The Intergalactic Highway

Frilla glanced at Rattrap not wanting to admit he was right, "Alright. Let's just hope it'll be enough to take down an ancestor, Deceptions are twice our size." She said looking worried and looked towards the forest. And with the injuries already sustained in the retrieval of Whitegrazer it could make it much more difficult.

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Feralnight finally had the Axalon in sight, now in beast mode to save some energy, and flying as fast as she could. Scanning the ground she didn't see the Decepticon but caught the signal of four of her comrades and to her dismay the Decepticon. Should she help? Probably better to go to the ship on a second thought, Feralnight thought four Maximals would be enough since a few of them already had heavy artillery as it was so protecting the ship was a priority now. Circling above a few times Feralnight down and when close to the ground flared her wings to slow before landing.

The three near the hanger caught her eye from the sky and after folding in her wings she walked towards them recognizing Rattrap and the Predacon Frilla. The horse must be the new Maximal. "Rattrap, what's going on? And who is this and why the slag is a PRed here?" She asked stopping nearby.

Sonar followed the squid, his optics widen when he saw the state of the pred ship.

"Primus, did you turn Leviathan into a royal rumble arena?" He commented clearly shocked.

Nemesis, keeping a little distance from each of the Maximals with weapons trained on her, took a moment to look over the newcomers.

The monkey appeared to be their leader. Although it was easy to see he had been in battle recently, the others still obeyed his command blindly. It was a trait Nemesis had witnessed among Autobot teams as well, yet she never fully understood such philosophies. She had never been much of a team player unless the purpose was to further her own goals.. Yet these saps obviously respected their commander a great deal, despite him appearing to be in a rather roughed up shape from a battle that did not look like it had gone in his favor. Interesting..

The kitty cat, although remaining silent, had a certain look of attitude about her, much like the Predacon kitty Nemesis had encountered on the ship. An unfortunate trait of the felines perhaps. Either way the cat bot was sending her challenging looks, yet was taking the orders of the monkey without questioning them.

The male with the skeleton on the outside of his armor remained in the background. The female couldn't quite picture what his alternative mode would be, nor decipher the look on his face.

And finally the largest of all the Maximals, the triggerhappy rhino, kept his weapon trained on her. It almost brought a smile to Nemesis' face, as if the roles had been reversed she would likely have kept on firing until the target was a molten pile on the ground. Of all of them Rhinox would likely make the most difficult target, due to his larger and heavier size along with his weapons that would obviously need to be removed.

Regardless she decided to play it cool for now, realizing there were too many of them for her to take on without weapons right now.

"My scanners indicate that you are not a Maximal,"

Feigning surprise, the female slowly unwrapped the wings from around herself. The holes in her left wing were barely noticeable at this point. "Primal.. Such a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," she said after going through her encounter with Nightmist in her head and assuming the leader was this Primal the avian maximal had tried to send a message to. Her focus stayed on the Maximal commander, her voice remained calm.

For a moment she contemplated maintaining her original story, but with the arrival of so many Maximals it seemed unlikely she'd be able to persuade anyone at this point. Changing the focus away from herself was likely a better way to go about it.

This is terrible.. Data tracks, spark chamber.. She's just a twisted husk.. I've never seen anything like this before..

"As much as I would love to take credit for what happened here..," she continued, nodding at the remains of the Maximal on the ground next to Rhinox, ".. Do I honestly look like I am capable of doing something like that to her?"

She paused for a moment, taking the time to size the others up in turn. The only one not bigger than she was, was the other female.. the kitty cat.

"The Decepticon you are looking for is no longer here. She disappeared with whatever event occurred to do this to us.."

Nemesis took a step closer to Primal, almost casually, yet without appearing hostile.

"I cannot explain what happened, as I just don't understand it myself. But somehow we merged into one being." She paused, glancing over at her large, feathery wings. ".. Me. I was not lying about being Nightmist, Primal, or at least what remains of her.."

She tilted her head, attempting what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. It did not come out quite the way she planned.

"Primal.. Such a pleasure to meet your acquaintance,"

Saber narrowed her eyes, her teeth still bared.

"As much as I would love to take credit for what happened here..," ".. Do I honestly look like I am capable of doing something like that to her?"

"Decepticons don't need a reason to kill nor do they need a motive." Saber growled.

