The Intergalactic Highway

DarkSpark wrote:"Well my dear, I would have to run a diagnostic to be certain, but given my experience in reprogramming other Cybertronians, it should be simple for me to ascertain what's gone wrong with your own programming and fix it. For example, I could design a new operating system that would enable you to balance out the conflicting emotions of the multiple personalities you appear to be exhibiting, assuming of course my theory concerning your defect is indeed correct, yes? If so, then upon completion you'd be your own individual at long last, as opposed to many in one. As for the ship, if you can even call it that, I can repair it, but I'll need equipment that cannot be found here at the base. Long ago our "brilliant leader" Megatron allowed the Maximals to ransack the DarkSyde for the parts they needed to make their own ship fly again, short-lived though it was, and thus the parts I would need to get your own ship airborne again can only be found at their base. A difficult mission to be sure, but not impossible if undertaken by two like minded spiders with a common purpose in mind. I heal you, you aid me, not Blackarachnia"

Arachnitron was thoughtful for a moment. She had always assumed there was no cure for her affliction. If there were, the Predacon scientists would surely have implemented one before things got too out of control like it had with the other test subjects. But she had to admit that what he said made sense. It probably could work. She wondered why no one had thought to try that earlier. Though she was still frightened of becoming another experiment, she was intrigued by the other spider's proposition. She tried to imagine what life would be like if she were always in control of her body instead of having to share the body with the others. He was confident, but could he really do it? Or was he just like every other Predacon? Most of the time, Preds were confident and boastful, but often couldn't do what they said they could. Would he be the same? Was he overestimating his abilities?

Forgetting her fear, she unfolded her arms and holstered her weapon. She stepped in closer to Tarantulas eager to learn more of his idea. She lowered her voice before answering shamefully, "Your suspicions are correct. There are three of us: Predacon, Maximal and myself. I am....something in between. My alters call me Hybrid."

Inside her mind, the Predacon programming was angry. "HYBRID!! You must stop this foolishness at once!!" she shouted.

"Perhaps I can convince her of the spider's deceit," the Maximal programming offered.

"Don't be ridiculous! I don't need your help!" the Predacon snapped.

But the Hybrid ignored all of this. She took Tarantulas' bait. His voice was kind and non-threatening. She believed he would really help her and she was anxious to be rid of the constant bickering inside of her mind. If his cure worked, this could be the escape she needed from the Predacon programming. "I'm not sure there's time for a full diagnostic," she warned him. "I don't have much time before one of the others will try to regain control and sabotage the mission. I can feel them fighting me already. I have no control over the switch. The Predacon does and she is cunning, angry and aggressive. She would likely warn Blackarachnia of your treachery who would, in return, leave you behind. If the planet blows, so would you. The Predacon programming would see to it. If I agree to your terms, we'd have to act quickly to find a way to hold off my other personalities." She looked away from him and lowered her gaze to the ground before adding sheepishly. "Not to mention the other....glitch....I've failed to mention....one that is far worse than the wrath of the Predacon programming."

Arachnitron was telling the truth. The Predacon was seeing that she made quite a mistake trusting the Hybrid with this task. The Hybrid was easily influenced and gullible. The Predacon was attempting to regain control of the body, but the Hybrid was tenacious. She couldn't let that happen...not when a possible end to the torment was so close. But if she fought back, she would risk having "the rage" return again like it had when the Predacons had infiltrated the Axalon in attempts to "rescue" Arachnitron from what they perceived as her captors.

((OOC: You guys ever get an idea that sounds really good at the time you just place it in motion then you realized after thinking about it for a couple of days that you may haven't done it as good as it sounded in your head or it is not as cool? XD Well, I'm having that now. *headdesk* Oh well. XD Apologizes for the OOC and now, out-of-place, random post that you are about to read. *facepalm* I was trying something and my execution wasn't great, but I'm just glad it just affects me and not you guys. So, if any of you is confused, my fault! Just go along with it and...well, carry on. XDDD

Also, I forgot to mention this, Yay! Nemesis is free. Finally. XDDD Though, poor Valkryie. =( That was a great post! =D

And a final note, this post should be okay since I'm not really doing anything because nothing is being accomplished except internal stuff here. But if I need to delete this, I will.))

Whitegrazer, you okay?

Shock was written all over her face. It wasn't shock over her comrades' words nor the idea that she herself believed she was in the right because...she knew what she did was wrong and uncalled for.

This was a horrified shock at herself. She knew because of her beast mode and her experiences, she always stared completely at other people, watching their body language and adding to the fact that, being a horse, whose species relies on that certain attribute, she knew she had to keep herself in check before she scorn someone for doing a movement which was disrespectable. Yes, she was thinking their movements were just that but she never ever lashed out like that before. She always kept herself controlled and balanced, talking to the others towards them. Of course, even then, they were mistaking her very intentions. It wasn't them voicing their opinions, but the way they presented themselves that flared her up. Their lack of support for their leader's decisions when they all needed to be together on this.

But like Optimus said, she still overstepped her bounds...and it was not like her to...

Hey!

