I'm glad you people enjoy seeing Scorponok back in the game. But I can't just forget about the other two.
WARNING! This chapter contains a very confused techno organic who can't decide what he's suppose to consume. You've been warned.
The Autobots back at base had moved the mantis to a temporary holding cell. It was surprisingly heavy for a bug…and did it just BREATH?
Ratchet launched a full scale check up on the bug, while Bulkhead, Prowl and Optimus went to look for Bumblebee.
"Hmmm…its armor is interesting…It seems almost…OH NO." Ratchet gasped. Judging from these readings, this thing was appeared to be a techno organic creature…or almost. Only one fourth of the creature could actually be considered organic. Prime had told him about BlackArachnia being the same way, but her organic and Cybertronian sides were in sync and balanced. The mantis appeared to be a crude imitation, more machine than organic.
Ratchet would have done more tests, but the creature was waking up.
Ready to blast this thing with his EMP, he stood ready as the mantis raised its head. It seemed to yawn and looked around. "Ah, that was a good nap…But now where am I?" It mumbled, before spotting Ratchet. "Oh, hello." It said, causing Ratchet to blink, confused at this monster's polite tone. Sitting up, the mantis revealed the Decepticon logo on the back of its wing casing. The purple insignia seemed freshly applied as the mantis turned to get a better look at the Autobot. "Who might you be?" The mantis asked, astounding Ratchet even further.
The Medic had never heard polite words from a Decepticon before.
-
The rest of the Autobots arrived just in time to see Bumblebee slammed against the wall, pinned down by the creature's stinger, which was buried in his chest armor. "The key…HE WANTS THE KEY!" Scorponok snarled, lashing out at the other Autobots with his pincers. Optimus wondered who or what the scorpion was talking about, but his train of thought was broken by a loud CRASH. Bulkhead had smashed the creature into the ground with his wrecking ball, only to find the crater it'd made empty.
But the hole at the bottom was some clue to where the scorpion had disappeared to.
As suddenly as Scrponok had disappeared, he reemerged from under the ground, still seeking what his master so desperately desired…the key…Where was it? Ah, there it was, behind that pile of debris. But it was still attached to the human…A puzzle indeed.
Burrowing just as Prowl tried to hit it with his shuriken, he popped up under Sari and grabbed her with his pincer. He was being surprisingly gentle with the flesh creature. Why, he didn't know, but he also didn't care. Megatron desired the key, and if the human refused to let go, he'd just take the human along anyway.
"Hey! Let me go!" Sari yelled attracting the Autobots attention. As Optimus advanced on the scorpion, it hissed and scuttled away at a break neck pace.
"Bulkhead, get Bumblebee back to the base. Prowl, you and I'll go after the bug. Roll out!" Optimus yelled. Transforming, the two sped off, leaving Bulkhead with an injured Bee. "Ungh…" Bee groaned. "What happened? Where's Sari?"
"Boss bot and Prowl are going after her. You, on the other servo, need to get back to base." Bulkhead replied. "Don't worry. They'll catch that freaky monster."
-
The Decepticon symbol gleamed on one of Scorponok's pincers as he raced back to his master, Sari snarling at him the whole time. "Primus, do you ever shut up?" Scorponok asked, as he rounded the corner. They were almost there, the tower was in sight.
"WHAT THE-? HANG ON ONE STUPID SECOND!" Sari snarled right in Scorponok's audio, making him skid to a halt on the front steps.
"You hurt one of my best friends, trash the Autobot base, and kidnaped me JUST SO YOU COULD TAKE ME HOME?! Did my dad put you up to this?!" Sari growled, as the scorpion set her down, slightly confused as to why she was yelling at him, as Optimus and Prowl pulled up behind them.
Scorponok could see he was surrounded…well, if you counted the fleshling, but still, she had the key…
"Back off, Optimus!" A voice called from somewhere. A voice Optimus was all too familiar with.
"Elita?" He yelled back.
"IT'S BLACKARACHNIA NOW! Is it REALLY that hard to say?" The spider bot scuttled down from her perch on the tower. Scorponok looked up. He'd never seen this creature before, but he could tell she was an ally.
A good looking ally at that.
-
Ratchet rubbed the bridge of his nose. This mantis was getting on his last nerve.
First of all, this crazy insect's name was Airslash, which sounded reasonable enough. Until Ratchet discovered something about Airslash he never wanted to know.
