Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way, shape, or form. I am a mere fan who enjoys writing fanfic.
Summary: Blackarachnia was destined to eventually make an appearance. Shattered Glass, AU, mixed with a small Transformers Animated plot.
Rating: T
A/N: After month's of trying to piece this together, I decided from the benefit-of-the-doubt to just screw my worries of writing this and just upload it. If you are puzzled by Elita's dialect, all is explained after the chapter. :O
Chapter One: Instinct vs. Reason
The pain. Burning. She moved slowly. The stinging sensation spread through her circuits. Clawing at the ground in front of her, she pulled forward in a pathetic crawl. The pool of oil, oil seeping from her body, became larger and wider with each movement she made; she could feel the last of her energy bleeding away with every drop of oil lost.
Poison was spreading throughout her body. Disgusting organic poison. The wretched creature responsible was watching with its beady eyes; all eight of them continually looking over her. Its long, narrow legs occasionally crept forward in a slow advance as its swollen abdomen repeatedly raised and descended in the air in a quizzical motion as it studied her movements. She scowled as she pulled forward, wincing slightly at the sudden flare of pain but careful to keep the creature in sight. Whatever toxins the giant organic had exposed her to—when she awoke to find it impaling her with two sharp fangs—it was taking its toll.
An idea suddenly struck her. A very risky idea.
When she was younger, just during the beginning of the war, her body had been upgraded to be able to download data of an opponent and temporarily copy their abilities, weaknesses, and strengths with just a single touch. If she could get in reach of the creature, perhaps she could copy enough of its data to build an immunity to its poison, an immunity that could save her circuits. Disgusting as it sounded, and despite the doubts that bothered her, she was too stubborn to allow herself to be offlined by such a pathetic organic. After all, she was Elita-One, one of the Autobots highest ranked fighters...for the femme standards anyway. She didn't earn her position in the Autobots or as the mate of the most feared mech on Cybteron, Optimus Prime, by being cautious. She was violent and strong-willed; that was what it took to survive amongst the sexism, bias, and unwanted attention of hunger-lusted mechs craving female companions.
She suddenly turned to face the creature from her place on the ground and slowly crawled forward. She hoped moving closer would entice its curiosity and encourage it to approach her at a faster pace. At first, it merely blinked and took a small step with one of its front legs.
She grunted and gave a small growl at its reluctance.
"Scared? You should be. I vas caught off guard vhen you got the upper hand," Elita spat out as she inched forward.
The arachnid merely twitched.
"If it had been a fairer fight, heh, you vould have been ripped to shreds," she hissed and glared.
Eventually, her mocking and insults got the creature's attention. As hoped, the creature was lured forward as a small growl seethed out and it became bolder in its next few steps as if to say, "Oh, think so?" It was no different than ignorant Autobot mechs that were so easily provoked by a few words.
Merely feet, then only inches stood in the way between her last chance of leaving…online. The creature was so close now. Just out of her reach. She should have been wary, seeing its cerulean eyes hovering so near and realizing how dangerously long its front fangs were, but it was the only opportunity she would have. Survival outweighed fear. Her hand reached forward, shaking, with scanners ready. In an instant, she swiped at its leg and clamped a fist around it—squeezing so hard that fluids began to seep from the organics limb, and she almost pulled away in disgust. Despite her obvious dismay, she was not foolish enough to waste her only opportunity to live and grudgingly held on.
The arachnid yowled in pain, nearly yanking its damaged leg away from Elita-One. But, she kept her grasp on the limb and was forcefully dragged forward, ignoring the gravel that scraped against her armor.
At first, Elita was worried that the scan would fail to work on the organic creature, panic rising, after waiting for the results that seemed unlikely to happen.
Scan, scan, scan, scan! she thought in fear-tinted rage. If the start-up didn't begin soon, chances were that she would go off-line from the energy loss.
The process of copying seemed difficult to initiate if one did not understand it, but it was inadvertently simple enough if she wasn't distracted or trying to fend off an enemy. It was just a matter of waiting for the processor that controlled her scanning functions to reboot, since she couldn't afford to let it continually run due to its energon consumption; the very irony of the situation didn't make Elita any happier about her predicament.
