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"And I can leave? Just like that?" Airachnid inquired incredulously.
"You are a guest here. You may leave whenever you wish and remain as long as you want," Optimus stressed as Airachnid tried to stand up from the berth she had previously been sitting on.
"Yip, yip, yip," Ratchet intervened, "You are unfit to go off on your own. If you reopen that tear on your stomach again, you risk damaging your t-cog even more. And I won't be welding it shut for a third time."
Airachnid put a bit too much weight on her broken ankle and the only thing that stopped her from face planting was Optimus lending her a steadying servo. The slight narrowing of her optics was the only indication that she was in pain. Airachnid heaved herself back onto the berth. She caught Ratchet's optics with her own and noticed that the medic looked rather disappointed that Optimus had caught her.
"How long, Doctor?" Airachnid couldn't stop the slight growling undertone from entering her voice, nor did she have any desire to.
Ratchet met her glare for glare. "Allow me a moment and I can open a ground bridge for you directly into the nearest smelting pit."
Optimus inwardly sighed at their antics, before placing a servo on his friend's shoulder plate. "Rest a day and you should be fine as long as you stay away from strenuous activities like transforming or fighting Megatron," the medic groused.
"You mean being trounced by Megatron," Airachnid corrected sullenly, "And that's not a problem because I never want to do that again."
Ratchet turned to leave the med bay and Optimus followed him out. Neither one saw the tiny smile on the Prime's lip components as he dimmed the lighting for the spider femme. It had come to his attention that she disliked the bright lights. "Ratchet," Optimus murmured, "Inform the other autobots that they should, temporarily, not bring their human companions to the base."
"Obviously," the medic muttered.
Airachnid lay back on the berth and stared at the ceiling, but didn't really see it. She knew the Prime had been trying to be quiet, but he had severely underestimated her hearing. The spider femme didn't blame him for being cautious with the humans. Especially Jack. It was only logical.
Airachnid knew that she would have no better opportunity to leave without the autobots knowing, but she was so tired. Physically and mentally. Before she even realized it she had sunk into a restless slumber…
A few hours later, the final bell rang releasing the students from school. Jack exited the large building with Miko and Raf. The threesome parted ways as they neared their own respective guardians, and Jack rushed to his beloved motorcycle. "Arcee!" the sixteen year old exclaimed, "You're alright!" He hadn't seen her seen her since her mysterious disappearance, and Bulkhead had had to drive him to school. Jack put on his helmet and Arcee left the parking lot.
"I was gone less than twenty-four hours," Arcee downplayed it, but he could practically hear her smile.
"We were left with no information on where to even begin going about rescuing you. Is it true that the autobots were able to capture Airachnid directly after you went MIA?"
"It's true," Arcee confirmed," they lost her shortly after and, in relation, there's been a change of schedule due to circustances. You won't be going to the base for a bit. I will be taking you straight home since you don't have work today," Arcee replied.
"Is there another scraplet outbreak, becau-?"
"Airachnid is currently residing there as a 'guest'," Arcee told him hollowly.
"WHAT?" Jack was so shocked he almost fell off the motorcycle. He would have too if Arcee hadn't adjusted her positioning to catch him.
"She's not allowed to go anywhere near humans including you and June," Arcee tried to reassure him, but she sounded strained even to her own audios. They both knew all too well that Airachnid did as she pleased.
"If that monster is in Jasper, then please take me to the hospital," Jack requested, "Mom is not leaving my sight until she's gone."
Arcee obliged him and proceeded to tell him of her outlandish escape form the Nemesis…
"So you're the new autobot recruit," a female voice spoke directly into Airachnid's audio receptor.
The spider femme jerked awake, panicked that someone had managed to sneak up on her. On inspection, Airachnid found a slightly familiar Japanese teenager standing on the medical berth. And here she had originally suspected the voice belonged to Enigma.
Airachnid brought her face plate close to the girl. "Aren't you the wrecker's pe- partner?" she corrected herself.
The girl grinned at the spider bot, showing no fear whatsoever. Her mannerisms did remind Airachnid of Enigma, but she also got the sense that this human girl wouldn't run away from anything.
"You got that right, and the name's Miko."
"I presume that the autobots don't know you are here. What's to stop me from crushing you?"
