Time Is But A Window

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

“Hmm, I can give it a shot Optimus, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.”

"That's all I ask," Optimus told Wintersong calmly while referring to the meditation.

“But if not, plenty of dead trees in the forest to use, my claws could always use a good sharpening.”

The gorilla gave a chuckle to her sense of humor, which was a relief to see coming from her especially when he was about to find out how far her aggression was going.

“Still, I’ll try anything at this point if it slows down this process.”

He contemplated that for a moment. He wasn't sure they could slow it down, or even stop it. And that troubled him, but probably more so her since it was affecting her very being. "Maybe there's something I can do with the link," he offered albeit cautiously because he didn't know how it worked, and the last thing he wanted to do was make things worse for both of them. But there was also that strange anomaly that he was capable of producing with his spark that seemed to touch everyone. Of course, he had even less understanding and control of it than he did with their Vol-related link to each other. But at least he had enough experience with his bond with Whitegrazer to have a place to start from.

“Subtle Optimus.” “Most times they communicate in their language, which I still don’t understand but when they do talk it’s for my hard headed ness and stubborn will not to bend to their wishes. Kinda irritates them.”

"Just be careful with your resistance, Wintersong," he warned her. "We don't know if there's anything they can make you do against your will." Although Primal understood all too well how little the aliens compromised for anything which made it difficult to reason with them. Often the best course of action was to stop them or fight them. It was always their way and no one else's. Even Whitegrazer had had trouble working with them, but she had been exiled and outcast from her own kin.

"Occasinally I’m brought back to their...home, a bright nebula of some kind when I’m asleep. All they seem to talk about is Earth and changing its course, like they have a secondary plan but I don’t entirely understand it myself.”

Optimus looked bewildered when she confessed that to him. "It's not a dream?" he wanted to clarify. "Some part of your entity or conscience is actually transported to Nexus Zero?" Was that even possible? Well, what wasn't by now in this complicated war? Nothing should surprise him at this point. But what about this "secondary plan" she mentioned? What else did they have in store for them? They had been quiet so far since their last encounter, and he had foolishly hoped that it would have stayed that way. Briefly, he wondered if there was anything she could gather from that, but he wasn't willing to put her in such danger.

“I just know the more I resist the more they try to take control.”

"Take control how?" he wanted more details if she could provide them. "How confident are you in your ability to keep them subdued?" the leader asked the tigress on his hover board. She would have to do her best without harming herself or others until they could determine other ways to help her. But he was clearly very concerned about her. She was dealing with them personally on a daily basis whereas he merely suffered from the remnants and after affects of his encounters with them.

“If Rhinox has the time, we can try and see what he can find. In the meantime, I’ll keep an optic on my behavior to try and help where I can.”

"If you can log anything unusual every time it happens, and be as descriptive as you can, maybe there's a pattern or a cycle we can work with. Anything could probably be helpful for us," he suggested.

“Both.” “I was willing to kill Spineback today Optimus for nearly hurting Rattrap then snapped at him after.”

The Maximal Commander fell silent for a few moments frowning at her from behind as he carried her to the Axalon. Her situation was even more serious than he had anticipated. But even now she was showing a great deal of authenticity with her normal personality instead of lashing out at him and attacking him which would have been provoked by the insistent aliens within her. Still, this behavior that was being forced upon her could not go ignored. She was compromised to an extent that could potentially interfere with future battles and her own survival. Should he confine her to the base, or continue to risk letting her partake in the stressful gunfire? She did say that she preferred releasing her aggression more actively, so maybe the battles would actually benefit her. But he wouldn't want her to take anyone's life unintentionally or against her will, and it sounded like that could very well happen considering her encounter with Spineback earlier. "But you didn't," he reminded her and tried to console her. "Whatever you still had in control that stopped you or the Vok, it's important that you hold on to that, Wintersong. For as long as you can until we figure this out." He didn't want to scare her since she was probably already horrified about what was happening to her and the unknown result of it all, but they didn't know what they were capable of, and it was better to be as safe as they could while confronting such an ordeal without much choice in the matter.

“Still, I’m glad we got to talk Optimus, this helped more than I expected it to. But we should worry about the others, the issue of the Vok can wait another day.”

"I'm not so sure that it can," Primal admitted to the tigress as he lowered them both to the Axalon near the hangar and allowed her to hop off of his hoverboard before he deactivated it and remained in his beast mode planting his blue feet on the ground. It would have been too painful for him to walk if he maximized. The leg that Megatron had punctured with his teeth was far from healed but at least the holes weren't oozing fluids anymore. Slim streams of dry blood remained on it. "But we'll take one day at a time, alright?" he assured Wintersong. "Thank you for confiding in me. I'm glad it has helped you to talk about it." It helped him too. "Go on inside for repairs and rest," he recommended softly to her before turning his attention to the two females at the entrance of the hangar; Frilla and Nemesis. What was going on here?

As he approached at a slow pace due to his injuries, Optimus noticed that Nemesis was no longer restrained. It appeared to him that Frilla was about to release her without his consent. Interesting. Unlike Rattrap, however, he wasn't even skeptical about the frilled lizard's intentions. He pretty much assumed that she was letting her go because the longer it took Nemesis to return to Megatron, the worse off she would be. Although the ape was scratched, dented and beat up, he looked surprisingly clean because of the unwanted dip he took in the river thanks to the new Predacon. He was clearly exhausted, but even in his beast mode, which was far from an intimidating appearance, he still managed to gain everyone's attention just by simply being present. His warm demeanor with Wintersong quickly shifted to a more sorrowful and disappointed one upon locking eye contact with the taller, black female who seemed to tower over him in his shorter ape mode. Nemesis could have easily overthrown him given his currently weakened state, but he expected her to behave since she seemed anxious to leave.

"I know you've been delayed long enough, Nemesis, so I'll keep this brief," Primal began as he looked up at her, his pink eyes unwavering from her optics. Was she surprised to see him? After all of her talk about him dying if he went to stop Megatron, he proved her wrong. He wasn't even close to collapsing physically or mentally, he just looked a little beat up. Of course, his robot mode was a slightly different story, but he still looked a lot better than his Predacon counter part had when the battle had ended. "Did you orchestrate everything that happened today? Were you leading the charges?" he asked her with accusing eyes as if someone had already told him the truth, but he needed to hear it from her. Did it really matter? Yes. Optimus needed to know how calculating and formidable she could be with future altercations assuming Megatron had been honest with him earlier about it.

"Mmph,"

Rhinox frowned at Zodiac's groaning and grimacing due to the anguish he was in, and he looked back to Airazor and Tigerhawk for any helpful insight on his condition.

“Megatron and Zodiac were going at it toe-to-toe when I arrived. Despite what happened in the brig, scales here still had a lot of fight left in him, nearly brought Megatron down himself using those nanomachines he’s so fond of using. Unfortunately, Megatron pulled out an electrified dagger, caught Zodiac off guard.” “But in all the chaos, I saw Spineback shoot a couple of sedative darts to soften him up even more for the butcher show Megatron was intending to show off to the Predacons. But then Tarantulas decided to step in and stopped the whole thing, caused a brief squabble before he...” “Tarantulas injected him with something before the battle! I don’t know what it was but Zodiac was down for the count after that and I dove in the moment Megatron started trying to mutilate his wing. And on the way back he hasn’t been himself.”

“Maybe it has to do with that injection, he did seem pretty out of it during the last leg of the journey here, even asked what we addressed him as.”

Well, that wasn't quite what he was hoping for, but at least it helped pinpoint the issue. The engineer still looked baffled in his crimson optics, and possibly even more concerned. "If it's one of Tarantulas's concoctions, then it could be anything," he said almost fleetingly, but he wasn't about to give up on the shape shifter while he looked at the monitor to observe his accelerated spark and other vital signs.

"I didn't plan for any of this," "Is he going to die?,"

Rhinox had hesitated to answer Nemesis while he watched the monitor intensely, but just when he turned his head to finally reply, he found that she and Frilla had already left the room. Odd. Where did they go? He couldn't worry about that now when he suddenly felt something grab his arm. He looked shocked for a moment to find it was Zodiac who had awakened. At least that was a good sign. But what soon followed was bit more mysterious and upsetting. Letting go of the large Maximal's arm from his tight grip, the renegade looked terrified and lost, as though he didn't recognize where he was, who was there with him, or even who he was. Could it be that the tarantula scientist had given him some kind of memory eraser? And if so, was it meant to cause permanent damage or just temporary? Or was this just some kind of side effect from the real purpose of the virus? Rhinox's pondering was viciously interrupted when Zodiac surprisingly leaped off of the cot, pushing the robust Chief Medical Officer aside, and scampered his way to a wall to get away from everyone and their piercing optics. This was certainly not the same murdering, cocky, and arrogant shape shifter they had come to know and even despise, for some.

"What do you want from me..?," "Who are you..?"

Either it was a very convincing act that Zodiac was putting on, or he really didn't know what was going on and who they were. This both fascinated and worried the rhinoceros who kept his distance from him since he obviously wanted it that way for the time being, and Rhinox didn't want to stress him any further by coming too close and making him feel more hostile. "Airazor, see to the others and offer help where you can to repair the base," he told her as he glanced at her while he waited for Zodiac to try and calm down. Hopefully she would be able to find some time to spend with Tigatron as well since the both of them obviously did well together. The less bots present in the infirmary the better. "Tigerhawk, stay here with me, but keep your distance," he then addressed him.

Giving his attention back to the shape shifter, Rhinox calmly lifted his large hands to show him that he had no weapons and meant no harm despite his size, and then even slowly knelt down on to the floor so that he didn't look so overbearing and intimidating to the confused dragon. "My name is Rhinox, and this is Tigerhawk. We just want to help you, Zodiac. You recently experienced a great deal of trauma and injury." Optimus was going to flip once he would find what happened to him. "We're not going to harm you," the engineer subtly reinforced in his deep voice.

Meanwhile, in the battered brig, Rattrap continued stewing about Nemesis while he tossed junk about and annoyingly threw other pieces of wreckage into a scrap pile.

"I could so easily have ended your miserable existence against the shields," "Yet I chose to let you live. Surely that earns me some credit."

As her words continued to repeat in his head, he obviously didn't want to see things from her perspective, or he was simply incapable of doing so. Yes, she could have killed him. Was he was supposed to be grateful? Perhaps. Maybe this was that part of her that Optimus saw more than most. So, she didn't murder him when she could have. Easily. Okay, fine. Whoop-dee-doo. She was far from playing the "hero". He certainly wasn't going to worship her or treat her like a friend the way their leader did.

"To be honest I don't know why Optimus always sees good in just about everyone. For someone in his leadership position, it's a very unusual trait."

And also dangerous, the Spy had thought since he finally agreed with her on something. Yeah, Primal wasn't like most leaders from either alliance, but it often got him into trouble. ...Then again, it had also gotten them this far in this war. Although unusual, it was working. For the most part. No one was perfect.

"Go ahead. Poke your tools or better yet your hand inside Zodiac and see what happens when his nanomachines identifies you as a foreign substance,"

"And get my hand caught in de cookie jar?" he asked himself out loud while he was alone in the brig cleaning up. "Yeah right. I ain't dat stupid," he spat as if Nemesis was there and could hear him. Although it was probably some good advice that she had offered, and he'd definitely have to keep it in mind if ever there was a time that he had to combat the shape shifter in close quarters, or touch him for any other crazy reason. Rattrap missed Aurora's company. At least she would have kept his mind distracted, and they could've spent their time talking smack about the Preds they hated and making jokes at their expense. Weren't the other Maximals back yet? What was takin' Optimus so long? And was Zodiac still alive?

Rattrap decided to take a break after moving most of the wreckage that he could on his own and making great head way cleaning up the cells that had been damaged, so, he exited the brig and headed to the command center when he started hearing more familiar voices, especially Dinobot's. Secretly, he was glad to hear that he had returned in one piece. "Hey, uh, you guys have a nice picnic at de community playground without me?" he asked when he entered the bridge and found Chopper Face, Cheetor, Aurora and Tigatron there. He tried to maintain his stellar personality and sense of humor to hide the trauma, pain and near-death-experience that he had been subjected to that chaotic day, but behind it those who really knew him could probably sense his shattered confidence in his leadership abilities and see a somewhat more gloomy appearance in his optics.

-----

“Ya can count on me this time boss, ah won’t let the yellow-bellies crustacean outta my sights!"

"We shall see... about that, Quickstrike," Megatron told the small Fuzor with a threatening tone behind his voice as he scurried away to follow Rampage.

“Should the time come, I will do what I can to help you against the Tripedicus Council. But I do warn, it will not be that simple.”

It was so difficult for the tyrant to hold back the smuggest of smiles when Terrabite made that comment, but he managed to do so and merely cleared his throat instead. "I can be... quite persuasive," Megatron added a little deviously as he foresaw his future schemes in his head play out successfully. He could hardly wait to act on them, but patience is a virtue. It was not the right time yet. ...Soon. In any case, a small part of him appreciated the new Predacon's insight and support for his cause and leadership, assuming, of course, that he was being genuine.

“It is doable sir. So long as your primary systems remain intact that is all I am concerned for. I know a few tricks here and there that could help, maybe I can even salvage some parts from my pod depending on what your needs are for it.”

"They remain," he assured Terrabite's first concern. "Anything that we may... salvage from your pod... would be useful," the t-rex instructed him.

“Full perimeter scan, inside and out.”

He paused in his footsteps when the reptile transformed to his robot mode and released a scout-like droid not too dissimilar from Scorponok's cyber-bees. He didn't bother giving the scorpion's death a second thought while he focused on the advantage of having someone new among his ranks with a drone.

“I suppose my other skill set lies in demolitions seeming as we are on the subject of what else I am capable of. I use to help the Predacon militia in softening up barricades and Maximal defenses during the earlier parts of our conflicts. I tend to get a little...explosive happy when in the mood.” “For what that is worth of course.”

"Perhaps you can contend... with the Maximals' demolition... expert," Megatron said with a little bit of a sneer. The rodent had been a thorn in the Predacons' sides for too long now, and it would be very pleasing to get rid of him. Overall, even though Megatron hadn't commented on much yet because of the pain he was still coping with, he was satisfied with his new Pred's skills. All he had to do now was prove his loyalty and his worth to him. Since everyone was still recuperating, such a mission would have to wait. "How long... have you been on-line?" he inquired since they had had no indication of a pod being activated any where in the vicinity. And by the look of it at the battle, the Maximals hadn't known about his arrival either.

“As you wish.”

The Predacon leader had glanced at Spineback's respectful head bow to him before he had painfully converted to his robot mode and took a comfortable seat on the reclining cot. It felt good to finally have some down time without the commotion of the Maximals' annoying voices and gun fire. ...As well as Terrorsaur's squawking and Rampage's whining. But, by the Pit, where was Nemesis?! He nearly slammed his fist down on the arm of the bed with impatience and anger before he caught himself and took a deep breath.

“Take a good look if you want to my liege, it’s a sample of our resident Maximal experiment’s energon. Well...the part that’s not mutagenic in nature.”

Leaning over a little bit to peer inside of the box, probably closer than she thought he needed to given his currently impaired vision, Megatron became a little thoughtful and inquisitive. Until he winced from her examining his extensive injuries. Sitting back, he lifted his head upward when she got to his neck and looked it over closely. It appeared scarred now; completely deformed from its original appearance thanks to Zodiac's nanobots. It was unknown if it would ever heal properly after his repairs.

“Given the nature of his ability to rapidly heal, I figured it was worth looking into to help faster recovery for extensive wounds, minus the concern for electricity hampering that.”

"I am... somewhat intrigued... Spineback," Megatron said through his anguish, but he almost sounded disappointed at the same time. He elaborated on that emotion. "I witnessed... in the battle today... Primal already had some kind of... regeneration... infused on his armor. Or at least... part of it. And it was activated... with electricity. His stab wound healed... almost instantly." In case she hadn't figured out why he was a little upset about this discovery, he made it clear by adding, "Why have we not yet... developed such an advantage... for our own use?" How was it that the Predacons were further behind on it than the Maximals?! It was unfathomable to him, but he almost made it seem like she was to blame, as if her lack of intellect and creativity for such an asset was greatly dismal to him. On the other hand, he didn't exactly know how Primal's regenerative armor worked, or where they had gotten it from and how it had been developed or why the other Maximals didn't seem to have it. It reacted an awful lot like Zodiac's and Nemesis' nanotech. Which gave him an idea, but he held his tongue for now.

“Did a real number on your neck didn’t he.”

"Is it that noticeable?" he asked her quite sarcastically and impatiently, but it did give him the opportunity to elucidate what he was feeling. "The tingling sensation... of his nanobots persists... yet they are not present. My throat feels tight... and sore, all the way around... internally and externally." Megatron almost cringed as he imagined those tiny robots running amok anywhere on his body. But since he was certain that Zodiac was dead, surely the little parasites would follow in their host's wake.

[New Moon]

((Actually I was in the middle of writing my post today. Finally got a job interview and started Friday! Just been trying to work out a new groove with the hubby, so the waiting so long should be far less often now that I got that taken care of.))

With finally being able to convince Nemesis to leave the verbal confrontation between herself and Rattrap, and have some time to get her own thoughts in order from his accusation, the frilled lizard visibly became more relaxed. Enough had been said between them that neither one would exactly win that argument, much less completely backdown from their views. No different from her and Nemesis’ own argument on faction views and loyalties.

The avian’s words after she had indicated about her or Dinobot really being Predacons at their core or not made Frilla let out a soft “Hmm” in response. “Bringing us back to our previous talk, maybe it’s not so much about factions as it is personal views.” She remarked, seeming once again to unrelenting that a certain attitude did not make one a Maximal or Predacon. But that was as far as Frilla carried that topic, only able to shrug, “Guess I’m a good example of what a Predacon shouldn’t strive to be I suppose.” Nevertheless, Frilla wasn’t looking to argue the stance of what made someone one or the other. She wasn’t even sure if she would consider herself a Maximal forever or return to her roots should they ever go home, one of the biggest questions she would wrestle with from time to time until that time happened...if ever.

Nemesis’ gratefulness and agreement caused the frilled lizard to look at her with slight surprise, having not expected much of a response to those words. Still, it was better than being rebuked or arguing with the transmetal bird, “Perhaps it might, but I don’t know what it would mean for you. I’ve seen Megatron’s wrath firsthand myself Nemesis, and I’ve lost more than a couple of friends on the Predacon side to his fury and expectations. Call it compassion if you want, but I would not wish that sort of experience on my worst enemy.” Frilla told her, expressing some concern for the avian despite Nemesis being less than worthy of it. After everything she had done and put her teammates through, especially Rattrap, the Predacon second-in-command probably deserved a worse fate than forgiveness. But yet again, the femme’s forgiving, compassionate nature spoke through the anger, only further highlighting her pacifist nature.

The avian was right in that regard. Despite being gone for a few months, Frilla doubted Megatron would have forgotten her so easily, much less turning against him in a vital moment of battle to rid of his worst enemy. “Easier said than done.” Frilla murmured, knowing one way or another Megatron would eventually catch onto her return or someone among his original crew would take delight in ripping apart a traitor. She certainly knew none of them missed the opportunity to show Dinobot their appreciation of his betrayal. But, her concerns quickly turned to the commotion brought about by Zodiac who had seen better days. It was such a drastic difference to see him vulnerable and pathetic than to what they had become so use to. The sight though had been more than enough to convince Frilla she had to act in letting Nemesis go, guiding the Predacon female to the hanger without a second thought.

The least Frilla could do was hold to her word to Nemesis.

As she removed the cuffs binding Nemesis, she only briefly glanced at the taller female as she became rather appreciative, a genuine gratefulness the transmetal lizard was once against surprised by. “You’re welcome.” Sensing no form of danger of any kind, she stowed away her weapon as she placed the container in the femme’s hand. “I’ll worry about Optimus when the time arrives, I’m sure he’ll understand to some extent.” She told her before offering a thoughtful look, “As do I. Perhaps I was also too quick to judge you Nemesis, but...it won’t erase all that you had done in the past or today.” Frilla was willing to admit she had wrongly judged Nemesis’ character too quickly in comparing her to Megatron, but making it clear a part of the small lizard wasn’t so forgiving for what she had done to Rattrap or the rest of her friends.

‘Depends on what method Megatron chooses to use.’ Frilla thought to herself, watching as Nemesis made her steps to freedom...only for them to quickly be dashed by the arrival of Optimus. Everyone had made it back after all she could assume. As much as the frilled lizard was tempted to leave Optimus to speak with Nemesis once last time, his accusing tone made her pause as she turned on to leave in that moment, prompting her to listen for herself what Nemesis had to say to all that had occurred that day.

“Bah! What normal, sane bot would spend their time reading? Sounds like torture to me.” Dinobot spoke with disdain, but there was no mistaking the slight smile at her humor. “You really have been spending too much time with Primal and the vermin.” Dinobot commented, his tone rather lighthearted and teasing. Despite his usual violent and gruff demeanor, the raptor has lightened up over the years and even found a sense of humor. Well, beyond the twisted, dark humor he had become accustomed to as a Predacon. Still, that didn’t stop him from being relieved to see one of their younger members on her feet again after the ordeal she had gone through, much less witnessed.

Tigatron chuckled at their exchange, offering a soft smile at the thought of the Axalon having a library, “Could always convert an unused storage room into one. Primus knows we log enough information to make our own encyclopedias.” The white tiger suggested jokingly, more than aware they had seen and encountered much in their isolated time on the prehistoric Earth. And perhaps whatever the others had brought along from home could be added to the collection.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to start reading some material from the home he never knew, or had forgotten. Like Airazor, his memories had been fried and scrambled, leaving him with only vague feelings and recollections that he had long since given up being concerned about. Earth was his home now, and his identity lied with his experiences here.

As if on cue though, the young cheetah soon arrived to which Tigatron offered a greeting smile. But, there was no hiding the concern he still felt for how different the cheetah’s views were becoming. “If Waspinator had been a problem, he would be in pieces around our base.” Dinobot commented as Tigatron went about starting to help with repairs, well-aware their base was in shambles and would probably take days to fully repair. That all stopped however as the two mechs heard Rattrap, turning to find the rodent mostly intact with his usual quips. However, Dinobot seemed the most relieved, strangely finding the rat to be something of one of his closest friends and allies and to have known he was on the brink of death...

“Wasn’t much of a picnic without you eating all the scraps left behind, vermin.” Dinobot grumbled in halfhearted annoyance but his tone suggesting relief to see the rodent mobile. Still, the raptor could sense something amiss with the rodent, eyeing him with deep concern to how his personality didn’t quite seem so chipper, noticing the faint air of gloominess in his words and optics. “Shame though, you didn’t give us time to make a “Get Well Soon” basket Rattrap, but I am sure the little bow will still go excellent with your tacky finish.” Dinobot quipped, hoping their usual banter might spark something back in the rodent. However small that might show, it was better than nothing.

——————————————

Terrabite wondered how true Megatron’s words were. He had only just arrived so he knew quite little about the tyrant beside him to make a judgment on that. Many a leader played up their capabilities and many fell through just as easily. At least, in his experience they had which he had seen the most with the Tripedicus Council he had followed with great devotion and loyalty until their weakness showed.

Now, it would be a matter of time to see how true Megatron’s words were.

“Excellent, then you make my job ten times easier. Your primary systems and other important equipment will be my priority, and hopefully the scans my drone is picking up will give me greater clarity to what those are.” Terrabite spoke, seeming satisfied that the once great ship that now lied as a hunk of junk in a wasteland of rocks and lava pools could be useful yet. “Once we finish here I will be sure to retrieve it, it just might take a few days since where I ended up is far offshore.” The newcomer commented, noting to himself to make the long swim out to the massive island where he had awakened to retrieve the pod and what may be needed. Though, that would require knowing the inner workings of the ship, which he intended to do once they were done speaking.

