Promotional artwork: tigressa101/art/Arcee-and-the-Isle-of-the-Allspark-Cover-931607333

Cybertropolis was not what Bumblebee expected. It certainly did operate under its own rules, but the leader of the city was more than happy to meet with him and Shockwave. In a fascinating coincidence and to their blessed surprise, the leader happened to be a bot they knew.

"Well, if it isn't the scout of the Autobots, or should I refer to you now as the leader of the Autobots?"

Bumblebee smiled proudly at his dearest friend. "Windblade, you have no idea how glad I am to see you."

The seeker matched his glee and got off her chair walking over to draw Bee into a hug. She laughed, "It feels like yesterday when you were an eager rookie! You've grown, Bumblebee, in so many ways and I can't be any prouder. Elita One, when she was the sovereign ruler here used to tell me how Optimus always talked about you and your accomplishments among the Autobots."

"Pretty far cry from that rookie status now, huh? So, how have you been? How has being the sovereign leader treated you?"

Windblade shrugged, "Can't complain honestly. Never thought I would succeed Elita after her death and Cybertron was put under. But I guess we both are a far cry from what we were before. A new generation looks up to me for hope and guidance. Although it can be taxing, I do my best."

Bumblebee bowed humorously, "Yes, your majesty."

"Stop it," she playfully scowled. "So, what can I do for you?"

"You won't believe me-"

"Try me."

"-but Arcee isn't the queen anymore, and we need your help to bring down Rockrider who stole the throne by banishing Arcee and apparently Megatron to the Isle of the Allspark on Earth."

There was a cough somewhere in the room as Windblade narrowed her optics, not out of hate but confusion. She lifted her servos and closed her optics bewildered. "Let me wrap that data around my processor. Arcee...isn't in control?"

Shockwave stopped tinkering with one of the artifacts displayed in the room and walked to Bee's side. "No, Rockrider, the Councilmember and Head of the Iacon Hall of Records, has taken over and is using Arcee's name as a front to make it seem like Arcee is the one placing ridiculous laws on the people which you have no doubt been hearing."

"That...explains a lot, not going to lie," Windblade said, biting her lip. Her wings drooped down from the information. "Does anyone else on Cybertron know this?"

"No," Bee shook his head, "right now, everyone thinks Haywire and Scythe are traitors. It's only a matter of time before she tries to turn Cybertron on Optimus and me. She had us arrested then when we were broken out by Tyrus who also helped Haywire and Scythe, she sent her guards after us. We need to stop her before she turns Cybertron on its head and starts a whole new war."

Windblade went back to her chair and tapped on the arm in thought. "I can't choose sides normally, that's one thing the Cybertropolis has always made apparent for every ruler to abide by, but legally nothing says I can't poke at Rockrider myself, right?"

Scythe and her ambassador were talking when the ambassador stepped in. "Forgive me, my lady, but you can. The rule is you can't fight for a side unless the opposite side is absolutely a threat to Cybertropolis. This technically doesn't mean you can't at least aid a side. And by Cybertropolis' decree as a sovereign city, you can legally challenge any law this Rockrider puts out if it's against a city you are helping."

"Rockrider has Crystal City believing her under Arcee's name but not Iacon yet. Optimus has made Nova's Point his base right now and being a Prime who has friends throughout Iacon, it's his to sway. If he calls out Rockrider on the unjust laws, that'll let you hop in and bring your own case in defense of Iacon which wouldn't seem like going against the throne, only the laws themselves," Shockwave said.

Windblade looked at her ambassador who gave approval then at Bee. "Since you are one of my friends, Bumblebee, and Optimus is a part of this too, I will be more than willing to help. I only ask that if Rockrider starts prodding at this city that you let me do what I need to do to ensure my citizens are happy. I will try and get them to understand but if they don't, I can't do much for you."

Bumblebee nodded, "That's fine. As long as you can poke Rockrider out of hiding just enough to give us a chance to prove to Cybertron she's been lying to us, we can handle the rest."

She then turned to her ambassador, "Contact Optimus Prime and make arrangement for an announcement to the city, we are going to bring some hell."

"Yes, my lady."

Energon never tasted sweeter. Megatron and Arcee camped on top of the Endeavor as dusk approached with their Energon cubes. Bolt relaxed on a hammock set between two of the broken fins of the ship, letting fireflies land in one servo and reading a data pad in the other.

