Sorry for taking so long I accidentally wrote a good chunk of chapter 12 first
Steeljaw walked the corridors casually, Glowstrike and Saberhorn following behind. They had noticed him missing, and Glowstrike in particular had been quite disappointed in him for wandering off, but he'd at least managed to catch her interest upon mentioning finding a potential new warrior.
"So you've brought in another lost Decepticon?" Glowstrike asked, though she sounded a bit irritated, "I suppose that excuses your absence, though I suggest you tell us the next time you scamper off to who knows where. We've had enough Decepticons go missing as it is."
"Don't shame the mech Glowstrike," Saberhorn said, quieting the other before addressing Steeljaw, "Personally, I don't blame you for going out, it's much too stifling in here."
"Oh, I'm fully aware of the disappearances," Steeljaw replied with a hint of disgust, remembering his less than pleasant encounter with Thunderhoof from earlier, "But you can't expect a Decepticon like me to stay indoors all day, like you said, far too stifling."
He hadn't mentioned the Predacons, but they didn't need to know about them. If anyone was going to go after those two, it would be him. He'd seen what they were capable of, Thunderhoof had looked awful upon their encounter, and he wanted something that could tear a mech like him up on his side. Imagine what they could do to the Autobots!
Once they approached the room he had left Airachnid, Steeljaw opened the door and allowed his two current superiors in first. They were immediately met with a small bot speaking with an Insecticon, its head in her hands as she whispered something quietly to it. Upon seeing the others, she let go of it
"So are you the commanding officers?" She asked, looking them over. "How interesting."
She sounded impressed, and Saberhorn was quick to notice. He walked straight up to her, sent off the Insecticon, and bowed. Glowstrike was less interested, but approached Airachnid anyway and stared at her suspiciously. Something about her was odd, but she couldn't place what.
"And who might you be?" She asked.
"Airachnid, perhaps you've heard of me?"
Glowstrike continued to stare, "Can't say I'm familiar."
Airachnid shrugged, and Glowstrike walked back to Steeljaw. She was nothing overly impressive as far as Glowstrike could tell, but it was enough for now, they could always do with more Decepticons. Airachnid at least had the advantage of being a threatening Cybertronian, arachnicons were quick and agile, and had the advantage of creating mesh webs. She could be a valuable asset, but it was too early to know for sure.
"Come now, Saberhorn." She called to her partner, who was still inspecting Airachnid, "We have things to do and Decepticons to meet with."
"Leaving so soon?" Airachnid asked. She almost sounded upset. "I was hoping you'd stay a moment more at least, I have something important to say if you don't mind."
"I have too much to do right now." Glowstrike said, "But you can speak with Saberhorn If you must. Don't stay too long."
Whatever she wanted to talk about, Saberhorn would tell her if it was important. Walking up to the door, she stopped and waved Steeljaw over to follow. He obeyed, though his tail swished in annoyance at being told off. He had to be patient right now. He'd get his chance to take over eventually.
The two exited the room, and Airachnid and Saberhorn were left alone.
"Now what was it you wanted to speak about?" Saberhorn asked, "Any information on those bothersome Autobots perhaps?"
Airachnid nodded. "I may have information on them, but I wanted you to do something for me first."
Saberhorn cocked an eyebrow at her request, "And what might that be?"
Truthfully, she wanted to grab him and suck the Energon right out of him, it had been too long since her last meal. But unfortunately, bots were more loyal when they still had life left in them. Always a drawback.
"I want you to go to my ship for me. There's some things in there that might be quite useful."
"Why should I retrieve anything, it's not my- We have others who can-" Saberhorn's body twitched as he became confused, his mind fuzzing.
"You can't possibly expect me to do it myself, in my condition?" Airachnid asked in mock sadness, motioning to her cracked chassis, "I'm in no state to do such a thing."
"No, I- I don't-" Saberhorn continued to fidget, suddenly realizing Airachnid was causing his confusion, "What's happening? What are you doing?"
"Setting things right, management is in poor taste here." Airachnid explained, tone more serious as she watched Saberhorn fell to his knees, head in one hand, "Could use more of a matriarchy."
