Chapter 9-Grudge Match
"Nightshade, may I have a word with you?"
Nightshade looked up from her datapad at Flamewar as the huntress walked onto the bridge. "Yes, what is it?"
"Forgive me for interrupting your work, but I would like to talk to you about the mobilization of an underutilized asset." Flamewar said.
"And that is?"
"Me. It's just that I haven't been assigned to any missions lately and its getting a bit…stuffy on this ship. I would like to have a more active role, since we're so low on supplies and energy."
"I'll be sure to get you in on e the action more in the future, Flamewar." Nightshade told her. Flamewar smiled.
"You are a gracious leader." She said smoothly and walked to the door, greeting Soundwave as she passed him.
Once she was sure that Flamewar was out of earshot, Nightshade put her datapad down and turned to Soundwave. "Remind me of her trustworthiness?"
Soundwave played a recording he had acquired from Laserbeak. 'What I'm trying to say is that we should join forces. With my cunning and your leadership capabilities, we can easily ditch Bots and Cons alike and rule this planet by ourselves. What do you say?'
The recording ended and Nightshade narrowed her eyes. She walked over to the Communications Center and pressed a button that connected the bride to Dreadwing's quarters. The Seeker was working on his weapons when her face appeared on his monitor and he stood at attention the minute he noticed her presence.
"Is something wrong, lady Nightshade?" Dreadwing asked.
"Nothing of the sort. I just wanted to inform you of a little task I have in mind." Nightshade said. "One that involves the extermination of a certain huntress."
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Something was wrong, that much Flamewar was certain of. Nightshade had apparently taken her request to heart and assigned her on an energon scouting mission, but also sent Barricade and Dreadwing along with her. That alone made alarm bells ringing in Flamewar's head; why send two heavy hitters with her on a simple mission? She had no clue, but it certainly seemed suspicious.
And the location wasn't very comfy either, a dark forest with thin, gnarled trees and little room to properly move around in their alt modes. It was the middle of the night and the half-moon above only provided a moderate amount of light for them to see, not that they needed the helping hand seeing as they could just adjust the visual settings of their optics to night vision. Still, this environment reminded her of when she would hunt down rare species in the forests of alien worlds, using the cover of night to make her move, kill her prey quickly and quietly, and silence any witnesses…then hide the bodies in the forest to make sure that no one knew of her having their fun, be they bot or organic.
As they got deeper into forest, her nerves got more agitated, and she knew that something was about to happen. She was being targeted, probably by either Dreadwing or Barricade, or even both. She wouldn't put it past that bird bitch to try to slag her in seclusion, away from the eyes of her precious Cons. But before she made her move, she had to make sure that was the case, as to avoid a misunderstanding. It was a good thing she was adept at reading people's expressions. Searching for the fear in others' faces made for good social skills.
"Far be it from me to understand Nightshade's thought process," Flamewar said. "But doesn't this seem a little overkill on her part? I mean, sending two of her best operatives to investigate one simple energon spike."
"Nightshade knows that Barricade and Dreadwing will get the job done." Barricade grumbled.
"I was talking about Dreadwing and myself." Flamewar replied smirking. She chuckled inwardly when she saw the warrior bristle and stomp towards her, only to be held back by Dreadwing.
"Barricade, calm yourself." Dreadwing said calmly, glaring at Flamewar. "This must be a unified effort."
She could see the tenseness of his shoulders, his feet widening apart marginally-he was getting into a covert battle stance to prepare himself for something. When she saw Barricade glance his way, Flamewar realized that she was indeed being targeted for extermination. That was fine, she needed to kill something tonight.
"Yes Barricade. How about you be a good boy and go sniff out the energon for us? Maybe you'll actually be useful for something other than getting your ass beat by a certain Autobot scout." She taunted.
"That's it!"
Barricade pushed Dreadwing away and charged at Flamewar with his gyro-blades deployed. She smirked and ducked under the spinning blades, jumping back before shooting a green net into his face. Barricade grunted and fell to his knees, trying to get the adhesive net off his face with difficulty. With his partner down and his cover blown, Dreadwing took out his cannon and fired plasma blasts at her. Flamewar ran behind the trees to avoid getting shot and shifted her hand into a grenade launcher, firing two grenades. Dreadwing shot down the first one and dodged the second, but he wasn't expecting her to manually throw a third one. It was a concussion bomb and few could take one of those straight to the face at close range and still have a head to think with, let alone walk around. Dreadwing was not one of those bots.
