The Intergalactic Highway

OOC: I figured saying that Tarantulas COULD develop a cure, but may not have enough time to complete it before the preds succumb to the virus, would be a good way to preserve the competency of the pred's scientific expertise but also still allow for Nemesis to acquire the virus and use it to bargain her way back into Megatron's good graces if she takes that route. If anything in my post doesn't check out, lemme know folks


"Well, I guess the good Doctor doesn't have anything to add after all, the results speak for themselves. The virus was indeed artificially created, and after breaking down its components and analyzing it thoroughly, I do believe I could synthesize an cure that would not only heal all the infected's symptoms, but also act as a preventative so that we could never be susceptible to this virus again" Tarantulas explained, the various predacons in the room breathing sighs of relief and sharing pleased looks with each other, until the spider added "But there is no time."

Inferno grit his beartrap like teeth in anger and stormed up to Tarantulas, yelling "What do you mean by that spider?! For the Royalty you will MAKE time!"

"Inferno, stand down, let the arachnid speak" Megatron commanded, not wanting Inferno to damage the scientist until his work was done, or if he proved incapable of curing his condition and thus deserved to be taken down with him.

"What I meant before the insect so RUDELY interrupted, was that while I may be able to develop a cure for this plague, it will take time, time which those already infected may not have..." Tarantulas explained, irritated once again by the ant's impertinence, but this time was cut off by the iron grip of Megatron himself as he grabbed him by the throat and began squeezing.

"Is THAT supposed to satisfy me?!" Megatron growled, eyes filled with rage and a hint of madness that even Tarantulas had not seen before in the transmetal tyrant, no doubt brought on by the virus running rampant with his systems.

"GAH! You can strong arm me all you want Megatron, but you cannot rush science! You just have to be...Gah!...Patient, and hope for the best!" Tarantulas gasped out, hoping Megatron wasn't too far gone already to be without reason, some chance of survival was better than none, logic which a healthy Megatron would have understood perfectly well, but a brain addled one? Who could say?

"Yes Little Tyrant, snap the spider's neck, you've allowed him to live too long already, this den of thieves you command would be better off without him" spoke the original Megatron's phantom, urging the Predacon leader on to kill the treacherous spider, who at the same time was one of his only hopes for a cure beyond the operative he'd dispatched to the maximal base.

"Nnnnoooo....I still need him....Someday I'll slag him....But not this day, I need him to continue his work!" Megatron snarled inwardly, while growling outloud for the others to hear, the battle to keep his conversations with the viral specters becoming harder to keep private.

"Bah! You forgive and forget too easily Little Tyrant, you'll never rule Cybertron with insubordinate, undisciplined rabble such as him and this lot at your command. You need REAL soldiers, true believers who are willing to live and die for you and your cause, and not just out of fear, the promise of reward, or brain damage like the ant. You require true acolytes! And I could help give them to you...If you were more open to carrying out my last will as planned" Megatron the First said, grinning evilly as he awaited the younger tyrant's reply.

It was then that Terrorsaur emerged from the CR tanks, restored to full health and stretching like he'd awoken from a long nap, the pterosaur taking in the sights unfolding before him and saying "Uh...Did I miss something?"

With a contemptuous snort, Megatron dropped Tarantulas like a sack of potatoes and said "Return to your work spider, and be quick about it! Spineback, make yourself useful and assist him. Oh, and Inferno, if I succumb to the virus before Tarantulas finishes his work....Burn him."

"As you command Royalty!" Inferno declared with a salute, his flamethrower pointed at a scowling Tarantulas as he picked himself up and returned to his work, the ant trying not to show his distress at the idea of the Colony being without its queen...Who would rule them?!

Megatron turned his attention back to the delusion that was the first Megatron and said "What do you mean by acolytes, Elder?"

Megatron the First's optics glowed with the fires of the Pit now that he had his successor's attention once more...Even if this ghost truly just was a figment of Predacon Megatron's imagination, it was a convincing one, one who many could have easily believed was the genuine article speaking to his descendant from beyond the grave, ensuring that his last great scheme was carried out after all...Stranger things had happened on this and many other worlds in the ongoing conflict between the children of Cybertron.

(( OOC: I don't have much to work with but I figured I should post something now since I'll be too busy to do so until next Monday. ))

"Cheetor is working on the power now. It should be back on momentarily, Rhinox. Do the best you can."

"I am," Rhinox muttered under his breath toward Whitegrazer's voice on their open transmission while he worked. One hand was now fully attached to Primal's forearm which he left it open to perform some tests after he would finish the other hand. Although he was known for his "miracle work", these past few days had left him exhausted, much like most of them by now, and his work was beginning to get inevitably sloppy. He was tired but he tried to keep a steady pace with his hands and mind working together.

"Rattrap, what's Aurora's status?" Big Green inquired.

"Oh she's up an' about," Rattrap answered the rhino over his comm. link while looking at the Fuzor on the bridge with them. "I mean, assumin' it's her, you know."

"If you don't need her, send her to me. I could use fresh eyes and steadier hands," Rhinox said, almost pleadingly.

"Are... Are you sure?" Optimus wasn't quite the sight Aurora should see, so Rattrap was a little taken aback that Rhinox would even consider requesting her assistance. On the other hand, he had no one else to help him in the medical bay while a few of the others dealt with Blackarachnia and Nexus, and the rest were with Ironclaw. Aurora was the next best choice to help with manual repairs because of the training and education that she had acquired in this war from others and experience. He supposed in the long run it would do Aurora more good than harm.

"Yes. She'll be fine. I need her help."

"Okay, okay," Rattrap finally gave in. "Aurora, Rhinox needs yer help in the infirmary. And be careful on yer way there. Don't doddle," he warned her while the alarms continued to sound throughout the corridors and the red lights flashed. After all, they still had threats inside the base.

