The Intergalactic Highway

Nemesis caught the brief agonized look on the Maximal's face, her lips drawing up into a slight smile as she prepared to make the anguish permanently marked on his features. Alas this Maximal had proven unworthy, not even offering a good fight despite his initial determination and approach. Yet he, too, faltered, hesitated, giving her ample time to crush his spirits before extinguishing his life force.

Or so she assumed that short moment before the corner of her optic caught a movement of the pinned arm. And to her surprise he managed to rip the sai out of the ground, wrecking part of his arm in the process, and barely giving her time to take a single step backwards to try to put some distance between them before she felt strong fingers wrapping themselves around her throat. Only as the fingers tightened their grip, applying more pressure around her neck, did she notice that her hand was still gripping the sword which had now impaled itself straight through the Maximal's chest. Surely the Maximal would fall over within an instant.

Yet despite the severe damage done to his chest, the sparks and seeping mech fluid escaping from the hole where the sword had punctured the metal and forced its way through his internal circuits, surely severing many of them in the process before emerging again through his backside, the male was still standing. His face revealed little but barely controlled rage as his grip tightened still and he proceeded to lift her off the ground.

The transmetal female attempted to kick him away, but was unable to produce the force needed without proper traction. For a brief moment their optics met; Predacon and Maximal, aggressor and pacifist, assassin and victim, and the roles appeared to be reversed for that slight moment.

Then he hurled her away, sending her crashing to the ground in a series of less-than-graceful rolls. By the time she stopped rolling, she found herself laying face down with her wings spread out flat on the ground. Her head was spinning, her body aching, and she let out a groan as she took in her immediate surroundings. The sword had been flung away as well and had landed only a few feet away from her. Stretching her arm out, she was able to grab the handle and she then forced herself back on her feet. The impact with the ground had not caused her to sustain any serious injuries so she was still fit to finish this fight.

That Maximal was going to die!


As she pushed herself up on shaky legs, she felt a familiar presence nearby, one that caused her to freeze in her tracks. Almost involuntarily she turned to look at the large newcomer who had decided to intervene. She had not seen Primal up close for several months, not since their talk while she was incarcerated. He looked quite different now in his new transmetalized body, but his mere presence was still very much so the same.

Optimus Primal wrote:"Learn when to turn away, Ironclaw,"

She tilted her head as she took in the annoyed tone in Primal's voice, standing her ground as she cast a brief glance over at her damaged opponent.

"Aww, it seems playtime is over now that Optimus has come to reclaim his pet," she mocked at the wounded badger, but her voice lacked some of that taunting tilt. Returning her gaze to Optimus, she attempted to maintain a calm, calculating and very much so lethal demeanor. But for a moment she might very well have looked like a child caught misbehaving, knowing full well that Optimus knew details about her and her past that effectively made him a huge liability.

((OOC: Sorry for the delay. I was actually waiting on something to happen with Wintersong, with not much to post other than checking on Airazor.... Whom, if I recall went into stasis lock in this post. It's been my understanding that stasis lock was a state that required a CR chamber in order to repair and come out of stasis lock. Heck, in canon Dinobot dies from fighting past the point of stasis lock. WorpeX, I'm not sure if you'd rather amend your original post to have her be knocked unconscious so she wakes up when Optimus arrives or stay in stasis lock.

Speaking of which, OOP, in your last post as Rattrap, you mentioned that you were "careful not to hit Airazor". Did you mean Ironclaw? ))

Rattrap wrote:Rattrap suddenly remembered what happened. Where was she? Was she okay? "Where's Airazor?!" he asked in a panic while he wobbled to his feet. Without waiting for an answer, he peered past the Fuzor in front of him and saw the falcon laying on the ground motionless. Was she in stasis? Just unconscious?

"Do somethin' right today, 'Bolt, and go help Airazor," he told the bird-dog. "Find out if she's okay." Judging by the looks of her, though, she looked like she was out cold and heavily damaged.

"Right away!" he replied, sensing Rattrap's urgency.

Silverbolt was glad that Ratttrap seemed no worse for the wear and was his usual... charming... self. With one comrade up and functional, he turned his attention to Airazor. Hastening to where Airazor had fallen, he transformed into robot mode as he knelt down by her side. He delicately cradled her upper body in his arms. Grimacing slightly at the sight of her injury, he felt a pang of guilt -- he'd hate for his momentarily reluctance to give up the fight to have been the cause for the harm that befell her. Gently placing a hand on where Inferno's rocket had impacted, he briefly assessed the damage. Between that and the crash, it was enough to put her into stasis lock.

