Author's Note:
Eep! I nearly forgot to put this chapter up! And it's SO good too! And as for action sequences seeming a bit choppy . . . it's Nightstalker's first time taking orders and executing them on the field of battle and trying to keep up with everything that's happening. Since this is in 3rd Person Limited, Nightstalker's POV, you realize she can't possibly be suited for battle XD lmao.
:D This turned out PERFECTLY.
The next month was . . . well, uneventful. At least, uneventful for Nightstalker.
Ratchet had forced her to spend the next day extremely lightly considering her bout with Skyquake had been her first real battle with Decepticons. Despite Ratchet's worrying, Nightstalker recovered well while the bots went to rescue Breakdown from MECH.
The next week was full of strife with Arcee, Airachnid, MECH, and June Darby getting kidnapped. Nightstalker, even though she was worried sick when she heard, was glad it was Arcee and not her that had a confrontation with Airachnid—the thought of her previous mentor sent crawls through her system.
After that, a full two weeks passed without anything happening. It was a refreshing pace—Nightstalker got in lots of training with the bots; Arcee got serious to training her, helping her wield her gun and blade correctly. There was lots of playing around. Cliffjumper finally got around to that competition of lob with Bulkhead—and no, CLIFFJUMPER was the one that got put on his aft after all his big talk. Bumblebee took her out on every scouting mission he had which was loads of fun for Nightstalker considering she got her doses of flight that she absolutely craved as a seeker. And she also saw a lot more of June . . .
Then, the record was broken when Arcee, Bulkhead, Jack, and Miko all went to check out a stripped and abandoned Deception mine. Which, of course, wasn't fully stripped OR abandoned. Jack detailed a creepy encounter with Megatron while Miko and Bulkhead had been caught beneath a caving roof, and Starscream and Megatron's hand in the cave in. It had Nightstalker panicking on the inside at coming so close to losing the two humans as well as her friends.
And also . . . Ratchet was worrying. As was Optimus and the others. It was no secret that their energon reserves were coming to an all time low. And so, Nightstalker came up to Ratchet one day.
"Ratchet?"
He vented in frustration, turning her way. "What is it?" he asked brusquely.
Nightstalker fluttered her wings a bit nervously at his impatience that never failed to intimidate her. "I know we're low on energon reserves," she muttered, "and I was wondering . . . Is there some way you could use my lava as a source of energy?"
He scoffed in the back of his throat. "Nightstalker, I doubt that you have enough lava contained in your small frame to make a difference."
"But I should have enough," she persisted, fanning her wings slowly, "if just for myself." Ratchet paused, giving her a serious look. She gave a shrug. "At least that way you could band-aid us until we could find another energon reserve . . ."
He studied her for a moment, but an urgent beeping from the computer turned his head away immediately. "Optimus," he stressed, bringing the bot over. Nightstalker cringed away. "Our scanners have detected a Decepticon energy profile, but it's . . . ancient."
"The past has a way of catching up with the present, Ratchet," he stated gravely, and Nightstalker felt her wings perk and her hands clench. How it did, indeed.
Nightstalker watched the bots assemble, and her gaze caught Cliffjumper's. His optics widened.
"Hey, Optimus!" He trotted up to present himself to the leader, and he jerked a thumb her way. "How about we take Nightstalker with us this time?"
Nightstalker blinked in shock, and even Optimus expressed surprise. "Why now, Cliffjumper?"
He shrugged. "Well, since we're all gonna be out there this time, it'll be safe enough for her. And she needs a taste of REAL battle, not some crazy zombie 'Con. And besides, we might not find anything anyway . . . But still, it'll be good for her to get a taste of the field. And what better way to train than to do?" He snorted. "That was always Kup's motto. Surprised more of his neophytes didn't get scrapped . . ."
Nightstalker blinked at him. "You can't be serious."
However, after a deep rumble of thought, Optimus nodded his head. "I agree, Cliffjumper. Nightstalker, come with us, and stay close to Bumblebee."
