The Intergalactic Highway

((Sorry OOP, I have been busy and haven't had a chance to post a notice about being slow. The week of Christmas is usually busy with family so I really haven't had any time to do much posting. But give me a little bit and I will have one up tonight.))

Tigerhawk looked at the ground beneath their feet, finding a slightly warmer spot to the rock below. It seemed to be the root system connecting to the alien flowers in which the Vok had been growing there in the valley. It seemed to go quite deep, almost to the point he wondered if maybe their initial thoughts were wrong after all and there was no device within their reach. That was until he realized something.

The roots went down some feet before the ground seemed to open up, the direction the roots followed changing with its shape. The cold spot seemed to just open up as if there was a series of tunnels beneath the site. But why would there be? Did it lead to the device causing these tremors? Whether it did or not the fuzor couldn't help feeling this might be a lead they needed to figure out where the source of the tremors was and maybe a way to narrow down its location in general.

With such a discovery, Tigerhawk turned to speak with Optimus before he heard the transmetal ape tell them they had to move to more solid ground. It made sense to before they could do much else. But Tigerhawk was soon asked to help move the cocoon before he could think to follow the others. "Of course." The mech said as he flew over and landed on the opposite side of the enclosed flower spreading a wing to draw one of his feather blades. He knelt for a moment to cut at the base of where the flower and stem met so they could actually move it without ripping up some of the roots. Primus only knew what could result if that happened so it seemed better to remove the flower's top than the entire plant itself. "There, it'll be easier to move now." He stated as he put the blade away before helping Optimus to move the plant over to more solid ground.

The large fuzor though briefly glanced at Zodiac as he spoke with Optimus, wondering what they were speaking of. But once they had finished their exchange Tigerhawk spoke once more, "Optimus, I was doing some observing using my thermal vision in hopes of maybe finding signs of a device beneath us. I didn't find confirmation of such a device but I did notice a possible tunnel system running under us if what I saw from where the roots are running from are accurate. They may lead to whatever is causing this disturbance in this area." Tigerhawk informed his new leader, managing to keep a calm and steady tone despite his feelings about the weariness he was being shown.

---------

Spineback remained at Megatron's side, leaning forward just slightly to avoid being spotted by the Maximals. But she couldn't help noticing the scent of the rat in the air, this one fresh and making her realize the transmetal Maximal might be finishing what they stated before. Or they were doing something else. "Hmm, we may have to be cautious still. Seems the rat is up to something but I can't tell exactly what, other than it might involve lots of explosives." Spineback observed, casting a quick glance around the place as if expecting Rattrap to suddenly appear and begin firing upon them. But that didn't seem the small mech's style of attack.

She wondered if they would have to handle some of their towers first before surprising the Maximals. Well one of them anyway. But doing so would give away that they were there before they actually did anything. Or they would just have to avoid the towers and hope they could put a little hiccup in the Maximals' plans before they could do something against the alien site.

(( OOC: Thank you for your prompt reply, Wintersong. We're still looking forward to your and una's joint post, but there's no rush right now. I imagine everyone is quite busy. Happy holidays, guys! ))

"Of course."

After quizzically observing the new Fuzor being a little distracted by staring downward at the ground and the area around them, Primal had held the cocoon still while Tigerhawk carefully cut it loose, hoping their actions wouldn't cause any more harm to anyone or trigger any traps while the others retreated.

"There, it'll be easier to move now."

"Thank you, Tigerhawk," Optimus said quickly, picking it up with him and carrying it away from the center of danger originating under their feet. Despite his limp and sharing Wintersong's weight, he kept up with Tigerhawk's stride and gently placed her inside of the plant back on to the ground near Aurora.

"Aurora, scan this to see if there's any data you can gather from it. Wintersong's vital signs, the plant material to see if its biological and native to Earth or if it's alien, any way to breach the cocoon to get her out, anything," the Maximal leader instructed her.

"I can take care of myself. I'm no damsel in distress. Besides, Megatron would probably be more interested in what's here than claiming revenge.

"I fear that Glowstick's underestimation of Megatron upholding the punishment for betrayal and disobedience within his ranks lead to his untimely demise," Primal reminded the Predacon. "I understand your independence, Blackarachnia, and I've given that to you, but you would be wise to be more careful when you decide to wander. My concern for your safety comes with everyone under my command, not just you."

"Have you gotten any more images or... whatever you experienced here? Maybe some that are particular about this site? Does any of this look familiar or anything?"

Once she asked that, he took a quiet look around the area and lightly shook his. "No," he answered, licking the scar over his mouth until he stared upon the object that sent Whitegrazer into space. "Wait... Maybe that stem...," His mind searched hard but anything about this particular site and situation was vague at best, if any of it actually pertained to the current circumstances. He certainly couldn't look into the future with his headaches and the strange language that flooded his mind earlier. Optimus lowered his head a little and held his left finger tips to his temple, closing his orange optics as he concentrated. "A large object... It's dome in shape... Some symbols..." He shook his head again in frustration as it suddenly ached and pounded as if there was a force trying to block his thoughts and the images, so he stopped and opened his optics, lowering his arm. There was nothing that could really help them at this point, not that he thought anyway. He glanced at Zodiac, who surprisingly hadn't fled yet, to see if he had a reaction toward anything he said or saw himself.

"There's something down there.. It's headed this way,"

"If there is something below here, maybe we should have that Maximal beetle or somewhere dig it up? Before it... I don't know... destroys us?"

"His name is Landslide," Primal pointed out to Blackarachnia's obvious careless attitude toward actually putting effort into learning the names of those who might eventually put their lives on the line for her. No, she hadn't asked for them to do so, but that was simply how the Maximals operated with those who were on their crew even if they weren't a team player. "And I'm afraid Megatron will arrive long before he will. Or whatever Aurora is tracking will confront us first..."

"Can you determine what it is, Aurora?" He tried to remain calm so that his crew wouldn't panic or get too hostile.

"I'm going to scout higher ground. If Megatron is making his approach, like I believe he is, it might be wise to see who he has with him and maybe even delay his approach?"

"Agreed. Inform us immediately as soon as you have a visual," he ordered her. He hoped she would follow his commands but it was all up in the air at this point. For all he knew, she might run off after something else, or take her chances to rejoin with Megatron. Part of him hoped she'd follow through with the Maximals, but he was well aware that he couldn't control her or anyone for that matter.

"What capabilities does your visor perform?" the Commander inquired, turning back to Tigerhawk with the assumption that the green glass in front of his optics was possibly showing him some diagnostics or something of that sort that he had been viewing earlier when he was staring at the ground.

"Optimus, I was doing some observing using my thermal vision in hopes of maybe finding signs of a device beneath us. I didn't find confirmation of such a device but I did notice a possible tunnel system running under us if what I saw from where the roots are running from are accurate. They may lead to whatever is causing this disturbance in this area."

"Did somebody say 'tunnel'?" Rattrap asked as he rolled in toward the group and took notice of the cracks and parts of the ground that were clearly weakening. Maximizing to his robot mode, he smiled briefly to Aurora even thought she seemed a little distressed or nervous, and saw that they had successfully moved Wintersong. But were these tremors the result of that? What was Blackarachnia up to as she seemed to slip away? And now Zodiac was unrestrained? Great.

"As unstable as the ground is, I don't want anyone going beneath it in search of whatever is causing these disturbances," he said to Rattrap. "We'll track the tunnel from above if you're able to do so, Tigerhawk." He looked to him for confirmation.

"Rattrap, are the towers taken care of?"

"Most of 'em. All de ones in de immediate area. All I gotta do is press the button ta start de fireworks."

"Do it," Primal ordered him without realizing how close Megatron and his troops were approaching now. "We don't need our communications blocked any longer."

The Spy nodded and pulled out his wireless remote, pressing the button that was linked to all of his demolition charges. The Predacons' jamming towers exploded one after the other beginning with the furthest one toward the direction the Predacons were coming in and then triggering the rest that got closer to the site. Plumes of smoke and heat rose high into the sky from the explosives and fires, and the sounds rumbled across the area, shaking the ground at each station.

Optimus glanced out at the clouds of dark smoke over the horizon and tree tops, satisfied with Rattrap's work, before stepping toward Zodiac to continue their private conversation.

"If it had been easy, we wouldn't even be in this situation. The way I see it, neither one of us has much of a choice. We may not like each other, but right now we are each others' best chance at getting out of this alive."

Isn't that exactly what I've been saying? thought Primal.

"I was.. But the situation has changed since then. I've come to realize how misguided my actions were and how I failed to see beyond my hatred and desire for vengeance.."

"Zodiac, now you're just telling me what I want to hear," he called his bluff, failing to fall into the renegade's hands so easily. Although he might succeed with the next thing he said.

"We need to hurry.. We can still stop this before it turns into a massacre. Yes, I'm aware you're hesitant about trusting me, but keep in mind I'm in the same situation you're in right now."

"Lead the way," Optimus told the shape shifter to see what he was talking about and how they could prevent whatever was about to happen. He didn't necessarily believe him but he knew how threatened or frightened Zodiac was of the Vok so there had to be some sincerity in his words, and they were running out of time. If they were going to do something, they'd have to do it before Megatron and his troops arrived.

"Rattrap, stay with Aurora and Tigerhawk. Keep an eye on the readings and the tunnels."

"You got it, boss monkey," Rattrap acknowledged, although he didn't really support their group splitting up but there were too many things to handle all at once, and soon there was going to be more.

(ooc: Well.. this has certainly been a longer than I wanted break.. So my apologies for that. Life has been throwing curveballs from all directions lately.)

Megatron took a moment to take in his surroundings upon landing at the presumed alien site. It held a certain allure to it, a sense of power that was simply irresistible to the tyrant.

"Hmm, we may have to be cautious still. Seems the rat is up to something but I can't tell exactly what, other than it might involve lots of explosives."

Spineback's warning was swiftly dismissed with a brief wave of the hand. The rodent's presence had been noted upon their descent and his proximity to the towers made it obvious what his intent was. But that hardly mattered now.

"He's taking out the jamming towers," Megatron said surprisingly calmly upon hearing the first in a series of explosions. "Not need to be concerned. There are far more valuable treasures in this place."

Indeed, there was a sense of calmness about the tyrant that was most unusual. Like his focus was elsewhere.

Nemesis completed giving her report, having made sure to inform the leader that Zodiac was still very much so alive and in Maximal captivity. Megatron's lips had curled up into a bit of a snarl upon hearing it, but he remained tactfully cool. The renegade may be a wildcard, but he also held the key to unlocking the secrets of this place. And for that reason the tyrant was very interested in having a little chat with his former ally..

