The Intergalactic Highway

Blazemane wrote:"Here's what I'm thinking," Steelclaw spoke quietly, so as to only be heard by Orcariner. "The aliens know our two sides are in conflict. If you back up out of the field's range, turn one of the corners to be out of sight and then start carving into the walls and ceiling like you're gonna try to bury this place, I think I can convince at least one- I'm hoping both- to come out to you. We don't stand much of a chance taking them in beast mode, and the two of us working together could provide as much surprise as us running into the room head long."

Orcariner nodded as he slowly backed up. Luckily, the loud sounds coming from within the room prevented the aliens from hearing his gravity lifts. He would have to maximize their output in order to carry out Steelclaw's plan as soon as possible before they completed his look-a-like. Stealing one last glance in the room, Orcarined tried his best to intake as much information as possible which could be utilized towards their advantage.

"Those pillars," he said to the bear, "They contained generators that emit the radiation field. I don't know how much time you'll have if you transform, but if you can take all four of them out I should be able to return and give you back-up. Energon engines are pretty combustible, so keep your distance when you destroy them because they'll deliver quite the splash damage to anything around them."

Orcariner finally succeeded in turning around and proceeded to glide back down the hallway.

"Good luck."

Following Steelclaw's instructions, the Maximal made the first turn and immediately transformed. Unsheathing his energo-swords, Orcariner was relieved to finally have sufficient lighting once again. With a loud yell, the giant slammed both swords into the nearest wall. The shout echoed throughout the labyrinth as well as the sound of rocks breaking. The wall was tough, but the orca's swords still forced their way through, generating fissures above and below the zones of penetration.

These aliens sure know how to engineer.

Orcariner had no idea what materials were used to create this maze, but the rock wall seemed to be more dense than the side of a mountain. Regardless, he continued to tear it all down, trying to make as much aggressive noise as possible. The orca only hoped that he would still have enough energy left to battle the skull should it take the bait.

Optimus glanced at Dinobot when he arrived and transformed to his beast mode. It's true that the gorilla was fighting his systems to stay conscious, but this was a delicate situation that he felt he couldn't afford to miss.

"Hello Kitty! I have something here for you..." "Aww, Kitty-cat can't fly? What a pity!"

"NO!" hollered Primal, taking a step toward Manterror when he began hovering in the air and attacked Saber-Fang. Fool! That Predacon was going to get himself killed! And Optimus couldn't allow that if he could help him. Fortunately, Icebreaker was there to lend a hand.

The Maximal leader watched in horror when one of Manterror's blades lodged itself into Saber's shoulder. Now that had to hurt. But it didn't stop her. Witnessing her climb a tree and jump off to tackle the praying mantis, Icebreaker took the next available opportunity to sedate the former general before her final move.

She's lost control, do it now!

Cool it bug, before I turn you into a Popsicle.

Frowning, but slightly relieved, Primal watched Rhinox pull Saber's body off of the green Predacon insect while Icebreaker kept a target on him. "This is your last chance, Manterror. Leave now," Optimus said in a firm voice.

Rattrap had been watching everything closely from his position, and almost took a shot at Manterror before Saber-Fang pounced on him. Luckily the penguin took control over the situation and tranquilized the big cat. It was kind of sad that they had to do that to one of their own. If Optimus didn't start questioning her soon after this mishap to keep his own crew safe, then maybe the rat would have to have a talk with him. Even though the Beast seemed hesitant to attack Maximals, it was clear that it wouldn't give a second thought to killing a Predacon, and Rattrap knew that was a big no-no for the boss monkey.

Nearby, some movement in the trees caught Rattrap's optics. Here he spotted Frilla dangling upside down and observing everything from a safe location above everyone's heads. Aware that it was a friend and not a foe, he returned his attention back to Manterror, holding his gun ready to fire at him should he try attacking again and ignoring Primal's final warning.

-----

"Sort of... Orcariner stayed down to recover the transwarp device."

Tigatron frowned at this news. "What? But... it is obviously a trap. Optimus may not even want to acquire it now after all of these events. Is Orcariner alone?" How were they supposed to contact him? What if he was severely damaged and needed help?

"You're hurt!" "Airazor, Maximize!"

