The Intergalactic Highway

(( OOC: Thank you, una. Playing any Preds is pretty much a new ball game for me, but I'll try my best to be evil, destructive, and cunning. XD You are more optimistic about Depth Charge than I am, but you're right, so we'll see what happens. As for Tarantulas, I was kind of hoping he'd be brought up again. He was pretty valuable in the show, and I still want Rhinox to help Blackarachnia but I wasn't sure if you were going to keep up with him being in her head. Oh boy, now I realize how bad this might get leaving her alone. Just know that Rhinox and Rattrap would have placed extra, extra security precautions on any files. All she can control right now is the general operation of Sentinel; shields, auto-guns, radar, sensors, cameras, radio transmissions. ))

"That..," "..is not your beloved Whitegrazer! The sooner you come to terms with her loss, the better! They are using her to get to you, don't fool yourself into thinking they won't do everything in their power to use her against us!" "You're only prolonging her suffering!,"

Primal's initial reaction to Zodiac's sparkless words was anger, and his glare toward him showed it as he licked his scar along his lips. But his expression quickly dissolved to a subtle frown of concern. He knew Zodiac was too terrified to let the Vok take control of him with his nanotech, so he wanted Whitegrazer out of the picture simply because they were using her body against them. Get rid of the body and the Vok have no where else to go. But Optimus knew she was still inside. He could feel her. Her heavily damaged body wasn't just an empty shell. And as long as she was still occupying it, he was going to do whatever he could to save her and be rid of the aliens. ...However, did that mean that he was putting everyone else and the planet in danger...?

"We made a vow to never destroy this planet...again. " "She has convinced us of how unlogical it is for us to do it. There are other ways to eliminate that which threatens our purpose. "You Cybertronians are the problem. The planet shouldn't suffer your sins again. Or ours." "We care not for your "politics" or your "moral ideologies". Those are inconsequential to our goal. A goal which you physical beings threaten." "You have brought another war to this planet. Not unlike your ancestors. You people haven't learned. "

How was any of this Primal's team's fault? Their ship was the only one close enough to lock onto the Darksyde and chase Megatron down. They were there because of Megatron stealing the golden disk and sending them through transwarp space! These aliens were so infuriating. Of course, the thought of them not following the Council's orders to follow Megatron and ending up here which inevitably interfered with the aliens made Optimus wonder what would have happened had they not wound up here... Would the planet have been destroyed? Prehistortic Earth... What would have happened it ceased to exist in the past?

"That was her purpose. To learn, to find out why." We disagreed over how to do it. We wanted to allow you people to destroy yourselves. But she argued that the war would spread like last time. She gave you a chance, which we didn't feel you deserved." "We thought we didn't have to face your kind again. Optimus Prime showed us the light of our demons and reformatted us, and we gave your people what you wanted. To have your race not make the mistakes as the Autobots and Decepticons had." "Still, you people insist upon destruction and deceit." "She allowed herself to be take in by impulses we outgrown centuries ago." "We are disgusted by your mere presence."

Bewildered, Primal's mouth hung open a little, speechless. Optimus Prime had interacted with them and reformatted them? Confusion and thoughtfulness overcame his face as he lowered his head in distraction by their words. None of this was recorded in any history data tracks that he had studied back on Cybertron. How...? No. This couldn't be right. He shook his head. And on top of it all, they spoke of Whitegrazer like she was some kind of spy or nark who was supposed to observe and report her findings, and then when they were done with her, they would simply discard of her. But Optimus was certain where her loyalty laid; not with the Vok, but with him and his Maximals. He was certain. The aliens clearly had used her and abused her, and even now they were still continuing their immoral doings to her.

"This body will serve its purpose."

"Her body is not for you to do with as you wish!" Optimus spat at them through his sharp teeth, watching her optics change colors between the green and purple beings who possessed her. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!" he argued with a quotation that his ancestor, Optimus Prime, had once used so long ago. Looking up at her levitating form, he watched the energon and mech fluid ooze from her wounds and drip off of her body, forming small puddles on the floor. She wouldn't be able to handle any more infliction unless he could give her the strength to fight back mentality through their bond. But she refused to open their link in fear of the Vok gaining control to reach out to all of them through her and jeopardize their well being.

"The ends justify the means. Or is it fear... little one?" "Unexpected. Who is little one?" "Nevermind."

What were they talking about? Their sudden change in the topic made the Maximal leader ponder how much they were discussing with themselves in private and how little they were willing to reveal to him and Zodiac. With the mention of "little one" he knew well enough who they were referring to, and so his orange optics slightly shifted toward Aurora who was still laying beside Rattrap. Why would they bring her up? Because of how she was brought on-line...? The blue glow on his armor by his left arm remained illuminated with the Vok in close proximity, and he could still feel the nano bots crawling around on him. It was an eerie sensation because he didn't know if they would be able to control them like they could Zodiac's or if they were independent from their influence. But why the attention on Aurora? They dare not lay a hand on her!

"DOOOOOOOOO ITTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!"

Once his club connected with Whitegrazer's chin the force blew her backwards off of her feet, landing hard on the floor. Although he witnessed the smile on her face, he didn't know who it was smiling. Truth be told, he was disappointed and taken aback that his maneuver didn't knock them unconscious. He stood there watching her optics close while his audio sensors picked up a humming. He stood ready for another attack with his weapon in his hand but suddenly there was a great white light that swallowed her body and illuminated the entire area. He momentarily turned his head away from it as it blinded his vision before looking back and finding Whitegrazer's body had changed and she was elevated in mid-air again. Now she seemed even less of herself than before. Even though Primal's spark sank with this, he refused to give up hope or quit.

"We are your superior."

Optimus gasped as the floor violently shook knocking him off balance and causing him to fall onto his stomach. Before he could get back to his feet, he felt something grab his ankle and immediately lift him off of the floor, dangling him upside down as they carried him in one of their several hands. He peered upward at Whitegrazer's body, growling in protest, and went to reach up for his gun on his hip.

"You think?," "I think so.. Nothing seems to be broken.. just a bit sore. You?,"

"Eh, same," Rattrap answered her as he got to his knees with his aching back. Slagging Inferno. That was all he remembered with that stinkin' pyro maniac flying right into him. So where was that ant? And how did he end up in this corridor with Aurora next to him instead? When the floor started to shake, he rolled to the side a little toward Aurora, bumping into her as her body stopped him from going any further. "Whoooaaa!" he cried out. But the tremor had merely been a ploy to knock them down just so this very creepy and strong Whitegrazer could grab them without warning. Snatching his wrist, he was pulled up off of the floor and flown with the others in her grip toward the center of the large room, and then crudely dropped. Rattrap landed on his stomach with loud clang of TransMetal against metal and an audible, "Oof!"

Primal was dropped on top of Rattrap before he could reach his gun, landing hard on his back with a cough as the air was pushed out of his chest.

Rattrap gave a yelp but couldn't move with his commanding officer laying on him, once again having his back injured by his weight. A surge of pain went up his mechanical spine that almost knocked him out. Despite that, though, he visually searched for Aurora to see how near she was to them and if she was alright...

"Predacons! Show yourself!"

"I am Megatron," "How may I... be of service?"

Hearing that unmistakable voice, Optimus gradually regained his focus of his surroundings to an extent, not realizing yet that Rattrap was trapped underneath him or where Zodiac and Aurora were, and slowly lifted his head to see his nemesis approach them. "Argh," he muttered with some slight pain, "Megatron...?" So, he had been there all along. What was he doing? Primal knew full well that Megatron, like Zodiac, would not spare Whitegrazer's life. He would terminate the aliens in order to steal their power. Now he would have to work against two very powerful bots to keep them from slagging her.

((OOC: I'm sorry for the lateness and shortness of such a post. I couldn't make up my mind about what I wanted to be done next. So.... the only thing I could think of for the moment.... Battle Royale!!!! But don't worry, I will be posting a post as Tarantulas soon. At least, I have some idea for him! Which I love to implement. ))

After throwing Zodiac, Optimus, and the rest of the Maximals into the center of the room, the Vok just floated near the disk, staring down at Zodiac and Optimus. The comment Optimus made about the "body" of Whitegrazer had no meaning. Nor did his statement of the "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. "What use is this body of hers? Don't you understand? No physical form can contain nor destroy who we are. She created this body to hide her true self. The body she had beforehand was similar to what we transformed her to be. Your so-called Maximal High Council of Elders gave her protoform body to use as she was used to fight your people's battles for you. We-"

"Don't say anymore. Especially around the Predacons." Whitegrazer, who had been listening in, who had watched her entire body be transformed into this.... freakish form. A form she thought she would never see again. Great. So much for her harmless appearance. "If the Tripredicus Council get wind of my origins, or the fact I was responsible for the incident in Gaila VI, they would denounce the Pax Cybertornia and thrust the Predacons into war again. I know you don't care about their war, but I bet the One would be unforgiving towards us for allowing such deaths and chaos to occur."

The Vok closed their optics, "We understand."

"Whitegrazer... is still here. She will not die. We won't allow it. You... should be more worried about yourselves."

"Let them be!" Whitegrazer, though resisted before, didn't resist. TyCross stared at her, "Your words are meaningless. Yet, why are you just sitting here and watching? I thought you will be fighting harder now."

"It was you who told me to choose my battles."

TyCross narrowed his optics at her. "What are you plotting?"

Whitegrazer just sighed as she sat down. Just then she opened her link towards Optimus, "Optimus..."

TyCross screamed, "THEM!!"

Whitegrazer blocked TyCross' attempt to try and use the link against her. But she pulled him off. "Optimus... they will kill you... everyone. Fight me. Do what you must in order to protect yourself and the rest of our friends. I will be fine. I won't allow myself die." She then blocked the link. TyCross growled at her.

The other two Vok.... just remained silent.