Aurora remained silent as Tigerhawk and Optimus moved the plant pod presumed to contain Wintersong and gently lowered it to the ground near her. The little fuzor sighed, unsure how they would even move the pod back to base given how they seemed to be short on time. Megatron and his predagoons would no doubt show up soon, and the white tigress was, for a lack of a better word, presently indisposed. Even if they were able to extract her from the peculiar cocoon, there was no telling what kind of damage she had suffered while trapped in there. The Vok had shown how little they valued the life of Cybertronians and other beings time after time, so why would this time be different?

What if Wintersong was already... gone? Or if she would die the moment they tried to extract her from the peculiar plant?

No.. She couldn't think like that. Wouldn't. The white tigress was still in there somewhere and they just had to figure out a way to get her out.

"A large object... It's dome in shape... Some symbols..."

A certain gleam of recognition appeared in Zodiac's optics, if ever so briefly. Indeed, the alien structures and devices most had certain traits in common. The renegade had studied their technology, fascinated by the raw potential for destruction they were capable of. Yet despite that, and despite the fact some of their technology had long been integrated with his own circuits, there was a part of them.. of the Vok.. that still felt very much so unknown to him. Unknown. Strange. Alien.

He noticed Primal staring at him and immediately inclined his head and stopped rubbing his wrists like he had been doing intermittently for the past few moments. Primal had taken the cuffs off, sure, but his wrists still ached a bit from having worn them for so long.

Thankfully the Maximal leader turned his attention back to his crew, giving Zodiac the chance to glance around. He really felt as if something was coming, despite the report given by the new Maximal fuzor.

Aurora, on the other hand, started rushing to pick up her equipment since they were apparently going to return to base momentarily. And not a moment too soon!

"Zodiac, now you're just telling me what I want to hear,"

The renegade's lips curled up to form a slight smile. Not a warm and caring smile, by any means, but still a far stretch from the smug smirks that had decorated his face all too often. No, this smile almost seemed a bit.. nervous. As if he was anticipating something.

"I may have underestimated your cleverness in the past, Optimus, but don't mistake my every word as insincerity."

He paused briefly, letting out a sigh.

"Of course I harbor resentment still," he then added begrudgingly.

"After all I have lost everything in the past few weeks. Including my freedom. To you." Upon speaking the words, he held up his recently freed wrists as if to prove a point.

"But the way I see it, my slim chance at surviving this ordeal is in your hands. Whitegrazer persuaded me of as much." He finally let his gaze meet Primal's.

"Lead the way,"

Zodiac nodded, taking the lead through the maze of corridors left behind by the aliens. It wasn't far.

"We're going to come up on a room containing a machine with a platform next to it. We can use the machine's power to bring her back," he explained as they walked, occasionally glancing behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. So far so good though..

And true to his words, just a few corridors further they entered a larger sized room. It, too, was filled with those alien looking vines mixed with some other local plant life, but everything seemed quiet for now. The machine stood in the center of the room, alien symbols present on it, and even more were covering the platform next to the machine. Zodiac sucked in some air as if he was about to hold his breath, but then moved over to one of the corners where the luscious plants completely covered the rocky floor.

"You just need the key to activate it..," the renegade continued as he started pushing the plants and dust aside, finally pulling off one of the rocky plates that made up the floor in this room. Grabbing the disk, he then stood up and turned to Primal, the golden disk clearly visible in his hands.

I fear that Glowstick's underestimation of Megatron upholding the punishment for betrayal and disobedience within his ranks lead to his untimely demise," Primal reminded the Predacon. "I understand your independence, Blackarachnia, and I've given that to you, but you would be wise to be more careful when you decide to wander. My concern for your safety comes with everyone under my command, not just you."

"Well, what happened to that slimy squid was just an exception." Blackarachnia said, though even she had to admit how Megatron could be unpredictable in those cases. Yet, Megatron did usually keep his killing moods to a minimum. After all, he did have a limit supply of troops. Something she had reminded to grapeface himself on a few occaions. "Poor squid should have talked about his usefulness to Megatron rather than bumbling for an excuse." Blackarachnia flinched at Optimus' little comment. She never actually asked for "their" concern. And what did he expect... for a black widow? She placed her pincers on her hips and leaned forward a bit. "Pardon me, I gotten used to handling my own concern for my wellbeing rather than from a commanding officer."

"No," he answered, licking the scar over his mouth until he stared upon the object that sent Whitegrazer into space. "Wait... Maybe that stem...," His mind searched hard but anything about this particular site and situation was vague at best, if any of it actually pertained to the current circumstances. He certainly couldn't look into the future with his headaches and the strange language that flooded his mind earlier. Optimus lowered his head a little and held his left finger tips to his temple, closing his orange optics as he concentrated. "A large object... It's dome in shape... Some symbols..."

She studied intently. Dome in shape? Looking down at the ground, her foot padded against the solid grassy ground. "Hmmm... She wondered what it was, but it was hard to tell from this aliens. I noticed that there haven't be any tremors for a few minutes. We felt some bad tremors, and yet, suddenly, they have stopped. I wonder what is going on up there. Something tells this might have to do with that white mare of yours.

"His name is Landslide," Primal pointed out to Blackarachnia's obvious careless attitude toward actually putting effort into learning the names of those who might eventually put their lives on the line for her. No, she hadn't asked for them to do so, but that was simply how the Maximals operated with those who were on their crew even if they weren't a team player. "And I'm afraid Megatron will arrive long before he will. Or whatever Aurora is tracking will confront us first..."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe instead we can found an entrance ourselves?"

Though, she wouldn't blame anyone from not searching. After all, no one could know what would happen if they actually tried. Sent up into space? Activate more vines? Get vaporized by another stem? It was hard to know. Especially since this alien site, unlike the others, didn't have much of symbols giving them clue. That was odd but unsurprising. The aliens seemed to be hiding something dangerous. No doubt wanted to keep the site looking like just a normal ingrowth.

"Agreed. Inform us immediately as soon as you have a visual,"

Blackarachnia used to grappling hook to fly her up to the edge of the cliff. She climbed up. There was a little hill on her right side she took to get her some elevation. Laying down flat, she squinted and activated her optics' zooming lens and began scanning the area. There was no sign of them.

She looked around. Seeing nothing for a few moments, she was beginning to think she was wrong. But she couldn't be. After all, she knew Megatron would no doubt wanted to have whatever the alien site is hiding for himself.

She slithered backwards to go back to the cliff when she glanced behind her to notice Nemesis with Megatron and a few of his croonies. Quickly, she slither back to hide herself. After all, if her former comrades just looked up, they would just see her dangling. Just like Megatron to come from behind. She narrowed her optics and hit her comlink to Rattrap, peeking out to stare at the purple tyrant like she wanted to burn holes at him.

"Yo, she whispered to the rat. "Megatron is here at the site. We better do something. Nemesis probably has told him everything she witnessed. "

"Well, what happened to that slimy squid was just an exception."

An exception? More like an example, Primal had thought toward Blackarachnia's perspective. Although he did consider that Megatron probably didn't want to kill off his troops simply because it would decrease his numbers. However, he knew how much the tyrant loathed disloyalty and treachery.

"Poor squid should have talked about his usefulness to Megatron rather than bumbling for an excuse."

There was no excuse for Megatron to resolve the situation with murder. Was Blackarachnia still useful to him if she went crawling back to gravel at his feet? Could she prove her usefulness after everything? Optimus hoped she wasn't counting on that.

"Pardon me, I gotten used to handling my own concern for my wellbeing rather than from a commanding officer."

Then this was a whole new experience for her. In a way, it was sad and it made the Maximal Commander pity her and the rest of the Predacons who were denied such compassion and empathy. Apparently, the way Megatron operated didn't bother some of them. Others, well, it obviously made them think twice and they left his dictatorship.

I noticed that there haven't be any tremors for a few minutes. We felt some bad tremors, and yet, suddenly, they have stopped. I wonder what is going on up there. Something tells this might have to do with that white mare of yours.

Primal eyed the widow for a moment. Was she still seeking information or confirmation about Whitegrazer being involved with the Vok? Or was she simply making an observation? Well, without any communication from the Vok-turned-Maximal since their link had been severed, there was no accurate answer that he could provide. Maybe Blackarachnia was right, but right now he had to focus what was in front of them and who was to predictably show up very soon.

"Maybe instead we can found an entrance ourselves?"

"I'll leave that to Zodiac. Now go," he motioned with his index finger to her to move along to a good vantage point and watch out for her former leader.

"I may have underestimated your cleverness in the past, Optimus, but don't mistake my every word as insincerity."

Optimus was more concerned about the way Zodiac used words to manipulate others, not so much whether he was being sincere or not. Nevertheless, he took the renegade's comment into consideration, reminding himself that even now he could just be trying to be manipulative.

"Of course I harbor resentment still," "After all I have lost everything in the past few weeks. Including my freedom. To you."

The Maximal remained emotionless to his foe's confession. He hoped that wasn't meant to be a compliment. It had not been easy knocking Zodiac down to their level of vulnerability even if no one else - not even Nexus - had been successful in doing so, especially since he had almost lost all of his Maximals.

"But the way I see it, my slim chance at surviving this ordeal is in your hands. Whitegrazer persuaded me of as much."

While the mare was quite persuasive in such matters, Primal very much doubted that Zodiac would have let her get under his chrome that easily if at all. The first sentence may have been truthful whether or not the shape shifter actually believed it, but the second felt like he was merely trying to convince the TransMetal ape by using Whitegrazer's name and influence. In any case, it would seem at the moment that this very unlikely duo were stuck in this situation together, but he had a feeling it wouldn't last long. Somehow in some way it wasn't going to fall in Primal's favor.

"We're going to come up on a room containing a machine with a platform next to it. We can use the machine's power to bring her back,"

Leaving his Maximals behind, Optimus followed Zodiac into the abandoned structure, or trap. His orange optics gazed upon the walls, ceiling and floor. Plant life like vines, moss and fungi had begun to invade through the cracks as nature always managed to do when things were left unattended for a long time. Unsettled dirt occasionally fell from the ceiling and from holes in the walls after the tremors had loosened it. The leader kept his hand hovering over the weapon on his hip, ready to grab it and use it if he needed to while he limped from behind. "One step at a time," he said softly, warily. "I don't want to activate this place if its hidden intention is to blow a crater on this side of the planet." As much as he wanted Whitegrazer back, if she could be brought back, and to break Wintersong out of that cocoon, he had to err on the side of caution, even if their time having this place to themselves was about to run out by Megatron's inevitable appearance.

