The Intergalactic Highway

((ARGH SCRAP I FORGOT ABOUT CECE!))

Cecaelia was already out of her tank after a long nap. She was wondering why Starshadow have not returned to the Darksyde. Was she captured by the Maximals? Was she relaxing in the jungle? The alarm snapped her out of her thoughts and made her rush to the bridge. What was it all about? Then the bright wave of light appeared just infront of her. What was it doing to her? The wave of this light made her scream as the transformation took place.

"What...mutation is this?!" finally the weakened femme's vision was shrouded in darkness.
(I wanted to say "What sorcery is this?!" lol)

There she stood, staring at the monitor that showed everyone at the bridge the fatal last moments of Optimus Primal.
All she felt was anger.
A warrior like him shouldn't met his end like that.
It was..... dishonorable....
If only she was stronger. Both in body as in mind.
She could have saved the Maximal leader.

No. She couldn't have. Megatron and the others would've cut her down well before she could attempt anything that could make a difference.
Venatrix cursed her weaknesses.
She silently retreated from the bridge, and into the shadows of the hallways of the fallen Darkside.
She needed to bring order to her chaotic mind.
And to do that, she walked to her own private quarters, where she sat down in a meditative form, and started to dim her optics.

Then the wave of transwarp explosion hit, and tore the black predacon femme from the early stages of her meditation.
She felt every circuit in her body burn as she watched her hands started to glow brightly.
The pain began to increase until it exceeded her maximum tolerance.
The darkness took her as quickly as the light had.

The frilled lizard could only helplessly watch as her teammates began to head to their stations for a moment before her optics turned back towards the monitor. Like the others she didn’t quite know what to expect from this ‘surge’ that was about to hit the planet, and likely no way of stopping either even with their shields.

Just in a matter of a short few kliks the surge was finally upon the planet, hitting the surface and causing the Axalon to shake violently once more followed by the blinding flash of light. But instead of being just blinded by this Frilla began to feel her body, inside and out, beginning to shift and change, her entire body beginning to glow which made her look down curiously. Yet, the curiosity that filled her processor soon turned to one thinking about the sudden burning pain that followed just moments after her body and entire structure began to glow and change.

Everything soon began to go blurry in Frilla’s line of vision, her grip weakening on the control panel she had braced herself against when the shaking began. Soon everything went completely dark and the small femme collapsed against the console with a soft grunt.

Quickly moving to her station Feralnight looked back at the monitor, only able to watch as the quantum surge arrived towards the planet they had come to almost call a second home. But it’s arrival brought another bout of violent shaking that forced her to grab the console that was in front of her for support, preventing a chance of falling over yet again just like the first time. But her optics widened slightly as the violent shaking ended to be followed by a blinding light that made her lift a wing as she turned her head slightly to avoid being completely blinded.

But the only thing she could do was shut her optics, faintly hearing the cries of some of her comrades before everything seemed to just go mute for a short time.

Phoenix wrote: "This quantum surge is the result of the destruction of the alien machine, fool, now brace for impact!"

Waspinator's joy easily disappeared before he let out a disappointing sigh and speaking one last thing before the quantum surge would strike him.

"Why univerze hate Wazpinator?"

In a matter of seconds, he began to shake uncontrollably like he's having a seizure when the quantum surge affected him next and he began to zip around the room uncontrollably before being stopped by crashing into a wall with a painful groan.

The quantum surge was starting to affect the Axalon had the rest of the Maximals. The surge hit his exposed body and started to change him like the others. He remained in stasis lock during the whole thing and was unaware of it.

((OOC: OOP! You stole my line! Airazor is supposed to comment about the shields/power, not Tigatron! ))

Optimus was dead. This was not at all what Airazor had ever thought was going to happen. The worst she imagined was for him to be a little bit singed when he returned, but not dead. She never thought he would die. Again she wished that she was the one in the pod and not Optimus. Had she died, the Maximals would barely grieve apart from Tigatron. The war would continue as it had and the Predicons would eventually be defeated. But now... their enemy had just slagged their leader and friend. The Maximal's were in deep trouble.