She smiled as she saw Dreadwing go flying to the left into a tree head first, smashing through the trunk and hitting the ground. He wasn't dead, but he wouldn't be shrugging that off anytime soon. She raised her blaster arm to take a few shots at his unprotected head, but she was caught off guard by the thin blades digging into her shoulder and biceps.
"Ah!" She hissed and jumped away from the now freed Barricade, who was trying to gore her with his gyro-blades.
His assault was quick and gave her little room to do much of anything without suffering severe injury in return, so she transformed to vehicle mode and sped away from him, weaving through the trees. Barricade shifted the armor panels in his right forearm to reveal a mini rocket launcher, and fired a few rockets. She managed to dodge two of them, but the third locked onto her position and caught her in the back wheel, blasting her off solid ground and into a small alcove after hitting a tree on the way.
Barricade didn't even stop to help Dreadwing as he pursued Flamewar, following the trail of energon she bled out. He followed it into a small gorge, where he saw the huntress in her robot mode, lying on her side clutching her bleeding arm. Barricade grinned and spun his blades eagerly as he stomped towards her.
"This is going to be satisfying. You had this coming to you witch." He growled and raised his arm to cut her down and take her head for Nightshade.
Only to have his arm caught in something sticky. He looked up and saw his arm caught in a thin strand of webbing that withstood his strength despite him trying to pull his limb free. Then an explosive arrow flew in from the side and destroyed his arm at the elbow, sending him falling on his looked at the stump that was his right arm, then glanced at the smirking Flamewar, who's form began to shimmer and vanish completely. A hologram.
A shadow leapt from the trees, blades extended and a mad grin present as Flamewar descended upon him like an Owl taking its prey.
The silence of the dark forest was broken by the echoing screams of Barricade.
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Major Klaus of the 2nd OZ battalion led the patrol unit through the forest with a team of three Talos and a twelve-man squadron. They were investigating a sudden energon spike in the area that manifested just a few minutes ago and were immediately deployed to the area to find its source. Klaus didn't like going out on midnight excursions in areas where he could be ambushed, but his superiors were adamant about acquiring this energon that the alien had spoke so fondly of. And as much as Klaus hated dealing with aliens that had killed so many loyal OZ soldiers, he was duty-bound to follow the orders of his commanders.
He wasn't really expecting to find anything, but when they happened upon the site of what looked like a destructive battle, he got serious and switched the settings on his automatic rifle.
"Mech team, form a perimeter around the area." He ordered. "Ground team, follow me."
With only the lights on their rifles to light their way, they followed the path of destruction, seeing destroyed trees and large footprints in the ground. But Klaus was following the trail of blue liquid that led his team to a gorge deep into the heart of the forest. When they reached the end of the trail, they found a rather disturbing sight.
It was a corpse, if one could call this misshapen cacophony of machine parts and severed circuits and conduits, as well as the glowing energon splattered all over the trees and rocks and dirt. Body parts were thrown in different directions, marginally still connected to the headless torso by a few thin wires and cables. The major ran his light along the corpse and almost jumped as he stumbled upon the head, which was sitting a fair distance away from the body. It was a familiar face from the briefings he got on the Decepticons.
Barricade's head.
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Flamewar once heard a phrase, a human phrase she caught when she traveled through one of their tons before the infamous "magnet" incident: "From rags to riches". Looking at her current predicament, she could see how it described her situation perfectly, though the opposite was true. From riches to rags, the story of a huntress with enemies on all sides.
'Honestly, I'm surprised it took them this long to make their move.' She thought. 'Nightshade should've done the job herself. Then maybe she wouldn't be a bot short on the team.'
It felt good to have finally snuffed out one of those brainless bozos after having to endure their slag for so long. They had it coming after forcing someone as dangerous as her to work for them. But now she was facing a dilemma.
"Why didn't I download a map of recorder energon mines before I left the ship?" Flamewar grumbled as she trudged through a cave, one of the few mines that she could access in her current condition. She looked at her arm and saw that she was still bleeding, which was not a good sign. "Would've saved me the trouble to trying not to starve."
She needed energon now. Her repair systems would take of the wound, but more energy on her side would help in speeding up the regeneration process, at least so that was she wasn't bleeding a trail everywhere she went. But the cave she was hiding out in had little to no energon left, only scraps that could barely hold her for the smaller part of an hour.