Moonhunter growled at a garden leaper below in the marsh as it croaked at him before hopping into the water to his surprise. It reappeared on a lily pad before another joined it. The Cat pounced but missed right as two more leapers popped out behind him, turning to stare at the Nitrotiger and croak tauntingly. This continued until Moonhunter was forced to sit in the water confused as he was surrounded by an entire circle of leapers staring at him before all splashed him as they dived into the water. The cat grumpily jumped up to the roof wet and dripping. He angrily shook himself dry when the eyes of one leaper broke the surface of the marsh just to give a slow croak at his misery.

"Heh heh, stupid cat," Bolt taunted.

Moonhunter turned on him with his ears posed flat before jumping at him. The Vehicon fell back off the hammock and hit the roof. Grumbling, he rubbed his helm while the Nitrotiger walked by him with his tail in the air and a huff, slapping him with said tail when Bolt let his guard down.

"What have I told you two?" Arcee sighed.

Bolt pointed at Moonhunter like a sparkling. "He started it."

The cat's only response was a mockery of a raspberry before lying his head on his paws comfortably.

Megatron laughed, "If you think that's bad, you should see what my soldiers were like on the Nemesis."

"Yeah, so much infighting and self-inflicted insanity. Primus, how I miss it," Bolt sarcastically quipped. "Now, Arcee, there's something I finished before I came up here and I want you to see it."

The femme smirked at Megatron, "Love his persistence."

"You get used to it when you have over a thousand of him at your command," Megatron replied.

Arcee dropped down to the hall before Bolt waved her on into a room. She recognized it as his weapons hold, but then she noticed a set up that wasn't there before.

He gestured to it with glee, "Ta-da! I decided with all those parts and trophies you've been bringing back after you defeat those monsters and lost souls out there that there needs to be a memorial of sorts. So, I started a showcase with plenty of room to add whatever you encounter. And I can build more if need be."

She was impressed. The case held some bloodhawk feathers, King Midas' optic as given by the distiller dragon she saved, Eversire's antler, Blackarachnia's broken spider leg, and even additions she knew Bolt got on his own accord. Xerophorus' swords had a hand-made plaque in his memory, even if he was a legendary killer, and potted metallic flowers from the fallen Metalwood that grew at its base to lure prey were also present. A piece of Salvage's armor they, well, salvaged was resting secure on a shelf below the swords. Groundsnare's turret was also added which made sense since Bolt had obsessed over the stupid thing since he spotted it in Nemesis Forest before they came.

"That's...I don't know what to say, Bolt. It's awesome!"

"It will be when it's complete. I was going to add something from Megatronus but we were more concerned about your safety than a trophy, maybe I'll find a way to get back to that planet once we get home. Call me morbid but we know the Allspark is going to continue using these creatures as guardians, might as well make a statement going out."

Megatron entered the room and swiped a claw to itch at the scar across his optic given from the nightpaw he had killed. "Yes, and we are going to add some more. If I remember your map correctly, we are heading to the Nightshade Desert as you lovingly named it?"

Bolt shrugged, "It's the best I could do. From what I know of the area, there isn't much life so maybe less problems for you guys."

Arcee eyed him and said, "I hear a 'but' in that sentence."

"But I don't know what lies underneath the sand. The gem's estimated location is immobile so nothing as far as I can tell has it. It looks empty from a satellite point of view, but I think there's something beneath it I just can't pick up this far out so good luck is all I can tell you."

"Helpful as always," the warlord scoffed.

"Hey, it's better than nothing. Take it or leave it."

When Bolt fired up the ground bridge, it was noted he had already built two temporary shelves for the gems as well. Three of them sat hovering over the top shelf while one remained connected to the ground bridge controls.

"Coordinates set, Nitrotiger ready to deploy, and a whole new area to explore. Seriously though, with you at the desert, I can monitor any activity beneath you to see what we're dealing with through your sensors. There's no way a desert like that is empty. Bring me back something good, please."

Arcee and Megatron smiled at each other before the former took the lead and ran into the portal. Moonhunter went after her and Megatron followed. The first thing that made them pause off the bat was the odd coldness which made Arcee hop in a circle shivering. Megatron had to back away a few feet shocked as the bridge disappeared.