"I am Megatron," he introduced himself with confidence and innocence, as if he had not played a part in any of these encounters with them. After all, every time one of their sites or traps was triggered, it was Optimus and his band of Maximals tripping them, and even that treacherous spider Blackarachnia who tried stealing that floating island for herself. Megatron had kept himself at a distance, strategically and intelligently. In any case, if Optimus could face them with such fearlessness, then so could he. "How may I... be of service?"

The Vok put all six of their appendages on their hips, staring down at Megatron as their hovered close to him. "Service?" the green-eyed Vok said with confusion and curiosity. But the purple-eyed Vok wasn't so. "Service? We don't require any of YOUR services." "We are aware of who you are, Megatron. As Whitegrazer's memories have prove to show us, you are seek much more than resources. You seek chaos and power."

The Vok's hands lifted up and turned so their palms faced upwards towards the ceiling. The Metal Hunter hummed louder and louder. Electricity sparked from different sides of the room. Orbs slowly filled with the same electricity. Their eyes glowed both purple and green then yellow. One hand threw an orb towards Optimus. Another at Zodiac. Rattrap. Aurora. Megatron. As they dodged, or got hit by the attack, they were beginning to absorb more of the electricity of the area. Instead of orbs, their hands were filled with sparks and lines of electrical currents and all six of them headed towards Megatron's way!

"We will not allow you to succeed!"

"Indeed," "A pity they don't just finish her off in the process. I grow weary of this talk of theirs."

A slight smirk had appeared on Megatron's purple face from the former Decepticon's remarks, but it was only temporary. He immediately grew serious again as he added, coldly and quietly, "As do I."

As impressive as Primal's hit was to his significant other's lower jaw with his club, its intention appeared to have inevitably failed. And now the aliens seemed even more bothered because of it. It was as though they were prodding a hornets nest and they had yet to see the swarm, or rather their full potential. But if the Vok were going to kill them, why not just get it over with? They obviously had the power and ambition to do so.

"Argh," "Megatron...?"

Megatron didn't even waste his time with a glance toward Primal's voice; he merely kept his focus on the hideous being before him as he stood by the pile of pathetic Maximals laying on the floor. How deliciously simple it would be, however, to open fire on them while they were down and vulnerable. And yet, he refrained himself. First, he needed to see where the aliens stood and how much knowledge they knew about him and his history. Unfortunately, he was about to learn that they were aware of much more than he had anticipated...

"Service?"

While he seemed to have peaked the green-eyed alien's interest, the purple-eyed Vok was not so blind...

"Service? We don't require any of YOUR services."

"We are aware of who you are, Megatron. As Whitegrazer's memories have prove to show us, you are seek much more than resources. You seek chaos and power."

So this is who Optimus Primal had to deal with during his encounters. They were not the curious and inquisitive species Megatron once believed to be, nooo. They truly saw themselves as gods and meant to bend anyone to their will. Or simply delete them. Direct and to the point, he thought, enjoying that side of them at least. "I seek to correct what has been wrongfully stolen from me and the Predacons," he rectified their accusation of him, careful with his words so as not to let slip any information of his future plans to Primal, no matter how bleak that future looked at that moment. Unfortunately, they seemed disinterested in what he had to say and now decided to unleash some offensive behavior. As they drifted closer to him, they threw their palms upward and the whole place hummed even louder, as if it were a ship warming up its engines before take-off.

"We will not allow you to succeed!"

So be it, he snarled under his breath. The Predacon leader then fired his tail gun at the orb that was thrown toward him, the plasma absorbing its electricity, piercing through the air until his shot hit the alien structure on the other side of the large room. "Haven't you upgraded your technology to be formidable to our new TransMetal power?" he asked the aliens rhetorically with a devious grin on his face. He watched them closely as they proceeded to absorb the actual electrical currents of the structure, emitting the power through their hands as they sparked and shot out short-lived bolts that no doubt could live longer once they gained enough strength. Either they would have to take her down to stop them, or take out that gold disk. Of course, Megatron wanted nothing to happen to that mysterious piece of data, so he opted for the first solution.

"Inferno, Nemesis, concentrate your fire power on that grotesque creature!" he ordered them. He needed the Vok distracted so he could complete his domination. After firing two of his own shots at Whitegrazer from his tail gun, he stepped back and strafed away from her and any retaliation that they might have immediately countered with. His eyes were on that disk.

"Aye," Inferno grumbled as he awoke and slowly got up on the opposite side of room. Realizing where he was and that his Queen was present and appeared to be in immediate danger with that thing floating in front of him, he quickly complied to the orders and stood up. Whipping out both of his large guns, the tall and slim Predacon started firing at the backside of Whitegrazer that was facing him. "HEEEEYYYYYYYAAAAAA!" he cried out, the stream of his fire power zipping above the Maximals laying on the floor.

Little did Rhinox know that as soon as he left the Axalon... Tarantulas peeked, chortled, and jumped over the boulder he hid behind. Tarantulas had been at the alien site, after the barrier shielded any outsiders to whatever was happening and Blackarachnia left to tend to her wounds. He knew that it would be impossible for anyone to actually enter inside the Vok's defense, but he had a plan. A plan to enter inside the site or whatever mechanism for which the Vok brought their destruction.... His destruction. Ever since The Vok's first attempt at their annihilation, he knew that the aliens wouldn't give up, and that they would have such a contingency plan, if the first one didn't work. At first, when he felt the tremors hours ago, that was the moment he felt that he was beaten, threatened to die on this miserable organic planet with his so-called cohorts and that tip tyrant. He wondered how Megatron was handling the situation, or how he wasn't. Part of him wished that the Vok tore him apart. Oh, how he envisioned the screams of that pompous, arrogant, posturing purple dinosaur! But... those feelings of joy for the death of that fool was overshadowed by the fact of his own life. No doubt the aliens would know of him and his origins as well as those of the Tripredicus Council. He will not allow them to get in the way of his mission! A mission no one knew.... except the one who was now in charge of the Axalon. That witless widow! TeeHEEHEEE!!

Tarantulas put both of his thumbs upon both sides of his head, "Oooooo, witch! Do you see me? Do you hear me? I command you!"

Silence.

"What? That's impossible! Despite her best efforts to broke the psychic link between us, there was still a thread there. Weak, but still enough to give her subliminal messages!"

He tried again.

"I know you are there, widow! Answer me! I command you!"

Sounds of like a hundred machine guns clicked close to his face. He froze, his arms and legs quivered. He thought all the Maximals were gone!

"Oh? I'm sorry. Were you trying to talk to me?" The voice boomed like from a megaphone. His optics got the courage to look up and see that his original assumptionw as correct. The widow was the only one here, but he didn't realize that Sentinel was under her command, especially its heavy artillery. "Did you really think I wouldn't have had these Maximals foolishly wrapped around my finger and asked for their help in removing the rest of your so-called psychic link? Oh by the way, how is Arachnitron? Or did you threw her away? Or did she finally grow a processor and leave you?"

Tarantulas growled, "You may think you are safe from my wrath, you witch! But I have broken in the Axalon a few times myself with or without you! When I find a way, I will-"

The megaphone blasted a scratching, booming noise towards his face. His auditory sensors were off the wall! "AHHHHHHHHH!! STOP IT!
STOP IT!"

"I love watching you squirm, tall dark, and gruesome, and despite the fact I'm so eager to see your body riddled to pieces, I need your help in dealing with these aliens."

"Oh? I thought your new pals would already have the answers. A shame." Tarantulas stepped forward, waiting to see what Blackarachnia would do.

"You know the aliens better than anyone, and you wouldn't be here unless you needed something." The guns and megaphone popped backward back inside the Axalon. He watched the shields go down. "So... just like old times, let's partner up."

Tarantulas rubbed his hands together. Oh, this partnership isn't going to be what you believe it to be... widow. You may have the upperhand..." He stepped upon platform. But it is I who would dominate... this partnership. TeeHeeHeeHa-

Something hard fell down on his head.

The platform continued to climb up. Blackarachnia shook her head and snickered at the unconscious spider. The large block of metal she pulled from the armory after she was repaired. It had a meagcycle since she had been inside the Cr Chamber. When she awoke, she looked outside to see a certain spider staring outside. She smirked watching him trying to communicate to her.

Ha!

She dragged the spider to a wall and used her own webbing to tie up his legs, arms, and another web separate to cover his entire form. Then, with one loose thread, she pulled the unconscious spider to the command console and knocked him on the head twice, "Yo! Wakey wakey, sweety, I need your brain to help me figure out how to get inside the barrier."

Tarantulas groaned and gave a really long look at the state he was in, "Ah! You witch! Untie me this instant!"

"Oh? Do you really?" She smirked and gave a little pout. "I thought this is what you dreamed about? Oh where did the magic go from our relationship?" She slapped the male spider in the face with a fury. Her face twisted to a wicked smirk and scorn. She pulled out hr weapon and pointed at him. "You are going to help me... or I'm going to let you suffer the same fate as the rest of us when the aliens are done with our friends inside that site!"

Tarantulas growled, "All right! All right! I will cooperate, but only with one condition..."

"And that is....?"

"Untie my hands! I need to do this alone."

Blackarachnia shook her head and stabbed the end of her weapon at his head, "No, I'm not falling for that trick."

"You might have had some insight about the aliens through me, widow, but there were things you couldn't learn from me. I might have slipped up some information, but I blocked most of it away from your prying mind."

That was true... When Tarantulas and her were linked, she had seen things. Images of past events from the Great War. Mainly, the last few battles before the Autobots and Decepticons signed a treaty for peace. When Optimus Prime and Megatron were forced to work together in order to defeat an ancient sect of Decepticons birthed by budding, a now-forbidden practice amongst both Maximals and Predacons. A swarm of red dust.... A great horror washing over her... or whoever these memories were, as Tarantulas couldn't have been there, or could he? A great horror over a massive blast... A list of deceased scattered across the faces of the Tripredicus Council. Fear, anger, how could they have such firepower? Gaila. Blackarachnia didn't know what Gaila was. A planet, perhaps? Did it matter? All that matter was the face that these events and people were connected. Memories of horrific skeletons and a cosmic dust scattered across. Tarantulas' past, maybe. She didn't know. Besides, these memories and emotions were overlapped by the perverse thoughts the spider. And though, attractive and dark as she found it, she was repulsed by the violation of her own privacy.

