Weasels and Webs
Part 2

Despite the end of the war, Mercy's scanners weren't silent. Every once in a while, they picked up Maximal or Predacon movement, but nothing significant.

She had been keeping an eye on two blips- one Predacon, one Maximal- but Blackarachnia had been headed in that direction, so Mercy opted to not do anything about it for the moment. Maybe she had captured the Maximal and was torturing himbut that didn't really matter to Mercy either way.

How exactly would the absence of Megatron affect the situation? she wondered. The remaining Predacons were still at large, including that fearsome behemoth of a Transformer everyone called Rampage. He gave Mercy a slight case of the heebie-jeebies.

Maybe someone would come and ask Mercy to take care of them? They were on their own when it came to handling the crabbot, but she would be more than happy to go after the others for a good price… But only when her contract with Blackarachnia ran out. Day two of her contract was mostly over, meaning she still had two more days to do nothing. Two more days of fretting about things that were currently out of her hands.

Slaggit, some R&R this turned out to be. She hadn't slept all night, her nerves were frayed, and what was supposed to be a dream setup was winding up costing more than it took her to get out here. What little she'd made while working with the Maximals would barely even cover the cost of fuel, and now that the Predacons had lost, she couldn't expect a paycheck from them.

And then there was the problem she refused to think about until she was sure everything was over. Her ship was permanently grounded. Even if the Maximals were hitching a ride with that Predacon, there wouldn't be enough room for her, too, assuming they'd let her hitch a ride back.

And assuming she'd swallow her pride long enough to ask them. Oh, who was she kidding? They wouldn't let a lowlife mercenary ride with them. She'd have to find some other way to get back to Cybertron.

A quiet beep from a nearby computer brought Mercy back to the present. Two Maximals were on the move. Why they were in that particular sector was a mystery- to Mercy's knowledge, it was devoid of anything of interest- but at least she had something more to watch than whatever the Maximals and Predacons were doing (which wasn't fighting, and therefore didn't interest the mercenary).

Just as Mercy's attention span was about to run out, a Predacon blip suddenly appeared right on top of the Maximals. The remaining Predacons had been scattered, and Mercy had figured that they'd be inactive without Megatron's leadership, but it looked like her assumption was wrong.

Completely wrong, as it turned out Mercy's optics remained glued to the monitor as her scanners went fuzzy shortly after the Predacon made his presence known. When the scanners recovered, the Predacon blip was gone and the Maximals were in the midst of fleeing the sector. Mercy's scanners, being recent and fairly high-end (and therefore expensive), didn't suffer from normal energon interference, so something big must have happened to affect them that badly.

Just what exactly was going on? Had Megatron planned for this? Was he really that far ahead of the game that he could still pull strings from inside the brig of a Predacon transwarp cruiser?

And here, Mercy was just a bystander. She wasn't ahead of anyone at the moment. All she could do it sit back and watch how things panned out, and so far, nothing was going in her favor.

What had she gotten herself into? If Megatron was really that good, she had no hope of staying ahead of him. The best she could possibly do would be to not fall too far into whatever he was up to.

...No. No, slaggit, she was taking this too personally again. Whether or not Megatron was planning something big wasn't important. The only thing that should matter- that did matter- was getting paid at the end. Other than that, the universe could collapse in on itself, just as long as Mercy got her money.

The scanners livened up again. The transwarp cruiser was on the move, heading for the Maximal base.

Mercy sighed. The Predacon agent was probably just dealing with the Maximals some more. The Maximals involved in the energon explosion were heading homeward. The Maximal and Predacon duo were still milling around their small area.

When the cruiser closed in on the base, Mercy thought her scanners were malfunctioning, which would have given her the excuse she needed to go out and do something.

But no, her scanners were working just fine, much to her horror. They were detecting fire at the Maximal base, meaning that there was a skirmish going on there- and the only Predacons she could detect were the agent and Megatron. The Maximals wouldn't last long against the cruiser. The outcome of the Beast Wars would be reversed, but they would still be over, which was bad news for a mercenary.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to do anything, but absolutely sick of sitting back and watching things spiral out of control on her scanners, Mercy stood up resolutely and left her ship, deciding to go watch the unfolding events in person.

