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

38. The Metal Head Siege

Song: Dangerzone –Kenny Loggins

---

It seemed like there was always calm before the storm.

In the middle of the night, Arcee was resting comfortably with her back on Megatron's own stretched out with her servos behind her head. Megatron was face first in his crossed arms asleep on a platform staged in the back of the Health Building as they didn't have any berths to reside on. They both nearly jumped up tired and peeved at the alarm. Moonhunter was lying on the side of Bolt's head when the latter sprung up alert, fleeing from the disturbance irritably. The warlord slowly sank back down even with the alarm blazing and it took four punches to finally get him to awaken completely.

"Come on, big boy, we can sleep later. The Metal Heads are probably not going to wait for our beauty naps," Arcee said.

"I'm solely tempted to just let the humans figure out how to kill those monsters themselves," he mumbled in his arms.

The queen walked around the makeshift berth and slapped the side of his right thigh and then his right arm playfully which didn't affect him the slightest. "You know we can't do that. Let's go."

Arcee didn't wait for the two mechs to follow, instead petting Moonhunter who yawned and stretched. She found Lennox and Epps already stationed at the computer console alerting them of the problem. Max appeared shortly after she arrived. Kia was not present, and neither were the girls, so she assumed they were still asleep.

"Alarm's going nuts. Those Metal freaks are at it again. Several of them have been spotted in Brasília, Brazil. Their president resides there. And these hotspots across the globe imply sightings just within the last three hours. They may be mobilizing. We don't have much time," Epps stated.

Max nodded, "Epps is right. And on top of that, we don't have the means to cover all these areas. We don't have the exact ground bridging technology you use. Ours overheats with multiple uses in a single hour. It's still in the experimental stages and very few have access to it."

Megatron came up behind Arcee to peer at the screens before frowning, "Even with the technology, splitting up might be dangerous if the Metal Heads are deploying new sentries previously unseen like those that you encountered near the trove in New Zealand."

Everyone was stumped on what to do, including Agent Fowler. Max tapped the side of his chest with crossed arms then sighed frustrated. Arcee could tell he had a plan, but it might have its share of complications.

"I hate to do this to you guys. Arcee, you and Megatron are going to be on the front lines. You've handled these Metal Heads up close and personal before and with those abilities of yours, now seems like the perfect time to really test how much you know about them. Their faces may change but they are still the same creatures no matter what their differences in offense and defense are."

Epps was quick to added, "First thing's first, we need you to head to Brazil to defend their president from attacking Metal Heads. If he goes, it'll be a crapshoot. Lennox, Max, and I will do our best to aid you, but Max is right. We need you to head the operation here. Bolt will be our backup to send to you in emergencies and our key communicator."

Arcee understood. "Time to see what we can do."

As Bolt yawned before staring at the screens over Max's position and cussing at the chaos, the two Cybertronians and Moonhunter prepared to go to Brazil's capital. They spawned a portal and rushed through to see the chaos at hand.

Armed soldiers shot as the Metal Heads stalking through the city. It was a war zone with the monsters merging towards the president's home office. Spyder Gunners were the most malicious of them all this time, having the rapid blasts killing everyone in their path. They weren't the most powerful against tank armor, but they could take out armored trucks.

"Alright, let's kick some Metal hide!"

Megatron chuckled, clashing his fists together menacingly, "As I look forward to all the time."

The Palácio da Alvorada, the office and home of the active president of Brazil, had tanks on its outskirts similar to the game plan of Lennox when he was protecting his president. It was a great strategy for a stronghold effect though for the Metal Heads, they were more than eager to storm it because the humans were defending themselves. Typical monsters took their will to survive as a challenge.

Arcee had Moonhunter by her side as she rushed after the monsters going for the president the same as last time. However, the Metal Heads immediately grew wise of her and split off in different directions to hide among the scarce residential buildings of the open fields to her dismay and left her in the firing line of the tanks. The humans manning them didn't know friend from foe as they held their ground on edge and she expected as much, especially when the cannons lit up. Several blasts were hurled her way in the blink of an eye. She could only gasp as they shot. Suddenly, Megatron grabbed and shielded her. Although most of the tank blasts missed, one struck him the moment he covered her.

Megatron let out an angry screech before flashing his fangs in warning, still holding from the hit to his back left shoulder. Some of his armor had pieces missing, but he took it in stride. His lips curved into a nasty, predatory sneer as his pupils contracted and optics narrowed. He gave one last roar for threatening her as he still posed in front of her protectively. Friendly or not, he was prepared to rip apart those tanks in a millisecond if they tried again. Nudging her into the Golden Tulip Alvorada out of sight, he made sure Moonhunter followed before rolling his shoulder in discomfort and a pained rumble.

"Have to hand it to the insects, their tanks do hurt when they get you."

"I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get you hurt! I didn't think the Metal Heads would do that!"

He waved her plea off. "It's okay! Arcee, it is fine, not the first time something like this has happened. I once took a hit to the lower panels by one of those rocket guns humans developed. It didn't break my armor...but it was paralyzing pain and having to stand out in the open and act like it didn't was probably one of my hardest moments to keep up appearances. When I got back to the Nemesis upon calling a retreat when you and the Autobots came to rush us, it hurt like hell. I didn't collapse until I reached my quarters."

Arcee winced, "You're okay to fight? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, my dear, you know it's going to take more than that to kill me. Don't you know me so well," he mused as he stood up which proved a bit of a blunder as the building beside him was blown up by a tank trying to aim for his head.

They both left to go farther out of range of the scouting tanks and tried to pinpoint where the Metal Heads were. Two Grunts had similar ideas and slid out from their hiding places to run the back way around to the president's home office. The office was isolated out in the open but very capable of being overrun if the tanks weren't fast enough to subdue the creatures one by one. The Metal Heads the bots were trying to chase were fast, abnormally fast for Grunts...just like the Centurion on Aquatron.

Arcee slowed slightly as she processed this information. The Metal Heads were mutating. Grunts weren't fast. Centurions didn't have removable shields. Something had changed; this wasn't supposed to be possible. They were adapting to her techniques. Even her speed boost couldn't counter the Grunts' quickened pace, and she had so much trouble with that one Centurion while others had fallen easily by her weapons. Someone was watching her.

"Arcee! Snap out of it!"

She barely realized she was running out into the open trying to get the closest grunt when tank fire started aiming for both of them. The Metal Head slowed down considerably to avoid being shot. Arcee took that as her opportunity. With Dagger Prima, she passed it while twirling, cutting its neck open and leaving it to choke on its own blood while the rest gushed down its chest.

Megatron transformed and shot straight for the second Metal Head that was having a lot of luck dodging the tanks. It was fast but it couldn't outrun a Cybertronian jet. He shifted back and rolled with the monster until he quickly crushed its windpipe with a sickening crack and a vicious sneer.

Moonhunter trailed off and went for a side attack, intercepting a Grunt at high speed enough to sweep it off its feet and tumble, barely avoiding getting shot for his trouble. The Metal Head tried to snap at him, but he kept on its backside tearing into the flesh until he ripped out part of its face. The Nitrotiger swung the Metal Head away as it whimpered before growling, standing up on its hind legs with its claws ready to tear him apart. A tank round suddenly sent the Metal Head flying several yards to complete stop as smoke rose from the body. Moonhunter was stunned by the abrupt death and flicked his ears back as one of the tanks aimed at him but didn't fire. The human next to it held a hand up but no one shot at Moonhunter. A brief nod was seen before the trajectory of the tank was shifted to the left and fired. The cat was surprised when a Metal Head coming up behind had its head blown clean off.

Arcee saw the action and smirked as the humans were no longer aiming for her or Megatron. She heard a human shout to them, "Estamos com você, só não nos faça arrepender!"

It took a second to translate the words having been used to English while on Earth more than any other language, but she instantly knew the confirmation of their allegiance. That had just been on edge having two different alien species attacking each other. She couldn't blame them for defending their president and city from all potential threats. With them giving her the space she needed, she could plan better without the fear of being shot to shit for her efforts.

