Groaning painfully, Bulkhead opened his eyes and pulled himself out of a pile of Energon boxes.
"Ugh, my head gasket." Bulkhead said, rubbing his forehead before he noticed his surroundings. "What the?" He asked himself as he stood up and saw the details. "The Con's war ship?" He muttered as he backed away before he saw him almost fall from the edge. "Whoa!" He yelped as he saw how high he was. "Ratchet, don't ask how I got here, long story." He said as he didn't get a response. "Ratchet? You copy?" He asked again but received nothing. "Aw, scrap." He muttered, seeing the warship was blocking transmissions.
When Bulkhead approached the storage room's door, they carefully looked out and began to make their way out while not attracting the attention of any Vehicons.
"Stealthy. Stealthy." Bulkhead said to himself.
Just then, he heard footsteps coming from the left and three Vehicons were walking towards their position. Bulkhead attempted to get himself back in the storage room, only for the door to shut in front of him. The Vehicons walked right past Bulkhead, who carefully hid himself behind a metal piece near the door.
Bulkhead started to hastily walk away, until he bumped into someone and brought out his blasters. But when he turned around, he saw none other than Starscream, who aimed his missiles at him. "Starscream?" Bulkhead asked in surprise.
"Why is it that everytime I return to my old stomping grounds, I find an Autobot roaming the halls?" Starscream questioned in annoyance as they lowered their guard.
"Don't tell me you came crawling back to Megatron." Bulkhead said, glaring at the former air commander.
"Hardly! Now out of my way!" Starscream demanded, attempting to walk past his old foe before Bulkhead blocked his path.
"Scream, you gotta show me a way off this boat." Bulkhead said to him.
"Sorry. Too busy." Starscream said simply.
"Look, when you needed help-" Bulkhead began saying in a frustrated tone.
"As I recall, we bartered!" Starscream interrupted. "So, unless you organic friend have anything of value to offer me, step aside!"
"I may have given Arcee and Crosshairs a free pass when she and I last met…" Starscream scowled before he suddenly slashed Bulkhead on the torso with his claws, making him stumble back. "But I won't hesitate to skewer both of you as I did to a certain Cliffjumper!"
Bulkhead looked at the scratch mark on his chest and then gave the former air commander a glare that made him turn quite scared. Bulkhead charged at Starscream with an angry shout and bashed him away with his wrecking ball. Starscream sat up immediately and aimed his blasters at Bulkhead.
"Perish, Bulkhead!" Starscream stated, only for the dark-green Wrecker to then slam on him from the air and relentlessly bash him in the face with his wrecking ball.
"This is for Cliffjumper! For Bumblebee! For everything." Bulkhead said lowly before delivering an extremely powerful hit to Starscream's head.
Starscream's body then went limp while Bulkhead's wrecking ball was stained with Energon.
"You left me no choice." Bulkhead muttered, standing up and putting his wrecking ball away and looked at his hands in slight regret.
(24 hours earlier)
Starscream was walking, heading inside a canyon as he groaned. "What I would not give to have wings again." Then he smiled at seeing a familiar place, and the familiar remains of something. "Ah, just as I left it: the Harbinger. Things are finally looking up."
Once he entered the ship, which was a mess inside. He searched through the wreckage, but he got mad and hit some rumble, probably because he did not find what he expected. "Arg! Really?! Not one scrap of energon!" he yelled out
Starscream slammed his fist to the wall. The impact caused a door behind him to open. He entered the room. "A laboratory." He recognized, before pressing a button on the terminal in front of him, turning it on. "And it's functional."
The lights turned on, revealing 5 Cybertronian bodies hanging in front of him. "Protoforms." He muttered.
Meanwhile, Bulkhead was out on solo patrol before he received a beep on his GPS. "Bulkhead to base, pick up a strong reading. Gonna go check it out." He said as he drove off road.
Meanwhile, Starscream was seeing some instructions present on the terminal, some kind of scientific formula.
"Let's see: transference of binary bonding, submolecular infusion. The formula seems straightforward enough. Well, my little lumps of clay, you look like you're right for the molding. Let's give cloning a whirl, shall we?" Starscream said, looking at the protoforms.
Bulkhead soon reached the signal's location and he transformed as he rushed towards a very deep hole. Bulkhead looked down and saw no Decepticons at the bottom.
"Well, no sign of activity." Bulkhead admitted before he started climbing down the hole.
At the same time, Starscream took a med canister to extract some of his own energon and inserted it in the fusion chamber. The machine scanned his genetic code and his image appeared on the terminal. That caused lots of currents of electricity to flow all around the chamber, while Starscream laughed maniacally.