"Airazor... can you hear me?" Silverbolt said softly in a forlorn attempt to rouse her. Silence and stillness rose to meet him in response.

Inferno wrote:Inferno watched as his shot hit the falcon Maximal and sent her flying backwards and landing with a sharp thud onto a pile of feathers. The Royalty would be pleased! Though he laughed and gloated after her fall, his pleasure quickly faded as he noticed the other Maximals retreating.

"Aww....leaving so soon?" he mocked chuckling as he noticed most of the Maximals scrambling away and sending a few poorly aimed rocket launcher blasts after them.

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

Silverbolt nodded in acknowledgement. Only the background sounds of battle punctuated the deafening silence from Airazor's motionless form. Silverbolt stretched his wings out around the two of them to provide some safe harbor against any errant shots.

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

"Same here," he replied, "I've been beat up way too many times in the past month to wind up back in the CR Chamber so soon."

As soon as both of his passengers were safely strapped in, Orcariner's propellor blades began to rotate and the jet engines hummed to life. Rising straight off the ground, he did his best to keep himself leveled so that his body would not tilt one way or another, thus, resulting in a change of direction. It was pretty stressful for the Maximal to even take off since this was only his second time using his vehicular mode. The first flight had disastrous results and the orca found himself tumbling down in the middle of a Predacon task force. It would be terrible if Whitegrazer and Aurora were placed in danger due to Orcariner's flying.

Coordinates locked. Auto-pilot engaged.

The primary engine that resided in his tail surged to life and the helicopter jetted forward. It was a lot smoother this time around now that the tactical programming was doing all of the work. Orcariner simply had to monitor his radar and onboard diagnostics to ensure that nothing went awry. While doing so, his thoughts could not help but drift back to the video he had watched over and over again. Despite the roars of the engine and passing winds, Orcariner could still hear the sound of that gunshot very clearly. It was just as haunting as the image of Icebreaker's head shattering all over the wall.

He thought about Aurora, seeing how she was part of the current mission. She and Icebreaker also had a very close relationship, and the orca recalled that she was also distraught when the penguin had passed away. Orcariner wondered if she knew exactly what had happened on the day that Icebreaker died. He also wondered if she would share his passion for vengeance should she know that Steelclaw was the killer. The killer whale glanced at the fuzor but was hesitant to actually say anything, knowing that Whitegrazer would hear everything he said. She had a more passive nature, and Orcariner had a feeling that she would try and dispel any notion of going after Steelclaw. While tempted to remain silent for the remainder of the trip, the orca decided to go ahead and ask anyway.

"Hey, uh, Aurora?"

Oh man, how should I go about saying this...

"I have a question for you. It's about Icebreaker."


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


Buster glanced over at the wounded Manterror and nodded in appreciation. Before he could reply, however, his attention was diverted to the new arrival of what appeared to be the Maximal commander. A metallic looking ape riding a surfboard descended from the sky. Sunlight glistened off his shiny armor, and the llama could not help but feel a sense of awe as he stared at the new arrival.

"Holy monkeys on steroids," he muttered.

Taking a few steps back, Buster's jaw dropped and the grass he had in his mouth fell to the ground. Whispering to Manterror, he asked as quietly as possible.

"Is that their boss?"

The Predacons had tough soldiers, at least tougher than the Maximals that Buster had seen thus far. This gorilla, however, was something else entirely. Fear crept up Buster's spine and he suddenly had doubts as to whether or not any of the Predacons here could defeat this muscular ape in battle.

"Your visitation rights are revoked until Optimus speaks with you, so enjoy your solitude in the meantime."

"Oh, of course. I wouldn't want to over stay my welcome." There was a hint of sarcasm in the bat's tone.

After Rhinox had left, Sonar sat cross legged in the center of his cell and closed his optics, allowing his mind to go blank.


* * *

Saber almost walked into Rhinox as she left her quarters to head up to the command center.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rhinox. I didn't see you there."

Whitegrazer wrote:" Don't worry. We will watch each others' backs. "

Aurora could not help giving Whitegrazer a teasing wink as the mare gave the very much reassuring words. She was glad her fellow Maximal, and tutor, was coming with on this important mission. Whitegrazer was someone she looked up to, even though she didn't necessarily agree with everything the mare said. The taller female had seen her fair share of battles in her lifetime and had now taken a more peaceful approach to this war, whereas Aurora was just starting out and did not have quite the same endless patience with their foes. And so Aurora had no intention of offering forgiveness as readily as her mentor was, yet she was not beyond showing mercy in the unlikely event that the Predacon was worthy of it.

