The Intergalactic Highway

Saber's ear twitched and she turned as the lifted lowered itself to pick up the Maximal or Maximals standing out side. The occupant that arrived when the lift returned was Optimus. He clearly felt the change in atmosphere as he stepped between Rhinox and Dinobot.

"What's going on?"

Saber glanced at Rhinox and didn't say anything as she didn't feel it was her place to tell Primal what had happened.

"We recently received notification that... Aerostriker has been killed."

Saber shifted in her seat when she felt the boiling anger coming off Primal.

"Cheetor and Silverstreak?"

The cat surpressed a shiver at the cold tone in the Commander's voice.

"They're getting repairs in CR's"

"What happened?"

Saber said nothing as she had no idea what had exactly happened, she once again glanced at Rhinox who also didn't say anything. She looked down at her hands as she felt Primal's gaze sweep across everyone in the room.

Aurora forced herself to put on a reassuring smile, which must have looked quite odd given she was in her beast mode, as she looked at Whitegrazer ever-so-briefly. The white mare confirmed that she was acting a bit.. odd.. but she quickly dismissed the subject before explaining why that was. So Aurora could not help but to be a little worried. Hopefully it was nothing more than Whitegrazer being exhausted or that she had been under too much stress. Perhaps a closer look into who this TyCross character was would reveal more, but that would all have to wait until they were all safely back at base. For now they had a mission to complete and they had yet to determine where that mysterious signal had originated from.

"It's all right," Aurora responded sweetly, her ears just then perking up at the sound of their large comrade returning. Orcariner had returned empty handed, but that certainly didn't mean that those mysterious caves didn't require a closer investigation.

"No luck with the surveillance gadgets eh? Looks like we may have to go in on foot to find out what's going on," the little ermine commented to both her companions as she began trotting towards the caves. Once they were close enough she may be able to hack into Orcariner's orbs to boost their signal strength, if not.. well.. at least they were getting an adventure out of it. Having chosen an alternative mode of the weasel family, Aurora had no issues with caves and burrows, even if she was not much of a digger herself.

Meanwhile Nemesis had taken to the skies and watched from above as Umbra hauled the dead Maximal back to base. For a water based creature, he was less revolting than she had first expected, and she respected the fact he was not foreign to taking a life when the situation called for it. Some Predacons, which tended to turn traitors as fate would have it, had shown emotions like disgust and remorse when they had been put in similar situations. Both of which were useless emotions.

As she watched them disappear inside the base, Nemesis remained hovering above, as always dreading returning to that cramped lava pit of a lair. Her thoughts drifted to the new Decepticon Umbra had informed her about. Truthfully she never discussed her origins with her Predacon brethren, appreciating the privacy and not feeling like defending herself against those who thought themselves better than the Decepticons they had turned their backs on. Surely this new recruit was very much so a Predacon now, reprogrammed and all, as had been the fate of a majority of her own kind. She was the exception. Now she looked like a Predacon, sure enough, but she had never been reprogrammed.

((OOC: Will post for Whitegrazer later on. Just wanted to let the spiders have their fun. ))

Blackarachnia laughed at how Tarantulas fell down from one hit of the pipe. Too bad she couldn't savor the moment as she dashed off into one of the tunnels. Arachnitron was right on her tail. She decided to try and stall the little widow by throwing some sticky webbing at her. For spiders, it was easy to get the webbing off, but it surely would get the widow pause before continuing on. Blackarachnia jumped on the ceiling. Arachnitron flung herself at her. She threw some sticky web at her face before she dashed forward. Some sticky webbing landed on the ground to try and slow the other one down even more. She didn't know if Tarantulas was following pursuit, but she knew he couldn't be too far away from them.

For now, she was concentrating on Arachnitron.

She reached the end of the tunnel leading to more dark tunnels. There was a bright blue glow coming from the one in front. It must be carrying loads of energon and that was where she wanted to be. She turned around and quickly, she weaved a small web. She could hear the echoes of mumuring and footsteps so it was only half way there. But it was good enough to at least trip Arachnitron up. She admired the little widow's persistence, but now, she was getting frustrated by her interference. As Arachnitron came, she pulled the webbing up, "Sorry, little widow, but I don't have time for your futile attempts of winning Tarantulas' love. Stay out of the way!"

She transformed and ran towards the next tunnel, seeing a bright blue glow. She spun around, taking out her little pong knife, and waited for Tarantulas to approach with the knife behind her back.