Saberhorn was an Insecticon, a creature she could control. She'd never tried to control the more intelligent ones like him, never really had the chance, but it seemed he was just as susceptible to her as the more primitive ones, if not a bit more of a fighter. She could feel him trying to fight her, but his attempts weakened with every attempt. He was coming around.
After a moment, his body loosed and he sat in a position akin to a bow. He still seemed a bit confused, but more or less under her control as he asked, "W-what do you need?"
His voice and movements were strained, like he was still trying to fight her off, but Airachnid knew that at this point it wouldn't work. He'd give in eventually, and if he didn't? Well, let's hope nobody would suspect her if he went missing, she'd appreciate the meal.
"I need you to gather up some important vials." Airachnid explained, watching Saberhorn carefully as he weakly kept trying to fight her off. "I know those rude Autobots will barge in there and search everything, so I need them now. They contain something very important."
Saberhorn nodded, "Of course. What might they look like?"
"You'll know when you see them, they're hard to miss." Airachnid explained, "Now get up will you? I have a few more Insecticons already on their way, we don't have time for you to waste."
Saberhorn obeyed, but upon standing asked, "What of Glowstrike? I must get back to her, she might suspect something."
"Glowstrike is of no importance anymore." Airachnid stated aggressively. "Now get to it, before the Autobots do. Wouldn't want to disappoint me by failing, now would you?"
He struggled again, but after a moment he finally gave in and nodded.
"No, of course not my queen."
Despite what had gone on recently, everyone was surprisingly upbeat today. A bit on edge, sure, but certainly less stressed than before. Except Knock Out, as he continued to complain about his wrecked optic and the eyepatch he was forced to wear because of it. Even Thunderhoof had seemed calmer than he was, though outside of exercising his injured leg, he spent most of his time sleeping in vehicle mode.
It wasn't stasis, which Bumblebee would have preferred, but at least it kept him quiet. His presence still stressed him, it didn't feel safe.
Currently they were planning out teams to go out on patrol to hunt for escaped prisoners or even any signs of Airachnid. Most had been decided quickly, Bumblebee and Strongarm would search the city, and the twins would hunt the country roads. Drift and Grimlock would search through the woods. Knock Out and Arcee were not to be allowed out of the scrapyard, Knock Out and Fixit needed to stay in case of emergency, and Arcee was still recovering from her poisoning.
"I can do just fine you know. It wouldn't hurt just to scout." She tried to argue, but Knock Out shut her down.
"Just because I have two other patients to deal with doesn't mean I'm letting the one who thinks she's perfectly fine go." He said, "Give your body a few days rest, I'm still irritated with you after the cave incident."
"I helped you!"
"But you also left the human boy with the ex-Decepticon crime lord."
That one shut her up. Always finding the mistakes to poke at, it was typical Knock Out, he was a pain to work with. But they were stuck with each other now, and she was getting used to his ways. She'd find something to bother him about later.
"Is it possible to stop by our ship for supplies?" Knock Out asked, turning his attention to Bumblebee, "We aren't in desperate need of medical supplies at the moment, but I'd like if if you could at least check on our Energon stores. I would rather those not get taken."
Their ship was close to Airachnid's, and Bumblebee had to take a moment to think. Energon was something they could always use, but he wasn't sure he wanted to risk his team like that. But he didn't want to doubt them either.
"Drift, Grim, you in?" He asked. Drift nodded and Grimlock punched his hands together.
"Better in our hands than the enemy's."
"Yeah, and if there are any enemies, I'm always up for a fight!"
Well, that settled that, but he hoped there would be no need for a fight. The two went on their way into the woods, and the twins left the scrapyard not long after. Bumblebee knew he and Strongarm should go on their way too, but he had one more teammate to talk with.
"Fixit?"
"Yes lieutenant?" He asked, pausing his current work to listen.
"You'll alert me if you find any Decepticon signals?"
"Of course!" Fixit said, though he was a bit confused, "But why ask, hasn't that always been my job?"
"Well, yes, but I wanted to ask you something else as well. Could you make sure Knock Out and Thunderhoof don't act out?" Bumblebee asked, crossing his arms and looking in their general direction, "I'm wary of them both."
