The Intergalactic Highway

Airazor frowned slightly as she heard Frilla, giving a worried glance towards the frilled lizard. She really hoped she could manage until they got back. If her wing wasn’t in the shape it was, she likely would have gotten the small Maximal back to base as quickly as possible. But, she too didn’t press the matter and merely kept an eye on the pod as they moved. She gave the wing an occasional test flap, but her internal computer always gave a feedback that it would be a while yet before she could considering flying, causing her to settle soon after.

But she perked up when Rattrap inquired about Dinobot’s silence. It was odd for the raptor to be so quiet after a battle. What could be making him think so deeply?

Cheetor briefly turned his gaze to Aurora, “We did this time. But still doesn’t change the fact it could happen to any of us.” The metal cheetah responded, still thinking about how creepy and nightmare inducing Tarantulas could be. Being a prisoner for a short while was one thing, but for a long period of time...even he would go insane.

Optimus soon captured his attention again. “Guess I’m becoming a quick study.” The young cheetah remarked, feeling he had had to change tactics a lot lately as their battles progressed. At first, Cheetor was surprised and delighted to hear that Optimus did agree about his mixed method proposal to some extent. But it faded somewhat when the transmetal gorilla pointed out pushing too far might bring greater retaliation. “Greater than they already are?” Cheetor pointed out, skeptical anything could get worse than what was happening. “I think we’re well past the reality of the lengths they’re willing to go Optimus, they’ve more than proven that time and time again.”

But, the cheetah took a calming breath for a moment before he allowed his anger to start boiling over again. Aside from their conflicting views though their own goals were still the same. Optimus’ final words though made the cheetah grin slightly, “That is too true, Big Bot.”

Next to them, Tigerhawk had kept his optics peeled on their surroundings as the three talked. He didn’t catch every word due to his close proximity, but he got the gist of the once again differing ideas on tactics among the Maximals. It was an interesting change in the dynamic of some, especially the younger Maximals seeming to favor something more akin to what the Predacons had been doing compared to Optimus or Rhinox who still favored more diplomatic, sneaky tactics to keep the advantage.

The large fuzor personally would prefer the improvised tactics over pushing the envelope any day.

Soon enough though, the two felines descended down towards the ship along with Optimus and Aurora. Cheetor transformed once his feet hit the ground and his jet boosters folded into his side, opting to follow Optimus to the bridge using the second lift to do so and was greeted with the sight of the recovering equine. “Ultra gear, Onyx! Glad to see you moving around!” The young cheetah said with excitement and relief, recalling the rock slide that had taken him out. Tigerhawk however had remained in beast mode to allow his repairs to continue while he headed into the hanger instead just in case any of the others arrived that were more seriously injured than he was. He could handle a few layers of lost armor.

But he paused as he heard sound inside. Was Zodiac roaming around in the hanger? Heading in, the fuzor curiously investigated the noise and found one of their largest Maximals within, “Rhinox.” The tiger/hawk fuzor greeted.

+++++++++++++++++

Ugh! Somehow, the arachnid never failed to lose his creep factor. Spineback had to admit, she agreed with Nemesis in why they bothered with the spider at all. They could probably accomplish so much more if he was taken out of the picture. He would be so easy to squash figuratively and literally if they gave half the effort they did with the Maximals. Yet, Megatron kept the spider just close enough to make use of his talents.

The Chief Medic couldn’t help wondering how long that would last to reach the end goal.

But her attention wasn’t on Tarantulas for long before she was drawn to Nemesis again who put faith in her work to help the avian. “Just make sure you do that system reboot and keep yourself at least somewhat defended while I find a solution. Finding tolerable company is scarce on this team.” She sighed as she glanced towards the bickering ant and fuzor, showing a form of mild annoyance. “Both of you can it back there before I weld you two together for a week.” She prompted towards the two.

Before long however, Tarantulas saw fit to answer her observations and inquiries, causing her to glare towards the drone. ‘Figures.’ She thought to herself, watching with a slight smirk as Terrabite handled the nuisance of a drone, turning to follow after Megatron once welcoming silence fell among the group except the chatter here and there. Though she turned her head slightly when Waspinator announced they were being followed, and by someone too far for her own sensors to detect.

Terrorsaur glared towards Nemesis, letting out a small scoff, “As if you wouldn’t eventually do it to save your own hide Nemesis. We all do it.” He countered with a low growl before he took flight, paying little mind towards the conversation with Tarantulas. It was the same old tune with the spider, no matter what happened he had his schemes as Megatron had his. And they were both flaunting their egos and their capabilities as typically done in most of their encounters. So, he was more than happy to take flight and head to base.

But no sooner had they gotten from the forest did the wasp report someone following, causing Terrorsaur to become curious now. And upon Megatron’s order, motioned for the insect to follow, veering off towards the side to back track slightly until he noticed the one who had been following. “Megatron, it appears that raptor medic has found us on his own. He survived the encounter from two weeks ago.” Terrorsaur reported without approaching the raptor right away. No doubt he saw them already.

Rampage closely observed the t-rex for a moment as he spoke, wondering he merely was downplaying his need for a strong super soldier, so Primal claimed him to be, or he really meant his words. “Hm, I suppose we’ll see.” Came his only response. Megatron was right about one thing, he had prevented him from being imprisoned again, that much he could admit. But, that didn’t change the fact the tyrant seemed oblivious to his true agenda. He would either allow himself to unleash his hunger or provoke someone into what he truly wanted, which Megatron had seemed close to doing.

But not close enough. So, the crab left it at that, thinking to himself as everything else happened around him.

((Yes, this week has been absolutely bonkers! I’ll be posting shortly now that I’ve gotten stuff settled here too.

EDIT: Also Phoenix, stay safe! Hope everything goes well.))

For once, Onyx wasn’t trying to be the tough guy surprisingly. He genuinely had no idea the extent of the damage done to his frame, or how concerning any lasting, permanent damage might have been done. He would need to find time to test out his joints at some point, for now not registering if this damage might have profound effects on his effectiveness as a warrior.

Such a thought didn’t exactly bode well in his mind, making him dread having to push himself soon enough.

Watching as the larger Maximal left, Onyx turned his attention back to the console, prepping the CR chambers there in the bridge and checking their status. They seemed optimal and ready. And no sooner had he finished his task did Sentinel alert him to four Maximal signals arriving, Optimus, Aurora, Cheetor, and Tigerhawk. He could guess Airazor was injured to have been with them or had stayed behind as air support for the ground unit. Regardless of the matter, the black equine turned and limped over near the round table, where he found himself greeted by familiar faces, “Its good to see you three too.” The warrior greeted them, offering a welcoming smile before addressing Optimus’ question. “He went to prepare the CR chamber in the hanger.” He answered.

But he observed Optimus’ hesitation, recalling the young ermine was not found of the CR chambers after an incident before he had even come online. “I can keep an optic on her Optimus just in case it becomes too much. Not like I’ll be able to go far.” He assured his commander, and also directed towards Aurora in the hopes it could also alleviate her own fears. “You’ll be in good hands.” He assured the fuzor.

———————————————

Quickfix has continued to tail the group from afar, gradually getting closer and closer in attempt to confirm his suspicions. But, it appeared before he could he too had been spotted, causing him to eye the sky as he saw two approaching metallic shapes, the sun reflecting off their shiny surfaces.

Squinting his optics against the sun, the Utah raptor was able to make out familiar shapes, the pterodactyl and one Predacon he had not seen during the last battle. It really was the Predacons. Of course, Terrorsaur’s screechy voice carried down to him as they circled above, causing his progress to slow slightly, “At least I don’t have to go searching anymore.” He muttered to himself, but it would be another thing potentially joining the merry band considering his loss during the last battle. But surely they wouldn’t pass up a medic or another medical hand right? He was about to find out...

“I don’t suppose you two are here to take me to join you?” Quickfix inquired towards the two fliers, his metallic feathers rising and falling in uncertainty.

((Also, I held back from asking this until now but since we aren’t certain of Una’s return or not, I figured I should ask if you guys want me to temporarily take over BA?))

(( OOC: If you would like to play BA, Wildfire, then by all means, please do so. I was going to take her myself since I feel that she should remain essential to the story especially later in this season, but it would help me greatly if you took her instead. Thank you! ))

“We did this time. But still doesn’t change the fact it could happen to any of us.”

While Cheetor's statement wasn't entirely untrue, Aurora somewhat doubted it would be worthwhile for the spider or any of the Predacons to put so much effort into assimilating the Maximals into their fold. Perhaps a few high value targets, yes, but for the most part the Maximals just weren't worth the time and resources required.

Although she certainly remembered the pain and suffering that had been done to her while Tarantulas worked his magic, she wouldn't want it any other way than how it turned out in the end. Not now, not ever. Her entire outlook on life had changed as the spider had forced his way into her mind.. her thoughts.. her very existence.

Still.. She couldn't exactly share how she felt about any of this, not when the spider counted on her. So to avoid giving away her cover of still being the same, lame geek she used to be, she quietly nodded and lowered her gaze as to emphasize the seriousness of Cheetor's observation.

"And I'll be forever grateful you got me out of that terrible situation," she whispered, barely loudly enough for the ones close to her to hear. She sounded weak, tired, worn down..

The little fuzor fell silent while Cheetor and Primal discussed the situation at hand, secretly pondering if any of the information she was obtaining through their chatter could be useful later on. But most of all she just wanted to get to the Axalon and locate her primary target so that they could return to Tarantulas like he had ordered. Ugh, how long were they going to keep chatting? There did seem to be some disagreement about how forceful the Maximals should be against the Predacon threat, a semi useful tidbit of information the fuzor stored away for later.

Meanwhile the flight back to the base was fairly uneventful, allowing the smaller Maximal female to rest a bit while still cradled in Primal's arms. She noticed him looking at her from time to time in silent contemplation, but he didn't say much to disturb her quiet rest. And Aurora appreciated it, since it gave her the opportunity to plan ahead.

And then, finally, the Axalon emerged in the distance, prompting the fuzor to stir as she seemed to wake up more. The sight of the base lodged at the edge of a cliff overhanging a waterfall caused her to smile a bit, although it was a relieved smile that shouldn't cause any suspicion to arise.

"Home at last," she whispered, clearly happy yet still exhausted. Now her work could finally begin.

Primal transformed and made the landing as smooth as he could, not that the fuzor was overly concerned about such trivial things right now. She just wanted to go back to her room and be left alone so that she could do her job. The welcome committee at the Axalon only consisted of a single individual, the male equine she quickly recognized as Onyx. He had still been getting repairs last she remembered of him yet now he was no doubt going to be yet another obstacle.. Great.. But Aurora still smiled as widely as she could upon seeing him.

"It's good to see you functioning again, Onyx. Where's Rhinox?"

Ah yes.. Rhinox.. The old Aurora's mentor of sorts. Big, bulky, and with a severe flatulence problem when he was allowed to eat whatever he wanted to.. Which he often did. Well, he shouldn't pose as too much of a problem since he usually respected her privacy and didn't really ask too many questions. Hopefully she could avoid him as much as possible, as well as the rest of them..

“Its good to see you three too.”

"Onyx.. what a pleasant surprise! I trust you're all repaired?," she replied with a weak smile as Primal and the others met up with the now awakened equine. She was doing a fairly good job of hiding her true feelings about all of them.

“He went to prepare the CR chamber in the hanger.”

Well.. Good! Being around all these goody-two-shoes Maximals, even though she used to consider herself one of them, was getting on her nerves already. The less of them she'd have to keep up appearances for, the better.

And then Primal made the obvious decision of remaining on the side of caution, ever predictable as he could be, and carried her over to a cryo chamber for repairs. Well, it seemed her plans would have to wait a short while longer.. Since she couldn't exactly protest and arouse suspicion. No, she'd have to remain the way she would have acted back when she truly was Maximal and one of them.

Keeping up the act, her expression changed to one of solemn contemplation as they approached the CR chamber, even adding a hint of fright in her optics as she viewed the large machine where she had witnessed Icebreaker lose his life some time ago now. It was all an act, of course, since the fuzor who identified herself as Aurora no longer harbored any emotional attachment towards any of the Maximals due to Tarantulas' efforts to assure her reprogramming wouldn't be broken. Still, she very much so remembered the range of emotional turmoil she had experienced upon seeing the penguin expire the way he did. She just no longer cared. However since the Aurora the Maximals knew and cared for wasn't like that at all, she still pretended as not to arouse suspicion.

“I can keep an optic on her Optimus just in case it becomes too much. Not like I’ll be able to go far.”

And apparently it was working. Onyx even went so far as to offer to babysit her. Ugh.. At least that part of Aurora's personality remained the same. She didn't like being babysat then and she certainly despised the notion now. Still, there was little she could do to object so she merely closed her optics and attempted to rest.

“You’ll be in good hands.”

Yes. Her own. And Tarantulas', of course. Oh, how she wished the spider could be there with her to guide her. If at all possible she almost missed his presence, a thought that would have seemed impossible only a few weeks back. Yet now he was all she cared about and she wanted nothing more than to obey him and make sure he remained safe and content.

She gave Optimus a weak nod as he lowered her into the chamber and sealed her inside for some repairs. Fortunately the chamber would only focus on any physical injuries she may have sustained as it would be unable to detect any changes in her programming.