Looking down at the floor, Airazor kept strong while others wept. She longed for the reassuring touch of Tigatrons hand, but kept to herself. Everyone mourned in their own way and the diverse maximal team showed that. Some went to be alone and others turned to anger. The falcon kept her emotions bottled up inside. That was her and it would always be.

“Warning, incoming quantum surge heading to the planet.”

"Not a good thing, eh? Everybody to your stations!"

It seemed as if things were only going to get worse before they got better. Moving quickly, Airazor found a monitor and chair and began to boot the station up. She didn't actually have a station, but she figured that Rhinox had no use for his while in the CR chamber, so she grabbed his. Her vision was filled with colors as its screen began to illuminate and within moments a maximal logo displayed proudly. Without thinking, Airazor looked down at the keyboard and pressed a key which mentioned "system monitor". The screen flickered again as it changed to a view of the ship with numbers and colors all over it.

"Life support systems are at 30% and sentinel is offline!!" She exclaimed, unsure exactly how she knew what she was doing. Her experience with computer systems is close to none, yet, she felt rather comfortable at these controls. It felt as if she had been working with this type of station for years of her life. Yet she knew that she hadn't ever even touched it before. Still, her unexplained knowledge of its workings baffled her, but now was not the time to dwell on this matter.

Then it hit. With the surge came a bright light. Instinctively, she put her arms up to shield her eyes from its blinding force. Her optics closed almost immediately, but she heard the back-up power completely shut off. An eerie feeling washed over the birds body. It was a feeling of nothingness. She felt almost empty as the storm hit the maximals. Her legs felt numb and limp, as did her arms and hands. Within moments, her body could barely hold her own weight and Airazor tumbled from her chair and onto the floor.

---

"It's raining optimus body parts! Bahahahah!!" The mantis screamed in delight as the quantum surge hit the predicon base. Unlike everyone else, the insane bug was enjoying the storm. He ignored the bright light and instead started to do a little jig on the platform he was standing on. That is, until he lost his footing and accidentally slipped. Sadly, his luck didn't get any better as he fell from the platform and began to plummet towards the hot lava below him - laughing maniacally the entire time.

OOC: nice post Worpex! Manterror is pretty damn funny . Will Airazor be going transmetal?

DarkSpark wrote:OOC: nice post Worpex! Manterror is pretty damn funny . Will Airazor be going transmetal?

(( Thanks DarkSpark! Airazor will be staying in her normal form. Truth be told, I don't particularly like her transmetal form - although it is growing on me. Perhaps later on in the series when she becomes close to useless, i'll have her upgrade, but not now! ))

OOC: Sorry for the late post. I had to watch the episode again. I wasn't sure how to write the quantum surge part.... hope this works...

"Life support systems are at 30% and sentinel is offline!!" She exclaimed, unsure exactly how she knew what she was doing. Her experience with computer systems is close to none, yet, she felt rather comfortable at these controls. It felt as if she had been working with this type of station for years of her life. Yet she knew that she hadn't ever even touched it before. Still, her unexplained knowledge of its workings baffled her, but now was not the time to dwell on this matter.

Oooo....I like that reference to Airrazor's past that she doesn't remember. Pretty cool.

BIC:

Arachnitron was just about to leave the brig when she remembered her weapons. She did not plan on scheduling a return visit. She found it hard to believe that the Maximals would let her out once Optimus returned to earth from his mission. She just didn't have that kind of luck. She couldn't come back....the Maximals would just try to lock her up again.

She knelt next to the locker where Aurora had placed her weapons and opened up the compartment in her wrist. She had an explosive in one wrist compartment which she had used earlier in a suicidal attempt to get the Maximals to let her walk by herself into one of the cells in the brig without anyone touching her. It was nearly impossible for them to understand why that meant so much to her, but it did. It was very important. It made her feel less like the monster she was and she hated the feeling of being forcibly shoved into a cell....or worse....thrown into a cell.

