Arcee and the Cyber Worlds

by Tigressa101

The Queen of Cybertron returns. Months after taking back the throne and retrieving the Allspark as promised, Arcee finds her next adventure outside the world she is most familiar with. She becomes bent on a mission to restore Cybertron's relations with the Cyber Worlds, the other Transformer planets, but can she do it? Sequel to Arcee and the Isle of the Allspark

28. History Repeats Itself

Song: Blow Me Away – Breaking Benjamin

---

Arcee and Megatron waited for Phantasmos after he had recovered from the incident with the Cybertronian Predator. It still shook them how it took someone of King Kronos' size to finally kill the monster once and for all. As they sat beneath the starry sky with Kanjis' moons now in view and the asteroid belt around the planet more visible and radiant, they looked out on one of the balconies of the palace to see the city at night. Bolt didn't pay attention much to it as he was talking to himself and the Moonhunter who only yowled which he took as agreeing with him.

They heard a commotion within and saw a black Ridgeback with yellow striping and optics grab Phantasmos' face with worry. "Did it hurt you?! Did it damage anything else other than your tail?! Is your mind still active?!"

Phantasmos smirked in his older brother's grasp though he did try to pull his head out of the grip before he was roughly pulled into the yellow-vented abdomen. "I'm okay! I'm okay! I promise, Spirit!"

The one called Spirit was shoved off aggressively by his annoyed twin, a grey and yellow-spotted hyena-like femme with electricity visibly running in pipes within her upper arms, abdomen, and backside. With a mohawk-like crest and yellow layered optics, the femme came off arrogant. She shooed him back further when his paranoia rose again before looking over Phantasmos herself. After a minute, she scoffed, "You're fine."

"See? Thank you!" Phantasmos said.

"Yes, but there could be worse damage you don't see and if that monster struck an Energon pump in your spine and-and-and it wasn't sealed right, you could have a clot that will fester and kill you!" Spirit argued.

A black and orange striped Ridgeback shrugged, "It's not that bad, even if that was the case. Clots are operable."

Kalypso covered her optics embarrassed, "Nice job, Entity, way to give the kid nightmares. Remind me to never let any of you be medics. You guys will kill the kid faster than any injury."

The other siblings had rushed to the palace upon hearing their baby brother had been attacked and Arcee had never seen such a colorful family, half of the statement being literal. From what she gathered of the siblings she had never met up until now, Entity was not the smartest being in the room and oddly spacious like a dreamer and seemed to feed on moonlight between arguments like a light source to his energy similar to Sunstorm, Electrohyena had aggression like Tigressa but had a spark of gold deep down with her name stating her obvious powers, and Spirit was very paranoid and finnicky like the winds he represented.

The last sibling that had yet to speak, if she even could, was the orangish-red fox femme who sat on the floor. With a fluffed metal tail and a black gradient on her limbs, she was beautiful, but her mind wasn't all there. Her orange optics were vacant and all she made was whimpers of concern, sometimes with a thousand-mile stare. She suddenly sneezed and a small section of the palace floor caught on fire which she looked at proudly. Moonhunter sprinted away at that though the rest of her siblings looked down neutral with Entity gently patting the fire down.

"Firefox, no fires inside," Kalypso said quickly before talking with her other siblings again.

The one called Firefox licked her lips and swayed her tail like a bored little kid. Entity seemed to glare a bit at Kalypso and kept close to his twin. He seemed protective but not in the same way as Poltergeist was to Blossom. He acted more like a caretaker and seemed happy to do so.

Bolt peered between all of them and mocked, "It's like looking at the physical embodiment of a Skittles commercial in here."

Megatron and Arcee looked at him deadpanned.

"What? I paid attention to the fads of human culture too. Can't stick me on a planet and not expect me to observe everything."

King Kronos and the other younglings, Eclipse and the four Cybertronians-turned-Kanjians, came into the crowded throne room and he clapped twice to get their attention. Blossom and Ghost waited with resolve while Poltergeist had an impatient scowl upon his features.

"Now then, if anyone is squeamish...Spirit...I suggest you turn your backs now. Tigressa needs to be transported through here and she's not in great condition."

The Kronos children didn't budge as Arcee stood next to Ghost who she knew tolerated her at least. Just then, the hovering berth with Tigressa's broken form moved through and the gash in her spark chamber where Megatron had struck her saving Arcee was on display. Most of the siblings were neutral, maybe slightly shocked to find their oldest sister had died. Some like Ghost were very stoic about it, and then there was Firefox who didn't know entirely what was going on. She gleefully pointed at Tigressa as thinking her sister was back to stay, but Entity placed a servo on hers and guided it back down, shaking his head in a nice manner which Firefox understood wasn't a joyful thing.

One thing Arcee noticed was the count of Kronos children was even numbered. Tigressa was the only one deceased among twelve born and four adopted. Sixteen total children and only fourteen were present...where was Tigressa's twin brother? Even Farseer, who walked through the throne room's doors with Queen Kiara behind the dead, bothered to show up to Tigressa's exhumation and transport. Just then, everyone went silent as the doors on the opposite side of the room burst open. Arcee panicked and nearly brought out her weapons thinking the Cybertronian Predator had returned, but the black and red striped Ridgeback had a more mechanoid appearance than it. They were almost identical still and that threw her off greatly.

The assumed twin of Tigressa froze as he saw her body on the slab surrounded by guards. He looked angered and confused more than sad. In a heavy, gruff voice, he sneered, "Who did this?"

Ghost replied, "Demon, it's not a matter of who-"

"It always matters who. Tigressa is still my twin, my other half regardless," Demon said, flattening his ears against his head.

"Didn't seem to bother you an hour ago," Electrohyena snapped. "Hell, even Firefox showed up before they retrieved Tigressa and fixed up Phantasmos, and she doesn't even know why she's here!"

When she gestured at the orangish red and white femme, the latter had her glossa hanging out and merely perked up at hearing her name. Entity stroked the side of her head and whispered something. Firefox got up and waved at her older brother and sister unaware the comments were more in a negative light. Electrohyena grinned and still gestured while giving Demon an "I told you so" raise of a brow.

"Enough," Queen Kiara said politely. When they continued to argue, her pink optics grew bright. "Enough!"

They listened to her then as King Kronos took over. "We are here to mourn, not belittle others for any choice in the matter. Arcee, Megatron, and Bolt have all helped recover her, repaying their debt for now. It was Tigressa who killed herself with her decisions. Even though I'm not pleased myself, I cannot deny this logic because we all know it to be true."

Demon snorted distastefully; his tail swinging agitated. Of course, he wouldn't take kindly to that response to his sibling's misdeeds. That gave Arcee the impression he wouldn't blame anyone but the Cybertronians, delusional of his own twin's terrors.

As the body of Tigressa was moved out, most all the Kronos children cleared out to head elsewhere among the palace to collect their thoughts on the situation. The only ones that stuck around were Phantasmos, Firefox, Entity, and Demon. Eclipse was ordered to take the other younglings out to play to distract them from the drama.

"As good as it was to see you all together again, this isn't how I would have imagined a reunion," Phantasmos awkwardly rubbed his neck.

Demon lightened up just for his baby brother and retorted, "As long as we don't lose you, that's all that matters."

Arcee could tell the indirect jab at her and Megatron was intentional, but she refused to let him spite her. "So, just to change the mood, um, which one of the siblings is older or younger than you? I understand who are twins but who came first again?"

Rolling his optics, the red striped Ridgeback huffed, "Tigressa and I are the oldest...at least I am now. Blossom and Poltergeist, Electrohyena and Spirit, Firefox and Entity, Kalypso and Ghost, and finally Eclipse and Phantasmos."

Bolt scoffed, "Why are all the mechs named after terms for the dead?"

King Kronos corrected him, "Actually, it was more of a gag naming as I kept forgetting the twin clause and I named Demon that because he and Tigressa were a bit of a handful. The rest were poorly planned surprises. Hence why both my doctors and my shaman got away with hitting me after telling me to stop."