"The Decepticon you are looking for is no longer here. She disappeared with whatever event occurred to do this to us.."

THe former General snorted, not believing a word she said.

"I cannot explain what happened, as I just don't understand it myself. But somehow we merged into one being." ".. Me. I was not lying about being Nightmist, Primal, or at least what remains of her.."

Saber growled again, slightly louder this time to conceal how worn out she was and she took a threatening step forward, her claws out.

Rhinox's optics narrowed as he listened to Nemesis.

Phoenix wrote:"I cannot explain what happened, as I just don't understand it myself. But somehow we merged into one being."

He then spoke up If that is the case, then allow me to examine you, perhaps her spark remains inside you.. he then stated regaining his composure. If she was telling the truth he would at least try to find a way to split Nightmist from Nemesis, however with the original body being so badly damaged, he doubted she would be the same person. He then pulled out a small medical device with his free hand, appearing to be some sort of portable scanner.

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Night-Hunter wrote:"Primus, did you turn Leviathan into a royal rumble arena?"

Glowstick shaked his head waving a tentacle in a no gesture No. This was all done by that Decepticon I had to recover.. Her repair system ate some parts of the cargo and ship, then when she came online she when nuts smashing up the interior.. nearly impaled Snowtrix to the floor like a fox-kebab.. Then she kicked the front cargobay door off and flew off into the sky at mach 8.. I hope I never see that freak again! he then stated with frustration, he then gave another sigh. This may take awhile even with the two of us.. Oh yeah, what happened with that battle out there? Steelclaw didn't tell me much other then losing the fight.

No. This was all done by that Decepticon I had to recover.. Her repair system ate some parts of the cargo and ship, then when she came online she went nuts smashing up the interior.. nearly impaled Snowtrix to the floor like a fox-kebab.. Then she kicked the front cargobay door off and flew off into the sky at mach 8.. I hope I never see that freak again!

Sonar chuckled clearly amused with the whole thing.

This may take awhile even with the two of us.. Oh yeah, what happened with that battle out there? Steelclaw didn't tell me much other then losing the fight.

"Shouldn't be a problem. I don't know why we lost the fight, but Megatron ordered a retreat and I had to dart Starshadow to keep her from being torn to shreds by Saber-Fang." He replied heading for a severely thrashed panel.

"Decepticons don't need a reason to kill nor do they need a motive." Saber growled.

Nemesis found herself amused to the point it was difficult to conceal, having watched Saber through the corner of her eye as she had taken a few steps closer to Primal.

"Aww, what's the matter, kitty-cat? Did someone forget to fill your bowl of milk this morning?," the winged Decepticon, or whatever she was now, taunted. "Or is the kitten just upset that her eyesight seems to be giving out, hmm? I'm hardly a big, mean Decepticon, now am I?" She chuckled a bit, finding a certain irony in the fact it would have been easy to merely swat all of these Maximals out of the way if she was still her original size, yet through a cruel irony of fate she was now smaller than most of them.

Her amusement was cut short, however, as Rhinox spoke again.

If that is the case, then allow me to examine you, perhaps her spark remains inside you..

Oh how she despised scientists.. or medics.. and whatever else they chose to refer to themselves as.. Always probing, always doing experiments, always justifying their many mistakes in the name of science..

Even Nemesis did not know for sure how the micro-circuitry within her functioned. She knew the experiments had been plentiful.. and painful.. She knew the group of test subjects had originally included over a hundred individuals, yet only less than a handful had lived and those that did were forever changed in one way or another..

She had spent her youth in a holding cell awaiting new experiments to be performed on her, or strapped down to a table as said scientists had worked on her. The implemented technology had merged with her systems, yet she had little to no control over it. It had given her the ability of self-preservation, a fact that had allowed her to kill many of the scientists that did this to her in order to escape their clutches, yet had forced her into exile for most of her life. Apparently the higher ranks did not appreciate their experiments maintaining a mind of their own.. And many of her fellow soldiers kept a distance to her, viewing her as a freak of nature in a sense. Nemesis had not minded that part too much. She was used to it.

The memories were quite vivid for the female, bringing about a distant scowl to her face. Shaking it off, she turned to Rhinox and looked at the scanner that had now replaced his weapon.

