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

34. Marina's Mermaids

Song: Open Your Eyes – Bea Miller

---

Arcee and her team walked around the city to patrol it from any possible signs of invasion when she got a call from Marina later in the evening.

"Arcee, you and your friends wouldn't mind coming over to the Hydratoll docks, would you? I need your help with something, and Aquarius isn't around right now. Just...don't freak out."

The request was unusual, and she paused trying to decipher what exactly Marina meant by that.

"Okay..." Arcee said.

"What's wrong?" Megatron asked concerned.

"I was just alerted by Marina to meet her at Hydratoll and to not 'freak out.' If she's doing anything private over there, I'm not going to be above punching a blind femme for making me see it regardless how much she likes us."

Bolt huffed, "Well, you and Megatron."

The warlord scoffed, "She likes you too. I'm pretty sure she'll go with anyone. I don't think she has strict standards."

"I don't like you right now," the Vehicon with an unknown tone.

"I'm just saying..."

Arcee waved them off. "Guys, guys, enough! Let's just see what she needs and go from there."

Hydratoll Complex had its own dock, large enough to support any size of transport and ship with Hydratoll itself the first thing those who pull up see. It was a giant building, the largest in the city, with intricate sea creature designs engraved on its exterior. The most prominent creatures were the Leviathans with the body shape of a Leviathan Queen housing the smaller depictions of sea creatures and its head merging into the top levels of bubbled glass like a crown. The shifting waters of the glass gave the sea creatures unique reflections with most of the smaller panes of the material constructed purposefully to emphasize the Leviathan Queen's structure like bio lights.

Taking a stroll down to the docks had them passing Aquatronians and some younglings who were as happy as could be. With no Quintessons to terrorize them, they were back to their normal selves, a genuine people with the love of the ocean and life. It was haunting to think they had been robbed of that for years, no different than how Cybertron had been lost. Every time she thought of the worlds she had visited and was going to, it never ceased to flood her mind how every one of them suffered. They didn't have the same ailments, but the repercussions were still present through quite a few people.

Velocitron was doubtful, Caminus was untrusting, Chaar was pained, Junkion was remorseful, Kanjis was unsettled, and Aquatron showed the signs of anger for what they should have been able to stop. Earth, as she knew, was not as affected but from the residents who had been a part of the war secretly, she remembered the expressions on their faces. It wasn't something she could forget easily. They had been afraid, and Arcee couldn't blame them for that. Aquatron was angry at their misguidance by an invasive species, but they did their best to hide it for the new generations that were and had yet to come. Repairing the damage was hard on every single planet, and she didn't even know if worlds like Gigantion or Combatron had dealt with any traumas they had faced possibly due to the Cybertronian conflict or worse.

She snapped out of the drowning thoughts and tried to focus on what was. The docks in front of the Hydratoll Complex spanned half a mile with a perfect view of the sun beginning to descend for dusk. Beyond it, Arcee spotted a faint island. The garden which Silos spoke of. The only way to get there was by boat or pray one could swim fast enough to get there.

Marina laughed, catching the attention of the bots as she sat at the edge of the dock. There appeared to be no one with her, no guards, no Aquarius, which was very odd. As they got closer, Marina turned her head a little to acknowledge them.

"Arcee? I'm glad you came."

"So, what am I not supposed to 'freak out' about?"

The Aquatronian leader, at first, seemed hesitant to say before leaning back on her arms in her sitting position. "Strange how everything works sometimes, isn't it? The unexpected becomes commonplace, those you fear can become your greatest allies..."

Arcee sat beside her as the others glanced around to see if they could spot anything in the water. "You're dodging the question."

"Maybe I am...because all you know about them is that they are monsters. How can I expect you to understand them, to not judge them or even me?"

"Understand who? Who says I'm judging you?"

Marina sighed, "I'm no fool. My behavior and everything, your tone of voice, I'm a terrible person, aren't I? I cross too many lines and I can't stop myself from finding attraction in everyone like it's an addiction. I love to be that way though, but I make people uncomfortable by being like that."

Arcee placed her elbow on her knee brought closest to her chassis. "You aren't a terrible person for being active. Yes, you should have a bit more of a filter, to be honest with you, but you are who you are. There will always be people who either hate you or love you. I don't hate you for being you. I mean, you are attractive too but Megatron, Bolt, and I...we're just not interested. Okay?"

Marina smiled, "The most interesting ones are usually taken. It's alright. At least you had the decency to clear that up with me. I've had some partners who used me and never told me until it was too late. But the hypocrisy isn't lost on me. I could argue with myself and say that I use other people to have fun. I don't know if I hurt them because of my nature. Hopefully not."

"You go between partners, but I wonder have you ever truly loved someone, Marina? Someone you could have a steady relationship and all that?"

That seemed to hit a sore spot and the Aquatronian's fins sagged in response. But, to Arcee's surprise, she said, "Once, and it's why I decided to be so outgoing, never sticking to one partner. Vaporstrike was everything to me. We'd go to the Garden of Tears to bask in the calming waters there where all our worries melted away. We didn't care what the world thought of us. We were perfect; we loved each other so much, at least so I thought. We weren't bonded but we liked to have fun like any other mated pair. I wanted to stay with them forever, but then I found out they wanted someone else, someone new. I wasn't good enough for them apparently. It was found to be all just a game to them until they got bored, and they moved on, discarding me...like a piece of trash drifting in the water."

Despite having no optics, her sockets still conveyed utter devastation as she recalled it, and Arcee felt bad for asking. "I was left alone wondering...what did I do wrong? What was wrong with me? But something made me think that if I wasn't good enough, how could they have wanted me for as long as they did? So, I decided if they can move between partners and not care, why couldn't I? I dropped everything and let myself go free. Who cared what they wanted from me, who cared what I should do and what I shouldn't. The only person holding me back then...was me. No more one-trick Marina. It was time to have fun my way.

"So, I did. Everybody had different perspectives, different interests, different feelings and I loved being around someone new. It was like socializing without judgement, or if there was, I never heard it. I told you about an episode of my depression, didn't I, where I doubted myself? I've had a few but I continued regardless because why would it matter what I do? I'm out here living life knowing I can very well die one day. I'd rather live every day like it's my last than pretend that working myself to a secure point before having fun only to have so little time with it is what I was meant to do instead. No one should live to die; we should live to do what we love, right?"

Arcee slowly nodded as she stared at the sunset's shifting colors in the sky. "Yes, we all deserve to live life as we love it."

Marina folded her legs crossed and sighed, "The funniest thing about being a leader and being as I am, that's when everyone tries to judge you the most. A harlot can be on the streets but can't be in command, as if any politician, leader, or ruler can say they haven't had some fun on the side before. What a joke."

"And yet, you've managed Aquatron since the Quintessons left just fine. No one seems to be complaining."

"Exactly. The world's greatest hypocrisy is its own malice towards those that make up it." Marina sent a smile in the direction of Arcee before standing up and rubbing her servos together with a musical hum. "Now, let's stray off that subject and get to what I really wanted to talk to you about. I want you to meet some friends of mine. Once again, please don't freak out."

Arcee stood with a confused raise of a brow. "Okay?"

She backed up along with Marina who suddenly whistled. When she was seen listening for who she was trying to summon, Arcee was even more confused until a roar replied finally. Arcee wasn't prepared for a Leviathan to breach and arch in its jump to land onto the docks with a growl. Megatron instinctively aimed his cannon and as soon as Marina heard it powering up, she yelled, "Don't shoot my Leviathans! They are angels!"

Now all three bots were flabbergasted by the statement and watched Marina carefully walking forward to the green Leviathan that used its arms to stay upright as its fish-like lower body patted the metal in annoyance being out of the water. Arcee feared a blind Marina would be easily taken down by it, but she merely outstretched her arm until she touched its chest. Moving upward, she cradled its head, and it allowed her. Two more Leviathans, orange and purple, flopped onto the dock, making sounds between one another and sniffing at Marina who giggled as their breaths tickled her fins.

"Good girls!"

More fins in the water became present until there was a whole hive of them. Arcee gulped as more decided to perch on other dock spaces, stretching and looking around curiously at the city.