"Gee, thanks, sire," Phantasmos snickered.

"I'm not the best at names..."

Queen Kiara giggled, "But they are cute."

Demon grew flushed. "Mother, please..."

Firefox cooed at her father and King Kronos held her next to his side smiling which led Megatron to ask rather insensitively, "So, what's up with her?"

Entity coughed, "Um, when Firefox and I were developing, we were born...different. I have a very mild form of it, mostly off and on little quirks, but Firefox's processor is underdeveloped. She can understand words, she can register gestures and other things, but she cannot give consent to anything of her own free will nor does she have the capability of living on her own. No matter what we tried, she also just never picked up talking, mostly noises if anything. Since I'm the only one who knows her situation best, I chose to take care of her. As long as she's happy, as I am proud of her, I don't mind. It's easier for me to relate to her anyways; I don't have many friends to talk to, but she listens."

Firefox looked at Arcee and tilted her head. Arcee mimicked that just to see the larger femme smile. The queen was suddenly swept up into a hug, one unfortunately that began crushing her. Entity tapped on Firefox's arm to get her attention. With a soft shake of his head once he made eye contact with his twin, he crossed his arms lightly to show Firefox how to hug and the femme slowly untightened her grip to hold the smaller femme.

"O-Okay, okay, it's...that's better," Arcee whimpered though she hid the pain. "You are stronger than you look."

Firefox purred as she let Arcee drop down.

"What about Tigressa? What will you do with her now that she's back on Kanjis?" Bolt asked.

"We will bury her accordingly," Queen Kiara said. "But in the meantime, perhaps you could do something for me in regard to my late daughter. There are fourteen temples outside of Gemelo's district, all built by the community as a place of tranquility. Each of the temples were modeled after my family. Within each temple, a symbol of our powers was entombed within to represent each element as a monument to all with that particular ability. For instance, I can control and manipulate light. Those that have similar find my temple...well, enlightening, to put the pun to good use. If one of you can bring back each of the relics of the temples, we can give Tigressa a proper send off. We'll return them once we are done."

Queen Kiara demonstrated by raising her servo to the chandelier above and the light among it streaked downward into a swirl of energy. The light then danced around her before dissipating, the chandelier's light resuming.

Arcee nodded, "We can do that. No problem."

Demon didn't look like he agreed with the idea, but he sighed dreadfully when his mother shot him a look. "And I guess I can provide the coordinates to each. Just don't expect me to tell you how to navigate them. Though some might be out of your range. After all, I doubt you can get up the cliffs without claws-"

Phantasmos interrupted, "Actually, she will be able to. Arcee, I forgot to mention I finished the form-shifter right before my sire got a little cranky from the discovery of Tigressa. It's ready when you are."

Megatron gave Arcee a thumbs up as Moonhunter mewled curiously. Seeing the support of her peers and a respectful nod from King Kronos himself, she agreed. "Let's give it a try then."

Phantasmos grew excited and almost ran out of the room shouting for her to follow much to his parents' amusement. All three Cybertronians and Moonhunter ran after him, and he activated the stairwell next to his statue. Almost tripping, Phantasmos scurried quickly to his desk and to the right of it, a large machine was hooked up to the wall. Arcee paused within a hundred feet of it growing unsure as the dragon mech typed in the codes to get it active.

"I used the old port of the previous version and merged it with a new hyperdrive which will boost its power tenfold and make the ability project faster on you. With the techno-organic base of the Tera Core, it should trans-modify your system as well allowing a seamless switch between forms. All you have to do is walk in and let it do its thing."

Phantasmos' smile dropped when he saw she held some fear of the prospect and slowly offered his servo. "Do you trust me?"

Arcee took a second to gather her fears about the potential of his experiment backfiring but since he had made it before and had four Cybertronians successfully converted to Kanjian frames, he knew what he was doing enough to not put her in danger. She sucked up that unease and took his servo. He guided her in and sealed the door.

Megatron frowned, "Are you sure about this?"

"I mean I haven't...tested it but it's the exact same formula schematics with some improved tweaks so..."

Phantasmos made a weird shrug to Megatron's horror and pressed the button on the console. The machine turned on, electricity coursing rapidly across the frame. The screens showed Arcee's molecular armor, and several spots began glowing red. One went through a whole category of different breeds of animal frame types, matching her structure to what it calculated she would look like. The system recognized various attributes on top of physical appearance, making side screens for each individual perk like her natural speed and agility. Phantasmos grinned at the specs but frowned as Megatron gripped the console almost to the point of breaking the edge of it. They couldn't see within the chamber and the noise of the machine muted anything Arcee said until it gave a loud beep. Its energy died and slowly, the door hissed open.

Bolt got close to it as steam rolled out. "Arcee? You okay?"

"I wouldn't stand too close," Phantasmos warned. "When the others first form-shifted, it took them a second to take control of their-"

Blue optics with pink outlines much more vibrant than before emitted through the smoke. An animalistic growl rumbled across the laboratory, and Phantasmos scooted to the side out of the way knowing what was going to happen. Bolt was lunged at and pinned by pink-clawed servos. Fangs among pink lips and cat-like ears were pulled back. A tail, thin and flexible, whipped around with the beastformer's tense posture looming over the Vehicon.

"A-Arcee?!"

Right as Phantasmos came around thinking she was focusing on Bolt, he suddenly got a punch in the face and had to twist the edges of his mouth uncomfortably. "What the hell?!"

Arcee stood up, her blue armor with black jaguar spots and tiny pink speckles glimmering in the light as she scowled, "You never tested it?!"

Phantasmos readjusted his jaw before snarling back. "And do you think I'm stupid enough to let you go in it without it being safe?! I was joking! I knew it worked!...So, how's the Kanjian form?"

Once she calmed down, Arcee went to a reflective window of a transportation device and looked at herself. She retained the same initial frame type but had paws instead of pedes. Her winglets were transformed into the upper legs of her beast mode, her head crest containing the red gem now split horns with the gem in the middle of her forehead instead, and the feline tail ran from the lower spine down with her hip plating barbed. The outline of a big cat's head made up her chest with the supposed eyes where her vehicle mode's headlights once were.

"This...is trippy."

Bolt muttered still on the ground, "Is it weird that I have conflicted feelings about you right now?"

Phantasmos chuckled, "Well, you certainly look like you were born here. Try transforming."

She did as directed and saw the world from a new perspective, including herself. She was a blue and black jaguar with pink highlight among her optics, ear tips, spots, tail and feet. She raised a paw to touch her face, flinching when she noticed she could sense herself through her paw pads. She circled just to get the feeling of motion, finding the quadrupedal movements foreign but certainly an advantage in the terrain as Phantasmos had said prior. She turned back into her robot mode and grinned.

"I think I can live with this. And I can shift back into my regular self at any time, right?"

The youngling nodded, "There should be an indicator within your processor about that."

He was right and she flipped as her armor converted back to Cybertronian mode. Seeing her claws gone and no ill side effects of the form-shifting, Arcee laughed to herself. "I suppose I'll take it for a test drive. I'll find Kiara's temple relics, you two...and you, Moonhunter...stay with Phantasmos to keep a look out for any more Metal Heads. I kind of want to do this without distractions if you guys don't mind."

Megatron simply gestured, "I get it. Learn with your beast mode...but make sure you can show it off to Grimlock and Predaking when we get back home. That will be funny to see the looks on their faces when you come in as a beast."

"Ha, you were thinking the same thing I was," she laughed. "I'll be quick."

Phantasmos quickly yelled as she left, "Remember, any abilities you have might not work in your Kanjian form though! That's where the translation can get a little lost!"

She gave him a thumbs up at ran up the stairwell, form-shifting back into her Kanjian mode. Right before she reached the exit to the palace into Gemelo, she slid to a halt.

