The Intergalactic Highway

Arachnitron could hear Tarantulas speaking, but wasn't close enough to hear the exact words he was saying. Who was he talking to? Could he still possibly be in Blackarachnia's head even though he was back in his own body? How could that be? Did he really have that kind of power? A shiver went down Arachnitron's back at just the thought of the kinds of things Tarantulas might be able to do.

Once Arachnitron had caught up to Tarantulas, she transformed back into her robot form.

"We're close enough, hold your position and guard me from attack while I complete Megatron's chore."

Arachnitron nodded in compliance and took cover near by continuing to speculate on what other things Tarantulas could do.

"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?"

Arachnitron listened as she watched the surrounding area with her energon pistol at the ready in case any of the Maximals decided to interfere.

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Inside Arachnitron's mind, the Predacon programming was still tearing down the wall that separated her from the body's core consciousness. It was a painfully slow task and she slowed momentarily in her work, exhausted. Each time she pulled down some of the wall, it re-materialized just a few seconds later. She had to pull it down at remarkable speeds until it finally stopped re-materializing. She slid to the ground, breathing heavily. Had she made any progress at all? She couldn't tell. It seemed like this wall continued on endlessly.

"When I find out who is responsible for this," she growled. "I'll make them pay. I'll make them feel pain like they've never felt before. I'll deactivate their ability to transform and over-expose them to energon. I'll....I'll.....I'LL DELETE THEIR PROGRAMMING!!!" the Predacon programming screamed in anger. "And then...." she continued suddenly eerily calm. "And then....I'll torture and delete the other programming until, at long last, I am the only one left!!!" she cackled happily to herself delighting in the thought of the body returning once again to her possession. The body was of Predacon make and origin after all, it was only fitting that it be returned to its rightful owner.

On the other side of the barrier, the Maximal programming huddled in fear listening to the Predacon ranting and raving on the other side. At first, she couldn't hear anything. They had been effectively separated from each other by the thick barrier. But as the Predacon furiously tore through the computerized barrier, her voice seemed to get louder and louder. It wouldn't be long now before she burst through it and discovered the Maximal programming on the other side. It would be no secret, then, which of the three personalities was in control of the body. The Maximal shook in fear, but not for herself.....she was deeply afraid for the Hybrid programming for it was the Hybrid who would have to face the Predacon's wrath.

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If Tarantulas had happened to look over at just the right time, he might have noticed one split second where Arachnitron's optics became white in color and her face became blank and emotionless. She literally froze in place, but just for a moment. Almost as though for a fraction of a second, one of the other programmings had tried to take over, but, neither the Maximal nor the Predacon programming was strong enough to do so yet. They were both still imprisoned by the inhibitor chip. It would be some time yet before either one could take proper control, but it would become all too obvious soon enough that the inhibitor chip was weakening. Arachnitron would not be able to hide it for much longer.

She gazed around in slight confusion as her optics flashed green once again. Soon, she would have no choice but to confide in Tarantulas about the integrity of the inhibitor chip. If she wanted to remain in control of the body without the influence of the others, she would have to trust that Tarantulas would re-install the inhibitor chip as he claimed he would.

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Inferno watched the Maximal below him push herself up after getting knocked backward by his rockets. His taunts seemed to go unnoticed.

"Wrong bug, they already did."

She retorted stubbornly. Inferno looked around to understand her meaning and noticed the cheetah that he had been battling earlier being carried off by another traitor to the colony! (OOC: Not sure if Frilla defected before or after Inferno appeared...I can edit if I need to...)

Inferno turned back to the Maximal on the ground. "I see no one rescuing you, kitten," the red ant pointed out. "In fact, it looks like your little friends are leaving you to die!" Inferno's demonic laughter was cut short as Wintersong's wrist launchers blasted him out of the sky. He landed with a loud thud on the ground below him and howled in anger.

When he stood up, he noticed the tigress was racing back towards the Axalon following the lizard and his previous target, Cheetor.

"Oh goody, more playmates!" he grinned and returned to the skies once more to follow after them. Though he was, for all intents and purposes, undamaged, he was flying visibly slower due to the recent damage to his flight mode.

"You can run, but you can't hide, little Maximals!" he called to them.

As he neared Wintersong, he pulled out his rocket launcher and fired two blasts at her and then targeted Frilla and fired two shots at her as well.

((OOC: [Insert customary apology here.] ))

The blasts exploding in the close vicinity jarred Silverbolt awake. He looked around for a moment before realizing he was outnumbered and in no condition to fight. Somehow, he knew his comrades would make no effort to come to his aid... Megatron did not strike him as the compassionate sort of leader. In the arms of his enemy, he felt his fate was sealed.

"So, get on with it... destroy me," he said stoically to his captor.

((Sorry OOP, i've been having trouble accessing the site recently. The site keeps going down. :/ ))

"Yeah right. I hope the 'super secret weapon' ain't you 'cause it's been pretty disappointing."

The Mantis shot rattrap a dark look at his comment. Next time they meet, he would be sure to dismember him... slowly. His death would be a painful one.

"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."

Manterror began to walk out with the Orca. When they were side-by-side, the large maximal noticeably dwarfed the little predicon. It was daunting to be around him and he was likely the only protoform that the mantis had no desire to dismember. The other preds can handle him.

