On the nemesis, Megatron was listening to a recording of Soundwave.
" I think we should consider a future without Megatron. " Airachnid's voice said
" It was only a matter of time before that treacherous spider showed her true colors. " Megatron said before summoning Breakdown and Knockout.
( later )
The two decepticons and Airachnid were sent to follow the trail of an unconfirmed energon deposit.
" Am I the only one who think this is too overkill on Lord Megatron's part ? Sending two of his most efficient soldiers to inspect a simple energon trail ? " Airachnid mused aloud
" Lord Megatron know Knockout and I will perfectly do the job. " Breakdown boasted
" Actually, I was referring to Knockout and I. " The spiderbot quipped
Breakdown growled and wanted to strike her but Knockout stopped him.
" Breakdown, now is not the Time. " Knockout scolded his friend
Airachnid had a feeling they wanted to destroy her and Knockout scolding only Breakdown and not her confirmed it.
" I know we've never seen eyes-to-eye, but that doesn't mean we can't patch things up. " She baited the blue brute.
This worked and Breakdown let out his hammer tried to strike her but she avoided it and she webbed his face before webbing Knockout to a tree but not before he managed to shoot her in one of her spider legs, which broke it, making her bleed and cry in pain.
She ran away, followed by the enraged Breakdown.
" Breakdown, get back ! " Knockout yelled
But the blue brute didn't listened and continued to run after Airachnid until he reached her and she was seemingly helpless, laying against a rock.
" Easy prey. " He taunted her, before changing his hands into hammers and holding them up.
But webs were deployed and binded to his hammers. No matter how much strenght he tried to aply, the webs wouldn't break.
Airachnid got up and advanced menacingly towards him.
" Yes, you are. " She stated, before letting out her claws and spider legs.
With a feral cry, she jumped on him and impaled him multiples times, making him yell in pain and his cries were heard by Knockout, who struggled to get free.
( minutes later)
Airachnid was flying away in her vehicle mode, while thinking about what to do next.
After Starscream and Dreadwing's departures, Megatron was more prone to lashing out than usual, so unless she gave him the Allspark or the Matrix of Leadership, he would rather kill her and use her head as a trophy than let her come back. So the only thing to do was to lay low and wait for an opportunity to destroy Megatron, the autobots and the decepticons, if she couldn't seize control of the latter.
She arrived in a mine and transformed into her robot mode to seek energon. As she walked deeper into the cave, she noticed a strange glowing light and walked towards it. And what she saw first shocked her before she smirked : a whole hive of insecticons in stasis pods.
" You should never have experimented on me, Shockwave. You gave me power over the strongest cybertronians. " She stated to no one in particular.
She freed the first one, who let out a war cry before trying to attack her.
" Kneel before me ! " She demanded
The insecticon stopped his attack and kneeled.
" Excellent. Now is time to prepare a trap to Megatron. " Airachnid stated
But as they walked away, they saw Starscream trying to dig out energon.
" Well, well, how the mighty has fallen. " She commented, making Starscream jumped in fright before he turned towards them.
" Airachnid ?! And an insecticon ?! But how ?! " He asked
" I have gone rogue, now. Megatron want both our heads. And I stumbled upon this fearsome beast. " She explained, hiding the fact she found an whole hive
" Well, it seems an alliance is in order. With the might of your insecticon, we can destroy Megatron and seize control of the decepticons. " Starscream proposed
" I have a better Idea. I seize control of the decepticons and you and Megatron die. " She countered before nodding to the insecticon
The beast then walked towards Starscream who backed away in fright.
( Autobots base, later )
Ratchet and Bulkhead returned from their meeting with the injured Starscream who told them everything about Airachnid, her insecticon and his lack of a t-cog.
" The coordinates he gave us lead to an abandonned energon mine. " Ratchet said
" Hold on. You just fixed Starscream and sent him on his way ? " Arcee said, having entered with Bumblebee
" What were we supposed to do ? Bring him here ? " Bulkhead asked
" Not that I wouldn't jump at any chance to put Airachnid down but she isn't the only one who robbed me of a partner. " Arcee protested
" Arcee, nobody forget that but we can't let our feelings interfer with our judgement : Starscream may be a backstabber but his Intel proved reliable in the past. " Durerus answered
" Jack is right. I cannot condone the termination of any defenseless lifeform. " Optimus added
( decepticon mine )
Team Prime, with the exception of Ratchet, arrived to the coordinates Starscream gave them.
" Proceed with extreme caution. " Optimus ordered them
They entered the mine and walked in it until they saw Airachnid, her insecticon and... Megatron locked into a duel with the beast.
" Starscream never mentionned Megatron would be here. " Bulkhead noted
" That cockroach ! He set things up so we would destroy each other. " Jack realized
" And I fell right into that. " Bulkhead kicked himself
" You can have what's left of Megatron, Airachnid is mine. " Arcee said, before jumping off where they stood to another platform.
But Durerus jumped after her, caught up with her and held her back.
" Let me go, Jack ! " Arcee yelled, struggling
" Calm yourself Arcee. That's what she want. " Durerus warned her
" Let me go ! " she repeated
Blinded by rage, Arcee did the unthinkable : She drew her blades and striked Jack on his arms, making him let go of her then she drew her blasters and shot at him in the belly, which sent him on the ground.
All under Airachnid's eyes who laughed at the sight.
