Chapter 9-Grudge Match
"Nightshade, may I have a word with you?"
Nightshade looked up from her datapad at Flamewar as the femme walked into the Nemesis' bridge. "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." Flamewar said with her infuriating smirk. "It's just that I haven't been assigned to any missions lately and its getting a bit…stuffy, on this island. I would like to have a more active role, since we're still low on supplies and energy."
"I'll be sure to get you in on the action more in the future, Flamewar." Nightshade told her. Flamewar smiled and nodded.
"You are a gracious leader." She said smoothly and walked to the door, greeting Soundwave as she passed him.
Once Flamewar was well out of earshot, Nightshade put her datapad down and turned to Soundwave. "Remind me of her trustworthiness, Soundwave."
Soundwave replayed a recording he 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 Con alike and rule this planet by ourselves. What do you say?"
The recording ended and Nightshade walked over to the communications center and pressed a button to open a connection to one of her troops' quarters. The recipient appeared on the monitor and stood at attention the second he noticed her presence.
"Ma'am, is something wrong?" Dreadwing asked.
"Nothing that's requires your immediate concern. I just wanted you to know that I have a little task for you." Nightshade said. "One that involves the extermination of a certain huntress."
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Flamewar should've been pleased. Nightshade had apparently taken her request to heart and assigned her on the first mission she could find. The downside was that she was saddled with Barricade and Dreadwing. The mission should've been simple enough, but something didn't feel right. Why send two heavy hitters with her on a recon mission?
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 barely provided any light for suitable visibility, not that they needed much help since they could just switch their optical sensors to night vision. The setting was reminiscent of the times when she would travel through forests on alien worlds, using the cover of night to make her move, killing her prey quickly and quietly, no witnesses. Those were the days…but no one said that those days were over for her.
The deeper they got into the forest, the more agitated she got, and she knew something was amiss. She was being targeted, probably by the two mechs accompanying her. Nightshade was behind this, Flamewar wouldn't put it past that bird bitch to try to slag her discreetly. Still, it would do her good to see if this was a hit and not an honest case of her paranoia going out of control. Good thing she was adept at reading people's expressions, searching for fear in her prey's faces was always a joy.
"Far be it for 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 on unconfirmed energon spike."
"Nightshade knows that Dreadwing and I will get the job done." Barricade said haughtily.
"I was talking about Dreadwing and myself." Flamewar smirked. Barricade bristled and marched toward her, but Dreadwing held him back.
"Calm yourself, Barricade. We are on a mission." Dreadwing said, glaring at Flamewar. "This must be a unified effort if we're to complete it."
In her line of work, Flamewar had learned the telltale signs of a warrior hidden in plain sight. Though they try to hide it, seasoned warriors and soldiers always had a certain air about them and gave tiny signs that betrayed their combat experience. Dreadwing was no different. Flamewar could see his shoulders were tense and his feet were marginally widening apart to maintain his center of balance. He was getting into a battle stance, getting reading to fight. Fight what, she didn't know.
Then she saw Barricade trade a glance with him and settle down, and she knew that it was her they were leading along. She was targeted for extermination.
'Fine then.' Flamewar thought. 'I'm in the mood to kill someone.'
"Yes, Barricade, do be a good boy and sniff out that energon for us. Maybe you'll actually be useful for something aside from being the Autobot scout's punching bag." She taunted.
"That's it!" Barricade roared and pushed Dreadwing aside to charge at Flamewar.
She smirked and ducked under his spinning gyro-blades before shooting a green energo-net at his face. The net wrapped around his head and blinded him, forcing him to his knees. With their cover blown, Dreadwing took out his cannon and fired laser blasts at her. She ran behind the trees to avoid his blasts and took out a grenade, tossing it in his direction. Dreadwing shot down the first one, but he wasn't expecting her to throw another grenade, a concussion bomb.
Few could take one of those to the face at close range and still have a head to think with, let alone walk around. Dreadwing was not one of those people. The bomb exploded in his face and the force wave blew him back into a tree, crashing through it head first before hitting the ground.