Her assumptions were right, but her timing appeared to be off. The cruiser was on fire, flying out of control, heading straight for the Predacon behemoth called Rampage. Rattrap sat on top of the ship, riding a rather large missile as if it was a horse. Just as the ship came to halt, there was a final explosion, and Rattrap was sent flying.

Mercy didn't bother making her presence known or actively trying to stay out of sight. This wasn't the time to worry about how her actions might be perceived by potential employers.

Off to the side, she saw Megatron- Megatron! Free! Were the Beast Wars back on?- fleeing, she had a similar thought to what she'd just overheard Optimus exclaim: He wasn't heading back to the Predacon headquarters.

Due to her diligent monitoring of her scanners, Mercy knew exactly where Megatron was heading, and apparently Optimus did too.

The entire Maximal crew flew away after Megatron. If they had seen Mercy, they didn't seem to care either way. The fact that not even Rattrap bothered to make some snarky anti-mercenary comment meant that something big was going down. Mercy didn't know exactly what, but they were all heading for the Maximal and Predacon blips that hadn't been doing much of anything all day.

As Mercy tailed the Maximals on foot- what she wouldn't give for a flight mode!- she tried to reckon the amount of time left on her contract with Blackarachnia. It felt like an eternity, but the sun had only set on the second day. This would likely be over by the time her contract ran out, for better or worse.

But thinking about the future wasn't very constructive at the moment. There wasn't much she could do about it. More importantly, she had to make sure she had her contractual bases covered. One could argue that running after Maximals was a lot more than doing nothing, but as long as she didn't actually participate in anything, she should be safe. It was a bit of a gray area, but Mercy was experienced in arguing that kind of thing.

Just as she was solidifying her argument, she came upon the Maximals frantically trying to dig their way into what looked like a collapsed cave.

Optimus hefted a rock away from the cave's entrance and briefly glanced over at Mercy.

"You're hired!" he said to her without hesitation. "Start digging!"

"I'd love to," Mercy replied apologetically. "But I'm contractually obligated to do nothing." It sounded really stupid, but it was the truth.

"Yeah, right!" Rattrap sneered. "You just don't want to get your hands dirty!"

In retrospect, he was probably just trying to goad Mercy into helping, but Mercy wasn't having a good day either and wasn't in the mood to be given a hard time.

"Yes, Maximal, I love having my hands tied at the very moment I know I could do some good! Believe me, it's been a blast watching things happen while I'm contractually sidelined!"

"Is there any way we can convince you to help?" Optimus asked.

"You'd have to get my current employer to either renegotiate the contract- which, due to the nature of the one I'm currently under would be impossible, as it was only a verbal contract and therefore not negotiable-"

"Get on with it!" The normally placid Rhinox's outburst was a good indicator of the direness of the situation.

"-or get the contractor to terminate the agreement early, which requires speaking with the contractor and not myself."

"Fine! Who's the contractor?" Optimus heaved another large rock. Mercy had to move to avoid being crushed by the rubble that was being moved in record time.

"I'm afraid I'm unable to divulge that information, as it would violate the contract." Mercy hoped her technical explanation would give the Maximals the hint that the only thing really keeping her from helping them was the contract. She'd probably work for them for free- okay, maybe not free, but dirt cheap- if she could, but the situation just wouldn't allow it without damaging her reputation.

"So ditch the contract!" Cheetor reasoned.

"Mercy, if you don't help us, we might not be here to hire you in the future," Optimus added.

"I am a mercenary," she said slowly, placing heavy emphasis on every word. "I am not about to give up everything I've worked for just because things aren't panning out for me. You Maximals have your ways and I have mine. I might not like what's going on at the moment, but at the end of the day, I am still a mercenary. A neutral party. The moment I violate my neutrality, I become useless. Sorry, guys, but that's the way it is."

"Then stay outta the way!"

Mercy didn't feel the need to remind Rattrap that she was contractually obligated to do just that.

Despite the lack of Mercy's assistance (not that a smaller bot like herself would be able to do much), the Maximals gained entrance to the inside of the cave, and Mercy followed at a safe distance. She was really treading on thin ice as far as doing "nothing" went, but as long as Blackarachnia wasn't around to argue about it, she hoped that she wouldn't face any repercussions.

