Interlude 19
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Arcee stared at the twisted pile of flesh, bone and metal that was being held in place by containment foam while Ratchet continued to examine it.
"Can we help them?"
Kneeling by the 'creature', Ratchet shook his head and turned his scanner off.
"No, there's nothing to save." Rising, he ran a hand down his face. "There's no brain activity in any of the bodies. Their movement is being caused by what I think is some car batteries and other electronics wired into the nervous system..."
"This is one of hers, isn't it?" She sighed as he nodded. Waving to Lieutenant Parks, she gestured for him to come closer as she tapped the side of her helm.
"Umm… yes... ma'am?" he said. He'd been in communication with his bosses and the PRT, but for now, they seemed content to leave this to her. This city was maybe half the size of Brockton Bay and while it had a few capes running around, it wasn't large enough for a dedicated Protectorate branch.
"Soundwave? Ratchet confirms it, the creature was made by Bonesaw."
##
Earlier
Out in the middle of nowhere on the west coast of the USA, a groundbridge opened with a crash. The dizzying swirl of lights flickered and faded before vanishing with a snap.
Minutes later, it reappeared, the glow brighter than before. A small metal box came through, falling to the ground with a thud, and the portal vanished.
This repeated three more times, with the portal growing brighter and dimmer each time. On the fourth attempt, the bridge remained open and Arcee emerged.
Stepping from the groundbridge, Arcee put her arms above her head and stretched, newly repaired pistons and servos moving seamlessly and sending a pleasant sensation through her frame.
"All things considered, Jack," she sighed as part of her spine realigned itself with a warm pop, "you did an amazing job."
"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled, emerging behind her. "Just remember, warn me if anything starts running hot. The last thing we need is you exploding."
Her good mood evaporated and she spun on her heel, glaring at the taller autobot. "What the scrap!?"
Wheeljack laughed long and loud, ear fins flashing as he clutched at his sides. "You should see the look on your face! Hey, stop that! I was -ow- kidding!"
Dancing away from her, he kept laughing even as she playfully swatted at him, slapping his shoulders and upper arms.
"You!-" She tried to grab his ear fin, but he ducked quickly out of the way, falling to the floor and rolling, transforming so he landed on all four wheels, and took off at full speed, tyres screeching.
"Not everything I build explodes!" he shouted as he tore down the road.
"Let's put that to the test!" she shouted back, transforming and chasing after him with a roar of her engine.
For a brief time, the pair of them were lost in the simple joy of racing down the empty roads, switching between open tarmac and small dirt tracks. Swerving off the road, Wheeljack whooped as he hit a raised patch of dirt and caught air, hitting the ground with a thump.
Laughing, Arcee followed him, transforming in the air to kick off a tree, then switching back to land on her wheels ahead of him.
"Got you!" she called, only for Wheeljack to turn sharply, skidding around her in a cloud of dust. He revved his engine hard, kicking up dirt as he spun in rings around her, then took off south with a laugh.
Her wheels spun as she went after him, the chase continuing on.
##
By the time they reached the city, both of them were covered in a fine layer of dirt and grime, but Arcee's spark felt lighter than it had in a long time.
"Okay," she admitted as they came to a stop and transformed. "I needed that."
"Told ya," Wheeljack chuckled, rolling his shoulders.
After two weeks of hiding away in Dragon's base, watching as Taylor ran around patching them all up and making 'plans', Arcee hadn't realised just how badly she needed some time outside and a chance to spin her wheels.
Considering how the confinement had affected her, she should probably make sure Taylor got out at some point. Preferably before she went crazy and started calling herself the mole queen or something.
"So, where are we meeting the supplier?"
"This way," he said, waving his hand to point in roughly the right direction before leading her further into the city..
The walk through the city was peaceful for the most part. People stopped to stare as the Autobots walked down the streets, many taking pictures with their phones. Wheeljack was quick to wave at the onlookers, offering them a cheery hello. It amused Arcee that, despite that, no one tried to approach them.
This wasn't Brockton Bay or New York — the number of capes in this city was low and the people clearly weren't sure what to make of the Autobots.
That was part of the reason they were walking to the meeting. The other reason was Wheeljack. While Arcee only needed her holographic driver to pass for a normal motorbike and rider, Wheeljack's alt-mode was too small to safely drive on the roads but too large for the pavements, especially when moving at full speed.
Arcee wasn't even surprised when she spotted a number of police cars dotted along their route. No one tried to stop or question them, but it was still obvious that they were watching to see what would happen, and she nodded politely to one of the officers when she made eye contact with him.
All in all, it took only thirty minutes to reach the large warehouse that was less than a block away from a large train terminal. They were met outside by a man in a tan suit with purple sunglasses.