"Cheetor, what's yer status on the power?" "Landslide, status on Saber? And send me Nexus Prime's scan results when you got the chance." "Whitegrazer, you have Nexus? What's his condition?" Rattrap individually asked them over his comm. link. "Sentinel, you gonna handle Blackarachnia or am I gonna have do it myself?" the Spy said impatiently, pulling out his gun. "Nullify the threat," he reminded it. Not that he wanted her killed, of course not. ...Right? Yes, of course not. Optimus wouldn't want that either. So, stunned or chased away would work just fine.

( Darkspark: That seems completely plausible, no problem. )

Landslide observed as Saber passed out, glad he wasn't forced to hurt her. Had her jaws come closer, he'd probably of reared his head and slammed his head horn into her face.

Rattrap wrote:"Landslide, status on Saber? And send me Nexus Prime's scan results when you got the chance."

Landslide set Saberfang down on her torn up bed, restraining her with some heavy duty cargo straps. He activated his comlink Saber is takin' a catnap. I got her tied up just incase. Had ta double dose to take er' down though. We're gonna have to do somethin' about this eventually, but not now. I left Nexus with Whitegrazer so he should be safe, I'll send you the files now. Anything else I can do lad? Landslide then pulled out the datapad, hooking up to the Axalon's network and forwarded the data to the Bridge.

____________________________

Cheetor made his way through the vents, until he came to the cut line. He raised an optic ridge, then started work binding and crimping the wire with the tool and parts Landslide gave him, then patched and sealed the wire together.

Rattrap wrote:"Cheetor, what's yer status on the power?"

Almost got it, just need to flip the breaker back on. he responded, then started making his way back towards the engine room as quick as he could. He kicked out the pannel and entered the engine room, looking around carefully, then walked to the breaker switching the power back on.

The lights in the medical bay suddenly flicker back on.

___________________________

After examining the route, Umbra extended a few of his tentacles together infront of him, taking a snake like shape, then started to slither towards the Axalon, moving between the rocks as he came to one of the ship's supports, climbing along the back of it out of a Camera's view, he then crawled the haul of the ship, slithering to the Garbage shoot. Two of his tentacles gripped onto the exterior doors of the shoot forcing it open, then slid his body down into it.

Hiding in the shoot, Umbra activated his comlink Alright, I'm in. Our target has control of Sentinel, so be careful. Do you know where Nexus Prime is located?

(*clears throat*To quote a line from Independence Day just to be random: Hello Boys (and girls!) I'm back!! Gosh I've missed this place! But with everything happening last year I just could not find myself to continue for the longest time, felt longer then a year honestly. But, I'm here now! So, bear with me as much of my post is improvising in time estimation and the like. If I am wrong with any of it let me know because it's a bit of a guess and large bit of improv on my part.)

Frilla couldn't believe how long she had been out, practically in stasis as her body worked to use the self-repair systems to be functional enough to even come back online. From what she could remember, a stray shot or something had struck into her side and chest, leaving a bad enough wound that she had lost considerable amount of energon and mech fluid to have some point passed out and gone into emergency stasis. Next thing she knew, she was waking up some feet away from the clearing she had been helping her recovery team in getting the new bat femme, Banshee if she recalled correctly. But she never knew where the shot came from or whom, all she knew was she was sore, stiff, and tired.

Being in beast mode, she continued to allow her self-repair systems to do what work it could, but her side and part of her chest still sparked from time to time as she leapt from one tree and glided some distance to the next, making her way towards the Axalon. Primus only knew how much time has passed, and if her internal clock was correct a lot had by the time she awoke and she cursed the weak armor she had upon her frame over her protoform beneath, feeling like she was letting her fellow Maximals down beyond anything else. She had never been so reckless as to allow herself to be caught off guard in such a way, now she was paying the price with a lot of soreness and missing in action for what was probably a handful of days. Boy, it would be a miracle for the frilled lizard to not get punishment for this by Optimus. If the big gorilla was even in a good mood she probably would be lucky to not clean the entire ship in and out. Unfortunately, she had no idea the extent of the current situation as she finally could spot the ship, relief flooding her spark as she pushed off with her back legs to another tree, one of the final ones a little ways from the base.

If she had been there moments before though, Frilla likely would have caught sight of Umbra but had just missed him as she came gliding towards the ship but came to a landing just before she was fully there. Finding her energy somewhat renewed with excitement, she quickly reared up on her back legs and ran the rest of the length, knowing she didn't have to speed she use to with them but it was faster then on all fours in her opinion, deciding stopping in the hanger first to see if she could make use of some tools to patch up her side might be the best course of action first.

But the closer she got, the more Frilla realized she could hear the alarms going off, making her spark sink now as this concerned her, quickening her pace as she made for the hanger in hopes someone was there. With a few quick sniffs she did catch the scent of Landslide and Whitegrazer in addition to a third one she wasn't aware of. Confused, Frilla made her way inside until she came upon the two older bots, "Whitegrazer! Primus am I glad to see you!" She called to the white mare, quickly transforming with a pained hiss, holding her side as she came towards the mare, her optics going towards Nexus, "What in the Pit is going on around here with the alarms? And who's the old timer?" Frilla asked, confusion clear in her voice, which was hoarse from lack of use though giving a respectful nod towards Nexus to show she meant no offense, not even realizing who this mech truly was all she saw was an older mech and normally she gave respect to such elders.

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

As if Frilla's absence wasn't bad enough, Feralnight had been likewise incapacitated as she had been doing as ordered to be rid of the virus from her system. As a way to pass the time she had gone into a temporary stasis to allow her systems to fully flush out the virus, having a set time to inform her when everything was finished which finally her systems hummed to life, her optics flickered for a moment before fully lighting up. A few blinks indicated she was finally coming out of her stasis, a voice within as her internal computer giving a full report, "Systems fully operational, internal virus has been terminated." It reported as Feralnight gave a sigh of relief.