The mention of another demolitions expert though caught Terrabite’s attention, causing his optics to brighten at the thought of giving this Maximal a run for his energon. “Makes discovering all of you that more exciting then.” He said with a dark chuckle, before shrugging, “A month, maybe two. My pod’s tracker was damaged at some point, most likely from the impact but hard to say. It was pretty fried when I checked.” He answered as they entered the med bay, the heat just as bad as anywhere else on the ship thus far. But for now he went silent as he listened to the two speak about a discovery of some kind, the mentioning of regeneration and Megatron expressing his disappointment about the matter.

It would be interesting to see the medic’s response considering the questioning of her skills. He himself had heard about nanotechnology, but nothing exactly good about them or being extremely difficult to work with. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite savvy about the subject other than what he had heard in rumor and little public research, “Well to be fair, I have heard the technology is rather volatile. One wrong move and it may be more damaging than helpful.” Terrabite commented, not aware to the extent the nanomachines had been experimented with, epecially under their faction’s banner.

—————————————

In the meantime, Waspinator’s search had proven to be rather disappointing. He had been looking for several minutes without a trace of the avian female, not even a transmetal feather out of place. It began to make him wonder if he had once again given up too easily for a Maximal bluff and if he returned to base empty-handed...

“Waspinator should have just stayed at the Darksyde.” He lamented, feeling he had put his foot in his mouth at going off a hunch and nothing to show for it. Could have Nemesis been at the Axalon and he had given up too easily? Perhaps. It was a huge gamble altogether and the transmetal insect was beginning to rethink his strategy to find Nemesis.

Rubbing his chin in thought, Waspinator decided to backtrack his way to the Axalon, flying low in his beast mode until he was approaching to where the ship was visible in his sights. Once he was certain he was as close as he could be without triggering their perimeter sensors, he lowered himself among the rocks in the distance from the base, keeping himself out of sight and zooming in towards the base where he caught movement of Optimus returning with the female tigress. Curiously, he noticed the transmetal ape not follow towards the bridge instead finding him moving towards the hanger where he was surprised to spot Nemesis at last. He hadn’t expected this endeavor to prove successful, figuring a short watch would be all he needed, but this changed things somewhat and for now the insect only observed their interaction.

At the very least, he could watch long enough to report to Megatron.

[Wintersong]

((Oooookkkkaaaaaayyy! One busy day and storm-induced technical difficulties later...))

“We’re all here and alive, I would call that a successful mission any day.” The cheetah pointed out thoughtfully, more than confident Rattrap would make it through his injuries. There was no way the rodent would allow a Predacon to snuff his spark so easily. But he did wonder how the transmetal rodent was doing right now. But Dinobot’s observation about Waspinator caused a faint grin to begin, “Wrap him up in a nice box with a little bow, give Megatron an early Christmas present.” He snickered, his immaturity briefly breaking through his recent serious behavior.

Though he offered a meek chuckle at Aurora’s observation of his current appearance, lightly shrugging his shoulders as he came over to the first aid kit he had used on the fuzor earlier. “Eh, you know me Aurora, no fun if I’m not being reckless.” He joked, carefully patching up the shallow cuts on his abdomen that he could take care of later.

As he worked though, he could feel Big Cat’s gaze upon him, knowing he was still deeply concerned for his darker sense of handling the Predacons. But, he ignored it as he listened to the others. Shaking his head he placed the welder down, “Careful, Optimus might just allow it.” The cheetah mused before his attention was drawn to the all too familiar presence of Rattrap, turning with surprise and relief to see him up and moving, “Rattrap!” To say the cheetah was relieved was an understatement, “Maybe our nine lives are finally rubbing off on you after all.” The younger mech teased, knowing the rodent often joked with all the feline Maximals and about their nine lives.

But, there was some concern from the cheetah as well, catching that something seemed off about his smaller friend.

Tigerhawk didn’t know how true Nemesis words were. But in that moment, he did feel sympathetic to some extent, seeing there might be an inkling of compassion she still felt towards the shapeshifter. “It may not have been what you wanted, but you still have to live with your part in his capture and current state.” The large fuzor was blunt, but tone having softened. The only question was could she live with such guilt? Or would she compartmentalize what had happened that day to keep on doing what she did best under Megatron?

He couldn’t linger on it long as he watched with curiosity and intrigue as Frilla guided the avian away. Now where were they going? He had never had a proper introduction with the frilled lizard so he couldn’t be certain of her intentions with Nemesis. But such a thought would have to wait as Rhinox spoke again, causing him to turn back to the current situation. “Who knows. It has to be something quite potent to bypass his nanomachines having an affect, they’ve been active for sometime now.” Airazor observed. But, the avian had never come across such technology that she could ever recall, or knew what those nanomachines were capable of.

That was when the situation took a surprising turn however...

Both fliers stepped back with surprise when Zodiac became alert and frantic, confirming that something was indeed wrong with the shapeshifter. As before he seemed to not recognize any of them, much less the place he had just been recently. What had the spider done the the shapeshifter to make him this way? Even not knowing his own name? Given the situation, Airazor did show some hesitation to listen to Rhinox this time, wondering if she might be a calmer presence than two of the larger teammates. A quick glance at both though, the avian finally nodded, “Alright, just call me if you need an extra set of hands here to help.” She told them before limping her way out of the med bay.

Now, she would just have to break the news to Aurora what had occurred and any of the others who had returned. Given the hostility towards the dragon however, she was somewhat dreading the outcome to a group that probably hates the young dragon with all their being.

For Tigerhawk, it was a little trickier to hide the fact he meant no harm, some of his weaponry quite visible. To come off as less intimidating and to not give Zodiac the wrong idea, the large fuzor shifted to beast mode, maintaining distance between himself and the frantic Zodiac. “My friend here is right. We found you in pretty bad shape, and brought you here to get some help.” Tigerhawk explained in a soothing, calm tone showing he meant no harm towards the young dragon. “Outside, you asked what I addressed you as remember? Your name is Zodiac young one, and we only want to find out what is ailing you.” The fuzor confirmed, hoping their intentions might be clear but aware it may take time for the young dragon to calm down enough to trust their word.

Meditation...It wasn’t exactly something Wintersong would have thought would ever cross her processor, much less using it. Aggression had always been her method in dealing with matters, or just flat out avoidance of a situation as had been the case when first getting to know the Axalon crew. So, this would certainly test her patience in the coming days if she attempted to stick to it.

When Optimus brought up the link though, Wintersong have a small nod, “I have one with Whitegrazer as well. Guess it must be an unexpected side effect.” Wintersong tried to reason, not quite so sure what it was about the Vok that enabled them to be connected. She wondered if Optimus really could handle the link considering how different it appeared to be than what he shared with the white mare. But his warning of trying not to resist made her give a humorless smile, “Little late for that warning Optimus. I’ve been actively resistant since I got back, guess I don’t take well for someone forcing me to do their bidding too well.” She admitted, but once more withheld that her resistance would soon lessen anyway if the Vok were to be believed in holding up their bargain they had struck during the battle.

“Nexus Zero? Pretty stupid name...” The tigress repeated, but finally shook her head. “I thought it was a lot like in the cocoon, where they were taking my consciousness from my body but...I think it’s just my consciousness this time, it just reflects their home.” She explained, having experienced this on the battlefield. That she could at least be certain of. But the next questions that followed brought up the discomfort of trying to avoid telling Optimus how such a thing occurred. Even she wasn’t quite so sure, only able to shrug her shoulders as she looked forward, “Admittedly, I don’t know how to explain that Optimus. It is like when I feel any intense emotion their mind replaces my own, heightening my negative thoughts as if we’re...one being. If that makes any sense?” It was harder to explain than she thought, the tigress frowning as she tried to make sense of it herself. She wasn’t necessarily gone, but neither was she herself at the same time. “For now pretty confident, so long as I keep my emotions in check and try not to irritate them.” She said with an uncertain shrug.

“Yay, a journal to keep.” Another thing Wintersong wasn’t thrilled about, but if it helped figure out a way to get the Vok out of her head or better maintain it then she wouldn’t complain too much. The silence that followed left her contemplating the day and what could come in the future, wondering how well her uneasy mental truce would last with the skull-faced beings. The evolution they spoke of..,it did bother her a fair bit, especially in not understanding what plans they had for her or the Earth, or even her teammates who were at the moment her anchor. If she didn’t have the Maximal crew she likely would have fallen to their control already. “Not this time maybe, but who knows what the future will be like.” She sighed once on the ground. Though Optimus said it wouldn’t be something that they could wait on, she merely looked at him hoping it could be, “Hopefully things work out for the better for both of us.” She told him, finally turning to look at the damaged ship and feeling the sense of dread in stepping into an enclosed space.

With everything going on, it had not crossed the transmetal tigress’s mind up until now. Add all the Maximals likely in one room...she shuddered in discomfort but forced herself move, knowing isolating herself wouldn’t help this already bleak situation. Stepping onto the lift, the tigress was brought up into the crowded bridge, feeling her anxiety beginning to creep up even more now as she stepped off to the side, somewhat keeping space between herself and her friends but saying nothing. She was more content to just listen to the conversation, optics fixed on the ground for the time being as she contemplated her talk with the Maximal commander but felt relief with seeing Rattrap was among those gathered.

Limping towards the bridge, the falcon femme heard the many voices of her friends and family, smiling as she spotted Rattrap from down the hall and rested a hand on his shoulder, “Up and moving already? I’ll have to take you for a victory flight after this.” She teased the rodent before looking about the room to see who was back, finding almost everyone seemed to have returned. “And it looks like we’re all present and accounted for.”

Though, the falcon knew she would have to bring Aurora up to speed with what had happened when the chance arose as well.

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

Megatron’s intrigue was exactly what Spineback had hoped for as she worked on the more minor wounds, grabbing her magnifying optic to see the deeper inner workings of Megatron’s neck. Though through that intrigue she sensed something else was amiss, which soon became evident upon her leader expressing disappointment over the fact the Maximals had discovered a similar idea.

His accusatory yet disappointed tone did make Spineback’s jaw visibly clench, the only indication of her annoyance at her capabilities being questioned. Probably not exactly the best situation to be doing so either if the saurian had disliked rather than had faith in Megatron’s plans. She could have easily allowed her hand to “accidentally” slip and end what Zodiac started. Thankfully, this was not the case. Despite her clenched jaw, she worked calmly and diligently, speaking with just as calm a tone as she acted, “Scientific endeavors wasn’t exactly in the job description either, sir.” She reminded, carefully connecting some wires within his neck while removing other damaged, eaten away parts from the nanomachines. “But, that is changing the longer this war goes on.” She actually paused in her work then, thinking about how Megatron describes what he had seen.

Discoveries were made all the time in various subjects. Science and the medical field being some of the most prominent subjects these discoveries were made. Perhaps the Maximals had discovered it, but the Predacons could use that knowledge. “But it is an easily rectified oversight.” Her tension seemed to quickly fade as she had an epiphany, “They’ve already done half the work for us. Rampage’s cellular structure acts in a similar manner, not necessarily the nanomachines but their replication is threefold compared to ours.” Smirk spreading across her face, the Chief Medic turned her attention to the Predacon leader’s optic sensors, “Hold still for a bit.” She instructed briefly, having worked on his optics more times than she cared to count as she went about removing the cracked lenses and carefully repairing any damaged wires, sensors, and other parts before replacing the now repaired areas with new optic lenses.

She gave a side glance towards Terrabite as he chimed in about the nanotechnology, surprised he would even bother with knowing such information. But then again, given his occupation..,”That is true. But it’s more so how rare the availability is, especially here.” She pointed out, requiring samples she herself could use and replicate which she did not always have access to. And she doubted Nemesis would take kindly to having to be pulled away from her work all the time. “But the great thing about first time breakthroughs is improving upon them. If I crack the rest of the code to Rampage’s regeneration, we wouldn’t require electricity or the like to make it work. A small quick injection and it would lessen the amount of recovery time and wounds I would have to repair. Especially something like this.” Spineback was surprisingly giddy again, getting the confirmation she needed to know this plan just might work, among other personal projects she was otherwise undertaking.

Though she reigned in that excitement as she began working on the more extensive repairs Megatron needed, “Hmm, sounds like a lingering feeling is all. It will pass with time as I do the repairs, but none of them remain behind that I’m finding.” the dinosaur femme told her leader, examine each area closely but finding no traces of the little bots. It would be a feeling that would pass with time, hopefully as she worked on the repairs.

[Phoenix]

The avian female had calmed down considerably after being directed away from Rattrap since the foul-smelling little spy seemed to annoy her more than most, although admittedly she had been pushing his buttons every step of the way. He was just such a nuisance and the two of them clearly had very different views on this conflict between the Maximals and Predacons and even this world at large. Frilla, the small female who was currently accompanying her and functioning as her guard in a sense, was also starting to get on the avian's nerves. Although not nearly as badly as Rattrap was.

Seeing Zodiac in the state he was in when the Maximals brought him back, looking like he was barely clinging to life, had left her feeling.. something.. though. Guilt perhaps? Maybe it was because she hadn't truly anticipated the aftermath of Megatron's wrath, or perhaps she'd been too caught up in the moment but something these Maximals had said had wheeled her back in. Whatever the reason, seeing the young dragon like this brought back some unpleasant memories as well as feelings the avian had buried so deep she never thought she'd experience them again.

And she didn't like how it made her feel. The vulnerability, that sense of guilt for ultimately having been responsible. What would happen if Zodiac died here and now? Would the Maximals still let her go?

“It may not have been what you wanted, but you still have to live with your part in his capture and current state.”

The female sneered ever so slightly at the large fuzor in response to his comment, although she knew all too well his words held true. "You're a new addition in this war. Who are you to judge my actions when you weren't even there to see what he did..?," she said, but her voice didn't hold the conviction it usually did. She felt uncomfortable, so very uncomfortable, with what she had just witnessed. Not that she hadn't seen death up close or even caused it on many occasions, but rather because this didn't feel like the justice she had been craving for so long. It just felt.. meaningless. And it left an aching sensation in her spark, a twinge of regret for her role in all of this, that she very much so despised. So it was almost a welcome gesture when Frilla tugged on her arm to guide her out of there.

“Bringing us back to our previous talk, maybe it’s not so much about factions as it is personal views.”

Shaking her head as the two of them walked seemingly absentmindedly through the corridors of the Axalon, Nemesis still felt the need to correct the smaller female.

"Isn't a difference in political views what caused the two factions to develop in the first place?," she questioned Frilla's opinion out loud. Granted the individual programming had everything to do with those views.

“Guess I’m a good example of what a Predacon shouldn’t strive to be I suppose.”

Perhaps.. Of course had all the Predacons had the same pacifist opinions, there likely wouldn't be any need for war or all the sneaking around that was being done between the two factions. And it was more than likely that the likes of Nemesis and Zodiac wouldn't be who they were since it was that distrust between the factions that had resulted in the experimentation into nanotechnology that had been embedded into their circuits. Well, in her case she would still exist in some form or other since she had been around prior to the experiments starting. Zodiac, on the other hand, was a direct result of those experiments..

"You are more of a pacifist than many of the Maximals even," Nemesis observed. "It's bewildering to me that you were able to live and function as a Predacons."

She was being brutally honest, which really was typical of the avian. Having been bred as a warrior, she rarely needed to resort to lying. Not that she wasn't capable of doing so if the situation called for it, it was just that she rarely found herself in those kind of circumstances.

The two of them were standing near the ramp to the outside when Frilla made the decision to free the avian Predacon, leaving Nemesis perplexed and even feeling a grateful in a strange sense.

“Perhaps it might, but I don’t know what it would mean for you. I’ve seen Megatron’s wrath firsthand myself Nemesis, and I’ve lost more than a couple of friends on the Predacon side to his fury and expectations. Call it compassion if you want, but I would not wish that sort of experience on my worst enemy.”

Yes, Megatron's temper tantrums were rather infamous, particularly when the tyrant had a reason to suspect foul play among his troops. Nemesis had experienced their leader's wrath first hand as well and it was not an experience she remembered with fondness. Definitely not. Megatron hadn't even let her explain the socalled video footage of her leaving the Axalon, not willing to hear her excuse. There were no excuses with him, only absolute loyalty. Yet due to her healing abilities, she carried no physical scars from the beating she had been subjected to. Still.. the emotional scars were still raw, perhaps adding to her desire to prove her worth to the tyrant.

But Nemesis was unwilling to share these experiences with anyone, let alone the frilled lizard who had betrayed her team without even a moment's hesitation. So she remained silent, only acknowledging Frilla's observations with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "His mood swings are hardly your concern anymore."

Still.. They were very much so a concern for Nemesis, and every moment she spent here at the Axalon that concern grew.

Ever so briefly her thoughts wandered to what she had witnessed in the infirmary. She wondered if Zodiac was going to live, and what tormenting memories he would have to live with if he did. What would the Maximals do with him if he survived? Although knowing Optimus' ever compassionate nature she had a feeling she already knew the answer. Now.. if only the same logic would apply to her, but the wounds left behind so recently might be too fresh for the Maximal leader to process her situation the same way.

She remained still as Frilla released her from the bonds, quietly rubbing her wrists for a moment while the ramp lowered to the outside.

“I’ll worry about Optimus when the time arrives, I’m sure he’ll understand to some extent.”

Honestly, Nemesis didn't really care what Primal was going to say or do to Frilla when he arrived. If he did. But since the other Maximals were already here for the most part and there had been no teary optics, she was almost certain Optimus would soon follow them. And she didn't want to be there when that happened.

"He did leave you with instructions to release me," Nemesis replied to reassure the other female, mostly so she wouldn't reconsider and shoot her in the back when she got on the ramp. In fact the lizard was still talking as the avian took her first few steps towards freedom, more than eager and willing to leave the memories from today's events behind her.

“As do I. Perhaps I was also too quick to judge you Nemesis, but...it won’t erase all that you had done in the past or today.”

No.. It wouldn't. And Nemesis was keenly aware of it. Still, she couldn't linger or spend too much time contemplating it right now. After all she needed to get back to the Darksyde before the damage was too great and Megatron ordered her executed on the spot.

"I did what was necessary," Nemesis responded in a more quiet voice that held a hint of bitterness to it, albeit she sounded a bit unsure of herself at that moment. It truly hadn't all been necessary.. She knew that. Indeed, she wasn't oblivious to all the terrible things she had done, but fortunately for her there weren't many individuals who knew of the lengths she had gone to.

Nemesis quickly stopped in her tracks, however, when a familiar figure approached her on the ramp from the outside. Of course she was not aware of the wasp spying on them from afar or she might have reacted differently, but as things were it almost felt like it was just her and the gorilla present with everyone else just fading into the background. Even Frilla, who once was someone Nemesis might even have considered an ally, seemed to just disappear as the avian female's optics settled on the approaching Maximal leader. And she let slip a barely audible groan in response to his return, a mixture of relief that he had made it back alive as well as some frustration that she would now have to face him again.

Primal was in his ape form so Nemesis towered over him by a couple of feet, but even that didn't take away from the ape's commanding presence. Indeed, Optimus had grown into his role as commander and chief of the Maximals on this planet, earning their respect as well as that of his enemies. Like her. Whereas Megatron demanded loyalty through intimidation and acts of violence, Optimus inspired confidence and respect. And there was a part of her that so craved to see the same qualities emerge in her own leader. But they never had, and honestly she wasn't quite sure if they ever would.

Optimus looked a little beat up even in this form, but nothing too severe. Which, of course, meant that Megatron was likely not going to be a happy camper when she made her return. The black and red female with silver details only met Primal's gaze for but a moment before her own drifted to the ground as she waited for him to speak first.

"I know you've been delayed long enough, Nemesis, so I'll keep this brief,"

Brief sounded nice, as she had already spent too long at the Axalon and the longer she remained here the worse Megatron's inevitable questioning of her was going to be. Hopefully the little present Frilla had already given her, that Nemesis had clutched in her hand before putting it away to deliver it to Megatron as a peace offering of sorts, was going to be enough ease the tyrant's moody temper. What she was going to tell him, exactly, wasn't quite clear to her yet but at least she was starting to form an idea that might work. Hopefully.. At least Megatron was as of yet unaware of her exact whereabouts and the circumstances thereof.

The female then forced herself to look back at Primal, hoping for some good news coming out of the Maximal's mouth.

"Did you orchestrate everything that happened today? Were you leading the charges?"

But not.. that.

Nemesis fought down the urge to appear too desperate, putting on her best poker face as it were, trying to avoid Primal being able to read the sense of panic she felt at that exact moment. Unlike Zodiac she wasn't a world class liar, and honestly she couldn't remember ever having lied to Primal before. Of course she hadn't had much reason to do so either, and their friendship as it were was based on mutual respect and honesty. There really wasn't much in Nemesis' life that she would consider to be pristine, but her relationship with Primal was one of the purest properties in her life. And she was about to taint it, possibly forever.

"Is that what he told you?," the avian female responded with a disappointed sigh, as if she was a bit insulted Primal would think so little of her. Even though she was actually guilty as charged. She was obviously referring to Megatron, since who else would benefit from telling Primal such a shattering detail. Indeed, Megatron had never avoided using his troops for gunfodder, even the few of them he seemingly trusted. Anything to throw his enemies off his own trail.

"I thought you knew Megatron lacks the ability to relinquish control to someone else. Of course he lead the charge, he gave the order. I am, however, guilty in having carried out those orders. And for that I am sorry. I really didn't want this to escalate as far as it did."


There. She did it. Shifted the blame back onto Megatron. Of course she was at least partially honest in the fact that Megatron had ultimately been the one to decreed he wanted the renegade's head at any and all costs, but he had tasked her with figuring out a way to make it happen. Still, she couldn't bring herself to tell Optimus the truth, as she feared the consequences of him realizing what lengths she was truly willing and able to go to. This was one of those occasions where it would benefit her to be the underdog, the one merely carrying out orders given by someone higher up on the food chain.

With any luck Primal still trusted her more than he did the tyrant..

Meanwhile, only a short distance away in the infirmary, the renegade hybrid was now fully awake even though he wasn't exactly in a rational mindset as he covered with his back pressed up against the wall. Surrounding him were a few others, none of which he recognized. The burning sensation that had affected most of his body only a few moments ago had gone away now, only to be replaced by confusion and doubt.

"My name is Rhinox, and this is Tigerhawk. We just want to help you, Zodiac. You recently experienced a great deal of trauma and injury."

The hybrid, although Cybertronian in appearance, eyed each of them suspiciously in turn when the bulkier of the two males spoke up. He didn't exactly seem persuaded by the rhinoceros' words, even though his voice, hand gestures, and overall demeanor seemed to indicate he meant the renegade no harm.

Zodiac.. Again with that name. Perhaps it truly was what he was called, it did seem vaguely familiar in a sense even though the dragon couldn't remember anything about himself or anything else for that matter.

"Where am I? What happened to me?", the teenaged renegade demanded to know, trying his best to sound stronger than he felt.. and probably looked.. Yet he didn't budge from his spot. The stranger who had identified himself as Rhinox had implied the dragon had just been injured. But a quick self-diagnostic scan of his systems seemed to indicate otherwise, or at the very least he couldn't find anything physically wrong that could account for any of this. Still he slowly, ever so slowly, lowered his shoulders a bit and allowed himself to rest just a tiny bit more.

“My friend here is right. We found you in pretty bad shape, and brought you here to get some help.”

Found him in pretty bad shape? But from what? Had they completed his repairs here prior to the renegade waking up? And for that sake how did he end up in such poor condition anyway?