"I assure you, Thunderhoof is currently still too lethargic to be much of a threat. But Knock Out's a part of your old team isn't he, why would you distrust him?"
Bumblebee looked away unsurely. Knock Out had tried to redeem himself then, he'd gone through so much to try and prove he really wanted to be on their side. But after what he'd said earlier, after saying he regret defecting, Bumblebee wasn't so sure.
Knock Out had joined the winning team, but what if the Autobots weren't the winning team anymore?
"Just a bit paranoid is all." Bumblebee sighed.
He finally took off after that, Strongarm following as they made their was to the city. Fixit went up to the Command Center, watching for any signs of Decepticons. Knock Out grabbed Arcee by the shoulders casually, stopping her from sneaking away and doing anything risky.
"Bumblebee's so worried about putting Thunderhoof in stasis when it should really be you." He said, yanking her back. She tried to go again, but he held tight and she eventually gave in, slumping to the ground in defeat. "If you're really itching that bad to do something, help me wake Thunderhoof. If he keeps putting off exercising and keeps sleeping he'll never heal."
Arcee groaned but got up and followed Knock Out to the sleeping tractor. She was no medic, and not much of an assistant, that was what Sunstreaker was for, but she'd try to help when needed. Even when she would much rather be hunting outlaws.
Knock Out knelt down to wake the other up, but Thunderhoof backed off before he got the chance.
"Just cause you think I'm powered down doesn't mean I am."
He transformed back to robot mode, but didn't bother standing until Knock Out told him to. He put most of his weight on his good leg, but the injured one no longer trembled as much when he stood on it. Knock Out took notice of this and got out his scanner.
"Does it always take this long for a limb to work right again?" Thunderhoof complained as Knock Out scanned him. "I don't like not being able to defend myself."
"Had this been a replacement limb? No, it wouldn't have even take a few days to get used to." Knock Out said, lowering his scanner to stare the larger mech in the face, "For a limb that got torn off, filled with caustic venom, reattached, and gets constantly mistreated by someone who refuses to listen to his doctor? Yes it does."
Irritated by Knock Out's accusing tone, Thunderhoof tried to kick him lightly. He missed, Knock Out leaning out of the way of the effortless kick and whacking Thunderhoof's leg with one of his wings. It wasn't too hard really, but it hit right in a spot that had been particularly sore, and Thunderhoof yelped as he stumbled and grabbed at his injured leg.
"Ey! What kinda medic does that?"
"One that takes no scrap from his patients." Knock Out said with a grin as he stood, "You're fine, leg's healing decently. But there's still the fact you're a mess of corroded wires and metal on the inside. That may take a while longer to deal with."
Thunderhoof huffed in irritation and Knock Out checked his scanner over again, Arcee taking a look this time as well. Most everything he read was what he expected to, but something was off and he tapped his scanner to try and fix it. The thing wasn't busted, was it?
Flicking the scanner with one finger, Knock Out muttered, "What I would like to know how someone who spends all their time sleeping has such low energy readings."
"Probably cause I'm not actually asleep most the time." Thunderhoof admit.
Knock Out looked at him in slight confusion, and Arcee asked, "What, why? You need the rest."
"I can't."
"And why is-"
"I just can't, alright!" Thunderhoof barked back, finally letting go of his leg, "Ain't none of your slaggin' business."
Knock Out wanted to argue, but Arcee held him back. A vehicle was approaching the scrapyard, and though it was likely to be Denny and Russell returning from wherever they'd gone, there was still always the risk of potential Decepticons, or even other humans. Turning to the yard's entrance, they saw Denny's old truck approach, some boxes in the back. Nothing to be anxious about.
Arcee left to greet them and help out with the boxes. Knock Out ignored them, prepared to go back to Thunderhoof, but with the all too familiar sound of a Cybertronian transforming, he turned to see him a tractor again.
"You know we still have to exercise your leg, right?" He asked.
Thunderhoof just backed up and mumbled, "Don't wanna, too tired."
"Fine. Don't heal then."
