Hope everyone had a good new year. As always, R&R please. Thanks.
Chapter Nineteen:
How the hell had the drone seen her? She was in beast mode and even if she wasn't; the things scanners were blocked. It shouldn't have been able to detect her. But it had she told herself, deal with it. She leapt from ledge to ledge as below her, the cycle drone casually chased. Occasionally, it would take pot shots at her but many of them had strayed far from her and caused her no concern. It was if the machine wasn't even really trying to harm her. Was it toying with her?
The ledge under her eight legs, gave way and she found herself falling, spinning through the air; the ground rushing to greet her. She transformed and closed her eyes as:
Black Arachnia was motionless; she could sense that she was upside down and slowly, she opened her eyes.
Black Arachnia found herself higher than she had been previously, the city below her was rushing by at an incredible speed. She tried to turn to see her saviour but she found herself restrained; unable to move.
"Don't struggle," The voice was unrecognisable to her, "You're quite safe."
* * *
Her wing sparked and crackled and she found herself falling to the ground at speed; hitting it with force and for a split second, her world went black. Get up, she told herself and Buzzsaw could hear her drone army advance. What the hell was going on? She had asked herself but finding the answer seemed pointless now; she had to retreat, regroup with the others. The others, she thought. She had had no contact with them since they'd landed. Were they all now facing the same complications in their plans? She had to find them, she knew that; but where to start?
Buzzsaw transformed; the problem of her damaged wing now became a damaged leg but she couldn't concern herself with that now. She stood, albeit shakily, and could see the drones approaching; the tank drones loomed over everything here. In the harsh light of her reality, they were truly menacing; an unstoppable army. She swung the one good rifle she'd managed to salvage from the wreck of her ship and fired sporadically at the oncoming horde of mindless Vehicons. The shots tore up the street, throwing dust into the air obscuring her vision; she didn't stop, until. . .
Click. Buzzsaw squeezed the trigger again. Click. The roar of engines grew louder as the drones emerged from the smoke ahead of her; they were untouched her shots and she gritted her teeth and waited for her fate.
* * *
"Hammerstrike? Cloudburst? Buzzsaw, anybody?" He had used his wrist communicator for nearly an hour now and he had received no response. "Cheetor?" Was he the only one left? It didn't seem likely; there had to be some explanation. Maybe whatever had jammed the scanners had stopped his communicator from working. He could deal with that.
Something to the right of Rattrap's peripheral vision moved. Though his sensors were currently offline (thanks to the cycle drone, which now lay in pieces) he could barely make out the shadows that crawled across the opposing wall. He brought his rifle to his chest and moved as slowly and as quietly as he was able; he hoped his squealing and groaning motors would keep his advance a surprise for just a moment. The shadows came closer as now he could hear voices. They seemed familiar but they couldn't be, could they?
He swung his rifle round and leapt out into the path of the shadows and to his astonishment, saw:
"Silverbolt?"
* * *
Her rescuer had perched her high above the city on the rooftop of what she assumed used to be the Senate Tower. It stood higher than any other construct here and she could see as far as the Cybertropolis Falls, so far in the distance; they appeared tiny, a small speck on the horizon. Black Arachnia now recognized the transformer before her, though the crackly voice and the cracked paneling had made it difficult at first. The transformer was known as Cyclonus, Galvatron's general in past times, which begged the question: why? Why had he felt the need to save her from certain death at the hands of the Vehicon drone?
"There has been too much energon shed." He said his voice quiet and morose. She chuckled, "That's rich," She said, "Coming from you." He turned to face her.
"You don't agree with what we're doing, do you?"
She sighed, "I don't understand what you're doing." He smiled; his cracked and aged face creaked as he did so. "This place is wrong, Black Arachnia. This is not our Cybertron. We merely want our lives back. We need to reconstruct the past. Surely, you must understand that?"
Black Arachnia stood and approached him at the edge of the rooftop, "What's done is done, let it go." She turned and headed away, towards the doorway opposite them, "So, thanks for the rescue and everything but I really should be going." Cyclonus reached out and grasped her arm. His fingers clenched the Maximal tightly and she knew that although he may be old, he was no less a warrior; the grip hurt her.
"I cannot let you go. He wants to see you."
She looked to him: "Who wants to see me?"
"Megatron."
