The Intergalactic Highway

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"I might. ...And maybe your's ain't a bad idea after all..." he said as he pulled his weapon away and placed it on his lap. With Whitegrazer, Dinobot and Landslide present, he felt a little safer but he still didn't like Nemesis in his personal space and looming over him the way she was, especially with his back turned to her. "Look, Optimus died ta save this planet and all of our skidplates, so the least we can do is risk our lives ta save his. Does that put it inta perspective for ya, or do you still not care?"

She had watched with interest what was going on between Nemesis and Rattrap. Rattrap wasn't one to part with weapons or as he expressed several times, he felt naked without them. The fact that he was placing his weapon down with Nemesis right behind him. Of course, Rattrap may have known if she tried anything, he had them to help, but still, she find it quite big of Rattrap to do so. She stared at Nemesis. Despite everyone, she had noticed Nemesis's behavior towards Optimus for awhile. Nemesis may not admit it, but Optimus had got to her. And Whitegrazer believed deep down that Nemesis did care.

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote: "Good job, guys," said the distracted rat with the monitor. "At least somethin' went right today, eh?"

Whitegrazer smiled at the Maximal rat commander, "Yes, and much more will go right for us." She said it with confidence.

Phoenix wrote:"A slight difference in opinion

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"The operative word bein' 'slight'," the Spy threw in.

Nemesis seemed to be healing just fine. Whitegrazer moved her hand over the dent, caressing it. She felt two presences. Nemesis... and Ironclaw's. Ironclaw... She wondered where he was. She still had to talk to him. Much has happened. Distractions. Steelclaw's disappearance. She was uncertain of what to do. Should she let it go? Or she should speak to him? She had hoped he would have come talk to her about it, but he never did. Also, that darkness he had... made her spark curl abit.

Phoenix wrote:"Transmetal.. Black feline alternative mode, around my height or perhaps a tad taller. He carries a sniper rifle on his backside along with that blasted camcorder of his. More importantly he has regenerative abilities similar to mine, but I cannot recall ever having encountered him before. Yet.. I must have. He knew about my.."

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"About yer what? Ignorant attitude? One-mindedness? Yer nanotech? What?" Shaking his head, he continued, "So he can regenerate like you, big deal." Although, it kind of was a huge deal. Not many had that ability, so where did this guy come from? "Just makes it harder fer us to slow 'im down. Which is great, more bad news for us, right? Well, electricity seems ta have an effect on you, so maybe it does with him, too. Sniper rifle's are typically used for long-distance campers, so we might have ta come up with some kinda way ta electrocute him when he's outta our reach. Did he have any closer combat weapons? Is he melee trained? Did he put skills ta shame?" "Do you recognize these symbols?"

While they were talking, Whitegrazer felt an uncomfortable squeeze. It made her stand in an attention with her arms against her body and legs pushed together as if something gripped her entire body. Optimus...

NaitoKage wrote: This day keeps gettin' weirder and weirder,Right lad? Do you need us fer anything?

Whitegrazer was distracted by the question. She looked up at Landslide. Oh, he didn't know about the situation with Nemesis? "Nemesis was setup by an mysterious individual that may be the same one who is causing havoc here. We are trying to figure out who it is. All of us." She looked at Nemesis, still wondering why the individual had targeted her in the first place. It couldn't just be coincidence or could it? No. Something told her this wasn't a coincidence. And Nemesis seemed so focus on her abilities that... Maybe that was the reason this Darkwind picked her? Of course! That would make sense, "Well, that is one thing we can look for. Not everyone has nanomachines. They are easy to sense and different depending on the individual."

If he had the same abilities, it would have been easier for him to masquerade as her. Maybe more to it then that, but that's a trait they could use to track him.

And, yeah, I could use ya right here ta keep an eye on her," he said, motioning to Nemesis with his thumb over his shoulder without looking at her. "The more eyes on her the better I feel somewhat safe around here,

"Rattrap, if I may offer a suggestion, I believe it may be unwise to have so many armed people watching her." It may cause Nemesis' self-determination instincts to kick in and may cause more problems than help, and her comrades have their jobs and already stressed from the situation. "It may be safer if we assigned one person to watch her at all times. I volunteer to be that person." She looked at Nemesis with a warm smile. Whitegrazer believed she may be the only one who can handle Nemesis, but also, she forgiven Nemesis and didn't want her to do harm nor want any unnecessary harm towards the Predacon. Especially since they all needed each other.

It was then that uncomfortable squeeze returned, growing tighter like an invisible snake. Now, her spark was aching hard, things crawling out of control. She closed her optics for a moment, focusing on her connection towards Optimus. Bonds? Breathe.... Breathe. She took breaths, but they were not for her. They were for Optimus, to ease his discomfort and pain.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

DarkSpark wrote:"Excellent work Blackarachnia, yesss, you did think of everything didn't you?" Megatron replied, complimenting the spider's work for once and gesturing to the empty cells with his T-Rex hands said "Why don't you two make yourselves at home? I do hope you like them."

She smiled sweetly at Megatron, "Only to serve you, Megatron." She gave a bow. Megatron still didn't know what she had in store for all of them. She wonder how he would react to it? Of course, she shouldn't overdo it yet. The plan was still in a work in progress, but still, a woman can dream.

"Not everything,"

She gave Optimus a look then laughed as Megatron and Taranutlas were putting the two Maximals inside. Really? What was going to save them? Some magical force was going to come down from the heavens and pull them out like some type of miracle. Yeah right. She would believe that when she sees it.

(Just to note, Psychic tazing does not work other then causing pain for Whitegrazer and Optimus.. )

Rattrap wrote:"First of all, dat's my line," "Secondly, 'weirder' ain't the word I'd use ta describe this day or yesterday. And, yeah, I could use ya right here ta keep an eye on her," he said, motioning to Nemesis with his thumb over his shoulder without looking at her. "The more eyes on her the better I feel somewhat safe around here,"

Whitegrazer wrote: "Nemesis was setup by an mysterious individual that may be the same one who is causing havoc here. We are trying to figure out who it is. All of us." "Well, that is one thing we can look for. Not everyone has nanomachines. They are easy to sense and different depending on the individual."

Whitegrazer wrote:"Rattrap, if I may offer a suggestion, I believe it may be unwise to have so many armed people watching her." It may cause Nemesis' self-determination instincts to kick in and may cause more problems than help. "It may be safer if we assigned one person to watch her at all times. I volunteer to be that person."

Landslide's head tilted slightly as he listened to the two. Well, I guess I'm just not used to enemies switching sides so fast, but if you need more eyes.. I think I can oblige. The old beetle looked towards Nemesis, the strange visor on his head lighting up for a moment revealing four optics glowing a light blue, before dimming down again to nearly black. He then looked towards Whitegrazer Though.. perhaps you are right..

Landslide looks towards Rattrap Besides.. I think yer going to be needin' me fer more then bird watchin' lad.. You mentioned electrical weaponry right? In terms of those sorts of things I do know a thing or two about em'.. I was toying with the idea of building some taser rounds for my launcher.. but perhaps we need something a bit.. bigger. I can jury rig some parts up from the armory an my stasis pod to put together a Lightning laser cannon.. the principal is fairly simple and reduces the inefficiency and short range generated by Galva conductors. Weapon like that.. you could hit a target a few klicks away with a fair degree of accuracy..Only problem is I'd need some time to build it, an'.. we'd have to be careful about the weather we use it in. Not uncommon fer a stray lightning bolt to be drawn to the user.. he gave a light laugh.

_________________________________________

Terrorsaur wrote:"Hhhmmm...Good point Wasp. Buster, you ride atop the big guy with your gun pointed to his head, meet up with that big lug Tantrum & escort him back to base together. Waspinator and I will take the swashbuckler here in ourselves. Tell your flunky that if he tries to escape we'll slag you first and then come after him to finish the job. Got it? Good. Switch to beast mode stranger and get airborne"

Waspinator gave a sigh of relief, then took Night Terror's sword, hovering into the air behind Terrorsaur and following after him.

________________________________________

As the group went to the cells, Umbra stood in the back with his arms crossed. He wasn't much interested in the prospect of torturing their captives. For him, a swift end seemed more logical as the longer they were alive, the easier a screw up could happen. But that wasn't his choice to make, he was simply there to mop up the mess that could happen.

"It's not much but it's something to work with."

"We're here," "We're not using him as a test subject, are we..?"

Yeah, you wish. Sonar thought, rolling his optics.

Sonar did a double take when he spotted the young Maximal. He knew Optimus was soft sparked, but he didn't actually think Primal would allow some one as young as her get involved in something as dangerous and messed up as this war. It would appear that Primal was full of surprises.

"It crossed my mind,"

The fur along Sonar's shoulders rose as did a growl.

"Of course not," he assured all of them in the room. "He's infected as well and can be unpredictable. He claims he wants to help us cure this but I couldn't risk him getting away and possibly infecting others such as yourselves."