She was so tempted to kill him right here. Right now.

But, as Megatron knew as she did, Tarantulas was too useful to kill off. Not until the aliens were destroyed.

Blackarachnia gave a heavy sigh. She used one of the consoles, and tried to contct Rhinox, "Rhinox, maybe you should return to the Axalon.
It seems I'm not the only spider you are attracting." She didn't want Rhinox's help, but... Tarantulas... He was too slippery. "We might have a way to save our friends."

"Aw! I thought would could have some alone time and catch up on things. Like the fact you have a certain feeling towards a doggy?"

Blackarachnia smiled a sexy grin, and then smashed Tarantulas' face into one of the seats.

(ooc: Sorry for the delay, guys.. I'm thanking the stars that Easter is over. Unlike most people, I don't get holidays off from work.. or school.. If anything, I got swamped with homework for the holidays and I've started stressing out about a project that's due in a couple of weeks.. And still the instructor is piling on the homework. And the kids have been off school for the holiday so I haven't gotten a moment to myself to play catch-up on anything. Can't wait to go back to regular life, even though that's still busy as hell.)

Zodiac caught the angry glare Optimus sent him for insisting that Whitegrazer needed to be put down, but it hardly changed anything. If pushed far enough, the shapeshifter would gladly sacrifice anyone to save his own skin. And it wasn't necessarily cowardice that caused this as much as a keen sense of self-preservation that had been installed into him since the moment he was first created. As a specialist, he was often in situations where he was the only one who could save himself. And that is exactly what he intended on doing.

Yet he didn't feel the malice he'd normally feel when about to make a kill. If anything he felt strangely.. detached.. He wasn't doing this for pleasure. Not this time.

The Vok and Primal kept conversing, revealing bits and pieces of their history. Zodiac didn't really care what motivated the Vok to do what they did, he merely didn't want to be on the receiving end of their wrath.

Before long Primal's club connected with Whitegrazer's face, yet that seemed to do.. absolutely nothing. Yes, it knocked her back and onto the floor for a brief moment, but only resulted in the Vok tightening their control and suddenly came floating towards the rest of them. The renegade could only gasp as they gripped him along with Primal and the others, unceremoniously dumping them in a pile on the floor. Zodiac crashed to the floor near Primal, but was quick to roll to the side to put a little distance between himself and the others. Again his weapon systems started powering up.

Whitegrazer stood before them, certainly looking worse for wear.. Kind of zombie like, honestly, like a mismatch mixture of a monsterous Vok and cybertronian design. Zodiac's weapons found their target again, and he honestly didn't care who else got in the way.

It was Megatron's voice that stopped him in his tracks as the tyrant emerged from behind him. No doubt the other Predacons were there too. Great..

Aurora also let out a slight groan as she was dropped to the floor, almost ending up with several of the others on top of her but fortunately fate would have it otherwise. She managed to squirm to the side, narrowly escaping the weight of the larger, heavier bots landing on her.

What was going on here??


Frantic, her optics darted to Optimus and Rattrap before settling on Whitegrazer. And boy, oh boy, did she look .. weird.

Megatron had joined them and attempted to strike up a conversation with the Vok as well. But they weren't listening. Not anymore. And within moments their weapon created electric sparks that started coming towards all of them. Nemesis, who had been waiting in the background, was quick to pull out her weapon as well. Tempting as it was to shoot the traitor shapeshifter in the back, right now they seemed to have more important issues to tend to.

"What use is this body of hers? Don't you understand? No physical form can contain nor destroy who we are. She created this body to hide her true self. The body she had beforehand was similar to what we transformed her to be. Your so-called Maximal High Council of Elders gave her protoform body to use as she was used to fight your people's battles for you. We-" "We understand." "Whitegrazer... is still here. She will not die. We won't allow it. You... should be more worried about yourselves."

Primal glared up toward Whitegrazer's alleged "true" form. Although it was difficult to accept, these recent revelations still didn't deter Optimus from his feelings for her. What was more difficult for him was trying to not let his emotions compromise his judgement. He had to stay focused and figure out a way to save her and stop these aliens from killing all of them, as he was certain that the mare was also attempting to accomplish the same goal.

"Optimus... they will kill you... everyone. Fight me. Do what you must in order to protect yourself and the rest of our friends. I will be fine. I won't allow myself die."

"Argh!" Optimus cried out and immediately rolled off of Rattrap, holding his fists to his temples. Upon the initiation of their link, he felt the overwhelming pain and mental anguish that Whitegrazer had been experiencing. He saw flashes of those skull-like heads with tentacles again that reached out toward him. He felt them as well as TyCross. But above all, the one thing that stood out was her love for him and their friends and her voice. All of it happened in mere seconds before she disabled the link once more and he got himself up on a knee. Everyone was telling him that Whitegrazer wasn't going to die, to just fight her and end this, but looking at her heavily wounded, levitating body suggested otherwise; that she was on the verge of expiring. Could Zodiac be right in that it really wasn't her? Could it just be a body that they were using in order to stop them and kill them all?

While the aliens shifted their attention to Megatron, Primal assessed his Maximals. "Rattrap? Aurora?" he frowned at them laying there beside him in the center of the large room, vulnerable and exposed to the Vok.

"'Bout time you got off my back," Rattrap groaned as he slowly pushed himself up and looked to the young Fuzor, reaching out to her to help her up. "What's de plan?" he asked as they huddled together.

"I'm working on it," Optimus admitted, running low on ideas.

"Well, work faster! Either we gotta get outta here or we gotta take her down!" Rattrap suggested as he grabbed his gun and held it close.

But then a loud humming was heard that quieted them, and electricity around them popped and sparked, as did the Vok's hands hovering above them and the orb-like defense that they had fired at all of them. Instinctively, Optimus jumped to his feet while wielding his gun, shielding Aurora and Rattrap with his body as he fired at the orbs, sizzling and disintegrating them the same way Megatron had done with his tail gun. Megatron! Where was he?! With a quick glance over, he saw the tyrant had slipped away toward the disk he must have spotted on the pedestal.

"Inferno, Nemesis, concentrate your fire power on that grotesque creature!"

However, Megatron's command and Inferno's shots, which had narrowly missed Primal's shoulder that had been intended to hit Whitegrazer, stole his attention. "They can't watch all of us at once. And we can't let Megatron gain control of this place," he organized his thoughts out loud. Where was Zodiac? Looking around, he found the shape shifter not too far away targeting Whitegrazer again. "Inferno and Nemesis will keep her busy, but I need you two to work with Zodiac and find a way out of here."

"Are you serious? We can't trust him!" Rattrap argued. "As soon we turn our backs, he's gonna take us down!"

"We're the least of his worries right now," the Maximal Commander told his shorter comrade. "He wants out as much as we do, and he has to keep his distance from them if he intends to maintain control over his own body."

"Dat's reassuring...," the Spy muttered sarcastically. "Kinda like dat?" Rattrap pointed to his leader's glowing armor near his left arm.

Glancing down to where Rattrap was gesturing, Optimus nodded and then looked at Aurora. "I don't know how, but in close proximity of Whitegrazer, the nanotech you used on me is being reactivated, although I don't feel any manipulation with them. Now, hurry and find an exit," he told them.

"Wait. What're you gonna do?" the rat asked.

"What I do best... Interfere with Megatron's plans." That being said, Optimus ducked Inferno's onslaught of fire power at the Vok and dashed after his nemesis, holding up his gun to target the Predacon and firing at his shoulders.

Rattrap threw his arms up in the air at their fearless leader's notion and then looked at Aurora. Reluctant to approach Zodiac, who looked like he was ready to battle as his own army, the rodent took out one of his demolition charges and hurried over to the shape shifter. "Yo, you wanna blow dis joint or what?" he asked him rhetorically, waving his explosive at him to convince him to come with them and help them escape as Rattrap desperately hurried toward the corridor once more.

"I seek to correct what has been wrongfully stolen from me and the Predacons,"

"The cold war happening on Cybertron is none of our concern. "We know you and your kind would seek to take control of our weapon here, but you don't have the power to control what we do."

"Don't underestimate him. We have once before and it has nearly cost those that I care about dearly."

"Oh please, Megatron may be brillant and ruthless enough to try, but he would ultimately fail. Only one person could, and fortunatley for us,
he doesn't seem to be here."

"Don't jink it. We may be higher than them, but we are not immortal. We can be killed. Don't tempt fate.

"Haven't you upgraded your technology to be formidable to our new TransMetal power?"

The purple-eyed growled at Megatron's statement. "Optimus destroyed the Planet Buster. The quantum surge was a side effect we understood, but your survival wasn't part of our plan. If we had known, we would have a contingency plan ready for it." "After we kill them, we can reset the project with that addendum." "We shall see. Until that time, we must rid ourselves of these... interlopers."

The Vok glowered at Megatron, at his belief that by them being upgraded with their technology that they could even begin to be on the same level as they were. Arrogance draped with mockery at them! Megatron's words were just proving their own points about the so-caled Cybertrons. If they had know such arrogance would exit, they would have never given the species help in evolving! Let the species riot!

Whitegrazer could feel the anger from her comrades. Needles pricking her with the ground trembling with their might and fury.

The Metal Hunter hummed louder. Electricity became more chaotic, crackling like thunder.

You must remain calm. Megatron is an arrogant Predacon, but he is a clever one. Your reaction would only satisfy his own ego. Think clearly. Don;t allow his words to undermine who we are. Prove him wrong.

"Inferno, Nemesis, concentrate your fire power on that grotesque creature!"

"HEEEEYYYYYYYAAAAAA!"