OOC: Finally posted! Nothing for Terrorsaur this week because I couldn't think of anything for him to do or people for him to play off of yet lol. Enjoy more Megs and Big T however, sorry for the wait, and I hope no one minds me bringing Megs and company back to base so they can settle in & catch up with everyone else.


Megatron and his forces had long since returned to base, Megatron in no mood to meet and greet Inferno's recruit just yet, instead returning to his own quarters so he could soak in his own private CR Tank and heal his remaining injuries. There would be time to properly indoctrinate Spineback and Inferno's find later, first the tyrant needed to relax and unwind, and perhaps brace himself for whatever sort of disappointment the second recruit would turn out to be after all. Fortunately, Spineback had proven to be a great find, and hopefully Umbra would bring him the heads of both Aerostriker and the traitor Onyx.

He had assigned Terrorsaur and Caecelia the task of showing Spineback around the base in his absence, the presence of the usually useless octopus femme should at least keep Terrorsaur from trying anything with Spineback, not that he thought the ex-decepticon was the sort to be easily swayed by a rogue like him. For all they knew, Spineback may have known some of the greatest backstabbers in cybertronian history for all they knew, like Starscream or the Insecticons. If that were indeed the case, he doubted Terrorsaur knew any tricks that Spineback hadn't seen already. Regardless, once he was refreshed he'd return to the task of getting her and the other newcomer settled in.

"Awww yesss...The benefits of being in command, it makes putting up with the unwelcome incompetence and unending treachery all worthwhile" Megatron sighed as he felt the warm nanofluids healing his injuries one by one, his only company being a rubber replicate of an earth fowl commonly known as a "duck."

Reaching for the amusing trinket, Megatron raised it to his face and said "Perhaps I should promote you to second in command, yes? You can't possibly do any worse than what I'm currently forced to put up with, no? Ahah! But enough of that for now, I wonder how the others are doing. Tarantulas come in. Tarantulas?"

Suspicion mixed with rising anger filled his spark at the transmetal spider's silence, the transmetal tyrant squeezing his rubber companion like a stress ball.

"Blackarachnia? Quickstrike? ANYONE?! BLAST! What are those arachnids up to now?" Megatron roared, slamming his fists against the rims of his bath, activating the com system and said "Inferno, bring the newcomers to my quarters at once, its time to decide their place in the order of things. And bring Umbra as well if he's back from his mission, DO NOT KEEP ME WAITING!"

He then turned to face his favorite bath toy one more time and said "More and more I begin to wonder if I should just replace them all with copies of you and spare myself the aggravation" before depositing him back in his personal pocket dimension for safekeeping.

Una wrote: Blackarachnia laughed at how Tarantulas fell down from one hit of the pipe. Too bad she couldn't savor the moment as she dashed off into one of the tunnels. Arachnitron was right on her tail. She decided to try and stall the little widow by throwing some sticky webbing at her. For spiders, it was easy to get the webbing off, but it surely would get the widow pause before continuing on. Blackarachnia jumped on the ceiling. Arachnitron flung herself at her. She threw some sticky web at her face before she dashed forward. Some sticky webbing landed on the ground to try and slow the other one down even more. She didn't know if Tarantulas was following pursuit, but she knew he couldn't be too far away from them.

For now, she was concentrating on Arachnitron.

She reached the end of the tunnel leading to more dark tunnels. There was a bright blue glow coming from the one in front. It must be carrying loads of energon and that was where she wanted to be. She turned around and quickly, she weaved a small web. She could hear the echoes of mumuring and footsteps so it was only half way there. But it was good enough to at least trip Arachnitron up. She admired the little widow's persistence, but now, she was getting frustrated by her interference. As Arachnitron came, she pulled the webbing up, "Sorry, little widow, but I don't have time for your futile attempts of winning Tarantulas' love. Stay out of the way!"

She transformed and ran towards the next tunnel, seeing a bright blue glow. She spun around, taking out her little pong knife, and waited for Tarantulas to approach with the knife behind her back.

Tarantulas switched to beast mode & used his wheels to race down the tunnel after Blackarachnia, contemplating all the ways he'd make her pay for her insolence even after he ripped the information he desired right out of her skull, not caring if he had to leave her a mindless shell to do it. Before he came across Blackarachnia however, he instead came across Arachnitron, who had entangled herself in a web based booby trap left by the Witch...A spider caught in a web, how undignified.

"And you call yourself a spider? Stop wasting time and hurry up!" Tarantulas scolded, his patience at an all time low, cutting at the webs with his fangs to release her & leaving Arachnitron to untangle herself.

