The Intergalactic Highway

"Thank you, Saber-Fang and Tigatron,"

Saber gave Rhinox a small nod in reply, and looked straight ahead as she felt Tigatron looking at her. It was clear that he knew that she was still having problems with her inner monster.

Once the stasis pod was in place, Saber stayed out of Rhinox' way as this was not her area of expertease.

What ever Rhinox has planned for that pod it should prove really useful. She thought leaning against a burnt wall.

Terrorsaur wrote:"Add one more name to my list of bots with a death wish"

As Terrorsaur activated his jets, Umbra simply leaned and fell backwards using Tantrum's body to absorb the punishment having already predicted the sudden rush of speed and flame, having seen Terrorsaur fly around earlier to notice the fire trail effect of his afterburner.

His tentacles moved to the ground absorbing the impact of the fall, then placing Umbra to his feet. He shaked his head watching as Terrorsaur flew straight up, then heard a voice on his comlink.

Megatron wrote:"Status report?""Is the package ready for delivery at my current location yet?"

Umbra looked towards Tantrum, then responded One very large and angry package ready to go my lord, though.. you lost two soldiers because of that inept air commander. I'll drop him off with Cecaelia to you, however I would like to make a suggestion of dropping off Waspinator and Manterror to the base for repairs to refresh your troops. I'd gladly do this while acquiring any further troops to refresh your soldiers and supplies for the oncoming battles.

He then muted his mic to the channel and activated a second channel Lady Cecaelia, we've been requested to meet up with Megatron at his current location. You go on ahead. Our new friend and I will catch up as soon as I pick up Waspinator and Manterror.

Umbra then walked to Tantrum's side and spoke up Are you going to let that birdy push you around? He's clearly trying to show he's better then you. Maybe you should show him how much stronger you are. Umbra smirked slightly walking past Tantrum towards Manterror, his tentacles sweeped ahead lifting the heavily wounded insect warrior carefully up, while two pairs of limbs coiled on his back like a backpack to place Manterror in. He then moved to Waspinator's boulder and started to roll it over to the side as the crushed bug became visible.

Btz.. Wazzpinator have headache in whole body... the crumpled insect stated, causing a low sigh to come from the ninja looking down at him.

OOC: Ya know, I actually thought to myself the other day, "Maybe I should have Terrorsaur call Megatron first instead of Nemesis?," but I told myself, "Nah, I can do that next post if necessary, Umbra won't do that," but yeah...Should have seen that coming . Nothing wrong with it I guess, but I AM trying to turn Terrorsaur into a more serious and competent threat than his season 1 counterpart to coincide with how season 2 and onwards became more mature in its story telling, so I'm trying to avoid making him as incompetent as say, Transformers Prime Starscream ....Should I just kill him off and make up a new character that people will be able to take seriously? I'm honestly asking here cuz ever since I got back from being sick, every chance I've taken to make him into something serious hasn't worked out or been counter acted by other characters. Should I just arrange for his demise in the upcoming battle and focus on Tarantulas only? Or make up a new OC to replace him? Or am I throwing in the towel too soon? Granted, he's a baddie and baddies always lose in the end, but ya know what I mean. Sorry for the random question from out of the blue here, not trying to be dramatic or anything, just asking everyone's opinion here since I don't think I've been playing Terry as well as I've been playing Tarantulas , or maybe I just overestimated Terry's untapped character potential.

( You can keep Terrorsaur alive, but..try to think more before you use certain weapons or actions. Each weapon has an advantage and disadvantage which can be used against you or your allies just like every other character. You don't use a flamethrower when you want to use a sniper rifle. Or maybe I was the only one who thought to themselves "I probably shouldn't use this rocket launcher on that guy near my allies since they'll go boom too.", which also bit me in the butt in the past nearly ripping Optimus Primal's hand off from Icebreaker trying to help him with a grappling hook.

So in this case, I'd recommend Terrorsaur NOT use the afterburner. If you want to hit Umbra, use a optic blast and fly off, it wont hit Tantrum and will allow for Terrorsaur to then just zoom off to the battlefield. Heck.. a fall from that height wont hurt Terrorsaur anyway since he's a 9 ft tall robot, so you could probably have him land on his feet.

