"More Than Meets The Eye: Part I"

[NaitoKage]

( Darkspark: Here's your lineup! Megatron,Terrorsaur,Inferno,Tarantulas,Blackarachnia,Arachnitron,Tantrum, Nemesis,Starshadow,Manterror,Buster,Spineback,Umbra

Sonar is currently in captivity, and Waspinator has no player. As far as how to use your players, just think of them from their strengths.



Akira mission: Megatron I assume your likely going to want leading this, since this is where Optimus is heading. In terms of who you send can really be whoever, I imagine you might want Tarantulas if you want Megatron to see if there's any technological value to the crashed ship, if not then just take along Tantrum and use as your infantry Buster,Inferno, and/or Quickstrike with whoever you feel would be useful for your destructive urges. (Note: Tantrum, Buster, Starshadow,Spineback, and Inferno have some of the highest Predacon firepower in that order if you intend to go guns blazing. Spineback is also a good alternative to Tarantulas due to her having higher defense from her shield and firepower, though Tarantulas does have mobility and crowd control with the use of his micro missiles.)

Pod one: Nemesis or Terrorsaur is leading this mission, honestly probably wont need tech support since Nem has been learning Predacon technology behind the scenes, but if so you could probably send Blackarachnia or Spineback with Nemesis,Starshadow,with Manterror since you wanted fliers in this group. Manterror or Starshadow can carry Blackarachnia easily enough.. or even Terrorsaur though I doubt his ego would allow that without a shotgun in his face.

Pod two, Banshee: Depending you'll probably either want Inferno, Tarantulas, or Umbra leading. Terrain is a rainforest, so probably want fliers, the spiders, or amphibious units due to dangers of drowning or getting stuck in mud.Spiders and amphibious units also have advantage in this terrain for it's stealth value and improved mobility in such an environment compared to the maximals sent who may find chopping through jungle vines and foliage annoying. Umbra, Spineback, Blackarachnia,and Tarantulas are capable of reprogramming the stasis pod,however as we have only reprogrammed a stasis pod ONCE in this game ever that really doesn't matter.

So how you mix and match is up to you, but that should give a general idea I believe.

Most likely I would recommend in this order.

Akira team:Megatron,Inferno,Tantrum,Buster,Quickstrike
Pod1:Nemesis,Terrorsaur,Starshadow,Manterror,Blackarachnia
Pod2:Tarantulas,Arachnitron, Spineback,Umbra )

Yessss...Attention all predacons, report to the bridge immediately, we have two stasis pods and a fallen maximal vessel to contend with today, I expect all of you to be on hand and at the ready for this mission, we MUST prevent the maximals from increasing their numbers, or receiving any kind of support from Cybertron. Also, this is a golden opportunity for those of you who performed poorly during the last mission to redeem yourselves...I suggest you make the best of this chance, some of you may not get another. That is all"

Umbra stood up heading towards his door and opened it hearing Megatron's orders on his radio, he then stopped promptly as he saw Starshadow standing at his door Excuse me ma'am. he then said as he was going to attempt to get past her. Though he did find it strange she was near his door, as normally she didn't talk to him.. she seemed to keep to herself, though Cecaelia knew her well from what he could tell. The sounds that echoed from her vent however were.. disturbing to say the least, making the cephalopod a little wary of the feline.

_____________________________

"Tah! It comes instinctual to me, pal,"

Landslide smirked Well, I'll have to ask ya the next time I lose my socket wrench.

"We got another pod ta rescue before our Predhead neighbors get a hold of it. De usual, you know,"

"Well, that sounds like fun."

Aye lass, but at least it's better then bein' indoors all day starring at monitors. Looks like we're all here, I'll try to keep up with yer group in the air. Landslide then rolled forward on his wheels a ways to get some distance from the others, then fired up his engines sending out a jetwash of thrust into the ground blowing up dust and debris as he lifted off into the sky, turning his heading slowly, then started making his way in the direction of the pod.

_____________________________________________

Cheetor looked in the mirror in his room with a smirk, making a few poses before pointing into the mirror Spot on smooth.. he said to himself.

"Dinobot to Airazor, Ironclaw and Cheetor. We have been asked to assemble at once for stasis pod retrieval. Meet me on the bridge. We must leave immediately. Dinobot out,"

Cheetor heard Dinobot on his comlink, then rushed out of his room down the halls towards the bridge The golden rocket is ready for action! he shouted excitedly, it'd be good if they had some more good news coming to the maximal base, as other then Landslide showing up the atmosphere has been too gloomy lately.

