Chapter Sixty-One
Stalked
Raphael and Monalisa ran up the hill and deep into the dark forests, they didn't dare look behind them in case it slowed them down, but they soon made it to some lower ground to jump down and hide as well as catch their breaths.
At the same time, Airachnid followed them up the hill, she could hear their footsteps as they ran, and she knew she could easily catch up to them, but she had decided it was more fun to give them a head start so she could give herself a challenge in catching her prey.
"That's the spirit!" she called out "Play hard to get!"
The couple kept on running then they quickly dived behind a bunch of trees growing close together.
"What are we gonna do Raph?" Monalisa asked breathlessly looking through a gap in the trees to see if she could see Airachnid, yet she couldn't.
"We can't run from her forever!"
"That we can't!" Raphael panted "That bitch is not going to give up until she's got us, but from what I've seen, she likes a challenge."
"What are you saying?" Monalisa asked as she looked at her mate.
"I think I have an idea." Raphael said as he pulled Monalisa down so they were kneeling in the darkness of the trees as they could hear Arachnid stalking around looking for them.
"We need to split!" Raphael said.
"What!?" Monalisa cried yet Raphael clapped his hand over her mouth and shushed her.
"Trust me Mona." He hissed, "If I keep the Spider bitch distracted, you go and help Arcee!"
"Raph no!" Monalisa said, her voice muffled by her mate's hand over her mouth, and she pulled his head away "No... I won't leave you!"
"Mona! Please!" Raphael held his wife's cheeks and kissed her forehead "Trust me! I have a plan! But we will need to get Arcee free, and I need you to help her!"
"What are you going to do?" Monalisa demanded.
Raphael bit his lip.
"I'm not sure." He said, "But I know the ship's not far from here and from I remember seeing it was leaking energon, if I lead her back to it, I might just be able to blow up the thing and her at the same time!"
Monalisa's eyes widened.
"Raph..." she said.
"Look, we can't get in touch with the others due to the scrambling of our shell cells, so we're going to need to figure out another way to take this bitch down, trust me babe!"
He leaned his forehead against his wife's.
"Do you trust me?"
Monalisa bit her lip, she was scared but she trusted her mate.
"Okay Raph." Monalisa said reluctantly "I trust you, but please! Stay safe! I can't lose you! And Pandora, she can't lose her daddy!"
"Nor I you!" Raphael replied then pulled Monalisa into a deep passionate kiss which the lizard lady returned with the same passion before they pulled away.
"I love you, Mona." Raphael whispered.
"And I love you, Raphael..." Monalisa whispered back "Please...be careful."
"I will!" Raphael promised nuzzling Monalisa and kissing her forehead "I'll find you, and we'll both return to Pandora and the rest of the family! Now go, go and find Arcee!"
Monalisa nodded and kissing Raphael one last time she took off back down the hill making sure she stuck to the shadows to avoid Airachnid who was still prowling around the trees.
Raphael at the same time looked to see the Spider Bot and gathered a couple of smoke bombs from a pouch on his belt.
"Okay you disgusting bug!" he hissed gripping the smoke bombs tightly "You wanna play? Let's play!"
Arcee meanwhile back at the rock formation struggled against the webs that held her to the rocks and soon another nightmare came back to her from that horrific day on Cybertron in Airachnid's Lair.
Flashback
Cybertron, the Great War, Arachnid's Lair.
Arcee stared in horror at the dead body of her partner Tailgate who hung from his shackles bleeding energon from the Spider Femme's hand, and soon she saw the evil decepticon skulk over to her with the same blade that killed her partner.
The Autobot femme thought she was done for, but then as Airachnid got ready to snuff out her spark, the door was blown off and Bumblebee appeared firing off his blasters that took down Airachnid's guards along with the Spiderbot who fled in fear, followed by the red coloured mech Cliffjumper who unshackled the femme and Bumblebee soon joined him and together they escorted Arcee out of the chamber of horrors.
As they took Arcee's arms over their shoulders to get her out and get her medical help, the Femme couldn't help but sob and wail.
"I couldn't save him! I couldn't save my partner!"
Despite the torture Airachnid laid upon her, nothing compared to the pain and devastation she felt at the fact Tailgate was offline and wouldn't come home.
End Flashback.
"Raph, Mona, I'm sorry..." Arce wept "I never should have looked back..." she lowered her head feeling defeated and helpless, until a voice called out to her.
"Arcee!"
The Femme looked up and she saw Monalisa climbing down the hill and running over to her.
"Arcee!"
"Mona?" Arcee questioned as she saw the Lizard Lady do a few leaps in the air as she hopped over to her.
"Mona!" she cried "I thought I told you to run!"
"I know you did!" Monalisa said "But we're not abandoning you!"
"Where's Raph?" Arcee demanded.
"He's got a plan!" Monalisa said "He told me to find you! We need to get you out of here!"
She took out her fans and started to hack at the webbing with her weapon.
"What's he planning?" Arcee asked desperately "You two don't know how merciless Arachnid is!"
"We understand!" Monalisa said still hacking at the webbing "But we have to trust him!"