As for Character potential.. we again are talking about the beastwars cartoon. Where characters get flattened, turned to confetti, or destroyed from a Rhino fart..Many of which happened to Terrorsaur in the past. Don't take it so seriously, it's borderline loony toons. I also wouldn't go with good or evil in this case.. since Umbra isn't a good guy.. or bad guy. He just does things he's paid to do, which "punish" Terrorsaur for screwing up was part of the job description.

Though I will admit, you aren't using Terrorsaur's charisma to your full advantage either. Terrorsaur isn't some badass ultimate flier. He tries to smooth talk his way into and out of situations. He has a brain, but he doesn't have the common sense with that brain alot of the time, which is part of why he sees himself as so superior when he's lacking in other areas. Much like Starscream. Either way, I'd say to give it more time and more character interactions. )

NaitoKage wrote:( You can keep Terrorsaur alive, but..try to think more before you use certain weapons or actions. Each weapon has an advantage and disadvantage which can be used against you or your allies just like every other character. You don't use a flamethrower when you want to use a sniper rifle. Or maybe I was the only one who thought to themselves "I probably shouldn't use this rocket launcher on that guy near my allies since they'll go boom too.", which also bit me in the butt in the past nearly ripping Optimus Primal's hand off from Icebreaker trying to help him with a grappling hook.

So in this case, I'd recommend Terrorsaur NOT use the afterburner. If you want to hit Umbra, use a optic blast and fly off, it wont hit Tantrum and will allow for Terrorsaur to then just zoom off to the battlefield. Heck.. a fall from that height wont hurt Terrorsaur anyway since he's a 9 ft tall robot, so you could probably have him land on his feet.

As for Character potential.. we again are talking about the beastwars cartoon. Where characters get flattened, turned to confetti, or destroyed from a Rhino fart..Many of which happened to Terrorsaur in the past. Don't take it so seriously, it's borderline loony toons. I also wouldn't go with good or evil in this case.. since Umbra isn't a good guy.. or bad guy. He just does things he's paid to do, which "punish" Terrorsaur for screwing up was part of the job description.

Though I will admit, you aren't using Terrorsaur's charisma to your full advantage either. Terrorsaur isn't some badass ultimate flier. He tries to smooth talk his way into and out of situations. He has a brain, but he doesn't have the common sense with that brain alot of the time, which is part of why he sees himself as so superior when he's lacking in other areas. Much like Starscream. Either way, I'd say to give it more time and more character interactions. )

OOC: Well, since ya spared me from being blown up, I felt like it would be a dick move to just shoot ya in the back with optic beams or blow ya up with rockets, since Umbra just slapped Terrorsaur off Tantrum, so I just had Terrorsaur blaze past him instead. I'll try to keep all of this in mind and see i I can improve Terry's performance before giving up the ghost and working with an OC I'm more comfortable with, but I guess this means I should stop worrying about pulling punches and playing fair & just have Terrorsaur go all out next time something like this happens? I'm trying to avoid god moding or ignoring the rules of the game in regards to hits and what not.

P.S. technically Terrorsaur didn't screw up, Tantrum is a predacon, the maximals were driven off...And Manny and Wasp ALWAYS get blown up, so as long as Tantrum didn't end up a maximal, I'd say that was a mission well done (or at least Megatron would be fine with it given his lack of love for his underlings as long as the mission was a success)...Which Umbra stole the credit for after just standing by and doing nothing (which is of course perfectly normal predacon behavior, especially if he's trying to win points with Megatron, but it doesn't fit if Umbra is supposed to be lawful neutral or something). Maybe Umbra isn't aware of how little Megs cares about his troops as long as the goal was achieved? Dude uses them for cannon fodder and shields all the time

(Umbra only knows a little bit about Megatron, after all he's a new character. As for Neutral Lawful.. I'm not sure I'd call him that. Maybe true neutral. Lawful isn't something an Assassin/Ninja should really do considering they sneak around, backstab, and steal. Unless we're talking Naruto Ninjas.. though I tend to think of those as wizards.*LOL*

If you don't want to attack, you could just go for the option of talking it out. And while yes, technically Terrorsaur didn't screw up, but if he attempted talking to Tantrum before shooting he would of found Tantrum was a predacon. Like I said, Terrorsaur tends to be more mouth then gun, he would more likely try to talk someone into being on his side to "take over the universe!" and then backstab them later.. as any Predacon would do.