"Just a scratch," the white tiger fibbed as he limped on his hind leg. "After the alien clone deactivated the link between him and Optimus, he took his sword and sliced my leg with it. It is the price I have paid for lacking in defending myself and our leader. I will be all right, thank you," he assured Airazor. "My beast mode should take care of it." Tigatron remained still, standing there in his beast mode while Airazor gently exmained his leg with great care. "You appear to have a few of your own feathers ruffled as well," he said warmly as his green tiger eyes noticed her wounds.

"Tigatron,Airazor!"

"Wintersong! Cheetor!" Tigatron joyfully called to them.

"Are you two alright?And have you seen orcanier?"

The white tiger nodded. "I think we will be fine. Are you two all right? Airazor just informed me that Orcariner is still below, attempting to recover the transwarp signal. Perhaps we should regroup with the others, just over there," he said, pointing his paw in direction where the others were surrounding Optimus, Saber-Fang and Manterror.

"NO!" hollered Primal, taking a step toward Manterror when he began hovering in the air and attacked Saber-Fang. Fool! That Predacon was going to get himself killed! And Optimus couldn't allow that if he could help him. Fortunately, Icebreaker was there to lend a hand.

She had shout out at the same time Primal did at Manterror. You are going to get yourself killed! Seeing Saber...the Beast jump on Manterror, Whitegrazer was ready to knock her out before her comrade would kill that foolish Predacon who was outnumbered and picked a fight with a untamed beast that could take him apart.

But there was no action required as Icebreaker and Rhinox handled it with swift proficiency. She kept herself at Manterror's side, making sure he wouldn't try anything at all. She kept a neutral expression but she was worried for Saber, hoping that the transquilizer would calm her down enough for her to regain control of herself.

"I hope he is alright then, most of the others were damaged from the battle earlier or just a bit banged up from the tunnels." Wintersong said and looked back to where she had passed the others. "But it seems you guys have had quite a battle yourselves. The Predacons of course and it smells like the clone." She said with a frown, or the best you could see from a tiger. it really seemed things had gotten out of hand that day when it seemed to only be a retrieval mission and minor skirmish. Growling low the tigeress sighed,"I don't get it with these aliens, this planet is big enough to avoid the fights we have with the Predacons yet they want to terminate us or the whole planet now. it makes no sense why." She said in frustration.

Cheetor had seen Blackarachnia sneak off earlier, but as he was about to leave with Scorponok and Terrorsaur, he suddenly realized they were missing someone else.

"Hey, Venatrix!" he called down to the lower level. "Are you coming or what? You still there?"

* * *

Steelclaw waited until Ocariner made the first attack on the rock before rushing head long into the room. He took a few frantic looks around before making eye contact with the two robots who were now staring at him. He skidded to a halt.

"Oh, slag, wrong room," he sputtered as he turned around and ran for the doorway. The door was already closed. He turned around again and saw that the nearest robot was hovering closer. Two of his tentacles were now pointed out with cruel-looking drills spinning at their ends.

"Yeah, right, kill me, because that's gonna solve all of your problems," he said, raising a paw and partially looking away in feigned intimidation. The very next moment, another boom echoed from Orcariner's part of the tunnel. The farthest robot took a glance up at the ceiling, but the other kept his gaze trained on Steelclaw.

"You should not have come here," he said.

"You don't have much time," Steelclaw persisted. "They're trying to bury me in here. And, like, I'm sure you don't care what happens to me. Problem is, you're in here, too."

"Who is trying to bury you, foreigner?"

"They are," Steelclaw blurted. "Er, that is, the Maximals."

"They will not succeed. Our structure is too sound," the skull said, now mere feet away from Steelclaw. Just when it seemed he was about to kill him, a small piece of rock fell from the ceiling and bounced off of one of the skull's tentacles. He suddenly froze in place.

Then the other one spoke up. "Our surveillance shows that there is only one foreigner nearby. Your story is looking rather thin."

"Maybe the others ran off for some other piece of equipment to take the place down more quickly," Steelclaw countered. "Hey, play this one the best way you know how. If you really do think you're safe in here, you may as well kill me now. But if there's a reason I just saw you hesitate, then you've got to act now."

The drills continued spinning as the skull stared at him.

"I'm my team's weapons expert," Steelclaw added. "I can help."

After a few more moments, the drilling stopped. The skull turned to his counterpart. "Continue working. I will confront the other."