Marina laughed, "They won't hurt you. This is the late Queen Oceanus' hive. She was around when I was a youngling. Right after I took command of Aquatron, it was unfortunate to know she had passed because the Quintessons had unloaded their weapons upon her as she tried to steer her hive away from their ships, orphaning the hive. The problem with an orphaned hive is that they won't be accepted by other Leviathan Queens unless said queens conquer the hive's leader themselves. If the queens die any other way, the other queens will see the hive as weak and will not elect them to be among their own masses. Without a leader, the hive will only be able to defend against certain enemies. Other predators would not have as much trouble hunting and eating the hive without a queen capable of stopping them. I decided to try and be a surrogate queen in a way. It took a while to build their trust, but they respond to me now. I almost got eaten quite a few times."

Bolt asked, "Yeah, but if they need a queen to defend them, how do you do that?"

"Simple, I built a chamber beneath the city the hive has turned into their nest. If danger presents itself, there are cannons on the underside with the ability to track unwanted creatures who threaten them. A brilliant idea of my design, I will say. There's only one access in the Hydratoll Complex made for me that can reach the chambers from the surface. It's special access only though."

The Leviathans chirped at one another with garbled growls and some hisses while the one receiving pets purred. The deadly gaze of the Leviathan's optics dilated in wake of the nice treatment from Marina. She pointed vaguely in the direction of Arcee and the Leviathans all glared at the blue femme waiting for any command. Arcee felt uncomfortable seeing all the Leviathans on parallel docks also focusing in on her. If Marina had them attack, there was going to be a bloodbath.

"Now, I need a favor from you and Bolt. It seems we finally narrowed down who's been eating the fishers in the area. A Metal Head, as you described? Seems there's counting ten monstrous sharks in the water that aren't a known species with yellow gems upon their underbellies, but my sources say the monsters are smart. They only attack when most Leviathans are asleep during the early day which is when fishers go out to catch our food. Recently, they've become bolder and are now disrupting everything all the time. The Leviathans are scarce, and the people have been unsure why our resident Queen Amphitrite isn't dwelling as close to the surface today on the southeast end of the city as she normally does.

"My people need more than just Energon to survive, and this planet cannot have its food chain disrupted any more than it has been since the arrival and fall of the Quintessons. We're just getting everything back into balance, but I can't sustain this if these creatures are threatening our way of life. My Leviathan hive has been trained vigorously to not attack anyone here unless they are a threat, so I need you and Bolt to scout with them underwater to find and destroy these monsters. You can take Nympha here, my acting second-in-command of the hive, and ride her around the city to find them. Once you do, weaken them to coax the Leviathans into eating them. It'll also save me time of luring potential prey to them as well. Think you and Bolt can handle it?"

Bolt made a pleasant gesture and Arcee grinned, "Now I get to brag about being able to ride a Leviathan that doesn't want to eat me for once? Count me in."

Marina was glad to hear it before saying to Megatron, "I'm going to need your help as well. Normally, I can monitor my Leviathans' whereabouts across the vast ocean via a microchip I have in Nympha's armor...but since I can't see..."

"I got you," the warlord said. "Moonhunter, I guess you're no water cat, right?"

Moonhunter sniffed the tail of one of the Leviathans but raised his spine as he jumped back slightly once the creature grumbled. He hissed, showing his small fangs. The Leviathan crawled to look at the Nitrotiger with a better view before simply opening its jaws showing off its array of fangs far bigger as if to taunt its aggressor. Moonhunter retreated to go behind Megatron's leg shivering but still hissing like he could still take the larger mechanoid predator despite everyone knowing otherwise.

Arcee approached with caution towards Nympha who made an alien grunt, keeping an eye on her closely. Marina snapped her fingers twice and the Leviathan lowered itself to a position Arcee could mount it. There were two sets of fins on its backside and its middle was open spot along its spine had enough space for her to fit while being partially covered by the fins. If she needed to, she could duck between the two rows of fins to hide out of sight of anything dangerous. Bolt went to the purple one that made a few growls to sass him, slamming its tail down with attitude.

"Hey, I don't insult your carrier!" Another snarl from the purple Leviathan had Bolt backtalking a gibberish he pretended to understand. "Just because you're big and scary doesn't mean you can call me names either."

Marina laughed, "What's up with him?"

"He's our resident lunatic from time to time and the Head of the Iacon Hall of Records. You get used to it," Megatron grinned. "Now, my lady, let's get hunting. Good luck, Arcee."

Arcee saddled her Leviathan as Megatron escorted Marina with Moonhunter. Bolt attempted to get on his Leviathan but slid off twice before finally getting into a good spot. The other Leviathans quickly understood they were friends, not food, and dived back into the water. Nympha made a quick call before leaping off the dock. Arcee prepared for the splash and closed her optics. They were underwater in seconds, and she reopened them to see herself in the middle of the hive. Nympha's tail propelled them easily through the water as it circled around back to city with its peers. Bolt's purple Leviathan appeared beside her.

"This is cool! Who knew you could ride on the world's deadliest creatures?! I'm loving this," he said through the commlink.

Marina's voice went through both their channels. "Alright, the big scanners of Hydratoll are trying to pick up the monsters on sonar and infrared sensors across the underside of the city. Megatron is going to relay any notable shadows of sharks that don't match our populace to your mapping system."

"Guess it's time to blow those sharks out of the water once and for all," Arcee mused as she prepared her blasters. Bolt did the same.

Nympha took them past the large box-like underwater building that served as Marina's nest for the Leviathans which was settled between four pillars and had cannons attached in sleep mode. Apparently, the Metal Heads were indeed smart enough to avoid it. Suddenly, the first two pings on her internal mapping indicated the Metal Heads had been detected off the western underside. Nympha grew a bit noisy clicking and growling with its fins rattling the closer they swam to the perceived targets. It was a good indicator that the entities nearby were not something the Leviathans liked.

To their shock, a large deep blue shark with a white underbelly and visible skull gem on its underside swam around the area searching for prey. Its four yellow eyes looked unnatural against the rest of the wildlife beneath the ocean waves. Its backside and fins were completely metal but everything midway on its eye level and below was organic matter with cables embedded into its flesh. The Metal Sharpfin grew attentive as Nympha drew near. Nympha started baring its teeth much more, opening and closing like Arcee had seen on Polarity's ship passing one. It was now confirmed to be a warning and as both creatures exchanged growls, Arcee took aim.

"Smile, you son of a-"

A blast straight to the head made the Metal Sharpfin rapidly flail as blood seeped from its wound. What it lacked in durability, it made up for in speed though that didn't seem to help it as the damage was done. A few Leviathans quickly swam over to it sensing weakness and attacked it. Given from what the supposed Metal Head leader said, most all the aquatic Metal Heads were nonvenomous and the lengths that to be taken to infect Queen Nammu implied it was an isolated incident that took planning.

A second Metal Sharpfin raced towards them aggressively until Bolt aimed and fired. The first shot missed but the second and third shots ruptured its underbelly revealing loose organs. A Leviathan closed in on it as it whipped around to try and go after Bolt, snagging it by its side now that it was hurt. Why the Leviathans were waiting to attack seemed to be the same reason they were being driven away. They had no clue what their new enemies were but now that they had a better idea, they were showing signs of getting far more into tearing the Metal Head apart. Scary under normal circumstances but not so much now.

As some of the Leviathans continued to devour the monsters like piranhas, Arcee directed Nympha away to search for more enemies. Five more were located and she diverted the hive into following in pursuit of the invasive Metal Heads. The three sharks came into view, now on high alert that their peers had been eaten. Once they spotted Arcee and her Leviathan, she cracked her neck.

"Let's go, girls!"

Nympha took the immediate approach of the Metal Sharpfins as an attack, pupils contracting to slivers and Arcee braced herself by leaning forward and holding onto the fins with a smirk. It was like a roller coaster ride as the Leviathan jolted at the Sharpfin that came too close. Arcee was amazed at the speed and agility of the Leviathan. It was frightening how fast it could strike and flee repeatedly until the Metal Head was nearly motionless. It was one thing to witness it, but it was another thing to be a part of the action. When Nympha encountered another, it did a barrel roll before charging the shark. Bolt's Leviathan struck the side of another Metal Head roaming into view. The Vehicon laughed the entire time as his unruly beast did multiple twirls dodging the attempted bites of the pursuing Sharpfins.

