Rainclouds started to form in the distance, much to most mecha’s relief, even if they had no acid-resistant coating on their frames. It was the first rainstorm the Autobots and Decepticons had seen ever since Cybertron had been restored; it was a good sign that even the weather patterns on Cybertron were starting to right themselves.
Normally, Airachnid would be out, flying through the clouds and otherwise enjoying the acidic rain. But today, she was stuck inside the Iacon hall of records, being forced to participate in yet another meeting with the Autobots, as all highly ranked officers had to attend. Normally the meetings were held outside, but due to the rain, the Autobots requested the meeting to be held indoors.
As the two sides talked, she looked out the window and watched the rain roll down the glass. For once, she wished for some multiversal trouble, or anything, so she could get out of there and not be bored to the point of offlining.
Another day, another session for scavenging for energon. Or so the exiled Decepticon trio of Starscream, Knock Out, and Breakdown thought.
As the three walked to the current cavern they were hiding in, a ground-bridge opened mere yards from where they were standing. The trio panicked and pulled their weapons out, ready to fight for their lives. They thought that the Autobots had finally found them, or that Airachnid had finally lost her patience and wanted to offline them herself. Either way, they would not go out quietly.
Who stepped out of it however, surprised the three of them, and they were thankful for it. It was two Eradicon air troopers with their weapons withheld. The two troopers looked around the area for a moment to make sure the area was secure before one addressed the superior officers, “Commander Starscream, Doctor Knock Out, Officer Breakdown....” The other Eradicon trooper motioned for the officers to follow them into the ground-bridge portal.
Starscream spoke up as the rest of them retracted their weapons, “About time you all came to your senses.” He walked quickly through the portal, shoving the Eradicon out of the way with a hand servo before the other two followed with a brisk pace to their steps, elated to get off of that accursed planet. As soon as all of them went through the ground-bridge portal, they were greeted by a familiar, but unwelcomed, sight. It was Airachnid, who waved to them in a coy and friendly fashion, “Hello you three. Welcome back!”
“You.” Starscream hissed. The other two were not happy to see the arachnicon standing in the ship’s halls either. They brandished their weapons and went to charge, but before they got too close, something cut them off. A large, jet black digitigrade leg stomped in front of them to block their path from where Airachnid was standing. They immediately screeched to a halt and looked up to see who the leg belonged to, and the color from their faces faded for a moment. They felt like they caught sight of a specter walking in the Nemesis halls. The three stumbled backwards as they stared at the mecha in front of them, still not believing their optics.
Hammerhead knew they were surprised by his presence, but he still spoke to them as he needed to address something quite important: the fact that they wanted to murder Airachnid. “I know you all have... unpleasant feelings for Commander Airachnid for what she has done, but we cannot let this divide us now."
Airachnid peeked out from Hammerhead’s leg to try and defend herself. They may hate her less, they may not. But anything to make living with them a bit more tolerable until she got her own space ship would be extremely helpful. “You all ground-bridged away before my plan was finished. All I wanted was Megatron dead. Not you all.”
They looked at each other for a moment, all sharing the same exact facial expression: doubt. They all had serious doubts that killing Megatron was her only goal, but it was true. He was the only mecha that she wanted offline during that day. Them running off and having to live off the land was only a bonus for her, and much more entertaining.
As Starscream shifted his attention to Airachnid to Hammerhead, he asked, “And Soundwave? Is he functional?”
She replied, “He died while protecting Megatron unfortunately.”
Knock Out blurted out, “So we’re without a communication’s officer. Fantastic.”
The visored lord shook his helm before he corrected him, “Incorrect. Soundwave has been replaced by my own officer, Lieutenant Stalker.”
“I see. Anything else that we need to know of?”
The titan nodded, “Indeed. We are now negotiating peace with Optimus Prime and the other Autobots.”
The three of them looked at one another as the larger mecha’s words sunk into their processors. After a few moments of silence, Starscream spoke up, obviously not too thrilled about the idea and thinking it was absurd. “You cannot be serious Comm-”
“Lord. It is Lord to you now.”
His tone shifted, remembering that he did technically outrank him, not to mention the fact that he was much more massive than himself so he could not fight him over the title. His tone was more respectful, for now. “Yes... of course, my Lord. But with all due respect, we are going to abandon all the hard work we’ve done during the Decepticon uprising just to bow to the Autobots once again?”
