Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Crystal City beamed brightly with its pride and its valiant queen at the helm. Cybertron itself breathed a sigh of relief as Autobots and Decepticons were unified as one with the last of the lingering tensions gone.

The Ceremony of Unification began with Arcee giving the speech of a millennia. Every Autobot and Decepticon stood among one another proud, looking at Arcee with hope and kindness. The presence of her king consort swelled that pride tenfold as it marked not just the merging of factions but the proof of a symbiotic co-existence that could and would live on.

With the Allspark glowing behind her as a beacon of change, Optimus and Moonhunter on her left while Shockwave and Bolt stood on Megatron’s right, and both Bumblebee and The Matriarch standing out in the open on each side as the respective leaders of both factions, Arcee smiled as she addressed her home, her people, and the universe. Haywire and Scythe watched from the side overjoyed. Predaking and Grimlock stood next to the Allspark just as pleased.

“Let it be known on this day, the Coalition of Cybertron, that we will no longer be separated by our beliefs, by our morals or our differences. Today marks the forces of Autobot and Decepticon coming together to be what we had forgotten we were at spark: Cybertronians. We can call ourselves anything, but nothing will change that one fact of life in any world that we all came from that title, and we intend to make sure the universe itself remembers us as that, not by our destructive past or what side we chose. Today is a new era, our era!”

Cheers from the crowd and roars from the more animal-like Cybertronians, Predacons and Dinobots alike, answered positively to Arcee who felt a sense of dignity hearing them. Megatron lightly patted her shoulder with a thoughtful smile of his own.

Bumblebee walked up to be in front of Arcee but stood facing The Matriarch who did the same. The abnormally large Vehicon nodded at the former scout as Bee did the same out of respect. Then they both brought out their servos and caught each other’s in a formal handshake. The crowd went wild.

“It is with the decree of the Autobot leader, Bumblebee, and the Decepticon leader, Matriarch, that we are one!” She exclaimed, gesturing up in the air as the Allspark shot a blast up and it exploded into a wave of auroras.

Bolt gave a hearty laugh as Shockwave visually remained neutral but inside was just as happy. Moonhunter pranced around before giving a pleased yowl, flicking his tail at the commotion. The Vehicon gave the Nitrotiger a good scratch behind the ears as everyone celebrated the beginning of true peace.

When the celebration came to an end with most of the aftermath one giant party and a half, Megatron walked with his mate as they watched all the bots laughing and communicating. Bots that they both never thought would interact did. Windblade and Predaking were great friends, Grimlock and Shockwave were on far better terms despite the latter being the reason for Grimlock’s beast mode, Haywire was with Scythe and the two were inseparable, and then there was Ultra Magnus and The Matriarch...at least they weren’t trying to kill each other.

“Hey, Arcee!” Bolt called out.

Arcee smiled, “What’s up, my brilliant-minded Head of Iacon Archives!”

The Vehicon bend back slightly laughing, “Ha, the various titles still feel weird, but I guess it’ll never be worse than being reanimated without warning, that’s for sure. Listen, I have a celebratory present all for you, my dear.”

Arcee peered at Megatron who was equally stunned. “Wha-? For me?!”

“Yep!” He gave an obnoxious whistle and gestured to the side as two bots hauled something to be behind him. It was the disembodied head of Megatronus Prime.

Arcee’s expression didn’t know what it wanted to be as she said, “That’s, uh, that’s great, Bolt.”

Megatron was...neutral as Bolt exclaimed, “Hell yeah! I told you I would go get Megatronus! Granted, it took like ten people to get his head off that dark planet but, uh, I made it work. He wanted to come back to Cybertron, right? Well, now he can rule over that lovely museum we made just to show off your amazing feats.”

Looking into Megatronus’ empty burnt eye sockets made her think back on the lava field they fought on but as his laugh echoed in her mind, she quickly numbed it down and breathed before smiling. “Thank you, Bolt. I guess...he got his wish after all.”

Bolt then turned to the loaders. “Okay, boys, we’re going to the museum. Make sure not to damage him any further.”

As the Vehicon left, the queen gave a weary look towards Megatron. “Remind me to never let him be in charge of any war memorials.”

“You got to admit, he knows how to make you look like a star,” the king consort said. He gave another laugh as she swatted his arm playfully.

“I see you two are enjoying the festivities,” Bumblebee said with a drink in hand. “I’m proud of you, Arcee, and everyone who couldn’t be here is too.”

Arcee nodded as she gave him a friendly punch. “Don’t undermine yourself. You gave me the position, remember?”

Optimus appeared beside them. “And it was a wise decision. Look how you have made Cybertron so illuminate again. I have not seen peace like this in eons. I am glad The Matriarch has come around to accepting the permanent unification of our factions.”

“Me too,” Megatron replied softly. He smiled as Optimus returned the relief of it all.

As Optimus and Megatron began to talk, Arcee took the moment alone to really see her world. Cybertron, with its moons glowing bright in full, was alive with its inhabitants finally knowing peace. Those born into war like Predaking could live anew while those who had experienced the entirety of the oppression of old like Megatron had a chance to be more than what they had been initially designated. A new dawn for new lives, young and old. She could even see sparklings and younglings among a few bots, a new generation born out of peace at last.

Then she saw the Allspark itself swaying to the beat of the music with its echoing mysterious voice resonating a ghostly laugh as a few baby Predacons flew around it. One thing she found out was the Allspark had a soft spot for kids, the perfect babysitter too.

She was proud that she could help Cybertron regrow, and she hoped that nothing would ever change it.

---------------------------

Two months later...

Arcee and Megatron both sat on their respective thrones as the former overlooked new details on a schematic blueprint regarding the expansion of Crystal City. With the repairs of the battle for the throne over six months ago completed, there was no talk of renovating the barren cross between the city and the far-out city of Metalworks, the Constructicon capital.

Megatron waited for her decision as he readjusted his crown before folding his arms regally. “You’re unsure, aren’t you?”

“Tsk, if I expand the city into the plateau, it might not work because of the difference in the layout of the land. I mean I think we can do it if we fine scrape the hills, but I don’t want to alter the landscape.”

“Build around it,” he shrugged.

“Yes, but constructing specialized material to go around or on it is difficult. It would take some time before we could even begin working on it.”

As they talked, Haywire and Scythe came into the throne room as they looked at each other before Scythe gestured for the red mech to go first. Haywire sighed and approached his dear friend and queen while clearing his throat.

“My Queen, the Allspark wants to talk to you...you and Megatron both. It’s important.”

Arcee suspiciously exchanged a confused look with Megatron before asking, “How important?”

“Like the-Allspark-says-we-may-be-destroyed type important,” Haywire answered with a forced cheesy grin. He too looked uncomfortable as Scythe was just as concerned as they were.

Arcee closed her optics and bowed her head with a groan, “Okay, let’s see what’s going on. If we’re in danger, I’m shooting something.”

As Arcee and Megatron followed Haywire and Scythe to the Allspark’s garden made of the same mismatched flora that its isle had, she prayed that the Allspark was just playing a practical joke. The Garden Plaza was beautiful still with its giant willow of alien nature still the spectacle that the visitors loved. The small ponds throughout all met up at a walkway and that walkway diverged towards the giant willow itself with a platform where the Allspark liked to reside. Its energy empowering the plant life around it.

Its metal rings with the inscriptions of both the Cybertronian language and its own rotated around it with a pulsing sound. Its bluish-white aura held serenity among the faint whispers.

The Allspark was still working off its debt and Arcee could tell it wasn’t always pleased to be some sort of oracle to her, but it was better than being destroyed or worse...which it knew just as much as her that she would have if it meant saving reality from being tossed and shredded into pure unadulterated cosmic hell.

“Arcee of Cybertron, you stand before me at last,” the Allspark’s many voices said in unison with a feminine echo.

Arcee was a bit surprised at the sudden title and tilted her head, moving past Haywire and Scythe respectively to get closer. “‘Of Cybertron?’ Didn’t know we’re on a different planet now.”

“A matter of grave importance; the world you know is not the world you should seek to rebuild now. The forgotten planets and the planets revisited you must go; they are in grave danger.”

The white-armored femme turned to Megatron and pointed at the Allspark. “Did you get that?”

Megatron scowled, “I heard ‘world,’ ‘planets’ and ‘grave danger.’ It pretty much sums up what we seem to deal with daily. You know, the usual.”

Arcee scoffed at the Allspark, “Come on, buddy, speak normal.”

The Allspark metaphorically rolled its eyes with a swing of its rings in an unorthodox way before replying annoyed, “Eight worlds are in peril, the worlds you know through the inhabitants I sent to the isle to kill you prior! All of them, which includes Cybertron, are in danger of a foreign threat, one that you, Arcee, have dealt with. Their hive remains very much intact and destroying their leader will not stop them alone.”

Regretting her words suddenly, Arcee said a measly, “Ah...got it.”

Megatron frowned, “We destroyed this threat’s leader? No offense but once again, that narrows it down very little. Which hive? Which leader?”

“I don’t have anything to say beyond this: the cybernetic worlds of old, Cybertron’s past connections damaged by pride, are the key to stopping this threat. You must find a way to rebuild your relations with the other worlds before it is too late. Everything you know, everything you love will be put to the test. Defend our home or face destruction by an unnatural force that even Cybertron can’t fight alone.”

“Not even a single hint, huh? You’re all-powerful. Why can’t you stop whoever they are?”

The Allspark merely laughed, “I tried to stop you, didn’t I? Breaking reality is easy, fixing it...not so much. To defy fate is a very dangerous thing as we both know.”

Haywire suddenly interrupted, “But teleporting to these other worlds would require direct bridging because merely teleporting with a single space bridge could end in disaster, especially if the planets in question don’t want Cybertronians there. The only way to bridge there safely is with the Space Bridge Nexus on the outskirts of Iacon, but that system hasn’t worked for millions of years! It could take forever to reboot the system, especially since there could be internal damages beyond just depleted Energon for fuel.”

Arcee smirked humorously, “A space bridge can still run damaged.”

The red mech, however, held no sense of humor for the seriousness of the situation. “A single space bridge? Yes. A linked network of space bridges? Absolutely not! That Nexus intertwines to make the most accurate jumps possible as well as consumes nearly a hundred times more Energon than a single space bridge does hence why it was hardly used. If there’s even a small crack in the power core, the whole network could explode and either kill you or blow you across the universe to who knows where! And that’s if you’re at best lucky!”

She sighed and turned to the Allspark, “This is what I have to deal with.”

A humorous hum from the Allspark was all she got before Scythe stepped in. “However, that doesn’t mean we can’t fix it. My Queen...Arcee, Haywire and I need a little time to examine the Nexus. In the meantime, we should prepare for whatever comes by alerting our friends. Matriarch and Shockwave are planning to return to Chaar soon so I would at least try to talk to them. Predaking and Grimlock would be wise to talk to as well.”

Arcee nodded, “Recruit our friends for another adventure? Beat the scrap out of anyone who dares to threaten us and reconnect with the other worlds? I’m beginning to like this.”

Scythe smirked but shook his head, “Stick to the first thing. The rest will come later. Tell them about this threat and see if they have any resources to spare. You’ll find both The Matriarch and Shockwave in Darkmount. Predaking is currently in the Hydrax Plateau and Grimlock moved his herd to Stanix near the Acid Wastes. I trust you can take care of things while we investigate the current state of the Nexus. Megatron, you have expertise in science and engineering. Maybe you could help us?”

Megatron patted Arcee on the arm and said, “I have confidence you can do this. Easier than fighting monsters, right?”

Although Arcee merely shot him a look, Megatron smiled reassuringly and walked off with Scythe and Haywire. That left Arcee alone with the Allspark with her still watching her sparkmate leave.

“You seem unsure,” the Allspark said without missing a beat behind her.

“It’s just that the uprising, the war, and then the isle...not counting all the smaller snafus in the middle, those three things in a lifetime really take a lot out of you. I sometimes envy humans. They live usually to 90 so their plights and wars and all that chaos can be put aside in less than a century when they’re dead. Us? We live for millions of years, and everything that goes wrong lasts just as long.”

“Yes, the path to success and a secure future is often riddled with the worst life can bring, internally and externally. It’s painful and cruel. But it hasn’t stopped the uncatchable, untamable, indestructible Arcee now, has it?”

Arcee paused upon hearing the laughable description of herself. Although it was quite exaggerated wording, technically nothing ever stopped her before. And as queen, who was she to back down to a calling to protect her world once more? Optimus prevailed with a lot riding on his shoulders; she could do it just the same and this time, she had friends capable of defending Cybertron and willing to help. She smiled upon replaying the words in her head.

“No, it hasn’t,” she whispered smugly. She then turned to the Allspark with newfound confidence. “Alright then, Allspark, let’s start this party with a bang. First stop, Kaon.”

--------------------------------

BOOM!

“Goddamn it!” The Matriarch’s voice echoed across the citadel.

Shockwave was in the midst of feeding the Driller grubs when the faint explosion shook the walls. The grubs weren’t pleased with the disturbance, and he cautiously peered in the direction of it. When he deduced The Matriarch had it under control so far, he went back to placing cyber-bugs in their pen and watched them tear the pests to shreds.

While he watched, he could hear his sparkmate yelling at Decepticons most likely in charge of the situation which caused the explosion. She was much more vocal about being pissed than Megatron ever was, but the bark had a follow up bite if anyone dared to jab back at her.

“Shockwave!”

His audial fins perked up upon hearing his name and sighed. He closed the pen lid so none of the Drillers could escape and walked towards the command center of Darkmount. With Megatron king consort, his old citadel was just rusting away, so he and The Matriarch saw to it to fix up the place as their Cybertron outpost when visiting from Chaar, The Matriarch’s preferred planet of choice. Most of the repairs had been done and structurally, Megatron’s impromptu building was stabilized finally.

He entered the command center and saw The Matriarch overlooking a busted power core to the weapons system before pointing a clawed digit at a few of her Vehicons. “What the hell did I say?! Don’t ramp up the power too fast or else it will EXPLODE!!”

Shockwave watched the Vehicons run in terror as she screamed that last word. The larger Vehicon merely growled before facepalming, “Idiots, all of them.”

“It’s easy to fix, I promise,” he assured her. “Remember, you’re supposed to be practicing mental and physical control. Knockout said your spark is not designed for the stress you have been putting on it while being angry at your subordinates all the time.”

The Matriarch seemed to calm down though he could tell it was forced regarding his words. It was a flaw in Vehicon design unfortunately being unable to take as much as the common Cybertronian. As a clone, Vehicons were created with the bare minimum to be soldiers only. The fact that The Matriarch rose above it all to become a commander for the Decepticons while on the Nemesis was impressive, but, in the long run, that meant as she got older, more problems began to pick up from the stress on her spark and chassis that were functioning beyond their physical and physiological capabilities.

“I know, I know, it’s just common sense, is it not? Even my commanders seem unable to resist pressing a button when I tell them not to.”

He held her servo carefully. “Just relax. We can handle it; we can fix it.”

The Matriarch looked at him before tilting her head amused, “Quite the long shot from the mech I once knew as solitary.”

“And this is coming from the formerly hostile commander who would rather try and kill me than let me help.”

“I didn’t try and kill you; I just kicked your ass and made you look like an imbecile lying on the ground made of your poor decisions. You did look charming down there though,” she laughed.

Shockwave didn’t dispute that as he knew it was true. He was persistent on what he knew at the time that Vehicons were supposed to obey orders. It hit him hard literally to figure out The Matriarch was not a normal Vehicon soldier. Had he not pursued the intriguing concept of a Vehicon commander, he would have never fallen in love with her.

He pressed the edge of his helm against her silver, mouthless faceplate with a brief chuckle, their servos intertwined-

A sudden burst of energy spawned a blue portal and they barely moved out from under it when a white and pink blur fell from the ceiling, hitting the floor with an audible “ouch!” Shockwave was stunned and The Matriarch went into an immediate defensive pose ready to maim whoever it was until they both got a good look at the unexpected guest.

Arcee groaned face down on the floor. “Thanks for the portal, Allspark...ow.”

“Arcee?!” The Matriarch snarled, “What the hell?!”

Slowly, the queen got up and placed her servos on her back to pop her spine with a wince. “Sorry, just thought I’d drop by and ask a favor. Nothing to be concerned about.”

Shockwave became interested upon hearing that. “What type of favor?”

As Arcee finally shook off the fall and the portal closed, she immediately stated nonchalantly, “Oh, just help me save the other colonies and cyber worlds from possible destruction. You know, the usual everyday stuff.”

Both Decepticons looked at each before The Matriarch said, “Obviously. But maybe I need some convincing since you seemed in the mood to ruin the moment Shockwave and I were having among other things. I need a stable energy conductor for a new power core for Darkmount’s guns. Bring me one and I just might take up your valiant request.”

The queen glared at the Vehicon before looking at Shockwave with a deadpanned expression. “Shockwave, where’s the energy conductor?”

“There’s a supply room two floors down-”

The Matrirach snapped, “Don’t tell her where it is!”

Arcee rolled her optics and marched past a scoffing Matriarch. Shockwave and The Matriarch were valuable assets so not pissing them off, especially The Matriarch was essential, but damn she sometimes wanted to punch her.

Walking through Darkmount was a memory trip and not the good kind. Seeing the halls she had to run through to lure her opponent to the smelting pit made her somewhat tense. Coming across the same lift that led to the smelting pit in the middle of the structure did make her curious. As a detour, she rode it down to see if anything had changed.

When the doors opened and the giant beams that held Darkmount’s upper half stable appeared, she gulped and slowly trailed her optics down to see the broken platform. It had yet to be fixed apparently. She went to the edge and peered into the pit itself. Molten fire burst upward, making her flinch. Rockrider’s grave looked hauntingly beautiful but still just as deadly. And just beyond the pit, she could see past the beams lied part of the distant bridge and the cliff that signified the beginning of the chasm where Wrathzone had fallen to his death. She didn’t smile at these victories, but she knew they got what they deserved.

Going back to the task at hand, Arcee made her way back up to the lowest level of the upper half of Darkmount. She found it was riddled with supply rooms. However, thankfully, Shockwave was nice enough to label them. The command center had its own separate room given how much the center controlled Darkmount itself.

She opened the command supply and found various modules, power components, and several parts she didn’t even know where in the command center they could be used for. Her target part was sitting in a titanium container with multiple identical conductors in a single rotating sphere. She reached in and grabbed one before smiling.

“Make my job harder? I think not.”

Taking the elevator back up to the command center, she threw the conductor up in the air with a flip before catching it again while walking up to The Matriarch. “Easy as taking candy from a human baby.”

“Congrats, I’ll send you a check,” The Matriarch said bored.

“Hey, you said you would help me.”

The Vehicon turned around from the console annoyed, “I said I would consider it. What exactly are we in danger of?”

Arcee scowled, “The Allspark said something is threatening the other cybernetic worlds, our previous colonies including Chaar. It couldn’t say what exactly, but I guess it’s up to me to figure this all out.”

“Chaar’s in danger?! Well, thanks for notifying me now! Shockwave, we need to get back home.”

She cut the Vehicon off. “Wait, wait, I can help you.”

The Matriarch shook her helm, “You realize Chaar is Decepticon-only territory, right? It’s out of your jurisdiction and most all its inhabitants, including me, don’t allow trade over there. All my exports and imports for the Decepticons are made over here because none of Chaar wants anything to do with Cybertron. I’m sorry, but I can only help with Cybertron’s problems. Chaar is my domain and so is anything that dares to threaten it.”

“What if I can prove Cybertron changed to Chaar? Do you think your majority might be open for re-evaluating trade then?” She asked.

Shockwave stood at the side watching both intensely while The Matriarch laughed, “Queenie, if you can change Chaar’s outlook on anything aside from its deep-rooted Decepticon morals, I will let you do whatever the hell you want on that planet! Until then, I will keep it safe.”

Arcee sighed at The Matriarch’s demeanor, but she took it as a maybe. She handed over the energy conductor and was surprised when instead of taking it quickly, The Matriarch gently grabbed it and held it up to examine.

“I, uh, I guess I should give you a proper thanks. I’ll talk with Haywire before we go and see if I can assist in doing whatever you need done or get you as far as I can,” she said. Then the Decepticon leader spoke in an unusual tone, “Listen, Arcee, I need to tell you something that might be worth investigating now that I think of it.”

Arcee grew suspicious until The Matriarch continued.

“A friend of mine on Velocitron has been reporting of a strange substance growing under the speedways. It’s a type of organic overgrowth but matches nothing natural on the planet’s surface. It’s recently appeared within the past few months in three cities but isn’t dangerous so far. There have also been reports of a creature around one of the cities infested with this organic fungus or whatever, but no identification of it has been made.”

Shockwave then added, “It might be just coincidence but if the curiosity is worth anything, maybe a good place to start with this threat looming would be Velocitron.”

“And you never thought to report this?” Arcee asked.

The Matriarch shrugged, “Wasn’t my problem until now.”

As the Decepticon leader turned back to face the console and tried to fix the power core, Arcee gave a distraught look towards Shockwave who instantly answered, “She’s not very...social.”

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After dealing with The Matriarch and then having to contact the Allspark to come get her, Arcee found herself roaming the Hydrax Plateau in search of Predaking. The vast ruins that still remained in the untouched area were a reminder of the past, a perfect place for a species cloned after the past creatures that roamed Cybertron before even the Primes existed.

Several shadows flew overhead, and she smirked watching the Predacons glide downward to a presumed nest hidden over an old wall of the once operational war station. Determining how she was supposed to summon Predaking, she went over a few scenarios in her head. Unfortunately, not all the Predacons were technically friendly even though they respected her as a fellow leader. If it came down to choices, they would have no qualms tearing her apart if their leader didn’t stop them.

“Ah, screw it! I don’t have time for this!”

Arcee gave out a fierce whistle that she assumed echoed for miles since she could still hear it for a solid fifteen seconds. Just then, hordes of Predacons began flying up into the sky, circling the ruins like vultures trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound. Upon spotting her as the culprit, the one Predacon she recognized out of all of them came to dive towards her. With an elegant beating of his wings, Predaking himself landed in his beast mode directly in front of her.

The cybernetic dragon blew smoke from his nasal plating with golden optics staring down at her, challenging her. Arcee was unafraid and merely said, “Hey, Predaking, long time, no see!”

As several other Predacons landed nearby, Predaking gave an exalted roar before transforming. His handsome robot mode showed off a fanged smile as he boisterously laughed, “Long time indeed! I thought for a second a fool came to pick a fight; you’re no fool at least.”

“Oh, I got a fight to pick but not with you.” She then got serious and said, “It seems Cybertron and our relative worlds are in danger. The Allspark said we need to unify the other worlds to help defeat this threat. I know you can’t do much in terms of the other planets, but I might need you to help guard Cybertron against anything that comes, at least until I figure out what’s wrong.”

Predaking nodded politely, “I will gladly lay my life down for you and Cybertron.”

“If you can talk to Haywire and Scythe for the game plan, I can take care of the rest.”

“Yes, but before I prepare my Predacon soldiers to leave for Crystal City, might I ask a favor from you?”

Arcee raised a brow, “And that would be?”

Predaking sighed, “Some ghastly creature has been raiding our nests of Energon and we can’t seem to trap it. We’re running low on Energon because of it. If you could hunt it down, I would appreciate it greatly. It burrows in the south end of the ruins, far too small for us to fit in and digging for it certainly isn’t an option without risking the architecture crumbling down.”

The femme clicked her tongue, “I knew my size would be used for pest control one day. Just point me in the direction of this little thief before I change my mind.”

“You’re the best, Arcee,” Predaking purred happily.

“Don’t thank me yet.”

He escorted her to the side of the ruins where a small hole in the ground that seemed to go beneath the wall lay open. It was far too small indeed and she had her doubts she could fit inside it. But she owed him some kindness so pest control she would be.

All the Predacons looked at her curiously as she cracked her knuckles before backing up. Surging forward after a second, she did a somersault before diving right into the hole...only for her to get stuck halfway. She could see a wider section just inches away she could crawl in, but the entrance was where she remained stuck no matter how much she struggled.

“Okay, maybe I’m a bit too big!”

Predaking watched her try to back out with her pedes scratching up the metal ground to no avail. He felt sorry before he transformed into his beast mode again and turned around.

Arcee heard him and narrowed her optics, “What are you doing?”

All Predaking did was let out an animalistic baritone chirp before swinging his tail around in a circular pattern a few times. On the third swing, he lifted his rear to be held up on the edge of his feet and slammed the tail down right onto Arcee who was pushed farther into the hole to the wide tunnel. She hit the upturned metal with a grunt before shaking off tiny specks of metal running off her frame from the tunnel ceiling.

“Give me a warning next time!” She called out. Growling, she shuffled on her front through a tunnel barely wide enough for her winglets. “First, I’m a retriever, now I’m an exterminator. Everyone wants something in return to protect their home apparently!”

She reached a drop off into a larger space but still couldn’t stand in it. As soon as she got over the pettiness of the situation, she gasped as she saw Energon stuffed into pockets within the metal ground. Predaking’s Energon stash was here alright. Now that left the question of who the thief was.

Animal chittering made her peer to the side and come face to face with large, orange eyes and whiskers. Its red color scheme made it unmistakable and identifiable. It was a turbo fox. She should have guessed it was a possible candidate since they made hideaways in the ground using their sharp claws designed to maim and follow tunneling prey.

It gave a brief snarl, and she snarled back, “Don’t you dare-”

It jumped on her, and she yelled out angrily as they started to scuffle. Above, the Predacons all had their heads to the ground trying to hear Arcee and the turbo fox. Suddenly, a blast burned right through the ground and a whimper echoed through. It left a sizable hole bigger than the one Arcee had to climb through. All the Predacons were quick to back away, especially the ones that had nearly been shot. Predaking growled in concern as they no longer heard movement until a faint glow was seen among the hole.

A turbo fox body was thrown out headless and collapsed lifelessly in front of Predaking before several cubes of Energon and other resources were thrown one by one, clattering on the ground to everyone’s surprise. Then Arcee jumped out with open arms.

“One turbo fox piping hot! Dinner’s served!”

Predaking transformed back and smirked, “Look at you. That pesky thing didn’t stand a chance.”

He then noticed her pristine regal white armor was now scuffed with brown and grey minerals and frowned to which Arcee merely scoffed, “It’s alright, not the first time I’ve been dirty. Come on, it’s me.”

“I thank you, Arcee. My legion can now rest knowing our Energon shortage will no longer be a problem. I’ll go talk with Haywire about this threat of yours and see what I can do to help.”

Arcee nodded and brushed off some of the dirt before contacting the Allspark, “Three down, one more to go. Stanix is the last location. I require a bridge please.”

She waited a second and was hoping the portal would spawn in front of her. Instead, to the Allspark’s endless humor, it spawned under her.

“You bit-!”

The Predacons watched her fall, grunting to one another confused.

----------------------------

Grimlock roared at a few of his fellow Dinobots in anger before storming the area in frustration. He looked under anything that had a space beneath it. When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he growled at anyone nearby.

As the other Dinobots ran, Arcee was abruptly dropped from above by the Allspark’s portal and landed in the midst of the chaos. She let out a quick gasp and dodged an object thrown in her direction. Angry at almost being hit, she sneered at Grimlock who still was on his rampage.

“Don’t be throwing stuff at me, mech, or I’ll bust those sharp teeth out of your Dinobot form so fast!”

Grimlock immediately snarled at her but stopped his tantrum in favor of stomping towards her. She showed no fear as he bellowed, “Where is my sword?!”

Arcee scowled, “You mean to tell me that you’re throwing a fit because you don’t have your sword? How can you lose something like that anyway? That thing is massive.”

“Spare me your tongue, Arcee. I need my weapon back!”

“Okay, I’ll go look for it. If I find it, you need to do me a favor in return and get your tail to Crystal City. Haywire needs to talk with you.”

Grimlock rumbled but didn’t argue. “Fine then, I’ll indulge you for my sword. Find it and bring it to me.”

“Don’t kill anyone until then, okay?”

Arcee ignored the angry grunt of the Dinobot and began her search for the weapon. Since it was made of a specialized black metal with the ability to burst into flames, she doubted he could have lost it that easily.

Suddenly, she heard a faint geyser and grew curious. Upon walking to the nearest edge of a small hill, she gasped as green sludge burst into the air before falling into the massive swamp that was the Acid Wastes. A couple other geysers went off, hitting the few parts of the swamp with actual platforms and staining the ground there. The sunset was upon the area which lit up the green fumes to a beautiful mint color. For a brief second, it almost looked like an environment of Earth’s.

However, as she gazed at the colors and how the various objects lit up with the sun’s light against the Acid Wastes’ natural color, something stood out the most. Burning crimson with faint cackling at the edge of the blade was Grimlock’s sword stuck in some brush near the border of the Wastes. How it got down there, she really wanted to know but didn’t want to anger Grimlock any further by prodding him.

Jumping down to slide against the metal, she reached the Acid Wastes but as soon as the smell hit her, she reeled back. “Oh no! Wow, that’s a smell! How can you live next to this, Grimlock?!”

Navigating the minimum of the Acid Wastes, she cringed as every step felt unstable alongside the natural wooziness that came being subjected to such an odor. She held her breath for the most part, moving away from any geysers that happened to go off. One burst extremely close and a few droplets hit her now dirty white armor to her disgust.

“Haywire is going to kill me.”

After a few minutes of trying not to get sprayed by anything more, she reached for the sword and grabbed the handle but her first few pulls did nothing to free it. In frustration, she placed both pedes on the metallic tree-like growth and pulled with all her might until she stumbled back, and the sword clattered on the ground. Holding up the giant sword, she laughed to herself.

An immediate rumbling caused her amusement to be cut short. The impact mark where the sword had been stuck in started leaking the Acid Wastes’ potent liquid. Peering at the base of the tree did she realize it was once a geyser that had been dormant for some time. The pressure now leaking through the tree from the fumes was causing it to react to the air around it.

“Uh oh...”

Sprinting away, dragging the sword as she ran, Arcee didn’t look back as the tree was destroyed by a large geyser finally stretching its legs after years of building up. The ground shook hard, threatening to make her stumble into the Wastes itself when a two-fingered animal servo caught her. She was relieved to see Grimlock smirking down at her.

“Thanks for finding my sword, now let's move!”

Letting Arcee on his back with his sword still in her grasp, he ran to safety jumping across platforms over large green pits like it was second nature. He knocked over any object that stood in his way with a mighty roar until they were in the clear. Once they made back to the herd, Arcee looked back just in time to see one last geyser burst.

Grimlock then said after a few seconds of silence, “The Acid Wastes never cease to impress me.”

Arcee tapped the sword anxiously before asking, “How...how did this get down there?”

Grimlock paused when he didn’t have an answer as Arcee leapt off his spine back to stable ground. “Uh, I don’t really know. Maybe-oh, I know how.”

He then growled at three Dinobot younglings snickering in their little hideout in a formation just above. Grimlock barked, “You kids! Leave my weapons alone! Rotten little...they do this every time with something of mine. They like to steal my stuff. Of course, this is the first time they took my sword of all things hence all the rampaging. Every time I forget what they do, they do it again.”

As Grimlock transformed back, she held up his sword which he took from her proudly before putting it on his back. She then asked, “So, we good?”

“Yes, I suppose we are. So, what does Haywire need me for?”

“You’re going to have to ask him when you get there because I’m tired of explaining it. Let’s just say, those younglings are the least of your worries.”

“I’ll leave as soon as I can, not before alerting their carriers of this unjust behavior.”

“Kids will be kids, Grim,” she smirked.

He merely sneered, still a bit peeved by the whole ordeal.

Arcee waited for the Allspark to send her a bridge and when she entered it, she was immediately beside Haywire, Scythe, and Megatron in the meeting room, all of whom looked at her strangely. The Allspark was sometimes petty, and she could imagine these little inconveniences were just its way of paying her back for her humiliating it on the isle.

She had nothing to say except, “What?”

Haywire glanced down for a brief second and she followed his gaze before realizing her regal armor was disastrous. She looked filthy, unfitting for a queen but she hardly cared inwardly.

“You look like you rolled in the Underground and smell like something died,” Haywire grimaced.

Arcee awkwardly coughed, “I, uh, I got The Matriarch, Shockwave, Predaking, and Grimlock on their way here after some convincing. So...there’s that.”

Scythe had a small smile of amusement as he shook his head but renounced it when Haywire sent his mate a glare.

“Arcee,” her advisor said defeated.

Megatron snickered, “Now I don’t feel so bad when I killed the pyrobeak by entering its stomach and blasting my way out. You stink way worse than I did. You might want to...”

The queen gave an exaggerated sigh and pointed in the direction of her chambers, not that it was nearby but instinctively, she knew the way to it from the meeting room. “I’ll be there if anybody needs me.”

Chapter Text

Megatron sat on his side of the berth, observing Arcee face down and tired. Her white cover armor had been ripped off, discarded near their personal wash racks but she never put it back on. Instead, she supported her natural blue coloring with the pink highlights standing out once more. It was nice to see her as a normal bot again, and he knew she liked it too. Her biggest comfort was being herself, not a queen. He could respect that in more ways than she knew; he sometimes thought his crown and the decorative markings he got becoming the king consort on his chassis were a bit too much.

“Are you okay?” The warlord asked humorously.

She turned her helm to the side, enamoring him with her baby blue optics with the faintest pink lighting the rim of them. “Just contemplating a few things. Do you think I can help the other worlds? Is it even possible to?”

Megatron placed his crown to the side, uncaring where it was as he focused only on Arcee. “I think if there’s a will, there’s a way. But if you go, I’m going to. This doesn’t have to ride on you alone. I managed to unite Chaar and its sister planet, Chasia, when I was the Decepticon leader.”

Arcee snickered, “You threatened to blow up the planet if the Chasians didn’t comply. I wouldn’t call that unification or diplomacy.”

Megatron held up a digit to defend himself only to drop it a second later. “That...depends on how you look at it. The point is it worked with...some persuasion. I’m not saying go up to any of the planets and do specifically that, but I willed it and it was. All you have to do is be honest about what you want to achieve and work with them to achieve it no matter what they ask. My way was a bit more, um, eccentric.”

Arcee perched her chassis up on her arms in thought. “So, the Allspark mentioned eight worlds. Isn’t there over twenty-five colonies and worlds overall we used to trade with?”

“You mean like Devisiun and Hyperion? Technically, there’s over eighty-five counting all planets we have colonized or resided on temporarily. How many planets are birth planets, as in where we as multiple species have come from? About twenty-five of them. At least, that’s what Optimus once told me when he was a librarian and I was a gladiator.”

Arcee stared at him dumbfounded. “You’re joking me.”

“No, I wish I was.”

“Okay, so only seven worlds out of eighty-five of them are in danger and I’m expected to reinstate relations with them? If I do any more, I think I would kill myself. That’s too much.”

“Oh, don’t worry, most of those eighty-five worlds are either abandoned or destroyed, not pointing any fingers on why now but not many are in commission,” Megatron smiled sheepishly.

Arcee narrowed her optics, “No wonder no one wanted you to rule; you’re scary when you want to be.”

Megatron merely sighed, “Let’s ignore my vices and focus on your virtues instead. I think if anyone can do this, it’s you. You are the queen; it’s a stubborn job but you’re more stubborn. I would know. Just show the other worlds Cybertron has changed and help them with whatever is threatening their way of life. That alone will prove yourself to them if not the eagerness to fix what the bots in the past managed to ruin. Trying speaks more than talking.”

Smiling, she readjusted to cross her arms to lie her head down on them as he gently massaged her winglets. “Tomorrow, I think we approach this as more than queen and king though.”

Megatron nodded in agreement.

-----------------------------

Haywire was surprised that Arcee managed to convince the faction leaders to come as she said. Predaking, Grimlock, and The Matriarch all stood before him as the Allspark appeared from behind with a whoosh of energy, observing the meeting with interest. Shockwave stood to the side to support his boss and sparkmate. Bumblebee was present with Optimus. He had heard Windblade was invited but she declined as she was currently on Caminus to see family and took the Combiners that made Victorion with her. The last leader was Ultra Magnus who was unable to join because he was busy with problems in the Xeroxi District in northern Cybertron.

“Did she tell you why you are all here or did she lay it on me?”

“Mixture of both really,” The Matriarch said with an honesty Haywire kind of despised.

The doors to the meeting room opened and everyone was shocked to see Perceptor and Bulkhead, the former of whom immediately quipped, “Did you really want to start this party without me? Long time, no see, boys! Optimus told us about this meeting so we figured we would drop by, know what we might need to not almost die...again.”

The Allspark was quick to answer Perceptor’s sarcasm with its own. “Do not worry, you will be the last to go if anything. Something threatens the worlds of old, the ones Cybertron has left behind in malicious pride. This threat will spread if it is not contained soon. Cybertron will be next if the wrong decisions are made.”

Predaking frowned, “I’m doubtful this threat is powerful enough to destroy Cybertron-”

“-But if the other cyber worlds are in peril, including Chaar, that implies it might be an inside job. If I find out someone threatens my planet, I WILL RIP THEM APART AND-!!!”

“Matriarch!” Shockwave growled.

She calmed down and clutched her chest, “Sorry, habit.”

Bumblebee pinched the bridge of his nose plating. “Are we a hundred percent sure the other worlds are in trouble? If we go poking around in their business and try to return trade between us and them within this ‘false’ claim, it could start a whole new conflict. Cybertron versing itself with Rockrider hijacking the throne was one thing as was the war with Megatron, but planet against planet? I hate to say this but there are plenty of worlds stronger than ours with better resources, especially with Cybertron still recovering from our civil war that destroyed our planet. I don’t think we can risk that.”

Grimlock shook his head, “But if we do nothing, those worlds might die. We have already lost over half of the colonies our ancestors created eons ago by sheer idiocy, war, and lack of resources. Our race is endangered as is theirs. Cybernetic life like ours is not common in this universe. Once we’re gone, there’s no evolutionary bypass. Organic creatures like oxygen-breathers can come up in any shape or form. Metal-based life, we are very limited by how we are born.”

“The Dinobot’s right,” The Matriarch said. “We do nothing and it’s equivalent to killing them ourselves.”

Perceptor scowled, “You’re just defending his words because your planet might be in the crossfire of this so-called threat.”

“Shut up, lab rat!” She growled back, “You’d do the exact same thing if you were leader. Don’t be acting like you’re better than any of us that have to make decisions like this on a daily basis to make sure we survive.”

“You all are acting like idiots,” a voice said.

They all turned to see Arcee walk in with Megatron. To everyone’s surprise, neither queen nor king consort had on their crown or specialized armor. Seeing Arcee back as her original self was unexpected but most everyone agreed it was a welcome change. The only thing that couldn’t be removed was Megatron’s fancy tattoos. Other than that, they looked like the same bots they all knew and cared for.

The Matriach crossed her arms, “About time you showed up. So, Queenie, you want us to vote or something?”

“Yes, to make it quick and to the point, who here thinks it’s a good idea for me to investigate?”

Megatron, Bulkhead, Grimlock, Predaking, Optimus, Perceptor, and Shockwave all raised their servos, leaving Bumblebee, Haywire, and The Matriarch the odd ones out. Arcee gestured around triumphantly while The Matriarch grumbled about wasting time.

“See, just needed the approval.”

Bumblebee sighed, “That’s what you called us for? Alright, Arcee, have it your way. Just be considerate if you anger anyone.”

Arcee frowned, “I’m not that bad.”

Predaking interjected, “I think he means just don’t lose your temper. You aren’t bad, but you do need to work on some of your spur of the moment decision making when pressed. We have a lot riding on you.”

“Let’s do it then,” she grinned.

Haywire met her enthusiasm by saying, “And the queen has spoken. Alright, Arcee, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. If you think we can do this, then I have no qualms preparing for anything.”

Optimus nodded, “We will keep Cybertron safe while you traverse the other worlds but be careful. I sense there is more than meets the eye with whatever lies ahead.”

Bulkhead then added, “We’ll be your backup and your communications. If you need us, don’t be afraid to holler.”

“Great! Now that we agree, let’s head out, Megatron-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Haywire scoffed, “you can’t go yet! First off, you haven’t even prepared yourself! Your weapon systems? Are you really going in blindly without getting everything you need? Also, we still don’t have the Space Bridge Nexus running. You’re going to have to fix it before you leave for any planet!”

“Damn it, it’s always something,” she scowled.

Megatron replied, “He’s right though.”

Pointing towards Fortress Maximus in the distance, the red mech said, “Before you do anything else, go to the Fortress and meet with Scythe to make sure your aim is still as good as your snappy comebacks. We’ll meet you over there in a couple minutes. Let me finish briefing them on a few other things, but you are not to leave there until you finish your training.”

Arcee gave a mocking salute before walking out to Megatron’s humor and Haywire’s distaste. Going to Fortress Maximus as a regular bot felt better than being escorted. The Fortress pathway sloped up and Arcee transformed to make the best time, eager to get it done and over with. Navigating the Fortress was different though.

Various halls led to one place or something completely different. She was almost lost until a voice called her name. She quickly looked back to see Scythe leaning against the wall.

“Lost your way?” He smirked.

“I liked you better when you were single and bitter; I could bite back from those comments of yours. You’re too direct now with what you say, doesn’t work.”

“Ouch, that hurt,” he laughed. “Love does that sometimes as you should know, your Majesty.”

Arcee sighed, “Point taken. So, Haywire says I need to make sure my weapons are up to par for whatever happens.”

“Follow me,” Scythe immediately said. “Your fighting techniques...I know you have the experience, but I want to see it firsthand. Beat the targets. Get hit and it’s over. You will have to try again.”

“Such high standards.”

“I mean it is you, so should I expect less?” He retorted back.

Arcee couldn’t argue with that as they reached the training room will all the dummies to beat and gadgets a fighter could want. She gasped in delight seeing the swords and hammers most of all. Scythe merely looked at her with a raised brow.

“I know that look. Feel free to use any of them. Let me know when you’re ready.”

Arcee scoped out the single headed hammer with spikes on the other end and grew a wicked grin. The damage she could do with it was unsaid but if she was on a time restraint, a blade would move alongside her as fast as she could go far easier than with a hammer. Picking a double-bladed sword, she briefly rotated it and liked how simple it could be maneuvered around her, perfect for quick movements.

She raised it up to point at Scythe who took his place above in the control room with a few of his staff. “Bring it on!”

“I was joking when I said you needed to get all the targets. I know you can do it, but I don’t want to have to clean up everything you destroy. Get a good number of enemies out of the way and we’ll move on. I’ll tell Haywire you passed with flying colors.”

“Don’t be holding back on me now,” she grinned.

Scythe activated the course, and the simulation took hold of the room. The background changed to a starlit sky with the dummies appearing to move robotically growling at her. In a battle-ready pose, she leapt at the first one in sight. It looked similar to Wrathzone in structure but different helm design and red.

She wall-jumped off a vertical platform and sent a pede right into the robot’s head. When she recoiled off it, she caught its chest plate to pull herself up and sink one end of the sword in its chest, impaling it quick. Its offline body briefly tried to voice its concern before collapsing as a few other robots started homing in on her. One dummy fired at her with a standard blaster which she dodged before running up to it while another attempted to step on her. Her smaller stature allowed for quick reflexes and the ability to slip by the drones without a sweat. Getting in the middle of them as some turned to face her, she smirked.

“Alrighty boys, playtime is over.”

The drones were expressionless but their A.I.s seemed withdrawn by the comment before she suddenly jumped up and made a swift rotation with the double swords. Each robot was beheaded and several of them walked backwards stunned, some even clutching the area of the missing helm in confusion. They fell, and she didn’t see Scythe and one other bot instinctively hold their necks with a wince upon witnessing the move.

When Arcee landed, she was crouching with one servo on the floor and the other holding the blades battle-ready behind her back. More drones were on their way to stop her...as if they could. But before she had the chance to lunge, the simulation ended, and the now colorless dummies froze in their place. She peered up at Scythe frustrated.

“What gives?! Did I do something wrong?”

Scythe was quick to assure her otherwise. “No! Absolutely not, you did...I don’t know if there’s a better word for fantastic but that’s the least I can call it. I stopped it because I think this is too easy for you.”

She sighed, “But Haywire said-”

“I can talk to Haywire. One of the perks of being with him is constant communication. If he has any doubts or questions, I can convince him easily that you are more than qualified to go back into the field. For your short but amazing performance, I’ll let you keep that twin blade as a gift. But don’t think it’s over yet. I want to test your blasters as well while you’re here, make sure all your weapons systems are responding and not rusting out in your duties.”

Arcee gave a sarcastic glare at him, switching her arm into her signature blaster to non-verbally comply with his demands.

Scythe anticipated the annoyance and added, “If you beat this next text, I’ll give you a personal favorite weapon of mine in return. I have no use for it, but maybe you will.”

The sound of a new weapon made Arcee perk up from her tenseness and grinned, “Now you’re speaking my language.”

“Of course, I’m your Captain of the Guard. I have to know how to reason with you. Look alive, Arcee.”

Scythe signaled to the simulator control room and Arcee saw the area shift into an Earth-like environment. New drones appeared with makeovers once more to appear like real bots. One of them, however, seemed to take a color scheme that made her pause. Black with orange undertones with red optics, the drone hissed at her. She stared into its lifeless optics and slowly, her memory of her time on the isle came to light. The forbidden planet where she fought and executed the monstrous Megatronus Prime echoed and she could still hear remnants of his dark laughter. The fire he was invincible to raged within the memory and she swore there was a glimmer of it in the drone.

“Arcee!”

The blue femme snapped back right as a standard sword nearly struck her. The drone it belonged to growled and she narrowed her optics in return. Pointing the blaster at its head, she smirked watching it realize its mistake. One shot to its helm and it fell over offline. Shooting down the others was only a matter of keeping distance a factor in the leverage she had.

She aimed for the leg joints as it would be the best way to topple larger enemies and any near her size, she hit the spark chamber. One by one they fell as somersaulted over a drone, blasting its head open, before shifting immediately to press the nuzzle of her blaster right in the chest as she landed.

Scythe just watched her go, not daring to stop her as her kill count climbed. Each move she did with precision, something he admired and expected from the bot who managed to defeat the Allspark itself. After ten minutes, he finally signaled for the control room to halt the simulation, but he noticed there were multiple drones out of commission that he was going to have to clean up after, much to his chagrin.

Arcee gave a mocking bow, “How’s that for a weapon’s test?”

Before Scythe could answer, Haywire’s voice sounded from the control room. “It was excellent.”

Both he, Bumblebee, Shockwave, and Optimus were watching, half of whom were deeply impressed. Arcee laughed as they came down to greet her. Haywire was the first to say something.

“Well, I think you are ready, though I’m still a bit concerned...”

Scythe scowled, “You act like she’s your daughter. She’s been through hell far more than most all of us, so don’t you think she’s in the clear?”

“It’s my job to care because I’m her advisor,” Haywire snapped back. He then addressed Arcee. “I suppose I am getting a little too protective hoping nothing happens and all that. You’re the best friend I care about, and I just don’t want a repeat of the incident before to occur, you know?”

Arcee hugged him and patted his back, “I love you too, Haywire, do you know that?”

“Doesn’t hurt to hear it certainly.”

Shockwave then said, “Arcee, I think I know how to get the Space Bridge Nexus running again but finding all the parts and correct sequence of steps will take a few hours to isolate. Megatron is currently assisting me in tracking down its power source to check for any damage obtained during the war. If all goes well, we’ll have it up and running in the next day or so.”

Optimus continued off Shockwave’s comments. “In the meantime, the Allspark has requested your presence at the Garden Plaza in Crystal City, and Bolt wishes to have your aid in some field work in his division.”

“At least, that’s how he described it,” Bumblebee smirked. “We’ll let you know when we need your help with the Nexus. Megatron should be in touch with you.”

Arcee nodded but Scythe cleared his throat to get her attention. He brought out a ray gun which she eyed in wonder before he then said, “The ricochet ray isn’t the most powerful weapon on the market, but it’s lightning fast and can hit multiple targets before finally stopping making for a good long-range weapon, something I think would benefit you against the unknown or buy you time to figure out an ulterior plan if not enough.”

She took the weapon and cocked it, earning her a slightly worried look from Haywire and tilt of the head from Shockwave. “Awesome.”

“Take care of it now, ricochets aren’t very common weapons. They have a nasty recoil sometimes too, and it is possible to get hit so always try and aim with angles, so the bullets have a trajectory other than you.”

Placing the gun alongside the blade on her back, she rolled her shoulders and nodded, “Will do.”

When she left Fortress Maximus, she decided to speak with Bolt first. The Allspark was still her less-than-favorite entity to be around, so she wanted to start off with the person she could count on the most. It took her almost an hour, but she managed to track Bolt to the Rustic Ruins, an old city that had yet to be fixed to be habitable. She found him sitting on a hill overlooking the former residency.

She noticed the Ruins had a large Energon Equus populace, metal horses with decorative plating, bulky frames and various colors of bio lights running across their bodies. Unlike the helio-horses from Velocitron meant to be nimble as fast as the wind and the singlehorns from the Cybertron Underground that were mystical, these were work stallions. Bred to move anything that got in their way, Energon Equus were the brawniest cybernetic horses and the most stubborn when encountered untamed. They normally only accepted a few owners in their lifetime if at all and raising a herd was very costly, not to mention they were high-maintenance creatures.

“Hey, Bolt, long time...what are you doing so far out here?”

The Vehicon, now supporting silver highlights to emphasize his position as Iacon’s Head, stood up abruptly almost tripping before exclaiming, “Arcee! Ha ha! What’s up with you?! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever, girl! Me? I’ve just been making sure the life around Cybertron is coming back, slowly but surely. Documenting them is by far very fun...emphasis on the word ‘fun.’ They are magnificent beasts, but they haven’t been among Cybertronians in quite some time, so most meetings were very rough.”

“Too much for the great Bolt?” She snickered.

“Hey now,” Bolt said, pointing at her, “I don’t give up because of an inconvenience and you know this.”

Arcee peered at the Energon Equus as they ate loose metal growing from the ground infused with energy veins. It was nice to see life rejuvenating within the years since its revival.

“So, Bolt, Optimus said you needed my help with something?”

“Well, it’s, uh, it’s more like a request…I’ve been studying the Equus for some time, but I can’t get close to any of their foals without, you know, being attacked. All I want to know is simply what the foals do, what they look like and all that. Unfortunately, the mothers seem to keep their babies deep within the ruins out of sight of onlookers and predators, which is fair considering. I was wondering-”

Arcee gave an exaggerated sigh, “Do not ask what I think you’re going to ask.”

“-if you could bring me three foals to see up close. Don’t worry, I have no intention of keeping them, just a quick study and maybe a picture. If you can do that, I would be oh so grateful.”

“You’re killing me, Bolt.”

The Vehicon pressed his servos together. “Pretty please?”

Arcee wanted to argue but knowing how he was when such a thing happened on the isle, she dropped it and stomped towards the Ruins.”

“Love you!” He shouted.

“Questioning it!” She yelled back.

The Equus herd grazed unbothered by her approach. When she got close enough, she looked at the large pillars and archways sunken by years of misuse and weather. She could use them to navigate the area without resistance from the herd and find the foals from a higher point of view. How she was meant to wrangle one was another question entirely.

She moved to the nearest pillar nearly crawling trying to draw little suspicion her way. A few glances from the herd members made her pause but as long as she made it look like she was just passing by, there would be little to no trouble. Once she reached it, she brought out her arm blades and sank them into the rusting metal. Climbing up it felt like a thrill despite the noise, and she reached the top after almost two minutes. Now the fun began. Hopping from one pillar onto a platform, she ran across the top peering down for any signs of the foals. Many adult Equus were seen but not any babies. Then she saw two beastly Equus fighting, neighing at each other baring hidden fangs with their ears pushed against their helms. The fight had a big audience but what they were brawling for was narrowed down to two possibilities: territory or mates.

Then, like music to her audio receptors, she heard the most high-pitched sounds. Moving above what was once a plaza surrounded by old buildings, she gasped at the cuteness that was the foals. They pranced and whipped their heads excitedly among each other while several carriers watched nearby. Tiny little things in comparison to the giant adults, her size pony ironically enough…just small enough to ride.

“Oh, the little babies. Mama’s going to hate me in three seconds.”

She waited until the nearest foal, one with pretty glowing spots, was walking just beneath her before cracking her neck and jumping down it. She used the side of the wall to slow her fall and landed right on the backside of the foal. She expected it to kick like mad but instead, the little one cried out and sprinted while its mother made an ungodly growl. It was faster than she anticipated, and she struggled to keep the foal from running all over the place. Using its metal mane, she pointed its head in the direction she wanted to go. She could hear the herd growing agitated by the mother’s frantic noises. When she was out of the ruins, she forced the foal to keep straight going through the herd as they backed away uncertain. Seeing Bolt on the ridge, she made the foal towards him until she pulled back on its mane again to make the foal slide to a halt.

“And you need three of them why?!”

Bolt scoffed, “Equus come in three different patterns. Or did you not notice that?”

As she tried to keep the foal still, she frowned, “You said get three, you didn’t mention that little bit of information before!”

“I thought it was obvious. You have a spotted Equus foal. There’s a calico and an oval-striped type as well.”

As she let him look at the foal, she glared at him but now that she knew what other specimens to get, the other foals shouldn’t take too long to get. Once he had a picture, she patted its rear and watched it run back to the herd.

“Next time, details like that make my job simpler.”

Arcee headed back to the pillar she first climbed though a few of the stallions of the herd were eyeing her now with distrust. With the same method, she scoured the rooftops of the rusting city to find one of the remaining two types needed. Then she spotted her next target of the oval-striped foal under an archway to the lost main street. The foal was unbothered grazing by a spotted one. She jumped to the archway and crouched down to assess her choices of approach. Falling straight down had consequences if she missed, not to mention the risk of hurting the foal, and she had nothing to slow her descent. But maybe she could wing it at an angle.

Using the arch’s curve, she began sliding until she was halfway to the point of no return and leapt to roll onto a roof. An old banner dangled uselessly in the faint wind, and she grinned. Taking it, she used it to swing down and did a backflip right onto the striped foal’s back. It whinnied and took off.

Using the same method as she did the last foal, she guided it through the city towards the hill in the distance, passing the now furious Equus herd. Getting to the top, she jumped off and to the side, still holding the neck of the foal so it wouldn’t run.

“One more for your collection.”

“Perfect! Now all you need to do is bring me the calico. That one might be tricky as it can blend with its environment more believe it or not.”

After Bolt did his thing, she released it. The hunt for the calico she knew was going to be an uphill battle as the herd had gotten wise to her appearance, now she was met with resistance.

The Equus were prepared by stomping their hooves agitated, but she was ready too. This time, no slow approach was necessary. Running at the herd, she used her advantage of size to navigate the furious horses into the city. Many chased after her until she ducked into a small alley. They ran right past her. She smiled at her luck when she saw the calico foal peering at the chaos around it. It moved around a corner, and Arcee was quick to pursue.

The foal was running through the city with Arcee transformed into her vehicle mode. She followed it several blocks until she was nearly slammed into by the foal’s angry mother. She increased speed to come beside it and nearly tackled the baby Equus, running at its side to keep up until she bounced off an upturned patch of metal and sat herself on its backside. With the mother following, she aimed the foal into a narrow street where old ships had gathered. She and the foal were just small enough to squeeze through, but the mother couldn’t follow.

At her success, she pumped her fist in the air and used a secondary exit out of the city, following its boundaries until she once again laid optics on the hill Bolt waited on. Sliding right before hitting him, she leapt off and pointed at him.

“This is all you get now. Make it count.”

He quickly obeyed and took the data and picture he needed before she let the last foal run off. Laughing, Bolt clapped his servos, “You are one great horse rider, Arcee! And even a better field agent. Maybe you can help me on other species in the future.”

“Not unless you pay me first,” she quipped, placing her servos on her knees out of breath.

“Here, for your efforts,” Bolt said as he handed her a device and she looked at it quizzically.

“What’s this?”

“A specialized commlink. I was going to use it for research purposes, but you might need it more if you plan on going to other worlds, as rumor has it. It’s experimental so I must warn you with utmost importance that it can pick up anybody’s comm request for communication. You can communicate not just with Cybertronians now but with possibly anyone from the other worlds that have access to your signal, given freely or stumbled upon, mind you. Just be weary of who you let yourself communicate with.”

Arcee smiled and opened the grey circular cap behind her pink cheek plate, attaching the device to sync with the regular comm panel hidden beneath. “Thanks, Bolt.”

“That’s what friends are for. It’s the least I can do and if you really are going to those worlds, can I please come? Please, please, please! I’ll be a good boy. I promise.”

Although Bolt’s expressionless faceplate couldn’t do anything of a cute, begging nature, Arcee knew that was what was going on in his head and hoped she could magically be enthralled by his pleas. She sighed knowing it was useless, but Bolt would be a good crewmember to have in case the worlds proved too much to handle.

“Fine,” she caved, “you can come too.”

“Woohoo!”

“But it may be a while. I still need to talk to the Allspark.”

Bolt nodded, sitting down next to a few tablets he had on hand. “Do your thing, Queen, and I’ll support you a hundred percent. I’m in no rush.”

‐---------‐---------

The Allspark breathed and with it, its gardens flared life. Crystal City reveled in its nurturing energy, and it was more than happy to give. In return, it felt the whole city’s power course around it. The trees of its plaza glowed, pulsing to each purr of its haunting voice. Among the city, it sensed one life force it had grown to like despite the feeling was not entirely mutual it knew.

“Once again you stand before me. Come, let us begin.”

Arcee frowned and peered around thinking for a second it may have been addressing someone else. Confused, she asked, “Begin what?”

“I want you to test your knowledge, demonstrate to me the very heart of your passion and leadership. I want you to show me why I should entrust the fate of our world in your hands.”

“Everyone wants to challenge me today. It’s like boot camp all over again,” she sneered. “Lay it on me.”

The Allspark’s rings halted for a second before lining up parallel and starting to glow. The ground began to rumble and Arcee looked around uneasy only to notice no one else seemed affected by the quaking, oblivious more so. The world she knew twisted as she found herself in a spatial land. Arcee stood on a floating platform in the middle of space with an entire galaxy behind the Allspark and various nebulae and distant stars creating a beautiful endless sky.

“First question: on the isle, how did you possess the fifth gem?”

Arcee had to take a second to recall the location of the gem first. She then remembered it was in the desert where Doomsday the Driller had been encountered. “The Driller ate it, so I blew her up and retrieved it.”

The answer was simple, but she could tell the Allspark was amused by the confidence of it.

“In the tales of old, how was I imprisoned?”

“You…were…imprisoned when you supposedly failed to warn of Megatronus’ murder of Solus and the Primes casted your powers into Vector Sigma while you spent eons in a crystal case.”

“What was the creature that pursued you across the isle called?”

Arcee groaned as she remembered its name. “The Cybertronian Predator.”

“When Rockrider took the throne, why did she do so?”

“To…” Arcee paused as the memory of the unhinged elitist came to mind. She still loathed the deceased femme to the core. “…to reinstate the caste system and take out all in her way.”

“Final question: in light of this journey you about to take, who was it that forewarned you on the isle of the true reason of the worlds’ separations with Cybertron?”

She couldn’t remember that. Very few creatures and bots she encountered on the isle spoke. Xerophorus, the Rozarian warrior of late, mentioned it but Tigressa had a better explanation as did Kor. It was fifty-fifty between the latter two.

“…Tigressa?”

The Allspark seemed to gleam proudly. “You remember. Good, I can now give something back to you that should serve you well.”

Arcee was skeptical of what she gave the Allspark to begin with until its energy shifted. Swirling in front of both of them, a bluish white funnel merged into an orb before shattering and Arcee stared in awe as she was presented with the one and only Dagger Prima. It floated down to her, and she carefully gripped it, running the tips of her fingers against the top of the blade.

“You’re seriously giving this to me? Your weapon?”

“I believe it should be yours. After all, it was you who saved me and Earth from complete destruction. I have no need of it, and Solus wants you to have it anyway.”

“Solus. You’ve been communicating with her in the Well.”

“She is proud of you, Arcee, as am I. Now, I have to-”

A scream rang out somewhere in the galaxy and the Allspark was quick to break the illusion of the spatial realm to return to Crystal City. There, they both searched for the origin of the noise when gunfire erupted.

A Molten Megastrike, far from its territory in the Underground, hissed at everyone and lunged at a younger mech as another bot shot at it. When it came close to the youngling, a sudden kick to its jaw was given by The Matriarch. Joined by Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons bared her claws in warning if it dared to approach anyone else. The Megastrike shook in its rage as clouds started crackling with electricity. Megatron aimed his purple arm cannon at it, growling and daring it to try. Arcee ran towards them, but The Matriarch was quick to shout, “Watch it!”

Lightning rained down from the sky and hit the Megastrike, its backside lighting up as energy coursed through it. Furious, its yellow optics stared down the two Cons while Arcee stood behind it, covering her optics from the bright flash with a frown. Just then, Dagger Prima glowed in her grasp, and she knew it recognized her determination, acting on her will like it had before.

“Just like old times. Let’s go!”

Against her better option of waiting for the creature to power down, Arcee ran at it and briefly dragged the dagger to the ground creating sparks before jumping and doing a spin. Coming down, she severed the tail of the beast where she could avoid being electrocuted. It roared in agony before whipping around only to make it an open target for Megatron’s aim. Megatron fired and pierced its side, but it refused to give up or die. Instead, it was prompted to lunge at her.

Arcee dodged the Megastrike’s claws, and it stumbled trying to keep up with her speed. A ray of lightning shot from its mouth from the saved-up energy, missing Arcee by inches and instead went flying towards the Allspark. The entity deflected the blast, forcing it back towards the sky.

The Matriarch charged it as Arcee kept it homing on her. The Decepticon leader grabbed a nearby bench and flung it at the Megastrike’s head, earning a grunt and a hiss.

“Don’t you growl at me! You started this!”

As the energy accumulated died, the Megastrike flickered its glossa to taste the air and perceive its next move. Summoning another storm to build up power, it slowed down but stalked towards Arcee.

Arcee narrowed her optics watching it bide its time so it could get another boost from the storm. But she had to wonder if lightning could be used against it. Dagger Prima whispered, she could hear it and knew the blade desired the same thing as her. She thought hard until an idea came to her. What would happen if the blade itself was hit by lightning? Dagger Prima was indestructible, so maybe it would absorb it instead. She smirked as the Megastrike was still drawn to her. The lightning festered above. Seeing it becoming unstable in the clouds, she threw Dagger Prima right above the creature. The lightning came crashing down.

The Megastrike gave an unusual cry as its body absorbed the blast, but Arcee never saw Dagger Prima go anywhere…but down. The force of the lightning sent it rocketing directly into the backside of the creature, evident by when the light died and there sat the blade buried partially through the spine. With the electric charge, it fried the vulnerable inner flesh directly causing it to twitch before it exploded from the pressure. The dagger was sent skyward doing a few flips before embedding in the ground.

Arcee took it out and examined it for any damage. Sure enough, the blade was untouched. “Megastrikes may be lightning proof on the outside, but not everything is entirely immune to their own element.”

Megatron laughed, “Taken a lesson from Bolt, have you?”

The Matriarch was less kind about it. “Sometimes everything needs to learn to keep to themselves. Of course, why a Megastrike managed to get all the way out here though is odd.”

Arcee shot a quick side glance to the Allspark who immediately responded, “I didn’t teleport it if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Well, it chose to get angry, and the result was death. It’s no different than the other monsters we’ve slayed, eh, Megatron?”

The warlord nodded in agreement before abruptly interrupting. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you after this distraction. Haywire found a way to turn on the Nexus, but we need to do a few things first. We’ll meet him outside of Iacon in the northern sector in a crater used to house the old system. We’re one step closer to getting out of here, don’t worry.”

“As if I ever?”

Chapter Text

Arcee followed Megatron and The Matriarch back to Iacon's remote nexus. It lay surprisingly in a crater with several space bridges pointing inward to the center. She could tell the bridges had seen far better days but watching a few Vehicons and the Constructicons touching up rough patches was a good sign the maintenance was extensive and progress in terms of functionality was most likely completed. Several Dinobots and Predacons also helped them clear out loose debris and unwanted natural growths.

“The Nexus is terrible cosmetically, but they will do,” Shockwave said to Haywire who simply nodded. Grimlock was on standby watching his Dinobots and merely grunted in response.

Noticing Arcee and Megatron as The Matriarch separated from them, Haywire scoffed, “About time. We have the problems isolated; everything is fixed except one hitch. The main power has been severed for years.”

“Great…” Arcee said, peering at Megatron annoyed.

Shockwave took over speaking. “With you here, we can get it back on track. The main Energon power line for the Nexus is a few hundred feet below us underground. There’s an access tunnel to it, but we are too big to fit through. It was mostly built for Minicons. If you can fix the line, the rest should be simple enough.”

Grimlock quickly interjected, “And be careful, Arcee. We were asked to investigate the bigger accesses and my scouts report there are scraplet nests in the main tunnels of Cybertron. Those nasty vermin eat everything and if Energon is available, that’s where they will linger the most. If you can destroy some of the nests while you’re down there though, that should also prevent any more damages to the Nexus and its supply line.”

Haywire grunted, “The nearest access tunnel is to the east of us, just a small building that should contain a working elevator to the catacombs connecting to the maintenance area.”

Megatron clasped her shoulder gently, “I believe you can handle this, right?”

Arcee shrugged, “Better than sitting pretty and being useless on a throne, I guess. I always get what I want, huh?”

“You give important orders! That’s not useless!” Haywire argued.

“It is when there’s nothing else to do except oversee but never be a part of the action.”

“You got that wish almost a year ago.”

“You know what I mean, Haywire.”

Haywire shook his head and rolled his optics while Megatron merely gestured in defense of his sparkmate which earned him a peeved look from the former.

While they debated, Arcee climbed out of the Nexus and onto flat land where seldom buildings were seen, one of which looked to be the one Haywire was describing. It was a mile or so out but visible, and she would love to take a walk regardless. As she traversed the stretch of surface, she saw debris of old warships and other little scrap piles that had accumulated over the years. Then she saw the Predacons sweeping the small piles into single formations.

Predaking used his tail to smash a broken piece of upturned metal, presumably from a blast from one of the warships years ago. He flattened the surface to merely a pothole so it could be fixed swiftly once they got back to it.

Arcee walked up to Predaking and asked, “How’s it going?”

“It goes,” Predaking answered after shifting back to robot mode. “Although I don’t like being a maid for others’ mishaps, I do understand the importance of not wanting to clutter a very powerful space bridge nor do we want all this debris going everywhere if the bridge reactivates wrong.”

“Do you need help? I mean I can’t do much because half of this stuff is way too big for me to lift, but figured I would at least ask.”

“And I appreciate that. Perhaps there is something...you could take the next step for us while we get the remainder of the debris collected. Here.” Predaking handed her a few grenades which she raised a brow to before he explained, “They are disintegration grenades. Instead of exploding, they are designed to vaporize loose matter. Perfect cleaning tools if you don’t like hauling it. If you can get rid of the clutter, it would help us greatly. We’ll set up the piles; you destroy them. Fair enough?”

Arcee threw one of the grenades up before catching it in the same servo with a smirk. “Lead the way.”

Predaking went towards one pile his fellow Predacons were working on. He clicked and seemed to speak in growls which the other Predacons responded to. One was a hippogriff-like mech and they came around their leader to stand beside Arcee. She was confused for a second until she saw the Predacon lower their wing and Predaking waved his servo to gesture to her to get on their back. Grinning excitedly, Arcee almost jumped at the opportunity to ride a Predacon like a sparkling but refrained to not scare off her associate.

Smiling at her child-like wonder, Predaking said, “Wildwing will escort you. All you have to do is aim and throw. I figure this will be faster than having to run across an entire field of debris by foot unless you wish to do it that way?”

Arcee sat on Wildwing’s back as the Predacon outstretched their wings with an eagle-like cry. She responded, “Oh no, I will take riding on a Predacon over running any day! Youngling me would be jealous.”

“Have fun then and try not to fall off,” he chuckled. Transforming back into beast mode, he gave a roar and his subordinate responded.

Wildwing reared and Arcee quickly held on as tight as she could to their neck startled before the Predacon took off. Galloping across the flat metal surface, Arcee could see the buildings in the distance seemed to drift slowly on the horizon with the sun near its edge. With Wildwing, it made for a stunning view and the wind never felt better.

They were coming up to the piles of debris on both sides and Arcee snapped out of her trance to prepare herself. Timing was everything. One wrong move and she might vaporize something important. Aiming on her left, she chucked the first grenade into the pile. Right as she passed it, the grenade made a wicked, electric cackle and all the debris disappeared into burnt particles with a small wave of energy. What remained of the pile were tiny chunks of debris that couldn’t be harmful to anything, especially not the Nexus. Wildwing took her around and each pile she saw, she threw a grenade at and marveled at the simplicity of the destructive properties it held.

She mused, “Where was this during the war? This would have been awesome to have against the Decepticons.”

Wildwing made a grunt of humor before taking her around to another line up of debris, jumping over building equipment and temporarily gliding over large spaces to get as close as possible. Arcee smirked and threw one grenade down midair. The energy combusted behind them as Wildwing retracted their wings to resume running.

She saw Predaking and several other Predacons leaving more piles and the surface was already looking cleaner than it was. She blew them up without any hesitation. She could tell Wildwing was having as much fun as she was.

When she got to the last few piles, she was quick to demolish all but one that had an unusual glow. She refrained from automatically throwing the grenade by muscle memory and pulled a little at Wildwing’s neck.

“Whoa, wait, wait, wait! Wildwing, stop!”

The Predacon slid to a halt and peered back concerned until Arcee hopped off and went to the last pile. A faint red and orange glow was emitting from within the scrap, and she carefully pulled out what seemed to be twisting energy contained in a thick, transparent cylinder and capped with metal. It almost looked like the inner workings of a bomb, or at least a piece of one. Arcee only knew of such a thing because Wheeljack’s grenades had a similar explosive core and she had watched him numerous times taking apart his weapons back on Earth.

She heard the flapping of wings and acknowledged Predaking who landed beside her and transformed. “Something wrong?”

“Yeah...what is this? A bomb or...?”

Predaking frowned and took it out of her servo gently, examining it thoroughly. “I am not an expert in such materials unfortunately. It’s hard to tell what it could be a part of as well. I can take it to Shockwave and Matriarch, they may know, and I’ll get back to you as soon as they tell me.”

Arcee nodded before saying, “Got all the piles except that one because it just happened to catch my attention.”

“Oh, you did plenty and I can’t thank you enough for helping. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“It was fun but now I need to go figure out how to turn on the Nexus in the catacombs. Lucky me.”

“In the catacombs? Isn’t that infested with scraplets?” He said worried.

“Yep,” she said without missing a beat. “Going to do some exterminating while I’m down there too. If you don’t see me in an hour, I’m probably dead.”

The way she said it made Predaking smile despite the topic being serious. Arcee also cracked a grin and gave a thumbs up walking backwards before leaving to get back on track to her original task.

“Be careful down there,” he snickered. “And if you have any of those grenades remaining, keep them on hand. They will disintegrate scraplet nests just as easily.”

Wildwing made a trill of agreement and Arcee bowed respectfully to the Predacon. “Thanks, Wildwing! It was an epic ride!”

Arcee eyed the building she had suspected previously. The building had rusted patches, and the door had a rough time opening with various scratching metal against metal. How long it had been out of commission no one knew. She went inside and saw the technology was operational but various warnings were on one screen.

It seemed Haywire had tried to reboot the system but ran into the roadblock of fixing the main problem of the power line. She quickly looked at what the screen read and found it was stuck trying to connect to a non-existent power source, constantly refreshing itself in the hopes of catching readings of the power line to link to.

An elevator sat in the far-left corner of the room, and she used it to drop below the building’s foundation. Years of no maintenance made the elevator creak like mad. It took almost a minute to reach the level of the catacombs below which Arcee nearly jumped out of the elevator impatiently as she couldn’t take the noise much longer.

The catacombs were abandoned but thankfully, they were still completely intact. There were signs that pointed to the direction of the Nexus reserves and to other maintenance tunnels like Iacon’s main power plant. While she took the Nexus route, she brought out her remaining grenades. Only six were on hand which meant if there were scraplets, she had to make them count or suffer a painful death.

“Arcee, can you hear me?” The Matriarch’s voice spoke on her commlink.

“Yes, loud and clear.”

“The power line is fluxuating the most energy three clicks from your position. Why, I cannot say. Shockwave would have reported this to you instead but he’s busy. I thought I would be nice and at least help you.”

Arcee smirked, “I appreciate that, Matriarch.”

She knew there was a chance The Matriarch was merely doing what Shockwave suggested, not out of any kindness but she could live with the fauxness as it was better than the Decepticon leader not doing anything at all.

She followed the tunnel down several meters, noting the various old scratches and residue on the walls implied someone might have been pursued down here and got into a shootout or someone sabotaged the power line long ago. Whichever case, if at all, it was up to her to fix it. She ran into a larger area with a pump and an Energon waterfall. Multiple pipes seemed to web out from one direction going forward. Which one was the Nexus’ power she couldn’t tell. Walking past it, she continued into another corridor. It winded but she remembered the Nexus’ line was in a tight spot that only Minicons could access as her friends had said. She kept an optic out for any space in the wall.

Skittering sounds made her pause as the echoed indicating something was up ahead. She stayed still to listen for the odd noise until she heard it again. Scraplet movement. She could tell by the small pin-like noises that their four tiny limbs were running across a surface. Silently, she looked for any cracks that a scraplet could fit in or a self-made entrance in the wall that scraplets built with loose materials to identify the nesting area. Then she spotted one.

On the left wall near the ceiling, a woven scrap nest was integrated in the cracks visible. She thought she saw a little body go in, but the lighting made it hard to tell. When scraplets were active in a territory but had yet to create nests, they would only do so once all threats and prey have been killed. Given the cyst-like structure was huge for a nest, it was safe to say the scraplets had plenty of time to settle down between Cybertronians leaving the planet and now. How many of them were down here was also a concern. Taking one of the six grenades, she used a small pipe located near the floor to hike herself up and placed it in the crevice where the scraplets would normally come out of. Activating it with a timer, she immediately ran backwards to give herself some space.

In a flash, the grenade went off and the walls echoed with the rattling aftermath. She could hear the scraplets hissing briefly before all the noise was solely the walls themselves. Once the tunnel stopped shaking, she peered at the nest and saw the entrance was now smoldering remains and capped off so no scraplets could leave if any survived. She figured the tiny space would push the pressure and radius of the grenade’s power through the nest itself. So far, that’s exactly what it did as she heard no movement.

Two other nests were in her path, and she did her thing and cleared them carefully. The sound of dying scraplets never ceased to please her. Call her cruel but the damn things repopulated fast, so it was a necessary extermination. They probably were unaware of her presence, still thinking the blast of the other nest was just something else.

Arcee continued and smiled when she found a walkway too small for most bots but big enough for humans and Minicons to fit through. She rolled her shoulders and got on her knees to climb through. It was tight, too tight in fact. Any wrong move and she could easily get stuck. Squirming through, she sighed, “Where’s a Minicon when you need one?”

She instantly saw the Nexus’ pipe room around the corner. Crawling out, her hips caught the lip and halted her briefly, but she pulled herself out and did a small roll onto her aft. Shaking off the landing, Arcee growled. She was careful not to make any more noise as more nests could be around. Sure enough, she saw one at the base of the wall and the floor. Pushing a grenade in, she crouched down to prevent herself from falling when it went off, shaking the room but the pipes were designed to take punishment. The scraplets within hissed before going silent. She waited a second to make sure she was in the clear before going to the pipes.

The Nexus’ main line, the largest of three, had Energon running out and down a spire implanted in the ground to keep its structure up. The Energon leaked through a visible hole, no doubt the place was once flooded before it gave way and disappeared down into parts unknown. The fact that Energon still flowed was a good sign that planet was rejuvenating its energy sources everywhere faster than they anticipated. The rip in the bottom of the pipe diverted all the Energon from its destination, and that was indeed a problem. She couldn’t say for sure what caused the rip in the metal, but it looked like it was from a weapon, a sword most likely.

“Matriarch, I found the problem. The Energon power line has a giant break in it. What do I do?”

“You actually got in there? You are small, not an insult...just kind of unexpected. Fixing the pipe? Usually, maintenance crews carried welders with them. Maybe there’s one in a specialized containment closet nearby?"

Arcee rolled her optics and peered around until she noticed a bent door blending in with a few broken pieces of metal. Ripping the door off, she found several tools including the welder. She pressed the toggle multiple times annoyed as it clicked like it wanted to light but couldn’t. A sudden burst of flame had her grinning like mad, but first she needed to turn the valve to the pipe off or risk setting herself on fire with all the Energon around her.

Once she got the valve in the off position, she grabbed the nearest piece of metal that could hold the weight of tons of Energon and began the process of covering the rip. It took time as the metal wanted to be difficult, but she managed to secure it. Being next to a wide hole though made her paranoid scraplets would come crawling out at any given time. They didn’t but she still eyed it distrustfully.

“Line repaired. Turning the valve on right now,” she reported.

The power line roared to life and the Energon didn’t leak from the mended metal to her relief. The pipes shook for a second having not been used to the flow for years but settled once they were consistent. She could hear faint rumbling above. The Nexus was coming to life. Gears rotated smoothly and no other breaks were visible.

“Good job, Arcee. The Nexus is receiving the proper data now, and it is nearly ready. With its power restored, all we have to do is activate it. Come back to the surface and we will brief you on the final step we need to take. There should be another elevator just up ahead, but I don’t know if it is functional,” Shockwave’s voice said.

She did as she was ordered and crawled back out. Although she knew the scraplet threats were neutralized on her left, she was curious about the right area. Following it, she knew there had to be more scraplet nests but with only two grenades left, she had to pick her targets wisely if there were more than that amount. One nest was just beyond the door which nearly startled her. She was quick to remove it from the wall with a bang. The second nest was next to the elevator, and she didn’t bat an optic at blowing it up. Grimlock would be proud to hear the scraplets had been taken care of too.

The elevator didn’t budge at first despite pressing the button numerous times. She could hear the gears attempting to turn but they seemed unable to or like everything else, lack of use took a huge toll on it. After a minute, she grew frustrated and sent a powerful kick to the back wall. The elevator jolted and slowly started to rise. She scanned all sides of the elevator stunned before swiping her servos together.

“Sometimes kicking things really does solve the problem.”

The elevator stopped and she found herself in an unfamiliar building. Exiting it, she was in Iacon itself. Iacon was beaming with bright lights and constant flowing traffic both on the ground and up high over the city. It had been forever since she had seen it from a passerby’s point of view. She got a few looks but no one approached her, so she assumed she wasn’t being recognized as the queen.

“Hey, pretty lady, you seem lost. If you’re looking for Maccadam’s, it’s down the block. Nova Point is east of here,” a smooth-talking mech said.

Arcee was taken aback by the nickname but ignored it in favor of moving on as quick as possible. “Oh, thank you.”

The mech was a stunner but far too young even for her, not that her large generation gap seemed to be a problem for him. She could tell he was eyeing her and possibly thinking of other things. She remained friendly and carried on. He gave a wolf whistle and said something she didn’t catch. When she confirmed he couldn’t see her expression, she grimaced. Megatron would have a field day with this if he heard about it.

She quickly accessed an internal map to check where she was. The Nexus and the maintenance building were somewhere on the right side a bit out of the city limits. Transforming, she sped through the city towards the outskirts.

“Arcee, this is Optimus. If I could have a moment of your time, I want you to meet me at the Iacon Hall of Records. There is something you should see, and Bolt is here too.”

Arcee slowed down and said, “Is it like an emergency or can it wait an hour?”

Bolt then spoke instead, “Try really important. There’s something about the other worlds you need to know about before we blindly go through and possibly get ourselves killed. I will send you a ground bridge to your coordinates when you’re ready.”

She sighed to herself knowing Bolt would start to press her if she chose to delay the inevitable. She supplied her coordinates via commlink and transformed, leaning against a building as she waited. Right on time, a ground bridge appeared.

Going through it, she blinked a bit caught off guard seeing the entirety of the library and its various data screens running up and down the walls. Moving platforms operated manually ascended and descended to find the necessary screens the users wanted. Optimus and Bolt stood side by side on a platform that landed on the base stretch she was standing on. Surprisingly, Moonhunter was with them.

“Glad to see you, Arcee” Bolt said before becoming dead serious, placing his servos together and pointing them at her, “we have a few issues.”

Optimus corrected him, “More like some speculations on the worlds Cybertron supposedly forgotten.”

“You found otherwise?” Arcee asked.

Bolt somewhat swayed his head, unsure of how to respond. “We...can say that. First and foremost, we found out about Velocitron. They cut ties with us before you and Megatron were ever created. They were the last planet to severe communications, but their breakup was, arguably, the worst. Velocitronians are very proud, not unlike Cybertronians themselves. Well, you mix stress and conflicting ideals, you get one hell of an uphill battle trying to maintain the peace. Ultimately, Velocitron left us abruptly during trading season and that screwed everything up.”

Optimus nodded, “Velocitron now is at peace after a brief civil war of their own that we accidentally caused upon visiting the planet during our escape from our dying planet. Override is their leader still, but she is very weary of us. They use races to determine outcomes like politics and representatives. The best way to win the favor of a Velocitronian is to race them.”

Arcee huffed, “Yeah. But how do I win against a Velocitronian?”

“Don’t know,” Bolt said bluntly, “but Caminus is different. Caminus left our trade in favor of another world, Devisiun, which has better supply lines and safer accessibility. They weren’t too impressed with our attitudes, so they sought out a planet that wouldn’t back talk whatever they wanted to agree or disagree with. Alpha Trion kind of pissed off their leader as well.”

“Caminus is known for its majority femme populace and praise the one called the Mistress of Flame, a religious figure. She controls everything on the planet, and no one disrespects her. Windblade and the combiner, Victorion, are from Caminus who settled here upon our revival of Cybertron. They are great allies to have and so is Caminus as a whole. Do whatever the Mistress of Flame says, and we can convince her we no longer wish to be controlling,” the Prime replied.

The Vehicon then scoffed, “Then there’s Chaar...three guesses who runs that planet and the first two don’t count. The Matriarch won’t trade with Cybertron unless physically here. She doesn’t trust anybody, and it makes sense considering she is still a Decepticon and not everyone is pleased there are war criminals wandering Cybertron under pardon. So, talking to her to open trade again is easier said than done. Shockwave is probably your best bet to win her over. Get him to consider and The Matriarch won’t stray far from what Shockwave deems ‘logical.’”

“How did a Vehicon like Matriarch get to be the Decepticon leader?” Arcee asked.

Bolt laughed, “Uh, Starscream got kicked out by Predaking, Shockwave didn’t care and no other Decepticon was ballsy enough to take the throne while Megatron was deemed living, so The Matriarch took charge because she wasn’t afraid of Megatron and the Decepticons needed an active leader before they started killing each other. The Matriarch worked and, in a way, she’s kind of scarier than Megatron because with Megatron, you at least know what to expect. The Matriarch? She’s a little unstable and since she has the strength to back up any threats...you can obviously see where this is going. Point made. Woo Shockwave and The Matriarch might take the bait considering they are sparkmates after all. And don’t ask what Shockwave sees in her because I don’t know either.”

“Junkion has a leader known as Wreck-gar. We encountered him some time ago and he is a bit…hyperactive,” Optimus said.

“Looney is more like it,” Bolt snickered. “But I heard he’s pretty open to a lot of things. He would be by far the easiest to persuade. Junkion technically separated from Cybertron because Wreck-gar felt his planet needed to be a haven, not controlled so he did what he felt was right. Kanjis, on the other hand, is a whole different scenario. The Kanjians were open to us, but we severed ties with them.

“The remaining Primes were so afraid that the Kanjians would use the fact that they were more powerful than we were and try and take over. This paranoia caused Cybertron to get offensive when, in reality, the Kanjians didn’t care for power. They just wanted a decent economy and good trade. But because of Cybertron’s increased paranoia did the Kanjians warn us not to continue or else. What happened? Cybertronians and their pride...they sent almost an entire army to invade Kanjis and not one Cybertronian managed to get close to the cities.”

Arcee said, “Let me guess, Kanjians sound like they are more powerful so obviously Cybertronians fought them and-”

“Wrong! The Kanjians never fought us. The Kanjians didn’t even have to lift a digit to conquer Cybertron’s invasion,” Bolt interrupted abruptly. “We didn’t even make it to a city border because the goddamn wildlife on Kanjis killed everyone first. Metalwoods, predators-hell, the landscape killed people. Cybertron didn’t even get in a half-mile radius of any city on that planet, and all the Kanjians just watched the clown show laughing their asses off most likely. King Kronos, the ruler of the planet, just watched and shrugged at the buffoonery we did. We were so ashamed I heard; we apparently destroyed the space bridge to Kanjis just to bury our own humiliating defeat. That’s sad, so no wonder the Kanjians wanted nothing to do with us after that. Who the hell wants to befriend a race that got their asses kicked by trees?!”

Optimus was silent this time around and Arcee understood the awkwardness that an attempt to defend the Cybertronian race from something that humiliating was nearly impossible and she knew there was a chance when she encountered the Kanjians they would bring it up somehow.

“Anyways, moving on, Aquatron...without the Quintessons, I assume the Aquatronian race eventually came out of hiding, especially after getting rid of Quintessa who was the last active leader, so I heard. I don’t know who rules Aquatron now but good luck trying to persuade them of anything. Last but not least is a well-known favorite: Earth.”

Arcee perked up instantly, “Earth? You think we can bring Earth as a fellow trader?”

The Prime answered, “Yes, Bolt and I think, given the vast amount of history our two worlds share, that Earth is finally ready to see us as we are.”

“However,” Bolt said, “be careful. Humans claim they would be stoked to see aliens like us, but they don’t know how to handle the ones trying to kill or hurt them. There isn’t one leader to Earth too so you’re just going to have to figure out a place to start and go from there. I kind of miss that little planet.”

With all the information gathered, Arcee now had a clear concept of what needed to be done and how. To impress the leaders of the other worlds, including Earth, she had to play on what they condemned Cybertron for and prove it was all in the past. It would be a challenge given the Cybertronian race was now nothing short of aggravators in their eyes, but opinions could be changed with patience and hard work.

“We’ve already hit rock bottom in the universe, right? Can’t imagine we can fall any farther from grace,” Arcee said.

Bolt didn’t share her enthusiasm. “Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible either. Although your spark is in the right place, that doesn’t mean anyone else’s is, and some people will use the advantage of the past to gain power over you.”

Arcee made a mental note of that. Indeed, the past did matter but how to move forward was a question that would either free Cybertron or damn it to the Pits forever. She had to take her chances. “Thanks for telling me what you found out. I’ll keep all of that in mind.”

Bolt then asked, “Are you going back to the Nexus?”

“Yes?”

“I’m coming with you. After all, I didn’t come back from the dead to watch you risk your life without support. If we do die, get arrested, or anything else that can go horribly wrong, I’d rather be by your side than let you go through all of it alone.”

Arcee gave deadpanned smirk, “You just want to come along because you want to know of each world’s fauna as the cyberbiologist you are-”

“-As the cyberbiologist I am...correct. Maybe that’s the main reason, but I will not confirm or deny anything.”

“Nice to see you again, Bolt,” she laughed. “Let’s go.”

The Vehicon fist pumped before pointing at Optimus. “You’re in charge of Iacon. No parties.”

The Prime merely shook his head with a brief smile before resuming studying the data feeds of the worlds they had been researching.

Arcee and Bolt both went to the Nexus where they found Megatron and the rest of their friends awaiting them. Megatron gave them an overjoyed grin while Haywire seemed slightly surprised at seeing Bolt out of Iacon. Shockwave, however, went straight to the point.

“The Nexus is fully operational by what the data says but we must turn it on before we know for sure. As you can see, there are five bridges in the Nexus which means five switches to find. For accurate teleportation without any margin for error, it is crucial that all five are active.”

Scythe, who appeared beside Haywire to Arcee’s surprise, nodded, “The Nexus was designed to be the main transport to every colony and world, accessible to said planets on their end as well whereas the singular bridges were mostly remote access only. When Cybertron stopped communicating with the other worlds, the Nexus was left to rust, only to be used during the war to hide precious cargo from both factions.”

Haywire said, “The switches should be at the base of each bridge. If you would do the honors, your Majesty?”

Arcee smiled before turning to Megatron, “First to three is the first to talk to the leaders of the other worlds.”

“Oh, okay, we’re racing then. It is on, my dear,” he sneered back.

While Megatron took off in one direction, Arcee went to the nearest bridge behind her. The base of the bridge had a console showing off its data of the bridge’s functionality. Everything looked alright so far. She looked around for any type of switch or sequence needed to activate it before noticing the console was sectioned off into three segments, one for main controls, one for coordinates, and one for maintenance. They all communicated with each other, automatically updating every second with precision. Playing with the console, she searched for the right set of commands but oddly found none until one button began pulsing after accessing the power schematics. She didn’t hesitate to hit it, assuming she didn’t just screw up the bridge with her impulsive gesture.

A loud bang erupted above her and the bridge shook before its structure lit up blue. Several parts realigned to point towards the middle where her friends were. They all moved out of the way as the energy converged in the bridge’s center before a beam shot down in the middle of the crater. Pillars rose from the middle and seemed to contain the beam from consuming anything on the outside like her peers by accident.

Now that Arcee knew what to do, she raced to the next one and repeated the same process. Hitting the button, the second bridge lit up and its energy combined with the first bridge’s and the portal they were creating became more defined. Megatron activated his end as well before moving on to his second. When Arcee reached her third bridge, there was some hesitance, not because of the bet. As she heard Megatron turning on the second to last bridge, she contemplated what it meant to start the Nexus entirely.

Once she pressed the button, there would be no going back. It was a heavy weight on her chest, and she knew that there was a chance something could go wrong by doing what they were doing. If the planets hated them so, she doubted they would show mercy. Once they crossed the bridge, everything would be out of her servos on how the rest went down. Her servo hovered over the button as Megatron approached.

“Arcee?”

She blinked at him as he looked down upon her unsure form. He seemed to not care for the race anymore in favor of making sure she was alright. She gave him a forced smile this time, “Just thinking.”

Megatron looked away for a second before saying, “Nothing will ever change if someone doesn’t take the first step to change, even if there are personal consequences. It’s your choice though, Arcee.”

She stood there unsure but knew Megatron was right. No pain, no gain. No sacrifice, no victory. A leap of faith could kill her either way, so why not go out fighting for change? “Damn my moral compass.”

The button slammed down, and the bridge rumbled almost life-like, like a giant awakening from a long slumber. Gears and metal readjusted before it connected with the other four. The five beams came together among the pillars in the center and a swirling vortex appeared. Energy webbed across the ground throughout the crater, and they all felt the warmth of it.

As the two walked back to their peers, Arcee had a sudden realization. “Wait, did we just open a portal randomly on Velocitron?”

“No,” Shockwave said, “the vortex you see is not linked to any location. It is merely ready to transport you once you enter the coordinates just like any other bridge. It keeps its end active constantly, but the exit won’t stay open. I’ll set the coordinates for the next jump to Velocitron’s capital, Delta. From there, I’m sure you’ll find your way.”

Suddenly, Grimlock passed Shockwave and extended his T-rex arm holding the unknown cylinder she had found with Wildwing and Predaking. “Here, have this.”

Arcee took it and frowned, “You found out what it is?”

Predaking answered next to Grimlock, “Perceptor said it was a radiant core. They were normally made for weapons but without the proper set up, they are mainly harmless. Maybe you’ll find some use to it. He said they were one of few items that were commonly found across the colonies, popularized by trade. Who knows? The other worlds might have them too.”

“And we’ll find out, won’t we?” Bolt said as he approached with Scythe and Haywire. “Oh, and we’re missing one member of our crew.”

“Wha-? Who?” She asked concerned.

Scythe made a loud whistle and Arcee heard a familiar yowl. Running down the side of the crater and sprinting towards them, Moonhunter sounded off in delight. “Why, the most important one, of course.”

Moonhunter slowed to a prance and rubbed against Arcee’s legs purring.

“That’s a brilliant cat you have,” Haywire said. “He’s a sweetheart-”

Bolt scoffed, “No, he ain’t.”

The Nitrotiger glared at the Vehicon and flicked his ear but stayed silent out of mockery so Bolt couldn’t prove his point. Both knew Moonhunter wanted to hiss at him. Arcee merely looked between the two before shrugging at her friends.

“It’s complicated.”

“Arcee, Megatron,” The Matriarch announced, “Shockwave and I are heading back to Chaar as a test run for the Nexus. We won’t see you off so good luck and try not to get yourselves killed. I’m not paying for anyone’s funeral.”

Arcee shook her head at the statement but knowing The Matriarch, that was as good of a goodbye as she was going to get. Grimlock set the coordinates for Chaar first and they watched both Cons depart with an automated platform carrying the Driller grub cages and several supplies. Seeing a few of the grubs click and mewl was adorable had it not been a constant concern they would one day be full of fangs and big enough to eat the likes of a Combiner.

Once the Decepticon leader had crossed through the portal, Arcee suddenly got a commlink message. “Home sweet home, Queenie. Do send the leader of Velocitron my regards.”

Grimlock altered the coordinates to Shockwave’s preset ones, and the bridges made a sound though the portal remained. “Locked and loaded on Velocitron’s signal. Awaiting you, Arcee.”

She addressed Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter after acknowledging him. “Let’s get started. Remember, all or nothing.”

Bolt replied, “I’m ready for the action. Megatron?”

“Hopefully, Velocitron doesn’t hold a grudge...” Megatron said.

Arcee raised a single brow unamused, “I’m afraid to ask. What did you do?”

“You weren’t with us in the exodus, were you?” He asked confused. She slowly mouthed the word “no” and he understood before awkwardly stating, “Optimus and I chased each other across the galaxy, across some of these worlds and I may have pissed off a lot of people. Will just say that.”

At this point, Arcee wasn’t even surprised as Haywire and Scythe looked at each other. She just sighed and said, “I’m mated to a formerly unhinged, murderous warlord. I don’t know why I even question anything I find out you’ve done.”

“Because you love me?”

“I think it’s because I find out things about you even I didn’t know before, and I worked under you for a millennium. That’s scary. You are a genuinely frightening mech,” Bolt said.

Megatron shot him a glare, but he ignored it as Arcee stepped up to the portal ghosting a servo over its energy.

They kept behind her as Haywire said, “Good luck, Arcee. We’ll be in contact with you the entire way.”

That was enough for Arcee to gain a bit of confidence that her plan to reunite the cyber worlds would work. With the proper support and a badass crew, she was ready for the unknown. She stepped into the light until it became blinding as did the others who followed her lead.

Chapter Text

The light melted into a city view and Arcee blinked at first uncertain. Megatron and Bolt came out from behind her while Moonhunter jumped through with a shake of his head. When she saw bots staring at her and heard the portal close, she finally started to peer around at her surroundings.

The city of Delta, Velocitron, had towering skyscrapers and several bridges floating above and below the plaza platform they were on. Stories of walkways with constant movement reminded her of Iacon but bigger and much more fast-paced. The vehicles riding the highways built to move around and sometimes even through the buildings themselves were going so quick, all their motions were blurry. Below her, she saw the lowest streets and pockets of open floor that revealed a lengthy fall to Velocitron’s desert surface. The city was held up by mountainous pillars and given she had met some of the wildlife Velocitron had on the Isle of the Allspark, she couldn’t say she blamed them for securing their way of life without interruption. With a white supergiant sun nearing its life cycle within the next hundred million years and a deep hazel sky against a gradient auburn-tinted flat desert, Velocitron was living high and free without a care in the world.

“Whoa, and I thought Cybertropolis had crazy traffic...” Bolt mused. “I’ve heard they don’t have roads here, only superhighways and speedways, nothing but the fast life. Also, isn’t it supposed to be blazing hot? We look like a bunch of stupid tourists.”

“I wouldn’t say stupid,” a giggle sounded.

They all turned to see a curvy, light red femme with gold optics and dark burgundy stripes across her limbs and chest. She had a spoiler for her vehicle form split in half on each side of her hips and rounded horns on her helm. She held a very nice demeanor and Arcee swore she had a natural blush on her cheek armor, but it could have been the lighting.

“So, if you’re not from here, might I ask where you lovely bots came from?” She said, swaying with a sweet smile and her arms behind her back.

Arcee knew it wasn’t a good idea to withhold information, so she admitted, “We’re from Cybertron, here to make amends. Um, is there a leader we can talk to?”

The femme nodded quickly, “Oh yes, Override would love to meet you!”

“Override?” Megatron asked. “Last time I knew about her, Ransack, her second-in-command, rebelled against her and started a civil war.”

“You’re correct, sir, but fortunately, Override won and Ransack was killed. His followers defected to Override’s side near the end once they realized he went insane with power. Kind of sad really but what’s in the past is done. I can show you to Override. She’s currently over at the FastTrak Command Complex downtown.”

“So...there’s no ill-will?”

Both Bolt and Arcee looked at Megatron strangely.

She giggled, “Well, here’s the thing. We don’t really hate Cybertron for what Ransack did. Some of us knew that mech had problems. Yes, you shouldn’t have pressed him, but we can honestly say it wasn’t unexpected. We’re a race of people who tend to live in the present more so than in the past. Half the folks here forced themselves to forget...”

Bolt whispered “Makes our job easier. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

Then the femme gave a small frown, “It may be a while before anyone can get to the complex itself.”

“What? Why?” Arcee asked with a somewhat confused smile.

“Well, we’ve been dealing with some strange stuff recently, one coincidence being an unknown growth that shut down some of our highways and speedways. The Railworks Highway leads to the complex directly, but it’s lost its lighting and something aggressive has infested it. Whatever it is, it’s corroding the highway making it difficult to traverse. Unfortunately, we rely heavily on driving the most to get around, very few can fly so unless we figure out how to exterminate the fungus, or whatever it is, we can’t get to the complex. Override is currently trying to deal with it.”

Arcee contemplated that and snapped her fingers. “What if we could help?”

The femme squealed with excitement, “That would be awesome! If you can start by getting the power back up on the highway, you can pinpoint where the growths are, and we can get rid of them faster! Override would be so grateful.”

Megatron smirked, “Thank you...I’m sorry, we never caught your name.”

“Oh, my name is Road Rage, I’m a consultant on Override’s council,” she smiled politely. “And you are?”

All three Cybertronians paused at hearing her name, and Moonhunter just tilted his head unsure. Road Rage looked nothing like what her name described, didn’t act like it either. She was too nice, too perky, and her stature didn’t look like she could kill anyone. They each wanted to ask why she was named that but found that there was nothing they could ask that would make any sense as to why a little femme had such an aggressive name. In fact, they were beginning to think that wasn’t her real name at all.

Blinking awkwardly, Arcee merely said, “We...I am Arcee, Queen of Cybertron, this is my consort, Megatron, my cyberbiologist, Bolt, and my pet Nitrotiger, Moonhunter.”

Road Rage clapped her servos with another giggle. “So nice to meet you. I’ll make sure Override contacts you, Arcee. I promise. Oh, and I should tell you the lights of the highway are controlled by the watchtower at the city checkpoint to the south of FastTrak. With all those growths though, the tower has been overrun, but I have every confidence in you!”

She waved them off cheerily and transformed into a bulky, small truck before heading towards a large building in the distance. Arcee watched her for a second before turning to Megatron and pointing backwards. “Road Rage? Wonder what earned her that name?”

“Maybe hates the traffic?” Bolt shrugged. “Anyways, I guess dealing with the infestation would win Override’s favor faster, especially if she’s isolated from the city because of it. Can’t be worse than scraplets, right?”

“Oh, Primus, I hope not,” Arcee said.

Wandering the city in search of the watchtower, they took in the sights as they went. Velocitron had close by distant cities that were connected by at least three separate highways each. Arcee once heard New York was the “city that never sleeps” from her human friends; this planet would put that city to shame in a spark beat.

“There, I think that’s the watchtower,” Bolt said pointing at a lighthouse-like building.

It was right on the outskirts of the main city line but overseeing the highway it controlled. The highway was closed off and from what Arcee could understand, the signs seemed to read something about it being a quarantine zone with some exclaiming “Warning!” and “Restricted Access!” which gave her the sense she was on the right highway. Climbing over the barricades, she ignored the Velocitronians that started muttering behind her back.

“I was going to say maybe wait until we get permission but okay, breaking and entering in a restricted area works too. It’s not like, you know, we might be recognized as war criminals,” Bolt said. Moonhunter followed without hesitation and Megatron didn’t bother arguing Arcee’s logic in all this. That left Bolt alone, and he peered back at the Velocitronians before giving up. “We might as well.”

They transformed and sped across the empty highway to the watchtower. Past it, they could see a large complex on a ridge. FastTrak Command had half the highway covered in something dark and part of it was clinging to the watchtower itself. Bolt drove beside Arcee’s motorcycle form in a purple sports model, a common vehicle type used on Earth. The fact that he still kept it amazed Arcee. Megatron flew above them and Moonhunter ran fast enough to keep up with the likes of the bots. Reaching the watchtower, they halted with Megatron circling around a few times before landing next to Arcee.

“It looks like some sort of vine-like substance and it’s moving.”

Arcee walked as close as possible to the unusual growth and kneeled down. The alien vines indeed moved inch by inch with smaller fungal remnants caking the road between them. Then something odd caught her optic. A faint yellow pustule shivered, pulsing like a living entity. It almost reminded her of-

The queen shot up abruptly and backed away to the others’ surprise. “I know what that is!”

“What?”

“Roughridge Mountains, the ice caverns were covered in this because of-!”

Bolt finished with a harsh whisper, “The Horaquan. The Metal Heads are here.”

Megatron frowned and shook his head, “There’s no way those creatures got here. They weren’t even known except by Kanjians because Tigressa created them, isn't that what you said, Bolt? Why would they be so far out here? It makes no sense.”

The Vehicon held up a digit. “Or maybe it does. No one ever kept track of the creatures once Tigressa was banished, so what if it has something to do with her presence on the isle? Kor could have messaged a surviving legion as well of her return if he knew. When you killed her, it may have infuriated them.”

“But why Velocitron? They never had anything to do with us or what we did,” Arcee said.

“That I can’t answer but if the Metal Heads are here, and with no leader to control them, they will hurt people. It’s what they’re bred to do.”

That seemed suspicious to Arcee given all the Horaquan were known for was being a monstrous army, but armies were led, not released to do whatever. She scowled at the alien fungus and turned her attentions back to the watchtower. First thing first was to get the watchtower’s power back online.

“Megatron, you and I will go in the tower. Bolt, you and Moonhunter see if anything affects those growths so we can get to FastTrak Command as soon as possible.”

“On it,” he said.

Megatron nodded and offered his servo. She took it and hiked up to his shoulder in a crouching position. She held on as he jumped onto the side of the building. Using his claws, he climbed up it and extended his arm to let Arcee crawl into a window before he entered. The command console for the highway functions was still intact but the Horaquan growths were already threatening to invade it. She walked up to the computer and scoffed at the growths near its screen.

Bolt suddenly commed her, “Arcee, there may be a way to destroy these things. They aren’t bothered by cold because they thrived in the icy caverns on Earth without any problems, so what about heat? Is there anything scolding hot we can use up there?”

She peered around the room until she saw a furnace-like contraption, an Energon burner which powered the tower automatically. It was oddly shut down but perhaps the bots who ran the tower didn’t want to lose it to the alien growths so instead just shut it down. When active, it could burn up to 10,000 degrees but she wasn’t going to pour hot Energon on a highway and especially not knowing what Energon alone could do to the fungus.

Megatron placed a servo on a pipe and examined it before turning to Arcee. “I think this tower has water or something very similar. It’s not a standard Energon pipe; Energon would eat through this easily.”

They both looked at each other before Arcee gained an idea and contacted the Vehicon below. “Is there any intakes or pipes along the outside for liquids, not Energon but something like water?”

“Um, there’s two valve caps and the piping doesn’t look compliant for Energon, so yes.”

“Okay, Megatron and I are going to try something so bear with us. Megatron, can you use anything to run as a makeshift hose or-?”

Megatron smirked as he held up a stretchable pipe. “-Or a real one? These look like they were designed to reroute Energon and other fluids that are used in the tower in case of breaks. If we heat up the pipes with its contents, not only will the power be back on, but we could use this to extend the reach of the regular pipes to spray off the contaminants on the highway.”

“What about the growths inside?”

She looked at Megatron and he looked at her before both grew wicked grins. Arcee started up the watchtower’s protocols and marveled at the furnace reigniting. Energon flowed from one pipe to another, lighting the room blue. The exterior highway glowed as each set of adjacent lights turned on. As the systems did their thing, Megatron attached the extended pipe to a sealed output of the unknown liquid before turning the handle above it to open it. He pointed to the end of the pipe towards the wall and sneered as scolding hot water seared the alien growths. As they predicted, the Metal Head fungus was burned away, falling dead as the rest of it slowly turned black. For good measure, Megatron followed the growths to a seam in the wall until he confirmed all of it was gone.

“Alright, Bolt, we’re sending the pipe down to you.”

Arcee turned the output off and detached the end to throw out the window. Megatron followed through by waiting until Bolt attached the end down below before chucking his portion down for the Vehicon to catch.

“Moonhunter,” Bolt said, “if you would do the honors!”

The Nitrotiger made a quick yowl and nudged the output valve lever with his nose as Bolt pointed the pipe directly at the infestation. The water blew well over a hundred feet and the fungus was quickly stripped off the highway. He made sure to make a sweeping motion to get both sides of the highway to ensure the growth was nowhere to be found. By the time the last patch was gone, the highway looked clean like it was newly built. Bolt threw the pipe to the side and swiped his servos together to signify a job well done.

Arcee and Megatron jumped down while Bolt laughed, “Done and done! We should get jobs as an extermination crew. We’d make a lot of money.”

The couple laughed at the statement until Arcee received an incoming call. She was surprised at who it was. “Arcee, is it? I can see you from the complex. My name is Override, the leader of Velocitron and I want to thank you. If you’re wondering how I got ahold of your frequency, Cybertronian signals register different than ours so you kind of stick out. Road Rage told me what you offered to do and at first, I was skeptical. But you did as you said you would and again, I appreciate your help. Meet me at FastTrak and I will be more than willing to talk with you.”

Arcee grinned as the others awaited what she was told. “I guess we have a meeting with Override after all.”

The FastTrak Command Complex sat on the edge of a large plateau with several energy outposts connected to it. Rolling up to the main building itself, Arcee gawked at how massive it was. Several Velocitronians were outside and cheering her, thanking her for getting rid of the foreign fungus. As they stepped inside, FastTrak proved to look even bigger within than its exterior. Multiple levels could be seen above them with a central pillar with winding energy curling upward like a beacon in the middle of it all.

“FastTrak is our main junction for the city’s functionality. We have several of these complexes across the world. It was my predecessor's design and I’ve kept them operational since,” a red and white femme said walking down a flight of stairs with a few guards behind her. When she reached the bottom, she gestured proudly, “Welcome to Velocitron. I am Override, leader of this world.”

Arcee made a friendly bow and smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Arcee. I’m the leader of Cybertron.”

“And your friends are...” Override paused for a second before pointing at Megatron and growing a bit irate. “I remember you. You’re the one who stirred up Ransack to take my place!”

Arcee quickly defused the situation by exclaiming, “He’s good now! Megatron learned his lesson, his past is behind him, and he is sorry. Right, Megatron?”

Override awaited his answer and he nodded, “I made many mistakes, wanting more, and one of them was starting conflicts where there shouldn’t have been. I apologize, not that I expect you to forgive me and wouldn’t blame you.”

The leader of Velocitron contemplated before giving a nod of her own. “I’ll accept that. But just so you know, I squashed that rebellion you started. Ransack’s corpse is in pieces down on the surface below. I don’t like killing my own, but that was a necessity, and I don’t want it to ever happen again. Understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Bolt said for Megatron.

“I should arrest you, have you killed too...” Override hissed much to Arcee’s worry, “but even if I acted on that, it would solve nothing. What’s in the past is done and right now, I have other things I have to worry about here. The question is: do I have to worry about you?”

Megatron shook his head, “No, what I did was tyrannical. My obsession got the best of me, and I thought you were in my way. And I saw Ransack’s hatred for you. Since you helped Optimus...I turned Ransack loose to keep you out of our war-”

“Only to start a whole new one,” she finished. The awkward tension had everyone staring between them. “I don’t do vendettas, but I will defend my planet not for power but because they don’t deserve to be caught in the drama! We had little resources, worrying about a dying sun, and on top of that foreigners who wanted something we had no idea about. That was too far even for me, but I fought my hardest to put things right, even skewering my own morals to get it done. That was painful. I don’t blame the Autobots as much as I do you...but how long am I supposed to hate you for that. I won, now are you here to usurp me personally or are you here to help me this time?”

“We are going to help you-”

“Then you better stick to that promise or next time, I will turn Velocitron against you all. If you’re reasonable, I’m reasonable. If you’re not, I have very little problems now in taking a life. Remember that.” She changed the subject to gesture at the queen. “Arcee, I assume you didn’t come here to get your friend to apologize, so what truly brings you here?”

“Those growths on the highway, I recognize them. They are an alien fungus to a specific species created by a virus. We dealt with them before, and we heard Velocitron might be in danger. I didn’t want to sit around and do nothing with any of you caught in its path.”

“A virus, you say? How did you get rid of the growths?”

Arcee said, “They don’t like heat which is odd because I would think Velocitron would be hotter than this. I’ve heard the stories of the heat waves.”

Override shrugged, “What they probably didn’t say is we rotate around our sun in an oblong pattern. You caught us in our cooling season which, yes, explains why this weird fungus or other managed to grow on a planet otherwise burning hot. You heard of planets getting cold seasons with snow or rain? We get vacation seasons when we don’t have to race around as much to cool off and can relax.”

“Racing is your sport, I forgot. That’s awesome!” The blue femme laughed trying to break any remaining tension.

Override smiled a little before reaching in her subspace and bringing out a familiar cylinder to their surprise. “I don’t have much to offer now but for clearing up our highway, I’ll give you this. It’s a Radiant Core.”

She threw it gently and Arcee caught it while Megatron gave her a thumbs up. “Are you sure you want to give this up?”

“I have more and I’m willing to part with the others if you could help me with a few other things while you’re visiting...only visiting. Ever since that fungus came around, weird things have been happening. Sightings, some people think it’s an omen of our end, and I’ve been hearing abnormal things at night around the city on the surface below. It is scaring everyone, and fear can make people do bad things if pressured. For now, I need to see if any other remnants of this fungus are around the city. I’ll either contact you when I find something, or I’ll send Road Rage your way.”

She patted Arcee’s shoulder and gave the others a brief nod before transforming and headed out on the newly active highway with her guards.

Megatron sneered, “Guess we’re on call. If the Horaquan make a move, we’ll be ready.”

Bolt scoffed, “You two can handle it. Moonhunter and I are going exploring. I may have visited this planet before but never got to see many of its creatures. I’m going to do some cyberbiology work for the Iacon Archives. If you need us, give us a holler.”

As Bolt left and Moonhunter trotted happily behind him, Arcee shook her head. “Typical Bolt.”

“But he does his job well.”

“Arcee,” the Allspark’s voice echoed in her mind.

“Allspark?” When Megatron gave her a raise of a brow, she gestured to her audio receptor, and he understood. “What’s wrong?”

“Be wary of all around you. A traitor of the past condemns the traitor of the present but will not stop the traitor of the future. Heed all your commands received by choice but do not take lightly the consequences of them as past and future collide.”

She hated it when the Allspark spoke in riddles but that alerted her greatly. Was it someone on Velocitron, someone on Cybertron, or someone she would encounter elsewhere? “Traitors” of Cybertron were often perceived as the Decepticons and many matched the description of betraying their planets to betraying their cause after, one of whom being Megatron himself who gave up the Decepticons to pay for his crimes. She didn’t want to dare believe he was the future traitor, but she couldn’t rule out anything knowing fate. She then thought of the other candidates. Anyone from Chaar had potential, Ransack was dead so no problem there, and the other worlds she wouldn’t know of until she saw them. It was virtually a dead end meaning right now, and that bothered her.

A sudden roar made all the Velocitronians in FastTrak pause. Megatron and Arcee looked at each other before addressing the nearest citizen. “Is something wrong?”

The mech said, “I’m not sure. I think it’s a vortekia but they stay at ground level usually. It sounds almost in pain.”

Another roar, this time stressed, made Arcee and Megatron run quickly out the back door with several Velocitronians following. Among the towers of energy feeding the complex, they spotted the most horrific sight. A vortekia crawled around on its wings and small legs whimpering and shivering in a circle and since the species was naturally blind, Arcee could tell it was having trouble trying to find a direction to stick to without the wind currents it created to sense its surroundings. However, there were dark patches and purple veins coursing up it quickly as it let out another roar of agony. With its back towards the bots, it hunched over and suddenly snarled but it didn’t sound normal. Its armor turned a nasty dark violet and abruptly, it turned around and gave a possessed, ungodly sound.

“Oh my-!”

The vortekia had a skull gem on its forehead and ten times more teeth than before, dripping a purple sludge from its mouth. Arcee recognized the symptoms immediately. The vortekia was now a Metal Head abomination.

Megatron immediately said, “We need to kill it before it infects anyone else!”

Unlike regular vortekias that would create their natural vortexes of dust and other loose fragments, the corrupted Metal Head dragged itself across the ground uncaring if it damaged itself in the process. Its mindlessness proved terrifying as it lunged at Arcee. Megatron kicked it square in the mouth from the angle he had beside her. They both donned their cannon and arm blasters alike before shooting at it. The vortekia twisted out of the way of several shots before crawling the side of the wall protecting one of the towers and leaping off it.

Arcee was toppled to the ground as the creature snapped its jaws at her. She held it as far back as she could before swiftly kicking off its underbelly to fling it over her helm. Flipping upright, she was quick to note it was behind her and did a 360-degree swipe of her leg which nailed its skull gem, forcing it to retreat backwards in pain.

Megatron blasted its tail off and it turned on him hissing but before he could meet it halfway, they heard the horn of a large vehicle. The light red form of Road Rage sped towards them and rammed the vortekia head on, a loud crack emitted from the latter and her tires bounced off its body. She flew over the remainder of it and slid to turn around, tires still spinning.

“Twenty-ton tiny truck coming through!”

Road Rage surged forward as the Metal vortekia clutched its broken jaw only to make a sound of surprise as Road Rage's bumper made contact with the rest of its head. It grew still with one final noise, not before sending the small femme rolling from a mistimed bounce. Instead of pain though, Road Rage merely laughed as she was tossed about. She transformed on her last flip and landed on her back with a smile.

“That was fun! Can I do it again?” she giggled somewhat dizzily.

“Road Rage, your timing is impeccable,” Megatron said. The skull gem of the vortekia popped up indicating its passing and rolled to the feet of the mech who picked it up with disgust. “I still don’t get why Metal Heads would be here if there’s nothing to do except attack people and other creatures.”

Arcee shrugged, “If it’s a species made to destroy, it’ll do just that regardless of who it comes in contact with I’d think.”

Road Rage popped up and said, “I came to tell you guys that since you seem to know more about this foreign presence than we do, we might need you to help us contain it in other places as well. We detected more weird signatures that the fungus gave off across town, but Override wants to investigate it first before sending you in if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine but if something is infected by it, don’t hesitate to call us,” Arcee said.

“Will do! While you’re waiting feel free to visit anywhere on Velocitron you want. Racing is the biggest sport here; free-for-alls and scheduled races are available to watch anytime. You could even participate in a few if you feel up to it. Ask Blurr, he runs the Dreadnaught Speedway across the city. It’s a fun track.”

As she walked away, Arcee looked at Megatron who grinned. “Why not enjoy ourselves instead of worrying constantly. Up for a race to Blurr’s speedway?”

“That’s not fair because you’d win.”

“How so?”

“You can fly over the buildings. I have to drive around them,” she pointed out.

Megatron was about to say something but found she was right. There was no way to make a race even, especially with their vehicle forms having far different top speeds. Not even flying between the buildings alongside her would make it even.

“Fair point.”

But she then smirked, “Of course, if I were to get a head start because you love me so much...”

Arcee suddenly bolted and transformed, zooming down the highway and leaving Megatron in the dust. Two Velocitronians were watching, and both were surprised. Upon catching them staring at her, Megatron laughed, “That’s my sparkmate alright.”

He transformed and took off after her. Weaving through the city, he spotted her at an on ramp to the Dreadnaught Park outpacing some of the Velocitronians though they were just cruising. He pursued, spinning upon making a sharp right and boosted his thrusters to go faster. It was always fun to chase her, always had been when they were on separate factions, not he would admit it. Capturing the uncatchable Arcee was the Decepticons’ most impressive feat, and he gave Starscream credit for finally doing it.

Dreadnaught Speedway was almost a huge roller coaster, and it looked intimidating up close. As the highway leading around it had several off ramps to specific seating and a small market attached, they took the direct off ramp to the stadium overhang seating just above where the pits were. Energon fueling stations lined the underside on the bottom two just out of sight while the pits themselves were visible for the audience to watch. It was empty mostly with a few bots hanging out talking. Both Cybertronians transformed back to robot mode and Megatron barely passed her by swooping down.

“Ha! Beat you!” Arcee sneered.

“Oh now, I’d say I had won that. Didn’t you see me ahead two inches?” He smirked.

“No, no, nah-uh, I got that. Don’t lie now.”

“I’m not lying!” He laughed. “I got it, and I will hold onto my stance.”

Arcee shook her head, “Yeah, mm hmm, sure.”

“That was some racing there, guys,” a blue mech suddenly said, “but if you want to know who’s the real winner, why don’t you take it up on the track? Real battles are fought on these roads.”

They met the mech halfway as he introduced himself. “The name’s Blurr. I run the Dreadnaught Speedway. It’s a daredevil’s dream and a Velocitronian’s paradise. Road Rage told me we had a few guests from Cybertron. She’s a motor mouth, can’t hold no secrets.”

Megatron touched his digits together tensely, “You’re not mad, right?”

“I mean, what some of you did was a bitch move but Ransack wasn’t as invisible as he thought in terms of motives. You can’t be racist and jealous and not get a few looks your way. I spied for Override regarding him. We all knew he was waiting for a chance...guess he took the wrong one.”

“I apologize-”

“No need, big grey, you can’t dwell too far into the past when everything is better not lingering on specific details. Why do you think Velocitron survived for so long? If we got stuck on the past, it would have been a bloodbath by now,” Blurr said. “Even ask Road Rage.”

Arcee perked up her eyebrows for a brief second before asking, “Why is she named Road Rage by the way?”

“Now that’s a story. I know, she doesn’t match the profile of someone like that name describes physically. Road Rage is the nicest, sweetest little angel you will ever meet...until you get her on the track. We learned this the hard way because she has killed people. She is one of the most aggressive racers known and has been banned from several speedways because of her terrifying demeanor. Off the track, a darling. On the track, ha ha...you’re going to the medbay dead or alive. She’s not the fastest, mind you, but she still won multiple races because she was able to take out the other racers that were faster than her. She is abnormally strong for a Velocitronian and for someone her size. The reason she holds a position on Velocitron’s council is because Override finds her funny and she’s a good negotiator...not by terrorizing people.”

Megatron mouthed “wow” in a concerned manner while Arcee just stared at Blurr. “I would hope no one ever angers her if that’s even possible.”

“It is,” Blurr said with a pained tone, “but it takes a lot to get under her plating because she always sees the positive side of things, even when it hurts her. So, if you actually try, you might unfortunately see that. I would rather she stayed with her bubbly, childish nature than ever be ‘mature’ because I wouldn’t want to see her act like most of us do on a daily basis knowing how violent she can be when pushed. That we all can live with.”

After getting over the initial shock of the matter, Arcee cleared her throat. “So, what about Dreadnaught Speedway makes it so special? I heard others refer to it.”

Blurr rubbed his servos together. “Now, you’re talking my language. Dreadnaught Speedway is, like I said, a daredevil’s course. One of the best freelance racetracks on Velocitron. But since you’re so interested in it, how about you race me, bot to bot? Let us see if Cybertron can keep up.”

“I prefer not to race-”

“Scared?” Blurr jabbed.

Megatron winced and facepalmed as Arcee lost her smile. “Alright, Velocitronian, you want to race? Let’s go.”

The blue mech snickered to himself, “Gets them all the time. Given how large the track is, two laps will be fair enough. Just don’t expect me to hold your servo, two-wheeler.”

Arcee cracked her neck and followed Blurr as he jumped the railing to the pits below. Megatron took a seat and crossed his arms with a sigh. “This is going to be either really good or really bad.”

Blurr stopped just next to the decorated line and gestured to Arcee. “Beginning and end. Try to keep up.”

Arcee met his smug grin with her own sharp smile as he transformed. She followed suit and revved her engine to taunt him. His engine sounded louder as an answer.

“Alright, boys, light it up!” Blurr said. The track’s vibrant red and gold colors turned on and pulsed in the direction of its winding path.

An announcer suddenly spoke, “Racers, let those engines roar! Three, two, one, GO!”

Both Arcee and Blurr shot off the line and sped down the first straight. He had faint streaks of blue emitting from his tires leaving a brief transparent trail of neon. Blurr got the lead and kept it as they made several winding turns. Every time Arcee tried to pass him on the inside, he would slide down to cut her off. She grew annoyed as he laughed.

“You have to take risks out here to get ahead! There’s no fun in smooth driving!”

They approached an oncoming loop and Blurr sped up, so did Arcee, but she saw him leaving her behind as he had the power to keep up with the loop’s demand. She realized she wouldn’t make it if she tried; she had not the capacity to keep herself on the platform nor the stability to come off it safely even if she did at least get to the top. As the loop curved upward, she quickly thought of her options and saw the loop ended just beyond the curvature of the upside. She smirked inwardly.

As Blurr went up, she decided to take the shortcut. Bringing herself up to maximum speed, she swerved off at an angle and jumped off the loop. The path forward was right there, and she laughed as after a few seconds, her tires hit the road and she sped off. She could tell everyone was amazed as the announcer was heard mumbling something out of surprise.

“And…Cybertron takes the lead in a shocking maneuver! Is that legal? It is!”

Arcee saw Blurr behind her several meters back and was determined to catch her. So far, he was silent which said something. Several winding turns and three small loops, which she was able to do this time, allowed her to maintain her lead. Then the jumps came around. She enjoyed herself immensely leaping over other parts of the track and one sharp turn had her suddenly leap over Blurr beneath her who was seconds from taking the same turn. Right as she did so, the crossing line came up marking her first lap down and onto the final.

Blurr was cutting corners a bit more professionally than previous as he slowly gained on her. She could hear his engine bellowing as he pushed himself. When they came to the big loop again, she did her shortcut but this time, Blurr did too. He bounced off the road a little which stalled him a second but zoomed after her determined to win back his spot.

Arcee could feel her engine heating badly. She wasn’t meant to go the pace of a born Velocitronian. Upon the three small loops, she heard him nearly on her tail and on the jumps, he sounded possessed.

“I’ll admit, you’re a good racer, but you can’t beat me! I was born to race! I’ll give you an A for effort!”

Arcee didn’t listen to him as he nearly rode her rear. As the final sharp turn was coming up, she did something bold. She slowed on the turn itself letting Blurr be head-to-head with her. They jumped the last ramp together, and Arcee stayed even with him and tricked him into slowing ever slightly.

“Good run, Blurr, except you forgot one thing!”

Blurr took the bait. “And what’s that?”

“You’re easy to distract.”

Arcee used every bit of her ability to hit top speed, popping a wheelie in the process. Blurr didn’t expect it and he failed to adjust on time before she got ahead by a foot and crossed the finish line.

“Oh, Cybertron has won! Unbelievable!”

They both skidded to a halt as they transformed and Blurr was shocked by the results. But he wasn’t a bad sport about it. He slowly grew a big grin and nodded at Arcee.

“You got something fierce inside you, Cybertronian. You have my respect,” he said. “Maybe we’ll race again some time?”

He offered his servo and Arcee shook it. “Anytime, Velocitronian.”

Blurr laughed and patted her shoulder as friendly as can be. As several people who happened to be in the stands cheered, Megatron smiled and jumped down to meet Arcee as Blurr was met by one of his associates.

Arcee was exhausted and Megatron clapped, “You did great, Arcee!”

She raised her servo shakily from the energy rush and gave a thumbs up. But as she was walking with him towards the exterior of the stadium, her commlink went off.

“Hey Arcee, meet me at the Delta Park in downtown when you get a chance,” Bolt said.

Both bots looked at each other with Megatron simply shrugging. Arcee didn’t rush off to meet Bolt and he knew why as she still stood in place to cool off her engine.

----------------------------

Bolt and Moonhunter watched the Velocitronian wildlife roaming the dry, vast plains from afar at the city’s cliffside park. The Nitrotiger shifted a little watching a deer-like creature prancing and stopping every few yards before briefly sitting on its hind legs to focus on sensing predators.

“You can’t eat that, buddy. Sorry,” he said.

Moonhunter still eyed the animal and licked his fangs with a small mewl. Suddenly, he was trailing it visually as it sprinted away but grew dissuaded as it shot off like a rocket, faster than he could go, leaving a trail of smoke and dust behind it. By a few seconds, it was already a dot on the horizon. Both Bolt and Moonhunter were dead silent before the former began laughing.

“Even if you could eat it, I think it’s out of your league.”

They heard a grounder and a flyer approaching and knew who it was. Moonhunter purred as Arcee approached and pet him.

“Have you two been having fun?” Arcee asked.

The Vehicon gestured to the view outside of the city limits. “Yeah, we just had a game of what was prey and what was predator a while back. We both lost as we learned appearances aren’t everything, especially seeing a harmless, cute Veloci-rabbit bite a rapidog’s head off. Quite peaceful here otherwise.”

“We had our share of surprises today too,” Megatron said.

Bolt held up a digit. “Can you two do me a favor? On the subject of the animals here, I noticed there are bellbats roaming around. Did I ever tell you they don’t bite? Last time I was here, I handled one. Could you bring me a few of them? I just miss the little guys and since it’s nearly dusk, they are active. They are my favorite creatures on this planet so far.”

Arcee frowned, “And you can’t get them because?”

“Because I’m pretty terrible with handling animals. Viewing them, excellent. Hunting them down for research, absolutely terrible. I one time almost killed myself trying to outrun some Dinobot-looking creature that I tried to get close to. And I’m not going to talk about the situation where I crushed a mudboar hoglet by accident. So, I leave the handling of other creatures to the care of others because I have really bad luck with them.”

“Okay, Megatron, let’s get this poor guy some bellbats? Can we do that?” Arcee mockingly sneered.

They both peered around to see small blurs of metal flying about. Some of the bellbats interacted with Velocitronians though they swatted them away like they were nuisances. Megatron crept near where one was circling near a light post and caught it on a timed jump. The Velocitronian closest to him cheered him at the impressive judgement of distance and the patience to calculate the precise moment to strike.

As he brought it back to Bolt, Arcee fast-walked tracking one that fluttered into an alleyway before diverting to a market street setup. Various stands and shops were lined up and sold everything from fancy Energon mixes to weapons and gizmos. It was quite different from the market placement Cybertron had. The Runner’s Market was the only open market, but it was in Cybertron’s darker subterranean areas at the edges of cities run by gangsters and other suspicious characters. This was far more lively and friendly to the common bot.

The bellbat was forced to flutter into an open door from the commotion of the traffic of bots, and Arcee followed it in. It hit the ceiling and made a concerned noise before hanging onto the taxidermized head of an unknown creature. The shop was quiet until she heard footsteps.

She turned to her right to apologize but froze when a clawed organic foot came down. It had a similar structure to that of an Earth rhinoceros’ but mixed with a dinosaur’s thicker attributes. As her optics trailed up, her spark stopped as she saw the yellow glow of a skull gem. Quickly pulling out her ricochet ray, she aimed it at the creature only for it to be knocked out of her grasp abruptly as she heard an angered snarl and the light from the window revealing the deadly jagged fangs of a Metal Head.

Chapter Text

Arcee looked at her weapon swatted away and peered up frightened but maliciously at the Metal Head who stood bipedal. A big rhinoceros-like being...a Rozarian? Her mind raced to find answers and she suddenly had hers when she remembered Bolt had mentioned Tigressa had two subordinates. One was Kor, the designated Metal Head Leader. The second was a Rozarian-turned-bad, one of Xerophorus’ kind...

“Captain Silos?”

Silos grinned with his fanged teeth and horrid golden-orange, slit-pupiled eyes before speaking in the same unknown accent she had heard on the isle. “So, you know who I am. Ain’t that a surprise?”

He looked more beastly than Xerophorus, thicker with more muscles and covered in jagged spikes alongside his back and forearms. Metal blended with dark blue organic flesh with a tainted bluish grey underbelly. A skull gem lied on his chest encapsulated by six barbs growing out of him. He wore some sort of helmet designed specifically for his former species. It had plenty of faded markings and there were holes for his large snout horns and ears. It covered most of his upper face but only his cheeks and the back of his head were protected otherwise. Straps similar to Xerophorus’ acted as a belt to hold a few items as well as straps going up over his shoulders to hold the swords, which she could see the handles of, behind him. It seemed Rozarians favored melee weapons.

“You point a blaster at me again, I will break every limb off your body and use them to make a light stand,” he threatened. “I’m sure one of my customers would pay good for Cybertronian furniture.”

Arcee knew a bluff when she heard one...Silos was dead serious. However, instead of attacking or drawing his own weapon, he simply turned back around like she wasn’t even there. She could reach for her gun easily and shoot him, yet he believed she wouldn’t, but there was a part of her that sensed it was better not to do so. There was something off about him and she couldn’t say what.

“If you’re just going to stand there, why don’t you make yourself useful and clean up? Or are you going to buy something? I don’t have time for your personal drama, whatever it may be.”

The gears in her head stopped turning and she was taken aback. “That’s it? No bragging about how I can’t stop your Metal Heads or-?”

“My Metal Heads?!” He laughed, turning around with genuine confusion. “My dear, you are very much mistaken. I have nothing to do with the Metal Head hive now. Even ask them.”

Silos leaned back, crossed his legs, rested his elbow on the table and pointed backwards still with his prominent smirk. Arcee followed the claws and saw in a room dead Horaquan carcasses and several skull gems in a basket humming with their contained energy. Stunned, she started looking around the shop and saw trinkets, weapons, and even trophies made of Metal Heads among other questionable things.

“I am not the reason why they are here, if that’s your biggest concern,” he mused. “The Metal Heads are a virus. They spread by infecting others mutating them into monsters, and their only goal is to kill unless controlled and told otherwise. Well, without a leader, they have been getting anxious and they aren’t creatures you can pen up at a zoo. Cunning, deceitful, and cruel, they will destroy until they are destroyed while their victim’s minds are entombed in a never-ending and painful nightmare watching themselves hurt others and wish for someone to kill them to save them from their misery.”

“Then why are you here if...?”

Silos chuckled, “To make a living. I travel the galaxy selling anything I deem profitable. Now, why is it I am here when the Horaquan are? You probably won’t believe me, but I sensed the Metal Heads here and decided to investigate while also running a business. As you have seen, many people find Metal Heads quite cool trophies, especially skull gems. Figured why not get rid of them but also turn a profit? It’s a win for everyone.”

Arcee was a bit upset upon hearing Silos was hunting his own kind. She made a small grimace and asked, “What made you leave them, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The captain of the Metal Heads hesitated to answer, not to hide anything but more like it seemed he didn’t know where to start. He tinkered with a box he got off the shelf, turning cog and listened to the soft music that played as a miniature carousel of alien animals popped out and paraded around it. He stared at the striped animal the most.