Flamewar pulled a tiny crystal from the all and held it up to her face, groaning as it crumbled to dust under her rough treatment of it. "Back to square one."
Then she heard a loud hiss echo throughout the tunnel and drew her laser crossbow as a large form stomped around the corner. She recognized it as it passed into the dim light, its bestial form reaching nearly 30 feet high with black and purple armor with a hunchback posture and a red v-shaped visor that glowed dangerously in the darkness.
'An insecticon?' Flamewar stared in shock at the creature. What was this thing doing here, on Terra?
The insecticon bruiser stopped to look at her, mandibles chittering away as it gauged whether she was a threat or not. Flamewar was smart enough not to attack it, so the insecticon turned away and walked back down the tunnel. That's when Flamewar caught sight of the cluster of energon crystals in its hand and jogged after it.
"Hey, where did you get that?" She called out. It ignored her and continued down the tunnel. "I'm talking to you, you stupid bug!"
Flamewar followed the insecticon through the tunnel into another cave system. Grumbling in frustration, she drew her crossbow and prepared to fire a laser bolt into its back.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Flamewar froze. "Who said that?"
The insecticon hissed and lowered its head in submission as Flamewar saw another bot, a femme, sitting on a pile of rocks like a throne in the middle of the cave. She was mostly dark purple and black in coloration, with a slender frame and a narrow head with two short curved horns atop her head with a pale face and sported bright segmented magenta eyes. On her back were six appendages, long and sharp and looked strangely like spider legs in their curled up position.
"Who the hell are you?" Flamewar asked.
The femme giggled, magenta eyes glowing with mirth as her purple lips pulled back to reveal sharp teeth. "I'm Airachnid, the queen of this castle. And you, my dear, are a Decepticon."
"Ex-Decepticon." Flaewar clarified.
"Whatever," Airachnid waved the comment off. "The point is that you are a Decepticon, and that makes you our enemy. Nothing personal, but you Cons have done me dirty in the past, and I've been itching to sick my pets on someone to vent out my frustrations."
Seeing Airachnid mentally commanding the insecticon surprised Flamewar, but she quickly focused on avoiding a fight with the beast.
"Hold up! I'm in the same position as you! The Cons just tried to knock me off just a few hours ago!" Flamewar said.
Airachnid narrowed her eyes and motioned for the insecticon to stand down. "Do tell."
"Megatron's leading a team on this planet against Optimus Prime and his Autobots, they've been on this planet the entire time, fighting their own little pocket war. Just recently, Prime managed to slag Megs and Nightshade took over." She explained. "That skank tried to have me kill with two mediocre soldiers and I slagged one of them."
"That explains all the noise." Airachnid muttered. She felt one of her traps getting tripped, but when she went to investigate, all she found was a pool of energon.
"Now, I gave you my explaination. So maybe you can clarify what insecticons are doing on this planet, which was supposed to be uncharted."
"Let's get one thing straight, sister. I'm no insecticon, I wasn't born like this." Airachnid said, frowning. "I was one of Shockwave's unwilling experiments to merge insecticon CAN with normal bots and I'm one of the best that came out of it. I don't know what happened next, but I found myself in a stasis pod on this planet, waking up almost three weeks ago."
Around the same time as their battle against the Cardinal. Flamewar knew this wasn't just a coincidence. Those freaks did something to the planet's biosphere that threw everything out of whack. Things that were sleeping dormant were awoken thanks to the Cardinals awakening at the same time.
"As for this big guy," She motioned to the bruiser standing next to her. "He was roaming the tunnels aimlessly like a lost Turbofox cub."
"So you were a deserter. Megs must've given you off to Shockwave as punishment. He likes to do that to people who don't cower in fear of his shadow." Flamewar noted and smiled. "We were both wronged by the Decepticons. Or more accurately, Megatron."
"It seems so."
"What would you say if I granted you an opportunity to get your revenge on the big man himself?"
Airachnid hummed and leaned forward. "I'd say you'd better not be lying to me. Can you assure me Megatron's demise?"
"Bucket head is otherwise engaged, but we can sick your little drone," Flamewar jerked her head at the insecticon. "On the one he cares about the most. Hit him where it hurts."
"And what's that?"
Flamewar's smile grew wicked. "That little glitch who hangs on his arm-Nightshade."
Airachnid stared at Flamewar for a moment before smiling coyly. "I think this is the birth of a very beautiful friendship."