"Arcee," Silos purred, "I got the Rift Ring thanks to you. Tigressa's memory will live on as will her accomplishments in her lifecycle. But that's not why I called. I need you to pick up something of importance to me. In the castle, there is a vault in the upper corridors. When I worked as the Captain of the Royal Guard, I had some of my belongings placed inside per the kindness of the king. I need one of them back. The Precursor Spark was a trophy of mine in a battle on Kyran Pass in the southern part of the world when we had invaders from Avia Metra, a tyrannical, lunatic asylum of a planet. Hurry and get me that trophy because the Metal Heads are about to begin their assault on the city, and I would hate to lose it."

"Sounds like you have your priorities settled," she scowled.

"Come on, it's me. When have I thought of anyone besides myself?"

As she searched for a way to get to the upper chambers, she asked, "This Precursor Spark. What was it from? The term 'Precursor' sounds familiar."

The Metal Head laughed, "So many questions but I'll indulge you. The Precursor Spark came from a robot designed to mimic Kronos' species, the Ridgeback. It came in several sizes, but its origin is...out of this universe, let's just say. Those Metrians got ahold of a large vessel and reprogrammed it to take on Kronos. It failed as it didn't account that living metal like you don't have to rely on primitive directives and calculations to counter enemies. I took out the robot myself and claimed the spark as mine."

"Enough talk now, where am I heading?"

"Do you see a statue of a planetary system? Several planets orbiting two globes like on that beautiful fountain of Kronos' beloved wife? And yes, that was in that same front gate when I served the crown. Not a lot changed here."

Arcee ran down a few different halls looking everywhere in the darkened castle lit by moonlight. She passed one hall and quickly backtracked seeing a yellow, blue, and mixed green overlaying light on the floor. Running towards it, she found a giant atrium with the two binary suns and all the planets orbiting, suspended midair by some type of energy field almost like magic. It was floating above a few levels seen below her past the guardrail and just over her level with three levels spanning higher than its placement and a ceiling painting at the top of a Ridgeback with orangish-red stripes. In the corner of the painting, a younger, smaller King Kronos and three other young Ridgebacks were posed on it. She wondered where his other siblings were if he ruled the galaxy.

"I see it," she said.

"Right on your level, through the doors, and should be immediately down a left corridor."

Arcee went through the only set of doors on the level on the righthand side and saw two pathways, one was indeed the left. As she turned the corner, she expected guards but there were none. Suspicious, she carefully kept herself alert approaching the doors at the end of the hall and noticed a voice lock was on it.

"Axtruevatu onga'est vêlu'u-a nor Cêros Silos."

Hearing Silos speak in fluent Rozarian threw her off. "What?"

"Put me on speaker and you will see." She did so and he repeated, "Axtru-e-vatu onga'est vêlu'u-a nor Cêros Silos."

Watching the voice module's wavelengths stretch made her smirk even though she didn't understand it. Then the doors retracted their deadbolts and levers, swinging open slowly to give her time to back away. In a chamber on a pedestal, a green orb sat there and at first, she really thought it was a spark until she got closer. The synthetic spark held something within its glass with cabling and wires. A real spark was pure energy, not a globe. She took it in hand and placed it in her subspace.

"Keep a hold of it until I need you to bring me it. I might just sell it to the highest bidder. But then again, who's to say? Now, close that door and don't been seen by anyone until you get back to the lower levels. I don't need Kronos sniffing around my property any more than he has."

"What do you mean 'has?'"

Silos bit his tongue quite fast before snarling, "Nothing of importance! Just leave it! Go-!"

He cut out and the demand left Arcee peeved. She shut the door and ran back down as fast as she could. She planned on hitting the temples when suddenly, sirens across the city rang out and she saw guards running towards the exit like she had planned. When she reached the outside, all the citizens were on high alert themselves. The shaking of Kronos' footsteps drew more aggressive and by the time he was outside, several people, including herself, were flat on their asses.

"What's going on?!"

Arcee tensed as she thought she was in trouble for taking the Precursor Spark but then the recognizable roars of the Metal Heads echoed against the sirens. From what she gathered, the Metal Heads last time stormed the outskirts of the city with Tigressa during the Kanjian war. It seemed they learned from their previous mistake and spawned through space bridges directed into the heart of the city.

Metal Beasts and larger Horaquan touched down shaking their bodies with growls before unleashing their fury. Their cannons on their backs fired towards the palace as they slowly converged on it. Then a newer species of Metal Head came through. Giant Metal-pedes, identical in structure to the omnipedes, roared as they hit the ground and trampled on everything that stood in their way. Arcee realized most all the Metal Head species resembled many of the beast forms and creatures of Kanjis. It made sense Tigressa would create them based on what she knew. Rhynos and Ramheads from Rozarians, Metal-pedes from omnipedes, Metal Mammoths from monogoliaths, Metal Runners from Dinobots and so on. Every Metal Head in existence was based on those around her.

The Kronos siblings all flew into the picture, landing harshly onto the streets in front of their sire. The Royal Guards with their shimmering armor already had their weapons out. Not many citizens ran from the creatures which Arcee expected from them given their history. She was startled when King Kronos gave off a massive roar like a call to arms. Suddenly, Arcee spotted trees in the outskirts growing unnerved, their roots twisting and coiling above and below ground ready to claim anything that dared to set foot on their land. The Metalwoods in the garden even gave off irate bellows though they probably weren't much help on those pillars.

Entity gestured at the oncoming enraged Metal-pedes who snapped their mandibles aggressively. "Firefox, smoke them!"

The ditzy femme wagged her tail before igniting herself on fire. When one of the Metal-pedes came too close, Firefox grabbed its head and tackled it. As soon as it opened its mouth to try and bite her, a beam of molten fire erupted from her throat and roasted the squealing creature inside out. When she shoved it down, its flesh and blood oozed out like lava.

The citizens of Gemelo quickly grew agitated and some transformed into their beast modes to counter the predators. An elephant mech grabbed the tail of a Metal Grunt and flung it straight into a building, leaving a grueling blood stain as it slid down from the cracks it had produced. However, while the Kanjians were familiar with the Metal Heads, the latter was also aware of the tactics of their oldest enemies.

They ganged up on a Ridgeback couple trying to bite through the armor into the protoform to infect them. The Ridgeback femme made her armor grow flowers that hissed poisonous gas, watching with a smirk as the Metal Heads pestering her dropped dead. However, her mate wasn't as lucky and was bitten in the neck. Realizing this, the mech refused to let himself hurt her and said a small goodbye, not flinching as she shot all the Metal Heads on him and then blasted him through the chest when his eyes began to mutate. The femme was shocked and saddened but held her composure as more Metal heads approached.

Bolt brought out his axe and ran beside the Rozarians who refused to leave their neighboring planet's defense. As proud warriors, they were more than capable of fighting against such beasts. The Zevyerians were not equipped to fight against them let alone a Kanjian however. The humanoid species took cover as their hosts guarded them with snarls. The Royal Guards joined their crusade and did fancy maneuvers in their attacks, slicing up Metal Heads like pieces of meat.

"We will not let those monsters terrorize us again! Take them down by any means necessary!" King Kronos declared. Like a dinner bell, the Cybertronians witnessed firsthand the brutality of the world of beastformers.

Even though it was the bane of night, Arcee saw the Kanjians had no troubles pinpointing enemies as all of them had nocternal vision. The Metal Head skull gems and glowing eyes might have been the only way to spot them without accidentally running into them in an alley but they were prominently loud, boisterous creatures when feral. The virus wanted to kill; it didn't care much for being silent and stealthy.

The plant-based Kanjians gestured towards the ground and each had roots and vines squirming beneath the streets until they found a suitable target. Once discovered, the plants swiftly grabbed a hold of the Metal Heads and the Kanjians watched in deadly satisfaction as the creatures were dragged into the soil, bones and metal crunching against parts that couldn't fit into the initial holes formed. Now Arcee knew what the guards had meant previously when they said no Cybertronian got as far as the city border in their failed conquest, and that time it was just by regular trees.