Well.. in the equally unlikely even that she would be the one in a position to grant them that mercy. Aurora knew all-too-well that she was not exactly the biggest, baddest Maximal out there. But she was who she was and saw no reason to be ashamed of that.

Still.. behind those wise-cracking jokes and often spunky attitude, she hid a broken fuel pump (in a non-literal sense) and her self-esteem had frequently been punished and her hopes had been shattered time and time again. Yet she refused to let anyone break her spirits, the thing that defined her very essence, despite how many disasters and occasional miracles were tossed her way.

She wanted to make a remark about what Whitegrazer just said, but Optimus had already headed out so it seemed like a mute point to do so. Instead she shouted after the leader as he disappeared off into the distance.

"Be careful! I don't want to have to move Rattrap's garbage back into your room!"


It didn't quite come out the way she wanted, but she honestly never wanted to go through the heartache of losing someone she cared for ever again. At least she was getting to go with Whitegrazer so she doubted anything would happen to her. Things always seemed to go wrong when they were completely beyond her control.

So then she followed Whitegrazer out to their awaiting ride. Orcariner looked quite impressive in his new helicopter mode, she had to admit, and part of her felt a little jealous of him.. and anyone for that sake.. who had undergone the transmetal change. She was still stuck in her tiny, white, furry frame with large, delicate wings that could not even give her the ability of flight.

Well.. in case Orcariner still had not mastered flying, she would at least have a built in parachute. But unfortunately she would not be able to safely bring her companions down to the ground with her.

She nodded to acknowledge Orcariner's presence and smiled to show she was grateful for the ride as she got seated and attached the safety belt around herself but seemed lost too lost in thought to hold up a conversation. Instead she merely sat quietly, watching with great interest as her surroundings changed once the massive helicopter took flight.

She remained silent until a certain name was mentioned.

Orcariner wrote:"Hey, uh, Aurora?"

"I have a question for you. It's about Icebreaker."

Something caught in her throat at the mere mention of that name. She bit her lip and brushed some fur out of her face, quickly giving that up as the wind promptly whipped the fur all over the place.

"What.. about him?," she finally responded, her voice heavy with sorrow and regret still, no matter how much she attempted to hide the fact.

Upon hearing the depressive tone of the young Maximal's voice, Orcariner immediately felt a tinge of regret for bringing up such a sensitive subject. He was tempted to lie, hoping to spare Aurora from the truth. Yet, the burning desire to accomplish his vendetta was still able to overpower his compassion. Trying to hunt down a single Predacon was no easy task, especially given Orcariner's lack of weaponry. It would be much easier if he had help. Deciding not to hold back, the flying orca went ahead and explained himself.

"I... I don't know if you ever found out exactly how Icebreaker died," he started, "But I discovered that information earlier today."

He paused, being a bit unsure of how to form his next words.

"Steelclaw was the one who did it. Look, um, I really want to do Icebreaker some justice. I mean, what happened to him wasn't right and I want to take his killer down for what he did. Not exactly sure how I'd go about it. I'm don't even know if I can find him. It's just... if we ever do come across him one day, I want you to remember what he did. There's no guarantee that I can take him on alone, but with your help, maybe we can make him pay for killing our friend."

Being young himself, Orcariner was still bad at veiling his emotions. That last part came off a bit more hostile than he had wanted it to. Orcariner hoped he did not sound too bloodlusted in a way that it would scare off the younger fuzor. He needed all of the allies he could get on his personal mission. Throwing Steelclaw into a cell just seemed too light of a punishment given his actions. Orcariner trusted him, and despite both of them being on opposing sides, the actions of the black bear felt like a betrayal to him. Obviously, Aurora did not share the same relationship with the Predacon that Orcariner had, but she was still very close to Icebreaker. The giant sentry wished that was enough to eventually have her side with him when the right time came.

"I... I don't know if you ever found out exactly how Icebreaker died," he started, "But I discovered that information earlier today."

"Steelclaw was the one who did it. Look, um, I really want to do Icebreaker some justice. I mean, what happened to him wasn't right and I want to take his killer down for what he did. Not exactly sure how I'd go about it. I'm don't even know if I can find him. It's just... if we ever do come across him one day, I want you to remember what he did. There's no guarantee that I can take him on alone, but with your help, maybe we can make him pay for killing our friend."

