The Intergalactic Highway

Frilla turned her attention towards the Predacons who were still present, wondering if they were really going to keep up this attack when a majority of their comrades, and her former ones, were all just about going after Primal. Unfortunately with most of the Maximals pretty battered they only had limited options right now with most of them lacking sufficient amount of ammo anymore but it didn't take long for this situation to turn bad once more as she watched with dismay as Nemesis attacking Whitegrazer despite the mare already being in bad shape.

Shaking her head the frilled lizard knew they couldn't just let the avian female get away with this! Glancing down at her gun Frilla knew it was no use as she put it away back at her side before drawing a weapon she thought would be needed as a last resort, her Electro-Scrambler would be useful in some fights but she still feared the fact that the affects would only be temporary for a short period of time. But what else could they do? "No it's not much but..." Bringing up the weapon the small femme aimed carefully at Nemesis who she noticed was no longer looking towards them, which was just what she needed before she fired a few shots with knowing the fact it could mess up some systems in a cybertronian and not just their technology such as the ship or certain weapons. Really it might just be more of a distraction for someone to find an opening. But she heard the sound of Rattrap's voice being cut off and looked back with shock,"Rattrap!"

((Far as I know the Electro-Scrambler can affect Transformers, what exactly I can't seem to find out. To be specific anything that relies any form of electronics will be messed up.))

As much as Feralnight wanted to fight the Predacons she likely wouldn't last two minutes against most of them, her condition wasn't exactly the greatest but with looking at a majority of the others they needed to get inside before they ended up in worse condition. "Just hope that works his way here, we need all the help we can get."She muttered to herself as she moved to look at Orcanier and Rhinox, seeing they were in pretty bad shape themselves and scowling at the fact it would be difficult to get either of them inside. "We got to get you two inside before..."Feralnight stopped mid-sentence when she heard a thud, seeing Rattrap now laying in the dirt with a recognizable cybervenom dart in his back.

A growl came from the fuzor as she glared towards the widow, "I wish I did have more ammo Rhinox but I expended most of it against Terrorsaur."She responded in frustration as she could only keep an eye on the Predacons and drew the last feather blade she had grimacing from any movements she made.

( In terms of the Electro-scambler, the closest you'll probably find to modern transformers equivalent, would be the EM-shotgun from the Transformer war for cybertron/fall of cybertron games. It does as it says, it scrambles circuits causing disorientation, sickness, and internal circuits breaking. It's a very nasty weapon that the Autobot Blaster would carry. )

Once again this battle descended into chaos as most of his fellow Predacons took off after Optimus and a few remained behind to try and take care of the Maximals, making Onyx wonder what their real agenda was now. What use would it be to continue this fight? It was a question he was trying to answer but there seemed none, least not one that was clear at the scenes that played out before the black stallion who was deeply conflicted in actually further participating or risking in helping these obviously exhausted Maximals in front of him. No, it likely wouldn't be the wisest move to try and aid them when Nemesis and Arachnitron had already swooped in to make their final attempts towards the few that remained on their feet. A step towards them might be seen as an act of aggression.

Sighing the bulky mech began to back away, deciding his best course of action was to leave. He wouldn't continue to just watch and he really didn't want to be around to see the end result. "Beast mode," Onyx commanded quietly as he turned away and transformed in mid-step shaking his head and tossing his mane before he began to take off in a gallop, kicking up dust from his hooves as he began making his way back to the Darksyde and deciding he'd take heat for this later. If the Predacons themselves were in any shape to complain and argue that was. Then again they always seemed to.

(Considering Onyx's current conflicted feelings on this last bit I didn't quite know what else to do with him. Besides, I don't think the Maximals will trust him currently.))

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

When the chaos began again Silverstreak could only watch at first as Primal began to lead most of the Predacons away save for a handful that stuck around, obviously wanting to still finish the score here. Such stubborn bots these Predacons, and they were certainly like no others the vixen had seen before. Her optics though shifted to Rattrap when he collapsed from the venom dart, her optics widening as she quickly joined the other Maximals gathered, "This isn't good." She said with concern, almost wanting to finish off Arachnitron or scare her away but the closest and most immediate danger was the aerial warrior Nemesis who currently had Whitegrazer in a hostage-like situation at this time. They had to deal with these Predacons before it got out of hand again.

As the compartments in her wrists opened again Silverstreak counted only seven of her throwing knives left, meaning she was down to the last bit of what she had for distance weapons when not counting her stun gun. Really that one was for distractions and stopping a bot for a short amount of time, which Frilla already seemed to have down with her Electro-scrambler. "On it Rhinox, we'll get her away one way or another."Silverstreak assured the large mech as she shifted her position in a way she would miss the white mare before throwing the remaining knives towards Nemesis to follow up with Frilla's hopeful distraction. If not the young cyber ninja in training knew she couldn't dodge all of them so one way or another they surely would have to force the Predacon femme away from Whitegrazer, least that was the general idea.

((OOC: I'm reminded of a very short piece of fan fiction I once read on the IDW forums, if any of you are interested and have the time: http://boards.idwpublishing.com/3/viewt ... =18&t=8916
Scroll down and find "Die But Once."))

Seeing Megatron fall to the ground was rather gratifying for Dinobot, and yet frustrating at the same time. For he began to realize, as Megatron got back up onto his feet, that the Predacon had been granted enough power by the quantum surge to shrug off the effects of the weapon Dinobot was using. Dinobot was fighting a futile battle.

Megatron was only going to grow more arrogant from here on out. It seemed as though he hardly even needed to use his cunning anymore; he could simply use brute force to get what he wanted.

But Dinobot persisted in attacking him, still enraged, and still clinging on to the hope that just maybe he could stop Megatron, anyways. As a result, he was still highly exposed, standing taller than the rock in front of him, and staying still in the face of oncoming enemy fire. He paid for that when Megatron angrily focused his efforts onto him. One of the blasts from Megatron's fusion cannon connected dead-center with his chest and caused him to stumble back. He froze in shock as his systems tried to process what had just happened, and then, even as he was already crumpling to the ground, another blast bent the barrel of his weapon before colliding violently with his right shoulder and throwing him the rest of the way to the ground, where he landed on his side.

Megatron wrote:Predacons! Show no mercy! Destroy them; now!

Dinobot dropped his now-useless cannon to the ground and retrieved the assault rifle from his subspace. His right shoulder was already beginning to falter on him, and only by careful concentration could he use it to move his arm. All around, he could see the other Maximals losing the battle with him.

Cheetor looked over his shoulder from his position behind the rock to see where the Predacons were. He saw them coming in even closer, and he also saw that both of Tantrum's guns were still working. He guessed that wasn't really surprising, but... he had hoped to be able to do something for the rest of the team.

As he leaned back against the rock, he listened in to the observations the others were making.

