Chapter 13: Always Two Steps Ahead
A few weeks after the dance, everyone was pretty much still saying how impressed they were with the performance the gang gave. Then as an added piece of news, word of Tiberius and Miko officially becoming a couple on the very same night on Lover's Ridge had also been spreading like the plague. Not least of which being because of rumors that the two new love birds had 'banged' around in the passenger seat of the Japanese girl's car.
Tiberius had a strong suspicion that Vince started that rumor. It had also become common knowledge over the course of those weeks that the two… to put it bluntly, could not keep their hands off of each other. Engaging in heated make out sessions whenever and wherever they could, during their free time at least.
Mathias and Serena were ecstatic that their son had gotten a girlfriend that was actually an amazing person. The two never liked Veronica, especially after she had cheated on Tiberius the way she did.
However, this didn't mean that their relationship was perfect. The two often argued when it came to school work and Miko's procrastination habit, as well as Tiberius often paying more attention to his training with Optimus and his desire to make and build things more than her at times.
But those are stories for another time. Today's issue is much more dramatic. In the Jasper city High School, the home room of the gang was basically empty as everyone waited for school to end after their teacher left for a personal emergency. And as they waited, Miko was busy arguing with her Bioformer boyfriend about her not wanting to do her homework at the moment. The blonde was trying to convince her otherwise so she'd have more free time later on.
"Why is this even such a big deal?! If I don't want to, then I don't want to!" The girl huffed.
"That's not what I'm saying. You're always complaining that I prioritize other things than spending time with you, so I'm trying to help you avoid the same problem so we can both have more time to spend together. It's that simple!" The boy argued back, the two leaning towards each other as they argued, Miko turned around to face the Bioformer behind her.
"Then make it feel simple!" She told him. The two continued to glare at each other, not bothering to notice that everyone was staring at them as lightning seemed to crack between their faces in an almost anime-like fashion.
"You think they're gonna do it again?" Jack whispered to Sierra.
"No idea." She whispered back. The two continued to watch as the couple glared at each other, until a familiar lustful glaze appeared over their faces.
"There it is." The boy muttered.
Miko slowly leaned in and kissed Tiberius on the lips and stayed like that for a minute or two, while their classmates started making catty calls at them. Tiberius then began to return the gesture readily, right until a spitball nailed him in the back of the head.
"Who did that?" The Bioformer questioned as he whirled around. Soon he spotted Vince with a straw in his hand. "Vince… So, you have chosen death." He growled as he got up and started stomping over to the redhead.
"Oh boy. Here we go." Sierra muttered with a facepalm.
"What's the matter, Darwin? You mad?" The bully asked mockingly… Right before he was decked in the face. This soon broke out into a full on brawl. The bioformer and school blowhard wasted no time in throwing each other around the classroom as their classmates chanted "Fight" atnosium… right until the bell rang and one of the other teachers came in to see Tiberius with Vince struggling in a headlock.
"What is going on here?!" She yelled. Tiberius punched Vince one more time before letting the boy go. The bully had a black eye from the first punch.
"He started it!" The two yelled at the same time.
"I don't care who started it! Detention for both of you!" She declared. As she left the room Tiberius grabbed Vince by the collar.
"You listen to me, prick. You do that again, and I will not hesitate to give you permanent damage, am I clear?" He questioned.
"Please, you're all bark and no bite." Vince spat back. This caused the blonde to grip him by the neck.
"Hear me, Vince. I am more than just talk. Because if I wanted to, you'd be dead already." Tiberius growled as he dropped the kid as everyone else left.
(Later)
Needless to say his parents were not happy with him getting detention, but they understood that Vince had been a thorn in his side for quite awhile. So the two decided to let Optimus handle the boy's punishment.
"For your punishment, you to be assigned to patrol and recon with Arcie." He decided.
"Great, so I'm stuck with lookout duty." The blonde sighed. "I don't get what's so bad about me decking Vince. He had it coming, I mean interrupting someone when they're sharing a moment with their romantic partner is just… Rude."