"I see..," Zodiac said and lowered his gaze to the floor. He still didn't trust them entirely, but as long as they kept a little distance from him he seemed to ease up bit by bit.

“Outside, you asked what I addressed you as remember? Your name is Zodiac young one, and we only want to find out what is ailing you."

What was ailing him? Honestly Zodiac had no idea what that could be. He was really confused by all of this, his sensors over-stimulated by all the new input of information. Much of this seemed familiar, yet it was all still completely foreign to him. He felt surrounded, lost, alone, confused..

"Honestly it's mostly just a haze," the dragon started to explain. "I really don't have any clear recollection of anything that happened before I came to in here.." Then he went quiet again, folding his wings around himself as he curled up in his own little sanctuary.

"We're not going to harm you,"

Zodiac, as he was apparently named, shook his head a bit at that. He tried so hard to remember, but he couldn't recall a thing from before waking up here in this room only a few minutes prior. Finally he gave up attempting to force his memories to return, at least temporarily, since all it was accomplishing was giving him a massive headache.

"How do I know you didn't cause this in the first place?," he muttered irately before seemingly realizing how counterproductive it would be for these strangers to do this to him and then lie about it while seemingly taking care of him. It was the first rational thought he'd had since regaining consciousness, proving to those around that he hadn't completely lost his mind when he added; "I apologize.. I just can't seem to focus right now. And I'm sorry, but I really don't remember any of you."

Still he remained in his spot, appreciating the distance the others were keeping from him since he still had the feeling of being in danger. A delayed response from Megatron's vicious attack on him earlier, perhaps, of course the renegade had no idea who Megatron was anymore or what had happened.

Around the same time Tarantulas finally emerged from his very own cryo tank, designed and built by the spider himself since he was too paranoid to allow anyone else to work on him. His genius was unmatched, after all, and clearly he wasn't going to trust even the technology used by his brethren in arms since he was well aware of the fact Megatron wouldn't hesitate to turn on him when he was the most vulnerable.

The feeling was more than mutual, of course, and the spider would revel in knowing Megatron was suffering or even damaged beyond repairs. Yet for now he would have to settle for knowing what the tyrant was up to. So as soon as he emerged from the tank in his hideout, he activated one of his drones that he had left at the Darksyde to spy on what was going on there.

Surely Megatron hadn't been able to obtain Tarantulas' newest prize possession? The spider hoped not, although since he had been crushed underneath a tree he didn't know exactly what had happened to Zodiac after the Maximals decided to meddle in his plans. Oh he was going to make them suffer for that soon enough, after he'd had a little bit of time to prepare and had found the perfect opportunity to do so. Of course it would help if he could get one of his little spies inside the Axalon as well, but alas he hadn't had much time or opportunity during their brief visit there earlier that day.

The spider slipped into a chair by the computer console and kicked the main pair of his legs up as he accessed the drone's data stream and watched with interest as Megatron was being repaired by that annoying female. No, he certainly hadn't forgotten about her treatment of the spider earlier that day so Spineback was yet another name added to his growing list of would-be victims. But for the time being he'd take his time, sip his energon drink, and merely let his brilliant mind work on his next move. If Zodiac still lived, and Tarantulas had little doubt that he did, he would surely emerge soon enough. Vulnerable and ripe for the taking.

So for now he merely watched what Megatron was doing, having ordered the drone to stay out of sight. And he wasn't disappointed by what he saw pop up on the monitor just a nanoclick later.

"I witnessed... in the battle today... Primal already had some kind of... regeneration... infused on his armor. Or at least... part of it. And it was activated... with electricity. His stab wound healed... almost instantly."

Interesting.. Hehehehe! The spider grinned wickedly to himself while clasping his pincers together. So the Maximals had obtained some sort of healing factor similar to that of his own target. Yet different, since it had only activated with the introduction of electricity. It seemed like an advantage nevertheless, and Tarantulas was hardly one to pass up on an opportunity.

"Is it that noticeable?"

The spider's gleeful chuckle only increased in volume as he watched Megatron's injuries with a keen interest. Oh how he enjoyed seeing the tyrant suffer. It really was the highlight of this otherwise mostly disappointing day.

“We’re all here and alive, I would call that a successful mission any day.”

Aurora cast a glance around at the newly returned comrades present as well as the mess they still had to fix on the bridge. And this was nothing compared to the damage in the rest of the base, especially the brig.. Which could be out of commission for a few weeks at best. "Careful or I'm putting you in charge of cleaning up," she replied back to Cheetor in a playful tone. Although they'd all be working extra hours no doubt. Still, she was relieved beyond words that everyone were okay and everything seemed to be doing all right.

Dinobot then made his observation about Waspinator, to which the little fuzor shrugged with a slight chuckle. "It's Waspinator..," she reminded everyone, "It's not like he can do too much by himself. I'm sure Rhinox can handle it."

“Eh, you know me Aurora, no fun if I’m not being reckless.”

Ah. A trait they both seemed to share. It hadn't been that long since Aurora had gotten herself in trouble by getting assaulted in a dark cave, by the very same shape shifter they were now frantically trying to save. The fuzor wasn't sure if doing so was just dumb or insanity on their leader's part, but she wasn't going to argue against him. Not in public anyway.

"Oh trust me, you're not even half as reckless as Optimus has proven himself lately," she mumbled, indicating their commanding officer's choice to lead a dangerous rescue mission to save someone who frankly didn't deserve it. Still, part of her did feel somewhat bad when they had brought Zodiac back in such a condition.

“Bah! What normal, sane bot would spend their time reading? Sounds like torture to me.”

"Knowing you, you'd rather eat the book instead," Aurora chimed in. Although she rarely spent time with Dinobot, she did appreciate his sense of loyalty to his friends even though he still acted very much like a Predacon.

“You really have been spending too much time with Primal and the vermin."

"Are you offering to babysit?," she sarcastically remarked then, knowing fully well some of the others still viewed her as a child.

Although she had put up some comedic relief, she still felt a bit under the weather since today had been exhausting. It was nice having the bots she cared so much for return unharmed, though, so she put on the bravest face she could. Just then Rattrap decided to join them, causing Aurora to send him a smile but still not moving from where she was making repairs.

"Hey, uh, you guys have a nice picnic at de community playground without me?"

"Well, you were taking so long dealing with the mess in the brig. And I'm willing to bet it's still a disaster area there, much like your room," she commented. It was true Rattrap's room was quite the messy place though, which kind of left the fuzor wondering if the rodent had a hoarding problem.

Airazor decided to join them as well, finally prompting Aurora to put down the wrench in her hand since honestly there were too many distractions around right now to do any really effective work on the bridge.

“And it looks like we’re all present and accounted for.”

"All but Optimus and Wintersong," the fuzor mused. At least she hadn't seen them yet. Although she was certain they were okay since nobody had said otherwise.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Okay, the rest of my post is up. I also added the responses to WS' post.)

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: As for Dinobot, I usually leave any characters' demises up to their players. So, we could kill him off, or he can hang around a bit longer than he did in the show. Maybe TM2 Dinobot never exists in our game. Or maybe he comes about in an entirely different way, with or without Rampage's other half of his spark. I don't think his future had been decided by anyone yet. Also, congrats on the new job, New Moon! ))

“I have one with Whitegrazer as well. Guess it must be an unexpected side effect.”

"Possibly," Optimus mused, but Whitegrazer was capable of establishing links with everyone. Even so, it shouldn't be overlooked.

“Little late for that warning Optimus. I’ve been actively resistant since I got back, guess I don’t take well for someone forcing me to do their bidding too well.”

He had raised a brow at Wintersong's confession before he said, "I understand that. I just want you to be careful with any threats they might make toward you, and don't be afraid to talk to me if something comes up," Primal encouraged her softly.

“Nexus Zero? Pretty stupid name...”

"That's what Whitegrazer refers to it as," he told the tigress. He didn't care what it was called since he didn't plan on visiting such a place where aliens resided with so much apathy and arrogance that he couldn't stand tolerating. Whitegrazer was nothing like them, fortunately.

“I thought it was a lot like in the cocoon, where they were taking my consciousness from my body but...I think it’s just my consciousness this time, it just reflects their home.”

The gorilla nodded thoughtfully at her description of her dreams. It reminded him of when he had been abducted at the Standing Stones, where he had lost his body, but he was still able to communicate with his crew through his consciousness some how. It was quite complicating, which suggested to him from the very beginning just how powerful and dangerous the Vok were. It had also been the beginning of the whispers in the back of his mind that had eventually gotten to be too much when he started scribbling and engraving the symbols and sites all over his quarters. It had was and continued to be quite unpleasant, and now Wintersong had to deal with it.

“Admittedly, I don’t know how to explain that Optimus. It is like when I feel any intense emotion their mind replaces my own, heightening my negative thoughts as if we’re...one being. If that makes any sense?”

Primal had looked at her with concern as he nodded. "Some," he answered her realizing the grip they must have had on her. Not exactly physical, like he had some how hoped, but much deeper, as though it was out of their reach to do anything for her, which would have been on purpose so that any plans they had for Wintersong couldn't be thwarted by anyone attempting to free her from their "chains", so to speak. It made everything a lot more risky and complicated. He did not like these aliens at all.

“For now pretty confident, so long as I keep my emotions in check and try not to irritate them.”

"I'll take your word for it, Wintersong," he gave her his trust on the matter. "But if anything gets out of hand, we will do our best to help you and keep everyone safe," he assured her. How they could help was uncertain at this point since they had no idea what the Vok were capable of besides hijacking Wintersong's emotions and taking advantage of her aggression. They would have to wait and see, but hopefully that time would never come to fruition.

“Yay, a journal to keep.”

Upon recognizing her sarcasm that smothered the idea, Optimus clarified, "It doesn't have to be on a daily basis, just when you experience odd occurrences physically, mentally and emotionally. Anything that might be helpful." Wintersong was somewhat a unique member for Optimus. While most of the Maximals would welcome meditation and keeping a journal, she was much more abrasive and desired acts of aggression as a means for release. What would usually help the others might not help her, and that was something he would have to keep in mind.

“Not this time maybe, but who knows what the future will be like.”

Indeed, he agreed solemnly. For her and for all of them.

“Hopefully things work out for the better for both of us.”

"If there's one thing we have plenty of it's hope," Optimus told Wintersong confidently, even if he was the only one who had it. Watching her somewhat sulk off toward the other entrance of the Axalon, he wished for her to be surrounded by the others and feel wanted but not overwhelmed. If she required repairs, then she could take the opportunity to do so, unless she was feeling too claustrophobic to do so. She probably didn't want to be stuck inside of the ship, but he wanted her to feel safe and and calm. Maybe it would have the opposite effect though... Wintersong was tough, but all everyone, she had her weaknesses and demons to struggle with. Now more so than ever.

"Is that what he told you?,"

The Maximal leader almost appeared emotionless when Nemesis decided to take a different approach with her answer. Instead of answering with a simply yes or no, she was redirecting the attention that was on her onto someone else; someone he could only assume was Megatron. Interesting. Still, he continued to listen.

"I thought you knew Megatron lacks the ability to relinquish control to someone else.

Optimus may not have known Megatron as well as Nemesis did, who served under the dictator every second of every day, but he did know him well enough to detect his manipulation. This time, he was certain he had been honest with the blue ape. "It isn't all that uncommon for him to keep my Maximals and me distracted while he pursues other interests," he stated. He didn't know anything about the tyrant's findings with the golden disk, but he was aware that Megatron and Rampage had been absent from the earlier battle due to his crew's reports, which meant that his Predacon counterpart had been occupied with something else at the time, leaving Nemesis in charge. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean that she had developed the attacks.

Of course he lead the charge, he gave the order. I am, however, guilty in having carried out those orders. And for that I am sorry. I really didn't want this to escalate as far as it did."

"Of course you didn't," he quasi falsely agreed with her. He wasn't about to get into another debate on the matter with the bird. At least not right now. The gorilla's pink optics studied Nemesis for what seemed like several minutes as though he was taking his time making up his mind about her well calculated words. As stoic as he remained, one couldn't tell if he was disappointed or satisfied with her answer. Glancing at Frilla, who appeared to have given Nemesis the small container of his nanogel sample since it was no longer in her possession, he returned his gaze upward to the taller female's optics and simply said, "Leave here, Nemesis. I need to tend to my crew." With that, he turned away from her without looking back and gestured for Frilla to accompany him.

"I trust everyone has been behaving?" Optimus asked Frilla due to Nemesis' presence in their base after what she had done to Airazor, Rattrap, Aurora and who knew who else since he hadn't been entirely briefed on everything that had transpired earlier that day. "Where is Zodiac? In the infirmary?" he then presumed even though he was already heading that way inside.

-----

“It may not have been what you wanted, but you still have to live with your part in his capture and current state.”

Did Nemesis even know what she wanted? Rhinox didn't think so. Her emotions looked almost as conflicted about the situation as the rest of them. Zodiac had proven to be incredibly dangerous, and while Optimus thought or hoped he could be redeemed and had been making progress, the others probably didn't see it worth the risk. Case in point, the Predacons had come and destroyed their base yet again, taking hostages and injuring all of them as some point during that day, all for kidnapping the shape-shifter just so Megatron could try to kill him. Was this all really worth it? Their leader thought so, and Rhinox agreed. And now, they might have had an even better chance with that success considering it had appeared as though Zodiac had lost his memory entirely. This presented a very unique opportunity, although the duration of such an event with memory loss was tricky and uncertain. If his memories were still in tact somewhere and merely blocked - not entirely erased - it was possible that he would gain them back, and no one could know how it might effect him.

“Who knows. It has to be something quite potent to bypass his nanomachines having an affect, they’ve been active for sometime now.”

The engineer nodded quietly to Airazor's observation with a subtle gesture to limit the information she was volunteering about his nanotech. What if Zodiac wasn't aware of it? Could it be possible? Wouldn't he detect the tiny robots functioning and feeding him information? If there was even the slightest possibility that he didn't, could they hold off telling him about it in order to keep his potential antics at a minimum regardless of how harmless they could be? Besides, they didn't want to overwhelm him if he really didn't know who he was and why he had shown up on the planet.

“Alright, just call me if you need an extra set of hands here to help.”

"Thank you, Airazor, I will," Rhinox promised. She may have been a less threatening and more calming presence to help Zodiac's situation, but Rhinox had to keep in mind that if this was just an act, it would probably take the two largest Maximals to stop the shape shifter and restrain him. So, for now, he wanted to keep Tigerhawk close in case things escalated.

"Where am I? What happened to me?"

“My friend here is right. We found you in pretty bad shape, and brought you here to get some help.”

"I see..,"

The Chief Medical Officer kept his crimson red optics on Zodiac to watch his reactions while Tigerhawk broke in with his soulful voice that was a bit smoother than Rhinox's deeper vocals.

“Outside, you asked what I addressed you as remember? Your name is Zodiac young one, and we only want to find out what is ailing you.”

Rhinox was beginning to think that they should have avoided mentioning any ailments since visually Zodiac had healed from his wounds, and with them continuing to bring them up, or the virus inside of him that hindered his memories, he might start thinking that they were crazy or hiding something.

"Honestly it's mostly just a haze," "I really don't have any clear recollection of anything that happened before I came to in here.."

'Honestly'? That was the first. Maybe he really didn't know who he was... Still, it was difficult to trust his words alone, and even the way he was acting since he was, after all, a very good actor considering who he was and what he was capable of. However, wrapping himself in his wings the way he did like a young child seeking refuge from the unknown or strangers while being backed against a wall seemed quite innocent and genuine in nature.

"How do I know you didn't cause this in the first place?,"

The engineer couldn't help the frown that appeared on his face from Zodiac's accusation, because as a Maximal and a medic, he wasn't used to being called out as the assaulter, but it was a completely valid observation from the shape-shifter's perspective, and he quickly pushed aside any indication of offense or insult.

"I apologize.. I just can't seem to focus right now. And I'm sorry, but I really don't remember any of you."

"There's no need to apologize. You have every right to be suspicious if you can't remember us. We're Maximals," the rhinoceros went on to explain at a pace that would allow the renegade to process the information as he remained in his spot kneeling on the floor. "I know it may not look like it according to my large stature, but I'm the main medical officer and science engineer. And Tigerhawk and Airazor are reconnaissance scouts who brought you here so that I could examine you when they found you unconscious." Yes, that sounded well enough to comprehend for now. No need to bring up the Predacons or Megatron just yet. He paused to see if any of this was familiar to him. Rhinox was reluctant to mention Optimus's name only because it might be a trigger for his impaired memory since he was the whole reason Zodiac had come to Earth in the first place, but he was bound to show up soon anyway, so he could "re-introduce" them to each other once he would enter the medical bay and then go from there. "Now, is there anything that hurts? Any odd sensations?" he tried asking once more since his patient seemed a tad calmer.

-----

“Up and moving already?

Hearing someone limping up behind him, Rattrap didn't turn to look who it was until he felt a hand rest briefly on his shoulder and found Airazor there. "I woulda slept in," he admitted, "but Nemesis woke me up by slammin' Frilla's body against my CR," he said crankily and disapprovingly. Even though Frilla said she was alright and had excused Nemesis of her poor behavior, he obviously still harbored some resentment toward the Predacon flier's actions. He tried to make a little light of it, but it was difficult, especially since he couldn't forget how dumb he had acted toward the frilled lizard who he was supposed to be friends with. He could just blame Nemesis for that too.

“And it looks like we’re all present and accounted for.”

"All but Optimus and Wintersong,"

Rattrap was about to point out that Optimus and Wintersong were still missing until the tigress quietly showed up on the bridge, to make it a bit more crowded, and Aurora spoke the obvious before him. "Yeah, where's our Fearless Leader?" he looked in Wintersong's direction for the answer. He better be alive, because Rattrap was in no condition to play leader again or anytime soon. Then he couldn't help but listen to the others and all of their wise cracks. He knew they meant well, and they had obviously been worried about him, even Dinobot, but it was almost overwhelming for him, and he tried to keep up despite his spirit being slightly off from everything that had happened that day.

"Well, you were taking so long dealing with the mess in the brig. And I'm willing to bet it's still a disaster area there, much like your room,"

Much like my leadership earlier? he thought, feeling sorry for himself and getting everyone injured so badly, but he pushed it aside trying to ignore it for now. "Hey, someone as small and lazy as me can only stay focused sweepin' up garbage for so long before I start siftin' through it and keepin' anything worth tinkerin' with," he smirked at Aurora returning the playful banter by mocking himself. Surely, she could relate to an extent. Heck, she couldn't even stay focused working on the repairs there in the Command Center while all of them conversed and turned their attention on to the residential spy, unlike Rhinox who could multitask darn near anything apparently.

“Wasn’t much of a picnic without you eating all the scraps left behind, vermin.”

I guess dat's all I'm really good for, the rodent belittled himself toward Dinobot's joke before covering it up with, "Still a better sight than dat time you ate yer clone," and shuddering at the visual it produced in his head. Gross. "Talk about cannibalism."

“Shame though, you didn’t give us time to make a “Get Well Soon” basket Rattrap, but I am sure the little bow will still go excellent with your tacky finish.”

Folding his arms across his chest now, the shorter Maximal glared at Dinobot as he said, "It ain't as tacky as yer personality, Dinobutt. Guess I spared you the embarrassment for yer lack of creativity when it comes ta care packages. You're welcome," he ended with a smirk.

“Rattrap!” “Maybe our nine lives are finally rubbing off on you after all.”

"Kid, I don't need yer nine lives if it means screwin' 'em up as badly as I did today," he accidentally admitted in the relentless flow of his quips. Realizing what he said, he looked surprised at himself before peering at all of them and sheepishly took a step back from the group. "I mean..." Flustered, he frantically searched for the right words to redeem himself and at the same time apologize to Cheetor who was clearly only trying to tease him per the norm, but he only ended up sighing quite audibly and bowing his head for a moment as he seemed to surrender and own up to his responsibilities. "Look, I'm, uh, I'm sorry... for... you know...," he struggled to say, "gettin' us all slagged, and failin' de mission." He thought he would feel better saying it out loud, but he didn't. Not really. Maybe it was just the remnants of nearly being electrocuted to death against the shields by Nemesis that was still dampening his spirits. Or maybe it was everything; the Preds winning, him and Airazor being held hostage, and everyone else being wounded. Something told him that some of them could sense he was still trying to avoid the inevitable group hug by being more open about his lowered self-esteem that day, but it wouldn't fix the fact of how poorly he handled the situation, and how quickly the Predacons had taken him down, leaving the rest to fend for themselves and make the hard decisions. Maybe he was beating himself up too much over it, but it also showed how much he cared about them and their survival in the war which he rarely showed unless it was disguised in his vigorously sarcastic remarks.

He was almost embarrassed to utter such words from his usually sarcastic mouth, but not even Dinobot's presence to witness it could silence him. It needed to be said considering how terrible he felt, especially as his optics momentarily lingered on Airazor's injured knee that she was still hobbling on. The Preds seemed to have a thing for damaging their knees. Optimus had never fully healed from his after the torture he had endured in his captivity at the Darksyde, hence the slight limp he still sported in his robot mode. Hopefully the Bird Lady wouldn't be subjected to the same result.

-----

“Scientific endeavors wasn’t exactly in the job description either, sir.”

"Hm," he mused for a moment toward Spineback's quick defense, taking notice of her clenched jaw and suspecting he had hit a nerve. Perhaps he should take a step back with his aggravation and impatience considering she was the best medic in his ranks and his health was currently in her hands. Not to mention, for a Predacon underling, he trusted her more than most of the others. "Indeed. My apologies, Spineback," he rectified his mood in a lighter tone.

“But, that is changing the longer this war goes on.”

"Evolution," Megatron thought out loud toward her comment as she paused with her work on him. "If you are to survive, evolution and adaptation must be accomplished and embraced in a war not unlike the one we find ourselves battling."

“Excellent, then you make my job ten times easier. Your primary systems and other important equipment will be my priority, and hopefully the scans my drone is picking up will give me greater clarity to what those are.”

As Terrabite explained what his drone was currently gathering, Megatron made a mental note to keep tighter security around his quarters and the times he might flash his prized possessions, the golden disk and the Vok orb. Like Terrorsaur, he didn't trust the new recruit just yet. Why should he? He barely knew him and his commitment. Terrabite had to earn his trust and respect. And even then the warlord wouldn't let him in on his darkest secrets. Megatron was no fool. He had come this far keeping his mouth shut, he wasn't about to spoil the ending for everyone before it would even happen. No one liked spoilers. "Very well," he agreed with his assessment and priorities.

“Once we finish here I will be sure to retrieve it, it just might take a few days since where I ended up is far offshore.”

"Just as long as it is... recovered before the Maximals... get their hands on it," Megatron reiterated in his deep voice that was beginning to gain its strength back while Spineback tended to his injuries. Slowly but surely he was beginning to feel better with her diligent work. "If it cannot be retrieved, then it must be destroyed."

“Makes discovering all of you that more exciting then.”

Megatron almost rolled his optics since he hardly found that exciting, but to each their own, he supposed. Why bother dampening the new Predacon's spirits if he thought he could take out the rodent? Terrabite would be doing both factions a favor, he smirked to himself.

“A month, maybe two. My pod’s tracker was damaged at some point, most likely from the impact but hard to say. It was pretty fried when I checked.”

A month or two? Interesting. That was quite a long time to be on his own aimlessly wandering about the planet. "Then perhaps you have gained some knowledge over the terrain that... we have yet to explore. Including any large bodies of water that could... disguise any kind of potential discoveries or wreckage," he was careful to add.