[Phoenix]

Hhhmmm, very well Nemesis, you may recover the pod for me, but you shall be accompanied by several other flyers and at least one who knows how to reprogram protoforms so that you and the new recruit can join the rest of us in acquiring the ship. It is essential that the maximals not receive any additional reinforcements, let alone a means by which to escape this planet & inform Cybertron of our whereabouts before this war has been won"

Nemesis somehow managed to hold back a frown as Megatron made his lack of trust quite obvious, despite her thus far impeccable track record with the Predacons, instead offering a somewhat courteous nod as she withdrew from her spot at the console. It wasn't that she blamed the tyrant for not trusting those around him, after all quite a few of his soldiers would love nothing more than to stab their leader in the back should the opportunity present itself, and she was aware that he picked his closest followers carefully. Albeit it almost seemed as if the main requirement to achieving a trusted position in this place was to be willing to plant a pair of lips straight on his royal highness' purple behind.. How fierce of a warrior you were, how many Maximals you had slain, and how loyal you were to the Predacon cause meant absolutely nothing if you had the guts to stand up for your own dignity.

There were times the attitude put forth by Megatron and his cohorts got to be aggravating, but she did her best to conceal any negativity towards them. It wasn't fear, exactly, despite having seen what this Megatron was capable of, but it did seem evident that she would need some backup against the growing number of Maximals. Actually were they even able to keep the recruitment up to par with the number of soldiers they had lost? Nemesis wasn't sure. The winged female was still not used to answering to someone, having spent most of her adult life on her own as a rogue Decepticon and only occasionally joining forces with others when it benefited her to do so. And sadly there was that benefit currently as it had become clear that they were stuck on a planet long known in transformer myths and legends as the planet that turned the tide of their ongoing war. Oddly enough the humans siding with the Autobots had given them an advantage, forcing about a change that not everyone had been equally eager to accept.

This all happened before her time, but she had still heard the legends. The Decepticon prisoners she spent her youth with told stories about it, some justifying the scientific procedures being done to them by telling themselves that their very survival depended on the success of said experiments due to the power exerted by the Maximals and the Autobots before them. Nemesis had listened, even attempted to believe the lies they told themselves.. the lies she told herself. But even as an impressionable youth she craved freedom, finally using the upgrades done to her as an advantage that allowed her to escape the torment. And so she had left her life as she knew it behind, fleeing her past and dodging any attempt to bring her back. In her wake she left a trail of violence and death, bringing her to the attention of the ruling party on Cybertron who then did everything in their power to bring her to justice. They failed, but as a result Nemesis had barely even seen her home planet of Cybertron.

Second rate citizens..

Nemesis had spent her life feeling as less than that, more of a fugitive on the run while being hunted down constantly. In that sense there was some comfort in being a part of the Predacons here. Now she got to be the hunter instead. And she certainly wasn't about to hold back, or be held back as the case might be.

"Well.. Better tell the rest of the crew to try to keep up. If they can," she said, a bit teasingly, as she made her way over to the exit.

"That face and those eyes leave me no choice but to graciously accept your company,"

Aurora's face brightened into a smile as she dug her claws into Primal's leg as much as she could without hurting him. The monkey had always been quick in the skies, but ever since he got his upgrade he seemed even faster than before. The fuzor flattened her wings against her fur, preparing herself for quite the windy ride. Through the corner of her optic she caught sight of Whitegrazer joining them, the white mare smiling as she looked at them. It was comforting to know she was coming with them, her unique insight into things always a welcome change of pace. Well, perhaps not quite 'always', since Aurora had butted heads with the very much so overly protective Whitegrazer at times, but there was still a certain reassurance in having her close by. Perhaps this was due to the fact that Aurora had always been separated from those she cared the most about when they had ultimately met their end, not giving her a chance to intervene or even say goodbye.

Never again.

The hover board started gaining a little more height, Optimus signalling that they were ready to depart. "You know I have a bad habit of picking up hitchhikers," he said, causing Aurora to stick her tongue out at him ever so briefly.

"At least it's not as bad as picking up fleas," Aurora replied, making an obvious joke about Primal's beast mode.

Meanwhile Nexus had started searching the perimeter for pieces of his beloved ship that had gotten torn off during the impact and now lay scattered all around her broken frame. As he made his third trip back inside, his arms full of parts, he noticed an alert coming from one of the few functioning consoles.

An energy signature had been detected nearby. Noting it to be Maximal in nature, Nexus lowered the heavy pieces to the floor and allowed himself to relax for a moment.

That was certainly fast! Perhaps he had landed closer to their base than he had anticipated, or maybe this particular Maximal had been out on patrol.. The signal appeared to be quite close so he supposed he was fortunate that he had not landed on his comrade. With the flick of a button he turned the annoying chime off before heading outside to greet the newcomer. His home, the Akira, may have seen better days, but that would by no means make him a less gracious host to a fellow Maximal.

[Wintersong]

"I'm sure we'll beat those Preds Rattrap, especially with a little rodent with a hot rod vehicle mode. Your small stature and those speeds you might be the first one there before us," Wintersong said with a chuckle, quite eager to get going soon as they could. After the last mission involving trying to convince Buster to their side she definitely wanted to make up for not being of much help during that mission, knowing she could have done something more than just stood by and watched, maybe even have given better cover fire for the team. It was just an experience she'd have to learn from and not make that same mistake twice, just as she had with other things in the past.

