The Intergalactic Highway

(Sorry Pheonix)

This Predacon spoke just as much as the others. Ironclaw grew tired of her droning on and took a fighting stance, ready for her. He knew this would be a crucial moment in his life. A highly experienced Predacon stood menacingly in front of him with her flaming sword. And then without warning she sprang for him, in a blink of an eye she was upon him. The badger was anticipating a move like this, she had shown her speed before. He took two quick shots, one from each cannon then drew them away fro her sword attack. However this Maximal was not quick enough. Her sword came crashing down and slid across one of his arms, scratching the armor as it went. It then snagged against the cannon that was connected to that arm and as she pulled the blade back it cut through, jerking and sparking as it went. Eventually the cannon came away from him and landed on the grounded like wreckage. Ironclaw was trying to regain his balance when he saw an incoming missile. It hit the ground in front of him and sent backward onto his backside. He ignored the pain and kept an aim on the female with his remaining cannon.

(Edit: Sorry Blackrose, I didn't see that before)

The llama stood in his same spot with a deadpan expression on his face. The Maximals were running away, which was good since that meant less fighting would be involved. Less fighting meant there was less of a chance for Buster to get hurt, especially since he was not exactly a Grade A skirmisher. However, there was one combatant left who apparently refused to take off running with the rest of his friends. Nemesis was putting on quite a show, giving the bulky badger a pretty tough fight. Not long after, Inferno decided to join in on the fun.

Huh... that guy doesn't know when to call it quits. Whatevs, it's his funeral.

Still, the llama was irritated by the fact that the longer they stayed here, the longer Buster would have to wait to eat real food. Hearing his stomach growl, he found himself staring back down at the grass. An expression of disgust crawled up onto his face. Food was food, no matter what form it came in. Not bothering to hesitate, Buster leaned his abnormally long neck down to the ground and pulled a chunk of ripe grass out of the earth. Munching loudly, he continued to watch the three combatants duke it out.

"Shoot him in the lugnuts," he said with his mouth full, "That always works for me."

Red X. Red X. Red... X.

Now that she thought about it, she saw something like that before... or she thought she did. X... X... where has she seen that before? Well before she saw it from Optimus. It felt so familiar. Her mind analyze her own memories hoping to remember where she saw it from. Nothing. That was not helpful, but oh well. No more dwelling on that either.

The chamber doors opened. Feeling refreshed and liberated with the time spent to at least meditated on what happened, she stepped and walked the hallway up towards the bridge. Optimus was probably on his way to help the others or was already there. She wasn't going to dwell on what happened in the holoroom anymore. What was seen can't be unseen and now, she just waited. Waited for the moment where they could discuss those emotions ad images to each other.

She smiled. She couldn't wait,

"Everything all right?" She asked softly as she entered the bridge. She hoped everyone was all right and wondered how the mission to rescue their comrades went.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I always do, it is the reason why I own you and not the other way around. But fret not, I just wanted to give you a quick reminder, play whatever games you wish with him, but dare to cross me and you will suffer for your treachery"

She let out a shout of anguish mixed with anger at Tarantulas's last push in her thoughts before he let go of his hold on her. She must had stopped breathing or held her breath in reaction to gruesome's antics because it felt like she had drowned, breathing heavily to recover air. Of course, she was Cybertronian. She didn't need air but the simulation of it was unsettling. She shook her entire form in disgust at such a weakness and vulnerable. She was just glad that her little tussle didn't knock down any of her load... again.

Tarantulas and Arachnitron had stopped at the entrance to the cavern. It looked dull, but even she couldn't wait to see what laid inside, Megatron wouldn't have picked a place unless it had some use. As they went inside, she set her load aside and transformed. Energon was sufficent in this area. Huge stalgmites of energon crystals hung from the ceiling and bunches of it rested on the dark, rocky walls. She had to attemot it was lovely to look at. All this energon. All this power. It could be really useful if the person knew had to use it.

"You know, this cavern can be an almost perfect fortress." She looked at Tarantulas and Arachnitron. Tarantulas would agree with her.

She stood next to Quickstrike with a lovely smile, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Nemesis had been rushing towards Ironclaw with such speed that even though she attempted to twist away from the blasts he fired at her, all that accomplished was for her blade to come at the extended wrists at an angle that caused the blade to scrape along the surface of the armor until one of the cannons got caught in its path. The force of the blow was enough to slice the weapon cleanly off, sending it clattering to the ground below.

