The Intergalactic Highway

((Kinda got a headache, not really in the mood for posting at the moment, but I wanted to answer this question quick. I'll post tomorrow.

WorpeX, thank you for sharing that information. So, would that mean that Optimus should know who Airazor is, or not? Just so I know what I'm doing with him when he's around her.

No he would not. Nor would he know who Tigatron is. Optimus knows about the Chromia 10 and that they uploaded two sparks to empty pods but he doesn't know any names and since their was so many pods on the Axalon, he wouldn't know which ones they were. I might delve deeper into this plot later, depending on how things develop, but I also might not. Until then, Optimus would just act as if she is simply a newborn protoform.

I really like this backstory though and I am glad it was added in after the series was over. There are a few paths I have in mind for Airazor's development, but I haven't decided which one to go down yet as they largely depend on what happens with other characters. This is for one of the ideas, so i'm keeping my options open. ^^))

The lift brought the two females up into the Axalon. Immediately, Airazor felt a wave of claustrophobia hit her. The walls of the ship were a dark grey and very confined. Turning her optics off for a second, she tried to fight off the feeling. She had never been in a building before and her body was much more used to the vast landscapes outside. Only a few seconds later, her bright green eyes lit back up. She felt slightly better now.

Moving forward, the flier approached the command table in the center of the room, unsure exactly what it was. She gave it a quick glance in wonder before turning her gaze to the many computer terminals around the room. The ship seemed very up to date with technology. 'Very impressive', she thought. This was an information center. The Maximal's likely were able to find details about almost anything. Not seeing any flight controls, she immediately wondered if the ship was operational. It had been too dark outside to tell if it was damaged, but from the inside, everything looked to be working well. As she thought, Optimus came up the lift to join the two.

"I'll take her from here, Wintersong, if you don't mind, thank you for keeping Airazor company. If you need repairs, I recommend that you grab a repair chamber while you can."

""If you want to Optimus. I can last a bit longer, you need it more anyway."

Turning her attention towards the leader, Airazor immediately noticed how badly damaged he was. Outside, the darkness and shadows on his face made him look normal, but inside, the lighting was much different. She could see just how beat his face and body had been. "Optimus! You're damaged!" She said in surprise. Wintersong had not been joking about him needing repairs more. For some reason, none of the Maximal's seemed to be willing to get themselves fixed. Even Rhinox, whom she had seen damaged first hand, had put himself to work instead. "I hadn't notice how bad it was before. This tour should wait until you've finished repairs." Airazor immediately felt another wave of nausea course through her. Closing her eyes again, she lowered her head and placed one of her hands on her forehead. When it passed, she turned back to optimus. "Come find me outside when you're done." She said, suddenly wanting to be off the ship again. She hadn't expected her systems to act the way they had while inside. Perhaps the feeling would go away in time, but for now, it would prove quite troublesome. It was unlikely that she would be able to keep away from the ship for long. Turning towards the lift again, she hopped on to make her way back down.

--



A green form grew out of the tank of liquid gel. As it emerged, the bot tested his parts to be sure everything was in working order. His wings were reattached, poison gone from his eyes, leg servos working, claws still incredibly heavy, but also working properly. Feeling a sudden urge to fly, he beat his wings and hovered above the CR Tank. Raising his arms in the air, he spoke with a hint of glee in his voice. "I am reborn!" Looking around, Manterror noticed a small bug creature staring at him. It was rather silly looking. It was a flashlight with six little legs attached to it. Why would the predicons need this?

"What are you looking at? Huh?" The bug creature didn't respond, but instead kept staring awkwardly. No matter. Still airborne, Manterror glided forwards slightly until he was directly overtop. Then, he stopped beating his wings. The cybertronian dropped and landed with his left foot crushing the pitiful creature. '"That was a mercy killing".

Sonar shook his head, the turned back to the mess of a lab.

"Might as well clean this up." He muttered, re-entering the lab and being mindfull of the glass.

