Song: Clocks - Coldplay
"And I told Arcee to carry on, regardless of the consequences. I knew I was going to die," Bolt stated. "The Cybertronian Predator had us backed against the Allspark Citadel, and I distracted it from her and Megatron. I took my axe and just started hitting anything I could get to. It got me, tore me apart, and I remember the pain. Primus, was there pain."
A few of the Combiners were beside him as he sat on the steps to the Mistress of Flame's throne, leaning against the base. Rust Dust and Stormclash were on the floor, one had her head perched upon her servos intrigued while the other lay front first with her legs posed up and crossed.
Pyra Magna, the leader of the Combiner Victorion, threw up her eyebrows in shock. "Damn, and how did you get revived?"
The Vehicon shifted so one of his legs rested in a semi-crossed position while the other leg was outstretched. "Arcee made a deal with the Allspark and I got a second chance. I won't take this life for granted, not ever, and I'm indebted to her for it."
Skyburst fawned, "That was very brave."
"It was hell mostly. I can't take full credit. Arcee and Megatron did most of the heavy hitting; I was their computer nerd basically."
Dust Up interrupted, "Well, you did provide the details for the creatures they fought. Your input was just as valuable as the physical means of accomplishing victory. I wouldn't call that basic."
Rust Dust nodded, "And could either of them replicate what you do anyways?"
"No," Arcee stated, making all the femmes and Bolt look at her in surprise. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without him. No way, no how. He's irreplaceable."
Bolt jumped up awkwardly as Megatron and Moonhunter strode in behind the queen. He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Forgive us, we were just discussing the adventure we had on the Allspark's isle while we waited for you."
Arcee and Megatron looked at each other before the latter crossed his arms amused. "And that's all you did in the timeframe it took for us to help out those in the core?"
The Vehicon seemed to look towards a few of the Combiners, especially the twins who each smirked. That told both bots all they needed to know. Pyra Magna, however, peered back at the door the Mistress of Flame and Windblade disappeared behind. Bolt noticed this and changed the subject.
"We're still waiting on them though I assume those citizens you talked to are communicating with the Mistress as we speak. In the meantime, I wish to demonstrate my studies to these lovely ladies. There are a few herds of mudboars just outside the citadel here. Can you get me three of them? Pretty please?"
"You want us to be wingmen for you, Bolt? Alright," Arcee laughed, "Megatron, let's get the smooth talker something to talk about. Moonhunter, are you coming?"
The Nitrotiger mewled as Jumpstream picked him up and cuddled him with a giggle. Shrugging, Arcee let him be coddled as the cat most likely wasn't happy with the venture across Caminus Core. When they went outside, the flames across the citadel yard swirled and among a few rows of fire, mudboars were seem lounging close to the warmth.
Megatron smirked, "Nothing like catching swines in an otherwise-busy schedule."
"Yeah, but if we don't appease Bolt...the Mistress of Flame might not consider us worthy of her time. Everyone counts and she is no doubt keeping a watchful eye on all on her island."
"...Is that why you're-?"
"Well, not entirely," Arcee said. "I mean, it's Bolt."
The mudboars slept peacefully near the fires as Arcee snuck behind one hoglet and Megatron went for two adults. Right as the nearest mudboar opened its optics, Arcee snatched the baby up though she apologized under her breath. The whole herd was alerted in seconds, the adults raising angrily at the sound of the hoglet's squeals.
"Just going to borrow your baby for a second, mama! Nothing to be concerned about!" The queen yelled out as its mother spotted her and began stalking her with its tail whipping.
Megatron caught one of the hogs but the second mudboar fled. He merely sneered at the animal he held. "You know, I never thought this would be where I would go in life, catching mudboars on Caminus...at least it's funny."
"Says you!" Arcee screamed, passing him with the irate mother trying to run her down.
For a second, the warlord watched amused but as she ran by twice, he snatched the mudboar carrier by the leg and hoisted it up. With their three mudboars now in their possession, they went back into the citadel. This earned them a few looks as they entered the Mistress of Flame's throne room. Upon seeing the hoglet Arcee held, all the bots within grew excited.
"That was fast."
Arcee handed Bolt the baby and shook her head. "You know, mama almost ran me over."
The Vehicon chuckled to himself, "Oh, and out of everything you've gone through, you fear the mighty mudboar? Mmm, Arcee, you're losing your touch."
Skyburst and Stormclash snickered to each other while Arcee growled, "Careful, cyberbiologist, before I lock you up in your tower permanently when we get back to Cybertron."
"You wouldn't do that; you love me too much," the purple mech sang. He looked over the hoglet carefully as the Combiners looked like they were going to die of cuteness. "I see the little one has not a lot of its lights yet. The armor has a softer feel to it that will harden as time goes on, roughly within three years. This one has extra armor on its chest so it might be dominant when it grows up. Very beautiful design in the making."
Moonhunter tried to sniff the weird creature, but it snorted at him which he hissed at. Then Bolt left the hoglet on the ground that seemed to sprint towards the door, following the hall to the outside. Megatron handed him the mother next. As he tried to study it despite its angry grunts, Pyra Magna seemed the most interested.
"How did you learn so much of our wildlife?"
"I actually came to Caminus before on an expedition team. We were designated by our dear queen to see how everything was. I still regret killing those creatures on the isle though."
Arcee rolled her optics, "You didn't kill them; we did!"
Bolt patted the mudboar to run once he finished his observations. Thankfully, it no longer wanted to put up a fight for stealing its baby. "And you did a great job, doesn't mean I can't be remorseful about it."
Right as he was going to take the third mudboar from Megatron, the doors behind him opened and he quickly gestured for the warlord to drop the beast. The command was heeded but then the mudboar didn't go through the exit as planned and started running around the area to their dismay. All the Combiners stood at attention, dropping Moonhunter abruptly to the latter's surprise, as the Mistress of Flame and Windblade reappeared. Something must have happened in their talk as Arcee was fast to note Windblade looked a bit uneasy.
"So, you all managed to woo some of the citizens down here. Good for you, but I'm still not convinced. While you've been-" the Mistress of Flame paused as the loose mudboar ran behind the Cybertronians before squealing and fleeing outside again. "...busy..."
