"Bad Spark"

[una]

I don't suppose you could just use your powers to make Zodiac cooperate?,

"I could, but I won't. Zodiac should cooperate by his own choice, not because I forced or controlled him to."

Are you talking about the same vok who tried to kill us all through you just a few weeks ago?,

"Yes, the very same," Whitegrazer smiled. "We were aware of their drained energy resources as well as the fact that was one of the many reasons why they were at war. We thought by handing them over the protoform technology would help end the war and lessen their harm. After all the Great War had spread from Cybertron to other planets both organic like humans and other Transformer races."

Then who created the Vok? And if the Matrix helped give them.. you.. sentience, then why aren't they more like us? Wasn't the Matrix where the ancient Autobot leaders stored their wisdom and knowledge throughout time? I mean why are the vok so determined to kill us if we made them aware of themselves? And if the Vok is what was leftover of an experiment, what were their creators attempting to do?

"Because we were what we were mixed in with the collective minds and memories of other races like humans, a reptile race, which we consumed as we swarm across the galaxy, and other Transformers race. The Matrix held the wisdom and knowledge of all the Primes before Optimus, and that knowledge was transferred to us, yes, but it couldn't a body, due to collective conscientiousness that laid within us. We were born as dust. We were reborn as light." Whitegrazer shook her head at the term Aurora used "Experiment? We were never an experiment. No one was even aware of our existence until it was known. We had no creator, in a way. We were just dust from The Budding. Well, I guess you could say our creator would be the same as your races, Primus, but even Primus wasn't even aware of us. No one was. We traveled far and reached Nexus Zero where we found the One and they gave us purpose, and in that purpose, we hoped to undo our damage as well as fulfill our role in the universe."

The only reason why the Vok are trying to kill you, us, is because we interfered with their work. We don't take kindly to interference from Cybertronia races, especially when we hoped to undo not only the damage we caused but the damage the Great War caused for Earth. And the Vok don't take too kindly to failure or interlopers, especially of that nature. We are aware of their role in helping us, but we believed we had done our job, repaid our debt. We carry no loyalites, Aurora, or at least, they don't." She became loyal to the Maximal cause. The Vok didn't approve of that. Except our purpose bestowed upon us by The One and The One themselves.

I hope he didn't suffer very long..

She hoped so too.

Or even later,

When we were one per se, Zodiac knew because I believed from what I could tell he had encountered the Vok before, and when the Vok possessed me, I felt that connection as well. I saw a planet go to ashes in their vision. A failed experiment. An interloper they didn't predict.

You're right. And I really didn't mean to cause problems. It was just that my equipment picked up a most interesting signal of alien origin and I wanted to check it out before alerting everyone. I know better now..

You were just curious, Aurora, and wanted to explore it. I believe no one would have blamed you for that." Whitegrazer soothed the little one. "Just bring someone along next time." She smiled, rubbing the little one's hand.

You feel responsible for his creation.. and in a way.. responsible for him as well,

Whitegrazer nodded her head. Aurora got it right. She did feel responsible for his creation as well as his pain. If she hadn't been so foolish and careless, Zodiac, Nemesis, and any other Cybertronian involved in such experiments, who had died, went have had gone through such pain.

"Santa mockingbird oval milk!"

Oh dear, did they need to fix something else?

"I'm just kidding!"

Whitegrazer shook her head as she smiled.

"Thanks, guys, I'm fine,"

"I think we need to limit the time you spend around Rattrap," the engineer teased as he shook his head. "It's really great to have my science partner back,"

I'm glad- Whitegrazer realized she didn't have to do that anymore. "I mean- I'm glad to see that you regained your speech once more, Aurora. I did enjoy the little chats you and I had together." Whitegrazer looked at Rhinox. "You are, once again, a miracle worker, Rhinox." She smiled. "Hopefully, the others would return soon to see you, Aurora. I know Optimus and Rattrap, especially, would be relieved by the great news."

"Let's bandage up that wound until the CR can finish up the pieces that I can't replace." Grabbing some bandages he gently wrapped them around her head and under her chin just tight enough to keep them in place and protect the awful head injury but not make it uncomfortable for her. "Now, if you can," considering the trauma she had suffered that day at the hands of Zodiac and Megatron and on top of that probably worrying very much about Rattrap and Optimus on their mission, "try to get some rest."

"That is what you actually wanted to hear, wasn't it, Aurora?" Whitegrazer smiled at the little one. With her speech back and, after Rhinox gets the banadages and all that equipment off her head, was ale to move around now, Aurora no doubt would be heading back to her quarters for some regeneration.

"Not yet," the renegade then informed his large ally, "She's being kept under extreme security measures. If I try to save her right now, the end result may very well be that the Predacons kill her. But not to worry... "We'll use the Viper to wipe the Predacons off the face of this planet and then save your spunky friend."

Of course the Predacons would make it hard for his companion to be released, but Rampage didn't enjoy being kept waiting nor did he actually trust Zodiac. The only reason he trusted him now was because he had the ability to get rid of Megatron.

"We won;t leave without her." Rampage needed her. Not just because she was a fun companion to have around, but the fact that he didn't trust Zodiac to give him half of his spark back.

"That too," he had admitted to the she-spider without shame, "but dere's a lot you don't know about me, and I'd like ta keep it dat way."

"Oooooooo secrets don't stay secrets with someone like me around," Blackarachnia winked with an added dark chuckle.

"I'm actually a ton o' fun, just not at de expense of my comrades dat it could harm them,"

"Like I said, no fun."

"Welcome to the Maximals. These are de problems we face all the time. By the way, yer a good problem-solver, right?"

"If it benefits me, of course," She knew it was a rhetorical question, but she was just reminding the rat, that's all.

"Pffft," he had let out when she shoved him away. "Just makin' sure you were doin' it right."

Blackarachnia added a low hiss towards Rattrap, "I know how to work a console, rodent."

She felt a little better now Optimus was here, so she wasn't stuck with this rodent for so long. Not that she cared for the big ape anyway, but she knew how powerful and useful he was. Not many Predacons would admit it, but some feared the ape. Not as much as Megatron, but still, Optimus has proved over and over again that he wasn't some nice Maximal to push over.

"I gotta admit, I got my doubts about you, spider. Maybe you'll prove me wrong,"

"Like I'm here to prove anything to you." Blackarachnia said with a lift of her chin. He was going to confront Zodiac one way or another. That was not her problem. She was no brute. She had finesse. Why confront when you could take them by surprise? Especially some one as unpredicatble and tricky as Zodiac was. He was not to be underestimated.

She peaked and watched what was going on.

"So the pathetic fuzor is still alive..," "Now that's most surprising. Almost as much as seeing you here, vermin."

"You know, you really oughta stop assumin' dat we're weak just 'cause we don't got yer fancy, shape-shiftin' nano armor," the rodent returned to the fake Aurora as he slightly swayed his tail back and forth in irritation toward his words behind the stack of crates he was using as cover. "You've got a lotta yer own failures ever since you arrived here. It's amazin' how we keep foilin' yer plans since we're such weaklings and below you stellar intelligence."

"And you came alone.. Incredibly stupid and entirely out of character for you."

"Well, we can't all be egotistical geniuses like you,"

"However I must commend you on your ingenuity of tracking me here..

"I really don't want any compliments from de likes of you. It offends me."

I can only presume you did so by tracking the identification chip's energy signature?

"So, you either just figured out dat you accidentally led me here because of the chip, which wasn't too bright so your IQ just dropped a few points, or you tried luring any Maximals here that you could for a trap,"

Unfortunately I don't have the chip you seek with me anymore,"

Let her guess.... He destroyed it. Like she thought.

"Yeah right," he didn't believe him at first. "Where is it?"

"I apologize for taking your stash of booze," "But in all truthfulness.. It tasted like piss, so I suppose I did you a favor there by taking it off your hands."

Blackarachnia snickered to herself.

"You musta taken the drinks with dat new virus I was workin' on against yer tech." He started to snicker mischievously while keeping his voice down so the Preds outside the room wouldn't hear him. "You think yer so smart. Did you drink all of it? You did, didn't you?" His expression on his beast mode's face was one of bewilderment as he continued his believable act of deception. "Didn't you wonder why it tasted so bad?" He tried keeping his laughter quiet as he shook his head. "See, the virus works from de inside out. You'll probably start feelin' some side effects within de next hour. Slow and steady fer what you did ta Aurora." He abruptly cut off his laughter as his emotions grew angry with his last statement. Surely what he said had to make Zodiac second-guess himself and what he drank. "Did I bother ta make an antidote?"

Clever rodent, but would Zodiac take the bait? Blackarachnia positioned herself. She needed to jump precisely on his shoulders and bite him quickly without making too much noise or have Zodiac decide to let the Predacons know they were all here. Since Zodiac was disgusied as the little ermine, she should have it easy to knock hm down and injected some venom into him.

"You should feel honored," "I used this very same sword to impale Megatron not long ago."

"Honored? Uh, no. 'Honored' ain't the word I would use ta describe it. I believe de word yer searchin' for is 'disgusted'. Nobody wants Megatron's fluids inside of 'em. Couldn't you at least wipe it off before you stab helpless, little me?" he asked with his front paws held up higher now as if he was surrendering while balancing himself on his hind legs. Wiggling his front toes subtly was a signal for Blackarachnia to engage with her cyber venom or webbing, anything to distract the fake Aurora without compromising their existence within the Predacon base of operations. "Of course, you realize dat if I scream or maximize, the Preds outside'll detect my signature and come barging in findin' you in here as well," he tried negotiating. "How ever will you escape?"

Blackarachnia jumped onto Zodiac's back and quickly dug her teeth inside the little ermine's neck.

[Phoenix]

Zodiac peered through the white furry locks on his fuzor form's head as he made his way around the crates, trying to maintain Rattrap in his line of sight. The rodent, however, wasn't moving, merely stood there waiting.. and talking. Which was fortunate since it allowed the pretender to keep track of his whereabouts while the crates shielded him from view in case the vermin decided to move after all.

"We won;t leave without her."

Those last words Rampage had told him briefly flashed through his mind. Indeed, he would have to tread carefully with this one.

"You know, you really oughta stop assumin' dat we're weak just 'cause we don't got yer fancy, shape-shiftin' nano armor,"

The shapeshifter smiled slightly in his fuzor disguise upon hearing the rodent try to argue with his observation. There wasn't any doubt that the Maximals were weaker. Their vulnerability was built into their attachment to each other, their commitment to one-another frequently leading to one being willing to take great risk for the betterment of the team. That much was especially true where Primal was concerned and look where it had gotten him? Granted the shapeshifter would have preferred to have witnessed such an event up close and in person, but the pain and suffering he knew Whitegrazer had to endure when it happened and thus also affecting him as well, would have to serve as a testimony for the events that took place.

A small part of him was starting to question what had happened, however. Megatron hadn't mentioned Primal's demise with as much as a mutter, and now Rattrap was here acting as if nothing had happened. But the pain that had bled through Whitegrazer's connection had been so intense, so powerful, it could only have originated from someone the vok/mare was connected to.. Perhaps the rodent didn't know yet? Maybe even Megatron had been unaware?

Whitegrazer had secluded herself from the shapeshifter for weeks now, ever since the encounter with the Vok when Zodiac had slithered away as soon as he detected a chance to do so. The renegade would under normal circumstances have called the vok/mare's decision to do so a blessed mercy, but upon doing so she had also denied him any information about what was going on with her and those around her. And for that reason Zodiac was still unaware of the connections the mare had formed with others, so he wasn't aware of anyone else the pain could have originated from.

"Don't blame me for your shortcomings," he told the rodent smugly, although he truthfully hadn't considered his own abilities when he made the presumption the fuzor had died. She was, after all, severely injured and near death the last time he saw her. So he didn't know how she survived, but really.. that didn't matter now. Likely one of the Maximals had found her in the wilderness and had managed to save her. Why they would waste their resources like that, he didn't know. Nor did he particularly care. After all, the fact they had saved the fuzor only helped prove his point about Maximal weakness.

"You've got a lotta yer own failures ever since you arrived here. It's amazin' how we keep foilin' yer plans since we're such weaklings and below you stellar intelligence."

First the rodent attempted to insult his abilities and now his intellect? Was the rodent really that desperate that he thought mere words could send the shapeshifter into a spiral of self-doubt? That was more what Optimus would do, not him.

"Tell that to your dead comrades," the pretender fuzor responded, his words cutting as sharply as daggers. Perhaps especially since he was using Aurora's youthful voice.

Had his plans worked out after his arrival here? Not precisely.. But none of that would matter soon since he was about to rewrite history.

"Well, we can't all be egotistical geniuses like you,"

Again with the low end insults.. Zodiac was starting to think Rattrap had run out of ideas since he had usually found him to be a bit more clever with his comebacks than this. Not much, but there was definitely a subtle change in the rodent's demeanor. It's as if he wasn't really concentrating on them, like he was stalling in a way.

But why?

"You honestly think you can break me with a few pathetic insults?," Zodiac wondered out loud.

"I really don't want any compliments from de likes of you. It offends me."

"I aim to please," Zodiac replied with a light shrug of the shoulders. Did he really care? No. However it was a little curious that the vermin would come after him like this, putting himself in such danger, over a basic identification chip when he could have simply remained at the Axalon and cared for the wounded fuzor.

"So, you either just figured out dat you accidentally led me here because of the chip, which wasn't too bright so your IQ just dropped a few points, or you tried luring any Maximals here that you could for a trap,"

The pretender merely looked straight at the rat with something of a puzzling smile on the fuzor's face. As much fun as it could have been to set up a trap using the identification chip, that really hadn't been his intention. He simply presumed the Maximals would have other things to concern themselves with in the wake of Megatron's slaughter of their kin. And he would have gotten rid of the chip sooner if the hangover from Rattrap's alcoholic stash hadn't dulled his senses for a little while. It was most fortunate he had been able to come to enough to remember to get rid of the chip prior to entering the Darksyde.

"You really need to come up with some better insult material," the fuzor replied, unphased by his feeble attempts to make the pretender doubt himself. Or whatever it was Rattrap was trying to do.

"Where is it?"

By now the pretender had gotten close enough that Rattrap was no longer hidden behind the crates, giving Zodiac the ability to make his intentions of killing the rat clear with visual representation as well. Yet even now, with the already stained large sword aimed in his direction, the rodent didn't falter. Something was definitely wrong here..

"Not here," the pretender responded briefly as he pondered how Rattrap had even managed to get inside unnoticed. If the rodent could get in, surely the renegade could leave the same way. Whatever path the rodent had taken, it must have been further away than the location just outside of the Darksyde's scanner range where Zodiac had dropped the chip in the volcanic dirt. Very close to where the remnants of Zodiac's captured crew member was. He had to have entered elsewhere, or the rat would no doubt have detected the energy signature from the chip and found its exact location.

Zodiac took a step closer to the rodent, sword pointed at him.

"You musta taken the drinks with dat new virus I was workin' on against yer tech."

And for but a moment, the renegade halted, giving Rattrap a puzzled look. What virus? What was the rodent talking about now?

"You think yer so smart. Did you drink all of it? You did, didn't you?"

The fuzor raised an optic ridge, keeping his sword hand steady. And for but a moment he hesitated, considering the rat's words and his childish snickering. Yet something about Rattrap's explanation didn't make sense. If the rodent had the ability to even create such a virus, which the renegade seriously doubted, why would he hide it in his booze stash in his room..? He had no way of knowing, or even suspecting, that the pretender would come.. and much less what he would take.

"Didn't you wonder why it tasted so bad?"

Dismissing Rattrap's words as mere lies, Zodiac took another step closer to him. "I attributed the flavor to your lack of skills in making it.. Or simply your bad taste. After all, I was in your room.."


The fuzor's voice took on a bit of a darker tone, indicating that the renegade was getting tired of this game.

"See, the virus works from de inside out. You'll probably start feelin' some side effects within de next hour. Slow and steady fer what you did ta Aurora."

"Did I bother ta make an antidote?"

Zodiac sighed at the rodent's poorly orchestrated joke. Enough of this nonsense.

Making it abundantly clear that he wasn't buying it, the fuzor quickly closed the gap between the two and held the tip of the sword aimed at Rattrap's spark chamber. The sword was large, longer than the fuzor holding it in fact, so even though the sword was able to touch Rattrap's armor, the renegade remained a few paces away. And still, even now, the rodent kept talking.

"Honored? Uh, no. 'Honored' ain't the word I would use ta describe it. I believe de word yer searchin' for is 'disgusted'. Nobody wants Megatron's fluids inside of 'em. Couldn't you at least wipe it off before you stab helpless, little me?"

Growing tired of the rat's mockery yet still craving the rodent to realize the severity of the situation prior to dying, Zodiac's smile faded as he proceeded to use the rodent's armor to mock wipe the sword off before adjusting the tip to press, a little harder this time, against the Maximal's chest once more.

"Of course, you realize dat if I scream or maximize, the Preds outside'll detect my signature and come barging in findin' you in here as well," he tried negotiating. "How ever will you escape?"

"I'll find a way..," the renegade responded, the voice having gone cold by now. "Besides.. it's hard to scream without a voice box. As you are about to discover.."


And with those words, Zodiac traced the sword upwards across the rat's armor, towards his throat. Truthfully he would probably just stab through the rodent's neck, perhaps even decapitate him in the process. At least that would shut him up, which was what Zodiac truly wanted right now. Still, none of this seemed right. Rattrap was annoying, for sure, but he had never been one to take unnecessary chances. So why was he here alone?

He got his answer a moment later when something .. or rather someone.. dropped down from above to land on him. Albeit he managed to remain in a standing position mostly due to his mass compared to his unknown attacker, the sensation of her stick like legs grabbing onto him caused him to freeze for a brief nanoclick. Just long enough for the spider to sink her fangs into the side of his neck.

It was the uncomfortable sensation of those fangs piercing his armor and the warmth of the cyber venom being injected just then that snapped the shapeshifter out of his paralysis. He used his free arm to grab his attacker by the neck, pulling her off in a rough and swift movement before throwing her as far away as he could. As he saw the spider spin through the air, he realized what had just happened and grabbed for his neck.. only to feel the two fang marks that were burning right now.

BlackArachnia.. So that is what the rodent had been stalling for?

"Nice trick..," the pretender hissed angrily as he pulled his arm back while preparing to plunge the sword through the rat. His chest, neck, between his optics.. The renegade honestly didn't care as long as the outcome resulted in the rodent dying swiftly and painfully.