What was more, the fuzor realized in the whole time of her stasis she had not gone into a state of nightmares playing over and over for once, wondering if the talk with Rhinox had put her mind at ease a little bit though she was doubtful of it lasting. That was the thing with nightmares, they temporarily could go away or had a period of a break then came back, sometimes even being more realistic and worse then ever. The older fuzor dreaded the day that happened as she slowly stood, her wings extending as she stretched and seeing her internal clock showed it had been sometime since she had been out. Honestly, Feralnight had not thought she was going to be in stasis for that long, maybe a day at best. But then again, there was no telling just how deeply ingrained the virus had been that Glowstick had implanted but not it seemed to be gone which meant she was no longer an unwilling spy for the Predacons.

Not that was anything new, least in her past. Shaking her head of such thoughts, she turned as she began to realize the alarms were going off something she had not quite been fully paying attention to. Now that she was fully awake though, the fuzor femme began to grow concerned to what was going on as she came to her door that slid open with a soft hiss and hurrying down from the quarters hall and to the bridge, Feralnight keeping her optics peeled for signs of danger but saw no visible damage or problems going on as she arrived to the bridge, finding her fellow fuzor Aurora and the Transmetal rat there. "Rattrap, what's going on? Are we under attack?" She asked, knowing she would have to explain her absence later.

"Come on, I will take you to a secure location, and I will finish your repairs there."

The aging admiral nodded, a hint of a grateful smile noticeable on his stern but kind features. "Very well." He paused for a brief moment as they started to walk before turning to look straight at the female. "Do you know how Optimus is doing?," he enquired, a great deal of concern in his voice, "Perhaps we should go to the lab so we can protect him. Surely that is what the intruder is after."

Aurora looked on as Ironclaw disappeared down the hallway, his arms handcuffed together and the two females in tow, her expression one of worry. She knew what kind of temper the transmetal badger was capable of, but she couldn't even imagine what he could have done to cause him to get arrested like this. The thought of the shape shifter didn't even occur to her. Although there was that mess near the CR chamber where she had woken up. Had Ironclaw been responsible for that? And if so.. why?

"Aurora, Rhinox needs yer help in the infirmary. And be careful on yer way there. Don't doddle,"

Her attention was snagged by Rattrap's words and she turned to look at him for a moment. Rhinox needed her help? But didn't Rattrap just tell her that Rhinox was with Optimus?

She nodded to let the rodent know she understood and quickly headed to join up with Rhinox.

"Sentinel, you gonna handle Blackarachnia or am I gonna have do it myself?" the Spy said impatiently, pulling out his gun. "Nullify the threat,"

"Acknowledged. Moving weapon systems into position," came the monotone response.

Nemesis eyed the other female as her smirk grew wider, each of them weighing each other up in strength and value to the other.

"Aren't yours," came BlackArachnia's cheeky response, hardly unexpected given the spider's teasing nature.

The avian female shifted her position a bit, her face remaining neutral as not to give anything away unwillingly, but she did look away for a moment when the alarms sounded outside. They obviously did not have very long to play this game.

"All right, I guess you are not as eager to leave as I thought you were,"

The spider's next remark brought on the slightest of frowns, the thought of being stuck here with these Maximals not exactly an appeasing idea. Predacon hierarchy and philosophies, those she could understand, but the Maximal one was strange and foreign to her. Granted a select few of them seemed a bit more agreeable than others, but whereas Predacons would resolve a conflict quickly through a rapid outburst of violence, conflicts seemed to linger a lot longer among the Maximals.. Most of them seemed willing to let them escalate to absurd heights before finally taking steps to settle the score, whereas among Predacons insubordination was swiftly dealt with.

"I have seen you with the Maximal white horse. Did she get to you?"

Now the spider was just being absurd, which brought the slight frown to a light chuckle. "Clearly you have lost your mind," Nemesis then responded, "But then again if I spent half as much time as Tarantulas' pet as you do, I'm sure the insanity would rub off on me too," she added with a grimace, revealing that the male spider's hold on the female had not gone by unnoticed even if she did not know the exact nature of their relationship. Her statement no doubt also revealed her reasoning for being distrusting of the other female and her motives.

"You wouldn't like it if I leave this room, Nemesis."

A light shrug of the shoulders greeted the threat.

"You may not have a choice in that matter soon enough," Nemesis responded matter-of-factly, gesturing at the increased activity right outside the door.

"If you don't help me, I will just have to fight for the cure from whoever Megatron sent. And if I do that, I will bring it to Megatron and I would make sure to tell Megatron about what I saw here, that the recording was right and that you are working with the Maximals now. And you will never be able to return to our side again."

Well.. That answered her question about who sent the black widow at least. And didn't exactly encourage trust so to speak. Even so perhaps the strong-willed spider could be a useful ally, even if her end goal in all of this was obviously her own well-being.

"The cure is under guard in the lab," Nemesis informed the other female quickly just as Sentinel overrode the manual lock on the door. "Not exactly easy to get to, but not impossible. Obviously not something I can do this very nanoclick," she continued, swiftly moving herself between BlackArachnia and the opening door. She didn't know what was waiting out there, but in case Umbra didn't make it this spider could be her best option. But since these Maximal fools insisted on interfering she would just have to give her fellow Predacon a hand.

To her surprise the open door revealed no Maximals waiting for them outside, instead she was staring straight into the barrel of one of Sentinel's weapons that was hanging down from the ceiling, moved to their location on a track system. The gun immediately locked on to BlackArachnia's signal, leaving Nemesis little choice but to spread her large wings out to block the smaller female from view. She knew her signal had been programmed into the computer as a neutral, of course they could have changed that at any time especially if they had been keeping close enough track of her whereabouts to know that she'd been meeting with the spider.

"Stand down, Sentinel," she told the computer system, hoping to avoid the confrontation altogether.

Sentinel did not listen. A fraction of a second later a powerful blast impacted with her right wing, penetrating through the transmetalized surface as if it was made from paper. Nemesis howled out in pain and staggered backwards a step or two, a large opening with molten edges now visible through the wing. The smell of burnt metal tickled her olfactory receptors, a few sparks shooting out of the gaping hole as well. "Go!," she yelled to BlackArachnia, now realizing that Sentinel was intent to kill off its target rather than attempt a capture. In the distance she could hear what she assumed to be more weapons moving down the tracks, and the weapon that was aiming at them was already readying another shot. Nemesis could but hope the other female was smart enough to heed her warning, as she quickly rolled to left to avoid being hit again. The weapon system's tracking device did not follow her movement, instead it fired its second shot at BlackArachnia. Nemesis followed its movements with her optics as she pulled out her own weapons, the hole in her wing now glowing as her nanobots kicked in.