As her optics adjusted to the atmosphere inside the cave, she realized just how big the Beast Wars were. They weren't just a bunch of skirmishes on a backwater planet. No, the Beast Wars involved past and future- namely, the Autobots and Decepticons, as evidenced by the absolutely massive ship that she saw before her.

The Ark. She may not have been a Maximal or Predacon, but she wasn't ignorant of their history. Whatever happened here could affect the outcome of the Great War.

She didn't have much time to dwell on the scale of the situation, however, as she had to duck for cover lest she get shot by an Autobot fusion cannon. It was not a proud moment for her as she hid behind a rock while waiting for the Maximals to disable the cannon and attempt to gain entry into the Ark.

She didn't have to cower long before the fusion cannon was disabled and Rattrap began trying to hotwire the doors, but Rhinox got tired of waiting and went to work on opening them manually.

Being a bystander sure was irritating, especially when the lives of potential employers were hanging in the balance. This whole day just kept getting more and more nightmarish, and here all Mercy could do was hope the dice rolled in her favor.

The Maximals, however, were entirely unconcerned with the fate of the mercenary. Their current preoccupation was that Megatron had beaten them to the inner workings of the Ark and was probably in the midst of changing history so that the Great War went in the Decepticons'- and by extension his- favor.

Blinding light emanated from the partially opened doors, much to the Maximals' horror, and soon the light swept around the entire cave like a tornado. The Maximals seemed paralyzed by the storm.

Mercy herself wasn't too bothered by the storm itself, in fact, she was already thinking ahead. If the Maximals didn't pull through, which at this rate seemed likely, the Beast Wars would be over and she'd have to look for something else to do. She was stranded on Earth-- for the moment, at least. She could always do the same as the Autobots and Decepticons and go into stasis for a few million years, then play the same game on a larger scale.

She tried to lift her spirits with that thought. She tried to use it to fuel one of the patented, face-splitting grins she got when she knew things were going to turn out all right for her.

But she couldn't. The Autobots' and Decepticons' numbers-- not to mention their physical size-- were so large that one small mercenary would be ignored without so much as a second thought. No, Mercy decided, the best outcome she could hope for if she went down that road would be to sit back until the Autobots and Decepticons turned into Maximals and Predacons. She'd have to live a very, very long time in order for that to happen, and worse, she couldn't be a mercenary all that time.

That was the kicker. Mercy loved her job more than anything. She was good at it. She enjoyed every bit of it-- well, almost every bit of it. She could do without the stress she was experiencing at the moment.

Yes, she was a mercenary, and as a mercenary, she was still contracted to do nothing. The contract, even if it was a spoken one, was everything. If she ever got off Earth, she could proudly tell a prospective employer that she risked the end of the universe in order to stay true to a contract. That would look great on a resume.

Feeling slightly more resolute than she did a moment ago, she fought her way towards the entrance of the Ark, where Megatron was gloating something awful.

Megatron seemed entirely unconcerned with Mercy. Did he know she couldn't do anything? Maybe he'd figured this into his plan?

Mercy saw someone move behind the tyrant- Blackarachnia. Uh-oh. Maybe Mercy would have to argue about the more vague definitions of "nothing" after all.

Then Mercy saw Blackarachnia activate the Ark's defense systems, setting them on the Predacon leader.

Mercy reveled in the moment when Megatron was blasted out of the doorway,

Silverbolt crawled his way to Blackarachnia, and the Maximal and Predacon blips Mercy had been observing not fighting made more sense. Her faith in the Predacon stereotype failed a bit.

Mercy followed the duo onto the bridge of the Ark, where Optimus Prime sat at the center of the storm, looking like a mess. Mercy stayed out of the way and largely out of sight as Blackarachnia and Silverbolt activated emergency life support and hooked it up to Prime.

Just like that, the time storm faded, though the sense of urgency remained.

Blackarachnia gave the computer a few other commands, then turned to Mercy.

"You!" she said accusingly. "What are you doing here?"

"Absolutely nothing," Mercy said confidently.

"You've been just standing by this whole time?" Blackarachnia didn't sound too pleased.