The Predacon took a step back, the flaming sword still clutched in her hand, just in time to avoid the explosion that occurred on the ground at the exact location she'd been standing a mere moment before. Annoyance growing within at whoever had decided to interfere quickly stilled as a sharp pain suddenly flooded her senses. As she staggered another step back and lowered her arm, it was revealed that one of Ironclaw's shots had penetrated her upper left portion of the chest, leaving a large, smoldering and gaping hole close to the shoulder, thus effectively leaving her arm that was clutching the sai useless.

Her optics locked with the badger, now sprawled out on the ground with his remaining cannon aiming at her, an odd silence filling the air for a few seconds. Then came an unmistakable whimper, one she had no doubt attempted to hold back, followed by her shaking knees giving out and forcing her to kneel on the ground. The remaining arm stretched out just in time to keep the wounded warrior from collapsing into a heap. While still clutching onto the sword, its flames now extinguished, Nemesis supported herself on the hand as best she could as she once more shifted her gaze to the Maximal.

Strangely enough the agonized, strained look on her face was fading, a slight grin forming in its place. At the same time a blue shining hue could be seen emerging from the open wound and it appeared as if the opening itself was shrinking. Only seconds had passed before the female again stood up, the last missing pieces of her armor reforming as she did. As the blue hue disappeared, Nemesis glanced briefly down at the now fully functional arm while opening and closing her fingers around the sai a few times. Satisfied with the result, she made a sudden dash for Ironclaw, kicking him hard against the abdomen to send him rolling on the ground.

She immediately followed, grabbing the arm that had the remaining cannon attached. In a swift and precise movement she had the hand effectively pinned to the ground, the part connecting the cannon to the rest of the arm stuck between the spikes of the sharp weapon as it was impaled into the solid dirt.

Her optics flashing as she again stood up, towering over him, she pointed her sharp, long blade against his chest.

"You should have run off with your friends while you still had the chance," she told him coldly.

(( OOC: Mystrea, please see the concerns I expressed about Ironclaw's TM profile in Character Bios (S2), which was technically never approved. I thought I sent a PM to you about it weeks ago but I don't think it ever went through.

I've pondered a means for diversion,but I'd have to probably ask before doing it.

What is it, NK? Otherwise, yeah, you guys should move on without her characters; just keep them around in the group and she can catch up later.

I've been waiting for Wintersong and New Moon to catch up but I'm moving on now since it isn't that crucial for me to get their responses. Also, Silverbolt could've posted by now and respond to Rattrap. No one in the Axalon's command center has acknowledged Optimus so I'm moving forward without them.

Just as a side note.....isn't this about the time that Tarantulas turned off the signal that he had sent earlier in the episode? I'm pretty sure the Maximals didn't even notice the signal yet. I mean, I know we're not following the script exactly, but wasn't the Maximals how Tarantulas was able to pretend to blow up the refueling station, thus not only halting Megatron's work, but allowing Tarantulas to use the cave for a new lair?? So, it seems like it's kind of important.

No worries Blackrose, I remember the transmitter, I figured I would turn it off by the time Quickstrike & BA entered the cave and went to work, as ya say, Rattrap and Silverbolt haven't even acknowledged the signal yet. I can do it sooner though if ya guys rather.

No, you don't have to shut it off sooner.....I was more or less reminding players of Maximals that the signal still hadn't been acknowledged.

Sorry, I forgot about it. I don't think RT and 'Bolt will be the ones tracking it down, though, since they're already damaged. Maybe I can send Whitegrazer, Aurora and Orcariner to investigate instead. I'm assuming the Axalon will be able to pick up the signal. I don't remember how it went in the show (was it only RT and 'Bolt who discovered the signal while on patrol?), but since most of the Maximals out in the field are injured now anyway, this would be the easiest way to get some fresh Maxis out there quick who might be bored. ))

BIC:

Primal's optics thoughtfully narrowed at the monitor that revealed another signal. It was faint and vague but perhaps it warranted an investigation. They couldn't just ignore it in case it was a distress signal.

"Everything all right?"

He turned to look at Whitegrazer, surprised at how quickly she had been repaired, and just as quickly remembered what happened between them but attempted to push it aside. "I'm not sure," answered Optimus. "There's been no word from Rattrap's team yet, and this signal has just popped up on our scanners." He pointed to the coordinates and the red dot bleeping on the monitor. "We have to check it out." And he began to think that perhaps the best course of action for Orcariner right now would be to send him out on a mission after all. "I'm heading off to Rattrap's location, but I want you, Aurora and Orcariner on this."

"Orcariner, this is Optimus," he called through his comm. link to the orca with a firm tone. "I need you to lead Whitegrazer and Aurora to this location for an investigation of a transmission that we're receiving on the ship's radar. Now," he added as he sent him the coordinates.