“I dedicated much time to Tigressa. We had a goal together, but ideals can be corrupted when one prioritizes their desires over another’s. She became unyielding in her quest to destroy, and it left many of us unable to keep up. This wasn’t the heartless army I knew back then; this wasn’t the young warrior I...cared about anymore. I finally had enough and left years ago. Now, I did find the sudden deaths of Tigressa and Kor alarming but, at the same time, can’t say I didn’t expect it to happen eventually.”

That made Arcee defensive. “How do you know-?!”

Silos put down the music box and nonchalantly tapped his skull gem on his chest with a raised brow, not at all peeved by the hostility. “The Metal Heads are a hive mind; what I sense, they feel and vice versa. Tigressa created the virus so, obviously, if anything happens to her, we would all know about it. Kor too, which is funny because this is the second time he died.”

Arcee couldn’t help but smile knowing the bastard was killed twice. “Really?”

“Yes. Tigressa created a specialized bridge that could go through dimensions and other universes. During a war on her home planet with corrupted Kor by her side as well as I, her younger brother overloaded the bridge and sent Kor, along with half the army, to the other universe where he sought to terrorize an ancient civilization and was stopped finally by a boy and his weird pet rat, so I heard at least. We all felt that one and, admittedly, I laughed my ass off hearing about. Tigressa not so much. That was until I felt his unnatural return long after leaving her army, then he died recently...again. And then Tigressa passed less than a day later.”

“By me,” Arcee muttered.

The dead silence between them so abruptly made her internally panic. Silos’ posture was stiff.

“You did it? You...killed Kor...and Tigressa?” He asked slightly surprised by the tone of his voice. When she gave a small nod, his brow ridges went up, but his expression never changed from a neutral stance. “Wow, that’s...impressive. That’s really unexpected. I’ll give credit to where credit is due, my dear.”

His thick reptilian tail wagged which she didn’t know whether that was a good or bad sign but still held some humor over the realization. Then he said, “Well, that certainly changes things. Sounds you owe me, little one.”

She stared at him bewildered. “Owe you? For what?!”

“For killing Tigressa. Kor? I don’t give a damn about him, but Tigressa...it was one thing for me to leave her. It is another thing entirely to kill her. As fascinating as it is that you managed to do so, that was not supposed to happen. She is still a valued friend of mine regardless of what disagreements we had. So, here’s the deal. You will pay off what you have done by doing whatever I ask of you. Failure to do so, and I might just alert the Metal Heads through our natural link of your little stunt. Maybe they are mindless, maybe they don’t like me for abandoning them, but they are very respectful of their rightful master the same as I enough to where they will hunt you down wherever you go.”

“I’m not doing a damn thing for you!” Arcee snarled.

Silos approached her and gestured down to her in anger. “But you will! Or I could instead tip them off that it was someone from Cybertron. They won’t go after you but everyone else in your world they will. You have no idea how fast that virus can spread, especially in a world so ill-prepared for them and recovering no doubt. Cybertron is virtually defenseless, and the Metal Heads love conflict. I did overhear something about a takeover a while back that didn’t do Cybertron’s revival any favors.”

“You wouldn’t,” she said narrowing her optics.

He peered back into them with a growl, “Try me. I betrayed my birth kind once, left my current kind to die and now kill them myself. What makes you think your reputation has anything of value to me among any species?”

Arcee couldn’t find anything to bite back with. Silos had tied her servos in this one. If the Metal Heads went after her, everyone around her would be in danger. If they went after Cybertron, it would be entirely her fault. Silos knew he won as he smirked at her submissive falling expression.

“We have a deal. And don’t try to tell your friends about me unless you want bad things to happen, and we both know you wouldn’t want that. I run a tight business; I’m not going to let you ruin anything else. But perhaps, in exchange for your participation, I can help you get the Metal Heads off Velocitron, and possibly get Override to reason with you.”

She perked up slightly at the mention of Override.

Captain Silos checked out his claws casually, flicking off a few loose layers of nail. “Before the Metal Heads came to Velocitron, or at least before the Velocitronians had to deal with anything regarding them, Override was working on a lead with a grueling trafficking ring. It’s been on her mind for quite some time trying to close in on it. I would say the fastest way to help her is by busting this ring because it has haunted her how many lives have been stolen by it. I know who’s in charge of the ring, but I need a favor from you in exchange for this information.”

Arcee glared at him but said nothing as he continued. “There’s a base not far from the city that has the Energon Core, a weaponry core for military use. A client of mine wants to use it to empower a weapon and sell it to the highest bidder in the Vox sector. You get it and I’ll provide a name as well as a location of notable activity. Simple enough?”

She frowned, “Wait, wait, that means breaking and entering in a military base!”

“If you can kill Tigressa and survived up to now in a war, I assume you have some sort of ability to sneak around a mere base, do you not?”

“Old dancer skills and an assassin’s past. Fine, but I hate this just so you know. You help me fix this Metal Head mess, I help you stay out of everyone’s way.”

Captain Silos said nothing as she sighed frustrated and left the shop, but his smile somewhat faded as he looked back at the skull gems he had torn out of the Horaquan corpses. The bellbat she had forgotten about flew down and Silos snagged it midair using his tail without looking away from the bodies before peering towards the door. He bit the head off the bellbat that frantically squealed with a thoughtful hum.

--------------------------

Bolt examined the bellbat as it hissed at Moonhunter who reacted by nearly swatting it.

“Careful, don’t hurt the poor creature. It’s just reacting as any captured animal would.”

Megatron peered around concerned, “Arcee hasn’t come back yet.”

Bolt sighed, “She’ll appear when she gets a chance. She is her own person after all, can’t stop her from getting sidetracked or exploring. Besides, I think I have the data I need so I don’t need any more bellbats.”

He pet the little creature before standing and throwing it upward so it could fly away. “Be free!”

The bellbat fluttered to regain control before climbing...a bird-like screech sounded and sped by, leaving remnants of light metal to float down. Bolt and Moonhunter grimaced equally while Megatron slightly raised his brows before growing concerned.

“I guess not...” Bolt scoffed. Moonhunter perked up as Arcee walked by them with a whimper and both bots were quick to call her name. When she didn’t stop, Bolt rushed in front of her and held up his servos. “Whoa, whoa, can I ask where the battle is? Where did you go? We missed you...did you lose the bellbat?”

Arcee shook her head, “I lost it and no, I just need to...know if there’s some sort of base around here. Maybe a military base or lab?”

Megatron blinked and growled somewhat amused, “That’s an odd question, Arcee. Why would that have anything to do with the Metal Heads?”

“I think it can help and I could talk to Override about maybe a defense system if they have one,” she lied.

Bolt shrugged, “That’s good thinking. I believe there’s a base named Robex not far out to the north, but I don’t know its precise functions. So, are you going to talk to her now?”

Arcee quickly shook her head, feeling a little guilty about having to keep silent about Silos. But if it helped Velocitron, would it be so bad to keep her actions anonymous? Maybe she could break the news to them sometime later but what Silos threatened in retaliation was still fresh in her mind, and she didn’t want to test if his mental link to the Horaquan worked as he claimed or not.

“Yes...I’ll be back. Just watch the city, boys, and alert me if anything else happens,” she said.

Transforming, she sped off towards the north end of the city. As she did so, Megatron watched her with slight frustration. “Does she seem a little off to you?”

Bolt merely replied, “Yeah. Maybe something just has her spooked?”

Megatron was thinking of something along the lines of the same thing but only frowned. “Perhaps.”

---------------------------

Arcee found the highway that went north to another city and took it across one of the many canyons of Velocitron. The view was a massive stretch of land but not much cyber-vegetation. As she cruised in the slower lane knowing she would hold up traffic pretending to be a Velocitronian, she kept an eye out for any signs of a base. The drive without anyone following her did calm her.

“Well, aren’t you a little far from your friends?” Silos’ husky voice came through her commlink. “And here I thought you would try and tell them, especially that daring mate of yours. You can be trusted after all.”

“How did you get my frequency, Silos?”

“Played with a few frequencies that don’t match the norm here and knew one of them was bound to be yours. I’ve imprinted on it now so I can stay in communication with you. But more so I wish to simply make sure everything works out for you, Arcee.”

Although Silos didn’t emphasize her name in syllables like Xerophorus did, there was a roll of the “R” that made it sound like a purr which unsettled her. Xerophorus said it with malice; Silos said it in an unknown manner, and she didn’t like not knowing what he was thinking.

Arcee scoffed, “How noble. I want to ask how you found out my name, but I get the feeling you’ve done your research. Nothing gets past you, does it?”

She could hear an amused hiss on his end. “I like control; I like knowledge. It doesn’t pay to be oblivious, Queen Arcee, or do you prefer just your name? So, yes, I investigated the recent events in Cybertron and I know all about that chaos. You surprise me yet again; Megatron is quite lucky to have a warrior like you.”

“Flattery gets you nowhere, Captain.”

“But I know you prefer to be seen as a warrior than a queen. I can tell in your voice. The Robex Base is off the Rolling Steep Canyon, not far off from where you probably are. It’s hidden behind a small cliffside off the flatlands. Do be careful. The guards there are very trigger-happy.”

“Tell me this, Silos,” she started, “why are you monitoring my every move? That’s not how these types of deals are done if you can’t even give your mercenary space to do the job on their own terms.”

The captain laughed, “Because I would rather know and help you out of any situation than let anyone, including the Metal Heads, get the best of you. Yes, it’s a little creepy as you no doubt believe but I’ve done this to everyone because I don’t like people getting hurt under my watch. My old noble roots, yes, but my own interests ride on the success of all I hire as well and being a former mercenary and guard myself, I know how deadly these jobs can be as I know you do too, assassin. The Robex Base is only a few miles from your position, by the way. Take the second exit from the next and follow it to the overlook about the cliff. Make me proud.”

She did as she was told and took the second exit which diverted to an unused road. Signs posted up warning her confirmed she was indeed near a restricted area. Right as she turned a corner, a gunshot went off and she skidded to a halt as she heard a voice shout, “Stupid vermin!”

Arcee transformed and saw two mechs and one femme holding their blasters staring up at what looked to be gliding animals. The animals in question were a mixture of some type of iguana and a squirrel appearance-wise with extended metallic flaps between their limbs. The ones on the ground sprinted up a nearby formation before leaping high and suddenly gliding across the horizon to wherever their peers could be found. Back and forth they moved.

The grey femme clicked her glossa annoyed, “I hate these things. Every year they do this right in front of our property.”

“Silverstreak, I bet I can shoot down five of these little bastards in one go,” the blue mech said.

“No, you can’t, Zoomkill,” she snickered, “because you’re the worst shot out of all of us. Ain’t that right, Rockahilly?”

Rockahilly, the yellow mech with faint orange stripes or scars, Arcee couldn’t tell, sneered, “You talk a lot for a bot who can’t back up that yap of yours, boy.”

Zoomkill waved them off with a scoff, “You don’t know talent.”

“I know talent...it ain’t you,” Silversteak hissed back.

Arcee was about to leave when Rockahilly spotted her and shouted, “Hey, little darlin’, can we help you?”

“Uh, I’m just looking for...Robex Base,” she quickly said, hoping they wouldn’t question it.

Zoomkill pushed past Silverstreak’s shoulder, who growled at him, to gesture to Arcee to come closer. “I ain’t never seen you before in these parts. Why would you be so interested in that place? That’s no tourist destination.”

Arcee simply answered, “Trust me, it’s more complicated than that. Could you point me in the direction of it please?”

Rockahilly, whom Arcee was beginning to believe was the leader of the pack, smirked as he walked up to her, “No can do, little darlin’, because this is all my property north of Delta and it spans over fifty miles everywhere except that bridge you just crossed. I don’t go spillin’ directions to every bot that comes around these parts. I let Override keep her base operational on my land in exchange for a hefty sum and good exports. A fair trade considering, but I also keep its location secure from pryin’ optics and won’t hesitate in removin’ unwanted company. Yes, that means you too unfortunately, missy. I don’t discriminate. So, I’ll ask Zoomkill’s question again: why are you so interested in that base over yonder?”

Given all three were taller than her, she knew they weren’t joking as Silverstreak leaned against her blaster nozzle by her elbow with a snarling expression and Zoomkill bared a sadistic grin. Rockahilly was neutral but she could tell his patience wouldn’t last long. Finally, she sighed and thought up a quick excuse.

“I just wanted to see what it looked like, and Road Rage said I could explore. She told me to know every major area in and near the city because I’m helping her and Override with one of their problems, an infestation. She believes if I know where Robex Base is, I can navigate to it easier if I ever need to go there in an emergency. Happy?”

The lie was presentable, but she had no clue where Rockahilly would take it. Just then, the yellow mech laughed, “Road Rage makes the strangest friends, I swear. Alright, little darlin’, Robex Base is five miles down this road and there’s a hidden path between the two mesas you can see over there. Take that and it’ll lead you to the base itself.”

“Thank you,” she said but right as she was turning around, Zoomkill interrupted her brief happiness.

“What’s the rush? A friend of Road Rage’s should be able to pop one of these gill-gliders easily unless it’s too hard for a city-dweller like you,” he taunted.

Arcee folded her arms across her chest. “City-dweller? You think it wise throwing a word around like that? You don’t know what I’ve done and living in a city doesn’t make you soft. You’ve killed lizards? I’ve killed people.”

Silverstreak hit Zoomkill’s arm as his face dropped in surprise. “Oooo, don’t be starting what you can’t finish, Zoomer.”

Rockahilly was equally amused. “Perhaps we can settle this like proper bots, Zoomkill. How about this, little darlin’? You show the rookie here some moves and put his misplaced ego back into check. Show me city style and I’ll tip my helm to you for being a good shot and finally shuttin’ him up. Boy, pick your jaw off that ground and respect the lady.”

Arcee cracked her knuckles before pulling out one of her arm blasters. The ricochet ray would be a bit unfair in this situation so she figured it would be better to even out the odds as best she could, not that she intended to lose regardless. Zoomkill kicked up his rifle and aimed right as she did.

“Silverstreak, keep score. Alright, on my mark. One, two, three, go!”

As the gill-gliders made their rounds, Arcee tracked one and immediately shot it. It nosedived down to the ground with a small thumping sound. Zoomkill hit his mark too which prompted Arcee to scour for more targets. One by one she blasted the small animals gliding and many fell to her marksmanship. She didn’t pay attention to Zoomkill’s streak, only focused on her own.

“Time! Woo, little darlin’s got some aim! Look at that!”

Zoomkill seemed a little dejected and sneered, “Lucky shot, girl.”

“Shots. There’s an ‘s’ at the end of that word,” Arcee smirked.

“Whatever. Silverstreak, what did we score?”

Silverstreak grinned, “17 to 10, visitor’s rights. You lost, boy.”

Rockahilly chuckled as the blue mech scowled at hearing that. “Maybe a rematch another time. So, little darlin’, got one more challenge if you’re interested before you head out. Shootin’ gliders in a time frame is one thing, but can you blind shoot? No aim and no missing once. The hardest of the hard. Neither Zoomkill nor Silverstreak can pull that off, but I’d like to see you at least attempt it. Are you up to it, missy?”

Arcee met his smile and said, “Now you’re speaking my language."

“Shoot five of them down in less than twenty seconds if you dare. That’s as challengin’ as I can possibly make it aside from lowerin’ the deadline. Ready, go!”

Arcee took the first five seconds to quickly deduce where the gliders in the air were heading before planning out her strategy. Lifting her blaster, she shot at them without hesitating to align herself as she normally would. She got four of them but missed the fifth. She stepped back for a second as Rockahilly called it.

“That was close. You want to try again? And don’t worry about the gill-glider population. They breed like mad out here. In fact, we try and keep them from overgrowin’ the area. Every season we hunt these vermin.”

Arcee nodded, “Ready.”

“Go!”

She used her same strategy eyeing out the gilders’ movements and which one would be where. When she had her plan, she shot at them. One, two, three, and four of them were down and as she shifted to the fifth, she adjusted on a dime to go slightly farther than last time to catch it moving away. She fired and with luck, her angle was spot on. The fifth glider fell, and she huffed. She peered back to see Zoomkill gawking at her and Silverstreak was amazed.

“Fifteen seconds! Damn, girl, when you said you killed people...?”

Arcee kept her smile, “War-front. Former assassin then lieutenant of an entire faction.”

Rockahilly was impressed to say the least. He threw up his eyebrows stunned, “Kudos to you, little darlin’. Sometimes to take the best shots, you must take a moment to observe instead of rushing through. Not many people do that. Well, I hope you find the base interestin’. I appreciate you spendin’ some time with us. Hopefully, we'll cross paths again?”

“We’ll see. Nice meeting you all!” She said running backwards before turning and transforming into a motorcycle to speed down the lonesome road. She heard them wish her well though Zoomkill said little, still staring awestruck. They were nice people and certainly had their charm. The target practice was much appreciated.

The two mesas that overlooked a small valley were in sight. However, she knew going straight into the base wasn’t an option so when she got to one of them, she peered around to make sure no one was watching her before climbing up it. As she did so, she saw a faint glow reflecting off the rocks and knew Dagger Prima was trying to warn her.

“I know, this isn’t the best route but we’re doing this.”

Flipping on the last ledge to the top, she took a second to pause and keep her surroundings in check. It was all flat from here. Running across it, she didn’t use her vehicle form as the echo could alert anyone hiding in the valley or the base. She slowed near the end as she heard voices and carefully lay on her front to peek over. Half-buried in the wall of the second mesa, the base entrance was right there with nearly twenty active members moving supplies into it. Although Velocitron didn’t seem like a military planet, she assumed that the coup with Ransack made Override precautious and adjusted to prevent such uprisings.

She noticed several crates in a transport just pulling up and got an idea. Jumping off the right out of sight, she landed and crawled behind a boulder. While everyone was looking away, she snuck to the side of the truck and carefully slid within a small part of the hull, her small stature making it easy. Once she was in, she found a perfect hiding spot in a large crate that seemed to have some sort of generator.

Arcee waited until they started loading and prepared a weapon in case they found her. She felt her crate being lifted out and several voices remarking to put in the base storage for the time being. Perfect. She could see through cracks that she was entering the base. Bio lights of blue were most common. After a brief elevator ride, she found herself looking at the Energon Core which was attached to some sort of machine. The crate was moved, and she lost visual. When they reached the storage room, she was set down abruptly and bit down an uncomfortable groan. The soldiers left and she was alone.

“Time to get started,” she hissed.

Kicking the crate’s side out from within, she rolled upright and kept crouched low to the floor. It had been some time since she last did something like this. It got her engine revving with excitement. She kept an audio out for any movement as she snuck out of the storage area and hid behind a pillar as two guards passed. She knew walking into the chamber with the Energon Core was suicide, so she decided to go in with style. Attaching herself to the ceiling by crawling along the beams, she found vents that allowed her to cross into the room unseen. Below her was the Energon Core itself.

It felt wrong doing this but if it got Silos out of her hair and kept Cybertron safe while also helping Velocitron, so be it. She just hoped it wouldn’t hurt Override. She tracked and studied one femme who approached the core and typed in a specific combination to unlock it. Holding the core, the bot seemed to be checking for any wear or cracks on it. Once finished, she put the core back and left. Arcee waited until she saw many of the bots in the room leave on break before making her move. Hopping down, she typed in the same sequence she saw a scientist do and opened the container.

The core shivered in her grasp, vibrating with pure energy. She could only imagine what it could be used for in terms of weaponry. “Intruder Alert!”

She froze and saw the flashing lights across the lab. Knowing she had to book it, she placed the core in her subspace and quickly ran to the elevator. Preparing her double-bladed sword, she didn’t wait for the elevator to stop before taking a battle-ready pose. Sure enough, several bots were armed and ready. She refused to give them a moment to remember her face. Jumping on the nearest, she began her assault.

Arcee rotated the double blade behind her back before bringing it forward and slicing through a mech’s abdomen. She quickly blocked their attempt to return the favor and kicked their jaw before sending one of the blades into their throat. Blasts aimed at her forced her to dodge and weave before hiding behind one of their transports. While she was thinking of a quick way to escape, far too many soldiers were pouring out of the base. If she didn’t get out soon, she would be dead. Then she heard the harsh voice of Silos.

“So, you have the Energon Core. Good. Not one moment later or you might have been full of bullet holes, eh? Hahahahahahaha!”

“Yes, and I’m about to be that way now because of you!”

Silos still held some amusement. “Now, why would I let my new favorite errand girl be shot down? I’ll send a ground bridge to you that will take you back to Delta’s plaza. Keep the Energon Core for the time being until my client arrives. I’ll tell you the information of the trafficking ring soon, but I need to take care of a few things first.”

True to his word, a ground bridge opened right as a blast nearly hit her. She didn’t hesitate to run into it, finding herself nearly running into a mech with a youngling who scowled at her. “Watch it!”

Arcee realized she had her weapon out in an unauthorized space and quickly sheathed it. The looks she received were a reminder that the worlds away from Cybertron probably tried not to use weapons unless provoked inside city limits. She didn’t know what to do with the Energon Core stolen and if anyone found out she had it, she was a dead bot.

Suddenly, her commlink pinged. “Arcee, I need you at the Speedia 500 raceway. That alien fungus has covered the tracks and is growing fast. You’re one of the only bots I trust to take care of it.”

Override saying that pulled at Arcee’s spark for what she did. But the more she helped Override out, the easier it would be to pretend it didn’t happen. Using an internal map she downloaded for Delta, the main track for the Speedia 500 was located to the south. It had a giant stadium and the track spanned almost the entire length of the city as well as the outskirts of it. The champion’s track no doubt.

“Arcee, how’s everything going over there?” Haywire’s voice came through. It startled her but she began smiling.

“Hey, Haywire. We’ve, uh, had a few bumps in the road but this place is nice. I think you and Scythe would like it,” she said as she began walking in the direction of the raceway. “How’s Cybertron?”

“The Allspark won’t shut up with its riddles, Bumblebee is working with Ultra Magnus to keep the peace, and both Grimlock and Predaking have been pulling a few stunts together in their version of humor and I’m about to shoot them. Optimus is currently the throne holder as, you know, we don’t want a repeat of what happened last time. The usual. The planet is...fine. But that’s not why I contacted you.”

“Something come up?”

“More like an uncertainty. Just recently, our scanners have been picking up weird signals at the edge of our solar system. It’s stagnant and doesn’t seem to be doing anything concerning. It’s not radio waves or broken communication feeds. It’s just weird. Most of us think it’s the Nexus as it hasn’t been active since forever and it might be drawing energy that can read loose signals, but Perceptor thinks it’s something else. What exactly, I can’t tell you because you know how Perceptor explains things, hehehe. Just thought I’d let you know and if anything else happens, I’ll be the first to inform you.”

Arcee nodded to herself, “Thank you, Haywire, for everything.”

“Anything for you, my Queen.”

When he finally cut communications, Arcee rolled her shoulder with a sigh before transforming and speeding off the raceway. Traffic was getting thicker the closer she got. It was without a doubt a popular place, home to the finest racetrack ever built on Velocitron. Even as she approached it, the map did little to express just how grand it was. Floating platforms with stands for the audience were currently in their resting bays while the track itself was monstrous. If she had a difficult time on Dreadnaught, she knew that this track was not something she could do. One massive loop, three times bigger than Dreadnaught’s largest left a sizable shadow over the stands but the sun happened to be right in the middle of it like a framed picture she couldn’t help but admire as it set. She had a feeling some of the races were at dusk just for the visual alone.

“Largest raceway in the world!” Road Rage cheerily said, “This is the same track Override used to beat the competition for the title of the Velocitronian Leader, and what an epic race that was. The fastest bots raced, and she won. Ransack got close last time, before all the chaos regarding him, of course, but couldn’t get the edge on her. She has a wicked tactic on the last loop she uses.”

Arcee grinned, “Oh? What about you? How close did you get?”

The light red femme snickered, “Nah, I didn’t race that one. A maximum of thirty racers are allowed on the track. I didn’t qualify and didn’t expect to. What I lack in speed, I make up for in...well, I may have had some little, itty-bitty accidents on the previous tracks. Mmhmm! But I never minded watching! I love seeing the leadership races!”

The Cybertronian queen just kept smiling with a tilt of her helm and a considerate expression. The “accidents” in question still stunned her that such a small femme, though slightly taller than Arcee, could do so much. Although Arcee herself was strong, she wasn’t in vehicle form. That took a whole different type of strength, and she respected Road Rage for being able to do such a thing.

Override appeared and Road Rage quickly waved at her with a giant, giggly grin. The leader merely acknowledged the smaller femme and addressed Arcee. “You made it. Good. You see over near the beginning line? The infestation is growing. I don’t know where it’s coming from or why it’s feeding on our tracks of all things. The problem is we don’t have any hot water over here, I’m afraid. If you could find another means to get rid of them, I would be grateful.”

Arcee looked where she had been pointing. The line on the track that marked the beginning and end of a race was covered in alien growths that twitched and snaked along the road. They were creepy if anything, but she didn’t want to find out if they could consume a bot. She peered around for anything hot she could use to burn them off.

Then she immediately asked, “Does anybody you know carry flamethrowers or something than can produce fire?”

Override didn’t seem to know but Road Rage put up her servo and hopped up and down. She raised a brow. “Road Rage?”

“Slickskate! I saw his arm turn into a raging fireball once!”

Override made a distasteful but attempted smile. “That’s...because his arm exploded when he overheated his blaster, Road Rage. That wasn’t his actual power. It was a thought though, I appreciate that.”

“Oh...never mind! He was okay!” She said to Arcee proudly.

Arcee looked at Override for what to make of that and the red and write femme whispered, “She’s a great senator. I just shrug and accept the unusual remarks. It makes her who she is, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, to be honest.”

Arcee nodded before saying, “So, heat? There’s got to be something hot enough around here, maybe a furnace, smelting pit, or weapon capable of it? Energon flows faster with heat, right?”

“You’re not suggesting cutting an Energon line and pouring it on the fungus?”

“If it’s heated, it’ll do the job, would it not? There should be an outlet for each pipe just in case. Common maintenance requirement. All we would have to do is use a controlled supply of it, not too much. Granted, I don’t know what Energon alone would do to the growths...but it might be our only option.”

She could tell Override knew exactly what she was talking about but was hesitant to do it. Pushing past her doubts, the larger femme sighed, “Whatever it takes. Trackstar, Raveline! Spray Energon from the outflow Energon pipe onto the track!”

The bots in question looked confused for a second but did as they were told. Hooking up hoses, they checked the temperature of the Energon and showed it to Arcee as she approached. It was over 400 degrees and the direct pipe to the track’s power. Excellent. Grabbing one of the hoses, she attached it to a spray cleaner machine in the pits, ripping out the other line to make room for it. She steered it manually towards the track line covered.

Arcee hit the nozzle’s trigger as Trackstar turned the valve to redirect the Energon. The Energon hissed as it coursed through the hose before making the machine rumble. A sudden burst of steam erupted as Energon shot out onto the track. The growths burned, twitching madly as she went in a horizontal pattern up the side to get all of it. Back and forth, the Energon left its mark not only scorching the growths, but the blast’s power ripped them off the track itself. What once was stained a horrid blackish color now looked like a regular road and once all traces of the fungus were gone, Arcee finally turned off the sprayer.

Bots were quick to use long-handled sweepers to push the remaining Energon toward a drain so it wouldn’t linger and so the fungus couldn’t fester if it cooled. Override looked proudly at her as the track shined in its glory again.

“I thank you. This raceway is very dear to me, to everyone. It is more than just a way to decide leadership; it is a symbol of our heritage and our history. I will do everything to protect it as it represents Velocitron and its people. I don’t know why this is happening now,” she said, “but I guess we can’t always be free of the conflicts the galaxy will bring. I’m glad you’re here. Take this.”

Override handed Arcee another Radiant Core as she continued, “When you’re ready, I might have something else for you to do, something Blurr is working on that he may need help with.”

Arcee smirked as she put the Radiant Core in her subspace while Road Rage cheered happily at her success. Just then, she heard jet engines and saw Megatron fly past the stadium before turning towards her, transforming and transitioning to walking in one swoop. He gestured to Arcee concerned.

“There you are, Bolt and I have been wondering where you’ve gone to. You left us a bit worried,” he said.

“Ah, sorry, it’s just...I was overwhelmed by the fact we have to deal with the Metal Heads and all that.”

Megatron’s expression lightened, “A valid concern but remember, you aren’t doing this alone. Just try to keep Bolt and I informed because we don’t want to be either a burden or unhelpful to you.”

Arcee immediately shook her head, “No, no, that was my bad. I shouldn’t have jumped into my concerns without talking to you guys first. I’ll try to do better next time.”

Override was quick to interrupt. “Metal Heads? What are those?”

“Alien invaders to put it lightly. The fungus is a biproduct of the virus that makes them. If they’re here, it’ll follow but Si...I don’t get why they’re here to begin with. There is nothing to take unless they want to feed on Velocitron itself,” Arcee said.

Megatron frowned, “Whatever the case, we aren’t going to let that happen.”

“Wait, these Metal Heads are living creatures, you say?”

“Yes,” the blue femme assured.

“That explains the weird creatures Blurr said he saw in Red Run Canyon an hour ago,” Override muttered. “Arcee, I need you to go to the canyon and meet up with Blurr. He’s been tracking the Metal Heads, assuming that’s what he’s been describing. I sent him after you had that little race of yours. Find out if those are the creatures and kill them if necessary. Megatron, I need you to investigate the power plant with me. We’ve detected a foreign entity feeding on the power there. Is that alright?”

Arcee and Megatron exchanged looks before both agreed and the former stated, “Yeah, that’s fine. Wait, what about Bolt?”

“I talked with Bolt, and he thinks he’ll only get in the way. He and Moonhunter will be around for support but otherwise will be focusing on working on the missing pieces of information regarding Velocitron. Moonhunter wants to explore too so don’t panic if you don’t hear from them much.”

“Then it’s settled. You stay in the city and try not to start a war and I’ll go riding in the canyon hoping I don’t get eaten.”

Megatron chuckled, “No promises.”

Chapter Text

In the darkness of an unsettled hive on a remote planet, glowing yellow eyes and golden skull gems rattled furiously. The bigger ones stepped forward, each with their own unique qualities.

“My legion. The time to act is now, time to take matters into our own hands! We will rise again! But first, each of you has a task. Do not disappoint me.”

An octopus-like Metal Head made an echoing squeal, swiping its tentacles across a pool of a dark substance. A hippogriff-like one and a serpent hissed at each other liking the sound of the field work. The reptilian-esque Metal Head made its frills shiver with anticipation, giving a short snarl. An elephant Metal Head swung its trunk at the bipedal, large dinosaur one next to it that hissed back angrily. Looming over them was the head of a titan Horaquan that sneered down at all of them, steaming blowing from the large smokestacks on its spine. They all watched their leader intensely, feeding mentally off the dominant gem’s signal.

They all made various types of roars in unison as they departed. The Horaquan soldiers of the hive, from Grunts to Ramheads, made a path for them as they stomped by. They each went into their designated portals with other Metal Heads under their command following, but the frilled lizard-like beast paused with a snarl.

“You know what to do,” its leader said.

The Metal Head gave a brief growl of acknowledgement before it left for Velocitron.

------------------------

Megatron walked with Override and Road Rage to the power plant in question. It faintly surged before resuming its functions. The path up to it was transparent and he could see all the Energon being moved under it before spreading out and disappearing under the normal roads across the city. Then his mind drifted to Arcee and the odd behavior she exemplified as of recent. She was probably right that the presence of Metal Heads was throwing her, but he had his doubts that was the only thing wrong.

Road Rage hummed to herself before seeing that Megatron was thinking about something. “What’s on your mind, Megatron?”

“Just...thinking about something.”

“Is it about Arcee?”

He sighed, “Yes. I hope we didn’t take on more than we can handle. This is really the first thing we’ve done outside of Cybertron as sparkmates. The isle on Earth when she and I were banished there after being lied to was more like us finally getting past our insecurities and faction hatred for one another to survive. I can’t help but think that she might not be comfortable as a willing team. I know for a fact that she was a loner even on Optimus’ team. She never did work well with others unless she had to. I wonder if that’s the real problem but she’s afraid that she’ll hurt our feelings.”

Override peered over her shoulder briefly upon hearing Megatron’s confession. “If I may, I think it’s just finding the groove of everything. As you two both acknowledged, the Metal Heads aren’t supposed to be here. It threw everything for a loop. Once Arcee finds a game plan, she’ll probably work with you more easily. Just give her some time and space to figure out what to do. Believe me, I was the same way.”

Road Rage grinned, “It’s just a matter of trusting her. You can’t be there all the time for her, and she can’t be there always among you. Understanding that is the key to a happy relationship. Not everything needs to be done as a team, but trusting your teammate on their end is just as supportive as being there beside them helping.”

The power plant surged again and all three peered up at the odd flux before a mech ran out. “Override, there’s Energon crystals growing on the exterior of the processing chambers and other places! You must see it for yourself!”

All four ran inside and Road Rage gasped when they saw the growths for themselves. A large, tainted Energon crystal was growing over the pipes. Megatron eyed it suspiciously as he had never seen such unusual Energon coloring. A bluish grey color with purple streaks, the crystal looked like it had been infected but given there was only one anomaly of concern, they feared the Metal Head virus had gotten in to the Energon supply lines.

“We can’t shoot it and breaking it while the pipes are active would risk exposure to everyone here. If it gets in the lines themselves, the whole city could be infected,” Megatron said.

The few workers who manned the power plant looked to Override who scowled, “Shut down the power plant.”

“But Override-”

“It’s like Megatron said. We let tainted Energon get into the city, we’re screwed. Turn off all power and do a deep clean of the system, make sure there is no remnants of any of the Energon. The backup supply under the building should be able to sustain the city for a few days if necessary."

Megatron nodded, studying the crystal for the easiest way to get rid of it as the workers did as they were told. “I think shattering it would nullify the infection. Energon crystals grow dormant when severed from their base. If we can separate it from the pipes, that will be enough to stop the Energon from growing and most likely stop it from interacting with the healthy supply. The remnants of the crystal still latching onto the pipe could be removed by simply chipping it.”

Override smiled at that. “Good thinking. If you can take care of that, I would appreciate it greatly.”

Megatron waved at Road Rage who kindly cheered at him before he brought out the blade sheathed under his cannon. Although the weapons he had on the isle previously were great, he preferred the simplistic style of his gladiatorial sword. Oh, how he missed it.

Getting a running start, Megatron immediately went for the visible crystal pulsing with its unnatural energy. With a bountiful leap, he sliced through the crystal and landed, peering back as it slowly slid off its foundation and fell. It burst upon impact and its light faded. As soon as it was safe, the workers began cleansing the lines.

Road Rage suddenly called out, “Megatron! Found another crystal!”

He walked past the vast chambers that processed the Energon and climbed up to the catwalks overseeing the pumping station. Road Rage was there and pointed to the main pistons of the central mechanism. There among it and preventing two of the pistons from doing their jobs was a protruding crystal. The pistons trapped made an eerie noise trying to move. He peered around for a way to get close to it without accidentally falling into the gears turning below. Then Megatron noticed a crane posed above the catwalk and traced it to a cockpit on the opposite side of the main pump. No one was manning it. Smirking, he took the adjacent cockpit and gestured to Road Rage to follow.

“Can you move this thing into the crystal?”

“Okie dokie,” she grinned.

Megatron found he was far too large to fit into the cockpit so attached himself to the side as she steered. She pulled the crane towards her before abruptly shifting it forward causing it to swing. Upon the second shift, it was aimed at the crystal and shattered it. The Energon grew dark, and the remnants were crushed in the gears. The pistons shook before slowly getting back into tune with the others. The machine itself seemed to exhale a sigh of relief.

“Nice job,” Megatron said.

They both used the catwalks and the ladders around to search for the remaining crystals. One was found feeding on the power above them, glowing brighter than the others.

“How do we get that one?” Road Rage asked.

She looked at his cannon and he caught her stare before scowling in response. “Bad idea.”

Road Rage thought for a second before pulling out a hammer made from her back kibble and twirled it in her servo. “What about this?”

“Works. Would you like to throw it, or shall I?”

“Uh, I don’t think I can swing it that high. You’re probably a better aim than I am. I prefer physical than melee.”

Megatron didn’t ask why on account of learning enough about her name and her suspensions because of it. He didn’t want to know what she could do in hand-to-hand combat. Taking the hammer offered to him, he thumbed it while thinking and once he had a suitable angle, he threw the hammer straight up to the ceiling almost as fast as a bullet. The hammer hit the crystal and it burst. They both went wide-eyed at that and instinctively covered themselves. The shards of the tainted crystal now grey from being destroyed bounced off shatter into tiny fragments. Neither were injured but they both flinched when the hammer hit the catwalk close to Megatron. Once no more remnants were falling, they uncovered themselves and Road Rage grabbed her hammer with glee.

“Awesome! I think there may be one or two more crystals around here...hopefully, but once we clear the power plant, we should be good.”

Scouring for the last crystal or so, they checked everywhere. The workers of the power plant were moving fast to clear out any remnants of the tainted Energon, but they noticed that one of the workers was staring at something. Megatron walked to them and tried to see if it was anything of concern. Sure enough, there was a crystal, but it wasn’t accessible. It was hidden in the far corner blocked visually by a cluster of pipes and didn’t seem to have any catwalk or platform near it.

“What do you think? Take apart the pipes? It would take hours though to remove all of them safely,” the worker asked.

“What exactly is it on?”

“Not the pipes. You see where the wall is? It’s in the back area of the interior. It’s not even attached to anything vital or near it. No chance of damaging it even if you shoot it really but it may leave a hole there, nothing unrepairable. Your call though.”

With the newfound information, Megatron agreed that a skilled shot would be all it needed to get rid of it with no risks involved. He carefully lined his cannon and tried to steady his aim so it was dead set on the crystal while also making sure he didn’t hit the pipes. It took him a minute to make sure he wasn’t about to make some regrettable mistake before he tensed his index digit and fired his cannon. The blast managed to miss the pipes and fly right into the crystal itself.

The power plant rumbled as the crystal exploded, causing Megatron and the worker to move backwards. The equipment of the power plant shook from the force but was left unscathed. Blue flame ruptured before disappearing. All that was left was smoke and a sizable chunk of the wall missing. The ex-Decepticon winced a little seeing that, but the worker gave him a thumbs up while Override and Road Rage were slightly shocked at the bold move.

Road Rage was the first to comment. “Wow! Talk about ending the job with a bang!”

Override smiled a little in agreement before addressing Megatron. “I thank you. It concerns me how fast all these problems are spawning. I fear if we don’t get this under control, we may be facing internal panic on our servos and I don’t think I can handle another planet-wide crisis, Megatron, not after Ransack and...”

Megatron knew eventually it would be brought up again. He could only nod and bite his lip. “What I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have told Ransack all those pointers and given him the means to start a war. If I could take it back, I would...among so many other things.”

The red and white femme studied him, her optics softening. “You’ve changed indeed. This isn’t the same Megatron who led a legion and inserted detestable ideals into the traitors of our world. This isn’t the warlord I remember. The fact that you are so willing to help us is only another piece of evidence to add that you are a good bot overall. I don’t know what happened that humbled you.”

“I didn’t change...I just directed my path of destruction more towards protecting us and killing everyone else. But I can’t say I truly changed...”

“Well, whatever you wish to deem it as, I can’t be prouder of you, Megatron, than I am now.”

He wouldn’t admit out loud how he felt a weight on his chest lifted. Acknowledging his past animosities to those he had once hurt proved that his honesty was regarded with praise and acceptance and that he no longer had to live with the guilt. If Override could trust him despite everything, it was one step to finding peace among the other worlds he never thought he would achieve prior. He knew he still had a long way to go, but it was a new objective he found himself yearning to complete. Perhaps it was more than just saving the other worlds...

“Override,” a worker said, “we’ve scoured the power plant. No sign of any crystalline growths and the tainted Energon has been flushed out. If it happens again, we’ll deal with it quicker this time.”

“Thank you,” she answered.

A beep on his commlink made Megatron frown as the signal was from Cybertron. “Yes?”

Optimus’ stoic voice was one he didn’t expect. “Megatron, how are things on Velocitron? Haywire wants an update.”

“We found out what is wrong over here. Metal Heads have come to Velocitron. I don’t know why but Arcee has gone to investigate something tied to them with one of the locals. So far, they have been nothing but an annoyance at most. Did Arcee ever mention them to you?”

“Not really but I take it you have a handle on the situation? Let me know if you need help.”

“Sounds like you don’t know me all too well, Optimus. I’m hurt,” he mused. “Does our past mean nothing?”

“Just...keep in contact, won’t you?”

When the communication ended, he saw both Override and Road Rage peering at him with interest. He shrugged, “A friend of mine on Cybertron making sure I’m still alive.”

Override snickered, “I remember Optimus too, don’t forget that. Tell him I wish him well. Now, join me at FastTrak. I need to talk to you and Arcee once she is done helping Blurr.”

-------------------------------

Arcee drove to Red Run Canyon near Traction City west of Delta and followed the road on the flatland beside the canyon. With night starting to show, she didn’t like the idea of driving alone, especially with the Metal Heads loose and dangerous. She suddenly spotted a blue streak driving adjacent to her in the distance and recognized the form instantly.

Blurr traversed the flatlands efficiently, his signature blue bio lights leaving a streak behind him as he sped up. In the dark, he was illuminated. She couldn’t imagine what he, along with the other racers of Velocitron, would look like on the track at night. A part of her wanted to see him in action. When Blurr started turning towards her, she blared the small horn she had on her alt mode before popping a wheelie to greet him. He responded by flashing his lights in a pattern.

“Hey, Cybertronian, didn’t expect Override to send you. How’s it been? Get into any trouble?” He laughed.

Arcee slid to be beside him, and they drove near the edge of the canyon carefully. “Plenty. Override said you found some unknown creatures here?”

“Yeah, malicious little devils. Teeth, multiple yellow eyes, and weird glowing pendants or something attached to them. They appear almost techno-organic, but I don’t think they are or don’t demonstrate the normal properties of one. Whatever they are, they’re bad news.”

“Story of everything I’ve come across in my adventures. They’re Metal Heads, Horaquan. I encountered them before on an island in another world. They are intelligent but sinister.”

“Nice to know,” Blurr said. “I can show you where I found them if you race me there.”

Arcee scoffed, “And what are the chances I win now that you know me?”

“Slim, but, if you do, I think I can give you something to even out the odds in the future. Dare to race me?”

“I don’t even know where we’re going!”

Blurr made his engine rumble loudly. “Ha ha! Sometimes the race isn’t mapped out! Sometimes the race is only where you’re willing to go if anywhere at all! Live a little, my friend!”

Arcee inwardly grinned, “Alright then, you’re on!”

Blurr pulled forward and Arcee trailed him. They followed the canyon edge, dodging a few holes in the ground and drifting around protruding natural formations of the desert-like environment. Blurr shifted on his side and taunting balanced on his right wheels while the left two were up in the air.

“Showoff,” said an amused Arcee.

“You have to have fun sometimes; people love good tricks.”

Arcee got ahead of him but kept a watchful eye through her mirrors to make sure he didn’t stray and take advantage of the fact she was racing blind to her destination. When he suddenly banked left, her tires squealed as she did an abrupt turn almost skidding out from the near loss of traction. She cut him off and beeped at him.

“At least you’re paying attention,” Blurr chuckled. “We’re nearly there, two more lefts and then we’re going to hit a slope into the canyon. Go down the slope to the bottom and I’ll declare you the winner.”

“Good sportsmanship from you? Blurr, you’re going soft on me.”

“I only do that for people I like.”

She followed his instructions, keeping to the curve of the landscape to keep ahead. Around a spire they went going left before suddenly, the canyon was in view as was a drop-off. Arcee barley grazed the edge and Blurr honked at her worried.

“I’m sorry! I forgot it was closer than it looked! My fault there!” The Velocitronian yelled.

Arcee made a small snarl of frustration, but it melted into a small laugh. “Living dangerously, how ironic.”

The slope Blurr had spoken of was visible to the right and Arcee immediately shifted course to ride it down. It was a part of the canyon end and curved down to the bottom where fog had settled within. She slowed her approach cautiously and expected Blurr to overtake her, but he didn’t. In the canyon, she transformed and smirked.

“You let me win.”

Blurr shifted with a flip and shrugged, “I owe you that for almost letting you drive off a cliff. I may love winning, but even I know when to call myself out for mistakes.”

“Is it weird that I always heard Velocitron was nothing but flatland?” She said, changing the subject as she peered around.

“Common misconception though not untrue either. Velocitron is flatland with very few formations above it. However, everything below what is considered flatland doesn’t always count in the view of the layout of the world. We have canyons, most barely five hundred feet deep or less if anything. The rest is surface level. A perfect wilderness for racers who just want to go for a drive albeit have to watch for the canyon ledges, such a nasty fall but all are survivable.”

“Cool, just was wondering. Anyways, you said you had something for me?”

Blurr nodded and pulled out a small circular device. Arcee was given it and examined it curiously before raising a brow.

“This is a speed boost module. It can either be used on us Velocitronians to boost our already fast speeds, basically an upgrade, or it can be used on other things to temporarily boost speed. Unfortunately, this limit comes with the fact that the technology was not meant to be compatible with other species…including other autonomous beings. I have no need for it obviously, but maybe you could find a use for it, and it works in both forms. Combine it with those skills of yours and you just might get an edge on anything that crosses your path.”

Opening her abdomen where several components were, she hooked the device to her alt mode speed regulator next to her T-cog. She nearly laughed how Blurr was respectfully looking away until he heard her shut her armor back up. It was his turn to find humor as Arcee gasped at her systems syncing with it, an increase of energy began to surge within. She felt faster in more ways than one.

“Feeling that boost? Remember this: as a Cybertronian, this ability can only hold for seconds at a time, and I don’t know how long it takes to recharge to use. I would guess you could use it every minute or so, but I can’t make any promises on that. It’s a guess at best.”

Arcee then chuckled, “Then maybe we should give it a test run. Where did you spot the Metal Heads?”

Blurr scowled, “There’s multiple of those monsters in the middle over here unless they crawled out since then.”

Arcee silently nodded and took point. They walked the canyon base almost a mile. The eerie fog made the canyon grim, and Arcee found it a bit more unnerving than Paragon Canyon back on Earth. An echoing mechanical grunt was heard, and she slowed down cautiously. The canyon bent making a small blind spot which they crept close to. Then they peaked around the corner.

A clawed foot stomped the ground causing dust to fly up with a snarl. Talons and armor clashed against one another and if Arcee could remotely describe the creatures, they looked like Earth dinosaur raptors but mismatched with grey armor and purple, damaged organic skin. Six of them hovered over the corpse of a helio-horse. A few gnawed on the metal while others stood around making weird noises that seemed to be a form of communication among them. One sprinted when another hissed at it and the fleeing form darted quickly around its peers before stopping on the other side of the horse within a mere second.

“They’re fast like you...that’s suspicious to me,” Arcee said looking back at Blurr.

Blurr held a distasteful expression. “As in?”

“I think this isn’t some random infestation. These Horaquan are tailored for the vast environment of Velocitron just as Velocitronians are kin to the highways they make. That’s no coincidence. We need to get rid of them soon because if they get into any populated area, there’s no telling what they can do. And if they can match your abilities, they will overtake you.”

The look on Blurr’s face changed from angered to worried as he thought about what Arcee said. To say he wasn’t horrified deep down was a lie even if he tried to hide it.

“You mentioned having dealt with the species before. How do we defeat them?”

“Well, good news is they are susceptible to weapons just like you and me, but you can’t fight many of them by servo without risks. I say we cut them down. Do you have a weapon or...?”

The speedster ignited a blade from his forearm with blue bio lights and smirked, “We like to race, doesn’t mean we aren’t equipped to fight.”

She grinned, “Let’s get them running, shall we?”

Blurr matched her enthusiasm before sprinting out with her. To their surprise, the Metal Heads quickly sprinted away with taunting roars. The blue mech managed to catch up with one but Arcee was lagging. He noticed and quickly yelled, “Use your ability, Arcee! I’ll corner them, you use it to aid in killing them!”

The raptor-like Horaquan were lightning fast with paced grunts and quick reflexes as they steered to the canyon base. Arcee put pressure on her natural speed as Blurr corralled one that hissed at him towards the wall. As soon as they hit a straight with no obstacles, Arcee dug deep within her coding to find the newly achieved ability. She activated it as she brought out her double ended sword and it startled her when suddenly she was boosted forward. She surged at a far higher speed than she was used to and almost slammed into the tail of the Metal Head before it could be struck, and she started falling behind again. It was a ten-second window she had, and her systems alerted her that it took thirty seconds before she could use it again. Blurr smirked at her attempt but still tried to focus on keeping the raptor in the position that opened it for attack. Now that Arcee knew how the ability worked, it was time to put it to work the proper way.

When her speedster ability indicated it was charged again on her HUD, she timed it right as the raptor slowed a fraction of its pace by Blurr getting more towards its front which it tried to snap at him. She zoomed forward and wall-jumped off the side of the canyon right onto its back. Sinking the sword into its spine right under its brain, the beast stumbled dying and she jumped off again, transforming as it fell and hit the ground with a few bounces. Its skull gem popped out which Arcee witnessed in her mirrors.

“One down, five more to go!” Blurr said, giving a thumbs up before transforming.

They navigated and caught up to the troop that had slowed to communicate with one another. This time, the Metal Runners, as Arcee inwardly dubbed them, were deciding to do “fight and flight,” a strategy Arcee hadn’t seen in quite some time. Two of them stayed far in the front while three tried to take out the bots. They abruptly halted for a second to put themselves behind the bots before baring their fangs and claws, yellow eyes glowing bright with malice.

“They want to play, Blurr, but they don’t realize they just set up their leaders for annihilation.”

“Indeed,” he laughed. “I’ll distract the three back here. Go get them, girl!”

Right as he said that, he hit his brakes and slid sideways tripping two of the Metal Runners with a crazed cackle. Arcee sped forward as much as she could push herself when one of the two leaders peered back with a growl. Targeting the one with the attitude, she hit her boost and transformed, jumping on it and stabbing it. It gave a harsh roar and tumbled. The three Blurr were teasing grew paranoid until the two abandoned the troop to go back.

Blurr said, “Don’t worry about them. Let’s get these two first.”

As Arcee gained on the remaining leader, Blurr transformed and ran at sonic speeds to catch up with the one just behind her. When it noticed him, he made a dorky face before bringing out his own weapon. He smirked as its four eyes went wide realizing his intentions. He plunged the edge of his blade into its neck, forcing it into the canyon walls and sparks emitted from the blade dragging against the rock while shredding whatever flesh was trapped between them. Once Blurr pulled his weapon out, the Metal Runner collapsed lifelessly with its skull gem hitting the ground. He did a twirl in victory before converting back to his vehicle mode.

Arcee activated her boost against and came right under the Metal Head she was trailing. She avoided being tossed by the feet kicking up dirt and dust before impaling it in the abdomen. It gave an ungodly sound and hit the ground hard. Her sword didn’t discharge from the wound, and she was flung over and past it when it went belly up by tripping over its own head. She recovered by landing on her pedes and sliding around to stop herself. The poor Metal Runner couldn’t stand, yelping as its nervous system on its lower half was disturbed by her sword going through and hitting the inner spine. It snarled at her, trying to crawl towards her abruptly, but it failed to see Blurr and its head was slammed into the canyon.

Even though it looked dead, its skull gem didn’t pop so Arcee made the quick decision to change her arm into a blaster and started unloading it. Three hits to the head and its gem finally released with a distant grunt. The same dark purple sludge she had seen on Metal Heads before oozed out of its still corpse.

Blurr rolled by slowly without transforming to robot mode and said, “Is it bad I find their lack of defense a bit unnerving? It makes it seem like we’re attacking them without reason.”

Arcee responded, “The Metal Heads were made by a mastermind of determined evil. Their only instinct is to kill regardless of if they attack first or not. It’s just what they are made to do.”

“Damn...if we caught a bunch of these, they would be good for racing. Granted, we would have to muzzle them but I kind of want to ride one...”

“Don’t even think about it,” she said without missing a beat. “Come one, we still have the last two to hunt.”

The bots had to backtrack to find the two remaining Metal Heads. With the canyon now silent and the fog still lingering, they were careful to navigate the canyon as they feared the creatures might desire the element of surprise against the ones responsible for hunting their brethren. When they reached the slope they had used to enter the bottom of the canyon, Arcee scowled to herself while Blurr examined his surroundings.

“They probably left this time for sure. I wouldn’t stick around-”

“Shh! We don’t know that. Given I met two of their most intelligent warriors to date, I wouldn’t put it past them to be somewhat cunning like their superiors if push came to shove,” Arcee immediately said.

“You mentioned dealing with them on the isle previously. Who was their leader then if not now?” Blurr asked curiously.

She still kept a keen eye out for any lurking shadows or movement as she sighed, “Kor was a monster; he betrayed his species to gain power, the same as...well, he took over the Metal Heads when Tigressa was banished. He mocked everyone he believed to be inferior but was a beast to fight, clever above all but his ego got the better of him. I killed him on the isle by bringing his nest down on top of him after defeating him in battle. It was epic; I would not want to do it again though.”

The Velocitronian looked flabbergasted by the description and gave a small sound impressed by her. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

“Thank you,” she said smugly.

A sudden roar had both Arcee and Blurr have their weapons at the ready. Arcee was quick to use her speedster ability and dodged a fast swipe of claws before decapitating the Metal Head. The second one grew wise and sidestepped her attempt to assassinate it. Hissing, it circled them.

“Told you they would be waiting!” Arcee snapped.

Both bots mirrored it until the blue mech was the first to strike. He nicked its thigh but earned a sharp punt of the tail to the chest knocking him backwards. Arcee took the opportunity to lunge and swiped her sword up, severing its arm. When it reeled back in pain, she used its distraction to get close. It opened its jaws to bite, but she was ready. The one of the blades of her double edge impaled it through the roof of its mouth and it whimpered before going limp. She tore it out and sneered as it collapsed. Blurr got up and whistled admiring her skills.

“Fast with a blade. Where were you when I was looking for a sparkmate three years ago?”

“Sorry, taken,” she winked.

“Well, he better not lose you because damn! I don’t remember if I said this already, but you should have been a Velocitronian. Like, I find that a crime you are not.”

“Nice to know I have an admirer,” she said rotating her blade before placing one end on the canyon floor.

Blurr smiled, “I would be a fool not to be. Now, we best report this to Override before she wonders if we died or something.”

The way back to Override was almost a race once more and they found her in the FastTrak Command Complex with Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter. The Nitrotiger was quick to greet her by purring and rubbing up against her leg while the Vehicon was busy talking to a Velocitronian over possible information. Megatron was smiling at her which made her blush. She then surprised everyone by speeding around her sparkmate and Override before stopping next to Blurr again. Moonhunter had optics the size of plates.

“Where did you learn that?!” Bolt asked shocked.

“Upgrade, but it only lasts ten seconds before it must recharge. A speed boost, so to speak. Now I can outrun you, Megatron, in a flash.”

Megatron raised his brows before smirking to the side, “I’m more curious if you could use it for other things-”

“Hey, we’re working here,” Arcee chided though not without a smile of her own.

Blurr snickered to the side and Bolt rolled his head to mimic rolling his optics.

Override changed the subject by asking, “I take it you found the creatures?”

Arcee nodded, “Metal Heads. They were fast...like a Velocitronian. As I told Blurr, I think someone set them up here for a reason. That means you need to alert your planet to protect itself from these things if they are invading.”

Blurr then said, “I can find the planetary defense system. It’s either in Delta or Traction City, with your permission, Override.”

The Velocitronian leader acknowledged the statement knowing Arcee was right to point out what should be done. “Yes, thank you for investigating. With what we now know, defending Velocitron will indeed be our top priority, but Arcee, I must ask you a very demanding question, something I just noticed and don’t think I am accusing anyone of anything.”

Arcee was confused as was Megatron as she continued, “I do find your appearance alongside the Metal Heads’ at the same time very...odd...considering they weren’t here a month ago. My question to you is this: do you know why this is happening now?”

She understood the superstition but had no answers. Her timing did give more questions than answers and while she was very tempted to oust Silos’ presence on Velocitron, that wouldn’t bode well for Cybertron or anyone she cared about. She noticed Megatron caught her hesitance as did Bolt. She responded in a not-so-flattering, “I honestly can’t say, but I will help you get rid of them.”

There was an unreadable expression on Override’s faceplates, one that made her think she didn’t believe her out of not being able to give a good reason for the coincidence. But Override accepted it with a mere gesture. Still, it haunted Arcee to see it.

“Oh, and before I forget, take another one of these if you want,” the red and white femme said. She handed a Radiant Core to Arcee and shrugged, “I don’t want you to feel empty-handed for doing all these tasks for me. Blurr, Road Rage, and I will keep an optic out for any more Metal Heads and infestations. I’m sorry if I am coming off as paranoid but I have to note all possibilities, even the ones that don’t seem right, you know?”

Arcee agreed on that and as Override and Blurr started talking as they left, Bolt and Megatron approached her with the former crossing his arms.

“That’s one hell of an assumption. She thinks we brought the virus here?”

“She’s only considering all answers; she’s afraid and we would do the exact same thing if the situation was reversed. I can’t blame her for that,” Arcee defended.

Megatron shook his head, “It is what it is. I say we go out for Energon because I’m starving.”

“Yeah,” Bolt said amused, “I bet that big physique of yours is really missing out.”

As Megatron said something obscene in retaliation, Arcee’s commlink activated and she shivered upon hearing the growling voice of Silos. “Oh, Arcee, I have another task for you. Meet me in my shop and yes, it is about that little conversation we had about winning over dear Override. I have the name if you think you’re up to the challenge, assassin.”

She quickly peered around to figure out how to get to Silos without alerting the others. She cleared her throat and smiled forcefully. “You guys go ahead, I’m good.”

“Are you sure?” Megatron asked concerned. “Don’t let this situation keep you on edge. We’re here for you.”

It killed her having to keep her encounter with Silos a secret, but perhaps she needed to see if she could reason with Silos for more leniency about that. She appreciated the support nonetheless.

“Thanks, but I’ll just be out and about.”

They finally let her leave and she was quick to transform. Heading back to the street market where vendors and salesmechs were still chanting a bargain, she reached the door of the trophy shop, passing a shady Velocitronian going out who glared at her with a Horaquan dragon’s head on a plaque.

“Everyone loves to feel like winners even if they themselves aren’t the real achievers of it. That’s what’s so remarkable about using Metal Heads as trophies; people can brag but they can never get the story right,” Silos laughed from the back. He stepped into view with several new items including a necklace made from the skull gems he had taken from other Horaquan. Placing them on a table to be sorted, he brushed off his paws on his thighs and smirked at her.

Arcee stood there awkwardly before rubbing her neck. “Look, Silos, can I be honest with you? I don’t think stealing stuff for you is good. What happens if I get caught? Then I’m screwed and you get to walk free! Maybe this deal is a bad idea.”

“Second thoughts?” He said bemused, “It’s too late for that, my dear. Besides, it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be. Most of what I ask is nothing short of recovery missions for clients. I must make money somehow. Think of it this way: you help me, and I will give you the information you want to help others. That’s as fair as it’s going to get. Tell you what, I’ll even keep in contact with you more. I know Metal Heads inside and out. I can give you any data you want on them, and I can tell you their weaknesses, their strengths, and even their thoughts. How about that? Does that seem fair for the little sins I may have you do? You’ll be regarded as a hero; I care for no such thing so you can have it.”

“Morally-”

“Morality is foolish,” he scoffed setting a basket of skull gems on the counter. “I would know. The greatest achievements in history were never built on morality. Name one event that has ever been won with pure morals and I will slit my own throat here and now, and you’ll never have to deal with me again.”

Arcee tried to think of a conflict, anything worthwhile that matched his demands, but nothing came to mind. He was right. He waited before clapping his hands together once and pointing both at her with an amused grin.

“Tell me this...how many people has Optimus Prime killed when he could have merely taken them prisoner instead? Reviving Cybertron was not morally justified, and you know this given its past and present. No one is deprived of moral sin, you and I both, so morals ain’t got nothing to do with doing what you think is best for everyone. It’s about living and how to live, always has been. Your decisions at the end of the day teach people to live or not, but the question should be what are you willing to do to let them live?”

She didn’t have a response to that either and peered to the side when he gently touched her shoulder. “Arcee, you are a valiant warrior, but you know the risks. We are no stranger to breaking the rules to live.”

“And what about you, Silos? What happened to your morals? What rules did you break?” She then hissed. “What happened?”

The Metal Head backed away smirking with his fangs visible. “I don’t think you would believe me. I was...King Kronos’ proud captain of the guard, a simple Rozarian. I used to have a saying: ‘I will always do what’s right no matter what stands in my way’ and everyone always commented on it about certain situations, and I would repeat myself. That’s how I worked. Heh, the king used to always tease me about rebuffing people’s advances; I never found a mate, no one sat right with me. But then came his eldest daughter, strong and cunning, looked like her mother but held the ferocity of her grandfather. She was beautiful to me; everyone feared her, but she didn’t care. And she did terrible things, the screams echoing across the land like music, and I fell. She was worth living for; I wanted more so when she offered me a mixture made of her own blood and powers, a hideous virus...I drank it. Hmm hmm, I regretted nothing.”

Arcee watched him move slowly to one side of the room examining what he had on display, running a claw over the glass. Then he examined his hand, a twitch in his horrific smile.

“The pain was excruciating, like being torn apart. I was dying yet unable to die. I was living death, and I loved it as much as I loved her. My successes stood out as I lived while others met their fate. I got all that I yearned for; I couldn’t tell you everything I had done except that I did what I needed to for the sake of the Horaquan empire. Unlike your more heroic crusade, mine was, of course, personal. However, like you, I did what was necessary. The only reason Tigressa failed was her father and siblings knew her enough to counter her. As you know, my passion for her yielded some unfavorable results so I had to leave. But I never stopped caring for her, and I never hated what I became.”

Arcee nodded, “Love was your main ambition.”

“And yet, they say love is never morally wrong. You see where the conflict of that logic comes into play. You and I know that in war, nothing will be or should be sacred because we will always do whatever it takes to win or suffer in our loss. It is why I know you don’t have as much of a problem getting caught by your peers as you do letting them down, which is also why I know my ultimatum for you is perfect and why you will accept it even if it goes against your morality. I’m not trying to harm you, Arcee, but I want you to understand that in life itself, what you believe is not how the universe will ever work. To follow so blindly into a universe of what should be is a death sentence to everyone around you.”

Arcee had nothing to argue about when she knew Silos was right. To help Override and the others, it might be the only option she has.

The rhino-alien-Horaquan grabbed a chest off the top shelf of a cabinet, one Arcee couldn’t reach if she tried. She avoided being accidentally hit by his dragon-esque tail when he turned around and placed it on an antique table between them. Popping the locks, he carefully lowered the lid and lifted out a silver pendant with an engraved fancy star on it, letting it spin idly by the chain.

“Do you know who’s this is?”

Arcee gave a soft “no” as he tapped the ruby in the middle of it.

“This is a crest of a follower of Mourningstar. Caught the little bitch trying to take a youngling in broad daylight from a distraught carrier right outside a few weeks ago,” he said before pointing to a green pile of spare parts on sale. He gave a sinister laugh, “And that’s all that remains of her.”

Keeping the disgust and horrified feelings she wanted to express inside, Arcee stayed silent, but a brief frown managed to show for a few seconds though she couldn’t disagree that the attempted kidnapper deserved it.

“As I promised, I will tell you of that trafficking ring that has plagued Override so, and the leader of it is Mourningstar, a nasty piece of work that mech is. He takes whoever he deems profitable and takes them to Traction City’s lower-level streets where the shadier end of business is conducted here on Velocitron. Can’t say I’m innocent of selling unfavorable things down there myself, definitely not children though. That crosses a line that makes my skin crawl; even Tigressa found such things quite disturbing.”

“And that’s using them for...” she grimaced unable to finish the sentence.

“Mm hmm,” he grunted. “Word is Mourningstar is going there to put new victims on the buyer’s market tomorrow. Five kidnapped bots are being moved in transports to Traction City tonight, said to meet in the bowels of the streets at dawn sharp. You need to cut off those transports and free those poor souls before they are forever lost and trust me, little less than ten people have ever escaped Mourningstar’s ring once down there, and he has had thousands of ‘goods’ processed monthly to give you an idea of just how long he’s been doing this. He keeps a tight grasp on his operations, but I can hack into the transports to pinpoint their exact locations but only for a certain amount of time before its security slams down hard. Are you willing to do it?”

Arcee sighed, “And Mourningstar?”

“He will be blind to the rescues until dawn or unless someone tips him off from lack of communication from the transports, but I can cover that too. Once the victims are rescued, I can send an anonymous call to Override to meet you down there, but the rest will be up to you.”

“Kicking scum’s ass sounds quite fun now that I think on it.”

Silos sneered, “This is one thing I ask: bring me Mourningstar’s personal crest. He always wears it around his neck, but his followers keep theirs hidden on their person. That crest is worth more than his followers’ lives. Since I don’t think Override would care much about it, I will take it.”

“How noble,” she mocked. “Alright, but if I get stuck in Mourningstar’s ring, you better come and get me.”

“I’ll have a ground bridge at the ready. Of course, I won’t let that mech get his greasy hands on someone as lovely as you.”

She dismissed the comment and simply replied, “You get the coordinates, I’ll be there.”

------------------------------

Arcee didn’t know how long she waited until she finally received word from Silos as she patrolled the highways. The drive was nice, but his voice still left a sour note.

“All five transports are on the move with red trailers. Dispatch the two guards on each transport and free the cargo. An officer of Override’s security force will arrive not long after I send the call. The first two transports are near you a few hundred meters out.”

She noted that and sped up to weave through traffic to catch the closest transport. She spotted one in front of her, a giant trailer attached to an operated vehicle. Casually, she sped by it just to see what she was dealing with. But as she got close to the trailer, she heard a very faint pounding from within. It was so masked by the sound of Velocitron’s engines, it was a perfect way to transport a person discreetly. That infuriated her. Two guards were at the helm of the vehicle, and she quickly scouted her options. The easiest way to deal with them was to separate them from the transport and thankfully, the transport had an open cockpit.

Using her speedster ability, she suddenly banked off the divider of the highway and transformed with her blades active. She sliced through one mech with ease but the femme alongside him countered with her own blades. They clashed trying to get the upper hand. While they did so, the transport slowly drifted into the median and shook while sparks ignited off the two metals rubbing against one another. Arcee forced the guard to block up before sending a low kick to the abdomen. The femme went flying onto the road and was instantly hit by a truck in alt mode that blared its horn. Arcee didn’t see the aftermath as she gained control of the vehicle and slammed on the brakes. Once stopped, she ran to the back and shot the locks open.

In the trailer, there were several crates of valuables and Energon but in the corner, a shivering frame was holding onto one of the strapped down crates. A youngling, though almost out of the category from the size, peered at Arcee terrified and began crawling backwards to press against the trailer wall. The younger mech trembled as she tried to assure him.

“It’s okay. You’re safe. I just stopped those people that took you. I’m going to have someone call the authorities and get you back to your family, okay?”

The mech blinked before slowly crawling out. Giving him a gentle smile, she reached her servo out and waited patiently as he finally took it after a minute of hesitance. When he saw he was on the highway, he nearly broke down crying.

“Am...I...?” he barely pronounced.

“You’re free, yes,” she said. “I would tell you what happened to the guards, but I think you’ve been through enough.”

She was abruptly startled when he hugged her, still timid and whimpering. “They did horrible things to me! I-I just want to see my sire and s-sister again!”

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

When more people stopped, Arcee quickly told a few bots about the situation before excusing herself to go after the other transports once she saw a couple who transformed and comforted him. She knew he was in good servos and that they would help him get back to his family. Transforming, she made up for lost time by using the information Silos said about the second transport being not far from the first when she attacked the latter.

The second transport was easy to find. This time she didn’t hesitate to jump up and kicked the passenger right off the edge of the highway bridge. She didn’t know how far the guard fell but neither did she care. The driver was punched repeatedly in the face until Energon was pouring out his nasal plating and he was forced unconscious. The transport halted, and she released the trailer doors. To her surprise, there were three femmes in the back who blinked at the sudden light of passing traffic.

“Silos, these transports have more than just one victim each.”

“How unfortunate...do what you can then. The faster we get this done, the better it will be for Velocitron.”

She gestured to the femmes, but they didn’t budge until she said, “Your captors are incapacitated. I’m here to free you. You’re safe now.”

One of them took a chance, the desperation very abundant on her faceplate to get out of her predicament. When she saw the highway, she gasped and quickly signaled the other two to come with her. Turning to Arcee, she nearly cried, “Thank you! They ambushed me and my friends! I thought we would be killed!”

“You’re safe and I have someone calling security over to you now. Be wary of the unconscious guard in the front though. I beat him good for you; he’s no longer a threat. Keep close to each other, alright?”

Arcee paused when she received a small kiss on the cheek before the three rested against the median enjoying the starry night. She gave a brief smile at the girls before leaving once more. “Anything on the radar, Silos?”

“A transport is coming in from Dragtail Highway on the eastern end of Traction City. The other two are a few miles away on the south Ridgelane.”

As she drove the remainder of the highway she was currently on to Traction City, Megatron suddenly commed her. “Haven’t heard from you in a while. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, just visiting Traction City,” she lied. “We should make a trip over here just you and me.”

“Forgive my curiosity, Arcee, but you seem distant since we came to Velocitron. I don’t like to pry but...”

She sighed, “Look, Megatron, it’s...it’s a bit complicated. It’s not you or Bolt. I just-”

“You like venturing on your own, don’t you? I don’t blame you,” the warlord said though she could tell the slight sadness in his voice.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you need space and you’re a free spirit, isn’t that why I fell in love with you? Just be safe.”

“I will. I promise.”

She followed the city signs to Dragtail Highway and saw the transport up ahead. Using a U-turn lane from a break in the divider, she moved around and trailed the transport. She speed-boosted and grabbed one of the guards, headbutting them harshly and knocking them out before climbing over them and wrestling the controls from the driver. She punched the driver twice and grabbed them to slam their helm against the dashboard. Slamming on the brakes, she casually pushed the passenger guard out of the way to get out of the cockpit.

She opened the trailer and a mech and femme both quickly ran out, both sighing in relief when they saw they were among a highway. The mech then said, “That was a nightmare! I thought we were dead! You, cycler, you aren’t Mourningstar’s guard, are you?”

“Nope,” Arcee answered proudly.

The dark pink femme gave a small smile. “We appreciate the rescue. We owed Mourningstar and his cronies. When we were late with a payment, we got a call saying the terms had changed. Next thing we know, we’re being forced into the trailer to who knows where!”

“What did you owe him for?”

The orange mech gestured with a growl, not at Arcee but instead the audacity of the situation. “We run a weapons store and I guess he didn’t want competition on the weapons market, so he bought a share in our company. However, he added a fee for protection against any of his rivals, failed to mention he basically saw it as owning us. I don’t know what he planned on doing with us, but my sparkmate and I are going to lay low for a while. Hope someone nails that bastard.”

Arcee gave a nod and while moving backwards said, “Stay safe and don’t worry, I’m working on it.”

She left for Ridgelane Highway and immediately passed a transport about to enter the city. Knowing time was short as dawn was set to start in an hour or so, she didn’t wait for the next U-turn. Instead, she hopped over the median which earned her angry honks and sped straight for the vehicle. Using her speed boost, she transformed and grabbed the sidebar of the cockpit, swinging around and sending both pedes into the faceplate of one unsuspecting guard. The second grimaced and was a coward, immediately jumping out only to get whacked by a pole much to Arcee’s amusement.

The trailer for the fourth transport held a thick-plated, dark green femme who was restrained. Even though she heard the warning growl of the femme, she still approached to help them.

“Hey, I’m going to get you out of here. They can’t hurt you anymore. You just have to trust me, okay?”

The brutish femme calmed down but was still tense. Once the queen broke their restraints, the other femme finally spoke. “You’re either very brave or very foolish. Mourningstar will hunt you down if he finds out what you’ve done.”

“Good news is I’m hunting him too. Game on,” Arcee snarled.

That made the larger bot smile as they left the trailer. “Knowing that, I change my mind; I like you. Give him my regards when you beat the shit out of the son of a bitch. Not many people have the guts to do it.”

“Absolutely. I’ll make sure I’m his first.”

The last transport Arcee waited for within the city overlooking the Ridgelane Highway as Silos pointed out it was on its way. She took a second to admire the difference between Traction City and Delta. While Delta was always lit up, Traction City seemed to prefer the aesthetic of a more toned-down lighting system allowing the light of the stars and the sun to paint its colors instead of relying on artificial lights. She peered back to the highway as she sat on the sign above. She knew it was probably frowned upon, but it was a statement...and so was her standing up as she spotted the trailer as well as when she stepped off with good timing. Both the guards and the other onlookers didn’t expect it, neither did one of the guards expect getting stomped on right as she turned to swiftly punch the other.

The vehicle slid to halt and Arcee smirked as two unconscious bodies with bloody faces were both crooked in their seats. She brushed her servos together with a cocky smile before opening the trailer, only to suddenly get the butt of a weapon right in the nose plate. She scowled but was able to still stand despite the blow, having had her fair share of fights in her years of war. The guard who stepped out was a bit stunned by her resilience but tilted his helm out of curiosity. She peered past him to see two younglings clinging to one another.

“Well, aren’t you bold, my dear?”

“Arcee, have you secured the final trailer?” Silos said in the comm.

She couldn’t answer when she was hit from behind by an approaching bot in their alt mode. Two more came up and transformed. She saw a glimmer of silver hidden among their chest plates as she felt dizzy, the crest of Mourningstar...his followers.

“Mourningstar will be most impressed indeed,” the guard snickered as she fell unconscious.

“Arcee!”

Chapter Text

Arcee awoke with a throbbing headache, aggravated and distasteful of her last known predicament. “Primus above!”

“Oh, I’m afraid Primus is not down here. This is my domain.”

She sat up abruptly and saw she was in a decorative room. A few other mechs and femmes gave her small looks of pity before they acknowledged the hand wave of someone they suddenly cowered under, notable restrictive collars on their necks. She saw she was on some type of couch adorned with fancy cloths but then she noted her weapons were gone, put in the corner of the room where guards were also watching her like hawks. A mech covered her view of them, big and tall, dark red with silver edging and venomous purple optics and bio lights. The signature pendant she sought was gold instead of silver and carried far more details on it than the silver ones. His back kibble with wheels were positioned in a way that almost resembled wings. She would say he was handsome, but his deeds outweighed any sort of redeeming factors he may have had, even beauty.

“So, you’re the femme who just lost me seven pieces of property that wasn’t yours to take-”

“Freed is the proper term. People aren’t property for you to take,” she snapped back.

Mourningstar, or who she assumed was, merely tipped his helm with a surprisingly calm demeanor. But she had dealt with mechs of a similar nature and knew this guy was only putting on an act until it came down to what he wanted from her.

“Everything can be sold...for the right price. But fair enough. I just lost seven people, and I wonder why? Why do you care for their lives? Most of them are nothing but wastes of space, and don’t lie and tell me they mean something to you. You’re not even from here, Cybertronian.”

Arcee scoffed, “Maybe where I come from, that’s not acceptable. Ever put that in your calculations?”

Mourningstar grew a humored grin and clapped his servos twice when he started to walk closer to her. “Oh, you have some bite to your bark, I can tell. Deadly, beautiful, but also with brains and, as my guards have witnessed, some iron brass. I don’t normally see that in the people I meet; that would get you in trouble, but I’m honestly enjoying the snark. It adds a fresh flair around here, wouldn’t you agree, boys?”

The guards chuckled low, but Arcee didn’t stop glaring at Mourningstar though she did scoot away when he sat beside her. “Now, I find that quite attractive in a young lady. It gets a bit boring when everyone agrees when you agree or disagrees when you disagree. It’s like talking to a bunch of parapyros. They repeat everything basically.”

“No wonder your ego is inflated,” she muttered.

Mourningstar was a bit taken aback by the jab, but he cackled at it before looking her up and down which made her uncomfortable. “I’m a businessman, obviously you don’t agree with what I sell, but to be as good as I am, sometimes you must love yourself too much. It makes the job so much easier. But now I wonder how much you’ll be worth. Not every day do we have a stunning Cybertronian like yourself among us and with high demands the more customers I have, people would pay so much just to be in your presence alone. Or maybe...”

He started to lean closer as Arcee snarled when he placed a digit under her chin to keep her from retreating.

“...I should keep you all to myself. I have a few I keep until I grow bored then get new ones, but you...I don’t think I’ll ever tire of you.”

Right as his scarred lips were about to meet hers, he pulled away when a guard came into the room from another area and whispered in his audio.

“Oh, is it time? Well, I have a bit of short supply today but that means they will pay more,” he grinned. He then gestured to Arcee. “Come, darling, you must see my job at its finest.”

Arcee did not want to go but she knew there was no choice in the matter. Following him in a different direction from where the guard went, she found herself in a balcony and, to her horror, a crowd of people chatting as a stage lit up with an announcer that bore Mourningstar’s crest out in the open unlike the others. There were already auctioned off items like simple furniture, most likely stolen, as well as weapons but it seemed the crowd grew larger as the main auction was about to begin. Nearly thrown onto the stage was one of the younglings Arcee didn’t save after being jumped.

Her spark broke at the sight of little bot quivering and knowing what Mourningstar’s customers wanted, she couldn’t even describe how terrible it was. The youngling looked almost about to cry as so many adults leered at them with unhinged, sick emotions, and Arcee knew there was a parent somewhere panicking to death at the loss of their child as well as the soon-to-be loss of innocence.

“Please, Mourningstar, you can’t do this to a kid!”

He barely charged his amused expression when he looked at her, laughing silently at her concerns. “I give the people what they want. It’s just business in the end regardless of whoever gets in the way. I would assume you knew that when you had your war; this is no different.”

As bidding started, she saw the youngling being startled by the shouting of prices. The highest bid was 100,000 credits. She didn’t want to imagine what would happen to the youngling with the person that made the bid.

“750,000 credits-,” someone’s voice hissed with a serpentine disposition. The crowd was naturally stunned by an unnaturally high bid. Then the voice continued, “-for the gorgeous lady in the balcony seating.”

All optics turned to her, including Mourningstar’s but he grew aggressive when he shouted down at the buyer, “She’s not for sale!”

Out from the shadows with persistent, haunting golden eyes of a serpent, Captain Silos himself. Some bots immediately whispered about the Metal Head which he seemed to ignore. Instead, he merely gestured to Mourningstar. “I thought everything can be sold...for the right price. Is that not your motto?”

“Ceros Silos,” Mourningstar hissed with an unknown expression. “You dare-”

“I heard there was a Cybertronian here on Velocitron and I was wondering if you found them, and you did, I see. So, naturally, I came to buy her.”

Arcee couldn’t tell if he was trying to fool Mourningstar into releasing her or actually trying to buy her. If the trafficking bust was a setup, she was going to kill Silos even if it killed her in the process.

“You mean to tell me you insult me with your presence just to stick your organic alien spike into some valve? Do you have no respect for the species, not to mention physiological, boundaries of interface?” The red mech scowled.

Captain Silos paused for a second to look to the side then shrugged, “Nope, never crossed my mind.”

Arcee used the distraction to note the guards had slipped away to go down to Silos leaving her with Mourningstar. She quickly saw a chair unlatched from the floor just behind the curtain and slowly backed away silently to get it.

Silos said, “But at least my partners scream in pleasure in the berth. Can you say the same, Mourningstar?”

That pushed a button and Mourningstar’s demeanor completely flipped right before Arcee’s optics. “You maggot-infested, filthy, degenerate abomin-”

She grabbed the chair and swung it right at the back of her captor’s head. He fell to his knees, just low enough for Arcee to send several punches. She ripped his unique crest off his neck before pushing him over the edge of the balcony. Several people screamed at almost being crushed under the large mech. Just as he hit the ground, sirens rang out and the underground ring erupted into chaos as Override, Road Rage, and her troops burst into the underground auction. She saw Silos quickly hide towards the back, not before throwing the announcer towards the chaos with a smug grin.

Arcee fled backstage and grabbed her ricochet ray, Dagger Prima, and her double ended sword when she saw the youngling running into the room distraught. She quickly waved down the kid and asked, “Where’s the other one? I’ll keep you from them, but I need to know where the other youngling is. Do you know?”

The silent kid pointed at the stock room and Arcee kept them close as she walked fast into the other room. She pushed back the curtains to see several pained and terrified faces looking at her including the other youngling. Just then Silos appeared behind her.

“You can handle the rest, right?”

“Thank you for coming to get me. I didn’t think you would.”

Silos smirked, “Can’t let you die just yet. Override is going to be here any second and I can’t stay because she’s now aware of the Metal Heads and I’m...you know.”

“Oh right,” Arcee frowned.

“Good luck to you, hero.”

The Metal Head captain activated a ground bridge and left as Arcee started unchaining Mourningstar’s victims. Once they were all freed, she escorted all of them outside where Override and Road Rage were forcing restraints on Mourningstar and several of his accomplices. When they spotted Arcee, they were flabbergasted.

“Arcee, what the-what are you doing here?!” Override exclaimed angrily.

“Trust me, the answer to that is not one you’re going to like. I caught wind of this trafficking ring and I just decided to help, got caught but managed to get someone to call you,” she said awkwardly. Even Road Rage was a bit unsure of her, the first time she had ever seen the bubbly femme frown.

Override gestured to Mourningstar and asked, “And this is the mech behind all this? You’re sure?”

She was about to answer when one of the younglings pointed at him too. “They stole me from my mama!”

The other victims, young and old, all nodded and exclaimed their grievances to the surprise of Override and her troops. They didn’t expect so many witnesses, but the leader’s expression changed to neutral as she observed the hatred in all their optics were directed at Mourningstar himself. With this, she slowly broke a proud smile and shoved the disoriented ringleader into her troops’ servos.

“Mourningstar, you are under arrest for crimes too indescribable to mention out loud. Take him away!”

Road Rage approached Arcee as the remaining troops comforted the victims and more squadrons searched the rest of the premises for Mourningstar’s followers. “Do you know how long we’ve been trying to find this crime ring?”

Arcee played innocent and shook her head, “No. How big of a deal was this?”

“Uh, massive! Now that we know it’s Mourningstar, I can tell you that his ring spans the entirety of Velocitron. We’ve been searching for his hideout for years. Every time we got close, he slipped through us like running Energon. You just saved lives today. Do you know what he does other than just sell people and illegal items? He trades with customers who grow bored of their victims for newer ‘models’ and then kills the useless ones. Mechs, femmes, and younglings...it was horrific when we found remnants of what he’s done but never could find him. You just made history, Arcee, I hope you know that!” The serious tone, although proud, was off-putting to Arcee but she understood why Road Rage would break her normal demeanor.

Override, however, seemed less sympathetic. “The fact is, Arcee, that you just broke the biggest crime ring in Velocitron. I don’t know what to say about that. It makes me look incompetent, but maybe that was a necessity. Maybe seeing the situation from fresh optics gave a clue we overlooked.”

Arcee felt bad that this was not the case. She remained mute as Override continued, “I don’t know why you thought this was something you needed to do...but I’m sorry I doubted you for a second with the Metal Heads and-”

“It was the right thing to do,” she answered, smiling as the two younglings clung to her. “No one deserves to go through this.”

Override now supported a genuine smile. “I don’t know how many times I can thank you during your stay here. Now, I must oversee the cleanup and other boring parts of the investigation but while I can talk with you, I need you to go back to Delta with Road Rage. When I got your bribed anonymous call, the Metal Heads were seen on the outskirts of the city near Robex Base, and I suspect they took the Energon Core there as someone broke into said base a day ago.”

Arcee stayed stoic but internally, she panicked. Another fault of hers but the convenience of the presence of the Metal Heads was a good insurance clause on the whole ordeal, assuming no one from the base was present to identify her.

“The one on the highway, Blurr said it looks like a lieutenant, bigger than the ones you fought in Red Run Canyon. I need you to take out that lieutenant before it gets it in its head to send those creatures into the city. Road Rage will join you in a moment. I can handle this; can you handle that Metal Head for me in my place?”

The queen nodded, “You can count on me.”

As she left Override to do her thing and navigated the underground streets back to the surface, she received a call from Silos as she waited for Road Rage. “Did Mourningstar get his well-needed justice? Couldn’t stick around to find out.”

“Yes, he’s in custody.”

“Excellent,” Silos purred in a questionable manner that made Arcee frown.

She prodded, “I want you to tell me something, Silos. Back at the auction, you and Mourningstar sounded a bit too familiar to just know about each other’s existence. That makes me think you have a history with him. What’s the deal?”

“Mourningstar and I, we never got along well. He wanted control of all trade, especially foreign trade where he saw the most profit as you were almost proof of that. I refused to be bought out, so he sent his goons to harass me...ended as well as you can guess when the people he sent never came back. He saw me as an unspoken rival; I cared not for his deranged paranoia.”

“And the berth talk...you had to add that because?” Arcee shook her head amused.

Captain Silos laughed, “I like to piss people off by hitting them where the ego matters, and bedside performance is always a proud sport. Though I don’t really perform much myself as of late on account of some truth to what he said about the physical limits of different species, not to say that I haven’t done it before. There’s just a trick to-”

“Yeah, okay, Silos, keep the peace here and within please.”

“What can I say? I’m a natural hellion at heart. Hahahahahahahaha!”

Arcee refrained from humoring him any more by letting him go when Road Rage finally appeared with her signature smile back in place.

“Ready to go, Arcee?”

“Let’s go hunting.”

-------------------------------

Bolt watched from afar keeping tabs on the sudden appearance of the Metal Heads on the highway. Moonhunter growled, swaying his tail side to side but held off to wait for his companions’ commands. “Why are they mobilizing now? Someone must have told them Delta is still split over those weird growths. This isn’t sitting right with me, Megatron.”

Megatron was about to comment when he was interrupted by Rockahilly. “Who cares?! Those loathsome beasts are scarin’ away all my livestock, eating the few stubborn ones that refuse to run away!”

“Maybe the guy’s right,” Silverstreak shrugged, “we’ve never had a single encounter with these things before. There’s something wrong.”

Zoomkill scowled, “We never met a Cybertronian before either since the little sharpshooter. I say we blow the damn monsters up. Nobody’ll miss them.”

Bolt sighed aggressively, “If none of you are going to contribute to the conversation in a civil manner, you can all-hey, Arcee!”

The warlord quickly turned to see his sparkmate driving up with Road Rage behind her. She transformed and he quickly said, “There you are. After you went venturing, the Metal Heads started appearing everywhere! Whatever you did in that canyon with Blurr, you really upset them.”

Arcee scoffed, “Yeah, that’s my superpower right now.”

As she waved to Rockahilly who politely gestured to her in return, Megatron frowned, “Arcee, you’re not telling us something and it’s bothering me. Ever since you’ve been splitting off with us-”

“What? You think I have something to do with the Metal Head presence too? When something becomes suspicious, it’s me?” Arcee bit back angrily.

“You know what I mean; why are you being secretive? I’m trying to give you your space to trust you but it’s...hard to do that what you’re actively avoiding us.”

Road Rage came up beside her and tried to defuse the situation. “Arcee got caught in Mourningstar’s trafficking ring. She was only visiting Traction City and he caught her like many of his other victims. She helped save them. Override’s working on taking his followers into custody. If it wasn’t for her, Mourningstar would have never been caught possibly. We owe her that.”

Bolt looked at Arcee. “You happened to be caught by a-see, this doesn’t really help your point of being out alone though. Noble indeed, but that could have gone extremely wrong knowing how the sick minds of such criminals work.”

Megatron still shrugged with a distasteful expression. “Why couldn’t you tell me as soon as you were in that situation or out of it?”

Arcee refrained from saying “Silos convinced me to investigate as a part of our deal or else he’ll get you killed, and he helped me.” It wouldn’t go over well so she instead said, “I didn’t want you to worry. I was hoping I could do this alone.”

The pained frown of her sparkmate almost broke her spark. “I always worry, it’s what we as partners do for our loved ones. I don’t mind you doing something alone...just at least let me know. I can’t bear to think that if something happened and I had no clue where you were...”

She placed a servo on his arm. “I’m sorry, truly. I’ll be more honest, I promise...to both of you. No more keeping you in the dark.”

Yet, the one secret she had needed planning. She needed to alert them somehow of Silos eventually, but would it be too late if she did? That was a conundrum and certainly not one she could exploit yet. But she intended to be more respectful from this moment on as best she could.

Road Rage patted her shoulder and decided to give a shoutout to Rockahilly to the surprise of Arcee. The fact that the two knew each other brought up some questions but Arcee merely shook her head with a smirk. While Megatron was neutral in terms of feelings, he nodded to her and went to talk to Bolt when her commlink chimed.

“Now’s not the time,” she whispered.

“I beg to differ,” Silos said. “Have you seen the news? Metal Heads have been spotted near Robex Base as well as the outskirts of Delta.”

“Yeah, we know. We’re staring them down at a considerable distance. You wouldn’t happen to know why with that sixth Horaquan sense of yours, would you?”

“The Metal Heads have gotten wind of your activities on the planet and Red Run Canyon’s hunting spree with that blue speedster friend of yours solidified your attempts of sabotage to them. They are very vindictive. I sense the new Metal Head Leader has sent more than just the normal hive members out to stop you. Commanders of the twisted army have been awakened, and I cannot stress enough the danger they possess. The fact that the leader is sending them is a red flag to me because although I never let them in on the murder of Tigressa, your knowledge of the species used to defeat those in the canyon may have given you away as more than just a mere obstacle. Not many people have ever fought Metal Heads solo and survived, Arcee, and they will notice that. Take precautions as your new foes will not have mercy on you.”

“No one ever does,” she sneered.

“Which is why I want to ask a favor of you. I want fifteen gems for a new centerpiece of a display I’m making in my seemingly spare time. I used the ones I had for other things and found myself a bit short on stock. The Metal Head Commander gems are far too large so keep them if you want but the Grunts’ gems...well, you drew them out so here’s the perfect time to collect. Do that for me, and I might have something worthwhile to trade for your services.”

“You...you want to do arts and crafts while there’s the threat of death looming around the city, which you’re residing in, by the way?!”

“It’s amusing more so; I have nothing to fear from the Metal Heads. Defected but never defeated, even ask them yourself.”

“You help when it’s convenient to you. Duly noted.” She broke the transmission off annoyed. Silos had some skewed priorities it seemed but whatever kept him off her ass, she would accept even if it didn’t play to her favor. “Fifteen stupid skull gems coming your way then, Silos.”

“Arcee!”

The queen peered towards Bolt who gestured out across the highway. To her horror, the Horaquan were running at them. Mechs and femmes behind the bots noticed and several screams were heard. While most took a stand, some with younglings fled for cover. Bolt jumped down from his ledge and brought out his axe. Silverstreak and Zoomkill both stood by Road Rage as Rockahilly took point with his cannon.

Megatron growled, “Their siege has started. Guard the city; do whatever you can to protect your home!”

Rockahilly met his charge with an enthusiastic bellow. “Shoot those ugly things!”

Suddenly, half the group of Metal Heads jumped over the bridge onto the outer ledge to take the city from the side, each snarling as they made sure not to fall off to the planet surface below and aimed for the nearest targets to attack. Splitting off meant it would be harder to keep the monsters in a contained area and would spread their virus like wildfire. Then they saw some of the larger Metal Heads traversing the highway. Six giant, predatory dinosaur-like Horaquan didn’t seem to be able to run but what they lacked in speed, the cannons on their backs proved to level the battlefield quite well. They took their shots, the blasts flying right into buildings causing the neon lights attached to them to spark and crumble. The bots, both Velocitronian and Cybertronian, answered back.

Gunfire erupted from everyone. The Metal Heads that had diverted off the bridge ran into the city but were shot at every angle. Several collapsed after sustaining multiple blasts to the chest, their skull gems popping out to signify their deaths. However, many grew wise to the positions of their targets and timed the gunfire to dodge it, leaping up and changing their stances from quadrupedal fast crawling to bipedal running. Once they got in range of their enemies, they leapt at them with claws and teeth at the ready.

Bots were bitten and screamed bloody murder as their friends tried desperately to save them while they were being torn apart. One bot blasted the head off a Horaquan with his friend convulsing from a bite to the neck. Before he could comfort his dying friend, said friend’s eyes turned a malicious, ghostly yellow. The infection on his neck streaked across the armor like a purple plague. Armor twisted and shifted as organic matter became present on the protoform. He watched terrified as his friend became a monster. Nearly unrecognizable, the infected bot made an animalistic growl with dark purple sludge dripping from mutilated jaws. On the chest of it, a golden gem was present. The bot who had to point a weapon at his former friend grimaced when he had no choice but to pull the trigger when the monstrous being lunged at him, newfound tail whipping profusely. Several shots dropped the infected bot and his friend just stared as the skull gem clattered beside the body.

On the main front, the Metal Beasts with the cannons drove the team back as they webbed out across the city crushing anything or anyone that happened to go underfoot as they just stomped through uncaring. The Grunts and Ramheads, the lesser soldiers, used them to hide behind as many of the bots’ blasts did nothing to the larger species.

Bolt sliced down two Metal Heads as Moonhunter caught one by surprise, ripping its throat out before retreating to prevent being stepped on by the Metal Beast tracking them. One Metal Grunt managed to swipe the Vehicon off his feet and loomed over him imposingly. Bolt kept his weapon in front of him to try and guard himself. A horn abruptly rang out and the Metal Head whined when it was hit. A red and white car knocked it down and made a spinning maneuver before transforming.

Override activated her blaster and aimed at the disgruntled creature. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you to play nice?”

The Metal Head merely growled but that was the last noise it made as she shot it point blank before it could get back up. Smirking, she then offered Bolt her servo. Moonhunter sat beside his feet as he got up.

“Came to the party, huh?” Bolt chuckled.

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it,” she answered as Blurr came up from behind her with a smirk.

Meanwhile, Arcee and Silverstreak were confronted by several humanoid Metal Heads with weapons, each trying to cut them down. The former brought out her ricochet ray and fired. One Metal Head sneered as it dodged her, but she returned the smile when they both heard the blast bounce between multiple hits. It hit two Metal Heads before hitting the wall of a building, the ground, and then finally hit the smug creature ripping through its abdomen.

“Oh, I need to use this thing more!” Arcee laughed as she quickly scooped up three of the skull gems and put them in her subspace.

Silverstreak shot down a few of the pursuing Metal Heads with disdain. “Will it work on these colossal ones, d’you think?!”

The Metal Beast in front of them slowly grunted as it trailed them, snapping its jaws in warning as its cannon aimed past them to an untouched area of the city. Gunfire barely nicked the armor of the giant monster.

“No, I don’t think so,” the blue femme muttered.

Megatron, Rockahilly, and Zoomkill each kept the advancing forces of the Metal Heads at bay on their end when Megatron noticed Arcee and Silverstreak trying to draw the Metal Beast’s attention away from the city to them. He quickly ran to Arcee and asked, “So, any plans? We can’t hold them off, not if they can get across the highway.”

Catching a glimpse of Bolt, Override, and Blurr trying to regroup with the others, she quickly said, “Then maybe we need to blow up the highway...?”

“Uh, what about the Metal Heads on the other side?”

Arcee tried to wave down Override, but she didn’t see her. Stubbornly, she sighed, “Stay here and I’ll figure something out.”

Megatron was about to argue when Silverstreak twisted away as a blast flew right by her startling both. The femme scowled, “You just going to stand there? Starting firing! We ain’t getting younger, boy!”

He did what he was told on the premise of not wanting to die as Arcee sped towards Override. Upon reaching the Velocitron leader, she saw a few more Metal Head skull gems lying around for the taking.

“I take it you aren’t just here to help me,” Override then said, taking cover behind a wall.

“Override, we need to blow up the bridge of the highway. It’s the only way to stop them. If we can sever their forces, the rest can be hunted down. We need to secure Delta first and foremost.”

The red and white femme looked at her for a second like she was crazy, but it slowly melted to understanding. Finally, she said, “Blurr, the defense grid, do we have it online? Delta has a nuclear ion cannon along the barrier of the city near the highway itself. It’s powerful enough to blow up the bridge.”

“Yes, Ma’am. We just have to recalibrate it to lock onto the highway, but the main office is up there,” he responded, pointing to a high building in the center of the city. “Arcee, you want to go with me? Give me some cover?”

“Sure thing,” she nodded.

Override patted her shoulder, “Keep up the good work, Arcee. We’ll hold them off then, once they are separated, we’ll end this together.”

Blurr gestured to the queen, and she followed him. Using her speedster ability, she transformed and navigated the battling city. She slid under a Metal Beast still wandering and reached the center plaza of the building thankful it ignored her in favor of targeting a gunship brought out by Override’s guards.

“This is the Weapons and Defense Station. We usually have a hundred employees manning it during times of conflict. It controls all Velocitron’s city-wide defenses. The grid, however, is deep underground. That’s what I’ve been doing the past several hours, trying to turn it back on. We haven’t used it since we defeated Ransack and his followers,” Blurr said coming up beside her.

They both went into the station, turning briefly to peer outside when they heard an explosion close by, and went to the elevator. The ride up had muffled gunfire and faint shaking. When they reached the main command room, Blurr quickly evaluated the controls and started turning on the cannons and typed in their objectives. As he did so, Arcee went to the window overlooking the city and paused.

Streams of blasts from weapons on both sides, the marching Metal Heads attacking everything they could reach, and the visual explosions that rang out made her shiver. The parallels made of the Cybertronian war were inevitable. It looked no different from what she witnessed in Iacon between the Autobots and Decepticons...but at least the Decepticons didn’t try to eat people.

“What was it like?” Blurr asked, “The war?”

She peered back at him as he slowed his movements to gaze at her with sorrow yet curiosity. The war with Ransack must have not compared much to what the Velocitronians heard of the civil war on Cybertron. She glanced down at the streets below, clicking her glossa trying to find a way to explain it.

“It took us by surprise and yet, we knew it was going to happen...the ones who wanted it the most...including myself, wanted the chance we were promised but never received. I didn’t take Megatron’s side back then because although his views mainly coexisted with my own, I could tell he was going too far with how he was approaching it. It tore us apart, destroyed us in more ways than you could know. I envy you, Blurr. Don’t take that the wrong way but I really envy Velocitron...”

“For being able to save our world,” he finished. “I don’t take it personally. But, at the same time, I think I should envy you more.”

Confused, Arcee stared into his rough sapphire optics.

“Because if we were to have gone through what Cybertron has, I seriously doubt we could have revived our world and returned it anew. That takes special talent; we’re all just racers looking for the next thrill. I don’t think any of us could do what you did.”

Arcee smiled and Blurr mirrored her until a bang somewhere in the building made them both freeze. Faint animalistic growls were heard, and they knew their time was up. The Metal Heads must have caught their scents. Arcee brought out her ricochet ray and moved carefully towards the door as Blurr continued trying to lock onto the bridge as well as getting the rest of the automatic defenses up and running.

“Arcee, keep them away from me! I need more time!”

She prepared her weapon when suddenly, Metal Grunts slammed against the hallway turning a corner and snarled at her. She didn’t hesitate to fire on the bastards. The ricochet shot hit two of them but had to fire more rounds as they ran closer. Realizing the danger she was putting herself in by firing so close, she put it away in favor of her regular blasters. She maneuvered around one of them to stick her blaster right on its throat and blew out its spine and skull, throwing it off her weapon with her own growl. She hit one through the chest and another straight through the underside of the mouth, forcing its skull gem out. The dark sludge blood splattered everywhere but seemed to fade from being exposed to Velocitron’s air.

“How’s it going?!”

“One more minute!” Blurr yelled.

“Hurry!” Arcee screamed, deflecting the attempt of a bite by a ravenous before switching one of her blasters to her arm blade and slicing its throat.

One Metal Head collapsed under fire but drug itself determined to still go after her. She noted for a mindless machine, the Metal Heads were truly sadistic for a mere virus. It was like all those horror zombie movies Miko used to watch but unlike the human zombies, these things could calculate and respond to attacks, changing their pattern at every chance which nearly caught her off guard. A few of them used her focus on the floor-bound creatures to navigate the ceiling and try to get the jump on her. She shot one and sliced open the abdomen of another that she moved out of the way of.

“I got it, Arcee! The system is fully functional and there goes the bridge!”

Arcee shot the remaining few but brought out Dagger Prima for the last one when it refused to die. She threw the blade right into its heart and watched it stumble forward with a beastly groan. It tried to reach out towards her, but she only sneered, “Stay down!”

Sending a sharp kick to the handle of the dagger, it embedded deeper into her, and the creature fell over dead, its gem releasing from its corpse. There were almost twenty gems in the hall, enough to satisfy Silos’ demands as well as give Override something to compensate for the mess.

“Good job, Blurr!”

“Thank you,” he bowed. Then he saw all the bodies when he peered around the corner. “You’re an assassin, huh?”

Arcee shrugged, “Part time.”

------------------------

Bolt, Rockahilly, and Zoomkill struggled to keep all their blind spots secure as more Metal Heads moved across the highway into the city. The giant Metal Beasts started converging on their positions while other Velocitronians held their ground alongside Override and Road Rage. Moonhunter snagged the Horaquan by the necks and ripped out their spines to immobilize them, crawling over them to prevent getting caught in the process. When one caught him by the leg, the turrets on his side readjusted to the monster’s surprise and were quickly used to blast holes in its face while Moonhunter hissed until he was let go.

“Those two better hurry up! I don’t know how long we can keep them at bay!” Override snarled.

Instantly, a rumbling was heard, and the Metal Heads paused as the city seemed to come to life. Cannons that had been hidden in the buildings for years slid out of their domains, Energon pumping into them as their systems rebooted.

Silverstreak threw up her eyebrows. “Guess that answers that.”

One cannon immediately swung around from facing the inner city to face the highway bridge over the canyon. Ion particles slowly built up in its muzzle and emitting a blue light as the building it was attached to shook. It fired onto the bridge, and they all winced as the highway was demolished. Metal Heads and pieces of the bridge collapsed down into the vast canyon below. Damage to the supports on other parts of the bridge gave out leading to several sections falling each in turn until it reached the edge of the drop-off. With the Metal Heads isolated, they now had a chance to stop the invasion.

“Override,” Blurr’s voice came through, “Velocitron’s defenses are fully operational. The targeting system is aimed at the Metal Heads only. Other cities are getting warned of this as well. Arcee and I are coming back down to meet you.”

“Good! Alright, guys, let’s kill these alien freaks.”

Megatron deflected a blast before cutting off one of the Horaquan’s heads and impaling the other. While he dealt with them, Road Rage was losing her smile, her expression growing darker by the minute. He noticed her digits twitching like she wanted to strangle the monsters with her bare servos. She looked conflicted but eager to do something, something that she seemed to be waiting for her leader to let her do and he had no clue what. Override noticed too.

“Road Rage,” she said with a commanding voice. The light red femme looked at her frozen as if waiting for a specific word like an attack dog. Sure enough, Override smiled, “Destroy them.”

Whatever restraint Road Rage held in respect for her leader easily melted and cheery, cute Velocitronian Megatron knew supported a vicious, feral grin now with fangs unseen prior. Her golden optics turning a hellish red and somewhat smaller than normal.

As Road Rage began showing abnormal signs of pent-up aggression, Arcee and Blurr transformed and rejoined their group with Bolt saluting them mockingly as he and Rockahilly cut down several Metal Heads. With the legion thinning out without support, all that was left to worry about were the large monsters.

Override quickly addressed, “Arcee, I need you and Megatron to help Road Rage. She is the powerhouse of my troops; we rarely get to use her talents, but it seems now’s the perfect time to demonstrate them. You want to know the real reason why she’s named that? I want you to lead her to those giant monsters and watch her six as she unleashes some hell. Can you do that for me?”

Arcee looked between her and the maliciousness of Road Rage. “As long as it’s not directed at me, I’m good with it. Megatron?”

“I have zero arguments on my end,” the warlord said without a beat. “Road Rage, time to see what you’re made of.”

Road Rage’s bio lights became blood red as her armor shifted to produce claws as well as a sharper appearance. The rounded horns on her helm were larger and deadlier with the natural blush on her face overshadowed by dark grey stripes. She was hunched over a little more, the deep red stripes on her limbs now almost black, and her back kibble was poking outward instead of upright. She looked like she was demonic and Arcee didn’t doubt this for a second.

“Just lead her to them. DON’T piss her off in this state. She’s very hard to control once she lets her negative emotions go until blood has been spilt. That’s why she’s extremely nice; she prefers not to hurt people unless necessary and is nearly indestructible like this. I suggest you get moving fast before she redirects it towards someone,” Override stated.

Bolt backed away from behind her as she peered to the side upon hearing him, shivering with anger built up and a sinister grin. Arcee gestured for her to follow, and she took an experimental step forward towards the Cybertronians with a snort that sounded more like a weird growl than simply a noise from the nasal plating. Once they had confirmed she would follow, Arcee raced to the nearest Metal Beast heading their way with Megatron following behind. Moonhunter decided to join and gave his owner a yowl of assurance.

“Nice to see you too, buddy,” Arcee smirked.

The first Metal Beast was being bombarded with Delta’s automatic guns, but it held on regardless of the cannons aiming for its chest. When they got close to it and shot the few lingering grunts underneath it for protection, they watched as Road Rage grew even more infuriated.

The now blood crimson femme jumped on top of the monster and started tearing at everything she could reach. The Metal Beast rotated clockwise trying to reach around to snap at her as armor was violently ripped off it. In its distraction, it began firing its cannon at random, some blasts hitting its own peers to the relief of a few Velocitronians who had been dealing with them.

“Arcee,” Silos suddenly commed, “I see your team from my position. Would you like a little insight on that thing?”

She said nothing but he knew he was going to tell her anyways. “Metal Beasts are made to be tanks, born of the deepest depths of our dark pools of Economorphia. They are bulletproof, fireproof and cannot be defeated by mere weapons. Their weakest points are within.”

Arcee’s optics widened as she realized what that meant when she suddenly shouted, “Road Rage, target the internal organs! The heart! Go for the heart!”

Road Rage paused mid-ripping of a piece of armor when she frowned confused before growing malicious again once she got the message. Her blood red contracted optics and she did what none of the bots expected her to do. She reached the jaws of the Metal Beast and forced them open before diving right into them. The creature was forced to swallow and gagged, stumbling back a step to process what just happened. After a second, he growled at Arcee. Megatron snarled back and kept his sword ready just in case, but neither bot needed their weapons.

The four yellow eyes of the massive Metal Head widened as far as they could go when its chest expanded and deflated, its small arms clutching inward with a distressed whine. The tubes beneath its chin started leaking dark purple blood as did the seams around its underbelly armor. It gave one last cry before falling forward, crashing onto Delta’s streets with a guttural noise. Crashing through its jaws was a pleased, antagonized Road Rage who seemed eager for more.

“Alright, let’s move on,” Megatron said a bit concerned by the corpse.

The second Metal Beast was near the entrance to the highway towards FastTrak and Arcee gestured to Road Rage without a single word, the latter knowing what to do now. Road Rage did her thing to irritate the monster before saluting mockingly as it reached over to eat her with her Cheshire grin. Once it did, he aimed for the Cybertronians who only gave it a grin. It paused at the unusual expressions until it was ripped apart from the inside. Its corpse made sludge splatter right in front of them with an ever-excited Road Rage popping out at the same time as its skull gem. It was noted that insane Road Rage didn’t talk to their confusion, but they said nothing as they tracked down the third Metal Beast.

To their surprise, the third and fourth target Metal Heads were a pair. Both patrolled the outer edge of the city and pointed their cannons inward for an easier assault. Road Rage was led to them and quickly coaxed one into eating her whole. The partner Metal Beast nipped at its peer angrily wanting a piece of her but instead it grew horrified with a strained snarl as it watched its partner violently shake and die, blood pouring out of its jaws while the skull gem popped out somewhere beside it. The remaining Metal Beast backed away even as a blood-soaked crazed Road Rage pursued it. Hissing, it tried to squish her with its tail.

“Where was Road Rage during our war?!” Arcee exclaimed, “She would have ended it a lot sooner by hunting you down! No offense...sorry.”

Megatron glared at her as he shot a Ramhead which collapsed inches away from him. “Good to know that would have been an option.”

“Well, I mean, we figured the only way to win the war at the time was to kill you. She would have helped. It was a thought-I should stop talking,” she said facepalming before getting out Dagger Prima and ripping a chunk of neck out of a grunt that tried to jump her.

“In fairness, I would have liked her to be a Decepticon...and I would have ordered her to kill Optimus which would have won the war in my favor-”

“What happened to the ‘I’m the only one allowed to defeat him’ mentality?”

He froze and peered to the ground. “Good point. Okay, have her kill everyone else then?”

They both were startled as the fourth Metal Beast fell over dead with Road Rage throwing to the side what appeared to be some type of organic organ though neither could tell what part it was. She swiped her servos together with her feral grin still present. The Cybertronians merely looked at each other.

The fifth Metal Beast was terrorizing the outskirts of the Dreadnaught Speedway which Road Rage seemed to grow even more irate because of this. Arcee looked away as she did her thing, blood splattering everywhere like normal. Megatron sidestepped a thrown chunk of its tongue which Road Rage had ripped out when it wouldn’t comply in letting her down into its throat. He grimaced at Moonhunter sniffing it but said nothing.

The Metal Heads were lessening in their attacks and with all the Metal Beasts aside from one down, the city was mostly secure. All four scoured as much as Delta as they could trying to find the Metal Beast. When Road Rage showed signs of frustration, they knew they needed to find it soon or pay the price. Finally, they got a notification from Override.

“One of those large Metal Heads is in the center of the city, but there’s...something else here. I can’t get a visual on it but it’s grabbing my troops and fast! Get here as soon as you can!”

“Override’s in trouble!” Arcee stated. Road Rage snarled but followed without question as they sped to the city’s center plaza.

When they got there, however, there was no sign of the Metal Heads. Bolt, Override and the others were all near the buildings on guard and called out to them. The Vehicon was the loudest.

“You guys need to take cover now!”

Moonhunter looked up at Arcee awaiting directions but before Arcee could reply or decide, the ground shook. Behind them, the last Metal Beast landed down from the highway track running above and gave a booming roar. Road Rage focused in on it and they let her. Suddenly, something else darted on the right side of them. Neither bot caught who was behind the movement, but the blue Nitrotiger began to growl, pressing against Megatron’s pede with a flick of his tail.

A strange hissing was heard as Arcee kept Dagger Prima out. Then it began to glow. She knew that meant this wasn’t a typical enemy. As Road Rage aimed for the throat of the Metal Beast that moved away from the center plaza trying to shake her, that left the three alone with whatever it was stalking them. Then they heard a Velocitronian wandering. Arcee watched him stumble back looking around frantically until out of nowhere, something large, not as big as the Metal Beast but bigger than normal, snatched him up into the shadows between the buildings. They heard the screams then silence. It was fast...like the Metal Runners in Red Run Canyon whom Arcee suspected were made to counter Velocitron in the takeover. That left a bad taste in her mouth.

Megatron peered around until... “By Primus!”

Arcee saw what he did as it ran around them, slowing down like it was mocking them with its speed. She saw it as clearly as day now. Bright blue organic skin with orange markings like flames imprinted on its body, a giant claw on its foot next to normal ones akin to an Earth velociraptor, and spiked orange frills on its neck that extended outward rattling made for a horrifying creature. Its skull gem protected by two crests and a frilled reptilian tail made it seem like something out of one of those dinosaur movies the humans used to watch. It briefly walked with both sets of limbs, tail swinging while it got a good look at its victims, when it resumed a bipedal lean with its decently sized arms curling slightly near its chest.

Neither bot dared to look away from it when Arcee got a new message from Silos. “Toksilisus, the Rapid Hunter...I haven’t seen it in years. Be wary of the barbs on its frills and claws. They are venomous, a different type than the virus, not to worry, but you will be in quite some pain as its effects try to paralyze you. The cure to Toksilisus’ venom is easy to make, surviving Toksilisus itself is not. Speed is its greatest threat to you, but maybe you could get one of those Velocitronians to help you as it could also be its weakness...”

The Metal Toksilisus stalked closer, a brief flicker of its tongue signifying it was trying to taste their fear and decide its approach. Arcee, however, showed none, matching its circling while Moonhunter moved behind her and Megatron stayed close. It suddenly bolted at them and Arcee barely moved out of the way only for it to strike her lightning fast by slapping her with its tail. It then tried to go for Megatron who managed to make it hit a barrier instead of him. Moonhunter bit down on its calf and it turned so fast, the Nitrotiger didn’t have time to react before he was kicked aside with a whimper. The Toksilisus made a raptor-like roar, frills open to the max and ready to lunge when Arcee used her speedster ability to get the jump on it.

She spooked it enough to lower to the ground and crawl backwards, tail raised higher than its head, but it circled her with a clicking sound before attempting to strike with its clawed hand. She could see it calculating, waiting to see what she would do as it strategized every possible maneuver it could pull once she made her move. This wasn’t an animal or a regular Metal Head; this was a commander. This was what Silos warned her about.

It seemed to know what she was thinking and took the opportunity to abruptly snap at her. She moved right as her ability was recharged and sent Dagger Prima into its neck. However, it whipped its head around and sent both her and the dagger flying back. The dagger embedded itself in the plaza and Arcee hit the ground, but she swung back upright only to see the Toksilisus zigzagging to lunge at her. Sharp teeth were right in her face. She barely managed to grab the nearest object, a discarded gun of a Velocitronian, and used it to guard herself. It bit down on the weapon and hissed, digging into the metal ground and trying to push her down to maul her. She stayed wary of its claws pressing against the weapon as it gnawed on it ferociously.

“Megatron!”

On cue, the warlord smacked shoulder-first right into the side of the creature. It landed on its back and slid several meters to Arcee’s shock. Megatron rolled his shoulder with a grin before giving his own version of a roar. The Toksilisus recovered quickly, and it sneered almost which Megatron matched with the immediate baring of his teeth. When it came after them again, an axe embedded in its lower neck making it bellow. Bolt ran up to it unafraid as it started to bleed profusely, grabbing the handle and taking the blade out. He was punted away as Override and Blurr joined in.

Blurr used his super speed, a power Arcee was astounded to see, and sped around it to confuse it. The Toksilisus roared at this, moving in a circle trying to figure out how to counter Blurr’s vortex wall as dust and wind soon picked up. The Metal Head was so focused on him that Arcee saw her opening and took it.

“Throw me,” she demanded as she grabbed Dagger Prima. Megatron grinned and lowered his servo. She stepped into his grasp, and he chucked her into the air. She did a flip with her weapon above her helm as she came down. “Let’s see you in action without your HEAD!”

The Toksilisus was starting to get dizzy trying to keep track of Blurr that when it peered up at Arcee, its reaction time was off by a second. Dagger Prima went straight through the base of its neck glowing as the Horaquan commander lurched back. It backed away headless as Blurr stopped in a crouching pose. To all their surprise, it took a wobbly step forward as the head itself tried to hiss, the brain seemingly unable to process the attack. Slowly, the head’s eyes grew dark, its frills sinking like wet paper and before the body could move any more towards them, it fell forward, and its claws scratched the ground as a reflex.

With the commander defeated, the remaining Metal Heads started to scatter. The Velocitronians still chased them even as they retreated. The sight surprised Arcee. The last of the Metal Heads were killed with no more seemingly coming in. It immediately alerted her that the commander’s presence had meaning to their pattern. Like how when Kor was killed, the Metal Heads of Roughridge Mountains all but fled. They couldn’t operate without at least one leader among them.

“Damn, Arcee, you still got it,” Bolt said.

Arcee placed Dagger Prima back on her person before turning to Blurr with a raised brow. “You mean to tell me you have sonic speed on top of being born on a planet that lives by nothing but speed?”

“Yeah, I don’t use it unless I have to,” he smirked.

As Rockahilly, Silverstreak, and Zoomkill marveled at Arcee’s victory, Road Rage, now looking like her normal self again, stumbled up to the group holding her head with blood-soaked servos and laughed, “I think...hehehehe, I think I need to rest.”

The Vehicon patted her back but had a hard time describing her overkill tendencies. “You did...great! Everything is pretty much dead, that’s for sure.”

Override merely nodded, “Thank you, Road Rage. We’ll get you an oil bath and to your chambers soon.”

“Yay,” she said in a cheerful but hoarse voice. As they could imagine, such a power that required so much building emotions probably was draining to use.

“Arcee, Megatron, Bolt, and of course, valiant Moonhunter,” Override then smiled, especially at the latter who purred proudly. “We owe you more than you know. Saving Delta, saving Velocitron wasn’t something you had to do...but you did. Here, Arcee, another Radiant Core is yours. I have one more and I think I know how I want to give it to you.”

Arcee took it with her own grin and Bolt gave her a rocking gesture.

“Once we get all this cleaned up, I want to invite you all to see our grand championship tomorrow, the Agility Cup. It would be an honor to host the race for you.”

Blurr interjected, “But Arcee, I want you to race in my place.”

Everyone was shocked to hear that with some mumbling, but it wasn’t negative. Arcee frowned, “Blurr, I thought the racetrack meant a lot to you?”

“It does but remember, there’s always another race. Giving the opportunity for someone else to try means more than winning a mere title and a big desk warmer. As long as I can drive, I’m pretty satisfied with just putting the pedal to the metal and an open road to explore.”

Override nodded, “I’ll match Blurr’s point. You race tomorrow, and I’ll rejoin Cybertron’s relations treaty regardless win, lose, or tie, and I’ll throw in that last Radiant Core as a bonus. How’s that?”

She asked stunned, “You...you’d do that?”

“Absolutely. Show me Cybertron’s power on the road is just as good as the power within and I’m more than willing to have Velocitron as your ally.”

Megatron laughed, “Told you, Arcee. You can be better than the Cybertronians of old by being you.”

Override then shouted, “I wish to throw a celebration of our victory tonight in honor of our guests and new friends! Velocitron will not fall today or any day!”

The citizens of Delta, some standing on the fallen Metal Beasts, cheered in agreement. The three ranchers gave her a thumbs up while sweet Road Rage cheered with her innocent demeanor back in place as it should be.

While Delta was pieced back together throughout the night and the bridge recovery was being planned, overseen by Blurr who wasn’t much of a partygoer Arcee found out as much as he seemed like he would be, Override hosted a celebration at the FastTrak Command Complex. With news of the guards and other volunteers hunting down the last of the legion of Metal Heads that fled once their commander was no more, the party didn’t seem to stop and only got louder.

Bolt was finally getting along with the ranchers, especially Zoomkill. As they conversed, Rockahilly gave him an in-detail description of all the animals they took care of. Arcee could plainly see the joy in the cyberbiologist’s mannerisms. Moonhunter was getting coddled and petted like a prince which he didn’t seem to mind one bit until Road Rage squeezed him a little too hard out of cuteness overload. Megatron got along well with Override, occasionally still apologizing for egging on Ransack. She dismissed his constant apologies with a smile and assured him it was okay.

Arcee watched this all from the overhead, not being a huge fan of parties herself. When a waiter offered her a drink from her tray, she gladly took it and examined the contents. The Energon here had a zing to the taste, and she liked it. However, she paused when a shadow caught the corner of her optics, rhinoceros-like in structure. She nearly spat out her drink when she saw the edge of it disappear into FastTrak’s small garden outside where seldom bots were. She peered around to make sure no one saw her and walked out in pursuit.

The gardens were small with a fountain at the center and standing next to it was Silos, a drink in hand. His tail casually swayed as he took a sip, purring and licking the scarred edge of his mouth. “Such a brave hero you keep proving yourself to be time and time again.”

“Silos, are you insane?! If someone sees you-!”

The Metal Head merely scoffed, “Please, you think I’m scared of mechanoids with peashooters? I’ve dealt with worse, just see for yourself.”

True, she could see the faded marks of both blaster fire and scars from melee weapons littered throughout his body. Even the armor infused in his organic skin was worn from battle. She could only imagine what was underneath his helmet covering the top of his snout and his head as the lower half of his face showed some damage near the jawline and mouth. His left ear had a sizable notch in it from a bullet or it was ripped by a knife, and his horns on his snout were nowhere close to smooth with all sorts of scratches.

But she still sighed, “How did you even get around without someone seeing you?”

“Easy, people are distractable. And you can tell that to the server currently helping your mate.”

She peered back and saw a waiter offering Megatron a drink in the far distance. He couldn’t see her in the darkness outside, but she could see him. The red tinted Energon drinks on the platter were missing quite a few. She turned back to see Silos offer her a glass of the same red drink seen with the second one in his paw. The empty glass of the drink he had just finished lay on the edge of the fountain lip...as were four other full drinks waiting to be consumed.

“I’m just that good,” he smirked. “So, congratulations on your victory. Toksilisus was a nasty demon, speedy and intelligent but can’t take a lot of hits as you’ve seen. It was the commander of one of the many Kill Squadrons, an assassin ring of Metal Heads deployed by Tigressa years ago to hunt down people who owed her or people who got in her way but who were minor threats. She always dealt with the major threats herself. Be warned, that won’t be the worst of your enemies yet to come if the Metal Head Leader sends more commanders after you. Velocitron is safe...for now.”

“You sound unsure,” Arcee prodded. “Do you know who the Metal Head Leader is?”

“Kor and I were the only ones in charge until Kor was sent interdimensional and I left. Who indeed? I wouldn’t put it past Tigressa to line up the legion with potential leaders just in case something happened to her or one of us. Strategy and adaptiveness were Tigressa’s forte, stupidity was not. There are many secrets she kept from me too. Don’t think that just because this siege failed, the Metal Heads will stop at one attempt. I recommend telling Override that when you get the chance. Oh, and that reminds me...” he purred, holding out his clawed hand.

Arcee sent him a deadpanned look before pulling out a bag of skull gems from her subspace. “Yeah, yeah, don’t think I forgot about you.”

He took it with a massive grin and a chuckle. “You’re an angel, my dear. As I promised I would make it worthwhile, here’s something I think you’ll like. A pair of new blades for you. You have no idea how hard it was to find a similar model to your own, but my resources say it is universal for bots your size with them.”

The blades he gave her looked identical to her arm blades but had inscriptions on them. She carefully removed her own blades and replaced them, noticing quick they were slim but long and had blue bio lights matching the ones hidden among her chassis. The edges of the blades glowed as well.

“Awesome! You really know how to treat a girl.”

“Call it a fair trade.”

As they stood underneath the starry sky together drinking the Energon, something she thought at first Silos wouldn’t be able to digest, she found his company enlightening. He was mostly silent aside from entertaining her when she had questions. He seemed to enjoy the modesty of the night. He was a strange being, but Arcee grew accustomed to him. He really did change his ways after all and slowly, her guard fell. As the party raved on, they were both content just standing out in the dark with only his gems’ yellow glow standing out among the faint blue built into the gardens.

Chapter Text

Arcee and Road Rage were preparing for the race with Blurr and Bolt overlooking their progress. If there was one bot she would fear on the track, it was Road Rage. Although the latter didn’t try to hurt her, she could tell there was an aggressive style to her driving techniques.

When they drove up a loop, Arcee used her speedster ability and managed to reach the top finally after several failed attempts, moving downward at the end to complete it. She swelled with pride. “Yeah baby! That’s more like it!”

Blurr smirked on the sidelines with Bolt cheering. “Easier when you have the power made for it! Keep it up, ladies!”

Moonhunter had his paws on the upper railing of the stands, tail swaying eagerly as he watched his owner navigate Dreadnaught Speedway. Bolt pet him and chuckled, “I don’t think they have Nitrotiger races just yet, but we’ll see. You’d love it.”

As Arcee managed to get a lead on Road Rage around a corner, she spotted the finish line as she took the final ramp. The small truck behind her was roaring close by and she took no chances in slowing her approach. However, just as she reached it, she suddenly fell into a portal of light on the track. Road Rage skidded to the side and hit her brakes before transforming right as the portal disappeared. Any aggression she held dispersed immediately and she stared down where Arcee once was. Gesturing confused and panicked, she peered around uselessly and then looked at the two mechs in the stands who had equally stunned postures.

“I didn’t do anything! I swear!” Road Rage instantly yelled out.

Blurr was bewildered but slowly Bolt figured out what had happened, shaking his helm before placing a servo over his faceplate with a sigh.

Arcee, on the other hand, tumbled and found the light melt into a transparent tunnel where warped planets, stars, and galaxies flew past her. She felt like she was freefalling yet the whipping energy around her made no flow of air. It was becoming recognizable as several planets seem to be growing around where the tunnel seemingly ended. She landed roughly onto stable ground.

All around her was visible space with colorful nebulas swirling in view as well as many galaxies. But the most unusual sight was eight planets orbiting around the platform which she stood on with floating debris hovering below it. Distant yet big enough to make out their features, she identified Cybertron immediately with its dark grey and shimmering blue bio lights with two moons among it. Next to it was a sunburnt planet with blending cybernetic features. Velocitron. The others she started to piece together as she glanced at each. Earth was obvious but she guessed the lifeless grey planet barren was Chaar. A metallic planet that seemed to be built with layers and a faint section of water visible within had to be Caminus. Half a planet that looked like someone threw together spare parts was Junkion, and a water world identical to Earth’s structure but covered in dark spots had to be Aquatron. The final planet had an unknown shade of reddish-pink water with bioluminescent blue land noticeable on its shadowed side more so. It had a few moons and a belt of rock orbiting it. That had to be the last planet, Kanjis.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?”

The Allspark’s voice startled her, and she whipped around to see it float down. A few comets shot past behind it, and she examined her view as she asked, “You couldn’t just appear on Velocitron? You had to send me back here?”

“I love space because everything around you is affected by time; neither space nor time can function without the other. These are just a few of the worlds I can watch over. I felt you needed to see it yourself to understand the vast differences you know and will encounter.”

“You get pretty lonely on Cybertron, don’t you?” Arcee asked, raising a brow as she looked away from Velocitron. “The Metal Heads are on Velocitron...that was the danger you spoke of, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I sense their legion grows stronger. But that’s not why I summoned you here. The relics of old, the artifacts of Primus themself, have been lost for some time. I want to bring them back home, all 30 of them, which is why I am calling on you to help. On each world, a couple of their relics can be found. You may recognize some of them.”

Arcee placed her servos on her hips with a neutral frown. “A relic hunt again? We went through this scrap on Earth twice! I have things I have to do! Can’t you just spawn them back?”

The Allspark met her sass bluntly. “No. It is rather inconvenient but there is a logical explanation. You see, the relics of Primus have the same mystical power as me. While I can bring you here, you are not endowed with Primus' essence. Cybertronians are not directly created by Primus’ spark itself but the Well which lies in their sub-spatial realm. The Thirteen Primes were born from their spark and all the relics tied to the Primes were created using the powers inherited from them, therefore the relics are considered extensions of Primus’ soul too. Some relics were rebuilt into current weapons by people among the factions, but they are still tied to me.”

“So, you’re saying you and the relics are, in a weird way, Primus’ offspring? Don’t tell me Unicron was involved in this process. Bolt already gave out that mental image on the isle, and I really hope it’s not true,” she said.

“Unicron is not responsible for anything except using his powers to give me half of my abilities and the corruption of those born of Primus. Being their brother, he is the only one capable of altering the functionalities of the relics and me through a telekinetic connection, something he never bothered with as he would rather destroy us and everyone associated with his planetary sibling. Thankfully, he is not a concern anymore as you and your former team of Autobots have made sure,” the entity stated though she could tell there was a slight unnerved tone at the implication she made the moment prior.

“Okay,” she huffed, “which relics lie on Velocitron?”

The Allspark seemed to revel in the chance to be mystical and responded, “On the planet where the roads are the way of life, three relics of Primus wait to be rediscovered. The origin of power is the origin of all, providing stability to even the most shattered ideals and artifacts. What is seen is not just what it can be as its sharp edge can strike down anything in its way. The sands of time fall continuously, impaling all who dare to stop it, but it is no weapon.”

Arcee blinked as she listened to the descriptions, reeling her helm back slightly with a grimace as she tried to piece together what any of that meant. “What the hell does that even mean?! We’ve talked about this! No one can understand you when you speak in riddles, especially since I wouldn’t even know what to guess any of those things to be!”

“Right...habit. The first item you need to find is the Origin Matrix, a relic that can stabilize any other artifact that has been destroyed or segregated as well as the tortured and fragmented minds of those who wield it. It cannot be used for anything otherwise and was commonly used to keep the Star Saber together but since the blade has been repaired entirely, it was no longer needed. The second item you seek is the Amalgama Scythe, also known as just the Scythe...no, not the bot. It is a weapon that can transfigure itself into whatever the holder desires and is one of the most powerful of Primus’ relics for its unpredictability, given to Amalgamous Prime by Primus to fight Unicron. The last relic on Velocitron is the Blades of Time. Do not be fooled by its name; it can tell you past, present, and future and was Vector Prime’s specialty. Its contents forever flow in an endless loop, and it is believed that if it flickers its stream, that is a warning of a crucial decision upcoming that will determine the fate of worlds, galaxies, and perhaps the universe itself. Many who peered into it for too long were said to have been driven mad by the passage of time.”

Arcee stared open mouthed and flabbergasted, finally her optics moving to glance quickly to the side unsure if what she was hearing was just in her head or not. “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!”

“Something wrong?” The Allspark asked, peering down at her as its rings rotated slower to show its concern.

“Yeah! The Origin Matrix, the Scythe, and the Blades of Time are here on Velocitron?! Where would I even begin looking for lost relics such as those?!”

“Those you have befriended will guide you. When you find the relics, and I have all the confidence you will, meet me on the floating platforms below the city overlooking the land. There’s an older speedway that was designed around the pillars holding the city up and it has seldom visitors, perfect for not drawing attention to ourselves. Can you do that?”

“Ummmm...talk to Override and the others to see if they know anything and bring back the relics. Got it,” she shrugged, “I guess.”

“I believe if anyone can do it, it’s you. Make me proud, brave warrior.”

Suddenly, the planets around her cracked with symbols with a blinding light, each a different language akin to the world they represented, with Earth having what appeared to be Latin covering it. They rotated around her whispering as the Allspark’s energy pulsed. Light consumed every inch of visible space.

“Arcee?!” Her hearing and head throbbed as someone new took the place of the distant outline of the Allspark. “Are you alright?! Arcee!”

Bolt came into view, snapping his fingers close to her audio receptors which she slightly turned her helm towards in response. Moonhunter got into her face, his nose the largest thing in her view which fogged up her optics briefly. Once she saw she was back on Velocitron, she groaned, “Augh, the Allspark really knows how to communicate when it wants something.”

As the Vehicon and a concerned Road Rage helped her up, Blurr looked at her confused more than the others. “Wait...you just disappeared then reappeared in a ball of light from the ground and you’ve been in contact with THE Allspark?”

“Arguably, not the strangest thing you’ll ever encounter being friends with us,” Bolt interjected. “The Allspark is very much real and very much a pain in communicating with. You should hear its riddles.”

Arcee nodded, “Speaking of such...”

“Oh no,” he muttered.

“...the Allspark wants relics. It told me there are thirty relics it needs returned to it, three of which are here on Velocitron. Now, this can’t leave our circle alright. If everyone on Velocitron knew we needed those objects, it would be utter chaos, but I trust you two enough to keep the peace.”

Road Rage held a servo to her chin, “Like relics of Primus himself?”

