So, this chapter fought me, a lot. Then Lo, who should appear to get me back on track?
Freaking Sentinel. Cliffjumper joined, and then half a dozen others wanted at least a mention, and when Strika demands screen time you give it to her, so this chapter is an interlude chapter, also a bit of a cybertron/ world building chapter. Elita will show up again next chapter.
Sentinel sat at a corner table in Maccadams, a mug of hot oil in front of him. Graduation was only an orn away, finals were finished. He should be partying like his other peers.
Except all he could think about was the fact he didn't have the two bots he thought would be here. For all of Nova Major's assurances that it was a single reckless mistake and Optimus was too weak to be a real leader, Sentinel knew the truth- Optimus had trusted him and Elita. Had ignored his better judgment because Sentinel and Elita, like so many times before, had known how to convince him that adventure was more important than rules. They were his friends more than they were his teammates, because Sentinel couldn't stand the idea of following orders from his roommate.
His inability to follow orders had gotten Optimus killed. Elita wouldn't have been in the position to disrupt Optimus's systems if they had stuck to their patrol. He shuddered, finally taking a drink from the oil.
Their drill sergeant Kup was old fashioned, preferred experience to book-learning, and one of his preferred training methods had been to have cadets line up and get shot by a disrupter set on low. The feeling of his systems suddenly being simultaneously off and on was one he wouldn't forget... and the idea that Elita was capable of such a thing, the memories of all the times she copied him, the idea of that tingle morphing into that disruption... he didn't want her touching him.
It was a shame, because she had been a good femme to court, a little too interested in obscure science stuff perhaps, but he'd been able to ignore that.
Yeah, Optimus had also expressed interest in courting her, but he had missed his chance with her, and Optimus had been nothing but helpful for covering for them when they almost missed curfew.
Sentinel shuttered his optics. He missed them both.
"Sentinel! Why aren't you partying with everyone else?"
Sentinel looked up to see Cliffjumper making his way over. The minibot had been in their boot camp, but had flunked out, getting moved to the more boring clerical training. The two had hit it off right away, had pranked Optimus so many times ...
Frag it, he was back on that train of thought again.
Cliffjumper noticed, slagger had always been perceptive at the worst times. "Oh, you know, you could always invite Elita to the graduation." He sat down without invitation, and gestured for a drink.
"... Wouldn't be the same." Sentinel admitted. To tell the truth, he didn't want her near him ever again.
"Optimus would be proud of you." Cliffjumper wasn't quite sure why he said that, he knew it was a sore point (personally, he blamed the fact he already had some shots of high grade prior to coming over) but he also knew that Sentinel's competitive streak with Optimus had been partially because he wanted Optimus' respect (Optimus, meanwhile, had gotten annoyed by Sentinel's bragging that he didn't say anything, especially since Sentinel was usually already bragging... it was a weird friendship).
"Yeah, well, it's not like he's around." His fault, he hadn't broke a single rule since, desperate to stay in the Elite Guard.
Sentinel would never break another rule, it wasn't worth it.
"So, get your orders yet?" Cliffjumper's processor finally found a better target. "I know where I'm going."
"Nah, I don't find out till the end of this orn. They've got me on guard duty till then." And it was dull.
"Ah." Cliffjumper smiled. "Well then, you hear old Kup is retiring?"
"Really?" Sentinel was surprised.
"Yeah, officially he's retiring cause he wants to enjoy his golden stellar cycles, but the reality? Some prissy Towers Mech in this last boot camp batch got upset with his methods and complained, got their creator to influence the council enough to make it mandatory." Cliffjumper reported. "He's not happy, don't blame him, his methods probably kept deceptions from infiltrating the Elite Guard."
"Yeah, fragging gentlemechs shouldn't be trying to join if they can't handle it." Sentinel scoffed.
The rest of the night was much better, and as Sentinel entered his room to recharge, he picked up a holographic picture from his bookshelf and stared at the three friends smiling at the camera.
It wasn't his fault, Nova Major had assured him multiple times, his idea, maybe, but they'd all wanted to go.
Next orn, he'd put Elita and Optimus firmly in his past. He'd start by incinerating this picture.
Arachna 7
Lady Strika studied the planet where supposedly one of Lord Megatron's most trusted and twisted of scientists had crashed.
Strika had her reservations about bringing him back into the fold, but there were several planets he had been to that Lord Megatron required information on, as well as projects that Shockwave required aid with.
Cyclonus came up behind her, but didn't speak. Not unusual, to be sure, but he should have been preparing to place the ship in orbit.
"What is it?"
"What do we do if he's dead?"
"Report it and move to our next objective. Prepare to enter orbit." Strika ordered, and Cyclonus backed off.
She'd bring Blackout and Cyclonus with her, Spittor and Oilslick would just cause more trouble than she needed.