Just then, the Metal Squids they had encountered outside the Riptide Basin were coming up alongside their shark counterparts. Arcee was concerned about that until Megatron called them.

"The Metal Heads are attacking Aquatica! Swarms of them are coming through portals! Finish what you need to do and get back up here as soon as possible! Don't worry about Marina. She's safe in the Hydratoll Complex. Aquarius came back too with support."

"Bolt, you heard that?" Arcee asked.

"Yep, we're going to make these fuckers wish they were never created! Yee-haw!"

The queen grinned before aiming at a Metal sea creature and using the rapid-fire upgrade she had received. She popped a Squid right in the middle of its skull gem and had Nympha tackle a Sharpfin. The other Leviathans followed suit, growing confident in taking the monsters out to the point where they didn't hesitate to lunge at anything in their path. Claws and teeth ripped techno-organic flesh and the water briefly turned a morbid purple, hard to see through but it didn't deter the Leviathans.

"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo ahahahahahaha!" Arcee cackled as Nympha dipped down into a dive before skimming the edge of a shallow reef and jettisoned upward like a torpedo to smash through the abdomen of a Sharpfin.

Bolt was having a blast just the same as he fired at everything other than a Leviathan. "Get some, baby!"

Abruptly, his Leviathan's optics burned bright and bio lights lit across its body. Bolt flattened himself against its backside as it spun fast counterclockwise and rammed straight into a Squid, shattering the monster into globs of flesh and metal. Once it rotated back to a steady swimming pace again, Bolt was shaken.

"Whoa! What was that?! Did you know they could do that?!"

"No! That's new! A drill maneuver…these things are awesome!"

Bolt cheered, "I love these things!"

When the Metal Heads beneath the ocean began to dwindle from the Leviathans tearing them to shreds faster than they could counter, Arcee made sure to aim for the last of Sharpfins on her radar. There were three left, and she made it her mission to terrorize them the most. The Sharpfins were getting wise by the time they circled into the eastern territory of Aquatica's sea. They were determined to outflank the Leviathans. Even treading into Queen Amphitrite's territory was what they wanted to do at their own risk.

Arcee chased one on Nympha before it doubled back to strike them. She blasted it right in the face and had the Leviathan track it before shredding it. Once dead, she resumed the hunt for the other two. Nympha grew unsettled and a bit reluctant to keep chasing, and Arcee knew why. If Queen Amphitrite was around, unwanted Leviathans would draw her attention. She had to hurry getting the last two or risk being eaten by a peeved Leviathan Queen.

The second to last Sharpfin raced between coral reefs and as Bolt pursued blasting away. He hit some parts of the reef by accident, wincing at the damage he caused the poor creatures that might have lived in it. He fired again, hitting the tail and sending the Metal Head navigating the water uncontrollably…right into the clutches of large tendrillarfish that pulsed with glee upon wrapping its tentacles around its new prey.

"Have a good dinner," the Vehicon muttered disgusted. The tendrillarfish forced its prey near its head, paralyzing the creature to make sure it couldn't escape. "Damn, that's freaky."

Arcee was trying to get the last Metal Sharpfin and Nympha was growing restless the farther they went. "Easy, girl, easy."

The Sharpfin dodged the shots from her blasters and would not give her a chance to disable it. It suddenly dove off to the deep end and this time, Nympha refused to follow, instead directing itself to trail the edge. Arcee grew frustrated and wondered why until a loud rumble echoed from beyond the deep itself. An echoing roar then silence was heard after it. The Leviathan grew still and started to walk across the elevated floor instead of swimming, keeping low. That didn't sound like a Leviathan Queen. The edge of the reef led to endless ocean and a dark pit. She didn't even think to look how deep she was now. Then she realized she was at the edge of the deep depths…where Tyranquntors roamed. Even Leviathans wouldn't tread in the dark where the largest monsters lived. She stared out into the open before something caught the edge of her optic. Barely missing it, she swore she saw a pitch-black edge of a fin bigger than medium building creep back into the endless darkness below. It was enough for her to heed the Leviathan's unusual throat clattering, like a timid whimper. She didn't blame it for doing that. Mentally, she was frightened too just thinking about what she saw.

"Alright, buddy, I think that's enough hunting for today. Let's get back to the surface. Bolt."

"Way ahead of you, my Queen," he said over the commlink.

Even though it was still a bloody mess with clouds of Metal Head debris tossed everywhere, Nympha took Arcee's directions without argument and swam towards the surface where they knew the battle was going to be the worst.

---

Caught off guard, Aquatronians screamed as they fled from the Metal Beasts that stomped into view, crunching up their smooth streets and leaving horrific footprints in their wake. Grunts and Ramheads all scattered to take out anyone in their way as Aquarius ran over to Megatron.

"These monsters are trying to take over our world? The Quintessons cursed us!"

Megatron mused, "No, those are just typical Metal Heads at this point. They are driven by their leader to conquer everything cybernetic because someone apparently has a vendetta against Arcee killing their creator. And now, she's protecting everyone from them usurping everything we know. They are weak to gunfire and everything in between, just don't get bit."

Aquarius was startled by this information but dismissed it as a Grunt ran towards him. Pulling out two swords, he whipped around with utmost precision and severed the head off the Horaquan. He sneered at the blood on his swords, "Then let's give them something to fight against."

Moonhunter tackled one Metal Head, swiping it off its feet and tearing at its throat to quickly neutralize it. Megatron aimed his cannon and sneered as some of the Metal Heads were quick to target him, recognizing him instantly. He welcomed it and began blasting anything not a cybernetic species. Aquarius did a few fancy maneuvers with his blades as more Aquatronians stood by them while others who weren't as battle-driven fled to safety. Moonhunter hissed and swiped his tail as a Ramhead leading the pack charged them.

"Incoming!" Arcee's echoing voice shouted as the waves suddenly burst upward and all Megatron and the Aquatronians saw was Arcee riding Nympha as the Leviathan arched upon breaching. She looked insane, and the warlord couldn't help but admire that. The Leviathan slammed onto a poor Ramhead, squishing it as it snatched another one with its jaws and killed it swiftly. Arcee posed on the head of the bloodthirsty Leviathan and gave a boastful grin as it roared, scaring off the pack.

"The one-hundred-ton fish monster is at your service."

Nympha gave a growl as Bolt and his Leviathan shot out tumbling onto the ledge with the mech clinging to the face of the beast. It snarled and shook him off. While Arcee stepped down lightly and bowed in respect, Bolt hit the ground with his aft and flipped off his mount who hissed back before giving a stubborn grunt and fleeing back into the water.

"Come back and say that to my face, you ass-!"

"Bolt!" Arcee reprimanded.

He pointed at the long-gone creature. "She started it!"

Unusual sounds of movement caught their attention and they all peered around for the source of the noise. It was a shimmering metallic noise, and they couldn't place what it could be until Bolt shouted and immediately fired right next to Arcee. She panicked and ducked ready to scold him until the blast caused electricity to surge against an invisible form behind her once it made contact. The faint glow of skull gems, easily unseen if not looked at directly, glitched as a Metal Head's invisible shielding gave out. A Metal Cloaker stumbled upon taking the blast and used its two blaster arms to perch itself upright with a hiss. Arcee was stunned for a second that the Metal Heads had cloaking technology, but she got over her shock and shot it right in the head. A microchipped device broke off the monster and Arcee grabbed it.

"What the-?! That thing was invisible! They can be invisible?!" Bolt yelled concerned as Arcee looked over the piece of unknown technology.

Aquarius took advantage of cover from the Leviathan guarding them to quickly examine the piece. "It looks like a subspace molecular cloaking shield. Connected with one's systems, it would turn them virtually invisible but only for a certain amount of time. If your monsters have this, that means they could sneak up on us, but how did you see it, Bolt?"

"I just saw the glow of the skull gem! I didn't see the rest of it! The skull gem's faint aura just started showing as it started to get...darker?"

Arcee peered towards the sun and realized it was halfway beneath the horizon. During the day, the Metal Cloakers must have been using sunlight to mask the flaw of their skull gems giving off radiance. Without the cover of the light, they were mostly invisible except for their gems. That gave her an idea.

"Maybe Metal Heads might be given away by the dark with these shields...but would a bot be?"