Whenever the mantis spotted movement from a small source (say, a rat), he pounced on it and held it trapped between his scythe like appendages. Then he'd ask Ratchet, "So now what do I do with it?"
Apparently, the mantis had gotten some instincts that came with his organic half, but he had no clue what to do with them.
As Airslash played with a rat he'd caught a few moments ago, Bulkhead returned, carrying a beat up and groaning Bee.
"By the Allspark, what happened to him? It's not another head on collision again, is it? Because if so, I already warned him…"
"No, doc bot, it's not a collision this time." Bulkhead replied, putting emphasis on the words 'This time'. "That scorpion guy got him, and good." Looking over at the bug, Bulkhead blinked. "What's that guy doing?"
"Annoying the bloody pit slag out of me." Ratchet growled menacingly.
"Oh." Bulkhead grimaced as Airslash experimentally poked the rat, which squeaked in terror.
"Uh oh. I think I killed it…" Airslash muttered. Ratchet facepalmed.
-
BlackArachnia had insisted on taking on Optimus herself, leaving Scorponok to fight Prowl. It was at this point that the scorpion realized he could transform into a robot.
While BlackArachnia was streamline and swift, Scorponok was more of a muscular type of bot. However, while fighting Prowl you had to be fast, or at least time your attacks right.
And that's what Scorponok did.
Swiping at Prowl, he managed to land a couple of hits on the ninja like bot, but it was Prowl who did most of the attacking. Thanks to Scorponok's stamina, however, he didn't look like he was going down anytime soon.
-
While the battle raged on, no one noticed the small shadowy character scaling down the tower walls. No one except Sari. With Optimus and Prowl busy, she decided to investigate the matter herself.
Following the creature at a safe distance, she noticed it was a machine. And not just any machine. It looked like something her dad would have invented.
It looked a lot like Bumblebee…but with some obvious differences. It was a deep orange color, its frame was a lot thinner and it looked badly injured. "H-hey! Wait up!" Sari called, and the robot turned, blue optics glowing dimly. "Who are you?"
"I'm Tendril…I've heard of you…You…You're the one…with the key, right?" It rasped, tilting its head to one side.
"Yeah…Looks like you could use some repairs. Need any help?" Sari asked.
"Obviously." The robot muttered, holding out a servo. Sari got closer, located the slot in which to insert the key into, and turned it.
-
"Elita, I don't want to fight you…" Optimus was on the defensive, as the spider bot advanced angrily.
"Ah, but I want to fight YOU, Optimus." She snarled, poised to strike at the mech's neck, where her venom would do the most damage.
"Elita, please…"
"AND STOP CALLING ME THAT!" She yelled, catching him in the faceplates with what the humans called a 'roundhouse' kick…or something of the sort.
Standing over him, she sneered, "You always were PATHETIC, Optimus." She looked about ready to blast him with some web, but he struck first. His grappling hook shot around her body, pinning her arms to her sides. As she struggled, snarling at him angrily, Optimus got up and responded in a voice he'd never used before. "BlackArachnia, would you hold still for at least five nanoclicks so I can say something?!"
That threw her for a loop. He'd called her by her new name…She glared at him, but was silent.
Stepping closer to her, he said in a low voice, "Please, just listen. Whether or not you hate me, I just wanted to say I care about you…and I always will. You were so busy shutting me out I couldn't say that until now." Retracting the grappling hook, he held out his hand to help her up. Hesitantly, she took it and stood up. Optimus continued, "Look, I don't care if you don't trust me, just know that I still care about you, alright?"
BlackArachnia was silent for a moment. Then, her shoulders seemed to sag, as though she was tired, and replied, "I'll keep that in mind, Optimus…" As she turned to go, she added, "Oh, and Optimus?" she looked at him over her shoulder, "I always knew we had a thing going on." Transforming, she scuttled off, Scorponok right behind her.
Unfortunately, Scorponok had this whole conversation on his comlink, which went directly to Megatron.
"So…BlackArachnia likes that insolent Autobot, hm?" he mused quietly. "Well, we'll see about that."
-
As Powl and Optimus made their way back to the Autobot base, Prowl said, "So…you have a girlfriend now, huh?"
"I most certainly hope so, Prowl."
Uh oh. Megs is going to try and interfere with those two…What's gonna happen now?
And D'AAAW...I wrote something sweet about that pairing...