Rhinox wrote:...Comes the dawn...

"And..." Dinobot tried to aim the assault rifle defiantly and take a final few shots. But his shoulder finally gave out, and his arm fell uselessly to the ground. "...our doom."

Wintersong wrote:We need a miracle to survive this.

Silverstreak wrote:Think we need more than a miracle.

Whitegrazer wrote:What greater way to be at life's end than around my comrades, my family? It would be an honor for such valiant warriors and... valiant friends.

So Cheetor wasn't the only one thinking that way. The weight of the situation came to him even more fully, then. If so many of the others were coming to the conclusion that they were probably going to die here, or that they were going to die here... Alright. Alright, this was probably it.

And then everything changed.

Optimus Primal wrote:Well, that's just prime!

Dinobot and Cheetor, like every other 'bot out on the field, looked to the source of both the call and the explosion which had come before it. And there, in the clearing smoke, stood Optimus Primal.

Dinobot's first reaction was an odd feeling of vindication--a sense of a wrong finally being made right that felt almost like... grief, mixed with happiness. It was then, to his slight panic, that he realized he may have been missing Optimus all along without admitting it to himself. Fearing this untimely thought of possibly having fallen deeper into Maximal sentiment, he quickly brought his mind to another aspect of the situation at hand. And that was not too difficult: clearly, Optimus should have introduced himself in a more subtle way. Now all of the Predacons would the have the chance to fire on him.

Cheetor, on the other hand, felt a sense of elation which grew with every passing moment. What he was seeing was unthinkable, but it was unthinkably good. His voice quavered as he spoke the only thing he possibly could. "Big... Bot?"

Megatron wrote:Primal! Predacons.. Destroy him!

Of course, in accordance with Dinobot's expectations, Megatron ordered exactly what he didn't want: a direct, concentrated attack on Optimus. But when Optimus immediately retrieved a blast shield and successfully blocked every attack that would have hit him, Dinobot realized that his leader knew exactly what he was doing.

Cheetor was caught up in the triumph of the moment when Optimus returned fire and sent most of the Predacons running before literally chasing after them. "Go Big Bot!"

As he watched Optimus flying further away from the base, Cheetor became acutely aware of how he had just passed from the fear of death, and something as close to the acceptance of it as he could manage, to the joy of seeing a life renewed. And suddenly he realized, even as he stood in front of a ruined ship, surrounded by wounded friends, missing an arm himself, and perhaps still literally in danger of death if he did not get repairs soon, that he was one of the most fortunate Maximals in the history of Cybertron.

He had lost four friends in the Beast Wars: Nightmist, Icebreaker, Valkyrie, and Optimus. And although he had been closer to some of them than to others, each passing had hurt in its own way. And he had hated it. He hated missing them, and he hated to be reminded of how what happened to them could happen to him, too. But he had tried his best to work through every death, and to stay hopeful about life.

The thing was... 'bots died all the time. Practically everyone, at some point in their lives, saw someone close to them pass them on. He figured that had to be the truth. And if every death felt as bad as the stuff he'd gone through in the Beast Wars... well, then he supposed that everyone eventually went through the kind of hurt he had. That meant that every one had to learn how to deal with it--how to move on from it. Death was a universal problem.

...But how many could ever say that they got one of their friends back? How many could say that they'd ever had this feeling of seeing someone again who was thought to be completely gone--that they'd experienced this kind of moment of something being unthinkably good? All of Cheetor's worries went away for the moment, because he felt as though he didn't have an excuse to feel bad about anything. What he was being gifted with now was completely unfair, and he couldn't imagine being any happier.

* * *

Besides no small amount of confusion, which truly did threaten to drown out any other feelings on the matter, Steelclaw's reaction to Optimus' return, and to his being able to cause the Predacons to fall back, was a feeling of exhaustion.

Steelclaw had finally come to what he had thought would be the final moments of the Beast Wars, and he had successfully come to terms with the fact that he would actually have to have a part in killing the Maximals. If, indeed, it wasn't all going to end here, then that meant he would have to go through this sort of moment yet again, assuming the Predacons did eventually win.

He aimed his rifle and obeyed Megatron's command to attack Optimus, but his rounds ricocheted harmlessly off of the surface of the blast shield. Then the return fire came. Steelclaw instinctively noticed that Optimus Primal wasn't aiming directly for him, but he understood the message inherent in the attack; Optimus wanted him to leave, so if he stayed, he would eventually be made to leave.

While he was retreating, though, Optimus flew overhead. He quickly tried to put the Maximal in his sights, but then Starshadow flew close enough to him to make firing a risky venture, considering Steelclaw would be aiming up into the air at a moving target. Soon afterwards, as Primal was flying away to rid himself of Terrorsaur's missiles, he ventured out of the range Steelclaw felt comfortable aiming with, and then he was lost to sight in a canyon.

He briefly considered whether or not he could return to fighting the Maximals. What he saw when he looked back there was that only Nemesis, Arachnitron and Cecealia remained. As wounded as the Maximals had been, he still wasn't sure that the odds would work out anymore, especially seeing as yet another healthy Maximal had seemed to have joined the fight. And, well... there was a small feeling that the Maximals had earned their safety for the...

Huh. How about that? And why was it that he should feel "exhausted" after witnessing Optimus turn the tide of the battle, if it was not that he felt badly about fighting the Maximals?

He... did feel badly about fighting the Maximals. There wasn't really any two ways about that. The only question that really mattered, then, was in what way he felt bad.

Steelclaw shook off the feeling of uncertainty. He felt badly because he was fighting an enemy he had great respect for. He did not feel badly because he "wasn't supposed to be" fighting them.

...But the sooner this war ended, the better. He could no longer imagine it ending without death, as he would have most preferred. He would never convince Megatron of anything like that. What he wanted now was a swift conclusion.

* * *

Dinobot still felt weak from the wounds he had sustained from Terrorsaur, Nemesis and Megatron, but he felt compelled to help out with the remaining Predacons. In spite of Rhinox' request, he did not feel like he could act swiftly enough in his condition to damage Nemesis rather than antagonize her. But perhaps he could be of some assistance elsewhere...

"Arachnitron," he said, standing on his feet and raising the assault rifle somewhat uneasily with his left arm while supporting it against his body. "I am not normally the lenient type, but I can recognize for this moment that if I am forced to come to blows with you, you will end up doing even further damage to my comrades before I can stop you. I can not stand to see any more damage done to them today. But know this: I will stop you. So, with me considering my desire for their safety, and you considering you desire for your own, I will say this once: please return to your base."