"But it won't do you any.."

The sword started to feel considerably heavier in his hand as his grip became weaker, his arm starting to go numb from the cybervenom she had injected into him on that side of his body. Zodiac tried, he really did, to maintain his composure as the venom spread through the arm and made it weaker to the point he simply had no choice but to drop the sword so it hit the ground with a heavy thud. Glancing from the sword at his feet to the rodent and the spider in the background, the renegade made a grimace as he quickly moved close enough to Rattrap before the venom could affect the rest of his limbs. He then grabbed the rodent's neck with his only functional arm since the other one was now hanging limply at his side, using it to lift the rodent off the ground as he ordered his nanomachines to consume the rodent's throat.

They complied, to an extent, but only enough to make his hand start glowing blue as they flocked there in hordes. Rattrap could feel some warmth around his neck, perhaps a bit of a tingling sensation, but then that arm too started feeling numb. The nanomachines were not able to fight the effects of the cyber venom, not in the high dose they had received, so in their confusion they retreated back into Zodiac's core structures. And moments later they, too, started suffering the paralyzing effects of the venom, much like Zodiac himself. Unable to hold up the weight he was carrying with his increasingly numb arm, the renegade had no choice but to drop the rodent also, his own legs now threatening to buckle as well.

"It was your rule! I didn't see what happened, so I can't just assume that you're you and not him! Even Megatron would've been as suspicious as me about this."

Nemesis dismissed the pterodactyl's protests off with a slight wave of her hand, not being in the mood nor having time to argue with him at present. They had more important things to do.. namely catch the traitor who had just attempted to take the life of their leader. Truthfully Nemesis wasn't necessarily close with Megatron, in fact nobody was, but she did see him as holding the key to their future. And he had the intellect and strength to actually bring those hopes of a better future to life.

"Fine, just help find him," she told the male, not wanting to waste any more time. Zodiac was still here.. she could sense it.. but for how much longer was anyone's guess. After all, he knew they would come for him so he would no doubt try to get away.

She narrowed her optics as Terrorsaur bowed to her, showing his mockery more clearly. Of course Nemesis had no desire to see anyone bow to her for real. Ultimate power wasn't really something she desired, it was more a means towards an end.

"As you command, your highness,"

"You really don't know how to keep your mouth shut, do you?," she pondered out loud at the rebellious Predacon as he took off before she as well started searching the corridors and rooms for any sign of their target.

"I could, but I won't. Zodiac should cooperate by his own choice, not because I forced or controlled him to."

That line that just can't be crossed huh?


Well, Aurora wasn't exactly surprised by Whitegrazer's reaction. A tiny bit disappointed perhaps, but not surprised. Just once it would be nice to be able to get something done without complications or the risk of their lives, but she did understand where the mare/vok was coming from.

"We were aware of their drained energy resources as well as the fact that was one of the many reasons why they were at war. We thought by handing them over the protoform technology would help end the war and lessen their harm. After all the Great War had spread from Cybertron to other planets both organic like humans and other Transformer races."

The Vok were certainly getting to sound more interesting. Perhaps there was a lot more to them than some evil intent to kill them all types.. They already had Megatron and the Predacons to deal with in that category.

"Because we were what we were mixed in with the collective minds and memories of other races like humans, a reptile race, which we consumed as we swarm across the galaxy, and other Transformers race. The Matrix held the wisdom and knowledge of all the Primes before Optimus, and that knowledge was transferred to us, yes, but it couldn't a body, due to collective conscientiousness that laid within us. We were born as dust. We were reborn as light." Whitegrazer shook her head at the term Aurora used "Experiment? We were never an experiment. No one was even aware of our existence until it was known. We had no creator, in a way. We were just dust from The Budding. Well, I guess you could say our creator would be the same as your races, Primus, but even Primus wasn't even aware of us. No one was. We traveled far and reached Nexus Zero where we found the One and they gave us purpose, and in that purpose, we hoped to undo our damage as well as fulfill our role in the universe."

The only reason why the Vok are trying to kill you, us, is because we interfered with their work. We don't take kindly to interference from Cybertronia races, especially when we hoped to undo not only the damage we caused but the damage the Great War caused for Earth. And the Vok don't take too kindly to failure or interlopers, especially of that nature. We are aware of their role in helping us, but we believed we had done our job, repaid our debt. We carry no loyalites, Aurora, or at least, they don't."

Fascinating..

So killing us is easier for them than to try to peacefully approach us about their work? And all of that does explain some things but not everything.. Like why you were banished from there and turned out so different from the rest of them?

When we were one per se, Zodiac knew because I believed from what I could tell he had encountered the Vok before, and when the Vok possessed me, I felt that connection as well. I saw a planet go to ashes in their vision. A failed experiment. An interloper they didn't predict.

A failed experiment? Are you referring to Zodiac? Or something else?

Aurora hadn't seen those visions Whitegrazer shared with the shapeshifter, after all. She knew nothing about any of this. Only the bits and pieces the mare told her.

You were just curious, Aurora, and wanted to explore it. I believe no one would have blamed you for that." Whitegrazer soothed the little one. "Just bring someone along next time."

If there will even be a next time, Aurora sighed, having no desire to leave the Axalon any time soon. If Primal would even let her. But the sensation of the white mare rubbing her hand did make her smile a bit.

"I think we need to limit the time you spend around Rattrap,"

The fuzor merely winked at him for that remark, having no intention of ever following through with such a request. Rattrap was after all one of her best friends and if not a great influence on her, then at least someone whose perspective on things was most entertaining.

"I mean- I'm glad to see that you regained your speech once more, Aurora. I did enjoy the little chats you and I had together." Whitegrazer looked at Rhinox. "You are, once again, a miracle worker, Rhinox." She smiled. "Hopefully, the others would return soon to see you, Aurora. I know Optimus and Rattrap, especially, would be relieved by the great news."

"It's really great to have my science partner back,"

"And it's great to be back too," she added with a smile. And so she would be, soon, after she knew the rest of the crew was safe and she had a chance to rest.

"Let's bandage up that wound until the CR can finish up the pieces that I can't replace."

Ugh.. The CR chamber.. Aurora didn't really want to go back in there. Granted, she understood how the chamber worked, but part of her had never quite gotten over seeing Icebreaker dead inside the chamber.. Not that the chamber had killed him, but it was still something that haunted her every so often.

"Can the CR chamber wait a bit?," she asked while Rhinox was busy applying the bandages. None of her remaining injuries were fatal after all and the bandages should suffice for a while.

"Now, if you can," "try to get some rest."

"Sweet! I'll try. When they get back, okay?"

[Phoenix]

I finished the post earlier.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"I mean- I'm glad to see that you regained your speech once more, Aurora. I did enjoy the little chats you and I had together."

Obviously the two females had been communicating quite a bit during her surgery, probably more than he had presumed, but since Rhinox was one to respect others' privacy, he didn't even bother questioning them about what they talked about. That was between them, and it had probably been a great opportunity for them to reconnect without any other distractions.

"You are, once again, a miracle worker, Rhinox."

"I appreciate your words, Whitegrazer, but miracles had nothing to do with this procedure. Just a little bit of knowledge, experience and a lot of patience," the engineer smiled.

"Hopefully, the others would return soon to see you, Aurora. I know Optimus and Rattrap, especially, would be relieved by the great news."

Rhinox nodded in agreement with the odd-looking female and looked at Aurora.

"And it's great to be back too,"

He smiled and helped her off of the small bed.

"That is what you actually wanted to hear, wasn't it, Aurora?"

Oh? It seemed he could read minds after all. He chuckled quietly at himself.

"Can the CR chamber wait a bit?,"

The rhinoceros tilted his head a little in speculation. "I suppose," he said with some reluctance. "Optimus will want you fully repaired before-," Rhinox began but was cut off by the little one's excitement.

"Sweet! I'll try. When they get back, okay?"

"Well, obviously we can't force you, but whatever you end up doing, just be sure you remain in the base," he ordered Aurora. Afterward, he glanced at Whitegrazer.

"Now, about those tests... I don't even know where to begin. You haven't shown any signs of the virus yet, and previous tests have been inconclusive."

-----

"Oooooooo secrets don't stay secrets with someone like me around,"

Blackarachnia's wink and chuckle had made Rattrap quiver. But he wasn't worried about her finding out any of his secrets because he'd never allow anyone like her to get their claws on them. She may be sneaky, but so was he.

"Like I said, no fun."

Her comment made his tail bend a little with irritation.

"I know how to work a console, rodent."

A tiny smile of pride tugged at the corner of his rodent mouth for successfully bugging the arachnid.

"Like I'm here to prove anything to you."

"Oh. My bad. Yer just playin' along now ta get yer hands on dat ship," Rattrap had corrected himself. If she wasn't going to play nice, then he was going to be as up front as he could with his experienced foresight on her true intentions, especially now that they knew what Zodiac was after. But why he was still inside the Darksyde while X was elsewhere was a bit baffling and likely going to be a terrible mistake on the pretender's part. Well, either his mistake or Rattrap's considering the rat was behind enemy lines and face-to-face with the almost invincible shape shifter.

"Don't blame me for your shortcomings,"

"Hey, I got plenty of my own abilities dat you don't have. And a winning personality ta boot," Rattrap grinned as he implied that even though Zodiac had his advanced alien tech, he had a terrible attitude equivalent to an entitled and bratty teenager and a very unlikable reputation. "You really oughta see a therapist ta work on yourself, you know what I mean?"

"Tell that to your dead comrades,"

The TransMetal rat's lips curled a little in response to hearing those words in his favorite Fuzor's voice. He really wished he'd lose the disguise; it irked him. Everything Aurora was, Zodiac was the complete opposite. What was he talking about anyway? Like recently dead or a long time ago? Banshee was the only recent one. Then Rattrap's memory rewound to the discussion in the bridge when Optimus had pointed out the journal Zodiac had retrieved and said it was unlike him to find a way off of the planet without having killed him first. So, did he think Optimus was dead? And Aurora, too, considering she was on Death's door the last time he saw her? Maybe should play along with this presumption. It was so typical of Zodiac never sticking around to finish the job. Hadn't he learned by now? Rattrap was glad he hadn't mentioned the journal yet because that might have given away Primal's survival. Let's surprise him with yet another one of his mistakes, shall we? the vermin asked himself in a snarky tone.

"You honestly think you can break me with a few pathetic insults?,"

"Quips an' insults are what I do. I gotta throw in a few ta stay consistent. It's what the people expect," he explained pretending there was an audience.

"I aim to please,"

"You really should stop tryin'. It's gotten you nowhere."

"You really need to come up with some better insult material,"

"Eh, everybody's a critic." Rattrap couldn't care less if Zodiac was pretending to not be affected by his words or not. He was merely stalling him for time, and possibly for some information. After all, these bad guys always loved bragging about themselves and their "accomplishments". Plus it gave Blackarachnia time to figure out her next move.

"Not here,"

Now, was the fake Fuzor being honest? And if he was, it didn't mean he destroyed it like Blackarachnia was so intent on assuming. Rattrap was one of those who needed evidence for closure. Well, if he didn't have it in his possession, then that meant that their next best course of action was to get the heck out of there without dying or becoming prisoners. That was, of course, if Rattrap survived his encounter with this dangerous renegade... Glancing at the sword as Zodiac moved toward him, the small Maximal started to get a little nervous and backed up slowly on his hind feet moving away from the crates. He watched him halt and gaze at him with skepticism and uncertainty when he tried convincing his opponent of the virus he drank with the stolen beverages. Being a Spy and all, Rattrap thought he was rather convincing about it, but Zodiac seemed easily dismissive about it than the rodent had anticipated.

"I attributed the flavor to your lack of skills in making it.. Or simply your bad taste. After all, I was in your room.."

Growing a little frustrated with the guy, Rattrap's tone was shorter and a little irritated now. "No duh, you were in my room. Dat's where the cocktails were, and we got you all over the cameras, so it's not like you were tryin' ta be inconspicuous. Ya might as well haven't bothered with dis whole get up," he motioned to his Aurora disguise with his front paws. Although it was unnerving for Rattrap to see this Aurora with an over-sized blade threatening him, he tried to remain "professional" and keep his cool. However, with the Fuzor's sudden advance on him and the tip of the sword targeting his spark's location, Rattrap couldn't help but gasp, which, fortunately, only made his act of being solo more sincere and gave Blackarachnia an even better chance at catching him off guard with an ambush. By now the tip of the long, sharp, blood-stained blade was being pressed against Rattrap's undercarriage armor while he remained standing upright in his beast mode. Any time now, legs, he thought anxiously without looking up at the duct to give her away.

"I'll find a way..," "Besides.. it's hard to scream without a voice box. As you are about to discover.."

There was a gulp sound in Rattrap's throat as he lifted his head in accordance to the sword's new location, but while Zodiac was distracted and just in case Blackarachnia had abandoned him, the rat subtly positioned his tail behind him ready to push over a stack of crates that would crash and make enough noise for the Predacons to discover them. As it turned out, the black widow had hung around after all and literally got the drop on the shape shifter. Rattrap grinned with joy when she fell on him and managed to bite his neck but he quickly tried to hide it before anyone noticed. It was unknown if her cyber venom would have any effect on the fake Aurora, but Rattrap was willing to bet that it would. Despite their little struggle, there wasn't any where else for Rattrap to go. He wanted to barricade the door to keep the Preds out but Zodiac was in the way. Just as quickly as the attack had happened, it was over when Zodiac grabbed the she-spider by her neck and tossed her through the air. The only Maximal present was certain she'd be all right, so he didn't worry too much about her especially when the pretender returned his attention on Rattrap.

"Nice trick..,"

"I know," the Spy smirked. Uncertain how long the venom would take to paralyze their opponent, Rattrap felt safer backing up a little more as he came toward him again with the weapon in his hand, and he was still prepared to knock the crates over with his tail if he had to. His green eyes followed the tip of the blade as his quick reflexes were ready to respond.

"But it won't do you any.."

Watching the sword fall and bang on the metal floor when it made contact, the rat finally felt relieved that the venom was making its way through his body. He saw the vulnerability and helplessness enter "Aurora's" optics as he quickly became aware of what was happening to his body. "Sorry, what? You didn't finish yer threat," he mocked him as he kicked the sword out of Zodiac's reach. But in his close proximity, Zodiac managed to grab Rattrap's throat who started to choke a little as the grip got tighter. He tried clawing at his arm with his front paws before he picked up his hind end as well and grabbed his whole arm with all four of his metal paws to reduce the pressure on his neck. The blue illumination he saw emitting from Zodiac's hand reminded him of what he had seen on Optimus a few times because of that goop Aurora had applied to him some time ago. How ironic that must have been for him to share a tiny piece of that tech that he and Nexus had experimented on Zodiac. There was a warm and tingly sensation Rattrap could feel as he tried to break free from his grasp, but he didn't really know that it was his nano bots that were trying to swarm and consume his armor. Almost panicking at that point, the shape shifter finally released him and succumbed to the cyber venom that infected his body. Rattrap fell to the floor on his back, but he quickly rolled over and moved out of his reach as he scratched at his neck to flick off any nanobots that might have been stuck to him.

"I had a hunch cyber venom would work on you," Rattrap began explaining. "After all, it ain't like it was around on Cybertron when they were experimenting on you, so they couldn't test it and make your body immune to it." He nodded to Blackarachnia across the room to acknowledge her successful attempt in taking him down. Now, who knew how long the effects of it would last, so they'd have to work quickly.

"Blackarachnia, barricade the door with whatever you can find, including yer webbing. I'm gonna have ta give away our position, and I bet yer friends are still lookin' for him." He gestured to the paralyzed Fuzor clone on the floor.

Opening a quick transmission to his fearless leader, Rattrap refrained from using his name so that Zodiac wouldn't know who he was talking to. "Zodiac's down... temporarily. He said the chip ain't here. He also said somethin' about a ship called the Viper. I'm guessin' dat's where X is 'cause dese two invincible monsters seemed to've teamed up. I'm gonna try and apprehend him and get de heck outta here!"

"ATTENTION: Maximal frequency detected," the Darksyde's computer announced.

Inferno gasped loudly in the command center and grabbed the console by its sides as he suddenly leaned in closer to it in an unnecessarily dramatic way. "Where?!" he demanded to know.

"Location is scrambled. Triangulating..." the emotionless female voice calculated as the computer attempted to zero in on Rattrap's transmission.

"Triangulate faster!" the pyro yelled at the computer shaking it a little in his three-fingered hands with his impatience and anticipation to burn whoever the intruder was.

Receiving his radio communication, Optimus sent Rattrap another indicator letting him know. Relieved that he, and hopefully Blackarachnia, were still functioning, his spark nearly jumped and sank at the same time, if such a sensation was possible. The Viper? It couldn't be... That was impossible. How long had it been there? And where was it?! Had it been there this whole time since Zodiac's arrival, and they never knew? This whole time they could have used it, ended the Beast Wars and gone home! And what of its crew? Zodiac could only have known about it through Nexus Prime, whether it was from speaking to him in person before killing him, or reading about it in his journal after he stole it. Primal's hands balled into fists wit rage, but he quickly relaxed as he reminded himself what was at stake now instead of focusing on what could have been or should have been. Deep breaths. Calmness. No anger. ...Aurora's hug... ...Whitegrazer's kiss... How could they find the Viper? Surely Zodiac wasn't going to willingly give up the information or the journal. It may have been risky to let him just go to the ship so they could follow him because then they would have to stop him from departing the planet, but that would also be the easiest way. And he said that Zodiac and Protoform X were now working together. What could they possibly gain by that? Well, if they had a vessel to return to Cybertron, one could only imagine the havoc they could wreak together... if that was even their intention. Putting those two together considering their pasts and destructive nature let alone their unique abilities, it was a recipe for genocide. Besides all of that, Aurora's I.D. chip was allegedly not with Zodiac, which was not good. If he got rid of it, it could be any where. In fact, he could have just as easily destroyed it. After all, what good would it do him now?

As he happened to survey his ominous and uncomfortably hot surroundings, there was something in the distance still outside of the Darksyde's perimeter that caught Primal's eyes. It looked like an unnatural, large pile of rubbish in the middle of a flatter area of the terrain. Optimus was careful not to be seen or detected as he made his way over to it in his beast mode on his feet and knuckles. He stopped behind the last boulder that was big enough to provide him cover, and examined the "rubbish" from where he was. It turned out to be a body that had been brutally beaten and left to rust. Night Terror as he recalled the fellow's name... So, this had been his fate. The blue and silver gorilla bowed his head in a moment of silence. Another life taken. Despite who he was, it still saddened the Maximal leader for all of the life lost in this war.