"I'm actually a pretty nice guy once you get-" Sonar couldn't keep a straight face and burst out laughing.

"I'll keep my attention on Sonar and offer any guidance in the process that you might need, but I simply can't work in my condition, so you and Ironclaw will have to assist each other with Sonar. I have all of my tools and equipment here,"

The bat finally calmed down and waited while the large Maximal unstrapped him. Once free, he got off the berth and stretched his cramped wings, they nearly reached either ends of the room. He glanced at the opened door and fairly tempted to bolt but he thought against it.

"He's infected as well and can be unpredictable. He claims he wants to help us cure this but I couldn't risk him getting away and possibly infecting others such as yourselves."

Aurora tilted her head a bit as Rhinox explained, causing that unruly lock of white fur that was always bothering her to slip back down into her face. Quickly brushing it aside, she narrowed her optics slightly as she eyed Sonar suspiciously.

"So.. He somehow got his hands on this substance and broke out.. and for some reason infected himself?"


The ermine didn't know Sonar personally. He'd been locked up in their brig for a while now and she hadn't exactly encountered him on the battlefield prior to all of this. Of course she trusted him about as far as she could throw him, his reputation as a mad scientist having preceded his stay in their brig. "Predacons truly are strange.."

"I'm actually a pretty nice guy once you get-"

Strange indeed.. Aurora couldn't tell if this was Sonar's normal behavior or if the virus was still affecting him. Something about that laugh, though, made her fur stand on end. It didn't exactly help that she was still feeling down about this entire Optimus situation, but she was attempting to keep strong.. to not lose faith.. for the others if not for herself. As long as she had a purpose to focus on, something to keep her mind off all the terrible things that had and could happen in the near future, she would be okay.. she hoped.

"I'll keep my attention on Sonar and offer any guidance in the process that you might need, but I simply can't work in my condition, so you and Ironclaw will have to assist each other with Sonar. I have all of my tools and equipment here,"

"All right. First we need to establish for sure what we're up against here.. I suspect it's some sort of modified virus given the quick infection rate and onset. But to be sure, I'll need a sample from as many infected crew members as possible so I can compare them and hopefully work on a cure. If our friend here wishes to help, okay, but please keep the insanity to a minimum."


She moved past Ironclaw and picked up some tools from the table. One of them looked like a rather menacing syringe designed to draw up a small sample of mech fluid.

(ooc: Sorry.. will have to continue for the others later. Too sleepy. )

(( OOC: I'm going to move along here; been several days since my last post.

Just to note, Psychic tazing does not work other then causing pain for Whitegrazer and Optimus..

OOC: LOL Okay, thanks for the heads up, NK.

Did I miss something...? What tazing? And, DarkSpark, if you could be a little more specific with what the bonds are supposed to actually be doing, then that'd be great because right now I'm just winging it whatever Tarantulas is doing with them to cause pain (I'm assuming they're just squeezing them very tightly). ))

"Only to serve you, Megatron."

Oh, please, the Maximal leader thought with some disgust. How ridiculously fake the widow was. This place was an insane asylum.

"Oh believe me Primal, I have, I most certainly HAVE thought of everything, so unless you have another "Escape the Pit Free" card up your sleeves, there will be no miracles for you this time, nnnooo.

Optimus looked from Megatron to Blackarachnia's laughter and simply gave them a small smile. Fools, he thought. But he allowed them to float on their clouds of over-confidence and victory, letting them think that the Maximal commanding officers were defeated. He didn't need to convince them otherwise; all in due time. ...He hoped.

Like the bonds I trust?"

"To be honest...," Primal began, attempting to remain calm and as casual as he could, and then growled as he struggled against the constricting pain, "they're... a little, argh, tight..." Of course, that was the point but he tried to be strong and not let the situation get the better of him.

"Do it"

"With pleasure Megatron, bwahahahahaha!"

In his cell, Optimus finally fell to his knees, unable to cope with the bonds squeezing and bending everything inward to his chest. It was difficult to breathe and uphold coherency and he closed his eyes in search of Whitegrazer.

Bonds? Breathe.... Breathe.

...Trying..., he sent her. There wasn't panic from him, just struggling and the feeling of being tethered. He could pick up her sense of calmness and breathing, eventually matching the rhythm of his and his spark's pulsing with her's. Faintly, Primal could hear Megatron's voice again, and as he gained some control over his confined movements, his optics opened and looked to him with a hint of anger.

"You should be less concerned with my own education and more invested in learning your place, Nexus, yyyyeessss" "So ends the first lesson, care for another? Or shall we finally get down to business?"

Relief overcame the TransMetal ape in robot mode when Tarantulas stopped as instructed and the bonds loosened a little as he sat there on his knees quietly gasping with deep breaths, glaring at the onlooking Predacons who were getting way too much enjoyment out of this. Except for perhaps Umbra who was standing off behind the rest looking bored or unimpressed. Optimus was exhausted, he just wanted to rest. It had been a long two days and night of restlessness, battles, explosions and newcomers. Physically and mentally drained, he needed a break, so he refrained from antagonizing Megatron and simply sat up straight there with as strong as an appearance as he could put on.

-----

Well, I guess I'm just not used to enemies switching sides so fast, but if you need more eyes.. I think I can oblige.

"She hasn't switched sides," the Spy bluntly corrected Landslide. "She's just usin' us ta help her get 'erself outta her own sticky situation."

"Rattrap, if I may offer a suggestion, I believe it may be unwise to have so many armed people watching her."

He disagreed with Whitegrazer simply because he didn't want Nemesis to shoot him, or any of them, and if she tried anything, they'd have her down in a split second. But he waited for the mare's reasoning.

"It may be safer if we assigned one person to watch her at all times. I volunteer to be that person."

Let me think about that... uh, no! thought the rodent but he understood what she was recommending, and he was well aware of her abilities that could, in some ways, help with Nemesis's co-operation. "Okay, 'Grazer, you just volunteered yourself," he said. Rattrap stopped what he was doing with the video feed and turned in his chair a little to watch Whitegrazer who had closed her eyes and seemed to be focusing no doubt on their fearless leader. "How's he doin'...?" he inquired, referring to Optimus. He was almost afraid to ask.

Though.. perhaps you are right.. Besides.. I think yer going to be needin' me fer more then bird watchin' lad.. You mentioned electrical weaponry right? In terms of those sorts of things I do know a thing or two about em'.. I was toying with the idea of building some taser rounds for my launcher.. but perhaps we need something a bit.. bigger. I can jury rig some parts up from the armory an my stasis pod to put together a Lightning laser cannon.. the principal is fairly simple and reduces the inefficiency and short range generated by Galva conductors. Weapon like that.. you could hit a target a few klicks away with a fair degree of accuracy..Only problem is I'd need some time to build it, an'.. we'd have to be careful about the weather we use it in. Not uncommon fer a stray lightning bolt to be drawn to the user..

"All right, Landslide. Get to it. We've got time... fer now. But don't doddle with energon snacks," he warned him. The beetle ate more than Rattrap did. And was he always so happy? Ugh, he was like Optimus, always looking on the bright side of things and ignoring the dark reality. Aye.

Turning back to the monitor, Rattrap continued through the footage until he saw something from one of the external cameras. "Hang on a sec," he said to no one in particular as he rewound it and went back to the figure. "Well, well, well, looks like Darkwind was right. If everybody would turn their attention this way, you'll see the sneaky, mind-numbing Nemesis leavin' our base." He paused for a moment in thought. "But there ain't any records of our alarms sounding for your signature or any intruder at that same time..." And that boggled his mind. There was no proof that that was actually Nemesis, or if the video had been tampered with by this Darkwind guy. But Sentinel should have picked up someone's signature here and logged it. Rattrap grew baffled by this. He was stumped.

"I'm actually a pretty nice guy once you get-"

Rhinox rolled his red optics at the bat's laughter, second guessing himself about releasing him. "You only get one shot at this, Sonar. Blow it and I'll make sure you suffer with this hallucinogen for a very long time," the robust Maximal warned him coldly.

"So.. He somehow got his hands on this substance and broke out.. and for some reason infected himself?"

"Not the brightest of ideas for a scientist," Big Green agreed with Aurora. This bat gave guys like Rhinox, a true engineer and scientist, a bad name. "It was given to him," he corrected the smallest Maximal in the room as he wobbled a little on his feet. "I... I'm not sure by whom at the moment..." He wanted to leave it there until they could find out more from what he was told by the Predacon, but that would rely on Sonar keeping his mouth shut. Surely Rattrap was going to find out soon enough anyway since it was one of his objectives to find out who released Sonar from the brig through the Axalon's security surveillance but Rhinox didn't want to occupy Aurora's mind even more about Optimus.

"Predacons truly are strange.."

"That's the understatement of the year," he smiled faintly at the ermine/butterfly Fuzor.