Nemesis watched as Megatron's face soured the more of Tarantulas' mockery came out of the drone. While it was no secret that the tyrant disliked and distrusted the spider, and that the feeling seemed to be mutual, it was also a bit of a relief to see just how deep these emotions ran. Yes, Tarantulas had more information on her than she cared to admit, but the fact that Megatron could barely keep his irritation towards the spider constrained could be an advantage..

Fortunately Terrabite seemed as annoyed as the rest of them at the endless chatter and cackling coming from the upside-down drone.

“You are nothing but a coward with an ego spider. You can’t even face your accusations in person, slinking off to the dark like the yellow-bellied treacherous wrench you are.” Terrabite growled with disgust. “Its bots like you that make me sick.”

Another spark felt mocking cackle emerged from the drone just moments before Terrabite proved that he lived up to his name and sunk his teeth into the device, crushing it in his jaws before spitting a part out. And as the drone powered down for the final time, the laughter silenced as well, leaving Nemesis to let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that's certainly a lot easier on my audioreceptors," she mumbled as she prepared to leave with the others. No doubt Tarantulas was back at one of his secret lairs which suited her just fine. The further the creepy crawler stayed away from her, the better.

It would be nice to end this disaster of a day on a better note.. Maybe she'd find some watering hole somewhere and take a bath, since such commodities were hard to come by at the Darksyde. Unless you counted the regenerative cryo-baths, but those didn't exactly leave her feeling clean. In fact the only actual bath tub she was aware of in their base was in Megatron's private quarters and she certainly wasn't going to request permission to use that one.

"But at least it will keep him delayed and incapable of eavesdropping any further."

Perhaps.. But Nemesis doubted this particular drone was meant to provide Tarantulas with any really desired information. He wouldn't have let it show itself so easily if so and certainly wouldn't have used it to gloat.. or whatever that had been about. With the spider it was always hard to tell for sure. Often she felt he did it out of enjoyment, just to annoy the tyrant. And he was usually wise enough to keep a safe distance when he did, knowing Megatron's temper and strength.

"As long as it made you feel better," she told Terrabite with a slight shrug of the shoulders. No doubt it did. The constant cackling was giving her a headache to say the least.

“Just make sure you do that system reboot and keep yourself at least somewhat defended while I find a solution. Finding tolerable company is scarce on this team.”

Nemesis gave a nod and offered a smile to the other female. Trustworthy and competent allies were hard to come by among the Predacons, so she could most certainly relate. The two of them did share something of a history in a sense in that they had both been Decepticons at one point and had been upgraded with the protoform technology. Well, in Nemesis' case it most certainly hadn't been a decision she had made willingly and at times she did miss her larger, more lethal form. But as things were, that form had been incompatible with life on this organic world.

The prospect of minimizing the damage electricity could do to her was alluring indeed.. Now that her weakness was more or less widespread knowledge, especially after they had all been battling someone with a similar, albeit more potent, set of powers than her, it was only a matter of time before they had equipment readily available to use against her. Like that rifle the Maximals had shot her with which had effectively incapacitated her for a while. And who knew what the long term effects were.

"It would be most enjoyable to destroy that new rifle the Maximals are sporting now.. Or better yet to render its technology useless against me. "


She was being truthful even though she was exaggerating a tad.

“As if you wouldn’t eventually do it to save your own hide Nemesis. We all do it.”

Her genuine smile towards Spineback soon enough soured as Terrorsaur couldn't help his attitude shining through. No wonder Megatron was so impatient with most of his troops.. A lot of them were truly impossibly difficult.

"Perhaps if you could just follow orders more often, for a change, your hide wouldn't need saving all the time," she snapped back at the pterodactyl. Oh, she wouldn't take his crap.. If he wanted to annoy her, she'd beat him down tenfold.

Meanwhile Tarantulas could only smile to himself as the drone stopped transmitting information. Oh well, he was genuinely surprised the tyrant had waited this long to destroy his little toy. Not that it mattered in the least. He had hundreds of those drones in his possession.

Seating himself at the computer console in his secret lair, the spider glanced at the blinking dot showing him his little assistant's whereabouts. By now she seemed to be located at the Axalon, so he should be able to get the information he needed soon. And after that, after she had completed her mission and delivered the objective to him, he wondered what he should do with her.

She was loyal as few, much more so than BlackArachnia ever had been, and she possessed a great deal of knowledge he could certainly take advantage of.. Perhaps he'd keep her around. Show her his ways, teach her like a parent figure.. Nah, he'd simply use her skills for his own benefit and when he tired of her or she disappointed him in any way he'd simply torment her.. or worse. He really didn't care. Not as long as he got what he wanted and she didn't annoy him like her predecessor had. Although perhaps he'd change her appearance to something more.. relatable to him. He did have a soft spot for arachnids after all.

So now all he had to do was wait.. And try to be patient about it. It wouldn't be easy, but the rewards he planned to reap from this would be great. And there was nothing Megatron or his goons could do to stop it. And soon enough he'd have his own little armada of loyal subjects more powerful than what Megatron had at his disposal.

Oh, it was going to be glorious!

Back at the Axalon, Zodiac had made his way back to his quarters with the medical records of his own previous scan in his possession. Tricking the computer to give up the information had been no great task now that he was able to change his voice and appearance again, especially since the computer system in the medical bay didn't have the strictest of security measures implemented in the first place. After all, he had only searched out information about his own results, no huge secrets or weapon access. No, he had done it as swiftly as he could, focusing his attention on what truly mattered no matter how tempting obtaining other information was.

There would be time for that later..

So now he found himself alone in his quarters, having been clever enough to temporarily disable the cameras in the medical bay for a few moments so they wouldn't see what he was up to. By the time he'd left, the cameras had started recording again, leaving the impression there had simply been a short-lived glitch that caused it to behave that way.

Looking at the chip in his hand which contained the copy of his earlier scan, the one from an era before this virus was wrecking havoc with his memories, Zodiac drew a slight sigh. After all, he had come to realize that the Maximals didn't truly want him to remember everything since they clearly didn't trust him after his earlier actions. Not that he truly blamed them for that. It was in their best self-interest to keep him under tight control, as had likely been the case most of his life. He was, after all, rather unique with abilities unheard of on their home planet. Or at least so he presumed, unless this other individual Rhinox had briefly mentioned was capable of the things he was. Yet somehow he doubted it.

A small part of him did feel a little bad that he had resorted to sneaking around behind the rhinoceros' back to find out the truth they clearly didn't intend for him to discover. In a sense he needed to know, but he also found himself developing a sense of trust and even attachment to the few Maximals who treated him well. Like Rhinox.. and Optimus.. And Tigerhawk.. Onyx, eh, Zodiac was rather indifferent towards him to tell the truth. He didn't recall interacting much with him beyond those few moments in the medical bay.

Of course Onyx was in good company in that regards. There were plenty of Maximals Zodiac didn't have any emotional attachments for, like Rattrap for instance. And the rodent would no doubt be returning to base soon so he wouldn't be able to put off that encounter forever, no matter how much he'd like to.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he already knows what you did, and he's just waiting for you to confess,"

It seemed Rhinox was of a similar opinion to Optimus, who had basically demanded that he apologized to the rodent. Which the shape shifter really felt no obligation to do. Yes, perhaps he'd been wrong to steal from the rat, but in his defense the rodent hadn't exactly welcomed him with open arms. Besides.. it had been fun, a little excitement during his prolonged house arrest status. Besides, despite what Rhinox had implied, Zodiac doubted the rodent would miss such a trivial item as the one he had taken. If he did, it said more about the rodent and his hobbies than the renegade wanted to know.

His curiosity only went so far after all.

A brief alert through the base informing those still there of the incoming Maximal party but Zodiac made no attempt to go out there to greet them. His priorities were elsewhere, no matter how selfish those priorities might seem to some. They were important to him.

Slipping the chip into the computer they had so graciously allowed him access to, one which obviously had been disconnected from the rest of the computer network and was only able to access a very small amount of information by itself, Zodiac watched with interest as his specs from the earlier scan pulled up. He then placed his hand on the computer console and closed his optics, letting his own self diagnostic system run comparisons between the scans he was making on himself and the information pulled from the earlier results. He did so by letting the nanomachines take control, merging his hand with the console, and pulling the data he needed from there. It was a strange, yet very familiar sensation, making it obvious he'd done similar feats before.

The process was rather tedious considering the massive amounts of information he had to compare to establish what the changes were from his original schematics and the existing one with the alterations that had been implemented by the virus. Tedious.. and slower than he liked. Yet overall it only took a few nanoclicks for his self-diagnostic system to pinpoint the source of the virus that did such a good job of hiding out within him that without having something to compare to he'd never be able to locate it.

And the moment his systems knew what they were looking for, the process of cleansing the virus from himself began. And with the virus soon to be gone, so would the barriers that kept his memories locked up be as well..

With the trek being relatively uneventful, Dinobot has more than enough time to have his processor occupied. They weren’t making any detours and so far none of his former comrades had thought to tail them. So maybe he could...

Rattrap suddenly speaking up towards him snapped the raptor from his thoughts, glancing towards the rodent then. “Merely thinking vermin, nothing more.” He answered in his usual gruff tone, reaching up and tearing the vines with his claws and teeth to free himself from hauling the pod. He had something far more important on his mind first other than hauling a seemingly useless, sparkless individual. “I shall...do a final check to be certain we are not followed. It has been far too quiet for my liking, we should do well keep our guard up at all times.” He told them before sprinting back into the forest, backtrack to where hey had come from not too long ago before he could allow anyone to protest.

In reality, Dinobot just needed to get far enough away to enact his own idea, dangerous and unpredictable in its outcome but it would be something to risk. When the raptor felt he was far enough away, glancing back to be certain they were out of his sights and earshot, only then did he maximize. “Now...” Dinobot reached into his subspace to procure the object he had taken from Spineback, finding it locked with a special mechanism. Rubbing his chin, the warrior fired a few quick shots at the lock to force it open, finding several empty vials except for one. The vial appeared an eerie purple glowing liquid, gingerly lifted between two of his claws.

Sniffing it, the raptor growled with disgust, “Ugh, the crab and chemicals...not the most pleasant of mixtures.” He rumbled, tucking the open case under his arm to pop the top off. “But if it offers an advantage.” Without hesitation, the raptor carefully sipped most of the mysterious liquid, grunting in disgust at the foul taste before replacing the cap, leaving enough to be examined by the others later.

Shuddering at the slight burning coursing through his veins, Dinobot for now ignores the sensation, putting the vial back where it was and closing the case to stow away again. Confident in what he had just done, the raptor sprinted off after the ground unit, knowing he could catch up quite easily.

Tigatron had glanced back at Dinobot, wondering what had the raptor suddenly so quiet. But, it seemed he still had other matters on his mind enough to continue to act on his own. Some things never changed with the raptor that was for sure. “Hm, guess he’s still riled up from the battle.” The white tiger guessed, never knowing what to think with Dinobot at times before turning his attention ahead. There was no telling how the rest of their day would go however, it still was early and it had felt things had settled rather quickly considering the circumstances.

Deep down, the white tiger felt this was but another calm in the storm.

As for Frilla, she paid little mind to Dinobot’s quietness, focusing on the trip back home. She had stopped trying to understand the raptor a long time ago, especially when they were so different even by their former faction’s standards. He was another Predacon she had hotly debated of how to handle things. So him going off and being paranoid wasn’t exactly a shock, but with how little warning he gave was what really made her glance I’ve rher shoulder as his form disappeared into the foliage behind them. It felt like there was something he wasn’t telling them, but she couldn’t place what that was exactly.

Shaking her head, the frilled lizard just looked ahead again, trying to focus on other matters to block out the pain. But, it was difficult. Each bump or too long of a stride made her hiss in pain, sending waves of pain through her body and gradually slowing her pace. She was falling behind little by little, which was a bit of annoyance and would force her to likely have to wait on Dinobot for assistance, “Rattrap, you three go on ahead. I’ll wait on Dinobot and I need a few minutes, this wound is slowing me down.” She told him, finally coming to a stop and panting a little. She really had pushed her luck this time.

——————————————

“Persistent bugger then isn’t he.” Terrabite remarked once they had left behind the remains of the drone. Probably more from where that came from. “Just give the word, I can leave him a little surprise.” The demolitions expert gave a somewhat maniacal cackle, “I am sure it will be a blast.” He smirked. Between Megatron remarking about how Tarantulas could be more than a thorn in someone’s side and Nemesis’ and Spineback’s words affirming this, it likely would be welcoming to shut the spider down for a good while. Or for good. He could do both if they so wished, he had no problems with interfactional murder. Traitors like Tarantulas infuriated him anyway.

And he had barely known the spider.

Though his attention was drawn to the cannibalistic crab who was far more openly defiant of Megatron. At least he wasn’t crawling off into a hole like the spider, but it made Terrabite no less uneasy. Something about the crab just made even the psychotic murderer...uneasy. Rampage was a killer in his own right, immensely destructive and nearly indestructible as the mutterings went around the base. In some ways he could respect the crab’s methods but kept his distance. It was a wonder Megatron didn’t keep a healthy dose of control over the monster.

Then, they had an unexpected tail following them. The crocodile mech went silent for a moment, tuning his audios to listen to the report who the two fliers had found.

It was hard to give a confirmation for Megatron’s initially inquiry. Waspinator could make out a metallic frame but couldn’t make a definite shape at this distance. Not that he got a chance to answer when the tyrant soon followed for them to check who it was.