Elita breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a hum of the internal scanners readying, and impatiently waited for the information to be downloaded and sent to her firewall. Almost immediately, she recoiled in shock as a wave of pain, new, foreign, pain shot through her system; she twisted and writhed on the ground in horror. Optics widening, she realized that something wasn't right. Elita had never felt such convulsions while using her ability before—it felt as if her servos were being repeatedly torn off and her body was being thrown into a smelter. Suddenly, a stinging sensation ran along her backside, in a total of six pin-pointed areas to be precise. A moan escaped from her lips as her grip on the creature loosened. It pulled away.
From a quick glance at it, Elita nearly cursed in realization. The green fluid that was oozing from the organic's leg, the same fluid that her hand had been coated in, had been scanned and was being converted through her system. Because of her haphazard attempt, she was going to receive more than just immunity to the poison. Almost immediately, the stinging on her back seemed to increase ten-fold as her body began to ache in flares of burning pain. The assiduous, rippling pain spread on her backside and she nearly cowered to the ground. Her breathing became sudden and heavy as she trembled.
Feeling a deep tear, Elita slowly reached to her back and became wide-eyed after realizing that a large gash had formed—in the exact area the stinging first began. Accompanied with more ripping, Elita screamed in a mixture of horror and pain as something pushed its way from under her armor and tore into freedom. It was long, appendage-like. It bended back and forth and twitched slightly. Just like…
"Slag!" Elita hissed as she studied the newly "born" thing sticking out of her back. Her glare quickly turned to the arachnid creature and she nearly gasped in disbelief.
Scanning a large sample of the creature's genetics had caused her system to begin converting to a new form, a new body. A body that would be fused with organic elements. No longer Cybertronian…
Another rip. She winced and bended over in agony. Two more rips. Elita slammed her fist into the ground and gritted—trying nothing more than to ignore it. She wanted the pain to stop. Going off-line would be a blessing compared to this. By the time Elita had realized that the growing suddenly stopped—waiting for breems in a frozen, crouching position—a total of eight of the appendages had sprouted from her backside.
Feeling her face plate flush aflame, Elita quickly brought a hand to her face. She felt a slim segment lacerating above both optics and she grasped at the area in pain. The two openings blinked—wait, blinked? Elita froze for a moment, running her hand over the openings and realized that they were no different than her optics; she saw with them as well. Something suddenly fell in front of her view—it was black, long and thin. She caught it between two digits and closely examined it. It seemed to be some sort of cilia strand. Elita pulled at it, but was slightly surprised to feel a small pain on her head. Slowly, she reached towards the troubled area and bit back a gasp. More of the protein strands were attached there. In fact, her entire head had been covered with the dark material.
Her gaze darted to the movement of the organic creature, having forgotten about it in a moment of pain, and she glowered. She stood up, glare focused on the creature and charged at it after a small breath. Elita screamed in rage as she clawed and kicked at it, with more of its fluids splattering against her. Despite feeling so weak, rage empowered her with every blow. Even after the creature finished its final struggle of hissing and stopped twitching, Elita continued with each strike until her trembling body refused to strike any longer.
She gazed at the organic creature's face. Its eyes were dark and empty.
Elita found her body instinctively folding over—she was transforming. It didn't feel right, the way her body was compacting. It wasn't the way she had transformed before—how she was used to it feeling. The appendages that had sprouted from her back had shifted to her side, her legs folded under the casing that had formed on the lower end of her back, and her arms were encased at both sides. She felt her head being tucked away under her chest and everything went black. After a few moments passed, her vision came back in a blue tint, and she saw everything so differently. Five different angles, most likely from five eyes, greeted her optics, and she instantly felt nauseous.
Her thoughts pounded, arguing against the feelings that wanted her to do something. Her body urged her to move somewhere, anywhere. Her mind told her that she needed to rest; to ignore the strange yearning.
She felt her body take step forward, but ultimately tripped in a pathetic fall. Whipping her slender head around, she realized that this mode had three additional sets of limbs—meaning that she would have to walk with eight legs. A hiss vocalized her annoyance as she slowly rose on her wobbling legs and attempted to step forward again. She was able to keep her balance…until the fifth or six step.
Accursed organic form.
She hissed again. Her fangs clicked together impatiently.
Don't think, just follow the instinct. Stop thinking, use no reason. Just act.
Elita arose again and started at a slow pace, making sure the long limbs did not overlap each other again. She had successfully made it to about ten feet worth of walking when a lower grumble in her system had stopped her in her tracks. She was hungry. Hunger meant that energy was needed.
