AN: Ladies, gentlemen, Autobots, and Decepticons, we are now at the second to last chapter of the Orb Missions Arc. When I first watched the episode of Transformers Prime this chapter is based on, my first thoughts were that it seemed a lot like a Transformers horror movie and can you blame me? Anyhow, after this and the chapter that will be posted after it, the Orb Missions Arc will be at an end and then its back to the same old same old of the Bloody Valentine War for the Archangel. So until then, enjoy this chapter and I hope you're looking forward to the next one.
I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises.
Chapter 17: A Spider's Web
They often say the woods can be a scary and dangerous place, but at the moment the only thing Cagalli found that were scary and dangerous about the woods she and Arcee were traveling through were the number of bugs that were trying to make a meal out of her. "What is with all these pesky things? Do I really look like some kind of five star buffet to them or something," Cagalli shouted out, now completely annoyed.
"You're certainly the outdoors-woman aren't you Cagalli," Arcee teased as she glanced up from the scanner she held in her hand.
"Don't think I don't know that you're making fun of the survival kit I brought along on this routine energon locater mission Arcee," Cagalli smirked in reply.
"Wouldn't dream of thinking otherwise. I'm just surprised that the girl that was such a fire cracker in the desert is having a tough time with the big woods."
"Hey the desert is completely different from the woods. Besides, I was with the Desert Dawn at the time so I don't think that really counts as credit for my outdoor survival skills. Though it did help me to make sure I was prepared for everything even on a routine mission, even if I don't have stinger proof metal skin," Cagalli retorted as she gave her holstered gun and backpack strap a small pat.
"Well you have your tools, and I have mine so I guess that makes us even."
"I'm just surprised there are this many bugs out here. I mean did we even have to deal with any bugs while we were stranded on that island with…you know."
Arcee did not need to see Cagalli's face to know she was talking about the island they were stranded on with Athrun and Dreadwing. "Well like you said back then. It was a rather tiny island, so I don't think so." Just as she said that, Arcee's scanner went off and pointed them in a westward direction. "That's odd. Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate, but subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."
"Well what do you think it is?"
"Only one way to find out." With that the two marched off towards the reading that Arcee's scanner was pointing them to, all the while thinking about how the two of them had ended up in this situation.
It was another peaceful morning at the Autobot base until Arcee rolled in with Cagalli complaining as loudly as possible. What it was, no one was really paying that much attention to really care, but they were pretty sure it was something to do with her father since that was Cagalli's favorite thing to complain about. The problem was she was complaining so loudly and obviously that it was already starting to get on everyone's nerves. "Cagalli would you please quiet down a little bit?! Need I remind you I have a patient who is still recovering from both surgery and a very traumatic experience," Ratchet hollered gesturing to Bumblebee as he mentioned that last part.
"Hey! Leave me out of this Ratchet,"Bumblebee buzzed at the medical Autobot.
Cagalli was about to retort when the computer's alarm began to go off. Ratchet was about to find out why when Sai, who was already there along with Miriallia and Tolle, beat him to it. "The scan's picked up on a small underground energon deposit somewhere in a forest in America," the glasses wearing boy reported as he looked up from the laptop he was using.
Ratchet double checked behind Sai and confirmed that he was correct. "It doesn't look like much, at least in terms of what Megatron would normally send Decepticons to look into, but it might be an abandoned mine as well."
"Either way we should still investigate this latest find as quickly as possible," Optimus told Ratchet. "Arcee will Ground Bridge to the sight and investigate the location."
"Understood Optimus," Arcee replied.
"Do us a favor and take Cagalli with you," Ratchet half moaned, half pleaded.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Arcee argued.
"This should be nothing more than a simple routine energon locator mission Arcee. Cagalli would not be in any danger especially so long as she remains with you," Optimus reasoned.
Arcee finally conceded and agreed to bring Cagalli along, which seemed to give the blonde haired girl the uplift her spirit needed. A short while later, after Cagalli had gathered together her "survival kit", the two were on their way to the woods.
"Arcee? Earth to Arcee. Hey Arcee," Cagalli called out, snapping Arcee out of her flashback.
