The Intergalactic Highway

Phoenix wrote: "My..," the female responded with a teasing tone, "..pleasure."


She readied her weapon, targeting the helpless Maximal, when someone moving in quickly on the ground below caught her attention. She immediately recognized the newcomer as Dinobot, a Predacon traitor. He came barging in fast, apparently oblivious to her presence as he focused his attacks on Terrorsaur.

Oh this was simply too perfect..!

Nemesis holstered her firearm and pulled out the sword instead. Then she fired her her boosters, angling herself so she was rushing towards Dinobot with her leg extended in an attempt to knock his eye lasers off its target with a well-aimed kick to the back of his head. In her hand she clutched Optimus' sword, preparing to impale it through the unwitting Maximal's backside the moment she had kicked him off balance.

Caught off guard by Dinobot's interruption, Terrorsaur shook it off and looked up in time to see him coming down on him again from above, weapons raised.

"Not this time" Terrorsaur grimaced, dodging to the side and allowing Nemesis to deal with Dinobot while he recovered his twin swords, turning to face his "old comrade" and said "You're always boasting about how you like to do things the old fashioned way, right traitor? Well this time your outdated way of doing everything will prove to be your doom! We're transmetals now Dinobot, the future! The Elite! You're nothing compared to us!"

With that, he joined the fray, swinging his twin blades at Dinobot, eager to beat the saurian at his own game, with his updated body and superior weapons! The odds stacked even further in his favor with Nemesis added to the mix.

Una wrote: She wore a smirk, hearing a staining Tarantulas ordering her. She wondered what happened to him there? Haha.

Feigning an expression of surprise and pouted, she lowered her head like she was ashamed, "The datatracks were booby-trapped I'm afraid." Half of the console hung by it's own innards, "It's completely destroyed. Shame."

"RRRRAAAHHH!" Tarantulas growled in frustration as he pounded the dirt with his fist, furious over losing the data tracks to one of Megatron's petty booby traps...Then remembered who he was talking to and realized it was just as likely the witch had stolen the data for herself and destroyed the evidence while he'd been busy fighting for his life.

"How DARE she act so nonchalant, so innocent?!" Tarantulas fumed, not caring whether there had really been a booby trap or if his suspicions were founded, either way she'd cost him an advantage, and she would pay for it in spades.

He began to direct his rage into Blackarachnia's mind, letting it well up inside him and pour into her like battery acid, just as a familiar but unwelcome voice chimed in over the com link...

Phoenix wrote: "Tarantulas," he demanded, opening his com link to the scientist, "Their shields are down. You know what to do."

Tarantulas cursed under his breath as Megatron's command came in and merely replied "As you wish, Megatron," terminating the com link before adding "You pompous purple reptile!"

Sighing in irritation over his most recent setbacks, Tarantulas nevertheless knew what he had to do in order to salvage this situation and avoid Megatron's wrath long enough to accomplish his objectives, turning to Arachnitron and saying "Forget about the raptor for now, there will be more opportunities to deal with him later, but for now we must keep up appearances and carry out Megatron's orders. We're infiltrating the base to finish the job Megatron's lackeys could not, BEAST MODE!"

Changing into his spider mode for its added speed and agility, Tarantulas sped toward the maximal base, expecting Arachnitron to follow. He knew what Megatron wanted him to do, they had planned for this scenario long ago if they had ever found themselves in a situation where the Axalon's defenses were at its weakest and the majority of its occupants deployed in the field, and despite his anger, he couldn't help but be secretly pleased over the prospect of finally being able to utilize the special hack program he'd been saving for this rare occasion.

"Your home sweet home won't be so sweet anymore after I'm done with it, little maximals! But before I get too far ahead of myself, I mustn't forget about my own "Little Miss Innocent"" Tarantulas mused to himself as he sped towards his destination, cackling evilly as he entered BA's mind once more, creating a pitch-black dream-scape for her, nothing but shadows all around her, the only source of light being the very spot upon which she stood.

It is because of this light, that she could see that her only company was a big chalkboard, complete with chalk and erasers...And that she, a cybertronian, was now wearing an earthling schoolgirl uniform!


OOC: If ya don't think Arachnitron can keep up on foot Blackrose, I can have Tarantulas give her a lift again if ya rather. Sorry for posting before you, but I wasn't sure if you were waiting for something or were unavailable this week or something.

"We have to stay here and protect the Axalon. If we lose our ship, we'll lose everything in this war,"

"You three head outside and provide back-up for the others out there. Bring in the wounded. Things should be quiet in here for now,"

"Understood. You just watch your back, Rhinox." She kept her hopeful expression, knowing deep in her spark that they would defeat the Predacons and bring an end to this needless slaughter.

She should had known Rhinox would never leave the Axalon. It was his baby with all the work he done and mastered with it. In a practical sense, he was right. Losing the Axalon would put them all at a disadvantage. Though, she hoped that if the Maximals diverted all their attention towards the Predacons that they would be more focus on exterminating them than getting the base. Looking the way CR chamber Ironclaw was in, she remembered that aura she felt yet Ironclaw seemed to still be unresponsive, and she hoped everything was all right in there as well as with Airazor and the other Maximals that were helping her.

