Late in the dead of night, all is calm. But such serenity wouldn't last, for had there been anyone around looking up to the stars on that cold, early October night, they would have seen four streaks of flame, as great forms of metal plummeted down to Earth. One of which, that being the largest, veered off from the others, and stuck down further away, instantly vaporizing the surrounding woodlands, and searing the ground that it tumbled and crashed down upon.
"So, what are we out here looking for exactly?" Jack asked to Airachnid, as the pair wandered through the forested mountains. It was a nice change of pace from the deserts and mesas of Nevada, but one thing he wasn't enjoying was all the bugs biting at him.
"Soundwave picked up Cybertronian energy signatures entering the atmosphere last night, so he sent us ahead to scout it out," came Airachnid's reply.
She looked down at the sound of a slap, and a faint "ow" coming from Jack, and Airachnid couldn't help but laugh.
"You know Jack, I thought you got along with insects, given present company and all." Airachnid teased.
"Oh, ha ha, real funny," Jack said sarcastically, "But next time, I'll definitely try and remember to check if the bug spray works."
"Well, don't you have anything else in that bag of yours?" Airachnid asked, gesturing to the backpack Jack had with him.
"Oh, just basic survival stuff incase of an emergency. Fire-starter, first-aid kit, that sort of thing."
"You are certainly more of an outdoorsman than I was expecting." the spider-bot commented.
"Yeah, well, mom took me camping a few times when I was younger. But with her busy at work a lot more now, and me dealing with high school and my job, it's been a long time since."
Airachnid could only let her mind drift off, remembering the fond times spent just being out in the middle of nowhere with June, much like she was now. She was still very hesitant to tell Jack about how she had known his mother, but Airachnid was sure the time would come.
"So, what was it like?" she asked on a whim, with nothing else coming to mind as they walked towards their target.
"It was always great," Jack said, a smile coming back to his face. "We would just drive out to the nearest campsite, or where ever seemed nice, and just spend the night out under the stars, watching the world go by."
'Oh yeah, definitely June's kid,' Airachnid thought to herself.
The spider-bot was soon pulled from her thoughts, as the pair came upon what they had been sent to find. Lying in the middle of a burned out clearing, was a crashed Cybertronian ship.
"Well, that's our mystery energy signal solved," Airachnid said. "Hang back, Jack. I don't want you getting hurt incase whoever's in there somehow survived that impact."
"Avoiding death by evil giant robots? No problem." Jack said, as he went over and sat down under one of the lesser charred trees nearby.
It was a little tricky at first, moving across the rough terrain left by the ship's crash landing, but Airachnid's spider form made maneuvering it all the more easier. As she got closer, she could tell by the design that this was very much an Autobot ship, even if there were no obvious identifying markers on the exterior.
Coming around to the entrance, Airachnid found that the door had been left wide open, a clear sign that someone was here recently. She transformed her hands into blasters, in the event that she happened upon any Autobots still inside, and entered into the dimly lit shuttle. Thankfully for her, Insecticon optics were well adapted for seeing just fine in the dark.
Looking around, she saw an Autobot symbol next to the open door into the cockpit of the ship, however there wasn't anybody in their. Moving on, she entered the main room of the ship, where she saw various weapons and frame mods hung up on the walls, and that wasn't counting the storage crates filled with blasters and ammo. And mounted on a gleaming plaque at the far end of the room, was the severed head of a large Insecticon warrior, and the memories came flooding back to her…
Cybertron was on the verge of falling, and Tarn was burning. The once powerful mining city lay in smouldering ruins, as the flames climbed higher on the skyscrapers, and the Autobots continued their unrelenting siege of the city that had been going on for countless years now. Airachnid thought they would be safe underground. She thought that the Insecticon Hive's vast network would save so many lives. But when the bombs struck the mines, collapsing all the entry points into Tarn, the Autobots drilled straight down to them, that monster's red optics the first thing anyone saw as she dropped down, and the last thing so many innocent lives would witness…
No, this wasn't an armoury at all. What she was looking at was a trophy room, and there was only one Autobot that had such an obsessive collection…
Rushing back outside, she was greatly relieved to find Jack still sat under a tree, currently doing something on his phone.
"Oh thank Primus your still here, still safe..." Airachnid said, as she scooped up her human charge in her hands, taking him off guard.
"Uh, well yeah. Other than no signal out here, I'm fine. Are you ok? You seem, panicked," asked Jack, now a little on edge from his partner's behavior.
