Chapter 26
Ironlink's blue optics glanced around at the many Autobots present in the Command Room. His vents deeply cycled in air as he shuttered his optics, gathering his thoughts. After a few seconds he gently banged his servos against the control panel, prompting all the Autobots to turn their helms toward him. Seeing he had gained their attention, he nodded to Wheelegad who immediately typed away at the control panel and brought up the image of the map on the ship's computer screen with two sets of signals.
"Alright guys listen up." Ironlink said in a loud and commanding tone, "We got two situations here. Thanks to the efforts of Windike and the Dinobots, we know that Shadowarachnia is commanding the Insecticons. Mastertran-1 managed to pick up their signals with the scan range and they along with readings of a large amount of energy was heading for the city. I'm going to need one group to take them out and if you can, take Shadowarachnia into custody. We're not sure if we can restore her back to being Peach-One but it's best if she was in our custody since her cyber-venom provides an advantage to the Decepticons."
He took a pause as he walked over to the other side of the screen and pointed his index digit at the signal readings before continuing "About three breems ago, Mastertran-1 received an Autobot distress signal around the same coordinates where the Decepticons crashed into the ocean, obviously they were taken prisoner so I'll need a small rescue team but you'll have to be wary since you'll be in the enemy's territory."
Jazzden glanced over at the screen before stating "Calliester, Trailston, and I will take the Dinobots and deal with the Insecticons. With Callister's ability to pick up the human radiowaves, it'll be a snap for her to pick up the human authorities so we can stay out of sight and Kongbreaker's forcefeild can make sure the Dinobots don't cause too much damage since they'll be needed to them since Shadowarachnia's cyber-venom is useful on them while in dino form."
"And I guess me and Sun here will rescue the Autobot from the Decepticon ship, we've handled worse." Sidesnake said as he gestured his servos at his twin who glared at him.
Ironlink nodded his helm, prompting the selected Autobots to dash out of the Ark while the rest returned to the normal routines but remained on standby in case they were needed.
Descole watched the Autobots leave while he was assembling a broken blaster, finding it surprising how many parallels he continued to draw with the Cybertronians and the Gollums built by the ancient Azran civilization. He was stirred from his thoughts when noticed Ness and Jeff entered the room with disturbed expressions.
"What's wrong with you boys?" he asked as he set down his tools.
Ness sighed before he answered "I'm a little worried about Paula. She's never left the Medbay ever since Bulkmurray fell into stasis. I've seen her constantly using her PK healing powers, hoping maybe they could heal him much like they could humans but it never works. It's getting harder and harder to explain to her parents for her constant absence."
"And Ratchet stated that he noticed that Daisy is having a little more trouble recovering thanks to venom being more effective against her organic half thanks to the venom mostly being an organic substance due to Shadowarachnia's own technorganic nature. He's not sure how much longer it'll take for her to recover. If only there was an antidote, then Ratchet could treat them and they all could recover faster." Jeff stated with a frown.
Descole was about to comment but then he paused when he thought about Jeff saying the word antidote. He firmly pressed his index and middle fingers against the side of his forehead and tapped it a few times in thought; he recalled how people create antidotes by gathering samples of the venom that want to counteract before injecting it in animal's bloodstream and extracting the blood which contains antibodies fighting against the venom. Without warning his crimson-like eye snapped open and he snapped his fingers when an idea struck him.
"We can create an antidote, all we need is to gather a sample of her venom." he said with a victorious smirk.
The two young boys' frown vanished at they stared at each other in shock before Descole proceeded to explain his plan on how to obtain the venom.
Meanwhile in the city, Shadowarachnia sat on the perch of the building, watching as the Insecticons assemble a large signal antennae with grunts and groans. Once they held it stable, she shot some of her webbing at the base of the antennae to temporarily hold it in place before she made her way over to the small control panel and made sure everything is properly functioning.
"Why do we even have to set up this stupid antennae poyo?" Sharpkirby grumble as he continued to firmly hold it in place.
"Because I need it for your clones. I want a large transmission range so they'll be able to pick up my commands from hundreds of kliks away. I'll need them ready in case..." she started to stay.
But her chassis stiffened when she found herself interrupted by a familiar voice saying "In case of what, Shadowarachnia?"
The black femme spun around to be immediately greeted with the sight of Bowsertron and Jetdark landing on the roof. She did her best to hide back her snarl of anger at the fact she no longer had an advantage over the Decepticon Leader. She asked him how he managed to locate her only to grow confused when the gray mech explained how he had Vectorwave use his telepathic programs to gather information from an Autobot's processor he had recently captured.