"Doesn't mean you have the right to punch his lights out." Arcie commented.
"Maybe things regarding romantic relationships are different on your planet, Arcie, but here on Earth? Things like what I did are pretty common practice." The Bioformer stated before adding as he transformed. "Perhaps if you had experience with relationships like that, you'd understand."
"Excuse me?" The two wheeler shot back indignantly.
"You heard me. I'll bet you never so much as blinked at the concept of loving someone back on Cybertron, even before the war." He shot back. This caused all the Autobots, save Optimus, to draw in a sharp breath.
"Ohhh scrap." Bulkhead groaned as he facepalmed.
[Tiberius, please tell me you did not just go there.] Bumblebee beeped nervously.
"I'll prep my first aid kit in case things get ugly…" Ratchet sighed.
"This can only end badly." Jack muttered to Sierra as the two backed away nervously.
"Agreed." The cheer captain replied quietly.
"Oh no." Miko said as she covered her and Raf's eyes as Arcie roundhouse kicked Creator in the stomach.
"Oof!" The Bioformer grunted as he staggered backwards before falling on his back. "What was that for?" He growled as he got back up.
"For mouthing off about things you know nothing about." She growled before Ratchet opened a ground bridge. "Now come on, we're wasting time just standing around." She added as she and Jack went through the portal.
Creator just let out an angry sigh before he walked through. As they reached the site, the Bioformer decided to keep his distance from the two due to how aggravated he was. Frankly it was probably for the best.
"I get that Tibs pushed your buttons, but don't you think kicking him in the stomach was a bit much? I mean that's basically what he did to Vince." Jack asked.
"What do you mean?" The femme asked.
"Well, here on Earth, when a pair of humans who are a couple are harassed by someone else or a group, it usually means that it's one of the partner's jobs to put those people in their places." He explained. "Like kicking someone for disrespecting a person you cared about, even if it was most likely unintentional. It's just how things are usually done here."
Arcie frowned slightly at his words. When she thought about it that way, she supposed she overreacted. "You're… Probably right. It's just when Tiberius said that, it… Brought up some bad memories of someone I cared about. Someone who passed away during the war."
"Was it Cliffjumper?" The boy asked as they kept walking.
"No, it was someone else. His name was Tailgate. He was my partner before Cliffjumper." She explained.
"Oh… Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up anything bad." Jack apologized.
"No, it's okay. You didn't know." The two wheeler sighed.
"Guys, I think I found what's causing the signal." Creator said over the comms.
"What did you find?" Arcie asked.
"It's a big honkin crashed Cybertronian ship. Can't tell if it's Autobot or Decepticon." He replied. "And from the looks of things it's old, cobwebs, old dusty vats of pickled animals and other creatures, odd taxidermy. Whoever lived in here must be a big game hunter of some sort." He added. After hearing the description of the ship, Arcie froze in fear.
"Creator, get out of there, now!" She told him In alarm.
"Why? You know who this ship belongs to? … Whoa, is that a Cybertronian corpse? Hang on guys, I think I may have just found the owner. I'll see if I can determine the cause of death." The Bioformer said before he hung up.
"Scrap! He doesn't even know!" The two wheeler said, her voice fearful.
"Wait, what's wrong?" Jack asked.
"The ship he just described… It belongs to an old enemy of mine." The femme told him shakily. "She's the reason Tailgate is dead." She added.
"Scrap." Jack said before realizing something. "Then I hope Tiberius doesn't find out, cuz if there's one thing I know about him: Is that when he has enough time to think up a plan, there's no beating him."
"How far ahead does he plan?" Arcie asked with a raised eye-plate.
"He usually says that he's always at least two steps ahead." The human replied.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile with Creator, he was examining the corpse and comparing it to the databases of Cons and Bots he managed to scrounge up here and there, until he got a match.