She knew fully well he would not locate the spark of the Maximal. Such a thing was useless to her, so the nanobots would merely have used materials from the chassis to regenerate her own parts. In that sense the rhino might locate traces of Nightmist within her, simply from the fact that her technology had been used to reform Nemesis into this new body. As had parts she had consumed from the Predacon vessel, including those peculiar looking coffins (pods) and various other parts, and lots of enemies and items from her past adventures as well. It would be impossible to try to isolate where everything came from, especially since the parts had been stripped down to an atomic level and then reformed in Nemesis' image. Yet minute traces of newly devoured items might still be detectable..

"Very well," she finally told the rhino, just as the first signs of another energon build-up started setting in due to her prolonged exposure to the environment.

Not again..

She had noticed that the Maximals tended to stay in animal form if exposed to the environment for long periods of time.. Perhaps that would somehow provide shelter. It was a possibility she would have to explore fairly soon.

"Aww, what's the matter, kitty-cat? Did someone forget to fill your bowl of milk this morning?," "Or is the kitten just upset that her eyesight seems to be giving out, hmm? I'm hardly a big, mean Decepticon, now am I?"

The hair on the back of Saber's neck rose dangerously, she wanted nothing more then to rip that slagger to pieces. The only thing that was stopping her was another wave of exhaustion was about to hit her and she couldn't afford to look weak infront of the Decepticon.

If that is the case, then allow me to examine you, perhaps her spark remains inside you..

I doubt it She thought fighting back the urge to roll her eyes.

"Very well,"

Saber noticed that the new comer looked uneasy and she smirked slightly at the notion of being examined by Rhinox.

Nightmist's destroyed frame was lying in plain sight in front of the Maximals. Dinobot had to resist the urge to open fire in spite of Optimus Primal's command.

Nemesis wrote:I cannot explain what happened, as I just don't understand it myself. But somehow we merged into one being.

If that was true, then the Decepticon's personality had clearly established dominance over the shared body, considering the venomous remarks she was still giving. She was probably lying, but he had no way of proving it.

Rhinox wrote:If that is the case, then allow me to examine you, perhaps her spark remains inside you..

Nemesis wrote:Very well.

Dinobot became even more uneasy. Now was not the time for Rhinox to approach the Cybertronian in close quarters, especially just to do a body scan. If she was a skilled warrior, she could abuse the proximity. The last thing Dinobot wanted to deal with was another "put down your weapons or I kill innocent X" situation.

"Wait!" Dinobot growled. "You know the name of the Maximal you claim to have been merged with, and you knew Primal's name. If, indeed, you possess her- or rather, your- old memory, than what of my name? Or his?" he asked, pointing his sword to Rhinox. Then he pointed to Saber. "Or hers?"

Optimus actually wasn't too pleased to see Saber-Fang show up. He knew she probably wanted to help, but he had ordered her to rest at the base. As exhausted as he knew she was, she really was just a liability being there. And hopefully the beast inside of her wouldn't show up again.

This is terrible.. Data tracks, spark chamber.. She's just a twisted husk.. I've never seen anything like this before..

Primal refused to turn his head back at Rhinox to see what he was talking about. Obviously it was Nightmist's body, but if he looked, if he took his focus off of the Decepticon, he'd leave himself vulnerable for attack. Not to mention the emotions he would have to try and control. Judging by Rhinox's words, Nightmist was gone. The news both angered and saddened Optimus deeply, but now was not the time to mourn. ...Nightmist...

"Primal.. Such a pleasure to meet your acquaintance,"

He was sorry he couldn't say the same. Not under these circumstances. She mutulated one of his Maximals. One of his friends. He couldn't save Nightmist. He had failed to help her. What kind of a leader fails to protect his crew? The 'Con's calm voice actually helped keep Optimus focused, inhaling a deep breath to fight back the tornado of emotions brewing inside of him.

"As much as I would love to take credit for what happened here..," ".. Do I honestly look like I am capable of doing something like that to her?" "The Decepticon you are looking for is no longer here. She disappeared with whatever event occurred to do this to us.."

"I don't know what you're capable of," said the Maximal commander in a deep voice, still aiming his wrist cannon straight at her, "but I do know that you were the only one here with Nightmist and now she's gone. You've been upgraded to our technology," he concluded after a thought as he was not so easily fooled. He knew what their ancestors looked like and how their robotics functioned. She was very much more Predacon now. "You are responsible for her death."

