"OC Episode #5.5 Side Saga"

[Alak]

((OOC: OOP, that reminds me of our episode "Double Jeopardy" when Valkyrie effortless dodges shots from both Steelclaw and Glowstick. I think it's just an OC-effect where the character performs superior acts of awesome simply because they're an OC. It happens with all our OCs from time to time, so sometimes you'll have to just take the initiative and play a little god-mode with your canon characters in order to even the playing field. The difference is that canons actually have the stats to back up their actions ))

[Phoenix]

(ooc: Icebreaker is actually quite tall for a penguin.. 9 ft tall unless my memory's failing me. So he might be taller than Primal.)

"You are not a porcelain doll but a member of this crew, never forget that."

At the present time Aurora found that hard to believe. Seemingly whatever she did resulted in being treated like a child, something the ermine was all too eager to prove that she was not.

"You will understand some day."

Would she? No, they were the ones that needed to understand.

Aurora was unaware of the events that had lead up to her creation, only knowing bits of information provided by Icebreaker. He, like everyone else on the team, had spared her of the most disturbing details, although Aurora did not know that at this time.

She was about to respond when Ironclaw came to join them.

"I can watch over her, I'm sure you have other duties Whitegrazer and I have the time. Plus she's an engineer, she could learn a few things from me."

Aurora could not decide if she was relieved or embarrassed to have Ironclaw show up when he did, although she leaned more towards the 'embarrassed' end of the spectrum as he offered to watch her. Again they were treating her like she was an insignificant sparkling who needed guidance every step of the way..

"I'll take care of her"

"I do not need a babysitter!," Aurora protested angrily while looking between them. Although her voice faltered as she watched Whitegracer pass off the responsibility to Ironclaw before going over to where Primal, Arachnitron and Icebreaker were.

"I just need a friend.. Someone who does not treat me like a child all the time.."

Her voice was quiet now and she wasn't really directing her words at Ironclaw or anyone else for that sake. Sighing she looked up again, smiling ever so slightly at the badger.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just no fun when everyone's telling you that you can't do this and you can't do that, when all you want is to be an equal part of the team."

She took a couple paces towards the lift, not looking back at what was going on with the others.

"Come on. Perhaps we can find something to work on inside."


Nemesis watched in silence as Arachnitron showed her resourcefulness by grabbing her weapon and pointing it at Primal's spark, before being subdued by Icebreaker and Primal himself. Another Maximal female had decided to join her fellow team members' as well.

As the odds seemed to have turned against the black widow, the so far unseen Predacon decided it was time to intervene. She transformed to her robot form, maintaining her hiding spot for the time being.

Can I play too, Maximals?, she thought to herself while she loaded her new weapon with a smoke grenade. She then took aim at the feet of Optimus Primal and Arachnitron, and fired. The grenade hit its target and immediately started filling the area with a thick layer of smoke. Although Nemesis was used to performing operations in darkness, hopefully the Maximals present were at a disadvantage there.

Not wasting a moment the female then leaped down, landing in a crouched down position with the weapon strapped to her back. She quickly got up, whirling around to face the spot Primal had been standing in. In one hand she gripped her katana, the other hand was clutching her sai, as she used her other senses more than her eyesight to maneuver closer to the Maximal commander. Meanwhile she made as little noise as she could, not wanting to alert them to her location nor her identity.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Slag! I had an awesome post ready, but pheonix posted first. Now I have to rewrite everything I just wrote!

I guess I'll have to wait till after work tomorrow. Too late at night to come up with anything worthwhile.

Incidentally, just to satisfy my own curiosity. If Arachnitron had an energon surge while Optimus was still holding on to her, would he feel it too?

[Mystrea]

Ironclaw quickly lost his smile and wondered what just happened. This was not the Aurora he was speaking to earlier, he had no intention of "babysitting" her. He just wanted to get Whitegrazer off her back and spend some time with her.

"Beast mode" Ironclaw transformed into his beast mode and stepped towards the lift to join her. He thought his wink may have given that away to to her. She didn't understand. More importantly the way he felt didn't seem all that important right now.

Ironcalw stepped onto the lift and stared straight looking past her. "Not babysitting..." He said quietly under his breath.