"Rhinox, I'm sending Orcariner, Whitegrazer and Aurora to check out a signal that just emerged on our scanners. Hold down the base with Frilla and Saber-Fang," he radioed to his old friend.

"Be careful," the leader warned Aurora and the white mare. "It could be a trap." They had experienced enough of those to know better by now than to rush in without being on guard.

Walking to the lift, Primal was lowered outside to the ground where he stepped off, transformed to his hover board mode and shot off toward Rattrap's team as quickly as he could.

(( OOC: OP will arrive to help in my next post. ))

-----

Rattrap watched Inferno's rockets explode in spontaneous areas from the safer distance he, Airazor, Silverbolt and Wintersong were in, carelessly aiming or not meaning to aim at all. What a maniac.

"Oh no! Please stay!" "There is so much more fun to be had!"

Then he watched the fire ant attack Ironclaw who was STILL battling Nemesis, and seemed to be failing miserably. A very small part of Rattrap wanted to leave the badger there on his own for a while longer to teach him a lesson as the Preds would continue to tear him apart. However, Ironclaw was already struggling and taking a beating, and he probably wouldn't learn anything from this failed mission anyway, so he figured it was time to go back and intervene. That weird llama freak was actually eating again, so the rat decided to leave him be so long as he didn't attack him. He was far more concerned about Manterror and Starshadow.

"Stay here with Airazor, 'Bolt," he told him.

"Watch my back, Wintersong." With that, Rattrap painfully reached back and pulled out his gun, stretching the scorched and damaged armor and joints from Inferno's blast and the fall. He cringed a little with a deep inhale to cope with the pain. Then he took off toward the fray, lifting his weapon, aiming it at Inferno and fired several shots at him while he jogged toward the tall, red Predacon. His shots targeted his knees and shoulders. So much for a retreat, he thought angrily.

-----

"Rhinox, I'm sending Orcariner, Whitegrazer and Aurora to check out a signal that just emerged on our scanners. Hold down the base with Frilla and Saber-Fang,"

"Understood," the engineer acknowledged. And looked at the Predacon bat after he had "tossed" him in his prison cell.

"You treat all your guests this nice?"

"I don't think you understand the definition of being a 'guest', Sonar," Rhinox told him in his deep voice as he blocked the doorway with his large body so that the bat couldn't escape his cell. "You showed up uninvited and not very peacefully. Hence, you are treated as a prisoner of war. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked it here more than the Darksyde since you keep coming back." He gave Sonar a chance to respond and explain himself before he would close and secure his cell, leaving him there alone.

Optimus Primal wrote:"Orcariner, this is Optimus. I need you to lead Whitegrazer and Aurora to this location for an investigation of a transmission that we're receiving on the ship's radar. Now."

Orcariner was staring at the dent in the wall when he received Optimus' command. A series of coordinates dropped down on his HUD and his tactical headset began sorting them out and plotting a direct course.

"Yes, sir," he replied, his tone thinly veiling his recent emotional outburst, "I'm already at my station in the hangar bay. I'll meet Whitegrazer and Aurora outside where I can proceed to supply them with aerial transport. Orcariner out."

The Maximal giant pressed the power button on the wall and the ship's doors proceeded to open. Walking outside, Orcariner tried breathe deeply in order to calm himself down. He did not want the others to know about his recent discovery, because this was now a personal vendetta. Closing the bay doors, the orca continued to walk towards the command center lift. His spark was beating less intensely now, but the anger was still resonating throughout his systems.

"Can't let the others see me like this," he said to himself.

With that, Orcariner transformed into his vehicle mode. The propeller blades did not start spinning yet, but his massive body was hovering off the ground thanks to the anti-gravity lifts built into his new transmetal body. Resting on his pectoral fins, two harnesses were fastened on each side for his companions to ride along with him. Orcariner hoped that neither of them would be able to read his emotions while he maintained his vehicular form. Reading a killer whale's facial expressions was not the easiest thing to do.

((Leaving Airazor knocked out for now. Not too much for me to do at the moment. haha I'll have her wake up again when OP arrives.))

Manterror watched as Silverbolt flew away from him and taunted him in the process. With him fleeing, it gave the Mantis some time to look over the battlefield. It seemed as if Nemesis was giving Ironclaw a fight for his life and Inferno was helping out as well. Most of the Maximal's fled including their leader, Rattrap. It seemed as if the battle was already won by the Predicons... but Ironclaw was simply too dumb to notice this.