Turning, the metal wasp followed after Terrorsaur towards their follower, who was soon identified as the new Predacon from a couple weeks prior. Surprising he had lasted this long. “Waspinator will make contact.” The insect told Terrorsaur, lowering closer towards the young raptor who asked if they were there to bring him to join them. A natural reaction, but ultimately Megatron’s decision. “Waspinator and beak-face take lizard-bot to Megatron to decide that.” Waspinator informed him, motioning for Quickfix to follow them back towards the group.

“Yea, yea, keep on jabberin’ on ant.” Quickstrike at the present moment was less than impressed with Inferno’s threats. Or really didn’t all that much care. He doubted the fire ant would make good on his promise unless truly provoked, and even the fuzor was just ready to get back to base and relax for a while. Between being crushed under a tree and paralyzed, he was ready for a snooze and to get as far away as possible from any further danger to regather himself.

Spineback’s quick snap for them to hush also gave more than enough incentive for Quickstrike to go silent, gulping slightly as he followed the other Predacons. Though he turned his head slightly at the mention of someone following them.

"And I'll be forever grateful you got me out of that terrible situation,"

Looking down at Aurora in his arms, the Maximal leader could only bear to offer her a faint smile because if Tarantulas hadn't brought her to the battle, then she would still be held captive in his secret lair full of nightmares. There hadn't been much the Maximals could do to find her, and of course he felt terrible and responsible for that, but it was almost as though she had fallen right into their laps during the battle that morning. Not that any of them were complaining. "Just try to rest now, Aurora," he said softly. There was no need for her to be thankful. This crew of Maximals and Predacons looked out for each other. They would have done anything to save her because they cared about her.

“Guess I’m becoming a quick study.”

In some ways, Optimus could agree with Cheetor on that comment. The young cat was growing up fast, but it had been forced upon him in this war for survival which wasn't necessarily a good thing. His youth had basically been robbed from him, and as such his behavior tended to be immature at times and lacking in foresight, and sometimes his cockiness and emotions got the better of him often landing him in trouble. Cheetor was the definition of innocence in the sense that he didn't understand the politics of war, nor had he experienced the politics on Cybertron. Optimus was probably the closest father figure the cat had, and so he was the most influential bot in his life, but even Primal had his dark secrets; most of which had surfaced for the rest of his crew to judge him with. Despite his own mistakes, Cheetor gained more knowledge and moral conduct under Optimus's guidance while he had witnessed the worst of Cybertron's villainy and tyranny by having faced Megatron and his band of goons for this length of time. It wasn't the ideal situation for any Maximal or Predacon to grow up in. Often it was conflicting and confusing to such adolescents like him and Aurora. Of course he was a quick learner, but there was still a lot for Cheetor to understand and experience. In fact, there was still a lot that Optimus was learning, too. There was constant adaptation and creativity involved in this war, after all, especially for a crew that was meant for exploration and science, not war.

“Greater than they already are?”

"Yes," he answered simply and with some reluctance.

“I think we’re well past the reality of the lengths they’re willing to go Optimus, they’ve more than proven that time and time again.”

Keeping his gaze forward as he carried Aurora through the sky, his expression was thoughtful on Cheetor's words. What exactly were the Maximals supposed to do? Capture and imprison all of the Predacons? Even if they could, the Axalon didn't have the space or the resources. Maybe they would split up the prisoners; keep some at the Axalon and some at the Darksyde under guard? Something was bound to go wrong at some point, and then Predacons would start escaping, and then their efforts to stop them would have been for naught. What weighed on the gorilla's mind a lot these days after learning that they were in fact on Earth was the time frame as to when they were currently occupying the planet. And if it was actually possible that their ancestors were already there. Unbeknownst to Primal, Megatron was already aware and taking the necessary steps to procure such knowledge and keep it secret. The Maximals didn't have the means to search and locate either ship, but as far as Optimus knew, neither did the Predacons. "Megatron has been holding back," he finally said softly as he glanced over at Cheetor. "He's had plenty of opportunities to finish some of us off and dwindle our numbers, but he has refrained from doing so." Although he wasn't quite sure of his reasoning behind it. "If he wanted to, he could orchestrate a well-devised attack that would separate us from each other and potentially pick us off one by one." The Predacons certainly had the ammunition, the strength and agility to accomplish such a feat against a few Maximal scientists and Predacon traitors if they could actually work together as well as the Maximals did. In fact, they had accomplished that once or twice already and had frighteningly proven the effectiveness of their efforts.

"We mustn't forget the types of Predacons that we're dealing with under his tyranny. Some of them are thirsty for blood and eager to murder us. Some of them are unhinged and unpredictable. We're not like that, Cheetor. It's an entirely different mentality that our morals can't grasp. Even when my life has been on the line, I still searched for the non-lethal solution for escape, because once you cross that line of taking a life... it will change you forever. I'm not saying we shouldn't defend ourselves, or that we shouldn't try a more aggressive offense, but when we're faced with that split-second decision of survival and we hesitate to make that final blow on our enemy because our moral compasses will tell us to do so, some of the Predacons won't. And they won't feel remorse or empathy. That's the forced confrontation that I'm trying to avoid. The more we threaten the Predacons' survival, the more we may be inadvertently threatening our own." Ever the lecturer, he hoped it made sense to the younger Maximal and that he understood the concerns that he was trying to convey even though he was positive that the TransMetal cheetah wasn't eluding to going to such lengths of brutality like murder. "Tell you what, Cheetor; if you already have some ideas in mind that you want to share with everyone, we'll go over them and come up with some tactics that could be useful. Does that sound viable? Don't forget that exploiting the Predacons' weaknesses is always a readily available avenue," he added in a light tone.

"Home at last,"

Once a warm smile, it shifted to a subtle frown as Aurora's energon readings were declining further judging by Primal's internal scanners and her nearly inaudible whisper over the sound of the air around them as they descended to the Axalon and eventually went inside and met Onyx. Optimus was relieved that Zodiac hadn't been present at that moment. He had no idea how Aurora would react to the news of one of their greatest threats actually being harbored there and treated like one of their own. The very renegade who had almost killed all of them more than one time.

“Ultra gear, Onyx! Glad to see you moving around!”

One thing Optimus couldn't deny was that Cheetor's optimism wasn't too dissimilar from his own, and he was always upbeat and supportive of his friends. Those were great qualities to have. Primal went about to carrying Aurora toward the chamber while Cheetor caught up with the former Predacon.

At first glance, Onyx appeared to be fully repaired, but once he started to move around, Primal noticed his limp. He hoped it wouldn't be a permanent ailment like his own whenever he was in robot mode. Something in his knee joint with his transformation connection had been damaged beyond repair long ago with the torture he had endured while being a prisoner at the Darksyde. For the equine, it could be something entirely different. In any case, he was up and functioning, which was much more positive news than his coma-like state that he had been for a couple weeks, essentially bed-ridden on "life-support". He was certain, though, that Rhinox did his best work to help heal him and the CR had helped fill in the gaps. He supposed time would tell.

"Onyx.. what a pleasant surprise! I trust you're all repaired?,"

Primal smiled lightly at Aurora's reaction to seeing Onyx. But while he was carefully placing her inside of the repair chamber, he took notice of the change of her demeanor. Recalling how she didn't trust the machines after losing Icebreaker, he had tried to assure her every time after that they were the quickest and more reliable way to repair them. Icebreaker's injuries had simply been worse than they had initially thought, and neither Rhinox nor CR could have saved him. Recognizing the fear in her eyes, Optimus gave Aurora a gentle and compassionate pat on the shoulder inside the machine with an assuring smile before he removed himself from its doorway and closed it.

“He went to prepare the CR chamber in the hanger.”

The blue gorilla nodded to Onyx and decided to begin Aurora's repair cycle instead of waiting for the engineer to look her over with his own eyes like he had intended. The machine would be able to look into her injuries with greater detail anyway, and then Rhinox could review the data. His greater concern was her psychological well fare, which the cryo chambers were not able to address. No doubt Rhinox could have asked her a few key questions to see where her mind was without having to overwhelm her since she was already exhausted and low on energy, but it would have to wait. Regardless, the depth of Tarantulas's tampering would still go unnoticed unless she were to act or say things that weren't in her normal nature and mannerisms. Why even make those kinds of accusations if they didn't suspect it to have gone that far? They likely wouldn't.

“I can keep an optic on her Optimus just in case it becomes too much. Not like I’ll be able to go far.”

"Thank you, Onyx," Optimus appreciated him volunteering. "That's probably a good idea." He gave him a light smile. "But eventually we'll want to get you fully recovered as well. We could start you on some physical therapy and see if that helps," he recommended since he wasn't going to let that go so long as there might be a chance to entirely repair his leg or hip or whatever was causing his ailment. As the CR began it's repair cycle on their Chief Biologist, Primal wandered over to the console Rhinox had been using to research the data they collected on his spark earlier that morning and the odd anomaly it caused sometimes while he waited for his friend to return from the hangar and the rest of his Maximals to return with the stasis pod. His own injuries he had sustained were much more minor than the others, so he waived using any of their other repair chambers and allowed his beast mode to handle it. His arm and shoulder had already improved greatly, but the dents and scratches he obtained from Nemesis's kicks to his robot mode's chest and face would still show if he transformed. For now, he remained in his gorilla mode, and his thoughts couldn't help but drift to Wintersong every so often, as well as Tarantulas's own nanogel effect. "What has Zodiac been up to?" he then asked the black equine when he glanced at the internal security cameras and saw nothing unusual going on. Their guest's bracelets indicated that he was still located in his quarters, and Optimus glanced at the rifle that was propped up against one of the consoles on the bridge.

“Rhinox.”

The robust Maximal had been tentatively preparing and running a quick cycle on the larger CR chamber for diagnostics just before Tigerhawk arrived in the hangar with the door deliberately having been left open for any Maximals in need of a quick entrance, access to repairs and to lug in the stasis pod. He was kneeling halfway inside of the CR to tighten a loose hinge when the Fuzor called his name and startled him. Rhinox jumped up as quickly as his large frame could allow, and he accidentally hit the top of his head on the partially lowered door with a bang. "Oof!" Grumbling under his breath as a way to cope with the temporary pain, he crawled out backwards the rest of the way and saw Tigerhawk standing there. Rubbing his head, his mood changed entirely as he greeted the Maximal with a smile and got to his feet. "Hey, Tigerhawk, it's good to see that you're back in one piece. Do you need the CR?" he inquired with the ratchet still in his hand and gesturing to the large machine. The largest Maximal looked a little beat up, but he couldn't know the extent of his wounds by just a quick visual.

-----

“Merely thinking vermin, nothing more.”

"De gears spinnin' a little slow for ya?" Rattrap teased Dinobot as though the lizard was incapable of thinking or doing it quickly. He was joking, of course, but the hot-head Pred seemed to disregard it which puzzled the rat-with-wheels.

“I shall...do a final check to be certain we are not followed. It has been far too quiet for my liking, we should do well keep our guard up at all times.”

"Uh, I think we're good, Dinobutt. I don't smell er sense any Predacon hides near-" The Spy cut himself off when he noticed that Chopper Face had already made his leave and he was practically talking out loud to himself. Sighing, he continued wheeling along as he lead the group through the forest. "Dat was weird, right? Even for him?" he asked the others.

“Hm, guess he’s still riled up from the battle.”

"Eh, maybe," Rattrap commented to Tigatron with some skepticism evident in his voice. Dinobot had been through worse, and sustained terrible injuries in the past that hadn't affected him as much to make him act this paranoid. More paranoid than the rodent, in fact. Instinct told him that his friend was up to something, and Rattrap often listened to his gut. ...In more ways than one.

“Rattrap, you three go on ahead. I’ll wait on Dinobot and I need a few minutes, this wound is slowing me down.”

The rodent finally came to a stop and turned around a little to see the others behind him. "Okay, I didn't wanna have ta say this, but last time I checked, I was in charge here. I'm makin' the calls. Alright?" he emphasized, although it was almost difficult to tell if he was just kidding or being serious considering everything he had been through and probably didn't feel like taking the lead on anything yet. And yet, here they were with a pair of them already wandering off. "You two got some kinda secret meeting dat don't include us?" he playfully accused Frilla. "Yer both wounded pretty badly, you know. Especially you, Frillz." He gave a toothy frown in his dragster mode as his green eyes surveyed her panting and weak energon readings. "I don't want ya lollygagging back dere, so ya better check in with me every five minutes until you catch up. Got it?" It may have seemed excessive, but considering their battle damage and diminished energy, he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. It was already against his better judgement to leave them lagging behind a little bit. Rattrap used his tail to latch on to the pod taking Dinobot's place and turned around to start heading back to the Axalon again, now leaving the humid rain forest and making their way to the base.

-----

“Persistent bugger then isn’t he.”

Unfortunately, thought Megatron toward Terrabite's observation. On the other hand, the arachnid still proved to be useful for Megatron's own agendas. If not right now, then certainly later.

“Just give the word, I can leave him a little surprise.” “I am sure it will be a blast.”

"Hm, I appreciate your enthusiasm," the tyrant almost smirked with him, until he was quick to insult him with the addition of, "Perhaps you would be more successful with Tarantulas than you have been with the Maximals." But then he quickly changed the subject to a more significant matter. "I want your focus on our ship, Terrabite. What improvements have you been able to install thus far?" he inquired.

“Yea, yea, keep on jabberin’ on ant.”

“Both of you can it back there before I weld you two together for a week.”