"That's one down." Flamewar said and shifted her arm into her blaster to finish him off, but a pair of sharp blades tore into her left shoulder and bicep. "Ah!"
Barricade pushed his attack, swinging his blades at her and forced her back. Wounded and lacking room to counter, Flamewar transformed and sped away through the trees. Barricade's back armor split apart to reveal two rocket launchers and shot two rockets at her. Flamewar dodged them both, but Barricade fired a third that caught her in the back wheel, blasting her off her wheels and into the foot of a hill.
Barricade didn't even stop to help Dreadwing as he pursued Flamewar, following the trail of energon she bled out. He followed the blood trail to a small hill, where he found the huntress in bipedal mode clutching her bleeding arm. Barricade grinned and spun his blades eagerly as he stalked towards her.
"This is going to be satisfying. You had this coming, you witch." He growled and raised his arm to cut her down and take her head to Nightshade.
But as he brought his arm down, it was caught in something sticky. Looking up, he saw that his arm was stuck in a thin but strong strand of webbing. He tried to pull his arm free but the webbing held him tight, though he was set free by an explosive arrow shooting into his elbow and blasting his arm off. He fell to his knees and held his smoking stump, then looked up to see Flamewar's smirking form shimmer and vanish. A hologram.
A shadow leapt from the trees, blades extended and a mad grin glinting in the moonlight as Flamewar descended on her prey.
The silence of the dark forest was broken by the echoing screams of Barricade.
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Major Klaus led his talos unit through the forest. His team consisted of four Codarls and a six-man infantry squad armed with anti-mecha weaponry. Their energon detectors placed around the forest had detected three energon signatures and were deployed to the area to apprehend the cybertronians at the site. Klaus hated midnight excursions in areas that were practically made for ambushes, but his superiors were adamant about acquiring this energon that their new alien buddy spoke so fondly of. As much as he hated dealing with aliens after losing so many soldiers to the others, he was still duty-bound to follow his commanders' orders.
The team came upon the site where what appeared to be a destructive battle had taken place. Klaus raised his talos' assault rifle and scanned the area.
"Mech team, form a perimeter around the area." He ordered. "Ground team, follow me."
They followed the path of destruction before them like a trail of breadcrumbs. His unit's scanners detected a trail of liquid energon on the ground and followed the trail to a clearing, where they found a…interesting discovery.
It was a corpse, if one could properly tell what used to be a body from the scattered remains of machine parts and severed limbs from the mess strewn about, along with glowing energon splattered all over the trees and ground. Only a single leg was still connected to the headless torso by a few wires. The major looked around and finally saw the head, which was sitting a fair distance away from the main body. He recognized the familiar face from the briefings on the Decepticons he got a few months ago.
It was the Decepticon known as Barricade.
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Flamewar once heard a human phrase when she traveled through one of their towns after the infamous "polarity" incident: From rags to riches. Looking at her current predicament, she could see how it described her situation perfectly, though in the opposite manner. 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 Con short.'
It felt good to have finally snuffed out one of those brainless bozos after having to endure their scrap for so long. They had it coming after forcing someone as dangerous as her to work for them. However, now she was facing a dilemma.
"I should've downloaded a map of our energon mines when no one was looking." Flamewar grumbled as she trudged through a cave, one of the few mines she could access in her current condition. Looking at her arm, she saw that she was still bleeding energon, which wasn't a good sign. Barricade's gyro-blades must have cut deeper than she thought. "Would've saved me the trouble of not starving."
She needed energon ASAP. Her repair systems would take care of the wound, but if she had more energy the regeneration process would be sped up, at least to the point where she wasn't bleeding everywhere. But the cave she was in was tapped out, and she wouldn't last long on scraps.
Flamewar pulled a tiny shard of energon from the wall and held it up, groaning when it crumbled to dust in her fingers. "Back to square one."
A loud hiss made her shift her blaster arm out and point it at the tunnel behind her. A large form stomped around the corner, and Flamewar gaped at the hulking form of the vaguely bipedal cybertronian that marched past her.