Megatron frowned, "What are you saying?"

Arcee held up the device confidently, "I'm saying let's give them a taste of their own medicine. If they can use it, so can I. Unless my optics glow, I think I would be completely invisible wouldn't you say?"

Aquarius nodded, "It could work. I can sync this to your network and give you access to its functions after I run a quick diagnostic on it to scan for any failsafe mechanism or viruses. Give me one moment."

He gestured to his fellow Aquatronians to guard them as he quickly ran the tests. Once it was confirmed the technology had no infective elements or destructive output, he made a polite request for Arcee to open her chest plates to hook it up to the power relay just under the spark chamber. He backed away once he was done. Arcee had another icon pop into her hud that indicated the anomaly. When she overrode her system's confusion, she activated it.

"Whoa...where...where did you go?" Bolt asked concerned.

Arcee peered down at herself, but she didn't look invisible on her end. Instead, everyone else was glancing at her space frantically. The meter for the power faltered after twenty seconds and she faded back into view with a hiss of the shielding.

"Where was this back in Polyhex?" She laughed, "I could have used this against the Decepticon spies which would have saved them bullets and me the headache of trying to outflank them."

More shots were heard, and they turned to see a Metal Beast firing its powerful weapon on its back towards the Hydratoll Complex. It hit the roof, taking a good chunk of the building off. Arcee brought out her double-bladed sword and held it up as Metal Centurions were making their way towards them but using the larger Metal Head as cover.

"Alright then, time to show these monsters a thing or two about picking a fight with us," Arcee said.

Aquatronian blades clashed with Centurion shields who tried to push them back. One Centurion blocked twice before rotating around quickly to slash a mech's chest open with its shield. When it raised it to strike down a finishing blow on its opponent, several blasts hit its own chest and killed it. The mech was left bleeding badly and a medic came to his aid even under the threat of getting shot at by Metal Spyder Gunners that came on the scene. He was suddenly hit from behind only to see a floating glowing outline of a skull gem and faint yellow eyes. A stab through the medic's processor had him collapse next to the mech he was trying to help. The nigh invisible assailant maneuvered to stand over the head of the injured mech as the latter pleaded only to make a robotic growl, shield briefly pulsing across its body before the mech was brutally slaughtered.

Those who only managed to note the Metal Cloaker's appearance upon seeing the carnage fled as the monster trailed after them. They rounded a corner, not knowing they passed Arcee, and as the Metal Head followed, powering up its blasters to snipe its targets, Arcee sent one of the sword blades through its abdomen before slicing upward, ripping in into two. The shield disappeared and the half-cut Horaquan reflexes instinctively reached near its split head with the nerves and muscles stalling once the system realized it was shutting down. The corpse of the creature fell over with a sickening putty-like noise, and the femme grimaced at the mess as her shielding faded so it could recharge.

Bolt ran with several Metal Heads chasing him near the edge of the city docks and railing. He whistled repeatedly as he dodged blaster fire from his enemies. As one Grunt was nearly on his tail, he made a long, last whistle in the hopes of his plan working. Breaching from the ocean, a Leviathan tore down the railing to catch the Grunt in its wide-open jaws and quickly dragged it down to the depths crying out. More Leviathans popped out, taking any unfortunate prey they could get ahold of and retreating to the water to drown and eat their victims. Seeing several Metal Heads scratching the ledges and walkways trying to escape their doomed fate had the Vehicon cheering. He stopped, however, when he bumped into the foot of a Metal Beast.

In his loudmouth fashion, he said, "Boy, you are ug-ly."

The Metal Beast withs its sandy orange coloring and fully metal-plated head turned to peer down at the Cybertronian with a snarl. He backed away with his servos up.

"But I've been wrong before...heh heh."

The monster roared and stomped after him as he brought out his axe. As he was being chased and had to dodge cannon fire from his pursuer, he jumped as he encountered a Ramhead and sank the axe edge into its skull. Swinging the rhino creature around, he dislodged it to continue running against the invulnerable Beast. The meteor-like blasts from the Metal Head created cracks and holes upon exploding against the ground, forcing Bolt to stumble as the quaking of each shot hindered his ability to run. He almost went face first into a pylon on the dock as he ran out to the edge. The Metal Beast followed, huffing like it was laughing. The docks creaked under its weight as it cornered the Vehicon. There was nowhere for him to go. If he went into the water, there was no guarantee the Leviathans wouldn't kill him. He saw their fins farther out moving near the surface prowling.

He changed his arm to a blaster and scoffed, "Guess you and I are just going to have to take a leap of faith."

The Metal Head lunged but right as it did so, Queen Amphitrite herself broke through the surface of the water and balanced upright with her head pointed towards the sky. Both Bolt and the Metal Beast grew worried, especially the latter as it stared at the larger predator. As the Leviathan Queen sank down, she grew malicious and curved to grab the Metal Beast by the neck, forcing her chin to slam against the dock which Bolt lost his balance and fell onto his knees. The Metal Head whimpered at the tight grip the jaws of the large creature and tried to scramble free, but Queen Amphitrite snarled and dragged the monster into the water with her. The giant tail of the Leviathan Queen splashed big waves of water against the docks and the surrounding area as she went under with her meal.

Bolt was silent for a second before throwing up his servos in sheer delight. "Queen Amphitrite! You rule, girl!"

Elsewhere, Megatron impaled three Grunts in a row, one of them through the skull, before throwing them over the railing to the ocean below where they would drown if they weren't already dead. Arcee hopped on his shoulder to cover his backside and aimed her blasters at the oncoming aliens. Megatron let her get quite a few shots before turning in a circle to let her blast the wave of enemies inbound. As a team, they kept the monsters at bay, leaving corpses among their carnage. Megatron laughed along with Arcee as they each kept firing until the very last Metal Head seen was down.

Moonhunter swatted several approaching Metal Heads, confusing them greatly before grabbing one by the tail and dragging it while furiously biting it at the same time. When it tried to retaliate, the Nitrotiger clawed it across the face until he was forced to back up by the grouping, snarling Grunts that took displeasure with the animal's tactics.

After Aquarius sent both his blades into the shoulders of a Horaquan and twisted them as he jumped off, severing their neck. He got a call from Marina and grew panicked. Racing to them, he yelled, "Arcee, we have a problem! Marina's in trouble!"

Arcee quickly got off Megatron. "Where is she? What's wrong?"

"She's in the Hydratoll Complex protected by guards but some of them aren't responding. Please, help her!"

"Okay, okay, Megatron, um, you stay here with Aquarius and I'm going to go help Marina!"

"Be careful!" Her mate yelled back as she sprinted with her speed boost towards the Hydratoll Complex.

Arcee ran to the entrance of the Hydratoll before looking back. Aquatronians took the attacks of the Metal Heads personally as it was no doubt a terrible reminder of the invasion of the Quintessons. This time, they were not going to let the monsters take their world again. She nodded silently at seeing a few of them gang up on the larger Metal Heads like the Spyder Gunner in which two femmes took turns blowing off its multiple legs to force it down before jamming a blaster muzzle against its own that was powering up, causing its arm and head to explode once the femme pulled the trigger first. She admired the brutality before focusing on the task at hand.

She entered the Hydratoll Complex to see it full of decorated offices for research, science, and above she assumed there was Marina's command center from what the interior mapping suggested. She took a step forward before hearing the hissing of lingering Metal Heads. Faint gunfire was echoing from several stories above too. Then on one level above her near the escalators, she saw the smallest shimmer of a Metal Cloaker's skull gem. If there was a time to use the limited invisibility she had obtained, now was the perfect time to test it. With the Hydratoll lighting dark as the Metal Heads cut power to the building, she had the advantage of surprise. Taking out Dagger Prima instead of her other weapons, she activated her ability and crept up the stairwell in search for Metal Cloakers to kill. The others she didn't fear but given they all had a two-way link to one another, alerting one of them of her approach would lead to chaos...but how else could she stop them from communicating?