Also sadly, most characters in the game aren't predacon through reprogramming.. that's never really been attempted. Most just kinda assume the Axalon ended up as a prison ship or in other cases their memory circuits are such a mess they don't know better.

Terrorsaur wrote:"Follow my energy signature & meet me as soon as you can, that slag sucking cephalopod Umbra has stolen our prize & I don't feel like letting him take the credit for all the hard work we put into this mission. The tentacled toady must have been following us the whole time, waiting for us to win the unit for him so he could present it to Megatron himself. I trust you don't want to let that stand either, right?"

Since nobody was there to see it, Nemesis allowed herself to briefly roll her eyes at the stupidity of letting a battle of egos get in the way when the ultimate goal had already been achieved. As expected this situation was rapidly escalating to a match between the two arrogant males, both attempting to show off against the other.

Yes, she realized how important it was for Terrorsaur to prove his worth, so to speak, given his past indiscretions with the Predacon commander.. and how close he had come to get slagged as a result of it. She also knew that Terrorsaur's days of squabbling with the leader were far from over, even if he appeared to be tamed for the time being. And finally she was well aware of the fact that Megatron knew this all too keenly as well. The Predacon leader was every bit as ruthless as his namesake and had already proved his willingness to dispose of his own troops should they turn out to be a hindrance to his work. Megatron sought control and power over his environment and would go to any length to achieve it, whereas his Maximal counterpart genuinely cared for his troops and maintained their loyalty and support by showing it every chance he got. The contrast between the two styles of leadership, between the honorable and the tyrant, could not have been clearer. And yet the compassionate one had fallen prey to the tyrant, something that would always be the case given the lengths each of them were willing to go to in order to win. Compassion would always hold back whereas cruelty would not.

Nemesis looked up at the cloudy skies above as she contemplated the situation, fully aware of the fact she had not yet responded to Terrorsaur's inquiry. She honestly doubted that Megatron would change his opinion of any of them being more than cannon fodder even if they did bring Tantrum unharmed and fully functional. On the other hand.. Umbra was brand new to the team and was already showing back-stabbing tendencies to further his own goals.

With a sigh, Nemesis straightened out as best she could and attempted to stretch out her wings. One of them folded out to its full length but the other one remained hanging limply down at her side. Growling, the transmetal female scanned her surroundings for something solid enough to support the wing during flight or she would spiral out of control and crash. Her optics fell upon Primal's sword in her hand.

"Tantrum is not exactly the fastest of rides so you still have time," she reminded Terrorsaur as she tended to her limp wing. "However I'll be there shortly."

She used the sword to uncover some strong, yet pliable, roots from nearby trees. Using said roots to tie the sword to her limp wing to form a splint helped her maintain the wing in an open, and functional, position. It would allow her to get there, at least, even if she was stuck in robot form for the duration of the flight.

Once done she stood back up, ignited her jets, and took to the skies.

Orcariner carefully listened as Aerostriker went on to describe the history of his Targetmaster. While the technology sounded impressive, he was alarmed by one thing. As soon as Stag and Aerostriker joined together, both their minds would be operating one body. Thus far, the two have been shown to cooperate on a level of efficiency that had saved both Airazor and Orcariner. Perhaps it was his overcautious nature, but the giant Maximal wondered what would happen should any conflict ensue between the two processors. In a contest of willpower, would Aerostriker or Stag be the victor? It was a question that was unanswerable until such an even t occurred. Orcariner only hoped that it would not happen during a moment in which friendlies were endangered.

"There's our base up ahead," he said.

Breaking from his inner thoughts, the orca nodded his head at the sight of the Axalon in the distance. It was still in relatively good shape even after the transwarp explosion. According to the whale's scanners, all shielding and weapon systems were online and functional. It was a good thing that they were home so quick. Airazor and Wintersong were in bad shape and required usage of the CR Chambers as soon as possible.

He radioed, "This is Orcariner hailing Axalon. We have four Maximals returning from mission and two are critically injured. Permission to have Sentinel powered down so we may board?"

