The Intergalactic Highway

OOC: I just love how this whole issue about experimentation is really causing some internal drama for Optimus. It seems as though he had written Protoform X off as dangerous and just went with what the Maximal elders told him to do. While, he thought it was a mistake to do the experimentation, he did not appear to have enough interaction with X to sympathize with his situation. But now, he is interacting on a much more personal level with bots who had been experimented on much in the same ways as X. He is being forced to see the consequences of experimenting. He is also realizing that though these three different experiments had three different goals in mind, all in all, it was for the same reason: To improve the future for the Predacons and Maximals and for Cybertronians alike. A cause that is deceptively noble. Optimus thinks all the time about the survival of his people and of future generations of Maximals, but he is just now realizing the length to which some will go for that survival and the cost at which it can sometimes come. And as if that wasn't enough, he is being forced now to come to his own conclusions about these experiments and about those experimented on. How does he move on from this? How will he interact in the future with Nemesis now that he knows her history? How can he help Nemesis and Arachnitron? Does this change how he will interact with Protoform X too? This is such deep stuff, guys!!

I'm done geeking out now...

BIC:

Wintersong wrote: "Glad to hear your alright, we were worried for a while and yea I wasn't going to leave someone trapped. You would have been blown to bits if you hadn't been freed. Your on the exploration ship the Axalon, it's currently our base and our home here on this organic planet you see it crashed here along with a stolen Predacon ship the Darkside."

The white tiger in front of Arachnitron confirmed her assumption that she had been with the Maximals. But she had never heard of the Axalon before or even the Darkside. Then again, she had been pretty sheltered on Cybertron...there was little room between the experimentation, observation, and training for current events. Not that the scientists would have allowed it anyway.

The white tiger transformed...

"So you don't remember anything that happened after you were freed from the escape pod?"

The spider shook her head no and then looked away from the Maximal. "I guess I was pretty damaged after that explosion," she lied. She was hesitant to admit that these bouts of amnesia were normal. The more the Maximal interacted with her, the more she realized that she had been wrong about being damaged in the explosion. The tiger had known Arachnitron's name and she knew there had been no introductions while she was in control. It was far more likely that one of her other personalities had taken over. She had no knowledge of anything the other personalities did while in control of the body.

"Stop wasting time, Hybrid! We need to leave NOW!"

Arachnitron winced a bit and rubbed her head as the voice of the Predacon ranted inside her mind. The amnesia was normal, but this, however, was not. She wasn't sure what "this" was, but she had a feeling that her condition was significantly changing. She looked back towards the female tiger.

"And who are you again?" she asked the tiger attempting to change the subject.

(Sorry for the late response, been kinda busy and drained. )

Glowstick watched as Visia released the sparks, his internal scanners displaying the movement of the positronic energy trials they were leaving as they rushed off. Considering one of these girls wanted him dead, this really was far too much effort on his part. But he had to do something about the situation. He could easily disable Cecelia's body with his cyber venom, but it wouldn't do anything to stop Visia. She could escape.

As he floated after her, his right feeder tentacle reached for his back. It was dangerous, but he was already in a risky situation. Personally.. When it comes to games prefer Streetfighter..but maybe Guilty gear is more your take? Password release.. Light my darkest hour.. Full power to Primary!

Password Acknowledged! Good luck! his sword then responded. It became a bit more obvious where Glowstick was learning how to fight lately.. Videogames. (*LOL*)

As he moved closer, he drew the sword off his back and swung his tentacle arm out with it for further reach, seeming to swing with the back of the blade as a electric surge came off it. While his venom would stop her body, it wouldn't stop Visia. But electricity would force her body into stasis lock, and mess up Visia in the process.

_____________

Icebreaker watched as Aurora and Wintersong talked, then noticed Aurora following Wintersong off. He shrugged assuming she'd probably be safe with her, Wintersong was armed about as well as he was, but she was alot younger and less experienced. He went off to his own room as he pulled out some parts, prototype Cryoshot pistols which were originally intended to act as fire extinguishers on the Nomad. He looked them over as he started to take the weapons apart and pulled out some pieces of metal scrap in his room, then started taking measurements of parts as he thought what to do with the weapons.

((Oh. No worries buddy! and lol the video games. I prefer streetfighter))

Visia slightly turned her head behind and chuckled. She went down on her knees, leaning forward as Glowstick swung his blade. Slag he almost sliced off her head.