Arcee tried to be as fast as possible to locate the Metal Cloaker she had seen and hide around a corner where another wouldn't be. After scaling the escalator, she hid in the shadows to make sure she had a good view of the area. Two more Cloakers were wandering the opposite side of the level and barely distinguishable between the pillars that held up the building. She let the invisibility power cool down for ten seconds as she heard the Cloaker closest to her wander past. The aura of the skull gem on its chest gave away its position in the dark but was otherwise still nearly unseen from certain angles. She crept towards it before shoving the dagger through its heart and skull gem, silencing it quickly before letting its unshielded body slide from her grasp onto the floor. Once her ability hit its cooldown mode again, she moved onto the other targets.

One Metal Cloaker was walking towards her as she spotted it through the bars of the thick railing that lined the floor edges. It was unaware of her so far. She kept still as it passed her until it paused upon seeing the corpse of its brethren. With a gurgled grunt, it grew agitated. Arcee stealthily went up and leapt to curl her leg around its neck to keep it quiet and viciously stabbed its head. Backflipping with it still attached to her, she threw it to draw the attention of the final Cloaker on the level and sprinted for cover to hide from the stomping alien. The third Cloaker turned a corner to see the bodies but didn't pause, instead activating its arm guns and sweeping the area for her.

Arcee trailed it invisible to try and keep up with its fast walking. It slowed down near the transition to the third level and that was her moment to strike. She impaled it sideways through the neck and flipped it off the railing to tumble down the floor below, leaving a sizable splatter on the pristine white tile. Its skull gem popped and bounced with a satisfying ring to it. Of course, more Metal Heads above became aware of an intruder in their midst. As she heard the movement above, she cracked her knuckles with Dagger Prima still gripped in her servo.

---

Polarity fired on everything with her ship's turrets and smaller weapons as she patrolled the rim of the city. She aimed for a Metal Beast's legs and didn't dare let up until it started to slow and shake. With its legs bleeding, it stumbled a few feet. Finally, it couldn't take the damage any longer and collapsed.

Her crew cheered as she smirked at her success. Hunting down the Metal Heads from the sea made her feel untouchable. A few of the creatures that fell in seemed not to be able to swim and sank just as fast as they went in. Leviathans nabbed the rest that didn't sink in under a second.

"Hahahaha, eat this, monsters!"

Her next enemy was a group of Metal Heads going after younglings and she carefully shot at them. Her blasts pierced their hides like paper, and they each went down one after the other allowing the kids to escape. As she dwelled on her success, she failed to hear the low rumble nearby until her crew stopped their happy-go-lucky attitudes.

Abruptly, the Waterbrook rattled and at first, she thought it was Queen Amphitrite who may have mixed friend with foe out of irritability. But then she activated her scanners. That wasn't a Leviathan Queen under her. Another shake had her pressed against her seat as she scouted around her dense glass cockpit to see if she could see whatever it was.

Her cabin lit up yellow and slowly, she turned to be eye to eye with multiple yellow sclera and faint light-yellow horizontal pupils. It had reddish purple skin and blackened armor with tentacles flowing with the waves. She really thought it was a new form of Quintesson until she saw the skull gem and several smaller gems circling it. That was no Quintesson...

The Metal Head monster sank beneath the waves after looking away from her towards the city. With an abnormal hiss, she watched its silhouette head for the city.

Polarity was frozen until she managed to force out, "Get me Aquarius...and fast."

---

Arcee swung off a Metal Cloaker before becoming invisible to the approaching support. She used their confusion to weave between each, slicing throats and one she stabbed repeatedly once it caught her arm. As her ability entered its cooldown state, she didn't stop. Instead, she switched to her double-bladed sword and sent it through the spine of one and the heart of another Metal Head before flinging them off angrily. Once they were all dead, she breathed heavily with a scowl and wiped off a smear of purple blood on her cheek.

"Have you found her yet?" Aquarius asked impatiently.

"I'm working on it," she harshly whispered as she heard the rest of the Metal Heads along with Marina's voice.

"Hurry, I just got word from Polarity that something unusual was spotted in the sea near the city. It's not a Leviathan, it's...something just as big if not bigger. I don't know where it is now, but she says it's lurking somewhere around Aquatica searching the city. My guess is it has to do with this invasion."

"Me," she muttered.

"Beg pardon?"

"Let's just say, a lot of my enemies hate me with an utmost passion because I keep stopping them. Keep an eye out and I'll meet back with you as soon as Marina is safe." As she cut out, Arcee said softly to herself, "A commander. Of course."

Another echoing growl had her frowning, pulling out her sword and Dagger Prima together. She scaled up the remaining levels realizing quickly the rest of the Metal Heads were trying to get to Marina. She passed the unfortunate sight of fallen guards who were torn apart. It became clear that the monsters no longer wanted to infect people to spread their legion, they were now on a warpath to kill no matter what. The Metal Head Leader really must have hated her guts to not even consider their original plan.

She tripped on one of the steps and caught herself only for the necklace Silos gave her to slip out and lay before her. Arcee carefully handled it and sighed. She had already forgotten about it, but it was his gift of their trust even though his previous threat was very much in play. He had such a flip-flop personality and it haunted her to think about it. Despite it all, she hooked the necklace around her neck and continued. If Megatron or Bolt had a problem with it, so be it.

Arcee reached Marina's level with plenty of Metal Heads stalking the area. Cloakers and Grunts patrolled while a Centurion beat down Marina's door. The guards yelling could be heard across the area, and she knew it was only a matter of time before those monsters got in. Five Cloakers, five Grunts...a fair fight. She began the hunt.

The first targets were the Metal Cloakers and they were in sync, stomping around so full of themselves. Arcee waited in a blind spot of one before concealing it to silence it, striking its heart. The second Cloaker was standing still but was peering around trying to sense anything unusual. Under her cooking ability, she got behind it. Like a viper, she cut its jugular and once it kneeled, she decapitated it as silent as she could. With the Grunts wandering, she had to sneak by to lure the third Cloaker. Flicking the pipe beside it lightly, she stayed in the shadows as it tilted its head with a snort. It was the last sound it made.

Past the Centurion, she navigated into a corner near windows overlooking the battle on Aquatica to scan for the last two Cloakers. They were standing side by side until one casually paced off to the right, away from Arcee and leaving the other alone. Invisible, she went in front of the Metal Head, and it took a second to sense her. Alarmed, she easily sliced its throat and caught its corpse. The last Cloaker was starting to come back as her cooldown came on, so she slipped to the side. The monster paused right next to her and to her surprise, it turned off its shield. Seeing the broad form of the Cloaker with its blasters for arms casually looking around was interesting as the creature was very mechanoid for a mostly organic abomination. The pipes wrapping the underside of its arms to its chest containing its skull gem reminded her of the cabling that pumped energy to a spark chamber. If she didn't know any better, the Metal Cloakers might have been infected cybernetic beings not much different to herself. Worst case, they were taken from the worlds she had just visited. Regardless, she narrowed her optics and sent Dagger Prima up through the chin into the skull.

The Grunts started sounding off in concern and the Centurion whipped its shield around to face the area, spitting orders in a garbled foreign language. Now, she had to be fast. Invisible again, she ran at the nearest confused Grunt, killing it as she flipped over it. The second and third Metal Head goons sprinted between quadrupled and bipedal stances angrily. She threw her double-edged sword into one's chest and threw the corpse into the other monster, running to send the sword through both to keep the other pinned. The last two Grunts leapt at her instead of running and she kicked one in the jaw and twirled around the other so it struck its friend. A quick blow to one's neck and the other was shoved straight onto a protruding piece of metal from the damages the Metal Heads had done trying to get to Marina ended their terror once and for all. The only monster left was the big Centurion that stared down at her.

It stomped towards her until it was only fifteen feet away. Dwarfing her, it slammed the edge of its shield against the ground to taunt her. She had taken down Centurions before, but this one seemed a little too bold for its own good. It instantly threw its shield, a move she had never seen previously, and she barely managed to step aside preventing herself from being cut in half. It bounced off a center piece of the room and came back to the Centurion who caught it effortlessly. Pounding its cannon muzzle on the shield, giving off sparks, it roared at her.

"Oh, you got yourself an upgrade? Look at you, a knight in horrid armor," she mocked. "Hate to break your ego but the princess doesn't need saving from anything except you."