There was a strange tug on her spark. Because of her developing connection with Optimus, she looked at him, but...it wasn't from him nor was it her master who was yelling at her to answer him.

Then it tightened like a snake gripping its prey, squeezing it.

Something or someone was messing with her.

Whitegrazer! Wake up!

M-master...sorry, yes?

What happened?

I felt something, someone familiar. I think-

The alarm from their base made her snap back into reality, which she felt she was already apart of or she thought she was. The shock on her face changed to surprise and confusion with her body out of sync, numbed.

She wanted to do something, say something, but she wouldn't-no, she couldn't.

There was a static ringing in her audiotory sensors and a whirring sound pained her head masked as a low, growling noise before it became a voice inside her spark.

Death draws near.

((OOC: Yay, weird post. You guys will be getting this alot from what I'm going for. XDD ))
______________________________________________________________________

((OOC: I guess so, Darkspark. Though, that was fun! ))

Blackarachnia crawled through the vents, looking over herself to make sure those buggers still weren't following her. If they still weren't following her, Blackarachnia followed the tunnel to her room and entered. She let out a sigh being in her own little space and transformed. As she was going to get the generator she created, she noticed that her room was a bit messy. Narrowing her optics, she scanned the room. She scanned it for bugs or cameras. Maybe someone came in her room while she was gone and planted something to listen in or spy on her. But it seemed nothing was there.

Placing the device inside her back compartment, turning towards a long compartment that appeared beaten and broken, she walked towards it and widened her optics.

That creature she had gotten from the cave weeks ago was gone...

Because of its organic matter and metallic properties which were foreign, tracking it would be impossible.

She will have to deal with it later. After all, the planet wasn't going to last any longer. Back to her beast mode, she crawled back in the vents.

She was going to take the long way back. If she saw any of those little arachnoids soon, she was going to freak out and destroy them.

Frilla glanced towards Whitegrazer, a little surprised she had spoken up like she did but the frilled lizard didn't say anything. Optimus and Aurora seemed to make it clear that had been a little much so she just joined the others in going inside. She really didn't trust Starshadow still, especially with how the panther acted a lot which made her feel suspicious as some. Though Wintersong's remarks made her wonder if maybe the white tigress has a second motive in the offer.

Her thoughts however were interrupted by the sudden alarm of the intruder and it made her look over in wonder. Had someone snuck in while they weren't looking or had one of the prisoner's really escaped and how?

Meanwhile Feralnight had merely gone in with the others when she lacked much to say on the subject. Least it was something to think about, other then her own troubled thoughts the last couple days. Sadly though the sound of the intruder made her glance towards the flashing red lights and hurrying to check the security cams and figure out what was going on.

Flickering through the halls and rooms the fuzor started to check the ones in the brig and tapped in shock at the sight. What was left of Valkyrie'sbody lied in a twisted heap of one of the cells, and it was going to be another hard blow."Optimus Sonar or Nemesis has escaped and Valkyrie was...she's in one of the cells but I'm afraid she's gone sir."She called over looking towards the others.

(Ooc: as far as I could tell from New Moon's post, Feralknight was not wandering the base by herself but rather flicking through monitor images from the different cameras around the base. Alak, Mystrea?)

Aurora followed the others inside, only to stop in her tracks as she heard the alarms. What was going on?

She took note of the other fuzor studying the camera inputs and made her way over to her fellow Maximal. The images flickering on the screen were quite disturbing, showing the mangled remains of the avian Maximal female.

Shuddering, Aurora looked over at the more experienced Maximals. "We definitely have a situation here. One of the brig cells is open, looks like whoever was there is nowhere near the brig now."

Blackrosefencer wrote: Arachnitron was thoughtful for a moment. She had always assumed there was no cure for her affliction. If there were, the Predacon scientists would surely have implemented one before things got too out of control like it had with the other test subjects. But she had to admit that what he said made sense. It probably could work. She wondered why no one had thought to try that earlier. Though she was still frightened of becoming another experiment, she was intrigued by the other spider's proposition. She tried to imagine what life would be like if she were always in control of her body instead of having to share the body with the others. He was confident, but could he really do it? Or was he just like every other Predacon? Most of the time, Preds were confident and boastful, but often couldn't do what they said they could. Would he be the same? Was he overestimating his abilities?

Forgetting her fear, she unfolded her arms and holstered her weapon. She stepped in closer to Tarantulas eager to learn more of his idea. She lowered her voice before answering shamefully, "Your suspicions are correct. There are three of us: Predacon, Maximal and myself. I am....something in between. My alters call me Hybrid."

"BWAHAHAHAHA! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" Tarantulas cackled madly within the privacy of his own twisted mind, more than pleased that his suspicions about the second she spider were indeed true, and that he's successfully maneuvered her into giving away her deepest, darkest secret so that he could now use it to his advantage.