She let out a short, disbelieving breath even while Bumblebee gave some excited chirps. *That's great, Nights! Just stick with me, and we'll be all right!*
As the ground bridge blasted open, Nightstalker shook her head with disbelief. "You say that with such enthusiasm . . ."
They crossed over, heading towards the Decepticon ship. Bumblebee leaned down towards her, whispering, *Sure. You've had good training, and you're picking it up pretty well. And Kup always said the best way to learn was to do*
Nightstalker and Bulkhead pulled up the rear, Bumblebee in front of her as they entered and began to search through the ship. However, as they passed a corner of the halls in the ship, they all halted for some reason.
The reactions of Arcee and Optimus were so reflexive it was almost mechanical.
"Airachnid."
"Surrender!"
Nightstalker felt her jaw drop, and she looked around the corner just in time to see the back of the spider-bot's rear disappear around the corner. It was impossible to miss the delusional shouting of, "Airachnid! You traitor!" Nightstalker followed the others, Arcee and Optimus immediately running past a web-caught Starscream who was stuck lying in the floor.
"Arcee, wait!"
Cliffjumper and Bumblebee instantly trained their guns on Starscream, and Nightstalker jumped when Optimus turned his optics on her. "Nightstalker, follow her!"
She felt her jaw go slightly slack. "What?"
*Nights, you're the only one small enough to fit through that hole!* Bumblebee cried. He gave a gesture. *Go!*
"Oh—" Nightstalker jumped forward, pressing her wings as flat as possible and crawling up through the narrow tunnel to the top. Her eyes alighted on Arcee scouring the area with her optics, and then, the top of the tunnel exploded.
Nightstalker shrieked when a tunneling Decepticon exploded above her head, nearly coming up through the same hole to get Arcee. Dirt and debris scattered down her metal in a dry rain, and Nightstalker coughed a couple times to clear her articulators. She waved a hand through the cloud of dust and squinted up.
She froze. Poking the tip of her head out of her hole, Nightstalker saw Airachnid's back, all six legs splayed for the attack. "Arcee," she leered at the Autobot, just as deadly as Nightstalker remembered her.
Arcee smirked right back. "I didn't peg you for signing back up with the Decepticons." Nightstalker shrank back when Arcee drew her blades.
"A temporary arrangement, Arcee," Airachnid huffed, not even flinching when Arcee set out at a dead run towards her. If Nightstalker's wings hadn't have been pinned to her back, she would have been fluttering them like mad. "You know I prefer working alone."
Nightstalker's claws gripped the inside of the tunnel tighter, some fear holding her back from intervening. Arcee attacked, and they tussled a moment more before Airachnid got her in a pin, sneering, "Add anymore deceased partners to your growing list?"
"Airachnid!" Nightstalker jolted at Optimus's voice, and so did her mentor. His gun was leveled at her. "Release her!"
Nightstalker finally jolted into action. Airachnid slung Arcee away from her, and Optimus open fired on her. When she transformed, Nightstalker did. She took off, and Nightstalker followed, her little machine guns firing. Airachnid made to flee, and Nightstalker followed for only to the perimeter she was set to, but then, the helicopter gave a dark laugh. Nightstalker's thrusters groaned she stopped so suddenly, and she barely had two seconds before Airachnid charged and transformed, tackling her alt form.
Nightstalker cried out when Airachnid crashed down on top of her, and she instinctively transformed to use her hands to push at the spider-bot. Airachnid hissed, and Nightstalker shrieked when she saw venom seeping from her teeth.
She kicked, but Airachnid caught her with her extra appendages. "Traitorous glitch!" Airachnid snarled down on her, and Nightstalker howled when she felt the venom drip onto her shoulder. Fire tore through her systems as urgent messages of the damage began to flicker across her optics. Nightstalker twisted and writhed beneath her but was caught fast. Blazing purple optics glittered with teetering rage. "I'll bring your head to Megatron as a gift, you fragging whore!"