"All right. First we need to establish for sure what we're up against here.. I suspect it's some sort of modified virus given the quick infection rate and onset. But to be sure, I'll need a sample from as many infected crew members as possible so I can compare them and hopefully work on a cure. If our friend here wishes to help, okay, but please keep the insanity to a minimum."

Rhinox nodded at her, proud of her for beginning on the right track. With Sonar unrestrained now, Rhinox grabbed one of his arms and directed him toward Aurora so she could draw a sample from him as well as the rhinoceros. But he made sure to keep his grip on the Predacon and some distance between her and him so that the bat wouldn't touch her or Ironclaw, two Maximals who hadn't been infected yet just in case it was contagious.

(OOC:

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:Did I miss something...? What tazing? And, DarkSpark, if you could be a little more specific with what the bonds are supposed to actually be doing, then that'd be great because right now I'm just winging it whatever Tarantulas is doing with them to cause pain (I'm assuming they're just squeezing them very tightly). ))

Whitegrazer was going to attempt to taze herself because she believed the electric shock would keep the nanomachines in order and comfort Optimus. However Whitegrazer's link can't transmit physical damage like that, so.. more likely she'd knock herself unconscious and just make Optimus freak while being tortured. )

Rattrap wrote:"All right, Landslide. Get to it. We've got time... fer now. But don't doddle with energon snacks,"

"Hang on a sec," "Well, well, well, looks like Darkwind was right. If everybody would turn their attention this way, you'll see the sneaky, mind-numbing Nemesis leavin' our base." "But there ain't any records of our alarms sounding for your signature or any intruder at that same time..."

Landslide smirked at the energon snacks comment, though it was likely Rattrap wouldn't notice any missing from Landslide's own personal stash.. As he spoke though, Landslide looked towards the monitors. Only if it isn't her signature..But I'll leave that to you lad. He then waved and started to lumber away down the halls towards the Armory.

Opening the lock on the door, he turned sideways as he attempted to scootch inside the room, which was a bit cramped for the large beetle. He reached onto the wall picking up a handful of laser pistols putting them away into storage on his body, as well as picking up some rifle components and a few grenade shells, then started to slowly scootch his way out of the armory, and close the door locking it again.


Landslide made his way to the Axalon Cargobay, then went by his work bench, setting down two laser pistols, a rifle stock and lower receiver, and a hand held arc welder. After setting down some supplies, he walked over to his Stasis pod, which he'd been using as storage for energon. He opened the door pulling out a small snack popping the cube into his mouth, then went towards the control board, starting to take the panel off and starting to disassemble the components.

The Principal of the weapon was simple enough, though the problem might be making a package small enough and safe enough for someone like Rattrap to use..

The idea was to use the two lasers and unfocus them to create a bloom, or plasma tunnel which would fire miliseconds before activating the electric current, effectively trying to imitate the natural effect Lightning produces as air was a pretty good insulator. He'd need to step up the voltage with a electric transformer and a few large capacitors, but most of the electrical control came from the portable arc welder set in an alternating current, which he could also use to set up which electrode leading to the lasers would be ground and which live, while the two lasers would use the target of impact to complete the circuit. The arc welder controls would also be able to control how much power went into the beam by adjusting the voltage from a simple tazer to essentially a portable death ray, while he would have to then build a circuit to run a micro controller to set the timing between the arc welder and lasers.

Simple enough for the old beetle robot to build.

As Landslide started to envision how to build the device in his head, he stopped for a moment and said to himself .. Might need a shoulder strap on it.. and welding goggles..

"Do it"

"With pleasure Megatron, bwahahahahaha!"

Nexus briefly changed his focus to the spider bot who lingered slightly in the background. The spider was obviously a bit too entertained by what was going on and seemed more than happy to increase the level of discomfort of their two guests. Watching him intently as he spoke and then laughed, Nexus could but groan his disapproval as the bonds surrounding his arms and chest began squeezing him uncomfortably much. Staggering forward few steps from the sudden increase in pain before he managed to regain his balance, Nexus caught a glimpse of Optimus obediently entering his cell.

"You should be less concerned with my own education and more invested in learning your place, Nexus, yyyyeessss"

Shifting his now angered gaze at Megatron once more, Nexus gritted his own teeth as well as another wave of uncomfortable squeezing nearly sent him crashing to his knees. Still he persisted, simply refusing to show that kind of weakness in front of these Predacons, moving over to the closest wall for some much needed support. He remained there, slamming himself against the wall every time the crushing force threatened to crack his armor. Not that it would be any huge disaster if they did since he could easily heal himself and even mask himself while doing so, but the pain was very much so real nevertheless.

After what felt like an eternity of torment, Megatron finally gave the sign to stop.

"So ends the first lesson, care for another? Or shall we finally get down to business?"

Straightening out, Nexus let out a soft sigh of relief. He started taking a few shaky steps towards Primal in the cell before abruptly stopping and turning around to face the smug reptilian.

"Perhaps, Megatron, you are the one that should learn yours," he hissed as a response to the tyrant's earlier comment about learning one's place, his feet suddenly bursting into a sprint before even finishing the sentence. Angling his body forward like a battering ram, his legs moving as swiftly as they could carry him, he charged forward before slamming himself straight into Tarantulas at full force, hoping to knock the torturous device straight out of the spider's clutches. If he happened to inflict some serious damage to the spider wile at it, well, that would simply be an added bonus.

"Back off, Birdie, or I'll drop ya!"

Nemesis bit back a laugh at the rodent's response, the sight of his weapon not phasing her much either. That rodent sure liked playing tough, partially due to his minuscule size no doubt, and his reaction might even be considered overkill.. Simply too dramatic to be taken seriously.

"My beast mode might be at de bottom when it comes ta food but my rank is at the top of the command chain, so step back before I order everybody ta kick you out."

Shaking her head in amusement, unable to hold back a teasing grin, she replied: "You know.. that might say a bit more about you Maximals than you perhaps intended.."

She left it at that, following Rattrap's gaze over to the white mare. The other female's wounds had been healed, but Nemesis still remembered every detail of their last encounter, up until the point where Nemesis had lowered the sword she'd been aiming at the other female's spark and walked away. A fact that bothered her to this day..

"I might. ...And maybe your's ain't a bad idea after all..."

The avian female didn't respond, having already offered them what she considered to be the best course of action. It was a foolish and dangerous plan to even attempt a rescue but she could see that the Maximals would have it no other way. It was a bizarre trait that she used to think only existed in Optimus, however it would appear that his fellow Maximals shared it as well.. Or at least most of them. That over-sized badger didn't seem to go by their standards, making him a bit of an oddity among this crew of otherwise overly sentimental fools.

"Look, Optimus died ta save this planet and all of our skidplates, so the least we can do is risk our lives ta save his. Does that put it inta perspective for ya, or do you still not care?"

Care.. Did she?

Nemesis was actually not quite sure. When she witnessed Primal ride that pod to his presumed grave, she had felt.. something.. A twinge of sort. Regret perhaps? No.. couldn't be. Optimus was the enemy and him being dead protected her own secrets. Still.. In a strange way.. Primal being alive protected her. He had been the only one willing to listen, wiling to place faith, however misplaced that faith might be, in her and her story..

"About yer what? Ignorant attitude? One-mindedness? Yer nanotech? What?"

Annoyed, Nemesis whirled on the smaller bot. He had an uncanny ability of ruffling her feathers the wrong way. Her instincts were urging her to simply rid herself of the nuisance and perhaps she would have, had it not been for the presence of the other Maximals. So she merely sent him an angry glare that would likely have caused a lesser bot to tremble in fear.

"So he can regenerate like you, big deal."

"It sure beats eating garbage," the female snuffed in response, making no effort to hide her disgust in the rat's choice of alternative mode.

"Just makes it harder fer us to slow 'im down. Which is great, more bad news for us, right? Well, electricity seems ta have an effect on you, so maybe it does with him, too. Sniper rifle's are typically used for long-distance campers, so we might have ta come up with some kinda way ta electrocute him when he's outta our reach. Did he have any closer combat weapons? Is he melee trained? Did he put skills ta shame?"

Feeling her hands curl into fists, Nemesis drew a deep breath as the urge to maim the annoying creature reached new heights.

Not..worth..it.. Not worth it..


"Melee trained, yes," she muttered once the anger started to settle down a bit, "He initially claimed not to be, used that as an excuse to draw me away from the base. I did notice he carries dual swords."

It was then that Rattrap showed her something that immediately caused her anger to dwindle to nothingness.

"Do you recognize these symbols?"

She found herself staring at the symbol on the screen, her expression being that of disbelief. "Where did you find this..?," she then demanded, gesturing at the symbols on the screen. "It's derived from the Decepticon language, a more modernized form used only by a few remaining groups of Decepticons." Pausing for a moment, she studied the contours of the symbols carefully, not having seen one of them since her time back at the testing facility.