He continued down the tunnel on wheels until he felt Blackarachnia was near via his link with her, transforming and continuing the hunt in robot mode, looking all around the cavern of shimmering energon for any signs of his treacherous creation, wielding his claws like knives.

"When I get my claws on you I'll..." Tarantulas threatened, until finally spotting Blackarachnia standing beside one of the cave's crystal covered walls, carrying an ornate knife no less, certainly not part of her normal arsenal.

"Ahahahaha! And just what do you think you're doing?" Tarantulas mocked, optics narrowed in amusement at her as if she were a deluded child trying to get out of being punished.

Did she really think her toy could harm his new transmetal body? And even if it could, he could stop her with a thought. Did she truly not understand that she had already lost back at the Axalon? She was his to command now and no pathetic attempt at lashing out could change that now.

(

Alak wrote: ((OOC: I'm pretty sure she was being sarcastic.))[/i]

Maybe.

Ah if only Megatron was using the other CR tanks.. Umbra could of had the most horrified experience of watching Megatron playing with his rubber ducky and talking to himself.. )


As Umbra started to hear sounds from outside the CR tank, from the stirring of Terrorsaur and Spineback, his eyes raised up from the fluid examining the area around him, the CR tank platform then raised as he slipped off the CR tank platform silently, then slithered along the floor to the hall, moving along the edging back towards his quarters as he overheard part of Megatron speaking aloud on the way.

Megatron wrote:Inferno, bring the newcomers to my quarters at once, its time to decide their place in the order of things. And bring Umbra as well if he's back from his mission, DO NOT KEEP ME WAITING!"

Seems as if Megatron is impatient, perhaps his mood would be improved by the dead bird's corpse..he thought to himself..well, he could only hope.

Stopping infront of his quarters, Umbra transformed to robot mode and slid the door open walking inside, then opening his stasis pod and removing Aerostriker's corpse, leaving Stag behind inside the stasis pod. He closed the door, then walked towards Megatron's quarters as quietly as usual.

Raising his hand, he gave a quick rap to the door with the back of his hand as he then spoke up politely I have returned my Lord, may I come in or is this an inconvenient time?

OOC:

Blackrose hasn't posted for 9 days now and I'm guessing the rest of the spiders are waiting for her while the Maximal team waits for the spiders to finish their part.

Actually....I was waiting for Una to post for BA which she did on Thursday. So really it has only been 5 days and not 9. Since I can't post until the people I'm interacting with post. 2 days more than the required 3 that I was supposed to be given, like two weeks less than many many others in this thread, and the same amount of time that I was waiting for Una to reply to my last post.

The only other character I could have posted for was Inferno, but no one is really interacting with him so I'm not holding anyone up by waiting. He has not initiated any conversation yet with Buster about his actions during the battle.

As for Dinobot, he's not in the room with the other Maximals anymore. He left the bridge as was clearly stated in my previous post so if anyone was looking for a response from him or an explanation as to what happened during his previous battle, they'll have to go after him to ask.

BIC:

"SLAG!!!" Megatron roared over the comlink.""Discipline the coward accordingly but try to leave him intact, I will want words with him once I've returned. And ready my personal CR Tank as well, I expect it to be prepared by the time I return. Megatron out"

"As you wish, Royalty."

Inferno responded and then clicked off his comm link. He sneered. It felt good that he'd be avoiding the wrath of Megatron and Megatron still held him in high regard.

Inferno clicked his comm link back on.

"Inferno to Buster. Come see me in the command room at once at the Royalty's request!"

He clicked off his comm link and waited for the llama to come to his location.

After a few moments of waiting, Megatron's voice came back over his comm link again.

"Inferno, bring the newcomers to my quarters at once, its time to decide their place in the order of things. And bring Umbra as well if he's back from his mission, DO NOT KEEP ME WAITING!"

Inferno's sneer disappeared. The Royalty sounded angry. The ant gulped audibly. When the Royalty was angry, no one was safe! Inferno sighed.

"I will call for the other new comer at once! I will gather them all together and we will be in your presence shortly."

Inferno clicked off his comm link with Megatron and opened up a new channel to the other new recruit and to Umbra.

"Sub-commander Inferno here. The Royalty requests your presence immediately. Meet me in the command center and I will take you to him at once! Inferno out!"

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

Arachnitron noticed the little booby traps that Blackarachnia was leaving behind for her and, being a spider herself, was actually half-expecting it. She dodged the webbing that littered the ground below her spider legs. She wasn't able to dodge the webbing that Blackarachnia threw towards her face quite as gracefully as she wanted. She was able to dodge it, but tripped over it and stumbled to regain her balance. The web trap, though, took her by surprise. She tried to avoid getting tangled up in the web, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the web entirely. She hung mostly outside the web encasing, but her right legs had gotten tangled in the web as she tried to crawl away before the trap snapped shut.