The wreck of the ship was not promising. Blackout shifted through the debris, and Cyclonus held the indigenous life forms at bay.
A metallic clang, and Strika whirled to see Cyclonus on the retreat against an axe wielding mech.
Blackout even stopped to watch the extremely odd sight of Cyclonus looking surprised while loosing ground. After a moment of this, Cyclonus focused actually putting effort into the fight.
Strika was used to Cyclonus being an efficient fighter, and once he got over his odd surprise, the fight was short.
The axe wielder went down, but not before trying to take Cyclonus as well. Strika was impressed.
The familiar cackle of Tarantulas was the only reason the giant spider that appeared did not get shot.
"Nice try, Nemesis. But if you hoped that you could escape me by getting killed, you're sadly mistaken." He dropped down. The axe wielder glared at the scientist. Tarantulas made a 'tsk' noise, and the axe wielder jerked, optics turning green as he dropped to his knees. "Nice isn't it, a little autobot puppet on a string."
"An autobot?" Strika questioned, he was black and purple, not usual colors for an autobot, she noticed the clinically defaced mark on the axe wielder.
"One of their baby primes. Wanted an adventure, got abandoned by his friends, so I salvaged him." Tarantulas informed them. He patted the autobot's helm. "Not entirely house trained yet."
The autobot glared at all of them, but said nothing.
"Does he speak?"
"Not anymore." Tarantulas shrugged. "So, I see my rescue has finally arrived, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Lord Megatron requires information on the planets you've surveyed during the war." Strika informed him, choosing to ignore the way Cyclonus was staring at the autobot as if he'd never seen one before.
"Ah, how can I turn that down? Nemesis! Start loading my things!" Tarantulas ordered.
'Nemesis' glared, but turned to obey.
"Blackout, Cyclonus, load the transport." Strika ordered.
Nemesis proved to be quite a hard worker, putting up with the inevitable jabs from Oilslick.
Once everything was properly stored (Strika approved of Nemesis' ability to arrange things for maximum storage, it was something her teammates lacked) they left orbit, heading back to their base.
"Oh, do you have a brand?" Tarantulas asked, and the autobot whirled, Axe flying through the air at him before Tarantulas forced him to his knees. "Now now, you don't get a choice, Nemesis."
Strika caught the axe, studying the now struggling Autobot.
Misplaced though it was, it was nice to see loyalty in one so young, especially with the circumstances of being left for dead by comrades. Strika valued loyalty above nearly all else, it was a very rare quality now a days ... Primus knew Tarantulas was only on their side because they allowed him to have 'fun' with prisoners and test subjects.
"Your pet will not be branded, Tarantulas." Strika declared.
"Oh, fine." Tarantulas scuttled off into the ship.
"A word of advice, young one, learn to choose your battles, you are not going to a place that will tolerate your attacks." Strika held out the axe to him.
Nemesis warily accepted the axe back. He looked at her for a moment, before giving her a salute.
Strika was amused. "At ease." She left him to his own devices, and went to track down Cyclonus. This was the first time he had ever faltered in her service and she wanted to know why.
She found him staring at the chronometer on the bridge.
Since he had appeared searching for a mech named Galvatron, he had been an asset for the decepticons.
"Care to explain why you were surprised by Nemesis?"
"... he reminds me of a warrior that I once fought when I was young." Cyclonus stared at the chronometer. "He was terrifying and strong and he never finished off an opponent because he could take us down at anytime. Galvatron was fighting him when we were separated."
Strika studied the mech for a moment. "Well, if you think he has potential, keep an optic on him then."
"... I might do just that." Cyclonus shifted to look at her. "Orders?"
"Waiting on our Lord's command. I'll take over the watch, but be careful what you say around Nemesis, I suspect Tarantulas can see and hear what he sees and hears." Strika ordered.
Cyclonus nodded and left. Strika looked at the chronometer, before checking the messages, hoping that they could send Tarantulas off to Lord Megatron before the mech tried to experiment on Spittor again.
So, according to the show writers, Cyclonus is indeed a time traveler and waiting for Megatron to become Galvatron for an unspecified purpose.
He's also the upgraded form of the scaredy clone 'Skywarp', and it's implied the clones have Starscream's memories. He knows that BlackArachnia is supposed to be picked up, but instead it's Nemesis and Tarantulas. Going to play more with him later.
No, the towers mech that petitioned for Kup's removal is not Mirage ... not that Cliffjumper cares. This is the start of the elite guard slipping up, and also how Sentinel becomes the drill sergeant for Bulk and Bee.
Strika, according to the background I have on her, dislikes BlackArachnia and Swindle because they're not completely loyal to the decepticons. Some fanon has it because she believes in staying loyal to one's side no matter what happens, so she's more likely to respect or tolerate someone as long as they are loyal to whatever they say they're loyal to. I'm using that fanon.
And nothing you can say will convince me that Strika is not a mother to her team.