Instead of joining in on the battle, Manterror began to walk away. He was far too damaged to get involved. It was also pointless. Even the crazy mantis could see that it was. The stasis pod had been recovered and the protoform joined the Predicons. Nothing else was to be accomplished by continued fighting. If the Predicon's pressed the attack, the maximal's would call for back-up. The Predicon strike team at this pod was simply too small to withstand a prolonged attack. It was time for them to leave.

Moving alongside of Buster, Manterror turned to watch Nemesis, Inferno and Ironclaw fight it out. After a few moments of silence, he turned towards Buster and said just one thing. His words were surprisingly coherent, but his tone was in his usual raspy voice. "Welcome to the Beast Wars."

(ooc: I really should have responded earlier.. Please let me know if I forgot to reply to anyone. )

Frilla wrote:"Who knows Aurora, for that maniac scientist it could be anything, even Saber he could be after. Sometimes he just does these things out of boredom or just to cause some trouble from what I can remember."

The little ermine shifted a curious look in Frilla's direction. She kept forgetting that her fellow Maximal had a past within the Predacon ranks. It seemed so odd to think about such a thing given Frilla's very much so Maximal nature. How could she ever have fit in with the Predacon crowd?

"I don't think I'll ever understand the Predacon mind..," she finally said after remaining quiet for several seconds.

Just then Optimus and Whitegrazer walked in.

Aurora smiled as the much taller transmetalized commander walked up and stood next to her, still feeling a bit in awe over the fact he had found his way back to them.. somehow. The fact that he was here now had rekindled something in her.. a renewed hope for the future. An actual faith that they were going to make it out of this alive. Well.. mostly. Much to her sorrow, the giant penguin remained gone. Perhaps some day in the future whatever had happened to bring Optimus back could be applied to their remaining missing friends.

Optimus Primal wrote:"Rhinox, I'm sending Orcariner, Whitegrazer and Aurora to check out a signal that just emerged on our scanners. Hold down the base with Frilla and Saber-Fang," he radioed to his old friend.

"Be careful," the leader warned Aurora and the white mare. "It could be a trap."

"You can count on me!," the ermine fuzor announced as she gave a brief salute, mostly in good fun, "I'll keep the others out of trouble!"

She finished up with a most appropriate wink.

"I don't think you understand the definition of being a 'guest', Sonar."

Sonar gave a soft chuckle of amusement as he rose to his feet then sized up the large Maximal, deciding that it would be unwise to attack this large mech.

"You showed up uninvited and not very peacefully. Hense, you are treated as a prisoner of war. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked it here more then the Darksyde sinse you keep coming back."

Sonar chuckled again, showing his sharp teeth. "Well, temperature wise its not as hot here as it is there, not to mention more peaceful."

The bat looked around for a moment, taking in his surroundings. Then looked as if something had dawned on him.

"Oh, and I do believe you have something of mine. You might know her, she pretends to be a hero and has breath taking anger management issues."

OOC: Sorry for the wait with these two characters:

1) Was trying to think of a good response befitting of Dinobot.

2) General error message. Can we PLEASE work on fixing this?! I have been on EVERY DAY this week at DIFFERENT TIMES and have gotten the general error message EVERY TIME! NO ONE WAS ON!!!! NO ONE!!!! I made a point to look at the bottom of the page where it listed the names of who was on. I'm serious here, no one was on just a few seconds before the general error message.

BIC:

"RAWK!" Terrorsaur squawked in unwelcome surprise as Dinobot came out of nowhere and nearly shot him out of the sky with his lasers, forcing him to do a barrel roll to evade damage, and depriving him of the chance to skin the maximal kitten.

"You certainly have a knack for showing up where you're not wanted, traitor!" Terrorsaur spat, flying around to face Dinobot again, this time returning fire with his own optic beams.

Dinobot saw the attack that was to come and he raised his shield to block it, but, unfortunately, he was too slow. The last part of the optic beam hit Dinobot square in the chest and threw him backwards into a rock. He hit the rock and slid to the ground with a loud thud and groan.

"Fossils like you belong in a museum collecting dust, THIS IS THE AGE OF TRANSMETALS!"

Dinobot was pained, but amused. He chuckled with great strain.

"Well....I suppose you've proven that....it is better to be a witty fool than a foolish wit.

With that, Dinobot sent more missile fire towards Terrorsaur and took advantage of the momentary distraction to crawl behind a nearby overhang hoping that his tenacity would take Terrorsaur unawares.

"Sometimes the original is better," he called out from where he had taken cover.

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

At first, no other Maximals seemed concerned that Nemesis AND Inferno were shooting at the badger Maximal, but suddenly, the vermin's eyes fluttered open.

