(( OOC:
Purple tooth fairy. Thanks for squeezing in a post, Phoenix. ))
"Very well..,"
Megatron eyed Nemesis ever so briefly, detecting the hesitation behind her words. He was well aware of her "softer" side despite how much she tried to keep it hidden. After all of the time she had spent with the Maximals, he was certain she had gained some respect toward them and how they operated. Now this would be the time to prove him wrong, and to show him just how trustworthy, callous and merciless he wanted her to be for him and the Predacons. Aurora, the smallest, youngest and weakest of the Maximals, and Optimus, the one who gave her mercy and shelter despite her history. Megatron had already lost a few troops to those filthy Maximals, and he was not about to lose another! Especially one as valuable as Nemesis.
"I may require some backup to make the scenario believable.. When the opportunity arises, perhaps you could order some of the Predacons to hunt me down so the Maximals can witness it. Unless, of course, you have another suggestion for how I'm supposed to get close to them without arising suspicion."
The TransMetal t-rex in his flight mode thought quietly for a moment as he flew along side of her. He nodded and said,
"Agreed. It would not be far-fetched to assume that Primal knows I will be making a move for Protoform X again, so it matters not if they are warned of our approach," explained Megatron.
"You will fly ahead of us and deliver them that warning. Terrorsaur will conveniently attack you from behind before he and Inferno begin slaughtering their auto-guns and cliffs. Umbra and Quickstrike will take care of Landslide. The attack will come so quickly that Optimus won't think twice about your intentions. And if you act injured, he will send his field medic to assist you. Take her hostage, and predictably Primal or Whitegrazer will come to her aid assuming neither or one will already be preoccupied with Blackarachnia and Tarantulas."
"Terrorsaur, Inferno, fall back," he ordered them over his radio.
"Nemesis will take point."
Both of the fliers grumbled under their breath with Inferno being jealous of Nemesis's opportunity and Terrorsaur simply being a sour-puss, but they slowed down their speed anyway.
"Royalty, why was I not chosen?" the fire ant demanded to know.
"Because, Inferno, there has been a slight revision to our plans. Terrorsaur, you will pretend to attack Nemesis while she appears to arrive to warn them of our inevitable onslaught. Make it believable, after all, Primal may grow suspicious. If and when he sends Aurora to her, the both of you may begin firing upon their base and drawing the others out." If they weren't out already. Some of the plan may have to be improvised since they didn't know the whereabouts of the Maximals at that point, but that didn't worry the Predacon Commander. Either X and Starshadow were causing headaches for them already, or they weren't, it hardly mattered. Speaking of Starshadow, although Megatron didn't want to lose anymore of his minions, he didn't see the reason to keep her around any longer, especially if she was infected with something that could compromise his entire crew. Tarantulas may be the only one to try and find a solution for her, but he doubted he would cooperate since it had been apparent that the spider would rather see his downfall than help. No, it would be much easier to simply get rid of Starshadow altogether, but he didn't give the order just yet.
"How dare you question the Queen's commands!" Terrorsaur purposely teased Inferno off of their transmission with their warlord, slapping the ant hard on his shoulder and laughing.
"Blaaaaah!" Inferno screamed at Terrorsaur but was too slow to catch his hand.
"Try that again, flying fossil, and you'll find your entire arm melted to slag by the flames of my inferno!" Terrorsaur just laughed again as he kept himself out of his reach while Inferno glared at him.
-----
Aye, you'll probably be needing that more then I.
Optimus bent down to pick up the rifle and then laid it on the table nearby, nodding to Landslide. Since he had lost his gun in the energon storm, he hadn't had the time yet to replace it until now.
Extensive damage but health is nominal. Recommended course of action is to put her in the CR chamber.
Looking from the drone to Banshee, Primal sighed and helped her to the CR that hadn't been damaged by Starshadow's mutation.
"You shouldn't be in there too long," he told her as the door closed to begin her repairs.
As much as he wanted to help chase down Starshadow and X, not wanting his Maximals to be harmed - or worse - by one of his creations, he had to do some repairs to himself first, otherwise he wasn't any good to anyone. So he found crate full of medical supplies and tools and started to work on his comm. link while Glowstick's drone continued to explain what they were dealing with.
That's accurate.