The titan huffed hot air from his facial vents as he lowered his helm so their faceplates could be closer. He replied, voice low and his tone stern, “Be silent and listen. I know that peace with the Autobots seems like we are surrendering to their will, but rest assured my friend. If they even DARE to try and restore the old government that oppressed so many of us... I will personally rip out the Matrix out of Optimus Prime’s chassis and wave it like a banner and revive the war all over again. They will all know not to betray us again and we will make our voices heard. Am I clear?”
Starscream nodded his helm slowly, Hammerhead always had a way to making his point clear. Starscream was satisfied with his response for now, so he bowed his frame as his normal smile crept onto his features, “Of course my Liege.”
The triplechanger reared up, “Good. Now clean yourselves up, refuel if need be, and prepare to be debriefed on the peace treaty.”
The three put their hands on their chassis and gave a slight bow as they all said in unison, “Yes my Lord.”
“Excellent. Now I do not want to hear any petty squabbling out of you four. If I hear that there is any trouble, I will deal with the troublemakers myself. Am I clear?”
The four of them nodded, Airachnid included. She knew that at the end of the day, she would not be excluded from punishment by her new lord. Or at least, until she got her own ship and was on her way to hunting alien species again.
She need to find someone else to command the Decepticons and quickly. She didn’t want Starscream to do so, but didn’t know anyone else that had the qualifications and was willing to do so. She was supposedly stuck. Until she remembered a certain mecha; she didn’t know him very well and he did not like her at all, but it was better than nothing. She looked through the Decepticon database to see if his contact information was still listed, and much to her surprise, it was. She didn’t waste any time in contacting him:
|| Has anyone ever told you that you’re a difficult mecha to contact? ||
A deep voice rumbled from the other side, and his tone was harsh and biting, || That is because I like it to be that way. What do you require of me witch? ||
She pretended to be hurt by his words, || You sound like you’re not happy to hear from me! And I had such great news for you! What if I told you you could fulfill your plans right now? ||
He was surprised, and not to mention irritated by the information that she knew. Top secret information that only his own soldiers were to know. || How do you know of my plans? ||
|| He told me. He’s not exactly the best at keeping secrets for a skilled communications officer. ||
|| Of course he did. || A pause. || You say I can preform my plans now. How are you so certain? ||
|| Because Megatron is dead and melted down into slag. ||
That got an out loud laugh out of him as he was doubtful that was actually the truth. || I do not believe you. Starscream said he was deceased before and he was soon proven wrong as Megatron soon came back into command. How can I be certain that you are not lying as well? How do I know that you are taking temporary command of the Decepticons like Starscream once did? || He had listened to the signals broadcasted on Decepticon communication frequencies sparingly and knew at least had some idea what was going on.
|| Because I can provide evidence. ||
|| Very well. Let me see your ‘evidence’ and I may believe you. ||
After a few moments passed, he received a new image file. As he opened it and observed it, the mecha was extremely disturbed. It was a clear image of the now former communication officer Soundwave, or at least his helm. In that moment, he knew then that Megatron was most likely deceased. He would never allow the death of Soundwave by another member of the Decepticon ranks unless he was already dead.
|| How did I know your evidence would be gruesome? Very well, I believe you. But how were you able to terminate both Megatron and Soundwave? They are not so easily vanquished. ||
She couldn’t resist a chuckle before she replied, || It’s amazing what a few hundred Insecticons will do. ||
He had a feeling that she did not have the skill and power to take them down herself. From a strategic point however, it was a good move. That much he could respect. || Of course you used those creatures. Now, do you have a plan? ||
|| Yes. All you have to do is take command of the Decepticons, keep on negotiating peace with the Autobots and restore Cybertron and all of that honorable nonsense. Now doesn’t that sound like everyone wins? Cybertron is restored and everyone is happy! ||
He narrowed his optics at the screen in front of him. She was not this selfless and knew that there was another motive behind this. In this way, she was at least somewhat predictable. || I know you, you want something in return. What do you want? ||
She got a wicked grin as she got more comfortable on her throne, || Oh, just pardons for all the crimes I’ve done before, during, and after the war. Maybe some diplomatic immunity too. ||
He growled under his breath, he didn’t want to give her anything at all to make it seem like she could get away with her crimes. Doing so went against every part of his programming, but without her intervention, the war would still be waging. He would not have this opportunity to achieve peace on Cybertron once and for all. To not give her want she wanted might prove to be disastrous. He let out a large ex-vent of hot air before replying through clenched dentae, || Very well. But you must provide assistance in any way we see fit. ||
Airachnid gave an unseen optic roll, she supposed she had to sacrifice something. || Fine. But for now, come to my coordinates so we can discuss these terms further and so you can start dealing with the Autobots. You were always better at diplomacy than me. ||
The arachnicon removed the data drive from the computer before a small smile came across her face. She kept putting this plan off but she figured it was as good time as any to get this out of the way. She then took to the main console in the bridge and brodcasted on an open frequency, knowing that the Autobots would eventually pick it up:
“Dear Autobots, I do know you’re busy, but hear me out for a moment. I know you all know of my handiwork across the planet, but I am willing to talk it out with you all and stop my little hunting trips. Meet me at these coordinates in an hour. Don’t be late! Farewell!”
