The Intergalactic Highway

Umbra wrote: Well that doesn't surprise me in the least. To be honest, I found the Maximals to be abnormally violent compared to what I'm typically used to.. or what I little I remember in those regards

Onyx wrote:"There seemed something making them act in such a way if you ask me. They have been fairly okay bots."

Nemesis tilted her head as she eyed Onyx in silence. The black stallion had always seemed a bit soft for a Predacon, often wandering off on his own for a few hours and seemingly hesitating when in a battle situation. She had seen him do the latter during their little confrontation with the Maximals earlier. Cowardice some might call it but her impression was that it wasn't fear as much as indecision that caused the male to act this way.

Was it wise to risk Megatron's wrath by flirting with fate? Probably not. The Predacon commander had been known to enforce loyalty through acts of cruelty in the past. His willingness to go to any lengths to achieve his goals along with his devious nature was what held this motley crew of Predacons together. In essence Megatron and Optimus were polar opposites, where one ruled by tyranny while the other by caring and companionship to the point of being flawed. Not much had changed since the days of the old.

Yet at the same time Megatron was facing the exact same worries the rest of them were at the moment so it would almost seem that Onyx had little to fear in the form of retaliation. At least for now. For moments after the black stallion declared sympathy for the Maximals, he excused himself and left the base. Now. In the middle of a potential crisis that could kill them all.

Although finding him foolish for leaving, the avian female made no attempt to stop him. If Onyx wanted to take his chances against that alien weapon by himself, so be it.

Returning her attention to Umbra, an almost playful grin appeared on her face. This creature referred to himself as a cyberninja, a mercenary for hire judging by his description. It was not too different from what Nemesis had done in the past. She had left a trail of mech fluid behind before slinking back into the darkness from which she came, yet infamous as her stories had grown she herself remained secluded.. a mere shadow in the wake of violence, destruction, and death.

"Impressive resume," she responded to Umbra while finishing her drink. "Pay no heed to those barren Maximals. I'm sure we can find some use for you. That is.. if you're half as good as you claim."

She tilted her head at him, the grin fading to an almost innocent smile. A moment later she dropped to the ground, swinging her leg out against Umbra's knees with enough force to knock even a much larger bot off balance yet not hard enough to cause any serious damage. She quickly followed up with a blow to the upper chest should the newcomer attempt to regain his balance before falling. As he went down, she moved almost gracefully on top of him, settling on top of his chest with one knee planted on either side of his neck and her sai poking his forehead in a playful manner.

(ooc: I kinda gathered the action was taking place around the bridge area. I changed my original post a bit to give the spiders more time to do their thing.)

Ironclaw heard th sounds of battle die down. Rhinox must have been taken down by the spiders. He started to wonder whether it was a bad decision to not engage the Predacons. He wasn't much of a soldier, he doubted he would of much use. Some day that might change.
The very next moment he felt Wintersong fall away from his hand, at the same time eminating a growl in pain. As her tail slipped away from his arm he took hold of it and wrapped it around his wrist. He pulled on her tail and managed to get a grip on her waist. Now he lifted her around the corner, drawing her close to him and avoiding the spiders. She didn't weigh that much, however she went limp, almost falling on him. Ironclaw kept her upright and tilted her head up to face him. Her optics were offline. 'She must be in stasis lock' he thought, taking a quick glance towards the bridge. The spiders had yet to follow him. He wanted revenge for what they did to Wintersong, but he knew better than that. He threw her arms around his neck and put his arm under her legs to support her. Creeping away he decided to take Wintersong away from the bridge. It wasn't safe and he wouldn't be able to get her into a CR chamber. He'd have to come back for the others later.
Ironclaw carried Wintersong to the cargo bay and stopped to check on her. He needed help. He opened a com channel and spoke into his wrist. "Are there any Maximals outside the Axalon? Repeat, are there any Maximals outside the Axalon?" he waited for a moment before activating the cargo bay lift to exit the base.

Venatrix nodded at Megatron, and moved her head to the viewscreen he was keeping an obvious eye on, as it showed the transformed moon.
"What ever comes next will either destroy us all, or make us stronger.
And to be completely honest, i really hope it'll be the latter of the 2 options."