Suddenly, three large Spyder Gunners traversed into view as Megatron tackled the remaining Grunts. They crushed cars and due to their abnormal size, they were slower. They were still among the buildings shrugging off tank fire like it was nothing. Arcee realized these were the big guns. If these things got to the president and his escort, they were dead. She found herself unsure of how to combat them as Spyder Gunners were usually rapidly firing. These ones had traded their blast speed for more power and durability, another mutation. In their path of destruction, plenty of smoke and dust made seeing them hard...but she had a counter to such a factor.

Running up to a building, she had the nanotechnology Max gave her creep down from among her head crest where it rested and form over her optics, making them completely red with a black mask over her upper face. Thermal vision proved good to identify them with as infrared kept pulling up the smoke with flares of orange and red for the heat. But the green light vision was best as their skull gems had unique lighting to them, visible even through smoke itself. Narrowing her optics, it was time to take down some Metal Heads.

Her first target was the closest to her, she peaked out to get a good visual of where it was going to go, gripping Dagger Prima in hand with a scowl. She activated her temporary invisibility to sneak under it as the other two monsters were focused on different directions. Once she determined the best course of action was to topple them, she leapt up to strike.

Brutally stabbing the joints of one of its four legs, the large Spyder Gunner wobbled with a roar as its wounded leg shook. Arcee quickly diverted to another leg and with one swift motion, cut it off completely. The other two limbs had trouble keeping it steady as their balance gave out. It fell with a shriek of pain. Arcee was about to finish it off by sending the dagger into its skull gem when a blast sent her over its head, hitting the ground rolling with a few moans. She peered up to see the second Spyder Gunner aiming directly at her with a hiss.

"Get away from her!"

Megatron jettisoned straight at it and transformed to send a punch directly into the side of its face. With fangs bared, his strike caused the metal of its left cheek and its head to shatter while the left set of eyes ruptured, squirting out its juices down its face and dripping onto the pavement below. The alien bellow it made couldn't hide any part of its agony before it tripped over its disabled teammate and fell onto its back. Megatron leaped onto its chest and made sure its jaws couldn't snap at him as he sent a servo down its throat. Like a barbarian, he growled angrily as he ripped out its tongue and esophagus, pulling on the other organs, nearly forcing them out as well. Once the Spyder Gunner grew still, he ignored the dark purple blood oozing down his arm and slammed its head back to let go of the organic material in disgust.

Even though the brutality was horrifying, Arcee was all too aware of how he was and merely smiled at it, not expecting anything less. In a way, she was glad he never changed his methods. Then she paused to use her night vision ability to try and pinpoint the last Gunner. She saw the third Spyder Gunner coming up near the Brazilian military through the smoke and ran to Megatron who spotted her as she yelled out, "Throw me!"

He knew the plan instantly. That's how in sync they were even among arguments and disagreements. Without a single pause in their routine, he outstretched his arm to lower so she could place her pede on it. With a sinister grin, he rotated around once and chucked her like a missile directly at the Spyder Gunner. Dagger Prima seemed to gleam as it had its chance to shed blood. The impact of her and the blade against the likes of the Metal Head was satisfying, especially the crunching noise as its chest concaved. She nearly went straight through it. It fell within seconds as its heart imploded.

Standing up as the rest of the Metal Heads retreated once they saw the Cybertronians take on the heavy hitters, Arcee placed Dagger Prima back onto her person and wiped her servos off amused. Megatron was walking towards her when the disabled Spyder Gunner hissed and tried to crawl with its arms towards the warlord. Without looking at it, Megatron shot it thrice in the head until it rolled over dead, not taking his optics off Arcee who stood proud.

She laughed, "Maybe they are getting stronger, but they're no match for the dynamic duo."

Megatron looked at the smoke and a few dead humans unfortunately caught in the line of fire. He huffed, "They are getting stronger..."

Arcee frowned at that, but she couldn't ignore the coincidence of everything. These new Metal Heads restricted many of her abilities whereas previously, she could use them as many times as she liked. The gliding and speed abilities were not useful in such environments where there were no buildings or landscapes designed for her to use to her advantage. She had to go back to relying on her stealth aspects more, so the invisibility and the vision ability helped.

Before she could speak out, the tanks that protected the president's office were evacuated at the military personnel cheered. Arcee and Megatron approached with caution while Moonhunter met up with them dragging a pained Grunt with a snarl, tearing into it. They ignored the cries of the dying Metal Head in favor of seeing the president to make sure he was okay.

The armed personnel tried to retain peace, but Arcee could see they were still on edge until a man in a nice suit and slicked back hair come out of the building with plenty of guards once it was deemed the coast was clear of Metal Heads.

President Afonso adjusted his suit before looking at his alien visitors cautious but grateful. He spoke in Portuguese which Arcee was not accustomed to but once she quickly found her translation data, she recalibrated her vocal pattern to the language so he didn't have to stray out of his comfort zone.

"Are you alright, Mr. President?"

"Yes, yes, just a little shaken. You speak my language well, a little too well," he said with a raised brow as his guards gripped their weapons just in case. Moonhunter curiously sniffed one of them who laughed, petting his head before having his buddy take a quick picture of them.

Arcee shrugged, "Cheating. We can access all languages through the World Wide Web."

"Ah, but not for malicious purposes, I assume? Considering you saved me and the people, that speaks more than words here. Those monsters, they are your enemies too?"

"Across the universe, and we're just trying to prevent them from taking over here. If humanity works alongside one another, they won't pose a threat."

The Brazilian president sighed, "If only. Our world is divided heavily into well over a hundred different countries. Acting united is impossible when we're always at each other's throats. But if you want help, my dear, the country of Brazil is indebted to your valor."

She made a respectful bow as the president returned the gesture with mutual praise. The armed guards meekly nodded, still on edge of the bodies of the Metal Heads. Megatron wisely didn't speak as Arcee knew he would make a wise crack or two of the notion of so many countries. Before they left, however, the president suddenly spoke.

"Tell me, the life outside of our planet, is it hostile or are we an exception?"

The warlord huffed when he was shot a warning look by Arcee. "Let's just say…we've all made mistakes when it came to our own species and there are some that hurt others just because. Although, when given the chance, people have helped one another in times of great depression and anguish."

President Afonso held a small smile. "So, there is hope. Thank you."

The response threw them off, but they were both well aware of Earth's individuals often having no confidence in the future. Even Arcee found some doubt among Jack for the future generations and the technology outgrowing Earth itself. In terms of war and hostilities, Earth had its share. The president must have not had much confidence in anyone getting along to survive an alien invasion, and she didn't blame him for thinking that way.

They left the president to be moved to a secure location for the time being. Arcee noticed a Radiant Core was lodged into the cannon arm of one of the giant Spyder Gunners. She was so used to people giving her the cores that it didn't occur to her they were being used for weaponry as they were designed to. The Metal Heads must have gotten access to a supply to empower their weapons to counter her and her team. Using them against humans seemed like a cowardly move. She took it and placed it in her subspace, looking at Megatron who shrugged at the coincidence.

As they gazed at the vast city of Brasília, they got a call from Max. "I hope Brasília is as beautiful as they say. There are already a few videos of you two circling the web kicking Metal Head ass back to their cesspool of a nest. Some bold humans out there, that's for sure."

"I don't think you contacted us just to tell us we're internet famous," Arcee laughed, looking at Megatron.

The human had a devious tone. "Perhaps not. Perhaps I want to do something a little off the books. You see, I'm a huge stickler for prioritizing children's lives above all…well, most of them. The point is I want your help in a little personal matter. Associates from around the globe are reporting to me of orphaned children from these monster attacks. The military is doing rather well in those areas so far. Since many children have been unfortunately displaced by these battles ongoing, they can't go back home. I want you to go to a select few destinations that are currently under Metal Head suppression and bring those children to a checkpoint in each town. My associates will transfer them from there to a care center under my employment, all trusted caretakers only. Alistor is my best apprentice, and she will take them until I find them new homes in their countries or locate any other family members once all this blows over. Please note, I ask this under the table on this secure line. No one, including N.E.S.T. and the U.S. government, can know about it. I don't need them snooping around where they shouldn't and if they do, they will start trying to oversee it. I don't know if you know how these governments work here on Earth, but they are not above hurting and exploiting children for political gain...or worse. The U.S. has many secrets that would even boil your blood, Megatron. You can ask plenty of Arabian citizens about that…"

"I like this human," Megatron grinned.