'An Insecticon?' Flamewar stared at the beast in shock. What was that thing doing on Terra of all places?
The Insecticon was a soldier, evident in its larger thirty foot bulk and black and purple armor. Its red visor glowed dangerously in the darkness, mandibles chittering away as it gauged whether she was a threat or not. Flamewar was smart enough not to attack it, knowing that it would kill her in a heartbeat. After a tense minute, the Insecticon turned away from her and marched down the tunnel. That was when Flamewar saw the cluster of energon in the creature's hand.
"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 into another cave, trying to order it to stop. Frustrated, she decided to take a chance and took out her laser crossbow to shoot it in the back of the head. One clean shot should at least disable it.
"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 person in the cave-a femme sitting on a pile of rocks like it was a throne. 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 bright segmented magenta eyes. On her back were six appendages that were long and sharp, looking like spider legs in their folded up position.
"Who the hell are you?" Flamewar asked.
The femme chuckled, her bright eyes shining with mirth as her purple lips pulled back to reveal sharp fangs. "I'm Airachnid, the queen of this castle. And you, my dear, are a Decepticon."
"Ex-Decepticon." Flamewar clarified.
"Whatever." Airachnid waved her comment off. "The point is that you are a Decepticon, and that makes you our enemy. Nothing personal, but you Cons have done my dirty in the past and I've been itching to vent my frustrations on you lot."
Flamewar's eyes widened when she saw Airachnid raise a hand and seemingly command the Insecticon to move on her. She stumbled back and raised her hands.
"Hold up! I'm in the same position as you!" She exclaimed. "The Cons just tried to knock me off just a few hours ago!"
Airachnid narrowed her eyes and mentally commanded her soldier to stand down. She leaned forward and said, "Do tell."
"I'm not sure if you know this, but Megatron's here leading an operation to conquer this planet, and Prime's team is on this planet too. They're both duking it out and just recently Prime slagged Megatron something else. That puts Nightshade in command and the first thing that skank did is try to have me killed with two mediocre soldiers."
"That explains the noise." Airachnid muttered. "I assume that's where you got that nasty wound of yours."
"Yeah," Flamewar nodded, and then smirked. "But you should see the other guy."
Airachnid simply smirked at her bravado.
"Now, I told you why I'm here, so maybe you can clarify why there's an Insecticon on this planet, which was supposed to have been uncharted." Flamewar said. "And why you're here as well."
"I'll give you the short version. I'm one of Shockwave's unwilling experiments, the latest in his attempts to merge Insecticon CNA with regular bots and the only one who survive. I don't exactly know anything else after he stuffed me in a stasis pod, but I woke up in a cave on this planet a few weeks ago."
That's roughly around the same time that Cardinal tried to annihilate the Cons. Flamewar knew that wasn't some coincidence. Those freaks did something to the planet when they awakened that threw everything out of whack. Things that were once sleeping within the earth were now awakening thanks to the Cardinals flexing their metaphysical muscles and it made this planet an even bigger nightmare than before.
"I found this big guy wandering these tunnels like a lost turbofox kit." Airachnid nodded to the Insecticon next to her. "Thanks to Shockwave's experiments, I can make this brute do whatever I want. It makes energon scouting easier."
"Hmm, if you were sent to Shockwave, then you must have done something to piss Megatron off. He likes to send people to that one eyed freak as punishment to people who don't cower in fear of his shadow." Flamewar snorted. She smiled and stepped forward. "It looks like we were both wronged by the Decepticons…or more accurately, Megatron."
Airachnid nodded. "It would seem 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, tapping her chin with a sharp finger. "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 soldier on the one he cares about most." Flamewar's grin was positively demonic by now. "Hit him where it hurts."
"And what's that?"
"The little glitch who hangs on his arm-Nightshade."
Airachnid stared at Flamewar before smiling coyly. "I think this is the birth of a very beautiful partnership."