Ghost used his mind to control anything he desired, raising rocks and even manipulating the infrastructure to bend to his whim. When the building pieces started striking the Metal Heads without warning to the monsters' confusion, it was Ghost who was doing so. He stomped a pede on the ground, sending cracks rippling across the street and gestured both servos expanded horizontally. The ground rumbled before he shoved them down. A massive ripple effect caused most Metal Heads to go stumbling and pushed back.

Arcee joined it, taking out Dagger Prima this time as the blade wanted some action, she could sense. Running up off Electrohyena's back when she leaned forward to zap a cluster of Ramheads, the blue femme came down to strike the skull gem. Megatron was right behind her cutting down three Grunts and catching the fist of a Ceturion. Twisting it, he forced its own fist back towards its head and flipped the creature. He then shot it, skull gem popping up it clatter against the metal.

When Arcee tried to summon her Heat Seeker ability, an error message displayed on her HUD to her confusion. It seemed to not work in her Kanjian mode. Growling, she instead used her enhanced predatory agility of the Kanjian form to dodge and impale the Grunts that got in her way. When the air around her grew stale and heard the Metal Heads in her area struggling to breathe, she peered back to see Spirit surrounded. In his panic, he was drawing all forms of air out of their bodies, suffocating them in an instant as their lungs and other organs that required circulation with any type of gas constricted. A whole mass of them dropped dead and he shivered nervously. Arcee was scarred seeing their eyes turn from yellow to near green, something she had never witnessed before, and she feared if Spirit was on Earth, he could accidentally kill every human in a certain vicinity that relied on oxygen within seconds. Thankfully, he didn't seem like a bot who would do it out of malice.

"Hey," she called out, "you're doing great, buddy!"

Spirit formed a small smile at the compliment, growing in confidence a little. Electrohyena patted his shoulder to assure him as well.

Arcee transformed into her jaguar mode and tackled a Rapid Gunner from behind, using her teeth to tear out its jugular to protect a Zevyerian male who was forced into a corner hissing. He saluted her and urged a few others hidden behind him to flee.

Rozarian warriors used their mass to break several Metal Heads by landing on their bodies. The underbellies of the females deflected blaster fire as the males hid behind them to charge. Once close enough, two Rozarians jumped out and used thick width swords like Silos had to slice up their enemies. One of them even rotated the blades like a vertical helicopter motion to shred the monsters he cornered, merely smirking as blood was splattered everywhere.

Megatron and Bolt joined Arcee with the latter saying, "They are bringing in everything they have this time. I think their main target is the king though. All the big Metal Heads are going his way. That tells me it's personal compared to us."

"As if that'll work out in their favor," Megatron sneered. "I say just sit back and watch this time. He's obviously fought worse."

Arcee was about to argue when she saw Phantasmos running off with Eclipse and the other younglings out from the city. She doubted they could last against an army of Horaquan alone and immediately sprinted off after them.

"Wha-where are you going?! Arcee?!"

Bolt and his former leader exchanged confused glances until a roar caught their attention. The Vehicon twirled his axe and slammed the end on the ground growling while Megatron prepared his fusion cannon baring his fangs.

---

Arcee ran in her beast mode and found it faster than her vehicle. She had more control in her turns and could jump onto buildings and other objects without having to convert back to robot mode. Her senses were heightened to the max, able to hear movement and distinct voices a mile away and could smell scents of anyone she needed. Currently, she held the scent of Phantasmos who smelled like fresh snow. Tracking him was easy, but understanding why he was running out of the city with five other kids was questionable.

Arcee crossed a bridge out into the forest that led her on a path she was most unfamiliar with. The dark made her senses quiver that she was being watched. Back out in the open, the path led to a hydro dam and Phantasmos was near a feather-winged cat youngling she had never seen before. The silver-blue femme with blue optics adored with various spots among black sockets like a starry night sky gave the mech a quick peck on the cheek until they heard the growls of the Metal Heads coming up from behind Arcee. Arcee's ears pressed against her head as one Grunt tried to tackle her. She backed away snarling viciously as more Metal Heads crawled towards her and the younglings hungrily.

"Arcee, what are you doing here?! Luna, get back!" Phantasmos exclaimed.

To the young mech's dismay, Luna pushed past him and marched past Arcee unafraid. The queen was about to scold her too when her eyes twisted to appear like galaxies, the spots among them glittering like stars. As soon as she made eye contact with a Metal Head and began singing a Kanjian lullaby, the monster's aggression faded. Arcee watched in awe as the Grunt's optics changed from yellow to blue and made curious noises. A few more Metal Heads tried to approach her, but she stared them down. Once they laid eyes among her own and heard her tune, they were bewitched.

"What...? What's happening right now?" Arcee said still in her beast mode.

Draco laughed, "Oh, you don't know?"

Frowning, she glared at him. "Enlighten me...I guess?"

Nighthawk said, "Lunaria, Luna for short as she prefers, is the offspring of a Kanjian Common and a Swansong. She has her sire's vocal abilities but with a twist. Instead of just hearing the song, anyone that makes contact with her eyes while hearing the tune becomes hypnotized and can do her bidding."

"Meaning don't look at her, stupid," Spike grinned.

As several Metal Heads were under Luna's command, the young femme narrowed her optics to look past them, and they turned towards the rest of the pack. Her sweet voice spiked in octave and the blue-eyed Metal Heads lunged at the other monsters. Seeing the Horaquan tear each other apart limb by limb with no restraints or time to think about how they wanted to do it was like watching a massacre. Luna grinned at the sight, and Arcee noticed Phantasmos looked lovesick. The evil Metal Heads were quickly dispersed by the unbridled and unfeeling enslaved ones. Once they were just dead bodies on the road, the hypnotized lot stood huffing and bleeding but didn't dare move until Luna commanded them too. Instead, she snapped her fingers and to Arcee's horror, they began dismantling themselves or hurting the others.

Luna made a small hum as the last Metal Head shot itself and turned with a childish giggle, "Poetic, a monster's madness cannot escape itself."

Phantasmos' tail wagged as she got closer before he remembered Arcee was there and coughed, "Oh, uh, Arcee, this is Luna. She and her carrier are friends of my family. Her carrier is a guard and she-"

"I met Phantasmos when we were both sparklings. No one wanted to babysit a half-breed of a Swansong thinking I was too dangerous. I mean, they aren't wrong, but I wouldn't use my powers against others out of sheer spite. King Kronos and Queen Kiara offered a playdate with Phantasmos during my carrier's shifts at the palace and we've been together ever since."

"W-Well, we, uh, grew on one another and it's become a bit more than friendship," the dragon mech said tapping his fingers together and blushing.

Luna pressed her cheek against his, both purring. "And I don't regret the transition either."

Spike stuck out his glossa sick. "Get a room, you motherf-!"

The sound of trees breaking had the younglings huddling near one another before a giant Metal-pede burst out the treeline. It raised up rattling its armor as its five yellow eyes targeted each of the kids. Arcee transformed into robot mode then converted back to Cybertronian form to activate her blasters.

"Arcee, you have to protect this dam too! I came here to make sure those monsters wouldn't disrupt the hydro system that powers the cities along this river. If this goes out, the damage is irreparable," Luna stated.

She nodded silently as she was also cautious of the massive waterfall the dam produced. One slip could end in disaster or leave her stranded and the children vulnerable. It screeched, saliva dripping from thick fangs revealed from outstretched mandibles.

"Oh, by the gods, that thing is ugly," Spike mumbled.

"Kids, get out of here! I'll handle this!"

Nighthawk looked between Arcee and her friends before running up behind the former and revealing her rapid-fire blaster. "You saved my life last time, I won't let you do this alone again!"