Nightstalker wrenched her body around, just managing to avoid one death strike from a leg, and by that time, a shot from Optimus blasted Airachnid away from her. Nightstalker scrambled to her feet, pulling out her machine gun and quickly running back to Optimus and Arcee. This time, Airachnid fled with a furious hiss and didn't return.
When Optimus and Arcee put away their weapons, Nightstalker followed suit, a deep burning echoing in the singed spot of her shoulder. Optimus reached to her as if to help, but Nightstalker jerked away, unable to stop the glint in her optics. "I'm fine!" she snapped, and the instant his optics widened at her outburst, she knew she shouldn't have done it. She fluttered her wings a bit nervously, muttering, "It's just a scratch . . ."
Optimus left it for lost, and turned towards the sullen femme with them. "Arcee, you know better than to engage the enemy alone."
"Not her," Arcee growled, ragged breaths coming in loud and clear. Her servos clenched, and Nightstalker recognized a vengeful hatred when she saw one. "Not after what she did to Tailgate."
Tailgate? Nightstalker's memory banks kicked in. The mech she had been tortured with. He was her partner, but with the passion laced beneath that voice, she highly began to suspect him as a former lover.
"She will pay."
"Revenge will not bring back those we have lost," Optimus said gravely, and Nightstalker flinched as if he had struck her. Fli-Ni's shrieks echoed in her mind, and she snarled to herself, servos clenching. "Is that understood?"
Before Arcee could respond, Bulkhead growling, "Move it!" snapped all three of them back to the present. Nightstalker turned, seeing the rest of the guys coming up with Starscream freed of his webbing from only waist down.
He didn't pay Nightstalker any heed, but that was fine. She was too busy fighting her inner demons to actually care that he treated her like air. He merely pleaded that he wanted to turn Autobot, surprisingly enough. He argued that he had nothing left with them; they had never done anything good for him; Megatron tried to extinguish his spark; his had been demoted and Airachnid took his place; left abandoned to die. None of it sounded new to Nightstalker—except Airachnid taking his rank—but tentative efforts were made for the cowardly mech. Much like they had done Nightstalker when she first came into the ranks of the Autobots, they deactivated Starscream's homing signal and weapons, locked him up in stasis cuffs, and tossed him in Optimus's hitch. Even his wings were cuffed—at least he had his peds.
They traveled to the location Starscream pointed out to them, Nightstalker gliding low above the posse of five Autobots. At an unspoken agreement, the bots stopped a good distance away from the other half of the HARBINGER that Nightstalker had seen from above.
"Well," Bulkhead said with real surprise. "Whaddya know?"
"It could still be a trap," Arcee said tersely.
Nightstalker stopped her hovering and landed, spark clenching with unease. Her audio receptors flinched when she heard Optimus's voice say, "Starscream's loyalty to Megatron has always been questionable. If he has truly split from the Decepticons, his knowledge of their agenda could make him a valuable ally."
"You don't mean PERMANENTLY?" Bulkhead repeated incredulously. "You mean the keys to the base and everything?"
Cliffjumper snorted, crossing his arms. "Highly unlikely."
Optimus nodded, duly taking note of the dissent. "However unlikely that scenario," he said, "every sentient being deserves an opportunity for redemption."
Nightstalker cringed again, wingtips perking to the sky. She crossed her arms, clenching her jaw and hands tightly at his grating words. He deserved it! He left him for scrap, even while he begged for help!
"Even bot killers?" Arcee snarled. Her infuriated optics drew up to Optimus. "Even Airachnid?"
Even you!
"Without that hope," Optimus said gently, "we may never achieve lasting peace."
Nightstalker listened quietly as Starscream pointed the way to the HARBINGER. Swallowing around the rage rising in her throat, she was unprepared to hear, "Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Nightstalker, you're with me." Nightstalker looked up in shock. "Arcee, stay with our prisoner."
Arcee raised objections, but Optimus silenced them quickly. As Nightstalker trailed with the mechs, she heard Starscream say, "Is the clamp really necessary? I promise not to fly away. It's really giving me a crick!"