Most of the beakers and vails were still intact, which made his job easier in cleaning up. Surprisingly it didn't take him long to clean up, some thing he was grateful for. He still had other things to do then clean up after a crazy fire ant. Muttering death threats, he left the lab and headed toward the hanger.

"I am reborn!"

Sonar stopped when heard yet a new voice, he raised an optic plate as watched the new comer smash one of Tarantulas' spider drones.

'"That was a mercy killing".

Sonar snorted then headed for the hanger. Transforming into his beast mode he heads to his lair.

Just what we need, more mindless grunts. He thought after he reached the opening to his lair.

The first thing he heard was claws scraping against a medal surface, narrowing his opitcs slightly he followed the sound and saw that the red fox he had captured some time ago. He instantly noticed that some thing was wrong with it, as he drew closer to see what the problem was. It looked like it was in severe pain and was struggling to breathe, its amber eyes were wide with panic and fear.

Sonar continued to watch it for several more minutes until the small mammal finally went limp in the cage, moments later the bat could no longer detect a heart beat, the fox was dead. Curious, he checked the tag to see what he had given the small creature, his optics widen slightly when he saw that he had given the creature a small dose of the Optimus clones' DNA along with the serum about two weeks ago.

Interesting, he was fine three days after I injected him with it. Sonar thought.

He took a small sample of the clones DNA and and a small sample of his own the placed it on a slide and put it under a microscope, he watched as the Clone DNA savagely attacked his own DNA completely destorying any traces of it. He looked up and stared at the body of the dead fox throught narrowed optics.

Had I just given him the DNA, he would died within seconds. But mixing it with the serum slowed down the process. I only gave him a small dose and it took him two weeks to die, Sonar though after he burnt the slide, this was becoming more interesting to him by the second. He turned away from the cage and moved toward his desk. I've been giving Saber large doses, so it take her longer. I could always make a cure and give it to her when she begs for her life, while she lays dying at my feet and I have her swear her allegiance to me. I already have her obedience, her loyalty would suffice as well. Or... I could allow her to die and the Maximals would be weaker because of it. It would give Megatron the edge he needs to win the beast wars.

Smirking he turned his attention back to the dead body of the fox, he had more test subjects in the back of his lair. After getting rid of the body, he began working on the cure, that he might or might not give it to Saber, only time would tell if he would give the General the cure. If he didn't give her the cure, he would enjoy watching the light fade from her eyes.

((OOC: Ok, lets get one thing straight before you freak out and call peda on me. I am totally against animal testing, this is just part of the plot that I have for Sonar and Saber. Will Sonar give Saber the cure? You'll just have to find out.))

Cheetor came back-to, and after hearing Optimus, he went to Rhinox and Ocariner. He was just catching up to them when...

Rhinox wrote:the Nanomachines were all coated with a positronic residue..but that residue appears to have pooled.. from my analysis.. the nanomachines...

Woh, wait. What?

Cheetor listened more, trying to make sense of what he was hearing.

So..we have a body.. and random fragments of two sparks...

Really? How did that work?

...soon fade...

That got his attention. Just like Airazor?

I'm also going to need Icebreaker's assistance in the lab stat.

Cheetor wanted to help, but he guessed he would only get in the way. Rhinox had only asked for Icebreaker, and with all the big words he'd been saying about Nightmist's condition, it was all probably way above Cheetor's head.

So Cheetor walked over to elevating platform and had it come down for him.

(( OOC: Okay, WorpeX. Works for me. Thanks. By the way, nice touch with Airazor's claustrophobia. I wasn't quite expecting that. The poor dear.

Alak, I'm impressed with that little feature you added in your post. Very cool! ))

"If you want to Optimus. I can last a bit longer, you need it more anyway."