" And here I thought you couldn't be more pathetic, Arcee. " She taunted her before going away
Arcee ran after her, while Bumblebee arrived and helped Jack got up.
" Are you okay, Jack ? " Bumblebee asked
" I'm fine but Arcee won't be if she follow Airachnid. " Jack answered, before running after his partner.
He ran in the mine until he saw a tunnel that was dug by a drill. He knew Airachnid went there and he crawled into that tunnel until he saw Arcee walking into a bit of web and being brutally pulled up, imprisonned in a cocoon of web up to her neck, by Airachnid.
He transformed into his jet form and rushed until he was out in the open then he changed back into robot mode and punched Airachnid, which made her fall from Arcee.
" Jack ? " Arcee asked
" Wait here. " He responded, without looking at her, before going after Airachnid who got up.
" Well, I can't do much. " Arcee commented
" My Jack. You are even more handsome than before. " Airachnid flirted with him.
" Sorry, you're not my type. " Jack responded before letting out his rotary guns and shooting at her.
Airachnid dodged this by jumping in the trees and tried to web him up but Jack dodged and continued to shoot at her but she dodged and jumped at him, but he changed his blasters into his hands and caught her by the neck then he slammed her on the ground, before repeatedly punching her in the face.
" Stay! Away! From! Arcee! And! My! Mother! " He yelled at her, punching her at each word, before his last punch sent her through several trees.
He then turned back and went towards Arcee and freed her from the web before taking her wrist and forcefully get her up.
" This time, you will listen to me and not speak a word, Arcee. We are partners and part of a team and you are not yourself each time Airachnid or Starscream show up. You become too quick to temper, rash, insubordinate and out of control. I won't tolerate this anymore. From now on, you will honor Tailgate and Cliffjumper and abandon this path you have chosen. It's not too late. " Jack stated in a harsh tone, before letting her go.
" Jack, I... " Arcee began to say
" No. I have been more than patient with you, but you keep pushing me. I don't care if you like being the lone, hotshot wolf who puts her life on the line because a friend died in front of your eyes. Guess what? We've all been there. It doesn't elevate you. It doesn't make you special. In a team, if you rush in without a plan, it's everyone else that pays. " Jack cut her off, before going back to the others.
Left alone, Arcee began to think on what Jack said to her, and everything she did. It wasn't long before she realised Jack was right : She selfishly thought she was the only one who suffered because of loss.
All this time, she pushed everyone away because she told herself they would be better without her when in reality she was just too proud to accept people seeing her in moments of weakness.
And her quest of vengeance just made her team lose more in the war and put them at risk : She thought back when she left Jack alone in the forest to chase Airachnid by herself. What would have happened if the spiderbot was near them and waited for them to be separated to kill him ?
And when she choose to attack Starscream, making him flee when he could have told them a lot of intel on the decepticons ?
And now she attacked her best friend who only wanted to stop her from making another mistake.
" Primus, I'm such an idiot. " She muttered
( later autobots base)
Team Prime returned to the base. In the end, Megatron beheaded the insecticon but was exhausted from the fight. Optimus was ready to finish him off but a squad of vehicons, led by Soundwave arrived and opened fire on them while the Spymaster led his leader in their groundbridge.
Jack was in the medbay, being healed by Ratchet for the wounds Arcee gave him. And he was sighing because he knew Arcee had to be disciplined but he still felt he had been too hard. Just then, June entered the medbay.
" Jack, how are you ? " The nurse asked
" I'm fine, mom. Ratchet is the best Medic around. " Jack answered, taking his mother in his hand and placing her on the table
" Optimus told me about what happened with Arcee. How are you after this ? " June added
Jack sighed and explained to his mother : " I feel like I was too hard on her, even if she needed to hear this. "
" Welcome in authority. Sometimes, being hard is the only way to get through some people. Do not think of yourself as a bad person because you are not, sweetie. " June said, placing a hand on his leg.
" June is right, Jack. You just did what your spark was telling you. You have no reason to feel bad. " Optimus added
Jack felt better and got up, going to his quarters when he saw Arcee, waiting for him.
" Hey, Jack. " She said
" Hey Arcee. " Jack responded
The blue fembot took a deep breath and said what was on her spark : " I'm sorry for everything, Jack. I was selfish and too proud to see that my problems are not more important than everything else. I thought that I could have closure but all I ever did was worsening everything. "
Jack smiled and hugged Arcee, who was surprised but hugged him back.
" It's okay, Arcee. I forgive you. " Jack answered, before picking her up in a bridal carry
" Jack ! " The blushing Arcee said
But Jack smiled and carried Arcee to her quarters.
( with Airachnid )
The spiderbot was recovering from the beating Jack gave her.
Her Jack. How he was magnificent and powerful now, but even he, nor Optimus, nor Megatron would be able to defeat all her insecticon hive.
( Mech's hideout )
This evening has been such a surprise for Silas : The remains of their old captive, Breakdown, were found and brought back here, leaving them with a source of cybertronian tech at their disposal.
" Silas, it is finally ready. " his lieutenant said
" Excellent. Project Chimera. " Silas said, watching their masterpiece come online
It was a robot similar to Optimus Prime, but with darker colors and yellow optics.
Sorry to keep you waiting but I had a lack of inspiration.
Next Time : Nemesis Prime.