"Exactly like you told me." Mercy emphasized the last three words, hoping Blackarachnia would pick up the hint.

"I do not understand," Silverbolt confessed. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind that!" Blackarachnia said shortly. "Prime's spark's still fading!"

By that time, the rest of the Maximals had arrived and were busy fretting about the situation. Mercy couldn't blame them.

"Alright, Mercy, you want something to do?" Blackarachnia didn't look up from the console she was at while she spoke. "Help me keep this guy alive."

Mercy's medical knowledge extended only as far as keeping herself alive and emergency field repairs, but she never argued with an order, so she climbed up to the control panel-- why were Autobots so big?-- and tried to think of something helpful to do.

"He's fading too quickly!" Rhinox said. "At this rate, his spark will merge with the Matrix before we can fix him!"

Mercy concentrated on Blackarachnia's orders of "Push that button there!" and "Make sure the power output on that console stays constant!" which was difficult, considering she was extremely unfamiliar with Autobot script, and only looked up just in time to see Optimus Primal take Prime's spark into his body.

Mercy decided that all the Maximals on Earth, especially their leader, were slagging nuts, but she was wise enough not to say anything.

Mercy then scrambled to help Blackarachnia get the repair equipment online.

Prime's recovery ensured, Mercy decided her prospects were once again sunny. Megatron had been thwarted, however temporarily, and the Beast Wars would continue.

Mercy smiled to herself. Job security felt good.

"Glad to see you decided to help out," Rattrap said to her, his voice laden with sarcasm.

Mercy smiled back and said, "The circumstances are a tad different. The contract was modified by my employer."

"Former employer," Blackarachnia interjected. "You've held up your end of the deal a little too well. You're released."

Mercy wanted to get down on her knees and thank Blackarachnia, but instead she just grinned at the femme.

"Primal!" she called in the direction she'd last seen the Maximal leader. "I'm all yours!"

No answer.

"Primal?"

She heard some... uncomfortable... sounding noises, but no acknowledgment.

"What, not even a 'Buzz off, lowlife merc?'"

"He's a little busy right now!" Rattrap told her.

"Gotcha. 'Buzz off, lowlife merc' it is. I'll be right outside, if you need me." Mercy noted with some annoyance that no one really noticed her leaving.

Despite the fact that she was perched on a rock, watching the lava below her flow, Mercy's prospects looked rosy. Sure, she was currently unemployed, but she still had hope of the Maximals picking her up for something. After all, they did have the Ark to look after, as well as their own base. They'd be spread pretty thin, and they could use another member.

But then, would she really want to work for the Maximals long-term? She'd never even so much as thought about something like that. One of the upsides of working for one side one day and the other side the next was that, whatever the outcome of the war, she'd win. Staying with either side for too long would not only further alienate herself from the other, but if the side she stuck with lost, the payoff would be much smaller.

And Mercy wasn't so sure the Maximals were going to win, especially now.

The mercenary looked up just in time to see Inferno, looking beaten-up and more than a little dangerous because of it, appear in the entrance of the cave. Mercy scrambled over the side of her rock farthest from danger, just above the lava and out of view. The action was cowardly, to be sure, but it was better than being fired upon. Inferno didn't seem like the type to hold his fire just because she was currently a neutral party.

Waspinator was not far behind him, either.

As she waited for the Predacons to pass, Mercy detected the smell of singed fur. Great. Now, not only did her ship smell, but she did too.

Gunfire pulled Mercy out of her thoughts of vanity. She hadn't been surprised in the slightest that the Predacons would engage the Maximals in a gunfight, but she was more than annoyed that all she could do at the moment was stay out of the way. Hadn't she just gone through the same sort of situation?

But now was a terrible time to jump in. Should the Maximals gain the upper hand, which was likely, Mercy would be caught between the retreating Predacons and their escape route. Not a good place to be.

She pulled herself back on top of the rock, only to see Waspinator open fire on the Ark itself. She'd made a bad judgment when she assumed he'd gone inside the Ark with Inferno.

The wasp took no notice, though, and kept firing. The ground shook and rocks fell from above, covering Megatron's escape and eventually blocking the cave's entrance. Mercy had to transform to beast mode to lower her center of gravity to keep from falling off her rock.