The other wrist compartment held a few essentials necessary for a bot on the run. She had grabbed some things and shoved them inside before leaving the research facility. One of which was a lock pick. She used it now to open up the locker. She pulled out her weaponry one by one and put them back where they belonged.

Arachnitron finished re-holstering her weapons just as she heard footsteps creeping down the halls of the Axalon. She stopped in her tracks expecting it to be one of the Maximals approaching to "escort" her back to her cell. She was surprised to see Blackarachnia walking down the hall coming towards the brig.

"Psh! Little widow! Let's get out of here before our window of opportunity expires."

Arachnitron stepped out into the hallway to follow the other black widow unsure of why Blackarachnia had come back for her. As far as she knew, the two of them were not fond friends. Perhaps Blackarachnia had decided to let bygones be bygones as far as Arachnitron's earlier actions were concerned.....chasing the other widow through the woods and threatening to shoot her.....or perhaps she was just taking advantage of the lack of Tarantulas in the picture at the moment and was attempting to sway her onto her side instead of his.

Tarantulas took this moment to seize control of Blackarachnia and say aloud so she and Arachnitron could hear "Mustn't leave yet, partner."

Arachnitron grinned playfully at Blackarachnia. ""This life you have now, you got by desperation, making a deal with the devil. Now, you are nothing but a playtoy for him to use and exploit." she replied repeating the same words Blackarachnia had used earlier (http://bwint.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... 7&start=60 ) when they were discussing Tarantulas' inhibitor chip. Blackarachnia had abhorred the idea of Tarantulas being inside of her head yet here she was having done just that. Arachnitron kind of found it amusing.

She looked over at Tarantulas' charred body in disbelief. It was obvious he wanted the two femmes to take his body with them, but it seemed like such a daunting task. Surely, neither of the two she-spiders could carry his body at least not alone.

She looked back over at Blackarachnia hoping she would suggest something, but was interrupted by the Axalon violently shaking.

"Let's get Tarantulas and get out of here!" Arachnitron shouted agreeing with the other widow's previous suggestion, but before either one could make another move a blinding light swept through the brig. Arachnitron shielded her optics with her arm.

When her optics had adjusted to the light a bit, she moved her arm. The blinding light was more like millions upon millions of small beams of quantum energy. The tiny beams of light were dancing around the room. She was astonished to see that it seemed to be avoiding any contact at all with her exo-structure. It didn't touch her at all, but it left her feeling quite....strange. She felt very mellow despite the shaking of the ship and the imminent doom around her. It was almost as though the quantum energy was draining her circuitry of its power.

"What the...." Arachnitron muttered weakly, but before she could finish her sentence she landed with a soft thud on the floor knocked offline by the quantum surge.

A seemingly infinite number of streaks of lights showered down on the planet. Scorponok was barely given any time to panic from the alarm before the quantum surge passed through the ship's hull unhindered.

"What the..."

Punching his hover lift's controls, Scorponok tried his best to accelerate away from the room to no avail. The beams of lights penetrated his armor and within seconds he began to eerily glow. Pain roared from within as the unknown energy proceeded to manipulate the Predacon from a cellular level. Panic was now in full motion and Scorponok's vision was now lost. Everything appeared white in his eyes as the 1st Lieutenant screamed out loud and clutched his pincers onto the transportation device's handles. The chaotic shift of momentum awkwardly tilted the pad to the side, forcing the heavy Predacon off.

No! I was safe! I was supposed to live!

While his pincers were formidable in combat, they were rather poor with dexterity especially in clutch situations. Scorponok quickly found himself tumbling through the air down towards the molten lava. Still blinded from the quantum energy, the Predacon felt his fall halted by a thick sea. The sense of dread rushed into his spark, because while his armor was thick enough to dull his senses, he knew fully well just where he was. Body temperature slowly escalated as the poor sap proceeded to sink into the orange river below the Darksyde. Clawing the air with futility, Scorponok disappeared into the lava where his inevitable death awaited him.