He raised a brow again at the drone after he took a seat on a bench and worked diligently on his radio, reattaching wires and circuitry. At any rate, he realized that this drone probably wasn't Glowstick per-say, right? But rather his programming of some sort that he had left behind before he was murdered by Megatron. Or had his spark in fact survived and now inhabited this drone?
Affirmative. Besides Ultra violet Light, normally Netherzarian infected are weak to high voltages, however it seems the mutation that you have undergone, has caused a mutation in her particular strain..
"It was a transwarp wave that had swept across the planet due to an explosion of the second moon that was actually an alien weapon," Optimus explained to the drone in case it wanted further details of their TransMetal mutations.
UV light seems to still be effective however, as long as the sun is out and she's in this further mutated state, she wont leave the ship and will seek darkness. Flashbang grenades may help.. However advise all crew members to keep their distance from Starshadow, her fluids are a vector to spread the disease. Furthermore the infection affects her mind.. she can run on Energon, but she only craves mechfluid.. this is a result of the microbots wishing to spread the virus. The more energy she uses in attacks and mutation, the more she'll crave mech fluid.
"Rhinox and Whitegrazer, be advised," he called to them over his comm. link.
"Keep your distance from Starshadow. You could get infected by her through her fluids." And he now regretted sending Whitegrazer after her since she was already infected with some kind of virus thanks to Tarantulas.
"Copy that, Optimus," Rhinox responded, frowning a little as he kept following X's footsteps. He loaded the gun with the tranquilizers while he was en route through the corridors.
However.. that isn't the worst of it.
Optimus momentarily looked up from his work to the drone wondering what could be worse about this situation than what he had already told him, as he had moved on to his arm, reattaching the weakened parts to his shoulder and reinforcing it. His work was nothing compared to what the CR chambers could do, or Aurora and Rhinox for that matter, and he wasn't a medic, but right now this was all the time he had for, and it would do well enough until he did have the time to devote in a CR.
She carries a queen inside of her.. a parasitic transformer called Visia. This creature was released once before when Rattrap used a democharge on Starshadow..
The Maximal's brows furrowed while he watched the holographic displays and recalled Rattrap's report on that particular day.
Visia is powerful on her own.. easily equal to Megatron, but can't be exposed to sunlight at all being fully mutated. She controls those she infects like puppets, and will posses another body at any given chance.. Visia is also affecting Starshadow's mind in ways which I don't have all data on. She is likely causing Starshadow's accelerated mutation.
"Well, that's just prime," Optimus said with some sarcasm and slightly shaking his head. He rotated his arm that he was repairing and did some small exercises with it to test it and make sure it was holding on better than it was earlier. So far so good. He continued working on it and making more adjustments.
At the moment, I am running a scan on her current viral strain, however I have a improvised cure prepared. I've already used it on Umbra to stave off his mutation, he lives but it wasn't a pleasant experience from what I've recorded. It's a phosphorus dye that shines in the UV light spectrum, injected it will destroy the microbots. However.. if this is used against Visia or Starshadow, it may destroy them. If that is what you choose, you will have to administer it. These drones are not built for combat.. I can bring more, but..
He paused his repairs again upon hearing the drone's last statements. Of course Primal didn't want to kill them... Starshadow had not been a problem for his Maximals most of the time, but he knew nothing about Visia and her intentions. He was certain Megatron wouldn't hesitate to end both of their lives just to avoid any possible contamination and infiltration by the parasite. But Optimus wasn't so ruthless. He always wanted to find another way because more often than not there was always another way to handle something no matter how dire it seemed. Satisfied with his arm, he moved on to patching up the gash on his side that he had received from Megatron earlier while he waited for the drone's next observation.
The Predacons are advancing towards the Axalon.. Megatron always did have a thing for timing..
Indeed... He stopped yet again to watch the footage from the drone showing the Predacons exiting their base, and he narrowed his orange optics. There was too much interference to make out some individuals and he couldn't see all of them, but he knew who they were coming for. What was worse was that he was not fully repaired, which might compromise the outcome of this battle but it couldn't be helped.
Starshadow has escaped into this room. Shall I reroute one of my drones towards the armory to distribute flashbang grenades to your personnel?
"Yes," Optimus said without hesitation. And then added,
"Thanks for your help. And if you can bring more of that cure, that might prove beneficial... just in case." He grimaced a little as he tried working quicker to repair the open wound on the side of his abdomen.
