Author's Note: While writing this chapter, I realized that if Jackie Chan or Jet Le asked me to choreograph their fight sense, I would fail miserably. See mass destruction I can do (as my creative writing teacher noted), but hand-to-hand combat, something that's choreographed move for move, is so far beyond me. I have watched WEEKS worth of Dragonball Z episodes to do anything with this chapter, and what did I end up with? JACK and SHIT! I'm sorry it's late and that it's not as good as my other chapters, but this is the hardest part to write. Smooth sailing from here.
Chapter 18
You must be strong, Isis. As strong as you can possibly be, for the world is cruel. It will take advantage of you, if you allow it. I will protect you as long as I can, but even I will join the Matrix someday, and then you'll be on your own, little sister.
Dinobot pondered at the irony of his own words. He had always known that one day, she would need protection from his betrayal, but never gave it much thought. He snapped back to attention; something was wrong. So far Tarantulas had been simply allowing her to attack him. Blackarachnia launched wave after wave of mental assaults, and the Predacon spider fell back every time. However Tarantulas had yet to make a decent retaliation that puzzled the veloceraptor. Dinobot knew that, while Tarantulas wasn't the best fighter, he was good enough to put up quite a struggle.
"What is that spider up to?" he muttered to himself.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tarantulas smirked and looked up. Yes, he was ready now. Just once more...
Blackarachnia felt something tug at her mind after the last wave. It wasn't painful, but felt rather like heavy pressure in her mind. It was becoming harder for her to focus and her control slipped. What was going on!? It took all her strength to push the foreign presence out of her mind, and once it was gone, she heard Tarantulas laugh loudly. Her head snapped up, and she glared at the Transmetal spider.
"What in the pit did you do?!" she demanded.
"I nearly reestablished the link between us," the scientists looked very pleased.
"Impossible!" she scoffed, but Tarantulas could see the fear in her optics.
"I simply deciphered the pattern of your attacks," he looked boarded as if explaining the most trivial thing to a child, "then followed them back to their source of origin: your mind. Try your little tricks again, and I promise you'll be begging for termination."
A deep suppressed fear tugged at the female. She knew full well that Tarantulas would do exactly as he threatened. He was never one to boast because there was never a need; his power was always, as he claimed, no more, no less.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of her momentary laps in concentration, Tarantulas made his move and opened fire with his shoulder machine guns. Startled Blackarachnia fell back under the rain of fire and was about to erect another shield from her telekinetic energy when she remembered his threat. Cursing under her breath, she broke out into a run throwing herself behind an enormous bolder that would serve for momentary protection.
Okay so much for my advantage, her mind raced to figure out an alternative method of fighting the madman. She had been counting on her newfound skills and hadn't anticipated a need to have a secondary strategy. Which is a mistake only a rookie would have made, she scolded herself. How stupid could I be to put all my energy and trust into something that I barley know how to use?! She sighed and shook her head. Taratron taught me better then this.
* * * * * * * * * *
I taught me better then this! Dinobot growled under his breath. He wasn't sure what happened, but it was clear that something prevented Blackarachnia from using her abilities. The fact that she ran rather than stood her ground also told him that she was lacked a backup plan.
"Foolish girl," he growled. "Such sloppiness could very well get her terminated. What in the Inferno was she thinking?!"
"What is wrong?" Silverbolt saw what had happened, but unlike Dinobot he didn't recognize the reason for the sudden shift in power on the battlefield. His warrior instinct were simply not as honed.
"It appears as if she may need our help after all," the old warrior replied. "She clearly didn't think this through as well as I'd hoped."
* * * * * * * * * *
"Give it up, witch," the spider took steady steps towards the bolder. His pace was slow in order to prolong her anxiety of defeat. "You know very well that it's over."
Blackarachnia narrowed her optics at this. She couldn't use the mental waves, but her abilities didn't end there. If only there was a way to magnify her attacks so that Tarantulas would be overpowered. If only she could defeat him. If only… But Blackarachnia was a very pessimistic person by nature. She would never surrender to him, but at the moment there didn't seem to be any way she could win the battle.
Stepping out of the shelter of the bolder, she stood tall and proud, face-to-face with her nemesis, his eerie yellow optics burning into her flesh. All emotions dissolved; fear, anger, hope, and hate disappeared. Distantly she could here Tarantulas chuckling, but the world itself was fading away from her senses. A power deep inside her spark began to pulsate through her, and then a tiny sphere of light flared within, spreading its power beyond the confines of her body.
The two Maximal overseeing the battle blocked their optics as a dome of bright light surrounded Blackarachnia. It slowly grew to a radius of over thirty meters before resonating one last powerful burst of energy.
Fighting of the burning sensation from the light in his optics, Silverbolt forced his hand away from them and looked over at the battlefield. Blackarachnia's face was expressionless, but as his golden optics meeting her crimson read ones, Silverbolt felt the bombardment of emotions pound into his spark. Anger, fear, despair, but amidst the pain and chaos, he picked up something else. Silverbolt's optics widened in realization, but it was too late. She gave him a sad smile and closed her optics.
I love you...
Then the world collapsed.