The Intergalactic Highway

Wintersong kept low as she approached closer tot he Axalon, occasionally pausing to glance at what was going on around the ship, optic ridges furrowing when seeing the shields were down. It was a wonder why the Predacons were able to attack so easily but she was certain Aurora would have put them up and Sentinel would have been on high alert.

Unfortunately she was only a short few bounds away to the command center before she noticed movement from the corner of her optics, causing her to pause in her path. The sight she saw next caused the transmetal tigress' optics to widen then.

"I wouldn't take my praise too highly my young friend, I am merely a former soldier nothing more." Spineback mused somewhat over Nemesis' words. She was never one to have been high in rank, merely a former low ranking foot soldier who had been fortunate to have lasted this long. The only reason she was even there was for being granted amnesty when she was one of those that complied with the Pax Cybertronia and had laid down her weapons for quite sometime up until this point.

More shots from the auto-guns rained down towards the former Decepticon, causing her to duck behind some more cover, at this point being the final Predacon left outside. Being the only other one incapable of flight however and given her position, Spineback was well aware she might fall behind. Nevertheless, she peered over and fired at the outside defenses before ducking down again, observing her position by this point until she took note of Rattrap nearby, somehow still capable of moving despite being fried by the shields. He had tenacity, that Spineback could admire and respect but at the same time he was still very much a nuisance she thought could be rid of.

Redirecting her focus then, the Chief Medic of the Predacons made her way towards the struggling transmetal rat and a ghost of a smirk coming to her face plates as she stopped on his back to pin him, "Survived yet again, eh rodent? Must really have some luck on your side." Spineback remarked as she drew her lance, lifting it slightly. "But that luck ends here and now."

Before Spineback could thrust the lance into the smaller Cybertronian's back an angered roar caused the spinosaurus femme to freeze, the pause long enough for Wintersong to launch herself at the medic. Her feral fury filtered through her link to Optimus, the tigress having latched onto Spineback, forcing her to stumble back, trying to rip the feline from her grip. "Get off me you rabid furball!" Spineback growled, wincing as several of the auto-guns remaining pelted her once again in her struggle while Wintersong herself seemed to ignore the same shots that pelted her as well.

She only released her grip when the veteran lost her footing, forcing Wintersong to leap away as Spineback slammed to the ground and scoot back, wincing from her newest wounds, holding her up lance in a defensive position. Nearby, Wintersong stared down the Predacon medic with narrowed purple optics rather than her usual amber ones, keeping herself between Spineback and Rattrap.

Terrorsaur narrowed his optics as he found himself coming face to face with the other traitor who had joined the Maximals, bringing up one of his swords to deflect the eye lasers, ""Well, well, still playing Maximal I see old comrade. I look forward to beating you down with the rest of these worthless scrap heaps." The transmetal flier growled, covering the last bit of distance between himself and Dinobot. Given how the day had gone so far he didn't quite mind the chance to blow off some steam, his swings already aggressive and brutal the moment the two clashed.

As expected, the red ant hadn't expected her surprise attack, serving its purpose not only to briefly knocking one of Megatron's most loyal followers for a loop for the moment but distracted them long enough for Optimus to make his move.

Airazor used her own chance to try and get some distance, having to hover due to her knee joint, intending to join Optimus and their prisoner. But, despite her reputation as swift and agile, she wasn't expecting Megatron's sudden retaliation, yelling out as his shot struck its mark and causing her to double over in pain to the ground. The falcon grabbed hold of her now all but useless knee joint, optics squeezed shut and barely acknowledging the soft hum of Megatron's tail gun directed at her face, threatening to destroy her on the spot if Optimus didn't cooperate. But soon enough it was Inferno with his flamethrower in her face, the femme finally glaring at him through a defiant but pained expression.

But even she could not must up a smart remark in this situation, optics widening in shock when seeing the cannibalistic crab.

The source of the steps soon became clear as the transmetal king crab arrived to the brig behind Optimus, Zodiac, and the unconscious Rhinox, letting out his chilling maniac laugh as he blocked their single other exit. "Why the rush Primal? Why don't you stick around, the party is only just beginning." Rampage invited mockingly, his gaze then focusing on Zodiac with his shackled limbs and unfortunate predicament causing a slight smirk to come to his face, "No where to run this time, partner."

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

"I may not be a leader, but at least I know better than to outright reveal myself at the possibility there might be other enemies lurking. Maybe you should start taking some notes." Cheetor retorted, rebuffing Quickstrike's attempts to taunt him. He hadn't expected to fill the shoes of his friend or his father figure, his mind had only been on trying to get the others safe, or as many of the Maximals as they could. That had been the important part of the battle at that point and right now they were accomplishing a small victory for the day.

Honestly they probably needed it at this point.

Once Blackarachnia made the final decision to hang the fuzor where he would no longer be a threat, the youngest of the three felines stepped away, allowing the widow to do what she needed while he turned to Whitegrazer and Tigatron who tended to Tigerhawk. Said fuzor shook his head slightly, wondering how the smaller fuzor had lasted this long with an attitude like his. Given his condition, he could only listen and watch as his teammates planned their next move but part of him wanted to protest that they were in a hurry until he tried to move did that thought quickly leave his processor. Yea, he wouldn't do anyone any good in this state.

"Just do what you can Tigatron, the safety of the Axalon is more important than my own injuries." Tigerhawk insisted, though briefly showed slight amusement towards the widow humoring his joke. For the time being he could only allow the tiger to work on his chest while the others got back to help. But he raised the arm he had been using to hold onto a tree for balance, aiming his electro cannons towards the hanging Quickstrike, "Can it Predacon before I paralyze your mouth shut." He growled threateningly.

Cheetor though gave his jets a quick diagnostic, having to hold back expressing his frustration that they were far from being of any use despite the long length of time he had spent in beast mode. "Then we'll leave you to it Big Cat, just be safe regardless." Cheetor told him, before turning to the two femmes, "But if we're done ladies, lets go!" Cheetor spoke, hesitating no longer there before he was taking off back in the direction of the Axalon.

Dinobot shook his head as he could see that the little white ermine was relying on Optimus to save the day, as always he did, usually. He respected Optimus, a respect that has grown ever since the day they fought over the bridge, but as the little white ermine seemed confident in the leaders' skills, which he shared the confidence, he never said he didnt, he couldn't shake off the fact that Optimus wasn't here, and he had his own problems to deal with soon, as Aurora and himself would be seeing shortly, "If Optimus lets them inside, we will all have own problems to deal with, and Optimus is only one bot, and he won't be able to save us, when we are attacked." Dinobot warned the little ermine, but he could see it in her optics, which were always expressive, not wise thing to have when you need to hide your emotions from your enemies, she too was aware of that fact. As she disagreed with his comment about Zodiac, Dinobot knew she made a good point about the fact that the Predacons would just keep throwing their comrades into harms' way, no matter how many, to get Optimus to lower the shields. And when Optimus did, Dinobot's prediction was correct.

Optimus wasnt here to save them now. They had to allow on theirselves and their own skills, momentarily. When he heard Optimus give Aurora orders to help Rattrap, Dinobot knew he had to take care of Terrorsaur to make sure he made no move or hit towards the weaker Maximal. Terrorsaur deflected his eye lasers with his own swords. Impressive move, for the ptedactyl, but still, Dinobot wasn't going to show him any admiration. His instinct to cut down his former comrade overshadowed that. Dinobot growled, his sword went through towards Terrosaur, to strike, slash through his shoulder blade and going diagonally towards part of his chestplate, and sarcastically replied, ""Oooooooo, I am quivering with fear. "

Dinobot felt a powerful burning sensation hit his back, and before he knew it, he flew towards terrorsuar and rolled and rolled until he slammed against the hull. His back smoking from the explosive rounds that Nemesis, that dishonorable bird, snuck attack him with. He growled as he tried to shake off the dizziness his vision gave him, due to the hard hit.


"Aw, Quickstrike," Blackarachnia shook her head with a smile, "Where did the love go?" Despite the fact that she hated to be see and thought of as a Maximal, she swallowed her pride a bit and just continued to try and antagonize the Predacon fuzor, knowing how he would have wanted to be in the battlefield and not babysitting a couple of Maximals, "But at least, I am where the action is, cowboy, can you say the same?" It was funny in a way. Here she was saving, and trusted to save, a few Maximals while Megatron had Quickstrike struck here. No doubt because he knew the Predacon fuzor might screw something up with his sadism that had a few times got him trouble in the past.

As the cats took care of the fuzor, she webbed him and left him dangling from tree. Quickstrike kept screaming for them to let him down, but that wasn't going to happen. Blackarachnia did turn around though and walked seductively towards the fuzor. "Aww, how can anyone say no to this face," she said as her pincher trickled his chin. But as the other trickled his chin, her other pincher then stabbed him with some of her cybervenom, a short dose, but even to make him exhaust and pass out, to quit his yelling. As soon as she was ready, she looked at Cheetor and Whitegrazer, who looked rather antsy, which wasn't something she normally saw from the white mare, "Follow me, guys, we better hurry before Whitegrazer starts digging herself further into the ground."

Whitegrazer looked confused at what Blackarachnia said then she looked down to see that her feet had been scratching through the ground. Not just her feet, she looked at her own hands, and noticed the slight scratches from her own fingers. "Forgive me," she told them, "I just feel like our friends need our help more now than ever."


Tigratron nodded at Cheetor and the other. "You as well, Little Cat. I have a feeling Whitegrazer was right, and our friends need our help. You all just don't do anything too rash, okay? Tigratron kneel down, pulling out the first aid kit and began working on extracting the venom from the bolts first, then he moved on towards working on fixing his flying systems. "Hang in there, Tigerhawk, I will patch you up as much as I can."

Through the link, she felt something. The same thing she felt in that dark forest where they found X, who was now called Rampage. Like he was lurking behind her, and yet, he wasn't. But the fact that she felt his presence looming over her, didn't mean she was feeling nothing but fear, but through her link, which meant that Rampage must have been close to Optimus, and that made her grow even more desperate to return to the Axalon.


Blackarachnia led Cheetor and Whitegrazer to a boulder, which hid an entrance to one of her secret little tunnels, and pushed it aside, with a little help from Whitegrazer, revealing the opening, jumping inside. "If we continue straight onward, we can get underneath the Axalon's belly, where the core is, and from there, we can go where you guys wish to go."

Blackarachnia transformed into her beast mode and led them through the tunnel.


((OOC: Sorry for being so darn late, and I'm glad I was able to post. But I wish I did it better than I did. ))

Zodiac had paid close attention to any changes in Primal's body language, but for what it was worth it seemed like the two of them had come to some form of unsteady alliance. An agreement of how to handle this situation which each of them wouldn't be able to do by themselves. Well, Zodiac still felt he had a chance if he was set free and got access to his weapon systems back, but as things were he'd become rather reliant on the Maximal commander. A fact that both concerned and puzzled him a bit, but then again he was willing to do anything to assure his own survival. And right now Primal was not the enemy.

So he proceeded to explain his actions and reasons to Primal, hoping to gain some semblance of trust from him. Although the Maximal still hadn't set him free, he was at least willing to listen.

Optimus had grown silent as the renegade proceeded to explain, his face mostly neutral but a slight flicker in his optics showed that the words were having an effect on him. It wasn't until after Zodiac had made his rather feeble attempt at escaping by pushing Primal over that Optimus finally addressed him again.

"True,"

Oh it was most certainly true, especially if he could regain access to all his weapon systems. And even without them, he could still manipulate the nanomachines to change the shape of his appearance. He may not be able to shoot anyone, but he could still create spikes or other sharp or blunt weapons out of his own armor. Or at least he hoped he could, since he wasn't quite sure to what extent the Maximals had placed limitations on him.

"And you could have behaved by not doing anything at all."

Zodiac couldn't avoid putting on a slight smile as he turned his gaze back on Primal.

"Now where would the fun in that be?," he questioned in a slightly teasing tone. Of course he realized how serious this situation was, so he knew he'd have to behave for the most part as not to get abandoned in here when the Predacons broke through the barriers. And somehow he was certain they would, especially while holding hostages. The look of horror and anguish on Primal's face mere moments earlier when Zodiac had changed his appearance and voice to that of Nexus Prime had clearly showed him that he was walking a thin line.

"I'm sorry about Night Terror, Zodiac,"

The renegade nodded in silence for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, as if the memories and sense of guilt could just be rolled off just like that. It didn't work, of course, but somehow it still made him feel a little better to think that it might.

"He always thought of himself as so clever.. Like he could single-handedly make a difference. I have no doubt his mouth is ultimately what got him killed," the renegade said, trying to keep up the uncaring appearance. Did he truly believe it? Not really. Deep down he knew that Night Terror's fate was sealed when he had listened to Zodiac and released the virus onto the Predacon base. He knew, yet he still refused to take responsibility for it. In that sense he was very much so unlike Whitegrazer, unbeknownst to him his mother, who was always so very quick to take the blame for what others had done.

"I'm certain of what Megatron has in store for you should he capture you."

This was a topic the two of them seemed to agree on. But while Optimus may have felt Megatron's feelings on the matter were justified, Zodiac still had no intention of confessing all of his sins or take complete responsibility for them. Yes, he could certainly understand where Megatron was coming from. And if he wasn't set to be on the receiving end of such treatment, he could even appreciate that line of thinking. In a fair fight he was certain he could best Megatron easily enough, but while chained up and trapped there wouldn't be anything fair about it.

"And it would merely be the consequence of your actions."

Consequences.. Zodiac hated that word. No, what he truly hated was what it represented. Of course he had suffered greatly from the punishments he had received from Cryotek when he didn't behave or didn't complete his missions as instructed. So it wasn't that he hadn't had to suffer consequences in the past. But whereas Cryotek tended to have severe, often violent, reactions to some things, he often didn't really care about the little things.

"He still lives," Zodiac blurted out rather bluntly, "And he even got his belongings back. So arranging such a massive attack just to make sure he gets to me is rather petty." Again he was bending the truth of how he felt a little bit.

"You didn't think it through if he would've survived what you did to him. You reap what you sow, Zodiac,"

Zodiac sighed upon hearing that, his half-joking facade of confidence quickly breaking down. "I'm aware," he then told him genuinely, "And it's not a confrontation I'm looking forward to," he added in a rare moment of showing weakness.

"Unless I have something to say about it,"

The pretender tilted his head a bit, hopeful his words had affected Primal enough to persuade him to ease up on the restraints or perhaps even give him his weapon system access back so that he could fight Megatron on more fair grounds. Of course as he would soon find out those hopes were a bit premature.

"So you plan to defend me against the Predacon army?," Zodiac questioned, sounding more than a little skeptical. Although Primal had done similar feats before, however in that scenario Megatron had called a retreat due to his injuries. Now they were facing an undamaged but still very much so pissed tyrant who was hellbent on seeing his plans through.

"Would mine undo the pain I inflicted upon you?"

Would it? From past experience with Nexus, the answer to that question was no. Killing Nexus had not made the nightmares go away, nor had it eased that mental anguish he carried around with him. Although Zodiac refrained from saying anything for a moment, the way his gaze diverted to the floor must have said it all. Finally, as if he needed a longer than normal amount of time to contemplate it, the renegade muttered a response.

"No," he admitted, "I don't think it would. However I'm not sure if you've taken notice, but you haven't exactly been my primary target as of late either."

It was true. Zodiac hadn't specifically targeted Primal for a while now as his priorities had shifted.

"Megatron may want you dead for what you did to him, but it's not what I want, Zodiac, even after everything you've put my crew and me through,"

Zodiac slowly shook his head, finding this situation somewhat amusing despite the rather grim situation they were facing. "You're a tough bot to figure out, Primal, I suppose that might be why you saw through my plans in time to save your Maximals. " It was true he had underestimated Primal and to a lesser degree also some of his Maximals. Apparently life on this planet had left everyone involved a little different, changed, something their personality files that he had studied so intently before setting off on this venture had failed to inform him of.

Hoping they had reached some level of understanding, Zodiac then made his proposal that Primal should release him so that he could help even the odds against Megatron and his grunts. But after staring at him for a moment, Primal then shook his head to let the renegade know this wasn't something that was up for discussion. Zodiac slowly lowered his extended arms, letting out a disappointed sigh as he did. Well.. that certainly didn't improve the odds any..

As Primal glanced at the camera to see Nemesis lower Rattrap's scorched body to the ground, Zodiac did the same. But while Primal remained silent, the renegade made one last ditch effort to deflect the attention off himself onto the attacking Predacons.

"It's a pity you feel that way," he told Optimus, "For I would be fighting for my own life. What, exactly, is the likes of her fighting for?"

While still outside, Nemesis had crouched down next to Rattrat who amazingly was still alive despite the massive amounts of voltage that had passed through his tiny body. The rodent was muttering something illegible, which probably wasn't anything she'd want to hear anyway despite the fact she couldn't help but being curious. Of course now she had a mission to complete and she needed to do it quickly, while making sure not to run into Maximal reinforcements. Especially Optimus. For a long time now the two of them had been civil towards each other, not friends exactly, at least not in the traditional sense. But they had shared a mutual understanding of one another, a bond of trust and respect, something she had just blatantly ignored in order to appease Megatron. And she was well aware of it. So she would rather avoid any confrontation with the Maximal leader, thus avoiding him for a while seemed like the only logical choice.

As she was headed inside, Spineback kept communicating with her. Which honestly was a welcome distraction as far as Nemesis was concerned.

"I wouldn't take my praise too highly my young friend, I am merely a former soldier nothing more."

And how was that different from Nemesis herself? If anything, the avian female had been less than that. She had been a soldier too, young and foolish as things were, and had volunteered for an experiment to receive an upgrade to make her more powerful. Having wanted to be a force to be reckoned with, she had agreed to the promises made by the scientists, yet they hadn't told her about the pain she'd have to endure.. Nor the fact she would have to give up her freedom for the sake of their experiment, until one day she had taken it upon herself to escape.

Did she consider herself special? Not really. Sure, she had this strange technology within her that had saved her skidplate more times than she could count, but she had also never been the same again after the nanomachines had formed a symbiotic relationship with her.

"Don't forget the original Megatron was a soldier as well before he merged the Decepticons into a force to be reckoned with," she reminded the other female. "Give yourself the credit you deserve."

Nemesis then disappeared into the depths of the Axalon, making good speed as she headed to the bridge.

"If Optimus lets them inside, we will all have own problems to deal with, and Optimus is only one bot, and he won't be able to save us, when we are attacked."

Aurora shook her head at Dinobod's inflexible solution. "He saved us all before," she told him bluntly as way of response, indicating the time Primal had returned to life only to change the course of events drastically. Although despite how much confidence she had in their leader, she was still very concerned about this.

Fortunately Primal settled the dispute by deactivating the shields himself, and Aurora immediately turned her focus to the camera again to see how Rattrap was doing.

"Please be alive, pretty please..," she whispered to herself, only to draw a sigh of relief when she could see the scorched rodent move slightly on the ground.

"He's alive!," she then joyously announced via the intercom system, relieved to see that Nemesis appeared to be leaving as well. Of course that joy didn't last very long, since another Decepticon-turned-Predacon soon showed up to finish the job. Aurora gulped upon seeing that, immediately making sure the autoguns were targeting the new intruder.

"Aurora, help Rattrap!"

Oh how badly the fuzor wanted to just rush out there and drag the rodent inside, but would she even be able to do so with Spineback now in the mix. But to her surprise, another Maximal had now joined the fight as clearly shown when the two of them got in view of the cameras. Wintersong!

Terrorsaur had arrived on the bridge and was engaged in combat with Dinobot, fortunately seemingly oblivious to the tiny female being present as well. Aurora pondered the possibility of sneaking out past the two combatants, since she had no doubt Dinobot could handle the cackling transmetal pterodactyl without too many problems, but the arrival of yet another individual on the bridge seemed to complicate that even further.

Nemesis smirked slightly upon seeing her rounds impact with the unsuspecting traitor, sending him crashing against the wall. "Long time no see, Dinobot," she told him while keeping her aim steady.

Meanwhile Aurora had ducked behind the computer console, her mind racing to find a viable solution to this ever growing problem. While there, as of yet unaware of the situation unfolding in the brig, she sent a message to Primal via comlink.

"I'm not sure that's doable, Optimus.. We have a couple of Predagoons here on the bridge. Dinobot's having a rough time against the Predacon flyers."


In another part of the Axalon, Optimus and Zodiac were faced with their own problems. Oddly enough the Maximal was sheltering his prisoner as well as the unconscious rhino on the floor, but that fact certainly wasn't doing anything to prevent the tyrant from gloating.