“Well to be fair, I have heard the technology is rather volatile. One wrong move and it may be more damaging than helpful.”

A thoughtful huff escaped Megatron's mouth toward Terrabite's opinion on the nanobot technology. "Apparently not, if the Maximals are capable of successfully toying with it," he added with an irritated tone as he tried to suppress any envy or jealousy he had toward them. Well, perhaps success to an extent. But that was still a further advancement with the rare and tricky tech than the Predacons had made.

“But it is an easily rectified oversight.” “They’ve already done half the work for us. Rampage’s cellular structure acts in a similar manner, not necessarily the nanomachines but their replication is threefold compared to ours.” ”That is true. But it’s more so how rare the availability is, especially here.

"We have eluded ourselves," the Predacon leader said with enlightenment as he came to understand where Spineback was going with her revelation on the matter of self regeneration.

“Hold still for a bit.”

Per her instructions, Megatron stiffened a little to minimize any movement with his head while the spinosaurus carefully replaced the damaged lenses on his optic sensors. As she did so, they went through their normal calibrations and adjustments, sharpening his vision back to its normal capacity in both optics. "A great improvement," he commended her work.

“But the great thing about first time breakthroughs is improving upon them. If I crack the rest of the code to Rampage’s regeneration, we wouldn’t require electricity or the like to make it work. A small quick injection and it would lessen the amount of recovery time and wounds I would have to repair. Especially something like this.”

"Which is likely the route that the Maximals have been trying to produce," he agreed with Spineback's assessment. "Quick recovery time in the battlefield. But at what cost?" he pondered for a moment. Were there side effects for such an endeavor? There were likely to be when it came to involving the unpredictable nanotech. If the Predacons could infuse Rampage's spark's molecular regeneration into a serum of sorts, then it might prove to be more reliable and easier to manipulate. "And as 'luck' would have it, we have half a spark to spare at our disposal. Yesss," he grinned at Spineback while referring to the crab's spark that he had spliced and kept in his subspace which Terrabite probably had no clue what he was talking about.

“Hmm, sounds like a lingering feeling is all. It will pass with time as I do the repairs, but none of them remain behind that I’m finding.”

"As I had hoped," he sounded relieved with her expert opinion on whether or not Zodiac had left any nanobots on his neck despite the phantom feeling he seemed to be experiencing. Fortunately, it was less pronounced now but still lingering a little.

"Waspinator!" he suddenly broke into his comm. link as he laid back on his cot. "What is taking so long?!" he demanded to know from the TransMetal insect.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: it's day 3. Any chance you might post soon, new moon? My own opportunity to post is approaching rapidly this weekend and I will be busy this coming week.. and I still have to wait for you and ws before I post. )

[New Moon]

((Okay here we are.

And thanks OOP! I just wanted to be sure Una hadn’t already made plans for Dinobutt before I decided to do anything. But, I will give it some thought for the future!))

A part of Frilla wondered how affected Nemesis would be from the condition she saw Zodiac in. From her expression she appeared shocked and guilt-ridden, making the frilled lizard wonder if there was perhaps remorse in the avian female who seemed so eager to prove she was tough-as-nails and iron willed as they come in the Predacons, squashing any chance of showing what her faction would consider weakness.

Yes, maybe Frilla had jumped the gun in viewing Nemesis no different from Megatron, but it made her actions no less unjustifiable.

“It was, but views and politics shift over time. Who is to say that the current views may eventually beat the outdated ones.” Frilla responded as they made their way towards the hanger. And perhaps that was what was needed. The Maximals and Predacons operates on what they viewed as clear-cut views of their factions, one faction was good and the other wicked, few perhaps seeing little flexibility or exceptions to this rule. Maybe it was time newer views were brought to the surface. “Maybe in time, we’ll see how that turns out for everyone.” There was no telling what the future might bring, but Frilla remained certain that eventually things would take a rather drastic change. For better or for worse.

Nemesis’ brutal honesty though caused Frilla to merely shrug slightly, “Guess I learned a different method to navigate our violence prone culture.” Despite her words, the frilled lizard didn’t quite no how to explain how she survived this long. In retrospect, she probably had just been lucky, keeping her head down and out of the business that gave the Predacons the reputation they had. “I wasn’t brought up or bred to be any specific function, I was a civilian before all this happened. So, perhaps the universe dealt me a kinder fate than most.” She left that open for Nemesis to interpret how she saw fit. Regardless of the reason, Frilla had stuck to her beliefs for the most part aside from having to drop her avoidance of using violence. Unfortunately, it was a necessity, she just aimed to use non-lethal methods if possible.

“Perhaps, but as you said, I have a target on my back from being labeled a traitor and that is something I cannot be rid of.” The smaller female pointed out as she released the bonds, giving Nemesis the time she needed to work out the discomfort the bonds no doubt had caused. “True. Though, we both know this wasn’t exactly what the order entailed.” And she was willing to take any reprimands for that. Frilla was technically within reason of releasing their prisoner plus her own sympathy to the plight Nemesis was fixing to face when she returned to the Darksyde.

Necessary for yourself or the Predacon cause?, The transmetal lizard thought to herself. But she quietly listened to the exchange between Nemesis and Optimus, optic ridges rising slightly at the brass Nemesis showed in shifting blame from herself to Megatron. That was a rather ballsy move, one the avian could regret if Megatron ever caught wind of it. Then again, what could she expect with someone who fought for her survival above anything else? Nemesis’ loyalties were a mystery to Frilla more than ever, wondering if the avian was kidding herself in believing Megatron’s grand visions or she was far too fearful to be boisterous about her true views on the matter.

The exchange didn’t last long however, and the transmetal lizard moved to walk beside the blue ape, “Yes and no.” Frilla admitted, wondering how she could approach the situation with her leader, “Rattrap is awake and so is Aurora, but largely due to me and Nemesis. Things got out of hand while you were gone, verbally that is...and one of the CR chambers has a cracked glass now.” Frilla seemed a little sheepish in explaining the whole situation, something that would have to be given in greater detail soon enough. “And yes, he didn’t appear to be in the best shape either. Right now Rhinox and Tigerhawk are tending to him.” She reported as they headed back towards the infirmary.

From afar, Waspinator watched the interaction between Optimus and Nemesis, only able to catch snippets of their conversation.

From it, the transmetal insect picked up on the accusatory tone Optimus used with the avian female, something of which she didn’t exactly retaliate in the way he would have expected. So far, she was being let go and the two were having a rather tense but almost casual exchange that baffled the insect. Why didn’t she strike while she could? Primal was pretty beat up and the traitorous frilled lizard would likely be of little help before Nemesis could make her escape. So why didn’t she? What little more he could hear, Waspinator got the gist of what seemed to be who was responsible for the attack, something Nemesis seemed to place blame on someone but who he couldn’t be sure.

Not that he had the chance to try and listen to the whole thing. Megatron’s sudden utterance of his name caused the metal wasp to gasp in surprise, digging his clawed fingers into the tree trunk and branch he had been carefully balanced on to avoid falling and alerting them to his presence. Grumbling, the insect decided to cut his losses from there, wings buzzing to life and making his way deeper through the forest before he felt he was a safe enough distance to give his report, “Waspinator reporting in!” He quickly spoke before Megatron could lose his patient further, “Waspinator found bird-bot at the Axalon, she appeared to be a prisoner for a bit. Primal and little she-lizard release her without a struggle.” The wasp’s tone soon shifted town almost giddy one, as if he was preparing to tell the juiciest information possible, “Saw bird-bot speaking with Primal without hostility or need to defend herself, seemed keen on putting blame for attack on someone.” He buzzed, shifting to jet mode since he had by now flown a considerable distance and took off towards the Darksyde.

———————————————

As the wise cracks flew back and forth across the room, Tigatron became content just to listen to the others, faintly smiling. Despite the long, exhausting day everyone seemed to attempt to stay in high spirits no doubt to lighten their bleak day and the days to come.

However that content was broken when he noticed Airazor, her limping bringing back the concern he held for the falcon but relieved to see she seemed to be doing well. He spark still aches over his inability to get to her or their comrades who had been taken prisoner earlier, but at the same time they had been given little choice. “Nemesis was rather persistent today.” Tigatron commented, and she was only part of the issues they had faced that day.

Dinobot snorted softly, “Not enough fiber for my diet, I hear they’re better right from the trees themselves.” Though her following remark of babysitting only made the raptor roll his optics, “Been there once, it didn’t go very well. Besides, you and Cheetor are worse than cyber-mice, can’t sit still for more than a few kilks.” The raptor remarked, but hardly viewed the two as children anymore. They had been through far too much, charged too much to be considered “kids” anymore.

Now, it was mostly a form of endearment or scolding in certain moments.

Though as they awaited the answer to where Primal was, Dinobot’s attention was mostly drawn to his most unlikeliest of closest friends. Rattrap’s comebacks did earn a low snarl of annoyance for his snark from the raptor, but he still was ever observant of the rodent’s rather unusual gloominess that was at first subtle, but briefly forgotten as Dinobot remarked, “It got rid of the problem didn’t it? Or perhaps you would have rather two of us running around, one of which constantly in the brig so not to give away our secrets.” Dinobot remarked sarcastically, “Hmph, lack of personality seems to have worked in the long run for me, I doubt you could last a day without giving some kind of snarky remark or smart-mouthed quip yourself rodent.”

The sudden outburst by the transmetal rat admittedly caught both Dinobot and Tigatron off guard. There might be days most of them had their ups and downs, but seeing Rattrap in such a state was...worrisome. “Rattrap, we are all here and alive, as Cheetor said that in itself is better than a failed mission.” The white tiger told him.

Dino it was silent for a moment though, considering how embarrassed and how low the rodent seemed to feel. Perhaps such a crowded, noisy audience was far too overwhelming for the moment for the rodent. His repairs had been interrupted and he doubted Rattrap had had the chance to process everything with had happened on the mission. Unfortunately he didn’t know the details of what all had happened, only bits and pieces and what had been done there at the Axalon, and maybe that was the problem. “Rattrap, what you need at the moment is time to breathe and get your thoughts in order.” Dinobot’s voice became calmer given the situation, feeling a little change in scenery might do the rodent some good. “You were working on the brig yes? Let’s go start some repairs, I am sure we may eventually need them.”

Though rare, Dinobot did from time to time express his own concerns for the well being of his comrades, especially for someone he had grown a grudging respect and friendship with. To see Rattrap this way was...odd and worrying for the raptor whose supportive attitude might be too weird even for the transmetal rat.

———————————————

Terrabite closely watched the conversation and reactions of his two new comrades, the few minutes feeling tense after Megatron had blatantly questioned Spineback. But, the tyrant seemed to pick up on the fact he was either way out of line or in a vulnerable position for the saurian femme to easily allow him to finish the job someone had started. Or both. Whatever the case, the situation seemed to gradually become at ease causing him to let out a relieved breath he just realized he had been holding.

However, Megatron’s short answer at first suggested the mech seemed wary still, no doubt due to his unexpected appearance and being so new to this little war they were waging. But he gave it little mind as he nodded, “Once my drone is finished with its scans, I will be back on the road. Should give me a full night ahead of any chances they have of tracking it down.” He assured Megatron, tilting his head as at that moment the sparrow drone came zooming in as if on cue,

In the process of returning the drone to its housing though the crocodilian mech raised a slight brow at that, “Wreckage huh. I don’t know about that, but I know the area well enough I can give a more thorough look or point you in the right direction.” He told him, rubbing his chin as he attempted to recollect finding anything out of the ordinary. But he quickly held up his hands, showing he meant no offense, “Apologies, I just meant I have heard a few things, nothing definite until now.” He explained, meaning nothing by it, but it was clear he would have to be far more careful with his words noticing off the bat at how swiftly Megatron’s mood changed. It was making his own mood look...sane.

Though, the revelation Spineback seemed to have not only brightened Megatron’s sour mood to some extent but seemed to bring new insight to what this form of technology had enabled to be accomplished. But the spare spark bit did confuse Terrabite, naturally unaware of what had thus far gone on in the isolated war. Quite frankly, such a subject was none of his business anyhow as he straightened up. With the scans done, there seemed little time to waste on his first order of business. “Well, I wish you luck with such an endeavor, but I will head out now while I still have the energy to spare. I will be back as soon as possible.” He informed Megatron, giving a two fingered salute before he turned to head out.

[Wintersong]

The thought of being charge of clean up made Cheetor raise his hands defensively in a playful manner, “No thank you! I would rather lead an energon mining mission.” He laughed softly knowing she likely would do so just for the fun of it. Though realistically, they would be cleaning up the base regardless of who was in charge; the place was trashed and had a couple gaping holes in the hull now that could take days to repair fully.

They could only hope the Predacons would be busy with other matters to give them trouble right away.

Aurora’s mutter about their leader thought made Cheetor look at her thoughtfully, “Optimus usually has his reasons Aurora, even if we may not always agree with his ways.” As reluctant as Cheetor was to defend Optimus’ actions this time, he trusted their father figure had reasons for helping those in need, even if it was someone like Zodiac. “Personally, maybe being a little reckless is what we need around here. The Preds certainly haven’t been doing us any favors.” He growled softly, resentment and bitterness clear in his voice as he felt the Predacons were only pushing the boundaries of their compassion and patience. He couldn’t help thinking back to earlier when he briefly encountered Megatron, ‘Maybe I should have ignored my own advice and attacked that slagger while I had the chance.’

But he quieted down a bit as the others seemed to gather, noting just about everyone from the mission was there.

“Nemesis remained? I’m surprised she didn’t take a chance to escape with so many of us gone.” Airazor commented, but figured that would be resolved one way or another. “Regardless, it’s good to see you on your feet Rattrap.” Airazor spoke with visible relief, having witnessed the scene firsthand like some of the others having worried the rodent would be fried alive and being unable to do anything at the time. She hated having been so easily incapacitated that day, but only found greater determination to do better now that she was back among friends.

She lifted her gaze to peer around as the others exchange quips and snark, meeting the gentle gaze of Tigatron to offer a tender look in return.

Hearing Dinobot, the young cheetah scoffed slightly, shooting the raptor a look about the babysitting remark, “More like you were a terrible influence. You nearly got me fried in a thunderstorm! Plus you whined more than a newspark when we lost our sight.” Cheetor pointed out, recounting the number of times he had worked with Dinobot and had even at one point believed the raptor in his potential.

Wintersong had been more than content to be quiet in the situation with everyone throwing around some smart quip or tease. Honestly, it felt far more crowded now that a majority of the Maximals were concentrated in the bridge compared to earlier in the day. The anxiety of feeling so enclosed and with little room left her anxious to find something else to do or be back outside despite Optimus’ encouragement to be around the others. And any other time she would, maybe even throwing a remark of her own or two into the ones flying around.

Instead, she remained unusually quiet, contemplating about what her as Optimus had talked about on their way back to the Axalon.

It was only when Rattrap inquired about the transmetal ape did she realize how stand offish she has been acting. “Oh, he’s outside for the moment giving Nemesis her farewell talk.” The transmetal tigress answered, clearing her throat as she held back the anxiety, but just barely. “I saw her leaving the hanger, guess Frilla thought she overstayed her welcome.” Wintersong told them with a slight shrug. Though she wasn’t quite so sure how the others might take the news, most likely welcoming the last of the Predacons to be gone from their base.

What neither her, Airazor, or Cheetor expected though was the outburst from Rattrap, looking at him with shock. Cheetor was especially surprised, if even a little taken aback that he might have triggered the low self-esteem to be worse than what the rodent had been feeling. “I, uh, I’m sorry Rattrap I didn’t mean it that way.” The transmetal cheetah apologized, “But no one here blames you for what happened to us Rattrap. The Predacons nearly dropped five tons of mountain on top of us, we were forced to scatter to avoid being Maximal pancakes.” Cheetor pointed out trying to show Rattrap wasn’t to blame for their injuries.

Airazor even chimed in when noticing the rodent’s lingering gaze on her leg, “And this is just a result of my own inability to hold off the Predacons today, and I did make it worse after attacking Inferno in the brig. Megatron wasn’t exactly in a good mood. Think it’s safe to say I’m a little out of practice after my world tour away from the base.” She tried to reassure him, but had a feeling Dinobot may be right about taking time to step away from the situation. He had only just emerged from his CR chamber to be repaired and much had happened in that short amount of time.

If anything, the whole situation must have been overwhelming for their friend after all that had happened that day.

Tigerhawk had to hold his tongue when Nemesis countered about his right to judge her, not that he had the chance regardless since Frilla had decided to direct her away. ‘I have more than enough right to, Cybertron or Earth heinous acts are heinous acts avian.’ He thought to himself, briefly recollecting some of his own past before turning his full attention to the situation at hand.

Zodiac’s words and demeanor seemed far too out of place to all be an act. What bot, even someone such as the likes of the young dragon, would go to such lengths to avoid possibly facing problems in the future? Logically, it made no sense to Tigerhawk. “Just take your time, we’ll take this a step by step.” The fuzor assured him, feeling he was more than justified to be suspicious of them especially when he clearly didn’t recognize any of them or his surroundings. From a side glance, Rhinox didn’t seem fully convinced but said nothing so as to not cause further issues for the Chief Medic or his patient.

Though his ears swiveled back slightly at the sound of approaching voices and steps, recognizing Optimus’ voice right away but wasn’t quite yet use to Frilla’s who he had met in passing at best. The only problem was how would the presence of two other individuals affect Zodiac’s suspicion or vulnerable appearance?

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

Spineback’s tension had ebbed away the more she had thought about the ways she could improve upon the Maximal discovery with the nanotech, merely giving a small nod, “I suppose you aren’t completely without a point my liege, but this war has more than given me reason to change my job description.” She assured him, removing her magnifying optic before switching to another tool. His words though made her pause briefly, before a slight smile tugged at her lips, “That I can fully agree with.”

Megatron’s statement couldn’t be more true. Spineback practically accepted that evolution was vital to life these days, having been doing so since her colony days. ‘Evolution indeed.’ Her thoughts briefly went towards the secondary project she had been working on the past few days as she finished her work on Megatron’s inner neck area, not quite paying too much attention to his talk with the newcomer. If the healing serum was a possibility, then maybe the mutagenic cells she had separated from Rampage’s capability to do so any be capable of more.

Perhaps no different from the process that had induced Nemesis’ and Zodiac’s ability to use their nanomachines.

His mention of a potential wreckage or other useful objects had her freeze for a moment. She had long suspected that the point on Earth might be coincidental and what they might eventually find, but Megatron’s subtle implication seemed to cause her to be rather curious if her own suspicions were right. For now, she left those thoughts to herself as she repaired his damaged optics offering the faintest smiles that his sight was improving, “I may have to start keeping extra lenses since the Maximals seem fond of destroying your sight so much.” She observed, “That, or I recommend being more mindful of their aim. This keeps up you can risk permanent loss of sight sir.” She warned, aware this was not the first time his optics had faced damage.

As she placed some of the tools on the table, she examined the outer casing of his neck plating, mentally noting to herself the extent of its damage while Megatron quickly seemed to catch onto her revelation. Quick as ever. “Exactly.” Spineback confirmed before shrugging slightly, “Unfortunately, I can’t give a definite answer for that. I may have to test the first dose on an unsuspecting guinea pig, perhaps our resident whiny squawker.” She casually suggested Terrorsaur without a second thought, her dislike for the flier evident as ever. “But if his spark provides the answer, I am ready to examine it whenever you deem fit.” She told him, perhaps a little too eager to poke and prod at the supposedly invincible spark, briefly leaving the tyrant’s side to retrieve the necessary armor plating to replace the one eaten away by Zodiac.

By then, Terrabite has decided to take his leave and Megatron was making good on trying to get ahold of Waspinator. Grabbing a small clamp and welder, she began going to work on patching the eaten away outer armor, doing her best to make it look as smooth as possible and as little scarring as she could, but there would be clear scarring no matter what work she did. “Megatron, pardon my speaking out of term, but what you asked of Terrabite...Are you expecting to find something such as the Nemesis or the Ark? I have looked at the trajectory of the transwarp jump but I wasn’t so sure it was coincidental or not.” She finally inquired the question that had been nagging at the back of her mind for some time.

Meanwhile, one of the CR tanks finished healing its occupants, Terrorsaur stretching as the platform rose from the tank. “Ahhh, good as new.” The flier signed, the soreness having lessened and his frame seeming like new again. His temper had likewise calmed, for the most part. He was still annoyed at being knocked down a few pegs earlier in the day but for now he would leave it be, briefly glancing at the other tank that housed Inferno who appeared not to be done yet. Considering the beating he got though, he doubted the ant would be up and moving for a while.

Taking flight, the mech returned to his station earlier on where he had been arguing with Quickstrike, finding the silence and being alone surprisingly welcome for the time being.

[Phoenix]

“It was, but views and politics shift over time. Who is to say that the current views may eventually beat the outdated ones.”

Nemesis shook her head at the smaller female's observations, finding it unlikely that two opposing factions like the Maximals and Predacons would ever be able to agree on even the most basic politics. On Cybertron the Predacons were usually treated as second rate citizens, a fact that only encouraged certain individuals to conspire against the Maximals behind their backs. There had been a lot of unruly uprisings among the citizens of their home planet, keeping the cybertronian police on their toes. And wisely, and perhaps fortunately, enough Nemesis had managed to stay clear of Cybertron for the most part, merely using its satellites as her temporary home as she wandered through life before ending up here on this planet.

"Are you always this naive?," she then asked the other female with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Indeed, Frilla seemed to view the world in ideals whereas Nemesis did in absolutes.

“Maybe in time, we’ll see how that turns out for everyone.

"We've been waiting for change for a long time already, so I'm sure you'll forgive me for not believing it will happen without a push in the right direction," the avian responded with a disgruntled sigh. But she had taken note of where the other female was leading her, which at least gave her some hope that she'd be able to just return to the Darksyde soon.

“Guess I learned a different method to navigate our violence prone culture.”

Violence prone.. Yeah, that statement did seem fairly accurate. Although many Maximals had adapted to this culture as well, even a few members among the Axalon crew. "I suppose the Predacons need someone to function as a librarian too," the avian mocked back in her own perhaps less than subtle way.

“I wasn’t brought up or bred to be any specific function, I was a civilian before all this happened. So, perhaps the universe dealt me a kinder fate than most.”

Perhaps.. Nemesis wasn't quite sure what to answer to that statement since she didn't share the smaller female's life experiences. She had always been at war, even before the experiments that introduced this strange technology into her systems. In fact she had been so frustrated with the situation on Cybertron, she had volunteered to partake in said experiments in her youth. Oh what a mistake that had been.. Although she couldn't argue with the results. Their methods had been ruthless, but in her case she had seen at least some success. She may not have adapted quite as well as Zodiac did for whatever reason, but she wasn't laying dead on a table like so many others who had joined the experiments either out of their own free will and stupidity or perhaps even forced into it. Nor was she dead by her own propensity to get into fights, in large part due to the nanomachines within her. Technology that wouldn't have been developed if it wasn't for the desperation of certain Predacons..

Yet she didn't feel like sharing her thoughts on this matter with the other female so she remained silent for a bit as they walked through the hangar.

“Perhaps, but as you said, I have a target on my back from being labeled a traitor and that is something I cannot be rid of.”

"At least you're not alone," the avian pointed out. "Dinobot has an equal target, perhaps even bigger since Megatron seemed to have held him and his loyalty to the cause in higher regard." Again with the brutal honesty, but Nemesis didn't seem to care if the other female's feelings were hurt.

She did, however, give the other female a trace of a grateful smile as she removed the bonds and lowered the ramp to allow the Predacon to go free. And then she had offered a few words to console the other female about doing the right thing and that she wasn't, technically, going against Optimus' orders when she released her.