Inferno cringed a little from Spineback's outburst while she carried him along, but then he looked at Quickstrike and mockingly wiggled his antennae at him as his way of giving him a raspberry without having to use his mandibles so that their medic wouldn't hear him doing it. And if the Fuzor did anything in retaliation, he'd likely get caught instead of the ant. Bwahahahahaha!

“Hm, I suppose we’ll see.”

Indeed we will, thought the tyrant. It was a shame Rampage wasn't willing to be more cooperative. Megatron could get so much more done if the crab would just do what he was told, but at least was in his hands and not Primal's.

“Megatron, it appears that raptor medic has found us on his own. He survived the encounter from two weeks ago.”

After he had ordered his two TransMetal fliers to seek out the one following them, Terrorsaur was quick to chime in with a report. "Is that so?" he questioned rhetorically with some suspicion. "How convenient. Escort him to the Darksyde," he ordered while the rest of the Predacons crossed into the perimeter of their broken, stolen vessel and he himself entered the base in his beast mode with his heavy foot steps echoing throughout the corridors, heading directly to the command center where he expected Waspinator and Terrorsaur to bring the new medic to him before he'd begin his repairs.

"Spineback, make sure everyone's injuries are tended to by whatever means necessary," Megatron instructed her. "I will speak with you when you are finished."

As for Rampage, well, he didn't have any orders for him at the moment and didn't care where he went. Mostly, Megatron didn't feel like listening to him or watching his every move for the time being. He had other things worth pondering and considering.

In typical Dinobot fashion, the raptor was rather vague on what was on his mind. The falcon couldn’t help giving him a skeptical glance when he went from being rather quiet to suddenly having a need to check that they weren’t being followed. Paranoia or something more? Given Dinobot’s track record, Airazor was opt to share Rattrap’s doubts, “My vote is he’s up to something. But who knows what that could be.” The flier observed as it always seemed to be something different. Maybe she would never understand the former Predacon even after all this time of working with him.

Though another concern soon came up, causing all of them to halt and Airazor turning a concerned glance to the situation. She could hear the teasing in Rattrap’s voice, but she could imagine he was concerned about leaving two of their own behind. Given recent events it probably wasn’t wise, but hopefully they wouldn’t linger for too long. It seemed even the rodent would have to admit they couldn’t remain too long themselves and turned to continue, the falcon turning to follow.

“Rattrap, if my wing feels better by the time we get back to the Axalon, I’ll personally back track and find them.” The falcon suggested to him, hoping to ease his worries.

Of course they were holding back, the transmetal cheetah could have told his mentor that. But Cheetor refrained from saying anything sarcastic, merely letting out a small annoyed grumble, “I know they have Optimus, that’s what I’m saying. Sooner or later, Megatron will enact his end goal and we may not be ready to handle it or we may be too late to stop it.” And that was what the cheetah was the most worried about. Being too lenient or not nearly as proactive might get them all killed one day, especially with how more aggressive the Predacons were becoming and the types of individuals they were welcoming in their team. It was both infuriating and worrying to know that any of them would gladly pick them off without a second thought.

The young cheetah just didn’t wish to see more of their friends murdered in cold blood.

Still, he listened attentively to the transmetal gorilla, sighing slightly as he knew in some ways Optimus was right, but at the same time...How did he know none of them would make that choice? That was a big if as the war progressed and the Predacons left them with few choices over time. “A moral compass...that’s becoming harder and harder to maintain Big Bot, watching everything that’s happening these days. Our morale is low as it is, you’re holding out on a huge if should those situations come up, and we never know what we will do under those circumstances. I wish I could say for certain I knew I wouldn’t try to go for the lethal method but...” Cheetor glanced away for a moment, “I won’t make any guarantees.” Inevitably, that was probably the last thing Optimus wanted to hear, but for Cheetor it felt like their diplomatic and non-lethal methods were only doing them so much anymore. Maybe a more lethal, aggressive tactic would help once in a while. Not like he was a stranger to using underhanded methods from time to time.

Although, admittedly they tended to be rather childish.

Once they arrived back to base however, Cheetor was all too happy to drop the subject once inside. It seemed for now they could focus on resting and healing up, observing the black equine limping about which made him frown. Had he been permanently damaged after all? “Hey however you’re feeling, glad to see you up and about.” The cheetah commented, but perked up was hen Optimus inquired about Zodiac. Indeed, where was the amnesiac dragon? If they wanted to talk about a lack of moral compass, Cheetor certainly was listening closely now since he didn’t exactly fully trust the dragon. Not yet.

Tigerhawk flinched when he heard Rhinox hit his head, feeling a little embarrassed for startling the large Maximal. “Sorry about that Rhinox, didn’t mean to startle you.” He apologized as he approached near the CR chamber, giving it a glance and recalling the damage that had been done to the hanger a couple weeks ago among everything else. It seemed to be in working order compared to before. “I could maybe use a quick cycle or two. I should be done before the others return with the stasis pod.” Tigerhawk confirmed, peering at the torn part of his side under his right wing. The pain wasn’t nearly as bad now, but it definitely was still sore.

“Spineback is sporting a new upgrade, really did a number on my side there.” He explained before he stepped into the larger CR chamber that Rhinox had been finishing repairs on, remaining in beast mode to allow the repairs to take place.

+++++++++++++++

As Waspinator flew down to speak with Quickfix, Terrorsaur listened as Megatron spoke about their report. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about this pipsqueak. He seems like he could barely hold a firearm right.” The transmetal flier commented before he lowered down to join his comrade just as he mentioned Megatron would be the one to decide his fate. “Yes, right this way. You’ll get a personal audience with our oh so great leader.” It took all Terrorsaur has to hold back his sarcasm, but he didn’t exactly hide his animosity towards the saurian around the newcomer. What use would it do? He would see the suspicion and mistrust among the crew soon enough as they led him towards the damaged ship.

“That would be a nice added bonus.” Spineback commented in regards towards the rifle Nemesis had mentioned when she had returned to the ship along with Waspinator. She wondered if such a rifle did exist or if it was a story the avian was keeping up. Without proof of seeing it themselves it was hard to say if it was true. But, the Chief Medic decided to go along with it for now until otherwise stated.

For now, she focused on returning to base, paying no further mind to the back and forth between Inferno and Quickstrike. It usually was petty squabbling between the two, and so long as they weren’t trying to tear each other to pieces she cared not for their words. She even failed to notice Inferno’s silent taunting towards the fuzor. Instead, the former Decepticon had become more interested in the reports of their follower, closely listening to the report between Megatron and the fliers as they neared the Darkdyde. Interesting, so the young Predacon has survived. “Hm, I could always keep him busy in the medical bay my lord, can never have too many helping hands.” Spineback suggested should the Predacon commander decide to have Quickfix stick around.

Although given his performance when he first came online that seemed precarious at best.

Once they arrived back, the spinosaur briefly gave Megatron her full attention, bowing her head slightly, “Yes my liege.” The medic had an idea of what Megatron would be speaking with her about, and no doubt not just about examining the psycho crab’s spark. But, she could worry about that when the time came, instead turning her full attention to those already present. “Terrabite, CR tanks ASAP for those acid wounds, Quickstrike the other tank. That should rid of any further lingering paralysis and your wounds from that tree.” She ordered before turned her gaze to Nemesis. She assumed the avian would decide she was fine, but Spineback had to be certain, “Nemesis, when you’re done with rebooting your systems let me have a look after just to be certain there aren’t any further problems. Even you might miss something.” Granted, she knew very little about Nemesis’ nanotechnology aside from what she had observed from afar and what weaknesses that had been brought to light. But as the medical expertise to the crew Spineback felt it best she had a second glance to make sure nothing else was permanently afflicting their second-in-command.

Finally, she turned and headed for the medical bay, stopping near a medical berth and carefully placing the fire ant on one along with his legs. “Give me just a moment.” Stepping back, Spineback transformed with a pained snarl, joints and gears whirring in slight protest as she did. Not the smoothest transition anymore, but she managed. She felt another trail of warm energon go down her side however, reminding the dino femme of her own side wound of which she quickly patched to stop the bleeding...and recalled exactly what side Dinobot had struck. Frowning to herself, she began a quick diagnosis of the area as she grabbed some tools and returned to her most current patient, “Alright Inferno, keep still as you can, this might hurt a little.” She informed the ant as she began reattaching his legs first.

But his thorax would require some work too given it’s damaged state. “You’re going to be in here a while it seems.” She observed with a shake of her head.

As for Rampage, the crab had allowed the rest of the Predacons to head inside while he decided to remain outside. Having been cooped up within for scientific purposes as Spineback had put it, he was all too eager to remain free and out of contact with any of his so called teammates. The place was arid and uncomfortable, even more so within the metal prison of a base. And for someone such as Rampage and the beast mode he had didn’t exactly bode well with heated areas. No, instead, the crab moved himself a little distance away where the heat was more tolerable to settle near a cluster of rocks and among the crevasse it created. His body still needed the time to fully heal from Frilla’s electro-scrambler and Rattrap tearing up some of his armor before, not to mention his energy levels being somewhat on the low side.

(( OOC: Just as reminder that the rotation has changed since the last round, so Wildfire should be next, then Phoenix, then New Moon and back to me. ))

Onyx smiled towards the two younger crew members in their regards to see him moving about. It wasn’t exactly easy going now that everything was catching up with him, but nevertheless, he was glad to be moving about at all. “Let’s hope so Aurora, I’m not particularly a fan of remaining idle.” He admitted before she was placed in the CR chambers to have her injured taken care of.

The black equine carefully shifted himself around as Optimus moved towards the console, returning to his own place where he had been keeping an optic on everything else. “Your recommendation is heard loud and clear Optimus, I assured Rhinox I would do the same thing before he left.” He explained before sighing, “As much as I want to play this off as if it is nothing, it would be in my best interest to not be down and out, especially not for my pride as a warrior. Unlike the rest of you that is really the only skill set I have, without it I am nothing.” That was perhaps more of the Predacon side speaking up for Onyx who had never known anything else but combat. He wasn’t a scientist, a medic, an engineer, that was what that crew was originally intended to be, research and exploration. That just wasn’t him.

Trying to push such a depressing thought aside however, the warrior turned his attention towards the black dragon, “When I came in here him and Rhinox were talking, but I didn’t catch much of the conversation. I got to speak with him a little bit but from there he went to eat and rest in his quarters.” Onyx explained, reaching over stiffly to bring up the status of Sentinel and the security system.

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

Both Waspinator and Terrosaur explained he was indeed coming along, but their mention that it would be Megatron to decide his fate that left him a little unnerved. He only knew Megatron by reputation via Cryotek’s gang, but if there was anything that was consistent it was that the tyrant was not that far off from being similar to the crimelord. Which was probably why Cryotek has taken him under his wing to begin with. “Of course, lead the way.” Quickfix directed, following the two fliers the rest of the way to the Darksyde.

Of course, the young Predacon medic hadn’t failed to hear the bitterness in Terrorsaur’s tone, suggesting some existing animosity. Not exactly new among the Predacon faction so he paid it little mind as they headed into the base. By then it appeared most of the crew had separated for various reasons, but Quickfix found himself led to the control room where he came face-to-face with Megatron himself for the first time.

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

A little ways from the Maximal base, the black widow had settled into her own little lair a lot closer to her new albeit tank-churning allies to lessen the possibility of having interference from her former teammates. Blackarachnia may have joined the merry little band, but that didn’t mean she was gung-ho to participate in everything they did. They were a little too close in their bonds for her liking to tolerate for long periods of time. So, she all too happily toiled away in her personal lair for her own agenda.

After all, she hadn’t gone through all this trouble to get the access codes from Megatron for nothing.

While the Maximals had their own issues, the black widow was dealing with hers. In this particular time, she was making preparations for something far bigger, a greater promise of power where every other attempt had failed thus far. But as the arachnid was taking stock of what she presently had her own sensors went off, alerting her to the team that had left a few hours ago we’re making their gradual return, causing her to turn from her makeshift table, “Guess I shoudn’t linger around in here for much longer.” Sighing, the widow transformed to her beast mode, making her way out of a narrow a tunnel and pushing aside a rock, carefully glancing around before pulling herself out, the rock closing behind her before she scurried over towards the Axalon.

Just before getting to the ship, she transformed back to robot mode, stepping around towards the presently open hanger where she heard the voices of Tigerhawk and Rhinox speaking and catching them just as the large fuzor went into the newly repaired CR chamber. “So, what party have I missed this time?”

Finally, after several delays including the one created by Tarantulas' drone, the Predacon team was well on its way back to the Darksyde. Nemesis, although perfectly capable of flying ahead of the rest, chose to linger near the tyrant and the group he was travelling with. Even when the scouts that had gone on ahead reported back that they had recovered the new recruit who had simply disappeared a couple of weeks prior, she made no attempts to join them. The event registered in her receptors, of course, but the avian female seemed somewhat lost in thought right now.

There was something about Tarantulas' behavior that just seemed .. odd.. to her. He had just lost his new assistant, as he so affectionately had named the fuzor, and it was unlikely the Maximals would let him get his talons on her again. So why did he seem so.. cheerful about all of it? Had he planned for this outcome? Why? Did he expect the fuzor to obtain something for him? Information? Weapons?

It was then a thought occurred to her, something she hadn't discussed with the other Predacons and likely never would. She had been at the Axalon still when they brought in the seemingly dying form of Zodiac.. The renegade had been in really poor shape when the Maximals had brought him in, so she had simply presumed his spark had extinguished shortly thereafter.