“Born from their powers, yes. Bolt, you know the lore better than anyone on Cybertron or you would know exactly what these are. The first item I need to find is the Origin Matrix. It was once a part of the Star Saber long ago.”

Bolt tapped his claws together. “I know of the Star Saber, built by Solus Prime under Primus’ influence, but I forgot about the Origin Matrix given its rarity. Give me a second...aha! The Origin Matrix was a gift to, ironically, Optimus Prime, a.k.a. the Thirteenth Prime at the time. Now, I don’t remember who gifted it, but it was for Optimus to wield and was the predecessor of the Matrix of Leadership. The legend is that there were five different Matrixes created and the Origin Matrix was the first ever built.

“There was a problem though and that was Liege Maximo grew jealous of Thirteen being babied, despite being very young against the others regardless hence why and believed he should inherit relics as powerful as the Origin Matrix. Solus Prime, who was probably the closest carrier figure Thirteen ever had, refused to let him take it, and Maximo’s conflictions with Solus’ peaceful reasonings grew so bad that Solus had Thirteen hand it to her and encased it in the Star Saber making it able to reform with all the pieces collected, which Prima accidentally broke the first time in his fight against Unicron funnily enough. From that moment forward, the Origin Matrix was forgotten except by everyone who knew it was in the blade, like three people really, and it disappeared. If it’s here on Velocitron, it must have been moved here by accident...or someone used it to get a quick payday, I would imagine.”

Arcee frowned, “What the hell is wrong with Liege Maximo?! First, he drives the Megatronus over the edge with paranoia that kills Solus, then I learn he tried to take what didn’t belong to him?”

“It’s a bit worse when you recount how I just said he and Solus didn’t get along because of his pride and greed...now her murder by Megatronus, who he manipulated into investigating Solus, doesn’t seem so suspicious anymore, does it?” Bolt stated, crossing his arms proudly.

Blurr and Road Rage glanced at each other surprised. Moonhunter tensed at the unknown mixing reactions of his peers and flicked his tail annoyed while watching the exchange between Arcee and Bolt.

The queen grew disheartened at putting together the theory, which started to make sense much to her disdain. “That’s...fucked up.”

“Tell me about it,” the Vehicon mused. “Liege Maximo was a master manipulator and quick talker, could simply talk his way into anyone’s berth room if he wanted. He was known for this and that’s why the Allspark started not trusting the Primes before being trapped by them because although the evidence of his involvement in both events with Solus was there, he got away scot-free. He was never charged with assisting Megatronus’ murder of Solus, by the way. He was the one who convinced the Primes to sentence Megatronus to that dark planet you fought him on. The Allspark merely helped because it was afraid of retribution.”

The blue Velocitronian merely said to the side, “And I thought Ransack had problems.”

Narrowing her optics, Arcee said, “Although I’m curious now about what Ransack has done given I missed out on that whole situation here prior, I think we should get back on track. The Origin Matrix...any idea who would know where to find it? Anybody?”

Road Rage suddenly blurted, “Why don’t you ask Override? I mean, she’s the leader. Maybe the Origin Matrix was once mistaken as some sort of heirloom and passed down? She knows this planet like the back of her hand, people are a different matter though, so if something has hidden here, there’s a chance she might know of it under a different alias.”

That was a good enough start as Arcee believed she was going to get. She felt if the Origin Matrix was on Velocitron, assuming the Allspark wasn’t trying to pull an elaborate prank, it would be near the cities. Arcee, Bolt, and Moonhunter left the Dreadnaught Speedway and rode the Railworks Highway to the FastTrak Command Complex. The watchtower of the highway was gleaming as workers made sure the Energon was flowing nicely, a big change in comparison to when they first arrived with the abnormal growths assaulting it.

When they walked into the complex itself, it had been cleaned thoroughly from the party and Override was looking at the vast energy beam in the center of the building that showed off the power to FastTrak’s controls.

“Override, just the bot I need to talk to,” Arcee said happily.

The red and white femme turned to her with a smile, waving before speaking in a cheerful tone before Moonhunter jumped up to nuzzle her. She laughed and pet him. “Hello, Arcee, Moonhunter, have you been getting ready for the big race?”

“Yes, but something came up in the middle of the practice. Perhaps you will know about this...if you believe me, that is.” Override gave her a look as she continued, “I need to find artifacts from Cybertron and I’ve been told by a friend of mine on Cybertron close to Primus there might be three relics here. It’s vital we return them home. Have you ever heard of the Origin Matrix?”

The Velocitronian leader shook her helm. “Unfortunately, the name doesn’t ring a bell. Um, any description you could give me?”

Bolt then said, “Silver with handles and a red core, able to be held and almost as big as one’s chest plating. Kind of looks like it could be the top half of a grip for a sword...?”

Override scrunched her nose plating briefly before looking towards the floor, then her optics got wide, and she clapped her servos together. “Do the handles go out horizontally then go vertical at the ends?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, bear with me,” she gestured, “but in a museum within Traction City, there was an unknown object that was found out in Quickslide Desert and brought there a few years after Ransack was killed and our war ended. No one knew what it was, but we have put it up on display in the museum since then. The investigators believed it to be Cybertronian but the faint symbols around its core didn’t match the common Cybertronian language.”

Arcee gasped and quickly pulled out Dagger Prima, holding it on its side to reveal the language of the Primes on its grip as well as the secondary language it carried of the Allspark’s on the blade itself. “Is this the language you saw by any chance? Either of these?”

She nodded when Override hesitated to touch it out of respect waiting for her approval and watched as the latter studied the symbols closer. The leader then pointed at the Allspark’s unknown dialect. “This is it. In fact, I think both are on it, but this one is the most prominent I remember. What languages are these?”

“One is the language of the Primes, the other is direct from Primus and the Allspark. I guess they just had their own language before any Cybertronian was ever created. Unicron probably spoke it too, but it died out after the Thirteen Primes were born. The Primes’ evolved into what we have now, not the Allspark’s.”

“Wicked, so this friend of yours...is...!” Override gestured with a grin, unable to finish her sentence out of sheer excitement.

Arcee laughed, “Yep, the Allspark wants its relics back. I hope you don’t mind-”

“No, no, no, no! If it belongs to the Allspark, I’m not going to fight it over what rightfully belongs to it. The Origin Matrix, hopefully it is, is all yours! Take it,” she said. “I’ll even go with you myself to make sure you get it. Come on.”

Bolt nudged Arcee and held his servo up high with a chuckle, which she immediately high fived before giving a silent “yes!” Override had her employees open a ground bridge to the museum and Moonhunter moved immediately through it with his tail in the air to the delight of Override. They went straight into the main lobby of the museum, and Arcee was in awe at the large building.

Energon pools floated above them in glass that were organized in a staircase-like pattern up to the ceiling. The walls had various paintings with stained glass murals of unknown subjects. But in the dead center of the lobby and encased in a secure transparent box was a Matrix. True to the description of Bolt’s, she could confirm that this was the Origin Matrix itself. Its red core glimmered like a ruby in the sunlight. The Nitrotiger sniffed at the stand curiously as his owner and friend approached it. Suddenly, Dagger Prima seemed to react to being in proximity to the relic by glowing. Both items began whispering like they were communicating with one another.

“Wow! The real Origin Matrix! Oh, Optimus is going to have a field day with this,” Bolt snickered. “I never thought in my entire existence I would see such a thing. I think I can die happy now...again...maybe not, but you know what I mean.”

Override instantly went to the museum security and staff desk to explain the situation. Although she got a few disappointed looks, they relented and unlocked the box, carefully removing the Origin Matrix to give to Arcee.

When she held it, she gasped as her mind slowly drifted into a relaxed state. It was almost intoxicating how any small woes she had, any concerns that crossed her mind abruptly vanished once she was in range of the relic. She thumbed the handles of it, peering into its red haze that seemed to call to her. It was faint but she thought she heard it whispering, a common trait it seemed for anything tied to Primus. That also proved useful if she ever had to tell real relics from fake ones.

“This is...wow, you have to hold this, Bolt. Hold it. Hold it,” she grinned nearly pushing it towards him.

“Okay, alright, give me a second to actually wrap my servos around the damn-oh, that feels good,” he said. “It’s like nothing ever went wrong...are you sure this isn’t killing us because that’s suspicious as hell to me that it can do this.”

“I’m sure. That’s the real deal. We should give this to Megatron. I really want to see his reaction now. It’s like everything bad in your mind just dissipates.”

Bolt pointed a digit at her though he didn’t let go of the handles with either servo. “Good idea, but gold standard idea: therapy Matrix. Imagine all those bots with PTSD and all they have to do is hold this and it would clear their minds, no nightmares or any trauma to be seen. Clear as the sky in the processor.”

Arcee made a surprised expression before remarking, “That’s a great idea. We’d have to run that by the Allspark to get it back for sessions but that would be game-changing, and my therapist would probably yell ‘Thank Primus!’ for everything he has to deal with between me and Megatron.”

“...You have a therapist?” The Vehicon mumbled.

Override laughed at the whole exchange between while Moonhunter was content lying next to the Origin Matrix’s former box pedestal. “I take it you’ll be returning it now, right?”

As she choked back more laughter, Arcee nodded, “We will. Thank you. One relic down, two to go. Next up is the Amal...Amalge...Amalgama, sorry, Scythe. Wow, that’s a mouthful of a word.”

Bolt gave the Origin Matrix back to Arcee who hooked it to her hip and huffed, “You’re talking about Amalgamous Prime’s Scythe? It just goes by just the ‘Scythe’, first off-”

“Not what the Allspark told me.”

“-and secondly, the Scythe was said to be interchangeable, meaning it could change its form to whatever the user wanted. Keep in mind, there’s a huge chance it doesn’t even resemble what its original form is right now depending on who has it, so we wouldn’t know what to look for. The story goes, if I recall correctly, Amalgamous Prime was a shapeshifter, invented it to match his flow of stealth and anonymous nature. Bots like Makeshift, whom you met once during Starscream’s scheme to replace Wheeljack, are descendants of him to give you a clue on how the weapon works the same as the power someone related to him can wield. It was also said to be...unmanageable.”

“What? The weapon or the user?” Arcee asked.

“The weapon. The Scythe was rumored to be conscious in its own way. It would take the shape of what you wanted, didn’t mean it would necessarily do what you needed it to do if it didn’t like you, kind of similar to the Forge of Solus Prime almost but with more of an attitude...like the friendly-firing type. If any weapon of the Primes had a body count, the Scythe would be the guiltiest. It’s the color of rustic gold with black-tipped blades and light-yellow lights decorating it, identical in coloring to its original owner.”

Override shook her head, “Well, regardless of its interesting history, I’m afraid this is where I’m quite useless. I’ve never encountered anything of that nature nor heard of that. The only weapons expert I know is a friend of Road Rage’s, but he never reported any weapon as such and he’s a stickler about keeping her informed of all the latest technology of weaponry. She reports everything he says to me all the time. I would start there if anything.”

“Tell me, Bolt, how do you know all this?”

“What do you think I’ve been reading in my spare time as Head of the Iacon Archives?! I have access to all the classified and secure files of the Primes...and you really think I wouldn’t read them?!” Bolt exclaimed in annoyance at his queen.

The two bots and the Nitrotiger, who had to be awakened, traveled back to the Dreadnaught Speedway, but they weren’t prepared for what they encountered there. A small fire on the side of the track and two bots whose body parts were slightly burnt said one thing...but an angry, red-eyed Road Rage told the other half of the story with Blurr trying to hold her back.

“She’s just a little temperamental! Nothing she really means! Sorry! Road Rage, stop,” Blurr hissed as Road Rage tried to climb over his shoulder to get the mechs.

“You road-hogging, self-absorbed loser! I’ll kill you and your friend in your sleep, you stupid motherf-ARGH!”

The growl that followed made both Bolt and Arcee cringe in fear. When Blurr pushed her near them, they backed away a few feet. Road Rage bared her hidden fangs trying to peer around the speedster who deflected her. When she attempted to move around him, not wanting to hurt him specifically in her fury, he threw up his index finger with rare malice equal to her own.

“Try it and I’ll toss you off the city ledge! I’m faster than you are and don’t think for a second that I can’t lift you!” He then noticed the Cybertronians and smiled, “Hi, guys, sorry but Road Rage got into a little confrontation. Uh, you can see why she’s not allowed to race...right?”

As Road Rage made a crude gesture to the bots still recovering hooked over Blurr’s arm who restrained her from moving past him, Arcee frowned, “Yeah, I can imagine. Look, we need to talk to her about a weapons expert she may know about a missing relic.”

Blurr understood but narrowed his optics when he heard the femme he held back shout random insults before snarling, “Road Rage! Yield! Calm yourself! Arcee needs your help, you little gremlin!”

Upon hearing Arcee’s name, Road Rage’s form changed to her softer appearance, and she grew a big smile, optics returning to bright yellow and her cheery demeanor back full time. “Arcee! Yay! We missed you! What would you like to know, dear?”

Moonhunter backed behind Bolt’s legs scared but Arcee addressed her sudden interest. “Override told us you know a weapons expert. Do you know if he ever came across a scythe-like contraption or any type of weapon that could shift form?”

“Oooh...no. That sounds cool though! Is it a relic?”

“Yes, the Amalgama Scythe-”

“Just the Scythe, again,” Bolt interrupted.

Arcee sent him a look before continuing. “-which is the weapon of Amalgamous Prime. The Allspark says it’s here. So, can I talk to this expert?”

Road Rage instantly replied, “Oh, I never met him physically, but I know where one of his shops are. In the market area, there’s always a package for me on the table ready to take after I transfer my payment to him. He sounds nice. A lot of trophies and little cool doohickies in there too, but he always calls me to let me know of new offers!”

A shop in the market...trophies and other things. Slowly, Arcee’s face dropped as she realized she knew exactly who Road Rage had been talking to.

“Arcee, are you alright? You looked spooked,” Bolt said.

She regained her composure and quickly said, “I think I’ll talk to this guy personally. Bolt, you and Moonhunter stay here and help them clean up. I’ll, um, take point alone. Also, tell Megatron to meet me here in about an hour or so. Okay? Okay.”

She abruptly transformed and sped off to the suspicion of Bolt and the others. However, the Vehicon remained silent, merely grunting with his optic visor dimming slightly.

Arcee raced to the buyer’s market where Silos was set up and went inside his shop, slamming the door to notify him of her presence. She knew he could sense her even if she hadn’t done that. “Silos! Why are you doing business with Road Rage of all people?! Are you insane-never mind, I already asked that before but still?!”

She heard shuffling in the back and watched Silos appear stretching his arms like he had just awoken from a nap. His chunky, muscular physique was far more distinguished mid-stretch than normal. Cracking his neck, he sighed, “Must you be so loud?”

“Yes, I think I earned the right to. Why are you selling weapons to Road Rage?”

“She bought them, not my problem who gets them. She told me she has a collection of weapons in her home, so she buys the rare ones. She got in contact with me a couple months ago and since then, I’ve been sending her updates on what I have in stock. Why do you care?”

Arcee gestured stubbornly before letting her arms fall to the side with a slap against her outer thighs. She sighed, “You do not care for your personal safety, do you? Besides, I need to find a special artifact but I’m running out of time. I asked if she knew someone who might have come across it and somehow, it led me back to you.”

The Metal Head sat on a reclined chair he had stashed in a corner, bringing his clawed feet to rest on a table in front of it and tail lounging about with a flicker unmoved. “What do you want to know?”

“Amalgama Scythe, weapon of Amalgamous Prime. It can change into whatever the user wants. It’s said to be gold, black, and silver. Ever heard of it?”

“By name, no, but by description...pray tell, what if I did? What would you be willing to give me in return?” Silos sneered.

“It’s always something, isn’t it?” Arcee scowled.

“You can’t get something for nothing. What galaxy do you think we live in?”

“What do you want?”

“What are you willing to part with?” The Metal Head asked, gesturing with his spiked elbows on the armrests and hands moving with little effort.

Arcee looked at the floor in thought. She needed her weapons; she had no extra skull gems, and she had no favors from Silos in need of completion. Worse comes to worst...slowly, she grimaced as her optics trailed up Silos’ form. He wasn’t ugly per say...

“I was thinking of something more valuable,” Silos quickly intervened with a raised brow. “I don’t think this is in the cards for you, not to dismiss your beauty nor how interesting the opportunity would be, mind you. I’m just not that big of a jackass.”

She breathed a silent sigh of relief. Suddenly, Arcee remembered that she still had Mourningstar’s crest, an item of value worth quite a lot. She brought it out and watched as Silos’ pupils expanded right as he laid eyes on it. He sat more upright, taking his feet off the table and leaning more inward with his hands clasped together.

“Remember this?” Arcee smirked. Silos reached out to grab it, but she held it back. “Ah, ah, you want it? What would you be willing to give me in return, Captain?”

Silos slowly began to grin, fangs glistening in the store light, before he got up and moved towards the back. After seeing a few things being pushed aside or chucked out of the way without care, he finally grabbed something long and twirled it, a blur of yellow light emitting from it. As he did so, Dagger Prima glowed again, and more whispers came between the objects. The Scythe seemed to pulse in response which earned Arcee a glance from an intrigued Silos.

“I found this a few weeks ago buried in a canyon in the Rippling Desert on the other side of the world. I wanted some rare Energon that grew there and stumbled upon this. I had planned to sell it, but I kept delaying finding a buyer because something about it was unusual. I wanted to study it. No matter what I tried though, it wouldn’t respond to my organic disposition though it would, at least, change into what I wanted. Never could get it to work beyond the physical appearance.”

He came back into the main room and gave it one more twirl before flipping it to hold the bladed side with the grip facing Arcee. He offered it to her, and she carefully took it like it was delicate. She traded the crest and examined the simple blade. It looked almost like a regular scythe but the thick panels towards the middle as well as pieces of the blade separated by pure energy yet still in formation signified that it was anything but normal. Then she thought hard of what she wanted it to be.

Immediately, the scythe shifted. Its blade tucked away as its base realigned its parts. The muzzle of a blaster slid up from the middle panels, and Arcee found herself having to change the way she held her new weapon. She had imagined a gun like a sniper rifle. To see it in front of her from the remnants of the Scythe itself, she was awestruck. It helped that she could feel energy radiating off it like nothing she held before aside from the Origin Matrix.

“Is that it?”

“Yes, Silos, you just made my job easier. Now all I need to find is the Blades of Time,” she said more so to herself.

“Sounds mystical, these ‘Blades of Time’, but maybe I would know it if I saw it,” Silos said.

Arcee shrugged “That one I’m not sure of. I would have to ask Bolt first because he’s the history nut of our team. I’ll put him on exterior audio but don’t say anything. Bolt, I found the Amal...I found the Scythe. Now all I need is the Blades of Time. What can you tell me about those?”

“Hey, been wondering where you went. As for the Blades of Time? Well, first and foremost, it isn’t plural as it sounds. The Blades of Time is an hourglass, not an actual weapon. Vector Prime created a copy of his powers and placed it in a never-ending hourglass. The sand pools at the top and bottom were said to appear like a mandala pattern with a hole in the center of each end, creating a constant stream of sand flowing downward to represent the continuous flow of time. I remember because there was a drawing of it under his files. However, there was a danger to this relic. It was said that if anyone tried to obstruct the flow, break it or shake it, whatever the case...well...they would, uh, cease to exist. Their time would run out, and that pun is unavoidable and very accurate unfortunately. Staring at it also could drive an army insane or so Vector Prime said as well. Personally, I wouldn’t go around testing those theories if you ever find it.”

“Thank you, Bolt. Ask Blurr or Road Rage if they know about it for me, please?”

“Absolutely!” The Vehicon said enthusiastically, “You know, this is fun to do. We should go on hunts together more often.”

“We’ll see,” she laughed.

Right as she ended the communication, Silos huffed, “A never-ending hourglass? Can’t recall anything of that nature except...the sands. Mourningstar had quite a collection of artifacts he stole. I didn’t care much for what I knew he had, but there were some I only got glimpses of before we got on bad terms. I remember sand. It was half covered by another item. I don’t know the shape of what it was, but it never grew full, never built up on the bottom. Override no doubt had a deep search of his warehouses and office after arresting him. If what I saw was the Blades of Time, it’s locked up now.”

Arcee smirked, “Well, I’m sure she’ll part with it with some convincing. Thank you for your help, Silos. See, it pays to be nice.”

“Doubtful in the long run,” he chuckled.

-------------------------

Megatron transformed and bounced slightly upon landing. Bolt didn’t even look up from his data pad as he interchanged between reading about the race and watching Blurr and Road Rage verse each other on the track. The larger mech sat by his former subordinate and Moonhunter lazily looked up before nodding back to sleep in the sunlight.

“Enjoy your flight, Megatron?”

“Velocitron’s quite a travel. It felt nice to stretch my wings and just go, you know?”

“If creatures such as vortekias didn’t exist, I would dare to drive around the world. But I’m pretty content with my research.”

“How’s Arcee?” Megatron suddenly asked.

Bolt hesitated to answer but decided to do so anyway. “Arcee’s been busy. The Allspark wants her to find relics that have been left behind on these planets, three of which are here. She found two of them, Override had found the Origin Matrix quite some time ago and the Amalgamous Prime’s Scythe was with Road Rage’s weapons supplier. She didn’t say anything about him, which is suspicious to me.”

Megatron frowned, “Arcee’s attitude changed ever since she wandered off chasing those bellbats you wanted. I think she ran into something that spooked her and she’s been paranoid ever since.”

“Road Rage merely mentioned her weapons dealer and Arcee suddenly looked like she saw a ghost...and she headed in the same direction...” Bolt said, trailing off in thought. “...I don’t think it’s something but rather someone. She knew who Road Rage was talking about. That’s why she didn’t want me to go with her. Someone’s here who shouldn’t be, but they don’t seem to be causing trouble or...?”

The ex-Decepticon leader growled, “If they dare to hurt Arcee or get her into trouble, there will be a problem.”

“I wouldn’t start pressing her about it though. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.”

“True...but something just feels off about it. It’s not her necessarily.”

“You’re concerned something’s going to happen. I don’t blame but you must remember, Arcee’s capable of taking care of herself. If something does happen out of our favor, she will fix it and you know it.”

Megatron smirked as Blurr cut off Road Rage, and the femme growled in the distance, “I know you did not just do that!”

“Maybe I did. What’chu going to do about it?” The blue mech taunted.

Suddenly, Blurr’s bumper was hit aggressively as Road Rage’s stripes near her tires turned from dark red to nearly black again. She started chasing him down as he tried to dodge her.

“Well,” Megatron started, “Arcee’s always proven those who doubted her wrong.”

Bolt nodded, “Exactly, so why are you doubting her?”

“I don’t mean to.”

“You’re paranoid, the same paranoia I remember on the Nemesis when you believed Starscream was scheming behind your back, talking to people he shouldn’t be...and he was but that’s beside the point. Arcee isn’t Starscream. She won’t betray you; she won’t do anything to hurt any of us, not directly if something accidentally occurs. You can trust her. You did it on the Allspark’s isle and this should not be any different. You and Arcee need to let go of the past because you two scare me sometimes with your thinking process.”

The king consort stayed quiet this time, acknowledging Bolt’s reassurance with a simple nod.

----------------------------

Arcee contacted Override and explained the situation. She found out quite quickly Mourningstar’s possessions were being held in Traction City’s secure prison vault awaiting use for evidence in conviction trials. Once done, they were often sold or placed back where they were originally taken depending on the circumstances. She agreed to meet Arcee at the main prison processing complex where the vault was kept.

When she went into it, the first thing she heard were two wolf whistles from the passing detained prisoners being moved across the building to other departments. Some of them were very lewd in their calls while others just winked. She huffed unamused and continued to the center desk of the precinct. The security officer there seemed confused as to why someone like her would be in a dangerous place, but it wasn’t like he knew of her history which would have put half the prisoners here to shame. She smiled inwardly at his bias.

“Can I help you?”

“Hello, officer. You wouldn’t happen to know if Override arrived here yet? I was asked to meet her-”

“If that’s the case then Override would have called us, I think. She’s always on time. That’s how I know you’re lying. Be a good girl and leave before I charge you with trespassing.”

Arcee snarled, “Never backtalk me. I’m a grown-ass bot, talk to me like one, not as some lost kid in a park. You have no idea how many mechs like you I have kicked the afts of.”

The security guard scowled, “Why you little-”

“Sit your ass down before I send it through this floor!” Arcee yelled stone-faced. When he froze, she emphasized her demand even louder. “Now!”

With everyone staring at him like he had been scolded by his mother, he took his seat slowly but didn’t stop glaring at her until the doors opened behind her. He seemed to grow a small grin at first thinking Arcee was in trouble but then they both heard clapping. Override, in all her glory, walked up to them and laughed.

“Never have I seen a bot put my security in their places like that. Aren’t you full of surprises, Arcee.” She then said to the guard, “Don’t worry, she’s with me.”

The guard’s face turned priceless and Arcee made sure to save it in her memory files for when she wanted a good laugh in the future. Override escorted her back into the restricted section. A few of the prisoners who had watched the exchange cheered her on. Once they were out of the public eye, Override started typing in classified codes into the keypad. The doors opened and the first thing Arcee noticed was Mourningstar himself in the back.

“If you’re wondering, he doesn’t get along with others and we fear putting him directly in the prison itself would cause the other prisoners to become more violent. He also has connections I believe even among my staff. Very few people have access to this section of the building right now. So, for the time being, he’s going to stay here.”

Mourningstar chuckled darkly, “Ah, the beautiful Arcee. Freeing my cargo wasn’t enough humiliation. Now here you are to mock me to your spark’s content.”

Arcee sneered, “No, I’m just here for something I think you had that didn’t belong to you.”

“That narrows it down oh so little. There were plenty of femmes that I had but no one ever called me out to return them, did they? Specifically?” The red mech asked as he leaned against his cell wall.

It enraged Arcee to hear that though she knew Override was just as hostile about it; she could feel the tension the second he mentioned the bots he took advantage of, but she played cool just so she could leave faster. “An hourglass perhaps? Something with sand specifically.”

The echo wasn’t lost on Mourningstar who pursed his lips and side-eyed her. He finally sighed, “Maybe. Several years ago, I sold twins to a mech in Sidewinder, a small town up north. He didn’t have much money, but he did have a nice gold and red hourglass. At first, I thought of dismissing him, but I had never seen one like it. I decided ‘why not’, and I traded for it. I sat on my shelves since then. Interestingly, one of my slaves investigated the hourglass, wanted to shatter it to get back at me in her cute rage. The second it touched the floor, it didn’t shatter, but she collapsed and never awakened. Quite a sad loss. We were having so much fun.”

“Your definition of fun is very contrasting to everyone else’s,” Arcee prodded.

“I know, and I really wanted to have some fun with you after my auction. Perhaps another time?” His smugness showed no mercy. “How about both of you together and I get to-”

Arcee punched her knuckles together in warning. “Touch either of us, you die.”

She didn’t blame Override for dragging her away, slightly blushing as Mourningstar let out an inappropriate, playful growl. “I like the feisty ones the most.”

“That guy is such a monster,” Override grimaced. “Let’s just move on please?”

“Agreed. Sorry.”

They went to the vault that had over five locks on it. With the knowledge of what the Blades of Time looked like, they knew it was just a matter of finding it. It took Override a few minutes to get the locks undone. When she did, she grunted as she pulled it open, and Arcee stared amazed at its contents revealed to her. Various confiscated weapons, mods, and personal items sat useless on the shelves lining the interior. A few bigger items had to be placed in the middle of the vault to allow the personnel to access the back area.

Arcee split off from Override to search for the hourglass and its crimson coloring. When she reached a certain spot in the vault, Dagger Prima started glowing and whispers were heard. However, the whispers didn’t seem to be coming from the dagger; it was somewhere around her location. With the whispers so loud, she could confirm the relics both spoke in the unusual language of Primus and the Allspark, not of the Primes. What they were saying to each other, she couldn’t even guess.

“Where are you?” Arcee whispered back finally.

As if to answer her, a golden red glow appeared behind her, and she whipped around to see it coming from an object hidden in the middle of a shelf behind a knife and a box. She pushed them aside to reveal an hourglass with sharp-tipped pillars that kind of reminded her of swords. The top bulb had a mandala pattern of sand slowly moving inward into a pit while rejuvenating its pattern every time a piece of it disappeared. The same went for the bottom bulb and in between both sandy portals lied a stream of sand going forever downward in the same loop Bolt and the Allspark both described. The metal of the hourglass was golden while the sands were red, and she swore the small black holes the sand stream led into and exited from had faint stars and galaxies within. Time and space; both Vector Prime’s powers rolled into one.

She blinked and looked away, remembering the warning of not staring at it for too long. No doubt countless bots peered into those small vortexes to see the universe’s mirror contained within only for their minds to shatter trying to search for more answers than the questions they originally had.

She then called out, “I found it, Override.”

The Velocitronian leader reached her, blue optics went wide as Arcee held it. “The Blades of Time. And to think all these relics were under our noses. Not even Mourningstar knew what he had.”

“Just don’t drop it,” Arcee joked.

“Arcee...” she scowled disappointed.

“Bad timing?”

Override tried desperately not to crack a smile but failed, lightly punching the queen’s arm in frustration.

Arcee laughed too before saying, “Come on, I need to get these to the Allspark. What’s the quickest way to the speedway below the city?”

“Barren Heights Speedway? That’s been closed for some time. It was once the ultimate thrill but became too much of a liability. We wanted to take it down, but I never got around to doing so. The young bots use it as a hangout spot around dusk into the night. Why would the Allspark want to meet you down there?”

“It thinks it’ll draw less attention than spawning in the middle of a post-battle defensive city.”

The red and white femme completely understood with an awkward, “Right.”

As they passed Mourningstar again, ignoring his more lascivious comments, Override signaled the guards to summon them a ground bridge to Barren Heights Speedway once the restricted section was closed off and echoing with its lonesome prisoner’s demonic laughter.

They teleported to a platform overlooking the desolate speedway. Very few people were seen walking about the track or hanging out in the old stands. The underside of Delta was nothing but rows of giant columns but peering down to the surface below was a bit too much to take as Arcee backed away a few feet in concern.

Override read her reaction and crossed her arms. “Yeah, that’s exactly what the problem was. Racers who had spun out or got into wrecks on here...falling from this height rarely is survivable. The railing prevents small collisions but add high speed to the mix and it’s so easy to go over. They were dubbed ‘death races’ at some point right before I took leadership. You see that corner right there just after the wall ride on the pillar? A family friend was racing against fifteen other people. Did the wall ride but came down that slope to the corner. The trick was to slide around the corner then shoot the straight. She did it a thousand times. But that day her tires didn’t take to the slide technique, bounced off another racer and then hit the railing hard before going up the side of it and...”

Arcee grew disheartened putting together the picture. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“The dangers of the race come in all forms. Just have to carry on and drive forward no matter what. That’s how we always lived. Nothing will ever change that.”

“Forgive my impudence but I noticed everything about Velocitron is decided and practically is racing. You make all these decisions regarding it. Have you ever grown tired of it?”

Override raised a brow, “You mean, you think we’re addicted to it? What am I supposed to reply with? That we consume the track until we die...?”

Arcee didn’t say anything, but she looked at Override with an expression that read that the question didn’t stray far from a possible answer. That made the Velocitronian leader peer down distraught.

“Maybe we do have an overabundance of tracks and so many races...it’s just what we’re used to?”

“Yes, but my concern lies a little in the fact that you are letting a race decide everything, not really going into direct conflict yourself with your own opinions. I mean, I understand these races mean everything to you but to everyone else, it just sounds like you can’t stop doing it even if you tried.”

Override shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t think I can either. It’s just...an addiction to the speed itself I suppose. But is it truly bad?”

“No,” Arcee said without missing a beat. Giving the speedway one last glance over, Arcee then spoke into thin air. “Alright, Allspark, I got what you wanted. I’m here.”

For a second, nothing occurred, and Override merely raised a brow. A crack of light suddenly ruptured among the platform, moving across it like a snake before energy emitted from it circled in front of them. With a flash, the Allspark appeared before them. Override was almost paralyzed in shock, but Arcee simply saluted with a chuckle.

“Took you long enough.”

“The relics. The Origin Matrix, the Amalgama Scythe, and the Blades of Time are before me at last. I thank you for returning such precious artifacts of old. If I may,” the Allspark said.

Arcee let the three relics go and they circled the Allspark almost in glee. The bots both heard their whispers now. They seemed excited to be reunited with their counterpart. All three vaporized into small orbs and vanished into thin air.

“They have been returned to Primus. Keep up the good work. We’re counting on you.”

The Allspark rotated its rings quickly and did its own twirl before disappearing in a similar fashion as it appeared back to Cybertron.

Override stuttered, “That was t-the...?! A-and it vanished l-like...like?!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” Arcee smirked. “So, any tips on the race tonight I should know?”

Chapter Text

The evening of the Agility Race was here. All the citizens of Delta were crowding the stands of Dreadnaught Speedway again, but Arcee noticed the track had been realigned. The loops in the middle were moved towards the end more so with the turns being near the beginning and middle. As many pieces were levitating on floating platforms and the starting line remained the same, she could see why they would do such a thing. If it was all the same every time, it would be too easy. It explained why she was booted out of the area along with Road Rage and Blurr in the afternoon. They had to prepare it for the race.

She felt she was ready. With the speedster ability now in her possession, she felt she had a better shot at competing against the natural racers of the world. As she stretched and the announcer did his pre-race speech, she heard her commlink go off.

“So, any progress with Override?” Haywire asked. “Hope things have been going smoothly.”

“Ha, you wish. But all I have to do is compete in a race now and Velocitron is on Cybertron’s side again. Tell Bumblebee he’s missing out on some fun.”

“A race, huh? Velocitron prides themselves on the track more than anything else, so it makes sense. Well, here’s hoping you win. We’re all dying to see you guys again.”

Arcee smiled, “I’ll win it just for you. How about that?”

He laughed, “That’ll do. See you soon, Arcee. Contact us when you’re ready to come back.”

As she cut off transmission, Megatron gently patted her back. “I take it that was one of our friends back home? I believe you can win, Arcee. No one’s defeated you yet.”

“Battle-wise, eh. Race-wise...that’s, uh, that’s a ‘we’ll see’ thing right there.”

Bolt and Moonhunter came up too, the latter yowling happily. “Whatever happens, you’re a champion to us. Afterwards, I need to ask a favor of sorts.”

Arcee scowled humorously, “I’m not stealing any wildlife to take home-”

“No, no, no, not that! I really want a copy of Velocitron’s complete cyberbiology texts. The ones I had on the isle were multiple different books from each planet, some with repetitive information and some written by myself in a limited timeframe, which is why it often took a while to find information on those creatures we encountered. If I could have a completed archive of them to place in Iacon’s records, it would mean a lot to me and help the rest of Cybertron understand the many wonders each planet holds. The people deserve to know...and I, of course, wouldn’t mind having it for other reasons.”

The queen shook her head silently with a roll of her optics but then said, “Fine, I’ll talk to Override after this and see if I can get it.”

Bolt clapped giddily, “You’re my savior, Arcee! Now, go out there and show them how Cybertronians race!”

--------------------------

“Racers, rev those engines!”

Twenty vehicles were lined up on the track. Override was in the first row as the leader as expected. Arcee sat comfortably in the third line of four, and she could see the crowd roaring in anticipation. Megatron and Bolt were sitting alongside Blurr, who gave up his spot in the race as promised, and Road Rage, whom Arcee found out was truly banned from racing at Dreadnaught as Blurr claimed for her aggressive driving, in the pits. She seemed to harbor no disdain for the decision and cheered with them. The three ranchers were just above them in the stands obviously now cheering her on. And in the very corner of the stadium, Arcee swore she saw in the shadows faint lingering glows of two eyes and skull gems of yellow hidden on top of the roof. Silos. She was impressed if anything that he would show up.

“I want to hear the crowd out here; I mean really hear you! This evening, we have an extraordinary race joined by esteemed guest, Cybertron’s leader, Arcee, and our very own leader, Override!”

Override made a loud roar of her engine in response which the crowd went nuts over.

“Three laps around the course will determine who takes home the Agility Cup! Racers, you know the rules and if you don’t, well, I suggest consulting your team for the next fifteen seconds. Our race will begin in one moment.”

“Arcee,” Override called out, “remember, the race is just a race. It’s living in the moment of the race that counts most of all.”

Arcee replied with the revving of her own engine to which she heard some of the racers beside her laugh in a friendly way. The floating electric strip of lights powered by Energon lit up the ends red and she was eager to go. The racetrack itself pulsed red and gold again, its colors shimmering with the sky just right.

“Racers! On the blue light! Three! Two!”

The two red lights shifted to purple going inward facing a single light. “One!”

As soon as the blue hit, tires screeched. “GO! GO! GO!”

Arcee used her speed boosters to get ahead of a whole row of racers but fell behind two blocking her route to the leader who happened to be Override herself. Watching the red and white femme go proved that racing her was an extreme challenge. Most of the racers seemed to know they weren’t going to win against the sole person assigned leadership by being the fastest Velocitronian on the planet.

The first stages of the track were all shifty turns. Arcee found being smaller, she could hug the corners easier and gained one car position up. Leaving one spot before coming up behind Override. She boosted again but the turn forced her outward and three bots overtook her on the mistake. Scowling inward, she chased them down.

“Looks like Arcee is having a little trouble keeping to the curve but is not backing down as she gains on XP and the Roller Twins who are taking turns hogging the road, their signature strat for locking down their positions. Override remains first with a good lead. But don’t fret yet, folks, for those of you with certain favorites, this is still the first lap and things can change.”

The so-called Roller Twins, identical cars with similar blue and icy purple color schemes with gold underlining tones walled Arcee off from passing the twin closest to the bend of the track as they were coming up to the jumps. XP ahead of them seemed keen on breaking their formation. She didn’t know whether he was trying to help her or just found the road hogging a bit too unorthodox. But when he break-checked the light purple twin who was forced to slam on his brakes, Arcee used her boost to slide through the small window before the other twin cut her off. She found herself head-to-head with XP.

“What the hell, Xeropoint?!” One Roller twin yelled out furiously, “You want the foreigner to win?!”

XP, as he seemed to prefer, scoffed, “I’d rather her win fair then let you dumbasses. Ignore them, they bash and clash but can’t make the dash.”

She nearly lost her concentration laughing but stuck to her route as they jumped over a few of the racers in farther positions after taking a sharp turn. Then the loops came around. What startled her was the fact they were together as in just right after the other. As soon as she went into the vertical ascension, she hit her speedster ability and managed to make it around but with the second loop coming up too fast with her boost unavailable, she feared she was out of luck. The ascension started again despite the speed and her meter was nearly complete when the twins slowly gained on her.

“Come on, come on! Don’t do this to me now!”

The ability beeped full, and she didn’t hesitate to activate it on cue. She followed XP around the loop again and trailed him all the way to the beginning of the second lap. Override still had a sizable distance between her and them. Arcee was surprised that XP was being as lenient as he was.

“Onto the second lap, Jetwheel and Hotspire fighting for sixth, XP and Arcee keeping each other in check, and Override still holds her position strong. Revaboom and Divine are making plays in the back, aiming for at least the top ten. Around the sharper turns, Arcee seems to have overtaken XP, but he is keeping on her tail ready to take back his place at any moment.”

Arcee kept her turns tight, refusing to let XP gain any leeway on her. She jumped over a few racers before another turn had her drifting. Override was ahead by at least several yards, catching her would be impossible at this rate. A few more jumps, one of which she saw the Roller Twins do identical flips on for clout, led back to the more brutal aspect of the course. She knew she had to develop some sort of plan.

Last time, she used the loop to ramp off of but with two large ones in a row, she didn’t know if she could make them work. But maybe she could. They were back-to-back, jumping on one would lead her to the other and then she could bounce off it to cross the second easy assuming she landed correctly. It was worth the attempt as apparently it wasn’t illegal if she stayed within the boundaries of the course.

Right as the ascension began, she took her chance. She veered off to her left and jumped with her boost. Right through the center of the loop she went directly onto the track and appeared directly behind Override. To Override’s surprise, she did it again and managed to get in first. The gasps and stunned comments of her fellow racers were hardly audible, but she didn’t care.

“Is that legal?! Wait, seriously, is that legal?!” The announcer asked off to the side though he forgot to turn his mic off. “The other day, Steamliner said something about this happening in a race against Blurr. I don’t...”

Another voice was heard faintly, “She’s technically on the track and didn’t leave the boundaries of it...yeah, I think that still counts.”

The announcer was silent for a second before stuttering, “W-well...I guess...kudos to Arcee. You go, girl. With a more strategic mind from Cybertron, I guess I should have expected the unexpected. Arcee takes the lead in an astonishing move. XP and the Roller Twins are bumper to bumper while Override seems determined to take back her position.”

Arcee saw the crowd going wild, especially Bolt and Road Rage who seemed to be the unofficial cheerleaders. She could see Override slowly catching up despite using her boosts as soon as they were available. Crossing the line, she had only one lap to go now.

The turns were gut-wrenching as she knew one mess up would lead to Override getting too close to shake. In her mirrors, Override drifted multiple times around the corners to maintain her top speed. Then came the ramps. She was far enough ahead to jump over XP and the Twins, but Override came down sporting a quick wheelie before her engine was heard loud and clear. Seeing the Velocitronian leader’s bio lights as bright as the sun with maximum energy made Arcee a bit nervous. The blue motorcycle held her position until the loops.

Arcee aimed to repeat her last trick, roaring up the ascending part and jumping off it, but Override seemed to be so determined to catch her that she followed. Seeing the larger vehicle roar as she left the ramp made Arcee realize she was coming in far too fast. She was forced to swerve off her direct line to avoid being crushed by Override’s powerful landing. She knew Override didn’t mean to do that, but control in the air was not possible.

They were head-to-head off the second loop, a few racers behind them following their lead. Arcee refused to yield and kept herself aligned with Override as the finish line was coming up fast. She could hear Override pushing herself. Closer and closer they came until the crowd became deafening.

She didn’t know who won and she slowed down with Override, and she doubted her fellow racer did either. Moving along the side before Override slid to a halt and transformed, Arcee could see she was smiling broadly.

“Wow, you actually kept me on my toes there.”

Arcee transformed too and leaned to place her servos on her knees panting. Her engine was fuming from the strain, and Override patted her shoulder in reassurance.

“Bots of Velocitron, it seems we are facing quite the dilemma here. A head-to-head victory it may be. We are taking a close look at every angle we have to see if we can determine a winner, so we ask you to be patient while our judges work.”

As they tried to figure out the winner, XP transformed and walked up to Arcee, offering a high-five which she gladly enabled. “You’re fierce, racer. Override, you sure she’s not from Velocitron?”

“Don’t know...I’m starting to question it too,” the leader laughed.

Arcee said, “Yeah, I get those questions a lot, even in my own world.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you. If you ever want to race us again, bug Blurr and we’ll get you ready to roll in a spark beat.”

As XP walked away, she saw the Roller Twins scowling as they shifted to robot mode. She merely returned a glare which they wisely didn’t respond to. Override noticed and nudged her, “Don’t let those two get to you. Bruisers. They tag team everything...and they are the ones who got Road Rage banned from racing in Dreadnaught. Pissed her off and she kicked their asses on the track with an unfortunate price.”

The announcer’s mic blared for a second before he spoke again. “Alright, we have the results in! By only several inches and one of the closest races we’ve seen in a while, the winner of the Agility Cup is...OVERRIDE!”

The picture of them crossing the finish line indeed showed Override was ahead by a few inches but with a 00.12 second difference. Confetti erupted from cannons on the side of the track. Arcee felt proud despite not winning as she certainly made her mark on Velocitron.

“Thank Primus this wasn’t a race for leadership. You would have had me worried there, Arcee. Well done,” Override congratulated as everyone from the pits started to run on the track.

Megatron and Bolt both hugged her which she grimaced at. “Guys! Okay, alright, that’s enough! Overheating!”

Moonhunter jumped on her immediately as they released her, and she winced unprepared but stroked the Nitrotiger’s head with a hoarse laugh. Then she saw Road Rage hand something to Override, a data pad. Signing it, Override matched her smile.

“Quite honestly, I didn’t think I would ever see Velocitron and Cybertron together again because I had my doubts even when you were here. You changed my point of view of Cybertron, Arcee.”

Arcee was handed the last Radiant Core she had and with it, Override’s data pad that held a written agreement of peace with the Cybertronians she could bring back as proof of their alliance. She didn’t expect Override to suddenly hug her too.

“Keep impressing people. I look forward to hearing about the other worlds one day, too. Promise to keep in touch?”

“I promise,” Arcee smiled.

She was given one last pat on the shoulder before Override moved out of the way for Road Rage who squealed and almost tackled her in delight. “I’m going to miss you, dearie!!!”

Arcee felt her chest compressing from the brutal hug and couldn’t speak until Road Rage quickly held her an arm's length away and grinned. “Oh, and I got you something to give to Bolt! I heard him mention cyberbiology! Here!”

She was nearly shoved when a large cylinder with rotating holo-inscriptions was put into her servos.

“I made a quick detour before the race and got one of our many copies of our records. This contains every little detail from animals to formations and key points and cities and-!”

Override smirked, “What she means to say is it contains information all about our world. Separated and filed each with care but it is a copy so there are some secrets among it we usually edit out just in case of someone unwanted getting ahold of sensitive information. I hope you understand.”

Bolt was nearly vibrating in place with excitement when Arcee handed it off to him from the strain its weight had against her smaller frame. He didn’t hesitate to say, “Thank you! I love it! I will protect it with my life!”

Blurr pet Moonhunter before addressing Arcee. “You did good, Cybertronian. I haven’t seen Cybertron itself in forever. Maybe one day, we can visit?”

“We would be honored,” Megatron said. “Anytime.”

Rockahilly bowed respectfully as did Silverstreak, but the latter hit Zoomkill upside the head when he wasn’t paying attention. Arcee laughed a little as he growled in response. “You have some great skills, little darlin’. If you ever need us, just holler.”

As everyone else said good-bye, Arcee was a little surprised when Silos called. “Nice racing, my dear. A strong finish and certainly an even better outcome. Second place is often looked down upon, but I say different. You are the winner to me. Now, the Energon Core. I have a client just outside the stadium awaiting delivery, if you would be so kind before you leave. I also am notifying you of this: Caminus is the Metal Head Leader’s next target. I can meet you over there but not before tying up a few loose ends while everything’s safe again. I thank you for your services above all.”

Arcee peered around before saying, “I’ll be right back. There’s something I just want to see before I leave again. Won’t take but a second.”

Megatron and Bolt looked at each other while Moonhunter twitched his ears watching his master leave before wincing as Road Rage continued to cuddle him. Override didn’t notice as her peers and friends praised her performance and as the media began to swarm the place.

Arcee went outside the stadium as directed and looked for anyone in particular that stood out. A few people were walking here and there, but she saw a lavender femme smoking a cyber-cigar with a skull gem bracelet. That was probably his client. As she approached, the femme blew smoke in her direction with a raised brow.

“You Silos’ errand girl?”

“Maybe, who’s asking?” Arcee prodded.

The femme grew a smirk, her tires rotating at her amusement. “Shellshock. I do business with Silos in Gyro Plains. He said you have the item of my interest, correct?”

Arcee kept her frown but didn’t argue, relieving the Energon Core immediately. Shellshock looked over it and laughed, “You crazy bot. You actually got it? That’s impressive. Lovely doing business with you, girlie.”

Shellshock seemed to immediately contact Silos to confirm pickup as Arcee walked away. It didn’t sit right that she had stolen it still, but what was done was done. She could only move on now, and hope Override would never hate her for what she had to do to help Velocitron, morals be damned.

When she returned, everyone was waiting for her, and she shrugged a bit awkwardly. “What can I say? I’m going to miss being here. I hate to race and run but we have other worlds we need to see about making peace with.”

As the paparazzi took their pictures, Override said, “It’s perfectly understandable. I enjoyed the race, and I think we’ll miss you more. Farewell, Queen Arcee.”

Bolt then activated his commlink. “Haywire, signal the boys to bring us home.”

A space bridge suddenly appeared, cackling with energy parallel to the setting sun. Moonhunter didn’t wait for them, running in first with Bolt following behind. Megatron offered his servo and Arcee took it. She then waved back with her free servo as her new allies cheered back. They vanished once they entered the vortex. Bolt and Moonhunter were seen only for a second within the light tunnel before vanishing to Cybertron. The two followed shortly after and were surprised to see the Allspark as well as Optimus, Bumblebee, and the other leaders waiting for them. Haywire and Scythe were on the side of the vortex.

Bumblebee asked, “Override made the alliance? We’re now on good terms?”

Arcee nodded, “We have Velocitron. I think our next world to go to should be...Caminus.”

Haywire seemed a little uncertain about that. “Okay. Well, let’s get everything sorted out before you head there. A day should suffice.”

Bolt snickered as he held up the data cylinder, “I’m going to need a day to read through even a third of this data. You two do what you need to do and call me when you're ready. Moonhunter, want to come along?”

The Nitrotiger purred and lifted his tail proudly following the Vehicon back to Iacon. Arcee didn’t bother stopping her pet as she felt it would be good for the two to spend more time together. At least they weren’t hissing at each other.

The Allspark sounded like it was smiling among its ghostly voices. “You’ve done well, Arcee. But there is still more you will learn. Fear not the demons that cross your path; their only strength is what you allow them to take from you.”

Arcee hated to hear that but all she could do was nod. “Noted.”

Grimlock and Predaking waited for her to get close before both nuzzled her. Predaking then said, “Didn’t think we would stick around, did you?”

Grimlock laughed, “If you’re wondering, we decided that since you helped us, we will help you whenever you need us on or off Cybertron.”

Arcee was playfully pinballed between them shoulder to shoulder as she was separated from Megatron who was equally amused. “And you have the need to tell me this now?”

“Just wanted to make sure you knew. After all, the queen deserves protection,” the Dinobot leader stated.

“And yet,” Arcee started to mock, “if I recall correctly, I protected you from the universe being torn apart and shredded. Your kindness is appreciated but I think you need my protection, boys.”

Both large faction leaders paused as the small femme continued to walk without them and looked at each other. They grunted surprised but said nothing as they couldn’t come up with anything to counter such a comment.

Scythe suddenly said, “Heads up!”

Her instincts kicked in and using her speedster ability, she countered Scythe as he nearly jumped her. She pulled out her double-edged sword and held it against his neck in milliseconds. Everyone grew shocked as she grinned.

“Where the hell did you learn that?!”

“Call it a gift from the Velocitronians. Why are you trying to push me?” Arcee asked smugly.

Scythe grinned, “Only making sure you’re on your feet, that Velocitron didn’t make you soft. I was wrong.”

Haywire snarled, “Scythe, you aft! Just let the queen breathe before you try to train with her again!”

Arcee sheathed her weapon and shook her head. “You know sneaking up on me is a bad idea.”

“I know...but it’s funny. That’s the Decepticon way of greeting each other. Even ask Megatron.”

She looked towards Megatron who merely gestured, walking off from the conversation. “It wasn’t my idea.”

Once everything calmed, they all returned to Iacon to the newly refurbished Nova Point, Optimus’ command center. Perceptor was put in charge of communications between the planets. Arcee knew immediately who was on the other end of confirmation of Override’s decision when Perceptor visibly winced as an excited voice nearly shattered his audio receptors. It was loud enough that Bumblebee and Grimlock backed away from him concerned.

Arcee laughed alongside Megatron on the side, much to Perceptor’s anger. “Primus, I love Road Rage and her personality.”

“Why is she called Road Rage if she’s nice?” Predaking asked.

Neither answered like they were little kids keeping a joke between them. Only Megatron said, “Oh, there’s a reason. You’d have to see it to believe though.”

That only confused the Predacon more and he stared at them suspiciously while Perceptor had narrowed his optics just to try and focus on what Road Rage was saying more so than the bots around him.

Haywire sat beside Arcee at the conference table examining the written treaty Override offered. Among his silence, Arcee brought out the six Radiant Cores she had earned across her stay and organized them out of boredom. He noticed this immediately and raised a brow.

Arcee merely replied, “Cramming up my subspace. I think these cores can be used in massive amounts, but I wonder what for? Override had an Energon Core, a different type...but I heard it was stolen...unfortunately.”

Megatron peered down at her front her left. “She said the Metal Heads stole it, but even she’s still not sure. The cores are primarily used for weapons, mainly bombs I believe. In the wrong servos, these things can do considerable damage.”

“That means they are more like a time bomb for me because I’m carrying so many. Haywire, don’t suppose you can hang onto these or place them somewhere secure, can you?”

“I can...hey, Arcee, why do the incident reports attached mention ‘endangerment from Metal Heads and Mourningstar’? Who is Mourningstar?”

She was hesitant to answer that last part on account of just who indeed. “A...uh, serial rapist and slave trader I helped bust. I got caught trying to free some of his victims when I accidentally stumbled upon them.”

The warlord frowned, “You didn’t mention the second half of that-”

“You busted a criminal while you were over there?” Bumblebee scoffed, “You always get into something. I’m amazed how you’re still alive.”

“Don’t worry, Bolt’s been asking the same thing ever since we met on the isle,” she responded.

A burst of light had the Allspark reappear within the room but to their humor, its rings found themselves scraping against the ceiling as it was a bit too big to fit. Its color flared briefly orange in embarrassment before resuming its normal blue coloring. It caught sight of Arcee and spoke in an ominous tone.

“Arcee, I must speak to you alone.”

Megatron grew annoyed, “You know, we’re all a team. I think what you can tell her, you can tell us as well.”

“It is not a direct concern of yours. And you would be wise to remember this, Megatron. Don’t repeat what you lost the first time by making the same mistakes. History can and will repeat itself, as we all can attest. And you were doing so well...”

That shut Megatron up abnormally quick and Arcee noticed how tense he got as well as slightly saddened. He retreated to look away at Haywire’s confusion. The most noticeable reactions though among the rest were Scythe and Optimus, both of whom seemed to immediately know what the Allspark was talking about. She knew about his relationship with Optimus but not all of it, though it sounded like he had another relationship with someone else that ended horribly too. She didn’t press the matter but grew slightly curious as to what the Allspark directly meant.

The queen interjected, “It’s okay, Megatron. I can handle it.”

She left him to be with Haywire and went down to a lower level of Nova Point. Once she was in a suitable room, the Allspark spawned behind her. She was quick to say, “You didn’t have to throw him under the bus like that.”

“Listen, Arcee, something has changed, something darker than prior has been unleashed. Before, I saw the Metal Head Leader vividly on a set path of destruction but now, it seems your presence has awakened a new plot at a terrible price. I made a mistake of my own. I shouldn’t have sent you to Velocitron.”

“A little late, don’t you think? I can finish this no matter what. I’ll stop the Metal Head Leader and end this. That’s a promise!” Arcee growled.

“But I cannot allow-”

“I can do it! Send us to Caminus as soon as possible. I helped you retrieve the relics, right? You gave me an insight, so I’m far more aware of the danger than ever before. It’s fine.”

The Allspark turned dark blue before sighing, “If that is what you wish. Just be careful. Nothing can stop the flow of time or anything that happens among it. Remember that.”

Arcee huffed but merely made a quick bow and left. The Allspark, however, remained there growing solemn of the events of the past and soon-to-be events of the future.

----------------------

Override sat drinking a glass of Energon as she looked over several documents of the Metal Head legion. With them gone as far as everyone knew and her guards reported, Velocitron was once again its same fast-paced, carefree environment. She looked at the Agility Cup trophy on her shelf among all her other trophies in her office with a sigh. Slowly, she smiled at the memory of racing and how Arcee had made the victory more fun than normal, a rare moment she was hardly used to.

She had sent Blurr to keep Road Rage out of trouble as she talked with the ranchers whom Override was thinking of making a deal with to buy a piece of their property for a scenic, medium league track to set up if they were alright with it. So far, Rockahilly was being quite nice about the idea, and she understood certain areas were off-limits due to their status among his family that he swore to protect. She agreed that they were best preserved too. It was so far in writing that Zoomkill and Silverstreak would each run the track in shifts if built under Rockahilly’s command. That was fair.

One of her security guards walked in with a data pad of reports. He offered them to her, and she made a cozy spot for them on her desk. As soon as she finished with her current documents, she switched to the new one. They were mostly files about new proceedings against Mourningstar and all the evidence accumulated against him. Velocitron could breathe easier with him now in custody. However, one file caught her attention more than Mourningstar’s upcoming trial.

With a signature from the commander of Robex Base, dubbed classified in red font on the top, there seemed to be an update on the stolen Energon Core. She expected to see the Metal Heads or maybe someone in league with them, but the results baffled her. She nearly spit out her drink bewildered. It made no sense. It could be...it should be. In the security footage holofeed, the culprit was none other than...

“Arcee?”

Chapter Text

The Secrets of the Cyber Worlds: Short Stories of the Past and Present

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Mourning Becomes You

------------------------------------

He loved seeing them squirm. The pity was there but not out of mercy. As his sire told him, they were nothing but low-life scum, and they were only good for what he made them to be.

Mourningstar gazed possessively at the dancers before him. They weren’t his but he wanted them to be. Velocitron had so little enjoyment other than racing, but racing could only have so much to keep one entertained now and days. Maybe that was just him. He sneered as the mechs and femmes showed off their frames. There was a lot of money that could be made in the profession, that’s for sure, but the resources to pull it off he had not in his possession. But one day that would change. He would make it so.

“Don’t tell me you’re still hooked on that get-rich-quick scheme with the whole dancer idea,” his friend, Asphalt, said. “You know what Torque will do to us if he catches us.”

“Torque and his lackey, Springboro, are nothing but a cowardly lot. They only care about the preservation of the Velocitronian ways, not their people. All he would come down on us for is because we’re more successful.”

“If we are. Look, your plan is deranged. Do you know how many ripples this stunt can pull? If you were to build a club like you claim, everyone with moral ethics is going to be hunting you down. They don’t like this stuff on Velocitron. You know that,” the black and turquoise mech said.

Mourningstar tore his gaze away from a mech who went down on his stand lower than was appropriate, not that he was complaining, and began walking out to the room he had booked with Asphalt in tow.

He then laughed, “What if I want to start trouble? Think about it, Asphalt. A ripple effect indeed but who said it would work in Torque’s favor? You start from the bottom, from nothing, you’re ignorable to the higher ups because who would want to waste time and resources monitoring a little petty criminal. Keep low but build up your empire piece by inconspicuous piece until the right moment you are untouchable…then you make yourself known. There will be nothing Torque could do because it would be too late. The seeds of dismay would be sown into the fabric of society and therefore unchallenged. Debtors repay me with what they believe their pathetic little lives are worth or suffer the consequences.”

Asphalt paused and frowned, “You aren’t just planning to buy a few prostitutes and make bank on them, are you?”

Mourningstar slowly grinned with his back towards Asphalt before turning around. “Maybe not.”

His friend slowly shook his head and said, “That…Mourningstar, you’re not seriously thinking about what I think you are. No, do you know how wrong that is?! I-I know you work with a debt collector’s guild, but I thought you were joking about them! That’s too far!”

Mourningstar sighed uncaring, “A price to pay for inconvenience to me. Are you in or out, Asphalt, because I intend on doing this with or without you.”

His seriousness reverberated harshly among the quiet room. Asphalt seemed at a loss of what to think. As Mourningstar examined a bobble in the shape of a miniature trophy, he knew he had no choice in the matter. Mourningstar was not someone that liked the word “no.”

“Alright. Do what you wish.”

Mourningstar’s grin only grew wider as he palmed the useless decoration. “You shall see, Asphalt, exactly what I am capable of.”

In the span of a few thousand years, Mourningstar had his due. He went after the in-debt bots first, those who owed the company he worked for to fool them into repaying by selling more than just stock. He made sure the weight of their debt matched what they gave and if they ran, they were hunted down. In the years befallen, Mourningstar was a threat. His ring of crime only grew bigger to match his crooked soul. By the time anyone knew a fraction of what was happening, the damage was done. Torque had lost his power and Override, the planet’s new leader, was left chasing breadcrumbs leading to false ends.

Mourningstar built his empire in the underground, forming a twisted market. They weren’t dancers like he wanted; they were far more precious. A following in his name grew tenfold within more year as he employed all who agreed with him and all loyal to his cause. Collectors, as he called them, retrieved his precious cargo to sell and use to his liking. A symbol of his ring of power reflected in a design of Asphalt’s own make, one he made sure to give all his followers out of confidence in the form of a seal pendant. His ego grew to match, believing himself untouchable. Years of work now beheld by a pristine stage and those who couldn’t pay selling themselves as he decreed. Mourningstar was proud of his empire, a growing stain on Velocitron’s not-so-perfect surface. He liked it as such. It insulted the norm.

Override was probably having a stroke by trying to figure out his grand scheme, as if it was hard? Now, that was a femme he wanted down in his berth. Tough, brash, and able to control the masses as the fastest Velocitronian hence her current position. Mourningstar wouldn’t settle on anything less than the best for himself while his buyers got the secondary stock. It was an ideal dream, one he didn’t regret in his personal time.

Asphalt stayed with him through and through, which he appreciated, but Mourningstar was no fool. He knew the mech was not pleased with what he did. Quite a bad time to grow a conscience, in his opinion.

As Mourningstar sat on his office chair watching the transports with his new cargo arriving and being unloaded, relishing their terrified and angered expressions, he spun to look at his friend who stared blankly at the femmes and younglings that had been rounded up. “Poetic, no? An orphanage out of funds. Well, I’m not heartless. The children will be more than looked after but their caretakers and their president…”

Asphalt looked sick while Mourningstar glanced back down with a lustful grin as a busty femme was forced out of the transport. The younglings with her followed her like lost ducklings clinging to her afraid. Mourningstar knew what Asphalt thought of him and his desires; he didn’t care.

“I’ll be sure to give them a little test drive. After all, can’t be selling faulty stock to the customers.”

Asphalt grimaced unpleasantly, “This isn’t right.”

Taking a drag off a metal cigar, Mourningstar scowled, “You can’t take back what you’ve done so don’t pretend like you’re so innocent. Why does this bother you now anyways? You didn’t say anything when I shut down the bar and took their tenants. Where was your morality when I bribed those dancers to work for me only to use them like the whores they are. You were there; you did nothing.”

“And it’s been eating me up every time! Do you know how hard it is to look the other way while people are sold into slavery for interface and possibly other terrible things?!”

Mourningstar frowned offended at first before replying mockingly, “Uh, I prefer it to be ‘recalled freedom’ as they had their chance but didn’t pay their fees therefore, they squandered the basics of living. Their lives are mine, so their future is as well. That’s how the world works. You can’t live in it for free-”

“But they still have the right to live! Recalled freedom, or whatever you want to convince yourself it’s called, is not a life.”

Mourningstar was unmoved, only raising a brow. “Then, there’s nothing I can do.”

Asphalt started shaking his helm distraught before snapping, “I can’t pretend anymore. You aren’t the mech I cared for, who I wanted to start a business with and who I thought I knew. I just wanted to own a dance joint! You went way too far! I can’t-I can’t sit by and do nothing anymore! That’s what I’ve been doing while you have been building this nightmare! I-I’m done! I can’t let you do this any longer!”

The tenderness in Mourningstar’s face drooped to an unreadable neutral frown, one Asphalt couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking. Mourningstar himself stayed blank, glaring at him before instantly changing his tune with a deadpan, “Fine then. Leave.”

The response was barren of emotion, but Mourningstar just kept staring intensely. Asphalt was uneasy and wanted to retort but found it best to simply walk away. He turned his back on the red mech…

A sudden shout had Asphalt whipping around too late when he was struck by a weapon unseen. Energon splattered on the office as he collapsed on the ground, his jaw broken and bleeding. Mourningstar huffed like demon, gripping a paperweight on his desk that was now missing pieces with utmost fury. As the black mech whimpered, the other began to darkly chuckle.

“You think I’m just going to let you walk out on me? Give hints to the dear Override’s security? Now, how fair would that be, letting her cheat? I like keeping her guessing. I don’t want you breaking that. And if you’re done with our friendship, I won’t regret this as much as you think.”

Before Asphalt could speak, he was repeatedly struck, blood thrown everywhere. Then Mourningstar seized his throat and dragged him out of his office. Down the stairs and into the back area, he didn’t care for Asphalt’s struggling. He was tossed onto the stage where debtors were sold and gestured to the curious crowd beginning to form. He cut in line of a restrained mech who was supposed to be auctioned off for slouching on shop payments but with Mourningstar as the ringleader, his interruption was heeded respectfully.

“Bots of all types, it seems we have a traitor who wants to rat out our happy little business! Well, I can’t have that happen, so who wants to show this mech some manners? He seems to not appreciate life as much as he should. So, starting at a good…five credits, I’m give him up as a clearance price for anyone who wishes for a quick and easy, little…slave.”

Mourningstar hissed that last word down at Asphalt with a sinister smirk and utter cruelty. Asphalt, broken and bleeding, cowered in place on the stage floor. Then the bids started to come in to his delight and Asphalt’s horror as the latter was restrained with stasis cuffs by his followers.

“10 credits!”

“50!”

“100!”

The prices went higher as Mourningstar cackled, grabbing Asphalt’s helm roughly and sneering a whisper. “You see, Asphalt, everyone has their price. If you don’t pay it, you become it.”

The current pitch was up to 7,000 in record time, now the quarry between a femme and a mech. Finally, the mech burst out, “10,000!”

The femme didn’t reply and waved off her chance to go higher. Mourningstar laughed among himself before counting down to see if anyone else dared to challenge the bid. The mech of 10,000 had no contenders.

“Sold! To the mech with the green racing stripes. You certainly will have a fun time breaking him, so I commend you for your purchase! My associates will touch him up for you in a moment and he’s all yours! A pleasure doing business with you! And now, without further a-do, back to your regularly scheduled buyer’s market.”

Mourningstar gave Asphalt a growling smirk, one that left Asphalt trying to yell as his broken jaw failed him. Mourningstar would make sure he was fixed up; he just enjoyed beating him for his traitorous turn. He couldn’t stand traitors. They had better use elsewhere and frankly, he didn’t give damn what Asphalt was used for. His empire would last forever, and no one was going to get in his way as long as he still functioned.

He walked off the stage to let his bidder carry the rest of the sales as he retreated to the office. Now that he was in a peculiar mood, he thought whether he should have waited to sell Asphalt and instead use the bastard himself. But he could compensate anyone. He had his choices. He remembered the orphanage president, a fair femme. Yes, she would do nicely. He turned a paperweight over his digits with a toothy grin just thinking about it.

It was humorous to him how far he had come. From two wannabe business owners to a trafficking king of Velocitron. He marveled at the progress and wondered how much sleep Override was losing over the disappearances. For now, he was in the clear. There was no place for mourning his victims because today, they were his to control.

Life went on and he used the cycle as such to benefit. It wasn’t his fault others would pay a good price for the company. Where there was money, he would be prepared to make every credit offered at the expense of lives so useless. Asphalt learned today of this motive, and there were many more bots out there he knew would pay to stay out of his reach. One way or another, he would win.

-----------------------------------

Sunshine and Rage

-----------------------------------

Blurr tapped her shoulder playfully. “Alright, girl, let’s see your war face! Are you ready to beat those track hogs?”

Road Rage was still and neutral before giving the largest smile known on Velocitron. Blurr was taken aback by it, and she only snickered.

“Not the war face I was expecting but I’m scared.”

She punched him softly, “Quit teasing. I can be vicious.”

The speedster then got serious. “Yeah…listen, promise me you won’t break no matter who says what?”

“I won’t. I promise, Blurr,” she said assuring.

“That’s what I like to hear. Channel the beast at the end to get that win, not a moment before. Alright? I really want to see you win out there. Win this race and the Speedia 500 is yours.”

The bubbly red femme hopped in place excited as the qualifying races for this year’s Speedia 500 championship was upon Velocitron. The annual big race wasn’t just a mere tournament challenge. It was the race to determine if the leader of Velocitron could hold her title and the qualifying races were hard. Road Rage was confident though. Granted, she never got close to victory after the qualifying races as she had a slight…issue.

The race took off less than ten minutes later, and Road Rage was keeping a steady length behind the leaders the majority of the time. She was a little slow on the curves but hauled on the straights. XP gained on her as she sped around Dreadnaught Speedway trying to overtake Jetwheel on a tight turn and keeping her tailgater from having a window. The Roller Twins weren’t far behind, nasty punks of the track, and Hotspire was somewhere she couldn’t see.

She laughed enjoying the ride mostly, her teammates understanding of her abnormal enthusiasm and played along with it sans a few. It didn’t bug her that she wasn’t taken seriously, nor did she truly race to win. In the end, she loved the race itself. Her small truck mode roared upon the track, and the hot atmosphere was unnoticeable among her speed.

They were the common racers of the track, hunting the chance to be even the world leader. She didn’t have much to fear from the Jetwheel. He didn’t care to take the Velocitron throne. Hotspire talked more than he performed, XP always had trouble in the finals against the fastest bot and Override’s friendly rival, Blurr, and the Roller Twins had egos that did better at driving than they did. Road Rage had her own disqualification.

The Roller Twins were storming up with their typical nonsense, bullying the track members by using their “double trouble” maneuvers. It allowed them to throw off their opponents greatly. As they approached Road Rage, she began frowning inwardly. She was already having to lag behind Jetwheel teasing her by threatening to brake check her, and the pursuit of the twins didn’t help. Her engine was being pushed to counter their speed but the ganging up on her was driving her on the brink.

“Have to be faster than that, Rager!” One twin said getting nearly side by side with her on a straight section. The second twin was riding her bumper and finished the other’s mockery with, “And we don’t like being behind slow traffic!”

She tried her hardest to ignore them but they kept talking...and talking...and TALKING! Her color scheme began to change, darkening with her faint red stripes now prominent black. Stream blew out of her front grill as her headlights slowly converted to red. The edges of her metal flared in fractions like barbs appearing out of her armor.

XP wisely braked slowly away and Jetwheel moved to the side to let the three pass. Hotspire all but disappeared from view going behind XP. Anyone in front of the group or behind kept their distance.

XP yelled, “Boys, get off her tailpipe!”

The twin behind her snickered, “What’s she going to do? Run us off the road?”

Road Rage didn’t say a word. Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes, pushing the twin behind her swerving sideways and tires screeching as he lost control. His front end had a sizable dent in its hood and grill. The second twin on her side tried to back off but she slammed into his side, forcing him to drift and to the right before he abruptly rolled thrice and roughly landed on his tires with a damaged roof.

An alarm sounded on the track forcing all racers to a halt when they reached a safe place to do so.

“Contact on the southern end of the track. The Roller Twins have both been struck by Road Rage. Let me tell you, folks, the name is sometimes given out of warning. Unfortunately, there will be a penalty for this action. The track management will convene to determine the judgement on this incident shortly.”

Road Rage fumed and growled as two track cars rolled up beside her, flashing their lights briefly to get her to follow them off the course as a third rally car had the racers following them one by one back into their initial positions while a few medics made sure the twins were alright. They had minor dents but were otherwise their normal, arrogant selves.

The furious femme transformed, her appearance tense and spiked with her fangs out and optics fully red. A few of the race officials guided her to a solitary room where her personal trainer, Iceliner, was waiting for her. He quickly stood in her path despite the danger and began soothing her by speaking to her. The officials and escorts didn’t dare interrupt the process in case of repercussions.

“Okay, looking at me, breathe! Think of the Helio-horses and the gill-gliders! The pretty foals with their manes aflame. Calm…breathe…exhale.”

Road Rage at first snorted in an attempt to breathe like he instructed, her vents fuming but as she remembered the pretty foals that could be found on Velocitron’s plains, her irate form slowly huffed quieter and her blood red optics looked regrettable. After fifteen minutes of constant breathing exercises and following her trainer’s lead, the demonic Road Rage transformed back into her normal self, holding her head distorted and saddened. She gave a brief animalistic whine as she peered around. Her trainer smiled at her and patted her shoulder.

“Better?”

“Ah, yeah, aside from the headache…” she tried to laugh, rubbing her forehead.

“You know what you did, right?”

Road Rage groaned, “I…hurt them, didn’t I?”

Iceliner made a neutral frown and sighed, “You could have severely damaged them, yes, but it’s no secret of their instigating. You have to learn how to control that anger. Your creator had the same issue and it consumed them.”

She peered around at the bots who pitied her. The power she had, although rare, was not the first of its type. While most bots could channel their emotions into burning rubber to supercharge indestructible counters, some had rarer abilities like her, able to change physical form or, in some cases, manipulate their weapons and vehicle modes themselves. She had partial vehicle manipulation but not the common speed. Her invulnerability was a darker power some bots had but many feared. It was only when she was enraged would it occur, and it brought out her darker impulses.

As the race continued from what she could hear, Road Rage was then approached by the race director of the central region, Skidside. The fancy blue designs among the yellow-orange blended scheme of the femme showed off the funds she had won in prior experience racing the big leagues as well as her current line of work. Her presence made the smaller red femme bow her head guilty of her actions. Even Iceliner couldn’t help her.

“Road Rage, correct?” Skidside asked.

“Y-Yes, ma’am,” she replied nervously.

The director wasn’t pleased but it also seemed from Road Rage’s point of view she didn’t like what she needed to say. “The officials and I are aware of certain unsportsmanlike behaviors in our league from various associates but when it comes down to severity of everything, certain forms of it must be taken into higher consideration. Exchanged words are one thing, but actions unfortunately hold greater accountability. Investigations will pend shortly but unless the banter is caught in the moment or for witnesses outside the active sport to hear, there’s not much I can do other than deal currently with what I saw on the track today.”

Iceliner and everyone who knew Road Rage personally knew the judgement and all were displeased, but their opinions were not equal evidence for Road Rage to get off on any consequences. Road Rage had saddened, puppy eyes but it wasn’t to get out of her predicament. It came naturally with her demeanor.

“Road Rage, it has been decided that you shall forfeit the remainder of the Master Speedia tournament and consideration of eligibility will be in play for the next circuit of races for the Canyon Run and Ballistic tournaments as well.” Skidside’s expression lightened with a flicker of remorse. “I understand that you aren’t a bully or even remotely close to your angry persona, but I must follow protocol. Don’t think this is personal. It’s just my job to keep the races as safe as possible…even for the jerks that deserve what they get.”

Skidside’s words were final, leaving Road Rage there to sigh. Iceliner shook his head and moved closer once the director and her officials left.

“It’s alright, Road Rage. There’s always next time.”

She shrugged. Yes, there was but the judgment hurt nonetheless. When she left to watch the race, it came down between XP and Jetwheel. Iceliner watched with her as XP was determined to keep the lead pushing himself to his max speed at the last possible corner. He nearly drifted out of line but managed to hold it together. Head-to-head, wheel to wheel, the two were pushing over 600 kilometers per hour. Their engines boomed with accelerated power. By several inches, XP hit the end and the crowd went wild.

“And XP, Xeropoint, is your champion today! What a race! XP has won!”

Road Rage’s mood changed on a dime, happily cheering for XP with the crowd. She was screaming excitedly so loud, Iceliner had to cover his audios but still held a smirk over her sudden shift in demeanor. XP slid and did a few donut maneuvers in celebration before going to the Winner’s Stage. His peers met him there as did Road Rage but instead of immediately accepting his medal, he spotted and ran to her.

“Road Rage!” XP yelled concerned, “Is everything alright?!”

When he reached her, she didn’t look a bit upset or downtrodden. The femme gleefully hugged him to his surprise and lifted him as she stomped the ground.

“You won, XP! Congrats!”

XP laughed a little before gripping her shoulders once he was let go. “Yes, but what about you?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just got banned from the tournament. It happens,” Road Rage replied too happy for XP’s liking.

“O-kay…?” He shook his head, “You are a strange one. But I’m glad you’re taking this well. I’ll see you on the track for practice, right?”

She pushed him lightly towards the stage and laughed, “Of course, now go enjoy your victory, dear!”

Spotting Blurr and Override looking down at her with consideration, she happily waved to them, all smiles and no sight of her depression. Although it did sting to not be included, Road Rage still found comfort in knowing her friends could still race. And she planned on cheering for them the entire rest of the way.

----------------------------------

The Limit

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A nightmare. That’s what it felt like to her.

Override sped through Traction City; its buildings bombarded with malicious gunfire. She drifted around a corner with her tires screeching heavy on their spinning. An explosion of a wayward missile landed a hundred yards from her position. Bots were running, some fearful and others towards battle with the fury of their engines roaring as loud as thunder. It was drowned considerably even against the explosions already a deafening rumble. In all her years, she had never seen such carnage.

A secondary engine echoed and suddenly revved loud enough to dampen the noise around her. She grew alert as a red and gold, silver-streaked speedster ripped on an overhead pass and jumped off a damaged part of it above Override. She barely saw the leap and swerved to not get crushed by the swift fall. The enraged form of Ransack hit the ground hard, wheels bouncing and still ripping the pavement despite slowing slightly from the motion. He trailed after her sliding and skidding.

“Override!”

The red and white vehicle did her best to evade Ransack, racing through the city like hellions. But this wasn’t a race; this was survival.

Drifting on a street that moved onto a bridge toward the southern highway, Override grew unnerved having Ransack on her tail with no room for errors. The metal road twisted and turned around the city to its designated direction. Ransack hit her rear, nearly causing her to lose control. She was so used to the rules of the track, the no contact policies, that briefly she forgot outside of it, anything went, especially in war.

The civil war of Velocitron was horrendous. Although she had boasted she could handle it, a part of her wasn’t sure anymore. Millions of years of their culture, nothing but fast-paced racing and pompous trophies, prepared no one, not even her, for the outright horrors war could produce. She wasn’t mentally ready for the true bloodshed. She thought it would be simple to stop Ransack…she was wrong.

Ransack hit her rear bumper again, this time speeding up with it attached. Her wheels started losing traction as his pushing had her rear getting caught on his stylized bumper guard and lifted her off the road to where she only had her front wheels touching ground. Her vehicle form couldn’t navigate well, threatening to swerve which she knew that’s what Ransack wanted. Her direction slowly shifted to an unwanted right angle, her rear beginning to falter and lean trying to turn which would destroy her left rear wheel and give Ransack the ability to overturn her.

“No more running, Override! No more thinking you are anything special or making everyone believe you are their savior! I’ve run second place to you for too long! I will be the winner this time!” Ransack yelled.

Her rear left was tilting downward towards the road, her hubcaps almost grazing it. She could hear him growling as he then aimed her at a low ridge. If she hit it, she feared she would pop over it…just like what happened to her dear friend in Barren Heights and fall over a hundred meters to the planet surface to a very hard death. No, she wouldn’t allow that. Ransack would NOT beat her on the track or here!

“No…you…WON’T!”

Override knew it was risky. Instead of letting her wheels drift, she suddenly made a sharp turn to her left. Her rear got caught again but was secured by Ransack. The maneuver threw him off and started to force his front to shift left. Override then switched right, a move that tore a piece of her bumper off but sent Ransack hitting the barrier and allowed her to break free. She struggled to regain control at her shock at the success of it, but she didn’t dwell on it. As soon as she was on stable road, she floored it while Ransack smacked his left side twice, paint scratched profusely with sparks emitting from impact both times.

Override let her engine roar, not daring to let Ransack gain on her. She didn’t care how much strain it put on her. With Ransack in hot pursuit, she had no other choice but to keep driving. Stopping would be fatal in both robot and vehicle modes from how fast they were both pushing. She didn’t even notice how fast she was going until her HUD gave a warning. High engine heat. Her speed surpassed even the normal limit for a racer. It was in a dangerous red text in her vision. Overheating…

Internal Engine Failure Imminent.

“No, not now!”

“OVERRIDE!!!!”

Internal Engine Failure Imminent.

Four hundred miles an hour and soaring ever higher to the point where Ransack began lagging behind at the horrible expense of the repeated warning. She wanted to make sure he could never follow her.

Racing within her means had never occurred to her the speed she pushed then was not even close to her boundaries, but the turns and the jumps required precision that, if not taken right, could spell disaster for any racer. They were cautious and never realized it when they were on the track. Here and now, there were no boundaries and ultimately, she found out very quickly what her true capacity was. She hated knowing it. She was supposed to be the fastest racer…but her engine was close to bursting.

Ransack finally yielded when an explosion his way made him divert off course and down a ramp, but Override couldn’t stop. He would come back! He would come back! He would-

Her grill jolted with fire as multiple warnings littered her HUD, and Override was forced to a halt. She transformed and rolled uncontrollably, her back scraping the road and left her plating with ugly streaks. She managed to stabilize herself on her servos and knees but stayed immobile breathing heavily as her vents produced smoke. The smell was nauseating.

“Override!”

The panic rose for a moment as she thought Ransack had come back but to her relief, a familiar friendly face graced her throbbing vision. Rockhill, or Rockahilly as everyone called him, came driving towards her, transforming a few feet to kneel beside her. Young Zoomkill and Silverstreak followed behind.

The yellow and orange striped mech’s voice sounded so faint as her systems needed to recover. The stress of her engine was forcing her into a stasis shutdown. She saw Rockahilly’s fearful stare, and he held her as she sank into his grip, his voice fading considerably.

Rebooting…

Override opened her optics and noticed instantly she wasn’t in a medical facility or her home. She was on a berth near medical supplies and a small Energon storage. Rockahilly’s farm was a lot humbler than the buildings she was used to. She could recall with a small smile how easy it was for him to build a mansion from a pile of rubble. His engineering skills never faltered after all these years…

“Awake, darlin’?” His kind voice was a symphony to her audio receptors. His nicknames were common; everyone knew he just had that habit. She was used to it back in his service to the Velocitron government. He walked into the large room and grabbed some elixirs from the shelves. “How are you feelin’?”

“Like I just combusted, and my organs were burning like coals.”

Rockahilly reduced a smirk at the self-depreciative comment and said, “You went past your limit. Very rare any bot finds it. You’re lucky. Had no one found you after your engine burst, it would have caused a backfire straight to your spark. I managed to cut off the power temporarily to your engine and repair it while you were out the past week, but you can’t be usin’ it for a few days unless you want to risk it happenin’ again even at a lower speed. What were you speedin’ from that made you go that fast?”

“A whole week? Dammit.” Override then frowned, saddened as she closed her optics. “Ever since the Cybertronians came, Ransack got bold and this war...I thought I could handle it, handle him, but...”

“But Velocitronians aren’t made for conflict. Easy livin’, easy life. All play, no work as we used to say, right?” Rockahilly side eyed her uncertain before walking up to her berth and offering her a coolant concoction that helped with the engine burn. “Ransack is the type of bug that waits until the opportunity presents itself before strikin’. He has been preparin’ to kill you, I assume, for some time to take your position since he couldn’t take it on the track. Those Decepticons chasin’ the Autobots must have givin’ him an incentive to pursue his vendetta against you.”

Override sat up glumly. “Everyone expects me to hold my promise to win this war. What am I supposed to do?”

Seeing him go dead serious was a bit unnerving as Override knew he only became that way if he had no other choice. Rockahilly was pondering, a deep regret forming as he slowly shook his head. She knew what the verdict would be, but he didn’t want to admit she should do it...not after what he did himself.

“I-If you don’t want me to-”

“Kill him,” he said without missing a beat. Looking at her now straight in the optics with a faint regret hidden beneath it, he repeated sternly, “Kill him...if it means protectin’ Velocitron. Sometimes we do terrible things, but it doesn’t make us terrible people, Override, just makes it a little complicated explainin’ our reasons why.”

She peered down in pity knowing what he was getting at underneath his meaning. She could see it, how he mourned inside.

“You knew what it meant when you won all those years ago and took on the role of the leader of Velocitron. Bein’ a leader must come with some sacrifices to ethical codes, sometimes our own ambitions, but I guarantee people will be on your side with this decision. Ransack doesn’t have a huge circle from what Zoomkill has reported to me. Take advantage of that; conquer what you need to not for yourself but for them because Ransack will make life hell on this world if he gets power. I would but...I’ve done enough for a lifetime.”

There was no choice. Ransack wouldn’t stop, and he would jeopardize everyone’s life to sustain any power he had. He was too dangerous to be kept alive. Override couldn’t help but realize just how limiting her options were. She would make things right, that she promised to Rockahilly in what he couldn’t achieve.

After drinking her coolant medicine, Rockahilly started to walk away when she stopped him in his tracks. “What if I try to kill him but I make everything worse? What if I kill more than just him in the process? What if I...what if I break Velocitron?”

Rockahilly sighed and scouted the ground unable to look her in the optics this time. “If the world wasn’t broken, people like Ransack wouldn’t exist. And I wouldn’t be here. You do what you must to win. That’s all you can do. The social repercussions can be dealt with, but lives cannot be replaced. I’d rather try and save who you can than hope and wait for things to fall into place while a maniac runs loose dismantlin’ everything this world stands for. Nothin’ changes, people won’t change, unless someone bites the bullet to set it off and if that involves killin’ a bot, I will say that’s worth it.

“Besides, I did it. And look where Velocitron is now. Regulations of safety, countermeasures, and better policies overall...at the expense of a grave mistake. A part of me doesn’t regret it, but I can’t forget it. It’s a punishment I am more than willin’ to take.”

Override huffed, “You went too far...”

“I did what I thought was right,” he sneered, “I just overestimated the radius. They weren’t my targets. It was built to have a limitation, but you can’t always predict what any limit in life is until you test those boundaries, sometimes in unfortunate ways. You’ve encountered a few of them, one recently, so why stop there? What’s the limit of war until an enemy can be deemed for slaughter to keep others safe? I’m not telling you to repeat my mistake with Raceland, but I am urging you to consider how long you want this to draw out and what Ransack is more than willin’ to do to you that you won’t do to him.”

She stayed silent, watching him visibly tired of his memories. They weren’t pleasant, she knew that much having seen the aftermath. The message was clearer than ever.

What are you willing to do to stop this? How far will you go?

Override didn’t know how far she could go. Ransack would keep coming back. There would be no peace for Velocitron until he was gone. As Rockahilly kept his distance for good reason though she knew it wasn’t her fault, she wondered what the real stakes were. In the end, she was only limited by how far she wanted to go. Maybe she wasn’t indestructible, but she needed to test those grounds, find a boiling point and set it off.

It was like what happened with Cybertron. Velocitron just couldn’t afford to ally itself with them as they kept pressing buttons, asking more until their world reached an ultimatum. She kind of wished it didn’t end up that way, but she had a chance to do something this time unlike the previous leaders. She had the chance to prevent such divergence within Velocitron and keep the peace. It came with a huge risk, one she would take even if like her engine, it could backfire heavily. After all, there had to be a limit to everything, and tolerance for treason was no longer an option.

“I will stop him,” she muttered, sitting up from the berth with her arms lying on her knees. She was in no position to leave, but she knew her allies could handle Ransack’s forces.

Rockahilly slowly nodded but she could tell it was with utter frustration that he had to give her such cruel advice.

“I know you will,” he replied softly.

---------------------------------

Another Day in Paradise

---------------------------------

Arcee sat at the Oasis Club bar drinking and smirking as Bolt mocked Megatron, the latter of whom glared a bit at his associate.

“And then Megatron was like, ‘Communications have been down for how long?!’ Starscream looked so miserable, I swear, we were all laughing internally but you know, Megatron wouldn’t have appreciated the humor under such strenuous conditions trying to secure those Predacon bones.”

The vocal impersonation made Arcee snort as Bolt didn’t have as low of a range as Megatron. If she could describe it, it sounded like a prepubescent version of him. Megatron was not amused, lowering his brows to a deadpan expression and glaring harsher. Bolt caught it and shrugged.

“What? That’s how it went! You know this! Don’t give me that look.”

The warlord slash king sneered, “I sometimes wish I could strangle you…”

Bolt leaned back on his seat with his elbows on the bar table and facing outward with a lackluster slouch as he laughed, “Yeah, I bet you’d also love to snap it too. The old Megatron cometh, can’t get rid of him, can you?”

“Actually, if it was the old me, I’d rip you in half more so than merely choke you out,” he replied with an evil grin as he took a drink. When the bartender passed by, Megatron then said, “Put all this on Bolt’s tab including the queen’s.”

The Vehicon’s posture slacked a bit with the likeness of disdain at the tab comment before turning in his seat with a scoff. “You wouldn’t really harm little old me now, would you? I’m your best buddy. Admit it. I bring a smile to that ugly mug sometimes.”

“Sure,” Megatron laughed, “when I think about all the times I could have thrown you off my ship.”

“Okay, now you’re just being intentionally cruel. You didn’t even know who I was so that also makes no sense. I know, for a fact, you weren’t remotely thinking of that when I died for you. You were practically weeping when you saw me return.”

“You were seeing things,” he muttered.

Arcee said not a word, enjoying the banter from her position next to her sparkmate.

“I know what I saw. You looked so cute-”

“Never…call me cute,” Megatron warned, twisting around on his seat to look at his former subordinate in both surprise and a snarl.

Bolt looked around him and pointed at him while speaking directly to Arcee. “Does he let you call him such?”

Arcee grunted and smiled, “I’m out of this conversation.”

“You did! You let her call you cute!” The Vehicon teased, “She didn’t deny it so…”

Megatron closed his optics, biting back a small laugh that didn’t help matters. “Bolt, and I cannot stress this enough, please be quiet.”

Bolt gestured with his servos up in faux defeat. “Alright, cu-”

“Zip it,” growled the warlord.

“Boys, I know you love each other but you’re going to have to settle down. Isn't that right, Moonhunter?” Arcee laughed.

The Nitrotiger yowled as the bartender put a little dish with a simple drink for him. He lapped it up happily.

Bolt stretched and leaned against the counter before groaning, “I think I had too much to drink. Erghhhh…”

Megatron taunted, “Can’t hold your high grade?”

“Ssshhh, I’m trying to impress Arcee and the server!”

The bartender looked between them trying not to laugh.

“I just realized we have, like, no way to get back to the palace…” he said, “Megatron, can you fly?”

The grey mech huffed, “On my own and with Arcee possibly. With all of you, I’m not about to kill myself. Have either of you flown before?”

“No,” Arcee said before he could finish his sentence.

“Nope, not unless you can get Shockwave to convert me into a flight frame.” Bolt then paused and retracted the statement as soon as he remembered what Shockwave was capable of. “Never mind, I don’t want to be a monster from a human horror film. Scratch that. Rewind…so, how are you?”

Megatron rolled his optics and took another drink. “Unless you have precise control over years of training to do such stunt work, counterbalancing weight mid-flight is not an easy feat. So, knowing the difficulties from an experienced flyer, why do you think it would be a good idea for me to fly carrying three beings on me while intoxicated?!”

Bolt, instead of his normally intelligent comebacks, merely shrugged like an idiot and made a weird noise. The bartender was leaning away from their view cackling and gesturing to their fellow employees to get a load of their favorite customers.

“Maybe have me on your center and Arcee and Moonhunter on each wing? I think you can do it.”

Arcee grimaced, “We have an option to call for a ground bridge, you psychopaths. And besides, I’m not flying with either of you. I’ll drive-”

Bolt scoffed in return, “To where? Right into a building? Have you ever seen any PSA on Earth while you were there? You Autobots are terrible.”

The drunken glare he received made him nervous but in a humorous way. Megatron got up and grunted as he did a few waist movements, not liking being seated for so long. He yawned, showing off his sharp teeth in the process. Bolt caught Arcee staring a bit and chuckled to himself which didn’t help his relationship with an already peeved Arcee. When she noticed him, she threw the empty bowl that used to contain Energon treats, but she and Megatron had eaten all of them. The bowl hit Bolt and clattered on the ground.

“Ay hey, hey, property damage! Don’t get us fined now!”

“Yeah, MY property!”

Bolt looked at her in puzzlement. “You don’t own the Oasis Club.”

“She’s talking about you,” Megatron replied smugly.

It took a second for Bolt to realize what that meant, and he waved a finger at her. “Oh. OOHHH…you bitch.”

Both her and her sparkmate burst out laughing, leaving the bar while Arcee muttered through her fits, “I’m sorry! I’m-you know I don’t mean it!”

“Uh-huh,” Bolt growled playfully as he twirled around on his chair following their leave before jumping off and running to catch up. “I suppose that joke has nothing to do with you being mated to the one person who technically did own our pathetic afts? Don’t think I wouldn’t put that together. Both of you are dark souls, gaslighting, demented-”

Arcee cut him off as she held her mate’s servo, “Yes, but you think it’s hilarious which says something about you too.”

“…It’s funny but still a very low blow. I’m sensitive.”

“You made three jokes in a row about Megatronus, who was mentally ill, being the butt-monkey of the Primes.”

Bolt stopped while they didn’t but couldn’t find a way to twist the conversation back in his favor. “O-Okay, maybe we’re all terrible people. At least I didn’t kill a mentally ill person, Arcee.”

“No, no, no, don’t you dare go there. I had no choice.”

Megatron sighed, “You two can argue, I’m going to go into recharge.”

Moonhunter followed close behind unaware of the banter. At the bar of the Oasis Club, the bartender and the manager were dying of laughter.

“Tell me, have you ever seen any of the Council bicker like this out in public?”

“No, they were always pompous and regal. This is free entertainment right here,” the bartender said, slapping the manager’s arm as they both leaned on the table. “I love them. Best customers I’ve ever had.”

-------------------------------------

Speed Demon

--------------------------------------

Engines gunned down the flatlands of Velocitron, neck and neck were two speedsters, blue and purple respectively. The end point loomed marked by baskets and chalked lines. By inches, the blue car hit the finish line and slid to a halt before making a few circles with childish glee. The youngling then transformed as did his friend.

“No fair, Blurr, you got me distracted on that last curve!” Geardash said.

“All’s fair in racing, Dash, as long as you win.” Blurr made an arrogant pose much to Geardash’s annoyance.

“You sound so sure of yourself.”

“Of course, I am! You’re just salty you came in last!”

Geardash clutched his fists together and the two started arguing.

“Boys,” a mech said as he approached. His teal and dark blue-merging-black racing stripes made an impression against the orange background of Velocitron’s barren flatlands. Blurr’s sire, Blazer, had a neutral expression as he observed the race and the aftermath. He shook his head, “Don’t be cocky now, especially you, Blurr.”

“Yes, Sire,” the youngling said.

Blazer knelt beside the boys and looked between them. “One thing you must understand is racing isn’t about winning. Sure, when you win, you can get money and maybe a position or two when you’re older, but there’s more to it than that. You may not believe me right now, but in due course you’ll see what I mean. Winning a race doesn’t always make you the winner because between the starting line and the finishing, there are many things you can lose that maybe you didn’t know you had nor cared for.”

“Like...our friendship,” Blurr said in realization. “We wouldn’t have been friends anymore?”

“One of the consequences of losing your head to victory can be such. You two have no idea how many times I’ve seen good friends break apart, losing loved ones over conflict, and watching the so-called winners be utterly miserable. It’s okay to win, I’m not saying don’t, but don’t do it for the purpose of winning. Do it for more than its simplicity. Understand the race. Every race has a purpose for fun, business, or big stakes. Treat it as such but be wise to how you do it and what you are risking among it.”

The two younglings clung together sorrowfully, not wanting to be enemies. Blurr saw his sire smile at that and he knew his father was right.

Blazer stood up and said, “Now, why don’t we try another race? Just for fun, this time? Practice the wheel work and don’t lose your heads to winning. Just drive.”

Blurr and Geardash aligned themselves once more and upon Blazer’s command, they jumped and transformed. Their vehicle modes, though small, sped at rapid speeds around the makeshift track as Blurr’s sire monitored them.

“Easy around the turns, Geardash. The tracks are notorious for being very dodgy about how you take your turns. Blurr, put more power into your drifts if you’re going to use them. Less momentum, less movement. That’s the trick to it. Gun it on the straights always. That’s how you pass your opponents.”

As they came about on the final stretch, Blurr and Geardash were head-to-head again, pushing their engines to the max. Blurr was heavily focused but not on winning, on crossing the finish line in general. He found it was slightly less stressful to think of it that way than to prioritize winning. Internally, he breathed through his vents dead focused now...

Blue bio lights suddenly ran across him, and Blurr felt an abnormal surge of energy like never before. His tires produced glowing smoke and jettisoned him forward like a rocket. He couldn’t control it. Blurr saw the finish line only vaguely as he yelled out, passing it within a second as a streak of blue. All his systems were empowered, and he didn’t even know why.

“Blurr! Stop! Brakes, son, brakes!” Blazer shouted, his servos on his helm gaping at the sight.

Blurr hit his brakes hard, the momentum of his zooming form causing him to spin rapidly until he came to a halt abruptly with his left side off the ground. His wheels slammed back down, causing him to wince inside at the uncomfortable feeling. Blurr didn’t dare move as Geardash drove towards him and his sire came sprinting.

“Blurr!” Geardash transformed and looked over his vehicle form like he was a wonder, smiling despite being left in the dust. “That was awesome! What was that?!”

Blurr followed suit, shifting back to robot mode and leaning over to grip his knees panting. “I-I don’t know. It just...happened.”

“Are you alright?! Are you-?” Blazer nearly slid on his knee plates to be within range of his son. He paused, unable to speak at first before he slowly realized what had happened, to Blurr’s rather naïve confusion. “You...you got your powers already?”

The youngling exchanged glances with his friend uncertain. “My power?”

“Super speed. Yes,” Blazer awkwardly nodded, “this wasn’t supposed to happen until you were a bit older though I didn’t think it would be super speed.”

“Older? You mean Geardash and I are supposed to have super speed?”

“W-Well, no, not Geardash. Geardash’s ability may not be the same as yours.” He cleared his throat as the boys both looked at him strangely. “I think you two are ready for a talk that most creators save for their young when they come of age. I don’t expect you to understand entirely but when you get to a certain point in your life, we Velocitronians gain, shall we say, powers relating mostly to our fast style. For instance, I have sonic turbo. Drifting or built-up energy allows me to boost myself to higher speeds though only temporarily. Some bots have indestructibility while in vehicle mode, some can alter their physiological traits, some have electromagnetism, and you, Blurr, have super speed. The difference between you and me is that you can constantly use your power until you no longer wish to...with practice, of course.”

“How do you know if its super speed and not that boosting power like yours?”

“Because my grandcarrier had it. My boosting doesn’t ignite my lights like that, but your great grandcarrier’s super speed did. This power is one of the rarer types though, Blurr.”

Geardash frowned, “When will I get mine?”

Blazer shrugged, “It’ll happen when it does. It’s not a certain point in time you suddenly get it. Promise me, boys, that you will use your powers wisely when they come in and you master them. These gifts of ours aren’t meant to be abused. Great harm can occur for both you and others if you aren’t careful. You will be careful, right?”

Blurr and Geardash nodded. Blazer smiled and lightly patted their arms.

“Good. And Blurr, just remember,” Blazer said, looking into the youngling’s optics, “even with powers like these, they never define you. The only thing that matters is how they are used, just the same as how a race is won.”

Blurr gazed into his sire’s thoughtful purple optics curiously, a small smile growing on his features.

Snapping away from his memory as his wheels streaked across the track now, Blurr focused entirely on his opponents as he gained on them. He could feel the energy spiking, yearning to be released. Only a few people knew of his powers, and they were his best friends like Geardash who trailed behind him.

As a grown mech, he honed his key power for the races that allowed it. Races like championship leagues and title bouts for the positions of government forbade the use of any abilities. They had to be done with pure skill and clever maneuverability. This wasn’t one of those races, and he was patient. It was more or less a street race if anything.

Blurr’s engines fumed and roared as he was stuck in third. The first-place driver was Treadlight followed by Rigs, a heavy-duty wheel runner with six tires instead of the normal four and modified with perks that would get one banned from the high-end tracks in a spark beat. They acted like bash brothers and cheated just the same. But, in all fairness, Blurr was about to show them how unequal the race really was. It wasn’t about winning; it was about humbling the competition now. And it proved rather amusing. If they could cheat...all was fair in the art of war.

Geardash was aligned with him just like when they were kids, and Blurr knew the purple mech had a smile plastered somewhere within the vehicle mode. “Competition is getting away, Blurr. It would be such a shame to show them they wasted their money.”

“Easy, Geardash, the trick isn’t to go fast. It’s learning when to make them cry.” As they hit the last lap, Blurr’s energy was soaring with his determination.

Geardash saw this from his sensors and suddenly said, “Let loose!”

There was a silent pause between them, then Blurr muttered wickedly, “Let’s ride...”

Blue bio lights webbed across his form, cackling over his hood and chassis and igniting his wheels like skylit fire. His speed doubled, leaving Geardash in the dust. The two mechs in front of him barely realized they were about to be passed when a blue streak of a car zoomed past them towards the finish line. A trail of blue lighting was all they could glance at as Blurr proved too fast for them. Their engines couldn’t keep up.

“What the-?!” One of them cried.

Blurr couldn’t hear the spectators cheering in surprise while his opponents were left stunned, slowing naturally as there was no way for them to take back their position. He came in hot and as soon as he confirmed his tire touched the line, he slid with a trail of blue to a halt and ended up facing the other racers who were more than ten seconds behind.

His engine blew ghostly blue steam from his grill. His bio lights lingered for a whole minute before settling and disappearing with a hiss. He transformed with a sigh and gestured to his chest breathing as his optics, that were abnormally pure blue, died back down to their natural design. The energy within still coursed but he restrained his residual power inside in case he needed it, a trick he had to learn over years of trial and error not to waste in one jump.

Treadlight, Rigs, and Geardash crossed the finish line and transformed each, the latter of the three proud of Blurr while the other two despised him. As Blurr adored his new fans, Treadlight pushed past Rigs.

“You cheated!”

The blue mech raised a brow and scowled, “How did I cheat? Anything goes, right?”

“You-You should have warned us ahead of time!”

“And spoil the surprise so you could counter it? Where’s the fun in that?”

Geardash quickly butted in, “You guys were using mods and you’re getting mad at him for using his natural abilities? Hypocrites much?”

“Watch it, runt,” warned Rigs.

Treadlight snarled, curling his servos into dense fists before shaking his head. “Just...come on, Rigs, let’s blow this joint. Let the rookie have his win. But the next time we race, one of us will beat you, speed freak.”

As they walked away, Blurr huffed to himself, “Doubtful.”

“Ah, they’re just sour,” Geardash said. He clapped his friend’s shoulder with a grin. “You followed the rules, and they still call you a cheater.”

Yes, it was common. Even with other bots adorned with super speed, Blurr somehow proved to be one of the fastest. What worried him the most was the fact he was getting even faster. His power was growing. Maybe it was him learning new tricks with it or it was simply becoming greater with age. He couldn’t say for sure. He sighed to himself and accepted his earnings without another word.

More races, most legal to use powers, resulted in more wins. His speed was optimal. It was funny as he recalled his sire telling him not to rely on the power itself but use it tactically, and he did. Each win was a strategy, and he cared not for the winning itself. As his power grew, so did his sense of challenge. Perhaps that’s what he was destined to do instead, find the challenge of racing itself. He certainly believed so as he zoomed down each track, tires burning with their blue flames like a speed demon.

Blurr knew one thing that stuck over the years: he was officially the fastest bot alive. Even when he lost the championship races for Velocitron’s positions and even its leader status to so few bots worthy of being his opponents for their restrictions on powers, everyone learned he was otherwise unbeatable. He could live with the losses; they meant nothing to him. The only thing that mattered was he found comfort knowing he could strive to be the best in the heat of the track against real challengers. His sire would be proud.

----------------------------------

Captain’s Log

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Archive Log 3845

Though I am just weaning my habit of doing this for a more personal log, I will repeat one last time that my name is Ceros Silos. I am a warrior of Rozaria, my proud home world. A faithful friend and a loyalty unbound to the king of our neighboring world, Kanjis, who is a kind, benevolent soul.

I remember when I met the royal family of Kanjis. A friend of mine, Sephtis, and his brother knew the king as a former associate. I was introduced on a simple run to the city where a giant Ridgeback towered above even some of our taller buildings, a beast of magnificence. His mate, a regal queen and a nice lady, welcomed me with open arms upon chatting with them. I plan on attending a higher education soon and didn’t know they would be there but ever since, they have been friends of mine.

I live among their world upon occasion as their equal, and they treat me as such. Never before has any species been more welcoming with hearts larger than their imposing yet gentle frames. Metal and flesh, they see no differences as they welcome beings from across the galaxy in trade. I find comfort in giants greater than us Rozarians for we often come across species smaller than us, more fragile and less developed. I don’t pity them, merely find their stature of limitations curious, but we all had to start from scratch at some point. In a way, I believe King Prometheus Kronos sees the same in us Rozarians hence his eagerness to be good neighbors and give us such opportunities. But there must be someone who looks down at a giant like him and would say the same thing.

To think I have these opportunities through hard work that ultimately led to me finding even more of a world to explore and a friend of an unusual position. I wouldn’t call myself lucky, but I would declare my life is on the right track. I wonder just what is here for me once I come to Kanjis full term.

*******

Archive Log 3557

I started my job as a judge, having just finished my law credentials with flying colors and now work on Rozaria as one of its planetary officials. The position is, for the most part, quite robust financially but a burden on the psyche. Judgement is not an easy power one can hold over others. To have their lives entangled within another’s final word…one must wonder what lengths people of similar positions must restrain themselves from taking command and putting what they want to see happen over what the law decrees. I understand how corruption comes. Its bias, even when correctly placed, is a fickle, wretched fruit. But as my motto goes, I will always do what’s right no matter what stands in my way.

*******

Archive Log 4890

I have moved on to newer heights. Prometheus has asked me to be a judge on Kanjis, specifically Gemelo’s high courts. It is an honor and a privilege to search His Majesty’s courts. I wouldn’t turn it down for anything. My dream to ascend from my world to Kanjis entirely has been fulfilled. As much as I love Rozaria, I find Kanjis’ calling much more appropriate.

*******

Archive Log 5211

Perhaps the law is not my service for I find the need to take control where I should not. Prometheus, as a fully trained lawyer since he was but a prince, is not aware of the cases I work without him. I will not say the mistakes I’ve made, but I will say my judgement might be impaired.

It is the folly of free thinking that turns the faintest chance of corruption into reality. I find myself uneasy that the system has tainted me so. They are to blame for making it so unfair for those who try to do right in such a constricting system, not just on Kanjis. Guilty or innocent, I must decide but cannot do so if the trials are somehow against my knowledge.

I heard from the officials of Prometheus’ council that they are training new guards for the palace. Maybe that would take my mind off my grievous errors no one can know. I will train hard beyond what I already know, be the best I can, and some discipline might serve me well. We Rozarians just might be better suited as protectors and warriors than anything else.

*******

Archive Log 10844

Being a guard for years and serving the crown that has graciously welcomed me as its captain prior is a privilege…but I find myself enchanted with a few of Prometheus’ family members, specifically his eldest child. Oh, how I’ve seen those like Ghost, Kalypso, Eclipse, and Phantasmos grow, the latter two excellent pupils to their father’s throne if I were to choose, but the one of most unusual cunning and leadership comes from Tigressa.

I have seen her stand up to Prometheus’ word, his laws not fazing her as she goes through with what she desires and strikes at the heart of the matter like a missile. I see her thoughts as an exotic puzzle yet clear is the image she is trying to place accordingly. Those are the signs of a mastermind, something mysteriously complex but knowing that if she wanted to do something, no one could stop her. Is it wrong to wish to see what she does? I have known her for years yet no one, not even her father, sees what I see in her. I must know. I must.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself. The injustice here is that there is no place in this galaxy for us to coexist without me interrupting her delicate plan, whatever that may be. Perhaps…I could know more one day?

*******

Archive Log 11508

She understands the methodology, my most practical approaches to justice. No one, not even the great Prometheus Kronos can understand my view on the system of chance and flawed expectations. We have been talking and I think I found a soul like mine the yearns for a real world of our design. The process is tedious, morally challenging but we must do as we see fit. I do hate to keep secrets from the most useful assets like Phantasmos, a young but promising mind even for a sparkling.

Tigressa says he’s a liability. I don’t understand what she means nor her complete plan. What lingers in her mind, I cannot fathom. Should I tell her father? But that would break the otherwise impermeable bond we have started together. I will not risk it. It took too long to win a difficult trust in a relationship unwanted by one party; I will not let her go now that she sees me as an ally. I just want to be a good captain…

But I am. The skills of a Rozarian warrior combined with the knowledge of Kanjis fighting arts has made me one of the most influential captains the planet has ever seen! And Tigressa appreciates it. I will serve her as I am meant to when Prometheus Made me captain. That I will promise until the day I perish from the universe and beyond.

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Archive Log 12295

I have no clue how many entries I have made for her, but my dear Tigressa is on the verge of a breakthrough. Kronos is still oblivious. Good. He need not know his daughter has put her inherited and creditable intelligence to a far greater use than he can fathom. She has her mother’s charm…

I see now the truth of Tigressa’s beliefs. Kronos has indeed been playing with his power as a mortal god for far too long, dictating the worth of beings through trade and false hope for eons. He doesn’t really care about us! The proof is Tigressa, an outlier of his perfect family whom he chooses to ignore. Well, how long can you ignore a threat?! We will show the real power of true dedication and loyalty, rewriting the cosmos to our liking! True justice will be ours to wield, ours to command!

She is like a scientist, crafting her perfect experiment. Should we unleash it? Granted, I do not know what it will do, but I have confidence it will give way for a new world order even better than Kronos’ own, maybe even the entire galaxy-no, universe.

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Archive Log 12939

It is complete. A virus of sorts, at least from what I've been told. It has been tested and…the results are horrific. Her blood and power proved too much yet I wonder if there is a way to harness the concoction. A variant of the mutagen…one that won’t spread like wildfire from ravenous beasts of unholy damnation, would make someone unstoppable.

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Archive Log 13001

How far would I go for Tigressa to test the new formula on myself? I don’t know but I have the opportunity to find out, a leap of faith. It turns beings into monsters, ones only she can control…a horrid fate but curious…

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Archive Log 13002

My name is Captain Ceros Silos. I am a warrior of Rozaria no longer, my former home world. A faithful friend and loyalty unbound to Tigressa as her new Horaquan general.

I am alive.

I am a god.

Chapter Text

Scythe set the coordinates for Caminus and as the Space Bridge Nexus recalculated its destination physically, Grimlock came up behind Arcee with Haywire. The latter then said, "Soon, we should think about getting you guys to Chaar. I heard The Matriarch is her own little tyrant over there and Shockwave's got his work cut out for him trying to keep her from killing people. Some successor of Megatron."

Megatron overheard this as he walked by and snorted, "You think getting rid of me makes anyone who has the Decepticons under their command any better? As long as it's not Starscream, I'm not too mad about it. I remember when some bots thought Starscream would manage the Decepticons better. I took a bet once and for a day, nothing went wrong. But his ego is worse than mine and it consumed him within three days, making him far worse than I was. Nothing was being scheduled right, everything was falling apart, way more infighting than usual, and no one cared about what he wanted. The Matriarch knows how to balance out the demands of the Decepticons against her own needs better than me, just more aggressive about it, but Starscream...he did more damage than anyone I left in charge temporarily because of his cowardice and greed. That's a bad combination for a leader."

"And yet, you weren't exactly a shining model of leadership either," Haywire rebutted.

"My problem was pride and greed...different combination, different results. I kept the Decepticons operational. You can't be an arrogant coward and be a leader. That's just not how it works. Now, The Matriarch is more wrath and pride. That's...questionable at times but she's done a great job keeping everyone together, so I'll give her that," Megatron said with a brief tilt of his helm.

Grimlock, in his beast mode, smirked, "I'm still surprised the Decepticons are a thing. I would have figured you guys would have torn each other apart by your isolation before the end of the war."

Haywire rolled his optics, "Back on the subject at hand, Chaar would be best to look at because the upset on Velocitron is getting me concerned. If this Metal Head menace spreads to the other worlds, that could be a disaster waiting to happen. Arcee, you and Megatron see if you can bring the Mistress of Flame some enlightenment on the situation and perhaps try to win her over in a treaty. Caminus is one of the best planets we can align with. Bolt will be here any minute with Moonhunter to join you."

"I'm here, don't worry," Bolt said to the right of them followed by Moonhunter and Optimus.

Optimus simply nodded, "Bolt and I were discussing the data he obtained on Velocitron and while you're away, I'll see about sorting it. Bumblebee and Grimlock will be your overall communication on Cybertron this time around and will check up on your progress from time to time. Haywire will be with me and Scythe trying to see if we can find answers on the Metal Heads and their current disposition. Windblade has been alerted to your arrival."

Arcee smiled, "Alright, that settles it. Help the Mistress of Flame and beat down any creatures that get in our way. Like old times, right, Megatron?"

The warlord matched her grin and snarled playfully, pounding his fists together. "Let's do this!"

Suddenly, there was a rumble from the Nexus and all their commlinks went off. Scythe said, "Space bridge locked onto Caminus. Ready when you are."

Arcee, Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter walked up to the domed portal to Caminus. The others wished them luck, and Arcee had a feeling they were going to need it. Without a moment's hesitance, she ran into the portal and the light gave way to a tunnel of shifting energy between the cosmos before finally, she landed on metal. The others followed and they paused as they looked at their surroundings once more while the bridge behind them closed.

While Velocitron had a reddish sky because of the atmosphere and its white supergiant sun, Caminus had a lavender sky with the bluish white dwarf sun and the gas giant it orbited obstructing at least half the sky. The gas giant itself had swirling patterns of orangish-yellow and blue schemed streaks that defined its clouds as well as brief little flashes of lightning visible from Caminus' view. They could only imagine how powerful the storms were on the large planet, would have put Earth's to shame most likely. Despite being daylight, the stars and some galaxies were seen quite well leaving Arcee to speculate the atmosphere density was enough to filter light but was transparent enough to see it regardless of the cycle.

On Caminus itself, vehicles were passing above them but there were layers of walkways and ports throughout the city they were in, and most flying vehicles were bots themselves, not transports. Below where they were, some of the many walking areas were stacked one on top of the other all the way to the planet's surface while above, each building seemed to have specialized balconies for landing in case the flying Camiens who didn't want to take the elevators or stairs had a faster route.

Caminus' surface also had pools of water and water fountains almost everywhere. The roads and walkways were all built with some decorative water placement, and it could be assumed the water was being pumped up from the center of the planet where Caminus' wildlife mostly existed. Past the defined surface of the planet, they could see there lay under-city extensions of the city emphasizing it was more than just layered above the surface. How far down it went, they couldn't tell.

"I feel a lot more out of place here than on Velocitron..." Bolt muttered.

Arcee noticed quickly that the majority of Camiens were fliers, not as much traffic on the ground as there was in the air. They suddenly heard a metallic, hawk-like baritone roar and saw a large metal bird with four wings, the front two moved differently from the rear two, and it seemed to be carrying a dead oil leech in its fanged jaws. A beautiful purple with glowing lavender bio lights, a perfect blend against the sky.

Bolt was quick to say, "Titan crosswing! Ain't it pretty?! Remember when you fought the oil leech on the isle? That's what they fear. That's why it didn't come up from the surface until after you killed the Predacon. Massive transporters crosswings are as well as distinct predators."

"Wow, didn't know we had an expert off Caminus," a voice said. They all turned before their faces lit up seeing an old friend.

"Windblade!" Arcee exclaimed.

The Seeker nearly jogged up to them just as excited. "Aaayyyy! I thought I saw a familiar bridge in the distance, nearly caused an air jam turning around to race down to you! So glad I get to see you and show you my home! It's cool, right?"

Megatron nodded, "It's beautiful. I'm kind of jealous."

"Don't be trying to take over now. Just kidding," Windblade teased. "Caminus certainly went through a lot of repairs when the first colonies came. Now, it's a haven. As you can see, we have water reused from our core without harming the ecosystem down there, and we still have our dear wildlife running around. The crosswings, as you seemed to love, are all trained. We have special farms that raise them and give them to good caretakers and companies that own several of them use them for either security or messengers. But don't worry, they are well taken care of. My carrier has a grumpy one we call Vex because the only bot he likes is my carrier."

"What city are we in?" Arcee asked.

"Ember Basin. It's one of the first cities that figured out how to use Caminus' water to create power. We had a lot of dwindling resources for millions of years but recently, we managed to turn it all around thanks to Ember's scientists and engineers. This is our capital now. It used to be Pyrohex, but...complications arose and the Forgefire Parliament just decided to not deal with its chaos anymore. Personally, I like it here way better but lately, we've been having some problems."

Arcee exchanged glances with Megatron and Bolt before raising a brow, "Like?"

Windblade's wings drooped a little. "Well, um, some people have been a bit aggressive lately, like attacking everyone who gets in their way because a huge string of robberies in the past month has left Ember Basin in trouble financially. I got a tip earlier today that in the Direflame District, there's word of an upcoming assault on Equinox Union, but something's fishy about it. If you wish, I think you could help me find out what's going on. I already have the city aware of it. Would you like to help me?"

Bolt shrugged, "I got nothing on the agenda aside from our main objective. Do you, Arcee?"

She sighed, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to put in a good deed. But Windblade, we really need to talk to the Mistress of Flame after this if we are to reunite Caminus and Cybertron."

"I understand. Help me with this and I'll get you an audience with the Mistress of Flame with no hassle."

They all agreed and Windblade led the way.

Through the city, Arcee saw a few crosswings with riders and cargo on them diving past them on the bridges between each walking area with their fanned tails glittering against the light. They let out their signature roars and headed towards a far distance with little to no buildings, most likely the farmlands of the planet. From the same direction, smaller, flying metal creatures landed on the thick wires supporting power between the buildings. They appeared like blue-green hummingbirds but with small claws at the end of their wings, twin tails and a cat frame reminiscent of a griffin from Earth lore. Their alluring pink and blue blended bio lights made them stand out among the city's natural lighting. Moonhunter growled a little at the sight of them, but Windblade only smirked.

"Those are Flutterwings, a lot of '–wing' animal names here. Most all our wildlife that flies is up at the surface or higher. Ground-based creatures are almost found exclusively at the center of Caminus. Then, of course, you have those that move in between surface and core like those pesky oil leeches."

They reached the Direflame District. Smokestacks for factories were abundant more so in the area with the city of Ember Basin sitting just on its outskirts. Moonhunter sniffed the air before yowling in concern.

Arcee pet him. "It's okay, buddy."

Windblade crossed her arms and sighed, "The Direflame District used to be the top manufacturing sector in the world until just recently. Layoffs because of lack of funds because of stolen property in mass. We don't know who's behind this but it's tanking the supply chain badly."

"What do these factories make?" Megatron asked.

"Well, building materials mostly. Extracted, pure cratanium and other strong, durable metals are turned into the infrastructure you see around you. It also supplies the materials for the power grid pumps and infrastructure around those to function properly. Without power, Caminus wouldn't have resources to use. Someone has been tampering with our supplies knowingly. I suspect it's an inside job because there's no way in a month all this could occur without direct access to the supply chain schematics. The materials stolen aren't random; they are all for specific machines, ships and buildings. That's not a coincidence, in my opinion."

Arcee furrowed her brows in thought. "No, that's not. You think they are going to hit here today?"

Windblade shrugged, "I don't know what to believe, all things considered. My job is to protect the Mistress of Flame and serve Caminus while also managing Cybertropolis. Not fun to do all three at once. In fact, I'm thinking about leaving Cybertropolis' command to someone else and coming back here to keep Caminus out of trouble like this. I mean I'll miss you guys, but this is my first home, you know?"

"If that's what you wish, I wouldn't blame you. We're a nightmare to befriend," Arcee smirked. Windblade chuckled a little as well before Arcee continued, "But I will ask this. Who would you like to replace you?"

The Seeker gestured with a scoff, "I don't know. Maybe Shockwave or Perceptor, someone like them with diplomatic capabilities. Both used to be or are Councilmembers, perfect for a city like Cybertropolis"

"I'll consider that-"

BOOM!

All four bots and the Nitrotiger turned on edge as a factory to their right had its roof cave in from the explosion. To their shock, five large figures each with four yellow eyes and signature skull gems jumped onto the remnants of the roof with bags of materials in their grasp. They were bipedal, almost appearing like a Horaquan version of a Seeker with webbed, torn wings and an imposing structure.

"Metal Heads!" The warlord growled, "Those monsters are here!"

"Now we know who's been stealing from your factories, Windblade. Let's kill these things before they go after civilians," Bolt stated, bringing out his axe and twirling it.

Windblade didn't question them for one second, bringing out her twin purple Energon blades in response. The Metal Heads twitched and narrowed their eyes upon spotting the Cybertronians and Camien glaring at them, fangs at the ready.

Arcee immediately took off with her ricochet ray, leaping into the air before firing on them. One of the creatures twirled around fluidly to avoid the bullets while another got struck twice but remained mobile. They angrily went to meet their pursuers head on, disregarding their stolen property. Unlike the Metal Runners in Red Run Canyon, these things didn't seem to mind heading towards potential death. When they all converged onto the same rooftop, all the bots had their weapons out.

Moonhunter went onto Megatron's shoulder and the mech extended his arm to let the Nitrotiger leap at the closest Metal Head. Clawing and tearing at delicate flesh between the armor, the cat gave no mercy to its enemy. He grew even more aggressive once Arcee joined him. She tripped the Metal Head and forced a pede on its throat. When it tried to growl at her, she placed the barrel of her weapon right in the middle of its eyes. Pulling the trigger, she smirked as its skull gem went flying up and she knew the bullet bounced up from the roof to embed itself in another part of its head.

"Growl at me?"

Megatron used his sword under his cannon to deflect oncoming claws. The Metal Head grabbed his arm to keep it still and hissed, tail whipping profusely but as strong as the Horaquan was, it had no idea who it was messing with. A quick headbutt stunned it and Megatron swung it around into another Metal Head aiming for Bolt.

Bolt and Windblade were beside one another as one of the creatures targeted him. This Metal Head ended up having a weapon to his surprise. It appeared stolen, not made of the typical metal the creature itself was made of. The axe and sword clashed, sparks bursting between them before Bolt set the handle sturdy on the ground and used his balance to swing himself around to give it a swift kick in the chest before rotating his axe impale it. The Metal Head whined profusely as the blade almost disappeared entirely into its body. It grew weak and sank to its knees before Bolt ripped it out and swung it around in a fast motion. The head of the Horaquan was tossed aside as its body fell forward lifeless, dark purple sludge oozing from its corpse.

Windblade crossed her blade defiantly to dare the Metal Head to come at her. It took the taunt but regretted it when her offense proved far too much. When it stopped one blade from aiming for its chest, it roared as the second flew straight into its abdomen. But it refused to kneel. The red and black femme was suddenly kicked aside but she corrected herself after a brief flip to slide still upright. Another Horaquan stood by the impaled one as the latter stared at her with utter hatred, touching the blade's handle like it had been stung.

"You think I need two swords to deal with you goons? Think again!" Windblade hissed back.

A third Metal Head landed just behind her but didn't get the chance to attack when Arcee kicked its head. "Don't forget me, lizard-breath!"

The pair of Horaquan grew aware of a sudden presence beside them. Only the Metal Head that was untouched was able to duck when Megatron ran his sword through the impaled one's neck, grabbing Windblade's sword in process as it fell over dead. Throwing it back to her as she ran towards the distracted Metal Head, she gave out a warrior cry and brought one of her purple blades down within the same second. The sound of a skull gem popping was the sweetest sound of all.

Arcee, however, resorted to punching and using old fighting techniques on the last monster stuck with her. It attempted to grab her, but she did a kick flip on its chest before doing a backflip kick on its jaw to push it away. When it stumbled back, Bolt immediately came down on it from behind with his axe going through its head with fury, splitting not just its skull but its skull gem in the process. Acid steam from the gem hissed out and the Vehicon twirled the axe to rest on his shoulder smugly.

"That's how we do it on Cybertron."

Arcee shook her head down at the Metal Head's corpse. "Spreading like the virus they are. No telling what lies on Caminus if there's more. Why were they intent on stealing building materials though? What would they build with it anyways? I don't see them needing a ship since they seem to be getting around quite well."

Megatron huffed, "If they are an intelligent species as we've seen, they are planning something devious, and we can guess all we want. We're just going to have to stop them as we go."

Windblade frowned, "The Mistress of Flame will need to know about this as soon as possible. Any threat to her planet, she's going to come down swinging no matter what."

Bolt picked up one of the bags discarded near the edge of the rooftop and shook it. A Radiant Core fell through a small rip and bounced twice before rolling to a stop. "And they are stealing cores too. Excellent."

When Arcee picked it up, she immediately offered it to Windblade but the Seeker declined. "Keep it. We stopped making blasters and other guns over a million years ago. We still have plenty of cores left which we were using for heaters and stuff like that but nothing of true value. You'd probably have better use for it."

"That only tells us the Metal Heads know about the cores as well. Can't imagine what they would use those for," the ex-Decepticon mocked sarcastically.

"This new Metal Head Leader is hitting hard to recoup what the legion lost in such a small amount of time," the queen said. "Windblade, where's the Mistress of Flame?"

"On Forge Island...beneath us. Caminus Core, being water, has several isles within and she decided to make one of them her citadel. She has a home up here too, but she spends most of her time below. I can take you there. The fastest way is via transport. Give me a second and I'll summon one."

They stayed on the roof until a medium-sized ship came close and lowered itself for them to dock. Windblade didn't even ask first whether it was the right transport or not, simply climbing in and moving aside the driver who didn't care about being relieved. As the Cybertronians climbed aboard and went to the available seats, the driver seemed to exchange whispers with Windblade before leaving the vessel entirely.

Bolt then asked, "Uh, what was that? Where's he going?"

Windblade laughed, "Transports are loan vehicles. No one specifically owns them. They are rotated between users all the time. He asked when I was done if I could drop it off for his brother if I had no use for it afterwards. I said sure, might take a while though."

"Why do the other planets have a better system of management than we do, Arcee?"

"I don't know but I'm taking notes, don't worry."

"Alright, everyone, to Caminus Core!" Windblade said as she activated the transport's engines. They lifted off the roof and headed back to the city.

Once they were high above within it, Arcee expected her just to continue driving forward...but that didn't happen. A sudden dive down to ground level had all four passengers frightened before she pulled up at the last second and navigated it to an overhead tunnel ledge that went vertically down. Right as they were over it, Windblade twisted the transport to swing down and away they went. The tunnel was lit up and ended in revealing the under-city of Caminus. Right out of the tunnel were floating rings that seemed to be markers for a pathway attached to the tunnel's path which Windblade followed. They abruptly dipped down, and it felt like another roller coaster ride as it took them past several rows of flying traffic and below the walkways before leveling out again.

"Fun, right?"

"Yeah, remind me when to laugh!" Bolt growled, clutching the edge of his seat with his claws leaving marks in the metal.

Megatron didn't say anything but when Arcee peered back at him, he looked slightly disturbed by Windblade's flying, preferring to do such stunts on his own but not at the mercy of another bot. When they dropped into a secondary tunnel per the guidance of the rings, she cracked a smile hearing him curse under his breath.

At the end of that tunnel was an extraordinary sight. The core of Caminus was water with several large islands visible on it. With the "sky" nearly a crystalline blue reflecting the water's movement like an ever-changing nebula and the tunnels of other sections of the under-city visible across it, it looked like they had stumbled upon a whole new world. The most of the smaller metal islands were hand-made but the way they were set up looked astonishing. There were no bustling cities, no traffic though there were visible free-flying bots going from island to island, and no clusters of buildings covering the horizon. There appeared to be a train system between the islands but that was it. It felt almost like she was back on Earth again.

"Whoa..." the Vehicon whispered. That was all Bolt could spit out. No snappy remark or anything chatty.

Towards the shore of some of the islands, hippo-like gorgegulpers, crococinders, and alligores were patrolling the beaches in peace. On the natural islands which were far larger than the hand-made, the metal terrain allowed mudboars and a type of kangaroo creature to navigate freely. The marsupial-esque animal left hot spots everywhere it stepped with orange bio lights standing out among the environments.

"Firetreaders. Simple predators really. There's a shepherd down here who has a whole crash of them she manages as well as several mudboar herds."

Geysers startled all of them as one ruptured just off the coast of the island as they passed by.

"Oh, and just so you know, the water isn't as deep as most oceans like Earth or Aquatron, also gives way to pressurized areas that cause geysers. We have a solid core beneath the water, and I think the deepest part is near Forge Island at 800 meters or so. There's not a lot of predators, and they usually go after different prey than us though not out of the realm of possibilities that they can attack us, keep in mind."

In the distance, a haunting building stood on a remote island. Fire was lit across its balconies and around its base. Several large pillars expanded behind it upward to the under-city cities and beyond while churning dams moved the water to create unlimited energy. Trains went under them from the island while a few went towards it like they were. If Arcee had to guess, that was Forge Island.

Windblade landed on the transport pad outside of the building and stood up with a slightly forced excitement. "Here we are! Hopefully, the Mistress of Flame will be...reasonable. She has a small issue with Cybertron, so to speak."

"You're telling us now?!" Arcee snapped.

"I know how eager you are to get Caminus back in agreement with Cybertron, so I kind of didn't want to dissuade you. It's okay though. I'll help you plead your case to her, just don't back sass her, Arcee."

"I make no promises."

The citadel reminded her and Megatron of Darkmount but wider than it was tall. As they went it, they were all acknowledging that the Mistress of Flame might have had a thing for fire...the halls had lit torches, the floor décor reminded them of a volcano and the ceiling had stained glass with embroidery of gold and fire color schemes.

"The Way of Flame, the oldest tradition celebrating Solus Prime's master of the forge, has been with us for as long as we can remember. The Mistress of Flame is a position assigned by the Parliament and stays until they die. As you can guess, that could be quite a long time before we get a new Mistress. The current has been here for over 20 million years. The last one before her was...a problematic leader."

One of the decorations in the hall leading to the Mistress' throne was of Solus Prime and Arcee immediately recognized the image from the Allspark's citadel on the isle. There, held in one hand, was the Forge of Solus and in the hand pointed down was Dagger Prima. At the same time, Dagger Prima began to glow on her back, and she reached to pat its grip knowing it missed its original creator quite a lot.

Her distraction ceased when the doors to the Mistress' throne opened and revealed an orange, red, and gold femme with her Forgehammer upright in her servo. Her yellow eyes seemed mystical, but Arcee swore there was an instant malicious nature to them upon seeing her and the others. Around her were none other than the members that made the Combiner Victorion. She had forgotten they had come back to Caminus with Windblade.

"Mistress of Flame, this is Queen Arcee, her consort, and her Head Archivist. She's here to make peace with you," Windblade said with a bow.

The Cybertronians bowed out of respect, aside from Moonhunter who only sat, but Arcee could sense Megatron was growing peeved by the Mistress' presence alone. If he didn't start anything, they should be decent to get their point across at least.

The Mistress of Flame merely scoffed, "To make peace? Cybertron has already sunk so low enough as it is. You think I want to make peace with a bunch of barbarians? Absurd."

Arcee tried to keep calm and replied, "We've changed. Windblade can attest to that. We just want to unite everyone we did wrong in the past to make a better future. Don't you want that too?"

"Nice little speech. I see the Arisen gave you some pointers. Look, my dear, we don't need Cybertron, especially not anymore now that we have stable resources."

Bolt leaned close to Windblade to whisper, "Who's the Arisen?"

The Seeker answered to the side, "The Mistress believes Optimus is not just the Thirteenth Prime but a god. Don't say anything; just go with it."

"But I ask you to consider all possibilities before making this judgement. I mean what do you have to lose? You gain a reformed ally and we can resume trade again, bring over things that weren't available to you and plus, we just confirmed there are dangerous creatures here. We've fought them before, but Caminus has not."

The Mistress of Flame grew concerned, "Creatures? What dangerous beings?!"

Windblade quickly defused the situation, standing between her leader and Arcee. "Metal Heads. Evil creatures from what I've learned so far. Whatever these things are, they're stealing from us and apparently, they tried to do this on Velocitron too."