"Did we just lose our shields..?"

With the shields gone, the Axalon was a sitting duck. Aurora was already making her her way down there before Whitegrazer could grab her attention. Pressing the switch next to the platform, she bought out the metal shields. She took one from rack and looked at Frilla, "You want one, Frilla? It's going to be chaotic out there."

Whitegrazer followed Aurora outside to see her attending to someone who she couldn't recognize. She rushed over to use the shield to cover Aurora and to get a better look at who it was. She glanced a bit outside to see multiple battles happening all at once. Megatron and new hulking Predacon stood beside him, seeing both preoccupied. Feralnight was being double teamed by Terrorsaur and Nemesis, but Dinobot was coming at them. There was no sign of Saber-Fang nor Silverstreak. Steelclaw looked like he was looking for someone. Cheetor looked like he needed repairs badly while Wintersong was protecting him from Inferno.

"Frilla, do you think you can give Wintersong a hand? Cheetor looks to be in pretty bad shape."

"How is he?" Whitegrazer asked Aurora still keeping her eye on the battlefield.

((OOC: Never did a post this quick in a long time. I hope I got everything covered. Darkspark, I should be able to post for Blackarachnia tomorrow.

Edit: Okay here it is! I wished I had it up yesterday, but yesterday, things just got wacky! XD))

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She put her weapon back in its holster, having a bit of fun with Tarantulas' clear frustration over the situation, but her fun didn't last long before agonizing pain sweep her entire body. Pain that paralyzed her, leaving her motionless and soundless to scream out the torment being bought to her. All she could do was stand there with her legs together and body straight up like she was at attention. To anyone who saw her, she may have been a statue.

Megatron's room disappeared into darkness. Her spark started pulsing rapidly. She couldn't be anywhere but Megatron's room. Was he back? Dd the lights turn off because of an attack? Was there really a bobby-trapped from her download? Maybe a virus from Megatron? There was a light in front of her and she reached out towards it. She could actually touch it when she noticed the lone chalkboard with a fresh chalk and eraser. A look of confusion was on her face as she examined it with her optics before taking the long stick of chalk into her pincher. Such a human device. Megatron wouldn't have something like that. He hated humans. Also, what was the point of it? Did she have to write that she had been a bad girl and to never touch his things? What a child! She wasn't going to do that! She chopped it in half and coughed a bit from the powder. The chalk left residue and she was just going to wipe it when she noticed the clothing she was wearing.

"What the slag?"

Feminine in nature, the outfit seemed formal yet informal at the same time. It was so flimsy too. Her chest plate was too big for the upper part that it had burst through the middle of white fabric. The skirt was at least doing it's jo- What was she doing?! This wasn't a virus! Megatron would never had use such attire assoicated with humanoids or getting to the point, Megatron would never dream of school outfit and put her in it! The only person who could could of with this was...

"Tarantulas!" she yelled out in anger and began to rip off the degrading pieces of fabric.

((Actually I was waiting on the others to make a decision of what they were doing between Nemesis, Dinobot, and Terrorsaur but in that process I ended up busy at home and got a little behind. Sorry guys! ))

Feralnight growled as she could only bring her wings around in front of her when Terrorsaur had began his assault to further damage her, but even her wings weren't much before she heard the sound of someone coming to her aid. Looking up it was a relief to see Dinobot, knowing between the pteradon and avian femme she would have been done for but even now she was having to pull herself together to see if she could help. Already however, her internal computer was warning her of the extensive damage already done to her frame as she slowly got to her feet, areas of her form sparking slightly just from engaging the transmetaled predacon which seemed he would be far tougher then last time to beat. "Can't give up just yet."The fuzor femme muttered as she forced herself to stand but it was obvious the pain was there and would no doubt hinder her performance to fight at full, but at the same time she might only be in the way if she tried to help Dinobot in this condition.

After some thought she decided it might be best to retreat while she was even functioning, and with the two Predacons distracted she stepped back slowly at first to keep an eye on the fight before she used her chance to begin heading to the Axalon. But it seemed it wouldn't to much good with going there when the outside was pretty damage and the shields were down.

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Frilla's optics had widened when seeing the demo charge sent to the console, having really no time to react other then to turn away to defend herself from any shrapnel only to find Rhinox covering her, Whitegrazer, and Aurora with his own body and taking the hit instead. That certainly could have been worse but now they only had further problems of getting to the two octopus Predacons when they made their escape or trying to keep the Axalon from being completely destroyed. Standing slightly the frilled lizard at first couldn't see how much help she could be for moving the debris blocking the hall as Rhinox had that covered quickly, quite frankly she felt at a loss of what further help she could be in the ship than going outside which much to their luck seemed a priority for the rhinoceros that she was for once eager to go aid their comrades while they could. She just hoped they weren't too late with anyone.

Quickly heading to the lift beside the white mare Frilla nodded as she took the other shield,"Yes thanks, and no doubt about that."Frilla agreed, and seemed to show her concern for what they might find. When they got down Frilla briefly looked towards someone Aurora was attending to but with Whitegrazer there she wouldn't really be needed in helping bring the new cybertronain there, one they had not seen before. Nodding though the smaller femme quickly took off the opposite direction, having briefly noticed the tigress off in the distance with her fight with Inferno. But much to her dismay a familiar form, although transmetal now, was looming near the base that was no doubt Megatron which made her shudder if she ever faced him in person again.