"Come, now, Optimus. We wouldn't want you to lose another crew member under your leadership,"

Zodiac glanced a bit nervously from Optimus to the bot laying at his feet, secretly hoping Rhinox would wake up to help even out the odds a bit. Or at the very least that Primal would come to his senses and release him from his chains so he could at least defend himself.

"Surely, Zodiac's insignificant life isn't worth sacrificing Airazor whom, if I recall correctly, would not even exist if not for Rhinox's quick-thinking and hard labor under the dire strain of raw energon build-up. So, I would imagine her life is more valuable than that coward hiding behind you."

The renegade's optics narrowed a bit at that remark. While it was true he had no intention of dying, he also didn't want to be remembered as a coward in those final few moments. So while he had remained silent up until now, that is the comment that prompted him to step out from behind Primal so he could eye his opponent more clearly.

A bit off to the side Megatron was showing off his hostage, toying with her life to try to coax Optimus to do his bidding. Zodiac honestly couldn't care less about the Maximal falcon, however he was all too keenly aware of the fact that her being in Megatron's grasp was causing Primal some turmoil and could easily persuade him to turn the shape shifter over to ensure her safety. Honestly, Zodiac was rather surprised the commander hadn't done so already.

There was a little clash between the captive falcon and her keeper, until Megatron promptly shut their confrontation down before it was allowed to escalate further. Optimus proved his usefulness when he managed to deflect a pair of plasma shots from hitting its intended target, again leaving Zodiac wishing he had access to his weapons. His spark now pulsating faster, he settled his glaring optics on Megatron and used the only weapon he had left at his disposal.

His words.

"Face it, Megatron. You're yesterday's news, obsolete. You've spent years stuck on this mudball of a planet, plotting to rid yourself of the Maximals. And still I've come closer to achieving your dreams than you ever have."

An angered Megatron was less likely to think clearly, more likely to make mistakes.. So that's the approach the renegade had decided to make. If he could get the tyrant to physically lunge himself at him, he could still use his nanotech armor to impale his attacker.

"I am not interested in your insolent bantering, nor am I interested in your fantasy for correcting your past mistakes and missed opportunities,"

Zodiac shrugged, every bit of defiance he could muster on full display. He certainly knew there was no point in appealing to Megatron's better nature, since they all knew he possessed no such qualities. So instead he continued to attack his ego by trying to appear unphased by the situation.

"You will comply,"

"Or what?," Zodiac challenged. "There's no way you can win this, Megatron."

"You'll have to go through me first, Megatron."

Oh Optimus.. Ever the protector. Zodiac couldn't help but feel a bit fortunate the Maximal was at his side right now, since having him there helped boost his confidence. Of course he wasn't nearly as confident as he may have seemed.

"No, I won't. I have not come here for you, Optimus. But he has."

That's when he became aware of the sound of heavy footsteps approaching their location. Zodiac didn't want to take his optics off of Megatron, but he still felt compelled to see who was coming even though part of him already knew. And the revelation wasn't about to make this confrontation any easier.

Rampage looked like something out of a nightmare where he came walking down the hallway, barely illuminated by the blinking emergency lights. The crab wasn't exactly hurrying, likely because he knew that his arrival had just blocked off the remaining exit the renegade could escape through. Gone was the almost sassy attitude the shape shifter had displayed mere moments ago. He may have remained calm, but he still took a step backwards and thus closer to Megatron when the large crab started laughing maniacally.

"Why the rush Primal? Why don't you stick around, the party is only just beginning."

Zodiac shook his head ever so slightly, as if hoping such an act would make the nightmarish figure simply vanish into thin air. It didn't. Of course it didn't. Even though he hadn't directly been responsible for the creation of Rampage, this was still a nightmare of his own making. He had taken it upon himself to give the crab hope of freedom, only to confiscate the spark for himself and attempting to kill Megatron as part of the process.

"I don't recall any of you being invited," he muttered in a low voice, mostly to himself.

Rampage next turned his attention to the renegade, almost looking as if he was smirking when he spoke up again.

"No where to run this time, partner."

"I must say I'm disappointed in you," Zodiac said while addressing Rampage, while trying to hold back that growing lump in his throat. "I didn't think you'd be willing to go back to being a slave to Megatron," he added next, hoping to use the crab's resentment against the Predacon tyrant to his own advantage.

"Now where would the fun in that be?,"

Unsure if Zodiac was just continuing to taunt the Maximal leader or he just wasn't getting the point, Primal left it alone because there were more important matters to handle.

"He always thought of himself as so clever.. Like he could single-handedly make a difference. I have no doubt his mouth is ultimately what got him killed,"

Optimus studied Zodiac's response to his condolence almost bewildered by it. Did Night Terror's life and allegiance mean anything to him or not? Did his death hurt him emotionally? Did he care at all? But the pretender was still using walls and disguises to distract himself from the truth. At least that's what Primal had surmised. Surely, he felt something for his friend... or comrade. He must have in order to suddenly put so many words to it. Assuming Zodiac wouldn't have cared for the Maximal's input, opinion or advice, Optimus opted not to comment further on that topic as well.

"He still lives," "And he even got his belongings back. So arranging such a massive attack just to make sure he gets to me is rather petty."

Perhaps. But Megatron was calculative. Very calculative. Everything he did had a purpose behind it, and Primal had a feeling that his desire to vanquish Zodiac had more to do with his long-term goals than merely seeking revenge. The Predacon tyrant wouldn't waste so much ammunition and resources just to prove a point. That wasn't his style. There was always an agenda. Regardless, Zodiac's comment offered a little vulnerability from him now that he was on the receiving end of the inevitable threat, which was something of a rarity to witness after all of his cockiness and disregard for others' well being. And he should be nervous.

"I'm aware," "And it's not a confrontation I'm looking forward to,"

Neither was Optimus since he was fully aware that he would have to protect Zodiac as well as he could just so there was one less death to occur in this war. Too many lives had been lost already... Maximal, Predacon or Vok, Optimus didn't want anymore to suffer the same fate of those who had perished no matter what faction they were.

"So you plan to defend me against the Predacon army?,"

"I've faced worse odds," Primal answered the renegade with confidence and determination. Oddly enough, he seemed ready for the confrontation. Probably even more so than Zodiac was. Or maybe it was the lack of fear coming face-to-face with his adversary once more. Megatron no longer scared him after all.

"No," "I don't think it would.

Well, that was certainly a step in the right direction. He was almost taken aback by his admission, and certainly relieved to hear it. However, he was still aware of his master manipulations with others, especially with Primal.

However I'm not sure if you've taken notice, but you haven't exactly been my primary target as of late either."

"I've noticed that you're goal is survival," Optimus shared his observations. Which was quite a common goal for everyone who was trapped there on Earth. To put it in perspective for Zodiac, he added, "And that you are someone else's primary target now." To put himself on Megatron's radar the way he did was probably one of the shape shifter's biggest mistakes.

"You're a tough bot to figure out, Primal, I suppose that might be why you saw through my plans in time to save your Maximals."

"I'm really not," he admitted. But he supposed to someone like Zodiac, who wasn't shown compassion and forgiveness the way Optimus seemed to hand it out so openly and excessively, he might have appeared more complicated than he really was.

"It's a pity you feel that way," "For I would be fighting for my own life. What, exactly, is the likes of her fighting for?"

The Maximal fell silent once more toward Zodiac's comment about Nemesis. He could have indulged him a little bit about how he felt about her, but he was wiser to keep it to himself. "I imagine her beliefs are not too different from your own." Survival. Perhaps a longing to belong somewhere in this vast universe. To matter. Maybe even to be important to someone. Whether he was right or wrong, it didn’t matter. If his comment got him to talk and reveal more about himself, then Optimus would gladly listen.

-----

"Survived yet again, eh rodent? Must really have some luck on your side."

Footsteps that he was less familiar with approached Rattrap putting him on high alert, but he was still too damaged to move enough to escape. Without even bothering to look who it was, he managed to get on his elbows and tried to crawl away from his predator, but he was too slow and too late. Feeling Spineback's foot press down on his back, he was forced to lay flat on his stomach again, squished to the ground and trapped like a real rat. He was too weak to do anything to defend himself, and he truly felt completely helpless. Didn't he have any tricks up his sleeve? His tail perhaps? His demo charges? Not unless he wanted to blow himself up with her. Groaning in pain under her weight, he still had trouble forming his words, so his babbling response was rather incoherent.

"But that luck ends here and now."

Rattrap heard someone else approaching them quickly. Four-legged. And stealthy, like a cat. As a rat, even TransMetal, he was in tune with his senses that could detect such vibrations through his paws, and noises through his sensitive ears, and scents with his nose. A whiff from the breeze in the right direction told him that Wintersong had arrived just in time to help him. "It... It ain't luck," he finally managed to say clearly with his face almost in the dirt. The tigress's suddenly loud roar nearly made him jump despite him being pinned by the taller Predacon. He wasn't expecting it. In fact, when was the last time he ever heard her roar like that?

As Wintersong pulled Spineback off of him, the small Maximal rolled himself over onto his back and pushed himself up to sit up by propping his hands behind him a little and watched them tussle about as the auto-guns hammered both of them. Although the shots didn't seem to bother Wintersong.

"Get off me you rabid furball!"

"It's called... havin' a mischief ta... back ya up!" he finished boasting to Spineback's comment about his "luck". Mischief being his "pack" or "family" in terms of rats. "Eh," he gave a quick dismissive wave to her when he realized he may not have made much sense whether the Predacon was even still listening or not, "you get de... point." While Wintersong protectively put herself between him and Spineback, he reached in his subspace for his gun, but it wasn't there. Slag it all. I loved dat gun, he thought as he was sure it was lost somewhere now and would never get it back. He'd have to get another replacement. When the TransMetal tigress turned to face the Predacon medic, he was certain her eyes were a different color, but she had moved too quickly for him to stare long enough and make any real distinguishable judgement. Heck, he was just glad she showed up when she did! Otherwise, he would have been one, dead rat. Dis just ain't my day, he confessed to himself.

Rattrap's entire body ached and throbbed, burnt and frazzled as it was. It was difficult for him to concentrate. When he reached over his shoulder with a painful groan to wield his tail, he noticed one of the cameras above on the base and waved to it with his free hand assuming anyone was watching inside without realizing how serious the whole situation was with the Predacon attack. Then he looked back over at Wintersong and Spineback. He swayed a little as he sat there, unable to maintain his balance very well since many of his systems were fried, but as long as he still functioned, he was going to try and help. No way did he want to appear vulnerable and helpless in front of these jerk neighbors. Straightening his tail into a spear, he held it out in front of him to defend himself until his arms dropped unable to keep holding his tail up. “You okay, Winter?” he asked her in a weakened voice with her back to him. He couldn't help but glance back up toward the Axalon's command center when he heard more gunfire coming from inside. Maybe he should try getting himself inside instead to see if he could help, but he could barely move let alone stand up and walk himself to the lift. Can I transform? he asked himself. It would hurt if he did, and then what? What could he do in beast mode or vehicle mode? Of course, it would help his internal repairs if he did, and he could probably move by using his wheels if he needed a quick escape, not that he planned on abandoning Wintersong. "Beast mode," he finally decided, and his body shifted with sparks in its joints and a lot of pain into his TransMetal rat appearance. He cringed and chattered his teeth before taking a couple deep breaths and forcing himself to cope.

"He's alive!,"

Suddenly hearing Aurora's joyful announcement out of no where, Optimus wasn't quite sure who she was talking about, but he assumed it was Rattrap. Thank Primus!

"I'm not sure that's doable, Optimus.. We have a couple of Predagoons here on the bridge. Dinobot's having a rough time against the Predacon flyers."

As discouraging as her update was, he was glad he finally had some kind of indication of what was going on elsewhere in their base even while he was trying to deal with his own problem in the brig. Two flyers? Terrorsaur and Nemesis, he presumed. Dinobot was capable of handling himself, but he could use some assistance from the smaller Fuzor if she wasn't able to get to Rattrap. "Be resourceful, Aurora," he reminded her over their transmission without taking his optics off of the intruders. "Use your surroundings to your advantage. And remember your enemies' weaknesses." Optimus paused before he added, "If you can do it safely, have Sentinel broadcast a distress signal to the rest of the Maximals." It wouldn't require audible transmission since most of their comm. links seemed to be scrambled, just their signatures to lock on to and send the alert directly to their internal optic sensor information. "Code Red," he instructed her which would let the others know that they were under a Predacon attack at the Axalon.

Just then, Primal was struck with some kind of primitive or feral sensation coming from Wintersong. It was incredibly strong. Why was he feeling that? Was she okay? Where was she? As distracting as it was, he grew very concerned for her because of her body's abnormalities ever since she had escaped the Vok's cocoon. This had to be related to the aliens. It was the only kind of link he shared with her. Although he had no idea what he was doing, or if it would even work, in that moment, he instinctively tried reaching out to her in a similar way that he would with his bond with Whitegrazer. Wintersong...? he called her name.

"Face it, Megatron. You're yesterday's news, obsolete. You've spent years stuck on this mudball of a planet, plotting to rid yourself of the Maximals. And still I've come closer to achieving your dreams than you ever have."

Megatron's bellowing laughter immediately brought Optimus back to his current predicament. But his gaze was drawn to Airazor whose leg was damaged even more now thanks to the Predacon leader's ruthless actions. Primal almost reached out to help her out of instinct, but he stopped himself as Inferno's weapon took aim on her while she was grounded to the floor in excruciating pain, according to her body language and emerald optics. Airazor was strong, but even now she appeared defeated. Defeated but obviously unwilling to quit, which was admirable. Still, she would need a CR chamber. For now, he just wanted her to keep herself from being noticed so she wouldn’t risk taking any more hits, but knowing her opportunistic nature, that was highly unlikely.

"You do not possess the ability to comprehend my compendiums, shape shifter," the Predacon warlord rumbled in his deep voice as if he was spitting on his very existence and how foolishly Cryotek had relied on his unique abilities as an advantage in his plans when Megatron was the real prodigy with the brilliant mind. After the discovery he made earlier that day with the golden disk he had stolen from Cybertron so long ago, he truly felt unstoppable. But he must refrain himself from sharing any spoilers. These Maximals, led by Optimus Primal, were suddenly mere inconveniences to him with his new-found knowledge. He didn't have to kill them per say. Nooo. He had another way now that would undo everything and change the course of history.

Even though Zodiac's intention with his cruel comments was to enrage Megatron, it seemed to have had the opposite effect, and that actually worried Optimus more. He felt like an afterthought now with the dictator's reaction, as though his scheming had dramatically taken a turn. But why or how was baffling to him.

"Or what?," "There's no way you can win this, Megatron."

Standing there tall and defiant, Megatron watched Zodiac and Primal turn to find the king crab now cutting off their only exit from behind them. A small but sly smile tugged at his purple mouth as he savored their expressions. "I always have a way," he bragged with emphasis to the black dragon who was clearly ill informed. "Your technology may be evolutionary, Zodiac, but your mind consistently fails to exhibit any sort of equal progression," he insulted him.

Even Optimus glared at the t-rex for that cruel comment.

"Why the rush Primal? Why don't you stick around, the party is only just beginning."

"I don't recall any of you being invited,"

Rampage..., thought the Maximal Commander warily as the crab spoke and emerged from the shadows toward the daylight that shined in through the gaping hole that Megatron and Inferno had made. But he had yet to lose any hope in the matter. It did, however, make things a lot more worse for him, Zodiac, Airazor and Rhinox. Now he was realizing just how much trouble they were in, outgunned with Rhinox still laying on the floor, and the rest of the Maximals were preoccupied with the other Predacons. How could he have let Megatron gain the upper hand like this and put his crew in danger? He didn't forget Nemesis' part in the matter either.

"No where to run this time, partner."

"I must say I'm disappointed in you," "I didn't think you'd be willing to go back to being a slave to Megatron,"

"The only disappointment present is yourself," Megatron broke in to try and dissuade Zodiac's comments toward Rampage that were obviously intended to turn the crab on him or simply get him angry enough to lose control and thus make mistakes. "You filled him with false hopes, Zodiac, whereas my promises are guaranteed." Not to mentioned he hardly resorted to using Rampage's spark against him. For now. The tension could be felt in the room like it was humidity. Megatron was well aware that he was running out of time. Maximal reinforcements would be arriving soon, with or without their rescued comrades since Quickstrike likely failed to maintain them as their prisoners. Incompetent Fuzor.

"Don't move, Zodiac," Optimus whispered to him after the shape shifter had already stepped out from behind Optimus to show himself to Megatron. Knowing this maneuver was likely to get himself shot, he also couldn't leave Zodiac with his hands tied. They needed to help each other, if they could. So, a second later after his warning, Primal turned himself slightly to target the energy bonds around Zodiac's wrists and fired his gun only once with close precision in hopes of freeing him from his restraints. He quickly tried to target it again at Megatron, but he was too late.

Growling at the Maximal's attempt to un-cuff the renegade, the Predacon leader took advantage of the opportunity and fired once at Primal with his tail gun while Inferno kept his large weapon trained on Airazor in case she decided to try anything again. Megatron needed to separate the two anyway and get Optimus away from his target.

About to swing with his club to deflect the shot, Primal was hammered in his arm instead and stumbled backwards nearly tripping into Rampage. But he caught himself and stopped from literally falling into his clutches. Unfortunately, now there was more distance between him and Zodiac, and he was faced with the allegedly invincible, TransMetal crab who was both very strong and heavily armed.

"You may start the feast, Rampage!" the tyrant permitted him implying that the gorilla had been made to be his main course meal. Successfully isolating Zodiac from his protector, Megatron unleashed more firepower on the shape shifter in hopes of injuring him enough to pull him out of there without much struggling. The gunfire from his shoulders mini-guns and plasma tail gun drowned out the noisy alarms inside of the base.

As much as Inferno wanted to help the Royalty, he kept his focus on Airazor below him with his aching head, cracked optic sensor and some missing teeth.

Rhinox groaned lightly as he started coming around, slowly but surely. The gunfire above his head was deafening, and he had no idea what was going on, so his movements were very slow while he regained his consciousness and tried not drawing any attention to himself.

-----

"I may not be a leader, but at least I know better than to outright reveal myself at the possibility there might be other enemies lurking. Maybe you should start taking some notes."

Quickstrike merely gave Cheetor a sneer and glared at him. The nerve of that kid Maximal giving him advice! ...Even though he was right... Ugh! Disgusting!

"Can it Predacon before I paralyze your mouth shut."

The petite Fuzor grumbled in retaliation toward Tigerhawk's comment and wiggled in his snare made out of webbing as he hung there humiliated.

"Aw, Quickstrike," "Where did the love go?"

"You never had it ta begin with!" Quickstrike corrected the black widow recalling that he had put all the effort into their short-lived, non-existent relationship. Boy, her personality sure fit her beast mode. Backstabbing, unloving, conniving, selfish and deadly! He couldn't believe he had ever felt anything for her and let her use him the way she had before she turned herself over to the Maximals.

"But at least, I am where the action is, cowboy, can you say the same?"

"I could if you got me down," he sneered at her while upside down. Secretly, however, he was subtly working his cobra head to slowly start biting through the cyber webbing. It would take him a while, but he was certain he could eventually get himself free.

"Aww, how can anyone say no to this face,"

"Eeeew!" Quickstrike whined and tried keeping his chin away from her touch by jerking his head in every direction just to avoid it. "Git your Maximal hands off of me!" he demanded as if she was contagious with some kind of Maximal disease that would infect him and turn him into one as well. Never! Just then he felt a piercing through his armor and shuddered as she injected him with some cyber venom. It managed to quiet him down and stop his cobra head from eating through the web, but only briefly. After all, he was part scorpion, and he was a TransMetal, so her low dose of venom wasn't going to last very long in his body that also produced the toxin with an even stronger, upgraded dosage than her own. But until it would wear off, all he could was hang there and watch the enemy as they formulated their plans and helped each other. It was pretty boring for him.

Rampage merely shrugged his shoulders slightly at Zodiac's words. They rang true of course, the crab still very much resented Megatron, more so with what the tyrant had discovered recently but he had so far made true on his promise. He complied with his demands and orders in exchange for not having the half of his spark tortured. For the time being at least.

"Be as it may, it appears I have the more ideal situation." Rampage briefly glanced towards Zodiac's obviously cuffed arms and the prison he had been kept in the past few days. Even if Megatron was keeping him hostage by threatening the use of the device encasing his spark piece he could still act freely and within reason. But his gaze shifted back more towards the transmetal ape, hatred and rage clear in his green optics. It wasn't Zodiac he was concerned for so much as extracting revenge against Optimus for his part in making him who and what he was, leaving him in a constant cycle of misery and pain.

