As I'd hoped, the last chapter got quite a good reception from everyone. In response I've tried to get this one out as quickly as possible, and all I'll say is to brace yourself for yet even more drama...
xx
Though Airachnid couldn't see the message for herself, she could feel its imprint under her claws as she passed them over her spark casing in a frantic, confused scrabble. Neocybex glyphs, twined together so she couldn't easily decipher them by touch alone, but it seemed to say 'Orion'.
"...What does it mean?" She asked it mostly to herself, too quiet for Optimus to hear in his distant, shell-shocked state. It felt like her spark was a time bomb, swelling like an inferno against the clear walls of her chamber with whatever secrets it held. She'd never seen the Prime so... lost, so unsure of whatever it was he was thinking, not even when he first found her cowering from the rain with Scorpia. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know what it was that he saw.
It was only when her chestplates had sealed again and the thrumming light of her spark cut out that Optimus recovered, only barely. His vents were heavy, and his cooling fans groaned like they were made of lead. At Airachnid's peds, Scorpia whimpered and hugged her mother's legs as Optimus knelt before her. "Airachnid... listen very carefully to me." It was hard for her to disobey with her claws loosely held in his hands, and his optics flickering behind a film of so many emotions she couldn't even name half of them. "That stone you have... that is what I proposed to Elita One with."
Airachnid blinked, claws tightening around the limp clutched between them and Optimus' palm. "Well, it's not as flashy as a ring, but-"
Optimus was already shaking his helm. "No, Airachnid, that is the exact same stone." He sounded like even he couldn't believe it, but at the same time like it was the only possible answer. He released one of her hands, folding both over the claws encasing the lump of ancient coal. "May I?" he asked, and Airachnid let it fall between her talons into his palm.
Like she used to, he rolled the rock between his digits for the longest few moments of her life, like he was deciphering some code written on its pitted surface. He sighed and closed those digits over tightly, as if he wanted to grind it into the metal of his palm. "...I memorised every ridge, every smooth and grainy surface of it in the time it took Elita to accept it. Either my memory is fading... or it has somehow found its way back to me," he told her slowly, dragging his helm up to force his optics against hers. "The name on your spark chamber... was my own, before I became Prime. A long time ago, I was Orion Pax..." Something hardened in his throat, forcing him to gulp deeply, though it just formed a burning shell over his optics instead. "And you were Ariel."
It was a name she'd never heard before, not even in passing, but it exploded in her processor, a flashbang of memories that weren't hers almost blinding her as the sleeper bullets finally shot through. Airachnid blinked rapidly, and when the afterimages were gone she knew what he was trying to say- and shaking her helm automatically at it. "Optimus, no, no, it... it doesn't make any sense-"
She was leaning back, away from the intense flare of his optics, but his free hand snapped to one of her knees, a firm grip anchoring her in place. "It makes perfect sense and you know it does, Airachnid!" Though his voice was hushed, desperation gave it a jagged growl. "She died on the same planet you were born on, you can't remember anything before Archa Seven, you..." His vocaliser couldn't keep up, and it dissolved into a universe weary sigh. He let go of her, and she could feel the strength draining from his frame as his hand slipped away.
"Elita, please..." It was a plea like thousands she'd heard before, but for the first time she couldn't do anything to answer it, to wipe away the coolant welling under his optics or soothe his EM field fizzling with a long buried anguish now struggling to stay hidden. Whatever frenzy was tearing across his spark was given a distant echo in Scorpia's, and the sparking hid herself away behind her mother's peds.
Airachnid had to close her stinging optics, bowing her helm as it swung like a heavy pendulum. "I'm...I'm not Elita, Optimus. You know she's dead. You told me yourself." She didn't need to know Elita to know that she was nothing like the femme who managed to trap Optimus' spark so easily, so utterly for eternity after her own had faded away. Whatever kind of femme could wield that kind of power over a mech, Airachnid wasn't one. Optimus would realise that after the denial faded away, if he wasn't already realising it.
When she was brave enough to open her optics again, he had the face of a bot who'd just watched his lifeline struck down in front of him. She'd seen the face often enough on other mechs to recognise it, even if his only lasted a nanoklick after she looked at him. Something else had wrenched his focus away, and her audios were tuned enough to his hushed tone that she could hear the voice of his medic over his comm unit.
"Optimus, come in! You're needed urgently, there's... we suspect something's happened to Arcee. Her signal's gone off the grid and she isn't answering any comms. I... I think the Decepticons have caught her."