"I cannot explain what happened, as I just don't understand it myself. But somehow we merged into one being." ".. Me. I was not lying about being Nightmist, Primal, or at least what remains of her.."

Growling in sheer anger, he lowered his wrist as she stepped toward him with a smug smile, targeting the ground and firing one shot from his cannons right next to the Decepticon's feet; merely a warning shot. Then he immediately returned his aim to her chest as the barrels smoked. "SHE'S SEVERELY DAMAGED! HER BODY HAS BEEN TORN IN TWO!" Primal hollored furiously, temporarily losing his composure by her vague words, seeming to be an attempt to convince him that she had no control over Nightmist's death and the so-called "merge." "And you presume to stand here before me and tell me that you can not possibly explain what happened?!" He couldn't care less how she was upgraded. Right now, all he cared about was what the slag happened to his comrade!

"Decepticons don't need a reason to kill nor do they need a motive."

"Aww, what's the matter, kitty-cat? Did someone forget to fill your bowl of milk this morning?," "Or is the kitten just upset that her eyesight seems to be giving out, hmm? I'm hardly a big, mean Decepticon, now am I?"

Saber-Fang was not helping the situation. Primal's arm didn't waver as he held it stretched out and the duel barrels' smoke cleared. It took a lot of control to keep him from firing at the murderer.

If that is the case, then allow me to examine you, perhaps her spark remains inside you..

"Very well,"

Optimus wanted to tell Rhinox to stand down and forget it, because the Decepticon was HIGHLY likely to be lying about that. She didn't hold Nightmist's spark. Nightmist's spark expired. It was extinguished by the hands of this 'Con. All she took was a piece of her body that somehow upgraded her own. But because there was that tiniest bit of doubt, that tiniest bit of hope, Primal allowed Rhinox to continue. But the leader did not move. He stood perfectly still, optics on the intruder as well as only one of his weapons out of the several that he had. If she made any movement at all, he wouldn't hesitate to fire. There was no need to move during a scan. The allegiance known as "Decepticons" could have been derived from one simple word that seemed to portray every single one of them quite well, which was "deception." They were very good at "stretching the truth," lying, deceiving, and manipulating.

"Wait!" "You know the name of the Maximal you claim to have been merged with, and you knew Primal's name. If, indeed, you possess her- or rather, your- old memory, than what of my name? Or his?" "Or hers?"

"She only knows part of my name because Nightmist uttered it when she contacted me, pleaing for help. She was in a great deal of trouble. I heard the pain in her voice," and in the screams, the leader answered Dinobot before the female could lie again, his optics narrowed at her, full of rage. Oh yes, he had heard everything over Nightmist's communication link because she had left it open. Surprised? They were her last words... He fought back the memory, the pain of knowing he had lost her, that they would never see her again.

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"You're right." "I hope the others would be okay."

Boy, would he love to hear that more often; you're right.

"Alright. Let's just hope it'll be enough to take down an ancestor, Deceptions are twice our size."

"Don't worry 'bout that," Rattrap told Frilla. "Decepticreeps are more susceptible to the energon radiation here, so it'll be fried in no time. Come on," he said to both Whitegrazer and Frilla. "We can keep tabs on everythin' in the bridge. If Optimus needs us, he'll call." Rattrap turned around and jogged back into the Axalon through the hangar, heading quickly to the main control room.

"What's the sitch, Spots?" asked the rat when he entered the room and found the cheetah at a console.

Whitegrazer followed Rattrap back to base but she had to stop mere feet before the Axalon as she could feel a slight sorrow in the air. She just hoped she was just imagining such a feeling and also hoped everything was fine as the gunfire had ended.

Optimism, Whitegrazer. Surely nothing bad has happened.

She hoped her thought processes were right as she continued to follow Rattrap to the bridge. If there was an emergency, her beast mode was quite fast--not as fast as a cheetah but still will be effective with the level of distance.

Frilla looked back briefly but thought she heard another before she followed Rattrap and Whitegrazer towards the the bridge, still not so sure things were going to go well. Even if the Maximals had an advantage the Decepticons still could find a way to get around being stuck in a corner. Least from what Frilla had heard. "Rattrap!"A voice caught the lizard's attention and she turned to see the fuzor skid to a halt in the bridge.