The advanced Centurion snarled and clenched its clawed fist while its blaster arm activated. Arcee cracked her neck and brought out her own blaster. The Centurion fired at her, moving its shield to the side. She fled behind a corner and popped out briefly to fire back. Her blasts were quickly blocked by the shield as it sprinted at her. Using her speed boost and turning invisible at the same time, she narrowly avoided the shield being brought down right where her head once was. Creeping in the shadows, she winced as the Centurion angrily swiped and demolished one centerpiece, sending fragments flying and some hit the glass hard enough to crack the windows which gave her a wicked smirk.

Using the last few seconds of the invisibility she had, she crept up behind it and tried to impale its spine only for it to grow aware last second and whip around to hit her chest with the shield. She was sent tumbling towards the windows with the rubble. It knocked the wind out of her as it hissed and walked threateningly towards her. It punched her before she could get out of its way. Collapsing on her aft, she sneered as some Energon blood was leaking from her nasal vents.

"You sure know how to show a girl a good time, don't you, jackass?" It paused a little at the comment and she smirked, "I thought you knew better…"

The Centurion pointed its cannon at her at the same time as she struck it with her sword. The weaponized arm was amputated, and the Metal Head made a shocked growl, placing the shield in between her and it as it assessed the damage. Her attack made it furious, and it threw the shield across the ground at her. She flipped over it before trying to outrun it to send a flying kick to the Centurion's abdomen. She managed to make it stumble as the shield came back. A loud alien squeal echoed. Arcee was a bit taken aback by the damage she had caused. A portion of its face was now mutilated and seeing the muscle beneath the metal grossed her out. Slapping its only available hand on its discarded shield, it drooled blood and glared at her. She furrowed her brows in response before remembering the window behind her.

"This ends now."

The Centurion seemed to have lost its way as it prepared a similar idea. Either it was planning on throwing her out the window first or it was going to commit suicide and take her out with it. In a flash, it lunged and threw the shield high. She managed to duck but was grabbed harshly by the throat. The shield caused the cracks to web over the entire window with small pieces breaking off. It held her against the glass, pressing with more force each second. It wasn't going to let go and by this point, she had already dropped her sword. Then it faltered when it gazed at her necklace.

"Hey!" A voice behind it yelled, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

The distraction by Marina glaring in their direction with the guidance of a guard gave the distraction needed for another mech to slice off the Centurion's remaining arm. As soon as Arcee was free, she kneed the monster in the groin, punched it twice in the face and once in the sternum before using one swift move to capture its own shield and maneuver around to its back.

Arcee growled, "You've been conquered."

The Centurion turned right as Arcee plowed into it with the shield. It was pushed straight through the glass, and she felt no sympathy as it plummeted to its death. Just another splat on the ground. Arcee gave a deep breath before tossing the shield as its electric power source died. The guards with Marina scanned the room and were bewildered.

"You took all of them on your own?"

Arcee nodded, "Every one of them. The only troublesome Metal Head was that big guy."

Although Marina couldn't gaze upon the massacre, she believed every word she heard. "Those monsters…unbelievable. The guards gave me a brief recall on what you had done and told me about you hounding the shield-wielding one. They also notified me of your brief dilemma. I couldn't just stand there and let you get hurt even in my current state."

Arcee sighed, "You could've been hurt had it charged you in its rage."

"Yeah, but what type of leader would I be if we don't look out for everyone else, even other leaders? Have to risk something sometimes to get the necessary results whether or not it's safe. Granted, I didn't think my distraction would work as well as it did. I thank you, all of you too, for helping me despite the burden."

The guards were quick to state they were honored, unfortunately talking over one another but Arcee let them praise Marina before putting in her input. "It's what we leaders do, right? And you are never a burden, just a learning experience. Now, promise me you guys will stay out of trouble?"

Marina smiled, "Promise. I think that's the extent of my luck right now. I won't chance anything else and put my loyal company in any more danger. I'll calm Aquarius' worries. And Arcee? Go kick more alien tailpipe for me!"

Arcee laughed before saluting the guards who waved. Marina fed on their positive thanks towards the queen to know she was leaving and blew a kiss as she jumped out the window. She activated her gliding ability to soar down to Megatron and Bolt who were among plenty of dead Metal Head bodies of their own. She landed beside them with Bolt instinctively pointing the blaster at her.

"AH! Wha-?! Arcee! We're in the middle of a battle and you're going to sneak up on me like that?! I almost blew your head off! Also, where did you get that necklace?"

"A gift from a friend," she grinned.

Bolt was entranced by the skull gems among intricate patterns while Megatron was a bit sour upon seeing it. He seemed to keep his opinion to himself this time. He rolled his optics and got straight to the point of the biggest concern. "Aquarius says Polarity saw a monster roaming the sea. It was…squid…octopus-like. I don't think it's the Quintessons."

He shot a Metal Ramhead and it collapsed with a growl, its skull gem popping out alongside dozens of others. Moonhunter was chasing a Metal Head that was getting bitten by the annoyed cat before being swatted once cornered until he went for the jugular. He returned to Arcee yowling once he realized his master had returned and his enemy was dead.

Arcee mused as she pet him, "At this point, it's a commander or it just might be a team up we missed. Quintessons take their chances and without Quintessa now, they might just be willing to partner with anyone. Then again, I don't think they would bend to someone else's commands if the rest of them are as stuck up as Quintessa and Tyrannicon were."

Suddenly, all their commlinks went off with Polarity's pleas. "Guys, I know you might be busy right now, but weird things are happening! That big monster I reported is chasing me! Whatever it was looking for, it couldn't find and it's taking its anger out on everything! And Phycamirror can't send any support out to me! Ah! It's got my ship! Please hurry!"

The bots grew alarmed at that and heard an unusual bellow from an unknown creature in the distance. They raced towards the noise and reached the edge of Aquatica only to see giant tentacles striking the Waterbrook as it fired on the beast. Yellow pustules littered the reddish-purple skin and dark metal. The head of the beast was underwater, but its arms were doing massive damage to the vessel threatening to sink it as it was pummeled.

A white and purple mech ran up to the bots and looked at the thrashing of the ship with worry. He quickly said, "Please, you have to help her! I can't live with myself knowing I couldn't do anything to save her or get her any assistance."

Arcee pointed at him curiously. "Are you Phycamirror?"

"Yes, Polarity is my sister. One of my siblings out of two. Our younger brother passed away in the Quintesson attacks as well as our carrier. My sire died not long after of a broken spark. Please, she's all I have left."

As the unknown cephalopod Metal Head pummeled the Waterbrook despite the ship's best efforts to fight back, Arcee was unsure of how to fight a water-based enemy. Aquatronian technology was designed to take on the mighty Leviathans so they could probably take out a Metal Head, but Polarity's ship wasn't doing much against it. There had to be something more powerful than that.

"Phycamirror, do you have any ship or know anyone who does that might be able to take that thing down?"

The mech shook his helm, "All I have is a war model I can lend but it's not much different than Polarity's."

"Perfect," she grinned.

They followed Phycamirror to a warehouse on the docks where the vessel was located and prepared for departure with the mech joining them. They had to throw Moonhunter in for the Nitrotiger was hesitant and yowled in discomfort.

"If we're going to die, you're coming with us, cat," Bolt stated unapologetically. He didn't even react much to the Nitrotiger hissing at him before running under a chair to hide.

Arcee sat on one of the pilot seats with enthusiasm and eagerness to finally drive one of Aquatron's ships for once. Phycamirror gave her a quick rundown of the controls. It was similar to a Cybertronian craft, just a few extra steps. She could control the turrets and missiles manually from her end as Megatron took over the sonar and watched all details of the craft's systems. Bolt was communications and Phycamirror became Arcee's copilot.

"Here we go!"

A sudden jolt sent the vessel, dubbed the Sea Serpent, underwater as its flaps readjusted and engines came on. Arcee steered it around to go after the monster in the distance as the Waterbrook was still being beaten. Once close enough, Arcee could see the creature's head. An octopus with six eyes and multiple skull gems was trying to use its abnormally long beak to penetrate the hull of the ship, rocking it to tear it apart. As soon as it laid eyes on Arcee's vessel, it paused.

Silos, with his most inconvenient timing, chuckled in her commlink. "Kraken, the Mutinous Sea Dweller, one of my favorite commanders and a rebel often. Tigressa hated it. I remember when one of them accidentally went to the planet called Earth and wrecked quite some havoc down there for a century or two before it was finally brought back to the Metal Head home world. It's nice to see it back in action...maybe not for you, of course, but let's just see if you can defeat it where many ships have failed. Word of advice: try not to get yourself killed yet."