Luckily though, they weren't waiting long when Saber-Fang joined them. Although, she seemed in a rather sour mood which made the transmetal tigress wonder what was up with the saber toothed cat which could be a number of things considering recent events. "Fun or not, let's hope we have some success this time." She muttered softly to herself before she lowered onto her tires followed by her rocket boosters coming from her sides which burst to life, "Off we go then!"She said as she took off after Landslide, heading in the direction of the pod they were going to rescue.

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

One by one the others began to arrive and Spineback watched in silence as they did, observing each of her new teammates as they arrived and was still becoming familiar with just about all of them. It seemed the one she knew best so far was Megatron himself from their talk back in the swamp she was activated in and on their way back to base, and honestly she didn't quite mind the way he ran things. Considering some of the things she heard that had gone on she really couldn't blame the tyrant for being the way he was and not being so trusting. Of course, when you were a Predacon trust wasn't exactly always the top thing in your list. So, for now Spineback was keeping to herself and observing her teammates, most of all how they acted. And well...most of them she came to conclude were definitely insane, psychotic, and downright crazy, crazier than she had ever seen among teammates so far. But they weren't completely different form the Decepticons she once fought beside.

For now though Spineback looked towards Megatron, patiently waiting to see what they would do in the case of the pods and the ship that had crash landed just recently. It certainly intrigued her about the ship most of all she had to admit, but the dino femme was going to take whatever mission the transmetal t-rex gave her without complaint which she had done so far.

[starshadow]

Xychona glided down from the sky and landed on a branch of an emergent tree, having a tree top view of the rainforest. As a lightning travelled through the skies, she knew it was not safe to be around at such a great height, so she glided down to the understorey layer of the forest. Since she was trapped in the pod for such a long time, she felt her stomach grumble in hunger. I can't keep up flying like this without some energy... I must find something to eat.. she thought as she skillfully avoided the vines and spotted a smaller bat which appeared to be feeding on a produce of a plant. Xychona flapped her wings harder and caught the bat with her jaws and killed it with just a crunch, after that, she chewed its dead broken body and swallowed it.

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Cecaelia had a moment of shock when she felt the ship moved by its own. She rushed to the driver's seat only to find her ship was repaired and an incomplete craft. "Wha...huh? How did it..?"

Are you ready to leave Cecaelia?

That voice..that monotonal voice..."Who's there?!"

Attention all predacons, report to the bridge immediately, we have two stasis pods and a fallen maximal vessel to contend with today, I expect all of you to be on hand and at the ready for this mission, we MUST prevent the maximals from increasing their numbers, or receiving any kind of support from Cybertron. Also, this is a golden opportunity for those of you who performed poorly during the last mission to redeem yourselves...I suggest you make the best of this chance, some of you may not get another. That is all"

Really?! At this point of time?! Cecaelia sighed and rubbed her face with two of her tentacles. Leaving the planet all of a sudden could raise Starshadow's suspicions and of course, that cat would not let her off so easily. Especially when Hell Fangs are also specialized in hunting down traitors. Never mind about that. "Umm...not yet? I have some things to do?" she said and left the Leviathan for the Darksyde, even if the voice she heard just now did not existed. Maybe she was hearing things.

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Attention all predacons, report to the bridge immediately, we have two stasis pods and a fallen maximal vessel to contend with today, I expect all of you to be on hand and at the ready for this mission, we MUST prevent the maximals from increasing their numbers, or receiving any kind of support from Cybertron. Also, this is a golden opportunity for those of you who performed poorly during the last mission to redeem yourselves...I suggest you make the best of this chance, some of you may not get another. That is all"

Another mission? She may not need to ask someone for her personal training for today.

Excuse me ma'am.

"Oh uhh...sorry," she moved out of his way and make her way to the bridge as ordered.

[Warwulf]

((OOC: I'll have Tantrum in this episode, so if you want him to do something, just include him in a post and I'll go from there. ))

Silverbolt walked along the trench left by the crashing ship, the pieces of debris getting larger as he approached the main wreckage. He stopped for a moment to pick up a twisted piece of metal. The Maximal insignia and lettering were visible on the scuffed surface. So, it was a friend that crashed nearby! Silverbolt dropped the piece of debris and picked up the pace to get to the crash site sooner. A comrade in arms may need his aid! As soon as his internal repairs indicated the damaged servos were repaired, he cautiously took flight. Without having the opportunity to run proper diagnostics, Silverbolt decided to keep to a few feet off the ground as he approached the fallen Maximal ship. As he came near, a figure emerged from the hatch. Silverbolt flared and landed a few feet away.

"Well met, friend!" Silverbolt greeted. "I trust you are not too badly injured. May I offer you some assistance?"

[NaitoKage]

(Insert some Hal 9000 creepiness..

Also Newmoon, if you want to join in then just do so. I'm sure OOP will gladly assign Feralnight and Frilla to something. You can have Feralnight or Frilla join either of the pod teams, and if Frilla needs a ride you can get one from Landslide or Cheetor. )

Wha...huh? How did it..?" "Who's there?!"