Shaking her head the Maximal lizard tried not to let this get to her, focusing on her task at hand as she reached the skirmish going on and finding the unconscious cheetah. "Oh man, hang in there Cheetor."She said when seeing his condition, knowing he needed immediate help, more then what she could really offer at the moment with her limited medical skills. Shifting the shield in her hand she picked him up some ease due to the knew strength she seemed to gain from now being transmetal but he still was heavy to a point. With a light grunt she began hauling the unconscious feline back to the Axalon while also keeping an eye out for further threats.

Silverstreak looked to where Steelclaw had nodded, quite surprised that he told her the best chance she had was to run away, leaving behind her teammates and certainly ensuring her a better chance to survive. But for how long before they realized not all of them were there? A few Predacons had seen her already so there wasn't much chances she could actually hide or go unnoticed eventually, yet what kind of person would she be to be running out on her new friends. Shifting her gaze back to the bear having his weapon aimed at her Silverstreak really had to weigh her options carefully, her mind racing to make a decision of whether to risk her chance of somehow risking another hit by his Gauss Rifle or heading his word to leave.

"As much as it may delay the inevitable for your comrades to notice one Maximal gone, I won't leave my teammates behind."Silverstreak told him firmly as she slipped the knife back into one of her wrist compartments and instead gripped the handle of one of her tonfas that she had reached for earlier and brought up quickly to strike the barrel of Steelclaw's gun just enough to knock it sideways. Maybe not far, but at this point she was willing to take a gamble of striking the weapon when he was close as she rolled over with her good side,"Beast mode."She said, grimacing from all the movement she did before scurrying to some rocks while still half expecting shots to follow since she had no doubt the mech behind her would recover in no time to fire.

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For a while Onyx had been settled in his position, waiting for his teammates inside to take care of the shields or for the ship to run out of enough energy they went down themselves. And it seemed the patience paid off as after a brief flicker the shields went down again allowing the Predacons full chance to attack the ship or any Maximals that would come outside, although he was still conflicted in attacking the Maximals directly when so many seemed down. Though his optics shifted to movement of the lift, seeing at first the youngest fuzor Aurora coming out before heading towards one area and followed by his 'good twin' Whitegrazer and the annoying lizard Frilla. The two white femmes he recalled seeing back when he tried talking with the Maximals but Frilla he had remembered before she was a transmetal and spat ink into his optics, so he wasn't so sure he was too fond of her at the moment but all of them seemed set on one goal in different parts of the field. Just from his position he could easily just shift elsewhere and get a lock on the white mare and her young companion while just off to his right he could openly attack the base once more.

After a few minutes to decide Onyx decided to make his way towards the two femmes, becoming aware of his comrades now moving in to make some final measures before they would handle the Maximals. Something of which he didn't want to take part in. But with Megatron being so close it was hard to not have to hold back as he had done with the larger Maximal so with a soft sigh he snuck as quietly as he could towards where the femmes had gone, only to see someone else was there with them but was down for the count at the current time. He then realized it was his newest comrade Silverbolt, causing Onyx to stop some yards away at this fact which threw a wrench into his plan of forcing the femmes closer to the base. If I can just hit the right spots maybe I can just deal damage to them,Onyx thought before lifting his Friction rifle once more anf firing a few carefully placed shots to only hit or strike near Aurora and Whitegrazer but being quite careful to not try and hit the downed fuzor.

OOC: Sorry for the wait. It's been pretty hectic this weekend helping WorpeX move out.....which he did post about that in the absentee thread. Anyway, he's all moved in now, but he does not have internet hooked up yet. We probably should be hearing from him later on this week I think.

Although in my defense: I posted on the third and once all the responses I was waiting for were posted it was the 8th. I went to post on the 10th only to find OOC posts going on for like two days debating about whether or not those posts should be edited. I couldn't really post until they decided what they were doing since my character could have been affected.

BIC:

"Wouldn't exactly call myself hero material, bug, more like a cat who finds trouble."

Inferno wasn't about to carry on a conversation with the Maximal, but as far as he was concerned all Maximals were heroes, that's what made them Maximals.

The cat opened fire on Inferno. Her shots hit him and knocked him off his feet. He stumbled and pitched forward eventually tripping on some tree roots in front of him as he tried to steady himself. Mostly undamaged, Inferno shook his head and stood up. Though, he had only been knocked off his feet for a handful of seconds, it gave the cat enough time to radio for aide from her comrades. He sneered in delight and started up his propellers. He positioned himself above her in the sky.

"Your friends can't help you now!" he called down to her resuming his deranged laughter.

He followed up his taunting with some rocket launcher blasts that sailed downward towards the ground below.

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"Pursue him! We cannot afford to lose both keys to our victory."

Tarantulas emerged from under the rock and ordered Arachnitron to pursue Dinobot. She nodded in compliance and leaped over the boulders she had been using for cover to follow Dinobot. It really looked like he was headed towards the Maximal base, but when she finally caught sight of him, he had changed direction and had begun attacking a few Predacons who were firing on the Maximal fuzor, Feralnight.