"Not all of the Decepticons agreed to undergo the transformation into protoform technology," she explained, "Some left to establish colonies elsewhere. Some of those colonies still exist to this day, secluded from Cybertron and the Maximals and Predacons there. I was created in one of those colonies, only ever visiting Cybertron very briefly on my travels."


Using one hand to trace along the roughly carved lines depicted on the screen, she continued. "This particular symbol means one, the one over here in front of it looks damaged but it appears to say chosen. "

The few symbols in front of those two were too badly damaged to really make out, but if Nemesis was to take an educated guess she would say that the entire sentence could be read as I am the chosen one. Carving it into the metal must have taken a while, especially since the symbols did not appear rushed in any way. She was too distracted by the image on the screen to even notice Rattrap discussing assigning more babysitters to her, or at least until Whitegrazer spoke up in her defense.

"It may be safer if we assigned one person to watch her at all times. I volunteer to be that person."

Finally breaking away from the monitor, Nemesis blinked at the surprisingly cheerful other female. The white mare truly must have a death wish, she thought with a slight sigh, images of a cracked open chest and a glowing spark at the tip of an edged sword briefly flashing through her mind. She remained quiet, letting the Maximals debate the issue among themselves and come to a conclusion, when Rattrap again requested their attention be turned to a monitor. Curious if his search had actually been beneficial in some way, she glanced back at the screen, only to reel back in surprise at what she saw.

"Well, well, well, looks like Darkwind was right. If everybody would turn their attention this way, you'll see the sneaky, mind-numbing Nemesis leavin' our base."

What..?


Truthfully she had assumed Darkwind had merely taken some videos of the Axalon from a distance and then edited her into the frame, but seeing a mirror image of herself departing from the Axalon on one of their own computers, captured by one of their security cameras, was unsettling at best. Did he really have the skill to manipulate the video footage into their database as well?

"But there ain't any records of our alarms sounding for your signature or any intruder at that same time..."

Nemesis merely shook her head, watching the figure on the display in silence. It was an exact match to her physical appearance. Had she not known that she hadn't been leaving the base so casually, she would likely have sworn it was true as well.

"That.. can't be me," she said after a long pause, although she sounded almost a bit hesitant. He had knocked her out.. Had he done something to her that caused her memory to lapse? No, that couldn't be.. The rodent was right, the Maximals would have picked up her signal if she had been here. There is no way she could merely have walked in unnoticed by all.

OOC: I thought the doors had been closed somewhere before, & that they had separate cells, but it would be a pain to go back and look so we'll just assume Optimus is locked up in his cell at the moment & Nexus was slow to enter his own or whatever. Pretty exciting stuff...I think Nexus has finally pushed Megs's buttons too far

I can never figure out how to write that sound Tarantulas makes when he goes "Oh no" or whatever, he makes alot of inhuman sounds and noises that are hard to convey in writing >_<

P.S. sorry to hear about your painful experience with the fire ants Blackrose, glad the bumps went away quickly.

Phoenix wrote: Straightening out, Nexus let out a soft sigh of relief. He started taking a few shaky steps towards Primal in the cell before abruptly stopping and turning around to face the smug reptilian.

"Perhaps, Megatron, you are the one that should learn yours," he hissed as a response to the tyrant's earlier comment about learning one's place, his feet suddenly bursting into a sprint before even finishing the sentence. Angling his body forward like a battering ram, his legs moving as swiftly as they could carry him, he charged forward before slamming himself straight into Tarantulas at full force, hoping to knock the torturous device straight out of the spider's clutches. If he happened to inflict some serious damage to the spider wile at it, well, that would simply be an added bonus.

"OH NO! AAAAHHHH!" Tarantulas shrieked as Nexus flew into him with another force to send him flying into the opposite wall, the remote tumbling out of his clawed hands as he dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

"TERRORIZE!" Megatron roared as he channeled the anger he'd been harboring towards Nexus all this time all at once, bringing his full weight crashing down on top of the rebellious maximal as he stomped on his back, pinning him to the ground before bashing the back of his head with his cutlass, teeth gritted in blind fury, not caring if he gave him processor damage or killed him at this point, only wanting to punish him for daring to defy him and endanger his victory.

"FILTHY WRETCHED MAXIMAL! KNOW YOUR PLACE! KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Megatron bellowed, his words reverberating off the walls, making the dismal halls of the Darksyde seem even more haunted than before, before turning his murderous gaze on his minions Inferno, Umbra, and Blackarachnia, commanding to all of them "SECURE PRIMAL AND RETRIEVE THAT REMOTE! NOW!"

Feeling Nexus trying to move again under his feet, Megatron began his vicious beating of the maximal hero anew, a stomping on the back of his head, a sickening crunch indicating that he'd shattered at least one of his optics as he proceeded to whip him repeatedly with his tail gun, leaving brutal dents and gashes in his back as he snarled "I AM MEGATRON! KNOW. YOUR. PLACE!!!"

Outside the base, Terrorsaur and Waspinator neared the Predacon Base with their own prisoner, while Tantrum and Buster took care of Dirge some distance behind them.

"Terrorsaur to base, we've arrived with MY prisoners, over" Terrorsaur spoke over the comms to whoever was manning the bridge at the moment, eager to drop off his captives and flaunt his amazing victory to the other predacons, ignorant of the situation down in the new brig or Megatron's foul mood.

Nexus wrote:"Perhaps, Megatron, you are the one that should learn yours,"

Umbra shook his head observing, the line indicating that something was now going to happen.

Tarantulas wrote:"OH NO! AAAAHHHH!"

Umbra watched as Tarantulas was knocked away by Nexus, then watched as Megatron roared into action.

Megatron wrote:"FILTHY WRETCHED MAXIMAL! KNOW YOUR PLACE! KNOW YOUR PLACE!" "SECURE PRIMAL AND RETRIEVE THAT REMOTE! NOW!"

Megatron wrote:"I AM MEGATRON! KNOW. YOUR. PLACE!!!"

as Megatron commanded, Umbra stepped forward walking infront of Optimus Primal casually staring him on rather calmly as he spoke. If I may pose a question Optimus Sir, between you and Whitegrazer.. who would you say is stronger in hand to hand combat? You don't have to answer with your words if you'd rather with your fists, but violence isn't always necessary. He then smiled strangely warmly.

_________________________________

Terrorsaur wrote:"Terrorsaur to base, we've arrived with MY prisoners, over"

Quickstrike responded on the coms This is Darksyde, we read ya loud n' clear. Boss is a bit busy at the moment but bring em' in, I'll help ya with wranglin' the little dogies.

(Yes, I had to look up how to spell dogies.Apparently it means a calf without a mother. )

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"She hasn't switched sides," the Spy bluntly corrected Landslide. "She's just usin' us ta help her get 'erself outta her own sticky situation."

So were they. Rattrap did have point that Nemesis was only here because she needed their help. Once their usefulness was finished, she might leave and maybe in a violent way depending on how Nemesis felt towards them, but they needed her too. They needed her. They were using her just as she was using them. It was a mutual partnership.

NaitoKage wrote: Besides.. I think yer going to be needin' me fer more then bird watchin' lad.. You mentioned electrical weaponry right? In terms of those sorts of things I do know a thing or two about em'.. I was toying with the idea of building some taser rounds for my launcher.. but perhaps we need something a bit.. bigger. I can jury rig some parts up from the armory an my stasis pod to put together a Lightning laser cannon.. the principal is fairly simple and reduces the inefficiency and short range generated by Galva conductors. Weapon like that.. you could hit a target a few klicks away with a fair degree of accuracy..Only problem is I'd need some time to build it, an'.. we'd have to be careful about the weather we use it in. Not uncommon fer a stray lightning bolt to be drawn to the user.. he gave a light laugh.

"All right, Landslide. Get to it. We've got time... fer now. But don't doddle with energon snacks,"he warned him.

She chuckled warmly at the two. She had no doubt Landslide would be the best person in creating such a weapon that may be useful in catching their mysterious foe.

"Okay, 'Grazer, you just volunteered yourself,"

"Thank you," she was grateful for Rattrap letting her do this. She believed in herself to keep the peace between Nemesis and the other Maximals. Hopefully, she may keep this partnership from ending in a violent way as it usually did when it concerned Nemesis.

"How's he doin'...?" he inquired, referring to Optimus. He was almost afraid to ask.

Her face had contorted in pain for a moment, but it was soon released. She was relieved. Just as much as Optimus was, "He is already drained from the past two days. He is hanging in there. But since he isn't a soldier-- well, I mean, it wasn't his life choice," she smiled lightly before she continued, "he hasn't been trained in dealing with such a situation. But I have. I'm a soldier by heart and I have been in similar situations." Flashbacks of Predacons, both brutes and doctors, asking--or shouting-- her questions while punching, ripping her plating to shreds, injected her with terrible sensations of agony and spasms. Those past horrors have give her scars, but that was past. That pain had evaporated from her. It was meaningless. Her pain was meaningless. "With the combination of my Diffusion techniques and Maximal Military Academy's on-experience training, I will transfer such knowledge to him. I will guide him and ease his pain as much as I can. I have no doubt in my mind that he along with Nexus will survive."