"No, Jack. I'm not ok," Airachnid said hurriedly, as she dashed back over to the ship. "I know the… the monster who this belongs to, and if she's here, there's no telling what-"
"Woah woah, slow down there. There's a dangerous bot who even you are afraid of, and we are running towards their ship?"
"We have to make sure its disabled, and for good. We can't let her use any of her resources, because she will win." she said, as they reached the back of the ship. Luckily for her, there was already a small energon leak, meaning this will be all the more easy. Using the delicate motions of her extra limbs, she managed to widen where the leak was coming from, and watched as the fuel started to flow evermore freely.
"Ok, so this thing is gonna get blown sky-high? Who even is this bot if she's so dangerous?" asked Jack, as Airachnid didn't let up on her protecting grasp on her human charge, as she ran for cover.
"Her name is Arcee, the best assassin in the Autobots. And I had hoped to never see her ugly faceplate again." Airachnid said, as she transformed her free hand, and fired off a few rounds at the ship's engine, and watched in awe at the great explosion that followed.
After waiting a few moments for the dust and debris to settle, she got back up out of the ditch, and set Jack down so she could transform.
"Come on. If Arcee is anywhere close to us, she would of heard that."
And with nothing else said, Jack climbed onto the motorbike, and they sped off into the woods, hoping to get back to the nearest main road.
. . . . .
Arcee traced their movements from the scope of her sniper rifle as they fled the scene. First the three escaped prisoners landed on this desolate rock, and now her dearest rival shows up? It's as if the universe just kept on giving.
She slung her rifle back over her shoulder, and leapt down from her perch in the treetops. Freefalling, she transformed into her helicopter mode before she hit the ground. Now, the hunt was on.
"So, we can't just call for a ground bridge because?" asked Jack.
"Because knowing Arcee, she would be quick and cunning enough to get through the portal, probably even before we did. That's why I've commed back to Soundwave, and asked him to send us some fliers for support. Because unless you can magically fly now, Arcee will have the upper hand." Airachnid said, as she continued her quickened pace through the woods.
That's when a faint signal popped up on Arachnids sensors, and a Decepticon distress beacon no less. She quickly veered to the right, and started to follow the way to whoever was transmitting it.
"Uh, Airachnid? The roads back the other way," Jack said.
"I'm picking up a Decepticon distress signal, but its faint and slowly fading."
"Well, Soundwave did say there were multiple signals. You think this 'Con came here because of Arcee?"
"Who knows. But if Arcee is hunting down Decepticons, they must have been travelling for a long time to reach Earth," Airachnid replied, as she slowed down to avoid crashing into a fallen tree. But soon after, she stopped in her tracks entirely.
"Jack, do you hear that?"
"Yeah, sounds like a helicopter. Maybe it's Blackout?"
"No, Blackout is much bigger, and has a deeper thrum to his propellor than this. It has to be Arcee." Airachnid said, as she bumped Jack off her, and transformed back to her bipedal mode.
"The distress beacon is coming from that direction," she said, pointing to where rocky outcroppings become more frequent as the slope of the mountain gets steeper. "Make a run for it, and take this. For incase the 'Con you find is injured." she finished, as she pulled out a small cube of energon from her subspace, and handed it to Jack.
"Good luck, against Arcee. But you are going to tell me your two's story when you get back safe. Because I know you will," Jack said, as he stuffed the energon cube into his backpack, it just barely fitting in, and ran off in the direction he was guided towards.
Airachnid turned back around, the constant whirring of the helicopter-former now even closer, as if she was right on top of her. Airachnid quickly scrambled up a tree in her spider mode, doing her best to hide herself in the thick canopy, even though her paintwork contradicted the deep greens of the treetops.
It was but a few seconds later when she saw the Autobot huntress land on the ground nearby, stains of energon present all over her from whatever her last battle had been. Suddenly, Arcee's paint began to change before her optics, as they shifted from reds and purples to a camo pattern of greens and browns, better suited for the forested environment. She watched as Arcee flicked down her visor, and began to scan around the forest floor, probably for any signs of either her or Jack.
That was when she noticed that Arcee was grinning, and had started to walk in the same direction Jack had. Not wanting her partner to come to harm, she leaped out from her hiding spot, landing a solid punch on the back of Arcee's head.