Feralnight skidded to a stop when rushing after them, assuming they might not heard her when she had arrived a moment ago. "What's going on?" She asked panting a bit, walking in giving a brief glance at the predacon and new Maximal. Curious about Frilla being there she'd have to ask later Feralnight looking back to the rat.

Glowstick nodded as he heard Sonar. He would probably have to check a field report to figure out the battle, but for now focused on repairing the ship. He moved to the bridge and used the manipulators to move the Cargobay door, then floated back down survaying the damage and starting to work on replacing the broken parts.

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Rhinox moved slowly towards Nemesis holding the scanner out moving it slowly through the air, his optics narrowed I'm detecting no remaining positronic energy other then your own..

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In the distance from the maximal base Icebreaker closed in on land, a trail of smoke seen coming from the side of his board as the engine was overheating. Icebreaker then turned the track off turning the board to the side as he put his arms out behind him using his shield and body like a brake to slow Orcariner down.

Once coming to a stop, he stepped off his board drawing his gun and adjusting the dial on the side, then started spraying his board to put out the fire on the tread motor. Phew.. if we did that for much longer the motor would of melted.

Icebreaker then looked around the environment, not noticing the Decepticon. He then spoke up We should go inside and get a sit rep if anyone is around.. Icebreaker then moved towards Orcariner detaching the cables from his gravity lifts, then wound them up putting them away and lifting his shield from the ground.

"I don't know what you're capable of,"
"but I do know that you were the only one here with Nightmist and now she's gone. You've been upgraded to our technology," "You are responsible for her death."

If Primal's harsh words phased Nemesis at all, she did a good job of concealing it. If anything she found herself amused by the increasing anger levels of the Maximal, realizing how deeply he cared for his troops and figuring it being a weakness that could be exploited.

She could not hold back a smirk as Primal fired off a warning shot at her feet, merely folding her wings around herself again like a cape and stroking her hand through the feathers a bit.

"SHE'S SEVERELY DAMAGED! HER BODY HAS BEEN TORN IN TWO!"

Barely bothering to look up at what she presumed was a weapon being trained on her again, she crossed her arms and snorted. Nemesis almost drew a silent sigh of relief when the Maximal commander decided to call her bluff, having had no good way to answer the peculiar dinosaur like Maximal's question without making it blatantly clear she had no idea who the rest of them were.

"And you presume to stand here before me and tell me that you can not possibly explain what happened?!"

"And shooting me will solve matters somehow? Will that bring your friend back? Or give you some lame sense of justice?"

Her fiery red optics suddenly met with Optimus', as a smile once again spread across her lips. "I do appreciate the attitude, however.. Many Autobots would not even consider firing at an unarmed female. Perhaps you would have made a good Decepticon if things had been a little different.."

Oh how she enjoyed playing her little mind games like that.. Nemesis knew all too well how causing rage was a good distraction strategy.

I'm detecting no remaining positronic energy other then your own..

Through the corner of her optic she noticed Rhinox moving closer to her. Of the 4 Maximals present, he seemed like the most unlikely target. Primal was obviously injured, the other female was the same size as Nemesis, and the dinosaur had maintained his spot in the background appearing strangely composed throughout this encounter. Yet this opportunity to surprise was just the chance she'd been waiting for.

(ooc: Move has been cleared with NK beforehand)

In an instant the avian female made a move towards the larger scientist, using her smaller size and the fact Rhinox was distracted by his scanner to her advantage as she kicked out her leg against the weapon he was still holding in his hand. Although she knew the other Maximals could attempt to shoot at her, she was hoping the fact she was so close to Rhinox would prevent them from doing so.

As the weapon went flying, Nemesis quickly grabbed a hold of it, only to duck behind the more slow-moving rhino. She realized she had precious little time due to the energon build-up, so she wasted none as she cocked the weapon and pressed it against Rhinox' backside.

It took Wintersong longer then she had hoped to return to base, and it was in sight shortly before she saw Icebreaker stopping with Orcanier and Tigatron. At least they made it safely. With a few more bounds Wintersog finally made it, slowing to a trot while watching for the Decepticon as she approached the others, panting from the long run. "Least we all made it back." She said catching her breathe but looked around. Where was the Decepticon anyway? Not seeing it made her fur bristle a bit, hoping the others were safe at least, inside or out.