Silence hung over the team. The image of the screen rotated slowly, making at look as if the spider-like femme was sneering at each of them in turn.
"Who's Airachnid?" Sideswipe finally asked.
"She's a glitch, that's what she is." Knockout growled. The hatred on his face was unnerving to Sideswipe.
"She was a rogue Decepticon who briefly acted as Megatron's second-in-command, before she tried to stab him in the back." Bumblebee elaborated. "But I thought she was dead. Fixit, what's her file say?"
"Um, one moment." The minicon scrolled through the file's information. "As you said, a former Decepticon officer. She was picked up Luna-2 about a decade after the war. She displayed an infectious mutation that made her especially dangerous. After her capture, she was turned over to the Cybertron Science Guild for study. She was being transported to an off-planet research facility when the Alchemor crashed."
"Wait—an infectious mutation?" Knockout asked.
"Yes. There's a summary here." Fixit explained. "It looks like she burns through energon at a faster rate than average—so fast, in fact, that she can't process regular energon properly. She has to feed off the already-processed energon of living bots. Moreover, the mutation spread to anyone she fed off of."
"Like a vampire!" Russell piped up from where he stood on the sidelines. Bumblebee's attention, however, was drawn to Knockout. The look on his face was unmistakable. It was the expression of a child who's just been caught breaking the window.
"Scrap," the medic hissed, rubbing his face. "Not this again…"
Bumblebee eyed him. "Sounds like you know something about this, Knockout. Care to enlighten us?"
Knockout sighed. "First of all, I'd like to point out that it was Starscream's idea. I tried to talk him out of it, but you know he never listens—"
"Less blaming, more explaining."
"Well… In the latter end of the war, I was doing some experiments with synthetic energon." Knockout said with some hesitation. "I found that repeated doses caused faster energy consumption, as well as heightened aggression—turned bots into berserkers. When I told Starscream, he suggested adding dark energon to the mix—"
"What?!" Bee cried. "You put dark energon in Airachnid?!"
"No! I put it in Silas!" Knockout stared at the ground, recalling the experiment. "The idea was to give Megatron a way to control the berserkers, but—as I warned Starscream—it went horribly wrong. We lost a third of our Vehicons to the infection. Silas must have infected Airachnid during his rampage."
Bumblebee pinched the bridge of his nose. "You created energon vampires and you never thought to mention this to the Autobots?"
"I thought they were gone! We killed all the ones on the Nemesis and Megatron mopped up the infected Insecticons—"
"There are vampire Insecticons, too?!"
"Hey!" The small human voice drew everyone's attention. Russell folded his arms and gave them his best commanding look. "It sounds like there's a long story here, but can we focus on the fact that there's a robot vampire running loose?"
Bumblebee took a deep vent. He couldn't lose his cool; solutions didn't come to a frenzied mind. "Russell's right. Knockout, you know what we're going up against. What should we be watching out for?"
"Don't let her bite you," Knockout responded instantly. "If she bites you, you become like her. The mutation makes her stronger and faster, but it also makes her desperately hungry. She might not be as cunning as usual, but she'll make up for it in sheer ferocity—she'll do whatever it takes to eat. When you fight her, aim for the spark chamber. Destroying it is the only way to kill her."
"Hold on! We're not killing anyone!" Strongarm interrupted. "Our mission is to capture, not kill."
"Your mission didn't involve Airachnid before." Knockout retorted.
"Regulations state that lethal force is only authorized if—"
"Slag the regulations!" Knockout shouted. "She should have been killed as soon as they found her! She deserves to die!"
The venom in his voice was enough to make everyone cringe. Sideswipe stared at his guardian in shock. He'd never seen Knockout so angry before.
"That's enough, Knockout." Bumblebee silenced his objections with a look. "Lethal force is a last resort, in all cases. We need to take Airachnid down, but we can do it without killing. In any case, we need to find her now before she starts causing trouble.
The team nodded solemnly.
"I'll examine her file," Fixit offered. "She might have a preferred type of terrain or shelter that will narrow down our search."
"Good. Everyone else, gather your gear and meet back here in ten minutes." Bee instructed. His teammates scattered to do as he ordered. He left Fixit to his work to get his own weapons. To his chagrin, Knockout followed.
"I'm not listening to your arguments, Knockout." Bee snapped before the medic could start talking. "We're not killing Airachnid unless we run out of options."
"Killing her is the only option," Knockout muttered. "But clearly you're not going to listen to me."
"Nope." Bumblebee strapped his Decepticon Hunter to his hip and turned to face the medic. "Besides, I'm not sure justice is your only motivation here."