"I'm sorry but aren't deserts supposed to be warm!?"

With the night sky showing and the normally tanned sand looking a crisp bluish grey tint under the half moon, the desert was sedated. Arcee looked to her left to see in the distance a glow of blue from the lavalands the Allspark had stopped from erupting. It still baffled her why it did that, but one obvious answer could have been it didn't want its isle engulfed by lava, quakes and destroyed. When she looked to her right, however, she was concerned to see a mountain of snow not far away. The desert seemed to stretch more towards the coast than between the two areas. The Black Mountains lied behind them with barely a small line of vegetation at its border dividing it from the desert.

Megatron shook off the unexpected temperature as Moonhunter shivered. "Damn, this desert was colder than I thought it was going to be."

It always amused Arcee, until she herself was exposed to the conditions, how Cybertronians didn't like water...or cold. Granted, under extreme circumstances meant death but lighter spurs were still unfavorable to them. Water on Earth, a Cybertronian only went near a body if there was something good at the bottom of it. Cold on Earth, they would hunker down, only going out when needed. Cold water...it was a miracle if they would go within several miles of it. Desert cold, however, was not something they would have guessed possible.

Arcee spotted a glow in the distance and hit Megatron's abdomen to alert him which she knew he barely felt. "Hey, I think that's our gem."

They both looked at each other before running towards it. If they could just get it and leave, they could bypass the shifty desert and whatever horrors lived inside it. Arcee found the sand harder to run in than Megatron and started lagging behind. To counter this, she leapt up to his shoulder and perched there in a crouching position.

"Mind if I get a ride?"

Megatron would have thrown her off back in the day. Instead, he gave an amused expression and continued. The Nitrotiger also hopped up on his other shoulder though he was slightly less pleased by that.

In sheer coincidence, or perhaps not, the gem was indeed the source of the light and there also lied the remains of another stranded ship. The gem sat on top of the ship undisturbed but looking at the sand made them think there was more than meets the eye. Bodies of shredded Cybertronians littered the vicinity of the vessel while the vessel itself remained intact like it was brand new. If nothing got into the ship to drag them out and tear them apart, then they must have gone out willingly and something lurking caught them by surprise.

Arcee remembered Bolt mentioning that he thought the Cybertronian Predator was the cause of many crews' disappearances across the isle, but the more ships they came across, the more apparent it became that there were other things more than capable of taking out a team of Cybertronians, especially things from other worlds than their own. The only reason she and Megatron lasted as long as they did was through luck and Bolt's insight on the species being the cyberbiologist he was.

"I'll go grab the gem," Arcee said sternly. "Watch my six."

"Yes, dearest," he mocked.

Rolling her optics, she jumped off his shoulder and climbed up the ship. When she had the gem right in front of her, she paused. Peering to her right to see nothing but desert and doing the same for the left, she pursed her lips and squinted. Something didn't feel right about this. Taking the gem and waiting a second, nothing happened, and she huffed in triumph.

Holding up the gem, she said, "Guess we're going home! Bolt, fire up the ground bridge at our current location."

"Aye, aye, captain! Just give me a few, I got to readjust something."

Arcee jumped off the ship with pride and strolled by Megatron who clapped in her honor and Moonhunter who wagged his tail. She gave her largest grin ever. "Not bad at all! New record. Done and done and-"

A grumbling noise from behind them made all of them freeze before Arcee turned fast enough to whip the sand around her to look at the still ship. When she spotted nothing out of the ordinary, she glared at Megatron.

"Was that you or...?" She then pointed at Moonhunter who simply tilted his head in response.

Another noise within proximity of the ship sounded again but they couldn't see anything. But then Arcee got a hunch and slowly, her attention shifted to a piece of metal in the sand, presumably of a bot. Out of cautious curiosity, she poked the metal with her pede. It moved and her optics widened.

Suddenly, an outline in the sand began to take shape as it vibrated. A long, giant snake-like form twisted as Arcee stood on top of it. It curved and twitched, forcing her upwards and sliding across its spine. Moonhunter got caught on top of a different section of the shifting sand and clambered on the breaching portion trying to get down in fear. The gem she was holding shook loose from her grasp and tumbled into the sand but the vast movement of whatever she was on pushed it away back towards the ship.

"I dropped the gem! See if you can get it!" She called out, swerving on the unstable body as it emerged.