"That's just rude." she stood up and ran again. Unfortunately, she cannot use her own weapons when controlling Cecaelia's body, so she would have to use a little laser shooting tentacles but that would alert the others if one of her lasers damage the ship, which means the squid would have his comradess to help him out except the bat. It's not like she mind about having more players, but then again, more the merrier. The problem was that Glowstick was doing the smart thing, using that blasted sword to force her out of the body. She could still remember the excruciating pain from the sword's energy and the bright lights that it emitted.

Well, these situations are always exciting. She fired four lasers from her tentacles before reaching to the area of lava pits and jumped on a hoverboard, continuing to follow the spark.

(Heh, Lasers? Checkmate. )

As the lasers came towards Glowstick, he swung his sword blocking one of the laser blasts while the sword flared up. The electricity expelled from his blade following the path of superheated air( In other words, plasma, the path of least resistance.) heading back towards Visia striking into her backside giving off a heavy shock to her system. (And that, is the principal behind the Electrolaser. )

Glowstick them came closer to her once again, swinging at her with the back of his sword once again, as he didn't want to cut the body in half. I should say your rather rude yourself!

((Oh you! Of all the places Glowstick would first smack his sword on.))

Visia let out her alien shriek as she got striked on her skidplate which almost made her loose her control of Cecaelia's legs and arms and landing on another nearby hoverboard. She tried getting back on her feet but was hit with another shock from the sword, again accompanied with a shriek.

The serpent hissed and then laughed like a psychotic murderer. "Impressive...Glowstick...I think you should be awarded...with a large dose of cyber venom!" she smack the sword away with a tentacle and pounced on him with her fangs dripping a little bit of luminous green venom. She will make him wish he had never participate in the war.

After a second of looking at his face, she moved leaned down to his neck and was ready to bite.

((Oh noooooo!!!))

Wintersong flicked her tail a bit knowing it wasn't the escape pod's explosion that had harmed her. In fact she hasn't been this calm either. "My name is Wintersong, soldier in training or was." She replied but knew trying to become one she'd have to do so here. Though knowing what some soldiers were made to do, and she had heard stories of such rumors of them being some of the hated guards in places. The thought made Wintersong frown and she made a mental note to never earn such a position, that's if the rumors were true.

Pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind the tigeress looked back at Arachnitron though thought of the lift."Hey by the way were you fixing to leave? I'm not going to stop you just curious." She asked looking back at the arachnid.

Nemesis crossed her arms and continued watching Primal while he recounted his observations regarding Arachnitron. Part of her almost felt a little disappointed the Maximal had failed to make any comments about her own history, since it had taken every bit of self control Nemesis possessed to tell someone what had happened. And now that Optimus knew, Nemesis was already starting to regret exposing herself like that.

Had her trust in him been a mistake?


It more than likely had been a mere ruse to find out about her secrets, and she had been weak and desperate enough to fall for it. He didn't care about her, or Arachnitron's Predacon half, or any of their kind. Why would he? He had his own Maximals to worry about, and he was raging a war he intended to win.. A war she had become a part of.

The Maximal was only interested in fending for his own kind, she thought a bit solemnly.

He had no intention of doing anything aside from leaving her here to rot.


That last thought frightened her to no end.

The primate appeared far more concerned with the arachnid's well being, or at least her Maximal half. Surely he intended to find a way extract the Predacon half, only to have her sent to oblivion. Although Nemesis had no intention of assisting the other Predacons, she could not help but feel a link with the arachnid. In her mind there was just no way that a Predacon and a Maximal could be equals, let alone when sharing a single body. The Predacon personality was surely the stronger of the two, the one more deserving of life. She had to be, since the Maximal Nemesis had seen was a coward. A mere parasite occupying the Predacon's body.

Despite all the thoughts that were racing through her mind, she said nothing. Her face remained expressionless like a statue throughout Primal's talk, not wanting him to realize she had doubts about his noble claims.

It was disappointing to her that Primal had reacted the way he did to her confessions, as she had wanted to believe the Maximal leader's words. She had not been looking for his pity, exactly, but more so some understanding to her side of the story. And oddly part of her had almost enjoyed being able to finally tell someone about the history she had kept secret for so long. The feeling had been short-lived, but it had been there nevertheless.

Optimus Primal wrote:"The choice should be her own, yet every day of her life she struggles with her personalities and programming constantly battling inside, unable to control one over the other. This tortured soul, this spark torn in two different directions, can't even find herself and live in peace, so how can someone else find the 'correct' path for her?"