She was more worried about the aftermath of such horror. But one step at a time. They will deal with that when they have Optimus and Nexus home again.

She closed her optics for a moment. Optimus seemed to be readjusting his breathing patterns to match hers. She smiled, keeping her breathing calm and normal "You are doing well. Keep breathing slow yet deep. Concentrate on conserving the energy you still have. Remember our mediation sessions together. Don't react to whatever they might said or do to you to break you down. Meditate. If you break from concentration, I will be there to pick you up."

"Hang on a sec," he said to no one in particular as he rewound it and went back to the figure. "Well, well, well, looks like Darkwind was right. If everybody would turn their attention this way, you'll see the sneaky, mind-numbing Nemesis leavin' our base." He paused for a moment in thought. "But there ain't any records of our alarms sounding for your signature or any intruder at that same time..."

Phoenix wrote:"That.. can't be me,"

Whitegrazer leaned in to see what Nemesis and Rattrap saw, answering Rattrap's comment, "You are correct. There are only two reasons why Sentinel couldn't pick him up." She looked at Rattrap, Dinobot, and Nemesis, "Either this individual has the technology to cloak himself to our sensors or... Sentinel registered his signature as a friendly." She looked at Nemesis with concern, "He must have known about your abilities. That is why he targetted you. It was easy for him to disguise himself as you. And that means... you're his primary target." If this individual knew of Nemesis's help, he might try to have her annihilated. All the more reason that they needed to find this Darkwind and fast before he strikes. Nemesis was the only person here who could help in tracking him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

DarkSpark wrote:"FILTHY WRETCHED MAXIMAL! KNOW YOUR PLACE! KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Megatron bellowed, his words reverberating off the walls, making the dismal halls of the Darksyde seem even more haunted than before, before turning his murderous gaze on his minions Inferno, Umbra, and Blackarachnia, commanding to all of them "SECURE PRIMAL AND RETRIEVE THAT REMOTE! NOW!"

That elderly Maximal was an idiot to be pulling such stunts. Megatron was not one to trifle with. She watched as Megatron gave Nexus the beating of his life. That's what he gets for trying to escape. She grabbed the remote and smirking at Tarantulas' humilation, "You should take better care of this!" She dangled the remote between her pinchers. Imagining Tarantulas being constricted like the Maximals gave her great joy. Maybe she might try to do that? Maybe later.

She went to make sure Umbra had no trouble with Optimus.

NaitoKage wrote:as Megatron commanded, Umbra stepped forward walking infront of Optimus Primal casually staring him on rather calmly as he spoke. If I may pose a question Optimus Sir, between you and Whitegrazer.. who would you say is stronger in hand to hand combat? You don't have to answer with your words if you'd rather with your fists, but violence isn't always necessary. He then smiled strangely warmly.

Optimus seemed to be making no attempts like he knew he was defeated. Uh Uh This was the same bot who thought it was a good idea to get himself killed with that alien's weapon. He must be planning something. He had to be, but what? There was nothing he could do. He was trapped. But Umbra's question made her chuckle. Lots of rumors floated around between the Maximal leader and that crazy horse who always tried to be friendly and warm. Ugh. Disgusting. When she was always in the battlefield with that horse, she was all to eager to drop her with a triple dose of cybervenom. She could be all smiling and friendly that she wants. Nothing is going to change that she and all the other Maximals were going to die.

Well, let's see if she could put those rumors to a rest. He probably wouldn't answer it, but she didn't care. It was funny, "So is it true you and that horsey have a thing going on?" she put up a big facade of a smile, "A girl has to know."

"Perhaps, Megatron, you are the one that should learn yours,"

"You are doing well. Keep breathing slow yet deep. Concentrate on conserving the energy you still have. Remember our mediation sessions together.

In a flash, Primal's anger toward the Predacon tormentors vanished and he watched Nexus pull off a very dangerous maneuver while Whitegrazer's helpfulness trickled in the back of his mind. With them surrounded by Predacons, the most merciless ones among them, Optimus and the Admiral had little to no chance of escaping and he feared the only thing they would accomplish by this was extreme punishment of brutality that could have been avoided. ...Maybe. Watching Nexus plow himself into Tarantulas who was knocked off his feet and tossed the remote to their bonds which was sent flying through the air, Primal stood up and started toward the exit of his cell to aid his comrade from the impending onslaught. He was running on fumes but that never stopped him from helping someone who needed assistance.

"OH NO! AAAAHHHH!"

"TERRORIZE!"

Optimus observed in horror as Megatron unleashed his rage and threw his weight onto the Admiral, stomping on his back repeatedly as he laid there on the floor and beginning to shred his armor with his TransMetal, clawed toes. "Stop!" the Commander hollered at Megatron, desperately trying to break free of his energy bonds.

"FILTHY WRETCHED MAXIMAL! KNOW YOUR PLACE! KNOW YOUR PLACE!" "SECURE PRIMAL AND RETRIEVE THAT REMOTE! NOW!"

His attention was drawn in every direction at this point; at the remote on the floor that he had no chance of acquiring even if he tried to dive for it, the other Predacons, Megatron, Nexus. He had stopped in his tracks on his approach toward the uncontrollable t-rex when he saw that look in his carnivorous optics. Megatron wanted blood and death, and all of his anger that he had been bottling up was exploding with an unstoppable force. But the only life Optimus feared for was his mentor's. He couldn't let it end this way. "Stop it, Megatron!" He had hoped his voice would have been enough to distract him since Primal was always interfering with his plans and this was no different.

"I AM MEGATRON! KNOW. YOUR. PLACE!!!"

Don't react to whatever they might said or do to you to break you down. Meditate. If you break from concentration, I will be there to pick you up."

Pieces of Nexus's armor were starting to crumble under the stress of Megatron's weight and continuous battering. Optimus could no longer hear the mare's words as the crunches and cracks of his mentor's shell preoccupied his audio sensors and thoughts, and he saw some shrapnel bounce off of the Admiral's body and onto the floor. "The only place you'll ever know, Megatron, is the fiery infernos of the Pit!" he bellowed at him over his brutal attack. Just when he was about to dash out of his cell and ram himself into the tyrant in the same fashion that Nexus did to Tarantulas, he was stopped by a couple of the onlookers.

If I may pose a question Optimus Sir, between you and Whitegrazer.. who would you say is stronger in hand to hand combat? You don't have to answer with your words if you'd rather with your fists, but violence isn't always necessary.

What? Sir? Was the spontaneity of Umbra's question supposed to anger him? Or just distract him? Or was he being serious? What did Optimus care, his teacher was being beat to a slagging pulp and this had nothing to do with it! "Why don't you release me from these bonds and find out for yourself!" he growled at the squid, baring his sharp teeth before returning his attention to Megatron. But then Blackarachnia stepped in. With both of them standing there before him, he stood as tall as he could but he was blocked now from attempting to jump their leader.

"So is it true you and that horsey have a thing going on?" "A girl has to know."

"You are a far cry away from a girl," Primal sneered at the she-spider, avoiding her question with an insult. Did they really not know by now? Or was she just trying to get under his skin? Well, two could play at the game. A "girl" and even a "lady" was as he saw Aurora; innocent, compassionate, intelligent, and kind. And Whitegrazer a woman; mature, wise, tranquil and beautiful. Blackarachnia was dark, sinister and malicious, like a crocodile that waded in the darkest waters stalking its prey day in and day out, tormenting it until she'd finally clamp her jaws around it and put it out of its misery. "You're a puppet, Blackarachnia, easily manipulated by selfish fools like Tarantulas and Megatron," he told her coldly. He swiftly lunged forward at the black widow in an attempt to push her hard and knock the remote of her pincer hands. If he could get a hold of it, then he could release himself and Nexus and they would stand a better chance against these ruthless Predacons. ...Or he was just sealing his fate, but he had to try.

-----

"Thank you,"

Thank you? Whitegrazer was grateful to be the one to watch Nemesis? Sheesh! What did Optimus see in her again...?

"He is already drained from the past two days. He is hanging in there. But since he isn't a soldier-- well, I mean, it wasn't his life choice,"

"Yer preachin' to the choir, sister," Rattrap said. They were all tired and many hadn't rested for some time. He still had damage on his chest from Terrorsaur the day before, and he was still missing a hub cap.

"he hasn't been trained in dealing with such a situation. But I have. I'm a soldier by heart and I have been in similar situations." "With the combination of my Diffusion techniques and Maximal Military Academy's on-experience training, I will transfer such knowledge to him. I will guide him and ease his pain as much as I can. I have no doubt in my mind that he along with Nexus will survive."

What the white mare said surprised the rat. He knew she was of military background but he didn't know anything about her being held hostage or tortured. He couldn't imagine someone like her being put through that; they must have been creeps. Although he was sorry for her that it happened to her, deep down he hoped her experience would help Optimus. "Dey better 'cause we ain't doin' all of this fer nothin'," Rattrap commented.