The other younglings all growled at the Metal-pede before Eclipse reached out towards the dark pink water. With a twirl and a shout, a cascade of it flew by her once she gestured at the centipede-like monster and hit its chin sending it backwards. Spike used its pause to shake off the hit to stomp on the ground with a cackle. Arcee was lifted by a flying Phantasmos to prevent getting struck by the shockwave of energy Spike produced that quickly coursed towards the Metal Head.

"Let's see if you can tell illusion from reality," Spike hissed, his irises shrinking.

Once the energy touched the Metal-pede, the dam began to swell and wobble in its delusion. It swayed like it was on a rocking boat. It whimpered as it stumbled and Phantasmos let Arcee drop onto it. She brought Dagger Prima down on its head. The downside was the creature had a thick skull. The blade pierced but did little damage. The Metal-pede then bucked with a roar, tossing its head in every direction. She hopped off right as Phantasmos shot a beam of ice as it. Its head froze but its body continued to flail. It almost fell off the edge of the dam but unfortunately backed away just in time.

Breaking the ice, the Metal-pede was still tripping as Eclipse pelted it with quick strikes of water. Arcee was the only bot who got close to it, grabbing its mandibles and smashing its head down repeatedly. In rage, it swatted her off it and rubbed its eyes with a whine. Finally, the effects of the delusion wore off. It hissed, snapping at Arcee. She was almost struck in her abdomen by a miscalculated move on her part. With a swing of its tail, it managed to hit Serpentine and the youngling screamed, clinging to the edge of the dam. The other younglings rushed to her aid, but the Metal-pede took it as an opportunity, pushing Arcee off her feet and whipping around to head towards its prey. Right before it could strike the green femme, Draco's optics flashed and time around the Metal Head slowed considerably. He raced to Serpentine and grabbed her arm, hoisting her up and out of the way. The bubble dispersed and the Metal-pede struck at nothing except a piece of metal of the dam's frame.

Annoyed, it turned around only for Arcee to slide under it. She impaled Dagger Prima into its throat and ran down ten feet of its length ripping a sizable gash in its underbelly. The Metal-pede went wide eyed and squealed, tossing and turning then slamming down on its front roaring. Arcee used one of its many legs to flip out of its warpath prior and snarled. Then she emerged her blasters again, this time activating the Heat Seeker ability, watching the yellow light course from her spark to the left blaster.

She twisted out of its strike zone as it chased her, firing at it with her normal right blaster and searching for the right moment to pay it back. As it followed her across the dam, it left a trail of blood in its wake. Parts of it began to drag across the dirt but it refused to yield.

Phantasmos then yelled, "Let's have a little fun!"

He punched the ground and the entire surface of the dam and into parts of the forest on both sides turned icy. Arcee took a second to readjust, scrambling to regain balance. Once she got a hold of the motions needed, she skated with a smirk and tried not to laugh. Phantasmos and Luna giggled as they swung around hand in hand, their claws on their feet the perfect control on such an element even though they were still at risk of the danger. The Metal-pede's many legs had trouble finding traction and miserably slid on the surface, falling a few times and smearing the purple sludge. Some of its interior organs sticking out tried sticking to the ice. One part of it did and it whimpered in its bad luck. It broke free at the expense of heavier blood flow from torn skin and entrails.

Spike slid past it and sent a distasteful gesture which it hissed at, but the youngling didn't care. Growing irate, the Metal-pede clambered along the ledge despite the damage done to its underside and head. Even covered in blood, it rose up to strike again, but Arcee wasn't having it.

"This time, stay down."

She raced at it with her Heat Seeker ability still active. It stumbled to meet her but didn't expect Draco to call out to Serpentine for aid. The youngling came from the side and, using the energy levitation powers she possessed, lifted the Metal-pede with all her might. The monster struggled and she groaned, but Arcee used a loose tree to bounce off and kicked the Metal-pede off the side of the dam while following it. She flipped and aimed. Her bio lights roared yellow as the power of the sun converged into her weapon. Right as the Metal-pede hit the water, she fired.

The blast caused a huge burst of water to go as high as the dam, splashing all the younglings. When they looked down, the disturbed water was tainted nearly black but the blood of the Metal-pede was too dense to flow downward though they weren't sure if it was dead or not.

"See any Energon?" Spike smirked, making his friends shoot him multiple glares.

Arcee gasped as she broke the surface and paddled to the shore.

"Are you okay?" Nighthawk shouted as the younglings each made their way down to the shore.

Walking up to her as she was dripping wet and shook as much access water off as she could, Phantasmos and Luna nearly toppled her to hug her.

"Guys, guys, guys, you weigh more than me! You are going to kill me!" She continued laughing when the others tried to cuddle her. "Okay, we really need to get you back to the city. I know the dam is important, but I think Kronos would be more scared if all of you are out in the open and in danger."

"My sire isn't scared of anything," Eclipse bragged.

Once she got her space, she pointed at the cat femme. "Trust me, us adults fear one thing, okay, and that is endangerment of loved ones. We won't admit it out loud, but we get scared more than you think, and it's good to be scared. Keeps you aware of everything around you more. And I've been afraid more times than I can count."

Draco understood and nodded, "My sire was relieved when he reunited with me. The look on his face…now that I think about it, he was happy but frightened."

"He had probably been afraid of everything you've been through that he couldn't be there to help you when you were in danger. Yes, even big Decepticons like Thundercracker can be fearful, kid. I've seen a different variety of such…under certain circumstances."

The Seekerling laughed, "You can say you terrorized my sire. I'm not that naïve."

Arcee smirked and seeing all the faces of bright, young kids looking up to her made her spark burn. She was never a child person but maybe she had Jack and the other human kids to blame for her change of heart.

Leading them back to the city, they kept low watching the Dinobots storming in to fight the Metal Heads with Farseer roaring. One of her banners among her horns was ripped and the upper horn it had been attached to had claw marks. Her horns lit up and she manipulated all around her, parts of damaged buildings and rock orbited her like a makeshift shield. She motioned at several chunks to shoot at the Metal Heads. A Metal Beast most vile shrugged off the hits and growled. Farseer was in no mood to face a monster like that. She realigned the rubble to instead shift all at once. The pieces covered and fused onto the Beast's body until it was nearly a walking statue, slowing to whine as the pieces dug through its skin.

"Entity, now!"

The black and orange Ridgeback landed in front of her and using the moonlight, he gathered it to turn into a concentrated heat source among himself. A blast of fire stronger than even a Dinobot's flames poured over the Metal Beast's body. The rock and metal building materials were seared onto it instantly, and the heat trapped among it that couldn't escape cooked it alive with cries of agony echoing. The blaster on its back melted, and the Beast was frozen from the instant cooling of the air. If the Metal Head wasn't dead, it was stuck in limbo to starve in its unlimited pain, a fate worse than death.

Arcee made sure among the chaos, all the younglings were escorted back to the palace. A Metal Head spotted them but before Arcee could shoot it, Nighthawk stepped in front of her and laughed, spawning a portal beneath it. The monster made a stunned grunt before helplessly falling into it. She closed the portal and turned to Arcee.

"Pays to be related to the master of teleportation, right?"

Skywarp was indeed a difficult foe. Seeing all these younglings with near identical powers to people Arcee knew and seeing new and unexplained abilities she would have no clue how to counter was amazing but a bit frightening. If any of them were to, by a sliver of a chance, be a future enemy, she believed she might have her work cut out for her with the newer generation.

"Stay here and let the adults handle the rest," she ordered. When a majority of the younglings didn't fuss, she took their mixed silence as a yes and ran back out into the fight.

Blossom stood out in the open giggling to herself as Metal Heads thought she was an easy target but as Arcee knew, that was far from the truth. Once a few cocky Centurions and Spyder Gunners gathered with their weapons aimed at her, she bowed politely. Then her stargazer lilies on her head ruffled. The blue trees and brush cackled and groaned as their wood splintered to move. The Metal Heads whimpered as several limbs caught them, some began tearing them apart while Blossom got an idea and merely gestured upward. The trees threw two Metal Heads untouched right over the palace walls and straight into the gardens.