Arachnitron skidded to a halt so that she could head off towards the skirmish, but before she could take another step, Tarantulas radioed her:

"Forget about the raptor for now, there will be more opportunities to deal with him later, but for now we must keep up appearances and carry out Megatron's orders. We're infiltrating the base to finish the job Megatron's lackeys could not, BEAST MODE!"

Arachnitron groaned at the change of plans, but didn't argue with him. She instead continued in the direction she was going towards the Maximal base. Since she was already most of the way there, she wasn't trailing Tarantulas by quite so much once he eventually passed her. When she was closer to the Axalon, she also transformed to beast mode and skittered behind him.

OOC: @Darkspark, yeah it probably would not be possible for her to keep up with Tarantulas unless she had a head start. So I gave her one. It wouldn't have made much sense for her to flat out ignore Tarantulas' orders to pursue Dinobot anyway, so that just gave her a reason to start heading in that direction so that she didn't fall too far behind Speedy.

To Dinobot, it looked for all the world as if Terrorsaur was going to go down before he even knew what hit him. But just a moment before impact, he saw in his peripheral vision that someone was trying to take him by surprise, too.

He started to bring up his sword arm to defend himself, but he could do nothing to stop the kick that landed solidly on the back of his head. The world seemed to spin around him as his body was thrown off course, but he managed to noticed Terrorsaur getting safely out of his way, and he also heard and felt his sword connecting with another weapon behind him. When he landed on his side, he rolled back up into a standing position and faced both of his opponents. He could see that Nemesis was holding one of Optimus Primal's old swords.

Terrorsaur wrote:You're always boasting about how you like to do things the old fashioned way, right traitor? Well this time your outdated way of doing everything will prove to be your doom! We're transmetals now Dinobot, the future! The Elite! You're nothing compared to us!

Dinobot took note of Terrorsaur's weapons with a certain feeling of anticipation. At last. A real battle! The warrior took up his shield and set it rotating at full power.

"So, you persist in trying to bolster your courage by unproven words you only hope to believe."

When Terrorsaur charged, Dinobot ran at him with his shield held front and center, knowing full well that Terrorsaur's weapons wouldn't be able to reach around it. At the last moment, however, he spun nimbly around Terrorsaur's side and immediately resumed his charge on Nemesis instead, swiping powerfully at her head and following the assault immediately by swinging the front side of his shield full-on towards her with his other hand, hoping to completely bull her over. Meanwhile, he brought the sword the rest of the way around to face and defend against Terrorsaur. Now he was in the middle of his opponents, able to engage--and to be engaged by--either of them.

* * *

Silverstreak wrote:As much as it may delay the inevitable for your comrades to notice one Maximal gone, I won't leave my teammates behind.

Steelclaw had to bring his aim back up after his gun was knocked out of the way, and for a moment he found himself surprised that Silverstreak was running rather than trying to take him out.

He had a direct line of sight on her retreating form for just one nanoclick before she would make it behind rock cover. But he hesitated. Having just offered her the chance to run away and live, how could he now be her executioner? He buried the pointless question quickly. Who had said anything about killing her? He could, in all likelihood, put her into stasis lock with a well aimed shot. But then the question resurfaced. Wouldn't Megatron remember her and find her if she was out of commission? So wouldn't shooting her right now be the same as killing her in the long run?

But by the time he asked himself that, she was disappearing, and his instinctive parting shot did nothing but a drill a handful of chalky debris out of a rock.

((That's alright Blackrose, wasn't trying to rush you at all and can't exactly say my week has been the best, well week and a half. So sorry if this post ends up being a little crappy.))

Wintersong watched as the ant was knocked over by her shots, knowing it was enough time she could check to see if any of the others were able to approach and if not she'd have to cut her losses and help Cheetor before he ended up a pile of scrap. Much to her relief however, a familiar and welcoming sight of Frilla was approaching from the Axalon and it couldn't have been better timing for before the tigress knew it she was blasted off her feet from Inferno's blasts, having only just looked up to hear his deranged laughter. A growl escaped Wintersong then, inwardly kicking herself for not paying attention to her opponent in the middle of a heated battle and knew full well even her instructor would have likely scolded her for being the slightest bit careless. That tiniest mistake could be the meaning of life and death, especially with a formidable opponent like the fire ant above her. "Wrong bug, they already did."She said as she pushed herself up, thankful for her thick armor that was for the most part scorched and her only shaken but not yet ready to give up.

Shaking her head slightly Wintersong returned her laser gun back to her side, deciding to try and blast Inferno out of the sky since it seemed regrouping back the Axalon was almost a better choice then continuing to stick around out here. Besides who knew what other Predacon could be lurking close by, something of which she was not so keen to find out. Lifting her left hand her wrist launchers popped up as before before she began to fire the mini-missiles inside and only found she had three more in this launcher, having fire the first one previously that had knocked Quickstrike over earlier in the fight. "Well guess I know my limit now."She commented to herself before she began backing away towards the Axalon after Frilla and the unconscious Cheetor.