Whitegrazer didn't like where this conversation between Orcariner and Aurora was headed. Revenge was a very dark path to tread and the fact that Orcariner was roping in Aurora to help him made her disappointed. Not due to the fact that she didn't like what Orcariner was suggesting, but due to the fact that it felt that the whale was taking advantage of Aurora's emotions. They both knew how Icebreaker's death had affected them both, but to use sadness to bring about the killing of another. There was no excuse for such actions. Especially when the person Orcariner wanted to go after was Steelclaw, a Predacon she had been trying to reach and noticed that, just like Onyx, didn't enjoy this slaughter between both sides. Steelclaw maybe was misguided, but he had spoke some of his truths to her. She disagreed, but that didn't mean she didn't understood. Though, she hoped to try and explain to Steelclaw that though the Maximals weren't entirely innocent, the Predacons weren't either. Oppressed or not, the Predacons have committed terrible acts towards themselves and the Maximals. Both sides were responsible, but it seemed that on both sides, many chose to blame the other.

She kept her expression solemn as she chose the words she wanted to say carefully. She decided to ask a question towards Orcariner softly, "Would Icebreaker approve of such an action, Orcariner, taken under his name?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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!

"That's the spirit."

She turned her attention towards Tarantulas who seemed to be in a world of his own. Taking the time to off load her materials, she kept a close eye on Tarantulas. Either though her mind link or intuition, she could almost hear him laughing inside his own little mind, plotting some devious agenda. The spider had been grumpier than usual after the destruction of his lair. He didn't seem to enjoy using Scorponok's quarters. It is not because of the fact that it was used nor was it any since of disturbing guilt, but the fact that the quarters were just too close to Megatron and everyone else. Tarantulas was always loner and wanted either assistant--or better word for it, a slave like Arachnitron-- or someone of lower intelligence that he could control easily. She looked at Quickstrike and gave him alittle smile, fluttering her optics before she continued to get her stuff together. Either way, Tarantulas was planning something big and she wanted to know what.

As she put her beams on the floor, she saw a four prolong blade. It was used for single energon retrieval. She smirked as she placed it on her person away from the optics of others. Though, even if they saw, it was a tool they needed. She didn't care anyway. Hopefully, she could put it to good use.

(ooc: Shame on you, Orcariner, for hauling others into this. )

Orcariner wrote:"I... I don't know if you ever found out exactly how Icebreaker died," he started, "But I discovered that information earlier today."

Aurora's large ears perked up, revealing the fact that what Orcariner was about to say had genuinely grabbed her interest. She, too, had struggled with an agonizing desire to learn the truth and had in fact almost accessed the security footage from that day to do so. But upon finding that those records had been sealed, she had decided against opening them. Not from a lack of ability to crack the files, but rather a sense of respect for the individual who had taken it upon himself to seal them in the first place.

Optimus. Their fearless leader, willing to sacrifice himself to save the rest of them. The little fuzor had not been able to bring herself to defy his wishes in such a way, so she had decided to let the matter rest.

Until now.

With interest she looked up, green optics flickering ever so briefly over at Whitegrazer whom she knew would disapprove of the next words uttered by the helicopter-whale.

Orcariner wrote:"Steelclaw was the one who did it."

Her mouth opened slightly in surprise, having expected the culprit of being one of the more ruthless Predacons. To her the truth only proved that even the relatively nicer Predacons were capable of acts of horrific violence and evil, making them all cruel and despicable to the core.

Orcariner wrote:"Look, um, I really want to do Icebreaker some justice. I mean, what happened to him wasn't right and I want to take his killer down for what he did. Not exactly sure how I'd go about it. I'm don't even know if I can find him. It's just... if we ever do come across him one day, I want you to remember what he did. There's no guarantee that I can take him on alone, but with your help, maybe we can make him pay for killing our friend."

Aurora remained silent for several moments, breaking her gaze away from Whitegrazer's and clenching her fists as she could not help visualizing Icebreaker's final moments before his life was taken by perhaps the most unlikely adversary of them all.

"I see," she finally uttered, the voice heavy with conflicting emotions. She was about to continue when Whitegrazer voiced her opinion as well.

Whitegrazer wrote:"Would Icebreaker approve of such an action, Orcariner, taken under his name?"

"Icebreaker is dead," Aurora interjected, "He's not here to make his thoughts on this matter known."

The visuals in her mind only growing more intense, more realistic.

"I certainly don't think he would have approved of Steelclaw shooting him in he face either," she argued.

The ermine fuzor then sighed, realizing her outburst may have come across a bit more harshly than she wanted to.