Blackarachnia looked at her from the ground and said:

"Sorry, little widow, but I don't have time for your futile attempts of winning Tarantulas' love. Stay out of the way!"

Arachnitron frowned and watched the other widow transform and race down the next tunnel in robot mode. Arachnitron worked on setting herself free....a fairly easy task seeing as, being a spider herself, she was unaffected by the webbing's usual toxins that affected the other Cybertronians.

Tarantulas came up the hall just as she was freeing herself from the web.

"And you call yourself a spider? Stop wasting time and hurry up!"

He used his fangs to cut Arachnitron the rest of the way down...mostly unnecessary because she was already free. He continued down the tunnel without her.

Arachnitron transformed in the air as she fell from the trap. But didn't follow Tarantulas right away. His comment cut her. She was trying so hard to please him....maybe if she hadn't been so focused on pleasing Tarantulas, she would have been able to respond to the trap more quickly. It wasn't that she hadn't seen it or expected it since she would have used the same tactics.

Arachnitron folded her arms over her chest plate in defiance feeling her anger coursing through her. But it quickly dissipated. She couldn't hold on to that anger. Not because she didn't want to, but she physically couldn't. She wasn't the Predacon. With the inhibitor chip, she didn't have access to those emotions. Besides, she was confident that Tarantulas didn't mean any harm by what he said. He was upset. Blackarachnia always did bring out the worst in him.

Knowing she'd be missed, but feeling like her Predacon bad attitude hadn't completely disappeared yet, Arachnitron sauntered down the tunnel, her arms still crossed over her chest plate. She didn't want Tarantulas to see her approach....that way she could lie about how long she'd been standing behind him (she didn't want him to think she was THAT incompetent)....so she hung back a tad. And, hadn't she always heard it was best to keep a man waiting?

"Ahahahaha! And just what do you think you're doing?" Tarantulas mocked Blackarachnia.

Arachnitron watched in silence from the opening of the tunnel not letting either of the other spiders know she had arrived. Though, she could sense that Blackarachnia was up to something....she had one of her claws behind her back....what was she holding? Arachnitron moved a hand to her side so that if she needed to, she could draw her energon pistol at a moment's notice.

(

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:(( OOC:

Dinobot heard the rhinoceros calling to him from the bridge and did stop, but just out of view of the green giant.

That's my bad, Blackrose. Missed that detail. Still, Optimus probably would have seen him or his silhouette standing there in the corridor when he arrived. Either way, I don't know where Wildfire has gone to... again... so Dinobot is pretty much the only one right now who might be able to offer some information on the situation. If not, then... I don't know. Maybe I'll think of something else and just give up on this part because I'm losing motivation here and tired of constantly changing things around because players keep disappearing and who knows when they'll be back... Le sigh.

NK, Landslide has been approved. ))

Alright, guess I'll get the wheels going. As for a report on Aerostriker, Primal could probably find more details later. While it probably wont be wise, next episode they could even ask Umbra since he isn't likely to lie about doing his job, even if it makes the enemy's morale against him go up. They'll probably find him when he's sneaking around hunting for Onyx, since even he can't hide forever..I never could do 0 Alert runs for Metal gear. *LOL* )

As Rattrap's group made their way towards the Maximal base, they noticed a strange grinding sound in the distance with a cloud of dust thrown from the side of a small mountain,which then stopped promptly. The area seemed a bit off, as the trees looked like they were turned to stumps or knocked over at a certain radius to the mountain, chewed with clumps of sawdust about, with rock dust billowing down wind from them.

From the dust cloud, something seemed to emerge. Looking almost like a front end loader, and nearly the same size, the black,gunmetal, and silver creature walked out of the dust carrying a large load of rocks and soil on it's improvised shovel, which it dumped into a pile, then turned walking back towards the mountain tossing the shovel up from his horns as it landed on his back and attached with a loud hollow metallic clang, then split open fluttering with a buzz as a set of insect wings.

He gave a very loud hacking cough as he attempted to clear his filters of dust Arg.. Need more ventilation in the tunnel.. he muttered to himself, oblivious to anything else around him from the dust as he worked, his antenna tapping the ground as he followed his trail back into the mountain, using his sense of smell and touch to guide himself.

Near the cave entrance a fairly large Stasis pod was visible with a glow of a few Energon cubes stacked inside, giving an idea that the creature may have landed near there, but no idea on if it was friendly or not. Moments after the creature turned inside, a terrible grinding noise could be heard rumbling from the tunnel once again.