As Primal finished, Nemesis nodded as if agreeing or understanding.

"So you are not intending on harming either personality, but letting her make that decision for herself. Seems reasonable enough."


There was no such decision to be made. The solution was simple enough. The two minds would not be able to coexist in the body without dire consequences, so one of them had to be removed. There was no doubt in Nemesis' mind which personality that was. And when given the opportunity to, she would aid the Predacon personality in gaining full control of the body. But first she would have to get out of this place..

The winged Predacon tilted her head and braced herself in case the answer to the question she was about to ask was not to her liking.

"Which brings me to a question closer to home.."

Her voice went a bit more quiet.

"What do you intend on doing with me?"

OOC:

Optimus wrote:"The choice should be her own, yet every day of her life she struggles with her personalities and programming constantly battling inside, unable to control one over the other. This tortured soul, this spark torn in two different directions, can't even find herself and live in peace, so how can someone else find the 'correct' path for her?"

Hmmmm......but which personality gets to choose? Inevitably, the Maximal would choose one thing and the Predacon would choose another....

BIC:

Wintersong wrote: "My name is Wintersong, soldier in training or was."

The tiger-bot responded. She got a far away look on her face as though she was lost in thought. She even frowned as though thinking of something distressing to her.

Arachnitron shrugged. "Apparently you already know my name," she muttered more to herself than anyone else.

Hey by the way were you fixing to leave? I'm not going to stop you just curious."

Arachnitron turned away from Wintersong. How exactly was she to explain the force that seemed to be drawing her to the lift? Something inside her believed that she did not belong here. The hybrid personality was indifferent to her current location. Predacon, Maximal...it didn't matter much to her anymore. When she first landed, her Predacon instincts told her that she was still a Predacon and that the Maximals were the enemy no matter what the Predacons had done to her. Her Maximal instincts told her that it wasn't safe to be alone, she needed friends and Predacons weren't friends. When the other two personalities had stopped trying to influence her decisions, she was able to think more clearly. She wasn't obligated to be either Predacon or Maximal...and she wouldn't be either. She'd just exist. The Maximals had offered her shelter and she would take it, but that didn't mean she had to call herself a Maximal.

Yet something had drawn her over to the lift. It appeared that Arachnitron still had a lot ot learn about her affliction and about her individual personalities. Perhaps her feelings of urgency had been her Predacon programming influencing her again. If that was true, then what would the Predacon have done once she had successfully escaped? Arachnitron was sure that the Predacon programming had no interest in other Predacons, but then, what was her plan? Would she have sought revenge on the Predacons even though they were not the same ones who had been on Cybertron?

The Pred was angry at what had been done to the body they shared. She saw it as her body first and it had been taken away from her to include the Maximal and Hybrid personalities. The Hybrid knew that the Predacon was irrational and reckless and thought only of herself. Maybe her target wasn't the Predacons at all, but the other two personalities....if that was true, then leaving the base could be a very unwise decision.

Now, if this had been the Maximal personality in control, Arachnitron would have told Wintersong about what the Predacon personality aimed to do and that she was scared for her life. For the Maximal personality, this was more than just a suspicion, it was the truth...she had lived through it. The Predacon had purposely caused so much pain that she fried her inner workings and exposed the Maximal personality to great quantities of energon in hopes of damaging the Maximal beyond repair. But, of course, the Hybrid wasn't privy to any of that information. Nor did she know that Wintersong already knew about her affliction. Nor did she have the same fears and feelings that the Maximal had which had prompted her to confide in the Maximals in the first place, so she was not compelled to tell Wintersong about her competing personalities.

So, finally, Arachnitron looked back up at Wintersong and answered," No. I wasn't going anywhere. I was just a bit restless, that's all."

Ironclaw had been working on his gadjets for a while now and was getting fustrated at his lack of succes.

He still hadn't really introduced himself to many of the Maximals and he wanted to know how Whitegrazer was getting on. He decided to wander. Ironclaw made his way to the bridge to see who was around.

Arachnitron took time to reply and when she turned away Wintersong assumed she was thinking. While she did Wintersong began to try and piece together why Arachnitron seemed so calm when she had seemed smitten and frightened earlier. She had not entirely seen the Predacon side of this femme butthe warning Optimus gave certainly made it seem bad. But what if Arachnitron wasn't that bad just confused as she seemed now. Two personalities or not that didn't entirely make someone bad.

