Chapter 11:
"But TC, he's been slagging avoiding us!" Sunstorm complained, wings drooping on his backstrut in an obvious portrayal of sadness or discouragement. "He doesn't want us!"
Dirge growled low in his chassis, glaring at his brother's back. "I say we corner him somewhere." The red seeker stated, tone annoyed as was the minute flick of his wings, arms crossed over his cockpit.
Thundercracker rolled his optics and half turned towards his brothers. "And that is why you aren't the one making the decisions, Dirge!" The blue mech responded, red optics narrowed. "You're so slagging stupid that you'd only make things worse'n they already are!"
Huffing, Dirge turned and stalked away from the two, dropping himself down in a chair, muttering to himself in the otherwise empty berthroom. This was actually Thundercracker's berthroom, since Sunstorm shared a room with his twin, Bitstream, and Dirge with Thrust.
"Well what else are we supposed to do, TC?" Sunstorm asked from where he was perched on his older brother's desk, wings a constant flurry of action as they tried to keep up with the yellow mech's emotions.
Thundercracker was silent from where he paced, thoughtful. "For now, we just need to wait." The blue mech cast Dirge a glare before he could protest, waiting for the red mech to avert his optics submissively before continuing on. "Araneon was traumatized, for lack of a better word, and we need him to calm down. Then we will see him and explain."
Dirge snorted from where he sat, clawed digits tapping in a steady rhythm on the desk next to Sunstorm's thigh. "Don't see what there is to explain." He muttered.
Ignoring his brother, Thundercracker continued pacing, attempting to work out exactly how he'd approach the mech he claimed when the time came.
"Hey, TC!" Dirge shouted, the blue mech casting him a venomous glare. "Oh please don't interrupt me when I'm ignoring you!" Thundercracker snapped, ceasing in his pacing now. "We will try tomorrow. But you two will shut up and let me do the talking."
Sunstorm nodded from where he sat. "Sure, TC! I'll be as quiet as I can be!" He responded eagerly, Thundercracker smirking and walking over to him, a digit scratching beneath the golden mech's chin, causing Sunstorm to purr. "That's because you know how to listen to orders like a good mech, Sunstorm." The blue seeker responded, casting Dirge a glare. "Unlike this greedy slagger."
Rolling his optics, Dirge pushed his seat back from the desk and stood. "Whatever. I'm going for a flight." He responded, stalking out of the room while Sunstorm watched him through half-lidded optics, purring like a cyberkitten.
Thundercracker watched the younger mech leave the room with disinterest before turning back to Sunstorm, smirk still in place. "Now… Where were we?"
+/+/+/
Araneon sat alone in his little alcove in the room deep within the forgotten corridors of the Nemesis, in the room hidden mostly behind storage containers, pedes swinging as he read through another datapad.
It was rather interesting, studying the different frame types: shuttles, triple changers, seekers, femmes, mechs, grounders, tanks… Every frame type that had existed, Araneon could read about. And it was satisfying.
Optics wandering over the different parts of a tank frame, Araneon read of the heavy armour that protected it, the different weaknesses and…. Purple optics suddenly took on a red hue, fangs overlapping the lower lip component.
Just think… All that armour, but such weak joints. You could probably snap them without much effort.
Araneon stared down at the page, optics roaming over the blocky build, the battle grade armour, and the… gaps. Just think what it would be like to pour acid in the joints… Bet you could make him scream. Imagine him writhing and screaming as you break his digits, as the acid eats away at his circuitry… His energon would be swe-
Dropping the datapad as if he had been burned, Araneon stared down at it with wide optics, horrified. His spark was pulsating rapidly, vents ragged as the red in his optics receded to purple again.
"What was that?" Araneon whispered to himself, and he swore he heard an echo of laughter from within the back of his processor. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Jumping up, Araneon scooped the dented datapad into shaking servos and fled the darkened room, racing down the halls and towards the medbay. Knockout could help him! He had too!
He was so entrenched in thought that he didn't notice Blackarachnia walking down the hall before he crashed into her, falling back on his aft, looking up at the spider-femme with wide, tear-filled optics.
"Aranoen?" Blackarachnia asked, the surprise on her faceplates melting away to concern. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" She asked as the mechling stumbled back to his pedes.
"I'm fine!" Araneon responded sharply, avoiding optical contact with the femme, frame shaking. "Just leave me alone!" He added, dodging around the femme and fleeing again, Blackarachnia frowning before following after him. Something was wrong, and that was her sparkling. She had to help him.