DarkSpark wrote:
Megatron turned his attention back to the delusion that was the first Megatron and said "What do you mean by acolytes, Elder?"

Megatron the First's optics glowed with the fires of the Pit now that he had his successor's attention once more...Even if this ghost truly just was a figment of Predacon Megatron's imagination, it was a convincing one, one who many could have easily believed was the genuine article speaking to his descendant from beyond the grave, ensuring that his last great scheme was carried out after all...Stranger things had happened on this and many other worlds in the ongoing conflict between the children of Cybertron.

"Unlike you, my young protege, I commanded countless legions of Decepticons in my day, enough to wage war against Prime's forces on earth and maintain our dominion over Cybertron!" Decepticon Megatron explained with great vigor, his voice conveying the grandeur of the former Decepticon Empire, as well as his longing for those glorious days...Predacon Megatron was both riveted by and concerned by how the specter's words were able to move him despite knowing he was not real...It truly was beginning to become harder to remember that he was not real!

"I know of the age of Decepticon supremacy Elder, I studied it well, do get on with it" Megatron insisted, torn between respecting his ancestor and fighting off this delusion, interested in what he had to tell him but also not wishing to acknowledge him as being reality.

"Patience! You must have patience if you are to one day ruler Little Tyrant, despite what you may have been told or read about, my patience was considerable given what I had to deal with during my reign, autobot rebels allying with human filth, upstarts like Starscream deluding themselves again and again into thinking they could lead in my place, and PRIME, always Optimus Prime, standing in the way of MY destiny, my right to rule over all! YOU better than anyone should be able to understand that!" Decepticon Megatron advised, his predacon counterpart begrudgingly agreeing with him considering all the setbacks he'd been dealt by Optimus Primal and his mangy lot.

"At any rate, as I said before, I commanded MANY decepticons in my time, and despite a handful of would be usurpers sprouting forth every now and again, the majority of my troops respected me, would lay down their lives for me and my goals, unlike the bulk of your forces" the decepticon phantom pointed out, predacon Megatron gritting his teeth in anger as he replied "Do get on with it Elder, Yyyyyessssss."

Decepticon Megatron smirked and replied "Mahahaha! Never fear Little Tyrant, I only wish to help! Pointing out the flaws in your forces will better allow you to correct them and bring about your goals sooner. Most notably, you require better troops, LOYAL troops..."

"I shall have those in do time, maximal stasis pods fall into my grasp often enough to bolster my army, some of my best troops came from such pods in fact" Predacon Megatron said, to which Decepticon Megatron replied "But not often enough to turn the tides in your favor yes? You're always at the mercy of whenever a pod makes itself known, and even then its always a race to recover said pod and the warrior inside before the maximals can get their hands on it, correct? Well, what if I told you I know of a way for you to recruit new warriors who would not even require reprogramming to serve your purposes? REAL soldiers who would fight for your cause rather than out of a desire for reward or out of fear of rebuke?"

"And how exactly would you make that a reality for me? The only methods of recruiting new soldiers on this world are the stasis pods, or the occasional defection or arrival of newcomers from Cybertron" Predacon Megatron said doubtfully, his interest peaked nonetheless.

"Simple, Little Tyrant, all you must do is reactivate some of the dormant decepticons laying dormant here on earth even as we speak!" Decepticon Megatron explained, grinning like Unicron himself as Predacon Megatron's optics widened in shock at this suggestion.

Meanwhile, Terrorsaur was arguing with Inferno.

"I say we hit the maximals where it hurts right now and take the cure from them by force!" Terrorsaur insisted, while the towering ant Inferno shook his head and shouted back "Not without the Royalty's command, schemer!"

"In case you hadn't noticed Bug Brain, the "Royalty" has seen better days, you want to end up like that as well?" Terrorsaur squawked defiantly, Inferno rebuking "The Royalty WILL triumph! He's endured worse than this and will rise to lead us to victory yet again!"

"By Unicron's beard, SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU! I'm trying to work here! Unless you'd both like to succumb to our leader's ailment and descend into fantasy land!" Tarantulas snapped, growing more and more weary of these idiots and their petty squabbles while his own life was on the line...Now would be such a perfect time to simply let Megatron perish at long last if his brainless loyalists weren't watching and the threat of infection didn't loom over himself as well.

"Blackarachnia! Status report! Have you acquired the cure yet?" Tarantulas loudly demanded of the widow via their psychic link, giving her a quick telepathic sting as well to get her attention and punish her for making him wait so long...And perhaps to vent a little after his earlier indignities.

((I've been waiting on Star to post, so sorry for not replying right away yet Darkspark. But maybe this can help you a little Star, and I can at least acknowledge the rest of what's gone on thus far.))

Wintersong couldn't help finding herself a little to jumpy and quick to rest a hand on her blaster at her side. The alarms going off and the sudden roar from Saber-fang wasn't exactly helping the situation, likely only bringing more chaos and concern of what could happen if the Beast was added to the mix of confusion already plaguing the ship as it was. Accusations thrown around, possibly little ways to show evidence of innocence, and everyone trying to figure out who was who or if they truly were comrades in arms before them or an impostor. Primus her processor hurt thinking about it! Would there be no end to this madness eventually or were they going to be dealing with this all day or longer? That was the most frustrating part, never knowing what was to come next.

Sighing inwardly, Wintersong kept herself ready as they entered the brig but her gaze often shifted towards Banshee, still beginning to have a faint suspicion of her own with her wanting to come down there to be questioned. Thus, her hand never left her side as her face mask went up in preparation for chances of a fight breaking out at any moment but she hoped it would not be for the mech beside her and a suppose-to-be ally bat. "Alright bat we're in the brig, can we get on with this already?" Wintersong asked impatiently, her gaze always shifting to the doorway, half expecting their true enemy or enemies to come barging in and catching them unawares while they resorted to this unnecessary interrogation.