Nightstalker scowled and looked back at him. "Screamer, you're lucky to even have your peds free and your hands in front of you. If you endure that crick for over month, THEN come back and whine to me." She snorted under her breath as she caught up with the other bots. "Wuss."
Cliffjumper grinned at her and put a fist up. Tentatively, Nightstalker sent a grin back and gave him the fist bump.
It was deceivingly taunting to have Optimus's back in front of her the whole time while she held her machine gun OH SO innocently as she "kept alert" for Airachnid. Primus only KNEW how much she wanted to fill the slagger with holes!
As they came upon the HARBINGER, Nightstalker fluttered her wings uncertainly. She wanted to look from above. Everything was . . . too high up for anyone to see, even if Airachnid was known to attack from—
Optimus reacted twice as fast as Nightstalker, ducking and tumbling away from a blue laser beam. "Fragging slag!" Nightstalker yelped, backing away and ducking behind a rock.
"I got her!" Bulkhead shouted, moving up the ramp as their helpful punching bag that could take hard hits. However, Nightstalker's jaw gaped when Airachnid's beam hit him and he stopped moving. He just . . . stopped. Froze.
A thought slashed across Nightstalker's mind.
Petrified!
"The Immobilizer!" Nightstalker yipped to the team, recognizing its Decepticon make.
Well, things proceeded treacherously after that. Airachnid had both the fragging Immobilizer AND the high ground, and Nightstalker couldn't risk getting high enough to take a clear shot without letting herself get frozen and face-planted into the ground. Dodging around the laser beams, Nightstalker saw something she would never forget—
Airachnid hit Optimus with the Immobilizer.
Her spark began to pound violently in her chest. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper ducked for cover, but she ran straight towards Optimus as Airachnid gloated, "Tell me, bugs, do you think Megatron will be pleased with his new trophies? He'll probably use the bulky one here for target practice." Nightstalker flinched behind a rock when Airachnid toppled Bulkhead. A knot caught in her throat when Airachnid leapt on top of Optimus. "Prime," she purred. "The true prize. Perhaps he'll adorn the prow of Megatron's warship."
Nightstalker ran out again, hearing Cliffjumper yell for her to stop, but she ignored him. Airachnid pointed the null ray her way, but Nightstalker just stood gaping like a fish at the sight of Optimus. So open. So frozen. So . . .
Vulnerable.
The Immobilizer quieted its angry whir. "What's this?" Airachnid's velvety voice purred. Nightstalker's optics jumped to her former mentor and back to Optimus, feeling her spark hammering in her chest. "The only time I've seen THAT particular look is whenever Arcee is trying to snuff my spark . . . Tell me, my apprentice, just WHAT could possibly make you look at Optimus like that?"
There was a beat of silence, and then, "Nights?"
Cliffjumper's whisper was nearly nonexistent, but Airachnid open fired above Nightstalker's head. "None of your business," Nightstalker worked out to the Decepticon. Quaking with the opportunity she was presented, Nightstalker put away her machine gun.
Airachnid gave a throaty laugh. "Well, what are you waiting for, my dear? Extract your revenge on him . . ." she gave a muffled laugh, "for whatever it is for."
"Nightstalker, don't!"
Nightstalker whipped around with wide eyes just in time to see Cliffjumper burst from cover and run towards her. The Immobilizer's null ray hit him dead in the chest, stopping him mid-run. The blasts from the staff continued until Bumblebee was also subdued behind a rock.
*Nights!* he cried out. *Don't do it!*
"It's for my brother!" Nightstalker snapped. Control broken, Nightstalker leapt on top of Optimus and leered down at him, face contorting with a hideous snarl. Buried rage of millennia surged up like a black storm to rival even Megatron.
Her orange optics blazed in front of his that were coiling on the inside with shock. Nightstalker sneered down at him, making sure he knew exactly what she meant when she hissed,
"Save him now, Autobot scum.