"Aww, it seems playtime is over now that Optimus has come to reclaim his pet,"

"You would be wise to hold your tongue, Nemesis," Primal said bluntly when his gaze settled on her. "Despite your beneficial upgrade, you're in no more a position to continue battling than he is." It was more of a warning than an observation, implying that he, who was not exhausted or wounded nor low on ammunition, was more than ready to defend the injured badger and the rest of his crew as he stood there without any weapons drawn yet. Just as she was taking him in, Optimus was doing the same. It had been quite some time since the both of them faced each other. Looking deeper into her expression, however, she almost seemed concerned about something. Something he knew perhaps? Yes, he remembered, but since when had he ever used it against her or in his favor? Did she really worry herself about it? Or maybe it was Whitegrazer's words from their previous encounter that were still reminiscing with Nemesis. For a quick moment, Primal's optics glanced at Manterror and the llama who seemed to be conversing over something, inaudibly to the Maximal leader because of the distance between them and their lower voices, keeping an eye on them and the rest of his surroundings.

Having noticed the flame-less sword in her grip, it reminded the Commander that she still had something of his, or rather Aurora's. "By the way, Nemesis, I believe you have something that doesn't belong to you. Care to return it?" Optimus asked nicely while holding out his hand, palm up, even though she was not close enough to him to simply hand it over or grab his hand. He was, of course, mindful of any physical retaliation she might react with, but he hoped it would only be with words. And although his old sword was not of great importance at this time, and since he cared for Ironclaw's well-being, which still needed to survive the journey back to the base, this "distraction" also gave time for the honey badger to rest and quietly but painfully retreat... or choose a less wiser path and attack Nemesis again.

-----

"Oh, of course. I wouldn't want to over stay my welcome."

Rhinox had shook his head at the bat's sarcasm but never looked back after securing the brig.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rhinox. I didn't see you there."

He had merely stopped in his tracks when Saber-Fang almost plowed into him. Although, he doubted she would have been able to have pushed enough on him to make him falter in his steps. "That's the first time anyone has ever said that to me," the engineer told her, considering his large body and wide shoulders. How could anyone ever NOT see him? Granted he wasn't as big as Orcariner, but he still took up a lot of the corridor space. Not to mention his heavy foot steps. "I could use your company in the bridge, Saber-Fang. Everyone else has gone off chasing stasis pods and unidentified signals." For now, he purposely avoided telling her about Sonar being a prisoner in their brig. Again. And so he continued his walk to the command center and resumed diligently watching the monitors, and pointing her to the communications console.

Upon hearing Whitegrazer's soft question, Orcariner quickly fell silent. He knew that she would be opposed to any idea of retaliation, and he had predicted that she would to some extent try to speak out against his intent. However, despite bearing this in mind, the giant Maximal found it difficult to stand up for himself. There was so much rage within him. Yet, despite trying to deny it, he knew that Whitegrazer was right. Surprisingly enough, Aurora seemed to be on his side and even displayed enough passion that he did not expect from such as small Maximal.

"Icebreaker was a fighter at heart," he whispered just loud enough for the others to hear, "He'd want us to keep fighting for him. Keep fighting until justice is served."

Orcariner was really trying to justify himself. The desire to kill Steelclaw burned inside his spark, and he truly did not want Whitegrazer's logic to wither it. The Maximals had always held back against the Predacons. They always sought to reach out to their other halves, or at the very worst take them as prisoners. The Predacons, however, always went for the kill. Icebreaker was not the only crew member they had lost in the Beast Wars. Yet, how many Predacons fell in all of their battles? Orcariner did not think it was fair that they were forced to restrain themselves while their enemies did not. All he could think about was that headless body slumping to the cold floor. There was no compassion there. These Predacons were monsters, so why should Orcariner treat them any different than what they really were? He thought Steelclaw could have been one of them, but obviously he was wrong, and he had every intention of rectifying that mistake.

The flying orca was feeling his anger swell up once again, easily pushing out Whitegrazer's efforts of trying to speak sense into him. However, a beep on his radar interrupted the giant's thoughts.

"We're arriving at our designation," he said, "I guess we can finish this conversation later."

Descending to the ground, he signaled for the two femme bots to exit their seats.

"I'm going to patrol the area from above. I'll be radioing in anything out of the ordinary that I can see."


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


Buster crept back as he heard the Maximal leader speak out to Nemesis. She was one of the more fearsome warriors of this band of Predacons, and yet, the ape displayed absolutely no fear of her. In fact, he seemed incredibly confident in all of their presence despite being outnumbered. The llama was tempted to transform and whip out his rocket launcher to blow the Maximal out of the sky while the latter was focused on Nemesis. He stopped himself from doing so. There was the possibility that this Optimus would do something terrible, like catch the warhead mid-flight with two fingers, then chuck it back at Manterror and Buster. Or perhaps he would swat it away with an arrogant grin on his face, then proceed to use Nemesis as a flail to beat the llama to death.