"Arcee stopped them on Velocitron," Bolt added. "You can count on us, Mistress. Please."

"And how do I know you didn't bring those monsters here?!"

Megatron kept his growl to a minimum. "Because we killed their creator and their first leader. There seems to be a second one now and we don't know who it is, but I suspect if you don't want more of them to show up, you let us help Caminus as best we can before the Metal Heads become intent on killing people only."

In frustration, the Mistress of Flame stood and slammed the end of her Forgehammer down, closing her optics with a sigh. "It seems I may have no choice then, do I? I still don't trust any of you but if you really want to win me over, perhaps take some time to help a few of my citizens on the islands while Windblade and I discuss this issue and your proposal alone. Do what they need you to do, and I may consider different."

Without another word, the Mistress of Flame turned her back on them, her cape flowing behind her regally as she walked towards the door on the side. Windblade gave them an apologetic gesture before following her. That left the Cybertronians to their own devices. The Combiners said nothing but shrugged at the awkwardness.

"Okay, help the citizens of the islands...does that mean we get to take the trains?! Yay!" Bolt cheered, earning him a deadpanned glare from Megatron before the latter spoke.

"Of course, we are the errand bots. Sometimes, I think these worlds are a bit ungrateful of anything we do."

"We did ruin a lot of things for them in the past though, counterpoint," Arcee said as she gestured to the side. "We do this, we get the Mistress of Flame on our side. Better than doing nothing and getting no results."

Stormclash, one of the members of Victorion, suddenly interrupted, "I think we can help you. Across the way, there's a bot by the name of Springrunner, a shepherd by trade. She can use a hand on her property on Firelight Island. Then there's Microdust, who claims she is a so-called rival of Springrunner...but we all think she likes her deep down...who seems to always attract some of the more aggressive wildlife around the area. Maybe Highwind can have something for you to do. He's an engineer who manages the dams you've seen."

"Thank you," Megatron said, "that makes our search a bit easier. Well, what are we waiting for?"

Bolt didn't move to leave with the others when Arcee called him out on his sudden hesitance.

"Bolt, aren't you coming?"

Arcee instead found him watching the Combiners with interest as Rust Dust and Jumpstream seemed to wave him down. He then said, "On second thought, you three can go. I'll just hang around and see if there's anything I can get for the archives back home."

The smirk Arcee had as a few of the turquoise and red femmes came up to talk to him was nothing but pure amusement. They left him to brag about his ventures and his research, knowing the Combiners wouldn't do anything to harm him.

Moonhunter strutted by, leading the way out of the citadel to the exterior where the water moved delicately against the pier and the ship landing.

"You want to take the ship? Don't think Windblade would mind," the grey mech stated.

Arcee thought about it and as fun as the train ride sounded, they really needed to get going. She muttered, "Another day. Let's go."

The transport proved a bit shaky to navigate as the controls were different, but she was quick to figure them out. Moonhunter clung to the seat behind her with a small whine when she accidentally jolted backwards when she didn't want to. With a small apology, she headed towards Firelight Island. It was noticed upon landing at a designated pad that there were firetreaders around, running in all directions. A sudden holler got their attention.

A white and green highlighted femme sat upon the backside of a large horned beast. It looked like a mechanical version of a caribou but with bio lit blue stripes on its black armored underbelly sparking like they each were electrified. The bot they believed to be Springrunner used a lasso to catch one of the firetreaders and brought it back to a pen farther out. She went after them until only five remained but one of the firetreaders burned the lasso to which she stopped her mount and looked over her damaged rope with a sour expression.

Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter hopped off the platform and approached her, watching the firetreaders dart past them like frantic chickens much to Moonhunter's annoyance. The queen then laughed, "I take it they're playing nice?"

The Camien smiled back, "Yeah, they like to free roam when they aren't supposed to. The name is Springrunner. I own the island and manage the species that live on it. So, what can I help you with?"

"If you can believe it, we're trying to see if you need any help...per the Mistress of Flame's command. She won't reason with us Cybertronians until we prove to her we aren't our past, and we aren't if you're curious."

"I heard she loathes you guys quite a bit," the white femme said.

Megatron raised a brow. "Why?"

Springrunner leaned her crossed arms on top of her mount's head which earned her a snort from the animal. "From what I've heard about the whole ordeal is Caminus was relying on trade and supplies a hundred million years ago but Cybertron refused to help despite giving the colony that inhabited this planet the permission to move here. Words were said, laws became so restrictive that Caminus just quit talking to you. They cut off trade, resources, and Caminus just lived in its poverty rather than let Cybertron bully us into being a repressed planet. Half the world could tell you though it was a regrettable decision ever since and be more than willing to join up with you again...but the Mistress..."

"She needs convincing more than ever," Arcee sighed.

"I'll tell you what. If the Mistress needs our approval to convince her to change her mind, I can give you the edge you might need. I think it's a grand idea. Since I need to go back to get a new lasso and I think my thunderbuck is a bit tired, maybe you could do me a favor and wrangle up the rest of the firetreaders. Don't worry about being gentle. They may be small, but they are nearly invulnerable. Grab them, lead them, capture them, however you want to do it, just bring them to the pen and I'll get them sorted later. Fair enough?"

The firetreaders in question growled as Springrunner left with her thunderbuck to her stable in the far distance. Arcee cracked her knuckles before running after one, her small size in comparison to them made them more curious than wanting to flee. Using her speedster ability, she seized the neck of one before it grew suspicious and leapt onto its back. She laughed a little as she guided it to the pen, forcing it to slide to a stop as soon as the gate opened. The alarm noises the gate made kept the other firetreaders from leaving.

Megatron caught one when Arcee scared it towards him, picking it up over his shoulder with Moonhunter hissing at it. He tossed it over the gate instead, not wanting to wait as Arcee had another firetreader running past towards the pen.

"This is fun! Why can't we have these things on Cybertron?!"

"I think because you would scar them for life," the warlord sneered.

Arcee jumped off the third firetreader back in the pen and ran at the fourth one that seemed to have an attitude problem, snarling at her before dragging his hind claws to scrape against the ground. That was the sign of a beast getting ready to charge and Arcee sure hoped it did. As Megatron ran after the fifth firetreader, the other narrowed is optics at her before lunging. She wrapped her servos around its snout and forced its jaws closed. Clinging to its right side, she had to coax it to move forward while it repeatedly tried to fight her, its optics contracting upon being eye to eye with her.

"Don't give me that look. You did this to yourself when you escaped your pen."

Using all her strength, she kept her hold on it tight before slamming onto the ground and transferring the momentum to pull its head down and make it do a front flip into the pen. It gave an aggravated roar to which she only saluted in mockery.

Megatron cornered the last firetreader as its tail whipped, claws at the ready. He looked to the side as he heard footsteps approaching fast. Smirking, he said, "If you don't like me, you're going to hate her."

He crouched and leaned forward enough for Arcee to run up his back and leap right at the creature. She laughed as she pushed off from the side after swinging around to make it move. She aimed swift and true to the pen and dropped down to slide her pedes on the ground to make it stop just at the gate. The firetreader grew unnerved until she let it go the same time as Megatron ran up from behind, pushing over the gate and into the pen.

"Aw yeah! We make an excellent team, just like before," Arcee said happily, giving him a backward low-five as he chuckled.

Springrunner walked up to them with her own laugh, "You certainly do. I can't thank you enough. I'll be sure to let the Mistress of Flame know of your help. Microdust, my colleague on Dawn's Ridge up over those hills, may need you. I heard her mention a crococinder infestation. A little exterior help won't hurt her pride. I'll give her the heads up on the Mistress' demands and maybe she'll put in a good word for you too."

Heading out, Arcee flew the ship over the hills as directed, passing Springrunner's farm with its firetreaders and mudboars penned up. The small hills were the entrance to a valley which was protected by high ridges on the side. After a minute, they found a secondary farmland within but was covered in ponds. They landed and the first thing they witnessed was a crococinder hitting the ground with a whimper. Even Moonhunter stared flabbergasted at the sudden spectacle.

"Come on, you nasty cretins! I'll take your guts for garters!" A blue and black femme with purple optics yelled out while taking a defensive stance. "Who wants some; who wants it?!"

Several crococinders hissed at her and her wings shot straight down in anger, gesturing at one by slamming a fist into her palm threateningly. The crococinder that started the chain of noise shut up quickly.

"Uh, excuse me, do you need any help?" Arcee called out awkwardly.

The heads of the crococinders turned towards her and Microdust did the same, pursing her lips in annoyance at the disruption. "No."

Even as all the animals present narrowed their optics, Arcee still tried to ask, "Are you sure?"

The crococinders' heads turned back towards Microdust which she merely placed a servo on her hip and scowled, "I don't know, what do you think?"

"I think you're being very stubborn," Arcee said back.

"Oh really? I think you should think about not getting into people's business without asking."

"I did ask."

"That didn't sound like it to me."

As they bantered back and forth, the crococinders' heads moved between each bot wondering what they were looking at. Finally, Arcee snapped, "I said do you...want...HELP?!"

She suddenly kicked a crococinder and it flew back to hit a boulder, cracking it as it whimpered and slid down to the ground frozen in shock before collapsing. Microdust was stunned to say the least while Megatron peered down at Arcee with a grimace. Moonhunter just kept out of the fight at a distance, weary of both the crococinders and the mysterious pools.

"I didn't mean to do that, sorry," she apologized.

Most of the crococinders fled as soon as they saw that, but the few that remained went towards Arcee in revenge. She brought out her double-bladed sword as a warning to cease their aggression, but the animals weren't having it. To the left, a crococinder moved in with its jaws open wide until something abruptly burst out of the pond beside them. A gorgegulper blew excess water from its nostrils and clamped down on the crococinder's leg before dragging it under. Its two calves twitched their ears looking at all the commotion before following their mother down below.

Microdust smirked, "Did Springrunner forget to mention I raise gorgegulpers?"

"Yeah, she did," Arcee said flinching.

The four crococinders left lunged once they shook off the surprise. Arcee jumped over one before stomping on the head of the second. Megatron grabbed the tail of the crococinder she had pinned and rotated in a circle twice, releasing it fly into a pond far out of the way. Microdust bounced off the nearest crococinder before swinging it in rage at the one beside it. Both creatures tumbled a few yards before whimpering, scattering to parts unknown.

The last crococinder tried to snap at Arcee and she caught its mouth with a glare. "Try me."

It slowly came to the realization of its error and backed off before crawling away. Unfortunately, it didn't get far as a pond it passed ruptured with a burly gorgegulper snagging it by its head with a crunch and growled as they both went back into the pond.

"Ah, I love my babies," Microdust purred. "They're my security for my property. Those ponds are deeper than they look and connect with one another beneath us. This whole area is a lake, believe it or not. The land here is basically just a huge cover with holes, so watch where you step."

"Why do you raise gorgegulpers?!" Disturbed, the queen sent the femme a horrified expression.

Microdust paused for a second before making a small "meh" sound. "Some people up top like them as pets. Don't ask me why, I just sell them. There are a few companies that use their armor for specific things like upgrades. I personally love them as they are: animals. Some are shipped off to die for certain needs but a lot of them live quite a life down here. Did you know gorgegulpers were almost extinct once?"

Megatron shook his head and Arcee crossed her arms intrigued. "No. How would such a species go extinct with those attitudes?"

"It's true. When Caminus was first inhabited by our ancestors' colony, gorgegulpers were one of many seldom species here. They were dying out because lack of resources offered little to sustain breeding. We fixed that despite having little resources of our own. Now, well, there's far too many down here. Crococinders, alligores, flutterwings, crosswings and many more species began to thrive among us after we settled. Granted, most of them are bred to be domesticated or for other things, but my family and I make sure two-thirds of the animals go back to the wild. So does Springrunner if you ask her."

"Huh, I never thought that would be a problem seeing them now."

"Nobody would," Microdust admitted. She then held up a servo. "Listen, Springrunner told me about your dilemma with the Mistress before you got here. I'll put in a good word if you don't tell Springrunner that I maybe was in a little over my head and should have accepted your help. I don't want her to think I'm losing my touch. I'm stubborn like that. No hard feelings?"

Arcee shook her head, "None. Now we need to talk to Highwind. Do you know where he is?"

The blue and black femme snapped her fingers after a moment of thinking. "Highwind's the inventor, right, or the engineer...or both maybe? He lives secluded on a little isle north of here. You'll see his workshop and ship on the main mountain. Heard he's sweet but prefers his solitude a lot."

"Thanks," Megatron saluted casually.

He then whistled for Moonhunter to come and the Nitrotiger nearly flew across the field of pools as some started to bubble alert. A few gorgegulpers tried to catch the cat but missed and sank to where their optics were only visible among the water, ears twitching angrily.

When they were all onboard the transport again, they flew north away from Firelight Island and for a few minutes, there was nothing on the horizon. As Megatron navigated it this time, Arcee relaxed until she had a notification on her commlink from Silos.

"Excuse for one moment, Megatron," she said. Megatron looked back at her but said nothing as she went to a remote part of the ship, then she answered the call. "What do you need, Silos?"

"I can't contact my favorite Autobot and say hello?"

"Not when I'm in the middle of something. There are Metal Heads here on Caminus, but they're stealing weapon cores and building materials mostly used for vessels. Since Camiens don't use guns anymore, it's strange that the Metal Heads would seek them out, don't you think?"

Silos laughed, "Straight to the point as always. The Metal Heads are just as technologically advanced as your kind. What they seek to do with it is what they've always done. They desire to expand. The Metal Head Nest is greatly fortified and using such materials brings security to them. The weapon cores, well, are self-explanatory."

"Where's the Nest?" Arcee asked.

"Not within your range. It is on a remote planet in the center of my home galaxy. Tigressa found it long ago and made it a haven for her experiments. Ever since then, it has harbored the main legion, untouched for millions of years and no one has ever penetrated its defenses by accident or through intentional assaults. I haven't been there in years," he muttered.

She huffed as most of the information proved useless for her to go on. "Where are you?"

"On a building in Ember Basin getting a bite to eat around this place. The prices here for good Energon and other food are robbery. I like it; it gives me a better incentive to steal it. I saw you arrive over an hour ago but, of course, it's quite hard to greet you with them around. Meet me on the rooftop of the Grand Ember Eatery downtown when you get a chance. I have a task for you."

Silos cut transmission and Arcee stood there snarling at the audacity of him. She had more important things to do than cater to him. She went back up to the cockpit and sat with a notable scowl upon her face. Megatron raised a brow at the sudden anger.

"Everything alright?"

"Just stupid things as always."

"Who was it?"

Arcee had to pause and think of a name, then she lied, "Bumblebee. He contacted me and I got a little heated in explaining to him I didn't have the time to be talking. We really need to get going."

Megatron seemed a bit disappointed upon hearing that. "Oh, well, at least he's keeping in touch."

"Just drop it please," she said quickly. She didn't like to hear him with that tone but the sooner he dropped it, the better.

He didn't say anything else as they spotted the remote isle Microdust mentioned. No train systems ran to it but there was a landing pad and an old workshop on the top of the mountain. Waterfalls fell beneath it, pumped up the same way as the waterfalls on the surface emphasizing that this was the engineer's home. When they exited their transport, Moonhunter took one look at the exterior and the huge altitude they were at, seeing the giant drop between the platforms and the ground, and whimpered before going back into the ship. Arcee and Megatron merely glanced at his retreat. Arcee felt his fear; even she was a bit uncomfortable with the height. The ground below had a lake in the center of the island and a river running to the core's ocean.

The old workshop had gears moving trapped behind glass and decorative metal carvings to protect it. She couldn't guess how long the carvings themselves took to make, but it seemed about right for an engineering recluse to do in his endless spare time. Every inch of the door, windows, and junction boxes littered across the exterior were either hand-carved or painted with tiny details. Two water wheels were attached to the nearest waterfall beside the workshop with various contraptions connecting to it to supply power.

A roar startled them as a deep blue and gold crosswing whipped around the corner of the mountain to fly right at them. It suddenly halted its quick pace by opening its wings vertically, flapping them against its descent to land next to the workshop. Arcee recalled Windblade mentioning crosswings preferred being on the surface of the planet so why one was all the way down here was a mystery until she noticed it had packages and metal boxes strapped to it...

"Heh heh, good ol' Gizmo!"

An elderly Seeker with crooked wings and goggles perched on his head crest carefully dropped down from the back of the crosswing, patting the side of its neck which it responded with a purr. When he noticed the two bots near his workshop, he didn't lose his smile one bit.

"Hello, younglings, my name is Highwind, keeper of the core. It's rare I get visitors over here. How might I help you?"

Despite both Cybertronians had lived quite enough where that term couldn't apply to themselves against most of the bots they've seen, they took the nickname as a compliment, especially Megatron who didn't want to correct the older mech out of respect.

Arcee made a casual gesture. "We were sent by the Mistress of Flame. We...aren't Camiens and seek to unite our worlds together again but she's being..."

"A bitch?" Highwind said with a grin. The language was not expected and made both Cybertronians bewildered, but he continued. "I lived through seventeen Mistresses, my dear. She's not my favorite and can be very irrational, but she means well. If you're not from here, where do you reside?"

"Cybertron. I'm trying to fix past mistakes of our kind."

"As do we all. Come, let us talk in the workshop," he said.

The crosswing settled on its platform, looking out across the sea with a mere grunt and uncaring of the bots with its owner. Arcee and Megatron followed Highwind in and were astounded. Various machines stylized to Highwind's unique crafting skill and a lab that would make Shockwave jealous all resided within. Hand-made stained glass used the core's ocean light reflected off its under-city vast ceiling to make it glow. The rumble of the falls made the atmosphere seem peaceful despite the constant running of gears. The well-oiled machines didn't make much of a sound either.

"So, let me guess, the Mistress wants you to prove your worth by helping around here? She can't be bothered to do it herself, so she sends others to do it for her. Hmph, I remember when the eighth Mistress of Flame, preferred the name 'Blastfire', was in charge. She knew how to run a planet. Poor girl, assassinated during a speech because someone thought she was doing too well. The brute who replaced her was worse than the current. They say the good die young...I believe it now."

Arcee didn't want to poke around much in Caminus' politics, but she couldn't help but ask, "How did the current Mistress come into power?"

Highwind sat in his working chair and spat, "She was given it by the Forge Parliament after her predecessor was killed, good riddance to that one. The last one was looney, almost got us blown up by messing with our core. There's a conspiracy that someone was hired to kill her by Parliament, but it was never proven. Well, anyway, the current Mistress was assigned instead of voted in like normal because we needed a leader badly. She's not the worst but she's not popular among the public, don't repeat that please."

"Your word is safe with us," Megatron said, touching a hanging crystalline decorative piece with the tip of his claw and watching it sway curiously.

Highwind brought out a device from under his table and laughed, "If the Mistress wants proof of service, why not help me out with a new gadget of mine?"

"Sure?" Arcee said a bit worried.

"I can't fly anymore, can't transform either. My parts are obsolete and rebuilding them from scratch, heh, easier said than done unfortunately. That's why I have Gizmo and her brood that I have been training on and off to help me get supplies. They live on the other side of the mountain in a crevice between the falls which is where I came from when you first saw me. But I thought, why not give someone else the chance to roam the skies? Can either of you fly?"

The warlord nodded, "I can. She's a grounder though."

"Perfect!" Highwind smiled, "I think your winglets can hold the capabilities of gliding. I can't guarantee actual flight, but I know it will let you glide. Care to test it?"

"Uhhh, if I die..."

"I'll have Gizmo and your friend here monitor you, no need to worry."

He gestured for Arcee to turn around as he got out of his chair. With a brief nod from her, he gained her permission to open the panels of her back. Megatron stared in awe as Highwind attached the device, hooking it up to the base of the winglets where it began to pulse. Closing her up after a minute, he clapped enthusiastically.

"Now, activate the protocol that appears to you, and you should be able to show off your new ability."

Once she got the prompt, energy coursed through her winglets and transparent, blue bio-lit wings erupted from the winglets' armor edges. She moved each winglet separately, the ghostly energy that made up the wings moved in sync, and then she retracted them, turning them back to her simple winglets.

She grinned, "This is amazing!"

"Ah, yes, but I should warn it won't work in vehicle mode. Now, let's test it, shall we?"

They went back outside to the balcony of the workshop. The waterfalls roared beside them and underneath as Arcee looked over the edge. Highwind climbed onto Gizmo, and the creature turned to align itself for takeoff with Arcee. Megatron kneeled on her right side at the edge.

"Ready?"

Arcee didn't even know how she was supposed to respond to that, but she leaned too far forward and suddenly lost her balance. Gizmo and Megatron took after her.

"Arcee, now!" Megatron called out.

She was afraid but right as she activated the ability, she found herself airborne. Highwind proved right that she couldn't fly but she could indeed glide. She slowed down her consent to barely a decrease in altitude. The energy wings were outspread like she was a bird, and she stared at the ground below uncertain but delighted. The crosswing and Highwind glided beside her while Megatron transformed and followed her in his alt mode. She turned slowly to maneuver around and the crosswing gave a pleasant trill, occasionally looking at her like a mother watching over its young.

"See? The skies are yours!" Highwind cheered. "And as a gift for your participation, you can keep it!"

Megatron laughed, "Maybe you'll glide circles around me one day."

Arcee grinned like mad, enjoying the breeze over the island and the vast ocean beyond it. She then did a ballsy move and tucked her wings in to dive. A hundred feet from the ground, she pulled up and gained some altitude but remained far below the others. Finally, she disengaged the wings, reverting them back to her regular winglets, when she was a mere fifteen feet off the ground, landing swiftly and running a few feet. She paused to look at the lake and then the workshop high above.

The crosswing copied her but flapped its wings hard when landing, shaking to ruffle its metal armor. Highwind chuckled, "Eh heh heh, a natural born flier, you are."

Megatron transformed next to her as Arcee said, "Thank you. I don't know what to offer you-"

"No, no, my dear, thank you. I like showing off my inventions and I make sure they go to the right bots, and you were made for that. After all, I have no need of the ability anymore. Now, I'll see about contacting mean, old Mistress about giving you some leeway while you head back. Do you need a ride up to your ship?"

She was about to decline but saw the crosswing proudly raise its head before tilting it. The question should have been: when would she get the opportunity to ride one again?

Her decision was made when she screamed happily as the crosswing rose high and circled the mountain. She leaned against Megatron sitting behind her equally as giddy as they ascended with Highwind at the reins.
----------------------------

"And do you trust them?" The Mistress of Flame asked.

"Of course," Windblade said.

"Then tell me, these creatures you call the Metal Heads, why is it that they have appeared now right before the Cybertronians came? We never dealt with them ever and suddenly, we're in their strike zone? There's something suspicious about this Arcee...and Megatron, is it? You mean to tell me your friends with a mass murderer? He's the one who the Arisen fought against. That makes him far more untrustworthy."

The red and black femme scowled, "You don't know them like I do. Megatron's changed; we've seen it on Cybertron for ourselves. He's not-"

The Mistress of Flame twirled her staff before slamming the tip on the ground. "One reconciliation does not forgive a lifetime of death, destruction, and monstrosity. And Arcee, she's the sparkmate of her own enemy. That's a fall from grace if I ever heard one. That makes both a threat, and I refuse to yield my defense to threats."

She had nothing else to argue with as she knew the Mistress of Flame wouldn't listen.

"I find it unusual that you don't see the problem of all bots, Windblade. If Cybertron has changed, why did it replace greedy Councilmembers and prideful Primes with a tyrant traitor and two known war criminals from both factions? At least I don't have to worry about what the Councilmembers do because they are straightforward. What makes you think in realm of negotiations and Cybertronian arrogance that Megatron and Arcee are exempt from doing whatever it takes to get what they want...even if they must hurt us in the process?"

The question pierced Windblade's thoughts like a knife and she couldn't think of any way to counter it. She knew of both Autobots and Decepticons having a lot of problems among themselves as well as being willing to throw outsiders and defilers under the bus to get ahead. Arcee, as far as she knew, would never sink to that level, but she didn't know all Arcee's personality in personal quarters nor what she would do when specific options presented themselves. It was a hard call, but the Mistress of Flame had a point.

The Camien leader saw that she was getting through to Windblade and smirked, "Now you get it, don't you?"

Chapter Text

“And I told Arcee to carry on, regardless of the consequences. I knew I was going to die,” Bolt stated. “The Cybertronian Predator had us backed against the Allspark Citadel, and I distracted it from her and Megatron. I took my axe and just started hitting anything I could get to. It got me, tore me apart, and I remember the pain. Primus, was there pain.”

A few of the Combiners were beside him as he sat on the steps to the Mistress of Flame’s throne, leaning against the base. Rust Dust and Stormclash were on the floor, one had her head perched upon her servos intrigued while the other lay front first with her legs posed up and crossed.

Pyra Magna, the leader of the Combiner Victorion, threw up her eyebrows in shock. “Damn, and how did you get revived?”

The Vehicon shifted so one of his legs rested in a semi-crossed position while the other leg was outstretched. “Arcee made a deal with the Allspark and I got a second chance. I won’t take this life for granted, not ever, and I’m indebted to her for it.”

Skyburst fawned, “That was very brave.”

“It was hell mostly. I can’t take full credit. Arcee and Megatron did most of the heavy hitting; I was their computer nerd basically.”

Dust Up interrupted, “Well, you did provide the details for the creatures they fought. Your input was just as valuable as the physical means of accomplishing victory. I wouldn’t call that basic.”

Rust Dust nodded, “And could either of them replicate what you do anyways?”

“No,” Arcee stated, making all the femmes and Bolt look at her in surprise. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. No way, no how. He’s irreplaceable.”

Bolt jumped up awkwardly as Megatron and Moonhunter strode in behind the queen. He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Forgive us, we were just discussing the adventure we had on the Allspark’s isle while we waited for you.”

Arcee and Megatron looked at each other before the latter crossed his arms amused. “And that’s all you did in the timeframe it took for us to help out those in the core?”

The Vehicon seemed to look towards a few of the Combiners, especially the twins who each smirked. That told both bots all they needed to know. Pyra Magna, however, peered back at the door the Mistress of Flame and Windblade disappeared behind. Bolt noticed this and changed the subject.

“We’re still waiting on them though I assume those citizens you talked to are communicating with the Mistress as we speak. In the meantime, I wish to demonstrate my studies to these lovely ladies. There are a few herds of mudboars just outside the citadel here. Can you get me three of them? Pretty please?”

“You want us to be wingmen for you, Bolt? Alright,” Arcee laughed, “Megatron, let’s get the smooth talker something to talk about. Moonhunter, are you coming?”

The Nitrotiger mewled as Jumpstream picked him up and cuddled him with a giggle. Shrugging, Arcee let him be coddled as the cat most likely wasn’t happy with the venture across Caminus Core. When they went outside, the flames across the citadel yard swirled and among a few rows of fire, mudboars were seem lounging close to the warmth.

Megatron smirked, “Nothing like catching swines in an otherwise-busy schedule.”

“Yeah, but if we don’t appease Bolt...the Mistress of Flame might not consider us worthy of her time. Everyone counts and she is no doubt keeping a watchful eye on all on her island.”

“...Is that why you’re-?”

“Well, not entirely,” Arcee said. “I mean, it’s Bolt.”

The mudboars slept peacefully near the fires as Arcee snuck behind one hoglet and Megatron went for two adults. Right as the nearest mudboar opened its optics, Arcee snatched the baby up though she apologized under her breath. The whole herd was alerted in seconds, the adults raising angrily at the sound of the hoglet’s squeals.

“Just going to borrow your baby for a second, mama! Nothing to be concerned about!” The queen yelled out as its mother spotted her and began stalking her with its tail whipping.

Megatron caught one of the hogs but the second mudboar fled. He merely sneered at the animal he held. “You know, I never thought this would be where I would go in life, catching mudboars on Caminus...at least it’s funny.”

“Says you!” Arcee screamed, passing him with the irate mother trying to run her down.

For a second, the warlord watched amused but as she ran by twice, he snatched the mudboar carrier by the leg and hoisted it up. With their three mudboars now in their possession, they went back into the citadel. This earned them a few looks as they entered the Mistress of Flame’s throne room. Upon seeing the hoglet Arcee held, all the bots within grew excited.

“That was fast.”

Arcee handed Bolt the baby and shook her head. “You know, mama almost ran me over.”

The Vehicon chuckled to himself, “Oh, and out of everything you’ve gone through, you fear the mighty mudboar? Mmm, Arcee, you’re losing your touch.”

Skyburst and Stormclash snickered to each other while Arcee growled, “Careful, cyberbiologist, before I lock you up in your tower permanently when we get back to Cybertron.”

“You wouldn’t do that; you love me too much,” the purple mech sang. He looked over the hoglet carefully as the Combiners looked like they were going to die of cuteness. “I see the little one has not a lot of its lights yet. The armor has a softer feel to it that will harden as time goes on, roughly within three years. This one has extra armor on its chest so it might be dominant when it grows up. Very beautiful design in the making.”

Moonhunter tried to sniff the weird creature, but it snorted at him which he hissed at. Then Bolt left the hoglet on the ground that seemed to sprint towards the door, following the hall to the outside. Megatron handed him the mother next. As he tried to study it despite its angry grunts, Pyra Magna seemed the most interested.

“How did you learn so much of our wildlife?”

“I actually came to Caminus before on an expedition team. We were designated by our dear queen to see how everything was. I still regret killing those creatures on the isle though.”

Arcee rolled her optics, “You didn’t kill them; we did!”

Bolt patted the mudboar to run once he finished his observations. Thankfully, it no longer wanted to put up a fight for stealing its baby. “And you did a great job, doesn’t mean I can’t be remorseful about it.”

Right as he was going to take the third mudboar from Megatron, the doors behind him opened and he quickly gestured for the warlord to drop the beast. The command was heeded but then the mudboar didn’t go through the exit as planned and started running around the area to their dismay. All the Combiners stood at attention, dropping Moonhunter abruptly to the latter’s surprise, as the Mistress of Flame and Windblade reappeared. Something must have happened in their talk as Arcee was fast to note Windblade looked a bit uneasy.

“So, you all managed to woo some of the citizens down here. Good for you, but I’m still not convinced. While you’ve been-” the Mistress of Flame paused as the loose mudboar ran behind the Cybertronians before squealing and fleeing outside again. “...busy...”

Bolt and the Combiners tried their hardest not to laugh, Megatron tilted his head in shame ever so slightly, and Arcee merely raised a brow at the interruption. The Mistress of Flame, however, just sighed and continued.

“...I’ve been getting word that in the under-city section of Ember Basin above us, the reinstated Tower of Obsidian is being bombarded. We must head up there at once. Our blue light crystals empower the forge at its peak that we use to craft our swords and other handheld weapons with, but the forge has gone dark. I want to know why.”

“Three guesses what went wrong,” Bolt whispered to Dust Up who giggled. He was suddenly whacked lightly on the helm by the Mistress of Flame’s Forgehammer, causing the Vehicon to yelp and Dust Up to resume standing as straight as possible. “Ow! Sorry...”

The latter twirled her weapon back upright with a sneer. “If these Metal Heads are determined to bring Caminus down, they are going to find I don’t tolerate chaos and anyone who causes it will meet a very painful demise.”

Megatron seemed eager to correct her, but Arcee jabbed his thigh harshly. They acknowledged the Mistress of Flame was not incredibly pleased with their childish behavior. She then said, “We understand perfectly.”

“Then let’s get going before those monsters take out anything else,” Windblade stated.

Windblade led the Mistress to the transport and as the Combiners waved goodbye, especially to Bolt whom everyone knew a few of them were at least enthralled by him, Arcee and her team followed behind. As they went down the stairs, Arcee got a little excited, wanting to see if her gliding ability would work under a short distance. Sure enough, the energy wings activated, and she gradually coasted to be next to Windblade who froze. Everyone else aside from Megatron was equally stunned.

“You can fly?! Since when?!” Bolt exclaimed.

“Highwind was pleased to have visitors, contrary to the rumors, so he gave me a copy of his flight schematics though it’s more gliding than anything. Even ask him yourself,” Arcee smiled.

The Mistress of Flame said nothing, but Arcee thought there was a twinge of envy among her shock. Looking at the Mistress’ form, she appeared to be a grounder like her. It could be assumed the Mistress was displeased that Highwind gave an outsider the interchangeable ability rather than his own leader. Arcee felt a little bad showing off the device as her winglets reverted to normal.

The ride up to the under-city city of Ember Basin was silent mostly because no one knew what to say without upsetting the Mistress of Flame or making everything awkward as hell. When they went through the tunnel, Windblade left the vicinity of the guiding rings to roam the under-city itself. The skyscrapers and other towers not only sat sturdy on the ground below, but they attached to the ceiling above that led to the surface. To navigate the city, the transport could only go around them. There was a limited altitude to fly at given just like the surface, walkways were abundant.

Arcee watched the pipes that spawned from Caminus Core’s pillars pumping water up while another pipe seemed to be pulling water back down somewhere above. It was assumed that it was to regulate the core itself so it wouldn’t lose water indefinitely. Flutterwings and a mechanical canine species seemed to be popular pets roaming with their owners on the walkways.

The Tower of Obsidian was hard to miss with its four vast pillars attached to the ceiling and deep rooted on the ground. It was a large factory-like building with two rivers of water flowing through arches that separated its sections. At the top was glass but despite its visible colors, they were extremely dull. The fire within wasn’t ignited therefore the forge was not producing its light as intended. The transport landed and the first one out was the Mistress of Flame per common courtesy by the others with her as the Camien leader. She gazed up at the dark tower with a rare distraught expression.

“Obsidian, oh, how you’ve been hurt. This is unacceptable. If these creatures are behind this, we must deal with them swiftly and carefully. The only way the Tower of Obsidian can go out like this is if the crystals have been removed from their places among the forge itself. But I assume they haven’t left the area.”

“How do you know?” Windblade worried.

The Mistress of Flame scowled up at the top of the tower. “The crystals aren’t just tied to the forge but also to the building. If they leave the building, they were rigged to detonate without the proper override code. Nobody has ever stolen them because of this. The Metal Heads shouldn’t know yet no one’s reported any explosions, and the code was never accessed from the main computer it rests in on the third floor as it would have alerted me. They are only missing...it doesn’t make sense.”

Arcee frowned, “How would the Metal Heads know this if they have never even been on the planet?”

“But then you would have to ask how they knew what Caminus had in their factories and what to steal,” Megatron countered. “This Metal Head Leader knows something we don’t and that’s scary, even for me.”

That definitely was scary to Arcee. If the Metal Heads were aware of the planet’s ins and outs the same way as Velocitron, the horrific realization that they could have been surveying all the cyber worlds for some time dawned on her. What did they know for all these years that everyone was oblivious to? What did they know about Cybertron?

Gunfire suddenly erupted from within, and the bots walking the grounds of the Tower of Obsidian flinched back and ran from the disturbance. Moonhunter raised his spine hearing all the commotion and Bolt prepared his axe.

“What’s happening?!” The Mistress of Flame asked peeved.

Pointing at one of the windows where a reptilian shadow passed by despite the darkness within, Bolt announced, “They are still here! Those nasty monsters are still inside!”

All the bots rushed towards the Tower of Obsidian, nearly breaking down the doors to get in. Movement above indicated something bigger than the average bot was wandering. Hearing the signature roars of the Metal Heads roaming, Arcee brought out her arm blades but prepared her ricochet ray just in case.

Suddenly, a techno-organic scythe-like arm came down on the floor ahead of them with a blue light crystal in its other arm. The Metal Mantis hissed, its razored foreleg tapping in anticipation as it took a step forward with a single-clawed foot. Unlike most species, it had only two yellow eyes and its skin was reddish-purple. To their shock, it sprung up and bounced off the walls towards them. It was agile and abnormally fast.

When it got in front of the Mistress of Flame, snapping its forelegs to attack, she swung down her hammer only for it to roll away on its side and hop back. Megatron stepped in front of her and sent a fist down to crush it, but it dodged that just as easily.

“How many species of these things exist?!” Bolt complained.

Arcee grew tired of watching it leap around taunting them and went to plan B, pulling out her ricochet ray and firing just above it. The blast bounced as it went backwards. It managed to miss the Metal Mantis twice before pinning it on the third bounce. Interestingly, the Mantis died quite fast. As nimble as it was, it had weaker armor than its peers. Its skull gem clattered on the floor and the blue crystal slid towards them.

“Well, it’s one less species hopefully. Fearless little bastards, aren’t they?” Arcee grinned, “I’m guessing whoever sent these wanted this to be a stealth mission, but that didn’t work out well.”

Megatron picked up the blue crystal and handed it to the Mistress of Flame. She kindly accepted it with the purse of her lips as Windblade carefully eyed the halls.

Then the Mistress said, “There are four of these crystals. We get them back and meet at the top. Kill anything that stands in our way. Understood?”

Everyone nodded and split up. Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter went one way and the Mistress, Windblade, and Bolt went another. As the former team ran to the Tower’s stairway in the center of the building to get to another floor, they heard another variant of a Metal Head. The common Metal Grunts roamed with sinister glares, stalking the area like sentries on a visible floor above them.

“Alright then, let’s give them the element of surprise. Megatron, throw me,” Arcee demanded.

The warlord laughed and let her climb on before launching her up past the initial floor to the confusion of the Metal Heads. Right as she landed between them, she began slicing them down. Megatron threw Moonhunter, who latched himself onto a Grunt with the intent of ripping its face off, before jumping up to the floor ledge with his claws sinking into the metal to keep him from sliding down. He forced himself up again and flipped into the area right as he charged his fusion cannon. The nearest Metal Head had only a second to flinch back when it was sent flying with a blast to the face. It smacked into several others and toppled dead.

Arcee deflected a staff-wielding Metal Goon, a chunky raptor-esque soldier, and pinned its weapon right as she changed her arm to a blaster. A blast went through its neck cabling and shoved the skull gem from its head. As they fought the creatures, Arcee spotted one of them with a crystal in hand. The Metal Grunt hissed as several others stepped in front of it to guard it.

“You think that’ll save you from getting your ass kicked, you little thief?!” Arcee yelled.

The Horaquan in question lost its smile and backed away whimpering as she targeted it. Megatron threw one of the creatures before lunging alongside Arcee, guns blazing. After causing the Metal Head he was attached on to bleed out, Moonhunter roared and went for the huddled group alongside his owners. A few of them were sent falling off the second floor with one brutally banging its head against the stairwell, breaking its neck and bouncing off to hit the ground dead. The crystal was nearly dropped when Megatron kicked the holder, sending the monster sliding. It still held onto it despite this and sprinted away as soon as it had traction. Arcee gestured at the Metal Head and watched her sparkmate hunt it down.

Megatron carefully rounded the corner to a lengthy hall and thought he heard some sort of gravely throated language coming from one room. With a predatory snarl no less ferocious than the Metal Heads’ own scare tactics, he entered it and sensed the air for anything out of place. His optics contracted when one scent was noticeably unique compared to the rest of the smells in the room. He moved forward, listening intensely for any little giveaway. The tiniest of creaks made his optics dilate before growing small again and he paused.

Whipping around, he snagged the Horaquan by the throat mid-pounce and slammed it down into a table as it hissed and snapped its jaws. He growled in response with his fangs glistening from the exterior light of a nearby window; his optics blaring their deadly red.

“You aren’t the only killer here. Remember that.”

Arcee kicked away a weapon from a presumably dead Metal Head just in case it tried anything if it was faking. Just to be sure out of paranoia, she didn’t flinch when she shot it again quick and painless. It didn’t whimper or anything which confirmed its passing. Her Nitrotiger merely sniffed at the devastation and swatted at the head of a deceased Horaquan as he walked by it. When she heard a squeal from somewhere down the hall, she listened for any other noises until she saw Megatron throw the crystal in his servo up and catch it. Some purple sludge was splattered among his claws but nothing infectious.

“The second crystal is ours,” he smirked.

------------------------------

Windblade and Bolt took point for the larger femme as they went to the elevators. Windblade had the security camera feed up on her HUD and saw one of the crystals being moved around by a Metal Spyder with one arm as a gun and four crab-like legs but appeared to have a head similar to Grunts. It looked like an abomination of creation.

“The crystal is on the fifth floor of the Tower with one butt-ugly creature lugging it around,” the Seeker sneered.

The Mistress of Flame responded, “Then let’s tell that to its face.”

“Got a sense of humor after all. I’m impressed,” Bolt snickered.

The three entered the elevators to the fifth floor. With the elevator lifts transparent, they could see the floors below to a degree. What made the Mistress of Flame scowl the most was when they passed the fourth floor and saw a group of Metal Heads stalking the walkways below.

“Vermin,” she muttered. “That’s it. I’ll call my military in to handle the rest of this.”

As she talked on her commlink to an unknown bot, the Vehicon heard Windblade sigh. “Long day, huh?”

“It’s getting there. How can such vile creatures do this to a world they don’t even know?”

Bolt shrugged, “That’s the same as asking why the Quintessons think they are superior. Some beings don’t destroy only because they are instructed to. The Metal Heads and the Quintessons survive on fear from others because if everyone’s afraid of them, there’s no one who will rise to stop them. Can’t be afraid without stirring the pot, right? They get what they want, and we suffer because of it. It’s a win-win scenario for them either way. It also doesn’t help the Metal Heads are a living virus designed to spread too which worries me as well.”

“They’re a what?!”

The elevator doors opened and the first thing they saw was a shield-bearing Metal Centurion, a bipedal Grunt, firing at them with its arm blaster. Windblade pushed the Mistress to the side, and they pressed against the elevator walls as the blasts melted through the metal of the box. Once the gunfire stopped, Bolt made a bold move.

He ran at the shield before juking it into thinking he was about to jump over it when he switched to a slide. Getting behind it, he swung his axe at its head, but it caught the weapon as it made its shield disappear. The muscular Centurion countered his every move with a snarl before swiping his feet out from under him and pinning his chest to the floor. Right as it pointed its blaster at him, however, a purple blade sank deep through its heart. Its eyes faded in color and Bolt watched its skull gem hit the floor before the Mistress crushed it.

They ran to any feasible area where the missing crystal could be held captive and listened for any movement. Clattering behind them in a nearby room spooked them, but then it moved seemingly around through the walls themselves like scraplets in waiting but a far bigger one if anything.

“I don’t like this,” Bolt whispered.

A growl emitted with the audible sound of saliva moving in an opening mouth above. Right as they looked up, the Metal Spyder dropped down on top of the Vehicon attempting to bite him. With the crystal still in its hand, Bolt was more focused on the sharp teeth trying to aim for his throat. Just then, the Mistress’s Forgehammer ignited, and she swung it hard with rage right at its head and open jaws. The Cybertronian flinched but had never seen something be decapitated so fast by a melee weapon before. He crawled backward immediately to see the corpse’s neck on fire collapse where he was just a second ago.

Bolt was nearly shivering in place by how fast it happened when he yelled out, “Please give a bot some warning! By Primus, that’s insane!”

Windblade picked up the crystal and gestured to it proudly. Just then, Arcee’s voice came through their commlinks. “We have the second crystal.”

The Seeker replied, “We have the third. Meet us on floor six and we’ll look for the last one together.”

“Will do.”

After Windblade helped Bolt up, the three went to the sixth floor as promised when Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter met back up with them. Seeing Megatron’s claw with alien blood on them though made the three cautious.

Bolt placed a servo on his chin sarcastically, “Ah, the warlord returns from battle just like the old days.”

“Shut up, Bolt,” Megatron sneered. “Any idea where the last crystal is?”

Windblade checked through the security cameras once more. “Still searching. Wait! I see a monster up top...at the forge! I can’t tell if it has the crystal or not. It’s big. It kind of looks like...an Earth rhinoceros Bumblebee showed me a picture of.”

Arcee froze uncomprehending the words at first. A rhino? It couldn’t be!

“I will destroy it if it even touches Obsidian!” The Mistress of Flame screamed in her fury.

They followed her as she sprinted up the levels. Most of the bots had some trouble keeping up with her except Moonhunter who ran by her side. The flight of stairs especially winded most of them as the elevator could only reach the fourteenth floor out of eighteen total, and the Mistress was on a rampage.

On the sixteenth floor, more Metal Head grunts hissed at them, but she wasn’t having it. The creatures were abruptly swatted by her Forgehammer. One had its head crushed into the wall by it while another was knocked out the window to fall over a hundred meters to the streets below. Moonhunter helped her when a Metal Head pushed back against her weapon, jumping on its back and clawing at its spine. He severed a crucial artery and the monster bled to death with trying to toss him off with a whimper. Defeating the small troop, they finally reached the top of the Tower.

Arcee was very anxious and pissed. How dare he do this after everything they went through. She was going to kill him even if it took every ounce of her strength to do it. That was a promise! That was a-

Beside the black forge adorned with Camien symbols of old, a clawed rhinoceros-like foot stomped into view which made everyone pause. While everyone else gasped in horror, Arcee refrained from voicing a sigh of relief. With pinkish skin, a quadrupedal stance and a far-different facial structure, a Metal Ramhead snorted and growled, brushing the ground with its foot to warn of its charge. The last crystal sat dislodged from its stand in one of the far corners of the room adjacent to them.

The Mistress of Flame pointed her Forgehammer at the beast. “Get away from the forge, you ungodly monster!”

Arcee switched to Dagger Prima, having not used it in some time, to the surprise of the Mistress. She briefly responded with, “Solus Prime and the Allspark gave it to me.”

The look on the Mistress’ face was priceless, but she didn’t let that distract her as the Ramhead reared with a roar. It charged and as everyone moved from its path, it hit the wall with a loud crack. Shaking off the hit, it stared down Arcee and Windblade on its left. Before it could rear again, it was bombarded with several shots by Megatron and Bolt, forcing it to sidestep back angrily. Arcee then leapt onto the forge and whistled to catch its growing ire to redirect it back at her. The Metal Head fell for her taunt.

It sprinted at the forge to the fear of the Mistress but instead of shattering, the Ramhead collided with the forge and bent half its armor among its face inwards. The two eyes on its left side were black as it scrambled dizzy and backwards with a whine. Dark purple sludge leaked from the eyeholes and from underneath the skull gem on its forehead as well as its mouth. There was no doubt it had given itself brain damage from the hit and ruptured a few things in the process. The forge remained unmoved without a single scratch.

Although Arcee could feel the optics of the Mistress of Flame bearing into her for daring to risk the forge’s safety like that, she ignored it in favor of running directly at the Ramhead with a battle cry. She made sure she wouldn’t impale herself on the horns of its snout and brought down Dagger Prima directly through its skull gem into its head from a side angle. The Metal Head stumbled a few feet before its last two eyes grew dark too. It landed harshly on its belly and Arcee ripped the dagger from its head with no remorse. Windblade was amazed at the brutality she showed, but Arcee had a feeling it wasn’t joyous. She briefly put the concern aside as Bolt clapped the dead Horaquan’s hide.

“Boy, this thing is a tank but couldn’t move a mere anvil. That’s anticlimactic if I do say so. I’m starting to think these Metal Heads are becoming easier to fight than previously.”

Megatron rolled his optics and said, “That’s because we now know how to defeat them. Previously, we didn’t know anything about them nor how to counter them. Of course, it gets easier the more you do something.”

The Mistress of Flame placed three of the crystals in their places while the boys argued. While she picked up the last one, she raised a brow when Arcee said, “I think we should be in the clear for now. Is there anything you would like us to do just in case?”

“No, you’ve certainly done plenty, more than I thought you would for a planet you aren’t even from.”

“That’s what we do,” Arcee answered softly.

The Mistress wanted to smile, Arcee could see that be she refrained from doing so. Instead, she activated her commlink to her private forces. “Crystals received and we’ll soon leave. Do a quick sweep and kill anything alien in the building.”

Within a few minutes, faint shouting and the sound of Metal Heads being hunted several floors below were dimmed out as the Mistress of Flame placed the last crystal back on its stand, but Arcee expected her to walk away immediately. Instead, the leader was hesitant to let go and seemed to bow her head a little, closing her yellow optics to mere slivers with an unusually saddened demeanor. Despite the harshness the Mistress often pointed at her and against her natural instincts to leave her to her devices, Arcee approached her as kind as could be.

“Are you okay?” The queen asked.

It shook the Mistress out of her trance, but she didn’t appear angry about the disturbance. She knew her reaction had been caught and simply stood straighter with a neutral frown.

“I’m fine.” She saw Arcee slightly raise her brow and she caved with a defeated sigh, “The Tower of Obsidian isn’t just a mere place; everyone thinks it’s just the home of the forge and they would be right to some degree. To me, it’s more than that; it’s a friend.”

Arcee slowly came to understand the relationship the Mistress had with the building and spoke softly, “Obsidian...was a titan, weren’t they?”

The Mistress of Flame made a very brief smile finally, peering at the crystal closest with a side glance. “And I was their Cityspeaker. We were inseparable, Obsidian and I, and they held the forge within all that time, supplying us with weapons of their own design including the Forgehammer you see here with me...a gift from them. But then we had a brief war among Caminus...an accident more like, and they fought beside me long before I became the Mistress of Flame, and I served the secondary grand predecessor before me at the time.”

Everyone listened intensely, especially Arcee.

“We were winning but then...everything went so wrong. We thought we were invincible. We miscalculated the attack on an enemy; I...miscalculated,” she gulped, trying to keep her composure as she leaned against her hammer, but Arcee could see the pain and respected every word that came next. “I instructed Obsidian to fight the other titan of a rival Cityspeaker, Electrace. I didn’t know-I know now but I didn’t know he would use the weapon...”

“What weapon?”

“The Radiance Bomb...all those Radiant Cores weren’t just for guns. Combining about twenty or more could unleash a devastating bomb, and I knew we had one available in our military at the time. I was so confident that I sent Obsidian to find him...the next thing I knew, the blast threw them down here and they weren’t able to get up. I begged for them to stay with me, but I couldn’t do anything except wallow in my misjudgment.”

Arcee shook her head, “You couldn’t have known your enemy had the-”

The Mistress looked pitiful. “-But I did. I knew he had it. I was sure we were unmatchable that I basically sent my best friend to die. This place...I never forgave myself for what I did, and I repay my debt to this day by protecting the Tower for as long as I live. These crystals are more than just the forge’s power. I believe they are a part of Obsidian’s soul, and, as delusional as that sounds, they are all I’ve got left of them.”

She watched the Mistress place a hand on the crystal’s stand one last time. She was reassuring a long, lost friend and Arcee didn’t question it for one second.

The Mistress then coughed, “I, um...maybe I have been too harsh on you. It’s just hard to trust anyone on the outside when even within, there can be great enemies. This legion of monsters isn’t helping matters. Perhaps I should be considerate to what others have to offer before judging them. I hope we can start off more even in terms of acknowledging each other, Queen Arcee. Here, for your valor.”

Arcee was handed another Radiant Core from Windblade by the side of the Mistress, and she was careful to take it knowing the significant pain it presented. Despite this, she saw the Mistress of Flame give a genuine smile for once.

“Now then,” the leader started, “I think, if you don’t mind, I would like to stay here for a while. I want to make sure everything here is back to proper functionality. In the meantime, you and your friends are free to explore our world. If anything else occurs on my end, I’ll be in touch.”

Windblade was astounded as they left the Tower of Obsidian, peering back every few steps to comprehend what had just happened. With the Mistress of Flame now calm and satisfied with their services, that gave them free reign of the planet for the time being.

“Okay, I’ve never seen the Mistress of Flame be so open to outsiders before. That’s freaky,” Windblade immediately said.

“She was just protective, and I understand,” Arcee countered. “New problems, foreign people and who wouldn’t suspect they were connected. Metal Heads have a knack of putting people on edge. It’s how they get their way most of the time. The Mistress of Flame was acting as she should but just because she showed some emotion doesn’t make her weak.”

“I never said she was...but what I’m curious about is why now?”

The sudden implied hostile comment was not lost on Arcee and she paused with Windblade staring her down. She shook her head in disbelief. “You think I have something to do with-”

The Seeker scowled, “Of course I don’t, but I don’t know what to think. It’s not you specifically, it’s not Megatron or Bolt, and it’s not Cybertron. People talk, Arcee. When answers don’t exist fast enough to understand the problems, things go awry and that’s the last thing we need here. I’m going to give you as much room as possible to lead the way, but I can only buy so much time before things start to cave on our operation to remove these creatures from Caminus. I don’t want to be your enemy here but-”

“But what?” Arcee frowned.

Windblade closed her optics and sighed, “-but if I am forced to choose between you and Caminus for the sake of our safety, and if Caminus becomes burdened for too long with this new menace, I don’t think you’re going to like the answer I will choose. You need to figure out what’s going on here and fast, or be prepared for anything that comes your way, foe...or friend.”

As Windblade walked away, Arcee peered off to the walkway ground on the side. The reality of the situation often stressed relationships; she should have expected that. Hopefully, when she did get the lead as to why the Metal Heads wanted to invade Caminus for materials, this strain would go away. She just had to be patient.

Moonhunter sat next to her and pressed his head against her leg purring while Megatron approached her. “We will fix this. I promise everything will work out.”

“I hope so, Megatron, because this is becoming too much even for me, and we haven’t even gone through half the planets yet.”

He made a solemn expression and rubbed her shoulder. “I know, more than you think.”

Then Arcee remembered she had to meet Silos though her anger was still somewhere within, and she feared she might let it out against Megatron or Bolt. “Do you think we could go back to the surface now? I kind of want to explore up there a bit more.”

Megatron nodded without a moment’s hesitation. They used the transport Windblade left them and headed back up where the night sky awaited them. The dark sky with its glowing gas giant setting a peculiar scene among the stars was a relief to see. When they landed, she was quick to depart to their confusion.

Bolt gestured oddly as he questioned, “Where are you going?”

“Just...to get some fresh air with my new ability. You don’t mind if I go alone, do you?”

Bolt peered at Megatron who shrugged but before they could give her an answer, she jumped off the high-level walkway’s edge. Activating her wings, she glided with her arms tucked close to her body and enjoyed the breeze that felt different from the atmosphere in the core. There was almost a sense of relief that followed being out in the great open sky above everyone.

She accessed the map of the surrounding area via signal and pinpointed the Grand Ember Eatery where Silos said he would be. Gliding at a relatively high height, she could see Seekers and vehicles below her rocketing by as well as larger ships moving above her including a Nemesis-sized transport filled with oil and other supplies she presumed by the tanks attached to it. Crosswings moved around buildings, to and from them as well. Most of them had riders but some seemed to have been trained quite well to deliver their loads by themselves. Then there were the ones that seemed to leave to be on break as a few had oil leech parts they were devouring.

When Arcee spotted a ship of unknown origin on a rooftop with a pool near the restaurant, she made her bet and swooped down to disengage her wings. She performed a combat roll upon landing and walked up to the ship. It certainly had an unusual design to it unlike the common frames she was used to.

“So, you finally decided to visit me. Nice to see you again, my dear. Run into any trouble while you were out?”

Silos was hidden from view at the front of the ship laying partially on his side like an animal in the steaming water on the shallow end. With his elbow on the pool edge and his other arm posed on the bend of his waist, he had his eyes closed as relaxed as can be. It didn’t escape her notice he had multiple trays of food and drinks, probably stolen like everything else, nearby. His tail moved slowly under the water, and it was tempting to Arcee to join him as the pool looked exquisite under the gas giant’s light.

She sighed and crossed her arms, “You have no idea. You know what happened, right?”

The Horaquan captain’s only response in his lounging daze was a mere tap of a claw on his chest skull gem before he barely opened his dilated eyes in amusement to peer at her. She merely pressed her lips tighter in a deadpanned expression at his mockery.

“What did the Metal Heads need with the crystals or the forge?”

“What do you think?” Silos sneered, “A forge of unbreakable metal and produced the best weapons seen per Solus Prime’s gift to the settlers of this colony. The crystals are a part of the forge embedded with Solus’ might hence the effectiveness. Weapon cores and a weapon creator; you can do the math, can’t you?”

“That doesn’t answer the question I want, does it?”

His skull gems burned brighter, combining with the water for a beautiful mixture of light, but he chuckled unaware of it. “No, but what do I tell you? The Metal Head Leader can keep some thoughts from me, and I can block them, otherwise I wouldn’t be alive for treason. All I know is they are planning something big, something deadly. Who towards I wouldn’t know, but I doubt they would waste so much firepower on you alone despite how much of a pain you seem to be to the legion.”

Arcee smirked, “Aw, you flatter me. I try.”

“Care to take a dip?” He calmly asked, taking a few glazed, rustic scones and eating them.

“Whose pool is this?”

“The complex’s but no one seems to be using it now. Then again, maybe I blocked all entrances up here...by accident,” Silos said with faux innocence.

Arcee shook her head at his audacity, but the pool did look nice...screw it. Without denying the secret desire any longer, she jumped in, and the pool proved hot. Once the brief shock of the temperature changes left her, it soothed the tension almost immediately and she gave a vocal sigh. Silos smiled at her pleasure and adjusted himself to sit upright, crossing his legs and leaning half-submerged against the ledge. As she sat on a step beside him, he offered her oil lava cake. She didn’t fight any subconscious decision to question it and took it politely from him.

“I haven’t had a day to relax like this since my second coronation.”

“Second?” Silos became confused as she bit into the dessert.

“I was overthrown by Rockrider, my former Head of Archives and the Hall of Records in Iacon. She wanted to reverse all the progress we made against the previous caste system which was a nightmare. I fought tooth and nail to get back to Cybertron to stop her and as you can see, I’m still around. I had to be reinstated because of a technicality. Heh, and then I ditched my second coronation to go to a club for drinks and massages, only those two things though. Haywire and Scythe were pissed.”

Silos snickered at that last part, then he said, “I would believe it. Now, the theft of the forge’s crystals reminded me of something. You heard of blue crystals? What about fire crystals? You can find them in Pyrohex in an old power joint. I’ll send you the coordinates. It hasn’t been used in years, so I doubt they will miss them.”

“Wha-?! Silos, no, I just stopped a robbery by your kind. I can’t steal more things for you! That’s very suspicious to me, by the way! Why do you need them?!” Arcee argued.

“Well, I must give my clients something worthwhile for their generous payments for rare and elusive items. No product, no money. Get the fire crystals and keep them close until I give the all-clear, then hand them off to my client who will be waiting at a secure location within the next few days. Come now, Arcee, you know why I do this. And unlike those blue crystals, the fire crystals there are nowhere near as important.”

Arcee hated the job, but Silos proved to still come in handy so risking his partnership this far in was not something on her list. She nodded in agreement but not without a frustrated scoff. Although, she refused to leave the comfort of the pool for some time.

Silos broke the silence when he casually asked, “Considering I don’t need to go anywhere anytime soon, do you want a lift to Pyrohex later?”

Arcee merely raised a brow but said nothing though she could see in Silos’ brash smile he knew she wanted it.

-----------------------------

Pyrohex was a city, loud and definitely put more emphasis on the fire theme than the previous locations. In Silos’ ship, they made a roundabout of the city skyline and he pointed to an older building just in the middle of the city.

“There’s your target. The crystals themselves are stagnant right now, no energy to feed off but that doesn’t make them useless. Why not put the old to good use for someone who cares about them?”

“More so for profit though, right?” Arcee scowled, “This feels like a setup.”

“Matter of opinion really. If you see Metal Heads, fine, I set you up. There I admit it. What else do you want from me?” The Metal Head joked.

The queen furrowed her brows slightly in amusement but given Silos’ humor among the situation, she was incredibly doubtful he was behind the attacks. His abnormal sixth sense did come in handy though. Both his skull gems on his chest and head were gleaming when he finally got her to smile a little once she saw more humorous things about the accusation.

“Just go in, get the crystals and this better not backfire on me, Silos, or I will punch you.”

“In good humor as always. I will warn you that I have seen a few occasional maintenance crews work on the building’s base. I don’t know why but they shouldn’t be a problem for you. Now, be careful and get me those items on my shopping list. Please, dear?” He chuckled.

Arcee walked toward the cargo bay to launch herself out, not before giving one last quip. “Keep it up and I’ll make good on that threat, buddy.”

Silos merely cackled louder as he opened the cargo bay doors. She peered down at the city moving below before getting a running start and leaping off. Skydiving at night made it easy for her to glide around the building unseen. As Silos’ ship left Pyrohex in the distance, she knew her recon mission would be solely up to her.

Landing on the roof, she ducked behind a vent pipe and immediately surveyed the area. No movement made her pleased, which meant she didn’t need to hurt anyone in the process. She quickly found access on the roof to the top floor within and she went to work.

“Now then,” Silos’ voice came through, “there are 5 fire crystals in the building. Two of them are up top where you are, one is below you, and the other two are near the middle, each originally powering the building’s core. The details provided are from the client themselves.”

With two of the crystals among her, she went to work to find them. Discarded furniture and abandoned technology lay dormant on the top floor. In the center of the building, a huge hole spanned several floors down to the base where a port for an electrical core rested. The beam that it was supposed to produce with the proper energy was off therefore safe to peer down at. Going around it, she went to the other side of the building where a faint humming was heard.

Dagger Prima started to whisper, but it was harsher than ever before. The humming grew louder in response. Usually, the dagger reacted to the Allspark’s counterparts but not something as mundane as fire crystals unless the Allspark was communicating with it for another reason. She followed the sound until she turned a corner to an old set of gears embedded in the wall. In front of it, she found one of the crystals. She snatched it, pausing to listen for any danger until she believed she was in the clear. Funnily enough, the second crystal was on a table to her left.

Arcee was beginning to believe it truly was abandoned on more than just someone’s word alone. Why they left such a powerful core and its pieces was a little suspicious. As she took the stairwell to the lower floor, she came across a control room but to her surprise, a few of the screen were playing static footage of…the Mistress of Flame. She couldn’t tell exactly what the Mistress was overseeing but one bot looked to be in pain.

“Silos, what else do you know about this building?”

“From what I gathered, the client said the building used to belong to the Mistress of Flame some time ago. It was abandoned after she was accused of using it to experiment on people, at least those were the rumors. I think she was using it as a military operation because some time before, she almost called in her forces to subdue Ember Basin’s unruly populace. Word of the client, not mine.”

“She’s been hurting people this entire time?” Arcee muttered in disbelief.

Silos seemed a bit saddened by the information as well. “Unfortunately, not all leaders strive to do good at every moment of their life like you, Arcee. Sometimes they are willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. As cruel as that is, it can be a necessity in the art of war and the survival of a race. Even ask your mate.”

The reminder made her frown. She hated people bringing up her sparkmate’s past. Granted, it wasn’t forgivable of what he did, focusing on it instead of the problem at hand hardly helped matters.

She moved on through the control room to a lab and in the center of it lay a berth with straps and a crystal discarded by broken glass. She took it cautiously and tried to leave as fast as she could. The more she explored the place, however, the odd things became. The lower floors held cells, old machines, and what appeared to be testing devices partially filled with a strange pink liquid, too dense to be Energon for sure. If she didn’t know any better, she could all but confirm she was in an abandoned testing facility.

The humming of the last two crystals became prominent on the second floor, primarily in a staging area for crates. What lied within the crates she didn’t want to know, but the foul odor coming from them reeked of chemicals and, dare she say, decay. Hopefully, nothing did die…but she didn’t have a lot of confidence as the smell only got worse. Then she saw one of the crystals hidden behind a crate in the corner. From the impact mark on the wall above it and its presumed indestructibility, it was thrown but why? She didn’t question it any further before taking it.

The last crystal had to be nearby because the humming never ceased. It was odd that these crystals hummed while the blue ones didn’t but maybe they were made of different powers entirely. She didn’t care much as she tried to pinpoint its location. Suddenly, she had a hunch and peered up to see cracks in the ceiling and a very faint orange light.

“What the…?”

Not wasting any more time than she needed, she switched her arm to a blaster and aimed at the cracks. A sizable hole was left when she hit it and the crystal fell onto the ground. As she picked it up, she gleamed.

“Silos, I have the crystals but these things are vibrating like mad. You can’t take them for a while?”

“No, they wouldn’t…react well with my ship. Alien technology, remember?”

She was about to scoff at him but another commline was trying to get to her. She let him go and answered it.

Megatron nearly yelled, “Arcee! We have a problem! The Mistress has a niece, and she has gone missing! Bolt has been keeping in contact with Windblade and things aren’t looking good for us. The Mistress thinks you made a fool of her. These coincidences are going to get us killed!"

“Okay! I’ll figure out something! Do we know where she was last seen? Anything to work from?”

“The only clue I have is her niece kind of looks like her, just golden more so like the Mistress’ brother and lived in Pyrohex. Where are you anyway?”

She stuttered, “O-Outskirts of Ember Basin near Pyrohex but I can look for her, leave it to me.”

“We’ll meet you over there. You need to get control of this, Arcee, or we’re all dead.”

The final words of Megatron haunted her as she dreaded the outcomes. Did the Metal Heads capture the Mistress’ niece as revenge, to set her up or worse? She remembered Silos’ connection with the legion could be a two-way feed so if he knew what she had done and what she sought, there was a huge possibility the Metal Heads knew through the hive mind thought reading how to ruin her progress with the Mistress of Flame. Those damned creatures. She had little time to correct the blunder of security and make peace with the Mistress, or Megatron was right. They were doomed.

She re-established connection with Silos and quickly said, “Silos, I need your help. The Mistress’ niece has been kidnapped in Pyrohex! I need to know if the Metal Heads took her!”

The Metal Head seemed to grunt stubbornly, “If all you’re going to use me for is to get a glimpse behind the hive and its irrational chaos, at some point I may just refuse that request simply because it’s getting annoying. When I tell you out of my own free will, that’s one thing. This is hardly my concern.”

“You agreed to it the first time we met. What happened to trying to help me stop the Metal Heads in favor of a profit? Just because I have the fire crystals doesn’t mean I’m obligated to give them to any one of your stupid clients.”

He started to give a dark laugh, “Do you not remember what I told you? If you don’t help me, bad things can happen. I’m willing to help you but if I don’t get what I want in return, Cybertron might be missing more than just a queen and her arrogant friends. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. But I do have somewhat of a heart deep down. Fine, you want me to do something good for once out of kindness? Here it is: the Metal Heads aren’t behind this attack. Zero chatter for anything regarding kidnapping or the Mistress has been detected. Plus, Metal Heads aren’t really keen on keeping victims. No point when they can infect them immediately and have another member to their legion within seconds. Whoever is responsible might be someone internally...but I guess by your panic you are getting blamed?”

“What do I do?” Arcee asked in a defeated tone.

“Every city has a dark side to it just like every person. Perhaps Pyrohex has some secrets best left in the ‘under-city,’ so to speak. At least, that’s the first area I would care to look at. Biased and stereotypical, I know, but it can’t be ignored that it happens in such places and being quite familiar with the mind of a criminal myself in my own practice, the under-city is an excellent hideaway from the looks of it.”

She peered around the surface city of Pyrohex through a window with its noise still finding its way past it, but she was now curious what under-city Pyrohex looked like. Where would she even start to look down there anyway for someone she never met? As she exited the testing facility, she saw fire on the balconies of complexes and laid out in magnificent designs on walkways against the night sky. Against the water-based Ember Basin, oddly so, Pyrohex seemed better as a capital...but then that made her wonder.

She recalled Windblade saying Pyrohex lost its title as Caminus’ capital for an undisclosed reason. Peering back at the testing facility and then the surrounding buildings that looked somewhat damaged, she began formulating a new theory. What if whatever the Mistress of Flame was doing here resulted in Pyrohex being dubbed a violent city therefore the Forgefire Parliament decreed a new city be named the capital. On top of Highwind’s remark of the current Mistress of Flame not being popular among the people, that was concerning. If the Mistress of Flame was a bad person, she might not be able to unite with Caminus after all. But her niece needed to be found regardless of personal opinions, and that’s what Arcee was going to do. Suddenly, it dawned on her. The Mistress of Flame wasn’t popular...so if someone wanted to get back at her, why not hurt everyone she loves?

Arcee quickly went to the edge of the walkway nearest to the old testing facility and spotted a tunnel to the under-city as a few flutterwings flew over it, nodding to herself. She jumped down to a lower walkway and repeated the process to get closer to the tunnel without hurting herself in the confusion of a few bystanders.

“Windblade,” she commed, “I just got word from Megatron about the Mistress’ niece. Are there any suspicious characters aside from the Metal Heads you would know who might have it out for the Mistress herself? This is far too personal to be the work of the Metal Heads. They prefer artillery and objects to steal, not specific people. Even if they did, hostages aren’t their M.O. They prefer to infect rather than take people.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about these creatures, Arcee-”

“Don’t start, Windblade. I’m here to help and you know this regardless of what the Mistress told you or your suspicions against me. If I have names, we have a heading. Would you rather wait until her niece shows up dead or defiled? We can wait-”

“No, no, no, you’re right! Primus, this is hard, Arcee. We’re getting paranoid by the second. Look, I may know some of the Mistress’ enemies, but you can’t tell her I told you. There are a few people in Pyrohex and a neighboring area called Titans Crossing that have been known to cause problems. Groundlock, Decadance, and Swivel have each protested the Mistress’ rule for years. Groundlock lives in Pyrohex’s under-city near the Furnace, a night club, which he runs, Decadance is a former employee at...a facility in Pyrohex-”

Arcee paused at the edge of the tunnel drop-off and narrowed her optics suspiciously as Windblade continued.

“-but she disappeared somewhere in Titans Crossing, and I think Swivel was reported killed just a few weeks ago by an exchange with the Mistress’ guards trying to blow up her surface home in Ember Basin. That leaves two suspects unless Swivel’s protest group grew spines and decided to avenge him. Out of all of them, Decadance is the one that worries me the most. She’s the most violent of the three, and the fact that we lost track of her does little to help.”

“I’ll find them and get them to talk. I’ll contact you when I’ve found her, I promise.”

Windblade gave a heartfelt laugh which was a relief to hear. “Knowing you enough, you will. Give them hell, Arcee.”

She cut the communication and jumped down the tunnel to the under-city below.

-------------------------

“Optimus wants an update on your progress. He’s getting worried because the Allspark is getting anxious,” Grimlock growled over the commlink.

Bolt scoffed, “Yeah, yeah, we’re working on it. The Allspark spent two years anxious on an island; this isn’t going to kill it. Just tell Optimus we hit some snags but we’re working on it.”

Megatron was less than pleased with two of his claws pressing against his temple in frustration. “Tell him he can mind his own damn-”

“Megatron says hi,” the Vehicon said blandly. “Okay...just tell him it’s okay. Okay? Bye.”

“That Prime, I swear.”

“We suck at giving updates.”

“You’re the communications specialist. You’re in charge of it,” Megatron sneered.

“You can suck my spike. I ain’t doing shit until we figure out what’s going on, then they can get their update. In all seriousness though, what’s up with you?” Bolt asked, sitting in the pilot’s seat of the transport. “Is it Arcee? You are massively protective of her, my god, man.”

The warlord turned his back on him with what sounded like a mixture between a snarl and a sigh. “It’s not that. There’s something she’s hiding, and I want to know what. Why does she leave us to go elsewhere without telling us? You don’t find that the slightest bit odd?”

“No, I do, but what are we supposed to do? Monitor her like she’s a pet gerbil or something?”

Megatron frowned confused, “What’s a gerbil?”

“Earth rodent-doesn't matter! The point is if we start prodding at her, the results are going to be catastrophic. I say...we just let them pan out. If she messes up, we’ll know, and we can call her out on it. If she doesn’t and her plan works, why stop her?”

The larger mech sighed, “Call me paranoid but something isn’t right, and you know it. I know you overheard the Allspark’s comment to me. But I assure you, it’s not that this time. What happened before was my fault, I’ll admit that much, but this feels dangerous. Do you know what I’m saying?”

Bolt slowly nodded, “I do. I’ll figure something out, just don’t confront her about it. Okay?”

Megatron was silent and as he remained that way, the Vehicon started planning his own intervention on the situation.

Chapter Text

Dropping beneath the surface to the under-city, Arcee scoped out the scene before her as she glided. Pyrohex was noisy but this was wild. Giant gears embedded in the ceiling moved lines of goods above the area. It was an industrial city with fire burning in mass and various pumps and gears visible.

She scanned for any nightclub among it, something with flashing lights or any sort of sign indicating a bar. Then she caught a glimpse of a venue hidden in the corner of the street, barely catching it in the corner of her optic. She halted mid-glide upright to double check if it was the right one, slowly sinking with her energy wings making sure she didn’t fall immediately. There were decorative Camien words lit up in pink and yellow in contrast with the burning reddish orange light of the fires surrounding it. It took a second to decipher it against the small language barrier between Cybertron and Caminus, but she finally got her answer. The Furnace. That was exactly what she needed.

She swooped down and rolled on her landing before making her wings disappear again. She did get a few looks from the bouncer at the door and several bots with their significant others right next to them. She ignored them and approached the bouncer hoping she could persuade him to let her in. Before she could get within fifteen feet of the mech, he held up his clawed servo.

“Sorry, dollface, but there’s a line.”

“It’s important, like life-and-death important,” she frowned.

“And that matters to me how?”

“I need to talk to Groundlock, the owner of this fine establishment. Either you show me through the door, or I kick you through the door. Your choice.”

The bouncer grew irate, and his venomous green optics narrowed as Arcee’s optics merely rose so she could still look him in the eye defiantly. “And what makes you think a small, weak femme like you can do a thing, trying to size me up like you’re a badass bitch? You ain’t no-”

With a sharp punch to his jaw, she then sent a kick with all her strength into his abdomen and sent him backwards. He hit the door, cracking it before doubling over in pain. The door had trouble opening but sparked as it revealed its entrance. When he looked up at her from his sitting position, his head was shoved down by her foot as she stepped over him. She ignored his whimpers as she went in, smirking while everyone else stared at her in awe.

“You don’t seem like much either,” she said.

Arcee looked around the club shaking her head at some of the obscenity until she noticed the stage with dancers. She watched them not in disgust but understanding; she had been there herself nearly a lifetime ago. It was honest work, more than people knew, so all she could do was give a nod in respect even if no one saw it. In her distraction, she suddenly heard the name she was looking for.

“Groundlock, when are you going to step up for once?” A blue mech with a few rings and decorated armor scowled as a light brown and dark grey mech followed him. To her surprise, the blue mech then stated, “You don’t care about me, not when you have this to replace me. We’re done.”

Groundlock, a large fellow like Bulkhead, pleaded, “Sapphire, come on, we can work this out! Please, no, don’t-”

The mech named Sapphire slammed the exit door on the other side of the club, and Groundlock sighed sadly, sitting in one of his corner booths. Arcee felt a little bad and decided if she was going to get information, now was the time. She slid into the booth and asked, “Is everything okay between you two?”

The obvious statement would have normally been met with a glare, but Groundlock looked far too depressed to do so. He tapped on the table before he spoke. “He’s right. I put way too much time into this joint. We have a kid at home, and I don’t pay attention to either of them, and it’s hurting us...I’m hurting them. Money talks more, right?”

“Depends on the situation. If your club is running fine without you, I think it can work out if you do spend less time here. You can always make money, but when will you ever get to see your kid grow up, see their achievements in the moment instead of hearing about it from an offhand comment? Same thing goes for your mate,” Arcee answered.

Groundlock slowly grew a hopeful expression as he contemplated her words. “You’re right...”

Arcee didn’t want to break the bubble, but she knew she couldn’t dwell long on Groundlock’s problems. She then asked, “Groundlock, I came here to ask you something. I know you hate the Mistress, but I need to know if you have seen her niece? She misses her just like you miss your family. Do you know about her disappearance?”

“I don’t hate the Mistress of Flame. I just don’t agree with her policies. I admit I did try to sabotage her once years ago, but I never wanted to hurt her. I left her other family members alone because that’s low, even in the game of politics. If her niece is missing, I unfortunately don’t know what to tell you except the only extremist in our fight against the laws was Decadance. She took things...in the wrong direction, and one time I heard she scarred the Mistress’ brother with acid, disfigured him greatly. He had nothing to do with the Mistress’ policies, but Decadance believed everyone can be a target.”

Arcee froze at the realization of the severe situation. If Decadance targeted family members, the Mistress’ niece was in greater danger than she initially thought. “Where’s Decadance? Do you know?”

Groundlock closed his optics but slowly nodded, “Decadance was in contact with me a few days ago and mentioned thinking about coming back to Pyrohex, but she never said anything else except to be prepared. I never prepared because I had no intention of doing anything, but now I think you have your culprit. She lives in Titans Crossing, a self-inflicted exile in a small base just beyond the arches you can’t miss even if you tried.”

With that, Arcee got up to leave but Groundlock grabbed her arm gently, “Thank you for the advice. Sometimes we lose our heads when we’re focused on what we want rather than what we need. And please consider what I did in the past was only because I thought I was doing the right thing. I wouldn’t go back to doing it now. If ever you need something, I’ll be here. Be careful out there.”

“Just promise me you’ll take care of those dancers of yours,” she winked. “They work hard to make a living too, you know.”

Groundlock nodded with a soft smile, letting her leave proud. On her way out, she noticed the bouncer was not pleased but sent a swift kick to his shin to make him kneel after he muttered an insult under his breath. The couples and other bots around made an assortment of sounds which she smirked at.

Without a way back to the surface on her own, she had to ask a citizen awkwardly like a tourist how to get a ride. The same method Windblade used when they first arrived allowed her to take a transport free of charge and the pilot went to signal someone else’s transport as she left the under-city. Towards the outskirts of the surface city of Pyrohex, things changed. Buildings vanished into a flatland seldom of populace except by the most unexpected dead.

Titans Crossing was ruins flattened by titans. Arcee gasped as she saw remnants of some of them. Obsidian got off lucky being turned into a tower with a grave to their name; the titans here were discarded, half buried in ditches or resting lifeless against forgotten structures she couldn’t even identify. How no one acknowledged them for all this time didn’t sit right with her. It felt like the Mistress of Flame was trying to cover more than just a little mistake.

She flew under a titan’s arched arm, saw a secondary arch from another titan corpse and realized they were the “arches” Groundlock spoke of. Just past them was a base seemingly abandoned, but Arcee landed a distance away to tread on foot just in case. Walking among the dead was haunting her every step of the way. At one point, passing the decapitated head of a titan with fangs larger than Blackout was tall, she had the brief paranoia it was going to come to life any second.

The exterior of the base had a lot of damage to what appeared to be its security system and its ventilation. Knowing what had to be done, she cracked her neck and carefully took off the vent cover nearest to her. Climbing through it was her least favorite thing in the world, she could admit, and there was already a long line of things on a list she hated. She crawled as silently as she could hoping there was at least a clue to the Mistress’ niece around the area. If Decadance was nearby, she hoped the bot would be in a good mood to talk. While she moved, Dagger Prima pulsed a few times before dying out. She wanted to scold it but decided against it when she heard a guttural feminine voice.

“You think your aunt will come to save you? She doesn’t even like your father. What makes you think she gives a damn about you?”

Arcee listened and crept to a vent cover to peer into the room to see if that was Decadance with the niece. A vivid metallic purple-blue femme with pink optics stood in front of a smaller yellow femme who was chained up by her arms. She paced in front of her menacingly with her servos behind her back. What made Arcee’s protoform crawl the most was seeing the poor girl with markings on her chest and arms, some bleeding.

“Please, I just want to go home,” the smaller femme whimpered.

“It’s funny, Helia, your aunt disgraced me, and you think you weren’t a part of that?”

“I didn’t do anything! I told you! I didn’t know what my aunt did nor was I involved. I wasn’t old enough to know!”

Arcee snarled when Decadance struck her to silence her. She needed to get into the room and quick but breaking the vent would cause too much noise and give the assailant time to hurt Helia. She decided to move on despite feeling bad to another room and snuck out of the vent onto the ground. It was time to get dangerous.

Arcee maneuvered through the base to try and pinpoint where they were before going any further with her improvised plan, pausing when she heard Helia cry out, which gave her the exact location. Now, the hard part. She listened for the direction of the footsteps to know when to sneak in. As soon as she was heading away, Arcee went in. Helia went quiet, and Arcee saw red.

Right as Decadance turned, she punched her dead center in the faceplates. The femme lurched back while Arcee pursued her shouting, “Mess with someone your own age, bitch!”

Decadance got wise fast and countered her uppercut, but it opened her to a headbutt which Arcee didn’t hold back on. The queen tripped her enemy and shoved her foot right onto her throat while Decadance glared at her.

“If you have a problem with the Mistress, why don’t you man up and go face her yourself instead of picking on her relatives like a coward?”

“You shifty blue fu-”

Arcee slammed her knee down on Decadance’s head, knocking her out cold before breaking the restraints on Helia. She helped the younger bot up with care as she knew the marks had to be sore from lack of medical attention.

“Your aunt is worried sick about you, by the way. Ignore the theatrical dumbass over here. She can’t harm you anymore,” Arcee said.

Helia rubbed her wrists and smiled, “I assume you aren’t from here. Most people wouldn’t engage Decadance even if they were paid to.”

“Yeah, well, people like Decadance talk a big game but can’t back it up. Rumors can go a long way, and I like to squash them when issued the challenge. She’s nothing but a petty criminal. I’ve fought warriors, warlords, aliens, nearly god-like entities and literal monsters. What’s her rap sheet exactly?”

The younger femme’s blue optics went wide in awe and giggled. They planned to leave the base but not before chaining Decadance up in return and quickly contacting Windblade.

“Found Helia in Titans Crossing. It was Decadance who took her, and she’s with me. Your prisoner is sitting in her own chains awaiting pickup at her base.”

Windblade was the most ecstatic she had ever heard her be. “You’re awesome, Arcee! But can you keep Helia away from Ember Basin for a while? We have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how but Metal Heads are in the city! They are attacking people left and right! We’ve just alerted Megatron and Bolt.”

Arcee peered at Helia who gave her a concerned expression before she replied, “I’ll be there in less than an hour. Helia will be safe; I promise that but I’m going whether you like it or not.”

“Can’t change your mind, can I? Just do what you must do and protect Helia in the meantime.”

She ended the call before looking at the other bot with a raised brow. “Want to see the action firsthand against real enemies? It seems you’re about to see me fight monsters after all. Buckle up, kid, we’re going to save Caminus.”

Helia looked excited, and Arcee couldn’t help but smirk at the young bot’s enthusiasm. They ran to the transport among the dead titans and set course for Ember Basin. The ride there was chatty, more so on Helia’s end but considering the girl had never met a Cybertronian war veteran before, Arcee kind of expected it. The questions Helia asked her were detailed and half of them she didn’t know how to respond to because the answers were either sad or painful.

“Did you ever have to kill a friend who turned traitor? Did you ever hunt those tentacle monsters I’ve heard in Windblade’s stories? The ones that invaded Aquatron? Have you ever been to-?”

“Okay, okay, calm down. There’s a lot of nitpicking I have to do to give a good answer. Um, yes, I’ve...I’ve had to kill a few former friends who were Decepticons, and they tried to kill me first. I killed some Quintessons but never went to the planet itself to do so. Let’s just say the ones I fought were like Decadance back there. All talk, no bite...or at least not to me.”

Helia gleamed at the answers. “You’re awesome!”

“Eh, I wouldn’t...call me that because I too have done some, um, bad things, but war isn’t black and white. No matter who tells you and who it involves. There’s always something to the enemies you fight against that you have to look back and see their light while sometimes you’ll find your side has a bit of darkness to it. The only instance I think I’ve ever heard of that being not true was a war on Earth. It had a very destructive group that I’m very hesitant to defend because there’s not a lot of redeeming qualities there. Nope...but anyway, it’s mostly a test of your mind and body, and it usually hurts like hell either way.”

“Oh,” Helia said with fascination, “well, I still think you’re awesome even if you have flaws.”

“So, who are you staying with? Anyone in particular I could notify or...?”

Helia’s expression dropped, “No, my aunt is all that’s left.”

That made Arcee pause, and she glanced at her perplexed. “Wha-what do you mean? What happened to your sire, your aunt’s brother?”

“He’s gone,” she whispered. “Decadance...she stormed our home and killed him, took me hostage and sent Windblade an anonymous tip to see if she could make my aunt go ballistic. She planned on killing me after hearing my aunt become desperate. She wanted to hear her break. My aunt doesn’t know about my sire’s death yet. That’ll crush her too. I don’t know how she found us.”

Arcee sat there silently. All she could do was gently place a servo on her shoulder, something the younger bot instinctively reached for in comfort. For nearly twenty minutes, nothing was said between the two, but Helia was thankfully distracted by the sky view of Pyrohex when they arrived.

As they flew over Pyrohex, Arcee thought she saw Silos’ ship near a small tower. She would have gone down to ask about the disturbance in Ember Basin, but she didn’t want to risk exposing Helia to him with the consequences she knew he would dish out, not to mention she didn’t trust him with anyone else period. However, she didn’t think it would hurt to contact him via commlink.

“You know how to fly, right?”

The yellow femme frowned, “I’m not that young.”

“Okay, I need to go into the back. Take over please?”

Nodding, Helia sat in the pilot’s seat and Arcee moved into the cargo bay before activating her commlink. “Silos, are you there?”

“As always. Did you find the girl?”

“Yes, she’s safe. Windblade is reporting activity in Ember Basin. What’s going on?” Arcee demanded.

“I sense the Metal Heads seem to be converging on the city with the intent to attack everyone and everything in the vicinity. The Metal Head Leader is furious at how many soldiers are down and seeks to replenish their hive with new victims. If they bite anyone, their venom will spread in seconds. You must hold off the squadron sent to collect Ember Basin’s residents or Caminus will be overrun by a whole new legion bred from cybernetic beings. Trust me, organic hosts are one thing, but cybernetic hosts are abominable. Make haste and get the virus contained.”

She changed her frequency to Megatron and quickly said, “Megatron, are you at Ember Basin?”

“Yes, where are you?”

“With Helia going over there now. Rescue mission was a success. Listen, get word out to the Mistress that we are heading into the city to stop a Metal Head attack. They might be intent on infecting everyone, so we need as many people ready to fight but also warn to keep their distance.”

“That’s easier said than done. Most people here only have handheld weapons. I’ll see what I can do. Stay safe,” he said.

“You too,” she replied softly.

Arcee went back up to the front but sat in the passenger seat, amused as Helia sang to herself. She let the younger bot continue to fly for another twenty minutes until they reached Ember Basin, that’s when Arcee switched with her and started flying low to see if any abnormal activity was around. She found the walkways barren and the city seemed less active. Hopefully, that wasn’t a bad sign.

“What are those things?!” Helia shouted.

Arcee peered to her right and gasped as yellow orbs encased on the exterior of metal eggs rattled as they were huddled on the building windows closest to her. Several more patches of alien eggs were seen once they moved past the building. On walkways, towers, and puddles of dark fungus, the eggs were around the area and spreading as a few Metal Heads were suddenly seen wandering.

“They are trying to do more than infect the city…Megatron, what’s happening?!”

“It’s bad! The city is infested with the Metal Head spawn! They attached them from a space bridge opened in the heart of the city! We were hoping we could figure out a way to destroy them before you got here, but it seems we are going to need all the help we can get! Meet us at the Parliament center!”

She quickly maneuvered the ship on a hard left side and flew a mile before seeing a gathering of people, including Megatron, Bolt, and Windblade, at a decorated building. Going down, she landed it just off to the side of the walkway and ran to them with Helia in tow. The Mistress of Flame was with the others and put a servo over her chest plate in relief upon seeing her niece, the latter of whom ran to her to give her a hug. The Mistress discarded her Forgehammer in favor of her living relative, leaving it to clatter on the ground before Windblade picked it up.

“You’re okay! Oh, my darling!” When she saw Arcee approach, she smiled, “I can’t say accurately in words how much I thank you. Decadance will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for her crimes. But that will come later. Right now, we have those ghastly creatures running amok. The city is on lockdown until we can get rid of them. And those eggs…”

Bolt interrupted, “Arcee, we need to find a way to destroy those eggs, or they might turn into a whole new army of monsters!”

Helia then said, “I think I might know a way. Caminus may not have guns anymore, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I remember we had a gunship in the storage facility downtown. That old relic might still work if we juice it with enough Energon.”

The Mistress of Flame scowled, “That’s too dangerous-”

“This whole situation is dangerous, Auntie, but we have to do something or risk losing our planet! Please, trust me.”

Megatron then held up his servo. “I can go with her. I know…violence. That’s probably the lightest I can put it. If anything gets ten meters in range of her, I’ll kill it. Arcee can vouch that.”

Arcee nodded with a quick laugh, “Yeah, I don’t think any harm can come to your niece now.”

A heavy sigh came from the Camien leader. “Alright, just don’t make me regret this, Megatron, or it’s your head.”

Helia squealed in delight, zooming around Megatron to his confusion before gesturing to him to follow. He took off with her as Arcee snickered to the side.

“And you, Arcee, I need you and Windblade on the front lines. We need to hit these things with no mercy and fast,” she stated, emphasizing her seriousness by banging the end of her Forgehammer staff against the ground.

“That’s fine by me,” Arcee said. The residents of Ember Basin gathered behind the Mistress when she signaled them to listen to her. She then continued, “If anyone gets bit, we need to kill them...as much as I dislike it the same as the rest of you, but one of the reasons the Metal Heads came into fruition as a legion is through infection. We need to get rid of them before they get an army of hosts, or you can kiss Caminus goodbye. It’s kind of like the Terrorcons we fought on Cybertron if anyone heard about that incident, just more intelligent and monstrous.”

“Huh, I forgot about them,” Bolt muttered.

“Any questions?”

No one in the crowd asked one but they glanced at each other a bit paranoid, not that she blamed them. As Bolt released his axe and with Moonhunter activating the turrets on his sides, the others slowly followed their lead. As she expected, they almost all had melee weapons which weren’t the best for new defenders to use against such a deadly species, but it boiled down to strategy the most.

“Remember this, Metal Heads have organic skin with metal armor. Aim for the soft tissue or the cabling around the neck. If you don’t have a clear strike, hit anything that looks vulnerable and go from there. Go in groups and team up. Otherwise, you risk being overrun and infected...or just killed altogether if they get pissed off enough. Let’s go!”

The crowd followed her as she ran towards the center of the city, listening to the signature roars of the dark creatures that tormented the galaxy to get an accurate lock on their location. When the group split up, she pulled out her ricochet ray. A thump on a level below her made her slow down and she peered over the side, gun at the ready.

Jaws appeared without warning, nearly striking her arm and she pulled back before punching the crawling Metal Head and shoving the gun’s muzzle down its throat. She pulled the trigger immediately. Suddenly, Metal Heads sprang up from the sides of the walkways and sprinted at all the Camiens in range. The residents of Ember Basin gave shouts as they clashed with the monsters as did Arcee.

The ambush was clever, even with them alerted to the possibility of the tactic. The Horaquan were crafty creatures, never dumb animals, and that made them extremely deadly no matter how well trained one could be in fighting them. Spears, swords, and hammers were common among the Camiens, and they used their weapons well, slashing and crushing the parts of Metal Heads as their lives depended on it. But then the carnage Arcee feared happened.

A Metal Grunt managed to get in close range of a Seeker and toppled her. She screamed as her arm was bitten with Energon pouring from the wound as the monster ripped it jaws away from her to snarl at another bot. It was quickly killed but the bot raced to her side as she winced. Suddenly, the venom visibly ran up her arm and turned her optics a hellish yellow as parts began to shift and malform. The bot beside her backed away as she withered in pain until it changed to a growl. Her mouth elongated revealing fangs. When the transformation was complete, the thing that once was the Seeker got up slow with its clawed servo stomping on the ground and its new bat-like wings twitching. It abruptly roared and tried to run straight at the bot who aimed to help its host, only for the blunt end of the Mistress’ Forgehammer to nail its temple. It collapsed and didn’t get the chance to stand when the former Seeker’s head was bludgeoned into a pool of dark sludge. Its skull gem popped out to the horror of everyone who witnessed the tragedy. The Mistress was at a loss for words, panting heavily at the sacrifice she was forced to make. She stared at the sludge covering part of her hammer and grew enraged.

Arcee watched as the Camiens were struggling to keep themselves safe while also aiming to kill the invasive species. She fired several shots at a few Horaquan hellions attempting to go after younger bots the same age as Helia, refusing to let the newer generations be hurt by them. She grimaced as several more bots fell to the virus but there was still hope as half of them didn’t even complete transformation before getting impaled or decapitated.

“Arcee, watch out!” Bolt yelled.

She turned around fast towards him to see several Metal Mantis springing towards her. She aimed her weapon and fired. Three of them fell but the rest dodged her bullets. She changed to her double-bladed sword and blocked the oncoming strikes from their forelegs. Rotating around out of the way of one attempting to strike her head, she returned the favor by embedding one of the blades through its backside before swiping her weapon up to throw it and counter another. When the remaining circled her, she made the bold move of jumping as they did. She used her speedster ability to gain the upper hand and swung her sword clockwise. She landed on the ground with the heads of the monsters bouncing to a halt beside her.

Smirking, she eased up thinking she was safe until a roar startled her, and she turned just in time to see a hidden Metal Grunt jumping down on her. Suddenly, beaked jaws clasped over the head of the Horaquan mere feet above her, snagging it out of the air as she flinched instinctively. It squirmed with a pained, muffled growl before the jaws crushed it entirely. The last noise it made was a squeal of death. Arcee was relieved to see a crosswing perched on a signpost above her, making a weird noise that could have been mistaken for laughter. The giant predator merely peered down at her as it forced more than half the body of the Metal Head down its throat happily.

“Don’t know if you understand me, but I thank you,” she said as she gestured respectfully to it.

The crosswing gulped and flapped its four wings with a content roar.

Windblade grinned as she saw the carnage Arcee made, coming up next to her as she struck down an infected bot. “Nice moves! I think we should up the ante a bit by bringing in some coverage.”

“Megatron and Helia are working on it,” she replied.

“No, I mean big coverage.”

Arcee looked at her confused until she remembered what lay in Titans Crossing. Her expression twisted to surprise as Windblade giggled at her. “You don’t mean-?”

“Oh yeah, I can show you mine.” Both femmes ran towards the Mistress who ruptured the chest of a Horaquan soldier before Windblade asked, “Mistress, with your permission, I want to bring out Astro Zenith. She has the weapons systems capable of pinpoint targeting plus we get to show our guests a bit of titan might. It’s the perfect time for it!”

The Mistress of Flame seemed reluctant but watching some of her citizens become monsters, she was quick to change her tune. “Very well, I’ll get a hold of Victorion. Windblade, light our darkest hour by any means necessary!”

----------------------------

Megatron jumped down from the sky view window in the storage facility, shaking the stable catwalks with force when he landed. Helia took a more sophisticated route and used a crane to slide down before flipping off to land gently. They exchanged looks until Helia shrugged sheepishly.

“When we got rid of the blasters and other hard artillery, we stored them here. My aunt used to show me this as a history lesson...but she didn’t think I would memorize what exactly was in it.”

“Why did Caminus ban assault weapons?”

Helia gestured as they passed a huge tank-like vehicle suspended by chains. “Well, Camiens were all about peace when they first inhabited the planet. So, they got rid of all types of weapons, but we ended up needing them when conflict arose within. The first weapons of choice? Artillery. It proved a bit too much and after everything was set in order again, the law became melee weapons only, that way we could defend ourselves if need be but less risks.”

Megatron frowned, “How is there less risks with swords, knives, and other handheld weapons? They can kill just the same.”

“Yes, but everyone noticed that melee weapons were often used more personally and up close. Since most people are cowards without guns, unwilling to get their servos dirty enough to harm someone, crime and conflicts went down. That doesn’t mean they didn’t exist but way less prominent compared to having a quick and powerful weapon like a blaster at your disposal where you can kill in a second and not think twice...but in this case, the Metal Heads are keen on using violence with no way of communicating with them. That gives us reason to pull out some firepower.”

Traversing the warehouse proved fruitful as Megatron saw caches of stored weapons and forgotten ships. Helia seemed to favor one in particular as she went straight to the control console and turned it on. The lights around a decent sized gunship showed off the vehicle and the power levels for the machine appeared on screen. Being unused for years, it still had most all its fuel. Whether its weapons system worked or not was unknown.

“Ready to hunt down those eggs? I drive, you shoot.”

Megatron stroked his arm cannon with a smirk, “I can work with that.”

The gunship sounded off as they reactivated it after climbing in. Its restraints detached and the ceiling above jolted as it reopened. The light from the rising sun and the gas giant made its way into the dark storage facility for the first time, illuminating the ship’s faded colors. The ship rose as Helia flipped switches to get the engines running at full capacity and the turrets to emerge from their bays.

“Cool! I’ve never flown a ship of this magnitude!”

The warlord paused, “You what?!”

Helia assured him, “It’s okay, I got this! It has the same mechanics, nothing to worry about!”

That didn’t stop him from rolling his optics at the notion. Once the gunship was high enough, Helia floored it. Its turn radius was sharper than she thought and overcorrected slightly but she regained control as she moved it around the buildings. Once the Metal Head eggs were spotted on the left, she signaled Megatron who controlled the giant turret on the side.

The turret blared as its bullets hit the eggs, popping them like balloons with an eerie noise that could be mistaken for an alien scream. Whether non-host Metal Heads were born fully grown or not, he didn’t want to know. As soon as all the eggs on the first building were gone, Helia swerved around until she found several patches above and below walkways and other skyscrapers. Megatron lit them up with a grimace.

“Woohoo! Get some of those monsters too while you’re there!”

Megatron shifted the turret to a cluster of Metal Heads trying to run towards the Camiens nearby. He shot at each of them, laughing as the weapon toasted the fraggers with skull gems exiting their corpses one after the other. “The joys of killing again! Like fine high-grade! Intoxicating!”

Helia’s processor stalled and she made an uncertain expression upon hearing that on her speaker. “I...don’t think that’s something you should be bragging about.”

“Warlord, child. I didn’t get that title for just being the leader of a faction now, did I?” Megatron smirked.

She slowly dawned her own smile as she humorously said, “You are one interesting psychopath. I like it.”

They scoured the whole city for the eggs, not one of them survived their wrath. Helia made the ship go lower to check beneath the near-ground level walkways just in case. She found a few patches but not as severe as the upper areas.

Suddenly, something flew past her windshield, and she flinched. Slowing down, she tried to peer up to see what it was. The beating of its wings grew louder before the gunship shook with something landing on top of it. Another bang had her nearly hit her dashboard, but she stopped herself even in her shock.

“What was that?! Megatron, do you know?!”

Megatron leaned on the turret skeptical and growled low until he heard a matching growl among his own. A bird-like hand came down on the glass shield right above the turret, cracking it which startled him. Then he heard a deep hawk-like grunt. But before he could identify the creature, he saw the shadow on the building adjacent to him open its wings and leave the top of the ship.

“I think...” the warlord huffed, “we have a problem.”

---------------------------

Arcee and Bolt, who joined up with her after killing a few of the monsters, guarded Windblade as she stood at the railing of the walkway. Moonhunter stood by on edge but wanted to keep near his owner just in case. The Seeker breathed steadily, closing her optics as she cleared her mind. Her optics abruptly opened but were completely blue. Her bio lights blared across her body like spider webs, and she extended her arm out towards the city itself.

“Astro Zenith, awake!”

The two bots beside her glanced at one another confused until they felt the city rumble. A distant faint blue and gold building was endowed with blue bio lights matching Windblade as large sections of it began to move. It transformed slowly but with a snarl which only prompted the Seeker to grin back at her friends.

“Forgive her, she’s been asleep for years just like the other remaining titans. Very cranky old lady, even back then, but she has her charm.”

Astro Zenith was crouching upon finishing her transformation, rising with a dark expression on her faceplates. It almost appeared like her helm was a crown and the bio lights skimming across her faceplates made it appear like she had a second set of optics. She shook with rage upon seeing the Metal Heads, and the creatures grew still seeing her.

Windblade started to back away while half-chuckling in concern. “You, uh, you might want to move a couple meters back. When summoned, she gets a bit aggressive…”

When Windblade started to book it in the opposite direction, past the stunned Metal Heads with Moonhunter following instantly, both Cybertronians looked at each other and then at the titan growling before suddenly sprinting after the Seeker too. Astro Zenith made a booming roar, shaking the surrounding area.

As Arcee caught up with Windblade, she exclaimed, “I thought Cityspeakers controlled titans?!”

“We can! Every titan except Astro Zenith! She doesn’t take orders well, so we basically only use our abilities to wake her up and call her off! That’s pretty much it! The rest of the time, we’re running away from her! Ha ha...keep running!”

The heavy stomps of the titan shook the city. Bolt stumbled from the shaking of the walkways, bumping into a few Metal Heads in the process who were equally unbalanced. He was hit on the side by a Ramhead and fell over the railing with a scream. Arcee yelled his name, but he couldn’t hear her over himself. He instantly left freefall, hitting something hard and froze unsure if something ruptured inside until he heard feminine laughter. Peering farther up from his laying position, the red and turquoise face of Victorion glowed beautifully against the darker background. Bolt shivered in her palm.

“Nice to see you again, Bolt.”

He sat upright stuttering, “H-Hi! You don’t know how glad I am to see you, girls!”

“Try not to fall off any ledges next time or we might not be able to save our favorite cyberbiologist,” she purred.

When Arcee looked over the edge, she saw Bolt stagnate but safe in Victorion’s care, and she smiled at them. Victorion looked up at her and waved with her free servo until she was spooked by Astro Zenith’s growls.

The titan narrowed her optics at a group of Metal Heads that dared to hiss at her, but they quickly realized their mistake when the titan’s fist came crashing down on them. The walkway they were on partially collapsed from the force and crushed another group just below it. Windblade snickered while Arcee stared horrified when Astro Zenith backhanded at a few Ramheads and sent them to be flattened against the side of the building. The queen felt sorry for them before they slipped off lifeless.

“So, uh, when are you going to call her off?” Arcee grimaced as another Metal Head’s eyes popped out alongside its gem when Astro Zenith sent it flying into a solid structure. “I mean I think this might be a bit too much.”

Windblade started to nod as she watched Victorion bring out her sword with Bolt on her shoulder before peering at her titan when the walkway began to shake again. “Well, you wanted the Metal Heads annihilated, and Astro Zenith is one of the deadliest titans we have. She’s great when everything’s calm and we wake her just to let her roam. She’s just violent when it comes to everything else.”

“Where was she when we tried to take Kaon from Megatron? She would have desecrated that city to oblivion,” Arcee scowled inwardly.

With a shrug, the Seeker laughed, “If you want, you can borrow her if ever you are overthrown again. I think I can get her to Cybertron. Oh, and speaking of your sparkmate...”

Arcee looked where Windblade was pointing to see the gunship Helia and Megatron were sent to find. With the turrets going wild, she assumed they were still henting for eggs but flying Metal Heads were visibly assaulting them. Around them, the citizens of Caminus were having better luck with Astro Zenith terrorizing the Horaquan populace on the ground to submission. Arcee grew proud of their growing determination to destroy the invaders.

When she heard a snarl from Moonhunter behind her, she activated her blasters and shot at a Metal Centurion that happened to sneak up on them. Her reaction made Windblade panic and in doing so, Astro Zenith immediately turned towards them. The Centurion soldier used its shield to block Arcee’s attacks but when it saw the titan approaching, it stepped back and held its shield close. As it found out, and so did the femmes, its shield was only good for protecting itself against those of its caliber...not giant, walking mini cities. Both bots flinched when Astro Zenith’s servo crushed it, leaving a huge hand mark in the walkway with remnants of a flat Metal Head in the middle.

“Damn! That’s got to hurt,” Arcee winced, petting the Nitrotiger hidden behind her leg at the same time.

“You think?” Windblade scoffed.

Megatron began to speak through the commlink, “Arcee, we successfully purged the eggs from the city but there’s...an issue. These flying nuisances didn’t appear until after we encountered something unusual. I think it was a Metal Head, definitely big, but it didn’t stick around long enough for me to see all of it. Keep a lookout in the skies. There’s something up here with us.”

Arcee suspiciously looked up and frowned. Although most movement was from those pesky Metal Heads chasing down the ship, some of which changed direction to irritate Astro Zenith, none of them looked out of the ordinary.

Anothing ping from her commlink made Arcee growl, “What now?”

Silos’ voice was indifferent to the attitude. “I see you’re still alive and so is Caminus...and I assume that giant brute tearing up the city is a friend of yours? I just wanted you to know I found a blaster mod from one of those soldier class Metal Heads lying out in the open. If you survive the rest of the onslaught, it’s yours if you want it. As for the Metal Heads, the hive mind is scattered. They are panicked and might soon withdraw their forces...assuming your city-sized deathly zealot doesn’t crush them first.”

Arcee was distracted when Victorion seemed to team up with Astro Zenith, allowing the titan to direct her in places that others couldn’t go to without massive damage. Once Victorion, with Bolt guiding her, found her targets, she was swift to remove them. Swiping up several with her sword, Metal Head bodies who attempted to flee were scattered and if the blows didn’t kill them, the lengthy fall to Caminus’ surface did.

Windblade was startled, forcing Arcee to quickly move back when Astro Zenith lowered her head to near eye level with the Seeker. Given the optic size of the titan was nearly as big as Windblade herself, the intimidation was natural. But the red and black femme mustered up the courage to approach the unchained titan before carefully sliding a servo on her nasal ridge, prompting steam to emerge as a playful snort. Astro Zenith lifted her head quickly before resettling next to her to make a brief grunting sound. Windblade merely smiled at it.

“That’s it. Now you listen, huh?”

“Sometimes,” a deep voice in the air said.

Windblade laughed, “Glad to see you back in action, Astro.”

Arcee shook her head amused, “What happened to not being able to control her?”

“I may have lied a little. I can’t but that doesn’t mean I haven’t befriended her. The battlefield is a whole different world for Astro Zenith. She was made to destroy, making her very unruly and bitter, which is why she won’t respond like most titans to Cityspeakers. But just because someone is made for a specific purpose doesn’t mean they are void of developing new purposes nor making new friends. It’s not about whether I can control Astro Zenith, it’s whether she trusts me in the end. That’s the difference, and that’s why most Cityspeakers can’t work with her. Like I said, they can summon her, they can point out the problem, but they can’t make her do anything they want on a whim. She can sense what I want, and she does it on her own accord. I just sit back and watch the show.”

As Astro Zenith’s optics landed on Arcee, the latter could finally see a faint softness in them. A war machine she was but not a mindless beast. Arcee made a faint smile, and she swore there was a small edge on the titan’s lips that seemed to arch. It was better than being viewed as an enemy and ending up like that Metal Centurion.

Something in the atmosphere around her shifted and she lost her smile. Arcee peered around her watching Camiens and Metal Heads fight but that wasn’t it. There was a dense feeling she was being spied on, but she didn’t know where. When Dagger Prima began to glow again, she knew she was right. Then she remembered the warning Megatron gave her. Just as the thought came to her, a winged shadow covered her in a flash.

“Arcee!” Windblade called out. Astro Zenith was just as shocked while Moonhunter yowled.

Arcee was harshly grabbed by a large bird-like hand and lifted off the ground. The creature made a frightfully dark screech and upon looking down, she spotted what appeared to be an equus lower half. Suddenly, she was thrown through a window, forced to roll until she hit a wall. Stunned, she could barely move as a haunting shadow dwarfed her, and her optics went wide once they readjusted.

A hippogriff with a fanned-out metal plated tail, robotic wings and the signature Horaquan eyes glared at her. Its rustic silver armor and sea green skin clashed with Caminus’ lavender sky. The cabling on its neck had two tubes attached to its lower jaw, wrapping towards its backside like reins. Its armored beak was razor sharp with fangs, its head supported a false plume of metal feathers that appeared more like barbs, and below its horse-like legs, metal hooves were more than capable of stomping the life out of her if she wasn’t careful. The bird-like arms gestured as it made a more animalistic roar, the skull gem on its chest glowed in its anger. She recognized what it was supposed to be.

“Silos, I have one of those commanders here! Bird, horse, something that can fly!”

“Sounds like the Hypo-glyder, the Master of Flight. It can make a powerful blast deep within its throat using specialized glands. It’s as devastating as gunfire. Its wings and tail allow it to maneuver quickly in the air, able to do extremely tricky turns. It is nearly impossible to sneak up on. No one touches it in the sky, Arcee. No one.”

“Just watch me,” she muttered.

The Metal Hypo-glyder narrowed its eyes. She ran towards it, but it proved fast enough to grab her leg when she aimed to kick it and swung her back inside. She could tell its calculative nature was coming out as it grew defensive, not letting her leave its sight. Now the game was on, and she was going to hurt it by any means necessary. Challenge accepted. Arcee ran at it again, but this time jumped to glide under it. The Hypo-glyder didn’t expect this and raised a brow with a snort. She smirked as it then grew enraged and flew after her. Weaving through buildings, she had it chase her across Ember Basin’s skyline. Her plan was simple: make it confident it would win by giving it a chase and turn all that pride against it. Granted, there was margin for error, and she saw this when a fireball erupted from its mouth. She twisted away from the blast and noticed it was gaining on her. As she headed towards a skyscraper, she sneered.

“You can fly faster than me, let’s see if you can outmaneuver me!”

Diving, both Arcee and the Metal Head were determined to outflank one another. She decided to pull something risky. Opening her energy wings to immediately halt her descent, the Hypo-glyder passed her and she used the opportunity to give it a taste of its own medicine. The gunfire was abundant, but the Metal Head was quicker than she thought. When it turned around to go straight at her, she wasn’t able to recollect herself before it grabbed one of her arms and launched her through the tower beside her. There wasn’t a definitive number of walls she went through by the time she hit the floor.

The queen shakily got up and popped her back. “That probably broke something. Think, Arcee, think! Incredibly fast bird, can outfly me, can outmaneuver me, so what would be its weakness?”

Listening to the movement of the Hypo-glyder outside before peering through some of the crevices in the fractured walls, she noticed it seemed hesitant to go inside after all. It was obvious it wanted nothing more than to tear her apart, but it was skittish to go within a confined space...though it had some room now, it still stayed outside hovering by the entrance she had created upon impact.

“Untouchable in the sky...alright then, you want to pick a fight with me so bad? Let’s see how you do on my turf,” Arcee whispered, smirking.

While it moved to get a better look in the building, she opened a window on the opposite end and climbed to the top. Peering down, she saw the Hypo-glyder almost pacing around the area. Knowing this might be her only chance to do some damage while getting its attention, she aimed her blaster and fired. The shot hit the back of its neck, its eyes blaring in fury.

“You think that will kill me? I’ve had better attempts.”

When it looked up, she gave a taunting salute before flipping it off, turning her back towards it, and falling backwards. She fell past it with a laugh. In unbridled rage, it looped backwards to dive after her. Arcee didn’t activate her wings until she passed several walkways. Once she confirmed it was following her still, then she made her move.

She activated her wings and barely missed hitting the walkway closest to the ground. The Hypo-glyder did the same. Gliding between pillars, buildings and other objects, she noted the Hypo-glyder was becoming claustrophobic. It was struggling with no way to outmaneuver her without any free space to get creative in its approach. As the walkways’ spaces between each other grew cramped in the alleys of the buildings, the Metal Head grew panicked about its poor decision. Just then, she grabbed a decorated pole and swung around it to the Hypo-glyder's surprise. With no room to dodge when it tried to pull itself upright mid-flight to counter her only to risk hitting the walkway ceiling above it, it got hit by her pedes and slid on the ground several feet back.

Arcee landed with a sneer before pulling out Dagger Prima, the blade’s lust resonated as it gave its whispers. She was more than willing to indulge it. Watching the Hypo-glyder flinch as it stood was humorous. It acted like walking on the ground burned it. Once it noticed her again, it bellowed with its tail spread and its wings raised, the hooves of its feet creaking cracks with each step.

She lunged at it attempting to strike its chest. It deflected her with its arm but without being able to navigate fluidly as it did in the air, it had trouble walking and defending itself at the same time. She could tell its hooves were meant for kicking more so than for regular movements. Arcee then whipped around, and the edge of the dagger barely grazed its cheek. Infuriated, it sent punches her way but she backflipped and spun away from them, the fighting she was heavily used to. When it brought one of its wings down to hit her, she leapt onto its back and sank the weapon into its side. That’s when it took no more.

Arcee froze when they were suddenly off the ground and the Hypo-glyder shot straight up through the walkway above it. Bucking and kicking, flapping its wings madly, it tried everything to dislodge her. She saw Windblade and the Mistress in the distance trying to get to her but before they could, the Metal Head went skyward. On its back, it felt like she was on one hell of a rollercoaster. She attempted to strike it again, but it did a quick jolt and she almost let go of her blade.

“Keep still, you son of a-!”

It suddenly flipped upside down and Arcee was dangling high above the city. She grew a little nauseous staring at the distance for too long but held her composure to try and finish off the beast. If she let go, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to kill it again. When they passed the same tower she had been thrown through, she got an idea.

“Hey, you look like a chicken instead of a bird of prey.” Its head snapped under its back while still flying upside down to stare at her menacingly. As it opened its mouth and the back of its throat grew bright orange, she merely laughed, “And apparently, when you’re focused on something, you’re a lousy flier...because you’re about to crash.”

Arcee let go, and the Metal Head watched her glide beneath it. Confused, it looked in front of it. Its eyes went wide. Slamming face first through the building it failed to see, crashing through the walls all the way to the other side where it gripped the ledge of the window it came tumbling out of to prevent itself from falling. With a growl, it pressed its wings close to its body and climbed up to the safety of the open floor. But it was suddenly struck in the face and was forced to do a few backflips out into the sky. It dizzily flapped its wings, attempting to keep itself upright in its pain. The Hypo-glyder grew weary as it held its head.

“What’s wrong? The master of the air feeling a little lightheaded?”

Arcee flipped up to the roof of the building before running to the edge with her speed boost and igniting her wings to go straight at it. With the Metal Head still recovering, she grabbed the edge of its wing and pulled herself onto its back again. She sank Dagger Prima though the arm of the wing and severed it, making the creature start to struggle to fly. Maneuvering on it to place her pede against its snout when it tried to snap at her, she glared down at it.

Arcee finally snarled, “Have a nice flight, and consider yourself afterwards GROUNDED!”

She jumped and sent both pedes right into its face with as much force as she could give, a sickening crack echoed in response to the brutality. Its remaining wing no longer moving, and it plummeted with an eerie roar. Arcee glided in a circle as she watched it fall to Caminus’ surface with a stern expression. It uselessly clawed at the air to no avail as purple blood poured from its nostrils. When it hit the highest walkway, it went straight through it. All Arcee could see was a plume of smoke from the hole it created.

She dived down after it a minute later and landed on the upper walkway to peer down the hole. Lifelessly, it lay with purple sludge with fragments of metal piercing its torso from the rubble. Although the commander got what it deserved, she saw its forced pose with its head lying sideways quite pitiful. Unlike most Metal Heads, this one did look like a nice specimen. A shame she had to destroy it.

Clapping and cheers were heard as she put away Dagger Prima; she still owed the blade some blood. With no more Metal Heads in sight, all the Camiens of Ember Basin cried out in victory. More than likely, the remaining monsters had fled. The gunship Helia and Megatron used landed, and the warlord was quick to run to her, scooping her up affectionately.

He laughed, “Arcee the Horaquan Hunter! That’s a good title, right?”

“Whatever you say,” she giggled.

The Mistress of Flame, Windblade, and Helia all gathered around her as Victorion still held Bolt and Moonhunter rubbed against her happily. She suddenly heard a low, curious growl as Megatron set her down and peered back to see Astro Zenith kneeling with a purr. The queen held out her servo to the titan and was shocked when Astro Zenith let her touch her nose plating. Once she was done with the titan, she turned back to face the Mistress herself.

“Arcee, you proved me wrong about Cybertron...and you,” the Mistress admitted as Helia clung to her aunt’s side. “We couldn’t have won without you or your friends. I’m sorry about my attitude and my superstitions but when you love your planet and its people, you tend to be protective of them.”

Windblade pulled out a Radiant Core and said, “And we appreciate everything you’ve done. Here, we don’t have much to offer for war heroes.”

Arcee took it with pride. “I don’t need anything special either. We were once supposed to look out for each other, remember? I think it’s time we do that again.”

The Mistress looked at her citizens around her and sighed, “I suppose you still wish for us to rejoin Cybertron in a treaty? Very well then. Tomorrow, after we make absolute those horrid beasts are gone, I will make it so.”

Astro Zenith nodded pleased while Victorion looked quite pleased at the decision. The other Camiens each shouted their approval. Arcee watched as Caminus relished its survival against the Metal Head menace. She had no doubts the creatures would return somewhere else if the Metal Head Leader was as bold as Silos said but she would be ready. She always was.

-------------------------------

One day later...

“We’re almost good to go, Bumblebee, just got to have a signed consent form for the two worlds to trade again and we’ll be home soon.”

“That’s good! I’m proud of you, Arcee. We all are,” the Autobot leader said.

As her commlink conversation ended, Arcee brushed her fingers against Dagger Prima. It whispered ever so, some of which she believed was it communicating with the Allspark. Although she was using her other weapons more than it, she still regarded it as the best blade she had in arsenal.

Thinking about weapons, her mind slowly drifted to Silos’ offer of a gun mod. It wouldn’t hurt to visit him and straighten out the facts from fiction with him. He was a good listener more than she thought but the theft of the abandoned fire crystals was as shameful as stealing the Energon Core on Velocitron. Not her finest moments in life.

As Bolt sat in their shared suite offered by the Mistress of Flame herself at the luxury bar along with Moonhunter who was sitting on one of the stools beside him, she passed him without a word. To his credit, he immediately called her out on it.

“Where are you going?” He sang curiously.

“What? I can’t go out every once in a while?” Arcee scoffed.

The Vehicon shrugged, “It’s just a question. Why are you getting so defensive all of a sudden? I’m no expert in mannerisms, Arcee, but that is questionable itself.”

“You asked.”

“You’re deflecting.”

“It’s...” she paused, then growled, “I’m just meeting with...a friend I made. There, you happy?”

Bolt said nothing but just nodded and left her alone. She took that as her sign to leave and went down the hall to a window. Slipping through it, Arcee activated her energy wings and soared among the lavender sky. Caminus’ gas giant it orbited reflected well on the city as she looked down on it for her “friend.” Spotting the ship that appeared foreign but not enough for anyone to believe it couldn’t be another cybernetic being’s, she landed on it and flipped down to see Captain Silos enjoying the sun’s rays.

“We need to stop meeting like this. Bolt’s getting suspicious and so is Megatron. I don’t want to know what the Mistress of Flame would think if she knew I took fire crystals for your greedy aft.”

Silos merely opened one eye among his sleeping pose on his belly and made a hand wave, “Do you prefer I contact you multiple times a day and accidentally give your mate the impression you’re cheating on him?”

Arcee grew deadpanned, “We can’t cheat on each other; it’s biologically impossible once we’re sparkbonded. Any activity like that would result in him knowing immediately by-”

“I was trying to make a point. I don’t need the logistics of it,” he frowned. “You’re no doubt here for that blaster mod. A poor soldier died valiantly but since they no longer need it, you can have it. It’s in the ship in my artillery room. Go ahead and look around if you want; I have nothing to hide.”

Arcee acknowledged his unspoken tiredness and left him to sunbathe, smirking a little when she thought she heard a deep purr resonating from him as his tail barely moved except to tap the ground occasionally. When she went into the ship, she expected to find maybe dead Metal Head carcasses, weapons, and some other cursed artifacts that had been stolen. Instead, it proved quite different.

It was clean, very organized, and not a single stain on the ground. As she passed his wide-open berthroom, the only thing he had to rest on was a rather big lounge chair with an elevated head rest. Given she had forgotten some of his traits were reminiscent of reptiles, like the ones found on Earth despite appearing like a hybrid of an alien rhino, she assumed it was to cater to this. Peering back outside to see if Silos was watching, he definitely was sound asleep, she went into the room.

Pictures on his furniture surprised her the most, especially one holoscreen that depicted a slightly younger looking Tigressa in the background with a few other femmes...and a light blue Rozarian with straps for his swords and body armor at its center. The caption at the bottom read “Ceros Silos.” It was quite astonishing to see Silos as a normal Rozarian. No skull gems, no yellow eyes, instead they were more orangish red though he still had slit pupils even then, and without the helmet, the top of his head was visible. Small spikes lined his head past the ears down to his neck. There were still a few scars but a lot less noticeable. His mouth still had sharp teeth but far less defined. His armor was strapped down, not bleeding into his body as a part of him. The metallic claws that lined his wrists and chest weren’t appearing like skeletal breaches in the skin. They were instead a part of the straps’ centerpiece on his chest and the wrist gauntlets he had. His hands themselves looked less sharp and more user friendly. His tail had a dim spine with little bumps, not the massive barbs they supported now.

Arcee was conflicted about seeing his original form. Why he abandoned it to be a Metal monster was unbelievable. But the virus was created by Tigressa and upon seeing her younger but no doubt still malicious form in the background, she could understand just how far manipulation could go.

The rest of his room had nothing but small trophies of his conquests, a few drawings he did in his limitless spare time it seemed. She moved on to the artillery room once she had a good feel for Silos’ life aboard the ship. No wonder he preferred to risk getting caught to enjoy the other planets. He had nothing to do in his ship.

The artillery room had quite the weapons cache; its stock unlimited. She saw the pieces of the mod Silos was talking about and grinned. They were made for blasters alone, perfect for the ones on her arms. She brought one out at a time and reformatted them with the mods. Once they were obtained, she activated both at the same time and watched their power levels go up. Her system took a second to recognize them, but she hardly had any problems otherwise.

“Nice!”

She left the ship proudly and chuckled to herself as Silo was now belly up posed with arms cuddled close to his chest. He looked kind of like a cat in his position. She gave him a silent gesture of approval and left him in peace.

When she got back to the suite, she found Bolt glaring at her. His posture was rigid, almost untrusting. Then he said, “We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“So, tell me, Arcee...where did you go?” Bolt asked monotone.

Arcee shook her head, “It’s not relav-”

“It is when the planet’s life is at stake,” he growled, “or did you forget about that being the whole purpose we’re here? Your ability to glide makes you easy to track visually, even more so when in the presence of a strange ship did I see a Metal Head.”

“You were following me?! What happened to trusting me?!”

Bolt immediately yelled back, “What happened to trusting us?! I would hate to know if our own queen was working with the enemy! You better start explaining and fast or I might have to make a choice today no matter how much I care about you!”

Arcee snarled and clenched her fists but let her anger go as she knew she was entirely in the wrong for keeping the whole situation a secret. “The Metal Heads have a traitor among them; he’s been giving me intel ever since we came to Velocitron. I was so afraid to tell you because I’m scared. He knows what I did on the isle through some type of internal hive link they have, and he’s holding me liable to pay the inconvenience back by helping him get a few things in exchange for valuable information on the Metal Heads’ next move.”

Bolt crossed his arms with a hiss, “And how exactly do you know this Metal Head isn’t setting this all up?”

“He told me how to kill the commanders, and he’s the one who’s been relaying every move of the Metal Head Leader. He despises the current.”

“And who pray tell is this traitor?”

Arcee sneered, “You already know his name.”

The Vehicon paused for a second before his posture grew slack in surprise. “Captain Silos? The Rozarian that turned...?”

She nodded, “When he got separated from Tigressa, he grew disheartened. When he reunited with her, her ambitions changed, and he left the legion. Ever since then, he’s just been touring the galaxy running a business away from it all. He arrived at Velocitron because he sensed something was wrong. Turns out there is a new leader, and he’s not happy about it. He wants to end the virus for good. He thinks with Tigressa now confirmed gone, which he learned through his natural link the same day we killed her, those creatures shouldn’t be active anymore.”

“So, let me see if I have this correct? Silos is feeding you information in exchange for a few services, and he has zero problems with us destroying what his master and friend created?” Bolt asked. “Arcee, we have to tell-”

“NO!” The queen shouted. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Just because Silos is helping me doesn’t mean he’s a good person entirely. He made it clear that if anyone finds out about him, he can and will make me regret it. I don’t want anyone getting hurt from his ire, let alone the Metal Heads being tipped off where I currently reside. They will either target me or Cybertron in my place. He made that explicitly known. You cannot tell Megatron or any of our friends. Please.”

Bolt peered deep into her optics before stressfully sighing, “Being on the right side of things doesn’t mean good after all, it seems. He gains something regardless while you’re shanghaied into service. You realize this can go wrong if we aren’t careful, right? I can keep your secret...but I don’t like anything about it. And I’m still mad at you to a degree. You should have told u from the beginning. We would have understood.”

“I don’t like it too. Can I...admit something else to you? And it cannot leave this room either.” Despite him already on edge, he nodded as she continued, “I stole the Energon Core and the fire crystals from the Mistress’ abandoned testing facility. That’s how Silos wants repayment. I’ve expressed to him the absurdity of it, but he doesn’t care.”

When she brought out one of the fire crystals, Bolt made a distressed sound. “Primus, Arcee! If anyone connects those thefts to you, we’ll all be dead! W-what happened?!”

Arcee tried to calm him. “I know, I know, I know! But what am I supposed to do? I chased that bellbat to his shop by accident, met him, and he’s not the best guy to work with but he knows quite a lot, being around for so long as he has. He’s the only lead we have against the Metal Heads. I wish I could take it back...but I can’t.”

For over a minute, Bolt said nothing. He looked as if he was debating something, and Arcee couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. Finally, he said, “Alright, you and I will be the only people who know this, and I will help you. But don’t ask me to steal stuff; just let me know what you have to take to make this situation work in our favor. If we get caught though...”

“I’ll own up to it. Saving the world, sacrifices are sometimes the hardest to make...even if you don’t agree with them. If we don’t have his help, we’re just as screwed.”

“Does he say what he uses these items you steal for?”

“He sells them to clients; he doesn’t care who or what gets ahold of them. Make of that what you will.”

Before Bolt could say anything else, a portal opened beneath Arcee and she screamed as she fell through in shock. When it disappeared, the Vehicon stared at the place where Arcee was just a few seconds ago. “Huh...now I get why she doesn’t like the Allspark sometimes. What a conversation breaker.”

Arcee, on the other hand, was less amused. She went through space through a transparent portal of energy. The galaxies and planets she passed, although beautiful, were loathed as she flew by them against her will. When she hit the “ground” on her front, she groaned face down. Hearing the whooshing noise of pure energy spawning, all she could do was mutter in her slacked position.

“The enemies of the universe are converging. As more events unfold, the world you know may succumb to chaos and with it, madness will prevail. The only thing that stands in the way of this is you.”

“You know,” she scowled as she got up shakily, “you and I need to talk about us meeting like this. Being dropped out of the sky…space…whatever tends to hurt a bit on impact. We as a species aren’t indestructible like you.”

The Allspark laughed, “I beg to differ. I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Considering I’m stuck in a starry void, I assume I don’t have much of a choice except take you up on that offer,” she fussed, popping her back from the landing.

“In the midst of titans and traditions on a fire-fueled world, five relics of Primus lie waiting to come home. The core of the machine can take but not give and decimate the wayward souls who cross it. Forever changing, the minds of the many become the body of one as the impossible reforms into the imaginable. Death is inevitable, the universe shattered, if this blade so unyielding is unleashed but merciful can never be. The state of its power depends on the wielder’s intentions as matter itself shifts with each pulse, but it is not to be taken lightly. An enlightened edge impales its victims with endless knowledge but at a hefty price, a torment most painful.”

“‘Can take but not give?’” Arcee frowned, “What does that mean?! I’d rather not seek out this thing if that’s the case. You can have that.”

The Allspark turned purple with compassion, rotating its rings in around slowly, “It’s one you are familiar with actually. The Spark Extractor, the original, is a monstrous weapon capable of taking a spark from a person’s physical body and using it to empower itself. It was originally a gift to Solus Prime by Megatronus Prime himself, but she rejected it at first in fear of its deadly intent. Two copies of it existed, now one remains, but neither of them had the magnitude of destruction the real one has. The second relic is the Enigma of Combination, or the Infinite Combinatoric as some have come to call it, is a vessel of Nexus Prime’s own powers. With its ever-changing size and appearance with the elements around it, it can merge any number of beings into one, mind and body, and that includes organic species...but the process for such species other than cybernetic types regardless of what they merge with is painful and irreversible. This was a precaution built in by Nexus Prime who was very paranoid about exterior species and harbored a bias against organics shared by most of his brethren.”

Arcee smirked, “Sounds about right, knew more than just Megatronus had to paranoid. My money was on either Micronus or Liege Maximo more so.”

“Megatronus Prime was...but that was a different type of paranoia involved with his mental state,” the Allspark answered. “The third relic is a sinister creation, the Terminus Blade. Solus Prime created a weapon capable of shattering planets and even the realms within the universe itself. Its purpose was undefinable to all except her. Realizing it wasn’t safe in the hands of the ones she loved, I was asked to hide it. I rigged a space bridge to send it in a random section of the galaxy only to find its signature here not long ago. Someone has retrieved it already but does not know its true potential. As long as it stays that way, no harm can be done. The fourth relic is a matter shifter, changing any solid object to a liquified version. The Liquefier is more of a science experiment created by Optimus Prime as Thirteen long before the sacrifice of his memories. However, it devastates anyone who is on its receiving end, melting them down with its pulse; a horrifying death to witness. The last relic is the Proton Spear, said that anyone who is touched by its edge will gain unlimited knowledge of the universe itself, but there lies a terrible cost. While your mind grows, your body weakens, your spark slowly drains as you are paralyzed by the influx of data. Those who have sought the secrets it knows, designed by Alpha Trion himself, have never revealed their findings...because they are practically comatose by the time they learn the answers to what they seek before dying to the blade’s insatiable hunger. Their own knowledge is siphoned then trapped within the spear itself as it waits for its next victim.”

Arcee was silent, staring at the giant orb of energy horrified as she processed all of that. The thing that got her the most was the Proton Spear...she had no incentive to even go near it let alone impale herself on it. She was fine with the knowledge she had. She finally had enough courage to ask, “Did no one think to remove it when it was draining their life force or...?”

“The Proton Spear has a countermeasure to prevent removal by anyone except who it imprints upon as the wielder. The knowledge earned feels like ecstasy, leaving you desiring more and forgetful of its danger. If you ever grow wise to its desires, it will be too late.”

“So...‘don’t touch it’ is what I’m getting from that. Anybody know where these questionably dangerous relics may be?” Arcee sneered, regretful of her prodding upon hearing that.

“Perhaps if you were to ask your new friends, a few of them might know a secret or two. But make haste as strange forces are at work and will not wait for you to stop them.”

“Got it; another treasure hunt it is,” she gestured smugly. “Anything else?”

The Allspark seemed to match her smugness in tone amused, “No.”

She suddenly fell through the ground again and in seconds, she dropped from the ceiling of the suite right in front of Bolt and Megatron, the latter of whom jumped slightly. Moonhunter was spooked from a nap as she landed, and the portal above vanished. She paused crouching, peering around awkwardly before looking at them.

“I take it the Allspark says hello?” Bolt laughed.

“You can say that.”

Megatron raised a brow between the two before clearing his throat. “If it’s not too important, the Mistress wants to meet with you about something. When she couldn’t get ahold of you, she went to me. I was merely downstairs enjoying the free maintenance we get, take advantage of it when you can, Arcee. We’re not as young as we look.”

Arcee smiled and said, “Well, it is. The Allspark wants the five relics located on Caminus returned to it. Hey, I thought the Spark Extractor we had on Earth was the real one? It said there were copies of it, but the real one is here. Why did no one ever mention that?”

“I didn’t even know,” Megatron muttered.