Meanwhile Raphael after sending Monalisa to look for Arcee ran as fast as he could to find a place to hide from Arachnid as she chased after him and before long, he found a fallen log to hide behind as well as catch his breath.
His ninja ears could pick up Arachnid's footsteps, as well as her sinister hisses as she searched for him and he hoped that his plan would work, if she kept focus on him and not on his wife who was helping Arcee.
He soon felt her presence behind the log then saw her extra skinny legs appear before him.
He kept still then to his surprise, Airachnid's head appeared before him.
"Hello Raphael." She smirked.
Raphael couldn't help the scream of terror that erupted from his mouth, yet he moved quickly by flipping backwards over the fallen trunk and started to run away as fast as he could.
Airachnid chuckled and started to follow him, smirking as she knew she could outrun him, but she still felt the need to give him a chance to flee so she could toy with him a bit.
At the same time, Monalisa had hacked away at the webbing, but Arcee was still trapped.
"Damn! What is this stuff?" Monalisa asked as she continued to slash at the webbing "It's worse than flypaper!"
Arcee glared.
"Hang on!" she said then she transformed into her vehicle mode and started to drive against the webbing to try and rip it away from the rocks.
"Arcee?" Monalisa cried as she stepped back.
"I never should have looked back!" Arcee said "I should have kept driving!"
She revved her engine and pulled with all her might and soon the webbing was ripped away and she was free!
As soon as she was free, she stopped and did a doughnut ring so she was facing the Lizard Lady.
"Hop on Mona!" she ordered, and the lizard lady wasted no time in jumping on Arcee's back.
"Hold tight Lizard lady!" Arcee said.
"Gotcha Arcee!" Monalisa said as she gripped the handlebars "We got a bug to squash!" she snarled "We're coming Raph! Hang in there!"
Arcee then sped off into the woods.
Meanwhile Raphael was still running from Airachnid as she continued to stalk him, and before long he found the crater that the ship had made when it crashed, and he climbed down onto a lower level.
He could hear the Spider bot following him and he climbed over towards the other side of the crater then disappeared into the mess of trees.
All the while Airachnid followed close behind hissing and chuckling as she enjoyed the chase.
"You're making this too easy Raph!" Airachnid called out "And I do not enjoy being bored!"
Raphael glared.
"Bored, are you?" he asked under his breath then he looked at the smoke bombs in his paw and he picked up one before throwing it a few feet away from him to distract the spider.
"How about this?" he asked as he raced ahead as the bomb went off and Airachnid saw it before running over to it.
That gave Raphael the chance to run away a little further and towards the crashed ship.
Airachnid meanwhile arrived at the area where Raphael had thrown the smoke bomb and she glared when she saw he wasn't there.
She growled in frustration then looked over where she soon saw Raphael's tracks leading to her downed ship.
She smirked and crawled closer to look around for the mutant turtle.
"Now, where did you scamper off to?" the Spider femme questioned as she looked around the area of her ship then towards the entrance.
Raphael meanwhile had entered the ship and hid behind the door, yet as he entered, he too saw the jars of heads, the trophies Airachnid had collected and it took every bit of willpower to keep himself from throwing up or screaming.
Especially as he recognised a couple of them, remembering that accident when he and his brothers were beamed up into space and met the Fugitoid.
The two jars closest to the door consisted of the head of a Triceraton as well as another alien he remembered that resembled Monkey-Face from that Arena he and his brothers had been forced to fight in for the entertainment of the Triceratons.
Feeling the need that he needed to report what he had seen to his family and the Autobots, he quickly took some photos on his shell-cell before turning to the door to see Airachnid skulking around as she looked for him.
"If you wanted a tour Raphael, all you had to do was ask!" Airachnid called out as she looked into the ship and Raphael held his breath as he waited for the right moment to rush outside whilst she was distracted.
"Did you spot the empty space?" The Spider Femme taunted "I hope you like it! It's where you'll soon hang your head! You and your little girlfriend too!"
Raphael glared and seeing Arachnid look away from where he was hiding, and he hurried outside before running to the back of the ship where he saw to his delight that it was leaking energon!
"Yes!" he muttered to himself then felt in his pouch and he found a lighter, one that he had swiped from a Purple Dragon member who was about to torch a car in New York a few weeks back.
The turtle then looked around for something to light so he could throw it into the pool of energon then scarper before Airachnid found him.
He soon saw a couple of dry sticks from the debris of fallen trees the ship knocked down and he picked them up before striking the lighter and holding the flame under them.
Upon hearing the strike of the lighter, Airachnid who was still inside the ship looked to the front.
"Raphael?" she questioned, and she looked around not seeing any sign of the turtle, and she glowered before scuttling out of the ship.
She climbed up onto the top of the ship and prepared her webbing to catch the turtle the moment she saw him.
Raphael meanwhile heard the evil Spider Femme's feet on top of the ship, and he saw the sticks had lit!
"Yes!" he thought triumphantly then he threw the bunch of sticks into the fuel pipe then he took off towards the woods to get clear of the explosion!
As he raced off Airachnid appeared and looked over to see the energon catch fire.