"Save me!!! Please, save me!!! Please..."


-------------------------------------


Orcariner was similarly confounded by the brilliant display of lights. He had assumed that the threat was over, and being too far from the others now, he was unable to hear their warnings of the quantum surge. His expression of curiosity and wonder dissipated as soon as the pain kicked in. With his innards lurching about, the giant Maximal fell to the ground and cried out in agony. It seemed that every motor neuron built into his body was involuntarily convulting. Unable to control his actions, Orcariner writhed on the cold floor as the quantum surge washed over him continuously. His arms flailed as if grasping for someone to help him, but the orca was all alone.

Was it all for nothing?

Optimus sacrificed himself to save them, but now the ship was being violently rocked. Orcariner was being destroyed from the inside. His processor was unable to comprehend the complexity of the atomic restructuring that was occurring across the very surface of his armor. If he could describe it in words, the sentry would say that he was being disintegrated in the slowest, most painful way imaginable. The rush of light felt like an eternity and Orcariner feared that the others were suffering this very same fate. They were all dying as he was now.

Is this how he felt? Is this what they all had to go through?

Images of Optimus, Icebreaker, Valkyrie, Nightmist, and Ice Sight flashed through his mind. His optics were wide open but they saw nothing but blinding light and the ghosts of the deceased. He was a fool to hope. He was a fool to believe there was a future. The Maximals had aggravated intangible powers that held unparalleled wrath. They thought they could stand a chance to fight and save themselves. They were wrong. Armor plating crumbled off of his large body, falling to the floor like sand and disappearing from sight like dust. In his darkest hour, Orcariner sought to embrace death. He was no good in protecting the lives of his his closest friends, and he was certainly no good in protecting himself against this seemingly infinite rain of destruction. Perhaps he would serve more purpose as a memory than as a failed soldier in this stupid war. Closing his optics, or at least believing he was closing them (hard to tell when he could not feel his body), Orcariner gave into the overwhelming pain and waited to see Primus on the other side.

You're still afraid.

A sense of unease shook him. For all his doubts and supposed willingness to embrace death, Orcariner found himself fearful of his fate. He could not understand this emotion, and all he really looked forward to was becoming one with the Allspark.

You're afraid to die.

The orca cried out again, but this time it was not due to the physical pain from the quantum surge. Regardless of everything that has happened in the past year, he still could not find the courage to die. He was not sure if this made him a coward, but in this very moment Orcariner stopped himself short of accepting the afterlife as a means of escape. Amidst the continuing agony, he gritted his teeth and curled his fists. Did personal failure really point to the end of all things, or was it really a stepping stone towards personal evolution? Orcariner did not know what he wanted in life, but he knew he could not find it within him to simply leap into death's arms.

Then find the courage to live.

Orcariner struggled to reassert control over himself as his pounded his right fist against the floor. He did not want to share the fate that Icebreaker and the others had fallen into. He wanted to live. He wanted the rest of the crew to live. Even if this energy wave did cripple the planet, they would still move on to find a way to return back to Cybertron. They would fight for a future for themselves rather than succumb to a depressing ending. Orcariner felt a pounding sensation in his chest as if his molecules were bonding again. Screeching metal pierced the atmosphere as new layers of armor grew on top of one another, encompassing the giant's body and stretching towards his limbs.

"I... want... to live..."

He growled his words over and over to himself as a way of motivating himself to survive this storm. As quickly as his old body had broken down, Orcariner's new body was constructing itself at an exhilarating pace. Willpower was restored as strength and control resonated from the Maximal's spark. Despite his body feeling like acid was running through its wires, Orcariner felt stronger than ever as he emerged from this new state of transformation. The quantum surge, which had actually only lasted for less than a minute, was slowly finishing its run through the ship when the Maximal's consciousness slowly faded away. The sight he took in before blacking out was his tightly gripped right hand. No longer pearl black, the armor was now changed to an ocean blue hue. Orcariner smiled and relaxed as he realized that he was still holding on.

