"I'm just sorry none of them hit you in any place fatal,"
Maybe this will..
It wasn't difficult for Rhinox to ignore Blackarachnia's words that had been directed toward Landslide, but then her scream of struggle pierced his audio sensors and he managed to spare a second to glare in her direction, noticing the beetle reaching for her weapon to disarm her and pulling out a tranquilizer until Whitegrazer answered him.
"Get her out of here, Landslide!" the rhinoceros hollered at him. She was too dangerous and he didn't want anymore risks around Optimus.
"Aurora is with me."
While he was relieved to know that the young Fuzor was with someone who would watch her back, he couldn't wait any longer for her assistance.
The functionality on both of Primal's new hands seemed to operate accordingly and accurately, so Rhinox closed his forearms and moved to the injuries on his head. He took a deep breath and shook his head to revitalize his awareness and concentration knowing this task was going to be the most time-consuming and delicate part to work on with their leader. The scientist grabbed a helmet and placed it on his head. Reaching up to it, he lowered several "arms" with higher magnification and placed them in front of his optics so he could zoom in quite closely on his work without having to adjust his optic sensors should he need them for an intruder's attack, like Blackarachnia trying to steal their antidote.
Carefully opening Optimus's mouth and propping it open wide enough so Rhinox's large fingers could fit with small tools inside of it, he started implanting his sharp teeth back to where they belonged, aligning them and straightening them. His tools slipped on a few from his tiredness, causing him to curse at himself under his breath, but he managed to get the job done. He then took some equipment and held it gently against his lips and cheeks, massaging them as the swelling decreased. There was little the rhinoceros could do about the gash on his lips, so he left it alone once it stopped leaking from his tools stretching it and probing it. Primal's optics were going to be the trickiest part. He wished he had smaller hands, or someone with very petite and steady fingers, but he was alone on this endeavor it seemed and it was up to him to do his best. Glancing at the gorilla's vitals, he was steadily improving, so Rhinox moved on to the most daunting task; his optic sensors.
Both had cracked external glass plates, but one was completely destroyed. Lifting his magnifiers from his vision, the engineer dug around for some spare lenses that would fit the Commander's sockets. Stumbling upon a good pair, he set them aside nearby and then lowered the magnifiers back over his own crimson optics and carefully removed the damaged lenses from Optimus. Rhinox then sucked up every shard of glass that laid in his most damaged optic sensor with a tiny vacuum, ensuring cleanliness. The light source which illuminated his optics also required a replacement for that eye, so Rhinox did so. Some wires were torn and stripped, so he replaced and reconnected them. Making sure everything else with the ape's vision was up to par, Big Green finally set the new glass lenses on securely that were the optic sensors' greatest protection.
As Rhinox began running diagnostics on the rest of Primal's head trauma, the Maximal Commander slowly started to come to. He groaned lightly as he was suddenly swamped with Whitegrazer's bond, warmth, energy and anxiety toward Aurora with whatever was going on. Not to mention the pain that still ached throughout his body. He felt most of his injuries had been repaired but he was in no shape for battle or a brawl. While his optics calibrated, they slowly came into focus, as did the memories of Megatron's brutality that had shaken him. Aurora had been shot, but she was alright. Nexus had been rescued as well, but he didn't know his condition. Had he survived? And the virus?! No wait... The virus was gone. That's right, Aurora had created a cure to end it. No more horrendous hallucinations, although in a distant memory, they still haunted him to some extent.
"Rhinox...?" Primal's voice was weak but soft. He wiggled a few fingers without realizing that he had hands again. When it dawned on him a moment later, he slowly lifted his arms to look at them, moving them, flipping them back and forth from the palms to the back of the hands and balling them into fists a couple times. He was weak and tired but alive.
"Easy, Optimus. One step at a time," his old friend urged him with a deep yet comforting tone, putting the helmet away and glancing at Landslide with Blackarachnia across the room.
"Your legs, hands and optic sensors are back in one piece and fully functional, but you still require the CR to repair the rest of your wounds."
When Rhinox listed the extent of repairs, Primal was suddenly flooded with the pain and fear of how they happened at the hands of the Predacons and the torturous time he had spent at the
Darksyde. He started to tremble. And then he grew angry. Angry for what they did to him and Nexus. For what they put them through. For taking the golden disks back and gaining the upper hand again in this seemingly endless war.
Noticing the leader's behavior, Rhinox went to place a comforting hand on Optimus's forearm but the Commander involuntarily flinched and pulled his arm away from the touch as quickly as he could. The engineer nearly gasped at his reaction but frowned and kept his distance.
"I'm sorry, Optimus," he said.