But could that be what the spider had been hoping to recover? The renegade's body for more of his horrific experiments? Or did the spider know something else he decided to keep hidden from the other Predacons?

“Persistent bugger then isn’t he.”

Nemesis nodded ever so slightly, not entirely sure how to answer something like that. Truth be told the spider did give her the creeps so when Terrabite then offered to blow the arachnid to bits the avian second in command couldn't help the slight smile that emerged on her face. It was an entertaining idea, for certain, and it would definitely let her rest a bit better knowing the spider wasn't going to harass her again. But alas, a vague threat seemed to be all that was coming for the creepy crawler for now.

“Hm, I could always keep him busy in the medical bay my lord, can never have too many helping hands.”

Few statements had ever been more accurate. Although not frequently spoken about, most of the Predacons spent a considerable time in the medical bay that was now under the supervision of her fellow female former Decepticon. And the newly transmetalized Spineback was tougher than most, yet she still knew her function in the medical field quite well. Nemesis herself might not require medical attention nearly as much as the others but she still recognized and appreciated the other female's talents.. And allowing her to have a helper could certainly only benefit them.

The Predacons tended to end up with quite severe injuries in most of their battles against the Maximals, whether it was due to the other team's ingenuity or the Preds own lack of self control. More often than not they bickered among themselves, or ended up on the receiving end of a beat down from Megatron when they questioned or challenged him too much. For the most part Nemesis stayed out of it when they did unless, of course, she had to intervene to prevent someone from getting seriously injured or worse. And even that she only did on occasion. She might be a Predacon under Megatron's command, but she still felt there were better ways to control the troops and encourage them to follow the right path than to turn to violence so severe they could end up getting killed. That didn't mean that she wasn't capable of acts of brutality herself, as proven quite recently when she nearly killed the rodent against the Axalon's own shields before pulling him back at the last possible moment.

It had been necessary. Even if this particular act of violence had likely turned Primal against her forever. And though it saddened her knowing the Maximal commander was furious with her, perhaps it was for the best this way.. Her mixed feelings for the ape had put her own existence at risk more than once, so perhaps now that he wanted nothing to do with her she'd be able to let go of those lingering doubts and foolish emotional attachment towards him. Hopefully..

“Nemesis, when you’re done with rebooting your systems let me have a look after just to be certain there aren’t any further problems. Even you might miss something.”

Ugh.. What had she talked herself into? The thought of having anyone probing her systems for malfunctions, even their chief medical officer, was quite the appalling thought. Still, if it could silence the suspicions and avoid provoking any additional accusations she supposed it would be an agreeable trade. Of course the other female would need to take certain precautions so Nemesis' nanomachines didn't attempt to consume the intruding entity. And maybe, just maybe, Spineback's expertise would provide her with some benefits of sorts.

"I will definitely make that a higher priority than I have thus far," the avian female promised. "Perhaps it will also give us a chance to discuss a few private matters as well, after you're done with your update to Megatron of course."

There weren't many Predacons Nemesis could really interact with for longer periods of time without getting the urge to pull their digits off one by one, so Spineback was a welcome exception. She was intelligent, and could definitely relate to Nemesis' tactics. Of course she wasn't about divulge her innermost secrets, but having someone to talk to about certain troubling topics could be beneficial.. and perhaps help save the avian's sanity. Among the things she didn't feel comfortable discussing directly with the tyrant himself was the arachnid and also the crab, as well as the possibility of reducing her own vulnerability of course.

"Just try to rest now, Aurora,"

Rest.. Rest was something she hadn't really had much of the last couple of weeks. Not that she had craved it any, not when she'd been granted the ability to work for a genius such as the arachnid. Oh, a loner he was, but from time to time he 'almost' seemed grateful for her ideas and insight on the different topics they had discussed while working on new technology to be implemented in his lair. And of course the nanogel she had gladly helped perfect to its full potential so that the spider could use it on himself.

Odd as it would have been to experience these.. emotions.. a few weeks prior, as things were she found herself missing the spider in a sense. She craved returning to him and it was a stronger sensation than she could ever recall having experienced. Likely it had been part of the reprogramming he had done to her, but she really didn't care what he had done. As far as the fuzor was concerned, the spider had set her free. Free from the boring life of being a Maximal, and able to fully explore her experiments without having to worry about her conduct or moral compass.. Or any such trivial matters.

In a sense she wondered why Tarantulas had not included a similar loyalty component when he had first created BlackArachnia in his own image, but perhaps it had been his realization of those shortcomings in the arachnid female that had prompted him to make sure her replacement had no such faults in her programming.

But since she was trying to act like her old, pathetic, self she seemed to take Primal's advice and relaxed as best she could in his arms. "Hopefully I can resume my duties sooner rather than later," she whispered as her optics dimmed. "I feel like I need something to keep my focus where it needs to be.. Maybe I can help Rhinox repair the others.. when my own repairs are completed, of course."

While she rested in Primal's arms during the flight back to the Axalon, she listened in on the conversation he was having with the flying cat.

"Megatron has been holding back,"

No kidding.. But why would the tyrant bother when he clearly had several opportunities to finish this. Would he be bored if he didn't have the Maximals opposing him? Did they somehow fit into his master plan? Or did he simply see them as mere nuisances instead of genuine threats? She had once brought up a similar topic to the arachnid, but he seemed completely uninterested in the Maximals as a group. Well, for the most part.. He had been asking her a lot of questions about their scientist division and what kind of technology they had at their disposal. Unfortunately she hadn't been able to give him much information about the Sentinel system since she hadn't exactly been carrying around the specs on her person when she had been taken, as it were.

"If he wanted to, he could orchestrate a well-devised attack that would separate us from each other and potentially pick us off one by one."

Which was exactly what the tyrant had Nemesis orchestrate during their attack on the Axalon a couple weeks prior. An attack Tarantulas had been more than willing to lend a hand in, of course his motives were drastically different from the short-minded tyrannosaurus. And while the Predacons had just gotten their skidplates handed to them during this last battle, the spider was about to obtain everything he desired. Aurora was going to see to that.

The more she listened, the more it was becoming clear that Cheetor and Primal were in disagreement on how to best handle the Predacon threat. A fact that was quite interesting to her since it presented her with an opportunity to cause some conflict before returning to the spider's lair with her prize in tow. Well, maybe, if she had the time. This new Aurora enjoyed a bit of chaotic confrontation whereas the old one would have shied away from it.

Well, it didn't take long before the chatter started to bore her as she seemed to sleep in Primal's grip. But fortunately they had arrived at the Axalon. Aurora took the opportunity to glance around ever so slightly while Optimus carried her inside, but there was no welcoming committee to speak of other than the equine. No Zodiac anyway.. Where was he? What was he up to? Did the Maximals have him locked up in the brig again? Something told her she'd have to do some investigating to find out when her repairs were done.

“Let’s hope so Aurora, I’m not particularly a fan of remaining idle.”

Well.. that was one thing they had in common at least. Hopefully this repair cycle wouldn't take too long since she had far more pressing concerns to attend to. She would at least have to wait until Primal had moved away from her repair chamber before she let herself out. Although maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to allow it to finish the repairs first..

It didn't take Zodiac's internal repair systems long to locate the virus agent that had been allowed to roam freely within him for the last couple of weeks now that he knew exactly what to look for. Truth be told he was almost a little impressed that someone had been able to create something virtually undetectable to his own highly advanced system. Given his unique talents, he wouldn't have thought such a feat would be possible.

Yet here he was.

He almost had to admire the efforts someone must have gone to in order to achieve.. whatever it was they wanted from him. Almost. Yet a part of him was also a bit angered by the act, another mildly concerned it could happen again. And what if this purge didn't work?

Fortunately the latter concern vanished soon enough as his repair systems signaled the virus had been located and the cleansing process was in progress. And though it did produce a mild, lingering headache, he had no real difficulty with ignoring it. Or at least that was the case until all the memories that had been safely locked away suddenly started rushing through his mind, completely immobilizing him for a short time. There were visions, voices, smells, and emotional outbursts.. Anger, fear, regret, and a lust for vengeance..

Zodiac had to grab onto the desk near him to support himself as more and more of his past caught up with him, hitting him like a semi truck running rampant and after a few moments his knees started buckling and giving out on him, forcing the shape shifter to slump down to a kneeling position. He grasped his head, attempting to clear it of all the sudden input, wishing the process could be a bit slower. Letting out a slight moan, the few moments it took for the virus to be fully cleared from his systems and his memories to be restored seeming to drag on forever, he was finally able to draw a deep breath again while trying to soothe his throbbing head.

It was all coming back to him now.. Cryotek, the murder of Primal's mentor, arriving here on this planet, the vok, and how Megatron had nearly killed him.. A slight sneer formed on the young dragon's face as he remembered in full detail how the tyrant had arranged an attack on the Axalon so he could kidnap him and attempt to execute him for his past socalled wrong-doings. Of course he also remembered what he had done to the tyrant to provoke such a response, but that was hardly of any concern to the renegade. Megatron was a threat to his own existence, and by default also to the Maximals who had for some reason chosen to protect him despite everything he had done..

Now able to account for his past actions, so much of the efforts Primal had obviously made became obvious. And it left the dragon feeling somewhat bewildered.. Why had he done that? Well, maybe it was time he returned the favor.. Somehow. He'd have to consider his options carefully.

Frilla eyed Rattrap closely for a moment, not knowing whether to laugh or take the rodent seriously. Given that the transmetal rodent hadn’t exactly been himself she didn’t want to assume, only offering an assuring smile, “Yea, I got some beauty tips to share Dinobot’s too embarrassed to ask out loud. Have you seen how dry his scales are?” She teased lightheartedly, trying to put Rattrap at ease the best she could. But, his recent experiences appeared to have affected him deeply, but she kept quiet about her concerns for the time being.

Still, she stepped forward to lay a hand on his shoulder, offering a faint, tired smile, “Really Rattrap, we’ll be alright. You guys have a big enough load to haul without me slowing one of you down. I’ll make sure Dinoboob just comes along.” She assured him before stepping back to allow the group to continue on their way. Now, she just had to wait.

Tigatron could only offer a thoughtful “hm” in response towards Rattrap’s and Airazor’s skepticism. There was no telling what the raptor was doing, planning something they couldn’t see outright or truly being paranoid more than usual. But he stopped himself when Rattrap was quick to proclaim he was the one in charge. The white tiger curiously observed the rodent, never seeing him one to quickly remind others of this unless it got out of hand, but he remained quiet for now, focusing on keeping an eye out for anything, rare swiveling in different directions.

Once Frilla and Rattrap has finished their exchange, Tigatron too returned to hauling the pod once again, “What a day this has been so far, hm.” He commented, looking over his shoulder and silently hoping his friends would remain safe.

Meanwhile, Dinobot has finished what he had set out to accomplish, retracing his steps of where they had hauled the pod. He could imagine the irritation the others had for leaving them to haul the cargo, but this seemed more important in his mind. He was making a gamble that whatever the substance was may very well be the same thing that had afforded Spineback her own upgrade. The quantum surge had not affected him like the other Maximals due to the CR blocking its effects, but perhaps this was a second chance to give them another transmetal warrior.

Maybe.

But when he had gotten to a certain point, the raptor stopped in his tracks when he spotted the frilled lizard, surprised to see she had remained. “What are you doing here half-pint?” The raptor questioned, seeming a little suspicious. Had Rattrap left someone behind to keep an optic out for him? Why not someone not so damaged like Airazor or Tigatron if this was the case?

“Calm your scales Dinobot, I needed a moment to rest.” The transmetal lizard was quick to squash his suspicions. “Not exactly an easy injury for my self-repairs to fix.” She reminded, causing him to pause for a moment.

“Fair point.” He grumbled. As much as he raptor revolted expressing a fair bit of kindness, he lowered down low enough to offer Frilla a lift, “At least you’re not the rodent. He eats too much cheese at times.” He grumbled, causing Frilla to look bemused as she got onto his back, “I think he says the same about you I’m pretty sure.” She teased, carefully hanging on as Dinobot stood before the raptor sprinted off after their teammates. “We’re on our way to you Rattrap, Dinobot’s with me now.” Frilla commed once they got moving.

————————————————

Terrabite gave Megatron a side glance at the remark, seeing he wasn’t one to let things go off the bat. But he merely nodded, “Now that I’ve had a better experience of what to expect, I’m sure that won’t be a problem.” The kaprosuchus mech decided to take the remark in stride rather than argue the matter. What would be the point? It would get him no where but further problems, more of which he didn’t need right now as he adapted to the life on the Darksyde.

The switch to his current progress was a welcomed change of subject though. “Mostly fixing some of the systems that were facing deterioration from the long-term heat exposure, minor tweaks to the computer system to improve some of your systems like the scanners and programming, improved the targeting system with your defense grid, mostly minor and immediate concerns.” Terrabite reported. The conversation also kept his mind off the constant aching and burning on his back legs thanks to Frilla, pausing briefly as the irritation acted up before dying down again. “My biggest project has been working on the ship’s shield. It got pretty trashed in the crash and given my brief experiences, I would say it might prove beneficial in the coming days.”

Waspinator shot a glare towards Terrorsaur as if to tell him to mind his tone. He wasn’t exactly in a position to be causing further trouble that day, not when a few of the Predacons seemed ready to rearrange his face and then some. Rolling his optics, Waspinator flew alongside his fellow flier, wondering how Megatron would handle the newbie. He had to agree with Terrorsaur about one thing, he didn’t seem exactly to be a fighter and seemed younger than any other Predacon to activate so far. It would be a curious situation to see unfold as they arrived to the Darksyde.