Whitegrazer kept Aurora close to her, seeing those tear-stained optics. It was best that Aurora let it all out now. She patted the little one gently.

"Easy on the furniture, 'Grazer. We still got a loan on dat.

She looked at Rattrap then at the crushed piece of metal. Oops. Rhinox wasn't going to be happy that she did that, but surely, they had some thing of a blob that could fix that.

She smiled, "I guess I broke it, I bu-"

Suddenly, the ship's alarms blared loudly and the ship started to shake more violently than it usually did. She used herself as a shield for Aurora and the table as cover for whatever was coming at them. The computer announced something like a quantum surge heading their way.

"Hang on, Aurora," she said softly to the young's ear.

White sparkles of some unknown matter starting spreading across the bridge. What is this? It seemed harmless as small amounts had grazed her, but she was concerned when Rattrap and others started screaming in agony. She took a peek to see some of her friends glowing white. What was going on and why is this surge affecting only some of us? Whatever it was, it was doing something to their bodies.

"They will be fine."

"We will be all right, Aurora."

She encouraged the little one to think optimisim and remained optimistic, strong for her sake.

They had to be strong now. They NEEDED to be strong.

Though, she could feel it. They were fighting back.
______________________________________________________________

((OOC: Sorry, Tarantulas, Whitegrazer stole your thunder. LOL And also, to answer your question, I did post BA acknowledging the voice inside her head. I thought you were okay with that since you said nothing. XDDD Sorry. But I also thought that someone like BA who doesn't like to be depend or mindscrewed would feel something crawling inside her thoughts. XDD))

"Mustn't leave yet, partner."

"Tarantulas!"

She growled inside her mind.

"Get out of my head!"

Her pinchers held on to her head, grunting as she was fighting Tarantulas hold over her.

""This life you have now, you got by desperation, making a deal with the devil. Now, you are nothing but a playtoy for him to use and exploit."

Blackarachnia didn't hear Arachnitron's statement as she was too busy fighting.

No! She wouldn't be controlled by this lunatic! She would fight him!

Gritting her teeth, she was oblivious towards the showers of sparkle flying over them. Her mind trapped inside her own. She couldn't allow this to happen. Ever since she awoken from her stasis pod, she only had one thing on her mind: survival. Every battle against the Maximals, every battle against the people who she had no choice to work with and a leader she couldn't touch or escape from without consequences, the only freedom she had was her own independence. Her free will to do what she had to do to live to see a day where she could leave this all behind her and go on her own.

Now, her so-called creator wanted not just her body but her mind as well!

Slag him! Slag him to pit!

Her body went wary and soon, she was knocked unconscious.

Phoenix wrote: Megatron sent Terrorsaur a scowl but left it at that as the pterodactyl took his station as ordered. "This quantum surge is the result of the destruction of the alien machine, fool, now brace for impact!" the tyrant retorted as he maneuvered the flying platform he had stepped onto to a safer location away from the lava pit. Or at least this had been his intention before the violent shockwave hit them with such force that Megatron was unable to keep his footing and went crashing onto the floor below. An exasperated grunt was heard as the Predacon Commander staggered back to his feet, only to feel the radiation from the surge engulf his entire body as the rays penetrated their shields.

"Brace for impact?! Oh yes, because that worked out so well for us the first time!" Terrorsaur squawked, referring to when the maximals shot down the Darksyde and stranded them on this alien world in the first place.

His optics widened as he beheld images on the computer console depicting a massive, all encompassing surge of energy that reminded him of the alien death ray that had been trying to ignite the planet's energon deposits earlier, and looked up from his station in time to behold the horrific sight of said energy wave soaking through their base's hull like water through a sponge!

"Oh slag..."

Big Convoy wrote: Waspinator's joy easily disappeared before he let out a disappointing sigh and speaking one last thing before the quantum surge would strike him.

"Why univerze hate Wazpinator?"