Bolt and the Combiners tried their hardest not to laugh, Megatron tilted his head in shame ever so slightly, and Arcee merely raised a brow at the interruption. The Mistress of Flame, however, just sighed and continued.
"...I've been getting word that in the under-city section of Ember Basin above us, the reinstated Tower of Obsidian is being bombarded. We must head up there at once. Our blue light crystals empower the forge at its peak that we use to craft our swords and other handheld weapons with, but the forge has gone dark. I want to know why."
"Three guesses what went wrong," Bolt whispered to Dust Up who giggled. He was suddenly whacked lightly on the helm by the Mistress of Flame's Forgehammer, causing the Vehicon to yelp and Dust Up to resume standing as straight as possible. "Ow! Sorry..."
The latter twirled her weapon back upright with a sneer. "If these Metal Heads are determined to bring Caminus down, they are going to find I don't tolerate chaos and anyone who causes it will meet a very painful demise."
Megatron seemed eager to correct her, but Arcee jabbed his thigh harshly. They acknowledged the Mistress of Flame was not incredibly pleased with their childish behavior. She then said, "We understand perfectly."
"Then let's get going before those monsters take out anything else," Windblade stated.
Windblade led the Mistress to the transport and as the Combiners waved goodbye, especially to Bolt whom everyone knew a few of them were at least enthralled by him, Arcee and her team followed behind. As they went down the stairs, Arcee got a little excited, wanting to see if her gliding ability would work under a short distance. Sure enough, the energy wings activated, and she gradually coasted to be next to Windblade who froze. Everyone else aside from Megatron was equally stunned.
"You can fly?! Since when?!" Bolt exclaimed.
"Highwind was pleased to have visitors, contrary to the rumors, so he gave me a copy of his flight schematics though it's more gliding than anything. Even ask him yourself," Arcee smiled.
The Mistress of Flame said nothing, but Arcee thought there was a twinge of envy among her shock. Looking at the Mistress' form, she appeared to be a grounder like her. It could be assumed the Mistress was displeased that Highwind gave an outsider the interchangeable ability rather than his own leader. Arcee felt a little bad showing off the device as her winglets reverted to normal.
The ride up to the under-city city of Ember Basin was silent mostly because no one knew what to say without upsetting the Mistress of Flame or making everything awkward as hell. When they went through the tunnel, Windblade left the vicinity of the guiding rings to roam the under-city itself. The skyscrapers and other towers not only sat sturdy on the ground below, but they attached to the ceiling above that led to the surface. To navigate the city, the transport could only go around them. There was a limited altitude to fly at given just like the surface, walkways were abundant.
Arcee watched the pipes that spawned from Caminus Core's pillars pumping water up while another pipe seemed to be pulling water back down somewhere above. It was assumed that it was to regulate the core itself so it wouldn't lose water indefinitely. Flutterwings and a mechanical canine species seemed to be popular pets roaming with their owners on the walkways.
The Tower of Obsidian was hard to miss with its four vast pillars attached to the ceiling and deep rooted on the ground. It was a large factory-like building with two rivers of water flowing through arches that separated its sections. At the top was glass but despite its visible colors, they were extremely dull. The fire within wasn't ignited therefore the forge was not producing its light as intended. The transport landed and the first one out was the Mistress of Flame per common courtesy by the others with her as the Camien leader. She gazed up at the dark tower with a rare distraught expression.
"Obsidian, oh, how you've been hurt. This is unacceptable. If these creatures are behind this, we must deal with them swiftly and carefully. The only way the Tower of Obsidian can go out like this is if the crystals have been removed from their places among the forge itself. But I assume they haven't left the area."
"How do you know?" Windblade worried.
The Mistress of Flame scowled up at the top of the tower. "The crystals aren't just tied to the forge but also to the building. If they leave the building, they were rigged to detonate without the proper override code. Nobody has ever stolen them because of this. The Metal Heads shouldn't know yet no one's reported any explosions, and the code was never accessed from the main computer it rests in on the third floor as it would have alerted me. They are only missing...it doesn't make sense."
Arcee frowned, "How would the Metal Heads know this if they have never even been on the planet?"
"But then you would have to ask how they knew what Caminus had in their factories and what to steal," Megatron countered. "This Metal Head Leader knows something we don't and that's scary, even for me."
That definitely was scary to Arcee. If the Metal Heads were aware of the planet's ins and outs the same way as Velocitron, the horrific realization that they could have been surveying all the cyber worlds for some time dawned on her. What did they know for all these years that everyone was oblivious to? What did they know about Cybertron?
Gunfire suddenly erupted from within, and the bots walking the grounds of the Tower of Obsidian flinched back and ran from the disturbance. Moonhunter raised his spine hearing all the commotion and Bolt prepared his axe.
"What's happening?!" The Mistress of Flame asked peeved.
Pointing at one of the windows where a reptilian shadow passed by despite the darkness within, Bolt announced, "They are still here! Those nasty monsters are still inside!"
All the bots rushed towards the Tower of Obsidian, nearly breaking down the doors to get in. Movement above indicated something bigger than the average bot was wandering. Hearing the signature roars of the Metal Heads roaming, Arcee brought out her arm blades but prepared her ricochet ray just in case.
Suddenly, a techno-organic scythe-like arm came down on the floor ahead of them with a blue light crystal in its other arm. The Metal Mantis hissed, its razored foreleg tapping in anticipation as it took a step forward with a single-clawed foot. Unlike most species, it had only two yellow eyes and its skin was reddish-purple. To their shock, it sprung up and bounced off the walls towards them. It was agile and abnormally fast.
When it got in front of the Mistress of Flame, snapping its forelegs to attack, she swung down her hammer only for it to roll away on its side and hop back. Megatron stepped in front of her and sent a fist down to crush it, but it dodged that just as easily.
"How many species of these things exist?!" Bolt complained.
