"More Than Meets The Eye: Part III"

[una]

Alright. Stay alert,

Whitegrazer nodded. She will. The others were so busy with their own battles that Megatron, Inferno, and the other mysterious Predacon were still in hiding around them. She wondered what Megatron was waiting for. After all, they were planning on ambushing them, and yet, Megatron and the other two continued to hide. Were they waiting for something to happen? She had sensed earlier something ominous, and her worries extended towards Optimus. While Nemesis was busy with Zodiac, she was the only one who was. Megatron and the other two laid low while Terrorsaur, Umbra, and Waspinator planned on overtaking Optimus before Blackarachnia stepped in. Part of her wondered if she should take advantage of Megatron's location and handle him herself. Another part of her wanted to keep herself ready just in case either of her comrades needed her for battle. Then another part of her wondered if she was just thinking this because she couldn't stand the fact that she wasn't out there. She hissed at that part. It wasn't like she wasn't doing anything. This was the perfect opportunity to see how much Zodiac's nanomachines healed her spark.

Her hand started feeling like it had been scorched, but the burning sensation dissipated as quickly as it started.

Hope died a long time ago, he reminded the female in his head, when she abandoned me to save herself. Need I remind you of the severity of the punishment for attempting escape? I paid for hers.

As long as the both of you are still alive, there is still hope. She didn't forget what had transpired between Zodiac and Nemesis and the reason why Zodiac was angry towards Nemesis. Self-preservation is a powerful thing. I'm sure Nemesis saw her opportunity to escape those horrors and took it. Wouldn't you have? I'm sure she didn't intend to make life harder for you back there. Didn't she know? Have you told her why? Despite it all, look at her, Zodiac. If she didn't care, your betrayal wouldn't have hurt her as deeply. And that goes for you as well. Can't you see... I wish you could both see that the death of either one of you wouldn't erase what has happened to both of you. She sighed. Zodiac seemed to be listening to her warnings, sensing him backing off. Hopefully, they can get out before Nemesis fully healed. A warrior's skills should never be used to hurt friends.

She had hurt friends before. It never felt good, no matter what had happened. Especially during the war.

As she continued, she kept meditating, keeping her calm and collected presence and sharing it towards her comrades and through her link. Presence approaching from the far distance. She smiled. Optimus, Cheetor is approaching. Good. They needed an extra hand, especially one that flies.


Blackarachnia fired a couple of missiles, aiming mostly at the missiles to deflect Terrorsaur's attack towards her. Hear Terrorsaur's screeching voice made her head hurt, "Ugh! Do me a favor and aim at his voicebox."

"Nicely done," he complimented her actions, especially since she had pincers instead of hands, which could not have made it easy to use. As Waspinator flanked them with a steady stream of his optic lasers, Optimus told his passenger, "Hold on!"

Blackarachnia did as she was told, and held on tightly as Optimus made a sharp descent. She kept her optics peeled on Umbra, who was slowly flying closer to their position. Clutched her weapon as she waited for the perfect shot towards Umbra, but then she smirked, deciding to change her choice of weapon to her cybervenom instead of her missiles.

"I'm going to do some evasive maneuvers, so hang on. And do you have a spare weapon that I could use?"

"Here." She decided to give Optimus her missiles for the added firepower. "We could definitely use some evasive manuvers right about now." Umbra sudden move to throw and exploded an democharge at them made her gave out a surprised shriek. flying shrapnel hurled towards both of them. She shielded her optics, temporarily blinding herself as she felt one of the toxic stingers from Waspinator give her a direct hit in the back of her shoulder. Felt the stinger's stinging sensation numb her entire arm. Cursing the annoying bug, she shot a triple dose of cybervenom with a glare for vengeance. Though, with the cybervenom's effects, her target might have not hit. She peered down, seeing a faint shadow of the others below.

[DarkSpark]

OOP wrote: "You don't say..," the former shapeshifter said to either Landslide or Whitegrazer, it hardly mattered which, while giving Nemesis a hard kick to the back of the head for good measure before he removed himself from her immediate surroundings. He did so mostly as an act of defiance against the Maximals who were all dictating what he could and could not do. And although the kick was hard enough to send Nemesis rolling onto her backside, it wouldn't be enough to kill her. By now the nanomachines should be in the final stages of the reboot, so more than likely she'd be coming after them again soon. Deciding to pay heed to Landslide and Whitegrazer's warnings, Zodiac started to wander off.

Hope died a long time ago, he reminded the female in his head, when she abandoned me to save herself. Need I remind you of the severity of the punishment for attempting escape? I paid for hers.

Nemesis was still unconscious and was unable to answer Megatron's hail. Of course that was all about to change now that her nanomachines were starting to come back online.

Megatron's patience had finally reached its limit, he couldn't afford to stand around waiting any longer, his perfectly planned ambush was a bust, and now if he wanted to ensure Zodiac's demise, and the survival of his silent second in command, he would have to take the battle to the enemy....All his careful planning WASTED.

"Troops, prepare to move out, Nemesis has been quiet for too long and the others should have been back with Primal by now, if we wait much longer for the maximals to come to us we may lose more than just our opportunity to execute the traitor Zodiac. Deathroll, move out ahead of us & stay underground until you find the maximals, support the flyers as best you can if you meet up with them but regardless, endeavor to catch the maximal ground forces off guard & take the out, ESPECIALLY Whitegrazer. Inferno, you're with me, we need to prevent Zodiac's escape, and recover Nemesis if she yet lives" Megatron commanded, leaving his hiding place and following Nemesis' energy signature to her location, keeping to the clouds to avoid being spotted by the maximals too soon.

"As you command Royalty! I'll follow you to the ends of the universe and back!" Inferno proclaimed, the tone of his voice suggesting he meant to rub Megatron's selection of himself over Deathroll in the transmetal gator's face as he quickly followed him into the skies as well, eager to obey as always.

Deathroll took it in stride however and replied "As you command, Lord Megatron" as he burrowed towards the highest concentration of maximals he could sense from below ground, while also still being mindful of the increased seismic activity back towards the volcano...They would have to make this quick.

OOP wrote:
Taking back his weapon, he spun it a few times again in his hand and braced himself for their next attack. "Nicely done," he complimented her actions, especially since she had pincers instead of hands, which could not have made it easy to use. As Waspinator flanked them with a steady stream of his optic lasers, Optimus told his passenger, "Hold on!" and he immediately leaned away from the wasp while dramatically dropping his altitude at the same time to avoid getting hit. While Waspinator turned around, the blue ape's pink optics made sure of Terrorsaur's location.

Terrorsaur never took his optics off Optimus and Blackarachnia as he and Wasp chased them through the skies, his annoyance growing as the ape eluded their attempts to down him from the skies.

"How dare he! Apes aren't even supposed to fly, the skies belong to TRUE flyers like me!" Terrorsaur thought to himself as he increased his speed, keeping pace with Primal, not letting the ape out of his sight no matter what cheap tricks or maneuvers he tried to pull.

OOP wrote: Now Terrorsaur was flanking them on their other side. They couldn't afford to be trapped by them, so Optimus warned her, "I'm going to do some evasive maneuvers, so hang on. And do you have a spare weapon that I could use?" He returned his clubs to his back where they latched on to since they would be of little use to laser beams and suddenly sped up to avoid Terrorsaur's attack and he began weaving back and forth in the air to cut off the two Predacons' straight line of attacks along their sides so they would have to move as well or increase or decrease their speed to follow him and the spider. But this was only the beginning, not to mention they were nearing the other Maximals on the ground now.

"You're not going to lose us Primal, and you can't run forever!" Terrorsaur promised as he fired more optic beams after him, knowing instinctively what he was trying to do but determined not to let the ape out of his sight or line of fire...He also noticed he'd put away his clubs.

NaitoKage wrote: Umbra watched as the missile fired from Blackarachnia at him, though he had much more distance compared to the last time she fired at him. Shifting the direction of his back thruster and closing some webbing on his tentacles, Umbra strafed and rolled out of the way of the missile, he then sheathed his swords away opening the webbing on his tentacles, continuing to fly after Optimus. Star broke my gun, but I think I got a trick that might work.. Keep some distance, then after it goes off, both of you flank Optimus and hammer him with missile and gun fire. If you do a pincer strike he'll probably lead you to both shoot each other..

Umbra opened his leg pulling out a democharge from his leg, setting the timer on it, he squeezed it and pulled out a magazine for his old coilgun. Placing the magazine on the Democharge's magnetic surface to hold it, he closed his leg compartment and continued following Optimus, then altered the position of his tentacles and turned the thrusters on his body, causing him to make a sudden spin as he threw and released the democharge using the added Centrifugal force to the throw.

As the Democharge hurlted through the air, came near Optimus, then exploded in midair showering him and his passenger in shrapnel.

Waspinator watched in surprise, then came down flying after Optimus holding up his Toxic stinger and started firing Cyber venom blasts rapidly at him and Blackarachnia.

"Alright, you better know what you're doing Umbra, I am NOT gonna let this transmetal monkey get the better of us!" Terrorsaur replied, not liking the thought of taking orders from a far less skilled and experienced flyer than himself, but determined to ensure that Primal would not escape or make fools of them, even if he felt insulted at the idea that Umbra thought he was dumb enough to fall for such a tactic...Wasp sadly probably was though so he followed Umbra's instructions anyway.

Terrorsaur HATED the sight of Primal & BA getting away from them, even if he knew putting distance between himself and them was part of the plan. Whatever Umbra planned to hit them with, it had better be good, because he was more than ready to see Primal and the widow fall from the sky like space debris burning up on planetary reentry at long last.

Terrorsaur watched as Umbra fired a demo charge out of his coil gun of all things and smiled as the magnetically launched explosive detonated and showered Primal and his passenger with metal "rain."

"Heheheheheh! HEHEHEHEHEHA! Now that's more like it!" Terrorsaur crowed as he went through with the next phase of the plan, flanking Optimus and bombarding him with both laser and missile fire, relishing the sight of both their suffering as they added to their misery with their combined firepower.

"Funny weather we're having, eh Primal?" Terrorsaur jeered, flashing a smug fanged smile as fired upon him and his passenger.

NaitoKage wrote: Umbra responded No, not yet. We've still been tailing Primal and Blackarachnia. I'll report if I see them my Lord.

"Never mind, there's been a change of plans, keep on Primal and the spider, Inferno and myself will find Nemesis, and hopefully Zodiac as well. Deathroll is in the field as well, if you encounter the rest of the maximal forces before he does, contact him for assistance, I shall join in once I've attended to business. Keep me informed, Megatron out" Megatron commanded as he flew onward, annoyed to admit his ambush plan had been foiled, but at least this way he could take direct control of the situation personally, hopefully it was not too late to put an end to Zodiac's legacy of treachery once and for all, and kill a few or more maximals along the way.

"Never fear Royalty, the traitor is as good as ours!" Inferno boasted, sensing his leader's unease, and honestly not caring too much about what happened to Nemesis so long as Megatron's will was carried out.

"Well, that certainly is a load off my mind Inferno" Megatron replied sarcastically, knowing that the ant was too deluded to understand the actual meaning behind his words, and grinned regardless as his loyal drone became more fired up as a result, thinking he had served his master well and eased his troubled mind.

Truth be told, his troubles would be over only after Zodiac was punished, the fool was too much of a loose cannon to be let free even without his powers and he did not trust Primal to not screw things up if he seriously meant to imprison him.