* * *
The tank drone stood high above her as she crawled backwards, the sparks from her leg illuminating the shadow cast by the metal giant. Yet it didn't move. Buzzsaw stopped and twisted round to see the Vehicon. It stared ahead blankly, cocking its head as if listening to something. And to her surprise and relief, it turned away from her and began to depart. She couldn't understand it, every synapse in her brain fired to find an answer but it was no good. Something had saved her, but why? What had made the damn thing leave? Not that she wasn't grateful; it just seemed too odd. The sound of its engine died quickly and after a moment it had gone, leaving her and her wounds in the alleyway alone. She sat in silence and gathered back her breath before:
"Anybody, please respond!" The voice was loud and startled her; it bounced from every wall that surrounded her. She hadn't expected to hear from her wrist-comm; it had been acting strangely since their craft had entered the city limits. She had considered it to be offline. Buzzsaw smiled, "Hello? Buzzsaw reporting."
The voice crackled, there was heavy static but at least she could hear them, "Rattrap here, thank Primus someone's alive. Where are you?" She coughed, a small amount of energon leaked from her mouth. That's not good, she thought. "I don't know," She replied, "Can't you home in on my beacon?"
There was a loud hiss of static and then silence. She slapped the wrist- comm. Nothing happened. The silence was overwhelming and she found herself totally alone.
* * *
"Damn!" He shouted, slapping his wrist-comm, "Hello? Hello?!" Nothing but static. Rattrap sighed. He had been joined by Silverbolt, Nightscream and Waspinator and they now sat by the flaming wreck of the cargo ship. He had explained the situation to them and his fears of being the only one left had subsided but were now creeping back.
"We have to find her," He said. "I don't have anymore weapons." The flames were dying now; the blackened husks of the drones were now visible. He had kept a careful eye on them; he didn't want a repeat performance of earlier. "Any suggestions as where to look?" Nightscream asked. Rattrap looked to the young Maximal. "I guess we try her last known position. We have to find her ship." He moved past them, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.
"Waspinator not like this," The Predacon said. Rattrap turned and stared at him, "What's to like?" He said and moved forward. Silverbolt stood in his place, watching the three others move off. He looked to the sky.
"I'm not going." He said. Rattrap turned, "Excuse me?" He asked. Silverbolt sighed, "I have to find Black Arachnia. I'm not going with you." He stared hard at the Maximal. After a moment, Rattrap nodded, "Good luck." He said and departed.
* * *
SHOURISHA was even bigger than she had previously thought and it loomed over the space-dock, dwarfing the nearby buildings; it had sent chills down her spine on the approach to it. But she knew that it would be nothing compared to seeing Megatron again. How he had lived was beyond her. It just didn't seem possible and although she dreaded the meeting, she was somehow relieved that she would finally have some answers.
* * *
He was in a void; nothing behind him, nothing ahead of him. He could sense that he wasn't alone here yet he couldn't see. He had no optics; he had no body but he was here. It didn't make sense.
* * *
The figure before her on the bridge of SHOURISHA was not what she had expected; this amalgamation of machines was Megatron? She felt no threat from him as he approached, he limped and she doubted that he could even give a good fight anymore. So why was he here? She was dying to ask, but something stopped her. Although they were alone on the bridge, she couldn't help feeling that something was amiss. She was being watched but by who, she didn't know.
"It's been a while Black Arachnia" Megatron said, his voice striking a chord within her. "I don't appreciate being spied on." She smiled.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have landed a starship the size of a small moon in the middle of the city. People tend to notice those things."
Megatron laughed, "Yesss. Sarcastic as always I see." He moved closer, his body moving unevenly as he did so. He reached out and with his claw like hand, he stroked the side of her face. "You were always my favourite." He hissed. She slapped his hand away, a look of disgust spread across her face.
ENOUGH WITH THE PLEASANTRIES.
The voice boomed startling Black Arachnia. She hadn't expected it yet she recognized it. The voice. . .
"My dreams." She said.
YOU KNOW WHO I AM BLACK ARACHNIA. BUT DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?
She tried to pinpoint the origin of the voice and she only came to one conclusion. The voice emanated from Megatron and she looked to him. His face had changed; the shade of his optics was darker, more menacing. He was not alone in that body it seemed.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
RECLAIM YOUR PLACE ON THIS WORLD.
"I don't understand. Who are you?!" She shouted, her voice seemed awfully loud in this place. She saw the smile creep across Megatron's face but it didn't come from him.
YOU BELONG WITH ME BLACK ARACHNIA. I AM UNICRON.
"That can't be," She uttered, "You're dead." Thoughts raced around her head like lightning. It wasn't true, was it?