Similar to his moments in Academy, Buster's insecurities began to surface. He was now painfully aware of how frail he looked compared to the towering gorilla. Optimus' cool, sleek armor appeared to be so much tougher than the dirty, flabby fur that Buster was trying to hide under. The llama was really tempted to run away and leave his new comrades in the hands of this wrathful ape. Then again, if they managed to survive Optimus' fury, then they would go after Buster for abandoning them. Torn with the decision to either fight or flee, Buster instead flopped right down into the grass in a desperate attempt to have the soft green blades shield him from harm.

"That's the first time anyone has ever said that to me,"

Saber chuckled softly, she really hadn't seen him coming, her mind had been else where.

"I could use your company in the bridge, Saber-Fang. Everyone else has gone off chasing stasis pods and unidentified signals."

"Of course, I could use some as well."

When they entered the command center, she headed to the communication console that he had pointed out. As she stood there, she watched Rhinox out of the corner of her eye. Seeing that they were alone, she depated on whether she should simply come clean to him but again thst small stupid paranoid part of her thought other wise.

Stop thinking like that. Just get it over with! She inwardly scolded herself.

Sighing inwardly, she turned her head slightly to look at him, opened her mouth her and... closed it again as she chickened out.

(I was curious to see what Wintersong would post. Here's the post anyway)

Ironclaw was aware of the damage he had taken, his cannons were pretty much useless and sword wound had pierced several vital components. But to him, he wasn't out yet. He was dangerous even in this state. However what did not help his mood was Optimus Primal turning up. Seeing him arrive from the sky and land with his shiny, metallic blue armor, sickened him. Ironclaw stood his ground, unwilling to let his injuries show on his demeanor. The mere thought of Optimus coming in for the rescue angered him greatly. Unlike the words uttered from the Prerdacons mouth. Insults and slander would not phase him, he wasn't about to get angry over it and charge her. Ironclaw had felt that he had left his mark on the situation and Predacons would know he wasn't some good natured Maximal they could simply push around. However his reputation with the Maximals was not going well, he put it aside for now, knowing that he would bw forced to deal with Optimus as soon as things had cooled down. It troubled for a moment, to now what to say to Optimus in retort but he dsecided to remain silent. All he cared about was that he could still set his eyes upon the Predacons and that the female knew he was still standing.

OOC: I'm making a short post to get things moving a little bit, but not for Terry because he's still dealing with Dinobot & I want to give Blackrose a chance to catch up. Lemme know if there's any issues Naito & Wintersong.


"Spineback! Umbra! Report! Acknowledge my orders and implement them immediately!" Megatron roared, wondering if the fools had received his commands or were just standing around gathering rust while the maximal who blinded him in one eye was making his escape.

He didn't care about what Terrorsaur was doing so long as it involved killing a maximal, if not, there'd be the Pit to pay later, for all of them! Blind to the pain as his anger continued to mount, Megatron flew above the mist and looked down the swampland below, spying the shadowy movements of the maximals as they tried to flee, easily being able to tell them apart from his own soldiers, Umbra's tentacled form & Spineback's massive shape being unmistakable.

"Troops, follow the light and destroy what you find" Megatron instructed over the comlink, firing fusion shots at the maximal's figures as they ran through the mists, knowing that even if he didn't hit them, it would give his minions something to follow, as well as flush the maximals out of hiding.

Una wrote:
"That's the spirit."

She turned her attention towards Tarantulas who seemed to be in a world of his own. Taking the time to off load her materials, she kept a close eye on Tarantulas. Either though her mind link or intuition, she could almost hear him laughing inside his own little mind, plotting some devious agenda. The spider had been grumpier than usual after the destruction of his lair. He didn't seem to enjoy using Scorponok's quarters. It is not because of the fact that it was used nor was it any since of disturbing guilt, but the fact that the quarters were just too close to Megatron and everyone else. Tarantulas was always loner and wanted either assistant--or better word for it, a slave like Arachnitron-- or someone of lower intelligence that he could control easily. She looked at Quickstrike and gave him alittle smile, fluttering her optics before she continued to get her stuff together. Either way, Tarantulas was planning something big and she wanted to know what.

As she put her beams on the floor, she saw a four prolong blade. It was used for single energon retrieval. She smirked as she placed it on her person away from the optics of others. Though, even if they saw, it was a tool they needed. She didn't care anyway. Hopefully, she could put it to good use.