...And then a faint beeping appeared on his sensors. Lifting his shiny, blue head a little bit, his pink optics immediately searched the ground. It was Aurora's signature, so it had to be her I.D. chip! Of course! If Zodiac stumbled upon his former comrade's body, he must have stopped there and at the same time discarded her chip before he sneaked his way into the Predacon base so their scanners wouldn't detect him. Optimus got down on his knees and started sifting through the top layer of volcanic dirt as he glided his hand across it. Visually he was exposed now, but if no one was out there on patrol, then he wouldn't be spotted, so he risked it. Sure enough, his hand eventually hit something hard and small, like a tiny metal plate. It made a corner of the chip stick up and he snatched it up in his hand. Laying it in his palm, he gently blew on it to clean the dirt away and then he wrapped his fingers over it and closed his optics for a mere second as he exhaled in relief for its safe discovery. It had appeared to be undamaged. Something was finally going right for him that day. Immediately, he put it in his subspace along with the golden disc he carried on him at all times, and moved back behind the larger boulders that protruded from the ground. He couldn't wait to have it returned to Aurora.

Meanwhile, back inside Predacon HQ, the red ant alerted their stand-in commander, "Inferno to Nemesis! Ship's scanners are detecting a Maximal frequency within our base! But it's scrambled, so it's having difficulty locating its origin."

"Rattrap, maximize," the Spy said after he received Primal's beacon again, and his body transformed to his robot mode. He had to do it because he needed his hands in order to manipulate and work with Aurora's toy, and there was no better opportunity to accomplish this than now while Zodiac was down and couldn't fight back. He hoped this would be worth it and that the material she used would repel his nanobots so they couldn't just eat the bands or break them off when he shape-shifted. Taking the equipment out of his subspace, fully aware that the Predacons could now pick up his signature, he worked quickly shaping the objects into two bands that would fit around his currently small wrists. He wished they had more time to do something comical at Zodiac's expense, but he had to stay serious and not get distracted by such antics as tempting as it was. "Watch this," he told Blackarachnia as he slipped on the bands over the fake Aurora's petite hands and grabbed the remote and pressed a button that tightened them and magnetized them together. Rattrap smiled widely over it.

"How do ya like yer new bracelets, Zodiac?" He gave him a thumbs up.

"Maximal signature detected." And the location of the rodent's beacon appeared on the monitor.

"Scorponok's former quarters!" Inferno excitedly told Nemesis. As much as he wanted to go and set the Maximal on fire, he knew they still had to worry about Zodiac and Rampage, so he forced himself to remain in the quiet command center and to let Nemesis and the others handle the intruder.

"Fine, just help find him,"

Terrorsaur had rolled his optics without Nemesis seeing and continued his search on foot with her down the corridor.

"You really don't know how to keep your mouth shut, do you?,"

"Nope," he said with a small sneer. He stopped when he thought he heard something in a room located somewhere between them. He turned around and stood there in silence listening. considering the distance had already added away from her, he whispered over his comm. link to her, "Did you hear that?"

(( OOC: Sorry if I missed anything including typos and colored font. I kind of rushed the Preds' part and Rhinox's part because I spent too many hours writing Rattrap's and OP's. XD It's getting late and I need to sleep! ))

[una]

That line that just can't be crossed huh?

Yes, it is. To take away anyone's free will, no matter who they are, is an abhorrent act I don't wish on anyone." Whitegrazer softly spoke with the utmost sincerity. Just think about it, for a moment, if someone stripped you of any autonomy, used you, your soul, your body, for their own purposes, not caring if you consented or not, treating you like nothing more than a drone, designed to cater to their own way of thinking and understanding."

So killing us is easier for them than to try to peacefully approach us about their work? And all of that does explain some things but not everything.. Like why you were banished from there and turned out so different from the rest of them?

"Yes, like the Planet Buster they attempted to use on not just us but on the planet itself? They were willing to destroy this entire planet to wipe us from existence. So that they could pick up the pieces and restart their experiment without any interference. Huh, it is funny. We act like superior beings, and yet, we acted no different than the scientists responsible for those horrible experiments Protoform X, Zodiac, Nemesis, and other Cybertronians were forced upon. Methods may be different, but the executions are similar." She shook her head at such a revelation, but it was the truth. "I was banished because I disobeyed the conditions they placed upon me. I joined the Maximal cause when I was told to stay neutral, I began to trust the High Council of Elders more than my own people, despite the warnings they whispered to me, and worse of all, I failed in my duty, my purpose, to bring the Maximals and Predacons together. They felt like banishment to Cybertron was the only punishment worth what I had done. I made the conscious choice to be there, and they believed what ever I done, the Cybertronians would have to deal with me themselves, which I don't blame them for what they did. I brought it upon myself. Nothing more, nothing less.

A failed experiment? Are you referring to Zodiac? Or something else?

"I don;t know," Whitegrazer told the little one truthfully. "I believe the Vok were experimenting on other planets, and maybe Zodiac was one of them. If I remembe the flashes I saw temporary, it seemed like that planet also had a Planet Buster, but I think that planet wasn't as lucky as we were."

If there will even be a next time,

"There will be. Optimus might keep you in the base for a time, but it wouldn't be too long." She reassured the little one.

"And it's great to be back too,"

"I appreciate your words, Whitegrazer, but miracles had nothing to do with this procedure. Just a little bit of knowledge, experience and a lot of patience,"

Whitegrazer chuckled at Rhinox and smiled down at the little one. Glad that she got her voice back.

"Can the CR chamber wait a bit?,"

"I suppose," he said with some reluctance. "Optimus will want you fully repaired before-,"

She felt the little one's uneasiness towards the chamber, and a flash of Icebreaker returned her mind. Oh yes, she understood why the little one felt the way she did. Maybe, in a time, that uneasiness would wane.

"Sweet! I'll try. When they get back, okay?"

"Well, obviously we can't force you, but whatever you end up doing, just be sure you remain in the base,"

Whitegrazer nodded. Though, she wished Aurora at least lay down, so she could relax.

"Now, about those tests... I don't even know where to begin. You haven't shown any signs of the virus yet, and previous tests have been inconclusive."

"I know." Whitegrazer shook her head sadly. "The virus is like a wildcard. I look normal, but I have feeling when the virus does activate that it would probably too late. I guess Tarantulas wanted to make sure no one tried to find a cure before the virus did it's damage. There must be one, but maybe the cure isn't what we believe it to be." Some part of her dreaded what the virus would do because of Tarantulas haunting words towards her. She didn't care as long as the virus didn't do anything to harm those closest to her. That was what mattered the most. "When Tarantulas was here, Rhinox, were you able to get a good look at what he brought in with him. Did any of it look familiar? Can you describe it? "

"Oh. My bad. Yer just playin' along now ta get yer hands on dat ship,"

Blackarachnia said nothing towards the rodent. The rodent was correct. She wanted that ship for herself. A backup, just in case things turned sour. A free getaway from this place, away from this war.

"Nice trick..," the pretender hissed angrily as he pulled his arm back while preparing to plunge the sword through the rat. His chest, neck, between his optics.. The renegade honestly didn't care as long as the outcome resulted in the rodent dying swiftly and painfully. "But it won't do you any.."

Blackarachnia had watched with amusement as the sword fell from Zodiac's grip. As Zodiac seemed to try and fight it off, she whispered, "Aw, what's the matter? Getting sleepy? You must be from all this schemes and shapeshifting."

Zodiac made his way towards Rattrap and grabbed the rodent by the throat, watching as his arm glow blue. She didn't really care much for Rattrap to save his life. After all, he was a threat to her plans because he was smarter, more distrustful o her than the others, even if he tried to steady his instinct to shoot her. She had a thought to just let Zodiac consume him, but then Optimus was nearby as well as Predacons. She would need the backup, anyway. She was ready to dose him with more cybervenom, but it seemed Zodiac was losing his grip and strength, his knees buckling against his own weight.

"I had a hunch cyber venom would work on you," Rattrap began explaining. "After all, it ain't like it was around on Cybertron when they were experimenting on you, so they couldn't test it and make your body immune to it."

"Lucky for me." Blackarachnia winked at the weakening shapeshifter

"Blackarachnia, barricade the door with whatever you can find, including yer webbing. I'm gonna have ta give away our position, and I bet yer friends are still lookin' for him."

Blackarachnia looked around quickly as Rattrap contacted the big ape. She used one of Scorponok unused table and pushed it with her spider's backside, and then grabbing the insides to push it forward and against the door. It was a sliding door, so just that wouldn't make a difference. She wasn't dumb, so she stacked chairs and a couple of monitors, covering the door as much as she could. Once she was satisfied, she used her webbing to make a net surrounding all the chairs, monitors, and tables against the door. She double knotted the four corners, but she added one more thing. The webbing she used was laced with venom, shocking potent venom, so the dumber Predacons, who would just run inside to see what was going on, would get woozy in a matter of minutes. The smarter Predacons would just blow it up.

"This would prove an interesting delay, but it won't last long. We better give our friend here and met up with Optimus. Pronto."

"Rattrap, maximize," the Spy said after he received Primal's beacon again, and his body transformed to his robot mode. He had to do it because he needed his hands in order to manipulate and work with Aurora's toy, and there was no better opportunity to accomplish this than now while Zodiac was down and couldn't fight back. He hoped this would be worth it and that the material she used would repel his nanobots so they couldn't just eat the bands or break them off when he shape-shifted. Taking the equipment out of his subspace, fully aware that the Predacons could now pick up his signature, he worked quickly shaping the objects into two bands that would fit around his currently small wrists. He wished they had more time to do something comical at Zodiac's expense, but he had to stay serious and not get distracted by such antics as tempting as it was. "Watch this," he told Blackarachnia as he slipped on the bands over the fake Aurora's petite hands and grabbed the remote and pressed a button that tightened them and magnetized them together. Rattrap smiled widely over it.

"How do ya like yer new bracelets, Zodiac?" He gave him a thumbs up.

"Clever." Blackarachnia had to admit. Hopefully, this same invention won't be her downfall. "I'm almost jealous. But they fit you perfectly, Zodiac."

[Phoenix]

"Sorry, what? You didn't finish yer threat,"

Zodiac sent Rattrap a glare as the rodent proceeded to mock him for his predicament. And in normal circumstances, Zodiac wouldn't hesitate to make him suffer for such a display of arrogance and mockery. But as things were, the venom injected into him by the female spider, was still wrecking havoc with his internal systems. He felt the nanomachines struggle inside him, most trying to offset the paralyzing effects of the venom, but some had responded by initiating a reboot cycle to try to purge the substance that was affecting them as much as it was him. And as more and more of them shut off, however temporary, he started feeling groggy as well. Whether as a result of the venom or as a result of the chaos it was creating within him, he couldn't really tell..

"Aw, what's the matter? Getting sleepy? You must be from all this schemes and shapeshifting."

And now Rattrap's female companion spoke up as well. Zodiac wasn't sure which version he preferred.. The silent but creepy watcher or the talking wench. No wait.. He did know. The splattered remnants of a spider underneath his boot was the only one he could tolerate. Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do about her either now that her venom had started taking full effect.

"I had a hunch cyber venom would work on you," Rattrap began explaining. "After all, it ain't like it was around on Cybertron when they were experimenting on you, so they couldn't test it and make your body immune to it."

"Lucky for me."

Well.. The rodent did have a point, even though Zodiac was rapidly becoming too groggy to see it. The cyber venom was dulling his senses as well as his ability to move, sort of like an intoxicating effect almost.. just less enjoyable. Perhaps it was merely a result of his nanotechnology working so hard to purge the venom from his system as quickly as possible and thus drawing his energy in an attempt to do so. Although how lucky the female spider truly was remained to be seen.. as soon as his systems were functional again.

It only took a few moments after Zodiac's arm had gone numb and too weak to hold Rattrap's weight up before his legs gave out as well. The shapeshifter in the small fuzor's form dropped to his knees, his arms stretching out as he struggled to keep himself from collapsing in a heap. The attempt proved unsuccessful as he found himself unable to lock his joints in place, eventually forcing even his stubbornness to succumb to the effects of the venom coursing through him. In a less than graceful move, the shapeshifter collapsed on the ground in a prone position. He was still conscious to some extent, but that too was fading quickly. At least until the nanomachines within him had completed their reboot cycle.

"Zodiac's down... temporarily. He said the chip ain't here. He also said somethin' about a ship called the Viper. I'm guessin' dat's where X is 'cause dese two invincible monsters seemed to've teamed up. I'm gonna try and apprehend him and get de heck outta here!"

As he lay there, still on the ground, he overheard Rattrap talking.. to someone. But with the fog still not having cleared from his mind, it was difficult to make out exactly what the rodent was saying. He caught bits and pieces of it, of course, but with all the incoherent chatter from the nanobots within him he had a hard time processing what was said. So to speed up the process, he used what little energy and consciousness he had left and ordered the rest of the nanomachines to temporarily shut down and purge their systems so that they could help rid him of the venom as well. With any luck he would be fully functional again within a few nanoclicks.

"This would prove an interesting delay, but it won't last long. We better give our friend here and met up with Optimus. Pronto."

Even in this state, the mention of his longtime enemy's name caused the downed renegade to stir. But he didn't exactly make sense of what she had said, instead it felt more like he was trapped in a dream state right now. He heard the name mentioned, but not much else if anything at all. The purging cycle was already well on its way, leaving Zodiac barely aware for this short while.

"Nope,"

Nemesis sent Terrorsaur a glare as the transmetal male moved away in the corridor. Well, at least he was doing as she told him to, even if he seemingly had no more respect for her than he did Megatron himself. Ironically she had more than likely saved the loudmouth pterodactyl's life not long ago after his mouth had gotten him in trouble with the Predacon leader.. Go figures the male had forgotten so soon, or perhaps he simply chose to ignore it. Gratitude wasn't exactly a quality Terrorsaur possessed. Nor did most of their fellow Predacons. Fortunately Megatron had never directly called the female out on her decision to defend Terrorsaur and thus discouraging Megatron from killing his underling. Was persuading the tyrant to spare Terrorsaur's life a mistake? Somehow Nemesis wasn't quite sure. The pteradactyl had made sure to be less defiant, at least openly so, where the tyrant was concerned. But for her role in it, Nemesis had exposed a bit of her more vulnerable side. She wasn't as cold-sparked as some of them.. and she was starting to realize it.

"You do realize how badly Megatron's been wanting to cut that tongue of yours out, right?," she muttered as the pteradactyl walked away. Yet she was just about to follow him to help searching when the transmission from Inferno suddenly came through. And it wasn't the best of news.

"Inferno to Nemesis! Ship's scanners are detecting a Maximal frequency within our base! But it's scrambled, so it's having difficulty locating its origin."

Stopping in her tracks, taking a moment to process exactly what Inferno had told her, Nemesis then transmitted her response back.

"Get me the location of that signal!"


A Maximal signature.. inside their base. She couldn't imagine that Zodiac would have sided with the Maximals, and the timing seemed to be just a bit too convenient. The only possibility she could imagine was that the Predacons weren't the only ones trying to pin down the traitor's whereabouts. Unless, of course, this was some trick Zodiac was trying to pull to draw their attention elsewhere. But why would he forge a Maximal signal within their base, knowing that would only increase the security measures already in place at the Darksyde. Thus reducing his own chances of escaping. No.. Zodiac was smarter than that.

A faint sound, reminiscent of a metal object hitting the ground, caught her attention and she looked over at Terrorsaur, who also seemed to have heard something.

"Did you hear that?"

Nemesis nodded, her optics narrowing as she scanned her environment yet again. The sound had been muffled.. It originated from somewhere relatively close by, but was it caused by Zodiac or these socalled Maximal intruders?

"Our sensors have detected Maximals nearby," she informed Terrorsaur via communication link, not wanting to alert their prey that they were close.

"Scorponok's former quarters!"

Nemesis let out a slight growl as Inferno relayed the information to her. Scorponok's old quarters was close by, and it had also been in the path of the ventilation shaft where the avian female thought she had seen someone moving just a short while ago. Raising her weapon again, she brought the index finger of her other arm up to her lips to tell Terrorsaur to keep quiet, and then she gestured to the doors of said quarters. Whoever was hiding in there wouldn't get away.

Meanwhile, inside the quarters, Zodiac started to stir now that the nanomachines were finishing their reboot cycle and in the process had purged a lot of the cybervenom from his systems. And as a result, his head was starting to clear up as well, the fog lifting from his mind. Enough so to allow him to register that Rattrap lifted his hands, ever so small and petite in this form, from the floor and slipped something around his wrists. Zodiac groaned a bit as he twisted his fuzor head to be able to see what the rodent was up to now that his arms were stretched out in front of him.. with some odd bracelets now dangling around each wrist since they were still a bit too big for the shapeshifter's current form.

"What are you..?"


He did not get any further with his question before the rodent interrupted him.

"Watch this,"

Zodiac had been about to yank one of his arms back when Rattrap prevented such an action with the mere push of a button on the remote he was holding. Both bracelets immediately shrunk in size until they fit snugly around the renegade's wrists, before the magnetic attraction between the two bracelets snapped them together in an instant.. and effectively immobilizing his arms in the process.

"Hey!," Zodiac protested as he frantically attempted to break the hold the bracelets had on each other, and him, but he quickly realized any attempts of pulling them off were futile. So he then proceeded to have his nanobots analyze and try to absorb the material, only to be thwarted in that attempt as well. Whatever material these things were made of, it wasn't one he was able to manipulate via brute force or his technology.

"How do ya like yer new bracelets, Zodiac?"

Again Zodiac sent Rattrap an angered glare before pushing himself up in a seated position, using what little use of his arms he had right now. "Your little toy won't save you," he promised the rat with barely contained fury. And he meant it. Sooner or later, he would break free and the rodent would be the first on his list of victims when he had regained his freedom and had the Viper in his possession. That garbage munching filth had meddled in his plans for the last time.

"I'm almost jealous. But they fit you perfectly, Zodiac."

And the she-spider would then soon follow! Albeit Zodiac secretly wondered if it wouldn't be a better approach to deliver her into the hands of Tarantulas, since the female spider obviously feared him and rightfully so. The spider scientist had quite the reputation, and frankly Zodiac was surprised Megatron wanted to bring him along. Obviously he couldn't be trusted. But then again.. very few Predacons could, like the female spider was a prime example of.