The Vehicon tapped his chin, “From what I can recollect about the Spark Extractor, it was either Megatronus or Micronus who created it. It was...a mistake, at least that’s what one of them claimed. It was originally supposed to be a spark incubator, as in a way to preserve the spark from what Alpha Trion’s notes said. Something went wrong during its creation and the result is...the stuff of nightmares to behold as we did on Cybertron when we fought you and the other Autobots. I was a good distance away but that was terrible to witness. Then again, I don’t know, maybe Alpha Trion was joking about that. I can’t tell.”

That made the queen scowl, “Why are there so many relics that deadly? Primus, help us. Where do we start? The Allspark mentioned someone we know may have a clue on its whereabouts as well as the others.”

“Start where needed,” Bolt shrugged, “perhaps at the very top?”

It made sense. The Mistress of Flame would likely know where a relic or two was but if they assumed and were wrong, that had the potential to go south really quick. But the Allspark expected results and results it would get one way or another.

“Let’s go get them then.”

“Wait, but what about what we were talking about before-?”

Arcee quickly shot him down, “No relevance right now. We’ll deal with it later.”

She didn’t like the immediate look Megatron gave her nor the slight sneer he gave Bolt, but the Vehicon respected her wish despite this, and she was quick to leave the suite with the bots and her Nitrotiger following. With a quick call to Windblade, they found out the Mistress of Flame had returned to the Tower of Obsidian. Summoning a pickup from a transport was humorous as several of them stopped to congratulate her and her team. Choosing one made her feel bad but none of the pilots took it as an insult. The ride down to Ember Basin’s under-city was met with painful silence. She knew Megatron wanted to bring up the obvious elephant in the room but like she told Bolt, now wasn’t the time.

After taking a transport, they found the Tower of Obsidian with its black infrastructure looked mysterious against the lit-up under-city. Security seemed to be tighter than before but upon seeing them, the bots didn’t hesitate to nod and let them pass. They approached the lobby where all the floors they had visited previously were visible in the central gap. Markings on some of the railings suggested the Metal Heads did some damage to the interior in their hunt for the crystals. The Mistress was among a small interior garden with metal trees aligned in the middle of the lobby for decoration. Windblade was by her side.

“I take it something of urgency has come up for this meeting,” the Mistress said as she raised a brow. She clutched her Forgehammer when she turned to face them. “What may I help you with?”

Arcee stepped forward with Moonhunter who went to Windblade to get some free pets. She asked, “What do you know of the Allspark?”

The Mistress of Flame grew intrigued, “That it is the lifeforce of Primus itself, born from their spark directly. What relevance is that?”

“The Allspark told me there are a few relics here on Caminus and the first one we need to find is the Spark Extractor,” she answered. “It’s an execution device. Ring any bells?”

The outburst made everyone pause, including the Mistress who slowly narrowed her optics. “What are you implying?”

Windblade was horrified as she echoed her leader as well. “Arcee, what do you mean?”

Arcee winced a little upon realizing that may have been the wrong thing to say but deep down, she wanted to know the truth behind the testing facility. “There was a facility I heard about here that tested weapons...against volunteers, at least I think they were. A few of the citizens here mentioned it in an offhand comment. If it was used for torture and no longer operational, could the relic be there?”

Outraged, the Mistress of Flame bit her tongue before hissing, “Perhaps you should have asked me first before listening to the lies of my opponents. I will not tolerate accusations here! I may be strict but I’m not heartless! The facility you talk about was not for torture, as you’ve kindly put it. It was a temporary medical facility. Those weren’t experiments you heard about; those were treatments...at least the only form of treatment we knew of for Corrosion Disease. It was said to grow in pain the more it evolved across your body that restraints had to be put on patients to keep them from flailing about. A specialized medicine had to be injected in them to reduce the pain. It was terrible to witness, and I hated having to stand there and watch bots scream and cry for me to end their lives when I oversaw it. You have no idea how hard it is to hear someone would rather die by your hand than attempt to be saved.”

Bolt used the blank pause after she finished explaining to ask, “Why was the facility shut down?”

The Mistress of Flame placed her forehead against part of her staff. “Once we narrowed down how it was affecting so many bots through botched Energon infusions, we fixed the issue. And once the treatments were no longer severe...I swear I could still hear their screams echoing those halls, so I made a plea with Parliament to move the facility to the middle of Pyrohex. I left that building down there to rot, unable to bring myself back to finish the job.”

Now Arcee felt like an asshole, even more so than previously. Although, Windblade seemed surprised by the information still which made her realize the Mistress had it as a secret mission all this time, not for publicity. Then the Mistress shook her head.

“The Spark Extractor does exist here, but it was never used the way you thought. One of my predecessors found it and locked it away afraid of anyone using it for nefarious deeds. I know where it is, and I will take you to it if the Allspark commands it. But I ask you in return to never go around poking in any business of Caminus’ ever again. Just because we keep things to ourselves doesn’t mean we are evil. It just means we know who to disclose our private matters to. You had no right to pry.”

“I apologize greatly, Mistress,” Arcee said softly.

Windblade was less than pleased but she merely crossed her arms. “Anything else the Allspark asked for?”

“Yeah, something called a Terminus Blade-”

Bolt intervened, “Terminus Blade?! As in the planet-shattering blade Solus Prime regarded as her most horrific creation?! That thing was supposed to be destroyed! Solus Prime built it to annihilate Unicron but when it was tested, it demolished more than just a planet. It ended up eliminating an entire solar system! Primus protected them from the impact but couldn’t save the system itself. It was deemed far too dangerous to be used so she was said to have melted it down. Why is it still here?!”

Megatron smirked, “Brushed up on your history, have you?”

“It’s my job remember? Arcee, if that thing is here, the Allspark better start explaining because it’s not meant to exist anymore,” the purple mech stated strictly.

“The Allspark already answered that...it was the one who saved it from destruction by Solus Prime herself,” the queen said sheepishly.

Watching Bolt grow rigid almost made her want to laugh but she knew that was a bad idea as the seriousness of the Terminus Blade’s power was no laughing matter.

Windblade quickly said, “Bolt and I can look for it while you go with the Mistress of Flame. When we find its location, we’ll call you.”

Arcee nodded before gesturing to Megatron, “You want to go with me or them?”

The warlord scoffed, “I suppose we get to relic hunt just like old times, right?”

Once Windblade, Bolt, and Moonhunter left to research the Terminus Blade, the remaining three followed the Mistress to her own personal transport and left for the Parliament building in Ember Basin. It had been some time since she had seen it, and the Mistress seemed a little unnerved being there. Inside, there was a whole different situation. Senators and other types of congress bots were talking among the area and the Mistress held her staff like it was her life support.

Arcee raised a brow and asked, “Is it the politics...or the people here?”

“A mixture of both really,” she whispered. “Nasty how politics can change people, and you’ll find someone you thought you knew reveals their true colors in the heat of the conversation on the subject. Sad. But that’s not what we’re here for. The Spark Extractor is down in the basement hidden from prying optics.”

As they trailed her, they got some looks from the Parliament members and Arcee could now understand what she meant. There was judgement in their optics, bland and unrivaled. Given the queen, nor her consort for that matter, was a part of the Way of Flame religion, she could tell that seemed to make them enemies in a way despite saving Caminus from the Metal Heads.

The basement of the Parliament building was drafty but as the elevator descended, Dagger Prima glowed and Arcee brought it out to examine it. The whispers were pained, almost yearning within the radius of the Spark Extractor. With the relic being notorious for sucking sparks out of bodies, she could only imagine the horror the dagger was perceiving as one of the vessels of the Allspark’s conscience. When they reached the basement, Arcee refrained from scrunching up her noseplate at the state of it.

It was stained, with what though was the ultimate question that Arcee wasn’t sure she wanted answered. The vaults were old, rusted even but she could see some of what they held through transparent windows. Older weapons discarded like ion cannons and hefty blasters sat there collecting dust while oddities like a cube-shaped item floated uselessly in its container.

“These vaults have a lot of weapons and artifacts from before my time. The Way of Flame forbade any weapons other than swords, hammers, and other handheld items. Well, we can’t exactly get rid of them, especially the artifacts, so they came down here to rot in their own destructiveness. As you can imagine, half the populace forgot they even existed,” the Mistress said.

The dagger pulsed, the whispers intensifying as the Mistress led them to one vault on the right side. She attempted to open it but found its locks had been rusted, unmovable. After her third attempt, they looked towards Megatron who eyed both of them.

“Neither of you can open it? You didn’t even try, Arcee.” Arcee merely shrugged before looking at the size of the vault and her arms. With a heavy sigh, Megatron cracked his knuckles and gestured for the femmes to get behind him. “I’m getting a little too old to be doing this, but I’ll do it.”

Grabbing the rails attached to it to pull open under normal circumstances, he made sure his grip was tight before pulling hard. The metal of the vault groaned as its locks slowly began to crack from the pressure. The vault door cried out with its metal rubbing against the ceiling frame it was integrated into. Megatron didn’t stop and growled as a slight pain emitted from his shoulder, the previous injury he had on the isle from the first Metal Head Leader, Kor. He ignored it even when it became unbearable. Finally, with a loud bang and a jolt of the door itself, the vault busted open, and he threw the door onto the ground viciously. Snarling and breathing hard, he took a moment to relish his power still present but froze when Arcee jumped up to kiss him quickly on his cheek.

“Thank you. I owe you some high-grade after this,” Arcee grinned. When she hopped down, he ghosted a servo over his cheek and smiled pleased by the praise.

In the vault hovering in its bay, Arcee grew quiet as she set optics on the Spark Extractor. A far cry from the one she had seen on Earth; it was more chrome than silver with a darker blue secondary coloring and aquamarine bio lights outlining its crevices. Spikier in appearance, it looked like something Megatronus Prime would have created without a doubt. She looked to the Mistress for permission and when the latter gave a nod of approval, she carefully took it off its pedestal. It was lighter than the clone, but Arcee had a feeling it was because it hadn’t been used for eons whereas the cloned relic on Earth may have had victims right before its entrapment, a dreadful thought overall despite her team had the intention to use it against Megatron and the Nemesis crew. The more it consumes, the heavier its physical form, like a burden of the deeds it was used to carry out. Reflected well on Megatronus Prime’s mindset.

The Mistress of Flame stared at it. “Such a monstrous vessel of death. I’ve heard stories about it, but one person told me it was created by Solus, not Megatronus. I guess now we know the truth behind it. Prism would be rolling in her grave with that information.”

“Prism?”

“The nickname for the Mistress who preceded me. She was hellbent on destroying more than caring and once wanted to unleash that on our enemies. She believed it was Solus’ gift to us, very delusional, so that’s why her reign lasted the least amount of time out of all known Mistress of Flames previously. The Spark Extractor is yours. I’d rather see it out of the midst of future Mistress’ servos than wait for one of them to grow just as psychotic and kill us. Keep in mind, Prism still has a few followers to this day and another reason I’m not exactly fond of this building is...justified more than you think.”

When Arcee got the hint, she made a silent gasp before nodding and handing the relic to Megatron. The warlord hid it in his subspace for the time being. Just then, she got a notification from Bolt and so did Megatron.

“I think we know where the Terminus Blade is. The problem though, and you’re going to love this, is it was spotted in Decadance’s old hideout in Titans Crossing. It was held in Pyrohex under a mech named Hardburner who took it from a security vault in the northern sector. Hardburner disappeared a few hours before it was reported stolen until right before you went to save Helia from her. His body was, for the most part, unrecognizable at first. They only now made the identification public and in his retrieved memory files, Decadance stole it from his ship, and he pursued her. It ended...badly.”

“With Decadance in prison, we can go there undisturbed. It’s just a matter of finding it within that can take hours.”

Bolt laughed, “Perhaps. Maybe if you were talk to Decadance, she can reveal its exact location instead. The Terminus Blade is said to be deep purple in color with pink lighting and symbols etched on it. When used, it supposedly ignites in pure energy.”

“Talking to a psychopath doesn’t always get good results.”

“Better than nothing.”

Arcee ended the communication before turning to the Mistress of Flame. “Where do you have Decadance?”

“We put her in the maximum penitentiary in Pyrohex. Why? Does the Terminus Blade have something to do with her?”

“We’re about to find out,” she replied.

The warm-colored femme nodded, “Fine, I’ll send the guards the notice for you to meet with her. The longest a prisoner of her caliber can talk is about fifteen minutes so make it count. I’ll stay here and, uh, find a way to give an excuse as to why the door is broken off its hinges.”

The two Cybertronians snickered to one another as they left the basement. They ignored the looks they still received from the prejudiced Parliament members on the way out. The penitentiary in Pyrohex was nearly a thirty-minute travel by transport as it lay on the outskirts on the far east of the city. On the way there as they entered the city before shifting east, Megatron rolled his sore shoulder and scowled.

“Damn Kor and his freaky barbs for legs. Had this occurred earlier in my career, I would have been scrapped and sent to be dismembered probably. I hate getting older, Arcee.”

“Don’t we all,” she muttered. “The penitentiary should be just up ahead. Let’s pray Decadance got some sense knocked into her.”

“With hits like yours, I’ll be surprised if she’s even fully operational again.”

The penitentiary was not forgettable given the building had active turrets on it scouring the grounds for any unregistered guards. They glowed red upon seeing their ship but didn’t fire as they landed, never looking away as guards approached the transport. Arcee and Megatron exited, carefully eyeing the turrets actively staring them down. For a planet that didn’t like guns, it was surprising to see them in operation but then again, this was a prison for high end criminals they couldn’t trust to keep to Caminus’ melee weapon codes.

“The Mistress of Flame said you two were coming. Follow me and keep close or else our system might just accidentally mistake you as intruders,” one guard said without missing a beat.

Arcee sneered while Megatron said nothing as they went in. The penitentiary had various sections for both insane and violent individuals. A smaller section held the sane but monstrous ones and a few of them whistled at both Cybertronians passing by. Arcee grew amused as half the catcallers were directed at Megatron who was growing irate.

“Now you know how I feel sometimes.”

“That’s...unfortunate,” Megatron merely frowned, emphasizing that last word with strain. She knew he wanted to say more but his tone already hinted that unlike her, he didn’t have as much resolve about it. The last thing they needed was him killing the prisoners regardless of if the guards would endorse it or not. They were escorted to a cell and a metallic purple-blue form stood in the corner like a scorned child.

“Decadance, you have visitors. Make something of yourself,” the guard hissed, moving to the side to let them talk to her undisturbed.

Decadance glared at Arcee, somewhat surprised but it melted quickly into utter hatred. “So, what do I owe the...pleasure...of your demanding company? Hmm? You help the Mistress of Flame, a traitor to our world. Why should I care about anything you tell me next?”

Arcee became frustrated and snidely remarked, “Unless you want some broken parts, I suggest you offer me a little detail or two about that base of yours. What did you hide there?”

“Threatening to hurt me won’t make me talk.”

“How about I sweeten the favor, you tell me what you had in the base, and I might get your sentence reduced. I’m looking for a sword, purple in color. Anything like that in there?”

That seemed to intrigue Decadance enough to finally give her what she wanted. “Maybe, but maybe not as I recall it’s utterly useless and I may have thrown it out. Honestly, I didn’t think you would ask me about that. If that piece of junk will keep you away from me, it’s probably still there. Hardburner lied out of his aft about its powers, couldn’t even get it to slice him open when he threatened to call security on me and had to tear him apart by servo to get good results. Stupid sword couldn’t make a single mark on the wall.”

That puzzled Arcee for a moment until she realized that like the Forge of Solus Prime, the Terminus Blade probably couldn’t activate unless it was wielded by a Prime. Given Optimus was the only remaining Prime alive, the sword couldn’t harm anyone unless Optimus somehow decided within a few years to go berserk and kill everyone. Needless to say, the Allspark wouldn’t give him the weapon if it was even possible to come to that. Going on a suicide run was one thing for the Allspark to try, allowing a deranged Optimus to use a deadly weapon of mass destruction, a Prime the Allspark knew was kind to it from the very beginning, was not on the doomsday agenda as far as she knew.

“Thanks, Decadance, just know you helped the Allspark retrieve a very important item. Put that on your community service record if they ever let you out,” Arcee smirked.

The other femme grew silent as she processed the information before yelling, “Wait! What about my sentence?! You owe me!”

Arcee already had turned to leave and simply scoffed, “Maybe, but maybe not as you were the one who got yourself here in the first place. How can I trust you won’t do it again? Have fun rotting in prison.”

The echo was sweet as she heard Decadance give a stunned grunt. Megatron flashed a fanged grin at her in response to his sparkmate’s words. They left her to wallow in her self-pity. He then stated to Arcee, “If I had this sword during our battles on Earth, there would have been no telling what I could have done to that planet and your team.”

“If you had that sword, you would have killed us and yourself,” mocked the queen.

Megatron wanted to argue but he realized she had a distinct point. In his previous arrogance, he would have ended up killing everyone including himself with such unfathomable power at his disposal. Primus would not have stepped in to save him from his own destruction.

They exited the penitentiary and left for Decadance’s base in Titans Crossing. The bodies of the titans still lay undisturbed but seeing that it was Megatron’s first time among them, Arcee noticed that he was more perplexed than anything. The titan graveyard was a mysterious place. Past the arched arms of two of the titans, Decadance’s base awaited them. Arcee almost had to drag Megatron in when he stared again at the vast sizes of Caminus’ former protectors.

Inside, it looked as though the security forces that swept the place held no regard for the actual crime scene, only favoring arresting the one responsible for the kidnapping of the Mistress of Flame’s niece. Other than the broken cuffs removed from Decadance upon her arrest, the base was left alone. Granted, that proved they had a far better chance at finding the Terminus Blade than they thought, but it left a lot of questions about authority etiquette.

“Arcee, Dagger Prima is reacting to something.”

The blue femme peered over her shoulder and indeed, the dagger was pulsing. The Terminus Blade was here, and it explained why it had glowed for a second in the vents when she was searching for Helia. This time ghostly whispers from somewhere other than where they were seemed to echo within the base. With Dagger Prima communicating with the relic somewhere in the building, it was only a matter of pinpointing where it was. The farther they went in, the more distinct the voices became. She rounded a corner in the storage area only to freeze up as did Megatron who followed her.

The warlord muttered under his breath, “What the...?”

Bodies of guards and pieces of unidentifiable victims were discarded like trash. When Groundlock mentioned Decadance was a bit deranged, he was understating it greatly. Arcee peered around with unease, feeling sorrow as she had to carefully step over the corpses looking for the Terminus Blade.

“And the security team who came here missed this?”

Megatron shrugged, “Maybe they didn’t care. Titans Crossing are already a grave site, wouldn’t matter to remove them from a base abandoned.”

Arcee shook her head, “That’s wrong. They should have at least taken the bodies back for identification if anything.”

A purple glow rose from the corner of the area as the whispers seemed to grow in volume. Still respectful, Arcee quickly stepped over the pieces to see a blade discarded next to crates that smelled of death, something that unnerved her more. With the same written language of Dagger Prima inscribed on its edge, the sword was beautiful in such a disgusting place. It’s silver blade overlayed by a violet coat of thin armor showed off Solus’ craftsmanship well. She never missed a detail where it counted. Among other disregarded weapons that had dried blood, the Terminus Blade had no drop on it.

“I would have expected such a weapon to be responsible for this,” Megatron said, raising a brow as he picked it up.

“I don’t think it was made for fighting like swordplay. It’s got a purpose and although as sharp as it looks, it’s not meant to draw blood like our weapons do so in physical combat, it’s useless but...”

“...in the realm of utmost power, it trumps all,” he finished. “A damned blade made for a killer.”

“Or a gift...” Arcee paused and looked at Megatron with newfound realization. Megatron frowned confused as she continued, “The Spark Extractor was made by Megatronus as a gift to Solus. It’s said she was horrified by it, but then why would she create something equally as destructive? Unless she eventually accepted the Spark Extractor and wanted to give Megatronus something of equal value but when he started becoming unhinged, that’s when she asked the Allspark to hide it. She didn’t do it just to protect the universe, she did it to protect him from himself. The Allspark never said she lost her love for him, nor did it say the Terminus Blade was made solely for one purpose, just that its powers could be destructive in the wrong hands. And if Megatronus was having episodes of paranoia and violent tendencies, she knew it was only a matter of time before he got a hold of it and did something regrettable.”

“Would have never thought of it like that. The more mysteries surrounding the Thirteen Primes start to unfold, the less I want to find out about their true intentions because it’s getting weird how psychopathic they are,” said Megatron as held the Terminus Blade away from him in slight discomfort.

Arcee then paged Bolt. “We have the Terminus Blade.”

“Oh good. Windblade and I were just talking about you, by the way. Don’t you think it’s strange how the Allspark seems to be calling us...well, you more so...to hunt these relics yet doesn’t bat an eye on this Horaquan threat?”

“It does care but its endgame I think is just as important. What if we fail to retrieve them while we’re here and never get a chance at finding these relics again? If they go to the wrong people-”

“Yeah, yeah, ultimate doom and whatnot,” the Vehicon said deadpanned. “Still, it’s questionable to me. But if this will keep it from nagging us, I don’t see the real harm. Is there any other relics we should investigate?”

The queen nodded to the side with a sigh, “The Enigma Combinatoric is next on the list.”

“Sounds familiar. It may have gone by another name though. If what I’m thinking of is correct, the Combinatoric is what gave way to our current Combiners. The ability was passed down by Nexus Prime but technically, it was never stated whether the power was strictly given by encountering the relic or could be copied. Devastator’s mechs were born with the ability so I guess one of their ancestors may have encountered it or they are related to Nexus Prime. It’s quite unclear how it works in that regard.”

“What does it look like, and do you know where I could find it? Any ideas?”

As Megatron placed the Terminus Blade carefully on his back, Bolt answered, “It is said that its first form was a rhombus shape, four panels attached to a middle piece mimicking a spark of sorts. It had red energy, but its real color was never said because it was always lit up. I’m thinking it may be a dark red or a brown color, but I can’t say for sure. Where it would be, I have no idea.”

She scowled in disappointment. Bolt heard and reassured her.

“It’s not anything you have to blame on yourself or Caminus. I mean it would be like blaming Victorion for existing when in some people’s opinions, she shouldn’t at all. They think she’s an abomination because she’s the only Combiner here. It’s just what they were handed in life, you know? But, hey, we can tell the Allspark we tried.”

Suddenly, it dawned on her. “Victorion...”

“What was that?” Megatron asked.

“What about her?”

“You’re right, Bolt, Victorion shouldn’t exist...and yet, she does,” Arcee said to herself. “If she’s Caminus’ only Combiner, how did she come to be in the first place?”

The Vehicon snarled at first, “That’s not very nice-oh...I didn’t think about that. Perhaps talking to the Combiner’s counterparts might shed some light on this relic. Good thinking. Victorion’s members are back in the Mistress’ citadel at the core. We’ll meet you there.”

Arcee hung up and smirked at her sparkmate, “We have a heading.”

They traveled back to Pyrohex before sending the transport through one of its tunnels on the surface which led to its under-city. Beneath that, the spacious core and its islands. The water looked so refreshing, Arcee was almost tempted to just take a break and go down to soak in it. But they had a timeframe of opportunity to find what they needed. Unfortunately, that meant no breaks.

It was like walking into Iacon’s Hall of Records; after so many times of doing so, the guards and other civilians no longer questioned their entrance into the citadel. It made it so much easier to get to the Mistress of Flame’s throne. Sure enough, the Combiners were all there chatting with Bolt, Moonhunter, and Windblade.

“Did we miss anything?” Megatron mused.

Bolt was near Pyra Magna, the commander of the Combiner counterparts, when he shrugged, “Nothing in particular you would like to hear about, that’s for sure. Ask away to them.”

Arcee approached the larger femme as the others crowded around them and asked, “Pyra, we’re looking for a specific relic, one that you may know of. The Enigma Combinatoric or Infinite Combinatoric?”

The girls grew confused, most of whom gestured unsure. A bad start but Arcee decided to rephrase it.

“Let me ask you this instead: how did you learn to combine into Victorion? Did you interact with something unusual or what you thought wasn’t anything but a misplaced item?”

Prya Magna glanced to the side in thought before her optics widened slightly. She peered at Arcee knowing the queen wanted an explanation. “They kept telling us we weren’t meant to exist; we never listened in our pride still to this day. We were in battle, our forces strained, and we hid in an old research facility in Ember Basin. Our fellow Torchbearers, artifact hunters in their off-time, met us there and one of them managed to grab a weird rhombus-shaped rock or paperweight from the enemy outpost. It didn’t look like much.

“As we were surrounded, the building was threatened to be blown up with us still inside. We couldn’t get out. One blast sent Jumpstream backwards and I tried to catch her, but she fell onto the weird device...and then the next thing we knew, our bodies were one. We saw the building below us in ruins; we didn’t even feel breaking through it as we were in shock. We thought we became a monster at first, but we felt each other’s emotions, our unified minds together like a supercomputer. It was amazing!”

“What happened to that device?” Arcee pressed.

“It was given to Highwind, the master inventor. Where else would you put the most mysterious artifacts without worrying about them being used for the wrong reasons?” Pyra Magna stated.

Megatron gave a small gesture of respect. “Thank you.”

Arcee did the same and looked at Bolt and Windblade. “Are you coming with us?”

The Vehicon looked between her and the Combiner individuals. Arcee got the message and smirked but Moonhunter quickly came to her side after multiple pets from the femmes.

Windblade crossed her arms amused before addressing Arcee. “I need to go back to talk with the Mistress of Flame. Happy hunting, Arcee.”

Moonhunter trotted happily next to Arcee who coddled him by the ears as they walked out of the citadel.

“Why didn’t we go to him in the first place? Of course, if it was a nifty invention, he would know!”

Megatron scoffed, “A hundred million people on the planet and the chances of him being the mad genius who has it would be slim.”

Arcee grinned, “Mad enough to maybe know about the Liquefier and the Proton Spear? Two birds, one stone.”

“Make that three and a boulder,” laughed the warlord.

Highwind’s island was as peaceful as the first time they stepped foot on it. To their glee, old Gizmo was perched on her landing pad with what appeared to be a few babies. Among them, Highwind was petting the smallest that gave him a playful chirp, slapping its tail on the platform.

“Gears, good boy. Rusty, no biting your sister.”

As the Cybertronians landed, Highwind laughed as the baby crosswinds ducked behind him. He peered up at the ship and pointed a staff made of gears at the cockpit in recognition. Once Arcee and Megatron exited the vehicle, he stomped his staff on the ground.

“Heh heh, you two didn’t get enough of me, did you? What can this old mech do for you?” Highwind asked proudly. “I hope those wings of yours have been treating you good.”

Arcee smiled, “They worked wonderfully, especially against quite the enemies we had above. I don’t know if you heard of that debacle.”

Highwind sat on a bench he had installed by himself on the side of his home. One of the babies hid under it at his feet, its optics glowing in the shade as it sniffed around curious but afraid. He reassured it before saying, “Ah yes, those alien creatures. I heard of the battle and Astro Zenith awakening. About time that girl stretched her legs. Since her previous Cityspeaker retired long ago, she’s never trusted anyone except Windblade.”

Arcee frowned upon hearing that. “Left? Cityspeakers can retire?”

“Oh yes, although the ability itself doesn’t technically fade. Usually, this happens when the burden of controlling titans becomes too much or it’s just not the right field of expertise for them. You’ll find there are many Cityspeakers here but only half of them have ever stayed in commission. Being the link of a titan takes a lot out of you just like any other job. It’s not as fun as people may think.”

Megatron shook his head solemnly, “Like...in Titans Crossing. All those titans...”

Highwind sighed, “Yes, a graveyard for the mighty fallen by irrationality, greed, and sometimes the unpredictability of war. You may find there are more than just the bodies of titans out there if you were to look hard enough. But that’s all in the distant past. Your visit doesn’t seem like one of a history lesson, young ones, so tell me, what do you seek?”

“We’re wondering if...you know of a mysterious device that may have been given to you or you found? One that may have accidentally made Victorion into the Combiner we know and love currently? The Allspark needs it back,” asked Arcee.

As the waterfalls behind Highwind’s workshop roared on, the old Seeker pondered. “I have a lot of ‘mysterious things’ unfortunately. You would have to look in there yourself. If I do, I have no intention of keeping it if you need it. Besides, I could probably figure out how to make my own version if I want.”

Highwind got up from his seat and went into his workshop with the two following him. His crosswings stayed outside though a few of the babies took the liberty to sleep outside on the windowsills as scrunched up little, metal puffballs. Moonhunter was growled at by Gizmo and was nearly eaten when he didn’t move fast enough into the house. Arcee knew it was more along the lines of the crosswing protecting her brood than actual hunger.

“Feel free to move anything to look for what you desire. I’ve been meaning to clean up this mess for some time but in my isolation, I just never thought it a problem.”

Arcee thanked him and went to work scouring the workshop for any sharp-shaped device lying about or other items of interest that may match the idea of the Liquefier and the Proton Spear. Moonhunter went about sniffing everything to his spark’s content in the meantime. Dagger Prima hissed in her audio receptor as she drew near a shelf in shadow. The light it produced was enough to make out the objects. Most of it was nothing but knickknacks and unfinished projects Highwind was probably tinkering with. But then she passed something unusual that caught her optic.

Unlike the rest of the objects, the one she saw didn’t look like an invention. A faded green and blue coloring, the remote-like item had a dead screen in the middle with two antennas. Faint wavy designs curved alongside its spiral handle. It looked alien, but the most significant part of it was a set of buttons. A symbol representing motion and the other seemed to look solid...

“Bolt, do you know what the Liquefier was by any chance?” Arcee asked suspiciously as she took it in her servos, dragging a digit carefully over one of the buttons to wipe away the residue of grinded powder that had built up in the workshop.

Bolt answered after a second of making a confused noise, “Moved on already, I see. The Liquefier was a device capable of turning solid matter into liquid regardless of density or molecular structure and vice versa. Alpha Trion wrote down that it was essentially the idea of the Thirteenth Prime...but he never specified what happened to it or if it was ever created. I don’t know what it looks like entirely because the only known picture of it was a sketch on a data pad by an unknown artist. In fact, I didn’t think it existed until now. Is that one of the relics the Allspark sent you to retrieve?”

Arcee pressed a small button on its side and the screen took a while to reboot. When it started showing off the same language as the Primes, she slowly grew wide eyed. “You better start believing, Bolt, because I think I’m holding it right now.”

“That’s impossible! How do you even know?!”

Pursing her lips, she looked at a bucket in the corner before announcing, “Hey, Highwind, do you care if I test this on the bucket?”

Somewhere in the shop, the inventor grunted, “I don’t care, my dear. Anything you break, I can rebuild.”

She aimed it at the bucket and pressed the button with the wavy markings on it. A beam shot out and the object glowed green for a brief second before it melted abruptly and bubbled onto the floor as a stringy liquid. Arcee had a Cheshire grin and her mouth open in a wide gasp at the same time before making a small noise of achievement. She looked over the device with childish glee.

“What happened? You didn’t test it, did you?” Bolt scolded.

“I have the Liquefier, Bolt! Ha ha ha, this is so cool!”

Megatron appeared by her side and looked between her psychotic expression, the device she held and the mess on the floor with a raised brow. “That’s not Highwind, right?”

Arcee’s grin faltered as she slapped his abdomen at the joke, not that it affected him in the slightest. Bolt sighed on his end as Highwind came around the corner. When he saw what Arcee held, he laughed.

“Found my soup maker, eh?”

“Soup maker?” The warlord frowned.

“Yes, I’ve used that to make soup out of minerals and whatnot for years. I’ve tried things I’ve always wanted to eat since I was a youngling but never could. The results weren’t bad at all. Is that one of the relics you seek?”

“Yes, sir, it is. The Liquefier. All we need now is the Combinatoric and the Proton Spear,” she answered as she turned the device off and stored it in her subspace.

“This Combinatoric, sounds fancy,” Highwind chuckled, “but anything specific to go on?”

Arcee nodded, “It’s said to be rhombus-shaped initially, but it can change form, almost reddish brown with a bright red glow when active.”

“That sounds like my tool holder.”

Both Arcee and Megatron looked at each other in bland surprise before letting him escort them to it. In a smaller room with an old workbench and various tools, there in the corner of it was a dark red tool stand. Its lower half made for the foot of the stand, its center was a red glowing core and its top platform had tools randomly placed on it and hanging between the crevice of the panels. Once Arcee started focusing on it, the whispers became audible.

“I remember one of the Torchbearer’s giving me it as a gift.”

She blinked before turning to the older mech bewildered, “You mean to tell me you had this thing the entire time? Also, what about the whispering? Did that not make you believe it was something other than a tool holder?”

Highwind looked at her unmoving before giving a soft, “Oh. I thought the voices were just in my head.”

Megatron grimaced, “What else did isolation do to you?”

“Can’t say,” he admitted. “It’s only now my oddities are being pointed out. An old mech can’t be an old mech anymore? You younglings and your superstitions.”

Arcee didn’t hesitate to grab the Combinatoric though was careful to place it in her subspace in fear of setting it off. She made sure his tools were properly put away elsewhere prior as that was the least she could do for stealing two items he cared about from him. All that remained was the Proton Spear, but she had a feeling it was not in the workshop as everything was inventions, not weapons. Then again, she couldn’t assume.

“Alright, Highwind, do you know anything about a mythical spear? Any weapon like a spear that seemed unnatural?”

Highwind readjusted his goggles as he sat in his chair. “Eh, I once heard there was a blade of unknown magnitude in Titans Crossing-”

“Aside from that,” she said a bit rushed.

“One of the farmers over yonder, Springrunner I believe her name was, contacted me and said she found a weapon buried in the valley some time ago. I don’t really collect weapons anymore, so I told her to sell it. Don’t know if she ever did but maybe she may know if it’s what you seek.”

Arcee pleasantly sighed, “Thank Primus. Thank you again, Highwind, we won’t steal anything else. We promise.”

Highwind laughed as he started tinkering with a circular device. “Go ahead, I have too much crap anyways. Be careful out there, my dear.”

Moonhunter rushed by the bots to escape Gizmo’s aggressive stares at him outside and went to the ship faster than they could. He pawed at the door and Arcee activated the ramp in pity before he scrambled up it with his tail between his legs. Gizmo swung her tail with a hiss watching him flee before giving a trill of laughter. Arcee merely smirked at the sight before shaking her head.

They took off for Springrunner’s farm when Arcee got a notification from none other than the Allspark. “When you find all relics, meet me at the top of Firelight Island’s tallest peak that overlooks the valley. We are thankful for your services.”

“If you lose these again, I’m not helping you,” she immediately scowled.

“Fair enough,” the Allspark mused.

Megatron frowned, “Allspark?”

She made a cheap expression of disdain. “Allspark. If it’s contacting us that means we’re close to the last relic. It's on Springrunner’s island which takes a lot of guesswork out of tracking it down.”

“Arcee, Megatron, this is Grimlock,” the Dinobot’s voice came through the commlink next. “Optimus suggests you two need to get back as soon as possible. There’s something you need to see here on Cybertron.”

Both sparkmates looked at each before Megatron replied, “We’re almost done, just have to get the Mistress of Flame to sign the treaty.”

“Well, hurry. There’s something unusual at the corner of our solar system and Perceptor wants to give you an update on the situation. We will await your return.”

That wasn’t good. If it was the Metal Heads trying to go after Cybertron, their world had the defenses but still had some weak spots the creatures could exploit. If it was another enemy, then they would just have to wait their turn or be killed. At the moment, she couldn’t ask them to investigate without risking losing some of her friends which she wouldn’t tolerate.

Firelight Island had the firetreaders all locked in their pens as they landed next to the farm. When they exited, they were immediately met with a gun pointed at them.

“No trespassing! How many times do I have to tell you vermin-!” Springrunner, in all her glory, looked malicious but it died when she recognized them. “Oh, hey guys! Didn’t expect you to come back. Uh, sorry about the hostility. Some idiots from up top decided to try and steal my herd, so they got pumped full of blaster fire. Microdust has been helping me secure this island ever since.”

“That’s awful,” Arcee huffed.

“Yeah, a shame, I don’t like wasting bullets like that.”

Megatron instantly snickered while Arcee merely grinned before changing the subject. “Springrunner, we’re looking for some very special relics, but we seem to be short on time. A spear of sorts, glows, maybe whispers...any of that around here?”

The white and green femme tapped her cheek, “You know, I did find something of that description a few months ago. One of my firetreaders was going loopy around a puddle of water and I thought it had contracted a processor ailment, walked around the bend a little. I put it down after I couldn’t get it to calm down and especially when it went crazy and tried biting the hell out of its pen mates. Then I got curious when I heard something odd coming from the same area. The rest of my herd wouldn’t even go near it. Dug up a pretty blue spear and placed it in my shed ever since.”

“Highwind mentioned you wanted to sell it?”

“Yes, when it started driving me a bit mad. You try getting some sleep when you start hearing voices all day. I tried to sell it; everyone was spooked by it, so I moved it farther into my shed and covered it up. If you want it, you can have it for free. Absolute nightmare it has been to keep around the place if you ask me. A lot of bad luck too.”

Springrunner led them to her shed, a large barn more like with her lassos and other tools needed for keeping such big animals in line. As soon as Arcee stepped in, the whispers drew from Dagger Prima as it sought its counterpart. A secondary set of whispers came from far back and she smirked, much to the farmer’s confusion.

The warlord caught the surprised look of the other femme and quickly said, “It’s an Allspark thing.”

“THE Allspark? Are you talking about that mysterious power Solus Prime called an equal? The so-called heart of Primus themself? That Allspark?” When he nodded, she was astounded, “By Solus’ Forge...”

Arcee ignored them, walking deeper into the barn. She then whispered back, “You are going home today but I can’t send you there if you don’t show me where you are.”

A vivid blue glow bled through the cloth covering it in an abandoned stall, and she was quick to grab it and rip it off. A symmetrical spear from tip to neck vibrated with the collective energy it produced among its bio lights. She couldn’t tell if it was the energy alone or perhaps the fabled consciences of the knowledge it possessed over the years of wayward mistakes by mortals. She had no intention of testing it. Symbols decorated its blade the same as Dagger Prima and the Terminus Blade, all the same mixture of the language of the Primes and the Allspark’s special dialect. If it was a fake, it was quite impressive.

She carefully fiddled with it until its handle compressed and shrunk it to a more manageable size. Placing it on her back, she gave Megatron and Springrunner two thumbs up cockily. “Let’s go give the Allspark its presents, shall we?”

Springrunner grinned as they passed by. “Tell the Allspark I say hi! It was my favorite story growing up, never thought I’d be a part of its mission.”

“Thank you, Springrunner!”

They raced back to their ship with Moonhunter awaiting them sleeping soundly on one of the chairs. The highest mountain on the island was just ahead but at the peak, they found no landing zone possible. Then Arcee got an idea.

“If you give me the Spark Extractor and Terminus Blade, I think I can just glide to the peak and give it to the Allspark instead. You can pick me up when the exchange is done. Is that okay with you?”

As Megatron brought the transport to hover slightly higher than the mountain itself, he simply waved her off encouraging her. He didn’t hesitate to hand her the two relics. “Do what you need to do.”

A swift kiss on the cheek had her blush and she went to the cargo bay doors. Once they opened, she ran and dived. She gave a laugh as the wind felt good against her face. Her winglets expanded as her energy wings lit up, and she soared around the peak waiting for a good angle to drop in on. Keeping her arms towards her body, she rode the air currents until she found her opening. Rolling upside down, she dived again and hit the peak servos extended the last second to catch the metal and slow herself down.

“A little rougher than I wanted but not tumbling down the side of the mountain so...I’ll take it.”

“And you did well,” a ghostly voice said. In a burst of light, the Allspark appeared before her with its three rings rotating around it slowing to a decent speed. It seemed to flutter in place and the rings paused for a second to sway with it in its joy. “It brings me great peace to know the artifacts of my creator will be safe again.”

Arcee threw each relic up, watching the Allspark’s energy enlighten them as they began to orbit it. Once all five were among it, it had them rotate above it before disappearing. The queen gave a quick smile before frowning a little.

“Where do they go? I don’t remember if you ever told me.”

“They go back to Primus’ core as pure energy but if ever needed, we can summon them back. Since their makers have long passed, there just isn’t any purpose for them here in the land of the living. Given some of them are far too dangerous as well, we all agreed it was best to put them out of commission where they can’t harm anyone again.”

“What about Optimus? The Liquefier was his, wasn’t it?” She asked.

The Allspark contemplated her question, giving a small hum. “It was but I did talk to him too which is why I seek it despite against its brethren, it’s not as recognizable. We’ve done too much, Arcee, got too comfortable with our abilities that we created the artifacts you sought out of arrogance and greed. Most of them were mistakes, even Solus admits that. They shouldn’t be here, not anymore or ever again even if they are a part of history.”

“I...understand,” she said.

Before the Allspark vanished, it said one last thing. “Remember, Arcee, at the end of the day, every relic of the Primes is nothing but a mere extension of them. Sometimes dwelling on an inaccurate, overpowered image of those so revered can do more damage than good. They were, after all, still mortal as were their ambitions hence why these relics should finally be laid to rest with them.”

The Allspark did a flip before disappearing in a flash of light. It left Arcee on the mountain peak alone among her thoughts.

Chapter Text

Bolt stumbled out of the citadel a bit fazed as he still felt the rush of heat flare to his cheeks and chest. When Arcee and Megatron landed back on the Mistress’ citadel grounds, he laughed a little to himself. He went into the ship and leaned against one of the chairs while Arcee stared at him.

“What did you do?”

The Vehicon made a so-so motion and shrugged, “I, um, got to tell Victorion’s girls a little about your heroics on Velocitron and all that. They adore the stories.”

The femme smirked looking at her sparkmate and then back at her dear cyberbiologist. “Yeah, they sure adored only the stories.”

When he sat next to Moonhunter, he scoffed, “What, I can’t meet new people? I can’t love being with other bots than just you. No offense, of course.”

“None taken,” she giggled. “So, we got the relics and returned them to the Allspark. Last on our list is getting the Mistress of Flame to sign a peace treaty with us and go home.”

They ignored Bolt’s brief disappointment as they contacted Windblade. But to their shock, Windblade didn’t seem all too happy with them.

“The Mistress of Flame wants a word with you outside of the Parliament building in Ember Basin. The Torchbearers and Highwind are coming up from the core to meet her there too. I don’t know what you two did, but she’s not pleased.”

“Wha...what we did?! What the hell did we do?! We got the relics, defeated an invasive army, and saved everyone on Caminus!” Megatron exclaimed.

“I don’t know but something about your prying about that medical facility really hasn’t set well with her. I’ll be there too to lessen whatever earful you might get. Don’t wait for too long. She can get vindictive.”

Once the commlink died, Arcee massaged her temples as Megatron looked up at the ceiling shaking his head. “No one seems to get it through their thick heads what we do for them outweighs a lot of our flaws.”

Bolt gestured to the window. “Try telling them that personally. Then again, some people will always regard your flaws and wrongdoings until you die. Just how society works, even ask-”

“If you go there right now, I will throw you out of this ship,” the warlord said with pause.

Arcee just placed her arm on her raised knee with a sigh. “Let’s go see what the fire lady wants.”

The ride above was filled with silence as they went through the under-city to the surface and navigated under the night sky lit up by Caminus’ neighboring gas giant towards the large, towering Parliament outpost. When they landed, knowing they probably didn’t need the transport anymore, they let a bot waiting for one take over, leaving the four to walk to the Parliament Plaza in front of the building itself. There near the entrance was the Mistress of Flame and Windblade. Another transport landed and the Torchbearers exited including the individuals of Victorion.

“Oh, hey girls!” Bolt waved excitedly. They waved back with their own greetings as the Vehicon fawned.

“What drives you the most to them, Bolt?” Arcee grinned, “It’s just a curiosity.”

He deflated a little with a grunt and answered, “They are beautiful warriors, and they combine into one big titan! What’s not to like?”

Her expression only grew in smugness. “So, you like tough models like me and Megatron and-”

“Okay, okay, maybe it is a thing...maybe I do like bruisers, but I don’t owe you any other explanation of what my likes and dislikes are. Focus on the Mistress of Flame’s beef, for Primus’ sake!”

Moonhunter rolled his optics at Arcee’s side when suddenly, they heard the screech of a crosswing. Gizmo shot up from somewhere below the walkway and Highwind gave an aloof shout of glee as the creature flipped around and circled the area, finding a landing spot near the guard stations surrounding the building.

“Eh heh heh, Gizmo, you keep me young with your tricks! Good girl!” He laughed as he patted the side of her neck as she roared.

As they all met up with the Mistress of Flame, the leader instinctively looked towards Arcee and her posse first, stomping her Forgehammer’s end down with a sneer. “Tell me, Arcee, is it just the Metal Heads I should worry about or is it you?”

The question threw off everyone, especially the femme herself. Victorion’s components each looked at each other in disgust for such a comment while Highwind frowned, one of the few times anyone had ever seen him do so. He was the first to speak as well.

“Calling us up here just to berate a fellow bot? I would think someone in your position would have higher respect for those willing to help you,” he chastised.

Pyra Magna nodded, “Mistress, with all due respect-”

“Quiet,” the warm-colored femme snarled low. She still looked down upon Arcee the most. “How is it you learned of that facility in the first place? How did you know all about the Metal Heads to defeat them? I thought I could trust you, that I was wrong, yet you seem to be playing us like fools. How dare you!”

Bolt defended her immediately. “Hey, she told you how! You’re just too egotistical to apparently remember it! She said we fought Metal Heads before, and we have! She said she heard about the facility, albeit through the wrong people, but still! You want to accuse her of something so you can look good proving Cybertronians are nothing but heathens!”

Windblade seemed conflicted as the Mistress of Flame growled back, “The Arisen is the only pure Cybertronian besides Solus Prime. The rest of you only take and destroy, and I was actually foolish into thinking you weren’t. But if you want to prove it, fight me.”

Arcee and Megatron exchanged worried looks before she peered at Windblade who was equally disturbed. Windblade gathered the courage to stand between Arcee and the Mistress when the latter pointed her hammer at the other.

“This isn’t right!” The Seeker demanded, “You need to seek out true evidence and not just convict them of something they had no control over!”

“And yet you seemed to agree before that Arcee was wrong, about to throw her under without question when the events started building on top of each other,” the Mistress said. “Don’t pretend you’re making up for it. And you, Arcee, you’re corrupting my people, and I can’t have that.”

Tired of the accusations, Arcee stood her ground. “Fine, you want a fight? Let’s go! If I win, you make peace with Cybertron and I prove my word here and now. If you win, we will never set foot on Caminus again and ‘admit’ we lied and brought the Metal Heads here to soothe your inability to believe you are wrong. Fair, my lady?”

The Mistress’ jaws clenched as she twirled the Forgehammer while everyone else backed away. Arcee brought out her double-ended sword to make it even. She stared down the leader, not giving her any sign of weakness.

Suddenly, the Mistress of Flame lunged and brought down her hammer inches from Arcee, but the smaller femme twisted out of the way with her speedster ability before clashing with a secondary swing. She forced it down and sent a swift kick to her opponent’s abdomen, making the Mistress back away for a second. Arcee ducked from another swing, blocking the fourth, and finally using the fifth attempt to jump on top of it and spring upward to get the jump on her. Although her blade technically missed its intended area, she left a gash on the Mistress’ shoulder armor.

They maneuvered around each other like they were dancing until the Mistress managed to swing up instead of on the side like normal, sending the sword flying from Arcee’s hand behind her and embedded into the ground.

“Sorry, Arcee, you’re good...but not that good,” the larger femme grinned, rotating her hammer ready to strike.

Right as she was about to hit the queen, Arcee shifted over it in a type of roll by grabbing the handle and using her momentum against the hammer’s to counteract the movement. She sent a punch straight onto the Mistress’ face to stun her and elbowed her arm in retribution. When the Mistress tried to grab her, she made an uppercut and backwards kick to distract her before sending her stumbling. The hammer was dropped, and Arcee used her pede to force it up and twirled it in her own manner as she took a battle pose.

“Looks like you dropped something. Solus would be ashamed,” Arcee teased.

When the Mistress of Flame attempted to get the hammer back, Arcee threw it up and roundhouse kicked it to hit her head. The Mistress may have been bigger but she, of all people, had to know size wasn’t everything. Arcee watched her grip her face as she grew enraged, but she didn’t expect her to target high predicting Arcee’s jump to avoid her. The motorcycle’s leg was caught, and she was slammed down hard. It was enough for her to nearly get her head stomped on in the Mistress’ bloodlust.

Arcee did several backflips trying to avoid the Mistress’ pursuit of her, grabbing her double sword in the process. Once she had it, she ran at her opponent trying to stab at least one of the legs to gain the advantage. She was thrown off by an immediate fist to the chest which flipped her around midair and bounced her off the ground. She recovered but sent a glare at the Mistress.

Knowing the fight wouldn’t end until someone got a good amount of damage in, Arcee took her chances and decided to get up and personal with the Mistress as the latter obtained her Forgehammer back. She swung around the instant attempted strike and leapt right at the Mistress. A flurry of fists was sent into her face until the other femme almost grabbed her. She climbed around her larger frame to get the opportunity to hit her some more.

“Get off of me!” The Mistress of Flame yelled, “Coward!”

Arcee merely scowled, “You would know the meaning of that word!”

The Mistress tried to reach behind to get her, but Arcee still kept out of reach. Repeatedly, she struck the Mistress with her size contributing to her advantage. Soon, the larger femme stumbled onto all fours, and Arcee took her target by surprise. Leaping down, she did a backflip right next to the Mistress and knocked her onto her back with her pede catching her chin. Arcee didn’t wait for her to dare try something else when she struck the other leader as much as she could.

“Enough,” Highwind said. When he was ignored, he tried again, “Enough now!”

Arcee continued beating the Mistress’ faceplate as Energon scattered from each blow. Windblade stood with her servos to her mouth while half of Victorion’s squad cheered for the Cybertronian to kick her ass.

Just then, Highwind stomped his own staff on the ground, bio lights pulsing brightly across his chassis as his optics lit up entirely. “ENOUGH!”

Gizmo flapped her wings on the platform upon hearing her master’s rare anger. Then the rumbling of the city had everyone pause as Astro Zenith awoke in the distance. It was at that moment everyone, including Arcee, realized that Highwind was not just the solitary inventor of Caminus’ core...he was a Cityspeaker. Astro Zenith made her way to Parliament faster than normal and roared at the fight below, making Arcee stumble back afraid and the Mistress of Flame to cower for once. When that made everyone silent awaiting what Astro Zenith would do now that she was awakened, Highwind merely turned to her and gave a pleasant laugh.

“Astro Zenith, my darling, how nice it is to see you again. Calm, calm.”

All everyone ever knew of Astro Zenith was her inability to be controlled. Yet when she rose in anger and Highwind spoke to her, she obeyed. Even Windblade, who she would listen to rarely, was flabbergasted as Astro Zenith lowered to let Highwind touch her face gently.

“Highwind...”

“Now, now, Astro, we just needed to get their attention. No harm done, no need for violence. Stay,” he said stroking her noseplate before leaving to walk up to Arcee. Astro Zenith didn’t dare move from her spot, only made a small noise of recognition at the command.

He hooked the Mistress’ arm with a divot in his staff and forced her upright, lightly bopping her on the head like an elder scorning a child. She winced but didn’t dare say anything to him as he reprimanded her, “I expected better from you, Fiera. Always prideful but can’t get the past out of your head. Now, get on with it and make peace, you idiot!”

The Mistress’ bravado was practically gone as she shakily picked up her Forgehammer and took a few attempts to look Arcee in the optics despite the blood dripping down her mouth. “Forgive me, Arcee. I just wanted everything to be right and if something seemed too good to be true, well, I’m known for my brasher actions.”

Arcee slowly nodded in agreement, “Don’t worry, I get that way sometimes too. Megatron can vouch for that.”

A small smile played on the Mistress’ face until she was hit on the shoulder by Highwind. “You aren’t done yet. Keep going.”

“I-I, um, intend to keep my word,” she said, straightening out back into the leader she was. “Arcee of Cybertron, you can consider yourself welcome here anytime. I think opening trade with Cybertron would be better than keeping ourselves isolated as we have done all these years. I suppose it never did us any favors denying that we had a problem of our own. And you can have this as well.”

The Mistress of Flame produced a Radiant Core from her subspace before Windblade set up a data pad for recognition of unification. Signing it, the Mistress bowed as the Seeker handed it to Arcee with a smile.

“Sorry for...all that,” Windblade said.

“It was bound to happen, I guess. Can’t please everyone,” Arcee grinned.

Astro Zenith let out a pleased growl as everyone around them cheered and the Mistress of Flame nurtured her bruises. Highwind was happy as ever, smiling as he pointed to his leader. “That’ll teach her, eh?”

The Mistress groaned and tried to whisper, “Grandsire, please!”

“Grandsire?” Bolt laughed.

Highwind chuckled, “Helia is my great-great-granddaughter. My great-granddaughter here isn’t the brightest of the leaders, true, but I still love her deep down. She just needs to get off her pedestal occasionally, let ol’ Highwind set her straight. She may be in charge, but she knows I won’t let her get away with disrespecting our bylaws, having written several of them during my time in Parliament as the Representative of the Cityspeakers many eons ago.”

Arcee peered between him and Astro Zenith. “You...you’re Astro Zenith’s original Cityspeaker! You retired? Why?”

“The Titan Wars, that mass grave in Titans Crossing, devastated us more than you know. Astro Zenith survived as one of the mightiest, but the war drew its darkest consequences. I knew if she stayed under my command, she would’ve hurt people...to protect me. I lost my ability to fly in battle, and she grew vengeful. I retired and isolated myself in the core to work solely on my inventions and left Astro Zenith to rest from her bloodshed. Fiera was only a young adult, barely out of her youngling stage when that happened; no doubt she told you about Obsidian, Astro Zenith’s only offspring.”

The Mistress pressed her cheek to slide against the head of her staff in shame. “I was sworn to protect Obsidian. I failed and Astro Zenith’s trauma only worsened. That’s why she refused to obey anyone. Windblade was the closest in personality to Highwind. While Obsidian was still alive, I pursued an operation to save the masses at the medical facility, and Decadance was one of my doctors. I fired her after she sabotaged the machines out of malice of Highwind killing her grandsire’s titan and him in battle. She rallied against me with lies that hurt more people, so deranged to avenge a bot she hardly knew except that he was family. Now you know the whole truth.”

Bolt shook his head, “It was a series of bad luck, huh? We’ve been down that road before-”

Megatron pressed a digit to his mouth while looking sternly at his former subordinate, shaking his head rapidly. Bolt immediately responded with a slicing motion against his throat to signal that he got the message and would remain silent. It was not the time to bring up the old wounds of Cybertron.

“We do what we can for the ones we love, good or bad,” Arcee muttered.

“Indeed,” the Mistress said calmly.

Arcee looked back at Highwind who interacted with the titan once more, laughing pleasantly as Astro Zenith bobbed her head with a noise of excitement. She muttered to Megatron on the side, “Contact Grimlock and tell him to send a space bridge in about an hour.”

“As you wish,” gleamed the warlord with utmost pride.

She watched as the Mistress came up to Highwind and was hesitant to talk to him. When he turned around, he embraced her to her shock, hugging her tightly. Arcee barely heard the apologies but could tell the Mistress was forgiven.

Later that night, Arcee sat on the edge of a walkway with Bolt behind her talking to Stormclash and Skyburst. Megatron had taken Moonhunter for negotiations with Highwind and the Mistress of Flame, giving Arcee a break in her duties to relax.

“Yes, I’ll try and stay in contact. I have a vigorous job though so you might have to call me more so. Okay? Tell Pyra Magna I owe her for that. Yes. Uh-huh. Yes, okay, good-bye girls!” Arcee smirked back at him to which he shrugged, “They love me, what can I say?”

She laughed until her commlink went off. A dreaded voice that made her all but facepalm. “Arcee, I’m going to be needing those fire crystals for a client of mine. Meet me south of the city near the observatory, tell no one.”

He ended the conversation fast, and she turned to Bolt with a pained expression. “Got to go.”

“Go?” The Vehicon asked confused, “Where do you need to...? Oh...oh, well, just don’t let him interfere with your objectives, Arcee. If anyone asks, I’ll just say you went for a stroll. But we get caught, I cannot save you and you better own up to it! Got it?”

“Thanks, Bolt,” she said before jumping off the walkway rails. Activating her wings, she glided towards the south end of the city as directed.

The observatory was massive with plenty of space to hide a shady deal and a Metal Head who didn’t want to be found. She landed in its plaza and peered around for a sign of Silos’ location.

“Are you Arcee?”

A mech with a few scars around his chest plating and arms walked up to her. He looked more concerned than strict, but she knew what he came for. She followed him to a secure balcony where the stars, a distant nebula, and the beautiful details of the gas giant Caminus orbited could be seen. It was a view she would kill to see from her home world. Standing at attention and gazing up at the same sight was the Rozarian-turned-Horaquan, ears and tail flickering among the warmth of the night.

“This mech beside you is the client. You can surrender the crystals to him, and he will take care of the rest,” Silos said without looking at her.

Arcee did as she was told before leaning against the railing of the observatory. The mech left with his loot. Neither of them paid him any attention.

Captain Silos’ golden orange eyes dilated as he peered around the sky seemingly recognizing a few stars lightyears away. His ears perked up when he focused on a big smudge in the far distance past the visible nebula. From what she knew of Earth astronomy, that was the Andromeda Galaxy.

“Is Rozaria in that galaxy? Do you miss it?”

Her innocent question made him blink for a second when he realized he had been staring a bit too long. “I...um, yes, Rozaria is in the second ring of the spiral, fourth planet from our binary stars, a blue and yellow orbiting each other. We orbit the outskirts of them. Kanjis neighbors us as the third closest to them technically though they are more dependent on the blue sun in terms of orbit.”

Arcee peered at the galaxy so mysterious that she held a brief bout of wonder what worlds it held. Most all the cybernetic worlds and colonies she knew of were in the Earth dubbed “Milky Way” Galaxy, but Kanjis and Rozaria were the first planets recognized outside of Cybertron’s planetary knowledge, at least what wasn’t hidden intentionally.

“They say in an estimated four billion years our galaxy and this one will collide, scattering the stars like dust in the wind. We, of course, won’t truly notice for a while because the ripples won’t be dramatic at first, but it will be a sight for all time,” Silos smirked to himself. When he peered at Arcee, she still stared at the sky. He coughed and added, “As for your question...if I miss my home...sometimes I do. I miss the lakeside views, the nature most of all.”

Arcee bit her lip before hesitantly asking, “Did you have family?”

Silos’ expression softened, more than he probably liked. “A long time ago. I had...a sister, two brothers, and my mother. My father passed away from an accident when I was younger, and I had just become an uncle when...”

She followed his gaze when it dwindled down to his hand briefly before he corrected himself to look back up at the stars and the Andromeda Galaxy. With a smirk to play off the brief reaction, he continued, “...well, I still don’t regret too many of my decisions even if I had to give up something in return. They probably lived their lives fine without me. Who knows who else has spawned among them since.”

Arcee made a small smile before getting serious. “Tell me something, Silos, you leaving your shop behind so willingly is kind of suspicious to me, not to mention you never refer to the Metal Head Leader by name. I still wonder if you haven’t changed as you claim; how can I trust you?”

“If it matters that much to you, my shop was never a permanent residence. Besides, I have a friend of mine watching over the business on Velocitron. As for the Metal Head Leader, I hate that bastard’s guts more than I hate everyone else. Their name is Malismar, a former Kanjian broker who sought power just like the rest of us. Tigressa granted their wish and turned them into a monster. Once I left, she disappeared, and Kor was lost across the dimensions, Malismar took control of the Metal Heads. Like Kor, I despise Malismar. Nothing but an unorthodox fool who doesn’t know when to quit,” he hissed.

Cracking her knuckles for emphasis, she laughed, “I can change that attitude really quick.”

Silos broke his own malicious smile, “I have no doubts you would. Speaking of whom, the Metal Head Leader, and I prefer just to call them that, seems to be thinking of targeting Chaar next. With its leader and a few others the only threats, they think it will be an easy run. I say you take a trip there and disrupt their operation. Send them a message. I’ll keep in touch as usual.”

“Thanks, Silos, for everything,” Arcee said.

The Horaquan captain shifted to lean with one elbow on the railing to face her, a smug expression on his face. “I wouldn’t thank me yet. Until the Metal Heads are stopped, there’s still a lot to do, plenty of stuff to steal as well.”

She shook her head before standing upright, “We can’t keep doing this. It violates everything I promise to those I help.”

“Arcee, they are just objects. If these people valued anything, they would choose their lives over mere crystals. Life isn’t replicable. Some have cheated it, as you can see, and some have withered away hoping to relive their glory. I have seen that happen more than you could fathom. If they cared, the loss of an object wouldn’t even strike the surface of their problems. It’s all I ask in return for the information, nothing more to it than that.” He then sneered, “Are all Cybertronians this superstitious?”

“When it comes to the welfare of others, yes,” she answered bluntly.

Silos chuckled low and resumed looking at the stars as if he expected something to change. But as Arcee could attest, sometimes it was just nice to see it as is among the little time of peace she had. She imagined the Metal Head wanted the same and under Tigressa, it would’ve been hard to achieve. That wasn’t mentioning the agony the body went through under the virus’ corruption.

After a minute of silence, Silos said quietly, “I suppose you must go, correct? I have nothing else I need from you and for the time being, it seems you don’t need me either.”

Arcee merely brushed off the attempted goodbye and gave him a brief nod before turning to walk away to contact Bolt. When she wanted to say one last thing, however, she turned back to find Silos gone. Since he probably considered his stay over welcomed, it wasn’t much of a shock aside from him moving as fast as he did for one of his stature.

“Have a good night, Silos,” she whispered, not that she expected him to hear her.

When she met back up with Bolt in their suite, the last day they were staying there, she noticed how frantic he looked digging through data pads set on the table.

“What are you looking for?”

“I thought Windblade gave me the cyberbiology scripts for Caminus, but I guess she never got around to it. Argh, look, can you stop by the Parliament building and see if you can get a copy of them? To have Caminus’ complete cyberbiology texts would really help for the Hall of Records,” he said.

Arcee rolled her optics before turning to walk back out the door. “Alright, I’ll be back...again.”

“Love you!”

Despite the slight delay in her plans to go home, she enjoyed the glide over. Parliament was still full of chatter about the previous fight with her and the Mistress of Flame. Several bots stopped and stared in awe at her while a few mocked her. She hardly cared.

Windblade’s voice called out to her, “Hey, Arcee!”

“Windblade,” she grinned.

The Seeker paused and took a second to speak her mind. “I never got to properly apologize for what I did. You know, the accusations and all that. I didn’t know what the Mistress had planned when she summoned you here. That took me by surprise too. She’s always been paranoid since I’ve known her, very brash indeed.”

“It’s alright,” Arcee said, waving it off. “I once got accused of stealing the Matrix of Leadership before I joined the Autobots. Turns out it was Chromia’s friend who did have a similar frame structure to me. That was a fun week.”

“Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

She peered towards the ground and then gained the idea from her initial objective. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to get a copy of Caminus’ known cyberbiology scripts, would you?”

Windblade snickered, “Bolt’s request?”

“He likes the knowledge and loves sharing it among his job back home. You know how he is.”

“Absolutely, follow me.”

Parliament never changed and neither did its congress as the bots who manned the building still held opinions about her in their processors. Windblade paid them no mind as she went to the data clerk’s office, a friend it seemed. The older femme there was helpful and held no ill will like her peers. The data pad received was loaded nearly to its maximum capacity with all the known fauna and flora of Caminus. A gift for a mad cyberbiologist whom Arcee hoped wouldn’t go insane with all the information.

“Thank you, Rainstorm.” She then addressed Arcee, “See, easy as taking candy from a sparkling. You just have to know the right people.”

Arcee didn’t expect to see Bolt, Megatron, and Moonhunter awaiting her outside as they exited Parliament with the data pad in hand. As she pet her Nitrotiger, she asked, “I take it it’s time to go?”

Megatron nodded, “Grimlock wants us back on Cybertron.”

“And I don’t want to keep you any longer than you need to stay,” a voice said behind him. The Mistress of Flame, Helia, and Highwind all came up to them with Astro Zenith overlooking them in the background. Helia slightly bobbed up and down in excitement upon seeing Arcee again, which the latter returned her greeting with a small wave and a smile.

Arcee gave the data pad to Bolt who clutched it like it was the most precious thing in the universe. He then let Highwind walk up to her from behind him as he older mech laughed, “You best be getting home, don’t want your friends to worry about you any more than they probably do now. I thank you for not just saving Caminus but reuniting us.”

The Mistress of Flame agreed, gripping her Forgehammer and smirking, “I never thought we needed you...but I see now I was wrong. It is that same attitude as the one I showed you that led Caminus nearly to starvation prior. We...I am sorry. I hope that the future of our relationship will be peaceful and now that the citizens of Caminus can rejoin the mother world again as they please, our morale and way of life will be able to grow again.”

“You were doing what any leader would do, protecting what you loved and what you initially didn’t want to change. I didn’t mean to uproot that...” Arcee spoke softly.

“But it was a necessity, I see that now. Can you forgive a pessimistic leader such as myself and put in a decent word with the Arisen that I meant no disrespect.”

“Consider yourself forgiven. Optimus doesn’t harbor ill will towards anyone for doing what they were supposed to do.”

A space bridge ignited to the side of her near Moonhunter and Megatron, and Arcee peered into its green energy with longing. With their run on Caminus coming to an end now that it was safe, she wanted to see Cybertron again as well as her friends.

Helia was the first to wave her off. “Goodbye! I hope you come and visit us again when its less crazy!”

Astro Zenith made a hearty rumble as her Cityspeaker and friend, Highwind, stomped his staff down as a form of clapping. Gizmo trilled and spread her four wings as if to wish them good luck. Moonhunter, however, became spooked and fled into the portal.

Windblade saluted them but Arcee managed to see in the far distance past her Silos’ ship make for the sky. The only other person who noticed was Bolt as she looked back to see him track the ship until it exited Caminus’ atmosphere. If Silos was going to meet her at Chaar, he better hope The Matriarch was not trigger-happy in the meantime.

Megatron and Arcee both waved at their Camien counterparts and walked into the portal after Moonhunter. Bolt almost forgot to go in right before the bridge closed looking over his new cyberbiology texts in the data pad he was given. He jumped through at the last second backwards.

On the other side, the Space Bridge Nexus awaited active and alert with Grimlock and Bumblebee each happy to see them. The former was in Dinobot mode and wagged his tail as he sniffed the Nitrotiger hiding near his clawed feet.

“I take it Moonhunter encountered a fellow cyber-animal over there?” The Dinobot leader chuckled.

“You can say that,” Arcee said before she was swooped upon into a big hug by Bumblebee.

“Arcee, you are brilliant! First Velocitron and now Caminus! Perceptor is going to try and establish contact with them at once,” Bee exclaimed excitedly, but then he put her down. “But, um, Perceptor has been tracking someone along the rim of our system. You might want to get with him about that. Oh, and don’t mention the one called Road Rage. He’s still recovering from nearly losing his hearing from the boisterous but overly nice femme on the other side.”

All three bots laughed upon hearing that. As the Space Bridge Nexus was shut down to rest, the bots left for Iacon. The city itself was missed by them as they enjoyed seeing it in motion. Pyrohex and Ember Basin may have been beautiful, but Iacon always had a special place in their sparks. Nova Point seemed especially poetic.

Perceptor sat documenting his finds, occasionally rubbing his audio receptors like an unwanted itch. When he saw Arcee, he fused, “About time you three showed, there’s a signal outside our system boundaries, foreign but on the move. Can’t say it’s coming towards us but at the same time, I can’t say it isn’t. Whatever it is, it hasn’t reared until after you guys left for Caminus.”

While he spoke, Arcee emptied all the Radiant Cores she got from Caminus and pushed them towards Haywire who sat adjacent to the scientist. Her advisor gave her an odd look, but she merely shrugged sheepishly. Scythe and Optimus appeared moments later as the team settled in.

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll be ready if it interferes with our daily lives,” Scythe said. “So, where to next?”

Megatron looked towards Arcee as the chosen leader and she gestured unsure before saying, “I think Chaar would be good to check up on. Have you heard from The Matriarch since she and Shockwave left?”

Optimus shook his head, “No. The Decepticon leader prides herself on keeping Cybertron out of Chaar’s affairs. There are still some Decepticons that not only agree that the planets should be separate...but they blame us for ruining their chance, calling on retaliation. So far, The Matriarch does not wish to do so but if pressed, there’s a chance she will relapse to appease them over helping us.”

Bolt scoffed, “She’s not stupid; that would cause another war. Brash as she may be, Matriarch is not going to kill everyone over half a working planet. We still have quite a way before Cybertron is fully functioning again.”

“But considering what lengths I went to,” the warlord interrupted, “I wouldn’t put it past my previous followers or those with similar mindsets to attempt it. We definitely need to get Cybertron in Chaar’s good graces soon or if someone does one day take over who isn’t wise to learn history, they will repeat what I did, and it will be destructive just the same.”

Perceptor laughed, “You make it sound like someone’s going to have the brass to overthrow The Matriarch. The only way someone is getting that throne is either from you requesting it back or when that tank of a sparkmate Shockwave has dies of natural causes, in which case I would imagine Shockwave would take over instead of letting someone with the personality of Starscream rule.”

Megatron grimaced, “I think you’re over glorifying my role in the Decepticon faction. I didn’t make it better when I was ruler.”

“Yeah, but you actually got things done,” Scythe argued. “Everyone cowered at your name, true; when you wanted something done right, you did it yourself which is why no one wanted you on the battlefield because once you stepped on the battlefield, it was guaranteed going to get deadly. Sure, there was a lot of infighting in the faction but that mostly happened when you were focused on something else and weren’t there to monitor it. Starscream was only successful in doing some of the work because Soundwave wouldn’t let him do what he initially wanted. Had Soundwave not bothered, I assure you that the Decepticons would have killed each other far faster than under anyone else’s rule. That’s also why no one could stand him. We’d rather be inferior and belittled by you than be metal shields to Starscream, and that’s the cold truth right there. Ask any Decepticon.”

Bolt nodded uneasily, “He’s got a point. As cruel as you were, at least you knew what you were doing...up until the whole Unicron’s blood thing. That’s when you began losing it a little. Still, we agreed to ride or die with you to the very end. If worse came to worst, I would have chosen Soundwave as your successor, but he doesn’t like to use his command oddly.”

Arcee sighed, “I feel like stepping on Chaar is going to be like walking into a field of land mines. Half the bots there would rather kill me than talk to me even if Metal Heads decide to go there or not.”

Bumblebee snickered, “Just have to choose your poison in that regard, Arcee.”

Even if The Matriarch complied with what her objective was, Arcee knew there was no guarantee her Decepticons would play fair given she had been an enemy of theirs for a million years. They weren’t just going to forgive and forget how many of their friends she had possibly killed. Then again, with The Matriarch neutral, she might stand a chance.

As the boys continued to discuss the Decepticons, Arcee just looked over one of the Radiant Cores curiously. Finally, she muttered, “I’m going to retire for today if that’s okay with everyone.”

A few of them grew silent but acknowledged her leave like Megatron tapped her servo to wish her well and Moonhunter who immediately got up to follow her while others didn’t notice until it was pointed out to them. She took a bridge back to her palace in Crystal City, the night sky reflecting off its crystalline features as if the stars were within the city itself. She nodded to the guards, gave little to no orders to the palace staff, only hoping they had a chance to relax, and retreated to her chambers where she collapsed onto her berth. Funnily enough, Moonhunter nearly tripped over his own bed and fell sideways onto the cushion before closing his optics with a purr.

For nearly an hour, she didn’t move, relishing the silence and the familiar scents of home. When a faint glow of blue outside her chambers pulsed and she saw it by instinctively opening her optics, she slowly sat up by her elbows and yawned.

“I would think you’d be,” she yawned, “someplace else...besides here.”

Moonhunter was dead in recharge as she maneuvered to peer into her living room where the Allspark of all people touched a statue depicting Micronus Prime with the edge of one of its rings but when it began to fall, the Allspark grew orange out of stress and nervousness before catching it by having it hover inches off the ground. It floated back up to its spot to Arcee’s amusement.

“You know, you really need to make new friends. This is just embarrassing now,” Arcee said crossing her arms.

“Your work on Caminus is admirable but the forces you berate will only accelerate their plans to match your determination. Soon, the events of the past will catch up with you. Be careful what you do.”

She laughed, “Relax, I have everything under control.”

That seemed to perplex the Allspark more than assure it. “Under control? The Horaquan, those creatures you call the Metal Heads, are far more advanced than mere monsters. It will only take a single mistake to prevent them from being stopped, a danger which you seem to be forgetting in your pride.”

“You forget that I don’t stop until I’m dead. I’ll set everything right even if it kills me.”

“I know,” the Allspark grew disheartened, “but I still fear what is yet to come as do you. Be aware of all around you. Fate is never kind.”

Arcee didn’t reply to that but nodded as the Allspark vanished. She didn’t hesitate to go back into recharge as she knew the travel to Chaar would be a long and difficult road if The Matriarch had any say in it. But with Megatron and Bolt by her side, she assumed the Decepticons wouldn’t attack their former leader. Still, she slept even as she heard the boys enter her chambers and relax on the chairs after a hard week of working to unite Velocitron and Caminus with Cybertron. She could hear them muttering to each other but even that was tuned out in favor of dreaming.

-----------------------------

The Mistress of Flame sat on her throne in her citadel pondering as Highwind showed off some of his gadgets to his overly thrilled great-great-granddaughter, a kid always at spark. She could hear Astro Zenith wandering peacefully among the ocean in the core and for as long as she knew the titan, she was happier than being forced to rest in the crowded city above. At the same time, it could be simply that she was reunited with her Cityspeaker too.

Closing her optics, the Mistress kept her servos intertwined with her elbows on each of the arm rests. Her Forgehammer lay upright beside her chair, and Windblade stood at a table in the corner of the room reading over the reports of the Metal Head incident. The creatures had departed for good it seemed. She smirked a little as she remembered she sent the corpse of that monstrous bird-like Metal Head to a taxidermist in Pyrohex. She was going to display the creature in the courtyard of the Tower of Obsidian as a reminder of their victory. With her family together again and Caminus safe, she felt she could finally relax for once but then Windblade made a small grunt of confusion which caught her attention.

“Mistress, your security team just sent us a video file...from the old medical facility you had shut down,” the Seeker said.

“What?” The leader scoffed, “That’s absurd. No one would foolishly trespass there.”

“Except...Arcee,” she whispered in dismay, finishing the Mistress’ sentence.

That made the larger femme nearly jump from her seat, grabbing her hammer as Pyra Magna and the rest of Victorion’s individuals walked in. She stomped over, nearly pushing Windblade out of the way to see for herself Arcee wandering the halls. To her anger, the fire crystals, though abandoned in a rush, were...stolen.

The Mistress of Flame’s bio lights burned bright in her silence. Even Highwind, who readjusted his goggles curiously, seemed to worry about what was going on in her processor. She slammed the Forgehammer’s end on her floor and nearly put a dent into it.

“The lying, little heathen...” she growled, optics ablaze.

Chapter Text

“Okay, Chaar is...different in terms of how we’ve been playing our tactics so far, Arcee,” Bolt said. “Given The Matriarch is a bit high strung and has a similar approach in leadership to Megatron, albeit much more vengeful, the best way to deal with this is just heading into it directly.”

Megatron glared at him briefly while Arcee raised a brow. “By ‘heading in’ do you mean just no appeasing her, just demanding or what?”

“Megatron, you want to explain?”

The warlord rolled his optics but indulged him, turning to Arcee dead serious. “The Decepticons are not fooled by aft-kissing, Arcee. While we’ve been abnormally nice to the other leaders so far, The Matriarch, and arguably me as well, won’t allow that. To get the Decepticons to listen, you’re going to have to play by their rules and work your way up more than you have done so already. Any incidents may backfire heavily so be careful what you say and do.”

“So, be a Decepticon basically...Cliffjumper would be laughing right about now at this,” Arcee sneered.

The Vehicon chuckled, “It’ll only be at most a couple days, maybe less if we’re lucky.”

Although there was plenty of confidence they would win over The Matriarch, she knew as much as they did how unruly the Decepticon leader could be, and that concerned Arcee more than she would admit out loud. The fact that The Matriarch had only tolerated her for this long but didn’t trust her to keep relations between Chaar and Cybertron really said how the leader valued her rule. Thankfully, The Matriarch had no intentions of taking her throne, but it wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibilities given the distrust.

Haywire appeared with his sparkmate, Scythe, and gestured at them with a grin. “Perceptor has the Space Bridge Nexus locked onto Chaar. Shockwave knows you are on your way...but The Matriarch doesn’t. He wants you to reason with her. Try not to start any fights and get her to realign Chaar with Cybertron as quick as you can. Understand?”

“At this point, I don’t think there’s any way to argue the plan,” the queen said. “But if she starts another civil war because she becomes a bitch, I’m not hesitating in killing everyone this time. I’m no Optimus. I’m not going to put up with this scrap of sovereignty if she can’t be peaceful about it. Am I clear?”

The three ex-Decepticons quickly nodded while Haywire made a deadpanned frown. As she walked off towards the ground bridge that was set for Iacon to meet Optimus and the others over in the Nexus, Haywire slowly furrowed his brows in concern. “You had to mate with the one bot who won’t hesitate to kill you if you relapse?”

Megatron slowly grew a smile and shrugged, “She keeps me sane. She’s doing a better job than Optimus and Soundwave, and that says something. Optimus was too soft, and Soundwave was too obedient; against a personality like mine, that doesn’t help my more vicious tendencies.”

“Scythe?” Haywire turned to his own sparkmate hoping for a better answer to the riddle of Arcee’s attitude and all he got was another shrug.

The green mech simply said, “My servos are tied in this.”

“Is everyone mated to insane bots now. Shockwave and The Matriarch. Megatron and Arcee...” He then pointed to Bolt unsure, “Mmmm?”

“I had a fling with a Combiner,” Bolt said confidently. “All six individuals.”

Haywire facepalmed when Scythe pointed out, “Well, you’re technically sparked to a formerly convicted spy and notable killer, so I would be saying anything.”

The glare he got made him back off with a mere grunt.

-------------------------------

The Space Bridge Nexus pulsed awaiting its cargo. Optimus, Perceptor, and Predaking kept a watchful eye on it as the Nexus was still untrusted given its million-year slumber and with the damages Arcee fixed questionable, that made them precautious of keeping it open for long periods of time.

“I do hope The Matriarch will be reasonable or Arcee is in for an uphill battle,” Perceptor said. “And I just got out of communication with the one called Highwind. He’s quite proud of Arcee.”

“As we all are.”

“By the way, those weird signals have been off and on, no idea if it's a hiccup or what but I sense there may be more to this mystery than I thought. At least until you see if it has anything to do with these Metal Heads. Just thought I’d mention that too,” the scientist grinned.

“Don’t be thanking me yet, guys,” Arcee stated. “We’ve still got more worlds to meet up with.”

Predaking peered around. “Where are the others?”

“Somewhere behind me.”

On cue, a ground bridge appeared and Arcee gestured with a smirk as Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter all came out of the portal with Haywire and Scythe following. Bolt was the one who joked, “Thanks for waiting for us, Arcee. Very considerate of you.”

“Well, I’m not very eager to go against the heart of the Decepticon empire but I want to get this done as soon as possible. Also, the thought of her being an ass isn’t helping my mood.”

Megatron replied, “Yeah, I can see your point. Anyone who has never dealt with The Matriarch in person is subjected to a very stressful encounter. But you’ll be meeting her on equal ground, so you have a chance.”

Moonhunter yowled in agreement before Haywire said, “Just be careful.”

Arcee popped her shoulders, rolling them with a grimace as she faced the Nexus. “Alright, Matriarch, here we come.”

The four stepped up to the portal as it hissed with its energy flickering. It was like stepping into the lion’s den, and they all knew what it meant. Arcee was the first one in, taking the lead despite everything she harbored against the deathly planet. The portal roared in her audios as she walked inside and followed it to its end.

On the other side, she didn’t expect to be faced with a ripped-up nebula of various shades of orange and yellow. It looked as though it was cut into pieces against a virtually blackened night sky. There was only a single sun far away, a distant yellow, but it hardly impacted the planetary atmosphere. It had nearly no difference between its day and night cycles. Among the planet itself, a rugged terrain that looked like nothing but a desolate wasteland aside from the Cybertronian buildings integrated into them. No life was visible; a soulless planet indeed.

As the others came through and the portal closed, Arcee couldn’t help but pity the populace that had been banished to such a world…not unlike Megatronus Prime who went insane in his dark exile alone and detested. It looked like the epitome of cruel punishment, and she had to wonder how the Decepticons could stand staying here? But then again, she may have answered her own question as the toll of the war and the Autobots often throwing out the Decepticons as traitors probably led to a majority leaving Cybertron in its quiet years. They had nothing to gain staying on a dying planet that despised them.

“About time you three showed up,” a monotone voice said. They grew pleased as Shockwave walked up to them followed by a few of the Decepticons that took residency on Chaar. “I was beginning to think you would grow unnerved by the location.”

Megatron laughed, “It’s good to be at the home away from home again. It looks the same as when I left it. That’s a good sign.”

“Since your departure from the Decepticons, Chaar has been quiet...sometimes regrettably. Soundwave has been keeping an eye on it alongside me in making sure Matriarch doesn’t kill anyone here unnecessarily in her rage. So far, it is successful.”

Upon hearing the mention of Soundwave, Megatron’s features grew softer when he realized his best friend was still alive. “I thought Soundwave was trapped in the Shadowzone last I heard of him? Why has he never shown himself on Cybertron?”

Shockwave made a small, unsure gesture. “He hasn’t left Chaar since his rescue, obligated to protect it awaiting you. He didn’t even come to Cybertron when we overthrew Rockrider. As much as he cares about you, he’s not going to go out of his way to track you down if you’ve been reported dead. He could care less about Cybertron, the same attitude as The Matriarch.”

Arcee thought to herself during the exchange. If Soundwave wasn’t confident in helping Cybertron, indeed The Matriarch wouldn’t be either. If she could boost morale among the Decepticons, especially Soundwave, they would be open to negotiations of reuniting with Cybertron’s trade system, and their leader would follow suit if she believed it was a necessity.

“Let’s get you set up at my lab for further conversation before my esteemed sparkmate finds out too early of my intervention with the unification of Chaar and Cybertron.”

A plan formed and she was eager to carry it out as Shockwave escorted them to his laboratory within the region. It looked like a haunted factory but had Decepticons working under his instruction without pause. Most were the loyal Vehicons but some were familiar faces. They were surprised to see Starscream’s brothers and a group of Seeker subordinates working in the higher sections of the laboratory before hearing a set of growls to their right. The Driller grubs slithered and sniffed within their pen next to Shockwave’s main desk, an easy way of keeping track of them. They had the ability to go through a small space that Arcee believed led to a sleeping area or a place to eat.

“The Drillers need room to grow as well as learning to dig. It is what they are made to do. The access to the other side of the wall is through that door over there,” Shockwave said, pointing to a door in the corner not far from his workplace.

“Aren’t you afraid they might tunnel out and get lost?” Bolt asked.

“They are already trained to not leave the vicinity and have trackers on them just in case. Did you think I wouldn’t learn from losing Doomsday? Tagging Predacons was one thing; I had such confidence that she would return to me no matter what. That seemed to be a misplaced judgement on my part.”

Arcee winced upon hearing the Driller’s name and sighed, “I’m sorry for what happened on the isle.”

Shockwave stayed neutral in his tone as he replied, “You did what you had to do. As much as I may have disagreed with your handling of the situation, I know exactly what went wrong and was inevitable. Doomsday was trained to hunt Autobots during the war at my command, no one else’s. She didn’t know the war was over therefore her reaction to you was justified with years of predatory aggression meant to do what it was designed to do. Part of it is my fault for not teaching the boundaries in my isolation but then again, the war still technically wasn’t over when she disappeared. I will raise her offspring under different circumstances but still heed my command as needed. Nothing personal.”

At this point, the queen knew it was moot to argue against Shockwave because he was...well, Shockwave. The bot was notorious for bending the laws of nature to do whatever and that scared her a little. He turned to face them and gestured to the surrounding laboratory.

“This will be the best place for you to rendezvous with me or each other. For a while, keep Matriarch calm by helping around here. The more you do, the easier it will be for me to get her to warm up to the option of trade for the planet. I can handle her outbursts and other small problems, but I need confirmation that you understand the quieter approach as well. Bolt, you and I will keep a lookout for The Matriarch. The rest of you, be on your guard.”

Bolt and Arcee nodded while Megatron was a bit more disappointed, but he eventually expressed his agreement that the best idea was to take it slow. If The Matriarch did find out about their presence on Chaar, there would be precautions that would have to be installed on a moment’s notice given her temper.

Bolt and Moonhunter took their place among Shockwave’s desk as the former got into the system to monitor the planet under Shockwave’s direction. Moonhunter was a bit less pleased and hissed at the grubs that moved to the edge of their pen curiously upon picking up his scent. Arcee tinkered with a few of Shockwave’s gadgets and grinned slightly seeing the Nitrotiger move to be under the desk only to lose it for a frown realizing the reason for Moonhunter’s behavior was because even as a grub, Drillers could still kill and eat something of his size. He was on high alert, not because of mere dislike. She assumed even though Shockwave clearly fed them as much as he could give since they had gotten bigger than when she first saw them after Rockrider’s defeat, they ate as much as they could get ahold of. The thought was a bit scary.

Megatron, on the other hand, was distant as he overlooked the world he had abandoned and all the residents that still acknowledged him with high regard. Arcee saw him staring at his former soldiers, each of whom had carried on with their lives, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he felt insecure about his current role in the Decepticon empire, nothing but an ideology than an actual representative and figurehead. But, like everything, they had to move on to survive with or without him, and he knew this for he didn’t dare step in to command a single one of them despite being back in their midst.

“It’s funny,” Megatron muttered more to himself than to her, “they are all here because of me, and they never left.”

Arcee gave a small smile and patted his thigh reassuringly, “But maybe for good reason. Why abandon a world that loved them for who they were then go back to one that didn’t? You know how Cybertron leaned towards the Autobots’ favor. They made this their own, and you helped them. Not everything you did was out of selfishness, was it?”

“I suppose not...I just never looked at it that way until now,” he said. “So strange has my place in the universe become, but I’m happy things turned out the way they did even if maybe I didn’t deserve such leniency.”

“Everything happens for a reason,” the blue femme shrugged. Then her mind drifted to the Metal Heads in parallel with the Decepticons and the conversation at hand.

Everything happened for a reason, and the Metal Heads weren’t just targeting the worlds they knew just because of their leader. They couldn’t be. Their existence, their methods, and their role in current events wasn’t random; it was all planned and that’s what Silos was warning her about. The Metal Head Leader wasn’t poking around to see what world would fall and what wouldn’t, they were attacking each world in accordance with what they wanted Silos to know. The link of the virus between hosts was a two-way feed, a hive mind, as Silos stressed twice before so if he knew what the leader had planned, Malismar knew Silos was communicating with her about it. It was clockwork in motion; a ripple effect. The Metal Heads weren’t here on Chaar...but they were going to be.

“Everything happens...” Arcee spoke softly in disbelief before turning to a confused Megatron. “We need to be on the offensive. The Metal Heads are going to come here next, and they are going to go to the other worlds no matter what order we go to them. They are going to follow.”

“Then shouldn’t we be leaving Chaar?”

“No, we can’t. And even if we hold off on going to the others, the Metal Heads will go after them regardless. But they know we’re searching for a way to stop them now, so there’s no going back. I’ve been a fool in not realizing that sooner. We started this whole chaos by accident, but we’re going to finish it too.”

Megatron understood loud and clear, nodding before walking off to talk to Shockwave. Arcee held her arms close to her body unnerved how, for a virus, the Horaquan were a lot smarter than she gave them credit for. It meant there was no security in what they did nor what Silos told her, and the ex-Rozarian knew this too.

Bolt read over Chaar’s cyberbiology database with a servo under his chin bored which caught her attention as odd. Then he said with a tilt of his head, “I wish they would update this. Half the information on here is from previous Decepticons who only dealt with a few of the species in person, the rest was guesswork more so. I’m tempted to go out and fix the rock viper pages because they aren’t even close to accurate. In fact, while you’re waiting, why don’t you do me a favor?”

“Like?”

“Before we came to Earth on the Nemesis, I was so enthralled by the rock vipers and a few other species in Chaar’s caverns that I wanted to get a few of them as pets. I remember I had a tank for them in my barracks. My peers found it odd I was devoted to the project, but they eventually encouraged me to continue...until we were shipped off. I’m thinking about redoing my pet project and need a some rock vipers to take care of. Can you get a few for me?”

Arcee scoffed in amusement, “You really are dedicated to your craft. What about The Matriarch though? We need to keep a low profile and I doubt she is blind to the caverns.”

Bolt laughed, “As if! Megatron didn’t even keep tabs of anything beyond the outpost borders much less the caverns. The Matriarch wouldn’t care about some stupid hole in the ground or its occupants. She’s a strategist but not paranoid. You should be fine. Take a few of those containers Shockwave keeps astray in his lab, doubt he will miss them.”

She grabbed three containers off the desk and placed them in her subspace with a mere nod.

“Oh, and here’s some bribery material in case a Decepticon decides to bother you on the way over there,” he quickly said, handing over a case of credits. “We’re gluttons for goods, murderous even. You know how we are. I doubt anyone on this Primus forsaken rock has changed much.”

Sneaking out of the laboratory was a chore as she had to go up instead of through the doors. There was an access on a catwalk above the main area and she took it only to see Chaar from a whole new perspective. The base was massive with a large pad the size of the Nemesis in its center which was now a plaza of sorts given the ship in question had long been damaged on Cybertron. The architecture around the area looked like how the Nemesis was designed with skyscrapers adorning an overall spiky appearance. Shockwave’s laboratory sat on a cliff over the base’s boundaries and to the left of it just outside the base was the entrance to some of the caverns of Chaar. Despite no vegetation and seldom scenery, the planet had already seemed like a match made for the Decepticon empire.

Arcee shivered with little heat in the atmosphere before expanding her winglets and activating her gliding ability. She soared from the laboratory over the base, blending with the other Seekers in the distance as she rounded a spire indicating the edge of Decepticon land and flew over the border. Diving a few times to lower herself as she approached the caverns, she noted the vast similarities of Chaar and Cybertron in comparison to worlds with richer landscapes.

Velocitron may have been flat but had monstrous canyons that had personality. Earth was the most obvious distinction in difference because comparing it to her world, Cybertron seemed...vacant, now so did Chaar. Earth had mountains, unbeatable views with twists and turns with every mile. All Cybertron had was flat lands with nothing but cities and a single drop off to the unknown aside from the core of Primus inside the planet. She had to wonder if the humans knew how lucky they were to have such a world that had so many extravagant features...

Landing just beside one of the caverns, she shook her wings back into sleep mode. The mouth of the cave already presented itself with stalactites formed along the lip and deeper in. She sucked up any fear that threatened to rise and went in. The last time she went into such a place, Megatron and Starscream were verbally fighting with the former prepared to offline the Seeker. It went quite awry after that. But there still lingered a bit of fear that there could be other Decepticons nearby who didn’t know about Shockwave’s plan and wouldn’t hesitate to fight her.

Hissing echoed in the cavern and Arcee paused. She couldn’t tell if it was a rock viper or perhaps a sand-dweller like the one she had killed on the isle. With so many snakes on Chaar, she got the immediate impression that the current state of the planet may not have been what it was in the past if life still found a way in its desolate wastelands.

She whipped to the side when a hiss sounded far too close for comfort. Hidden among a dip in the rocky cavern walls, a rock riper with faint green bio lights and slit optics stared her down, its tail coiling in warning. “There you are.”

Using her speed boost, she caught it by the back of its head when it twisted away, barely dodging a strike to her arm. It kept its mouth open angrily despite being immobilized by her grip. She carefully placed it in a container before resuming her search for the other two. It took mere seconds to find the next one raised at eye level and staring at her curiously. She merely juked it by baiting it into striking in the wrong direction. It proved easy to capture.

The last rock viper she needed happened to be in a nest with eggs in a pocket in the wall. It covered all its angles well, snapping at her when she tried to get close to grab it. Sneering after it coiled tighter around the eggs and fearing it would accidentally crush them, Arcee backed off and went to search for another.

“You win this round; I will leave you alone.”

There were small pools of water a little farther in and she found her final rock viper drinking which she nabbed quite fast and put away in record time. Once all three were secured in her subspace, she was about to turn back around to go out the way she came when she sensed something was...amiss. Eyes on her, that’s what it felt like and hardly was she ever wrong. Slowly, she grew annoyed and alert but played innocent to lure her enemy closer. As soon as the smallest noise of a sword barely tapping armor upon removal caught her audios, she released her arm blades and struck back behind her. Her blades and the one aiming for her head clashed, blue optics meeting blood red as a purple mech with horns kept a neutral demeanor against her aggressive stance. She recognized him; the familiarity appeared mutual as he narrowed his optics at her.

Arcee frowned, keeping his weapon at bay. “Long time, no see, Cyclonus.”

Cyclonus pushed off her weapon and attempted to strike her, but she flipped back before jumping on a high boulder, perching with a sneer. He silently debated on pursuing, but she could tell he wasn’t up for a game of chase as much as he would normally reward his prey with until killing them. He put his weapon away without any fear of her, a bold move usually but Arcee knew different. He was calculative son of a bitch and a resourceful one at that. If he couldn’t take her, he wouldn’t have sheathed his weapon.

With a deep voice, the mech said, “If it isn’t the one called Arcee...now Queen of Cybertron? A bit far from home, aren’t you?”

“Spare me the obvious, Cyclonus, I don’t seek any trouble here.”

“Really? Because I just had a thief steal something of mine. I tracked them down into the cave system only to come across you. A little coincidental, don’t you think? But if you are so innocent, why don’t you make yourself useful, Autobot, and get me back my amulet,” he growled.

Arcee put her arms up after retracting her blades with a scoff, “I have other things I need to attend to right now-”

“Yes, your so-called important rock viper hunt.” Cyclonus shook his head and pointed at her with hidden malice. “Get me back my amulet. I’ll give you ten minutes, or I’ll hunt you down and cut you in half.”

“Always the pleasant one,” she muttered.

While Cyclonus took it upon himself to guard the only known exit, Arcee did as she was told and went deeper inside. While she expected it to be darker, she was proven wrong. Energon crystals grew in abundance farther in with bio illuminated specks lining the walls around each crystal. Even the stalactites were enchanted with their mystical glow. Pools of Energon collected beneath hanging crystals and stalactites shedding their moisture. She saw two rock vipers drinking from them.

If someone did have the amulet, she suspected they may have already found a way out, but her idea was immediately called into question when shadows above swung past her, startling her. Mallibi, the ape-like creature with multiple arms she had encountered in the Primal Jungle on the isle, navigated through the forest of stalactites with ease. Two...no, three of them moved in tandem before coming to rest on an alcove in the wall and one of them gave a brief holler. She grinned as they peered down at her, not with any ill intentions but with sheer curiosity, the same behavioral trait as the one she met prior demonstrated.

One of them swung down and landed in front of her, poking her gently with a grunt. Arcee blindly asked, “Don’t suppose you would know where an amulet is?”

The Mallibi didn’t answer her and grabbed her arm to bring it horizontally. Then she remembered what Bolt had said long before. The Decepticons had trained the Mallibi to recognize trade, one item for another. Sometimes, they got good deals out of it with the apes bringing everything at random. If there was an amulet laying around where a mischievous Mallibi might have taken it, all she needed to do was play along.

Taking out the credits for bribery, initially for the Decepticons, she handed the ape a few to see what it would do. It studied the credits before sounding off in delight. The two other Mallibi made equally excited noises before the one in front of her climbed up to its burrow she just noticed. She could hear the clinking of objects being moved within, some falling out of the hole like misplaced weapons and empty crates. It finally came back with a gem, not what she needed but it was pretty. When it jumped down, a few items were pushed out…including a Decepticon amulet of chrome black and purple bio lights. She took the gem before offering some more but eyed the amulet wordlessly. The Mallibi seemed to trail her line of sight and didn’t hesitate to grab it, offering it with pride.

Arcee grinned as she took it. “Thank you, now promise me you won’t be stealing anything else from Cyclonus. The guy isn’t easy to negotiate with even when you’re innocent.”

“But when proven so, I am far more lenient.” The Mallibi gave a soft sound as they both looked towards Cyclonus leaning against the wall. He then continued, “I was on my way to hunt you but it seems it’s not necessary. I should have known the Mallibi were behind it...”

“But it’s easier to blame an Autobot than a mere animal,” she finished.

Cyclonus gave a rare smile, “Perhaps so.”

She handed the amulet to him and he stored it in his subspace, not before thumbing it delicately in thought. She noticed and asked, “What’s so special about that anyway?”

“You wouldn’t understand-”

“Try me. I know of loss, heartbreak, and death...we all do. Think I won’t know?”

Cyclonus sighed, “It was a gift from an associate who is no longer with us. She made stuff like this in her spare time, gave this to me more as a joke but I kept it close because she was my teammate, one of the few I respected. Since she died, I’ve went solo as you’ve seen when I fought in the war. She was my best friend, and I lost her. Keep your friends close, as they say. She was to me like what Blackarachnia was to Megatron, a true friend.”

Hearing Airachnid’s sister’s name surprised her but she knew the history. Blackarachnia was best friends with Megatron in the early war though he was still her superior. The mess that occurred on Archa Seven was nothing but a freak accident, but she blamed Megatron thinking he set her up. It was proven false but the damage had already been done by the time Arcee had met her on the isle reborn from the Allspark’s power. It was funny how Megatron merely tolerated Airachnid in her place; no one could ever replace Blackarachnia’s natural leadership of the Insecticons nor her unrivaled mind. Arcee thought that if she had ever encountered Blackarachnia on the battlefield prior to her incident, she wouldn’t have been able to take her like she could Airachnid.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Like you said, we’ve all been there. I have no doubts the Decepticons took someone close to you too. The price of war always changes you. Would you believe I wasn’t always a recluse?”

Arcee then laughed, “Not really, I thought the stoic bravado was natural.”

Cyclonus tilted his head briefly with a mocking scoff of amusement. “Things change. So tell me, Queen Arcee, why are you here?”

“I need to convince The Matriarch to open trade with Cybertron again. On Cybertron, she’s difficult but manageable enough to work with. Here...”

“The Matriarch is a good leader for a Vehicon, proved a lot of us wrong though her demeanor is often aggressive. She only wants what’s best for us without Megatron and personally, I think she may be right to keep us separate from Cybertron.”

“How so?” Arcee asked, crossing her arms as the Mallibi started picking at the ground for loose Energon fragments.

“Now, don’t twist my words here, Arcee. Cybertron is our home, however...we helped in its destruction once, that makes us enemies regardless of the current inhabitants’ opinions. You won’t harm us, true, no need to as long as we’re here but if someone else were to get into power somewhere down the line and didn’t share your mindset, open trade could equal the ability to harm us with the wrong intentions and proper planning. We can’t monitor every parcel that comes through. That can hurt us. Keeping in communication, we can do that. Trade is more than just exchanging items and you know what the damage is if something goes wrong. How can we have assurance things will be good for both sides and not end in disaster given the past relations of Autobots and Decepticons?”

She didn’t know how to answer that. If opening trade and reconnecting Chaar with Cybertron risked more harm than good, would someone else grant the same mercy once the opportunity to reunite came into fruition? She couldn’t speak for everyone on Cybertron, and Cyclonus knew her uncertainty with a small expression of disappointment.

“I know you mean well, Arcee...but you need to heed The Matriarch’s demands and go home. Chaar isn’t a place for Autobots and will never be. Maybe that’s how it should stay.”

As he walked away, he left Arcee to ponder that cold comment. Even as the Mallibi beside her gently tapped her arm, she couldn’t help but frown. She wasn’t one to give up and had no intention on doing so. There had to be a medium between what she wanted and what The Matriarch desired against her personal opinions. Something had to give but now, it was only a matter of who caved first for what reason.

Her commlink went off and she heard Shockwave say, “Bolt told me where you ran off to. While I do not condone such disregard for my commands even for his pet project, while you’re out there, I need a few ingredients for my experiments. Pink and Orange Energon crystals grow not far from your location. I’ll send you the coordinates. If you can bring me some, I’ll consider giving you a bit of an insight on how Matriarch might be willing to listen to you.”

“Why are you going against The Matriarch’s belief?”

“Because I think you are right. Chaar was heavily at a disadvantage during the war with little resources to be spared. Even though we are surviving, I think to merge us as one would not just help the Decepticons rekindle their relationship with Cybertron but give them a reason to finally come home. I may like my isolation but the others don’t. We are all Cybertronians, Arcee, how long can we be separated from the world we were born on?”

Arcee scowled, “It can backfire-”

“All the more reason to do it. Anything worth fighting for is often riddled with the danger of unfathomable consequences. Our whole war was one,” Shockwave said. “That’s how you know it’s the right thing to do.”

She cut communications, blowing air in frustration on how she should go about the issue. She left the cave, much to the sadness of the Mallibi who made soft hollers after her, and wandered the rocky wasteland that was Chaar’s surface. The Decepticon base got smaller as she ventured cautious of any sand-dwellers or direfangs that could be lurking around. Her well-known stealth came in handy when she finally did encounter a sand-dweller. It dug in the softer grains of a blackened sand pit with the movements of its body, basking in the limited sunlit of the planet with its head and spine only unearthed as it fell into slumber. Seeing it at peace, there was beauty to the creature she had never considered due to the only instance of her meeting one was under hostile intentions.

Over the hills of the terrain, Arcee paused when she saw the most astounding sight. Various colors of Energon ranging from vibrant pink to even an unusual shade of green lay in a small valley. For a planet dead, it was best never to judge a book by its cover after all as she would have never believed Chaar could carry so many variants of color nor Energon. The reflections of the crystals’ lights made it appear like a sea of rainbows. If Red Energon could give one super speed briefly, she had to wonder what the others could do. All Shockwave needed was a few crystals of Pink and Orange Energon, the rest was best left alone in case any species needed it besides them.

“Admiring the view?”

She whipped around, blaster at the ready but Silos remained unfazed and peered down amused more than anything. When she realized it was him, she snarled, “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

The Metal Head captain shrugged with a smirk, “It’s funny though. So, this is the infamous Chaar. A dark planet for traitors and destructive monsters.”

Even though she may have agreed somewhat with that statement during the war, it didn’t sit right with her now to accuse the Decepticons as such knowing what she knew now. Arcee didn’t correct him in favor of pointing out the obvious.

“What are you doing here, Silos?”

“Looking at the pretty crystals...what do you think? The Metal Head Leader is not going to let you slip through the midst of their plans without a little trouble. Now that I know you might have the capability of stopping them, it gives me more incentive to help out. I will not let Tigressa’s legacy be tainted by anyone.”

Arcee replied, “That’s a bit self-righteous.”

“Call it payback. Now, this Matriarch character; I’ve heard the rumors, a soldier damned to the brink of insanity. I’ll stay back and let you deal with her. I, for one, have no intentions on disrupting whatever hellspawn your spouse, Megatron, had created to protect this forsaken planet and this empire alone.”

“How do you know about The Matriarch?” Arcee frowned.

“I’m not stupid to enter a world blindly,” Silos retorted. “What do you take me for? An idiot?”

“Could’ve fooled me,” she answered crassly.

He shook his head and growled, “Just do what you need to do.”

When Silos walked off, Arcee expected him to disappear over the ridge. Instead, she grew alert when a direfang jumped him. The sound he made in surprise was laughable, suddenly beheading the snake with ease was less so and more unexpected. His large blades he kept sheathed on his back did quick work of the creature. He was far faster than she thought given his structure but one did not become captain of the Kanjian Royal Guard for mere intelligence. He grinned down at its corpse twisting in agony at the loss of its head before giving a roar of dominance.

“Wow, you are scary!” She yelled, “How many years were you in the Guard?!”

“Plenty of years, I assure you! Just because I defected doesn’t mean I didn’t keep up with my training!”

This time he left with his swords at the ready and Arcee waited to listen if any other predators were around before grabbing the necessary Energon Shockwave required. “Bolt...er, Shockwave, my bad, I need a ground bridge.”

“Sounds unusual, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, it is like that on my end too. Hold on a moment and I’ll have Bolt open a bridge for you back to my laboratory.”

The portal sounded behind her and she was quick to jump in. The wasteland of Chaar may have held more mysteries among its desolation...but she wasn’t that willing to go exploring for them any more than need be. Appearing back in the laboratory, Bolt and Shockwave both awaited her with Moonhunter purring as he was pet by Megatron.

“Did you get those rock vipers?” Bolt immediately asked as she set down the Energon crystals.

“Give a bot a moment to reel in the fascinating beauty of Chaar,” she said sarcastically. She set three containers with the vipers hissing and the Vehicon giddily looked over each of them.

Megatron chuckled, “It’s not much but it has served us well for years. Unfortunately, the predators of this world make it a bit hard to coexist here, but I’ve been assured no catastrophic setbacks have ever occurred because of them.”

“Aw yeah, I’ve always wanted to have these guys as pets! Thank you, Arcee! Now I can finish up my terrarium.”

Arcee raised a brow. “Bolt, before you do that, I have to ask...who’s going to take care of them when you leave? You can’t just get a pet and abandon it.”

Bolt merely stated, “Shockwave agreed to take them for the time being.”

Both Arcee and Megatron glared at the scientist before the latter snarled, “No more pets, Shockwave! And that’s me telling you as your peer!”

“It will only be temporary and with my extensive knowledge of caring for creatures regardless of upbringing, I think I’m the only one in this facility who is responsible enough to take care of them. Unless you want the likes of Skywarp taking them under his wing?”

It was common knowledge that Starscream’s brother, though quite powerful with his teleportation abilities, was a wuss when it came to vicious-natured opponents and animals. He would be too afraid to feed the vipers, much less care for them in any other way. Arcee had heard most of all his kills were in self-defense and given how powerful he was, there were probably plenty of accidental deaths that followed. He was kind soul for the most part, better at scouting than fighting.

“I would ask kindly of you not to mock anyone in my armada with petty insults, Shockwave. You hid behind your experiments much throughout the war,” a voice said.

The four bots aside from Shockwave grew unnerved all for different reasons as Starscream and Soundwave appeared. The spymaster seemed to merely tolerate the Seeker but perked up a little upon making eye contact with his friend and former master. However, Megatron was currently focused on the annoying of the two out of spite, not that Arcee could blame him.

Starscream saw Megatron’s decorated chest plates and sneered, “I see you traded one throne for another. Betraying your own after all this time?”

“Careful, Starscream, just because I am no longer a Decepticon in name doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you if you overstep your boundaries. And believe me, I doubt anyone here is going to stop me,” the warlord growled back.

On cue, Bolt walked backwards with his servos up on his sides while Arcee was neutral among the exchange. Starscream lost much of his bravado, wings drooping when he realized Shockwave was not coming to his aid. Soundwave passed him and gave a gestured bow in silence to which Megatron lightened up a bit at.

“Soundwave, how good it is to see you again.”

When Soundwave looked at Arcee, she waved awkwardly at the spymaster but the mech didn’t find her a threat so merely nodded at her respectfully. Always the silent type.

When she saw Starscream was still on edge about Megatron’s comment, Arcee finally remarked, “You just don’t learn, Screamer.”

Starscream grew agitated and rolled his optics with a growl. “Easy for you to say. I wonder how long will Megatron last with you considering your history of partnerships?”

Shockwave immediately stepped in before Arcee could rush the Seeker while Megatron grabbed her like a doll. He pointed in a random direction in warning. “Starscream, it would be wise to get back to work. I require some more Energon and it will either be the crystals that grow here or from your corpse.”

“You wouldn’t dare harm a fellow commander!” Starscream squealed.

“Try me,” Shockwave said in a dark tone. “You don’t have Megatron’s protection for your strategic cunning anymore. The Matriarch won’t hesitate to get rid of you at a moment’s notice. Now, get moving.”

Starscream was wise for once and left without another word as Shockwave turned back to see Megatron keeping Arcee close to his chest despite her struggles to go after her enemy.

“You better run, Starscream, or I’m going to put holes in that sparkless husk of yours!” The queen yelled, shaking her fist, her optics burning bright. “It doesn’t end here!”

Bolt waved her down and got into her line of sight. “Easy, Arcee! He’s no trouble, not anymore. Shockwave’s right. Without Megatron’s aid, he can’t back up anything without getting hurt.”

“I wasn’t protecting him,” the warlord sneered.

“How many times, despite his treachery, did you save him from annihilation when he clearly deserved it then?”

Arcee glared at her sparkmate as he failed to produce an answer which the Vehicon gestured at as a point taken. Once he set her down again, she brushed herself off with a snarl, “Personally, I can’t believe any of you let Starscream live as long as he has. Why does The Matriarch keep him? I thought she hated him dearly?”

Shockwave sighed, “It’s mostly so she can berate and torture him as payback for how he treated her and the troops. Even Bolt can vouch for his behavior.”

“Certainly,” Bolt muttered.

“But it is only temporary...as Matriarch plans to be getting rid of him very soon once her fun is over. Admittedly, I allowed this to continue under my own amusement too. And by the way, here’s a reward for your efforts. It is useless in my field.”

Arcee snickered at her peers as she took the Radiant Core offered to her. “Everyone hates Starscream.”

The one-eyed mech was about to say something else when the doors on the other side of the laboratory burst open. Shockwave grew instantly panicked and shoved Megatron, Arcee, and Moonhunter into a storage door. Though neither were happy with the action, they preferred it when they saw through the vents who stormed through. Bolt was spared as he knew to act like every other Vehicon in the building.

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!” The Matriarch nearly punched a soldier instead of pushing him and shoved past another with a dark growl of a voice. “SHOCKWAVE!”

Pharma and another medic tried to keep up with her as the former said, “Matriarch, your system pressure-”

“I DON’T CARE!” She then harshly whispered, “Where is that scientist when I need him?! Shockwave!!!”

Her sparkmate came to her as quick as he could, his servo hovering over hers but afraid to touch her in case she snapped any more that could risk injury to himself or to others. “What is wrong?”

“My supply vessel is gone! The supplies we got through Swindle have been destroyed and somebody better tell me where or else heads will roll!”

Shockwave and the Decepticons all grew nervous upon hearing that as did Megatron who whispered, “This is not good.”

Arcee frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Our presence and the timing of all this will reflect very badly on you, Arcee. The Matriarch isn’t like the other leaders. She’s not going to give you the chance to investigate if angry. She might just get it in her head to kill you even if she helped you regain your throne. That was always one of my worries having her in my empire. She’s too deranged and ruthless to control...a result unfortunately of the experiment which turned her into who you’ve come to known.”

As The Matriarch ranted about her lost supply ship, Arcee grew disheartened and weakly asked, “What happened to her? I know the rumors; I’ve heard the parts of her place in the war but when you created the Vehicon clones...when did it change?”

In the corner of her optic, she saw Bolt slightly turn his head as he stood beside the storage door to show he could hear them but said nothing to stop Megatron as the latter sighed, pressing his back against the wall in rare shame.

“When I wanted an army to show my prowess among the turning of opinions before Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, I turned to a mech named Machina Minor who was a scientist and CNA expert, the same one...who passed his knowledge on to Shockwave on how to rejuvenate and change one’s CNA. He cloned himself thrice, the Old Three we called them, as tests. Once proven successful, he spent much of the beginning of the war using his CNA to create a vast army until he perished protecting his data files and sequence required for more clones from the Autobots and in his final moments, he sent all his work to Soundwave and Shockwave for safe keeping. We were left an army and the Old Three who became the very few commanders. CC-950, the mechanic who maintained Trypticon and then the Nemesis, AC-800, the captain of the Nemesis who fulfilled all operations regarding my vessel as well as the coordinator of all the supply and military ships under the Decepticon empire...”

“And The Matriarch?”

“MO-337, the commander of the ground forces. In my arrogance, I wanted a super soldier so badly that I took one of my commanders in the hope of creating something not even a Prime could be able to stop. Physically, I managed to alter her physique perfectly but mentally...I pushed too far. I was so desperate that I let the experiments go for longer than the limit prescribed. The consequences were horrifying. The birth of The Matriarch was a testimony of the restrictions of creation itself, and I cursed her into madness. Her mind warped into pure rage and with it, her bloodlust grew too fast to take control of.”

Arcee stared completely immobile with a feeling even she couldn’t describe as he recalled more.

Megatron shook his helm sadly. “I got what I wanted; it was a mistake knowing I robbed her of her ability of choice the moment I ordered that to happen. She will never know peace, never obey and never give up until she dies. Her rage will never simmer, her lust for destruction will never cease, and she will never be a sane leader. She’s basically fighting her own mind to death all because of me. That’s why you are in danger, Arcee. She doesn’t mean to...it’s her nature to destroy even her friends who get in her way. She was made to be a monster.”

They both locked optics, one with utmost sorrow and regret while the other was mortified. But both snapped to attention when they heard something crashing. The Matriarch flipped a table that was embedded on the floor, pieces of its legs flying everywhere.

“Find my supply vessel by any means necessary! Go! NOW!”

Several of the Vehicons and other Decepticons immediately fled out from the laboratory to heed her demands as she stood there breathing hard. There was practically smoke pouring from the vent in her faceplate that acted as her mouth. She was so enraged, she was shaking with a hiss before bringing her servo up to look at it quivering before her. Everyone feared her, all except Soundwave and Shockwave.

Shockwave stood unmoving as she shook until she looked down slightly. Then he approached without fear but still cautious. He gently ghosted his servo over hers and whispered softly, “Matriarch...”

He didn’t rush to touch her servo. He waited deathly still before she gravitated her servo to his and he gently squeezed it. Her breathing calmed but she didn’t look back up at him, only basked in the warmth he offered her. Shockwave was fine with that and remained patient as The Matriarch slowly drifted from her unbridled fury. Arcee and Megatron both watched his method of coping with her tantrums; it was hypnotic.

“Matriarch, I’m here. Breath, calm, collect.”

The Matriarch had an edge in her tone but otherwise stayed as collected as possible. “When I find the person who did this, I will kill them.”

“I know you will,” Shockwave said without a beat, “but perhaps we need to address something else. If I could bring in exterior help, will you play nice?”

“What do you think?” She scoffed a bit playfully. It was somewhat a relief to hear the old sass of The Matriarch back in place.

“I think it’s a good idea. Arcee and Megatron could help if you just-”

“I don’t need their help.”

“You need to have someone with fresh optics investigating this unfortunate event. The Decepticons will only see what they want to see to give you an answer to escape your wrath but perhaps not the right answer.”

She grew annoyed, “You don’t trust my troops?”

“Do you not trust my judgement?” Shockwave retorted.

The Matriarch wanted to snarl but she refrained when Shockwave muttered “calm” and sighed dramatically, “Fine. You want to bring them in, you do it. I’m still not letting Chaar rejoin Cybertron no matter how much that princess begs.”

The scientist exchanged glances with Soundwave who merely tilted his head before sighing, “I’ll...try not to have them mention it.”

The large Vehicon leaned close to Shockwave for a solid minute then slowly slid away from his hold to leave without another word. A rarity that she would not cause another ruckus or a shouting match on the way out but both the bots in the storage room and the others out in the open had a lot to ponder about the previous scene. Once she was gone, Bolt opened the door to let Arcee and Megatron out.

“You should be thankful Shockwave has a lot of leeway with her or you would be scrap metal if she got wind of your presence here,” the Vehicon said.

Arcee stared in the direction The Matriarch went and asked, “Is everything Megatron said-?”

“True? Yes, she was altered out of consent and it decimated her. As he described it, her mind is fighting itself slowly, painfully. It’s not just her personality. Shockwave knew it as soon as he first met her, she wasn’t in her right mind, and you may think he’s being shanghaied into being her mate but he chose to stay with her even as she began growing far more psychotic over these past years. As you heard Pharma say, her system pressure isn’t meant to take the strain either.”

Shockwave stood by Bolt’s side with a brief nod. “I refuse to let her live alone with her tendencies. I care for her, more than I even will admit out loud. I’m the only bot she has capable of keeping her to see reason, and I intend on doing so until the end. No one deserves to be alone in their time of need.”

“She’s dying?”

“No,” he replied bluntly. “Rather, one day, she knows as well as I that her mind will recess into a permanently violent personality and she won’t have any shred of her sanity left. It won’t be for some time, say the next million years or so, but it will happen gradually and either I or a bot of our choosing will take the Decepticon leadership depending on what changes in that timeframe when we both believe it is best for her to step down. For the time being, everyone here knows she is only hostile when things get out of hand like the supply vessel you overheard.”

Arcee paused for a second before asking, “You know CNA alteration. Can’t you just fix her?”

“And do what? Her mind is already shattered. At most, I can delay it but if I make the slightest misjudgment, it will only progress faster. I refuse to put her in that position.” He sighed, “You simply can’t fix people to your liking, Arcee. Granted, I have done so numerous times without regard for their lives. You’ve seen some of the damage I have inflicted like Grimlock and Predaking. I’m guilty of such mass harm but even more reason I would know it isn’t a good idea. They are who they are and if you try to alter them, especially in such a delicate state...the mind can only take so much before it implodes. I won’t hurt her any more. We will work it out together when that time comes. In the meantime, it would serve her mental state best by looking into that supply vessel.”

Megatron then stepped in. “Arcee, you and I will find and investigate the supply vessel wreckage and report to The Matriarch with our findings. If we can determine what brought it down was not of Cybertronian error, we can shift her opinion of Cybertron and Chaar.”

Arcee nodded, “Let’s get to it.”

“Bolt, Soundwave and I will keep The Matriarch at bay. We can try and triangulate the supply vessel’s last known coordinates before its fall via any signals that were sent prior,” Shockwave said. “Please, hurry.”

The two bots plus Moonhunter took off without a moment to lose. The wastelands of Chaar were not kind to their fast pace but they had both been through worse. Leaping over rocks and natural spires that made the landscape look deadly, they knew they had only a window of time to find the supply vessel before one of the Decepticons did. Thankfully, Soundwave was always reliable with tracking.

“Soundwave says the last location was several miles north of here. We’re going more to the east than the coordinates supplied.”

Arcee grinned, “Did Soundwave actually say that or...?”

Megatron sneered back, “He still prefers his silence. I can read the specs on the planet’s mapped surface so I know exactly what he wants to say. It’s nice to be in touch with my oldest friend again.”

They readjusted their course to head north, passing a few resting sand-dwellers basking in the afternoon sun as much as they could. A few woke up but didn’t pursue them, merely sticking their tongues out to sense if they were just passing or attacking. Moonhunter hissed but kept alongside his master, jumping from higher ledges with excitement. A few times, Arcee did the same, using her gliding ability just to make the journey more fun for her as the starry day showed off the nebulas surrounding the solar system Chaar resided in.

Megatron laughed a little as did a small roll midair before landing again and running in unison with him. “Nice to just stretch your legs occasionally? I certainly think so. I won’t ever take it for granted again, not after spending a few years in Trypticon Prison. That will slow your functionality in no time in there.”

“Try getting stuck in Polyhex’s criminal encampment for three!” Arcee laughed, “They have no mercy over there. My sisters and I got arrested for Energon smuggling during our third mission with the Autobots before the war started to pick up. They would not treat us with dignity and I swear my legs nearly ceased functioning from the lack of use. It was terrible but we broke out, had to spend another year retraining to get all our movement back.”

“Sounds brutal,” he scowled.

They slowed when over a ridge, they caught sight of a smoking wreckage but with no gases like oxygen or nitrogen present, the fumes barely made it past the actual framework and slowly died from the lack of fuel remaining.

“Looks like a crash alright.”

Moonhunter sniffed the air but giving a concerned rumble. Arcee scoped out as much as she could at her distance to make sure it was safe to approach. When she signaled them, all three ventured down to the ship ruins. As far as they could tell, no survivors as they carefully looked over the exterior with missing and collapsed parts.

Arcee stroked the vessel’s plating but flinched back when her servo almost touched a blackened substance barely breaching the hull. At first, she believed it was oil but upon it slowly oozing to meet the dim light, it reflected a faint purple.

“Either that’s Dark Energon or the Metal Head virus,” she muttered, pulling back her servo. “Megatron?”

The warlord shook his head, “It’s not Dark Energon. I can’t feel anything.”

“Oh no. Wha-what do we take back? If we take the infected stuff and someone accidentally handles it wrong, that could start a whole new outbreak. We obviously can’t store it among ourselves without risk of infection too.”

“I’ll have Soundwave copy what we see through an isolated transmission. He can download the visuals onto a secure console and prepare it for The Matriarch to look at without tampering.” He then addressed his former third-in-command, “Soundwave, sending visuals now.”

Arcee backed away to see if anything else stood out and spotted blast marks higher up. “The Metal Heads didn’t just board the vessel, they looted it. I don’t think there’s anything left-”

A sudden roar as a monstrous figure leapt down prompted Arcee to transform her arms into blasters and aim right where it landed. The skull gem was partially burnt along with half its face but the creature seemed determined to go after them regardless of its painful disfiguration. She didn’t let it get within ten feet of her, blasting it until the holes could almost give her a glimpse of the ship in the background behind it. Another alien snarl made her realize there were more.

“It’s an ambush!”

Several Metal Grunts and Centurions jumped down, some heavily burnt while others had only scrapes and bruises from the crash. Megatron and Moonhunter posed battle-ready beside her, arm cannon and side turrets at the ready. However, just as the Horaquan lunged, rockets lit them up as the ground suffered deep impacts. Both bots peered skyward to see Seekers inbound and turning around overhead. The few Metal Heads that survived growled but Arcee stomped on one’s head while another was blown to smithereens by a madly-grinning Megatron. Moonhunter shot up two, killing one of the creatures before lunging at the second and ripping out its throat. It collapsed with a muffled groan from its blood gathering among its torn vocal cords.

The Seekers transformed with Starscream, Sunstorm, Thundercracker, and Novastorm all aiming their weapons at the corpses slowly catching fire from being so close to the burning wreckage. The blood proved a bit unstable and made small bursts upon being heated to the disgust of all.

Novastorm kneeled once she deemed the cost clear and whistled at the damage. “Those are some cooked cretins. What even are these things?”

Megatron powered down his cannon with a growl. “The Metal Heads are getting bolder. We need to alert the rest of Chaar to be on guard and prepare for anything that may come. I won’t let them anywhere near my base.”

Starscream sent him a dark look, “Your base? I believe you relinquished it when you gave up your position to that cannon fodder you call a commander.”

Arcee quickly bit back, “At least she knows how to actually command the Decepticons. How effective were they with you in charge again? We didn’t see you for over three years until Megatron returned. The only thing you were good for was being referee and playing to whatever side did your bidding the best.”

Thundercracker stepped forward but immediately paused seeing his former leader glare at him when he did so. If there was one thing the Decepticons feared, it would be Megatron himself and they all knew it was best to not poke the only mech capable of beating them down. Even Novastorm didn’t dare take Starscream’s side despite outmatching the couple four to two...plus the Nitrotiger equally as peeved. Sunstorm, however, seemed more impressed than anything, smirking to himself as Arcee berated his leading commander.

A ground bridge opened and they all froze as Shockwave and The Matriarch both stepped through. The Seekers backed away as the scar-heavy, large Vehicon stomped forward until she laid her optic visor on the sight of the vessel in ruins and the decayed bodies of the Metal Heads. Wordlessly, she glanced at both sides awaiting an explanation. Arcee could tell she was trying to restrain herself from getting mad but the fuse was nearly lit when no one spoke.

Arcee took the initiative and said, “Matriarch, the ship was brought down by invaders. Metal Heads, aliens meant for destruction by an ancient virus engineered by a maniac. We found evidence on both Velocitron and Caminus of their existence and it seems they want to hit Chaar as well.”

The Matriarch twitched when Shockwave put a servo on her shoulder and kept her voice low. “You’re telling me Chaar will be under attack? You led those monsters right to us?!”

Megatron quickly intervened, “Hardly. They are after all of us, every planet of cybernetic make unless we stop their so-called leader but to do that, we must hit them as they come forth. Prepare Chaar for the worst and we will fight by you to the death.”

“You better or I’ll kill you myself,” she snarled, pulled her shoulder out of Shockwave’s grasp. “And if I don’t get the chance to do that, I’ll make your existence a living hell in the Well of the Allspark. I knew this was a bad idea...letting you on Chaar. And how did you get here so fast?!”

Staring down Shockwave, he could only defend himself from her growing ire by saying, “It was in the Decepticons’ best interest to get them here as quick as possible.”

“You son of a-!”

“Hey, Matriarch,” Arcee said, “he was only trying to help! We all are!”

The Matriarch’s fuse was burning down as she quickly grew hostile. “I don’t need your help! Everything was fine until you showed up!”

“Alright then, we’ll fix it if you give us a chance!”

“Give you a chance-you hearing this, Shockwave?” She berated them with no hesitance, much to Arcee’s displeasure. “Yes, because the last time anybody gave me a chance to do something, all I got was a war inside and out! Why would I trust you?! Just because you’re the queen of Cybertron doesn’t mean you get to call the shots! This is my world, my home, and you don’t understand the pain it has endured for so long to make it into what it is now! We didn’t have your help then and we don’t need it now!”

Shockwave huffed, “Matriarch, don’t-”

“Don’t ‘Matriarch’ me!” The Matriarch pointed at Arcee, walking up to her uncaring how angry Arcee looked at her belittlement. “You are not in charge here! You are not a Decepticon, and we....don’t...need...YOU.”

Fuming, the queen nearly grinded her dentae while hissing, “Get your servo out of my face.”

Megatron had to force himself between the two holding both servos outstretched as they stared down each other like territorial dogs. “Matriarch, enough! Both of you!”

“She won’t back down and let us do our job! What am I supposed to do?!” Arcee yelled.

“Go home, idiot,” The Matriarch said.

“Not helping,” Shockwave replied.

“I don’t give a damn! She’s not one of us! Why did you bring her?! She has her planet and we have ours!”

“And are we so foolish to restart a war just after finding peace, Matriarch? We don’t have the resources nor the ability to withstand another conflict,” he argued. “Arcee is trying to prevent all of this including against opponents we do not understand and if we don’t accept her help, we may all be dead!”

The last comment hit the Decepticon leader like a brick wall and she rapidly glanced between everyone she could before shaking in her rage. But instead of exploding any more, she merely stomped her pede twice and forced herself to relax.

“You know what? Fine! You want to play hero? That’s on you. You want to kill yourself? Be my guest,” she huffed at Arcee. “But if you do anything stupid that jeopardizes my home, you better make it right or die trying and I’ll finish it on my own just as I always have. Just don’t expect me to come to your aid when you find this world is not your friend.”

With that final word, Arcee and Megatron were left watching The Matriarch go back into the ground bridge even without Shockwave. The Seekers didn’t have anything to say as Arcee breathed angrily. She knew why The Matriarch was so defensive, but it pissed her off regardless. If she had to, she would do exactly as she needed to. The Matriarch won’t get in her way of helping the rest of Decepticons survive something they didn’t know how to fight yet. It was going to be an uphill battle indeed.

Chapter Text

Megatron sat with Arcee as she had her head in her servos tired. Bolt and Moonhunter were equally conflicted about the situation.

"I think she's just trying to prove a point though this is a bad way of doing it."

"No, really?" Arcee scowled.

The Vehicon shrugged, "I'm just saying. The Matriarch is calculative; she's not going to do something if she wasn't confident."

"Maybe that's her problem," Megatron interrupted. "She's far more overconfident in her plans than previously because the former ideas she had never failed...so why would she think otherwise now? You can only be right for so long. Eventually, something is going to be off in her calculations and against an enemy she doesn't know much about, that could mean disaster."

Bolt gestured dramatically, "Well, it's not like we can talk to her about it as you've seen. You should have heard the ass-chewing I got when she figured out it was me."

"What gave it away?" Megatron laughed.

"...I forgot to hide the rock vipers. She knew instantly who I was when she saw them. Speaking of, I've got their terrarium ready and they certainly like it enough to where they aren't hissing as much, especially their basking light."

Arcee swayed her head sarcastically, "At least some of us are enjoying this hell, I guess."

"Chaar is hard to get used to, the management is the harshest thing on this deserted planet but if you can survive that, you can survive just about anything."

Soundwave approached them silently and looked between each bot curiously. The first to truly notice him was Megatron who simply shook his head to let the spymaster know it was quite an upsetting situation they were in. The dark purple mech pointed at Arcee and gestured. While Arcee herself didn't see it, the others did, and the warlord was the first to speak.

"Arcee, Soundwave wants to have a word with you."

The blue femme looked up with lack of emotion as Soundwave pointed behind him. She read it immediately as he was waiting for her to follow. She refrained from rolling her optics and got down from her seat on Shockwave's lab table while Megatron continued half-sitting, half-leaning against it with his arms crossed. He watched her leave with a shred of pity under the circumstances they had found themselves among.

Arcee followed Soundwave out of the laboratory, passing a few Cons who she could tell resented her for being an Autobot and the only person who technically stood between them and the safety of their home. No doubt The Matriarch made it known of her intentions which might usurp the peace if done incorrectly. Even they didn't want to fight anymore, just to be left alone in their exile. She wanted to fix this, but she didn't know how.

They went across the base, the first time she had ever laid optics on the actual landing pad of the Nemesis up close that was now used as a training ground as its missing ship remained unaccounted for. She didn't know if they knew it was still on Cybertron and that they could take the ship back at any point in time. Then again, The Matriarch made it clear contact with Cybertron was limited as rightfully so. The various buildings that had been constructed to make it a city were still having upgrades on them. It was like watching a clone of Kaon emerge from the void itself. Decepticon engineering never failed.

"Ay, if it isn't the queen herself!" Both her and Soundwave paused seeing the Constructicons walk towards them with pleasant grins plastered on their faces. "We can recognize that beautiful curvy blue chassis anywhere."

"Guys, filter," she laughed. "We've talked about hitting on people."

Scrapper chuckled low, "Aw, we're just having a laugh. Can't make a joke without breaking a few barriers. You know we mean well."

"I do. I don't think anyone else does though. Keep the comments at bay before you get yourselves into trouble."

"Listen to her," Mixmaster sang, "look, dollface, we are entrepreneurs of exquisite bots and elegant fighters."

Arcee hid a grimace. "I...don't think you know what half those words mean. Nice try, boys, but a girl loves a more gentlemanly demeanor, not a brash cowboy with his head up his tailpipe."

Mixmaster grew embarrassed as the other Constructicons howled in laughter at him being called out. Two of them even high fived her cackling their afts off, some slipped onto their knees from laughing a bit too hard.

She gave them a thumbs up and said, "Keep up the devastation, guys!"

Soundwave waited for her to catch up as the laughter from the Constructicons failed to cease, echoing across the base like hyenas. She was led into a solitary building, a small arena of sorts and quickly grew uncertain. She paused under the archway as Soundwave took his place at the far end and turned to face her. When she refused to move, he gestured to her.

"I am not taking another step until you tell me what this is about."

Soundwave peered to the side and Arcee saw two Decepicons hanging out overhead. The triple changer cackled with his ghostly black-plated face, demonic red eyes, red fangs and pointed glossa making him look like a monster in waiting. Then it shifted to a calm faint blue face with the left optic forcefully pushed back to appear smaller and two scars across it running from the brow to the cheek. From what she knew of the injury, it was given by an Insecticon. The optic was lodged into the processor and unable to be removed without permanent damage. Arguably, the injury was what caused the insanity of his three personalities...or at least that was the theory. The other theory was the experiments he subjected himself to drove him insane, the same fate as The Matriarch, and she recalled Megatron did say there was more than just one commander that took the trials for the super soldier program.