[una]

((OOC: Bah! I forget Icebreaker has that weapon. I have such a bad memory sometimes. ))

Walking back towards the Axalon, he activated his comlink to Whitegrazer Looks like I can't watch him, I'm being shipped off to check up on Rattrap's team, but before I go, there's something I should probably give you to.

She smirked at Icebreaker's actions and shook her head, answering his call with a whisper, "I'm under the Axalon. What is it?" She still held the smirk, waiting, watching and also heard the conversation between Ironclaw and Aurora.

She will hate me now but thank me later. I hope this doesn't mean she will refuse my offer to teach some moves. Well, her choice if she did or didn't.

Can I play too, Maximals?, she thought to herself while she loaded her new weapon with a smoke grenade. She then took aim at the feet of Optimus Primal and Arachnitron, and fired. The grenade hit its target and immediately started filling the area with a thick layer of smoke. Although Nemesis was used to performing operations in darkness, hopefully the Maximals present were at a disadvantage there.

Not wasting a moment the female then leaped down, landing in a crouched down position with the weapon strapped to her back. She quickly got up, whirling around to face the spot Primal had been standing in. In one hand she gripped her katana, the other hand was clutching her sai, as she used her other senses more than her eyesight to maneuver closer to the Maximal commander. Meanwhile she made as little noise as she could, not wanting to alert them to her location nor her identity.

Whitegrazer saw the thick layer of smoke that immediately emerged around Optimus and Arachnitron. Someone has been watching. She didn't know who it was but she did see something enter the smoke. Slithering like a snake to minimize any noise, she went into the cloud of smoke, hopefully to strike their new guest from behind before he or she stroke first.

((OOC: She's crawling like Naked Snake. I was going to act but I want to wait and see. Eeeeeeeeee so exciting! ))

[Wintersong]

After getting some distance away from the battle Wintersong stopped and looked at her injuries, wincing as she lowered her head and raised one of her legs. it was a painful burn, right down the armor where she thought it had only been to the skin though nonetheless it still hurt as the pit and she'd likely be scolded for it. Unfortunately the tigeress had to admit she attracted trouble yet knew it wasn't on purpose, well not all the time. As far as she could recall Wintersong would have to say this was the second worst thing to happen for her trouble attracting problems the first being the near drowning all because her pride had gotten the best of her during a battle. "I swear Optimus is going to have my hide for this." Wintersong said shaking her head, looking at her chest which she thought was a good thing the plasma beam had been aimed else where and she hadn't been given the full blunt of it but enough to reach to the armor and crack the chest area though her spark would be safe.

Already her dislocated joints were back in their proper place and she had been able to walk or run normally again though the blast to her stomach would leave a small dent most likely, considering the close range. "So much for An easy going day."

[Blackrosefencer]

What Optimus had dubbed earlier as "Twenty Questions" had suddenly escalated to not only a power struggle between the Maximal commander and the unstable personality in front of him, but also a battle of the wits between the two. Arachnitron could see that Optimus was quick witted and could think on his feet. She knew she had taken him by surprise by twisting away from him, but he played it off as though he had planned for it to happen. His demeanor never changed- he remained cool and collected in the midst of the small skirmish. This was something the angry and hateful Predacon was incapable of doing. Her emotions were strong and she was drowning in them, they controlled her every thought and action.

Now, the pair were stale-mated. Arachnitron's gun was pointing at the Maximal's chest-plate (encased in ice thanks to the large penguin who was now walking calmly away as though nothing had happened) and the ape had pulled out his sword and it was now laying gently against the spider's neck. She was also still being restrained by Optimus and now she had no free arm. She was prepared to use her frozen weapon/arm as a club, but had hesitated. After all, what was the point? Any move she made would be countered by the Maximal shoving his sword into her neck and he knew the same- any move he made against her would be countered by a blow to the head with the ice-block. The Maximal seemed amused by this situation.

"Arachnitron, what makes you so sure you have complete control now? We found you here with your Maximal side active and I believe she'll come through again. I think you're in denial. You're only trying to convince yourself because I've seen what your Maximal programming can do. I see it now. You don't have absolute control because you can't. Neither programming will allow it. And what if I had allowed you the opportunity to retrieve your weapons because I've already calculated a plan five steps ahead of where we are now? I'd say I was in control, especially with that frozen appendage there. You see? We're learning so much about each other just by talking. If you let her come back, that would, in essence, mean that you're in control. Wouldn't you agree?"