Knock Out didn't feel like arguing with someone so ridiculously stubborn right now, nor did he really care to help out the humans. He realized he hadn't seen Bob around, perhaps he could hunt for her instead? Not particularly entertaining, but it was something. Hopefully she was still in the scrapyard, the Insecticon wandered off too much.
Looking towards Arcee and the humans he called out, "Thunderhoof's being stubborn, I'm gonna go bide my time elsewhere if you don't mind."
Grabbing a few boxes, Arcee nodded and said, "Alright, I'll be here with Denny and Russell."
"You better be!"
She rolled her optics as he walked off, waiting for Denny to tell her where to put his new collection. Both he and Russell each grabbed a box as well, leading her to wherever they planned on putting them. They stopped by the nearest empty shelf, gently setting down the boxes as Denny opened one up.
"So what's in these?" Arcee asked curiously, trying to peek inside.
Denny brought out a little wooden box and excitedly exclaimed, "Bread boxes!"
"Ah… I see." Arcee replied simply, still not entirely sure what the item was.
Denny began to ramble on about his finds, Russell ignoring him and getting to stacking them on the shelf. Arcee listened, curious about the items but not entirely taking in what Denny said. They put food in the wooden boxes, or they used to. Why were there so many food boxes.
Growing tired of Denny's rambling, Russell asked, "So, did anything interesting happen while we were gone?"
"Not much," Arcee shrugged, "Bee, Strongarm, and the twins went out looking for Decepticons, Drift and Grimlock went to retrieve some things from our ship, and Thunderhoof is refusing medical help."
"Is he alright? Did something happen again?" Russell asked, looking through the shelf and towards the corner Thunderhoof had been staying in. He was sitting there as a tractor and unmoving, not in any obvious signs of distress.
"No, he's fine." Arcee assured, "Just stubborn."
Knock Out had mentioned that. It didn't seem off, he was just like that Russell assumed, especially after considering their little adventure together. Someone who tried to run away after nearly dying twice was probably not a very compliant person. And that only made him likely to damage himself further.
"Just that hard to deal with, huh?" Denny asked.
Arcee just shrugged, they couldn't really do much for him anyway. If he refused help, that was it, they couldn't force it even if they'd wanted.
Finishing up with his bunch of bread boxes, Russell looked at his father and asked, "Hey, you mind if I go do something else?"
"No problem!" Denny replied, inspecting one of his boxes, "As long as Arcee's helping out I'm good."
"You alright with it Arcee?" Russell asked.
"No problem for me, I need something to do." She said, gently picking up one of the bread boxes, "And I'm curious to learn more about these little boxes."
Well, that made one of them. At least it gave his father someone to ramble to.
"Thanks!" Russell said, running off.
He took the long route, wandering down some of the further paths in the scrapyard and investigating the shelves. He took a moment to count a few things, a couple hubcaps, five old mailboxes. He wasn't looking for anything particular, just wasting a few moments, hoping neither Arcee or his father had watched where he'd gone.
It seemed they hadn't, because when Russell made it back to the opening in the scrapyard he saw Arcee leaning down and Denny holding one of his bread boxes. Seems he'd gone back to talking. Hopefully he'd be at it for a while.
Finally making it to where he was going, he gently knocked on one of Thunderhoof's doors.
"Ngh, whatta you want?" He grumbled, and Russell backed off a bit. "I was almost out for once…"
"I wanted to talk to you about something." Russell said, approaching Thunderhoof again and putting a hand on a wheel, "Can I come in?"
There was a delayed response, no sound or movement from Thunderhoof until he opened his door and muttered, "You're a dumb kid."
Ignoring the insult, Russell climbed in. It was much more comfortable than it was the last time he had been inside Thunderhoof, but that was to be expected since he had been overheated at the time. It was still warm, but not uncomfortably so, more like the typical warmth you'd feel from a living thing.
"Arcee said you're refusing help," Russell began as Thunderhoof closed his door, "I'm just here to tell you that's probably not a good idea. Why not accept it?"
Thunderhoof's engine revved quietly in what Russell assumed was irritation.
"Why's it matter?" He asked, "Half the bots in this scrap heap would probably prefer it if I'd just offlined here and now."