(Sorry for the MASSIVE delay. Thanks for waiting everyone! I'm all moved into my apartment now and have internet. I just need a better computer chair.... this lawn chair just isn't cutting it. haha. It'll work for now though!)

"Stag," he quietly spoke to the targetmaster, "I need you to take Aerostriker's body to that CR Chamber. I'll see what I can do to distract the intruder. It looks like Airazor is stuck inside, so you may need Rattrap to help you get it open."

"What's it gonna be, Bugboy?"

Manterror now knew that he was completely surrounded. These foolish maximals were too afraid to fight him one on one. Instead, they needed a total of 4 maximal's to defeat him. HA! Clearly they were afraid of his outstanding prowess in battle! Despite his skill, 4 enemies was simply too many for him to handle. His only real option was some sort of an explosion, but sadly, he tried that already and it failed. Self-destruction did cross his mind for a second, but was ruled out rather quickly. They were too far away from him and he would likely be the only one who would die. So, there was only one option left.

"I surrender, I surrender!" He screamed, throwing his arms in the air to emphasize his point. To further entice his enemies to accept, he decided he would lie a bit. "Let me leave and I will tell you the location of Megatrons super secret weapon!!"

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Airazor was attempting piece together the battle outside her chamber in her mind. She knew Rattrap and Manterror were present and she recognized a third voice as well, Orcariner's. Sadly though, she couldn't make out what he was saying exactly. CR Chambers were much more sound proof then she had ever thought. Still, that was only 3 and she knew that a 4th existed and that 4th was right outside of her prison attempting to free her. She was unable to figure out who it was from the small slit that the crazy bug had created for her, but did see him block her vision for a second. Whoever it was, seemed quite... small. While she wanted to be freed more then anything else right now, not knowing whether or not it was the enemy trying to do it or an ally made it very nerve-wracking.

Not wanted to take any chances, Airazor readied her wrist mounted missiles and prepared to fight. If she didn't recognize her rescuer when the door opened, she intended to fire.

Orcariner cocked a brow as Manterror raised his arms. That seemed much too easy of a surrender, especially for someone who did not seem to have his processor working correctly. Regardless, Orcariner did appreciate the fact that they got an easy break. The Predacon could have just gone ballistic and forced the Maximal team to take him down the hard way.

"Ok, Manterror," he said, standing straight up from his combat stance, "I'll escort you out of the hangar bay so you can leave peacefully. You can tell me all about the... super secret... thingamabob on the way out."

He knew the Predacon was lying in an effort to convince the Maximals not to take him prisoner. Orcariner didn't care, however, he would rather entertain Manterror and get him out of the Axalon as opposed to wasting more time trying to lock him up in the brig. There were more important matters to attend to, such as the fairly large Predacon army that was still mobilized right outside the ship.

Una wrote: She put her weapon back in its holster, having a bit of fun with Tarantulas' clear frustration over the situation, but her fun didn't last long before agonizing pain sweep her entire body. Pain that paralyzed her, leaving her motionless and soundless to scream out the torment being bought to her. All she could do was stand there with her legs together and body straight up like she was at attention. To anyone who saw her, she may have been a statue.

Megatron's room disappeared into darkness. Her spark started pulsing rapidly. She couldn't be anywhere but Megatron's room. Was he back? Dd the lights turn off because of an attack? Was there really a bobby-trapped from her download? Maybe a virus from Megatron? There was a light in front of her and she reached out towards it. She could actually touch it when she noticed the lone chalkboard with a fresh chalk and eraser. A look of confusion was on her face as she examined it with her optics before taking the long stick of chalk into her pincher. Such a human device. Megatron wouldn't have something like that. He hated humans. Also, what was the point of it? Did she have to write that she had been a bad girl and to never touch his things? What a child! She wasn't going to do that! She chopped it in half and coughed a bit from the powder. The chalk left residue and she was just going to wipe it when she noticed the clothing she was wearing.

"What the slag?"

Feminine in nature, the outfit seemed formal yet informal at the same time. It was so flimsy too. Her chest plate was too big for the upper part that it had burst through the middle of white fabric. The skirt was at least doing it's jo- What was she doing?! This wasn't a virus! Megatron would never had use such attire assoicated with humanoids or getting to the point, Megatron would never dream of school outfit and put her in it! The only person who could could of with this was...

"Tarantulas!" she yelled out in anger and began to rip off the degrading pieces of fabric.

"Pity, I thought you'd like the uniform, considering how well it goes with your "little miss innocent" routine" Tarantulas chuckled with a hint of menace, his voice echoing from all around her in ghostly fashion, the source of the sound unclear.

Strangely, the outfit regenerated as soon as she was done ripping it apart, and a new, larger, heavier piece of chalk had materialized in her hand.

The silence of the room was then pierced by the sound of invisible nails scratching across the chalkboard, writing at the very top of the board "I mustn't lie to my master"

Blackrose wrote: Arachnitron groaned at the change of plans, but didn't argue with him. She instead continued in the direction she was going towards the Maximal base. Since she was already most of the way there, she wasn't trailing Tarantulas by quite so much once he eventually passed her. When she was closer to the Axalon, she also transformed to beast mode and skittered behind him.