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

Spineback was largely unaware of everything going on around her, primarily because she had fallen into a much longer stupor of being stuck in the middle of her delusion. Now, she truly felt like her old, larger self of being a Decepticon solider back then, her Plasma Sphere Shooter aimed and ready as she looked at the Autobot city before her and her unit, but they were meant to cover the perimeter just in case those who tried to run were shot down on sight. This was one job she didn't mind doing, more then willing to serve her leader, Megatron, and furthering the Decepticon goals, to make Cybertron their's at last.

The longer she had spent under the Decepticon banner the longer she found herself enjoying the destruction and chaos they caused, all to liberate Cybertron from those of the Autobots who thought themselves the greater part of their kind while many others had struggled in places, much of which was why Sandback was one of the many who went to live on an off-world colony to avoid such issues. Now, she was actually doing something about it, being one of the few survivors of her colony and finding where she truly felt she belonged. She was a Decepticon, a loyal soldier and more then ready to die making a change to their planet that so drastically needed it. She was almost giddy with excitement as she could barely seem to stand still, which outside the delusion her entire frame seemed tense with anticipation as if she was expecting something big to happen.

Though that was when Terrorsaur and Inferno arguing drew her attention, where she should have seen her idiotic teammates bickering she mistook them instead for two Autobots trying to sneak away but their loud voices giving them away down an alley. Raising her weapon she growled, "Maybe you 'Bots ought to learn to shut your mouths when your sneaking about, it'd do you well if you live." She said as her optics flashed with a murderous look, old desires to cause death and chaos seeming to return to her as she fired two shots towards them, though she didn't acknowledge if the hits actually make their mark only being jolted slightly by the recoil that jolted her body. A common thing that happened when she had her weapon fired multiple times at once and her frame not really affected by it. But it was enough it seemed to jolt her from her delusional state for a short time.

Before her was not the Autobot city she had meant to take down in her previous Lord's name, it wasn't her original unit, she was no longer Sandback. Her optics widened as she shook her head and quickly deactivated the weapon, "By the Pit, what just happened?" She muttered, resting a hand on her forehead as she was trying to keep her mind straight but Primus only knew how long that would happen and if she had just unknowingly damaged her own teammates unless they were quick enough to move.

((OOC: Sorry for the delay Winter. As I said, I'm swamped with homework. I barely got the chance to start typing stuff.))

"We have more then one surveillance camera as I last recall, look at the others if you must to confirm what I said."

Banshee's ears slightly went back hearing that and turned towards the stripped femme, raising a memory stick, "I have every camera footages right here," she said. Banshee looked towards the direction of the roar. Fortunately that little problem has been settled. The bat femme walked into the brig with the others.

"Alright bat we're in the brig, can we get on with this already?"

"Patience," she took out a datapad from her subspace,"have a seat," she sat on one of the beds, wearing her glasses while her datapad hovers infront of her and plugged the memory stick in it.

"Now tell me Ironclaw, if what you say is true that you did not attack Nexus Prime, where were you around that time?"

((OOC: Her glasses are not just ordinary glasses. They act like video cameras.))

(No worries Star, I had the previous week of being absent due to exams so no rush at all. )

Phoenix wrote:"Clearly you have lost your mind," Nemesis then responded, "But then again if I spent half as much time as Tarantulas' pet as you do, I'm sure the insanity would rub off on me too,"

"I will deal with Tarantulas soon. No need to worry about that." She ignored Nemesis calling her Tarantulas' pet, waving it off like she would a flea. She didn't care if Tarantulas heard of anything she was saying to Nemesis. That was promise. She WILL deal with him, and anyone who stood in her way.

But she noticed how quiet Nemesis was earlier when she was accusing the woman of maybe wanting to stay with the Maximals. Hah! So were the Maximals actually getting to her? Oh this was precious! But Blackarachnia just remained silent.

Phoenix wrote:"You may not have a choice in that matter soon enough,"

She heard the alarms, the guns, and the increase of footsteps and Sentinel's orders, and it made her laugh. It was actually quite exhilarating...

The door opened and she looked at Nemesis, "Time's up!"

Phoenix wrote:"The cure is under guard in the lab," Nemesis informed the other female quickly just as Sentinel overrode the manual lock on the door. "Not exactly easy to get to, but not impossible. Obviously not something I can do this very nanoclick,"

"Fine then," she took out her crossbow. "I will just have to run and get it then. If you could provide cover fire for me."

Phoenix wrote:"Stand down, Sentinel," she told the computer system, hoping to avoid the confrontation altogether."Go!,"

Blackarachnia didn't know if she should feel sad or laugh at Nemesis' attempt to get Sentinel to stand down. Though, it shows that the Maximals aren't that gullible and proves that when push came to shove, they hide their hateful feelings towards their enemies, despite if they were allies or not, and to her, it made them a bit worse than the Predacons. At least Predacons didn't hide their emotions. They embraced them and used them against their foes, especially hate and fury.

Blackarachnia rushed outside, arming her crossbow, and fired at the closest autogun that attacked Nemesis before she made a mad dash towards the medical bay with trails of bullets right behind her.

"Blackarachnia! Status report! Have you acquired the cure yet?"

She felt the string to her head and hissed at Tarantulas, "Working on it!"

__________________________________________________________________________

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"I am,"

Whitegrazer heard the mutter, understanding how much pressure he has been in and tried to reassure him "It will be okay."

Phoenix wrote:Very well." He paused for a brief moment as they started to walk before turning to look straight at the female. "Do you know how Optimus is doing?," he enquired, a great deal of concern in his voice, "Perhaps we should go to the lab so we can protect him. Surely that is what the intruder is after."

