Promotional artwork: tigressa101/art/Arcee-and-the-Isle-of-the-Allspark-Cover-931607333
In the palace outskirts prior...
Perceptor and Scythe quietly snuck among the quiet far ports as most all its guards were in the Palace defending Rockrider or fighting alongside the army as soldiers.
"Scythe, are you sure there's a back entrance to the palace?" The scientist asked.
The green mech nodded, "Crystal City was originally built as a neutral territory and the palace originally didn't have the gates because there was no belief to have them. The entrances were always open to visitors and commoners before it was abandoned many years before the war. There are actually five entrances to it, four of which are known except for the one we're heading to which was initially a transport access only. Its doors were shut for eons because it was faster to transport ship cargo through the actual bay."
"And you know this how?" Perceptor asked, growing a grin.
Scythe grumbled, "I, uh, I use it as a break spot so my guards nor Arcee can pester me while I'm in my downtime. It works. I always liked my privacy, even for simple breaks."
Shockwave suddenly grunted, "Will you two quit talking and focus? We need to try and get the cannons down before our friends get overwhelmed."
"Friends?" The red and black mech smirked, "I didn't know you cared, Shockwave?"
"Not about you, if that's what you're implying," he bit back.
"Hey!"
Scythe looked back at Shockwave. "No talking, huh?"
"Shut up."
They came to the point of Scythe's known hideaway and as with everything else, it was vacant of any activity. They waited to make sure everything was clear before Scythe took point. The green mech typed in a code and to his slight surprise, the doors opened.
"They never changed the password for this one. Cool."
As they walked the crystalline corridors, Shockwave asked, "Where is the terminal for the weapons system?"
"Um, easiest answer would be its nearby."
"Why would that be the easiest answer?" Perceptor mused.
"Because the best and harder answer is it's in the East Tower sector and that's the heaviest-guarded area aside from the queen's manor, her living space which has day and night guards all day, every day. There are three levels to it and the main control module is on the second level. So, you better have some good weaponry on you or else this is going to get one-sided really quick."
They reached the area in question and Scythe made them get low as guards were spotted around the corner to his prediction. More came into view as he prepared his blasters. Perceptor had his microscope slash ion cannon and Shockwave's arm already was a non-retractable weapon since it had been bitten off by Grimlock long ago.
"On my mark, don't stop shooting."
No one seemed to argue with him on that.
"Now!"
All three mechs sprinted guns blazing at the soldiers, killing all of them present but more arrived upon being alerted. Scythe brought out his staff and, upon getting in close range of his enemies, stabbed and swiped at every soldier he could.
Shockwave blasted each while he merely walked unfazed by their counters against him. To him, this was nothing short of war, the same old stuff he had dealt with before. The only difference was he was working with the bots whom he once considered enemies. His blasts one-hit killed most all the opponents that were unfortunate enough to receive the firepower head on. When a soldier got too close, he quickly slammed the other onto the floor by flipping them, a trick he learned from The Matriarch when she was the Vehicon Commander on the Nemesis. One guard happened to sneak up on him and he struggled in trying to gain leverage when they were keeping behind him. A sudden boom made him flinch and the lifeless corpse of the once online mech collapsed onto the floor. Shockwave turned to see Perceptor gleefully smiling at him.
"Am I still not your friend?"
Shockwave was a bit taken aback by that but sighed, "Fine, you can be my friend too. Now, let's hurry before more of them show up."
Scythe scoffed, "Believe me, if these guards have any competency as ours did, there's a whole army out there but at least a hundred of them here. Whether they all attack us or not, I can't tell you but be prepared for everything."
They entered the East Tower and found the doors locked. Scythe immediately went to work by opening the control module of the door and playing with the wires. Perceptor and Shockwave kept an eye out for any guards, but the former grew intrigued.
"Wait a minute, Scythe, I thought Haywire told me that your specialty is breaking technology, not overriding it."
"I would prefer to punch this, but these doors are finicky. It would either work or it would put the whole tower into a specialized lockdown that only the queen could fix. I...figured that out by accident when I got pissed and broke the door to the North Tower port command center from within the actual tower. I accidentally locked myself in doing that and it took almost three hours to fix it," he briefly laughed.
Perceptor walked to the side of him and offered a hand. "Here, I can do it really quick."
"So, you know better than me?" Scythe sneered.