"Umm...not yet? I have some things to do?"

As Cecaelia attempted to leave, she found the entrance she came in was sealed by what looked like a rock wall. The voice spoke up once again I'm afraid that isn't possible Cecaelia.. You have already removed the Leviathan from the darksyde and further interaction with Starshadow and Megatron may lead to your demise.

In the background noise could be heard, the Leviathan moving by itself as it made it's way towards the uncompleted ship, slowly floating down next to it, then linking together into one larger ship, multiple joints shifting to lock and wrap around the Leviathan's haul. A gantry crane then came down from above, lowering the old turret onto the Leviathan's haul as that attached once more.


A small familiar looking squid drone floats down towards Cecaelia, then sends out a holographic image of Glowstick before her A promise is a promise.. Cece.. it's time you go home.. You no longer need to waste your time on this pointless war..


____________________________

Umbra nodded, watching as she walked ahead of him, then stood in a corner of the bridge, observing the monitors as the others gathered around for Megatron to give them a mission briefing, he noticed as Nemesis already had made her way out. It was probably for the best she went on ahead before the others had the chance, to prevent a repeat of events that happened before. Friendly fire seemed to be something he would have to keep an optic out for in any team situation, almost made it seem better off if he was working alone in that sense.. though no bot is an island.. unless they transform into one.

[una]

((OOC: I love that little line you did in Optimus' post. XD Yup! They both wear lots of masks. ))

"You know I have a bad habit of picking up hitchhikers."

Whitegrazer looked at Aurora, keeping her warm smile, "Especially the cute and cuddly ones."

"At least it's not as bad as picking up fleas," Aurora replied, making an obvious joke about Primal's beast mode.

Her optics widened in amusement over Aurora's statement. She turned her head to keep her giggling from being too apparent because her statement bought back a memory where she picked off some fleas from Optimus a few times in his former form when he wasn't looking. She wondered if he did or didn't know. Of course, there was one time she accidentally shook fleas on him. But he walked away before she could get them off.

"Silverbolt may already be in the vicinity so we best make haste," Optimus told his group, looking at them before he ascended higher toward the sky and blasted off making sure Aurora was holding on alright.

Controlling herself, she cleared her throat and reverted to her beast form. She watched as Optimus along with Aurora flew up towards the sky before she followed them towards their destination. She wondered what they would find when they get there. She had sense some familiarly to it, but that was radiating off from Optimus. What was the Akira? Sounded like a ship of some sort, but what was in it? If Optimus had knowledge of it and she wasn't getting anything negative from him, so must be a good thing. Good. She prayed they got there before any Predacons did. Hopefully, they could avoid a battle. Avoid any more causalities. Though, there would always be a threat of that when they continued this war. She wasn't able to find Steelclaw anywhere. It's like he disappeared from the grids. She hoped he was all right, but yet, she was abit relieved that he was. If he ever came to battle, vengeance would be upon him from her comrades. She still hadn't told Optimus what was said between Orcariner, Aurora, and herself. She hoped that maybe their anger would dissipate and listened to her words towards such an act of slaughter. She was giving them a chance. The choice to do the right thing. And she still reminded herself about Ironclaw. She still hadn't told him, but would he listen to her? And TyCross? What she had heard him say about that precarious situation she had with him. To leave it? She didn't enjoy some of TyCross's little experimental side.

Too much on her head. She cleaned it all up. She needed to focus on what she was doing now.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Well well, when it rains, it pours, Yessss...Attention all predacons, report to the bridge immediately, we have two stasis pods and a fallen maximal vessel to contend with today, I expect all of you to be on hand and at the ready for this mission, we MUST prevent the maximals from increasing their numbers, or receiving any kind of support from Cybertron. Also, this is a golden opportunity for those of you who performed poorly during the last mission to redeem yourselves...I suggest you make the best of this chance, some of you may not get another. That is all"

Blackarachnia dropped what she was doing to enter the bridge. She wasn't in the mood. No. As she reached the bridge, using one of the floating platforms, she kept her distance from the two other spiders. Tarantulas and his pet, Arachnitron. Hatred in both of them. Even more towards Arachnitron's interference. Blackarachnia saw Arachnitron as an enemy. But the hatred within her was just reserved for Tarantulas. Now, Arachnitron shared that hatred now. How dare she interfere with her plan to break free from Tarantulas' control. It was personal, deeply personal now.

Megatron still seemed angry over their last mission. But no cares? She didn't. Also, he couldn't touch her anyway. Nor could anyone else. That's the only thing she had now. When the time came, she could have anything she need to escape this place and laid vengeance upon those who dared to underestimate or attacked her.