The Vok used their arms to protect themselves from Megatron's shots. Megatron is the threat here. No one else. Except Tarantulas, of course. We can deal with him later. Right now, Megatron is the one we need to defeat. He will try and take over this place, and use it towards our destruction as well as innocent lives. We mustn't allow him to do it. "You are going to help us?" "You resisted at every turn, but now,you comply with... us?" " "Ah! I see! She does! She wants Megatron out of the picture." Inferno's attack caught them off guard. Missiles exploded on their back, flying the six-armed half-Vok, half-Cybertronian against the other side of the room. The body fell towards the ground. Head lifted up to look at the Maximals, who were trying to find a way to escape.

Leave them alone. Let them escape.

"We can always get them later."

They lifted their hand up, and immediately, the doors around the centre room shut, separating the Maximals and Predacons. "We will get them later." "Megatron and the Predacons are the immediate threat."

The Vok hovered and turned its body upward.

"This station is the property of the Vok. Property we will never hand over to your kind."

The Vok, still floating, dashed towards Megatron, while one of their hands thrusted abnother energy orb at both Inferno and Nemesis, and made a grab for him. If the grab was successful, the Vok would proceed to fly Megatron high above the air and then throw him to the ground with the full weight of the Vok weighing him down.

"The cold war happening on Cybertron is none of our concern. "We know you and your kind would seek to take control of our weapon here, but you don't have the power to control what we do."

Are you certain about that? Megatron inquired to himself about the Vok's statement, inwardly smirking.

"Optimus destroyed the Planet Buster. The quantum surge was a side effect we understood, but your survival wasn't part of our plan. If we had known, we would have a contingency plan ready for it." "After we kill them, we can reset the project with that addendum." "We shall see. Until that time, we must rid ourselves of these... interlopers."

Killing Primal would surely be a bonus, and if he could leave that to the aliens thus keeping his own hands clean of the doing, then so be it. But no one takes Megatron's fate into their hands! No one! So the Predacon rogue was determined to either kill them himself or confiscate this contraption and kill everyone. He was certain this place was more than an empty shell of electricity because the Vok's riddles and traps were never that simple. As Megatron headed for the other disk, he felt the blasts of Primal's weapon hammer into his thick armored shoulders. The impact knocked him around a little bit but enough to lose his balance. Growling in frustration, he turned around and fired his shoulder guns at the Maximal to slow him down.

Some of Megatron's gun fire pelted Optimus's chest and shoulders, but it didn't stop him. Even with his slight, permanent limp, he pushed forward and charged at the TransMetal t-rex.

Witnessing his foe's own determination, their optics locking on to each other, Megatron waited for Primal to get close enough for him to sweep his tail gun at his knees and pull the ape off balance, essentially tripping him purposely toward the Predacon.

Megatron's attempt at tangling his legs worked as planned, and Optimus fell forward right into his arch nemesis, metal clashing against metal. As he tried to immediately push himself off, the Predacon instead spun Primal around and held his back against his chest with his tail gun wrapped over his neck under his chin and his other arm interlocking with one of Primal's arms and painfully pulling it backwards, forcing him to hold still as if he was taking him hostage. Both of them faced the Vok as they approached them again. Megatron powered up his tail gun just enough for the heat to get uncomfortable on Optimus's face who struggled to pull away and lift his head away from the powerful weapon.

"This station is the property of the Vok. Property we will never hand over to your kind."

"I would say it's awfully careless for beings of your ascension," he scoffed at the term, "to be leaving these stations and traps laying about for anyone to stumble upon, intentionally or not," Megatron mocked the Vok while he continued handling Optimus. "You know how the saying goes. Finders keepers," he added with a devious grin.

It was then, while Megatron was busy gloating, that Optimus threw his free elbow backwards into Megatron's side, jabbing him hard and causing the tyrant to pull away his tail gun and release Primal's other arm. Then he turned slightly enough to see him as he lifted his leg and stomped his foot onto Megatron's knee to make it buckle.

"Argh! Blast you, Primal!" the Predacon bellowed in some agony as he collapsed to a knee, ever aggravated by the opportunist. And as he looked up to glare at his adversary and to target him, he saw him ducking while the Vok swooped down and grabbed Megatron by his arm, roughly lifting him up as if he weighed only a few pounds. Taken aback by this, he squirmed in their grasp and then ignited his engines to throw them off course or release him, but neither worked. It was as if they had complete control over everything, and for a very brief moment that terrified and angered Megatron. Just as quickly, the aliens forced him back down to the floor, pinning him and almost rendering him unconscious with the force. But he refused to be defeated!

Meanwhile, as both Megatron and the Vok were distracted, Optimus decided to try something that would hopefully interrupt the power they were using for this place as well as keep Megatron from acquiring the new alien disk that Zodiac had brought to revelation. He boldly used his hand with the nano tech that was still glowing around his arm and grabbed one of the electrical currents nearby, snapping the protective casing and absorbing the electricity. The shock was painful and unpleasant, but he watched to see what the nano bots would do. The blue glow they emitted gradually moved from his side and over to his arm. He could feel them scrambling and frantically moving about, which was still an odd sensation for him. He couldn't imagine feeling these all the time over his entire body like Nemesis and Zodiac did. These particular nano bots that Aurora had equipped him with were attracted and fueled by electricity, as he recalled, and he needed them to spread out. Letting go of the current with his entire arm glowing now, Optimus stepped to the pedestal that held the disk and carefully moved his left hand toward the energy shield that was guarding it. And just as he had hoped, the nano bots protected his arm and allowed him to breach the barrier, painlessly and effortlessly. Whether it was because they were originally alien technology, or because they were simply repairing his armor as it touched the shield, it didn't matter to him so long as he could get that disk. He wrapped his fingers around it and successfully lifted it off the of the podium.

Watching in disbelief from his back on the floor at what Optimus was doing, Megatron struggled even harder against the Vok. "No, Primal!" Megatron hollered at him, enraged. "Unhand me! He's stealing the disk, you fools!" he told them with Whitegrazer's disgusting fluids dripping on him, trying to divert their attention off of him and back onto the Maximal leader. If they would chase after him, it would give him the perfect opportunity to try his own alien disk on that device, and possibly even give him control of this so-called "station". And even if Primal managed to hold on to that mysterious disk, he could steal it from him later to examine it himself.

Inferno had skillfully dodged the energy orb that Whitegrazer had thrown at him and fled after her as she attacked his Queen. He would have none of that! So as she held Megatron down to the floor, he loyally started firing at her back relentlessly. He was likely setting himself for the Vok to pummel him brutally to make him stop his ongoing onslaught, but the only thing that mattered to him was pleasing the Royalty and giving him the advantage.

-----

"Rhinox, maybe you should return to the Axalon. It seems I'm not the only spider you are attracting." "We might have a way to save our friends."

Rhinox was almost in the vicinity of the alien site when he heard Blackarachnia's voice come through on his comm. link. He slowed to a stop, nearly out of breath, and let out a sigh. Looking around as he thought things through about whether to stay or to return, he felt it might be a better idea to go back and see what she was talking about. Could it just be a trap? Of course. Especially if Tarantulas was involved. Or would she subdue him and be honest about what was happening? He had to be careful because Tarantulas was still inside of her head since he hadn't developed a solution yet to dismantle the mental link he had left behind. He was close, however. He presumed one way would be to use raw energon, but it might be risky and excruciating. In any case, the rhinoceros decided to reluctantly turn around and head back toward the Axalon, feeling like he was abandoning his friends who were trapped in that alien structure and unsure what to expect once he would arrive back at Maximal HQ. "I'm on my way," he told her.

After some time, he finally returned to the Maximal base. Looking around, everything seemed quiet and Sentinel was still on alert. How Tarantulas got there in the first place was a bit unnerving. Perhaps he used Blackarachnia against her will to allow himself in. "Rhinox, maximize," he said quietly and drew one of his chain guns, prepared to defend himself if he had to. "Sentinel, identify energy signatures."

"Units: Blackarachnia, Tarantulas, and Rhinox are present."

"Stand down," he ordered the computer intelligence.

"Acknowledged, unit Rhinox," Sentinel assessed in accordance to Rhinox's prior protocol when he left earlier.

As the shields lowered as well as the lift, he took caution stepping onto it as it lifted him up into the command center, his fingers steady on the trigger of his large weapon almost expecting an ambush. But one never came. Instead, he found Blackarachnia next to Tarantulas who was, in fact, restrained by her webbing and a little beat up. The scene, which suggested that Blackarachnia had everything under control, made him lower his defenses as well as his weapon as he curiously looked at them. "I'm impressed, Blackarachnia," said Rhinox, grateful that she hadn't handed the place over to Tarantulas or any other Predacons. "Now, care to tell me what's going on here?"

((OOC: I will post Whitegrazer's response for now. Tarantulas will be coming tomorrow. ))

"I would say it's awfully careless for beings of your ascension," he scoffed at the term, "to be leaving these stations and traps laying about for anyone to stumble upon, intentionally or not," Megatron mocked the Vok while he continued handling Optimus. "You know how the saying goes. Finders keepers," he added with a devious grin.

The Vok glared at Megatron for his words. They couldn't have seen the Maximals or Predacons landing on their planet. Everything seemed tailored to what they hoped to accomplish. Maybe we didn't want to see it? We were blinded by our own arrogance. We were so sure that we were right. Despite the countless setbacks and destruction of their sites, they won't allow this transgression to be bloodless. Nor were they going to simply allow Megatron or anyone else to steal their technology or the disk which they have keeping away from the Cybertonians.

They watched as Optimus and Megatron fight each other.

"Argh! Blast you, Primal!"

The Vok found the fight interesting yet disappointing. Optimus seemed to injure Megatron, and yet, there was a fe wpoints where he could have killed him.
"Why do you hestitate? You are in war. He has done horrendous things towards your being. Why do you hesitate to kill him?""It's the most practical thing to do. Why don't you do it?""Are you letting your ideals kept you from doing what is right?""Morality is a plague. Used to keep hands clean while others dirty them for you.""He is the enemy.
There shall be no mercy for the guilty. For when one shows mercy towards villians, innocent people's blood is shred."

You make a valid point, my friends. But Optimus isn't a soldier. The crew of the Axalon didn't sign up for this war. I am. Let me take the blame. Not him or the others.