Arcee knew she shouldn't be picking Max's deeds over the world's situation but at the same time, it was a part of it. It was the portion of the attacks the governments didn't want to worry about. After all, people died every day. The presidents and kings were worth more than a handful of children, but Max made his stance quite clear. He would rather save a thousand children than rescue a king on his own terms. People of power could very easily be replaced. Indulging his complex nature wouldn't hurt if he trusted her enough to ask the favor in the first place.

"Send us the coordinates. We'll be there," She stated. Moonhunter yowled in agreement.

"I appreciate this. I do. In fact, you do this, and I'll throw in something good. A weapon upgrade I raided off a lost Cybertronian vessel. I could never find any use for it, but maybe you will. Your first stop will be Athens, Greece. Stay safe out there."

Greece held the trivial secrets of cybernetic beings visiting Earth previously as did Egypt. Given around the ancient civilizations' time, they were advanced enough that they held Cybertronian artifacts with great regard, unafraid of how deadly they could have really been.

Going through the portal to Athens, they found themselves near the Parthenon right as a portion of its right corner was blasted off. Tracing the origin of it, they saw Rapid Gunners taking out multiple fleeing citizens and tourists stuck in the city. One homed in on an elderly woman until a tank bullet struck it right in the chest. A Grecian soldier ran to the lady and carried her to safety as his teammates covered him with gunfire. The Rapid Gunner was smoking but had enough life in it to fire back a few rounds, catching a few of the humans directly and some by proximity before too many shots to its neck and unguarded abdomen finally did it in. Seeing the Metal Heads larger in comparison to humans was weird as Arcee was used to them being her size or larger, she being the smallest of most all cybernetic beings aside from Minicons like Kia.

"Max, exactly how many children do you expect us to save?" Arcee asked weakly as she hid behind a pillar to avoid a stray blast.

"At least a few. You can't save everyone, but the least you can do that matters the most is try. If we could save everyone...it would be a perfect world. You know as well as I we won't ever see it. It's just roulette, one you may not be comfortable being a part of but is a necessity. Save the ones you can in the timeframe, bring them to the checkpoint I'm sending the location of now, and I'll give you another site as soon as you are available."

A cry made both her and Megatron go on high alert and saw a little boy with blood on his arms, not bleeding himself it seemed, running from a Metal Mantis. He cowered into a small crevice where the creature had trouble reaching, its mandibles clacking against the walls snarling.

Arcee ran up behind it as it peered back sent a pede straight into its head. It slumped against the wall before rolling and hopping out of her reach. She brought out her double-bladed sword and swiped at it. It did a backflip, but she anticipated it. It whined as its abdomen was impaled. With an urgent, protective fury, she whipped it over her head and had its body bounce off her blade to tumble lifeless a few feet away with damaged armor from hitting the ground. With an inhuman snarl, she made sure it was dead by stomping its head in before pausing.

The little boy was frightened, considerably so. She changed her language to Greek and offered the boy comfort in the fluid change of tone. "It's okay, it's alright. You're safe."

He moved back a little deeper into the crevice shivering. He barely whispered in a meek voice, "No..."

"Where are your parents?"

The tears in his eyes were heartbreaking. "I want my mama. She was hurt and that monster..."

Arcee didn't need to hear the rest to know what happened. She shook her head solemnly as she peered down at the ground for a moment. "Let me take you someplace where no one can hurt you. Your mother would want you to be safe and that's what I'm here to make sure. Someone is going to look out for you, I promise."

"You...promise?"

"I'll die first before I let anything happen to you."

The boy slowly came out of hiding despite the faint sounds of terror. He flinched seeing a blast flying in the distance striking a high building, but Arcee offered her servo in comfort. He slowly took it, amazed how similar of a hand she had for someone so strange. Once he was comfortable, she picked him up and he stared up gawking at Megatron who dwarfed both of them. Megatron kept his feelings mutual to not scare the kid with fangs or an attitude who was already traumatized enough.

"Ah, don't worry about him. He's the monster hunter. People have fears but monsters can be made fearful too," she assured.

Moonhunter came up and sat down, purring much to the boy's curiosity. A big Nitrotiger wasn't an everyday sight. The cat was even patient enough to let him pet him.

The boy lightened a little at the notion. To the kid, as long as he had Arcee and Megatron, two giant robots in their own right, no scary monsters could get him and that's what he needed to know. Arcee opened the map of Athens and had the coordinates for a checkpoint Max said he would supply. All of them took off towards it. There was a portal guarded by several men and women who showed them no hostility like they expected them. It was the confirmation Arcee needed that this was the checkpoint.

"You're Max's people?"

"They are and I'm their commander," a woman no older than eighteen said. She had more modern clothing on but also had remnants of pirate gear like the sash and belt. The armor integrated into the clothing seemed to be a signature style of their group. "The name's Alistor. I'm Max's apprentice."

"Didn't expect a pirate to have an apprentice," Arcee said.

"Well, he taught me all his tricks in dealing with monsters and other creatures, so I consider that apprenticeship. I also deal with the children Max takes care of and sees to their return. It's been his secret good deed since the 1800's. Not heartless after all, huh? He told me you would help him rescue the children from the war zones. I'll have portals ready for you at each location if you can save these kids who lost everything. We'll deal with the rest."

"And how do I know you're not using these kids yourself? I would imagine someone as greedy as Max would perhaps not be above making a quick money grab over children if he became desperate."

"Ha, are you kidding me? Max would kill us if we did such a thing! Hell, tell that to all the pedophiles and traffickers. Oh wait, you can't because all of them who come across Max are hunted down like helpless animals the same as how they treat their victims. You saw the 'Cave of Wonder' back in New Zealand, right? Those aren't just the bodies of hikers and most of the skeletons found in Fiordland aren't even in that cave of his. He has a body dump that the creatures of the area absolutely love him for. There is a line that can be crossed in terms of sins and Max will destroy anyone he finds that crosses such boundaries. Children couldn't be safer with Max...but the adults I somewhat pity."

That was definitely confirmation enough. Anything involving murder with Max was without a doubt serious. The little boy seemed timid to leave Arcee's side, but Alistor moved aside to present the portal and Max's sisters popped through to assure him. He grew more responsive seeing other children and no one rushed him out of his comfort zone, but Arcee did need to leave to find more children in danger. Once he was near Alistor, she saluted the woman.

"We'll be back."

Arcee and Megatron ran across buildings to keep a high view of the streets of Athens for any potential children scattered from their homes. The Metal Heads were being drawn away from civilians with the aerial strikes and gunfire. They didn't know how many casualties Athens had and it bugged Arcee to know she couldn't do much to stop the Metal Heads with them attacking so many regions at once. That told her either there were multiple commanders or maybe the Metal Head Leader themself was among Earth trying to finish it off. Normally, these attacks were secluded. This was just another mystery of the Metal Head regime.

Two siblings, a boy and a girl, were spotted evading a Metal Runner hissing at them and Megatron was the first to divert course. Arcee let him take that one because she knew he had a plan...and that was to jump directly onto the Horaquan's head, crushing it. The attack was simple but brutal; Arcee smirked at it.

"And it's a wonder you didn't stomp my processor out when you had the chance," she laughed.

Megatron grinned, "I never aimed for you."

The two kids shivered but saw the remains of their pursuer, unsure if the new entity before them was friend or foe. Megatron replied by steadily placing a servo out and giving a kind smile. The girl walked up first and placed a shaky hand on his index digit. It made him tense at first afraid of hurting her but when she climbed onto his palm, he relaxed, and the boy slowly followed.

"Are you going to eat us?"

The question was sudden and Megatron grimaced, "No, I...I hunt monsters. Humans I don't harm."

The boy asked, "So, you eat all those bad monsters?"

"Tastes delicious, I assure you." Even though it was a lie, seeing the children's faces lighting up at his humor made him return with a proud grin. They weren't scared of the fact he had sharp teeth.

A growl emitted behind him as he held both children to see a Grunt creeping around the corner. He sneered as it rose to a bipedal stance, but he merely pointed his fusion cannon directly in its face making it reel back in shock.