"Give me life!"Starscream yelled and pulled down a lever, making the currents flow to the protoforms. Immediately, one started to change until it transformed into a perfect clone of Starscream. The same happened with the other four, which were all lined up.
"Ah, like-minded company, at last." Starscream smirked.
Back with Bulkhead, he continued to climb down the hole before taking a closer look down and seeing what was at the bottom. "Energon. Boxed and ready for pick-up." Bulkhead said while looking worried, having a thought about what it means.
Before he knew it, the Nemesis showed up from the sky above them and lowered its way down to the hole. "Scrap!" Bulkhead grunted as he kept climbing down, only to then lose his footing and crash down into the pile of Energon boxes.
The Nemesis lowered its lift onto the pile. The lift then brought the Energon boxes up to the ship, with Bulkhead still on it.
Back with Starscream, he looked upon his five clones with glee.
"Esteemed members of my armada, you now stand upon the very precipice of glory." Starscream said with a smirk to his clones. "To meet the destiny which I have so tenaciously worked toward." He announced to his new squadron.
"Dynamic leadership of the Decepticons!" One of the clones suddenly said.
That surprised Starscream. "Uh, I am…delighted to hear that we are on the same page."
"We are as one, commander." One of the clones started.
"We share your memories." Another clone continued.
"Your very feelings." Another said.
"Even your insatiable quest for power." Another clone revealed.
"Hpm, I see." Starscream said, a little put off by the clones.
Moments later, they were walking out of the ship.
"Fortunately, the Harbinger's tracking systems have remained sync to Megatron's warship. Of course, we should require a means of reaching the…" Starscream was saying, until he heard a transforming noise from behind him. He turned back and saw all the clones in his vehicle mode. "Ah, you can transform? Eh… of course you can, hehe. How else would you fly to the ship? That was a test to which you all…passed. Now take flight and snuff Megatron's accursed spark."
The five clones followed Starscream's command and flew upwards into the clouds, heading to the Nemesis.
Groaning painfully, Bulkhead opened his eyes and pulled himself out of a pile of Energon boxes.
"Ugh, my head gasket." Bulkhead said, rubbing his forehead before he noticed his surroundings.
Elsewhere the Starscream clones were sneaking their way through the Warship, "Spread out, keep to the shadow," Clone 1 told the others.
"Any one of us is an instant target aboard this warship," Clone 2 reminded.
"But staying together would sacrifice the element of surprise," Clone 3 pointed out while tapping his chin.
"Whoever manages to find Megatron first, report your position," Clone 4 ordered as the five then spread out.
Clone 5 made his way through the halls before saw a Vehicon walking back and quickly backtracked away only to bump into Bulkhead as the two aimed their weapons at each other, "Starscream?" Bulkhead asked in surprise.
Back at the Harbinger, Starscream paced around with a smirk. "I cannot wait to savor the vivid details of Megatron's demise." He said, but then he flinched back as he groaned and looked at himself. "What is happening?!"
At the same time, Bulkhead was pounding Clone 5 to death. "This is for Cliffjumper! For Bumblebee! For everything." Bulkhead said as he slammed his wrecking ball down.
At the Harbinger, Starscream wailed in pain as he clutched his head and fell to his knees. "My genetic code provides my clones with a T-Cog I no longer possess, and all I get is their agony?!" He questioned, seeing that he and his clones are connected, so when they get hurt, he feels their pain.
Back on the Nemesis, Bulkhead moved Clone 5's body out of sight and then went off to search for a way off the ship. And then his landed on a communication station, "A comm unit," Bulkhead said in relief before he went up to it and started typing on it, "Bulkhead to Metroplex, do you read?" He asked as he try to make contact. "Bulkhead o base, do you read? Do any of you copy?" He muttered as he tried to make contact with his friends, but nothing. "Come on… eh… Stupid Con tech. Is this thing even on?" He questioned before he received feedback, which made him cover his ears as the alarm went off.
Every Decepticon on the Nemesis heard the alarm as a couple of them rushed out to the source.
Bulkhead kept covering his head before he pressed the button, causing the alarm to stop as he sighed in relief, but he heard a door opened from the end of the hall as he rushed into hiding.
The two Decepticon soldiers saw nothing, until they spotted another of Starscream's clones at the end of the corridor. Seeing that they already saw him, he started to run.
"Halt!" One of them shouted as they went after him, something that Bulkhead and allowed them to continue their way out.
But Bulkhead's work on the terminal was not over. It left an active location beacon.