Looking angry for a moment, Primal's expression softened as he looked upon his friend.
"It's not your fault... It's..." He trailed off, unwilling to finish his statement when Megatron's face invaded his mind.
"What of Nexus and Aurora?"
"They're alright. Everyone is alright," he assured him.
"Then what is she doing here?" asked Optimus, looking in Blackarachnia's direction. Despite his condition, he was very much aware of his surroundings, which was a good sign, but Rhinox worried for his mental and emotional state. He was clearly in despair.
"She broke into the base to steal the antidote," he said too softly for the spider to hear him.
"How did she bypass our defenses?" he inquired with an irritated tone.
"We don't know yet. But she's not the only one."
"There's another Predacon in the base?!" He attempted to sit up but grumbled in pain and coughed only to lay back down.
"Optimus, I must insist that you remain still. You're in no condition to lead right now. Rattrap has it handled. ...As does Landslide," he tried convincing him since he probably thought things were out of control and felt like he needed to take command to end it.
Primal simply muttered in retort under his breath. His mouth was very sore, his lips ached from the split that remained, his head pounded and his legs tingled. He glanced down at the bluish glow on his chest, recalling the nanogel that Aurora had applied on him some time ago. It still worked? Interesting, and perhaps beneficial.
"Were the Predacons infected by the hallucinogen?" the ape inquired.
"I believe so."
Good, he thought bitterly.
Finally, a taste of their own cruelty. "What do we know about the shapeshifter?"
"We haven't been able to locate him, or find out who he is right now," Rhinox explained.
"But we do know how well he portrayed you in order to break into the brig, give Sonar the virus, and intentionally allow him to infect us."
"His portrayal of Aurora was uncanny," he added, remembering how he thought it was really her at the
Darksyde in Megatron's grasp, fearing for her life despite how little it made sense that she was there, until Whitegrazer had warned him otherwise. And then he suddenly recalled that the t-rex now knew about his connection with the white mare. All the stress was coming back to him now, but he took a deep breath.
"Rattrap, Optimus is awake," Rhinox informed him via comm. link.
-----
I read you. Ug.. Got a hole in my stomach but I'm alright.. Umbra is in the ship.. he seems to be sick.. and wants to avoid infecting any of us.. I just don't get. He's heading towards the bridge..
"Okay. The only thing dat made sense was that you're injured," Rattrap told Cheetor.
"You better get to a CR."
"Another intruder?" "All right, I will let you kn-"
Even though he noticed she cut herself off with what she was saying, Rattrap informed Whitegrazer,
"It's Umbra. At least, dat's who Cheetor saw."
"It probably looks worse than it is," "Believe me, I'll live," "Your crew did a good job manually patching me up.
"Yeah, well, we've had a lot of practice. Heck, we've even brought Optimus back from the dead, so dat's sayin' somethin' about our skills." Rattrap smirked when he added with recollection, "
You shoulda seen de look on Megajerk's face that day. ...Good times..."
I'll have the details taken care of when the immediate threat is over."
The Spy gave a nod to the Admiral, his optics lingering on him and his remaining wounds for a moment before turning his attention back to the monitors before him. One caught his optic, the one keeping tabs on Nemesis.
"Uh," he stammered, looking for the anklet's signal.
"Slag!" How did she do that? Where did she go?
"Anybody got a location on Nemesis?" he asked across all of the Maximals' comm. links. This was just getting ridiculous.
"Rattrap, Optimus is awake,"
"Just in time! I'm handin' over the reigns," the rodent responded.
"No, Rattrap. He needs rest and more recovery," Rhinox told him.
"Let's just concentrate on getting rid of these pesky Predacons."
Rattrap moaned like he usually did at the mention of work and was interrupted by Banshee's call.
"Banshee to Commander Rattrap. Ironclaw broke loose out of the brig and refused to cooperate during the interorgation and he's on a rampage in the ship! Your further orders, Sir?"
"Well, you weren't supposed to take him off de bridge in the first place," the TransMetal rodent reminded her. Looking to the internal scanner's information, he located the badger and told the Doctor,
"He's headin' to the medical bay, pretty much where everybody else is. Might also be where Umbra is. Go an' give 'im back-up; maybe he'll strangle Umbra with his own tentacles. But it's likely dat the sea monster is infected, so don't get near him. Whitegrazer an' Aurora are also in dat area. Actually, find Nemesis. I wanna know what she's up to. No matter where you go, dere's gonna be a problem!" He threw his arms into the air with frustration, uncertain where to direct who at this point.
"Just get the Preds outta our base!"
"You disappoint me, Sentinel," Rattrap told the computer system.
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