"No one's scared of you anymore," he snarled back.

The Metal Head's four eyes went wide with a whimpering grunt before its head was blown clean off. Megatron paused and looked down at the children he held wondering if he made a mistake. They were silent for a second before cheering at the bloodshed. He didn't know if that was good or bad, but at least they weren't frightened of him.

Arcee hopped down and smiled at the kids. "Nice shooting, let's get them to Alistor."

They dropped off the two at the portal and let Alistor take care of the rest. The children waved goodbye to them once they knew they were in secure hands. The rest of the city showed no other misplaced children that they could see as they shot at any Metal Head within sight. Knowing they had to move on regardless, Arcee contacted Max.

"Athens is clear."

"Good, Alistor told me you found three children. I thank you for saving them. Now, I need you to go to London, England. Don't think I haven't been doing some work, by the way. While the U.S. government is hellbent on figure out a strategy to fight these monsters, I've been doing a bit of research of my own. The Metal Heads have a signal, a two-way feed I've detected and it's strange. The coding of the signal suggests a higher presence is somewhere on Earth. I can't figure out where it is."

Arcee hissed to herself, "A commander. We destroyed the previous commanders on other worlds; the Metal Heads on Earth will become uncoordinated if we destroy this one. They need a commander present to keep them focused. Otherwise, the virus will act differently in each host and start becoming one huge mess. See if you can find out anything else while we track down any children in London."

"Not a problem," Max mused. "I have to say, this reminds me of my hunting back in my sea-dwelling days. I kind of miss this chaos, not necessarily the alien creatures though."

Arcee cut out of the call as she set her coordinates to London, England. Moonhunter scurried in, not liking the environment. London was cold but stylized with an older feeling, a bit muggy but infested with Metal Heads. The British Army and police worked side by side as Metal Heads stormed some of their cultural landmarks. She quickly noted the location of the checkpoint near Big Ben and went to work.

"I'll take to the skies. You and Moonhunter keep a look out on the ground."

Megatron transformed before she could argue, and she scowled at Moonhunter. "Mechs. Alright, you and I are going to scour this city. Let me know if you see something."

The cat yowled as Arcee began shooting at any enemy while avoiding fire from troops in London. She heard crying and saw a girl near a light post clinging to it like it was the only stable thing around her. Arcee bent towards her, offering a hand but switching between trying to assure her and watching for blasts.

"Here, come with me!" Arcee said.

The girl was hesitant until she screamed, pointing behind Arcee. The femme whipped around and barely dodged a swipe of a Centurion's shield. She punched its underbelly twice before hitting its face and then backflipping her pedes beneath its jaw for an uppercut until she grabbed its head in its daze, kneeing it right between the eyes. The Centurion came crashing backwards as she huffed, rolling her shoulders. The girl stared at her and Arcee felt terrible for her having to witness such a thing as a war. Of course, the queen was taken aback when the girl latched onto her leg in a scared hug.

Arcee took that as the acceptance she needed and scooped the kid up to race to Big Ben where Megatron was already talking to Alistor with a baby in hand. A human infant looked so tiny against the large metal palm. Alistor handled the little one with care and thanked him before noticing Arcee. She placed the little girl down who ran to the other humans without a second thought.

She gestured at the baby. "Where did you find a sparkling?"

"In an alleyway," the warlord responded with remorse. "The parents were dead beside it. It looks like they had used every ounce of their remaining strength to push the kid to safety before succumbing to their wounds."

There was a faint bloody palm print on the blanket of the little one, and Arcee shook her head in mutual distaste at the situation. It was always unfortunate when a child is orphaned but when it happens through alien forces, that was harsher because it was avoidable.

"Arcee, I need…one last favor from you." Of course, Silos would bother her. The urgency was most inconsiderate that she had to go and hide from human ears. "You are in London, correct?"

At least he could pronounce London. "Yes, how do you know?"

"Wild guess," he responded sarcastically. "Since I think I've almost overstayed my welcome picking up a few small collectibles of my own, and with a lot less places to hide given my large stature, I need you to track down one itsy, little artifact. The humans would barely miss it."

"This is your last request? What do you mean? Why?" She should have dissed him for all the hell, but her curiosity overrode her concern.

There was hesitancy, a flicker of a laugh to the point where he could nearly hear the smile. All the alarms going off in her head blared. Something wasn't right indeed… "I've got nearly everything I need to make our dreams come true…all thanks to you. Now, don't pat yourself on the back just yet. I need one more item like I said. Then, once I get it, all our problems will be gone."

"You've really changed, haven't you?" Arcee asked suspiciously.

"You have no idea," Silos forced through his teeth whispering. "I need the crown jewel of the 'beloved' monarch of London. The Koh-I-Noor diamond. A beloved piece representing the stolen hardships of other cultures and a beacon of injustice of a crown undeserved. Now, I'm quite a fan of tyranny and this diamond is the icon of this country's rule. I love it. Of course, I don't think they will miss it that much…at least not everyone else."

"Whoa, no, no, no, I can't steal from the royalty of England!"

Silos suddenly exclaimed, "Why?! You stole from everyone else! You will get me what I want or I-!"

"Or you'll what?! You know, I'm beginning to believe your threats are empty! You want that diamond so bad, you get it! I'm done! I'll defeat the Metal Head Leader myself with or without you and there won't be anything you can threaten me with now to get in my way! I'm done, Silos, I really am. This is-this madness! What can you possibly gain from all this?!"

Silos' silence was abysmal. She expected some type of threat or crude comment but all she had for a minute was dead silence. She was about to hang up when he began to laugh darkly.

"Ohohoho, poor, pathetic, pretty Arcee. The Metal Head Leader will destroy you now that they know you so well…"

"What do you mean? Are you ousting me because I refuse to be your pawn? Because I turned you down?!"

"No, I haven't, mainly because it's pointless to do so. You were right, all those empty threats and no one to assure them but you gave me what I wanted just the same. I will watch as you make your stand on Cybertron, taking your glory as normal, but just be prepared for anything. I'll still get what I want no matter the outcome. You don't need my help anymore," he huffed amused. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a jewel to take. And I expect that Dark Core...or I will hunt you down myself."

The abrupt hang-up left her stunned. She tried to call the frequency back, but something kept booting her from going through. The way he spoke horrified her because she didn't know his endgame anymore. She didn't know if it was about getting rich, about repayment or revenge anymore. Something changed in Silos, and it was to be feared.

Moonhunter nudged her thigh, bringing her out of her trance as Megatron called out her name. She blinked and frowned embarrassed.

"What's wrong? Silos?"

"You can say that. Guess we're on our own mostly. Silos is done. He has what he wants and it's up to us to stop the Metal Head Leader."

"Damn," he scowled.

Arcee apologized, "I should have believed you…people don't change. But he's not actively trying to kill us. He just is not on either side, it seems."

Megatron sighed, "Another Starscream…I always hoped that one day, he wouldn't constantly try to usurp my rule, work alongside me. He wanted power and I tried to talk to him about it. No matter what I tried, he wouldn't listen, so I resorted to the last thing I could to get his attention. Silos will do anything to get what he wants and maybe somebody should have beaten his aft quite some time ago to get him to realize his mistake."

"Okay," she blinked, a slight smile forming, "I think that's a bad example. But thank you for trying. I get the concept. He deserves an ass whooping. But as long as he stays out of our way, it shouldn't be a problem."

To distract herself from the disturbing call from Silos and her resignation as his errand girl, Arcee patrolled the city with Megatron and Moonhunter. They managed to find five more children scared and alone. Bringing them to Alistor, there was a sense of relief but dread as Max called again.

This time, he wanted them in Sydney, Australia. The city had plenty of naval ships attacking where the Metal Heads couldn't reach them. Water was a Metal Head's least favorite element and on a waterfront city, plenty of drownings.