They choose to fight. Now, they need to understand the choice they made, and take responsibility!

"No, Primal!" Megatron hollered at him, enraged. "Unhand me! He's stealing the disk, you fools!"

When Optimus took one of the currents and absorbed the energy, the Vok watched as the chest area brightened in a the color of blue. "He has some of the technoolgy within him?"We weren't unaware of this." They found it dangerous that not only did Optimus Primal hve the primitive nanos inside of him, but mixed that with his new Transmetal form, it could tip the power play towards his favor. It seemed to be the case when they watched him try and make a grab for the disk! "What are you doing? Stop that!"That disk belongs to us! It was stole from us. You are willing to take pieces of us just to increase your chances of survival?" Optics burned shads of red and black."Interlopers! Destroyers! You dare touch our power! You are no different. No better. Maximals! Predacons! You are all the same!

Calm your fury. Megatron is the enemy. Not Optimus. He is only trying to protect his crew and himself. If he doesn't get it, Megatron will and he will use it for destruction. You are the ones escalating this conflict. They are only defending themselves against you.

Inferno's fire scorched their back. Burning. Seething. Smoldering. But the Vok held on to Megatron. They looked down and smirked at Megatron. Inferno's flames behind them like Megatron was looking at some sort of pit. They remained silent as they floated upwards, taking Megatron's tail arm with them as they did. They spun. And spun. Putting out the flames, causing a whirlwind. They let go and aiming Megatron's body towards Optimus, trying to keep him from taking the disk. If Megatron was thrown successfully, the Vok floated towards Inferno. Their fists swirled against Inferno's body before they too cast him off, throwing him towards Zodiac! Zodiac, the one who stole the disk in the first place, will pay for his crimes. The Vok decided to spin like atop once more and dived towards Nemesis and then towards Rattrap.

((OOC: I know these are alot of moves, but not all these moves have to connect, if you all don;t wish them. I just put them there to have the Vok give everyone a piece of the action.))

Stop this!

After throwing Inferno, the Vok glared at Aurora. But they made no move towards the little one. Little one.

Don't harm her.

"We will not harm you, little one." They spoke towards Aurora. "But don't interfere or we will retaliate!

Inside, Whitegrazer realized something.

Her presence was influencing them. She smiled inwardly.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I'm on my way,"

Good. Hopefully, with all three of their minds at work, actually mostly's Tarantulas, they should be able to save the others inside that alien whatever it was called. Staring at Tarantulas, who still seemed off of it after her smashing his face on the chair, she slapped him to bring him back to full consciousness. "Wake up, tall, dark and gruesome, Rhinox is here, so I need you to focus and help us figure out how to gain entrance or even better, stop those aliens' plans."

"You witch, you and others, you don't understand the aliens at all." Tarantulas spat at the black widow, a creation he had lived to regret. "Though, I still wonder why hasn't this planet been blown to smithereens yet!" The statement came with a frustrated sigh, but undernearth that frustrated sigh was fury and a hint of fear at the unknown that was the aliens. If the aliens weren't going to destroy the planet, what were they plotting?

"Didn't you feel the tremors?"

"Of course I did!"

"You didn't think they were going to do the same thing twice?"

"I'm not an idiot! I know they probably had a contingency plan, but the question is... Why did they suddenly stop?"

"I'm impressed, Blackarachnia," said Rhinox, grateful that she hadn't handed the place over to Tarantulas or any other Predacons. "Now, care to tell me what's going on here?"

When Rhinox came aboard, Blackarachnia slyly waved at him, watching him lower his weapons realizing she had everything in hand. She then glanced at Tarantulas and pulled him to a standing position, "Tarantulas, this is one you should thank for erasing the rest of your psychic link. With my guidance and his knowledge, we were able to rid myself of your control."

"You Maximals are idiots! This widow is a backstabbing gli-"

Blackarachnia gave him a smack at the back of his head, "Immediately, after you left, Tarantulas here was snooping around outside the Axalon. My repairs have just completed when I used one of the consoles and saw his signature. He must have deduced that I was the only one here, and smart alec here thought he could use the psychic link and force my cooperation." She smirked at Rhinox, "We know how that turned out."

Tarantulas mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" she yanked the webbing like a leash.

"Nothing, nothing!" Tarantulas just wished he was the holding the leash, not the other way around. "Let's just cut to the chase. I came here for Blackarachnia, but since that didn't work, and we all want to stop those aliens before they kill usall, maybe we can help each other..." Tarantulas glanced at Rhinox as he spoke. "I won;t pull anything. Let me free from this... widow and let me full access to your systems. I might be able to figure out what we are up against. Also, I will need a work bench. I might have something that may help destroy the alien's weapon or whatever they planned to use, so they don't use it again."

"Why do you hestitate? You are in war. He has done horrendous things towards your being. Why do you hesitate to kill him?" "It's the most practical thing to do. Why don't you do it?" "Are you letting your ideals kept you from doing what is right?" "Morality is a plague. Used to keep hands clean while others dirty them for you." "He is the enemy. There shall be no mercy for the guilty. For when one shows mercy towards villians, innocent people's blood is shred."

Optimus was almost taken aback by the aliens' response to them observing him and Megatron fighting since he didn't expect them to show interest or even question his motives. He watched Whitegrazer's optics shift back and forth between purple and green, and it was still eerie to him. Since they were holding Megatron at bay, watching him squirm under their grip, he opted to explain himself as he licked the scar across his lips. "Be that as it may, the ones who decide to murder others are responsible for their own actions, not the ones who showed mercy toward them and spared their lives. My morals are what differentiate me from Megatron and others like him, including yourselves. I value all life," he emphasized, "no matter the species, where they're from, or what allegiance they belong to. To resort to destruction and death goes against everything I stand for and the guidance I have shown my Maximals."

"He has some of the technology within him?"We weren't unaware of this." "What are you doing? Stop that!"That disk belongs to us! It was stole from us. You are willing to take pieces of us just to increase your chances of survival?" "Interlopers! Destroyers! You dare touch our power! You are no different. No better. Maximals! Predacons! You are all the same!"

Then things started to escalate again. While Optimus stood there with the disk in his glowing hand, he observed Whitegrazer's optics burning more furiously with black and red, and they began accusing him of theft of their technology and their disk which was not what it was at all. "No, you misunderstand!" Primal pleaded to them. "You came here to harm us, and you know that we're not here by choice, so I was merely removing what I thought was the source of energy in order to save my crew and power this place down! Maybe I was going to return the disk to you. Maybe I was going to keep it safe. Either way, you and I both know that we can't let any more of these fall into Megatron's hands!" he exclaimed. "As for this," he said, glancing at his glowing arm and feeling the tiny robot roaming around on it like ants, "this was the result of one of my Maximals experimenting on me with a severe wound many months ago. You see, we react to your actions, so we will do whatever it takes to ensure our survival on this planet with the odds stacked against us and without taking lives. And although I am merciful to those who are undeserving, you would be wise to never consider it a weakness," he said in a deeper, colder tone. "For every grave situation I'm forced to face, and for every life that I spare, my spark grows stronger." Put me together with Whitegrazer and we're a force to be reckoned with. We would be unstoppable, he thought.

Megatron couldn't help but gag - figuratively - at Primal's words. Such nonsense! Did he honestly think he could talk his way out of this? Hah! Of course, his attitude changed a little when the possessed mare looked at him again and smirked. He concluded that they had something sinister in mind for him, and he didn't like that one bit. Despite Inferno's futile attempt to get them away from the Royalty, his smoldering fire didn't seem to phase them at all. As they floated upward, burning, they took Megatron with them by grabbing his tail gun. Perhaps they weren't aware of this but his weapon wasn't actually attached to him, so before they started spinning, Megatron reluctantly released his beast mode's tail - it was his most powerful weapon - and dropped to the floor, landing on his feet with a loud thud. Growling as he ground his teeth together he charged at Primal.

Watching this unfold, Optimus did the sensible thing and placed the disk in his back subspace just before the Predacon leader tackled him, knocking him backwards right off of his feet as the air in his chest escaped through his mouth from the impact. He landed on his back with Megatron on top of him who started firing at him with his shoulder guns. So Optimus used his glowing arm to protect his face from the gunfire. He felt the pelting of his enemy's weapons pinging on his armor but the nanobots quickly repaired and ricocheted the bullets.

Frustrated that his gunfire wasn't having the damaging affect that he wanted it to on this low-life Maximal, Megatron resorted to using his fists, slugging Optimus on the side of his abdomen and to his lower stomach before he could try blocking him. And as Optimus instinctively, albeit delayed, lowered his arms to defend himself from the punches, the Predacon saw the opportunity he was hoping for and pummeled the side of Primal's face. The blow didn't knock him out, but it did slow him down in a daze, which was all Megatron wanted at the moment. Well, he also wanted that disk but since it was safely tucked away in the Maximal leader's subspace, he'd have to go after it at a later time. Now, with both Optimus and the Vok distracted with putting out the fire on them and then diverting their attention to Inferno, the tyrant got off of the TransMetal ape and raced to the pedestal. He pulled out his alien disk and briefly examined the symbols as he weighed his options and risks. If his research was correct, this should give him some kind of control over this alien structure. So, without anymore hesitation, and with all the desire to gain more power over these foolish Maximals and aliens, Megatron placed his disk on the podium and an energy beam suddenly shot down on him, surrounding him and the disk so no one could interfere. No one but the Vok perhaps since it was their tech, however, they were stuck in that Maximal's body. The overwhelming feeling of the alien's energy forced Megatron to his knees and he raised his arms upward as he cried out.

Inferno found himself tangled up in the mare's several fists and was flung into Zodiac below. Hitting the shape shifter or not, the impact of either him or the floor knocked him around quite a bit and caused him to let go of his weapons. He struggled to get himself back up.

"We will not harm you, little one." "But don't interfere or we will retaliate!