She glanced back at the dead creature; the fluids seeping from the wounds she had inflicted caught her attention. With narrowing optics, Elita's body shivered in disgust before she turned away.
What's stopping you? It's the only food you'll find down here.
She came to a halt.
You know it's the only way. Why go through such a transformation, if you're only going to let yourself starve?
She faced the organic creature again and took a small step, but quickly grimaced.
No! It's organic—
Heh. You're the one to talk.
I von't! I vould rather die.
Well, you're doing a fantastic job at it. Keep acting so stubborn and you will.
I von't lower myself to eating such a disgusting creature!
But you have no problem with being partly organic.
…
Who's going to know? You're miles below Cybertron's surface, miles below the Autobots and any organic haters. Who would be down here to see you?
Elita took another step forward, her gaze lingering on the creature. In a flash, she darted at it and bit down in repulsion. Squeezing her five eyes shut, she pulled a chunk of the organic's flesh off and chewed it quickly—silently regretting it. Her mind's protesting died down as the hunger caused her to take larger pieces of the creature with each bite and gulp it down in mere moments.
Her organic body shivered slightly after feeling energy returning to her; she was finished eating, and she grateful the experience was finally over. It wasn't something she planned on thinking about for a while. Slowly, she looked around. Fangs twitching and legs quivering, she felt a strange urge. The urge told her to move. Unease. That was what was directing: anxiety.
A noise. She turned. Nothing. Darkness. Something crumbled in the distance. She whipped around. A light blinded her. She hissed.
"W-Whoa! What the Pit is that?" a voice suddenly called.
She then saw them. Three of them. Mechs. Fliers. Red insignias. All Decepticons. Her abdomen flared up, she froze in an intimidating stance.
"Holy slag!" the same voice, belonging to the light blue flier yelped.
The light flashed over, and she nearly recoiled from the brightness. She hissed and tried to back away as she squinted. Her spark—she hoped it still resembled a spark—pounding beneath her chest plate. Should she run? Would they follow? Could she defend herself?
"It's an organic!" the flier on the far right responded in a surprised tone. His body was colored blue and red with a yellow cockpit.
"Shockwave's reports were right," the white and red seeker murmured, cautiously moving forward. "I would have never guessed that organic creatures live so close to us. Mere miles below our homes! Imagine what could be learned from studying them, from—"
"Uh, Starscream, sir," the blue flier interrupted and glanced towards the mentioned flier. "I think some things are better off unbothered."
A spark of realization flooded Elita as she studied the trio. They weren't regular Decepticon soldiers. Starscream, the red and white seeker, was Megatron's Second-In-Command and one of his most trusted men. Despite that Elita had never encountered him on the battle field, she had heard tales of how accomplished he was as a scientist…before Crystal City, the city where most scientists graduated from, was destroyed on Optimus' orders. Skywarp, the light blue flier, was known to be able to teleport but never put it to much use when fighting. Thudercracker, the last of the three, was equipped with a sonic-dampening effect that silenced anyone within the weapon's range. Other than that, the three could pass as brothers because of their similar looks— all having bodies that resembled one another and identical jet modes.
Starscream took a step forward, and Elita immediately stared at him, keeping him in sight. Waving a hand to Thundercracker and Skywarp, he quietly said, "We have no reason to attack it, but be wary. Should we find ourselves in that situation, try to stun it, and keep stronger attacks as a last resort."
Elita almost laughed at the Decepticon's softness, but kept silent. They would be more likely to attack if they knew she was more than a mindless organic. She then hissed with a deep screech and took a step, raising her front two legs high in the air while flashing her fangs.
"Shoo!" Skywarp cried, waving the nullray on his arm in her direction.
Elita narrowed her eyes and growled.
"Go on!" the mech said, aiming at her. A small blast fired and scorched the area right before her.
Elita almost darted away the moment the gun fired, but she held her ground. If she ran now, she would always run. The instinct wasn't going to control her actions this time. She crouched in annoyance, bending her legs down and released the pressure like springs. She threw her weight at the seeker and pinned her legs around him. The mech screamed in shock as he was caught off guard and fell to the ground, his limbs flailing. Elita clamped her longer two fangs around Skywarp's arm while the shorter ones dug under the armor to the circuitry.
"Augh! It's eating me!" the blue flier cried hysterically and tried to throw her off. Elita's eyes twitched in response as his fists whammed against her.
