Hero Part Two
By: Flyby Stardancer
"Run dis by me again. I don't t'ink I heard right."
Blackarachnia sighed in frustration. "I said I want to join the Maximals."
"Why would a Pred like you want to join us?" snarled Cheetor.
"Because I'm sick and tired of dealing with those idiots!"
"Well excuse me if I don't buy that, she-spida! Once a Pred, always a Pred!" retorted Rattrap.
"I'm with Rattrap. I say we slag her!" exclaimed Cheetor.
"Rattrap, Cheetor, stand down." ordered Optimus firmly.
"But Optimus-" began Cheetor.
"No buts. Now, Blackarachnia, what caused this sudden change of heart?"
"Like I said to the cat, I'm tired of having to deal with Grape-face and his goons day-in and day-out," replied Blackarachnia truthfully.
Optimus studied her, deciding whether she was telling true or now, and if he believed her. The she-spider had stood firm during her interrogation, but now that silence had fallen on the bridge of the Maximal base, nervousness crept up on her like a lion hunting its prey. The femme-bot glanced back at Silverbolt, who stepped up behind her and tenderly places his hand on her shoulder.
Finally, Optimus broke the silence. "Welcome to the Maximals, Blackarachnia."
"Wha-what?! Please tell me that nuero-processor of yours is under warranty! She's a Pred!" cried Rattrap in outrage.
"Rattrap, if you had even bothered to look, she's already changed her allegiance symbols. Plus, she's helped us out before. Or don't you remember a certain incident where the aliens were trying to explode the planet?" Optimus pointed out calmly.
"She killed ya! She made it so ya couldn't bail!"
"I did no such thing," growled the female spider. Optimus nodded in agreement.
"That wasn't Blackarachnia's fault. Megatron had the pod hatch magna-sealed," the Maximal leader said.
"How do ya know it was Mega-butt and not her?" Rattrap shot back.
Optimus glared at the rodent. "Megatron came on the comlink and told me himself. And if I hear one more comment from you about Blackarachnia today, I'll confine you to quarters. Is that clear?"
"Yessir, Boss-monkey."
Optimus turned to Silverbolt. "I assume you'll find Blackarachnia suitable quarters?"
"Of course, sir." Silverbolt smiled warmly at Blackarachnia, took on of the claws in his hand, and lead her out of the room.
Seeing this, Rattrap snorted.
Unknown to them, Tarantulas had been spying on them with one of his many spider-drones.
"So the treacherous female decides she'd rather play with the Maximals. This should throw an… interesting twist to my plans.
"Hmm… I wonder what Megatron would do if he found out about the she-spider's latest act of treachery?" With this thought, the insane Predacon scientist began to laugh. "Hehehehahahahaha!"
Where am I? I can't see! There's no light! Suddenly, I
hear a voice, an unwanted voice.
"You laughed when you saw my arm dangling, separated
from my body. Now it's my turn to laugh as Protoform X rips you apart, piece by
treacherous piece! Hehehehahaha!" Tarantulas's high-pitched voice grated
against my spark.
Without warning, the lights come on and Rampage is
standing in front of me, insane hunger radiating from his optics. He reaches
out with one large hand and grabs me roughly around the waist, lifting me high
in the air. Over the crab-bot's shoulder, I see Silverbolt in a cage, unable to
help me as I cry out to him, his optics full of horror. I struggle futilely to
escape, and Rampage laughs manically.
"I feel you fear. Let it consume you, and I will feast
off of your spark!" I ignore Crabcakes's taunt and still try to force his hand
open. But try as I might, I can't get his hand open, he's too strong.
Rampage's other hand comes up and painfully rips the armor above my spark off, revealing the pulsing blue sphere that is my life source. With the same hand, he reaches to grab my spark and I scream…
Black optics open wide into the darkness of night. The owner of the optics slowly sat up, checking her body for damage. Finding none, she looked around at her new room. It was barren of decoration, for Blackarachnia hadn't had time to decorate it yet. The desk had a laptop on it, closed right now. Above the desk there was a comlink panel mounted on the wall. Moonlight streamed in from the single, middle-sized window and draped across the bed. It was an actual bed, with white pillows and a white blanket, unlike the metal slabs that the Predacons used as make-shift beds.