He still had to be careful though, her description of herself and her affliction jogged his memory of the experiment she'd been born from, a fascinating yet ultimately foolish and futile experiment that had been conducted by predacon scientists seeking to combine Predacon and Maximal programming together to create an entity who'd be as cold and ruthless as any predacon, but as loyal and easy to manipulate as Maximals tended to be, the perfect soldier...Also, a pipe dream, the experiment had failed utterly and resulted in much more trouble for the Tripredacus Council than it had been worth, causing them to scrap the project before the Maximals or anyone else caught wind of it.

He placed a reassuring pincer on her shoulder and said "Admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it, you've made the right choice Arachnitron. We'll get through this together, and be better for it."

Blackrosefencer wrote: Inside her mind, the Predacon programming was angry. "HYBRID!! You must stop this foolishness at once!!" she shouted.

"Perhaps I can convince her of the spider's deceit," the Maximal programming offered.

"Don't be ridiculous! I don't need your help!" the Predacon snapped.

But the Hybrid ignored all of this. She took Tarantulas' bait. His voice was kind and non-threatening. She believed he would really help her and she was anxious to be rid of the constant bickering inside of her mind. If his cure worked, this could be the escape she needed from the Predacon programming. "I'm not sure there's time for a full diagnostic," she warned him. "I don't have much time before one of the others will try to regain control and sabotage the mission. I can feel them fighting me already. I have no control over the switch. The Predacon does and she is cunning, angry and aggressive. She would likely warn Blackarachnia of your treachery who would, in return, leave you behind. If the planet blows, so would you. The Predacon programming would see to it. If I agree to your terms, we'd have to act quickly to find a way to hold off my other personalities." She looked away from him and lowered her gaze to the ground before adding sheepishly. "Not to mention the other....glitch....I've failed to mention....one that is far worse than the wrath of the Predacon programming."

Arachnitron was telling the truth. The Predacon was seeing that she made quite a mistake trusting the Hybrid with this task. The Hybrid was easily influenced and gullible. The Predacon was attempting to regain control of the body, but the Hybrid was tenacious. She couldn't let that happen...not when a possible end to the torment was so close. But if she fought back, she would risk having "the rage" return again like it had when the Predacons had infiltrated the Axalon in attempts to "rescue" Arachnitron from what they perceived as her captors.

He listened intently to every word she said, continuing to play the role of the benign doctor, while privately assessing the possible threat she posed to his plans along with the benefits she could provide him. She wasn't acting, she really was an entirely different person from the Con he had dealt with before, and genuinely feared losing control of herself again, desperate for any means of ending her tortured existence, even trusting in him...How convenient for him he thought with smug satisfaction.

"Tell me of this second glitch quickly then, the time for keeping secrets is over if I am to help you, my lair's safeguards will not delay Blackarachnia forever if they fail to destroy her, and I have no desire to do battle with your less cooperative personalities, the predacon alone will seek my destruction now that I know the truth. Once I know the full scope of your defects, and with your permission, I can access your shell program and install an inhibitor chip that will enable you to suppress and contain your unwanted split personalities and maintain the one you have now, similar to how one would replace a Maximal programming chip with a Predacon one to change the affiliation of a protoform. It is not a permanent fix, but as you said our time is short and the stakes are too high to leave things up to chance. Once we've repaired your ship and escaped this rock, I'll have all the time I need to run a proper diagnostic on your systems and cure you of your affliction. It can be done my dear, you just need to trust in my considerable skills as well as my need for a trustworthy ally who won't shoot me in the back when I'm not looking" Tarantulas explained, hoping this would be enough to put to rest his new "partner's" lingering doubts so he could secure her as his new pawn and move out.


OOC: Thanks Una, glad the arachnoids were fun opponents! At any rate, I just want to give everyone a heads up that I won't be around this weekend since I'll be attending a 3 day long anime convention starting Friday, so I won't be able to post anything until I return & rest up. So if ya don't hear from me during that time, you'll all know why, sorry for the inconvenience.

Ironclaw was about to step off the lift when he heard he alarms go off. 'An intruder?' he thought as he looked around the others. He transformed and moved past the others. He stood beside Aurora to look at the monitors. Ironclaw put his hand on her shoulder once he saw what was on the screen, to reassure her more than anything.
Ironclaw squeezed her shoulder a bit then moved on towards the corridors, he didn't go searching but he was ready to go.

((OOC: Aw snap. The waiter becomes the waitee. I shall post... although I'm not entirely sure what to do with Rhinox...))

The sound of the ship's alarm resonated throughout the hallways. Orcariner paused in his work and checked his radar. Essentially all of the Maximals were within the ship's perimeters. His apathy became evident as he resumed his construction of the coffin without so much as looking up. Should the intruder wander into the same room that Orcariner occupied, he would apprehend them without a moment's hesitation. However, there were enough bodies to go around searching for whatever Predacon had alerted Sentinel. Orcariner felt trying to become involved would not actually improve the team's success by any significant means, nor did he want to either. He was perfectly content staying where he was, working on what seemed to be the most important task for him on this planet at this time.


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


"Rhinox, Maximize!"

The officer transformed into his robot mode, taking a thundering step forward to balance his immense weight. Quickly walking towards the lift, he looked at Optimus and the others.