Pushing the thoughts aside as Arachnitron finally did speak she nodded,"Being in here awhile tends to do that. And well your new to being here." She smiled a bit."It'll happen sometimes but you get use to it. And well if your planning to go outside I can show you around if you want after I get some repairs shouldn't be but a few minutes." The tigeress offered.

(( OOC: Yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell, Blackrosefencer. By the way, don't forget Optimus put Arachnitron's weapons away in the area of the CR chambers. They're hidden (like in a little storage cabinet or some place; I know I wasn't specific when I posted it, so just make it up if you have her begin looking for them, LoL), but only Optimus knows exactly where they are. He did that on purpose in case her Predacon personality would surface and start harming the Maximals. ))

For a moment, Nemesis looked a little disappointed. Now what? Was it because Optimus didn't respond to her life story? With the snarl she gave him earlier when he tried offering her his sympathy, what did she expect? Maybe he should be the "better" bot and look past it, though, as well as past her allegiance and just treat her like he would anyone else when it came to lending his audio sensors to them. After all, it wasn't like him to be cold. Primal was known for his compassion and kindness, but right now it felt like he was tarnishing his image. Whether or not his words would have any effect on Nemesis, it didn't matter. He should express his thoughts and emotions and let the Predacon know that he understood as much as he could about her past and why she was the way she was.

"So you are not intending on harming either personality, but letting her make that decision for herself. Seems reasonable enough."

Well, it seemed she wasn't going to elaborate or offer any advice on the matter. It didn't surprise the Maximal leader who was figuring that if Nemesis had any influence on Arachnitron, she would just encourage her Predacon programming to take full control just because it was more aggressive or because it was Predacon, which completely disreguarded everything he had just shared with her. If the Maximal programming had been given the chance to develop more, Arachnitron could be just as confident in her Maximal personality and a lot less violent than her Predacon side. The two clashing personalities merely proved Primal's point again about how some Predacons had such irratic behavior, much like what Nemesis had shown earlier, and were only seeking domination and inflicting pain on anyone who stood in their way. Why couldn't they just get along? A thought crossed his mind, then. What if they could somehow extract one of the programmings and move it to a blank protoform? Could something like that even be done? Would they have to splice her spark in order to do it? Optimus was no expertise with such matters, but he could ask Rhinox about the idea and see if anything like that was even possible. Maybe Arachnitron would be interested in that approach, although it did sound extremely risky but then her Maximal programming would finally be free of her Predacon programming torturing her every day and every night. If both programming had been combined in order to create her, might they have been separate at one point before hand? And if so, could it be reversed?

"Which brings me to a question closer to home.." "What do you intend on doing with me?"

"Predacon or Maximal, no one should have to go through what you have experienced, especially at such an early age," Optimus began. He would give her an answer soon enough to her question, but first he wanted to return to his warmer and more gentle side now that the tension seemed to have subsided just a little between them. "I can not imagine the childhood you had, Nemesis. To be put through such torment and anguish, and having no control over your fate or the decision to say no to the experiments so you could have your freedom." His voice was soft and considerate, genuinely sharing his care and concern for her. His life had been very different and could not relate to her's at all. He could not know the pain and fear that she had endured, as well as Arachnitron. "It is has defined who you are today, and if I had the power to take down these so-called 'scientists' who are performing these experiments so that no one else would have to suffer such an ordeal, I would." Whether she really cared about it or not, he didn't know. It would be pretty selfish not to. Primal had gained some connections when he was entrusted with the mission to dump Protoform X on some uninhabited planet, even standing by on the sidelines and witnessing the guards trying to restrain the indestructible bot, but unfortunately there was no way home right now to do anything about this ever-growing and unethical problem. And also assuming there was any influence he could have at all on the matter seeing how far down he was in the food chain. He would try, though, because he believed it was wrong to test and experiment on these bots - sparklings, for Primus's sake! - who weren't even given the choice to live their lives the way they should've been lived. Absolutely horrible. "However, despite your past, you've grown into an intelligent bot. You know right from wrong, and when you attempted to take my crews' lives as well as my own, that was wrong. Some believe Nightmist's death should be justified by taking yours since she had no choice about what happened to her because of your size and power, and possibly your unstable mentality after being activated. What you did to her almost doesn't sound too different from what the scientists did to you," Optimus said thoughtfully, putting a different spin on what had happened now that he knew more about Nemesis' past, and offering an opening for her to explain what happened that day when she became a Predacon and was reformatted thanks to Nightmist, if she could recall. "But I still believe it was accidental, which is the only reason why you're still breathing right now," hinting that now her life was in his hands like his was in hers and hers was in the scientists' so long ago. His Maximals couldn't touch her either without disobeying him and suffering the consequences. Unlike many of Megatron's troops, Primal's crew was loyal to him. "I've been seeking for remorse and comprehension to your merciless and unthinkable actions for every encounter we've faced with you. I understand the roots to your bitterness, hatred and anger, but my Maximals and I are not the ones who performed those experiments on you." He paused for a second before his voice grew a little more firm. "Your intentions to kill us earlier with your grenades has greatly darkened my perspective on you, and I fear you will try it again. So until I decide on what to do about this, you will remain here alone in this cell to think about what you're doing in this war that's not even necessarily yours to wage," although he figured it was because she needed assistance from the Predacons, and an opportunity to find a vessel to leave this planet, "and how taking any of my Maximals' lives justifies your past or future." Primal then added, "What you have told me remains between us. You have my word." Optimus was just about wrapping up his "visit" with her. Unless she had anything else to add, he was ready to step out and leave her all alone with her claustrophobia in the dark and very cold cell again.