"I'm not a bot though, and I don't want to see anyone suffer, bad guy or not." Russell said. "I just want you to stop being so stubborn and accept help, does that really upset you that much?"
Thunderhoof's engine growled again, but louder.
"This is just some excuse to interrogate me, ain't it?" He asked, "Those Autobots too cowardly to do it themselves, gotta send their tiny human to do it? Ain't nothin' upsetting me."
Russell looked around Thunderhoof curiously and said, "Something obviously is."
Well, that didn't work out how he'd planned. Thunderhoof sat silently a moment, trying to think of an argument. One wasn't coming as easily as they normally did.
"Fine. I lied. You're botherin' me." He said, opening his door, "Now get out. Go back to whatever it was you were doin' with those… Things."
"Bread boxes?"
"I've no idea what that is."
He kept his door open, but Russell didn't leave. Thunderhoof growled in an attempt to scare the boy, but he still didn't budge.
Figuring he'd irritated him enough, Russell finally said, "I won't tell anyone."
This seemed to quiet Thunderhoof, as he didn't argue back. Russell wasn't entirely sure why, and the silence made him nervous, but after a moment Thunderhoof shut his door.
"An' why should I believe you?" He asked, voice quiet.
"Because I'm not an Autobot." Russell said, "And because if you keep refusing help you won't get better. It doesn't matter that you're a criminal right now, you're hurt, and you need to accept help if you ever want to feel better."
"I don't want their help." Thunderhoof growled. "I don't care if I don't get better, I don't even want to be here."
"You're scared, aren't you?"
Thunderhoof went back to being silent.
"Is it the Autobots? Or is it because of the Pre-"
"Don't."
The fact it was that easy to get that response out of Thunderhoof was probably the most surprising part. And Russell was no fool, he knew such a rushed and agitated response could only point to one thing. He was avoiding telling the truth, refusing to say what was bothering him, but Russell could make a pretty good guess.
Thunderhoof was scared of the Predacons.
"Why not?" Russell asked, "They won't hurt you now, why are you still afraid?"
"I'm not afraid of them!"
"There's nothing wrong with being afraid."
"Do you ever shut up?"
"You're avoiding the question."
Thunderhoof's engine roared.
"I don't know!" He yelled. "I've been shot at, beat up, had plenty of bots try to kill me, I don't know why this is so different! I don't know why out of all the things that I've been through, this is what decided to bother me!"
His engine quieted, and Russell felt him fidget.
"I don't know why every time I power down I have to remember. I have to remember what happened. I told the doc and your worthless Autobot friends I didn't remember most of it, but I lied. I've remembered it all, every detail. Teeth, claws, and pain."
"You remember what it's like to be the one getting hurt." Russell replied, "It doesn't feel good when the roles are reversed, does it?"
He knew that was stupid to say, but he felt it necessary. Surprisingly, Thunderhoof didn't act out, and Russell took the chance to say more.
"I don't know why you became what you are Thunderhoof, maybe someone raised you like that. Maybe someone was cruel to you and you decided to fight back." He said, knowing fully well he was pushing his luck. "But the things you did were wrong, and now you know what it feels like. Now you know what it's like to be the one to get hurt."
There was no argument back. Instead, Russell was suddenly thrown back as Thunderhoof swung both his doors open and started transforming. He was tossed about more, eventually landing hard on the ground. Thunderhoof was now above him, electricity sparking at his fingers and a look of uncertainty on his face.
"You-"
Humans were obnoxious, they didn't know when to shut their mouths, they said stupid things. Thunderhoof could always talk over them, drown out their annoying words with threats of his own. But not this time. This time he was stuck standing over a terrified child, electricity surging from his hands, but at a complete loss of words.
"Worthless..."
He wanted to angry. He wanted so badly to yell at the boy, tell him all his assumptions were ridiculous and wrong. He wanted to scare him, laugh at his fear. But he couldn't. He couldn't do what he'd always done when someone made outlandish assumptions about him, because looking down at the frightened boy sparked other emotions he didn't want to feel inside him. But he brushed these emotions away, covering it with anger at himself and transforming back into a tractor, now facing the shelf.