As a matter of fact, a certain rogue female Spider Con was travelling through the air in her vehicle mode when she received the Nemesis' signal.
"A Decepticon beacon. At last." Airachnid said before she transformed and landed in front of a familiar cave entrance.
She then approached the cave and looked deep inside it, knowing it was time to awaken her army.
"Devoted servants, the time has come for the ultimate retribution." Airachnid announced, activating her hive mind.
Deep inside the cave, all the Insecticons that laid asleep in their pods began to receive her telepathic message and their red visors glowed.
On the Metroplex, Fixit picked up something on the main console as Optimus and the other Bots approached him.
"Optimus, Elita, no word yet from Bulkhead," Fixit said. "But I am detecting some rather curious sub-order, subway," Fixit then hit himself, "Subterranean frequency."
"Of Earthly origin?" Optimus asked.
"I do not yet know what they are, but I do know where." Fixit replied, showing everyone where the frequency was coming from.
"Doesn't that look familiar to you guys?" Jazz questioned.
"The coordinates at which we last encountered Megatron." Optimus identified.
"And Airachnid." Arcee added.
"And Airachnid's Insecticon." Ratchet finished.
"Hold on, we never did check to see if it was just wasn't just one Insecticon," Moonracer suggested.
"Oh I don't like where this is going," Hot Rod said in dread.
Back in the cave, one of the pods opened up to fully awaken an Insecticon and it let out a loud roar, causing all the others to begin opening one by one.
"Arise, my armada! And attack!" Airachnid ordered through her hive mind.
The Insecticons screeched furiously before they transformed into their flying insect forms and flew their way out of the cave, heading towards the Nemesis. A Ground Bridge appeared ontop of the mountain and the Autobots emerged from it, spotting the giant Insecticon swarm in the air.
"Sweet Solus Prime!" Jazz exclaimed in shock.
"That's a whole lot of bugs." Crosshairs said in awed.
"We are in all likelihood witnessing the launch of a mission to terminate Megatron." Optimus said.
"I can't think of a reason to stop that, even if we could." Arcee admitted.
"But we can stop Airachnid." Optimus replied, looking at the female Spider Con below and activated his battle mask
"Looks like she stayed to let her army do the dirty work." Elita said with a serious look as she and the other Autobots ready their weapons and aimed at Airachnid.
However, the female Spider Con quickly noticed them before they could attack.
"Rear guard, engage the Autobots." Airachnid ordered.
A group of Insecticons broke away from the swarm and they fired their horn lasers at the Autobots, creating explosions all around them. Airachnid smirked deviously as she thought they were destroyed, but then Arcee drove out of the explosion in her vehicle mode and dived straight at her rival. Airachnid activated her spider form and ran away, causing Arcee to land on the ground and chase after her while the other Autobots were busy firing their blasters at the Insecticons.
Back onboard on the Nemesis, Bulkhead was crawling through a vent to avoid running into the Decepticons.
"Stealthy. Stealthy." Bulkhead said to himself.
"Lord Megatron." A Vehicon's voice said on what sounded like a com-link.
Bulkhead nervously looked up at a gap in the vents to see Megatron standing right over them.
"Yes, what is it?" Megatron asked.
"We have an intruder." The Vehicon informed.
"Autobot?" Megatron questioned, making Bulkhead tense up.
"Starscream. He was last seen in the vicinity of the bridge." The Vehicon said as Megatron walked away to deal with his treacherous air commander.
In Space, a purple Cybertronian ship with the Decepticon logo was flying close to Earth's Atomsphere, in the bridge were two Decepticons, one was red with a black helmet and the other was blue and yellow with sharp fins and spikes and on his chassis was armor shaped like a shark head and his left arm a clawed laser cannon.
"Are you absolutely sure you picked up a Decepticon beacon in this system, Astrotrain?" The Red Decepticon questioned as a projection of a Cybertronian head appeared in front of them.
"I'm as sure as you are ugly, Deadend." Astrotrain snarked as Deadend growled in irritation.
"Oh, will you two morons quit complaining?" The yellow and blue Decepticon questioned. "We came all this way to find our glorious leader Megatron. And for the last dozen cycles, I have to endure your consistent whining."
"Ehe, easy for you to say, Sky-Byte." Deadend said with his arms crossed. "We wouldn't have been if flying space head here found the other Decepticons a long time ago."
"I can eject you into space if you want." Astrotrain said with a glare as Deadend growled.
"Oh, I hope we find the other Decepticons soon. Because if I hear one more complaints…" Sky-Byte trailed off before they received a beep, which surprised the three Decepticons.