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Dreadwing looked down at his feet as a very angry Nightshade paced around him. The mission she had given him to kill Flamewar was a complete failure and now they were down a Decepticon. Just when things were starting to look good for them.
"The reason we cannot detect Barricade's biosignal is all too clear," Nightshade growled. Then she sneered and got in his face. "But please explain to me why you were unable to find his remains?"
Dreadwing had no answer to that. All he heard of Barricade was his scream of agony, then when he came to his senses he couldn't find any trace of the mech save for a pool of energon where his corpse must have been. "My lady, I-"
"Nightshade," Soundwave called out. "Incoming transmission."
Nightshade let out an annoyed sighed and waved a hand for Soundwave to patch it through. He flipped a switch and allowed the message to come through.
"Hello, Nightshade," Flamewar's mocking voice sneered through the comm-center. "How's Barricade? Did you mop him up yet?"
"Trace the signal." Nightshade ordered. Soundwave got to work as Flamewar continued speaking.
"I'm going to make this short. You want to gut me for offing Barricade and I want to decapitate you for trying to kill me. So here's a compromise, I want you come to me," She said. "Since Soundwave is no doubt tracing this signal, come to my coordinates and you'll get your retribution. That is, if you're brave enough."
The message cut off and silence filled the room. Nightshade's feathers ruffled and she marched towards the door.
"Soundwave, bridge me to those coordinates. I'm going over there to teach that glitch a lesson." Nightshade said.
"My lady, allow me to join you." Dreadwing said, but she stopped him before he could take a step forward.
"Dreadwing, you have yet to prove your usefulness to me, so don't think you're off the hook." She told him. "I can take care of myself."
"But it could be a trap."
"Then I'll deal with it accordingly. Soundwave has command until my return."
Dreadwing watched her go with an unreadable expression, but his clenched fists made it obvious that he wasn't pleased with this turn of events.
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Nightshade flew over a forest in her beast mode, casting a long dark shadow over the land each time lightning flashed across the sky. Rain pelted her form as she reached her destination, a large pit in the ground near a mountain that was the result of a slight earthquake that tore the cave roof apart, exposing the cave to the outside world. She swooped into the pit and transformed, landing hard on the ground. Songbird followed dutifully after her.
"Flamewar!" She shouted. "Flamewar come out and face me!"
Her voice echoed in the cave, she was deep enough that even the lightning flashes couldn't be seen down there. She motioned for Songbird to scan the area for anything that might look like an ambush. She wouldn't put it past Flamewar to make another alliance with those humans from OZ.
"Nightshade!"
She looked up to see Flamewar sitting on a ledge, looking down on her like a Grecian emperor about to sentence a gladiator to death. The arrogant glitch probably thought this would be a good show.
"It's about time you came. Honestly, I was about to die of boredom here." Flamewar taunted.
"You'll die, all right. By my hands!" Nightshade held out her arm. "Songbird!"
Songbird flew over to Nightshade and reconfigured into her weapon mode, but before she could Powerlink with her mistress, a thick strand of webbing hit her dead center and snatched her up.
"Songbird!" Nightshade exclaimed. She turned to where the line came from and saw Airachnid picking her Minicon up, the femme clinging to the wall on her six appendages like a real spider. Songbird struggled in her grip as Airachnid cackled at Nightshade's shocked face. "What are you doing here?"
"Just enjoying the show." Airachnid grinned. She stuck Songbird to the other side of the pit, far from Nightshade's reach. "Now we can expect a partially fair fight."
"You little bi-"
"Now, now, Nightshade, don't expect me to play fair after all the treatment you gave me. The only way you'll get out of this is with your own strength and bare hands." Flamewar sneered. "No Megatron, no Soundwave, no Minicons. Just you…and out new pet."
Nightshade heard a familiar howl and saw a large Insecticon lumbering out of the shadows, teeth gnashing together as it growled at her. She narrowed her eyes at the beast as she withheld why it was even here in the first place and braced herself.
"I am Nightshade. Cease your actions and stand down!" She ordered.
Shockwave had programmed all his insecticons, even the alphas, to obey his commands and that of the Decepticon high command (excluding Starscream). It was a precautionary measure, seeing as the formerly feral animals were as much a danger to the Cons as they were to their enemies should they lose all reason and go berserk. So it was an unpleasant surprise to her when she saw the Insecticon not only howl at her, but also run at her in a quick charge.