Though, she could use some assistance from the fuzor, Quickstrike. He always seem eager to please with all the females here. She may put that to good use. That made her smile a bit.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"At least it's not as bad as picking up fleas,"

"What's the difference?" Optimus rhetorically asked Aurora with a toothy grin, jokingly comparing her to a flea with her tongue sticking out at him. As dark as this war had been for him and many of them, there were rare times when the Commander could or would tease and throw out lighthearted insults. Rattrap was far better at it, whether it made others laugh or want to bite his head off. And Aurora seemed to be following the rat as if she was his shadow, only she knew her boundaries. Rattrap didn't seem to have those. He could feel the little ermine Fuzor grip tighter around his leg, so he playfully did a barrel roll and then quickly leveled out. Primal had to remember that there could be Predacons in the area, so he kept the "monkeying around" to a minimum.

"Especially the cute and cuddly ones."

"Especially those," he had agreed with Whitegrazer before flying off.

It wouldn't have been a long journey, and below the white equine would have easy travel over the terrain to keep up with three in the sky. So, the Akira was here. How? Why? Optimus could barely contain his excitement to see the bot again who had been such a huge influence during his adolescent life, whom he had done some excessive training under and looked up to as a father figure, much like Cheetor and Aurora did with Primal, and a mentor like Orcariner did. He couldn't fathom how Nexus would have found them, whether it was deliberately or by accident. Might his ship still be able to function and travel in space? Or had it been shredded upon its landing?

He got his answer as they approached the crash site from above. The Akira looked to be in pretty bad shape. It made his spark sink a little in realization that they were likely still stranded on Earth. Then the blue and silver gorilla noticed Silverbolt with the vessel's Admiral. Primus, it was really him. There were no Predacons in sight yet and he was relieved that the wolf Fuzor had found him first; not that he wouldn't have been able to handle himself but without knowing who he was up against, the Predacons could gave easily overthrown him. Optimus began his descent with Aurora, finding it difficult to take his bright pink optics off of the wreckage and Nexus. Before landing, he allowed the white ermine/butterfly to loosen her grip around his leg and hop off of his board, and then transformed to robot mode, his feet touching the ground as softly as he could considering his weight. He hesitated a moment to compose himself before he approached Nexus and nodded to Silverbolt who looked a little beat up. Were there Predacon scouts in the area after all? Or was it a close call with the Akira?

"Admiral," Optimus greeted him with a salute, minding his rank. He had forgotten how much his appearance had changed - twice now since he left with the Axalon from Cybertron - and that he might not look familiar to Nexus. He may very well recognize his voice, however. "Are you both all right?" he inquired before any introductions as he awaited Whitegrazer's and Orcariner's arrival. It was really him. He looked the same as when he had last seen him. Despite all the questions stirring in his head, Primal remained calm and respectful.

-----

"Yeah, I'll be right there."

"She's gettin' lazier than me," Rattrap commented at Saber's tardiness to Landslide and Wintersong. "And trust me, dat's pretty lazy," he smirked somewhat proud of himself.

Well, I'll have to ask ya the next time I lose my socket wrench.

"If you lose any tools, chances are I took 'em. I'm a bit of a hoarder. It's just the way it is living with a rat," he shrugged, though he wasn't being serious at all. "Although, felines are known ta do it also," Rattrap said, looking at Wintersong and jokingly accusing her of stealing things.

"Well, that sounds like fun."

"Ain't it always?" the TransMetal rat smiled widely, returning the sarcasm before suddenly throwing the smile away at Saber-Fang as she joined them. "You better tweak dat 'tude, Saber, before we find dat pod."

"I'm sure we'll beat those Preds Rattrap, especially with a little rodent with a hot rod vehicle mode. Your small stature and those speeds you might be the first one there before us,"

"Of course I'll be dere first!" He deliberately wanted to sound serious to override her obvious observation even though it sounded like a compliment, but he was only teasing.

"Fun or not, let's hope we have some success this time."

Yeah, let's hope so, the dragster rodent thought, trying to be as optimistic as the TransMetal tigress.

Aye lass, but at least it's better then bein' indoors all day starring at monitors. Looks like we're all here, I'll try to keep up with yer group in the air.

"Off we go then!"

Peeling out after them, Rattrap kicked up a wall of dust and dirt that was slowly carried away on the light breeze in the air and took off in the direction of the pod they were meant to recover. He whizzed past Wintersong on his wheels and glanced up at Landslide in the air before boosting himself to a faster speed. Time was of the essence and it was always against them. Not this time!

-----

"Understood. I will have them meet me on the bridge and we will head out right away. Dinobot out."

At least Dinobot sounded like he was in better spirits today. Of course, he was just as good at hiding what bothered him as Whitegrazer and Optimus were. Unless he got angry, then he had a harder time controlling himself. It wasn't long when the warrior appeared on the bridge, seemingly waiting for his team to group around him. He seemed quiet, though. "How are you holding up, Dinobot?" the science engineer asked him, concerned for his mentality ever since Aerostriker's passing. He doubted the raptor would be truthful but it couldn't hurt to show that someone was thinking about him.

The golden rocket is ready for action!

Rhinox had turned and smiled at Cheetor's enthusiasm and young spirit when he practically jumped into the command center, ready to head out and help a fallen comrade in need.