"What is that?" Deadend questioned as Astrotrain's head vanished as he showed a projection of Earth and the signal it was receiving. "A Decepticon Beacon?" He said in surprise.
"And it's close by." Astrotrain said in surprise. "And it's coming from the Nemesis?" He said, showing a projection of said Warship.
"Megatron." Both Deadend and Sky-Byte said in surprise.
"And it's coming from that marble?" Deadend questioned with a brow as he eyed Earth. "Huh, weird place."
"Astrotrain, take us to where the source is coming from. We have found our leader and our Decepticons brethren." Sky-Byte said with a smirk.
"Already on it." Astrotrain before he went into overdrive as they blasted towards Earth, not noticing a white, red, and blue space jet following after.
In the forest, Airachnid quickly ran her way across the steep path before looking behind to see Arcee driving up to her. Just as Arcee was beginning to catch up, a blaster shot landed next to her and she flew off the ground momentarily. Arcee used her side mirror to look behind and saw two Insecticons flying behind her. Both bug-like Cybertronians fired their horn blasters at Arcee as she kept steering around to avoid them, until one of the Insecticons crashed into a tree. The other Insecticon was unable to avoid it and was hit as well, falling out of control and heading towards Airachnid.
"No!" Airachnid yelled before she was blown away when the Insecticon crashed in front of her.
Arcee hit her breaks and transformed to look down from the small hill, seeing Airachnid tunneling herself underground before she walked up to the deep hole.
"Underground. There's a surprise." Arcee said sarcastically before bringing out her blasters and jumping down the hole.
Back to the Nemesis, Megatron found dead bodies of Vehicons at the bridge's entrance. When he entered the bridge, he saw the ones who operated inside dead as well, and Clone 1 standing in middle of the room. He turned at him as Megatron aimed his fusion cannon.
"Megatron, it has come time to settle old scores." Clone 1 said.
Megatron laughed maniacally. "Really Starscream? All on your own?" He questioned, knowing Starscream was nothing to him all alone.
"Actually." The clone and the others said in union, surrounding Megatron and aiming him with their missiles.
Megatron truly was surprised. "Clones. Well played, Starscream. If you're even here among your underlings." He said, sounding almost impressed.
"Underlings? We are as one, though many." The clones said in union.
"Bring me Starscream's head on a stick and I will reward you as my second-in-command, all of you." Megatron said, which made some of the clones to look at each other.
"No. You're trying to trick us!" Clone 2 said.
"Am I?" Megatron questioned with a smirk
"Is he?" Clone 3 asked confused.
"Accept my proposal and we all win." Megatron offered. "Otherwise, you will merely end up terminating each other to get the spoils. It is your nature after all."
"Don't listen to him!" Clone 2 advised.
"Prepare to perish at my hand." Clone 3 announced.
"Our hands!" The clones said in unison
"Yes, only our combined firepower will assure Megatron's destruction." Clone 1 reassured.
"Take aim!" Another clone started.
Suddenly, a buzzing noise started to sound. "Do you hear that?" Clone 1 asked.
As he kept on crawling through the vents, Bulkhead also started to hear the buzzing noises.
Outside the Nemesis, the Insecticon swarm was at the front of it and began splitting apart to attack from multiple angles.
"Ignore! Fire on three!" Clone 4 stated, keeping his aim on Megatron.
"One…" Clone 2 started.
"Two…" Clone 3 added.
But suddenly, some blaster shots were heard outside and the entire ship began to shake. This made the clones stumble down and lose their aim on Megatron.
"Ugh, what was that?" Clone 1 questioned before he looked up to see Megatron aiming his cannon at him.
"The sound of the tables turning." Megatron replied, shooting the clone and destroying him.
The other three clones stood back up before Clones 2 and 3 were immediately shot and killed by Megatron. Clone 4 looked on with a shocked expression before Megatron shot him, too.
Down at the Harbinger, Starscream jerked around as he felt his clones being taken out one by one, "What is going on up there?!" He wondered, not knowing that there was chaos happening up in the clouds.
All of the Insecticons flew around the Nemesis while firing their laser horns at it. Clone 4 was able to survive his blaster shot and crawled along the floor, while Megatron approached the red clone with his cannon aimed at him.
"Exterminating you was so gratifying the first three times." Megatron said, preparing to finish the surviving clone.
However, another large bang on the ship made Megatron move his cannon away and Clone 4 escaped through the main entrance. Megatron decided to ignore the remaining clone and turned his attention to the main screen, which showed the Insecticons attacking as Megatron knew who sent them.
"Airachnid. A busy day for assassins." Megatron said with a scowl.