"I learned she was a spy that was reporting on all events and that included you trying to build an army consisting of Insecticon clones behind my back." he stated with a hint of anger and malice lingering in his voice.
Shadowarachnia reared back her upper legs slightly as she noticed Jetdark shift one of his servos into his flamethrowers, preparing himself in case she decided to betray them. Deciding that she needed to salvage her efforts, she formed a sly smirk on her face as she walked over to Bowsertron.
"Lord Bowsertron." she began in a slight sultry tone as she fanned out her talons on her chestplates as if she was shocked and hurt, "Why would I ever want to betray the mech that plans to restore Cybertron back to its glorious state, after all I am no Wartscream. I did not tell you I was building an army simply because I did not see need to concern you. But now they are created, you can now use this army and crush the Autobots with greater numbers."
She smirked as she leaned herself on the gray mech's chestplates, prompting Jetdark to immediately point his flamethrower at her helm. She rolled her optics as she gently grabbed the orange mech's wrist and pulled away the flamethrower before directing her attention back to the Decepticon Leader. She noticed how he stared at her with a raised optic ridge to silently question her actions which only caused her smirk to grow slyer. She pushed up her pedes, allowing her to lean in close the mech's face and her other servo rested upon his shoulder.
"Believe me, Lord Bowsertron. I am completely loyal to you. If I wanted to betray you then I would have injected you with my cyber-venom by now." she stated.
Bowsertron did not reply as he thought about the femme's words. While he knew she did make valid points, he still wanted to keep his guard up in case she was lying, something he learned to do from Wartscream's many attempts to kill him and quickly try to regain favor by being a suck-up, something that annoyed him rather than pleased him. Without a word he finally gently pushed Shadowarachnia away before his red optics glanced at the antennae.
"So if I heard you correctly earlier, this antennae will send out commands to the Insecticon army?" he said.
"Yes, it'll basically amplify my command inputs, something that is really required because while the clones have the Insecticons abilities, they do not have freewill, meaning they're pretty much mindless beasts." she answered.
"Hey I resent that since there are clones of me!" Kickdedede yelled in anger.
Ignoring the Insecticon's comment the gray mech narrowed his optics in acceptance as he stated "Well your army will have the chance to prove themselves and we'll see how exactly loyal you are."
Without another word Bowsertron and Jetdark took off, allowing the femme to finally hiss in frustration as she stopped her heeled pede on the ground so hard that it cracked slightly. Her talons slightly dug into her arm slightly before she commanded the Insecticons to finish the construction on the antennae, having no other choice to set it up for the Decepticon Leader. But despite his knowledge of the Insecticon army, she still believed she had an advantage over him and that was that she could still control the army herself and if Bowsertron ever tries to eliminate her she would have her Insecticons at the ready.
Later that day Sidesnake and Sunsnake arrived at the ocean's edge where they knew the Autobot's distress signal was emitting from.
"Okay so we made it, now the question how are we suppose to rescue this Autobot without managing to get captured ourselves, after all this is basically entering the Decepticon base we're talking about." Sidesnake commented as he leaned over the water slightly, trying to see if he could spot any Decepticons leaving their ship.
"The obvious solution is stealth." Sunsnake answered as he summoned a small needle gun from his subspace, "Before we left, Wheelagad gave me some of the nanites Keiracer developed so we would appear as Decepticons on their radars."
"We let's hope he didn't try to alter them or there's a chance this will backfire on us." the red mech commented as his twin brother grabbed his arm and injected the nanites into him before doing the same to himself.
With the nanites hiding their signals, the two mechs entered radio silence before jumping in the water and allowing the heavy weight of their chassis to sink to the bottom. Once there they were able to easily find the crashed ship and spotted the hole left behind by Blurricks. Figuring it was the best way to get in, they both entered the hole and pulled themselves out of the water.
Sunstreaker signaled with his servo for them to split up before pressing the panel and opening the door. Within seconds he dashed away from his twin, searching for the prisoner cell. He kept running until he saw one of the doors opening up.
Thinking fast the mech slammed his chassis against the corner as he remained silent as he saw Vectorwave, Marible, and Skyreala walking down the hallway.
"Honestly, Skyreala, Vectorwave was getting the information perfectly fine. You didn't need to storm in and almost offline that Autobot. You know if her spark was extinguished, we wouldn't be able to get more information from her processor. It's a good thing Vectorwave called on me to get you away from her." the purple femme commented in a bitter tone as she glared at the black seeker.