((OOC: You tell her, Optimus! Woohoo! ))

OOC: OOP, thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot! And interesting idea there with the blank protoform. How does that work exactly? Would moving the programming to the blank protoform make the protoform active? And what happens when OP finds out there are three of them?

And isn't Aurora around here somewhere?

BIC:

Wintersong wrote: "Being in here awhile tends to do that. And well your new to being here. It'll happen sometimes but you get use to it. And well if your planning to go outside I can show you around if you want after I get some repairs shouldn't be but a few minutes."

Arachnitron was expecting that Wintersong would have dropped the conversation, but instead she had offered to lead her outside and go with her. She was quite taken aback by that reply. Again, she was hesitant to respond.

The walk would certainly do wonders to clear Arachnitron's mind of some of the cobwebs (pun not intended). It would be a great opportunity to get her bearings on what all had been going on. But she worried about what the Predacon would do once outside. She certainly didn't want to put Wintersong into any danger. And if the Predacon had been able to influence Arachnitron to approach the lift and almost leave, then maybe it had more control over the body than Arachnitron previously thought.

But Arachnitron was hesitant to have a companion on her walk for another reason. Arachnitron had been alone just about all her life. Well, aside from the scientists occasionally checking up on the results of the experiment. She didn't interact much with others. So this idea of being surrounded by Maximals inside their base was a bit unnerving and perhaps that was the feeling that drew her to the lift before. Perhaps she just needed some space. She was a loner and just needed to be alone.

But despite not remembering her other interactions with Wintersong, Arachnitron felt oddly comfortable around her. Almost as though what had happened at the tree in some way was known to her even though it was one of the other personalities in control. And, perhaps, a walk would be nice and one Maximal for companionship would be a lot less overwhelming than the dozens or so that probably resided in the base. And interacting outside instead of in would put her a bit more at ease. But she couldn't shake her concern about what the Pred would do.

She sighed audibly and took another step closer to Wintersong. She looked around to be sure no one else was listening and when she was satisfied she spoke softly so as not to be heard. "Look, it's not safe for you to be around me. I'm....I'm not well." That was all she would say about her condition.

Arachnitron took a few steps away from the white tiger. "But I need the walk," she told her honestly. "You can come if you want. Just know this," and here her face wore a very serious expression and her voice grew cold. "If anything happens, I can't protect you....from me."

(( OOC: No worries, Blackrosefencer. And I have no idea how that would work with a blank protoform. Just an idea that popped into my head. I think it would need a spark, so maybe it couldn't work. Three of them?! OP's head is going to be spinning, but it doesn't matter because he's going to die soon and it'll be someone else's problem for a little while. Terrible, I know. ))

(Ooc: oooohhh, that is cold of Optimus! I'll have to sleep on the next post. and poor Arachnitron.. I was actually thinking about having Nem try to extract the personality out as well since the good spider gave her a purpose.

Hmm.. I already have an idea of what Nem will do in my next post, but I'm too tired to write it out atm. So the suspense will have to wait a few zzzzs. )