"You know.. that might say a bit more about you Maximals than you perhaps intended.."

The rat had long since moved one of his hands to his gun on his lap, ready to fire it upon Nemesis and her despicable remarks if he had to. Just shoot 'er before she shoots us, he thought, trying to stay calm.

"It sure beats eating garbage,"

"Oh, ha, ha. That one never gets old," Rattrap said, smothered in sarcasm. Couldn't any of these jerks come up with some fresh material?

"Melee trained, yes," "He initially claimed not to be, used that as an excuse to draw me away from the base. I did notice he carries dual swords."

"And theeen..." the temporary Commander suggested, waiting to hear what happened. She still seemed to hesitate on those last details. He was willing to put money on Darkwind badly kicking her skidplate and putting her pride and ego to shame.

"Where did you find this..?,"

"Wouldn't you like ta know," he said, and then realized that they were supposed to be helping each other and sighed. Rattrap couldn't help it, it was just his initial negative reaction toward Predacons, especially ones like her. "On the pod we recovered when your team fled the battle yesterday. We think it came from the Akira, which may likely be how your bounty hunter buddy Darkwind got here."

"It's derived from the Decepticon language, a more modernized form used only by a few remaining groups of Decepticons." "Not all of the Decepticons agreed to undergo the transformation into protoform technology," "Some left to establish colonies elsewhere. Some of those colonies still exist to this day, secluded from Cybertron and the Maximals and Predacons there. I was created in one of those colonies, only ever visiting Cybertron very briefly on my travels."

Holy oil pan, she was co-operating and actually explaining something! A breakthrough! Wait a second... "Created...?" Rattrap inquired when his audios deliciously segregated that word and glanced up at Nemesis from his chair over his shoulder. "Created on one of those colonies as a Decepticreep with dis nanotech and you've never seen or heard of Darkwind before? Yeah right. And then you happily came to Earth in a floating basket with an umbrella attached to it, landing in the icy waters and freezin' yourself inta stasis. So much information is missin' in there," he pointed out.

"This particular symbol means one, the one over here in front of it looks damaged but it appears to say chosen. "

Rattrap watched her thoughtfully trace each encryption on the monitor, his index finger on the trigger of his gun out of her sight, just in case because she was awfully too close to him to be comfortable. In fact, her being anywhere in their base was too uncomfortable for him. "The chosen one? He carved dese himself into the pod and thinks he's the chosen one? Great, another egotistical maniac. We already got one of dose, thanks, don't need another!" And he didn't mean Nemesis since she'd probably take it as a compliment; he was implicating Megatron.

"That.. can't be me,"

"Well, I don't see how it can be anybody else. Except for the Vok. But they woulda made more noise by now," he admitted. Nemesis could still be keeping up the charade for all he knew, continuing her lies until she'd get what she really came for. "Remember dat time they came disguised as Optimus but he could cloak himself?" Rattrap turned to look at Dinobot for a moment although his question was more rhetorical than actually offering the raptor to reminisce about the ordeal that happened some time ago. "Fun times."

"You are correct. There are only two reasons why Sentinel couldn't pick him up." "Either this individual has the technology to cloak himself to our sensors or... Sentinel registered his signature as a friendly." "He must have known about your abilities. That is why he targetted you. It was easy for him to disguise himself as you. And that means... you're his primary target."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, 'Grazer. Are you sayin' he's a shape-shifter? I doubt that." They were fairly rare but it wasn't impossible, he just didn't want to jump to any conclusions. "He's gotta have some kinda device he's usin' ta block our sensors and ta tamper with our video feed 'cause he didn't register on Sentinel's scanners and neither did Nemesis but here she is, clear as an energon cube, leavin' our base." The video had been paused on her figure as if they were studying the controversial footage of the legendary Sasquatch.

He looked up at Nemesis again and said smugly, "You know, you're kinda old. Are you sure you don't remember him? You could be suffering from memory loss." Rattrap's smile didn't last long as he went on. "I don't get why he's after you just because of your nanotech. Big whoop. I'd ask if you did anything ta anyone who would cause them ta hunt you down but we'd never know where to begin. Can those things shape shift a whole bot? You know, I'm really beginnin' ta think that this guy had somethin' ta do with Sonar escaping." With that, he started to run through more security video footage.

Nexus kept rushing forward, even as his heavy frame impacted with the smaller male spider's and sent him sprawling against the opposite wall before sinking to the floor. He took note of the clattering sound of the device made as it hit the floor and skid several feet before coming to an abrupt halt, and for a brief moment it looked as if his crazy move might actually accomplish something.

Well.. Nexus had no doubt that it would. He had no interest in gaining control of the device, even if that was an excellent way to keep up the pretense and soothe any doubts that Optimus might have had in regards to his recent behavior. No.. In fact he was confident he had finally gained Megatron's attention when he heard the tyrant bellow out his rage. The pretender braced himself, his nanites immediately moving to form a thick protective layer underneath his skin so that his most vital circuits remained protected while still visually appearing the same.

A heavy weight bore down on him, pushing him down against the floor. Without the use of his arms to support himself, Nexus could not break his fall, a grunt sounding as the side of his face impacted. Megatron stood on top of his backside, the shackles absorbing some of the abuse that tore down on his backside, his face.. The admiral's teeth were gritted as well, albeit for a slightly different reason, the Predacon's cutlass making swift contact with the back of his head and side of his face. Not unexpected, but it still hurt like the Pit each and every time.

"FILTHY WRETCHED MAXIMAL! KNOW YOUR PLACE! KNOW YOUR PLACE!"

Enraged screams rang in his audioreceptors, but Nexus tried to make as few sounds as possible in return. He was still in clear view of Optimus so he had to keep up the pretense of being the real Nexus Prime, at least for a little while longer. Not that it slowed Megatron down any, his movements almost frantic as he rained punishing strokes down on his victim. Nexus twitched under the brute force, the outer layer of his armor taking quite the severe lashing. He felt some cracks starting to form in the armor, his nanites helping the process along to increase the visual effects.. and perhaps shorten the amount of time he'd have to put up with this.

"Stop it, Megatron!"

Optimus' voice was almost drowned in the severe thrashing, but upon hearing it Nexus could not hide a slight smile on is damaged face. He really did have that Maximal sap eating out of his hand..

Finally letting out a holler as his left eye was hit, the yellow optic shattering from the violent event, Nexus' movements grew more desperate for a moment. This was rewarded in kind as Megatron viciously picked up the pace of his beating.

"I AM MEGATRON! KNOW. YOUR. PLACE!!!"

Deciding that enough was enough, Nexus had his nanites create a large and seemingly deep gash that ran down his backside and part of his side as well. The tiny workers achieved this by separating the plates from underneath, making it appear as if a rift truly was forming in the damaged armor without exposing themselves to anyone watching. With that done, Nexus' body appeared to go limp, he was no longer struggling and merely just lay there in a heap. On the inside he was very much so still alive, of course, but outwardly he could very well have been a corpse.. Aside from the few, faint whimpers he allowed himself to make.

(ooc: Need more time than I have available to write up for the others right now.. Sleeeeepy..)

Optimus Primal wrote: "Why don't you release me from these bonds and find out for yourself!"

Umbra remained rather calm still as Optimus gave his outburst baring his teeth like an animal. His anger was overwhelming him..

Blackarachnia wrote:"So is it true you and that horsey have a thing going on?" "A girl has to know."

The one of the eyes on Umbra's leg observed as Blackarachnia came closer.

Optimus Primal wrote:"You are a far cry away from a girl," "You're a puppet, Blackarachnia, easily manipulated by selfish fools like Tarantulas and Megatron,"

Optimus then attempted to lunge for Blackarachnia, Umbra shifted his position slightly bringing up his right arm while his jumpjet activated for a short burst. He grabbed Optimus's face, the impact counter Optimus's momentum, the two rocketed to the back of the cell with Optimus's head slamming into the back wall, the wall caved in from the impact point.

Umbra released Optimus's head letting him fall to the floor as he stepping back and spoke Personally.. I'd have no problem with releasing you from those bonds.. but business comes first in my business.

He shook his head turning away from Optimus You should have taken my offer sir.. you lack the discipline and skill with that body to do anything in this state.. I'd rather not take the lives of anymore helpless maximals.. Aerostriker atleast didn't suffer as much as you will..

The Ninja octopus walked out of the cell looking towards Blackarachnia seeing that she seemed to be alright, he then looked towards Megatron and his brutal treatment of Nexus Well.. it would seem he has learned his place my Liege.. shall I clean that up for you? he offered, still rather calm and collected.

