The sun was beating down on that unseasonably hot Spring day, just as it was cresting its noon peak. Underneath the cool shade of a large tree, surrounded and obscured by many other plants and trees on a wooded hill, a pair of large metallic aliens kept watch on activities down below.
Arachnid peered through her bi-nocs, zooming in on the clearing at the base of the hill.
"An emergency Autobot hunt, quite romantic for a first date, '' Arachnid said sarcastically, nudging Steve with her elbow.
"I know you're just joking around, but if I'd have known we'd be stuck on recon duty, I would have picked a better day. I'll promise you that for the second date, if we get there," Steve said, checking the Autobots' movements through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Hey, do you have clear optics on anything going on down there?"
"Nope, just the same semi-obscured view that you have."
Steve grumbled, "and to think, this is one of the better vantage points in this valley."
They sat there for a time longer than either could tell, just chatting away the afternoon with only the wind rushing through the trees to join them, as they kept careful watch from afar on whatever operation the Autobots below were up to.
. . . . .
After what the pair could only estimate to be a few hours, they heard a fain *boom* high up above them, like a sonic boom. Looking up with her bi-nocs, Arachnid caught sight of a large shuttle of some kind descending rapidly through the atmosphere.
"Guess that's their ride," she said to Steve, as she pointed to the corner of the sky where it was approaching from. "I think I can make out weapons systems… yeah, Im seeing missile pods and laz-flak guns. Autobots wouldn't send something that heavily armed unless they were worried about getting intercepted."
"Well, that just sounds like they are the ones tempting fate, now doesn't it?" Steve said, holding up an explosive charge from his munitions storage. "The two of us against a few dozen of them, how about we teach them that they aren't invincible."
Arachnid couldn't tell for certain, but she was fairly confident he was giving her a devious look under that faceguard of his.
Carefully sneaking down the hillside, weaving in and out of the brush and trees for cover, Arachnid and Steve slowly made their descent towards where they last saw the Autobots.
Having reached the base of the hill, they crouched down to stay hidden, and saw that the ship that had landed was now taking up most of the space in this clearing. About six or so of the Autobots that had been here to begin with had now moved around to the cargo doors of the ship, which seemed to be carrying heavy-duty mining equipment. They also saw that a few of the new arrivals coming off the ship seemingly had industrial alt-modes, having drills and excavator parts built into their bodies.
Steve nudged Arachnid with his shoulder, and gestured to his audials. Taking the hint, she switched to their communicators so as to not be overheard.
/So, are you going to enlighten me as to this plan of yours, Steve?/
/My plan seems simple enough, to me at least. First, I'll rush out, and take on those two guards closest to us./ he said, pointing to a pair of Autobots who had their backs turned to them only a few yards away.
/Then, I want you to come in swinging. If we can both clear a path to that ship, you can use your acid to melt away the outer plating, and I can stick these explosive charges right onto the engine thrusters./
/So even if they try to take off to escape before we finish them off, the heat from the engines will cause them to detonate anyways./ Arachnid nodded in understanding.
/Bingo, to borrow an Earth expression./ Steve surveilled the area before him, figuring out the best path, whilst also accounting for anything that could go wrong.
/So, you ready then?/ Arachnid asked.
/As I'll ever be for something like this./ Steve said, as he adjusted his stance and stature as he creeped towards the edge of the treeline, and made sure his high-power rifle was locked and loaded.
In an instant, he was like a blue and silver blur as he pounced from the bushes into the clearing. Before anyone could fully process what was going on, Steve landed squarely on both pedes and he took a quick shot at one of the Autobot guards. The blast was loud, as the ballistic round shredded into their shoulder and out the other side, and ran up and kicked them to the ground.
Quickly ducking to avoid a punch being thrown by the second guard, Steve didn't have enough time to chamber the next round, and instead resorted to gripping the rifle by the barrel, and pummeling the Autobot in the face with the stock, making them stagger back.
From out of the bushes, Arachnid now leaped forth, firing off bolts of acid from the insectoid limbs on her back, landing a few hits on the approaching forces. She then leapt up behind Steve, jumping off of his shoulders as she slung out webbing from each hand onto two Autobots, then pulled hard on the webs, causing them to knock into each other and stumble onto the ground.
She stuck the landing, with help of her extra limbs, and turned just in time to see a large bot with a drill arm going after Steve. Moving quickly, she pushed Steve aside, as she coated the drill in webs as she ran and slid under the Autobot, wrapping the same webbing around his legs. Recovering his balance, Steve readied another shot, and fired right through the spark of the heavy-set Autobot.