The barrage didn't last longer than a few nanocycles, and once she felt it was safe enough to move, Mercy transformed and hurried over to the Maximals, one of whom she didn't quite recognize. He looked a lot like Optimus Primal, only absolutely massive, towering over all the other Transformers.

"What the Pit-" Mercy started, unable to figure out how to finish the sentence.

The transmetal looked down at her. "There's no time to explain--"

"Primal? Is that you?"

"-but we need all the help we can get right now. We can negotiate a contract later."

Shaking off her astonishment and avoiding becoming introspective at yet another outlandish turn of events, Mercy simply responded, "Count me in!"

Without hesitation, Primal transformed to vehicle mode and used it to break through the rocks blocking the entrance to the cave.

Megatron was just finishing off Blackarachnia (whose leaving Mercy must have missed) just as the Maximals got outside. Megatron made a hasty departure, Silverbolt looked positively horrified, and Mercy looked to Optimus to find out what to do next.

"They're headed for our base!" Cheetor exclaimed.

So that's why these guys are so uptight right now, Mercy thought. It only made sense-- the Maximals had left it wide open.

"There's no time to lose," Primal decided. "Cheetor, you're with me. Mercy, you back us up."

"Got it," Mercy said as Optimus transformed and flew away. Cheetor followed right behind. Mercy mentally sighed, transformed, and broke into a run, glad that the remaining Maximals were too preoccupied with Blackarachnia to notice how ungraceful minks were when running.

Allowing her vanity to take another hit, she didn't stop running until she'd caught up with Optimus and Cheetor, who were standing at the edge of a cliff near where she thought the Axalon was located. The Maximals were looking down, so Mercy followed suit, and winced at what she saw.

Part of the Axalon sat on some rocks just above the water at the base of the cliff. The rest was completely missing, but Mercy could guess what happened.

"Sorry guys," Mercy said apologetically, transforming. "I got here as fast as I could." She let her words sink in for a few moments, then added, "I still get paid, right?"

Optimus seemed to ignore the callous question, but Cheetor glared at her.

"Hey, it's an honest question," Mercy said.

"Mercy," Optimus said suddenly, "how did you find us?"

Mercy blinked. "Huh?"

"Us. Here. Earth. How did you find us?"

"I traced the transwarp wave back to its origin." What an odd time to start asking questions.

"And how did you find out about the transwarp wave?"

"Deep-space fishing." The blank look on Optimus' face prompted Mercy to explain further. "I was sitting out in the dead middle of nowhere hoping I'd find a break."

"Did anyone else find out about the wave?" Optimus pressed.

"Beats me."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"That would have opened up the possibility of other mercs coming in. Look, Primal, I stumbled because I was in the right place at the right time, and because of sheer dumb luck. I didn't even know what was out here. I just know that transwarp waves are caused by transwarp explosions, and where there are explosions, the chances of finding work are good."

When he didn't question her further, she asked, "Why the interrogation?"

"Because if the Maximals back home knew about the transwarp wave, they should have rescued us by now."

"I wouldn't know anything about it," Mercy said, trying to sound sympathetic.

"What do we do now?" Cheetor wondered.

"For now," Optimus answered, "we regroup. Mercy, as loath as I am to say it, we could use another 'bot on our side, for however long it takes to defeat Megatron. Are you with us?" He held his massive hand out to the mercenary.

Mercy remembered what she had been thinking earlier. The circumstances were slightly different, but the outcome of the war was far from being set in stone.

She smiled sadly and shook her head. "Sorry, Primal. I've got to keep my options open. Besides," she added, "I'll be honest-- I wouldn't be of much use if you're going to try to recover the Axalon, so you'd just be wasting your money. But if you want an excellent soldier for something short-term, don't hesitate to call."

"I understand," Optimus said. "Sort of. You're released from your contract."

"I'll charge my minimum fee," she said in what she hoped would be interpreted as a magnanimous decision. "You know where to find me."

Optimus nodded once, then he and Cheetor transformed and flew away.

Despite being physically and emotionally exhausted from the ups and downs of the past few days, Mercy started on her way home, smelly though it was.