After they were out of earshot from the rest of the team, the Mantis began telling him of "Megatron's" secret project. "After securing a fallen stasis pod, Megatron had demanded me to begin working on building it into a flying tank." His tale began with a bit of fiction. Megatron had no idea that Manterror was building a war machine. But it did exist. "It is mostly complete! It's 5 weapon systems are installed including a giant megablade DESIGNED TO SLICE MAXIMAL'S IN HALF!!! HAHAHA--" Suddenly, Manterror remembered that he was still talking to a maximal and stopped laughing. After clearing his throat, he continued. "I have hidden it in the forest of sector Zeta." He was unable to provide more precise directions as it had been a long time since even he had seen his own project. Hopefully no birds crapped on it since he last worked on it.

((Finally trying to tie in old posts. For those who don't remember, there was a series of posts about him building this a long time ago. Here is a link to the final post about it: viewtopic.php?p=42767#p42767
---

"Stand back, Airazor. We're going to try and open the door,"

Immediately recognizing the voice, Airazor calmed down and put away her wrist mounted weapons. Moments later, the lock on the Chamber opened and she was free. A smile spread across her face as the first sight she had was of Tigatron. Wasting no time, Airazor rushed forward and jumped into Tigatron's arms. While embracing him, she spoke softly into his ear. "I knew you'd come for me." Feeling like the luckiest girl in the world, she let go of her man and looked around at everyone else who came to help. "Thank you everyone for helping me, I thought for sure that crazy Mantis was going to kill me."

Under these emergency circumstances, this unit is claiming this CR chamber.

It seemed that Aerostrikers bot wasted no time in getting his owner into the chamber. Clearly, Airazor had no time to protest the use of that chamber. It seemed to her that it would be better to have that chamber repaired instead... especially considering the damage that was inflicted upon it during the battle. Not to mention the fact that the locking mechanism was broken. Using one of the chambers in the bridge would have been MUCH smarter. Too late now though. "Good luck getting him out." She said to the bot with a smile.

((Sorry guys, but past five days has been hectic with cleaning, shifting things at my house, and we've had company over. Not the most pleasant company but still, kept me busy and have been too tired to post until now.))

Wintersong really was trying to ignore Inferno's taunts, knowing letting this flying psychotic ant get under her armor would make things worse if she got angry again. Certain in the beginning she might have jumped in without another thought but she was slowly trying to block out those words and even then she knew majority of what Inferno said was wrong anyway. She knew Frilla wasn't there to leave her to die Cheetor needed help far more then she did and wasn't the one out of commission. Quite frankly she was wishing by some miracle her mini-missiles had done the trick to do the same for the ant, but this was just wishful thinking as his annoying voice could be heard from behind making Wintersong growl in annoyance. Did he ever go down?! Better yet even shut up? "Frilla be ready for an attack from...Graa!"A growl came from Wintersong as she was at first blasted forward off her feet and landing face first into the dirt before the neck shot flipped her over a few times making her grown, now somewhat disoriented yet again. "I really hate that bug..."

((Eh, can't really say much for my absence other then real life is in the way))

Onyx watched as his shots were barely avoided but the two femmes stood their ground, finding their courage quite admirable despite knowing against two Maximals he would only last so long. Slowly approaching closer he noticed Silverbolt awake now but heard his words and became somewhat thoughtful, looking back between the young furzor and white mare for a moment and looking back to see the rest of his comrades busy at the moment to really notice him. With a soft sigh, and luckily with in talking distance of the two foes, he looked back at the two femmes and lowered his rifle. "They will not harm you Silverbolt, in fact you would be in better hands with them then Megatron."He informed his fallen teammate before looking at Aurora and Whitegrazer. "I do not wish to harm either of you, really this mass slaughter shouldn't happen at all no matter what faction you are. For now I'll leave you in peace and to get Silverbolt the proper help he needs, but I wish you luck."Onyx told them calmly before he turned away and began to leave,"You'll certainly need it."

Reaching back and putting his rifle away Onyx took a few steps before he transformed to beast mode and galloped back towards the other Predacons to rejoin the fray with them rather then risk harming a fallen warrior. And it wasn't like Megatron had to know, but that didn't mean the two femmes wouldn't eventually end up at gun point once more sooner or later and he wouldn't be able to help them then.

==================================

SIlverstreak cringed when hearing the shots behind her, her fur bristling everywhere in her small form with knowing she barely avoided several bullets in her back. But she didn't understand why she didn't just mere nanoclicks before when Steelclaw had her in sight, it fact it seemed he had hesitated. Perhaps all Predacons weren't like Megatron after all? Regardless of the reason the young vixen knew it was better to keep moving forward then risk her luck again, knowing she'd have to rely on her agility and smaller stature to have even stood a chance against such a large, strong enemy. Weaving her way around the rocks Silverstreak stayed as low as she could and avoiding any stray shots, still hearing the battles going on around her.

Finally, the young femme came to a spot with less cover and seemed a straight shot towards the Axalon...with enemies right close by that could shoot her down. At this rate though she was willing to take a chance and gave a last glance towards her enemies before bolting across towards the ship to rejoin her Maximal teammates.

