"Well, definitely believe it."
Onyx's chuckle brought out a light smile on Primal's metallic, gorilla face, but it gradually vanished as he continued.
"I never really thought about much beyond being a soldier. But, once I get myself in decent shape I will take that into consideration."
"Just a suggestion," Optimus had returned wholeheartedly since he didn't mean that he
had to find something else or a hobby to keep himself occupied. He didn't have to change, but the Maximal found it interesting that he had no other interests other than what he was already skilled at which was fighting.
"We'll be here."
The Maximal leader nodded to Onyx and Cheetor confident in their abilities to hold down the bridge and keep an eye on Aurora's repairs as well as the scanners. He was a little concerned about Frilla and Dinobot, the two most injured during the battle that morning. Why had they been lingering? Did the others lose track of them? Had the Predacons come back to attack Rattrap's team and captured them? Unnerving thoughts went through his already busy mind as he made his way to the hangar and entered to find Rhinox and Blackarachnia. He lifted himself upright again as he approached them.
"Optimus, Dinobot and Frilla should be arriving shortly."
Good, he thought with some relief.
"Copy that, Onyx," he acknowledged his transmission over his comm. link.
"Around. Not all of us can stand your mushy feelings, Rhinox, and I'm not a girl who likes to still."
"Fair enough," the rhinoceros understood her point of view on the matter. He was going to warn her that if she kept sneaking off to who-knows-where without telling anyone, then someone more paranoid than her might start keeping an eye on her, but he decided to leave it at that. She was smart enough to cover her tracks, and while he was almost certain she wasn't getting herself into trouble, Rattrap would eventually find a way to start following her around without her even knowing. That's what he was good at, after all.
"Aurora? Seriously?"
Rhinox had lifted a curious brow at Blackarachnia's skepticism.
"I would be mindful of her being so easily released and brought home. Tarantulas is up to something."
Primal gave an exasperated sigh toward the she-spider's comment and the seriousness in her tone.
"What else is new," he stated bluntly, although he didn't ignore her suspicions because he - and all of them - were well aware of Tarantulas's underhandedness and sneaky ambitions.
"She seems to be alright despite some heavy damage."
The engineer nodded to his old friend when he showed up and joined him and the black widow.
"I could run some diagnostics on her just to be sure," Rhinox offered.
"Wouldn't hurt," Optimus agreed. Not that he thought anything was off with their youngest Maximal, but just as a precaution, after "escaping" Tarantulas's sticky hands, it would be a good idea to scan her programming and make sure she was okay like Blackarachnia seemed to be insisting upon.
“And that’s my cue. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Rattrap watched Airazor take off for a moment while he continued leading the others into the hangar with the hovering pod hoping to hear good news when she would spot their two lizard companions loitering behind them in the distance.
"Welcome back," "I hope the mission was a success?,"
"More or less," Optimus politely acknowledged Zodiac's presence and afterward glanced at the motion of his hands that were rubbing his wrists because of the bracelets on them.
"The great heroes return home."
The Maximal Commander didn't comment or express any emotion toward Blackarachnia's words, unable to detect if she was mocking them or giving her somewhat snarky behavior at times, and instead started to fill Rhinox in on what had transpired that morning.
"The pod is still functional, but it's a blank protoform."
"Might still be useful," Rhinox grew thoughtful for a moment.
"We can return it to the stasis pod hold and keep it energized at minimum capacity in case it comes in handy like the last one did." He glanced at Optimus as he implied using it in order to bring him back from the dead.
Primal raised a blue brow at him with a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, but it quickly faded. He lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in closer to his friend.
"How much did you tell him, Rhinox?"
His deep red optics studied the gorilla's pink eyes for a short while before he finally answered in a whisper,
"Not everything, don't worry. But he deserved to know a little more, Optimus. He was being too inquisitive, and I couldn't just ignore him. It might've angered him, and I couldn't risk that while all of you were gone. He's starting to go stir crazy being cooped up in the base all the time, so I occupied his mind with a little information. I mentioned the Predacons but not in great detail, and I left out specific names. I was careful, but I think some of his memories were beginning to return anyway. He denied it, but he started having headaches and appeared to be in a lot of spontaneous pain, so he wanted to rest for a while in his quarters. He looks to be in better shape now," he added as he glanced over in Zodiac's direction.
"He also started to regain some of his shape-shifting abilities. I'm sure it'll take time before he masters his skills again. He was taken aback by it when it happened."
The gorilla looked concerned again, almost fearful, at what Rhinox was telling him since he had wanted to go much slower with explaining things to the shape shifter and leading him back into his special abilities, but what was done was done. For a moment, after taking in Zodiac's seemingly more pleasant behavior at that point, Primal's his gaze drifted to the floor, lost in thought before he proceeded with his update at a volume that only Blackarachnia and Rhinox could hear who were closest to him near the CR chamber that Tigerhawk was currently occupying.