The children of Australia were better at hiding than previous kids. Having to look inside buildings were impossible for the likes of Megatron whereas Arcee could barely get through. Many kids were willing to go with them after seeing the Metal Heads try and fail to get the jump on the bots. To the scared children, giant robots were a miracle. There were nearly a dozen kids rescued in Sydney, and the checkpoint was manned by Kia. The demon-esque Minicon kept low to the ground to not scare the kids but surprisingly, they took no issue to her. They pet her and she didn't know how to feel about it, glancing at Arcee as she refrained from tugging herself away. Right now, the only comfort those kids had were the bots who saved them. Now, Moonhunter didn't feel so bad.

"More pit-spawn Metal Heads spotted in Shanghai, China and Giza, Egypt."

"We'll split and take both of them," Megatron said before looking at Arcee. "Unless you have another idea?"

"No, it's a good plan. We can get more children out."

"Alistor and Kia will be there at the checkpoints. As for that signal, it's unusual. In fact, it's close to D.C. now. After you two take on these cities, I recommend heading back to N.E.S.T. base to investigate this and I'll meet you over there."

Arcee frowned, "Wait, you're not there?"

Max didn't seem too pleased and scoffed, "I can't hang around all day in a country that's not my own. Besides, after I sent you to Athens, something came up. A Metal Head was spotted in the Fiordlands. I went to investigate only to find they had taken some of my rare artifacts from my trove and damaged my ship. It's going to take weeks to repair. Whatever they were looking for, they found it."

She then heard him mutter, "I never should have left."

It sounded almost as if Max...blamed her. The Metal Heads already knew he had the Dark Core, and he was able to defend himself and his trove quite well. But being lured away to help them allowed the Metal Heads to get in. If she had the Dark Core and they took something else, what did they really seek? It seemed obvious as the encounters emphasized that the Metal Heads were not sticking to their initial plan they started with on Velocitron. They were changing their objectives, and Arcee needed to know why.

"It's not your fault."

"No, but I'm going to get my treasure back as soon as I figure out where their nest is. I'll find a way. I have all the time in the world to make them pay for this," Max said in a rather livid tone.

Arcee huffed but didn't say anything. If Max felt that way, so be it. She set her coordinates to Giza while Megatron took Shanghai. Moonhunter went with Megatron this time. The pyramids were one of the sights of Earth she never truly appreciated before. Why not beat Metal Heads and go on a tour?

Giza was dry but tolerable, far more than any arctic visit. She was glad that Metal Heads were smart enough to evade those cold regions but then again, they probably wouldn't take well to the environment either. Most of the monsters in Giza were Metal Flyers and a new variant of Metal Jackets, wasp-like Horaquan with attitudes and turrets. People screaming in terror as they were dive-bombed from above by snapping jaws had Arcee on edge.

She ran through the streets of the city as her checkpoint was marked. It was on the dock on the Nile. The missiles the Flyers had aimed for struck the buildings lower to the ground than the towering few. From a tactical point of view, if one wanted casualties, that ensured more destruction. The explosions were deafening as well as the screeches of the pterosaur creatures.

Spotting three kids climbing palms to avoid the turret fire, Arcee slid in the sand to bank right as a Metal Jacket hovered and sought them out. It cocked its turrets to reload as it flew up to their level and aimed, the yellow glow of its cannons illuminating the scared children. Right before it fired, Arcee yelled out and sent both pedes into its side, sending it flying off course in circles and growling. She then unloaded all her blaster fire on it. Hitting its engine on its wing, the wing shattered, and it plummeted into the water to drown.

The children whimpered but she ushered them down with a sweet tone. They were most curious of her once they realized she was not a threat. One child even touched her faceplate and her optics lit up a little at the gesture.

"Let's get you someplace people can take care of you for the time being."

She followed the Nile to the checkpoint on the docks where Kia and Max's sisters were watching the chaos. Once she let the three kids go to them, the girls' faces lit up and led them to safety.

"Megatron, how are you doing?"

"Rescued a few including a girl in a moving chair whose parents were being attacked...didn't know they made upright movable chairs for humans. I got her to Alistor safe and sound. Moonhunter saved a baby too."

Laughing, Arcee said, "And we said we would be terrible parents."

The warlord huffed, "More like we would have a lot of trouble constantly being around one. Being among the children for a few hours is different than spending multiple years raising a sparkling. We would be terrible at it; our lack of patience and trauma would not be ideal to have around a sparkling. Look what your former partner, Jack, and those other two went through. But then again, that never stopped them from fighting me and my crew. I'll give them that."

She smiled at that only to drop it when she felt like she was being watched herself. Kia started making unusual noises and that's when it struck her.

From the side, she was tackled by a Metal Mantis that threw her effortlessly. She tumbled in a roll before scowling until she got a good look at it. The monster was larger than a normal Mantis with an extra set of limbs on its body and a mutilated spine. Arcee was horrified as she wondered how this thing was alive. If the Metal Head Leader was experimenting on their own legion to produce worse variants, she could only imagine the pain the hosts' souls trapped within felt having to go through extensive torture as if their continued existence without their consent wasn't bad enough.

Its back had so much weight, it was forced to crawl instead of hopping as the Mantis types usually did. But what it lacked in its normalcy, it gained faster ground speed. It lunged at her, sending its raptorial tibia down close to her head as she flipped upright. Blocking the quick strikes, she was forced backwards, unable to find a pattern to its aggressive and heightened behavior. Arcee caught one of the tibias, struggling to keep it from striking her spark as it pressed its weight down over her. She was forced to kneel, grip shaking as the tip of its limb barely touched her chest.

A clattering, guttural noise made the Metal Head stop and slowly peer to the right of it. Kia was perched on a wall, throat vibrating with a few foreign noises. She tilted her helm several times as she faced multiple directions in the span of a minute, blackened optics blinking like she was scoping out the enemy rapidly. It was like watching a bird staring uselessly and trying to keep track of its surroundings at the same time. The abnormal Metal Mantis hissed at her, and Arcee frowned as Kia grew still, a single flute-like noise coming from her throat.

Suddenly, Kia's jaws expanded, revealing all her fangs as she let out a deadly roar. Her armor rose in places to appear frightening. Her glossy optics barely seen from her black armor reflected the startlement of the Mantis. The predator was now prey as the smaller being tore apart anything she grabbed and drew blood at every opportunity. The Mantis backed away from Arcee who sat on her aft stunned.

"Go, Kia," she muttered slightly smiling.

Just then, the Mantis managed to trap Kia who was still snapping at it like a vicious, hungry piranha between two of its raptorial tibias. Kia's only response was a warning hiss with her jaws wide open. Suddenly, a ground bridge opened behind the two and Arcee was surprised to see Max rushing through with ferocity in his lime green eyes. The Mantis peered back right as the human used all his strength to push it using its spine. The Metal Head toppled forward, releasing Kia who immediately took to biting and clawing again as Max brought out his sword, jumping up and sending the blade deep between its shoulder cavity and part way through its interior ribs.

Arcee lurched back as the monster squealed before getting up and tried to shake the two off. She debated about joining them when Max jumped around to land on its arm and sent a sharp kick to its jaw before in the same motion releasing his guns. Utilizing his smaller size, he avoided being impaled by the tibia and shot back as he maneuvered around the body. He shot it through the eyes, blinding it but it failed to kill it.

To the queen's shock, Max had a secondary plan and he landed beside its one-toed claw aiming for its joint. Shooting that, the Mantis was forced to kneel, and he used that to his advantage to climb it and grab its horns, forcing its head backwards. She wondered why until Kia crawled up to its moving mouth. Upon forcing the jaws still, that's when the magic happened.

A faint blue glow had Arcee staring. Kia's chest and neck illuminated its mouth before she opened her own. Energy, physical energy, was abruptly sucked out of the Mantis' wide mouth. Echoing screaming of a feminine voice and a melting ball of light was eaten and absorbed by Kia whose whole body convulsed and lit up with bio lights unseen. As soon as the light died, the Mantis collapsed near lifeless but breathing. Kia hopped off as she gave a bellow, licking her lips as Max sneered at the monster.

"What the hell was that?!" Arcee exclaimed.

Max grinned as he pet his best friend. "That is why you don't anger a Blind Death Minicon."

Arcee approached the Mantis that still twitched its tibia, still blinked and was breathing but didn't do anything. She was wondering why until he clarified.