Una wrote:
"Here." She decided to give Optimus her missiles for the added firepower. "We could definitely use some evasive manuvers right about now." Umbra sudden move to throw and exploded an democharge at them made her gave out a surprised shriek. flying shrapnel hurled towards both of them. She shielded her optics, temporarily blinding herself as she felt one of the toxic stingers from Waspinator give her a direct hit in the back of her shoulder. Felt the stinger's stinging sensation numb her entire arm. Cursing the annoying bug, she shot a triple dose of cybervenom with a glare for vengeance. Though, with the cybervenom's effects, her target might have not hit. She peered down, seeing a faint shadow of the others below.

"HAHAHAHAHA! A poisoned spider, oh the irony, its just too good to be true!" Terrorsaur cackled as he watched Blackarachnia suffer and squirm from both the shrapnel from Umbra's attack and now Waspinator's cyber venom....To the best of his knowledge, this might actually be the first time the luckless bug had managed to successfully poison ANYONE...About time really.

"Poor thing, here, let me do something for the pain" Terrorsaur sneered as he concentrated more firepower on her, he'd either finish her off or Primal would be damaged in the process of protecting his passenger, win win for him either way, even the big ape himself couldn't withstand so much firepower from both him and Waspinator.

[Phoenix]

"Well, yes, but I also meant the planet itself is always changing. Earth is very much alive,"

That was very much so true. This planet was overflowing with life forms of every kind; aquatic, land based, as well as aerial. These creatures would no doubt continue to evolve along with the planet that hosted them. Just like the transformers species had evolved as well, from larger less-fuel efficient Autobots and Decepticons to the Maximals and Predacons they were today. Surely their involvement with Earth and all the life there had a lot to do with their own progression. And all this didn't even take into account the changes on the planet itself, such as the shifts of the continents, ice ages and what not. It truly was a fascinating planet, one that Aurora did not wish to leave behind.

"That is all part of the appeal," Aurora responded, still failing to see what Cybertron could offer that Earth couldn't.

"That's what concerns me. He's not insane. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he can... or rather could," he corrected himself, "adapt to any situation and environment and manipulate anyone as he needed. He's very complex which makes him extremely dangerous."

"So he's just plain evil then," Aurora blurted out. Although she understood how an individual could have multiple nuances, she failed to comprehend how someone could act on such an extreme desire for revenge. Such an idea was just inconceivable to her, perhaps in part due to her Maximal programming. "Maybe Ironclaw had the right idea..," she then muttered, more quietly than before as if she was almost ashamed to even consider Ironclaw's attempts to kill the shapeshifter to be the right thing to do.

"That sounds like a good idea, Aurora. You go ahead and get started with that while I notify the others that Cheetor is on his way."

Aurora nodded, daring a slight smile as she did. Rhinox' approval of her idea was a great encouragement for her. Often she struggled with the fact that she was both the youngest of the Maximals and still wise beyond her years. The impatience and often irresponsibility of youth didn't always agree with wisdom and knowledge obtained via countless hours of studying and experimenting. Whereas other youths would spend their time partying or having fun through other means, Aurora preferred to study to learn. In that sense she very much so took after the Maximal medic who had to give her life for Aurora to exist. They also shared an appreciation for this planet they were on. But unlike Nightmist, Aurora didn't seek out solitude and preferred to have her fellow Maximals around her.

"I'll get right on it," she told Rhinox as the larger Maximal as he went to contact the others. And so she got to work.

"Since when did you care what I care about?" Rattrap threw back. "You don't know me. I'm a paradox of mysteries,"

Zodiac sent Rattrap an exasperated look, doing little to hide his annoyance anymore. He let out a sigh before he spoke. "Your file described you as challenging to work with to the point where you almost didn't make the cut to join the Axalon crew on their mission. One of your supervising officers deemed you as a distracting element more likely to be found drunk at a gentleman's bar than to contribute anything to the mission. A pity the others didn't listen to him. " Indeed, Rattrap had proved to be one of the surprises among the Maximals. Even studying his file while he had access to Sentinel and all the computer files on the Axalon, had not prepared the former shapeshifter sufficiently.

"A pity for you, as well, as I'm sure you'd rather have remained in your old life than be here in this futile fight against Megatron. Surely you must miss your old drinking buddies there. Perhaps you can all meet up again if you ever escape from this rock."

He paused for a brief moment, then suddenly put on a mischievous grin if only for a moment. "Oh that's right. You boarded the Axalon before your old district in Iacon was bombed to the ground. Well, perhaps you can still raise a drink on the grave site of your old pals to honor their memory."


He let his words linger, occasionally glancing over at Rattrap to see if he had hit a nerve.

"Where do you think yer goin', Zodiac? Yer comin' with us, remember?" the acting Commander told him. "Or would you rather want Megatron ta capture you and rip out yer spark? ...Assumin' you have one ta be taken,"

The renegade only briefly slowed down, enough so to notice Landslide hogtying Nemesis and finding some entertainment in watching it.

"You did want off this mountain before the Predacons return to finish the job, right?," he reminded the rodent. "I'm merely guiding you there. Now if you could hurry up, we can rendezvous with your friends at the Axalon." Of course he left out the part about the path leading them through the area that contained the underground tunnels. With the increased activity of this mountain, it was only a matter of time before those tunnels became accessible. It was a possible way out for the renegade, as well as an opportunity to kill his unwitting guards should they be foolish enough to try to follow him.

He kept walking, even though he kept a close optic on Rattrap's reaction in the event the renegade's earlier statement had cut deeper than it appeared. He'd already been caught off guard once and it had cost him dearly, he certainly didn't plan on it happening again. Instead his words were meant to distract the rodent, to anger him so that he'd no longer be thinking clearly. It was a tactic the former shapeshifter had used many times before.

As long as the both of you are still alive, there is still hope. Self-preservation is a powerful thing. I'm sure Nemesis saw her opportunity to escape those horrors and took it. Wouldn't you have? I'm sure she didn't intend to make life harder for you back there. Didn't she know? Have you told her why? Despite it all, look at her, Zodiac. If she didn't care, your betrayal wouldn't have hurt her as deeply. And that goes for you as well. Can't you see... I wish you could both see that the death of either one of you wouldn't erase what has happened to both of you.

Of course the silence in his head had been too good to last very long. Whitegrazer's words resonated within him, causing Zodiac to sigh deeply.

Nothing can erase the past, that isn't the issue here. But revenge can certainly ease the pain of a past wrong-doing.


Still, he didn't sound as confident as he wanted to. Casting a quick glance back at Nemesis, he swiftly disbursed of any lingering doubts he may have been harboring. She will only continue hunting me now that she's been allowed to live.


Meanwhile Nemesis slowly started stirring as her nanomachines came back online. In fact they had already started repairs on her wounds while Landslide proceeded to tie her up, using his coated metal chain that the machines weren't able to consume as fuel.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"Ugh! Do me a favor and aim at his voicebox."

A smirk appeared on the blue ape's shiny face toward Blackarachnia's comment.

Optimus, Cheetor is approaching.

That was a relief that Whitegrazer could probably feel from him. Although Cheetor's robot mode prohibited him from flying, they still needed the extra firepower that he could provide, especially as a TransMetal. And if he flew in soon, he could surprise the other Predacon fliers.

"Here." "We could definitely use some evasive manuvers right about now."

Turning his upper body slightly to reach behind himself, Optimus was about to take her gun with the intent of both of them using weapons since he was certain she still had her "machine gun" legs to use and her grappling hook. However, he was interrupted when he noticed Umbra behind them throw an object in their direction. He immediately swerved wildly in the air on purpose trying to avoid his democharge blast, but there was still shrapnel that scratched and pierced parts of his body, mostly his arms, short legs and his hoverboard. Grunting with the pain, he also heard Blackarachnia's shriek before he noticed Waspinator descend down behind them and fire some blasts at them. Again, he deliberately swerved in the air and significantly dropped his altitude in an attempt to get out of Waspinator's line of fire, but not before his passenger had been struck by one of the wasp's cyber venom blasts and she had fired back at him. Now, he was getting angry, clearly outnumbered by these Predacons who wanted nothing more than to kill them and celebrate. Not on his watch.

"Heheheheheh! HEHEHEHEHEHA! Now that's more like it!"

Glaring at Terrorsaur who pulled up beside them, beginning to spray them with lasers and missiles, Primal suddenly took a dive toward his Maximals below to lure his opponents closer to them as Terrorsaur's laser beams shot past him and the widow, strafing and leaning back and forth to dodge them; some of them almost cutting through his arms when he had to swing them out to keep his balance. He could feel the heat of all of their firepower targeting them but he refused to give in or allow his passenger to take any more damage.

"Funny weather we're having, eh Primal?"

"Perhaps its biggest asset is its uncanny ability to be unpredictable," Optimus returned to the cocky TransMetal dinosaur. But it wasn't a compliment to his onslaught of gunfire, rather he was referring to the "trap" he was leading these distracted fliers into with his Maximals on the ground coming closer into range now. Close enough for them to target them and fire.

"Rattrap, cover fire," he asked of him through his comm. link.

"Blackarachnia, I'm going to descend to the ground. Hop off at your first opportunity," he told her, uncertain that he'd have enough time to make a full-stop for her, deeming it too risky now that she was hit with some cyber venom to keep her on board with the maneuvers he was only willing to perform without her. Hopefully she'd be safer on the ground and provide the other Maximals there with firepower.

If they didn't have the light of Primus, this planet would be gone like the colony on J'asik.. Hm? Restrain.. The only thing I have that nanomachines can't eat is me.. or.. parts of me. It's not really made fer this..However it's heavy duty fer cuttin' rock an' metal, and it's got Rheanimum in it. She'll be helpless until one of er' buddies arrives.

Rattrap watched Landslide chain up Nemesis, hoping it would at least slow her down and keep her off of their tails when they exited the area. "I wish I could see the look on Megatron's face when he'd finds his 'precious Commander' hog-tied like dis," he smirked. "Hopefully it'll hold." Not that he doubted Landslide's abilities, but could they really be sure that those chains would be enough against her nanobots?

Thankfully Cheetor is alright.. Dirge really put a number on him..

"Yeah," was all the rodent could muster up at the moment, feeling sorry for the kid who had gone through a lot with that slow-minded big bot. At least Cheetor was still alive and finally up and running again.

Though that doesn't solve our flier problem. Cheetor can't fly in robot mode.. Unless you want to act as his gunner.

"I know," he sighed with some agitation, but they had little choice. They needed reinforcements. Rattrap could very well be his passenger and play the gunner, but he wasn't as confident in his aerial skills as he was with Primal's. Well, he could make a decision on that if Cheetor showed up before they were all killed by these ugly Predacons.

"Your file described you as challenging to work with to the point where you almost didn't make the cut to join the Axalon crew on their mission.

"Too bad I made it anyway and here we are; you as my prisoner and me still in one piece," Rattrap slipped in with a snarky grin toward Zodiac, who was obviously trying to upset him. But there wasn't anything Zodiac knew that the rat didn't. Or so he thought.

One of your supervising officers deemed you as a distracting element more likely to be found drunk at a gentleman's bar than to contribute anything to the mission. A pity the others didn't listen to him."

"I guess I proved 'em all wrong," he said almost dismissively.

"A pity for you, as well, as I'm sure you'd rather have remained in your old life than be here in this futile fight against Megatron.

"No sense dwellin' on what coulda been," Rattrap merely shrugged. Sure, he missed some of those good days while Zodiac brought back the memories, and maybe he'd have been safer on Cybertron than he was on Earth if he had stayed, but there were also things he needed to escape from. An exploration mission was his outlet. Of course, he had no idea it would turn into what it had, nor could he have ever imagined the new friends he would make.