As she was bouncing on the creature, Megatron jumped through its coiling tail towards the gem. He was nearly there when the ship abruptly shook. In less than a second, the vessel was launched as a giant mechanic digging worm burst out of the sand with a roar. Arcee finally slid off its tail onto the ground with a grunt but kept her seated position as she stared up at the beast with her Nitrotiger faceplanting the sand beside her with a growl. Megatron stumbled onto his aft as well in surprise.

They recognized the creature well. Every bot and their grandsire knew of the beast. The Cybertronian Driller, with its rotating teeth aligned in a circular mouth and several appendages of razors capable of digging deep into metal, perfect for burrowing and destroying prey, was the ultimate creature Cybertron ever spawned in their lifetime. The most infamous was Shockwave's pet Driller, Doomsday, the nightmarish hulking monster he somehow tamed. If Arcee didn't know any better, she would believe that this was Doomsday. Given the Allspark's current rap sheet, it was definitely possible.

The Driller peered at them with disdain for waking it from its nap and nearly pressed forward to kill them. However, the shine of the gem caught its sight, and it leaned down to observe the strange object. The glow of the gem made it purr in consideration before it instantly caught it and swallowed it whole. To the flabbergasted looks on both bots' faces and the Driller's pleased reaction, the creature gave one last bellow before diving back into the sand. It tunneled away, evidenced by it occasionally peeking out of the sand before diving again farther and farther away.

Megatron and Arcee continued to stare dumbfounded at where the Driller once was. Even Moonhunter held a horrified expression. They heard in the distance the ship finally hitting the sand with an explosion but neither of them even moved an inch or looked away from the empty spot in the sky that was once occupied.

It was a solid minute before the femme leapt up and exclaimed, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

The ground bridge appeared, and she shouted in the comm, "NOT NOW!"

"Okay, sheesh! I take it the gem has been taken?...I'll take the silence as a yes and I'll leave you to do your thing," Bolt coughed. The bridge disappeared on cue but not before Moonhunter fled into it with his tail tucked in between his legs. "Cat?! Damn it, I don't need you here...but fine, you can stay with me if it makes you feel more comfortable. Better here than...whatever that just was they dealt with."

Megatron snapped out of his foreign expression and said, "We have a problem! There's a Cybertronian Driller in this desert and it just ate the gem!"

The brief radio silence was deafening. "...Oh. That explains the terror of a Nitrotiger currently under my desk which is so rare to see, I honestly thought there was something in my Energon. Whelp...I'll, uh, I'll see what I can find about them."

"Oh, this is bad! This is bad! Shockwave's damn pet is here?! I saw that thing chew up a ship it caught out of thin air during the battle of Technahar! It was mean too," Arcee shivered. "Why is it Shockwave gets all these weird pets? And how?!"

"Yes, Shockwave has a knack for creating and keeping very peculiar creatures as company. If you're asking how he got a Driller, long story short is he found and nurtured her to good health when she was abandoned as a nestling. She grew faster than we anticipated so we tested her against the Autobots, not just as an offensive tactic but because we started running out of things to feed her so..." he shrugged.

Arcee gave him a dead stare and put both servos vertically against her lips before then pointing them at him. "Megatron...the more I find out about you and your Decepticons, the more I really question how sane any of you bastards are."

Megatron grimaced, "To be completely fair, I told him he couldn't keep it, but you try telling a scientist he can't have something. It's either we kept it or he would've created his own and I don't know about you, but I'd rather let him have something we at least know what it is instead of whatever he can cook up and modify in his lab."

"Uh huh, and how many pets did you let him keep?"

The fact that Megatron actually had to count in his head made Arcee's face drop. "Mmm, give or take about twenty-two though not at the same time, I assure you."

The femme gestured around flabbergasted. "Blaster and Soundwave didn't have nearly as many Minicons as that! Combined!"

Bolt's voice cut in. "This may be a bad time, but I found something on the Driller you may want to know. 'The Cybertronian Driller is a giant burrowing worm' yada yada yada 'they are temperamental but dormant unless provoked. They are curious animals mostly and have an attraction to shiny, glowing, and illuminant objects. This has led to researchers discovering that explosives that shine or glow can accidentally fall into the hungry mouths of these creatures and hurt them. The most effective way to get rid of a Driller is through the same method.' So, these things can't be hurt in the exterior but are vulnerable to anything digested and masquerading as shiny or glowing."