Leading the way towards the bridge, the metal wasp glanced back every so often to ensure the younger Predacon was still with them until they arrived to the room. “We are here.” Waspinator announced as he transformed and landed on a floating platform nearby.

Quickstrike gave an annoyed glare towards the ant, his cobra tail hissing back in response towards Inferno’s wiggling antennae. Oh if he wasn’t with Spineback...Grumbling under his breathe, the fuzor had to force himself to behave, only giving the ant a dirty look every so often along the way back to the ship.

Once they arrived back to the ship, their Chief Medic was quick to dish out the necessary treatments they needed. Quickstrike would have rather just gone to take a quick snooze or return to montior duty to allow his self-repairs to do the work, but he gave a soft huff, “Right.” He scurried off then towards the CR tanks, transforming to robot mode to hop right into one to begin some minor repairs.

Terrabite gave a slight nod towards the dino femme before he followed after the fuzor. Any sort of relief would be welcome at this point as he transformed to robot mode, gritting his teeth as the irritation worsened from his movements. “This better work.” He mumbled, slowly easing himself into the tank before dropping in completely, slowly allowing his body to relax and allow the liquid to do its work.

"Hopefully I can resume my duties sooner rather than later," "I feel like I need something to keep my focus where it needs to be.. Maybe I can help Rhinox repair the others.. when my own repairs are completed, of course."

"One step at a time," the Maximal leader told her softly, but he certainly didn't oppose the idea. She could do as she pleased according to how she'd feel after her recuperation and rest.

“I know they have Optimus, that’s what I’m saying. Sooner or later, Megatron will enact his end goal and we may not be ready to handle it or we may be too late to stop it.”

Primal glanced at Cheetor with furrowed brows. They didn't even know what Megatron's end game was, if he even had one now that most of the raw energon deposits had been destroyed by the aliens some time ago when they had activated their moon-sized weapon. According to Dinobot, that was one of the main reasons Megatron chose this planet before it was confirmed as prehistoric Earth. How could they prepare for something that they couldn't predict? Assuming the Ark and the Nemesis were even there, they didn't know their locations; they had been kept confidential by the High Council as a precaution after the Great War and when transwarp technology was just being developed. So they couldn't protect the ships or their ancestors aboard them.

“A moral compass...that’s becoming harder and harder to maintain Big Bot, watching everything that’s happening these days.

His blue face saddened a bit with Cheetor's words. Optimus seemed to forget that although it was easy for him to uphold good deeds and follow his conscious, it may not have been for some of his crew. Even after all of their successes so far, they hadn't been enough, and the cruelty and uncertainty of the Beast Wars was obviously weighing on their minds.

Our morale is low as it is, you’re holding out on a huge if should those situations come up, and we never know what we will do under those circumstances. I wish I could say for certain I knew I wouldn’t try to go for the lethal method but...” “I won’t make any guarantees.”

Winning the battle today, reacquiring Aurora and a blank protoform with its fully functioning stasis pod, Optimus had felt as though things were looking up for the Maximals even if it was only temporary per the norm, but others had been more deeply affected by past encounters. Indeed, they had to take their victories in stride and with humbleness. Was his endless optimism blinding him from the reality and desperation of their situation? Was his crew's morale really as low as Cheetor confessed it to be, or was that his own prognosis? How many of them actually felt that way? How many felt like they were in a rut and just wanted a change of pace? If that were the case, that was hardly a reason to be more aggressive toward the Predacons. But hearing those words from one of his youngest Maximals... it made him realize that he had recently lost touch with some of their needs or concerns. And Optimus knew it was his responsibility to rectify it. He knew he'd have to address it to see where the others stood before he'd consider making any changes to their current tactics. Was he being too soft, too lenient? Would he have to harden his core and act more coldly and callous toward their enemies? Is that what happened to Nexus Prime, Optimus Prime and all the other leaders before him in order to be successful at war? Had they all been "softer" before being subjected to so much loss, sorrow, stress and apprehension? He wouldn't deny that if it came to defending themselves, he would want his Maximals to do so. If the Predacons were going to be the aggressors and push the Maximals to the edge, then they would have no choice but to take action and stop them in order to save themselves. So in that regard, Optimus had to agree with Cheetor. What he didn't want was blatant disregard for life, even toward a Predacon. If lives were taken for game or for fun, he wasn't going to tolerate that. Again, he didn't want any loss of life, but... the Maximals had to defend themselves. ...And possibly their future.

His own memories took him back to when Scorponok had infected him with a cyber bee. He had essentially become a one-man army, albeit unintentionally, and he had successfully and single-handedly infiltrated the Darksyde, taking each Predacon down that encountered him until he found his primary target, Megatron, with the anti-virus. Logic, fear and caution were removed from his programming during his escapade. He had been driven by pure anger, hatred, aggression, and desperation. The primal emotions were so overwhelming that he had never felt them peak like that before. Optimus didn't even know he could act so callously and be so brutal toward others. He didn't like it. That wasn't who he was. Even with all of the weaponry and ammunition that he had once been equipped with in the beginning of this war, he never liked to use it at its full capacity. "Guerrilla warfare suits you. The old Optimus would have never made it this far," Megatron's voice rang in his mind as clear as day. But he still denied the effectiveness of the violence. By the time he had reached Megatron, he was too late. His energy and ammo were nearly depleted, and the virus was minutes away from snuffing out his spark once he had stripped the cyber bee off of his chest. Cheetor was the one who came to his rescue. His speed and agility were all he needed to grab the cure in mid-air, inject it into the Maximal leader and help him escape out of the Darksyde while the other Maximals kept the Predacons occupied and gave him and Cheetor cover fire. Fighting violence with more violence... It seemed to go against his core programming, his very spark... His spark that had touched the Matrix in his death. Where was his guidance now? Who did Optimus have to look up? No one. Nexus was gone, and Cybertron couldn't be contacted.

Yes, the Predacons seemed to be gaining the overall advantages lately; a new Predacon heavily armed and skilled with explosives, Rampage who could self-regenerate and was practically invincible, Spineback's TransMetalization and Tarantulas's genius albeit often insane mind along with some active nanogel that appeared eerily similar to Primal's. Despite all of that, the Maximals still won that morning. They still proved to be worthy adversaries even with the lack of Optimus's presence while he had been held up by Inferno and Nemesis, although he hadn't bothered explaining that to anyone yet, not that he had to since has the leader and thus wasn't required to explain his actions to anyone. Although he would willingly if someone asked or if it would be beneficial to add to a conversation. He had dealt with the obstacle and succeeded, but it brought up another point. Not all of the Predacons deserved to be treated with more ferocity and less mercy. Nemesis, for instance, was still willing to avoid conflict with them when she could, or at least with Optimus despite the turbulence between them after what she had done to Rattrap. That was something positive considering her position in their ranks. She could still have an influence on Megatron's decision-making, but only so much as everyone knew that he answered to no one and did as he pleased. The Maximals also had Zodiac. Megatron wasn't even aware that he had survived the attack on him. And so far, the shape shifter had been showing promise of being a changed bot under their positive impacts, so much so that perhaps he might even be willing to stay with them and fight on their side against Megatron and his troops even after he would remember everything and know the truth. He would certainly be a huge advantage to their efforts. As trivial as some of his Maximals felt about it, Optimus may very well have made the right call on helping Zodiac after all. He was feeling good about it. Unfortunately, a lot of his team weren't reciprocating those sentiments.

Sensing Cheetor feeling slightly aggravated again by the subject, Primal didn't bother to comment on it further, especially when he had already agreed to the cheetah's compromise. On top of everything else that the gorilla was already dealing with on a daily basis, this was one more thing to add to the list. It was all part of being a leader, and a compassionate one at that, so he would need to find a way to cope with it as well as ease the qualms among some of his crew members. Maybe Rhinox, Aurora and Rattrap could invent some new weapons or devices that could have a significant impact on the Predacons that they wouldn't expect. Just something to hinder them to keep them at bay, hurting their pride and egos without actually acting more violent toward them. ...Perhaps some new strategies with slightly elevated aggression... Sighing silently to himself, both the TransMetal monkey and cheetah went on their separate ways around the command center and turned their attention to other matters.

“Your recommendation is heard loud and clear Optimus, I assured Rhinox I would do the same thing before he left.”

The blue ape nodded to Onyx as he accepted his word on it, and again, made a point to himself to not bother him too much on the subject like he had with his conversation with Cheetor. Sometimes he had to remind himself to lay off of the lecturing and speeches and allow things to calm down on their own.

“As much as I want to play this off as if it is nothing, it would be in my best interest to not be down and out, especially not for my pride as a warrior. Unlike the rest of you that is really the only skill set I have, without it I am nothing.”

...That is until the equine made that comment. He simply couldn't ignore it. For all he knew, it could have been a cry for help, for a sense of belonging. And, of course, Optimus wanted everyone within his ranks to feel significant and important because they were. All of them mattered despite where they came from or who they used to be. "Then we'll need to do our best to get you back in tip-top shape," he encouraged him and made it a point to let him know that he wasn't alone in the endeavor. After all, Megatron and the other Predacons would no doubt take advantage of his weakness and target him. Primal didn't want that to happen, so they needed to get him repaired properly. It was one thing if Optimus looked like an easy target, but he hadn't betrayed Megatron; Onyx had. Therefore, he was pretty high on the tyrant's death-wish list. "You've been a valuable member of our team so far, Onyx, on and off the battle field. I find it hard to believe that there isn't anything else that interests you that perhaps you were once prohibited to pursue or unable to get involved with under different circumstances," he opened up for discussion. "Don't forget, we have a holo-deck on board for skill-honing, practice and sparring," he added in case he wanted to stick to his warrior roots. Maybe even Dinobot could relate to him more than Optimus could help with his suggestions. Actually, with both of them being soldiers and former Predacons, they could probably offer some helpful insight into the Maximals' dilemma.

“When I came in here him and Rhinox were talking, but I didn’t catch much of the conversation. I got to speak with him a little bit but from there he went to eat and rest in his quarters.”

"Sounds like he's been behaving," Primal concluded softly and seemingly without much concern since Onyx's report matched the shape shifter's current location, although he was curious as to what Zodiac and Rhinox had been discussing. He'd hear about it out soon enough. In the mean time, he wasn't finding anything of real significance pertaining to his spark according to the data Rhinox retrieved after their scan that morning during one of its anomalies. Much like Wintersong's issue in regards to the Vok. So many questions and no answers. Keeping that on screen, he reached over to the neighboring console and brought up Aurora's status in the CR chamber that she was occupying. Everything seemed to be functioning normally as it progressively repaired her critically damaged body.

“Sorry about that Rhinox, didn’t mean to startle you.”

"It's alright. I should've been more aware of my surroundings," the engineer admitted. What if he had been a Predacon? You've been letting your guard down too much lately, he told himself in a disappointing thought.

“I could maybe use a quick cycle or two. I should be done before the others return with the stasis pod.”

"Sure," Rhinox agreed and stepped away from the CR's door to offer Tigerhawk more room.

“Spineback is sporting a new upgrade, really did a number on my side there.”

Puzzled by what he meant, he his crimson red optics scanned over his wounds and he nodded. "I'd say so." It wasn't pretty, and it looked painful. He wanted to ask for more details but opted to acquire those from someone else who was present at the battle so that he wouldn't delay Tigerhawk's repairs any longer. Besides, the Fuzor was already getting inside of the large machine leaving Rhinox to his solitude once more. Easy come easy go with company.

“So, what party have I missed this time?”

Or not. Blackarachnia had miraculously shown up out of no where, but unlike Rattrap, Rhinox wasn't easily spooked or uncomfortable with her sneaking about whether she meant to be or not. She was much smaller in stature and quite slim, so her footsteps were naturally lighter and almost stealth. "The retrieval of a stasis pod and Aurora," he answered in his deep voice. "They're on their way back. Where've you been?" he inquired since everyone had noticed her absence lately. There was no indication of suspicion in his tone, though, he was simply being inquisitive.

“Yea, I got some beauty tips to share Dinobot’s too embarrassed to ask out loud. Have you seen how dry his scales are?"

Frilla's quip succeeded in making Rattrap feel better, and his smirk showed it. "He's like a walking desert," he added with a soft chuckle. But his humor was whisked away when he felt the lizard lay her hand on his vehicle mode's shoulder. He immediately fell silent and looked at her with his neon green eyes and silver ears at ease.

“Really Rattrap, we’ll be alright. You guys have a big enough load to haul without me slowing one of you down. I’ll make sure Dinoboob just comes along.”

Well, now he knew how Optimus felt when he had to let Wintersong go. Not that this was exactly the same, but he could still relate to the uneasiness and concern with the feeling of abandonment. He broke eye contact with Frilla as he gave a nod and she moved away to catch up on Dinobot's trail. Meanwhile, he took up Chopper Face's position with the hovering pod's weight and helped the others haul it along.

“My vote is he’s up to something. But who knows what that could be.”

Airazor's affirmation only fueled Rattrap's suspicions more since it proved that he wasn't the only one who felt the way he did about it. However, they couldn't doddle on it. They needed to get back to the base with the pod in tact and get repairs since it was only a matter of time that the Preds would be up to no good again. The rat hoped that he was making the right decision, though. His confidence from past trivial encounters and suffering from a mild form of PTSD had been fairly well crushed.

