Ch. 102

To say the hustling and bustling inside the tiny warehouse had ever been matched was a statement made under false pretenses. What was to be accomplished was more than just the amalgamation of two species, it was clearly the direction of human evolution. Calm settled only mere moments before the last of the cabling had been plugged in to the building's power supply and a scientist at a computer console activated the charge that would bring their creation to life.

Silence immediately followed. The charge scuttled up the cables and into the form slumped gently forward that stood before these silent men. Energon was pumped quickly from a glass tank and into the chassis of this broken and mended mech. Eyes, attentive and alert, watched in the basking quiet, the hum and beeps of machines the only things to interrupt the silence. Only the delicate audials of MECH's prisoner could hear the finer details and machinations whirring around inside the beast they wished to awaken.

A servo twitched.

It wasn't enough.

Quick hands tapped at the computer console and the charges became more violent, the energon pumped in far more quickly. The chassis rattled with the electrical charges and a warning beep began to drum out loudly.

The charges slowly fizzled out. The energon was gone, all of it pumped into this new frame. Dust and smoke crept up and blanketed the MECH soldiers and scientists that watched in wonder, hoping their labors would be rewarded with the awakening of their creation.

But everything was far too still for their liking.

With a few silently held breathes, nothing stirred. Even Airachnid begrudgingly prayed the monster they had welded back together was dead and Silas's fragile body with it. But then a distinct hum ignited into the red and purple optics of this mech. A gray helm looked gently from side to side as the creation recalibrated the use of these two different optics for optimal use.

A scientist stepped forward, holding back eager praises for himself and his team as he continued with standard protocols, "Welcome back, sir."

A clawed servo reached up and the mech frowned, staring down at it, "What have you done?"

Humble words were cast to the wind as the scientist responded to the question, "What we needed to in order to save you, Silas."

The statement was simple but had the greatest point: MECH's resources had played God and succeeded.

"I'm... one of them," Silas concluded aloud, testing the grip of his long, slender claws as he reached into the air to grasp nothing.

Airachnid heard the statement but was too weak to scoff. One of them. He was nothing but a parasite.

The scientist, however, was eager to inform his leader, "The logical evolution of MECH's experiments in biotech. Your brain fused with the donor's nervous and skeletal systems..."

Silas felt his human self, the last piece of his naturally organic body, move gently in the lower chassis of his new frame, "The perfect meld of man and machine. Exquisite."

Silas guided his new body down from the cables holding it in place, a smile on both of his faces as he spoke, "Thank you all for your dedication and a life time of service," he looked about the room for only a moment, detecting that of four MECH units in the immediate vicinity and Airachnid's beaten form on a slab in the corner, "But I now seem more suited to keep the exclusive company of titans."

The scientists and soldiers had no time to move as Silas activated his arm's blasters, firing mercilessly at the men who saved him. No. Who created him. They hardly had time to cry out as his blasters shot once, twice, three times. And then he transformed a servo back only to slam the palm of it down hard on the human who had activated the switch. The one who had ensured his own downfall and the downfall of mankind. Because what did Silas need humanity for? He was an alien, a robot. He was Cybertronian. Made for better things, for better futures.

Future...

Silas stood up taller and scowled when he nearly lost his balance, his sharp peds balancing him only when he leaned his wings forward. He stared down at his claws, a look of confusion and concern on his faceplates.

"This isn't him," he said, almost in disappointment, "This isn't his body I harbor."

Airachnid finally laughed. It was a shrill, hysterical laugh. Silas's form turned towards her as she panted in her agony and she struggled to speak.

"Did you- did you," she managed through her cackles, "did you really think they could catch him?" she hissed, "Did you really think you would wake up miraculously endowed with that kind of power?"

Silas growled, "What did they do? What is this thing they created then? If it isn't him, what is it?!"

Airachnid's optic-less faceplate faced him and she sneered, "A clone. A... a half-hearted copy..." her voice growled back and she spat at him, "Certainly not the original. He continues to elude you."

"It would seem he has eluded us both," Silas huffed in return, taking a few steps forward and balancing himself out with his arms as he did so, "And you? You're here, mangled and left for dead because...?"

The beaten femme struggled to intake, "Me? They had a few design ideas of their own... And they also required my only working optic," she quieted down slightly before her chassis began to tremble, "He... he foretold this to me."

Silas almost fell forward when she spoke, his optics immediately turning to her, "He said this would happen? That I would-"

"Not you!" she snarled, "Me! This!" she panted and coughed a small bit of energon up, hissing, "He said a patient being was waiting for me. That they would be the cause of my end. That I would die... and I thought it was her, Arcee, but I was brought here and that's when I realized it wouldn't be because of her..."

Silas smirked, "Me. You believe his future sight saw me ending you?"

Airachnid nodded, "I know it. What else could it be? The parts they took from me to use on you... they're irreplaceable. Should I die now by your hand or in a few days from multiple system failures, it won't matter..." she tapped a single digit against the slab she was confined to, "My optic... some of my neural netting... parts of my skeletal structure... my t-cog... my legs..."

"Your legs?"

Silas looked at Airachnid's chassis in the dim lighting, cannibalized to fit the soon-to-be former group MECH's needs. Her frame had been brutalized, but her legs were still attached. Perhaps she couldn't feel them? Or... or better yet...

It was then Silas could feel the additional weight on his back, four additional extensions besides his large and lovely wings. Airachnid's spider legs had been grafted onto him and the limbs leaned dangerously forward, almost as though to greet him, with the shine of sharpened blades at the ends that looked painful even to look at.

Silas chuckled, "They really did make me as dangerous as possible, didn't they. How fortunate for me... not so much everyone else."

Airachnid was losing strength quickly; soon she would fall unconscious again, "W-wait," she struggled out, "where are you going to go? What are you going to do?"

Silas wanted to brag. He wanted to express every vile thought he had, not only for those who had ridiculed his ideas, but for all of humanity. And most of all, for him. The one who kept escaping his studies. The one who taunted him with the greatest of powers.

"Me?" he mused gently, making his way over to her, "I'm going to accomplish what you couldn't, Airachnid. I'm going to become a part of the Decepticons. I'm going to successfully usurp Megatron's power and lead them. Their resources will be used to find him, the greatest prize, and once I catch him, I will take his body and his power... and I will destroy this world with the one thing that could have saved it."

Airachnid scowled, knowing that Silas's chassis was close, "And... me?"

Silas laughed loudly, "You? What about you? You said it yourself, you won't make it out of this without serious medical treatment! And with a little loyalty provided, I can ensure that..." he looked his claws over in disinterest before flexing them, "But where would the fun be in that? I have a far better idea: why spoil the future? Why not make Starscream's prediction for you a reality?"