"I don't know how, but Spineback's body has been upgraded to a TransMetal without a transwarp explosion creating a quantum surge. And as successful as it seemed to be, they might be able to accomplish that feat with the others, which could potentially put us at a disadvantage. Tarantulas also seems to have acquired some of his own nano-gel. Maybe he procured the information from Aurora while she was in his possession," through torture or some others means, he didn't know and would've been horrified to hear what she endured,
"but I'm unsure how he would've acquired a sample of nanobots to get it done, unless he had a stash of Zodiac's from some time ago or obtained some from Nemesis." He froze for a second as a thought suddenly occurred to him.
Did Nemesis give Tarantulas the sample of my own nanogel that I had given her? She was supposed to give it to Megatron to reduce her inevitable punishment... Primus... Wait. Maybe it was better this way since it was unlikely that Tarantulas would share it with Megatron considering their on-going feud with each other, meaning the rest of the Predacons wouldn't have it either. Still, how could he have been so careless about all of it, just to help the "enemy" who had almost taken one of his Maximals' lives? Maybe Cheetor was right about the way he had been handling things lately...
"Both are unfortunate happenstances," Rhinox commented softly but couldn't offer anything more than that, at least not at that time. It appeared that they lost more than they gained that morning. They could probably get more information from Aurora about the nanogel, but as for the TransMetalization, he wasn't sure how Spineback or whoever tested it on her could have done that. That was rather puzzling even to a "miracle worker" like him.
"I can't help but notice that Wintersong is missing," he cautiously brought up.
Optimus shook his head solemnly a couple times as he said,
"She left on her own accord. The Voks' possession over her was becoming too much, and she didn't want to endanger us."
A frown appeared on the engineer's face.
"I'm sorry, Optimus. I wish I could've done more for her, but without any extensive knowledge on these aliens, I've been unable to pinpoint the origin of their interference with her."
"It's not your fault, Rhinox. I let her down," he blamed himself.
"It's not yours either. Even if you had pushed them harder through your link, it could've made things worse for her. It could've made them more aggressive. But don't give up. Can you still communicate with her?"
The blue and silver primate nodded.
"For now," until the Vok find a way to block that too, or damage both of us with it somehow, he added in thought, if they even could do that. He didn't know.
"Then at least that's something, which is better than nothing," he tried consoling his friend and placed a hand on the gorilla's shoulder for a moment as a means of comforting their tired and worrisome leader.
“Dinobot and Frilla are just about here.”
"'Bout time," he told Airazor when she flew back to the group although he was sincerely relieved that they were okay and on their way.
"You guys wanna give us a hand or what?" Rattrap announced as he rolled into the large room on his wheels and released his tail from the pod that he was using to help haul it back with the others. He merely spared a glance at Zodiac before moving on since he immediately noticed him standing nearby.
Rhinox left Optimus and Blackarachnia to assist the others and examine the pod. He helped guide it to a temporary and safe place within the hangar and proceeded to open its control panel to deactivate the levitating feature that Optimus had previously turned on. The large pod gradually lowered to the floor as the thrusts disengaged. Then he began checking its vitals and energy readings.
Primal took the opportunity to check on Tigerhawk's progress with the console attached to his repair chamber.
"I take it our accommodations for your quarters aren't meeting your satisfaction or needs?" he asked Blackarachnia as his way of letting her know that he had taken notice of her frequent departures and long absences lately. He was actually more concerned about her well being rather than thinking she might be in the midst of betraying them, stealing things, or hiding something since she was another target dead center on Megatron's radar.
“Keep your chin up Rattrap, we’re back in one piece and most of us have returned home, Aurora included. That is at least something.”
Rattrap looked to Tigatron and nodded at him in agreement, appreciating his words of encouragement. Sometimes he didn't understand the white tiger's way of thinking, but he had always respected him. However, they were now missing Wintersong. Could they never catch a break? Speaking of Aurora, though, he couldn't wait to see her when she was all done with her repairs. In the meantime, he went ahead and maximized to his robot mode and watched Rhinox work on the pod.
“And what does that mean for you Blackarachnia? Finally socializing with the rest of us?”
Optimus quietly glanced from Tigatron and back to Blackarachnia before he finished checking up on Tigerhawk's status.
“Yea, everything is fine. If Dinobot would stop trying to scratch his cheek every five minutes.”
Ew, Rattrap shuddered when a quick visual of the raptor scratching his rear end entered his mind.
"Coulda done without dat detail, Frillz," he told her over the frequency between their comm. links,
"but that's what happens when he wipes with poison oak," he added with a snicker despite how gross and inappropriate his comment was. And he was just glad that they were okay and hadn't run into any trouble. He still found Dinobot's behavior odd, though. He hated to think it, since he pretty much trusted the Predacon warrior now even if he pretended not to, but maybe he should keep an eye on him.