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At the command bunker, Dreadwing stared down at his feet as a very angry Nightshade paced around him. He was just finished debriefing her on the horrendous mission that ended with another Decepticon down and the lieutenant wasn't happy about how things turned out at all.
"The reason we can't detect Barricade's biosignal is all too clear," Nightshade growled, stopping in front of him with a hard glare on her face. "But please explain to me how you can't find his remains?"
Dreadwing had no answer to that. He scoured the entire forest but he couldn't find any sign of Barricade's body. All that was left was a puddle of energon where his body had been. "Nightshade, I-"
"Nightshade," Soundwave called out. "Incoming transmission. Caller unknown."
Nightshade gave an annoyed sigh and waved a hand for Soundwave to patch it through. He pressed a button and allowed the message to play.
"Hello, Nightshade." Flamewar's mocking voice said through the comm. "How's Barricade? Did you mop him up yet?"
"Trace the signal." Nightshade commanded Soundwave, who immediately got to work on it. Flamewar continued speaking.
"I'm going to keep this short. You want to gut me for offing Barricade and I want to decapitate you for trying to snuff me out. So here's a compromise, I want you to come to me and finish this one on one." She said. "And since Soundwave's no doubt tracing this signal, come to my coordinates and you'll get a crack at me. That is, if you're half as brave as the stories say you are."
The message ended and silence filled the room. Nightshade's ebony feathers ruffled as she marched toward the door.
"Soundwave, bridge me to those coordinates. I'm going over there to teach that glitch a lesson." Nightshade said.
"Nightshade, allow me to join you." Dreadwing said, but she stopped him before he could follow her.
"Don't think you're off the hook, Dreadwing. You still have to prove that you're useful after failing to kill a simple backwater mercenary!" She growled. "I can take care of myself."
"But it could be a trap."
"If that's true, and I have no doubt that it is, then I'll deal with it accordingly. Soundwave, watch over things until my return."
Dreadwing watched her go with a displeasure expression. He couldn't force the issue any further, but that didn't mean he had to like her decision.
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After taking the ground bridge to the given coordinates, Nightshade transformed and flew over the designated area, which was a forest. It was dark and the weather was on the cusp of a thunder storm. Rain pelted her form as she reached the entrance to a cave in the ground, a deep pit formed by a recent earthquake two years ago. She flew into the cave and transformed to land on the ground, with Songbird following after her.
"Flamewar!" She yelled. "Flamewar, come out and face me!"
Her voice echoed throughout the cave, but no one answered her challenge. Songbird scanned the area for any biosignals, she wouldn't put it past Flamewar to stage an ambush in a place like this.
"Nightshade!"
Nightshade looked up and saw Flamewar lounging out on a ledge, like it was her throne. The arrogant glitch looked like she was an empress enjoying a bloody gladiator battle.
"It's about time you came. I was about to die from boredom." Flamewar yawned.
"The only way you'll be dying is by my hands!" Nightshade held out her arm. "Songbird!"
Songbird flew over to Nightshade to Powerlink, but before she could transform, a thick strand of webbing hit her out of the air and snatched her up.
"Songbird!" Nightshade looked to where the webbing came from and saw Airachnid picking her Minicon up, the purple femme clinging to the wall with her six spider-like appendages like a real spider. Songbird struggled in her grip as Airachnid relished the shock on Nightshade's face. "Airachnid…what the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm just here to enjoy the show." Airachnid grinned. She pinned Songbird to the wall with her webs, 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 slag you gave me. The only way you'll get out of this is with your own strength." Flamewar sneered. "No Megatron, no Soundwave, no Minicons. Just you…and our new pet."
A howl filled the air and the large Insecticon warrior walked out of the shadows, teeth gnashing together as it glared at her. Nightshade narrowed her eyes at the beast as she prepared herself, wondering what it was doing on this planet in the first place.
"I am First Lieutenant Nightshade. Cease your actions and stand down!" She commanded.