"What? What is it," Arcee asked as she shook her head for a moment. She then noticed her scan was going off like crazy, and upon looking up Arcee noticed that the scanner was going off for the same reason that Cagalli was trying to get her attention. A large amount of the trees had collapsed, clearly having been destroyed like they were knocked down by a hurricane, and there was a major amount of rock, dirt, and mud that had been piled up to form a large ditch that led to the top of a nearby mountain.
"What could've happened here," Cagalli finally asked, her tone showing just how horrible she thought this kind of destruction was.
"Crash landing most likely," Arcee replied, instantly getting on guard. "Stay behind me. Low and close."
The two then slowly made their way down the hillside and towards the end of the ditch to see just what had crash landed, taking cover behind some trees every now and then just to be safe. Finally, they reached the end of the ditch and saw a large ship that was partially hidden by the small amount of fog that had fallen in the woods before they arrived, but it was not hidden enough for them to be unable to tell that the ship was definitely Cybertronian. "Do you think it's an Autobot or Decepticon ship," Cagalli asked.
"Can't tell. Wait here," Arcee ordered Cagalli as she quickly switched her right hand into her default blaster. Arcee then moved swiftly and quietly towards the ship's open hatch, taking a slight note of the scratches on the side of the hull that must have resulted from the crash landing. As soon as she was at the hatch, she spun towards the opening with her blaster forward, only to find nothing there which gave her enough reason to go inside. Though what she saw inside was not something pleasant, and it made her sick to her stomach. Inside the ship were the heads of numerous different alien life forms.
Cagalli continued to watch as Arcee did all this, starting to get a bit nervous herself, surprisingly. A moment later though that bit of nervousness became a major amount of concern as Arcee had come racing out of the ship a moment later not looking so good.
"Arcee," Cagalli called out as she raced over. The closer Cagalli got to Arcee, the more worried for the female Autobot she became as she could see Arcee had an extremely frightened and haunted look on her face. "Arcee what's wrong?"
"I…I know who this ship belongs to," Arcee answered, a slight amount of fear creeping into her voice. Arcee then reached up to her comm. link and radioed the base, "Arcee to base. I need a Ground Bridge ASAP."
"Wait, why? Whose ship is this," Cagalli asked, but Arcee just seemed to ignore her as the Autobot continued to try to radio the Autobot base.
"Base do you read me," Arcee radioed again, before she growled in annoyance. "Scrap, the comm. link's dead. The ship's gotta be transmitting a high frequency scrambler pulse."
Cagalli then reached up to try her own comm. link, but sadly she received the same results as Arcee. She then turned back to Arcee, and upon noticing that Arcee seemed to be shaking a little, Cagalli became really worried. "Okay seriously Arcee, you're starting to freak me out here, and you know that's not an easy thing to do."
"Wait here," Arcee told Cagalli quietly. She then stared at a small group of trees and moved towards them. As she got closer, Arcee could see numerous scratches on the trunks and a strange set of foot prints on the ground as she kneeled down to get a closer look. The moment she did, a very horrible and painful memory started to flood her processor, so much so that she barely registered Cagalli moving closer to her until the blonde was right next to her and calling out her name.
As soon as she had snapped Arcee back to her senses, Cagalli had expected a full explanation of what was going on with the blue femme. Unfortunately, the only response Cagalli got was Arcee transforming into her motorcycle form and telling her, "Climb on."
Knowing that now was probably not the best time for her to confront her friend on this matter, Cagalli silently obliged and climbed aboard the two-wheeler, grabbing her helmet from her backpack as she did. As soon as Cagalli had situated herself on the bike, Arcee took off at full speed, barely even noticing Cagalli's cries of surprise and shock as she did. After she had gone a certain distance, right to the point of jumping over a small gap, Arcee finally came to a halt, and Cagalli pulled off her helmet now seriously getting pissed. "Was that really necessary Arcee," Cagalli demanded.
Arcee just ignored her as Cagalli climbed off. "Arcee to base…scrap still no good," Arcee muttered after trying to reach the Autobots again.
"Arcee whatever is going on I can handle it. I have faced danger plenty of times before as you well…"
"Wait here, and this time I mean it," Arcee interrupted as she started to roll forward a bit.
Now Cagalli was really upset. "So first you shut me out and now you're ditching me? I thought we were partners!"