The duo managed to work their way to the back of the Autobots' ship, where Steve quickly placed down a number of explosive charges, whilst Arachnid fought off the oncoming forces to buy him some time. Once finished, he dodged an oncoming punch, which instead slammed into the ship. Reaching down, Steve pulled a heavy knife inlaid with intricate patterns from a compartment low on his leg, and slashed at his attacker's knee joint, and moved around to stab them in the back, glowing energon splattering out onto the knife and himself.
Arachnid raised an optic ridge "You kept the knife I gave you?"
"Of course I did," Steve said, as he pulled the knife from the body, as it slumped over and hit the ground with a solid *thud*. "I may have a fair collection, but this one is something very important to me. Helps to remind me of you," He tossed the knife to his left hand, as he transformed his right into a blaster and let off a barrage into a pair of oncoming Autobots. He twirled and toyed with the blade still, "Beautiful and elegant, and yet-" with a rapid flick of his wrist, he let fly the dagger, as it impacted right into the forehelm of an Autobot that had been powering up a large gatling blaster, "-precise, and deadly." Steve made a dash at his target, and with one hand pushed the knife further in, and with the other unloaded some shots into their torso. As they began to fall backwards, Steve grabbed the knife and pulled it free, and wiped it clean of still-glowing energon.
As Arachnid and Steve surveyed the area for any more threats, they realized that that had been the last of the Autobots. Steve started to walk back to the ship to grab his rifle, but Arachnid beat him to it, and she grappled it with her webs and pulled it into her hands, then offered it back to him.
"Thanks," Steve said, as he re-afixed the strap and slung it over his shoulder. "Those were some impressive moves you showed off."
"You as well. Now, how about we find out what the 'Bots needed all of this to dig up." Arachnid said, gesturing to the mining equipment that the Autobots had brought with them.
Circling around to the other side of the ship, they saw a cliff overhang at the edge of the clearing that looked like it went down into a cave. Arachnid, being an insecticon, was able to see just fine in the dark. Steve however had to activate the flashlight on the side of his helm as he began to follow her into the cave. It quickly became apparent as to why the Autobots brought so much mining equipment, as the natural tunnel was cramped, and the two of them barely managed to squeeze through.
Arachnid managed to see it first, a faint light shimmering at the end of the tunnel. After another few minutes of slowly shimmying through, they managed to exit out into a slightly larger cavern, big enough for the two of them to stand side-by-side at least, and all around them were white, quartz-like crystals growing out of the floor and walls of the cave, filling the room with light.
"Energy readings are spiking," Arachnid said, pulling out a scanner. "This is all light energon."
"I don't think we've found a deposit this big before… I didnt even think it was possible to."
Arachnid began to walk deeper into the cave, and whilst it wasnt that big, probably the size of one of training rooms back at base, it was covered floor-to-ceiling in these crystals.
"I don't know about you, but I find it hard to believe the Autobots just stumbled onto this place." she said.
"You think they have a way of detecting it that we don't? They haven't had the same kind of time with this stuff we have had, could they have really found a way to scan for it, especially something this far underground?" Steve said, as he chipped away some samples to take back for research.
"Given the mining supplies, I'd wager they would want to excavate all of this."
Steve turned, and began walking back to the mouth of the tunnel. "I'll head topside, and radio back to Soundwave to send a clean-up team for all this. He'll love having an intact Autobot ship to scan through for intel, might even be able to get us some answers."
Hours had gone by at that point, as Steve and Arachnid had made their way back to Trypticon Base. They both walked out of the main meeting room together after having debriefed Soundwave, Megatron and the others on what had transpired. Now, they both sat up on the top deck's runway, looking out over the mesa landscape as the sun began to sink low into the sky.
"Ya'know, I never did answer you earlier." Arachnid said, turning her body to face Steve. "My answer is yes."
"Yes? Yes… Yes to what?..." Steve trailed off, staring absently at the ground as he thought. "OH, the second date question?"
Arachnid couldn't help but laugh, "Yes, you goofball," she said with a playful knock on his shoulder. "Even with having to fight through a bunch of Autobots, and being shot at and stabbed a bunch, I still had a fun time with you. And since you asked me out, even if it wasn't exactly as planned, I do consider this as a date."
Steve was fairly certain that if he had a body of flesh instead of metal, he would be experiencing what humans called blushing.
"And as I promised, no Autobots next time." Steve said with a chuckle.
A/N:
I wanted something a bit more lighthearted, especially after coming off of that last arc.
I had wanted to write something like this sooner, since I've dropped a few bits hinting at Steve and Arachnid getting together, but I just couldn't find a good break in the story to slot it into until now.
I've been trying to get back into my creative flow, but my writing still feels rusty, so any feedback or criticism is appreciated.