After seeing Frilla head for one of the CR's, Optimus looked at Wintersong and blinked. He wasn't in too much pain anymore either; he just looked banged up. And smelled bad. He would get repairs, but at the moment he wanted to get to know Airazor and make her feel welcome. It wasn't his pride or ego, it was just that his systems, save for his one eye optic sensor, were functioning well enough to give someone else a chance for repairs before him.

"Optimus! You're damaged!" "I hadn't notice how bad it was before. This tour should wait until you've finished repairs."

Primal's mouth opened to retaliate the female's statements, but before he could say anything, he watched Airazor's green optics darken as she put her hand to her forehead. "Airazor? Are you all right?" he asked with concern. Her response wasn't quite what he expected.

"Come find me outside when you're done."

Watching her suddenly leave, Optimus frowned and pondered what just happened. "I didn't realize I could clear a room faster than Rattrap," he said outloud to himself and sighed. "Do I really look that bad?" Finding a reflective surface in the control room, he looked at his face and shrugged, seeing if his appearance was to blame for scaring both the females away. He did look a bit damaged, as if he should be wearing half a mask on that side of his face like the Phantom of the Opera to cover what people would stare at.

"Sir, I'll have your debrief report ready back in the ship whenever you're done speaking with our newcomer."

Receiving Orcariner's call, Optimus thought he had been rather quick with the report, but better to get it done now, let Airazor relax, and get his own repairs after the debriefing. It sounded like a plan, but something was telling him that it wouldn't run that smoothly. Something was bound to delay him. "All right, Orcariner. I'm available now. Meet me in my quarters, please," Primal replied and immediately headed to his room.

"Cheetor, please report to my quarters," Optimus asked over his communication link to the cheetah. If Orcariner had separated from Rhinox, perhaps they got done what they needed to. Or at least Rhinox had everything under control now. So Cheetor was most likely not needed with them. He figured he'd invite him to this debriefing in hopes to understand what the young Maximal went through on their mission.

-----

Uh.. Rattrap.. I think Rhinox needs my help.

Rattrap nearly dropped the device Icebreaker handed off to him when he hurried after Rhinox. "Sure, Iceman," he shrugged. Because they were back at the base, he didn't feel like he was still in charge of them anymore. Now they were back in the Boss Monkey's hands. He did notice Rhinox carrying something very large and moving quickly with it. He was curious to know what was going on but instead of bothering Big Green, he'd seek his answers else where.

"I'm glad to see you all are okay. What happened with you guys?" "Oh, if you are wondering about what happened in the faculity, Nemesis happened."

"Aside from the run in with the Predacons."

"You could say the Predacons were a bit more civil instead of a large battle. The survivor of the ship crash was a friend of Starshadow's, not sure her name though but she seemed very fond of Icebreaker. But the Preds got the ship and we had a little issue with Starshadow and Sonar, he injected something into Saber-Fang, though besides that not much else happened." "What about you two? Looks like one of you is pretty unscathed and the other just escaped a malfunctioning turret."

The Maximal spy casually strolled out of the Nomad off to where Whitegrazer, Saber-Fang and Feralnight had met up, joining in on their conversation. He kept Glowstick's device in one of his hands while he stood there with the ladies. "Glad to see you guys are all right too," he said to Whitegrazer. "Nemesis made all this mess on 'er own?" Rattrap shook his head. She was a very dangerous Decepticon. ...Predacon. Whatever. He foresaw a lot of cleaning up tomorrow. Aye. "Yeah, what happened with yer team? Did anybody win a battle today? What about the pods?" he asked with Feralnight's question, expecting a hopeless answer.

"Injected something inside her?" Whitegrazer said wide-eyed.

She wondered what that Pred, Sonar was doing to Saber? Strange and dangerous.

She smiled when she spoke, "We were successful in saving the protoform. Thanks to some quick thinking from Rhinox. Our new comrade, Airazor, is just getting a tour around the base. She's nice and she's a flyer too!"

Orcariner quickly made his way to Optimus Primal's quarters where the leader awaited him. Straightening his back, he handed over the data chip containing his debriefing report.