"You may come to regret getting involved in all of this," the pretender fuzor told BlackArachnia moments before he got to his feet. Of course his hands were tied together in front of him so there was little he could do to act out on his threats right now, but given time..

Even now, however, he was still kind of weak and woozy from the effects of her cyber venom, so he staggered a little bit as he first got up and attempted to keep his balance. Well great, it appeared he would have to play nice for a little bit since he wouldn't be able to live up to his promises and as much as he hated to admit it, the two of them had the upper hand right now. Perhaps it would be best to feign cooperation for the time being. So he sighed deeply before changing his tone entirely as he spoke up again, this time holding his tied wrists out in a submissive gesture.

"Alright, my outburst was uncalled for," he admitted. "And since it seems I have to rely on you two to get me out of here now, I will cooperate. Besides.. I look forward to seeing how you plan to get me out of here.." Given the state he had left the Predacon leader in.

Outside the door, Nemesis leaned in against the hard surface to try to overhear what was being said inside. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, exactly, but she could definitely hear noises from within what should have been an empty storage unit after Scorponok's untimely demise. A slight smile spread on her face as she made one light tug at the doors, seeing if they would crack open. They wouldn't. In fact they appeared to have been barricaded shut.

Taking a step backwards, Nemesis turned to her companion and whispered.

"They've blocked the doors but they are definitely inside still."

She then nodded to the ventilation shaft passing above the room.

"Obviously they do not intend to leave via the barricaded door, nor could they possibly be stupid enough to believe they can hold up in there for long. Meaning there's only one way they could escape."

Her voice was still only a whisper, not wanting the intruders in the room to hear her. "We'll send someone in through the door while we block their exit when they emerge from the ventilation shaft."


She paused for a moment to make sure Terrorsaur was on board with her plan, and then opened a communication channel to Inferno.

"Inferno, we could use your assistance at Scorponok's quarters," she told him.

Yes, it is. To take away anyone's free will, no matter who they are, is an abhorrent act I don't wish on anyone." Whitegrazer softly spoke with the utmost sincerity. Just think about it, for a moment, if someone stripped you of any autonomy, used you, your soul, your body, for their own purposes, not caring if you consented or not, treating you like nothing more than a drone, designed to cater to their own way of thinking and understanding."

Aurora both could and couldn't understand Whitegrazer's reasoning. Yes, she would agree that a permanent drone like state would certainly be wrong in every sense of the word, but if a short-lived intrusion of privacy could potentially save a life.. or many.. the fuzor had no issues with it.

Do you think he would make the right choice if given the option to?, she asked of the older female, honestly curious. From what she'd seen, Zodiac held preciously little regards for life.. excluding his own of course.

The white mare/vok went on to explain the motivations behind the Vok's actions.. And truthfully it all just confused the fuzor further. Sure, she ran her own, harmless, experiments on things.. But she never took lives to do them. And frankly she never introduced the technology she had invented or experimented on to others until she was fairly certain the effects wouldn't cause any permanent harm. Mostly anyway.. Granted, she could have waited a bit longer before applying the nanotechnology based gel to Primal's arm, but that time she had been too eager to wait.

So they care nothing for the countless species they almost killed by targeting us with the planet buster? This planet and others like it has lots of life forms, some that may develop into some of the more prominent species in the universe in the future..

"I don;t know," Whitegrazer told the little one truthfully. "I believe the Vok were experimenting on other planets, and maybe Zodiac was one of them. If I remembe the flashes I saw temporary, it seemed like that planet also had a Planet Buster, but I think that planet wasn't as lucky as we were."

Well.. it did make sense that this planet wasn't the only one the Vok had used as a playground. And Cybertronians had encountered this alien technology before, that much was becoming obvious. But that the Vok had been trying to help other species, including the Cybertronians, seemed like a strange and unexpected concept.

Did Zodiac truly experience the full force of a planet buster ? And survived? No wonder he seemed a little godlike in persona from time to time. Or perhaps that was simply something that had been instilled in him by his creators..

Aurora slid carefully off the bench like bed she had been using now that Rhinox had been kind enough to release her from the clamps that kept her still for the duration of the surgery. Upon her feet touching the floor, the fuzor immediately sent the other two a grateful smile. It really did feel great to be back to normal.

"I suppose," he said with some reluctance. "Optimus will want you fully repaired before-,

"There will be. Optimus might keep you in the base for a time, but it wouldn't be too long."

"Well, obviously we can't force you, but whatever you end up doing, just be sure you remain in the base,"

The smile faded ever so slightly as the fuzor respectfully inclined her head. Yeah, he didn't have to tell her again.. She learned a valuable lesson the last time, so she was in no hurry to repeat the experience. No, she wasn't going anywhere for a while.

"I'm staying, please don't worry about that. I've had more than enough excitement for a day."


Indeed, she wasn't quite sure what her immediate plans were now that she felt well enough to be up and about again. And frankly that hole in her head wasn't nearly as big as she initially thought, and it was covered by a bandage right now anyway.. And mostly hidden by her less than perfectly white fur. She really did want, and need, a shower, she supposed, but she'd have to wait until she had gotten fully repaired in the CR chamber. Soon, she promised herself, not really wanting to go back to the chamber just yet.

Whitegrazer and Rhinox started talking about that virus.. or whatever it had been.. that Tarantulas had implanted into the taller female. Aurora listened intently to what they had to say for a moment before realizing she could probably do more good preparing for the others' return instead. So she flattened her ears against her head and gave a little thumbs up to the other two.

"I'm going to go make some improvements to the brig just in case they do manage to bring Zodiac back alive. And after that, I promise I will get the rest of the repairs done.. and rest."

Aurora was a bit odd for her age in that respect. She didn't want to waste time when she could be doing something productive.. Creating things, repairing things, and learning things.. that's what gave life purpose. In normal circumstances she would have loved to try to work out the virus mystery that had yet to affect Whitegrazer, but truthfully the fuzor was a little afraid of tackling the task. The reason being that thus far whatever Tarantulas had done, it hadn't seemed to affect Whitegrazer herself in the least.. only the Vok that were occupying her body at the time she was infected. So anything the fuzor might do, could actually trigger the dormant virus and start a chain reaction that could, in fact, harm or even kill Whitegrazer in the process. Thus she didn't want to do anything right now, not when there were other more pressing matters to attend to..

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"I know." "The virus is like a wildcard. I look normal, but I have feeling when the virus does activate that it would probably too late. I guess Tarantulas wanted to make sure no one tried to find a cure before the virus did it's damage. There must be one, but maybe the cure isn't what we believe it to be." "When Tarantulas was here, Rhinox, were you able to get a good look at what he brought in with him. Did any of it look familiar? Can you describe it? "

(( OOC: I'm sorry, una, I'm drawing a blank on when Tarry visited and had something with him. I have no idea when this happened so I can't even waste my time looking back through the episodes. XD I'm afraid I have a terrible memory sometimes, so I'm going to respond in the only way I can at the moment, but I'll edit it if you remind me what you're talking about and want me to reply differently with Rhinox. ))

Rhinox sent Whitegrazer a soft frown with a quiet sigh. Then he shook his head no to answer her question. Despite their leader's intentions on helping her be rid of the virus, the rhinoceros was beginning to have doubts about them continuing to tamper with her body in order to find it, much like Aurora was as well. It was hidden so well that perhaps Tarantulas was betting on them running extensive tests on her which would inevitably trigger the activation of the infection and do too much harm before they could actually fight it and save her life. This time, as the chief medical officer, Rhinox refused to keep running tests now. He expected he would have to explain his decision to Optimus but he was certain that he would understand. He may not like it because of his feelings toward her, but he would have to accept it. The only other way of helping her may very well be to capture Tarantulas and figure out a way to obtain his cooperation, but that was just as long a shot as finding out what was inside of her.

"I'm staying, please don't worry about that. I've had more than enough excitement for a day."

Aurora was not a trouble maker, and since her actions earlier that day may have inadvertently caused a great deal of heart ache - although Optimus would never see it that way, and it was likely that Whitegrazer didn't either - Rhinox was confident that she would behave and stay close by. At least she appeared to be in better spirits now, which made things a little easier for him and Whitegrazer. Whatever the two females may have discussed privately, he was sure that it helped ease Aurora's mind about the events that recently took place. The engineer was curious as to why the Fuzor wanted to delay her repairs, but perhaps she still didn't trust the machines after what had happened to Icebreaker so long ago. His death had obviously made an impression on her, but Rhinox had since made improvements to the CR chambers to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. He also honed his own medical skills to operate on life-threatening wounds so that they wouldn't have to solely rely on the CR's to handle all of it at once all of the time, especially when all of the chambers would be occupied at the same time.

"I'm going to go make some improvements to the brig just in case they do manage to bring Zodiac back alive. And after that, I promise I will get the rest of the repairs done.. and rest."

Rhinox raised his gold brows at Aurora and then looked at Whitegrazer as he said, "I'm not going to run any more tests on you in fear of triggering the virus before we have a way to repair counter its effects. We all know how tricky Tarantulas is, and if we haven't found anything yet, then that might be the point to his scheme. If we keep digging, we just might activate the necessary components his virus needs in order to do the most damage. Instead I propose that we assist Aurora to keep all of us busy and productive." Then he turned his attention to the dirty Fuzor with the bandage wrapped around her head.

"What kind of improvements, Aurora? What did you have in mind?" he asked her with a lot of curiosity. "We can help you with the renovations."

-----

"What are you..?" "Hey!,"

Rattrap simply grinned widely at the fake Aurora. Although he had to admit it still felt very, very awkward for him to apprehend and act like a jerk toward someone who was disguised as a Maximal that he cared so much for. Of course Zodiac was probably doing it on purpose to make him feel so uneasy about their situation, but it was almost simple for Rattrap to dismiss that weakness every time the shape shifter opened his mouth and spoke rudely in Aurora's voice. He was quickly reminded that it wasn't her but one of their greatest adversaries pretending to be her. What was the creepiest experience for him so far was when "Aurora" was just threatening him with an over-sized sword and lifting him off of his feet in her tiny form. He was sure he was going to have nightmares about that later.

"Aw, what's the matter? Getting sleepy? You must be from all this schemes and shapeshifting."

"I gotta say, dat was pretty risky with yer close encounter," Rattrap told Blackarachnia. For anyone to put themselves within reach of Zodiac was extremely dangerous, but she literally threw herself on him and bit him without either of them being certain that her venom would even work.

"Lucky for me."

"Lucky fer us," the rat emphasized as he corrected her. "And it's good ta know dat it effects him. I'm willin' ta bet it effects Nemesis too. We might need ta use it on her 'cause I'm sure de Preds have zeroed in on my signature and are gonna surround us any minute now." He glanced around for a moment as he considered their options of escaping.

"This would prove an interesting delay, but it won't last long. We better give our friend here and met up with Optimus. Pronto."

"As long as I can count on you ta follow through with dat," Rattrap commented with some distrust toward her. He was thinking of letting Blackarachnia take Zodiac through the vents since she knew so many avenues and tunnels of escape that the other Preds probably even aware of while he would risk his life to distract them and lead them away from Blackarachnia and Zodiac, but since it was obvious that she wanted that vessel, she might very well escape with Zodiac and head straight for it without meeting up with him and Optimus once they cleared the Darksyde. Glancing at the remote in his hand, it had a tracker to the bracelets that Zodiac was wearing and likely wouldn't be able to remove even with the spider's help. On second thought, maybe that's exactly what he should allow her to do because then he and Optimus would be able to track them and let them lead them right to the Viper. Returning the remote to his subspace for safe keeping, he then pulled out two demolition charges from his forearms and set the timers on them.

"Clever." "I'm almost jealous. But they fit you perfectly, Zodiac."

"Your little toy won't save you,"

"It ain't supposed ta save us, it's just supposed ta slow you down. You know, it's actually one of dose rare instances where the item is both fashionable and functional," the TransMetal Maximal smirked with a thoughtful and appreciative tap of his index finger on his chin while still holding one of his explosives in the same hand. "Too bad I forgot my Bedazzler and gem stones. I coulda made 'em more flashy for ya."

"You may come to regret getting involved in all of this,"

"Hey, she's a Predacon, remember? Dependin' on the circumstances, they either regret nothing or they regret everything," Rattrap said since he wanted to keep Zodiac's attention on him and leave the she-spider alone. "We could just leave ya here for Nemesis ta find ya since you got nothin' we want anymore," he lied but innocently shrugged dismissively to his well-being. Zodiac may not have Aurora's chip, but he probably still had the journal and he knew the Viper's location. However, he didn't know that they knew about those.

"Alright, my outburst was uncalled for,"

"Yes, it was," Rattrap agreed while putting his hands on his hips in a disciplinary gesture while both still possessed his charges that he was ready to use. Was Zodiac ready to play nice considering his current predicament? "But we accept yer apology." Not really.

"And since it seems I have to rely on you two to get me out of here now, I will cooperate. Besides.. I look forward to seeing how you plan to get me out of here.."

"Oh yeah? Well, it's gonna be a blast," Rattrap grinned with his silly pun as he raised his hands and shook his demo charges in front of the fake Fuzor and the black widow. Then he suddenly grew serious and lowered his hands as he explained, "Here's de plan. Blackarachnia knows the Darksyde's ventilation system better dan anyone, so she's gonna hoist you up there with her webbing and lead you outta here. The Preds are probably gonna anticipate dat, but I'm gonna distract 'em with dese beauties," he referred to his explosives, "and make 'em focus their attention on me. After all, they don't know you're both in here." And even though he didn't care for either of them, he didn't want them captured because that would likely mean death for Blackarachnia who seemed to be his responsibility on this mission, and the information Zodiac had was too valuable to let him fall into Predacon hands.

"You do realize how badly Megatron's been wanting to cut that tongue of yours out, right?,"

Terrorsaur gave Nemesis a light, snarky snicker at her comment as he glanced at her over his shoulder. She was right, though, and he ought to tone down his mouthing-off again to keep himself under the radar.

"Our sensors have detected Maximals nearby,"

The Predacon flier stood there in silence as he suddenly wiped off his smile and became quite serious about their situation now. He was ready to mutilate some Maximals! ...But what were they doing there in the first place? Who cared! They won't be leaving! He demanded to know where they were, so he waited for further instructions from his current commanding officer while he charged his optic lasers. Watching her give him the signal to keep quiet, he nodded and did so while he moved closer to her and Scorponok's former quarters.

"They've blocked the doors but they are definitely inside still."

"They?" he whispered to Nemesis. How many were there? And it still didn't make sense that they were there in the first place. Were they trying to steal something from them? Hadn't they been traumatized by Banshee's death? Shouldn't they be mourning and pathetically crying on each other's shoulders back at their base like the whimpy bots they were?

"Obviously they do not intend to leave via the barricaded door, nor could they possibly be stupid enough to believe they can hold up in there for long. Meaning there's only one way they could escape."

Listening to her deduction of the Maximals' situation, Terrorsaur nodded as he understood that she was referring to the ventilation system.

"We'll send someone in through the door while we block their exit when they emerge from the ventilation shaft."

"All right," he complied quietly.

"Inferno, we could use your assistance at Scorponok's quarters,"

"Coming at once!" the fire ant eagerly announced over his transmission to Nemesis. Full of excitement now, he immediately left the command center as he flew over the lava and down to the corridor, and he ran toward their location as fast as he could. He couldn't wait to protect the Royalty and the colony with his infamous fiery carnage!

Stealthfully placing his two demo charges next to the door and underneath all of the stuff Blackarachnia had barricaded it with, Rattrap placed his head against the doorway and listened with his sensitive hearing. He thought he could pick up two voices on the other side, but even if they weren't as close as he wanted them to be, the explosion was going to be enough to get their attention and scramble in a panic. So, he stood back and looked at them saying, "You got 10 seconds ta get up there and start makin' yer retreat. Go!" He crouched down behind a crate to provide himself with cover from the blast and debris while the explosives began their count down.

Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five...

Arriving at their location outside of the room, Inferno stopped and pulled out his large weapon. "What is your command?" the loyal and cooperative Predacon inquired to the former Decepticon that was temporarily in charge.

[una]

((OOC: Whitegrazer was referencing when Tarantulas came to Axalon during the Metal Hunter incident to "offer his services" in defeating the aliens. ))

Do you think he would make the right choice if given the option to?, she asked of the older female, honestly curious. From what she'd seen, Zodiac held preciously little regards for life.. excluding his own of course.

What he has seen, what he has been through, and what he believes he must do have shaped him into what we have see of him. He will take responsible for what he has done, but I believe, if given the right guidance, and if we are very, very lucky, Zodiac may be a good man." Whitegrazer said simply to the little one.

So they care nothing for the countless species they almost killed by targeting us with the planet buster? This planet and others like it has lots of life forms, some that may develop into some of the more prominent species in the universe in the future..

"They do. That's why they take these experiments so seriously and grave when they are interfered." Whitegrazer corrected the little one. The Vok believe in what they hoped to accomplish, to help advance species in order to survive and gain a better future than what they have. We don't believe ourselves to be gods, but we do see our goals as important, sometimes more important than anything else or anyone else. The Vok weren't going to abandon their projects so easily. The Vok were going to rebuild what they destroyed and try and try and try again until they got the results they wanted. Though, I still believed their extreme destruction and meddling in time was wrong. I believe they are changing their minds about that part."

"I'm staying, please don't worry about that. I've had more than enough excitement for a day."

"I'm not going to run any more tests on you in fear of triggering the virus before we have a way to repair counter its effects. We all know how tricky Tarantulas is, and if we haven't found anything yet, then that might be the point to his scheme. If we keep digging, we just might activate the necessary components his virus needs in order to do the most damage. Instead I propose that we assist Aurora to keep all of us busy and productive." T

"You are right, Rhinox," Whitegrazer said with a smile. Tarantulas had made it clear this virus was a wildcard. They won't know when the virus would activate or what the virus would, though she had her theories about it, none of them good for her or anyone else in close proximity. When the time was right, she would leave. If she could.

"I'm going to go make some improvements to the brig just in case they do manage to bring Zodiac back alive. And after that, I promise I will get the rest of the repairs done.. and rest."

"What kind of improvements, Aurora? What did you have in mind?" he asked her with a lot of curiosity. "We can help you with the renovations."