How did someone who didn't so easily die ever feel anything but misery?

Leg still in pain, Airazor could only watch the exchange between Optimus, Megatron, and Zodiac, her optics shifting between the three at the exchange and Rampage's own when he decided to speak up. She could only imagine where the accumulating tension was coming from, knowing she had been somewhat out of the loop in recent events and that more of these hostilities could have come from the weeks she had been gone.

Letting out a soft, pained grunt, the falcon carefully shifted herself to prop herself against a wall, well aware of Inferno's flamethrower focused on her at all times. But she could see his eagerness to be at Megatron's side, no doubt wanting to be involved more than he already was. "Falling out of favor with the boss. Huh, never would have taken you to be Megatron's second rate soldier Inferno." Airazor spoke calmly despite the evident pain in her voice.

Though the situation quickly turned sour, causing Airazor to watch in horror and dismay that things might quickly turn in the Predacons' favor more than it already was. And given her own precarious situation she saw few options in this moment. Even if she managed to push Inferno's weapon aside long enough to make a move her reaction time might not be enough to help herself at the same time and she doubted Inferno would let his guard slip again. No, she had to hope a miracle and watched for an opening as her hand moved a bit closer behind her back, optics narrowing at the red ant, keeping an optic on his movements.

Seeing Optimus fire at the cuffs, Rampage immediately lifted his rocket launcher, preparing to fire if necessary until the tyrant gave him an opening for Optimus. "You're mine now monkey." The crab growled, firing a single rocket towards the gorilla to knock him back and disorient the Maximal commander before lunging forward to grab for his throat, intending to rip out his very spark then and there.

Wintersong hadn't been considering the auto-guns in her state of mind, having been hyperfocused on Spineback for the moment until she heard Rattrap behind her, causing her to glance back with relieved optics. Despite the experiences he had just gone through he was still functional and moving, "Probably should add tougher than you look to all that." The transmetal tigress mused, staying behind the cover of the rocks as she came to her comrade's side, eyeing the damage to his frame.

Her optics still remained purple in color, but she didn't seem to have noticed. However, she did begin to notice the faint stings of the auto-guns from pelting her frame, "But you've definitely seen better days. Will you be able to move if we have to make a break for it?" She inquired considering his wounds looked rather painful. What exactly had the Predacons done to the rodent and where was Airazor?

Her thoughts were quickly broken by Optimus reaching out to her, causing her to glance around in surprise as if expecting Optimus to be right there beside them at first before realizing where his voice came from. "Optimus! Sorry, I'm not use to this link and I wasn't aware I had sent anything to you." Wintersong replied with embarrassment, wondering if her aggression just now had somehow filtered across their unintentional link.

By this point, Spineback could feel her body aching once more from the relentless attack by the auto-guns and Wintersong having latched on for a short time. The tigress had been reckless to risk her own skin but what could the former Decepticon expect. The need to protect and defend their friends was stronger than the need to help themselves, making it both admirable but stupid. But she couldn't continue to be held down by the single Maximal and the ship's defenses.

Peering across the way towards the two Maximals, the Chief Medic doubted they would be making another move towards her anytime soon, especially not with the condition Rattrap was in. 'Annoying Maximals.' She thought as she pushed herself to her feet once more with her lance in hand but keeping low enough to avoid the auto-guns still working away at her cover, finding the path she could take for the hanger Rampage had blasted his way into. Raising her shield arm, the Spinosaurus femme finally made her way towards the hanger.

Meanwhile, Terrorsaur snarled as Dinobot's first slash strike his shoulder but managed to deflect the one aimed towards his chest plate, "You will be traitor." Terrosaur affirmed as he made a slash towards the raptor's chest in response with both of his swords, trying to force him back or give the raptor some damage in response.

Though their fight was short lived as Terrorsaur noticed Nemesis aiming towards Dinobot, forcing him to step aside and cackling at seeing his former comrade blown against the wall. "Why don't you just sit down a while Dinobot, we'll just make ourselves comfortable." Terrosaur fired his eye lasers next at the raptor, attempting to knock him down for a little while longer.

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

Under most circumstances Cheetor would normally be rather smug about his comments towards the Predacons, especially if he knew he was right from time to time. Given his young age he was rarely taken seriously or could have moments he could say he was right, and this was one of those times.

But like Whitegrazer he was deeply concerned about those at the Axalon, already visibly restless and anxious to get back but had kept himself from clawing the ground as she had. "I don't think we can guarantee anything Big Cat." Cheetor told him, figuring by the time they got to the Axalon they would have to jump into something right away. Thankfully, Blackarachnia finished her taunting of Quickstrike, with a nice dose of venom to calm him down for a time, so they could get going. "Let's just hurry already." Cheetor said, becoming rather impatient as he took off down the tunnel.

Tigerhawk ignored Quickstrike at this point, letting Tigatron do what he needed for the wounds he had which was probably more than he had been hoping for. But given their situation before he had done what he thought he should have to give his fellow Maximals a fighting chance, though it appeared to have changed little. "Don't worry about fixing everything Tigatron, as long as I'm mobile I can make do being grounded. Compared to my chest my flight systems are in better shape."

Dinobot kept his expression stoic as Aurora exclaimed Rattrap's status, that the rat was okay, barely, but still, his spark still beat hard and alive in his chest. Good. That wasn't a death that befitted the rodent. Aurora's earlier comments about Optimus coming to save the day might very little as he fought Terrorsaur and Nemesis, who just snuck attacked him. Optimus had his own share of problems, as Dinobot glanced from the monitor on the screen while he was dealing with Terrorsaur, whose shoulder sparked with a gash due to his sword. Terrorsaur's dual blades slashed, leaving two gashes against his chestplate, and right after that, Nemesis's explosive rounds pummeled his back, flying against the wall. He struggled, staggering, putting his hand against the wall and using it to help pull himself back up, his chest burning, as Nemesis and Terrorsaur both looked gleefully eager to inflict more upon him. Dinobot glanced over to see that the little ermine had hidden herself behind the command center. It wasn't much of a hiding place, and if he didn't do something quick, if he allowed himself to fall, she would be their next target, and he knew they both didn't care. They would attack an opponent who couldn't possibly defend themselves against them, and as Nemesis proved with her display with shoving Rattrap into the Sentinel shields, which was supposed to protect them from such attacks, she was more than willing to do such dishonorable tactics.

He coughed a bit of smoke, seeing Terrorsaur's purple eye beams ready to fire at him, "I'm sorry. I haven't been such a gracious host. Let me correct that." As Terrorsuar's eyebeams heading straight for him, he rolled against the wall, avoiding the eye beams, sliding towards the command center to hide right next to Aurora, shot his eyebeams at Terrorsuar's legs and a quick shot towards Nemesis's weapon before he was right next to Aurora. But he wouldn't stay hid forever. He broke off the top of teh command center, lifting it to cover both himself and Aurora, "Follow me," Dinobot commanded the little ermine as he moved their cover close to the small storage area that held a few weapons. He pulled down the area and pulled out a pistol with his free hand while the other hand held up the circular table and his sword and gave it to Aurora, who he knew saw herself more as a medic and biologist rather than a warrior, but right now, he needed her to help him in driving off these two. "If you have any qualms about firing at them, remember that blackbird hurt Rattrap." Dinobot said, growling, lifting down the shield so he could fire another shot at both Nemesis and Terrorsuar.


Tigratron nodded at tigerhawk, looking at his chestplate which was smoldering with giant holes due to Terrorsuar's cheap shot at him, smiling, "Of course, just hold still now, this might sting a bit." Tigratron carefully took out some tools from the first aid kit. He used a small laser cutter to take off some of the bad, sizzling, sparking wires and circuits. The first aid wasn't like the Cr Chamber, so Tigratron could only temproialy seal the places, keeping tigerhawl from leaking anymore energon or mechfluid on the ground then he already had. He patched up one of the holes and began working on the second one. This work held keep him focused rather than worrying for his cormades, especially Airazor, praying that she was out of teh Predacons' hands and was fighting back like herself to help their comrades, and hopefully, both Tigerhawk and he would join them. "I don't seem to be much of a negotiator it seems,"Tigratron said, as he continued on working on his friend, knowing full well that he was respoinsble for the flyer's injuries,"I'm sorry. I should have listened to you before. If I did, maybe we could have save our comrades from being used as hostages."


Blackarachnia continued to lead Whitegrazer and Cheetor down the tunnels, the tunnels they all three could fit through at least. Whitegrazer, as she continue to follow Blackarachnia, walking side by side with Cheetor, could sense and feel the battle as they grew closer and closer towards the Axalon. She chastised herself from being so impatient and unfocused, allowing her emotions to dwell on thoughts about her friends, Optimus, Aurora, and Zodiac, her son, a child she didn't know survived, and now, if the Predacons won, could be taken away from her in a flash, and as she took deep breaths, she knew she had to remain calm. She needed to be careful and chose her next actions carefully. She can't allow anymore suffering, and she wont allow her own feeling sto jeopardize anyone.

But her spark beat against her chest, an otherwordly growl inwardly gnawed at herself, and as they walked past a puddle of water that dripped from a hanging stalemite, she saw a reflection of her Vok self, a determined but intimidated expression, an expression of a being tired of watching other suffersers and weighed down by failures and deaths haunting her soul, directly or indirectly she felt responsible for, , an expression of a determined Maximal to save her comrades, an expression of a mother who will do what she must to protect a child, who didn't even know he was, as well as the other little onw who she adopted and treated as if she was one of her own, an expression of a determined lover who would do anything to make sure no one hurt her love again.

"this alcove should lead us to underneath the belly of the Axalon and into the computer core,"Blackarachnia winked as she motioned for them to follow her. Once they climbed into the computer core, Blackarachnia and Whitegrazer walked into the hallway that was split into two directions.

"So? Which way shall we go?"Blackarachnia looked at both ways, takinga step towards the right when she saw a familiar sight. Inside a vent, she saw a flash of yellow and purple, a bright light inside the hole. She glared, "Actually, it would be neither path for me. Sorry tabby, horsey, I got a date inside a vent." She transformed into her beast mode and crawled into vent. One of her legs snatched the little arachnoid and released it. "Where is he?" Though she knew the little flashlight head wsnt intelligent enough to talk or say anything, so she followed it, hoping it took her to her tall, dark and gruesome creator, so they could have a nice little chat.

Whitegrazer glanced at Cheetor then back at the two directions. In both directions, she was conflicted and pained. She sensed Aurora on the right, which lead to the bridge, while Optimus she sensed on the left, which lead to the brig, where she sensed Airazor. She kept looking at both directions, wondering which way to go. she closed her optics, hating the decision, until she could hear the breathing of her spark, pounding against her chest like a drum. The Predacons were forcing her, them all to make a choice. She balled a fist, staring at the left path, knowing what she must do. she looked at Cheetor, "I am heading towards the brig. I senses a few presence there, some unwelcome. Optimus is in trouble. " Not to mention, Zodiac, and as she concentrated, she could feel the darkness oozing around Optimus, a spark, a presence, she knew as Rampage. She raced down the left corridor towards the brig.

Once she arrived, she saw the back of Rampage, who fired a missile at Optimus, Megatron, Rhinox on the ground, Inferno keeping his weapon trained on Airazor, and Zodiac, cuffed, on the ground. She stopped running, listened to to the pulse of her spark, Optimus, Zodiac's beating, and then Rampage's. As Rampage dashed towards Optimus to make a grip towards his throat, so did Whitegrazer dash right behind the running Rampage, overtaking his speed, sliding inbetween his legs legs first. Her arms pushed her body up, so the balls of her feet would connect hard into Rampage's jaw to push and knock the disturbed bot back and down "You will not harm anyone here, Rampage," She said as she flipped herself forward, standing back upright, putting herself inbetween Optimus and Rampage. But then she looked back to see Megatron unleashing firepower upon the cuffed Zodiac, there was a fear in her optics at how she couldn't get there in time to save Zodiac from the fire and she couldn't just leave and allow Rampage to attack Optimus either. "No!" Whitegrazer yelled out in defiantly towards the purple tyrant. She glanced at Optimus, "I will keep Rampage occupy. Help them." She glanced worriedly at the downed Rhinox and Airazor who was being watched by Inferno, not forgetting that they were in danger too.

(ooc: My apologies for the delay. Unfortunately I missed my window of opportunity to post while waiting so it's been difficult to find the time to work on this post this week.. )

While Zodiac may have appeared uncaring when referencing his former allies, this wasn't entirely a true representation of how he felt. He did, after all, have feelings, yet he had been taught throughout his life that showing those feelings was a sign of weakness. And that was something he didn't want to reveal to the world, let alone the Maximal who was keeping him captive. His sense of pride prevented it.

Optimus remained silent while Zodiac attempted to justify his reasons for having attacked Megatron in the first place, which ultimately had lead to the Predacon attack they were now facing together. Still the shapeshifter refused to admit his guilt in the trouble he had caused, continuing to shift the blame onto others. Well, for the most part anyway, as he did seem a bit more hesitant now than he had in the past. Whether from a trace of actual guilt or from the realization that he truly was in over his head, Zodiac didn't know. And if he did, he certainly wouldn't share the information.

"I've faced worse odds,"

Primal's response brought on a slight, and ever so brief, smile on the pretender's face. "Me?," he then questioned with a hint of humor present in his face, before quickly adding; "I imagine your internal demons provide a far greater challenge. As you've mentioned a few times, you've had to reflect upon the decisions you've made more than most during those last few moments.." And returned to tell the tale. Zodiac still wasn't quite sure how Primal had managed such a feat, since the cold embrace of death was something he had managed to avoid thus far. Even if he had come close a time or two.

"I've noticed that you're goal is survival,"

Zodiac shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly. "Isn't that ultimately everyone's goal?," he asked. "An inert desire to live, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve it?"


Of course when the circumstances were different, the renegade had expanded upon those goals to include what he had perceived as his destiny at the time. His life sure had changed in these last few weeks..

"And that you are someone else's primary target now."

"Oh, Megatron wanted to tear me to pieces the first time I revealed my true self to him," Zodiac admitted, almost sounding as if he found the memories a bit humorous. "I'm used to being targeted," he then continued, the lighter tone fading as he spoke. "Kind of comes with the territory when those around you want little more than to control you for the abilities you possess. Most cybertronians take a while to figure out where their place is in this world, yet I've always been told what my goals were since I first gained consciousness in that lab while surrounded by scientists and guards and even Cryotek himself. They would tell me I held such potential, yet never let me live up to them on my own."

His voice almost sounded a little bitter as well as hesitant, since this wasn't a topic he was used to discussing. Truthfully his keepers couldn't have cared less about how he viewed the role he had been selected to play.

"I'm really not,"

Zodiac had merely sent him an all-telling look when Primal protested his earlier statement. Truth of the matter was that Optimus was different from most leader figures he had encountered. And most of them were so shallow and opinionated, it was easy to read them and play them accordingly.

"I imagine her beliefs are not too different from your own."

The renegade shook his head briefly. "She had a choice, you know. She chose to partake in the experiments, at least initially. And then she chose to abandon me there to my fate." His emotions about the subject were raw, genuine, truthful, hurt. If it had been an act he was putting on, he would have impressed himself. But no.. It was not an act this time, and Zodiac immediately regretted opening himself up like that. Whatever horrors Nemesis had gone through in that place, his experience was worse. He had been born and raised there, and for most of his life it had been everything he knew. All the way up until he started pretending to be someone else and got to live out their lives instead, thus allowing him a glimpse of what life could be like when he wasn't on a tight leash.

"Be resourceful, Aurora,"

The little fuzor glanced around from her hiding spot, not really seeing much of anything she could make use of right now. Dinobot was engaged in battle, but the odds were stacked against him since there were now two Predacons intent to take him down. Aurora could only hope the former Predacon raptor was going to be able to hold his own against the invaders.

"Use your surroundings to your advantage. And remember your enemies' weaknesses."

Weaknesses..? Well, Terrorsaur was a loudmouth, she knew that much, but somehow it didn't seem very practical to use that against him right now. Nemesis.. well, if there were any electrical weapons laying around that could potentially bring her down. Aurora secretly vowed to start carrying such a weapon on her person if she got out of this in one piece.

"I'm open to suggestions," she mumbled back on her private link to Optimus before her gaze darted over to a nearby table that still had some tools scattered on it from an earlier attempt to fix some computer cables. Maybe something there could be useful..?

"If you can do it safely, have Sentinel broadcast a distress signal to the rest of the Maximals."

Now that she could possibly be able to do without putting herself in harms way.. She was hiding right underneath a computer console after all. So all it took were a few quick movements of the latch under the console to get it to open. She then promptly got to work with synchronizing the now exposed wires inside with her own wrist-mounted computer in an attempt to get Sentinel to focus its attacks on less, but more carefully selected, targets, as well as opening an emergency signal to any Maximal like Primal had ordered.

Nemesis remained at a slightly longer distance from Dinobot, knowing better than to underestimate the raptor. If he was to attack with that spinning sword of his, it would be in her best interest that Terrorsaur was the main target. Yet to her surprise, the traitor was about to make a run for it in the opposite direction.

"Why don't you just sit down a while Dinobot, we'll just make ourselves comfortable."

"You know you can't prevent this," she added, hoping to break the raptor's spirit. "If you wish to spare your Maximal friends from even more pain, then lay down your weapons and surrender."

But Dinobot didn't comply, instead he ran as fast as he could to avoid the incoming shots. Nemesis glared after him and fired a few of her own shots as well, wanting to prevent the fleeing male from getting to his destination.. whatever it was. And a moment later he was firing back at them, forcing Nemesis to break formation to avoid getting hit. And during those few brief seconds, she lost track of where he'd gone off to.

Aurora had just finished sending out a distress signal to the other Maximals when Dinobot suddenly appeared, causing her to jump in surprise as she quickly disconnected her wrist bound computer from the wires underneath the console.

"Geez, don't sneak up on me!," she protested with indignation before remembering to lower her voice as not to give their location away, if she hadn't already.

"Follow me,"

Where to now?

Aurora did as he'd asked and quickly went along with him, only for Dinobot to place a pistol in her hands. Staring at it for a moment, she then turned her green optics on him.

"If you have any qualms about firing at them, remember that blackbird hurt Rattrap."

Shaking her head, Aurora sighed. "No qualms whatsoever," she confirmed, not having to be reminded of what trauma poor Rattrap had to endure. Hopefully he was still okay.. he had to be okay..

"But Sentinel is about to show these guys that they're messing with the wrong crowd," she then added while nodding in the direction of the console they'd just come from, where she had tapped into Sentinel and set in motion certain new.. directives.

That plan turned out to be short-lived, however, as another series of Nemesis' explosive rounds hit their target against the console she had just been using moments before. No, not just the console, but the very central control unit for Sentinel itself.

Nemesis smirked ever so slightly as smoke started rising from the console, which caused an immediate reaction from all the autoguns controlled by the Sentinel defense system that now promptly started to deactivate. The persistent shooting that had been ongoing ever since the attack began suddenly stopped, leaving Aurora muttering a few select bad words she had picked up from Rattrap.

"Okay..," the fuzor then said as she cocked the pistol Dinobot had just given her. "I'll follow your lead." She then started shooting at their uninvited guests.

Zodiac's optics narrowed as the tyrant failed to react in the way he had predicted he would, instead bursting out in a taunting laughter. While Primal remained nearby, ever protective of his crew and even his prisoner, he too seemed to be caught off guard by the bellowing sound that even subdued the sound of gunfire in the distance and the still active alarms.

Had his arms been free, he would have crossed them while impatiently waiting for the tyrant to finish his own mockery, but as things were Zodiac had little choice but to wait it out. And when Megatron finally stopped, Zodiac merely continued to glare at him.

"You do not possess the ability to comprehend my compendiums, shape shifter,"

Perhaps it was his tone of voice when he used the very description of what made Zodiac the crowning achievement of Cryotek's scientists, or maybe it was the fact the tyrant dared to question the renegade's intelligence.. Whatever the reason, it caused the shape shifter to smirk a bit in defiance.

"Such a misplaced display of ego, old man," the renegade retorted, "Yet last I checked you were as stuck on this rock as the rest of us while life continues on Cybertron. So unless those grand plans of yours involves rusting away here, may I be bold enough to propose a temporary truce. I might just be willing to share information on a way off this planet, provided you ask nicely of course."

It was a ruse, yes, but one that could potentially buy him a little more time to get away.

"I always have a way,"

Zodiac fought down the memories of Cryotek bragging about his star pupil for the exact same reasons. Oh how he had hated hearing about Megatron and how Cryotek seemed so proud of what he had accomplished, even though he had obviously been furious when the tyrant stole a ship and took off with several items that most certainly didn't belong to him. Still.. the respect the warlord held for the tyrant had never diminished, a fact that had always bothered the young shape shifter immensely.