[New Moon]

((I can see of having Frilla joining Dinobot's group if you guys are fine with that but up to Blackrose really, and will likely just keep Feralnight at the base and give Rhinox a helping hand. Just will need to think of how to reintroduce her.))

Much of Frilla's attention lately had been focused on her research these days, helping mostly to try and find out what she could about the Vok from the Maximals had learned but even when she went over her past collections of data she never really found anything new to go on and had since given up. And well they hadn't found much else on the aliens in a long while so her attentions had been turned to learning more about Earth and helping her teammates stay in top shape, her free time also being spent on training in her new medical skills she was slowly obtaining. But she still had a long way to go before she'd ever be on par with the likes of her former and now deceased teammate Glowstick or even Rhinox. Nevertheless, she was learning what she could from the rhinoceros whenever there wasn't much else going on or when they weren't being attacked by the Predacons.

Today though, she had merely cataloging her notes, making sure they were organized so she could go through them easier later and add to them if she ever came across anything in the field. But with all the commotion going on outside the frilled lizard eventually took a break before switching off her personal computer, having gotten half way done but still had a while to go. "Wonder what's going on." She wondered curiously, hopping up from her seat and heading to the door that slid aside before making her way to the bridge where she came across the gathering party fixing to set out to retrieve one of the pods. And to be honest she could use some fresh air so maybe Dinobot wouldn't mind her tagging along? "Hey Dinobot, mind if this little lizard tags along?" She inquired, letting him decide since the raptor seemed to be in charge of this mission.

[Night-Hunter]

"Ain't it always?"

Saber ignored the urge to roll her eyes at the toothy grin that Rattrap gave her.

"You better tweak that 'tude, Saber, before we find dat pod."

I'll be sure to do that. Saber thought.

Out loud she said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her tone. "Of course, Commander."

She missed what Wintersong said as she had gone into beast mode.

"Of course, I'll be dere first!"

Saber gave annoyed growl when she was peppered by small rocks as Rattrap took off. Shaking her head, she raced after them, within a few moments she was keeping pace with Wintersong.

We have to get to that pod, but more importantly I have to make sure that the beast doesn't surface and obliterate the poor soul inside.

[Mystrea]

Ironclaw had been through a rough battle. The CR chamber was taking its time with the severity of the repairs. As they came to completion, the chamber gave out a hiss as the door slowly began to open. However the badgers inpatients got the better of him so he stepped out, forcing the doors open with his hands. The door shuddered from being opened too quickly. Ironclaw stepped out into the cargo bay. He could hear the comotion, numerous parties were leaving. He saw a few familiar faces pass him as they prepared to leave.
Suddenly a call came in from Dinobot over the comlink. The soldiers eyes narrowed a little, feeling a bit dubious becuase of his caller. He made his way to the bridge as he thought about Dinobot and that he will probably be leading on a mission. He was Predacon, which made him think not trust him however he was a warrior. He wants nothing than to defeat his enemy on the battlefield. Ironclaw could work with that. His heavy foots thundered down the hallway as he reached the bridge. He saw some others who we're embarking on this mission, some more excited than others. The badger kept quiet and looked to Dinobot.

[Phoenix]

"Well met, friend!" Silverbolt greeted. "I trust you are not too badly injured. May I offer you some assistance?"

Nexus halted as he took note of the odd looking creature that was almost casually flying towards him, taking in the peculiar appearance of his fellow Maximal. Or at least he assumed the winged canine was Maximal, given his speech pattern and choice of greeting. No Predacon he had ever met would approach someone in such a fashion, even if they were attempting deceit. And so Nexus smiled, a warm and welcoming gesture for this thus far unknown comrade.

"Greetings, good fellow!" he responded as way of formal introduction without having mentioned his name yet, "You'll have to excuse if I seem a little disoriented, but this.." He cast a glance back at the remnants of his ship. ".. was not exactly how I planned on this first meeting to occur. It is most fortunate I didn't run you over during my arrival," he continued, shifting his weight over on the leg that looked less damaged.

"My name is Nexus," he added, almost as an afterthought, deliberately leaving out the Prime portion of his name. It seemed unnecessary to burden someone with such a trivial fact, and almost a little bit embarrassing after having just had a witness to his less than graceful landing.

Moments later another flyer, this one all blue and shiny to the point it almost made Nexus a little self-conscious considering his own dirt covered and dinged frame, rapidly approached on what looked like a board. Nexus did not recognize him, albeit he did have something of a commanding presence. Not quite to the extent that Nexus himself did, but even as he paused for a brief moment to allow a much smaller furry creature to get off the board before transforming and giving a salute.

Nexus merely looked at him, trying to find some physical resemblance yet he drew a blank. That is until he took note of the voice.

"Admiral,"

So he recognized him. Well, whereas the appearance of the bot standing in front of him was completely unknown, the voice was definitely familiar.

"Are you both all right?"

And friendly, showing great concern like he always had.

Nexus' smile widened, the recognition apparent in his optics.

"We are quite all right, Optimus," he assured him, opening his arms while closing the distance to his old friend in a few, quick steps, "It is good to see you, son! You are looking well, if a little.. different."