Surely you must miss your old drinking buddies there. Perhaps you can all meet up again if you ever escape from this rock." "Oh that's right. You boarded the Axalon before your old district in Iacon was bombed to the ground. Well, perhaps you can still raise a drink on the grave site of your old pals to honor their memory."

Unfortunately, those last statements from the former shapeshifter had finally effected the Spy. Sadness and anger appeared in his optics. Was he telling the truth? Had he truly lost some of his friends in Iacon? Without any contact with Cybertron over the years they had been stranded on Earth he wouldn't know. How could he trust him to be honest? Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. I can't let 'im get ta me! He's just tying ta get me angry on purpose, he reasoned with himself. By this point, his index finger was laying on his weapon's trigger, ready to fire at Zodiac again, but he refrained himself. He wasn't going to fall for his manipulation. "You might be able ta tear Optimus down with your sparkless words because he cares too much, but it ain't gonna work on me. Anyway, bots change. I've changed," he emphasized, not that he needed to prove anything to this lowlife murderer. This group of Maximals know he was. He was loyal to them. And despite his lack of bravery sometimes, and his laziness, he still cared about them and would often go above and beyond the call of duty to help them, just like they did for him. He missed Cybertron, and the friends he left behind, but all he could do now was stand and fight with these Maximals, survive, and make everything he did from here on out in his friends' honor. For all he knew, they could have been slaughtered by Zodiac himself. But he wasn't going to fall victim to his "stories" or give him the satisfaction that he believed anything that came out of his mouth.

"You did want off this mountain before the Predacons return to finish the job, right?," "I'm merely guiding you there. Now if you could hurry up, we can rendezvous with your friends at the Axalon."

Rattrap looked from Zodiac to Landslide, glancing down at Nemesis, before he started to follow Zodiac. He was hesitant at first since he was probably leading them to a trap, but where else could they go? Up? Down? Both unlikely options given the threats around them and how much Landslide could carry since Zodiac was on the taller side. He stopped in his tracks when he started to hear some commotion in the snowy sky which forced him to look upward. There he saw Optimus, and Blackarachnia riding with him, as they were being chased by Terrorsaur and Waspinator. Knowing Optimus, he was probably leading them toward them to help knock them out of the air.

"Rattrap, cover fire,"

"Landslide, incoming," he alerted the beetle to the Predacon fliers chasing the ape and the spider who were all heading right toward them. "Provide cover for Zodiac, and fire at will!" Temporarily taking his attention off of the black dragon, the master marksman lifted his aim and fired repeatedly at Waspinator and Umbra.

"'Grazer, what's yer status?" Rattrap asked her via transmission. "I think we're gonna need ya ta regroup over 'ere."

-----

"That is all part of the appeal,"

Rhinox gave a small chuckle. He was certain there would be things on Cybertron that she would enjoy, especially the technology, but he understood her connection to this planet's diversity and its own power of nature. Really it was nothing to worry about since they were still stranded on this world for an indefinite amount of time, so she could continue to absorb as much of it as possible.

"So he's just plain evil then,"

Perhaps. Apparently Whitegrazer didn't seem to think so. Rhinox himself wasn't sure what to make of it. Evil was a strong word, but Zodiac certainly had the qualities that made him fit into the category as did Megatron and perhaps a couple other of the Predacons but not all of them.

"Maybe Ironclaw had the right idea..,"

Aurora had said it quietly, and he wasn't entirely sure that he had picked up her words correctly, but he gave a slight frown anyway. What Ironclaw had done with Dirge was controversial, and obviously an action that Optimus wasn't going to accept, tolerate or encourage among the rest of his Maximals. Rhinox certainly didn't want Aurora to fall away from that. Killing someone no matter how much they deserve it or make things easier for them would only make you just as "evil" as Megatron and Zodiac. And once you took a life, you could never take it back. It would weigh on you forever and consume you, if you have a conscience.

"I'll get right on it,"

While she did so, and he had contacted Rattrap about Cheetor, the engineer made his way to their ship's laboratory to help the Fuzor with their next contraption for the "evil" renegade.

[NaitoKage]

(OOC: Wut

Terrorsaur watched as Umbra fired a demo charge out of his coil gun of all things and smiled as the magnetically launched explosive detonated and showered Primal and his passenger with metal "rain."

Umbra didn't bring the Coilgun, it's broken. He used the ammo he had to make a pipebomb with the Democharge, since it can magnetically stick to things. Only way I could think of to even hit Optimus since he'll be too hard to hit with just throwing knives. Now with that cleared up..)

"Never mind, there's been a change of plans, keep on Primal and the spider, Inferno and myself will find Nemesis, and hopefully Zodiac as well. Deathroll is in the field as well, if you encounter the rest of the maximal forces before he does, contact him for assistance, I shall join in once I've attended to business. Keep me informed, Megatron out"

Waspinator let out a shriek as the Cyber venom missile hit, Umbra merely letting out a sigh as he watched, then looked down. Targets sighted. Keep Optimus busy Terrorsaur til reinforcements arrive, if I get Zodiac before then, we pull back and regroup til further orders from Lord Megatron. Umbra told Terrorsaur on the radio, broadcasting on all Predacon channels.

Waspinator fell out of the air, but there wasn't anything Umbra could do to help the bug. Least his sturdy body would probably survive the fall.

________________________________________________________________

"I wish I could see the look on Megatron's face when he'd finds his 'precious Commander' hog-tied like dis," "Hopefully it'll hold."

Landslide gave a nod It'll hold. The gas isn't a simple plating process, it permeates the metal, increasing the density and holding the molecules like glue. Only problem is the weight and the CR chamber taking a little longer..

Landslide then listened as Zodiac and Rattrap spoke. The ex shapeshifter clearly trying some mindgames, but seemed to be ineffective.Landslide simply smirked listening to Rattrap. He then heard the call.

"Rattrap, cover fire,"

"Landslide, incoming," "Provide cover for Zodiac, and fire at will!"

Landslide stood up, grabbing his sword and put it away, he turned with his back towards Zodiac as he raised his heavy shield.

Making his way towards the ground, the Ninja raised his damaged tentacle to shield himself, while drawing his poison sword. A portion of the tentacle exploded on impact from Rattrap's fusion rifle blast, Umbra then swung his sword deflecting the next coming shot while pulling his tentacles close to his body, causing him to plummet to the ground, using his thrusters to strafe. His leg compartment opening as his tentacles drew some throwing blades, then slid closed swiftly.

Landslide's electro laser extended from his arm as he pointed it out aiming towards Umbra, his arm swaying as he tried to line up a shot Grr.. Stay still! Landslide shouted.

Coming near the ground, Umbra swiftly threw two throwing blades near Landslide and Rattrap, on impact with the ground the blades exploded to stun or blind them from debris being blasted up. At the last moment, Umbra opened his tentacles and webbing like a parachute, firing his jets to slow his fall, burning up some of the snow as he came down, he then started to emit a smokescreen while his visor slid down. From what he'd seen in the air, Zodiac, Rattrap, and Landslide were in the area, with something near them on the ground. While Rattrap was formidable and Landslide intimidating, he knew he didn't have to defeat them to gain victory, just get past them. He probably couldn't do this unscathed, but it didn't matter.

Landslide raised his shield blocking some of the concussive force of the blast, then watched the smokescreen while pointing his arm towards it Had to be the sneaky one huh?

________________________________________

Off in the distance, Cheetor started to see the snow covered forest with the mountain in the background. He activated his comlink broadcasting on the Maximal coms This is Cheetor, I'm closing in on the area. Looking off into the distance, Cheetor noticed some laser and missile fire, his optics squinted as he zoomed in to Terrorsaur. Cheetor let out a growl, then flew up higher into the air in Terrorsaur's direction, once reaching a certain height he transformed to robot mode in mid air and brought his hands together, starting to fire a few laser bursts onto Terrorsaur from above in free fall.

[una]

((OOC: I'm having concentration issues for some odd reason. I was fricking fine all day. Stupid brain. I will finish with BA's post soon. Hopefully, my whitegraer part is all right. I will double check it. ))

She sensed some antagonistic where Zodiac, Rattrap, and Landslide were like a blade. Most notably, she knew it was coming from Zodiac. She really hoped he wasn't trying to cause any trouble with her comrades. She really thought it was a very bad idea. He needed them.

Nothing can erase the past, that isn't the issue here. But revenge can certainly ease the pain of a past wrong-doing.

She will only continue hunting me now that she's been allowed to live.

It won't, Zodiac. Only a false sense of gratification that won't heal anything. Whitegrazer shook her head. Zodiac did have a point about Nemesis, though. Nemesis would continue to hunt him down until she gained, what Zodiac wanted, her vengeance towards Zodiac. She didn't doubt that, and it might led to several complications in the long road ahead. Yet, depending on what Zodiac chooses and how Nemesis reacts to it, there might still be a way that won't have Zodiac and Nemesis fighting each other. I'm not saying that Nemesis won't continue to hunt you, but by showing her mercy here, her trigger finger might waver.

"'Grazer, what's yer status?" Rattrap asked her via transmission. "I think we're gonna need ya ta regroup over 'ere."

She held up her arm and whispered, "I'm remaining hidden inside the snow, watching over you guys as well as Megatron and the rest. Wait." It was then she sensed it. Megatron's presence hammering away. Inferno and the other nameless, as of right now, Predacon moving closer towards Zodiac and her comrades. Optimus and Blackarachnia were close by as well. Everyone, except her, was converging towards that one spot, and if they didn't do something soon, that one spot was going to turn into a pit full of gunfire, explosions, and might lead to severe injuries towards Zodiac as well as her comrades. Also, the idea of Megatron of being in close vicinity to Optimus gave her a shiver of dread like when Optimus and Zodiac were battling up in the mountain. "Rattrap, Megatron and Inferno are heading towards your location. The other one as well."

Optimus, Megatron is coming where Rattrap and the others are. Inferno and the other one, who is deep underground, are also heading that direction. I notice you and Blackarachnia are close by them. I will try to see what I can do to help you guys. I will do what I can to keep Megatron and Inferno away from you.

Whitegrazer contemplated what she could do.

Zodiac, Megatron is approaching. I suggest whatever you planned on doing. You do it now. Then she added. If you run away from us, I won't mind, but I advise you do not harm towards Rattrap and Landslide at the slightest. You might not care about them, but they are and might be the only ones standing between you and Megatron giving you a killing blow.

Whitegrazer made a decision. She started crawling closer to Megatron and Inferno's location, but she would remain hidden at a safe distance. As she crawled, she continued her contact with Rattrap, "Rattrap, if Megatron and Inferno make a move, I will try my best to stop them before they do. "

Since Megatron and Inferno were too high for a smoke grenade, she needed to rethink her strategy, but she could still keep a look out for them. Her small laser pistol could reach if they got a bit closer. Taking out a smoke grenade, and keeping her other hand on her pistol, just in case, she watched under the cover of snow.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"HAHAHAHAHA! A poisoned spider, oh the irony, its just too good to be true!"

"Poor thing, here, let me do something for the pain"

Blackarachnia growled at the annoying Pterodactyl as she hissed at her arm's numbness. The only thing that made her feel better was knowing that despite the toxin in her systems Waspinator got a taste of his own medicine. She smirked. Now, she needed to get a chance to deal with Terrorsaur and Umbra. She used her other hand to quickly wipe off some small pieces of shrapnel on her face and arm. On her face it strung like the pit, but her arm was still too numb to feel anything. She shook her head, trying to fight off the effects of Waspinator's attack. Her pride was hurt more than her body, though.