After a while, Rattrap began running towards the battle firing his weapons at the group. A few of the shots did, in fact, hit Inferno. He felt the pain coursing through his rough exterior and grunted in response, but it would take more than that to take down the tenacious red ant.

He raised his weapon to fire at the small, hairy creature. "FOR THE ROYALTY!!!" he shouted and pulled the trigger of his rocket launcher. Nothing happened!!!

Upon closer inspection, he learned that some of Rattrap's bullets had rendered his weapon ineffective. He would have to use another. He spied his flamethrower just a few feet away from the avian Maximal who still lay unconscious. He had to make a run for it! He threw his malfunctioning rocket launcher to the ground and dove towards his flamethrower hoping to get to it first and use it against the Maximal foes!

OOC: Sorry to use some variation of the word "tenacious" twice in the same post......

(Nevermind, Figured out how to do it with the tools on hand. Thank you Topgear for reminding me how much spray a Hovercraft can make. ) (edit:Mixed up colors*Facepalm*)


As Aerostriker came down, his back jet engines started to kick in with a sputter as water escaped from them. His optic narrowed as he saw the charge shot coming from Megatron in the distance, but even losing altitude he easily evaded the shot with a short burst of thrust from his RCS, as if the shot was in slow motion.

As he came down, a few flashes of thrust slowed his descent landing on the ground, he stumbled with sparks of electricity and broken metal coming off his legs. Arg! he let out a grunt of pain, his back jets then spun up more as he took to the air again. My hud is down, right optic is out and I have a feeling I probably took more damage from that attack then he did..

Stag then spoke up Energy level at 45%, Rocket motors 1 and 2 are down, 3's fuelline has been closed due to a fuel leak. Flight is still possible, but combat is ill advised.

Aerostriker looked down at the ground, noticing as he floated back more swamp water. he then looked back towards the others, and Megatron. His optic narrowed as his face twisted into a smirk. Then we'll run. he activated his comlink Get ready to run as fast as you guys can, I'll buy some time.

He suddenly launched forward, kicking on his afterburner, seeming to be flying low, straight at Megatron. As he moved, he barrel rolled to the side, passing by Megatron with a sonic boom slamming into the tyrant from his wake.


Closing in rapidly towards the remaining Predacons, Aerostriker swung up his body with the aid from his RCS while adjusting his back thrusters to spray forward, the sudden wave of thrust and heat hitting the water sending up a blinding spray of water, mist, and mud onto the group. Leveling out he hovered low spraying up the obscuring cloud from his remaining twin Jet engines.

upon the sudden spray of mist, Cheetor and Onyx started to retreat. (Not something I would of liked to of done, but whatever, they're moved.)

_____________________________________________________

After seeing Megatron still safe after the large explosion, Umbra was then surprised by a sudden high speed movement coming towards them, only to find himself blinded in a fog like mist, he raised his arms to cover his face from the surprising amount of thrust and deafening roar the small bird was putting out.

________________________________________________

Quickstrike came to a stop at the cavern, transforming and starting to unload his supplies. Walking into the cavern with a steel I beam over his shoulder, wrapped with his snake arm, he then heard Blackarachnia speak up.

Blackarachnia wrote:"You know, this cavern can be an almost perfect fortress." "Wouldn't you agree?"

He looked around Uh yeah, sure. I reckon nobody will be botherin' us in here. he then set the beam down against the cavern wall. Which is good.. looks like we got our work cut out for us.. Not that I'd mind kicking some Maximal keisters instead!

OOC: yeah, I was waiting for Wintersong myself, but guess we better keep going.

@Naitokage: Sorry to nitpick, but shouldn't Aerostriker be too banged up to generate a sonic boom at this point? Also, he has jet boosters but I don't see how that would grant him hovercraft abilities too (seems like another alt mode almost)...Just asking how that works.

@Una: If BA was talking to Quickstrike only & not the entire group, I can alter Big T's reply to her sentence regarding the fortress bit

Blackrose wrote: "Right away," she said. She headed a few paces into the cave still admiring the view of the energon in its natural form. There were no words to describe how awesome it was. Quietly and swiftly, Arachnitron began unloading her cart and setting up the supplies in their appropriate locations.

"Fascinating, simply fascinating..." Tarantulas thought to himself, taking in every nook and cranny of the cavern and all it had to offer, the wheels in his head turning faster and faster at the possibilities.

Una wrote:
She let out a shout of anguish mixed with anger at Tarantulas's last push in her thoughts before he let go of his hold on her. She must had stopped breathing or held her breath in reaction to gruesome's antics because it felt like she had drowned, breathing heavily to recover air. Of course, she was Cybertronian. She didn't need air but the simulation of it was unsettling. She shook her entire form in disgust at such a weakness and vulnerable. She was just glad that her little tussle didn't knock down any of her load... again.