"He is doing fine," Whitegrazer stared right back at Nexus, which may have been unwise with what was going on around them. But Nexus had a point. She was increasing worried about Rhinox and Optimus, but she didn't know if she should actually put Nexus in that sort of risk, even despite her misgivings. But where would she leave him? Ah! She will leave on the bridge with Rattrap. "It would be unwise of me to place you in a situation where you can get injured again. I will go and make sure Rhinox and Optimus are okay."

"Whitegrazer! Primus am I glad to see you!" She called to the white mare, quickly transforming with a pained hiss, holding her side as she came towards the mare, her optics going towards Nexus, "What in the Pit is going on around here with the alarms? And who's the old timer?"

Whitegrazer smiled at Frilla, "It's good to see you too. How are you, Frilla?" It was good to see her up and about after that shot she took, "Oh! This is Admiral Nexus, Optimus' mentor and friend. Nexus, this is Frilla. " With all the alarms blaring, Sentinel's voice, and the flashes of red light, introducing two people in the mist of this seemed odd, "I think the Predacons may have sent someone to try and get a cure for the virus." Oh, that's right. Frilla had been out for almost everything that has happened since.

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"Whitegrazer, you have Nexus? What's his condition?"

"Yes, I do. Most of his repairs are finished, but he still needs time," she heard some explosions behind her. She looked at both Frilla and Nexus apologetically, "You two are still recovering. I'll escort both of you to the bridge with Rattrap."

With no response from Nemesis, Umbra listened as he heard the Autogun fire from another hall, followed by an explosion. It'd seem she was too busy, he'd have to do it himself. Shifting himself inside the garbage shoot, his tentacles forced the hatch open as he exhausted a stream of smoke from his siphon into the hall. The smoke billowed and collected quickly into the hall, causing the security camera to look at it.

Slithering out of the shoot, Umbra crawled across the wall to the ceiling flattening against it, he then heard the smoke alarm go off. "Fire detected in hallway"

He didn't have much time. Transforming to his robot mode while on the ceiling, his sonar visor slid down as he looked around noticing the security camera, then swung over to it, reaching behind and pulling the cable out the back causing the camera to lose it's feed.

Umbra then heard the blast doors slide for the hall, a measure used in ships to contain fires. Foam then started to spray from the ceiling and floor. He let out a sigh drawing his acid blade from it's sheath, then looked towards one of the walls the blast door had come from. Moving towards the corner, he drove the blade into the wall, then slowly brought it down, cutting and eating through the metal with it's acid as he descended to the floor.

Hearing some of the components behind the wall fall down, assuming them to be pneumatic cylinders, he grabbed the blast door with a few tentacles and started to slowly force it back into the wall partially.

Hiding behind the fire door, Umbra's sonar visor went up as he observed the smoke and foam go into the next hall, he slid his visor down again and crouched down into the smoke for concealment, pulling out one of his throwing blades, he aimed for the next Camera he saw, then threw the blade.

The blade veered off slightly, hitting the ceiling to the right of the Camera. He raised an optic ridge, adjusting his aim, then threw another blade, striking the Camera lens. "Looks like the visor distorts my vision more then I thought.."

Walking out of the smoke, his visor slid up as he sheathed his acid blade once again, but held both swords at his sides with two of his tentacles, another pulling the two thrown blades out of the ceiling and Camera as he made his way down the hall, coming to a stop near the end of it as he looked around the corner, noticing Blackarachnia and Nemesis. He stepped out of the hall looking towards Nemesis Looks like I didn't miss the party, though.. No idea why Miss Arachnia is here.

"I will deal with Tarantulas soon. No need to worry about that.

Nemesis did not respond to the spider's promise to deal with Tarantulas. It wasn't that she didn't hear her by any means, but more so the fact that she just didn't think the female spider stood much of a chance against the creepiness that was Tarantulas. She didn't personally know the male spider very well, but she did know him well enough to realize he could be trouble. Furthermore Tarantulas had been turned into a transmetal while the female spider was still just a regular. The avian femme could only imagine how badly this must have irked BlackArachnia.

Still, the female spider at least had the common sense to make a run for it while the weapon was distracted. Sentinel's guns immediately followed suit, however, spraying the hallway with shots as they targeted the fleeing female. Nemesis smirked slightly upon seeing that. No longer the target, she used the opportunity to fire a few shots at the nearest autogun before it could fire yet another round of deadly bursts at the spider. As soon as BlackArachnia disappeared around the corner, however, Nemesis immediately holstered her weapons. Making herself the target today wouldn't exactly accomplish anything. As things were, BlackArachnia would be otherwise preoccupied and Nemesis had refrained from completely alienating her in the process. Additionally she was still in a good spot for acquiring the Maximals' assistance against Zodiac since something told her that it would be a bad idea to return to Megatron's forces until after the shape shifter had been taken care of. She honestly didn't care what BlackArachnia assumed her reasons behind all of this were.

Alright, I'm in. Our target has control of Sentinel, so be careful. Do you know where Nexus Prime is located?

Finally alone, she opened a secure channel to Umbra.

"He was near the bridge last I saw, surrounded by Maximals. That may not be the path you wish to take so openly," she told him, optics flashing bright red for a moment.

She stepped out into the now seemingly empty hallway, the autoguns having followed BlackArachnia, and merely stood there with her arms crossed when Umbra suddenly came into view. She tilted her head a bit, watching as the ninja rather skillfully took out the cameras. The arachnid was already gone, but no doubt the ninja had caught her exit. And the scorch marks from the gunfire were still smoldering, unlike Nemesis' wing which had essentially healed up already.

Looks like I didn't miss the party, though.. No idea why Miss Arachnia is here.

The avian female smiled ever so slightly at that, again getting a confirmation that the two had not been working together.

"Tarantulas sent her to obtain the cure," she responded briefly, finding no reason to hide what should be obvious. Nemesis then stepped closer to Umbra, almost casually. "She's headed to the lab for a sample," she continued, keeping her voice quiet in case someone were to round the corner. "Don't waste your time going there. It's what the Maximals are expecting. Instead why don't you go to the source for the cure?"