"You're good at brutality; I'm good at sabotage. Believe me, you are not the only one who has had a questionable double life in the war. Although I was a scientist, I was also a saboteur in my spare time. I dealt with almost all forms of technology."
Perceptor twisted two sets of wires and bonded them before breaking a different set causing the console to glitch. After a few seconds, the door opened a bit slower than usual, and Scythe was stuck looking flabbergasted as Perceptor crossed his arms with his signature smile.
"Ta-da!"
Shockwave was just about to scold them when they heard a familiar voice. "So, Bumblebee sent some company to us in the hopes of getting to our security mainframe for the defenses."
Perceptor backed away along with Scythe as Wrathzone walked toward them. Shockwave held his ground. Scythe was the one to growl, however.
"Such a disgrace you are, Wrathzone. Why are you doing this? What's in it for you?"
The faded gold mech smirked, "For the fun of it. That and call this my great resurgence. Being a guard for the likes of Alpha Trion was like protecting a jester in disguise. I don't know what Rockrider ever saw in her teacher, but she is right. So, I'm helping her restore the glory of Cybertron with or without your compliance."
Shockwave stepped forward. "Then I hope you have some backup plan because we aren't going to let that happen."
"Nobility isn't your forte, Shockwave."
"Things change." Shockwave then pointed at Scythe and Perceptor. "Get the cannons deactivated. I'll handle him."
Wrathzone grew infuriated as they ran up to the tower's stairwell, leaving him with the Decepticon scientist. With a grunt of disapproval, he charged. He sent a fist towards his opponent who caught it, forcing him to lean as his arm was pressed down. However, unlike Shockwave, he had another servo and the mech seemed to realize then when he socked him right in the abdomen he might be a little outmatched.
Stumbling back, Shockwave brought his arm cannon to counter a third attempt before aiming it at Wrathzone. But the mech proved far faster in reaction time, grabbing and twisting his cannon and making it spark from the rough treatment. Another punch right to Shockwave's helm stunned him, making his legs shake.
Shockwave had dealt with enemies with some powerful hits in his time, but Wrathzone was one of the most brutal and even he found himself unable to verse the larger mech. He was like Megatron and that scared him briefly. He got in a few punches from his angle but they either didn't land from Wrathzone's insistent dodging or they didn't hit as he wanted them to. Being tossed suddenly, Shockwave found himself attempting to stand back up when two servos collided with the back of his helm and spine, knocking him down. He was unable to stop Wrathzone now, whatever the mech was going to do to him.
But, to his surprise, Wrathzone moved around him and gave a mocking salute. "I'll be sure to tell your friends how you failed them. Guards!"
As Wrathzone ran to meet up with Perceptor and Scythe, Rockrider's soldiers came from the south in mass. Shockwave knew he was about to be captured if he stayed and tried to do anything.
"Shockwave!" Scythe yelled, sounding desperate. "If you can, get out of here! Wrathzone's on our tail and we can't hold against him once he gets here! Go to Bumblebee and regroup! We'll be okay no matter what! Perceptor, hurry!"
"I'm trying, hang on!" Perceptor's voice came through.
Shockwave didn't want to leave them, but his cannon was showing signs of a partial malfunction and if that was the case, him using it could end up with it backfiring on him by rupturing without being fixed. In an executive decision, as much as he didn't want to, he ran back toward where they had come.
Meanwhile, Scythe and Perceptor scrambled to try and shut down all the weapons as they shot any soldier in their way. For a few minutes, they were secured on the second floor as they tried to find the main terminal. Then an imprint of a fist on the door had them jump back. Thankfully, the metal could take a lot before breaking. They had contacted Shockwave as soon as it happened with Scythe reassuring that it was okay for him to escape without them.
"He got past Shockwave," Scythe said in disbelief.
Perceptor wasn't as surprised. "Yeah? Well, we scientists aren't exactly warriors compared to you and Wrathzone. Shockwave can hold his own against most, but Wrathzone is pretty big and obviously had some training long before the war. Don't know about you but I can't take him either. Maybe you can, but I can't."
Another hit made Scythe back against an unused control stand, almost tripping over the body of a fallen soldier. Perceptor flinched too.
"I'm-I'm getting pretty nervous here, Scythe. Why does this tower have so many passwords?!"