Whitegrazer nodded, listening intently. She was always fascinated by Aurora's creativity, and no doubt, Rhinox would have a few tricks up his sleeves due to his experiences and knowledge.

"I gotta say, dat was pretty risky with yer close encounter,"

"A calculated risk." Blackarachnia said with a smirk.

"Lucky fer us," the rat emphasized as he corrected her. "And it's good ta know dat it effects him. I'm willin' ta bet it effects Nemesis too. We might need ta use it on her 'cause I'm sure de Preds have zeroed in on my signature and are gonna surround us any minute now."

"Don't worry about my former comrades. I know how to deal with them."

"As long as I can count on you ta follow through with dat,"

Blackarachnia just rolled her optics, watching as Rattrap pulled out his explosives.

"Your little toy won't save you,"

"It ain't supposed ta save us, it's just supposed ta slow you down. You know, it's actually one of dose rare instances where the item is both fashionable and functional," the TransMetal Maximal smirked with a thoughtful and appreciative tap of his index finger on his chin while still holding one of his explosives in the same hand. "Too bad I forgot my Bedazzler and gem stones. I coulda made 'em more flashy for ya."

"You may come to regret getting involved in all of this,"

"Hey, she's a Predacon, remember? Dependin' on the circumstances, they either regret nothing or they regret everything," Rattrap said since he wanted to keep Zodiac's attention on him and leave the she-spider alone. "We could just leave ya here for Nemesis ta find ya since you got nothin' we want anymore,"

She watched as Zodiac stood up, trying to be all dignified despite the fact the effects of her cybervenom would take time to wear off. "You should be more concerned about what would happen if Megatron actually survives what you did to him. Megatron won't stop until he returns you the favor, and trust me, what you did to him back there, he would make sure to charge you interest. A big interest." She said with a glare then a dark smirk ran across her lips.

"Oh yeah? Well, it's gonna be a blast," Rattrap grinned with his silly pun as he raised his hands and shook his demo charges in front of the fake Fuzor and the black widow. Then he suddenly grew serious and lowered his hands as he explained, "Here's de plan. Blackarachnia knows the Darksyde's ventilation system better dan anyone, so she's gonna hoist you up there with her webbing and lead you outta here. The Preds are probably gonna anticipate dat, but I'm gonna distract 'em with dese beauties," he referred to his explosives, "and make 'em focus their attention on me. After all, they don't know you're both in here."

"Yeah, but that just leaves you in this room. They hate all of us, you know? You get yourself cptured, and a lot of those Predcons behind tht door, especilly if it Waspinator, since he know you hoard his body parts, because I told him, or Terrorsaur, they would enjoy getting their hands on you for revengence purposes. Blackarachnia kept her optics on the barricaded door. It was quiet outside. Too quiet. Not that cared about Rattrap. Like, at all, but still, it was a stupid. Quickly, she drew webbing and covered Zodiac in it. "Don't wiggle. too much, and remain silent." She warned the shapeshifter. "Also, don't try anything funny, remember there are Predacon outside and my webbing is connected to me, so try anything and you get another dose of cybervenom, got that?

"You got 10 seconds ta get up there and start makin' yer retreat. Go!"

Blackarachnia knotted and secured her webbing before she jumped up and pulled Zodiac inside the vent. When the explosion erupted, Blackarachnia scurried away, lugging Zodiac right behind her. She was heading towards Tarantulas' old lair. Even if the other Predacons deduced her path, she would be able to use that lair to her advantage.

[Phoenix]

The fuzor remained silent while Rhinox and Whitegrazer debated their approach to her viral infection, but she was certainly paying attention to every word each of them said about it. But for the moment, the fuzor didn't know what approach to take. They couldn't even locate the virus within the white mare, much less extract it or otherwise neutralize it, so there wasn't much the fuzor could offer in terms of assistance right now. Yes, it was clear that Tarantulas no doubt had ulterior motives for infecting the mare with it.. He simply was not the type to do anything to help them out without it offering specific benefits to him. But for the time being the virus appeared to be dormant.. And potentially waking it up could have some very nasty effects.

So until persuaded otherwise, Aurora was going to go with her gut instincts on this one.. And those said to leave the virus be until they knew more about what they were dealing with.

"What kind of improvements, Aurora? What did you have in mind?" he asked her with a lot of curiosity. "We can help you with the renovations."

It wasn't until Rhinox questioned her about her upgrades to the brig that she broke her silence.

"I've developed a material Zodiac shouldn't be able to consume or break, so I wanted to coat the walls of the brig with it to prevent him from getting out. "

Like last time.. Yeah, Rhinox hadn't said much about what went down, but Aurora had seen the large gaping hole in Whitegrazer's neck following the pretender's escape from their brig the last time he was in there. And that was definitely something she wanted to assure wouldn't happen again.

"It shouldn't take long. The material actually starts in a liquid form so I can just spray the walls with it and then let it harden. If you want to help, I sure won't refuse the offer, but if you're otherwise preoccupied I don't want to disturb you either."


She smiled ever so slightly while brushing a soiled lock of fur away from her optics, waiting there for a moment for Rhinox to consider what he wanted to prioritize before she turned to leave with the intent of picking up the remaining material she had at her disposal. As she did, however, her mind started drifting off and she wondered how Rattrap was doing. If she hadn't been too keenly aware of the fact he was deep inside enemy territory, she might very well have broken down and contacted him for an update. But as things were, she didn't want to put him at more risk than he already was..

Besides, Optimus was there to offer a hand.

"I gotta say, dat was pretty risky with yer close encounter,"

Zodiac merely glared at each of them in turn as they conversed about their small victory. It certainly wasn't going to be a permanent one, but for the time being the shapeshifter didn't have many options if he wanted to get out of here in one piece. So perhaps going along with these two for the time being was indeed his best option.

Besides.. he was pretty groggy still, the cyber venom still coursing through his system even if some of it was being phased out. It was hard to concentrate.

"A calculated risk."

A calculated risk, the spider called it. Zodiac could have added many, much more colorful, phrases to describe her deception. But he chose not to, not right now anyway.

"Lucky fer us," the rat emphasized as he corrected her. "And it's good ta know dat it effects him. I'm willin' ta bet it effects Nemesis too. We might need ta use it on her 'cause I'm sure de Preds have zeroed in on my signature and are gonna surround us any minute now."

"Don't worry about my former comrades. I know how to deal with them."

However amusing it would be to watch his old cell mate and friend under the effects of the cyber venom, Zodiac felt it could very well be too risky to go for such an approach a second time. Nemesis was, after all, searching for him. And now, thanks to the rodent Maximal, she was surely aware of Maximal presence at the Darksyde too. She was much more likely to shoot first and ask questions later in those circumstances, and Zodiac really just wanted to get out of here before the Maximals and Predacons alike came crashing down upon him. He was, after all, a pretty significant target right now.

The fog in his head was starting to clear, even if his muscles still felt achy and somewhat stiff. Well, at least he was regaining use of his thought processes and words now. And he was better able to make sense of what his two wannabe captors were saying.

"It ain't supposed ta save us, it's just supposed ta slow you down. You know, it's actually one of dose rare instances where the item is both fashionable and functional,"

Zodiac tilted his head to the side a bit, the unruly lock of fur that always kept falling into the real fuzor's face now doing the same to him. And for a moment he put on a bit of a pouty look, one that made him look even more like the fuzor when she wanted something badly enough, if such a thing was even possible. It wasn't hard to tell that Rattrap felt uncomfortable with this situation, a fact that only encouraged the often mischievous natured shapeshifter to keep up the act.

"Would it hurt to loosen them just a little?," the fuzor look-alike asked while tugging at the restraints on his wrists to test if they had any give to them whatsoever. And they didn't. Whatever these things were made of, they were sticking together with more force than anything Zodiac would ever have come to expect from something that honestly didn't look very strong. Not that he ever expected the rodent to actually listen to his request, which honestly had been made more to creep the rat out given his likeness to the real fuzor the rodent was obviously so fond of.

"Too bad I forgot my Bedazzler and gem stones. I coulda made 'em more flashy for ya."

And at that moment the pretender dropped the innocent act to look straight at the rodent's face. "My my, I never noticed how vibrant your optics look," he then said, hoping to creep the rat out further by insinuating he would use the Maximal's optics to decorate the new bracelets. He then finished with a slight, but very uncharacteristic laugh as far as his disguise went.

"Hey, she's a Predacon, remember? Dependin' on the circumstances, they either regret nothing or they regret everything,"

Zodiac raised an optic ridge in something of a bewildered look. He, too, was a Predacon, albeit not one that followed Megatron's ideals necessarily. And yes, he felt regret sometimes. Just not in the often debilitating way some Maximals did. And Rattrap didn't have to remind Zodiac of BlackArachnia's origin. In fact he was partly counting on it.

"You should be more concerned about what would happen if Megatron actually survives what you did to him. Megatron won't stop until he returns you the favor, and trust me, what you did to him back there, he would make sure to charge you interest. A big interest."

"His chances of survival are pretty remote," the renegade corrected the spider. Thus far he had seen no proof of that and Megatron had pretty much vanished since he had left him on the floor to bleed out in front of his private, and very much so broken, CR chamber. "And as far as I know, you've made a pretty big target of yourself to the Predacons as well."

"We could just leave ya here for Nemesis ta find ya since you got nothin' we want anymore,"

And at that moment, Zodiac lowered his gaze and finally broke eye contact with Rattrap. The rodent had a point, as painful as it was for the renegade to admit it.

"You could.. But something tells me we wouldn't be having this conversation if that truly was what you intended to do."

He hoped.. Honestly he didn't feel as confident about it as he seemed to. Nor did he feel desperate enough to blurt out his trump cards, namely the Viper and the journal, both of which the Maximals would surely be interested in obtaining even if Primal was no longer here to lead them. Whatever choice the rodent planned to make, he would have to be quick about it since the Predacons would no doubt he barging through that door at any moment. The renegade had made sure that his own energy signature wouldn't be detected by the Darksyde computer, but the same was not the case for the Maximals. And the rodent had just given away their position.

"Yes, it was," "But we accept yer apology."

Rattrap had an uncanny ability to make everything he said to sound like he meant it in the most sarcastic way possible. And he wasn't even trying to be subtle about it.

The disguised shapeshifter made a slight grimace but didn't say anything, not wanting to drag out this encounter any longer than he had to. After all, the rat was already holding a couple of his explosives in his hands. And it was too quiet outside the door, leading to some paranoia to start setting in. The Predacons would no doubt storm this room any moment now, and he would rather not be here when that happened.

"Oh yeah? Well, it's gonna be a blast,"

"Here's de plan. Blackarachnia knows the Darksyde's ventilation system better dan anyone, so she's gonna hoist you up there with her webbing and lead you outta here. The Preds are probably gonna anticipate dat, but I'm gonna distract 'em with dese beauties," he referred to his explosives, "and make 'em focus their attention on me. After all, they don't know you're both in here."

And oddly enough the rodent's plan sounded like it might just work. Possibly at the cost of Rattrap's life, but that would merely be an added plus.

"All right. I'm game," the renegade said as he turned his attention to the spider, but not before casting one last glance at the rodent.

"Good luck," he told him, almost sounding sincere. Almost.

"They?"

Nemesis nodded. She had heard voices inside the room, sounding like they were from multiple sources. And it couldn't have been a communication transmission because the Darksyde computer hadn't picked any up.

"At least two of them. Of course our sensors only picked up the one who transformed."


Indeed, it was a bit surprising that the Maximals were here. It was fairly obvious they were chasing the same target but Nemesis didn't know why. Did the Maximals know something about Zodiac's end-game that the Predacons were as of yet unaware of? The traitor had taken off with Rampage's spark, but why would the Maximals care so much which of their Predacon foes had control over the immortal soldier? There had to be more to the story..

"Coming at once!"

She waited until Inferno arrived before gesturing to the closed door. "Unknown amount of Maximals are hiding inside but they've barricaded the doors," she explained briefly to the fire ant. "Make your way inside and burn them all."

She then turned to Terrorsaur. "The vents bifurcate a little further towards the exit. We'll demolish one of the pathways, thus forcing the intruders to come out where we'll be waiting." As she finished explaining, she held up an explosive, a smile appearing on her face. In only a few moments the traitor would be dead.. And despite how tempting it would be to see Inferno melt through the doors and whoever was inside, she did not want to waste time, so she hurried through the corridors to the point where the vents split.

"You got 10 seconds ta get up there and start makin' yer retreat. Go!"

Zodiac nodded and reached his arms out so that BlackArachnia could finish tying her web. Sticky and gross as it was, and frankly not necessary since the renegade could still fly with these ridiculous looking wings whereas the real fuzor could not, but whatever it took to humor the two of them.

"Don't wiggle. too much, and remain silent." She warned the shapeshifter. "Also, don't try anything funny, remember there are Predacon outside and my webbing is connected to me, so try anything and you get another dose of cybervenom, got that?

"You've made yourself quite clear," the shapeshifter replied, allowing her to finish up and then drag him up through the vent. Rattrap stayed behind, just like he said he would. How very foolish of him. And fortunate for the renegade.

As the two of them crawled through the ventilation system, Zodiac addressed the female spider, hoping to be able to reason with her.

"So what is the real reason you are hanging out with these Maximals? Wouldn't you rather be able to go out on your own, perhaps even make it back to Cybertron?," he asked. "Because I might just have a way to make that happen.. if you're interested."

He paused for a moment, waiting for her response. In the meanwhile, the demolition charges Rattrap had set up went off behind them. The noise was quite loud, especially as it echoed back and forth through the ventilation system, and it caused Zodiac to flatten his ermine ears to block some of it out since he didn't have use of his hands right now.

Meanwhile, a bit further down the corridor, Nemesis had found her target in the ventilation system and was installing an explosive of her own there. When it would go off a few nanoclicks later, it would collapse the part of the shaft that lead out of the ship and to where Tarantulas' old lair was located. Which would only leave them with one option as far as where they could go.

"I'm done," she told Terrorsaur as she dropped back down to the corridor below. "We better move out of its range before.."

The sound of an explosion from the room the intruders had been in caught her attention, and for a moment she took a step back. Now what..? She briskly started moving away from the vent before her own explosive went off as well.

But instead of rushing down there to investigate, she opened a channel to Inferno who was still there. "Inferno, report. What just happened?"

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"You are right, Rhinox,"

Well, at least Whitegrazer agreed with him. Now they could spend their time more wisely on assisting Aurora, not that they should completely dismiss the danger that laid within her, but there was nothing else they could do about it at the moment. Besides, renovating their brig to better secure Zodiac would be more productive right now assuming the others manage to bring him back. It was difficult to wait in silence without any communication from them because of the distance between their bases. Optimus, Rattrap and Blackarachnia's survival weighed on his mind, and he was sure it weighed on Whitegrazer and Aurora's minds as well.

"I've developed a material Zodiac shouldn't be able to consume or break, so I wanted to coat the walls of the brig with it to prevent him from getting out. "

Rhinox raised his brows again at Aurora's explanation and said, "That's impressive. And I think that's a great idea."

"It shouldn't take long. The material actually starts in a liquid form so I can just spray the walls with it and then let it harden. If you want to help, I sure won't refuse the offer, but if you're otherwise preoccupied I don't want to disturb you either."

After giving it some thought, the engineer reminded himself that their auto-defenses had been destroyed from the Predacons' earlier attack on the Axalon, so he should work on those instead. "As much as I would love to help, I'm afraid I can't at the moment. I have a lot more repairs to do on our auto-guns. But if Whitegrazer isn't busy, she can assist you." He gave them both a smile before cleaning up his station and organizing his equipment there in the infirmary. "When you're finished, let me know, and I'll inspect it just in case any issues arise or we think of any more ideas that will help keep him contained." with that, the robust Maximal left the room and headed toward the command center.

-----

"A calculated risk."

But a risk nonetheless. At any rate, it worked.

"Don't worry about my former comrades. I know how to deal with them."

You better hope so... for your sake, thought Rattrap who wasn't so convinced, but perhaps he underestimated her.

"Would it hurt to loosen them just a little?,"

"Yeah, us. It would hurt us," Rattrap clarified to Zodiac as he referred to himself and Blackarachnia. "So, no, we're not gonna loosen 'em. Suck it up." The Spy was quite pleased with how well Aurora's little invention worked on the shape shifter. He only wished he could tell her right now how successful it was. He also made a mental note of how long it took the she-spider's cyber venom to wear off on the renegade.

"My my, I never noticed how vibrant your optics look,"

The small Maximal shivered inside as the fake Aurora said that, and he sneered at the laughter, but he tried acting tougher on the outside to not let Zodiac's disguise bother him so much. "Dat's just my rage shinin' through toward you."

"You should be more concerned about what would happen if Megatron actually survives what you did to him. Megatron won't stop until he returns you the favor, and trust me, what you did to him back there, he would make sure to charge you interest. A big interest."

Rattrap had nodded at the fake Fuzor as he completely agreed with Blackarachnia.

"His chances of survival are pretty remote,"

But you never hang around long enough ta finish the job, Rattrap thought. Which was always Zodiac's mistake. Hadn't he learned that by now? So, none of them really knew if old grape-face was alive or not. Something told Rattrap that he was very much alive. Megatron was just as much a fighter with the will to live as Optimus was, so he doubted that the t-rex had succumbed to his injuries, especially since he and Blackarachnia saw the video of Nemesis helping him down the corridor toward the other CR tanks. Of course, Rattrap wasn't going to share that information, nor was he going to tell him that Optimus was still alive as well. Blackarachnia mentioned him earlier, but it seemed as though Zodiac was too "doped" up on venom to realize what she said. Phew.

"You could.. But something tells me we wouldn't be having this conversation if that truly was what you intended to do."

"You coulda just handed me the chip or told me where it was and we'da been on our way, but now I might just be doin' someone a favor bringin' you in so they can speak with you," he tried gaining his curiosity without letting him know that he was aware of the journal and the vessel, and he might even have X's spark that was carved in half by Megatron. Of course, since Zodiac had the Viper and X waiting for him, he was aware that the pretender probably couldn't care less who wanted to converse with him even if he presumed that it was probably Whitegrazer. If he learned that Optimus was still alive, however, he might delay his intended departure. But it wasn't the right moment yet to reveal that information. They still had a chance for Zodiac to lead them right to the Viper and stop his plans from coming to fruition. And if the Viper had powerful weapons, he might just blow up both bases, kill both leaders, and be on his merry way to Cybertron or whatever he his plans were. They couldn't allow him to get away and take more lives.