Forever the dutiful leader, Optimus was already on his peds, though he kept his face angled away from her. "I have to leave for now, but I will return. I..." Each word was thicker than the last, and he had to force static through his vocaliser before it would let any others through. "I hope when I do, I can convince you of the truth, Airachnid."
But Airachnid had already decided that she wasn't about to leave Optimus alone until all thoughts of her and Elita were wiped away, until he realised what the truth really was. "I'm coming with you."
Optimus was almost at the clearing when she announced it and he paused, looking back at her as she scooped up Scorpia and marched towards him. Either he'd disciplined himself to hide emotion until better times or something about her voice convinced him to stop looking at her like she was a beacon of something lost long ago. "I would strongly advise against that," he told her. "This is a... potential rescue mission for Arcee."
Even if she wasn't eager to kill the Autobot anymore, Airachnid wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing her again, if ever. She shrugged as she sent out a signal to Grimlock, listening for him tearing through the forest somewhere behind her and hopefully coming to batter some sense into Optimus. "Well, I knew I'd have to meet the whole team sooner or later."
"She will attack you," Optimus insisted. "And I'm not sure if I could stop her."
Airachnid scoffed. "Could, or would?" She was thinking it, didn't realise it hissed out loud until she saw the the impact it had on Optimus. Hurt painted across his face, rooted him to the ground so that not even Grimlock's arrival made him budge. Maybe it was harsher than she intended, but at least it stopped him seeing Elita in her. She could deal with someone hating her, but love... if that was what Optimus thought he was feeling, she had to stamp it out of his spark. For both of their sakes.
Optimus was about to say something while the pain was still fresh, but the Ground Bridge spawning behind him drew him away from her. "Give me a klick to explain that you will be accompanying us." She could tell it wasn't what he was planning to say, but she nodded as he walked through the veil of the Bridge. When Optimus had disappeared she handed over Scorpia to Grimlock, setting her down by the Dinobot's peds. The sparkling looked up at her, optics blind to the sparkbreaks that just happened and brimming with curiosity. She was almost unable to bear her own daughter's gaze. Scorpia loved her because her mother was all she had in the universe. Optimus convinced himself he did because she was the last remnant of Elita. She was too smart to fool herself into thinking otherwise.
Turning her back on Grimlock, ignoring his plaintive growls and Scorpia's chirps as she walked forward, she braced herself for the barrage that would greet her at Optimus' home.
xx
If not for Knockout's fortunate lack of wings, Dreadwing might have just landed right in the middle of the Nemesis' command center to let Megatron know Starscream's much prettier sister was still alive. But he was always more loyal to regulation than ambition, and he obediently took the long way up beside Knockout with denta grinding all the way. And when they were onboard, he had to waste even more time with a Vehicon sweep down before being allowed further in (Primus forbid Megatron allow any human particles to infiltrate his ship through his own soldiers).
Knockout at least managed to dodge protocol, literally ducking beneath the brushes and fans and making for the safety of his medbay. He could predict what Megatron's reaction would be to Airachnid not being in the Pit, and he wasn't eager to be anywhere near ground zero when it happened.
Surprisingly, Breakdown was actually doing some work when Knockout entered. He glanced up from the drone armour plates he was banging back into shape, but otherwise didn't shift focus from his task. Ever since the news of Airachnid's defection and her alleged demise, the ex-Wrecker had absorbed himself in anything distracting or menial, getting more done in four vorns than he had in the years since he first landed on Earth.
Knockout almost didn't want to break his efficiency streak, basking in all the free time Breakdown's new work ethic gave him, but he figured he was bound to hear the truth sooner or later. Wiring his helm to a datapad, he transmitted a selection of optic feed images featuring Airachnid before holding the pad under Breakdown's optic. "Your girlfriend's still alive and well, by the way," he said, prepared to have the pad snatched out of his hand and his servo almost wrenched from its socket. But the moment didn't come, and when Knockout looked aside Breakdown was just staring at the images like they were something infectious. A yellow optic noticed Knockout staring suspiciously, and Breakdown reflexively took the pad with a shocked expression far too slow-spreading to be genuine.
"That... that's... i-incredible!" Like he was at many things, Breakdown was terrible at lying.
"You already knew, didn't you?" Knockout asked. For a nanoklick Breakdown seemed about to protest, but then realised how pointless it would be.
"...Maybe." He clutched the datapad close to his chest, tapping his digits nervously on the edges. "Who else knows?"
"Dreadwing and, in a few klicks or so, Megatron-" As Knockout answered, the pile of plates held together by force of permanent scowling, otherwise known as Dreadwing, was walking past the medbay, on his determined way even deeper into Megatron's good graces. Breakdown noticed him before Knockout did, and he marched through the west door just as Dreadwing was moving past it, practically ambushing the Seeker by piling onto his wings.