Dinobot braced for Nemesis' powerful attack with her fire-spitting sword by facing her with his rotating shield and supporting the shield-hand with the wrist of his sword-arm crossed just behind it. This left his back entirely exposed to Terrorsaur, who he could just barely detect moving behind him. But of course Terrorsaur would try stabbing him in the back.

Dinobot decided to use it. Waiting until the last possible moment, he broke away from Nemesis and threw himself to the side, hoping that Terrorsaur's stabbing thrust would continue on its path, and thereby either harm Nemesis or force her to cross blades with her own ally for just a moment. And, being as he was briefly separated from both of his foes, he recognized that now was a good opportunity to try to inflict the damage on Terrorsaur that he had been prevented from doing earlier; so he fired his optics lasers at the side of Terrorsaur's head.

He looked away for just a moment to see that Feralnight was indeed on her way back to the Axalon. With her safety momentarily assured, it would have been logical now for him to try to disengage and return back to base himself. But the joy of battle was upon him! He was faced with not one, but two foes, and he had managed to defy them well enough so far. He wanted to see how the contest would end.

((OOC: I will have to think for Steelclaw. I was kinda tempted to have him take a sniper's shot at Dinobot, but I think that wouldn't quite make sense if he wants Maximals to live--he's got to know Nemesis and Terrorsaur would terminate Dinobot if they had the chance. Or at least he would suspect it of Nemesis. I think he's inherently distrustful of Decepticons (so, anyways, go ahead and write whatever you plan to in the battle, Phoenix and DarkSpark).

))

Una wrote: 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!!"

"Who are you trying to convince my dear? Me? The telepathic presence inside your head bending reality, and you, to his will? Or yourself, the helpless little fly caught in my web?" Tarantulas replied calmly and smugly, as he proceeded to will the indignant Blackarachnia to turn around & face the chalkboard, willing her to raise a pincer and begin scratching "I mustn't lie to my master" slowly and deliberately over the board, the ear piercing sound only emphasizing his point.

"Its surprising really, how proud you pretend to be, considering the depths you've been willing to sink to in order to satisfy your pitiful lust for power, and that's all it ever really was my dear, lust, a desire to have something that can never be yours, merely for the sake of having it. In that regard, you're no better than Terrorsaur, who wants power for the sake of power but wouldn't know what to do with it once he had it, or Waspinator, whose delusional daydreams of glory are likely all that keeps him going solar cycle after solar cycle given his perpetual misfortune. If you had the power to rule the predacons my dear, you'd be ruling over us already, you had plenty of time to put your plans into motion, plenty of time to turn the others against Megatron and seize control, but you didn't, because as much as it pains you to admit it, you simply lack the clout and the raw power necessary to lead. Megatron, for all his flaws, inspires fear in his troops, and at times, even a minimal degree of respect, so one can understand why despite everything they'd follow him, if not out of loyalty than out of fear of his power, both physically and mentally. But you? No one will follow a tiny little fembot who despite all her skills and cunning, still relies on her physical appearance to get others to do her bidding. You can bat your optics and karate kick your problems all you wish my dear, but cheap tricks and playing coy cannot make a queen out of someone who was ultimately born to serve, and whose mind belongs to the one who made her" Tarantulas jeered, pointing out the flaws in Blackarachnia's silly ambitions, crushing her under the reality of it all, his words as sharp and penetrating as broken glass.

Naitokage wrote: 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.

"Excellent Umbra, commencing download of viral program Homewrecker" Tarantulas chuckled with glee as he transmitted the aptly named virus wirelessly through his connection to Umbra's comlink into the Axalon's computer, getting better at multitasking between the real world and the psychic plane.

As Umbra had promised, he had direct access to Sentinel and thus the normally well protected maximal defense program was helpless against his invasion of it systems, the virus spreading like a spider's web across its network, the predacon insignia appearing ominously on every unbroken computer screen on the bridge. In no time at all Sentinel was fully infected by the virus, which proceeded to seek out every maximal aboard and outside the ship within its range.

Opening a com to Megatron, Tarantulas said "Tarantulas to Megatron, the Homewrecker Virus has successfully infected Sentinel, the base is ours, and the maximals will soon be shot in the backs by their own defense grid, bwahahahaha!"

He then removed his visor, drew his new cyber venom blaster, turned to Arachnitron, his most useful pawn, and said "Our task is done Arachnitron, soon the maximals will be be driven out of their home and shot down by it, or us. Let us find a good seat to watch the show, something tells me Dinobot won't be far behind, hehehehe!"

"Homewrecker online, maximal scum detected, purging protocols initiated" the virus droned in a feminine voice as it activated the ships autoguns and tanglers, targeting every maximal outside and onboard the ship...Including those inside the CR Chamber!

Blazemane wrote: Dinobot braced for Nemesis' powerful attack with her fire-spitting sword by facing her with his rotating shield and supporting the shield-hand with the wrist of his sword-arm crossed just behind it. This left his back entirely exposed to Terrorsaur, who he could just barely detect moving behind him. But of course Terrorsaur would try stabbing him in the back.

Dinobot decided to use it. Waiting until the last possible moment, he broke away from Nemesis and threw himself to the side, hoping that Terrorsaur's stabbing thrust would continue on its path, and thereby either harm Nemesis or force her to cross blades with her own ally for just a moment. And, being as he was briefly separated from both of his foes, he recognized that now was a good opportunity to try to inflict the damage on Terrorsaur that he had been prevented from doing earlier; so he fired his optics lasers at the side of Terrorsaur's head.