As they were making their way down, Rattrap and Landslide were close enough to get them more help. Now, it seemed Umbra was busy with Landslide and she saw gunfire coming from someone else towards Terrorsaur. Was it the pussycat? She aimed at Terrorsaur and fired some cybervenom at his direction.

"Blackarachnia, I'm going to descend to the ground. Hop off at your first opportunity,"

"Waspinator's toxin is pathetic compared to mine." Blackarachnia said. A bit insulted that Optimus was going to have her hop off like she was too injured. Like dead weight. "Also, isn't better to have a second passenger watching your back? Also, Optimus is who everyone is targeting. Being up there gives her a cover and chance for sneak attacks. She loved sneak attacks. Why give up a good spot?

Also, she wanted to stay away from the white mare's "influence" The air felt...strange to her. While it seemed Maximals were acting more efficient, to her, the strange energy didn't sit well with her. Made her uncomfortable. Something she hated and wasn't used to.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Well.. I was waiting for DS to make his response but since it's been 6 days now since his last post and I have to work tonight, I'm just going to go ahead and post. Shouldn't affect DS' post too much.)

"I wish I could see the look on Megatron's face when he'd finds his 'precious Commander' hog-tied like dis," he smirked. "Hopefully it'll hold."

Zodiac watched the scene unfold as well, that is for a short while until he decided he needed to keep moving. With his multiple injuries, most notably a shot wound to his shoulder and the gaping hole in his thigh, he wasn't exactly as fast and agile as he normally would be. He walked with a limp right now, not unlike that of Nexus Prime and more recently Optimus as well. And he suspected this would be the case for a while since he wasn't able to heal himself at the moment. At least he was still able to walk even if his movements were far from as elegant as he was used to. And hopefully, if given the time and opportunity, he could figure out a way to reactivate the nanomachines that still resided within him. They were quiet now, yes, but if he allowed himself to give up hope then he would surely be tossed in a prison.. or worse yet.. slaughtered at the hands of Megatron. Or Nemesis. Or Ironclaw. Or any of the rest, really. He certainly had no shortage of enemies right now.

"Feel free to stick around to find out the answer," the former shapeshifter encouraged. Of course he knew the rodent wouldn't let him out of his sights so his comment was more wishful thinking than anything.

"Too bad I made it anyway and here we are; you as my prisoner and me still in one piece,"

The renegade responded with a grimace as he tugged at his cuffed hands again. Despite his arms being bound in front now, he couldn't gain enough leverage to break free.

"For now..," he added to the rodent's bold statement. When he did figure out a way to restore himself to his former glory, the rat would indeed be the first one he'd let his nanomachines devour.

"I guess I proved 'em all wrong,"

Zodiac attempted to shrug his shoulders after hearing the rat's remark, an attempt he quickly came to regret when such an action sent pain shooting through his shoulder and part of his wing due to the surprising direct hit the Maximal had made earlier. Flinching slightly from the discomfort, the renegade then focused his attention on moving himself further away. Surely the other Predacons, perhaps even Megatron himself, would arrive soon to check on the status. And if trying to shake a single Maximal or two was difficult enough, he certainly didn't plan to add a number of Predacons to the mix.

"No sense dwellin' on what coulda been,"

"It would seem you are a stronger individual than most of your Maximal brethren then," Zodiac observed, although it was fairly obvious he was comparing the rodent to Optimus and his many instabilities as of late.

"You might be able ta tear Optimus down with your sparkless words because he cares too much, but it ain't gonna work on me. Anyway, bots change. I've changed,"

Sparkless..

It never seized to amaze him how quickly Maximals tossed the accusation of being sparkless around when dealing with someone who had a different set of opinions and morals than their own. It wasn't that he minded such labels but he still found a certain amusement in them. He could only assume that Maximals lacked the ability to understand his motivations.

Then he briefly pondered the second point the rodent was trying to make.

Change..

The former shapeshifter had changed too, drastically so. He used to be quite different back when he and Nemesis had known and relied on each other. Weaker, less strong willed, more forgiving. All pointless emotions his training had weeded out of him since he needed to be stronger to perform his assignments satisfactorily. Yet now that he was without his advanced technology, he struggled a bit with keeping it all together. It had been a long time since he was this vulnerable. And if anything about this entire situation frustrated him, it was that vulnerability.

"Just figured you wanted to know," he said innocently, briefly raising his arms a bit as if to say not to kill the messenger. Of course he had meant every word and was somewhat disappointed they didn't provoke the kind of reaction he was hoping for.

Some movement in the sky above heading in their direction, caught Zodiac's attention. Optimus was easily recognizable on his hoverboard, causing Zodiac to narrow his optics when he saw the several Predacons who were in pursuit.

"Provide cover for Zodiac, and fire at will!"

"If you'd let me have a weapon, I can fight as well..," he muttered under his breath before he glanced behind him. The mountain was towering in the background, growing ever more unstable. Thick smoke was pouring out of the crater and the ground had heated up enough from the stream of lava in the underground tunnels to melt most of the snow and ice. Steam from the evaporated water rose from the gaps in the ground, causing a thin mist in the area. Another quake started as well, shaking the ground even more violently than the others had done. As it did, the ground rumbled menacingly, as if it was threatening to swallow them all up. In some areas the ground directly above the tunnels started collapsing, exposing the flowing lava below.

For a change Zodiac grew quiet, his optics surveying the damage to the area and the incredible forces at work here. Once or twice he almost fell over when the shaking ground grew too violent but he managed to catch himself. The heat emerging from the now exposed tunnels felt uncomfortably intense, so much so that he was actually starting to second guess his plan to seek shelter in one of the secure tunnels. The sheer power exerted on this place was starting to feel a bit overwhelming right now, leaving the former shapeshifter hesitant on the outcome of his plan of action. The aliens were known for making solid structures, but in this particular case he couldn't help but wonder if they truly had anticipated the magnitude of it all. For obvious reasons, the tunnels had never been tested, leaving the renegade hesitant if he truly wanted to be the test subject here.

A short distance away, Nemesis was waking up. As her optics flickered online, she looked around with some confusion. The ground appeared to be shaking and for some reason she had trouble moving her limbs. It didn't take long for her to realize why. Fighting that initial claustrophobic response, she tried to force herself to think rationally. Sitting up as far as she was able to, she looked around for her weapons.. or for anything that she could use to break these chains.

Meanwhile, back at the Axalon, Aurora was busy working on developing a chemical that could work as a truth serum of sorts. Of course the assignment would have been a lot easier if they had a sample already, but since they didn't she was forced to do some research into the subject. Fortunately Rhinox arrived to help her which should cut the workload in half.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Sorry for the delay guys, this post is still a work in progress, will try to finish it tonight if I have the energy after work, if not on Friday. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

OOP wrote: Turning his upper body slightly to reach behind himself, Optimus was about to take her gun with the intent of both of them using weapons since he was certain she still had her "machine gun" legs to use and her grappling hook. However, he was interrupted when he noticed Umbra behind them throw an object in their direction. He immediately swerved wildly in the air on purpose trying to avoid his democharge blast, but there was still shrapnel that scratched and pierced parts of his body, mostly his arms, short legs and his hoverboard. Grunting with the pain, he also heard Blackarachnia's shriek before he noticed Waspinator descend down behind them and fire some blasts at them. Again, he deliberately swerved in the air and significantly dropped his altitude in an attempt to get out of Waspinator's line of fire, but not before his passenger had been struck by one of the wasp's cyber venom blasts and she had fired back at him. Now, he was getting angry, clearly outnumbered by these Predacons who wanted nothing more than to kill them and celebrate. Not on his watch.

"Heheheheheh! HEHEHEHEHEHA! Now that's more like it!"


Glaring at Terrorsaur who pulled up beside them, beginning to spray them with lasers and missiles, Primal suddenly took a dive toward his Maximals below to lure his opponents closer to them as Terrorsaur's laser beams shot past him and the widow, strafing and leaning back and forth to dodge them; some of them almost cutting through his arms when he had to swing them out to keep his balance. He could feel the heat of all of their firepower targeting them but he refused to give in or allow his passenger to take any more damage.

OOP wrote: "Perhaps its biggest asset is its uncanny ability to be unpredictable," Optimus returned to the cocky TransMetal dinosaur. But it wasn't a compliment to his onslaught of gunfire, rather he was referring to the "trap" he was leading these distracted fliers into with his Maximals on the ground coming closer into range now. Close enough for them to target them and fire.

"Yeah yeah, may the force be with you, let your conscience be your guide, yada yada yada, just shut up and DIE already! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Terrorsaur replied with gleeful malice as he continued to fire upon Primal and BA as they seemingly fled like frightened ducks from their superior air force.

OOP wrote: "Landslide, incoming," he alerted the beetle to the Predacon fliers chasing the ape and the spider who were all heading right toward them. "Provide cover for Zodiac, and fire at will!" Temporarily taking his attention off of the black dragon, the master marksman lifted his aim and fired repeatedly at Waspinator and Umbra.

"RAWK! We have incoming!" Terrorsaur yelled as he evaded the maximals surprise attack, the damn ape's words from earlier finally making sense to the pterodactyl as he watched them open fire upon Waspinator and Umbra.

"Nice try ape, but the Predacon's best flyer won't be taken out that easily!" Terrorsaur promised as he prepared to open fire on the ground troops with his shoulder missiles, only to receive a communication from Umbra.

NaitoKage wrote: Waspinator let out a shriek as the Cyber venom missile hit, Umbra merely letting out a sigh as he watched, then looked down. Targets sighted. Keep Optimus busy Terrorsaur til reinforcements arrive, if I get Zodiac before then, we pull back and regroup til further orders from Lord Megatron. Umbra told Terrorsaur on the radio, broadcasting on all Predacon channels.

Waspinator fell out of the air, but there wasn't anything Umbra could do to help the bug. Least his sturdy body would probably survive the fall.

"Keep Primal busy by killing him? Don't need to tell me twice, just make sure you don't let Zodiac slip away, otherwise Megatron will have all our heads. And..." Terrorsaur said as he watched Waspinator fall from the sky, adding "Sigh...Try to remember where Waspinator crashed so we can pick him up later, he's usually pretty good at dragging himself home but with all the volcanic activity around here I doubt he'd be able to make it back without help."

And with that, Terrorsaur continued his pursuit of Primal, lighting up the sky with missile and laser fire as he remained hot on his trail, determined to be the one who finally put the maximal leader down for the count, not Megatron or Zodiac.

Umbra wrote: Off in the distance, Cheetor started to see the snow covered forest with the mountain in the background. He activated his comlink broadcasting on the Maximal coms This is Cheetor, I'm closing in on the area. Looking off into the distance, Cheetor noticed some laser and missile fire, his optics squinted as he zoomed in to Terrorsaur. Cheetor let out a growl, then flew up higher into the air in Terrorsaur's direction, once reaching a certain height he transformed to robot mode in mid air and brought his hands together, starting to fire a few laser bursts onto Terrorsaur from above in free fall.

"Whoa! Hey! What the....YOU!" Terrorsaur exclaimed as he looked up at the source of the emerald laser fire raining down around him, hissing in pain from the shots that struck him in the back, eyes glowing as he said "Two can play at that game kitty!"

With that, Terrorsaur turned around and returned fire with his own optic beams, ignoring the pain from his singed back as he relished the sight of his lasers striking Cheetor.

"This is why cats don't belong the skies, they just don't have the knack for it!" Terrorsaur bragged, hoping to hear the kitten scream as his beams danced across his superstructure.

Una wrote: As they were making their way down, Rattrap and Landslide were close enough to get them more help. Now, it seemed Umbra was busy with Landslide and she saw gunfire coming from someone else towards Terrorsaur. Was it the pussycat? She aimed at Terrorsaur and fired some cybervenom at his direction.