Wintersong really had to wonder how badly the Predacons wanted them gone, or well most of them that was, just so they could get to a goal that was still likely not to succeed with how much resistance they could potentially face back home. And that's if they could get home. They would need quite a few parts just to fix their ship next to enough fuel and energy to make it back, and quite possibly the Golden Disks. Although, there was the fact that if the Maximals had been out of the way the Predacons could have just ransacked the Axalon for what they needed and left them for dead and their ship in ruins. If their foes had succeeded this would surely have been a sad day in the Beast Wars for the Maximals, and their efforts would have been in vain.

Now, there seemed hope that was not going to happen. Some of the Maximals seemed to be finding the will to fight again and mustering what strength they had finish off the Preds that had remained behind, to which she hoped would also be easy to force them to run. However, her attention briefly went to Feralnight when she spoke up about Ironclaw being close by and wondered if that angry roar from before was him. If so the tigress couldn't have been any more relieved in her life, having come to be fairly fond of the badger but the feelings were relatively new to her. And right now wasn't the best time to explore them, they would have to wait. Instead she turned her attention towards Arachnitron, glaring a bit when realizing she took a cheap shot but was glad the others were handling Nemesis and watching over Rhinox, Orcanier, and now Rattrap and Cheetor. And from the sounds of things Cecealia was being handled by Ironclaw not too far off so it left the widow last.

Reaching back to put one sword away from her left hand Wintersong came up beside Dinobot, looking at the spider femme she had once tried to befriend and at the moment didn't know if they ever would be again. "I'd listen to him Arachnitron, it isn't worth it anymore." Wintersong spoke up as looked Arachnitron right in the optics, but also keeping an eye on Dinobot'sown condition who didn't seem to be doing too well either. "This battle is over and you guys don't stand a chance with so few of you here at the ship and every one of your other comrades going after Optimus. So please, leave while you can." It pained Wintersong to say this, to have to send Arachnitron back to the Predacons but this was no place to try convincing her otherwise and she highly doubted the others would hear of it. Sadness was clear in her amber optics as she had her sword lowered but still up if Dinobot needed the back up, "And I'm sorry too, for everything from before."She added in a quieter tone, showing for a fact she had seen Arachnitron's apology as well.

Ironclaw focused on his goal. He could see Optimus in the distance and the Predacons engaging him. That's exactly where he wanted to be. He was delayed by a sudden pain in his shoulder, he looked over it and saw a dagger stuck in his armour. Then a hand smacked him in the face. He staggered to the side slightly but regained his composure quickly not wanting to be caught off guard again. Ironclaw turned around and faced his foe. The female had survived. This did not phase him, it only pushed him more. Here moved straight at her, throwing punches left and right, followed a punch to the stomach. He backed for a moment to allow his his cannons to quickly to deploy and fired a some shots at the Predacon. This gave his chance to leave this fight and go take on greater foes. Ironclaw made his way to Optimus's position with the dagger still protruding from his shoulder.

Ironclaw was able to make out that many Predacons were focussing on Optimus. One which caught his attention was what seemed to be a sniper. This Predacon had found himself a perch and had a good angle on Optimus. He approached him from behind and moved as stealthy as possible for a bot of his size. At this point he also realised that the sniper in front was almost half his size. As he got near, he stepped lightly and reached out hoping to intervene before he took the shot. Ironclaw grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled around so they were face to face. He simply stood there, looking down at the sniper menacingly.

"That is not your decision to make!,"

The kick Nemesis launched towards her knocked her hand off the sword. Pain seized her body, making her too weak to catch Nemesis pinning her hands with the sai. Sparks flew out of the hole. Spikes scratched her finish even with the slightest movement.

"I wouldn't try anything foolish if I were you. You wouldn't want my hand to slip, now would you?"

"Are you two actually fightin' over a sword?" "Why don't you go after de guy who gave dat sword to the one who knocked you do-"

She laughed at Rattrap's comment. It did seem very silly. Swords could be replaced. She was about to say something when Rattrap got hit by Arachnitron's cyber venom, cringing at the sight.

"Rattrap!"

"Dinobot... Feralnight... Silverstreak... Anyone with ammo left or a weapon... Get Nemesis out of here!"

"Rhinox."

She closed her optic.

"Rhinox... it's all right. I would be okay. You focus on resting."

Looking back up at Nemesis, ignoring the fact that she had a sword to her chest and her hands pinned to the ground, she sensed Nemesis was uncomfortable by her stare, feeling exposed like she was peeling away a bunch of barriers down. , "They hurt, don't they? Like open surgery without an anesthetic, you are squirming to escape those claws that scratch your form, feeding on anything or anyone around to insure your own survival, building up the consuming fury boiling to the surface, and when it's all over, you lose yourself to that fury. You give into it... to them." Her words were solemnly spoken with a touch of familiarity.

"Pain is a constant t-"

"No it's not much but..."

"On it Rhinox, we'll get her away one way or another."

Her talk to Nemesis was interrupted by the shouts of her comrades. Her head turned towards what was going on beside and behind her: Frilla was aiming her Electro-Scrambler towards Nemesis as Silverstreak threw knives towards Nemesis. she could hear the knives cutting through the air like sheets of metal. The electricity humming inside Frilla astonishing weapon of choice. Her hands pulled against the sai that pinned her to the ground. Her entire body wasn't in a state to fight anymore, but she never focused on the physical. As a soldier, she was trained to survive and continue to fight no matter how much she lost and what state she was in. Failure for a soldier was never an option.

((Just to give you a note Mystrea, the dagger is on fire all the time.))

Cecaelia brought her arms infront of herself, blocking the side punches Ironclaw threw but did not expect a punch in the stomach and missles which sent her to a rocky surface of a boulder. It hurt a lot. She was barely concious but concious enough to speak for a little while.

Lady Cecaelia, what is your status and the status of the battle?

"I've..failed..Damage..too severe..? I don't know.." she coughed in the comlinks, "Don't worry about me..Just complete the mission."

And with that, her optics dimed and her systems slowly slip into stasis lock.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

He dodge those bolts?

"Not bad, Optimus! You got me smiling!" Starshadow gladly gave Optimus a chase when he was in her sight again. When she was charging another bolt from her left arm again, a sharp excruciating pain surged through that arm. She must've overused or overcharged electricity. Perfect! A messed up arm. She would have to repair it all by herself since Glowstick wasn't around and there is no way she would trust Tarantulas repairing it. Who knows if he added something which was not suppose to be in her arm. This applies to Sonar too.

"I hate to ask you Optimus but have you seen your oversized kitty cat with the name of Saber Fang? Oh I forgot, I sent her to her death while you were gone! She's going to have a lovely vacation for a long loooonnngg time in the Matrix..leaving you Maximals in this dirt ball, suffering!" She lied just trying to get him blinded by rage.

OOC: Sorry for the wait, DS. I kind of went for a combination of the two ideas I spoke to you about (no spoilers here!). Enjoy!!