The green mech growled and budged in trying not to shove Perceptor impatiently and quickly typed in as many passwords as he could. As he finally got it, the door protecting them from Wrathzone suddenly flew against the wall and both bots pointed their weapons at him. The intruding mech merely laughed at their attempt to intimidate him.
"End of the line, boys."
With Wrathzone bigger than both, Perceptor was behind Scythe while the former guard could only snarl as the larger bot overshadowed them.
The ocean had its beauty. The reefs were filled with fish, rays, and sharks that went about their daily routine without paying them any mind. It was the presence of foreign things, however, that made much of this beauty tainted. The life around the reefs lived in fear as Leviathans were spotted wandering some distance away. Many creatures seemed weary of their presence but as soon as the danger passed, they would return to moving around like nothing happened. Given what Arcee and Megatron witnessed, the fish were not in the wrong for being afraid as they were too. But as long as the Leviathans remained distant, there was nothing to worry about.
The reef shined under the dusk light. However, that meant they had little time before nightfall and if the sea grew dark, they may be able to find the gem but wouldn't be able to defend against any creatures patrolling the sea like the Leviathans. They would be immediate targets. Right now, the light provided the Leviathans will full view of everything, so they were occupied by exploring everything.
Arcee and Megatron scoured the reef outskirts where the remains of the rock stack the Leviathan Queen and the Precursor Robot toppled in their fight. As far as they could tell, the gem wasn't among it.
"It's going to take hours to find this thing and we don't know if the Leviathans will come back or not," Arcee said over the comm.
"It has to be glowing somewhere. The other gems always glowed. Find anything that looks like light," Megatron urged.
Bolt chimed in as they dug around the rock, upsetting sediment which made their surroundings murky and not helpful in the search. "I'm halfway done with the Rozarian blood bomb. This thing is going to be one hell of an explosion. I got most of the blood inside the canister and as soon as this thing's ready to go, I will tell you when you need to vacate that water pronto or consider yourself a pile of dust sinking to the depths."
"Thanks for that nice descriptive update, Bolt," she said deadpanned.
"Sorry."
Megatron pushed aside a larger boulder in his way and was met with the glow he sought out. Smirking, he held up the gem and taunted Arcee. "I told you so."
Arcee rolled her optics and said, "Guess we don't need the bomb after all-"
The Vehicon interjected, "Nah-uh, we're doing this! I'm committed! If those Leviathans get away from the isle and traverse into a human populated area, there's no telling what will happen. It will be like Jaws but worse. We have to destroy the queen at least or else she will kill everything that moves, and that means native marine life as well!"
"Dammit, Bolt, our mission is to only retrieve the gem!" Arcee scowled.
"And I thought your mission as an Autobot is to protect humanity? The Aquatronian Leviathans are one of the most dangerous creatures to live in water. If they stay here on Earth with humans, the vast oceans as you know will be decimated beyond repair and humans will suffer in some way because of it. You have to kill Queen Ceto before she turns this world into her kingdom. And if you don't know why I named her that, it's a human mythos on her nature. Look it up."
Arcee didn't like that he was right. If the Leviathans decided to leave the isle's sea, which they were currently making a nest of, it meant the human race would face dangers beyond what simple fiction movies demonstrated with monsters or natural disasters. The reality of this had dire consequences and only she and Megatron stood between this occurrence regardless if the Leviathans had been on Earth previously long ago among dinosaurs and perhaps even further before their millions of years in slumber.
"It's not an option, is it?" Megatron sighed.
"Nope, you two hold onto the gem and try to go to shore without being spotted. I'll bring in the bomb when I'm ready."
They both grew anxious at the thought of having to potentially deal with the Leviathans personally again, but it was the only way. But as they turned to leave towards the direction of the shore, Arcee paused as she saw the sharks seemingly growing unsettled. As far as she could tell, the Leviathans were still out of range but then a small feeling of chills despite being in the water ran down her spine.
"Megatron, do you see anything odd or...?"
The warlord paused from walking and peered around the sea floor, bubbles emerging as he turned his neck from air pockets trapped in his chassis. The sea carried no noise aside from the far rumbles of presumably the Leviathan Queen herself. The sea was silent...Arcee suddenly felt eyes upon her and suspiciously turned around toward the drop-off to the depths. She froze upon locking optics with something she never expected to see.