"Sentinel isn't going to activate its defense systems because we are still bound by that cease-fire agreement with Megatron. If that intruder leaves the ship, we might as well wave good-bye. The only way to stop that Predacon is to do it the hard way."

In the midst of the alarms going off, Nemesis had been both lucky and unlucky with her timing. She had made her escape shortly before the majority of Maximals had returned inside the base and as such it had been no great task to maneuver the corridors of the Maximal ship unnoticed by everyone aside from the alarms going off due to the cell door being left open.

Yet just as she was about to take her leave from the wretched place, she had encountered numerous Maximals on their way inside the ship through the main entrance. Fortunately they had been talking at the time so she had enough of a warning to decide on a different route of escape before anyone saw her. Or at least so she thought.

As she was climbing out of the roof hatch, she heard a surprisingly familiar voice among the arriving Maximals.

Starshadow wrote:"oh? is it the giant songbird or the annoying flying rat?"

Well then.. someone certainly didn't belong there, yet her tone was anything but stressed. Unlikely as it seemed, the thought of Starshadow being there willingly crossed Nemesis' mind. Yet a treacherous panther was the least of her concerns right now so she chose to ignore it. Judging by what Starshadow had said, it would appear that another Predacon had been keeping Nemesis company in the brig, even though the feathered Predacon had been unaware of it at the time.

Oh well. Too late to do anything about it at the moment other than report back to Megatron.

Nemesis closed the lid tightly behind her once she had fully surfaced on the roof of the Axalon. The magnificence of the breeze and the sun rising in the distance seemed quite alluring after being locked up for so long, but there would be plenty of time to enjoy such things later. For now she merely converted back to her beast form and took flight, away from the loud alarms and the Maximals hunting her.

Albeit her ultimate destination was the Predacon base, she decided to take the long route there in case she was being followed. With any luck the Maximals would be too preoccupied with their lost comrade to really attempt to pursue her now.

Inside, Aurora tried to ignore the commotion as best she could as she slid into a chair at a computer terminal and began looking through the camera images as well. Mainly she focused on the one inside the cell and in the immediate area around it. The images were quite graphic, showing a lot of the gruesome details of the remnants of Valkyrie. Aurora looked away so she wouldn't have to see the worst of it, just in time to see Ironclaw place a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiled slightly at him, ever so briefly, to show her appreciation before she clicked a few more buttons on the keyboard in front of her. The past few hours of film from that same camera popped up on the screen as they were pulled from the archive. Aurora fast forwarded the images for now, starting at the time Valkyrie first entered the cell.

"Optimus..," she gestured, nodding at the screen. She was sure the Maximal commander would want a detailed report on what had occurred in that cell when he could bring himself to it, so she made sure to save the footage for him. "We got the entire thing on tape. No sign of the other occupant of the cell now on the cameras."

DarkSpark wrote:He placed a reassuring pincer on her shoulder and said "Admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it, you've made the right choice Arachnitron. We'll get through this together, and be better for it."

Arachnitron nodded in agreement becoming more and more convinced of the sincerity of the other spider. But again her expression changed swiftly. Her expression suddenly seemed far away and distant as the Predacon, again, interrupted her train of thought.

"FOOL! I can't believe you're falling for this slag....and completely ignoring me nonetheless!! Just listen to me for one second!"

"Bullying her will not help the situation any," the Maximal warned. "Take your lead from the other Predacon regardless of the facade the hairy freak has set up for her. You have to speak gently to her. She's scared and confused by all this!"

"Shut up! Stay out of this!"

The Hybrid frowned, but she tried to ignore the Predacon and Maximal voices in her mind. She listened closely to what Tarantulas said to her.

"Tell me of this second glitch quickly then, the time for keeping secrets is over if I am to help you, my lair's safeguards will not delay Blackarachnia forever if they fail to destroy her, and I have no desire to do battle with your less cooperative personalities, the predacon alone will seek my destruction now that I know the truth. Once I know the full scope of your defects, and with your permission, I can access your shell program and install an inhibitor chip that will enable you to suppress and contain your unwanted split personalities and maintain the one you have now, similar to how one would replace a Maximal programming chip with a Predacon one to change the affiliation of a protoform. It is not a permanent fix, but as you said our time is short and the stakes are too high to leave things up to chance. Once we've repaired your ship and escaped this rock, I'll have all the time I need to run a proper diagnostic on your systems and cure you of your affliction. It can be done my dear, you just need to trust in my considerable skills as well as my need for a trustworthy ally who won't shoot me in the back when I'm not looking"

She looked away again. Tell him about the rage? She had never told anyone about it. Although the Predacon scientists were, of course, privy to the information given the fact they witnessed it first hand. But he had a point. He couldn't help her fully if she didn't tell him everything.

Without looking at Tarantulas, Arachnitron answered slowly and sullenly: "At times, the competing personalities tend to overload some of my systems. The body becomes a blank frame for a few minutes while the core computer resets itself. When that happens, I can neither see nor hear. I become mute and my core consciousness shuts down. But many of my motor functions do not shut down such as walking, running....and shooting. Herein lies the glitch."