He stopped short of following the renegade all the way to the corner of the large room, purposely keeping space between them in case he was to spring any surprises on him. After all, if Zodiac had been down here before and was familiar with the alien structure, then he had the advantage and knowledge of the territory. Optimus tried to be mindful of any suspicious symbols that might trigger a trap since these Vok sites had a history of doing so. Some of them were, in fact, recognizable from his head aches and visions, but he still didn't know what they meant. His gaze drifted to the machine in the center of the room. Quiet as it was, it still presented an ominous aurora, probably because he had no idea what kind of power it might produce. Primal made no motion to touch it or anything else except for the floor he was standing on. Past lessons and mistakes taught him to mind his surroundings around Vok technology. He glanced at the language that decorated the machine as well as the platform beside it, all of it appearing foreign to him.

"You just need the key to activate it..,"

Watching Zodiac closely but keeping is distance, his hand touching his gun now in case it was a trick, he witnessed him bend over and uncover the golden disk. His optics enlarged slightly, almost in disbelief that another one actually did exist, as he licked the scar across his mouth. But could he be using this whole distraction as a ploy to lure Optimus down there, to seclude him and finally take his revenge? "Could the alien disk that Megatron possesses inform him of this one? Can his disk also activate this site? Is there anything we can do to defend this place from him gaining control of it?" he inquired with some eagerness. Was he really going to rely on or trust Zodiac to help and be honest? He wasn't even sure that the truth serum was still working or if it had expired.

"Yo, "Megatron is here at the site. We better do something. Nemesis probably has told him everything she witnessed."

"Well, lucky us," Rattrap returned sarcastically to the she-spider while he remained with Tigerhawk and Aurora, pulling out his gun. "We always gotta share our discoveries, don't we?" he spat with disappointment. "Who's he got with 'im?" he asked her over their transmission.

"Aurora, did ya scan the cocoon like Optimus asked?" the rodent inquired as he watched her eagerly picking up her equipment.

"Hmm, we may have to be cautious still. Seems the rat is up to something but I can't tell exactly what, other than it might involve lots of explosives."

"He's taking out the jamming towers," "Not need to be concerned. There are far more valuable treasures in this place."

Inferno stood confidently by Megatron's side, opposite of Spineback's position, silent as their commanding officer spoke and looked around at the explosions whose fires had died down quickly and didn't spread. Such weak fires... If it were up to Inferno, he'd burn the entire planet. Just burn it all. But mostly, he wanted to watch the Maximals squirm as they burned. "Do you have orders, Royalty?" the ant asked calmly as he stood beside him and stared ahead toward the alien site, noticing some movement from a few of the Maximals. It disgusted him that they were already there long before the Predacons. This place was meant for his Queen. It was his property! How dare this Maximal scum get their hands all over it!

Zodiac had remained quiet for the duration while Primal was discussing the situation with his troops, or for the most part the female spider actually. Yet he kept a watchful optic on the situation, not trusting her.. or any of them for that sake, not to stab him in the back first chance they got. BlackArachnia had no doubt made herself a target among the Predacons after defecting to the Maximals, and there was always a chance she would try to change the focus from herself onto someone else.. someone Megatron would no doubt be even keener to see destroyed.. And that someone was the former shapeshifter.

For this reason the renegade remained vigilant, keenly aware of every movement the traitorous she-spider made. If she did try something.. anything.. he was not going to get caught unaware.

"I'll leave that to Zodiac. Now go,"

A slight smile crept onto his face upon hearing Primal say those words and dismiss the overly curious female. It wasn't that he didn't see the Predacons as a potential threat, oh no, he knew they'd be here soon. But that was all the more reason why he needed to hurry. The smile faded soon enough, however, when Primal remained stonefaced as the renegade attempted to manipulate him with his words.

He walked in silence for a few moments, leading Primal to their destination, before letting out a sigh.

"If you're not going to listen to me, then at least listen to your spark," the renegade muttered as they entered the larger room that housed the machine and the platform. "Whitegrazer was drawn to this place for a while before she came here. I don't deny my involvement in persuading her, but I never intended for the aliens to take her back. We need her knowledge and abilities when the aliens return.. and they will.. I can sense it," he added while placing a hand on top of the chest plate covering his spark chamber.

After drawing a breath, he looked around the room. Well, as far as it could be described as a room since it consisted of ancient ruins, dirt, and some plant life.

"There are worse fates than dying at the hands of Megatron.. Just as there are more precious things than life that can be taken away from you."

"One step at a time,"

Zodiac halted, staring at Primal for a long moment.

"You don't want to wait too long or Megatron will have the upper hand. And you know he won't hesitate to take advantage," the renegade responded with a certain sense of urgency in his voice.

"I don't want to activate this place if its hidden intention is to blow a crater on this side of the planet."

The half-breed tilted his head.

"That is not its purpose," he said, his voice soft but determined. "I've had the alien disk in my possession for years now, I've studied it intently. I'm not saying that the rest of the alien site doesn't harbor dangers that could easily destroy us all, but this machine is not part of the main site. The aliens used it to transport themselves and equipment between worlds. " He nodded to the platform, mostly covered in dirt from the long years of inactivity, before settling his optics back on Optimus.

"If the machine was meant to destroy, I certainly wouldn't be standing here with you while urging you to activate it. I didn't fight so hard to stay alive while dangling helplessly over a stream of lava for several days just to commit suicide here and now."


With those words he suddenly dropped the alien disk at his feet, causing some dirt to whirl up before settling back down once the disturbance had settled, and took a step backwards.

"Could the alien disk that Megatron possesses inform him of this one? Can his disk also activate this site? Is there anything we can do to defend this place from him gaining control of it?"

Zodiac slowly nodded after taking a moment to consider Primal's words. "It's possible the information is on the other disk as well. But it's likely our purple friend hasn't obtained the knowledge to fully translate the disk either. He doesn't share my history with the Vok nor does he have their technology coursing through his systems. The answer to your other question is a bit more tricky. Truth is.. I simply don't know. Each disk functions as a key, but what exactly it unlocks remains to be seen. Without having had a chance to study the other disk up close, I can only speculate what information is on it. As for defending this place, sure, we can try to barricade the doors or destroy the machine before he gets a chance to get his claws on it. Of course once we do that, we won't be able to save your missing Maximals."

He paused, gesturing for Primal to use the disk on the ground.
" Either way I urge you to hurry.. For surely the Predacons will discover us soon."

Voices could be heard echoing through the ruined complex, further reminding them of the urgency they were faced with.

((OOC: If there is anything more I need to add, please let me know. ))

"I'll leave that to Zodiac. Now go,"

Blackarachnia noticed how vague Optimus was being on the account of Whitegrazer like he as trying not to give too much information. She had her suspicions, and the ape really was proving it to her that hers were correct. About the white mare, anyway. Shrugging her shoulders, she had taken back her place on the upper cliff face, keeping her head and body low so that her old comrades didn't see her. Laying flat on the ground, took out her crossbow weapon and aimed it at the Predacon group up ahead. Though, she didn't fire. Only watched them.

"Well, lucky us," Rattrap returned sarcastically to the she-spider while he remained with Tigerhawk and Aurora, pulling out his gun. "We always gotta share our discoveries, don't we?" he spat with disappointment. "Who's he got with 'im?"

"Looks like he has his personal annoying ant bodyguard with him and Spineback is there as well." she whispered to her com-link.

'You ask us to forgive and show mercy to the Cybertronians. We gave them a final chance to avoid the site using that pod, they refused to acknowledge your warnings and one of their own paid the price. So long as she is within that cocoon she now belongs to us, her mind, her spark, her very being is no longer her own.'

"Wouldn't forgiveness and mercy be preferable than more destruction and death?" The booming voice and glow of her optics disappeared back to her normal form, but she wondered how long it would take before those attitrbutes retruned to full? When she returned, would she still have those powers? Or would she return to her weakened state? But what would happen if she was at full power once more? Being purely Vok? Somehow, she didn;t feel comfortabelw ith calling herself a Vok. Long ago, she turned that heritage away after being exiled and forced to survive all on her own.

Whitegrazer looked around at the purple-eyed, the green-eyed, and her own mentor, TyCross, who was oddly quiet for a awhile. Something told her she better keep her guard up.

"Optimus Prime forgave us. Healed us. He could have used the Matrix to destroy us. After all, we had destroyed and murdered lots of innocent civilizations and are responisble for Earth's tragic fate. But Optimus didn't. He used the Matrix to show us the light, and we were transformed into a pure energy. Given a new life. A new hope."

"Still you persist. Life can be made anew, and life has been reset countless times before until the course was set on a path we found favorable. The presence of the Maximals and Predacons has become damaging to that vision and we must be rid of them. Ethics, morals, we have forgone these to ensure detachment, to ensure we did not make the same mistakes you have clearly shown no restraint for making.'

Reset countless times? "Wait a minute. By meaning reset, you mean....?"

"Yes, we had used the Planet Buster countless times. I... I believe we lost count." TyCross finally spoke.... again. Though, he seemed, once again, distracted.

Whitegrazer, horrified by such an act, fought off the Vok's tentacles out of her body, growing tired of their searching. If they wanted her memories, her thoughts, her emotions, they would have to ask and see it by her own standards. Not their own.

"Don't you understand what you have done? Don't you understand the implications of such?"

And if they used the argument that the inhabitants won't remember since they time traveled to a control point, she would laugh. It still won't change the fact the Earth's inhabitants have died billions of times. That time erased.

'What is so...relevant of this group of Cybertronians you seem insistent they remain? They would be no different from that of the past and the countless worlds ravaged by their previous war. They cannot be trusted, yet...you continue to waste your time and energy to save them.'

"They are good people. And we are not so different from them."

TyCross rolled his optics, "Oh please. We are beyond and above them. They are ants, with destructible bodies, limited life spans, and smaller intelligence. Look at how they interpret our technology. What happened to Zodiac, Nemesis, and those who didn't make the cut. And not only that, they had attempted to make an immortal soldier."

"What?"

"Oh, I will let Optimus explain.... No, wait, they would all die anyay. So what's the point?" TyCross shrugged.

"They don't deserve this." Whitegrazer looked at the Vok, "If destroying the planet all those other times didn't help your experiment, why do it again?"


'The destruction of the planet is necessary to clear away what is not desired. It is swift, humane, a sure way the inhabitants do not face continued memory implications of feeling that pain. Even someone like you who was exiled would surely prefer the life on the planet avoid feeling and remembering such agony.' The green-eyed Vok spoke. True, the acts they had committed had been...unethical and likely would have made even the hardest Decepticon shudder beneath their frame but it was the only way to ensure a clear path for a planet's evolutionary state.

A look of annoyance flashed across the green-eyed Vok's eyes, showing Whitegrazer's continued pressing for them to believe her argument would change anything. Was she really so naive to see that it was too late to change what they had started? Clearly she was too attached to the Cybertronians, too far gone from ever being a true Vok despite never really being truly like them to begin with. But being a Cybertronian in form hadn't obviously taught her anything but to become soft sparked, open to the corruption of emotion.