A shark, far larger than any she had seen with similar markings to the great white but with faded stripes upon its backside, stared at her hardly moving. She had seen Shark Week and documentaries of said animals with the kids many times, this was not a species she had ever seen mentioned in it aside from one possible candidate of myth. The size alone matched none of the known living species. Upon glancing at its form, it was well over fifty feet. Megatron was stunned upon seeing such a creature staring at them. He didn't know how to react to it.
"Bolt, tell me, what do you know of a legend about a giant great white shark here on Earth?" Arcee said as she slowly backed away.
The Vehicon growled, "A little busy at the moment! Besides, you make it sound like you met the rumored, what's it called, 'Megalodon' humans boast once ruled the seas, and some believe it still exists. It was said to be a monstrous predator and ancestor to the great white, but I think it's just an over exaggeration of a large set of teeth they found which I believe is just a great white that grew bigger than normal from a mutation in its genes. It happens in nature occasionally."
"I think we just found the proof the humans needed."
Bolt scrambled to the computer on his end from all the noise he was making when he gave a flat "what?" Then he said, "Oh Primus, it really does exist! B-but how?! It was said to have gone extinct! The Allspark must have brought it from its prehistoric era! Wow, that thing is massive. It looks like the alpha of all sharks! Alpha...Ulteria! Yeah, Alpha Ulteria! That sounds like a frightening name, right?"
Megatron shook his head, "You need better names."
"Shut up!" Bolt bit back before addressing Arcee. "I don't know if this thing will pose a danger to you but don't give it any means of leeway to attack. Thankfully, it's organic which means your weapons should do some damage to it. Never thought I'd be proven wrong but here we are. Don't let it get the best of you!"
The Megalodon started to shift to the side still tracking them, but it seemed to keep its distance cautiously.
"If we just go to shore, do you think it'll leave us alone?" Arcee asked.
Megatron shrugged, "I would try to because as far as I can tell, it can't go on land, so I'd rather be there right about now."
As they tried to quickly walk through the water making them sluggish, they noted the Megalodon pursued them. They didn't know what provoked it to follow. Perhaps their armor was shiny, or they looked like whatever prey existed during its time. Whatever the case, the deep-sea predator was gaining on them.
Suddenly, Arcee saw it change its approach and lunge directly at them. She ducked and Megatron hid behind a reef edge as it tried to take an experimental bite out of them to see if they were a good meal or not. But Megatron grew angry and aimed his cannon at the beast right as Arcee yelled, "No, don't!"
Alpha Ulteria moved to circle around them at a decent pace again, but the blast of Megatron's weapon nicked its dorsal fin, cutting a hole through it and it stopped in its tracks. Both bots watched it slowly drift for a second stunned until it immediately turned around and shot at them in a fury, rolling its eyes back and opening its vast jaws.
Megatron moved right as it came crashing down onto part of the reef and ripped anything it managed to grab out from the sea floor. It turned on its sweep of sediment and coral to try again, biting down on a chunk of rock and thrashing around with it when Megatron went under it.
"Now look what you did, Megatron!"
"Hey, what other option did we have?! At this point, it would have tried to kill us regardless!"
"Sharks aren't aggressive; they test bite potential prey but will otherwise leave most creatures alone unless they are starving! Attacking it will make it grow defensive and violent to try and get rid of us thinking we're, you know, a threat!" Arcee exclaimed.
She used her size among the reef to crawl under an arch of rock before it was broken by the Megalodon tearing it to pieces trying to get to her. She turned around and started shooting knowing she had no other choice. The blasters were inaccurate in the water, but a few hit its backside and blood seeped from the wounds. She stopped firing when she realized her error.
In the far distance, the Leviathans circled their leader wandering slowly. But like a beacon of light, they began to come to a halt one by one. One Leviathan floated upright and sensed the water with eagerness at pinpointing a new scent that called to them. However, none of them moved until the queen herself paused before suddenly whipping her head to the side adjacent to the direction of the scent. With a hiss, her optics sought out if anything was abnormal. Seeing movement though unidentifiable of what it was from her distance, she turned and faced her potential food.
The Leviathan Queen made her voice clatter, and her hive tilted their heads curiously in her direction. She wanted the origin of the scent to be investigated, which the Leviathans understood without question. Taking the lead, she swam at a leisurely pace knowing the scent holder couldn't outrun her as her hive followed, just as eager to meet their prey.