She recalled her escape of the Predacon research facility on Cybertron. The Hybrid had been in control for a short time and had just learned that the experiment was to be shut down. She was scheduled to have her spark extracted later that day. The next thing she knew, she was standing outside of the research facility watching it burn slowly. She knew it had been "the rage" that had taken control. She referred to it as such because she often associated it with feelings of uncontrollable anger or even fear. But she knew, in truth, it didn't really have anything to do with emotions. It was a glitch in her processors....nothing more. Still, it seemed like a fitting name.

"We are dragging her in two different directions and she doesn't know who to trust anymore." the Maximal programming reasoned.

"It's all your fault! You're the one filling her head with all your Maximal slag!"

It was true. Arachnitron didn't know where to turn. Having part of both factions within her made it easy to see both sides of an argument. There never seemed to be a right or wrong answer. She longed to see the world in either black or white...instead of in shades of grey. This constant confusion was beginning to take its toll on the young bot. She was beginning to feel lost; torn between two sides. She was desperate for someone to help her make sense of all this, but the Maximal had erred on the side of caution when it came to seeking help. Instead of agreeing to any sort of modifications or programming alteration, she was content to allow the Maximals to help by offering her sanctuary and friendship. The Predacon's solution had been to lash out and pick fights. Neither solution had been effective. Arachnitron could feel her psychosis growing worse.

The constant bickering between the Maximal and Predacon programming didn't help either. She wore a pained expression as the Preadacon programming decided the time for talk was over. She was determined to do things her way. Arachnitron turned her gaze back to Tarantulas. She winced and doubled over, but she tried hard not to cry out.

"Help me," she gasped desperately. "I'll do anything."

Her optics flashed red as the Predacon regained control. She reached out and grabbed onto one of Tarantulas' arms. Her expression was filled with anger and hatred. "Stay away from the Hybrid," she commanded darkly. But her presence was short lived.

Almost as soon as she had regained control, the Hybrid was back again whimpering in pain. "Please," she begged again sobbing. "I can't take it anymore! I want them out of my head!"

(( OOC: Hm. No one wasn't really given the opportunity to "hunt" Nemesis, which kind of changes the orders I had in mind. Oh well. Not going to waste anyone's time with that now. She was meant to escape anyway. Moving on. ))

"If there were fleas, Wintersong. That proves you didn't shower for a month."

Well, at least Starshadow had a sense of humor and some wit. For a moment, he wondered she and Wintersong would "get along" much like Rattrap and Dinobot. Now, that would be an accomplishment all of its own!

"Ever heard of a-", "ugh...nevermind.."

Optimus narrowed an eye at Starshadow, briefly, until she stopped herself.

"It's not like he's going to shoot himself or anyone with it. He can take it as a token of apology.." "Ahh much better.."

Growling ever so faintly at the panther's continued debate, although it should have been more directed toward Ironclaw, the alarm sounding from inside the Axalon captured Primal's attention in a sparkbeat. Immediately he entered the base (with whoever else) and assessed the situation. Something was making him fear the worst. Was it something Whitegrazer was detecting and he could feel it too? Or was it his own instinct?

"Maximize!" the leader exclaimed and converted to his robot, ready to defend his crew and his territory.

"oh? is it the giant songbird or the annoying flying rat?"

Over hearing Starshadow, Optimus had hoped it was Sonar, but things were about to get worse than he would have liked to have imagined. Feralnight was the first to declare it as she had hurried to the monitors and pulled up the video feed from the brig's security cameras.

"Optimus Sonar or Nemesis has escaped and Valkyrie was...she's in one of the cells but I'm afraid she's gone sir."

Stepping quickly over to Feralnight, the Commander's face was full of despair and horror at first. Then, the longer he studied Valkyrie's body on the screem, or what could still be recognized of it, the more rage and guilt was beginning to errupt within him. "ARRRRGH, NOOO!" hollered Optimus as he lifted his fist and slammed it down so hard on a nearby console that his strength twisted the metal panel, smashed the buttons and controls, and snapped wires which began randomly sparking through the descimated cover. Another Maximal lost?! This wasn't happening. He knew that was the cell Nemesis was in; she did this to Valkyrie. But why was Valkyrie there in the first place? Why had she disobeyed his orders? How was Nemesis able to use her nanites the way it had appeared? It should have been too cold for that. WHY?! Although everything pointed to the former Decepticon, Optimus met himself at a crossroad of emotions. As angry and sad as he was, he couldn't blame this on Nemesis. Not after what she had told him. She couldn't control them. If she could, everyone, including Megatron, would be in a lot of trouble with her running around loose. No, this was his fault. He should have never had held her prisoner. Another death of a crew member on his conscience.

No. NO! First Icebreaker, and now Valkyrie? And Nightmist. NO! Suddenly everything began cascading inside, swirling in confusion and grief. Taking a step back, almost stumbling, Optimus held his hand to his forehead and tried keeping himself together. For the sake of the rest of his Maximals, he couldn't fall apart. No matter how much it hurt, how much it weighed on his shoulders, how much they might be wondering who's next and his ability to lead at all by this point, he couldn't afford to break down in front of them. Suppressing his deepest sorrow and holding back the tears of frustration and loss, Primal lowered his hand and took a deep breath.