Arcee then transformed and faced Cagalli directly. "No Cagalli you're a kid! And a daughter of a government figurehead at that! You're only here because this mission was supposed to be no risk, got it," Arcee snapped. Cagalli could do nothing more than stare in shock as Arcee then spun around and transformed before racing off back in the direction they had come from.
After she had gone a fair distance, Arcee finally transformed to robot mode again and armed her right blaster once more, her guard up so high that even Optimus probably would have had a hard time reaching the top of its height. Arcee walked forward as she looked around, optics and audio receptors open for anything, until she saw the remains of a tree stump that were clearly melted away by some form of acid-like substance. An acid-like substance that Arcee knew all too well from having experienced it one dreadful day back on Cybertron. The day her unit was wiped out.
The sound of weapons fire filled the skies of Cybertron, as the war between Autobots and Decepticons raged on in all its furry. Though it was only in the background, the young, eager Arcee could not help but be saddened by it as she ran across the metal surface of Cybertron behind enemy lines to reach her squad. She quickly shook herself out of her musings though as she had other things to worry about at the moment. "Arcee to delta team. Requesting rendezvous coordinates, do you copy," Arcee called over her radio.
"Arcee are you lost again? You're sense of direction could use some improvement," a male voice replied, which brought a smirk to Arcee's face as she recognized that voice.
"So could you're aim Tailgate. If you had tagged that sniper back at the depot, I wouldn't have had to break rank and engage the enemy hand-to-hand," Arcee told her teammate and friend.
"Well from the sound of things, I'm guessing you came out ahead?"
"Try waiting up for me this time and I'll give you the blow-by-blow. What's your position" Arcee asked Tailgate as she finally slowed to a walking pace, her blaster armed just in case.
"About half a click from the depot, due north," Tailgate replied. "Think you can find it partner?"
"Trust me Tailgate, my navigation abilities are-." Before Arcee could finish her sentence, a large, sticky, web-like substance shot out and pinned her to a wall, rendering her unable to move. She could only get a small glance at the silhouette of her attacker, before said attacker shot another web at Arcee and knocked her out cold.
A short while after she had regained consciousness, Arcee found herself tied up and hanging down from the ceiling. As she struggled to get free, a smooth, feminine voice from behind her spoke up saying, "Piece of advice, make yourself comfortable. You're going to be here a while."
Arcee looked up to see a femme 'Con with black armor that had purple and gold highlights, and purple eyes that just glistened with dark intent and screamed that she was more than looking forward to enjoying the torment that her captive was about to endure, but the thing that stuck out the most about her, was the fact that she had six legs coming out of her back that had a spider like appearance to them, and somehow they made her seem all the more dangerous.
A short distance away from Arcee's current position, the same 'Con that Arcee was just thinking about was watching a group of human campers through her heat vision, and silently smirked to herself in enjoyment at the fact that she was about to give humanity a taste of her sting as she leapt onto her spider legs. Before she could move close enough to strike however, a blue blur hit her in the side and both were sent tumbling through the forest away from the campers until the 'Con finally forced whatever or whoever had hit her off of her and into the side of a nearby, rocky hill. She then got back on her feet and then smirked once more at the sight of a familiar, blue, pissed off Autobot femme.
"Arcee," the spider 'Con mused in enjoyment. "Small universe."
"Too small Airachnid," Arcee retorted with a glare.
"You're still holding a grudge? The war's been over for mega cycles," Airachnid mocked.
"Tell that to the Decepticons," Arcee snapped as she moved into a fighting stance.
"These days I travel solo in pursuit of my new hobby."
"Yeah I got a look at your souvenir case," Arcee snarled.
"You mean my trophies? I collect endangered species. Of course they aren't really endangered until they meet me, and I have a slot reserved for humans," Airachnid commented in a sickeningly proud tone.
"Not gonna happen," Arcee declared, and she then charged forward before lunging right at the spider-like Decepticon, tackling her to the ground once again. She then raised her fist to strike, but Airachnid used one of her spider legs to grab hold of Arcee's arm and then tossed the two-wheeler into another rock side.
Airachnid wiped her face a bit, thinking she had Arcee beat with that, but she was soon proven wrong as Arcee sprung up and fired both of her blasters at Airachnid. Airachnid quickly took advantage of her extra mobility and jumped out of the way and through the trees to avoid Arcee's fire, and then retaliated by wrapping Arcee's arms in a pair of webs that she shot at the Bot. Arcee did not even bother trying to get free at first, as she then gave the web a hard pull, bringing Airachnid down to the ground. Arcee then sliced the webs off with her arm blades and quickly resumed firing on Airachnid a few seconds later.