Arcee barely got a glance at it, but the Metal Heads were grabbed midair by the Metalwoods on the pillars. She mumbled to herself, "Ah, poor things…"

The Metal Heads tried to bite the limbs of the growling trees as they were lifted. When they paused in their assault to notice the Metalwoods were waiting for them to stop, they grew confused. At that moment, one of them was abruptly whacked against the side of the pillar repeatedly. The Metalwood did it so atrociously, armor and blood were going everywhere. The Metal Head was quickly silenced in any of its protests. Once a large puddle of sludge was running down the pillar's side and the Metalwood sensed no movement from its prey, it launched them miles into the sky like a whip. The other Metalwood swiftly broke anything it could until the Metal Head's arm socket was dislocated, and it was limp in the tree's hold. Throwing the body away with a sound almost like a cackle, both the Metalwoods cleaned themselves off and grew content being left alone again.

Arcee blinked, the memory of seeing the deer on the isle suffering the same brutal fate resonated in her processor. The fact that Blossom would let a Metalwood take a victim was cruel but worked as a tactic. She could only imagine that she weaponized her gardens to entomb and dismember the Metal Heads that dared to step in there again.

She saw Bolt swing his axe on the neck of a Metal Head before throwing it into the chest of one trying to come up from behind. Megatron grabbed the axe and threw it back into the Vehicon's grasp quickly before turning his cannon to go into the mouth of a Ramhead and blew out its brains. Skull gems littered the ground like jewels. Seeing her boys working together made her proud.

Arcee ran to King Kronos as the mech punched a Metal Beast shattering its jaw and sending it flying off. He then grabbed its snout and placed a foot on its side to pushing onto the dirt. Holding it still, he broke its neck with ease. Queen Kiara had a sword while Kronos seemed to prefer his bare servos.

"Your Highness-"

"Just call me Kronos right now! It'll make it easier for you, trust me!"

"Kronos, be on the lookout for any abnormal species. Usually, the Metal Head Leader sends them out after me or I guess in this case, you're more their enemy, no offense. The commanders will do anything-"

King Kronos paused and stared at her. "Commanders…? That title doesn't exist in the Horaquan legion. The only person I know of who called the Elite Heads 'Commanders' was…Ceros Silos."

Arcee was surprised upon learning that. That made her want to know how much Kronos knew of Silos' role in the faction.

He bowed his head like he had been shot, occasionally looking up to make sure the Metal Heads were too preoccupied by others to bother them before gesturing Arcee to go to the side, his wife covering them alongside Demon and Poltergeist.

"How do you know of Silos' terminology? How do you know any of this?" Kronos asked with a mix of worry and distrust in his voice.

She came up with the best thing she could and hoped for the best. "Tigressa mentioned him as did Kor on the isle…right before I had to kill her. Bolt only knew him by name just trying to search information on her; we technically didn't know anything beyond his name. I heard of the term 'Commander' from Kor. I thought it was referencing a specific person but it wasn't until we started fighting specialized Metal Heads unique among the populace. I put together that commanders were those things."

He looked disbelieving but seemed to drop it. "Kor, Sephtis, was a trusted figure among Rozaria. The fact the you met him as well brings me to think you're hiding something else. But I don't have time to argue it out of you. Just heed this: if you have any more secrets about the Metal Heads, I will find out and I hope you understand entangling yourself with them regardless can lead to terrible consequences."

"Yeah, you're not the first to warn me about that."

"Then maybe I'll be the last," he frowned. "We'll talk later."

The king turned to see his queen move a few Zevyerians to safety while pursued by a Metal Beast that tried to fire at her. It hit the castle instead as Queen Kiara ducked onto all fours. With a mighty roar, the white and dark blue Razorback leaned on her side facing away from the monster before leaning to the other, using the momentum to swipe her tail right into the head. The Beast collapsed from the force and slid a few meters. Slamming her tail back down, she shook the streets.

Above them all, Kanjian flyers weaved among the skyscrapers and through the floating objects held up by energy as they moved to divebomb the Metal Heads. Arcee ran to Megatron who was laughing as he fired at almost anything that moved.

"How's it going," she asked as she pulled out her double-bladed sword.

"Uh, Bolt's on a murder spree, I'm on a murder spree...we're doing pretty fine right now. How about you?" Megatron smirked.

"Been better, Kronos is still upset."

"Of course..." Bolt said on the side.

"He knows about Kor and Silos as well."

Megatron's face dropped after he fired one last shot. His brows furrowed and tilted his helm to the side with an unknown expression. "Kor was on the isle, this Silos who I haven't really heard much about was not. So how could he know about someone we don't?"

Arcee mentally slapped herself and Megatron dropped his arm uncaring if a Metal Head up and attacked him right now. He shook his head as he came to the conclusion she feared.

"Oh no...no, no, no, Arcee, no, you wouldn't make a deal with...with Silos, a Metal Head, would you? All this-this stealing was for him?!"

She gestured madly, "No, no, you don't understand, as I told Bolt-"

"You knew he was a Metal Head?!" Megatron growled at Bolt before turning back to her. "First, you lied to me about how you knew certain things which I thought you were just running into coincidences, then you lied to me about having an associate feeding you information, which both of you knew by then, and now...you mean to tell me that you've been working with them?"

"Absolutely not, Megatron! Silos promised he changed. He's been playing the Metal Heads for fools the entire time. He's very resourceful and thinks that the current leadership is a disgrace to Tigressa's name. He wants to end what she started so that it dies with her," she argued.

The warlord's expression grew dark. "And what makes you think he's not playing you instead? Stealing from the worlds-tell me that doesn't seem suspicious to you?!"

Arcee shook her head, "Never said he was nice in his change but he wouldn't have alerted me to everything the Metal Heads did before they did it if he wanted to hurt us."

"Unbelievable. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...you think I'm going to forgive you now? Do you know how that makes me feel? I'm not going to suck it up and let you continue like this! And you, Bolt, you should be ashamed of yourself." He looked between them heartbroken, pained enough to where Arcee could feel it through their bond. "Both of you, how can I work with you if I can't trust either of you?"

Bolt defended, "Silos wants repayment, that's why he asks her to steal things. It's not by her choice and besides, he might be reformed but he made it very clear to her that if she didn't, he would use the bond he has with the hive to alert them of Cybertron as Arcee's home."

Arcee continued off that by saying, "The Metal Heads know he's been tipping me off but he does it anyways and makes sure I know they know. There's nothing he can do about that! He's on our side-"

"I'm tired of this scrap, Arcee. You need to figure out where your loyalties lie because to me, this sounds like you're putting everything, including Cybertron, at risk. I don't even know if I can believe anything you say from this point onward. You can bury yourself in that grave...Arcee, this is terrible."

Half of her agreed as Bolt had run out of things to say in her defense to make the situation better. But she believed Silos was a changed Rozarian. He had to be...

"I'm sorry-"

"This isn't going to work a second time. Not again. On Chaar and Junkion, that was bad enough knowing something was off and that you had an associate. This is...beyond what I could have imagined you would do. If anything happens beyond this point, you better be prepared to own up to it. I don't trust Silos one bit regardless of if he's helping us or not. Don't ask me to trust you now. I-I can't."

Seeing Megatron step away from her hurt. She could only attempt to reach out to him, but he wouldn't go near her. Furious but pained, he left her. Bolt was divided on who to go with but made up his mind when he told Arcee strictly, "I hope you know what you're doing."

The statement made Arcee tense, and she didn't know how to respond to it. Before she could reply, an unknown roar echoed and she knew instantly it was a new Metal Head, chances were a commander at worst. Sure enough, the attacking legion's military commander was enroute when the others perked up. Heavy footsteps indicated it was big, the rumbling suggested something reptilian in design, but despite all this, she couldn't see it or pinpoint its location once it all stopped. For two minutes, she listened for anything that could give it away. The silence was unnerving.