Deciding they were far enough away from the action but close enough to the base to suit their purposes, Tarantulas called out "Tarantulas, terrorize!" and transformed into his robot mode once again, ordering Arachnitron "We're close enough, hold your position and guard me from attack while I complete Megatron's chore."

He then pulled out his headset from subspace and tapped into his comlink, opening up communications with Umbra and saying "Umbra, this is Tarantulas, I know not if Megatron has informed you of this particular endgame protocol, but he wishes for me to download a virus we've been waiting to use for a very long time into the Axalon's computer and turn the ship's defenses against the maximals themselves. All you need to do is plug into Sentinel and allow me to transmit the virus through you into the computer, fear not, it shall not harm you, merely route through you on its way to its final destination. Can you reach the bridge counsels?"

Blazemane wrote: Dinobot took note of Terrorsaur's weapons with a certain feeling of anticipation. At last. A real battle! The warrior took up his shield and set it rotating at full power.

"So, you persist in trying to bolster your courage by unproven words you only hope to believe."

When Terrorsaur charged, Dinobot ran at him with his shield held front and center, knowing full well that Terrorsaur's weapons wouldn't be able to reach around it. At the last moment, however, he spun nimbly around Terrorsaur's side and immediately resumed his charge on Nemesis instead, swiping powerfully at her head and following the assault immediately by swinging the front side of his shield full-on towards her with his other hand, hoping to completely bull her over. Meanwhile, he brought the sword the rest of the way around to face and defend against Terrorsaur. Now he was in the middle of his opponents, able to engage--and to be engaged by--either of them.

Eyes glowing with anger at Dinobot's words as well as a lust for destruction, Terrorsaur spat back "You'll be a believer too by the time I'm done with you, Throwback!"

Terrorsaur held his own but in a furry of motion Dinobot had managed to put himself in a position in which he was situated between the two of them, the traitor no doubt believing that he could now defend against Nemesis and himself both now. Crafty, but as far as Terrorsaur was concerned, all Dinobot had done was make it easier for the two of them to gang up on him, he couldn't bring his full strength against either of them this way without ignoring one or the other. Sooner or later, he'd leave himself open to attack, and he'd be ready to capitalize on that moment of weakness.

Phoenix wrote: The former Decepticon tilted her head and smiled, a rather chilling gesture all things considering.

"Nice move, however futile."


She grabbed the shaft of her remaining sword with her free hand, igniting the flames as she continued.

"My turn."

Swinging both swords around in her hands, the flaming one leaving a lethal trail of fire in its wake, she then charged her foe with both swords. She brought the flaming one down against him in a forceful strike, maintaining the other sword at a lower angle so she could easily block if he should try to retaliate.

Terrorsaur smiled deviously as he watched Nemesis get serious, bringing her full strength down upon Dinobot and forcing him into a situation in which he'd have to bring both his weapons against her to defend himself.

"Now's my chance" Terrorsaur thought to himself as he waited for the right moment and lunged forward quickly, one sword held at such an angle as to run Dinobot through the back while the other was held over the first, ready to either add to the damage inflicted by his first stab or to block & defend himself if necessary, though he was confident Dinobot wouldn't be able to defend against himself while he had his hands full with Nemesis.

"A backstab for a backstabber, poetic justice at its best" Terrorsaur mused in his head, his teeth bared like a rabid dog.

(Umbra and Tarantulus never met, since Tarantulus, Blackarachnia, Arachnitron, and Starshadow were stuck in the Maximal base when Umbra's pod landed. However, considering OOP has wanted the comlink system to work more like.. Skype, rather then radio, just assume Umbra is on the Predacon friends list for how you learned his name and received his channel. It'll make things alot smoother in the long run rather then trying to figure and explain all those details.

Hm.. Blackarachnia in a schoolgirl outfit.. I almost pondered sketching that up, but considering how popular the Bunnygirl image I did of her.. I'd rather not start getting requests for her.*L*)

Cecaelia wrote:"Well it's about time we got our job done."

Umbra nodded muting his microphone Indeed. I realize this sort of wet work can be a bit boring.. but after this you'll be free to hunt Maximals as you please. Just let me download the schematics so we don't travel blindly.

Megatron wrote:"Excellent work," "Rest assured you will not require to remain hidden for long."

Umbra unmuted his microphone as he responded Understood.

He then extended a cable from the end of one of his tentacles, plugging into the terminal. Starting to go through the system files until he came across the Axalon schematics, finding they'd be useful to navigate the ventilation system on their exit. He proceeded to download the files as he soon received another call.

Tarantulas wrote: "Umbra, this is Tarantulas, I know not if Megatron has informed you of this particular endgame protocol, but he wishes for me to download a virus we've been waiting to use for a very long time into the Axalon's computer and turn the ship's defenses against the maximals themselves. All you need to do is plug into Sentinel and allow me to transmit the virus through you into the computer, fear not, it shall not harm you, merely route through you on its way to its final destination. Can you reach the bridge counsels?"