“True. Though, we both know this wasn’t exactly what the order entailed.”

"Perhaps.. But how long do you think I can remain here before Megatron puts a price on my head?," the avian replied as she took her first few steps on the ramp towards freedom, only to be stopped by Primal himself.

"It isn't all that uncommon for him to keep my Maximals and me distracted while he pursues other interests,"

Nemesis sighed as she heard the doubt in Primal's voice. "While that may be true, he still calls the shots for what he wants done," she reminded the Maximal, "But I don't deny my blame in any of this. I could have resisted those orders, but it would have come at a great cost," she added while letting her arms hang loosely at her sides, making it apparent she didn't wish to fight.

"Of course you didn't,"

She drew in a breath, waiting for him to make a decision. Somehow Primal had always been able to read her quite well, so she didn't want to lie more than she absolutely had to. Otherwise it felt like Optimus would just see straight through her, whether he picked up on a lingering hesitation in her tone or some subtle change in body language, she couldn't really tell.

"Leave here, Nemesis. I need to tend to my crew."

He walked past her, leaving her to exhale that breath she'd been holding in. And for a moment she glanced at him as he walked away, clearly irritated with her ye still willing to let her go without any additional interrogation. Perhaps he bought her story.. Or maybe he didn't, yet he didn't want to keep her lingering any longer. Whatever the reason she didn't say anything more, merely turned to leave in a hurry before he changed his mind. She then transformed and took to the skies, still blissfully unaware they were being watched.

Whenever either of the Maximals present in the infirmary would take a step closer, Zodiac responded by pulling back ever so slightly more. He did this a few times until he was curled up in one corner of the room with his large wings wrapped around him as if he was feeling cold. In reality he really felt lost and quite timid, like he was surrounded by enemies who only wished him harm. There was little about his appearance that looked like the intimidating force of nature he had been when he first made his play against Primal and the Maximals, if anything he looked rather.. lost. Some dreadlocks were hanging down into his face, but he did nothing to clear them away, his armor still had dirty spots on it from the ordeal he'd gone through with the Predacons, and he really looked like a mess. Not injured physically, but still a mess.

"There's no need to apologize. You have every right to be suspicious if you can't remember us. We're Maximals,"

Maximals.. It didn't ring a bell. Then again nor did anything else he'd seen or felt since he came to in this place a few short moments before.

"Maximals..," he repeated as if saying the word again might prompt his memories to return. But it didn't, so he merely gave a slight shrug of the shoulders and continued to avoid eye contact as best he could.

"So you saved me.. and I'm a Maximal too then? ," he then asked after a brief pause. So these strangers must be his own team of sorts, yet he felt so secluded in a way. More like a prisoner than someone surrounded by those he supposedly trusted. Perhaps whatever trouble he had gotten himself into had resulted in him getting a head injury of sorts. Physically he felt alright though, so maybe he'd been knocked out long enough for his internal repairs to wipe any physical evidence of his ordeal. Of course he had no idea of just how efficient those repair systems were.

The other male, the one who appeared to be a fuzor, had taken more of a background role while Rhinox attempted to explain the situation to the almost paranoid young dragon. But the fuzor, too, spoke up at this point, his voice smoother and perhaps a bit more soothing than Rhinox' more gruff one.

“Just take your time, we’ll take this a step by step.”

Would they? There really wasn't anything the renegade wanted more right now than to know the truth. If these were his comrades, why did he feel so.. alone? Like he was surrounded by individuals who wanted to cause him harm?

"I appreciate your kind words," the dragon replied with his head in an inclined position. "Just wish I was more clear headed."

"I know it may not look like it according to my large stature, but I'm the main medical officer and science engineer. And Tigerhawk and Airazor are reconnaissance scouts who brought you here so that I could examine you when they found you unconscious."

Chief medical officer and engineer huh? That's not exactly the first guess Zodiac, as he now knew he was named, would have made when he first saw the bulky rhinoceros. But he saw no reason to distrust the other male's words, even though he remained weary of anyone in his presence.

"And I'm sure you're excellent at your job," the hybrid commented rather meekly, "So I guess you're the one who will be clearing me to return to my duties.. whatever they are.. when the time comes."

In this state the renegade seemed almost humble, which certainly was a far stretch from how cocky and arrogant he'd acted when he first revealed himself to them those months back. Humbled.. and frightened. And almost childlike, perhaps even younger than his years.

"Now, is there anything that hurts? Any odd sensations?"

The one who had identified himself as the medic on this vessel then proceeded to try to narrow down the symptoms the renegade was experiencing. Not too odd by itself, so Zodiac attempted to relax a bit more. It didn't seem like the medic wanted to harm him so he tried, he really did, to let go of those uneasy feelings he was harboring. "I seem to be fully operational, at least physically..," Zodiac replied, recognizing that his mental state was still very frail.

Now.. the other part of Rhinox' question was a little more difficult to assess. How was he supposed to know if he felt any odd sensations when he had no idea what that fully entailed. What was his normal, so to speak?

"I'm not quite sure what you mean by odd sensations..," he then admitted earnestly before letting his gaze settle on the floor where his feet were barely poking out from underneath his wings. Everything about his situation felt.. odd.. yet he couldn't really tell for sure since he didn't have anything to compare with. It was as if he had just stepped off the assembly line, yet somehow he knew that wasn't the case. His sense of danger made it clear he had gotten himself in a bad situation before he woke up here.

A quick scan had revealed that the others present did have weapons on them, yet they made no attempt to unholster those weapons, whereas he seemed not to have any accessible weapons at this time. Had he never had them? Was he a pacifist by nature? Or had he somehow lost them to whatever had left him in this state? The latter of those options seemed more realistic..

Approaching footsteps alerted him that he was about to have even more company. From the sound of it there were two of them approaching, one heavier than the other, and Zodiac did his best to brace himself in the event these two newcomers had more ill intentions than the initial pair he had met. He attempted to straighten himself out a bit, yet still didn't move from his spot in the corner, only briefly offering a glance at the two who were joining them. It was a tiny female and a bulkier gorilla male. The male of the pair did look vaguely familiar, making Zodiac realize he knew him from somewhere, but it was a fleeting sensation and really didn't bring about any solid memories. There was a certain authority about the male too that the others didn't have, perhaps the way he carried himself, like he held a great deal of burden on his shoulders but still he was able to silence a room by just walking into it.

Zodiac's gaze dropped as soon as he realized he'd been staring at the incoming pair, the male in particular, with wide optics. And since he really didn't like the added attention he was getting, he found himself wishing he could simply fade away into the background. Unbeknownst to him, that is exactly what he did for that brief moment as his nanomachines responded by altering his coloration to match the wall directly behind him. And thus turning him nearly invisible at certain angles for those brief couple of nanoclicks before he seemed to fade back into view as he forced himself to relax a bit more. Despite doing this involuntary action, he really seemed unaware that anything had even happened as he eventually spoke up to greet the newcomer. Of sorts.

"You'll have to excuse this less than dignified pose of mine.. I just woke up a few moments ago and I'm having a little difficulty remembering some things," he said with some hesitation. Actually everything would have been a better description.

Tarantulas chuckled to himself as he continued listening to the conversation between Megatron and Spineback as relayed to him by his drone that was still concealed on the roof above them. Although their banter soon started making him lose interest, since frankly he couldn't care less about the state of Megatron's cracked optic and whatever else ailed the tyrant.

Bah!, he thought to himself rather impatiently and was just about to turn his attention elsewhere when the discussion between the two picked up on a more interesting note.

"Quick recovery time in the battlefield. But at what cost?"

Ah yes, the crab. Naturally Tarantulas had picked up on Megatron's keen interest in the maniac crustacean so aptly named Rampage, yet he hadn't quite devised a way to use the crab's abilities to his advantage yet. Mainly because the crab was so dangerously unpredictable, much like the spider himself, and because Megatron already had his grip tightened around the maniac's spark. While there was certainly no love lost between the spider and the tyrant, Tarantulas knew better than to openly go for Megatron's toys. Not yet. Not until he had located the very item he had joined this mission to acquire for himself.

The shape shifter, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter altogether. He possessed abilities most Cybertronians could only dream of, and the spider was very intrigued by discovering more about why that was. Let alone take advantage of the renegade's vulnerable state and lack of allies. Indeed, he was right for the picking, and soon enough the spider would make his move.

Having picked up a welding tool to start doing some repairs on one of his drones while he listened in on their conversation, Tarantulas' attention was grabbed by the useless wasp's report on the whereabouts of Nemesis. Ah, the avian newly appointed second in command of the Predacons. So eager to please, yet as tough as she acted the spider still knew it was all just an act. He had noticed her acts of mercy in the battlefield before, being the observer that he was, so it was with some interest he learned of Nemesis' whereabouts during the assault on the helpless shapeshifter.

So she'd just been released by the Maximals.. How very fortunate for her. Given the avian female's role during the battle, it was more than a little surprising Primal would simply let her go like that to return to the Predacons. Surely the Maximal leader realized what kind of trouble the female would be in when she had to face Megatron's wrath after her absence.. Unless, of course, Primal had made certain arrangements with the female. How very fortuitous for her. And perhaps for the spider as well.

He put down the welding tool and started making preparations to intercept the incoming avian female before she'd have a chance to talk to Megatron himself, only to get distracted by one final tidbit of information through his thus far very successful spy drone.

“Megatron, pardon my speaking out of term, but what you asked of Terrabite...Are you expecting to find something such as the Nemesis or the Ark? I have looked at the trajectory of the transwarp jump but I wasn’t so sure it was coincidental or not.”

Ah, so Megatron's little secret was starting to leak out among at least some of the more intelligent, if such a term could be used for the Predacon misfits, members of the crew. Tarantulas waited with giddy anticipation to find out what the tyrant would, or would not, admit to.

"I woulda slept in," he admitted, "but Nemesis woke me up by slammin' Frilla's body against my CR,"

Aurora nodded in agreement to what the rodent was saying, more than willing to confirm how the avian Predacon had been misbehaving during her stay there. In fact she couldn't wait to tell Primal about it and watch him kick their feathered foe to the curb. Or better yet a cell in the brig, provided any of them remained intact after the Predacon attack.

"Some house guests are just rude!," the ermine fuzor concurred. She then looked to where Wintersong was now standing, hoping the newly arrived tigress could help shed some light on recent events as well.

"Yeah, where's our Fearless Leader?"

Hopefully he'd be here soon.. Aurora really wanted to talk to him, to give him a piece of her mind for abandoning his promise to her so easily.

“Optimus usually has his reasons Aurora, even if we may not always agree with his ways.”

Sure, he had his reasons. Didn't mean she had to agree with them! Not when he'd just promised her he'd start taking better care of himself and not jump into danger at every possible turn.

"He's going to be in big trouble when I get a hold of him," she replied back with a grimace, although she likely wouldn't dare to be as strict when she actually got to see Optimus in person. She did, however, want to let him know how disappointed she was.

“Been there once, it didn’t go very well. Besides, you and Cheetor are worse than cyber-mice, can’t sit still for more than a few kilks.”

Cyber mice.. What an interesting comparison! Granted ermines in the wild probably ate the things, she reckoned, briefly reconsidering her choice of beast form. How disturbing, especially since one of her best friends was a rat. A Cybertronian one, of course, but still a rat. And he was actually bigger than her in size. But at least Dinobot had grown tolerant if not fond of his new crew members, but Aurora usually kept her distance after hearing all the gross stories about Dinobot's eating habits. Like they had just been reminded of yet again. Yuck!

"Hey, someone as small and lazy as me can only stay focused sweepin' up garbage for so long before I start siftin' through it and keepin' anything worth tinkerin' with,"

Well.. Rattrap had a valid point! Neither one of them possessed the patience or attention span to stay focused on such boring tasks for long. There was a reason Rhinox was, and likely would always be, the most skilled of them. And it wasn't just because the guy was pretty much a genius.

"Guess you'll need a bigger room to fit all of that tinkering material," she responded with a smile, not yet aware of how the rodent truly felt about the events that had gone down today. Rattrap would likely have been an awesome poker player given his propensity to keep his emotions in check, unless of course he felt he was about to die. In which case they were all going to hear the negativity. In fact Rattrap seemed almost untouchable, so what he was going to admit to Cheetor was about to drop several jaws around the room.

"Kid, I don't need yer nine lives if it means screwin' 'em up as badly as I did today,"

And for that moment it seemed like everyone went silent, wondering if they had truly heard Rattrap say those words. He was a rock after all, someone who always jumped back on his feet no matter how bad the situation got, so hearing his voice utter those words.. well.. it was enough to shock everyone in the room. Perhaps especially Aurora, who flattened her ears and watched the rodent stutter to try to elaborate on what he had just said.

"Look, I'm, uh, I'm sorry... for... you know...," he struggled to say, "gettin' us all slagged, and failin' de mission."

But it was too late. They'd all heard him say it. And Aurora lowered her gaze with a bit of shame for not having recognized Rattrap's emotional state before. She tugged slightly at her lip, wondering what she could say to help him feel better, but she really was at a loss so far. Fortunately her team mates were not.

“Rattrap, we are all here and alive, as Cheetor said that in itself is better than a failed mission.”

“Rattrap, what you need at the moment is time to breathe and get your thoughts in order.”

Before Dinobot could haul Rattrap away to do more work on the brig, the little fuzor then hurried to the rodent's side and embraced him with a tender hug instead of using words to try to comfort him. She'd never seen Rattrap this down before, not even after Optimus had died. He really was being too hard on himself..

Not letting him go for a few moments, she hugged him tight, before whispering in his ear; "That's not true, you know. Everyone has their off days, but we still all love you the same nevertheless. " Well, most of them did anyway. Dinobot's definition of 'love' might not quite be what the rodent needed right now.

Nemesis was making up for at least some of her delay by travelling back to the Darksyde at high speeds, helped by the direction of a passing wind that conveniently was going the same way. Although she was hurrying to get back, she still took long enough to be able to come up with at least something resembling an excuse for when she had to face Megatron. Yet she wasn't naive enough to believe the tyrant wouldn't rough her up, at least a little, but hopefully her peace offering would be enough to discourage the most violent of the abuse.

She still had a short distance to go before arriving at the Darksyde when a hailing signal followed by Megatron's voice prompted her to slow down. "Nemesis, report to the following coordinates at once!," the voice declared before giving her the coordinates. The transmission then ended, leaving Nemesis somewhat perplexed by the abrupt interruption and she briefly wondered why Megatron wanted to meet her somewhere away from the base. But fearing the repercussions of not obeying at this time, she did as she'd been ordered changed her course accordingly.

The location the coordinates lead her to seemed desolate, with mostly rock formations and a few bushes making up the scenery. Nemesis did find this choice of meeting grounds to be a little odd, but she still landed and transformed before she looked around.

And she was alone. No Megatron, no.. nobody. Or at least so she thought before the scurrying noises of something small and mobile pulled her attention to it. It was one of Tarantulas' drones, quickly followed by another, then a small horde of them came out from their hiding spots. Quickly realizing she'd been tricked, Nemesis crossed her arms and sighed.

"Show yourself, Tarantulas!," she called out for him, only to hear the spider's cackle echo between the rocky formations. It was enough to give Nemesis some fairly bad vibes, but she forced herself to stay cool no matter how creeped out the spider usually made her feel.

"There's no need to shout, my dear," the spider replied as he then revealed himself to her in all his leggy glory. "I just want a word with you before you return to Megatron like the loyal minion you pretend to be."

Nemesis let out a slight growl to let the spider know not to push his luck, and because she was in a bit of a hurry to get back. "What do you want?," she demanded with a huff with her arms crossed.

Another cackle followed, this one louder than before.

"I just wanted confirmation of an observation I happened to make regarding your absence after we captured the shape shifter," the spider replied when his cackle finally died down, as he watched her intently with all his spider optics.

"What is it?," she demanded, but she was starting to fear the worst now.

"I just find it a little convenient that you remained at the Axalon and then the Maximals mysteriously show up to rescue our captured friend," the spider replied with a hint of glee in his voice. "I was hoping you could shed some light on this turn of events."

Fighting back the sense of panic that gripped her at that moment, Nemesis put on her best poker face and replied with the excuse she planned to use on Megatron himself.

"The Maximals had implanted Zodiac with a tracking device prior to your abduction of him," she explained, "I remained at their base for a while longer to obtain additional evidence when I came across this information. Alas the Maximals had already launched their rescue operation by that time."

Yes, that seemed like a logical enough explanation, she thought. Surely the spider couldn't argue with that.

Yet that is exactly what he did when he grinned so very widely, looking very much like he had just netted himself the catch of a lifetime.

"If only that were true," he responded while piercing her with all 8 of his spider optics. "For you see.. I had the opportunity to scan the shape shifter, and there were no tracking devices on him. No, my dear Nemesis, the Maximals knew of our destination because you told them."

And just like that Nemesis' entire defense came crashing down around her, leaving her shifting her weight uncomfortably. "What do you want from me?," she then asked again, realizing Tarantulas could just as well have taken this information to Megatron himself and let him deal with her as he saw fit.

"Nothing too bizarre or grotesque," the spider assured her with a grin. "I merely want you to report any movements Megatron makes that could affect me back to me. As well as any treats you may have brought back with you from the Axalon."

Nemesis shot the spider a glare at his proposal, since spying on Megatron for someone as unreliable as the him would be a death sentence if discovered. "You've got to be kidding me..," she groaned, "What makes you think Megatron would believe you over me? I am his second in command after all. I'm certain I can turn him against you in a spark beat if you force me to do that."

The spider merely shrugged at that, since he hadn't been entirely genuine in his proposal on using Nemesis as his spy anyway. He didn't exactly trust her, for one, and he already had an army of drones to do that job for him. "Is that really a risk you're willing to take?," Tarantulas inquired. "I'm a loner by nature so I can survive in exile. Can you?"

He already knew his answer by studying the expression on her face, as it was a defeated look that gazed back at him. "But as a show of good faith, I will accept the trinket you're clutching in your hand there instead."

Nemesis glanced down at the box in her hand, frankly not even having realized she'd been clutching it tightly as soon as the spider started making his demands. The box which contained her peace offering to Megatron, the very same substance Optimus had scraped off his armor to give her. Letting out a sigh, she then threw the box to the ground in front of the spider. "Fine, take it. Just don't mention any of this to Megatron."

Again the spider smiled, a wicked and very much so triumphant grin, as he transformed to his robot form to pick the box up. As he did his army of drones surrounded him, just in case Nemesis was to try something silly to save her own skin. But she didn't, instead she turned around and took to the air to return to the Darksyde post haste. She'd had just about enough of the creepy crawler for a while. A long while.

And before long the Darksyde appeared in front of her, still half buried in the lava pool it had been doomed to eventually succumb to. Nemesis took a moment to prepare herself before heading inside.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"While that may be true, he still calls the shots for what he wants done,"

For the initial plan of attack, sure, but things change in battle, and once thought-out schemes are compromised and require improvisation. Optimus knew this. Nemesis should know this. So, if anything could be read from his stoic, pink eyes, it was how unconvinced he was. Still, he detected the reluctance and remorse behind hers.

"But I don't deny my blame in any of this. I could have resisted those orders, but it would have come at a great cost,"

And that was where the two of them differed greatly. Where she was protecting herself at Rattrap's expense, Optimus wouldn't have hesitated to use himself in the same situation and take the heat for it, or even sacrifice his own life. It was selflessness. One of Primal's greatest strengths, but it could also be one of his greatest weaknesses. Despite it all, Nemesis did spare Rattrap's life. Barely, but she had done it on purpose nonetheless, and that should account for something even if Rattrap and the others didn't see it that way. Yes, her actions were horrific, and that image of him being helplessly electrocuted against the shields will be forever branded in the leader's memory, so, he wasn't about to completely disregard her behavior. However, he was also fed up with the Predacons now, including her, and for the remainder of that day, he just wanted to be with his crew. Hopefully his emotionless stature and short answers conveyed his dissatisfaction and disapproval with her on the suspicion of her not being entirely truthful with him. The sooner she left the Axalon, the better, for both of them. And at that moment, he wasn't sure he wanted to see her too soon afterward, whenever they might encounter one another again. Hearing her transformation and fly off, Optimus never looked back as he and Frilla entered the hangar with the ramp closing behind them, also unaware of Waspinator lurking some distance away where Sentinel couldn't detect his signature.

“Yes and no.”

The gorilla raised an inquisitive, blue brow at Frilla while she walked beside him down the corridor as if to ask, 'Oh?' But he patiently waited for her to elaborate on the subject before making any verbal interruptions.

“Rattrap is awake and so is Aurora,

Thank Primus, he thought with great relief, although he wondered how Rattrap was holding up after such an ordeal. He would not doubt be suffering from sort of effect from the brutality and emotions. And he expected to get some flack from Aurora... But there was more to the lizard's explanation.

but largely due to me and Nemesis. Things got out of hand while you were gone, verbally that is...and one of the CR chambers has a cracked glass now.”

Giving a soft sigh, Primal finally said, "If that's the worst that happened in my absence, then we should be grateful." He glanced at her appearance again sensing some anxiety and distress. Granted, it was probably minimal now than it had been earlier and the threat has since been removed, but still evident. "I'm sorry for putting you in that position, Frilla. I know it wasn't an easy task," he apologized. Of course, he hadn't anticipated Rattrap emerging from the CR before he returned, which probably complicated things upon seeing his attacker's presence there. He spared a brief moment wondering about the details that she had clearly left out, but in time they were certain to come forth, most likely from Rattrap's mouth. "For what it's worth, if I didn't think you couldn't have handled it, then I would have assigned someone else. Although, I was left with little options," he admitted as they made their way to the medical bay.

“And yes, he didn’t appear to be in the best shape either. Right now Rhinox and Tigerhawk are tending to him.”

Switching to the topic of Zodiac, Optimus gave a small frown before adding a nod as they came to the door and waited for it to slide open.

"Maximals..," "So you saved me.. and I'm a Maximal too then? ,"

Rhinox glanced at Tigerhawk for a mere second as though he wasn't sure how to answer the former trouble-maker. He thought it best to be honest, but also vague even though it was bound to stir up more questions. Questions that he hoped he would forget for now so long as they had a convenient interruption. And by the sound of approaching footsteps in the hall, he was about to get his wish. "Not exactly," the robust Maximal said, "but since you appeared to be in trouble, they decided to help you." He offered a soft smile of kindness.

“Just take your time, we’ll take this a step by step.”

"I appreciate your kind words," "Just wish I was more clear headed."

Tigerhawk's presence seemed to be having a positive influence on Zodiac, so, that was good. Maybe Rhinox was losing his touch on his bedside manner. At least everyone continued to take things slow, if only to help the dragon grow more comfortable with them and his surroundings. "It may take time, but if you allow me to examine you, maybe we can figure out together what's going on here," he carefully suggested.

"And I'm sure you're excellent at your job,"

Rhinox normally wasn't one to toot his own horn, so, he didn't bother commenting further on the shape shifter's remark, especially since being the primary medial officer hadn't exactly been in his job description when he signed on for the Axalon's exploration, but had adopted the role since he was the most qualified, and he simply seemed to slip right into it due to his skills and knowledge of their anatomy. However, it often left him at the base instead of putting his brute force and chain guns to use out in the battle fields. Not that he would ever complain, his company often included Aurora after all, whom he adored, but sometimes he felt that he could use his problem-solving skills more effectively in battle.

"So I guess you're the one who will be clearing me to return to my duties.. whatever they are.. when the time comes."

"Yes," Rhinox answered truthfully. This certainly was an entirely different Zodiac than any of them had ever dealt with before. It was kind of... refreshing, as horrible as that might have sounded. The lies, the manipulating, the constant battle of wits, the attempted murders, all of that had taken a toll on all of them, so this was a somewhat welcomed "break", if one could call it that despite the struggling and fog that Zodiac was experiencing.