Airachnid quickly returned fire by firing blasts from her hands, but Arcee quickly proved that Airachnid was not the only one that could be extremely versatile in the forest. She ran through Airachnid's rain of lasers and leaped from a strong tree branch to another tree, before diving down and delivering a hard kick to Airachnid's chest, pinning her down beneath her pedes. Arcee then moved to aim her blasters at the spider-like Transformer at point blank range, when the sound of falling rocks drew their attention. Arcee gasped as she saw that on top of the hill, was a familiar blonde haired, green vested girl staring down at the two in shock and concern.
Airachnid quickly took advantage of Arcee's moment of distraction at seeing Cagalli, and knocked Arcee off of her before pinning her to the hillside with her webbing. Arcee struggled to get free as she saw Cagalli running towards her and calling out her name in concern, gaining Airachnid's attention. Arcee worked as quickly as she could, and finally managed to get one of her arms free enough to fire at Airachnid and render the overgrown spider unconscious. She then turned to Cagalli as the blonde finally came to a stop in front of her as she shouted, "I told you to wait for me."
"Well in case you haven't heard, partners don't ditch partners," Cagalli retorted as she moved to try and cut Arcee free of the webs.
"Get this through your head Cagalli. You're not my partner, you're a liability," Arcee snapped.
"Do you seriously think that after all this time I would even remotely believe that," Cagalli retorted. She then looked Arcee in the eye as she calmly stated, "I know you Arcee, because you and I are a lot alike. I can see it in your eyes that you're afraid, and like me you're never afraid."
Arcee was shocked at Cagalli's words, and then hung her head as she knew that Cagalli's statement was not entirely true.
Airachnid simply strutted around Arcee with a smirk as the Autobot continued to hang from where she was being held. For the past few hours, Airachnid had tried everything she could to get information out of Arcee, but the blue femme simply would not talk, and refused to tell her anything at all. "You know for an Autobot your resilience is quite impressive," Airachnid commented.
Arcee did not answer as she continued to just gaze down in silence. "In fact, I'm guessing that no matter what I do to you, you'll never crack. Am I right?"
This time Arcee just raised her head to glare at Airachnid, which was all the confirmation that the 'Con needed. A moment later, the doors opened, and two Decepticons dragged someone in. Someone that Arcee recognized only a few seconds later as the battered and beaten form of her partner.
"Tailgate," Arcee whispered in fear. Tailgate did not answer as he was lifted up and restrained by the same type of restraints that currently held Arcee. "What've you done to him," Arcee demanded of Airachnid.
"Nothing much. Yet," Airachnid replied casually. "Though I will admit, he was the most resilient out of your entire unit, and so far the only one to have survived."
"No," Arcee quietly gasped.
"Oh yes," Airachnid replied with glee. "The mighty Omnicons have been all but eliminated save for the two of you. Just tell me what I want to know or…well, you're smart Bot. I think you can imagine what happens to Tailgate next, and what that will mean for you and the Omnicons."
"I don't know the attack coordinates," Arcee told her.
Airachnid sneered at Arcee's response and began to walk slowly towards Tailgate. "I swear upon the AllSpark, it's the truth," Arcee insisted as she started to struggle against her restraints again.
"We shall see," Airachnid replied. As soon as she was close enough, she raised one of her sharp, spider appendages towards Tailgate's chest.
"No. Please," Arcee started begging, desperate to save her partner and her apparently only remaining team member. Sadly, Arcee's pleas had fallen on deaf audio receptors, and she could only watch in horror as Airachnid struck Tailgate's spark, ending his life.
"TAILGATE," Arcee shouted in despair, as tears began running down her face and she silently began to wish that her sister, Chromia, or even her friends, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, were there right now, but sadly they were not and she seemed to be alone.
Arcee was gazing off into the distant as she could not help but recall that moment of that terrible day, before she shook her head and looked back at Cagalli, and told her, "You're right. You're right Cagalli I am afraid. Of losing you."