"Well it was her fault she refused to shut up. Even while Vectorwave was gathering information, she still talked away about his abilities and kept constantly asking if he had spies planted all over the city. You should be thanking me for what I did." Skyreala snapped.
Sunstreaker raised an optic ridge upon hearing this as he left his hiding spot once the three Decepticons were gone. Wasting no time he ran over the door they left from and opened it up but the moment he stepped inside, much to his shock he immediately found himself harshly slammed to the ground. He glanced up to see none other than Blurricks glaring at him with coolant streaking down her face and in a fighting stance and one of her servos clasped against her neck. He grunted as he sat up, revealing the Autobot insignia on his chestplates.
Blurricks' glare immediately faded when she saw the mech she had attacked was a fellow Autobot. Without any hesitation she reached out with her free servo and helped the yellow mech stand back up.
"So I'm guessing you're the Autobot they took prisoner, well so much for gratitude." Sunsnake said with an annoyed sigh.
Blurricks nodded her helm as she smiled sheepishly, prompting the mech growing more confused at the fact she wasn't speaking. At that moment he remembered how Marible mentioned that Skyreala had did something that almost offlined her.
"Before we get out of here, I heard the Decepticons mention Skyreala did something to you, I would like to know so our medic back at the Ark can treat you." he stated.
The femme frowned sadly as her blue optics glanced downward. Her chassis shook slightly as she slowly lowered her servo from her neck, revealing a large gapping hole with torn circuitry and cables with her main energon cable barely avoided from getting torn with a few scratch marks. Her engine revved both in anger and sadness as she recalled Skyreala burst in the prison cell and dug his clawed digits deeply in her neck before ripping and pulling out her voice box, rendering her speechless.
Sunsnake didn't reply as he narrowed his optics, needing no words to guess how heartbroken the femme was from loosing her ability to speak. Figuring they stood around for too long, he gestured his servo behind him before dashing out of the prison cell with Blurricks trailing behind him. They kept running until he managed to spot Sidesnake running toward him with a panicked look.
"Sun, we need to go now!" the red mech shouted as he dashed pass the two Autobots.
Sunsnake was confused until he heard snarling and saw none other than Huntage and Laserduck dashing down the hallway. Wasting no time the mech and femme quickly turned around and chased after their fellow Autobot, making their way to the escape route. Within seconds they dashed into the room, prompting Sunsnake to hold the door closed while he yelled at his twin brother to get Blurricks to safety.
Sidesnake nodded his helm before wrapping his arm securely around the femme's midriff and jumped into the water. He didn't dare look back as he changed into his car form with Blurricks clinging onto his roof.
His engine revved loudly as he managed to zoom the water with ease before reaching shore once more. He changed back into his bipedal form and spun toward the ocean, growing a little worried if his twin brother made it out of the Decepticon ship. He stared at the ocean until finally much to his relief he saw a yellow car burst out of the water and screech to a stop.
"Sun, I was starting to worry you weren't able to escape." Sidesnake commented as the yellow mech transformed back into his bipedal form.
"By the way, do I dare ask how the pit you managed to get those two scrappers to chase your aft?" Sunsnake asked with his arms crossed as he shot an accusing glare toward his twin.
The red mech smiled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck and replied "I sort of gave into temptation and used Laserduck as target practice. But it was worth it to see that robotic duck take a nose dive and Huntage have to catch him like one of those hunting dogs I've seen on TV."
Back in the city, Ness clutched his red cap in his hands tightly as he remained curled up in the floor of Trailston's vehicle form which he had snuck into before the troop took off. He couldn't believe his was following through Descole's plan to gather a sample of Shadowarachnia's cyber-venom to create an antidote. He thought back to the small meeting when the brown-headed man assigned him the duty of getting the sample, believing he would be able to defend himself better with his psychic powers and that the spider femme would be less likely to spot him with his small size.
"I just hope Espiowl never gets wind of this plan. If he were to find out, I would never hear the end of it." the young boy thought to himself before he finally felt Trailston stop.
"I just spotted Insecticons over on top of that building, Calliester check the radio waves." Jazzden stated.
Calliester turned the dial on her boom box until she picked up a news report about how the section of the city had been closed off for a film.
"We should be clear for now, but we need to be quick unless you want to be caught on film and used in a summer blockbuster where everyone will discover our existence." the femme stated.