The other Decepticon was a massive purple and teal bomber, recognizable with his nine optics with one directly dead center of his helm. The other eight sat four to each side among his animal-like helm shape. Faint fangs were hidden in the large maw of the mech and only appeared when he was furious. The slit pupils in each made him scarier up close than at her distance but she knew never to doubt the Kaon Krusher for one second.

"Blitzwing, Lugnut, haven't seen either of you since Iacon," she said, standing her ground knowing Blitzwing could get a little out of hand when he perceived weakness. "A lot of faces I can't decide are good to see or deserve to be punched."

Blitzwing merely smirked at the jab. "As usual, Arcee, you always had the best insults. I, for one, am a huge fan."

"Why am I here? What do you two want?"

Lugnut growled, "The Matriarch told us you're visiting so why not meet you in person again. After all, you are the one who helped defeat Megatron and humiliated us at Iacon with that scout."

"Autobot leader now," she smiled. "But I don't see why Soundwave of all people would be in on your revenge. Do you really hate me that much?"

"Hate is a...strong word," Blitzwing purred. "I'd rather say we find the absurdity a bit ridiculous that a small bot like you could have bested us, but Lugnut and I have come to terms with it in a way, so we offer you something better. If you can fight Soundwave and stay in the arena for five minutes unscathed, we'll give you a prize. You fight, we'll help Shockwave and you realign Chaar with Cybertron. Deal?"

Arcee wasn't buying it entirely and asked, "And if I lose?"

Blitzwing exchanged looks with Lugnut who made a sneer. He peered down at her smugly. "I suppose we will just have to take what we deserve then. Who wouldn't want to spend some time with you? Make a good impression for us; we've been dying for a good battle."

"Jackasses," she muttered as Soundwave stood tensely. "I guess I do agree with one thing they said though, Soundwave. I've been longing to fight you too."

Arcee brought out her double-bladed sword, whipping it around to rest ready at her side. The Decepticon waited for her first move, a tactic he always did. She had seen some of his gladiatorial battles and he was ruthless. Megatron was the only one to ever defeat him. Although she didn't see herself filling those shoes, she could perhaps last long enough to win by keeping out of reach. Granted, Soundwave probably knew her tactics too.

"Let's dance."

She shot forward, a mistake usually for one against the likes of Soundwave but instead of heading straight for him, she banked left and tried to hit him from the side. He spun from her reach and deflected a swipe of her blade. Shooting out his tentacles, he went to subdue her. Arcee fled backwards, suddenly throwing her swords to fly at him. He turned to the side, the blades passing him by with mere inches to spare. It boomeranged off the far wall before embedding itself into the floor.

With no weapon, Soundwave ran to get closer, but she led him on a chase across the arena, rolling out of the way of the persistent cables that struck the ground after her. She juked him upon his last strike, twirling backwards and stepped directly onto one of them, nearly crushing the feelers. She had never seen the cables retreat so fast, but the second cable suddenly whipped and shot her off her pedes. The ground didn't feel too good, and she quickly moved as he descended upon her.

With three minutes to go, she spotted her double-bladed sword lying in wait and she started hatching a new plan even though she had no choice but to move back again to counter Soundwave's persistence in taking her down.

"I never knew you to tango, Soundwave. Here I thought you had two left feet."

The comment merely made Soundwave walk a bit faster, swiping at her until she made the motion to jump which he prepared for, only for her to instead bolt and slide under him. She saw him track her but not fast enough to stop her. Swinging upright as he turned around, out of sheer luck, she struck his visor with a punch. He staggered back surprised, and she made a small motion in taunting before sprinting for her weapon. Two minutes left and the mech was seething from his rigid posture.

Blitzwing looked excited enough to bring out his crazy persona. Arcee ignored the animalistic glossa slithering it out to lick his red fangs as he cheered. Even Lugnut seemed somewhat more impressed than previously, folding his arms with a hint of a smile. She hoped they were enjoying the show because they would be next on her hit list.

She sprinted twirling the sword, clashing with Soundwave repeatedly but being mindful of his cables that occasionally came out to play. Using her speed boost, she dodged a particularly nasty maneuver that would have floored her in seconds, and Soundwave took little time to strike again when she was caught off guard. It was always close, and she didn't like that. He was never one to carry weapons on hand even in battle, using his tactical mind instead to tip the scales in his favor. That made him far deadlier than even Cyclonus.

However, her luck ran out when she stepped to his right and he snagged her winglet. Forcing her over his head, he slammed her down and she bounced a few times with a groan. She could hear the two Decepticons above wincing from her impact as more bots gathered to watch the fight. Shaking off the hit, she got up and gestured aggressively.

"Is that the best you can do?!"

It was a poor choice of words as Soundwave rushed her. He caught one arm but she twisted out of his grip and used him as a stepladder to swing her weapon down. Of course, he didn't stay still and wrapped a servo around her neck, pinning her to the ground as her weapon was discarded. She snarled at him as he began to squeeze. In a last-ditch effort, she headbutted him and twisted upright and grabbed her sword in one motion. She used his brief stun to swipe one leg out from under him to force him to kneel and had the blade right at his neck when the clock beeped. Arcee froze and Soundwave stared at her unmoving. Had this been a battle to the death, she either would have beheaded him or he would have played one of his gambit strategies to overpower her at the very same second. She was relieved it didn't come to either.

Blitzwing shifted back to his regular personality, clapping as others expressed similar amazement. "I never thought I would see you come so close to defeating Soundwave of all people. In reality, your hesitance would have cost you your life...but a deal is a deal."

Arcee put her weapon away and offered a servo but Soundwave stood up on his own, merely tipping his head in acknowledgement of the accomplishment. She then redirected her attention to the triple changer. "What was that meant to prove again?"

"That you are as worthy of an opponent as they say. It was one thing to beat us but Megatron and Soundwave are entirely different subjects altogether."

"I never beat Megatron in a fight though," she said confused.

"No, but you managed to throw him across an entire platform, did you not? Every Decepticon heard about that...mainly because of Breakdown and Knockout's gossip about it some time before Breakdown's passing but that's beside the point. You are quite a sensation. I guess what they say is true: size doesn't always matter. I just wanted to see it for myself. You have my respect."

Lugnut nodded, "As promised, we'll see what we can do to help. Shockwave wants to realign us with Cybertron and we would like the ability to go home without complications. After all, we're still war criminals if you think about it."

Arcee shrugged, "Technically, we're all war criminals. You think anything I did honored the terms of battle too? We were all trying to win. Rules don't work when lives are on the line. Anything goes and that's how we played it."

"Well, at least someone sees it our way," the big bruiser sighed. He reached behind him before throwing something down. Arcee caught it and looked it over curiously. "It's a fitting for your blades, will help you cut through even the toughest of armor."

He hit his chest for emphasis and Arcee grinned, "Thanks, guys."

Blitzwing had his own smile. "You should have been a Decepticon. You'd be perfect over on our side. Never once did I think you were an Autobot even when I fought you. Maybe it's my delusions getting to me, can't tell."

The queen attached the modded blades to her sword and swung back to rest parallel to her spine. "If you can believe it, you're not the first person to say that."

Before she walked off, the tan and purple mech said, "Optimus was extremely lucky to have you on his side, I hope he knows that. The war would have been quite different without you there to be his lieutenant."

She muttered to herself, "Not quite."

Had she not joined the Autobots, some missions wouldn't have worked in the Autobots' favor and certainly some crucial assassinations wouldn't have occurred. But Optimus was very persistent as was Bumblebee and many others. She didn't believe the war would have changed too much without her or on the Decepticon side because she wasn't always there in the war's game-changer moments. Without Optimus or Bumblebee, there was a huge chance something would change. Her? She feared at most she may have become like Airachnid and that scared her more than anything.

On a funnier note, she grew a small smirk upon remembering a time that a few of her sisters found some of the Decepticons handsome. They gossiped and joked among themselves even as Autobots about it. She had no doubts her sisters would change sides mainly for the gun show and had Megatron gotten wise to that little secret...maybe she and the girls wouldn't have stuck with the Autobots. Then again, Megatron had never been the type of mech to weaponize looks over weapons. The other Decepticons? Who knows.

Wandering back towards Shockwave's laboratory, she took a moment to see Chaar's Decepticon home as it really was. The Decepticons themselves worked endlessly to make the giant self-proclaimed city into a comfortable environment. A few even had pets like small Predacons, per Shockwave's creativity she assumed, and younger Mallibi. Direfang eggs were currently being hosted by a grounder who probably had raided a nest. What the Decepticons did with the eggs she didn't want to know.

Soundwave passed her like nothing happened, instead going to Ramjet and Slipstream near a stall and seemingly relaying a message which both bots nodded at. In her distraction, she nearly bumped into another Seeker but was surprised to see Sunstorm who merely grinned.

"Easy, Arcee," he said kindly.

She didn't expect it from the likes of him as he was known to be arrogant and a suck-up. Then again, he was being awfully nice about someone almost slamming into him. She kept a weary optic on the mech. "Sorry, just got caught up looking around the base. Never thought I would set foot here in my lifetime, at least not on equal terms."

Sunstorm gestured around him. "Chaar has had its history of aggression, that's no secret, but it's an oasis to us. As long as you don't piss off Starscream, I don't think the rest of us are going to mind an Autobot here."

"Starscream? I'm more scared of The Matriarch than I ever was of him. Sure, he'll kill you but he boasts too much for his own good then strikes. He never changes. The Matriarch can suddenly target you and then you just got to hope she doesn't track you down. Her pattern is never the same in her methods of madness. I'd rather face Starscream than her. In fact, I'd like to see Starscream try and get me kicked off this base."

Sunstorm was unable to find a comeback for that except a small "ah" and a few Decepticons nearby snickering. After a minute, he finally said, "You seem to be one tough femme-"

"I try."

"-and how about I offer you something more direct then? Starscream is untouchable in the sky, that's why he was considered the greatest Seeker of all time and became the commander of our sub-faction before joining the Decepticons as well as when we merged with them. However, on the ground, he was vulnerable, never a straight shot. He couldn't target good running for his life aside from using cheap tricks and stupid strategies that only worked on bots unfamiliar with him. So, how about you show me if you can do better."

Arcee narrowed her optics. "What's the catch?"

Sunstorm merely grinned, "Do you know why they call me Sunstorm to begin with?"

She shook her head and he clicked his missiles and turrets on his arms into place cockily. "Don't mean to brag but I'm one of the most brutal fighters in the sky. You've probably heard of my work. Gamma Supreme's fall from grace? The raid on Iacon's sky towers that crippled it from airborne threats? The epic death of Sky Garry? Dai Atlas' bane? Any of those ringing bells?"

He was arrogant, sometimes even a narcissist...but damn. She recognized all but Gamma Supreme as she had never familiarized herself with the Supremes other than Omega Supreme, the Titan of Iacon. The events in question were widely known though Dai Atlas' fight and death never revealed the doer, only that it nearly took out half of Moon Base One. Now she knew who it was and nodded her head just to get him to talk.

"I have a power nicknamed the Heat Seeker, basically my blasts don't miss except by those who have the skills to outflank said blasts. Obviously, not many people have done so. My ability not only makes missing improbable but the results deadlier. What was a mere missile can become a miniature bomb if I utilize it as such. Problem is...I require exposure to the sun's direct rays to harness enough energy to make these devastating blasts. To prove my stories, and you can research this for yourself, all those battles were done during the daytime. My privately weaponized ability caused so much damage, I have vaporized even the proudest of warriors."

"Okay..." she started, looking to the side briefly, "what's this got to do with me?"

Sunstorm's bravado stalled and he twitched his lips in disarray. "I'm dying. Pharma says something about my power that is siphoning energy from my spark from the years of abusing it since I was a youngling. I want to give it away to someone who can use it...and someone who won't blow everyone sky high in the process of managing it."

Any humor Arcee had died and she immediately asked, "Why not give it to someone like Slipstream, Starscream, or one of your friends?"

"Slipstream already has an ability that if merged with mine can kill herself and everyone else...like I warned against. And Starscream? You think I'm stupid enough to give it to Starscream of all bots?"

"No," she answered quickly. "Just a question. But why me, especially if it's killing you? Won't it kill me eventually?"

"Pharma said it won't affect others like you because I was born with it, you weren't. It's engrained with my spark directly whereas it'll just be an upgrade to you. The ability won't be as powerful as I can make it, but it will be powerful enough to possibly damage a bot the size of a Supreme in one shot, that's for sure. I want someone who can beat me in a weapon race, someone who I can trust to take the best shots when it counts. I've heard of your legacy the same as everyone on Cybertron knows who Megatron is. If you don't beat me, I'll move on to someone else I can trust, but if you do..."

"Name it, I'll be there," the queen stated.

Sunstorm grinned along with his peers as he escorted her to an open area within the boundaries of the base. "This is our target practice area, upgraded it a few years ago. If you can destroy more targets than me, I'll give you my power without a fuss. I need an excellent marksman to be entrusted with it."

Arcee prepared her arm blasters and that was all the confirmation Sunstorm needed to signal her peers to activate the course. She was a bit surprised that her targets were flying autonomous drones and not living things given the Decepticons' history of despising a lot of lifeforms.

"Ready, go!" A Seeker on the side lines yelled.

Arcee aimed for the farther out ones that hovered still, shooting two down but while she did that, Sunstorm didn't fire his weapons at all. She grew suspicious until a glow from his chest spread throughout his body and empowered his missiles. His optics glowed an abnormal orange instead of the usual red. Then he fired.

The missile aimed for one drone that was moving but as soon as it hit, a loud blast caused a shockwave that wiped out several drones next to the targeted one in a mere second. The flames were the same bright orange as him, nearly the same shade as Earth's sun. To keep up, Arcee quickly shot down five more, optics raking the area for any easy targets and what required a bit more skill to take down in such a time frame.

Sunstorm's energy died and he targeted the other drones the same way as Arcee. However, Arcee started picking up the pace as her mind calculated the drones' movements and the proper time to take the shots. She gained three hits on him. Pharma and a few other Decepticons watched in awe at the showdown and her determination to win. Then Sunstorm's energy gathered again. She was baffled that for a sun so far away, it could supply the Seeker with enough energy to blow up everything in his path if he so desired. He fired again and not only caught up with her score but surpassed it by five drones. Now she understood how winning against him was impossible.

One of the Seekers to her right signaled there was only a minute or so left to get ahead. Arcee gave it all she got. Sunstorm wasn't as fast as her though he did take out twice as many with a single shot with his missiles. But then she noticed as she caught up, he no longer activated his power and when he tried, his optics flickered and he had to pause. A new theory sprang forward that he had reserved the power for some time. Now, he was out of juice. Perfect.

At the last ten seconds, Arcee was tied with him. They both shot in unison twice for two more but the third time...Sunstorm missed. She didn't.

"Time!"

Arcee crouched down for a second to savor her remaining energy as her blasters powered down with a hiss. Sunstorm panted, a servo flexing right over his chest as he shook his head a bit downtrodden. But he stayed a good sport despite the noticeable frown on his faceplates. He reached into his chest cavity and pulled out a device that looked like an orb designed to mimic the sun. He winced but handed it to Pharma as the doctor approached Arcee.

"As promised," Sunstorm muttered as he turned to sit down.

Arcee attached the core into her chest and linking it with the cables that led to her weapons with the help of Pharma. When she returned to Sunstorm, he was sitting unusually relieved for one who just lost his only power. She was hesitant to ask but finally did.

"What happened?"

The Seeker gestured lazily off to the side. "My power needs the sun's rays. I had enough stored for two shots but Chaar's takes a while to let me charge it. The pain is a bit unbearable too. I can't use it like I used to."

"Why come forth now? Why a change of spark other than dying? There's another reason you're doing this. I can tell."

Sunstorm huffed, "Because...I'm done being the prick I was. Several months ago, I was diagnosed and at first, I was still jackass Sunstorm, the 'almighty tyrant of the skies' as they used to call me. The Decepticons, I mean. I sat under Chaar's sun at the corner of our borders and stayed there charging until I slowly realized up until now, I didn't do anything other than destroy. It was what I was good at...the only thing I was good at. It dawned on me just how terrible a life that really was. I served the Decepticons and all they got was a rebel commander who could only cause mayhem and death everywhere he went. We're cruel, sure, but not heartless. All I did was win battles, and no one ever liked me in the end with my pompous pride. You think I got a welcoming committee killing Dai Atlas or Sky Garry? I took out half the areas I found them in defeating them, killing more people nearby than necessary."

Arcee said nothing to ruin the moment as he wasn't lying. She let him vent because he needed to.

He sighed, almost placing his head in his servos but refrained and held back tears. "I'm dying and the only thing I did was hurt people even before the war. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner; all things considered. Before I go, I don't want my last action in this universe to be destruction. I want to do something good for once; I want to be better but I know nothing I do is going to make what I have done forgivable. Call it death guilt but I just want to go out helping someone...for once in my life, I don't want to be an asshole."

"I'll make sure I don't misuse your ability. It's in good hands," she whispered as she took his servo. His claws carefully clasped over her servo and she saw his expression become sincere.

"I know it is. Thank you."

Pharma moved in and began talking with Sunstorm to get him to calm down after nodding to Arcee. Arcee felt bad leaving him with Pharma but even though the medic also had a long history of sadistic medical experiments, he was responsible to care for his Decepticons' wellbeing better than anyone else, especially her.

It was not lost on her how some of the Decepticons were beginning to feel their age or had complications post-war. The humans thought Cybertronians like her were nigh invulnerable, that they could live forever. No one lived forever. A few Decepticons she passed even appeared like they were going to lose body parts one day from previous damages. It made her wonder what Megatron and Optimus would eventually come down with from their stressful past. What would she develop the older she got?

"Steelback!" A gravelly voice called out. "Steelback!"

Arcee paused when she saw an unexpected bot. Lockdown staying here was news to her. She always assumed he was a loner but given less money was made through bounties no longer relevant, he probably had no choice but to come to Chaar. The green and black mech looked a bit nervous, sad even. It was a far cry from the normal bravado the bounty hunter had as far as she heard from the stories Ratchet and Bulkhead used to tell her. He was looking for something and she couldn't tell what.

"Excuse me," she said, "is something wrong?"

Lockdown briefly showed a scowl upon seeing her but it immediately died when he looked yonder among the other Decepticons. He was far too preoccupied to start a fight it seemed. "I'm just looking for my wonderward, Steelback. I raised him since he was a puppy. He's been my loyal guard dog ever since, but I can't seem to find him anywhere. I wouldn't expect an Autobot like you to care."

"Do you know where he was last?"

"Nowhere you should know about."

Arcee scoffed, "Fine, you don't want any help, Steelback might just stay lost or maybe a direfang got ahold of him. I don't condone good animals to death unless necessary but can't do anything for your pet, I guess."

Lockdown furrowed his brows, a few of the spikes along his neck rising with the plates they were attached to in agitation. He finally rolled his optics and said, "I was outside the base to the west. There are caves there and I lost him when we got chased by a sand-dweller. I assumed he went back to the base because that's usually where he goes to await me as I've trained him to do. But he never showed up. I checked the area but the caves are too narrow for me to go in. If he's there, he's not responding to me. I refuse to fear the worst but if you're so willing to help, why don't you go out there and try to find him for me? You're small enough, babe. You can probably get into those caverns easily."

"Don't call me 'babe' and I'll see what I can do," Arcee sneered.

"Nobility is everything to you Autobots, isn't it?" Lockdown taunted as she turned away.

It sounded to her like he didn't have any confidence in her. Well, she aimed to please when it counted, and that's what she planned to do. While she made her way to the base's gates, she got a call from Megatron.

"Arcee, is everything going well? The Matriarch paid us a visit and she's livid."

"What else is new? I'm just getting to know the place, first time visitor, remember?"

The warlord chuckled, "Indeed."

"Is there anything else on the planet besides this base?"

"Unfortunately, Chaar was once a thriving oasis long before we took over. What truly happened to it...I cannot say but a few remnants of its past live through its remaining species. There are ruins quite some miles away but you won't find anything of interest over there. We deal with what we have. I heard The Matriarch even plans on expanding to the west to mine a huge Energon stockpile located just a few weeks ago. More room for everyone."

Arcee smirked, "She wants to make a legacy before the inevitable. I understand. I'm currently trying to help Lockdown retrieve his wonderward and then I'll be back."

"Be careful, especially around Lockdown. He's notorious for pulling dastardly tricks," he growled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't expect less from Decepticons. No offense."

"Point taken, my dear."

A Decepticon nodded at her, letting her go outside the base and she ran towards the east. While she ran, she yelled out, "Steelback! Come here, boy! Steelback!"

She didn't expect the wonderward to answer to her but if it at least gave off a sign where it was, she could coax it to follow. Suddenly, a loud howl echoed among the desert though it sounded a bit muffled like it was underground...or was underground. She immediately searched for the caves Lockdown spoke of despite there could be dangerous creatures among them. She found her entrance, nearly running past it as it was half concealed by an overhanging rock.

"Now I know what you mean, Lockdown."

The space was small, tiny enough for the likes of a wonderward and herself to barely fit through but not so much for anyone larger. Sometimes, she praised her small size. Crawling through, she shivered as her backside rubbed against the ceiling. It was damp from condensation of the Energon that grew within and she encountered the hot spot of crystals once the cave got deeper and allowed her to stand. To her shock, there was a bubbling pool of Energon as well. Chaar didn't appear like it would have an active molten strip beneath it yet it somehow did. But she wasn't brave enough to go jumping into the liquid as tempting as it looked because if she assumed wrong, she wasn't desiring to be a melted puddle.

A howl rumbled the stalactites above and Arcee was cautious going forward, watching them in case they fell. She didn't want to be impaled either. It was definitely a wonderward she was hearing. No creature was louder.

"Steelback!"

It went quiet again and she ran deeper into the underground. Turning a corner, she nearly screamed seeing the remains of a Mallibi half-eaten and face down in its crusted blood. She had forgotten that wonderwards were predators of Mallibi. It was the circle of life and not too friendly of a cycle at that. She didn't think the wonderward was down here that long to start hunting but given Lockdown never mentioned the time frame of how long Steelback had been missing, that raised some questions.

She covered her audio receptors upon hearing the loud canine up close as a wonderward appeared on the rockface ledge just next to another pool of boiling Energon. The crystals almost made its armor look a dark blue though it was overall a grey tint as far as she could tell. Red optics glared down at her curiously but ready to attack if she tried anything.

"Steelback?"

The wonderward perked up a little, confirming it was Lockdown's pet. It hopped down from its position and wagged its tail until another howl rocked the caverns. It was then Arcee realized it wasn't alone as it flinched back and tucked its tail between its legs. Then out from the shadows, a second wonderward appeared. More tan in color, the orange-bio light canine snarled at them. It appeared they had both trespassed in another's territory. The wonderward that sought Steelback growled and drew closer, not before Arcee pulled out her ricochet ray in warning. The mutt paused before narrowing its optics at her with deadly intentions. Steelback stood by her side with more confidence.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," she mumbled.

The aggressive wonderward snarled again, optics bright and teeth bared completely. She quickly noted with a quick glance up there were a few stalactites hanging above the dominant creature. She aimed up while keeping eye contact with it to not give it an opportunity to attack and fired. The bullet bounced off the ceiling to the ground then up again startling both wonderwards but a sudden cracking noise alerted her to back away. The vicious wonderward saw its window and crept closer while Steelback remained behind her. It failed to note the breaking stalactites were above it in its blind rage. Arcee didn't pity when two of the spears came down right as it looked up. With a brief howl of startlement then a whimper, the wonderward was crushed.

"And that's how you make pancakes, or so I've been told," Arcee laughed to Steelback who began wagging its tail happily now that it was no longer pursued by a hostile peer. She gestured to it with a smile. "Let's get you back home to Lockdown. He's missing you an awful lot."

Steelback gave a soft, playful howl, standing on his hind legs in excitement before prancing a little as he followed her out of the caverns. The surface was somewhat darker as the distant sun set and the nebula's colors seemed to grow more than previously seen. A faint purple also began to appear from a nebula that just couldn't be viewed in the daytime. The harmony of orange-yellow and purple blended graciously among the star-lit sky. Even Steelback glanced up at it with a rumble. But as pretty as it was, there grew an immediate concern. Many predators seemed to sleep during the day to enjoy the sunlight like the direfangs and sand-dwellers. That meant they were fully awake and hunting now.

"Follow me, boy," she said with some urgency.

They sprinted back west towards the far base and notable light show it produced against an otherwise dark planet. As the walls of the base drew closer, so did something else.

"Whoa!" Arcee shouted when a sand-dweller breached the dirt with fangs abundant and lunged at them.

She slid to the side while Steelback sprinted around it. The snake went nose first into the rock and forced itself down before a trail of it began uprooting towards Arcee. She growled and ran for her life trying to draw it away from Steelback. It breached again like a dolphin but growled and whipped its tail to slap her. Faceplanting, the queen scowled but quickly realized her vulnerability and moved backwards in fear.

Just then, the wonderward jumped between the sand-dweller and her, ears flattened against its skull. The snake responded by baring its own fangs again but this time, Steelback didn't flee. Around the wonderward's neck, energy pulsed and Arcee remembered that it could unleash a devastating howl if it wanted and that appeared what it was going to do. Other wonderwards were immune but sand-dwellers?

Grinning, she cut off her audio completely to protect them right as Steelback's optics glowed abnormally bright and it bowed its head. She could only see the attack and that was perfectly fine with her. A booming shout, one she knew was massive by the vibrations she felt in the ground, made the sand-dweller spasm drastically. Blood suddenly popped in a stream from the side of its head as its audio ruptured from the intake pressure. On mute, the audio receptors ceased function so no intake to damage but live, the receptors could blow like bombs under a deadly frequency. Blood even began dripping from the edge of the sand-dweller's mouth as it presumably squealed. The wonderward was going strong until finally, its optics dimmed back to normal and it closed its mouth still with a vicious snarl. The sand-dweller looked like it was having a seizure until it stumbled away then finally dived into the ground.

Once she knew it was safe, Arcee turned her audio receptors back on with a grimace. "Remind me not to piss you off!"

Steelback peered at her wagging its tail and panting. She then heard voices in the distance. The Decepticons had been alerted. She doubted they could have ignored such a sound if they tried. Arcee took Steelback to the gates of the base as a party of Cons met them once it opened. They were surprised to see her and the wonderward as she shrugged proudly. Then she saw Lockdown running at them.

"Steelback!"

The wonderward made another happy sound and ran up to its owner, jumping up and down as Lockdown tried to pet it. Steelback, of course, didn't make it easy as it whimpered and tried to lay on its back on his pedes. Once he got the hound calm and got away from the persistent glossa trying to lick him, he went to Arcee and she could tell she had exceeded his expectations by a great margin.

Lockdown smiled, "I can't tell you how grateful I am. You're alright in my book, Arcee. Anything you need, I'll repay you without any arguments or demands."

"Steelback protected me from a sand-dweller, maybe the same one that separated you two," Arcee said. "He's a good boy, through and through."

The bounty hunter looked between her and the wonderward sitting and leaning against his leg as he stroked its head. "Yes, he is. And here, I won't be needing this now that I have my partner back."

She was handed a Radiant Core and stashed it without fail in her subspace. "Thanks."

"Come on, boy, let's get some rest." Steelback walked beside Lockdown back towards his ship parked just on a ramp near the gate but not before giving Arcee a grateful low howl and nearly smiling as much as its mouth allowed such an emotion.

As they left, Megatron and Bolt approached her with equal glee when the latter said, "Nice to know Lockdown has a spark after all. Guess some Cybertronians love pets more than people. Sad that he will forever be alone-"

Arcee gave a deadpanned sneer, "You like trophies more than people. What does that make you?"

Megatron replied for him in amusement. "A psychopath."

"You can make fun of me all you want. You two aren't the perfect socialites either. How many people did each of you murder again?"

"You kept the head of Megatronus Prime for Primus' sake!"

"He doesn't need it anymore," Bolt shrugged.

"And the Precursor Robot's?" Arcee frowned.

"Doesn't need it either. Besides, the Robot wasn't even sentient so that hardly counts."

The warlord shook his head, "That isn't a difference and you're digging yourself a hole here. You might want to stop where you are."

Arcee massaged her temples before gesturing to Bolt. "Alright, moving on please, is The Matriarch rethinking anything yet? Any leads? Any support from Shockwave or the other Decepticons?"

Bolt sighed, "She's not going to move forward with any plans, especially not after the Metal Heads were discovered invading that transport. She has her priorities and opening a link from Chaar to Cybertron is not one of them right now. You're just going to have to wait. If the Metal Heads make their move, prove to her you are responsible enough to handle and I think you might have a shot at changing her mind."

"Is she really going to wait until her populace's lives are on the line before she reconsiders?!"

"In fairness, I would have done the same thing," Megatron said, "and everyone can tell you that."

Shockwave and Soundwave came up from behind before addressing them, primarily Megatron. "The Matriarch wishes to speak to you. She says it's urgent."

The grey mech peered a bit off to the side in thought before nodding. "Very well then. Arcee, just try to keep the peace. Both of you. I'll see what she wants and try and reason with her as best as I can."

The Vehicon scoffed, "Of course, she would call him and not you. He's the previous Decepticon leader, probably trusts him more than she can throw you...which is quite far I'd imagine."

"Thanks, Bolt," she scowled.

Just then, her commlink went off. "Arcee, I have something of importance to talk to you about."

"Now is not a good time, Silos," she whispered even though she knew Bolt could hear her. As long as it stayed between them, there were less risks.

Silos' sultry baritone rang through her audios. "Oh, but I beg to differ. Word from the homeland: the Metal Head Leader is on the move. Their army is growing impatient. On a lighter note, I overheard the strangest thing today. A few Cybertronians on patrol from those ghastly ruins out among the planet were speaking ill of their leader. One of them sounded to me like they were planning on upstaging this 'Matriarch' Decepticon. A group of ten soldiers in the wasteland seem to be running their own show. I don't know if that means anything to you."

"Someone's planning to overthrow The Matriarch? A-are you sure?"

Bolt's posture grew rigid as Silos replied humorously, "Ah, well, unless my hearing is slowly fading, that's the peak of the news I know. Maybe I did hear them wrong but they mentioned being in disagreement with their leader too and were loading some choice weapons up on a transport, if you want to ensure someone's dead that is. Up to you if you want to do something. I personally could care less about that...but I assume you aren't trying to hurt this Matriarch, so maybe it is in the best interest of everyone to intervene."

Arcee snarled, "I will. But let me ask you this, what did the Metal Heads want with that cargo vessel?"

"Destroy the supply lines, cripple the enemy. I would assume you would know that by now, assassin."

Cutting off the transmission, she shook her head in disbelief as Bolt came to her side. "So? We have a possible mutiny?"

"Possible, but not unavoidable," she said.

"What do you need to do?"

"I think it'll be best if we keep this to ourselves. The Matriarch already has enough to deal with among other issues, personal and public. I need you to cover me and I'll hunt down the traitors. When the time is right, we'll tell her."

She noticed Bolt was not feeling the same way about the information but he reluctantly agreed anyway. "Do what you must. Just be aware of any consequences that may come because Megatron and I can't protect you from everyone here."

The warning wasn't taken lightly. She knew he was perfectly reasonable in stating it. Chaar was Decepticon territory, so she would be treated as one in every aspect. "I know."

Bolt watched as she ran out of the base in search for the conspiring traitors. She didn't really have a plan but knew Silos could give her some insight on the location of them.

"Silos, talk to me. Where are they at now?"

The Metal Head captain could almost be heard rolling his eyes at the question and she wanted to call him out on the fact that she didn't know where the ruins were to begin with, but he gave her what she wanted anyways.

"They are still near those ruins, isolated, desperate, and alone. I'll send you the coordinates and meet you when you get rid of the pesky bots. And do hurry, they seem to be sniffing around near my ship. I don't need any unwanted visitors or else there may be a few dead bodies lying around by the time you get here. But I don't want to spoil your fun."

The queen smirked at the remark. Classic, melodramatic Silos.

---------------------------

The Matriarch slammed her fists on her throne. "Goddammit, you idiots are going to be the death of me!"

Shockwave merely muttered her name in warning. She sent him a fiery look as her servos clenched tightly together and her back hunched, her spine panels rigid as a sawblade. A few Decepticons didn't seem to want to argue the words, a bit startled by her sudden 360. Megatron looked awkward on the side lines and felt bad when some Decepticons looked his way expecting him to intervene. What scared him was he had nearly been the same as The Matriarch at one point. He could do nothing. As the soldiers dipped out of the room, that left Megatron with an estranged Matriarch and Shockwave and Soundwave as his only support.

The Matriarch took a moment to gather her thoughts, and the warlord remained patient to keep her tame. "Sometimes, I just want to, MMPH, STRANGLE THEM!"

"As we know," Shockwave said, "but violence can't solve everything."

"Bet," she retorted now with a more playful demeanor. It was good to finally hear The Matriarch they regularly dealt with before come to light.

"What seems to be the problem that I needed to be called here?"

The Matriarch didn't like to sugarcoat things. "Arcee."

Megatron grew suspicious as he asked, "What about her?"

"Your little minx of a warrior queen doesn't know when to quit, and I don't…like…that. She means well but I don't need an Autobot telling my Decepticons what to do. She rules Cybertron, not Chaar. This is my domain."

"Someone complained?"

"Although I hate Starscream's guts, he does have a good point. Why should I entrust the fate of this world to her or you for that matter? You don't have anything I want, you left the Decepticons, and your prideful endeavor? Pathetic. How many times do I have to tell you? I don't care about-"

Megatron shook his head briefly before snapping, "Then why do insist on reminding us? You don't care, so why bring it up?"

For once, The Matriarch went quiet.

"I think...you do care," the warlord growled, "but I wonder why? If you're anything like me, you're afraid that Arcee is going to show the Decepticons something you can't provide them and that you will lose them. You're afraid that in comparison, you aren't a good leader. You don't want to be proven wrong and be shown up above all."

The glares between them nearly hurt from the deathly silence. The Matriarch took a second before gripping her throne chair's arms, scratching them but then let them go as she tilted her head in an unhinged manner. Restraint was not common to see but it was appreciated as he had no intentions on fighting her. Then, she suddenly clapped back with an abnormally calm voice.

"By Arcee...or...Optimus?" The large Vehicon hissed. That summoned a bubble in his throat as she continued. "There are a lot of things we do have in common, aren't there? Tell me, my Lord, can a spark still break when it's vanquished? Can a ruler still rule when the rules change? We can tell the tales, can't we? Granted, there seems to be two different perspectives and relationships about these parallels but it's just the same sad, pitiful memories we convinced ourselves were threats when the reality was, we are rageful, disgruntled leaders who couldn't get what they wanted. Together, the criminal mind of...a monster! Imagine that!"

Her rant wasn't consistent, blabber of several different subjects blended into a poor point, but the thing that frightened him was he knew exactly what she meant. The others were a bit confused because they didn't know the madness of a tyrant even if they were on the same side as one. The Matriarch was insane because of his mistake, but she was hardly the only Decepticon leader who was considered a raving mad nightmare, the same petty insults and cruelty he himself was familiar with. Megatron understood the rabble, and it bothered him so.

"I made my choices, Matriarch, I've grown past them."

"But we all know the truth. So, maybe I do care. Maybe I don't want Arcee to beat me at my own game, but what leader wouldn't? You asked me why I bring it up, so I'll tell you. Between you and me, a Decepticon's pride is as swift as our wrath. I can't do anything worthwhile if everyone wants to leave."

Megatron slowly realized her concerns as she muttered something to herself before getting nudged by Shockwave. "You aren't afraid of losing them to Arcee, are you? You're afraid of being alone. If the Decepticons reunite with Cybertron, they wouldn't want to remain on this planet and that would leave Chaar empty. You feel like an abomination...so you think you would be barred from being able to step foot on a world you were merely regarded as cloned fodder. They can merge back with society, but you can't."

The Matriarch tapped the chair arm, body tense before breaking eye contact with him. When she said nothing, the warlord sighed, "You don't have to be afraid."

"When I was...made, it was so hard to understand how I existed," she said in a low tone. "You see, the universe doesn't like the unexplainable, doesn't like change. A monstrosity like myself in the populace. A scandal. I know what I am. I know the Decepticons listen to me, treat me as one of their own but there's a huge difference in people accepting you because you are alive against people accepting you because you are created. The words are similar, true, but they will never mean the same thing and neither will the treatment of such. We can pretend all we want that acceptance of any kind is valid but the cold, harsh truth of the matter is you and I will always be monsters even if people have pushed it out of their minds to see a better version of you. You can forgive attitudes and actions; you can't forgive what made us and what we became in our darkest moments."

Megatron then replied, "If you want to believe that, then sit there and suffer but don't drag anyone else down in the meantime. If you truly cared about the Decepticons, you would consider what makes them happy and what they want over your own perception of things. Everyone cares about you, more than you know, because you are an effective leader despite your wrath...but you just keep pushing them away the same as I used to. How about that truth?"

Without another word, Megatron quickly turned around and left. The Matriarch stared at him but didn't respond, peering off to the side after a minute before flexing her servo uncertain.

---------------------

Using Silos' guidance, Arcee tracked the traitors near what looked to be an old temple or some type of colosseum. So, Chaar did have a former populace after all. The ruins were barely acknowledgeable as the desert rocks and dirt had tainted the mysterious materials that were used to erect them. They looked corroded, dying, and vacant of color other than the same darkness as the rocks around it. Maybe that was intentional but she doubted there wouldn't be a speck of a different color on it previously.

Beside them, a ship full of Decepticons loaded cargo. Arcee grinned a little. It felt like old times spying on the Decepticons and waiting for the right moment to strike. When she was an assassin, there was a never-ending rush to it. She ducked behind a rockface as she overheard them.

"The Matriarch expects this shipment pronto!"

One of the Cons growled, "If she wants it so bad, she can come help us."

"Yeah, but try getting any leader to get their hands roughed up when it isn't required. Not possible unless it involves blood and domination. Even Megatron wouldn't do the simplest of chores. He saw it as not his problem, so who do you think got stuck cleaning up the Nemesis or this base for that matter?"

A dark cherry red Decepticon snarled, "That low-class troop should have never become the leader. I'd rather have Starscream than her."

"I wouldn't mind Slipstream or Cyclonus...but I think we should make it one of us. We could run the planet easy, the faction even more so and Cons like Soundwave aren't obligated to The Matriarch as they were with Megatron so nobody will miss her."

All the Cons boasted new smirks as they loaded the cargo and Arcee frowned. So, they did have an issue with The Matriarch because she was a drone that skyrocketed to power when no one else had the gall at the time to take the leadership over. Who knew what was in that cargo. Bombs? Guns? Spiked Energon? They could very well be on their way to hurt her and as much as Arcee didn't like The Matriarch sometimes, she refused to let others perform a coup on the Vehicon.

Arcee brought out her ricochet ray and aimed at one of the ten targets. An assassin never missed. That was one of the many rules she remembered. Don't let them run, always have backup plans for confrontation, and do anything to finish the target off as quick as possible. She had a few runners in her day; she hit them from afar and made sure they stayed down. This was no different and ten targets was decent but not the most she had ever dealt with on the job. She aligned her shot at the head of one and saw a window to get three-in-one while at least two bots were passing the one overlooking the loading. It had to be quick; it had to perfect. Like clockwork, they nearly realigned and she just had to take the chance which felt right. Right as two others stepped to overlap, she fired.

The blast ripped through three helms, Energon gushing as it bounced off a rock and pierced the side the of the transport. Knowing the rest of the bots were alerted, she sprinted at them and fired fast. She nailed two more but the remaining five ducked behind various rocks and the transport itself to evade her. She snuck around the ship quietly like a predator stalking. She crept around the front of the transport to see one femme looking away from her with a second mech beside her. That's when Arcee struck without a word.

Arm blades at the ready, the queen impaled the femme right in the neck and ripped her blade out to twirl over the mech, slicing his head clean off. Three more bots remained and one spotted her as she climbed up the transport. She ran across its roof and jumped down towards the end onto the bot firing at her, sending her blades through their side before uppercutting and impaling the head through the chin.

The last two bots were worried; she could sense their fear. Arcee listened close for any giveaway to their location as she hid beside one body that fell into a ditch in the landscape. Suddenly, she heard a beep within her processor and saw in her hud an indicator for Sunstorm's Heat Seeker ability. Apparently, she had gathered enough light to do a minimum blast that could be like throwing a Rozarian blood grenade. That wasn't great but it was better than nothing. It made her wonder how fast and devastating a sunny day on Earth would make the ability.

Switching to her blasters, she drew the little solar power she had collected towards her weapons and felt the warmth coil and twist down her arms. It was very odd seeing light trailing like spider webs from her chest to her guns before disappearing as her blaster muzzle glowed bright yellow instead of blue. She had two shots at most, one for each traitor.

She heard the gunfire and the blasts hitting close to her location but off a few feet. Peeking barely around the rock, she saw one of the Cons stand. Big mistake. She leapt up and fired. Her blaster built up massive amounts of energy quickly that a large boom rumbled from it upon ejection. The blast hit the Decepticon in the chest...and everything went blinding. Light was all she could see for a few seconds until the body of the deceased mech collapsed on the ground with a sizable hole where the spark once was. The rest of the chassis was burnt with eerie damages to the arms and face, making the victim look unrecognizable. The ground under him was heavily scarred as well with armor shrapnel embedded in the dirt. She was frozen in place staring at the carnage until she heard screaming.

It was painful. The sound was ear-splitting and Arcee was hesitant to go looking for the bot in case it was merely a ruse. But then the Decepticon stumbled out and she saw what she had done. The blast had sent parts of his associate flying and impaling him in the optic, neck, and chassis. Energon dripped everywhere like rain beneath him as he squirmed in agony. Half his left side was severely disfigured from the blast's radius as well. The mech was suffering.

He cried out, unable to hold back his screams from the pain as he rolled onto his back barely surviving the strain. Arcee kept her blaster trained on him but she felt guilty of what she had done. Getting a closer look at the wounds, she was surprised if anything that he was still alive. She stood over him, crouching over his abdomen with the blaster right under his chin. Trying to ignore the tears rolling down his cheeks and blood splattering from coughing fits, she decided to interrogate him.

"You were planning on dethroning The Matriarch. Why?"

The mech whined but then said in a forced voice, "W-We weren't planning on a-a-actually going th-through with it. We talk...it wasn't p-planned. Please! Oh Primus...please."

His servos shakily flexed as he made a noiseless gape of the mouth before clenching his mouth shut. He was unsure of what to do among his reeling processor, unable to withstand the pain. She felt even worse now that she knew they weren't going to go after The Matriarch's leadership at all. But now what was she supposed to do? Go to The Matriarch and apologize for the misunderstanding. Then again, she could lie because if these ten bots were the only ones in on the remarks, she could cover it up as a coup halted. Still, the guilt would haunt her.

Before Arcee could speak to the mech anymore, a sword went through the bot's neck and she nearly jumped back startled as the sword of Silos sat still with her reflection now facing her. She stared up at the ex-Rozarian who didn't look as pleased as she expected someone of his nature would be. Standing up quickly, she pointed at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I can ask the same thing," he sneered, forcing the sword out from the ground and placing it on his backside with its twin. "You hesitated and left yourself vulnerable. He could have killed you in your position. A rookie error."

Arcee said flabbergasted at his audacity, "He was dying! He was in no position to harm me!"

"Says you."

"And by the way, he said they weren't planning overthrowing Matriarch! I just killed ten people for no reason!"

Silos scoffed and folded his arms, "I know what I heard. How can I tell if it's sarcasm if they talked about it so much? All I was doing was helping. How can you blame me for that?"

"By listening in more on the conversation!"

"You didn't do that either! I saw you go after them the moment you heard they dislike the Decepticon leader! Now, how can you make your case when you have done the exact same hypocritical mistake as I have?! Selective hearing and impatience are two different things that can guarantee the same results! I would know; I was a judge for a portion of my life before serving Kronos' Royal Guard. I used to put away people for similar reasons."

Arcee frowned, "So, you have history as a guard and a judge now? Cop and prosecutor? I bet that made your bust streak very good and helped the locals put away unfavorable neighbors really easy."

She expected Silos to get angry but instead he smirked, "Maybe it did. You'd love to hear about the raids and the beatings of the unfortunate who were stupid enough to disturb the peace akin to a Decepticon's irrational past as much as the next pristine Autobot, wouldn't you? Too bad what you hear about and what truly happened are a bit of a far cry from each other, not to say I hadn't gone against Kronos' orders a few times to get those who I knew were guilty but couldn't be taken in because of laws. That would be lying, but don't think for a second that I did my job simply to terrorize people."

She still glared at him. "Isn't that what you did when you changed sides to go with Tigressa?"

The Metal Head gritted his fangs uneasily before rolling his eyes. "'I will always do what's right no matter what stands in my way.' Words mean things, more than you know. That has been my motto for years even back then. I've done terrible things, including now, but never insult my past. I did what I had to do even under someone who didn't see things exactly as I did. So, when I tell you I know what I heard, don't detest me for doing what I thought was right. I contacted you, didn't I? Had you gone by your own advice, you would have learned that and corrected me before killing them yet here you are."

Arcee sighed when she knew he was right and rubbed her forehead before letting her servo fall lifelessly to slap against her thigh. "So, Mr. Judge, what should I do?"

Silos grinned a little at the name and gestured, "Just do what you believe is right. After all, I do believe this Matriarch will have far more on her mind than a few soldiers missing. What's the worst she can do?"

"Uh, you think I'm one tough lady? Try her."

Silos grew a weird expression she couldn't place, "We'll see then."

Chapter Text

After chatting with Silos, Arcee went back to the base where things seemed quiet. Moonhunter quickly stormed her, rubbing his head against her leg and walking beside her everywhere in the base afterwards. Bolt, however, was on edge.

"So, uh, how did it go?"

Arcee shook her head with a grimace. "Silos misinterpreted some of the conversation. He had the right idea, but they weren't brave enough to face The Matriarch in reality. Unfortunately, I killed them up until there was one left before finding out the truth. If she hears about this, I'm probably dead."

The Vehicon caressed his helm in disbelief. "Arcee, you didn't."

"I-It's okay though, we can still fix this. Not technically the worst thing I ever did, but I can see where it'll cause some problems. Look, we just go with the knowledge that there are Metal Heads on Chaar...somewhere...and that answers it completely. No risk of death. You with me so far?"

The Vehicon gestured around him, then pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards The Matriarch's tower where she had gotten wind that her sparkmate was meeting with the Decepticon leader. "And Megatron? What do we tell him? Your old pal, Silos, fucked up?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed, "Silos has changed; he proved but he's not above error just the same as us. We will deal with it when we need to."

"Here we go again. Always with the suspicious behavior with him. You are way over your head, you know that?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Hmm? Bad things are going to happen anyways, and we will stop it. We haven't failed yet despite the odds. Besides, don't you find it a little suspicious the Metal Heads rarely appear here? Why? We, I mean as Cybertronians in general, are on our home turf. The other worlds they could divide us on because the leaders there didn't know us but here, the Metal Heads know I have some leeway. Silos is merely keeping watch so if they try to take out this base from under us, they don't get that chance. Call me crazy but we are doing good so far."

Bolt scoffed, "Okay, you're crazy and I'm a dead mech walking. Don't jinx yourself either, but...maybe you're right. Goddamn it all. If The Matriarch murders me, I'm haunting your ass until you meet me in the Well, then I'll kick it to kingdom come."

"Love you, Bolt," Arcee smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he grumbled. "And what makes me feel worse is that the feeling is very mutual."

Arcee laughed softly and reached down to pet Moonhunter when Shockwave suddenly approached her. She couldn't tell he was serious until he spoke.

"Arcee, we have a problem."

"Of course, nothing wants to run smoothly today. What do you got?"

The scientist huffed, "A sudden loss of power at my lab suggests an exterior threat. I've never had an issue with it since I built it, but something is wrong. Unusual pustules have been spotted just on the security wall and near the generators. These Metal Heads you spoke of previously, I think they are finally making their move. I need you to destroy all those growths outside of my lab before they permanently damage the power cells."

Arcee quickly grew serious and nodded, "I'll take care of it. Anyone you know with powerful cannons?"

"Sunstorm-"

"He's given up his powers to me and I can't seem to charge the ability fast enough here. Any gunships or others we can bring out?"

Shockwave thought for a moment before his audial fins perked up. "Perhaps there is. I used to have fusion cannons attached to the walls next to my laboratory before they fell dormant within the walls themselves. I can reactivate them, but I need time. I think Lugnut and Blitzwing are equally powerful enough to break the eggs if time isn't an option."

She grew a wide grin, "Then let's bring out the big boys."

Summoning Lugnut and Blitzwing was easier said than done. Although the two were never seen apart, they couldn't be found if they didn't want to be which surprised Arcee given Lugnut was not a mech she would think could sneak in and out of a base without being detected at least once. When she met up with Megatron and ran him through Shockwave's predicament, he immediately called Soundwave to try and find the two mechs she needed.

While he did so, The Matriarch walked down the steps from her citadel and peered around somewhat cautiously. Arcee could see she was unusually paranoid. She walked towards the other leader fearlessly which made The Matriarch slow down to meet her.

"The Metal Heads are getting ready to attack," she stated bluntly.

The Matriarch didn't seem angry or annoyed oddly, and she got her answer about the paranoia. "That explains a few things. I sensed Shockwave turn irate after he went back to his laboratory. I thought it was because of my stubbornness. If they dare step foot in my base, we'll be ready."

"Matriarch," Arcee then said, "I'm...sorry for butting in. I just want to be a good leader that I would do anything to help...even if you didn't want it-"

"Actually, I should be apologizing to you."

The comment had Arcee taken aback and she side-eyed the femme just in case she was hearing imaginary things. "You...would?"

"Maybe not this second," she laughed, deflating Arcee's optimism, "but I just might later depending on how things go. You don't wreck my base, you'll hear words no one will believe. You fail to do so, I'll be sure to give you a nice eulogy for your efforts."

Narrowing her optics, Arcee frowned, "You aren't a nice person."

"Is that so surprising? At least I don't pretend to like people. That makes me reliable and straightforward. I know what Megatron said to me, that I push everyone away, was meant to change my mind, but I'd rather be alone and a leader than be loved and treated as a friend. I have a job to do, and I don't need distractions. I can live with myself at the end of the day."

She knew she wasn't going to get far with any argument she may have wanted to start so Arcee merely sighed, "Trade one Decepticon leader for another, don't know what I expected. Thankfully, I'd rather have your honesty than risk backstabbing like some people do."

"Exactly," The Matriarch stated proudly.

"Shockwave spotted Metal Head eggs starting to grow along the laboratory exterior and the wall next to it. The Metal Heads are here. They've snuck in. I need Lugnut and Blitzwing to shoot down the eggs until Shockwave gets the cannons up and running. Do you know where they are?"

The Matriarch crossed her arms in thought, claws tapping against her arm until she snapped them as an indication she remembered. "Lugnut and Blitzwing were both sent out to check on my weapons cache that stopped reporting in. I'll call them back here and direct them to annihilate the eggs. Lugnut, Blitzwing, I need you two to head back to base. We have a more important matter to attend to."

Arcee froze up upon hearing their mission as the Decepticon leader called them. Instinctively, she flinched when The Matriarch heard of the state of the crew of the weapons transport.

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE ALL DEAD?! THOSE MOTHERF-NEVERMIND THE WEAPONS! JUST GET BACK HERE!" When she cut communications, The Matriarch clenched her fists in rage but forced herself to calm down by breathing rapidly through the vents on her chassis. "It's always something! Those monsters must have killed my crew! Stupid aliens! I don't need those weapons to defeat them! I'll do it myself!"

Arcee played dumb. "W-What happened?"

"I sent a crew to my cache in the ruins to retrieve more weapons and fuel for safekeeping and the Metal Heads must have murdered them! Those traitorous idiots couldn't even fight off some monsters! What's the point in training them if they can't do anything worthwhile to defend themselves?!"

"Traitorous? How do you know they were traitors?"

The Matriarch reluctantly nodded, "Yeah, those bastards talk about how the faction should have a 'real leader' all the time. It's no secret, so I gave the imbeciles the crappy jobs to amuse myself for their insolence...until now where they just got themselves killed. They talk a big game, but they were too afraid to face me. I only kept them around as a grunt staff. Damn, now I have to find new morons to pick on. I know there are a few in Starscream's command who hate my guts. Guess they are the new cleaning crew, heh heh."

So, The Matriarch knew the entire time. Arcee felt even worse now, nearly blue in the face realizing her mistake. Stick with the Metal Head story and everything should work out. A ground bridge roared open that caught Arcee off guard, The Matriarch not so much. Stepping out, Lugnut's optics contracted with a growl before ice-cold Blitzwing appeared behind him.

"Lugnut, there seems to be some intruders on Chaar and those bugs laid eggs. I need an exterminator outside the lab. Escort Arcee and fry them by any means necessary," she ordered.

Lugnut peered at Arcee who briefly nodded respectful before the mech grinned, "That can be done."

"Blitzwing, you'll be air support. If destroying those eggs lure them to us, we'll be able to take them out."

The angry personality of Blitzwing shifted front and center, yellow tinted visor over red optics and a missing tooth with a scar among the lip where it had been torn upon losing it. He pounded his fists together before yelling, "Those monsters will not take our base under my watch!"

"Although, there was something suspicious with those murders," Lugnut sneered.

The Matriarch tensed as she asked, "How so?"

"There was no consistency. Strikes of blades, an explosive detonation similar to Sunstorm's power, and three headshots...in a row. I doubt these 'Metal Heads' as I've heard Lord Me...Megatron refer to them as are that proficient in weaponry for such an animalistic species. Even Bolt told me in a conversation not too long ago that they prefer teeth and claws, up close and personal horrific deaths. This was not that setup."

The smooth baritone of Lugnut's, a long way from his more boisterous personality when he was younger under Megatron, resonated within Arcee as she shivered nervously. The Matriarch growing irritated and showing aggression again was not helping much...but she could never call her an idiot. When The Matriarch looked to the side in thought, Arcee had hoped she would pin someone like Starscream but slowly, she got the brunt of the glare. For once, it sounded more like restrained disappointment than actual anger.

"What did you do?"

"I don't-"

"You did," The Matriarch hissed with malicious humor as she stepped towards Arcee, right into her space with little regard for what Arcee was comfortable with. "'Three headshots in a row', 'strikes of blades'...oh, that sounds more like an assassin's handiwork than a monster's. Are we starting to connect the dots or do we need to hear more? Personally, I'd love to. So, indulge me, Queenie. What...did...you...do?"

There was no way to go around it, no way to deter The Matriarch from being nose-to-nose with her despite the faceplate structure only allowed her to stare into the optic visor glaring red. She finally sighed, "I overheard...a statement that they were planning on attacking you to take leadership and I didn't want you to have something else on your plate so I took care of it. Apparently, not as well as I should have."

"You think?! Why didn't you just come to me? I don't give a damn if they wanted to storm me! I can take them! You don't become leader by simply sitting in a corner; Megatron and I are some of the most powerful fighters in the faction. Trust me, overthrowing us is a chore and it takes far more than ten bots to do that, especially arrogant idiots with little coordination who can't keep their mouths shut!"

Arcee gestured madly, "I don't know what I was thinking! I want you to see that I want to, I don't know, be a friend or-or get along. We shouldn't be enemies, but I can't help you if you keep being an ass!"

"Like I told you, I don't need your help...but you might need mine." The Matriarch's voice got low as she stared up and past her. Confused, Arcee trailed the direction the larger femme was staring in and gasped.

Decepticons towards the south end backed away as clawed hands grasped the ledge of the walls. Hunched over the wall top, Metal Heads stared down hissing and roaring before jumping into the base itself.

The Matriarch suddenly yelled, "Decepticons, ambush! Rise up and destroy!"

A call to arms. Every Con who heard her grew defensive and immediately sought out the invaders as the Metal Heads began clashing with them. Vehicons were the quickest to join as per expected while the far more brutal hitters like Blackout and the Constructicons followed. Gunfire quickly erupted and the base turned into a warzone too fast for Arcee to react.

Then she was dragged back with a servo wrapped over her arm like a reprimanded sparkling by The Matriarch who growled, "I have my doubts you and Megatron are dumb enough to side with those freaks of nature, but I'm still pissed off enough to believe this is your fault. Now, you have an ultimatum. Either 'help' like you should, or I'll put a bullet in your head here and now. I have the resources and skills to face Cybertron again, especially with those newborn sparks not knowing shit about how dangerous we are. Rockrider's army was a complete joke. We can take them by surprise with ease like you wouldn't believe. You, however, can't afford any losses less you want retaliation on your hands from your own citizens. Figure out where you stand and do anything it takes to protect my planet. Is that clear?"

Arcee ripped her arm from the other's grip. She had the gall to retort, "I will, but I thought you didn't want my help?"

"Just do your job or stay out of my way. Maybe if you do help, I'll forgive that little screw up of yours. You owe me something for that, and I intend to get it one way or another. Not a moment before."

She was nearly pushed out of The Matriarch's path which left her with Lugnut and Blitzwing, the latter of whom switched to his unstable personality. The demonic, boa-like optics and mouth full of red fangs were solely focused on the Metal Heads. Arcee grew curious as to how this personality came to be as it even scared her. As long as she wasn't on the receiving end of the mech in this mode, she was just fine with him.

"I'm sorry if you guys don't want to aid me after-"

"What's in the past is done," Lugnut said quickly and unusually wisely. He had matured greatly since the beginning of the war as a supreme Megatron loyalist. "Right now, we need to get that infestation of yours down. We promised if you called on us, we would help you. Here we are."

He gave Arcee a rare smile and she grew confident again. "Let's rain some hell on these things."

"I think it'll be best if you come with me. Let Blitzwing do his thing without hurting you in the process" he chuckled before extending his arm down so Arcee could climb up to his shoulder. He transformed, flipping so Arcee had time to jump and land on the top of his cockpit. At the same time, the insane persona of Blitzwing gave a mad cackle, glossa teasing the ends of his teeth with a crooked grin and lubricant saliva dripping from his hunger for violence.

Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter gestured to her and Arcee gave two thumbs up which Megatron immediately understood that she had a plan. He gestured back a servo touching his brow before tilting towards her, a sign of "good luck."

The bomber then instructed, "Blitzwing, kill anything that touches our base. We'll destroy the eggs."

"Aye, aye, captain," the mad mech growled playfully.

Slamming his fists on the ground, Blitzwing gave a loud pitched roar before transforming and speeding away to air strike the Metal Heads. Lugnut made sure Arcee was secure on his cockpit hood and jettisoned towards the lab. The overhead view of the wall showed there were portals opened on the other side. Swarms of the monsters were coming through though Arcee kind of laughed when a few of them got snagged by the direfangs nearby for a quick meal. Their peers didn't seem to care as they scaled the walls effortlessly.

When they reached the laboratory, they circled to see where the infestation was. Sure enough, those eggs were sucking away power near the generators and their precious energy cells. A few patrolling Metal Heads had the potential to make things harder. If they bombarded the eggs, the Metal Heads might target anyone who responds to any damage taken to the laboratory, risking their lives.

"This is going to sound stupid, but I'll take out the ground forces then shoot the eggs in the area!"

Lugnut made an unusual noise of confusion. "Are you sure that's a good idea?! If I strike you by accident-"

"Consider it a debt repaid," she said without missing a beat to Lugnut's stunned silence.

He finally said, "By your lead then. But hurry!"

Arcee sneered then ran off his cockpit to skydive several meters before activating her gliding ability. She noticed as she descended, and Lugnut circled overhead still, there were multiple areas with eggs being placed and forming around the grounds below the lab's cliffside. If they hatched, they would unleash hell. She didn't know how much time she had.

"Shockwave, there's eggs everywhere!"

"You need to destroy them quickly. I'm holding the lab secure, but I can only do so for some time. We are holding our position. I don't know how long the doors can hold."

"On it!"

She dived again and rolled off the ground in her landing, shaking her winglets back in place to diffuse the energy wings. The Metal Heads nearest to her raised up and snarled. She brought out Dagger Prima this time and she knew the blade was happy to be out again when it gave a brief glow.

"Boys, I don't have time for your little raid. Meet Dagger Prima. She's a bitch...just like me," Arcee snickered. A Horaquan Grunt hissed with wide open jaws, giving her the incentive to show them who was boss. "That's a shame. I warned you."

Arcee sprinted at the cluster of Metal Heads and struck down the first one that hissed at her with the blade going directly into the back of its neck nearly decapitating it. She used the momentum of her swing to flip over it and counter a Goon with its staff. She pushed against the staff as the other Metal Heads circled to get behind her. Knowing they only needed a second to get her to fall off course from her plans entirely, she did the only thing she could do. Letting the Goon fall forward by sidestepping from their lock, the smaller Metal Heads behind her were crushed by their peer. She couldn't help but laugh at the creatures stuck beneath the larger monster struggling to free themselves, one with their claws raking against the rock to try and pull itself to safety and another's front was trapped leading to it to push on the side of the Goon's body with its feet.

Suddenly, a growl had her back in a defensive pose. A Centurion with its shield up aimed to slam it down on her head but she moved away. It rushed her in its arrogance, and she spun around it to impale its backside before ripping out the dagger to strike another Metal Head coming up from the left. With all the practice she had gotten on Velocitron and Caminus, fighting the Horaquan hellions was like performing the same dance repeatedly. It was starting to get easy remembering each monster's weakness.

In no time, Arcee killed the last creature in the section before signaling to Lugnut who got in close to the Metal Head eggs rattling on the wall of the laboratory. He hovered and brought out his turrets. The eggs popped like balloons from the powerful blasts though the walls did receive some damage in the process. The power to the lab seemed to boost from the parasites no longer feeding on its energy.

"There are three more egg clusters I spotted from above, two of which are below the cliffs," Lugnut said. "Some of those monsters seem to be armed with cannons, literally, not favorable to the likes of me."

Arcee gestured proudly, "I will take of it, no problem."

As she tracked down the second section with eggs on the wall beside the lab, she saw in the distance Megatron and Bolt helping the Decepticons run down the creatures before they could get far in the base. As long as they held their position, the Metal Heads weren't a threat. She didn't pause to assess the situation with the Metal Heads pacing near the eggs and jumped mid-run to send both pedes right into one of the Mantis that didn't see her in time.

Dagger Prima was switched out for her double-bladed sword, and she threw it at the chest of a Grunt before running up its body and taking the blade on the leap off it. She came down on another Grunt and impaled it through its mouth, down its throat, and through its backside before it tried to meet her part of the way to bite her. Three Mantis remained and hopped on the side of the building as well as the ground to make it hard for her to keep track of all of them.

Well, Arcee had a solution to that. Pulling out the ricochet ray with a cocky grin, she grew amused when one of the Mantis paused with a worried animalistic grunt. "Dodge this!"

She fired several bullets as she ducked behind the supports to the wall. Two of the Metal Heads tried to outmaneuver the blasts but were each sniped by the ricochet, skull gems leaving their bodies even before they hit the ground. The last one got wise and hid the same as her. Its raptorial tibia tapped on the wall paranoid and angered. When it stepped out, it grew shocked to see the muzzle of the gun inches from its face. All it got was a mere grunt of victory from the queen before its head was blown clean off, its alien cry was muted as quick as it started.

Lugnut navigated the small space between the lab and the wall and fired rapidly at the eggs that gave off their own little screeches as each one burst. He paused and shifted around to check if any were resting on the lab walls themselves. When it was determined he got all of them, he sped out of the space and resumed circling above.

Arcee ran to the edge of the cliff and spotted a large Metal Head with a cannon attached to its staff. It was accompanied by two Spyder Gunners, both equally devastating shots if one wasn't careful. Pursing her lips in thought, she quickly deduced the only way she would have a shot at taking them down was to get the drop on them. Backing away from the cliff, she paced a second before wordlessly shrugging when she came up with no other options. Maybe she was a bit crazy as Blitzwing but standing on the edge again and saluting blandly helped her cope with the stupidity of the action as she leaned forward to fall off. What Lugnut thought of that, if he saw it, she couldn't guess.

The Spyder Gunners had no clue of her presence as she twisted upright and had a pede out in her freefall. Slamming on the head of one of them, she shook off the impact when the body provided cushioning against the otherwise harmful fall that could have broken her ankles. She knew she crushed its skull and neck as it remained still after she lunged at the new Metal Head.

The remaining Metal Heads shot at her after getting over their surprise. Both had rapid-firing weapons, so Arcee had run up the side of the rock wall of the cliff to dodge the blasts. However, the Rapid Gunner, as she dubbed it, took a second to reload. A poor mistake against her. She used its brief pause to kick out its leg to make it kneel and struck its head, but the creature grabbed her arm and tossed her right into the firing line of the Spyder Gunner that cocked its arm blaster with a hiss.

Abruptly, a maddening laugh roared by, and the Metal Head was bombarded with missiles. Arcee had to crawl quickly between the bombs and the Rapid Gunner targeting her to hide behind a pole. Blitzwing flew past her battlefield still cackling before cutting his engines and doing an insane 180 back around. Twirling, he reignited his jets and sped at the remaining Gunner. Instead of blasting the Metal Head, he transformed.

His dark faceplates and red optics seemed to unnerve even the proud Metal Head before him before he roared like a beast. Arcee didn't want to admit how pleased she was to see the demonic persona out and about. Unlike her, Blitzwing could shrug off the Rapid Gunner's fire as he charged the creature, still grinning with fangs prominent. Being as big as he was, Arcee was surprised he didn't kill the Metal Head when he grabbed the latter and slammed it down with a loud crack of bone and metal. The creature was still alive and struggled to get up but the mad mech did the unexpected. Blitzwing clasped both sides of the creature's head and crushed it between his palms like pulp with another deranged cackle. The body fell back lifeless but Blitzwing maintained his servos together with a sinister gleam in his optics as the dark purple sludge dripped through his fingers. Then he turned to Arcee.

His crazy side she was unsure of as she didn't know whether he still resented her for previously humiliating him on Cybertron or not. Unlike the other personalities, this one had little restraint in expressing a grudge. Arcee tried not to wince as he grabbed her arm, coating it without care with the creature's blood. She was pulled up and had to look high to keep track of his red optics as she only came up to his abdomen. He crouched down with a weird sound as his glossa snaked out, then placed a rough kiss on her.

It took her three attempts to rip away from him but then she punched him right in the face though it hardly deterred his amusement. She yelled and spat, "You are an asshole, you know that?! Try that again and I'll cut that tongue out of your mouth! That's nasty."

"Oh, I just wanted to know what you tasted like," he snickered before changing to his blue-faced personality. "Apologies, we...I was in the heat of the moment. Bloodlust does things to me and that's the horniest of my three."

"I'll keep a mental note of that. I take it I turned you on when I fought you last time back home too. Boundaries. Teach it to your mentally-challenged pet demon side, won't you?" She grimaced the longer she stood there. "...Ew, what the hell did you eat? Did you bite something's head off? That's a weird taste."

Blitzwing grew a dark blush as he rubbed his neck, "I...wouldn't put it past me in that state, to be honest."

She glared disturbed at him. "You weren't even that personality for more than an hour?! Who died before you started fighting the Metal Heads?!"

The mech shrugged awkwardly, "It's a blur."

"That glossa is going to get you into trouble."

"Good or bad?"

Arcee sent him a deadpanned look before Lugnut swung around and aimed at the eggs. They were destroyed in no time, and she contacted Shockwave. "One more section has eggs and then we should have gotten all of them."

The scientist's voice sounded relieved, "Excellent, I have the barrier security weapons back online. That should put an end to the intrusion across the base."

On cue, weapons shifted out of the walls, one after the other and she followed the trail of their emergence to the distant Metal Heads trying to scale the base's borders. Gunfire erupted from them in that area, aiming for the portals as the bots heard the monsters' squeals upon being shot.

"Lugnut, you have a supersonic fusion bomb that can destroy anything, right? I think we should make those cretins go with a bang, but you must wait for our signal. Blitzwing, we're going to find ourselves some Metal Heads."

"Yes, Ma'am," Blitzwing smirked.

Lugnut chuckled, "I've waited some time to use the P.O.K.E."

"P.O.K.E.?" Arcee questioned before turning to Blitzwing.

"It's a fun name we came up with in our boredom."

Arcee just shook her head. The bots carefully treated around the laboratory's cliff base and rebounded right as they turned a corner, quickly shuffling back to only peek at the Metal Heads patrolling. The last of the eggs were glowing, indicating they were about to hatch. She gave Blitzwing the initiative to go and in return, he called Lugnut to do what he did best.

Lugnut's vehicle form swooped around and went skyward before he transformed and flipped to a punch position. Shifting his arm into a reactor bomb, the wind speed in the fall began charging it as he narrowed all his optics with a devious grin.

"We might want to take a couple steps back...just saying," Blitzwing said uneasily. Arcee quickly got his meaning and sprinted away with the mech in tow. They turned right as Lugnut's fist collided with the ground.

Although it wasn't his most powerful attack with the little energy stored from the descent, it was enough to cause a brief flash and shake the ground. A small plume of smoke and fire ruptured upward as pieces of Metal Head armor and other debris were flung Arcee's way. Blitzwing covered her with his back taking the brunt of the wind and dirt that was disturbed. When the effects of the blast died, they saw a small crater and Lugnut fist down in a pose. He slowly stood up merely with a few scuffs to his knee plates from the rough landing, but no other damage was seen. The Metal Heads and their eggs, however, were pulverized.

"Damn..." she stated quietly.

"Make sure you never piss him off; I have learned a few times as his partner to not do stupid things around him. Obviously, he doesn't power it enough to kill me like it can if charged twenty percent or higher, but the impact hurts really bad. I've only ever seen him charge it completely once...it killed everything in over a hundred-mile radius and decimated all the buildings around it. Nothing stood. I was in the air when that happened, a good thing too but the ground troops...highest kill count in a single battle, still has that record along with highest friendly fire casualty count."

They exchanged looks which Arcee threw up her eyebrows a little concerned when hearing that. "So, basically, he killed everyone?"

"...Basically, he killed everyone. Yes."

"Moral understood then. Shockwave, the last of the Metal head eggs are gone."

"Yes...I felt that explosion. I take it that was Lugnut. Good job and give some compliments to the walking bomb as well. I have a Radiant Core to give you if you wish to climb back up here."

Arcee sighed but started trekking back up the pathway to the laboratory regardless. "This is going to kill me one day."

-----------------------------

The Matriarch grabbed the foolish Metal Head that dared to charge her and repeatedly bashed the creature into the ground until another appeared. She changed course and started using the dead body as a mace, shattering its armor against the stunned monster. She threw the body after one last hit then grabbed the collar of the second Horaquan before bashing its brains in.

Bolt and the other Vehicons followed her lead with the former taking out his axe and swinging into the head of a Metal Head. Just then, a Metal Rhyno and Ramhead stormed the battlefield. They were resistant to the blasts from several Decepticon weapons but Megatron rushed the Rhyno's side, pushing the creature into its peer to slide against the ground. It was quickly dispatched by Megatron's blade, then he shifted his weapon to pierce the backside of the other beast.

The Metal Head legion was being thinned out now that they had the support of the weapons but Megatron knew that didn't necessarily put them in the clear. There would always be danger as long as the beasts continued.

"You would think they'd be a bit smarter by now," Bolt said.

Megatron gestured to a Metal Head and Moonhunter ran at it, clawing and ripping at its body like a ravenous predator. "I suspect they might be doing this for a different purpose than to just invade worlds. Don't you find it a little weird, they always attack when tensions are up? It's like they are waiting on everything to go wrong."

"Maybe they are smarter than I give them credit for," the Vehicon muttered as he struck a Metal Head that slid in front of him. "But still not that smart."

Cyclonus and Blackout tag-teamed with the helicopter igniting his rotor blades on his arms to slice up any unfortunate prey caught among them. The purple mech took on a Centurion, dodging the shield until the monster leaned forward a bit too much and opened itself to be impaled through its skull gem. Cyclonus gave no mercy on the lack of speed on the Metal Head's part, swinging his sword upright in a formal stance as it collapsed dead.

A loud roar echoed across the base before shifting dirt and rock followed. Some of the Decepticons paused unsure as Megatron peered around for the origin of the noise. It was believed to be over the wall still, but it sounded big.

"Megatron!"

He turned to see Arcee, Blitzwing, and Lugnut running through the chaos and killing any Metal Heads that dared to target them. "How did it go? You heard that, right?"

"Yes, we just heard that," Arcee said. She then held up a Radiant Core. "Shockwave's gift to me. The Metal Head eggs are gone but whatever that was, it sounds mean, and I doubt it's just going to leave us alone."

The Matriarch punched a Metal Head right past them, huffing before staring them down. "Are we having a party or what?"

"We stopped the infestation," Arcee said with confidence.

"Great, I'll send you a prize. Now, princess, while you're here, help get these stragglers out of my base!"

Arcee wanted to roll her optics but the quick cracking noise of the Vehicon's fists tightening assured her that being any form of sarcastic right now would earn her a fight to the death even amidst the Metal Heads.

Just then, Slipstream and a young purple and black Seeker ran up to them, the former looking panicked. "Matriarch, you said you'd escort my daughter to the shelter! There are more creatures to the north of the base breaching the tunnels in the wall and I can't risk losing her in the chaos!"

The Matriarch growled, "I'm a little busy to be babysitting! Can't Starscream or one of your friends escort the kid?"

"They are the ones holding those monsters back up there."

Arcee stepped in instead. "What do you need done?"

Slipstream was aware of the Metal Heads getting close by those trying to hold them off and quickly gestured to the smaller femme behind her. "This is my daughter, Nighthawk. I need her to be taken to a shelter at the far end of the base beyond the tower. Even with the defenses we have, I can't monitor her and keep the Metal Heads at bay! If you could bring there, to her cousin, Draco, I would be most grateful. I need to stay here and help Starscream and the other Seekers."

Bolt sighed, "Unfortunately, we don't have the time-"

"I'll do it," interrupted Arcee. The Cons among her all sent her weird looks and she shrugged, "Someone must protect younglings while those brutes are wandering about. I'll be back before you know it!"

Megatron shook his head but reluctantly agreed. "Alright, but if anything happens-"

"I'll call in the calvary. I know, I know." She turned to Nighthawk who tilted her head a little at her. "Stick with me, kid. I'll get you to that safehouse."

Slipstream nodded to Nighthawk, and she hesitantly followed Arcee. "Be careful."

The group split off with most of Arcee's friends going back into battle. Arcee and Nighthawk moved away from the fight, watching for any abnormalities around them.

-----------------------------

Direfangs hissed at each other angrily as a few sand-dwellers skimmed the planet's surface unconcerned of the escalating fight for territory. Opening their maws and showing off their hoods to make the other back down, their bio lights glowed bright in growing irritation.

The sound of a space bridge and a boom of ground broken into made both flinch and stare down the direction of the noise, pissed at the interruption. Even the sand-dwellers were not happy with a potential invader in their midst. A rock trail of upturned sediment moved across the surface like a bullet, circling a few of the snakes with an eerie snarl. The direfangs responded by instead hissing at the offender. They regretted their decision immediately.

The rock broke loose and all creatures in the area flinched and cowered as a shadow dwarfed them. A deep hiss and a yellow undertone glow presented a dark beast. Its shadow turned to its side among the fearful populace towards the walls of the base where constant light of gunfire was dancing among the stars. It opened its mouth with a roar, fangs larger than any of the creatures' present expressing distaste before it dived back into the ground. The snakes around it quickly hid once it left.

The trail of debris moved towards the fight, uncaring of any wonderwards or other creatures that got in its way. It was on a mission, and it intended to do what was instructed of it by any means necessary.

----------------------------

Seeing the Seekerling tense, she decided to try and diffuse the situation. She had to peer up at the younger femme who was already larger than her by three feet and assure her.

"Are you okay?"

Nighthawk finally spoke after a moment of silence. "I've never seen those creatures before. Are they really monsters?"

Arcee huffed a little. "They're...something like that but they're really only bullies who can bite. And they have nothing better to do than terrorize people."

The Seeker smiled slightly, still unsure about her and the whole background noise of gunfire and roars. Arcee could hardly blame her, but then her commlink went off.

"I see that Matriarch's base is under attack. A perfect time to perhaps get something for me."

"Not now, Silos," she said sternly.

"Oh, but this is a necessity. I have a client who is into the museum business, wants a replica of a Decepticon warship ion cannon. He doesn't care if it functions much less fires, only the base model. Unfortunately, I have slight difficulty in obtaining such a thing and judging by the aggression your new friends give off, I'd say it wouldn't be wise for me to get them. How about you instead?" Silos sang. She could almost hear the grin upon his face.

Arcee snarled, "Are you crazy?! I can't get that!"

"Tick tock, or else a might just let a few details slip that the Horaquan would want to know desperately. It's fun going back and forth between you and my former peers. I get what I want in the end regardless."

"Fine!" Arcee grimaced, "I'll see what I can do, you evil leech."

The ex-Rozarian snickered, "Don't flirt with me. It's so unbecoming of a queen to mix with a monster."

"Remind me why I put up with you..."

"I deliver. That says enough."

Silos cut his end before she could reply with an ego-bruising comeback but also thought it was good that he did because she was in the midst of a youngling. Slipstream would have clocked her upside the head if her baby came back asking the wrong questions.

"Who was that?" Nighthawk asked in a meek voice.

"That was a terrible friend who wants me to secure some documents here which I have no clue where they would be and frankly, I'm not going around a base searching for it. Putting you in danger is not on my never-ending list of things to do."

"What is it you seek?"

She treaded carefully with her words to not sound suspicious. "I need the schematics for a weapon...something that we can use to protect this base and possibly prepare for any future aggressors."

Nighthawk laughed, "That sounds like something you would find in Onslaught's warehouse."

"Onslaught?"

"Yeah, he's a weapons specialist! My carrier and I visit him from time to time when she gets upgrades. When I'm old enough, I'm going to be allowed to get my own weapons and upgrades. He has a bunch of blueprints lying around. I don't think he'll mind if you take one."

Arcee paused to collect her thoughts before asking, "Where might I find Onslaught?"

The Seekerling pointed at a warehouse that appeared operational and several bots running out of it towards the danger. Arcee knew she shouldn't involve NightHawk in this but the faster she appeased Silos, the easier he was to deal with. She ran towards Onslaught's warehouse with Nighthawk beside her. When they reached the building, they saw a bulky, green mech growling as he attached guns to his arm and cocked them into place with a dark grin. His red optics were blatantly ones of a killer.

Nighthawk tapped on Arcee's shoulder before saying, "I'll distract him and you can take anything from the table over there."

Arcee saw the table she meant covered in data pads and screens depicting weapons including, to her shock, the Nemesis' ion cannon schematics beside a different ion cannon for what appeared to be a fortress among other things. Nighthawk walked past her as she crouched in a blind spot and went to Onslaught humming.

"Hi, Onslaught, I need a weapon to fight those nasty creatures out there!"

Onslaught almost handed her a fusion blaster without looking until he backtracked and scowled, "Nighthawk, ain't you supposed to be with that smartass cousin of yours?! Go hide! The battlefield is no place for little ones!"

As Nighthawk made a pouting face, Arcee snuck behind the counter and made her way to the table. She kept an optic on the two between glances as the schematics.

"I can fight!" Nighthawk said.

The older mech rolled his optics. "Yeah, sure, you'd be a big help. Listen, kid, those things out there are not child-friendly. You go out there blindly shooting and they will target you. I don't want to know what they'll do you nor what your carrier will do to me if you get a single scratch on you. Go on!"

Arcee looked over the prints for null rays, cannons, blasters, and even shields. She determined an ion cannon's specs were the best option. They didn't say how to make them operational, only how to build one and that was all she needed. Stuffing the datapad with it in her subspace, she snuck back to the counter and waited for Nighthawk to make one last distraction.

"But I want one!"

"I ain't telling you again. You get going or I'll call your carrier here immediately."

Once Arcee got to the exterior, she whistled and pretended to be looking for the youngling. "Nighthawk!"

The younger femme perked up and scowled, "Some help you were, Onslaught."

The mech did nothing but grumble as they left. Arcee and Nighthawk shared brief laughter before the queen asked, "I'm surprised you let me do this. It means a lot."

"Well, it's mainly because I have a secret of my own," Nighthawk started, "but you can't tell my carrier."

Arcee shook her head, "Our secret."

"I've stolen weapons from him."

"Why would you do that?"

"Draco and I, we aren't as nice as we let on. I've stolen Energon and some of Shockwave's tools also. I can't help it! When my carrier says no, I just really want to do the opposite and when I see random things that catch my optic, I take them without knowing why really. Draco won't stop me...I think I have a problem."

She didn't say much other than, "It's not too bad. I think you just might be a kleptomaniac."

"Really?" Nighthawk said with newfound interest. Then she frowned, "Wait, what's a kelp-tow-maniac?"

"'Kleptomaniac,' means you have the urge to steal regardless of if you need what you take or not."

"Oh, that explains a few things. It sounds...bad though. Does it make me a bad person?" Nighthawk asked innocently.

Arcee smiled at her in reassurance, "Doing something that is looked down upon will never make you a bad person unless you wish to be. It's only a bad habit and with the proper training, you can turn it into something far more valuable than even what you steal. For instance, there are jobs that pay hired thieves to test security of objects, show others how to look out and stop more greedy individuals, and maybe the Decepticons have need for someone who might be able to rival Soundwave himself in stealth."

Nighthawk paused as she examined the information told. "I never thought of that."

"I'm bonded with a mass murder...does that make me evil to you?" The Seekerling shook her head and Arcee gestured openly, "There you go."

--------------------------

The Decepticons held back the army as some of the Metal Heads began to retreat. The bigger ones tried to keep the offense going but The Matriarch and her troops were determined to destroy them as she sliced a large Ramhead right in half with a battle cry.

Megatron pounded one into a pancake before swinging its corpse to knock down a Metal Flyer overhead attempting to divebomb him. "Is that all you got?!"

Slipstream turned quickly, rapidly firing along the way to hit anything in her vicinity and even blowing the brains out of a poor Metal Head that jumped at wrong time. Blitzwing, on the other hand, viciously switched between his three personalities to do the most damage. When far from an enemy, he retained his colder persona but up close, they faced his hotheaded rage. Then the most unfortunate of Metal Heads were suddenly chased down by the demon at random aiming to tear them apart with an ungodly bellow and grin.

As Lugnut covered Bolt and Moonhunter, a rumble made them all pause and look towards the ground. An unearthed trail of dirt coming from under the wall where the Metal Heads had breached crawled across the planet's surface with a groan. It stopped for only a few seconds before storming past the bots with little regard for them, toppling anyone who got in its way.

"What was that?! A sand-dweller?!" Bolt exclaimed.

The Matriarch growled, "No, sand-dwellers and direfangs don't run along the surface like that. They only breach and dive. They prefer the element of surprise. And whatever it is, it's heading your girl's way, Megatron."

The warlord tensed and made the executive decision to follow it much to the other Decepticons' shock. But Slipstream's optics widened as she put her servos to her mouth scared. "Nighthawk!"

----------------------

As they approached the shelter among the distant chaos where the one called Draco seemed to be disobeying orders and staying outside the door awaiting them, Nighthawk said, "You're the best, Arcee! I hope you bash those no-good monsters to the ground!"

The blue and black Seeker, her cousin, waved her over. "Nighthawk, over here!"

From what Arcee could tell of the bot, he was nearly the same age but definitely had more of Starscream's looks compared to Nighthawk who was identical to Slipstream, just a different shade of purple. If she had to guess, Draco's father had to be Thundercracker if the cousins really were related. If not, the only other Seekers with similar color schemes were Bitstream and Nacelle. But the likelihood of that was nonexistent as neither were related to Starscream and both of them had been dead since Technahar.

"Where were you?! There are weird creatures roaming around and you're next to an Autobot?"

"She's cool!" Nighthawk argued proudly, "Lay off, Draco, don't make me summon Kiara!"

The name was unknown, no Decepticon she knew of had it.

"As if you'd be bold enough to call our mother over to a warzone," Draco hissed.

Arcee grew confused, "I thought Slipstream is your creator?"

The two went silent before Nighthawk shot her cousin a dark glare. The other Seekerling shrugged in his defense until the purple femme rolled her optics. "Can you keep another secret?"

The queen didn't respond this time but the silence was enough for Nighthawk to continue. "Years ago, Draco and I got separated on Cybertron near the end of the war. We were little. Draco found another bot to pal up with, Spike, and Alpha Trion had a trainee clerk by the name of Serpentine. While those horrible battles went on, we were frightened until we met a youngling like us. He looked strange compared to the models we were used to, kind like those Predacons from the history holopads. He took us to a world with the most amazing scenery! Everyone was nice!"

Draco sneered, "It was okay, but we met the king, a cool guy and we got to live in luxury as we had been adopted! Of course, we returned here when we learned our creators had survived, but I'd love to go back! Nighthawk, we need to go back soon!"

Arcee blinked unsure before she asked, "You have a way to go to and from Chaar and the other world? This world...do you remember the name of it?"

"Uhm...Kanto, Kanvas...Kan-Kanjis! Kanjis! It was a techno-organic world!" Nighthawk said with a squeal, "It's beautiful! You should go too!"

The same world Silos' Rozaria was neighbors with and some of the creatures she had encountered on the Isle of the Allspark before had come from. Given getting to the world required ground bridge coordinates, she was a bit surprised that they had access to a space bridge that no one else knew about.

"I'll write it down for my next vacation," she joked. "Why didn't you tell your creators about this?"

"If they knew, we can't sneak back to see all the friends we made, especially Phantasmos. I heard he just returned to his home world after isolation, so have his brothers and sisters! We've only been able to see the king and queen for some time."

That piqued her curiosity the most. "Why were they isolated?"

Draco shook his head and frowned, "They were banished more like. The king had no choice when his eldest daughter, Tigressa, showed signs of manipulation. He feared she would take revenge by setting his own children against him, so they went in a consented exile...that is until she disappeared. Now, they have nothing to worry about, and he welcomed them back."

The name made her freeze. Tigressa...Draco and Nighthawk were adopted by the creators of Tigressa, the monster who made the unholy virus that plagued worlds. That was not what she expected to hear, and she was about to ask more questions when an abrupt roar sounded underground. The density of the planet beneath them muffled it but it still caught her attention as something dangerous.

"Arcee," Megatron's voice came through, "something is chasing after you!"

In her bewilderment, Arcee quickly gestured for the kids to get near to the building as she backed towards them to watch for anything unusual. Dagger Prima flared up on her backside in warning. She tensed trying to find it among the otherwise calmer environment than beyond the area. When another sound seemed to indicate it was closer than she initially thought, Arcee summoned her blasters and kneeled trying to feel any vibrations to get a better idea where it was. Direfangs and sand-dwellers could tunnel but something seemed off. Then she felt a rumble growing fast with a trail of upturning rock and dirt appearing on the left and heading straight towards her. This was far too big to be those creatures...

"Hide!" Arcee screamed at the younglings.

Draco and Nighthawk obeyed without question as Arcee scurried back when the rock burst up and a giant serpent broke through, slamming onto the ground and twisting into a coiling pattern. The first thing they noticed was the blatant skull gem among its underbelly a few feet down from its throat. Armored far more than any snake species that inhabited the planet with bluish purple organic skin beneath, the serpent roared and showed off its massive mouth adored with two sets of long fangs while the rest were short but jagged. Barbs littered its spine and its four yellow eyes sat in a straight line horizontally on the head instead of stacked. They merged with yellow bio lit spots that went down the side of the body. It had a small crest of horns upon its head blending with the linear barbs going down its back.

The Metal snake saw her and narrowed all four eyes which she noticed had the faintest white slit pupils. It harbored hatred despite the fact that she had yet to antagonize it. That's when she knew the game had changed indefinitely. The Metal Head Leader wasn't trying to take over anymore; they were trying to kill her for killing Tigressa.

She ran backwards when it pursued her with a nasty hiss, an insight into its determination to eat her alive if she gave it the chance to do so. As long as it stayed away from the younglings, drawing its ire was the most reasonable thing she could think of. Arcee fired her weapons, the blasts doing little to damage the exterior armor and it started dodging her immediately, whipping across the ground with urgency unlike the last two commanders.

"Arcee," Silos said, "I sense there's a commander after you."

"No, really?!"

"I'm just trying to help. In all seriousness, the Baskilisk is the deadliest of the commanders in terms of kill rates as it is known as the Malicious Striker. To fight one as it, you must outwit it as physical attacks require a close radius to its person...and that's the last place you want to be. Perhaps the element of surprise would do you good."

Element of surprise? How was she supposed to get the element of surprise on something that was currently locked onto her?! Arcee hid around a corner as it struck the side of a building to catch her in its jaws. Following her, it eased through the smaller spaces normally most bots had trouble going into but at the same time, it forced itself through the tight ones, ripping metal without mercy in its rampage against her. She hid behind a discarded ship and instead brought out Dagger Prima. Hearing it break part of the buildings' walls once it got back out into the open, she gripped the dagger with a sneer.

The Metal Baskilisk raised its head, glossa briefly flickering out to sense the air for her. It moved back down to slither against the ground with another hiss. The snout of the serpent poked near the ship and when it was partially visible merely a few feet from Arcee, she shivered as it slowly opened its jaws with the fangs prominent against the base's purple lighting.

"Hey, Snake Head!"

Arcee froze as it quickly turned its head from next to her to peer up at the roof of the building overlooking both their positions. Draco stood with a pride Arcee recognized, the son of Thundercracker indeed. She grew panicked as the Baskilisk snarled, barbs rising with the intent to kill. But, to her surprise, Draco clapped his servos together once before slamming them on the ground. The shockwave caused the snake to grow motionless but it didn't go past the creature to affect Arcee.

"What did you do?! Just now, what was that?!"

Draco remained crouched, his chest pulsing before calling out, "I stopped time around the monster but you only have a minute! It was a gift from the king of Kanjis! If you want to strike, you better do it now!"

Arcee didn't need to be told twice. Using her speed boost, she jumped onto its back and climbed up its spine. When she reached its face, she shoved the blade into both eye sockets on the right side. The eyes burst and slowly its face scrunched up to show its pain.

"I can't hold it any longer!" Draco called.

She slid down the body of the Metal Head and sprinted away right as the time bubble burst and the Baskilisk grew aware again, shaking madly with a shriek as purple sludge oozed from the damage. Draco was quick to leave, saluting to Arcee for good luck as he looked drained from the use of the power, too young to fully master the ability yet. However, Arcee made a mistake as she stepped back from a distance. Her pede stepped on a lip in the ground and the edge crumbled. The Baskilisk quit its movements to glare at her with its remaining eyes. In its rising anger, it dived beneath the ground and a trail of rock exploded towards her like a torpedo.

Arcee was suddenly grabbed from above and she nearly struck Megatron who managed to catch the dagger and her servo in the nick of time. He responded a bit bewildered but realized the reaction was justified.

"Easy, I don't want to die today after everything I've gone through." Then he saw the snake's trail and hiked Arcee onto his shoulder. "I take it that's what we've been hearing?"

"Metal Baskilisk, don't let it near you. Now run!"

Like old times, Megatron navigated the area with Arcee perched on his shoulder scouting the movements of the Baskilisk following as she said, "We need a plan! Can't get near it so we need powerful weapons to take it down...like the wall of the base's cannons! Megatron, how fast can you climb?"

"Uh, probably thirty seconds with a good jump."

"Perfect. If it wants me so bad, it's going to have to get out of its comfort zone!"

Megatron jumped onto the roof of a building close to the base wall as the Baskilisk shot out, banging against the side before going after them. He got a running start and attached himself to the wall, sinking his claws to scale it as fast as he could. The Baskilisk snapped at him after leaping and was only a few inches short of catching his pede. It sank back onto the roof coiled but it refused to give up. Using some of the inner supports found along the wall, it twisted around to climb at a rapid pace to meet up with the Cybertronians.

Arcee leapt off Megatron's shoulder as he lifted himself up to the narrow top of the wall. The Baskilisk breached the wall ledge behind them though it refrained from jumping the gun once it saw the drop-off. Slowly, it readjusted to use the part of its body hanging over to tighten to keep itself stable. With a flicker of its tongue again, it aligned itself with the wall ledge and moved after them carefully.

"Next step?" Megatron asked, keeping himself between her and the pursuing commander.

Arcee grinned and activated her commlink, "Shockwave, talk to me."

"What do you require?"

"Can you control the cannons where I am?"

"Where are you?"

"Southeast of the base on the wall fighting one hell of a Horaquan!"

"I'll see what I can do. It will take a minute to take manual control of the weapons but I doubt you don't know how to stall," the scientist said with a hint of amusement.

Arcee glared back at the beast as it got closer. Dagger Prima hissed in response to its aggression. Megatron aimed his fusion cannon at it when it got within a hundred feet and started firing at its head. In retaliation, it lunged. Arcee pulled him back by his unequipped arm but almost stumbled off the edge. The Baskilisk rose with its mouth almost in a pseudo grin at the position the bots had put themselves in until Arcee brought out her blaster and noticed its damaged eye sockets were flesh on the inside and highly sensitive.

"Aim for the eyes!"

Megatron smirked and he targeted the intact ones. The Baskilisk swerved around the shots before striking again, missing the warlord's protruding arm. Arcee, however, shot right as it recoiled. The blaster hit the bloody tissue and the snake roared. Suddenly, it attempted to crush them by falling forward to slam on the edge. Megatron ran back guarding Arcee until they heard the cannons of the wall emerging. Arcee tapped on his arm excitedly and he had an equally devious expression.

The Metal Baskilisk shook off the hit but when it looked back where Arcee was standing, it found her no longer there. With a growl of confusion, it checked both ledges of the wall beside it as part of its body dangled off the side, coiling against the metal to keep itself steady. A whistled made it immediately turn...only to have the Decepticons' defensive cannon aimed right at its head. Arcee lounged on her side like a model with a cheeky grin and waved before snapping her fingers. On cue, the gun charged quickly with red energy and the noise made the monster frown with a stunned grunt, unable to react fast enough.

It was sent reeling back with a cry as blasts engulfed it and nearly on fire as it tried to move backwards. The damage taken resulted in the armor of the underbelly to be dislodged. Using the moment of advantage, Megatron ran to it from under the cannon's blind spot and jumped. He sent a fist right into the head of the Horaquan and it flailed until it lost its grip, tumbling down the side of the wall. It hit the base's interior, bouncing off two of the buildings before collapsing onto the ground with a high-pitched hiss.

"Oh, that's got to hurt!" Arcee snickered.

The two bots flew down near it. It was time to take back Chaar once and for all. Sprinting at the downed Baskilisk, Arcee stared it in the eyes as they made contact. The blade was swift and sure...and the last thing the Metal Head saw before going completely blind. It jolted upright, now a large gash across both eyes. With the monster blinded, she could finally do a full-scale assault on it.

It snapped in the direction where it heard her footsteps but Arcee countered by cutting it with the dagger's bloody edge. Growing desperate, it motioned between biting and slamming its body down to do anything to kill her. When it swept her off her feet by its whipping head, Megatron took over and sent his weapon deep into its organic skin near its neck. It bucked and writhed beyond rageful.

Arcee started growing tired. The monster could certainly take a beating even when blind and bleeding. What would kill it now if the cannons still didn't? She looked at Dagger Prima then sheathed it on her backside before bringing out her blasters. It suddenly occurred to her that she had never used the second wave of Sunstorm's power. There was a micro amount of energy left that could still do damage depending where it was used. With no direct solar energy, she really did have only one shot this time. Transferring the power to only one blaster, she watched the Baskilisk's pattern. In its stress and anguish, it was dipping its head every third swing or so. If she aimed from afar, there was no guarantee the miniature bomb she was going to use would kill it. If she got up close to its head though...

"Megatron, clear out!"

Arcee timed his reluctant leave with the charge of her blaster glowing as yellow as a sun. The Baskilisk corrected itself to go after her by her voice. Just as she wanted it too. Posing with the blaster near her chest defiantly, she cracked her neck while the Metal Head didn't slow down, determined to run her down even if it was the last thing it did. That's exactly what she intended it to be. Sprinting to meet it, she gave a shout and leapt at it in the same pose as Lugnut when he descended upon the Metal Heads prior. Right as they made contact, she punched forward and fired point blank into its mouth.

The explosion shook the ground. Arcee was sent skidding across the rock until her body couldn't roll anymore. Dizzily, she posted herself up on her servos and knees when she sensed the most unusual smell. The smell of burnt flesh. She managed to see the smoke rising from the Baskilisk's ruptured neck, and it took her a second to see it had no head. The body stayed upright for only a few more seconds before collapsing. The rest of it had small holes where its guts and blood were leaking from. The explosion must have sent the blast throughout, not just among the head causing the space within to implode from the pressure.

Then she felt her own blood. Energon leaked from small holes on her left arm, her blaster arm where close contact regrettably rebounded the blast. The rest of her chassis seemed okay but there was definite pain beginning to arise as her numbness to the situation died. Megatron came running to her side and nuzzled her to keep her calm as she winced, leaning back to sit on her calves as she held her arm.

Footfalls from several other bots were heard but she held her optics closed, fighting the immense agony. She won the battle but a price seemed inevitable for her actions. It was only a matter of time before one of her stunts backfired. Still, Arcee was glad it was over.

Chapter Text

When Arcee woke up after surgery, she was in the medbay. Her arm didn’t hurt, but she saw there were some rough patches of grey attached for the time being until a cosmetics mechanic could be brought in to repaint her color scheme. The Decepticons proved very sympathetic to her plight. Pharma had fixed what he could. She was warned that the blaster affected might not work entirely for some time or retain permanent affliction, especially with Sunstorm’s power, but there was a chance it could recover very easily.

Before she was put under to ease the pain so Pharma could work, she was visited by Draco and Nighthawk as well as Slipstream who praised her for keeping her baby safe. Megatron and Bolt never moved from her side until they were forced to leave, Moonhunter too, and she had yet to speak to The Matriarch. With little to no noise of weapons within that timeframe, she assumed the Decepticons got rid of the remaining Metal Heads who couldn’t carry on without their commander. There were a few reports of feral Decepticons who turned on their own with exposure to the virus but unlike Velocitronians and Camiens who would have trouble killing a friend, the Decepticons were quick to terminate the infected despite ties. As cruel as it seemed, they were efficient when they wanted to be to getting rid of threats.

Arcee moved her arm soundly just to get the range of motion back when the one person she dreaded to see came in. The Matriarch peered at her with a tilt of the helm and said, “Quite brave what you did back there. Pharma didn’t torture you, did he? No missing parts or unknown devices your system is reading?”

The queen frowned at that which led The Matriarch to clarify, “He’s technically supposed to be monitored when he treats people. Old habits of his darker tendencies when the war was going on. He’s been good without incident so far. So, care to tell me what that monster wanted with you?”

She smiled sarcastically, “It loved me, can’t you tell? The Metal Head Leader hates my guts because I’ve already stopped two other attempts to take over a planet and now, it’s personal. If they destroy me, they get the planet anyways...but then again, this is the first time the Metal Heads ever dealt with you. With your charming personality and beauty, they wouldn’t have stood a chance regardless.”

“Flattery is interesting but not required. I, at least, appreciate your nobility to a degree.”

“You sound like Shockwave, you know that?”

“Explains how we get along so well, doesn’t it? Back to the matter at hand, you did admirably. I’ll admit you are quite a leader and you have helped save Chaar even if I did have a handle on everything.”

Arcee didn’t take the comment wrong even though she could. Instead, she merely replied, “Sometimes it’s better to cover all bases rather than risk coming up shorthanded in something you think you can do by yourself. Even I want help occasionally. Do I need it? Not always but it does relieve stress, and everyone would be willing to help you if you let them. You don’t have to do this on your own.”

The Matriarch grew silent and tense, but Arcee noticed it wasn’t against her entirely. Something was eating away at the leader’s self-confidence, slowly but surely. Arcee hoped she wasn’t making The Matriarch feel belittled or enraged at the notion of accepting help. Before she could get an answer, however, a portal spawned in the corner of the room with ghostly voices leaking through the energy.

“Come to me.”

Both femmes exchanged looks before The Matriarch blurted out, “Have you been dead this whole time?!”

The question stunned Arcee who grimaced, “What? No! It’s the Allspark! It does this whenever it wants to talk to me! Am I dead...do I look dead to you?!”

“No, you’re still bitching,” laughed The Matriarch.

Arcee scoffed and dragged herself off the berth, stretching her arm twice across her chest and once up straight before walking into the bridge. “I’ll be back, don’t wait up.”

As soon as she entered the portal, she felt herself descending fast in a freefall. The galaxies and planets seen through the transparent energy combined with lingering nebulas echoed voices, a sure sign the Allspark was in tune with its Well and she was entering a form of it. Arcee flipped upright as she caught sight of a distant platform coming up and hit the landing with one leg expanded out, one leg crouching and her good arm catching the force. Standing up, she brushed herself off and awaited the Allspark itself.

The worlds were back, all eight of them circling the platform she stood on from afar. But there was something different about them this time. Kanjis, Aquatron, Earth, and Cybertron looked darker than previously. Junkion still looked the same and the remaining worlds she had already stopped the invasions on were brighter with some type of cosmic shield over them.

“Darkness in dreams is often a form of reality our minds cannot comprehend but the tale must be told, so the mind creates a version of it like a riddle. The universe can be riddled in evil, but that doesn’t make the universe itself evil, just a bad dream in which it may or may not ever wake from if no one does anything to stop it.”

Arcee smirked near the end of that speech with a shrewd reply, “The philosophy side of you is entertaining.”

Light appeared behind her, and she turned to see the Allspark tipping its rings back and forth playfully before rotating them all at once around it in a full circle. It then said, “Figured it would be useful to know.”

She pointed at the darker worlds with blatant concern overbearing any humor she had. “What’s happening to them?”

“Your victories of few are to be congratulated, however...recent events must be taken into consideration. The powers of evil intent are moving closer to their goal-”

“They haven’t taken any of these worlds yet though.”

The Allspark turned violet with sadness, a smaller tone among its many voices echoing behind its main. “I’m afraid there’s more to winning a war than winning battles and purposes. True, they don’t have what initially wanted but now, things have changed. The leader of evil is going after you, and little are you aware that your attacks on their troops is not the victory you think it is. I recommend not going to Junkion or the other worlds.”

That made her pause and slightly move her helm back in disbelief. “You mean...abandon them to die?! We can’t do that!”

“That’s not what I mean. Wherever you go, they will follow. It is in their nature to take out anyone who gets in their way, the same as their late creator who you destroyed on my isle. They won’t stop and every world you visit will draw them there.”

“So, I either leave and hope they don’t take the planets we’re trying to reunite or go and just keep combatting them until they do leave me and the others alone? What type of lose-lose situation is that?! If that’s the case, I'm going to continue fighting and I intend on finding this bastard of a leader. I’ll kill them where they stand.”

The Allspark still seemed saddened by that but lit up to its regular blue colors to move away from the delicate conversation. “I didn’t mean to anger you. I apologize. But...you may be right. I have been wrong before, haven’t I?”

Arcee heard the heartbreak in its voices and didn’t mean it herself, but she was dead set on her mission and an inconvenience wasn’t going to change that. She would win if she had to be sacrificed in the process as well. That was a leap she was ready to take. “I assume you really called me here for some of your relics on Chaar. Keep in mind, we are among Decepticons who probably won’t part with them that easy.”

“Among the world of carnage and seclusion, five relics await return. A vessel of chaos, its powers unlimited, untouched by purity but wielding it with carelessness is most regrettable. Growing like a fungus, tainted crystals decimate the unfortunate if used as a weapon; escape is rare. The poison of its point aims true, but it is not made to kill immediately, torturing those infected with a painful end and a satisfying justice in the eyes of some. Born of darkness, no light can touch it, its purpose an eerie monstrosity yet shrouded in mystery to all but one. Reinvented but not forgotten are the waves of sound that carry with an echo of pain, origin defiled by cruel minds.”

Arcee sent it a deadpanned sneer and it quickly backtracked.

“Sorry, what I meant to say was the first relic you seek is the Matrix of Conquest, the brother to the Matrix of Leadership. Unicron made it to harness his madness and those who wield it risk an infallible fate...at least when he was still roaming the universe. Using all Unicron’s powers will corrupt and destroy the user over time, a fate very much disturbing as it feeds off the user’s life in return. The second relic is the original crystals of the Tox-En. Invented by Alchemist Prime, this variant of Energon was meant to be used as a counter-toxin but its exposure to the chemicals around his lab changed it. It grew unstable and with that, it grew harmful to all who encountered it. Most crystals were destroyed by a specialized team deployed by Alchemist himself, but the original crystal was locked away until the raid on Iacon where Megatron got the idea to weaponize it. The third relic you seek are the Liegian Darts. Like the Tox-En, Liege Maximo embedded his prized weapon of stealth with a toxic coating that could render a victim incapacitated before slowly going offline. But his darker ambitions made these weapons not for defense but often his own form of torture against those he believed were conspiring against him. His secret, like many others, were taken to his grave.”

The queen rubbed her optics with a groan, “Every time I hear about this guy, it’s always something.”

“He wasn’t highly regarded; some might say he was born jealous of his fellow Thirteen for all the good they did. But instead of fixing himself to do good, he sought an ulterior motive to allow him to do what he pleased without being seen in a negative light.”

“Sounds like he was compensating...” she muttered.

“The fourth relic you seek is Nexus Prime’s black sheep. The Omni Saber was made in the Pits of Iacon’s underground. It was made in darkness so its power will not work among the light of day. The weapon was designed to test Nexus’ limits but served no other initial purpose until he reformatted it into a vessel of ruin that could supposedly turn all impaled by its blade into beings of ill intent, dark personalities most foul, and unyielding loyalty to the user. Deemed a mistake, he hid it beneath Iacon in the basement where only Alpha Trion knew where it was until the siege by the Decepticons. The Omni Saber was never used again. And the last relic you will find here is one most familiar. The Resonance Blaster with its ability to turn sound into painful screech of destructive magnitude was made by Micronus Prime who dubbed it the Sound Barrier in its youth. Stolen by early scientists under Megazarak, a tyrant commander under Megatronus Prime, it was hidden for years and studied until Decepticon scientists later converted it to its current state. They knew not it was a relic of the Primes at the time. It became a weapon that couldn’t be matched, and the user could remain untouched as long as they held it.”

Arcee tapped her chin before realizing where she had heard of the weapon. “Soundwave has the Resonance Blaster! We fought over it on Earth with Knockout before he got a hold of it! I’ll get you your relics back safe and sound, pun intended, I promise.”

The Allspark laughed and orbited her once in delight. “I know you will. When you’re ready, meet me in Shockwave’s laboratory.”

“Absolut-wait, Shockwave’s lab? That place is swarming with Cons. You think it’s wise to do that?”

“I can handle it,” it answered as it drifted skyward.

The platform Arcee was standing on rumbled before suddenly shattering and she fell into the center of a galaxy she failed to see. A bright light consumed her among it, and she found herself landing on her aft on the medbay floor with a surprised Matriarch retreating like she had seen a ghost to the far wall. She realized as she sat there, she had been teleported from the ceiling instead of ground level where she had walked into the portal the first time. How long The Matriarch had waited for her between then, she didn’t know but could guess it had been no more than a minute from the rapid glances between the ceiling and her right side showing off the confusion of the other leader.

“Where the hell-?!”

Arcee winced standing up as she rubbed her lower spine and tried to smirk. “Told you. The Allspark has its ways.”

The Matriarch shook off the initial shock and asked, “What did it want?”

“Um, this is going to weird to ask and possibly you’re going to not like me, but it needs its relics back. Do you know anything about something called the Matrix of Conquest by any chance?” She knew The Matriarch knew something when the latter clammed up before saying, “I take that as a ‘yes’ maybe. Let me get Bolt over here though. Bolt, come to the medbay alone.”

“Arcee! You’re awake! Okay? Something happened, didn’t it?”

“You have no idea,” she laughed.

Bolt had come in record time running through the doors only to be thrown off by seeing The Matriarch leaning against some of the medical equipment which he gave off an unmanly scream. His superior merely rolled her head to the side bored in response.

“O-kay?!? You’re here...too?! I take it that makes it really important?” He maneuvered around The Matriarch like she was going to bite him before resuming his normal attitude with Arcee. “So, what’s up?”

“The Allspark came calling-”

“Great,” he said lamely.

“-and there are five relics here. One of them is the Matrix of Conquest. Any insight on that?”

The Vehicon crossed his arms as he thought to himself. “It’s weird, I don’t recall that name but maybe it’s also known as the Matrix of Chaos? The Matrix of Chaos was said to be a dark copy of the Matrix of Leadership, born of Unicron’s unmanageable powers. It’s purple with a star-like core crystal, opposite to the Matrix of Leadership’s smooth core. I’ve read about it in Alpha Trion’s old documents, but he said it vanished after a mech named Shokaract was defeated by one of Primus’ Demons, protectors of the Well who by legend go after lost and escaped souls or they are unleashed to restore order with anything regarding creations of Primus and Unicron. He was said to be wielding it at the time and while he would be invincible to the likes of a Prime, the Demons were believed immune to the powers of the gods. Apparently, this guy was incredibly cocky, and it bit him in the aft in the end.”

Arcee scowled, “That sounds fake.”

“It’s what Alpha Trion wrote so unless he was protecting Shokaract from a more embarrassing death, it’s all we know of it. As for the Demons, there is some speculation that they themselves are a type of spirit in the Well, but it does indeed sound more like myth than a real thing. Then again, I don’t know because we weren’t around to see Primus when they were most active in protecting what they created and that’s more of a question for the Allspark who is currently the only entity with direct access to the Well and its occupants."

Pursing her lips, she looked between him and The Matriarch who refused eye contact. “Matriarch, do you know where it is?”

The Matriarch snarled back, “Even if I did, why would I give it to you?”

Bolt sounded displeased but amazed at the same time, “You mean you had the legendary Matrix of Chaos, Conquest, whatever the hell it’s called here on Chaar the entire time?! The Allspark calls for it; you need to give it up regardless how you feel!”

“Alright,” the larger Vehicon confessed, “yes, I have it. When the Decepticons were constructing a base here outside of Autobot territory, a Decepticon named Bludgeon found it exploring Greengard for a new place to inhabit, a planet similar to Earth on the other side of the galaxy. It was found abandoned, cast aside like trash. Knowing now what it was associated with, I’m surprised there wasn’t a body attached to it. It was hidden beneath my current citadel and Megatron didn’t know about it. I was one of the few who did because Bludgeon was friends with my superior at the time and I overheard them, sought it out once I came here and kept the information to myself ever since.”

Arcee narrowed her optics suspiciously, “And you never got it in your head to use it or give it to Megatron?”

“To do what exactly? I’m insane, not an idiot. Let a fallen king and his crew know about it to do something they couldn’t fix? Megatron was an excellent leader, but he had problems too. You don’t give someone like that ‘unlimited power.’ I didn’t care for power then and I still don’t now. The way I figure it is I’ll rule on my own terms. Those who seek external power to take leadership are weak. You either get it yourself or don’t bother, in my opinion. I intend to see that in my rule until I die.”

Arcee nodded understanding of her position. The Matriarch was a warrior through and through; a weapon of mass destruction was not a presentable victory to her therefore it had no use even if others didn’t agree with the opinion. “I need it. And if I take it back to the Allspark, no one ever will use it guaranteed. There would be no temptation for anyone who accidentally figures out it’s beneath your throne. It works for you either way.”

The Matriarch huffed for a second, squeezing her fists tightly. Then she finally agreed. “Very well, you can have it. Just don’t do anything stupid with it.”

“I’ll try not to,” Arcee scoffed.

As they left the medbay towards The Matriarch’s citadel, Bolt asked, “So, what else do you need to find?”

“I need the original Tox-En crystal, Liegian Darts, the Omni Saber, and the Resonance Blaster.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Tox-En? That nasty stuff is a war weapon, is it not? That’s a relic of a Prime?”

“Alchemist Prime, yes.”

“That I didn’t know,” the Vehicon mech said. “Well, I can tell you about the Liegian Darts first. Liege Maximo was said to be notorious for underhanded tactics he could slip past his fellow Primes. The darts were green and black to hide the ominous poison they were embedding with. Originally, they weren’t toxic, but he infused them with a resin found in Cybertron’s Underground to use against Unicron. The Omni Saber is pitch black with its handle a deep blue. It was Nexus Prime’s failure and utterly useless for the most part because it holds no powers he wanted to give it. Don’t remember what it does beyond looking sick. And the Resonance Blaster...doesn’t Soundwave have that, Matriarch?”

“It’s a possibility,” she answered. “I don’t keep tabs on what he has or not.”

Bolt made a deadpanned sigh, “Some help. Anyway, the few texts about it implied it wasn’t created by Decepticon scientists as I thought, though many would argue otherwise. It was, I think, Micronus or Alpha Trion’s creation. Funnily enough, it wasn’t initially a weapon at the time. It was a broadcasting unit that could go to unfathomable decibels.”

Arcee shrugged, “So, someone screwed up?”

“Eh...probably. Just a dream invention gone bad.”

The Matriarch led them past her throne room to an elevator after they entered the citadel. The ambient purple lighting certainly made the halls feel like Arcee was aboard the Nemesis again. They stood silent in the elevator as the lights moved past them on their drop to the basement levels. The elevator chimed and opened, revealing to Arcee a whole different aspect of Decepticon stockpiling she had never seen. The room they entered was filled with captured artifacts, raided parts of ships and, horrifically, other bots which she had a fear Pharma had used some to repair her, and there were a few unused ships dangling from the ceiling by support chains. One of them looked like a smaller version of the Nemesis but had overlays of an Earth spaceship the company so-named NASA used. It wasn’t until The Matriarch pointed at it once she caught the queen staring did Arcee know why.

“That is Astrotrain, the juggernaut skybomber...poor guy got his wings clipped in Thunderhead Pass and came down like a missile nose first. Unfortunately, the impact caused his processor to gain irreparable damage. He was a walking corpse for a while when he was shipped here until, well, he passed away from complications. Couldn’t bury the fragger so that was the best we could do, not my choice, mind you.”

The vehicle form of Astrotrain creaked as it hung there lifeless, making shivers go down Arcee’s spine at how unceremoniously the flyer was discarded by previous inhabitants of the citadel. But that was quickly forgotten. Dagger Prima glowed as the whispers echoed through the halls like it was expecting someone or something to answer. Of course, the relics had their own form of communication. Receiving echoes and a faint purple glow near the back had her nearly running. The two Vehicons took a moment to catch up to her. Through the maze of shelves and large, lost items, the whispers present seemed to grow vicious the closer she got.

Arcee couldn’t tell if Unicron’s energy made the Matrix of Conquest answer so maliciously, but the feedback was strange compared to previous relics’ responses. Given the dagger was made through Primus’ gift and Solus’ craftsmanship, it was opposite to the hellbent creation of Unicron. They probably despised one another. Like a serpent’s tongue, the Matrix called out in threatening tones to Dagger Prima’s calmer dialect. When she got near its location, she flinched back when cackling electricity ran across the floor with a loud bang. It didn’t spread to her, but it did arch from behind several rusted Energon crates. Taking another step forward, a spark had her pace back more steps before realizing the Matrix of Conquest was not going to let her touch it as long as she had an item of Primus on her person.

“B-Bolt, can you take the Matrix to Shockwave’s lab and watch over it? I get the feeling it’s going to be a shocking experience hunting the other relics with it near me.”

The Vehicon wordlessly agreed and gestured for her to stand back as he approached the Matrix, tossing a few crates in the process to uncover it. Even she saw from her distance away that it was a relic of Unicron. With jagged handles and a core composed of untamed crystal spiking outward, the dark purple-black metal of the Matrix of Conquest looked identical to the antibodies she once fought in Unicron’s body when the Autobots and Megatron teamed up to snuff his spark. He lifted it carefully with its purple lighting haunting the room.

“Wicked,” he whispered amazed. “I never thought I would see this in real life, and it was under us the entire time. Megatron’s going to have a field day with this if he learns he almost had a Matrix of his own nearly in his grasp.”

The Matriarch chuckled, “Perhaps now wouldn’t be a good time to tell him. Look, you two, I have to head back upstairs to run my base. I don’t know where the other relics may reside but maybe a good bot to ask would be Shockwave. He’s moving the Driller grubs into the holding bay just above us. If any relic is a weapon or experiment gone bad, he might know something.”

Bolt nodded, “I’ll get this to Shockwave’s lab. Good luck out there, Arcee. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Arcee waved off both of them but waited a few minutes to let Bolt mainly get a head start out so she wouldn’t antagonize the Matrix of Conquest any further. It responded well to Bolt and that’s all that mattered. She had to wonder if the Matrix of Conquest was made out of spite or simply out of yearning to be praised. Unicron had demanded loyalty, how else would he achieve it without bargaining?

She rode the elevator up to the holding bay where Shockwave was placing his Drillers in a confined tank half filled with sediment. She could see a few of them had already buried themselves in the dirt and rested near the bottom of the glass. It was scary how fast they moved through it compared to them crawling on top of the ground.

Shockwave heard her and without turning towards her as he set down one of the last grubs in his possession, he spoke in his usual monotone. “This is only temporary. I plan on making them a larger area to nest in that can give them enough space to expand in the following years, just a matter of building it but I seem to have time now.”

Arcee bit her lip, unsure of what to say to him. The Drillers all looked like their deceased creator. Doomsday was a good pet, she would admit, and all she did was do what she had been ordered. It was a shame. Finally, Arcee said, “Doomsday would be proud.”

That made Shockwave paused and peer to the side but not completely at her. He stared a second, then responded, “She would. Her offspring will grow to be just as mighty and fearless. Of course, there will come a time scraplets and other cyber-bugs won’t satisfy them. In the war, I had alternatives that wouldn’t fly now and days.”

Autobots. He didn’t have to say it for her to know what he meant. All her friends at Typhoon Base certainly found out Doomsday’s hunger. She then thought about Chaar with all its snake-like species. “You could release them here on the sand-dwellers but they may attack other species as well.”

“Most likely. Introducing a species unknown to the world will always have consequences; the planet isn’t designed for the survival between natural and unnatural predators. So, it seems we’ve hit an impasse. What would I sacrifice to ensure their survival?”

“You’re a smart mech...give it enough thought and you’ll come up with something.”

Shockwave shook his head when he finally turned to her. “Intelligence doesn’t mean strategic. I know a million and one ways to kill someone but I know not how to execute all of them. The Drillers are only as good as I can make them but no matter what I do, they will always be wild animals. Doomsday was no different. Why do you think she still attacked you when I wasn’t there to order it?”

She didn’t answer and the scientist moved by her to set the tank’s lighting up so the Drillers would have warmth. Once he finished, he stood there staring at the screen with a barely noticeable huff.

“I create what I can only dream of, I command what I wanted to create but never did, and I sat in my lab for thousands of years thinking what did I do so wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said confused.

Shockwave looked at her and somehow behind that one optic with no other facial features, she could see a portion of regret. “You have no idea what I’ve done. You’ve heard the stories, those monsters that I built, those like Predaking from ancient Predacon CNA, Insecticon hives to summon at my disposal, and operating on poor Grimlock and his team? Those are the tales told too many times, some with good proof.”

He held up his cannon that had taken the place of his left arm. It was hard to miss the faint scar on the upper half where it had been ripped off his person by Grimlock in his primal rage and consumed like an animal. From far away, unnoticeable, but up close? There indeed was a slight off put color of grey merging with his own. His audial fins twitched hearing the belt of the ammo amplifier running off the cannon to his backside clink against his waist. A handicap certainly but nothing that he allowed to stop him from his work.

“Do want to know the rest?”

The offer caught her off guard. Arcee slowly nodded out of curiosity but still held slight fear as to what she would find in the mind of the Decepticons’ most deadly scientist. Shockwave put down his arm cannon and let it fall past his hip limp like he was in disbelief himself.

“I once had a smile; I once could see the world as I knew it in peace. Cybertron was at peace. I ran the science guild as a senator and Head of Science and Astrology. I loved my job, one of the few things I could do my very worst at and still come out on top, arrogance assured. Nothing seemed wrong then. I remember I had blue optics, can’t recall what I really looked like anymore but I know the blue, Earth sky blue almost. I had everything in my power but wanted more than I could handle. I was so confident that I failed to see the plot of my fellow senators including the egotistical Dai Atlas who governed me. I didn’t listen; I was prideful...a fool.

“To prove my genius, I sought to create greatness never before seen. I was the one they looked to for help. I was their god. I should have known differently. I experimented on the masses for a cause that didn’t exist. I made weapons of mass destruction including a bomb that would decimate the whole of Iacon as a last resort. Atlas didn’t like my boasts, my intelligence but I never gave up. I ignored him; I ignored my peers as they cried out for me to stop but I couldn’t. And then, that day happened.”

Arcee watched with interest but also flinched as he slammed his fist into the console base. His optic flared bright red as his helm whipped around to face her. “I should have killed him when I had the chance!”

He sounded beastly, unhinged and Arcee couldn’t do anything but stare at him unmoving. “Dai Atlas and the other senators betrayed me, took my emotions, my body, my face, and my individuality. I was tormented by the reflection of the mirrors at first, but then I realized how without my direct emotions, I was free. I could no longer be hurt, liberated to do whatever and no one could stop me, so I did the worst things in my career. I hunted them...all...DOWN. Their screams were intoxicating, watching the blood drip from their corpses was the most refreshing wonderment I had felt in eons like a cleansing rain. I wanted more but I didn’t wait for my opportunities like my younger self. I didn’t wait for approval. I took what I wanted and nothing stood in my way.”

As he finished, Arcee grew saddened by his words. She knew betrayal, killed quite a few bots as well in revenge just the same. The fact that she could say she related to Shockwave was unreal, the same mech who had tortured her like an object under her capture from Starscream and the same mech who defiled Grimlock into a roaring mad Dinobot. Somehow, she understood his point of view and that concerned her a little.

She gulped, peering down at the floor briefly before questioning, “You said they took your emotions? Then where did your love for The Matriarch come from, if I may ask?”

The question did something odd that she had never expected one of Shockwave’s demeanor to do: it stunned him dead silent. His audial fins kept moving rapidly as if trying to come up with an answer but he didn’t know it.

“There’s still some of your emotions left,” Arcee stated, “because you didn’t express them when you were a senator. They took away what they thought made you who you are, what you did use in your so-called arrogance, but they didn’t know you well enough now, did they? Your mind is fractured, but what you truly feel can’t be deleted that easily. That’s also why you stay by her side; you both suffered at the hands of others, you are both broken on the inside, but you found each other when everyone else threw you away.”

Shockwave stared unreadable until he spoke in unusual softness. “I love her because...she is me...and I am her. From the ashes, we rose and now, we are unbreakable. We know what we are, and that makes us dangerous but that’s how we found each other too. The pain is everywhere, more than you know, but when has that ever stopped either of us? It’s why I won’t operate on her; there’s nothing to change. She’s accepted it and so have I.”

Arcee slowly furrowed her brows in utmost horror as it dawned on her what he meant. “You’re planning on going with her when she...is...?”

The scientist clasped her shoulder gently, a rarity of what she was used to from the war. “When the time comes farther down the line, there is a mutual decision we have come to together. I have lived to see a great deal of things, I have done everything I hoped to achieve, so am I supposed to live forever? A life is only worth living if you have something to live for. What else is there for me when my last story has almost been told?”

“But, the Drillers? Your experiments?”

“Can exist without me. I know someone has been paying attention to my work around here, so my legacy is stable. And we still have time. Her condition will take a good number of years before it comes to that. We will live each day as we always have.” She refused to ignore the strife of the conversation for her own needs to find the relics but it seemed Shockwave read her mind. “And what of your legacy? I take it defeating the Metal Head snake has led to something else you need to know and for that, I cannot promise any suitable answers.”

Arcee shook her head, “It’s more like something to do with the Allspark. I’ve been sent to find some of its relics here on Chaar, does Tox-En, the Omni Saber, or the Liegian Darts sound familiar?”

“Actually, they do. The Tox-En is in my lab. As for the Liegian Darts, it was stolen by Cyclonus in the raid of Iacon. I assume he never got rid of them. The Omni Saber is in the arena Blitzwing and Lugnut manage.”

“The Tox-En crystal, as in the first batch ever created, is in your lab already? Cool, that solves the problem of bringing it there anyways. Bolt has another relic I found and he’s storing it there for the time being, hope you don’t mind.”

Shockwave merely replied, “As long as he doesn’t explode anything in my lab, I am quite fine with it.”

Arcee grinned and pressed her servos together in delight. “You are awesome! I appreciate you so much! You take care of yourself in the meantime and just know that we all care for you more than you realize!”

She left the room to a slightly bewildered Shockwave who resumed looking out for the Drillers when they made a noise wanting to eat. With a heavy sigh of amusement, he went to search for the defanged scraplets he had stored in the other room.

Arcee ran out of the citadel only to pause as many Decepticons wandered. She tried searching for either Cyclonus or Soundwave first as the two had no designated area they could appear at. The building that housed the arena wasn’t far away so as she walked around looking for the two, she also paced towards the arena. If all else failed, she could just get the Omni Saber for right now.

The arena had a fight already active as she walked in. To her delight, it was a battle between Lugnut and Blackout, some of the heaviest hitters on the Decepticon team. There were Cons watching in the stands including Blitzwing, Lockdown, and Slipstream. She was a bit surprised to see Nighthawk and Draco hanging next the edge of the stands for the best view in their child-like amazement of the battle royale.

Arcee maneuvered the stands passing the Constructicons that catcalled her, something she expected being the ruffians they were, and going behind Lockdown. His wonderward wagged its tail and gave a small bark which she had to pause at and give the animal a few pats on the head before moving on. She did note Steelback had a collar with skull gems decorating it. Of course, Lockdown would give his partner a collar made of trophy-worthy parts, and Metal Head gems were quite valuable.

“Hey, I have a question for you,” she said as she sat beside Blitzwing.

The triple changer had his calm personality watching over the fight and it took him a second to realize he was being addressed. He smiled as he peered to his left. “Well, if it isn’t the Metal monster hunter herself? I take it you aren’t here for me specifically.”

“In your dreams, three-face" she snickered. “Do you have a sword named the Omni Saber? Pitch black blade, hates light?”

Blitzwing raised a brow and turned towards her with one servo on his knee and the other arm casually lying over his thigh. “A ‘pitch-black’ saber? That’s very specific. What’s so special about this Omni Saber that I might want to part with?”

As he said that last part, he gestured over yonder and she followed his direction to see a dark sword attached to a shield like a symbol. Dagger Prima reacted, glowing brightly and the edge of the Omni Saber lit up blue in response though its blade remained dark.

“Be...cause it’s important. Like the odd glowing doesn’t tell you that instantly?”

Blitzwing eyed the dagger before huffing, “I suppose so.”

“How did you get the Omni Saber?” Arcee asked, watching Lugnut swipe Blackout’s leg out from under him before dropping an elbow down in an intentional fall. She winced but stayed intrigued. “Did you buy it off someone or steal it?”

The Decepticon grinned, “You would think that but in truth, I wasn’t the one who found it. I did place it here after some convincing, but I never took it. You would have to ask Scythe, that redeemed guard of yours. When Iacon was infiltrated, Scythe and several other Decepticons oversaw getting the relics. He got the Omni Saber from Alpha Trion’s keep after letting Blast Off and Onslaught murder him. Granted, that wasn’t supposed to be what happened, but things got complicated when we found most of the relics were gone, sent with Alpha’s trusted assistants to be jettisoned into space for eons. Scythe had a crew of Decepticons deliver the sword as well as these weird, green darts or something to Chaar. I just thought it was a piece of décor as it was a lousy weapon, didn’t work at all in any room with the lights on. Unfortunately, fighting in the dark is very hard to pull off so we just put it aside and forgot about it.”

Arcee looked again at the Omni Saber in the shadows of the arena before Blitzwing laughed, “Do you know what idiot made a sword that only responds to darkness? It’s utterly useless on a planet but it’s decent in space? I don’t get the purpose of that.”

She shrugged, “Neither do I but Nexus Prime was experimenting at the time it seems.”

“He should have left the weapon-making to Solus, in my opinion if that’s the case. Can’t take someone else’s job just because you want to but can’t deliver the same standards. That’s just an insult to injury, especially for a Prime who was martyred. The Omni Saber is yours if you want it, just don’t go stabbing anyone here with it.”

“I make no such promises,” she joked.

Arcee moved towards the Omni Saber while simultaneously watching the fight intrigued. So far, Lugnut was winning. As Blackout activated his rotor blades attached to his arm, the purple mech grabbed his forearm, keeping the blades from aiming at his face and punched the helicopter square in the jaw. The grey mech snarled and ran at him again. When the two mechs went rolling, Arcee didn’t know who to cheer for.

She jumped onto the wall, grabbing the Omni Saber by its hilt and pulled with all her might. The first few attempts it didn’t budge but by the fourth, it broke loose with the shield clattering down onto empty seats. Some Decepticons looked at her weird, but her distraction didn’t hinder the fight one bit. She had to awkwardly carry it out of the arena to Blitzwing’s laughter while trying to not let the weight drag her backwards or have her faceplant stumbling forward. The Omni Saber was much heavier than she thought it would be.

Outside the arena building, her relief came when Megatron caught the sword threatening to tumble her backwards again. Moonhunter yowled at the scene as Megatron chuckled, “Having a bit of trouble?”

“You can say that,” she breathed tired as he instead placed the saber to rest against his shoulder effortlessly.

“I take it this has something to do with the Allspark?”

“Yep...where have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.”

The warlord gestured aloof, “Coming back to this base has stirred some memories. I haven’t stepped foot on Chaar for over three centuries. That’s not long per say but it’s long enough to really appreciate the base as it is. I’ve been visiting a few of my former hangouts that I went to when I was stressed or wanting a new change of scenery. I would like to show you them-”

“Thanks, but I’m a little busy. Once we get all this dealt with, I’ll keep that in mind. You understand, right?” Arcee said with a guilty tone. Spending time with Megatron was unfortunately not on the list now as much as she would love to.

He gave a pleasant smirk, “Always busy, aren’t we all? Perhaps I can be of some assistance? Where might you be taking this?”

“Shockwave’s lab. The Allspark intends on meeting me there.”

“I’ll take it back there; you just finish what you need to do. Oh, and maybe you should call Optimus when you get a chance. He wants to hear from you on your progress with The Matriarch.”

As Megatron and Moonhunter transported the Omni Saber to Shockwave’s lab to rendezvous with Bolt, Arcee took a moment to contact Optimus per his instruction. “You want an update, huh?”

“Arcee, it is good to hear from you. Have you made any progress with The Matriarch and Chaar’s citizens?”

“The Decepticons adore me but The Matriarch is still not biting. I think she’s more conflicted about my approval with the Decepticons than having actual ill will towards me as a rival leader. She wants to prove herself as her mind collapses but she fears being shown up. If I can just get her to realize she can trust me, that’s what is holding her back.”

As Arcee peered around among the Decepticons for any sign of Cyclonus or Soundwave, Optimus responded, “Like Megatron himself. The Matriarch is deflecting her internal problems onto external predicaments and people, making her think you are tied to the conflict within her when, in reality, she is pushing away the solutions in her pride. Megatron did the same thing for different reasons. He was delusional enough to believe his loss of the Matrix of Leadership and the war was my fault when he was the one who sabotaged himself in his arrogance. The only way to get her to see the problem differently is to appease her and then show her she’s wrong. Pretend you are the problem and slowly integrate facts while you talk to her. The Matriarch will begin to see the flaws in her own thought process and redirect her anger to herself. That will open her up to vulnerability which you can then show her you are trustworthy. If all else fails, just be there for her regardless.”