Back with the Autobots, they were still fighting the Insecticons, Windblade and Whirl were fighting fiercely in the air while their friends shot the bug-like Decepticons in the air. One of them kept firing at Bumblebee and Crosshairs as they ran and dodged each shots.
"You drive, I'll shoot!" Crosshairs told Bumblebee as the scout nodded before he jumped onto the Insecticon and steered it towards Crosshairs, "Say 'Ah', Ugly!" He quipped as he shot the Insecticon in the head and jumped out of the way as it crashed onto the ground while Bumblebee jumped off it.
Optimus swung one Insecticon around by the leg while Elita shot down multiple with her blasters before she jumped out of the way when Optimus slammed the Insecticon on the ground. Soon the fight is over as the Autobots look around at the amount of Insections they have taken down.
"Phew, I think that's the last of them," Hot Rod said in relief.
"Of all the Decepticons or Autobots that would've been stasis on Earth, the Insecticons out ranked them?" Firestar questioned with a look.
"Acree?" Optimus asked as they looked around for Arcee.
"Airachnid's gone too," Windblade noticed too.
"Oh no," Whirl said in realization.
"You don't think," Moonracer started in concern.
"Oh for the love of Primus," Prowl complained with a servo to his face.
Elita then looked out in concern, "She went after her again," She said, knowing what Arcee was doing.
"We gotta go help her!" Bumblebee urged.
"We don't even know which way they went," Hot Rod told him, "Hate to say it, but it looks like Arcee's on her own," He said as they all gave concerned looks.
Inside the cave, Arcee ended up inside it after she left the hole and aimed her blaster around for any sign of Airachnid. Unknown to her, the female Spider Con was perched on the cave wall and charged her hand blasters.
Many Vehicons were seen blasting the Insecticon swarm that was attacking the Nemesis as Megatron himself then arrived. He looked up to see Dreadwing, Lockdown, Clobber, and Knock Out fighting off the Insecticons as hard as they could.
"Where did these buggers come from?!" Lockdown questioned.
"Don't know! But they're so many!" Clobber exclaimed as she smashed some Insecticons.
"I prefer not to get my finish messed up by these savages simpletons!" Knock Out exclaimed as they kept shooting the Insecticons while taking out a few while avoiding the Insecticons fire shots while Knock Out used his electro staff to shock them back.
"There are just too many!" Clobber exclaimed as she smashed some more Insecticons with her bear servos. "Don't know how long we can keep this up!"
"Lord Megatron, they are decreasing our numbers by the second, do we abandon the Nemesis?" Dreadwing asked as he fired his cannon at the Insecticons.
"No! We stand our ground. We will to our last drop of energon!" Lord Megatron declared as he fired his fusion cannon, nailing an Insecticon as it fell from the sky.
Suddenly coming down from above was some laser fire, taking out some of the Insecticons as the Decepticons looked up and saw Astrotrain flying in firing on the swarm. "What the?" Knock Out asked in surprise as the rest of the Decepticons looked at Astrotrain.
"Wait, I know that ship." Clobber said with a wide eye. "That's Astrotrain!"
Astrotrain flew close while taking out more Insecticons as he opened up his hatch and they saw Deadend and Sky-Byte by the hatch. "Holy Zeta Prime, that's a lot of bugs." Deadend commented at the sight of the Insecticons.
"Lord Megatron," Sky-Byte greeted with a bow, "I do hope you do warrant our unexpected intrusion on this charade," He said.
"Sky-Byte, Deadend." Megatron said with a smirk. "Will the surprises never cease?"
"Astrotrain, take us down and see if you can take out as many Insecticons as you possibly can." Sky-Byte ordered.
"You got it." Astrotrain said as he lowered down as the two Decepticons jumped off him and onto the deck of the Nemesis as Astrotrain then took to the air and started fighting the Insections while the ground forces continued their battle.
Arcee continued to search for her nemesis inside the cave, finding some unopened Insecticon pods that were deeper inside. Bringing out her second blaster, Arcee advanced forward before she heard the sound of banging turned to see one Insecticon pod shaking around before a green and black clawed fist broke through. Acree stood ready as the pod shook before another claw broke through as it completely shattered, which revealed a bulky male Cybertronian is green and black all over and his face is a light orange color along with his blue colored optics.
"I heard fighting! Who's fighting?! I wanna fight!" The mech shouted before he groaned a bit as he rubbed his head. "Ugh, how long was I in there?" He muttered before noticing his surroundings and Acree, who is aiming her blasters at him while looking at him in confusion. "Oh, hey there. Am I fighting you?"
"You're, not an Insecticon." Acree said in surprise.