"Tailgate, huh? What the heck happened to you?" He wondered as he read through the Bot's public service record. "Hm… You had quite the record, didn't you, pal?" He mused. "... KIA, suspected killer… Black Airachnid? Who the fuck is that?" He wondered aloud, before he heard someone walking into the ship.
"Uh oh…" He muttered as he tried to find a space to hide.
As soon as he did he leapt onto a railing and hung there as the figure entered. It was a female Cybertronian with horns, a spider-like abdomen, and eight legs. Her colors were black, purple and gold. Creator nodded figuring things out now.
"I get it, this is her ship." He said to himself. "And Tailgate… Scrap, he was one of Arcie's partners before Cliffjumper?" He hissed as he finished reading the record. "No wonder she was so mad…" He sighed.
Airachnid walked over to one of the tanks and dusted it off, it was empty at first, until she suddenly tossed a deceased family of three humans into it as it filled with yellow liquid. "Ah finally, a new addition to my collection." She chuckled.
Seeing this, Creator was disgusted, but it also gave him an idea, and it quickly started to plan itself out. "So she likes to collect things Huh? Wonder if she likes to collect tech too." He whispered as he slowly and quietly climbed down behind a tank, before taking out his modified Energon Harvester, and rolled it into the hallway, causing it to bump into the Femme's leg.
"Hm?" She hummed as she looked down at the object that bumped into her. "Odd. I don't remember picking up an Energon Harvester, but okay." She shrugged as she picked it up.
Smirking, Creator started counting. "Five, four, three, two, one…" He counted before the markings of the Harvester glowed red and opened up, automatically syphoning Airachnid's Energon instantly.
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" She screamed as her Energon was drained from her. The Harvester didn't stop until only half of her reserves were left, causing her to drop to the ground and drop the orb.
Creator walked up and picked his tool up before stomping his foot on her head. "I see you fell for my trap. How do you like it? I made it myself out of nothing but spare parts." He grinned.
"Who are you supposed to be…?!" The hunter questioned weakly.
"Name's Creator. I'm the universe's first Transforming Cybertronian Biological Organism. Or Bioformer for short, I'm part Cybertronian and Bionicle." He told her. "I was created by Primus himself. Making me his grandson. Sort of."
"When I get my strength back, you'll be my next trophy…!" The spider like femme hissed.
"Fat chance. This Harvester depleted half of your reserves, so it'll take hours for you to get back up." Creator laughed. "And even when you do…" He said as he took out a set of restraints and bound her. "You wouldn't be able to move." He added. "And as an added precaution…" He added as he shackled on two small detonators to them. "These will blow up if you try to use those acid claws of yours."
"How do you-?" The femme asked.
"Saw an acid ate tree on the way here, figured it was whoever owned the ship, so I planned ahead." He retorted.
'Scrap… He's actually got me at his mercy. I can't do anything…!' Airachnid thought.
"Hmm, now what should I do with you, I wonder?" He asked himself. Airachnid, meanwhile, growled as she struggled against her restraints… at least until she saw her emergency Energon injection mere feet away.
Creator sighed as he took his foot off Airachnid and then started walking outside to tell Arcie about what happened, and when he did, Airachnid transformed her lower half into two legs and rolled over to the emergency injection, allowing her to shoot herself in the neck with it.
"What the-!" The Bioformer got out in surprise at the sudden action. He quickly whirled around and just managed to block a kick from the woman. "Well, I should have figured that this would happen. I mean it is your ship." He growled as he forced her off.
"Very true. Now to make you my next trophy!" The spider transformer growled. She continued to try and kick him, shaking off the restraints on her spider legs to give her more reach. However, Creator wasn't really worried.
"Let's see if this works." He said as he slammed his hand on the ground and used his molecular manipulation to cause the ground to morph into spikes all around the femme.
"WHA-!" Airachnid shouted in surprise. As she tried to dodge the spikes, Creator noticed that her ship was leaking Energon, and what was even better, he heard the sound of a motorcycle headed his way.