"Gonna cut you up into kitty litter you little pu....OH COME ON!" Terrorsaur scowled as he barely evaded BA's cybervenom attack, yelling out "WAIT YOUR TURN WIDOW" as he fired back at her with projectiles of his own, not liking how many maximals were now in the sky in comparison to predacons.

NaitoKage wrote: Landslide stood up, grabbing his sword and put it away, he turned with his back towards Zodiac as he raised his heavy shield.

Making his way towards the ground, the Ninja raised his damaged tentacle to shield himself, while drawing his poison sword. A portion of the tentacle exploded on impact from Rattrap's fusion rifle blast, Umbra then swung his sword deflecting the next coming shot while pulling his tentacles close to his body, causing him to plummet to the ground, using his thrusters to strafe. His leg compartment opening as his tentacles drew some throwing blades, then slid closed swiftly.

Landslide's electro laser extended from his arm as he pointed it out aiming towards Umbra, his arm swaying as he tried to line up a shot Grr.. Stay still! Landslide shouted.

Coming near the ground, Umbra swiftly threw two throwing blades near Landslide and Rattrap, on impact with the ground the blades exploded to stun or blind them from debris being blasted up. At the last moment, Umbra opened his tentacles and webbing like a parachute, firing his jets to slow his fall, burning up some of the snow as he came down, he then started to emit a smokescreen while his visor slid down. From what he'd seen in the air, Zodiac, Rattrap, and Landslide were in the area, with something near them on the ground. While Rattrap was formidable and Landslide intimidating, he knew he didn't have to defeat them to gain victory, just get past them. He probably couldn't do this unscathed, but it didn't matter.

Landslide raised his shield blocking some of the concussive force of the blast, then watched the smokescreen while pointing his arm towards it Had to be the sneaky one huh?

Deathroll had finally arrived at the sight of the battle, drawn to the seismic activity of the ground forces fighting above him, though with the volcanic activity brewing in the distance things were becoming more and more intense underground...He suspected less experienced or well equipped diggers would be leaking lubricant right about now, but he was determined to see this mission through to the end to prove himself to his new leader, though there was certainly no cowardice in killing his opponents are quickly as possible.

"This one appears to be big, for a maximal, might as well take him out first, demoralize the smaller ones" Deathroll thought to himself as he burrowed upwards towards Landslide, his drill piercing the ground beneath his feet like a lance spearing through the flimsiest of armors, and hopefully the bug's as well.

After making his grand entrance, Deathroll cried out "Deathroll, TERRORIZE!" and shifted from his drill tank mode into robot mode, looking down on the surprised maximal beetle as noticed the octopus ninja was here as well and said "Mind if I cut in, ninja?" before saying to Landslide "What's wrong bug? Afraid to face a mech your own size?" as he charged into him, not bothering with guns or missiles, instead desiring to crush this maximal with his barehands and test the limits of the strength this new body gave him.

Phoenix wrote: A short distance away, Nemesis was waking up. As her optics flickered online, she looked around with some confusion. The ground appeared to be shaking and for some reason she had trouble moving her limbs. It didn't take long for her to realize why. Fighting that initial claustrophobic response, she tried to force herself to think rationally. Sitting up as far as she was able to, she looked around for her weapons.. or for anything that she could use to break these chains.

Megatron finally began to pick up on the energy signature of Nemesis and hazarded flying down below cloud cover, Inferno keeping a watchful eye out for any who would dare open fire upon his leader as they flew lower to the ground, spotting the missing Predacon Commander....In chains? While an all out battle was breaking out between his minions and the maximals?!

"Inferno, keep the maximals busy while I free my second in command" Megatron ordered the ant, his tone growing harsher as he said "second in command," as if it were a curse word rather than a rank worthy of respect.

"As you command Royalty!" Inferno cheered happily as he lit up the battlefield with a barrage of fireballs, cackling giddily like an earth child in a candy store.

"Nemesis, explain" Megatron asked calmly but coldly, using her name rather than her title, perhaps a sign of his displeasure at finding someone he had deemed to be his best and brightest looking both confused and restrained no less, and no sign of a dead Zodiac to speak of for that matter.

Megatron growled as he touched the ground, the earth shaking beneath his feet, a sure sign that their time here was drawing short, as was the smoke rising up from the volcano in the distance.

Inferno stood guard, scanning the surrounding area for even the slightest sign of ill intent against his master, Megatron quickly snapped Nemesis' chains and dragged her to her feet, quickly saying "Which way did the traitor go? You can still fight I trust?"

"There Royalty! The traitor lies ahead! And the rodent as well!" Inferno exclaimed, pointing at their enemies with an eager three fingered hand.

"Ah yyyyeessss, so they are, well done, Inferno" Megatron replied, wondering if perhaps demoting the ant was a wise decision after all but pushing that thought aside as he proclaimed "Zodiac! My friend, fancy meeting you here of all places, are you lost? The base is miles from here, come now, you've been so helpful to us, let me show you the way home."

And with that, Megatron opened fire on Zodiac, Inferno following his master's example as he unleashed a sea of fire from his flamethrower towards Rattrap & Zodiac, while all hell broke loose all around them.

[NaitoKage]

(OOC:

OOC: Sorry for the delay guys, lemme know if my post doesn't work out for any of you, I tried to reply to everything that was going on as best I could, its pretty late where I am XD

Not a problem, most of it is fine. Though just to point out, Zodiac is behind Landslide, and Nemesis was near Landslide and Rattrap since they didn't get time to get away from her. So Inferno and Megatron are likely also near those two. )

"Whoa! Hey! What the....YOU!" "Two can play at that game kitty!""This is why cats don't belong the skies, they just don't have the knack for it!"

Cheetor held up his arm as the laser blast hit, tearing off some of his forearm plating. Yawouch! Cheetor yelped from the pain.

"Gonna cut you up into kitty litter you little pu....OH COME ON!" "WAIT YOUR TURN WIDOW"

Cheetor watched as Blackarachnia attacked Terrorsaur, just the opening he needed. Swiftly transforming to his cheetah mode his cyber thrusters popped out of his sides and kicked in, launching him at Terrorsaur as he gave out a wild cat like roar, attempting to bite into Terrorsaur's neck as he pounced.

___________________

"Keep Primal busy by killing him? Don't need to tell me twice, just make sure you don't let Zodiac slip away, otherwise Megatron will have all our heads. And..." "Sigh...Try to remember where Waspinator crashed so we can pick him up later, he's usually pretty good at dragging himself home but with all the volcanic activity around here I doubt he'd be able to make it back without help."

Umbra responded Got it. Try not to kill Primal.. Megatron doesn't want him dead just yet.. Umbra started to reach for a democharge when the ground started to shake violently, then noticed Deathroll burst up from it.


Landslide looked towards the ground and mountain This place doesn't have much time left! We need to- he was then cut off as he noticed the ground break open infront of himself, grabbing his shield with both hands he brought it down blocking Deathroll's drill with a loud clang, then stepped back.

"Deathroll, TERRORIZE!" "Mind if I cut in, ninja?"

Umbra looked towards Deathroll, still hidden in his smokescreen. He could only assume the reptile had some form of advanced sensory, specially for moving through the ground the way he does. Makes things easier on my end. Umbra responded, reaching for his swords, he then rushed out of the smoke screen towards Rattrap, prepared to defensively react.

"What's wrong bug? Afraid to face a mech your own size?"

Landslide simply sunk his toe claws into the ground bracing as Deathroll rammed into him,being a bit stronger then Deathroll, then smirked with his faceplate sliding up Yer kidding.. Landslide's shoulder horns lowered shining his headlights as high beams in Deathroll's face to blind him for a second, his shield flipping out four horns as he took a step back pulling his shield back and stepped in, his thrusters turned 180 degrees kicking in as he swung with his bodyweight and torso, raking the shield and horns across Deathroll in a hard shield bash,knocking him flying backwards onto his back. RIGHT?!

Landslide lowered his shield with the horns retracting,then pointed his right arm at Deathroll, firing off a lightning blast as a continuous beam into his chest.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Crap, I thought the two groups were separated from each other (like Nemesis was nowhere near them now etc), instead of all in the same place. Sigh, gonna have to edit my post again, sorry guys.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Post altered, again, including the bit where Terrorsaur caught Cheetor.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

This is Cheetor, I'm closing in on the area.

Excellent! Another surprise in store for the Predacons! Optimus was very happy about this but kept it to himself in the air so as not to alert his opponents.

"Yeah yeah, may the force be with you, let your conscience be your guide, yada yada yada, just shut up and DIE already! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Optimus merely shook his head at Terrorsaur's arrogance, continuing to dodge and avoid his relentless firepower, explosions that seemed to flank him and Blackarachnia, shaking them in the air and knocking them back and forth. But it wasn't enough to ground them. The Maximal was quite skilled by now with onslaughts of gunfire targeting him from behind for a few years on this planet.

"Nice try ape, but the Predacon's best flyer won't be taken out that easily!"

"How unfortunate," Primal returned with heavy sarcasm while it probably felt like a boat on rough seas to Blackarachnia as he continued to abruptly pull up and down, and sway side to side in order to dodge Terrorsaur's missiles and lasers. But then were a few greenish laser shots that blew by them...

"Whoa! Hey! What the....YOU!" "Two can play at that game kitty!"

Cheetor! Optimus happily thought once he turned his head to look over his shoulder and find out who Terrorsaur was talking about, a slightly toothy smile crossing his blue face. And Cheetor provided to prefect distraction.

"Waspinator's toxin is pathetic compared to mine." "Also, isn't better to have a second passenger watching your back?

Uh oh. We've insulted her. Now she hates us again, the voice told Optimus.

I don't think she liked us in the first place, he pointed out.

We're underestimating her abilities.

I just want to keep her safe. For some of the maneuvers I have to pull off she can't stay on me, so she'll be falling until I can catch her again, assuming I can grab her before one of the other Predacons shoots her out of the sky or captures her, Primal explained to himself. And we both know what will happen to her if she's captured...

Then we'll either have to take the chance or think of something else. You don't baby Rattrap when he's our passenger, so treat her like a Maximal instead of a delicate flower, 'Lord' Optimus.

Don't call me that. It leaves a bad aftertaste, he told the whisper with a grumble.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

"This is why cats don't belong the skies, they just don't have the knack for it!" "Gonna cut you up into kitty litter you little pu....OH COME ON!" "WAIT YOUR TURN WIDOW"

"Incompetence doesn't belong in the skies either, Terrorsaur," Primal told him as the widow's shot narrowly missed its target but it gave Cheetor an opening.

Without slowing down, changing his mind about dropping off Blackarachnia, Primal immediately pulled up after flying by Rattrap and Landslide - who provided some great cover-fire and distractions for his pursuers - and past Nemesis and Zodiac as a quick visual examination of their well-being finding Nemesis in restraints seemingly unconscious in the snow and Zodiac injured but still alive with his hands cuffed. He then lifted his passenger and himself up into the low cloud ceiling for temporary cover as he circled them around.

"Cheetor's going to need some assistance with Terrorsaur," he told Blackarachnia. "Let's knock him out of the sky!" Descending from the clouds, Optimus and Blackarachnia were now behind Cheetor and Terrorsaur. He accelerated his thrust to catch up to them and hopefully catch the TransMetal flying fossil off guard.

"Stay on him, Cheetor. Blackarachnia and I will flank his left," Optimus told the flying cat over his comm. link as he was pulling up to them quickly. "We'll give him a taste of his own enjoyment over the brutality of being outnumbered."