"Insecticon? Those freaks?" The mech questioned with a brow before shivering. "Like I ever hang out with those bugs. I just punch 'em." He said, slamming his fists together.
"Who are you?" Arcee questioned with a brow. "Are you Autobot or Decepticon? I don't see your tag." She noted, not seeing the mech's logo to know which fraction he is in.
"Wait, is the war still going?" The mech questioned. "I really love a good fight." He said with a smirk.
"Okay, look big guy. I don't have time for this." Acree said with a look. "I have an old enemy to settle a score with, and I have to stop her before…"
"Ooh, enemy. She's the bad guy, right?" The mech guessed with a smile.
"Oh for the love of-" Acree muttered before she realized something. "Wait, how did you know the enemy is a she?"
"Because she's right about to shoot you." The mech answered, pointing up as Acree looked up and saw Airachnid above them taking aim.
"Move!" Arcee said as the two jumped out of the way to avoid Airachnid's blaster shots as they duck under cover while Acree yelled as she fired at Airachnid with multiple shots, causing the pillar she was hanging onto to fall.
Looking up in her damaged state, Airachnid saw Arcee walk up to her with her blasters aimed and ready to fire. "When you extinguish my Spark, make it hurt." Airachnid said provokingly. "You know I would extend that courtesy to you."
"I'm not like you." Arcee replied, remembering the talk Elita gave her that revenge wasn't the answer.
"Very well. I'll just take that Green Oaf of yours first." Airachnid scowled before lunging at the Green Mech.
"No!" Acree yelled as she rushed after Airachnid as the mech stood there with a smirk. When Airachnid lunged at him, he simply grabbed her by the throat with his bare hand, which shocked her and Acree from that as Airachnid struggled to break free. "What the…"
"I heard of you, you're Airachnid." The mech said with a smirk. "Nasty little spider lady. Put up one heck of a fight."
"Unhand me, you brute!" Airachnid growled as she struggled to break free.
"Sure thing." The mech said with a shrug before he tossed Airachnid hard, which she skidded to the ground as she stopped while Acree looked surprised by this.
"I'll tear out your spark for that, Neutral!" Airachnid growled with a glare.
"Yeah, that's gonna be tricky." The Mech said with a smirk. "And by the way, the name's not Neutral." He said before he then started to transform, but not as a vehicle mode, but something else as his mode is similar to a T-Rex that is colored green, black and a little bit of gray. He has some yellow colored places around his chest and face area. He has eyebrows, nostrils, and two well sized arms. He also has a golden piece in the center of his forehead.
Acree and Airachnid looked in shock at what they were seeing as the mech glared down at Airachnid. "I… am… Grimlock!" He roared as he gave a T-Rex roar.
"A… A Dinobot?" Arcee said in wonder.
"N-No! Your kind was wiped out!" Airachnid started as she then fired her blasters at Grimlock, which hit him as they bounced off his cybertronian skin.
"Aah! Hey! That hurt!" Grimlock yelled as he then swatted his tail, which sent Airachnid flying as she quickly latched into the wall as she saw Grimlock charging at her with a yell as he threw a punch, which she quickly avoided as Grimlock punched through the stone wall.
"Get extinct, you brainless pest!" Airachnid yelled as she charged at Grimlock and latched onto his back, which she tried to use her pincers to pierce his armor, but hardly made a scratch.
"Ow! Why you little!" Grimlock yelled as he then slammed his back onto the wall, which Airachnid quickly avoided as she got onto his face. "Taste my fist!" He yelled as he slammed his fist into his face when Airachnid quickly avoided it as he groaned and held his head from his own punch.
"The bigger they are, the smaller their brains." Airachnid said with a smirk as Grimlock glared at her with a growl.
"I'm gonna make you swallow those words. And your teeth!" Grimlock growled as he threw more punches, which Airachnid dodged while he swung his tail to keep her at bay as the two beast bots exchange blows.
Acree watches in amazement at how Grimlock managed to hold his ground against Airachnid. "A Dinobot, on Earth. And he's taking on Airachnid head on." She muttered before she saw how Grimlock is struggling to keep Airachnid at bay. "He could use some help though. Even a Dinbot has limits." She said as she looked around and saw an open stasis pod close by and then looked back to the fight as she then had an idea. "Grimlock, lure her over here!"
"Huh?!" Grimlock called as he kept trying to punch Airachnid before noticing Acree gesturing to the stasis pod as he got the idea. "Oh, I get it." He said with a smirk as he then moved back to avoid Airachnid's pincers as he stood behind Acree and the stasis pod. "What's wrong, little spider? Can't take on a dinobot? Am I too strong and handsome for ya?" He taunted with a smirk.