Arcee grew tired of watching it leap around taunting them and went to plan B, pulling out her ricochet ray and firing just above it. The blast bounced as it went backwards. It managed to miss the Metal Mantis twice before pinning it on the third bounce. Interestingly, the Mantis died quite fast. As nimble as it was, it had weaker armor than its peers. Its skull gem clattered on the floor and the blue crystal slid towards them.
"Well, it's one less species hopefully. Fearless little bastards, aren't they?" Arcee grinned, "I'm guessing whoever sent these wanted this to be a stealth mission, but that didn't work out well."
Megatron picked up the blue crystal and handed it to the Mistress of Flame. She kindly accepted it with the purse of her lips as Windblade carefully eyed the halls.
Then the Mistress said, "There are four of these crystals. We get them back and meet at the top. Kill anything that stands in our way. Understood?"
Everyone nodded and split up. Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter went one way and the Mistress, Windblade, and Bolt went another. As the former team ran to the Tower's stairway in the center of the building to get to another floor, they heard another variant of a Metal Head. The common Metal Grunts roamed with sinister glares, stalking the area like sentries on a visible floor above them.
"Alright then, let's give them the element of surprise. Megatron, throw me," Arcee demanded.
The warlord laughed and let her climb on before launching her up past the initial floor to the confusion of the Metal Heads. Right as she landed between them, she began slicing them down. Megatron threw Moonhunter, who latched himself onto a Grunt with the intent of ripping its face off, before jumping up to the floor ledge with his claws sinking into the metal to keep him from sliding down. He forced himself up again and flipped into the area right as he charged his fusion cannon. The nearest Metal Head had only a second to flinch back when it was sent flying with a blast to the face. It smacked into several others and toppled dead.
Arcee deflected a staff-wielding Metal Goon, a chunky raptor-esque soldier, and pinned its weapon right as she changed her arm to a blaster. A blast went through its neck cabling and shoved the skull gem from its head. As they fought the creatures, Arcee spotted one of them with a crystal in hand. The Metal Grunt hissed as several others stepped in front of it to guard it.
"You think that'll save you from getting your ass kicked, you little thief?!" Arcee yelled.
The Horaquan in question lost its smile and backed away whimpering as she targeted it. Megatron threw one of the creatures before lunging alongside Arcee, guns blazing. After causing the Metal Head he was attached on to bleed out, Moonhunter roared and went for the huddled group alongside his owners. A few of them were sent falling off the second floor with one brutally banging its head against the stairwell, breaking its neck and bouncing off to hit the ground dead. The crystal was nearly dropped when Megatron kicked the holder, sending the monster sliding. It still held onto it despite this and sprinted away as soon as it had traction. Arcee gestured at the Metal Head and watched her sparkmate hunt it down.
Megatron carefully rounded the corner to a lengthy hall and thought he heard some sort of gravely throated language coming from one room. With a predatory snarl no less ferocious than the Metal Heads' own scare tactics, he entered it and sensed the air for anything out of place. His optics contracted when one scent was noticeably unique compared to the rest of the smells in the room. He moved forward, listening intensely for any little giveaway. The tiniest of creaks made his optics dilate before growing small again and he paused.
Whipping around, he snagged the Horaquan by the throat mid-pounce and slammed it down into a table as it hissed and snapped its jaws. He growled in response with his fangs glistening from the exterior light of a nearby window; his optics blaring their deadly red.
"You aren't the only killer here. Remember that."
Arcee kicked away a weapon from a presumably dead Metal Head just in case it tried anything if it was faking. Just to be sure out of paranoia, she didn't flinch when she shot it again quick and painless. It didn't whimper or anything which confirmed its passing. Her Nitrotiger merely sniffed at the devastation and swatted at the head of a deceased Horaquan as he walked by it. When she heard a squeal from somewhere down the hall, she listened for any other noises until she saw Megatron throw the crystal in his servo up and catch it. Some purple sludge was splattered among his claws but nothing infectious.
"The second crystal is ours," he smirked.
Windblade and Bolt took point for the larger femme as they went to the elevators. Windblade had the security camera feed up on her HUD and saw one of the crystals being moved around by a Metal Spyder with one arm as a gun and four crab-like legs but appeared to have a head similar to Grunts. It looked like an abomination of creation.
"The crystal is on the fifth floor of the Tower with one butt-ugly creature lugging it around," the Seeker sneered.
The Mistress of Flame responded, "Then let's tell that to its face."
"Got a sense of humor after all. I'm impressed," Bolt snickered.
The three entered the elevators to the fifth floor. With the elevator lifts transparent, they could see the floors below to a degree. What made the Mistress of Flame scowl the most was when they passed the fourth floor and saw a group of Metal Heads stalking the walkways below.
"Vermin," she muttered. "That's it. I'll call my military in to handle the rest of this."
As she talked on her commlink to an unknown bot, the Vehicon heard Windblade sigh. "Long day, huh?"
"It's getting there. How can such vile creatures do this to a world they don't even know?"
Bolt shrugged, "That's the same as asking why the Quintessons think they are superior. Some beings don't destroy only because they are instructed to. The Metal Heads and the Quintessons survive on fear from others because if everyone's afraid of them, there's no one who will rise to stop them. Can't be afraid without stirring the pot, right? They get what they want, and we suffer because of it. It's a win-win scenario for them either way. It also doesn't help the Metal Heads are a living virus designed to spread too which worries me as well."
"They're a what?!"
The elevator doors opened and the first thing they saw was a shield-bearing Metal Centurion, a bipedal Grunt, firing at them with its arm blaster. Windblade pushed the Mistress to the side, and they pressed against the elevator walls as the blasts melted through the metal of the box. Once the gunfire stopped, Bolt made a bold move.
He ran at the shield before juking it into thinking he was about to jump over it when he switched to a slide. Getting behind it, he swung his axe at its head, but it caught the weapon as it made its shield disappear. The muscular Centurion countered his every move with a snarl before swiping his feet out from under him and pinning his chest to the floor. Right as it pointed its blaster at him, however, a purple blade sank deep through its heart. Its eyes faded in color and Bolt watched its skull gem hit the floor before the Mistress crushed it.
They ran to any feasible area where the missing crystal could be held captive and listened for any movement. Clattering behind them in a nearby room spooked them, but then it moved seemingly around through the walls themselves like scraplets in waiting but a far bigger one if anything.