"I can vouch for that," Megatron said. "Shockwave's Driller was banned from his lab because she always was drawn to the lights and shinier objects he possessed. Can't say how many little paperweights of his went missing."

"The grenades glow. We can trick it into eating them!" Arcee frowned, "But we can't just stick grenades in the sand, can we?"

"Never know. If it likes the glowing stuff so much, I don't think it'll mind one bit. Heh, I forgot about that. I remember Shockwave's Driller used to bring us random stuff and bring it back to her master despite Shockwave never needed anything it retrieved. I assume though Shockwave used these stolen items to build things eventually or kept them for décor."

Megatron was about to say something when a clamor was heard beneath the sand, this time less prominent so it wasn't the Driller. He was quick to go near Arcee for slight assurance that he wasn't hearing things as she did the same. Back-to-back, more like back-to-leg, they stood trying to pinpoint the sound. A hiss resonated deep, but it was more serpentine.

"There is something underneath you and it's medium sized compared to the Driller. I'm sweeping my library for anything that burrows and loves these types of climates just to get ahead of the game here."

Sand shot up like a geyser before another appeared just past it. The geysers were moving in a trail, curling around the dunes and then coming straight before they stopped. After a moment of silence, the sand shifted, and a snake popped out with its body shaking off excess material as it coiled in on itself. With an assortment of brown and tan metallic scales with its spine and upper half of its body ridged while the underbelly was smooth with elongated designs, the creature revealed its head with a flickering tongue. Slit yellow optics glared at them as its circular rotating spiked tail rattled angrily.

"This thing must have heard the commotion the Driller started and came to investigate...only to find suitable snacks," Megatron frowned.

"I can see it through your feed and that looks like...a rustic sand-dweller from Chaar! Chaar has a desert, believe it or not, and these things thrive in it like a fish takes to water. They have complete 360 vision so you aren't going to find any blind spot on this thing except maybe underneath it. Although only attacks have ever been documented, I don't doubt it can eat you if you're the only food for miles even though their main food source is usually the dune darhoonas, a lizard species."

The sand-dweller sensed the air with its glossa before leaning down to slither across the sand at Megatron and Arcee.

"Yeah, well, it looks like we're on the menu tonight!"

"I just noticed its underbelly. It's larger than normal. I think it might be pregnant. Shame. As much as I would love to see the hatchlings, I think momma needs to be put down before it kills you. Also, not the best world to spawn more of these things anyway. Get rid of Dunedancer if you can."

"Always with the funky names," Arcee mused.

"Hey, it's me."

Dunedancer sped up before lunging at them. Both bots separated as its head came down on the same spot they had previously stood. Sand was uplifted as it pulled its snout out of the slope it formed with its sudden clash with the dune before targeting the larger of the two bots. Baring its long fangs, it chased after Megatron.

The warlord looked back only to see a wide mouth and yellow orbs stalking him. "Uh oh! Oh no!"

He gave a shout when it tried to strike him, missing by a foot and making him jump slightly from the force. Watching the snake closely, he noted it kept its mouth open far too much. Gaining an idea, he spotted Arcee.

"Arcee, I'm going to come to you! Shoot at its mouth!"

Upon hearing Megatron say that, Arcee eyed the sand-dweller. If it relied so heavily on its bite more so than its body to kill prey, like an Earth snake she heard of called an anaconda, it would indeed be open to damage taken from the interior.

Before she knew it, Megatron was hopping over dunes towards her with the giant snake gaining on him. Arcee aimed her blaster in the direction of the creature, steadying her arm to time a shot. Up and over each dune both Megatron and the sand-dweller went. She had to shoot it when it was going over or else, she would either hit its body too late or hit her partner when it was too early.

As soon as Megatron hit the top and yelled at her again, she fired. The blast soared towards the warlord, but he was making his way down the sandy slope as the serpentine head peaked over the hill. It flew right over him and straight into the mouth of the sand-dweller as it opened its jaws to try and lunge at him again. It hit its glossa and it reared its head back as fire and smoke exploded from its abruptly clenched jaws and through its nostrils. Dunedancer was stunned for a second before swallowing and sticking its glossa out gagging as more smoke poured from its throat with a hiss.