She showed her fangs to the Maximal again. The stalemate had cooled her circuits momentarily. She was able to think more clearly about her actions. She knew the Maximal's thought process: He tries to trick her into bringing back the Maximal personality, she retaliates and argues more with him...in good time, her energon levels would escalate and the energon surge would bring back her other personality whether she wanted it back or not. The thought occurred to her that whatever personality was in control at the time of the energon surge may be damaged in the process. Whether or not this same thought occurred to the Maximal was unknown to her. But one thing was for sure....she was not going to experiment with her own existence. Let the Maximal personality be the guinea pig.

"Fine," she said calmly. "If you want her back, then you can have her back. But don't get too used to her being around because little by little I will destroy the Maximal personality until it is just me left in this frame. Then I will be in control for good and there will be nothing you can do about it."

The Predacon personality did not leave graciously. She knew her body's power levels were draining and her energon levels were reaching critical levels, but Arachnitron would have more than enough time to return to base before there was any threat of an energon surge. But, the Predacon personality couldn't let it be that easy. She had to spice things up a bit. So she would allow the Maximal personality to take control, but she made sure to put up enough of a fight that the metamorphosis was more painful than it had ever been.

Arachnitron howled in agony and squirmed in Optimus' grasp. "Optimus," she cried out weakly. The pain was unbearable and her screaming seemed to be endless. The struggle of the two personalities was causing some major internal damage. In addition to the burning throughout her circuits, she was still being restrained by the Maximal commander. But at long last, her Maximal personality once again had full control of the body and her screams turned into quiet whimpers and groans in the aftermath. Green optics once again looked up at Optimus thankfully.

"Warning," her core computer spoke out. She was standing on shaky legs, using Optimus' grip on her arm as support. "Extensive internal damages sustained. Suggest transformation to beast mode immediately."

Arachnitron thought about transforming. She said the words “beast mode” out loud. She thought harder. She yelled “Beast mode!” But to no avail. She couldn’t transform. The struggles between her and her other personality had damaged her ability to transform. It could probably be repaired fairly quickly, but she needed to transform now! She couldn’t wait much longer! The internal damages were not only to her ability to transform, but to other systems as well....including her energon dampeners.

Just as she realized that danger she was in, another ‘bot joined the fray. The bystander shot a missile at the base of Arachnitron and Optimus’ feet. Though it wasn’t really a missile, it was a shadow dart. A thick, dark shadow descended upon the two ‘bots still wrapped up together as a result of their previous battle. Arachnitron suddenly could not see any thing! “Optimus!” she shouted again. She not only couldn’t see, but she couldn’t transform, she was in the danger zone as far as her energon levels were concerned, and they were about to engage the enemy!

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC:
@ Alak: Yeah, I've noticed it happen several times with OC's. Silly little originals.

@ Starshadow: It doesn't matter. I have a better idea now. Yessss. Thank you.

@ Phoenix: Thank you! I believe you're right now that you said that. For some reason, I keep thinking Icebreaker is one of those smaller, adoable little penguins and not the bigger breed. That's my bad. My apologies.

@ Blackrosefencer: I know EXACTLY what you mean; that happens to me very often. It takes me an hour or two to type each of my posts, which gives someone else plenty of time to jump in and post a much smaller and less descriptive response, whether or not my character should be the next to react. That's what happens to those of us who write these really nice, long and elaborate posts. ))

"Fine," "If you want her back, then you can have her back. But don't get too used to her being around because little by little I will destroy the Maximal personality until it is just me left in this frame. Then I will be in control for good and there will be nothing you can do about it."

Arachnitron's rather sudden calmness and quiet response almost surprised Optimus. Why was she suddenly being co-operative? Something didn't feel right. Something hidden in her voice. He narrowed his optics at her threat, promising himself to never give up on her, to help her, either programming.