"Argh, fraggit you…" Arcee mumbled, as she turned around. "Oh, well well well. If it isn't the itsy bitsy spider." she said, transforming out her arm blades, and began slashing at Airachnid.
Airachnid activated her own claws, along with two acid-tipped spider legs, and began to block Arcee's unrelenting attack. She may be an expert sharp-shooter, but she was also certainly on par with Airachnid in terms of close combat skills.
"What brings a monster like you to an innocent world like this? Hunting down fellow Transformers for sport again?" Airachnid spat, as she cut across Arcee's chest with an acidic claw, vengeance welling up in her optics.
"Oh, how little you think of me," Arcee replied, as she slashed at Airachnid's spider legs. The spider-bot managed to shoot some webbing at her assailant, buying her time to move back "If you must know, I'm here tracking down some lowly 'Cons who thought they could escape from me. Though, I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it." she said with a smirk, as she lunged back into battle with Airachnid.
She may have been focused mostly on fighting off Arcee, but Airachnid couldn't help but be worried about Jack.
After about ten minutes of nothing but sprinting, Jack had found himself clamoring his way around rough and rocky terrain, the sound of clashing metal long behind him. He knew what he was looking for, a Cybertronian being hard to miss, but without a scanner, he had found a more gruesome way of tracking; following the trail of spilled energon, that would hopefully lead him to a Decepticon.
And, after a time, he heard a faint groan, and the distinctive creaking of metal nearby. He rushed over to where the sound came from, and found a ditch, and a deep one at that, and he saw a pair of giant legs sticking out from underneath the overhang he was stood on. Jack ran around to where there was a slope down into the well-hidden cave, and was astounded at what he saw. A dark green and black camo patterned seeker, looking like he had been beaten within an inch of his life and back again, sitting in a pool of his own energon, with one optic out, and the other flickering every so often.
Before Jack could even approach, the giant before him spoke up.
"Who… who's there?..." they droned in a scared tone, his head tilting towards Jack as if get a better look, but stared absently at him.
"You… are so, small... " they said weakly. "What, are… you?"
"I'm a human, the native species here on Earth. It's ok, I'm with the Decepticons, we picked up your distress signal. I'm just glad I made it here in time." Jack said, as climbed up onto the seeker's leg. He reached into his backpack, and pulled out the small energon cube that had been given to him, and held it up to the mystery Decepticon.
The green seeker mustered the strength to reach over and grab it, although the sound of groaning metal made his condition seem even worse.
"Thank you… so much. What is your name?" they said, as they went on to down the whole cube, a flicker of life coming back to them.
"I'm Jack, and my guardian Airachnid is currently fighting off that Arcee bot that I can only assume did this to you."
"Name's Acid Storm. Nice to meet a… friendly face, after so long." Acid Storm replied, a small grin on his faceplates. "As for my condition," they continued, "It's been well over a year since I've had a real medic look me over. So much torture done to me by the 'Bots, miricale im still alive."
"Well, don't worry. I was told more Decepticons are on their way to help. I just hope they make it soon."
Then, they heard the sound of a motorcycle, and sure enough, Airachnid transformed before them at the entrance to the cave.
"I see you found one of our wayward distress signals." she commented, walking up to Acid Storm, bringing out a basic first aid kit from her subspace, and went to work patching up his most critical wounds.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'one of'? Are there more now?"
"I'd think so," Acid Storm said, "there were three of us that she was after, we all landed close by. I was injured already, so I hung back, bought the others some time."
"Who were you with then?" Airachnid asked, taking out a mini-welder and some spare sheet metal.
"Thrust, he was watching over me since the day they threw me in Blackspark, the 'Bots new big fancy prison. And the other one… didn't catch his name, but he's an insect-former, like you." he said weakly.
"The extra legs that much of a giveaway?" Airachnid said jokingly, earning a faint chuckle from the injured seeker.
Airachnid put the welder back into the kit, and subspaced it away.
"That should keep you held together until we get back to the Nemesis, but there's no way I'm letting you try and walk just yet."
"So, sit tight and wait until help arrives?" Jack asked.
"Sometimes in this war, that's the best we can do," Acid Storm said solemnly.
Cruising high above the clouds, two very out of place looking fighter jets sped towards their destination. When Airachnid explained to the crew of the Nemesis that a groundbridge stood too much of a risk, they scrambled their two fastest flight frames and hoped they made it before disaster struck.