Her sudden forcing them out from gripping her spark thought caused both the green-eyed and purple-eyed Vok to growl in anger, but there wasn't much more they could find, much less attempt to search her very core yet again. She was gaining her own power and they would soon be unable to match her without combining their might. 'Foolish mare. Our second chance on life has shown us much, and we must follow a path to ensure that planets that have been ravaged or face such a fate must be able to go down it's proper path without incident. We owe Prime nothing any longer. He gave us our chance and no we are taking it to bring life to places that lack it.' The green-one growled, gradually growing angered with the female Vok before them.

But the purple-eyed Vok had seemed to go silent now, seeming to stare into the distance as if looking upon Earth itself. It could sense the disturbance going on at their site, the growing number of quakes shaking the planet that would gradually grow stronger. Regardless of what Whitegrazer said to them now time was running out for the Maximals and Predacons alike. 'You waste your breathe on convincing us of sparing your friends just as much as we are wasting ours convincing you to see reason. It won't matter soon enough.


Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure that those who are born, live on that planet don't remember the pain of death, the light from the second moon when it was till there burning them alive with the planet's natural yet volatile energy source? Do you watch as they sleep? Memories? Echoes? Whitegrazer asked in curiosity yet her expression still burned with disgust. Remember, before you guys allowed me to leave Nexus Zero, you wiped any knowledge which, if any fallen into the wrong hands, bred disaster, and yet, despite the wipe, I still do. Vaguely. The knowledge may have been erased, but I remember. I remember everything even if I don't.

Whitegrazer ignored the annoyed glances from the Vok, even TyCross, her own mentor, the observer sent to watch her, looked at her the same way. Feeling their contempt for her lack of any Vok heritage. Any of the person, or being, that was their comrade for stellar cycles and beyond they began to think was lost. Maybe they should have thought of that before they exiled her on Cybertron. Weakened, not just for other Cybertronians but for non-Cybertronians the ones living in plain sight while no one, Maximal or Predacon, knew any better. But she did. And she didn't much care for the Vok's analyze of her. If they couldn't be bother to understand the complexities of Cybertron's poltics and people nor respected Optimus' diplomacy, how could she expect them to understand her changes?

I expected more from you. Including you, TyCross. I thought by being by my side all those stellar cycles you would have at least understood why I did this.

TyCross just let out a huff and crossed his arms, "I may have became a Predacon, but it was a necessary evil. I acted the way I felt was logical. Just as I am now.

Not much of a disguise. After all, you seemed to revel in it.

TyCross narrowed his optics at her. She smiled at him. It was one of those smiles that said "Gotcha".

Her expression softened when the Vok spoke again. She understood their reasons. Yet, they still weren't listening. How is destroying the planet several times over any different from before? Because of intent? Does it really matter? You are still destroying the planet. Only this time, you have the power to do it over and over again. She shook her head. I understand. You all think I have changed? No, not at all. I'm the heart, the soul of all of us. I bear the virtues of our mission. Pure. Simple. Good. We wanted to redeem ourselves. To fix our mistakes. But we can't fix them all. Not like this. You need to stop destroying the planet. You all have said so yourselves. You failed several times over, even before Maximals and Predacons arrived here. You all are just angry that there were yet another hill of obstacles that you all needed to overcome mixed with you all, our, misgivings and distain for the Cybertronian. You all are upset that your changes aren't working. End this experiment. Now. It's done. Leave the planet in peace. Figure out another solution for our redemption for the human race.

It was she who narrowed her optics. Optics glowed white. Voice returned with the booming tone like theirs. I won't allow you all to destroy them or this planet. You all have forgotten. Sitting in this cosmic dust for so long. Turned you apathetic. My powers are growing here. I know you have sensed it. Just try it and see what good it would do you. Unless, you are at least willing to give them a fighting chance. You have done it before with that floating island. Why not? At least, let them die fighting. Spare the inhabitants on that planet.


'Even if they do remember, what has been done in the past will not be undone now. We have come too far, and those memories slowly fade as the generation after does not share those memories. Therefore, the experimentation has been necessary to put the planet on the right track.' The Green Eyed Vok uttered with growing impatience, finding Whitegrazer's constant inquiries growing tiresome and pressing its patience. Between the two Vok that had remained in Nexus Zero all this time it certainly seemed the most impatient and hostile. And right now Whitegrazer was trying its patience.

Her words seemed to strike home and cut deeper than any knife could of anyone else. The two skull-like entities seemed to exchange a glance as if they couldn't deny that the white mare was right. They had been furious when they discovered the Cybertronians had arrived on prehistoric Earth much less seeming to cause an issue on the planet when they had been on the right track, finally feeling the planet had almost not needed them any longer. But their war...it had changed things, could change things to come which the two knew well and obviously held wonder reflected in their expressions. The presence of the Maximals and Predacons could have implications that could echo across time, but were they doing the same?

Though it did make them show some second guessing they seemed to quickly shake this off as they turned to look back at Whitegrazer with narrowed eyes. Once again, they knew they had given ways to possibly avoid their creations being destroyed and allowing for one to exist within them without harm but they had since slowly taken that away with the Cybertronians growing into more dangerous threats over time.

The purple eyed Vok cast a quick glance at TyCross as he seemed to acknowledge reveling in his own Cybertronian form but shifted his gaze back to Whitegrazer. 'We still do not share your fondness for the Cybertronians Whitegrazer, and their presence does prove a danger to the time stream no matter how you put it.' They began, showing a slight grudging look and tone in their voice. 'But if you truly feel these...contaminants can avoid following the path of their ancestors we shall concede, but just a little. Beneath this particular site is a series of tunnels, another labyrinth like path as the ones months ago you and your so called friends encountered.'

That is little comfort to the deja vu feelings that might pop up. That heightened sense of terror that subconsciously remembers, even if the mind itself isn't aware of why it remembers.

As she remained still, she felt the emotions of the two Vok swimming in front of her. Their thoughts were at first of impatience and anger towards her defiance, her interference, and along with her compassion and merciful nature towards the Cybertronians. She remembered a time when she felt the same intense emotions. That grudge. That seething contempt for those Cybertronians, those physical beings and their wars that caused death at a galactic scale. That harmed countless other worlds. Harmless ones like the organic planets like humanity. Those poor, unfortunate souls not prepared for the universe's evil. But the Vok, they, had no right to throw down justice when they had committed the same evils they accused the Cybertronians of. After all, she realized that hypocrisy within herself and squashed it in disgust.

TyCross hated the fact that Whitegrazer got him to admit that he too seemed to enjoyed his Cybertronian form. After all, he still used it's image to communicate with her. He sniffed in contempt at himself, analyzing his own decisions and choices. The form. His fake allegiance towards the Predacons. He remained quiet as the other Vok looked at him. Then he glared at Whitegrazer. His student. His mission. His weakness. A fire was beginning to blossom.

As fire began to blossom in TyCross, Whitegrazer's energy was beginning to grow, but as she closed her optics, feeling the enthralls of the other Vok, including TyCross, she began to feel more and more.... it was like she was seeing the universe. A jolt of lightning quivered her entire body. Yet there was no pain, only a sense of relief and contentment. But as relished her newfound sense of her former being, she quietly blocked herself from the other Vok. They couldn't know. Not yet. Though they were seeming conforming to her arguments, she knew how ingle-minded they were to their own goals. Even if they decided to not destroy the planet, the Cybertronians, her friends, her loves, will still be at great risk.

I'm glad that you have decided against this. This planet never deserved to be in such agony like what we and the Autobots and Decepticons alike did centuries before. Despite it all, it show that you haven't forgotten. Whitegrazer showed her gratitude, even if it was meaningless. If she was in their shoes, or places, she would have done the same thing. thought the same way. What are in those tunnels? What are you hiding there? And why? That place... just like the floating island... looked like paradise.

What are you guys planning to do to them?

That not something you need to know. TyCross spat at her. You are too Cybertronian for your own good. They stripped you of your hertiage.

No, it was-

Don't try to deny it, Whitegrazer. They see it as well. What happened to that Vok, to you? To think in such small terms? We have the universe at our finger tips, thanks to the Matrix and The One himself, and we are taking care of it. Time and space. We manage it. We correct it. Ho dare you bring such meaningless ideologies towards us? Maybe we shouldn;t have exiled you. TyCross looked towards the others. She has been blinded by them. She has lost her way. Her will.

Whitegrazer narrowed her optics at TyCross. Her fist trembled.

Maybe we shouldn't have exiled her. What do you wish to do with her? Should we put her back down with the other Cybertronians? Maybe take away everything she possess from us? If she i Cybertronian, she will die along with them. Or maybe we should just put her out of her misery? Or... There was a dark, humorless chuckle. Maybe we should let her watch her precious Cybertronains die right in front of her eyes. Like Aurora. Optimus. You would you feel about Zodiac burning and screaming? Nemesis? Stabbed and ripped to shreds. Optimus-

TyCross... She inetruupted his tirade with a glare of her own. Her eye flashed white once more. Don't appall me.

TyCross just smirked.What? That's exactly what you wanted from me in the first place? Right? To say disgusting thigs, to be ruthless, to be...evil? Is that the word? To make yourself feel better in your own deluded set of morality? Then looked at the others once more. Well? Shall we begin?

Though the Green-eyed Vok was about to say something the Purple-eyed one quickly cut in suddenly, 'It will matter not if she was to remain here or not. He is already showing Primal what lies within the tunnels below, we can sense it, we know time is running too short to do anything...drastic to our traitor.' They spoke, showing an irritation that quickly returned as the one with green eyes too could sense the unwanted presence but it no less gave an idea.

'The punishment still needs to be carried out, regardless of time. And seeming as you care so much for your Cybertronians Whitegrazer.' The Green-eyed Vok spoke with deep disdain and disgust as he turned to a former fellow Vok, now but a shell and pretender before their very eyes. 'We shall cast you back to Earth, banish you from the Nexus. You are not one of us, you never were going to be one of us, and you shall never be one of us again. You gave that up the moment you decided to show mercy to our enemies, love them as if you've always been part of them. Now you shall get your wish.' It spoke, voice growing louder, practically booming towards the end, anger resonating from its ethereal form.

The Purple-eyed Vok showed similar disgust but there seemed a hint that they had something else planned, 'Our weapon shall be activated momentarily traitor, and soon your friends won't know where to turn when one of their own becomes an enemy.' He growled, showing it was ready as any of its companions to cast her out.[/quote]


Whitegrazer wondered what was happening back on Earth at the alien site. She closed her optics. TyCross noticed this. She felt him, trying to find out what she was doing. She blocked him. No, she did something else. All TyCross could see was her green meadow. Just the green meadow. She sensed TyCross' frustration, inwardly smirking. Now that he couldn't sense what she was doing, she could do what she must. Using her newfound knowledge, newfound abilities due to her presence here, she searched through the cosmic dust. Down hundreds of thousand of star systems, continuing towards the third planet from the sun where she could see her friends and the alien site. The image of Zodiac holding up something that looked like the golden disk. Or was it the alien disk? Or... wait a minute, didn't Zodiac imply something similar something he was searching for down at that alien site? Was that it? Was that what the Vok were worried about?