Her smile turned just a little bit more wicked, now within an arm's length of Umbra. Up close she could see that the ninja looked a little uncomfortable almost, as if something was troubling him. Was he ill? Hopefully not too bad off to handle what she was about to suggest.

"The little fuzor, Aurora.. She created the cure. The Maximals are so focused on what's been going on, they will not expect an attack on one of their own."

"Acknowledged. Moving weapon systems into position,"

The small Maximal shook his head, irritated with Sentinel at the moment and Its inability lately to take control of the situation. What was wrong with It? It seemed sluggish... or buggy.

"Yes, I do. Most of his repairs are finished, but he still needs time,"

No surprise. Nexus had been beaten up pretty badly, but if he'd just get back into a CR chamber, then they could stop carrying him around and get him fixed, and then Rattrap would have more Maximals available to him to defend the Axalon. He still didn't like how the old guy refused them and was now using the excuse of Ironclaw allegedly attacking the one he was in and made them "too dangerous". Death traps. Hah! No, something about him wasn't sitting right with the rodent.

Saber is takin' a catnap. I got her tied up just incase. Had ta double dose to take er' down though. We're gonna have to do somethin' about this eventually, but not now. I left Nexus with Whitegrazer so he should be safe, I'll send you the files now. Anything else I can do lad?

Yeah, Rattrap was well aware of doing something about that Beast. Well, technically it was Primal's responsibility to handle, but he clearly hadn't made any head way with it yet. It was probably time to change that so things could be a little more safe around there. They had enough to deal with as it was. In the mean time, the Spy eagerly anticipated receiving those files. However, Landslide didn't seem the least surprised by anything so he may not be getting the answers he had hoped for.

Almost got it, just need to flip the breaker back on.

Observing the monitors, the computer alerted Rattrap that the power was finally restored to the medical bay while the data from the beetle was transferring. And finally answering Landslide's question, the rat said, "Yeah, 'Slider, could you an' Cheetor cut off Blackarachnia? Sentinel seems to be havin' a tough time stoppin' her. Not to mention Nemesis is givin' her a helpin' hand," he added, annoyed while he watched live the security footage.

"Rattrap, what's going on? Are we under attack?"

Did his audio receptors deceive him? "Feralnight?" he asked, somewhat in disbelief. "I'd love ta grill ya fer your extended absence but I'll leave that up ta Optimus." he paused for a second. "Assumin'... he'll pull through." Moving on quickly to answer her question since she was so far out of the loop, he said, "Blackarachnia's in de base. I ain't sure how she got in undetected but she must be after something. I got Sentinel, Landslide and Cheetor after 'er. Can you watch the scanners fer anymore intruders? That eight-legged freak might not be de only Pred snoopin' around," the TransMetal rodent asked of the Fuzor while he sat down and anxiously went through the data of Nexus.

Nothing? Are you kiddin' me? Rattrap thought, disappointed with the information he was reading. He was almost certain that Nexus had something to do with the shapeshifter if he wasn't the shapeshifter himself. Nexus Prime was really Nexus Prime? But... It didn't make sense. Or maybe he just didn't want it to. The data had to be accurate, no one could trick their way around it, not even a shapeshifter. Frustrated, he angrily slammed his fist down on the console and sighed. He felt like they were falling back into their old routine again of falling behind and nothing going right despite them getting Optimus and Nexus back from Megatron.

"Fire detected in hallway"

Another alert popped up on the monitor and Rattrap did a face palm. It wasn't quite near the area Blackarachnia was in, rather it was near the garbage shoot. He just wanted to quit now. Just quit and rest in a dark, quiet corner where no one could find him and bother him for a long time. "Somebody check the garbage shoot corridor. Got some unusual activity there," he asked everyone over his comm. link to make them aware that something else was going on now.

-----

Rhinox paused on his work when the power suddenly returned to the infirmary. He stepped over to press commands on the computers and monitors to re-calibrate their systems and get them working again. "Well done, Cheetor," he praised the younger cat over his communication link. The low voltage of electricity started flowing to the nanogel on Primal's chest again, causing it to glow and the nanobots to continue their repairs. While everything was getting back to normal, the rhinoceros leaned in closer to focus on the smaller wires and connections on the last hand he was attaching to the leader's forearm. Then he accidentally burned himself with the soldering gun on his finger that was holding one of the tiny connectors. Rhinox pulled his hand away and flicked it about in the air as if it would help cool it off and heal the burn, cursing under his breath in frustration and anger before he got back to work, trying to avoid using that finger. He knew his fatigue was catching up with him, and he wondered what was taking Aurora so long. Hopefully she could get there safely considering all of the nonsense that was going on what with Blackarachnia running around and now possibly another intruder according to Rattrap's last transmission to everyone. He may not have enough time to get Optimus in a stable enough condition to leave him alone and help the others.

OOC: If Inferno being able to withstand Spineback's shots isn't okay Wintersong I'll edit my post accordingly, just let me know.

Wintersong wrote:
Though that was when Terrorsaur and Inferno arguing drew her attention, where she should have seen her idiotic teammates bickering she mistook them instead for two Autobots trying to sneak away but their loud voices giving them away down an alley. Raising her weapon she growled, "Maybe you 'Bots ought to learn to shut your mouths when your sneaking about, it'd do you well if you live." She said as her optics flashed with a murderous look, old desires to cause death and chaos seeming to return to her as she fired two shots towards them, though she didn't acknowledge if the hits actually make their mark only being jolted slightly by the recoil that jolted her body. A common thing that happened when she had her weapon fired multiple times at once and her frame not really affected by it. But it was enough it seemed to jolt her from her delusional state for a short time.

"Hey stay out of this Spiny, this is between me and Bug Breath....RAWK!" Terrorsaur exclaimed as he narrowly avoided being shot by Spineback's weapon, taking flight to put some distance between himself and the dinosaur.

"YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Inferno shrieked in his intelligible monstrous manner of screaming, the thin but armored ant withstanding Spineback's shots despite being pushed back by the impact, the ant falling to one knee as he got his barings, then looking up at Spineback with complete and utter loathing as only a fanatic could muster.