((OOC: Dang, OOP. I figured at most that Steelclaw might have nicked Rattrap. Not that I'm complaining...

And, DarkSpark, I would definitely keep going in the direction you want to with Terrorsaur. I think that while a big part of a character's... er, well, character might involve how the rest of the characters react to that character, the main part of a character's character is simply how the character just characteristically acts. I think I am seeing something different in your characterization of Terrorsaur than how he is seen in the show. And if you keep going with that, I think the rest of us will eventually gravitate towards that and play against Terrorsaur as he is written rather than as we're use to seeing him.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that... if you want Terrorsaur to be more serious, you write him more serious, just as you've been doing. So, no, you haven't failed with that at all. But if you want us to take Terrorsaur more seriously... that's technically our responsibility, and it just might take some time for us to adjust to. But I think you should keep going with it, at any rate.))

Rattrap wrote:Dis was probably a lost cause since the beginning. No sense gettin' ourselves kil-

'

"Rattrap?" Cheetor shouted into his com-link. It was hard to tell if he'd just finished his sentence and cut off quick or if something had happened to him. Still flying as fast and as directly away from his two pursuers as he could, he looked frantically around at the general area he thought Rattrap was in. He wasn't really getting anything, so he magnified his vision for a closer look. "Are you alright? Talk to--wait, I see you."

Woh.

"Hey, what'd they do to you?" he demanded, unable to keep just a hint of iron from seeping into his voice.

Cheetor turned off the magnification and chanced a glance behind himself, taking stock of the distance between him, Megatron and Silverbolt.

Suddenly, he arced downwards and then straightened his path out near the ground. Within a few moments, he landed with a skid and a shuffling of dust next to Rattrap.

"Don't think we've got much time," he said quickly. "I drive, you shoot?"

* * *

Steelclaw never managed to witness Rattrap skidding out--by all appearances, he'd managed to drive behind cover, and had yet to appear again. Actually, now that he thought about it, that was a pretty sound strategy for the Maximal team. Steelclaw had to spend all of this time not focusing on taking shots at Cheetor, because he couldn't afford to miss a brief opportunity for Rattrap to break cover. So maybe Rattrap was actually deliberately drawing this out.

If that was true, though... he was tempted to forget it and just shoot the cat. Assuming he didn't run too much of a risk of hitting Megatron and Silverbolt.

Then he saw Cheetor fly to the ground and disappear behind cover himself. That must have been where Rattrap was hiding. Well... o.k. Now he'd watch for them both to show themselves...

* * *

As soon as Dinobot judged that Inferno had let himself fall into stasis lock in the CR chamber, he pushed the grate in front of himself open and stepped out onto the floor of the Darksyde bridge. He had decided that if the spiders were to continue to chase him, it would be better not have left the engine room by any of the usual routes where they might now be chasing him on instinct.

Dinobot took a cautious glance around the bridge, then, and when he was convinced that he was alone, he ran around the circular path of the floor (at this rate, it seemed faster than grabbing a hover pad and flying over the sheer drop in the center), got to the back of the giant room and took one of the smaller hallways. There, he found one of the battle scars in the ship's hull and sprinted out onto the igneous rock surrounding the Predacon base, watching closely for any threats--sentient or automated.

But for that moment, the Golden Disks were his.

(Blaze: Probably got Rattrap since Steelclaw is seen as kinda the ultimate sniper/gun user in the game. Even though hitting a moving target with a sniper rifle is pretty hard.. though I used to do it with the Sniper rifle in Halo 3 when people would use the mancannon to jump into the air.. But I don't think that entirely relates.

Alak: Also to note, I believe the Nomad still exists at the Maximal base, so you might want to have Orcariner take Airazor and Wintersong to that in the hanger, the Nomad does have a CR tank in it, though if there are plans to get rid of the Nomad, the Maximals might want to look into adding more CR chambers/CR tanks to the Axalon due to how many members they have at this point. And.. how common each team gets injured. With the way some battles go, who knows, maybe the ol' Levi and Nomad still have some use as team ambulances. Primus knows the Preds could use something to pick up the corpses most the team doesn't want to pick up..*LOL* )