Meanwhile, the Megalodon swam quickly in a rebound and smashed its head against a coral layout, ignoring the needle-like points on some of them. Arcee had found a way to lay in between two coral beds not wide enough for the shark to get to her much to its frustration. But she knew it was going to buy time for an inevitable encounter. On the other hand, that might just be what she and Megatron needed to escape. Tricking Alpha Ulteria and the Leviathans in one group would make it easy for the bomb to eviscerate everything as Bolt intended it to do.
"I'm done with the bomb, you two. I'm going to prep the ground bridge on your current coordinates, but I'll give you some time to evacuate the area before throwing it out. You'll get a one-minute warning and then everything else is up to whether or not you get out in time."
The Megalodon bucked when Megatron stabbed it right in the side of the head upon its distraction trying to kill Arcee. He repeatedly impaled his blade among its back and neck, but the organic monster refused to yield. It barrel-rolled and sent the warlord back to the sea floor.
Megatron hit the ground running as Alpha Ulteria turned roughly to spot them as he helped Arcee up from her hiding spot.
"Go to shore! I'll handle this! I started this mess!"
"Megatron, no, we can't be splitting up right now, not with the Leviathans here as well!"
The warlord frowned in concern but upon looking between her and the shark, he sighed, "Stay at least a distance. I will take on Alpha Ulteria."
Arcee nodded, "I'll be your spotter then. Give it hell."
He then grinned as she left right as the Megalodon sprinted at him. Megatron jumped and used one of his swords to swipe at the creature as it kept retreating then attacking trying to throw him off. When he used his sword to keep blocking its attempt at every turn, it opened its mouth in warning before doing exactly what he was trying to prevent. It seemed to know there was no way around more bloodshed, so it decided to ram him head on regardless of the weapon. It collided with Megatron, but the warlord refused to be moved, instead grabbing its jaws and holding them.
As it pushed against his grip by wiggling its body, Megatron felt his pedes in the sediment and coral beginning to slide. He readjusted his stance, backing away a foot, before pushing back baring his own fangs at it. He saw it squint aggressively at his dominance display and tried snapping its jaws a few more times. Knowing the shark would continue to push against him, he made a bold move and let go as he forced himself to the side. Seeing his moment of opportunity, he struck.
Embedding his blade into its hide, he ripped the skin from its fin to its gut as blood spilled out, tainting over half the water in Megatron's peripheral vision red. He heard it rumble and bubbles shot out of its mouth from jolting at his attack on it.
As Arcee watched from afar, she was a bit surprised to see Alpha Ulteria still moving about. But then she heard something swim past her and flinched upon seeing a Leviathan from a side view. To her startlement, a Leviathan ignored her in favor of swimming towards the injured Megalodon. Then she heard the calvary. A hundred Leviathans swam above her covering the light from above to shadow the reef with only some rays of light peeking through. She hid herself in a coral bed just in case until the spotted light glittering from their movement vanished entirely.
She stared up amazed as the Leviathan Queen herself slowly moved across her sight. She got a good look at all the scars and damage from previous fights with other species no doubt and some that were fresh from the Precursor Robot trying to fight her off. The details among the underside of the belly were finally visible and Arcee saw how faded swirling patterns that pulsed bright green like bio lights every minute or so decorated the creature. Barbs and fins even held some illuminated beauty among a patterning she failed to see before. Queen Ceto's metal scales rippled various shades from the reflection of light off the nearby coral uncovered by shadow as well, emphasizing her greenish blue armor.
Arcee had never seen such a wonderous, but deadly creature and it surprised her how Aquatron managed to hide the existence of the Leviathans for eons. Queen Ceto was large, powerful and frightening enough that Arcee understood why she was feared among the populace but like all dangers, they learned to co-exist with destructive creatures simply doing what evolution designed them to be. She couldn't blame the Leviathan Queen for killing anything in her territory or destroying all who came between her and her hive; it was just her nature. Unfortunately, Arcee had no choice but to find a way to kill her before she attacked the wrong species the oceans were home to. In the end, the Leviathans were still an invasive breed of monsters.
As the Leviathan Queen passed by, Arcee looked toward the bleeding Megalodon and watched as the Leviathans went after it. Suddenly, another chill ran through her, and she had the urge to go back down from her position. When she heard the movement of something large, she immediately knew it was a Leviathan.