"Blind Death Minicons are, in a way, vampires of energy and souls. Without a soul, the body still functions but the mental state and motivation completely dies. The Metal Head will eventually move but it won't understand what it is, why it is, or what to do other than exist. It's a fate worse than death for the body, just existing but not able to comprehend anything aside from basic needs, maybe not even that."

"What about the virus that took control of the body previously before the mutation?"

Max hummed, "Chances are the virus that creates these things need a living body to function but needs the soul trapped to feed off. The soul is the premise of expression, motivation, and understanding movement. Without it, the virus wouldn't have the ability to puppeteer the body as it doesn't contain the mental protocols to override the stall of the body's functionality as a mere breathing corpse."

Arcee was afraid to ask but she did, "And what happens to the...?"

"Devoured and destroyed. Kia's species only needs to feed on a single soul to empower their lifespan once in a while although I admit incidents have spoiled her rotten, not intentional mostly. Just people being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I learned about that through some extensive research into a hive of them that exists here on Earth."

She found herself intrigued. "A hive?"

"I found Kia when I was little. My mother and I were searching Korea for supplies...back when it wasn't technically two separate countries, and we stumbled upon a nest of Blind Death Minicons. They saw me as her sparkling and they refrained from hurting us. One of them had pups of its own and Kia just took to me. I didn't want to take her out of her nest. She just kept following me until she stowed away on our ship. I felt bad for her carrier, but she chose to be with me. And we've been together ever since."

"I wouldn't think these Minicons to be native to Earth..."

"They actually live on the planet you call Chaar."

"I've never seen them on Chaar."

"Did you search the entire planet?" Max asked back with a raise of a brow. When she didn't answer, peering past him with her lips thinning, he knew the answer was no. "Or better yet, did you search the entire underground? Not a whole lot of species live on the surface I've heard."

Kia growled at the distant Metal Heads as the Egyptian army of humans shot at the monsters, shouting orders as tanks and aerial craft sought to defend the city of Giza against them. Suddenly, Max's phone went off, a picture of his sisters and Annabelle in costumes for Halloween appeared as his screensaver but he frowned at the message.

"We need to get back to D.C. Something's wrong. That signal I told you about, it's right near the city now."

Arcee quickly called Megatron upon hearing that. "Megatron, we need you in D.C. now!"

"Moonhunter and I will be there in a moment."

Arcee, Max, and Kia raced through the checkpoint portal, briefly arriving on the grounds of an old, former plantation with a garden and fields to play in. Children left and right from all different cultures and countries were monitored by Alistor and the mansion staff.

As Max opened another ground bridge, he said, "This is my current home when I'm not in New Zealand or committing piracy. In 1808, this place was built, sold, and had slaves moved here by the landowners. I murdered them a year later when I found it, set free the enslaved and offered to either transport them to a secure place for refuge or to join my crew if they wanted a little revenge. More than half of them helped me plunder neighboring towns and I gave them the loot they took to use to live their lives as they wanted. Some of them stayed behind and watched over this place for me.

"Over the years, after finding lost children and trying to help them get home, I had the descendants who knew my secret watch over them here as a temporary orphanage just without the problematic money issues and no, I hire farmers to take care of the crops. Alistor runs this place now, the great-great-great granddaughter of one of the original enslaved people, Margaret, who I helped who stood by my side until her passing. I cared for her family since. Great woman, excellent pirate, and beloved mother figure to all."

Arcee watched the children socialize while finding ways to bypass the language barrier. Children were smarter than most people believed. Those she and Megatron had rescued were getting along well with others who had been on the property for longer. Once she had a good look at the well-kept environment and confirming they were cared for, she entered the bridge to D.C. but she didn't expect her vision impared.

A decent fog had set in the city, covering the far buildings and making it quite hard to navigate it. The only lead she had was following Max who had the coordinates it seems. Near the transition between land and sea, there was N.E.S.T. All attention was on the waterfront. Bolt and Lennox were already engaged with their weapons out. No sooner did Megatron and Moonhunter arrive. Arcee tried to see among the fog in the bay what was wrong.

"The signal. Where exactly is it?"

Bolt was the first to answer, pointing out across the water to the wall of fog they couldn't see past. Arcee activated her nanotech vision, changing between thermal, infrared and night. All three indicated an outline. She couldn't tell if it was a ship or not until the front bow of a steam vessel breached the fog.

The ship design was old, early 1900's with smokestacks, a black hull with white surface top and working lighting...but there were yellow dots along the sides. Pustules. And a few pieces of plating among the hull almost appeared to shift up and down ever so slightly like it was breathing. The ship's horn rang out as it drew closer. The kicker that seemed to scare the humans the most was the fact that the ship had gold lettering on its bow. Titanic.

Lennox stared in awe and fear. "That's-that's not possible."

"What?" Bolt asked, looking between the humans. "It's just a ship, right?"

Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter were puzzled too until Max said, "You don't understand. The Titanic sank in 1914; its remains are on the ocean floor. There is a replica but it's not operational anymore. It was given to a seaside museum in New York after it was bought from China. This...isn't the replica. It's far too big."

The ship began to stop and stared them down as Max narrowed his eyes and Arcee used her thermal vision. There wasn't just heat in the smokestacks and the bottom. There were odd signatures everywhere on it as if it was-

Something shot out of the fourth smokestack, a fireball that arched and hit a building close to them, shattering windows and toppling part of it as people screamed running for their lives. Arcee looked over Max's shoulder and saw the energy signature flaring hard as another smokestack shot a fireball up and over to more unsuspecting victims. The engines of the Titanic roared to life but as it moved forward, the unexpected occurred. It transformed.

A booming growl emitted through all four of its chimneys as metal shifted to reveal flesh and skin. All the bots were more horrified than the humans who also stared uneasy as clawed feet kept it steady. The smokestacks realigned onto the spine as the bow supporting the label of Titanic became the jaw of a monstrous being. Four red eyes instead of yellow glared at the city as a skull gem was smack dabbed in the middle of its forehead. Shaking loose armor into place, there before Arcee and her team stood a fierce Metal Head as large as King Kronos. The lights of the windows of the ship were on despite the rearrangement which gave it a haunting appearance among the fog.

It looked like the creature Miko had once described in a monster flick as Godzilla. Its brownish red skin was a vast contrast against the black and white of the ship armor. The orange smokestacks and the red keel of the ship parts were perfectly sitting in their respective positions on its backside and underbelly, including among its large tail. As it blew steam from its nostrils, the smokestacks also released dark clouds in response. The pustules on its body seemed to be integrated with the armor itself. She had heard of techno-organic species, but this was terrible.

Arcee had no witty remarks on this thing. A Metal Head that could transform. That wasn't supposed to be possible but then again, when did Grunts with super speed and Centurions with multi-use shields exist? This was the ultimate modification she had ever laid optics on, and it terrified her how her technology could be replicated by these aliens.

She backed away without anyone noticing and whispered in her commlink. "Silos! Silos! There is a giant Metal Head commander who just transformed from a ship! What is that thing?!"

When she didn't hear a word from him, not even sure if her commlink was connecting to him, she begged and panicked at the same time. Thankfully, Silos indulged her though he wasn't too pleased.

"The Metal Bowsink is what you're referring to. I sense it. The Destructive Scion and Tigressa's last known creation. Less than ten of them were ever born. It was made to replicate the transformation abilities of her species, but the design was flawed. A techno-organic monster without a natural T-cog couldn't use it without the protocol it couldn't access. It couldn't shift into anything on Kanjis nor anything captive in the Metal Head Nest. It actually never worked for the longest time...until recently. One of them finally did it and from what it sounds like, you've met a fully transformed abomination of nature. It's our greatest commander and her greatest weapon. Now, be a good girl and figure out how to kill it yourself."

Arcee's face dropped as he hung up before the Bowsink's roar startled her. It began stomping towards the city, the buildings shaking in their impending doom.

"Oh my God, we're going to die," Lennox said with little confidence.

Even Megatron didn't seem to dispute that much, unsure of what to do against something the size of Omega Supreme and King Kronos. But then he noticed with each step, the monster's lights within the armor pulsed. Maybe that wasn't electricity...

"Arcee, how about we get up close and personal with this abomination?"

"Wha-no!"