OOC: If I might throw in my two cents. I DID, in fact, notice the change in Terrorsaur so you did not fail in getting that across. But, to be honest, I kind of miss his comedic antics, but I can see where the change is coming from and it definitely makes sense. I mean, the story line content changes between seasons one and two. There seems to be less of the comedy and more serious plot lines. Not to say that the comedy goes away completely, just that, as Darkspark pointed out, it becomes a bit more mature. Anyway, I think it's a good idea to change the character a bit. It is your character after all, so do what you want with him. But as someone already pointed out, the change won't happen over night. And it's better for the story line if it doesn't. In a good story, a character's change and development happen slowly. In real life, change happens slowly. With the Transmetaling he has become more ambitious and anxious for others to take him more seriously and make a name for himself as a skilled leader and warrior. It is better that he has some failed attempts at doing that first. He needs to learn and grow in his own time. So I think it is more realistic that he is struggling to do that....and then he can gradually start having more success....and can gradually start maturing. Keep up the good work with Terrorsaur and Tarantulas!

BIC:

"This is my body and mind! I will not sacifice it for your own disturbing curiosity! Besides, do you want Megatron to tear us apart for allowing a Maximal to steal those disks?!"

Arachnitron listened to Blackarachnia asserting herself against Tarantulas. She couldn't help but be a little jealous of Blackarachnia's courage, courage that the smaller spider did not posses for herself. The courage to stand up for herself against the raging voices of the Predacon and Maximal programming would greatly help herself be heard more often. But it was hard for one to have a voice and stand up for onself when one didn't know what to stand up for. Having both Predacon and Maximal programmed into her made both sides of the war seem like logical paths to follow. It was hard to know which path was really hers to follow.

She shook herself of her thoughts. She nodded in response to what Blackarachnia was saying. Arachnitron followed the other widow's logic. If they were to go after it and fail, they would be admitting to Megatron that they knew of the missing golden disks and they failed in their attempt to get them back. But if they leave Dinobot go, they would claim that they arrived at the Darksyde after the disks were already missing. Feigning ignorance of their disappearance would be better than admitting failure to the tyrant. Their punishment would be far less severe.

Blackarachnia continued in her work setting up some electrified pillars and building a web on which to place Tarantulas' body during the procedure. Arachnitron watched her work for a moment and then noticed that Blackarachnia seemed to have left the job of powering up the device to her. There was no power source at the moment.

"Once the web has been completed we will tap into the ship's power for the energy we'll need to reactivate my body, and of course Blackarachnia will need to tap her mind into the machine so that I can transfer my consciousness into my own shell once again. With any luck, the process shall rekindle my spark, if not...Well, let us try to think positively for now, hm? Heh heh"

Arachnitron, not sure what to do exactly, set out to make preparations to tap into the ship's power. She wasn't exactly sure how to do that...she had very little experience working on a ship....or doing anything really outside of rotting inside a cell all day and night. The experiments were taxing on her systems and she had to spend much time recovering from them. Not that she had much choice seeing as she had been chained to a wall most of the time. But the amount of time she spent being tested and locked up, left little time for other such things as learning to do something constructive with herself.

Instead of just standing there though, she figured it would be better to occupy herself and get something started. So she set to work on preparing a power source for the device. Starting with no direction she began plugging in wires and unplugging them and plugging them in elsewhere. She pulled over a small computer and typed away a bunch of nothing. But as she continued to work, she began to see in her mind things going together and making sense. She gradually began working with an actual goal in mind. After a few moments of working furiously, she looked up from her contraption.

It was crude, to say the least....very poorly constructed compared to the things she had seen Tarantulas and Blackarachnia making. But seeing that Arachnitron had no formal education in the matter, it was to be expected. Regardless, it should work, but how could she be sure. She looked around the bridge for something small she could use to test the power supply. She spotted one of Tarantulas' tiny arachnoid creatures. She reached over, grabbed it and plugged it into the power supply she had built. She switched the power supply on and it made a small whirring noise as it powered up. Then, to her surprise, the light bulb on the tiny creature broke. The arachnoid screeched in pain and struggled against the wire. Not wanting the arachnoid to break the machine, Arachnitron unplugged it and watched it skitter away screeching as it left the bridge.

Arachnitron grinned slyly. It would definitely work.