"Here you go, Optimus," he said, "It should have all the important data. The pod itself was heavily damaged and Rhinox barely repaired the stabilizers in time to maintain protoform shape. By the time the Predacon interceptors arrived, he got the scanners online. The whole ordeal took a toll on his body but with the aid of our new comrade we fended them off. Rhinox seems to be in good shape now, as you can see downstairs. As for the battle itself, I spent the majority of the time defending his body. At this time, I'm not really able to give you a good recollection of how the fight played out. Terrorsaur displayed his usual behavior in his engagement with me, but that's all I can tell you. Maybe someone else who's part of the team can give you more feedback."

Starshadow was disturbed by an announcement of being repaired. She growled and slowly getting out of the CR tank, shaking liquid off her fur. The pain was still stinging her but it was bearable. She looked at the insect and gave him a smile with her long fangs showing.

"You must be one of the newcomers. May I know.." the panther transformed into her robot mode, "Your name?"

Blazemane wrote:Dinobot snarled in pain as the panther reeled back at him with her signature speed. He was not ready to let go of his sword because of mere pain, but since she had a firm grip on his wrist, he would not be easily able to maneuver the weapon.

Thinking quickly, Dinobot dropped the sword from his fluid-stained hand and deftly caught it with the awaiting palm of his other hand. Immediately, his blade was underneath Venatrix' chin.

"Yield," he commanded harshly.

Venatrix felt Dinobot's mech-fluids drip into her mouth from his wounds she inflicted on his wrist with her powerful jaws.
She was amazed how easily her teeth punctured his armor, but then, her beastmode was based on a predator that could crush the skulls and shields of any of its prey.
She didn't even used the full power of her jaws in her attack.
Not because she held back. It was because she didn't have much more energon to give in her attack.
What fueled her now was determination and willpower, rather then energon.
Her internal warning system began to tell her she was running on the reserve energon stock, and needed to recharge ASAP.
Besides, she tasted her opponent's mech-fluids, and it somehow tasted good. Better then the blood of the creatures she had hunted, and eaten in the few days she spent away from the Darkside.
Her beastmode converted the meat she devoured into energon, and so she was able to stay ahead of stasis-lock for a long time.
Her systems didn't know how to deal with the unnatural fluids that they needed to process en her "stomach". But it tasted good nonetheless.

Then her optics flickered on and off for a brief moment, do to the lack of energon, and her jaws began to vibrate.
Dinobot had effectively used this moment to his advantage, as he dropped his sword in his free hand, and placed its blade at her throat.
Though it wasn't the best spot to threaten your Cybertronian opponent's life-cycle, but it was clear what his intent was.
She knew this match wouldn't be a fight to the death, so he claimed his victory vocally.
It caused her some difficulty to release Dinobot's arm, but release him she did.
She sat down on the ground, visually exhausted.
"It seems, though i have came a long way on my own, i still have much to learn."

She sniffed the air, and noticed Steelclaw's sent.
She had picked him up a few minutes ago, but needed to stay focussed on her match against Dinobot.
The black panther wondered why he hadn't opened fire on the 2 Maximals yet, as it was well within his set of skills to snipe them down from the distance he was from them at this moment.
Not a very Predacon thing to do, not taking a golden opportunity to take down a few warriors from the enemies camp when they where preoccupied.
So she made a note to ask him why he didn't when she was able to.
Now she waited for Dinobot to either praise her for her growth as a warrior, or to drill her into the ground.
It was well in his rights, cause he was for more powerful as a warrior then she was.
Venatrix waited patiently in her beastmode, as her systems already began to assess the damage she had taken during this duel, for Dinobot his comment.
Silently she was hoping he would give her a few points to work on in the future to sharpen her skills.

((Thanks OOP! I wanted some reason for Airazor not being in the base often. She'll get over it eventually, but for the moment, it'll cause her some problems.))



"You must be one of the newcomers. May I know.. Your name?"