“Rattrap, if my wing feels better by the time we get back to the Axalon, I’ll personally back track and find them.”

"Uh, yeah, okay. Good idea, Airazor," he agreed with the female falcon. Volunteering to do that did seem to settle his concerns for their two comrades left behind a bit, but just slightly. Still, he appreciated that from their feathered friend who had taken an unpleasant beating herself during the battle.

“hm”

One the metal rat's ears twitched in Tigatron's direction without looking at him when he heard his soft growl. He wasn't sure what the older feline had meant for it to be in response to, but if it was because of his assertion, well, let's just say that Rattrap wanted to claim to the spot before Dinobot did, but it hardly seemed to matter in the end when the raptor chose to fall back. It didn't hurt to have someone volunteer some guidance for their group though, and despite his PTSD, he felt like he had the most experience for the job. Just temporarily.

“What a day this has been so far, hm.”

"Dat's puttin' it mildly," Rattrap commented as he rolled along on his wheels with the group gaining ground on their destination, the Axalon now coming into their view. No ambushes so far, so what was taking Dinobot and Frilla so long? He started to worry again. He was about to take Airazor up on her offer when the frilled lizard's voice came over his comm. link.

“We’re on our way to you Rattrap, Dinobot’s with me now.”

"Good. Everythin' okay then?" he inquired as the group approached the hangar end of their base where the door was already open for them.

"ATTENTION," Sentinel alerted Onyx, "Maximal signatures detected. Units Rattrap, Airazor and Tigatron."

Optimus turned his blue face to the equine, but he looked puzzled for a moment. Where were Frilla and Dinobot? "I'll meet them in the hangar. You two stay here," he told Onyx and Cheetor. Exiting the command center while still upright, he fell to his knuckles for a longer and quicker stride in his beast mode in the corridor and headed toward the stern of the ship.

-----

“Now that I’ve had a better experience of what to expect, I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”

Megatron gave Terrabite a slow but deliberate nod.

“Mostly fixing some of the systems that were facing deterioration from the long-term heat exposure, minor tweaks to the computer system to improve some of your systems like the scanners and programming, improved the targeting system with your defense grid, mostly minor and immediate concerns.” “My biggest project has been working on the ship’s shield. It got pretty trashed in the crash and given my brief experiences, I would say it might prove beneficial in the coming days.”

Indeed it would. One advantage the Maximals always had was the shield protecting their precious base of operations, not to mention their intelligent computer system known as Sentinel which was a little more advanced than the Darksyde's. Not that the Maximals ever wasted their time and resources on a frontal attack toward the Predacon base, but still, it would be an added bonus for their defense should anything or anyone else try to attack them. At least it sounded as though Terrabite was earning his keep contrary to his minor mistakes as of late, so Megatron eased his cold tone toward him. "Finally, someone who knows their way around a ship who can actually increase its usage and repair the essential programming and defenses," he complimented him. Then he gave him a nod as permission to leave him and follow Spineback.

“Hm, I could always keep him busy in the medical bay my lord, can never have too many helping hands.”

The TransMetal t-Rex gave Spineback a dismissive wave with one of his small arms, his sour mood not seeming to have improved much despite the Predacon Utah-raptor surviving and finding his way to them effectively increasing their numbers.

“Yes my liege.”

Megatron watched her without any emotion but secretly absorbing her obedience and loyalty like a sponge as she addressed him accordingly and bowed her head to her superior officer. Even though she had stepped out of line with her call to retreat from the battle, he found it difficult to hold onto any inkling of physically punishing her for it. It would have been counter-productive anyway. The repairs would keep her busy and away from him for a bit to allow him to cool down somewhat on the matter and give it more thought. While she split the troops up and tended to her duties, his attention turned to the last three to show up; Waspinator, Terrorsaur, and the "wanderer".

“We are here.”

"Yes, I can see that, Waspinator," he told the bug with some annoyance and tried hard not to face-palm at his blatant and unnecessary announcement of their presence. As much as he wanted to show the new Pred his power and intimidation with his robot mode - asserting his dominance, so to speak - he remained in his beast mode due to the severe tear across his shoulder which he was too proud to show or didn't want to indicate any kind of vulnerability to the newcomer.

He gave a glance to the two fliers as a silent order to remain by the new guy just in case this was some kind of trick or ploy. And he maintained a safe distance from them as he stood there before the three with his tail faintly swaying back and forth with slight curiosity but optimal surveillance. "Welcome to the Darksyde, now that you've finally found your way," Megatron noted almost mockingly toward the somewhat unimpressive Predacon. "Identify yourself and your occupation," the TransMetal dinosaur demanded.

“Right.”

Inferno merely snickered at Quickstrike's hiss before he scampered away to get his own repairs done. Then he looked almost blankly at Spineback as she set his body and his detached legs down on a berth.

“Give me just a moment.”

He sat there patiently watching her with some curiosity while she converted to robot mode. Interestingly enough, what she did was the complete opposite of his programming. Destruction and pain was his secondary purpose, his primary obviously being a protector of their Queen and the colony. And she... well, she essentially fixed what he decimated. But it appeared that she could use some repairs of her own. He saw tiny stream of energon flow down her side but he was hardly a Predacon with any empathy or compassion, so he didn't feel the need to comfort her or even address her problem.

“Alright Inferno, keep still as you can, this might hurt a little.”

"I deliver pain," he reminded the TransMetal reptile as if he was insulted by what she said. "Just make it quick so I can get back to my duties." He laid fairly still while she began with the insect legs that had fallen off.

“You’re going to be in here a while it seems.”

The arsonist released an overly dramatic sigh while his antennas lowered with disappointment. It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but if the Royalty had been there, he would have told him to suck it up and get repaired correctly. So Inferno simply remained there like a log vaguely interested in what the doctor was doing to fix him, hardly twitching as if he was immune to any anguish she could deliver and it didn't phase him.

Typical with this crew, Frilla was quick to give her own playful teasing about why she was staying behind. No matter how tense or dire the situation, somehow they always tried to bring some lightheartedness which Airazor was glad to see hasn’t diminished. In this bleak situation they had found themselves in they needed all the positivity and hope they could get. It was hard to come by these days, but if they lost that then the Maximals would truly lose this war. And that was something they couldn’t afford, not now, not ever.

Once they started moving again, the falcon glanced towards her lover, “More like what a morning. Who needs a cup of energon in the morning when you have trigger-happy Predacons around.” She remarked, hoping the rest of the day could be easy going. They had more than had their fair share of issues already and the sun was just beginning to reach its peak.

Surprisingly, Optimus opted not to comment further on Cheetor’s words. The younger Maximal turned to glance towards the metal ape, seeing the frown and sadness in his expression over his words, his assumption being right in that it wasn’t what his father figure wanted to hear. And deep down it wasn’t something Cheetor was proud to talk about or resort to. But after everything going on, the losses, the close calls, everything just seemed to slowly change how the young cheetah viewed this war. He had always been an eager youth to listen to his elders advice or be reckless when he didn’t fully listen to warnings and lessons, and this exploration likely should have been full of far different life lessons than what he was learning now. But, it was apparent fate had chosen for them to learn very harsh lessons in a war they didn’t ask for. It just so happened Cheetor himself was starting to lose some of that youthful excitement and harden to the dangers they were now facing on a constant basis.

But, thankfully the subject could be dropped when they arrived to the Axalon, allowing them to turn to other matters at hand.

It was a difficult sight to see one of their teammates in such rough shape, much less hear how much it could affect them in the coming future. Cheetor could only imagine how someone like Onyx or even Dinobot might feel in losing something they considered a large part of their identity, much less feeling useless to the team. Quite frankly, the black equine was lucky not to have been crippled by that landslide, just watching him move around made the transmetal feline cringe slightly. He really couldn’t imagine what life would be like in not being able to do what made you you.

But with hearing that Zodiac hadn’t been much of a bother and was supposedly resting, the cheetah eased up a bit. No use stressing over the dragon for now. So, the cheetah turned his attention elsewhere as watched Optimus head to meet the others, “How about I help you explore some options Onyx? Might help occupy your recovery time until you can return to duty.” The cheetah suggested as he came to the consoles and took a seat next to the equine.

“Probably.” Tigerhawk chuckled slightly, “We all have those days Rhinox.” Though given the Predacons had all seemed to be present and accounted for at the battle and things had been quiet again, he wasn’t too surprised that the rhinoceros might not have been expecting trouble. But from there, the fuzor had stepped into the CR chamber, opting to remain aware while the machine worked since he didn’t plan to remain in there for very long.

But his ears perked forward as he heard the sound of a new voice, it sounded like Blackarachnia had made her presence known now, and not long after he heard the sound of others beginning to arrive.

In the distance, the Axalon finally came into view much to her relief. The trip had felt like it took longer than normal, for her at least. It had been sometime since she had to strictly walk anywhere in beast mode, which was normally more limited since she tended to fly everywhere most times. As they got close enough she could make out the hanger and two individuals within, Rhinox and Blackarachnia to more specific, the falcon spread her wing to give it a test flap. It felt better, not nearly being as beaten as before, and she didn’t get the same severe feedback as before.

As if on cue, Frilla reported in that her and Dinobot were on their way back now. “And that’s my cue. I’ll be back in a moment.” Giving both wings a good few test flaps she nodded to herself, confident her wing would cooperate just enough to get some air. So, she gave it a shot, finding herself getting some lift and managing to go above the ship, zooming in with her optics in the distance and finding a shape approaching along with someone else upon their back. There was no mistaking the two former Predacons. Seeing them en route, the falcon landed back at the hanger entrance, “Dinobot and Frilla are just about here.” She reported.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Oh if only the little utahraptor knew what to expect when they got to the ship. Terrorsaur recalled being there for when Quickfix had first awakened, looking confused and unsure and interacting more with Nemesis than anyone else. She usually was the better choice to greet a newbie given her patience, but with the newbie’s less than stellar introduction to combat...Terrorsaur didn’t have high hopes for the young Predacon. He had barely managed in combat, what use would he be to them if he didn’t have any other skill set? Probably just more dead weight Megatron would throw into the lava pools if he proved to be a disappointment.

Once they arrived to the Darksyde and headed in, ignoring the glare Waspinator went his way as they arrived, the transmetal flier transformed to robot mode and landed on another platform nearby. For now, he could only watch and wait to see what the tyrant did with Quickfix and stood close by to act as Megatron motioned for them to do so. In a rare moment, at least the t-rex seemed to agree with Terrorsaur on one thing, Quickfix wasn’t exactly anything impressive so far.

Spineback lingered a bit longer in the corridor to ensure Terrabite and Quickstrike did as told, especially the fuzor who had a horrible habit of either not listening or getting rather overzealous about how invincible he truly was. Even as a transmetal his luck and battle prowess were horrendously laughable at best. So, she was watching both closely for a moment before she heard Nemesis speak, turning her attention towards the avian with now curious eyes.

She hardly knew Nemesis to divulge her private matters often, if at all. So, Spineback would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least slightly curious to know what her fellow former Decepticon wanted to speak of. But for now, she didn’t stay much longer in the corridor, making her way towards the medical bay to take care of Inferno’s own injuries next. And he had quite a few. Her main priority was working on getting his legs reattached and his thorax at least looking less like he had been through a metal grinder. For all the durability Inferno had, sometimes the fire ant could be just as bad as Quickstrike or Waspinator in going in thinking he was invincible as well. But, he also tended to have the firepower to back up his psychotic tactics.

“Look at the bright side Inferno, you’re not in a million pieces.” Spineback lightly quipped, easily reattaching his beast mode lets go their sockets, ensuring there was no additional wounds aside from getting the joints in order and any minor injuries. Once she did a quick double check on Inferno’s legs and found them to be as good as new, she turned her full attention to repairing his thorax and thrusters. “With all things considered, you could be in far worse shape. So, be patient and you can cause all the pain and destruction you want.” She assured him.

As she worked however, her internal scans returned with a diagnosis and confirmed her unfortunate suspicion. One of her holding cases was gone, probably knocked out from her subspace due to Dinobot’s stab to her side. ‘Guess I’ll be making seeing this biting me in the skid plate later.’ She thought with some dread, but for the time being she would have to worry about it for another time.

Interested in something else...That made Onyx pause in thought for a moment.

He had never really considered other possible interests or avenues he could take in his life, but then again he had never imagined himself being an ally towards the Maximals either. Before coming to Earth they had been the hated enemy, the faction that tried to keep all the power and resources for themselves, a selfish bunch of righteous individuals who looked out for their own interests. But, being among the Axalon crew, Onyx's views had changed over time and it seemed he may yet find his interests changed again.

"Well, definitely believe it." Onyx chuckled slightly. "I never really thought about much beyond being a soldier. But, once I get myself in decent shape I will take that into consideration." He told him, being a little intrigued at the thought of being something else other than a soldier. Though his thoughts were broken when he heard the alert, glancing at the monitor to check the status. "We'll be here." The black equine watched Primal leave for the hanger before turning in his chair towards Cheetor who offered to help find something new for him. "Thanks Cheetor, might as well keep my mind occupied with something." He thanked him, letting the young cheetah pull up potential other functions.

However as he waited for Cheetor to do so, Sentinel once more popped off, "Attention: Units Dinobot and Frilla detected." Well, there was their missing ground units. "Optimus, Dinobot and Frilla should be arriving shortly." Onyx informed the transmetal ape.