"I seem to be fully operational, at least physically..,"

The medic nodded at him from where he was still kneeling on the floor across from his patient. "That's good," he assured him.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean by odd sensations..,"

Rhinox took a moment to consider his wording without having to give away his nanotech and shape-shifting ability. "Any tingling? Any energon rushing to a particular area that might cause alarm for some kind of internal injury? If you can't remember anything, maybe you took a bump to your head that wouldn't necessarily indicate external trauma? Whiplash, for example. You can fly after all," he slowly gestured to his black wings draped around himself like a curtain, "so, you could have crashed or hit something in a tumble before you could get your bearings." He had a feeling though that all of his questions probably weren't going to help. As the footsteps beyond the infirmary finally reached the other side of the door, Rhinox observed Zodiac straighten himself and stiffen a little. "It's alright," he tried to console him, but like a terrified dog in unknown surroundings, Zodiac hadn't even given him another glance to acknowledge his words as the door slid open to reveal who had been approaching them...

Optimus could not have expected what he was about to discover with the shape shifter. His eyes were first drawn to the two larger Maximals, of course, Tigerhawk and Rhinox. But his oldest friend was kneeling on the floor. Why? Where was Zodiac? It didn't take long for his gaze to follow where the rhinoceros was facing toward a corner of the room. And there huddled the shape shifter wrapped in his own wings and appearing incredibly fearful and innocent, like a lost, scared child even though it appeared like he was trying to brace himself for whoever was going to show up. What was going on here? Shifting his focus back to the engineer without coming any closer to him and Zodiac, he asked with concern, "Rhinox...?" implying that he was looking for an explanation.

"It's alright, Optimus," he said as he slowly stood up and stepped away from Zodiac to speak with him while Tigerhawk continued to watch him. With his back to Zodiac across the room now, he spoke softly to Primal so that the shape shifter couldn't hear him. "He's experiencing memory loss."

The Maximal leader's eyes widened for a moment with surprise. "Are you certain?" he asked with some skepticism, keeping his voice just as quiet as they spoke among themselves with Frilla nearby. "How much memory loss?"

"Fairly certain," Rhinox concluded. "All of it, it seems. He couldn't even remember his name. He doesn't recognize any of us."

Puzzled, Primal then noted, "He has completely healed from his injuries. What could have caused this?"

"Airazor said she witnessed Tarantulas inject him with something. Whatever it was, this loss of memory that he's experiencing could very well be a side effect, intentional or not." He gave a faint shrug since he hadn't been able to do any tests yet.

"Megatron thinks he's dead," Optimus commented. "But Nemesis stated to me earlier that Tarantulas has his sights on her, or rather her nanotech. If he couldn't acquire Zodiac, then he would target her." More to the point, he added, "This was probably done intentionally; to make Zodiac appear that he had perished in the battle after Megatron stabbed him only for Tarantulas to try and snag him as his own personal guinea pig, but we intervened and transported him out of his reach." Now, what were they to do with the renegade? And how were the other Maximals going to react with this news? "Does he know about his... ability?" And just when he had asked that, Primal witnessed the shape shifter vanish, as if he was in fluctuation with reality, before appearing again right where he was, but he tried to maintain a casual expression so as not to draw attention to it in case Zodiac was unaware.

"I don't think so, so I've been avoiding mentioning it," he admitted to his commanding officer.

Judging by Zodiac's lack of reaction to what just happened with his entire body disappearing for a moment, or blending in as flawless camouflage as if he hadn't even noticed, the gorilla nodded and said, "I think you're right, Rhinox. Let's keep it that way for the time being. This may be the last opportunity I have to help with his progression and limit any kind of doubles wandering around the base."

"Speaking of which, I'm not so sure the others agree with your methods and the risks you've been taking lately with him," he warned his friend. "And with Nemesis, for that matter."

Sighing lightly, Optimus nodded and said, "I'll talk to them."

"Frilla," he then addressed her, "would you mind taking a headcount on injuries and doing an inventory on the damage done to the base? Make sure everyone is getting the repairs they need. I'll want to see all of them in the command center soon."

"You'll have to excuse this less than dignified pose of mine.. I just woke up a few moments ago and I'm having a little difficulty remembering some things,"

Rhinox had turned around when he heard Zodiac speak up with a much steadier voice than he had earlier, but perhaps he was just trying to settle in and put on a brave face.

Noticing that Zodiac was addressing him, Primal took a couple steps closer toward him and away from Frilla and Rhinox before stopping at the same distance from where the engineer had planted himself on his knees moments before. "It's quite alright," he assured him with a friendly tone. "I'm sure you must be experiencing confusion and apprehension. My name is Optimus," he "re-introduced" himself to the forgetful dragon. "I'm the commanding officer of this crew. Is there anything I can do for you at this time to make you more comfortable?" he politely offered. Like Tigerhawk, Primal wasn't exactly the most polished bot at that moment, and had obviously sustained some injuries from the same battle that the large Fuzor had rescued the dragon from, but he dismissed his own appearance by keeping his attention on Zodiac.

"Some house guests are just rude!,"

Rattrap wanted to snicker at Aurora's playful joke, but he barely managed a snide grin since his thoughts quickly retracted to the way he had been awoken with Nemesis slamming Frilla against his repair chamber, and all of the excruciating pain and even fear that he had endured. He was glad though that she was in good spirits, along with the rest of them. They all seemed to be in a better mood than he expected them to be, and that helped a little bit.

“It got rid of the problem didn’t it? Or perhaps you would have rather two of us running around, one of which constantly in the brig so not to give away our secrets.”

"At least de other one didn't smell as bad," the Spy threw in with a wave of his hand in front of his face while he kept up his facade for as long as he could. "Plus he couldn't transform into dat hideous robot mode you got goin' on and threaten me on a daily basis with a rotating sword," he teased Dinobot.

“Hmph, lack of personality seems to have worked in the long run for me, I doubt you could last a day without giving some kind of snarky remark or smart-mouthed quip yourself rodent.”

"How do ya think I ended up here? I lost a bet," Rattrap lied with a wink keep up with his charade.

"Guess you'll need a bigger room to fit all of that tinkering material,"

"Yeah, I was thinkin' of addin' an addition to my quarters," he somewhat teased dryly as much as he could, "since I already got the air ducts full of junk." But the rodent inevitably broke down, and the spotlight was on him. He didn't care for the attention it brought him, but it was all out in the open now. To his surprise, everyone only had the most supportive and encouraging things to say to him. After all of his crude and negative comments he often spewed at some of them, they were still willing to stand behind him and forgive him. This was something he never really had before. A family. As hard as he had tried to keep that kind of relationship forming between him and them, for some reason, with this particular group, it couldn't be avoided. Even with Chopper Face, whom he had grown quite fond of. Secretly of course, but most of them could probably see that the wall they had put up between them in the beginning, had crumbled down a long time ago, and the Maximal who hated Predacons the most had ended up with one being one of his closest friends. How ironic.

“Nemesis remained? I’m surprised she didn’t take a chance to escape with so many of us gone.”

"Not by choice," he told Airazor in a more serious tone. "She was caught." But that was all he really knew since he hadn't been around to witness the altercation between Nemesis, Optimus and Wintersong.

“Regardless, it’s good to see you on your feet Rattrap.”

"Eh... You too, Bird Lady," he returned as uncomfortable as he was with everyone's optics on him at that point. But he really was glad to see that she was alright. He still felt that it was his fault she had been captured, beaten and held hostage. Her damaged knee was a good reminder of that despite Rhinox's quick patch job on it. She and Rattrap had been through a lot together, and often worked well with one another even though he was the doom-and-gloom of the partnership and she was the older, wiser optimist.

“And this is just a result of my own inability to hold off the Predacons today, and I did make it worse after attacking Inferno in the brig. Megatron wasn’t exactly in a good mood. Think it’s safe to say I’m a little out of practice after my world tour away from the base.”

Rattrap shook his head lightly with disagreement at Airazor blaming herself, but he ended up playfully threatening with, "Hopefully you keep yer little excursions with Tigatron closer ta home, or I'm gonna have ta put yer travel agency outta business." Well, somewhat playfully, considering his mood and how he really did want them sticking closer to the base from now on seeing how desperate the Preds were getting lately; although that really wasn't his call. It was the Boss Monkey's.

“I, uh, I’m sorry Rattrap I didn’t mean it that way.” “But no one here blames you for what happened to us Rattrap. The Predacons nearly dropped five tons of mountain on top of us, we were forced to scatter to avoid being Maximal pancakes.”

Appreciating the cat's words Rattrap still felt responsible. Was this normal? Did Optimus always feel this way? "Eh... It's okay, Spots. What do you gotta apologize for? Yer probably right..." Maybe Cheetor was right... But he felt like he had dropped the ball and had gotten himself into a bad situation that could have been avoided which left everyone to fend for themselves without decisive and clear leadership. Wasn't that the first rule of leadership; everything was your fault? He was confused, lost in a way, and angry, frustrated, and scared. He tried to keep it together without falling apart in front of them.

“Rattrap, we are all here and alive, as Cheetor said that in itself is better than a failed mission.”

Looking at Tigatron, the smaller Maximal smiled a little more and nodded at his reiteration of Cheetor's comment. "I guess you got a point dere, Stripes." It was a good and positive way of putting it, but he still felt guilty. He still felt anxious.

“Rattrap, what you need at the moment is time to breathe and get your thoughts in order.”

"You do realize dat yer de last one I'd take any advice from, Dinoboob," he tried to disguise Dinobot's kindness toward him but probably failed miserably. Just like he had failed leading the mission! Stop beatin' yerself up over it! he yelled in his head. Everybody already said it ain't yer fault, ya numb skull. Then why do I still feel so miserable and awful about it? I coulda done better... We're lucky we didn't lose anyone today...

“You were working on the brig yes? Let’s go start some repairs, I am sure we may eventually need them.”

"If yer tryin' ta make me feel better, you oughta know dat any kind of manual labor is the worst thing I need right now," Rattrap disputed with Dinobot even though he was actually forward to spending some time with him.

"That's not true, you know. Everyone has their off days, but we still all love you the same nevertheless."

Out of nowhere it seemed, the petite demolition expert suddenly felt two arms wrap around his frame. Sweet Aurora with her hugs... He definitely needed that. And her words only sealed his emotions further, of which he fought back the tears that he felt coming on as he squeezed her tighter in their embrace. It was a strengthening of care and positivism through a physical touch that he couldn't get from Dinobot or Optimus to make him feel better, so Aurora's hugs were one-of-a-kind in a sense, and always warm and uplifting. She probably didn't even know the effect she had with them. Heck, her hugs might even melt the coldest of sparks like Megatron's and Zodiac's. If only "love" could solve all of their problems. And although her categorization of it being an "off day" for him seemed to somewhat fit, there was still something lingering about what Nemesis had done to him. Had he not been fully repaired? He couldn't quite explain the void... or the pain? No, not quite... What was it? Anxiety? Why won't it go away? Taking a deep breath, he said to the smaller Fuzor, "Thanks, Aurora. You got no idea how much dat means ta me." He smiled as normally as he could to suppress the dismay he felt lingering inside of him so he could spare her the worry when she and all of them had a lot to get done as it was. Releasing her he smiled as warmly as he could ever grateful of her presence in the crew. Truthfully, he was grateful for all of them as his weary optics scanned over each of their concerned faces as he told them wholeheartedly, "Thanks, guys," before he turned to follow the velociraptor down the corridor albeit a little slower in his movements than usual.

-----

“I suppose you aren’t completely without a point my liege, but this war has more than given me reason to change my job description.”

Of course, I am not, Megatron stated in his head as if there was ever a question of his intelligence and observations. In addition, her remark was viewed by him with positivism, not ridicule. Whatever he and his troops had to do to win this war, to tip the odds even further in their hands, he would risk it, and some of their skills that had changed was merely more icing on the cake to benefit him in the long run.

“That I can fully agree with.”

"Good," he replied to Spineback while he remained still with her continuing her work on his neck. Gradually, it was beginning to feel much better.

“I may have to start keeping extra lenses since the Maximals seem fond of destroying your sight so much.” “That, or I recommend being more mindful of their aim. This keeps up you can risk permanent loss of sight sir.”

A thoughtful grumble emerged from deep within his throat toward his medic's comment. "At times, they can be quite the opportunists," he admitted about the Maximals as though it was his excuse for allowing them to knock him down so easily. Primal had proven to be a more difficult foe to overthrow than he had anticipated. And the longer this war dragged on, the stronger and more confident the Maximal leader became, it would seem. Nevertheless, Megatron took her warning about his optic sensors under consideration.

“Exactly.” “Unfortunately, I can’t give a definite answer for that. I may have to test the first dose on an unsuspecting guinea pig, perhaps our resident whiny squawker.” “But if his spark provides the answer, I am ready to examine it whenever you deem fit.”

"Very well," the tyrant seemed to agree with her, for now, as his optics re-calibrated and focused working as good as new once more. Now that he could see better as he laid there on his reclined cot, his optics narrowed as he thought he spotted something on the ceiling...

“Once my drone is finished with its scans, I will be back on the road. Should give me a full night ahead of any chances they have of tracking it down.”

Although he heard his newest recruit speak, he didn't seem interested in responding while his attention was fixated on something twitching in a shadow above them.

“Wreckage huh. I don’t know about that, but I know the area well enough I can give a more thorough look or point you in the right direction.”

Megatron finally shot Terrabite an accusing glance as his carnivorous optics narrowed a bit at him and his potential suspicions.

“Apologies, I just meant I have heard a few things, nothing definite until now.”

"Have you now?" he asked him rhetorically.

“Well, I wish you luck with such an endeavor, but I will head out now while I still have the energy to spare. I will be back as soon as possible.”

"Oh, Terrabite," Megatron's voice grew louder demanding his attention as the new Predacon turned away from him, a motion that clearly offended the t-rex that was being repaired. "You do not step out until I dismiss you," he told him firmly with some emphasis while he sought respect from the reptile and disapproved of him turning his back to him and making his own plans before acquiring approval from his commanding officer. "Do I make myself clear?" he asked him before he soon gave him a dismissive wave of his hand and said, "I expect progress updates during your journey should communication be feasible. Now, you may go," he finished and allowed Terrabite to exit the infirmary leaving him alone with Spineback.

“Megatron, pardon my speaking out of term, but what you asked of Terrabite...Are you expecting to find something such as the Nemesis or the Ark? I have looked at the trajectory of the transwarp jump but I wasn’t so sure it was coincidental or not.”

Just before Spineback turned back to continue working on his repairs, Megatron had activated his shoulder guns and leaned up a little to accurately target the arachniod that had been lurking on the ceiling and fired at it twice to make sure it fell down and was completely useless now with the extensive damage it had sustained. Then he casually laid back down on the cot. "That wretched spider continues to spy on me," he snarled angrily. But he was merely playing up his emotions on the matter since he found it might actually be useful for Tarantulas to have heard her utter those vessels' names. Even though Megatron now had two aquatic members under his leadership who could easily submerge themselves under water for long periods of time, one couldn't be trusted, and he might not be able to spare them both considering their impressive firepower if he needed them elsewhere to cause trouble with the Maximals. Why waste his troops in the search for the Decepticon warship when Tarantulas would certainly find it for him and save him all of the trouble? The tiniest of smirks appeared on his face before it faded and he turned his head to Spineback beside him while she diligently worked on his exterior armor.

"My intentions are never coincidental," Megatron reminded her darkly. "I have already secured the Ark," he decided to tell her in sheer confidence seeing as she was already suspicious, and if he had lied about it, then he doubted she would have believed him since, like she said, she had already investigated the trajectory of the jump the Darksyde had made to get to Earth. The fake moon and luscious amounts of raw energon may have fooled them in the beginning, but once everything had been revealed and fell into place, it was only a matter of time to start making preparations for his endgame. Earlier that day, he had Rampage fire at a mountain in the distance that proved to him that he could in fact change the future while he viewed it from the Sounds of Earth golden disk with his own eyes. That mountain had been the very volcano where the Ark was resting, assuming it was there if his calculations were correct. All he needed to do now was travel there alone, or perhaps with Inferno, to make sure his intentional avalanche of boulders and dirt had hidden and trapped the Autobot ship inside so that the Maximals, or anyone else, couldn't find it or know it was there and get their hands on it before him. "This knowledge will remain between us, Spineback," he added a bit threateningly to her. If so much as a whiff got out about it, he wouldn't hesitate to rip her spark out of her body and feed it to Rampage.

“Waspinator reporting in!”

Finally, that insolent bug, the Predacon leader thought impatiently. But he wasn't expecting to hear the report he was about to relay to him.

“Waspinator found bird-bot at the Axalon, she appeared to be a prisoner for a bit. Primal and little she-lizard release her without a struggle.” “Saw bird-bot speaking with Primal without hostility or need to defend herself, seemed keen on putting blame for attack on someone.”

Immediately, his optics narrowed and his hands balled into fists on the arms of his cot. It was difficult for Megatron not to jump to any conclusions, but past circumstances revolving around Nemesis and the Maximals had proven to be cyclical despite her denials on the matter. She was his second-in-command! How dare she! Trying very hard to remain calm, he sent the TransMetal wasp, "Well done, Waspinator. Return to base."

"Megatron to Nemesis," he opened a new channel to her with his comm. link. "You will return to the Darksyde at once, and see me in the infirmary. Do you copy?" he asked even though he was certain she was receiving his transmission, but he wanted to see if she was going to continue lying to him. She had probably heard his hail earlier when she had never shown up for the battle and chose to ignore it because she was fraternizing with the enemy despite her alleged imprisonment! So badly did he want to beat her into a pile of slag and kick it into the lava for her betrayal, assuming that's what it was and Waspinator hadn't misconstrued what he had seen, but Nemesis had proven to be too valuable... Her abilities were quite unique, and she was intelligent enough for successful battle tactics but not smart enough to fool Megatron. If there was some kind of mutual friendship going on between her and the Maximals, perhaps he could use it to his advantage.

[New Moon]

There was so much more Frilla could counter back at the taller female, but as she said they would just keep going in circles. Ideals or not, the frilled lizard saw there could be other ways rather than total domination such as what Megatron and many other Predacons wanted. Nemesis was right, that a push in the right direction was needed, but was Megatron’ way the only way they would see? It never ceased to amaze Frilla that the only thing the Predacons seemed to be interested in was war and chaos to get what they needed.

Apparently, they had learned nothing from their ancestors whose goals had left them at a great disadvantage.

This librarian knows a few tricks up her sleeve. Frilla wanted to remark, but held her tongue, deciding to drop the subject at the moment and allow the avian go before things yet again escalated. They already had one confrontation in the infirmary, they didn’t need one there in the hanger and messing up the ship even more than it already was. Not to mention they were already lacking the inside of the hanger’s doors. “I guess I was fortunate enough Nemesis was willing to listen after I overstepped my own words, much less ensure Rattrap didn’t skewer her into a bird kabob.” She sighed, hinting that it wasn’t watching Nemesis that was causing her anxiety.

“I would take handling her than the argument I had with Rattrap any day Optimus.” She admitted, And hopefully I made the right call throwing my support behind her and the decision to listen to orders then. The last part she kept to herself, feeling some guilt minutes later after the fact and feeling she had overreacted as much as Rattrap had. With the ordeal he had been through and the day everyone had, tempers had already been flaring and everyone was on edge. Maybe if she had a few minutes she could take the rodent aside to properly speak with and apologize to him.

But the subject would have to wait as they arrived to the infirmary, optic ridges rising slightly at seeing the state the shapeshifter was in. He was conscious but afraid, huddled away in the corner like a frightened child with Rhinox and the new fuzor hanging back some distance. What happened to the once cocky, mighty dragon who had been so willing to risk life and limb to have them all obliterated the first moment he got here? He seemed so...frail now, as if all that bravado had slipped away in a single day. And it became clear why he was in such a state when Rhinox approached Optimus, turning her gaze curiously to the rhinoceros as he quietly explained the situation.

Memory loss? Seemed up the spider’s alley, and possibly a way to get those incredible abilities for himself. Had Zodiac been left a literal blank slate to shape as he saw fit? Left in a state of never knowing his past or who he once was? Perhaps a welcomed break in the long run, but just how long that would last would be a question they would be asking for some time. And it was at the mention that Megatron might suspect Zodiac dead did Frilla’s spark sink. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that Optimus.” She quietly chimed in.

Facing the two tall males, she continued, “[color=#0040B40]Nemesis saw Zodiac in the state Tigerhawk and Airazor brought him in. She was guilty and shocked, but if she’s desperate enough to avoid issues with Megatron I worry she might sell him out.[/color]” And that was where the dilemma came in. Nemesis had been grateful for her help, but at the same time she seemed intent staying on the tyrant’s good side. Could she trust the avian to do them one favor of not saying anything about Zodiac? Or were they doomed to another attack until they gave him up? Having set aside this worry, she took a small deep breath before nodding, “Yes sir, I’ll let the others know.” She told him before exiting the room, mind racing now...

“Patience Aurora, Optimus will show soon enough.” Tigatron assured her wondering what promise or agreement the ape had broken Aurora was so determined to get a hold of him. Whatever it was he imagined it had to be quite serious and personal for the little fuzor to be eager to get her point across.

Dinobot snorted softly at Cheetor’s remark, giving the slightest shrugs, “And your point being furball? You were the one that decided to take my advice, and besides you still function do you not.” The raptor remarked snidely, challenging Cheetor to prove his point. All it did was prove that Dinobot had made some mistakes, but he had since tried to improve his attitude. Slightly at least. But his attention quickly returned to the transmetal rat, crossing his arms, “Probably your own stink rubbing off on me. With how often I work rat patrol with you maybe you’re finally no longer immune to your own stench.” Dinobot suggested in response.

The faintest grin started to threaten to break the usually gruff exterior Dinobot showed. Perhaps he had just been observing things wrong, seeing things that weren’t there before Rattrap would confess the problem at hand. It had initially given the raptor hope his hunch was wrong, that somehow the resilient but sometimes annoying rat was still holding on after his near-death ordeal.

But how wrong that had turned out to be.

It took supportive words and gestures from the others to show Rattrap was still very much regarded as not only reliable but cared about deeply. And somehow despite it all, their words seemed to lift his mood to some degree, not fully, but just enough Rattrap could see they thought otherwise, “Put us out of business? Then how else would we give you vacation suggestions.” Tigatron chuckled, “Saw this tropical beach you might like to retire to one day, or is this about not sending signed post cards?” It wasn’t often Tigatron gave his own dry humor, but was willing to throw in some smart remarks from time to time, especially for a moment like this.

Nevertheless, this seemed like a matter Rattrap could only get so much encouragement for, being more of a personal matter he would have to work the rest out over time.

For a moment Dinobot went quiet once more, wrestling with the fact of wanting to shake some sense back into the rodent the way he use to, now rarely did, or rebuffing his poor attempts to deny the kindness. But after a moment, he simply let out a low annoyed growl, “Whatever it is you want to do then. But you should take time to yourself eventually, get your thoughts straight when it’s clear you’ve been through a lot and...” The raptor gestured to the many optics on the rodent, “This is hardly helping your anxiety.” He pointed out, having clearly observed his behavior enough he saw right through the rodent’s attempts at otherwise. And perhaps that just came from knowing the rodent for so long, and working with him more times than he cared to count he had started to pick up on the subtle changes.

Shaking his head at the hug, Dinobot decided to let the two have their moment, “Maximal sentiment...I’ll never understand it.” He muttered as he began to head to do repairs but stopped as he noticed movement on the roof.