"Raphael!" she shouted yet before she could move, the ship exploded in a big ball of fire and the blast blew her into the air, and at the same time sent Raphael flying a few feet ahead and he landed on his shell before doing a few rolls away into the woods.
Shaking off stars, the turtle jumped up and saw the Ship had been destroyed and was burning brightly lighting up the whole area.
He glared and looked around wondering if the blast had destroyed Airachnid too, yet he couldn't see her anywhere.
Deciding not to wait any more, Rapheal turned away to look for Arcee and Monalisa, yet as he did, he heard a shooting sound then something hit his leg and he looked down to see some sticky webbing holding his foot down!
Raphael was alarmed and he looked up to see Airachnid up in one of the trees, parts of her body burning and smoking from the fire!
"Shit..." Raphael muttered then Airachnid blasted another web at him that pinned him to the tree!
She then jumped down and snarled at him, and Raphael felt his blood run cold as he saw how furious she looked!
Airachnid had that look in her eyes, more than just fury, but murderous and she was ready to snuff him out.
She lowered her clawed digits to him, and Raphael tried to lean away from her but that was impossible given how stuck fast to the tree he was.
Just then, a revving noise was heard, and some lights were seen!
At the same time a furious female voice was heard over the revving.
"Get away from him you Bitch!"
"Mona!" Raphael cried hearing his mate's name.
Airachnid was stunned yet she didn't have a chance to move before Monalisa appeared riding on Arcee who drove at a fast speed before flying up and transforming, Monalisa at the same time did a flip in the air before producing a light bomb which she threw at Airachnid and it gave off a bright flash blinding the Spider Femme!
"Agggghhhh!" Airachnid shouted but then Arcee kicked her hard before she could register what was happening and she was thrown a few feet back from the impact!
Arcee then ran after Airachnid who sat up shaking off stars as well as trying to clear her vision before the Autobot Femme started to fight with her in hand-to-hand combat.
As Arcee kicked Airachnid back, Monalisa landed next to her mate and turned to him.
"Raph!" she cried then started to hack at the webbing to free him.
"Glad you got here hun!" Raphael chuckled.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she slashed through the webbing and tore at it with her hands to pull it off before taking his hand and the couple ran to check on Arcee.
"We saw the ship blow up as we arrived!" she said.
"I destroyed the ship." Raphael said, "But I wasn't able to blast the Spider Bitch!"
"Don't worry!" Monalisa reassured her mate "You're okay! And that's the main thing!"
They then saw Arcee kick Airachnid back again and saw her knock down a few trees before she stopped and lay there again knocked out.
Arcee then took a moment to look back at the couple as they ran over.
"Mona! Raph!" she cried "Are you two alright?"
"We're okay!" Monalisa said.
"Yeah! Peachy!" Raphael added.
Arcee gave a smile in relief then a drilling sound was heard behind them and Arcee turned back to see the earth getting churned up and she ran over firing her blasters as she saw Airachnid drilling her way into the earth to escape!
"AIRACHNID!" Arcee bellowed in fury as she watched her enemy escape like a coward by drilling into the earth.
Raphael and Monalisa investigated the deep hole and saw the Spiderbot disapper deep into the earth.
Arcee sighed.
"So much for closure!" she muttered, feeling disappointed she couldn't finish off Airachnid but at the same time relieved that Raphael and Monalisa were safe and alive.
"No Airachnid's stuck here on Earth." Raphael said "I'm not so sure that's such a good thing."
"it isn't..." Monalisa said "Given what she's like, but since she has no vehicle mode she can't get very far without anyone seeing her right? She'll have to remain hidden."
"That's true." Raphael agreed "But We'll still need to inform the others about this."
Arcee nodded.
"I'm sorry you had to face my demons today." She said guiltily "You were pretty fearless there Raph, you too Mona."
She smiled softly.
"Actually, I was terrified." Raphael admitted "I'm not afraid to admit that."
"I was too." Monalisa said then turned to Raphael "But you were amazing! I'm so proud of you!"
"And I you babe!" Raphael said taking his wife into an embrace "And thanks for saving me there!" he kissed Monalisa tenderly then looked up at Arcee "And you too!" he winked to which Arcee smiled proudly.
"Ratchet!" Arcee contacted the base relieved to find that it was working again due to the ship being destroyed.
"Requesting ground-bridge."
She then looked back at the couple who nuzzled each other and kissed tenderly.
"Need to get my partners away from oversized insects." She chuckled as a few buzzes were heard around them and Raphael slapped one that landed on his head.
"Partners huh?" Raphael asked and Monalisa grinned.
"Junior Partners!" Arcee reminded them "I could still pull rank!"
Airachnid has been defeated and has been forced to retreat, but she's now stuck on earth since Raphael destroyed her ship.
For those who noticed, the jars Raphael saw on the ship were characters from the TMNT 2003 Series episodes 'Turtles in Space' mainly the episode 'The Arena'
Also for anyone whose seen the film 'Aliens' would know that famous line Monalisa shouts at Airachnid.
And thus that's a wrap for the 'Predatory' Episode! I really enjoyed writing that, and I hope you enjoyed it as much!
As we all know, it won't be the last we see of Airachnid, keep your eyes peeled to see her again soon!