"Uh, I don't know if you've noticed but that looks like a walking nightmare, and I don't think even Sunstorm's power Arcee inherited is going to do jack shit against it," Bolt said as he tensed with each step through the water the Bowsink made.

Megatron instead approached Arcee only, ignoring the Vehicon. "The lights on it. Can't have lighting without power. Maybe that's a weakness."

Arcee gestured madly, "Do you know how crazy that sounds?!"

"Crazy but plausible. Disrupt the power of its circuitry, maybe we'll be disrupting something more. Worth a shot," he grinned.

She was unsure of the plan, but it was better than nothing. Nodding, she then said, "Alright, Bolt, Lennox, you get all firepower directed towards its legs and head. Megatron and I are going up close to see if those lights in the portholes of its armor are weak points or not. We'll tell you as soon as we do some trial-and-error testing. Keep it distracted from tearing down the city. Max, you want to be with the firepower crew or the pain-in-the-ass crew?"

Max and Kia looked at each other before matching smirks. "Where do I sign up with the secondary crew?"

Arcee grinned back but before she left, Max whistled and threw something at her which she barely caught. She looked at it and saw it was two matching blade tips.

"That's for helping me across the world rescuing those kids, just like I promised. Those blades are fine Cybertronian alloy, older but strong. I tested them against layers of titanium, and they cut through almost every layer. That's some durable stuff. You can have it; I've had my fun with them."

Attaching them to her arm blades, they spooked her upon igniting with the previous upgrade. They looked deadlier than ever, and she couldn't wait to use them. Max, Kia, and Megatron sprinted towards the Bowsink as it let a few fireballs go flying from its smokestacks before Arcee followed them. As it stepped on land, Megatron transformed to jettison around it while the dynamic duo used each other in tandem to climb up the Metal Head. Arcee used her speed boost to run up part of its leg before reaching a small ledge and starting trailing after the faster two climbers.

As the Bowsink was suddenly pelted by gunfire and tanks being brought in along with aerial cover, Arcee peaked into a porthole that resided in the armor of what was part of the hull and saw splintered rooms. Like a Transformer of her type, the layout of the room's interior was kept but instead of a ceiling light and furniture, there was a lit-up pustule on the ceiling jiggling and pulsing. The ceiling was covered in gross veins, the same nasty fungus she had seen on Velocitron and in Russia. A sudden growl had her alert and she barely turned around in time to move her pede from being caught by a clawed hand.

A Metal Grunt tore out of the porthole, creating a new realization that not only was the Bowsink a Transformer, but it also acted as a transporter to the other Metal Heads. They could huddle within the rooms without being bothered and ambush anybody that got near the Bowsink itself.

Frustrated, she kicked the Grunt in the face as it was climbing out. The fourth kick made it lose its grip and it fell over a hundred meters down to its death. Transforming her arm into a blaster, she aimed at the pustule and fired. It burst, the light in the corrupted room going dark while the others shined still. However, there was a brief pause by the Bowsink that immediately diverted its attention to the small pain in its leg. Two of the four red eyes glared down furiously at her. Before it could do anything, shots along its neck and head made it close its eyes as a reflex and snarl as Megatron flew by it.

Arcee used its distraction as she climbed higher to shoot into any porthole she found along the way. It screeched as she knocked out a whole panel of lights. Then it moved its arm back to swat her. She jumped repeatedly until she was too high for the large, clawed hand to crush her, but the reverberation caused her to stumble and grip a porthole. She then heard more Horaquan camping within, peeking their heads out to become irked at the disturbance. She paid no attention to them as she dodged their attacks and continued upward. As soon as she reached the platform of its backside, she peered down to see the monsters climbing after her.

On the same platform, Max was already fighting a Centurion and a Rhyno. The Centurion slammed the edge of its shield down angrily which Max twisted to the side to avoid before switching to the Rhyno that charged and shooting it twice. When it was too close, he ducked under it and came out from its side to climb up it and began punching its skull gem, making the monster screech. The Centurion blindly tried to do the same maneuver again, only to decapitate the Rhyno much to its chagrin. Max mused at its blunder crouched like a frog on its tail as the Centurion stayed frozen in shock.

"Ooh, you messed up big time, buddy." Abruptly, the pirate aimed his gun at the Centurion and grinned, "You're mistake."

One shot straight through the head had the creature stumbling back as its wound bled over its face. It hit the railing of the platform and frantically tried to regain balance as it fell over it to plummet off the Bowsink with an echoing roar.

Arcee backed towards him, keeping an eye on the Metal Heads still climbing up after her. As she did so, Megatron flew by, shooting at the lights across the Bowsink's abdomen and chest. It bellowed and shook, toppling a few monsters while others merely grunted unamused. More pustules were heard rupturing from the attacks. It took Arcee a second to note by the pace they were going, half the city would be destroyed if not all of it before they found out if striking all the pustules did anything relevant. It hurt the monster, but it wasn't slowing it down much. Arcee then started to think there had to be a logical weakness to something as big as a titan. Nothing was invulnerable entirely. Even the Cybertronian Predator could be killed.

A smokestack shook the deck she and Max were on, a fireball leaving a plume of debris in its wake as the Bowsink swiped at a skyscraper, toppling it in seconds. She stared at the smokestacks for a moment before getting a wild idea. Risky but it might just work.

"How about I try something stupid?" Arcee asked quickly.

Kia tore into a Metal Head she killed, then kicked it off the side in annoyance and retuned to Max as the latter made an interested expression. "Considering we're on a warpath-rampant Kaiju, stupid sounds pretty reasonable."

Arcee showed her blaster, making Max narrow his eyes. "I've never used this at full power before, only in small charges. Either it's going to do a ton of damage or it's going to kill me."

Metal Heads clambered onto the pristine white desk and hissed at them, tails swaying uneasily. Max and Kia took their stances but not before the pirate asked, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we're about to see the power of the sun. Sunstorm's Heat Seeker ability was used to destroy several Omega Sentinels during the war as well as sections of cities. It was catastrophically damaging. He gave me it as his usage ended up shortening his lifespan quite a bit; he doesn't know how long he has. I have a full charge for spending enough time in the sun and not using it except once since we arrived. I think it's time to see it in action."

Max grew concerned. "That actually does sound stupid. Are you sure?"

"You have a better idea?"

As a Grunt ran at them, he frowned, "Nope."

Max jumped over the Metal Head before sliding around and sprinting with his sword unsheathed. He sliced off its tail, then its hand when it reached for him, then sent the blade through its lower jaw and out the top of its skull. Ripping his weapon out and moving to the side, he let the body drop with a thud.

"Do what you think is right, Arcee."

The femme nodded before slashing her newly upgraded blades together. "Let's dance."

As tank fire and missiles from jets caused explosions around them and the ire of the Bowsink to swing around, Arcee and the others had to adjust as they took on the monsters pursuing them. She sliced through the abdomen of a Metal Head that left itself wide open, smirking as her blade didn't put any resistance to the cut. It was like watching freshly cut deli meat being perfectly cut into, satisfying to the touch.

"Megatron, I hate to tell you this," she grunted as she deflected several strikes, "but I'm about to do something incredibly crazy."

"At this point, I shouldn't expect anything less. Just please don't hurt yourself," he responded.

"No promises on that."

"Of course," he sighed.

The queen took immense pleasure cutting down all in her way as the closest smokestack rumbled and blasted a fireball to hit somewhere in the city. She made that her initial target, punching and killing each Metal Head that dared to try and stop her.

"Arcee, we're getting pummeled down here!" Bolt exclaimed.

"Give me a minute! Kind of hard to climb a giant beast when every Metal Head wants to kill you at the moment!"

She could hear blaster fire from below. All the fleeing humans thinking the world was ending and all the military trying their hardest not to get stepped on while defending the city with only what they had in their arsenal. The missiles from fighter jets ruptured some metal from its hide but not nearly the amount of damage necessary to faze it. Like Doomsday, the only way to kill it was either to have the proper weapons or hit it from the inside. She didn't know if the smokestacks even lead deep into its body but at least she could destroy the infernal cannons to impair it if anything.