"I don't like this," Bolt whispered.
A growl emitted with the audible sound of saliva moving in an opening mouth above. Right as they looked up, the Metal Spyder dropped down on top of the Vehicon attempting to bite him. With the crystal still in its hand, Bolt was more focused on the sharp teeth trying to aim for his throat. Just then, the Mistress's Forgehammer ignited, and she swung it hard with rage right at its head and open jaws. The Cybertronian flinched but had never seen something be decapitated so fast by a melee weapon before. He crawled backward immediately to see the corpse's neck on fire collapse where he was just a second ago.
Bolt was nearly shivering in place by how fast it happened when he yelled out, "Please give a bot some warning! By Primus, that's insane!"
Windblade picked up the crystal and gestured to it proudly. Just then, Arcee's voice came through their commlinks. "We have the second crystal."
The Seeker replied, "We have the third. Meet us on floor six and we'll look for the last one together."
"Will do."
After Windblade helped Bolt up, the three went to the sixth floor as promised when Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter met back up with them. Seeing Megatron's claw with alien blood on them though made the three cautious.
Bolt placed a servo on his chin sarcastically, "Ah, the warlord returns from battle just like the old days."
"Shut up, Bolt," Megatron sneered. "Any idea where the last crystal is?"
Windblade checked through the security cameras once more. "Still searching. Wait! I see a monster up top...at the forge! I can't tell if it has the crystal or not. It's big. It kind of looks like...an Earth rhinoceros Bumblebee showed me a picture of."
Arcee froze uncomprehending the words at first. A rhino? It couldn't be!
"I will destroy it if it even touches Obsidian!" The Mistress of Flame screamed in her fury.
They followed her as she sprinted up the levels. Most of the bots had some trouble keeping up with her except Moonhunter who ran by her side. The flight of stairs especially winded most of them as the elevator could only reach the fourteenth floor out of eighteen total, and the Mistress was on a rampage.
On the sixteenth floor, more Metal Head grunts hissed at them, but she wasn't having it. The creatures were abruptly swatted by her Forgehammer. One had its head crushed into the wall by it while another was knocked out the window to fall over a hundred meters to the streets below. Moonhunter helped her when a Metal Head pushed back against her weapon, jumping on its back and clawing at its spine. He severed a crucial artery and the monster bled to death with trying to toss him off with a whimper. Defeating the small troop, they finally reached the top of the Tower.
Arcee was very anxious and pissed. How dare he do this after everything they went through. She was going to kill him even if it took every ounce of her strength to do it. That was a promise! That was a-
Beside the black forge adorned with Camien symbols of old, a clawed rhinoceros-like foot stomped into view which made everyone pause. While everyone else gasped in horror, Arcee refrained from voicing a sigh of relief. With pinkish skin, a quadrupedal stance and a far-different facial structure, a Metal Ramhead snorted and growled, brushing the ground with its foot to warn of its charge. The last crystal sat dislodged from its stand in one of the far corners of the room adjacent to them.
The Mistress of Flame pointed her Forgehammer at the beast. "Get away from the forge, you ungodly monster!"
Arcee switched to Dagger Prima, having not used it in some time, to the surprise of the Mistress. She briefly responded with, "Solus Prime and the Allspark gave it to me."
The look on the Mistress' face was priceless, but she didn't let that distract her as the Ramhead reared with a roar. It charged and as everyone moved from its path, it hit the wall with a loud crack. Shaking off the hit, it stared down Arcee and Windblade on its left. Before it could rear again, it was bombarded with several shots by Megatron and Bolt, forcing it to sidestep back angrily. Arcee then leapt onto the forge and whistled to catch its growing ire to redirect it back at her. The Metal Head fell for her taunt.
It sprinted at the forge to the fear of the Mistress but instead of shattering, the Ramhead collided with the forge and bent half its armor among its face inwards. The two eyes on its left side were black as it scrambled dizzy and backwards with a whine. Dark purple sludge leaked from the eyeholes and from underneath the skull gem on its forehead as well as its mouth. There was no doubt it had given itself brain damage from the hit and ruptured a few things in the process. The forge remained unmoved without a single scratch.
Although Arcee could feel the optics of the Mistress of Flame bearing into her for daring to risk the forge's safety like that, she ignored it in favor of running directly at the Ramhead with a battle cry. She made sure she wouldn't impale herself on the horns of its snout and brought down Dagger Prima directly through its skull gem into its head from a side angle. The Metal Head stumbled a few feet before its last two eyes grew dark too. It landed harshly on its belly and Arcee ripped the dagger from its head with no remorse. Windblade was amazed at the brutality she showed, but Arcee had a feeling it wasn't joyous. She briefly put the concern aside as Bolt clapped the dead Horaquan's hide.
"Boy, this thing is a tank but couldn't move a mere anvil. That's anticlimactic if I do say so. I'm starting to think these Metal Heads are becoming easier to fight than previously."
Megatron rolled his optics and said, "That's because we now know how to defeat them. Previously, we didn't know anything about them nor how to counter them. Of course, it gets easier the more you do something."
The Mistress of Flame placed three of the crystals in their places while the boys argued. While she picked up the last one, she raised a brow when Arcee said, "I think we should be in the clear for now. Is there anything you would like us to do just in case?"
"No, you've certainly done plenty, more than I thought you would for a planet you aren't even from."
"That's what we do," Arcee answered softly.
The Mistress wanted to smile, Arcee could see that be she refrained from doing so. Instead, she activated her commlink to her private forces. "Crystals received and we'll soon leave. Do a quick sweep and kill anything alien in the building."
Within a few minutes, faint shouting and the sound of Metal Heads being hunted several floors below were dimmed out as the Mistress of Flame placed the last crystal back on its stand, but Arcee expected her to walk away immediately. Instead, the leader was hesitant to let go and seemed to bow her head a little, closing her yellow optics to mere slivers with an unusually saddened demeanor. Despite the harshness the Mistress often pointed at her and against her natural instincts to leave her to her devices, Arcee approached her as kind as could be.