"Oh, nothing much, just that Optimus is one room over. It's true that none of the bots know I'm here, 'cause I snuck through the ground bridge. Think you can kill me before I scream and alert him?" Miko smirked.
"Hiding bodies is my specialty." Airachnid activated her thermal detection upgrade. While cybertronians weren't quite as warm as humans, she was still able to find their heat signatures. Prime was, indeed, in the main room of the base. From his stance, Airachnid determined that he was working at the monitors.
The human female broke the spider femme from her thoughts when she spoke. "You talk a good game, but you won't hurt me. Not when you clearly want to get into the autobot's good graces and maybe even join Team Prime."
"What makes you think for even a moment that I want anything to do with the autobots?" Airachnid practically spit out. She was having a serious debate whether scraping this obnoxious human was worth risking the Prime's wrath.
Miko gave her a knowing look, "Bulkhead told me all about how you saved Arcee, before he left on patrol. So you can drop the bad guy act."
Airachnid blanched at the teenager's words. Is that how her actions had been interpreted? She didn't even know what had compelled her to do it.
"Ya know," Miko continued completely unfazed by the femme's sudden silence, "There are only two girls on Team Prime, me and Arcee. Helicopter Mom doesn't count. And as much as I love Bulkhead, we need more girl power."
Airachnid's next words were drowned out by the opening of a ground bridge. Bulkhead walked through and his optics immediately landed on Miko, standing beside Airachnid.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" the wrecker roared. It was unclear to the two females which one of them he had yelled at, but neither got the chance to ponder it. Bulkhead's servo changed into his mace and he charged.
Airachnid barely had time to launch herself of the berth, before Bulkhead's mace left a sizable dent in the metal. She was really glad that hadn't been her frame. The wrecker used his free servo to scoop the human girl off the berth, and shoved her behind him where she would be less of a target for the deranged spider femme. Miko started to scream, but her words didn't register in either of their audios.
Bulkhead swung for Airachnid again, but she anticipated his strike. The spider femme gracefully leapt over his weapon, but she had miscalculated the landing and most of her weight ended up on her broken ankle. A wail erupted from her voice box as her leg went out from under her, and the brace, courtesy of the medic, threatened to snap. It clearly hadn't been built with the intention of holding up through battles.
Airachnid fell to her knees, as her vision dimmed at the edges. Her ankle was never going to heal at this rate. Losing to Megatron was one thing, but to the wrecker… she now had a new all-time low. The spider femme braced herself for the wrecker's mace, but it never came. Instead a shadow crossed in front of her and stopped.
Airachnid glanced up to find the Prime standing over her. Why were Primes so stealthy? She chanced looking him in the optics, and immediately regretted it. The Prime's face plate was emotionless, but his optics… The look in his optics was of resiginition, as if he knew he should have expected this to happen. The spider femme would have preferred out right disappointment.
"Perhaps it is time for you to leave," the Prime rumbled. He said it as a casual suggestion, but it was clearly anything except that as his optics seemed to harden.
Unbelievable! But, then again, she should have known this would happen. She had done nothing wrong, not really, and she laughed a cold, harsh sound that hurt their audios. Optimus tensed and Bulkhead took a defensive stance. Rage boiled up within her, the likes of which she hadn't felt in eons. They were no different than him. The mech who had destroyed her life along with so many others. She wanted to rip something apart, preferable them.
It was only too easy to slip the mask back on. She had been wearing it so long, it had become a part of her. When you're weakest, that is when you must act the strongest, Airachnid thought. That had been her way for centuries, and now was no exception. Airachnid activated her spider legs and stood. Her ankle. Her poor ankle. Pain was still flooding the length of her leg, and she really hoped she hadn't permanently damaged it.
Still laughing quietly, Airachnid smirked and hid her anguish behind the façade. "I'd like nothing more," she purred and revealed her sharp denta.
"Ratchet, prepare a ground bridge," Optimus commanded and the medic was only too happy to comply.
The human girl called out again, but was ignored. Airachnid stormed through the open portal, murderous thoughts churning in her processor. The spider femme didn't bother asking where she was headed. She didn't particularly care if she was deposted directly into a smelting pit.
(I tried to give Jack and Miko a little time in this chapter. If anyone has any ideas on how I can incorporate Raf, I would love to know 'cause I got nothing)