"Perhaps. Although you don't really have much to show for it just yet," Zodiac replied with a shrug of the shoulders. "I could help."

"Your technology may be evolutionary, Zodiac, but your mind consistently fails to exhibit any sort of equal progression,"

It took Zodiac's best poker face not to grimace at that low blow insult. Yes, he had suffered some defeats as of late, it was true, but his initial plans and execution of such had been near flawless.

"Maybe I just haven't had the right role model," Zodiac replied, biting his tongue as not to blurt out insults like his initial reaction would be to do. He had tried threats and some minor insults already and neither had the desired effect on the tyrant, so as a last resort he was now offering some semblance of loyalty to try to dissuade the tyrant's actions. After all, Zodiac was a survivor first and foremost.

"The only disappointment present is yourself,"

Well.. this encounter certainly wasn't going as well as the renegade was hoping for. With Rampage now blocking off their only remaining exit, things were indeed starting to appear grim.

"Be as it may, it appears I have the more ideal situation."

"I offered you freedom, only for you to waste it on servitude," Zodiac mocked, trying to anger the crab into taking action against his lord and commander.

"You filled him with false hopes, Zodiac, whereas my promises are guaranteed."

"He is still your slave," Zodiac responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "Unable to make his own decisions in life." Perhaps there was still a chance, however slight, that Rampage could be persuaded..

"Don't move, Zodiac,"

The shape shifter glanced over at Primal a bit quizzically, but he learned the reason for the odd request soon enough when Optimus opened fire on the cuffs keeping his arms restrained. Zodiac looked away just as the shot hit its mark, not really convinced this was going to work but also not in a position where he could protest such a move. To his surprise, however, Primal's shot seemed to do the trick and he could feel his wrists getting freed from the restraints Primal himself had told him to put on not long before.

No sooner had the restraints deactivated, before Megatron opened fire on both of them. But unlike Primal, Zodiac had the distinct advantage of his rapid regeneration ability so even though some of the tyrant's shots hit their mark, he was able to heal himself quickly enough. Yes, the shots that were fired at him hurt, of course, but fortunately Megatron still hadn't upgraded his weaponry to include electric weapons. Whether or not Zodiac should be insulted by this lack of concern as far as the shape shifter went would have to be addressed at a later time, however, as for now he was merely counting this small blessing he had finally been granted.

The tyrant's attention was drawn between his two targets. And while Megatron seemed to focus a bit more of his rage on Primal, Zodiac used the opportunity to start changing his form to something a bit more.. daunting.. for the tyrant. It was a strategy he had used before, albeit not covering his entire armor as far as the Predacon leader was concerned. Not until now.

His armor rapidly changing to form the appearance of the tyrant himself, his color, shape and overall appearance swiftly changing to form an exact duplicate of the tyrant himself. Zodiac then wasted no time before lunging himself at Megatron, not wanting to give him the opportunity to retaliate or prepare.. He may not have his weapons, true, but he still could cause some damage against his foe while close enough.

"No!"

Another Maximal had joined them, a familiar one as far as Zodiac was concerned. He hadn't been looking in her direction when she first showed up, but he felt.. something.. like a presence. He couldn't let her distract him from doing what he needed to do, however, so he chose to ignore her for now. With any luck Whitegrazer could provide them with some more backup, or at the very least serve as a distraction to keep the Predacons from getting organized. His focus right now was purely on the tyrant, his now look-alike, and he slammed his arm against him to try to knock him off balance.

Meanwhile, in the vents above, Tarantulas moved stealthily throughout the base. Every so often he would leave a little present behind, a bomb or some automatic weapons to ward off anyone foolish enough to be following him. He also sent off a few of his drones to scout down other parts of the vents, which could also serve as a distraction. As for him, he knew precisely where his target was. And it only took him a few moments to locate them in the brig below, only helped by the fact that the autoguns had stopped shooting. Gleefully the spider pulled out one of his especially designed electrical tazers, this one quite potent and more than capable of temporarily stunning his target. Of course his target was now disguised as Megatron himself and the two of them were locked in combat, but that didn't bother the spider in the least. He would simply shoot them both and sort it out after! Besides.. He'd always wanted to do something like this to Megatron and now was too good of an opportunity to pass up on!

So he fired two precise shots, one at each Megatron. The pretender never saw it coming, his attention purely focused on his opponent, not before the sudden electrical surge spread through his systems rapidly and started causing massive problems. Yelping out, Zodiac attempted to resist but the powerful surge caused his armor to shimmer, and within moments his legs started giving out before he ultimately was forced to his knees as more and more of his systems started shorting out.

The spider cackled in his own unique way upon witnessing the immediate reaction, slithering his way down to where the others were located.

(( OOC: Since Wintersong's movements with Rampage happened prior to Whitegrazer showing up, and I didn't get to respond to them yet (plus I was looking forward to Rampage and Optimus wrestling a little bit), I'm going to move forward with his attack and leave Whitegrazer's involvement up to Wintersong's response with Rampage. ))

"Me?,"

Primal had merely given Zodiac a glance with his comment, but truthfully, the Maximal was referring to his encounters with the Vok. Although, since Zodiac's unique nanotech was of Vok origin, did that include him anyway?

"I imagine your internal demons provide a far greater challenge. As you've mentioned a few times, you've had to reflect upon the decisions you've made more than most during those last few moments.."

Well, that too, but in a physical warfare against an unknown race, it was the Vok. He hated to disappoint Zodiac's assumptions, but he also found it unnecessary to correct him about it at that time.

"Isn't that ultimately everyone's goal?," "An inert desire to live, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve it?"

"I'm just recognizing the desperation behind yours, since it's far greater than mine at the moment," Primal stated to Zodiac who had miraculously thrown himself at the top of Megatron's death list above even Optimus. "Just know that whatever you and I think we're doing right, Megatron thinks he is as well. So, whose instinct for survival is greater? How far are you willing to go? What if you underestimate him?" Surely, the shape-shifter had already asked himself these questions. It wasn't that Optimus wanted him to doubt himself, he wanted him to know that it wasn't always so easy to survive, and Megatron always had ulterior motives. Zodiac needed to put his ego away if he was ever going to endure Megatron's wrath and outwit him.

"Oh, Megatron wanted to tear me to pieces the first time I revealed my true self to him,"

That makes things so much better, Optimus thought sarcastically as he realized now how much more fuel there was behind Megatron's aggression toward the renegade.

"I'm used to being targeted," "Kind of comes with the territory when those around you want little more than to control you for the abilities you possess. Most Cybertronians take a while to figure out where their place is in this world, yet I've always been told what my goals were since I first gained consciousness in that lab while surrounded by scientists and guards and even Cryotek himself. They would tell me I held such potential, yet never let me live up to them on my own."

Primal listened closely to Zodiac. It was an intriguing admission that he made, another side to him that he hadn't seen before. "Perhaps this is the opportunity you've been waiting for, on this planet," the Maximal leader had explained to him. "Cryotek isn't here. The High and Tripredacus Councils aren't here. It's just Megatron and me. You could discover your place in life here without limitations, without authority, without shackles and experiments. You can be whoever you choose to be. But, first, I have to make sure you are no longer a threat to my crew and me. I want to help you, Zodiac, without brainwashing and torturing you, but you have to be willing to give me, and yourself, a chance." After a quick, thoughtful pause, he added, "Maybe you are a big part to the purpose of my life." He thought so, but he had no idea how that might have made Zodiac feel. Probably uncomfortable, if anything, but Optimus felt like it needed to be said.

"She had a choice, you know. She chose to partake in the experiments, at least initially. And then she chose to abandon me there to my fate."

He had raised a curious brow at the pretender's next statement that was full of emotions that he had probably intended on hiding. Interesting. What kind of relationship did he and Nemesis have anyway? Or initially. Just a friendship for being stuck together and mistreated; someone to relate to and confide in? Or had they once been more bother and sister to each other? did they still care about one another? Nemesis's recent actions suggested otherwise, however, Optimus didn't believe she was willing to actually take Zodiac's life. Primal believed there was too much history between them, too many memories, for Nemesis to just turn her back to and let go, unlike how she allegedly abandoned him there to suffer alone. "Are you certain about that?" he questioned him as he referred to her having a choice hoping to unlock a little more information or emotion from Zodiac.

-----

"Be as it may, it appears I have the more ideal situation."

Despite Megatron's own interjection with Zodiac's words to Rampage, he quietly smiled with a dark smugness toward the shape-shifter when the crab objected as well. There was no way that Zodiac was going to turn Rampage against Megatron again, not after the tyrant's discovery earlier that day, even if Rampage didn't fully understand what he was capable of, and not while he had the opportunity right then and there to discipline Primal for his blatant involvement with his daily suffering. Besides X's words were truthful while the pretender stood there with restrained wrists and the crab was free to do as he wished, so long as he didn't lay a hand on Megatron.

"You're mine now monkey."

Having just recovered from Megatron's plasma shot that hammered his arm, Optimus forced himself to his feet as quickly as possible while he now faced Rampage, leaving Zodiac to his own devices against Megatron. At least until he could get the invincible crab off of his back. But the gorilla had a feeling that this had been his nemesis's plan all along. When Rampage took aim with his very large weapon and fired a rocket at him, Primal jumped to the side to avoid most of the blast, but the force of the explosion pushed him off balance and he stumbled and fell to a knee.

The TransMetal crab wasted no time continuing his attack on the Maximal leader when he leaped at him intent on strangling him, but Optimus had raised his gun and fired off as many shots as he could, although they lacked accurate targeting due to how quick his reaction needed to be. He wasn't afraid of Rampage, so the indestructible being who relied so much on feeding off of fear from others' sparks wasn't going to be satisfied with him, and hopefully that was something that would work in Primal's favor somehow. Roughly knocking his gun out of his hand as he approached Optimus and reached for his neck, Primal immediately lifted his club up to his own throat with both hands gripping it on each end to block the larger's bot's hands from touching him and pushed him back toward his broad chest with as much force as he could muster with one injured arm and one at full strength. Of course this wasn't the end for the ape; he still had some tricks up his sleeve for his opponent, but he was a bit more concerned for Airazor and Zodiac. It was then when both Optimus and Megatron noticed Whitegrazer arrive on the scene, but Aurora's voice came through the gorilla's comm. link once more seeking for advice from her commanding officer.

"I'm open to suggestions,"

While Optimus wasn't standing next to her to know what was in her reach or how close the Predacon intruders were to her, he tried to give her some assistance. His voice was deeper and strained though as he pressed his club toward his opponent, locking his orange optics with Rampage's green eyes, and emphasized to his Chief Biologist, "This is your territory, Aurora. The command center... has a lot of controls at your... argh, disposal." He pushed harder at Rampage who loomed over him in his kneel. "Chairs move... Objects drop down from the ceiling... Weapons..." His sentences grew more incomplete the lower his back bent backwards to keep the king crab away from his throat. He readjusted his foot and knee by sliding them slightly on the floor to recenter his balance and take some pressure off of his back.

Much to the Predacon leader's dismay, he glared at the injured equine upon realizing that she had escaped her coffin of webbing and cyber venom paralysis, as well as slipping away from the one who was supposed to be guarding her - that useless Fuzor of his! - and now she was trying to interrupt everything he had already planned out. Before Whitegrazer could even speak, however, he momentarily shifted his powerful tail gun's aim from Zodiac to her and fired repeatedly in hopes of keeping her away from Rampage whose focus he wanted solely on Primal before turning his powerful weapon back on to Zodiac.

"I will keep Rampage occupy. Help them."

"Rattrap needs help!" Optimus protested to Whitegrazer over Megatron's gun fire while he maintained his stance against Rampage in his kneeling position and didn't take his optics off of his opponent. She shouldn't have come for him and/or Zodiac. Rhinox was waking up, so they would have help soon, but Rattrap and Aurora were vulnerable. He wasn't aware that Wintersong was helping him against Spineback outside, just that he knew that the tigress was on scene somewhere because of their link. Hopefully, Whitegrazer hadn't come alone. And whether she helped Rattrap and Aurora herself or assigned someone else to the task, he didn't care so long as it would get done because Aurora didn't exactly have too much combat experience - not that she was helpless or incapable, but certain past experiences may inhibit her from facing the enemy with more courage - and Rattrap was far too weak to defend himself, if he was even conscious. Primus, he hoped Cheetor, Tigatron, Tigerhawk and Blackarachnia were alright.

"Optimus! Sorry, I'm not use to this link and I wasn't aware I had sent anything to you."

It worked! Their link worked! Although it was quite different from the one he shared with Whitegrazer. Optimus wasn't sure how, but it just felt disparate. As much as he wanted to go into further detail about it with Wintersong, he couldn't. But he sensed that she had suddenly released that primal or feral aggression that she had been experiencing, so perhaps him reaching out to her had helped her. Or it had distracted her. Just like that though their link was severed. It may have been Primal's doing since he was occupied, or may have been completely unintentional, but right now he needed to focus on his opponent anyway, so he didn't think too much of it besides some inaudible whispers in the Vok language that lingered in both of their minds before dissipating.

Groaning a bit away from the action, Rhinox lifted his head and located his chain gun. He slowly reached for it so he wouldn't draw any attention to himself while the loud bangs echoed off of the walls and voices cried out over the alarms and gun shots. With Optimus dealing with Rampage behind him, Zodiac was occupied with Megatron, but Airazor was still in trouble with Inferno. Clenching his jaws with anger, he slowly pushed himself up.

"Such a misplaced display of ego, old man,"

Megatron bellowed a hardy laugh again at Zodiac. He almost took his "old man" insult as a compliment. After all, older bots came with more experience, wisdom and knowledge. All of which he felt that Zodiac lacked. Clearly the most superior bot present was the all-powerful, TransMetal t-rex.

"Yet last I checked you were as stuck on this rock as the rest of us while life continues on Cybertron. So unless those grand plans of yours involves rusting away here, may I be bold enough to propose a temporary truce. I might just be willing to share information on a way off this planet, provided you ask nicely of course."

The tyrant suddenly fell silent, as if he was actually considering the black dragon's proposal as his optics narrowed and he stroked his chin with his free hand. But it was all for dramatic effect. A way off? he thoughtfully repeated his words, and his stare studied Zodiac very, very closely, searching for the bluff. He seriously doubted that he had another ship or an alien site to flee the planet with. Not after all of the extensive research Megatron had uncovered with the alien disk and knowing their place and time on Earth now. But what did that matter? He had the ultimate plan in his grasp. "My dear Zodiac, there is absolutely nothing that you can offer me in exchange for an empty truce," he declared.

"Perhaps. Although you don't really have much to show for it just yet,"

A small smile crept onto Megatron's face as he realized that Zodiac was trying to down-play his schemes. "All in due time," he vaguely but confidently replied. The best was yet to come.

"I could help."

"Yes. Yes, you can" Megatron toyed with the shape-shifter with false hope, until he quickly added in hopes of quashing it with, "You can help... by ceasing to exist!"

"I offered you freedom, only for you to waste it on servitude,"

Pah! the warlord scoffed in his mind but had still kept an optic on Rampage's reaction, but he appeared to be much more interested in disemboweling Optimus Primal than to listen to his former "partner". Good.

"He is still your slave," "Unable to make his own decisions in life."

Megatron shrugged. He didn't care. The invincible crab was his to do his bidding. He had worked too hard to gain his spark only to have it stolen from him, almost killed in the process, and steal it back to let simply let it go now back the one who nearly killed him! And so far, Rampage seemed to be enjoying his "lack of freedom" under Megatron's iron fist more than he had under Zodiac's short-lived "tyranny". "Had you been more noble than I with your intentions for his spark, you would not have hesitated to return it him," Megatron said deeply but softly to Zodiac with his carnivorous optic sensors piercing right through his to make his point very clear yet very dark, and mocking the pretender's hypocrisy. Continue to delay the inevitable as long as you wish by deceiving yourself, Zodiac, he thought bitterly. The only way out of this is death. He eagerly anticipated Tarantulas to show up at any moment now and tip the odds further into his hands. If only he could trust him to follow through...

"Falling out of favor with the boss. Huh, never would have taken you to be Megatron's second rate soldier Inferno."

"Quiet, Maximal! Your poisonous words won't deter me from my duty!" His finger began to squeeze the trigger of his weapon eager to inflict more pain upon Airazor until his body was suddenly showered with bullets and collapsed to the floor near her.

Glaring at the ant as he fell, Rhinox lowered his weapon that was still smoking and spinning and he hurried to the falcon's side while Megatron was fully distracted with the shape-shifter. Kneeling down to her, the chief medic gave her a quick visual examination. "Are you alright, Airazor?" he asked while taking a longer look at her badly injured leg, using the outdoor lighting to his advantage, and frowning at it. He exchanged his large gun for a very small first-aid kit from his subspace that had a syringe to inject a numbing agent near the wound since he didn't have time or the tools to operate on her knee. "This should help with the pain," he told her over the gunfire as he deliberately made his body a shield to protect her from any stray shots. "It's going to sting at first," he warned her so she wouldn't flinch before the needle pierced her damaged armor and he squeezed the fluid into her leg.

Megatron then watched in anger, and with slight fascination, as Zodiac's body shifted and morphed into a completely accurate replica of the dictator. Ah, how menacing and powerful Megatron looked. He almost started admiring the mirror image until he reminded himself that Primal had just freed his wrists and was now capable of hand-to-hand combat. Megatron wasn't a fan normally. He preferred watching from the side-lines while pulling strings else where, or maintaining a lot of distance between him and his opponents for long-range combat. But he had no choice here. While he wasn't entirely prepared to face Zodiac without restraints, he was still resourceful and opportunistic. Survival of the fittest, as it were. He wasn't sure if the dragon's weapon systems were even active, but judging by him "hesitating" to use them since he could have easily done so instead of charging at him, it seemed unlikely.

As Zodiac deliberately threw his arm into the Predacon leader's hard enough to knock him about, Megatron reinforced his balance with his feet so that he wouldn't fall over, and at the same time he grabbed Zodiac's arm to pull on it while clamping the end of his tail gun shut to try and spear it into Zodiac's side under his arm. However, he didn't get that far when he suddenly felt an electric pulse sabotaging his body which forced him to release the shape shifter and fall to his knees, his hands catching himself on the floor so that he wouldn't fall over completely. Megatron's body felt paralyzed and shocked as the voltage traveled throughout it, but it wasn't as critical since the weapon's intended purpose was for nanotech armor like Zodiac's.

Glancing up to see the TransMetal tarantula descending upon them in the breached brig, Megatron's voice was unsteady and hoarse as he spoke angrily while the surge began to subside in his systems. "Tarantulas... You... fool!" Although he was certain that this had been no accident, he still needed the spider's cooperation. Looking over at Zodiac, he was suffering a far greater conflict due to the electrocution and losing control of his nanobots and was nearly comatose on the floor. As the t-rex began to recover, he carefully lifted himself up to a knee and glared upon his weaker opponent disguised as himself. "As I have previously said... Zodiac... I always have a way," he reiterated ruthlessly to the fake Megatron to add insult to injury.

"I can, argh, help you, Rampage," Optimus tried convincing the giant crustacean in his predicament. "Just give me time! I created you... and I can ease your suffering!" By now, Primal was pushing back against him with all his might, managing to get to his feet and forcing Rampage back. Primal may have been smaller, but his gorilla beast mode granted him incredible strength, especially to his upper body and arms. Finally taking his attention off of X momentarily, he saw Zodiac, or rather one of the Megatrons, falling to the floor, but judging by the shimmering of the armor, it was indeed the shape-shifter. And Tarantulas! No! "Whitegrazer!" he called her attention to him.

"Tarantulas, keep them back!" Megatron ordered him when he heard Primal's cry for the equine. Still recovering from his own surge, he turned to find Rhinox assisting Airazor behind him, growling under his breath, and he kept his tail gun targeting them ready to fire if they moved. "Inferno, get up!" he saw the pyro laying about more damaged than he previously was.

Noticing Megatron's weapon trained on them now, Airazor wounded and Rhinox currently unarmed, the engineer gave a soft gasp of surprise then quickly glared at the tyrant while he, Zodiac and Tarantulas were between them and Rampage, Optimus and Whitegrazer.

Inferno, riddled with bullets, a damaged chest and face, warily managed to get to his feet as he stumbled a little and picked up his gun. "Your orders... Royalty..." he said in an exasperated voice and a sloppy salute with his free hand.