Manterror heard a voice behind him. Another predicon came out of a repair pool and had the audacity to address him. The Mantis didn't trust any of the predicons, and for good reasons. They were always scheming and trying to get the upper hand. They all wanted to kill each other, they just didn't acknowledge it. Manterror was always trying to counter-scheme. He wouldn't let another predicon take his head until he had the lizard and optimus'. In this case, the panther likely wanted to get information from him which he wouldn't allow.

"I am Galvatron! The terror of man and maximals alike! In your case though, I can make an exception." He lied and walked closer to Starshadow, raising his large claws in the process. He actually had no idea who Galvatron was except that he was some evil war hero of some kind. "Tell me comrade... are you afraid?" Manterror smiled for the first time since the battle. His bright white teeth showed from his mouth and sparkled as if just recently cleaned.

---



Airazor made her way back down the shaft and started to feel much better. The cool breeze in the night air rushed through her nose and gave her renewed energy. The base had been very cramped and air stale. Optimus had asked her if she was ok before she left, but she hadn't responded. Part of her felt bad about walking away, but knew it was for his own good. Hopefully he would get repairs before the damage gets worse, but for some reason, she doubted it. Even thought she hadn't been part of the team very long, she felt as thought she knew most of the members far too well. The ones she had met so far all were hard-workers and selfless. None of them put themselves before the team. Airazor hoped that she would be able to adopt such an attitude, it was very inspiring. Perhaps that was the meaning of being a Maximal.

Walking off the lift, the female wandered off to find someone new to meet. Spotting Whitegrazer in the distance, she noticed she was with someone else. Setting a course for the group, she walkin on the conversation as it took place.

"We were successful in saving the protoform. Thanks to some quick thinking from Rhinox. Our new comrade, Airazor, is just getting a tour around the base. She's nice and she's a flyer too!"

"Quite beautiful too!" She interjected jokingly. Chuckling at her own joke, she continued. "Whitegrazer speaks too highly of me. May I ask who you are?"

Nemesis proceeded to her room after making her return to the Predacon base. She wasn't overly keen on being at the base, but she had been relatively fortunate with her quarters there. The room itself was not too cramped, so she could actually remain there for a while before feeling claustrophobic. She had also gotten one of the rooms some distance away from the lava streams the base was resting on, as the continuous heat from the lava tended to bother her a bit too.

Although the room itself was not the most decorated one, hanging from the ceiling was a elongated punching bag Nemesis frequently used when she found a quiet moment to practice her close quarters fighting skills. For her own amusement she had gathered pieces of fellow Predacons, for the most part Waspinator as the insect appeared to be an endless source of spare parts, and stuck them on the bag to at least give it a vague resemblance of another warrior. The wall behind the bag had numerous puncture wounds from where Nemesis had been throwing sharp objects at it. Although some of these objects were still attached to the wall, such as leftover weapons she had found on her travels throughout the base, Nemesis much preferred using her own weapons in combat.

On the back wall she had put a pair of sharp edged swords in a cross-formation, having raided the materials from the base's storage unit and melted it down to reshape the swords just the way she liked them. Now that they were done, the shafts of the swords were decorated with numerous symbols of a cybertronian nature, giving them a distinct appearance. Much like her sais, the shafts of the swords contained magnets, allowing her to attach the swords to her backside if she preferred, whereas her sais could easily be stored at her hips.

The bed, if you will, was also hanging from the ceiling, being on a descending platform that could surely not be considered comfortable. Oddly Nemesis preferred it that way, never spending long periods to rest at the base and would just as well find herself a tree somewhere outside and rest in her avian form. Other trinkets she had acquired included a once broken smaller-sized computer console she had been tinkering with, as well as Rhinox' machine gun that she had flown off with after her initial meeting with the Maximals. Why she had kept the thing, she was not entirely sure. It was a bit too large for her to handle effectively, but seemed like a decent enough trophy. And perhaps she would find some way to get some use out of it at some point.