Ironclaw was still traveling with the group being led by Rattrap. He had set the pace but the badger decided to over take him despite the fact that his internal repairs were still ongoing. No one had said a word to him for a while now, probably because of his actions in the previous battle. He regretted none of it and now he made enough of an impression.

In the distance he could see some sort disturbance which acquired his attention. A lot of dust was being kicked up by a mountain in front of them. Ironclaw increased his pace again and moved towards whatever it was. Although Rattrap had not given an order, he still pressed on. His plan was not to do anything rash but just to investigate in beast mode.

OOC:

DarkSpark wrote:OOC: Sorry Blackrose, I should have waited for you a bit longer

What annoys me is that everyone was making this big deal about how I hadn't posted in a bit, yet there have been TWO in character posts since I posted SIX DAYS AGO!!! Everyone was so anxious to post before and now all of a sudden they couldn't care less.

@OOP: Just to keep things moving along, I had Dinobot respond to Optimus....I added in that he specifically addressed Dinobot even though he didn't just so that Dinobot realized Optimus could see him from around the corner.

BIC:

Dinobot heard the lift of the Axalon power up and lower to the ground for occupants. When it had returned to the bridge, he heard Optimus' booming voice announcing his return.

"What's going on?"

Dinobot didn't join the others in the bridge, he remained alone just around the corner. He was still angry at Aerostriker's death, but he knew he'd eventually have to face the music, so to speak. He just needed another few moments to gain his composure....with any luck, his comrades would answer for him.

"We recently received a notification that... Aerostriker has been killed."

Primal was silent at first. Dinobot held his breath waiting Primal's disapproving tone. It felt like mega-cycles passed before the transmetal gorilla finally spoke.

"Cheetor and Silverstreak?"

"They're getting repairs in the CR's,"

"What happened?"

No one spoke at first. Rhinox hadn't been present in the battle....and neither had most of the other Maximals on the bridge. Onyx had been involved....and himself, of course. Dinobot wanted to do the right thing. He needed to do the right thing....instead he cursed himself for hiding like a child....like a coward. Swallowing his pride had always been a difficult task for him. In his mind, he saw himself approaching Optimus and telling him the truth. He was the one to blame. He was the one who had allowed his comrade to be killed. He failed his mission. But his spark crumbled beneath the burden of bearing that weight and a sea of conflicting emotions drowned all of his courage. He couldn't do it....he couldn't look his leader in the eye and watch his disappointment, see his grief plastered all over his face, or hear his criticism of Dinobot's performance. Dinobot stood frozen in silence in the hallway outside of the command center.

"Dinobot, what happened?"

That was when it dawned on him.....all that time, Dinobot had been hidden from Rhinox's view, but Optimus had known he was nearby all along. He had seen him cowering in the hallway too ashamed to come forward with the details of the battle. But Dinobot was confused as well.....Was he ashamed at his failure or was he ashamed for his emotions? He was a warrior after all....he had faced death often enough, but.....this time it was different. He felt that he could have changed the outcome of the battle, but every scenario he came up with, every solution he tried in his mind....they all resulted in the same outcome. Dinobot knew that he couldn't change his past, but....what of the future?

Dinobot sighed and took a few hesitant steps forward returning to the bridge. He took a few breaths for courage before beginning. His gaze didn't once drop from Optimus'....he looked him straight in the optics...he was confident, but forlorn. He couldn't hide his guilt nor could he hide his anger. But Optimus deserved to know what happened and it was Dinobot's duty to do just that.

"It was my fault," Dinobot finally said sadly. "I am to blame for Aerostriker's death. I failed in my mission to provide cover fire. I was otherwise occupied in a battle against Terrorsaur that held personal significance. I could have backed down to better protect my comrades, but I didn't. I was too wrapped up in besting that featherless freak.

As to what happened....I really couldn't say. Aerostriker sent some sort of mist into the area so that the injured could escape safely. I stayed behind to keep the Predacons occupied while the others retreated back to base. The mist made it difficult for everyone to see, but I had assumed everyone made it back. No one radioed to say they were in any kind of danger. Perhaps there was some sort of malfunction to Aerostriker's systems or perhaps he was more damaged than he let on.

I am deeply ashamed at my failure on the battlefield, so if I may be dismissed.....I would really like to be alone."