Ducking into the coral, she was bombarded by jagged teeth snapping at her trying to squeeze its head through the barricade at her. The Leviathan backed away but then moved its arm to grab her. Pressing to the side, she brought out her blade and cut off its lower arm in a flash. The Leviathan made a blood curling cry that made its queen pause in the distance near the Megalodon. It held its arm and with a snarl, puffed out its chest to make it seem tougher. Ripping the coral bed's spongy platforms out to expose her, it narrowed its four optics with a hiss.
Arcee wasn't as impressed with it as she was its queen and changed her blade to her blaster. Shooting it right as opened its jaws to bite her face off, the Leviathan took five blasts to the face before drifting limply to the side. Arcee frowned as its head fell to hang off the side in which she got a good view of its faceplates.
Gorgeous but covered in teeth and sharp ridges, the Leviathan held plenty of mystery of its likeness to the mermaid myths. She could see why they could be mistaken as maidens even though they had a horrifying, animalistic personality.
Arcee froze when she heard the whale-like rumble of the Leviathan Queen floating just out of her view, but the shadow looming told her she was there. She stayed hidden, not daring to stir the queen's anger even more upon hearing a growl at seeing the dead Leviathan. But the shadow of the Leviathan Queen shifted away and retreated. Arcee gave a sigh at the close call.
Megatron, on the other hand, was nearly sideswiped as Alpha Ulteria was run up on by a Leviathan that took a warning chunk out of its side. He was about to continue fighting the shark when this occurred but realizing Alpha Ulteria's problems were about to get far worse than him, he backed off and immediately began running back towards Arcee.
The Megalodon watched him distastefully, but it paused upon seeing the retreating Leviathan that attacked it go behind another that swam right at it, claws and teeth bared. Even the large shark knew the danger of such vile creatures and uselessly kept still knowing its end was near.
Megatron passed Queen Ceto without her noticing and slid to meet Arcee. "Miss me?"
"Maybe," Arcee said. "While they are away from shore, lets head out before they turn on us!"
"Agreed. Water is not a favorable environment anyways."
Alpha Ulteria fought with the Leviathans trying to sink their teeth into it as Queen Ceto circled to watch her hive fight the intruding shark. But upon spotting Megatron fleeing with Arcee, she grew visibly annoyed. Assuming one of them was responsible for the dead member of her hive, she wasn't pleased at their audacity to try and run from her. As her hive was busy with the Megalodon, Queen Ceto swam at the two Cybertronians escaping assuming she could simply kill them and be done with it.
She made a rumbling bellow in the water which the sound waves reverberated quickly to the audios of Arcee and Megatron who both nearly screamed seeing a giant mechanical, vicious mermaid dash at them and claw the reef when she was low enough to reach it like she was trying to propel herself forward. Both bots scurried as fast as they good through the water but knowing they couldn't outrun her due to their inability to maneuver in the ocean compared to her, they had no choice but to outflank her instead.
With Arcee's permission, Megatron scooped her up and threw her towards the water's surface. She didn't go far given the density of her compared to the water itself, but it was enough to distract Queen Ceto into pulling away from attacking Megatron and moving up to try and kill Arcee. The femme smirked and brought out one of her blood grenades. She dived and twisted to the side right as the Leviathan Queen's jaws attempted to crush her and let the grenade fall into her path of attack. As predicted, the monster missed Arcee and crunched down onto the grenade.
A sudden boom forced the Leviathan Queen back as she held her throat and drifted down to the sea floor with a rumbling cry of pain. But it took her only a few seconds to recover before twisting upright again and swam fast, gaining speed as she tried to locate Arcee angrily.
Arcee hit the sea floor and ran with Megatron, hopping over coral and anemones she really didn't want to hurt knowing how important they were to the ecosystem. At the same time, it might not matter in a few minutes if Bolt's bomb went off. Nearing the shore and hearing the queen growl in the distance pursuing them, she suddenly heard Bolt as she predicted.
"Alright, anyone who doesn't have fins might want to exit the water NOW!"
A faded green glow glared off the underside of the water as she briefly peered behind her. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was the ground bridge. Not knowing how long she had, she followed Megatron who just breached. Being smaller, she couldn't keep up with his longer leg span. Just as she breached, she heard Megatron shout, "Bolt!"