She opened her optics. They were permanently white now.

Are you guys positive you want her to be exiled once more? WE did that before, and look where it got us. You guys sent me down there to observe her amongst those lesser beings. I don't really what to go through all of that again, especially being stuck in their matrix. Ugh.

You should listen to TyCross. Banishing me brought us nothing but misery. Whitegraer was getting tired of the Vok's single-mindedness of her. The dismissiveness they carried towards her along the anger. She understood their anger, but she couldn't understand why they are so adamant on just exiling her out of their sight and mind. Especially when their enemies were close at bay. Aren't you guys aware of the Tripredicu Council? Who they really are?

TyCross shook his head. They aren't a threat. Yet. Even so, if they were, we will have no problem in destroying the planet.

Whitegrazer looked at TyCross with disgust. Destroying Cybertron? You can't do that. There are billions of lives down there.

There are much more lives around the universe itself. One planet and it's citizens are nothing. Indivduals are nothing compared to the weight of the universe. You seem to have forgotten about that, but that's no longer a surprise. You have become selfishness and irresponsible. Viewing Cybertronian lives as more important than the galaxy itself.

There is another way. Another way of thinking. Controlling things on a galactic scale isn't inherently wrong, but those lives who live in that universe, those planets aren't just something to wave off. You will only erase a symptom, but not the cause itself. Whitegrazer stared at the green-eyed and purple-eyed Vok. Don't you see? The planet Cybertron is in danger. It i hurting. We can fix it, but on an individual scale. We can-

Just stop with this nonsense, Whitegrazer. Our judgement stands. Except, I do believe we should keep Whitegrazer here with us, my fellow Vok. I disagree with the banishment... for now.

You were angry when I allowed Vok tech to fall into the hands of those unworthy, but that wouldn't have happened if you sent me back. Now, you are sending me back? Again?

She glared at the Others, What are you doing? What do you two mean-

Then she realized. Her white optics widened.

Wintersong. You are going to use her against them.

Yes. My fellow Vok, I think it is time.

Time for what?

They didn't respond to her. Swirls of cosmic dust conjugated into the center of all of them. As she watched, their plans began to clear.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The alien site trembled. Trembled with extreme prejudice towards those on the site. Blackarachnia was on the top, and yet, she could feel the force of the quake. Like an being was underground, quivering in rage and awakening with violence. The ever-growing vines snapped to and fro around the area. Some aimed towards the Predacons. Megatron. Spineback. Inferno. Nemesis. Vines straightened out towards them. Then curled up like whips to crack against the Predacons' hardened, metal forms. Rattrap. Aurora. Tigerhawk. Vines headed towards them as well. Blackarachnia fired at the vines headed towards the Maximals. In the middle of the site, something akin to quicksand was forming and growing. Vines continue to snap and crack away, aiming towards the MAximal and Predacons. The ground around the cocooned Wintersong gave away, and the trapped Maximal feline fell through a black hole.

"You guys! Get out of there!" Blackarachnia yelled at everyone in the site. As she took aim at the vines, and fired, the blast flew back towards her. She didn't have the time to reflect on why her weapon's blast hit nothig but air and yet bounced back towards her. No time for her to think as the blast directly hit her in the chest, leaving her badly damaged.

An invisible dome had shielded the others from getting outside. If the vines didn't get them, the swirling mush of dirt would just grow and sucked them anyway. No way out.

They were all getting sucked down to the ruins.

The ruins at which Optimus and Zodiac were standing in were changing from dirt to a metallic blue. Veins of electricity slithered from nothingness into a scattered mess of wires. Popping up in the center around Optimus and Zodiac, there grow a pedstal with a circular shape hole, waiting for a certain disk to be placed inside it.

There was a slight humming echoing around the now metallic walls.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Whitegrazer was seeing everything. Everyone. Her hands raised to touch the hard swirls of dust, but there was nothing to touch. She could only watch, but she had to do something.

Maybe I can- She tried to reconnect the bond between Optimus and her.

Pain overwhelmed her. Eyes widened in shock and horror. No, it wasn't a pain she was used to. It wasn't like the burning of a laser, the stab of a knife, or the ache of a bullet. The pain was like her entire soul was being ripped from her body.

TyCross had his arm raised. He was the one who did it. Don't you even dare.

The Purple-eyed and green-eyed Vok glared their burning sockets at her.

If you intend to interfere...

We will tear your soul apart!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In one of the halls of the great Metal Hunter, the cocooned Wintersong laid.

A crack formed above.

Hand shattered through with a great scream.

"Looks like he has his personal annoying ant bodyguard with him and Spineback is there as well."

After Blackarachnia's report, Rattrap looked around for the Preds while grabbing his weapon and staying by Aurora, Tigerhawk and Wintersong. From his position, he couldn't see them, so he had to trust the widow's word which, of course, was difficult for the rat to do. Whether or not she was being truthful, he thought it best to be safe than sorry. "Optimus, Legs says yer best friend just showed up with a couple of his posse; Inferno an' Spineback," he told him through his comm. link. With the jamming towers destroyed, transmissions were much more clear and reliable.

Meanwhile, in the ruins with Zodiac, Primal continued to listen to him with a grain of salt.

"If you're not going to listen to me, then at least listen to your spark,"

I am, he thought, almost bitterly. After everything it felt like a lot was missing from his spark now. Nexus Prime, Whitegrazer, Wintersong. Emptiness, pain, sorrow...

"Whitegrazer was drawn to this place for a while before she came here. I don't deny my involvement in persuading her, but I never intended for the aliens to take her back. We need her knowledge and abilities when the aliens return.. and they will.. I can sense it,"

"Then you shouldn't have persuaded her to do this behind my back." Primal's voice grew deeper with some anger as he licked the scar over his mouth. "But it is what it is, and we're just going to have to roll with the punches," he added, a little lighter that time as he forced himself to not waste time pointing fingers and bickering. He watched Zodiac tap his chest over his spark with his hand as a gesture to show how significant the importance of this situation was even though Optimus didn't feel anything from the Vok himself. Not that he expected to, after all Zodiac was the one with their technology integrated into his body. Optimus was merely plagued in his mind from his past invasive encounters.

"There are worse fates than dying at the hands of Megatron.. Just as there are more precious things than life that can be taken away from you."

"Suddenly so philosophical," the Maximal Commander commented on his foe's deep words. Deep and also correct. There was a bigger picture to consider in all of this, and worse things can happen.

"You don't want to wait too long or Megatron will have the upper hand. And you know he won't hesitate to take advantage,"

Primal's expression was a mixture of glaring at Zodiac and of concern. He didn't want to be forced to rush because that's when mistakes happened. But he also couldn't afford to drag his feet. He had to take charge and make decisions...

"That is not its purpose," "I've had the alien disk in my possession for years now, I've studied it intently. I'm not saying that the rest of the alien site doesn't harbor dangers that could easily destroy us all, but this machine is not part of the main site. The aliens used it to transport themselves and equipment between worlds. " "If the machine was meant to destroy, I certainly wouldn't be standing here with you while urging you to activate it. I didn't fight so hard to stay alive while dangling helplessly over a stream of lava for several days just to commit suicide here and now."

Well now, that was a much clearer explanation of this place. Still, Optimus gave him a quizzical look. If he was telling the truth, maybe he was right. Since Zodiac mentioned it being more of a transportation device - a space bridge of sorts - instead of a weapon, there were some characteristics that appeared less threatening about it than the other alien sites had. Was this something the Vok hadn't wanted them to find? Or that they wouldn't have wanted Zodiac to show him? Could they really bring Whitegrazer back with this? Or... send himself to retrieve her and show the Vok who they were really dealing with?

"It's possible the information is on the other disk as well. But it's likely our purple friend hasn't obtained the knowledge to fully translate the disk either. He doesn't share my history with the Vok nor does he have their technology coursing through his systems. The answer to your other question is a bit more tricky. Truth is.. I simply don't know. Each disk functions as a key, but what exactly it unlocks remains to be seen. Without having had a chance to study the other disk up close, I can only speculate what information is on it. As for defending this place, sure, we can try to barricade the doors or destroy the machine before he gets a chance to get his claws on it. Of course once we do that, we won't be able to save your missing Maximals."

He almost lunged for the gold disk as Zodiac deliberately dropped it onto the ground in fear of it cracking, but once the dust settled around it, it appeared to be intact and he immediately calmed himself with a deep breath of relief while he listened once more to what the renegade said. When he wasn't trying to kill him and his Maximals, Zodiac wasn't as bad as he made himself to be. Then again, he was still without weapons, and was probably only taking advantage of Primal's assistance to save his own hide from the aliens. He supposed the best course of action now was to see what they could do with this machine before Megatron got a hold of it. And what better time to do it with an "expert" standing nearby. But what if Zodiac was lying? What if he knew whoever activated this place would be transported or killed? What if he was just tricking him to gain the upper hand, team back up with Megatron, take control of everything, and destroy his Maximals? It almost seemed too easy and unlike Zodiac to hand over this alien disk... But Optimus decided to take it. Almost reluctantly, he limped over, bent down and picked up the disk in his hands and stood back up in front of the shape shifter. Examining the disk, there were some symbols he recognized but, again, he couldn't interpret them.

"Either way I urge you to hurry.. For surely the Predacons will discover us soon."

Primal's spark started to race a little quicker upon hearing the voices, and he looked back to Zodiac with uncertainty in his optics. Their suspicions were confirmed when Rattrap's voice rang in on the leader's radio.

"Optimus, Legs says yer best friend just showed up with a couple of his posse; Inferno an' Spineback,"

"Copy," was all he responded with to his spy while he seemed to stare with uncertainty at Zodiac as he held the disk in front of him. Then he moved toward the platform. He seemed to have the notion to Optimus took a deep breath, hesitating, fearing the unknown... But then some shaking occurred. Everything shook. Dirt fell from the cracks above. Intricate wires started to illuminate in a blue glow, traveling from the walls to the floor and ceiling and up to the platform. The sudden movement of everything made Optimus stop in his tracks. Was it something he did? Did he activate a booby trap that Zodiac purposely failed to mention? There in the center of the room lifted a pedestal from the floor where it looked like an object with that exact diameter of the disk was meant to be placed, but now he was having second thoughts about going through with it. An eerie humming surrounded them and he looked to Zodiac in search of an explanation for what had just happened.