Steelclaw moved out of the hulking robot's way as he hovered for the door. "What about me?"

"You will wait here. Should the battle go awry, you will be notified and sent to assist me."

"That's great, except for the part where you win, come back and then kill me because there's no point in keeping me around."

"You will stay here, foreigner!" Without another word, the robot went into the hallway. The door slid closed behind him, cutting off Steelclaw's hope of helping Orcariner in the fight. Of course, with another alien in the room who could continue building and control the door and its locks, being on the other side wouldn't have been the greatest thing for the mission either.

Steelclaw turned around to find the other robot was already setting about working on the large machine surrounding the transwarp device. Taking a second glance at it, he realized it looked like Orcariner. Perhaps, being based on a Cybertronian, it would have some Cybertronian technology...

"You guys build incredible stuff," Steelclaw observed out loud as he stepped closer. The alien was unaffected by the comment. So he decided to try something a little more dangerous.

"I'm going to kill you!" he shouted loudly. He let a few moments pass, but the alien kept working. It obviously didn't feel threatened. It was probably well aware of the fact that Steelclaw couldn't transform.

Steelclaw finally made it right next to the Orcariner replica and stared inside its unfinished frame. It already had a number of pieces of internal technology installed. Still the alien made no attempt to deter him.

"So, uh... can I help with this at all?" he said as kept looking inside. "I can't do much in this mode, but you know... hand you a wrench? Plug in a wire? That sort of thing?"

There! Attached to the inside of the replica's back were to large energon dampening devices, both about the length of Steelclaw's forearms. Given how the Primal clone had handled energon radiation in the past, they were probably very effective.

"Your assistance will not be required," the alien finally replied back.

"Come on," Steelclaw fired back. "There were two of you working on it before, not just one, so I'm betting you can't do everything alone." Testing his luck, he stepped in between two panels and started scaling his way up through the construct with any loose scraps of metal, bolts and wires he could find. Of course, it was considerably harder than climbing up a tree. "Besides, what else am I going to do while I wait?"

"Your desire to avoid boredom is not my concern." The alien paused for a second and looked at something inside. "Put you weight against that covered circuit board. It has not been properly sealed to the construct's interior."

Steelclaw flashed him half of a smile. "You got it."

"This mantis doesn't have much of a processor does he."Feralnight said stepping forward a bit as Saber-fang attacked him without issue but her teammates handled it quickly though hopefully it would be enough. Though the fuzor could only watch and wait, hoping this mantis would make a smart decision and scram instead of trying something else, he was already at gun point already and had nearly been torn to shreds, maybe.

In the tree above Frilla watched quietly shaking her head when manterror seemed to be quite a stubborn one. "Time to join the party." She said to herself and moved back along the branch to go to a lower one, jumping off from a shorter height. "MaximizE!" She commanded and transformed before landing near Rattrap with a slight crouch and stood. "HI there Rattrap, mind if I jump in?" She said with a slight grin before looking at the others again to see what Manterror would do or the others surrounding him. Though she had no liking of the mantis since he tried to slice her to pieces she did feel a bit sorry for him to be caught in a situation that could very well have been his downfall.

Though if he survived maybe he'd be a bit smarter next time. Although the frilled lizard wasn't looking to meeting him in battle knowing very well he wanted revenge from escaping his clutches during Inferno's activation. But then again anything could happen after this.

Orcariner was getting tired from all of the destruction he was causing. Taking a break from the tear down, he took a few steps back and exhaled. His arms were tired and so was his back.

The CR chamber sounds really good right now.

The nap had to wait, however. The disconcerting sound of metal dragging through rock was heard. Look over and raising his sword, Orcariner peered through the blue light and saw one of the alien skulls awaiting him down the hallway.

"Cease your foolishness," it said, "Your actions cannot subdue the power that is the Vok."

So they do have a name.

Orcariner turned to meet his foe. Cutting through the walls took a lot of energy out of his system. The fact that he was badly damaged from the previous encounter with the Vok skull also contributed to his disadvantage. Regardless, Orcariner had a mission to complete.

"Vok, huh?" he growled, "What makes you think you can stop me? You guys have shot at me. You've pounded me to the brink of death."

He stood up straight trying not to allow the alien to recognize his exhausted state.