He looked away for just a moment to see that Feralnight was indeed on her way back to the Axalon. With her safety momentarily assured, it would have been logical now for him to try to disengage and return back to base himself. But the joy of battle was upon him! He was faced with not one, but two foes, and he had managed to defy them well enough so far. He wanted to see how the contest would end.

((OOC: I will have to think for Steelclaw. I was kinda tempted to have him take a sniper's shot at Dinobot, but I think that wouldn't quite make sense if he wants Maximals to live--he's got to know Nemesis and Terrorsaur would terminate Dinobot if they had the chance. Or at least he would suspect it of Nemesis. I think he's inherently distrustful of Decepticons (so, anyways, go ahead and write whatever you plan to in the battle, Phoenix and DarkSpark).

"RAWK!" Terrorsaur gasped in surprise as Dinobot moved out of the way at the last second, forcing him to use his jets to fly backwards or else risk injuring or being injured by Nemesis...A maneuver he likely wouldn't have been quick enough to pull off before his upgrade, remembering the time he and Scorponok had crashed into one another while chasing Tigatron down a corridor.

"You slippery saurian! Stand and fight like a pred...Slag!" Terrorsaur cursed as he barely blocked Dinobot's laser shots with his swords, finding yet another lucky use for them.

"So, the proud and mighty Dinobot still hasn't forgotten how to take a cheap shot, eh? Guess you're not so honorable after all, turncoat!" Terrorsaur mocked, returning fire with his own eye beams, more determined than ever to knock Dinobot off his high horse, no matter what methods he had to use to do it.


P.S. hope everything checks out with this post, really wanted Tarantulas to come off as an evil bastard with my latest post, and let me know if the "Homewrecker Virus" is too silly or over the top. I wasn't sure if Tarantulas was supposed to use the virus to control the base remotely or just have a viral AI do everything for the preds, so feel free to correct me and I'll alter the post.

BTW, did ya want Tarantulas to say anything to Arachnitron this turn, Blackrose? I figured he'd still be involved in his work at the moment and replying to Megatron to take note of her just yet, but let me know if ya want him to do or say anything otherwise.

(ooc: Squeal! Very nice, DS, Tarantulas is every bit as creepy as he was in the show!)

Silverbolt wrote:"So, get on with it... destroy me,"

Destroy him? Did he think they were Predacons?


His words were that of a defeated prisoner. He certainly did not strike her as the typical Predacon, so easily admitting to defeat without even attempting to fight back.

Aurora paused for a moment, eyeing the fallen soldier before her a bit sullenly. Although his words were brave, he just seemed so.. lost. As much as she hated the Predacons for everything they had done, she just could not bring herself to transfer that hate onto this wounded fuzor.

After contemplating her response for a couple of seconds, she had brought up the courage to protest the accusation. But as she opened her mouth to do so, Onyx' voice chimed in from behind her.

Onyx wrote:"They will not harm you Silverbolt, in fact you would be in better hands with them then Megatron."

Well.. Any doubts she had previously had about his identity, this Silverbolt as she now knew him as, were shattered by Onyx' comment. He was a Predacon. Would he change his demeanor now that the truth was out?

Eyeing him again she did not believe he would. He was genuinely hurt and truly defeated. Not by the cannons or by a stray shot of any Maximal attacker, but rather by his own self-awareness.

"Your friend is right," she told Silverbolt reassuringly, trying to portray all the confidence she inwardly lacked as not to appear weak in front of her foes. "We'll get you the repairs you need and you can decide where to go from then."

Onyx wrote: "I do not wish to harm either of you, really this mass slaughter shouldn't happen at all no matter what faction you are. For now I'll leave you in peace and to get Silverbolt the proper help he needs, but I wish you luck.""You'll certainly need it."

Well.. those were certainly not very assuring words. They sounded more like a goodbye than anything.

A sinking feeling filled her up on the inside, causing her to flick open the small wrist computer she always carried around to check up on the status of the base. Yet to her surprise, her access was denied. She made a couple more attempts before before slowly turning to face Whitegrazer, an extremely concerned look on her face.

"We can't return to the base."

Tarantulas wrote:"Tarantulas to Megatron, the Homewrecker Virus has successfully infected Sentinel, the base is ours, and the maximals will soon be shot in the backs by their own defense grid, bwahahahaha!"

"Excellent!," Megatron exclaimed, clasping his hands together in pure excitement. He then turned to view his troops.

"Predacons!," he announced, doing little to hide the pride in his voice. His plan was progressing flawlessly. "The remaining Maximals will be joining us outside momentarily. Make sure they get the proper greeting!"

The tyrant then raised his arm-mounted cannon, aiming it at the Axalon so that he was free to shoot any hapless Maximal who sought shelter outside. Their precious base was now under Predacon control.. under his control! And attempting to surrender was certainly not an option for the few remaining foes still hiding inside.

Nemesis immediately brought Optimus' sword up to block Terrorsaur's incoming blow as Dinobot maneuvered out of the way. However, as it turned out she did not need to worry, as Terrorsaur also withdrew swiftly enough to avoid impact.