What great advice indeed. She didn't like how straightforward Silos seemed compared to the other commanders he had given insights on previously. There was an unknown tone in his description. But the thought quickly escaped her mind when she noticed the Metal Kraken slowly letting go of the Waterbrook as it stared her down. With the cockpits on Aquatronian ships glass, obviously it could see her, and she could confirm it was sent to go after her as its eyes narrowed.

"Is it just me or is the Metal Head Leader sending larger species of commanders?"

Bolt replied, "How else are they supposed to try and kill you? Large and in charge, though the downside on their end means a bigger target to hit. Granted, I don't think these weapons are going to win against the likes of a monster that size."

Arcee pursed her lips cockily, "Time to find out."

Discarding Polarity's ship, the Metal Kraken roared. Arcee responded by preparing her torpedoes and the turrets. It turned its head towards her and used its multiple limbs to move through the water like a jet. Arcee diverted the ship to outflank it, dodging a limb that tried to tackle the vessel. She used the turrets first, rapidly shooting at the monster following behind. She maneuvered under the city, between the pillars and under Marina's Leviathan nest where a few of them made quick warning strikes on the Kraken much to the latter's annoyance. It was still focused on Arcee and ignored the other creatures.

She rounded a pillar and switched to missiles, firing two once she had a brief shot at her opponent. The torpedoes had tracking mechanisms and immediately sought the Metal Kraken like homing missiles. They struck the Kraken head on, but the force wasn't enough to break the metal protecting its head. A small crack remained. It would take some doing to break it, but Arcee was more than willing to fight it out until she won.

The Metal Kraken suddenly grew still and began spinning fast with its tentacles outward in a circular motion. It formed a whirlpool and forced the Sea Serpent to get caught in its vortex the larger it became. Arcee retaliated by firing ruthlessly at the creature at its defense as the ship shook from the bumpy ride. After several rounds of turret fire, she unleashed another set of torpedoes. The blast blew the commander back and sabotaged the whirlpool's structure. It rubbed its head perplexed before blowing bubbles out from its siphon. The gem skull on its forehead glowed, briefly causing the horizontal pupils of its eyes to disappear.

Arcee gave it no quarter and flew around it firing off the turrets like mad until it fled after her again. She made the ship do a barrel roll trying to evade the grasp of the Metal Head as it swung around a pillar to catch her. She wasn't going to let it get a hold of her that easy.

Megatron monitored the screens keeping track of the creature in the rear. "Primus, this thing is angry. I'm not seeing any weak point except maybe the eyes. I think the only chance we have is through blinding it and then just bombing it to smithereens."

"I'll try," Arcee said worried.

Having a giant sea creature chasing her was not the best moment to try and take out its eyes but perhaps there was a way to distract it into bringing down its guard to do so. She suddenly pulled up to reach the surface.

"Can this thing fly?"

Phycamirror quickly nodded, "Flight mode is the bottom right switch!"

Arcee hit it right as the ship leapt out of the ocean. The wings and thrusters converted to aerial mode, and she circled the spot she had emerged from. Sure enough, the Metal Kraken was pissed. It raised its tentacles outward to reach towards them and Arcee rolled out of the way of the appendages until it finally raised its head out of the water. It was sluggish above the water compared to in it. The perfect chance to get a good shot. Firing a torpedo, now missile, its eyes went wide when one of them was hit. With a whine, it covered the wounded area with two tentacles and randomly struck out, hitting the ship and causing it to crash onto the ocean surface.

Bolt mocked, "And that was pretty short-lived. What next, genius?"

Arcee grew alarmed seeing the Kraken shake off its pain, a bleeding, burnt spot where a socket was while its remaining five eyes glared at the half-floating submersible ship. She didn't know for the time being and continued to blast it. The Metal Head responded by bringing its beak into view and hissing. In seconds, it sank underwater, and a dark mass jettisoned towards them. A shake had Arcee afraid as tentacles wound around the middle and the wings. The poor wings couldn't take the pressure and started collapsing from the tight grip. The body of the ship was much more resilient as Arcee quickly tried to get it out of the clutches of the mighty beast. Engines roared but they weren't moving.

"Damn, come on! I did not make it out here just to be beaten by a squid!"

"Join the club," Phycamirror said deadpanned.

The beak was tapping the underside of the glass cockpit trying to break it as Arcee didn't know what to do. There was only one option she could try...but she didn't know if it worked underwater. She put Phycamirror as the pilot.

"Stay here and be prepared to go."

"Wha-what are you doing?!" The mech asked, terrified as the beak caused a small fracture within the thick glass right under his feet.

Arcee grinned, "Giving it what it wants, a taste of me."

She climbed to the ship's roof through a latched door and went to the edge, careful of the tentacles twitching and instinctively curling among their assault. Checking the power supply on her Heat Seeker power, Arcee grew confident of the damage she could do to it once it was revealed it had full power from enough accumulated sunlight. She had never seen it at full power...now, she was going to, and the water should prevent plenty of backfiring against the ship as well as herself. Careful not to fall off as the ship was forced to quake from the rough handling of the Metal Kraken, she made her way across the wing and saw where the head of the monster was. Jumping under and clinging to the underside of the vessel, she aimed at it. Three of its eyes instantly flicked to her as she huffed knowing there was no turning back.

"Hope the water's warm enough," she mused.

Her blaster glowed bright yellow even against the light of its eyes and skull gem. The blast that followed made it grunt. The water briefly burned the same shade as a geyser of water sprayed upward. The Sea Serpent was rocked and let go instantly, prompting Phycamirror to force the engines to start and swerve away from the area back up to the surface. He grimaced as the water settled but Megatron was distraught as was Bolt.

"Arcee?! Arcee!" Megatron shouted.

When he got no reply, he whimpered to himself, a rare noise as Bolt clutched his helm. A splash inside the ship, however, made them all turn to see Arcee rolling her shoulder painfully.

"Remember when I said I wouldn't pull the same stunt as I did with the Baskilisk? I lied...and paid the price...ow."

The warlord was relieved but growled, "DON'T EVER...mmm...do that again, but I'm still thankful you're okay."

Arcee laughed a little at the response until a roar sounded. They all saw the view as Phycamirror turned around as the Metal Kraken burst up above the surface, now scarred heavily with three eyes on the same side gone and scorched armor. It made various noises as it comprehended its pain. A few of its tentacles were blown off as others had chunks missing. It shook with unbridled rage.

Arcee took her place back at the pilot's seat despite the pain in her shoulders still there and fired a few torpedoes to get its attention. It worked...somewhat regrettably. If a full blast from the Heat Seeker didn't end it like it did the Baskilisk, this thing needed something bigger to take it out. A Leviathan Queen would be perfect...or something even bigger than that.

The deep depths. Like the foolish Metal Sharpfin that ran and dived into it, most likely facing a fate of a pitiful death, the deep depths could attract a number of predators and with it, someone probably big enough to wipe out a Metal Head of the Kraken's size no problem. Her epiphany had her fearful of her own mind but at the same time, it was a chance to end it faster than fighting it head on. Success never needed to be measured by how many punches she gave, only what was necessary to do to win. Maybe it wasn't in the cards for her to kill the Kraken personally. She didn't care as long as it and its brethren could no longer harm anyone or anything.

"Let's finish this, just you and I, ugly," Arcee snarled.

The torpedoes did their thing, exploding against the Metal Kraken as the she made the turrets continue their fury. This time, the monster covered itself with its injured appendages. It seemed unable to take any more firepower, so it protected itself by sacrificing its limbs, parts of which fell off to float uneasily. As it made a newfound ungodly noise, Arcee gave maximum power to the engines and dived underwater to lure it to the deep depths beyond Aquatica. The Metal Kraken took the bait.

Despite the injuries it received, the Metal Head pursued with ultimate hatred for her. It was slightly slower without all its limbs in tandem, but it still kept a fair speed. The Sea Serpent itself was lagging with its damaged wingspan and cracked middle hull. The ship resisted and did its duty to her without fail regardless like a trooper.