"Yet, here I am," the orca continued, "I've been dealing with you guys since I first crashed on this rock. I still stand."

"Your arrogance means nothing to the Vok."

Orcariner sighed and muttered, "Just come and attack me for crying out loud."

Speaking louder this time, he attempted to goad the skull one more time.

"Really now? We've destroyed your defenders. We've destroyed your floating island. What makes you think I'll hesitate to destroy this labyrinth and that everything you have in your fancy metal room?"

The skull's solid structure did not allow it to project any emotion. However, the sudden writhing of its tentacles hinted that Orcariner may have gotten a rise out of the metallic sentry.

"Your boastful nature no longer is no longer amusing."

Orcariner pressed on, "How's this for amusing. This planet isn't yours anymore. It belongs to us now."

That may have elevated the tension too quickly. The skull used its tentacles to launch itself forward with shocking speed. Giving him no time to react, two more sprung out and punched Orcariner right through one of the walls.

(( OOC: Nice, Alak. I was purposely avoiding letting the Maximals and Predacons know who the Vok are, though. They really don't want to reveal much about themselves or their true intentions.))

The mantis felt a bit of joy as one of his blades lodged itself into the creature. It would be extremely difficult and painful to get out, and the cat would likely die before it did so. Killing random creatures was fun, but making them suffer before they died, was even better! Or at least, he thought this creature was random. He was soon second guessing that thought when it climbed up the tree and pounced on top of the Mantis.

"GAH!!" He screamed and fell to the ground with the cat on top of him. His eyes opened up wide, the attack took him completely off guard, and somehow, the cat knew to hold down his blade arms with its hind paws. With his front paw, it lifted up a massive claw and was about to strike when one of the Maximal's shot it off of him. It was a clean shot, and while it didn't explode, it also didn't need to. Between the razor blade in its shoulder and the bullet inside its body, the creature was dead for sure! "Ah ha! I knew you Maxi's weren't all soft for the wildlife here! You'd kill them to have me all for yourself! Well I won't die without a fight!" He exclaimed, still lying on the ground. Soon enough though, he was greeted with plenty of weapons pointed straight at him.

Cool it bug, before I turn you into a Popsicle.

"I don't suppose though, you'd consider calling this a draw, would ya?"

---

"What? But... it is obviously a trap. Optimus may not even want to acquire it now after all of these events. Is Orcariner alone?"

"Well, not exactly..." She started, but didn't continue. She changed the subject before finishing.

"Just a scratch. After the alien clone deactivated the link between him and Optimus, he took his sword and sliced my leg with it. It is the price I have paid for lacking in defending myself and our leader. I will be all right, thank you, My beast mode should take care of it. You appear to have a few of your own feathers ruffled as well,"

"I thought I'd try on a new look. I call this one the 'Sleepless night'. Like it?" She said jokingly. Her feathers looked exactly how Tigatron described, ruffled all over her body without a particular direction. It looked as if she hadn't brushed them in days. Not only that, but some of them were still charred from the blast she had taken from Terrorsaur earlier. However, she had made a lot of repairs since most of her damages were made, and all of her systems were functional again. At the moment, she also felt no major pains although that was likely due to adrenalin. In a few minutes, she would be feeling fairly lousy again.

For the moment, she just wanted to be sure Tigatron was ok. He had been far too nice to her since she had joined the Beast Wars, and it was her turn to return the favor. While she wasn't able to repair the leg herself due to lack of tools available to her, she at least could tell how bad it was. Luckily, it wasn't terrible and quick trip to the CR chamber would help him greatly. "You could use a trip to the CR chamber. Until than, walk gingerly on the leg. It'll hurt something fierce until you get it fixed."

,"I don't get it with these aliens, this planet is big enough to avoid the fights we have with the Predacons yet they want to terminate us or the whole planet now. it makes no sense why."

Airazor had listened to the conversation between Tigatron and Wintersong without saying anything more than a greeting. Yet, this particular comment had caught her attention. Where had she hurt this? What is going to happen to the wildlife here?

"They wish to terminate the planet!? They can't do that, it isn't fair!

(( OOC: @ Alak: Ooooh. I see. ))

"This mantis doesn't have much of a processor does he."