While Primal's systems calibrated after Megatron's powerful hits, progressively regaining his vision and sense of awareness, he heard Whitegrazer's voice talk about Aurora. They weren't going to harm her? That was unusual for them to say. Was Whitegrazer still proving to have some kind of influence on the Vok who were invading her mind? She had to have been... He longed to feel her presence again, to share that bond and absorb her positive energy despite her being of Vok origin. But even though they claimed to bring no harm to the young Fuzor, Optimus still wanted Aurora, Rattrap and Zodiac to escape.

(( OOC: I hope this wasn't too much for you, una. I thought it might be fun to have Megatron join the Vok's interface of the ship and take some control, even if it's just temporary since I don't know what your plans are. I'm just taking ideas from the show's episode. ))

-----

"Wake up, tall, dark and gruesome, Rhinox is here, so I need you to focus and help us figure out how to gain entrance or even better, stop those aliens' plans."

"You witch, you and others, you don't understand the aliens at all." "Though, I still wonder why hasn't this planet been blown to smithereens yet!"

"Didn't you feel the tremors?"

"Of course I did!"

"You didn't think they were going to do the same thing twice?"

"I'm not an idiot! I know they probably had a contingency plan, but the question is... Why did they suddenly stop?"

"Tarantulas, this is one you should thank for erasing the rest of your psychic link. With my guidance and his knowledge, we were able to rid myself of your control."

"You Maximals are idiots! This widow is a backstabbing gli-"

"Immediately, after you left, Tarantulas here was snooping around outside the Axalon. My repairs have just completed when I used one of the consoles and saw his signature. He must have deduced that I was the only one here, and smart alec here thought he could use the psychic link and force my cooperation." "We know how that turned out."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing!" "Let's just cut to the chase. I came here for Blackarachnia, but since that didn't work, and we all want to stop those aliens before they kill us all, maybe we can help each other..." "I won;t pull anything. Let me free from this... widow and let me full access to your systems. I might be able to figure out what we are up against. Also, I will need a work bench. I might have something that may help destroy the alien's weapon or whatever they planned to use, so they don't use it again."

"Alright, that's enough," Rhinox finally chimed in as he put his chain gun of doom away. "We're wasting time. Blackarachnia, stop hitting him and get that cyber webbing off of him. We're just going to have to trust each other because right now we all have one thing in common: stopping the Vok from killing all of us."

Turning to the command console in the center of the room, Rhinox typed in a couple commands that would allow Tarantulas to only access the information they had on the aliens so far and nothing else. Granted, it wouldn't be as much as Megatron had acquired over time since the Maximals failed to have the opportunity to study the disks, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully Tarantulas would have enough to go on in order to devise a plan that would end up helping everyone. "I've given you access to our alien data tracks, including the photos Blackarachnia took earlier of the symbols and etchings that Optimus engraved all over his quarters. Would you also mind explaining why you were coming here for her? Blackarachnia is no longer the Predacons' concern." He assumed it was Megatron's orders to hunt down and kill the black widow, but he wanted to hear his answer before suggesting any motives. He also made it clear that whatever Megatron or Tarantulas wanted with her they were not going to get their hands on her.

"Be that as it may, the ones who decide to murder others are responsible for their own actions, not the ones who showed mercy toward them and spared their lives. My morals are what differentiate me from Megatron and others like him, including yourselves. I value all life," he emphasized, "no matter the species, where they're from, or what allegiance they belong to. To resort to destruction and death goes against everything I stand for and the guidance I have shown my Maximals."

"Is it, though? If by the death of one, you save a billion lives. Why shouldn't you? If one has a potential to end death and destruction by ending the cause and doesn't do it, should they be held accountable for the deaths they could have stopped?"We do not agree. Your ideals, your morality, is just as flawed as the Predacons. Whitgrazer's head shook in disapproval. "Your ideals are just an excuse to keep you from making the hard decisions. To keep your hands clean, and yet, as a leader, you order your people to fight everyday. Their lives on the line. In those battles for survival, there is a chance that they would have to chose between their own life and the life of their enemy." "Just like Ironclaw did." "Is Megatron's life as equal as yours? Or Whitegrazer's? Rattrap's? Rhinox's? Aurora's? Silverbolt's?""We believe it isn't. After all, he murdered you and laughed in your face."How many of your own people need to die in order for you to see the truth?"

"No, you misunderstand!" Primal pleaded to them. "You came here to harm us, and you know that we're not here by choice, so I was merely removing what I thought was the source of energy in order to save my crew and power this place down! Maybe I was going to return the disk to you. Maybe I was going to keep it safe. Either way, you and I both know that we can't let any more of these fall into Megatron's hands!" he exclaimed. "As for this," he said, glancing at his glowing arm and feeling the tiny robot roaming around on it like ants, "this was the result of one of my Maximals experimenting on me with a severe wound many months ago. You see, we react to your actions, so we will do whatever it takes to ensure our survival on this planet with the odds stacked against us and without taking lives. And although I am merciful to those who are undeserving, you would be wise to never consider it a weakness," he said in a deeper, colder tone. "For every grave situation I'm forced to face, and for every life that I spare, my spark grows stronger."

"You sabotaged our experiments. You ruined any chance of any advantage we have offered this planet. You have sentenced this world to a crueler fate than your so-called Beast Wars. Even bigger than what your ancestors did in the Great War. Whitegrazer's face glowered at Optimus'. The Vok growled louder, their hands balled into tight trembling fists. "We have the universe to watch over. Your survival! The survival of any individual means little to the hundreds and thousands in this galaxy! You, the rest of your Maximals, and Predacons both have condemned this planet to death!" The Vok screamed towards all of them. A scream loud and soul-piercing. How dare he threaten them? They will show him what it means to threatened a Vok! "WE CONDEMN YOU TO DEATH!!!"

"They are not your enemy. They didn't know. How could they? Why are you still unforgiving towards them about their own ignorance? Let go of your bias! Understand them! Why can't you understand?"

When Megatron attacked Optimus, the Vok fired a electricity orb towards the middle of the two fighting. But they miscalculated. They saw Megatron enter his own disk, their disk, onto the podium. "You fool! How dare you perceive to believe you can master our own technology?" The Vok watched as Megatron's body was being sprayed with their energy beam. It was harmless to the Vok, just a beam to acknowledge the one who activated the podium. Though they were intrigue if Megatron would survive, they were also becoming even more unhinged in their fury. Their fury directed to Optimus.

Megatron has control over the Metal Hunter. You mustn't allow him to do so!"

Optimus looked at them funny. After their warning towards the little one. The Vok were bothered by it inwardly. Why did they say those words? They didn't think them. Every Cybertronian here must be dealt with. No matter who or what they were.

Whitegrazer, you little witch."

"That's the problem with possessing a body. You absorb some of their... quirks."

Slaggit!

The Vok ignored what Whitegrazer said. TyCross was being so taken in, but they weren't. They had control over Whitegrazer's body, and it didn't stop them from attacking everyone else. Besides, Aurora was irrelevant at the moment.

Join with Optimus and the Maximals to defeat and relinquish Megatron's control over our Metal Hunter. Let's work together. Not against each other."

"Silence, Empath!"

The Vok jumped back into the air. They zipped from one of the sides to the other. Each of their hands taking a vein of electricity, and pulled all the veins towards the podium, hoping to short circuit their own energy beam while throwing out insults. "Parasite!""Monster!""Tyrant!""Our power will not be used by your own insane ambition!

(( OOC: una, I'm glad you're keeping the Vok cold and unreasonable. ))

"Is it, though? If by the death of one, you save a billion lives. Why shouldn't you? If one has a potential to end death and destruction by ending the cause and doesn't do it, should they be held accountable for the deaths they could have stopped?"

"It is not my place to pass judgement and to decide whose life I can take with or without a cause," Optimus had tried telling the Vok. But they continued.

We do not agree. Your ideals, your morality, is just as flawed as the Predacons. "Your ideals are just an excuse to keep you from making the hard decisions.

"To keep me from making the hard decisions?!" he repeated with offense. Flying himself up to their moon-sized weapon in Earth's orbit was a hard decision. Deciding to let the more dangerous Predacons to live whom were stranded on this planet with them only to face them once again in the next battle was a hard decision because his Maximals' survival as well as his own were unknown every day. Nothing about this war was easy, especially for an inexperienced leader such as himself! "To spare lives is a lot more difficult than taking them. Murdering someone is the 'simple' solution," Primal said as if there was a bad taste in his mouth. Of course, he didn't think it was "simple" since it was against his programming, but someone like Megatron that was likely not far from the truth. "Your interference makes it a lot harder, as if fighting Megatron wasn't enough. And my 'ideals' are guided by my moral compa-"

To keep your hands clean, and yet, as a leader, you order your people to fight everyday. Their lives on the line. In those battles for survival, there is a chance that they would have to chose between their own life and the life of their enemy."

"My hands are not as clean as you may believe..." he corrected them, and moved on without any further details. "Do you think I don't know that?! Ever since we left our home planet and crashed here their lives have been my responsibility. Every second of every day I worry about their well being when they're out in the field." Why was he bothering wasting his time explaining himself to these beings?

"Just like Ironclaw did." "Is Megatron's life as equal as yours? Or Whitegrazer's? Rattrap's? Rhinox's? Aurora's? Silverbolt's?""We believe it isn't.

"Because you believe it isn't some how that gives you the right to decide his fate?"

After all, he murdered you and laughed in your face."How many of your own people need to die in order for you to see the truth?"

"According to you, none of us are worthy of our existence," Optimus reminded them despite how painful that memory was of Megatron that they had brought up. They must have extracted that information from Whitegrazer.

"You sabotaged our experiments. You ruined any chance of any advantage we have offered this planet. You have sentenced this world to a crueler fate than your so-called Beast Wars. Even bigger than what your ancestors did in the Great War.

"How?! I don't understand!" Primal admitted, pleading for more information. How exactly had they "doomed" Earth? None of this was in his control!

"We have the universe to watch over. Your survival! The survival of any individual means little to the hundreds and thousands in this galaxy!