Sighing, the she-spider laid down again and pulled the blanket up to her chin. Even as she closed her optics, she knew that sleep wouldn't claim her for a while yet.
"I'm sure you have a very good reason for coming here Tarantulas. You know we don't take treachery lightly," said Megatron.
"Why, yes I do have a reason. I assume you've been having trouble locating the she-spider?" At the Predacon leader's nod, tarantulas continued. "Well, I happen to know where she is. I'll tell you, for a price."
"And what price is that…?" Megatron asked.
"I'll trade you the information for a couple parts I need," said the tarantula, laying down his bargain.
"Alright. Inferno, guard out guest, and make sure he takes only what he needs," ordered Megatron.
"Of course, my queen. Come, traitor to the colony," said Inferno, motioning for Tarantulas to lead the way.
"I do wish he wouldn't call me that," groaned Megatron.
They returned soon, Inferno keeping a close watcher on the insane scientist.
The tyrannosaur spoke to Tarantulas. "I've fulfilled my end of the deal, so now tell me. Where is Miss Arachnia?"
The male spider began to laugh. "She has defected to the Maximals. I have proof, if you don't believe me."
"Well, then. Let us see this 'proof'," Megatron requested.
Tarantulas took out a data-disk and went over to one of the computers on the Darkside's control room. He inserted the disk into the computer and all the Predacons gathered around the screen as a video began to play.
On the screen, we can see the Maximal bridge. Blackarachnia is standing there, Silverbolt's hand resting on her shoulder. The bird-dog is behind the female, his silver and gray armor contrasting with her yellow and black body. From off-screen, we can hear Optimus say, "Welcome to the Maximals, Blackarachnia." Then the screen grows dark as the recording ends.
"Blast that treacherous female!" exclaimed Megatron. "She will pay for that, yesss!"
Blackarachnia sat, staring at the monitors. It was all she could do to just keep her optics open. Silverbolt walked up behind her, having just gotten back from patrol.
"Are you alright?" the bird-dog fuzor asked in a concerned voice.
"I'm fine. Just a bit tired, that's all," replied the she-spider.
"Ya must have kept her up late, bird-dog," remarked Rattrap, looking up from his hand of Poker.
"Don't even think it, Rat-face, 'cause it didn't happen," retorted Blackarachnia, realizing what the Maximal spy had been implying.
"Oh, really? I thought that was what you specialized in, you whore," said Rattrap in his snobbiest voice.
"Rattrap! How dare you call a lady such a vile thing!" exclaimed Silverbolt.
"'Bolt, if she's a lady, then I'm a garbage-truck driver," replied the rodent.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd just love that job, Vermin," Blackarachnia said coolly.
"Is that the best you can come up with, ya Predacon slut?"
"One: I'm not Predacon anymore. Two: I'm not the slut here; that's your profession. Three: It's two against one here. And you're the one, Garbage-breath."
Unable to think of a suitable comeback to that, Rattrap turned back to his Poker game, muttering under his breath. Suddenly, the base began to shake and the alarms wailed.
"We got a full-scale Pred assault!" cried Blackarachnia. "Auto-guns, online!"
Optimus jogged into the bridge, followed by Cheetor and Rhinox. "Situation?" asked the Maximal leader.
"Grape-face has each and every one of his goons firing at us," reported Blackarachnia.
"Den why isn't Tarantulas out there?" asked Rattrap.
"He exiled himself a while ago. Mega-ego would kill him at first sight," replied the black widow. Optimus nodded.
"Alright Maximals. Let's hit them hard and fast," ordered the transmetal gorilla.
Everyone ran to the lift, armed and ready for battle.