Ignoring all unofficial rank ordinances, Nexus proceeded with pulling his friend close for a friendly hug, never having been one to let formalities get in the way.

Aurora peered out from her spot next to Optimus, looking a little confused by all of this.

"Uhm.. who's the old guy?," she mumbled, quickly covering her mouth as she realized she'd said it loud enough for Nexus to hear.

The admiral glanced down at the much smaller female, who quickly took a couple steps away, before Nexus broke out into a rumbling, genuine laughter.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Yo, sorry for the wall of text, figured I'd post for all my characters this turn and get the predacons moving. I took NaitoKage's suggestions for the team lineups since they honestly make the most sense, & because I'm still getting back in the swing of things so I didn't feel like trying to mess with something that wasn't broken lol. Oh, Naito, if you'd like Umbra to be in charge of the rainforest mission instead of Tarantulas, let me know and I can alter my post.

Blackrose wrote: Inferno turned down a few hallways before arriving at the Bridge in the Royalty's presence. He threw Megatron another salute and announced proudly, "Sub-commander Inferno reporting for duty!" He lowered his salute, but remained at attention awaiting his next orders.

Megatron watched on as his minions crawled out of the wood work one by one, from the loyal to the treacherous, from the cannon fodder to the power players, Megatron called, and his forces answered, as it always should be.

"At ease, Sub-Commander. Now that you are all here, we shall divide our forces into units. Inferno, Tantrum, Quickstrike, and yes, even you Buster, shall accompany me to the fallen maximal vessel, I trust all of you shall endeavor not to disappoint me" Megatron explained, casting a long venomous glare in Buster's direction.

"Meanwhile, Nemesis, you will lead Terrorsaur, Starshadow, Manterror, and Blackarachnia to the pod that landed in maximal territory, get in and get out with the new predacon, then catch up with my team at the ship site so we can overwhelm the maximals with superior numbers, plain and simple. Tarantulas shall lead the third and final team to uncover the second stasis pod which fell in the rainforest region, take Spineback, Umbra, Arachnitron, and Caecelia with....WHERE IS THAT AIRHEAD INVERTEBRATE?!" Megatron bellowed upon realizing the octopus femme was nowhere to be seen, had she actually defied him?

He knew her to be stupid, but not treacherous or suicidal, and Primus knew Megatron had had his fill of treachery in the days following the transwarp wave, and was still furious over many of his underling's performances as of late...No matter, there no time to waste on the likes of her, he would deal with her later once he'd dealt with the mission that lied ahead. He turned now to Umbra, the one other octopus in his crew and the only one he'd seen to actually get along with the eight armed femme, despite the obvious differences in processing power between them.

"Umbra, if you know where that fool is hiding make sure she knows the price for ignoring my summons is a steep one, especially at a time like this! As for the rest of you...Happy hunting" Megatron said with an ominous smirk as he changed to beast mode, activated his harrier jet engines, and took off through the roof as it opened up to accommodate him and the other flyers.

Terrorsaur couldn't help but sulk a little over not being in charge of this latest aerial operation, BUT, at least if things went wrong it would be Nemesis' fault and not his own...Besides, more pressing at the moment was the issue of how Blackarachnia, the only ground bound predacon on their team would reach the pod with them, and when the answer became obvious to him...

"Not it! Hehehehe!" Terrorsaur laughed as he changed to beast mode and took off into the sky like a rocket, leaving Manterror and Starshadow behind to decide amongst the two of them who'd be Blackarachnia's personal airlift, and since Nemesis was team leader & bigger than the rest of them, he doubted it would be her either.


"Well, you heard him, Arachnitron, Umbra, Spineback, lets get this show on the road, the sooner we run this little errand for our glorious leader the better" Tarantulas said as he used his hover platform to reach the hallway before changing into beast mode and rolling out of the base as fast as his wheel could carry him.

"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can return to sprucing up my new lair, bwahahahaha!" Tarantulas gloated to himself once he was out of ear shot, pleased by how he'd pulled the cobwebs over the optics of both maximal and predacon alike when he arranged for the energon mine to seemingly be destroyed, when all he did was detonate the entrance, now he had a new home away from the base where he could conduct his work away from Megatron's grasp.

[NaitoKage]

( Darkspark: Nope, that's fine. Umbra doesn't have a "proper" rank in the Predacons for a reason, he's a mercenary, so he should only take command if your desperate for someone to lead. Just because he happens to be good at such things is more to do with his background. Otherwise, I intentionally set him this way to try to get other predacons to take more assertive actions for leading and such.. So far only Phoenix and yourself tend to do that, Blackrose will probably more so from using Dinobot and Inferno.