Umbra responded This is Umbra. Understood, and no fears on the virus. The ship uses a different OS then myself. The bridge is mostly destroyed and their wireless is down to prevent intrusion, however I am patched directly into the ship's network from the medical bay, so you should have direct access to Sentinel.Hang on, I'll route you through.

He finished downloading the schematics, then opened the ports on the network through his comlink for Tarantulas. All yours sir.
He muted his microphone, then turned on the chair looking towards Cecaelia, still looking rather exhausted, his hand leaning on his leg to assist with supporting himself. Alright, after that virus is uploaded, the ship defenses will clear out the maximals. We'll get out through the vent and go where ever you please. I might head for the armory to pick up a few things myself..

He raised the container in his other hand, finishing up the energon he was drinking.

(ooc: I keep getting this annoying error message every time I load into a page here today. And refreshing makes the message go away. Anyways. Warwulf is working a 16 hour shift today so I don't know how he'll feel when he gets home at past 11 tonight. Going to nudge him about posting soon though.)

Whitegrazer wrote:"How is he?"

Aurora glanced up for a mere second to look at the taller female before returning her attention to the downed warrior in front of her. "He's taken some bad hits," she admitted, still unsure who this stranger was. But being this close to him, there was just something about the male that did not strike her as being a hostile soldier meaning to cause them harm. She paused to use her open palm to apply pressure to an open wound in the winged stranger's armor, while glancing around for something else to use instead so she could free up her hands. Not seeing anything useful within reach, she gently pulled at Silverbolt's wing with her free hand and manipulated it into covering the wound to buy her a little time to access the limited supplies of medical equipment she carried on her person.

As she worked, however, an unknown assailant started firing at them, catching Aurora off guard. She only narrowly avoided the first shot, the second one nearly forcing her to leave her position by the injured unknown. Sending Whitegrazer a pleading look, she contemplated making a run for it but quickly realized it would not make much difference. If she did, she would merely be leaving the fallen victim to face the threat by himself, which hardly seemed like the kind of thing the Maximal in her wanted to do. No. She was staying her ground. Judging by the relatively few number of shots, there was only one attacker. Her companions could take him out, she was sure of it.

Albeit her satisfaction of feeling her extended foot impact against the back of Dinobot's head proved to be short lived in that her main attack with the sword was disrupted by a lucky move on the traitor's end, at least she managed to prevent him from hitting her fellow Predacon with his eye beams. The avian female landed on a short distance from the other two, her sword raised as if expecting a counter attack.

Yet the two former comrades initially seemed about to settle their dispute with words, causing the female to impatiently twirl the sword in her hand.

Terrorsaur wrote:You're always boasting about how you like to do things the old fashioned way, right traitor? Well this time your outdated way of doing everything will prove to be your doom! We're transmetals now Dinobot, the future! The Elite! You're nothing compared to us!

Dinobot wrote:"So, you persist in trying to bolster your courage by unproven words you only hope to believe."

She wanted to merely lunge forward right then, to end this swiftly with a well placed strike to the center of the traitor's backside. Yes, she too admired the power that these new bodies granted, but she doubted that someone as bound to honor as Dinobot would feel intimidated by such a threat. He had left the Predacons over a dispute with Megatron, joining the Maximals on his own accord. Yet he was still very much a Predacon in nature, never having undergone any reprogramming. Or at least not as far as she could tell by having read his personnel file.

Nemesis knew the type. The proud warrior instincts, the loner nature, driven by honor and pride. She had known soldiers like that. She had been like that and in many ways still was. Yet that is where their similarities ended. Their priorities were very different, the traitor having been shaded by the compassion of the Maximals.

It was hardly a surprise when Dinobot refused to give up even against such impossible odds. She would have thought less of him if he had.

He swiped his sword at her, a swipe she managed to avoid by leaning backwards as swiftly as her new and larger frame would let her. The shield bashing into her proved more difficult to outmaneuver, however, the blow forcing her backwards as it literally knocked the wind out of her. To regain her balance and avoid any further attacks the warrior might be planning, she quickly went into a backwards roll only to spring back up onto her feet.

Dinobot was now located directly between the two Predacons, trapped like the vermin he was.

The former Decepticon tilted her head and smiled, a rather chilling gesture all things considering.

"Nice move, however futile."


She grabbed the shaft of her remaining sword with her free hand, igniting the flames as she continued.

"My turn."

Swinging both swords around in her hands, the flaming one leaving a lethal trail of fire in its wake, she then charged her foe with both swords. She brought the flaming one down against him in a forceful strike, maintaining the other sword at a lower angle so she could easily block if he should try to retaliate.

(( OOC:

No, I meant the more focused radio channels. But they do have the technology for it, since they have spaceships that go back in time. I'm just pointing that out to give him some ideas so we don't suddenly have to explain any plotholes or get anymore confusion so we don't have the problems with "Oh, what's Umbra's number Megatron?" "How do I find his SSID?" "Who IS this guy?" and so on. Convenience basically.)

Oh, I gotchya. Yes, take advantage of it, people! The less confusion the better. ))

"I surrender, I surrender!"

Rattrap refused to lower his weapon despite Manterror's surrender as surprising as it was. He could never trust this crazy mantis. Never. He simply narrowed his optics at him and maintained his aim with his weapon.