The raptor finally lowered his head, but knew it was best to wait for permission to be dismissed. The words hadn't been easy to say, but it had been true. Everything had happened so fast, but he had been so occupied fighting off Terrorsaur's insults and jeers about his pre-transmetal technology that he hadn't really been doing his job. Optimus would never have let those words get to him. Perhaps he wasn't cut out to be a Maximal anymore.....

((OOC: Sorry for the delay. I was waiting for Blackrosefencer's response, but then I looked and she had a couple of days ago. My bad on not seeing that. >.<))

Ahahahaha! And just what do you think you're doing?"

Blackarachnia showed Tarantulas the knife she held in her hand with a slight twinkle in her optic. There was a nice block of energon next to her so with one swift kick, she knocked up in the air, catching it in the claws of her weapon.

"Either terminate the link between us or I will crack this cube." She squeezed the cube a bit to show she met business, "You know what happens if I do that, do you? I don't think you want yourself fried!"

Arachnitron was there now and Blackarachnia narrowed her gaze at the widow before raising her weapon with a warning towards Arachnitron, "I warn you to stay out of this." The next words came out like vermin, "Don't try anything funny."

Quickly, she glanced back at Tarantulas and made sure he was still at a distance. He didn't want him any closer.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"It's all right,"

Whitegrazer smiled warmly at Aurora.

"No luck with the surveillance gadgets eh? Looks like we may have to go in on foot to find out what's going on,"

She squinted to see the caverns dead ahead. There was something afoot in there. Chilly. Her beast mode's spine shivered. Emotions were brewing inside those dark tunnels. Something... something personal was going on in there.

She needed to focus. She needed to give time, "We may not need to rely on surveillance gadgets. Give me a moment."

She put her hands together like a prayer pose and stood still as water. She closed her optics. Concentrate. Concentrate. There was bursts of energy everywhere. She could see crystals. Energon, a lot of it, and it was stable too. That was hard to come by. But she wanted to feel what was going on with the Predacons in there. Where were they? What were they doing in there? A few steps she walked forward like she was trying to get a better view. A better reading of what was happening. Her spark strained, but she kept pushing it. She could do this. She needed the practice and experience and this was a perfect opportunity.

Ah! There was a spark of confusion she felt. Who was confused? Who was she feeling? She dug deeper inside to find an identity by feeling more of whoever she felt. Itchy. Itchy? Irritated. He wanted to crush something. Fight something. That was why he was itchy. He was itching for a fight. Oh! OH! He was coming nearer. She felt his aggression. He didn't know where the others are.

Whitegrazer opened her eyes for a bit, "Quickstrike."

Then she closed them again.

Her spark went deeper and immeidately, she felt rushes of emotions that made her spark skip a beat. Almost made her lose her focus. She shook her head and kept herself steady. So much emotion. So much. Too much. Everything felt heated, suffocating. There was desperation. Someone trying to break free from something. There was a feeling of a burning hatred yet a murderous joy. Thoughts of a mangled corpse and something cutting it up several times. Laughter. It was disturbing.

"Blackarachnia. Tarantulas."

And one more... a bit difficult to get a clear reading. Neural. Clear. There was a protectiveness there, though. Misguided. The rest was hard to read. Was because of her own limited ability or was it the person she was trying to read? Hmm. She pushed herself to read more about the person. Before her spark began to hurt and screamed for her to stop, she felt that the person was planning to...

"Arachnitron."

Whitegrazer was shaking a bit from the pain in her spark, but she was proud of herself for getting the majority of whatever was happening, "Something very personal is going in there between the spiders. I think we should stay out of it until the danger is clear, especially with all that energon scattered amongst the caverns. The only solution I see is that we wait. Wait until the time is right to engage if we must. Maybe bring them out here."

She hoped to avoid a confrontation, but it may happen if the Predacons know they are th- A feeling like a heavy weight bared down on her spark. It nearly made her collapse on her own feet except she caught herself before she tripped or fell into ground.

"Optimus."

She looked back at the distance where the Axalon would be. Her optics swelled in sorrow.

Una wrote:
Blackarachnia showed Tarantulas the knife she held in her hand with a slight twinkle in her optic. There was a nice block of energon next to her so with one swift kick, she knocked up in the air, catching it in the claws of her weapon.

"Either terminate the link between us or I will crack this cube." She squeezed the cube a bit to show she met business, "You know what happens if I do that, do you? I don't think you want yourself fried!"

Arachnitron was there now and Blackarachnia narrowed her gaze at the widow before raising her weapon with a warning towards Arachnitron, "I warn you to stay out of this." The next words came out like vermin, "Don't try anything funny."

Quickly, she glanced back at Tarantulas and made sure he was still at a distance. He didn't want him any closer.