Cagalli paused in trying to free Arcee for a moment before looking to Arcee in shock, having been hit hard with that great realization. As she gazed at Arcee's worried face, Cagalli could not help but understand why Arcee was so concerned with her, and feel that she understood why Arcee seemed to prefer spending time with her more than Kira or any of the others. Cagalli continued to stare at Arcee in surprise and could not help but wonder if what she was feeling right then was what it was like to have an older sister.
"You sure have trouble hanging on to your partners don't you," Airachnid's voice suddenly called out, getting both the Orb princess and the Autobot warrior's attention in time to see that the 'Con was on her spider legs once again slowly moving towards them.
"We both know what happened to Tailgate, and not to mention the rest of the Omnicons," Airachnid continued in her same mocking tone and twisted smile. "But I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter regarding the passing of your old friend Cliffjumper. It seems that not even having an old friend as your partner can save them, so at some point you should really ask yourself Arcee: is it them, or is it me?"
Arcee glared at Airachnid for a moment before turning back to Cagalli as best she could and practically screamed, "Do you get it now Cagalli? She's not interested in me. She hunts indigenous species, and she's on Earth. That means humans! It means you! RUN!"
Cagalli did not need to be told more than once anymore, especially after Airachnid made sure to pin Arcee more securely to the rock side with another blast of webbing, and was off in a flash, running as fast as she could to get away from the spider-like 'Con.
Airachnid chuckled as she stalked up to Arcee until she was right in her face. "And that's why I now prefer to work alone," Airachnid stated. "It's so sad when bad things happen to those close to you, but don't get me wrong. I fully intend to snuff out your spark, and believe me, I will make it hurt. But that won't compare to the pain you'll feel knowing I'm adding your human to my collection."
The two continued to watch for a moment as Cagalli paused for a bit to look back before she continued to run, neither one of them noticing that she had pulled something from a compartment on her belt as she did. Airachnid then leapt away from Arcee and began to go after Cagalli on her spider like legs as Arcee called out to Cagalli in fear.
Cagalli continued to run as hard as she could, knowing that stopping for a moment would give Airachnid a chance to catch up with her completely. She could already see the spider-like 'Con behind her and getting closer. Cagalli then pivoted around a small group of trees and stopped for a moment as she held her breath.
"Are you really giving up now little girl," Airachnid called out, sounding mildly disappointed. "And here I thought a human that spent so much time with Arcee would try harder to make this interesting."
Airachnid soon found that her sentiments were correct as she rounded the bend that Cagalli had ducked behind, and received a blast of energon to her face, courtesy of Cagalli and her energon pistol that she had taken to carry instead of her previous hand gun. Cagalli fired off a few more rounds to drive Airachnid further back before she herself spun around and bolted again, reloading her gun as she went.
Airachnid was surprised at first that Cagalli's weapon could actually hurt her, but quickly brushed it off and chuckled as she called out, "Now that's more like it. Really, that's the spirit Cagalli. Keep playing hard to get."
Oh I intend to be more than just hard to get you overgrown insect, Cagalli thought to herself, knowing already what she had to try to do in order to stop Airachnid for good, but not knowing that if anyone had heard her previous thought they would have corrected her by saying that spiders were arachnids and not insects.
While Airachnid was giving chase after Cagalli, Arcee was still struggling as hard as she could and then some against the webs, all the while continuing to think back to the horrible day on which she first met Airachnid, and on which she had sworn to get revenge on said 'Con had it not been for one Bot, who at the time could still use his own voice.
Arcee could do nothing more than continue to stare at where Tailgate had just been, her mind a complete blank at the loss of her partner, and barely registering the fact that Airachnid was moving her sharp, pointed tendon towards her now. She did not care though, because now she was welcoming death, but at the same time she was promising in her mind that she would get this sick femme back for what she had done if she got free from this prison.
Not a minute later, Arcee's prayers for a rescue were answered, as one of the walls was blasted open causing Airachnid to snarl in anger and race off to get away. Emerging only a second after the spider-like 'Con had begun to run, the ever familiar yellow and black of the Autobots' most famous scout had rushed in blasters firing on the retreating 'Con. Bumblebee continued to fire on the other Decepticons that were still in the room, foolish enough to not try and flee when he had rushed in, while Cliffjumper ran in from behind him over to where Arcee was being held.