Somewhat amused by Dinobot's refusal to admit defeat even with the odds stacked against him, she side stepped to block Dinobot's path should he again try to avoid the incoming blasts.

Terrorsaur wrote:"So, the proud and mighty Dinobot still hasn't forgotten how to take a cheap shot, eh? Guess you're not so honorable after all, turncoat!"

Nemesis smirked. It would appear that removing the Predacon from his environment did little to neglect the Predacon personality. Albeit she would have been disappointed if Dinobot's honor had prevented him from fighting back through any means available to him. She was certainly not above fighting dirty when the situation called for it and she expected any Predacon to do the same.

Expecting Dinobot's attention to be caught up with the opponent he was currently facing, she dropped down to a crouching position and swept out her leg in an attempt to knock Dinobot off his feet. Stepping back immediately after, she twirled her swords around so that she could catch the traitor's neck between them. For the occasion she had disabled the flaming effect, not wishing to waste the fuel.

(( OOC: I'm going to assume that most of the Predacons outside will be gathering around the main entrance of the Axalon as they did on the show. So, if Megs is going to blow a hole through Rhinox's chest, I'm all for it. After all, Orcariner is already heavily damaged and Rhinox (being the last robust 'bot built for good defense) isn't.

Not sure what to do with Silverbolt now since the Maximals can't get him inside. I'm assuming Ironclaw will be okay since he's still unconscious, although he is exposed from the CR if I'm remembering correctly, but I have no idea what else to do with him at this point.

Awesome, awesome posts, everyone! Loving Tarantulas, DarkSpark, and I laughed at the virus he uploaded. ))

IC:

Watching Orcariner and Manterror closely as they left the hangar together, Rattrap finally put his weapon away and went to see if he could help Stag and Tigatron free Airazor. But by the time he got there, they had just opened the large repair chamber.

"I knew you'd come for me."

Smiling, Tigatron tossed the pipe aside and wrapped his arms around the female falcon, holding her closely and with great relief until she gently pushed away.

"Thank you everyone for helping me, I thought for sure that crazy Mantis was going to kill me."

"Dat's cuz he would've," Rattrap said bluntly to Airazor's comment without any doubt. "The bug is psychotic."

Under these emergency circumstances, this unit is claiming this CR chamber.

Both Rattrap and Tigatron watched Stag take the initiative of immediately hauling Aerostriker into the mechanically malfunctioning CR to start repairs on him. "Our new bird took a big beating, eh?" the rodent observed with a frown. He hoped he'd be okay. "Tough way to start a new life on dis dirt ball." Observing the little Targetmaster, the acting Maximal Commander was impressed with the little guy and how he got around. Gotta get me my own TM someday, he thought, imagining the endless possibilities with one.

"Good luck getting him out."

"Probably safer he'd use dis CR, though," Rattrap began explaining. "Rhinox said they had been under attack in de bridge by a new Pred and Cecaelia. I'd be surprised if it ain't all trashed along with both the CR's."

-----

Back in the Axalon command center, Rhinox slapped the monitor a few times to gain his picture back when it would cut out on him every so often. "Come on..." he grumbled irritably under his breath, desperately trying to reconfigure the shields around the Predacons' infiltration in their ship's computer.

"Homewrecker online, maximal scum detected, purging protocols initiated"

The engineer's red optics widened with a gasp that escaped his mouth as he saw the Predacon insignia flash onto his monitor, overriding all of his data and work, and heard the familiar feminine voice that the Darksyde's computer usually showcased. Instead of worrying what was happening around him, Rhinox attempted to disable "Homewrecker" and default their system back to Sentinel's original programming. Unsuccessful, he was hit in the back by one of the few stun guns that were left operating after Umbra's and Cece's assault which caused him to fall to a knee. While the fall saved him from being hit again, his body felt limp and his vision blurred a little.

Everything was happening so fast now. The Predacons did the most desirable and damaging thing they could possibly do to the Maximals; take away the one thing they sought for cover, safety, and for hope. Rhinox had failed his friends in protecting them and holding the line at their ship. Now they had no where to go but outside to face Megatron and his Predacons head on. Was this it? Was this their fate?

"Rhinox to Rattrap!" he desperately called on his communication link. "The shields are down and the Predacons have uploaded a virus turning Sentinel against us!"

"Homewrecker online, maximal scum detected, purging protocols initiated"

"Yeah, uh, we just got the memo, Big Green," Rattrap responded. Systems and weapons within the hangar and just outside its large exit to the great outdoors began whirling to life and targeting all of the Maximals in range. "Whoa!" Rattrap grabbed one of his hubcaps off of his shoulder and held it with his good arm to help deflect some of the shots that flew at him, Airazor and Tigatron. "Can ya override it?"

"No time!" exclaimed Rhinox over their transmission. "I have no protection against Sentinel's weapons in the bridge." With more shots whizzing by Rhinox's large body, it was only a matter of time until he was hit again, and if he wanted to be functional to help fight outside, then he had no choice but to abandon the Axalon.

"All right, get outta dere. Regroup with the others outside," ordered Rattrap. "We'll figure somethin' out." He hoped they could. If not, the Maximals were going to lose everything... And Megatron was finally going to win...