In a matter of seconds, he began to shake uncontrollably like he's having a seizure when the quantum surge affected him next and he began to zip around the room uncontrollably before being stopped by crashing into a wall with a painful groan

Terrorsaur struggled to keep his hoverlift airborne as the transwarp wave engulfed the entire bridge, raging around them like a storm! His strong sense of self-preservation winning over his growing panic as chaos erupted all around him.

He watched as his airhead partner Waspinator crashed into the wall, his bad luck actually save his striped backside for once...Others were not so lucky...

Worpex wrote: "It's raining optimus body parts! Bahahahah!!" The mantis screamed in delight as the quantum surge hit the predicon base. Unlike everyone else, the insane bug was enjoying the storm. He ignored the bright light and instead started to do a little jig on the platform he was standing on. That is, until he lost his footing and accidentally slipped. Sadly, his luck didn't get any better as he fell from the platform and began to plummet towards the hot lava below him - laughing maniacally the entire time.

"Why doesn't that idiot just fly?" Terrorsaur thought in passing as he watched Manterror plummet to his doom, wondering why the Pit Megatron had never bothered to have the bridge floor repaired given the obvious dangers of having a lava pit right smack in the middle of your throne room.

Realizing the fight to keep his hoverlift operational was pointless and his best bet for survival was to reach the nearest solid ground, Terrorsaur turned on his jet pack to fullpower and abandoned ship so to speak, the lift tumbling down into the river of fire as he flew as hard as he could to the bridge deck surrounding Megatron's throne.

"Come on slagit! COME ON!" he cursed, gritting his teeth as he pushed himself harder than he ever had before, the transwarp storm fighting him every step of the way, pushing him back with the strength of a hurricane, almost as if it was trying to force him down into the lave below.

"YOU WON'T TAKE ME! YOU WON'T TAKE ME!" Terrorsaur shrieked over and over again, unsure if he was defying fate itself or trying to convince himself he could make it.

Alak wrote: While his pincers were formidable in combat, they were rather poor with dexterity especially in clutch situations. Scorponok quickly found himself tumbling through the air down towards the molten lava. Still blinded from the quantum energy, the Predacon felt his fall halted by a thick sea. The sense of dread rushed into his spark, because while his armor was thick enough to dull his senses, he knew fully well just where he was. Body temperature slowly escalated as the poor sap proceeded to sink into the orange river below the Darksyde. Clawing the air with futility, Scorponok disappeared into the lava where his inevitable death awaited him.

"Save me!!! Please, save me!!! Please..."

"Every pred for himself, shellhead!" Terrorsaur laughed with glee as he watched his least favorite comrade drown in molten rock, nearly losing his concentration for a second, but regaining his focus quickly as he pushed himself one last time, gripping the very edge of the bridge deck with his hands and pulling himself on to it bit by bit, his finger tips making dents in the metal he was so desperate to live through this nightmare.

"I did it! I did it! I...I...What the slag?!" Terrorsaur gasped, his relief replaced by surprise as he finally noticed the transwarp energy he'd been flying through all this time was being absorbed into his superstructure, lighting him up like a star about to go supernova!

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAWWWWKKKK!" Terrorsaur screamed in defiance and disbelief as he slipped into stasis lock like the others, though not before he watched one of his five fingered hands be ripped apart as it was replaced by three, menacing armored talons.

Blackrose wrote: ""This life you have now, you got by desperation, making a deal with the devil. Now, you are nothing but a playtoy for him to use and exploit."

Tarantulas smirked with Blackarachnia's lips at the words of Arachnitron, glad to see she was enjoying how the tables had turned on Blackarachnia as much as he did.

"Well spoken as always my dear. But we must act quickly if we are to salvage my body before the maximals come looking for us, retrieve it from the cell there and help us carry it out" Tarantulas complimented and commanded his new favorite pawn all at once, why couldn't the Witch be as pleasant to work with as her?

Regardless, he needed to get his damaged shell out of the maximal base and to a CR tank as quickly as possible, otherwise the damage to it may be irreversible and he'd be stuck in Blackarachnia's visually pleasing but frail and crowded frame forever, something which simply would not do given his plans, both for Megatron and for the filthy alien scoundrels who'd tried to slag him.