'Bingo.' He thought as Arcie skidded next to him and Airachnid stopped in the doorway to her ship. "Alright. Plan B. Arcie, do me a favor and kick Airachnid as far inside her ship as you can." He told her.
"Got something in mind?" She asked as she glared at her personal arch nemesis.
"Let's just say I'm gonna give Airachnid here a one way ticket to kingdom come." He told her, bringing out his arm missile. The two wheeler quickly caught on and smirked.
"Alright then." She said before kicking the spider femme deep into her ship before blocking the exit for good measure.
"And boom goes the dynamite!" The Bioformer yelled as he fired his missile at the Energon leak, causing a massive explosion.
Arcie let out a tired sigh as her shoulders slumped. "Finally…" She muttered.
Though, life is rarely that simple, especially with the tenacious Decepticons. Unbeknownst to the group, Airachnid managed to get free of her restraints and broke out of her ship using her acid before burrowing underground, disappearing unseen.
Creator sighed as he transformed back into his human form. "Phew. That was close." He sighed, before he hissed in pain before looking at his arm. "Damn it, she must've tagged me." He hissed, looking at the scratch on his arm, which was rather large, but shallow.
Arcie knelt down and looked at it. "It doesn't look too bad, but I'd get it checked out." She told him.
"Fair enough. Let's grab Jack and head back." The blonde nodded.
"Right here!" Jack called as he came running up to them.
"I thought I told you to stay back." Arcie said.
"Couldn't, a mountain lion was about to have me for lunch!" The boy told her, clearly out of breath. "Thank god for pepper spray." He sighed in relief.
"Let's just head back. I've had enough of today." Tiberius sighed. With that, the three called for a ground bridge, and went home.
(Later)
It was evening and Arcie was going outside to visit Cliffjumper's grave, when she saw Creator there, creating another grave. And setting the deceased body of Tailgate inside.
"You recovered his body?" The two wheeler noted.
"Yeah, managed to do it before Airachnid broke loose. Figured the least I could do was give him a proper burial." He nodded before looking at the two Wheeler. "Arcie, listen, about what I said earlier…" He continued as he transformed. "I'm sorry." He told her.
"Don't worry. I'm over it now. And you didn't know, either." She replied softly.
"It's just, I'm really new to this whole thing. Having a girlfriend who loves me as much as I do her. I want to do everything I can to make her happy, to protect her." Tiberius told her as he sat down. "Especially given the… dreams I've been having." He added.
"I heard about those. They sound like nasty stuff." Arcie nodded as she sat next to him.
"If anything ever happened to Miko, the same way Cliffjumper or Tailgate died… I don't know what I'd do." The boy said, his heart sinking at the very thought of his girlfriend dying in front of him.
"It won't come to that. We'll make sure of it." The femme told him reassuringly, hugging the boy close to her leg. Tiberius simply looked down, still unsure.
(Elsewhere)
Jenova was walking around a crashed Autobot ship that she managed to find with the help of her new Terror-Bioformer minion, Changling. And was currently collecting samples of infected Energon, which was contaminated with Cybonic Plague.
"With this, my serum will be complete." She grinned as she handed her test tube to Changling.
"I'll take good care of this, mistress." He told her.
"You better, and if you do, I'll be sure to give you a reward." She told him, sliding her finger down from his nose to his bottom lip seductively.
"Of course." The former human nodded as they took a ground bridge back to the Nemesis.
Dragon Emperor0: Well, that isn't a good sign. Airachnid is still alive and now Jenova has the final piece of… whatever she's making.
ThermalsniperN7: And said piece sounds suspiciously like the Bubonic Plague, judging by the name. If the Cybonic Plague is anything like the Black Death, then it's nothing short of serious.
Dragon Emperor0: … Dear lord I think I know what she's trying to use it for. Well, I'm not sleeping a wink tonight! See you all next week!