"Says who?! Primus himself?!" he demanded to know. Who would possibly give anyone the burden to watch over the universe and allow them to do with it as they see fit, including terminating any species of life that interferes with their plans? WHO?!

You, the rest of your Maximals, and Predacons both have condemned this planet to death!"

Optimus remained in his stance of defiance as they glowered at him, and he noticed their hands balling into fists as they appeared to be agitated again. However, as their voice got louder and cut through his audio receptors, it made him flinch and growl, covering them with his hands.

"WE CONDEMN YOU TO DEATH!!!"

"I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT!" Optimus threw right back at them and licked the scar across his mouth. Back to the present time, after the misfire of their orb, Primal was slowly getting back to his feet after Megatron had already placed his own alien disk on to the pedestal.

"You fool! How dare you perceive to believe you can master our own technology?"

Megatron simply laughed louder and more menacingly as the beam engulfed him. The way he saw it, everyone was the fool but him! Of course he could master their technology! HE WAS MEGATRON! Above him there was an alien-designed chair that lowered, and he stood up while the energy seemed to no longer affect him. Yessss... As it came to a stop just shy of the floor, ominously floating like the Vok were in Whitegrazer's alleged true form, Megatron grinned deviously at them as he sat down in it and placed his hands over the circular controls on the chair's arms which displayed more alien symbols. Tapping one of the symbols, it illuminated and lifted him a little higher before stopping him in mid-air to hover there, out of reach of everyone who was still on the floor. The Voks' attempts to fry the system failed as he gained further control of their structure and diverted the overload to another neutral area for the moment. It was as though his own interface was one with theirs now.

"Parasite!""Monster!""Tyrant!""Our power will not be used by your own insane ambition!

"I'll take those as compliments, though they were no doubt intended to be insults," he continued grinning widely before it suddenly fell off of his face. Then he pressed another symbol which activated two energy-based weapons inside the large room and fired them at the possessed Whitegrazer to show them who they were really dealing with; the MIGHTY MEGATRON!

"Megatron, stop!" Optimus warned him as he grabbed his gun and targeted him, his finger on the trigger that was a mere second away from pulling.

"We'll have none of that, Primal, noooo," the Predacon leader said with eerie calmness as he pressed a symbol that instructed the electricity that had been sent from Whitegrazer to now travel across the floor and to the Maximal's feet, sending a powerful shock through his body.

Optimus cried out in pain as he felt the surge being absorbed through his feet, up his legs and into his chest. As his arm stopped glowing, he dropped his gun just before he was about to fire it and collapsed unconscious onto the floor when the electrocution finally stopped.

"Alright, that's enough," Rhinox finally chimed in as he put his chain gun of doom away. "We're wasting time. Blackarachnia, stop hitting him and get that cyber webbing off of him. We're just going to have to trust each other because right now we all have one thing in common: stopping the Vok from killing all of us."

"Are you really sure that is wise?" Blackarachnia asked with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't just the fact that this brought her great pleasure. After all, Tarantulas has done nothing but try and control her and violate her sense of self. It was the fact that Tarantulas and these aliens were an even bigger mystery. Despite their former link, the only thing she knew was Tarantulas' origin wasn't Predacon in an actual sense and the aliens were cosmic beings dealing with space, matter and time that Tarantulas' and his people dealt with before.... and lost. Though, the details were fuzzy colored in a mosaic of disturbing imagery that she didn't want to witness again. "He is... Tarantulas."

"But I know these aliens.... So I'm the better person for this task," Tarantulas turned his head, looking at Blackarachnia with a smirk. "Unlike some people."

Blackarachnia growled, "I won't trust him as far as I can throw him and you shouldn't either, big boy." Blackarachnia glared at Rhinox before rolling her optics and sighed. "Very well, but I'm keeping an optic on him. I will make sure he doesn't do anything shady to your systems. Trust me. He does this all the time." Blackarachnia proceeded to cut the webbing off Tarantulas' arms and body, but she kept the web used as a leash.

Tarantulas growled back at her, "That too!"

"No. If I see you pull anything, I'll yank you into shape,"Blackarachnia emphasized her words by pulling the leash towards her, making Tarantulas face her. She glared before she smirked and fluttered her optics, "Besides, this won't interfere with your work, so get to work.

"I won't forget this, witch."

"I've given you access to our alien data tracks, including the photos Blackarachnia took earlier of the symbols and etchings that Optimus engraved all over his quarters.

Blackarachnia just laughed as Tarantulas himself pulled his body and faced the console, typing his little fingers away at the command console.

"Oh," Tarantulas smirked the chuckled at the strage images before him. "These symbols are quite.... fascinating. Has your leader come into contact with some sort of alien technology that we weren't aware of?" Tarantulas asked interested, still studying the imagery. One in particular caught his optic. The half-Cybertronian and half-skeleton face. The Cybertronian face looked feminine and familiar. Funny, I think I remember that face before.

Tarantulas attempted to do a backup when Blackarachnia yanked and kicked him in the shin.

"All right! All right!"

"Would you also mind explaining why you were coming here for her? Blackarachnia is no longer the Predacons' concern."

Tarantulas shook his hurt leg, glaring at Blackarachnia. "It was a mistake."

Blackarachnia shook her head and clicked her pinchers. "I got away from them. All of them. I beat them. Him. That's why he is after me.

"You give yourself too much credit, wench. You are easily replaced."

"Maybe, but I have knowledge you and Megatron don't want me to have or share. And that knowledge can't be replaced now,huh?"

Tarantulas continued to analyze the Maximal's full knowledge of the aliens. "Pfft. This is all you have?" Unimpressed, the spider shook his head. "With as long as you held the alien disk, I thought you Maximals would have gain some knowledge of what you are up against.

"Well then, since you know so much, tell us something useful."

Tarantulas threw his arms in the air in exasperation. "The aliens usually have a contingency just in case their planet buster didn't work.
Going by the pictures your fearless leader drew, there is something familiar. Like that symbol." the symbol he pointed to looked like a flower-shaped mechanism. "I have seen this before... here. It is something that has been referred to as a Metal Hunter. I think you can guess what it is designed against and programmed to go after. The tremors we felt before.... That must have been it. The weapon must have been trying to detroy the planet's core or something. But it is interesting that they stopped. Why did they?"

"I thought you knew them personally."

"These aliens have a foreign intellect! How am I supposed to know the thoughts of moral but omnipotent beings!"

Tarantulas did know, but he was going to pretend to be clueless. If his plan was going to work without interference. On both sides.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"It is not my place to pass judgement and to decide whose life I can take with or without a cause,"

"It's not judgement.""It's about survival, defense, and protecting the innocent." The Vok lifted their head. Why were they even trying to discuss such a thing to a Cybertronian?

"To keep me from making the hard decisions?!" he repeated with offense. Flying himself up to their moon-sized weapon in Earth's orbit was a hard decision. Deciding to let the more dangerous Predacons to live whom were stranded on this planet with them only to face them once again in the next battle was a hard decision because his Maximals' survival as well as his own were unknown every day. Nothing about this war was easy, especially for an inexperienced leader such as himself! "To spare lives is a lot more difficult than taking them. Murdering someone is the 'simple' solution," Primal said as if there was a bad taste in his mouth. Of course, he didn't think it was "simple" since it was against his programming, but someone like Megatron that was likely not far from the truth. "Your interference makes it a lot harder, as if fighting Megatron wasn't enough. And my 'ideals' are guided by my moral compa-"

"How many more lives would you spare if you did kill? Is it wrong to sacrifice one life to save many? Especially a life which has shown no respect towards other life?""You don't kill because it is a moral wrong. But isn't selfish to cling to ideals that enforce you to spare the life of a tyrant at the cost of many?""You believe the same way the High Council did.""Your leaders allowed many of their own to maim and kill for the so-called "ideals". Yet, they condemned the ones who don't what was necessary and threw them away treating like they were just as bad as Predacons. Whitegrazer attests to that. Her memories have shown us much about your Maximal ideals. The same ideals that were used to turn our own against us. The same ideals that condemned anyone that didn't reach them.""Your moral compass is just an excuse to remain pure."

The Vok's optics brightened.

"Cybertron isn't innocent."

What is going on?

"What? They are having a conversation with your precious Optimus Primal. I thought you were paying attention."

"I am. Something is wrong. Don't you feel it? Do they?

TyCross looked up at the sky of the green meadow. Clouded.

"They aren't acting right."

"What do you mean? They are perfectly normal."

"Their words are theirs, but the emotions... They... They are all wrong."

"I don't understand."

"No, you don't. And they never did."

"My hands are not as clean as you may believe..." he corrected them, and moved on without any further details. "Do you think I don't know that?! Ever since we left our home planet and crashed here their lives have been my responsibility. Every second of every day I worry about their well being when they're out in the field."

"All of Cybertron is unclean."

The Vok seemed confused by their own words. Though, the confusion passed quickly. No. They needed to focus.

"Because you believe it isn't some how that gives you the right to decide his fate?""According to you, none of us are worthy of our existence,"

"You don't understand. Your race never does.""We grow weary of explaining ourselves to your kind."

"How?! I don't understand!"

"Says who?! Primus himself?!"

The Vok just shook their head.

"Our sentence is final."

"I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT!"

Optimus, just like they were, watched as Megatron gained control of their weapon. No! The Vok watched their attack be redirected to an area away from Megatron.

"I'll take those as compliments, though they were no doubt intended to be insults,"

"You will die for this, Megatron. We, the Vok, won't allow you to use our technology." The Vok floated to reach Megatron to eye level, leaning forward to stare a glare of death towards him. When Megatron pointed their weapons towards them, they felt the full force of their own weapons against themselves. Pieces of metal chunks scattered the area. The force threw Whitgrazer's body across the side, hitting full force against the wall. They dropped down hard against the floor. Twitching. Smoldering.

Optimus' scream of pain made them look up and turn towards the downed Maximal.

Optimus! Optimus...

"I felt that."

"TyCross!"