A canister as big as a bullet shell used on war-class ship cannons slid out of the portal and crashed into the water just above the Leviathans feeding on Alpha Ulteria's dying form. Most of the hive looked at it with a growl but didn't have a clue what it was. They didn't even know what the beeping was either. Upon the exterior, the shell had a rig on it counting down in the double digits. It hit the Megalodon and slid off its body to the confusion of many Leviathans. One came close to the canister as it sank right as double digits turned to single. It gave a grunt of surprise when the counter hit zero and made an unusual noise.
Right as the fins and head crest of Queen Ceto breached the water after Arcee and Megatron, the most damned sound they ever heard up close rocked the entire island more than the Quintesson Commander's death.
A huge uproar of water with a shock wave pulsing across the ocean's surface disrupted the island and sent both bots shooting out like rockets. A wave of water hit the beach hard but only rose to a small length up the beach given the proximity. However, the pulse sent water moving away from the isle as well.
As the sea became choppy with the vast geyser the bomb created plummeting back down, Arcee and Megatron shook off the sand sticking to their wet frames and peered back at the remnants of Leviathans washing ashore. A piece of jaw that seemed to belong to the Megalodon came in a second later with a few of its teeth seemingly ready to fall out.
Abruptly, a loud crash startled both bots and Arcee scrambled backwards terrified as the head of the Precursor Robot hit the sand next to her. Embedded with many claw marks, courtesy of the Leviathan Queen, it hit so hard, it was halfway embedded in the sand. The large Leviathan must have dropped it upon having no use of it somewhere nearby and the blast propelled it back onto the beach.
"Oh my-Megatron, are you okay?! That bomb was massive, wasn't it?! You saw that, right?!"
The warlord grimaced and hit the side of his head to make sand trapped beneath his helm slide out from the slot near his neck dividing his head from his neck cabling. He said calmly, "Yeah...maybe we should have had some more warning about that...in every aspect."
Bolt then chimed in, "You guys okay? Please, tell you weren't in the water!"
Megatron smirked, twisting a clawed digit into a space on his wrist jammed with sand. "We're alive if that's your biggest concern. Alpha's dead, the Leviathans are...shall we say...not all together these days."
"And the queen?"
"I'm fine! Thanks for asking," Arcee said.
"Not you, the Leviathan Queen! Is she still around?"
"Way to make a girl feel wanted, Bolt. Ye-well no, I can't see her so I'm assuming something may have happened to her."
Bolt sighed, "That's not a good sign. How close was she to the detonation point?"
"She was closer to us," Megatron said. "But neither of us see her..."
"Again, not good! If the queen was near you and you survived, she's definitely alive and I don't want to see what happens when she figures out we just killed at least half her hive or more!"
Arcee sat on the sand and grabbed some, letting a stream of it slip through her servo. "Relax, if she's smart, she wouldn't dare try to mess with us now."
Suddenly, Queen Ceto burst from the water with lots of momentum and arched jumping over them right to the edge of the tree line and slid across the sand with a snarl, her metallic fish-like tail slamming its tail fins down like an irate cat. Irritably, she hit her chin against the ground and roared. Forcing herself upright with her only two limbs, she stomped around to face the two Cybertronians, forcing her broad chest out and head held high to intimidate them. In comparison to a normal sized Leviathan, it worked. Being as large as Omega Supreme, both bots could only stare up horrified at her bulk.
Just then, the remains of some of her hive caught her four optics and she crawled to the line where the water ran up the beach. Lowering her rigid faceplates down, she sniffed at a piece of Leviathan and nudged it before growling.
"So, Arcee, about her not messing with us after that...still want to call her unintelligent to her face because I think she's a little pissed off. Call it a hunch because I see teeth and it's not among a smile, that's for sure."
The Leviathan Queen slowly turned her head towards them and made a deep rumble, her webbed servos digging into the sand and dragging her claws across its surface. All four green optics narrowed as more fangs were revealed in a hiss. Her fins along her backside, cheeks, and arms moved outward from her body.
Arcee gulped, "I think we made a mistake."
AN: Megalodon probably wasn't that big but sometimes you have to cheese the facts to make things work. And on the next episode of AATIOTA, the queens go head to head. Who will win and who will perish?
Featured monsters:
Alpha Ulteria the Megalodon
Queen Ceto (Aquatron)