I AM YOUR CREATOR. YOU ARE MY EVE.
Chapter Nineteen:
How the hell had the drone seen her? She was in beast mode and even if she wasn't; the things scanners were blocked. It shouldn't have been able to detect her. But it had she told herself, deal with it. She leapt from ledge to ledge as below her, the cycle drone casually chased. Occasionally, it would take pot shots at her but many of them had strayed far from her and caused her no concern. It was if the machine wasn't even really trying to harm her. Was it toying with her?
The ledge under her eight legs, gave way and she found herself falling, spinning through the air; the ground rushing to greet her. She transformed and closed her eyes as:
Black Arachnia was motionless; she could sense that she was upside down and slowly, she opened her eyes.
Black Arachnia found herself higher than she had been previously, the city below her was rushing by at an incredible speed. She tried to turn to see her saviour but she found herself restrained; unable to move.
"Don't struggle," The voice was unrecognisable to her, "You're quite safe."
* * *
Her wing sparked and crackled and she found herself falling to the ground at speed; hitting it with force and for a split second, her world went black. Get up, she told herself and Buzzsaw could hear her drone army advance. What the hell was going on? She had asked herself but finding the answer seemed pointless now; she had to retreat, regroup with the others. The others, she thought. She had had no contact with them since they'd landed. Were they all now facing the same complications in their plans? She had to find them, she knew that; but where to start?
Buzzsaw transformed; the problem of her damaged wing now became a damaged leg but she couldn't concern herself with that now. She stood, albeit shakily, and could see the drones approaching; the tank drones loomed over everything here. In the harsh light of her reality, they were truly menacing; an unstoppable army. She swung the one good rifle she'd managed to salvage from the wreck of her ship and fired sporadically at the oncoming horde of mindless Vehicons. The shots tore up the street, throwing dust into the air obscuring her vision; she didn't stop, until. . .
Click. Buzzsaw squeezed the trigger again. Click. The roar of engines grew louder as the drones emerged from the smoke ahead of her; they were untouched her shots and she gritted her teeth and waited for her fate.
* * *
"Hammerstrike? Cloudburst? Buzzsaw, anybody?" He had used his wrist communicator for nearly an hour now and he had received no response. "Cheetor?" Was he the only one left? It didn't seem likely; there had to be some explanation. Maybe whatever had jammed the scanners had stopped his communicator from working. He could deal with that.
Something to the right of Rattrap's peripheral vision moved. Though his sensors were currently offline (thanks to the cycle drone, which now lay in pieces) he could barely make out the shadows that crawled across the opposing wall. He brought his rifle to his chest and moved as slowly and as quietly as he was able; he hoped his squealing and groaning motors would keep his advance a surprise for just a moment. The shadows came closer as now he could hear voices. They seemed familiar but they couldn't be, could they?
He swung his rifle round and leapt out into the path of the shadows and to his astonishment, saw:
"Silverbolt?"
* * *
Her rescuer had perched her high above the city on the rooftop of what she assumed used to be the Senate Tower. It stood higher than any other construct here and she could see as far as the Cybertropolis Falls, so far in the distance; they appeared tiny, a small speck on the horizon. Black Arachnia now recognized the transformer before her, though the crackly voice and the cracked paneling had made it difficult at first. The transformer was known as Cyclonus, Galvatron's general in past times, which begged the question: why? Why had he felt the need to save her from certain death at the hands of the Vehicon drone?
"There has been too much energon shed." He said his voice quiet and morose. She chuckled, "That's rich," She said, "Coming from you." He turned to face her.
"You don't agree with what we're doing, do you?"
She sighed, "I don't understand what you're doing." He smiled; his cracked and aged face creaked as he did so. "This place is wrong, Black Arachnia. This is not our Cybertron. We merely want our lives back. We need to reconstruct the past. Surely, you must understand that?"
Black Arachnia stood and approached him at the edge of the rooftop, "What's done is done, let it go." She turned and headed away, towards the doorway opposite them, "So, thanks for the rescue and everything but I really should be going." Cyclonus reached out and grasped her arm. His fingers clenched the Maximal tightly and she knew that although he may be old, he was no less a warrior; the grip hurt her.
"I cannot let you go. He wants to see you."
She looked to him: "Who wants to see me?"
"Megatron."