Excited by the prospect of a new lair to call his own, free of the prying eyes of Megatron and his lackies, Tarantulas traveled deeper into the mine, following an energon vein that led to even more clusters of pure, stable energon cubes...The place was alive with power!

"This much energon could sustain a frugal Predacon, ooo, for quite some time! But..." he pondered aloud to himself, already envisioning where all his new equipment could go and how he'd harvest the cubes, a task Arachnitron would be well suited for...And possibly his willful but leashed slave Blackarachnia, MAYBE the fuzor if his silence could be bought, he seemed simple enough to please, fembots and fighting appeared to be his only interests in life.

OOC:

(ooc: Is Wintersong, Arachnitron, Spineback, Inferno, Manterror and everyone else who haven't been saying much lately taking a nap? Will post tomorrow.)

So sorry for the wait. It's been a busy time of year preparing for the holidays and we've seen some bad weather which means my commute has been very long and tiresome. It's already long and tiresome to begin with, but the snow, ice, slush and other wintry stuff has made it twice as long. It has resulted in me intending to post, but being so tired I fall asleep watching TV. We're also down one member of my department at work so I've been working later and later every day. It's just been a rough month all around.... :-/

BIC:

"Heheheha! Take a seat gramps! Ya look like you could use a rest, a nice long rest in the scrapheap!"

Dinobot snarled at Terrorsaur's taunts. He couldn't stand that feather-less freak!

"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.

Dinobot had been taken by surprise once, he wasn't going to be taken by surprise again. This time when Terrorsaur shot at him with his eye lasers, Dinobot made a point to raise his shield and block the missiles. Then he decided some more drastic measures needed to be taken. He unsheathed his spinning sword and lunged towards Terrorsaur.

"Why don't we test out that new armor and see how outdated I really am!" Dinobot said with a snarl. "Or don't you think your shiny, new transmetal body can handle my non-transmetal weaponry?" Dinobot challenged inching a bit closer to Terrorsaur.

Before Dinobot could get close enough to actually use his spinning sword, a heavy, muddy mist began filling the battle field. Dinobot took a few steps backward to get a better look at what was causing the mist, Aerostriker seemed to be malfunctioning as he tried to escape which was kicking up dust and mud and other debris into the air obscuring the warrior's view of the battlefield. But he continued to stand in front of Terrorsaur in his fighting stance not wanting to be the one to retreat first. He hoped the pterodactyl would retreat before the mist covered the entire battlefield.

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Inferno rolled out of the way as Rattrap fired his weapon at the ant. He pulled his hands back and yelped in pain as some of the bullets hit the arm that was outstretched towards his flamethrower. He shouted in anger. He had to get to his only functional weapon!

"Shoulda left with your ugly mantis friend, Inferno!" 

Rattrap taunted the ant.

"But we were having such a good time!" Inferno retorted back with a chuckle.

Just as Inferno was about to make a second attempt at reaching for his weapon, Optimus Primal arrived on the scene halting all shooting from both sides. What a party crasher!

But Inferno now had the window of opportunity he was looking for! With the rat distracted giving a status report, Inferno made another dive for the flamethrower weapon. And once he had it, he knew exactly what to do with it.

"Now it's your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!" Inferno shouted and fired up his flamethrower weapon in the Maximal leader's direction.

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Arachnitron was close enough to overhear Tarantulas and Blackarachnia's conversation about the cave they were setting up as Megatron's refueling station.

"This much energon could sustain a frugal Predacon, ooo, for quite some time! But..."

She was intrigued by this new revelation, but she knew Blackarachnia would never allow it. She was probably up to something. She would never work with.....or for.....Tarantulas......not willingly anyway. Tarantulas would have to force her with his mental link.

Arachnitron finished what she was doing and then turned towards the conversation.

"Tarantulas, I've finished unloading," she informed him. She waited for his next instructions. If they really were going to make a lair or a fortress out of the cave, they'd have to rethink their plans for how to set up the equipment.

Nemesis tilted her head a bit as she watched Ironclaw, expecting a reaction from him where there was none. He still wore the same serious look as he had at the beginning of this altercation. Despite his severe wounds, a large gaping hole protruding in his chest and his wrist cannons rendered useless where they'd been sliced cleanly away from his body, he was oddly enough still standing. And worse yet.. his body language indicated he was ready for more punishment.