“She makes it hard to get through with her attitude and downright nasty behavior though,” scowled the queen.

“I would think that sounds familiar in another way, Arcee.”

She heard him and wanted to call him out on the blow, but Arcee knew it was true. She was the same. Though she still had rough spots, plenty of therapy and an outlet in fighting had tamed her more aggressive loner ideals. The Matriarch was hurting similar to how she had been. Losing those like Tailgate and Cliffjumper made her bitter so losing one’s mind like The Matriarch and thinking she was being replaced, uncared for had to hurt just as bad. She was just as lost as Arcee, and no one deserved to be let down in their time of need even if they believed they didn’t need help.

“I can try but I have no guarantee, do I?”

The Prime’s voice grew uncertain. “I’m afraid not. But I know your spark, Arcee. You will do what’s right in the end.”

Just as she was about to walk off after leaving the communication, Dagger Prima whispered and something was answering it just as quick. Peering around again, she knew either Cyclonus or Soundwave had to be close by now. Turning, she nearly slammed into Soundwave. She muted her scream but did give off a startled huff.

“Oh whoa...you-?! Don’t sneak up on me like that, please!”

The spymaster said nothing as usual and tilted his head.

“You suck at telling me what you want. I hope you know that,” she sneered. “But since you’re here, do you still have that Resonance Blaster? Everyone says you do and I’m not leaving without it.”

“You suck at telling me what you want. In your dreams...the Allspark...”

Hearing her voice made her tense. She hated when he did that, mocking her like she was always wrong or made her sound stupid. “Yes, the Allspark. Are you going to give it to me?”

“Even if I did, why would I give it to you?” The Matriarch’s voice echoed from Soundwave.

“Well, what do you want in return?”

He showed a weapon schematic on his visor, the ricochet ray. Given she was technically taking a weapon, it made sense for her to have to trade for it with another weapon. But she still held her ground as to try and explore other negotiations.

“I-I can’t give that up! It’s been useful to me all this time! Are you sure you don’t want anything else?”

A slow shake of his helm had her stubbornly drop her arms to her side with a defeated groan. When he produced the Resonance Blaster, he held it from her as he opened his unoccupied servo awaiting the ricochet ray.

Arcee rolled her optics with distaste, “You are despicable. By Primus...here, fine, take care of it. It was a gift from Scythe. You damage it, it’s on you.”

She handed over the ricochet ray and Soundwave placed the Resonance Blaster in her servos. She eyed the weapon before noticing Soundwave staring at her. “You think I’m going to use it on you as revenge for all the scrap I had to put up with. You would deserve it, but I’m not here to be your enemy any longer.”

When he still didn’t budge, Arcee began to believe she said something wrong. Soundwave, however, merely looked in the direction of Shockwave’s lab where Megatron and Bolt had gone, only then did it click.

“Megatron...he’s happy now, if you must know. You’re more than welcome to come back to Cybertron with us.” She then sighed, “When we were trapped on the Allspark’s isle, he had nothing but great things to say about you. He cared even after all this time. You were his true friend, don’t think because he’s with me that he has forgotten what you’ve done for him. I won’t.”

Her last sentence made him turn back to her slightly taken aback before the latter extended his servo. Arcee was hesitant to take it but when she did, her doubts about him faded. He gave a nod, a sign of respect to her even if she was once a vastly-hated enemy. He approved of her, and she never felt prouder. Without another “word,” Soundwave walked off and let her relish the Resonance Blaster she had earned in his trust. She never expected it would be a test of loyalty but Soundwave was always mysterious in his desires and how he thought.

That left the last relic to obtain. Cyclonus was still not around, maybe he went back to the caverns? But she doubted he would risk a Mallibi stealing his precious artifacts if that were the case. There had to be a place she hadn’t considered he would go. He loved solitude surely so where was secluded enough that he wouldn’t be messed with? Well, there was one place she never got to explore really...

Arcee sped out of the base much to many Decepticons’ confusion and hightailed it towards the ruins of the ancient civilization that had once inhabited Chaar in its prime. As the day stretched to weaken the nebula glows even if the sun barely made a difference among the surface, she used her speed boost to get past sand-dwellers who grew annoyed from the noise of her engine. But they didn’t pursue as most were too tired and prepared to go back to sleep for several hours. The ruins grew larger as she got closer and she transformed at the edge of what once was an archway. Low winds whistled through the smaller spaces of former windows. She looked to her right to see faint blood and scorch marks still where she had killed the ten Decepticons she had foolishly assumed were planning on assassinating The Matriarch. The ship was gone as were the bodies but the evidence still remained.

Walking cautiously into the ruins, she noted the original interior, though exposed to the elements, had markings on the pillars and faint paintings on the walls depicting a dark orange or red-skinned species with blue tattoos. The colors were obscured from the years of exposure but there still was a tint to them that gave her an idea. They were bipedal, humanoid, horned beings with spider creatures posed next to them like regal pets or sacred animals. What appeared to be snakes, like the sand-dweller and direfang species, were also painted with offensive poses against the people. The only difference was they looked slightly different to the current species of each. Evolution most likely changed some of their features to adapt to the desert world, which gave Arcee the implication that Chaar was far more abundant in vegetation once and with water. This theory stuck more when a few faded paintings depicted some plants and green waves, green water from the type of minerals that it once settled among she supposed. Dagger Prima abruptly glowed.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Arcee whipped around to see Cyclonus peering up at the pictures with equal awe. “An ancient civilization came to ruin and left a desolate world behind. Many species Chaar once had didn’t survive but some did.”

“The sand-dwellers and direfangs. It must have been a startling change to have your world suddenly die before you...”

“Don’t we know it. Why have you come here? Gawking at ruins is hardly a queen’s pastime let alone an impatient one. You don’t strike me as the meditative type to care as much as you pretend to right now.”

“Who says I don’t care? How do I know the Decepticons didn’t wipe them off the face of Chaar to begin with?” Arcee retorted.

Cyclonus gave a harsh grin, “If it matters, we inhabited Chaar as a deserted wasteland. Means no, we had nothing to do with this world’s demise. You still haven’t answered my question though. You’re stalling.”

Arcee clicked her glossa against the roof of her mouth stubbornly, “Liegian Darts, green in color with perhaps some poison in them. I want them for the Allspark and some sources say you might know where they are.”

“Now, we’re getting somewhere,” the purple mech mused. “The Liegian Darts were stolen, yes, and maybe I have used them, but I don’t intend to give them up to you. Why should I?”

“Why is everyone against me doing my job here?! The other worlds weren’t this bad about it, except a few! I tell them it’s a task from the Allspark, they split with it despite not actually seeing the Allspark with me. I tell a bunch of Decepticons from the same planet who have seen the Allspark that it sent me to collect its relics and none of you budge without some convincing. What do you want me to do, service you to get it?”

Cyclonus sent her a flabbergasted expression but seemed to have some form of respect as he shook his head. Then he brought out green arrows from his subspace, a hazy purple mist arising from the tip with a bubbling hiss.

“The Liegian Darts, great for hunting and assassinating. I would think someone of your caliber would be less crass, but I take it you’ve been through quite a lot since I first saw you.” Arcee went to grab it but he pulled it away. “However, I was in the middle of a peaceful moment. So, if you don’t mind, I would like to finish my meditation. You are welcome to join me.”

“Inviting me over to your retreat on the second date? You make a girl blush,” she joked back.

“Keep talking and I might make that a reality, not before shooting you with these first and watching you slowly grow weak at my mercy before dying painfully.”

Arcee gestured with a huff, “Lead the way, Romeo.”

Cyclonus took his place among an old altar, sitting with his back towards her and facing the extension of the ruins Arcee had failed to notice. “I come here to relax often. I may be Decepticon in name but I didn’t much care for Megatron’s crusade, instead only aiding him for a chance to go home victorious and at peace. Obviously, that didn’t work out.”

Arcee sat beside him in a meditative pose, breathing in then letting air come out her mouth. Her vents loved the calmness after much strain and excitement the following week with the other worlds and the Metal Heads constantly on the move. She glanced at the rest of the ruins that lied below the remnants of the building they were in. A small village it appeared to be with dams embedded in the ground before a huge drop empty emphasizing that there once was a lake or other body of water, half-buried equipment long destroyed by time, and even distant citadels including a tilted watchtower of sorts crumbled partially. She noted there were rock vipers and other little animals scurrying about in no rush among their environment.

“What do you think happened to them?”

The mech had his optics closed but replied solemnly, “I believe with the sun so far out, there was a colony like ours that just didn’t have any luck as the resources weren’t meant to be used for any species other than the animals who knew how to balance their intake. In comparison to intelligent lifeforms who harvested the plants and water at a faster rate than what could replenish in the time frame, the animals ate only when they needed to. The only other theory is the planet was once closer to the sun, had all its resources, but somewhere down the line, they made a mistake as their technology grew too fast, maybe knocked the planet out of alignment.”

“Not unlike how Earth seems to be going,” she muttered.

“People don’t mean to be greedy but there always will be greed, both good and bad. It’s balancing it between what is needed and what is wanted that civilizations have trouble with therefore they fall hard when they can’t escape the consequences that keep building with each decision against what they truly need. I’m not saying the people of Chaar did that, I have no proof, but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities either. The same happened to us to a degree. If Earth is following this path, they aren’t the first and they undoubtedly won’t be the last. It’s just the curse of sentience, I’m afraid.”

She then held up a digit, a bit perplexed by the sudden logic of Chaar. “Wouldn’t it be colder though if it’s farther out from the sun? Chaar?”

Cyclonus gave her a genuine smile but refused to laugh. “I’m pretty sure the reason we called it Chaar was because Shockwave found evidence it was once extremely hot here the same time all these species were still alive as well as this civilization so even though it has cooled down, there’s an active heated core below us right now.”

They both sat in silence for a while. Although Arcee wanted to move on, she couldn’t as long as Cyclonus wanted to revel in his peace and quiet. She stopped fighting the impatience and followed suit once she realized he was waiting for her to join him spiritually. Her mind slowed where everything wasn’t as jumbled, like a headache relieved. The cool winds of Chaar ghosted over the ruins and she heard its movements mapping the land like fingers grazing over the rock itself. Suddenly, she felt something being put in her lap and half-lidded optics trailed down to see the Liegian Darts resting in her space. Arcee looked at Cyclonus who smugly grinned now.

“See what happens when you take the time to breathe? Some solutions just fall into your lap like so.”

“You’re still an aft” she smirked back.

“Only when it counts,” he said. “When we met last, I threatened to kill you when I lost the amulet. After you left, I thought a bit about the circumstances of the situation, that I was being too harsh. Years of war will never brush off easy for some of us like others who came merely forget its existence. I figured we would meet again and when Soundwave heard you needed the relics from his constant snooping, I figured you returned something dear to me, I would do the same. But not before letting you trust me enough to finally put your guard down.”

Arcee pondered that but had nothing to say against the logic. Cyclonus was always mysterious like that. He could be your enemy one day and your friend the next...assuming he never tried to kill you beforehand. The trust was forced, but not in a bad way. She had to give him credit for being sneaky about it. But with the Liegian Darts now in her possession, she could finally finish her mission.

“Well, I appreciate the break but I must get going.”

Cyclonus nodded but before she left, he gestured to her and made her pause. “I look forward to meeting you again, assassin. You and I never had a proper fight. The unmatchable, uncapturable Arcee was one of the few targets on my hit list I never got around to hunting even after all these years. I can wait a little longer.”

Typical Cyclonus never failed to bring the sinister motives to light when he wanted to. Arcee shrugged humorously and saluted as she placed the Liegian Darts into her subspace. “Bolt, I need to ground bridge to the lab.”

“You found all the relics?”

“Every single one of them.”

His reply came when a ground bridge opened beside her. “Then let us summon the Allspark and give it what it wants.”

She raced into the bridge and jumped out in front of Ramjet and Novastorm. They chastised her irate as she left them behind to search for Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter. When a cat’s curious noise got her attention, she smiled as Moonhunter was being pet by Shockwave.

“Quite a nice pet you have. I sense Soundwave might be a bit jealous, maybe even me too.”

Arcee winced inwardly as she remembered Ravage. The Cyber-Cat was lost when Soundwave tried to overhaul Iacon’s Fortress Maximus in a recon mission. No one knew where he went but it bothered Soundwave for years. It certainly didn’t help that not long after, Rumble, Frenzy, and Buzzsaw were hunted down by Autobot Minicons deployed specifically for them. Laserbeak was all that remained and the bird kept close to his master’s chest ever since. Soundwave took control of him out of fear of losing him, a harsh reality of war even Soundwave himself couldn’t escape unscathed. Sure enough, Soundwave was distant and occasionally looked her way as well as Moonhunter’s. Arcee felt bad but there was nothing she could do.

Megatron chuckled in lighter humor, “As if you need any more pets, Shockwave? We’ve already told you no more and you’ve gotten away with the Drillers by a technicality. You aren’t getting anything more and I think I can convince The Matriarch to agree with me on that.”

Shockwave responded snidely, “You forget, I’m her sparkmate. I think I have a bit more leeway in convincing her of anything than you. So, how easy do you think it would be for me to get a direfang with the right distraction?”

Bolt laughed, placing a servo over his optic visor and nearly falling from his leaning position against the wall as Megatron sent a soured sneer towards his former scientist. Arcee butted out of that faster than she walked in on it because there was not much she could say to straighten out that comment when it was its own experience. She finally had to step in when Megatron was about to reply.

“Oh, a distraction? Well, how else will she be so willing to-”

“Alright, alright, alright, boys...let’s not stray into anything we’re going to regret in a minute,” Arcee scowled. “We have our ways in how we deal with arguments, some for better or for worse, and we’re just going to leave it at that.”

Bolt then continued off her. “So, since we have all the relics, should we get started?”

Shockwave wordlessly brought the contain with an abnormally sized Tox-En crystal. The difference between what they knew about the type of Energon and seeing the original stood out blatantly. The Tox-En they knew was small, green, and often smelled bad. The larger crystal was darker than normal and had a puddle of constant regenerating ooze dripping off it. Black spots were abundant like scabs and its energy gave off a deep cracking sound.

“Don’t be fooled by its appearance. This is the original batch. It is over a seven hundred million years old. Locked away, it was experimented on and used to spawn fresher crystals before they were used as weapons. Since it is no longer needed, I have no problems relinquishing it to the Allspark.”

Bolt held the Matrix of Conquest away from Arcee when Dagger Prima started throwing a tantrum being in its vicinity again. Megatron had the Omni Saber and Arcee brought out the Liegian Darts and the Resonance Blaster.

“Wait a minute, how did you get that from Soundwave?” Bolt asked from the far side of the group next to Shockwave.

“He gave it up after I traded my ricochet ray regrettably.”

“Oh,” he said disappointed, “that sucks.”

Arcee rolled her optics. “Tell me about it.”

Energy around the room swirled and hissing like a million voices until a bright flash made multiple Decepticons ran back. With its rings engraved in Primus’ language as well as Cybertronian, the Allspark made a cry before making a ghostly laugh.

“The relics of old, reunited at last. I see one of them is not enjoying it though.” They peered at the Matrix of Conquest in Bolt’s servos that vibrated angrily when suddenly, it was encased in a bubble and floated up to rotate around the Allspark against its will. “Unicron’s defilement of creation will not see another master again for as long as I live.”

The other relics slowly drifted from each Cybertronians’ grasp and orbited the Allspark alongside the angered Matrix of Conquest that could do nothing in its prison. The poison in Liege Maximo’s Darts vaporized among the Allspark’s energy, relieving it of its ability to harm indefinitely. The Omni Saber’s blade, despite being surrounded by light, remained as dark as a black hole.

“I thank you for all your efforts in returning the Primes’ sacred weapons and experiments. Take heed, there will always be darkness in the universe everywhere but our dearest dreams. That is where one is truly safe.”

The Allspark spun around with the relics zipping in orbit in a blur before it vanished with a spiritual roar. It left Arcee and the others stunned until the oddest noise erupted in the room. The Decepticons all congratulated her against the Metal Heads and seeing the Allspark so pleased at the same time. Even Starscream looked impressed along with an agreeing nod from the ever-silent Soundwave. She felt her spirits soar hearing the acceptance of those who were once her enemies now truly her friends. Some of the Vehicons made comments about her, praising her as an effect leader. Others joined in cheering her name. Megatron looked very proud of her and somewhat joined in on it too.

However, the cheering died as several bots looked past her and the others redirected their attention as well. She followed their gaze and froze. The Matriarch saw them, saw the praise they were giving the Queen of Cybertron. She tensed with bitterness. Arcee wanted to speak out, wanted to say what The Matriarch should hear that she wasn’t trying to take over through the popularity with an outreached servo, but the Decepticon leader turned without any words of her own. Arcee was forced to watch The Matriarch leave with her back towards her with resentment.

Chapter Text

The Secrets of the Cyber Worlds: Short Stories of the Past

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Fiera's Rise

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The Mistress of Flame fumed as Cybertron was yet again late on their agreement. She rolled her optics, her fiery red bio lights glowing bright. Pointing down at her subordinate, she yelled, “Get me on call with the Cybertronian Council now!”

Highwind, her assistant, and his accompanied great granddaughter, Fiera, he was training obeyed and quickly, Highwind showed her how to contact Cybertron. She was efficient and they got a hold of Alpha Trion. They both stepped back, letting the Mistress of Flame do her thing.

“Why is it when my people need supplies, you mongrels can’t find a way to transfer them on time, let alone perhaps at all?!”

Alpha Trion sighed, “It is not my choice on when they are sent. I can only push for so many shipments in a stellar cycle. You know as well as I what our bylaws are about this. We must prioritize Cybertron first, and our agreement was for you to give your services to Cybertron which you are not sending your people for labor.”

“And I told you, my people are not your slaves!” The Mistress growled, “That’s what you said last time and the time before. I’m not playing this game anymore, Trion! Either you send those shipments, or you lose our planetary support. That’s my final offer.”

“You have no right-”

In all her fury, she slammed the end of her fiery spear down against the floor. “It is MY PLANET!”

The room was silent, still and unnerved. Alpha Trion was taken aback by the sudden statement. Highwind didn’t flinch, having been used to the rage. Fiera did, however, but she looked up at the Mistress of Flame with amazement. The older femme stood her ground despite being seated, her optics ablaze with a command unrivaled.

The Mistress bit her lip and glared at him as she said viciously but in a whisper, “You get to dictate my planet? My people and their lives? Who gave you the right? The Mistresses before me under Solus Prime’s honor promised we would work with you…not work for you.”

“Mistress, you must understand-”

“I have never understood it clearer, I assure you.”

Fiera listened with utmost interest to her leader’s words.

“Cybertron doesn’t care for its colonies. We don’t want to divide from you, but you treat everyone like they are beneath you. You raise our stakes and cost of supplies of our trade yet condemn us for being unable to afford it.” She closed her optics and sighed, “I have no other choice. I’m done listening to you make mockeries of us. I’m done letting you take control. This isn’t what we signed up for. This isn’t what we agreed with. I am forced to declare that we are separating from Cybertron immediately.”

Alpha Trion, a man who was rarely thrown off guard, was outright baffled, stuttering, “No…no, you…we should talk about this first…”

“I’m all out of words, Trion. Done. Oh, and if you try to send any troops here, I’ll kill them. You had plenty of chances to be reasonable…I don’t know how charitable we’re supposed to be to get so little in return but if this isn’t working for Caminus, I’m not going to indulge your elitist views anymore. Goodbye.”

Highwind got the signal to cut communications, and this time he took point and cut it immediately, not finding the opportunity to teach Fiera appropriate which such high tensions. Alpha Trion didn’t get a chance to speak when he was abruptly dropped. Fiera watched the Mistress of Flame tap her spear in thought, dentae grinding with utter malice. The Mistress then caught her uncertainty but curiosity, holding back her more furious thoughts to instead address the younger femme.

“I hope you understand that this was a necessity.”

Highwind didn’t speak on behalf of Fiera, letting her instead approach the conversation on her own. She replied, “You did what you had to do.”

A small nod was shot her way, a faint kindness with it. “At least you get it. You know, kid, sometimes we have to learn the hard way when to let certain relationships go, no matter how beneficial they can be. That was not a symbiotic agreement therefore Cybertron is nothing more than a threat with good resources. We can only survive as we are, not who everyone wants us to be, and we should always be proud of who we are against all odds. We Camiens should never take kindly to threats.”

Fiera gave a small nod, earning her a returned gesture of approval.

Then the Mistress of Flame said to Highwind, “Destroy all data and the space bridge access to Cybertron.”

The mech paused before refusing to argue, knowing the consequences if he should do so. “As you wish. Come, Fiera.”

Fiera obeyed, eager to see how the destruction of the bridge would be brought about. As he contacted the bridge operatives to wipe all the data coordinates clean and evacuate, she thought about what the Mistress of Flame said. She followed her great grandsire whom she could tell the position he was in was taking a rather bad toll on him. He didn’t seem to agree with the Mistress, at least not about the complete shut off of communications with the mother world. They took a transport to the bridge complex in Pyrohex, its framework old and unkempt, but it wasn’t Highwind’s job to deal with such things. He was only commanded to do what he was told regardless of personal opinion. When they walked to the bridge overseeing ledge, one that had a rather fantastic view of the otherwise disgraced layout, Fiera looked toward her elder awaiting his thoughts.

It took Highwind a second to scope out the complex before turning to his relative. “Such a loss is this.”

Fiera frowned, “But she is right, isn’t she?”

“Just because someone’s instincts are right doesn’t make all their choices justified. Cybertron may be hard-headed and callous, but I don’t think severing ties with them is a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Ignoring the origin of the life you know can spawn very inconsiderate vanity and aggression. Cybertron, though crude, made us humble. I fear that without acknowledgement of its existence or what its initial purpose was for future generations, the repercussions will be great. And some people won’t take the separation kindly. Just don’t believe one side, always see the perspective of various views first and compare them. I think there could be a better solution than direct separation, but it is not my place. Be prepared though. It’s going to get a bit choppy.”

Fiera blinked and looked to the side unsure until her grandsire stepped forward and peered past the complex as if searching for something unfounded. He closed his optics to her confusion but when he reopened them, Highwind's was glowing, entombing all his optic space in a bright light.

“Astro Zenith, heed my call and awake!”

A rumbling had Fiera clinging to a stable part of the ledge pillars of the architecture. A dark growl echoed across the city when she saw in the distance a titan of blue and gold with bio lights racing across their frame emerged from a building mode she would have never guessed would be such a massive creature in disguise. A secondary smaller building followed suit to her surprise, but Fiera’s attention swiftly shifted back to Astro Zenith as the titan roared.

“I don’t think I ever introduced you to good old Astro Zenith. Did I ever tell you your family comes from a line of Cityspeakers? Astro Zenith is my charge though good luck trying to get her to stay still. She was either going to be here in Pyrohex or in Ember Basin. Those are the two cities she likes to roam in. Heh heh heh, I was kind of afraid I would have to go get her.”

Fiera didn’t answer, being still as shocked as she was while Astro Zenith slowly came towards the complex with an unknown entity trailing behind. Despite her grand size, Astro Zenith maneuvered past the walkways lining the city with ease without destroying them. When the titan reached the bridge complex, Highwind raised a servo wordlessly to halt her. Fiera didn’t expect such a being to obey.

Highwind then made sure no one was around before whistling a specific tune and pointed down, one that made Astro Zenith’s optics dilate with a purr. After a second, they reverted back to their constricted, smaller state as she raised her arm prepared to swing. Fiera winced and gazed in concern yet amazement as the titan struck the side of the complex to have pieces of its infrastructure fall inward, damaging the bridge indefinitely. The orange femme didn’t know how her grandsire managed to tell Astro such a command without having to speak, but the secrets of Cityspeakers were never divulged to her before. She was aware of the phenomenon but didn’t know of her grandsire’s link to it. As Astro Zenith destroyed the bridge complex section by section, its systems and structure unrecognizable, she focused on the second small but still relatively massive entity lingering near the imposing titan.

Perched on a walkway was a titan youngling, black and dark blue undertones hidden among its frame, that gazed up at what Fiera began to assume was their carrier. She never knew titans could have offspring. She grew curious indeed as the youngling tilted their head looking at her next with a small high-pitched grunt.

As the bridge was decimated, Highwind watched with slight unease. He was mindful of Astro Zenith’s range and made sure they were in a safe zone as parts went flying into the center. All the hard work of building such a complex generations back wasted.

Once Astro Zenith finished laying her destruction for all to see, she growled before humming, stepping through the already ruined structure to come close to her Cityspeaker. The youngling followed to go between her legs and near her lowering chest as she kneeled to have her faceplates in reach of Highwind. The mech placed a servo gently on her nose plate, her optics grew in size as she rumbled. Fiera saw the love she had for her Cityspeaker, a mutual friendship unlike anything she had witnessed before.

“Highwind.”

“I’m sorry, old friend, for having you do this. I know we are trying to get away from drama, don’t we know we tried. It’s always something.” He heard the curious cooing of the youngling and chuckled, “Oh, you brought them. Fiera, come here, dear.”

Fiera was no scared femme but even she was unsure of approaching such a huge being, especially if she had young with her. Highwind let her clutch his servo in assurance before having her come face-to-face with the titan.

“Fiera, this is Astro Zenith. Trust me, she’s not as scary as she looks. She just was born a bit on edge but she’s playful mostly, high strung if anything. But I want to introduce you to someone special even more so, someone much like you.”

As they went to the edge, Fiera saw the blue optics in the shadow of Astro’s form. Said titan peered down upon tracking their line of sight and gave a low purr as her youngling waddled out into a better view for the spectators.

“Meet Obsidian.”

Obsidian cooed and squeaked though the octaves were much lower for a sparkling than Fiera was used to given they were far larger than any sparkling she had met. Obsidian climbed up with their carrier’s help and sensed both bots. Highwind gestured for them to calm and let them come to him eagerly. But instead of placing his servo openly, he slowly helped Fiera lift hers.

“Let Obsidian come to you. Titans are very trusting to those they believe are worthy. And I think Obsidian senses you as worthy just the same as how Astro Zenith chose me. If they obey your yield, they trust you.”

His grin told her he was certain. Although her grandsire sometimes acted a bit crazy in his theories, sometimes she believed it was because he was one of the older members of Caminus’ government nearing retirement, Fiera believed him wholeheartedly for once and took the lead. She held out her servo for Obsidian to yield…

The titan youngling stopped directly in front of her, tilting their head with a purr. Astro Zenith watched closely as the two were face-to-face the same as Highwind had been with Astro herself. Highwind was very pleased and Astro Zenith’s vents hissed with a proud sigh. Fiera, having the new approval of both titans, then stroked Obsidian’s jawline which the sparkling nuzzled into.

She laughed, “You’re going to big like your carrier. So will I one day.”

Highwind nodded and stood to the side of Obsidian. “Indeed. This…isn’t how I wanted you two to meet amid this whole mess, but I talked to your grandcarrier and your sire, and I was going to have Astro Zenith bring her little one around later on to surprise you. I, uh, at least know you are compatible as only a Cityspeaker can earn the trust of a titan. You are my bloodline therefore you had a chance of being a Cityspeaker…only of you accept it as I will not force you to do so if you don’t want to.”

“I will,” Fiera smiled petting her new titan companion. “If you’ll have me, Obsidian.”

The larger being cooed, brushing against her which almost knocked her down. She merely laughed at this though when Astro Zenith grunted and snarled, not aggressively but sternly, she knew it was time for her new charge to leave. Obsidian playfully growled back and climbed down the wreckage of the bridge complex to toddle after their mother. Fiera giggled like a youngling before Highwind gestured to her.

“Now, let’s see if our deed finally made the Mistress of Flame proud, assuming she could ever be.”

Fiera forgot about the Mistress but wondered if she was a Cityspeaker, if any of the previous Mistress of Flame titleholders had ever carried the ability. She then said as she trailed her great grandsire, “Has anyone in our family been the Mistress of Flame?”

“Not yet, but who knows? Anyone can be the Mistress of Flame if they wish to go the distance. Not many people do.” He then raised a brow, “Why? Thinking about going for the mantle? Tough business…being the leader of a world entire. Can’t imagine what it’s going to be like now with us separated, but a competent leader will always find a way to make do for their people and their planet.”

Fiera looked around and grunted to herself in thought. She could be a competent leader. Highwind knew that’s what she was thinking as he threw an arm around her shoulders proudly, smiling at her.

“I think you would be an excellent leader, Fiera. Work your way through the smaller fields first and be observant. That is one of the best ways to build up to it. And Obsidian will be with you all the way.”

Then another rumble echoed. She and Highwind watched as Astro Zenith and Obsidian united with a few other titans who were awakened by the chaos, one of which was black with purple streaks whom Astro Zenith immediately followed in the direction of Titans Crossing, the titans’ roaming land. Obsidian climbed up the black and purple titan’s back to gain a higher view of the world.

One day, she may be high up in the world too. Obsidian and her, they were going to ensure no one could harm Caminus again.

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The Deathly Fire

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Windblade arrived on Cybertron pristine and respectful. She bowed and acknowledged all she saw with proper manners she was taught on Caminus. It was what she thought they would appreciate, especially the Arisen who deserved no less formalities.

The Arisen, preferring Optimus Prime, was not who Windblade expected. The Primes were always seen as reputable figures at most, otherwise arrogant idols, but not Optimus. He was a friend, a general, and an overall warrior of peace. Even Solus Prime was never said to be as righteous as that. So, when she met him on a tense Cybertron, she was blown away by his kind authority.

Granted, Windblade shouldn’t have been on Cybertron at all but upon hearing rumors, she had to see for herself the original home world. An old system kept under the protection of an alias had the coordinates, and she found it through an anonymous bot. It was regrettable somewhat as it was a nightmare of a war zone. The beasts that were the Decepticons showed no mercy; their ravenous appetite for destruction made the horror stories she heard on Caminus true…yet not all of Cybertron was like that. The Autobots had flaws and arguably had to make executive decisions that rivaled the Decepticons’, but they sought to keep the planet from falling into the wrong servos of the dreaded and rather monstrous Megatron.

To say she was terrified when she arrived, especially as an outsider, was an understatement. But she hid that to make a good impression as a proud warrior of Caminus, a representative of their freedoms and preservation under the magnificent Mistress of Flame, to the noble Prime. Although it wasn’t her war, she felt she couldn’t just leave one of the last Primes to fight for Cybertron. It didn’t feel right. No matter her distaste for all the infighting and such corruption, sometimes in both factions, Windblade sensed Optimus was a leader worth the sacrifice. Solus Prime was said to hold Optimus, then Thirteen, in high regards, so why shouldn’t she honor Solus by serving Optimus?

The raging fires of direct destruction were a new concept to her. Caminus had the infamous Titan Wars and smaller civil disputes that were gone within a few years at most. This…was not the same as the battles she had known, not anywhere close to them. This was internal annihilation. Megatron wanted it as such, and he made this clear to her the day he killed an entire fleet of the Hydrax Plateau.

Windblade flew alongside the Autobot military ships and Jetfire. That was the same day the Seeker lost his brother, Jetstorm, shot from the sky like a falling star. She barely dodged the latter’s exploding carcass as it was jettisoned backwards as a fireball, nor did she register the heat of the situation until she realized he was one of the first brutal casualties of many. There was no time to mourn or bots would end up like him in seconds. Windblade worked with what she knew and integrated it with the new tactics she had picked up quickly under Optimus’ command. Starscream and his battalion of Seekers, defectors to Megatron’s growing regime, were there waiting to intercept them.

The battle was bloody, at least to her. The aftermath wasn’t preventable. Megatron had his forces wipe out the ground troops and target the ships above before he himself came in to conquer it all. Windblade had never seen a mech so vicious in all her lifespan. Now she knew why the acting Mistress of Flame nullified her curiosity before; Cybertronians had some of the greatest monsters ever created, and she just bore witness to one of them.

It wasn’t the only time she saw Megatron in his fury and determination. The silver monster tackled Optimus, able to stand against a descendant of Primus like he was a mere common enemy and threw the Prime over several meters with a mighty roar of a battle cry. Windblade marveled at their fight, shocked at the brutality but most of all, she was outright horrified how neither leader, no matter how much they bled, would back down. It was like watching two crosswings engaged to tear each other’s throats out.

The war-torn world required one to be on their toes always. Never had Windblade slept so little and done so much each day. But a lighter interest was that she found she wasn’t the only femme Optimus entrusted on his main juggernaut teams upon meeting the likes of Elita One and her sisters. A rarity it was to meet a troop of sisters on the exact same assigned team. Elita was the leader and the eldest having served under Optimus the longest, Arcee was the smaller of the group but her size meant nothing against her enemies nor her sparring partners as she beat them with ease, Chromia was third in line and the tanker when she wanted to be, and then there was baby sister Moonracer who may have been the youngest but she had the attitude of a cyber-lion when cornered. Windblade found comfort in the group, being welcomed by all the sisters, especially Arcee whom she got along the best with. They brought light to an otherwise demanding war.

Windblade couldn’t say she preferred Caminus over Cybertron because the wars in her home world were, in a way, sanitized against what Cybertron brought in its wake. She learned more than enough to make her an ace on Caminus if another battle were to take place. Cybertron showed her a new perspective among its hellfire. The descendants of Solus Prime needed to know how to defend all life no matter the past against tyranny. Though the road among faint peace unseen was winding with only Arcee and a few others to keep her grounded, she knew they had the same hope she did.

There was, of course, loss. Windblade was there to see the toll it took on many. Jetfire lost his brother so abruptly to Starscream’s ambush bombardment and it rivaled that of Arcee who lost Elita and later, Tailgate. Optimus took Elita’s death equally as bad, but Arcee blamed herself. She never spoke why, and Windblade didn’t dare bother the femme in her grieving. She watched Hot Rod lose his dear friend Red Alert to Blitzwing, Hound and Bulkhead were distraught over Brawn’s departure by Blackout, and poor Sideswipe ended up being separated from his twin, Sunstreaker…only to find the mech was tortured and killed before his body was discovered on pieces. Windblade was one of the search party members. She remembered the scene all too well.

Megatron only grew more vicious in his tactics; Windblade didn’t realize until years in just how jaded and used to the horror she was until finally, she found the gruesome deaths and the devastation less impactful because of him. They were just more corpses in the pile and more buildings destroyed. Their significance in a never-ending war otherwise meaningless. Years away from Caminus made her no more or less of a warrior than she already was but made her resentful and direct than previously. Her attitude grew harsh, her armor with its fair share of scars, and her demeanor of a military commander equal to that of Ultra Magnus. Optimus became a trusted close friend, one she prided herself in serving through the conflict with no fear present anymore. Compared to when she first arrived, Windblade grew up in ways that she never knew she could.

Under the Mistress of Flame back home, Windblade knew she would never be her proud, innocent self again. Her leader didn’t even know the pain and sacrifices around her couldn’t amount to Cybertron’s elongated rage. It was all a firepit, the ways of flame. Caminus worshipped Solus Prime and her forge but knew nothing of the hellish world the Prime originated from and her resting place a war land beyond repair as far as Windblade knew. This wasn’t what anyone on Caminus could believe was their god’s home. Fire rises as long as it is maintained, grows with every burning body cast into its threshold. She hated to admit Caminus was not ready for the devastation witnessed here. It never could.

By the time the war was coming to a terrible end, Cybertron was dying slowly, painfully, and its core melted to the corruption of Megatron’s essence. Windblade didn’t bother to enter the Ark as it prepared to leave the world now missing more than three fourths its population. Never in a million years did she believe that war could last as long as it did even under the mighty command of one such as Optimus, yet the end was near and in no one’s favor. Cybertron was a lost cause; its remaining inhabitants were forced to flee to survive.

She stood on its dock, several Autobots including Arcee staying behind to oversee the launch of the Autobot vessel as it headed out with their friends. There was nothing to be said as the damage to Iacon around them was ablaze with a deathly fire untamed. Weapons the city had for protection were slowly breaking down and running low on energy. Windblade stared as the Ark departed, unfortunately with the last great Decepticon warship, the Nemesis, built from the remains of the titan named Trypticon, pursuing them beyond the sky to a distant portal where they would hopefully keep Megatron away from Cybertron and let it heal if that was even possible.

But not all hope was lost. As Windblade, Arcee, and many bots who strived to try and oversee the planet in its final moments stayed strong, she knew one day peace would finally be restored. It would be a long journey, one no doubt filled with trials yet to come and enemies still patrolling the decimated world, but she made a promise to a Prime that she would protect Cybertron no matter what. As much as she missed Caminus, she had found a second one she saw potential in salvaging with a new family among the Autobots who took her in. Here she would stay but until all are one, Windblade would serve her duties by choice for a brighter future.

But oh, how she pitied Cybertron as the deathly fires of war had scorched it with dreadful scars.

-------------------------------

Experiments

--------------------------------

The last beaker was placed carefully on its stand as a trophy of his finished product, its orange glow haunting. Shockwave used both servos to lift a crate full of the same essence bottled to store in his tower for the time being. It wasn’t time to use it yet. He placed it in a storage bay, ignoring the hissing around him.

“Quiet.”

Red bug optics glared at him from every direction, their mandibles clattering as a few left growling. Shockwave was used to their presence having improved their rather mundane previous appearances. They now looked like monsters, ones he could appreciate though if Blackarachnia was still around, she would have grown horrified of his tampering. That was one of the few bots he missed as her scientific expertise in the Allspark’s powers and bot class alteration was top notch. Her loss was unfortunate, so he had no choice but to take the Insecticons in as unofficial housemates when she never came back from the Archa System. Thankfully, his tower of solitude among the wastes in the Sea of Rust had enough room for the small army to roam without bugging him, pun unintended.

He planned on returning to his space bridge duties, recovering the old technology neglected and lost for some time. But something was nagging him to visit some special…experiments.

He went back to his lab, passing a row of weapons suspended that he amputated from the Autobots who trespassed, all but a purple cannon of his own design. With the war becoming a free-for-all and no one proved safe, he planned on equipping himself with the cannon once all the kinks were fixed out of it. It was still in its testing phase, but he was a patient mech. Like Megatron, he planned to have it attached to the side of his arm. It was a matter for another time though.

“Shockwave! RRAARGGHHHH!”

Shockwave merely tilted his head, his single optic gleaming at a prisoner he longed to have under his scalpel. The vicious and destructive leader of the Lightning Strike Coalition Force of the Autobots was a renowned monster of desolation. No one ever beat him, so they said, but Shockwave wasn’t a random bot on the street or a mere soldier. He was a strategist, cunning and cruel, and Grimlock was no genius like him. Physically, the larger mech could overtake him but mentally, Shockwave was superior. It was the only way he could win against such a brute.

Grimlock snarled as he tested the limits of the restraints. He took a step forward, his arms staying in place at an uncomfortable angle behind him as he leaned forward almost off the platform to intimidate the scientist almost a full level below him. The electric cuffs immobilizing him cackled and groaned from the strain. Shockwave would have raised his brows in slight surprise about that, but his face had lost all manner of expressions longer than he could remember even having them with only a single optic. Such raw power inside a mech like Grimlock and his strongest bonds were nearly on the verge of breaking. That was concerning to say the least.

The rageful mech nearly roared like some wild animal. “I will tear you apart!”

Hardly fazed, the scientist replied, “A moment of your choosing that will sadly not come.”

In restraints similar to Grimlock’s, Slug, Snarl, Swoop, and Sludge, a drone posse in his opinion, struggled angrily against their energy cages like beasts. The irony was starting to grow on Shockwave and even he could stifle a small laugh.

“You are the best warriors, so misguided and used for tasks even the Wreckers wouldn’t dare do.”

“Don’t patronize us, you miserable cretin!” Grimlock roared.

Shockwave ignored the outcry and made a mental note to numb the brute’s glossa afterwards by any means necessary. “Of course, you must be wondering why I brought you all here for. Forgive my tardiness, I was working on a stabilizer for another project off subject that I need not bore you with. But your participation for my newest idea is quite crucial.”

“As if we’d do anything for the likes of you-”

“Then it is rather a good thing I don’t need your consent.”

He typed on a console not far from the area and had data project over a window looking out towards the Sea of Rust. Among the screens now active, a hologram of a blue and green organic world appeared before the unruly brutes, all of whom stopped their struggling instinctively to gaze upon the unknown world.

“A planet underdeveloped yet high in raw energy shows promise as well as its current lifeforms,” he said as specs of a few specimens appeared. A sauropod, a three-horned stomper, a creature with massive plates on its back, a flying long-beak, and his favorite, a large powerhouse with little arms but some of the deadliest set of jaws on the planet. “They are beasts unlike anything I have ever come across. The only creatures similar would be those of the fabled predators that once roamed Cybertron. Imagine a being of sheer might harnessing the form of these monsters.”

“I like the plated one,” Snarl said offhandedly. His fellow Autobots looked at him strangely and he shrugged as best he could despite his arms being held up.

Slug then yelled, “Whatever you plan to do with us in that sick, twisted mind of yours, Shockwave, don’t you dare!”

“Or you’ll what?” Shockwave challenged, “Kill me just like everyone else who dared to try before you? I am not going to harm you but rather improve you. With these references, I shall make a new faction of Dinobots and you will be all-powerful under my command. Optimus Prime and his Autobots won’t stand a chance against your primitive might.”

Sludge grew horrified while Grimlock only became even more enraged. Upon seeing this and the frantic pulling to break his bonds, Shockwave stepped in front of Grimlock’s cell calculating his approach. The most aggressive saurus was the small-armed giant jawed dinosaur, a fitting form for a beast who thought more with his brutality than his brains. That arrogant mouth of his had to go.

“And I will start with you, beast,” hissed the scientist.

Grimlock blew steam from his vents with a low growl, staring down at the Decepticon with utmost malice. Shockwave activated the stasis shock treatment that sent howls and screams out his way while examining the posture of the mighty leader. Once they were all sedated, he went to work.

Designing the configurations for modification of an already existing alternate mode from scratch was, for a lack of a better term, exhausting. It was the most challenging thing he had ever done. Reshaping the alt mode alone was a tedious process and each bot had a unique structure. He made sure they were sedated when he calculated their sizes up close and the range of the main plates of armor that made up their chassis to understand where each part would go and what it would form. It took weeks to get everything done while simultaneously watching for any Autobots who came snooping around where they shouldn’t have.

He had heard of the term “Dinobots” from an old journal in Iacon on a world he knew not. Seldom was ever told to the people of the previous world alliances or the colonies that more or less defected. It was before his time, before practically anyone’s lifespan currently aside from old Alpha Trion. The only reason he had access to such information was because, at the time, he was a senator. Research was what he did in his time away from politics and it led him to do what he could do now. A pity those fools couldn’t understand his perspective, but they weren’t laughing now that all of them were dead.

Finally, Shockwave had the alt modes made. Now came the part of infusing the schematics manually. The trick he learned with the Insecticons was the coding could be changed through diving into the system mainframe and extend the reading data to the processor consciousness. It was tricky, far less so than what he just done though.

He stood over a stasis-locked Grimlock preparing the programming, but then he remembered what he wanted to do to that snide tone of the mech’s. Too talkative and brash was he to mouth off to his new master. It was time to fix that. Before Shockwave did anything else, he took a scalpel and forced Grimlock’s helm to tilt back exposing the cables of his neck and beneath the protocol lied his untouched voice box. He regretted nothing as he did minor surgery to alter it. If the brute wanted to be treated like a beast, he was better off having the tongue of one…

The implanting of the alt mode coding took longer than normal to implement at ten minutes than a few seconds. The code wasn’t natural and Grimlock’s armor was wanting to adjust as it needed to. Shockwave watched with interest as the Destronium circuits of Grimlock’s model altered themselves, changing to form claws among his arms for the legs of the beast mode. The tips of his digits were shifting to be just as sharp. Shockwave could hear Grimlock groan even under stasis; he was fighting the programming. It wasn’t enough.

The process was done and before the purple mech was nothing short of a Prime killer. He was eager to see Grimlock’s beast form but held back to instead focus on the others. He had the Insecticons, Bombshell and Shrapnel, place him back in his restraints as he moved on to the curious Sludge. A sauropod long neck was his chosen form as he was the tallest.

Shockwave did his best to do the same to Sludge as he did Grimlock, strapping him to the table in his stasis and beginning the injection of the data into the mainframe. At first, everything seemed fine, but the experiment suddenly took a turn for the worse. An error message appeared screaming at him. The process was incomplete, yet it was trying to finish the last steps of integration. Shockwave grew confused and hastily tried to override the error to get it to stop. There was no way Sludge of all the mechs had the mental capacity to resist it, so it was quickly determined that the error lied within. His computers must have had trouble translating the foreign design. He tried his best to correct it until sparks flew up at him. Sludge was instantly awakened from stasis.

In agonizing pain, Sludge roared as his form was incomplete in its shifting. The growls and cries of terror as he broke the restraints had Shockwave backing away. It was also unfortunate proof the Dinobot forms were enhanced in strength as well. As he called for his Insecticon security, he bore witness to Sludge stumbling and clutching his head with an ungodly noise before sprinting with animalistic fury through a door he destroyed in seconds barreling through it. As soon as Bombshell and his crew came in, Shockwave was quick to command them.

“Apprehend him. Better yet, kill him. I have no use for failed experiments.”

The Insecticons obeyed and pursued, leaving Shockwave to tend to his malfunctioning equipment. It was rather unfortunate Sludge was ultimately a letdown. Granted, his system was to blame. It was a mercy to execute him anyways. Shockwave knew firsthand living with a damaged mind was a torturous thing. His victims, if they were still around to tell those tales, would vouch for that. All he heard after an hour was Sludge was put out of his misery. Shame.

Shockwave found what was wrong with the computers and adjusted accordingly to finish off the remaining three. They were converted without any more hiccups. Still, he monitored the process like a hawk and was all but prepared to oversee a shutdown before it glitched too heavily just in case.

Their beast modes had yet to be seen. Shockwave was confident they worked. If not, the Lightning Force…Dinobots would be killed like their friend. After all, it was no loss to him whatsoever. He just wanted to know if he could recreate organic forms in cybernetic beings. As he made sure they were all settled in their bonds in stasis, he looked over each and was proud of himself. They would thank him one day once he had complete control over them.

His experiments were always questionable but when morals were more or less considered optional, the results were boundless. The power of creation was his to hold and his to conquer as he saw fit.

Bombshell suddenly burst in with a hiss, “Intruders approaching in the Sea of Rust. Autobots.”

Shockwave was silent, more so out of annoyance of the disturbance of Autobot interlopers. Surely, they weren’t foolish enough to try and save Grimlock and his forces. They would be dealt with. Maybe to ease the disappointment of losing Sludge, he would use them for another set of experiments. But he had other things he needed to prioritize now that his other projects were out of the way.

The completion of lost space bridge technology required his attention. He worked on it off and on but now he needed to solely focus on it. It was intended for the organic planet in which the Decepticons could harvest the energy among it. Perhaps the Autobots got wind of that. As Megatron was planning to launch the remains of Trypticon as the Nemesis once he recovered the parts of the titan, Shockwave had his own plan and that was to complete the space bridge before those accursed Autobots could stop him.

Maybe he did waste too much time on the Dinobots but their improvements were the pinnacle of his joy of creation. He couldn’t help it. His knowledge was addicting to demonstrate and once the war was won under Decepticon reign, he intended to do a lot more. Now, he had a space bridge to create, another experiment he would enjoy unlocking the secrets of just like he did with the brutes.

-------------------------------

An Assassin’s Creed

-------------------------------

Silence, then strike.

A mech barely cried out when a sword severed his head from his body as a purple blur fled past them in the shadows.

Stillness is key. Prey cannot see what doesn’t move.

Two femmes patrolling were struck without warning. One took a blade to the chest and the other was silenced with a swift neck break. Both were discarded as venomous optics searched for anyone in their way.

Patience. They will come.

One bot ended up collapsing on his front, two swords embedded in his backside as his optics flickered before dulling to black. Energon leaked from the wounds as the swords were ripped out by a passing form.

Their weakness is their own pride.

The halls had splotches of Energon among their walls unseen by untrained optics and easily dismissed by the doubtful. It gave him plenty of prey to kill in their oblivious nature. Autobots were like sparklings, never aware of their surroundings in the comfort of their base. Little did anyone know how far from safe they truly were.

A blade shot straight through the forehead of a femme who was guarding the controls for the base’s security system. A tragic loss, but not to him. He felt nothing watching the Autobot perish as she collapsed on her knees then slumped forward lifeless with a large wound in her helm.

“Cyclonus, destroy the base and let the Autobots wallow in the wreckage of their defiance,” cackled Megatron.

He knew exactly what to do, but that didn’t mean he liked it. It wasn’t the same as killing in person. Setting a bomb was child’s play. Anyone could kill like that. It took skill to hunt with only a blade or two in enemy territory.

Cyclonus stayed silent. He preferred to keep his opinions to himself anyway. Never talkative but always business. He was at Megatron’s beck and call, and the warlord knew him well enough to know his silence was acknowledgement.

Placing the bomb as silent as can be in the security room, Cyclonus snuck out of the base, slipping past the guarding Autobots he didn’t have time to kill and risk causing a scene in his hurry. He had mere minutes to escape, otherwise Soundwave was ordered to blow it up within a certain time frame and he would be caught within the blast. Megatron liked him…but not that much. He raced out of the supposed proximity after hitting the outside but transformed and jettisoned away, not wanting to see if the bomb’s true radius was more than what it was said to be. He heard a few shouts as he left followed by a gruesome explosion. The towers surrounding the base were all decimated and crumbling. He could only imagine what was left of the Autobots.

Cyclonus returned to Darkmount, his assigned base among the war under Soundwave’s authority. He scowled seeing Starscream among the bots gathered. He hated the Seeker with a passion. His brothers he could tolerate but Starscream was a disgrace unlike anyone he had ever encountered. Thankfully, his mind was taken off the annoyance when Soundwave came into view and gestured for Cyclonus to follow. He knew Megatron wanted a word if Soundwave wasn’t using audio clips of others or talking himself. The Vow of Silence was recent, and he would admit it was quite frustrating sometimes to deal with the silent mech. But he wasn’t too different himself in that regard.

He followed Soundwave to greet Megatron, the imposing mech standing menacingly in front of the ledge that looked out towards the north side of Kaon, his home city. Cyclonus found it odd Megatron wasn’t on his throne as usual until the mech in question spoke.

“I admire your work, Cyclonus. You are a master of the blade and as swift as lightning.”

“Thank you, Lord Megatron,” he said finally.

Megatron then turned to him and clicked his glossa with the raise of a brow. “But I wonder if you can go after targets harder to kill, some that no one has ever managed to do.”

“You name them, I can get rid of them.”

“Elita One, Optimus Prime’s commander.”

It was surprising to hear her name among things. The Autobot sisters were untouchable; no one had ever beaten them. The perfect challenge. Elita One was one of the hardest people to attack let alone get close to. He wouldn’t even know where to begin in his hunt.

“What about the other three?” Cyclonus found himself asking out of precaution.

Megatron sneered, “The three femmes? They are no threat. Elita is a real warrior. The others are showgirls with guns at best. If I recall, they are merely trophy femmes Optimus parades around as skilled fighters to make his team look good. They aren’t any trouble.”

Cyclonus could agree but he was wise enough to not take any bot lightly no matter what background. “Never judge anyone by appearance. Even the smallest of enemies can be the deadliest. If they are Elita One’s sisters, they are just as dangerous.”

“I assure you,” the warlord stated stepping forward with his servos behind his back, “those femmes are no problem whatsoever. Take out the infallible Elita and you’ll do more than just break up the posse. I think she might be special to Optimus’ morale as well.”

Hearing his leader growl the name made him ponder if the request was just to get rid of a commander or something more personal. It was not his place to judge. By his word given, he was to serve Megatron and do whatever he asked. According to his beliefs, all orders were to be taken as they are, ask questions later. He was an assassin mostly and that’s what he was going to hunt Elita One down as.

When he left for Iacon, he flew into its outskirts near the last known location of Elita’s coordinates supplied by Soundwave thirty minutes prior. She was using a trackable communications bay, and her voice was recognizable from the broadcasts. She was looking for assistance; Cyclonus was suspicious as to why. Keeping low, he navigated into dangerous territory and listened for any familiar voices or her pink form. Then he spotted her.

Elita held a broad stature, her helm with her crest and side panels extended out recognizable no matter where she was. Currently, she was hidden with her back facing him from gunfire. A Decepticon sniper had her pinned. Normally, Cyclonus would wait until he was alone to strike, not liking to take someone out already preoccupied if he could help it. But Elita One was not a typical femme. Her rank and past made her an enemy even he couldn’t afford to keep alive no matter what his rules of combat were.

He approached her as she was distracted and brought out his sword when he heard a small shift behind him. He whipped around trying to strike whoever snuck up on him only for his blade to be caught by Chromia with Arcee balancing on her shoulders like an acrobatic act. They were neutral at first before giving wide grins when suddenly, Moonracer flipped over Arcee’s helm and sent a sharp kick to her jaw. The girls had the audacity to laugh at him like clowns. He didn’t want to admit he was impressed. No one had ever gotten lucky enough to hit him before.

Without a single word, no boasts or taunts, Cyclonus sprinted at them with both swords out. The femmes scattered, shooting at him. He swiped quickly at the one called Arcee but she dodged and backflipped out of his reach. He was abruptly struck in the back by a blast and winced, whirling around to then aim at Moonracer. He managed to use his swords to deflect multiple other shots but the girls kept bombarding him, dancing around him skillfully.

They were a coordinated team, far better than the Decepticon battalions. When Elita One suddenly charged him, he had little time to defend himself. He grazed her side, but she didn’t yield to the wound. Punched in the face as he was kicked in the spine, all four of them were tag teaming until he exploited Moonracer’s slower movements between them. Timing it right, he grabbed her arm as she threw a punch and swung her into Chromia. Arcee was deflected and tossed. Elita One grunted and cracked her neck with arrogance well deserved.

Cyclonus clashed his swords together in warning until more gunfire erupted. Bumblebee and several other Autobots came barreling through the area, and he knew he had run out of time as the sisters regrouped ready to take him on still. Knowing he had no other choice, he fled.

As he flew away from the blasts, Cyclonus snarled at himself for forgetting about the sisters. He knew he shouldn’t have gone by Megatron’s word and thought of them less of a threat. They were dangerous, especially as a team. Together, they were untouchable, and he still tried to get near the most brutal sister of the four without considering she might not have been alone. Foolish...

It was an error he would not make again. Megatron’s bias of Elita’s sisters was probably a spite of their background alone. Cyclonus stuck to his wisdom and recited in his mind their past didn’t decide whether they were a threat. He already knew they were. Well, at least he figured out one thing from the encounter: the sisters protected each other and that meant they would always be among one another. Dangerous, yes, but with the proper counter attacks and the element of surprise, it was hard but entirely possible to get rid of half of them if not all in one go. He would certainly report that to Megatron so he could use it to plan the approach better. Assassinating them wasn’t possible yet. Separating them by death or by distraction was the only way.

Cyclonus grumbled to himself about his failure, but he intended to try again or see about finding any other weaknesses he could exploit. After all, there was more to being an assassin then just killing people. Hunting and destroying were primitive tactics. Observance was a power of great patience and possibly the best rewarding action he could take. He would find a way; he always did.

Upon returning to Kaon to safety, he thought of the situation as not a failure but a learning experience. Failure to him was if he stopped trying, and he had no intention of doing so. Cyclonus had time. His promise to Megatron was to at least find out what else he could as he planned his next attempt.

-------------------------------

Starscream’s Seekers

--------------------------------

In war, there were not many times of peace. To roam without fear of being shot down or simply taking a stroll to stretch. Calm before the storm even if there was.

Slipstream crouched on a ledge of the highest building in the region with Starscream perched on the antenna balancing himself with ease. They both scouted from their height for any unknown or Autobots ships not meant to be in Polyhex. Right now, it was under Decepticon control. It was Starscream’s job to secure it and keep it in their possession until otherwise ordered. But they were not caged birds. Seekers needed to use their wings every day. It was in their nature. Their claws were used to climb buildings and their wings were meant to fly; denying that was misery.

Other Seekers from the shadows waited silently in their places, listening for oddities and potential threats. Starscream was the highest for as their leader, it was his duty to be the observer most of all. If he didn’t give the all-clear, no one would take to the skies even if some of them didn’t like to obey him. The dangers were too great.

He was careful, not wanting to get any one of his Seekers killed. He moved to face downward and took two steps with his servos, clinging to the antenna with a grunt and optics steady as he peered out a hundred and eighty degrees before crawling to the other side for the remaining visual skyline and all the traffic below. The Seekers still remained where they were keeping low to the ledges to blend in with the building just in case. All was safe it seemed.

Starscream lowered to press his chest against the antenna in a vertical slow crawl down before suddenly leaping off and twisting to have his back facing the building in a free fall. Over three thousand meters from the ground floor, Starscream dived. As soon as the others saw him take the risky leap with no sign of gunfire or any ships still, they followed. In a flock, eight Seekers were falling, wings pressed back keeping a sharp eye of their distance left. Starscream was ahead of them so his reactions were their key to navigating safely. As soon as Starscream deemed a comfortable height for a relaxing flight, his wings expanded and his thrusters on his back ignited. Even in robot mode, he held a sense of style in his flying.

Slipstream and Skywarp twirled around one another upon pulling up to straighten out. Sunstorm, Ramjet, and Thundercracker leveled out quickly and enjoyed the breeze while Thrust, Novastorm, and Dirge playfully bounced off one another like they were leap frogging. Starscream grinned as he soared with his servos close to his chassis and rolling a few times midair with a chuckle.

The Cybertron skies were theirs to take. The peaceful flight had them dancing around one another. Thundercracker synced with Skywarp and both rotated around each other in a horizontal hurricane pattern. Slipstream did a wave motion in her flight before going upside down over Ramjet and Novastorm. They both tracked the movement with wide grins and snickers before copying her to loop over her in return.

It had been some time since they had flown as a group. Starscream missed it as much as Slipstream, his second-in-command of the Seeker clan. Granted, they had lost a few of the members since the start of the war as well as the fact that half his forces were elsewhere, so it wasn’t possible to fly as a whole group again. But they didn’t dwell on that. Instead, they took their enjoyment, though brief, in stride as best they could.

Skywarp and Thrust started racing, going higher than the rest of the Seekers flying about. The kick of energy, however, drove the purple Seeker to push his speed to the max which resulted in his teleport powers flaring up. As soon as he became determined to outmatch the other, his top speed caused him to emit a shockwave of transparent blue ripples that ran above the entire with a sonic boom. Skywarp stopped mid twirl and fell back into a dive past Thrust laughing while the maroon mech growled a little at being beaten. The others, especially Dirge, were cackling.

Like binary suns, Thundercracker and Novastorm orbited each other in a coil pattern, only breaking loose when Starscream aimed at them for him to cut between them. They, of course, teased the other mockingly after he did it. It was humorous to some, stupid to others, but they all tolerated in-group humor as no Seeker was above some arrogance. Compared to what they could get away with among themselves against with the Decepticons as a whole, the Seeker clan knew their humor well enough to not care what was said regardless of what jabs were made. They could be as carefree about it as they wanted.

Dirge twisted himself vertically to whip the air around him in a pseudo tornado and some of his fellow Seekers used the winds like a makeshift rollercoaster. Starscream let the winds carry him as he flipped over and put his arms behind his helm. It was the most relaxation he was probably going to get out of everything.

When they heard a faint boom, they all paused and hovered in the air alert. They communicated in small whispers in their common Vos dialect as they scanned for the source of the noise. They discovered it was from some younglings lighting a firework or something. No real harm. Still, they didn’t wander far from each other, circling to make absolute sure it was just a simple mistake. Once in the clear, they took off again.

Sunstorm laughed at Slipstream flying below him and bopping his noseplate before summoning his Heat Seeker ability and fired it into thin air much to the other’s annoyance until he managed to make the blasts form rings momentarily. Most all the Seekers flew through each of the rings, one behind the other then made a wave effect using all of them with Slipstream and Novastorm in the middle orbiting each other like synchronized entertainers. They split off at end, circling randomly around but kept close still to not be singled out and struck just in case there was any potential threat present they were unaware of. Still, their antics among themselves made their spirits fly among the dread.

Starscream and Slipstream were the happiest, though their pride wouldn’t let them admit it out loud. The others were soothed and sedated with their daily flight, especially among their own, but the two both yearned to be a real flock again and not just a group for combat purposes. No one knew just how important it was for them to finally be as they were supposed to be. Not even Megatron could understand that, and he didn’t need to. In moments of peace, the skies belonged with who they were designed for: the Seekers of Cybertron.

-------------------------------

Homecoming

-------------------------------

Megatron slammed his fist into the console with a growl, fangs clashing together. “Dah! Those Autobots just don’t know when to quit!”

Starscream huffed, “And retreating to our base on Chaar is the best course of action?”

“Do yourself a favor, Starscream, and shut up while you have the chance,” Blackarachnia said.

The Seeker tensed and snarled at the femme. The warlord ignored both of them as he rolled his optics. “Chaar is the safest we can go from prying Autobot eyes. It will serve as our threshold of the Decepticon empire while I man Kaon for the time being without having to worry about unwanted losses.”

The black, yellow, and purple femme asked, “And the Autobots won’t be able to get near the planet?”

Megatron then grinned maliciously, “If those wretched buffoons get within a solar system away from it, we’ll know. Soundwave is more than prepared to rig the base with sensors powerful enough to prevent any infiltration, including space bridge lock-ons. It will be our haven away from Cybertron until I can conquer it.”

The planet in question was more or less a barren rock of a world with the Constructions working consistently to make good time in its finishing touches. It held Kaon architecture, and a huge landing pad for Megatron’s vessel. The Harbinger and the Maelstrom were the two current large vessels available for transport. As Megatron’s ship, the Galactica, landed, his two lieutenants were the first to depart the vessel with him trailing behind. They both saw the Vehicon soldiers hard at work helping the Constructions with final touches as well as programming with Soundwave directing them. To their surprise, Megatron’s loyal juggernaut, Lugnut, and one of the few triple changers in their main commander line, Blitzwing, were present. The duo seemed to not regard Starscream or Blackarachnia with high praises against the leader they practically fawned over.

Abruptly, Blitzwing’s crazy persona, the dreadful random monster that occupied his otherwise already split mind, breached through his control and snaked his serpent-like blood red glossa out through his pitch-black faceplates as soon as he saw them. The deadly red demonic optics that was nothing short of a reptile’s glared at them as they approached. He was one of the few mechs both Starscream and Blackarachnia couldn’t command as the anger and craziness would not obey no matter what they did…not to mention how dangerous both sides of his personality proved in contrast to his polite calm one. Very few did Blitzwing fear or listen to and for good reason. When he snarled at them with his crooked, red fanged smile, lubricant saliva dripping from between his clasped shut teeth, Starscream cowered and Blackarachnia kept still with a grimace but otherwise let Megatron pass her so he could deal with the madness that was the mech. Before Megatron could order him properly, a different commander beat him to it.

“Blitzwing, yield!”

Blitzwing’s upper lip trembled with a vicious growl at not being able to torment his least favorite bots, but he didn’t challenge the bot who gave the command, instead faceplates rotating like a spinner to his angry red-faced persona who huffed and crossed his arms pouting. Lugnut merely looked at him with his nine optics’ lid shutters positioned to mimic raised brows but wasn’t bold enough to challenge her either.

“You have got to be kidding me,” muttered Starscream.

The Vehicons observing the encounter in what set Blitzwing off moved aside immediately as a larger version of them stormed through. Megatron just smirked at the appearance of his Vehicon Commander. Starscream kept to the side of Megatron while Blackarachnia wasn’t fazed but didn’t like the other femme out of spite more than fear.

“Matriarch, it has been a while,” Megatron said. “I would recognize the Maelstrom being in pristine condition under its captain.”

The Matriarch tilted her head unenthusiastically as he expected of her and peered between them with a disapproving voice. “Unfortunately...I take it we are to hunker down here, my lord?”

“Until I find a new breach of Optimus’ defenses, we must reconcile and rethink our strategies. Chaar cannot be touched by Autobots, and it’s never going to.”

Lugnut interrupted, “As if any Autobot is stupid enough to go in the middle of a planet full of Decepticons.”

Blitzwing’s calm, blue-faced personality finally appeared and said, “You’d be surprised. Those like Wheeljack and Hot Rod have been known to jump into dangerous situations without any plan or reason. And they are still kicking which either says something about them or says something about us.”

“Nice of your good side to finally join the party, three-face,” Blackarachnia mused.

“Nevertheless,” Megatron said, “this will be our home away from home for the time being. I expect each and every one of you to play nice and keep it operational. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Lord Megatron,” Starscream sneered.

The Matriarch had her servos posed behind her back as she stated bluntly, “Crystal.”

“Blackarachnia, you’ll be in charge of the base for the time being. Matriarch, I know you will handle military operations of the troops. And Starscream,” Megatron hissed, much to the Seeker’s displeasure, “you are my second-in-command, not a king. Act like one, won’t you?”

As Megatron left the group to attend to other matters, Starscream patted the side of his leg growling. He spotted Blitzwing and Lugnut each chuckling to themselves. He approached and pointed in the face of the tan and purple mech. “What are you two laughing at?! Get back to work! That’s an order!”

Instead of pulling out his angry persona, Blitzwing’s face swapped into his demonic randomized one and quickly snapped his jaws at Starscream who pulled back his servo in the nick of time leaning back cautiously with a furious but frightened expression on his faceplates at almost losing a digit. Blitzwing gave a sinister laugh and stood up straight, looking at Starscream with a wicked grin and a snort before leaving to do as he was told.

“Careful, Screamer, wouldn’t want those pretty claws getting chopped off,” The Matriarch scoffed, twiddling her fingers in emphasis.

“Don’t you have others to bother with your so-called commands, Commander? That’s a title for a real officer, not one bred from a lab.”

“At least I can give them out competently.”

Blackarachnia, for once, stood between him and The Matriarch with a scowl facing the femme. “Why don’t you do your job instead of remarking every single hatred that comes through that unfiltered mind? It’s not his fault you’re broken inside like a cheap knockoff toy.”

The Matriarch growled dangerously but Blackarachnia matched her anger with a venomous sneer, boasting a few small fangs. The large Vehicon then replied, “And that’s coming from the lieutenant Megatron only keeps around to babysit. What’s your other use? Keeping him from being lonely?”

Blackarachnia’s spine plating raised but Lugnut suddenly gestured for The Matriarch to leave and nearly pushed Blackarachnia away, pointing at Starscream last. “Both of you are acting like younglings! You, get back to your station! And the two of you, this isn’t your normal territory or chain of command out here. I suggest you get to where you need to go…NOW.”

Starstream was about to retort but Blackarachnia heeded her usual subordinate’s words wisely and dragged the Seeker away despite wanting badly to rip out The Matriarch’s spark. They both left behind the few Decepticons that weren’t the greatest of allies when outright pissed. They could hear Lugnut and a now furious Blitzwing arguing with the large Vehicon in the background.

“Slagger,” snarled Blackarachnia. “And Megatron thought it was a good idea to try and make mere troopers into super soldiers. A monster more like it.”

“That’s Megatron’s Chaar for you,” he said. “This planet will be the greatest shame of the Decepticon empire, letting our fellow troops rot on some wasteland. If I were ruler-”

“Oh, the Decepticons would be dead. Hate to say, Starscream, but while you may surpass Megatron with on-the-fly planning, you could not run an entire army. The Seekers you can lead because they are the same type as you. I’ve seen you against all other various types of bots; you can’t handle those like Lugnut and Blitzwing who are a different class type than you as well as vicious in personality. Your arrogance undermines you all the time and unlike Megatron, everyone knows they can beat you. Megatron’s undisturbed from his throne for a reason.”

Starscream snorted, “As if you’re immune to judgement.”

“I’m not,” she then smirked, “I just know when not to bitch about it normally. But that soldier, I would love to take a hammer to her thick skull.”

“She is rather…uncouth, isn’t she?”

For once, the two were in agreement. As they went to the tallest building on the base, Megatron’s temporary citadel on Chaar and the command center, they passed Decepticons they didn’t encounter a lot outside of special operations. Lockdown was a rarity to spot, so was Skyquake and Dreadwing, aerial twins who were brought in when the battles were too much to handle. They were both some of the largest Seekers known, only rivaled by Jetfire, Jetstorm, and Sky Garry.

The base itself didn’t come off as comforting much but it was definitely a place they could be safe for now. It was decent at most. But they would make do with it with the Autobots bearing down on them on Cybertron. Any safe haven they could afford…

“What do you think about this place overall? Think it will last?”

“Under whom?” The Seeker rolled his optics, “Megatron is over his head with this base. I doubt it will last and if he passes, no one will have the capability to maintain a waste of space.”

Blackarachnia shrugged and grinned, “There’s no place like home.”

“Soon, Cybertron will be home again. That, my dear, I can assure you.”

Chapter Text

Arcee followed Shockwave in search for The Matriarch who had stormed off. The Vehicons Bolt got in contact with mentioned her departure towards the citadel but that offered her little comfort. The Decepticons outside could only point and shrug in the direction of their leader. She saw in the distance The Matriarch pushing anyone in her way out of it including Blitzwing whom she moved with little effort. Running after the Decepticon leader, she tried calling out her name but not even a turn of the head was the response to a desperate cry.

“Matriarch! Matriarch!” Arcee had to move past a few people but politely apologized, “Move, please! Sorry! Matriarch! Bit of an emergency! Need to get through!”

The citadel loomed its harsh shadow by the unfiltered sun as Arcee outpaced Shockwave, who got sidetracked, into the building and ran towards The Matriarch’s throne room. No one dared to stop her or if they wanted to, they weren’t fast enough to try.

“Matriarch! Matri-!” She stopped when she saw the large Vehicon far from her chair but instead near a desk with noticeable claw marks in it. “Matriarch, please, I can expla-!”

“Explain?! Explain what? That-That-That you come here as our enemy and yet, everyone seems to see you as this valiant savior?” The Matriarch started stomping towards her, making Arcee flinch back scared. “You killed my men, you brought the Metal Heads here in your so-called crusade, and despite the audacity of your actions, you are infallible...kind of defeats the purpose of the Decepticons who are so used to punishing each other for such screw ups but they would see to it that you...are...untouched-well, excuse me, princess, but life isn’t that way now, is it?! And yet, here you are! A deemed hero for all the masses to praise with-all-the-answers-to-our-problems!”

Her rant backed Arcee into a corner and she was far too stunned to defend herself when The Matriarch was towering over her like a demon possessed. The red optic visor haunted even the shadows she cast with malice never thought to be witnessed before. Arcee was terrified.

“I slaved to make this empire survivable; I could do it without you before and I can do it without you now. We lived without Megatron for some time, not out of stupidity, right? And the Metal Heads?! Notice how unlike the other worlds as you’ve mentioned, we didn’t really struggle a whole lot, did we? As war machines, we know what we’re doing! We were bred in our hells to do it forever as long as our sparks beat! And no Autobot is going to take that hard work from us no matter what!”

A long, vicious pause was between them Arcee could hear the larger femme’s vents straining from overheating as Arcee was stopped by an arm blocking her path. It was like facing down Megatron on the space bridge when she was with Jack to restore Optimus’ memories. She could see what Megatron meant about her picking fights on anything she deemed a threat to her rule. But there were plenty of flaws in her logic and that was proof The Matriarch’s rage was consuming her mind.

Finally having enough, Arcee scolded her back, “I’m the problem, huh? Not you? You once told me you didn’t care, that you didn’t need help, and yet…here you are. So enraged because you think someone is stealing your glory, showing you up, and thinking that your role is being dismissed. The Decepticons can’t function with a leader who won’t listen to them about their concerns about you! Why do you think they are so heartbroken by your rage, not scared?! Heartbroken! And you would notice that if you were paying attention! But you’re not! They are surviving under you, but you aren’t surviving as a person when you push everyone away who wants to help you!”

“You don’t know me!”

Shaking her head in disbelief, she nearly got into The Matriarch’s face and decided to test Optimus’ theory. “Alright, fine, you want the truth?! Here it is! Yes, I did all that stupid hero crap to make you look bad, steal your throne, and turn everyone against you! Are you fine with that?! Is that what you want to hear?!”

The Matriarch snarled and pushed her arm off the wall that crowded Arcee from moving. “You’re so full of shit, Arcee! It’s not even funny now! I’m perfectly capable-!”

Arcee then said, “No, you’re not! You’re just a scared brute, too afraid of your own mortality…and you’re scaring everyone else too. People love you; I care for you just like Megatron, Shockwave, and so many others. But when are you going to realize that?! When you’re dead?! When you are nothing but a mindless monster and the only person who might be there in the end with you is Shockwave who must watch his own sparkmate get put down whom he couldn’t enjoy the remainder of her time with because she was a bitch?! Yeah, sounds like you have everything worked out around here, you fucking idiot!”

The Matriarch grew tense again, wanting to snap back but someone changed. She raised her servo to point at her, but the words weren’t there. She tried again, now unsure almost. The rage staggered to a simmer. For once, her head bowed, and her servo loosely brushed the edge of her cheek. She looked defeated in her posture. She reached the edge of her throne steps and sat there with her faceplate resting on the backs of her servos intertwined, arms perched by the knees. She made not a single noise, not a sigh of frustration or a scrape of heel against the floor. The dead silence almost made Arcee think she was offline.

Arcee didn’t know what to do. She approached with caution unsure if The Matriarch had suddenly just kicked the bucket or was resting, maybe neither. She wasn’t aiming to be truly harsh, but it was what The Matriarch needed to hear. When she stood in front of the larger femme who was nearly as tall as her sitting alone, she could hear the vents among the chassis coughing. The Matriarch’s system pressure may have gone too high, and she was having a spark attack though she was a bit too tame for the convulsions such a thing usually brought.

“Matriarch?” The purple chassis expanded roughly with a slight shiver in the deflation. Arcee almost put a servo on her helm but refrained not knowing whether she would be attacked or not. She grew insistent in her voice, “Matriarch.”

“What do you want?” A deep, shaken voice muttered.

“Are you okay? Do you need...would you like me to get Shockwave over here? Megatron or-or Soundwave?”

“What do you think?” The hiss was less aggressive than normal but still held an edge. Then she continued, “To let them see in my weakest moment that I’m slowly deteriorating and scared and angry? I don’t think so. I’d rather die than let them see that, and maybe I finally will.”

“You don’t mean that-”

“You have no concept of living in a constant hell. You have no idea what it’s like,” she snarled, her head shooting up, “to feel your mind shatter and be pieced together like a cheap puzzle. My ends are bent, my picture fades in the mirror and all I feel is the urge to kill everyone. It-it started off as an experiment; we were chosen because we were the best, me and a few others. We did as we were told. It wouldn’t hurt, he said. The first lie I ever knew. I don’t know what went wrong but I wanted their blood, my peers’ blood. I kept killing, hunting, and breaking people. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I would blackout sometimes and wake up standing to see a battlefield of corpses all because of me. And then it only got worse.

“My wrath was growing. As the years went by, something wasn’t right. I wasn’t holding back even against my own troops. I didn’t recognize them as anything but problems when I wanted blood, and I murdered them. Shouting matches, breaking bodies, my system pressure going insane were just one thing after the other. And that’s when we...I realized what the experiments did. They destroyed my processor, and the progress was gradual. I can still pull back with Shockwave’s instruction but sometimes, I can’t.”

Arcee took a second to understand the information conveyed before saying, “That’s why you don’t want help. You’re afraid of letting people get close to you and suddenly hurting them. You’re afraid of...hurting me?”

The Matriarch laughed a bit to herself more so as she replied, “You make it sound noble. I’m not that selfless. I’m not afraid of hurting you, especially if you deserve it. I’m afraid that I’ll kill you out of the blue when I get a hold of you. I don’t want to kill as many people as I boast but it’s all that occurs in my mind like a broken track over and over.”

“And Shockwave?”

“When I stopped seeing friend from foe recently, when I killed Bonecrusher and Thunderblast, I snapped at Shockwave...I almost went after him but managed to gain control again. That was the most scared I have ever been seeing him move away from me like that, like I was a monster. That’s when I knew what was happening was not a long phase, not something I could have reprogrammed. I was dying internally and one day, I’ll be a mindless brute and I’ll have to be stopped. That’s the plan Shockwave has for me. We talked about it and agreed that when it happens, I’ll be put offline, and he insisted that he would follow me instead of moving on. I feel a little guilty about that, but you know how he doesn’t like to stray from plans.”

Arcee cracked a smile but dropped it just as quick. “He told me he was going with you because there is nothing left for him. He’s done everything he could think of, done a lot for the Decepticons as well as before that when he was a senator. Loving you was the only thing left for him to do, and you’re the only bot he fell for because you’re just like him and he’s just like you.”

“Broken inside? Heh, he was never good with wording, too awkward but that’s why I liked him when I first met him. The intelligent but stupid scientist. If that’s what he wishes, I don’t think even I can stop him if I tried. He never gave up pursuing me, did you know that?”

The queen shook her head. Shockwave never seemed like the bot who would be attracted to brutal fighters or someone who could kick his ass yet The Matriarch was the perfect opposite to him.

“We met when he arrived on the Nemesis after Megatron destroyed your base. I stayed mostly with training troops so that’s why you rarely saw me, not enough for you to learn my name at least. He hated me,” she chuckled. “My unruly behavior under Megatron irked him so that he started wondering why I was like this. His obsession in taming me became his undoing because no one ever defied him like I did. In a way, he taught me how to trust someone other than myself and I taught him how to let go. Then, of course, this diagnosis occurred and ever since, I just shut everyone away afraid of what I could do with no one capable of stopping me. Shockwave helps me, and I thought that’s all I needed was him to carry on but...”

“But now you have doubts,” Arcee finished. “I’m not afraid to get hurt, Matriarch. I’ve gotten hurt more than you think, I’ve hurt people too, maybe not to your degree but I have my demons. Trust me, this queen was no princess growing up and that humbled me a lot from others who got to live without hardships. Dancer, slave, whatever you wish to call me, that held plenty of pain most people never saw because all they looked at was a girl with a body. They never saw the mind behind the pretty face.”

The Matriarch seemed to soften her posture, relaxed and stable. Arcee gently took her servo into her own and watched the claws slowly cover the digits afraid of damaging her. She waited a few minutes before speaking again to give the Vehicon a moment of peace.

“I know you hate when I bring it up, but I will say what I originally came to Chaar to do one last time and I will hold your answer as final no matter what. No more convincing you, no more pressure from me. The reason I came was to simply have Chaar and Cybertron reunited. I wanted what I thought was best. But I see now my best might not be best for everyone. Do what you feel is right. I won’t hold anything you want against you. I would just like to hear it from you one last time, and then I’ll leave Chaar and you in peace.”

The Decepticon leader remained silent in thought. Arcee knew how hard the decision was. Cyclonus made it very clear it could be harmful to merge entirely but she also knew some of the Decepticons yearned to go home. Still, she wasn’t the ruler of the planet therefore she had no jurisdiction.

“I will do it,” The Matriarch suddenly said.

“W-What?” The answer was faster than she anticipated and also not what she thought it was going to be given the other femme’s past determination to keep Chaar separate.

The Vehicon scoffed amused, “I said I will let it happen, you idiot.”

She ignored the jab, believing she did earn it for her attitude earlier. “What changed your mind?”

“You were right yesterday. I may not like it, but my Decepticons should be happy over my own desires and if I’m going out anyway, whatever entails we will manage. We are Decepticons. We survive...just don’t make me regret it, princess.”

The playful tone made Arcee grin like mad and they both started breaking down laughing. Just then, Shockwave burst into the room and stopped in his tracks at the unusual sound. The Matriarch stood up at the same time, chest expanding with soft breathing as her sparkmate approached. She started to gesture to apologize for her behavior but there was still a confliction Arcee saw. The Matriarch wasn’t used to such a remark if she wasn’t wrong. The brief glance towards Arcee made the blue femme nod in assurance.

Shockwave calmly whispered, “Matriarch, are you...?”

“I...I’m sorry for the drama I caused. I’ve been running from my other emotions, always focusing on the anger I felt for a while thinking that I was right when all I was doing was hurting everyone around me like always. I didn’t mean...I didn’t want to be a burden to you-”

“A burden how? Matriarch, the point of a relationship is to find solutions together even if there aren’t any. You’re going to hurt people, but that will never make you a bad person. Everyone here knows you are trying, and they will face whatever is thrown their way; all they ask is for the chance to help you make the Decepticon empire even better than it already is. How is that a burden when instead, I see it more like an opportunity to welcome and manage change?”

He then pressed the tip of his helm against hers which she nearly purred at. Arcee didn’t dare interrupt the exchange, proudly watching them reconcile.

“So, you made the agreement finally?” Shockwave asked.

The Matriarch still kept her humor but was quick to snap, “Boy, you really wanted me to make amends with Cybertron too, huh? Scheming bastards.”

The scientist defended himself with a small quip. “It’s...not a bad idea and as your second-in-command, isn’t it my duty to recommend some advice?”

She shook her head in pleasant disbelief. “Alright, I’ll take your advice. If anything backfires, I will kill both of you.”

Arcee grimaced, “Please don’t.”

“I’m joking. It’s not going to be for quite some time when I lose my mind so no harm, no foul.”

“That...doesn’t make me feel any better about it,” the queen stated uncomfortably.

The Matriarch responded, “Welcome to my world.”

“More like welcome to mine,” Shockwave interrupted with an amused tone, giving his sparkmate a small tilt of the helm accompanied by his audial fins moving to the side which both femmes merely shrugged at.

------------------------------------

The rock vipers raised their heads to stare at their new owner in a mixture of intrigue and warning. The two up high on the tank ledges flickered their tongues while the third on a warming rock just sat there bobbing slightly with locked optics.

“They aren’t as bad as they were earlier,” Bolt said confidently with his servos on his hips.

“Then explain why your servo’s bleeding,” Sunstorm sneered.

The cyberbiologist lifted his right servo and dangled it, leaving a blue handprint on his hip armor and his servo dripping with a few puncture marks on his palm and the backside. He stared at it before shrugging, “It’s just a scratch.”

Slipstream covered Nighthawk’s optics even though the youngling peered over her servo easily and supported a look of horror. Starscream and Blackout were neutral slash concerned about how the Vehicon wasn’t reacting like a normally sane person would upon being struck thrice by angered vipers.

“That is not a scratch-!”

“It depends on how you look at it-”

“-that is you bleeding out and-dude, you’re going to have to have Pharma look at that! It’s infected!”

“It’s not infected-!”

“It is! It-it totally is!”

“You’re being ridiculous! It’s not that bad!”

When Megatron passed moving a box full of tools and placing it on a table nearby, Sunstorm immediately took to asking, “Megatron, is that bad or not?”

The warlord peered at the wound and narrowed his optics watching it drip. After a moment of silence, he looked into Bolt’s optic visor in all seriousness. “I think you should get that looked at.”

Bolt waved their concerns and Sunstorm’s smugness with a scoff, “Fuck you guys!”

Arcee, The Matriarch, and Shockwave all walked in to see the commotion of the Seekers trying to gang up on Bolt to drag him to Pharma as his servo shifted from matte black to something darker. Arcee exchanged looks between the two beside her before letting The Matriarch step in who immediately yelled, “ENOUGH!”

The Decepticons all looked towards her guilty despite not doing anything bad. She stomped up to Bolt who dared to not move before she roughly grabbed his servo and squeezed around the puncture wounds. His small cry of discomfort had her peer back up at him disappointed.

“Oh, did that hurt? I would let you kill yourself by not treating it soon but I’m feeling a bit lenient today. So, either you go see Pharma or I amputate it here and now. Your choice but just know you are not dying today. Is that clear?” The Decepticon leader hissed. When Bolt barely moved, she grew impatient again and tensed, nearly crushing his servo in her own. “I said...GO GET YOURSELF MEDICAL ATTENTION!”

Bolt flinched back and scurried out of the lab towards Pharma’s medbay next to it. The Matriarch had a proud stance but when she looked at Arcee, the blue femme had a servo on her chest wincing. Shockwave said nothing. Tilting her helm deadpanned at the weary expression of her fellow leader and lack of response of her sparkmate, The Matriarch gestured openly almost asking silently what she did wrong.

Arcee quickly retorted, “You did...better. Definitely room for improvement but a good start. Less shouting maybe?”

“Now you’re asking too much, Autobot.”

Arcee looked at Shockwave but to her surprise, the scientist couldn’t do anything but say, “Time and patience is one’s greatest ally.”

Megatron smiled between the three. “How goes things?”

“The Matriarch here has agreed to reunite Chaar and Cybertron’s trade and travel,” Arcee said. “We’re good.”

The scarred Vehicon huffed, “I’ll get you a treaty for our agreement while we wait for the snake charmer to get fixed up. Wait here. Starscream! You’re helping me! Get off your aft and do something useful like finding my data pads please!”

The Seeker in question gave a miserable sigh as he was trailed by The Matriarch to a different section of the lab. Megatron gave Arcee a thumbs up as Moonhunter behind him yowled pleasantly. The rock vipers in the tank reacted to the sound and stared down at the Nitrotiger next with their tongues flickering again.

“Arcee,” Shockwave immediately asked, “while we’re waiting, why don’t you help me with a few things as well? Megatron, you are more than welcome to join us.”

The couple acknowledged the invitation and followed him as he activated a ground bridge back to his chambers in the citadel, the incubation room where the Drillers were resting. The grubs perked up upon sensing their master and gave clicking, bug-like noises as Shockwave reached into the tank to grab one.

“Although I miss Doomsday and the relationship we had, I believe you were right to kill her in the end. As much as I myself don’t like it, nothing can last forever. I had to think when Cybertron was slowly rebuilding itself ‘how would Doomsday fit into the new world?’ All she knew was to kill others and obey me, but it is far easier than you think for those types of commands to get jumbled with the wrong gestures and wording. I think I ingrained violence into her pattern of living too deep; the results of a new Cybertron living with her would have been disastrous.”

The grub he held coiled around his right arm and rested its head upon his servo. Having small barbs made it look defenseless but while Shockwave stroked its back, the panels of its body shivered and revealed briefly more barbs hidden beneath. Seeing the scientist act so gentle with it was endearing in its own way.

“Would you like to feed them? They had their nap and every time they wake, they desire food again. In the other room, there’s a crate of scraplets. Please bring them to me.”

As he lowered the grub back into the tank, Megatron and Arcee got a glimpse of Shockwave’s stockpile of Driller food. Cyber-bugs, defanged scraplets and a few species from Chaar were sitting in captive tanks. As much as Arcee found distaste in such creatures being raised to be eaten by another, it was the way of life and Driller grubs needed all the nutrients and Energon they could get. She knew one day the room would no longer house such prey but by then, the Drillers would be targeting something bigger to satisfy their hunger, and she already pitied whatever they were going to go after.

Megatron grabbed a crate of scraplets that tried to hiss at him with their rotating jaws only to have no teeth seen whatsoever, only the gears within the sides of the mouth turning uselessly. Bringing the crate to Shockwave, he opened them and noticed they couldn’t fly anymore either.

Shockwave saw his brief confusion and replied, “I made sure all basis of escape and harm were nullified. Maybe when the Drillers grow older will I let the scraplets move around more.”

He grabbed one of the scraplets by the head and handed it to Arcee. She took it hesitantly as he gestured at the tank. Peering down at the creature, it made a mouthing motion of biting though no damage could be done if it tried. All the Drillers were awake now upon hearing the scraplets’ noises. Some were even poking near the top space of the tank trying to search for their prey.

“All you have to do is drop them in and they will take care of the rest. Try not to put your servo in close. While hungry, they can have some difficulties distinguishing prey from the hand that feeds them. It is not their fault, just their eagerness drowns out their young ability to see master from prey.”

“Sounds like you have a lot more experience with losing body parts with things like this than you let on,” Arcee mocked.

Shockwave bit back in monotone, “How else did I learn about Driller eating habits without a few accidents? Doomsday was hardly a calm eater when she was excited...as a few bites to the servo can attest. I still have the scars.”

He extended his only servo and Arcee saw the corner of the palm had healed scuff marks that used to be deep. Invisible to the naked eye at most angles, the same as the fusion scar of his upper arm and the cannon he now supported. Faint but not nonexistent. One of the knuckles had a darker edge where it appeared a tooth or something else just as sharp had punctured the sensitive joint just beneath it. It hid its scar well. He was right; no point in blaming a Driller grub excited for its meal for the accidents that followed during feeding times.

Arcee hovered the squirming scraplet over the tank and watched the Drillers, despite the lack of optics, stare directly at her servo quietly like they were mesmerized. Only the scraplet made is whirring sounds. When she released it, the scraplet didn’t even touch the soil. At least two Driller grubs viciously snagged it mid-fall and flailed, a nasty crunching sound and Energon splatter followed. She couldn’t even describe the cries the poor little monster made. It made her pity the thing even though scraplets were a pest. The several other grubs got bits and pieces but the two hogging their prey refused to uncool to share.

“Brutal, I know, but I have no alternative. Then again, why would a scraplet’s life matter to you yet you’ve killed many if not more Decepticons?” Shockwave mused.

Arcee said slightly stunned, “I was just not expecting it. I don’t care for the scraplets…but that’s unsettling.”

Megatron laughed, “Imagine when they get as big as me how dangerous they will be.”

“I would rather not.”

Megatron took a scraplet and tossed it into the death tank, watching with merely a raised brow as a grub made an aggressive squeal and whipped around from its position to snag and crush the creature with no room for escape. They placed four more in, the only survivor a scraplet running around the tank with part of its abdomen ripped out and a slow crawling grub after it knowing it would either succumb to its injuries or it would catch it.

In the bots’ distraction, Shockwave placed a Radiant Core and a data pad on the edge of the tank, drawing their attention from the feeding frenzy. Arcee took the Radiant Core while Megatron handled the data pad bewildered.

Megatron held up the data pad. “What is this?”

“Bolt’s request for cyberbiology texts of Chaar. He said he lost his copy beforehand. I was going to hand it to him but then he got bitten three times in a row trying to handle his new pets,” answered Shockwave with a tired tone.

Arcee shook her head with a scowl. “We are not taking those rock vipers across the galaxy with us. Can you watch over them just until we get everything straightened out with the other worlds?”

“I can.”

“Good, one less thing to worry about.”

Arcee examined the grub closer to her when Shockwave suddenly said, “I would never think the day would come where I would appreciate a former Autobot’s help, for everything you have accomplished and for perhaps saving The Matriarch from a spiral downward even among her current state. With Cybertron united with Chaar and the ability to go back to the planet indefinitely, we can focus our efforts into working on her health now that the main complaint of the Decepticons has been fixed. It will certainly lower her stress level and allow me to investigate non-violative ways to counter the progress of her failing psyche. I know I can’t stop it entirely, but I wish to at least try something that will extend our time peacefully together if possible, something that won’t hurt and won’t have any repercussions.”

She touched his arm and he peered at her with a dim optic as she simply said, “I believe you will find something. Just remember to spend most of your time with her, not the experiments. She needs you.”

Shockwave began to nod slowly, audial fins twitching before he grew more confident. “That is most logical. I will. Thank you, Arcee.”

She smiled at him, genuine comfort to be around him surged through her like never before and she would have never believed herself that she would trust the likes of Shockwave. As she relished this newfound feeling, they watched the Driller grubs consume their prey before leaving once they had enough, and Shockwave needed to get back to work.

Walking through the base, prepared to see it for one last time before departure, they peered at the content Decepticons. Between the Metal Head attack and now, the Decepticons had gone from decently happy to very proud. The Constructicons and many others were conversing far more than what she had seen before. Several skull gems were being traded with interesting stories...some exaggerated while others remained on point. The difference between Autobots and Decepticons was now fixed on a single humorous factor: the latter didn’t leave out the darker details of their victories. Given it was against an enemy they all shared, it was fine but very colorful as Arcee noticed overhearing a few of them. They spotted Bolt who had Moonhunter with him and a fixed-up servo with patchwork. Arcee let out a loud whistle which caught his attention as well as several others.

“Bolt!”

The Vehicon came running towards them then slowed with an open arm gesture. “What up, bitches?!”

Megatron swiftly sneered as a warning, but Arcee ignored the shrewd nickname by handing over the data pad from Shockwave. “A present fit for a cyberbiologist. Top that.”

He gasped out loud in excitement. “You didn’t! Yes!”

“Don’t lose this copy. I doubt Shockwave will be pleased if you do.”

“Shockwave can suck it...I don’t actually mean that, but I do. Besides, he’ll give me another if I ask politely. Worse comes to worst, I can always bribe him by-”

“Bolt,” Arcee interrupted with annoyance and disappointment, “don’t do anything you’ll regret, or you won’t come back a second time. Got it?”

He gripped the data pad close to his chest like a child scolded. “Point understood, Master.”

Megatron tried his best not to laugh as Moonhunter looked between them bewildered. Arcee rolled her optics before addressing them both. “As soon as The Matriarch gives us the signed consensual form, we’re going home but I would like to-”

Her commlink went off like mad and she grew fearful, looking towards Megatron right beside her. When she then peered at Bolt, the other mech knew immediately what to do. He waved Megatron to follow him, but the warlord refused and grew irked at the sudden persistence.

“Can I have a moment, Megatron?” Arcee asked kindly.

“For what? I doubt whatever you have to say is not already known. Why the secrecy? Are we not partners in this?” He growled.

“It’s a little more complicated than that. Some people just, um, don’t like to be overheard by others when they contact you. Would you like it if our private conversations when we’re separate were to be heard by Optimus or others?”

The warlord grew even more suspicious. “That is different. You are talking to someone you shouldn’t be. Why else would your weird behavior always come up on every world we’ve been in so far? Who did you meet on Velocitron?”

The commlink continued to go off until she bounced it in irritation before scolding him back. “Why can’t I have some friends who I don’t have to share with you?! I’m sorry, was that an unspoken rule that I have to tell you who I befriended along the way when we got together? I feel like I’m missing something?”

“Uh oh, sire and carrier are arguing,” Bolt sang to Moonhunter with a bland tip of the helm. He then jumped in when he saw Megatron’s expression turn bitter. “Megatron, I don’t know who it is either, but they haven’t disrupted anything so far, so why don’t we step back, huh?”

Megatron still glared at Arcee when the commlink sounded again but forced himself to calm down. He replied somewhat aggressively, “Fine, just do what you have to do then.”

She booted the call again. Arcee said back as they walked off, “You make it sound like I’m cheating on you. As if anyone else could replace you? Come on, be reasonable.”

All she got was a small throwaway wave by her sparkmate as Bolt dragged Megatron by his arm from delving further into a hole among the situation. Once they were a fair distance away with the Vehicon seemingly telling his former leader off, Arcee answered the third blaring signal.

“What is it?!”

Silos didn’t sound too pleased, but she didn’t care. “If I didn’t know any better, you’re trying to avoid me. What? Did I interrupt something?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, you did and now Megatron thinks I’m seeing someone behind his back!”

“Huh, that’s a rare accusation for me. I’m usually too busy to be fooling around with other people’s mates let alone being framed for doing so. Last time I ever did that was several years ago on Andellor with a stunning-”

She whined, “You are not helping, Silos. What do you want now? The schematics?”

The Metal Head’s voice perked up immediately. “Why, yes actually. Although I usually send someone to collect, I would rather not in this case primarily because Decepticons are a lot more trigger-happy than the people I normally meet. So, rendezvous with me out in the wastelands near the south caverns, and do tell your sparkmate to let off some steam. Just suggest he thinks of you, hahahahahahaha!”

Arcee wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn’t know what she expected from someone so devious besides the obvious. Why she thought he wouldn’t take the chance to be obscene was on her.

She cut transmission and without uttering a single word to Megatron or Bolt walked out the base’s boundaries. The south caverns weren’t as far out compared to most other areas on Chaar and even they weren’t incredibly far against the entire percentage of the planet unexplored. The rainbow Energon patches comprised of all natural variants were passed by even though the ditches they could be found in lit up the usually dark landscape, and it contributed to the curiosity of what the rest of the world held.

When she finally reached the caverns, Silos was hunkered on top of his ship with his tail curled across his arms and legs in a loaf sitting position. He grimaced peering up at the dim nebula that could be seen during the day. His neck and head pressed inward on his body and he looked like a house cat seething in harsh judgement. His ears were pressed against his helmet.

“Not having a good time, huh?” Arcee grinned.

The captain looked down her with a crooked sneer, his eyes slanted with disdain and a dark yellow glow, but he kept some of his humor regardless. “Just peachy…though I would like to get off this cold cesspool of Cybertron’s shadow soon if you don’t mind.”

Arcee pondered, “It’s not cold.”

He released an arm from his curled-up form and pointed at his skin. It was only then that she realized he registered temperatures different than she did. What she barely felt as cold, it was quite a chill to him. The direct arctic temperatures of Earth could level her kind exposed to it for too long compared to the cold of vacant space, so he was susceptible to immediate frostbite without the proper defenses under certain environments. He probably could withstand far more than a human, but his reptilian nature still contained a downside overall.

This time she did roll her optics…and rightfully, the Metal Head called her out on it. “Do I mock you for having to rely on armor to protect you when most organic species you deem inferior can naturally survive without it? No? Mmhmm, poor choice of words for a mind I thought was more intelligent than the pests that pollute this planet.”

“Lot of words there, buddy.”

Silos frowned at her but brushed it off with a huff as she climbed up to sit beside him and dangled her legs over the edge, swinging them playfully. He looked back up at the wavering nebula, ears perking slightly.

“So, the schematics? Did your mediocre new friends help you or did you get it on your own?” Silos asked.

She pulled the item in question out of her subspace and raised a brow. “And it matters why? I got you it as always as your personal delivery girl. When do I get paid, boss?”

Silos chuckled, “Your services are well appreciated. The reward will come soon, just a matter of preparing it. One thing you should know about me is I always repay the loyal unless you have something else you want in particular?”

She paused and blushed, “I was only joking considering you said I owe you for…well, Tigressa’s death. I wouldn’t think you’d repay me at all.”

“I’ve grown to forgive you more,” he said in an unknown tone, his accent deeper than usual. “Who knows? I might just give you an opportunity of a lifetime to show your true self for everyone to see as I do now.”

Arcee heard the tone shift to an undistinguishable emotion. He sounded proud and she couldn’t help but smile back at him. “You think I’m that good?”

He made a brief snort and held his grin. Then he said, “Oh, undoubtedly so. Cybertron will see soon enough your power against the Metal Head legion and together, we will be there to witness the triumph of redemption as our enemies fall. To see it firsthand by someone other than I will be quite fitting. I don’t care about being praised myself. I just want to see them die, our mistakes rectified after being subjected to torment and humiliation. Together we stand, divided they will fall.”

Arcee was impressed by the words the ex-Rozarian said. He was a philosopher in his spare time, Arcee was sure of that. “You sound so confident. When the Autobots were against the Decepticons, we didn’t have that. At most, we assumed we were going to die so we fought like we were. Optimus and Megatron, the leaders of each, fought their hardest yet still couldn’t kill each other in the end.”

“A battle of two soldiers may not define a world filled with war entire but the outcome between them can change its future. We are the future, Arcee, unstoppable and unclear because no one can stop who they don’t understand.”

Arcee nodded and Silos undid himself from his loaf position to give an animalistic stretch with rear and tail scrunching upward with his arms pawing the roof first then his legs extending as far as they could go as he puffed out his chest and held himself up to keep balance. Standing up and brushing himself off, he brought his clawed hands together and cracked them upward, showing off his muscles with the stretching of skin against his heavy-set body structure. He smirked as he found her staring at him unsure but intrigued.

Silos remarked humorously, “Evolved from animals as did most other organic species. Made do with what I was given. What did you expect?”

Arcee said nothing and shrugged to play off getting caught out of her curiosity. He took the schematics with an amused smirk, enjoying the embarrassment like fine wine. She eventually muttered, “Shut up.”

“I wasn’t laughing until now,” he cackled, flinching away when she gave a punch against his abdomen, the only place she could reach sitting. His demeanor changed to a frivolous warning, “Ah, watch it.”

“Get out of here, Silos, before I tip off the Decepticons of an intruder on Chaar,” she laughed, shaking her head stubbornly.

The Metal Head snickered before snapping his claws together. “Oh, and one more thing. I don’t know why they want to take it out, but Junkion is on their hit list, presumably because it is rumored to have a very large oil reserve amid the crumbled planet’s stockpile of junk. Best to get rid of them just in case they try to steal it for their own nefarious purposes. Oil is useful to more than just you, you know.”

“And do you know the Metal Head Leader has been using your link to target me as well?” Arcee said, suddenly growing unfriendly.

“Of course,” he replied casually, “why do you think I suggest it in the first place? They bring out their forces to ambush you and you stop them. How else can a victory be secured if there’s no one to fight?”

She wasn’t pleased by the answer but sighed, “Alright then, we’ll play the game of war and I hope the Metal Head Leader knows that before my job is done uniting the other worlds, I plan on killing them. I’ll end their reign once and for all, so they won’t harm anyone ever again or die trying.”

Silos smirked, “Good, I’m counting on it."

--------------------------

“We’ll miss you. It was an honor to have you back, Lord Megatron,” Lugnut said.

The warlord waved off the compliment. “Please, you don’t have to praise me anymore.”

Blitzwing responded, “True, but can’t help but give respect to the mech who liberated us...well, me at least.”

Soundwave nodded, giving a pat of reassurance to Bolt’s arm when the Vehicon gave a pleased gesture. Shockwave pet Moonhunter’s belly before leaving him alone to address the two former Decepticons. “We are all going to miss the old times, but I actually prefer you as you are now. It is quite the honor indeed, and promise you’ll keep surprising people with the humility you have accumulated.”

Megatron smirked as a few of the others laughed. “Always the comedian, Shockwave. I’ll admit I like what I have become. It feels refreshing not fighting for my own person conquests and with a reason beyond selfishness. It’s like-”

“-we are giving back what we took?” Bolt finished. “It’s starting anew with a greater purpose.”

The triple changer shifted to his crazy personality with a cackle. “You sound even crazier than me! Hahahahahahahaha! But we do what we feel is most welcoming, like I welcome those monsters into my-!”

“The point Blitzwing is trying to make is: your help in securing our world, albeit small and barely considered one, means more than you realize,” Lugnut stated. “We’re proud of you, both of you. I’ve never served under anyone finer. Good luck out there.”

The others agreed and gave their praise. A handshake and a brief last-minute side hug was given to Soundwave by Megatron who whispered, “Thanks for being my friend even after everything I put you through.”

The spymaster peered at him before tilting his head in consideration. Megatron let go of his arm as he saluted and walked away. Lugnut and Blitzwing had their own styles of departure with the bomber nearly toppling him trying to replicate the same hug and Blitzwing bowing in both his normal and crazy forms though his hotheaded personality came out when his partner walked into him. The last to leave was Shockwave.

“I hope you find all your answers and we’ll be here awaiting a visit or two with Arcee. Give her my thanks too.”

When Shockwave finally left, the two felt whole and stood there with newfound comfort. Just then, The Matriarch walked past Megatron and Bolt without realizing and walked backwards once she noticed. Moonhunter she ignored on the table. Pointing with the data pad with her signed consent of a treaty, she made the quick comment, “What happened to Annoyance Number 2?”

Bolt looked up from his rock viper tank as he fed them and laid an elbow on the table with a scoff, “We’re an annoyance to you? Wait, who’s Annoyance Number 1?”

All the Decepticon leader did was place a servo on her hip which made her fellow Vehicon grow offended.

“What did I do to earn that title?!”

“Am I Annoyance Number 3?” Megatron muttered.

“No, you’re just Megatron to me,” she said before addressing Bolt, “and although Arcee did get on my nerves, I didn’t have to baby her on how not to bleed out everywhere!”

“So, I’m considered more annoying because of that?! What type of system are you using to measure this bogus chart? That’s lame!”

The Matriarch nearly leaned over him to emphasize their difference in height while growling, “My planet, my opinion.”

With Bolt forced to lean back and almost face-to-face touching with his superior, he gave his response in a meek voice. “Got it.”

When she moved away, he realized too soon that he was leaning too far and couldn’t regain balance before falling. Megatron just watched the exchange amused until he was handed the data pad with all the specs for the treaty.

“I don’t mean to be rude but I have to look into the damage those Metal beasts caused in their short-lived invasion. Give this to Arcee and tell her we’re even...and don’t do anything else stupid here. I already have enough idiots roaming about who test my nerves. Some peace and quiet, if you don’t mind.”

The warlord nodded smugly, “Message will be relayed without failure.”

“Good. Take care, you two, and the cat, I suppose. And Bolt, get your aft off my floor.”

The cyberbiologist used the nearest table to help himself up with a grunt as The Matriarch left them. He growled, “Moonhunter is lounging on a table and she says ‘get your aft off my floor.’ On your floor…how about I stick my-”

“Okay, enough,” Megatron said.

Moonhunter lazily lied on the table still barely moving amid all the banter which Bolt glared at the Nitrotiger deadpanned for zero reaction to his predicament. He was about to say something…

“Don’t start with Moonhunter either.”

Bolt slouched in place posed against the table keeping him from falling again.

“Yeah, don’t harass my baby!” Arcee’s voice startled him, and he flopped back down to the ground with a medium-sounding thud. He peered up to see her with her fists on her hips and a grin. Moonhunter shot up with a yawn and the queen left him to stay down there to pet her Nitrotiger.

He huffed, “Why must you all torment me so?”

“Because it is funny,” laughed Arcee. “So, where’s the Matriarch?”

Megatron merely gave her the data pad with The Matriarch’s signature. The wordless gesture had Arcee suspicious he still wasn’t happy from the previous fight they had but she ignored it in favor of skimming over the details. Unlike the other worlds, she knew The Matriarch would be extremely picky to keep her Decepticons from harm against any former Autobots that might be seeking revenge.

“So, we’re good to go?”

Bolt nodded as he got back on his pedes entirely. “Yep! We are all set and ready to go back to Cybertron when you are.”

“Then let’s say our goodbyes and blow this joint,” she smirked.

Megatron finally smiled back, “The sooner, the better.”

Arcee watched him closely as he walked by her with an alarming neutral expression. It threw her off greatly. But she couldn’t resist the urge to know what Megatron was thinking.

“Don’t you trust me?” Seeing him pause in the quiet lab and almost seemingly peering around like he was lost or looking for something, Arcee walked up to him regardless of if there could be consequences. “What is it that upsets you so?”

The blood-red optics of the mech met hers and his brows furrowed with a mixture of emotions she couldn’t read because they seemed entangled. He sneered, “Do you really wish to know? This secrecy of yours, you leaving under suspicious circumstances, and the lies I sense through our sparkbond. The question should be: do you not trust me? What is so mysterious that I can’t know, shouldn’t know? That’s all I ask. I don’t care about what it is or if it’s the worst thing imaginable. I just want to know. Why is that so hard, Arcee?”

Bolt butted in, “Some secrets are best left as secrets, Megatron, sometimes for the greater good.”

“This doesn’t concern you, Bolt! Arcee? Tell me. What does it entail worth risking my life for?”

Arcee rubbed her neck and licked her lips trying to figure out a way to come clean without jeopardizing Silos’ deal with her. Even if the Metal Head was on better terms with her, there was no guarantee he would be lenient in the long run.

“It...it has to do with the Metal Heads,” she finally blurted out. Megatron’s peeved grimace was not something she wanted to dwell on for too long. “I...I...um, I met someone who...”

“Yes?”

“I met someone who knows...” Arcee hissed before giving up. What Silos didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him but, in her mind, she never agreed that she had to tell Megatron it was one of their own. She sighed, “Alright, the truth is I met an informant on the Metal Head legion on Velocitron. That bellbat I chased accidentally led to an encounter with him and when he gathered hints of the monsters I was on the tail of, he knew about them, said he traveled to Velocitron to escape them when...they destroyed his own world. He found my pursuit noble and has been helping me ever since but only wants to talk to me. I thought about letting you and Bolt in on the secret from the beginning, but I didn’t want to think any less of me for getting help.”

Megatron was silent, possibly the most conflicted he had ever looked but she couldn’t tell whether it was a solicitous conflict or a malicious one. “So…that’s how you knew the Metal Heads were tracking you. He had past experiences with them, and you didn’t think that information would have been useful to know?! If you asked me to pretend I didn’t know, I would have obliged but this is not how you create trust.”

He waved a digit at her. “I’m more disappointed than anything, Arcee, very much so.”

“I’m sorry-”

When Megatron sneered before making an expression of disbelief then a defeated sigh, he shook his head and closed his optics. “I’m…damn, I want to trust you, but I don’t know after this. If I ask you to promise never to lie to me again like this, will you even uphold that like when I asked on Velocitron? And Caminus? Is this going to be a regular thing?!”

“Technically, don’t you have secrets still too? You don’t see me prodding you about-”

“Not remotely the same thing. My secrets are of my past, not my present actions. You say you kept it away from me to protect me, but you fail to realize keeping secrets can be just as dangerous. I’ll allow this to pass as long as I am occasionally informed of some tip-offs but if you wish to keep a majority of that knowledge, I won’t hold it against you. Just be weary of what exactly you hold back and what you reveal to us.”

Arcee bowed her head in her own disappointment as Megatron approached. A tip of his index claw tilted her head to make her look at him and his brief sadness.

“I don’t want to invade your privacy but at the same time, I cannot ignore what could be a link to crucial information. Please, I don’t want to be your enemy. Just let me be a part of your plan as partners. I’ll keep the secret, but I want to help you as best I can though it will only be as hard as you make it. So, can you trust me?”

Her brows sank in self-pity at her own rashness but as long as Silos wasn’t revealed, she could still not risk their safety. She had to be right in that regard. She would prove she could still keep the balance but knew Megatron was right too. Keeping him out of the loop entirely was hurting him. She refused to hurt him anymore. Silos was just going to have to get over that.

Lamely, she rested her helm crest against his thigh before she felt a servo on her back. “Tell me I’m an idiot like The Matriarch.”

“Okay,” Bolt said bluntly, “you’re an idiot.”

The ex-Decepticon leader shot him a side glance and he shrugged in response.

“She asked.”

Megatron picked her up and sat her on his shoulder. “Arcee, we function the best as a team. I don’t mean to get on your case but in this grueling time, we need to stick together. Informant or not, you are the queen, just have to make sure you make the decisions that benefit everyone. I’ll stand by you to the end, just as I promised all this time since the isle.”

She slowly grew back her smile and readjusted to perch on his shoulder instead. “No more secrets.”

“Finally, now I don’t feel so bad about my part,” the Vehicon muttered.

Snarling, the warlord wasn’t entirely surprised. “You knew too?!”

“I caught her speaking to him, yes. I didn’t tell you because it was her choice above all…and I didn’t want to get punched.”

Megatron moaned and pinched the ridge of his nose plate. “You are both idiots, but I have to live with you so whatever stupidity brings, I guess.”

Bolt pointed at him with a scoff, “Your terms of endearment might just melt my spark one day.”

Arcee laughed, “I think we can all say we’ve made stupid decisions at this point.”

“Some more than others…” Megatron chastised, peering at Bolt, “…like keeping the head of Megatronus Prime?”

Bolt gestured wildly, “He doesn’t need it now, does he?! As if that’s the worst thing between all of us, Mr. I-Drank-The-Blood-Of-A-God-Of-Chaos-To-Be-Indestructible, fucking sociopath!”

They all went silent for a second before bursting out laughing, unable to stay mad at each other any longer. Among their rabble, Moonhunter awoke with his tongue out ever so slightly with dazed optics. Seeing the three choking on their humor, the Nitrotiger groaned and went back to sleep.

“So,” Megatron started, clapping his servos together enthusiastically, “I say it’s time to say our goodbyes and pay our friends back on Cybertron a visit. Unlike the others, Chaar has the coordinates to Cybertron. We don’t need to wait.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

‐‐----‐----------------

Haywire and Scythe waiting for the command to activate the space bridge and bring their team back from Chaar. Grimlock and Predaking were snoozing by each other with Bumblebee resting on top of both sideways lulled by their breathing like a massage chair.

“I would think they would have contacted us by now,” the green mech said.

Haywire peered at his sparkmate with interest. “You think they can’t handle the Decepticons’ territory?”

“No, I think they can but if something happened with the Metal Heads and The Matriarch wasn’t prepared-”

“Are you kidding me? That femme has optics in the back of her head! If something were to get the jump on her, she’ll make a ruckus before she goes down, assuming she does at all! Megatron’s greatest monster…a mere clone, that’s still scary to me.”

“Should we try contacting them?” Scythe asked, diverting the topic back to the matter at hand.

Haywire paused before shaking his head. “Knowing Arcee, she’s probably not in the mood to be bothered right now, assuming The Matriarch is driving her up a wall if not already.”

They began walking across the crater of the Space Bridge Nexus with Moon Base One and Moon Base Two visible in the sky. Their friends were either recharging or working in their respective jobs aside from Bumblebee and the two beasts. Speaking of whom, Haywire sneered amused seeing Bee now sunk into the bend of both leaders’ clashing backsides. He sat at a very odd angle. Grimlock was lying on his side while Predaking was curled inward with his wing covering his face.

“Remember when we were enemies? Seeing something like that would have been unbelievable, laughable maybe if a bot were to come up to you and say three different faction leaders would be friends.”

“Well, look at us,” Scythe added, “an ex-Decepticon spy and an Autobot supervising assistant. Megatron and Arcee? A murderous Decepticon leader and an Autobot lieutenant. I heard even Bumblebee has a thing for the former Decepticon medic, Knockout. When we put aside our differences, that’s when it’s the easiest to realize there aren’t many to begin with. We aren’t all the same; we never will be but that’s what makes everyone so special...like you.”

Haywire grinned, “You’ve been saving that line for a while, huh? What did you think about me when you first saw me?”

The other mech gestured to the side, “Prideful, assured, but loyal. I’ll admit I didn’t like you at first but watching you with Arcee made me appreciate you a lot more. Then all that effort to not just get her back but rescue me and our friends, well, that was unusual, and I fell.”

“Sounds like what Megatron went through with Arcee.”

“Yeah...” he chuckled, “we Decepticons have a huge thing for Autobots willing to fight for us. We seem to fall hard.”

They had their laughs echoing across the silent area. Suddenly, the boom of the space bridge reactivating on its own had the two almost screaming as the portal awoke mere feet behind them. Predaking and Grimlock shot up, leaving Bumblebee airborne briefly before hitting the ground on his backside.

The Space Bridge Nexus pulsed with its combined beams from each bridge and a low hiss emerged as their energies rippled, a sign someone or something was coming through. At the same time, the Allspark appeared beside the two, scaring them some more and it turned orange sheepishly with the sinking of its rings.

“Sorry.”

Haywire nearly scolded it until Arcee jumped out of the portal with the signed data pad in hand. “Miss me?”

As Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter followed, Haywire grew relieved as he was handed it. “You did it! Phew, I almost thought The Matriarch killed you. You didn’t keep in touch at all this time.”

Megatron merely said, “We had it all under control. The Decepticons were more than eager to stop the invasion and we got...sidetracked quite a few times.”

Scythe smiled, “The most important thing is everything looks good so far and your victory is astounding.”

Bumblebee pushed past Grimlock who transformed into robot mode and yawned, “Agreed...”

“Were you taking a nap? Aw, Bumblebee,” cooed Arcee, “remember when you were younger and Optimus used to send us pictures of you tired from scouting-”

“Arcee, why?” Bee sighed flushed.

Bolt whispered to Megatron, “I’d love to see those.”

“No one gets to see them!!!!...Anyways, how did it go?”

Predaking snickered resulting in Bee punching his thigh roughly.

Arcee rolled her optics but kept her smirk. “Well, no more Metal Heads. This time, they didn’t last too long in their invasion. I think Chaar was a test of a new strategy, but it failed quite badly. They seemed less engaged and were sending all the swarms through portals instead of using tactics like sending troops into the cities beneath the occupants’ noses.”

Scythe hummed, “Yes, but Chaar doesn’t have cities. It is remote with a Decepticon fortress. No monster would be able to hide in the area without detection because they don’t have to monitor the entire planet with a huge populace, instead only their surroundings and the base itself. Can’t sabotage what you can’t touch, and I would know that from experience.”

“Those monsters sound like they’re saving up the heavy destroyers of their kind for something bigger now that Velocitron and Caminus is no longer in their sights. But that also leaves four other worlds they may target. If this isn’t personal, what is their endgame?” Bumblebee mused.

The warlord and the Predacon looked at each other before the former commented, “Destruction, of course. To win a war, one must be victorious. No one really has set rules of how it gets done just as long as it tips in their favor. Countless battles between us can vouch for that line of thinking and just because we secured three worlds so far doesn’t mean any of them are truly safe. When it comes to the extremities of the ones who want to destroy because they can, anything is possible, and they won’t stop until you kill them, or they kill you. As a learning virus, the Metal Heads don’t have to worry about injuries slowing them down, energy to replenish their bodies, or effective tactics to win. They only need to keep pushing until all of us can no longer push back, like mindless animals.”

Everyone pondered on it and the more they knew Megatron’s description of them rang true for such a merciless species, the more frightened a few of them became. The Metal Heads would keep trying until they were either dead or dying. All their victories thus far were nothing but hollow achievements withstanding the waves.

As Arcee noted most of all, Silos said there was a planet filled with virus-stricken monsters from previous populaces across the galaxy and egg-born, the hive itself growing every minute they stood there. If she knew where the hive was, she would try and nuke the planet, but the creatures were technologically advanced too. The virus was like its deceased creator, a living entity that could evolve not just physically but, in a sense, mentally.

The Allspark peered at its company and finally said, “Not all is lost. Something will always survive destruction no matter how many hits it takes. A war is only as good as its opponents. Be better than them. And I sense the darkest rage can be contained, perhaps by its own manipulations. A piercing presence but pride destroys more than mere weapons. It will face the justice it deserves by only one who knows it.”

Bolt would have blinked confused if he could. “What?”

A deadpanned Allspark replied, “Your enemy may die.”

At the same time, Arcee said, “It means we might kill them.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”

This time, it was the Allspark’s turn to give an exaggerated huff, shaking side to side with the slow spin of its rings to everyone’s humor.

-----------------------------

The Matriarch looked over the weapon inventory reports submitted by Onslaught for a project she was manning that she wanted him to oversee. Humming to herself as her sparkmate massaged her right shoulder and held her steady with his arm cannon partially wrapped around her waist, he nuzzled her as she dragged a claw over one section of the data.

“Is something wrong, Matriarch?” The scientist purred leaning against her, “Did someone make a mistake?”

She swiftly shook her head but sounded confused more than anything. “Maybe I’m misreading this but it says we have the right number of physical weapons in his warehouse, but the count is saying we have only fifteen of sixteen new prototype blueprints accounted for. He probably misplaced it. It’s one of the ion cannons, the big one.”

Shockwave paused in his actions and went around her to look at the count and trace all the inventory. One of the items indeed was not marked as present. “The star cannon? Quite a big weapon to lose. Either Onslaught is holding it hostage or perhaps it was stolen.”

The two Decepticons looked at each other before The Matriarch slowly dragged her helm away in disbelief. Then, a burst of rage hit her like a train. He flinched back when sudden emphasis and her fists pounding the table to oblivion caught him off guard.

“THAT TWO-FACED, NO-GOOD, AUTOBOT DUMBASS BITCH STOLE MY PLANS?!?!”

Shockwave was skeptical as his audial fins twitched in thought. That wasn’t Arcee’s style, and she had nothing to gain from it. When he called Soundwave over, he commanded the mech to show him Onslaught’s warehouse footage. To their stunned silence, Nighthawk and Arcee both took the schematics. Still, something felt off to the scientist though he immediately heard The Matriarch’s fists tense with a crack, optic visor a deadly glow of red.

“Perhaps not all is what it seems. We will confront Arcee when the time is right.”

“CONFRONT HER NOW!!! I’LL CRUSH THAT LITTLE FEMME’S SPARK IN MY BARE HANDS!!!”

Shockwave was just about to speak when the table broke from the damage inflicted. All three awkwardly looked at it before The Matriarch clutched her head, then dragged his claws across her face plate with an irate, animalistic snarl.

“We will...deal with her later once we get the base back into shape from the Metal Heads’ attacks. Soundwave and I will do some digging and figure out what she needed it for and if she took it back to Cybertron with her. For now, keep calm.”

She answered his demands with a growl, optic visor staring deep into his singular optic with hatred daring for him to stop her. “Fine! But if I see her before you talk to her, Energon will litter her precious Crystal City and I’ll destroy everyone in it who tries to save her!...Even Megatron himself.”

Chapter Text

Arcee placed the Radiant Cores she gathered from Chaar on the table with the growing collection to Haywire’s confusion.

“What do you intend on doing with all these anyway?”

“It would be a bit rude to turn them down so maybe save it for a rainy day? Fireworks anyone?” Arcee grinned.

The red mech rolled his optics as Optimus and Bumblebee held equal amusement over the idea. Nevertheless, she remained proud of her actions. Perceptor, on the other hand, was sitting at his communications bay listening to Nighthawk detail the extensive battle with imagination, and he shot Arcee a plea for help when the youngling wouldn’t stop talking. She ignored it in favor of watching his expression change from desperate to bored with a servo over his optics to eventual acceptance of the youngling’s description. As he sat there, she pointed a finger at him to show Optimus how she was indirectly torturing the guy by setting him up to talk to the Seekerling.

Once he got all his information needed, Perceptor turned slowly to Arcee with a displeased grimace. “If you ever set me up to hear events from a sparkling again, I will kill you in your sleep.”

Snickering, Megatron across from him asked, “Why? Haven’t you ever thought about having kids?”

Without missing a beat, Perceptor glared at him while stating boldly, “No. And now, I don’t think my opinion will ever change after that.”

“Not a sparkling person,” Bumblebee taunted, “oh no, hide your kids before peeved Perceptor boots them off a building.”

The scientist sneered, “Yeah, and I’ll start with yours.”

“Jokes on you, I don’t have any.”

“I was talking to Optimus, baby scout,” he said with a wicked grin.

Bumblebee grew silent before narrowing his optics suspiciously. “Nah-uh, you ain’t throwing me off nowhere.”

The Allspark appeared and laughed upon hearing the exchange even when it wasn’t physically present to see it. “I’ll catch you, Bumblebee.”

“See?! Thank you! Try it, Perceptor, I dare you!”

The red and black mech chuckled, shaking his head. Optimus took a seat beside him and Arcee leaned against the wall. Moonhunter immediately leapt onto the Prime’s lap with a purr and welcomed the pets of his master’s former commander.

The Allspark then called out, “Arcee, what world are you travelling to next?”

The bots looked at her as she replied, “Junkion.”

Multiple different reactions made her raise a brow at them all. Megatron looked awkward as hell, biting his lip which told her he had done something stupid over there when he had pursued the Ark after their exodus from a dying Cybertron in the war. It also confirmed it was another world he may have screwed up relations with also. Given, both Optimus and Megatron mentioned to her once Aquatron was among the chase, that made for three planets they had beef with, all of whom she had or needed to fix. She couldn’t wait to hear the story on Junkion of all places. Bumblebee was smirking, so it had to be somewhat funny in his experience or knowledge of the event. Optimus was hesitant and Haywire was rubbing his optics.

“What did you guys do to that poor planet?” Arcee asked in disappointment.

“U-Us?! You’re blaming us off the bat, no context whatsoever?” The Autobot leader scolded.

“You all look like you did something either really bad or really stupid and since I wasn’t there but know you all enough, I think I’m entitled to make some assumptions. Prove me wrong or forever be judged.”

Megatron tapped his claws hissing in self-depreciation, “It was both really. When I pursued Optimus, I forced Wreck-gar, the Junkion leader, to build me a functioning new system for the Nemesis. We also destroyed part of the planet’s core so it kind of looks worse than it already was. I left him and his tribe alone afterwards.”

Optimus concurred, “Before Megatron did that, I was trying to find the Star Saber, turns out we were chasing a fairytale depiction of the weapon, not the actual relic itself. There was a spy among us who tried to convince Wreck-gar to turn on us. He didn’t oblige because he was, for a lack of a better word, quite lazy. He only wanted to make friends, not particularly harm anyone unless necessary.”

Arcee peered between the two of them before closing her optics trying to process all of that. “So, you basically decimated part of his world, a literal chunk of his world, and left him to rot there after using his hospitality and drawing danger to him for a sword? I can expect something of that of Megatron, but not you, Optimus.”

Megatron grunted slightly pissed by the accusation, even though he quickly changed his expression to considerate when he realized it was technically true and lied back in his seat with his arms crossed.

“We didn’t make the right decisions in that regard, no,” the Prime muttered.

The Allspark mused, “This may be the perfect opportunity to repair the relationship with Cybertron. But Arcee, things grow ever concerning. The terrible forces that drive these deadly invasions are growing stronger, their plan is nearly complete. Do tread wisely with what you do. I fear reckoning is upon us each day.”

Arcee waved it off, “No problem, we’ll take care of it!”

“Yes, but regarding the other worlds...your care might be in danger of-”

“I got it!” She huffed, “We will fight again for them, if need be. Just one planet at a time, you know?”

The Allspark didn’t reply with anything more with a mere cackle of energy among its core, its body turning violet. She didn’t remember what mood that conveyed but she didn’t dwell on it before turning to Haywire.

“How long until we’re ready to depart?”

Her assistant nodded, “Thirty minutes, give or take.”

“Perfect.” Arcee then gestured to Megatron. “Ready to rock and rumble?”

“As always,” her sparkmate gleamed with his sharp fangs on display. “Let’s break the cyberbiologist from his lab work and get back into the field.”

As Arcee smiled at that, the Allspark was less than pleased.

--------------------------------

Bolt typed on his computer logging all the data received from Chaar into his system. He ignored some of his assistants calling his name as he simultaneously brought up a star map of the known cybernetic worlds he knew were so far not in danger. Gigantion, Combatron, and Lithone were planets he had yet to visit but always wanted to. The downside to Combatron was it was war-plagued just the same as Cybertron and wasn’t nice to outsiders. Paradron was another interest. As he rotated the planets’ holoforms each to get a look at their surface structure, a whooshing sound made him pause and his assistants went silent.

“Bolt, may I have a word with you?”

He whipped his head around and found the Allspark hovering close with its energies slowly moving among its rings instead of its faster-paced lively movements. He saw that as a sign of concern and ignored his research instead to heed the Allspark’s request. “Shoot.”

“It’s about Arcee.”

“Oh. Did she kill anyone she wasn’t supposed to?”

“...No.”

“Okay, not bad then. Go on.”

Its ring sunk and orbited horizontally across it instead of over and around. “I think she’s in over her head. There are two fates in store for her if she doesn’t correct her mistakes soon. I fear the Metal Head Leader has already won.”

The Vehicon scoffed amused, “What makes you say that? We’ve beaten that fool’s armies thrice now. They don’t stand a chance!”

“A war isn’t always won through combat...”

“Wha-what are you implying? I mean what could the Metal Head Leader have on us that could guarantee a victory despite the losses?” He asked confused.

The Allspark seemed hesitant to answer like it was suffering with forbidden knowledge. Then he got his answer indirectly. “I can’t reveal the future entire...it would break my code of continuity. Listen, Bolt, not everything is as it seems. ‘A traitor of the past condemns the traitor of the present but will not stop the traitor of the future.’ That’s what I told Arcee but she didn’t realize what I meant either. That’s the only thing I can tell you. Please, you have to believe me...I don’t want history to repeat itself.”

“‘Traitor of the past condemns the traitor of the present but will not stop the-’ what? So, there’s a traitor among us?”

“So to speak. Be careful and watch Arcee closely. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion. A friendship can be mended, a life cannot.”

Bolt saw its paranoia and frustration as it turned violet again, indicating one of its saddened moods. He pumped his servos in front of him as a calming motion. “Okay...okay-okay-okay, um, I will do that, but you know as well as I it’s going to be a process.”

The Allspark shook briefly, “I don’t mean to turn you against her, but I don’t know what else to do to protect you all without harming time and space. Certain events must unfold and if I tamper with them, the consequences are far dire than what can happen. If one thing is changed, the universe will unleash something tenfold to counter it. I would only be delaying the inevitable; if not the Horaquan, it will be someone else and I doubt Optimus Prime, Megatron, or even Arcee can outlast everything. I pulled a lot of strings among the afterlife bringing you back, more than you think. That was not supposed to happen, and I cannot do it again. Do you understand?”

“I...don’t quite yet, honestly, but I promise I’ll figure out something. It’s me, remember?”

“Just do what you can. I only hope Arcee can see the problem before it consumes her.”

Bolt mumbled to himself as he turned away from the Allspark. “Whatever it is, so do I.”

He barely heard the hush whispers of the Allspark’s energy vanishing as he sat on his thoughts about the whole ordeal.

“Bolt, you ready for Junkion?” Arcee’s voice came through.

He was hesitant but replied, “Y-Yes, yes, I’ll, um, be there in a few. Let me log in these last few entries and I’ll meet you over at the Nexus.”

“See you then, partner.”

Bolt sighed to himself as he sat down in his chair with an elbow on the table and his palm cradling his chin. What was he to do to help Arcee if he didn’t even know what the problem she was creating was?

--------------------------

Grimlock allowed Arcee to ride on his back in his Dinobot mode towards the Space Bridge Nexus followed by Predaking who walked beside him in his own beast form.

“I would think you two would be mortal enemies. I still can’t get over seeing you guys get along so well. What’s your secret?”

The Dinobot leader laughed, “He’s still a pain in my tail but we found as Shockwave’s victims of tampering and equally mighty kings, we had a lot in common. As fun as it can be to fight each other, why maim the only mech that I can tolerate?”

Predaking gave a monstrous yowl and swayed his tail pleased by the comment. Moonhunter then treaded beside him to trail his owner as well. Both beast bots looked down at him as the Nitrotiger outpaced them with equally amused expressions.

Arcee said, “Well, I’m glad to hear that. You two are great friends. Also, how’s Wildwing?”

Predaking transformed and stated, “They are good and currently watching over their young. Wildwing is a sire to twins now.”

“Give them my congratulations.”

Haywire and Scythe along with Bumblebee and Optimus awaited her. Grimlock stopped and lowered his head to let her get down with a pleasant growl. She gestured openly at her peers without a word and Moonhunter walked next to her while Grimlock and Predaking held back. The roar of a jet engine distracted all of them until Megatron came flying in from the north, transforming after swooping near them. A ground bridge opened at the same time and Bolt walked through but his posture was lackluster. He crossed his arms like he feared the worst and Arcee eyed him out of suspicion.

“Everything alright there, Bolt?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I just am not looking forward to going to Junkion. Not really any life there aside from sand lions, hira hyenas and scrap dragons.”

Arcee froze and then nervously laughed, “Oh yeah, the dragons...forgot about those.”

Predaking exchanged looks with Grimlock before asking, “What’s a dragon?”

She immediately countered, “You know what you are?”

He nodded slowly a bit confused.

“To the humans, you’d be considered a dragon, four-legged winged beast that can manipulate either fire or water depending on the region. Junkion has a small breed and a giant breed named after them. They are dangerous.”

Bumblebee laughed and muttered to Optimus, “Sounds like his lost family.”

He winced when he was given a sharp slap on the back of the head by Arcee like he was a youngling and held his arms out confused. Predaking took no offense to it and grinned, both at his remark and the slap. They all grew attentive when the Space Bridge Nexus came back online with the coordinates to Junkion in place.

“Remember, guys, try not to tear apart the world this time,” mocked Scythe.