Tarantulas and Arachnitron had stopped at the entrance to the cavern. It looked dull, but even she couldn't wait to see what laid inside, Megatron wouldn't have picked a place unless it had some use. As they went inside, she set her load aside and transformed. Energon was sufficent in this area. Huge stalgmites of energon crystals hung from the ceiling and bunches of it rested on the dark, rocky walls. She had to attemot it was lovely to look at. All this energon. All this power. It could be really useful if the person knew had to use it.

"You know, this cavern can be an almost perfect fortress." She looked at Tarantulas and Arachnitron. Tarantulas would agree with her.

She stood next to Quickstrike with a lovely smile, "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I suppose it would" Tarantulas replied offhandedly, feigning disinterest

As Quickstrike and the widows went about their business, Tarantulas continued to admire the mine's interior, becoming more and more enamored with it by the minute, the space, the darkness, and the massive supply of energon

"Hhhhmmmm....Yes...Ooohhhmmhmm! Megatron chose wisely..." Tarantulas mused to himself, scratching his chin in thought before taking a quick look behind him to make sure the others weren't watching, "I won't be needing the maximals after all"

Like a necromancer calling forth an evil spirit, Tarantulas summoned the arachnoid transmitter he had hidden all this time with a mere motion of his hand, the mechanical critter eagerly returning to his side, like a lonely puppy seeking its master's attention...Only to be cruelly crushed underfoot and swept under the nearest rock.

"This area is indeed the perfect location...For my. New. Lair...Hehehehahahaha!" Tarantulas cackled with glee in the dark of what he had decided would be his new home.

Blackrose wrote: Dinobot saw the attack that was to come and he raised his shield to block it, but, unfortunately, he was too slow. The last part of the optic beam hit Dinobot square in the chest and threw him backwards into a rock. He hit the rock and slid to the ground with a loud thud and groan.

"Fossils like you belong in a museum collecting dust, THIS IS THE AGE OF TRANSMETALS!"

"Heheheha! Take a seat gramps! Ya look like you could use a rest, a nice long rest in the scrapheap!" Terrorsaur mocked viciously as he watched Dinobot collapse against the rock from his own optic shots, truly he was the superior predacon, Dinobot's days were numbered, Transmetals were the new guard, and he was the best the new guard had to offer.

Blackrose wrote: Dinobot was pained, but amused. He chuckled with great strain.

"Well....I suppose you've proven that....it is better to be a witty fool than a foolish wit.

With that, Dinobot sent more missile fire towards Terrorsaur and took advantage of the momentary distraction to crawl behind a nearby overhang hoping that his tenacity would take Terrorsaur unawares.

"Sometimes the original is better," he called out from where he had taken cover.

"Why you arrogant outmoded piece of...RAWK!" Terrorsaur squawked in indignation as Dinobot returned fire, the pterosaur dodging just in time, but angry none the less, especially since his prey had given him the slip while he'd been distracted.

"Giving away your position so soon? You're not only outdated Dinobot, but senile too!" Terrorsaur crowed as he fired twin, energy signature seeking missiles in the direction of Dinobot's voice, grinning gleefully in anticipation of Dinobot's last screams and the sight of his parts raining from the sky.

Naitokage wrote: Aerostriker looked down at the ground, noticing as he floated back more swamp water. he then looked back towards the others, and Megatron. His optic narrowed as his face twisted into a smirk. Then we'll run. he activated his comlink Get ready to run as fast as you guys can, I'll buy some time.

He suddenly launched forward, kicking on his afterburner, seeming to be flying low, straight at Megatron. As he moved, he barrel rolled to the side, passing by Megatron with a sonic boom slamming into the tyrant from his wake.


Closing in rapidly towards the remaining Predacons, Aerostriker swung up his body with the aid from his RCS while adjusting his back thrusters to spray forward, the sudden wave of thrust and heat hitting the water sending up a blinding spray of water, mist, and mud onto the group. Leveling out he hovered low spraying up the obscuring cloud from his remaining twin Jet engines.

upon the sudden spray of mist, Cheetor and Onyx started to retreat. (Not something I would of liked to of done, but whatever, they're moved.)

"Rrrggh" Megatron grimaced in annoyance at the transmetal bird's latest cheap trick, using his fusion cannon to stand his ground despite the sonic boom generated by the bird.

"All forces report! Do not let those maximals slip away in this wretched mist! Umbra, dive under it and try to catch them beneath the water, Spineback, your beast mode's hunting skills should be helpful here. Terrorsaur, report!" Megatron commanded, the pain in his eye demanding that he'd capture or slag at least one of these maximals today.