As the audio cut out, the Autobots looked at each other in disbelief, was that something they actually heard? Ratchet was the first to respond, giving a huff, “Like she would negotiate peace!”
“She’s definitely up to something...”
The Autobot leader spoke up, and the rest of them grew silent, “While I have some doubt of her true intentions, if she is truly willing to discuss peace, we must not waste this opportunity.”
“It’s Airachnid. She doesn’t do peace. She’s probably planning a way to gut us all as we speak!”
“I understand your reluctance Arcee, but we must at least try.”
As she instructed, the Autobots bridged to the coordinates provided by her, blasters out. They didn’t know if it was a trap or not and didn’t want to take any chances. As they looked around the area, they saw the warship and their sparks sank. Was this a trap all along?
But they heard her voice and whipped their helms to look at where she was, perching on top of a large boulder. She gestured to the ship that was hovering overhead, quite proud of her now spacecraft. “Lovely isn’t it? I just love all of the room it has! And relax, I won’t fire... yet.”
Bulkhead whispered to Prime, “Explains why the ‘Cons have been so quiet lately.”
“Indeed." The Prime stood erect, blasters to his sides. “We have come as you have asked. Are you willing to stop this bloodshed?” He prayed she did, his spark was heavy with the guilt knowing that he couldn’t save the humans that he was sworn to protect.
She lied, “Oh quite Prime. I’m quite bored with it all. I’m willing live peacefully with you all. To finally end this civil war once and for all.”
The green Wrecker gave a laugh, “Megatron’s the leader of the ‘Cons... you don’t exactly have much say about that kind of stuff.”
“Was. Dead mecha tell no tales.”
“So he is deceased...” Optimus didn’t know how to respond to the news, he was relieved that this world was safe from him, but it meant a new evil took his place. All of the past history, would never be dealt with. But he supposed that’s how it should be, just history. Just the past. He needed to focus on the present, and the future. But some questions came to his mind, “Where is his body? And the dark energon?”
“I launched his body into the sun, I don’t want to deal with some Cybertronian undead! And the dark energon I launched into the sun as well...”
“At least we don’t have to deal with that stuff anymore...”
“But! Enough about him! We’re here to talk about peace and this planet after all! There is one little thing that I do want in return... but, if you bring it to me, I’ll stop killing the humans en mass.”
“Yeah, and what would that be? What do we have that you can’t just take? You’ve got an entire army and a warship now.”
Oh she was waiting for them to ask that, and a sadistic fanged smile crossed her features before she said one word, one word that Arcee dreaded, “Jack.”
Her saying his name filled the two wheeler with such rage that she tried to charge at her, but Bumblebee held her back so she wouldn’t get hurt. But he couldn’t do anything about her mouth, “You are not getting Jack! Over my lifeless shell!”
Sh wagged her digit in a scolding manner before replying, “So, you’re willing to chose one human life over millions of human lives? How selfish Arcee!”
Optimus wasn’t happy about the deal either, he didn’t want to lose one of their dear human companions. He took a deep vent in thought, optics shutting before opening them again, looking the new Decepticon commanding officer right in the optics, “If we do give you Jack... you will stop?” His voice was heavy and quiet, even for the titan of a mech. He didn’t want to consider it, he didn’t want any more humans to perish by her hands.