“Told you we’d make it.”
It didn't take long for both reptiles to catch up and join the rest of them currently occupying the hangar.
"Sorry I ever doubted ya." Rattrap gave her a smile and a small wave, but Frilla hadn't opted to hang around long.
“I’ll be in one of the CR chambers in the bridge if you guys need me.”
Except for Wintersong, everyone was back and getting medical attention, if they required it. Optimus nodded to Frilla as she passed by and headed toward the command center.
“I see all our more recent rescues join us, how fitting.”
"Dinobot," Primal grabbed his attention to keep his skeptical gaze from lingering on Blackarachnia and Zodiac. He started to approach him in his beast mode as he eyed the black case that he retrieved from his subspace pocket.
"What is that?" he inquired.
Rattrap folded his arms across his chest as Dinobot also caught his attention now.
"No wonder yer itchin' so much, Chopper Face, dat thing wreaks of Predacon," he noted the heavy stench of Spineback that he was picking up with his sensitive sense of smell even in his robot mode.
"Even more dan you usually do," he smirked.
"Must be an allergic reaction," he then joked with Rhinox next to him.
But the engineer was hardly amused when he glanced from his work toward Rattrap's voice which was being projected in his direction at that moment and had prompted him to look. His optics shifted to the object that Dinobot had just revealed to the group, and he stopped his work on the stasis pod.
"You could use some repairs as well, Dinobot," he also observed with the soldier. But all of the CR chambers were currently in use. The former Predacon would probably decline, but Rhinox was indirectly offering his assistance to manually help him with his injuries.
"Rattrap," Optimus urged him to ease up on the jokes and sarcasm.
Glancing at the boss monkey and taking the hint, he shifted his gaze back to Dinobot.
"Is dat what you an' Frilla went back for?" the Spy asked more seriously since his "comedic timing" seemed to be off with everyone else. He was trying to be more like himself again, but the others were must have seen through his act, so he decided to offer a little insight as to why their reptilian teammates were late.
The Maximal Commander returned his focus on to Dinobot as he waited for an explanation.
-----
"Uh, yes...its quite a strange planet to get use to."
As opposed to Cybertron? Indeed, but Megatron hardly had the patience to listen to his excuses, and his bored expression on his dinosaur face may have been an indicator for it.
"My name is Quickfix sir, primarily a medic with skills as a hacker."
Another medic? Just how many of those did the Predacons need? Spineback was adequate in fulfilling that department. But then Quickfix mentioned his hacking abilities which seemed to grab Megatron's interest, along with his identification when he gave it a little more attention.
"Quickfix? I recall that name from Cryotek's crew. And according to reputable sources, at your breaking point, you were labeled a traitor, thus ending up with the Maximals on the Axalon's roster." He narrowed his pink eyes at the utahraptor with obvious criticism and suspicion on the emphasis of certain words.
"Rumors exposed your intentions of finding a 'new life'," he quoted with the use of his small, t-rex fingers,
"among them. So tell me, why should I trust your existence within my ranks?" Quickfix could easily have been a Maximal spy, and Megatron was not convinced otherwise yet, hence his placement of Terrorsaur and Waspinator, as well as maintaining his distance in case this new "Predacon" chose to attack him.
“Look at the bright side Inferno, you’re not in a million pieces.”
"Blah! I wouldn't want to steal Waspinator's gig. Hah hah hah hah hah!" the red ant laughed at the wasp's expense while the doctor reattached his insect legs. He involuntarily flinched a couple times but otherwise remained relatively still for her. When she finished with those, he exercised them a few times each to make sure they were sturdy and operational. So far so good. Maybe this doctor was worthy for the Colony after all.
“With all things considered, you could be in far worse shape.
"No thanks to that coward of a Maximal, Optimus Primal, striking me from behind," Inferno grumbled irritably. What a cheap shot it was. Low even for him! But Nemesis had been no help either apparently. She was struck down just as easily! Or so she said. No one could know for sure since there were no other witnesses. Still, his gripe was with the gorilla more than it was with his own comrade.
So, be patient and you can cause all the pain and destruction you want.”
The pyromaniac sighed heavily as though he couldn't believe he had to endure this embarrassment and waste all this time when he should be by his Queen's side! Nevertheless, he had no choice but to allow Spineback to continue her work on him. Being in beast mode this whole time, he was already starting to feel better, but he still needed more repairs, particularly with his thorax. It did hurt to breathe and move every so often, so maybe it was better for him to listen to the medical officer. A tiny part of him wondered how she had changed her appearance, but he left those questions for the Royalty. Far be it for him to step on any toes when the t-rex was already in a sour mood.