"Are you okay?" The queen asked.
It shook the Mistress out of her trance, but she didn't appear angry about the disturbance. She knew her reaction had been caught and simply stood straighter with a neutral frown.
"I'm fine." She saw Arcee slightly raise her brow and she caved with a defeated sigh, "The Tower of Obsidian isn't just a mere place; everyone thinks it's just the home of the forge and they would be right to some degree. To me, it's more than that; it's a friend."
Arcee slowly came to understand the relationship the Mistress had with the building and spoke softly, "Obsidian...was a titan, weren't they?"
The Mistress of Flame made a very brief smile finally, peering at the crystal closest with a side glance. "And I was their Cityspeaker. We were inseparable, Obsidian and I, and they held the forge within all that time, supplying us with weapons of their own design including the Forgehammer you see here with me...a gift from them. But then we had a brief war among Caminus...an accident more like, and they fought beside me long before I became the Mistress of Flame, and I served the secondary grand predecessor before me at the time."
Everyone listened intensely, especially Arcee.
"We were winning but then...everything went so wrong. We thought we were invincible. We miscalculated the attack on an enemy; I...miscalculated," she gulped, trying to keep her composure as she leaned against her hammer, but Arcee could see the pain and respected every word that came next. "I instructed Obsidian to fight the other titan of a rival Cityspeaker, Electrace. I didn't know-I know now but I didn't know he would use the weapon..."
"What weapon?"
"The Radiance Bomb...all those Radiant Cores weren't just for guns. Combining about twenty or more could unleash a devastating bomb, and I knew we had one available in our military at the time. I was so confident that I sent Obsidian to find him...the next thing I knew, the blast threw them down here and they weren't able to get up. I begged for them to stay with me, but I couldn't do anything except wallow in my misjudgment."
Arcee shook her head, "You couldn't have known your enemy had the-"
The Mistress looked pitiful. "-But I did. I knew he had it. I was sure we were unmatchable that I basically sent my best friend to die. This place...I never forgave myself for what I did, and I repay my debt to this day by protecting the Tower for as long as I live. These crystals are more than just the forge's power. I believe they are a part of Obsidian's soul, and, as delusional as that sounds, they are all I've got left of them."
She watched the Mistress place a hand on the crystal's stand one last time. She was reassuring a long, lost friend and Arcee didn't question it for one second.
The Mistress then coughed, "I, um...maybe I have been too harsh on you. It's just hard to trust anyone on the outside when even within, there can be great enemies. This legion of monsters isn't helping matters. Perhaps I should be considerate to what others have to offer before judging them. I hope we can start off more even in terms of acknowledging each other, Queen Arcee. Here, for your valor."
Arcee was handed another Radiant Core from Windblade by the side of the Mistress, and she was careful to take it knowing the significant pain it presented. Despite this, she saw the Mistress of Flame give a genuine smile for once.
"Now then," the leader started, "I think, if you don't mind, I would like to stay here for a while. I want to make sure everything here is back to proper functionality. In the meantime, you and your friends are free to explore our world. If anything else occurs on my end, I'll be in touch."
Windblade was astounded as they left the Tower of Obsidian, peering back every few steps to comprehend what had just happened. With the Mistress of Flame now calm and satisfied with their services, that gave them free reign of the planet for the time being.
"Okay, I've never seen the Mistress of Flame be so open to outsiders before. That's freaky," Windblade immediately said.
"She was just protective, and I understand," Arcee countered. "New problems, foreign people and who wouldn't suspect they were connected. Metal Heads have a knack of putting people on edge. It's how they get their way most of the time. The Mistress of Flame was acting as she should but just because she showed some emotion doesn't make her weak."
"I never said she was...but what I'm curious about is why now?"
The sudden implied hostile comment was not lost on Arcee and she paused with Windblade staring her down. She shook her head in disbelief. "You think I have something to do with-"
The Seeker scowled, "Of course I don't, but I don't know what to think. It's not you specifically, it's not Megatron or Bolt, and it's not Cybertron. People talk, Arcee. When answers don't exist fast enough to understand the problems, things go awry and that's the last thing we need here. I'm going to give you as much room as possible to lead the way, but I can only buy so much time before things start to cave on our operation to remove these creatures from Caminus. I don't want to be your enemy here but-"
"But what?" Arcee frowned.
Windblade closed her optics and sighed, "-but if I am forced to choose between you and Caminus for the sake of our safety, and if Caminus becomes burdened for too long with this new menace, I don't think you're going to like the answer I will choose. You need to figure out what's going on here and fast, or be prepared for anything that comes your way, foe...or friend."
As Windblade walked away, Arcee peered off to the walkway ground on the side. The reality of the situation often stressed relationships; she should have expected that. Hopefully, when she did get the lead as to why the Metal Heads wanted to invade Caminus for materials, this strain would go away. She just had to be patient.
Moonhunter sat next to her and pressed his head against her leg purring while Megatron approached her. "We will fix this. I promise everything will work out."
"I hope so, Megatron, because this is becoming too much even for me, and we haven't even gone through half the planets yet."
He made a solemn expression and rubbed her shoulder. "I know, more than you think."
Then Arcee remembered she had to meet Silos though her anger was still somewhere within, and she feared she might let it out against Megatron or Bolt. "Do you think we could go back to the surface now? I kind of want to explore up there a bit more."
Megatron nodded without a moment's hesitation. They used the transport Windblade left them and headed back up where the night sky awaited them. The dark sky with its glowing gas giant setting a peculiar scene among the stars was a relief to see. When they landed, she was quick to depart to their confusion.
Bolt gestured oddly as he questioned, "Where are you going?"
"Just...to get some fresh air with my new ability. You don't mind if I go alone, do you?"
Bolt peered at Megatron who shrugged but before they could give her an answer, she jumped off the high-level walkway's edge. Activating her wings, she glided with her arms tucked close to her body and enjoyed the breeze that felt different from the atmosphere in the core. There was almost a sense of relief that followed being out in the great open sky above everyone.