BIC:

Arachnitron was pleased to see that her retaliatory shot at Rattrap finally hit its target. He landed with a thud succumbing to the cybervenom. Before she had the chance to seek guidance from Tarantulas as to what to do next, Dinobot spoke to her.

"Arachnitron, I am not normally the lenient type, but I can recognize for this moment that if I am forced to come to blows with you, you will end up doing even further damage to my comrades before I can stop you. I can not stand to see any more damage done to them today. But know this: I will stop you. So, with me considering my desire for their safety, and you considering you desire for your own, I will say this once: please return to your base."

"I'd listen to him Arachnitron, it isn't worth it anymore." Wintersong spoke up as looked Arachnitron right in the optics, but also keeping an eye on Dinobot's own condition who didn't seem to be doing too well either. "This battle is over and you guys don't stand a chance with so few of you here at the ship and every one of your other comrades going after Optimus. So please, leave while you can."

Arachnitron looked over at Wintersong calmly. "I didn't plan to stay. None of you have anything to fear....from me anyway. I had a score to settle and I settled it, but you're wrong. The battle isn't over yet. They won't stop until they take down Optimus," Arachnitron pointed out. She still didn't know how she felt about that.

She actually meant what she said. She really didn't plan to attack anyone else besides Rattrap. He had threatened her safety more so than the Maximals who were actually shooting at her. Her very survival depended on the survival of Tarantulas.

"And I'm sorry too, for everything from before." Wintersong added in a quieter tone, showing for a fact she had seen Arachnitron's apology as well.

"I know," Arachnitron replied simply. "But you were right. You all were. I didn't belong. I'm not a Maximal. I'm not sure what I am. The only thing I do know is that I'm broken and Tarantulas can fix me. "

Besides, where else was there to go? If she wasn't accepted by the Maximals, then there pretty much was no other place for her. There were only two sides to this war. If you didn't belong on one side, then you had no other choice but to belong on the other. And she may not belong on the Predacon side of the war, but she belonged with the Maximals even less.

"Arachnitron, if you still function then follow me! We need to neutralize that damn dirty ape before the situation spirals even further out of control than it already has!"

Tarantulas' voice carried over the din of the battle. Arachnitron nodded reluctantly. Fighting Optimus still felt wrong somehow, but she did honestly believe what she said. She was broken and the Maximals couldn't fix her. At least, they couldn't fix her like Tarantulas could. She had to stay right where she was. She couldn't go back to them.

"I can't defy him or he'll put me back to the way I was," she explained to Wintersong. "But I'll try to miss."

As quickly as she could she raced after Tarantulas. She was glad that she got to talk to Wintersong about all of this. She had been so angry before about how the Maximals had seemingly handed her over to the Predacons. So angry that it physically hurt. She was so angry she felt like a volcano about to erupt. But talking to Wintersong helped. All of that anger was finally gone.

The closer she got to the battle against Optimus, though, the worse she felt. She had never felt anything like this before in her life. Her insides felt like they were on fire. She was watching Predacon after Predacon taking their putt shots at Optimus and it pained her to watch how horribly he was being attacked. The pain shot through her body more excruciating than anything she had ever felt.

Arachnitron cried out in agony and fell to the ground. She tried to lift her arm to fire her cybervenom launcher, but it laid heavy at her side. She thought about lifting it...she even spoke to her arm out loud...but to no avail. She was paralyzed.

"Optimus," the Maximal programming whimpered, but she could do nothing to help. Not with whatever the Hybrid had done to the body to keep her and the Predacon at bay. She was able to see and hear what was going on, but she couldn't take full control of the body like she could before. As long as she was present, she wouldn't be able to move.

Arachnitron clutched her side, gritting her teeth from the agony. The Hybrid had managed to push through the Maximal's interference and take control again, but she realized that the Maximal was still influencing things. Her vision wasn't quite as clear as it had been before, but the pain had mostly subsided. She could only hear muffled sounds as she regained her footing and returned to the battle.

Her computer was spouting off warnings about a system failure, but Arachnitron couldn't hear it. Arachnitron was worried that the other Predacons may see her not joining in the fight against Optimus, so she rushed forward ignoring the warmth that was continuing to spread through her body. She decided to fire a few shots into the air to make it appear as though she were part of this battle, but she couldn't see what she was aiming at. There were several figures grouped together off in the distance...Optimus had to be one of them, but she couldn't tell one from the other. She fired her cybervenom without really knowing where it would end up.....

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

Inferno was flying right behind Optimus Primal when the Maximal Commander swerved to avoid the blast from the flame thrower. The Maximal chose just that moment to ignite his thrusters and speed forward ahead of the ant. Fire spread across Inferno's exoskeleton and he screamed in pain. He stopped flying forward and instead sailed to the ground as he slapped himself to snuff the flames.

He landed on the ground below him with a hard thud and he rolled a few inches upon impact. He looked up in the sky at Optimus with a glare.

"You'll pay for that, Optimus Primal!" he shouted from the ground furiously. He jumped up and down shaking his fists at the ape.

Taking to the skies once again, Inferno changed weapons settling for a different tactic. He rushed to catch up to the ape on the hoverboard. He fired his rocket launcher several times at Optimus laughing as he did.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE-----GAH!!!"

Just then, a shot from the ground collided with the ant. It sent him spiraling back down to Earth convulsing all the way down to the ground. He knew it had been cybervenom that he had been hit with, but he was not sure if it was accidental friendly fire or if one of his comrades had changed their minds about their allegiance. He didn't have time to ponder this much more, for once he hit the ground, his systems shut down from the shot of cybervenom and the damage from the rough landing. His optics dimmed and then flickered off.

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

Arachnitron did not see who her shot had hit. But the debilitating pain shot through her body once again as the Maximal tried to take control over the body. She grabbed her head in both hands and fell to her knees dropping her weapon on the ground as she did. Smoke escaped from her joints and the burning sensation she felt on the inside of her body intensified. It took every ounce of willpower to fight the urge to scream.

OOC: Okay, one character down, one to go. Then, it's off to the Bahamas for a week!! And home just in time for the first football game of the season!!! GO STEELERS!!!

Anyway, I'll post one last time for Arachnitron before I go. I'll wait a few days just to give people a chance to respond if they want or observe what's happening or whatever they want to do.

Megatron soared through the sky in his chase for his resurrected foe, his anger and frustration rising as his opponent only seemed to increase the gap between them. It was becoming apparent that he was on the losing end of this game of tag that the Maximal had initiated, however Megatron was not one to give up and he was certainly not going to admit defeat.

Optimus Primal wrote:"Do you mean I finally have a challenge now?"