Still unimpressed by the widow's threats, Tarantulas retorted "You don't have the nerve. Besides, I can stop you with a single thought."

Without turning around to face her, Tarantulas said to Arachnitron "Ignore her my dear, she's bluffing, she loves herself too dearly to snuff her spark alone in a cave, forgotten and unmourned like that fool Scorponok."

Tarantulas knew his treacherous creation, she wasn't the type go out in a blaze of glory, she would cling to existence and her delusions of conquest like a fish gasping for air out of water, flipping about desperately to return to the water no matter how futile the effort might be...Blackarachnia was like many predacons, life was better than no life at all, even if it meant living under his rule or the likes of Megatron. This was a desperate bluff, and even if it wasn't, he WOULD stop her, & make her suffer for wasting his time and energy on her when he had a lair to build.

Naitokage wrote: Seems as if Megatron is impatient, perhaps his mood would be improved by the dead bird's corpse..he thought to himself..well, he could only hope.

Stopping infront of his quarters, Umbra transformed to robot mode and slid the door open walking inside, then opening his stasis pod and removing Aerostriker's corpse, leaving Stag behind inside the stasis pod. He closed the door, then walked towards Megatron's quarters as quietly as usual.

Raising his hand, he gave a quick rap to the door with the back of his hand as he then spoke up politely I have returned my Lord, may I come in or is this an inconvenient time?

"Ah Umbra, you're the first to arrive, punctual as always I see. You may enter" Megatron replied, the transmetal tyrant leaving his CR Tank to instead take his seat upon his hover throne, another piece of luxury of being the pred in charge.

Megatron was more than eager to learn if Aerostriker had perished by his hands, it would go a long way to improving his mood after all the drama he had to face today, as well as the spider's current machinations.

Megatron wrote:"Ah Umbra, you're the first to arrive, punctual as always I see. You may enter"

Inferno wrote:"Sub-commander Inferno here. The Royalty requests your presence immediately. Meet me in the command center and I will take you to him at once! Inferno out!"

Umbra raised his optic ridge as he received the call from Inferno, then shrugged opening the door and walking inside, turning his comlink off to keep Inferno from interrupting.

I try, my lord. As you've requested, here is your fallen Maximal. he then held Aerostriker's body before Megatron, the torso cut open revealing the empty spark chamber. I hope this is meets your satisfaction. By the time I was able to catch up with Onyx, I regret to say he has already made his way into the Maximal base with defenses at full and it's crew returned, with my damage it would of been a fools task to attempt taking him down then while also risking this prize.

Umbra then spoke up Now, I suppose we can talk about payment, before I go off to stalk our runaway horse. I've been examining a unusual piece of technology in your armory, though I may need to look into having it refitted to be able to wear it.. Perhaps this trinket and having one of your technicians refit could be settled as payment?

(( OOC: I thought for sure OP's anger right now would interfere with Whitegrazer's "soul" searching but maybe it's a good thing it didn't because we don't want to overload her ability. ))

Primal watched Dinobot step into the command center, studying the warrior's behavior as their optics locked on to each other. His patience was beginning to wear thin the longer it took for someone to answer him.

"It was my fault," "I am to blame for Aerostriker's death. I failed in my mission to provide cover fire. I was otherwise occupied in a battle against Terrorsaur that held personal significance. I could have backed down to better protect my comrades, but I didn't. I was too wrapped up in besting that featherless freak.

As far as Optimus was concerned, the only one to blame was the Predacon who took his life. Another Maximal under his command lost to this senseless and pointless war. It never got easier to cope with, and despite the fury that was boiling up inside of him, Optimus kept himself composed, his tightly balled fists at his sides. Dinobot's confession that even held sadness to it somewhat surprised the leader; not that Dinobot was incapable of such emotions and compassion, but he was usually tougher at hiding it and moving forward rather quickly. This seemed quite different and it was most likely because he truly thought it was his fault that Aerostriker was dead because he felt he had failed to fulfill his duty. Primal disagreed.

As to what happened....I really couldn't say. Aerostriker sent some sort of mist into the area so that the injured could escape safely. I stayed behind to keep the Predacons occupied while the others retreated back to base. The mist made it difficult for everyone to see, but I had assumed everyone made it back. No one radioed to say they were in any kind of danger. Perhaps there was some sort of malfunction to Aerostriker's systems or perhaps he was more damaged than he let on. I am deeply ashamed at my failure on the battlefield, so if I may be dismissed.....I would really like to be alone."