"We have a power source. When Blackarachnia's ready, we can connect the power supply to her part of the device. Then we should be good to go!"

Arachnitron tried to hide the pride she felt while looking at the new contraption. She had never pictured herself as much of a mechanic, but she had somehow managed to throw something useful together that they could use. She wasn't sure exactly why, when, or how things began clicking together in her mind. She couldn't explain how she figured out how to do it, but she had done it. Maybe Optimus was right....maybe she could be useful somehow in all of this. Maybe she wasn't as worthless as she had previously thought.

OOC: Arachnitron's bio has it written that she "learns quickly" and has "above average intelligence." So she could definitely teach herself how to do something. It is "crude" and "poorly constructed" so she could definitely use some training. She is also listed as...I think...a medic or something. I had no idea what her function should be, but maybe she can sort of act as an assistant for a while with the spiders and learn from them....which would lead her to practicing and refining this skill so she can have some sort of function along the lines of....I dunno...Glowstick?? Repairing things and stuff like that??? I dunno...this is all just brainstorming at the moment....let me know how that sounds....but seeing how both sides seem to be without a field medic, it might be useful to have her learn how to do something like that. So perhaps this is where that starts.

( Arachnitron could turn out to be a fine Medic, the only problem is, I doubt most the preds would trust her to do it since.. she's completely insane. Predacon Medics are kinda a rare and strange breed, I think it worked with Glowstick because he generally tried his hardest working with his allies, trying to motivate them and seeing them as a important, since unlike someone like Megatron, Glowstick wasn't really that strong physically. So to him, survival was only achievable from a large group. All he had was his brains,some charisma, and the ability to manipulate technology in devastating ways.

And.. well, Glowstick and Steelclaw were the only sane predacons at that time period. Glowstick's only problem being, well.. he was too good. He was liked by most of his allies, good at battlefield tactics, and generally sought a similar path that Steelclaw wants for the Predacons, equality. He would of ended up usurping Megatron from just having everyone being sick of Megatron's crap.

So, while Tarantulus can repair people, and so can Blackarachnia.. No one would be crazy enough to ask them because they'd worry about a bomb being installed in their chest or being reprogrammed as someone's slave. But I guess if you can get the Predacon's trust enough to let her touch them, then she could fill that role. How that'll work, I have no idea.

I also remember Frilla wanted to be a medic, and Aurora to a degree but Phoenix did find that kinda boring. So I have no idea there.. Whitegrazer wanted some sorta healing powers, but I'd only allow that for a TM2. )

OOC: thanks for the kind words and advice in how to approach the character and develop him further over time everyone, I really appreciate it , and sorry if the topic came off as me being a bit dramatic . I guess what I eventually wish to do with Terrorsaur, is have him outgrow just being a Starscream wannabe and evolve into something akin to a cross between his TV counterpart, Screamer Jr, and his toy bio, the kamikaze flying ace of the preds. I guess the best example of what I'm going for is something akin to the Transformers Cybertron version of Starscream, say what ya will about that particular series as a whole, but I enjoyed its characterization of Screamer, namely making him a legitimate threat to autobots and Megatron alike, but still maintaining many of Screamer's classic traits, namely his ego & cockiness. He was smart, skilled, and powerful, and actually pulled off alot of impressive feats that had lasting effects on the series, but he was also still our good ol Screamer, prwn to egomania & the downsides to come with it (I honestly wish more versions of Starscream were similar, unlike the utterly incompetent one in Prime). I noticed how much more confident Terrorsaur became after the events of the Surge, and while going transmetal isn't the same as going "Super Saiyan" lol, I feel the upgrades to his mind and body would be enough to begin some manner of change in him, similar things happened to G1 transformers who underwent full body makeovers as well after all. I'm cool with it being a slow, gradual process, and seeing how it plays out, if at all, but we'll see what we will see, and I'll try to hang in there and see if my little experiment with Terry will work out or not :3

Oh, just so there's no concerns, I DO NOT plan on having Terry hunt for Cyber Planet keys and grow to giant size