The shallow depths were slowly getting deeper with Arcee refusing to stop as everyone else panicked. A sudden drop came as a surprise even though she knew it had to happen either way. The Metal Kraken swam as fast as it could to keep up as Arcee dipped off to skim the dark void of the deep depths. It followed her. Everyone, including Arcee, was terrified for their lives as there was no telling what could suddenly come out to attack them among the depths. The monster hissed with both remaining two eyes narrowing. Just then, Arcee thought she saw the faintest movement beneath her. It was heading in the same direction as the ship. Whatever it was, it was about to ambush them.

When the Kraken got close, she made a bold move and cut the engines as everyone shifted their gazes to her utterly horrified. The Metal Head didn't expect it and shot past them, going upright to slow itself and turn around with a twirl of tentacles.

"Arcee?!" Bolt yelled.

The queen pretended not to hear the panic and glared at the Kraken that started to swim back towards her in a fury. "Calamari is on the menu, boys!"

Megatron and Phycamirror were wide eyed as the Metal Kraken flipped around to present its beak with a roar. Suddenly, a black mass ate it whole with little effort. The force of its movement against the current of the ocean forced the Sea Serpent to spin backwards a few meters before coming to a halt. All the bots were beyond shocked to see their entire view covered by that same black mass that was vertical going towards the surface. Their optics in tandem trailed the length of the creature frozen in their horror until they were straining their necks to gaze up past the cockpit ceiling.

The pitch-black form of the Tyranquentor closed its fang-riddled jaws as its glossy black optics closed briefly. It was so big, turning took almost two minutes for it to curve back down to go back to the deep depths where it belonged. The bots' optics followed its head at least the length of the Statue of Liberty. It seemed satisfied with its catch as it left the Sea Serpent alone. Even its barely audible rumbles shook the ship. It was unknown how big it was in length; the Nemesis beside it might have even been intimidated by a fish of that size. It took another two minutes for it to completely disappear into its dark habitat with its scarred finned tail going in last. Tyranquentors preferred the dark; Arcee believed she just gained a new phobia.

All of them said nothing blinking as their processors tried to make sense of just what they had witnessed. It took well over three minutes before Arcee muttered, "Well, I-I guess...we won?"

None of them responded to that. Arcee realized another Tyranquentor could pop up at any time and she was quick to boost the ship's engines to get it as far away as the deep depths as possible. The ride was silent even though chatter from above declared victory as the Metal Heads grew sparce. They say there was always a bigger fish...

---

Seven hours later...

After Marina and Aquarius got everything settled again, the latter of whom was now abnormally close with her with reasonable concern, Arcee was a bit traumatized seeing the Tyranquentor. As magnificent of a beast it was for taking out the Metal Kraken, it was frightening to think how many of those fish existed who were larger than most skyscrapers ever built on all the worlds she had visited so far. And she wasn't even sure if that was the maximum size the dreaded fish could get.

Moonhunter nuzzled her leg to comfort her from her tense posture as she watched with some relief Phycamirror and Polarity reuniting. The Waterbrook's captain was stunned to receive a hug from her brother but gladly accepted it, returning it with equal relief. While Megatron and Bolt talked to one another just as shaken as she was, Arcee looked down to palm the skull gem necklace from Silos. It reminded her that she needed to get the water glass from the isle beyond the Hydratoll Complex. If anyone knew it best, it was probably Marina.

She broke away from the crowd of wounded and tired Aquatronians and left to find Marina after another thirty minutes of gathering her mind. The Metal Heads were reported to have dispersed with no remnants of their aquatic counterparts in the water...assuming they weren't digested by the unafraid predators. She spotted Marina with Aquarius as he whispered something to her before nuzzling her cheek. It seemed he finally got over his petty jealousy and admitted his feelings for her. Arcee knew the relationship would be rough for Marina to trust someone as more than a one-night stand, but she appeared to be somewhat considerate of the idea as the queen approached her. Aquarius acknowledged her with a soft smile before telling Marina who it was.

"Ah, Arcee, how can I...we help you?" The Aquatronian leader asked.

"I didn't mean to intrude on your moment, but I was wondering..." she was careful in revealing what she needed to get, "...if there's a place I could go to find peace of mind. Not the Bay of Loneliness preferably. I heard there were some water glasses and other items used for meditation. I could really use some meditating, if possible, just a minute or two."

Marina smiled, "The Garden of Tears is probably the best then. It was once a sacred place of mourning long ago. There are multiple isles upon our world that are for meditation and quiet getaways. The Garden of Tears is just over there."

Her point of direction was off, and Aquarius corrected her by gently moving her arm in the right direction which she giggled at. He gave a shrug to Arcee before saying, "You can borrow a ship if you want. I'd take one of the smaller vessels as Phycamirror and Polarity are going to need theirs sent to the repair warehouse for the time being. You could even borrow mine. It's stationed on the just off Hydratoll's docks."

"Thank you," Arcee replied.

"Oh, and take this," Marina said, bringing out a Radiant Core. "For your help. We appreciate you dearly."

She placed the Radiant Core into her subspace with utmost care before saying a brief goodbye to the new couple. Arcee went to the docks as instructed and found Aquarius' shuttle. It wasn't as big and fancy or as powerful as either ship she was on prior, but it looked cozy for a scouting vessel. And she didn't even need a crew to run it. She took off towards the Garden of Tears underwater, piloting it beside tendrillarfish and Leviathans that were minding their business. The coral reefs below barely visible held an array of peaceful creatures moving about. She smiled seeing them back roaming without fear.

Upon arriving at the Garden of Tears, she noted immediately it was covered in foliage compared to the Bay of Loneliness. Not as green as Earth's vegetation but a greenish yellow that grew naturally among the rock formations. She parked the ship at a makeshift dock among dawn's light and exited it. A few Leviathans were sleeping on the beachside. There was a temple built at the bend of the basin of the isle and it was well kept. The white metal reflected the bare minimum of the light that reached it, gleaming like a beacon on an otherwise far-reached water world. There was freshwater around the temple that trickled down the stairway to the entrance before separating into two gutters that moved back around the area, most likely on a never-ending cycle to keep the miniature waterfalls flowing. Garden leapers casually rested in the water croaking and finally did she realize where their name came from as there were thousands of them hiding among the vegetation as well sleeping.

The exterior was covered in long-leafed bushes and fences by palm-like trees that overgrew anything they connected with like the rocks themselves. Even though the vegetation seemed organic in nature, it still had a metallic sheen to each plant. The decorative plants she could tell were not grown naturally, or at least not found in the Garden of Tears itself, lined the exterior of the temple. The interior was quite different with stained glass of Aquatronian figures of old and those like Leviacons and even Tyranquentors, or at least a form like them depicted as unruly sea monsters. Among the large circular uplifted floor, symbols of the Aquatronian language were scrawled out around it.

Above the raised platform, multiple circular glass pieces were aligned around the ceiling with a giant one parallel to the floor itself. Each glass held a different color with water-like patterning on each. They moved ever so slightly clockwise and made the light reflected through them dance on the platform Arcee stood on. Depending on the time of day, certain pieces would give off specific patterns. By looking at them alone, Arcee already felt a sense of peace. The glass made any hint of a migraine fade as if it never existed. The dawn's light slowly breaching the red glass made the interior white a beautiful shade of red. The concern that came up was which one did she have to bring Silos? Disturbing even one of them was wrong and would ruin the whole point of the temple. The least interesting was the white glass and she sighed in personal disappointment. It would have to do.

Climbing up using the pillars on the walls, she hiked herself up to the white glass and pulled it from its spot. Looking over it, it had almost diamond-like patterns on it that sparkled in every direction she moved it. She continued to study it as she went back to Aquarius' ship. Finally, she placed the water glass into her subspace despite her processor screaming at her not to take it off the isle. The faster she made Silos, the happier everyone would be. Even as she left the isle, it haunted her severely.

Arcee began to think the necklace she wore was a collar, a representation of just how far she had sunk to his demands. But she saved each world, did she not? What was wrong with sacrificing a few objects to ensure everyone was safe in the end?

---

AN: I find it ironic no one's ever expanded on the potential of Aquatron being a water planet. Like, you have so many creatures that could possibly exist in it, especially giant creatures with no natural predators. I think some day Transformers media should explore these worlds in depth, pun intended, because there's so much that can be possible.