"Prepare to depart!" Megatron glanced at the two Maximals closer to the ant and added, "Without hostages." But he kept his weapon aiming at them regardless hoping the threat would be enough to make them behave since they were sitting ducks. He finally stood up and looked down at Zodiac, ready to take him with him.

"Probably should add tougher than you look to all that."

"Eh...," Rattrap began to mutter to Wintersong after Spineback found cover from the auto-guns, "What can I say? Rats... are resilient." He tried to smile a toothy grin but his body sank in his beast mode from all the pain he was in.

"But you've definitely seen better days.

"So've you, Winter," he pointed out. "Yer eyes... They're... purple now. You okay?" he asked with some concern.

Will you be able to move if we have to make a break for it?"

"Yeah... I think so," the TransMetal rodent admitted. "She's gettin' away!" he suddenly glared in Spineback's direction as she retreated for the hangar.

Rampage merely scoffed at Zodiac’s words, “You have nothing more to offer partner, don’t waste your breathe.” Rampage dismissed. He was all too aware that he was in Megatron’s clutches, exchanging one servitude for another rather than having full freedom.

Then again, when had he ever been free? If he ever had a previous life before the experimentation it was long gone, replaced by the bot he was now. And the Maximal responsible for it all was there within his grasp, dodging his missile but not escaping the shockwave of the explosion, giving the transmetal crab a moment to act. He willingly took the shots Optimus sent his way, not all of them making their marks and the ones that did stung but he ignored the slight pain as he reached for Primal’s neck only to be locked into a struggle of strength and will, “Stronger than you look Primal, maybe you will make this more of a challenge than I expected.” Rampage spoke with a sneer, pressing back against Optimus’ club.

Meanwhile, Airazor glared at the red ant, wrapping her hand around the handle of her Claw Gun behind her wing. “Truth hitting too close to the spark?” She inquired, optics briefly shifting to peer behind Inferno, spying Rhinox getting his bearings and taking the chance the chaos of the battle offered to slip by Megatron and make his move against Inferno, shifting her good leg back when the ant fell to the ground. “Been worse for wear, but I’ll live.” Airazor assured him, taking out her Claw Gun for the time being just in case, “But good to see you’re up and moving Rhinox, had us worried for a little while.” Airazor spoke, giving a quick smile before grimacing slightly from the syringe as the numbing agent was injected.

Letting a relieved sigh, the falcon gave a small nod, indicating the injury felt better already from the abuse she had taken since the mission had gone down hill. Though her attention turned back to the battle when she heard a pained grunt from Rampage, optics widening when she saw Whitegrazer who had previously been captured. Had the others escaped then? Were they able to free themselves after all?

“You should focus on yourself Primal, not whatever is going on around you.” Rampage growled, having noticed a time or two Optimus seemed distracted by something elsewhere. Nevertheless, Optimus made some ground, causing the crab to slide back but forcing to put his left foot back for better leverage, keeping the pressure on...until the familiar presence caused him to glance over his shoulder. But it was only enough to see Whitegrazer come sliding under his legs and suddenly kicking her feet into his chin, causing him to grunt and lose his own grip, stumbling slightly from the force. Of course she would come to their aid, always the watchful protective femme. “You will pay for that equine! This isn’t your fight to interfere with!” Rampage snarled, rubbing his aching jaw before raising his free hand to smack the Vok horse aside in annoyance at her interference before lunging at the transmetal ape again to lock into struggle with the club, “Spin your words to someone else Maximal! You had your chance all those times you personally over saw my experimentation, the torture those scientists put me through. I sensed your anguish, the turmoil, but you did nothing when you had the chance.”

Rampage was less than convinced by Optimus’s attempts of “helping” him. No, there was no helping the monster he was, no redemption was likely for someone so far gone. But his attention was once again drawn to Megatron’s and Zodiac’s battle, curiously watching as they tussled until Tarantulas interfered causing the massive crustacean to let out a “hmph” sound, giving a final harsh shove to the Maximal commander as he drew his Rocket Launcher once more, “But perhaps I should allow you to stew in your failures a bit longer.”

The relief that perhaps they might have a chance and Airazor could give support was short lived as Megatron recovered from one of Tarantulas’s attack’s, turning his tail gun on them. “All of this for petty revenge on one bot...I thought you had a sterner ambition Megs.” Airazor muttered, eyeing the tyrant and the heavily damaged ant who was getting back on his feet, gripping the handle of her weapon tight once more, ready to move if she could.

Cheetor was relieved when they made it to the Axalon, having felt the tunnels went on forever from his anxiousness to get back. How could Blackarachnia or anyone else handle such confined spaces? He felt lost being in the tunnels for a short time and was glad for the time being the widow was their ally.

Following the two femmes into the computer room and to the halls, he quickly transformed to robot mode at last, his wounds now a dull ache thanks to his self repair systems, “Just be careful BA, no telling who might be lurking in those vents.” And neither did Cheetor really want to think about it. He already had had his fair share of horror filled thoughts courtesy of Tarantulas. But now he turned his attention to Whitegrazer, waiting for her to make a decision. He didn’t need her empathy to tell him all that, he just needed to know what they were going to do and soon enough the white equine made her choice, “Just don’t get in over your head Whitegrazer, you don’t have to take the blame for anything or carry our pain on your shoulders alone.” The young cheetah told her before sprinting off down the hall towards the control room. And honesty left feeling strange saying those words, words he had heard repeated to him many times before.

Terrorsaue tightened his jaw, feeling annoyed that the raptor was slippery as ever and more concerned saving another Maximal than worrying about himself. He could make this easier on them, just surrender to let them take the shapeshifter but instead they all chose to fight. Go figure, but he wasn’t going to complain too much. Missions like these alleviated the boredom and allows Terrorsaur to clear his thoughts, especially the past few hours of being berated by the avian second-in-command and Megatron.

But he too was forced to duck behind some cover, avoiding the eye lasers Dinobot sent their way. “The ermine? HAHAH!” Terrorsaur cackled, peering back around to fire more of his eye lasers, “You really are doomed traitor!” He crowed. He thought little of the fuzor, a coward and less-than-satisfactory combatant. Even with a pistol in hand what good would she be in this fight?

Getting the distress signal, Cheetor couldn’t have timed his arrival better as he crept silently towards the bridge, hearing Terrorsaur and Nemesis within and from the sounds of it they had Aurora and Dinobot pinned down. But not for long. Narrowing his optics, Cheetor leapt our behind the two Predacons and began to open fire, “Back off from my friends Predacreeps!” Cheetor demanded, causing Terrorsaur to rawk with surprise, having to use his twin blades to block some of the shots, having to split his attention between Cheetor and the two Maximals behind their makeshift cover.

“Especially covered in transmetal.” Wintersong agreed, wishing she could do more for Rattrap. But she wasn’t equipped with anything that could be of use for the rodent, not even a first aid kit. But perhaps a little rest would do him some good in this moment. Until he pointed out her optics were different in color, making her rather surprised at first before giving a dismissive shrug, “I’m sure it’s notning to worry about Rattrap, maybe just a side effect of what happened in the cocoon.” She tried to play it off, but even she didn’t seem so convinced with herself, even showing a small hint of panic at the thought of the Vok stepping in during the middle of a battle.

But when Rattrap pointed out Spineback was on the move, Wintersong peered back over their cover to see the Predacon sprinting for the hanger, “Not on my watch.” Leaping onto the rock she then took off after the Predacon, transforming mid-run to fire four of her mini-missiles at Spineback from behind.

The former Decepticon, meanwhile, had seen the opening within feet of her, allowing Spineback a chance to rejoin the other Predacons at last. Delayed as she was it appeared the Chief Medic had her chance since the tigress seemed more concern with Rattrap than her which had given her the time she needed. Strangely as well the autoguns has also stopped, causing her to glance curiously at them as they deactivate, perhaps the work of Nemesis or Terrorsaur finally. “At last, just have to-” Spineback was abruptly interrupted, pain flashing across her sensors as she was blasted forward as the missiles made their mark, crashing face first into the ground. Internally her personal computer was flashing warnings of damage to her back, including one to the back of hip and leg, but she tried to ignore the warnings to transform to beast mode as she turned over with a pained hiss.

But she found herself face to face with Wintersong, the tigress having finally caught up to the spinosaurus, swords in hand, “You’ve gone far enough Predacon, surrender before there’s barely enough of you for spare parts.” Wintersong growled softly, a small echo to her voice as her battle lust returned in the form of the same feral agression she had had before, which was carefully contained to herself this time. “Or what Maximal? You’ll cut me to pieces? You don’t have the bearings.” Spineback taunted with a sneer earning a glare from Wintersong, the small whispers from the Vok seeming to grow louder in her mind once again, urging her to act in the moment.

With a low growl, Wintersong’s body seemed to move at its own accord as she took one of her swords stabbing it into Spineback’s shoulder causing the larger femme to yell in pain. Despite the shock of the sudden violent action, the former Decepticon used both feet to kick the transmetal tigress away, ripping the sword from her shoulder soon after, “Beast mode.” Shifting to her beast mode, wincing as she did so, Spineback decided to back off, moving away from the scene that seemed a waste of her time at this point. Nearby, Wintersong was sitting up by then, shaking her helm slightly as she found her target escaping once again.

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

“Don’t stress it too much Tigatron, we all have bad timing at some point or other.” Tigerhawk assured him, shaking his head slightly. “It was just a volatile situation by the time you arrived, we were all trying to figure out what to do.” Wincing a little, Tigerhawk stayed as still as he could, trying to ignore the discomfort the repairs caused but slowly the pain lessened and he could feel himself getting a bit stronger. Though the concern for the pain was replaced with concern for their friends when Aurora’s distress signal reached them. “But this could be s discussion for another time.”

Motioning for Tigatron to stop, the large fuzor pushed himself to his feet, grunting softly from the movement, “I have a feeling the situation back at the Axalon is of greater concern if we’re getting a distress signal just now.” The mech gave a quick glance at Quickstrike, “And there is no telling how long Blackarachnia’s venom and webs will last.” He added as transformed to beast mode.

(ooc: Sorry, Una, but I have been waiting over 5 days now. I typed up my post days ago and have just been waiting for you to make your post, not wanting to change the already established posting rotation. But I don't have an the luxury of being able to write on my post any day of the week due to full-time work obligations etc. Since you've already promised to post several times now and I have no idea when you'll actually make good on this promise, I'm just going to make my post and you can just jump in when you can finish yours. Don't worry about posting rotation, just post when you can. )

Zodiac had eyed Primal curiously, looking to see if his body language would give away any clues about his true thoughts and emotions behind them. Yet he didn't detect any deceptions from the Maximal as the two of them talked. Whatever emotions he may have been harboring about the threats they were facing, Optimus was doing a fairly good job of hiding them. As things were, he seemed surprisingly calm despite the imminent threat and even the more long term challenges they were facing. More so than the shapeshifter was for sure.

And that fact bothered Zodiac more than he cared to admit. He was supposed to be the tougher opponent, the one unphased by the prospect of failure and the ultimate penalty that would surely come as a result of such. Yet he wasn't. If anything, despite his best efforts to hide it, his mind was racing with unpleasant thoughts about what could and likely would happen should Megatron get his hands on the renegade. Deep down he was a bit frightened, yes, but he was holding up fairly well all things considering since he didn't want those fears to show.

Is he ready??


Cryotek's almost accusing question repeated itself in his mind. At the time he had just brushed the war criminal's doubts off, but now he understood the cause of his concerns. And much like the one who ordered his creation, the renegade now knew the answer.

"I'm just recognizing the desperation behind yours, since it's far greater than mine at the moment,"

And from the sound of it, his captor knew the answer as well. Zodiac couldn't help but sigh at his observation. His very accurate observation, as it was turning out.


"Yeah.. I kind of blew it on this one," Zodiac quietly admitted after an all-telling pause. It was a difficult admission to make. His plans had been solid when he first started this venture, or at least that's what he had thought at the time. Now.. he was no longer so sure. He had started doubting himself, his actions and motivations alike, but something told him it might very well be too late to repair the damage that had already been done.

"Just know that whatever you and I think we're doing right, Megatron thinks he is as well. So, whose instinct for survival is greater? How far are you willing to go? What if you underestimate him?"

How far was he willing to go? That was a complicated, as well as loaded, question.

"As far as I must," he responded in earnest. It was true. He really would go to any length to keep himself alive and out of the most amount of harm he could. Whether that included violence, lies.. whatever it took.

"I will not deny that I will gladly take the opportunity to stab Megatron in the back should it arise," he then said, seeing no shame in it despite the fact he knew Primal would prefer to spare even Megatron's life if possible. But Zodiac didn't see it that way, his goals were more desperate in nature. Whereas Optimus only feared something happening to his Maximals, the renegade's main focus was to assure his own survival. And if sacrifices had to be made, then so be it. If those sacrifices included some of the Maximals, sure, he would be more than willing to make them. Of course he wasn't going to tell Primal that, since he still needed his cooperation, so he deliberately only mentioned Megatron himself as it was a well known fact there was no love lost between those two.

Primal had essentially given him a warning not to underestimate Megatron, but Zodiac was determined to make sure the tyrant was truly dead the next time he got the opportunity to kill him. Yes, he'd made a mistake by not checking more thoroughly the previous time, and it was a mistake he planned to rectify. He just had to get the tyrant to lower his guard before making his next attempt.

"Perhaps this is the opportunity you've been waiting for, on this planet,"

Zodiac shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly in response while Primal continued.

"Cryotek isn't here. The High and Tripredacus Councils aren't here. It's just Megatron and me. You could discover your place in life here without limitations, without authority, without shackles and experiments. You can be whoever you choose to be. But, first, I have to make sure you are no longer a threat to my crew and me. I want to help you, Zodiac, without brainwashing and torturing you, but you have to be willing to give me, and yourself, a chance."

He paused ever so slightly as if contemplating Primal's words, which in all honesty he was. It wasn't quite as simple as Primal was making it out to be, however, since in order to comply with the other male's wishes the renegade would have to not only subdue his core instincts but also change his very being. And despite having essentially dug himself into a corner, Zodiac still had little interest in changing himself to be a better fit for what others wanted him to be.

"Megatron and you.. Lest you forget that at least one of you wants me dead at any cost and the other's team would be more than happy to see that outcome come to fruition. There's also the Vok, who very much so have taken an interest in this planet and its occupants.." Which happened to include them.

It was clear from the way Zodiac spoke of them, that he didn't consider himself a vok in any shape or form. Yes, he was vaguely aware of his nanomachines being derived from Vok technology due to the donor of said technology being Whitegrazer, but that's really as far as his knowledge of what happened went. He was thus far unaware of the true extent of the white mare's influence on his creation, of the fact that she had chosen to create him along with a number of other offspring who likely had suffered an even more brutal fate than he had. Yes, he knew he was different from the other Cybertronians, but thus far remained blissfully unaware of the truth behind his origin.

"However.. your words do hold some truth to them. It's just a lot to take in right now, especially with Megatron presently here to extract his revenge. But after that situation has been dealt with, I'm willing to listen to what you have to say."

He knew it was in Primal's nature to protect others, even those who may not be deserving of his protection, and Zodiac was more than willing to take advantage of Primal's compassion. If only to get himself out of a tough situation. Afterwards.. he honestly wasn't sure what he'd do then. Leave all of this behind? Attempt another scheme to improve his own chances? Return to his path of vengeance? He really couldn't tell right now but he'd always been opportunistic in nature so he was confident he'd figure something out.

"Maybe you are a big part to the purpose of my life.

As you are of mine..


It was interesting how their history and destinies had entwined. Zodiac hated to admit it, but he was starting to grow a great deal of respect for the Maximal commander. A bot he had attempted to kill on more than one occasion, someone he had wanted to hurt in the worst way possible, and yet now ironically it was Optimus who was his own best chance of surviving and even thriving in the future.

"Maybe.. maybe if we had met under different circumstances, we could even have been friends. Or at least not haunted by the lack of trust issues we've only now barely started scratching the surface of."


He paused ever so briefly while glancing down at his cuffed arms before adding, "We seem to have more in common than I initially thought..Maybe some day I'll be able to earn your trust some day. I hope so anyway.."

His words sounded so genuine, truthful, but also vulnerable. Zodiac let his gaze meet Primal's for but a moment before shaking his head and looking away.

The two went on to discuss one of those things they had in common, namely Nemesis. It was a touchy subject for both males involved, even though it was difficult to explain exactly why without getting into a convoluted history.

"Are you certain about that?"

"There's always a choice," Zodiac replied in a bitter tone. "And she made hers quite clear when she ran off without me. For a long time she was all I had in there, my link to a life outside of that place.. away from the torture. She used to tell me stories, filled my head with tales of a world of freedom where she had lived before joining the experiments. I couldn't have imagined she'd abandon me there to go back to that life without me, but that's exactly what she did. Needless to say the guards took it out on me."


Revealing his own vulnerability to Primal like this would have been unheard of a few weeks prior, but Zodiac had endured a lot since his arrival on this planet. And it had, indeed, changed him. Even he was becoming aware of it now. Whether it was due to Primal's influence, his own experiences, or something else entirely remained unknown..

---

Megatron was even more terrifying in person than Zodiac had remembered. Of course this was the first time the tyrant was specifically targeting him as the reason for his attack, and it didn't exactly inspire confidence in the young shape shifter. Still, he tried his best to maintain at least the pretense of confidence. And the more he spoke without getting blasted, the more his perseverance grew.

The tyrant remained quiet, silently stroking his chin while the shape shifter established his offer. And for a moment it looked as if he was going to accept it, only to shut Zodiac's hopes down with a few deliberate words.

"My dear Zodiac, there is absolutely nothing that you can offer me in exchange for an empty truce,"

Zodiac's optics narrowed upon hearing that, and he might have let out a barely audible sigh. Well then.. it would appear he'd have to turn to physical means to get his point across, although that possibility seemed more enticing now that Primal had freed him from his chains and Whitegrazer had joined in. In addition the wounded female falcon seemed to have gotten her second wind, further boosting the renegade's confidence that he might actually stand a chance to get out of this predicament alive. Optimus was standing firm against the seemingly overwhelming force that was Rampage, perhaps in part due to the white female's welcome distraction. Which only really left Megatron as the main threat right now.. And Zodiac was willing to take the challenge. Not like he had much of a choice anyway.

"All in due time,"

Time wasn't exactly something he felt they had a lot of right now. He needed to escape, preferably in one piece, since neither death or continued imprisonment appealed all that much to him.

"You may not realize it yet, but you need me," Zodiac tried one last time to persuade Megatron of the mistake he was about to make.

"You can help... by ceasing to exist!"

But from the sound of it, the tyrant was done with his promises and excuses. He fired upon him several times, which left his armor dented and scorched, yet it was nothing his nanomachines weren't capable of repairing rapidly. So Zodiac decided to step things up a notch by changing his appearance again, hoping to discourage Megatron from shooting at him while he himself of course held no such reservations.

"Had you been more noble than I with your intentions for his spark, you would not have hesitated to return it him,"

Noble wasn't exactly a word Zodiac would have used to describe his intentions. In fact it was the opposite. He had not returned Rampage's spark simply because he was not quite the fool some of them took him for. With his spark whole again, Rampage would be an unstoppable force of nature. And certainly not someone Zodiac would have wanted to be stuck alone with on a ship travelling through space.

"I would have given him the revenge he is looking for," Zodiac then assured the tyrant and monster alike. "He would have been free to decemate those who wronged him on Cybertron when we got back there," he continued before briefly glancing over at Optimus before quickly lowering his gaze. The Maximal leader would surely not have approved of his plans, but like the renegade had told him earlier.. He was willing to go to any length necessary to save his own armor, and at this point it seemed as if keeping Primal as an ally was a less profitable option.

“You have nothing more to offer partner, don’t waste your breathe.”

It was Rampage's words that finally convinced the renegade that he would not be able to persuade either of the two looming Predacons to side with him. Zodiac then decided that his best course of action would be to try to escape via the large gaping hole in the side of the ship, as soon as both Megatron and Rampage were otherwise distracted.

"Such a limited display of insight," Zodiac snorted while in Megatron's form, "Perhaps you deserve the life of slavery you are committing yourself to," he then said, addressing Rampage before turning his focus solely on the tyrant himself.

While in Megatron's form, he let his brutality speak for itself. He may not be able to access his weapons, but he still had his abilities. Granted, Megatron's reaction upon seeing him transform himself into a duplicate version of the tyrant wasn't exactly how he had imagined. Instead of confusion and even dread, the tyrant almost seemed to enjoy the sight of himself coming at him. But Zodiac didn't spent too long pondering this, instead he used his fists to try to knock the real Megatron off balance.

It didn't quite work out the way he had planned..