After gazing across her quarters for a few moments, the Decepticon-turned-Predacon decided she did not require any rest for the time being so she left her quarters to see what was going on in the rest of the base. Barely having entered the corridor outside, she heard the voices of Starshadow and Manterror talking. Hearing Manterror introduce himself as Galvatron, the female smirked and decided to join them. Although she had never really fought side by side with the insane Decepticon tyrant, she knew fully well he would not have come here, to this planet, to take on the role of a Predacon underling. But she refrained from saying anything, being curious how the cat-bot would respond.

Tarantulus looked up from his work as he noticed Manterror on screen destroying one of his drones, another drone hiding in the vents then picking up his audio.

Manterror wrote:'"That was a mercy killing".

Tarantulus simply shaked his head Another idiot.. fantastic.. Hrm.. but that does mean another stasis pod out there... he then made a dark chuckle to himself.

________________________________
Glowstick observed Cecaelia floating around on the board Well, at least you got the hang of it. As long as you can operate one of those you should have a easier time getting around the base. he mentioned, then heard his computer chime up that the CR tanks had finished their work on two subjects, normally not a message any of the other crew members would receive, but being the only thing close to a "medic", it was something he tended to care about. He then activated his comlink.

As Manterror was responding to Starshadow, his radio then activated hearing a very unfamilar and strange voice spoke up I see you've awoken Manterror, I'll be there in a moment to assign your quarters, you should be careful of StarShadow however, she's rather highly vampiric and has been known to suck the mech fluids of other crew members in the base, though I have yet to see any benefit for this based off her physiology, it appears to be just psychological. the radio message then cut off there.

Glowstick looked towards Cecaelia floating around Hey, I've been meaning to ask.. You don't have any of Starshadow's tendency's of biting people for mech fluid? I've kinda noticed a trend of you and your crew mates all having abnormally long canine from the er.. gravure photos you showed me.. his optics shifted to the side a bit as he mentioned the photos.

"Unfortunately losing the storage facility was Nemisis alone Rattrap." Wintersong replied to both him and Feralnigt and growled a bit, "Not sure what that 'Con was after but she's proving to be very difficult to stop, even Tigatron had trouble." She said before looking back at Airazor. She nodded at the flier then looked back at the others, ears twtiching slightly at hearing about their mission. It seemed they had some trouble themselves but it was worrying that three Predacons now joined the enemy ranks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snow Trix after a while came from her room, having been avoiding the Predacons for a bit and to cool down before she headed off to see these new recruits. Though it didn't take long that she heard commotion from the CR tanks which made the fox slightly curious so she went to see for herself what was going on.

Feralnight smiled, "Great! We could use more fliers." She said, glancing as Rattrap strolled over. But Wintersong answered their question and she didn't seem happy, though who would after all what just occurred before the remaining team could come to help. Well the facility would have to wait anyway. Looking towards Airazor she laughed a bit at the joke, "Guess so and you must be Airazor. I'm Feralnight." She greeted warmly and was glad Rhinox's team was successful in saving Airazor's life.

Just inside Frlla's repairs didn't take long ad she was soon stepping out, her side and shoulder repaired and good as new. Looking around the main bridge was now empty and she assumed the others had gone off to do whatever they needed or talking about the missions. Shrugging she turned, hearing the lift beginning to go down so hurried to jump on and went down to go see her teammates. "Hey Cheetor." She said with a brief smile before stepping off.

Looking around for a moment Frilla finally heard voices in the hanger and hurried on her hind legs, since she had remained in beast mode, and ran over to join them. "Maximize!" Transforming Frilla came over, though she was still rather the shortest Maximal there even to Airazor. For now she only listened to the conversation before something in Rattrap's hand caught her attention, "Hey Rattrap what do you got there?" She asked curiously.