"Rhinox, flash grenades are coming your way via a drone. You and Whitegrazer can use them against Starshadow. The parasite inside of her goes by the name Visia, and she will seek dark places for cover. We need to get her out of the Axalon until we can figure out if there's anything we can do to help Starshadow," he sent over his comm. link.
"Protoform X is going to follow her," he alerted his friend.
"Let him. As contagious and unpredictable as Starshadow is at this moment, we can't keep her here. She's too much of a risk to the rest of us, and we don't currently have a cure in our possession to protect ourselves. X may very well help defend us against the Predacons."
"Alright," the engineer confirmed as he and Whitegrazer arrived on the scene with X, Starshadow, Rattrap and the drone. Though he wondered why Optimus mentioned the Preds as though they were going to encounter them soon. There were no alerts on the scanners...
Rattrap got to his feet and stood back away from X and Starshadow. He knew he was no match for the bigger bot on his own, and he didn't want to start anything if it could be avoided. He moved over to Rhinox and Whitegrazer when they arrived.
"What de heck is that?" he said, pointing his gun to the drone.
"That's one of Glowstick's drones. Don't fire at it," he warned the rat immediately.
"They've been helping us. Starshadow is too dangerous to handle on our own."
Trusting his robust friend, Rattrap lowered his weapon and watched the interaction between X and Whitegrazer while the giant crab held tightly onto his feline girlfriend.
"X."
"Oh hello, I see you are looking like your freakish self." "You cause me a lot of pain, you know? So serene, gentle, oh so motherly, and yet, you don't give it to me."
Rhinox looked from X to Whitegrazer and sent him a glare, holding the gun ready to fire tranquilizers at him and/or the infected Predacon cat in his arms.
"Look at her, my dear. Isn't she a beauty? A monster like us? Not a monster under the bed, but a monster in the shadows hidden by a mask of metal? Yet, she resists. Refuses. Though, I do believe you once indulged, didn't you?" "I felt it when back there before I gave you an out. A spark in your hands, to mold, to bring to life? Or to bring it death? Crushing it inside your palm like a fly or a flea? So destructive of a power, and yet, you don't use it. "You hold everything, and you refuse to give it to me."
Big Green raised a gold brow and quizzically glanced at Whitegrazer.
"X. You and your friend need help. We still offer it, but you need to stop. Both of you need to."
He found it curious that she avoided further indulging X with his observations about her spark. Instead, she reaffirmed their assistance to try and help them but X seemed uninterested as he suddenly laughed and turned running off carrying Starshadow.
"Follow them!" Rhinox told the equine.
"Rattrap, man the controls on the bridge. Open the doorway closest to their route and let them out."
"You got it, big guy!" Rattrap said as they parted ways and Rhinox headed off after Whitegrazer and X.
"Attention, Maximals! This is Optimus," Primal opened his comm. link to all of them, including Blackarachnia even though he didn't specify her allegiance.
"The Predacons are on their way. We can assume Megatron is after Protoform X. Prepare for battle."
"Uh, ain't nothin' on the scanners, Boss Monkey," Rattrap reported to him after he reached the bridge and checked.
"Glowstick's drone with me suggests otherwise via video feed, Rattrap. Keep an eye out," he warned him.
"If you say so," the rodent replied and sat down at the console.
"Anythin' else wanna go wrong fer us today?" he asked out loud to himself as he considered their stretch of bad luck lately. Watching the group of signatures that contained the horse, the rhinoceros, the crab and the female cat, Rattrap pressed a button to automatically open a door near them which hopefully would lure them outside like an open window to a trapped fly.
Finishing with his wound, though the discoloration of melted and burnt armor was still quite visible, Optimus grabbed the rifle Landslide gave him keeping the safety on and stood up, heading outside from the hangar and looking around the base's surroundings. All was quiet except for Landslide and Cheetor roaming about. For a moment, he actually considered using X as bait to lure Megatron into a trap...
"Aurora and Blackarachnia, where are you two?" he asked them over his transmission simply because he hadn't seen them for quite some time that day so far, and he needed to know now what they were up to since the impending battle was upon them. And it was likely that neither of them knew anything yet about Protoform X and how dangerous he and Starshadow were.
(( OOC: I hope I didn't miss anything. This took a few hours to write, lots of characters for me to cover... ))
Guys, I will hopefully have a post for you all tonight. 
) 