her ears went back and flat as X got careless and went unconcious in the process. Then again he could be up to something. She knew him. She knew how he played his own games. Catch them off guard and he would snap them in half like a toothpick.

The Predacons made a huge mistake. They ignored her. With them having their attention elsewhere, her arm sparked up with bright arcs of electricity and fires a burst of a large electric bolt at Inferno, enough to explode on contact. Shifting her focus to Terrorsaur, she spoke up, "too afraid to take on me? I'm not surprised since I've trashed you badly back in the base."

((OOC: I'm just posting for Whitegrazer for now. Hey, OOP, if you don't like what I have Whitegrazer do here, I will change it. ))

"He's here. He's gotta be," Rattrap was willing to bet as he radioed it to Whitegrazer. He frowned in his vehicle mode when she disclosed Rhinox's condition, and hoped he would be alright. "Can't you communicate with Optimus ta find him? Or are you guys, uh, still on a 'break'?"

"I'm worried about them too, Rattrap."

Rattrap's phrasing of Optimus and hers status was more or less accurate, "I'm... I don't want to use my connection unless it is necessary." She had been keeping her distance. Trying to give him and the others space to adjust to her being a Vok. She didn't expect them to be all happy or accepting of that fact for awhile. She lied to them, and that stings. Also, the Vok have shown nothing by contempt and tried to kill them in more ways than one. First, they cloned Optimus and used it to try and kill them all, including her. Maybe they couldn't let her get in the way of what they were trying to accomplish. So much for the rule of a Vok never harming another. Then they tried to kill them all with a Planet Buster, and when that didn't work, they captured her, used her own abilities and connections to try and kill them again. It is only natural that there was suspicion on her. Even if they knew she wouldn't intentionally hurt them. But she was suspect. There was a lingering of doubt in their minds.

The only way to prove herself to them again was to show she was still the same person they had grown to admire and love.

That bed feeling she felt in her spark eariler returned and in full force to the point where she might hyperventilate.

After she watched Quickstrike fall dazed into the ground, she processed what she heard. She took a step back. Optimus... Aurora... They were in trouble, weren't they? If she had re-established the connection, she probably would have figured it out sooner. As everyone seemed pre-occupied with X, she made a dash towards the cave. She hit her com-link, "Rattrap, can you give me Optimus and Aurora's last known coordinates?"

Whitegrazer distanced herself from the others and walked, using the trees for cover, keeping herself hidden from anyone.