As far as combat arrangement, I have an idea on how to set that up as well, but I think I'll just leave that to you. Can't make it all easy. However I will say, don't send Buster to the front row. He'll shine his best in the backrow sniping and providing heavy firepower, alot like how Steelclaw would operate. Probably even redeem himself if anything. )

"At ease, Sub-Commander. Now that you are all here, we shall divide our forces into units. Inferno, Tantrum, Quickstrike, and yes, even you Buster, shall accompany me to the fallen maximal vessel, I trust all of you shall endeavor not to disappoint me"

"Meanwhile, Nemesis, you will lead Terrorsaur, Starshadow, Manterror, and Blackarachnia to the pod that landed in maximal territory, get in and get out with the new predacon, then catch up with my team at the ship site so we can overwhelm the maximals with superior numbers, plain and simple. Tarantulas shall lead the third and final team to uncover the second stasis pod which fell in the rainforest region, take Spineback, Umbra, Arachnitron, and Caecelia with....WHERE IS THAT AIRHEAD INVERTEBRATE?!"


"Umbra, if you know where that fool is hiding make sure she knows the price for ignoring my summons is a steep one, especially at a time like this! As for the rest of you...Happy hunting"

Umbra glanced upward at Megatron as he transformed and took to the air As you command my liege. he then turned looking towards the others. He had a general idea of Cecaelia's location, which with luck happened to be not too far from the pod they were heading towards. Though he would say nothing to his teammates about this, having his own reasons..
His memory flashing back to the night before, noticing a strange blue glow around different points of the old Predacon transport.

"Not it! Hehehehe!"

Umbra rolled his optics as he watched Terrorsaur speed off, then looked towards Tarantulas.

"Well, you heard him, Arachnitron, Umbra, Spineback, lets get this show on the road, the sooner we run this little errand for our glorious leader the better"

and then watched Tarantulas speed off, Umbra shook his head disapprovingly Transmetals.. He then looked towards Spineback and Arachnitron. He had some interaction with Spineback from the mission before, but Arachnitron he didn't think interacted with anyone other then the other spiders. He smiled warmly towards the two Well I suppose we should get going ladies, before our... "commander" leaves us completely in the dust.

Umbra walked out of the bridge, then went into a dash out of the hanger, moving through the area the Leviathan used to be parked. His tentacles folded against his back taking shape of a point, as if to attempt to reduce some of the drag on his body during his run.

Guess I'll give the new part a test.. he said to himself
Reaching towards the side of his head, he tapped it as his new sonar visor came down over his optics, he glanced ahead seeing through the dust Tarantulas had created viewing a 3d representation of the spider, he then looked around his environment, the visor giving a strange wavy line effect over the computer generated background of lava and dirt, set only in black and blue monochrome color scheme. Tapping the side of his head again, the visor slid back up.

_______________________

Quickstrike listened to Megatron's, he slammed the head of his Snake arm into the palm of his Scorpion legs excitedly Finally some tail to whoop'! he shouted excitedly leaving the monitor he was set at, then transformed to his Snake scorpion mode, following after Megatron outside. Though being surrounded by other men sounded like a total bolt fest to the fuzor, as long as he had Maximals to thrash seemed to make up for it. He was left wondering as well, where Cecaelia had run off to, though he didn't interaction much with her as she seemed more interested in hanging around that creepy "Nin-whats its" bot Umbra. He didn't care much for that Octopus bot, he seemed down right weird at times, though his funny talk wasn't as bad as Inferno's who seemed to think Megatron was a chick or somethin'.

[una]

"We are quite all right, Optimus," he assured him, opening his arms while closing the distance to his old friend in a few, quick steps, "It is good to see you, son! You are looking well, if a little.. different."

Whitegrazer was getting into range, noticing the friendly hug between Optimus and the new arrival. So they did know each other? Interesting and welcoming at the same time. Silverbolt was there as well and he seemed to be okay. Though, he looked like a narrowly escaped a close call of some sort.

The person was laughing when she galloped to halt and transformed. "Hello, I'm Whitegrazer," She greeted the person with a warm smile, holding her hand out for a shake, "You two know each other?" She inquired as she exchanged a gaze towards the two. She would love to know.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Meanwhile, Nemesis, you will lead Terrorsaur, Starshadow, Manterror, and Blackarachnia to the pod that landed in maximal territory, get in and get out with the new predacon, then catch up with my team at the ship site so we can overwhelm the maximals with superior numbers, plain and simple."

Blackarachnia gave a glance at Tarantulas and Arachnitron. She didn't know if it was better for her to be separated from them or worse, but she was lending towards staying away. After all, something bad may happen if all of three of them crossed paths again. Maybe there would be only one spider standing? She actually reveled in that since it would increase her survival and pay them back. Of course, Megatron wouldn't like that yet he couldn't do anything to her anyway. Maybe that's why he separated them? Megatron never did anything for coincidences.

Besides, she did get along with Nemesis and Starshadow. Terrorsaur irritated her with his voice and Manterror's crazed personality drove her off the wall. Just those two keep their distance from her and everything should be all right. She wanted to get this mission done so she could focus on more important matters like planning ahead.

Terrorsaur cackled and lifted off in a hurry, which meant Nemesis or Starshadow had to airlift her. Well, she didn't care.