Gritting his razor sharp teeth at the mocking tone, Megatron altered his course in an attempt to intercept the ever changing movements of his hated enemy. More than anything he wanted to open fire on him now that Primal did not have a shield to hide behind, but after considering his own need to conserve his firepower after the already lengthy battle with the Maximals, he decided to refrain from doing so until he was close enough to hit his target without any difficulty.

From all sides his Predacons swooped in to make their attempt at glory through the assassination of his until a few moments ago believed-to-be-dead foe, each failure sparking further anger in the Predacon commander. Again and again Primal avoided their traps, even setting some of them up against each other. He was toying with them, yet despite his troops' exhaustion and minor wounds as well as his own, Megatron refused to even consider giving up. He had come too far for that and was so close to achieving his goal. Nothing, even his old friend returning from the grave, would be allowed to usurp his greatest achievement.

(ooc: Too sleepy.. Nem will have to wait until morning..)

Arachnitron wrote:
"You'll pay for that, Optimus Primal!" he shouted from the ground furiously. He jumped up and down shaking his fists at the ape.

Taking to the skies once again, Inferno changed weapons settling for a different tactic. He rushed to catch up to the ape on the hoverboard. He fired his rocket launcher several times at Optimus laughing as he did.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE-----GAH!!!"

Just then, a shot from the ground collided with the ant. It sent him spiraling back down to Earth convulsing all the way down to the ground. He knew it had been cybervenom that he had been hit with, but he was not sure if it was accidental friendly fire or if one of his comrades had changed their minds about their allegiance. He didn't have time to ponder this much more, for once he hit the ground, his systems shut down from the shot of cybervenom and the damage from the rough landing. His optics dimmed and then flickered off.

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

Arachnitron did not see who her shot had hit. But the debilitating pain shot through her body once again as the Maximal tried to take control over the body. She grabbed her head in both hands and fell to her knees dropping her weapon on the ground as she did. Smoke escaped from her joints and the burning sensation she felt on the inside of her body intensified. It took every ounce of willpower to fight the urge to scream.

"Where is that wretched femme?" Tarantulas grumbled to himself as he zigged and zagged between rock formations, maintaining some degree of cover as he followed Primal and the other predacons from the ground, waiting for an opportunity to catch the ape off guard even as he wondered as to the whereabouts of his servant Arachnitron.

He then witnessed the downfall of Inferno, recognizing the tell tale signs of cyber venom poisoning all too well. With Blackarachnia skulking about back at the Darksyde, Tarantulas knew there could be only one other predacon capable of this feat besides himself & the new fuzor, who was nowhere to be seen.

"Arachnitron" Tarantulas correctly surmised, transforming into robot mode and turning around to see her lying crumbled on the ground a distance back, possibly in stasis lock.

Honestly, Tarantulas was delighted by the sight of Inferno in agony like this, his hatred for the ant solidified forevermore by his failed attempt on his life. However, shooting Inferno in the back like this with Megatron and the others in plain sight was not the wisest of moves, even if friendly fire and bitter rivalries wasn't unheard of amongst the Predacon ranks, such behavior was typically looked down upon when it endangered the success of a mission. Fortunately, Megatron was busy fighting Primal at the moment, though Tarantulas now had to consider the possibility that Arachnitron's motivation for shooting Inferno hadn't been for avenging himself like it had been with Rattrap, but was rather because the inhibitor chip was degrading and one of her two extra personalities was trying to break free...Resulting in a system shutdown.

Arachnitron had been a useful underling, certainly more agreeable than Blackarachnia despite his mind control over her, but he'd never intended to keep her around forever, the chip being only a temporary measure to keep her from shooting him in the back long enough for him to escape this planet. Now that he was stuck here however, and the maximals were possibly even now on the verge of defeat, particularly if they could cut Primal's miraculous return from the grave short, she was now obsolete. Still, he liked to hedge his bets whenever possible, so on the off chance he actually still had need of the dysfunctional widow's services...

"Arachnitron, this is Tarantulas, if you still function, escort yourself off the battlefield & initiate internal repairs before any maximals approach you, I am currently engaged in battle, but will seek you out if either of us survives this mess, you can explain yourself then. Over and out" Tarantulas told Arachnitron curtly over the comlink, turning his attention to Inferno briefly to deliver one swift kick to his side for burning him earlier, then ducked behind some rocks for cover, cyber venom launcher in hand, waiting for the perfect shot to shoot Primal out of the sky.

OOP wrote: Was Terrosaur holding grudges? Was he still determined to be the best flier in this war? Optimus couldn't care less about it. He was simply an opportunistic and improvisational Maximal. It wasn't his fault Terrosaur blinded himself most of the time. Time to shake these missiles.

Diving down toward the canyons below - some of the terrain that been changed and quaked due to the Vok's death ray - Primal weaved through the ravines as close as he could to the rock walls and naturally formed rock bridges and overhangs in an attempt to get the projectiles to hit those instead of him. Tightening his turns and barrel rolling over just inches away from a bridge that stretched across from one side of the ravine to the other, two of the missiles hammered into the rock and exploded, raining dust and gravel everywhere below and behind him. Leveling out for a moment, he turned himself horizontally and raced along the rocky side of the gorge sideways. Just before he reached a large formation of protruding rock, he grabbed the side of his board with his hand and pulled upward, the back end of his hover board just nicking the edge of the cliff. The missile, lacking the maneuvering that Optimus could perform, exploded into the ledge. Three down, one to go.

"Hey, dat is not fair! Come out here so I can shoot you better!""I'm not done with you yet. I'm coming for you!"



The blue ape shot straight into air, lifting away from the canyon and spotting the largest Predacon still in pursuit of him but obviously restricted to the ground. Recalling what that big guy had said to him earlier, he didn't sound like the sharpest tool in the shed, which gave him an idea. Performing a large loop upside down to keep space between him and the missile, Primal then dive-bombed toward the tank and leveled out just a few feet above the ground, flying head-on at Tantrum.

"Special delivery! Courtesy of Terrorsaur." Optimus hollered to the cow/tank with the dactyl's missile in tow before he quickly barrel rolled just off to the tank's side, barely missing him and the ground as he grabbed his board with one hand again to pull it tightly toward his body, hoping the projectile would hit the Predacon. Unfortunately, Optimus hadn't been equipped with countermeasures. After the roll, Primal banked hard and turned upward again, flying back in Terrosaur, Starshadow and Inferno's direction again.

(( OOC: I'm assuming Terry's missiles lock on to their targets. Not sure but that's how I played it. ))

Terrorsaur couldn't help but be annoyed by the sight of Primal skillfully evading all of his energy signature seeking missiles, even turning one against the brainless recruit Tantrum...But his pride would recover from such minor slights, since despite it all Primal had still been forced to fly back in his direction, and Terrorsaur had the advantage of speed and a fully armed airborne robot mode on his side.