He smiled as he walked forward to greet them, arms held wide. "Arcee, Wheeljack! You don't know how happy I am to see you!"
"Of course you are, Swindle," she said dryly. "We're paying you a fortune."
Swindle laughed good-naturedly, but he didn't deny it.
"I'm still not sure why you wanted to meet here. I would have been happy to come to you."
She smiled at Swindle in reply but silently opened a comm-link to Wheeljack. *Like we'd tell him where it is.* That lesson had been learned. No one was going to know about the new Autobot base until they were ready to announce it to the world.
"Do you have what we asked for?"
"Of course, of course, you know me! I always come through." Waving them forward, Swindle led them towards a pair of double doors on the front of the warehouse, probably unaware that Ratbat and Laserbeak had been watching the building for hours.
Inside were row after row of wooden pallets, upon which crates of various heights and widths had been stacked taller than her, running the length of the building. Each one was stamped with the details of the various suppliers and codes that probably signified the contents, but it didn't mean much to Arcee. That was why she had brought Wheeljack along after all.
Humming to himself, Wheeljack walked past them, pulling a small flat device from a compartment on his body, and waved it over the first box he reached. Once he was apparently satisfied, he pulled the top off.
The crate was filled with steel sheets. A needle extended from Wheeljack's finger and he pressed it into the top sheet, before removing it and repeating the action on another sheet deeper in the crate.
"Hey now!" Swindle protested, though there was no offence in his voice. "It's all there and of the grade you asked for. I wouldn't short a customer like that."
"You'd short us in a different way?" Arcee shot back with a smirk that made him laugh. "Though I'm surprised you were willing to deal with us. Has Toybox changed its policy?"
"Nah, the smart-boys still wont let me sell their stuff to you. But this? This is all consumer grade stuff. Nothing to do with Toybox." Putting his hands in his pockets, he shrugged. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised you came to me. I'm not complaining, but you could have gotten all this yourself."
"Yes," Arcee said, watching as Wheeljack pulled a spool of wire from a different crate and examined it. "But then everyone would know about it."
Swindle's sunglasses flashed as he stepped closer, his expression one of glee. "Oh? Planning something naughty are we?"
She gave him a flat look, letting the silence stretch until he stepped away with a laugh, hands held in the air.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You know me, I'm a real joker."
Her response was cut off by an emergency call from Soundwave.
*An unknown creature has appeared north of your position. Local forces are enroute, but requesting back up.*
"I'm on it!" Arcee said without hesitation, spinning around and sprinting for the door, Wheeljack hot on her heels.
"What about the supplies?" she shouted to him as she barged through the doors.
"Percy is on his way. Him and Rhinox can finish up!" he called back, and the moment they were outside, both transformed and took to the streets at full speed.
##
They found the creature only a few blocks north of the warehouse, on the north eastern edge of the city. It looked like a spider, made from the twisted remains of a dozen people, the torn remains of their clothes still clinging to their bodies. Their faces were stitched together and stretched over its misshapen head, mouths twitching and gasping with every movement.
Its abdomen was formed from their torsos, organs and bone exposed to the air, threaded through with metal and wires. Their arms and legs formed the spider's limbs, junk and other things used to strengthen the joints. Smaller mechanical spiders could be seen skittering across its body, burrowing into holes or emerging from its mouths.
It staggered around drunkenly, its body swaying as it moved from one side of the street to another. Whenever it bumped into an obstacle, it lashed out blindly with its limbs, its mouths shrieking wordlessly. Its legs were little more than fleshy clubs, but that was enough to shatter windows and rip the doors off a parked car.
The local police had blocked the road ahead of the creature with their cars and were currently sheltering behind them, weapons at the ready as one of them shouted at the spider in an effort to calm it down, but it didn't seem to be working.
Cursing, he ducked behind a car as the creature spun to face him, one of its hands throwing a chunk of metal at him, though it was impossible to tell if that had been intentional, before returning its attention to the car it was attempting to maul.
The officer looked up as Arcee and Wheeljack approached. Skidding, they transformed and rolled to a stop alongside him behind the car.
"Arcee," she snapped. "This is Wheeljack, we're with the Autobots! You in charge here?"
The officer shook his head likely at the ridiculousness of it all. "I guess so! Lieutenant Parks. This guy with you?"
"Never seen it before. What can you tell us?"
"Not much, it staggered into town and started hitting people. Any one who gets to close gets swarmed by the little ones you can see on its body. We thought it was one of those monster capes, but it doesn't seem to understand us!"