"All right. I'm game,"

"You say that as if you had a choice in de matter," Rattrap smirked. No, the shape shifter was just playing along so he could get a free ride out of the mess they were all in now as the Predacons closed in on them. Heck, Rattrap was almost certain he'd even invite Blackarachnia along, and that was fine with him. Whatever would lead him and Optimus to the Viper, whether Zodiac and the spider would or the tracker on Aurora's unique restraints, it didn't matter to Rattrap. His priority now was distracting the Preds and getting out of there alive.

"Good luck,"

"Why does it sound like a curse comin' from you even in Aurora's voice?" the rat asked Zodiac rhetorically. Ugh. His good luck probably just gave him bad luck. Thanks for the ominous juju, he thought semi bitterly.

"Yeah, but that just leaves you in this room. They hate all of us, you know? You get yourself cptured, and a lot of those Predcons behind tht door, especilly if it Waspinator, since he know you hoard his body parts, because I told him, or Terrorsaur, they would enjoy getting their hands on you for revengence purposes.

"Oh good, at least now we know dat we both underestimate each other's abilities ta escape this dump alive." He watched her wrap Zodiac with her webbing which added to keeping him secure and then pull him up into the ventilation once she had already crawled up there in her creepy beast mode.

"At least two of them. Of course our sensors only picked up the one who transformed."

Interesting. "Wouldn't you think it might be a trap if one of them transformed knowing they would be detected?" Terrorsaur thought out loud to Nemesis.

"Unknown amount of Maximals are hiding inside but they've barricaded the doors," "Make your way inside and burn them all."

"It would be my pleasure!" Inferno told Nemesis with mischievous excitement as he prepared his big gun to burn anything and anyone in his way.

"The vents bifurcate a little further towards the exit. We'll demolish one of the pathways, thus forcing the intruders to come out where we'll be waiting."

Terrorsaur supposed it was a good plan. He smiled with her when she lifted the explosive and followed her down the corridor as they left Inferno to his devices. While Nemesis planted the stationary weapon up in the shaft, the TransMetal 'dactyl waited below and kept watch for any intruders.

As much as Inferno loved to watch metal melt, he thought that his flame thrower would take too long to get through the door and slag the Maximals inside. Instead he decided to use a rocket. Standing back just far enough for a safe distance from his weapon's detonation on impact, he fired a rocket at the door...

...Four... Three... Two... One... KABOOM!

The pyro's timing was impeccable as his rocket collided with Rattrap's demo charges' explosions at the same time they detonated. A huge ball of fire engulfed the corridor blowing Inferno off of his feet and slamming back into wall behind him. The heat wasn't enough to do much damage to his strong armor thanks to his skeletal beast mode but the impact knocked him for a loop as he found himself sitting on the floor against the wall. The explosion shook the base and it could be heard just about any where even outside.

Safe from the fire and heat as Rattrap ducked behind his cover, he immediately recognized that the force of the explosion wasn't from his charges alone, but it made it that much sweeter in hopes that it blew away any Preds who were waiting for him on the other side. Before the smoke could clear, he reverted to his vehicle mode and drove through the melted, warped and tarnished door frame whose door had been blown to smithereens and across the rippled, damaged flooring, easily slipping by Inferno who was too dizzy to react. His engine gave away his identity, though, as he sped off away from the ant and down the corridor keeping an eye for the rest of the Preds who would surely come running.

"I'm done," "We better move out of its range before.."

"That came from Scorponok's quarters!" Terrorsaur announced as he immediately glared in that direction and charged his optics' lasers. Just as Nemesis started to move away from her own explosive in the vent, he foolishly ran off toward the wafting smoke.

BOOM!

There was another explosion in the Darksyde but not from Rattrap. What the heck was going on?! The rat with wheels didn't stop, however. "Blackarachnia, be on alert," he said over his comm. link to her, "I only caught a glimpse of Inferno, which means de other Preds are up to some- WHOA!" Suddenly his transmission was cut off as he drove straight into someone and closing his green eyes on impact before spinning out of control and coming to a stop.

Just coming out of the smoke was Rattrap in his vehicle mode who rammed straight into Terrorsaur's legs and knocked him down. The Predacon immediately rolled over and growled as he spotted the rodent regaining his traction. "YOU!" In his rage, he fired his optics at him as he laid there on his stomach on the floor.

"Yer marksmanship leaves a lot ta be desired, Needle nose!" the Maximal laughed as he purposely tried making him angrier to distract his aim while he weaved around the blasts and continued driving down the corridor.

"Inferno, report. What just happened?"

Inferno finally stood up, shook his head to regain his composure, and answered Nemesis. "Ah... The rodent... blew the door. He's heading your way!" Igniting his engine that started to spin, he flew off after Rattrap.

Slamming his fist on the floor, Terrorsaur jumped up and flew after the intruder. "We have a rat infestation!" he alerted his comrades. He continued firing short blasts at the Maximal as he tried hitting him, but Rattrap kept his steering spontaneous to make it difficult for him to target him.

Megatron felt the the slight vibration of the explosions in his cryo tank along with his audio sensors picking up the sound. Narrowing his optics with a light growl in his throat, he demanded to know over his comm. link, "What is happening, Nemesis?" He was feeling much better as the majority of his wounds had been repaired, and the puncture in his abdomen was almost finished but needed a little more time.

Even beyond the exterior walls of the Predacons' base Optimus could also hear the explosions which immediately put him on alert. What was that all about? Were Rattrap and Blackarachnia all right? Where was Megatron? Zodiac? Protoform X? Trying not to panic or think the worse since both of them were capable of taking care of themselves and both of them were survivors, he decided to wait until he heard from either of them before jumping into the fray without knowing the situation. Even though Rattrap had mentioned to him earlier about the Viper, there wasn't much else he could do without knowing its location, and only Zodiac had that information as far as he surmised. He was still finding it difficult to believe that it was there... And Nexus's journal... That journal would be the last physical connection he would ever have to his teacher, his mentor, his father figure. Now that he had acquired Aurora's identification chip, he could focus on obtaining the journal and the Viper.

[una]

"I've developed a material Zodiac shouldn't be able to consume or break, so I wanted to coat the walls of the brig with it to prevent him from getting out. "

"That's impressive. And I think that's a great idea."

Whitegrazer was intrigued. "What sort of material?"

"It shouldn't take long. The material actually starts in a liquid form so I can just spray the walls with it and then let it harden. If you want to help, I sure won't refuse the offer, but if you're otherwise preoccupied I don't want to disturb you either."

"As much as I would love to help, I'm afraid I can't at the moment. I have a lot more repairs to do on our auto-guns. But if Whitegrazer isn't busy, she can assist you." He gave them both a smile before cleaning up his station and organizing his equipment there in the infirmary. "When you're finished, let me know, and I'll inspect it just in case any issues arise or we think of any more ideas that will help keep him contained."

"Well, I don't really have anything to do, but wait for our friends to return or keep myself ready, just in case they need backup." It had been awhile since they heard from Rattrap or Blackarachnia or Optimus even. She hoped to hear or see them return soon with Zodiac in tow, hopefully. It wasn't a shame to abmit that she wished she had gone with them or worry about their safety, but worrying about them wouldn;t do any one or herself any good. Also, she trusted them all to not make any unnecessary risks. "I believe it would do me so good to keep my mind occupied at the mean time." She smiled at the little one. Also, she wanted to see this material Aurora was referring to. If it could keep Zodiac in brig without trouble, maybe, just maybe, it would help in her chance to guide the tormented shapeshifter, but that wasn't the only reason. If this worked, maybe it would also be prudent to make a back up brig showered in this material. Just in case.

"My my, I never noticed how vibrant your optics look,"

"Dat's just my rage shinin' through toward you."

Rattrap was letting this shapeshifter get to him. Maybe it was because of disguise since she was aware of how fond the rodent was towards the ermine. Good thing she had no feelings either way. "You know, Zodiac, I think those bracelets would look better tightened, don;t you? You do wear it with style." She smirked.

"His chances of survival are pretty remote," the renegade corrected the spider. Thus far he had seen no proof of that and Megatron had pretty much vanished since he had left him on the floor to bleed out in front of his private, and very much so broken, CR chamber. "And as far as I know, you've made a pretty big target of yourself to the Predacons as well."

"True," Blackarachnia said nonchalantly. "But I'm not the one handcuffed at the moment."

"You could.. But something tells me we wouldn't be having this conversation if that truly was what you intended to do."

Of course, they couldn't actually leave the shapeshifter because they needed him, but she wanted to make it clear to the treacherous shapeshifter that they needed each other, even if it pained her to abmit such a thing. Relying on others wasn't a spiders, nor a widow's, way. She blamed the Maximals for this.

"Oh good, at least now we know dat we both underestimate each other's abilities ta escape this dump alive."

Blackarachnia answered the rodent with a glare as she entered the vent with Zodiac in tow. "I'm sure a rat like you would find some hole to crawl into. This ship is full of them." Like she cared what happened to the rat, but she needed him momentarily, of course.

"So what is the real reason you are hanging out with these Maximals? Wouldn't you rather be able to go out on your own, perhaps even make it back to Cybertron?," he asked. "Because I might just have a way to make that happen.. if you're interested."

Maybe we should discuss business propositions after we get out of here." She turned to wink at Zodiac.

Blackarachnia, be on alert," he said over his comm. link to her, "I only caught a glimpse of Inferno, which means de other Preds are up to some- WHOA!"

"Yo! Ratface! What happened? Hello? Drat." Looks like Rattrap was dealing with some of the Predacons already. Hopefully, she didn't have-BOOOM!! An explosion caught her off guard in front of her. Heat and pieces of the vent blinded her eight eyes as the entire section of the vent that Zodiac and her were inside collapsed. She slid, pulling Zodiac right behind, into a hallway. Because she pulled Zodiac, though, the shapeshifter disguised as the little brat dropped on top of her squishing her body for a moment. She gathered her senses, growling, and pushed Zodiac off her. "Great. Our way has been trashed. We needed to find another way." The best thing for her to do was to escape with Zodiac and find Optimus, but now, that has just gotten harder on her. It was also too dangerous to be in this hallway.

Sooner or later, they would be spotted. Blackarachnia thought of her options. "We will just have to take the longer route back." She pulled Zodiac into the nearest room. It was Terrorsaur's. She smirked. "I don't really care what happens to that rat, but it wouldn't do us any good if he gets captured. We have to thin the herd. Blackarachnia, terrorize!" Blackarachnia started trashing Terrorsaur's room, building a barricade around the door like back at Scorponok's room. "That should get the needlenose's attention." She put Zodiac behind a table she tipped over to cover him just in case they got through barricade before she could find a tunnel."Tarantulas has to have one inside here. He always does." Hopefully, Megatron or Terrorsaur didn't block it off. If so, they would have to use the vents. Again.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Well.. this weekend turned out to be busier than I thought.. I also had some trouble figuring out a response to Una's post since Nemesis had been located right near where BA would have dropped down, so it seems a bit unlikely she'd have time to do all that stuff. But I'll run with it.)

"That's impressive. And I think that's a great idea."

Aurora smiled, grateful for both Rhinox' approving comment which she cherished so much but more so to the skills of her mentor that had so very recently helped her regain her speech.. and likely saved everyone else's sanity.

"What sort of material?"

The fuzor's green optics shifted to Whitegrazer for a moment, curious to find that she was taking an interest in the fuzor's work. Granted, the vok/mare had never neglected the interest in her fellow Maximals, but her demeanor never struck the fuzor as one that was interested in science either. Perhaps there was more the mare had been hiding from them all?

"It's a synthetic material similar in structure to both plastic and fabric and certain metals. It has the strength and magnetic properties of the metal, the elasticity of the fabric, as well as the shape altering properties of plastic until a desired form has been settled on. But unlike real metal, the nanotechnology won't be able to make use of it for fuel. So it should be virtually unbreakable for our shapeshifting friend."


She deliberately placed emphasis on the word, although it should hardly come as a surprise to anyone that the fuzor had less than ideal feelings towards the troublemaker who had tormented them so these past few months.

"As much as I would love to help, I'm afraid I can't at the moment. I have a lot more repairs to do on our auto-guns. But if Whitegrazer isn't busy, she can assist you." "When you're finished, let me know, and I'll inspect it just in case any issues arise or we think of any more ideas that will help keep him contained."

Well.. Rhinox' response hardly surprised her. He was, after all, quite busy with everything that was going on within the base. Not to mention that he always functioned as the voice of reason when situations tended to get a bit heated and out of control. Which they could very well get since Optimus was so attached to his mentor and there was no telling how he would react if Nexus' killer got to him.

Whitegrazer, on the other hand, immediately offered to help. And Aurora, albeit she strictly didn't need too much assistance with such a basic task, wasn't about to decline the offer.

"I believe it would do me so good to keep my mind occupied at the mean time."

"Oh, I'll keep you busy," the fuzor promised as she lead the other female out of the infirmary and to a storage area, where she picked up a few large cans and a couple of what looked like paint guns, handing some of the items to the taller female as they made their way towards the brig.

"Just be careful when you connect the can to the spreader. The content is kept in a warming unit to make sure the substance remains in a semi-liquid form, so try not to splash any on yourself. Once it's allowed to harden, it will be virtually impossible to break, unless, of course, we heat it up again to do it. The bracelets I made work the same way, albeit on a smaller scale. There are heating elements running through each bracelet that allows them to have their shape manipulated until the device is activated, at which point the heating elements turn off and the bracelets stiffen in whatever pose they were in at that time. "


Her warning did not come without merit. Aurora had indeed found herself in the predicament of having gotten the substance stuck to her own walls during the testing phase. And frankly.. most of it was still there. Cleaning up messes had never been her strong point, and after the entire Axalon had nearly sunk in lava all those weeks ago the fuzor had no intention of risking lighting her own walls on fire just to get the goop off.

"You know, Zodiac, I think those bracelets would look better tightened, don;t you? You do wear it with style."

Zodiac had sent the widow something of a grimace at her comment. The bracelets, or cuffs as they seemed like at present, were more than a little snug and didn't leave any wiggle room. But he'd find a way out of them soon enough, of that he was certain, even if he had no idea how they worked or what they were made of. Whatever it was, it was a material his nanomachines weren't accustomed to. And he couldn't manipulate it like he could metal.

"Yeah, us. It would hurt us," Rattrap clarified to Zodiac as he referred to himself and Blackarachnia. "So, no, we're not gonna loosen 'em. Suck it up."

The fake fuzor kept his cool even as the rodent dismissed his earlier suggestion, however little he had expected either one of them to actually listen. "You know.. one thing that really could use some loosening is your tongue. Perhaps when all this is over, I can help you out with that." He followed up with a teasing wink, one so eerily similar to the real Aurora's that it must surely have irked the rodent a bit.

"Dat's just my rage shinin' through toward you."

"Then I must be doing something right," the renegade replied teasingly. It was becoming fairly obvious he was getting to the rat. And the knowledge of it thrilled the shapeshifter, despite the seemingly dire circumstances he was in for the time being. Truthfully he wasn't too concerned just yet. He still had a couple of tricks hidden away.

"True," Blackarachnia said nonchalantly. "But I'm not the one handcuffed at the moment."

The fake fuzor let out a brief sigh, once again inadvertently jerking at the two bracelets keeping his wrists together. Well, the female might have a point. Not that it would matter for much longer though..

"Touche. The bracelets were such a nice gift I almost forgot their intended purpose," he responded with a bit of a grimace. It was an obvious lie, but he really just wanted to disarm their suspicions enough to be able to depart this place. With their company, for now. The Predacons were only interested in killing him on sight after all.

"You coulda just handed me the chip or told me where it was and we'da been on our way, but now I might just be doin' someone a favor bringin' you in so they can speak with you,"

A look of genuine surprise, however brief, showed on the false fuzor's face. Who was the rat talking about now? It couldn't possibly be Optimus.. granted, the rodent wasn't acting nearly as distraught as he had expected. Did they not know, somehow? Surely Whitegrazer must have told them.. If she'd been able to. And she must have, since he already knew the fuzor had made it back to the Axalon somehow. Who else could possibly have helped?

There it was. A slight hint of doubt entering his mind. Was Primal not dead after all? Wasn't that what Whitegrazer had felt that had caused such severe spark pain that it bled through to him? But who else could it possibly be? The fuzor had already been confirmed as still being alive.. And as far as the renegade knew, given his very limited contact with the mare as of late, there were only two individuals who shared that close of a connection with the female.. And one of those individuals was himself. So it had to have been Optimus. But why were these Maximals acting as if they hadn't just suffered such a tragic loss? And who could this individual who wanted to talk to him..? Whitegrazer? But if she wanted to talk, she could easily have reopened the connection. Something was odd here.

He shook his doubts off with a shrug of the shoulders, not caring to dwell on it given how little time they had to get out of here. They were, after all, in very hostile territory. And with Megatron likely dead at the shapeshifter's own hands, chaos was about to erupt at the Darksyde.

"I'm not overly surprised," the renegade then admitted, again shifting his fuzor disguise's green optics to the rat. "As I imagine there's quite a few individuals who would love to have a chat with me."

It wasn't an exaggeration. Indeed, he had left a lot of angered bots in his wake that would no doubt want nothing more than to bring him to justice.. Their justice. In that sense the Maximals almost seemed like the less threatening choice but of course the renegade had other plans. He always planned ahead before making his moves.

"You say that as if you had a choice in de matter,"

"There's always a choice," the renegade corrected the rat, almost cutting him off in his haste to do so. "And right now this..," he started, indicating the two bracelets keeping his wrists secured, "..is my choice. And as much as I'd love to discuss this all in greater detail with you, rat, we need to get going."

"Why does it sound like a curse comin' from you even in Aurora's voice?"

A smile and a wink followed. "You could release me and I would gladly change into something more.. appropriate.," the false fuzor teased. Of course he realized that wasn't going to happen. Not yet. The rat was many things but not that stupid.

He waited as the widow wrapped several layers of webbing around his extended wrists and arms before she proceeded to haul him up through the vents. The rat stayed behind to watch the fireworks from up close. Not close enough as far as the renegade was concerned..

Allowing the widow to tug him along, nearly causing him to loose his balance a time or two since she was able to crawl much better than he was in the fuzor's robot form, but it didn't matter. They made enough distance to be alone, and more importantly away from any explosives, before he addressed her with his proposal.