"You big oaf!" Airchanid yelled as she lunged at Grimlock, who kept his smirk before he simply moved his tail up.
"Ka-Swhack!" Grimlock yelled as he smacked Airachnid hard with his tail, and then Arcee jumped over Grimlock and kicked her in the jack, which sent her back and onto the stasis pod.
Airachnid stumbled back and she ended up standing onto the open pod, causing it to beep as she looked around worriedly. "No!" Airachnid yelled before the pod closed around her, cutting off one of her legs in the process.
Arcee glared at her nemesis while Grimlock watched as she struggled to get herself out of the pod before being frozen in a horrified expression.
"Whoo! The crowd goes wild!" Grimlock cheered loudly while waving his arms around. "I am goo-ooo-oood!" He cheered as he danced around.
Arcee looked at Grimlock with a brow as she placed a hand to her hip. "You love a fight that much, don't you?" She questioned as Grimlock stopped dancing as he gave a sheepish look.
"I couldn't help myself." Grimlock said with a sheepish look as he rubbed his head. "I just love to punch and break stuff."
Arcee gave a chuckle, "You remind me of a friend of mine," She said, seeing much of Bulkhead in Grimlock.
"Does he like breaking and punching things?" Grimlock asked.
"More than you could imagine." Acree said with a smirk. "Now why don't you help me get this pretty bug back to my friends," She requested.
"You got it, uh…" Grimlock trailed off, realizing he didn't get Arcee's name.
"Call me Arcee," Arcee told him as the two then walk out of the cave while Grimlock was carrying the pod Airachnid was in.
Back on the Nemesis, the Decepticons were still fighting the Insecticon swarm. Megatron shot down another Insecticon before more of them landed behind him in their robot forms. An Insecticon roared and was about to attack Megatron, but then it halted as did the others since Airachnid's hivemind control was no longer effected the Insecticons while in stasis-lock. The Decepticons looked around in surprise to see all the Insecticons had landed on the bridge of the Nemesis, bowing respectively to Megatron.
"Forgive us, one true lord and master." The Insecticons said simultaneously.
"Um, okay," Lockdown said awkwardly.
"It would seem Airachnid's control over the Insecticons has fallen, my lord," Dreadwing deduced to Megatron.
"This day has certainly seen its share of thwarted intentions." Megatron remarked as he now had a new powerful army in his arsenal.
"Well, this is a strange day." Deadend said before he was then caught in a tight hug by Clobber. "Whoa!" He muttered.
"Deadend! You're here!" Clobber cheered with a smile as she squeezed Deadend.
"Nice to… see you… too, Clobber." Deadend strained. "Can you… put me down?"
"Well, I for one, have had enough surprises for one day." Knock Out said tiredly.
Meanwhile, Bulkhead had managed to find a way out of the vent and he landed on a platform before they looked below, seeing a large engine core that was filled with Energon to help power the Nemesis. A robotic claw grabbed an Energon box and inserted it into the core, powering it up with more fuel.
"One way or another, I'm getting off this boat!" Bulkhead stated as he brought out his wrecking ball.
Bulkhead leaped towards the core and smashed his weapon onto it, causing an explosion throughout the entire room.
The Nemesis began to shake and the Decepticons and Insecticons felt this from the bridge.
"Now what?!" Megatron questioned, getting fed up with all these fiascos.
The Nemesis slowly began to descend down without its core engine to keep it airborne while a space jet was flying towards the Nemesis at high speed.
Bulkhead quickly made it to the hanger, as he saw the White space jet coming down and then transformed into an Autobot, "Sky-Byte, today is the day I shall-" The Autobot started saying heroically before he noticed Bulkhead, "Bulkhead?" He said in surprise.
"Wait, Jetfire?!" Bulkhead asked in surprise. "How did you-" He stopped himself. "Never mind! We'll catch up later! This whole ship is coming down! We need to get out of here!"
"From what I'm seeing, I see your point." Jetfire said in understanding as he transformed into his cybertronian jet. "Quick, hop on!" He called out, but before Bulkhead could, Starscream Clone 4 suddenly stumbled back next to them.
"Out of my way!" Clone 4 shouted before he transformed and flew out of the hanger, making Bulkhead and Jetfire look at each other with bewildered expressions.
"Was that Starscream?" Jetfire asked in shock.
Megatron arrived at the engine control room and saw Shadow Strike and some Vehicons working at the controls.
"Lord Megatron, our power core has been compromised!" Shadow Strike informed grimly. "What should we do?!"