As soon as the room was cleared, Bumblebee switched his blasters back into hands and looked over to Cliffjumper, only to gasp in shock at who was rescuing. "ARCEE," Bumblebee cried out. "Hang on 'Cee, you're gonna be okay."
As Cliffjumper cut Arcee free from her restraints and set her down on the ground, Arcee looked up towards the voice that had just spoken to her. "Bumblebee, is that you," Arcee moaned.
"Yeah 'Cee it's me, and Cliffjumper's here too," Bumblebee replied.
Arcee could only stare at the two in shock as Bumblebee moved to lift Arcee up with Cliffjumper helping him support her until they were finally outside, and finally what was left of Arcee's reserves had finally collapsed as she broke down in tears against her two friends thanking them over and over again while at the same time moaning, "I couldn't save them…I couldn't save my unit…I couldn't save my partner…it's all my fault…I should've been the one who…"
"STOP RIGHT THERE 'CEE," Cliffjumper shouted. "You did everything you could, but none of this was your fault."
Arcee finally pulled herself together as she stated, "You're right Cliff it wasn't my fault. It was Airachnid's, and I'm going to make sure she pays for what she's done."
Bumblebee gave her a worried look as he exchanged a concerned glance with Cliffjumper before finally saying, "Arcee if you go after her like that, then you'll be letting her win, and you'll be no better than another 'Con. The best way to make her pay is to make sure she can never hurt someone again by bringing her down with the rest of the Decepticons and ending this war for good, and always remember that no matter what you should just keep driving."
"How can you be so sure of that," Arcee asked.
"Because I know it's possible and because I can tell we will stop the Decepticons. I've known all that ever since I met him and joined his team." Bumblebee paused for a moment to consider something before he then told his old friend. "You know, he might actually have an open spot on his team if you're interested, and there would be no better way for you to honor the Omnicons' memory than by joining him."
Arcee stopped to think for a bit as her head began to clear, helping her to realize that Bumblebee was right. She then softly smiled to herself as she thought that there was hardly ever a time that the scout was ever wrong about this type of thing and then turned back to him and asked, "Whose unit are you talking about exactly?"
Bumblebee smiled at his friend as he replied with just one word. "Optimus's."
That was probably the only part of that day that Arcee actually did not mind remembering as much since it was thanks to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper that she was alive now and was still alive today, and it was thanks to them that she found herself a new place on Optimus's team. Though she remembered all of that somewhat fondly, Arcee could not help but scold herself for forgetting that lesson that Bumblebee had tried to teach her back then. "Cagalli I'm so sorry," Arcee moaned. "I should've remembered Bumblebee's advice from all those years ago. I should've never looked back and just…," Arcee then paused before a stroke of genius struck her as she finished, "kept driving."
Arcee then pushed forward against the webs with all her might until she had just enough space to transform into her vehicle mode. Arcee then revved up her engines and used every ounce of horse power she could muster as she pushed against the webs even harder than before. With one last push on her engines, Arcee finally broke free of the webs and was quickly on her way to Cagalli's position, smirking in pride to herself when she saw where the tracking signal Cagalli had on her was heading.
"You're starting to make this too easy Cagalli, and I do not enjoy being bored," Airachnid called out. For some time now, Cagalli had been leading her to Primus only knows where to in this forest, pausing every now and again to try and shoot her with the energon pistol that the blonde was carrying. Needless to say, Airachnid was not joking when she told Cagalli that she was getting bored and did not enjoy being anything like that. Finally, Airachnid could see that Cagalli was leading her to a familiar clearing and saw that the blonde had led her to her own ship.
Airachnid quickly jumped down the mountain as she smirked in amusement and intrigue as she wondered whatever the young human girl could hope to accomplish by doing this. "Now where did you scamper off to little Cagalli," Airachnid wondered softly as she searched around of the area of her ship. Finally, she reached the open hatch and figured that if Cagalli were going to try and hide anywhere around here, she may have been trying to hide inside of the ship in a desperate attempt to throw her off. "If you wanted a tour Cagalli, all you had to do was ask," Airachnid called as she started to walk inside. "Did you spot the empty space? I hope you like it, because it's where you'll soon hang your head."