"Optimus,"

Primal kept his handle on Arachnitron but lowered his sword from her throat to his side, just in case this was some sort of trick, but her voice sounded different now; the way it sounded when he first met her in her Maximal state. Hearing her howl made his audio senors ring again. He could not imagine how much pain... That's what her Predacon side wanted to do. Inflict as much anguish as she could while she gave her Maximal side back the control. And her energon dampers must be near their limit. Primus, that slagging... As Arachnitron's green optics peered up at him, he wanted to assure her that everything would be all right, but he frowned and loosened his grip on her arm, gently returning it to her side. He still held his grip there on her forearm to support her as her legs wobbled and her balance grew increasingly unsteady. The ice on her other arm certainly didn't help. They'd have to get that off her as quickly as possible.

"Warning," "Extensive internal damages sustained. Suggest transformation to beast mode immediately."

“beast mode” “Beast mode!”

Upon hearing her computer, there were probably several problems contributing to that report. Perhaps if she transformed, it would break away the rest of the ice. He released her arm once she said the command the first time. Unfortunately, she now faced another conflict. She couldn't revert back to her beast mode. If that Predacon programming has something to do with this, I swear, Optimus thought angrily. He had no idea what she was going through, but she looked as if she was in a tramendous deal of pain. He'd have to get her inside the Axalon to at least protect her from the energon fields if not find a way to stop the pain.

Oddly, a small object fell from the sky and landed right at the Maximal leader's and the arachnid's feet. Optimus looked down at it but as soon as it had made contact with the ground, an enormous plume of smoke exploded into the air like a thick, gray fog which rapidly engulfed everything. If this was a joke by one of the other Maximals, he was NOT going to be happy.

“Optimus!”

"I'm here, Arachnitron," Primal told her softly before giving a cough as a result of inhaling the particles and irritants of the smoke. He closed his mouth plate to block himself from breathing in anymore. If he remained calm, maybe it would help her. Although, he couldn't imagine how with the immediate danger she was in and all of the pain she was being forced to endure. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and quickly took several steps away from where they were just standing, pulling her with him. Then he crouched on his knees and pulled her down next to him, and said quietly, "Shhh," assuming she could hold back the pain just a little longer. He feared for her slipping into stasis lock but she would not be lost. Staying low to the ground might not cross their opponent's mind; they might think they were still standing, which would make them easier targets. If this was an ambush by the Predacons, the last thing he wanted to do was remain in the same location where they last saw him and the new black widow. His red optics frantically searched the cloud of smoke but he couldn't see anything. He could barely see Arachnitron right next to him. Staying quiet, he listened, gripping his sword tightly in his other hand. As soon as they had moved, he heard someone land right near their previous spot. Optimus may not have shown it, but fear was rapidly growing inside of him. He didn't know who was after them. And unless he wanted to give away their position, he couldn't call for back up. Hopefully the Axalon's scanners were on-line and would detect any signatures through this smoke and alert the other Maximals onboard. He had to get Arachnitron out of there.

Looking up, all Primal could see was smoke. No sun, no blue sky. If he flew straight up out of the cloud with Arachnitron, they might have a chance to escape and get to safety, but he was unaware that Whitegrazer had also entered the cloud. His prime jets were noisey, though. Who ever was after them was sure to be able to find them and follow them just by the sound of his thrusters if not the heat and light they also produced. And judging by this enemy's quick arrival out of nowhere, he or she must be a flier. Quickly running things through his head, the only Predacon fliers that Optimus could possibly imagine to have this kind of skill were Terrorsaur and Nemesis. ...And Nemesis had been around earlier that day, at Arachnitron's escape pod. Could this be her seeking some kind of revenge? Or just looking for a fight with the commander? Or maybe Megatron had sent her and others to attack the Maximals. Wouldn't quite make sense, though... especially at their base. Whatever the reason, he had to focus on a way of getting them out of there. And now. The only cover he and Arachnitron had was the smoke, which would not stop any kind of ammunition. He could hear the waterfall under the base and knew the cliffs weren't too far behind them either. For the moment, he thought the best strategy was to wait. ...But Arachnitron didn't have time to wait... Optimus felt like he could scream. If he could trap this bot and sneak up on them, Arachnitron could make a break for the base and call for help, but he couldn't see their unknown threat!