"This is your territory, Aurora. The command center... has a lot of controls at your... argh, disposal."

Aurora peered out from underneath the console she was using to take cover, but wasn't able to see anything nearby that she thought would help them in the ongoing battle against the Predacons. Usually her mind was flooded with ideas, but right now she was drawing a blank.. and it was most frustrating!

It didn't help that Optimus sounded quite strained ,as if he was struggling with a situation of his own. If she'd been able to, the fuzor would have gotten up to look at the surveillance cameras to find out what was going on, but every time she tried to move Terrorsaur and Nemesis attempted to shoot at her.

"I don't..," she started but paused as Optimus continued talking.

"Chairs move... Objects drop down from the ceiling... Weapons..."

The fuzor paused, her frantic optics darting over to the nearby table which hosted a number of the projects she was currently working on. One of these objects being another version of the magnetic gauntlets she had given to Rattrap before, that he had so nonchalantly left behind at the Predacon base after they were supposedly destroyed during the mission there. These new ones were still a work in progress, but maybe, just maybe, she could make use of them. If only she could get there..

To make matters worse, Terrorsaur was taunting Dinobot and was dragging the ermine fuzor's reputation through the mud to do it. He clearly had no respect for her, which by itself wasn't much of an issue for the fuzor. But she worried his words would anger the former Predacon and cause him to make mistakes. Fortunately Dinobot had helped her move away from the console to a better hiding spot, allowing her to nudge her way closer to the table with her equipment. All she needed to reach it was a distraction..

And that distraction came in the form of Cheetor, who had received their distress call and was responding to it.

“Back off from my friends Predacreeps!”

Aurora cheered inwardly upon hearing his voice, and she almost blurted out his name but thankfully managed to keep herself silent as not to draw attention to herself. Instead she used the opportunity to sprint for the table, grabbing the remote and the two globs of the sticky substance and made her way back to the hiding spot with them.

Nemesis growled upon getting shot in the back by the newly arrived nuisance, the impact of said shot knocking her down to her hands and knees temporarily while her armor sparked in the location the shot had hit. It hurt, of course, but she certainly wasn't planning to stick around in the same location for the cheetah to fire upon her again, so she quickly made a roll and leaped back to her feet. "Prepare to head out, Terrorsaur," she called out to the other flyer as she made a swift dash over to Sentinel's control panel. Upon reaching it, she pulled out a small device Tarantulas had given her earlier and planted it on the console before quickly making another roll so that she'd gain some distance before the device activated.

And as soon as it did, sparks suddenly started shooting out from the console, and all the camera systems throughout the base suddenly went dark as Sentinel itself crashed from the unexpected surge of electricity that surged through its systems. Upon seeing the results of the spider's little device, Nemesis smirked slightly to herself before she pulled out her weapon and took aim at Cheetor. "Mission accomplished, Megatron," she then reported to her leader, while shooting repeatedly at the young male. "They won't be able to track us," she added via complink to her leader.

Meanwhile Aurora had thrown one of the sticky globs at the wall where it promptly stuck, and with the remote in hand she proceeded to throw the other glob in Nemesis' direction. "Hey bird brain," the fuzor called out to grab the taller female's attention, "Don't forget your going away present!"

The avian second in command's expression when the sticky glob hit her in the chest was one of disgust but also confusion. What was this..? It kind of looked and felt like clay, honestly, all gross and sticky as it covered a chunk of her breastplate. "Really, child? You plan to stop us with this..?" She couldn't hold back a bit of a laugh, her free hand immediately moving to the area try to swipe the substance off. Only for her irritation to grow as she quickly came to realize it was not coming off very easily.

"Don't be so quick to judge," Aurora countered, a certain smugness in her voice, as her finger pressed the button on the remote firmly which caused the two clay-like components to activate. And the results were imminent, the substance hardening up and immediately pulling Nemesis against the other part on the wall. The avian female only had time to let out a bewildered "Oomph," before the two clumps of what she believed was clay smacked together and slamming her into the wall in the process.

Nemesis immediately attempted to withdraw from this bizarre contraption, pushing against the wall with both her arms since the sudden and unexpected impact had caused her to drop her firearm. But the more she struggled, the tighter the substance's grip on her seemed to get. Whatever it was, it held her in a firm grip against the wall and she wasn't able to budge as long as the remote remained active.

"Let me go!," she demanded but to no avail since Aurora certainly had no intention of turning the device off now.

"Okay, Optimus, we have Nemesis in a sticky situation up here," the fuzor reported to the ape, "I'm not sure how long it'll hold her, but at least we've evened out the odds a bit for Dinobot and Cheetor. The Preds did short out Sentinel, however.."

"Tarantulas... You... fool!"

Somehow the real Megatron's insult only caused the spider's snickering to increase tenfold. He clearly held no reservations about inflicting pain upon the individual who was supposed to serve as his leader, if anything he seemed to rejoice in having done so.

"Oh quit your whining," the spider said when the cackling finally had died down, gesturing to the convulsing figure on the floor while speaking. "Your prize awaits. Unless, of course, you want me to give him an antidote so the two of you can finish your little game. It was quite entertaining to watch you beat yourself up, heheheheheh."

Meanwhile Zodiac tried to move, to speak, to pretty much to anything. But the electric surge that had coursed through his systems had done an effective job of disabling him, at least temporarily, which was surely what the Predacons intended. Yet he remained conscious, just unable to move while his systems started the reboot process which would hopefully allow him to gain some mobility back. He had vaguely caught Megatron suffering, much like he had, but the tyrant seemed able to recover from the ordeal much more quickly than he was. And his voice was cold, almost frigid, as he spoke to the pretender in cruel, calculating words.

"As I have previously said... Zodiac... I always have a way,"

Unable to make a response other than a weak groan, Zodiac tried again, and failed, to force himself back up. But until the system wide reboot completed, he was helpless.

"Tarantulas, keep them back!"

Not one to hesitate about the prospect of injuring others, Tarantulas immediately activated his leg guns and proceeded to pummel Whitegrazer and Optimus alike to discourage them from making any more stupid moves against the obviously superior Predacons. Although Tarantulas certainly held no true loyalty towards Megatron or his cause, he too had a stake in all of this. And his own reward was right there on the floor, currently in a deliciously helpless state. And soon, very soon, his unwilling new test subject would reveal all of his secrets to the scientist.

"Prepare to depart!" "Without hostages."

Zodiac lowered his gaze as he felt Megatron hovering over him, ready to take him with to wherever they were going. And for the first time he felt as if he had lost all hope, the situation seemingly desperate at this point. Primal's honorable promise to protect him now little more than mere words.. Useless, futile, untrue words. There wasn't anything that could be done to prevent this now.

((OOC: No, it's okay, Phoenix, I understand. And wow, I get it, OOP, I get it. It's not like I'm doing it on purpose or being lazy or not interested in what is going on right now. I am having a hard time right now, being too slow, too distracted, and actually being too paralyzed. I am just as frustrated as you guys are when I do this, and keep doing this, it's not fun, it's annoying, and I'm hating myself right now. You won't be hearing anymore excuses or apologizes from me.

Here's a post. I might make a few tweaks if I missed somethin, but I wanted to post something to let you guys know I am, and I am trying here. ))

Whitegrazer took the smack from Rampage. She rubbed the spot that was hit. "I don't wish to fight you, Rampage. I felt the pain when your spark was cut in half. No one deserves that, but I can't allow you to harm my loved ones." Whitegrazer noticed Rhinox was coming back around, dealing with Inferno, helping Airazor, and Airazor, despite her injuries, was doing her best to help them fight off these Predacons. Optimus talked to Rampage, wanting to help him. Zodiac, who shaped hmself into a perfect Megatron clone, dealt with Megatron, but when Tarantulas entered the scene, Optimus warning her of his presence, hitting both Megatrons, plummeling both Optimus and herself with fire fter Meagtron ordered him to. She slowly placed herself between Optimus and Tarantulas's shot. He had enough to deal with with Rampage. He couldn;t deal with shots from Tarantulas right now. She could see through inbetween the shots fired by Tarantulas, Meagtron's words, and the hand reaching over towards the downed Zodiac. No. No. She can't allow Megatron or Tarantulas to have Zodiac. She couldn't. She wouldn't. She could hear the whispers of the Vok, distant, but ever still growling. Her eyes glowed yellow and bright and she shared in an otherworldly growl towards both Megatron and Tarantulas as her voice echoed with the same otherworldly tone, "You will not have him." She let the shots plummel her metal, both shots meant for both herself and Optimus, not caring for the pain, actually seeming to absorb the pain, like she was preparing herself for something, drowning herself with it, "I won't allow it."

In her spark, because of the Metal Hunter incident, she had a temporary connection between Megatron and Tarantulas. She refused to use it at first, but the ghost of her past still haunted her very being, the loss of those protoforms back in Gaila, because of Tarantulas, the deaths of those Maximals and Predacons by her hands. The revelation about Zodiac reopened wounds, and now the fact that Zodiac came from her, a protoform she thought was destroyed like all the others, she couldn't bear to lose him, like she lost the others. Actually, for teh moment all this started, Predacons taking hostage, the threat Meagtron and Tarantulas posed to Zodiac nd not to mention, the threats of teh other Predcons towards Optimus, Aurora, sweet Aurora, who she still worried about it, and helped the little one was all right, and all the rest of her friends, she grew tired. She grew furious at the pain, cruelty, and sadism of the Predacons that have shown it. The memories of past pain from Optimus being tortured, Aurora being shot, Banshee's death, Rampage's spark cut in half. All of this, all of this, weighed heavily on her spark. She blocked her communications with Optimus, to just in case, not allow Megatron or Tarantulas to get sneak on her. She opened up their temporary link she gained from them from within her own spark and reached out with a iron grip on their sparks and squeezed. By now, Megatron and Tarantulas would be feeling some pulling from within their sparks. Her hand outstretched and mimicked the motion, squeezing her own palms, not too hard, though. She still waned to give them a chance to walk away, but if they force her hand... she will show them her wrath, the wrath of a mother willing to do whatever it takes to save her child, "You will retreat with no hostages, no Zodiac, no prize." She warned the purple tyrant. "I will show you the same pain you gave Rampage, Megatron, if you don't walk away. Retreat now." The otherworldy echo to her voice gave her words a bit more of a bite.


Nemesis destroyed the console that controlled Sentinel's autoguns. Terrosuar's sour comment about his partner proved moot when Aurora took care of Nemesis in a way that even surprised him. The black bird was fused to the wall by the substance Aurora sprayed on her. Dinobot didn't realize she had that on her. He attempted to himself that he was impressed by the littel ermine's actions, especially towards the dangerous blackbird. Cheetor arrived in the nick of time, helping them with Terrorsaur. Dinobot sat the top of the command center down and jumped at Terrorsaur with a growl, tackling him to the ground, "I'm sorry, but what were you saying again? He snarled as his eye glowed bright green ready to burn the pterodactyl's face off.


Tigratron nodded at Tigerhawk's words. He was right. The situation had been viotiale, and though he was wanted to try and minimize the damage and save their friends, it seemed the Predacons had made up their minds. "I'm-" Tigatron was interrupted by the distress signal given off by Sentinel. "We need to go and help our friends." Tigatron closed the kit and placed it back inside his chest, watching Tigerhawk as he helped the flyer up, "I did the best I could, my friend. Don't push yourself." He smiled at him. Then he turned to Quickstrike when Tigerhawk made a good point. "Then let us go, my friend. We need to hurry towards our friends." Tigertron went into his beast mode and dashed towards the Axalon, but he kept his speed alongside Tigerhawk to make sure he was all right. He would still need a trip to the CR Chamber when they kick the Predacons out.


Blackarachnia made her way through the vents, but as she was following the trail of her former comrade, she saw some of his trademark traps. She disabled some, others she had to take the other direction, but she labeled the spots, so that when this mess was done, she would take care of them before they activated. As she maneuvered, she could hear the conversations and gunfire from the brig. She didn't show herself, but she analyzed what she could see from her own vintage point. From the time she came, she noticed how off Whitegrazer appeared with her glowing eyes and voice that sounded like she was something more than a normal being. Well, the white mare wasn't. She was a Vok, only half Vok, but could someone actually be a half Vok? It sounded odd to her, watching Rampage and Optimus, Rhinox and Airazor with a damaged Inferno, and a downed Zodiac who seemed laced with despair right now.

Blackarachnia, still in beast mode, used the same way Tarantulas had entered, and as Tarantulas was too busy attacking Whitegrazer and Optimus, Blackarachnia jumped upon Tarantulas' back. "Surprise!" Something Tarantulas always gleefully used to say to anyone when he did the same tactic. Her mandibles chowed down upon Tarantulas' throat, sending as much cybervenom into his systems as she could.

(( OOC: Thank you for posting, una. I just get frustrated because I don't understand why it's all the time. But since I don't know what you're going through, and you've mentioned before some of your struggles, I don't want you to fall back into whatever old habits you had before. We love you and your characters, so we want you stay involved, but I hope you can find a happy medium in your schedule or can take advantage of days when you're feeling better to write your posts. ))

"Yeah.. I kind of blew it on this one,"

At least Zodiac could admit that much. And even say it to Optimus. No one was perfect, but it would be great if Zodiac could learn from his mistakes and stop trying to kill everyone so Primal could focus on his crew, the Vok, and Megatron. He had enough on his plate as it was and didn't need to be stretched thin with so many enemies.

"As far as I must," "I will not deny that I will gladly take the opportunity to stab Megatron in the back should it arise,"

The leader narrowed a skeptical optic at the shape shifter. And how far is that? he wondered. If it meant causing harm or sacrificing his Maximals, then he could not allow it, and that was the point he was trying to reach. Knowing Zodiac, it meant exactly that and anything or anyone else he could use at his disposal just to save himself. It was disappointing. Then again, Zodiac wasn't trying to impress or please anyone. Optimus had a feeling, however, that Zodiac lost his window of opportunity to take Megatron out of the picture when he hadn't managed to kill him the first time. Now, Megatron's lust for revenge and his own survival would likely outweigh Zodiac's, and the tyrant would be the victor. But Primal was willing to do his best to stop it from happening.

"Megatron and you.. Lest you forget that at least one of you wants me dead at any cost and the other's team would be more than happy to see that outcome come to fruition. There's also the Vok, who very much so have taken an interest in this planet and its occupants.."

"You needn't worry about my crew," he had assured him, almost offended by his words. "They won't harm you unless you give them a reason to defend themselves. And they won't aid Megatron with his selfish ambitions. As for the Vok, we can only do our best whenever they decide to show up."

"However.. your words do hold some truth to them. It's just a lot to take in right now, especially with Megatron presently here to extract his revenge. But after that situation has been dealt with, I'm willing to listen to what you have to say."

Optimus nodded to him in a grateful manner and opted not to spoil this opportunity with a long-winded response or speech.

"Maybe.. maybe if we had met under different circumstances, we could even have been friends. Or at least not haunted by the lack of trust issues we've only now barely started scratching the surface of."

He raised a brow at that. Barely, Primal reiterated in his head since Zodiac had proven little to be trustworthy. so far the only proof was handing him Nexus Prime's I.D. chip without spitefully damaging it. And then immediately ruining that moment by ramming into Optimus to try and escape. If they had met under different circumstances? Who could say. Primal wasn't one to dwell on "what-ifs" or "what-could-have-been" since the past couldn't be changed. He focused more on the present and future. Anyway, it was difficult for him to consider them ever being friends had Zodiac never been subjected to the horrors of being experimented on because this was the only side of Zodiac he knew, and he wasn't even sure if it was possible for him to have a positive influence on the pretender. Their personalities seemed to clash too much. That wasn't to say that Optimus wasn't willing to try to help him, if Zodiac was would be willing.

"We seem to have more in common than I initially thought..Maybe some day I'll be able to earn your trust some day. I hope so anyway.."

Did he really hope that? Or was he just playing off of Primal's good nature? His voice and demeanor suggested authenticity with his words, which was surprising. Or was he just desperate? After all, he had just admitted that he would do anything to ensure his own survival. "And I yours," Optimus returned regardless of Zodiac's ill intentions, if he had any.

"There's always a choice,"

Wasn't that exactly what Optimus had been preaching to Zodiac? Interesting.

"And she made hers quite clear when she ran off without me. For a long time she was all I had in there, my link to a life outside of that place.. away from the torture. She used to tell me stories, filled my head with tales of a world of freedom where she had lived before joining the experiments. I couldn't have imagined she'd abandon me there to go back to that life without me, but that's exactly what she did. Needless to say the guards took it out on me."

The Maximal frowned lightly. It was a sad story, one that took Primal aback because he actually had managed to keep Zodiac talking and opening up about his past. A lot of Zodiac's misery was based on envy, pain and abandonment. And there was no doubt that it was exploited just to make him feel special. So, what was Nemesis's side of this story? It was intriguing to hear a part of her past that Optimus hadn't heard before, but he would prefer to obtain it by listening to it in her words before passing any judgment. For all he knew, Zodiac could be leaving out details like the guards had forcefully taken her away instead. Or they suspected them of conspiring against them and punished them by separating them. There were many possibilities and reasons that he could have been deliberately leaving out. How would that benefit him? Who knew. Zodiac could be a pathological liar as far as anyone could tell. His training had clearly been extensive and extreme in case he found himself in certain situations, like a prisoner-of-war. "Perhaps she would be willing to talk to you about it. It can't be purely coincidence that you two have been brought back together. Now, you can both choose what you wish to do with this time that you have." Either try to kill each other or have a peaceful conversation to understand one another and what happened.

-----

"You may not realize it yet, but you need me,"

Megatron needed no one. Not Cryotek, not the Vok, not Primal, and certainly not Zodiac! He already had a plan, and it didn't include any of them. If too many got involved, then that was too many variables out of his control. He was not going to risk that. Zodiac may have been useful to Cryotek and his mindless drones, but he was useless to Megatron. Utterly useless. And too great a threat to be ignored or let loose.

"I would have given him the revenge he is looking for," "He would have been free to decemate those who wronged him on Cybertron when we got back there,"

"Assuming the Viper would not have been marked upon reentry to Cybertron's orbit and immediately disengaged, boarded, or towed to the planet to apprehend its occupants thus landing yourselves in jail," the tyrant pointed out with an entirely possible and accurate scenario. Surely the security of Cybertron would have been increased by now considering all of the threats it faced. Or Megatron was completely wrong. But that didn't matter. The point he was making was that Zodiac was not as sly as he thought he was, and he would have made a huge mistake wasting that vessel and Rampage had he been successful hi-jacking it. "As far as I'm concerned, I did you both a favor," he smugly countered. "Well, Rampage, anyway, as you will soon face your demise," he added coldly to Zodiac.

"Such a limited display of insight," "Perhaps you deserve the life of slavery you are committing yourself to,"

"Ah, the pot calling the kettle black," Megatron smirked at his double as he found his insight even less superior to that of Rampage's. Now, once fascinated with the fake Megatron he was facing, he was beginning to find it as an insult and incredibly inferior.

“All of this for petty revenge on one bot...I thought you had a sterner ambition Megs.”

"I am merely tying up loose ends," Megatron threatened Airazor, which now included her if she wasn't willing to stand down.

“Truth hitting too close to the spark?”

Inferno had really wished his Queen would give him the order to burn that bird to a crisp! Because now he was even more damaged and was having a difficult time functioning to the best of his ability.

“Stronger than you look Primal, maybe you will make this more of a challenge than I expected.”

Good. He wouldn't want to make his defeat too easy, after all. Rampage would have to work for it. Of course, Optimus was fully aware that the crab was stronger and tougher than he was, and he had the ability to self repair his wounds, to an extent. Not as quickly as Nemesis and Zodiac, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying his best to defend his base and his Maximals.

“You should focus on yourself Primal, not whatever is going on around you.”

Having made some ground pushing the crab back away from the others, Optimus lost his momentum when his opponent reclaimed his posture and planted his foot, stopping him from being able to budge him any further. Still, the Maximal leader continued to push toward him with his club waiting for the chance to reach for the other one on his back and use it to upper cut him without compromising his footing.

"I don't..,"

Optimus heard Aurora's voice trail off over his comm. link, and he hoped it was because of her coming up with a plan or an idea to help her and Dinobot's situation, and not because of her being injured. He failed to respond as he concentrated on Rampage until Whitegrazer's powerful kick disconnected them from each other and the large Predacon stumbled back. While he appreciated her help, he couldn't help but wonder if anyone was going to follow his order and help Rattrap?

"I don't wish to fight you, Rampage. I felt the pain when your spark was cut in half. No one deserves that, but I can't allow you to harm my loved ones."