Nodding, Arcee looked over their barricade to see the spider was staggering forward toward a small store. The owner had already closed the door, leaving the creature to beat against the wall and demolish the awning.
Walking out of cover, Arcee gave a shout, transforming her arm and blasting the pavement close to its feet.
The spider turned, its mouths bellowing at the noise. Some kind of instinct seemed to take over, the movement of its limbs becoming suddenly fluid as it attempted to bull rush her.
Diving to the side, Arcee hit the ground and rolled, coming up in a crouch as it turned to face her.
"Jack?" she called, not looking away from the creature.
"Jump!" he shouted back, and the spider charged her again. "Now!"
Not stopping to question him, she leapt up into the air, arching gracefully over the spider's back. Its feet dug into the ground, bringing it to a stop as it tried to follow her. There was a quiet 'putt' and a small silver tube landed under it. She hit the ground as the grenade detonated, containment foam coating the spider's underside and trapping its legs.
Heedless, the creature continued to thrash, rocking its body in an attempt to move, and small mechanical spiders burst out of its body, their metal legs clattering on the floor as they swarmed towards Arcee.
Cursing loudly, she moved backwards quickly and opened fire, shattering the asphalt along with the spiders. Some of them made it through the barrage, getting close enough to jump at her, spindly legs scrabbling to find purchase on her armour. Wheeljack shouted something, but Arcee was too busy pulling the little monsters off her body to hear him.
There was another explosion and a wave of something passed through her body, making her systems tingle. The spiders fell to the floor and lay there in twitching heaps.
Panting, Arcee brought her foot down on the nearest one with a satisfying crunch.
"What. The. Scrap?!" she shouted, turning as Wheeljack came hurrying forward, a grenade launcher vanishing back into his storage.
"Electromagnetic pulse," he said, ear fins flashing happily. He scooped up one of the spiders to examine it closely, pulling at its legs. "I guessed these things were too crude to resist it."
"Next time," she hissed, shooting him a glare, "you get to be the decoy." She tapped her radio. She would make him pay for that later. "Ratchet, we need you here…"
##
Ratchet was still inspecting the spider, doing what he could to ease its pain. Its movements were getting sluggish, its shrieks little more that feeble whines as whatever twisted force that was keeping it alive slowly wound down.
"Ma'am?" Lieutenant Parks said quietly as he approached, eyeing the spider warily. "I've got people following its — their? — path back through the city. We found a couple of corpses and some more of those little spiders, but nothing that looks like a… nest or starting point?"
"It came from outside the city," Ratchet said without turning around. "There's too much dirt and plant remains on its body to have come from inside…"
As he spoke, he placed a hand on the spider's head, making gentle shushing noises as the body finally started to go limp and, with a final whine, it went still. Ratchet sighed. "They're gone…"
"...Arcee to base," she ground out, her spark pulsing with anger. "Requesting permission to join the search… please!"
*Denied;* Soundwave droned, his voice flat as ever. *Perceptor and Rhinox confirm shipment is secure. Rendezvous with them and return to-*
"Damn it," Arcee hissed, sending a team wide ping in frustration. "Rewind! I know you're listening. Does Taylor know what is happening here?"
The line was silent. She knew Taylor wanted to keep a low profile for now, but— "These people deserve justice and this city needs our help!"
*You're right…* Her spark leapt at the sound of Taylor's voice. "Soundwave, we will be talking about this later. Arcee, I'm sending you some back up. I'm trusting your judgement on this, but keep yourselves safe, understood?*
"Understood!"
A groundbridge opened with a crash and Divebomb swooped through the portal. Cyclonus emerged moments later, closely followed by Taylor's newest creation. It had started off as a single spark that had, shortly after being placed in a casing, split itself, producing four smaller sparks that were subservient to the main spark.
Individually, the lesser sparks were little more than animals, but the lead spark was sapient. The end result was five new bots that shared one mind, and a singularity of purpose. As a force they were without equal.
Shaking out his mane, Razorclaw sniffed the air and growled. "Hrr, We hunt?"
Lieutenant Parks stared in open shock at the mechanical lion. At nearly a meter and a half at the shoulder, he was the biggest of the Predacons. The others, a tiger, an eagle, a rhino and a buffalo respectively, were only slightly smaller than him.
"Yes," Arcee said with a smile that promised pain. "We hunt."
If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting me on Patron: MetallixMiscellaneous
AN: As a weapon he is without equal; as a warrior he is without restraint. He can lift five hundred tons without straining a circuit. When Predaking is on your trail, all hope is lost.
That said, im using the Feral Rex name and design for him to avoid complications with Predaqueen.
So, dont leave! I promise, this won't be a long drawn out arc full of needless suffering!