During his experiments in weaponizing the Insecticons for combat, Shockwave programmed all his Insecticons, even the alphas, to obey his commands and that of Decepticon High Command (excluding Starscream). It was a precautionary measure, seeing as the formerly feral animals were as much danger to the Cons as they were to their enemies if they all went berserk. So it was an honest surprise to Nightshade when the Insecticon didn't heed her commands and charged at her.
"I said-"
The soldier slammed into her and sent her crashing to the ground. Nightshade jumped to her feet as the Insecticon transformed to beast mode and flew at her, shooting laser blasts from its horn. A few bolts hit Nightshade and the beast rammed into her again, transforming and slamming her into the wall.
Flamewar grinned savagely as she watched the Insecticon thrash her worst enemy (next to Arcee). The soldier landed a few more hard blows to Nightshade's body, barely giving her time to react. Nightshade grabbed its horn, but he wrestled away from her and reared its head back, throwing her into the air before flying up and slicing its horn deep into her side. It spun back around and slammed her into the ground.
"Finish her!" Airachnid roared.
The Insecticon transformed to bipedal mode and charged at Nightshade, claws raised for the killing blow. But to the surprise of everyone present, Nightshade leapt up and landed a strong kick to its head, kicking it into a boulder.
"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 her raven form, all traces of her bipedal form smoothly shifting into a large black bird of death as she flew at the Insecticon, screeching loudly. The two combatants clashed ferociously as thunder and lightning crackled against the stormy night sky. It was as if Terra herself was witnessing this savage battle between beasts.
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Dreadwing stood on the beach of Decepticon Island, where he remained after Nightshade confined him to base following her departure. He was torn between his duty and personal feelings. Though she ordered him to remain on standby, his Spark was telling him to forget her orders and go after her to ensure her safety. He, as well as everyone else, was well aware of Flamewar's reputation as both a warrior and a criminal. She was a dishonorable glitch who killed for sport, a relative sin in Dreadwing's eyes. That femme had spit in the Decepticons' faces for far too long and it was about time someone did something about her. But she was not someone to underestimate, for she was 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 to ensure her safety."
"Disobeying direct orders based on a hunch? And they call me the reckless one." Skyquake gave his twin a queer look. "Dreadwing, you are already on thin ice after failing to kill that witch and losing a soldier on your watch. She'll, as the humans say, crucify you if you deploy against her orders for something she probably already has taken care of."
"I'm well aware that she is a capable warrior, Skyquake. But it would be foolish to think that Flamewar wouldn't have something planned with Nightshade in mind. 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 with almost as much honor as an Autobot. He fought for a cause, but refused to kill 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 his sense of justice, or just out of revenge for Barricade; Skyquake didn't know or care, he just knew that his brother was fully willing 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, not smiling, though his eyes did brighten. "Thank you, brother."
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Flamewar was beyond enraged. She thought that the Insecticon's superior physical might would overpower Nightshade before she could properly fight back, but apparently she underestimated the Con's bestial nature. In her excitement to snuff out Nightshade's Spark, she forgot that Nightshade herself could be just as animalistic as others of her kind (beast formers) when pushed into a corner. Even then, Flamewar had to admit that, when let loose, Nightshade was a force of nature.
In her beast mode, Nightshade unleashed the full force of her power, attacking the Insecticon with her sharp talons and beak, slashing and tearing away at its armor. Her mini-missiles blasted the Insecticon in bursts of flame and left it too stunned to properly counterattack. Nightshade changed forms and started stabbing into the beast with her swords. It howled in pain and tried to grab her, but she leapt away and spin-kicked its head.
The Insecticon fired energy bolts from its wrist cannons, and managed to score two hits on her chest, but she charged forward and backhanded its jaw, making it stumble back. It hissed and lashed out with its two smaller mandibles under its arm, but she grabbed them and brutally tore them off. As the Insecticon staggered back in pain, Nightshade went in for the kill.
One swipe of her blade and its head went flying into the darkness.
Nightshade watched the headless body of the Insecticon fall over, sparks spewing from the severed connections in its neck where its head used to be. She eyed its corpse before glaring up at an infuriated Flamewar, consequentially forgetting about Airachnid.