"You guys! Get out of there!"

As the ground trembled once more, angrier than before, Rattrap tried maintaining his balance. Hearing Blackarachnia's holler to them, he quickly noticed the vines coming to life out of nowhere and making their way toward all of them. He witnessed in disbelief her shots ricochet off of an invisible wall. "Slag dis!" he exclaimed as he started firing at the vines as well that were creeping toward him, Aurora, Tigerhawk and the cocoon Wintersong was encased in. Several of his shots missed, however, with the tremors knocking off his eye-hand coordination. What was worse, the ground started sinking around them before it gave way completely under the cocoon which suddenly dropped out of their reach and into the darkness below. "Wintersong!" he cried helplessly after her, but it was too late. "No, no, no, no, no! Optimus, she fell! Dere was nothing I could do," he frantically told his commanding officer over their transmission.

"Who fell?" asked Primal, still debating with himself whether or not to place the disk on the pedestal. Everything was beginning to fall apart, though, judging by Rattrap's tone.

"Wintersong! And it's like... we're sinking or somethin'. Like quicksand. Vines are everywhere!" He continued firing at the vines as the ground softened and started slipping away under his feet.

Wintersong was still in the cocoon, though, so hopefully it broke her fall. Where she had fallen to... he couldn't know, and he shook his head as the weight began piling heavily onto his shoulders. "Hold on, Rattrap. I think I-" He suddenly cut himself off when he felt the faintest and briefest hint of Whitegrazer, as if she was trying to reestablish their link from Nexus Zero. Was that even possible? There was so much pain involved that it made him quiver. It was gone as quickly as it came. Was she trying to tell him something? To use the disk or not to use the disk? He couldn't imagine what she must be going through. ...If she was still alive... Optimus began feeling desperate. He wanted to place the disk on the controls but instinct told him that this was too soon before giving it more examination and understanding. So he hesitated. What if he tried using it and wouldn't be able to disable it before Megatron showed up? Then he would find out that another disk exists and he would take it by force. Or maybe he could use it to keep Megatron away in the first place and protect his Maximals. His spark raced with the indecisiveness... but he finally ended up taking the risk - possibly being reckless - and placed it on to the pedestal, glancing at Zodiac and expecting the worse...

A slight scowl spread across Megatron's face as he held up his hand to silence his troops. There was a tension in the air, something the tyrant would normally be oblivious to, but for some reason this one felt different.. It wasn't the faint smell of fire circulating around them after those blasted Maximals had destroyed his remaining jamming towers or even the mumbling from their enemies a short distance away. No, something far more sinister was at play here. Something unkown.. And it left the Predacon leader on high alert.

But still he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just the plant life that surrounded them, having infiltrated the very ground they stood on, and the apparently ancient ruins that made up this site.

Where Megatron felt uneasy, however, Nemesis was starting to feel as if the very walls around them were starting to close in on them. The very air surrounding them suddenly felt heavier, and something.. she couldn't quite tell what.. was causing her nanomachines to stir within her. Like a surge in the air, perhaps.

"Do you have orders, Royalty?"

Megatron cast another glance around, having noticed that his sworn enemy Optimus Primal was nowhere in sight. And wherever he had gone off to, his prisoner, the traitorous shapeshifter, had come with him.

"Locate Primal and Zodiac," Megatron finally said, "And bring me whatever they broke away from the others to find. And their heads, yesss.."

By now the strange sensation was really starting to creep the avian female out. She felt the nanomachines scatter about within her, as if they were reacting to something.. or someone.. the female was unable to see. A faint whisper within her, no louder than a soft breeze, left her feeling lost and bewildered. Yes, she was able to notice the nanomachines once in a while, but no like his. Normally they were chaotic, only kept structured by their common goal to heal their host. Yet now they were responding to something else, something from the outside, and it left the female feeling very uncertain about the situation they were in.

A tap against her foot caused Nemesis whirled around, expecting some of her team mates to have clumsily pushed into her. But she saw nobody.

"There's something wrong here," she muttered to anyone within hearing distance. "Something.."

The female got no further before feeling something slithering around her ankle, much like a snake working its way around a victim. Looking down she saw a vine, a seemingly harmless one, grow before her very optics as it curled itself around her feet. Another vine emerged from the wall and tried to entangle itself around her weapon, at which point Nemesis yanked her arm back and took aim at the plant around her feet.

A shot from only a few feet away shredded the vine and scorched her leg in the process. While Nemesis grimaced and swiftly pulled her leg back, the nanomachines fortunately still responding appropriately to the damage by initiating repairs, Megatron merely fired another blast at the vine to obliterate it.

But much to his dismay, the wounded plant appeared to start regenerating within seconds. And a brief moment later several other vines shot out of the walls and started attacking the tyrant himself!

"Aurora, did ya scan the cocoon like Optimus asked?"

Aurora shifted her gaze to Rattrap, a bit hesitant on how to answer him. "The scans show that Wintersong is in there," she responded, having taken note of the sudden onset of shooting from the direction the Predacons were at, "She seems to be in some sort of stasis.. But there's no way to tell for sure until we can get her out of there." By this point she honestly just wanted to get out of there, a feeling that was only strengthened by the return of more tremors in the ground underneath them. These were even worse than the ones they had been subjected to before. It was as if the very ground was trying to devour them now..

And where did Optimus and Zodiac go??

"You guys! Get out of there!"

BlackArachnia's warning was followed by more shots.. This time coming in their direction!

Aurora quickly ducked, taking advantage of the pile of equipment she had gathered to use it as a shelter, but she quickly came to realize that a position low to the ground was not going to help her against the enemy they were now up against..

The ground seemed to be coming alive with more than mere tremors. Now the very vines were spreading across the ground and walls, forming what seemed to be an impenetrable shield to keep them out.. or was it in? And they were getting closer.

Jumping back as some of the vines snatched up some of her equipment, tearing them into pieces as if they were made of paper. As the pieces of her hard work rained back down to the ground, another and much more serious threat revealed itself. The cocoon that Wintersong was in had vanished, swallowed up by the very ground they stood on.

"No!," Aurora screamed, reaching her hand out to where their comrade had once been that was now nothing but a gaping hole.

"Then you shouldn't have persuaded her to do this behind my back."

"It didn't take much persuasion..," Zodiac responded, somewhat teasingly, but he quickly reverted back to a more serious tone as Primal continued.

"But it is what it is, and we're just going to have to roll with the punches,"

"Tell me, Optimus.. if our roles were reversed, wouldn't you have grabbed at the chance of surviving this? Yes, I wanted Whitegrazer to come to this place.. But I couldn't have anticipated what would happen when she did. I merely wanted a chance to free myself from an otherwise very uncomfortable predicament. It was a long shot, but I didn't have much to bargain with at that point."

His words did not come out as apologetic in the least, nor like they were meant to inflict pain. In fact he was merely stating the facts.

"Suddenly so philosophical,"

"Experience," Zodiac corrected him, remaining perfectly calm and collected despite the look Primal gave him which was an odd mixture of suspicion and concern. The look didn't seem to phase Zodiac much as he slid his fingers over the alien disk, clearing some dirt off the ancient trinket.. or key as might be a more accurate description of it, before letting the disk fall to the ground. He then settled his optics back on the other male.

Primal was still staring at him, clearly trying to wrap his mind around all the tidbits of information he was being given. Meanwhile Zodiac merely took a step back and waited while the Maximal eventually decided to pick up the disk. And the moment he did, everything around them started to change.. the ground rumbled once more, shaking with an intensity that would surely have brought a weaker structure to the ground. Wires hidden in the floor and walls around them started lighting up, and a platform to place the disk suddenly emerged from the floor.

Truthfully Zodiac hadn't been entirely sure how the site would respond when someone who wasn't part Vok took charge of the disk. But it was as if the machines surrounding them were reading Primal's mind, seeing his intent to activate the machine. The renegade had actually half-expected the sudden power surge to target Primal and obliterate him where he stood. But despite the many threatening tremors and increased activity, nothing appeared to be targeting them as intruders.. Not yet.

Primal stood by the pedestal but then hesitated once more. He looked to the renegade for answers, answers the half-breed couldn't give him. Not now. The last time Zodiac had been at this alien site he hadn't made it back to this chamber before he had to intercept Rhinox and the little fuzor who had come to investigate, and the time before he had been here there had been no need to activate the machine. That had been before the volcano erupted and before he had lost his powers, back when he was still posing as Nexus Prime. That's when he had left the disk behind for safe keeping. The alien site had been dormant back then, nothing like the chaos that was unfolding around them now.

When Primal looked at him one last time, desperately searching for confirmation that he was doing the right thing, Zodiac slowly nodded to encourage him. No words felt necessary at this point. There was too much at stake so he felt confident Primal would make the right choice, the only choice he could really make if the renegade's words had truly penetrated his mind and soul the way the half-breed suspected they had. It was a gamble, sure, but at this point he had nothing more to lose.

As Primal finally placed the disk on the pedestal, the renegade quickly stepped onto the platform next to it. The underground wires were now glowing, the light source strong enough to illuminate the entire room they stood in, and there was a high-pitched humming sound that kept getting louder. An electromagnetic field surrounding the platform also started forming as a result of the increase in power. The power surge that followed, targeting the platform, was far more intense that Zodiac could have predicted. All that raw power rushed up from the floor, through his feet before it penetrated deep into his circuits, with such a force that it felt as if he was being fried from the inside. He barely had time to scream before his feet collapsed underneath him, causing the renegade to crumble in a heap on the platform.

For a brief moment the power at the alien site went offline, leaving the once glowing machines perfectly dark. Even the rumbling from the ground seized for a brief moment before the system started to reset.

Zodiac didn't move, his frame seemingly frozen in the position he had collapsed in. Visibly there were no signs of life. Yet internally he couldn't remember the last time he had felt more alive. He ached all over, for sure, but then again he had expected no less from activating a machine that would restart the alien technology within him. Indeed, one of the functions of this place was that of a charging station for the Vok machines, a fact he obviously hadn't shared with Primal.

A few more moments passed before a very familiar female voice echoed faintly through the room. It was Whitegrazer's voice, although too faint to determine where it was coming from.

"Optimus.."

((OOC: Oh, Zodiac. Naughty, naughty. Anyway, I will post for Blackarachia, for now, as the Whitegrazer and the Vok part of my post might take a bit more time. The last few days I have been extremely tired and unmotivated. Also, I still haven't heard anything from Wintersong, so I have to improvise a new plan here, if she doesn't respond shortly, and the post might be... long. Again, sorry for the delay.))