Suddenly, Skywarp went limp under her. She realized that something was pumping from her fangs into the flier. The venom. She could now create the very same poison that had morphed her into this hideous form, but would she still be able to scan the abilities of others as well? Could she still copy an opponent's abilities?
"Skywarp!" Starscream and Thundercracker screamed in unison, after witnessing the said Decepticon become unresponsive.
Elita glanced up and removed her fangs from the seeker's arm. A hiss emitted from her as she focused on the approaching two.
"Stay back," Elita warned in a soft tone, "if you value your comrade's life."
"It can talk!" Thundercracker said and glared at her. He then lifted the cannon attached to his arm in her direction with narrowing optics. "Get off him, you freak!"
Elita merely scoffed at the insult as she found her body unfolding and reverted to her bipedal mode. Placing a servo on her hip, she smirked at the two. A small cackle echoed from her throat as they stared at her like an anomaly.
"It's not nice to point veapons, dahling," Elita hissed as she slammed a heel on Skywarp's cockpit, just above his spark chamber and stared at Thundercracker provokingly.
"You" —Elita turned to Starscream as he spoke—"are Cybertronian?"
"And how," Elita murmured. Her glance descended to her arm and watched as a laser, the same type as Skywarp's, quickly appeared on it. It was as if it had sprouted from her very circuits. She raised her arm and aimed at Thundercracker, her lips pursed in a sneer.
"That's Skywarp's! If he's hurt," Thundercracker threatend and stepped forward, "you'll be sorry!" The flier rushed forward, but froze on spot when Starscream moved his arm to block him.
After silently exchanging glances with Thundercracker, Starscream quickly spoke, "Please. We can talk this out. There's no need for fighting."
Elita nearly arched a ridge at Starscream's action, but merely grunted and stared at him.
"We didn't mean to disturb you—"
"Vell, you obviously did."
"Yes, but we did not realize that a Cybertronian could look…possess an organic mode."
Neither had she.
"So I've heard," Elita replied dryly and glanced away with narrowing optics. "Exactly vhy are three Decepticon soldiers all the vay down here then?"
"How did you—?" Starscream slowly began, watching her more carefully with each word. And then, a sudden flicker of awareness. "Wait, are you an Autobot?" he asked with a worried tone as he quickly armed his cannon.
Elita quietly hissed, realizing that she had said too much. They obviously knew she wasn't a Decepticon, so what would keep them from suspecting her of being an Autobot or at least working with the faction? While that was true, Elita was savvy enough to keep the Decepticons from learning that.
"I don't need to be a soldier to be avare of vhat you are." Elita eyed their red Decepticon insignias. "All of Cybertron is familiar with the participators this var."
She felt a sudden stir beneath her and was immediately knocked onto her backside. Skywarp had recovered and pushed her off with ease by using his boosters.
Panic rising, Elita found herself quickly transforming again. She scrambled to her legs and quickly arose from the ground.
A blast grazed against her and she grunted, dazed. She darted away as she was hit with another shot and nearly tripped over herself.
"She's getting away!"
Skywarp appeared in front of her—from teleporting in mere moments—and Elita stopped in her tracks.
"Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to get this dent out?" Skywarp asked bitterly as he gestured to the crack on his cockpit and pouted.
Elita's legs began to wobble. She was still sore from the transformation and the new wounds weren't helping. Her body rebelled against her and froze. Her thoughts screamed to move, they were coming closer.
You're so tired. Why not rest?
No! I can't stop! I must…
She struggled to keep going, but no movement obeyed. She found herself sinking down against her desperation. Her optics slowly began to close.
The last thing Elita saw were their blurred forms approaching.
Don't! Get up! It'll all be over!
Footsteps…Voices…A touch…Darkness…
A/N: Gawd! D: Forgive me for not using the word "ember". It just doesn't feel right compared to spark. (I don't like the fact that G1 Elita wasn't used as SG Elita either, but I'm going to keep the Slavic accent she has, though she'll be more of a G1-esque femme to me.) Since I'm not all too familiar with the SG world either, my knowledge is very limited. I ask to not be flamed if I'm being noobish about some information. All I have to rely on is the Transformers Wiki page about characters and storyline.
And if you're a reader wondering when I'll update on SAINW, it'll be a little while. I promise it's not dead, but like I said on my profile, it's on a semi-hiatus.
Chapter 2 will be up soon. Reviews are love. :)