“You will pay for that equine! This isn’t your fight to interfere with!”

Taking the opportunity to rest his injured arm that he had applied so much pressure to while Rampage addressed Whitegrazer, Primal also caught his breath, and he growled angrily when he watched him back-hand her out of his way. Optimus wasn't prepared for the giant crab to lunge again at him so quickly, partially presuming that he thought he would resort to his weapon again. He hadn't. So, now he needed to quickly adapt to his mistake by swinging his club upward with his good arm and hoping it would connect with his opponent's jaw to further damage it after Whitegrazer's kick before it could start regenerating.

“Spin your words to someone else Maximal! You had your chance all those times you personally over saw my experimentation, the torture those scientists put me through. I sensed your anguish, the turmoil, but you did nothing when you had the chance.”

Rampage was right. He had been responsible. He was probably the one thing Optimus could never fix or redeem himself for no matter how hard he would try. Was it hopeless? Nothing was hopeless to Primal, but the subject also had to be willing. He wouldn't force his hand again to overpower someone and ruin their life. What if he had proof though? What if he could prove that he could help him? How could he do that when Megatron possessed the other half of his spark? So many questions, and everything was working against him. He put the offer out there, so maybe Rampage would give it some thought. And if not, well, it was a tragic consequence that Optimus would have to live with for the rest of his life. As well as all the lives that Protoform X had taken.

“But perhaps I should allow you to stew in your failures a bit longer.”

As they struggled to overthrow one another, Rampage suddenly pushed hard at the Maximal to shove him backwards. It worked as it tilted Primal off balance and he stumbled nearly tripping over his own feet. He caught himself before he could fall and glared at the end of the large barrel that was now aimed directly at him. Rampage's words were a fair punishment. In fact, Primal probably deserved far worse.

"Mission accomplished, Megatron," "They won't be able to track us,"

"Excellent, Nemesis. Prepare to rendezvous," he told his second-in-command over their transmission.

“Been worse for wear, but I’ll live.” “But good to see you’re up and moving Rhinox, had us worried for a little while.”

"My close proximity to the blast knocked me out cold,, but I'm alright," he explained to Airazor. He never even had time to react. Although he didn't really worry about himself. "You guys must've encountered some heavy firepower out there," Rhinox frowned at her wounds. He remained close to her while Megatron and Inferno kept their sights on them. "We're lucky the Predacons didn't do anything worse to you," he added since Megatron could have finished her off if he really wanted to while she had been in his possession. Why bother sparing their lives anyway? Why go to these lengths just to capture Zodiac?

"Oh quit your whining," "Your prize awaits. Unless, of course, you want me to give him an antidote so the two of you can finish your little game. It was quite entertaining to watch you beat yourself up, heheheheheh."

"Enough! Prepare for a retreat," Megatron told Tarantulas once he provided him with some cover fire against the Maximals while he put his tail gun away and reached down to pick up Zodiac...

Suddenly feeling a few nasty stings to his back, Optimus looked over and saw Tarantulas firing at him and Whitegrazer until she stepped in and began using her body as a shield.

"You will not have him." "I won't allow it."

Distracted now by her voice changing as well as her optics, Primal watched her reach out in front of herself toward Megatron and Tarantulas with her hands and slowly, slightly squeeze them. She had blocked her link with him, and that only meant one thing; that she was using her spark against them. He greatly disapproved of this maneuver because sparks were their very life force, and they were not to be touched without their consent. What she was doing was extremely dangerous and unethical.

Megatron suddenly held a fist over his spark as he felt it being pulled stopping him in his tracks from gathering his prize. Already on a knee beside Zodiac, he growled with some agony and lifted his head to glare at Whitegrazer. The Vok. How dare she! He never wanted to feel this again after the Metal Hunter incident! The vulnerability, the helplessness. But he didn't come unprepared. Although this link business was something rather new to the tyrant, it wasn't like he hadn't been training himself to try and protect his spark as best as he could ever since it happened before when the alien race used her as a hub to connect all of them. As far as he could tell, the link worked both ways. If hers was opened to him, then he was opened to her. And since he was aware that she was an Empath, he had spent time focusing on a counter attack full of emotions and dread.

First, he began with a void of darkness, like a black hole, to try sucking her reach into emptiness. It may have been surprisingly strong to her considering this was his first test. Then he sent her a fury of vicious callousness, and pure anger for her touching his spark on purpose this time. He threw some of his evil deeds at her to try and break her down. Nightmares that would terrify even the strongest and scariest monsters in the darkest alleys. Untouchable demons that lurked in the shadows, tainted with diseases and infections. He forced them upon Whitegrazer like walls closing in on her. Punch after punch of wicked, merciless darkness that he pounded at her to try and break her down and release the link. Finally, he threw death at her. Deaths by his hands. Some unknown, some unrecognizable, and even her greatest loss to whom she held so dearly, Optimus Primal. Screams, begging for mercy, sorrow, sobbing, all from his victims. She could feel how much he would love to kill Primal again. Not just physically, but destroy his spirit and optimism until he was shattered and broken. Again, and again. His desire to murder all of them overpowered her link. He was very careful not to leak any information about his future plans though. Everything he sent her was from past experiences and from the deepest depths of terrible and awful emotions that most couldn't cope with or comprehend. But she could. And she would. He forced all of it back at her so she would suffer and lose control. Hopefully it was even enough to even damage her ability that she relied so heavily on to communicate with Optimus. His outrage and resistance was powerful, so much so that he could feel her grip weakening, or he was building a blockade. He wasn't quite sure which one it was so long as he could keep her from harming him.

"You will retreat with no hostages, no Zodiac, no prize." "I will show you the same pain you gave Rampage, Megatron, if you don't walk away. Retreat now."

"I will finish what I started, Vok!" Megatron growled at her as his fear of her touching his spark began to fade.

"Whitegrazer, stop!" Optimus told her as he started to feel something heavy between them despite his link being blocked by her. He could detect it in Megatron's optics. Somehow, he was fighting back.

"NO ONE WILL STAND IN MY WAY!" the Predacon warlord bellowed as he suddenly stood up, throwing his fists above his head in a dramatic fashion as if he was defeating Whitegrazer's threat and crying out as though the holler helped enforce snapping her established link into pieces, like shattering a bone with the shards of it dispersing in every direction. Weakened, a few deep breaths helped Megatron refocus, and he realized that he could no longer feel her.

He didn't have the time to boast or revel in his satisfaction as he instructed his team over his comm. link, "Predacons, retreat and rendezvous at the predesignated coordinates!" But then he watched Blackarachnia intervene. That slagging traitor! To the Pit with her! He opened fire on her with his shoulder guns to assist Tarantulas since he still needed his skills in order to execute their plan with Zodiac.

"Inferno, Tarantulas, ensure that no one else follows!" he pointed at the ceilings above Whitegrazer, Primal, Airazor, Rhinox and Blackarachnia.

Inferno immediately lifted his weapon and fired a few rockets at the ceiling and walls where the rhinoceros and the falcon huddled. At least what was left of them after his and Megatron's initial arrival blowing a hole through to the brig.

Rhinox gasped and used his body to cover Airazor while they were buried under the heavy debris and the heat of the explosions.

While they did that, Megatron carefully knelt down to scoop Zodiac's paralyzed body into his arms and then ignited his twin engines, lifting them both out of there and escaping the Axalon. As strong as Megatron tried to make himself appear in front of the Maximals, he was actually struggling after that "invisible" confrontation between him and Whitegrazer. He hadn't expected it to drain so much of his energy. But he had succeeded, and he could only hope that it damaged her in some way. She ought to know better than to touch his merciless spark!

After Inferno's gunfire, the wounded ant engaged his turbine engine and followed Megatron out of the damaged ship, leaving Tarantulas and Rampage to find their own way out.

"Okay, Optimus, we have Nemesis in a sticky situation up here," "I'm not sure how long it'll hold her, but at least we've evened out the odds a bit for Dinobot and Cheetor. The Preds did short out Sentinel, however.."

Optimus didn't respond to Aurora's good news. Only silence reached her from his end of their communication. All of the cameras were down. The alarms and lights were down. The shields were still off. Wires sparked everywhere in the brig as dust clouded and scattered debris congested the area.

“Especially covered in transmetal.”

Meanwhile, outside of the Maximal base, Rattrap nodded lightly to Wintersong's comment. He wasn't feeling very good. His energy was still draining, albeit it was slowing down now that he was in his beast mode. Soon it would halt and recharge enough to begin internal repairs.

“I’m sure it’s notning to worry about Rattrap, maybe just a side effect of what happened in the cocoon.”

"Ya know, I wish I could believe you, Winter, but too many strange things have been happenin' around here, and I really wouldn't ignore it if I were you," he recommended to the tigress. Who was she trying to kid; him or herself? That tiny bit of panic that he spotted emitting from her suggested that she was worried about it after all. He couldn't imagine what those slimy aliens had put here through. She refused to talk about it. Actually, she denied remembering anything, which was fine with Rattrap if she couldn't bare to indulge everyone on the matter, but if anyone should know about it, it should be Optimus so that they could hopefully help her or prepare for something that might come of it. But, hey, what did he know? He was just a rat. And he had failed big time getting his team home in one piece that day.

“Not on my watch.”

"Go get 'er, kid," Rattrap tiredly encouraged the tigress as she took off after Spineback even though she was already too far away to hear him. Now alone, he decided to lay down on his belly and relax while keeping his damaged sensors on alert and trying not to give in to his fatigue.

-----

"Then let us go, my friend. We need to hurry towards our friends."

Back at the previous battle site, everyone had eventually abandoned the Predacon Fuzor in his snare made out of webbing, so he had made some great progress with his cobra head gnawing through it once his former Sugar-bot's venom wore off. And he was glad that he didn't have to listen to those flea-bitten cats anymore! That had been way too much compassion for Quickstrike to handle. Gross! And pathetic. He was just about to bite the rest of the way through Blackarachnia's cyber silk when his weight broke him free and gravity yanked him to the ground with a hard thud on his head and shoulders. With a groaned, "...Ouch...," his body tipped over onto his chest and he slowly pushed himself up to his feet. Groggy, at least he wasn't too damaged to still pick a fight somewhere. But Tigatron and Tigerhawk were long gone.

"Predacons, retreat and rendezvous at the predesignated coordinates!"

Normally upon receiving orders like that from Megatron, the Fuzor wouldn't hesitate to join up and slag some Maximals. However, this time, since he lost all of his prisoners, he couldn't help but feel a bit of terror coming face to face with the dictator. But it was inevitable, so he might as well make the effort and try to redeem himself in another battle should one arise.

"Beast mode," he told his internal computer, and his body shifted to his cobra/scorpion appearance. He then scurried off as quickly as he could toward their "secret" location that was in neutral territory between the two bases.

((No, no, I finished that for the most part. This past weekend ended up busy and I have been ill since Sunday, been hard to move and hard to think but I am working on a post tonight, up no later than tomorrow.

Sorry for the wait or no word, just was a crazy weekend and got some cold or flu bug going around. Primus save me!))

Primal’s reaction was swift and immediate, the club making its mark in the same spot Whitegrazer had just kicked moments before.

The mace left some decent gauges on the king crab’s armor, and he was pretty sure his jaw was dislocated in some places. Painful as it was, it did little to deter Rampage from knocking Primal off balance or holding the desire to devour his very spark. Something that was evidently not in his future in this moment as things seemed to be taking a far drastic turn as Rampage held Optimus in place, his rocket launcher focused directly at the transmetal ape’s chest plate. The tension in the air spoke volumes of how desperate Megatron’s goal was becoming, how deep his desire was to have Zodiac back.

Though that was hardly the most surprising turn of events.

“You’re always trying to cover loose ends I’ve noticed.” Airazor commented, glaring defiantly towards the tyrant despite his threatening tone.

The falcon femme though laid a hand on Rhinox’s shoulder, glad to see he was functional at the very least, “Hey, be thankful for the thick skin and armor you got, fairing better than I did today.” Airazor tried to see the bright side of the situation, “And what matters is we’re both functioning at the end of the day. The Predacons are just doing what they know best, being backstabbing cowards.” She told him, casting another quick glare towards their enemies. But that defiant look was soon replaced with a look of shock and awe at Whitegrazer showing her Vok capabilities, seeming quite desperate to stop Megatron from succeeding in his mission as desperately as Megatron was attempting to accomplish it. But she had to agree with her commander. The act seemed...intrusive, unethical, too far even with her powers. And yet, it didn’t seem to be enough as Megatron pushed through the intrusion to his spark, using the force of will he had to get through the internal struggle.

Rampage couldn’t help looking on in shock as Whitegrazer went so far as to use her otherworldly abilities against Megatron, going so far as to invade his very life force. Inflicting the pain Rampage had gone through and forcing the crab to have to stop himself from rubbing the area over his spark. ‘Such irony. The one who preaches using defensive tactics goes too far in desperation.’ He mused as the wicked irony. “Are you so sure I am the monster here Maximal? Your girlfriend is looking pretty monstrous all her own.” Rampage remarked towards Primal after he called out to Whitegrazer. He gave his own twisted, broken mocking grin from his jaw still repairing itself, only a few hinges having snapped back into place but still his self-repair cells taking their course.

As much as Rampage wished he could prolong the mockery, it appeared Megatron had other plans as he turned to calling a retreat and burying the Maximals under rubble. Putting his rocket launcher away, the large transmetal crab rushed towards the gapping hole in the side of the ship and jumped through, landing several feet outside the Axalon’s exterior. Out here he could sense two others close by and two approaching, but they were of little concern to him for the moment as Rampage shifted to his beast mode, scurrying off while he had the chance.

Despite all their efforts this day, the Predacons has gotten the upper hand, not once but twice. And before they knew it Megatron, Inferno, and Tarantulas had turned their weapons on the ceiling to bury the Maximals alive, leaving Airazor’s optics to widen and immediately curl up slightly as the rubble came raining down on them.

Meanwhile in the bridge, Cheetor had been laying on as much firepower as he could to back-up Dinobot and Aurora, having to duck behind the corner from time to time to avoid the shots fired back his way. Especially when Nemesis turned her full attention to him briefly, and recalling her earlier attacks, took cover to avoid the chance of possible explosive shots again. The first time had been rather unpleasant, he wasn’t looking to repeat that in a single day.

Nevertheless, the young cheetah’s attack did not deter Terrorsaur from likewise fighting back, splitting his attention between Dinobot and the ermine and now the annoying kid. Quite frankly, he was annoyed the Maximals hadn’t been distracted longer or had remained prisoner under Quickstrike’s watch. But then again, the fuzor seemed to make Terrorsaur look like a model soldier in comparison. He lost who knew how many prisoners and could easily have set up a surprise attack, yet somehow they were now smack in the middle of a firefight with those they thought would be far too concerned for their friends to interfere.

But, the egotistical flier swallowed his frustrations as he kept up his defense until Nemesis could accomplish what they came here for, “Make it quick avian, we’re not exactly in a good position.” Terrorsaur urged, distracted briefly by the sparks that shot out of Sentinel. Cackling at seeing their defense system now useless, the transmetal flier eagerly turned his attention towards Cheetor expecting their combined attacks could force the young feline to move aside. But hearing Aurora, Terrorsaur watched in wonder as the ermine fuzor threw something at the wall then at Nemesis, raising an optic ridge. That was...an unusual substance to say the least. But before he could point out they might as well leave he was left with a stunned expression when Aurora activated her invention, trapping Nemesis to the wall for the time being, “Nothing some eye lasers won’t fix.” Unfortunately being stunned was more than enough for Dinobot to tackle him, causing Terrorsaur to snarl, preparing to fire one of his shoulder missiles in retailiation until Cheetor’s tail sword was brought to his throat, “Don’t even think about it beakface.” He spoke with a final threatening tone forcing Terrorsaur to sag his shoulders seemingly in defeat.

Not taking his optics off Terrorsaur, Cheetor raised a free hand, giving Aurora a thumbs up, “Nice going.” He told her with a quick side glance and tired smile.

Outside, Spineback had escaped her pursuer for the time being, using the short reprieve to patch up some of her larger wounds, namely the one in her side, shoulder stab wound, and the ones on the back of her hip and leg. “Let my guard slip for a moment, such a amateur move.” She mumbled, shaking her head in disappointment at allowing one Maximal gain the upperhand. Oh well, she could repay this loss for the battles to come. But she immediately paused when she heard Megatron, lifting her gaze towards the gaping hole in the side of the Axalon, spying Megatron and Inferno taking off with someone in hand and Rampage not far behind.

Though she quickly realized Nemesis and Terrorsaur had yet to follow suit. “Nemesis, Terrorsaur, I am assuming you two ran into trouble.” The veteran stated more than questioned, activating her Rocket Launchers on her shoulders, “I suggest ducking down or hanging onto something, you’re about to get a rough distraction.” She told them, firing her last two missiles she had kept in reserve, only having enough power to shake the Axalon enough to throw anyone inside off balance.

“I will worry about it when it becomes too much to ignore. We have more important matters here in the moment than worrying about what the Vok did; as I’ve told Optimus and Whitegrazer it can be handled later.” Wintersong pointed out, her voice having a slightly harsh tone due to irritation of his suggestion, one she had heard many times since she had returned. As much as she was panicking on the inside, the transmetal tigress didn’t want the Vok to think she was easily influenced or used. Or look weak in front of her teammates.

Without another word she had taken off to handle Spineback, who she know watched retreat into the distance, starting an internal struggle to control those growing violent urges, “We should pursue her, finish her for good.” The Vok voice echoed in her very core once again, causing her to shake her head, ‘No, we’ve done enough! I’ve done enough! She’s retreating.’ Wintersong affirmed, more concerned for Rattrap than eliminating a threat. But the otherworldly presence took the defiance with rage, an otherworldly growl echoing in her mind, almost sounding stronger for the moment, “You will learn to listen Cybertronian, whether you like it or not.”

‘Never. My friends come first.’

“For now, feline. But the more you fall to aggression the more you become ours.”

Silently gulping, Wintersong tried to ignore the thought of losing herself entirely to the Vok, especially since Rattrap needed the help. The femme returned her swords to connect to her back as she sprinted back to his location, “She’s gone for now.” Wintersong told him, tone less harsh than before, trying to keep her battle lust in check, “Lets get you inside the hanger at least.” She told him, showing concern with Rattrap’s state at the moment as she reverted to beast mode and crouched low, gesturing with her head for him to get on her back. He would be heavy but at the same time barely looked like he could move. Not that her attention remained on her hurt teammate for long before she heard two explosions, causing her to whip her head back towards the Axalon with wide eyes, wondering what last bit of effort the Predacons were trying to pull off.

Tigerhawk has merely nodded in agreement, spreading his wings and pushing off the ground to take flight, following Tigatron from above at a decent pace. His body still ached of course but it was nothing he couldn’t tolerate, allowing his self-repair systems to mend some of the minor wounds as they traveled and eventually zooming in his optics as they got close to the Axalon. In the distance he could see three or four figures escaping one part of the ship, someone else lingering off towards the same direction, and two other figures off near the lift. It was hard to make out who the two were on the ground until they got closer, realizing it was Rattrap and Wintersong, “Looks like the Predacons are done with whatever they-” The large fuzor was cut off when Spineback shot off two missiles, striking the already battered side of the ship. Possibly as a distraction to allow any remaining Predacons escape inside.

“Tigatron, help Wintersong and Rattrap inside I’ll get rid of our lingering Pred out here.” Tigerhawk called down, veering away as he transformed to robot mode with a slight wince, firing his machine guns near Spineback’s feet forcing her to have retreat further away with an annoying snarl. But as he dove back up to get a better look at the area just in case others were lingering around, he quickly noticed the gapping hole in the side near the brig, causing some dread to come to his spark. “This can’t be good.” Diving down towards the brig, the hawk/tiger fuzor was greeted with a less-than promising sight; in fact, the brig was trashed from an intense struggle and all that remained was a torn apart brig area and from what his senses were picking up buried Maximals in the rubble.

Giving a few choice curses out of concern, Tigerhawk rushed over to the collapsed ceiling and began digging at the debris, searching for signs their teammates were alright.

((Okay whew! Here it is at last! Tried to get this done this morning, but crazy day.))

Whitegrazer had reached out towards Megatron, more like tugging his spark, only enough to gain his attention, to distract him, warning him to back off before should she do more than she already regretted doing. She didn't have to be connected with Optimus to know how disgusted he was by her actions. But she thought it was the only way, the only way to try and save Zodiac, to prevent him from being put in hands of the likes of both Megatron and Tarantulas, especially Tarantulas, who would no doubt torture and butcher him, leaving nothing for her to mourn, nothing for her to bury, like them, like those she lost in Gaila. All those souls that cried out in terror for her, calling out for her help, but only to be sharply silenced by Tarantulas. Zodiac would not die. She would save him. She must save him.