Ness fortunately managed to crawl out of the black van unseen and unheard just in time as the Autobots transformed. His brown eyes glanced at the building, figuring that if Insecticons were up there then most likely Shadowarachnia would be there too. Gathering up his courage, he hands tightly gripped the large needle shot gun given to him by Descole as he quickly darted into the building.
Trailston formed his forcefield around the area as Jazzden called in for the groundbridge. Within seconds the green glowing gate appeared and out from it emerged the Dinobots.
"Where are those creeps, I'm dying to squash them." Snarldile commented with an excited grin.
"Wait don't go after them yet!" the Jazzden commanded as he pulled out his sword and stood his ground in front of the troop, "The last thing we need is for you Dinobots to bring a building crumbling down. What we need to do is draw the Insecticons to us so Trailston over here can contain most of the damage."
"Get their attention, oh that'll be a snap. Just watch me pull off this totally fresh maneuver." Calliester replied as she changed her servos into her sonic wave blasters and began playing loud rock music.
Upon hearing the loud music, the Dinobots immediately yelled out in pain as they slapped their servos over their audio receptors, preferring the idea of destroying the building instead of having to suffer what they considered to be wretched noise.
The music blared loudly as the sound waves were strong enough to reach the top of the building. The Insecticons were about to finish work on the antennae until the noise reached their audio receptors, prompting them to yell in pain.
"What's that horrible sound?" Kickdedede shouted, having trouble hearing due to the loud music.
"It sounds worse than Scraplets feasting on a Cybertronian." Metashell grumbled as he went over the edge and spotted Callister with the Dinobots.
"There's the source and those stupid Dinobots are there too poyo! Let's take them all down poyo!" Sharpkirby yelled before he jumped off the building with his blaster ready, shortly followed by his two companions.
Yoshilock stopped holding his servos over his audio receptors when he saw the Insecticons charging for them. His optics narrowed and a vicious grin formed on his face as he summoned his sword and made it engulfed in fire. The other Dinobots followed their leaders example and the moment the Insecticons finally reached the ground, they charged, burning with the need of vengeance.
Jazzden looked around and frowned when he saw there was no sign of Shadowarachnia; hoping she was still on the roof the white mech signaled to Calliester before he darted into the building, thankful that it wasn't occupied by any of the film crew.
Ness panted as he finally reached the top of the building, his lungs burning from the fact he made the mistake of running up the stairs. He took a few sluggish and tired steps as he looked around, searching for any sign of Shadowaracnia but much to his worry and fear, he saw no sign of her. But then without warning webbing had been shot at him, and firmly binding his arms in place. The young boy couldn't prevent the scream of fear emitting from his mouth as he was jerked up into the air and found himself dangling in front of the Decpeticon femme's face with her red optics narrowed, revealing the reason he hadn't spot her was because she had hid herself by hanging onto the back of the building, out from the sights of the Autobots.
"Don't think I didn't notice you snooping around." Shadowarchnia smirked.
She carefully studied the young boy's appearance, recalling how he was one of the children she saw trick-or-treating. Her optics glanced at his hands to see the needle shot gun still being held tightly in his grasp. Using her free servo, she managed to easily pluck it from his tight grip.
"And pray tell what were you planning to do with this?" she taunted as she kept constantly twirling it around one of her talons, "It has no liquid in it so you weren't planning to knock me out which means you were planning to obtain something from me, but the question is what that thing is."
Ness formed a brave and stern look on his face, doing his best to hide his fear from the Decepticon as he asked "How do you know it was you I was after, I could have been after one of the Insecticons."
Upon hearing this, Shadowarachnia chuckled slightly before answering "It's too painfully obvious because I have noticed that Prime himself has failed to make an appearance, meaning he's still in stasis lock thanks to my cyber-venom and while Metashell had caused that Autobot to get injured, there's nothing you can obtain from him since the Autobot can recover on his own, which leaves only me as the target."
The young boy did not reply as he glanced downward, unsure of what to say since now he knew he couldn't lie to trick the femme since she would be able to easily see through those lies.
The black and purple femme grinned darkly when she saw the boy's expression, knowing she was right, leading her believe the only thing he had came for was her venom in order to try to create an antidote to help the Autobots. She hummed slyly as a plan began formulating in her processor, believing that she could use the information to her advantage.
"You know, I already have antidotes since I was required to create them for the Decepticons incase any of them were accidentally stung by me. I would be happy to provide some to the Autobots if they do me one favor." she said as the boy stared up in her in confusion before continuing, "Give me Mario Prime."