"Ah ha! I knew you Maxi's weren't all soft for the wildlife here! You'd kill them to have me all for yourself! Well I won't die without a fight!" "I don't suppose though, you'd consider calling this a draw, would ya?"

Manterror had no idea what Saber-Fang and the Maximals were dealing with; the Beast. And Optimus wasn't about to waste his time explaining it to the likes of him. With the Predacon's reckless behavior, the Maximal leader was fed up. "Maximize!" he bellowed, painfully shifting to his robot mode and approaching Manterror with the duel wrist cannons drawn only on his good arm, targeting the mantis's chest. "Surrender or retreat, Manterror. This is your last chance," Primal threatened coldly, glaring at him as he stood there with the rest of the Maximals in the group. Optimus didn't have time for this. He wanted his Maximals to regroup and find out what happened to his clone as well as those who had fallen underground. He was giving him the opportunity to LEAVE without a scratch and here the bug still lingered! Was he really going to fire at Manterror? No, unless the crazy insect attacked, and he would be awfully foolish to do that now.

"All available Maximals, regroup on my position," Optimus ordered through his comm. link without taking his optics and his aim off of Manterror, and sent the co-ordinates to his location. Perhaps calling even more re-inforcements would intimidate the mantis enough to make him retreat before things might get ugly for him. Some fluid still leaked from the hole in his shoulder, and it was agony to transform, but he used Whitegrazer's technique again to send warmer sensations from his spark to his wounds to help cope with them. Energon fields were already beginning build on his systems since his dampers hadn't had much time to regenerate during the time spent in his beast mode which was also trying to repair the damages that it could.

-----

"MaximizE!" "HI there Rattrap, mind if I jump in?"

"Hey, Frills," Rattrap said, giving her a little wave when she transformed while free-falling and literally dropped in. He supposed it was about time he warmed up to her a little. "Decided ta join the rest of us warm-bloods?" he grinned, asking in a rhetorical manner.

"All available Maximals, regroup on my position,"

Despite Primal's order, Rattrap didn't budge. He decided to remain hidden where he was in case Manterror, or some other Predacon would try sneaking up and ambushing them. At least he'd have the element of surprise. He knew Optimus would understand. In fact, the Maximal commander was probably expecting this kind of behavior from the spy.

-----

"Well, not exactly..."

Tigatron's expression grew quizzical when Airazor didn't volunteer any more information the second time. Was something wrong? Before he could pry, as curious as his beast mode made him, she went on.

"I thought I'd try on a new look. I call this one the 'Sleepless night'. Like it?"

The tiger chuckled at the falcon, amused by her playful joke. Even during uncertain times such as now, Airazor could always lighten the mood and find the positives in the darkest negatives. She was a dear friend to him. Perhaps more.

"You could use a trip to the CR chamber. Until than, walk gingerly on the leg. It'll hurt something fierce until you get it fixed."

"When it is time to return," Tigatron nodded at her. "Thank you, Airazor," he said warmly and gratefully.

"I hope he is alright then, most of the others were damaged from the battle earlier or just a bit banged up from the tunnels."

The male white tiger hoped so as well. Orcariner must have been cramped down there. "What happened in the tunnels that has damaged you?" Tigatron inquired both Airazor and Wintersong.

"But it seems you guys have had quite a battle yourselves. The Predacons of course and it smells like the clone."

"We should not have to worry about the clone ever again. Dinobot made sure of it," Tigatron informed them, though his voice was not in celebration. He was upset over any life that was taken in this war. Not to mention they might have been able to get some information out of the alien but Dinobot didn't seem want to take another chance. "I believe the Predacons have since moved out."

,"I don't get it with these aliens, this planet is big enough to avoid the fights we have with the Predacons yet they want to terminate us or the whole planet now. it makes no sense why."

"They wish to terminate the planet!? They can't do that, it isn't fair!

Tigatron frowned at the suggestion and Airazor's little outburst. "Perhaps there are things on this world that we do not understand. It is possible that we have accidentally jeopardized a delicate balance with their planet and the aliens see no hope to restoring it. For all we know, this is their world, and our welcome has been long overstayed. Whatever the case, it is unfortunate that we still do not have any means of escaping such a tragedy should they have the power to exterminate all of us and the beauty of this planet."