Stepping into his quarters, Optimus took the data chip from Orcariner and walked over to his computer, uploading the report and reading over the file while he listened to the large Maximal. A few things caught his eye:

Territory: Neutral - Desert - Energon Geysers
Extraneous Observations: Environment proved to be hazardous. Airazor has no past recollection prior to awakening.

And the members of the Predacon team. It seemed Rhinox's group lucked out with those Predacons; it was rare to see any of those succeed in their missions, and their firepower wasn't as substantial as the group Primal and his team fought over Inferno. It was a relief to see at least one Maximal team come out with a victory that day. So, Airazor didn't remember anything prior to her coming on-line? That seemed to be a trend with these stasis pods, but there was always a chance that the lost memories would re-surface.

"It should have all the important data. The pod itself was heavily damaged and Rhinox barely repaired the stabilizers in time to maintain protoform shape. By the time the Predacon interceptors arrived, he got the scanners online. The whole ordeal took a toll on his body but with the aid of our new comrade we fended them off.

So Rhinox had taken the bulk of injuries in the mission. It sounded like his friend was in need of a restful day. "Did you acquire the knowledge and experience from watching Rhinox as you had hoped?" Primal asked the orca.

Rhinox seems to be in good shape now, as you can see downstairs.

That was true. Which reminded him, "And what of Nightmist's body? Has Rhinox found another secure location for her?"

At this time, I'm not really able to give you a good recollection of how the fight played out. Terrorsaur displayed his usual behavior in his engagement with me, but that's all I can tell you. Maybe someone else who's part of the team can give you more feedback."

Optimus nodded his damaged head, adding, "At least Terrorsaur is consistant."

-----

"Injected something inside her?"

"Yeah. Who knows what," Rattrap answered Whitegrazer. "Although, Icebreaker said he was gettin' some funky readings when he scanned her earlier. Rhinox should probably take a closer look at 'er." Glancing at Saber-Fang, he still suspected she was hiding important information about her and Sonar.

"Unfortunately losing the storage facility was Nemisis alone Rattrap." "Not sure what that 'Con was after but she's proving to be very difficult to stop, even Tigatron had trouble."

Shaking his head, he muttered, "If dat don't cut da cheese."

"We were successful in saving the protoform. Thanks to some quick thinking from Rhinox. Our new comrade, Airazor, is just getting a tour around the base. She's nice and she's a flyer too!"

"Quite beautiful too!" "Whitegrazer speaks too highly of me. May I ask who you are?"

"Guess so and you must be Airazor. I'm Feralnight."

Rattrap watched Airazor approach. "Well, it's home sweet home," he commented to her, grinning as a greeting. "I'm Rattrap, the local spy and demolition expert."

"Hey Rattrap what do you got there?"

The rodent in robot mode showed the device to Frilla but kept it out of her reach, and said, "Just a little parting gift your Predhead friends wanted to give ya. We're not sure what it is, so we figured we'd let Optimus see it first. Unless you recognize it?" Suspicious as always with former Preds, he watched her expression closely. Even if she claimed it to be harmless, she could be lying, and when they'd go to activate the little object, KABOOM! It didn't look threatening to him, and he was quite acquainted with explosives.

-----

Growling lowly, Tigatron lowered his nose from sniffing the air and slowly looked around. The smoke from Nemesis' attack on the Axalon had since been carried away on the breeze. Now there was another scent in the air; faint but it lingered. Predacon. Steelclaw perhaps? Unfortunately, the darkness and shadows would've provided excellent cover for the bear who enjoyed sniping Maximals. However, everything remained quiet, and Venatrix had reverted back to beast mode. Was that it? Were they finished?

Suddenly, a movement caught his eyes and the white tiger went on the guard, flicking his tail, ready to pounce and defend Dinobot until he realized that Steelclaw didn't appear to be armed. Odd. He could have easily taken both him and Dinobot out. Instead, he was strolling right toward them and... waving?

"Dinobot," Tigatron said calmly just to grab his attention for a moment and have him notice Steelclaw approaching them.