Following everyone else into the base, Rattrap gasped at everything that was happening and quickly maximized. Val was... dead? How was even possible?! As angry and upset as Optimus appeared to be, watching him bust the junk out of that console with just one swipe, the Maximal Spy felt the same way. They had lost too many Maximals now, too many friends. Immediately he wanted to know how this happened. He wanted to investigate. But first, he reached over and disengaged Sentinel's looping alarm message, but left the red flashing emergency lights on so everyone knew that there was still a situation.

"We definitely have a situation here. One of the brig cells is open, looks like whoever was there is nowhere near the brig now."

"Nemesis," muttered Optimus. Looking over at the rat now in robot mode, he simply said, "Rattrap," and made a gesture with his head toward the scanners.

Nodding, Rattrap knew exactly what to do and sat down at the console that provided their ability for internal and external signature detections of the Axalon.

Glancing at Ironclaw as he assured Aurora and then moved toward the corridor entrance, Optimus said rather coldly, "Hold on a moment, Ironclaw," in case he was tempted to keep moving. The icy tone was not meant to be directed at the badger, but it was the warmest he could make it while speaking to anyone right now.

"Sentinel isn't going to activate its defense systems because we are still bound by that cease-fire agreement with Megatron. If that intruder leaves the ship, we might as well wave good-bye. The only way to stop that Predacon is to do it the hard way."

Listening to Rhinox, Primal wasn't so sure he wanted to chase their escaped prisoner at all. Why continue to hold her there if this could happen again? And lose another Maximal? Would the trouble really be worth it to track her down and recapture her? On the other hand, he knew many of them would like justice to be sought and provided. However, they couldn't understand that this was not entirely Nemesis' fault. Much like Nightmist's death. Even Icebreaker's might have been accidental but Optimus didn't have all of the facts on that yet either. Still, because they were all his responsibility, only he could take blame for their lives' lost. Anyway, even if they did chase her down, would she uphold the cease-fire, assuming she'd even take their word for it? Was Nemesis more of a rogue like Starshadow and thought that the truce wouldn't apply to her either? Why risk it? Just let her go.

"Optimus..," "We got the entire thing on tape. No sign of the other occupant of the cell now on the cameras."

The whole thing? Optimus didn't want her viewing that but it seemed as though it was too late.

"I got a read on her signature," Rattrap announced. "She's already gone, airborne toward the Pred base," he explained, glaring at Nemesis's beeping signal that was already almost out of range. Turning around in the chair, Rattrap faced the others to see what was next. "Sonar's still locked up in the brig. Stripes an' Orcariner are in the infirmary," he added quickly.

After focusing on Rattrap, Primal's gaze thoughtfully fell to the floor for a moment as a hundred things flew around inside his mind all at once. He was relieved that Sonar hadn't escaped, but also that Orcariner and Tigatron appeared to have been safe through the whole ordeal. "Rattrap, take over the camera footage from the brig and Nemsis's cell. I want to know exactly what happened," he said firmly, lifting his red optics to meet his. With the threat gone, now it was time to clean up and secure the ship.

Nodding, the demolition expert stood up and walked over to Aurora and Feralnight, tapping on the ermine Fuzor's shoulder and signaling her to get out of his new seat. "Move over, chica," he said with a lighter tone. A lot lighter than their leader's, anyway. "Let me show ya how a pro gets it done." With a trained eye, he'd be able to pick up some things that might be accidentally overlooked by someone else. He still welcomed their help, though. The more eyes the less likely they'd miss anything.

"Cheetor, Dinobot, Ironclaw. Split up and do a quick sweep of the base, and check on Saber-Fang. Make sure Nemesis didn't damage anything else," Optimus ordered them.

"Rhinox, you're with me; we'll cover the brig." He didn't want anyone but him and Rhinox near Valkyrie's body, just in case there were nanites left on it that might cause harm to anyone else careless about taking precautions. "The rest of you, stay here." With one quick but stern look at all of them, enforcing his current attitude so hopefully no one would disobey him this time, Primal turned and walked toward the corridor.

(( OOC: I'll leave it there with OP in case anyone wants to argue with him about chasing after Nemesis and making her pay for what she did. If not, then I'll move him forward to the brig and he and Rhinox will move her body to the medical bay and keep it confined and secured from curious eyes and hands. And then hopefully after all of this, we can move on to the debriefing and get all of that squared away.

I'm not sure what to do with Tigatron right now, and it's getting too late for me to add more to this, so if you want to move on with things, Alak, be my guest. I'll catch up. ))

Starshadow stepped out of the lift and looked around, "could use a femme's touch."

ARRRRGH, NOOO!

She nearly jumped from the sudden burst of anger. Who was the one who escaped?

I got a read on her signature, Sonar's still locked up in the brig. Stripes an' Orcariner are in the infirmary

So it was Nemesis. Good thing Sonar didn't escape if he could, she couldn't wait for the day of tormenting the slag out of him.