"Maybe we should discuss business propositions after we get out of here."

"Just making sure you are aware of the rewards for not going along with these Maximals," the renegade added with a somewhat devious smile that was quite unbecoming the disguise he was presently in.

The trap Rattrap had created for the Predacons went off behind them, shaking the vents quite violently for a moment but still left them intact. Zodiac couldn't help glancing back there, making sure the vents weren't about to collapse from such a force, and had just turned back to the female when..

Another, much closer, explosion shook the ventilation system even more violently. The heat from this one was almost unbearable for a moment, and the force of the explosion caused the narrow pathway to collapse in a heap of smoldering metal. Zodiac narrowed his optics, realizing that someone must have discovered their escape route plans.

"Great. Our way has been trashed. We needed to find another way."

Well.. She wasn't wrong. They couldn't go back nor could they go forward. Which only left them with a single option. Dropping down into the presumably occupied hallway underneath the ventilation system.

The two of them dropped down, the fuzor's landing a bit less graceful than he would have liked given how he was partially died up right now. Not that it mattered. He quickly stood back up and looked around, not seeing anyone right away.

"We will just have to take the longer route back."

"You think?," the renegade gaped at her, but he came along as she entered another room, this one seemingly being used. It didn't take long for him to realize it must be Terrorsaur's chambers, the decorations easily giving that much away.

Well.. great then. Hopefully Terrorsaur wouldn't be back any time soon.

"I don't really care what happens to that rat, but it wouldn't do us any good if he gets captured. We have to thin the herd. Blackarachnia, terrorize!"

Okay then.. Another signal for the Predacons to track. What good did the renegade's own signal being invisible to the Predacons' scanners do, when these Maximals and former Predacons kept revealing themselves ?

The widow was quick to start barricading the door, a task the renegade would be more than happy to join in on if he had the use of his hands. But since he didn't, all he could do was just stand there and watch her work.

"That should get the needlenose's attention."

"Yep.. We could always use some more.. attention," the renegade replied, sounding far less enthusiastic than the female about it. It was starting to seem more and more likely that these guys were the ones who would get him captured or killed instead of providing him with a safe way out. And now the female seemed to be looking for something.. A tunnel from the looks of it.

"Tarantulas has to have one inside here. He always does."

"Did you try checking underground?," he inquired with a mocking tone, but he helped her look regardless since it was in his best interest to get out of here.

Meanwhile Nemesis had just rounded the corner when the sound of the two fugitives dropping out of the vents grabbed her attention after her explosion was set off . She peered around the corner, only to see BlackArachnia with the fuzor in tow. And the fuzor was all tied up in the spider's webbing, so obviously that wasn't the real Aurora.

Zodiac..

"Wouldn't you think it might be a trap if one of them transformed knowing they would be detected?"

Terrorsaur's words still lingered in her mind and by now they seemed to have been confirmed. At the time Nemesis had agreed with him, but she had to admit it was a bit surprising seeing the widow was the seclusive partner the rat must have been working with.

"Probably," she had told the pterodactyl via a private channel, "But it won't change the outcome regardless."

Of course seeing their other target and discovering that the Maximals already had their primary target in tow complicated things slightly.. Nothing she couldn't handle, however.

"It would be my pleasure!"

"That came from Scorponok's quarters!"

It would, of course, be easier if her fellow Predacons weren't so quick to rush into what could be a trap. But there was little she could do to stop them so she just let them go. They would learn soon enough.. provided they didn't get themselves blown up in the process.

She watched in silence as the widow looked around for a place to stash away before apparently selecting her target.. Which ironically was Terrorsaur's room. Nemesis couldn't help the smile that crept up on her face as the widow approached the room with the sneaky traitor in tow. That is until Inferno reported back at least..

"Ah... The rodent... blew the door. He's heading your way!"

The rodent.. Rattrap, of course. The smile quickly faded upon realizing who this pest was they were facing. The rat might be small, but he packed a lot of explosives and had proven to be quite resourceful at times. Oh well, first things first..

And that is when Megatron contacted her, revealing that he wasn't just out of his cryo bath but seemed to be functioning again. Thank Primus..

"What is happening, Nemesis?"

"There's a slight infestation problem," she responded to Megatron before addressing the entire crew, including their commanding officer.

"All available Predacons reconvene at my location," Nemesis told them all via private transmission. "We've located the traitor.. as well as some unwanted Maximals who have decided to join him."

Upon seeing the widow enter the chamber, Nemesis made her approach with fast steps. They had already attempted to barricade themselves in the other room before sabotaging it with one of the rat's explosives, so Nemesis couldn't have them use that same approach again.. And with Rattrap coming her way, she didn't have much time on her hands either.

Placing her foot in the doorway to prevent it from closing all the way, Nemesis immediately threw a grenade into the room, aiming it at the ventilation access point as to prevent the two from making that escape again.

"Going somewhere?," she asked the widow as she pried the doors open while the spider had been busy attempting to build a barricade. Her optics then immediately settled on the fake fuzor, who was cringing when he saw her.

Just great! Could this day possibly get any worse? Zodiac frantically looked from Nemesis in the door to BlackArachnia, who was a little closer to him. "Now would be a very good time to release me," he urged her, wanting the use of his powers back so he could fight Nemesis on more equal terms.

The avian female smirked upon hearing him say those words, having pulled out her weapon to aim it at the spider. The widow was, after all, the only one that could potentially cause any harm since the renegade was quite obviously tied up at the moment.

"Why Zodiac, are you leaving so soon? I have yet to repay you for the impeccable experience I had at the Axalon thanks to you.."

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"It's a synthetic material similar in structure to both plastic and fabric and certain metals. It has the strength and magnetic properties of the metal, the elasticity of the fabric, as well as the shape altering properties of plastic until a desired form has been settled on. But unlike real metal, the nanotechnology won't be able to make use of it for fuel. So it should be virtually unbreakable for our shapeshifting friend."

Like Rhinox said, impressive. Aurora's creativity never ceased to amaze the engineer. It was scientists like her that would create the next generation of intuitive inventions and compassion without harming others. Her research and approach to new science would eliminate the need to test on any bots or organics thus never subjecting anyone to torture or exploitation. He was almost certain that given the opportunity, Optimus would gladly fund such research. On the other hand, perhaps their leader wouldn't want anything to do with science any longer if they ever made it back to Cybertron on account of his involvements with Zodiac and Protoform X, and of course his forced leadership into this war. Maybe he'd take a look into politics to repair what the Elders had corrupted and continue his role in diplomacy, or perhaps he would become one of Cybertron's ambassadors. Would he seek another chance for space exploration? Who could know. As things were on Earth, one thing for certain was that Primal wasn't focused on his future on Cybertron; he was focused on leading his crew through this survival-of-the-fittest. His fate was still uncertain as was all of theirs, but his priority and responsibility was to ensure the safety and existence of his Axalon family.

After grabbing some tools and equipment, Rhinox lugged it up through the command center's roof hatch to clamber around on their broken ship's roof and begin working on the destroyed auto-guns while Sentinel's defenses were off-line along with the shields. He had paused for a moment to thoughtfully look in the Darksyde's direction as his friends' well-being tugged at the back of his mind. It was difficult to concentrate when they had no communication from them due to the distance between the two stranded vessels not knowing how they were doing and if any of them were injured or captured. Sighing, the robust Maximal turned to his work and knelt down as he began repairing one autogun at a time.

-----

"You know, Zodiac, I think those bracelets would look better tightened, don;t you? You do wear it with style."

As much as Rattrap would love to tighten them enough to make his hands fall off, that would then mean that the bracelets would also slip off and then Zodiac could probably just grow more hands or reattach the ones that would've been on the floor. Nope, Rattrap wasn't going to tighten them any further, and fortunately he had kept their remote with him. It was highly unlikely that Blackarachnia or anyone would be able to get them off without their "key".

"You know.. one thing that really could use some loosening is your tongue. Perhaps when all this is over, I can help you out with that."

"My tongue works just fine, especially if it's gettin' on yer nerves," Rattrap had returned to the shape shifter knowing full well how annoying he could be. Optimus told him so all the time.

"Then I must be doing something right,"

"Pfff. No, dis happens all the time when I encounter Preds," he partially lied and tried to brush off once he realized that Zodiac was right. "Don't count yerself special."

"I'm not overly surprised," "As I imagine there's quite a few individuals who would love to have a chat with me."

"Yeah, well, you might wish dat Optimus was still around," Rattrap fibbed and hoped Blackarachnia would keep up with the facade if she had to, "'cause who knows what we have in store for yer future, especially with all the interrogations dat're bound ta happen durin' your stay with us. And if Megs is still alive, I'm sure yer his number one target. Lucky you!" he managed to say in a happier tone as if Zodiac had just won the lottery. "Despite all the times you tried killin' our fearless leader, he woulda tried preventing Megatron from takin' yer life, but I guess dat's all under the bridge now. If it were up ta me, I'd hand ya over ta Megajerk on a silver platter, but I got orders ta follow." Hopefully that would keep Zodiac guessing, but disregarding his failures, he was intelligent, and it wasn't so easy to trick him.

"There's always a choice," "And right now this..," "..is my choice. And as much as I'd love to discuss this all in greater detail with you, rat, we need to get going."

"No, dat's an obligation because you can't get outta those," Rattrap corrected him even though he knew what he meant. He had to keep pushing his buttons after all. "Meanin' yer comin' with us whether you want to or not."

"You could release me and I would gladly change into something more.. appropriate.,"

The rat had shook his head and rolled his optics. Yeah, like dat'll happen, he thought sarcastically. although he would have very much preferred Zodiac take a different disguise, or even use his own form. ...Of course, then he would have been too big to sneak around.

"I'm sure a rat like you would find some hole to crawl into. This ship is full of them."

The small Maximal had given her sarcastic grin and waved to her as they disappeared into the ventilation shaft above. Ugh, spiders... and Preds... Dey make me sick.

"There's a slight infestation problem,"

A deep growl erupted in Megatron's throat as he ground his teeth together since her interesting choice of words led him to believe that the intrusion had something to do with that opportunistic and resourceful Maximal rodent. But her words also suggested that there was more than one intruder. Who could it have been? And did it include Zodiac? Balling his hand into a fist, he squeezed it tightly while he imagined himself grabbing the pretender by his head and slowly twisting it off, completely decapitating him.

"All available Predacons reconvene at my location," "We've located the traitor.. as well as some unwanted Maximals who have decided to join him."

What on Earth could the Maximals possibly want now?! How dare they infiltrate his base of operations! And the "traitor"... Which traitor was she referring to? Megatron had plenty of them by now. Zodiac? Blackarachnia? She wouldn't dare risk her life returning to this place much less work with Rattrap to help the Maximals. Clearly, Nemesis was letting him down and things were getting out of hand, so he needed to reclaim his Predacon leadership and now. As he quickly stood up in the CR tank, a sharp pain in his abdomen from Zodiac's earlier impalement caused him to double-over and grimace. Perhaps he wasn't quite repaired yet to take on anymore battles at the moment... Of course, this only infuriated him more with how long this repair cycle was taking. However, he had to consider that the shape shifter had almost killed him, and NO ONE was EVER going to come close to doing that AGAIN. ...And he couldn't help but remind himself that it was Nemesis who saved him and whom he had entrusted his life to before any of the other Predacons like Terrorsaur and Tarantulas could take advantage of his weakened state. Slowly and carefully, he sat back down in the cryo fluid and impatiently waited to hear more updates as to what was transpiring out there beyond the room he was located in. As much as he wanted to know the details of the situation, and the names of those involved, he didn't want to distract Nemesis from doing her job. There was still a fragment of hope that she wouldn't fail him... and that the other imbeciles wouldn't mess things up.

"Yehaw! I'm on my way!" Quickstrike joyfully announced over the transmission. Being bored out of his mind guarding Nightstar, he hated that he was missing all of the fun elsewhere, and now that fun included Maximals! He couldn't wait to slag them! He immediately ran off and toward Nemesis's location.

Inferno was already on his way since he wasn't far behind Terrorsaur who was chasing the vermin-on-wheels down the corridor.

"Yo! Ratface! What happened? Hello? Drat."

"Eh, I ran into a speed bump," Rattrap finally responded to Blackarachnia while he drove down the dimly lit hall with Terrorsaur on his tail. Shots, blasts and wheels screeching on the floor could be heard in the background. "I'm tryin' ta lead 'em away from ya, so don't be layin' around on de job, and get outta here!" he emphasized. He couldn't believe he was putting his skid plate on the line for both of them! Driving past Terrorsaur's quarters, unaware that Nemesis was in there after Blackarachnia and Zodiac, Rattrap spotted some crates at the end of the corridor and purposely pile-drove himself into them. Debris and objects went flying everywhere after the loud crash, and the higher crates toppled over and fell on top of him. It provided the perfect cover for him while he transformed to his robot mode underneath the junk.

Terrorsaur smirked in his annoying voice as he watched the rodent crash and landed on the floor near his quarters. "Well, well, well. It looks like my former lieutenant finally got himself trapped. There's no where to go, Rattrap. Surrender to me or I'll blow your wheels and your tiny paws off." The cautious TransMetal Predacon started to walk toward the pile until he came to his quarters and noticed his door was open. "Hey!"

Inferno landed just behind his comrade and curiously looked from the messy junk pile to Terrorsaur and then to his quarters. "Where is the rodent?!" he demanded to know.

"What are you doing in my quarters?!" Terrorsaur inquired accusingly toward Nemesis as he peered in to find his room a mess but couldn't see past her to notice Blackarachnia and Zodiac trying to escape. He didn't even hear Inferno behind him since he was so engrossed in finding out what she was doing making a mess in his private room even though she wasn't the one who had tried barricading the door.

"Right here, ya exoskeleton sideshow freak!" Rattrap announced after he stood up and threw off the debris and crates that were hiding him. Some of it flew in Inferno's direction who then had to smack it away from himself which gave Rattrap the opportunity to pull out another nifty gadget that he and Aurora had developed. Granted it was for mostly meant for those who had nanotech armor like Nemesis and Zodiac, but it would still be effective on anyone who was made of metal. There were two little puck-like devices that he pulled out, and he quickly tossed one in Inferno's direction and then another at Terrorsaur. Both of them immediately stuck to their armor with their strong magnetic attraction and with a tiny remote in his other hand, he increased the voltage and was just about to press a button that would activate them...

Inferno fired at Rattrap first before he desperately tried getting the small object off of his upper leg with his free hand where it had attached itself to, but the rodent ducked as the predictable firepower flew over him, and he pressed the button regardless. The tall fire ant cried out in pain as an electrocuting surge flowed through his leg and up into his chest. He was forced to drop his weapon and crumble to his knees.

The same power surge happened to Terrorsaur who had been too foolishly preoccupied with the occupants in his room to realize was happening behind him. He cried out as his body flashed and jolted and forced him to the floor with his limbs twitching involuntarily.

Satisfied with another successful test, Rattrap grinned proudly at his work, but it wouldn't last long. A bright green flash suddenly flew past him and hit the wall behind him. Gasping, he looked over and found Quickstrike running toward him as he fired more of his gross venom. Shot after shot came at Rattrap which forced him to retreat, at least momentarily, until he could find another opportunity. He hoped what he had done to Inferno and Terrorsaur was enough to help Blackarachnia and Zodiac; well, and himself.

"Stand an' fight, ya cowardly vermin!" the Predacon Fuzor hollered as he chased him down.

"Uh, no? I ain't stupid, 'two head'," the Spy mocked both Quickstrike and Waspinator who often called the Fuzor by that name. Wielding his gun with his free hand while he kept the wireless button in his other in order to keep the 'dactyl and the ant down, he strafed Quickstrike's next two shots and then fired back as he was chased down a nearby corridor.

"I reckon some would argue that it was pretty dumb of you ta wander on in here startin' a shoot-out," the small Fuzor returned before he ducked and dodged Rattrap's returned fire.

"I reckon yer the last idiot standing an' you think you actually gotta chance against de likes of me," he distracted him with his words while he stopped and turned around spotting something beneficial and fired at a nearby pipe next to his opponent on the wall while smirking.

"Put yer money where yer mouth is, ya slaggi-" POOSH! Quickstrike was blown across the hallway as the pressure from the steam in the exploding pipe smacked him off of his feet.

But the loud hissing and the now steamy corridor made it difficult for Rattrap to know just how injured the Predacon was. He soon found out when one last, lonely green shot was fired off which nailed Rattrap in the shoulder when he tried strafing away from it. He cursed under his breath and dropped the button that that arm was holding as the venom traveled and made his arm, shoulder and that side of his chest and back numb. The paralysis started to creep down to his leg, so he fell to a knee. In anger, he lifted his gun and fired it repeatedly in the last direction he heard Quickstrike hit. It sounded as though his gunfire hit a body, and he was sure he heard some painful groaning before it got quiet as the hissing steam calmed down, so he lowered his weapon and tried shaking off the venom.

Terrorsaur and Inferno started to grumble as well as move a little bit down the hall. No doubt they'd be pretty angry once they regain consciousness from the strong electrocution. Rattrap would have to get out of there quickly. "You guys out yet or what?" the rodent asked Blackarachnia over his comm. link. He couldn't just leave them behind... as much as he wanted to and save his own hide.

[una]

"It's a synthetic material similar in structure to both plastic and fabric and certain metals. It has the strength and magnetic properties of the metal, the elasticity of the fabric, as well as the shape altering properties of plastic until a desired form has been settled on. But unlike real metal, the nanotechnology won't be able to make use of it for fuel. So it should be virtually unbreakable for our shapeshifting friend."

Aurora never ceased to amaze her with her creativity and skills. This material would help if the others could capture Zodiac successfully and safely. She didn't like the idea of imprisoning him, but until she could talk to him, guide him, show him more to life than his vengeance and the pain of his past life, it must be this way. Maybe once she had that chance, Zodiac could be freed and become an ally. That wasn't the only thing she was thinking about, though. Despite what the others believed, she did feel a slight dread about what was happening to her and the rest of her people. This virus hanging over their heads. They couldn't allow this virus to succeed nor cause damage to this planet or people she cared about. Aurora's new material gave her some relief, though. If this material could keep Zodiac in place, safely and without error. It gave her hope to an uncertain future, their uncertain future.

"Oh, I'll keep you busy," the fuzor promised as she lead the other female out of the infirmary and to a storage area, where she picked up a few large cans and a couple of what looked like paint guns, handing some of the items to the taller female as they made their way towards the brig.