Part of her hoped, part of her pleaded for Megatron to just leave, to just, for once, leave without any gain, to not push. Opening the temporary link to his spark, gaining access to his soul, a link forced upon both of them due to her people possessing her body, which, depending on the situation and person, is a sort of intimate act like how a mindmeld could be, and she does understand how questionable such an act could be seen, but she wasn't trying to pull information nor seep into his soul's innermost thoughts, both private and personal. No. She was only using her power to grip his spark, tugging it, to halt him. Like how the Vok did the Metal Hunter Incident, except, her actions weren't as lethal or invading, but were only comparable to someone grabbing a spark with their hands, lightly squeezing it. She had no intentions of torturing Megatron, despite how much he would have done in the same situation. Another part of her growled in aggression, something she had felt ever since the battle back outside and then inside here. At first, she thought it was from her, but the fading whispers, the faded transparent orb flying past her optics like a flicker of a shadow, all point to someone else, and one name whispered inaudible from her lips. Wintersong.

But she was a fool to think it was enough. What a fool she was to believe Megatron wouldn't retaliate with extreme prejudice.

She made a terrible mistake, a grave mistake. She gave Megatron a warning shot, hesitating on driving any more force forward, to swallow his soul with his own actions, to maybe gain some foresight into the pain he caused others, and that was her undoing, forcing her to let go of the link she opened with Tarantulas, to give Megatron her full and undivided attention. For Megatron, his reaction, though she admitted to herself justified by her intrusion, was full of wrath. He showered her spark with images of his brutalities over the years he had been activated. Not just what she has witnessed him commit in the Beast Wars. The horror of the deaths he caused, the lack of mercy, the lack of remorse or empathy within his actions, choked her. She had been used to seeing death, feeling death for all the time she existed, so, despite how Megatron might believe in trying to kill her with his own deeds and shock her with his cruelty, it didn't faze her, even though, she didn't enjoy Megatron forcing her to watch a slideshow of his triumph over enemies he stepped in his way. Except when he shoved, slapped his horrific actions towards Optimus into her face, and how much he enjoyed it, how much he wanted to torture Optimus' very being, forcing her spark to remember the moments where she felt Megatron's cruel hands hurt Optimus, trying to bend and break his spirit, his soul. Her spark remembered the sharp silence when Optimus died in the pod, the same sharp silence that shook her so terribly in Gaila, that awoke a monster with in her to maim and kill her Maximal brethren and Predacon foes for the deaths of her children, for forcing her to feel the loss, the inevitability of her own abilities and her own errors in judgement and ideology. The fact that a person who she grown to love and respect and cherish with all her very being died almost similarly to those she birthed echoed within her spark daily. Though Optimus returned, the pain remained, as a sharp remainder of her lost, of what she could lose, and what she stood to lose, if she didn't do her darnest to try and prevent. Images of Optimus' time in Megatron's hands, the punches, the kicks, the taunts, the humiliation, the hollow echoes of Optimus' screams, his own spark reaching out towards her for warmth and compassion and love and knowing that he wasn't alone, that Megatron was wrong, that Aurora was okay.

"I will finish what I started, Vok!"

"Whitegrazer, stop!"

"I-" she began to speak, lowering her fist that she raised earlier, but she couldn't finish her sentence. For a split second, her optics turned to stare at Optimus before she turned to look upon the grounded Zodiac. Her expression of one who has been haunted, tormented, and been slapped in the face by her actions, slapped in the face with the pain she so tried to heal.

"NO ONE WILL STAND IN MY WAY!"

The link shattered into shards that pierced her spark. Shards of Megatron's brutal ruthlessness, his merciless domination, stabbed through her spark like Megatron had taken that energon blade he used to cut out half of Rampage's spark and gutted her spark with it, smiling with clear derisiveness. But shards of her light, her compassion, her warmth, absorbed into Megatron's spark, a conscience, empathy. A ruthless brute, unaware of what it truly meant to wield powers like she does, like a Vok does. Shattering the link isn't the same as erasing. Megatron only made a mess, a mess she had to clean up, and, maybe, he would have to as well, for the surprises she left him.

If she must, she could repair it herself.

And maybe, she would.

Her links were intact, all of them, so this little episode didn't harm her powers in the slightest, as much as Megatron wold believed it to be. She was stronger than that.

Are you so sure I am the monster here Maximal? Your girlfriend is looking pretty monstrous all her own.”

Whitegrazer didn't let Rampage inside her head. She had her reasons for what she did.

She wasn't a monster, and through her action was slightly questionable, for which she understood gravely, she believed it to be a logical action in order to save Zodiac, to save everyone. A monster? No. A monster would have enjoyed it, not regretted it, or realized the implications of what they did or almost did. She was always one of empathy.

It was empathy that kept her from doing such actions, but yet, today, it was empathy that compelled her to do what she tried to do.

But she failed.

"Inferno, Tarantulas, ensure that no one else follows!"

"No!" She watched in horror as Megatron picked up Zodiac, as Inferno shot and fired at the ceiling. Rhinox huddled and shieled Airaor from the debris, but the explosion rocked around them. Whitegrazer felt the heat of the explosion and suffocating dust of the debris that fell, not only at Rhinox and Airazor, but around Optimus and herself. She used her body and shielded Optimus like Rhinox had Airazor, out of reflex of her protective and selfless nature, out of fear of losing him, out of guilt for disappointing him, disappointing them all, including Zodiac. Her body pushed from the explosion, knocking him down, as the debris fell on top of her. Her breathing went shallow and short, cracked optics brightening and dimming, sparks from the area matched those of the sparks flying off her body from deep gashes that littered her torso. She was semi-conscious. Aware of her surroundings, but unaware of the pain and heat flooding her systems, unaware of shards of debris ripping through her metal flesh, smoldered fires burning through her chestplate and part of her face, the sketetal side.

Trapped inbetween Optimus and the debris on top of her, Whitegrazer could only quiver in grief. "I have failed another one." She thought she had time. But she didn't. "I didn't get a chance to talk to you. She thought after talking with Wintersong she would, but the Predacons disrupted her. And now, she might never get the chance. I'm so sorry, Zodiac. I'm so sorry."


Dinobot snarled, breath hard down on Terrorsaur, remembering his eariler omment about Nemesis earlier with his eyebeams, "Don't even try," Dinobot's optics brightened threatenly with the green glow of his own beams, warning the downed former comrade of his to not try anything, as well as holding the tip of his sword blade dangerously close towards the annoying Predacon's throat.

He mirrored Cheetor's impressed expression towards Aurora. Thanks to the little ermine's actions, she was able to give them a prisoner, a prisoner for which they could interrogate, and though terrorsaur wasn't someone who Megatron would coming running after, Nemesis might be a different bot altogether. "With Terrorsaur and Nemesis as our prisoners, maybe we can gather the reason for this surprise, and dishonorable attack to our base." When he emphasied the word 'dishonor', he glared at Nemesis, not forgetting the harm she brought to Rattrap. Dishonorable blackbird. In the distant halls, he heard a mumbled shock of an explosion. It came from the direction of the brig. "What is happening back there? He asked rhetorically, really, but then the Axalon shook. Not enough to lose his balance, but enough to keep him distracted, for a moment, from the downed pterodactyl. His optics narrowed at Nemesis, who was still stuck to wall, hoping she remained still there.

“Looks like the Predacons are done with whatever they-”

Tigratron, along with tigerhawk, saw the Axalon growing loser and closer in their visage, but tigratron ould only whisper an inaudible 'No' as he could see the giant hole near the brig area, the sight of Megatron carrying someone, when he zoomed in to get a look at the object which was flying away from the Axalon, "What is it, Tigerhawk? What do you see-" He was interrupted by the sight of Spineback firing a couple of rockets at their base. He took a step forward ready to fight her, but tigerhawk was way ahead of him, firing at the Predacon female, forcing her to hiss and snarl and retreat away like Megatron.

“Tigatron, help Wintersong and Rattrap inside I’ll get rid of our lingering Pred out here.”

Tigatron nodded and ran towards Wintersong and Rattrap, calling out their names, "Wintersong! Rattrap!" As he came to their side, he noticed the injuries at Rattrap's face and one side of his body. "Are you two okay?" Tigratron looked at Wintersong as well, noticing how tense she seemed and the injuries she sustained during the surprise attack.

Despite the fact that Optimus had remained silent for most of the renegade's painful admission of his own failures, Zodiac hadn't stopped his explanation until he was done. Once in a while his gaze did drift over to Primal's face, studying his expressions, trying to get a feel for how his captor was taking it all. But for the most part Primal remained stoic, merely letting the words settle down until Zodiac eventually stopped talking.

"You needn't worry about my crew,"

Didn't he? Zodiac did nothing to hide the expression of doubt on his face. Doubt for Primal's denial, for how the Maximals truly felt about all of this. But he remained silent, giving Primal a chance to back up his claim.

"They won't harm you unless you give them a reason to defend themselves. And they won't aid Megatron with his selfish ambitions. As for the Vok, we can only do our best whenever they decide to show up."

And for a moment Zodiac almost smiled a bit before speaking up.

"While it's admirable of you to have such devotion and faith in your crew, may I remind you that it was a member of your crew who killed my companion in cold mech fluid," he then said, indicating the damage Ironclaw had rendered to his loyal servant. Zodiac had been watching the scene unfold, so he knew exactly what had happened.

"And then came after me. So I'm sure you'll understand why I have my reservations about your assurances."


It hardly mattered that Ironclaw had since disappeared. He had clearly managed to sneak onto the Axalon's crew roster, probably with some help from the Elders, but who could tell if there were more sleeper agents concealed among Primal's crew. Zodiac certainly wasn't going to bet on it.

He went on to attempt to lull Optimus into a false sense of security by promising change and a sense of hope he wouldn't cause any more trouble for the Maximals. Did he truly mean it? In a way.. But also not really. Zodiac's sense of self preservation had certainly taken over as his main motivation now, so he didn't have that deep rooted desire to make Primal pay for his role in the shapeshifter's misery, but that didn't mean the renegade was completely willing to turn a new leaf. He liked who he was, after all, and his ego wouldn't allow him to admit that he was entirely to blame for his own failures just yet. Some of it, sure, but not all.

The look on Primal's face was one of hesitancy, and it was fairly obvious he wasn't quite ready to buy into it just yet. No matter, Zodiac would just keep trying to persuade him, to sway him towards an unsteady alliance with the renegade.

"And I yours,"

Primal seemed willing to work on earning the renegade's trust as well.. Honestly, trust was something that didn't come easily to someone who had been burned as often as Zodiac had. Yes, he could be a bit naive at times as had been proven to him time and time again during these past few weeks, but Zodiac would never admit it to anyone. Surely, if it was true, it could be blamed on his youth and lack of experience. But he was learning. The longer he stayed out in the field, away from labs and scientists probing him, or superior officers always telling him what to do and think and how to act, the more he was coming into his own.

After contemplating Primal's rather brief response for a moment or two, Zodiac merely gave a silent nod of acceptance. There was no point in debating the issue further right now.

"Perhaps she would be willing to talk to you about it. It can't be purely coincidence that you two have been brought back together. Now, you can both choose what you wish to do with this time that you have."

Zodiac drew a slight sigh upon hearing Primal's words. No, now the Maximal leader was the one showing his true naivety. Obviously he had been talking to Nemesis on an intimate level at one point since he seemed to respect her so, but as far as the renegade was concerned Primal couldn't have been further from the truth about her.

"It's a pity you will no doubt never share whatever secrets I presume she told you about, but rest assured she won't hesitate to turn on you like she did me if you stand in her way. Yes, it is quite the coincidence we both ended up here.. now.. on this planet. But it's not fate. I genuinely don't believe she has any interest in sparing my life, much less that this is something we can just fix with a few select words."

His optics had drifted a bit when he spoke, down to his still cuffed hands, his fingers twiddling. Was that a hint of regret hidden somewhere deep within his words?

----

Megatron's stood looming, an unforgiving presence who seemingly couldn't care less about wasting the opportunity Zodiac was offering him. Of course the renegade was merely trying to buy himself some time, as he had no intention of spending the rest of his life in servitude to the tyrant, but his offer had seemed genuine enough at the time.

"Assuming the Viper would not have been marked upon reentry to Cybertron's orbit and immediately disengaged, boarded, or towed to the planet to apprehend its occupants thus landing yourselves in jail,"

The tyrant's response prompted a slight, albeit somewhat sly, grin to appear on the younger bot's face. Oh the fool.. the arrogant, pompous fool.

"How quickly they forget," he then commented, indicating the capabilities held by the Viper.

"Arrested?," the renegade mused, "At a time nobody there would know us? A time before either of us, nor the Viper, had been conceived? Besides what makes you think we'd simply park such a valuable vessel within optical scanner range of the Council's headquarters? I think not, Megatron. And I'd watch my back if I were you, so others don't do onto you what you did to them..," he added with a quick nod in Rampage's direction.

Although it was all a mute point now, given the Viper's present state in pieces on the ground. It was unlikely anything could still be salvaged from it, however that wasn't to say that the renegade wouldn't love the opportunity to check that out for himself. Alone.

"As far as I'm concerned, I did you both a favor," he smugly countered. "Well, Rampage, anyway, as you will soon face your demise,"

Despite the fact Zodiac felt a growing uneasiness from hearing Megatron say out loud what he already knew the tyrant intended to do, he maintained his poised appearance. He wasn't about to give Megatron the satisffaction of knowing how much he truly feared death, not while there was still a chance the Maximals could prevent this. Like Primal had promised him they would do.

"You are making a grave mistake," Zodiac responded with defiance, by now boasting Megatron's own face. Somehow he felt his confidence being boosted, perhaps due to Whitegrazer's presence. The female Maximal had this aura about her that somehow compelled those around her to do better, to not give up. Indeed she was likely the most unique individual he had ever encountered, and even now he felt something of a connection to her despite the fact she had given him privacy ever since the day he was captured.

"Ah, the pot calling the kettle black,"

The clone sent the original a glare, but chose not to elaborate.

“Make it quick avian, we’re not exactly in a good position.”

All in good time..

It only took Nemesis another moment to sabotage the Sentinel system and thereby effectively ruining the Maximals' ability to track the Predacons when they made their retreat. Which, from the looks of things, wouldn't be long.

"Excellent, Nemesis. Prepare to rendezvous,"

And right on cue..

Nemesis glanced over at Terrorsaur, who was still engaging Dinobot and now Cheetor as well. "Just leave them," she told her fellow flyer, trying to offset the chance of a lengthy confrontation that could result in a less than favorable outcome, "We got what we came for."

But while those three squabbled since Cheetor had seemingly picked Terrorsaur as his target rather than Nemesis, Aurora took the opportunity to use her own sneak attack. Nemesis growled in a mixture of disgust and discomfort as the gooey substance latched onto her chest and then suddenly effectively yanked her to the wall. She struggled of course, tried to pry herself loose, then tried to slip her fingers in between to break the seemingly magnetic hold the substance had on her. Still.. it didn't seem to work. And now the goop felt like it had solidified as well.

She heard Aurora's little shout of glee, followed by Terrorsaur's own comment before he became too distracted with the foes he was facing.

“Nothing some eye lasers won’t fix.”

Lasers..

It was then she remembered where she had encountered this material before, while fighting Zodiac at the Darksyde. He'd been wearing these cuffs that had seemingly melted away when she hit them with her flaming sword.

"Hold on," she told her partner in crime as she grabbed for her sword with her hand and brought it up close to where the substance was attached to the wall. Then, careful not to let the sword touch her armor, she ignited the sword at the lower setting. The flames appeared, singing her armor a bit, yet it was still tolerable and it certainly wasn't anything her nanomachines couldn't handle. And within a few moments she started feeling the substance turn into a gooey state again before it started melting, piece by piece.

“Nice going.”

Aurora smiled, a happy smile as well as a grateful one, now that it appeared the tables were about to be turned. "Oh it was nothing," she assured him, "But we still need to hurry. Rattrap needs help outside, and Optimus and the others could use some assistance down in the brig."

For now it appeared the tables had turned, that the Maximals held the upper hand at least on the bridge. Aurora was happy about that, although now they would have to decide what they were going to do with these two troublemaking Predacons.

"With Terrorsaur and Nemesis as our prisoners, maybe we can gather the reason for this surprise, and dishonorable attack to our base."

"Something tells me it has to do with what's going on in the brig," the fuzor said, pointing out that the most brutal attacks had been aimed at the brig. She just hoped that Optimus and Rhinox were okay down there, thus far not knowing that Air Razor was there as well. Of course she also hoped everyone else had made it out okay after the battle that had resulted in several Maximals getting captured, but the fact that Cheetor was here now seemed to indicate that it had worked itself out in the end.

Nemesis did not meet Dinobot's glare as her back was turned to him while she attempted to work her way free from the sticky situation she had gotten herself into. And bit by bit it seemed to be working. Perhaps Dinobot, or anyone else who were looking at her, would have suspected something was up, had their attention not been grabbed by the sudden and loud noise coming from the brig portion of the Axalon. The entire ship trembled as debris from the collapsing ceiling in the brig hit the ground, threatening to bury the occupants within. In the bridge a low rumble could be heard along with the shaking, causing Aurora's concerned optics to fixate on her fellow two Maximals present.

"What was that?," she asked with great worry in her voice. It almost sounded like a landslide in a way.. And it was then that she realized Primal wasn't responding to her most recent transmission, a fact that caused a sinking sensation in her spark.

Her optics were fixed on Cheetor and Dinobot, so she didn't take notice of Nemesis being in the process of freeing herself. Honestly, she wasn't expecting it, so it came as a huge surprise to her when she felt a sudden stabbing pain in her foot. The pain quickly escalated, forcing the fuzor let out a loud whimper and to look down. It was only then that she realized that Nemesis' sai had stabbed through her foot, effectively pinning her to the floor. Nemesis herself then slammed her fist onto the handle, forcing the remainder of the thicker prong through the foot with the two smaller ones on either side helping to stabilize the weapon and hold it down tight.

Aurora screamed in pain, a deafening sound that would no doubt grab the others' attention. Some mech fluid was seeping out from the wound in her foot, but from the looks of it the avian female wasn't quite through with her yet. Nemesis grabbed the young fuzor by the throat, yanking her upwards which only caused the pain to intensify even more since her foot was secured to the floor.

"Enough of this, Maximals!," the avian second in command hollered at them, holding her sword dangerously close to the fuzor's neck, mirroring what Dinobot had just done to the pterodactyl. "We are leaving and if you value the lives of your comrades you will not attempt to follow us!"

"Enough! Prepare for a retreat,"

The spider shot Megatron a glare, however brief, before returning his attention to blasting the Maximals as a farewell present. But he hadn't gotten off more than a few rounds before he suddenly felt an extra weight on his shoulders, quickly followed by a pair of fangs sinking into his neck. Tarantulas yelled out in his all too common "Arrgh!,", while bringing his pincers up to grab the offending entity on his back and throw it aside. Meanwhile Megatron was actually assisting him by pummeling his attacker with shots, oddly enough keeping his aim a lot more steady than what the spider himself had bothered to. It came as no surprise to him that it was his old creation, the traitorous female spider, or that she had just attempted to fill him up with cyber venom. The venom he enabled her to have when he created her!

"You foolish traitor!," he yelled at her while taking a couple of staggering steps. Yes, the venom had an effect on him, but it was very mild, since he had made sure not to equip her with a weapon he would be susceptible to. The spider was many things, but a fool was not one of them. The ungrateful witch would suffer for this!

He immediately turned his rage on her, firing repeatedly at her and thus ignoring his previous targets. It was Megatron who pulled him away from his rage when he pointed out they were leaving, with Tarantulas' new prized specimen in tow. Zodiac himself couldn't do anything while the chemicals were still wrecking havoc with his systems, and was therefor not able to put up a fight when Megatron bent down to pick up his clone. He did catch a glance of the desperate look in Whitegrazer's optics as the tyrant took off with him cradled rather roughly in his arms, only for the remaining Predacons to start shooting at the ceiling to bring it down around the Maximals that were left in their wake. He could never understand why she seemed to care so much, much less why she looked so.. devastated when he got abducted. Her link to him remained offline, so he couldn't hear her thoughts. Instead he was using what little energy he had to try to clear the toxins from his systems so that he could at least have a fighting chance at survival. But by the Pit, he felt more than a little scared.. and lost.. right now.

Tarantulas was back to his old self when the ceiling collapsed, cackling as he transformed back to his spider form and started making his way outside.