She accessed the map of the surrounding area via signal and pinpointed the Grand Ember Eatery where Silos said he would be. Gliding at a relatively high height, she could see Seekers and vehicles below her rocketing by as well as larger ships moving above her including a Nemesis-sized transport filled with oil and other supplies she presumed by the tanks attached to it. Crosswings moved around buildings, to and from them as well. Most of them had riders but some seemed to have been trained quite well to deliver their loads by themselves. Then there were the ones that seemed to leave to be on break as a few had oil leech parts they were devouring.
When Arcee spotted a ship of unknown origin on a rooftop with a pool near the restaurant, she made her bet and swooped down to disengage her wings. She performed a combat roll upon landing and walked up to the ship. It certainly had an unusual design to it unlike the common frames she was used to.
"So, you finally decided to visit me. Nice to see you again, my dear. Run into any trouble while you were out?"
Silos was hidden from view at the front of the ship laying partially on his side like an animal in the steaming water on the shallow end. With his elbow on the pool edge and his other arm posed on the bend of his waist, he had his eyes closed as relaxed as can be. It didn't escape her notice he had multiple trays of food and drinks, probably stolen like everything else, nearby. His tail moved slowly under the water, and it was tempting to Arcee to join him as the pool looked exquisite under the gas giant's light.
She sighed and crossed her arms, "You have no idea. You know what happened, right?"
The Horaquan captain's only response in his lounging daze was a mere tap of a claw on his chest skull gem before he barely opened his dilated eyes in amusement to peer at her. She merely pressed her lips tighter in a deadpanned expression at his mockery.
"What did the Metal Heads need with the crystals or the forge?"
"What do you think?" Silos sneered, "A forge of unbreakable metal and produced the best weapons seen per Solus Prime's gift to the settlers of this colony. The crystals are a part of the forge embedded with Solus' might hence the effectiveness. Weapon cores and a weapon creator; you can do the math, can't you?"
"That doesn't answer the question I want, does it?"
His skull gems burned brighter, combining with the water for a beautiful mixture of light, but he chuckled unaware of it. "No, but what do I tell you? The Metal Head Leader can keep some thoughts from me, and I can block them, otherwise I wouldn't be alive for treason. All I know is they are planning something big, something deadly. Who towards I wouldn't know, but I doubt they would waste so much firepower on you alone despite how much of a pain you seem to be to the legion."
Arcee smirked, "Aw, you flatter me. I try."
"Care to take a dip?" He calmly asked, taking a few glazed, rustic scones and eating them.
"Whose pool is this?"
"The complex's but no one seems to be using it now. Then again, maybe I blocked all entrances up here...by accident," Silos said with faux innocence.
Arcee shook her head at his audacity, but the pool did look nice...screw it. Without denying the secret desire any longer, she jumped in, and the pool proved hot. Once the brief shock of the temperature changes left her, it soothed the tension almost immediately and she gave a vocal sigh. Silos smiled at her pleasure and adjusted himself to sit upright, crossing his legs and leaning half-submerged against the ledge. As she sat on a step beside him, he offered her oil lava cake. She didn't fight any subconscious decision to question it and took it politely from him.
"I haven't had a day to relax like this since my second coronation."
"Second?" Silos became confused as she bit into the dessert.
"I was overthrown by Rockrider, my former Head of Archives and the Hall of Records in Iacon. She wanted to reverse all the progress we made against the previous caste system which was a nightmare. I fought tooth and nail to get back to Cybertron to stop her and as you can see, I'm still around. I had to be reinstated because of a technicality. Heh, and then I ditched my second coronation to go to a club for drinks and massages, only those two things though. Haywire and Scythe were pissed."
Silos snickered at that last part, then he said, "I would believe it. Now, the theft of the forge's crystals reminded me of something. You heard of blue crystals? What about fire crystals? You can find them in Pyrohex in an old power joint. I'll send you the coordinates. It hasn't been used in years, so I doubt they will miss them."
"Wha-?! Silos, no, I just stopped a robbery by your kind. I can't steal more things for you! That's very suspicious to me, by the way! Why do you need them?!" Arcee argued.
"Well, I must give my clients something worthwhile for their generous payments for rare and elusive items. No product, no money. Get the fire crystals and keep them close until I give the all-clear, then hand them off to my client who will be waiting at a secure location within the next few days. Come now, Arcee, you know why I do this. And unlike those blue crystals, the fire crystals there are nowhere near as important."
Arcee hated the job, but Silos proved to still come in handy so risking his partnership this far in was not something on her list. She nodded in agreement but not without a frustrated scoff. Although, she refused to leave the comfort of the pool for some time.
Silos broke the silence when he casually asked, "Considering I don't need to go anywhere anytime soon, do you want a lift to Pyrohex later?"
Arcee merely raised a brow but said nothing though she could see in Silos' brash smile he knew she wanted it.
Pyrohex was a city, loud and definitely put more emphasis on the fire theme than the previous locations. In Silos' ship, they made a roundabout of the city skyline and he pointed to an older building just in the middle of the city.
"There's your target. The crystals themselves are stagnant right now, no energy to feed off but that doesn't make them useless. Why not put the old to good use for someone who cares about them?"
"More so for profit though, right?" Arcee scowled, "This feels like a setup."
"Matter of opinion really. If you see Metal Heads, fine, I set you up. There I admit it. What else do you want from me?" The Metal Head joked.
The queen furrowed her brows slightly in amusement but given Silos' humor among the situation, she was incredibly doubtful he was behind the attacks. His abnormal sixth sense did come in handy though. Both his skull gems on his chest and head were gleaming when he finally got her to smile a little once she saw more humorous things about the accusation.
"Just go in, get the crystals and this better not backfire on me, Silos, or I will punch you."
"In good humor as always. I will warn you that I have seen a few occasional maintenance crews work on the building's base. I don't know why but they shouldn't be a problem for you. Now, be careful and get me those items on my shopping list. Please, dear?" He chuckled.
Arcee walked toward the cargo bay to launch herself out, not before giving one last quip. "Keep it up and I'll make good on that threat, buddy."