What Airachnid did not know was that Cagalli had indeed snuck inside of the ship, but had long since found another way out before Airachnid had moved to go inside herself. Though that did not stop her from hearing Airachnid's last comment and being seriously disgusted by it afterwards. Cagalli then gave herself a mental shake as she started to move as quietly as she could to try and find what she was hoping before, when she suddenly ended up stepping right in it.
"Energon," Cagalli whispered in relief. She then looked up and saw where the blue liquid was falling from and worked as fast as she could. After she had pulled out what she needed to start a small fire, Cagalli quickly lit a small stick with a flame and held it high, waiting for the sick 'Con to come out where she wanted her to be.
Cagalli did not have to wait long, as Airachnid had heard Cagalli's efforts in trying to light the stick and moved to the roof of her ship. As soon as she saw the 'Con, Cagalli smirked and shouted out, "Burn you overgrown bug!"
With that, Cagalli tossed the small torch into the leaking energon on Airachnid's ship and made a break for it as fast she could. She did not even bother to pay Airachnid's infuriated scream as she ran, because a few minutes after that scream had come and gone, the ship exploded, supposedly ending its pilot, and if not ensuring that Airachnid could not leave the Earth on her own.
Cagalli breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the smoldering flames burn up the ship from where she was at the top of the ditch where she had taken cover just before the ship had exploded. After dusting herself off a bit, Cagalli holstered her gun as she moved to go and find Arcee again. Before she could get more than five steps away though, Cagalli found her leg was caught in something. She looked down and saw to her horror that her leg had been webbed to the ground; leading her to look up and see that somehow Airachnid had survived the explosion. Next thing that Cagalli knew, she was the tied up by Airachnid's webs with the sick 'Con hovering over her.
Airachnid was smirking with joy as now she would have both her trophy and her revenge on Cagalli for destroying her ship, but that joy was soon tarnished as the sound of an engine grabbed her attention just in time to see Arcee racing over the hill in vehicle mode shouting, "Get away from her bitch!"
As soon as she had shouted that, Arcee had transformed and slammed her fist into Airachnid's face hard. Airachnid barely had time to regain her balance after suffering Arcee's unexpected attack, and after having been through so much today between fighting her old nemesis and hunting Cagalli Airachnid was too tired to really have put up much of a fight really anyways and had soon passed out.
Arcee then ran over to where Cagalli was pinned to a tree and pulled the webs off of the blonde as she asked, "Cagalli, are you okay?"
Cagalli just smirked as she looked up at Arcee in reply saying, "Aside from a bit of tree bark and webbing in my hair, yeah I'm okay. I'm just as tough as you remember?"
Arcee smiled happily at Cagalli's little joke before the sound of drilling reached their ears. The two turned and saw that Airachnid was drilling into the ground in an attempt to get away, an attempt that was completely successful since by the time the two had reached her, she was already long gone. "So much for closure," Arcee sighed.
"And now Airachnid's stuck here on Earth. Should we be concerned whether or not that's a good thing," Cagalli asked.
Arcee was not sure how to answer, so she did not and chose instead to say, "Cagalli I'm sorry you had to face my demons today. You were really brave out there."
Cagalli snorted a bit before admitting, "Actually I was terrified. For you."
Arcee smirked and then radioed the base, finally getting through, "Arcee to base. Send us a Ground Bridge. I need to get my partner away from any oversized insects."
Cagalli smirked as she raised an eyebrow at Arcee asking, "Partner?"
"Junior Partner. I can still pull rank," Arcee corrected.
"That's fine with me. Don't tell anyone this, but I've actually always wanted an older sister," Cagalli admitted.
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me little sis," Arcee smiled as the two headed through the swirling green vortex that appeared just a moment later.
Somewhere far away from where Arcee and Cagalli had previously been, Airachnid finally emerged, seething in anger and swearing to get her revenge on both Arcee and Cagalli as soon as the opportunity arose. That opportunity came sooner than she expected as she turned to the sounds of a jet flying in only to find Slipstream transform and land before her a moment later. "Well this is a surprise," Slipstream openly smirked. "The mighty Airachnid, apparently beaten by a single Autobot and a little human girl."
"Watch it fly girl unless you want that pretty little face of yours to get an acid bath," Airachnid warned.