"Let me leave and I will tell you the location of Megatrons super secret weapon!!"

The acting Maximal leader managed a snorted chuckle. "Yeah right. I hope the 'super secret weapon' ain't you 'cause it's been pretty disappointing."

"Ok, Manterror," "I'll escort you out of the hangar bay so you can leave peacefully. You can tell me all about the... super secret... thingamabob on the way out."

Agreeing with what Orcariner told the bug, Rattrap left it at that and lowered his target on him but kept his gun in his hand. His back still ached and his upper arm throbbed but he was relieved that they finally got this situation under control. Now there was just the matter of freeing Airazor from the malfunctioning CR chamber.

This unit would be appreciative if you assisted.

While things seemed to calm down in the hangar now, Tigatron put his weapon away and nodded at Stag.

That primitive prying tool will provide efficient leverage without damaging the chamber or occupant inside.

Looking in the same direction that the little Targetmaster was, the taller Maximal went over and grabbed the pipe, returning to the CR and readying himself to use it to help pry open the CR door. "All right. I've got it," the tiger informed him.

"Stand back, Airazor. We're going to try and open the door," Tigatron warned her. With Stag's assistance, he proceeded with their attempt.

-----

"Understood. You just watch your back, Rhinox."

The engineer gave Whitegrazer a nod and added, "You as well. Watch each other's backs," before returning diligently to his work.

"Did we just lose our shields..?"

Struggling to gain access back with their own ship's systems because of Umbra and Cecaelia, Rhinox didn't even bother a glance at Aurora to answer her. But she didn't wait around anyway. Instead, she had taken the initiative to hurry outside and help the others along with Whitegrazer and Frilla. Except for some sparks from severed and exposed wires, and white noise from broken console monitors, the command center was finally "quiet." Yes, this was the closest thing to silence for a long time.

Tigatron wrote:"All right. I've got it,"

Stag struggled a bit, then finally popped the lock on his side, quickly rolling back on his wheels as the CR chamber hatch swung open. He tilted his head slightly looking at Airazor, while his manipulator released Aerostriker's remains from his back. Under these emergency circumstances, this unit is claiming this CR chamber.

Stag turned as he grabbed Aerostriker with his mandibles, then rolled past Airazor into the CR chamber, climbing into the large seat and setting Aerostriker's parts down onto it. He then hopped down, rolling out of the chamber, then headed towards a control panel near the CR chamber, plugging his manipulator into it.

Moments after Airazor exited the chamber, it sealed closed once again to start repairs on Aerostriker.

Whitegrazer watched as Frilla went to help Wintersong and Cheetor. Good. Hopefully, Cheetor's injuries weren't too bad and she knew Frilla was a tough Maximal. So far things were looking up. She hoped Rhinox and the others in the base were okay. With Umbra and Cecaeila inside the base, it gave the Predacons an advantage, which was bad. Though, the Predacons were outnumbered yet it would be foolish to underestimate those two.

"He's taken some bad hits,"

She looked at their injured Fuzor. From the look of the hits, he must have been blasted by their autoguns before they either lost power or destroyed, "He will need some time in the CR chamber then. Let's get him inside the base." Aurora looked at her with pleading eyes. Frightened. Optics fleeting with conflict on leaving to save themselves from harm or to stay with their comrade who was in bad shape. It was more of fear for Aurora than survival. Understandable, but they mustn't succumb to fear. Physical pain hurt, but it is the emotional pain that cut the deepest of any soul. Leaving someone to die out of fear. Fear would become their master and lead them into a dark path of powerful emotions of guilt and angry that would dig them deeper inside the darkness.

But it was just a small moment that passed quickly. Aurora stayed, which made her smile at the choice she made. It was the right thing to do and she was stronger for it.

The Predacons were still preoccupied in battle. Scanning the battleground, it crossed her mind that a few Predacons were missing. Where was Tarantulas, Arachnitron, Blackarachnia, and Onyx? As she was about to give a hand towards the grounded fuzor, Aurora jumped away from shots. Whitegrazer barely dodged hers by the blast shield she carried. Good thing she thought of bringing one along. Hopefully, Frilla's was doing her some extra cover as well.

Glancing at Onyx, she stood her ground, undeterred and courteous. She respected Onyx and knew he only participated in the battle to keep himself from the wrath of Megatron. Fear. She mourned for him and the others like him to not be lead by a compassionate hand, gentle and kind, but by a intimidation, manipulation, and ruthlessness. Some day she hoped things would change for better. For both sides.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Pity, I thought you'd like the uniform, considering how well it goes with your "little miss innocent" routine"

Blackarachnia growled at such degradation and humiliation being brought upon her. The uniform reappeared on her person, making her scream in frustration. Before she could make an attempt to rip it off, a huge chalk nearly putting her to the ground held in between her pinchers. A squeaking sound bore into her skull as the sentence "I mustn't lie to my master" stared at her on the primitive piece of wood. She attempted to break the chalk, but it was too huge to chop with one push. She couldn't let it go, which she tried desperately to.

As the chalk was thrown to the wall, shattering in a cloud of dust, she let out a declaration, "I'M NOT YOUR SLAVE!!"