While Dinobot bowed his head, Primal searched for the words to say. "Everyone made it back safely," he pointed out to him, implying that he did in fact do his job. "What happened to Aerostriker was out of your control, Dinobot. Rationalize it any way you want, but lives do NOT have to be taken. The only one to blame is the one who murdered him. And we'll find out who that was soon enough." Because some Predacons can't help but gloat and use their homicides against the Maximals to distract their emotions and concentration and take advantage of their sorrow. Primal's voice was cold and deep though he felt warmer inside as his spark raced in grief, anger and anxiety. "You may be dismissed," he granted the Maximal soldier who was probably eager to avoid any speeches.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to unleash everything on Megatron and stop this nonsense once and for all. Enough is enough! Every loss under his command made him feel further and further away from home. Home... Where was home anymore?

Rhinox watched their exchange and empathized with Dinobot's perspective on the matter. Optimus was right, he had done his job which enabled Cheetor and Silverstreak to return safely back to base. It wasn't fair that Aerostriker had paid the ultimate price, that he had some how been separated from the rest of them and for some reason couldn't call for help. Mistakes were often a death sentence in this war of survival by this point, which was why their commanding officer tried emphasizing on the comprehension of the seriousness of it all, especially with this particular group of Predacons that was lead by one of the most tyrant and egotistical Predacons.

As much as he wanted to grieve for Aerostriker and Stag's losses, the Maximal Commander would have to save it for a later time. He looked to Rhinox and asked, "What's going on with Orcariner's team?" Optimus recalled the emotional state that the orca must have been in when they had left some time ago that day, and he was deeply concerned by it. Aurora and Whitegrazer were in his hands.

"We can't establish radio communication with them at the moment," the engineer answered knowing that the bad news kept snowballing for Optimus.

The leader raised one of his fists part way with a strong desire to drive it into a console or a wall but he stopped himself and shook his head in disbelief and frustration. "Keep trying." And on with the next issue that was at hand; their prisoner and his obsession with a certain saber-toothed cat. "Is he still in the brig?" Primal asked Rhinox.

"Yes," he answered, knowing that he was referring to the bat. And far as he knew, Saber was still unaware of Sonar's presence.

"Remain here," Optimus told Rhinox and Onyx. "Saber-Fang, follow me," he ordered her before he stepped out into the corridor and walked down the hallway expecting her to be on his heels.

-----

Rolling along with his wobbly wheel, Rattrap was beginning to feel better while his internal repairs did their job during the journey. His sharp audios picked up an unusual sound in the distance which caused him to creek to a stop and listen. It definitely wasn't natural whatever it was. Maneuvering his silver ears and sniffing the air, the metallic rat tried deciphering the origin of the sound. It didn't take him long for his green eyes to also find a cloud a of dust.

"You guys see that?" he asked his group that had been awfully silent during the last leg of their trip. "We better check it out," he said rather reluctantly. Most of them weren't in any shape for recon, spying or combat, but they couldn't just ignore the strange occurrence. What if it was some kind of secret Predacon mining operation? Or a new Predhead HQ?

Watching Ironclaw move forward toward the noisy cloud of dust, Rattrap hurried after him, ordering, "Just a recon first, IC, until we know what's goin' on." He doubted he'd listen or obey but at least Rattrap could say that he did his part.

Looking backward at Wintersong and Airazor, he added, "Come on, ladies, we're gonna do a little investigating." And hopefully not die, the wheeled rat thought. Who or what ever it was, he hoped it was friendly...

((OOC: Oh, it's on now! Lol.))

Saber listened to what Optimus said to Dinobot but she chose to stay quiet.

"What's going on with Ocrariner's team?"

Saber opened her mouth then quickly realized that he was asking Rhinox not her.

"We can't establish radio communication with them at the moment."

The cat braced herself when she saw Primal raise his fist as if to strike the wall or anything within punching distance. Surprisingly, he managed to restain himself.

"Keep trying. Is he still in the brig?"

There's someone in the brig? Dispite this being news to her, she kept her surprise to herself.

Yes.

"Remain here. Saber-Fang, follow me."

Saber felt dread grip her spark, did Optimus fight Sonar while on the mission? Did Sonar tell Optimus about thier shared past?

Pushed her growing dread aside at least for the moment, she calmly followed after Optimus, within moments she was walking beside the transmetal ape.

Orcariner slowed down and proceeded to descend from the sky.

"Hey," he said, landing near the two smaller Maximals, "I tried to radio the others back home just now, but there's too much interference going-"

He noticed that Whitegrazer was in a state of discomfort. Quickly kneeling down, he looked at her with concern.

"What happened? Are you alright?"