(( OOC: All right, all right. Everyone just simmer down.
I mentioned WorpeX before just so he wasn't forgotten. It's all good now.
at Manterror.
))
While he had been speaking to every Maximal present, Optimus could see Aurora from the corner of his optic fidgeting with something but it didn't interrupt him. Noticing Orcariner's salute, he returned a solid and meaningful one to the large Maximal. Although he hadn't had the opportunity to speak with the orca about the loss of Icebreaker, Orcariner's dearest friend, he hoped he would be able to cope in the meantime and that he could possibly confide in someone else if he felt the need to do so. Maybe Rhinox or Whitegrazer... in case he didn't come back.
"We'll see you when you get back."
Optimus nodded and added a smile, hoping that after all this and his mourning for Icebreaker, the big guy would get involved with the team again. He had so much potential, he couldn't let this take him backwards. The rest of the Maximals were going to need him, whether or not Optimus would survive this.
It was then when he felt someone gently tugging on his hand and turning it over to place a small device in it. Looking down, Primal saw it was Aurora.
"This way we can all go together."
Gracefully rubbing his thumb over the little round data pad, he pressed a button that triggered it to shoot up a small holographic monitor-like screen that showed the Maximals' faces. Clever little Fuzor she was. And incredibly thoughtful. He didn't want to leave them. With his other hand, he wiped away a grateful and emotional tear, before kneeling down again and hugging the young female one more time.
"Thank you, Aurora," he said in a soft voice. Releasing her but remaining there on one knee before her, he turned off the little device, temporarily putting it in subspace, as he reached behind him and drew both of his swords. As odd it may have seemed at first, it was all he had on him to give and Aurora didn't have many of her own weapons, not to mention he wasn't going to need them where he was going. Carefully handing the twin long, curved, sharp blades to Aurora, he said firmly with a light tone,
"I'll be back for these," and smiled at her, trying to reestablish confidence in her that she wouldn't lose any more friends. And even if he didn't return, someone like Rattrap could reform the swords more to Aurora's size so she could always have them and use them to defend herself.
"You weren't there," "So don't tell me how it happened and don't tell me what I think and feel about what happened. I tried to do my part to keep your crew safe too. And what did I get in return? "Just take Arachnitron and leave." That's what the Predacons were told. Just because you don't like what you hear, doesn't mean it isn't true. Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow." "Just leave me alone,"
In the background, the Maximal leader could hear Arachnitron spitting back at Dinobot, but then she grew quiet and scurried away to a corner. From what he had been told, Arachnitron had run off to the forest and was then picked up by the Predacons while his Maximals had been preoccupied with the other Predacons inside the Axalon, himself included. There were too many injuries to chase her down and fight anyone who tried "kidnapping" her. To him, it sounded like there was some misscommunication or misunderstandings as to what happened on that day. It could have been that Arachnitron's personalities were too chaotic to remember correctly, or one was feeding the other one lies. Optimus just couldn't trust everything she was saying because of that, and he felt ashamed. He couldn't imagine how confusing everything must be to someone like her. He truly wished he could have helped her and all of her personalities. He never wanted to save just one and deminish the others because that wasn't right. More issues to address another day perhaps.
"Better you than me."
Now his attention was turned to Balckarachnia but Primal had nothing to really say to her. Did she really mean that? It didn't matter. He already said what he needed to. This had to be done and he was the one to do it. If it even saved her, it will have been worth it even if she didn't understand the sacrifice and the meaning behind it. However, what she said next was completely uncalled for.
"Gah! Do Maximals always talk such slop?"
Watching Airazor slug the black widow right in the face for that comment, Optimus had no objections to her actions. Sometimes you can only test bots so far before they snap. Some Predacons were really quite good at getting the kindest, most generous Maximals to break. Unfortunately. Was that a game to them?
Grinning widely at Airazor's punch, obviously satisified with it, Rattrap said,
"My sentiments exactly."
Tigatron was not so fond of violence, but Blackarachnia had said one too many cruel things already in this dark time. He simply let go of the Predacon female's shoulders as she went limp after his beloved Airazor's fist made contact with her face. Ouch.
After all of that, Optimus knew it was time to get moving on with his task. Turning around, he climbed into the stasis pod and gave one more glance at everyone present and smiled to them.
Everything is going to be all right, he assured them and himself in his mind as the base continued shaking from the destruction beyond its secured walls and shields, his crimson optics lingering on Whitegrazer. Laying down on his back, he adjusted his feet and shoulder armor to fit comfortably inside before the pod's door closed and latched shut. Above him, the roof of the stasis hold began opening, and the weapon's bright yellow beam suddenly poured into the room. The Maximal Commander squinted his optics as they attempted to adjust to the blinding light and closed his mouth plate. This was it. There was no turning back.
Rattrap looked up through the opening doors in the ceiling, trying to imagine himself in their leader's "shoes" right now. He was facing their greatest threat. This tiny stasis pod with this lonesome Maximal inside who would be flying up against this massive weapon of planetary destruction with only a transwarp cell turned into a bomb. He shook his head in disbelief and with little hope.
Tigatron watched on, his expression full of hope and strength for Optimus.
He will succeed. He will come back. May the Matrix protect his spark.
As the pod slowly lifted from the floor and drifted upward, Optimus guided it through a narrow opening in the shields before that hole was closed and on its trajectory to fly right in the center of the weapon's beam of energy, feeling the immense heat from the outside. There wasn't much he could see around him before he got too high in altitude and piloting the pod to use it's boosters; some of the mountains he had become very familiar with that were now on fire from energon deposit explosions or half their size before they vanished from the narrow window of vision that the pod's hatch provided. Pulling Aurora's gift back out, he magnetically attached it the small, confined control panel in front of him, a little more to the left so it wouldn't be in the way but where he could also easily look at it. Pressing a couple buttons on the little device with his large fingers, he set it up as a smaller holographic screen and so that each of his Maximals' faces were shown as a slideshow. Under his mouth plate, he smiled at it before turning his attention back to his mission, pushing controls and buttons to regulate the pod's speed and guidance. So far, everything was working flawlessly to his commands.
Meanwhile, back in the
Axalon after Optimus had departed and the roof was closed again, Rattrap took a deep breath and looked at all of them.
"All right. Dinobot, get that trash to the brig," he ordered, pointing at Inferno and Tarantulas.
"Airazor and Aurora, escort those two to the brig with Dinobot," the rat told them pointing at Starshadow and Arachnitron.
"Tigatron, bring that eight-legged freak with us. And then everybody meet in the commander center as soon as you're done. We'll see if dere's some way we can get through the shields to see our fearless leader's progress."
(( OOC: I was going to have Wintersong, Feralnight and Frilla help with taking them to their cells but since they have been MIA, my options have been cut down drastically. Trying to work around that. Thank you for your co-operation! I'm really looking forward to the interaction between Megs and Optimus now.
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