P.S. I can see Tarantulas keeping Arachnitron around as his sidekick/apprentice & making use of her medical/mechanical skills as long as her multiple personalities are kept in check, but again, its your call if ya want her to maintain her current sanity or lose herself to the three sides of herself again. Just saying Tarantulas wouldn't trust her or continue to deem her useful if he suspected the pred or maxi side of herself had returned, since at that point she'd be a liability, as either a maximal hostile or a predacon rival like BA, so at that point he'd likely cut all ties with her. Hope that helps Blackrose :3

(OOC: @OOP: Okay! After all, what TyCross did was put some thing like a ghost type of link. They are connected yet it is still pretty hard to get a clear feeling from it. All she knows is she is reconnected, but still very faint. She could feel some things but it still hard to distinguish. But when she goes inside the Matrix the connection will be very strong. )

"I have no doubt that he would, Whitegrazer," Rhinox commented encouragingly while he put his finishing touches on his machine and waited for the stasis pod. "I have known Optimus for a long time and he has never been closer to anyone the way he is with you." Mostly due to being consumed by his research, the academy, and work while on Cybertron. "He'll find you. He isn't one to give up so easily as I'm sure you know, and I imagine not even after death," he chuckled lightly.

Rhinox reminded her of some things she had been curious about Optimus. What his life was like back on Cybertron. He knew some of her past, but she could never get him to talk about himself. Though, she herself was being vague about details of her past. Optimus... he seemed so tight-lipped about his past. But she was patient. He would tell her when he feels he is ready. After all, even though they care for each other, it was still a very short time they had. Yet even if they only had that short time, she would have cherished it to the full. Something she had learned back in the grim days of the war.

But it seemed like time was going to be gracious to them both... not to mention to everyone.

"All I have to do is hook up the pod. And, Whitegrazer," he said a little more firmly, "This is just between us. In case it doesn't work, I don't want to get everyone worked up again. The Predacons can't know otherwise they'll do everything in their power to stop you."

She nodded in understanding towards Rhinox's request. Despite the fact that she believed in both of their skills, many things can happen that they couldn't predict. They weren't fortunetellers. Keeping this quiet would be best.

"So far, so good. Do you feel something from him?"

Gazing at Ironclaw, she could still feel the tingling inside of her. She wondered what it was. Since he was all right, she was glad yet that sensation...

"I don't know, but if he is recovering, it may just be a feedback from his repairs that I was feeling." It could have been. The sensation of needles could be her actually feeling Ironclaw's repair cycle. Still something had felt her there and bit her back. She will be keeping an eye on that.

Seeing Saber and Tigatron enter the bridge, she smiled warmly at them both, "Saber, how are you doing?"

"How is Aurora?"

"She was injured pretty bad, but she is strong. She will pull through." She closed her optics, feeling the little one's pain. Some part of her wondered what had transpired between Nemesis and her. She was eager to hear what Aurora would have to say when she recovered, of course. She reached out towards the little one subconsciously. Aurora... be strong. We are all praying for you to pull through. Also, she couldn't wait to see Aurora's face when-

Whitegrazer.

It was like something brushed against her. It was out of reflex that she turned to her left side to see if someone... that person was behind her. No, he wasn't. Still a voice. A ghost. Just like her master.

But that can all change.

"With Rhinox's help, I will return you to us. "

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"We have a power source. When Blackarachnia's ready, we can connect the power supply to her part of the device. Then we should be good to go!"

Blackarachnia finished threading the last piece of the webbing before she jumped and transformed with a certain graceful hop. After all, she was happy that Tarantulas wasn't going to be inside her head anymore. Good riddance! She stared at Arachnitron and nodded. Arachnitron probably wished she was able to throw away her voices just like she was about to do. Noticing there had been some differences in Arachnitron's behavior, it was subtle. She wondered if Tarantulas little device was waving off. And she supposed Arachnitron was going to ask Tarantulas' help in getting him to fix it again. It will never end for her. If she doesn't figure it out on her own, she will never be independent. She would always be dependent on others. Now that she thought of Arachnitron's condition, she wondered if...

... wait, she will think about it later. First, it was time to get Legs out of her mind and be free from his constant chatter. She grabbed Tarantulas's body and placed on the webbing connected to the electrical pillars.

She placed the device onto her head with the green visor. It should dig into her core conscious and grab Tarantulas' transfering it by way of electrical pulses back to his own core processor.

"Turn it on."