While Max and Kia covered her as much as they could draw the Metal Heads' attention, Arcee form-shifted into her Kanjian mode and climbed up the vertical orange shaft. The Bowsink swayed in annoyance of all the commotion on its backside, each step shifting the metal deck pieces and metal cables that were a part of its vehicle mode.

Several Metal Heads sank their claws into the smokestacks to chase her while Max had no choice but to focus on the monsters that went after him and his partner. He couldn't let his guard down to help her and himself concurrently.

Arcee knew she only had one shot at this. All the sun's power absorbed would be devastating. If she missed, she killed everyone in the region including herself. The Bowsink may barely survive. As she was near the top, another round of missile strikes orchestrated by their human allies struck the right side of the beast's armor and one blast hit the smokestack next to her. She winced and turned her head away from the aftermath, the warmth of the explosion grazing her armor ever so slightly. With her claws embedded in the stack, she prevented herself from being blown off entirely.

She heard Max say something to Kia and peered down to see he had run out of bullets. More peeved than worried, he donned his sword entirely, murderous rage in his eyes. Kia snarled by his side. Arcee wished she could help him, but she needed to stop the Bowsink as her biggest priority.

She maneuvered onto the edge of the smokestack, flinching when the third one down let out a fireball. The next one would be the far fourth and then it would be the one she was standing on. She had a minute to do what she needed to or be roasted. She kept an eye on the Metal Heads climbing after her as she form-shifted back to Cybertronian mode and engaged her blasters. Aligning them down the funnel that smoldered with fumes and burning heat, she relayed the Heat Seeker ability to focus all energy on both weapons. She got a warning about it. Of course, Sunstorm would put a warning on his own ability knowing how much it drained from him. He must have used his full potential very seldom to preserve what little of a lifespan he had left. Now, it was time to see what Sunstorm left her.

Yellow energy coursed into her blasters, causing them to glow brighter. As more energy accumulated, Arcee had to squint to make sure there was no possible way to miss. The distractive noises of the Horaquan soldiers crawling up towards her threatened her concentration. Those on the decks not killed by Max, who had purple blood stains on his clothes, peered up as the light was blinding even them.

It was bright enough to attract the attention of the Bowsink that turned its head slowly to look at Arcee. They locked gazes despite the light of her blasters. All four red eyes narrowed with a deep rumble but as soon as Arcee got the notification both blasters were fully charged by the ability, she smirked to its surprise.

"This is going to hurt maybe even me. But if I'm going down, I'm damn well taking you with me," she said darkly.

The smokestack she was on prepared the conditions for a fireball. Molten flames were rising. The yellow light flickered as her weapons warned of overcharge, a noise emanating from them and growing in volume. Then she fired the same time as the smokestack rumbled to discharge. The Bowsink's eyes went wide.

Beams of light roared as they were sent deep into the cavity. A sudden explosion rippled back upward with a deafening boom. Arcee had less than a second to react and could only freefall backwards as the smokestack blew up, heat scorching her armor and sending the Metal Heads that had been climbing up it in every direction. She barely saw the other stacks rupturing one by one in a massive chain reaction. Max and Kia both narrowly escaped the inferno, jumping off the railing of the deck platform as its floorboards blew apart. The blast threw them, but they were quick to recover into a controlled dive.

The Bowsink screeched as its cabling embedded in its flesh and the rooms it supported among the pieces of hull that made most of its armor blew up individually, the pustules exploding in tandem like pimples. Arcee barely saw it become ravenous yet looked like it was having a seizure. Its skin and muscle bent and protruded with a nasty bubbly texture as it was scorched from the inside out. Its eyes remained wide as it faced downward, blood and pieces of internal organs were forced up from its throat falling to the city below. It stuttered and coughed when light appeared in the back of its mouth. A plume of fire and blood rushed out of it the same time as part of it went farther up. It eyes exploded as it tried to make one last noise as it fried to death. The windows of surrounding buildings shattered instantly.

As this was happening, Arcee was in deep pain from being so close to the explosion of the smokestack and grew worried as the ground floor came fast. Suddenly, she was caught by Megatron who took the plunge, hitting the streets of Washington D.C. and causing massive damage to the asphalt. He groaned but held her safe against his chest.

They both peered up bruised and hurt as the Bowsink twitched and tried to raise its fluid-engulfed burning head. Then it shook, loose armor rattling. Its chest and underbelly burst open with fire and fluids raining down, a portion of its neck suffering the explosion as well. With legs that no longer worked and a limp head, it collapsed with an earthquaking rumble. Any building that didn't suffer immense damage from the shockwave of the blast lost its windows this time as the whole district's power grid went out. The Bowsink had crushed three blocks worth of smaller buildings, most commercial. The damage was terrible, but it was a costly price for the safety of everyone else in the world.

Arcee clung to her sparkmate's chest listening as his spark thrummed. She took a minute to give her strained chassis a break. She still felt like her exterior was roasting and winced when she moved ever the slightest. There was no major damage, but the pain was unbearable. It was like when she used the Heat Seeker ability on the Metal Baskilisk on Chaar. Such a close radius with a decent amount of power with her blaster nearly in its jaws...that almost blew up her arm. She could only imagine what incidents Sunstorm had to go through when he was a youngling not knowing just how powerful of a walking weapon he was.

"Arcee, are you okay?" Megatron whispered, caressing her winglets carefully.

She turned her head away, closing her optics. "Not great. Told you I would do something crazy."

"It...certainly did the job," he said as he softly breathed to relax her from the obvious discomfort. "Just try not to make it a habit."

Her mouth twitched into a smile as she laid there until she remembered she had never seen Max and Kia land. As Bolt ran to them with a medical team and Agent Fowler, not that the humans could fix really do anything to fix her, she searched around without moving her head much for any sign of the two. She ignored the panic in the Vehicon's voice as he assessed the injuries.

"Max..."

Instantly, Lennox and Epps came slowly around the corner of a building with his soldiers running towards them and scouting for any Metal Heads in the area. He continuously peered back and stopped every second. Then Kia appeared strutting on all fours with a slight limp on her rear left leg but otherwise didn't seem bothered by it. Arcee's optics widened when Max didn't come. She feared the worst. Kia suddenly made an eagle-like call, wagging her tail as Lennox smiled, both now looking in the same direction.

There was Max, his red coat torn on the edges and dried Metal Head blood splotches that were black now instead of purple caked on the armor and parts of his clothing. He held his right arm and rolled it, flexing his clawed hand and the metal of his gauntlet to make sure there was no nerve damage. From the looks of the claws themselves, she guessed instantly he had stopped his descent by ripping down the side of a building and put too much pressure on his right side. Sparking of metal against metal left the tips of the claws blackened but he otherwise stood strong.

"Humans are resilient," Megatron mused as Arcee was unaware he had traced her staring towards them.

Yeah, they were. Arcee took that as her moment to breathe in relief and closed her optics, letting Bolt and the others check over her. Megatron just laid there tired but smiling proudly down at her. Moonhunter sat beside them, a paw on the warlord's side with a low meow in concern.

---

AN: The Bowsink was one of the earliest Metal Heads I ever created back in 2007 actually. I was into Transformers around that time, yes partially kicked off thanks to Bay's first movie that led me to look up the cartoons again after having no interest in them as a kid (little me didn't know what I was missing in the Disney Princess phase). However, as I may have stated before, I was also a huge fan of the Jak and Daxter series and of course the question of where did the Metal Heads originate led to multiverse theories and you got this. I had an idea back in 2007, what if a Metal Head could...transform. The logistics of it for the longest time didn't work until I remembered techno-organics, specifically organic monsters mostly, did have this ability in some media so it was revisited a couple years ago: could a Bowsink transform?

It could if its parts were around the same places as its body because unlike actual Transformers where some have the fronts of their vehicle modes behind them or on their pedes, there would be no way an organic could transform like that. The parts would have to be aligned in the areas they make up both vehicle and physical form. They wouldn't be able to move anywhere else on the body. I.E. the bow being the head was because that's where its head would have to be with it being the front of the ship, the smokestacks being on it back because in ship form that was its backside, and so on. It's making the physics work without having to blandly shrug it off as impossible and fantasy. I do like using logic as part of my writing as much as I need to.