After leaving the infirmary, Frilla was already taking a mental note of what had to be done for the base, now traveling along the ceiling via her beast mode. The hanger and brig definitely needed work, no doubt the roof did as well thanks to Waspinator’s attack. The small femme moved her attention to the opposite side of the ship, finding a smaller hole blown into the hull, shaking her head as it was yet another thing to add to the list and taking a moment to pop her head out of the hole, eyeing the roof that was somewhat damaged but seemed an easy fix. “As annoying transmetal as he was before the surge.” She commented to herself.

Ducking back inside, Frilla listened carefully through the halls, catching the muffled voices of her teammates towards the front of the ship, most likely coming from the bridge itself.

Following the source of the voices, her path had her crossing with Dinobot and Rattrap whom she saw heading this way. The guilt from earlier quickly returned, feeling a lump forming in her throat before she forced herself to move forward, causing the raptor to stop curiously, “Checking to see what needs to be done for the ship, and a head count for everyone who needs repairs.” Her optics focused on Dinobot’s own damage, “So that makes two of you already.” She commented before her gaze lingered on Rattrap who seemed to be dragging his feet. And at first she found herself unable to speak, her mouth open and closing as she tried to find words to say.

“Dinobot, can I borrow Rattrap for a few minutes?” She finally inquired as she transformed and landed in front of them. The raptor raised a brow before shrugging, “Have at it.” He spoke, seeming to sense something was amiss with the two but decided this was one thing that wasn’t his business, leaving the two to speak but raising a hand in acknowledgement as Frilla added, “And keep an optic on the time, Optimus wants us back in the bridge soon.” Once that was said and done, the frilled lizard turned her attention to Rattrap.

—————————————

Terrabite had eventually paid little mind to the conversation between Megatron and Spineback. Whatever their business or concerns when it came to the earlier battle currently was not his, having only so far been an observer from the outside looking in.

Clearly whatever the Predacon crew had gone through had warranted a high stakes battle that he had just witnessed, having seen how desperately the Maximals were to fend off his new comrades-in-arms. Their leader had seemed especially savage, having not see Maximals act like that in centuries. It did bring an interesting perspective of exactly what Terrabite was fixing to be thrust into himself, having taken note of each Maximal and Predacon on the battlefield. Or even lack there of according to Megatron’s recent demands of this Waspinator fellow. It looked like he would have much catching up to do in the time he had been in stasis.

Megatron’s rhetorical question followed by the suspicious glance shot his way caused the mech to rub the back of his neck, “Yea, I know the drill, proof before trust.” He said a bit meekly, feeling like he was facing Magmatron all over again. At least he had been a little more...patient? Willing to extend a hand? As it were, maybe that was the difference between the two commanders, one a little more understanding than the others to an extent. Not that Terrabite was about to say that to the tyrant’s face, not if he wanted a death wish his first night as a Predacon among them.

Letting out a low sigh, he finally moved to leave expecting the conversation to be over from there. But he had barely taken a step out the door before Megatron’s commanding tone caused him to flinch, realizing he had made his first mistake. Strike one you idiot, get your head on right Terra. Turning back he stood at attention as he cleared his throat, “Crystal clear sir, it will not happen again.” He promised, clearly embarrassed due to his habit of being use to taking his own orders and making his own decisions. Having spent so long without needing another to actually order him around it would take time for the former demolitions expert to be use to such an authoritative presence again. Nevertheless he gave a quick nod, “Roger that.” He assured him before finally taking his leave from the ship just as Waspinator was returning.

Waspinator would be lying if he said he was expecting a harsher response from Megatron, maybe even the typical speech of how incompetent he was. Yet, that was far from what he got, or his leader was holding it back for Nemesis’ arrival. Gulping at the thought, a part of him felt bad for Nemesis and what she may be fixing to endure, having more than had his fair share of abuse at the tyrant’s hands. Then again, a part of him was also relieved for once it wasn’t him that was acting as said punching bag. How strange for him really, rarely feeling this conflicted but with the war heating up as it only seemed logical for the insect to find his own leverage in the eyes of Megatron.

Upon arriving to the ship, Waspinator transformed to robot mode before landing and headed inside to return to his original post at monitor duty. But this time it appeared he was not without company, finding a rather annoyed Terrorsaur at his previous post, “Terrorsaur look annoyed, guessing not have as good a day as Waspinator.” The wasp sneered in amusement.

[Wintersong]

“Trust me, I don’t agree with some things Optimus does either.” The young cheetah informed her before lightly shrugging, “But maybe you’ll knock some sense into him eventually.” Cheetor muttered, having to hold back from further expressing his want to get back at the Predacons. If Aurora was willing to give Optimus a piece of her mind he doubted she would hesitate to do the same if he expressed that desire to take on Megatron himself.

Not that they had a chance to stick to a lighthearted atmosphere after Rattrap spilled the beans on his mood.

“I saw before I flew ahead of everyone to save Zodiac.” Airazor confirmed, recalling the brief glimpse she had seen of her avian counterpart. With the lack of many of their heavy hitters around she figured someone such as Nemesis would have taken the opportunity to fight back and escape in one way or another. Or, her bindings had made it effectively difficult to accomplish such a task as escaping.

But the falcon femme only gave a faint smile, unable to be certain her leg would be fully healed without an issue. Nemesis had done considerable damage in kicking it multiple times followed by Megatron blasting it with his Tail Gun, which meant the joint had taken some of the worst beating she had had in years it felt like. Thankfully, Tigatron was able to answer with a rare comeback of his own, “As true as that may be Tigatron, it wouldn’t hurt to stick to our roots.” She added, “But don’t worry Rattrap, you’ll be flying first-class with me far more often again. We’re going no where anytime soon.” She assured him.

After that day, Airazor was determined to be of greater help to her teammates than they had been these days.

Perhaps Cheetor didn’t have anything to apologize for, yet the cheetah felt he should have tried harder to help or step up than what he usually did. “Maybe I should have taken our mission more seriously, or start being more serious.” He mumbled, clenching his pincer-like hands, “The Preds won’t keep get away with what they’ve done Rattrap, you can count on that.” Cheetor’s tone was surprisingly serious than normal, almost sounding vengeful.

Perhaps he should have toned it down given the situation, but the young feline found it difficult to keep his attitude calm for what the Predacons had caused lately.

Forcing himself to relax, he did manage to smile at seeing Aurora once again able to get past the gloomiest of situations for usually one of their most important friends, practically a second anchor next to Optimus or Rhinox. Once Rattrap had left with Dinobot, Cheetor’s tone was light once more, “Maybe you got magic hugs Aurora.” He teased her.

Though Wintersong had been shocked shortly after informing the others about what Optimus was up to, she had found no worrds to offer towards the rodent. At least, nothing that has already been said by the rest. She could only quietly observe at first before offering some final departing words, “Keep your chin up Rattrap, we still care about you too much to see you down in the dumps. Figuratively of course.” She attempted to offer, but sympathy wasn’t exactly a strong suit for her either, but it was better than being silent the whole time.

But with the others seeming to start finding things that needed to be done, the transmetal tigress decided to busy herself as well, moving to get some repair tools, “I’ll be doing some repairs on the roof if you guys need me.” She told them, feeling a need to get out of the cramped, crowded room, at least in her optics it felt like it, before making her way to the top of the Axalon to start repairs from Waspinator’s attack and even letting out a sigh of relief as the anxiety slowly passed.

“Its possible you had a rough go awakening on this planet, maybe even not being use to your beast mode quite yet.” Tigerhawk had exchanged a brief glance with the rhinoceros, having a feeling they would have to stretch the truth just enough to help reassure the young dragon but help see they were not a threat to him. At least, for the short-term they would have. The long-term wouldn’t be set in stone and could take sometime for the others to adjust to the fact Zodiac clearly was not the same assassin who came here with murderous intent.

And maybe the large fuzor’s own troubles with his new beast mode might help relate to the young mech on some level.

“We found you in the woods a little ways from here, looked like you crashed at some point.” Tigerhawk spoke, “I had a similar issue before I came here. Large wings like ours don’t do us any favors in a wooded area unfortunately.” The fuzor spread his own wings to emphasize his point which were visibly larger than Airazor’s but not quite so broad and large as Zodiac’s. “But my friend here has a point, we couldn’t leave a bot in distress and we hoped we could give you some aid.” Tigerhawk had no idea how convincing his story could be, but his voice remained smooth as ever, genuine concern clearly heard in his tone.

From there he let Rhinox take the lead once more, hoping he might help Zodiac to be able to narrow down the sensations and they could better understand what Tarantulas has done. But it was shortly thereafter that Optimus stepped in along with Frilla, indicating that Nemesis must have finally taken her leave. ‘About time.’ He thought to himself.

“They’re friends just checking in.” He reassured the young dragon, having to hold back from reacting to his sudden change in blending into the surroundings before returning to normal. But he remained there to speak to or keep an optic on Zodiac until Optimus approached to “introduce” himself all over again.

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

Spineback squinted slightly against the bright flash of the welder as she placed one playing after another in place for the exterior neck armor of her leader. She shaped and fashioned them as best she could to what it originally had been before Zodiac’s nanomachines had eaten away at it like an Earth caterpillar ate leaves. If it hadn’t been against one of their own she likely would have found it fascinating under different circumstances.

It was of course, but she was careful not to express it with how volatile Megatron’s mood presently was.

Noting his answer about being ready at any time to examine Rampage’s spark, she gave a brief nod of acknowledgement as another small plate went into place, “Opportunity seems to be necessary.” She commented, having noticed that despite their brutality the Maximals had yet to be deterred in stopping them at every turn. It was both annoying and worth admiring their tenacity and willingness to see this war through even if it might mean their very future was in jeopardy. “Nearly done.” She told him, taking a moment to lean back, optics scanning over her handiwork thus far before nodding to herself.

She paused briefly to see Terrabite’s first mistake, shaking her head slightly as that was already strike one, which the new mech seemed quick to rectify. Apologies would only get him so far. “Someone’s out of practice with how the chain of command goes.” She remarked moving over to the opposite side of the cot to finish her work from there and was easier to reach. “Little crash course tends to do the trick.”

Though as she went to continue her work, she paused in her tracks as she noticed Megatron seemed to be observing something with narrowed optics. Following his gaze, she watched as the tyrant shot one of the annoying arachnid bots from the ceiling, letting out an annoyed grumble at the intrusion, “One of these days he’ll push his luck my liege, and it would be a real shame if he “accidentally” took a fall into the pits below.” She told him, noting to herself to have to be far more watchful of the medical bay, especially with someone such as Tarantulas still creeping around. But, the answer she got to her inquiry was not exactly what she had been expecting.

So, her suspicions for the past few months were true after all. But the fact Megatron had secured the Ark already came as a surprise to her, causing her to rub her chin in thought, “Interesting. The twists just keep coming.” She could guess that would explain where the transmetal t-rex and Rampage had wandered off to earlier in the day, telling no one of their mission except appearing to be a simple walk and talk with the cannibal crab. “My lip components are sealed.” She promised upon hearing his threatening tone but met it with unflinching assurance and confidence. Despite his tone with her throughout his repairs, Spineback had managed to maintain her calm bedside manner.

With that said though, she finished the last bit of repairs as he seemed to get the update from Waspinator and made a call to Nemesis once more. “Perfect timing, your repairs are done. And I tried to make your neck look as normal as before, but you will have scarring.” She informed her leader, picking up a mirror so he could see for himself.

Terrorsaur glanced over his shoulder as he heard the familiar buzzing of his partner-in-crime, wishing the insect had been out in the field at his side rather than being stuck there at base. “I wouldn’t jinx bug boy, you get too cocky you tend to blow up minutes later.” Terrorsaur countered snidely, rolling his optics at Waspinator’s jest toward him. “I didn’t see you lifting a finger from here, maybe you ought to try taking point from now on.” He scoffed.

[Phoenix]

Much to Nemesis' surprise there was no arrival party waiting for her as she first entered the Darksyde. But upon considering it for a moment she quickly realized the others were likely just now starting to emerge from their repairs, so there was always the off chance that Megatron was otherwise too preoccupied to concern himself with her absence. Well, she could only hope as much at least, since deep down she was well aware of how tightly the tyrant ran his ship and there was no way he hadn't developed certain suspicions.

So much had happened that day and the impressions left behind were still tugging away at the avian female's thoughts and emotional state. She had gone from the high of being entrusted with, and succeeding at, leading the charge against the Maximals, only to see it all come crash down around her due to her own weakness and inability to take Primal down. The female had been held captive, then released with a gift to bring back to soothe Megatron's wrath, then had it taken away, and she'd seen a former friend turned enemy on what had looked like his death bed. It was all hard to process and she needed her wits about her now that she would have to face Megatron.

There was no doubt in her mind that the tyrant would be in a foul mood, since it was clear the Maximals had interfered with his plans and who knows what state he had been in at that point. Optimus had looked a bit roughed up but nothing too severe, but the Maximal had said very little about what had taken place. If anything he had just seemed to be fed up with everything and everyone, particularly her, and had dismissed her to face whatever fate awaited her alone. Nemesis sighed deeply at realizing just how badly she had messed up this friendship or whatever it had been with Optimus, but there was little she could do about it now. Still.. she felt pretty rotten about all of it. Perhaps guilt wasn't merely an attribute possessed by Maximals but her own kin as well.. Maybe Frilla wasn't entirely wrong when she compared the two factions as little more than having a difference in political views. It was an admission that stung a little to be blunt, and frankly Nemesis would never verbalize such thoughts.

She continued down the hallway and had rounded the first corner without seeing anyone, at which point she stopped and shook her head in an attempt to clear it. It was then Megatron's voice interrupted all the other thoughts in her mind, quickly silencing them with his demanding presence.

"Megatron to Nemesis,"

Nemesis drew in a breath, remaining silent for a moment as she attempted to analyze the tyrant's mood. He seemed calm enough, sure, but knowing the tyrant it was likely just a facade. And the avian female couldn't help the way his voice made her feel like her feathers were standing up. Like goosebumps. Was she really that scared of the tyrant? Yes, she certainly had respect for his temper management issues, and she had vowed never to get on his bad side again after the last time he had gotten physical with her. But still.. What she was feeling right now could only have been described as panic. Or maybe not full blown panic, but rather something leading up to it. Regardless she had to fight down the urge to simply retreat from the base again, realizing she'd have to face the tyrant at one point.

"You will return to the Darksyde at once, and see me in the infirmary. Do you copy?"

Well.. Perhaps the tyrant was willing to hear her out. She hoped.. Yet she still wasn't quite sure how to take the fact she'd already been at the base for a few minutes without having any Predacons approach her. Had they not taken notice? Were they afraid of also incurring the tyrant's wrath? Of course Nemesis was as of yet unaware that she had been seen leaving the Axalon so she didn't know how difficult it might be to persuade Megatron of her whereabouts and intentions.

"I copy. And I'm already at the Darksyde," she finally responded to Megatron, doing her best to sound confident as if she had nothing to hide. "I'll meet you there."

Well.. It was at this point that the avian female wished more than anything that she had received the same education in spy techniques that Zodiac had. But she had always been designated to be a soldier, not a spy or an infiltration specialist. So unfortunately lying didn't come quite as easily to her as it did some others. Still, she didn't see how she had any other options. Clearly Megatron wouldn't approve of the truth so she would just have to try to persuade him otherwise. She did her best to straighten herself so that she would appear as confident as she usually did, took a deep sigh, and then headed towards the infirmary.

There she found Megatron finishing up his repairs, having taken the manual repairs route with their single Predacon medic at his side. Nemesis crossed her arms as she stepped into view of the pair of them, yet her focus was mainly on Megatron himself. She studied his expression and injuries, trying to decipher what the tyrant's mood and intentions were. "I have returned," she told him. "My apologies for my tardiness in doing so. There was a slight situation I had to deal with first."

She then inclined her head in a respectful gesture to her leader.

“Patience Aurora, Optimus will show soon enough.”

Patience.. Yeah, that was easier said than done. Aurora had tried to be patient, she had tried to be understanding of their leader's obligations and compassion for others, she had even tried talking to him before only for him to make promises he had promptly broken. Aurora was rather upset about this, yet she wasn't quite sure how to bring it up to Optimus without seeming insubordinate.

"I just wish he would listen for once," she replied in a bit of a huff. Indeed, she truly did wish that.

“Trust me, I don’t agree with some things Optimus does either.” The young cheetah informed her before lightly shrugging, “But maybe you’ll knock some sense into him eventually.”

Maybe.. She was certainly planning on trying! If only she could come up with the right words to really tug at Primal's spark strings and guilt trip him into never pulling another stunt like that again. Truthfully thinking about it was starting to give her a little bit of a headache..

"It may take more than me to persuade him, but if we all urge him on maybe he'll start realizing we can't keep making compromises as often as we do with the Predacons," she told the cheetah in return, revealing that she too was hesitant if this tolerant approach was really the best one. It really didn't seem to discourage the Preds from repeating their bad behaviors.

But first it seemed there was another issue she'd have to address.. Namely Rattrap, who seemed a bit worse for wear than normal after his ordeal. Not that she could blame him. The fuzor's spark had stopped the moment she witnessed Rattrap getting pushed up against the shields and for an agonizing while she didn't know if he had lived or died. Fortunately the rodent was tough, tougher than most honestly, yet even he wasn't completely untouchable by the horrific events taking place around them on a regular basis thanks to those predabums.

So she did the only thing that felt natural to her and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She was careful not to squeeze him too tightly just in case he still felt a little sore after his ordeal, even though a majority of the repairs should be completed already. And for that brief little while, all the bad experiences this day seemed to fade away. And Rattrap, as tense as he had been, appeared to ease into the hug as well.

“Maximal sentiment...I’ll never understand it.”

She heard Dinobot's comment in the distance, yet she didn't care. Aurora had always been an individual who enjoyed some physical contact from time to time, and honestly nobody had seemed to mind it thus far. Well, maybe Dinobot would, but she'd never found herself in a situation where she needed to test those boundaries with him just yet. Fortunately.

Rattrap smiled at her as he eventually released her, prompting a wide and caring smile in return from the fuzor as well. She didn't really want him to go, but that wasn't her call to make so she made no objections when he moved away with Dinobot. They were out of sight by the time Frilla joined them as well, so Aurora turned her attention to the Maximals who were still present.

Cheetor seemed to be putting some blame for what happened on himself as well, but he was far less harsh on himself than Rattrap had been. Perhaps the rodent's age and maturity left him feeling like he was ultimately the one to blame. Much like Primal himself often felt the burden of leadership.. Aurora felt fortunate she didn't have that kind of responsibility for everyone else.

“Maybe you got magic hugs Aurora.”

"Please refrain from underestimating the power of my hugs!," Aurora said with a wink. Yet as much as they were trying to lighten the melancholic mood with quips like that, Aurora still had a bit of a headache. Perhaps it was due to the anticipation of the upcoming talk she was planning to have with Optimus, or maybe it was just a result of the long and emotional day they'd all had. Everyone seemed to be dealing with it in different ways.. But for the fuzor all she wanted right now was some fresh air.

"Guys, I'm going to step outside for a few minutes," Aurora told the others, whoever was listening. "It's a bit too stuffy in here right now." Yeah, a little time outside was going to be all she needed to clear her head before she went to have that talk with Optimus. So she then made her way to the outside via the hangar.

Returning to his hideout mere moments after Megatron had knocked out his spy drone, Tarantulas didn't pay much attention to the many monitors as his speeding came to a halt and he transformed back to robot form with the box he had obtained from Nemesis still clutched in his hand. He wasn't quite sure what was inside yet, but considering it was something Nemesis had brought from the Axalon in attempt to soothe Megatron's anger the spider knew it had to be a valuable gift.

And it was all his! Hehehehe!

He brought the box over to his work station and opened it, immediately inspecting the sample within and taking note of its faint blue glow.

How very interesting..

Upon closer investigation he quickly realized the gel like substance was based on nanotechnology, which meant there were only two viable sources for it. The sample may have originated from either Nemesis or Zodiac, but it had been heavily modified. The nanomachines within lay dormant, only coming to life when electricity was applied to it, and then effectively making repairs on the host before returning to their latent state. In fact the spider had witnessed the gel in play when it repaired Optimus during the recent battle..

He quickly decided he wanted more of this highly intriguing compound, so he started looking for genetic clues on who could have created it. As far as the spider knew there were only two Maximal scientists with the background required to make something like this, and of the two only one of them seemed to specialize in bio-engineering. Well, it would seem the spider had to make a little trip..

In the infirmary of the Axalon, Zodiac remained huddled in the corner as the Maximals as they had identified as, attempted to address him while wisely keeping their distance. It wasn't that the renegade would have lashed out at them if they came closer, or maybe he would.. honestly he didn't even consider his options, he was just grateful that they clearly saw his predicament and realized he needed to keep that physical distance right now to feel some semblance of safety. The hybrid felt lost, frightened, and distrustful of anyone around him, although he was slowly starting to calm down a bit. The two males with him were doing their part in trying to make him feel safe and to some extent they were successful, even if the process was a slow and tedious one.

"Yes,"

The one who had identified himself as Rhinox had just confirmed that he was the one who would ultimately decide when he was healthy enough to perform his duties once more.. whatever they were. Not that Zodiac was in any desperate need to go back to doing them, but the confirmation that the bulky male was a medical officer seemed to soothe his frazzled mind a bit. If they meant him any harm they wouldn't send their chief medical tech to do it, would they? Logically it wouldn't make sense if they did.

"Any tingling? Any energon rushing to a particular area that might cause alarm for some kind of internal injury? If you can't remember anything, maybe you took a bump to your head that wouldn't necessarily indicate external trauma? Whiplash, for example. You can fly after all,"

Could he? Oh, he did have wings so it seemed within reason to assume he had been a flyer of sorts. Not a very good one if he had merely fallen out of the sky though..

Zodiac shrugged ever so slightly while trying to coax his memories to return to him, but to no avail. "I'm not really feeling anything out of the ordinary, no," he confirmed, although it was hard to tell what ordinary was. "Nothing seems out of place.. And I don't think I'm hurt." Of course to him the nanomachines within him merely registered as normal since they had been with him virtually his entire life. They were a part of him, a symbiotic relationship that he frankly had felt miserable without during the time they remained inactive. So he didn't register them as being foreign or not belonging within him. Nor could he detect traces of the substance Tarantulas had injected him with, leaving him only with the long lasting results of said substance.

"so, you could have crashed or hit something in a tumble before you could get your bearings."

Maybe.. It didn't quite explain why he had sustained no injuries from what must have been a brutal fall, but perhaps Rhinox had already managed to repair him before he woke up?

"You must be quite the miracle worker then, since I have no physical injuries," Zodiac said meekly, giving credit where he believed it was due.

“We found you in the woods a little ways from here, looked like you crashed at some point.” Tigerhawk spoke, “I had a similar issue before I came here. Large wings like ours don’t do us any favors in a wooded area unfortunately.”

They found him in a wooden area? Alone? Well, he must have been.. The renegade genuinely had no idea since he hadn't been awake when his rescuers, as they proclaimed to be, had found him. He only woke up after arriving here, in this room, surrounded by these Maximals. And he had awoken with a sense of dread and urgency, like something horrible had happened to him and his life was in danger. Yet none of these.. Maximals.. were lifting a finger to hurt him so maybe they were telling him the truth..

As the large fuzor spread his wings to prove his point, Zodiac glanced over his own wings. He even unfolded one of them from around himself and let it stretch out to its full size, studying it intently to see if he could see any scratches or dents on it which surely he would have sustained if he had suffered a fall from any great height. But these were no injuries, not even a scratch despite the fact Megatron had attempted to cut this particular wing off only a short time earlier unbeknownst to the dragon. He must have been lucky enough to avoid any physical damage, other than whatever head trauma must have occurred to cause his memory problems.