OOP wrote: His attention was drawn in every direction at this point; at the remote on the floor that he had no chance of acquiring even if he tried to dive for it, the other Predacons, Megatron, Nexus. He had stopped in his tracks on his approach toward the uncontrollable t-rex when he saw that look in his carnivorous optics. Megatron wanted blood and death, and all of his anger that he had been bottling up was exploding with an unstoppable force. But the only life Optimus feared for was his mentor's. He couldn't let it end this way. "Stop it, Megatron!" He had hoped his voice would have been enough to distract him since Primal was always interfering with his plans and this was no different.

Megatron ignored Primal's pitiful pleas to spare Nexus, so consumed was he by his rage, his hatred for this outdated remnant of a bygone era, that even the sounds of his archfoe's voice begging him for mercy was not enough to sway him from his fury, his all encompassing desire to beat respect and fear into Nexus's frame even if it killed him. This was not the first time Megatron's anger had flared to such monstrous levels, his temper had always been something for others to fear, whether it be maximal enemies in battle or minions who'd failed in their duties to him, but rarely was it that he allowed it to get THIS bad, this out of control...Megatron could perhaps privately, but never publicly, admit to himself that it was a short coming of his, his RAGE, his true rage, not his usual frustrations directed towards incompetent or disloyal underlings but the seething instinctive fury he normally kept bottled up within him, contained and controlled, born of and fueled by his resentment of the maximals elders who oppressed his people, the Tripredacus Council who stood by and did nothing while all predacons suffered by maximal hands, and all the fools who dared to undermine his quest to lead his people to glory and freedom under his banner, as his forefather the original Megatron had done before him. Why could they not understand his greater purpose? Why could they not see they were fools to stand against him? In the way progress and destiny no less! WHO WERE THEY TO DENY HIM HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS LORD OF THE PREDACONS, RULER OF CYBERTRON?!

"How dare they, how dare they?!" Megatron whispered lethally, half crazed, not even registering the mech fluid that stained his armor plating, his outward appearance very much reflecting the inner beast that lived within him, carefully hidden away by his cultured veneer of charm and class, now wide awake and venting all its fury on one helpless maximal for all to see...And he would suffer for it, and he was, Megatron would see to that, oh yessss indeed.

OOP wrote: Pieces of Nexus's armor were starting to crumble under the stress of Megatron's weight and continuous battering. Optimus could no longer hear the mare's words as the crunches and cracks of his mentor's shell preoccupied his audio sensors and thoughts, and he saw some shrapnel bounce off of the Admiral's body and onto the floor. "The only place you'll ever know, Megatron, is the fiery infernos of the Pit!" he bellowed at him over his brutal attack. Just when he was about to dash out of his cell and ram himself into the tyrant in the same fashion that Nexus did to Tarantulas, he was stopped by a couple of the onlookers.

"The Pit wouldn't know what to do with me Primal" Megatron hissed between clenched teeth, continuing his thrashing of Nexus, Primal's latest outcry only briefly shaking him from his berserker revelry, egged onward by the scent of spilled mech fluid and the sound of internal mechanisms breaking, to inflict more pain, more hurt upon he who had dared to cross him, Megatron, leader of all predacons.

Phoenix wrote:
Optimus' voice was almost drowned in the severe thrashing, but upon hearing it Nexus could not hide a slight smile on is damaged face. He really did have that Maximal sap eating out of his hand..

Finally letting out a holler as his left eye was hit, the yellow optic shattering from the violent event, Nexus' movements grew more desperate for a moment. This was rewarded in kind as Megatron viciously picked up the pace of his beating.

"I AM MEGATRON! KNOW. YOUR. PLACE!!!"



Deciding that enough was enough, Nexus had his nanites create a large and seemingly deep gash that ran down his backside and part of his side as well. The tiny workers achieved this by separating the plates from underneath, making it appear as if a rift truly was forming in the damaged armor without exposing themselves to anyone watching. With that done, Nexus' body appeared to go limp, he was no longer struggling and merely just lay there in a heap. On the inside he was very much so still alive, of course, but outwardly he could very well have been a corpse.. Aside from the few, faint whimpers he allowed himself to make.

(ooc: Need more time than I have available to write up for the others right now.. Sleeeeepy..)

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The sight of the massive gash he had finally inflicted on Prime's once sturdy armor finally shook Megatron from his rampage, holding back what might have been the killing blow as he finally calmed down, becoming aware of himself again and what was going on around him, as if waking from a dream, the scent of mech fluid flooding the air, the feel of it staining his otherwise flawless armor, the sound of the once proud Nexus Prime whimpering pathetically beneath his mighty feet amidst a pool of fluid and shattered glass and armor...The mixed looks of fear, anger, and despair on the face of everyone gathered who'd bore witness to his rampage, the beast within Megatron, the REAL Megatron, the stuff of nightmares. These were the things that finally brought Megatron back to his senses, that things satisfied his anger, but perhaps the most satisfying of all, was the look on Primal's face as Megatron turned to face him, his body painted with his beloved teacher's vital fluids, who even now appeared near dead save for his whimpers of pain.

That look, made Megatron's day.

Naitokage wrote: Optimus then attempted to lunge for Blackarachnia, Umbra shifted his position slightly bringing up his right arm while his jumpjet activated for a short burst. He grabbed Optimus's face, the impact counter Optimus's momentum, the two rocketed to the back of the cell with Optimus's head slamming into the back wall, the wall caved in from the impact point.

Umbra released Optimus's head letting him fall to the floor as he stepping back and spoke Personally.. I'd have no problem with releasing you from those bonds.. but business comes first in my business.

He shook his head turning away from Optimus You should have taken my offer sir.. you lack the discipline and skill with that body to do anything in this state.. I'd rather not take the lives of anymore helpless maximals.. Aerostriker atleast didn't suffer as much as you will..

The Ninja octopus walked out of the cell looking towards Blackarachnia seeing that she seemed to be alright, he then looked towards Megatron and his brutal treatment of Nexus Well.. it would seem he has learned his place my Liege.. shall I clean that up for you? he offered, still rather calm and collected.

"Learned his place, Umbra? I think not, nnnooo, not quite yet, but he will shortly" Megatron told Umbra as he dragged Nexus over to the brig by the throat to give his student a better look at his fallen mentor, kicking Primal onto his back and pinning him down so he could not move as he dangled Nexus over him like a cruel elder brother who'd lifted his sibling's favorite just out of reach.

"Lo and behold, the last Prime, he goes out not with a bang, but a whimper...Take a good look Primal, this likely will be the last you shall see of him. Tarantulas, assuming you still function, begin Primal's interrogation while Inferno and I take out the trash, I trust you can manage that? Blackarachnia, assist him. Inferno, stay on guard to ensure Primal doesn't try to copy his mentor's ill-fated stunt would you? I realize shackled unarmed prisoners can be quite the hassle but I like to think you three should be able to handle the task without further difficulties. Here's a hint, closing the door might help. Umbra..." Megatron said as he then ruthlessly tossed Nexus out of the brig and head over heels across the floor "Carry that slagheap to my chambers would you? I'm not quite done with him yet, nnnnnooo...."

With that said, Megatron picked up Primal off the floor, looked him in the optics and said "I'll be back for you" and punched Primal so hard in the face it cost him a tooth as he crashed down to the floor again, head no doubt spinning from the blow.

He then exited the cell waiting to make sure they closed & secured it properly this time and left the room with Umbra and Nexus in tow, but not before adding "Oh, and Tarantulas...Make it painful, yyyyyeeessssss"

"Trust me Megatron...I WILL" Tarantulas hissed, limping to his feet, shooting Blackarachnia a scathing look for her earlier mocking, promising to pay her back, but for now focusing his attention on Primal, casting a devilish shadow over him from the other side of the brig, taking back the remote, such a simple looking device, though it now loomed over Optimus like a sword of Damocles.

"Tell me Primal, where does it hurt?" Tarantulas asked, tightening the bonds once again, but not yet to the maximum setting, that could wait for latter, he'd toy with the ape first, get the info Megatron wanted, THEN he'd crush him like a tin can and watch his insides ooze outside of what was left of him.

Naitokage wrote: Quickstrike responded on the coms This is Darksyde, we read ya loud n' clear. Boss is a bit busy at the moment but bring em' in, I'll help ya with wranglin' the little dogies.

"Perfect, we're coming in, Terrorsaur out" the transmetal pterodactyl crowed as he brought he and Waspinator brought his captive in for a landing, maintaining their grip on him, blade still at his throat as he said to the fuzor "Here's the first catch of the day Quickstrike, Tantrum and Buster are over there have the other one in tow, he's a big one. Where do we put these guys?"

Terrorsaur was half disappointed that there wasn't a bigger reception to welcome him home and show off his accomplishments too, but he figured the victory party could wait a little while longer. He couldn't wait to rub this in Darkwind's face, and Nemesis was sure to be impressed as well.