"I'm sure you will," she smiled at the little one, walking beside her as they headed towards the storage area. Aurora handed her some of the items she picked up from the storage area and held on to them as they walked out and towards the brig.

"Just be careful when you connect the can to the spreader. The content is kept in a warming unit to make sure the substance remains in a semi-liquid form, so try not to splash any on yourself. Once it's allowed to harden, it will be virtually impossible to break, unless, of course, we heat it up again to do it. The bracelets I made work the same way, albeit on a smaller scale. There are heating elements running through each bracelet that allows them to have their shape manipulated until the device is activated, at which point the heating elements turn off and the bracelets stiffen in whatever pose they were in at that time. "

"I will make sure to be careful with it," she said. As they made their way to the brig, Whitegrazer thought about the others for a second. With no communication with them, and her link not yet back with Optimus, she had no idea what was going on. Part of her couldn't wait to see they all flying back to base with Zodiac in tow and hopefully, he didn't destroy Aurora's ID chip. At least, they fixed Aurora's speech processor. That was a victory. Her thoughts went back to her connection with Optimus, then towards Aurora. That made her remember something.

"Aurora, during our connection to each other, what did you feel or experience?"

"You know.. one thing that really could use some loosening is your tongue. Perhaps when all this is over, I can help you out with that."

Blackarachnia shook her head, making a tsk tsk noise, "I'm sorry, I'm sure that soft of thing has a waiting list. You will have to get in line." She looked at Rattrap with a wink before chuckling.

"Then I must be doing something right,"

"Touche. The bracelets were such a nice gift I almost forgot their intended purpose,"

"Maybe, if you be a good boy, I will loosen for you." That was lie. Blackarachnia knew then to loosen them up. She might not be a witness to all the damage and pain Zodiac has caused with the Maximals, but sneaking around the base and seeing their cameras, when they weren't looking, of course, and hearing conversations of past actions, she didn't want to be Zodiac's next victim.

"I'm not overly surprised," the renegade then admitted, again shifting his fuzor disguise's green optics to the rat. "As I imagine there's quite a few individuals who would love to have a chat with me."

"Yeah, well, you might wish dat Optimus was still around," Rattrap fibbed and hoped Blackarachnia would keep up with the facade if she had to, "'cause who knows what we have in store for yer future, especially with all the interrogations dat're bound ta happen durin' your stay with us. And if Megs is still alive, I'm sure yer his number one target. Lucky you!" he managed to say in a happier tone as if Zodiac had just won the lottery. "Despite all the times you tried killin' our fearless leader, he woulda tried preventing Megatron from takin' yer life, but I guess dat's all under the bridge now. If it were up ta me, I'd hand ya over ta Megajerk on a silver platter, but I got orders ta follow."

Blackarachnia had noticed some subtle details as they conversed. She looked at Rattrap then at Zodiac. Zodiac had been making subtle hints about some sort of victory over someone, and it wasn't what Megatron had done to him. Thoughout the conversations and banters, Zodiac seemed almost like Megatron when he emerged victories over his enemies. The only one, besides Megatron, was Optimus. She noticed Rattrpa was reluctant to mention Optimus' name and Zodiac seemed utterly delighted at poking something at them that confused them. Of course, both Rattrap and herself hid that confusion towards themselves. If it had something to do with Optimus, maybe they shouldn't allow Zodiac to think otherwise? She didn't care, but she didn;t want Zodiac to become desperate. Desperate enemies made dangerous enemies.

"I don't know why that white mare of yours is so adamant of us bringing him alive." Blackarachnia said. "You would think after what he has done, she wouldn't care nor mind what we do to him. I know, if put into that position, what I would do." Blackarachnia smirked, shrugging her shoulders. "Sometimes, I think you Maximals must enjoy pain and suffering. I mean, if this your thing, you could do it in other ways." Blackarachnia looked at Rattrap with the same smirk.

"Just making sure you are aware of the rewards for not going along with these Maximals,"

"Oh, the Maximals had their uses." Blackarachnia said in a playful tone.

As she made her way inside Terrorsaur's quarters, despite Zodiac's sarcastic quips that almost made her what to leave Zodiac to the hands of Nemesis and Megatron, if he survived, which part of her believed he did because grapeface wasn't an easy bot to put down, she yanked Zodiac a little hard to shut him p as she barricaded the door, but then a not-so-friendly face showed up, plying the doors open.

"Eh, I ran into a speed bump," Rattrap finally responded to Blackarachnia while he drove down the dimly lit hall with Terrorsaur on his tail. Shots, blasts and wheels screeching on the floor could be heard in the background. "I'm tryin' ta lead 'em away from ya, so don't be layin' around on de job, and get outta here!"

"So have I," Blackarachnia grumbled. "Our way to Trantulas' old lair is now trashed, thanks to an explosive.There is another way, but it would take us a little longer to get there. Blackarachnia said entering in Terrorsur's quarters with Nemesis quickly gaining behind them. Nemesis probably was the culprit.

"Going somewhere?,"

"It's socially polite to knock and say hello first," Blackarachnia sneered as she throw a pipe against Nemesis' exposed head. Part of Blackarchnia liked the avian , but she had a job to do and she couldn't allow the avian to get in the way. Also, as she covered her head and pulling Zodiac a bit closer to her, so no shrapnel injured him in the process, she needed to return the favor. Nemesis planted a foot in teh doorwar, making it diffcult to complete her barricade, and now Zodiac and her were trapped. Great. Perfect. All because she decided to help and ease the fire behind Rattrap. Why did she do that? Why didn't she leave? Slag it all! She was a black widow spider. Survivial! Survival first!

"Now would be a very good time to release me,"

"Why Zodiac, are you leaving so soon? I have yet to repay you for the impeccable experience I had at the Axalon thanks to you.."

Blackarachnia knocked Nemesis'weapon out of her hands, knocking across the floor. "As much as I would enjoy a reunion between the two of you, business before pleasure." Blackarachnia's pincher went straight towards Nemesis.

"You guys out yet or what?

"Not yet, we have to deal with a little birdie first," Blackarachnai answered Rattrap through the com-link.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Well.. First off my apologies for being so insanely late with this post! The past week has been extremely busy and I've barely had time to catch my breath, much less sleep, with 2 birthdays I had to plan within days of each other, getting a new job, and making arrangements to leave my old job. I've been there for 5 1/2 years now so the decision to leave is bittersweet, but this new job offer was simply too good to turn down. 12.5 hour shifts three days a week, a work place only 6 minutes from my house, and a 4 1/2 dollars per hour pay raise with a much better nurse to patient ratio.. I couldn't say no! Anyways, I've just been so busy getting everything in order and for that I apologize. Also.. BA did an awful lot of moves that I'm not sure I agree should be feasible but I'll do what I can.)

While Rhinox went on to repair the autoguns to be prepared in the not too unlikely event that Megatron and his Predacons would launch an attack on the Maximals, Aurora ventured into the brig with the taller Whitegrazer in tow. Albeit easily distracted from time to time, the fuzor could also be very task oriented. It was a trait that certainly helped given her scientific background and work, but it also helped her, as an individual, to force those unwanted doubts and lingering pain from the losses in her life out of her mind. And right now it was helping her to maintain focus, at least to some extent, and not dwell on how worried she was about Rattrap and Optimus being out there while trying to bring someone as unpredictable as the shape shifting renegade to justice.

The fuzor had briefly accessed the computer's records of their whereabouts, but it had lost track of them when they ventured into Predacon territory. Which, not surprisingly, was the last known location of her own identification chip as well. It was becoming evident that is where Zodiac had gone to, but why? Why would he risk so much by going to the home of the Predacons when he knew so perfectly well they wanted him dead?

Puzzled, the fuzor glanced over at Whitegrazer, wondering if she could offer some insight.

"Can you sense them?," Aurora asked, "Are they all right?"

Yes, she knew the other white female didn't want to pry or invade anyone's privacy. And for some reason this also applied to her connection with Zodiac. It would have been so simple for her to use that link to get valuable information, but she didn't. For some reason Whitegrazer refused to open that connection to anyone, aside from the link she had established with the little fuzor herself to better communicate with her.

"Is it the virus?," she then asked, a bit more hesitantly, "Is it limiting your powers in any way?"

It was a valid concern given the individual who had given her the virus in the first place, in order to save them all from the Vok. And ever since the Vok had gone into hiding and were nowhere to be found. Still.. Tarantulas was very much so still out there.. and he didn't do anything for free without some benefit to himself. But at the same time, they had no idea what they were dealing with so messing too much with the dormant virus could make matters so much worse.

As they approached the brig, Aurora quickly demonstrated how to use the paint gun before they both entered the confined space. The cell she had selected wasn't among the smallest ones, perhaps due to the fuzor feeling a small bit of pity towards someone who had proven to be too dangerous to be allowed to roam free. So despite her plans to make the space impenetrable to the renegade and his metal consumption abilities, she also wanted to make it at least a little bit comfortable. In time that is.

"I will make sure to be careful with it,"

"If you don't, I'll find out soon enough," the fuzor teased while loading her paint gun. She had already started coating the walls when Whitegrazer suddenly asked her something that seemed important to her.

"Aurora, during our connection to each other, what did you feel or experience?"

The fuzor hesitated before responding, partially due to not being sure what the other female meant but also because she was engrossed in what she was doing right now.

"Calmness.. Like a soothing sensation," she responded after a brief pause to contemplate, albeit she still wasn't sure what Whitegrazer had been referring to exactly. Unbeknownst to her, the connection that had been established with the other female wasn't as pure or intense as it had been with the two individuals the mare had connected the most deeply with. Optimus had been a voluntary connection on both parts, she imagined, while the bond the other female shared with the renegade was certainly one that had been forcefully formed by circumstances beyond their control. Either way, the little fuzor couldn't feel as much as the other two did. Not by a long shot. Instead it was more the convenience of being able to communicate without being in direct contact with the other one, a voice inside her, but still not so much Whitegrazer's presence.

"My tongue works just fine, especially if it's gettin' on yer nerves,"

"I'm sorry, I'm sure that soft of thing has a waiting list. You will have to get in line."

The spider did have a point. Rattrap was one of the Maximals that likely had a rather long and intricate list of enemies, formed both as a result of his personality but also during his time as a spy both on Cybertron and then later here on Earth. In some ways the rodent shared certain similarities with the renegade, and perhaps had things been different the two could have crossed paths as something other than enemies. But things were as they were and frankly.. the renegade couldn't wait to seek out the rodent's old self when he returned to the future, a future that was ironically in their past, and then finally put an end to the pest before he ever had a chance to sign up as part of the Axalon crew.

"Evidently it must be a long line. And even my patience has its limits,"
he quipped, still maintaining Aurora's voice if only to prove a point.

"Pfff. No, dis happens all the time when I encounter Preds," he partially lied and tried to brush off once he realized that Zodiac was right. "Don't count yerself special."

The fake fuzor had smiled at that, a smile that went from the normally sweet and genuine smile that Aurora would portray to something a lot more vicious. Yes, the rodent was good at hiding his true intent, but then again.. they were both trained spies. Well, technically the renegade viewed himself as more of a specialist since his missions involved more than merely infiltrating and obtaining information.

"Maybe, if you be a good boy, I will loosen for you."

And hearing BlackArachnia present her fake offer to loosen his bonds didn't reduce the smile any, of course he realized she would never do it. He might not know her as well as the others and she was, as such, a bit of a wild card. But he had hopes her loyalty to the Maximals was as fleeting as it had been to the Predacons.. and when he got her alone, he would just have to test that.

Then the smile faded and his voice took on a more serious tone as he addressed the rat's accusing tone.

"It's always so black and white to you, isn't it? I suppose it's easier in our field of work to view the world in black and white, when in truth there are so many more nuances. You want to know the real difference between Maximals and Predacons? The latter doesn't try nearly so hard to hide their indiscretions."


There was a hint of resentment and bitterness in his voice as he uttered those words. Indeed, he had seen both sides of the conflict up front. In fact for a while he had been working under the Maximal banner, even if it hadn't been by choice.

"Yeah, well, you might wish dat Optimus was still around,"

Now the rodent truly caught the renegade's attention and he looked over at him. Was he saying what it sounded like he was saying?

"'cause who knows what we have in store for yer future, especially with all the interrogations dat're bound ta happen durin' your stay with us. And if Megs is still alive, I'm sure yer his number one target. Lucky you!"

Interrogations that could only happen if they managed to bring him back to the Axalon.. something that Zodiac was determined to avoid. As for Megatron, there was a slight doubt starting to form about whether or not the tyrant had truly died on the floor of his private chambers. It had seemed like an inevitable outcome at the time, but the rodent did have a valid point.. The shape shifter had never checked to make sure, he never got the chance to since he had instead tried to get out before the Predacons sounded the alarms. Alas.. he failed at getting out on time.

"Despite all the times you tried killin' our fearless leader, he woulda tried preventing Megatron from takin' yer life, but I guess dat's all under the bridge now. If it were up ta me, I'd hand ya over ta Megajerk on a silver platter, but I got orders ta follow."

Was Rattrap all of a sudden confirming Primal's demise though? During their entire conversation so far, the rat had avoided bringing up the topic of his recently departed leader.. Why would he be doing it now?

Zodiac eyed the rodent a bit suspiciously, but he didn't say anything for a few nanoclicks. It did sound as if Rattrap was confirming his earlier suspicions about Optimus being dead.. yet he didn't seem especially phased by it. While it was true some Maximals refused to show weakness in front of their enemies, it wasn't many of them that mastered the art of shutting themselves off from their emotions like that. Perhaps he had underestimated the rat. Or perhaps the rodent Maximal was trying to mislead him. He really couldn't tell.. And still no sign from Whitegrazer. He hadn't felt anything from her since that traumatic event where it felt like his spark chamber was about to crack open.

It must have been Optimus.. Nobody else had that kind of bond with the white female. Yet logic and his observations weren't necessarily pointing to the same answer this time.

Whose orders?, he wanted to ask the rodent. And he nearly did, only stopping himself at the last possible moment. Rhinox? It must be. The bulkier male who rarely left the base was the only obvious one it could be. But if Primal was truly gone, how come the Maximals weren't in disarray right now? The last time it happened, before the renegade arrived on this planet, the rest of them had almost succumbed to Megatron's wrath following the demise of their leader. Only to be rescued by his untimely resurrection at the last minute. He had learned as much from Megatron's boasting and the files he had pulled off of the Axalon's computer.

"That all sounds most unfortunate for you," he finally responded, attempting to not give away too much of the internal turmoil this topic was stirring within him. "But I'm sure you'll still land on your feet.. oh wait, that's what cats do. What is it rats do again? Oh yeah.. They serve as food for those higher on the food chain."

He finished up with a slight smirk, but still he didn't sound quite as confident as before.

"I don't know why that white mare of yours is so adamant of us bringing him alive." Blackarachnia said. "You would think after what he has done, she wouldn't care nor mind what we do to him. I know, if put into that position, what I would do." Blackarachnia smirked, shrugging her shoulders. "Sometimes, I think you Maximals must enjoy pain and suffering. I mean, if this your thing, you could do it in other ways."

"Ah yes, that white mare of yours is quite flawed in her reasoning," the fake fuzor responded, pretending the female hadn't had an effect on him at all. Oh how he wished it was true and that she didn't.

But the very fact he found himself even thinking about her from time to time, was frustrating. And puzzling. And frankly.. downright insulting to him. She had become a bit of an achilles heel, an unwanted potential weakness he would definitely have to destroy when he got back to Cybertron. She might not use her powers against him now, but she had demonstrated all too clearly in the past that she was capable of inflicting pain as well as being a constant presence in his mind. A nuisance he simply couldn't get rid of right now. But back on Cybertron, he most certainly would. And then all this would be nothing but a sore memory to him.

The female spider brought him with her through the vents and then as they dropped down to the main level after the explosive went off. And fortunately she did seem a bit more keen on hearing what he had to say than the rat was.

"Oh, the Maximals had their uses."

"Had?," he repeated, tilting his head questioningly as she pulled him along using her webbing to do so. The spider was leading him towards another room, yet the sounds of foot steps following them made it clear they were not alone. Zodiac didn't see who it was, not until he was already secured inside the room while the spider attempted to barricade the door, but the foot preventing the door from closing made it all too clear who was on their trail.. And the voice only reaffirmed his suspicions.

BlackArachnia threw something.. he couldn't quite make out what it was until the pipe smacked across Nemesis' cheek, leaving a gash in its wake. And the avian female sneered back at the spider, her optics narrowing as her hand instinctively went up to her wounded face. But by the time her hand reached her face, the wound had already started to close up, leaving no trace of what just happened, at which point Nemesis used her other hand to aim her weapon at the two troublemakers.

"What are you doing in my quarters?!"

"You have some uninvited house guests," the female responded, still not budging since she didn't want the two traitors to escape.

"It's socially polite to knock and say hello first,"

"And you're also not supposed to show up uninvited. You two are trespassing and I can't simply let that go. However.. Of course I can be reasoned with," the avian female told the spider, "You can still leave this place alive, BlackArachnia. My target is our traitorous friend over there," she said in an accusing tone as her optics shifted to where Zodiac was hiding behind the table, hoping the spider would take the bait and merely take off instead of putting up a fight.

Zodiac sighed as he glanced from the spider, who was strangely enough protecting him, and the larger female equipped with nanomachines like his own. The spider was brave, he'd give her that much, but also very foolish. Unless she managed to get close enough to inject her venom into Nemesis, there was not much hope that any of her weapons could harm the larger female. And said female held a grudge against him that could likely level the whole room.

BlackArachnia pulled him a little closer, trying to shield him from the debris that came flying towards them, before she went on the offensive against the other female. Were the protective instincts that came with being a Maximal in nature, despite the Predacon re-programming, showing through? Zodiac wasn't planning on sticking around to find out and immediately started looking for another way out.

"As much as I would enjoy a reunion between the two of you, business before pleasure."

Nemesis had gotten caught off guard as the smaller female rushed towards her and kicked the weapon out of her hands, however she was quick to retaliate by using her leg to kick the femme away while pulling out her sai and sword instead.

"Not the wisest decision you ever made," she then hissed at the other female, pointing the sharp sai at her as she spoke. "But very well, it appears you've made your choice. Now you'll have to suffer the consequences."


She lunged at the other female, attempting to trap her with the sharp prongs of the sai.