It wasn't fear she felt and showed, as if she would be destroyed, she would face the end with pride and honor.
Then her sight focused on Nemesis as she attacked the newcomer.
She smirked and quickly moved towards the action.
"My dear Nemesis. It looks like you are enjoying yourself way to much."

She didn't spent a second longer watching the skirmish and walked past Nemesis and Onyx.
"If you are done with him and still looking to test someone's skills in battle, you be sure to look me up.
It looks like we will have some time to kill before all hell breaks lose."
She moved her right hand up, and lifted her index finger to her lips and retracted her claw before licking it while grinning at Nemesis.
She wanted to have a match with the Predacon bird ever since she knew her.
Her expectation of such a match where higher then with any of the other Predacons.
It would become more like a dance then a brawl she imagined with joy.

The black female walked out of the bridge towards the exit of the Darkside, where she planned on doing some mild exercises to spend the time.
Loading a single program which lets her fight an avatar of her idol, Dinobot, in hand to hand combat.
To those who where watching her, she seemed to fight an invisible opponent, or simply "shadowboxing".

((OOC: ))

"Must... stay..."

Blackarachnia snickered as the green giant went down. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Now, that left the white kitty-cat which Tarantulas had taken care of.

At first, she thought that was it of the Maximals inside the bridge.

"We better get to the cargo bay. Any of the Maximals outside could be coming back, so we better hustled."

Blackarachnia decided to go first, ignoring the arachnids she was stepping over. They were little pests made by Tarantulas' flithy hands and because of her little encounters back in his lair, she just loathed them even more. Tightly holding on to her weapon, she kept it upright ready to aim and shoot if she found anything worthwhile. She crept inside the hallway when she heard a voice...

"Are there any Maximals outside the Axalon? Repeat, are there any Maximals outside the Axalon?"

Slag it! He was calling them. Immeidately, not knowing if he heard her following or not, she fired at him to try to cut him off. They were so close! She didn't want the Maximals to ruin everything! Who knows what they would do? Try to foolishly save everyone and destroy the aliens' weapon probably. They were so predictable with their heroics. She didn't want to rely on those ragtag bunch for her own survival. No, thank you.

Umbra watched as Onyx left, assuming he found his answer. He then heard Nem while he was distracted, followed by the swift kick to his legs. A white pulse of color ran over his body as he fell over, landing on his back and tentacles which his rubbery body was well cushioned for falls.

He looked up at Nemesis as she climbed ontop of him, smirking with almost a blush to his cheeks. He then looked towards Venatrix as she spoke up.

Venatrix wrote:"If you are done with him and still looking to test someone's skills in battle, you be sure to look me up.
It looks like we will have some time to kill before all hell breaks lose."

Making note of how she was licking her fingertip, he could read Venatrix's intentions rather well, and it inspired him for a bit of fun as he scanned her form over, deleting the file of Cecaelia and Waspinator, but keeping Dinobot's image reference as it seemed valuable for now.

Well I don't know how good I am, but I can atleast be a distraction.. My you are popular.. even that woman likes you. the Octopus's body compressed and altered it's shape and color while under her to look like Venatrix.

The fake Venatrix licked her lips, then winked with a devious smile.

OOC: @ Worpex: Two words: Smart. Phone.

Too bad you only have a dumb phone.

BIC:

RAAAHHHH! TAKE HIM DOWN!

Tarantulas had screamed that just as Arachnitron turned to take out Rhinox. The three spiders took cover behind some fallen furniture in the bridge. It took about thirty clicks and another round of Rhinox's chain gun fire before he finally fell.

"Nighty night Maximal, be grateful that you will sleep through this world's end, BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Tarantulas chuckled.

Arachnitron looked down and pulled out the machine gun rounds from her arm. She winced as she pulled them out, but the damage was minimal and didn't hurt. She turned back to the action at hand. There was one Maximal left. Wintersong.

Tarantulas jumped up and fired a cybervenom dart while shouting:

"Must I do everything myself? DIE MAXIMAL!"

Arachnitron rolled her optics behind his back. He was being a bit dramatic. She, after all, was the one who finally took down Rhinox.