Turning into her Kanjian form, her senses were heightened and at that exact moment, she heard the sound of saliva-covered jaws slowly opened with a shivering breath. Her pupils contracted and she bolted. At the same time, the snapping of the unseen Metal Head's teeth missed her as its chin hit the ground. She fled and skidded to turn around only to see a giant Tyrannosaur-like green-skinned Metal Head with brown spots littering its upper body and barbs on its underbelly and spine. Its armor was thick everywhere except its underbelly, but it seemed to know its own weakness as it kept its head low to protect it. With only two yellow eyes and a skull gem in the middle of the forehead, smoke poured from the sides of its mouth. It looked even more like a dinosaur than the Metal Beasts.

"Fire-breather," Bolt said horrified.

It was a copy of the Dinobots, another one of Tigressa's mockeries. Even beyond the grave, Tigressa was probably laughing at the misfortune. The commander roared before stomping towards her. She responded by shifting into her jaguar mode and dodging an attempt to eat her. Leaping up to head and biting everything she could, pulling on skin, she made the monster snarl and move in a circle furiously. It knocked down trees and small statues on the streets. In a lighter note, she finally figured out it was a similar taste to when Blitzwing had kissed her...so he did bite off some Metal Head parts. Hopefully, he wasn't crazy enough to have really eaten them.

She stopped biting to yell into her commlink, "Silos, Metal Head commander! Dinobot like Klea Pakora!"

She wasn't pleased to hear a chuckle from the Metal Head captain. "Oh, the Tyrant is here, the Fiery Hellraiser. This commander is a rare type, only a few exist of its magnitude. It is invulnerable to the likes of us."

"There has to be a way to kill it! Invulnerable doesn't mean immortal!" Arcee growled, hanging on as the Metal Tyrant shook.

"And you'd be right. Blasterfire is useless against it, physical strength does nothing, and I wouldn't rely on handheld weapons. But those aren't the only means of offense that you can do if you're clever enough."

"Do wha-AH?!"

Arcee was flung off its head and toppled through the brush and smashed through a window. The Tyrant lowered with a sneer to investigate where it had dislodged her only to roar as Arcee leapt at its eye, clawing up its face before sprinting away across its backside and jumping off its tail. Furious, the Metal Head followed her to the edge of a shallow river. Treading through the water and luring the Tyrant to follow, she lowered to be partially submerged to get out of the way of the flames erupting from its mouth. Somersaulting upright, Arcee grinned as she used her speed boost to get around the monster, grabbing hanging vines from the trees and maneuvering through its stomping legs to wrap around them. She pulled once they were tight enough tripping the monster almost waterboarding it.

"Don't like getting wet?"

While it was struggling to keep its head above water, Arcee hopped onto its snout and forced its head back down. She laughed as it blew bubbles and breathed in water even though she wasn't sure if Metal Heads could drown. It finally broke loose its restraints and made a bellow as it blew out excess water from its nostrils.

There was just no dealing with this thing. The commanders were getting harder to kill, harder to figure out. None of their weaknesses were consistent like the other Horaquan. They were untouchable in their field, but maybe that was a disadvantage. If she couldn't fight it head on, she was just going to have to get creative. After all, no one was truly indestructible.

Indestructible...just like the Thundershock and Tundrawarp in Kor's nest on the isle...water and electricity didn't mix and fried them despite such invulnerability. Their exterior was immune, but their organs weren't. Maybe it was time to give the Metal Tyrant a lesson on elemental physics. Looking around for anything she could use to her advantage, she peered up to see the floating spheres of energy with decorative rings dancing around them and electric energy keeping them stable. If she could reroute that energy, she could entrap it in an electric current...

The Tyrant swiped at her and she fled back. It followed with the snapping of its jaws. Once she moved out into a safe place, she quickly looked around for anything similar to the artifacts up there on the ground. On a five-hundred-foot statue of Kronos Sr. just beyond the skyscrapers sitting in the middle of a pool, which she could tell wasn't King Kronos from the horns being different, there were several rings hovering above its hand with three orbs representing Kanjis and its two moons. The ring closest to the planet was adorned with tiny jewels to represent the asteroids. If electrocution failed, perhaps she could still crush it. The statue of the planet was huge…big enough to do some damage.

"Alright, buddy, follow me!"

The Metal Tyrant was pissed as it slid around the corner chomping at her. She used her speedster ability to keep out of its reach before using the moonlight-accumulated energy for the Heat Seeker power. It wasn't as powerful as sunlight, but two moons gave off enough to trip and scar the commander's neck and side. She flinched at the explosion after blasting it, seeing it tumble on impact out of the smoke and turning up dirt with a screech. Her systems immediately cried out to her as her energy levels for the ability were nearly depleted. It bought her time to get to the foot of the statue across the water. Peering back, she made a startled cry not realizing how fast it recovered. It leapt at her, and she barely missed getting squished against the statue base. Pieces of the metal splashed into the water, and the Metal Tyrant rumbled a bit pained from its choice. Knowing her only chance was to climb, she form-shifted back to Kanjian made and used her new claws to scale the Metal. The Tyrant made a considerate clicking sound, shaking its head furiously as it watched her.

Arcee made it up to the statue's knee when she saw the Metal Head commander crawling after her. It wasn't her plan to be chased up but maybe that could work to her advantage. "Of course, you would be that desperate. A bit hard with those small arms of yours though, huh?"

The Tyrant hissed at her mockery, and she laughed. Although it didn't have the exact limitations of an Earth Tyrannosaur with three digits instead of two on longer arms, it still looked unfit to climb yet was determined to see her extermination through. She had to give it credit for persistence.

She huffed as she paused on Kronos Sr.'s elbow in his confident pose from the climbing and took a second to notice the former king had a much stricter expression than his pleasant son. Given a few other mentions had the former king as kind of an ass, she suspected he learned more from his carrier than he did his sire on how to treat his citizens. He also had a lot of scars around the neck and chest that were engraved purposefully into the statue. Either someone had a vendetta or he escaped a few attempts of death in real life that he had been carrying around by the time his statue was made.

Claws hit her suddenly and she almost tumbled off the statue's arm. The queen barely got on balanced footing again when the Tyrant finished its climb catching up to her. It was cautious taking its steps, but she couldn't dodge its attacks without having to glide away if she was lucky to have the chance to. With the planetary décor on the other arm outstretched. She ran towards it. The Tyrant growled as it followed. She had to leap over Kronos Sr.'s head to sprint up his arm. When she reached the open palm with the floating Kanjis and its moons above her, she heard the Metal Head land on the shoulder, tail whipping hard against the neck of the statue creating a crack. The orbiting rings' shadows did little to sway its attention from her, snarling as if to ask what she planned to do next.

As it kept low to crawl towards her, Arcee truly had no idea how she was going to get it into the rings to electrify it. Her plan was not well thought out. Her only idea was unfortunately to bring the pieces down, and there was only one way. The Tyrant closed in and raised up. She reacted by form-shifting to Cybertronian form and bringing out her blaster, aiming it at it with a serious expression. The commander seemed to contemplate the stupid move and a small twitch of a smirk played at the edge of its lips.

"Oh, I wouldn't be smiling if I were you. You followed me up here without considering how you were going to get down," Arcee then grinned as the Tyrant slowly lost its own. Pointing her blaster upward instead, she used the shred of energy she had left and activated the Heat Seeker power.

The blast hit directly into the south pole of Kanjis's globe. Both Arcee and the Metal Tyrant collapsed, clinging onto the statue for dear life. Though the structure itself seemed unharmed, the shockwave caused a shift in the energies while Kronos Sr.'s servo began to crack like the impact in the neckline. The rings slowed and creaked uneasily with no focused electric energy to support them like normal. Kanjis' core was the heart of the power source and disturbing it had caused a complete cutoff from the rest of the sculpture. Arcee watched the moons sink alongside the rings, but she was forced to be weary of the Tyrant who decided to take her down with it.