Blackarachnia desperately fought to remain conscious. The blackened hole inbetween her chest and stomach sparked and smoked as her body let out a little spasm now and again. Still shocked, still processing what had just happened. She moved her head forward to see that the invisible wall her weapon bounced off of started turning a brighter hue. Trying her hardest, she finally got up. Sparks popped, almost making her fall back to the ground, but she regained her posture. Her right pincher touched the barrier, noticing the slight rippling effect. That's why her weapon bounced back. Clever aliens. She wondered if she could communicate with the others inside.

She hit her comlink,, trying to contact Rattrap. "Yo! Rat! Can you-

There was a loud pop then static. A lot of it. At least, it seemed to be open, but she didn;t know if the rat could hear her or not. She would leave a message anyway. Hopefully, he got it because she wasn't sticking around to figure it out. "Hey, rat, if you can hear me, there is an invisible barrier keeping me from getting to you guys or helping you. Another wave of sparks surged, buckling her knees, forcing her to the ground. "I'll head to the Axalon and get some repairs. Maybe from there Rhinox and I can find a way to get through the barrier. Blackarachnia out.

Cutting off the com-link, she took a heavy breath before quickly going to beast mode. Started her way toward the Axalon.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The invisible barrier up above started pulsating ripples of white then to a metallic silver color. It hardened, sealing those on the alien site, and disconnecting them from what happened beyond the site itself. They were now trapped on the alien site, and those who remained desperately on the surface wouldn't be for much longer as the black hole of dust would suck them down into the ancient ruins below along with the others down below. The vines that were attacking early slowed down to a crawl and eventually, the vines were too consumed by the dust that they ceased their attacks. As soon as the swirling sands hit the edges of the site itself, nothing happened. It was just a sea of swirling dust, but when the disk had been placed inside the pedestal, the ancient ruins made a series of loud metallic scratching noises that echoed across the many caverns of this alien site. It trembled viciously like an ancient monster had been awakened from its slumber. A transparent tube crashed down between the pedestal and those around it, keeping anyone from touching or picking the disk back up. Symbols lit up on the upper part of the disk then the middle ones. They lit green and blinked three times before the ruins raised up, connecting to the outside barrier up above.

The hums got louder as did the pulsing electric lights hanging around like veins.

((OOC: Post still a work in progress. ))

(( OOC: una, are you planning on finishing your post or not? I've been waiting for over two weeks now for you and Phoenix since my last post. I exclude Wintersong because I'm afraid we've lost her once more, so there's no need to keep waiting for her. We'll just have to improvise. And could you be a little more clear as to what is specifically happening to whom? I'm under the impression that Optimus and Zodiac are at the ruins, which is separate from the Metal Hunter, correct? But Rattrap and Aurora are about to join them in the general vicinity because the ground is falling from underneath them, right? Blackarachnia is beyond the "force field", so to speak, and is returning the Axalon. Can the others in the ruins still communicate through the invisible wall? Or did the wall turn into the silver exterior of the Metal Hunter? Is it covering everyone?

Phoenix, where are the Preds exactly? You mentioned in a previous post that Zodiac and OP could hear voices, and I assumed you were talking about the Preds. So they are near or in the ruins, too?))

((OOC: Sorry about that. I'm just been indecisive of what to do, but yeah, I'm taking too long and I will try and have the post done soon. No, the ruins and the Metal Hunter are the same. Yeah, Rattrap and Aurora would fall in the same general vicinity as Optimus and Zodiac are. Wintersong will be somewhere else, just in case Wintersong ever gets the chance to post, but she is also inside. They should be able to communicate with one another. Though, if they are separated and go farther away from each other, communication can be static-y. But basically, yeah, they can use the com-link for future references. If there is anything else I can clear up, let me know, everyone. ))

"The ones which have our technology, and yet, created by physical beings, inferior to what we really are, have entered the Hunter. One has used one of our power stations to re-charge themselves. It is insulting that our power has been used to create such... abominations."

Zodiac... If he regained his abilities, that deal she made with him, it could be broken. Hopefully, just hopefully, Zodiac will agree that the aliens are more important right now, and not cause harm towards those she's trying to protect. Those who are now at the grip of her... people.

"They aren't abominations," Whitegrazer objected. The Other Vok still had a grip around her. "They didn't ask to be experimented on nor have that technology forced upon them."

"It is your fault they were created in the first place."

"No, it wasn't. If you haven't left-"

"It was you who chose to return to Cybertron."

"I can attest to that. I warned you that returning to Cybertron would be a grave error. But you refused to listen. "

"Where else would I go?" Whitegrazer asked all of them. "The only thing I had at that moment was the mission that we all agreed to. Did you really expect me to just abandon it? Or just kept myself locked up until you deemed I suffered enough?"

"But by going back to Cybertron, you put our species at risk."

"I know. And I'm accepting my responsibility for it."

"You think taking Zodiac or Nemesis under your wing is going to change the fact that our technology has just been violated?"

"Destroying them wouldn't help either."

"I might be a kinder action than... your own."

Whitegrazer scoffed at them. "Kinder? You are just choosing the easier action. Destruction. You all believe that destroying and resetting would somehow change the future outcome, and has it worked? How many planets have you destroyed and reset just to do the same thing over and over again?"

"Oh? Your way any better? You might have given our technology to the enemy. If the Tripredicus Council ever get a whiff that we were responsible for the Predacons' defeat in the war, this could spark a war between the Maximals and Predacons. A war you yourself have been trying to prevent."

"I thought you didn't care about the political climate back on Cybertron."

"I never understood why The One-"

"Enough!" Both the green and purple-eyed Vok interrupted, "This conversation is irrelevent. Cybertron is irrelevent. They all should be inside the Hunter now."

"They are not irrelevent," Whitegrazer boomed at them. Her optic brightened with a burning fury. Part of her face, the left side specifically, cracked, showing pieces of her physical form's metallic skeletal structure.

The purple-eyed Vok continued, "We will be able to hunt for the others later. Right now, we can seriously cripple their numbers. Once we rid ourselves of these intruders, we can finally resume our experiment without interference."

"What are you going to do? Put them all in a labyrinth with traps and boulders? A tower that fires at them? A bunglow with electrical shocks?"

They all stared at her. Expressions emotionless yet their optics dimmed and coldly, uncaring looked upon her. Then it dawned on her. Why they brought her here. Why? After all this time, after ignoring her, treating like the others, something to be thrown away, destroyed, why did they bring her back to Nexus Zero now? They had no compassion, no mercy, and they were as ruthless as Megatron and as cold as a iron bar. Nor did they have the capacity for empathy. She knew because when she first came to be. Those traits she had. No compassion. No mercy. Ruthlessness. Entropy. She wondered if some part of her old self still existed. Some part of her that missed the lack of empathy that forced her to feel the effects of the pain she caused other beings. Disgusted, and yet, it was a question that kept nagging at her as she continued to live as her.... as Whitegrazer, the motherly Maximal who would rather talk and heal than to fight and hurt. Yet, a part of her enjoyed the fighting, not the death and the destruction, but the fighting itself, a pure expression. She enjoyed the rush of adrenaline and the excitement of battle, but she also enjoyed the feeling of pain. No, she didn't relish the pain of others. She wasn't a sadistic being nor was pain a means to an end to her. Pain made her feel alive, pain made her awakening to the tragedy and vices of the world.

But her people. The Vok.

They felt no pain. They didn't know the pain of a blade or a blaster, nor the pain of death and loss, the pain of heartbreak and despair.

They didn't know. How could they? How could they empathize?

They couldn't.

And that was something the Matrix forgot to teach them.

It made her realize that the true reason they brought her here wasn't to have her return here. They planned for this.

"No. No more fooling around. You. You hold the key to their annihilation."

"You have the power to form bonds. Is that correct?"

"Yes, she does."

"You feel their emotions, their presence, and in response, they feel yours. Your pain. Their pain. It echoes. Sends ripples through their sparks. Your bond with the Maximal Leader, Optimus Primal. It is a strong one. When we were going through your memories, we saw him being tormented, hurt by the Predacon Leader, Megatron. The strain he went through both physical and emotional you shared with him. I wonder... what would have happened if he had died?"

"Remember, she did... once. When he flew up towards the Planet Buster, when he had exploded, she felt the full force of his body being ripped apart by flames. The shock he felt at knowing what was going to happen to him. The futile despair of knowing he couldn't escape the death's door. She survived. But would they?"

"Would they be able to survive? To feel such a death like that?"

"If they don't have the experience or the endurance to shield themselves from such a pain. It could devastate them! It could kill them, "Whitegrazer's optics widened, "You-That's why you all brought me here. You are going to use my ability to form bonds to cause them enough strain, so that their sparks would.... NO! I will not allow this."

"You were trying to hide that fact that your powers were returning back to full power. You can't hide from us. WE have been waiting until your powers were sufficient enough for this task. "

"Make it easy on yourself, Whitegrazer." For a moment, TyCross seemed almost regrettable, but that slight emotion disappeared as swiftly as it came. "If you comply, you can lessen their pain. End their suffering. Their wasted existence."

"No, I refuse. I will fight you."

TyCross shook his head, "You always took the hard way."

Then in one move, TyCross absorbed himself into her body. She resisted, trying to yank his soul out of her body, and for a moment, his soul was halfway passed out, but then the green and purple-eyed Vok joined TyCross in possessing her body. All three beings wrapped themselves around her very soul. Their objective echoed inside her soul, her very mind. Pounding her like hammer. Words. Phrases. Images. TyCross. The Vok. The flash of the Maximals and Predacons inside the Metal Hunter. The thought, the picture of them holding their sparks. Screaming. Pleading. A flash of a punch. Smell of electrical burn. Painful, sorrowful faces looked upon her. But those images changed into a blur. From the left of her shoulder towards her right leg, her body was becoming more skeletal-like in appearance. A white fog seemed to glow around her and the white fur, due to her beast form, growing a bit longer. Because of TyCross and the other two Vok, raw power urged through her entire body.

Must resist.... Must fight.

Can't let them....win. Must.

Her body was falling down out of the cosmos. Stars few past in lightning speeds until they looked like daggers. Colors of black and white light changed into a whiter hue then blue.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the ruins connected to the edge of the barrier, the blue signal, as the others seemed to call it, the same one that had captured Whitegrazer, and now carried Whitegrazer back to the planet, crashed, stabbed through the top of the grey barrier. Electricity appeared above the alien disk that was trapped inside the transparent tube. The ruins continued it's transformation, becoming more and more metallic-like in appearance. More veins of electricity spouted around the top and sides. The area at which the disk lead in its pedestal grow wider. The humming become louder. The pulsating sounds become more loud, boisterous almost to the point that the humming ad pulsating was a chorus singing for the arrival something that the others won't expect.