"I said-"
Nightshade was hit by the bruiser's large body and sent crashing into the ground. She got to her feet, just in time for the insecticon to take on beast mode and fly at her, firing laser blasts from its curved horn on its titanium skull. A few bolts hit Nightshade dead on, and the beast rammed into her again, before grabbed her shoulders with its legs and slamming her into the wall again.
Flamewar grinned savagely as she saw the insecticon thrash her worst enemy (next to Arcee) around like the piece of trash she was. She saw it land a few hard blows to her body, each blow feeling like a full powered punch from Megatron as Nightshade had no time to fight back. Nightshade grabbed its horn, but a backflip slammed her body into the ground before it reared its head back and tossed her up into the air. The insecticon flew up and sped past her, landing a deep gash in her shoulder before flying into her and slamming her back to solid ground.
"Finish her!" Airachnid shouted.
The insecticon transformed to robot mode and charged at Nightshade, claws raised to strike down its prey. But to the surprise of everyone present, Nightshade leapt up and launched a strong kick to the side of its head that sent it smashing into a boulder, shattering it.
"Who the hell do you think I am!" Nightshade roared. "I am Nightshade, the black death of Styx! She who is second only to Megatron himself!"
Her body reshaped itself into its raven form, all traces of her robot mode vanishing into a smoothly sculpted avian form as she flew at the insecticon, screeching loudly. The two combatants clashed ferociously, as thunder and lightning pelted the stormy night sky. It was as if Terra herself was applauding the brutal carnage taking place within her earthen body.
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Dreadwing stood on the beat of Decepticon island. He was torn between his sense of duty and his personal feelings. He knew that his superior had ordered him to stay behind, but his Spark was telling him to forget her orders and go after her. He was well aware of the reputation Flamewar had garnered as a huntress, a dishonorable glitch who killed for sport, which he considered a sin in his eyes. That femme had spit in the Decepticons' face for far too long and it was about time she got what was coming to her. But she was not someone to underestimate, for she was as crafty as she was ruthless.
"Brother," Skyquake called out as he walked onto the beach. "What are you doing out here?"
"Thinking." Dreadwing answered. "I fear that Nightshade has gotten herself into something that she can't fight her way out of and I was considering going after her in case she needed back-up."
"You're thinking of disobeying her orders based on a hunch?" Skyquake gave his twin a look. "And they call me the reckless one. Dreadwing, you are already on thin ice after failing to kill the huntress, and losing one of our soldiers on your watch. She'll crucify you if you go out against her orders for something she probably already has in the bag."
"I'm well aware she is a capable warrior, Skyquake. But it would be foolish to think that Flamewar wouldn't have something planned. I refuse to stand by while our leader falls into a trap!"
Skyquake sniffed at his brother's sense of justice. He was a strange one, a Decepticon lacking the bloodthirst usually present in other Cons. He fought for a cause, but refused to kill just for the sake of killing, looking down on people who thought that way. He wondered if Dreadwing's urge to move out was because of some sense of justice of out of revenge for Barricade; he didn't know and didn't care, but he knew that his brother was going to do this alone if he had to.
"Whatever you choose to do, Dreadwing, I am with you no matter what." Skyquake said.
Dreadwing nodded and smiled. "Thank you brother."
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Flamewar was beyond enraged. She thought she had won. She thought that the sheer physical might of the insecticon would overpower Nightshade, but she apparently underestimated the sheer might of a beast former. She didn't take into account that Nightshade was just as animalistic as others of her kind when pushed into a corner. Even then, Flamewar had to admit that when let loose, Nightshade was like a force of nature.
Nightshade hadn't even transformed out of her beast mode yet as she pelted the insecticon with powerful strikes that left deep gouges into its armored carapace. Her sharp beak tore holes in its joints and neck cables, while her talons scratched and gored its vulnerable parts. Nightshade wasn't fighting like a warrior, she was fighting like a beast.
The insecticon thrashed around trying to dislodge her from its back, but she held on tight, digging her claws into its spine and tearing away more pieces of armor to get at the weak points underneath. It managed to grab onto her wing and throw her to the ground. She transformed and deployed her arm blades, stabbing them into its lower abdomen and slashing away at the exposed circuitry. It howled in pain and slashed at her, but she leapt away, landing a spin-kick that made it stumble to the side.