"Breakdown, what is the meaning of this?!" Dreadwing recovered quickly for a mech with several tonnes of sparkbroken ex-Wrecker dragging on his peds, turning the entire corridor into an orchestra of squealing plates and groaning vents.
"I'm... not... letting you... tell Megatron!" Breakdown all but bolted himself to Dreadwing's legs, slowing his pace to a stumbling crawl and ensuring Earth would destroy itself by the time he managed to get to Megatron.
Knockout watched the show from the doorway with equal parts confusion and disbelief, though not so much the latter considering this probably wasn't the stupidest thing Breakdown had ever done. All of this, for a disgraced techno-organic who couldn't play nice with other bots?
Then again, even Knockout had done worse for femmes from centuries ago, none of them as special as Airachnid. "Oh, for Primus' sakes..." Thanks to several reluctant check ups on Starscream, Knockout knew a Seeker's wings were both their greatest strength and weakness. Dreadwing still had his own free and flapping frantically, and Knockout threw himself at them before he could think better for himself. The cables strained and wires snapped taught as Dreadwing tried to shake the medic off, at the same time trying to inch forwards with his peds reduced to dead weights. Though his paint was chafing against the wings, Knockout thought he was doing a good job until Megatron waiting at the end of the corridor made them all freeze.
"Knockout. Breakdown." Each of their names sounded like sandpaper scraping against the warlord's glossa. "Why are you trying to disable my Second In Command?"
"...He was being very unco-operative during a check-up, my liege," Knockout said.
"I was doing no such thing-!"
Megatron all but ignored Dreadwing's protests, bringing himself in front of the three mechs in less than three heavy strides. He plucked Knockout off of Dreadwing's back like holding a Scraplet between his claws. "More importantly, where were you when I was SUFFERING SPARK ARREST?!"
Knockout felt what remained of his paint almost peel away from the force of Megatron's demand, red optics glaring brighter than all the polish in the world. "L-Lord Megatron, I... I was investigating the Insecticon lead with Dreadwing as you directed. If I had known you were in need of aid-"
"You would have known if you were inclined to answer your comm line!" Megatron drew himself back, swollen with rage and nanoklicks away from smacking something against a wall. It seemed Breakdown was about to be the target as he sheepishly unwound himself from Dreadwing's legs, but Megatron managed to restrain himself with a vent of equal depth to the Pit. "Dreadwing, I expect a full mission report after Knockout does his duties properly for once." He was already walking towards the medbay when the Seeker started to protest.
"But my lord, my findings concern a potentially severe threat to-" Dreadwing knew to stop when Megatron turned back, optics glinting dangerously.
"Unless it is news of Optimus finally meeting the Allspark, it can wait," he decreed.
"...Very well, my liege." Dreadwing swallowed his pride as Megatron and Knockout disappeared behind the door, keeping his composure intact until he set sights on Breakdown trying to slink away. He blocked the nearest exit with wings spread wide, the tips grazing either side of the corridor. "As for you, count yourself very fortunate that I am sympathetic to how slow your processor works. But attempt something like that again, Breakdown, and I will personally assure that you join the likes of Starscream overboard!"
The whole time Breakdown was staring at something behind Dreadwing, hardly even registering the Seeker's threats as the second one decided to announce himself. "Why, I do believe my audios are burning."
Dreadwing snapped his wingspan closed, to better turn himself and face Starscream standing proudly behind him just out of range of a well-aimed servo. Confusion and fury fought each other in Dreadwing's spark, the only thing that stopped him from striking at Starscream right where he stood smirking. "How do traitorous scum like yourself manage to keeping living?" he asked quietly, digits twitching for the warm security of his thermal cannon.
If Starscream heard the venomous growl, he didn't answer it. "Considering you have a bad habit of following Megatron around like a lost turbopuppy, I'll assume he's not far away. So if you'd like you get out of my way-"
Dreadwing made his claws into fists, casting a deadly shadow over Starscream as he took a step forwards. "If you intend to seek Megatron's forgiveness for your defection, you will find it severely lacking."
Breakdown had almost successfully escaped the scene between the two Seekers, but even he had to stop and watch it unfold. From a distance, Starscream seemed more annoyed than scared by the fellow Seeker's display."Now Dreadwing, do you really think I'd trouble myself with getting onboard if I didn't have something to offer?" He motioned behind him, and a pair of Vehicons appeared with something dangling between them, dull silver and stained blue plating with faint groans humming from a tired engine. Either Breakdown's optic was glitching... or Starscream had brought a battered Arcee onboard.