Setting his jets to maximum burn to close the distance between them and throw his enemy off balance with the impact of his attack, Terrorsaur was on Optimus Primal like a vulture to a fresh corpse, the predacon's talons latching on to the front of Primal's skyboard so he couldn't transform into his robot mode, the only real source of trouble as far as he was concerned. With a grin on his face that seemed to say "I've already won," Terrorsaur followed up his first tactical maneuver by slipping his arm blades into his hands, ready to slice and dice the unarmed maximal beast before him.

"I don't care what the transwarp wave did for you Primal, without a battle worthy flight mode, you're just a monkey on a surfboard. Now then, allow me to show you why apes were never meant to fly!" Terrorsaur jeered, raising his arms up and bringing them down to impale Optimus on his twin swords, the dumb mammal helpless to stop him while trapped in beast mode.

OOC: Hope this post is okay OOP and Blackrose, let me know if anything needs to be edited. Oh! And yosh, Terry's missiles are energy signature seeking, so ya guessed right OOP lol.

Rattrap wrote:Are you two actually fightin' over a sword?" "Why don't you go after de guy who gave dat sword to the one who knocked you do-"

Nemesis did not bother turning back to face the rodent as he began taunting her, finding no reason to fuel his feeble attempts at an insult. This confrontation went well beyond a disagreement on some weapon but why should she bother to elaborate on it? No, the Maximal could just wrongly make his assumptions, it hardly mattered to her what he believed her reasoning behind it all was. Instead she kept her optics focused on the trapped female underneath her, a hint of a smile appearing as she noticed the futile struggling against the sai.

Yet that smile faded like ice upon hearing what the female Maximal had to say.

Whitegrazer wrote:"They hurt, don't they? Like open surgery without an anesthetic, you are squirming to escape those claws that scratch your form, feeding on anything or anyone around to insure your own survival, building up the consuming fury boiling to the surface, and when it's all over, you lose yourself to that fury. You give into it... to them."

Unable to maintain a straight face as the painful memories of the implementation process and all those long cycles of testing flooded her mind, vivid images of all the suffering her body had to endure which brought her to a state near collapse before the scientists.. her captors.. granted her a small amount of mercy when they had her dragged back to her cell until new testing could resume the next day. Treated like an animal until she could take no more, only to continue.. again and again. Whoever she had been when all of it had started, had died in that prison cell.. alone and scared in the dark.. only for someone else to emerge in her place. Someone stronger, uncaring, more calculating, colder..

She had not considered the presence of the nanites of causing her pain, or at least not for a very long time. They had been a part of her for a majority of her lifetime, ever the slight movements within her, ever providing a soothing presence without a single word or a single thought of their own, ever granting her life.. She had come to rely on them as much as on herself, she needed them much like how they needed her to survive. They were fused into one being now.

And yet she never spoke of them, not being one to expose herself like that, not to anyone. Friend or foe, it hardly mattered. Her strengths and weaknesses for only her to know, her pain.. her own.

Still.. somehow this pathetic female, laying wounded at her feet, knew.

A whole range of emotions played across her face all at once before she managed to get a hold of herself, pressing the sword harder against the metallic chest to silence the other. She applied enough force, in fact, to cause the metal to crack underneath the pressure, yet without pushing it all the way through. Having seen the look on the other female's face when Optimus had made his unexpected return, the only one of them that did not look at all surprised but more so liberated in a sense, Nemesis had drawn the conclusion that this particular female shared something special with the Maximal leader. If Primal somehow managed to handle the other Predacons, this white femme would be more beneficial if still alive. She could be a bargaining chip or a means to throw Primal into a blind rage and despair if she killed her in front of him, more than likely causing the Maximal leader to make mistakes.

Whitegrazer wrote:"Pain is a constant t-"

"Be silent!," she ordered her in a menacing tone, not wanting to hear another word, after all.. she only needed the other female alive. "Or I will personally carve your speech circuits out of you and crush them in.."

A shot gracing her left wing interrupted her, causing her to look in the direction the shot had come from. Her voice held a certain edge of wicked amusement as she saw the little lizard, one she recognized as a former Predacon, holding her weapon aimed at her. "Wait your turn, my dear."

Straightening out, she took a step closer to the other female, this one barely half her own size, when a sudden piercing pain in her left leg caused her knee to buckle. Barely maintaining her balance, her expression had changed to that of barely contained fury as she eyed Silverstreak. One of the throwing knives had implanted itself in her leg, another following up by slamming into her shoulder. With a groan, Nemesis brought her hand over to support her wounded arm, the sword still clutched in her fist. Anger and agony overwhelmed her to the point where she barely even registered that Frilla was still firing at her.

Through a determination unlike most, Nemesis refused to show weakness by falling to her knees, and in fact managed to stand up straight. As she did, her wounds appeared to be glowing around the sharp knives, engulfing the weapons within moments. As the glow faded, the remaining portion of the knives simply clattering against the ground, neither puncture wound anywhere to be seen. She barely even seemed to take notice when one of Frilla's shots hit her right in the chest.

Again the unsettling smile decorated her face as she addressed the two meddlesome Maximals.

"You two just signed your own death sentence," she told them in a calm voice before raising the sword in preparation to launch herself forward at them.

It was then that the effects of the direct hit became obvious, a sharp pain overwhelming her and forcing her to clutch her abdomen as her legs shook. She barely had time to catch herself when the pain spread throughout, the electro-scrambler's wrecking havoc with her internal mechanisms.. and worse yet.. with the nanotechnology inside her.

"What have you done?!," she hissed in agony, her arms finally giving out as well as she collapsed in a heap, writhing in anguish. It only took a short few moments before the effects became more evident with the sudden appearance of what looked like an additional limb growing out of the female's backside. As the nanites continued to run wild within, more and more excess limbs and alterations in the armor, some more developed than others, appeared all over her body, giving her a rather disturbing appearance at best.

Then, as the effects of the electro scrambler dissipated, her nanites returning to their normal programming, the armor once again began taking on its regular shape. And with the return to normal, Nemesis also regained her composure. She stood back up, eyeing them both with disdain. She didn't care what they might think of the scene that had just unfolded in front of them. From the moment she had woken up on this world, she'd been different.. in fact, she had been a freak of nature for nearly as long as she could remember. Looks of confusion and disgust were not foreign to her at all.

Swirling the sword around in her hand, she then made her move. She launched into the air, bringing the sword down against the two smaller females with lethal accuracy and speed.

(ooc: Made a slight addition..)

"Go Big Bot!"

Cheetor's words briefly resonated with Primal while he flew across the sky back toward his aerial pursuers. He was glad the younger Maximal had made it this far despite all the obstacles that had been thrown at him in this war and all the lessons he was forced to learn. He was eager to meet to his Maximals again and help the wounded, but these Predacons had to be dealt with first.