The Metal Head stomped onto the wide palm, chomping at her as she backed up onto the claws of the statue. The Tyrant took a chunk out of the digit she was on, but she leapt and fired her regular blasts at it even though they did nothing. When one of the rings came crashing down, Arcee had no choice but to dive out of the way right in front of the monster. The ring took out the statue's fingers and both her and the Tyrant found the palm's stability unraveling. She ran underneath it as it snapped at her before turning to chase her. The arm disintegrated, parts falling as they both tried to outrun it. Part of the shoulder dislodged, trapping her with the Metal Head right behind her. She winced as it opened its mouth to consume her only to abruptly have the part of the arm it was on cave, missing her by sheer luck. It was sliding, unable to crawl faster than the statue's arm was breaking.

With one last insult to its face, Arcee yelled, "Hope you enjoyed your world tour! Now do me a favor and go join your creator in the Pits!"

The Tyrant fell through, and Arcee found herself scrambling to jump off as the edge of the ring above her began to fall. Two seconds after jumping, the ring demolished the shoulder and Kronos Sr.'s neck broke. Activating her gliding ability, she watched the ring tumble towards the ground alongside pieces of the statue and the Metal Head commander itself. But she gasped in surprise as more parts of the planetary sculpture lost all their energy and fell. Diving and weaving out of the way of the moons and rings using her speed boosts and good sense of timing, she breathed rapidly once she was in the clear.

The Metal Tyrant roared on the way down. It was silenced when it hit the knee plating on its side and spiraled down in an uncontrolled roll midair until it landed harshly into the pool at the statue's feet. It slowly opened its eyes weakly as every nerve was rattled among its body on impact. Slowly building the capacity to lift its head up, it saw the first ring hit the pool and it made a surprised grunt before it was shocked. Whining, the electrical current rushed through it. It was nearly frozen from the frying of its internal organs but it was still conscience throughout it. Blood began popping out of every orifice, its metal going flying, being thrown off its own body unable to contain the current's nastier effects. It could feel every single second of its pain. Barely, it saw the other rings coming down and managed to peer up in its petrified state only to see the globe of Kanjis coming straight down on it. The planet made a huge splash as electrified water went everywhere as well as blotches of purple sludge. The pool remained empowered as the head of Kronos Sr. partially shattered next to it, tilting with a broken snout and horns once it came to rest.

Arcee dived down and landed in a roll once the moons and remaining rings clattered on the ground. The headless, desecrated statue remained intact aside from losing its two portions. Everything grew quiet aside from the still-pulsing electrical current of the water. She flinched when a loud spark blew off a piece of the crushed Metal Tyrant's tail flying up a few feet. The tail still twitched despite the planet of Kanjis had all but flattened the body. The virus part of the infected blood must have still reacted to the electric current.

The Metal Heads across the city, as she could imagine, were in disarray as their active military commander was gone and they could sense it. She didn't know if they were retreating or still pursuing with their mission, but she knew things would settle down soon with the battle over as Metal Heads didn't seem to react well without an authoritative figure.

"By Primus, Arcee! What did you do?!" Bolt exclaimed as he ran towards her.

"What?" Arcee then saw what he was looking at, mostly the statue, and grimaced, "I may have improvised a little destructively."

"I would say a bit more than a little," King Kronos said behind Bolt, his steps slow but outpacing her cyberbiologist's by a landslide. He had an unreadable expression at first but to her surprise, he smiled, "Never liked that statue of my sire. He preferred it to be at least his size or bigger, boasting his power and realm of command. The fountain in the foyer of my mate is much humbler as her power deals with light as the sun provides for her to help, not show off."

Arcee frowned, "I take it you and your sire aren't the best of friends."

"He and I never saw eye to eye on our techniques. And if he were to have seen you destroy his belongings, I would think he would be quite upset. I don't mind destruction of property as long as the people aren't injured. Things can be replaced; lives cannot. But when necessary, taking the lives of those who cannot control themselves doing nefarious things in a prison of their own mind is sometimes merciful..."

Kronos looked at the crushed remains of the Tyrant and Arcee followed his gaze. She asked, "So, the rumor is true. All Metal Heads are victims?"

"Most if not all are. The poor hosts the virus has mutated the bodies of have entrapped their minds, pushing the consciences into a distant slumber, watching always but never in control. It is said the pain is unbearable and all who are trapped wish for people to kill them rather than watch themselves kill others. One of Tigressa's crueler approaches to her puppeteering personality. And I thank you for releasing one of them as well as the others you have freed today, both infected and non."

Bolt interjected, "Oh, and here, I found this in the clutches of a Centurion. It's yours if you want it."

Arcee was given another Radiant Core and tipped her head politely before placing it in her subspace. "Wait, what about the rest of the Metal Heads? I suspect they aren't bold enough to stick around their former uninvited residency without a field leader."

KIng Kronos shook his helm. "No, the Metal Heads are a hive mind that only do what the leader and the Elite Heads tell them. Without a good chain of command, the virus becomes frustrated without unity. They aren't mindless zombies. They are unified in intelligence that can sense and react to everything around them. No leader, no direction where to focus all those senses. That's why they seemed so keen on attacking me and my children. We are, after all, their oldest adversaries. You've probably stirred them up quite enough for the commander itself to want you dead."

Both Arcee and Bolt looked at one another with the former smugly smirking, "You can say that. I'm often a big pain in the aft to all that are unfortunate enough to be my enemy."

"Well then, my citizens and I will crack down on the rest of the lingering Metal Heads. And again, I can't thank you enough. Meet me in my study later and I'll talk to you about that...former captain of mine."

As King Kronos left, Bolt crossed his arms uneasily, "Megatron is still pissed at you. I hope you know that was a huge mistake telling him-"

"And what else was I supposed to do?! Lie more?! I have a Metal Head captain breathing down my neck with threats I don't know are absolute or not but given his lust to punish and potentially kill, do I really want to call out his bluff? When I first met him, he murdered one of Mourningstar's followers for trying to take a kid in broad daylight for his underground trafficking ring. I mean good for him for doing that but if he can strike as fast as beheading a sand-dweller that got the surprise on him, though it didn't faze him much apparently, I'd rather not test his patience. Megatron shouldn't be in the dark about this...even if that hurts us. I don't want it too but I don't want to pretend anymore. I care about both of you enough to lie to protect you."

The Vehicon sighed, "Even still, this is getting out of hand. Maybe you are right about Silos...but what if you're not? There are some things that don't appear to be adding up about his presence in all this. Like him with the ability of two-way feeding of information. You said he knows the Metal Heads know what he tells you, but what if he's using you instead?"

She scowled, "He's not using me! I promise!"

Bolt seemed to not agree with her but didn't dispute it, simply shrugging, "If that's your stance, I'll still remain by your side about it. Just please keep a lookout for any oddities. Even the Allspark is not certain about the presence of the Metal Heads and all this entails alongside it. It keeps mentioning a 'traitor' in its riddles. Do you think that's Silos or someone else?"

"I do remember somewhat what the Allspark said but it mentions multiple. I think it could be someone in league with the Metal Heads who isn't, someone who may or may not be known at all. If Malismar is the Metal Head Leader, we don't know their story yet, now do we?"

"Good point," Bolt muttered. "Just...be careful how you tread this information, Arcee. I get the awful feeling we're about to see something worse sooner than we want to and I don't know what to do to prepare for it."

As he walked off, Arcee stood there pondering all that he had said. With a heavy huff, she replied more to herself, "Neither do I."

---

AN: Getting into hot water with a significant other is terrible. Arcee is no stranger to consequences of teammate blunders but what lies in store for her and Megatron? We shall see soon. And who do you think is right? Next up, finding the relics of Kanjis comes with a few little misadventures of their own.