"Oh, come on! That was a perfect shot! Megatron, you saw that!"

Megatron huffed as he slowed to a stop behind her out of danger and leaned over to brace himself on his knees. "Don't know. I was too busy trying not to get eaten! I'm getting too old for this scrap."

The sand-dweller coughed once more before retracting its glossa and growling, scoping out the location of its attacker with fury. With a curl of its lips distastefully, it spotted them and gave another hiss.

Arcee narrowed her optics with a sneer, "This thing won't quit after a warning shot? Fine, I guess I'm going to have to dance with Dunedancer. Let's see how fast its reflexes really are."

"What are you planning?"

The queen cocked her blaster and cracked her neck. "We're going to get personal, that's what."

Dunedancer raised up to strike upon slithering in proximity to Arcee and the latter took that as her cue. Sprinting towards the beast, she dodged one strike to the sand and when the snake recoiled, she jumped into a diving roll to make it miss again. She used the brief moment of its failed strike to jump onto its neck from the side. It reeled back in concern trying to see where she was on its back, but Arcee climbed up to the base of its head.

Megatron watched as the sand-dweller curled and whipped its head trying to dislodge her. With a smirk he grabbed a piece of metal that had been partially buried near where the ship had been and its deceased crew and threw it at the creature. He hit its snout and it stopped moving to glare at him. That bought Arcee enough time to jump onto the bridge of its nose and give it a taunting smile.

"Two is company, three is a crowd. I thought you would have learned that by now."

Dunedancer narrowed its eyes when she moved back to perch at the very edge of its nose. With a sneer, it decided to try and eat her. Snapping its jaws, it tried to catch a part of her leg or torso in its violent movements or at least throw her off balance. Instead, she merely held on for the ride until it opened its mouth at the perfect time.

Arcee huffed, "This is going to suck."

Using its eagerness, she leapt upright as it was about to open its jaws and dived feet first into its mouth. Before hitting the throat, she forced herself to do the splits and kept both jaws from trapping her within. She winced slightly at the maneuver, one she used to do flawlessly when she was younger but now held contempt for such a move.

The sand-dweller was quite surprised not being able to close its mouth. Its fangs were both in front and behind Arcee, and she hated to admit that it slightly scared her how easily mistiming could have impaled her in the dive previously.

Aiming down its throat with her blaster, she smiled, "Sorry, but this is going to taste bad."

She discharged her weapon, and the snake whined with each shot. Its throat bubbled and it instinctively flinched with every hit. Arcee didn't stop until blasts of fire popped between the plating of its underbelly. When she paused, the snake still held its head up, but it had stopped moving. Suddenly, its neck toppled, and its head came slamming down into the sand, sending her flying out of its mouth to skid across the desert surface a few yards. She landed hard on her aft on her last bounce.

"I'm going to feel that later on," she winced.

When she heard movement from Megatron coming towards her, she turned back to see if Dunedancer was alive or dead. Sure enough, the snake's optics were gunmetal grey. Energon started to slowly creep out from the seams of the armor while smoke was escaping its throat, this time naturally instead of in coughing fits.

Megatron offered her a servo. "Are you okay?"

"Aside from splitting myself almost in half with acrobatics I learned as a dancer far too long to recall, yeah I'm good," she grimaced.

The warlord laughed as he helped her up. "It sucks getting older, doesn't it?"

"You're the same generation as me."

"Ha, but I'm only older by a couple thousand years. Still, if I'm old..."

"Shut up," she playfully growled.

Optimus hadn't set foot in the High Council chambers since he was Orion Pax. Metroplex, the titan of Iacon, once helped him and the Autobots in leaving Cybertron on the Ark before falling into a semi-permanent slumber after enduring harsh opposition by the pursuing Decepticons. His city form became the very threshold of the Council's power and acted as a citadel to house and protect them in case of an emergency.

Haywire passed him and said, "I kind of miss the shock we had upon learning of Metroplex. Seeing the Decepticons leak themselves to the presence of such a bot was also a fond memory."

The Prime cracked a smile at that before he saw Perceptor walking towards them in a hurry. "You would not believe the chaos that has erupted in there. I snuck out to avoid the drama...partially my fault anyway but we're going to pretend I'm innocent in this."

Haywire raised a brow and winced, "What did you...what happened, if I may regrettably ask?"