When the blue light hit the electricity, the surrounding area overcame in a blinding white light. Blinding everyone within it's focus. Slowly, the light dimmed more and more, so the others can witness, but there was a cold chill around the Metal Hunter. The humming and pulsating noise went back to tolerable levels.

Floating in the middle of the room was Whitegrazer.

Her optics shot open. Then instinctively, they looked at Aurora. Horror washed over her face. She gazed at Optimus with the same expression. Her mouth tried to open, but it couldn't. TyCross and the Other Vok tried to compensate the sensation they were feeling, but they will soon adjust and start their mission.

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r," she started to speak. She grunted, bending over. Tears went down her cheeks. Tears of pain. "R-r-r-r-r-ruuuuuun!"

"Locate Primal and Zodiac," "And bring me whatever they broke away from the others to find. And their heads, yesss.."

"As you command!" Inferno proclaimed delightfully with every intent on fulfilling that order and completely ignoring anything troubling or dangerous about the alien site. Drawing his large weapon, he flew off toward the rat and the little, white Fuzor just as the ground began falling away under their feet.

"The scans show that Wintersong is in there," "She seems to be in some sort of stasis.. But there's no way to tell for sure until we can get her out of there."

Well, it wasn't the best news, but it wasn't the greatest news either. What was worse was the vines that were encroaching on him and Aurora. Rattrap tried shooting as many as he could but he failed to protect Aurora's equipment which was now being destroyed by the creepy, seemingly sentient plant-life. And since that wasn't enough, he saw Inferno flying toward them while the ground continued to crumble underneath them.

"Yo! Rat! Can you-

"Hey, Legs? You copy?" the rodent tried replying but all he heard after was static. He couldn't know if it was Megatron's doing, or the alien site, or if the she-spider was playing a trick on them. And of course, he had no time to figure it out.

Inferno had just managed to enter the area before the invisible wall finished its ascension. Although it had cut Blackarachnia off from the Maximals, he was able to attack them, and he did so with his rocket launcher firing at Rattrap and Aurora.

"Look out!" the Spy pushed Aurora out of the way, and then jumped out of the way of Inferno's rocket. It exploded what was left of the ground between the two Maximals while the ant smirked and targeted them again during his inbound onslaught.

Laying on the ground where he had landed, Rattrap took aim and fired at Inferno's propulsion to bring him down. With his shots making contact, Inferno hollered in anger and threw himself in his decline at the annoying, little Maximal. With his weight landing on top of Rattrap who had shot at the Predacon's chest a couple times, they fell through what was left of the ground caving in together. Rattrap's last thought was Aurora's safety before he fell into blackness.

"It didn't take much persuasion..,"

Optimus supposed it didn't since Whitegrazer was so intent on confronting the Vok.

"Tell me, Optimus.. if our roles were reversed, wouldn't you have grabbed at the chance of surviving this?

Oh, so now Zodiac wanted to play the empathy card on him?

Yes, I wanted Whitegrazer to come to this place.. But I couldn't have anticipated what would happen when she did. I merely wanted a chance to free myself from an otherwise very uncomfortable predicament. It was a long shot, but I didn't have much to bargain with at that point."

And then it dawned on Optimus... While he stood there watching Zodiac suddenly jump onto the platform and the wires and circuits connected to it hummed to life, a field of energy surrounding the shape shifter, he realized the game Zodiac was playing. But why had he risked Primal doing it instead of himself? Suddenly regretting what he had done placing the disk on the podium, the Maximal leader went to grab it while it's symbols lit up but his hands were abruptly shocked with a burning sensation that made him cry out and instinctively retract his reach and step back from the force field surrounding it. The surge he had felt, however, seemed nothing compared to what Zodiac was going through on the platform. His orange optics were drawn from the floor over to Zodiac's feet where the brightest of the fluctuation of power was converging, and witnessed the renegade fall to his knees in agony. But he made no motion to help him. After all, this was what he obviously wanted.

Then, all at once, everything went eerily silent. Optimus took a moment to look around as he gingerly rubbed his numb hands together that were slowly regaining their feeling. He wasn't sure what to expect now. Zodiac looked like a dark heap of metal on the platform, quiet and still. A part of him wanted to call his name to see if he was alright, but he refrained himself. Instead, he just listened. The ground wasn't trembling, the humming was gone, everything that was illuminating the area was dark. In the distance, however, he heard what sounded like bodies plummeting to the ground. It made him look over his shoulder with concern as to who or what it was but he couldn't see anything from where he was standing.

"Optimus.."

His optics narrowed as he immediately assumed it was Zodiac playing him for a fool and not actually Whitegrazer. Had it been her, he would feel her, he would know... How dare he. "I've kept my word," he said firmly, challenging Zodiac to step up and be a partner in this instead of an enemy since it would appear they would be fighting both the aliens and Megatron this time. His tone disguised his fear; his fear of the unknown. Because now he had no idea what to expect. If Zodiac had regained his abilities, would he strike Optimus? Was he still without weapons? Would he finish his revenge once and for all? Or would he stand with him and fight Megatron and the Vok? He still had that spare club for him, after all. His right hand lowered to his hip, wrapping his fingers around his gun's handle, ready to wield it and fire.

But then everything suddenly came back to life at full force. Everything shook as the ruins took shape, transforming and illuminating, lifting and shifting, and electricity everywhere. The humming and pulsating noises which progressively grew louder and louder building up to something powerful was a common trait with these alien sites Optimus had grown familiar with. So there was a lot of concern in the pit of his stomach. That was when a bright light blinded him, making him close his optics which wasn't enough to block it, so he held his forearm up in front of his face to help. What was this place?! In awe of the power and mystery, and ready to blame himself for activating it with the disk, the peak of the energy build up seemed to have passed and things started to calm down again until he felt an awful head ache piercing his mind. It made him hold his finger tips to his temples. But he also felt Whitegrazer again. Whitegrazer? He thought he had said her name out loud but his head pounded as if there was an overwhelming force. No, two forces.

You and your enemies have already contaminated the project... The project... The project, the memory echoed in his mind. Begin termination sequence!

WHITEGRAZER! he reached out to her, stretching his arm beyond the pain, unknowingly re-establishing their link rather forcefully, but it trembled like the whole place was only moments prior. There was an unfamiliar voice while those symbols flashed through his mind.

"If you comply, you can lessen their pain. End their suffering. Their wasted existence."

And then he heard Whitegrazer.

"No, I refuse. I will fight you."

As it became too much to handle, Optimus fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands and grumbling in some anguish.

Termination, his memories repeated in Unicron's voice. Then back to the mare's whose optics strangely shown brightly of white:

Optimus, they got the technology from me. You called my abilities extraordinary... They are... of alien origin. I'm so sorry, Optimus.

And the unknown voice again:

"Their wasted existence."

And all of them kept repeating, overlapping each other, symbols and words in the Vok language flooded his mind all at once, feeling a strong presence reaching for him until he suddenly opened his optics and lowered his hands as he looked up to see Whitegrazer right in front of him, floating in mid air. Her wide eyes suggested that she desperately wanted to try to say something with horror written all over her face but she didn't - or couldn't - speak; at least not immediately.

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r,"

"Whitegrazer!" Optimus called to her as he stood up. He moved toward her and saw the tears running down her face but this time, for some reason, he couldn't feel the pain she was in, just her desperation and sorrow.

"R-r-r-r-r-ruuuuuun!"

Run? Run where? "I'm not leaving you," he stubbornly told her. "I did this," Optimus admitted, motioning his hand to the alien disk being protected on the pedestal that Zodiac had given him, taking responsibility for the site's current state. He glanced at Zodiac to keep an optic on him before he opened his comm. link to Rattrap. "Rattrap, status report. Do read you me? Rattrap?" but the Maximal didn't respond. In another corridor, he laid unconscious on his back next to Inferno who was starting to come to. "Aurora?" Primal pleaded as he switched his frequency to the Fuzor's. "Where are you and Rattrap?"

She had felt Optimus' push for the reconnection of their link. No.... Despite Optimus push for their lik, Whitegrazer had no choice but to push back, severing the link. If she had time, she would explain her reluctance, but she didn't. Optimus didn't realize how dangerous it was to recoect nor was he aware of the fact that TyCross and the other Vok were inside her. Their presence growing stronger.

"Whitegrazer!""I'm not leaving you," he stubbornly told her. "I did this,"

Whitegrazer shook her head, "Optimus, please, you need to-" She didn't finish her sentence as she flinched. Her eyes flickered from yellow to purple, to green to white. Head spasmed from right to left. Her optics became green and purple. "Interesting. Bipedal configuration. Motor control. Auditory sensors. Physical metallic exoskeleton. Whitegrazer's right hand touched the back of her head, touching her beast mode's fur. "Tactile sensors as well. Soft. Ah.... The ability to scan indigenous lifeforms and replicate synthetic fur and flesh by use of molecular regeneration. Fascinating to experience. We had scan this abilities before. "True. But never have we had such a body. Nor did we ever have need of one. Though, it is a fascinating and intriguing experience, didn't you agree? Enough of this. We need to complete our mission.

"I won't allow you to use me like this."

"She's blocking us."

"Interference will not be tolerated."

"You are interfering with my rights as a sentient being. You have violated my body and wish to use it against my will. It is YOUR interference that will not be tolerated. I never tolerate this from Maximals or Predacons nor will I tolerate it from my own people."

"The laws of beings with physical forms are irrelevant. Your wishes. Your feelings are irrelevant. You will comply!"

"No. You will have to kill me."

"Death is meaningless to us. Nor do we wish your destruction. Only obedience. You were always stubborn and rebellious towards our methods. After this is done, you will be confined to Nexus Zero and never be able to return. Ever."

"Optimus- They-"

"Silence.

"They are trying to use my ability to establish bonds to destroy everyone. Don't try and establish our bond! "

Turning her head, she stared at Zodiac. "Ours is disconnected as well."

"How are we to use this ability?"

"I won't comply! You are cosmic beings of time and space you figure it out. I will not speak. Only fight."

"She is stopping us from using it. She only established bonds with Optimus and Zodiac. The others can't hear or feel her strongly as those. Her power won't allow easy access to the others. But... Ah! Emotional bonds! We have just been thinking about her emotional attachments!

"Explain!"

"Don't you remember, Whitegrazer? How you were able to establish your bods during the war? We will do that!

Yes. That will be sufficient. We need to bond with them all, Maximal and Predacon alike. All at once.

"No, you won't."

"Optimus Primal! You should had listened to her. Whiterazer's head tilted and smirked like TyCross would.

Whitegrazer, controlled by TyCross, lunged at Optimus. Stop! He is already bonded with her. We need the others.

"We need to weakened him."

A fist raised in the air to punch Optimus, but it remained in the air.

"Optimus! Run! Gather the others! Run!"

She pleaded.