Acquiring more feeling to his body, he got to his feet and headed to the platform. With the science engineer's vision still obscured a bit, he tried reaching out to the rest of the team in the field. "Maximals, this is Rhinox. The Axalon is no longer safe! I repeat, Sentinel is now targeting and firing at Maximals!" As he was lowered outside, his near-sight was adjusting to the light and growing more clearly, but he was unaware of Megatron or any other Predacons who might've been in close proximity. Still, he grabbed one of his chain guns and tried visually locating some cover or a fellow comrade. ((OOC: Insert perfect time for Megs or a Pred to take him down.))

(I may have to write up something on the radios sometime. But no, the Comlinks still all work as normal. What was disabled, is the Axalon's Wifi. In otherwords, I turned off the router's broadcast. Other then Tarantulus or maybe Terra, there are no other Predacons capable of messing with Comlink Radio signals like Glowstick used to. Maximals wise, that'd be Aurora's area. Umbra's skills are fairly similar to Rattrap, but no where near as good as a marksman as Rattrap is.

The Comlinks should be able to run on a different system which links the Maximals together for calling, or unencrypted radio signals like.. traditional radio for emergency purposes.

Ofcourse, the Maximals are also hooked up to Orcariner's Beacon 2.0 system.. which effectively makes Orcariner like a walking base with that thing giving off data on allies, radar data on enemies, mapping info, objective information, etc. But only within a 100 meter radius of him for allies. So essentially Orcariner is a walking sensor node.
It's why Aerostriker and Stag assumed he was a commander, in real life the military operates on a network similar to this, but it makes sense for Orcariner carrying that stuff since his larger size just naturally makes radar work better as a walking radar tower. We think of radio waves as magical invisible things, but they're part of the light spectrum and effected by line of sight, clouds, mountains, trees, etc. The higher you are, the further you can see visually, the better you can broadcast with radio waves for radar or communication otherwise. That and energon interference(which some radiation does effect radio waves) is why the Maximals had communication issues in season 1. Though the Preds had a bit better communications since Glowstick acted like a floating radio tower/repeater..

Stag's capabilities are also sort of similar to Orcariner's system, but work only for Aerostriker or broadcasting information he's collected onto Orcariner's network almost like Scorponok's Cyberbee sending remote video to Scorponok, or Depthcharge's shark/pilotfish gun drone. In theory, Aurora could probably hack into Stag's systems pretty easily.

Though reviewing the profiles again since I wanted to make sure I had the information right.. Orcariner's Motion sensors seem to have a explosive self destruct and short range emp effect. I believe we require a firepower stat for any form of explosives. So.. yeah. I really should of paid more attention when that update was listed back then.*L*

Long story short, the Maximals have so many ways to communicate and information on hand, even if you take the Axalon out and jam their coms, they'll still find a way to organize remotely as long as Rhinox, Orcariner, or Aurora are still functional.

Now as for the CR chambers.. um.. well Ironclaw was made to look deceased. I imagine Axalon might assume he is? As for Silverbolt and the CR chamber.. or even the Maximal base in general, we can either leave that be after Optimus's big appearance which I imagine is VERY soon.. or use my cleanup plan, but will take a while.. since he has a speed of 3.)

Sentinel wrote:"Homewrecker online, maximal scum detected, purging protocols initiated"

Umbra smiled slightly as he heard the voice on the terminal speakers. He then activated his comlink sending a message to Tarantulus Good job sir. Do you require this signal open any longer?

____________________________

After setting Aerostriker onto the seat and listening to Airazor speak, Stag rolled back moving towards the hatch handle, his manipulator extended grabbing and pulled the lever down having the giant CR chamber close once again.

Sentinel wrote:"Homewrecker online, maximal scum detected, purging protocols initiated"

Rattrap wrote: "Yeah, uh, we just got the memo, Big Green," "Whoa!" "Can ya override it?"

Stag looked up at the guns firing at the others, even attempting to attack the CR chamber Aerostriker was placed inside with little effect. But strangely, the small beetle was not fired upon at all. Stag attempted to initiate wireless contact with the Axalon, but the SSID was not even listed. Wireless network down. This unit can only hypothesize that the Axalon has been corrupted by enemy units.

Stag would of normally attempted to deal with the attack, but also knew that to the Axalon he wasn't registered as a "Maximal", he was merely a object. Due to this, and his lack of a spark, he had to request permission to operate the Maximal terminal to upload his backup data, install crew information and enemy information, and register himself as a component of the ship. If he did not have the permission, the ship would of attacked him for being a drone. As long as he didn't attack the ship, he'd be ignored.

He rolled towards the others, then made a detour going up inside of the Nomad. This unit advises taking cover. he spoke up.
(Edited due to being forced out of the recovery mission.)

"Homewrecker online, maximal scum detected, purging protocols initiated"

Did sentinel just call us scum? Airazor thought to herself as the ships computer went completely haywire. It didn't take long before the weapon systems began to activate and turn towards its own crew. It seems as if that short few moments of victory that they had felt were quickly being swept away. After a groan of disapproval, she commented on the situation. "There's never a dull moment around here, is there?"

"What de heck is goin' on?!"