When Wintersong finally went down, Blackarachnia rose from cover and headed for the hall. Arachnitron followed close at her heels.

"We better get to the cargo bay. Any of the Maximals outside could be coming back, so we better hustled."

Just when they thought they were all clear, another Maximal had appeared in the hallway heading towards the cargo bay as well. And he was on his comm radioing for the others. The spiders' time was really running short!

"Are there any Maximals outside the Axalon? Repeat, are there any Maximals outside the Axalon?"

Blackarachnia fired at him.

Arachnitron took a second to think about what was going on. She was still standing in the doorway between the bridge and the hallway. The Maximals would no doubt hear Ironclaws distressed voice over their comms and hurry back to the base to see what is up. It would be clear to them that the Maximals in the base were in trouble. She turned back to the bridge and saw the lift. The Maximals would probably intend to use it to come back into the base. She raised her cybervenom, aimed at the control pad of the lift, and fired. The Maximals would probably still be able to get in, but the would have to manually lower the lift. It would at least buy the spiders a little bit more time.

OOC: Just thought I'd throw a wrench in the Maximals' plans a bit.

Venatrix wrote:"What ever comes next will either destroy us all, or make us stronger.
And to be completely honest, i really hope it'll be the latter of the 2 options."

Nemesis glanced from the trapped warrior beneath her to the black panther who had recently found her way back. Moments later she retracted her arm with the sai as she straightened out a little bit.

"Have some faith. We didn't make it thus far only to get wiped out by an interstellar microwave," she commented, finally letting her eyes rest on the other female. The male thus far seemed less than eager to move, even showing certain signs of bashfulness at his predicament.

Venatrix wrote:"My dear Nemesis. It looks like you are enjoying yourself way to much."

Following the panther's movements with her gaze, Nemesis raised an optic ridge and smirked. The statement was true so she did not bother to correct her fellow Predacon. In fact it had been a long time since she'd been able to amuse herself so it was a welcome change of pace even in the wake of potential disaster. Nemesis saw no point in bursting into a state of panic given the fact the circumstances were well beyond their control anyway. That was not to say that part of her wasn't a little concerned yet she kept this fact well hidden. Like Venatrix, Nemesis did not fear death but nor did she welcome it.

Venatrix wrote:"If you are done with him and still looking to test someone's skills in battle, you be sure to look me up.
It looks like we will have some time to kill before all hell breaks lose."

The smirk on her face widened as Venatrix proceeded to lick her finger as if proving a point.

"Perhaps.. I'm sure our comrades would appreciate the entertainment. We should.."

But the other female disappeared out the door before she had a chance to finish the sentence.

Umbra wrote:Well I don't know how good I am, but I can atleast be a distraction.. My you are popular.. even that woman likes you.

It was then Nemesis returned her attention to the male beneath her, only to discover the likeness of Venatrix in his place. A bewildered, amused look replaced the smirk from earlier.

"Well now.. That is quite the trick. You must be a blast at parties."

She leaned in closer.

"Maybe when the time is right, I will show you my trick as well..," the winged female whispered teasingly before standing up.

Well, that does sound fun. the fake Venatrix said in Venatrix's voice, as she stood up her form rippled, taking the default visage of Umbra once again. He cleared his throat I only carry a few of those at the moment.. but a better copy would be Dinobot, I was around him for awhile during the negotiations. Ofcourse the Maximals don't know of this skill.. for all the more fun.

He lifted the oil bottle capping it If you do take up her offer, I might be interested in watching.. as a learning experience.

Wintersong wrote: There wasn't much Wintersong could really say or do now, Arachnitron was with the spiders and there was no changing that. Though with her apology done and over with the tigress turned her focus to what was going on in the bridge and quickly backed up to avoid being hit by bullets from Rhinox who was down shortly after. "Slay this isn't going well." She said as she went to grab her own laser gun at her side but heard Tarantulas suddenly yell which captured her attention just before the cybervenom dart struck its mark into her chest which made her growl and attacked her systems.

Struggling a little to hold off the affects of the venom she managed to raise her weapon and fire a few shots toward the spider before succumbing to the cybervenom and collapsing to the ground like her other teammates.