* * *
The tank drone stood high above her as she crawled backwards, the sparks from her leg illuminating the shadow cast by the metal giant. Yet it didn't move. Buzzsaw stopped and twisted round to see the Vehicon. It stared ahead blankly, cocking its head as if listening to something. And to her surprise and relief, it turned away from her and began to depart. She couldn't understand it, every synapse in her brain fired to find an answer but it was no good. Something had saved her, but why? What had made the damn thing leave? Not that she wasn't grateful; it just seemed too odd. The sound of its engine died quickly and after a moment it had gone, leaving her and her wounds in the alleyway alone. She sat in silence and gathered back her breath before:
"Anybody, please respond!" The voice was loud and startled her; it bounced from every wall that surrounded her. She hadn't expected to hear from her wrist-comm; it had been acting strangely since their craft had entered the city limits. She had considered it to be offline. Buzzsaw smiled, "Hello? Buzzsaw reporting."
The voice crackled, there was heavy static but at least she could hear them, "Rattrap here, thank Primus someone's alive. Where are you?" She coughed, a small amount of energon leaked from her mouth. That's not good, she thought. "I don't know," She replied, "Can't you home in on my beacon?"
There was a loud hiss of static and then silence. She slapped the wrist- comm. Nothing happened. The silence was overwhelming and she found herself totally alone.
* * *
"Damn!" He shouted, slapping his wrist-comm, "Hello? Hello?!" Nothing but static. Rattrap sighed. He had been joined by Silverbolt, Nightscream and Waspinator and they now sat by the flaming wreck of the cargo ship. He had explained the situation to them and his fears of being the only one left had subsided but were now creeping back.
"We have to find her," He said. "I don't have anymore weapons." The flames were dying now; the blackened husks of the drones were now visible. He had kept a careful eye on them; he didn't want a repeat performance of earlier. "Any suggestions as where to look?" Nightscream asked. Rattrap looked to the young Maximal. "I guess we try her last known position. We have to find her ship." He moved past them, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.
"Waspinator not like this," The Predacon said. Rattrap turned and stared at him, "What's to like?" He said and moved forward. Silverbolt stood in his place, watching the three others move off. He looked to the sky.
"I'm not going." He said. Rattrap turned, "Excuse me?" He asked. Silverbolt sighed, "I have to find Black Arachnia. I'm not going with you." He stared hard at the Maximal. After a moment, Rattrap nodded, "Good luck." He said and departed.
* * *
SHOURISHA was even bigger than she had previously thought and it loomed over the space-dock, dwarfing the nearby buildings; it had sent chills down her spine on the approach to it. But she knew that it would be nothing compared to seeing Megatron again. How he had lived was beyond her. It just didn't seem possible and although she dreaded the meeting, she was somehow relieved that she would finally have some answers.
* * *
He was in a void; nothing behind him, nothing ahead of him. He could sense that he wasn't alone here yet he couldn't see. He had no optics; he had no body but he was here. It didn't make sense.
* * *
The figure before her on the bridge of SHOURISHA was not what she had expected; this amalgamation of machines was Megatron? She felt no threat from him as he approached, he limped and she doubted that he could even give a good fight anymore. So why was he here? She was dying to ask, but something stopped her. Although they were alone on the bridge, she couldn't help feeling that something was amiss. She was being watched but by who, she didn't know.
"It's been a while Black Arachnia" Megatron said, his voice striking a chord within her. "I don't appreciate being spied on." She smiled.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have landed a starship the size of a small moon in the middle of the city. People tend to notice those things."
Megatron laughed, "Yesss. Sarcastic as always I see." He moved closer, his body moving unevenly as he did so. He reached out and with his claw like hand, he stroked the side of her face. "You were always my favourite." He hissed. She slapped his hand away, a look of disgust spread across her face.
ENOUGH WITH THE PLEASANTRIES.
The voice boomed startling Black Arachnia. She hadn't expected it yet she recognized it. The voice. . .
"My dreams." She said.
YOU KNOW WHO I AM BLACK ARACHNIA. BUT DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?
She tried to pinpoint the origin of the voice and she only came to one conclusion. The voice emanated from Megatron and she looked to him. His face had changed; the shade of his optics was darker, more menacing. He was not alone in that body it seemed.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
RECLAIM YOUR PLACE ON THIS WORLD.
"I don't understand. Who are you?!" She shouted, her voice seemed awfully loud in this place. She saw the smile creep across Megatron's face but it didn't come from him.
YOU BELONG WITH ME BLACK ARACHNIA. I AM UNICRON.
"That can't be," She uttered, "You're dead." Thoughts raced around her head like lightning. It wasn't true, was it?
I AM YOUR CREATOR. YOU ARE MY EVE.