"Remember how I said I was going to get Rockrider involved in our proceedings by doing something the queen legally has to be a part of?" The scientist gave a wicked smirk.

"Oh no," the red mech sighed, closing his optics and tilting his head up.

"Yes, I am just that good," Perceptor spoke pridefully before he dived into a more unsure expression. "I may have asked for more funding for our science division and got onto the subject of direct approval, which means I can bypass the Council's vote if they say against it by asking the queen herself...except, of course, the real queen isn't on Cybertron. By rules, she has to meet me in person. Guess who also at the Council meeting? Rockrider as the Head of the Iacon Archives and Hall of Records, and the look on her face when I asked to see the queen. Priceless!"

Optimus frowned, "So, what made this request erupt into chaos exactly?"

"Ah, well, Rockrider got upset thinking that I was asking too much and so I pressed why should she care? It wasn't like I was going to need her approval for it. Then she started yelling at me and then my friends in the other chairs grew angry at her. She's trying so hard not to blow her cover. It's funny as hell, man; you have to see it to believe it."

"Speaking of whom!" Haywire harshly whispered and pointed behind him.

Perceptor and Optimus were surprised to see Rockrider furiously pushing past guards to leave the Metroplex. But then she happened to glance their way and froze up as Optimus began to glare at her. Her guards looked uneasy as well. All three knew that if Rockrider tried anything out in public, especially in front of the Council, she would be burying herself in her own grave.

Rockrider seemed hesitant but as more Councilmembers appeared, she took the liberty to walk to them with faux calmness. The other members didn't notice a thing but to Haywire, Perceptor, and Optimus, she stood out like a turbo fox in a cyber-chicken coop.

"Optimus, I, uh, I didn't expect you here today," she said with a fake smile.

The Prime returned his own with distinct malice unrecognizable but not misplaced. "Just here to wish Perceptor good luck on his request. He's mentioned a raise in funding for over a year now."

"Is that so?"

Perceptor nodded, "Yep. Look, I didn't mean to upset you. I just really need the science division set on better terms here. We're running a bit low faster than we anticipated. You understand, don't you?"

Rockrider looked considerate for once. "I suppose so. Uhm...but the queen doesn't need to approve of this. The Council is all willing to pass your request. You have guaranteed majority if that's your concern."

"I guess Arcee doesn't need to be bothered with it. But I was also supposed to meet her regardless for semi-annual project we've been working on together and-"

"I'm afraid Arcee has no time right now. She, uh, needs me to cover for her on certain duties, far too busy with all this civilian unrest. I'll talk to her to reschedule it on your behalf, okay?"

Perceptor pretended to be fooled and shrugged, "Okay, just give her my best and tell her she still owes me for the solstice party two months ago!"

He waved off Haywire and Optimus, not before giving them a wink behind Rockrider's back and left to meet with the rest of the Council. After he was out of hearing range, the façade of Rockrider's melted into sneer.

"Don't think that you are home free yet. You will not turn any of this Council against me. A new Cybertron will emerge from the old and the current, and neither of you outmodes will be around to witness it."

"Threats, Rockrider?" Haywire scoffed, "Careful now, you wouldn't want the Council to find out early where dear Arcee is."

She glared at him. "You can't prove it. Nobody would believe traitors, you know."

"And what about me, Rockrider? Am I a traitor too to a civilization I helped rebuild?" Optimus asked with disdain. "Haywire might be easy to frame but who would they believe against me?"

Her optics slightly widened at the realization, and she stomped her pede like an angry child. "We'll see who has the last word. I have my resources too, Prime. Don't you forget that."

"Yes, we shall," he said, crossing his arms while unmoved by her threat.

The bronze femme stomped away and left the two mechs in a small sense of victory. For now, Rockrider had no leverage. That may soon change but they were ready to adapt.

AN: So, little known fact about the Driller, Bay's Driller concept was a highlight of Dark of the Moon so making it a canon creature is still considered. The Driller in the movie was going to be called Colossus but they changed it just preferring Driller instead. The reason why I didn't go with this nickname is because there is another creature in this fic with "Colossus" that's been a creature of my design since high school (long before I knew about Bayverse's Driller facts). I renamed the Driller instead Doomsday.

Featured monsters:

Doomsday the Cybertronian Driller

Dunedancer the Rustic Sand-dweller (Chaar)