"Busy taking out the trash!" Terrorsaur chimed in, awaiting Dinobot's destruction as the missiles neared their target.

"I'm not sure," answered Optimus. "There's been no word from Rattrap's team yet, and this signal has just popped up on our scanners." He pointed to the coordinates and the red dot bleeping on the monitor. "We have to check it out." And he began to think that perhaps the best course of action for Orcariner right now would be to send him out on a mission after all. "I'm heading off to Rattrap's location, but I want you, Aurora and Orcariner on this."

Whitegrazer came by Optimus' side to get a better look at the origin of the mysterious signal. She had seen codes like this during her days as a soldier, "It's a Pred code on a Maximal frequency. Usually, a captured soldier in enemy territory would use such a signal as a way of letting us know where he or she is. Though, it isn't unheard of for Predacons to use them as a method to thin our forces. After a time, we were ordered to ignore signals when our numbers were too thin." She looked down as she remembered been given that order way too much during those dark times.

Her eyes gazed back at Optimus before she glanced towards Aurora whom was all too eager to get away from the bridge of the Axalon.

"Be careful," the leader warned Aurora and the white mare. "It could be a trap." They had experienced enough of those to know better by now than to rush in without being on guard.

"You can count on me!," the ermine fuzor announced as she gave a brief salute, mostly in good fun, "I'll keep the others out of trouble!"

She smiled at the young one's enthusiasm and gave one to Optimus in reassurance, " Don't worry. We will watch each others' backs. " She looked back at Aurora. Aurora had saved her life back in the huge battle. She wanted to return the favor. She watched as Optimus went towards the lift and disappeared from view. Her stare lingered for a bit before walking to command center lift outside to meet Orcariner whom was in vehicle mode ready to fly them there. There was a lingering tension and all she could think it was from her friend.

"Thank you for the ride, Orcariner. I pray this mission won't be too destructive."

Ironclaw briefly rolled across the dirty and dust ridden ground as a response to the kick which delivered quickly to his abdomen. Before he could react his hand and forearm were pinned against the ground. His facial expression changed to agony for but a moment. Her sai. It had penetrated a part of his armor and gone straight through to the ground. His gaze then went from his arm to the female Predacon standing over him. For some reason her optics were flashing and she then pointed her sword at his chest , it went along the cut she already given him. The badger was now aware of her unfair advantage. She had some regenerative capability so using brute force rigth wasn' the best option. At this point he knew had to make the decision. Ironlcaw still had fight left in him. He balled the fist of his pinned hand and yanked it back as hard as he could , tearing the sai through his armor. He pushed himself, closing the distance between him and his foe. Bt this time his right hand thrusting up inbetween them and got a grapple hold of her head, lifting her off the ground. He kept his eyes fixed upon her feet were dangling and roared loudly for all to hear. Pain surged his systems, it orginated from his chest. The transmetal soldier looked down and he saw the sword. It had pierced his armor and now pretruded from his back. He winced slightly and a scowl formed on his face. With all the strength he had left he wund her round and through her into the distance. As he did the sword was pulled from his chest causing intense pain. He staggerd once step then recovered and stood ready. He was surprisingly resilient.

(( OOC: Warwulf, Wintersong, Starshadow? Where have you guys gone? ))

"Yes, sir," "I'm already at my station in the hangar bay. I'll meet Whitegrazer and Aurora outside where I can proceed to supply them with aerial transport. Orcariner out."

Optimus could detect the faint distraught in the whale's voice. He could only hope that Orcariner would push this painful and emotional revelation aside and focus on what he needed to do now. Otherwise, he would be putting Aurora and Whitegrazer in jeopardy.

"I don't think I'll ever understand the Predacon mind..,"

And there were a few Maximal minds that I will never understand, thought Primal as he overheard Aurora's comment. Including his own.

"You can count on me!," "I'll keep the others out of trouble!"

"I know I can, Aurora," he had said to her before he left, returning her playful salute. He always looked forward to her cheerful personality. It was something this team needed more of at times.

"It's a Pred code on a Maximal frequency. Usually, a captured soldier in enemy territory would use such a signal as a way of letting us know where he or she is. Though, it isn't unheard of for Predacons to use them as a method to thin our forces. After a time, we were ordered to ignore signals when our numbers were too thin." " Don't worry. We will watch each others' backs. "

Hopefully this was not the case, and if it was, Orcariner, Whitegrazer and Aurora would manage and return to base safely. It was really all Optimus ever asked for; the safe return of his crew after every mission.