The yellow and gray one looked as if at some point, their alt mode had been an F-15, but had been heavily modified with new wing design. The second one, a Vehicon, was plated in silver with dark green hexagonal patterns along the ridge of their wings, and retained most of their Cybertronian features, the sweeping edges of their wings giving away that it was definitely not of this world.
"Hey Dirge, we've been flying for a while now, got an updated ETA yet?" the vehicon asked.
"Not yet, Gary. But going off their coordinates, we're about halfway to them by now." Dirge responded.
"Airachnid said something about a 'Con distress signal, right? Any guesses who ended up crashing down?"
"Not sure. But if more of us are coming to Earth, that means Megatron's message got out as far as Velocitron, maybe even Chaar if the Autobots let it slip under their radar."
Over the next twenty minutes or so, the trio sat close together, and talked in hushed voices as to not alert Arcee to their presence. They learned of how Acid Storm, along with the other rainmakers, were an advanced strike team during the war, using chemicals to seed clouds with different weather patterns over Autobot territory. Jack also learned more about this Shockwave he had heard of a few times. Before the war, he had run a small school to help Transformers with unique abilities, called outliers, and that's how the rainmakers first came in contact with the Decepticons. He told stories of what had happened to him at the hands of Ironhide, what had happened to him in Blackspark, and how general Strika had sent himself and the two others here to investigate Megatron's message.
However, their peaceful moment wouldn't last long, as the distinct sound of a helicopter was heard off in the distance, and it sounded as though it was now circling them.
"Guess it's time to move out again." Jack said, as he leapt down from his spot on Acid Storm's leg.
"You think your good to move now?" Airachnid asked to Acid storm. The green seeker in question didn't look too happy at the idea.
"That's… gonna be a problem. My legs don't seem to work," he said solemnly. "I was hoping my self-repair systems would have fixed it by now, but I guess the damage is too extensive."
"What? But we can't just leave you here. Arcee will kill you!" Jack said.
"It's fine, really. After so long, I think I've made my peace with it all. Helps to know Megatron is here, still kicking the Auto-stooges' skid plate."
"No," Airachnid said, sternly. "We lost thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, just during the exodus of Cybertron alone. It won't do us any good to let one more mech die when they don't have to. We aren't going anywhere."
"I've probably got enough energy for a few good shots," Acid Storm said, charging up his null-rays. "When Arcee comes and finds us, I'll see if I can't deal out one last round of damage."
Then, they heard the distinct sound of transformation, and metal pedes landing on the rocky surface above them.
"Hiding underground as always, my little bug-bot. How predictable," Arcee yelled out sinisterly. "Next time you try to hide from a master of tracking, clean up the energon trail that leads right to you."
Before they knew it, Arcee leapt down from the overhang, and the fray began. Airachnid ran at her with acid claws ready, but Arcee managed to dodge and block her attack, and tossed her aside. Unfortunately for her, this gave Acid Storm and clear shot, and he let out six high-powered rounds into the assassin before he had to stand down. However, his efforts were not in vain, as he managed to strike Arcee in lower torso, piercing through her tough armor.
"Run you two!" Acid Storm called out, as he let off another round of less intensive shots. And without another word, Airachnid grabbed hold of Jack, transformed, and they sped away.
Arcee, now thoroughly annoyed at this seeker who refused death, got up close and personal with him, holding her integrated arm blade up to his neck.
"Any last words, Decepticon?"
"Just a few… Make it rain, glitch-head." Acid storm said, as the compartments on his wings opened up, acidic chemicals dripping from them. Before Arcee could realise what was going on, the acid fell onto the pooled energon, igniting it instantly. Once the dust had settled, there was a crater where the cave had been, and Arcee lay limp on the ground. After a few minutes, her systems booted up again, and was slow to rise from the ground.
She began painfully limping away from what remained of Acid Storm's body. And shaking off what debris remained on her, she transformed and flew off, at a significantly slower speed, once again on the hunt for her prey.
Airachnid had not been expecting such a spectacle, and was very glad to have gotten away before the bright blue explosion. What she hadn't been expecting was for Arcee to have survived it. However, with her now overhead, and looking even worse off than Acid Storm was, she was driving for her and Jack's lives at the moment.
The helicopter-bot managed a burst of speed, and managed to get out in front. Arcee transformed, and slammed down onto the ground in front of Airachnid, forcing her to swerve out of the way, but she faltered, and transformed before she had a nasty crash.