Knockout's face scrunched up in distaste. Bumblebee knew what the spider had done. He knew Knockout still held a grudge against her. But there were more pressing matters than vengeance. "Old grudges aside, I don't think the whole team should go on this mission."
"What? Why not?"
"You know how dangerous Airachnid is. The younglings aren't prepared to face her. It'd be best if only the experienced fighters went after her."
Bumblebee gave Knockout a piercing gaze. "You don't want Sideswipe to go." It was a statement, not a question.
Knockout glanced aside, his reticence confirming Bumblebee's suspicions. "As I said—the younglings aren't prepared to face her. She's made scrap metal of more experienced soldiers. You, me, Drift—we have a better chance of defeating her if we don't have to worry about protecting them."
Bumblebee frowned. Knockout had an ulterior motive, of course, but he also had a point. As far as Strongarm and the others had come, they were still green when it came to combat. One mistake against Airahcnid could mean their death—or, under the circumstances, their undeath. And besides that... he knew what Airachnid had done to Breakdown. He couldn't blame Knockout for wanting his sparkling to stay as far from the femme as possible.
"You're right." Bumblebee agreed. "We should leave some bots here to guard the junkyard anyway."
He noticed Knockout's shoulders sag in relief before the mech hitched them up again. "Good thinking. Cover our bases."
Bumblebee walked back to the command center, Knockout at his side. The shadow of a smirk played across his face as he thought of something. "Since it was your idea—you can be the one to tell them."
Knockout's news was not well received.
"You can't do this to me again!" Sideswipe cried.
"Regulations state that senior officers must have back-up at all times—"
"I wanna punch somebody!" Grimlock whined.
Bumblebee waited for the complaints to die down. When they didn't, he gave a shrill whistle. "The decision's been made," he declared, staring down each of his allies. "Drift, Knockout, and I will catch Airachnid. Everyone else will guard the base. Final word, no arguments. Got it?"
Strongarm and Grimlock grumbled, but they nodded in understanding. Sideswipe, however, wasn't about to give in.
"Knockout talked you into this, didn't he?" Sideswipe jabbed an accusing finger at his guardian. "I can help, Bee! I'm one of the best fighters on the team! You can't make me stay behind just 'cause Protectobot here is afraid I'll get my paint scratched—"
"What part of no arguments didn't you understand, Sideswipe?" Bumblebee shot him a glare. "Keep talking and I'll make you clean the waste disposal bins while we're gone."
Sideswipe closed his mouth, but he remained sullen. He gave his guardian a pouting glare, which Knockout ignored.
"If that's settled, let's get going. Ready, Drift?"
"One moment." Drift deployed his minicons before transforming. "Jetstorm, Slipstream, help guard the base."
"But master!—" Jetsotrm was silenced by a glare form the bounty hunter. How Drift could manage to glare in vehicle mode, Bee didn't know, but it was sure effective. The minicons bowed submissively. "Yes, master." They said in unison.
Bumblebee transformed. "Autobots, roll out!" He rumbled toward the gates, Drift close behind. Knockout started off, but Sideswipe grabbed his shoulder.
"This isn't over," the youngling said, glaring daggers at him. "When you get back—"
He was cut off as Knockout seized his shoulder and dragged him into one of the aisles. The older mech spun him around, giving him the patented angry-parent face. Sideswipe wasn't cowed, though.
"I'm not a sparkling anymore—" Sideswipe started.
"I know. You continually remind me of that fact." Knockout stared him in the optic. "Do you remember Breakdown?"
"The guy you used to tell me stories about? What's he got to do with this?"
"Who do you think killed him?"
Sideswipe froze. "You said it was another…Decepticon…" His optics widened as he made the connection.
Knockout nodded. "Airachnid was the one who killed him. And now she's here. Closer to you than I ever would have wanted."
Sideswipe was stunned into silence. He'd grown up hearing stories of his guardian's best friend. Breakdown had meant a lot to Knockout. And now his murderer was here…no wonder Knockout had gotten so angry.
"I'm…I'm sorry." The youngling whispered, the words feeling powerless in his mouth.
Knockout regarded him, a rare softness in his face. "Sit this one out, Sides. Please." His voice was almost pleading. Sideswipe nodded numbly, hardly realizing what he was doing. His guardian shot him the slightest of smiles. He patted Sideswipe's shoulder guard as he left—a gesture of affection the youngling hardly ever saw. Sideswipe watched as his guardian sped away after the others. He gulped past the lump forming in his throat.
And he prayed. He wasn't even sure for what, but he prayed.