-----

Rattrap, thrown to the ground yet again, laid on his back with his weapon still in his hand and Starshadow stradling him with one of her hands around his neck that was still bleeding a tiny bit of fluid from her fangs puncturing it. Pretty much pushed to the egde now, right when she leaned over him to kiss his forehead, - which he desperately tried to ignore by using it to his advantage - he popped out one of his other charges from his forearm and activated it. Reaching up as far as he could, he stuck it near the middle of her back where it would be harder to reach it and pull it off. One of his sticky bombs, and they stuck well. "Hey, you got somethin' on yer back," Rattrap glared at up at her, glancing at the knives in her other hand. With the hand that was still holding his pistol, he lifted it up and shoved the barrel right under her arm and fired it point blank into her side in hopes to get her off of him once and for all. The bomb's countdown was only ten seconds. Hopefully that would distract her so he could make a getaway and be done with her.

[New Moon]

Frilla stopped near Wintersong as she examined the wounds she had sustained and they seemed fairly painful. Moving closer the frilled lizard looked over the wounds and though she was no medic she had remembered doing some minor repairs back during her time as a Predacon."Maximize." Transforming Frilla took some tools from her sunspace, ones she's have to improvise with."Alright Wintersong whatever you do try not to move too much." She said before she started to repair any cracks the tigeress had in her best plating and arms that could be seen and carefully sealed them up so not to have risk of something getting inside or preventing any chances of a leakage.

(You know I remember you guys saying we need a few other medics I'm thinking of Frilla probably getting some medic training, doubling it up with being a Data analyst. Might be helpful.)
------------------

Feralnight could only wait and wondered now what more could be going on. That was until she heard the computer picking up a Predacon reading,"You got to be kidding me." She grumbled and flew to the flight hatch and flew out to the roof of the Axalon which in the distance she saw some thick black smoke covering the area she had seen Optimus and Arachnitron before. "Not good."

Taking flight the fuzor flew towards the area once more, sniffing the air but growled as she figured out who it was. Nemesis was up to something but diving in blindly would be far too risky and she could accidentally harm a teammate. And she didn't risk the chance of getting too close either since the smoke could be used for her comrades to escape as well so she held back.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: I usually keep two windows open when I type up a post, at least for the longer ones.. One window to type in, the other to check posts I need to respond to as well as refresh to make sure nobody sneaks in with another post.)

The spider's decision to give its Maximal counterpart control of the body came rather unexpectedly to Nemesis, but she still proceeded to load and fire the smoke grenade.

There was something unique about this particular Predacon, something she did not find in any of the others. Truthfully Nemesis would not have bothered if it had been any of the other Predacons caught in the Maximals' clutches like that, but somehow she felt that Arachnitron was sort of a kindred spirit to herself. Although she was as of yet unaware of the exact nature of Arachnitron's past experiences, the winged Predacon could not help feeling they shared some common ground. Exactly what that encompassed she had yet to discover, but it was for this reason that she was willing to take such a risk. She had no doubt that the Predacon personality could be coaxed back, and the Maximal extracted from the body. The fact the spider appeared to have the Maximal in control at the moment was not a problem. If anything it would probably help when taking her away from the others, due to the cowardice displayed by the Maximal persona.

Maneuvering in the thick smoke was not as tricky to Nemesis as one might expect. She was not unaccustomed to performing tasks in darkness, from her many missions during her time as a Decepticon soldier. In fact she used to welcome the darkness early on in life, finding a certain comfort in the lights being shut off after long sessions of being strapped down to a table while the scientists performed their experiments. She utilized the skills she had learned in those days quite well, managing to home in on Primal and Arachnitron's position by following the faint coughing sounds, whispering, and the occasional whimper by the spider. Nemesis thought she heard someone else approach as well, but she chose to ignore them (Whitegracer) as they were too far away to be an immediate threat.

The hunt was on..

Nemesis' movements were almost eerily silent as she moved closer to Primal and his protectorate. She did not merely rush in, realizing she was already taking a huge risk by doing this so close to the Maximals' base. Yet she found a certain enjoyment in her little hunting game, where she would let the prey think they had a chance of getting away before she struck. Nemesis raised the hand with the sai a bit.