Having set out on his own, the Maximal Commander took advantage of the silent flight with his hover board, contemplating, reminiscing and pondering, taking in the fresh air. He thought about what he and Whitegrazer went through during their spar, and Protoform X, how Cheetor's team was fairing, and so on. Sure, the duration was a little too quiet; there were times he missed Rattrap's smart remarks and complaining when he was his passenger. Optimus didn't know what was going on with the rat's team or what was taking so long, but he was about to find out.

Pulling up just beyond the horizon, the blue ape's optics zoomed in on the pod's site and its occupants in the area. He spotted Rattrap, Silverbolt, Wintersong and Airazor on the ground. All of them appeared to be damage. Not too far was Ironclaw battling Nemesis, Inferno trying to take advantage of the situation and firing at the badger and then Rattrap rushing back into the fight and attacking Inferno. As for the Predacons besides Nemesis and and the pyro ant, he recognized Manterror and Starshadow, but the other fellow with the long neck must have been the new guy that had emerged from the pod. He didn't seem interested in the gun fire at all. Odd. Surprisingly, neither did Manterror as he witnessed him walking away. If one didn't know any better, they'd think this llama was a real one. But instead of fleeing from the noisy destruction, he just lounged around gorging on the grass. Time to figure out what was going on here.

"Rattrap, this is Optimus," he called through his comm. link. Unless someone was looking for more aerial support from the Maximals, they wouldn't notice him approaching in the air just yet. His blue and silver coloring was a nice camouflage in the sky. "Status report."

"FOR THE ROYALTY!!!"

Rattrap stopped his approach on Inferno and stood there with his weapon still targeting him while he watched the panicking ant struggle with his rocket launcher. Good. It was either out of ammo or jammed. He took this moment to answer the boss monkey. "Boy, am I glad to hear you, Optimus," the Spy said in deep breaths, aching all over, even more so now than after his fall from Airazor. "Welp, we failed here, ta say the least. The Preds beat us to the pod and convinced the new guy ta join 'em because they had food. ...Don't ask, I'm still tryin' ta figure it out. Looks like he's a llama. Didn't catch his name. After Silverbolt ruined our surprise approach and failed ta flatter Stretch with his so-called charm, a battle broke out. Obviously. I called a retreat but Ironhead over there refused ta listen an' just kept fightin' with Nemmy, getting his hide handed to 'im. Me and Airazor were blown outta the sky 'cause we had ta come back for our big, bad badger, and after dat I decided to run back and distract Inferno from Ironflaw. All in a nice, shiny nut shell for ya." If he or Nemesis kicking his skidplate couldn't get Ironclaw to listen, maybe their fearless leader could. Did this reflect poorly on Rattrap being able to lead a mission? Probably not. Optimus knew what he was capable of. Also, Rattrap couldn't care less about it.

Realizing what Inferno was diving for next, Rattrap narrowed his optics and started firing at him and his flamethrower, careful not to hit Airazor and Silverbolt who were near Inferno's weapon. "Shoulda left with your ugly mantis friend, Inferno!"

Listening to all of this from Rattrap, Optimus scanned the area below while he came closer and decreased his altitude. He figured he would start with Ironclaw and intervene. Like the others, he was clearly heavily damaged, and for what? Where was the sense in this? Ever since he had emerged from the CR and upgraded to a TransMetal, he had grown even more defiant and disrespectful than he was before hand.

Having seen him get up, grab Nemesis and toss her aside, then falling onto a weapon that struck him all the way through, likely damaging all sorts of important internal innings that are protected with their body armor for a reason, Primal dived down and transformed to robot mode before his feet made a thud on the grassy terrain. He placed himself between the badger and the Decepticon-turned-Predacon. "Learn when to turn away, Ironclaw," he said firmly, unimpressed with the TransMetal badger's methods and disobeying, and implying that he leave this battle now while he kept an eye on Nemesis. Glancing over his morbid wounds, he would not last much longer against someone who was capable of regenerating herself.

-----

"Well, temperature wise its not as hot here as it is there, not to mention more peaceful."

Rhinox's emotionless and cold expression didn't alter. He stood there staring silently at the bat.

"Oh, and I do believe you have something of mine. You might know her, she pretends to be a hero and has breath taking anger management issues."

The engineer smiled for a moment before saying, "You're visitation rights are revoked until Optimus speaks with you, so enjoy your solitude in the mean time." With that, Rhinox stepped back and sealed Sonar's cell by locking the door and adding the necessary security measures so no one could tamper with it unless they had the proper ranking authority. Then he left the brig and made his way back to the command center.