Una wrote: Blackarachnia didn't hear Arachnitron's statement as she was too busy fighting.

No! She wouldn't be controlled by this lunatic! She would fight him!

Gritting her teeth, she was oblivious towards the showers of sparkle flying over them. Her mind trapped inside her own. She couldn't allow this to happen. Ever since she awoken from her stasis pod, she only had one thing on her mind: survival. Every battle against the Maximals, every battle against the people who she had no choice to work with and a leader she couldn't touch or escape from without consequences, the only freedom she had was her own independence. Her free will to do what she had to do to live to see a day where she could leave this all behind her and go on her own.

Now, her so-called creator wanted not just her body but her mind as well!

Slag him! Slag him to pit!

Her body went wary and soon, she was knocked unconscious.

Tarantulas felt the more defiant of the two widows futilely attempting to fight him for control, an act the younger, less experienced predacon had no chance of succeeding at. If she wanted him out, she'd have to comply to his commands until he could separate them from eachother again...Maybe not even then.

Unfortunately, before Tarantulas could remind Blackarachnia of the hopelessness of her situation and the wisdom of obeying him for once in her misbegotten life, the transwarp energy that had been tearing through the rest of the ship finally reached them, washing over them like a tidal wave.

"Raaah! Its just one thing after another with these wretched aliens! Even in defeat they find a way to irritate me!" Tarantulas hissed with Blackarachnia's mouth as he felt himself slip into unconsciousness along with his host, however, he managed to glimpse the sight of his real body absorbing the transwarp wave's power and beginning to twist and reshape itself...Even regenerating itself!

"Fascinating..." was all he managed to wheeze out before he went out like a light.



OOC: WOW...This took me a while to get up gang, sorry for the wait, LOTS to cover for both Terrorsaur and Tarantulas. BTW Una, when Tarantulas and BA wake up, would ya mind if we played out that scene from "Aftermath" in which Tarantulas has Blackarachnia pinned to a web and he's this huge kaiju sized monster spider looming over her in her mind? That scene always stood out to me, such a creepy exchange between those two, can't imagine why they aren't bestest buddies

((OOC: I usually hate reading OOC stuff, but in this case i'll gladly wear the cloak of a hypocrite

Awesome post Darkspark!
I wish i could wright one half as good

Would love to see home grow character wise.

*Hypocritical mode disabled*

Ugh.... ))

(( OOC: Awesome posts all around, guys!

at Manterror. I love him as much as Inferno now. ))

"Life support systems are at 30% and sentinel is offline!!"

Airazor's voice was the last thing Rattrap could recall hearing before it was lights out.

Rebooting... All systems functional, Rattrap's internal computer alerted him. It was still dark, his optics black as he laid motionless on the hard, metal floor of the command center. It was quiet all around. Was the surge over? I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm gone, I'm dead... he thought. He was, wasn't he...? No, not quite. He wasn't that fortunate. Hah! He began feeling the cold floor beneath him and against his finger tips as he laid on his stomach, and smelling all the other Maximals' scents that were still present, wafting in the air. He felt no pain. In fact, he felt better than he ever had. He felt... stronger, more efficient. What the heck had happened with that quantum surge? What did Optimus's death with the transwarp cell and the alien weapon to do them?

"Ugh," Rattrap moaned as he slowly pushed himself up from the floor, looking around. "Is everybody okay?" he asked. He felt so fine inside that he hadn't noticed anything different about his external appearance. Why bother looking himself over when he didn't feel a cut or a dent or any limbs missing? The alarms and sirens in the Axalon were off again. Nothing but silence and snowy monitors once more. Hopefully that was the end of this chaotic ordeal that they were all being forced to endure without choice.