A brief period of complete silence followed.

Then the sai came hurling down on Primal's hand, pinning it to the ground. Nemesis moved quickly past him, grabbing Arachnitron's wrist with her free hand while pressing the sharp edge of her sword against the front of Primal's neck, just below his chin. "Ah ah ah," she whispered, making sure she kept her voice low enough for only those in the immediate area to hear, while cutting lightly into the neck with the sword. "It's impolite to leave before the party's over."

As they started walking through the halls of the Axalon, Aurora suddenly stopped to look at the taller badger. She seemed visibly bothered by having snapped at him and Whitegracer earlier.

"I didn't mean it like that," she told him quietly. "It's just very aggravating that the other Maximals seem to think I can't be trusted to stay out of trouble, if even for a moment. I just wanted to help and.." Realizing she was starting to go into a rant, she cut herself off.

She realized why the others were doing it. They wanted to keep her safe, she knew that, but it did not make the situation any less annoying. But it made her feel a bit better to know that Ironclaw remained with her, despite it all.

"Did you mean what you said about teaching me more about engineering at your ship..? Does the offer still apply?," she asked quietly, the hope of still having a chance to prove herself apparent in her voice. The slight, forced, smile from earlier was slowly getting replaced by a wider, more genuine one.

[starshadow]

((OOC: FFFF....you made Star revealed her darkest secret which I was planning to reveal it in season 3 Bad Rattrap! Bad bad Rattrap! LOL ))

"Hey, you got somethin' on yer back,"

Starshadow hissed when Rattrap fired his gun at her side, burning it. Getting off the puny rat, she touched the burnt area for a second and tried to touch her back as he had mention. Her head was pounding hard, brightly glowing red optics turned into silver as she screamed in pain, a different voice spoke, "HIIIISSSSSSSSSAAAAAAHHHHHH! YOU FOOOOOL!!" One of the panther bot's optics cracked and broke with a bladed sticking out. Then, a winged cyber serpent-like creature came out from her mouth and slither away to hide and take cover.

After ten seconds, the bomb exploded with the catbot in pieces. (like Terrorsaur in the first battle between him and Airazor the head would STILL be attached to the neck)

[Blazemane]

((OOC: Wow... you've all written almost 3 pages in about 3 1/2 days. And I mean that in a good way. I guess people have really gotten into this one.))

Dinobot was confused for a moment when he saw Glowstick twirling in the air, but he when he saw the sword swinging for him, he realized what was happening just in time to duck under the attack.

He reeled back up and slashed at the tentacle as it continued on its way, but it was moving so quickly that Dinobot's weapon missed, creating an empty hiss in the air.

Dinobot suddenly realized how versatile his foe was and how unpredictable the fight with him would be. He would have to rush in and disable his opponent with quick and powerful attacks if he hoped to win. Just when he was about to truly commit to an assault, Onyx' pod blew, creating a visible fireball beyond Glowstick's body.

He suspected this was the vermin's doing. Perhaps it would be right to commend him at some point. But that did not bear thinking about...

Wintersong, Dinobot, we gotta go! The pod's gone and we're outnumbered!

Dinobot eyed Glowstick carefully for any attacks the Predacon might make as he responded. "So I have gathered. I will do my best to regroup with you."

He then spoke to Glowstick. "It is a shame. I would have liked to see our battle carried out to its conclusion- glorious or shameful. But if we are both in agreement..."

Meanwhile he looked for any sign of the other Maximals coming out of the burning forest. It seemed like they should have showed up somewhere already.

That's when the next explosion went off. Dinobot had no idea what had just happened, and he wanted to assist his comrades if they were in any danger, but he couldn't turn his back on Glowstick for the time being.

* * *

Steelclaw gave a small flash of a smile as Cecaelia gave him a thumbs up. Her constantly bubbly personality was a welcome change from the scowls of other Predacons, even if it was also slightly unnerving.

Don't worry about picking me up, I have all the time in the world to wait. Besides it's getting rather interesting when watching from the side lines.

"Understood," Steelclaw replied back.

"Hey Cecaelia, can you fly us over to where Starshadow is? I think she's gotten herself outnumbered, so I'd like to be close enough to-"

He stopped when her signature suddenly disappeared from one of of the monitors.