"Blackarachnia, your webbing might come in handy now," he suggested as he motioned with his hand for her to give him her weapon either for the cyber venom or the missiles, either one would work so he and Cheetor could distract Terrorsaur while she could shoot her webbing at him and hopefully disable his flight ability.

Optimus, Megatron is coming where Rattrap and the others are. Inferno and the other one, who is deep underground, are also heading that direction. I notice you and Blackarachnia are close by them. I will try to see what I can do to help you guys. I will do what I can to keep Megatron and Inferno away from you.

We're focusing on Terrorsaur right now, Whitegrazer, Optimus told her. Rattrap will need your assistance.

"Feel free to stick around to find out the answer,"

"I know it's only a matter of time before Megadump shows up and tries ta whisk you off of yer feet," the rodent added.

"For now..,"

"Save yer threats if you don't wanna die today. I could just as easily walk away and leave you here for Megatron an' Nemesis. I wouldn't have a care in the world," Rattrap shot a glare at him.

"It would seem you are a stronger individual than most of your Maximal brethren then,"

All of the Maximals had their strengths and weaknesses. Rattrap certainly didn't think he was the "strongest" individual. Optimus was the one who held them all together... when he was more himself and not so emotionally and mentally damaged. As soon as they could help heal him, or more specifically Whitegrazer, they would all be stronger again together. In any case, Rattrap decided to take the compliment and told him, "Like I said, I'm full of surprises."

"Just figured you wanted to know,"

"You know, the next time I want ta deliberately shoot you, it'll be in yer voice box," the rodent told the former shapeshifter, growing tired of him talking.

"If you'd let me have a weapon, I can fight as well..,"

"Oh yeah, what a great idea!" Rattrap shouted sarcastically to Zodiac. "Yeah, I've seen you with a weapon. You nearly killed dat one," he said, pointing at Nemesis on the ground not too far away from them. "I can just imagine how much I could trust you with a weapon. Meanin', not at all!"

It'll hold. The gas isn't a simple plating process, it permeates the metal, increasing the density and holding the molecules like glue. Only problem is the weight and the CR chamber taking a little longer..

That was a relief then. One less thing to worry about. Well, until Megatron and Inferno showed up with their ugly mugs.

Grr.. Stay still!

"You gotta try an' anticipate his movements," Rattrap pointed out to the beetle who was struggling to hit Umbra. At the last moment, he noticed the knives that the squid had thrown at them, turning his body away from them as they exploded, spraying snow, dirt and tiny rocks everywhere. He could feel the pebbles pinging off of his hubcaps that rested on his back and the heat of the explosives.

Had to be the sneaky one huh?

"Don't give 'im too much credit, a'right?" the Spy told Landslide as he spun back around and continued firing on the Predacons.

This is Cheetor, I'm closing in on the area.

Rattrap expressed his joyfulness and eagerness to have another one of their friends join the fray, especially someone who had been cooped up in a CR chamber for quite some time after the last battle. "Hey, kid! Just be aware, dere's a new Pred here some where. He's a digger, probably snoopin' around underground. Watch yer back for fliers 'cause they're every where!" Rattrap told him over his transmission.

"I'm remaining hidden inside the snow, watching over you guys as well as Megatron and the rest. Wait." "Rattrap, Megatron and Inferno are heading towards your location. The other one as well."

"How predictable," he told Whitegrazer, knowing that wherever Zodiac would be, that's where Megatron would close in. If only they could hide the renegade from the Preds, but it was too late... Megatron and Inferno dropped down from the sky and the new guy burst up out of the ground right by the beetle, spewing a shower of rock and snow upward all over the place like an explosion.

This place doesn't have much time left! We need to-

"Deathroll, TERRORIZE!" "Mind if I cut in, ninja?" "What's wrong bug? Afraid to face a mech your own size?"

"We gotta name!" Rattrap announced over the Maximal comm. links. "Deathroll is the new Predhead. Look out, 'Slider!" he then shouted as he watched the large bot charge at his friend. But Landslide seemed to be handling his own quite well against the 'gator. Since Cheetor had Terrorsaur preoccupied now, and Megatron was on the move to unshackle Nemesis, he took aim at Inferno after dodging a few of his fireballs that he blindly shot into the battle and began firing at him. That is, until he spotted Umbra racing out of the smoke and toward him with his swords. Yikes! Rattrap immediately changed his target and fired repeatedly at the squid, trying not to panic but the guy was too close for comfort. Stepping backwards to keep distance between himself and Umbra's swords, the rat stopped firing, grabbed one of his demo charges, armed it for two seconds, and then tossed it at the approaching Predacon.

"Zodiac! My friend, fancy meeting you here of all places, are you lost? The base is miles from here, come now, you've been so helpful to us, let me show you the way home."

Slag it! Megatron had found Zodiac and was firing at him! Rattrap was about to shoot at the tyrant's back when Inferno's wall of fire was sprayed at him. The immense heat made the Spy lift his arms up and cross them to cover his face and quickly move backwards. But the ground shook violently and broke apart right under his feet, at the same time providing him with an escape from Inferno's flamethrower. Rattrap fell on to his back into a small, shallow pit. Warmth underneath him suggested a stream or river of lava under the ground from the volcano. But all he could think about was making sure Zodiac didn't fall into Megatron's hands. The only obstacles in his way were Umbra and Inferno, probably just how Megatron wanted it. So he got to his feet and peeked up over the edge of his pit to get a location on Inferno's position while he felt his feet beginning to burn. Hissing and lightly stepping about to try and temporarily cool his feet, he grabbed another one of his demo charges, armed it for three seconds and threw it up out of his pit right toward the tall ant without looking. He waited for the sound of an explosion...

"Rattrap, if Megatron and Inferno make a move, I will try my best to stop them before they do. "

"I could sure use some distractions for dese guys, 'Grazer. Megatron's practically on top of Zodiac but I'm pinned by Inferno and Umbra! And watch out for de ground openin' up underneath ya. Dis volcano is gonna blow soon!"

(( OOC: I hope some of this post makes sense. I was beginning to go crazy jumping back and forth so much trying to keep track and keep things in some kind of "order"... Also, I don't know what else to do with Rhinox at the moment so I'm just going to take a break from him since it took me a few hours just to write this much without his part... ))

[Phoenix]

(ooc: So it occured to me that I left some stuff out in my last post. And since I'll be busy tomorrow, I'm just going to make a post now.)

It won't, Zodiac. Only a false sense of gratification that won't heal anything. I'm not saying that Nemesis won't continue to hunt you, but by showing her mercy here, her trigger finger might waver.

The female's voice appeared in his mind once again mere moments after he had been disarmed and thus Nemesis had been allowed to live for a while longer. Her words appeared as a whisper, warning him against completing what he had set out to do mere moments before. He shook his head briefly, contemplating her words as he eyed the damage left in the earthquake's wake.

You obviously don't know her as well as you think.


His words sounded bitter. Resentful of a shared past that pained him more than he cared to admit. In addition his survival instincts were starting to kick in, telling him he was running short on time.

A dead foe will not pull the trigger either.

Zodiac, Megatron is approaching. I suggest whatever you planned on doing. You do it now. If you run away from us, I won't mind, but I advise you do not harm towards Rattrap and Landslide at the slightest. You might not care about them, but they are and might be the only ones standing between you and Megatron giving you a killing blow.

Do harm? I'm not exactly in a good position to hurt your friends right now. I'm unarmed and in restraints, remember?

His response sounded almost mocking in nature, as if he was attempting to lecture a young child who didn't know any better than to make foolish comments. It certainly didn't sound like he was attempting to calm any concerns she might have been harboring. The fact that Whitegrazer had been around long enough to have provided the scientists with the technology they needed for their experiment to work was of no concern to him. Still.. part of him was a little curious about this part of the white female's history.

And I would have been long gone already if you Maximals hadn't been so keen on getting in the way.


To anyone but himself he must have sounded like a petulant teenager, refusing to own up to the responsibility of his own actions. Perhaps if given time he'd be able to face those demons, but thus far he was still too angry and his wounds still too fresh.

"I know it's only a matter of time before Megadump shows up and tries ta whisk you off of yer feet,"

Zodiac made a slight grimace at that. "The Pit has no fury like a Predacon scorn." It was true. Megatron could certainly hold a grudge with the best of them, which wouldn't be a problem if the renegade still retained his powers. But given his own vulnerability right now and Megatron's lust for vengeance, those two were simply not compatible. Not as long as the former shapeshifter desired to stay alive.

"Save yer threats if you don't wanna die today. I could just as easily walk away and leave you here for Megatron an' Nemesis. I wouldn't have a care in the world,"

The renegade sent him a sullen look before glancing back at the still crumbling tunnel system only a short distance away.

"Wouldn't you?," he asked, "You are, after all, still a Maximal. Protecting others is an inherent weakness in your programming. Despite what I may have done to your kin, I think you would defend me. I came along quietly, didn't I? And thus far I haven't attempted escape."

Of course that fact did by no means indicate he hadn't contemplated getting away. But as things were, he was more likely to get shot down or worse yet.. intercepted by the Predacons. And the latter was not an option.

"Like I said, I'm full of surprises."

"Then I suppose we have something in common."

"You know, the next time I want ta deliberately shoot you, it'll be in yer voice box,"

Zodiac raised his cuffed arms a bit in a gesture to proclaim his innocence, yet a very brief smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. As much as he disliked the rat, at least he had a sense of humor the renegade could appreciate.

"Oh yeah, what a great idea!" Rattrap shouted sarcastically to Zodiac. "Yeah, I've seen you with a weapon. You nearly killed dat one," he said, pointing at Nemesis on the ground not too far away from them. "I can just imagine how much I could trust you with a weapon. Meanin', not at all!"

"And killing her would be such a tragic loss?," the renegade argued back, any amusement he might have felt earlier having dissipated into thin air from the rodent's outburst. It was this kind of behavior that convinced the former shapeshifter that he was right in his prediction that despite the rodent's harsh words, the rodent would still defend him against the Predacons. The rat's reluctance to let the renegade kill someone who had attempted to take his own life only a short while before, clearly meant the renegade was correct in his assumption.

He almost reminded the Maximal that his own aim was as good as the rat's and that he could hold his own with a firearm, but decided against it as it would remind them of how close the little fuzor had come to dying when he shot her in the spark at a great distance. Deciding that would clearly make the rodent make good on his promise, Zodiac decided to keep his mouth shut. For now.

The ground shook again but this time it felt a bit different from the previous times, more like it wasn't the entire mountain shaking but rather a specific point from underground. Zodiac took a step back just as.. something.. burst out of the ground, sending rocks and dirt flying everywhere. He used his cuffed arms to shield himself from the worst of the debris as he peered out at the, to him, new Predacon.

"Deathroll, TERRORIZE!"

As if to make matters worse, Zodiac noticed the other Predacons approaching their location from above.

Just great.. This day just kept getting better..

Your beloved Primal just lead them straight to me, he accused Whitegrazer via their link while secretly hoping Optimus could hear them. That miscalculation of his might just result in him inadvertently taking a life he vowed to protect. Unless, of course, Megatron merely wishes to sit down and talk over a cup of energon.. Yet somehow I doubt that is the case.


Indeed. Optimus Primal, ever diligent and concerned for the well being of others, had made a vast error in judgement as far as the renegade was concerned. It was true there was no love lost between him and the Maximals, but as much torment as he had put them through at least he knew they wouldn't downright execute him. Megatron and his goons, on the other hand, held no such value for his life.