The image of TyCross on the ground against the grass. Hole in his chest. Smoking. No.

The Vok's optics burned red again. Ghostly flames erupted from behind them. Leaked out of their eyes. They raised the fist. They still had control as well. They felt it. Megatron will die for this! TyCross! In pain! Whitgrazer! In pain! They! In pain! Optimus. Optimus.... In pain.

Another set of energy weapons appeared. Fired towards Megatron's weapons. The Vok blasted off towards Megatron with a burning contempt and a scream that would pierce the souls of the weak-willed.

"It's not judgement.""It's about survival, defense, and protecting the innocent."

It's about having a conscience! Optimus had thought in response. And he presumed it was something both they and Megatron lacked.

"How many more lives would you spare if you did kill? Is it wrong to sacrifice one life to save many? Especially a life which has shown no respect towards other life?""You don't kill because it is a moral wrong. But isn't selfish to cling to ideals that enforce you to spare the life of a tyrant at the cost of many?""You believe the same way the High Council did.""Your leaders allowed many of their own to maim and kill for the so-called "ideals". Yet, they condemned the ones who don't what was necessary and threw them away treating like they were just as bad as Predacons. Whitegrazer attests to that. Her memories have shown us much about your Maximal ideals. The same ideals that were used to turn our own against us. The same ideals that condemned anyone that didn't reach them.""Your moral compass is just an excuse to remain pure."

Primal had simply looked at them with bewilderment, uncertain of what to say. He wasn't the same as the High Council. Not anymore in some ways, and never in others. Why punish all of them? To save the lives in the rest of the universe? Apparently Optimus wasn't grasping that concept. He refused to trade one life for another.

"Cybertron isn't innocent."

The Maximal Commander appeared slightly confused by those words. They seemed somewhat spontaneous and off topic. Now they categorizing their whole planet into negativity. Did all of this really stem back to their dealings with Optimus Prime? What had the High council gotten Optimus and his crew into...? Was there really no way out of this?

"All of Cybertron is unclean."

The same could be said about the Vok and Nexus Zero. Still, their words were off... And even now they seemed to be perplexed by what they said. Was it Whitegrazer's influence on them?

"You don't understand. Your race never does.""We grow weary of explaining ourselves to your kind."

Primal had shaken his head at that. If they would explain it better, then perhaps he would understand! But they continued to run in circles around his questions and avoided answering others.

"Our sentence is final."

That was last thing he heard from "Whitegrazer" when her optics fluttered to purple before Megatron had denied Primal's action to interrupt him and electrocuted him. He laid in silence and darkness on his back on the floor as his feet smoldered a little from the voltage that had fried his thrusters.

"Optimus!" Rattrap hollered when he witness what had happened. He rushed to his side and shook him a little by his shoulders to try to wake him up while the Vok dealt with Megatron.

"You will die for this, Megatron. We, the Vok, won't allow you to use our technology."

"I think NOT, nooo!" the Predacon then laughed as he watched their own firepower blast Whitegrazer across the room, shrapnel from her body scattering about.

The ruckus made Rattrap look up and watch her slam into a wall, fall to the ground, and then effortlessly get back up and attack Megatron as if her body wasn't already falling apart, quite literally.

As the aliens came back in retaliation and fury, Megatron was prepared, and he glared at them and their phantom-like flames. No longer was he afraid of their power and what they were capable of because now they were evenly matched. While their shots hammered the weapons he had fired at them and disabled them, he pressed another symbol on one of arms of the chair to control metal hoses that dropped down above Whitegrazer and went to reach for all of her arms and her waist. Even if his timing was a little off, they would chase her like snakes from the ceiling. Of course, he didn't know their restrictions and how far they could go, but hopefully they'd catch the aliens off guard who would get caught so he could stop them and focus on commandeering this structure that was much more like a vessel to him than anything else.

-----

"Are you really sure that is wise?" "He is... Tarantulas."

Probably not, but Rhinox felt it was the right thing to do. Besides, he reminded her politely of the chain of command even if she didn't consider herself a Maximal or part of this crew, "When Optimus isn't here, I'm in charge."

"But I know these aliens.... So I'm the better person for this task," "Unlike some people."

The rhinoceros agreed with the TransMetal tarantula.

"I won't trust him as far as I can throw him and you shouldn't either, big boy." "Very well, but I'm keeping an optic on him. I will make sure he doesn't do anything shady to your systems. Trust me. He does this all the time."

"That too!"

"No. If I see you pull anything, I'll yank you into shape," "Besides, this won't interfere with your work, so get to work.

"I won't forget this, witch."

It was like watching Dinobot and Rattrap's squabbling. Rhinox shook his head in disapproval but remained quiet since Tarantulas moved on digging around in their computer data.

"Oh," "These symbols are quite.... fascinating. Has your leader come into contact with some sort of alien technology that we weren't aware of?"

"He has... been through a lot," was all that Rhinox was willing to volunteer to the Predacon.

"All right! All right!"

The largest of those present watched Blackarachnia correct Tarantulas's misstep when he tried backing up after he was focused on a couple of the images that Optimus had involuntarily inscribed on his quarters' walls. Had he recognized them, Rhinox wondered? Just how much did Tarantulas know about these aliens...?

"It was a mistake."

"I got away from them. All of them. I beat them. Him. That's why he is after me.

"You give yourself too much credit, wench. You are easily replaced."

"Maybe, but I have knowledge you and Megatron don't want me to have or share. And that knowledge can't be replaced now,huh?"

"Pfft. This is all you have?" "With as long as you held the alien disk, I thought you Maximals would have gain some knowledge of what you are up against.

"Well then, since you know so much, tell us something useful."

"The aliens usually have a contingency just in case their planet buster didn't work. Going by the pictures your fearless leader drew, there is something familiar. Like that symbol." "I have seen this before... here. It is something that has been referred to as a Metal Hunter. I think you can guess what it is designed against and programmed to go after. The tremors we felt before.... That must have been it. The weapon must have been trying to detroy the planet's core or something. But it is interesting that they stopped. Why did they?"

"I thought you knew them personally."

"These aliens have a foreign intellect! How am I supposed to know the thoughts of moral but omnipotent beings!"

"How can we disable this Metal Hunter?" Rhinox inquired. As curious as he was about Tarantulas knowing so much about the Vok, and what secrets Blackarachnia held that might make Megatron and Tarantulas have them die with her, he refrained from asking them such questions since they were probably running out of time, and right now they needed a plan to stop the Vok and possibly Megatron and rescue the other Maximals. ...And hopefully somehow get Whitegrazer back in one piece.

"I think NOT, nooo!"

The Vok smirked as their counterattack destroyed the weapon Megatron used against them. Pieces of Whitegrazer's metal still broke apart as they made their way towards Megatron with a burning desire to rip this purple tin tyrant in half, but they despised the damages they took from their own weapon! How dare this Megatron use their weapons! How unworthy! How humiliating to be out thought by a mad Cybertronian! Whitegrazer's spirit was strong, but her body was frail. Despite their constant transformations towards this body, it is mortal, and if they get blasted more times, they would be forced to evacuate her body, taking everyone along back to Nexus Zero, forcing themselves to live this plan's failure. They couldn't fail this time! Not with the Cybertronians having access to their technology! Not again! Never again!

"This Metal Hunter... It serves as a vessel, doesn't it?"

"Yes, yes, it does. We can't allow Megatron to have it."

"I agree. Let me take over."

"What?"

"Let me take over. Let me help you all fight Megatron. You can't handle it. You are too unfocused. Unbalanced. My body, my emotions, you all are experiencing an overload of sensation. It has been awhile. Listen to me. We are on the same side here."

"No, you aren't."

"At least, at least, let me help you. Give me a chance to prove something to you all that you are all denying."

Metal hoses flew towards them almost like the vines they implemented several hours ago. They dodged the metal snakes. Left. Right. Left. Up. Right. Down. Forward. Back. They fire an orb at one of the hoses.

"You can't keep this up."

They twirled. Fired at another. Then another. "Megatron, you are only delaying the inevitable." They stared at Rattrap. "If you wish for Megatron to lose control, you will assist us." The voice came out towards Rattrap with a threatening hiss with the ongoing grunting as they fired and dodged a few more hoses. "Rattrap, if you wish for Optimus and the others to live, you WILL assist us."

One of the metal hoses wrapped around one of their arms. Another one on the other side. The other arms broke them off. They fired orbs at three more. As they saw a good vantage point, they made a dash towards Megatron. But only to spin their body, a whip of flames came at Megatron.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"When Optimus isn't here, I'm in charge."

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." Blackarachina grumbled at Rhinox.

"He has... been through a lot,"

Tarantulas didn't really expect the Maximal rhino to simply divulge any information that he might use be able to use against them. But he wondered. How did the Maximal leader get such a variety of images? Hmmm... He was beginning to think that Optimus got this information from an alien, or at close proximity. Taratulas continued to stare at the half-Cybertronian, half-skeleton face. It gnawed at him. Who was this? He needed to know!

He pointed one of hi fingers at the image, "Do you have any information on this image? Where did you see this? Who is it?"

Rhinox wasn't going to tell him much. He knew that, but despite how vague, he might be able to pick up pieces of the truth.

"How can we disable this Metal Hunter?"

"With this!" Tarantulas pulled out a vial from one of his subspace pockets. Blackarachnia didn't like how fast he did it, believing it to be a weapon at first. Her hand caught his own wrist. "Let go of me! It's not a weapon. Against you anyway."

Blackarachnia let go, "Then explain."

"I have known for some time that the aliens would be plotting our destruction. So I had been working on this program to help in defeating this.. Metal Hunter. It is like a virus. It would infect the station and might cause it self-destruct. But I'm missing one key component." Taratulas smirked at the Rhino, "You remember my virus that I infected you a year ago. That drained your energon supply? You Maximal must have some some sort of schematic. I would had, but Megatron... destroyed my data because of that.... humiliating failure." Tarantulas looked away, grumbling as he remembered his own humiliation at being squished by a boulder and punched in the face.