Silos merely cackled louder as he opened the cargo bay doors. She peered down at the city moving below before getting a running start and leaping off. Skydiving at night made it easy for her to glide around the building unseen. As Silos' ship left Pyrohex in the distance, she knew her recon mission would be solely up to her.
Landing on the roof, she ducked behind a vent pipe and immediately surveyed the area. No movement made her pleased, which meant she didn't need to hurt anyone in the process. She quickly found access on the roof to the top floor within and she went to work.
"Now then," Silos' voice came through, "there are 5 fire crystals in the building. Two of them are up top where you are, one is below you, and the other two are near the middle, each originally powering the building's core. The details provided are from the client themselves."
With two of the crystals among her, she went to work to find them. Discarded furniture and abandoned technology lay dormant on the top floor. In the center of the building, a huge hole spanned several floors down to the base where a port for an electrical core rested. The beam that it was supposed to produce with the proper energy was off therefore safe to peer down at. Going around it, she went to the other side of the building where a faint humming was heard.
Dagger Prima started to whisper, but it was harsher than ever before. The humming grew louder in response. Usually, the dagger reacted to the Allspark's counterparts but not something as mundane as fire crystals unless the Allspark was communicating with it for another reason. She followed the sound until she turned a corner to an old set of gears embedded in the wall. In front of it, she found one of the crystals. She snatched it, pausing to listen for any danger until she believed she was in the clear. Funnily enough, the second crystal was on a table to her left.
Arcee was beginning to believe it truly was abandoned on more than just someone's word alone. Why they left such a powerful core and its pieces was a little suspicious. As she took the stairwell to the lower floor, she came across a control room but to her surprise, a few of the screen were playing static footage of…the Mistress of Flame. She couldn't tell exactly what the Mistress was overseeing but one bot looked to be in pain.
"Silos, what else do you know about this building?"
"From what I gathered, the client said the building used to belong to the Mistress of Flame some time ago. It was abandoned after she was accused of using it to experiment on people, at least those were the rumors. I think she was using it as a military operation because some time before, she almost called in her forces to subdue Ember Basin's unruly populace. Word of the client, not mine."
"She's been hurting people this entire time?" Arcee muttered in disbelief.
Silos seemed a bit saddened by the information as well. "Unfortunately, not all leaders strive to do good at every moment of their life like you, Arcee. Sometimes they are willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. As cruel as that is, it can be a necessity in the art of war and the survival of a race. Even ask your mate."
The reminder made her frown. She hated people bringing up her sparkmate's past. Granted, it wasn't forgivable of what he did, focusing on it instead of the problem at hand hardly helped matters.
She moved on through the control room to a lab and in the center of it lay a berth with straps and a crystal discarded by broken glass. She took it cautiously and tried to leave as fast as she could. The more she explored the place, however, the odd things became. The lower floors held cells, old machines, and what appeared to be testing devices partially filled with a strange pink liquid, too dense to be Energon for sure. If she didn't know any better, she could all but confirm she was in an abandoned testing facility.
The humming of the last two crystals became prominent on the second floor, primarily in a staging area for crates. What lied within the crates she didn't want to know, but the foul odor coming from them reeked of chemicals and, dare she say, decay. Hopefully, nothing did die…but she didn't have a lot of confidence as the smell only got worse. Then she saw one of the crystals hidden behind a crate in the corner. From the impact mark on the wall above it and its presumed indestructibility, it was thrown but why? She didn't question it any further before taking it.
The last crystal had to be nearby because the humming never ceased. It was odd that these crystals hummed while the blue ones didn't but maybe they were made of different powers entirely. She didn't care much as she tried to pinpoint its location. Suddenly, she had a hunch and peered up to see cracks in the ceiling and a very faint orange light.
"What the…?"
Not wasting any more time than she needed, she switched her arm to a blaster and aimed at the cracks. A sizable hole was left when she hit it and the crystal fell onto the ground. As she picked it up, she gleamed.
"Silos, I have the crystals but these things are vibrating like mad. You can't take them for a while?"
"No, they wouldn't…react well with my ship. Alien technology, remember?"
She was about to scoff at him but another commline was trying to get to her. She let him go and answered it.
Megatron nearly yelled, "Arcee! We have a problem! The Mistress has a niece, and she has gone missing! Bolt has been keeping in contact with Windblade and things aren't looking good for us. The Mistress thinks you made a fool of her. These coincidences are going to get us killed!"
"Okay! I'll figure out something! Do we know where she was last seen? Anything to work from?"
"The only clue I have is her niece kind of looks like her, just golden more so like the Mistress' brother and lived in Pyrohex. Where are you anyway?"
She stuttered, "O-Outskirts of Ember Basin near Pyrohex but I can look for her, leave it to me."
"We'll meet you over there. You need to get control of this, Arcee, or we're all dead."
The final words of Megatron haunted her as she dreaded the outcomes. Did the Metal Heads capture the Mistress' niece as revenge, to set her up or worse? She remembered Silos' connection with the legion could be a two-way feed so if he knew what she had done and what she sought, there was a huge possibility the Metal Heads knew through the hive mind thought reading how to ruin her progress with the Mistress of Flame. Those damned creatures. She had little time to correct the blunder of security and make peace with the Mistress, or Megatron was right. They were doomed.
She re-established connection with Silos and quickly said, "Silos, I need your help. The Mistress' niece has been kidnapped in Pyrohex! I need to know if the Metal Heads took her!"
The Metal Head seemed to grunt stubbornly, "If all you're going to use me for is to get a glimpse behind the hive and its irrational chaos, at some point I may just refuse that request simply because it's getting annoying. When I tell you out of my own free will, that's one thing. This is hardly my concern."
"You agreed to it the first time we met. What happened to trying to help me stop the Metal Heads in favor of a profit? Just because I have the fire crystals doesn't mean I'm obligated to give them to any one of your stupid clients."
He started to give a dark laugh, "Do you not remember what I told you? If you don't help me, bad things can happen. I'm willing to help you but if I don't get what I want in return, Cybertron might be missing more than just a queen and her arrogant friends. You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. But I do have somewhat of a heart deep down. Fine, you want me to do something good for once out of kindness? Here it is: the Metal Heads aren't behind this attack. Zero chatter for anything regarding kidnapping or the Mistress has been detected. Plus, Metal Heads aren't really keen on keeping victims. No point when they can infect them immediately and have another member to their legion within seconds. Whoever is responsible might be someone internally...but I guess by your panic you are getting blamed?"