"Not bad, Optimus! You got me smiling!"

The Maximal leader looked behind over his shoulder at her as she called out to him. "Admit it, Starshadow, you missed me," he smiled back mockingly. He waited for an attack from her but nothing happened. That wasn't like her...

"I hate to ask you Optimus but have you seen your oversized kitty cat with the name of Saber Fang? Oh I forgot, I sent her to her death while you were gone! She's going to have a lovely vacation for a long loooonnngg time in the Matrix..leaving you Maximals in this dirt ball, suffering!"

Interesting. Now she was using hurtful words to verbally engage him instead of physically. She must not have realized that his temper was not so easily lost with deceitful conversation like Megatron's was. It was true that Optimus hadn't seen Saber-Fang at all since his resurrection but that certainly didn't mean that she had been killed. She was likely still dealing with the beast and perhaps took herself out of the equation of the battle so as not to harm her comrades. In any case, while her words were cruel and they managed to wipe his smile away, Primal remained calm and tried a different spin on the matter. "I'm not sure why you would want to make me angry, Starshadow. I have the stamina and strength to finish this battle without that emotion. Try to imagine me with it. You're exhausted." He was never one that was quick to jump to conclusions, although he did worry for the former General, now was not the time to dwell on true or false.

"You'll pay for that, Optimus Primal!" "FOR THE GLORY OF THE-----GAH!!!"

Primal was prepared to defend himself against Inferno even though there was still quite a bit of distance between him and the ant when suddenly he was hit by something that originated from below. While the gravity pulled the pyromaniac Predacon down, Optimus noticed Arachnitron and continued flying overhead. Had she meant to hit Inferno and defend him or was it an accident? At his distance he couldn't make out the color of her optics to determine which one was in control, so to be on the safe side for his own sake, he had to assume that it was merely a mistake on her part. It looked as though she was suffering a great deal, so he did not attack her. Instead, someone else got his attention.

Terrorsaur's awkward but effective impact jostled Primal's balance, with a light grumble he barrel rolled a few times before finally adjusting for the extra weight that the Predacon had suddenly added.

"I don't care what the transwarp wave did for you Primal, without a battle worthy flight mode, you're just a monkey on a surfboard.

"The way I see it, Terrorsaur, is that you, Megatron and every other Predacon with a TransMetal upgrade should be thanking me for it," Optimus taunted him with a smile. Nothing like making a Predacon like Terrorsaur realize that he only received that new body thanks to a selfless and compassionate Maximal sacrificing himself. "And for saving your lives! You're welcome," he added with a dash of sarcasm. He wasn't trying to be cocky, rather he was far more confident in himself by this point for everything the Predacons and the Vok had put him through. But if he kept up the show, it just might catch some of these truly over-confident Predacons off guard. Optimus was not the same Maximal he was before anymore. Death inevitably changes a bot in several ways. The scientist he once was when this all began was now riding shotgun while the leader of war that he had been forced to accept was now in the driver's seat.

Now then, allow me to show you why apes were never meant to fly!"

Seeing Terrorsaur's blades barreling down on him, Optimus immediately rolled to the left and deliberately put them both upside down in an attempt to distract the malicious bird and make him find his own balance again before he could finish his attack, buying himself just enough time to defend himself before being shredded. Quickly reaching behind his back, Primal pulled off his duel clubs, using one to block one of Terry's blades and the other to try and back-swing into his other arm with as much force as possible, still flying upside down in the air.

-----

"Rhinox." "Rhinox... it's all right. I would be okay. You focus on resting."

He leaned up to look over at Whitegrazer and sighed in the pain before laying back flat on the ground on his back. He coughed and shook his head.

"We got to get you two inside before..."

The engineer turned his head to Feralnight. He was relieved to have so many of his friends surrounding them, however, Nemesis still proved to be a problem. "Orcariner... Orcariner needs repairs sooner then me," he muttered to her.

"I wish I did have more ammo Rhinox but I expended most of it against Terrorsaur."

He gave her a light, dismissive wave as a gesture for her to not worry about it. She had done her best against Terrorsaur and it showed. His red optics observed her shudder with the pain as she moved about and drew one of her feather blades.

"On it Rhinox, we'll get her away one way or another."

Hearing Silverstreak, he honestly wasn't sure how they could stop Nemesis but it was admirable that all of them were still trying.

"No it's not much but..."

Rhinox watched with anticipation for Frilla's shots to hit and actually effect Nemesis's systems and nanite technology.

"Arachnitron," "I am not normally the lenient type, but I can recognize for this moment that if I am forced to come to blows with you, you will end up doing even further damage to my comrades before I can stop you. I can not stand to see any more damage done to them today. But know this: I will stop you. So, with me considering my desire for their safety, and you considering you desire for your own, I will say this once: please return to your base."

Somewhere in the background Rhinox could hear Dinobot's voice speaking to Arachnitron, but his audio and visual systems were constantly in and out at this point, struggling to stay conscious and on-line, so it was difficult for him to make out what he was saying. It must have been an impressive or influential speech for him to sound like Optimus the way he always tried talking himself out of a situation or negotiating. He wished he could have heard it more clearly.

"I'd listen to him Arachnitron, it isn't worth it anymore." "This battle is over and you guys don't stand a chance with so few of you here at the ship and every one of your other comrades going after Optimus. So please, leave while you can." "And I'm sorry too, for everything from before."

Was that Wintersong chiming in now...? Yes, it had to be. Hearing all of these voices made Rhinox feel better because it let him know who was still functioning and hadn't succumbed to stasis lock. Yet. When things got quiet on the battlefield, that's when you knew everything was over and lives were either lost or hanging on by a thread.

"I didn't plan to stay. None of you have anything to fear....from me anyway. I had a score to settle and I settled it, but you're wrong. The battle isn't over yet. They won't stop until they take down Optimus," "I know," "But you were right. You all were. I didn't belong. I'm not a Maximal. I'm not sure what I am. The only thing I do know is that I'm broken and Tarantulas can fix me." "I can't defy him or he'll put me back to the way I was," "But I'll try to miss."

But at what cost...? thought Rhinox. If only there was some way to splice both personalities and give them their own bodies. Suppressing the Maximal side like Tarantulas was doing was worse than how the Maximals simply let her be whichever personality it was at the time. And to be in his debt, of all bots on this planet, he didn't think she really knew who she was dealing with. It was dangerous. But that was her decision, and if she trusted Tarantulas then there was nothing more the Maximals could do for her. For now. His mind drifted away for a second when Arachnitron grew quiet. Had she left?