"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 shifted into her beast mode, shooting into the air after Flamewar.
There was a hiss and Airachnid descended upon her, stabbing her sharp appendages into Nightshade's wings and pinning her to the ground. "You're not getting away that easily!"
"Mistress!" Songbird cried out.
Flamewar jumped to the ground and walked toward the trapped Nightshade, who was webbed to the ground and unable to move, let alone transform. Not that her overcharge was wearing off, Nightshade was starting to realize how damaged she got in her fight. Pain started creeping into her senses and going unconscious seemed like a very real thing.
"What's the matter, Nightshade? Where did all that bravado go? Or was that just your version of hot air?" Flamewar hissed. When Nightshade remained silent, Flamewar lost her patience and pointed her crossbow at her face. "Answer me!"
"Look at you, trying to be big and strong." Nightshade laughed mockingly. "You try to act superior and badass, but it's hard to be scared of a femme who tried to kill her lover because of her inferiority complex. You're low on the food pyramid, Flamewar, lower than even that traitor Deadlock, and that's saying something!"
"You glitch!" Flamewar raged.
Before she could blast Nightshade's head off, a rain of laser bolts rained down on them from above. Flamewar and Airachnid looked up to see Dreadwing and Skyquake flying into the cave and transforming to their natural forms, pointing their weapons at them.
"Weapons down and hands up, traitor. This is your only warning." Dreadwing commanded.
Flamewar spat some rather nasty curses as them as Airachnid leapt through the air, snagging her with a line of webbing before pulling her back up to another cave on the second level. Dreadwing and Skyquake shot at them, but they both disappeared into the caves Airachnid carved out earlier.
"They're escaping!" Skyquake yelled.
"We'll get them another day. Go free Songbird while I tend to our leader." Dreadwing said.
Skyquake nodded and went off to retrieve the Minicon. Dreadwing tore the webs off Nightshade's body, allowing her to transform back to her bipedal mode again. She tried to stand up, but her body was still too weak to really move thanks to her wounds. Dreadwing supported her to her feet, keeping a hand on her arm to steady her.
"You disobeyed my orders." Nightshade grumbled. "I told you to remain at the base."
"With all due respect, ma'am, had I not arrived, you would've been terminated." He replied, not sounding the least bit guilty. "I was merely acting with your safety in mind."
Nightshade stared at him even as Songbird flew onto her shoulder. After a tense minute (though Dreadwing would deny feeling nervous), she smiled.
"You've earned your place at the table, Dreadwing."
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"Damn it all to hell! We fragging had her!"
Airachnid watched amused as Flamewar paced around her like a caged animal on the verge of mauling somebody. They had made it into a tunnel far from where the Cons had landed, stopping to rest when they were sure they weren't being chased. Flamewar, never one to waste time, used the moment to vent her frustrations at being cheated out of her revenge 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 pushed to their limit." Airachnid said.
"Don't start, Airachnid. I thought your so-called warrior was up to the task of killing her!" Flamewar yelled. "But 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?" Flamewar grumbled.
"A little present that might improve your mood."
They walked deeper underground until they reached a large cavern. Airachnid led Flamewar to a part of the tunnel network she rarely visited, and when she brought the ex-Con into the chamber, Flamewar couldn't believe her eyes.
The entire cavern was filled wall to wall with thousands of stasis pods, and inside the conical pods were slumbering Insecticons. Airachnid smirked at the awestruck look on Flamewar's face.
"Our drone was merely a scout." She said.
Flamewar smiled. Her war was just beginning.
Man, a lot of things happened. Stan Lee finally passed away, god bless his soul, Lost Light officially finished last week, Transformers: Unicron finished today, and all that's left is the final issue of Optimus Prime. Gonna be a long wait until next year, but at least we have that new Go-Bots comic coming out (crappy art aside, it looks interesting). Also, updates might come slowly since I'm taking web design classes that take up my entire day. Sorry for the slow updates in advance. Be sure to check out the official website for Transformers Titan on wordpress, directions to link in my profile. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review.