The insecticon fired a few energy bolts from its wrist cannon, and managed to hit her in the chest and shoulder, but she braved through the pain running at it and backhanding its jaw. It stumbled back and howled once again in agitation before charging at her. It lashed out with the two smaller mandibles under its arms, but Nightshade caught them and kicked it in the chest, brutally tearing the appendages off. The insecticon flailed about in pain, giving Nightshade the chance to get in close and deliver the final blow.
One swipe of her blade and its head went flying into the darkness.
Nightshade watched as the headless body of the insecticon fell to the ground, sparks shooting from the stump where its head used to be. She eyed its corpse before glaring up at an infuriated Flamewar. Airachnid was nowhere to be seen.
"Now do you see? Even when you have others fighting for you, you're still an embarrassment. Now why don't we get down to business, shall we?" Nightshade said and made to transform back to beast mode.
Only to have Airachnid jump down on her and stab her sharp legs into her wings. "You won't be getting away that easily!" Airachnid hissed.
"Mistress!" Songbird exclaimed.
Flamewar jumped down into the pit and walked towards the trapped Nightshade, who was webbed to the ground and bleeding energon profusely. Now that her overcharge was wearing off, she was keenly aware of the damage she sustained in her fight and the amount of wounds she sported. The pain was hard to ignore, and she had to remain online to avoid going into stasis.
"What's the matter? Where's all that bravado from earlier? Or was that your inner beast talking smack?" Flamewar snarled. When Nightshade stayed quiet, she lost her patience and aimed her crossbow at her face. "Answer me!"
"Look at you, trying to be big and strong." Nightshade coughed out a laugh. She grinned mockingly at Flamewar. "You try to act superior, but it's hard to be scared of a femme who killed her sister because of an inferiority complex. You'll never match up the legacy Arcee created."
"You glitch!" Flamewar roared.
Before she could pull the trigger, a rain of laser bolts rained down on them from above. Flamewar looked up to see Dreadwing and Skyquake flying down and transforming into their robot modes, pointing their weapons at her.
"Weapons down and hands up, traitor. This is your only warning." Dreadwing commanded.
Flamewar spat a rather nasty curse at him before a line of webbing shot into her back and pulled her back up to the second level. Dreadwing and Skyquake opened fire on her as Airachnid pulled her up and they both escaped into the tunnel she had carved out earlier.
"Of course they escape." Skyquake grumbled.
"That's not important now. Go free Songbird, I will tend to our leader." Dreadwing ordered.
Skyquake nodded and flew up to the wall where the Minicon was still trapped. Dreadwing knelt down and tore the webs off Nightshade's body, allowing her to revert back to robot mode. She tried to get up but her body was too weak to move on its own, so Dreadwing helped her to her feet, having her lean on him for support.
"You disobeyed orders," Nightshade grumbled. "I to you to remain at the Nemesis."
"With all due respect, my lady, had I not arrived, you would've been terminated. I was merely acting in your best interests." He replied coolly.
Nightshade didn't take her eyes off him even as Songbird flew onto her undamaged shoulder. Then her black painted lips upturned in a smile and she chuckled.
"You've earned yourself a fine position on our team, Dreadwing."
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"Damn it all to hell! I fragging had her!"
Airachnid watched with dull interest as Flamewar paced around her like a caged animal that's hit the end of its patience. They were hiding out in a tunnel far from where the battle took place, though they had to stop to rest. Flamewar decided to use this time to vent out her rage at being waylaid at the last minute.
"Calm down, sweetie. Clearly you underestimated Nightshade's mind. Megatron made her second in command for a reason, and you know how primal beast formers can get when they reach a breaking point." Airachnid said.
"You're one to talk! I thought you assured me that so-called warrior was up to the task of killing her!" Flamewar shouted. "He was completely useless!"
"Now just settle-"
"Don't tell me to calm down! I'm anything but calm right now!"
Airachnid frowned, but then she smirked and motioned for Flamewar to follow her. "Come, I have something to show you."
"What is it?"
"A little present that you improve your mood."
They walked deeper into the tunnel network until they entered a large cavern. Airachnid led Flamewar to a part of the network that she rarely visited and what she saw made her mood change in a heartbeat.
Stasis pods. The cavern was filled wall to wall with hundreds of stasis pods and inside the conical shaped pods were slumbering insecticons. Airachnid smirked at the look of awe on Flamewar's face.
"Our drone was merely a scout." She said.
Flamewar felt the urge to smile and let it spread across her face. Her war was only just beginning.