"They hurt, don't they? Like open surgery without an anesthetic, you are squirming to escape those claws that scratch your form, feeding on anything or anyone around to insure your own survival, building up the consuming fury boiling to the surface, and when it's all over, you lose yourself to that fury. You give into it... to them." "Pain is a constant t-"

Whitegrazer again... Oh, that's right, still dealing with Nemesis. Rhinox was beginning to black out off and on. His head laid back against the dirt, staring up at the sky that was turning more and more blue as the sun continued its rise. He couldn't pay attention to discussions any longer, they simply sounded like mumbled sounds. Rattrap, Tigatron, and Orcariner were down... Cheetor should take a seat somwhere and relax before... A moment of darkness swept across Rhinox's head before it lightened again. His optics moved around, trying to focus, trying to listen. Did Frilla's maneuver work...? Where were Stag and Airazor...? Random thoughts popped into his head.

"Be silent!," "Or I will personally carve your speech circuits out of you and crush them in.." "Wait your turn, my dear." "You two just signed your own death sentence," "What have you done?!,"

What was happening?? He couldn't make it out. Rhinox presumed that Frilla's shots did something to Nemesis. But if they didn't stop her, would that only make her more furious? Darkness swallowed him again...

Cecaelia wrote:"I've..failed..Damage..too severe..? I don't know.." "Don't worry about me..Just complete the mission."

Umbra cringed as he heard the words on the radio, dropping the broken camera he unraveled his disguise. Those were words he more or less said not too long ago himself.. So he knew all too well what was happening.

Glancing towards the doorway with the octopus eye on his leg, he looked towards the Computer terminal in the room. Even if he went on it, it was pointless. Without Tarantulus's virus he wouldn't be able to take out Sentinel again.. and even if he did, he didn't have the skills to take on the unknown hacker, possibly sitting in the bridge. He could take the hacker out, but with Sentinel on high alert, he'd be shot to pieces.. This battle seemed pointless currently. I'll just have to regroup and try later..

He walked towards the shelf, picking up medical supplies from it, then started putting them away in the compartments on his legs. He then picked up a small computer like device looking it over, then slide it away having the compartments close. Walking towards the exit, two tentacles from his back shifted out exposing both of his short swords in their sheaths. He took a deep breath, then rushed out into the hall drawing the two swords, seeming to run straight at the turret.

Sentinel's gun started firing stun bolts at him once again on detection. As the hail of shots came, he countered, slashing and deflecting the shots rapidly, blow for blow. The advantage his short swords had were the speed,light weight, and concealablity they offered. While the turrets were luckily a energy weapon, firing much slower but doing more damage then a solid projectile, while also being bright and easy for anyone to notice..As he moved, he his memories flashed for a moment. See the barrel of the gun.. imagine a line extending from it, that line is where the shots will hit. As long as you avoid that line.. you will not get hit. a voice echoed in his mind Yes.. Sensei.. he muttered to himself. The memory was too blurred for him to even remember his teacher's face. Not that it mattered.. many cyber ninja would conceal their face anyway.

As he got closer towards the turret, he leaped up pushing himself up with his tentacles to the height of the gun. His blades started to glow ominously as he threw himself into the swing, body twisting at the waist. His left blade sweeping through the turret and it's mounting point leaving a dark purple line glowing from the slash point, his second green blade then slashed threw into the ceiling, leaving a green line as it slashed through.Dropping down to the floor, he stepped forward sheathing the blades once again. Sentinel speaking up in the background "Upgrading defense-" the ceiling attempted to open as the green lines started to foam and bubble violently, the turrets falling to the floor into a rotting bubbling mess.

With his adrenalin pumping so high, he no longer felt the effects of the tranquilizer. The fresh energon he had probably flushed it out of his system to a degree. He walked towards the hole in the wall, then stepped out, his limbs grabbing onto the side of the axalon lowering him down, then dropping to the ground.

It wasn't difficult for him to see Cecaelia, the morning sun casted shadows, but her mat black and chrome body stood out against the sand and rocky terrain. He walked towards her, observing the battlefield around him with the octopus eyes on his legs. It seemed most of the Maximals were distracted by the one he'd seen earlier. But as he couldn't fly, he'd have to wait until the target got closer. He also could see Nemesis at the bridge, with Whitegrazer and a fallen Rhinox, as well as two smaller females he didn't recognize.Stopping towards Cecaelia, he kneeled down placing his hand on her neck, turning her head as he examined her. She seemed to be in stasis lock, but systems were still showing some activity, so she was still alive. Normally he wouldn't care much for the lives of another, but she had shown concern for him, even put herself in danger because of him. Perhaps it was merely repaying a debt of honor, but even he wasn't sure.

His tentacles shifted scooping his fallen cephalopod comrade up, then moved her onto his back, four of his limbs coiled around her to support her body. He turned his head slightly Don't complain about being carried this time.. he said with a smirk, then started walking towards Nemesis's direction.

SIlverstreak saw some of her throw knives hit their mark, at first confident that this might help force Nemesis to get away from Whitegrazer but that confidence was gone soon as she realized there was something very wrong and different about this femme than she had ever seen. Before her eyes the nanites in the Predacon female's armor ate away at the metal leaving the handles to fall to the ground leaving the vixen femme in almost utter shock at this revelation. With this there was now only worry and sinking feeling that they might not really be able to do a thing against Nemesis...until Frilla's shots finally hit their mark.

"Looks like we won't have to wait."Silverstreak said but watched in slightly horrified amazement as not only did the Eelctro-Scrambler take Nemesis down it did something to her exostructure as a whole. Somehow for a brief few minutes it seemed her form became a mass of different limbs that made the young femme wonder what they could be from, perhaps victims of the former Decepticon or just the odd way her armor was? Whatever it was the avian femme could have been equal to that of Frankenstein in that time frame before gradually those limbs seemed to return to Nemesis from which they came and she began to recover from the effects of the blast. Though it was clear now Frilla might actually have a weapon that could prove to be useful, maybe even a good last resort if things got hairy in a fight. But that was now the least of their worries as this tactic proved to only further anger Nemesis making Silverstreak gulp, "I spoke too soon."

Now they were the targets! So it worked in getting her away from the white mare but now her and the little lizard near her were certain to be scrap at how fast Nemesis recovered and was coming in fast now. "I don't think so bird brain!"Silverstreak brought her tonfas from her back and quickly pushed Frilla aside, this time protecting the much smaller, older femme to block the sword with her tonfas being positioned straight up for better defense and one foot back for better leverage. Not that it proved to do much good as Silverstreak was still being pushed back by the speed, creating skid marks in the dirt. She had to think of something fast before Nemesis got the upper hand, still being weaker and smaller than her but that was one she recalled one lesson from her sensai of using the opponent's strength against them, something most would likely know.

In this case her foe's strength was her speed so...Risking the move Silverstreak glared as she met Nemesis' optics with her covered ones before moving sideways as she was being pushed back shifting her weapons towards her right using the momentum to send Nemesis away from her comrades.