"All available Maximals, regroup on my position,"

Upon receiving their leader's message and coordinates, the white tiger said, "Let us regroup with Optimus. Tell me what happened in the tunnels on the way," Tigatron insisted and started limping carefully to the rest of the Maximals.

Icebreaker's optics dimmed listening to Manterror speak. Listen Bug, we don't randomly attack wild life. That was a maximal that attacked you, unfortunately.. she's got a sickness at the moment. As for you.. you have your own problems to deal with. Icebreaker moved his hand adjusting the dial on his gun, then swiftly firing off two small blasts at Manterror's arms freezing his lower arms to prevent them from opening to attack.

Icebreaker then leaned down grabbing Manterror by the head and lifting him up to his feet. Consider those rubberbands.. Now run off to your Pred buddies, before I do something you'll regret. Icebreaker then started to walk back with his gun pointed towards Manterror, turning the dial on it up to half way while making his way back to Optimus.

Rhinox started to examine Saberfang, pulling out a flashlight and checking her eyes for a moment, he then pulled the missile from her side putting it away. I think the tranquilizer worked. Not sure how long it'll last though..

"I think you should take up the offer." Whitegrazer tried to reason but still keeping herself ready for anything, "At least, you will be intact." If he tried anything, Optimus looked ready to take his head off.

She looked back at Saber and hoped she was all right. We are still here, Saber. She was worried about her comrade.

When we are done here, I am definitely going to try and see if I can help her control that Beast. Somehow.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia had came to a tunnel which was lit in crimson like blood. She transformed and walked down the tunnel.

Red? Are they losing their touch?

Middle way down, she had weird whisperings. It wasn't Cybertronian. What was it? Probably the aliens. She wondered what they were saying. It was then the ground started trembling. Looking down in surprise, the floor was splitting apart. She ran the left side swiftly when blades blocked her path. Flipping forward, she rolled on her back and heard a loud thud behind her.

Nice foot work She congradulated herself with a smirk and continued walking forward when she heard a snarl.

Oh you have to be kidding me.

The world was moving in very chaotic patterns. Laying motionless on the pile of rubble, Orcariner felt the sensation of tumbling down an endless abyss. That was a very rough attack he had just withstood. The Maximal thought he would have more time to ready himself for the alien skull's assault, but everything happened so fast. Orcariner tried to move his arms, but they felt heavy. He tried to lift his head, but it would not budge. Echoes of scrapping metal rattled through his audio receptors, but the Maximal still could not move. He knew the Vok was quickly approaching.

Get up.

A spontaneous cough left from his mouth. Air quickly flowed into his body, leading to another cough which spewed dust from his systems. Orcariner's vision blurred even more for each cough and blinking did not help.

Get up.

He had to jump back into the fight. Otherwise, Steelclaw would be outnumbered two to one and considering how powerful a single Vok skull was, those were very bad odds. The aliens would complete his doppelganger with whatever hidden abilities it had. The other Maximals would be in danger.

Get up.

Orcariner forced his neck to lift his head up. Everything around him continued to swirl with newfound vigor from the movement. He desperately wanted to drift off into a deep slumber, but his duty was too important to avoid. Pulling his arms back to a position which allowed him to push upwards, Orcariner rested on his elbows and attempted to get a clear picture of what was ahead of him. Blinking several more times, the orca saw that the skull was directly in front of him. A tentacle shot forward towards his chest pinning the Maximal back down.

So much for getting up.

"Only now do you understand your futility," it spoke.

Moving his hands to the armored tentacle, Orcariner grabbed it but found himself unable to move it. The hold was strong, but he chose not to struggle against it. Allowing his hands to slowly drop, Orcariner feigned defeat before speaking.

"The only thing that's futile," he said, "Is you trying to dissuade me from doing my job."

Both energo-swords lashed out from his arms, severing the mechanical limb from its master. Bringing his leg up, Orcariner utilized all his strength to kick the skull in the eye socket. The beast withdrew while announcing random warnings regarding its destroyed optic lens. With a grunt, Orcariner brought himself quickly to his feet. The dizzying affects still plagued him, but the giant manipulated his stumbling so that he fell towards the Vok machine. He knew that he would have to maintain an extremely close distance otherwise the mechanical tentacles would literally rip him apart.