Tarantulas cackled gleefully to himself as the maximal succumbed to his cybervenom, easily sidestepping away her farewell shots, the toxins impairing her aim.

Una wrote: Blackarachnia snickered as the green giant went down. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Now, that left the white kitty-cat which Tarantulas had taken care of.

At first, she thought that was it of the Maximals inside the bridge.

"We better get to the cargo bay. Any of the Maximals outside could be coming back, so we better hustled."

Blackarachnia decided to go first, ignoring the arachnids she was stepping over. They were little pests made by Tarantulas' flithy hands and because of her little encounters back in his lair, she just loathed them even more. Tightly holding on to her weapon, she kept it upright ready to aim and shoot if she found anything worthwhile. She crept inside the hallway when she heard a voice...

"For once we agree on something" Tarantulas replied, keeping his gun handy just in case, the maximals appeared to have been subdued for now but anything could happen at this point and he didn't want to take any chances with his only hope off this rock.

Una wrote: Slag it! He was calling them. Immeidately, not knowing if he heard her following or not, she fired at him to try to cut him off. They were so close! She didn't want the Maximals to ruin everything! Who knows what they would do? Try to foolishly save everyone and destroy the aliens' weapon probably. They were so predictable with their heroics. She didn't want to rely on those ragtag bunch for her own survival. No, thank you.

"A survivor? finish him!" Tarantulas snarled, firing a few shots of his own in Ironclaw's direction, not wanting any more maximals to interrupt him while he worked on his means of escape.

Blackrose fencer wrote: Blackarachnia turned around and fired at him. Arachnitron fired too. Although she aimed a little high on purpose. She hoped that her shot would hit the lift; thus, damaging the lift's lowering mechanisms. Blackarachnia's shot was sure to land it's mark and incapacitate the last Maximal in the bridge. Arachnitron's shot hopefully would slow down the Maximals' reentry to the Axalon and buy the spiders a bit more time.

"Well done Arachnitron, that should buy us enough time to finish what we came here to do. Lets move!" Tarantulas said, eager to reach the maximal cargo bay, jury rig a stasis pod for intergalatic travel, and get as far away from this doomed world and the foolish creatures that inhabited it as possible.


OOC: Hope this post meets everyone's approval, if I missed something or goofed somewhere I'll gladly edit it when I get the chance "falls asleep from exhaustion"

Why were the spiders going to the cargo bay? The panther pondered about it for a moment and pushed that thought aside. Starshadow smirked after most or probably all the maximals were knocked out. Following them to the hallway, she saw them trying to incapacitate Ironclaw. With a laugh, she revealed herself.

"You spiders late.." she said, "before you start getting funny ideas or start shooting, I'm still on your side since I want to get out of this dirtball or whatever you guys are planning."

Ironclaw continued to carry Wintetsong through the ship to the cargo bay when he heard the Predacons following him. He had revealed himself trying to save Wintersong. He made his way to the lift and activated it via the switch with his free arm. She was still in stasis lock. All he had to do was to get outside and warn the Maximals. To get Wintersong outside.
A slag came from behind him and hit the lift controls. The lift slowed and juddered as the damage was limiting his chances of escape. Then he felt another shot strike his shoulder. Instantly he felt the pain and the cyber venom coursing through his system. He struggled for a moment before goin down to one knee, still carrying Wintersong. The lift had lowered enough to show the world outside. The gap was jus big enough to get Wintersong through. With the strength he had left h pushe her through and saw her hit the ground outside. He had no idea what the spiders had planned for her or him. Hopefully that will warn the rest of the Maximals if they are outside.

Blackarachnia was amused by Ironclaw's attempt to protect his friend. After all, they were going to join their comrades in death when she escapes from this doomed planet anyway. It was futile.

Starshadow popped up from the hallway like a giggly self. Blackarachnia smiled at her. Though, she questioned why Starshadow was here, but if she can use Starshadow to help her out. It won't matter.

"My my, you are a sight for sore eyes, Starshadow." Then she smirked at Tarantulas. It was a big smirk, "Of course, there is always room for one more." If Tarantulas and Arachnitron didn't like it, not her problem as they could do nothing against her.

She reloaded her cybervenom and aimed it right at Ironclaw's chest, standing over him, "Aww, how cute." She tilted her head with a smile before she fired the dart at his chest.