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

Quickfix glanced down at the lava pools below, wondering exactly what happened to the ship for it to fall into such a state. The moment he had stepped inside he felt like he was in a metal hot box, the sweltering heat already being quite uncomfortable as they went further in until they arrived to the ship. To avoid falling into the pools below, the utahraptor stepped onto the nearest platform and maneuvered it towards the tyrant who awaited them.

Megatron already gave an intimidating air like when he had experienced with Cryotek, making Quickfix a little uneasy but forcing himself to keep his composure, watching as Terrorsaur and Waspinator took up a position beside him. "Uh, yes...its quite a strange planet to get use to." He spoke trying to ignore the mocking tone from Megatron. "My name is Quickfix sir, primarily a medic with skills as a hacker." He answered genuinely.

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

At least she encountered one of the more mild-mannered, calmer of of the Maximals around. Sometimes Blackarachnia was lucky not to threaten to web up the paranoid maximals, especially Rattrap, the ever paranoid rodent being a thorn in her side. "Aurora? Seriously?" Admittedly, the widow couldn't hide her surprise that Tarantulas had released the ermine, making no move to hide her suspicion about the young Maximal being back among her own. That sounded awfully fishy to the widow. She never knew Tarantulas to be a merciful type, not without some secondary agenda in mind, "I would be mindful of her being so easily released and brought home. Tarantulas is up to something." She warned seriously.

Though she was hardly one to express empathy or concern towards others, Blackarachnia knew all too well what it was like to be used by the spider. Any chance that arose to cause his plans to not go as he wanted she would gladly take it, including warning the Maximals not to be so complacent.

Rhinox's inquiry though only made her shrug nonchalantly, "Around. Not all of us can stand your mushy feelings, Rhinox, and I'm not a girl who likes to still." As usual, her words were vague, purposely keeping her true ambitions to herself. She soon found relief in the arrival of Rattrap, Tigatron, and Airazor arriving with the pod, turning towards the ground unit. "The great heroes return home."

Fate..

Such a loaded word, so.. definite.. Like your destiny was predetermined the moment the very thought of your creation came into existence. As had honestly been how Zodiac had perceived himself for a long time while serving under Cryotek. Although he ultimately ended up betraying his father figure to pursue his own goals, he had spent much of his life under the warlord's influence and guidance. And with the sudden return of his memories, an onslaught of flashes to his past nearly brought the renegade to his knees.

"You're such a disappointment," he heard the words in Cryotek's voice followed by an all-telling sigh. The dragon shifted his weight uncomfortably, avoiding the older male's gaze as if he was actually there in the room staring him down. Every blow that followed, every insult about how he should be more like Megatron, the warlord's treacherous yet somehow still favorite pupil, every lecture.. He remembered getting hauled back to his room, how he had attempted to escape it all by volunteering to explore the discovery of an alien colonization, only to discover these aliens.. or Vok as he grew to know them as.. were conducting experiments on other, in their opinion lesser species, which gave him the opportunity to steal some of their equipment in an attempt to impress his own leader..

It failed. Like so many attempts before and after, it didn't live up to Cryotek's expectations. He could never be the protege the warlord wanted, he would never be accepted for who he was. He was not Megatron, he was.. so much more. Or at least that's what Zodiac liked to tell himself since he really didn't understand what the warlord saw in the grape faced loudmouthed Predacon. But it wasn't until he decided to murder another prospective father figure, the aging admiral Nexus Prime, that the renegade had finally escaped Cryotek's influence. Well, surely some of it had been due to fear and desperation since he couldn't even imagine how severely he'd get punished for taking the warlord's hostage out of the equation but Zodiac didn't want to contemplate it for too long. After all, he was willing to go extremely far to avoid the consequences of his actions.

Megatron's sneering face entered his mind next with such intensity it startled the young dragon. The gaze in the tyrant's optics had been so intense, so full of hatred it not only matched but likely even surpassed that of the renegade. All those memories of his interactions with the purple faced freak were coming back to him now, from the moment they finally met face to face in Zodiac's true form to the smugness he had felt when seeing the tyrant in a bleeding heap on the floor in his own quarters, to the horror upon seeing the t-rex appear at the crash site of the Viper working alongside Primal against him, to the absolute helplessness when the Predacons attacked the Axalon to retrieve him..

"As enticing as that sounds, Zodiac, you can not possibly fathom the power I hold."

Indeed. Megatron was powerful. And brutal, intelligent, vindictive.. a tyrant in the true meaning of the word. Fortunately he had somehow survived his last encounter with old grapeface, but he could almost feel where the electric dagger had penetrated his abdomen now.

Letting out something of a pained groan, Zodiac grabbed his aching head as his quivering legs caused him to sink to the floor. Thankfully he was in the privacy of his assigned quarters with nobody there to witness his little mental breakdown, as he had already determined not to share the truth with the Maximals. He couldn't risk any additional restrictions being placed upon him, or to be returned to the brig.. if that had even been fully repaired since his previous stay there.

Megatron.. His focus shifted back to the tyrant as he quickly realized he needed to rid himself of his foe if he ever hoped to be able to live a normal life without constantly having to look over his shoulders. And it wasn't just his own life that was in peril, of course, but it wasn't really in Zodiac's nature to worry about others the same way. Not when his own survival was threatened. Megatron had to die.. But how could he possibly go about accomplishing such a feat with the Maximals watching his every move..? He couldn't very well expect them to follow his lead, not while Op..

Optimus.. He could very well be the answer to all of this. And conveniently he and the other Maximals had just returned to the base, the computer alert had told him as much. It would be tricky, of course, but fortunately such deceit was Zodiac's specialty. Overwhelming as the experience of regaining his memories were, the dragon still managed to force himself back on his feet. He then took a moment to gather his thoughts before finally heading over to the mirror to make sure he looked at least somewhat presentable. Tying his long dreadlocks back in something resembling a low ponytail, Zodiac then grabbed the wristband he had removed earlier, stretched out his hand so he could slip it on before returning the limb to its normal appearance. He then took a breath, preparing himself since he was well aware his emotional state was a bit frail right now, and finally exited his quarters to seek out the new arrivals.

He carefully maneuvered through the corridors, attempting to avoid as many Maximals as he could on his way to the hangar, which is the location the computer claimed Primal was at right now. And from the look of it, he wasn't alone. Zodiac stood in the doorway for a short moment before slipping inside, watching as Rhinox and the others went about their business there. Taking up a spot near the entrance, the renegade rubbed his wrist with the wristband securely fastened around it, looking every bit as lost as he had done for the last couple of weeks. He was well aware of how many of the Maximals felt about him, but he couldn't exactly start acting any differently now without arousing suspicion. Waiting until Primal had noticed him, Zodiac offered an ever so slight smile followed by a polite nod. He repeated the gesture to Rhinox and anyone else present who acknowledged him, knowing fully well he had to tread carefully and gain as many allies as possible.

"Welcome back," he told Primal and the group of Maximals alike. "I hope the mission was a success?," he then asked softly, even though he could easily pick up on some lingering tension among a few of the crew. Whether they were simply reacting to his presence there or if the mission hadn't gone according to plan, Zodiac was still going to play the part of innocent amnesiac. It seemed to cut him some slack as of late, and as closely as he was being monitored he at least had some relative freedom while roaming around the Axalon.. Which might not be the case if they were to realize he could remember everything now. Including that pesky cell he had been forced to spend some time in when the Maximals first took him into custody. It might have been relatively comfy as far as prisons went, but it was still a cell and he had no desire to lose what little freedom he had to return there. Especially not now that a plan was starting to formulate in his head.

Oddly enough he felt a bit .. off.. about all of this. His own sense of conviction wasn't quite what it had once been, a fact he could only blame on the Maximals' influence on him.

"Fight that weakness within you!"

He could hear Cryotek's voice as clearly as if he was actually standing there, yelling at him. It was a discussion they had from time to time.. Well, a rather one sided discussion anyway since he could never win an argument with the warlord. And now he most certainly never would since if they were to ever meet again, the renegade had no doubt the warlord would have him flayed alive for his actions. Or if he was in a good mood, perhaps he'd settle for a beating so severe he'd wake up, locked up alone and in a cell.. again, several days after the fact. So returning to Cryotek's service was never going to be an option.

Then there was the issue of Megatron.. The tyrant was simply too big of a threat to ignore. He had arranged an attack on the Axalon once already to extract vengeance on the shape shifter. And he had almost succeeded with his goal. Zodiac remembered how helpless he had felt the moment the electric dagger had penetrated his abdomen and how Tarantulas had threatened to harvest his greatest asset for himself.. Only for the renegade to wake up in the Maximals' care and to find out Primal had lead an assault on the Predacons which ultimately saved his life. It truly was mind-boggling to think about after everything he had done to harm the Maximals since his arrival on this planet and still.. they had saved his life and provided him with shelter, of sorts. Being humbled wasn't an experience Zodiac was used to, but he couldn't help feeling a certain gratefulness to Primal especially for his role in all of it.

But alas.. Optimus was also naive to think Megatron would ever stop, and the renegade had no intention of living out his days in house arrest as Rhinox had called it, or having to worry about another attack on his life. So the solution was clear. The tyrant had to die, even if Optimus would clearly not agree to such brutal methods.

"One step at a time,"

Aurora listened to the softness in Primal's speech, taking note of how deeply he cared for his useless Maximals. Ugh, such sentimentality.. How had she been able to stand it for her entire life up until this point? In truth she felt somewhat disgusted by her own inherent weakness when she had been one of them. No, she was much better off now in Tarantulas' care..

Yet, keeping up her appearance and feigning love and devotion towards these Maximals, knowing it's how she would have acted if she was still her old self, Aurora gave a weak smile in return to the overly attached ape. Yes, her physical injuries were obviously real, but they really didn't bother her nearly as much as the Maximals seemed to think. Indeed, she was far more burdened by the fact she didn't know how Tarantulas was doing. Without him, she felt a bit.. lost. Yes, he had explained the plan to her in great detail, or at least her involvement in it, and really.. that's all she needed to know. But not knowing for sure that the spider she had become so devoted to was okay, well, it left a gaping hole in her soul so to speak. So any sadness or concern that may have been relayed through her green optics were in fact genuine, it just wasn't for the reasons Primal and the others surely presumed it was.

"Baby steps..," she whispered in response to Primal, the smile softening a bit before her body seemed to go limp in his arms from the exhaustion and her wounds. This time some of it was authentic, but she also felt disinterest in wasting any more precious time interacting with these fools. The sooner she got her repairs done, the sooner she could go about her business and return to the spider she missed so much.

Primal lingered for a short while after placing her in the CR chamber but the fuzor attempted to ignore him like she did with the instruments that were rapidly working on her. A few flashbacks to her past experiences with these chambers, a vague tingling sensation of how she disliked the machines ever since she had witnessed the death of Icebreaker in one of them, yet the fear she would have felt as her old self was not present. Just another reminder of how pathetic she had been back then, she supposed, but there was no point in obsessing over it now. Instead she'd just let the machine do their job so she could get out and do hers as well..

So she closed her optics and tried to relax as best she could, hoping the chamber would finish sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile Nemesis had remained fairly quiet for the duration of the trip back to base. Even as they landed, she only cast a somewhat flustered look at the unfortunate resting place of the Darksyde, the hot and dry surroundings that burned her throat a bit when she breathed in the sulfuric air. Why Megatron never wanted to relocate was beyond her but somehow he didn't seem to mind the very inhospitable location nearly as much as she did.

Spineback's optics had lingered on the avian female for a while, Nemesis did notice that, but she then went about her business doing repairs and overseeing the daily operations at the base. Nemesis herself also kept an optic on the other troops as they went on their business, but she especially kept track of Megatron's whereabouts and his interaction with his troops. The tyrant ignored her for now, instead focusing his attention on their newly acquired young raptor, someone the avian didn't really see as being a fighter but perhaps he had other talents that could be useful. He had introduced himself as a medic and hacker of sorts.. Both of which could prove useful given the weaknesses of their base.

She did find herself a bit intrigued by Quickfix' history.. He'd been stowed away on a Maximal ship, which quite a few of the reprogrammed Predacons had been honestly, but he hadn't been one of them.. The brief discussion she'd had with him prior to him disappearing for a couple of weeks had proved that much. And he was very keen on meeting up with Megatron.. Like they shared a history of sorts. It would be nice to be able to be ears on the wall as the two of them spoke, but she respected.. and feared.. the tyrant too much to even attempt it. Not unless he invited her.

Briefly her thoughts drifted to Optimus. There was something about this entire Aurora scene that seemed.. off.. But then again it could just be her distrust of the spider. He did have such an effect on her, even before their encounter after her release from the Axalon. And spiders will spin their webs and play their games.. She just hoped she wasn't an unwilling participant in it this time.

Back at his own lair, Tarantulas had made himself most comfortable as he waited for his little Maximal spy to report in. Surely it was going to take a little while since she would no doubt have to undergo some repairs before she was even able to complete her mission, but that was hardly much of a concern. The reward would be well worth the wait, hehehe..

But to entertain himself in the meanwhile, the spider typed in a few commands on the computer console which pulled up the camera feed from the Darksyde for his viewing pleasure. It seemed like the Predacons were just now arriving, but interestingly enough there seemed to be a newcomer among them. A utahraptor the spider only knew from reports from a couple of weeks prior. And Megatron was talking to him. Well, this could be worth a few moments of the spider's time..