Seizing the opportunity, out from Arcee's wrist came a grapple, which she fired right at Jack. She caught hold of the human, and reeled him in, and clutched him painfully tight.
"Ah ah ah," Arcee said, waggling her finger. "You wouldn't try and hurt me when your human pet is in harm's way, now would you?"
Airachnid groaned as she got up, but transformed her weapons away, standing down.
"What do you want?" Airachnid asked, although she felt like she already knew the answer.
"Why, what else? The two other 'Cons, and yourself. All for your little human's freedom."
Before Airachnid had the chance to respond, her heightened sensors picked up on something nearby, or more specifically, somebody. Soon enough, all three of them heard the buzzing, coming from somewhere in the trees.
Then, a wild blast came out of nowhere, hitting right into Arcee's forearm, forcing her to drop Jack. Then, as the buzzing increased, a blur of yellow and orange flew at Arcee with a cackle, tackling her to the ground, using it's stinger to poison her. The giant insectoid pinning down the huntress transformed, his green wings folding onto his back, and a bug-like head came out of the larger insect one.
"Hehehe, evil Autobot lady can't outsmart Thruzzt and Wazzpinator!" Waspinator said jovially, still stood over the unconscious Arcee.
"Got that right, buddy." Thrust said, the gray and orange conehead stepping out from behind a rock pile he had been hiding behind.
Airachnid let out a heavy sigh of relief, as she went over to pick up Jack, making sure he was alright.
"Looks like the 'Cons in distress were the ones who saved us." Airachnid said.
"Hive queen! Wazzzzpinator is happy to have found you." Waspinator said, as he pulled her close for a too-tight hug.
"'Hive queen'? Don't tell me both you and the elite trine are royalty." Jack teased.
"Yes, it's good to see you too, Waspy. And no Jack, it's a little more complicated than that." Airachnid said, as she got out of the awkward embrace. "Most of the Insecticon Hive settlements were built up in the natural underground caves between Kaon and Tarn, with some surface villages dotted around. And this was before the war, so we were already at the bottom of the caste system. I was one of the few who tried to better our people's living condition, helping people, gathering support from the outside world, and over time, they started to see me was the Hive's queen. And when Megatron surfaced as a public figure, preaching equality and freedom for all, well, you can take a guess what happened from there."
"And an excellent addition to the Decepticons the Insecticons have been. It's very rare that a certain species of Transformers have so many various types to them, their diverse abilities and build types gave us a great advantage over the Autobots plenty of times." Thrust said.
Airachnid wanted to laugh, but she knew what she had to do.
"I'm… guessing you both saw that explosion?" she asked, her tone more serious now.
"Yes, and I can only imagine that he went out fighting." Thrust said, an amused grin on his face. "He always was a fighter, and its fitting he went until the bitter end. Still though, he'd be pretty mad if he knew he didn't get one last Autobot on his way out."
"Wazzzpinator sees no qualms with finishing the job." Waspinator said, hefting the dormant body of Arcee over his shoulder.
"No, as much as I want to, it wouldn't be right. But that doesn't mean we can't-"
But Airachnid never got to finish that thought, as two jets roared past overhead. They circled back around to the clearing, and transformed, dropping down to the ground.
"Uh, are we late to the party?" Gary asked.
"Holy scrap-iron, Dirge?" Thrust said in amazement, as he entered an embrace with his brother.
"A fragging miracle, I thought you were taken out a long time ago." Dirge said.
"No, they just threw me into Blackspark, and tossed out the key. That was until we broke out of course."
"Any word from Ramjet yet? He's been out of contact for years now." Dirge asked.
"No, not a thing. Just as you probably can, I can feel him over our bond, but he doesn't respond to that either."
Jack, feeling that they were getting sidetracked, used the universal sign of indication; "ahem".
They all turned to him, and the two new arrivals realised they had not been introduced yet.
"Oh, I've mizzplaced my mannerzz! I am Wazzpinator, and you are?" Waspinator said, holding out hand for a shake.
"Uh, I'm Jack." he replied, opting to just rest his hand on one of Waspinator's fingers and call it good enough.
"And this here is my brother, Thrust. He's the best tactical mind the we have." Dirge said, placing a hand on Thrust's shoulder.
"Yes, nice to meet you. And aside from the apparent Autobot infestation, this is a fine planet you have." Thrust said.