Should they really waste time in picking up Wintersong's body? Would it make any difference since the Maximals outside would probably guess something was afoot by the fake cooridnates?

Might as well keep the facade up to be safe.

"Tarantulas, grab that body back up here." She ordered him with glee.

(ooc: To recap:

Optimus Primal wrote:"They called it a termination sequence! We better get out of here!"

Beam of light travels from mushroom and hits the second moon, which promptly disappears into a dark, barely visible object.

Everyone scratches their heads and watches in awe, not understanding what this could possibly be.

:p

The episode was pretty clear-cut about what was going on so unless a character has been hiding under a rock, or has the intelligence level of one, they are bound to at the very least highly suspect that something is going to happen and that moon has everything to do with it.

I've been holding off on posting for Aurora while waiting for spiders, and trying to have a little bit of fun as Nem in the meanwhile. Where is Inferno anyway? Shouldn't he be torching Tarantulas by now unless we're leaving that part out?

I think all the Maxis are just tiptoeing to get inside the base. Most wouldn't see a reason to just randomly gather outside the base. )

OOC: There was this side story with OOP and Una's characters that we were all waiting for. We, as suggested, added in some side stuff, but when others got impatient, the OOP-Una thing ended which meant that our added side stuff to be fun and creative ended up being added worthless stuff that took up time and held others up.

It's hard to keep pace when everyone keeps changing their mind about how fast or slow they want to go. It's also really interesting how we have time to stray from the story and be creative when it involves our own characters, but not when it involves others' characters....perhaps there should be some sort of system about when to use joint posts like the one Phoenix and Venatrix did. Maybe that would have sped things up a bit at times when it was just two characters interacting and no one else.

But, as OOP suggested before, it's not like others can't still be writing. I mean, by now the Maximals have made it to the base and I think they realize something is up. Surely, they could be offering their characters' feelings and opinions about what is going on. The lift is damaged, so they'll have to have a flyer come in through the roof hatch and probably manually send the lift down. Or find some other way to deal with that and Wintersong is unconscious somewhere. Optimus probably wouldn't allow everyone to just run in to the base willy-nilly anyway without first checking that it's safe. So that should be enough to keep everyone occupied just a tiny bit longer.

It's not like we all didn't know going into this that this was going to be tricky trying to line everything up right. I mean you all have to be at a certain point in your part of the story and we all have to be at a certain part in our part of the story and we have to get there at relatively the same time. It's only natural that sometimes one part of the story takes longer and the other players have to compensate on their end which is where we were several months ago....reversed....so we compensated by adding stuff in. It happens that way sometimes. This forum writing thing is not a perfect science.

BIC:

"Well done Arachnitron, that should buy us enough time to finish what we came here to do. Lets move."

Tarantulas said to Arachnitron. She was glad to have made up for her previous blunder of shooting Rhinox without first dealing with Wintersong.

Tarantulas led the way continuing down the hall towards the cargo bay and Arachnitron followed.

But their exit was blocked by another. Arachnitron didn't remember seeing her around the Axalon while she was among the Maximals. She supposed there could have been a new recruit while she was away, but then the bot spoke:

"You spiders are late.." she said, "before you start getting funny ideas or start shooting, I'm still on your side since I want to get out of this dirtball or whatever you guys are planning."

So apparently, this bot wasn't a Maximal....she was just masquerading as one. Arachnitron was confused. It had, after all, been the Predacon who was in control before. She supposed the Predacon would have recognized the panther.

She was not amused. This was not part of the plan. They did not need another escapee. Just where were they going to fit everyone?! She gave Tarantulas a meaningful look. When they took Blackarachnia out, they were definitely taking this new bot out too.

"My my, you are a sight for sore eyes, Starshadow." Then she smirked at Tarantulas. It was a big smirk, "Of course, there is always room for one more."

Arachnitron noticed the look on Blackarachnia's face. She was up to something. No doubt she would try to use Starshadow to get back at Tarantulas and Arachnitron for trying to cut her out of the deal.

Blackarachnia went back into the bridge and sent another round of cybervenom into Ironclaw taunting him as she did. Arachnitron rolled her optics at the other widow's little show.