Tarantulas was in a good mood. "Hehehaha! Megatron will take care of the witch, then there will be no one to stop my plans! Hehehahaha! And those nightmares I've been sending her will make her lose sleep, causing her to be easy prey for Megatron! Hehehehahahaha!"
The tarantula turned to his project, which looked like two giant canons that were back-to-back, and began to work on it some more.
Blackarachnia jumped out from behind the boulder she was taking shelter from and fired her leg-machine guns. The bullets bounced off of Inferno, doing hardly any damage. The insane ant-bot laughed in maniacal glee, then shot his flame-thrower at the widow. She dodges, landing face-first on the ground.
She got up, took out her cyber-venom launcher, and hit the fire ant with a dose of bright green cyber-venom. Inferno was still laughing as he fell to the ground, the cyber-venom shorting out his systems.
Blackarachnia looked up just in time to see one of Rampage's missiles hit the base of Silverbolt's right wing. The fuzor hit the ground with a sickening thud. "Silverbolt!" cried the femme, running over to Silverbolt.
Megatron, taking advantage of her distraction, fired his quasar canon at the she-spider, hitting her in the side and sending her flying a few feet back.
"Blackarachnia!" shouted the bird-dog. He then turned to Megatron, fire in his optics and a snarl on his face. He took a feather missile out of this left wing and hurled it at Megatron. The tyrannosaur laughed and batted it away with his canon. Then he shot the Maximal fuzor repeatedly in the chest and stomach, sending him into stasis lock.
Megatron walked over to Blackarachnia, who was now only beginning to get up, and kicked her in the stomach. "So, you think you can scurry to the Maximals and I won't find out? It's time to show you what I do with traitors like you," said the Predacon leader. He took out a curved energon knife and stabbed the female wit hit, the blade missing her spark by literally a mere hair's width. The she-spider immediately went into stasis lock.
Megatron stood up, sure that he had killed the widow, and a feral smile on his face. "Predacons retreat! Our mission is complete!" bellowed Megatron.
The Predacons that were still functioning picked up their offline comrades and fled from the area.
"'Mission completed'? What does dat mean?" asked Rattrap, looking around.
"Jumpin' gyros! They must have been after Blackarachnia!" exclaimed Cheetor.
"Well, that's good for us," said Rattrap.
"Shut up, Rattrap. Rhinox, how are they?" inquired Optimus.
The rhino sighed as he checked the injuries of the two Maximals. "Silverbolt's just in stasis lock. He'll be fine after a long stay in a CR chamber. But I'm not sure about Blackarachnia's condition. The knife may have pierced her spark. I can't tell without a scanner."
"Whoo-hoo! Time ta party if she's gone!" shouted the rodent.
"Shut up Rattrap! Is there a chance she survived?" Rhinox nodded.
"There's a slim chance that the knife missed, but not much."
"Alright, let's get Silverbolt in the CR chamber and Blackarachnia where Rhinox can scan her."
"Rhinox, will she be alright?" asked a worried Silverbolt, who was now out of the CR chamber.
"She will be fine, but only if I can concentrate, which is difficult with someone asking questions every five seconds." Rhinox glared pointedly at the fuzor.
"My apologies, Rhinox," the bird-dog replied meekly.
Rhinox turned back to the console. His right hand reached out and gripped the joystick controlling a mechanical arm. Slowly, carefully he maneuvered the arm into position over the knife. The grippers lowered and gently closed around the handle of the knife, then were tugged upwards, removing it from the prone body of Blackarachnia. Silverbolt's optics remained locked on his beloved, afraid that the sudden movement would finish her. Fortunately, the knife didn't touch her spark. The rhino and the bird-dog breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
"There we go. Now the CR chamber should be able to repair her," said the elder Maximal.
Silverbolt nodded, then waslked over to where Blackarachnia lay. He reached out with one hand to gently stroke her cheek, then he picked her up and placed her in the CR chamber.