Luckily, Rattrap was able to shield the shots which Sentinel was shooting towards the group. Airazor ducked behind him and crotched, hoping he would continue to do so. This was currently a tricky situation. Should they return fire or run? Clearly, standing around was not a valid option. With a swift flash of her arm, her wrist blasters popped out. Regardless of the choice, she was ready. "What do we do?" Her voice sounded desperate and confused. "Can we fire on our own ship?"

"So, get on with it... destroy me,"

Whitegrazer shook her head, "It is not right to destroy a defenseless opponent nor allow you to die in such a matter like this."

She had heard footsteps behind her to see Onyx had came closer, but from the expression and stance he conveyed, he didn't have any intention on hurting them. His next words didn't surprise her.

"They will not harm you Silverbolt, in fact you would be in better hands with them then Megatron."

"I do not wish to harm either of you, really this mass slaughter shouldn't happen at all no matter what faction you are. For now I'll leave you in peace and to get Silverbolt the proper help he needs, but I wish you luck."Onyx told them calmly before he turned away and began to leave,"You'll certainly need it."

"I thank you, Onyx. This battle will end soon. I can feel it. May we all survive to see each other in another solar cycle."

Onyx's mercy towards his own comrade and to them won't be forgotten. Everything happened for a reason and she knew her comrades would be okay. She hoped the same for Onyx, Steelclaw, and other Predacons who had shown compassion and noblity towards her friends and herself. Maybe some day... they would work together.

"We can't return to the base."

"Is there anything you can do from here?"

What's going on inside their base? She knew of the three Predacons inside, but what kind of trouble where they doing inside there. She prayed for her comrades, hoping that they take care and do what they could to stay alive.

There was still Silverbolt's injuries. The only thing she knew was basic first aid, which were standard for soldiers. If she had her healing ability, she could do more, but that healing factor was lost like all the others. That's okay. It might be dangerous, but she could always have Silverbolt join her in a meditation technique. "He would still need a cycle in the CR chamber after all of this is over with, but I think we can apply our abilities to make sure he stays online."

She smiled warmly at the Predacon fuzor, "Just remain still. Aurora and I will take care of you to the best of our abilities. If any Predacons try to attack us, I will do my best to keep you two from any harm. I promise." She shared her warm smile towards Aurora before looking back at the battlefield to keep an optic out for anyone.

If she must, she will give Silverbolt the blast shield to help guard Aurora and himself so that she could handle any Predacon or Predacons that come towards them. Rhinox was coming out of the Axalon and joining the battle, which made her assume that the rest would be joining shortly. What about the ones in the CR chamber already? What about Optimus?

Things were looking bad on their end, but there was still a chance.

Optimus, it's getting too dangerous for you. Please hurry. Please...come back to us."
____________________________________________________________________________________

"Who are you trying to convince my dear? Me? The telepathic presence inside your head bending reality, and you, to his will? Or yourself, the helpless little fly caught in my web?"

She tried to keep her right arm from writing the sentence on the chalkboard, growling at her own body being controlled by this gruesome, son of glitch.

"Its surprising really, how proud you pretend to be, considering the depths you've been willing to sink to in order to satisfy your pitiful lust for power, and that's all it ever really was my dear, lust, a desire to have something that can never be yours, merely for the sake of having it. In that regard, you're no better than Terrorsaur, who wants power for the sake of power but wouldn't know what to do with it once he had it, or Waspinator, whose delusional daydreams of glory are likely all that keeps him going solar cycle after solar cycle given his perpetual misfortune. If you had the power to rule the predacons my dear, you'd be ruling over us already, you had plenty of time to put your plans into motion, plenty of time to turn the others against Megatron and seize control, but you didn't, because as much as it pains you to admit it, you simply lack the clout and the raw power necessary to lead. Megatron, for all his flaws, inspires fear in his troops, and at times, even a minimal degree of respect, so one can understand why despite everything they'd follow him, if not out of loyalty than out of fear of his power, both physically and mentally. But you? No one will follow a tiny little fembot who despite all her skills and cunning, still relies on her physical appearance to get others to do her bidding. You can bat your optics and karate kick your problems all you wish my dear, but cheap tricks and playing coy cannot make a queen out of someone who was ultimately born to serve, and whose mind belongs to the one who made her"

True, there was a time that she wanted to rule the Predacons like Terrorsaur tried to do. That was why she took over that alien island, so she could destroy the Maximals and make Megatron beg for his life as she crushed him with the sheer ruthlessness he had bore into all the Predacons who were trapped here. But that plan failed, and she accepted her failure. That's why she didn't care anymore about ruling such a motley crew. All she wanted was power to keep people from messing with her and power to keep her strong. Tarantulas talked about her failure, but he forgets his own.

Two could play at that game. Her chalk was making another line but it stopped for a moment.

"My skills and cunning are what keep me alive." It dug the line to make a symbol, "and what keep me from being utterly at your will. That pains you, doesn't it?"

Her right arm struggled against Tarantulas' control, making a "z', "You created me to be a servant to you, but that's not all, is it? You wanted me. Me. You loved it when I showed my defiance to Megatron. You loved those moments where I touched you, making you squirm in delight until you overheated. Remember? I bet you do. After all, that's what you wanted. A plaything to satisfy your cravings and perversions beside eating the inhabitants of this planet?"

Scribbles were all over the board, "You loved it. All of it. Until you realized a truth: I used what you gave me for myself, not for you. I did the same thing you did with me like you are doing with Arachnitron. I played you. I played you for a fool."