The rest of you, stay here.

"Whatever you say boss.." she walked to a corner and lay her belly on the floor.


Cecaelia walked to the bridge. Most of the predacons are around except for Starshadow and Glowstick, "Glowstick-kuuuuuuuuuunnn~"

When Airazor heard the alarm she jumped up, startled by the noise. She had been falling asleep in her chair when the escape happened. Everyone had finally made their way into the Axalon but with the red lights flashing and alarm sounding, the whole scene was chaos instead of organization. The falcon looked around desperately to try and find TIgatron. Perhaps he would understand what was going on and protect her from the intruder. Alas, he was no where to be found. She did spot the security camera which Feralnight had brought up however, and her spark dropped.

"Optimus Sonar or Nemesis has escaped and Valkyrie was...she's in one of the cells but I'm afraid she's gone sir."

Another Maximal had fallen. That was the third one in a short period of time. She suddenly felt very alone, even in the busy command center. She had almost no real friends in this war besides Tigatron and if she were to ever lose him... she simply wouldn't know what to do with herself. Even though they were all made of steel and metal they were far from invincible. Even the repair chamber couldn't always fix them if they were too far gone. Life was simply too fragile and could be taken without a moments notice. She or any of her comrades could die tomorrow without ever having a chance to say goodbye. It just didn't seem fair!

Taking a step back, Airazor sunk back into her chair and covered her face with her hands. This day had simply been too much for her to handle. Perhaps it was the exhaustion mixed with grief which made her more emotional then usual. She knew that she needed to fight if she were to stay alive and while she had every plan to do so... that didn't protect her loved ones when she wasn't around. Where was Tigatron anyway? What if he was next to fall victim to Nemesis? Airazor could only hope that he was safe as she was helpless to protect him at the moment. Tears fell down her face before she could stop them and she quietly sobbed to herself. Her only wish now was that no one would notice her at the back of the room. She wasn't sure if she could take the embarrassment.



With his wings beating at full speed, the Mantis covered a large amount of ground in a short period of time. He flew as if his life depended on it, his limbs bent backwards at an aerodynamic angle. The only thing slowing him down was a backpack which was bursting at the seams with assorted objects. He had been flying for half an hour and was sure that he'd be reaching his destination soon. He had a new plan on how to take over the world and all he needed was this backpack and one key device which he just so happened to own...

...an intact stasis pod!

At last, he found his prize. A larger smile crept over his already smiling face. In his excitement, he burst forward with renewed speed and vigor. This would end the beast wars once and for all! He would finally get his revenge on Optimus Primal and decapitate everyone else who got in his way! Stopping quickly, the insect dropped to the ground in front of the pod and unstrapped his backpack. Pushing the zipper off, he dumped its contents next to him and got to work. He had much to do, but this ceasefire would give him all the time he needed to build his warmachine!

Whitegrazer had to shake herself multiple times to regain back her regular posture. Trying not to be shaken from such an attack that lingered, that voice that called to her wasn't foreign, but it's whispers were still repeating what it had said earlier like a sour, musical note plucking the strings resonating inside her soul. And as she joined the others, wanting to know what was going on, it was then she realized that what had transpired with her was a foreshadowing to what happened besides the other reasons she knew that caused her that out of nowhere compulsation.

"Death..."

Stepping quickly over to Feralnight, the Commander's face was full of despair and horror at first. Then, the longer he studied Valkyrie's body on the screem, or what could still be recognized of it, the more rage and guilt was beginning to errupt within him. "ARRRRGH, NOOO!" hollered Optimus as he lifted his fist and slammed it down so hard on a nearby console that his strength twisted the metal panel, smashed the buttons and controls, and snapped wires which began randomly sparking through the descimated cover. Another Maximal lost?! This wasn't happening. He knew that was the cell Nemesis was in; she did this to Valkyrie. But why was Valkyrie there in the first place? Why had she disobeyed his orders? How was Nemesis able to use her nanites the way it had appeared? It should have been too cold for that. WHY?! Although everything pointed to the former Decepticon, Optimus met himself at a crossroad of emotions. As angry and sad as he was, he couldn't blame this on Nemesis. Not after what she had told him. She couldn't control them. If she could, everyone, including Megatron, would be in a lot of trouble with her running around loose. No, this was his fault. He should have never had held her prisoner. Another death of a crew member on his conscience.

She had felt Optimus' swarming emotions, watching as his fist came upon the console without even flinching at the display as the fist he used to damage the console was the same moment the striking pain in her hand appeared. Her solemn expression hid sorrow at the fact that another one of their comrades has perished, erasing the thought of Nemesis' involvement to the fact that Valkryie seemed to have acted on her own, disobeying the orders that Optimus gave everyone to not open or enter that cell with Nemesis. Questioning why Valkyrie would do such a reckless move was something they wouldn't be able asking her, but the idea of her going inside made it even worse as if Valkyrie didn't take the risk, she wouldn't be dead now. And those type of deaths were...harder. A comrade is dead because of not obeying orders and her death despite Nemesis being there was indirectly her fault, but Valkyrie was being strange days before. Maybe something was going on that she didn't notice? She hardly saw her lately, but put it out that towards her duties or enjoying nature like Airazor and Tigratron always did. Despite that, she felt something odd with Valkyrie. Now, she probably will never know. Explanation was needed even though it won't bring back their comrade, but it would probably give them closure over the events that transpired.