Grabbing the skull, Orcariner tried his best not to fall over. The Vok attempted use its myriad tentacles to remove its attacker, but it found difficulty in maneuvering the long appendages to grapples the incredibly close Maximal. Side-stepping, Orcariner quickly found the of the skull's head and brought his sword down, cleaving away several tentacles. Unfortunately, this sentry was quick to react as it realized that the orca found its weak spot. It pushed itself around, removing Orcariner's grip and lunged many more tentacles at the giant.

"Gah!"

The orca tumbled backwards as he was hit in the chest once more. The distance between the two was regained, and more of the metal snakes attempted to swarm him. Orcariner was having difficulty focusing from all the damage he had sustained, but he wildly slashed both of his swords in front of him. Due to the sheer number of assailants, he was successful in making contact with many of them. The Vok was displeased with how many tentacles were being destroyed by the transformer's flailing. There was no strategy to the Maximal's actions anymore. He was doing whatever he could to ensure his survival against the mechanical onslaught. The Vok noted that Orcariner's actions were not unlike those of a cornered animal.

"Your actions are futile," the skull repeated, "Your death is imminent."

Enraged, Orcariner ran forward straight through the barricade of metal tentacles. The Vok's condescending nature was becoming irritable. With a yell, the orca rammed his sword through the other eye socket. The force of the blow was enough to destroy the optic lens, and the entire posterior collection of bones that constructed the socket collapsed. Orcariner pushed further and felt his fist enter the interior of the mechanical beast.

I don't need to find your weakpoint, he angrily thought, I'll just make my own entrance.

Grabbing whatever he could inside of the skull, Orcariner roared as he wrenched the Vok's innards out of its eye socket. The tentacles writhed in a furious motion, but they were unable to form any suitable retaliation. The Maximal punched his way back into the optic, and continued to rip out anything he could get his hand on. The fact that his energo-sword was still drawn added more damage to the orca's actions. Within seconds the beast was dead. Orcariner found himself striking the skull several more times before taking a step back due to fatigue.

The Vok laid lifeless in a messy pile with random sparks flashing across its body. Orcariner sat down, using one of the tentacles as a bench and rested his head into his hands. The world around him was still twirling. His vision still blurred as the Maximal faded in and out of consciousness. Orcariner knew he had to go back to help Steelclaw, but he just felt so tired. He wanted to go home. Drawing his swords back in, darkness overcame the hallway as the Maximal continued to sit there.

Steelclaw waited until the skull was looking away at something else before taking his forepaws off of the circuit board. He tried climbing higher, but he realized he was coming close to the transwarp device at the center of the Orcariner clone. It seemed to be active with some type of energy, and he didn't want to get too close. Still, he had to reach the energon dampeners...

And when he reached them, would he be able to detach them? And would they really work? Steelclaw was suddenly hit by the realization of how much of a long shot he was making.

Fortunately, a new opportunity presented itself. The alien suddenly stopped from his work and stared into space as if listening to something only he could hear.

"It seems your opponent has become more troublesome than we first expected. You are needed."

The door to the room slid open. Steelclaw immediately dropped from his position and let himself hit the ground. The skull paused again.

"Sorry- sensitive tech in this thing." Steelclaw observed, tapping a few claws on the inside of the construction's leg. "I'll be more careful next time. Say- if I'm going to help your pal out, I'll need the energon field taken down."

"Walk out of the field's range and make your assault there."

"No, see, I don't do up close and personal, especially against a guy like that. I'll need every inch of space I can get in these caverns to make an effective attack."

"The field will not be lowered."

"So we're back to 'listen to me or kill me' again, are we? Look, I'm not going out there handicapped- I happen to value my safety. So either lower the field and let me work, or I stay in here, your fellow horror movie reject fends for himself, and you get to decide whether it's more efficient to keep working or to take the time to dismember me and be rid of my nuisancery."

The alien continued working, but moved a few of his tentacles to a machine behind him without looking back. Steelclaw couldn't see what exactly he was doing, but within a few nanoclicks, his HUD informed him of an intense drop in energon radiation levels.

"The field has been disabled."

Steelclaw immediately transformed, and deployed his PPC. He checked internally to make sure it was at full capacity.

"Thanks. By the way, you seem to have a big vocabulary... is nuisancery even a word?"

For once, the alien actually turned to look at him, but what he said next was unexpected.