"Prepare for landing." Megatron said seriously.
The Nemesis continued to descend all the way down before it finally crashed onto the ground and screeched against it, soon coming to a stop and hanging above a large cliffside. Jetfire flew out with Bulkhead as they took off into the air and rendezvous with the other Autobots before any Decepticons could detect them.
At the Autobot base, Arcee showed her team Airachnid frozen in the Insecticon pod and Grimlock. "Stasis?" Ratchet asked, checking Airachnid's status. "She deserves worse."
"I intended worse, more times than you know." Arcee admitted.
"You are stronger with the choice you made." Optimus said with a proud tone before he turned to Grimlock. "And thank you, Grimlock. For aiding Arcee."
"Eh, just love punching the bad bots." Grimlock said with a smirk. "And I'm honored to meet you Prime."
"I'm still shocked to know that Dinobots are still active." Ratchet said while looking at Grimlock.
"Of course we are." Grimlock said with a smirk. "Of course, we got scattered and put in stasis pods when Cybertron went dark, but we're still the toughest bots out there!"
"We can see that." Acree said with a smirk.
"So, uh, question, why are you bots keeping this con here and not in your sweet Metroplex buddy?" Grimlock questioned with a brow. "Cause he'd hold her better than this place."
"Oh no! We are not putting this one in Metroplex." Ratchet said with a firm look, pointing to Airachnid. "If her pod were to be damaged, she would cause more damage to him and make a complete energon bath to our compatriots."
"Besides, why keep her there when we can send you?" Arcee questioned with a grin.
"Huh?" Grimlock said confusedly.
"Grimlock, your strength and endurance would be of great aid to us in our war with the Decepticons." Optimus explained to the Dinobot, "Though you have chosen to be neutral, I will ask if you will join the Autobot cause."
"You mean I get to punch some more bad guys?" Grimlock asked with a smirk as he punched his fists together. "As long as I keep punching, I'm in!"
"Though, you will be needed in an unpopulated area." Ratchet advised. "I doubt there's a way to give a vehicle mode to a Dinobot."
"Yeah, but whatever. As long as I keep fighting, I don't care." Grimlock said while in a wrestling position.
"Then welcome to the Autobots, Grimlock." Optimus proclaimed.
They then heard revving as they turned to the entrance and Bulkhead drove in as he transformed into bot mode. "Guys! You are not going to believe the day I had!" He excitedly said as he then noticed Airachnid in a stasis pod while also seeing Grimlock as the others looked at him in confusion. "You too huh?" He asked in surprise.
"Who's this?" Grimlock asked in confusion while looking at Grimlock.
"We'll explain later." Acree said to him.
"Okay, well, guys, look who else I found." Bulkhead said as Jetfire came in and stood proudly, which surprised the Autobots.
"Jetfire?" Optimus asked in surprise.
"Optimus Prime." Jetfire said with a salute and a smile. "It is wonderful to see you all again."
"Okay, how many Autobots are really out there?" Acree asked Bumblebee in surprise while Bumblebee just shrugged with a shocked look.
At the Harbinger, Clone flew straight towards the buried ship and he transformed on the ground while clenching his wound. Clone 4 then arrived in the Harbinger's laboratory to see Starscream standing alone with his back turned on him.
"Lord Starscream, your most loyal servant has returned. But I regret to inform you that our collective mission has failed." Clone 4 told his creator.
"Hmm, yes. I got that sense." Starscream said while frowning as Clone 4 began aiming his wrist missile at him. "Something to do with…a throbbing ache in my side!" He then quickly shot a missile at his clone, knocking him back as Clone 4 fell to the ground while he had a hole in his chassis while Starscream stepped on his double.
"Ugh… you… knew I would attempt to terminate you." Clone 4 grunted weakly.
"I feel your pain." Starscream admitted while clenching his torso. "Really, I do." He said as he aimed his last missile at his clone, firing it and instantly killing him and making Starscream cry out in agony.
"AAAHHH! SCRAP, THAT HURT!"
Talk about a crazy day. Starscream making clones. Airachnid launching an Insecticon Armada against the Nemesis. Bulkhead damaging the Nemesis. Two new Autobots and three Decepticons joining the fight. And the entire Insecticon Hive joining the Decepticon army.
Grimlock is from Robots in Disguise 2015.
Jetfire, Sky-Byte, Deadend and Astrotrain are based on how they were in Cyberverse.
Post in the Comments how'd you like these bots to aid or mess up in the battles to come. Stay tuned for the Autobots will face the wrath of possibly the most powerful Con yet in "Flying Mind".