“Oh indeed. And... as a good gesture, I’ll give you this.” She clapped twice before an Insecticon guard handed her the data drive and tossed it at the Prime. He easily caught it and examined it for a moment before she explained, “It’s just been sitting in the Nemesis database, collecting metaphorical dust. I feel like that the Iacon database should be in the hand servos of an actual Iacon archivist since no one on the ship can decode it. Oh, and even if you don’t give me Jack, you can just keep that.”
“How can we even be sure it is the Iacon database?”
“Take it to a computer and take a look for yourself.”
The Autobots looked at each other for a moment before Prime handed the data drive to Bumblebee and commed Ratchet, “Open a bridge and check if this is indeed the Iacon database.” And as soon as the portal opened up, the scout ran in and gave the drive to Ratchet, who then promptly plugged it into the base’s computers. Within a few moments, he confirmed it, “It is indeed what she says. It’s the Iacon database.”
She gave a smirk,“I did say it was didn’t I? Consider my offer. You have an hour. to decide.”
“No! Absolutely not! We can’t just give her Jack! We can’t!”
Finally, the human in question spoke up,“You heard her, she said she’ll stop. If we can trust her.” He paused in thought for a long time, reflecting on what the other Autobots had told him and his other human friends. “But, if we don’t give her me.... she’ll keep killing. And I don’t think I could sleep at night knowing that. Knowing that because of me, these innocent people are dying. She has business with me, not them.”
Arcee ran to him her hand servos resting on the hand rails of the silo, “Jack... you don’t have to do this.” Normally the cool and collected two wheeler pleased with the human, she didn’t want to lose anyone else close to her to the hands of the spider. Not again. Memories flashed through her mind as she continued to beg, “Don’t do this... please...”
He didn’t exactly want to give in to the femme that wanted to kill him either, but with so many lives at stake, he felt like he had to. With a heavy sigh, he placed a single hand on her own and looked her right in her optics. “I’m sorry Arcee.... but I have to do this. For humanity.” He looked to the medic, his tone suddenly serious, letting go of the two wheeler’s hand servo. He was ready to face death. “Open the groundbridge Ratchet.”
He knew that he couldn’t say anything to change his mind, so he opened the portal and before Jack could get down the stairs, both Miko and Raf gave him a tight embrace. Raf let go first but Miko kept holding on for a few moments longer before reluctantly letting go, tears still streaming down her face. She tried to smile through it and joked, “Looks like you’re going solo Jack.” He gave a small smile, “Yeah.. it looks like it. Sorry to break up the band.”
As he made his way to the arc, all of the Autobots were pained to see one of their best human friends go. Even Optimus Prime, normally so stoic, had a deeply pained expression as he watched Jack walk his way to his untimely death. But it was for the rest of humanity, or so they hoped.
The teenager walked through the vortex and was immediately greeted by the arachnicon, a wide smile on her faceplate. “Oh I just knew they would listen to reason! Come now Jack, I have a room specifically for you...”
“Oh I’m sure you do Airachnid.” He was already a dead teen walking, so why not go out with a bit of sass?
“Oh I see you haven’t changed a bit. I look forward to the time we’ll be spending together!” She clapped twice, “Come alone my servants, we have want we want. Let’s go home. You too Jack...” She motioned for him to step onto the platform that led into the belly of the ship. He didn’t exactly have much of a choice so he complied and stared up at the massive craft. This would be his resting place he thought as the platform started to rise.
Also, speaking of wiping out humanity, her kill count is slowly but steadily climbing. And with the addition of the warship, she’s jumping from villages and small towns to normal sized towns and even small cities. At this point in time, her human kill count is probably in the hundred thousands.
The Autobots and various human governments are trying to stop her but only have limited success because they can’t exactly track her very well. She chooses her target cities at random to elude both humans and Autobots alike.
Since it’s on my mind, here’s what’s going on in her universe:
Airachnid is in possession of the warship Nemesis. While her Insecticons were seizing it, they killed Megatron and Soundwave because he was trying to protect Megatron. Knock Out, Breakdown, and Starscream managed to escape via groundbridge and are now running around on Earth trying to avoid the Autobots. She doesn’t send her own troops after them because she wants them to offline each other, she watches their life signals for fun.
The Autobots are fine, though they’re confused that the Decepticons as a whole aren’t doing anything, they’ve only had a few encounters with the now rouge Decepticons and are otherwise unaware of the changes. The only reason they’re alive is cause she has a plan that involves them.