"Nemesis, explain"

Nemesis had just started taking in her surroundings, her whole body still aching from getting shot by Landslide's lightning weapon. By the Pit those electrical surges could wreck havoc with her nanomachines much like they had done with Zodiac's back at the Axalon.

"I was.. electrocuted," she responded to Megatron while still trying to clear her head, "It wrecked havoc with my systems."

Of course it had to be Megatron that showed up and found her like this. Bound and helpless. Fate could be cruel, indeed.

She diverted her optics as Megatron snapped her up and freed her from her chains, avoiding his irritated gaze.

"Which way did the traitor go? You can still fight I trust?"

She nodded while shaking off the remnants of the chains before pointing towards the mountain. "I'm fine," she started and was about to continue when Inferno blurted out the location of their target. Well, this was certainly not her finest moment.

"There Royalty! The traitor lies ahead! And the rodent as well!"

Zodiac could not help but groan when he heard Inferno's exclamation. And then Megatron himself chimed in.

"Zodiac! My friend, fancy meeting you here of all places, are you lost? The base is miles from here, come now, you've been so helpful to us, let me show you the way home."

Being a master of deception as well, the renegade didn't believe the Predacons planned to let him go for even an instant. And the storm of firepower and flames that followed proved him right quickly enough. Nemesis, as well, grabbed her weapon and joined the attack by firing at them as well. Zodiac quickly tossed himself into a roll to avoid the brunt of their combined firepower, then wrapped his wings tightly around himself to let them provide some protection from the flames. He could feel the hot flames travelling across his wings, scorching them and effectively rendering them useless for flight for a while. He fought to ignore the searing pain, not willing to give up so easily. Still he wasn't able to hold back some winces as he opened his wings so that he could move again.

Another violent tremor provided a shortlived distraction, allowing him to take in his surroundings for a brief moment. Rattrap had sought shelter inside one of the several holes that had opened up in the ground from where the tunnel system had collapsed. Zodiac quickly made his way over to the hole and reached his arms down the hole for the Maximal to grab a hold of them. "Hurry!," he told the rodent, "I'll pull you up."

Sensing the rodent hesitate to do so, Zodiac exclaimed "We can settle our trust issues later. Right now we need to put those aside or we will both end up dying here, now!"

When Rattrap finally grabbed his outstretched arms, the larger Predacon lifted him up with his restrained arms. But instead of releasing him, the renegade merely shook the rat hard enough to get him to drop his firearm on the ground. His optics narrowing at the Maximal filth in his hands, Zodiac's voice grew a lot more menacing as he spoke again.

"Despite you frequently saying it.. We're not all going to die." His dragon tail suddenly swung down to grab Rattrap's weapon, bringing it up to the renegade's hands as he suddenly dropped the rodent back down into the hole. "Just you."

He then whirled around to face the Predacons again, firing a number of shots aimed straight at Megatron's spark chamber as he did. No speeches this time, no threats, just an unwillingness to accept defeat and more importantly.. death. Since Megatron was so determined to have him killed, he would just have to make sure the Predacon met his end.

Nemesis had continued to fire at the traitor until the earthquake made it virtually impossible to do so. And what happened next seemed surreal at best, but suddenly Zodiac was standing there with a weapon aimed at them. No. Not at 'them'. At Megatron. And the maniac had the nerve to actually fire multiple rounds at the tyrant!

She didn't really think, instead she merely reacted. Stepping in front of Megatron just in time, it was Nemesis that was hit by the multiple shots from Zodiac's weapon. She gasped from the pain, but held her ground until the last shot had embedded itself in her, at which point she dropped to a knee as she was unable to keep herself standing any longer. The armor of her chest, shoulders, abdomen and wings were covered in gaping holes. But within moments the blue shimmer appeared, her nanomachines vigorously working on repairing all her injuries.

[una]

((OOC: I know. It's just that I was frustrated at the fact that I'm so slow and I keep self-sabotaging myself. Anyway, I'm getting tired, but I'm going to at least do BA's part. I will have Whitegrazer's part done tomorrow. ))

"Incompetence doesn't belong in the skies either, Terrorsaur,"

"Gonna cut you up into kitty litter you little pu....OH COME ON!" Terrorsaur scowled as he barely evaded BA's cybervenom attack, yelling out "WAIT YOUR TURN WIDOW"

Blackarachnia just laughed at Terrorsaur's remark. That would teach him to mess with her, and she needed that after the miss and Waspinator actually getting a hit on her! "What's the matter, Terrorsaur? Not feeling confident without Waspinator or Umbra to do all your dirty work?"

"Cheetor's going to need some assistance with Terrorsaur," he told Blackarachnia. "Let's knock him out of the sky!"

She gave a sharp nod with a big smirk running across her face as she pointed her cybervenom and fired at the birdbrain. Reloaded and fired a few more times aiming at Terrorsaur hoping for him to be dosed with enough venom to shut him up for awhile.

"Stay on him, Cheetor. Blackarachnia and I will flank his left," Optimus told the flying cat over his comm. link as he was pulling up to them quickly. "We'll give him a taste of his own enjoyment over the brutality of being outnumbered."

Blackarachnia raised her optic at Optimus' comment, still wearing her smirk from earlier. Oooo? Brutality? she thought he would never asked.

"Blackarachnia, your webbing might come in handy now,"

She continued to have Optimus wield her missiles, so he could give her better coverfire as she wielded her webbing gun. "Just give me a clear shot and he would go down, struggling." She aimed her weapon at Terrosuar. Waited for the perfect moment. "So, if I catch Terrorsaur with my webbing, you won't mind if I...kept him for...snacking purposes?" Waited for Optimus' reply, wanting to see how he react to what she said. Shocked? Horrified? Wondered if he knew she was just kidding. She winked.

Then she returned her attention towards Terrorsaur and fired her webbing at him. Hoping to get him with the first shot.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You obviously don't know her as well as you think.

Do you, Zodiac? Whitegrazer asked the shapeshifter with curiousity. I'm not going to be arrogant to say that I know Nemesis, but I feel for her. Understand her. As I do you. The only thing I can say is what I believe from my observations from her. What I witness when she was forced to join us in fighting you, a common foe. She despised it. When she found out it was you, she took it personal as she should have. You two had a past, and she didn't expect you to treat her in that fashion. She was hurt, angry. You forced her to have to work with her sworn enemies and attempted to blow her up along with them. To her, this is personal. It is personal for both of you. That's why she wants you dead. Just like you do. It's retribution. You two have justification for wanting to have the other killed. And it would just continue.... unless one of you... especially you take a first step in dropping your weapon.

A dead foe will not pull the trigger either

It would be easier for you, wouldn't it? Whitegrazer shook her head. The irony seemed to be lost to Zodiac. How this situation between Nemesis and Zodiac was sounding oddly similar. Harder to face a person from your past you have hurt and is now hurting you back? No doubt she would try anything to get back at you? Making you have to be in the hands of people you despised?

She sighed, a smile, well, half a smile on her lips. A vicious cycle. That can be broken if one shows mercy and regret. Are you willing to do that?

Do harm? I'm not exactly in a good position to hurt your friends right now. I'm unarmed and in restraints, remember?

Zodiac, I have learned to not underestimate you. Whitegrazer smiled, but then cleared her throat, understanding the fact that she was concerend about her friends. You might need their help. If you attack or do something to put us in jeopardy, I can't protect you from what my comrades might do or what might happen. I advise you to not make your situation worse.

And I would have been long gone already if you Maximals hadn't been so keen on getting in the way.

It was you who choose to activate the alien device. You tried to kill us again, we reacted, and instead of killing you, we attacked your abilities, so you will be in equal standing.

We're focusing on Terrorsaur right now, Whitegrazer, Optimus told her. Rattrap will need your assistance.

"How predictable,"

"We gotta name!" Rattrap announced over the Maximal comm. links. "Deathroll is the new Predhead. Look out, 'Slider!"

"I could sure use some distractions for dese guys, 'Grazer. Megatron's practically on top of Zodiac but I'm pinned by Inferno and Umbra! And watch out for de ground openin' up underneath ya. Dis volcano is gonna blow soon!"

Whitegrazer took out one of her smoke grenades. Threw at Megatron and Inferno as they untied Nemesis. She fired her small laser gun at them, but the gun was, compared to other weapons around her, harmless. But it was still useful in, maybe, disarming a fire ant who was throwing fire at her comardes. As well as making them defensive. But it won't work for long. She rolled as she felt the ground shaking underneath her. As a pit opened up, she rolled to the other side, which was closer to Rattrap and Zodiac. Zodiac dropped Rattrap into the hole of lava! Her instincts jumped her forward as her arm reached to grab Rattrap before he feel in deeper and got smelted! As she pulled the rat up, she watched Zodiac rushes towards his enemies.

Your beloved Primal just lead them straight to me, he accused Whitegrazer via their link while secretly hoping Optimus could hear them. That miscalculation of his might just result in him inadvertently taking a life he vowed to protect. Unless, of course, Megatron merely wishes to sit down and talk over a cup of energon.. Yet somehow I doubt that is the case.

Despite how anyone else would have been angry and willing to let Zodiac face his fate, Whitegrazer was just solemn. Zodiac wasted time in dropping Rattrap into the hole, forcing her to have to save her comrade, when if Zodiac had just left well enough alone, she would have distracted the Predacons until Optimus and Blackarachnia could assist her. Now, Zodiac was rushing in headlong into his enemies. With no one around to safeguard him. She heavily sighed.

Zodiac, you have made your bed.

Hopefully, her smoke grenades and little distraction would hold up enough, so after she rescued Rattrap, they could both try and help Zodiac before it was too late.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Post made at last! God this took FOREVER....Sigh...As per usual, lemme know if I missed anyone or crossed any lines etc etc "prepares dinner before work" XD

Naitokage wrote: Landslide simply sunk his toe claws into the ground bracing as Deathroll rammed into him,being a bit stronger then Deathroll, then smirked with his faceplate sliding up Yer kidding.. Landslide's shoulder horns lowered shining his headlights as high beams in Deathroll's face to blind him for a second, his shield flipping out four horns as he took a step back pulling his shield back and stepped in, his thrusters turned 180 degrees kicking in as he swung with his bodyweight and torso, raking the shield and horns across Deathroll in a hard shield bash,knocking him flying backwards onto his back. RIGHT?!

Landslide lowered his shield with the horns retracting,then pointed his right arm at Deathroll, firing off a lightning blast as a continuous beam into his chest.

Deathroll grunted in response to Landslide's cheap tricks, first blinding him and then running his shield across his armor, the horns merely scratching him, but the lightning attack was a tad more shocking to say the least, the electricity dancing & sizzling across his armor as he lay on his back.

"RIGHT INDEED!" Deathroll growled as he ignored the lightning's sting and slammed his drill tail into Landslide's legs, his drill tip tearing through his kneecaps, the electricity traveling from his tail tip to zap Landslide as well, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

With Landslide now coping with the effects of his own attack plus Deathroll's, the Predacon gator crawled to his feet, chest plate blackened from where the lightning hit, and charged the beetle yet again, this time sending him flat on his back, and followed up with a barrage of tooth torpedoes from his shoulders, the explosives raining down on his insectoid enemy like falling stars as they detonated one after the other all over him.

Naitokage wrote: Umbra responded Got it. Try not to kill Primal.. Megatron doesn't want him dead just yet.. Umbra started to reach for a democharge when the ground started to shake violently, then noticed Deathroll burst up from it.

"No promises!" Terrorsaur snapped as he continued his firefight with Cheetor.

Naito wrote: Cheetor held up his arm as the laser blast hit, tearing off some of his forearm plating. Yawouch! Cheetor yelped from the pain.