OOC: Sorry for the wait. I was really not feeling up to posting last night. I was far too upset. I have been attempting to take some classes to earn a certification in the work that I am doing so that I can one day get a higher position. But it appears that the university won't register me for any more classes at the moment. Apparently schools that offer distance education must have approval from all the states in the US where they have students taking classes. It really sets me back. I have to wait for the PA Department of Education to approve the university so that I can take classes with them. I wish there was something I could do in the meantime so that I could at least take a class and get it out of the way, but I just don't know what my options are at this point since most schools have already started the fall semester.

But anyway, here is a post for Dinobot. I think I'm caught up with him. I'll just post for Inferno and Arachnitron tomorrow.

BIC:

"And fer good reason!" the rodent exclaimed. "If you thought I was a pain in de skidplate, Chopper Face, way till ya get a load of this chicken," Rattrap said as he pointed his thumb in Nemesis's direction. "Snide, smug, devious, nanobot infested freak," he added, mumbling to himself when he snatched the tracker out of Dinobot's awkward hand and sent him a glare at his annoyingly purposeful intention of making Rattrap do it.

Dinobot couldn't help displaying an amused grin at Rattrap's insane ranting and his annoyed glare at Dinobot for having to be the one to put the tracker on Nemesis' leg.

"Is that what you did? Or have you spent so much time among these Maximals that you've forgotten your Predacon heritage?"

Dinobot snarled a response, but sensed her teasing tone so he didn't allow it to get him angry. He did not consider himself to be losing his Predacon heritage, but he did have to put up with a lot of.....unnatural things being amongst the Maximals. Their uncanny ability to be painfully positive all the time and their annoying sentiment were just some examples of the very un-Predacon things he had to deal with every day. He had not forgotten his Predacon heritage, but he had learned to expect these Maximal responses. He did not respond to Nemesis though....there was just too much going on at the moment to participate in the bantering....besides Rattrap was doing enough bickering for everyone.

The rat turned his back to the others and began searching through the survelliance videos for evidence of the alleged Darkwind who had supposedly framed Nemesis. Dinobot was not unfamiliar with Predacon double agent tactics, but wasn't sure yet if he suspected Nemesis of such trickery.

"Yeah, Aurora, you and Ironclaw go to the med bay an' see what you can do ta help Rhinox. Make sure Sonar doesn't escape again and spread more of this slagging hallucinogen. Dinobot, you stay here with me and Nemesis. The three of us know the Darksyde fairly well,"

Dinobot nodded his approval. Aurora, he agreed, was the best choice to aide Rhinox given her scientific knowledge and skillsets. And Ironclaw's explosive personality and aggressive behavior was exactly what they did not need in their brainstorming session. He was much better suited to keep an eye on Sonar. While Dinobot normally disapproved of the badger's rebel without a cause attitude and reckless nature, this could be a time when his impulsiveness might be an asset to them. Someone needed to keep Sonar in line.

Rhinox's voice came through over Dinobot's comm link.

"He's awake," Rhinox answered the warrior, relieved to hear of the others' arrivals. "Seems to be somewhat stable. Yes, I could use Aurora's help, and someone to assist her while I keep a close eye on Sonar."

"Understood," Dinobot said in his comm link to Rhinox. "Aurora and Ironclaw are on their way to your location."

Rattrap continued.

"We're gonna need a plan for a rescue mission. Start brainstormin'. Weaknesses, weapons, offense, defense, ambushes, da whole nine yards."

"Megatron has had some time to prepare for this so he's no doubt been upgrading his holding cells and equipment. A frontal assault would be suicide.." "If you really want my suggestion, I would lure them out of the base. Take them on and out a few at the time, set up traps, send smaller teams to intercept their soldiers.. whatever needs to be done to reduce their numbers."

"I concur," Dinobot agreed. "Bear in mind, Megatron's forces are, as far as we know, unaffected by the virus. We have lost two comrades to Megatron's prison cells, but we have lost three comrades to the virus. Rhinox and the others who have been infected are not fit to fight."

After some not unexpected squabbling, Rattrap finally moved on.

Also, I wanna know more about this Darkwind guy.

Dinobot was also curious about him as well. After some moments they finally got a description of the bot from Nemesis.

"He's a backstabbing rat. He showed up at our base, claiming he had stowed away on the Akira and caused it to crash. Said he escaped in a pod. He went out of his way to trick Megatron into assigning me to him as a mentor of sorts.......Transmetal....Black feline alternative mode, around my height or perhaps a tad taller. He carries a sniper rifle on his backside along with that blasted camcorder of his. More importantly he has regenerative abilities similar to mine, but I cannot recall ever having encountered him before. Yet.. I must have. He knew about my.."

"Melee trained, yet.....he initially claimed not to be, used that as an excuse to draw me away from the base. I did notice he carries dual swords."

"Hmmm....interesting...." Dinobot mused.

It was then Rattrap brought up some images of some unusual lettering. Dinobot and the Maximals didn't recognize the letters, but someone in the room did recognize them.

"Do you recognize these symbols?" Rattrap asked Nemesis as he pulled them up on a separate screen for her to look at. It was the ancient Cybertronian engraving on the empty pod that allegedly came from the Akira. Since she was originally a Decepticon and much older than the rest of them there, maybe she'd be able to read it.

"Not all of the Decepticons agreed to undergo the transformation into protoform technology," she explained, "Some left to establish colonies elsewhere. Some of those colonies still exist to this day, secluded from Cybertron and the Maximals and Predacons there. I was created in one of those colonies, only ever visiting Cybertron very briefly on my travels."

Using one hand to trace along the roughly carved lines depicted on the screen, she continued. "This particular symbol means one, the one over here in front of it looks damaged but it appears to say chosen. "

Dinobot was intrigued, but Rattrap was suspicious.

"Created...?" Rattrap inquired when his audios deliciously segregated that word and glanced up at Nemesis from his chair over his shoulder. "Created on one of those colonies as a Decepticreep with dis nanotech and you've never seen or heard of Darkwind before? Yeah right. And then you happily came to Earth in a floating basket with an umbrella attached to it, landing in the icy waters and freezin' yourself inta stasis. So much information is missin' in there," he pointed out.

"Is it not possible that Nemesis left the colony before Darkwind arrived?" Dinobot interrupted growing tired of the rat's incessant paranoia. Then he turned to Nemesis. "Or is it possible, Nemesis, that he has disguised himself so that you do not recognize him or that he is going by an assumed name?"

Finally Rattrap pulled up another image. This one was of Nemesis....or at least someone who looked like Nemesis exiting the Maximal base.

"Well, well, well, looks like Darkwind was right. If everybody would turn their attention this way, you'll see the sneaky, mind-numbing Nemesis leavin' our base." He paused for a moment in thought. "But there ain't any records of our alarms sounding for your signature or any intruder at that same time..." And that boggled his mind. There was no proof that that was actually Nemesis, or if the video had been tampered with by this Darkwind guy. But Sentinel should have picked up someone's signature here and logged it. Rattrap grew baffled by this. He was stumped.

"That.. can't be me," Nemesis muttered....

Dinobot leaned in closer to the screen. "That does appear to be Nemesis," Dinobot agreed after a few moments of studying the screen.

"Well, I don't see how it can be anybody else. Except for the Vok. But they woulda made more noise by now," he admitted. Nemesis could still be keeping up the charade for all he knew, continuing her lies until she'd get what she really came for. "Remember dat time they came disguised as Optimus but he could cloak himself?" "Fun times."

"Indeed," Dinobot answered briefly.

Whitegrazer spoke up.

"You are correct. There are only two reasons why Sentinel couldn't pick him up." "Either this individual has the technology to cloak himself to our sensors or... Sentinel registered his signature as a friendly." "He must have known about your abilities. That is why he targetted you. It was easy for him to disguise himself as you. And that means... you're his primary target."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, 'Grazer. Are you sayin' he's a shape-shifter? I doubt that." They were fairly rare but it wasn't impossible, he just didn't want to jump to any conclusions. "He's gotta have some kinda device he's usin' ta block our sensors and ta tamper with our video feed 'cause he didn't register on Sentinel's scanners and neither did Nemesis but here she is, clear as an energon cube, leavin' our base." The video had been paused on her figure as if they were studying the controversial footage of the legendary Sasquatch.

While it was possible that Nemesis had done this herself and was playing them all...Maximals and Predacons alike, Dinobot just couldn't fathom what she could possibly gain from doing so. There was nothing at the Maximal base she could possibly want....was there? The golden disks? Was this all a ploy just to get to the disks? But....still....how could the sensors have missed picking up her energy signature? It was a huge and unnecessarily elaborate deception if all she were after was the golden disks.

"Rattrap," Dinobot began choosing to use the vermin's name which he only did on these such rare occasions. "Is there any way that the alarms could have been tampered with?" Dinobot paused. He finally added hesitantly for he knew at once what the outcome of his suggestion would be. "Perhaps Darkwind had an accomplice among the Maximals? Perhaps someone helped him enter the base undetected and turned off the alarms." He waited for the inevitable result of his suggestion....the rat was sure to accuse Dinobot first....