"Tarantulas, grab that body back up here." She ordered him with glee.

"Or," Arachnitron countered. "YOU could go get it while we go see to not getting blown up with this dirt ball of a planet! Let's leave the body and get lost!"

She didn't know where she got that sudden bolt of courage. Perhaps she felt as though the presence of this new femme threatened her place on the escape pod. Starshadow evened the odds. If it were just BA, Tarantulas and Arachnitron could take her down easily, but now that it was two against two, the odds were no longer in their favor.

Or perhaps, she were feeling more and more like her Predacon self. She wasn't sure how long the effects of the inhibitor chip would last. So far, she still felt like herself, but maybe the chip was weakening a bit.

Without waiting for anyone to respond, she continued towards the cargo bay.

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Inferno watched as the spiders crept carefully up the side of the Maximal's ship. He was intrigued to see what sort of treachery they were planning against the Royalty. It didn't matter, they would pay for their crimes against the Queen, he would see to it. He followed them quickly making it through the Maximal's shields before the she-spider's gadget could shut off.

He snickered as they bickered together quietly before the smallest of the trio jumped through the roof hatch followed closely by the others. He waited a second or two before skittering up to the hatch himself.

When he got to the hatch he noticed the spiders engaging in a small fire fight with the Maximals inside. They were skilled fighters, but they were no match for him.

He flattened himself against the ship so as not to be seen as he watched and waited until the spiders left the bridge. When they cleared out of the bridge, he jumped down quietly and followed behind them keeping himself hidden in the shadows.

(( OOC: at una! That's exacty what I was going to end up doing, whether the spiders started working on the pod or not. Capture them, interrigate them, make them get the pod operational and then the Maxis use it to their own advantage. Just want to push you guys along since everyone else is always pushed. And I'm bored; I haven't posted since August 7th. XD I think I've waited long enough for a move here.

The episode was pretty clear-cut about what was going on so unless a character has been hiding under a rock, or has the intelligence level of one, they are bound to at the very least highly suspect that something is going to happen and that moon has everything to do with it.

I meant more toward what the spiders are up to, Phoenix. I don't think anyone but probably Megatron would have any clue as to why they're even there at the Axalon, but Starshadow has already hinted about them escaping using a stasis pod. What would even make her come to that conclusion? Unless there was something she saw or heard back before she joined the Maximals. But I can't remember everything. I just don't want characters to be so predictable or try to be on the advantage just because their player has seen the show.

But, as OOP suggested before, it's not like others can't still be writing. I mean, by now the Maximals have made it to the bridge and I think they realize something is up. Surely, they could be offering their characters' feelings and opinions about what is going on. The lift is damaged, so they'll have to have a flyer come in through the roof hatch and probably manually send the lift down. Or find some other way to deal with that and Wintersong is unconscious on the ground at the bottom of the lift.

I'm still confused as to which lift we're talking about. Ironclaw made a run for the hangar with Wintersong, which I don't think actually has a lift, but I'm not certain. Optimus and the others at the front of the ship, by the bridge which is at the opposite end of the hangar (across the waterfall). There's a lift there but that's not the hangar. So what's supposed to be damaged? I don't think the lift that leads to the bridge should be damaged just for the sake of the other Maximals who aren't fliers don't have such a hassle getting inside the ship.

Optimus probably wouldn't allow everyone to just run in to the base willy-nilly anyway without first checking that it's safe. So that should be enough to keep everyone occupied just a tiny bit longer.

Agreed. Exactly why I mentioned ealier that I want him to enter first, especially if Aurora speaks up about what she has seen via her video feed.

I hope Silverstreak won't be out until after OP blows up. Would like him to have met her, even if it is briefly. Not to mention the Maximals don't have enough CR's for all of those were dosed with the cybervenom. I imagine, though, that Rhinox probably got the highest dosage in order to keep him down, which would call for the CR.

Also, also, welcome back, Ven!!!!!!

I don't have the energy to post tonight, guys. So sorry about that. I thought I'd be getting back from the concert I went to much sooner than midnight. I'm exhausted; very long day. Time to get some shut eye. I WILL post tomorrow! ))