Tigatron sat up in his seat after having been violently tossed around for a brief time and looked down at Airazor whom he discovered on the floor near him. Quickly, he hopped out of the chair and kneeled down beside the falcon, examining her to make sure she was unharmed. She looked okay. Was she unconscious? He took her hand into his and squeezed it gently to try and waken her, his bright, neon pink optic sensors studying her quietly, offering her comfort. "I think we are all right, Rattrap," the white tiger in robot mode answered as he slowly shifted his gaze to his shorter comrade. "By the Matrix..." he said with a light gasp. That was Rattrap, wasn't it? What happened to him?!

Confused by Tigatron's expression and reaction - who looked normal to him, by the way - the Maximal Spy-turned temporary commanding officer looked behind himself over his shoulder as if he was expecting Blackarachnia to be right there, hanging from the ceiling by her nasty, icky web, ready to pierce his neck with her fangs, or whatever those creepy spiders had. Finding no one or anything there behind him, Rattrap looked back at Tigatron and asked, "What? Is my gearbox hanging out or somethin'?" he joked lightly given the circumstances. What was that cat wigging out about?

-----

Among the silence and the darkness, a familiar voice rose, but it only reached two specific Maximals. It was extremely distant, soft, and ghostly.

...Rhinox..., the whisper carried out, almost inaudible to the sleeping engineer in his repair chamber.

...Whitegrazer..., it then invaded the Empath's mind separately from Rhinox's.

It was Optimus Primal's voice, but were they simply imagining it? Just hearing things? Was it something in their memories that had been triggered by the quantum surge? Or was it meant to waken them now after the event, to pull them together very soon and try something incomprehensible that has never been done before? It was too early to say after what had just happened. And that was the last time their former leader's voice snuck into their minds, as if pushing them one more time to hope, to not give up, to put their minds together.

It took a minute or two before Wintersong began to come to, opening her optics as they flickered for a brief second and things began to come into focus once more where darkness had once been from going unconscious. For a moment she began to wonder what had just occurred, recalling the pain she had felt just before going unconscious from the quantum surge which was now passed and gone which made her look at her body just to make sure nothing was damage when it didn't even feel like she was damaged. In fact she felt brand new in a sense, like she had just been awakened from her stasis pod again while at the same time feeling stronger and more powerful. Just looking at her new body though certainly answered so much of what had happened.

Instead of the snow white fur and stripes she had become use to her entire exterior was now a smooth, shiny metal with most of her coloration being a dark silver on her chest plate,helm, lower arms, and lower legs with black stripes to retain her tiger beast mode. Yet her upper arms and legs, her face, and part of the lower area of her abdomen were lighter shades of the gray with the very middle of her stomach looking like they overlapped. On her helm she still had her ears though they still were connected to her helm with a chevron being on her forehead that was two different hues of ebony black that also showed along her sides and part of her abdominal plates. It was certainly quite a change she would have to get use to, not to mention her tail no longer connected to her body but wrapped around her waist like a belt with being a segmented whip from the looks of it. But the most prominent feature she noticed were wheels on the sides of her thighs and on what looks like her beast mode legs, which made her curious as to what more her new form could really do, or upgraded more that is. Though it then dawned on her of what could have happened to the others, especially those in the CR chambers she had checked just before the surge hit.

Turning quickly she was checking on Rhinox, but he still seemed in stasis and the same as usual yet he was undamaged thank Primus. Now what of the badger? Turning once more the tigress finally was able to properly check on Ironclaw, resting a hand on his chest as she checked him and to her surprise he also was changed, in fact his armor was altered as well to a white and red color scheme while also being lean and muscular compared to what had once been. Least more so then before from the looks of it. And to Wintersong's relief the badger actually looked like he was doing better then before, but only time would tell of how he was really doing and if he'd actually awaken. Turning her attention away for a moment, her hand not leaving the unconscious mech's chest she looked around at the others and wasn't surprised this time some of them were altered just they didn't notice it right off the bat. Rattrap being one of them. "Uh Rattrap I think you should look around,"She said to him from behind her new battle mask that too look segmented.

((Just a note just in case anyone asks, a description of Ironclaw is in here because Mystrea asked. ))