Wintersong wrote: Before her was not the Autobot city she had meant to take down in her previous Lord's name, it wasn't her original unit, she was no longer Sandback. Her optics widened as she shook her head and quickly deactivated the weapon, "By the Pit, what just happened?" She muttered, resting a hand on her forehead as she was trying to keep her mind straight but Primus only knew how long that would happen and if she had just unknowingly damaged her own teammates unless they were quick enough to move.

"You showed your true colors traitor! BURN! BURN IN THE FIRES OF INFERNO! RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" Inferno yelled hellishly as he stood up and pulled out one of his flamethrower cannons from subspace, directing a steady stream of fire in her direction, slowly advancing towards her, his intent clear...To either burn her alive with his own flames or push her off the edge of the platform into the lava below!

"Try to get the drop on me will you? Well two can play at that game dino witch!" Terrorsaur snarled as he fired his eye beams at her as well, joining Inferno in his assault upon the saurian.

Tarantulas on the other hand wisely took cover, surmising that the virus had likely taken hold of Spineback and that either way he didn't want to be caught in the crossfire of this quickly escalating situation.

"If I'm lucky they'll kill each other and I can just quietly finish off Megatron and refocus my efforts on recovering the disks and getting off this miserable rock" Tarantulas mused to himself as he took cover behind the computer panels, drawing his gun in case he had to defend himself, periodically checking to make sure his hazmat suit had not been damaged.

Una wrote: She felt the string to her head and hissed at Tarantulas, "Working on it!"

"Well hurry up! Things are getting dicey over here, and if I meet my end this day you'd better believe I'll drag your psyche kicking and screaming down to the Pit with me!" Tarantulas darkly promised to Blackarachnia across their psychic link, meaning every word of it, his unfaithful creation would NOT outlive him.

Meanwhile, Megatron continued his conversation with the phantom of his namesake, oblivious to what was going on in the real world and the danger he was truly in at the moment.

"What you propose Elder, while fascinating, still poses the same problem as before, the risk of altering history, especially if your followers carry out your planned endgame" Predacon Megatron pointed out skeptically.

"Ah, but if you know your decepticon history as well as you claim, Little Tyrant, you would know that not all of my followers were aboard the Ark when it fell to earth, there were many amongst my crew who arrived on earth via the Nemesis and went into dormancy for centuries awaiting my return, scattered across the earth not unlike your precious maximal protoforms, some of who, alas, never awoke to retake their rightful place by my side for the war against the autobots! Lost to history forever...Until you came into the picture, in the perfect position to awaken them and return them to the time stream for a second chance at life!" Decepticon Megatron explained excitedly, eyes gleaming.

Predacon Megatron could not help but be taken aback by all of this...Yes, he had encountered former decepticons before but they were all odd cases like Spineback and Nemesis, retired or in hiding amongst the maximal protoforms that had fallen to earth...But his ancestor, or rather his shadow, was offering him something greater, trained, seasoned, professional decepticon warriors lying hidden somewhere on this planet waiting for a leader like him to recall them to battle, who's skill and power could be his to command, and who's revival would not damage predacon history since they had participated in the Great War, soldiers from the original Megatron's M.I.A. list!

However, despite his excitement, Predacon Megatron was no fool...There had to be a catch, such a great gift HAD to have strings attached, even if it was from his people's greatest hero.

"...What must I do in exchange for the names and locations of these sleeping giants?" Predacon Megatron inquired neutrally, Decepticon Megatron grinning from audio receptor to audio receptor, knowing behind the young commander's mask of professionalism his ambition was burning brighter than the Pit itself.

"Nothing my heir, nothing at all...Except perhaps for your guarantee, that should all your careful plans and machinations fall apart, should no other recourse be left open to you in these Beast Wars you find yourself entangled in..." the decepticon warlord said, pausing for dramatic effect before adding "You WILL carry out my master plan for the end of Optimus Prime!"

It was Predacon Megatron's turn to pause now, as he wracked his mind for the answer to this dilemma, knowing it could decide the fate of the entire universe.

(That's fine by me Darkspark, I'm sure Inferno could probably handle it. Honestly, I assumed he was pretty durable to begin with.)

Spineback's optics widened as she began to step back, raising her opposite arm that used the spinal fin from her beast form to shield herself. Terrorsaur's own energy beams though would prove to be ineffective for the time being as the fin proved to absorb the energy, for now at least. But the shield would only be so effective against Inferno's flames. "Sub-commander, Terrorsaur cease your fire! I can't help the slagging virus affecting my processor itself." She called to them in annoyance, "You idiot mechs should learn to listen for fragging once. My vision had me mistaking you for Autobots of the past, enemies to my former master." She said as she felt the edge becoming dangerously close as the heel of one of her feet found no more floor.

Glancing back, she gulped as she was dangerously close to the edge now, far too close. She now has few options from her position, drop down to the pools of lava below and face a quick death or risking being blasted and burned by the two mechs who got the wrong idea. This time though, Spineback seemed to once again become affected by the virus, but she still could see between reality and fantasy as her former field leader whispered in her audio, "Come on off-worlder, you want to prove yourself a Decepticon don't you? The odds will always be against you, so fight or die." He said to her, partly thinking she really had her own field commander's gun at her back but she narrowed her optics as she reached back with her free hand to her lance. Well, her hallucination had a point, she either would fight back to her so-called teammates or die.

She chose to live, not become another casualty in this war as the last one millions of years ago. Snarling, Spineback threw herself forward as she brought her lance in a swinging motion from behind her to strike towards the two Predacons, using her weapon for now as a more blunt one. "Don't question my loyalty again you pieces of scrap. I served the Decepticons and first Megatron loyally until his end and I will serve the Predacons and Lord Megatron in the Beast Wars until my spark joins the Well or the Pit." She growled at them, swinging her lance again at them to try and force them back. No one questioned her loyalty and got away with it, except for Megatron himself.