"ENOUGH," a deep, demanding voice suddenly hollered just as the two started to get a bolt of lightning to form between their eyes. They both turned to see Megatron had arrived on the scene as well. "Airachnid, despite what Slipstream may have you believe, it actually is a welcome sight to see again."
"Of course Lord Megatron," Airachnid replied with a slight sneer. "I only wish I were more…presentable at the moment."
"Perhaps you would be interested in knowing that I have a unit commanded by someone I'm considering for my new first lieutenant that can help you even the score. If not with the human child then most definitely with the Autobot, Arcee."
Airachnid simply smirked as she told Megatron, "I'm listening."
A few moments after they had walked through the Ground Bridge portal, Arcee and Cagalli finally arrived back at the Autobot base in Orb, with Cagalli mentally cheering how good it was to be home. As soon as the Ground Bridge was deactivated, the two were met with the sight of Kira and Bumblebee running towards them, concern evident on each of their faces. "Cagalli, are you guys okay," Kira asked.
"What're you doing here Kira? I thought you would be working at Morgenroete all day," Cagalli asked, clearly trying to avoid the question since she was not sure how to answer it just yet.
"Oh well…," Kira looked down sadly for a minute before stating, "It's personal, but forget about that, seriously what happened out there? Ratchet said that you guys went on a routine mission that should've ended hours ago."
Cagalli and Arcee just looked at each before smiling at the two boys as Cagalli replied, "Nothing much. Just a little bonding time between sisters."
"Huh/Huh," was the shared question of both Kira and Bumblebee. Cagalli just giggled a little as she placed a hand on Kira's shoulder while she walked past him and lead the way to the rest of Kira's friends who were still there.
Arcee just chuckled a bit herself before she tapped Bumblebee's arm getting his attention for a minute and said, "I'll fill you in on everything later, but first…thanks for what you said all those years ago after…what happened to Tailgate. I guess I just needed a little more time for it to sink in."
Bumblebee gained a shocked expression when Arcee mentioned Tailgate, and he suddenly felt he had a pretty good idea what had happened to the two girls. He tried to say something to Arcee, but found himself in a greater state of shock as Arcee suddenly wrapped him in a tight hug. After the initial shock had passed, Bumblebee just shrugged it off and returned Arcee's hug before the two pulled away. As Arcee walked past the two humans though, she saw Cagalli looking at her with a mischievous smirk and had to ask, "What?"
"Just a good friend huh," Cagalli replied, clearly referring to what had just happened.
Arcee's face instantly lit up with a Cybertronian blush as she quickly replied, "It's not like that! It was just a friendly hug. That's it, a hug between friends!"
"Uh huh, sure it was big sister," Cagalli replied in a disbelieving tone.
"It was! Oh geez, only my little sister for a few minutes and already she's teasing me about this kind of thing," Arcee moaned. This led to Cagalli busting out laughing at Arcee's expense and Kira joining in a moment later, not sure why, but just feeling like that moment of humor was just contagious. Soon enough though, it had spread to everyone in the room and no one could say they were surprised at how the two new sisters were both so happy to be just that.
AN: Now I know this is a lot like the original content of the episode from Transformers Prime, but can you really blame me for this one? The episode was so well done that I couldn't figure out how to change all the much aside from what was changed. If you think that it seems a little OOC for Cagalli to have wanted an older sister figure, I'm going to go ahead and say right now that I did that because she and Arcee are a lot alike in many senses and I always kinda figured Cagalli was the kind of person that wished they had an older sibling type of figure to look up to. Also, Airachnid joining the Decepticons right after getting to Earth, well I mostly did that because there really wasn't much else I could do with her character on her own without having her join Megatron. Also this is the first time I've done a chapter with flashback scenes like the ones in this chapter so I hope I did okay with them. Anyways onto the preview...
A chance encounter can cause many things, a fact that is proven true in the case of Kira and Athrun as well as Dearka and Miriallia, when the four find themselves trapped in an abandoned energon mine while investigating strange readings along with a pair of Autobots and Decepticons respectively. How will the four react when secrets are revealed and truths come out, and can Bumblebee and Elita One work with Dreadwing and Knockout to pull the four out of harm's way before it's too late? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…Chapter 18: Unexpected Finds. Witness the end of the Orb Missions Arc Gundam and Autobots!
Please read and review, and I'll see you next time for the conclusion of the Orb Missions Arc.