“But my friend here has a point, we couldn’t leave a bot in distress and we hoped we could give you some aid.”

Zodiac folded his extended wing back but let it drape from his shoulder without wrapping himself with it the way he was before, gesturing that he was ready to ease up a little bit. Although he might not trust them fully yet, at least he was willing to listen and consider what they had to say. Their story mostly made sense after all. Mostly.. And what reason could they have for misleading him anyway?

"Well.. I'm certainly grateful for your assistance," the renegade started, his voice somewhat quiet but his confidence level seemed to be building a bit. "And it sounds like I owe you a great deal for helping me. Thank you," he added with some humility. He may have been brought up to be a dangerous weapon, but he had also been taught manners since his job was to infiltrate and pretend to be other individuals and as such he would have to act like them as well.

“Its possible you had a rough go awakening on this planet, maybe even not being use to your beast mode quite yet.”

Maybe.. Truthfully Zodiac wasn't quite sure what his beast mode was derived from, since he was unaware of any dragon like lifeforms on this planet or anywhere for that sake. Originally he had taken the form as a homage to Cryotek, the individual he grew up thinking of as his creator and whom he craved nothing more from than to obtain his respect and compassion. Yet Cryotek had never given him either one, instead placing his fondness with another.. But Zodiac could no longer remember these things, so he merely nodded in agreement.

"I suppose. Perhaps flight is not my strong suit," he said. Then again he had no idea what his strengths and weaknesses were. Not yet anyway.

Startled by the noises from the incoming steps, Zodiac immediately grew weary again and withdrew once more. Despite his visible terror, the two males remained at their posts and even attempted to soothe him.

"It's alright,"

“They’re friends just checking in.”

He went silent again for a few moments as another pair, a male and a female, decided to join them. The others seemed to be on friendly enough terms with them and they didn't immediately open fire on him so he correctly presumed they were more Maximals that had decided to join the fray, just like the tall fuzor had just told him. Thus far none of these Maximals seemed to want to hurt him, so whatever had happened that caused his memory lapses couldn't have been related to them. He hoped.

The small female left quickly while the male, whom had been identified as Optimus by the rhinoceros, remained to address his friend in privacy. Zodiac merely watched them without moving from his safe spot, trying to hear what they were saying but their voices were too faint at this distance to pick anything substantial out of their conversation. He did, however, look away when the pair of them seemed to look at him for a moment, but he failed to recognize that he had faded against the background for a nanoclick or so before his coloration returned to normal yet again.

A few moments later the Maximal who had been referred to as Optimus turned his attention to the renegade yet again, this time seeming less confused and with a friendly tone of voice. It helped Zodiac relax a bit more, or at least partially, and he let his tense shoulders rest for a moment.

"It's quite alright,"

Zodiac's optics met with Optimus' before the dragon quickly lowered his gaze out of respect, having realized the ape with the commanding presence must indeed be the leader of this crew. And by default also his own commander, he presumed.

"I'm sure you must be experiencing confusion and apprehension. My name is Optimus,"

The renegade nodded ever so slightly, even attempted a small smile. Unlike so many previous times, there was nothing threatening about his friendly gesture. No alterior motives, no plotting, no evil scheme.

"I'm Zodiac.. I think," he responded while briefly glancing over at the other two males still present. "I seem to have gotten into some sort of accident, but Rhinox here did a fabulous job fixing me up again so I'm as good as new. Well, almost, since I still can't seem to remember anything," he continued, sounding almost apologetic he wasn't able to answer the many questions he was certain they all had. Indeed he was acting quite respectful, almost contrite towards them.

"I'm the commanding officer of this crew. Is there anything I can do for you at this time to make you more comfortable?"

Zodiac paused for a moment, considering the commander's words. Yes, he'd been right about about this other male's position within the crew, but fortunately this.. Optimus.. seemed to be as friendly as the others he had encountered so far. So the renegade finally made an attempt at standing up, even though he remained with his back against the wall.

"A place to rest for a little while would be great..?," he asked next ever so humbly, almost cringing a bit as if he was expecting a backlash for having dared make such a request. Indeed. He may not remember his past, but in his vulnerable state right now he could almost feel the many times his superiors had gotten physical with him for daring to speak up.

Aurora had always enjoyed spending time outside the Axalon, something she really didn't get to do very often. But she loved the wildlife, the plants, the feel of the soil underneath her feet.. In fact she loved just about everything on this planet, aside from the Predacons invading it of course. Being outside always helped her relax more, especially when she had too much on her mind. Which tended to be the case..

She took a moment to stop and sniff the flowers while enjoying her surroundings, when all of a sudden some movement in a nearby bush caught her attention. Maybe she had a little visitor from the local wildlife? Excited to meet a new friend, the fuzor raised one of the leaves covering the moving creature up a bit.. only to see a metallic drone dart out from underneath the plant.

Gasping in surprise, the fuzor darted backwards, only to smack into something hard and much larger than the drone. Before she could even squeal, her mouth and torso were covered by multiple pairs of spider legs, and a creepy cackle filled the otherwise serene surroundings.

"Hehehehehe!"

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

“I guess I was fortunate enough Nemesis was willing to listen after I overstepped my own words, much less ensure Rattrap didn’t skewer her into a bird kabob.”

Optimus, again, raised an inquisitive brow at Frilla's statement. What exactly had he missed while he was gone? Whatever it was, it seemed to have calmed down prior to his return, which in itself showed him that his crew was capable of handling delicate situations with high tensions and accusations on their own. It gave him, in a way, some relief. But it had also come with some consequences at the others' expenses.

“I would take handling her than the argument I had with Rattrap any day Optimus.”

The TransMetal gorilla had then appeared more vexed and concerned than curious. What had happened between Frilla and Rattrap? He could only imagine that it involved the Spy's paranoia, or his anger for what Nemesis had done to him. "Was it resolved?" he had asked her. "If not, be sure to make amends," Primal highly recommended. "Despite appearances and his outspoken, stereotypical hatred toward Predacons, I know he has grown fond of you. In any case," he exhaled a sigh, "the fault lies with me because I wanted to keep Nemesis detained here, which probably wasn't my best judgement considering the circumstances." All of them had been through a lot that day, but most notably Rattrap. He would have to speak with him about what happened and make sure he was alright.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that Optimus.” "Nemesis saw Zodiac in the state Tigerhawk and Airazor brought him in. She was guilty and shocked, but if she’s desperate enough to avoid issues with Megatron I worry she might sell him out."

Optimus looked at Frilla thoughtfully taking her words into consideration. Yes, that might complicate things, but he wasn't so sure Nemesis would make the Maximals a target again after what had happened that day. She was guilty enough of that as it was, and it was unlikely that if she did spill the beans that she would want to lead another attack on them because that would no doubt be Megatron's direction again to test her, and she probably wouldn't want to put herself back in that position. "She only saw him when he first arrived?" he inquired to make sure he was fully understanding what Frilla meant.

"And when I started to examine him," Rhinox threw in, "but Frilla took her out before he was conscious again."

"Then, for all she knows, he could have expired. She wouldn't know if we were able to save him or not," Optimus told Frilla and Rhinox as he implied that it wouldn't matter what she told Megatron if she even decided to admit anything about her "brother" to him. "I suggest we keep it that way until we can figure out how to handle this situation and make repairs to the base."

“Yes sir, I’ll let the others know.”

"Thank you," he said to Frilla. Again with the "sir". Sometimes Optimus couldn't quite get used to it considering he still didn't see himself as a soldier over the scientist that he was in his spark, however, it did make sense since he was still the captain of this long lost exploration crew. Plus Frilla was probably merely practicing her respect toward a commanding officer, not that he ever really reinforced it or expected them to address him that way. She was one of the few that still referred to him under such formality. Megatron, on the other hand, had probably demanded it every time his Predacons spoke to him knowing how it would boost his ego and enforce the control he had over his troops.

“Its possible you had a rough go awakening on this planet, maybe even not being use to your beast mode quite yet.”

"I suppose. Perhaps flight is not my strong suit,"

Rhinox had exchanged the same glance with Tigerhawk before he returned his attention to Zodiac. It was an interesting approach which was feasible for the time being. They didn't need to make this complicated. Keep it as vague as they could, and should Zodiac have questions, then they would elaborate from there. But giving him too much information might also make his confusion worse and have him regress from the progress he had made so far.

“We found you in the woods a little ways from here, looked like you crashed at some point.” “I had a similar issue before I came here. Large wings like ours don’t do us any favors in a wooded area unfortunately.” “But my friend here has a point, we couldn’t leave a bot in distress and we hoped we could give you some aid.”

Hearing from Tigerhawk's perspective on how he was found was probably a good idea since it seemed it fortify the claims on how he was found by him and Airazor, and it left them unknown to the cause of his unconsciousness so that Zodiac would hopefully let that go until he might start remembering some of it on his own.

"I'm not really feeling anything out of the ordinary, no," "Nothing seems out of place.. And I don't think I'm hurt." "Well.. I'm certainly grateful for your assistance," "And it sounds like I owe you a great deal for helping me. Thank you,"

"Not at all," the engineer returned honestly with the same humility that the renegade was showing. Rhinox actually chuckled when he mentioned him being a miracle worker while his memories recalled how many times he had been described as such. "So I've been told. I've just had a lot of experience with repair work," he added quite modestly even though he was taking all the credit away from his nanobots. Still, he wasn't entirely lying, right? He was quite good with repairs... just not on Zodiac this time. He hated being dishonest. Clearing his throat he said, "Well, then I'm glad to hear that there's nothing ailing you now aside from losing your memory," and the virus that's still circulating inside of you, he thought.

“They’re friends just checking in.”

Rhinox offered the shape shifter a small but warm smile to accompany the large Fuzor's statement.

"I'm Zodiac.. I think,"

Optimus nodded at him to reinforce his presumed identity.

"I seem to have gotten into some sort of accident, but Rhinox here did a fabulous job fixing me up again so I'm as good as new. Well, almost, since I still can't seem to remember anything,"

"He's an excellent medic. One of the best," Optimus agreed with Zodiac. "And my oldest friend. As for your memory, that may return in time. We can hope, anyway." But did he? Well, a part of him did since that was only fair. But another part of Optimus wanted this to last for a long while. Zodiac was so still now, so innocent, vulnerable and even kind. This was not the same shape shifter that had arrived there disguised as his mentor bent on murdering everyone as he pleased. As odd as it was to see this unfolding, Primal tried to prevent making any hints that Zodiac had ever acted differently in the past. As much as the black dragon seemed like he was preparing himself for physical abuse from the Maximals, Optimus almost felt the same anxiety expecting him to lunge at him any second and try to take his life. The irony of it all. He suppressed it, of course, and made no attempt whatsoever to reach for his weapons.

"A place to rest for a little while would be great..?,"

Rhinox watched with a bit of surprise as Zodiac finally stood up and appeared just a tad more confident or less terrified about them and his situation. How did Optimus always manage to have that affect on others?

Happy to see the timid bot getting up and answering him with a little more confidence, Primal nodded at Zodiac and said, "I think we can arrange that. If you'll allow Rhinox to finish up his examination with you, we'll get you to your quarters so you can rest up," he worked as both a compromise and a delay. Since Zodiac didn't actually have a room there at the Axalon, they would have to make one for him quickly.

"I'll let you finish up with him before I tend to everyone else," Optimus nodded at Rhinox with a glance that lingered just a bit as their eyes met each other like an unspoken language between them asking for time and being on the same page.

Rhinox nodded as he understood and looked at Zodiac with a smile and a slow gesture asking the shape shifter to step forward so he could visually look over him and have him turn around, spread both his wings, and have a look over his chest, back and head even though he didn't expect to find anything since his nanotech had done all of the work but he needed to buy some time.

Walking over to the large Fuzor, the blue and silver gorilla said quietly out of earshot from Zodiac, "Tigerhawk, prepare a room for Zodiac immediately. Keep it simple. Use the one we had set up for him when he disguised himself as Nexus Prime, but tidy it up and remove anything that might trigger a memory. Go," he permitted him to leave the infirmary. Although he doubted any such items existed in those quarters. He couldn't quite remember since he found it difficult stepping into that room after everything that had happened.

Glancing at Primal while his back was turned to them, Rhinox noticed the extensive injuries to his leg that was folded up but would have been extended if he was in his robot mode. It was probably why he hadn't bothered to maximize yet since he'd be surprised if he could even walk on it. But he decided not to make a verbal observation about it in front of Zodiac since it would certainly prompt more questions.

-----

“Trust me, I don’t agree with some things Optimus does either.” “But maybe you’ll knock some sense into him eventually.”

"It may take more than me to persuade him, but if we all urge him on maybe he'll start realizing we can't keep making compromises as often as we do with the Predacons,"

"Now, I know I ain't hearin' talk about a mutiny here," Rattrap chimed into Aurora's and Cheetor's comments somewhat accusingly even though he was certain they would never think of such a thing. Of course, he had no idea what Optimus had promised Aurora or what Cheetor and the others said at the end of the last battle. But as far as leaders came, even Rattrap considered Primal to be one of the best, and there was no way anyone on their team would deliberately replace him because he treated them all too fairly and too well. Well, maybe Dinobutt still wanted to play the leader, but everyone else was content with his command. Or so he thought. Clearly though something was bothering the two youngest Maximals. The only complaint Rattrap really had was the monkey's friendship with Nemesis, the, uh, second-in-command Predacon.

“Maybe I should have taken our mission more seriously, or start being more serious.” “The Preds won’t keep get away with what they’ve done Rattrap, you can count on that.”

"Easy, Cheetor," Rattrap told him although he appreciated his support. "I ain't lookin' for revenge... Or even vengeance. Dat's probably de last thing I want," he made clear knowing how eager the cat was sometimes to prove himself or stand up against the Predacon fleet they were stranded with, and he certainly didn't want him getting himself into trouble like he used to do. "I think... I think dis is somethin' I gotta work on... myself," he admitted. Truthfully he didn't know how to handle it just yet. He should probably talk to Rhinox and get himself examined...

“Keep your chin up Rattrap, we still care about you too much to see you down in the dumps. Figuratively of course.” “I’ll be doing some repairs on the roof if you guys need me.”

Speaking of not being ones self, how was Wintersong doing? He opened his mouth to ask her, but she had already made up her mind to venture off on her own again. In her defense though, she looked uneasy being there among them in the crowded room, so he decided to leave her alone on the matter albeit still grateful for her and Tigatron saving his life.

“Probably your own stink rubbing off on me. With how often I work rat patrol with you maybe you’re finally no longer immune to your own stench.”

Rattrap couldn't help but finally grin lightly at Dinobot's quip. "You know, Chopper Face, only your terrible insults an' weak comebacks can actually have a positive effect on me."

“Put us out of business? Then how else would we give you vacation suggestions.” “Saw this tropical beach you might like to retire to one day, or is this about not sending signed post cards?”

Again, Rattrap managed to smile a bit more at Tigatron's remarks. Tigatron, no less! It surprised the rodent. "You know, Stripes, yer alright," he complimented him.

“As true as that may be Tigatron, it wouldn’t hurt to stick to our roots.” “But don’t worry Rattrap, you’ll be flying first-class with me far more often again. We’re going no where anytime soon.”

"Eh...," he began to object to Airazor's assurance, "you do remember dat I hate flyin', right, Bird Lady? Why does everyone keep tryin' ta put me in the air?" he asked rhetorically to no one in particular as if he was merely asking himself out loud. "Disregardin' dat, uh, 'perk', you two should still hang around more often," he shrugged lightly. Rattrap enjoyed their company despite their older ages; they were genuinely kind and not one of those gross, annoying couples that everyone gossiped about.

“Whatever it is you want to do then. But you should take time to yourself eventually, get your thoughts straight when it’s clear you’ve been through a lot and...” “This is hardly helping your anxiety.”

Frowning, he studied the raptor and suddenly became aware how transparent he was to Dinobot. How had he ever let a Predacon get that close to him anyway when it came to friendship? What was he thinking? Truth be told, Rattrap wouldn't want it any other way. In the long run, he was glad Dinobot had joined them and fought with them. It wouldn't be the same without him, that was for sure. Sometimes Rattrap wondered how long both of them were going to keep up with this "charade" in front of the others and themselves. But maybe it just made it more fun that way. Don't fix what ain't broken, after all. In any case, Dinobot was right. As complicated as it felt though, Rattrap wanted to be around his friends and keep his mind busy, but he also wanted to be alone. Did that even make sense? Was he going crazy?

“Maximal sentiment...I’ll never understand it.”

"Yes, he does," he whispered teasingly into Aurora's ear at Dinobot's expense during their embrace regarding the warrior's comment that they had both heard as he walked away. Her hug truly made him feel better, but all good things must come to an end, and he was just as sorrowful to let her go as she appeared to be behind her smile. It was true that he was still bit a sore after his repair cycle in the chamber since it had been interrupted, but she hadn't hurt him with her arms carefully wrapped around him.

“Checking to see what needs to be done for the ship, and a head count for everyone who needs repairs.”

Having left the commander center and catching up to Dinobot in the corridor, Rattrap caught whim of Frilla's scent long before everyone even encountered each other at that spot. He appeared just as sheepish as she was even though she may have been trying to hide it with her casual talk. He almost feared what she might say this time, although he was nearly on his toes ready to pounce with an apology to her.

“So that makes two of you already.”

"Two of us? I ain't damaged, I just..." Rattrap paused in correcting her as he tried to figure out what he needed. He wasn't quite sure. "I just need someone ta listen," he said more quietly. And for a moment, he hoped it would have been Dinobot who may or may not be able to relate to his anxiety, or Rhinox, or Optimus.

“Dinobot, can I borrow Rattrap for a few minutes?”

“Have at it.”

With a swallow in his throat as he grew a little more anxious, he barely glanced at Dinobot who allowed Frilla to intervene and speak privately with the Maximal Spy while he continued on his way.

“And keep an optic on the time, Optimus wants us back in the bridge soon.”

Having bowed his head, he barely lifted it to look at Frilla whose optics were on him, and suddenly it felt like everyone else's eyes on him all at once again. He scratched his head to try and shake it off before clearing his throat and trying to maintain eye contact with her instead of being unintentionally rude by avoiding it. "Hey, Frilla...," he greeted her through his anxiety. "Look, I'm sorry... fer what happened back dere with Nemesis," he suddenly blurted out to her before she could say why she wanted to speak with him in order to release the tension and drop the weight off of his shoulders. "I was way outta line. I shouldn't have questioned yer loyalty. I was just, you know, caught up in de moment. I didn't mean nothin' by it. I know by now that not all Preds are de same as Megajerk and Terror-sour-puss. Obviously, my words hurt you... and I'm sorry."

-----

“Yea, I know the drill, proof before trust.”

A gruff, "Hm," escaped Megatron's mouth in response to Terrabite's comment since it was merely common sense to him.

"I copy. And I'm already at the Darksyde," "I'll meet you there."

How convenient, mused Megatron with a sneer and almost rolling his optics while he waited for her arrival. So, she finally decided to return after her little escapade. Either she had no idea about his suspicions, or she was braver than he gave her credit for. Braver or more foolish.

He, too, squinted from Spineback's tools as she diligently worked on repairing his neck. It almost felt like a massage compared to what Zodiac's armo-eating nanobots had felt like. He remained still while she wrapped up her repairs and added another plate. He tilted his head up and back so she could access his throat more easily.

“Opportunity seems to be necessary.”

"Quite," he commented. "Survival of the fittest, as they say," the tyrant added.

“Nearly done.”

Megatron seemed to have calmed down significantly now that all of his troops were accounted for despite what Waspinator had informed him of about Nemesis's behavior.

“Crystal clear sir, it will not happen again.”

Observing the new recruit's immediate corrections without lowering his head too much to keep his chin out of Spineback's way, Megatron seemed to accept his standing at attention, but added anyway, "Be sure that it doesn't."

“Roger that.”

“Someone’s out of practice with how the chain of command goes.” “Little crash course tends to do the trick.”

Once Terrabite had exited the room, the Predacon warlord appeared to relax a little more easily, even wiggling his sharp, purple toes slightly as he stretched them in their elevated position. "He will learn his place," he said out loud although he seemed to be assuring himself more than his medical officer. "His skills, aquatic beast mode and firepower could prove beneficial to our cause."

“One of these days he’ll push his luck my liege, and it would be a real shame if he “accidentally” took a fall into the pits below.”

'My liege,' he thought as he loved the sound of it every time. He fed off of the respect and power like a starving hyena stripping the flesh off of a carcass. A faint chuckle in his deep voice accepted Spineback's sentiments toward Tarantulas. "What a tragedy to behold," he added since he didn't bother disguising his hatred toward the treacherous arachnid any longer.

“Interesting. The twists just keep coming.”

"Indeed, they do," he smirked deviously but purposely failed to elaborate any further on his intentions with the Ark since that was his ultimate goal. The Nemesis was merely a back-up plan, assuming it could even be found in the vast depths of the oceans.

“My lip components are sealed.”

Glancing at her on the opposite side of his neck now, he nodded and felt confident enough that he could trust her. Threatening someone too much could have reverse effects on the good behavior that he wanted his underlings to show him. Spineback clearly understood what he wanted, so there was no need to insult her or threaten her further on the matter. After all, she had been doing an exceptional job on his repairs near as he could tell. He felt better, anyway.

“Perfect timing, your repairs are done. And I tried to make your neck look as normal as before, but you will have scarring.”

Sitting up, he took the mirror from her, although not rudely, and slowly angled it so he could see what she was talking about. A faint growl rumbled in his throat out of disgust and anger, but not toward Spineback or her work, instead it was toward Zodiac and the scars he had left on his body; previously on his abdomen with his sword, and now on his neck. They would be constant reminders for the rest of his life of how he nearly murdered him even though, in the end, Megatron had been declared the victor, as it had always destined to be. "Beggars can't be choosers," he surmised, and then actually showed her some gratitude by adding, "Thank you, Spineback. No one could have done better." Though bitter about the scarring, he should be grateful that he had survived that day while he was fairly certain that Zodiac had not after he had stabbed him with the dagger.

Now, on to the next matter. Getting up out of the reclining cot, Megatron purposely did not dismiss Spineback yet while he heard some foot steps approaching the infirmary. Nemesis.

"I have returned,"

"So, you have," he said with a blank stare as his second-in-command came into his view, judging her appearance, tone, and behavior. Was she frightened? Perhaps, but he played it "cool" at first as if he suspected nothing and was merely irritated by something else.

"My apologies for my tardiness in doing so. There was a slight situation I had to deal with first."

His carnivorous optics with their brand new lenses narrowed accusingly at her so-called apology, and he grew impatient without her volunteering any more explanation. "Elaborate. Where have you been?" he tested her honesty with him even though Waspinator had already informed him of her whereabouts as he took a step toward Nemesis and stopped, staring at her with his glowing optic sensors never wavering from hers. "You were absent during the battle. Had you participated, we might have overthrown the Maximals again. I hailed you on your communication link and received no response. I return to the Darksyde, and your absence persisted. So, I ask you, Nemesis...," he took another step toward her deliberately being intimidating as he covered some of the reasons for his intolerance of her actions that day despite the success she had shown with her earlier battle tactics, "where have you been?" He waited for her answer while suppressing his eagerness to hear what she might say. There were no weapons engaged on his body or targeting her. And his hands were at his sides. Still, there seemed to be an ominous shadow cast across his upper body that made his optics stand out further than the rest of his features, like a frightening monster lurking in the shadows.