"What do I do?" Arcee asked in a defeated tone.
"Every city has a dark side to it just like every person. Perhaps Pyrohex has some secrets best left in the 'under-city,' so to speak. At least, that's the first area I would care to look at. Biased and stereotypical, I know, but it can't be ignored that it happens in such places and being quite familiar with the mind of a criminal myself in my own practice, the under-city is an excellent hideaway from the looks of it."
She peered around the surface city of Pyrohex through a window with its noise still finding its way past it, but she was now curious what under-city Pyrohex looked like. Where would she even start to look down there anyway for someone she never met? As she exited the testing facility, she saw fire on the balconies of complexes and laid out in magnificent designs on walkways against the night sky. Against the water-based Ember Basin, oddly so, Pyrohex seemed better as a capital...but then that made her wonder.
She recalled Windblade saying Pyrohex lost its title as Caminus' capital for an undisclosed reason. Peering back at the testing facility and then the surrounding buildings that looked somewhat damaged, she began formulating a new theory. What if whatever the Mistress of Flame was doing here resulted in Pyrohex being dubbed a violent city therefore the Forgefire Parliament decreed a new city be named the capital. On top of Highwind's remark of the current Mistress of Flame not being popular among the people, that was concerning. If the Mistress of Flame was a bad person, she might not be able to unite with Caminus after all. But her niece needed to be found regardless of personal opinions, and that's what Arcee was going to do. Suddenly, it dawned on her. The Mistress of Flame wasn't popular...so if someone wanted to get back at her, why not hurt everyone she loves?
Arcee quickly went to the edge of the walkway nearest to the old testing facility and spotted a tunnel to the under-city as a few flutterwings flew over it, nodding to herself. She jumped down to a lower walkway and repeated the process to get closer to the tunnel without hurting herself in the confusion of a few bystanders.
"Windblade," she commed, "I just got word from Megatron about the Mistress' niece. Are there any suspicious characters aside from the Metal Heads you would know who might have it out for the Mistress herself? This is far too personal to be the work of the Metal Heads. They prefer artillery and objects to steal, not specific people. Even if they did, hostages aren't their M.O. They prefer to infect rather than take people."
"You seem to know an awful lot about these creatures, Arcee-"
"Don't start, Windblade. I'm here to help and you know this regardless of what the Mistress told you or your suspicions against me. If I have names, we have a heading. Would you rather wait until her niece shows up dead or defiled? We can wait-"
"No, no, no, you're right! Primus, this is hard, Arcee. We're getting paranoid by the second. Look, I may know some of the Mistress' enemies, but you can't tell her I told you. There are a few people in Pyrohex and a neighboring area called Titans Crossing that have been known to cause problems. Groundlock, Decadance, and Swivel have each protested the Mistress' rule for years. Groundlock lives in Pyrohex's under-city near the Furnace, a night club, which he runs, Decadance is a former employee at...a facility in Pyrohex-"
Arcee paused at the edge of the tunnel drop-off and narrowed her optics suspiciously as Windblade continued.
"-but she disappeared somewhere in Titans Crossing, and I think Swivel was reported killed just a few weeks ago by an exchange with the Mistress' guards trying to blow up her surface home in Ember Basin. That leaves two suspects unless Swivel's protest group grew spines and decided to avenge him. Out of all of them, Decadance is the one that worries me the most. She's the most violent of the three, and the fact that we lost track of her does little to help."
"I'll find them and get them to talk. I'll contact you when I've found her, I promise."
Windblade gave a heartfelt laugh which was a relief to hear. "Knowing you enough, you will. Give them hell, Arcee."
She cut the communication and jumped down the tunnel to the under-city below.
"Optimus wants an update on your progress. He's getting worried because the Allspark is getting anxious," Grimlock growled over the commlink.
Bolt scoffed, "Yeah, yeah, we're working on it. The Allspark spent two years anxious on an island; this isn't going to kill it. Just tell Optimus we hit some snags but we're working on it."
Megatron was less than pleased with two of his claws pressing against his temple in frustration. "Tell him he can mind his own damn-"
"Megatron says hi," the Vehicon said blandly. "Okay...just tell him it's okay. Okay? Bye."
"That Prime, I swear."
"We suck at giving updates."
"You're the communications specialist. You're in charge of it," Megatron sneered.
"You can suck my spike. I ain't doing shit until we figure out what's going on, then they can get their update. In all seriousness though, what's up with you?" Bolt asked, sitting in the pilot's seat of the transport. "Is it Arcee? You are massively protective of her, my god, man."
The warlord turned his back on him with what sounded like a mixture between a snarl and a sigh. "It's not that. There's something she's hiding, and I want to know what. Why does she leave us to go elsewhere without telling us? You don't find that the slightest bit odd?"
"No, I do, but what are we supposed to do? Monitor her like she's a pet gerbil or something?"
Megatron frowned confused, "What's a gerbil?"
"Earth rodent-doesn't matter! The point is if we start prodding at her, the results are going to be catastrophic. I say...we just let them pan out. If she messes up, we'll know, and we can call her out on it. If she doesn't and her plan works, why stop her?"
The larger mech sighed, "Call me paranoid but something isn't right, and you know it. I know you overheard the Allspark's comment to me. But I assure you, it's not that this time. What happened before was my fault, I'll admit that much, but this feels dangerous. Do you know what I'm saying?"
Bolt slowly nodded, "I do. I'll figure something out, just don't confront her about it. Okay?"
Megatron was silent and as he remained that way, the Vehicon started planning his own intervention on the situation.
AN: A little late but better than not releasing at all. Remember a few things...because they will be important later on. This was fun to write a year ago, saw a lot of little errors I corrected in continuity to the Isle of the Allspark. It doesn't help this was made right after a huge writer's block and lo and behold, I'm suffering from another one for the upcoming third installment of the series. Bwah bwah bwah...