"And you know what is pathetic, Tarantulas?" She laughed with mockery, "You still do. Don't try to deny it. I can feel it despite my disgust. Some part of you still wants me and it burns you. A desire that can never be fulfilled. You hate me because inwardly, you can't control your own twisted affections."

The chalkboard was written in gibberish except that fact that drawn on it was a half-eaten spark on the web.

"You can't control nor resist me, Tarantulas. Even if I lose, Arachnitron would catch on just as I did and I can't wait for her to get wise and tear you apart if I don't do it first."

((OOC: I loved your post, Darkspark. ))

Exiting the hanger bay, Orcariner made a "come on" motion with his hand to keep Manterror walking in the direction towards the bridge. He listened to the Predacon go on about the supposedly all-powerful weapon that Megatron was building, but at the moment he did not care for it. He just wanted these Predacons out of Maximal territory so that they could focus on rebuilding their team.

"Yeah, yeah," he said while Manterror was in the middle of his rant, "We're outside now so just go on and get out of-"

Orcariner stopped mid-sentence as he looked at the army of Predacon soldiers who awaited the two of them as they left the base. Quickly moving his attention to his radar, the giant noticed that there were Predacon flyers above him, as well.

This is what I get for not checking my scanners frequently!

"Computer," he whispered, "Tag every enemy soldier within range."

His interface blinked as all of the Predacons around him were highlighted in a thin, red glow. Megatron, in particular, had a red inverted triangle bobbing over his head as indication that he was the leader. With all his opponents easy to see now, Orcariner quickly reached behind him with his right arm and pulled out a metallic sphere. With his left arm, he grabbed the chatty Manterror's shoulder.

"Listen up, Preds!" he yelled, facing Megatron, "I have a bomb here that packs enough oomph to kill me and the bug here. If you respect his life, you will hold your fire!"

It was a lie, but Orcariner hoped that they did not see through it. The sphere in his hand was actually a portable radar device used for scouting purposes. It was by sheer luck that it bore a similar appearance to a rather large grenade.

((Sorry for a long delay, but been having trouble getting on the site and been having some thing going on with the family again. Hope this post is alright and I don't know for sure if Inferno would know she was a traitor Blackrose, she defected before Inferno arrived but might have discovered it somehow.))

As the frilled lizard femme was making her way back to the Axalon as quickly as she could, she really hadn't thought to look behind her as much as to the front since it seemed that was where most of the Predacons were gathering. Then a warning from Wintersong behind her had her immediately stopping to look back and barely bringing the blast guard up to block the blasts by the red ant, something of which she wasn't expecting at all but guessed he had been in pursuit of the transmetal tigress when she was retreating behind them. Peering around the shield Frilla could see Wintersong once more engaging the ant and took this chance to quicken her pace back towards the ship, at first thinking it would be the safest place for Cheetor.

How wrong she was. Between the growing mass of Predacons and suddenly hearing the warning from Rhinox that the ship had been turned against them there was no real way to help her fallen teammate. There was maybe only about ten feet between her and the ship entrance now, but the Predacons were also far too close to the Axalon to risk trying to get close enough but it made her Spark sink when seeing Rhinox even having to abandon the bridge. "This isn't good."Frilla murmured as she could only set Cheetor behind her and brought up her blast guard. Even if it didn't last a barrage of gun fire it might be enough to maybe attempt something, but at the moment the femme could see things were looking quite bleak.

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

Feralnight had managed to slink back to the base, her entire body sore and throbbing in pain form Terrorsaur's assault and knowing she might have bit off more then she could chew this time. But she had been willing to do whatever it took to distract the Predacons and only for it to fail, heck Dinobot might have been doing better then her right now anyway. Pushing these thoughts back for now the wolf/raven fuzor was just getting to the ship, having ignored the pain from her left wing being stabbed earlier and landing on top of the ship but didn't have much of a chance to fold her wings before the warning Rhinox sent out reached her. "Guess the Predacons weren't kidding this time."Feralnight said to herself but heard the feminine voice close by and turning to see three surviving auto-guns turned her way,"Target acquired."Two shots hit the fuzor's side before she lunged forward while flapping her wings to dodge the rest, making her growl in pain and having to make a quick landing some feet from Rhinox despite the fact she was now in the line of fire.

Megatron stood in the very front of his gathering army, overlooking the Maximal base with a grin on his face now that his enemies were being forced out of their shelter. One of the first to step outside in plain view was the largest and most robust of his foes, escorted by Manterror.

Orcariner wrote:"Listen up, Preds!" "I have a bomb here that packs enough oomph to kill me and the bug here. If you respect his life, you will hold your fire!"

Unable to hold back an amused chuckle, Megatron immediately aimed his massive cannon at his foe before he had even finished the sentence. Manterror's close proximity was of little to no concern to the tyrant.

"You underestimate me, Maximal. You are hardly in a position to make demands!"


With a passing glance at his own large minion, Megatron's aim never wavered.

"Tantrum," he ordered, barely able to contain his eagerness to open fire. "Let us give our friends a proper greeting. Destroy those Maximals!"

His arm cannon heated up and a split second later the powerful beam came surging towards Orcariner's chest.