Araneon rounded a corner, a broken sob coming from between his lip components when he felt arms wrap around him and hug him tightly. Twisting around he looked up at Airachnid.
"Sweetspark…" Airachnid murmured gently, looking worried now. "Sweetspark, tell me what's wrong." The spiderfemme ordered, thumb digits wiping the tears away from the youngling's faceplates, optical ridges knitted together in concern.
Clinging to the femme he had grown up to believe to be his carrier, Araneon sniffled and sobbed, shoulders shaking. "I-I can hear voices! B-Bad bad voices!" He sobbed, all but crushing himself against Airachnid. "E-Evil! They want me to d-do bad things!"
Airachnid frowned, her concern increasing tenfold. "Voices, Araneon?" She asked, crouching down and holding the mechling at arm's reach. "Araneon, you have to tell me about the voices or I can't help you." She ordered gently.
Sniffling and nodding, Araneon clutched the datapad so tightly that it let out a mournful creaking. "I-I was reading about m-medic stuff. C-Cause I might be a medic wh-when I'm older." The mechling fought the sobs as he attempted to explain. "I was studying th-the fr-frame types when th-they came!"
EM field thick with concern and care, Airachnid caressed the youngling's field with her own, attempting to calm him. "Araneon, you must be calm sweetspark, if you want me to help. Deep vents." The spiderfemme took her own deep vents in an attempt to help the youngling.
Venting deeply for several moments, Araneon felt a little calmer and spoke more clearly. "I just heard this voice. It told me that the j-joints were weak in a tank frame… To pour ac-acid into them. That his energon would be sweet." He forced out, lower lip trembling as tears gathered in his optics and threatened to spill over.
Airachnid frowned at this realization, processors working to try and come up with an explanation. It could be delusion, a delirious state from bad energon? No… Not with how Araneon was acting. It was too real to him, and he wasn't delirious. Perhaps a split personally? Possible. But she was a scientist, at least, used to be, but not a medic. "Tell you what, Araneon. You keep calm and go and talk to Knockout about it."
Looking up at the femme, Araneon nodded and bit his lip. "S-Sorry." He mumbled, looking down at his pedes.
Reaching out Airachnid slid her digits beneath the youngling's chin, tilting his faceplates up. "There is nothing for you to be sorry about here, Araneon." The spider-femme smiled faintly. "You've done nothing wrong. But maybe the voice isn't a bad thing. It could be a new side of you that you don't know about yet. So calm down and I'm sure Knockout will know what it is, alright?"
Araneon nodded up at his aunt and sniffled again at Airachnid's gentle servo between his shoulder struts, giving him a gentle push towards the medbay. "Off you go." The spider femme ordered gently, the youngling scurrying off.
Blackarachnia couldn't help the sense of jealous sadness that her sister could connect so much better with her sparklings than she herself could. Even with the sentiment that Airachnid had been the one to care for them, more than she ever did, wasn't enough to cover up the unease.
+/+/+/
"A split personality, Araneon."
Again the bulky mechling looked up at the red medic with an expression of confusion. "A what?" He asked, causing Knockout to vent loudly. "A split personality Araneon." The medic clarified again.
"Oh… What is that?"
Knockout threw his servos up in exasperation. "A split personality is when a bot has two sides to themselves. For you, your dominant personality, or the one you portray the most, is the side we are seeing now. Gentle, intelligent, slightly shy." The medic smiled a little at the way Araneon looked embarrassed. "Then your other personality, the recessive one, is what you experienced. Violent, aggressive, cruel…"
Araneon frowned up at the medic, slightly disturbed by the news. "How do I make it never come back?" He asked hopefully.
Shaking his helm, Knockout placed a servo on the black shoulder strut. "You can't make it go away, Araneon. It is a part of you. But we can try and find out what triggers it." The medic added comfortingly. "Once we find that out, you just have to try and avoid anything that draws that side of you out."
Ex-venting in relief, Araneon nodded. "I think I understand now." He stated happily, looking up when the medbay door opened only to shrink back.
Three seekers stepped into the medbay. Thundercracker, Dirge and Sunstorm, and all three pairs of optics were locked on Araneon.
"Don't you have somewhere to be besides my medbay?" Knockout asked, glaring over at the three seekerlings, Thundercracker snorting in response. "We're here to see how Araneon is."
Araneon looked up at them in surprise, mouth dropping open before he could stop it. "Me?" He asked, hating how his voice came out almost like a squeak.