"So, what are we going to do about her?" Gary asked, pointing to Arcee.
"Well, I was thinking about that, and I might have a good idea." Airachnid said with a smirk.
. . . . .
"So, how long until she wakes up?"
"The poizzon will keep her down for at leazzt a few hourzz." Waspinator responded, as he threw Arcee down into the makeshift trap they set for her. First, Airachnid bound Arcee using her webbing, then they found a pair of stasis cuffs in the wreckage of her ship, and locked her down in the mess of metal that was once her own shuttle.
"There, that should keep her busy once she wakes up." Airachnid said.
"Now, how about we head home?" Jack asked.
"I like the sound of that. But, there's one last thing we have to take care of…"
Once they had retrieved the retrieved Acid Storm's remains, they finally called back to base for a groundbridge. And when they arrived, their two new arrivals received a big welcome from all. What was most surprising was the initial interaction between Megatron and Waspinator.
"Waspinator? Come here, old friend!" Megatron asked in high spirits, as he and the Insecticon locked arms in what was clearly some sort of special greeting.
"You two sure look like you have some history." Jack commented.
"Oh, very much so. Waspinator was a fellow gladiator in the Kaon pits during my time there." Megatron replied.
"Wazzzpinator never did big fightz though. Our troupe wazz more performerzz than fighterzzz, something for kiddiezz to watch in the daytime after school, hours before the big matchezzz at night. Taunting beastzzz, having mock duelzz, that sort of thing." said Waspinator.
"I believe the human word would be a 'Rodeo Clown' if I'm not mistaken." Megatron said. "He was also my emissary to the Insecticon Hive when they first reached out about joining the rising Decepticon movement."
"Not to interrupt, but do you know where Starscream is? It's kind of important." Airachnid said, still holding the remains of Acid Storm's spark casing and wing fragments in her hands.
"Ah, I see… I believe he is in the training room with his brothers." Megatron replied.
"Thank you." Airachnid said, as she went to find the air commander in question.
. . . . .
Entering into the training room, Airachnid saw that she hadn't come in at a bad time, as the three seekers there were currently taking a rest. She strode up to them, still awkwardly holding the remnants of the dead seeker in hand.
"Oh, heya 'Nid." Skywarp said from where he was levitating. Strange as it may be, but his new form was so light, it took barely any power get off the ground now.
"Um, yeah. Hi." she said awkwardly.
"Airachnid, is that, a spark casing? And… wings?" Starscream asked, optics going wide.
"Yes. This is all that remains of Acid Storm." she said sadly.
"Oh... Shockwave might emote when he finds out all the rainmakers are dead." Skywarp said.
"That leaves how many of his adoptive children alive?" Thundercracker asked.
"Not many…" Starscream said.
"I really don't know much about death rights in general, but I know that Vosian and flyer culture as a whole have complex ones. So, I brought him to you to look after." Airachnid said.
"I… thank you. Tell me, how did he die?" Starscream asked, taking the remains from her.
"Blew up his own energon trying to kill Arcee. Nearly got her, too."
"Wait, you mean that monster is here? On this planet?" Thundercracker butted in.
"Unfortunately, yes. Himself, along with Thrust and Waspinator were sent here by Strika when they got Megatron's message about coming here. She managed to track them down."
"Well, the Autobots gained one, and we gained two today." Starscream said.
"They still outnumber us though." Thundercracker said.
"Then we will do as we always have. Fight on, and do what we can." Airachnid said, as she turned and left the seekers be.
. . . . .
Later that evening, after Acid Storm had been officially added to the Decepticon Memorial, a databank of fallen soldiers accessible via the datanet, many members of the crew seemed much less lively. Having been close to such an important figure as Shockwave, plenty of Decepticons had fought alongside and befriended the rainmakers.
And atop one of the highest plateaus of the surrounding Mesas, three flyers gathered to properly lay Acid Storm down, with a traditional sky burial atop the highest place they could find. Skyquake oversaw the small ceremony, being the elder flightframe and possessing the most knowledge of more ancient rituals. Starscream, being the crown prince of Vos, acted in place of a proper priest, and had buried the remains himself, along with Thrust, who had there at the bitter end, helping Acid Storm cling to life.
And at the end of the day, nobody really cared if Arcee was dead or not. There was plenty of anger at just the fact such a sadistic killer being on this planet, that everybot was certain she would get her due soon enough.