"Revert to your alternate form. Reactivation of the energon field is now our last defense."

So, Orcariner had killed the other one. In all likelihood, the alien probably wanted Steelclaw back in beast mode now so it could kill him with as little trouble as possible. If Steelclaw had felt guilty for what he was going to do next, that knowledge may have eased his conscience.

"Yeah, about that..."

Steelclaw raised his arm, braced himself and then unleashed the full force of his PPC into the alien's front side. The skull was sent crashing backwards by the power of the attack.

Steelclaw advanced closer, walking around the Orcariner clone to keep a clear line of sight on the alien. He continued firing, keeping the skull pressed back against a wall, until the power allotted for the cannon was completely used. The weapon whined to halt, and then Steelclaw retracted it back into his arm.

The alien lifted itself back to a hovering position and Steelclaw was finally able to see the creature's face. It was virtually undamaged.

"What are you made out of?" Steelclaw asked in genuine amazement.

The alien gave no response, but lurched for the controls to the energon field. Steelclaw's gauss rifle was out in a flash. He pumped and fired.

The first round made contact and ignited in a small incendiary explosion. But this, too, only seemed to force the alien back for a moment. Desperately, Steelclaw pumped again and shot another round, which had the same effect. Soon, he found himself repeating the process over and over.

The alien rocked back and hesitated with each round that slammed into its frame, but still it pressed forward. Finally, it was close enough to the controls.

"Dampers on max!" Steelclaw shouted. The next moment, his circuitry was under the assault of the powerful field. Something in his leg sparked venomously, and he fell into a kneeling position. The alien was now rushing forward, unharmed by the radiation.

Raising his rifle once more, he took the time to line up a shot for the creature's right optic. He hit dead center.

The alien was finally harmed. It reeled away for a moment in pain, but then it resumed its charge.

Steelclaw's circuits were frying in virtually every region of his chassis. His optics flickered off and then back on. He fell clumsily to his right and just managed to catch himself with an outstretched arm. Reaching back with his left arm, he found his sniper rifle- his one last hope.

Between his visuals shuttering on and off, he could still see that the alien's right optic had been shattered by the last round. The next moment, one of the alien's tentacles barreled straight through Steelclaw's chest. Shouting in agony, he was drawn swiftly off of his feet and dragged close enough to the alien to be able to touch him.

Acting quickly, he shoved the barrel of his sniper rifle straight into the shattered optic and pulled the trigger. The rifle, being held insecurely, launched itself out of his grasp, landing somewhere on the ground. But it had served its purpose.

The tentacle holding Steelclaw went limp and the Predacon's metal body crashed onto the floor, screeching and making a loud thud.

The alien rolled onto its side over a large collection of its own tentacles. Steelclaw stood weakly and immediately set to pulling the tentacle embedded through him back out, grimacing all the while. He pulled the last bit out with one final cry of exertion before falling onto weakly onto the floor. His body was now hissing, crackling and burning from the electricity running over his frame.

"Be... beast... mode," he whimpered. The various pieces of his body worked to realign themselves, but did so with incredible difficulty, resulting in a very slow and painful transformation. When the process was finally complete, he felt a small amount of relief from the radiation. But he was still in considerable pain from the burning.

Putting his front paws underneath himself, he pushed off the ground. Before he could even brings his hind legs up to stand, something inside him groaned and creaked, and he fell back down.

Turning his head on the floor slowly, he found his sniper rifle. He silently wondered what repairs it would have to undergo after being fired straight into its target.

He turned his gaze to alien.

"Hey," he said weakly. "You're- you're not beeping. Guess you guys didn't want this room to have anything blowing up in it."

Summoning his strength, Steelclaw finally managed to stand. He stumbled over to his rifle and clenched it between his teeth. Then he made his way out of the room.

"Oh-cah-iee-eh," he called. He dropped the weapon from his mouth. "Orcariner? You out there?"

Steelclaw limped slowly onwards towards the bend in the tunnel, leaving his weapon where it lay on the dirt floor. He could always come back for the thing. Right now, he needed to find his ally.

Then a voice came from the construction room...

"Connections routed to secondary processor. Begin reactivation."

In his damaged state, it was to little effect, but Steelclaw tried to shuffle down the tunnel more quickly. The skull was coming back online.