"Better step on it," he told Cecealia.

* * *

Cheetor had not gotten anyone's permission (and he was glad he hadn't tried, since the answer would probably have been "no"), but he had been watching Optimus and Arachnitron, too.

He tried his best to stay put when she pointed a gun at Optimus' chest, but that fixed itself pretty well. And then he tried to stay put when Arachnitron screamed again. But once the smoke grenade popped up, well...

Shouting his activation code, he got his gun in hand and ran closer, but he stopped when he recognized he would have no idea what to do in a smoke cloud. So he pointed his gun into the area in case a Predacon ran or flew out of it.

[starshadow]

"Okie dokie!" Cecaelia directed the Leviathan to where Starshadow's signature was last located. "Starshadow-sama, do you read me?" she radioed the cat but there were only statics. "...It seems her comlinks are fried..."

As she lowered the transport, carefully not burning the bottom of it, she saw scattered black, silver parts all over the ground, her face was badly disfigured by claw marks and cuts from her blades. "Primus..." she quickly turned on her comlinks to Glowstick.

"Glowstick-kun, we have to go now! Starshadow-sama is in pieces and looks like she's dead!"

[Alak]

((OOC: Time to deux ex machina my way back into RPG activity. Also, according the the list of Active RPG Roles, Icebreaker is 0.1 meters taller than Optimus Primal.))

A loud, audible thump echoed from the base. It was followed a more rhythmic bass vibrations as a large figure made its way through the smoke. The familiar soft hum was barely heard as the infamous Beacon 2.0 was deployed, giving eyes to every Maximal (newcomers exempted) in the quadrant. The looming titan stopped short as it neared Optimus Primal, giving the Maximal leader enough space to continue whatever action was intended. Yet, the giant was close enough to alert anyone nearby that if back up was required, it would be provided without hesitation.

"I thought I picked up a Predacon's signature," the deep voice rumbled.

Orcariner could only make out the back of Optimus Primal, but his sonar was strong enough to give him a clean look at the two other individuals in front of leader. One was a complete stranger, and the towering Maximal even wondered if that could have been the "Aurora" he had yet to meet. The other was all too familiar: Nemesis. It was odd that the Predacon signature he had detected was listed as unknown. Perhaps, Nemesis had an accomplice who was new. Regardless, he only saw one enemy and that was all that mattered. The Predacon bird was trapped. Orcariner picked up Cheetor's signature outside of the miniature cloud, and with Beacon 2.0 uploaded the younger Maximal had a clear line of fire. Despite Nemesis having the advantage of surprise, Orcariner strongly believed she had overestimated her abilities this time. She was not threatening a simple medic, but rather, the most powerful Maximal on this planet. He would even go as far to consider Primal being the most powerful transformer in their present galaxy. The sheer speed, firepower, and strength combined with the experience and intelligence gained through academy training in order to reach the rank of Captain was unfathomable to almost everyone on this barren rock. It was because of these reasons why Orcariner chose to simply stand by his leaders side rather than rush forward and reenact the Predacon's actions against the late Nightmist. That, and he was genuinely curious to see how Optimus would react yet again in the face of adversity.

"Sorry for waking up late," he silently whispered to Optimus, "but I got your back now."

[Mystrea]

Ironclaw stopped and listened to Aurora while looking at her this time. "You know I don't want to babysit you, you know I don't see you like that. " Ironclaw stopped and was going to mention the way he did see her but decided not to.

"I understand why they won't let you help. Though I think its wrong just to leave you here to do nothing. Though I'm not sure that I would want to rush out there and help. I would usually leave that for the fighting members of the team. I must not be as brave as you are." He said feeling the shame that itb rought on him. Ironclaw was a big bot and looked like he could fight but had never really been involved with any combat. With Aurora around that may have to change. he still had to properly introduce himself to Optimus, they had similar ancestry and he thought that they should close friends just like the original Optimus Prime and Ironhide.

"Aurora my ship has probably been taken by the predacons by now. I can teach you what little i know with what little we have here" Ironclaw realizing that he has just relayed all his negativity on her. He smiled at her "I just wanted to spend some time with you"