Well.. she would leave that up to the Maximals since the badger had so blatantly ignored his orders. Not that this surprised her overly much, having seen Ironclaw’s less than thrilled expression upon seeing Primal arrive. Somehow the two Maximals hardly seemed very close. And still she had no doubt Primal would put down his own life for the stubborn mustelid, even if she doubted the badger would be selfless enough to do the same for his commanding officer. It made for an interesting situation for sure.

Primal speaking up brought her attention back to him, her amusement apparently growing.

Optimus Primal wrote:"You would be wise to hold your tongue, Nemesis,"

Now that sounded like a challenge. The female's grip on the sword tightened a bit as she turned to fully face the Maximal leader who continued to address her.

Optimus Primal wrote: "Despite your beneficial upgrade, you're in no more a position to continue battling than he is."

Nemesis responded with a snort as she glanced over her own armor, perfectly smooth with not as much as a scratch to show for the battle she was just engaged in. She was well aware that Optimus was a formidable foe, he had been even before his own upgrades, but she had never been one to back down from a challenge. The Maximal commander was definitely at a disadvantage given the injuries of his troops and the presence of other Predacons to back her up. He might be uninjured but so was she. Nor was she particularly exhausted, having conserved her ammunition as much as possible thus far.

"Trying to talk me down so soon?," she responded in a teasing tone, fighting down those lingering doubts in the back of her mind. She had never been able to have a fair fight against Optimus, really. Either his team mates had gotten in the way or she had been unarmed, so the chance to actually fight him appealed to her. It was not so much about impressing the other Predacons by taking down the unbeatable Optimus Primal, and certainly not because of some devotion to Megatron and his cause, no. The only one she had anything to prove something to was herself, given her recent failure to execute a helpless foe.

Nemesis was only Predacon by appearance. Underneath she was still very much so of a Decepticon nature, feeling the same warrior pride that her kin had during their many centuries of power struggles against the Autobots. She was still young by Decepticon standards, being one of the last created at a time when her kind was being phased out for a smaller frame under Maximal rule. Perhaps her heritage was what separated her from the others, perhaps her unusual history and abilities too. Or perhaps she was simply a freak of nature with too much pride to be willing to accept even the slightest sign of weakness.. of her own ability to feel remorse. Whatever the cause, she was truly bothered by her encounters with the Maximals that had left her questioning herself, and she wanted to kill any doubt that lingered within.

Optimus Primal wrote: "By the way, Nemesis, I believe you have something that doesn't belong to you. Care to return it?"

For a split second her glance fell upon the extinguished sword in her hand and a rather puzzling smile appeared on her face. She reached behind her back, replacing her sword back into its holster and pulled out another, heavier and very much so familiar looking sword. Holding it up, she slowly rotated it in her hand, exposing all the symbols she had meticulously carved into the shaft to make it match the other weapons she carried on her person.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she told him coyly as she eyed him with a steely look, an amused gleam in her eyes.

She was just about to continue when Inferno's voice cut through the air.

Inferno wrote:"Now it's your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!"

Right then and there she realized what he was about to do. That crazy insect was yet again running rampant. She barely had time to look over to see the massive flame rapidly approaching, leaving her with little choice other than to put some distance between herself and the Maximal commander. Forced into a temporary retreat, Nemesis flipped backwards, pushing herself into another back flip with her hands before landing back on her feet again.. hopefully at a safe distance. Still some of the transmetal feathers on her right wing felt warm to the touch, having gotten too close to getting singed for comfort.

Her optics burning with anger as she turned to glare at the blasted insect who completely disregarded his own team mates in his attempts to wreck havoc. One of these days she was going to ram that flame thrower up the ant's rather massive rear end. Another time, perhaps.

Orcariner wrote:"Icebreaker was a fighter at heart," he whispered just loud enough for the others to hear, "He'd want us to keep fighting for him. Keep fighting until justice is served."

Aurora's large, pointy ears flattened as she listened to the large mammal's words. Truthfully she had never seen the side of Icebreaker that the whale was now describing, but it was entirely possible that he would have hidden such a side from her. Still.. it just didn't seem to fit the departed penguin's personality to be the vindictive type.

Again she fixed her large, green optics on Whitegrazer.. her new mentor now that Icebreaker was no longer among them. The look she sent her had softened quite a bit from the earlier outburst, not wanting to take that anger out on someone who was completely innocent in what had happened. "He didn't deserve to die," she said solemnly, deciding to leave it at that until she had a chance to talk to Orcariner alone.

Before long the whale-copter began his descent towards their destination. Aurora flipped open her wrist-mounted computer within moments of having her feet safely back on the ground again, doing a few quick calculations before pointing in a south-western direction. "The signal we originally picked up is gone, but it originated from somewhere in that direction."