Sunstorm grinned from where he was standing behind Thundercracker. "Of course you! We claimed you, didn't we?" The golden mech's red optics looking at the spider-mech eagerly, frame nearly shaking with his excitement.
Looking up at Knockout, Araneon tried not to look too confused. "Uh, Knockout… Did they claim me?" He asked, unsure of himself now.
"They most certainly did not!" Knockout responded with a huff, pulling Araneon closer to his side. "Well, they did the way seekers would claim one another, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable for us!" The red mech added indignantly, glaring at Thundercracker, having understood from the beginning that the blue seeker was in charge of the little group.
Thundercracker offered a cocky little smirk. "I had expected a grounder to not understand our ways." He responded in a condescending tone, making the medic glare at him. "You see," the seeker hummed as he stepped forwards and pushed Knockout and Araneon apart, wrapping an arm around the latter and smirking at Knockout. "We claimed Araneon, which means that we protect him. We'll love him and care for him until he breaks it off."
Sunstorm nodded eagerly, cutting Thundercracker off now. "And we'll do a good job of it! I swear we will!" The seeker stated in an overly zealous tone.
Casting his younger brother a little glare, Thundercracker vented heavily. "Yes, thank you for your helpful input, Sunstorm." The older seeker replied, the golden mech perking at what he deemed to be praise.
Turning his attention back onto Knockout, Thundercracker continued. "So if you continue trying to come between us and Araneon, we will react to the threat appropriately."
Knockout scoffed at the smaller mech, glaring. "And just what would you do? I happen to care for Araneon. He is my student, and I don't want him involved with three mechs that would probably break his spark the moment they tired of him!" The medic shouted.
Pushing away from Thundercracker, Araneon took a step back away from the other four mechs in the room, bewildered. "Why would you want me? I-I'm just… I'm just me!" The bulky mechling stated, motioning to his frame.
"Araneon." Thundercracker spoke up, his tone soft and seductive. "I don't claim just anybody. I claimed you because I liked you. You're intelligent, young, and show great promise." The seeker stated. "I happen to have good taste when it comes to my partners."
Araneon stared at the seeker before looking towards Dirge and Sunstorm, the one looking at him with an expression akin to possessive, while the other looked overly eager, golden wings trembling with excitement. "But… I don't do anything. And I'm not one of you." He added.
Snorting in amusement, Thundercracker stepped closer again, motioning for Knockout to remain silent. "The fact that you aren't seeker or even seeker-kin is irrelevant. And you do do stuff. You're learning to become a medic, and you're the son of one of the officers." The blue mech chuckled. "That's akin to royalty in war. Besides, even Sire wouldn't deny me the best." Thundercracker added in an alluring tone.
Araneon's mouth dropped open as he stared at Thundercracker. Did the son of the SIC actually just say he was one of the best?
"Alright!" Knockout's shout effectively returned all attention to him, the medic glaring at Thundercracker and stepping up close to the blue mech, Thundercracker not backing down in the slightest. "If you hurt Araneon, I swear to Primus I will dissect you and turn you into a vehicon! Or I'll give you an acid bath! Or, or I'll dump you to the first scraplets I find!" The red mech cried, servos gesturing as he spoke.
Thundercracker smiled coyly at the ranting medic. "I'm glad you see things my way, medic. Now if you'd excuse Araneon, I'd like to-"
"I'm not finished!" Knockout responded sharply, moving to place a servo on Araneon's shoulder strut. "I will only allow this if Araneon wants it."
"I'd have it no other way." Thundercracker responded easily, turning his amber optics down onto the overwhelmed mechling, smiling attractively. "Well Araneon? Would you accept myself and my brothers? Accept our claim on you?"
Araneon's mouth open and closed several times as he attempted to find a response for the creation of the Decepticon's second in command. "I-I-I…" The bulky mechling swallowed hard as he fought to respond. "I'd like that." He finally responded, praying to Primus that this wasn't some sort of sick joke.
"Excellent." Thundercracker all but purred, getting between Knockout and the smaller mechling again to wrap an arm around Araneon. "Let's go somewhere else to get to know one another, hmm?"
"I-If you want to." Araneon responded with a squeak, allowing himself to be guided from the medbay by the taller mechling, glancing back at Knockout over his shoulder, the medic offering a small smile and a 'thumb's up' as humans would say. "Th-Thank you." He stammered out as Sunstorm and Dirge fell into step behind them.
Thundercracker hummed in amusement. "Don't thank us, sweetspark. I'd have done it earlier if there had been a viable excuse to do so." The blue mech responded. "Now. Where is your favourite place to go on this miserable ship?"