"Autobot's shoulda offlined me when they had the chance…"
It took Russell a moment to regain his composure, and even longer to register Thunderhoof's words. He waited to see if Thunderhoof would move again, but he didn't. He was still shaking a bit after what had happened, the fear slow to fade, but managed to stand and walked off. It probably hadn't been a good idea to provoke Thunderhoof like that, from the sound of it he'd probably made things worse.
He looked around to see if anyone had noticed what had happened, but neither Arcee nor his father were at the shelf full of bread boxes. Thinking of the next best place to find someone, he looked towards the Command Center and saw everyone gathered there.
Had no one really heard any of that?
"Something happen?" He asked, walking up.
"Drift and Grimlock reported that someone had been in Airachnid's ship, but all they'd found were footprints that lead to nowhere" Fixit explained, "They were assumably too big to be Airachnid's, so I'm unsure if she did it."
"Airachnid can control Insecticons, I wouldn't be surprised if she got some to do her dirty work for her." Knock Out said, wings twitching irritably, "What I want to know is what they may have gone after, and whether or not they went on my ship."
"There were no prints at your ship's entrance, so I assume not. But I've requested Drift and Grimlock to return, I think they found something." Fixit said, before actually taking a good look at Russell, "You're shaking, is everything alright?"
Not willing to admit what happened, Russell looked around at the others unsurely and said the first thing he could think of.
"Uhh, bees. There were a lot of bees. I think I scared them."
Most of the looks he got were confused at best, but it seemed to work. Knock Out seemed particularly amused, and his father a bit more in thought.
"I'll be sure to tell ours he's nowhere near as intimidating as the tiny Earth variety." Knock Out said.
"There's a beehive in the scrapyard?" Denny asked, "I'll have to check that out."
Russell sighed in relief. Thank goodness they fell for it. He'd probably only get into more trouble if he told the truth. He couldn't imagine anyone, especially his father, would be too happy about what he'd done. It was a bit dumb admittedly, but even if he was worried he'd made things worse, he still felt like he'd managed something. Because even though the ordeal still frightened him, Thunderhoof hadn't actually been angry when he'd launched Russell out of him.
He'd actually looked conflicted.
Hearing the sound of an approaching engine, he looked towards the woods, Drift and Grimlock rushing in. Drift transformed, deployed his Mini-Cons, then walked up to the others. Slipstream grabbed something from Grimlock.
"We found something unusual on Airachnid's ship," Drift reported, his Mini-Cons and Grimlock walking over as well. "Some sort of vial, full of a fluid I can't identify. There seemed to have been more, but the area it was in had been ravaged, likely by whoever had broken in."
"How many?" Fixit asked. Arcee leaned down and grabbed the vial from Slipstream, Knock Out coming over to inspect it
"Three of them I assume, the footprints were different." Drift said, "We would have pursued, but it seems they'd taken to the air at some point."
"That's probably a good thing." Knock Out suddenly interrupted, taking the vial from Arcee and inspecting it.
Grimlock looked at Knock Out confused and said, "But we might've been able to find their hiding place! That would've been better, wouldn't it?"
"Well, if they didn't find you first." Knock Out said, before holding out the vial so everyone could see it, "Do you know what this is?"
Grimlock shook his head, and the others looked the vial over. It seemed they didn't.
"This is Predacon venom." Knock Out elaborated.
"Predacon venom?" Arcee asked, "Where in the universe could Airachnid have even gotten that? As far as we know there's only one venomous Predacon alive, and she's here on Earth!"
Knock Out's wings twitched as he continued looking the vial over, "And so is Airachnid. I'm beginning to think things are a bit more connected than we would have liked."
And to think they weren't terribly stressed out that morning.
"Try to call the others back." Arcee suddenly demanded, looking to Fixit, "It'd be better if they came back for now, we shouldn't risk it. We need to make some sort of plan to deal with this."
Fixit nodded, "I'll see what I can do.'
"Work on a repair plan for Predaking when you can too," Knock Out asked, walking off, "I have antivenom to make."
Primus knew they'd probably need it.