"Hah! Serves you right Alleycat!" Terrorsaur crowed as he watched Cheetor's forearm plating fall to the ground below.

Naito wrote: Cheetor watched as Blackarachnia attacked Terrorsaur, just the opening he needed. Swiftly transforming to his cheetah mode his cyber thrusters popped out of his sides and kicked in, launching him at Terrorsaur as he gave out a wild cat like roar, attempting to bite into Terrorsaur's neck as he pounced.

"Mangy cat!" Terrorsaur snarled as the transmetal cheetah attacked him, the cat missing his neck but biting into his shoulder instead, the pterosaur hissing in pain and annoyance as he tried to shake the cat off, reaching up with a free hand scratch and claw at Cheetor's face and optics with his talons, anything to force the cat to release his grip on him, flying as fast and wildly as he could to shake him off.

Una wrote: Blackarachnia just laughed at Terrorsaur's remark. That would teach him to mess with her, and she needed that after the miss and Waspinator actually getting a hit on her! "What's the matter, Terrorsaur? Not feeling confident without Waspinator or Umbra to do all your dirty work?"

Terrorsaur was too busy dealing with the cat on his back to care about Blackarachnia's taunting, the flyer diving suddenly and dragging Cheetor along the ground before pulling up again, hoping that would shake him off at last, and do some damage in the process.

Una wrote: She gave a sharp nod with a big smirk running across her face as she pointed her cybervenom and fired at the birdbrain. Reloaded and fired a few more times aiming at Terrorsaur hoping for him to be dosed with enough venom to shut him up for awhile.

Terrorsaur gasped as the cybervenom shot struck him, feeling the venom beginning to do its work, but he was fast enough to evade the others, but regardless, he was feeling the pressure now and was struggling to stay airborne!

Una wrote: She continued to have Optimus wield her missiles, so he could give her better coverfire as she wielded her webbing gun. "Just give me a clear shot and he would go down, struggling." She aimed her weapon at Terrosuar. Waited for the perfect moment. "So, if I catch Terrorsaur with my webbing, you won't mind if I...kept him for...snacking purposes?" Waited for Optimus' reply, wanting to see how he react to what she said. Shocked? Horrified? Wondered if he knew she was just kidding. She winked.

Then she returned her attention towards Terrorsaur and fired her webbing at him. Hoping to get him with the first shot.

Terrorsaur, weakened by the cybervenom, was unable to evade the webbing and soon found himself entangled, which normally wouldn't be an issue if he hadn't been poisoned first, so soon he found himself falling to the earth below, wondering if this was how Waspinator felt whenever he was taken out of the fight before he thankfully lost consciousness before hitting the ground.

Phoenix wrote: Nemesis had just started taking in her surroundings, her whole body still aching from getting shot by Landslide's lightning weapon. By the Pit those electrical surges could wreck havoc with her nanomachines much like they had done with Zodiac's back at the Axalon.

"I was.. electrocuted," she responded to Megatron while still trying to clear her head, "It wrecked havoc with my systems."

Of course it had to be Megatron that showed up and found her like this. Bound and helpless. Fate could be cruel, indeed.

She diverted her optics as Megatron snapped her up and freed her from her chains, avoiding his irritated gaze.

"Well, now you can wreak havoc on them, if you can manage" Megatron replied passive aggressively, deciding he would chew Nemesis out later for her dismal performance, more concerned with destroying Zodiac once and for all than with her for the moment.

Phoenix wrote: She nodded while shaking off the remnants of the chains before pointing towards the mountain. "I'm fine," she started and was about to continue when Inferno blurted out the location of their target. Well, this was certainly not her finest moment.

Megatron ignores her words, not caring so long as she could still carry a gun and fight, determined to finish this battle before the volcano forced them to retreat. Sure, he COULD just wait for the volcano to do its work, but that required the maximals to be stupid enough to linger around long enough to be caught in the aftermath, and he'd rather see his enemies die with his own optics, and by the Pit, he WOULD this day!

Phoenix wrote: Zodiac could not help but groan when he heard Inferno's exclamation. And then Megatron himself chimed in.

Megatron's grin was dark and genuine as Zodiac's groan of despair drew his attention as much as Inferno's words did, the tyrant pleased that his foe had learned to dread his arrival, his ego pleasingly deflated from the once confident and poised shapeshifter he had had once been.

Phoenix wrote: Being a master of deception as well, the renegade didn't believe the Predacons planned to let him go for even an instant. And the storm of firepower and flames that followed proved him right quickly enough. Nemesis, as well, grabbed her weapon and joined the attack by firing at them as well. Zodiac quickly tossed himself into a roll to avoid the brunt of their combined firepower, then wrapped his wings tightly around himself to let them provide some protection from the flames. He could feel the hot flames travelling across his wings, scorching them and effectively rendering them useless for flight for a while. He fought to ignore the searing pain, not willing to give up so easily. Still he wasn't able to hold back some winces as he opened his wings so that he could move again.

Another violent tremor provided a shortlived distraction, allowing him to take in his surroundings for a brief moment. Rattrap had sought shelter inside one of the several holes that had opened up in the ground from where the tunnel system had collapsed. Zodiac quickly made his way over to the hole and reached his arms down the hole for the Maximal to grab a hold of them. "Hurry!," he told the rodent, "I'll pull you up."

Sensing the rodent hesitate to do so, Zodiac exclaimed "We can settle our trust issues later. Right now we need to put those aside or we will both end up dying here, now!"

When Rattrap finally grabbed his outstretched arms, the larger Predacon lifted him up with his restrained arms. But instead of releasing him, the renegade merely shook the rat hard enough to get him to drop his firearm on the ground. His optics narrowing at the Maximal filth in his hands, Zodiac's voice grew a lot more menacing as he spoke again.

"Despite you frequently saying it.. We're not all going to die." His dragon tail suddenly swung down to grab Rattrap's weapon, bringing it up to the renegade's hands as he suddenly dropped the rodent back down into the hole. "Just you."

He then whirled around to face the Predacons again, firing a number of shots aimed straight at Megatron's spark chamber as he did. No speeches this time, no threats, just an unwillingness to accept defeat and more importantly.. death. Since Megatron was so determined to have him killed, he would just have to make sure the Predacon met his end.

Nemesis had continued to fire at the traitor until the earthquake made it virtually impossible to do so. And what happened next seemed surreal at best, but suddenly Zodiac was standing there with a weapon aimed at them. No. Not at 'them'. At Megatron. And the maniac had the nerve to actually fire multiple rounds at the tyrant!

She didn't really think, instead she merely reacted. Stepping in front of Megatron just in time, it was Nemesis that was hit by the multiple shots from Zodiac's weapon. She gasped from the pain, but held her ground until the last shot had embedded itself in her, at which point she dropped to a knee as she was unable to keep herself standing any longer. The armor of her chest, shoulders, abdomen and wings were covered in gaping holes. But within moments the blue shimmer appeared, her nanomachines vigorously working on repairing all her injuries.

Megatron watched in amusement as Zodiac seemingly lent Rattrap a helping hand...Only to let the foolish rodent fall to what would surely be his death in the pit below.

"Never pegged him for the trusting sort" Megatron mused, honestly surprised that Rattrap of all mechs would actually trust their life to the likes of Zodiac, but as entertaining as the rat's death was, he wanted Zodiac's death even more, so he continued his attack, Inferno gleefully following his lead, the two of them directing their combined firepower on the now lone Cybertronian.

However, Zodiac took fire as well before their shots reached him, shots that were unmistakably directly towards himself and likely intended to be fatal. Megatron trusted the strength of his own armor, but he'd already taken damage from Primal's guns earlier and did not known how much firepower Zodiac's ammo packed now that he had been robbed of his nanotech enhanced weaponry, so he instinctively prepared to move, and if failing that, sacrifice an arm to shield his vitals...Only for Nemesis, she who had disappointed him earlier and who's status within the hierarchy he had been having serious second thoughts about, leaped in front of Zodiac's shots and took every single hit herself!

Megatron was not the touchy feely sort, and ultimately felt that the majority of his troops were expendable in the grand scheme of things, no one predacon was more important than his rise to power and the liberation of their kind, but even this ice cold tyrant could not deny that it had been a long time since he'd had a Predacon under his command who was willing to risk their own spark for him. Scorponok MAYBE, but there was no point in dwelling on that now, and Inferno was completely insane, so of course he'd die for him if he ordered it, he was an ant! But Nemesis was neither a bootlicking sycophant nor a mindless fanatic, and yet she STILL chose to take damage for him...It was worth taking note of at least.

Megatron caught Nemesis with his free hand as she fell to her knees, uncertain if she was dead or if her healing factor had saved her yet again, but the very least he could do for his second in command was keep her from falling face first into the snow, and then said "Inferno, burn him."

"As you Command Royalty!" Inferno cackled as he directed his flamethrower's incendiary fury upon a lone Zodiac, cackling wildly as the flames engulfed him.

"Enough Inferno, let me see his face" Megatron ordered, Inferno cutting off the flames to reveal a very burnt Zodiac, truly a shadow of his former self, and clearly very much in pain.

"You see where treachery takes you Zodiac? As well as vengeance without purpose for that matter? Anguish and failure" Megatron said as he opened fire with his shoulder guns, blowing away the shoulder connected to the arm carrying Zodiac's gun, followed shortly by shots to his gut and knees, all intended to bring him down low and add to his agony, make him regret he had ever DREAMED of getting the best of Lord Megatron.

"Goodbye Zodiac, I'd say it was a pleasure knowing you, but that would be dishonest, and why speak ill of the dead?" Megatron said as he took aim with his tail gun, targeting his defenseless foe's spark chamber just as he had done to him.

This time, there would be NO coming back for this infamous assassin, his story would end here, forgotten and unmourned, a footnote in the history of Megatron's ascension to glory.

Una wrote: Whitegrazer took out one of her smoke grenades. Threw at Megatron and Inferno as they untied Nemesis. She fired her small laser gun at them, but the gun was, compared to other weapons around her, harmless. But it was still useful in, maybe, disarming a fire ant who was throwing fire at her comardes. As well as making them defensive. But it won't work for long. She rolled as she felt the ground shaking underneath her. As a pit opened up, she rolled to the other side, which was closer to Rattrap and Zodiac. Zodiac dropped Rattrap into the hole of lava! Her instincts jumped her forward as her arm reached to grab Rattrap before he feel in deeper and got smelted! As she pulled the rat up, she watched Zodiac rushes towards his enemies.

It was then that Whitegrazer launched her sneak attack, her grenade obscuring Megatron's vision as he made the kill shot, the tyrant cursing his luck and whoever had interrupted Zodiac's execution, hearing Inferno gasp in surprise as his gun was shot out of his hand.

"Royalty, I cannot see!" Inferno wailed in confusion, as if Megatron could somehow turn night into die for him, and luckily for the bug, in a way, he could.

"Not for long, Inferno" Megatron said as he released Nemesis, urging her towards Inferno and away from himself as the Predacon Lord used his VTOL equipment to blow the smokescreen away, revealing the sight of Whitegrazer, Primal's princess charming, rushing to Rattrap's aid.

"YOU!" was all Megatron said as he fired at her exposed back with his shoulder guns, hoping to send Primal's psychic girlfriend plummeting to her doom with the rat as well, turning his attention back to Zodiac as he took aim at him again with his tail gun and commanded "OBLITERATE HIM!" to his troops.

"At once Royalty!" Inferno agreed as he pulled out his second gun and did as he was told, while also somewhat comically fishing for his missing gun with his free hand.