Her spark was pulsing harshly from all the chaos before she had dimmed her optics, meditating standing up until Optimus was giving out orders, a sternness in his voice much like her own back in the front of the Axalon. All she did was nod in obedience yet in her spark behind her unwavering stature with a hand placed over chest plate, she was reaching out through their ever growing strong connection. It was her way of giving him some of her strength to help him in this dark time, hoping to try and soothe him anyway she can. He, like every other person here, needed support and she was going to give it just like she was giving it to her comrades.

Maybe when they get a chance to talk in private after she explains herself with her little outing and what happened back there, she could lend a shoulder to him and fix that opened wound...that was driving her nuts. She noticed Airazor in the back, hiding from everyone. Everyone was going to need time, but they all shouldn't hide as they were all feeling the same grief.

All she could do at this moment was stand in silence for another lost comrade, giving Valkryie the same thing she gave Icebreaker words of her passage to the Matrix.

After coming into the Axalon with the others Wintersong was a little shocked to hear Valkyrie was gone, and it was strange to hear that of all people she had disobeyed orders by Optimus and now that accounted for two Maximals dead in a very short time. It was a little spark-breaking to know they had already lost several friends so quickly and now it seemed to be weighing heavily on Optimus' shoulders by the reaction he gave. Unfortunately there was very little they could do for the moment until something else came up or Optimus said otherwise.

Sighing the tigress transformed to her robot mode, feeling the grief and frustration in her spark that they couldn't do much else but wait and watch for the Predacons to make another move or that they were given new orders. Quite frankly Wintersong wanted to just take a long run and have a break from the Axalon after such a long day, but as she sank into the nearest seat and looked at the monitor it seemed another day was already starting. But it wasn't going to be a better one at this rate, but only a reminder two others Maximals wouldn't see the light of day once more. Another dark reminder just how bad war could get.

'This was more then I really bargained for when thinking of helping in some war that might happen, now I really wonder if I should reconsider that military career.'She thought as Wintersong rested her head in the palm of her hand, her elbow on the edge of the console.

((OOC: Sorry for the extended absence. Does anyone know where Wildfire is? I thought he'd want Megatron to address the Predacons.))

When Dinobot arrived on the bridge and finally heard of Valkryie's death, he retired into his own thoughts, standing still and silent in spite of the loud warning calls and the rotating spectacle of red lights.

Because of Dinobot's tendency to think of strategy, the truce called between the Maximals and Predacons had been in the back of his processor ever since he'd heard it'd been called.

So while he didn't dare say it loud, he couldn't help but notice the horrible irony in the fact that the Maximals had lost their highest total number of comrades so far while the ceasefire had been in place.

It wasn't Optimus' fault, of course. Optimus was still returning from the meeting with Megatron where the truce had been called when Steelclaw had shot Icebreaker, so only the leaders knew of the agreement at that time.

And Dinobot had his doubts Nemesis had ever been told of the truce in the first place. Perhaps in that one detail, the crew had failed Valkyrie. But then, Dinobot had his doubts that Nemesis would have cared. If one is looking to escape from enemy custody, how can one afford to honor a ceasefire?

Dinobot was brought back to the situation at hand when the warning sounds stopped. He looked to a control panel and noticed that Rattrap had deactivated them.

Rattrap wrote:I got a read on her signature. She's already gone, airborne toward the Pred base.

Dinobot's tapped one of his claws on the floor nervously; did they really have a chance of getting her now?

For Cheetor, who had reacted to the deaths of Nightmist and Icebreaker by being left completely speechless, things were getting almost... surreal. There just wasn't such a thing as safety anymore. For all he knew, they weren't going to win the war. For all he knew, he could be next. And these 'bots on the other side- they really did want to kill. What did that even mean? What did that feel like?

The whole situation got even weirder when he noticed Airazor in back of the bridge, now covered in a red beam, now just visible in the room's standard lighting, with her face buried in her hands, crying. Airazor didn't cry. It made things seem even worse than he had just been thinking they were.

He didn't have any idea what he would do about it, but he stepped closer and then spoke her name tentatively. "...Airazor?" How are you seeing the world right now? Do you get as scared as I do? Do you know why you're crying, and I do I have any chance of fixing the reason?

Optimus Primal wrote:Cheetor, Dinobot, Ironclaw. Split up and do a quick sweep of the base, and check on Saber-Fang. Make sure Nemesis didn't damage anything else.

Dinobot hesitated. They might still be able to catch Nemesis. But Optimus must have already considered that idea, so why was he not acting on it? Perhaps the truce really did make apprehending her impossible.

He nodded and transformed to battle mode with his standard roar, then headed for the hallway.