Megatron huffed, “I’m sorry for the umpteenth time! I was power hungry and arrogant. Can’t I get a break for once?”

Arcee grimaced, “You killing Zeta Prime is one thing and forgivable since the Prime happened to be an asshole; you damaging an entire planet of beings...not so much. But I love you enough to accept the apology.”

Scythe shook his head nearly the same as Haywire did prior. “Professional killers in love. What has the world come to? Alright, lovebirds, get going.”

Bolt whistled for Moonhunter to stop rubbing against Predaking’s legs and escort them into the portal. The Nitrotiger pranced to his side as Megatron and Arcee each huffed in anticipation. They walked in with the rest of their peers acknowledging their leave with praise.

When they stepped on Junkion’s ground, they realized it wasn’t technically a real surface. Scrap metal and random pieces of junk moved like a landscape as far as the eye could see. The scrap they stood on had been walked a thousand times to where it was flattened to appear like regular ground. The planet seemed to mostly consist of hill-shaped piles with walkways and open areas of former encampments.

“I don’t know what I expected...” Bolt mumbled. “Also, I just realized, isn’t this planet called just Junk? Planet of Junk? I saw it described in Optimus’ journal he wrote during the Ark’s travel.”

“I don’t know. Junkion sounds better though,” the queen replied.

“That’s true.”

As they searched for any signs of life among the garbage, Arcee peered up at the sky and smiled. The center of the Milky Way Galaxy was completely visible. Every part of its star-dusted arms holding billions of stars among it shined bright. Every detail even to its sun-like aura at its heart was on display. She assumed Junkion rested just outside of the galaxy’s reach for such an amazing view but since it had a far different atmosphere than Earth, the light filtered different leaving little to the imagination.

She remembered seeing the center of the galaxy from Earth’s view from the equator on a scouting mission once. It was a bit overdone by the atmosphere also showing the various stars even beyond the tighter grip of the galaxy. Here, the galaxy took away all that noise to be the most dominant light. The only other lights that showed off their colors in other areas of the sky were a few planets that were either in the same system as it or equally floating around uselessly. Junkion had no sun whatsoever but with the galaxy being as vivid as it was, that didn’t seem to bother the planet. Galaxies like Andromeda and Triangulum were also seen but were smaller, fitting as the galaxies had so much space between them. She didn’t know what else could be seen, or at least not by name, but a few other specs of light as well as a few clusters randomly around emphasized how isolated Junkion really was.

Scrap was suddenly falling from a few hills, and they all pulled out their weapons prepared for anything. Moonhunter even activated his turrets with the puff if his spine armor. Arcee, however, tried to reach behind her to grab her ricochet ray only to remember she gave it up to Soundwave for the Resonance Blaster. Growling, she transformed both arms into her blasters instead and pointed at the origin of the sound.

Two shadowed heads popped up with wide, yellow optics and the small chirp coming from one set. After a moment of pause with zero movement from the bots who relaxed, a pygmy distiller dragon moved a little into the light peering at them rapidly in different angles and sniffing the air. Once it determined they weren’t a threat, it climbed out completely of the shadows with its friend following. They cautiously perched on an output twisted bar that looked like the end of a light post. Flapping their wings to keep balance when leaning forward, they stared at their visitors eagerly.

“Aw!” Bolt cooed, “They are cute! I always wanted to pet one of these!”

Arcee grew disturbed. “No, no, no, I was forced to ride one of these and almost got eaten. I may have befriended the hive on the isle after killing Salvage but I ain’t touching a random one. You can get your servo bitten off if you want.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” he sang back.

Before he could get within ten feet of the creatures, they flew off and he made a depressed moan. Abruptly, his mood changed as he turned around to point at the warlord. “Megatron, buddy, light of my life...I need a favor.”

“No.”

“I need you-”

“Nope,” the grey mech said shaking his head.

“-to get me a few distillers-”

“I am not listening.”

“-for my research. Since you have the uncanny ability to tackle the little monsters, you’re it this time. Maybe Arcee will be your scout.”

“Unbelievable. Some cyberbiologist you are,” the ex-Decepticon scoffed.

More distiller dragons fluttered about getting into random objects and playing among the wastelands, one of them peeked into an empty pot but got its head stuck and backed away. It slid down the hill with a screech and wandered aimlessly.

Megatron got behind the creature and snagged it effortlessly, though carrying something nearly as large as him was a balancing act. He placed it on the ground and used his weight to keep it still. Bolt crouched beside it and examined the structure of the chassis, noting the mismatched armor was made from the pieces of metal found throughout the area. It was a decent sized one, so it had plenty more pieces attached to it than the younger specimens.

“Good, now try finding a baby.”

“I’m not going to steal a baby dragon! Are you mad?!” Megatron removed the pot from the distiller’s head and let it go. “You kill yourself, not one of us!”

Bolt tilted his head disappointed before turning to Arcee. “You?”

She facepalmed before dragging it down her cheek. “Let’s make enemies of everything, Bolt. Great plan.”

Arcee trailed a few of the distillers flying in the area to a large pile of scrap with multiple hideaways, some within objects and some within spaces made up of several objects. She watched many of them look out before retreating into their makeshift nests again. The lower chambers she saw had several distillers laying on eggs, their heads buried among their wings or to the side in comfortable recharge as they protected their little ones.

She had no clue how she was going to get a little one without pissing off the entire colony until she heard a soft chirp to her right. A baby distiller, just born, was having difficulties walking, shaking with each step.

“Bolt, I am not touching this, so you better get your ass over here!”

The Vehicon came running but slowed when he saw some of the distiller dragons peering at him in the dark of their nests with only the yellow glow of their optics visible like predators in waiting. Arcee merely pointed at the baby and threw her servos up not wanting to disturb the life any more than they already were. Bolt took her body language in stride and kept his distance as he surveyed the baby distiller that began to give a desperate cry.

“Wings not ready for use yet until a few months, barely armored so carrier has to locate scrap to decorate the young at this time, and approximately a day or less, this hatchling was born...so, where’s the hen?”

A screech had a larger form covering the baby and a distiller raised its wings to their entire span to appear scarier, rattling said wings as well as its tail in warning. Bolt backed up as Moonhunter snarled but hid behind Arcee as the mother moved back, dragging its baby alongside it until it was a comfortable position away. Grabbing its hatchling by the scruff of the neck, it took off back to its nest up high. They deduced the poor little creature had slid out of its home and the mother hadn’t returned yet from scavenging. The shadow of the distiller fluffing its wings before covering its offspring made Arcee smile a little.

Bolt mused, “I wonder if there are any older or abnormally large specimens?”

“How many do you need?!”

“Just one more then I’ll stop. Pretty please,” he begged.

Megatron moved behind them and said, “Well, a big one would stick out a lot in a hive like this. I think we can tackle a big distiller, Arcee.”

“Feels like monster hunting all over again,” she retorted.

While Bolt sat in a pile of scrap, flicking a few loose parts off him that tumbled across his frame, Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter moved around the area in search for a large distiller. The farther they went, the more plentiful different shades of grey and rustic brown distillers there were. Some looked like they had new armor compared to others. What stood out the most was the shinier metal belonged to the larger, older distillers. The older ones seemed to take the new parts for themselves and bullied the young into taking hand-me-downs or other discarded rubbish instead. Then they saw the largest distiller dragon of them all.

As big as Megatron, the distiller didn’t fit in any of the pockets in the scrap, instead having to lie out in the open while younger ones played on it. Its chirps were deeper, and its armor was far more misplaced than the others, looser to a degree. Given that the distillers only obeyed the giant, monstrous scrap dragons that were supposedly still living on the planet somewhere, it was determined that the size of this one was just a rare mutation.

“Okay, how are we going to draw this thing back to Bolt without angering it?” Arcee asked.

Megatron thought for a second before seeing a rat-like creature scurrying across some junk before it was pounced on and eaten by a distiller. It gulped down the rodent with only the tail hanging out of its mouth. Once gone, the distiller tried to see if any other rodents were around before taking off again.

“I think I know exactly how,” he smirked.

Getting a rodent without it being swarmed upon by hungry distillers proved difficult. They spotted a few of them only for them to scatter when two of their group were snatched by fangs and claws. Arcee caught one when it scurried past her pede and whacked it against a hard piece of junk to kill it. Megatron got two but left them alive though he almost knocked down a pile of scrap a few distillers were resting in.

Arcee called out the larger distiller that peered at them intrigued as she waved the dead rodent. She kept a keen eye at the skies so no other distiller would snag the meal before the big one could follow them. As they backed away, the large distiller dragon hesitantly trailed them.

“That’s it, big boy.”

They led it back to Bolt with Moonhunter keeping his distance though halfway through, Arcee had to throw the rodent at it to catch and eat when it grew frustrated. To keep its interest, Megatron threw one of his at it too a bit further down. The remainder of the way, the dragon eagerly followed as Megatron held the last rodent. He threw it once Bolt was able to get a good look at it.

Bolt watched them lure the creature and gasped at the size. “Whoa...that’s huge! Where did you find this guy?”

Arcee shrugged, “Near the nests. Apparently, it's one of a kind as far as we can tell. Might be just an abnormality.”

“I mean The Matriarch’s huge for my kind...and Megatron has an abnormally giant stature and weight for a Seeker class so makes sense.” Bolt looked to his left to see the warlord glaring at him, narrowing his optics with a low growl, and he only responded with a raise of his servos. “What? You are a big Seeker. In general, you are a pretty big dude for a common Cybertronian anyways, embrace the uniqueness.”

“I’m about to make you look unique in three seconds,” Megatron said with a flash of his fangs.

“...I think that’s enough compliments for today.”

As the large distiller finished, it gently flapped its wings a few times with a shake of its head and a shiver down its spine with a purr. Arcee reached out carefully, and the distiller sniffed her servo before letting her pet the side of its head with a small sound of approval.

“Not as bad as I thought it would be.”

Bolt checked out the massive specimen. “All body parts proportionate, no signs of any other abnormalities, multiple scratches among pristine armor...this one has definitely fought for a nest once and may have one but couldn’t use it unable to fit inside. Wait, what’s this?”

He kneeled and hovered a servo near its abdomen slightly protruding in comparison to its chest. The other distillers had the abdomen curve inward to match their agility. There was only one explanation he could come up with and he chuckled.

“It seems this one will be a carrier soon. It’s pregnant. That’s why it was fighting for a nest despite it was too big. It is getting ready to brood.”

Arcee pet the large distiller’s snout and gave a soft gasp. “You’re going to be a carrier? I hope your babies have the best armor there is. What do they look like without armor, do you know?”

“Uh, they have what’s called an exterior reverse-anatomic system. Their organs are still within, but they are born without armor entirely except the horns and all that. Have you ever seen the diagrams of Earth animals where it shows the organic muscle layouts?”

Megatron shook his head, but Arcee made a so-so motion. “I’ve glanced at one from Jack’s biology textbooks from school.”

“It’s like that. Megatron, beneath the skin, there is thicker flesh that secures and moves the skeleton of the organic frame, allowing them to walk and so on. Distillers have a similar set up, but their muscles are thick, flatter cables that hide the organs within and wrap around the endoskeleton. When they are born, you basically see a mechanized version of organic interior anatomy. The cables that surround the body have controlled magnetism so when they gather parts around them, they can shed parts, they can stick parts on them like a fridge magnet, and so on. One suit of armor ready to go and if any part becomes damaged, they can switch it out no problem.”

Both bots made unfavorable expressions at the description, but Arcee saw the distiller’s face and noticed as it made its own little facial movements, the parts moved in various ways but had the same outcome of expressing what it needed to. She could imagine the difficulties such a creature would face on Earth being so exposed unless they lived near junkyards constantly. Junkion was a perfect fit for them.

A sudden roar had not just the bots staring on their right but the distillers as well. The big one whimpered and flew away immediately as others hid in any spaces they could find regardless of whether it was already claimed or not. The beating of wings distinctive of a larger species echoed before a massive scrap dragon soared overhead. It gave out a loud bellow as the wind produced by its wings unsettled pieces of junk on the hillsides that fell all over the place.

The scrap dragon circled the area irritably, hissing at the few distillers that flew beneath it trying to get out of its path. When it spotted the shiny armor of the Cybertronians against the rustic landscape, it snorted, optics contracting with its massive sharp teeth in full view. It twisted around and landed on the largest hill nearby, slamming its servo down and growling.

“Oooohh, we’re dragon food!”

“Not yet we’re not!” Arcee snarled.

An indistinguishable holler overtook the dragon’s guttural noises, and it hissed as it looked at the direction of the sound the same as the bots. A figure stood on an opposite hill, making weird shrieks and chanting like mad, but not a single word could be made of the nonsense that they knew of. Even the dragon looked confused staring at the frantic gestures. When the figure of orange and red stopped with a final outcry, the area was dead silent. The scrap dragon narrowed its optics before making a huffing noise and turned its back on its potential prey. It left with one last snarl aimed at them and without any fuss to the shock of the bots as the figure stepped down the hill with curious distillers following.

“Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong, travelers!”

While the other two looked at the savior with admiration and curiosity, Megatron swung his head around sluggish and distasteful upon hearing the familiar voice. “Primus, kill me now.”

The orange and red bot with shreds of metal on his face forming a moustache and beard grinned, “I am Wreck-gar! And I see you’ve met our neighbors! A little noisy from time to time and I think their cat keeps wandering into our yard...”

He pointed at Moonhunter who eyed him with an unsure grunt.

“...don’t know if that’s it or not.”

Arcee couldn’t help by giggle at the ridiculous statement and said, “No, Moonhunter’s with us. The, uh, scrap dragons don’t have a cat...as far as I know.”

“Huh,” the Junkion replied, “then I wonder who’s been stealing my snacks?”

Megatron was the most miserable he had ever been seen and Arcee raised a brow at this reluctance to say a word. If he was responsible for tearing apart Junkion to begin with, why did he despise the guy so much? Arcee wanted answers and decided the best possible way was to see if Wreck-gar remembered him.

“Wreck-gar, you know Megatron? The former Decepticon leader, right?”

The mech pursed his lips and stroked his beard with a hum as he got a good look at the warlord. “Wait, I know you. You are...that guy from Velocitron who brought me that pony! A dragon ate it though if you wanted to get it back. I miss Rust Sprinkles...”

“What?! No,” Megatron scowled, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I’m the guy who terrorized you and broke part of your planet, you imbecile!”

Arcee frowned and muttered, “And you thought you had nothing in common with The Matriarch.”

“That explains how Detritus fell off the edge of the world a few decades ago. He was a bit rude then, can’t remember why. Never saw him again,” Wreck-gar shrugged emotionlessly.

The others were horrified by that bit of information before Bolt loudly exclaimed, “Does this place not have gravity?!”

“What’s gravity?”

“Oh my-it’s what keeps you stable on the planet and not floating into space!”

The Junkion mech muttered, “I thought that was the name of three laws invented by Sir Isaac Newton?”

That made them pause, especially Megatron before he shook out of his bewildered state to ask, “A human? How do you know about the humans? About Earth?”

Wreck-gar suddenly replied in an abnormally pleasant tone, “Oh, that cluster of broadcast stations we came across a century ago? Why yes, if they are really from a planet called Earth. I have a signal catcher on my electronics and happened to come across a whole frequency full of these ‘human’ broadcasts.”

Bolt snickered, “Everyone but you knew that, Megatron.”

Arcee sighed, “I forgot Junkions had access to Earth. I remember Optimus telling me and the fact that those creatures are called dragons but it just didn’t click.”

The orange and red bot grinned, “Absolutely, I came across my very first broadcast from a period named ‘World War Two,’ sounds quite sad but there were amazing descriptions of how they fought one another like a theatre, tragedy in the dark times and comedy in the lighter years! I found all of their history fascinating too!”

Arcee winced drastically as she had never heard of the war described in any positive light aside from the liberation of the trapped ethnicities. Granted, Wreck-gar didn’t know the entire extent of the devastation it created in his naïve research. Megatron hardly cared about it and Bolt was growing intrigued to know more.

“Did you know that mantis shrimp are one of very few species on Earth to be able to see all types of colors most creatures cannot perceive? I don’t even really know what a mantis shrimp is but it must love to paint!”

“If I have to spend another hour here, I may just jump off the edge of this world too,” groaned the former tyrant.

Arcee patted his arm, “You’ll survive, I promise. So, you’re not angry at him or anything?”

“Nope, totally forgiven! Why should I stay mad at someone for just making the planet more manageable? We barely used half the stuff here before. Although, those dragons weren’t as close to us before.”

“Wreck-gar, do you know why we’re really here?” The queen asked.

“Of course, you are here to celebrate with us! It’s the annual sand lions roundup! We do it every year!”

“Not…relevant to our end but maybe we can cut you a deal? We want to reunite the worlds threatened and outlasted back with Cybertron, open trade and restore communications, just like old times!”

“I…! Don’t agree,” he said as his voice trailed off to an unknown emotion. “Why would we need to have all that? We are quite content with the visitors we get every once in a while. Why go through the effort of establishing trade when we have all that we want right here?”

“Don’t…you think that’s a little selfish?” Bolt chastised.

Wreck-gar held up a digit. “Selfishness implies that I am doing this out of my own gain through my own opinion. I dare to be stupid sometimes but selfish to my peers I will never be. We’ve lived quite content on Junkion alone. Why would I ever change anything except expanding my welcome to any bot who wants to get away from their troubles forever?”

As a distiller nudged the Junkion leader down and stood on his lap to get a better sniff of the mech, the Cybertronians watched a bit bummed that the smallest planet on their radar would not be united so easily. Wreck-gar laughed as his nose plate was covered by the glossa of a friendly dragon and more came up to him like puppies eagerly greeting a playmate.

“What do we do now? This is going to be a waste of time if he won’t do anything,” Megatron whispered.

“Everyone seems to want something before they agree. We just need to figure out what Wreck-gar wants,” Arcee said. She then addressed the mech in question. “Wreck-gar, you wouldn’t happen to have some oil or Energon on you to spare, would you? We’re a little low from our travels.”

Wreck-gar perked up upon hearing his visitors in need of fuel and grinned, “But of course! There’s more than enough to share! Follow me!”

As he shooed the distiller dragons to the side to make a path, the bots followed him almost a mile. From seeing packs of wild hira hyenas feasting on a dead dragon that had gotten stuck between two large pieces of scrap to the lazy sand lions basking in the galaxy’s shine, none of them knew how life survived on a damaged planet but at the same time, it was similar to how Chaar, a desolate world, still had life that was evident to have existed even before the great cataclysm that made it what it was currently. Once they passed an oil pool with sand lions swimming in it, they realized that not only was Junkion a planet of discarded trash, but it was once a natural oil producer.

Wreck-gar’s tribe lay just beyond the pool and there the bots saw the huts of well-crafted trash with other Junkions among them. Most shared a brownish grey or rustic orange color scheme not far off from Wreck-gar’s slightly brighter coloring. There were only two younglings seen out of the entire populace who were dirty but happy as they held hira hyena pups in their servos. A few domesticated hyenas made cackling fits next to a controlled fire pit. They couldn’t tell if some bots had been born on Junkion or had been discarded on the lost world by people who wanted to leave them behind out of some misguided taboo or other reason.

Just then, a rustic green and brown spiky car drove up to them before transforming. The mech had a less boxy appearance more so than the others which led Arcee to deduce the fastest he was definitely not a born resident. He clasped servos with Wreck-gar who held equal joy.

“This is Seacore, my second-in-command. He hails from a dainty little world near Vos and joined my crew after leaving it behind. He’s been my best buddy ever since!”

Arcee and Bolt greeted him while Megatron merely gestured unspeaking. Moonhunter was too busy examining the hira hyenas that eyed him with mutual curiosity. Right as they did so, Wreck-gar jumped onto a hammock in the corner of the encampment and relaxed before pointing at Arcee and her team with his optics closed.

“Treat our guests to some oil, the finest mixture we have.”

A few of his friends did as they were told as the Cybertronians leaned against a stable hut with only Bolt bold enough to take a seat on the ground by Moonhunter. As they were handed small drums of oil that could fit in their palms, they found the taste exhilarating. Bolt split some past the hole for his mouth in his faceplate but wiped the streak off quickly in surprise.

“Wow, that has a nice taste to it, thicker but warmer like a...what do the humans call the drink with the little spongy white things floating on it with whipped cream and some brown shavings added? I snuck into a theatre in the winter, and they were giving out free samples. Starts with a ‘C’ and is hot?”

Arcee snapped his fingers with her epiphany while she was taking a swig of the drink., replying, “Mmm, mmm mmm, hot chocolate...is what it’s called. Very popular around certain holidays. I’ve wanted to try it, but I never got around to bugging Jack to get me some.”

“Hot chocolate, that’s what this is like!”

Arcee noticed Wreck-gar swung carefree in his hammock and redirected the conversation. “So, what do you guys do here? Salvage parts? Dig up oil?”

“Nothing,” Wreck-gar said proudly.

“Nothing?”

“Nada, yes, ma’am. You see, why do anything when nothing really needs to be done? The oil beneath the remaining planet’s surface replenishes itself just fine, we have no issues with living among the animals, and we have all the time in the world to just do whatever we feel like if at all. We’re surrounded by junk that collects at random from passing starships to random clutter that just gets caught. Everything just falls into our laps so we don’t need to do a single thing, and we’re extremely happy.”

The queen narrowed his optics, “So, there’s not a single thing out of place for you right now?”

“I mean, I once had a vault I kept on hand. I forget where I left it but I’m sure it’s fine. Nothing to worry about.”

That intrigued Arcee and she pressed, “You don’t know where it is, huh? That would eat me up not knowing whether my loot was safe or not. I hope you find it soon.”

Wreck-gar was about to open his mouth when he paused his swinging to sit up and scratch his head. “Well...I assume it’s safe...but...I can always look for it again at any time. I doubt it was stolen.”

“But if it was?”

He frowned and peered rapidly across the ground trying to think. “I...I thought I left it near the oil lakes...no, that’s not right. It shouldn’t be...is it? Or, maybe...I don’t know. I don’t remember...”

“Wreck-gar, I can find it for you, would that help your worries?”

“If you wish, but I’m telling you, it’s probably just around here somewhere,” he said uneasily. She nodded but before she could talk to her sparkmate, Wreck-gar's brows furrowed. “But I remember...someone with a deep voice talking to me about Junkion’s ‘treasure’...they wanted it badly. I never knew their name...”

All three bots stared at him. Megatron narrowed his optics suspiciously. “Treasure? What treasure?”

“Junkion’s treasure. My treasure. My vault! But I never told them, did I?” Wreck-gar whispered. He clutched his helm like he had a headache and slapped one side of it in frustration. “Argh, why can’t I recall this right?!”

Arcee quickly went to Wreck-gar's side as the mech whimpered to himself trying to find his memory of the incident, assuming he wasn’t delusional. “Someone was here looking for your vault?”

“I don’t know! I remember but then I don’t! I’m stupid!”

Just then, Arcee noticed there was a dent towards the back of his helm. At certain angles, it blended with the shadow of his helm structure but direct, it was clear as day. Maybe it wasn’t a delusion but whoever was looking for his vault attacked him when or if he gave up its location.

“Wreck-gar, look at me.” The mech calmed a little as she sent him a sweet expression and brushed her servo against his helm like a caring carrier. “You aren’t stupid. Someone hurt you and I’m going to try and get some answers for you unless you want to join me?”

“I...I can’t, doubtful I’ll be any help.”

The sudden depression among dark red optics made Arcee want to cry. She barely knew him, and he looked like a kicked kitten in the scraps, neglected and void of purpose. His normally cheery, lax attitude was nowhere to be seen.

Seacore approached her and silently gestured her over to talk. She patted Wreck-gar's servos in assurance before meeting with his second-in-command.

“Forgive my prying but I overheard that mess, and I just want to add a few details I think he didn’t know he left out,” the rust green mech said. “Some time ago, we had a visitor. I wouldn’t know how to describe them except big and, forgive my rudeness, ugly for such an organism. We didn’t really interact with them much, but I recall Wreck-gar got chatty with the fellow, exchanged a few jokes and whatnot. I thought nothing of it until they both disappeared for a while and Wreck-gar came back...forgetful.”

“The bump on his head?”

“Perhaps, but what struck me as odd the most is Wreck-gar has taken some beatings before that have left far worse injuries but despite this, he still laughed through the pain. When he came back that time, he was lost, and I think he’s been bothered by not knowing what he was missing. That vault, who hurt him or even what was stolen from him if he realized it.”

Arcee peered back at Wreck-gar who lied on his hammock again but deep in thought muttering to himself.

Seacore sighed, “We are a peaceful race out here even if we aren’t remotely the same. This is our home, our paradise. Wreck-gar never made us lift a finger to do anything but live. Some call it laziness, yet we’ve survived this long by doing nothing, never had trouble from anyone other than outsiders. Maybe this is the chance to broaden his horizons and help him. Admittedly, I know what it’s like out there which is why I ran. You can only get hurt so many times; I don’t want to see him hurt, not after those like Thundertron and Detritus did to him, breaking his trust and all.”

“What do you need me to do?” Arcee asked confidently.

“Find the vault and retrieve it. Bring it back and maybe we’ll both find out what happened if he were to get a glimpse of it. As for me, I would also like you to investigate the Howling Wastes farther towards the north when you get a chance. I’ll give you a rough layout of the planet’s topography for your troubles. This may be a bit farfetched, but I saw something a while ago retrieving parts from a recently crashed ship out there. It looked like organic residue but gross, you know what I mean? They might be coincidences, both that and the encounter with this stranger Wreck-gar met before but then again, I believe everything happens for a reason.”

Arcee smirked at him, “Given what I’ve experienced up until now, I don’t think I believe in coincidences anymore. I’ll take a look at the Howling Wastes first, then work my way back here to see if the vault is around if it’s not a bother.”

“Whatever you think is best,” Seacore stated.

“Megatron,” she said turning around, “you and I are going exploring. Bolt, you and Moonhunter make some friends with the locals.”

The Vehicon scoffed, “Sure, leave the sarcastic one with the ‘life is rainbows’ crowd. That’ll go over well.”

She kissed the top of his helm. “Do it for me?”

“...Aye, aye, captain.”

The phrase made her freeze as she began to think about Silos. Although Silos had never treaded on Junkion previously as far as what he implied, he did mention the Metal Heads would be interested in the large abundance of oil for something and Wreck-gar met who he described was a mech...Malismar, the current Metal Head Leader, was a Kanjian bot, not a Rozarian or other species. If the virus didn’t corrupt them entirely, the same as how Silos retained his mind after being subjected to it, there was a chance their physical form wasn’t heavily modified aside from taking on techno-organic features. They could still pass as a bot to someone who wasn’t familiar with the disfiguration. It gave her a better insight on who she might be seeking in her secondary quest to kill the Metal Head Leader whenever she finds the bastard.

She turned away and gestured Megatron to follow. They both transformed and sped towards the perceived coordinates for the Howling Wastes. As Megatron kept a look out overhead, Arcee navigated the trashed surface. Further from the encampment, it began to smooth out considerably, still covered in debris but no hills of garbage where creatures like the distillers could make their homes out of. Large debris like ship parts and other questionable things were seldom in quantity but covered a good portion of the ground by a single piece alone.

“The mech Wreck-gar saw, do you think it could have been a Metal Head or someone associated with one?” Megatron asked as she saw him in the distance scouting among the atmosphere.

“Possibly.”

“Like that associate of yours?”

Arcee frowned inwardly, “He said it was a…”

She caught herself realizing she would have ousted Silos as a Metal Head which would not help her case or what she heard Wreck-gar say word for word.

“No,” she then said, “because the way he described this guy sounded more like they were a robber and my informant has never been off Velocitron for some time. This incident of Wreck-gar’s took place quite some time ago. The timing doesn’t match.”

Megatron was silent and twirled in the sky around one of the fallen ships until he did an immediate U-turn and came to hover. “Arcee, just beneath me, I think I saw something dark like webbing. Sticky, slimy even from how the light reflects off it.”

The queen slid, tires rotating with a screech, and she aimed at the spot he was referencing. When she was directly beneath him, he curved before shifting back to robot mode and landed next to her. She followed suit and walked up to what Megatron had seen. The same fungus that they had seen on Velocitron crept and shivered across a deceased ship’s lower hull.

As Arcee examined it, Megatron abruptly yelled, “They’re here!”

She turned on a whim, activating her blasters with a battle-ready pose. Sure enough, several Grunts and a Rhyno jumped off the ledges of ship parts in an ambush. Some landed painfully, their limbs breaking, but the monsters grabbed them and forced them back into place. One dislocated their wrist before roughly handing it with its spare paw and twisted it to loudly pop. Another sickly crack and it wiggled all its claws with a bemused smirk, then clenched its fist adding another unsettling amount of popping from its previous injury.

“Kudos to that one,” she said a little disturbed.

The creatures snarled before one of the Grunts made its move. Roaring, it charged first on all fours before converting to a bipedal run once it was in leaping distance to try and throw Arcee off. She ducked at the same time and fired upon its body, the blasts ridding its torso and abdomen the most. It hit the ground with its skull gem flying out. The others decided to attack in unison as Megatron targeted the largest of them, the Rhyno that huffed dragging its paw across the scrap ready to charge.

The bots swiftly stormed them with Megatron colliding with the Rhyno trying get a grip on its horns threatening to impale him to Arcee using her speed boost to outflank two of the Metal Heads, one of whom she nailed in the skull, blowing out its brains and even fragments of its gem from the point-blank range. The other Metal Head caught her arm and flipped her to pin her down, jaws right near her face with saliva dripping onto her cheek. It then heard a shout and peered up only to be struck by the mass of the Rhyno. Arcee grimaced as her arm was nearly taken alongside it from its hold on her.

“Ow, easy!”

“My apologies,” Megatron said disgruntled as he held another Horaquan by the throat, “didn’t mean that!”

The bodies of the Metal Heads rolled with the largest of the two flipping on the last bounce. Though that didn’t kill them, both creatures looked as if their minds were spinning. Arcee had to feel bad about the trapped souls having to see their bodies being thrashed about as the virus stayed determined to kill her. The other Grunts were circling, snapping their teeth together eagerly.

Megatron slammed the one in his grip after he snapped its neck, grinning as the purple blood started leaking on the ground. He sent another Metal Head pacing a growl deep in his throat which the creature replied with a hiss.

Arcee then got a wicked idea when she saw the galaxy’s light had charged her Heat Seeker ability she received from Sunstorm prior. She chuckled to herself and said to Megatron, “Stick above me!”

“What do you mean? What are you going to do?”

“Trust me,” she gleamed as she diverted power to her blaster.

When he understood what she was going to do, he frowned, “What about last time?”

“I just need a little distance.”

He matched her expression before running at her and picking her up. He launched himself up to transform, letting her stand on his jet’s nose and gave her a clear shot at the angry Metal Heads below. She aimed and the blast did the rest.

A ray of bright orange yellow hit the Rhyno that had gotten up right as it peered at them. Its facial features twisted to horror as it was suddenly bombarded. Only using a small percentage of the power, a good radius of their battlefield lit up like a Roman candle. All surviving Metal Heads were quickly ablaze and dying from the heat alone. The explosion wasn’t as high as it was devastating but it held its charm nonetheless. There were little remains of the Horaquan themselves aside from the skull gems and a few pieces of armor. Among them, the outline of the armored head of the Rhyno survived with a decent sized hole in its forehead.

“So, you want to bring Seacore the evidence?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

‐-----------------------

Bolt examined Wreck-gar’s confusion, still muttering as Seacore kept close beside him.

“This vault, do you know what was inside it someone wanted to steal?”

Wreck-gar mostly ignored him as he continued his madness mantra while Seacore shrugged, “He’s had it for years, kept telling me that it was a souvenir from someone he called Nancy.”

They both saw Wreck-gar peer at Seacore with a newfound expression of delight. “Nancy, the peacekeeper. I will defend it, I promise. No one will ever take the vault away from you.”

Bolt shared a glance with Seacore who immediately addressed the strange behavior. “He sometimes talks to himself, always been like that, which is what drew me to him and his lifestyle. Societies like mine and possibly yours wouldn’t accept someone as strange and disoriented as he is. Here, there’s no judgement of that.”

When Moonhunter can to sit near Seacore, the mech pet the cat and smiled as he purred.

“Nancy, huh? Maybe someone from the past, like a family member, lover, best friend?”

“He never spoke of his past with anyone, not even his trusted associate at the time, Detritus. No one knows where he came from or what he was like before his isolation. It’s a mystery. I personally don’t want to know because that’s not the friend I have currently, so why does it matter?”

Bolt said nothing as Wreck-gar began mumbling Nancy’s name, laughing a little to himself like he was contemplating an old memory…one Bolt doubted he would ever know.

--------‐---------------------

On the way back, Arcee and Megatron had to walk because carrying the parts of the Metal Heads proved a little difficult to hang onto in vehicle mode without straps or chains at their disposal.

“You would think techno-organic parts would be lighter after they’ve been severed. Why does it feel like I am carrying an entire dead body with me?”

The warlord had the skull armor of the Rhyno on his shoulder as Arcee carried a few of the skull gems and a piece of chest armor.

“Well, you technically are if you consider the virus itself a living entity.”

She wanted to retort but found herself instead glaring at him despite he was ridiculously right against all odds for such a statement. He chuckled at her reaction. But it died and he pointed to the border where the flatland of scrap diverted back to the hills of smaller, discarded pieces. She was confused by his interest until he pointed to a specific section.

“Do you think it’s a little weird that oil is running down from a scrap pile instead of running from its base?”

There was a fountain of oil cascading down one specific pile in the area. Other scrap hills had oil pooled at their base like Megatron said but this one was rupturing oddly. As they got closer, the way the oil was spraying up top was the most unusual compared to the rest of it.

Arcee set down the parts she carried as she said, “I think something is clogging it. Doesn’t it look like that?”

“Yeah, but it’s not flooded so maybe the pile is collapsing on itself.”

“Or something was thrown up there,” she stated, pointing at disturbed scrap at the base and evidence of sinking from weight that a liquid like oil wouldn’t create with such pressure it currently spewed.

Arcee decided to carefully climb up it. The oil ran past her servos and some splashed onto her chassis until she reached the top to see a corner of some type of box poking out right in the center of the activity. Not worried about getting dirty, she pulled at the object once she was stable on top. The oil made it difficult to handle but she kneeled to brush away the loose junk to give it wiggle room. Pulling again, the box creaked and more oil protruded from the clog. Upon her third attempt, it came up halfway and all hell broke loose.

The pressure finally caught up with it and a geyser of oil sent her and the box sliding down the side of the hill. Once it was released, the oil calmed after a few seconds with the cascade no longer flowing hard. It seemed to resume pooling at the base again like all the others with a hiss. The box tumbled several feet in comparison to Arcee who shook off the slide with a huff.

“That was fun.”

Megatron patted her shoulder though regretted it upon his servo being coated and he sneered amused but not liking the feeling of it firsthand. His demeanor made Arcee playfully slap his abdomen, leaving an oil print to his chagrin. Upon seeing the box that had caused such a clog, both she and Megatron approached it with raised brows as it had a sealed door with a damaged combination on its side.

“Who would throw away a good box…? Is that…?”

The sudden realization had them both surprised as Megatron picked it up with a single servo. Examining it, it was a type of safe, a faint gold…and it had claw marks along the lock. They looked at each other, unspeaking as they processed the fact of the matter that they had found Wreck-gar’s vault.

Chapter Text

Megatron and Arcee had scoured the junk across several hills until they found chains and a metal plate that appeared to once be a part of a tank or a small ship. They placed the vault and the remains of the Metal Heads on the slab with the chains around holes they believed were bullet impacts. Dragging the items proved easier and they smiled at one another at their improvised sled.

“A lot less strenuous, huh?”

The warlord laughed, “You can say that again. It feels kind of good not having to use my strength for everything.”

“If anyone says anything, I’ll just tell them you have back problems,” she snickered.

“You better not,” he warned with a whimsical tone. “I’ll tell Optimus you once a had a crush on-”

“No, no! Don’t, Megatron, I would murder you. He does not need to know that!”

“Oh, well, now I have to tell him,” he smirked. “I say I’m merely going to oust your secret and you want to kill me. Really feeling the love, Arcee.”

“We’re both jackasses who can’t express love well. How does that surprise you?” The queen joked.

Megatron laughed, “It doesn’t. I’ve done far worse. I, uh, I once got jealous of Orion spending time with Ratchet and Ironhide that I may have tormented the latter by ruining his life. Ratchet I couldn’t touch because of tenure in his position. So, there are a few worse things than murder when you think about it. Not my proudest moment.”

“You were the one who derailed Ironhide’s life? That explains why that guy had severe trust issues. That…that’s bad. But I can’t say I haven’t ruined other people’s lives either like Nightbird. I drove her insane to an obsession to find me. I used that to get her killed by luring her to an Autobot ambush. I still kind of feel bad about that but she could have stopped. Nothing else I could do except not exist, but that would’ve been too easy.”

The smile Megatron had lowered slightly to a neutral expression. “I suppose we just have a way about us that hurts some people and helps others. I mean I can live with my conscience most of the time so there’s not an incredible guilt to me about what happened, but I do wish some things did work out differently.”

Arcee pondered that and then asked, “What was it like when you and Optimus were close? I know certain details but never heard your side of the story. You can admit you still love him. I understand.”

Passing a hive of distillers arguing over food, Megatron ran the servo not pulling the vault’s sled on his cheek and tapped the side of his faceplates. “Orion was nice, sweet for someone considered a high caste member. He treated me with a resolve that I craved, never having experienced it before in my life. I fell hard and I wanted us to be together forever. But we all know how that turned out. Before the fallout, we loved to read. I used every moment I had between fighting in the Gladiatorial Pits to use the great halls of Iacon’s library to learn every chance I got. Alpha Trion hated me there. We also loved seeing the eclipses when the moons passed the sun and each other. It was like watching a glimmer of hope that things could be ours, nobody to govern our lives. When we would go out for walks among the populace, we got these stares like they were unsure of what to make of us.”

Then he gulped, holding back the stronger emotions as he slowly shook his head. Arcee knew it was the part he dreaded to tell, the real reason for their departure regardless of their feelings. She waited for the worst, silent but ready to be there to comfort him if he wanted her to.

“What...really split us wasn’t the choice to inherit the Matrix of Leadership. It contributed to the final straw, for sure, but the moment I knew that it wasn’t meant to be, despite all that we did together, was during a moment in the Hall of Records. I was going over a speech I planned on presenting to a crowd in Kaon and Orion agreed with my point of view, he knew I was right, but he made a few suggestions that solidified the undeniable fact that we were from two different worlds on the same planet. He wanted to romanticize it to appease the people I knew who wouldn’t understand, and it dawned on me that his agreement didn’t come from experience, it came from a position he believed was the right thing to do.”

Arcee understood the moment he said that what he was talking about. Optimus, no matter how noble he was, was born into a privileged life so the hardships as leader were still not the same as those born in a hell most foul who had to rise to the occasion to be better though some, like Megatron, had lost their way when the lines between right and wrong got blurred in a world that didn’t care overall.

“He wasn’t wrong to think that way but the rights of the oppressed must be presented by the oppressed,” Megatron said. “Hearing the rights of the people through a mere supporter is not the same and loses its meaning because someone else is speaking for you; you aren’t speaking for you. The intentions were pure, but it held no real loss to him if it didn’t work. That type of person, no matter how kind, cannot represent us.”

“The love you felt was real but the position you were in made it impossible,” she muttered back.

Megatron huffed, “We convince ourselves we can do the impossible all the time, but have you noticed with every attempt to achieve the impossible, something always gets sacrificed in the end? I refused to sacrifice my purpose for him, so I planned to part ways with him after the meeting with the Council. Then everything went wrong. This high-class data clerk of the infamous Alpha Trion makes a speech about freedom and rights of all beings and suddenly, he’s chosen as a Prime? The biggest insult of my career, and the most heart-wrenching betrayal of my life. What’s funny is that...I think that was the most Decepticon thing Orion...Optimus ever did.”

When he gave a soft laugh, Arcee saw that he wasn’t entirely saddened by how things turned out. Maybe it was for the best, but Arcee didn’t want to be proud of that thought. She wanted him to be real with himself; her opinion didn’t matter.

“This is a little weird to ask but would you have gotten back together with him if certain things occurred differently?”

Megatron gave a sincere smile. To her surprise, he said, “No. The damage is done. I found myself thinking about that very question quite a few times and the more I thought about it, the more painful it was. He and I, especially now, are a far cry from each other. I can never forgive him for that. If I went back to him...every time I look at him for too long, I start to grow unstable. I can feel the urge to kill him grow more than my love for him has ever reached, and that scares me. I don’t want to hurt him anymore. You, I have no ill-will towards you regardless of what you’ve done, but Optimus will forever be my greatest mistake.”

“We all make mistakes, but we move on and accept them. That’s all we can do. And I don’t think Optimus will hold anything against you for that. He’s forgiven you quite some time ago.” She offered him her servo and he took it, exchanging simple smiles. “Besides, big guy, I think he will always love you too and he wants you to be happy. He just wanted you to find someone who can tolerate you.”

“Oh, okay, back to the sass. I see how it is,” he said, continuing to grin. “My bleeding spark. What happened with Cliffjumper and Tailgate?”

“You...” She pointed a digit at him choking back laughter. “Okay, alright, you got me there. I’ll stop.”

“I don’t mind really. It’s good to get it out anyways. Never had anyone but Soundwave to listen to me.”

They both began laughing and continued doing so despite the sore subject. It wasn’t insensitivity on their part, especially Arcee’s, but she understood seeing the humor among it helped to cope with it easier.

When they finally reached the tribe, the inhabitants, including the two younglings, waved at them and greeted them like friends. The society Wreck-gar had created was certainly what most dreamed of. No hatred, no greed, and no arrogance. They acted like they had more than enough to share despite being on a planet full of scraps. The humblest of bots were the ones with nothing in their name.

Megatron swung the sled in front of Wreck-gar and Seacore who both peered at it stunned. Bolt lifted his pedes as it went by to not get hit while Moonhunter merely went higher up to lie on one of the huts. The rustic green mech approached the contents on the sled first and picked up the remains of the Rhyno with an analytical expression.

“These were...in the Howling Wastes?” Seacore asked carefully.

Arcee nodded and picked up another portion of armor. “These are deadly creatures known as the Metal Heads. They’ve been spotted on other worlds too hunting for resources and to kill anything that gets in their way.”

A few other mechs looked over the sled before Wreck-gar nudged past them with small apologies in his wake. Once he got to the front and saw the vault, he froze up like a deer in headlights. Arcee didn’t know what he was thinking, couldn’t read his faceplates either and that worried her that bringing the vault might have been a bad idea. She didn’t know if Wreck-gar could get furious or show any other rare emotion besides that.

He was hesitant to grab it but when he did, his smile grew back. To Arcee’s dismay, he seemed oblivious to the claw marks. “My vault is here! See? I told you it was okay! It could be found at any given time!”

“Um, Wreck-gar, it’s been tampered with,” she said as she pointed to the lock.

The orange and red mech looked over it and scoffed, “Oh, nothing but a few dragons probably messed with it. It’s a-okay!”

Bolt stood up and gestured a bit peeved, “No, it’s not okay! That mech or whoever you talked to, don’t you think it’s suspicious that you met this guy and suddenly your vault turns up where you couldn’t find it?! That tells me something’s up!”

“Actually, it’s down. Wrong direction there, buddy.” Wreck-gar pointed down at the same as the Vehicon facepalmed.

Arcee held up a servo to diffuse Bolt’s growing irritability and replied, “Okay, okay, maybe, Wreck-gar, we should look in the vault to see if everything is still in it. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to...whatever’s inside there.”

“Not a bad idea. I’ll open it in a little while, no need to rush,” Wreck-gar said, setting down the vault next to his hammock.

Bolt then turned to the other Cybertronians and whispered, “This mech is lazy. He thinks he has all the time in the world. He knows he’s not in any danger so he’s not going to do anything to help us move forward with our plans. The only thing I got out of him while you were away was I found out there’s someone named Nancy whom the contents of the vault belong to. He swore to protect it for them. He went into some type of confused hysteria like he wanted to remember something but couldn’t. I guess he finally did because he snapped out of it and was smiling for about thirty minutes.”

Megatron muttered, “Psychological damage? Past trauma?”

“Possibly, but I know one thing: he’s not going to be any help. If the Metal Heads invade, none of these Junkions are going to know what to do. Use the Earth expression ‘farmers with pitchforks’ against a tyrannical legion of monsters. We are probably way over our heads here.”

“We aren’t just going to leave them to face the Metal Heads alone though,” Arcee stated. “If we find out what’s in the vault and if it’s missing, we can figure out the Metal Heads’ next move and go from there.”

“Three bots and a Nitrotiger against an army has bad odds, Arcee.”

“We don’t have a choice, do we?”

Seacore examined the remains and asked, “These creatures you call the Metal Heads, they are malicious enough to attack us? How do we repel such a pest?”

The bots tried to find the nicest way to put it without invading the tribe’s peaceful atmosphere, but no response held the true terror of what the virus was capable of destroying.

“They are best if they are...killed off,” Arcee said distastefully, wincing as several of the Junkions began talking among themselves.

Seacore was the most reasonable and she believed he had previous experience with such matters. “We are simple folk; we don’t have weapons powerful enough to harm another-”

“Then you need our help. The Metal Heads aren’t going to stop until you are dead, or we kill the commander in charge. That’s how they work. Take, destroy, infect, and kill.”

A Junkion with spiked wheels and torso commented, “How do we know you didn’t bring them here to undo our lives?”

Bolt came to her defense, “They are hunting all the cybernetic worlds. Yours, Velocitron, Caminus...many of them are in their warpath. We are trying to prevent them from harming you, but we can only do this with your help. We don’t have an army, no reliance on anyone but ourselves usually to spread this truth, but we don’t want to see anyone hurt.”

More mutterings among the crowd seemed to tip against their favor. Wreck-gar didn’t look like he agreed with Bolt either which solidified his mindset of how the reality of the situation wasn’t important to him. That pissed off Arcee more than she cared to admit.

Seacore noticed this too and coughed, “Perhaps, we need a little while to talk about this sudden development. Here, for your efforts, I have a power source I found in the scrapyard that could be useful to you. We have no need of it.”

He handed her a Radiant Core and Arcee nodded as she placed it in her subspace before turning towards her two teammates.

“Not going to plan, of course.”

Megatron remarked, “When has it ever?”

Arcee shrugged, “For now, we just wait and keep an eye on things around here. Get to know the locals so we know who we’re dealing with and how to motivate them if need be.”

“I doubt we have that much time...” Bolt complained.

“Shh, everything will be okay. Keep a positive attitude, come on.”

The Cybertronians let Wreck-gar and Seacore talk to one another as the other locals went back to enjoy their carefree lives. The younglings ran around Megatron’s pedes a few times trying to chase one of the hira hyena pups that ran about. From the warlord’s point of view looking directly down, all he saw was a potato-shaped object hobbling across the ground at a fast pace. He lifted his pede as the pup gave a small laughing bark as the children caught it, snuggling with the little animal with affection.

While Megatron observed their playing, Arcee got to talking with a few of the mechs outside their huts, asking questions about the landscape and what happened. She came to find out that the chaos that occurred on Junkion with the Autobots and Decepticons did decimate half the world, but the Junkions had forgiven the incident as they had no need of the half gone anyways. It was a twisted concept, but the residents thought nothing of it despite the tragedy. She couldn’t decide whether they just didn’t care or found doing something about it was just not favorable to their way of life.

Moonhunter was touching noses with the hira hyenas who curiously sniffed back. Watching them circle one another, Bolt laughed as the Nitrotiger was then endlessly licked by his new friends. He didn’t hiss but showed slight discomfort, only letting the hyenas continue once he backed himself against a hut trying to escape the social greetings he was otherwise unfamiliar with.

Arcee sat beside Bolt once he was done laughing and watched the village peacefully go about its day. One thing she noticed when she peered up at the sky was the Milky Way Galaxy had not moved from its position. Junkion must not have a rotation cycle, but she found that it suited the planet greatly. A never-ending view of a beautiful entity of space.

“The locals told me about what happened here. I can’t believe I didn’t get to see any of that.”

Bolt chuckled, “Well, you didn’t miss too much. Along their travels, they also encountered the Quintessons who almost fed both Bots and Cons to the Sharkticon pit in a kangaroo court.”

“…Oh,” she mumbled, “I would have probably been killed first then.”

“Why?”

“I would have fought them and they would have just tossed me in to get rid of me.”

The Vehicon said nothing at first, then made a mediocre sigh. “You would have, wouldn’t you?”

Arcee still watched the village as some of its inhabitants began to use scrap to make sculptures. The younglings were quick to base it off of the animals that resided on Junkion while the adults went more surreal in their methods.

One rusty grey mech offered them a boxful of junk. “Would you like to make something?”

Arcee waved them off with a stifled laugh. “No thank you, I’m not the creative type.”

He gestured with the box towards Bolt and after a second, the purple mech relented. “Alright, I’ll try and make something.”

Bolt took the box and set it between his legs before scurrying through it. He made a bunch of little noises in thought, then made a hum signifying an idea popping into his head. Arcee just monitored his genius as did a few other bots as piece by piece, he put together an animal-like body. Bending a few scraps for the curvature of the design’s limbs and back, he molded it as best as his memory served. While he worked on it, Megatron leaned against the wall of a hut intrigued.

“Arts and crafts? What are you making there?”

Bolt huffed, “If I told you, it would ruin the surprise. Charades. What do you think I’m making?”

“Monogoliath,” Megatron spouted randomly.

Arcee followed with, “Dragon?”

“No and no,” he sang.

Before Arcee could guess a second time, a portal opened beneath her with spirits whispering. She fell into it cursing under her breath. The Junkions looked terrified while the two Cybertronians glanced at one another.

After a second of pause, Megatron resumed guessing. “Distiller dragon.”

“Here’s a hint, not a dragon type! I know everyone loves dragons but goddamn!”

‐-----------------------

As her freefall sent her through the cosmos, she nosedived expecting a platform to appear any second. The galaxies she passed sparkled across the warped perception of the vortex. When her freefall began to draw out, she started to think something was wrong and looked around cautiously.

“Allspark?! Hello?! Still going! Still falli-umph!!!”

She regretted her decision to look away when she slammed into a stable platform on her front. Arcee lied motionless with a small groan of frustration and defeat. Finally, she got up scowling and popped her spine and shoulders. The comets and sight of space gave her a headache.

“You really are milking the ability to throw me wherever you want with those portals. This is revenge for what I did to you in the Well, isn’t it?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Call it a test of your flexibility,” the Allspark said as it spawned with a brief light as its rings readjusted to rotate around it like normal.

“Ha ha ha, very funny. You’re the reason I’m going to have back problems when I get to be Ratchet’s age. You’re paying for my medical.”

It hummed, “I can live with that. I called you here to retrieve more of the relics I seek.”

“Lay it on me, as per usual,” she said tired.

“In the world of lost items across the galaxy, two relics of old are sought. Wielding the power of a black hole, a devastating ruin will consume and obliterate all with a single blast; no soul can survive its wrath. The many parts cannot survive without each other but can be used separately if necessary, though unwise is the user who dares to keep the five blades of unity apart for too long.”

“Why must you do riddles?”

“Mostly to torment at this point. I find the anonymous nature of them to be enlightening,” the Allspark chirped pleasantly. “Who doesn’t like a riddle every now and then?”

Arcee then paused. “Wait, you only said two clues, right? How many relics are on Junkion?”

“Only two. The rest were disrupted by the arrival of the Cybertronians beforehand. The first relic you seek is the Requiem Blaster. Solus Prime created a weapon that could absorb the light of a quasar and unleash the atom-blended abominable power on anything or anyone. Megatronus Prime ordered her to make it in their fight against Unicron, but the weapon proved too much and was sealed away until the gunship supporting it vanished. It was later discovered here depleted of energy. Used between the Autobots and Decepticons, it could not destroy either enemy and was discarded. It returned here after an incident where it overloaded a Decepticon cruiser’s core. Junkion lost its half from the removal of their weapon in their battle.”

“That’s the detail I was missing. Okay, that explains a lot. What’s the second one?”

“The second relic I seek: the Cyber Caliber, a set of five pieces each with a conscience of their own. The blade was made for Liege Maximo by Solus Prime but his arrogance led to the repossession of it and handed off to Nexus Prime for safe keeping. It can repair or destroy any shield and could break into five separate weapons. However, the consciousness of each piece was designed to relay information between one another as well as different wielders to notify them all of similar targets and positioning of said targets. And if separated farther than several million miles, Solus put a transwarp feature in them so they could teleport back within radius of one another by choice. During the encounter on Junkion, the blade’s components were launched similar to the Requiem Blaster by the Autobots but one piece made it back here where the others decided to rejoin their resting counterpart instead. Nexus Prime had sent his vessels to distribute the pieces back into outer space but he never knew about the reunification feature, his efforts all for naught.”

Arcee mused, “What were the chances of both weapons returning here?”

“Slim, but not impossible. Perhaps a few other coincidences brought them back but who’s to say,” the Allspark laughed. “Solus Prime knew all her relics would risk such encounters so she did the best she could to keep them in reach. I will take them back to the Well like the others so they will never be lost again.”

She frowned at that. Something wasn’t adding up. If Nexus Prime scattered the Cyber Caliber after the Autobots used the weapon, that gave other intruders the potential to use it unethically. Did Solus herself interfere with the weapons’ locations? If the Allspark was all-seeing, it could have alerted her about the situation and, like Nexus, used a spiritual projection to return the Requiem Blaster and the Cyber Caliber to Junkion. But why interfere with Nexus’ attempts? It was more than likely the same reason Arcee ended up with Dagger Prima. Solus and the Allspark wanted the items in reach for her to retrieve, but then that contradicted the Allspark’s ability to send the dagger to Chaar for Bolt when it couldn’t touch the other relics...unless it was Solus’ doing the entire time.

Refusing to press the issue any more than need be, Arcee gave a thoughtful nod and said, “Your wish is my command. I’ll find the Requiem Blaster and all five pieces of the Cyber Caliber for you.”

“Just...be careful, Arcee. Things take a little patience sometimes.”

“I have everything under control. We’re good!” She boasted despite the slowing of the rings of the Allspark seemed to imply it thought otherwise. Her demeanor changed to a neutral frown. “We’re okay, right?”

The Allspark seemed withdrawn and it moved in a way like it was shaking its head...core...energy. “It’s hard to say. Be prepared for anything, things that may haunt even you.”

“I can handle it. I already pissed off the Metal Heads by killing Tigressa. I doubt anyone can top that.”

The confidence she had in herself was from her own creditability but as she saw the Allspark shy away, she scoffed at the idea it was doubtful. When a portal appeared to relieve her, she entered it without another word, leaving behind a disappointed Allspark muttering to itself.

“I hope you can too.”

-------------------------------

Bolt added the horns and the snout to his creation as the two Junkion younglings tried to mimic him. He gleamed at their participation. Megatron still glared at the sculpture unsure until the final pieces were set. At knee height, the creature resembled one most familiar.

“It’s a Cybertronian Predator?”

Bolt exaggerated as he gestured in faux amazement. “Yes, finally! It’s a Cybertronian Predator! Good job!”

The glare quickly shifted to Bolt before Megatron stated blandly, “That’s a dragon-esque creature.”

“That’s...that’s not a dragon, Megatron! The Predators aren’t dragons!”

“It is! An animal that existed around Predacons with the exact same features who are what humans described as dragons! Therefore, it’s a dragon! Four limbs, claws, reptilian appearance, thick chassis meant to take a lot of damage, agile but durable...it’s a dragon! A wingless dragon but still!”

“It’s not a...!” Bolt sighed, “You are going to die on that hill, aren’t you?”

“Then what would the Predator be then? What is it closely related to?”

“They are similar to Predacons, yes, but-!”

“-But then that makes it technically a dragon if the term was acquired from humans who saw Predacon remains in the past or had unusual sightings,” Megatron smirked. “You proved the wrong side of your argument.”

“You didn’t let me finish. But they don’t have the same CNA structure. Apparently, Solus Prime did more than just convert the Apex Armor from Predator mech remains. She had Alpha Trion and Alchemist Prime take samples of the creature’s CNA that resided on the pre-sanitized armor by blood, and it survived all this time in the basements of Iacon. I found it after talking to Rockrider’s ex-associates. They had tabs on it as they were instructed to by Alpha Trion himself. Predaking’s CNA doesn’t resemble it. CNA given by Shockwave from what he used to make the first clones he sent to Earth doesn’t match it. It’s not a Predacon, so it wouldn’t be a dragon even if it lived around the so-called ‘dragons’ of Cybertron. It’s something else, maybe more like a prehistoric Dinobot but Cybertron didn’t have Dinobots up until Shockwave’s tampering, so I don’t know what it is per say.”

Megatron mumbled, “So, a different species of dragon?”

“I’m going to strangle you,” The Vehicon declared deadpan.

Another portal spawned to their right and Arcee hopped through and it vanished with a cackle. She swiped together her servos and smiled, “Who wants to go on another treasure hunt? Also, did you finish your dragon?”

The two younglings burst out laughing as Bolt wordlessly stared her down then redirected his ire to her sparkmate. Back and forth, he stared between them. Then he growled, “Screw you guys. I would say something more colorful but we have children present.”

As Bolt set aside the sculpture, Arcee tapped her hips in thought. “So, we need to find the Requiem Blaster and the Cyber Caliber. You guys might know what I’m talking about, especially you, Megatron.”

“Ah yes, the Requiem Blaster. We found it here trying to kill Optimus and hooked it onto our ship. It was very low on Energon but once we removed it from the planet, half of Junkion broke apart. It had its own gravity field at the core of the planet.”

“The Allspark says it’s still here so do we remove it if that is what’s holding the rest of the planet together?”

The warlord shook his head, but for a different reason entirely. “The Requiem Blaster no longer is active. When the Star Seekers got ahold of it after I left it behind when it started consuming energy out of the Nemesis, they tried to use it against us only for it to overload and break. It was supposedly jettisoned out there but I guess not. But I am certain, one hundred percent, it’s not functioning anymore.”

Bolt then put in his knowledge into the mix. “The Requiem Blaster was Megatronus’ weapon of mass destruction, had his color scheme of black with orange lighting to show that it was his too. Said at full power to be able to destroy anything it touched. Barely a graze can kill a person, a shot to a planet can vaporize it, and a pinch against a star can lead to a supernova, feeding on such a light to empower itself even more. Solus was said to have been horrified and forced to do it though that was also said about the Spark Extractor as well. I’m guessing that’s why their relationship was rocky sometimes. Megatronus wanted too much for nefarious purposes, not always in his right mind when asking her to make them.”

“And the Cyber Caliber?”

The Vehicon shrugged, “I don’t know what happened to that one but it was Nexus Prime’s relic. It was silver with blue-lit blades. It looked like it was made up of several different components too, very top heavy with split blades parallel to a single spear. The handle and grip I think were the other three components, don’t remember what weapons they were. The story on that one is weird because it’s hard to tell if it was made solely for Nexus or was for some of the other Primes as well. I assume since it is technically five separate pieces like the Star Saber was shattered as such and Optimus mistakenly realigned the wrong sword the first time, I think the other four Primes who could have used it were Prima, Micronus Prime, Liege Maximo, and Onyx Prime. They had the motivation to use such a weapon but then again, that’s only speculation on my part.”

Arcee processed that before asking the most absurd question. “What about Optimus? Could he have been entrusted with one of the weapons?”

“No,” Bolt immediately said, “mainly because, at the time, he was not a weapons person. He was the youngest and he had no weapons made for him either. That wasn’t the intention of the Primes to bring their youngest brother into a war, especially with the likes of Unicron. They did everything to keep him safe, even jackass Liege Maximo didn’t really want any harm to come to him. He was kind of like the uncle that tolerates the kid but doesn’t show it and still spoils him on the side without the rest of the family knowing. He wasn’t going to let Optimus hurt himself as far as the old journals state. Optimus was, and will always be, the baby of the bunch.”

Bolt got up from his seat as Arcee and Megatron moved into the center of the village. Moonhunter followed, getting away from the hyenas lying next to him.

Megatron then asked, “Where should we start?”

“Easy, with the leader. If Wreck-gar knows this place like he claims, he’s got to know something about the weapons,” Bolt stated boldly. “But he didn’t remember where his own safe was so...”

They approached Wreck-gar who was recharging on his hammock and Seacore was leaning on his backside with a leg over the other peacefully. Seacore opened one optic and peered at the bots with a smile.

“Something wrong?”

Arcee sighed, “Not really but, um, you wouldn’t happen to know if you’ve seen a special weapon or two among the debris here. We have been ordered to retrieve relics to finally get rid of them to prevent the previous harm they have done from repeating. Does anything like a large black blaster with orange lights sound familiar or maybe various weapons silver with blue blades or other blue lighting?”

Seacore sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees brought towards his abdomen. He took a second before something seemed to catch his attention in his mind. “Not the blaster...but I encountered an unusual object in the Dragonlands. It was silver, faint blue orbs engraved on its handle, but it was like a bow. You know, a weapon to shoot arrows with, had a chain or string to pull back on so I left it thinking it was something else and I could be entirely unhelpful to you.”

“It’s a start, that’s what matters. Anyone else who may know?” The queen asked.

“Would not know. We tend to also live by the rules of find and keep first. If someone has one of those weapons, I wouldn’t be able to say for sure.”

As Arcee peered up from Seacore, she saw Wreck-gar appeared uneasy looking around frantically despite still lying down unmoving. He knew something about what they sought. She was sure of it. For now, she left him to stew on the idea so when she went to him with questions, he might be able to give her a straight answer.

“Thank you.” Turning to Bolt, she said, “You and I are going to hunt down the relic. Megatron, see if you can find the Requiem Blaster’s location.”

Megatron nodded, “As you wish.”

When Megatron began asking around, Arcee and Bolt transformed and headed out. The Dragonlands, as Seacore creatively called it, were less active now. The distillers and any scrap dragons in the area were resting, and she could confirm the scrap dragons were tired as a giant one with a missing horn was curled up on top of a hill. Its shape against the scrap that bended to its weight gave away the illusion but to the untrained optic that didn’t ever encounter one, she could see where it could be mistaken as part of the scenery.

Thankfully, none of the dragons seemed alarmed by the sound of the bots’ engines. Arcee got a little experimental with her daredevil nature and sped up a hillside to jump off it, gaining a bit of air with the lessened gravity in comparison to Earth’s and Cybertron’s density. She transformed back to robot mode and activated her gliding ability to get a good view of the planet. With the gravity not as strong but still there, her glide barely had her sinking towards the ground. She even was at a height to see one of many drops off the edge of the planet in the far distance. Other directions still had endless space as far as she could tell.

To her surprise, Dagger Prima glowed and so did something not far below her. It was blue. She commed Bolt to the location and dived, swooping back to an even level and scattering some junk in the process. Once she was in distance of the object, she made her energy wings disappear. The glowing object was silver, a shiny handle stuck in the trash. The whispers were telling her to grab it and she obeyed. Arcee reeled back when dislodging it caused the junk to topple but there were no distillers inside.

Arcee expected the sword but was stunned to see instead a spear with a blue edge and the engraved language of the Primes on its neck. Bolt met up with her and saw it with some glee emitting from his posture.

“That’s the middle of the Cyber Caliber, Arcee! The two blades it has? They are separated by this! This is one of the weapons it deconstructs into! Awesome!”

“Glad you like it. You can hold onto it,” she grinned. “That leaves four weapons left. If one of them is a bow, what would the other three be?”

“More than likely the two blades are two smaller swords but the last one, I couldn’t think of what it would be. Maybe it’s a part of the base of the blades or the handle itself like a whip or a gun,” he replied.

“This isn’t the weapon we were looking for though. The bow is still out here somewhere...assuming the distillers didn’t take it.”

Both bots moaned as they realized that could very well be the case. They went to tracking on foot as aerial views wouldn’t be useful with distillers that could hide their loot in the piles of junk themselves. Within the hour, they stopped at every pile to see sleeping distillers unaware of their presence but none had a weapon among them or around their stacked nests. A few times, Bolt was dissatisfied when he saw silver and eagerly pulled at it only for it to be a random piece of twisted metal. He threw it behind him with a growl.

Bubbling noises caught their attention and they saw over a bend a pool of oil gurgling content on the planet’s surface. A single distiller drank from it before yawning, stretching its arms with its wings out and droopy optics. It slowly made its way to its nest nearly by and merely tipped over. It was asleep before it even touched its nest, rumbling as an oil bubble began to form from its snout.

Right then, Dagger Prima whispered again and Arcee quickly peered around for the weapon or the blaster just in case. There were no other glowing objects around but more bubbles sounded in the pool. That caught her attention and she nudged Bolt who was also looking. They both stared at the bubbles that appeared like speech patterns. When one burst, an odd hiss rose from it unlike the bubbles they had heard previously.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Arcee sneered.

“Well...I have never experienced a natural oil bath before...”

Arcee’s expression dipped into an “are you serious” gaze before she sighed and jumped in. He was hesitant to follow but did so out of respect. The oil coated them but didn’t stick, sliding down their armor like water. Bolt hit a low spot and tripped which Arcee laughed at instantly once he was completely submerged. He popped back up shaking his helm and shoulders to get the liquid off.

“Wow, the oil’s warmer the farther you go down!” Bolt exclaimed.

Arcee still giggled to herself as she tried feeling around the bottom for anything that stuck out. There were small scraps she kicked but nothing concrete until she felt something catch her left pede. She thought for a second it was Bolt who was almost overlapping her. “Ow, watch it!”

“That wasn’t me.”

They stopped and Arcee backtracked, feeling around until she felt something big. As best she could, she scouted its frame. Something long and curved for sure. Hitting the surface of the oil, she immediately went under and grabbed it. The oil cleared going back up and she saw in her servo a silver bow-like frame pulsing with the same symbols as the spear.

“Weapon number two is ours,” she said proudly.

Bolt brought out the spear and examined it against the bow. “Definitely matches.”

They suddenly lurched back when, like a magnet, the two weapons merged. The bow’s curves pointed downward as it latched to the lower section of the spear like a decorative transition for the handle. The two alone looked like a sword already sans the blade only being the spearhead itself.

“Whoa...”

Arcee pondered the sight until a message from Megatron came through. “Arcee, just got a hit on possibly one of those weapons. Someone said they saw a silver shield on the chest of a scrap dragon that didn’t look remotely like discarded junk.”

“Great, but the dragons are recharging so we might be able to get away with sneaking next to the one that has it, assuming we find it at all.”

“That’s up to you to find. I’ll see if anything else comes up.”

The Vehicon shook his head, “We’re not stealing from a scrap dragon. There’s no way!”

“We can, and we will. Let's go."

“And we’re dead...”

“Less sarcasm, more searching,” Arcee’s voice echoed as she ran out of the oil pool.

They traveled farther down and ran across a flattened area with less distillers but noticeably damaged hillsides with giant imprints. The edge of the world which she saw up high was barely seen from ground level but still not close enough to fall off assuming one did at all and Wreck-gar was merely exaggerating. But Detritus never did come back...

Loud breathing made them freeze, scanning the area for scrap dragons. A trail of smoke puffed up from behind a ledge of junk and they quietly scaled it as best they could only to come face-to-face with one of the beasts. Like the distillers, the scrap dragon was dead asleep, smoking rising from its vents and gently blowing it towards them with a snore. Another scrap dragon just as big was a rock throw away on its side, breathing oblivious to their scent.

Arcee got close to the first dragon which Bolt tensed at and slowly looked over its chest. No shield was visible. Sneaking back around, she headed towards the second dragon when a jagged breath emerged and a silver glitter caught her optic. Confirmed by the hissing of Dagger Prima, the shield with Cybertronian symbols and blue bio lights rested on its chest right below the merging of its neck. She carefully kneeled beside it. It wasn’t that big but definitely made a good piece for a makeshift armor. The dragon had exquisite taste. Grabbing it, she tried to tug without disrupting the beast’s sleep. Another breath made her pause before continuing with a harder tug.

Bolt watched her when he noticed in her blind spot a yellow optic opened and slid to peer at the blue femme, he gasped. The dragon’s optic contracted and narrowed with a sneer right as Arcee broke loose the shield. She reveled in her victory until she felt eyes on her. Seeing Bolt was one thing but there was another. She slowly turned with a miserable expression only to lock optics with the dragon that began to growl and raise its head off the ground. Her optics trailed this movement as wide as they could go. It leaned forward, metal fins along the side of its helm twitching angrily.

“Um, finder’s keepers?”

The sudden change of expression from simply angered to baring teeth in rage, the scrap dragon opened his mouth with a glow in the back of its throat. Arcee fled the second before a blast of fire cut through parts of the ground with scorch marks. Bolt was staring bewildered and scared until Arcee grabbed his arm and they both headed away from the dragons’ home. The other sleeping dragon awoke roaring, forcing itself upright and expanding its wings peeved at its disturbed slumber. The robbed dragon snapped at it which it hissed back at before they both turned their attention to the fleeing culprits.

Bolt zoomed on the legs he was given enough to almost outpace Arcee herself. “So, now what’s the plan?!”

“We need to hide! And fast!”

“Great plan! I like that plan!” He yelled worried.

The beating of wings made both almost shout as both dragons flew in their direction snarling. The distillers around the bots were drowsy but grew frantic hearing their larger neighbors up and about. Many began to take flight as Arcee gained an idea as they were getting closer to the oil pool they had scouted for the bow.

“We need to get all of them airborne! Cause a distraction and then you and I will hide in the oil!”

“Are you insane?!” She sent him a glare and his words failed him. “I guess I don’t have an option.”

Bringing out his axe, he swung it against the towers of scrap housing the distillers. A hundred of them came pouring out one while other had fifty to seventy occupants. The more they bashed, the more clutter in the sky stalled the scrap dragons that began blowing fire at the distillers like trying to evaporate annoying bugs. As soon as both scrap dragons were not looking in their direction anymore, Arcee swung herself and Bolt into the oil. They stuck out their heads to keep track of their chasers, ready to submerge completely if they were at risk of being found.

The distillers did their jobs well and the scrap dragons started scanning again for their prey. The bots kept low in a shadowed section of the oil, spotting the fury and confusion of both creatures. Soon, one of them gave up and turned away to fly back to its home. The other with the missing chest piece roared again, still trying to find them. Arcee and Bolt didn’t know how long they stayed caked in oil until finally, the scrap dragon shook its head and hissed. It left them to bask in the warming pool.

Both bots shot up and hive fived each other before bringing out the spear-bow and the shield. Placing them together, the shield fused to the top of the bow like a 3D crest that wrapped around the spear’s neck.

“Yeah baby, only two more to go! Ain’t nobody can beat outrunning two grown scrap dragons like the dynamic duo!” Bolt hollered. He fell backwards uncaring into the pool, splashing Arcee in the process who shared his happiness. He walked back to the edge of the pool and leaned his elbows on it sitting with his knees above the surface. “And we get to relax a second. I love me some relaxing!”

Arcee leaned against him casually. “You can say that again.”

He held up a digit as everything calmed down with the distillers flying amok as they both looked up at the galaxy staring down on them. “So, let me ask you something, do you...do you think we’re doing the right thing getting involved in all this chaos? I mean, we’re doing fantastic work but with Silos’ demands on top of the Metal Head scourge who he will only help us fight with a price, do you think we’re on the right track?”

“Why ask that now?”

“I, um, just got a hunch we might be missing something and this can go wrong really fast.”

She scoffed, “You sound like the Allspark. Let me guess. You have been in communication with it?”

“And for good reason. It’s worried, Arcee, as we should be. It says something’s wrong, that we might have done worse than good. How do you take something like that? I don’t want to usurp your pride but what am I supposed to say to you or to it?”

Arcee started to get a little upset but it died down as quick as it came, and she merely sighed, “I don’t know. Maybe me killing Tigressa or Kor really set this off in a negative way. Maybe I shouldn’t have done it but at the same time, both would have killed me, so what was I supposed to do? Let it happen?”

“Fair point,” Bolt said quietly. “I think the main thing I got from what the Allspark told me was that it has been helping us too much. By reviving me, by saving you, and several other factors, it believes it caused a relapse in the universal boundaries. It said something like if it stops one threat, some type of karmatic threat is going to be unleashed to get Cybertron, or specifically you, that will be worse than the last.

“Things happen for a reason, Arcee. And if they get changed when they aren’t supposed to, I guess something worse, something you can’t defeat will finally get to you. Personally, it makes my otherwise limited previous purpose far more interesting but the Allspark is right. How many threats are we supposed to deflect before we die? If they are going to keep coming, what do we do in the situation?”

He looked at her with a soft tilt of his head as he had a protective arm hanging around over her far shoulder. She didn’t seem to mind one bit. The queen finally came up with a simple response as she met his optic visor.

“I guess...we just keep fighting until we do die. We either let something destroy us and hope it stops with us or we can fight. Maybe we are only made for war, but I’m going to be damned if I’m going to let anything with deadly intentions put others at risk and not do anything.”

“Optimus taught you well,” he chuckled.

“Of course. Let them come. I’m ready.”

--------------------------

Megatron tried to extract more information about the Cyber Caliber but no one seemed to know a thing. He shook his head frustrated until he realized the only mech he hadn’t asked was the leader himself. But Wreck-gar was still emotionally distant and without Arcee to monitor him, he feared he might grow impatient and say something regrettable. But he needed the information. Swallowing his pride, he walked to the mech who was drumming his digits and the held vault muttering something.

“Wreck-gar, do you know-?”

“No.”

The answer was blunter than expected as the mech refused eye contact with him, and it made Megatron rethink his approach. “I wonder...if a cannon of black has ever been discarded here? It seems a bit out of place for weapons to be abundant but if vaults, dragons, and ships can survive, I wonder what else could?”

“The vault...my vault...he wouldn’t let my vault go and the weapon...that vile scrapheap.”

The gibberish drew Seacore’s attention as Megatron sat across from Wreck-gar. The rusty green mech immediately asked, “What is going on here?”

“Answers,” Megatron retorted.

Seacore didn’t correct him and instead looked to Wreck-gar for a reply. “Wreck-gar? It’s okay. You can tell him.”

“You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? The Requiem Blaster? It’s still here and you’ve seen it.”

Wreck-gar slowly made a genuine smile and snapped out of his delirium. “The core of the mechanism is yours, dear friend. I don’t have any need of it. Like a leader of Earth once said, ‘There is nothing to fear but fear itself.’”

Megatron didn’t know what the connection between the weapon and that phrase was until it dawned on him just why the planet was so shattered in the first place. “You...fear me?”

It felt weird for such a word to be distasteful to him yet it wounded him to see firsthand the power he held over those that couldn’t fight back. The trauma they experienced under his care was intentional at the time but now he had regrets, especially seeing Wreck-gar's expression change again to an unusual uncertainty. He came to the world hating it, now he saw just what his hatred brought.

“I don’t want to take it, just return it back to the Allspark. I’m not going to harm you ever again. That was a mistake, but I guess I’ve made plenty.”

Wreck-gar shook his head, “No, I don’t fear you. I feared for you last time, feared you would never know what you could do compared to what you can do. You aren’t the same; you’ve changed. I am Wreck-gar and I fear no bot, only care for them to remind them that there is always another way! The weapon you seek is here.”

When he didn’t point to anything or give him any other clues, Megatron awkwardly laughed, “Where?”

“You know, the Howling Wastes. Did nothing there look familiar to you? If those creatures are invading, my first thought was they were after the same weapon, not my oil.”

“Why didn’t you tell us before?”

Wreck-gar huffed, “Nancy…she’s been on my mind. It’s her vault, not mine. I say it’s mine but it’s hers…always has been.”

Megatron knew he should pry but he couldn’t stop himself. “What happened to her?”

Wreck-gar started to recess back to his babbling state, still a long way from his normal, bubbly personality he had. He clung to the vault a bit depressed and muttered Nancy’s name. Megatron left him with a solemn nod and to the assurance of Seacore who patted his shoulder.

“Don’t take it personally. Some secrets are best left untold, and you’ll find quite an abundance out here.”

The warlord understood but at least he knew the location of the Requiem Blaster.

‐------------------------

Arcee and Bolt wandered Junkion’s outer section in search for any clues of the last two weapons’ locations. If they were separate, that would make their job harder. What was worse was they hadn’t heard anything from Megatron since before the scrap dragon debacle.

“It’s got to be here somewhere. The other three were around this part of the planet but the last two aren’t?” The Vehicon scoffed.

“Not as bad as when we were chasing that decoy for the Star Saber you Cons set up to distract us with.”

He laughed, “Oh yeah, heh, that was funny until Optimus got a hold of the real one. I was on the Nemesis when that happened and was one of five troops in charge of monitoring the signal and Soundwave’s whereabouts against yours. We had a lot of jokes going during that, some of them about specific Autobots, mind you.”

Arcee smirked until her commlink went off and she dreaded the voice that came through. “Hello, my dear, do tell me you find this junk planet a haven because I’ve been finding some of the most intriguing items. A collector’s dream.”

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself. Where are you, Silos?”

Bolt listened with his interest piqued as Silos snidely remarked, “Oh, among the trash where some would say I belong. The oil fields to the southern hemisphere…assuming I can even call it that. Half the planet seems to be missing.”

“We are more north above the Dragonlands. While you’re scavenging down there, maybe you can look for something we need. Twin blades, silver with blue lighting. Mystic aura and symbols, kind of like the Amalgama Scythe-”

“Just called The Scythe! Again, you don’t seem to get the name right!”

She glared at Bolt, making a silent hush gesture before continuing, “-and we need to find it soon.”

The Metal Head started to laugh which made her suspicious. “And…if I did see something like that? What would you be willing to part with for it? You don’t have any weapons you want to get rid of, the chances of you having something I need is slim right now, and I don’t think you’re one to go less favorable lengths. Not really an incentive for me to give you anything for free now, is it?”

“That sounds like you have regrets not taking me up on that one offer on Velocitron, jackass. Don’t know if I’m supposed to be flattered or disgusted.”

He growled like an animal quite close to his comm. “I wouldn’t start pushing where there can be severe consequences. I’m decent to a degree, not so much when taunted. Fine, you want them so bad, you can take them, girl, just don’t take my hospitality for granted lest you wish to see what you laugh about up close and personal.”

“Threat of a good time, Silos? Have to do better than that.”

“I try. Meet me at my ship and I’ll give you the weapons that you desire so.”

The commlink shut down and she turned to see Bolt slightly taken aback. “You flirting with him or is he flirting with you?”

“It keeps him off my tail. I don’t actually like him that way. I would never betray Megatron with that.”

“Really? Because…”

“You say it, we’ll be having a three-legged race back to the village with my foot broken off in your aft. Now, I have to meet with Silos to get those swords. He said he found them scavenging.”

Bolt relieved the partially completed Cyber Caliber to her, mockingly snickering, “Okay...just let me know how it goes.”

She swatted him in a mixture of anger and amusement. “Get-Get out of here, you little-!”

He still laughed, even as he was hit. He ran away by the fifth light punch to keep his distance. “What? Because of that, you’re going to leave me in the Dragonlands? Alone?”

“Now I am. Feel free to do whatever.”

“See you back at the village!”

She snarled and smirked at the same time at his audacity. As he left, she walked a bit before transforming. The Dragonlands were passed quickly as she used her speedster ability as many times as possible to get out of range of potential enemies. It took her an hour’s worth of driving before she reached the oil fields near the southern edge of the world.

Silos’ ship resided at the shore of a large oil lake with sand lions bathing. Its ramp was down and no sign of the Metal Head outside to be seen. She transformed at its base and walked up it back to see the sanitized ship still in mint condition. She walked past his chambers and saw him lying front down on his lounge bed with the lifted headrest and arms cradling his head. He was partially on his side from the waist down with his tail hanging over the pillow on the other end and swaying while his legs stuck out to show off the faint paw pads of his feet. What shocked her the most? His helmet was off.

His face resembled that of a rhinoceros mixed with a dinosaur’s structure the same as his holoscreen picture on his desk that was still there. The skull gem on his forehead gleamed and showed off all the details among his face. The edges of the scars she could see beneath the helmet now laid bare. They traveled across his mouth and snout, some around his eyes up to his head and some were prominent among the barbs that went down the base of his spine. The barbs that began from small to large on their way down were cracked, some missing entirely from years of wearing the helmet, and his ears indeed had scarring around the skin folds. His lower jaw of blue blended to his dark blue skin found on the rest of his body, the gradient uneven in many places.

He stared at her with his gold irises and black-slit pupils as she studied his face so barren of the same life she could see in the picture. His ears moved forward and back constantly like he was unsure of what to do now that his appearance was revealed. But, in a way, Arcee suspected he wanted her to know the damage that had been done.

“Not the pinnacle of beauty, I would imagine?” He spoke crassly, yet his tone still held a shred of self-preservation. He obviously didn’t truly care what she thought of him. He then grabbed the holoscreen on his desk and thumbed it with a raised brow.

Seeing the mirrored picture from her side viewing the small screen as he held it in front of her, he definitely came off as a bright young Rozarian warrior posing with the younger Tigressa and others. To see him scarred, mutilated, and infected when she looked past the image, it was quite a difference in appearance but he still retained his original self’s structure in a way, just physically stronger and a bulkier muscle mass from age and experience. She could only imagine how old he was or what timeframe the picture was taken at in his life. If she had to guess, it was near the beginning of his career with King Kronos’ Royal Guard.

“You’re not bad, not at all.”

Silos sat up with a chuckle deep in his throat and placed back the picture with a smile. “A finer moment.”

Arcee then asked out of the blue, “Do you think I could see your world one day?”

“Rozaria?” Silos scoffed until he noticed she was serious. “I suppose...I could give you a tour someday. It’s an organic planet though, not really anything consumable to cybernetic species and quite humid constantly throughout the year. Very uncomfortable to the likes of your kind if you’re afraid of rust.”

“I can handle a jungle planet.”

“I’ll think on it then,” Silos said with a smug sneer. He suddenly got up and moved past her. “As for your weapons, I think I have what you’re looking for.”

She followed him to his artillery room as Dagger Prima whispered and immediately saw his collection of weaponry had expanded. Many weapons had gone through thorough cleaning very recently and he grabbed a silver and blue energetic set of swords with curved edges on the upper half and straight blades on the lower. Their symbols glowed yearning to be reunited with their three other counterparts. She brought out the Cyber Caliber in response and he pulled the swords back to her dismay.

“Ah ah, what do I get?”

“Oh, come on, you really need something for two stupid swords?! I gave you pity!”

“Technically, never asked for it, so how about a trade? I’ve heard that the leader of this world has something of value, something he always keeps dear to himself. You promise to get me it; I’ll give you the weapons here and now.”

Arcee slowly shook her head, “Not that. It seems to be the only thing he has left of his past. He needs that-”

“Not the vault or whatever lies inside that overexaggerated tin can! I want his pendant. I want to sell it. He can keep his safe, but that pendant was said to be from the late Thundertron, poor fool died before he could hide it, so this Wreck-gar character took it as a sign of rebellion, and it has been in his care ever since. Very valuable to the right buyers. I don’t think he’ll mind me putting it to better use.”

Arcee was about to chastise him when she paused, a dark expression growing on her faceplates. “How do you know of the vault?”

Silos rolled his eyes shaking and harshly tapped his second skull gum on his chest. “Syncing minds have a bit of an echo of desire, don’t you think?”

“So, it was a Metal Head that was after the vault? The claw marks on the lock. You have a two-way feed with the hive. You know what’s inside, don’t you?”

“And if I did, why does it matter to you? I don’t care about it; it has no use to me now. Get me that pendant, or I will take that vault just out of spite, and I won’t care if you get dragged down because of it.”

He roughly shoved the swords into her and they immediately merged with the Cyber Caliber parts. Both blades became one with the spear in the middle, parallel as two sides to make the relic complete. But its union was bittersweet as Silos was now antagonized by her accusations. She didn’t bother to apologize and stormed off without another word. So much for their spark to heart.

As she left, she received a call from Megatron. “Arcee, we found the Requiem Blaster. Meet us at the Howling Wastes once you are done.”

“Copy that. On my way now.”

----------------------------------

Bolt transformed as he entered the tribe passing enthusiastic Junkions and the younglings who waved at him. He made a quick response by waving back before peering around for Megatron. Unable to see him, he started asking around.

“Have you seen the tall grey mech, Megatron?”

A shake of the head was all he received by the closest local. He asked again to another group of mechs.

“Seen a Decepticon, yay big?”

They said no too. Bolt frantically looked for his friend when a servo rested on his shoulder spooking him. Seacore jolted back too, afraid of his posture growing defensive. He apologized profusely.

“Sorry, but are you looking for Megatron? He’s in the Howling Wastes. The Requiem Blaster you seek is in there. Wreck-gar supplied him the coordinates.”

“Wait, if he’s over there, who’s watching Moonhunter?”

The Nitrotiger gave a tired yowl and the Vehicon spotted him lying among the domesticated hira hyenas in a sleep circle. It seems Moonhunter had given up delaying the advances of the other pets. Bolt was amused at the sight but regained focus.

“Thank you for caring for him and I’ll be back again!”

Seacore was surprised by the mech’s hurry and didn’t get to respond before Bolt drove out of the village again towards the Howling Wastes. The wrecked shipyard was approached with little caution despite once holding a group of malicious Metal Heads aiming to trap the bots. His engine roared as he zoomed across the landscape trying to see if Megatron was still around if not in danger. Then he saw a glimmer of silver moving on a ship front partially buried in the trash. Shifting back to robot mode, he quickly called to Megatron as he ran up the ship’s exterior.

“Megatron! Megatron!”

The mech in question perked up and grew shocked. “Where’s Arcee?!”

“She’s fine! Perfectly fine, decided to scout alone so I can check up on you! Seacore says you’re looking for the Requiem Blaster?”

As the Vehicon panted catching up to the warlord, the latter smiled, “Looking? Try already found.”

He pointed down in a sizable hole Bolt just noticed beside him and there in the rubble of the ship’s interior was a large black and orange cannon heavily damaged. The detail that all but confirmed its identity was the language of the Primes written on its barrel. Without it, they would either have to wait for Arcee to bring Dagger Prima to confirm or drag it to the village and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the weapon was massive, larger than the both combined. Moving it would be a miracle of Primus...or the Allspark if it didn’t decide to force them to go elsewhere to meet it.

“Arcee, we found the Requiem Blaster. Meet us at the Howling Wastes once you are done.”

“Copy that. On my way now.”

Bolt sat on the ledge of the hole and rubbed the back of his neck. “This has been a long day, and Junkion technically doesn’t have days and nights. Endless days...makes a bot go insane, heh heh.”

“You sound like Blitzwing when he’s starving in his chaos mode.”

“I am a bit thirsty now that you mention it,” Bolt quipped with a fake sinister cackle.

Megatron merely glanced at him before making his pupils constrict at will with a slasher smile full of fangs and a growl. “Try me.”

The Vehicon deflated his bravado quite fast even as Megatron returned to normal. “No thank you.”

They waited for Arcee and sat in various places on the ship as they did so. Bolt even decided to have a scrap throwing contest on the farthest peak of the ship at its upturned rear. He made his throw go past the length of the ship itself, taking up to fifteen seconds before it hit the ground with a muffled noise. When it was Megatron’s turn, he threw like a pitcher at the mound and sent it flying. Bolt crouched and held a servo above his optic visor to try and spot the object. Nearly a minute later, a noise far away barely registered to their audio receptors, echoing from the length of over three ships in the Howling Wastes.

“Oh my god!” Bolt exclaimed.

Megatron cracked his knuckles proudly, “All in the wrists.”

Arcee’s voice abruptly laughed, “And that’s not all he can do.”

The bots peered down to see Arcee climbing the ship. They met her halfway near the hole where the Requiem Blaster was resting.

The warlord asked, “Do you have the Cyber Caliber?”

Arcee held up the completed blade which appeared quite big on the likes of her small size but she held it no problem to balance on her shoulders. She grinned, “Yep, you have the Blaster?”

Bolt pointed down and coughed, “More or less, though the Allspark is going to have to give us a hand here with this one.”

“And a hand you shall receive.”

The bots looked for the Allspark until echoes of the million voices that comprised its own sang across the cosmos. Then a bright light had the Allspark before them with a spin and a ghostly cry of happiness.

“Took you long enough,” the blue femme smirked.

“I could say the same. The relics you have brought...found I guess...they will no longer be a threat to anyone. I am glad to say that you have outdone yourselves finding these two ridiculously hard relics. You have no idea how long it took even me to locate them. The underlining balance of the universe will be restored soon.”

“Balance? The relics don’t pose that big of a threat, do they?” Megatron asked concerned.

The Allspark tipped its rings. “The energy of the universe feeds on the consistence of those like me with the power to change and warp the cosmos to our liking. To create as many pieces of myself through the Primes, willing and unwilling, has thrown the balance out for quite some time. By eliminating the relics, the universe will have less strain to monitor therefore less risks of a complete universe shattering cataclysm.”

Arcee and the others said nothing at first until she hesitantly remarked, “So, that’s a yes?”

If the Allspark could roll its eyes, it would have. Using its levitation, it gently took the Cyber Caliber and raised the Requiem Blaster from its tomb. The giant weapon slipped out of the hole in the ship with ease and both weapons stayed amid the Allspark until a flash sent their energy shooting back within it.

“I thank you once more. Take care along your journey on Junkion and remember, those that pose a threat to you are not just the true enemies of your quest.”

The Allspark made one last flip before vanishing, leaving the bots to question the statement. Megatron sent Arcee a worried stare while Bolt tried to piece together who it was talking about. Even as they walked back to the village together, the Allspark’s words would not leave their minds for anything.

Chapter Text

As they got back to the village, Arcee told her sparkmate and friend just what Silos wanted. It was a little sense of revenge for talking down to her, but she found it justified as she no longer wanted to keep either of them in the dark.

“A pendant from the late Thundertron?” Bolt scoffed, “I thought the guy vowed revenge against us, Megatron specifically but still. It was you that stopped him, right, Megatron?”

“I vaguely remember him, but I don’t recall his death. Must have happened when he tried to come back to enslave Junkion. Maybe he encountered one of the dragons or he might have suffered from an accident. If he’s dead, I don’t really care.”

Arcee rolled her optics, “Regardless, he’s not in the picture. Find the pendant, make our dear associate happy, and we can move on.”

“Boy, you had a fallout with Si-that sinister mech?” The Vehicon corrected himself to Megatron’s suspicion.

The queen nodded, “He’s being an ass right now.”

“Unfortunate.”

They went into Wreck-gar's encampment only to pause when they noticed everyone was decorating themselves in various colors of paint. All three bots peered at each other unsure if they were at the right location despite very well knowing there were no other villages on the planet. Wreck-gar had on a deep red paint crossing over in patterns along his frame and when they approached him, he waved happily.

“Just in time! We’re about to round up some sand lions! It’s a game I think you’ll love!”

The enthusiasm of his voice made Arcee grimace, but she did her best to hide it. Instead, she asked, “How do you win the game?”

Wreck-gar put a digit on his chin. “Well, there once were rules but we forgot them each time, so we make them different every event. I think this time we will go by whoever corrals five of them first wins!”

Bolt peered around uncertain. “Corral them where? In the village?”

“No, silly, we have pens already set up not far from here. Lantern is the chief coordinator for the event, he’ll give you the run down to play.”

“I-I never said I’m participating-”

“Arcee!” Bolt made a swiping motion across his neck then pointed at it in a circular pattern. She immediately understood.

“-unless...there’s a reward.”

“Oh, you can anything you want,” the orange and red mech said sweetly, “but you must win first to claim anything.”

“Where’s Lantern?” Megatron asked impatiently.

The Junkion leader pointed to a portly fellow who the younglings were riding on the shoulders of. The cracked brown armor was stained by oil and grime and when the bots got close to him, they refrained from reeling back when a weird odor hit them. Arcee was almost winded by it the most, but Megatron simply turned his head blinking. She knew out of the three of them, he was by far the most sensitive to the scent, having better senses originally enhanced when he worked as a miner. The odor must have been torture to him, and he kept his distance while Arcee and Bolt still had to talk to him.

“Excuse me, s-ah, sir,” she nearly gagged, “but we would like to participate in the Sand Lion Corral event...assuming that’s what it’s called.”

Lantern turned with a friendly chuckle as the younglings jumped off to run amok. His vocalizer sounded shredded but the words he spoke could still be made out, “Oh, new contestants! Well, our Lion Rodeo is simple, and I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“What’s the rules?”

“All you have to do is jump onto one of them and navigate them to their pens. First to the pen, get that pen. No doubling on another person’s pen. That’s cheating. The reward is anything you desire. The one who reaches five units will be the winner. Easy enough?”

Bolt shrugged, “Sounds simple. You want to race me, Arcee?”

She laughed, “Sure. Megatron?”

The grey mech still remained distant and shook his head. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Lantern,” Arcee then said, “sign us up.”

“Absolutely, take your marks with the other opponents.”

“Oh, and is there any rules about abilities?”

The large mech shook his head. “We don’t really play to win a lot of times, just for fun. And if there was, I am not aware of such things.”

That surprised both, and Bolt and Arcee moved over the hill of junk to see a flattened area of a few miles with lips around it to prevent the sand lions from wandering out of the zone. Pens with warm oil pits were set up each near the edge and with no markings for who gets which pen. Lantern’s word was true. She could see shadows on the hills of the area where the spectators were who also were there to watch so no one did cheat.

“Let’s do this,” the queen smirked, cracking her neck.

Bolt eagerly pranced in place as they got into a single file row with six other contestants, one of who was Wreck-gar himself. Seacore wasn’t present but instead sat on a ledge overlooking all of them.

“On your mark!” Seacore started, “Get set! Go!”

All of them ran at the sand lions that began bounce crawling away from them with growls. Arcee used her speed boost immediately, whipping on top of an unsuspecting sand lion. It reared with its heavy armor rustling from the movement. Bucking and snarling, she grabbed its head and leaned out from her grip to force the sand lion to change course. It began rocking towards the nearest pen quickly and she struggled to keep its direction. Once it was at the very entrance, she jumped off and let the sand lion dive into the oil within the pen where it seemed to prefer to stay as it glared in all directions now on high alert.

At the same time, Wreck-gar laughed as he got his sand lion into the pen. The walrus-like animal roaring at him before plopping into the oil where it could no longer be mounted. The small crowd scattered cheered at them both as one mech near each finally marked the pens that were claimed. Bolt struggled with his as it refused to move far, instead bucking like mad and throwing him off a few times. He had to scramble around it to prevent being attacked and try again by leaping onto its back from a blind spot. The other contestants were getting their first sand lions in as Arcee targeted her second.

She attached herself to the neck and spine, seeing the optics of the sand lion dilate before shrinking considerably. The one she got was a definite fighter, but she refused to let it beat her. When she made a little progress by getting it in the direction of her pen, it started to fuss with a snarl.

“Shut up and drive!”

The sand lion shook as it crawled quickly to the pen. She released it and it joined its peer in the oil. She cared not for the look it gave her, and it was wise enough to not come out after her. Targeting the third, she didn’t hesitate to blindly jump it, but her overconfidence had her miss. She heard a few laughs from her failed attempt and merely growled to herself, pushing up and running back it as it roared at her. Grabbing its neck, she used much of her strength to immediately force it in the direction of her pen.

While she rode hers, she noticed Wreck-gar had his second sand lion in the pen, going for a third and Bolt finally got his first when he was suddenly thrown into the oil pit with said sand lion. He and the beast met optics and the Vehicon whimpered before clawing up the embankment away from it.

The third sand lion hit the oil, pushing aside the two relaxing within it which earned it barks from its newly disturbed peers. Arcee laughed as she went to the fourth that was running away from another contestant chasing a sand lion next to it. She grabbed onto its neck and forced it back to her pen. It slowed to a stop but didn’t go into the oil. Making a weird noise, it rocked like it was laughing.

“Hey, clown, we need to get into the pen. I don’t know about you but I’m competitive by nature. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

The sand lion merely grunted and slowly slid into the oil pool as if to mock her. She swiped her servos together in triumph, sneering at the one sand lion that almost wanted to make a mockery of the show. Only one sand lion remained.

The sand lions were scattered pretty good now, so she had to run to a farther area to find one that wasn’t being pursued or was already in a pen. A large one, a dominant type, growled as it spotted her. She taunted it with an open arm gesture and watched it go low to the ground snarling. Then it dragged its thick hide over to her. She outmaneuvered it and went onto its back, only to find it was far harder to control than the others. Getting it to go in the right direction was a chore unlike anything she had done previously.

“Come on, go straight, you arrogant-!”

She was abruptly airborne when it whipped its head, which she failed to notice she had sunk to among its frantic movements. Activating her gliding ability, she observed it eyeing her and smirked.

“Alright then, let’s play.”

Sinking down, she cut her energy wings and landed to coax the sand lion to follow. It did. Changing its direction to go solely after her, jaws wide open with the intent to bite, it nearly bounced by determination to hurt her. She lured it back near her pen before taking a stance. Right as it lunged, she timed its strike to leap over its head and run across its spine. Kicking its rear, it fell into the oil.

Cheers erupted at Seacore announced, “Arcee is the winner!”

Wreck-gar seemed a little deflated as he had been on his final sand lion close to his pen after catching up but shrugged at the results while other contestants seemed to respect them, clapping equally as pleased. Arcee ran up the embankment to be praised by her sparkmate.

“Nothing like watching a rodeo champion riding to victory. And what’s that smell?” Megatron joked.

“Don’t start,” she scoffed laughing.

“Well, you certainly make an impressive Junkion!” Wreck-gar said delightfully, “Congrats, friend! So, what would you like? Junk, junk, and more junk? We have all the knick knacks and thing-a-ma-bobs you could want as a prize!”

Arcee felt guilty as she asked, “Do you have any...jewelry like a necklace or a pendant? I’m a, uh, very big jewelry collector. I love to collect from different worlds that have a great uniqueness to them.”

Wreck-gar didn’t say anything at first but then replied a bit forced, “Nope. Go fish!”

“Aw, that’s a bummer,” she pretended to say with a sad look.

The technique seemed to make the naïve Wreck-gar peer to the side in thought until he finally said, “Actually, I might have something. Wait right here!”

He literally sprinted and left a trail of dust from the disturbed junk and before she could count to ten, he was back with something in his servo. There was a reluctance to show her, not that she could blame him. He smiled and opened his palm slowly.

“I have this but I need you to promise me you’ll take care of it.”

There was a hint of heartbreak in his voice, the same he demonstrated with the vault. Arcee felt even worse as she took it. The pendant was a gold scheme with the uncanny symbol of the Star Seekers on it. There was a streak of faded blue...Energon by the looks of it which brought the question of how Thundertron finally died even if she knew not who he was aside from the small details shared.

“How did you get this?” Arcee asked.

Wreck-gar clammed up again but seemed to fight himself on the decision, like he wanted to keep it secret but knew better. He forced himself to say, “An accident...”

Bolt approached covered in oil and other materials when he saw the pendant. When he overheard that, he huffed, “An accident? Thundertron had an accident?”

The name made the Junkion leader flinch like a curse. Bolt apologized quietly. Wreck-gar gripped his servos together, moving them around nonstop as he refused to make eye contact again. Arcee didn’t want to frighten him, so she moved slowly to be next to him and carefully placed a servo over his finnicky ones. He stopped and looked at her as Seacore walked up to them.

The queen spoke softly, “What happened?”

Wreck-gar gulped, “He came back. I don’t like to fight. I didn’t do anything to stop him. He came back, and I did nothing. I laugh at the face of danger because I don’t care...but if I did, things would have been different.”

She saw Seacore wanted to step in, but she gestured to him to not do so. She needed to know, and so did Wreck-gar for a closure he seemed to have never gotten.

“Whatever you tell me won’t leave this planet, but we can’t help you if you don’t want it.”

“I don’t need help,” his small plea echoed, but it was far more sincere than The Matriarch’s. “But they do.”

Seacore suddenly said, “Tell them, Wreck-gar. They should know.”

A small audience accumulated as Arcee still held Wreck-gar's servos to comfort the mech. The answers she wanted were finally revealed.

“Our planet has suffered; we never drove anyone away, always welcomed with open arms. And when trouble rose, we wouldn’t fight because we didn’t want to. We did so little for our world. Call us lazy but we were content. And then your people came, disrupted it and led Thundertron to us. We were enslaved but I still convinced myself and others we were going to be alright. We weren’t. He left us on a half-floating piece of junk that we proudly called home. Then he came back.

“I didn’t stop him the second time either. I should have but I didn’t. He forced us to go to the Howling Wastes and we did as we were told. I complied oblivious to our fate. He was going to kill us, and I stared down the blade he had knowing I did nothing. But then the accident happened. He was hitting me repeatedly near the shipyard. The ships are old, they aren’t maintained well and one moment he was berating me, the next he fell over. I think it was a wing, or maybe it was an engine lift, and there was Thundertron beneath it. When I saw Energon leaking from him, I knew he wasn’t getting up. He was an interesting visitor. His crew was spooked and left us without saying goodbye. And there was the pendant hidden in a panel on his side. I took it and buried him the best I could. No one deserves to be left without a proper funeral.”

“Sounds like karma killed the bastard in the end,” Bolt whispered to Megatron who stood beside him and smirked.

“You can have it; it’s wasted with me,” Wreck-gar admitted.

Arcee nodded and placed it in her subspace before speaking, “It wasn’t your fault. Just bad luck that comes to the wicked. It happens all the time.”

“But should it?” His question threw the femme off greatly. “I wouldn’t think anyone deserves to die like that.”

She didn’t have anything to say to him. There was nothing she could say because she would argue otherwise, not to the relief of Wreck-gar who was all for peace. “Thank you. I promise I’ll see to it this pendant gets a good home away from its violent history.”

The mech gleamed at her despite being unaware it was technically a lie. As Wreck-gar turned to talk to Seacore, Arcee gestured wordlessly at her success in obtaining it. Bolt gave her a thumbs up and Megatron merely raised a brow.

Just then and faded purple and rust spotted mech came up to her. “Hey, I saw your performance in the field. You were remarkable.”

“Oh, thanks, and you are?”

The mech offered his servo and she accepted it for a shake. “Visionair. I’m the village medic and former scientist on Velocitron, went here to retire. I have a request, but it’s nothing you need to look for or anything. I’ve been studying the fast-paced movements of the distiller dragons here for years, even when they were called just the distillers before Wreck-gar discovered Earth. I wanted to see if I could mimic their fast-shifting reflexes and dispense that into a person. It would decrease transformation time, allow weapons to be charged and ready in an instant as well as allowing them to be brought out in record time, and it would save energy.”

Arcee mused, “And you’re offering me this ability because?”

“Well, I don’t know if you noticed but the village here isn’t any rush. Kind of pointless to test it on those who hardly have any motivation to fight or show off speed. You look like you could benefit from it more than any of us. Would you like to give the power a test run. If you like it, I’ll even let you keep it. I can make plenty of other copies of it in my home now that I know the method.”

“I got nothing else to lose, so bring it on,” she grinned.

Visonair escorted her to his hut with Megatron watching over just in case and brought out a small device of red. He made a small cough and gestured to her chassis awkwardly. She felt no embarrassment opening her chest panels where her spark pulsed in its closed off chamber. He hooked the device carefully beneath the chamber’s body where the intersection for the cabling that controlled motor functions was located. Then her HUD got a notification for an upgrade which she approved, closing her chest and shivering as her systems synced with it.

“There, your reflexes should be top quality and able to give off a hundred percent satisfaction. First, try changing between your weapons.”

She did as she was told and was shocked when the conversion between her arm blasters and the blades whipped between one another nearly invisible to the naked eye aside from a faint blurred motion. She decided to check her wings and had them reconstruct over her winglets. They were active in less than a second. Punching the air, her body moved fluidly even more than normal. That, combined with the speedster ability, would have made the war on Cybertron so much easier to fight had she acquired them before. Unlike the other abilities, this one appeared permanent until the device was physically removed.

“Now, I must warn that I don’t know how long that device will last. I say you have quite a number of years on it. And if something goes awry, just let me know and I’ll replace it free of charge. Now that I know it works, I might see if I can tell that sleezy salesmech, Swindle, to give me better things in return for my services. He likes to cheat me out of a trade but not this time.”

Megatron frowned, “Yes, you do that. We’ll see about helping the village a bit more.”

When Arcee stepped outside, Megatron made a crazy motion near his head which Visionair thankfully didn’t see nor care even if he did. Arcee backhanded his thigh at the rudeness, and he snickered.

Lantern walked up to them with a smile and held out a peculiar item, a blaster modification of sorts. “Here’s a little extra prize, my lady, for participating.”

The smell of the mech bothered her less when he was out of focus in favor of studying what she was given. Attaching the mod to her blasters, she found the damage output had spiked drastically. She didn’t know whether that would also affect the Heat Seeker ability in terms of damage but now her blasters could hurt even Megatron she assumed whereas prior, she hardly fazed the warlord in battle. Of course, she wasn’t going to test it on him of all people, only when necessary.

“You guys are spoiling me today,” she said.

“We have too much stuff on this planet anyway. That was found not far from here near a lost ship from Cybertron. Most likely abandoned, don’t worry.”

“I appreciate your kindness.”

Lantern nodded and left slow and steady while Megatron was trying not show disgust being able to still smell the ghastly scent even after the larger mech was a decent distance away. Arcee shot him a concerned look.

He replied, “I never said anything so just be grateful for that.”

Arcee smiled painfully until she saw Wreck-gar retreating to his hammock, the vault now secured in his servos. He thumbed the damaged lock with a sigh. The queen nudged her sparkmate and called to Bolt who was busy talking to Visionair.

“We know how he got the pendant but there remains the mystery of what’s in the vault and who was trying to get into it.”

Bolt jogged to her side and said, “Unless you want another breakdown, he’s not going to tell you. And gaslighting the guy twice isn’t nice.”

Without another word, Arcee approached Wreck-gar and sat by his side. He barely looked at her and she respected it. Before she could ask anything, regardless of subject. Wreck-gar finally seemed to come out of his shell.

“You want to know about Nancy, don’t you?”

“If it’s bothering you. I’m here to help if you want me to, same as what I said before. I’m no therapist but I’ve been where you are, keeping mute about what you know about a loved one and letting it fester is a very destructive behavior...even if it doesn’t seem to have that many effects. I hurt myself once with a mech named Cliffjumper, my close partner. One of his horns broke right before his death, all that was left of him I could find and I kept it at the base. I talked to a pile of rock with that horn beneath it thinking I was talking to him, but I never got anywhere. It turned into an obsession, isolated me and hurt the ones I cared about trying to help me move on. I still think about him occasionally. But the greatest tribute I could do for him was moving on. He wouldn’t have encouraged me to mourn him if all it did was hold me back from living.”

Wreck-gar pondered her words carefully but before he could respond, an explosion went off and several bots fled. Both leaders stood as portals opened to reveal the sickly creatures that wanted to terrorize everyone in the galaxy.

Metal Head soldiers, Grunts and all, poured in and crushed the scrap they walked upon with their organic feed without even flinching as some left blood with each step. They were oblivious to the pain as they stalked the exterior of the village snarling. Bolt and Megatron already had their weapons out and Moonhunter, who had been resting for some time, emerged from a hut with the hira hyenas following his lead. They growled back at the monsters ready to defend their owners.

“Now it’s a party,” Bolt remarked, his axe at the ready.

Arcee quickly turned to Wreck-gar. “The Metal Heads are like the Star Seekers. They will kill everyone if they have their way. We need to fight them.”

“But...we can’t. I don’t think I can.”

She stood in front of him to draw his attention from the scouting monsters. “Wreck-gar, listen to me, what happened in the past is done. You beat yourself up for being passive but you’re not wrong to do so. Here’s your chance to do more. Help them...for Nancy.”

Wreck-gar peered past her back at the Metal Heads now stalking into the village as his citizens backed away. Their terror was no different from the previous encounters with beings such as Thundertron. Arcee was shocked when Wreck-gar's optics narrowed at the creatures and he stepped past her. He reached for his backside as his kibble formed a four-bladed axe in a circular pattern going counter-clockwise with a long handle. He swung it around and slammed the end on the ground.

“I am Wreck-gar and you are not welcome here!”

Even Seacore was plenty surprised by the change of attitude. The Metal Heads, however, responded with their saliva-stringed mouths wide open baring their teeth. That prompted the other Junkions to look at one another before revealing many melee weapons that had hidden on their person. The weapons weren’t by any means strong but they could do enough damage against a techno-organic species. The two younglings were stationed with Visionair who only had a belt full of chemicals. Lantern had the biggest weapon, a large club to match his hefty appearance and he looked like he meant business.

Arcee brought out her double-bladed sword and took a pose, maneuvering the blade around her with precision. “I think you underestimated this world just as I had, Metal monkeys.”

The few Horaquan troops gave grunts taken aback by the insult before roaring, causing the others to rally for an immediate attack. They charged as Megatron and Bolt took their positions beside her. However, the monsters didn’t expect the shouts of the villagers to be battle cries from a formerly dismissive bunch and some stopped in their tracks only to be bludgeoned by their dumb hesitance.

Wreck-gar ran at a Mantis that hopped over him and sent its raptorial tibia to the back of his leg. The mech winced but he merely growled in response. He slammed its axe down trying to squish the hopping menace but juked it into going the wrong direction and sank his blades straight down on its forehead. The sound of flesh tearing down the middle with a morbid whimper made the normally nice Wreck-gar grin maliciously.

Megatron opened fire on every Metal Head in sight. The blows that popped their heads like balloons or exploded their bodies made him laugh madly at the carcasses being flung back from the force. Suddenly, a few Metal Runners and a new species of Metal Flyers that looked like pterosaurs came onto the scene. The Runners proved faster than his bullets and he tried his best to outfox them but they dodged his attempts until one was decapitated by Bolt who snuck out from behind a hut. The second Runner jumped and pinned the warlord, snapping its jaws rapidly as the mech held it from his face by its throat.

“Really don’t like being in this position!”

“Hang on, Megatron!” Bolt yelled.

Trying not to hit his teammate, the Vehicon swiped his axe sideways away from Megatron’s holding arm and cut open the clawing raptor-like creature’s belly. Megatron winced as its guts spilled onto his side as it slowly died with a faded screech. Once its jaws were permanently open and its eyes were a dark yellow, he tossed the creature off him before glaring at his ex-subordinate.

Growling, he said, “You had to empty it on me?”

“It was either that or I risk chopping off your servo! The guts at least you won’t strangle me over.”

Megatron huffed but let Bolt help him up. Instantly, his optics widened and he pushed the Vehicon back behind the hut as rockets hit only a few feet from them, blowing holes in the ground. They peered up to see the Metal Flyers circling with advanced weaponry on them and Centurion riders helping them target the bots.

Megatron then said, “I’ll take on the flyers, you help the Junkions.”

The warlord transformed and flew up towards the sky to initiate battle with the fast-flying fiends. Meanwhile, Arcee and Wreck-gar tag-teamed on several Grunts and a Ramhead that charged into the area, scattering the metal around it with a headbutt into one of the scrap towers nearby. Thankfully, no distillers had made residency in it but the flinging of junk did throw off many Junkions who had to cover their faces. One of the bots screamed when a sharp bite to the forearm nearly dropped them to their knees as a Metal Head had lunged and latched with blinding force. The creature was shot point blank by another mech but the damage was done.

As the Junkion tried to stop the bleeding, Arcee quickly ran at the mech who was too close to their infected peer and pushed him back to his startlement. Despite a few angry words, the Junkion restrained immediately stopped dead in his complaining when the venom of the virus coiled across the frame and twisted body parts to a gruesome mockery of the bot’s true visage. Arcee changed her arm to a blaster and sneered as she was too close for comfort staring at newly formed four yellow optics that grew aggressive in seconds. She didn’t even bother reasoning with the scared Junkion behind her when she fired. Three shots right into the chest had the created monster toppling with a deathly gurgling noise of blood seeping int the throat not long after.

Arcee wasn’t proud of her actions but with no other options, she could only breathe harshly at the sight. “Rest in peace, buddy.”

“W-What was that?!” The Junkion asked paranoid.

“That...was the most dangerous part about dealing with a walking plague. Make sure no one else gets bit if you can. We don’t need an apocalypse worse than what we’re dealing with already.”

The bot obeyed her command as he held back some unchecked feelings about the loss. Arcee then heard a cry and saw Visionair and the younglings being threatened by a Spyder Gunner that hissed and threw the poor mech onto the ground before shooting his left arm off. The medic muted himself from and sent the monster a defiant look. Running towards them, Arcee grew angered as the blaster arm of the Horaquan aimed at the closest youngling next who flinched back frightened. Using her momentary super speed, she swung her blade up in a blind fury, slicing off the Metal Head’s arm in repayment for Visionair. It gave an alien scream and staggered back with blood oozing out of its injury. Its four legs shook as it tried to get away from Arcee who swiped at it again. The creature was decapitated in seconds.

As the Junkions put up a fight, Wreck-gar noticed they were slowly getting overwhelmed as more monsters flooded through the portals. He called out to Arcee, “Our weapons aren’t strong enough!”

“Okay, do you have anything that is?!” She announced, blocking and punching a Grunt that tried to leap at her.

Wreck-gar kept his distance from another set of Mantis invading before peering down at the ground. Scrap metal was hard and without protective armor, they could impale anything. Looking back at the hillside, many Metal Heads were indeed leaving bloody footprints but were far more enamored with killing than their own wounds. He grinned and grabbed any junk he could reach.

A Ramhead stalked close to a mech before turning to charge when a scrap piece bounced off its armored helm. It snarled and turned its attention to Wreck-gar who held a smug expression. He flung something else and the monster fled back when it entered its eye and went straight through to the other side of the face exiting from the brow. A large rod was embedded and gushed purple blood. The mech it had been terrorizing threw random objects quickly at it. One of them was a sawblade that was flung with such force, it broke through the chest and appeared through the spine partially stuck. The Ramhead collapsed dead.

The others began throwing whatever they could, including Lantern who used his strength to pick up the front of a small ship. Sending it swinging, he flung several Metal Heads in one swoop. The younglings, though not powerful throwers, used the help of Visionair to bury the Grunts under a hill of junk. Some of the bigger parts slid down and crushed the creatures.

Bolt deflected a few of the Metal Heads rushing him at him from the side when one of the large ones kicked him unstable. He fell and was pinned by a claws foot. A blast blew up the monster, making the Vehicon flinch. To his surprise, Seacore’s arm had transformed into a barrage of missiles ready to be fired.

“I thought Junkions didn’t have guns?”

Seacore laughed as he brought the smaller mech to his pedes. “Just because I gave up my past life doesn’t mean I got rid of all my weapons. This one was always my favorite.”

He pushed Bolt behind him and fired a missile right into the abdomen of a Rapid Gunner that leapt over a hill of scrap. The explosion made little work of the monster and scattered its innards that weren’t disintegrated everywhere.

The gunfire in the sky drew their attention as Megatron zoomed around to outflank the pterosaur Metal Heads. Several rockets were fired at him as he went down towards the ground forces of the Metal Head legion. The rockets blew up near the entrances to several portals, decimating the Metal Head troops within and making some of them spark before closing. The Centurions that rode on the backs of the Flyers furiously bashed their fists against the saddle or the sides of their heads, though one Flyer bucked in response nearly throwing off its rider.

Megatron did a few spins low to the ground before boosting up and making a half circle, flipping right way up and firing on the Flyers in response. The dogfight had the airborne Metal Heads doing fancy maneuvering to dodge the blasts. However, one thing Megatron noticed was the Flyers couldn’t go too far out of range of the planet. They relied on gravity to control their flight patterns easier. That was just the tactical advantage he needed.

Jettisoning past one when it slowed being too high, Megatron went farther out before cutting his engines and forcing himself to drift to the side to turn around. Once he was in the proper direction facing the planet, he switched on his thrusters and headed straight for the Flyers. One of them couldn’t completely regain control of itself as he opened fire. The creature was shot out of the sky with its rider falling alongside it. He aimed for a second Flyer with the speed he had picked up in his descent but instead of riddling it with holes, he rammed it. The rider bounced off his hood with a snarl and fell but the Flyer was impaled through its heart and neck. He transformed and ripped it off him before resuming in his vehicle mode.

On the ground, Moonhunter and the hira hyenas moved as a clan and stalked towards a Metal Head that had wandered a bit out of range from the others. With silent cackles, the hyenas grinned while the Nitrotiger moved his shoulders ready to pounce. As soon as the creature took a step forward with its back to them, they darted out as predators with the intent of ripping apart their prey. The Metal Head barely turned upon hearing the multiple pads of feet sprinting when multiple sets of teeth sank into the flesh of its body. Ripping pieces from the thighs and arms to ground it, the pack showed no mercy as Moonhunter aimed at the neck the most. One hyena snagged the top of the monster’s snout and broke it off before another ripped out its tongue and forced its head to twist. The neck of the beast was snapped with little to no support.

Arcee proudly yelled, “Good boy, Moonhunter!”

The Junkions continued pelting the Metal Heads with rubbish as Arcee quickly ran to Wreck-gar's side with an idea.

“Wreck-gar, what would you think if I said we should go to the Dragonlands?”

“Now? A bit of a weird time for a vacation, don’t you think?”

“No, no, no, leverage. Lure them away from the village.” The mech paused and then grew a smile as she nodded, “Let them see the other half of Junkion.”

He then called out to his citizens, “Retreat to the Dragonlands! Wooo-wee!”

The inhabitants ran after him and Arcee with Bolt and the clan of pets following. Lantern, for a big guy, was surprisingly fast when he wanted to be. The younglings and Visionair kept close as the Metal Heads trailed behind. They ran past the oil pools and into distiller territory but aimed for a farther area.

Their chaos stirred up the dragons that roared and scouted out the danger. Upon seeing the Metal Heads, the distillers grew irate but hid in their towers until the proper moments. Grunts and Mantis were snagged from beside the towers and sometimes above by their tails. Crunching noises in the shadows of their hideaways made Arcee laugh. To see the distillers popping out only briefly to grab the Horaquan and chomping off their heads was a cruel reminder of the distillers’ hidden aggression with trespassers. The bots like the Junkions they knew, anyone else was free food.

The Junkions slowed to cheer as many Metal Heads were picked off by the dragons they coexisted with and Arcee was pleased to see Junkion itself seemingly fighting back in its entire glory at last. But her victory was short-lived as an unusual sound began to rise among the chaos. The pleasant cries of the villagers died too as a trumpeting call like that of an elephant echoed from off to the right.

“Arcee, I have a visual on you,” Silos’ voice suddenly called. “The Metal Heads have unleashed their commander and it’s up to you to kill it. No mercy.”

She frantically peered around until she thought she saw a blue form in the distance duck away to hide behind an old crane.

Arcee whispered, “What happened to being mad at me?”

“I...find it harder to stay mad even though you are supposed to be working for me. I still expect that pendant, but I will help you again. The commander is the Mammoth, the Powerful Planet Shaker. To see it again gives me great joy, not for you, of course, but I am an admirer of the ingenius mind of the Metal Head. Its vast intelligence rivals its own power, capable of calculating its opponents’ moves before they even think it themselves. Maybe the best way to deal with it is to not fight it but use others to your advantage.”

“I’m not setting up people to die in my place!”

Silos chuckled, “Who said anything about setting up the people?”

Another trumpet mixed with an unusual roar echoed before the loose scrap on the ground began to shake. The thundering footsteps of something large had forced even the Metal Heads to back off. Like a wrecking ball, a giant elephant-like Metal Head crashed through a pile of junk and even a disconnected thruster of a ship which it sent flying over the heads of the Junkions. It reared, raising its trunk and smashed its feet onto the ground, shaking all the scrap towers the distillers hid in loose. The mass tumblings happened to block the rest of the Metal Heads from pursuing but the Metal Mammoth didn’t seem to care. The Junkions were unsure of fighting such a colossal beast.

The Metal Mammoth was a marine blue with four yellow eyes and a skull gem above the base of the trunk. A spear was at the end and the whole length of the elongated nose was armored. Instead of ears like the elephants of Earth, fin-like barbs with energy webbing flexed alongside its head. Six tusks were present forking from a single bone, each spike among it had faded blood of different colors implying it had used the tusks to kill many enemies or anything that dared step in its way. The body of the Mammoth had its backside ridged with dense armor and a lighter blue underbelly with speckles of different shades of blue merging into it. Thick, stubby claws were on each foot, and its long tail had orangish yellow pustules near the tip that also grew on its side between the plating. It looked more like a walking virus than its peers.

Arcee remembered the Metal Colossus that was sadly killed by the Leviathan Queen on the isle. It has markings on it akin to symbols. Nearly the same unknown dialect was inscribed in the flesh like tattoos. She could only think of one reason why a Metal Head would have such things. They were significant to their creator in some way. Favoritism, sure, but that allowed Arcee to really think about what was in the mind of the tyrannical Tigressa.

The Metal Mammoth glared at Arcee as the femme could see her reflection in both the skull gem and its glowing eyes. She merely grinned, “Bring it on. Wreck-gar, take the Junkions and run!”

When it charged, Arcee ran at it shifting her blaster into play and firing on it. The fast-shifting ability helped her get more shots off than normal and the upgrade she received from Lantern caused a portion of its shoulder armor to break from a single blast. However, like Silos warned, the Mammoth quickly predicted her next move as it got closer. She tried to jump it but was suddenly swatted out of the air by its trunk. Her leg was grabbed roughly to her dismay. All she could do was yell as she was tossed around like a ragdoll.

Attempting to get up out of its range proved difficult. When she blasted it, it moved around to dodge the bullets despite its large size, making her gasp when it was too close again. She was hit nearly unconscious by the third blow. Then she heard Wreck-gar make the chanting sounds to distract it.

The Metal Mammoth grew annoyed and narrowed its eyes at the mech though the Junkion leader didn’t back down as it steadily approached with a snarl. The other Junkions had retreated sans Bolt and Moonhunter who were urging him to run as the elephant monster dwarfed them.

“Oh no,” Bolt cowered.

Arcee got up with wobbly legs when Megatron flew down and held her to stabilize her.

“Are you okay?”

“That thing hits like a tank!” Arcee coughed as she held her head.

“I would think it is the physical embodiment of one just by appearance alone, yes.”

She shook her dizziness off and activated her weapon when Wreck-gar and Bolt appeared to be in danger. But her servo was covered by Megatron who held a strict expression.

“What?”

“Your blaster alone isn’t going to do anything. Maybe a more aerial view might prove better?” The warlord smiled with deadly intent.

He held her in his palm and chucked her up before she activated her gliding ability. Using the newfound brief advantage she had, she dived towards the back of the titan Metal Head. The same trick she pulled with the Metal Heads in the Howling Wastes, she aimed her blaster and used the half-charged energy of the Heat Seeker ability to fire down hell on the monster. Sunstorm would have been proud.

The blast hit right between the shoulder blades and the Metal Mammoth trumpeted in agony right as Bolt grabbed Wreck-gar's arm and forced him to retreat. She fired another blast that hit the side of its body, rupturing almost a dozen of the pustules. It nearly destroyed everything it touched in its painful rampage, blindly striking at anything it could reach. Arcee glided past it and immediately saw it target her again. Then it did something unexpected.

Launching parts of scrap like what the Junkions did to the other Metal Heads, Arcee had to dodge everything but a stray, large engine piece nicked her and disrupted her flight pattern. She started freefalling until Bolt jumped off a hill to catch her and roll her to a less impactful landing. Thankfully, he suffered no injuries rolling on his side.

“Thank you, but see if you can take out the rest of the Metal Heads. I’ll face off with Dumbo here, okay?”

The Vehicon swiftly nodded a bit out of breath, “Your call, honey.”

As he retreated with Wreck-gar and the others to hunt down the rest of the Metal Heads, Arcee faced off against the giant Metal Mammoth. Unfortunately, Sunstorm’s power didn’t affect the commander like the Baskilisk. Its armor took most all the shock leaving only scorch marks and second degree burns on its hide.

Arcee flinched back as it began leaping to hit the ground causing shaking and then rearing to crush her. She barely avoided getting under foot until she found herself under its abdomen. Switching to her double-bladed sword again, she struck up but the skin didn’t break easy. Abruptly, a trunk wrapped around her waist and threw her out from under it. She rolled again when hitting the ground and growled at the persistence of the monster. She just couldn’t find her break with this thing.

A distant roar shook her from her thoughts and she grimaced until she remembered what Silos said. Maybe the best way to deal with it is to not fight it but use others to your advantage.

Furrowing her brows, she started pacing backwards as the Metal Mammoth trampled junk under its feet, flattening all of it with no effort as it went towards her.

“You want a fight worth your power? I’ll give you one.”

She led it to the most dangerous area of the Dragonlands despite Megatron calling her name, pleading her not to do it. If she couldn’t take on the commander, she wasn’t going to fight it alone to swell her pride and risk getting killed or leave it to harm everyone else. She would improvise. Being a smart warrior was better than being a powerful one.

Arcee fled around a corner and tensed frightened as a scrap dragon whipped its head around with a snarl. It had something in its mouth. When the Metal Mammoth burst through the scrap pile beside it, the immediately hiss of the dragon drew the monster’s attention. Flapping the spines of the ear-like appendages in warning, it stood its ground against the dragon. The larger of the two forced itself up on two legs, wings expanded. It was then Arcee saw the Metal Head was having some regrets but it no longer had the option to back down as it let out a trumpet.

The two creatures clashed; the Metal Mammoth was just big enough to uppercut the dragon’s head when it went down to bite it. Using its trunk, it tried pulling on the neck of its opponent. The Metal Head suddenly got a face full of flame before the hand of the larger animal scratched and forced its head down. Teeth came onto the elephant-like creature’s neck but the armor protected it, and the commander ripped its head away only to butt heads with the dragon again.

As all the chaos was going on, Arcee avoided their fight by keeping out of range of the swinging tails and rapid motions. Both animals were drawing blood with the scrap dragon the fastest striker of the two. Instantly, the dragon whipped its tail around and caught one of the tusks of the Metal Head. The bone shattered from the brute force and toppled. The Metal Mammoth grew alarmed before fire was pouring from the dragon’s jaws with heightened glowing optics glaring at it ragefully.

Despite the setback, the Metal Mammoth continued to take the blows, aiming for the dragon’s head. One sharp hit to the head made a nasty sound and the scrap dragon had to clutch its face to realign its skull, blood starting to run from the seams of the mismatched armor. The Metal Head took its hesitance and rammed it. The dragon couldn’t keep its balance and fell onto its back with the other creature rearing. A clawed foot came down on its chest and pressed hard, making the dragon claw at it and snap at the flesh. Backing off, the Metal Head took a second to think its position through before lunging. It collided its tusk into a section of the neck and pulled downward, ripping armor off the dragon. It did a similar tactic a second time then uppercut the jaw when the dragon’s head bowed in pain.

Arcee winced as the scrap dragon fell but was still quite alive as far as she could tell. When it had trouble getting up, the Metal Mammoth growled and then turned its attention back on Arcee. Blood ran over its underbelly and parts of its face which held complete resentment like a demon possessed. Arcee felt a little bad hurting the scrap dragon and not having as much damage occur to the Metal Head like she planned. It slid a foot against the ground ignoring the scrap dragon snarling but unmoving from its position. It was going after her again; no more distractions.

“Aw, scrap,” she muttered.

She sprinted away as the Metal Mammoth followed. Needing a new plan, she scoured the landscape quickly as she passed it. There had to be something she could use among all the junk in the world. Maybe another creature wasn’t what she needed. Instead, why not use the environment itself? Then she recalled Wreck-gar had mentioned Detritus had met his fate at the end of the world, fallen off from what it sounded like. But if gravity existed even without the Requiem Blaster, there was no way he would have completely fallen into space...unless there was a means to do so. She searched for her answer and found it by sheer coincidence.

The Metal Mammoth clambered after her even with its blood seeping everywhere refusing to die until it took her out with it. She ran even as the voices of her friends called out to her in the distance along with the roars of the downed dragon and slowly faded the farther out she went. The edge of the world was close and at its limit, a ship barely hanging off its ledge rested undisturbed. There were old chains and other wiring hanging off it from other scrapyard vehicles. She gained an idea better than her initial plan. As the commander crashed through piles of junk and threw anything it could reach out of its path, she ran to the ship and started scaling it.

The Mammoth grew enraged when it couldn’t go after her. She anticipated it would instead opt to send the ship off the edge and her along with it. That’s exactly what it started to do. Slamming its head and remaining tusk into the ship multiple times, the vessel began to slide by inches giving her only a certain amount of time to complete her plan.

She broke through the glass of the cockpit and quickly tried to reignite the ship’s systems. There was energy detected as it flared to life briefly but she had to rip out the console to connect the wires all while being jolted by the mad banging from the Metal Head’s anger. The ship turned on but she noticed it only had enough power at most to get it out of the atmosphere before it would succumb to drifting into space. Triggering a timer to launch, she had three minutes. Climbing back out, she made her way farther up to the chains caught in the vessel fins and thrusters. She pulled them out, breaking a few pieces that wouldn’t hurt takeoff and watched the commander as she wrapped one end of the chain around a stable piece.

She was suddenly lurched back as the ship almost tipped over but still found its footing to keep on the edge. Knowing that she couldn’t let the Metal Head get rid of the ship before it was too late, she ran to the lingering other end of the chain and jumped attached to it. Arcee made a battle cry as she swung down with it right towards the Metal Mammoth that growled. The chain brought her over its head and swinging up in its momentum before going back down. In her distraction, the Metal Head no longer attacked the ship.

It attempted to catch her; its truck outstretched as it leapt up to snag the chain or take her off it. The lowest the chain went was slightly further down the ship which the Metal Head calculated as she expected it too. She stopped her swing by running on the ground and hung onto the edge. Realizing she needed something to attach the chain to her opponent, she quickly looked around for anything she could wrap it with. A barren hook lied next to what could have been a dead body but the pile of junk around it made the appearance ambiguous. Regardless of this, she knew if it was a lost soul, they wouldn’t mind her taking their weapon. She snagged it and shoved the chain to attach to its base right as the Metal Mammoth charged her again.

“Come on, big boy, let’s dance!” She snarled, swinging the end of the chain with the hook tauntingly.

The commander swiped its trunk, and she flipped over it, now wise to its pattern. It tried again, going up high but Arcee ducked then leapt off its remaining tusk to slice at one of its eyes with the hook. It roared and stood on its hind legs. The queen rotated the chain in her grasp before throwing it upward and using a back kick to send the hook right into the exposed abdomen. The Metal Tusk slammed down; all eyes widened completely as it registered the dense pain. She ripped the hook back to her and sprinted at it.

Using the weight of the chain and its new makeshift blade, she went in close range and sent it flying into the commander any chance she had, stunning the monster before it could retaliate repeatedly. When it tried to stomp on her with a foot, she ran the chain around it before kicking the hook to upper cut its jaw. As it reeled back, she went underneath the trunk, circled up and over the tusk and pulled on the chain to tie up its appendage. She paused when the ship gave a warning of takeoff right as she pulled, her timeframe was now or never.

“You may be large and in charge, but you will never be the best! You will always just be an animal!”

The Metal Head slammed its head down on the ground in frustration unable to detangle its restrained trunk to its tusk. Arcee used the opportunity to summon her speed boost to wrap the chain around its neck. Snapping the hook onto the other parts of the chain, she whipped around and perched on all fours the lip of the base of its trunk as it froze when the engines on the damaged ship ignited.

Giving it a cheesy smirk, Arcee patted its skull gem and said, “You fight hard, but I hit back harder. Do tell the Metal Head Leader of your resignation when you get a chance, commander.”

The boosters on the ship pushed it forward as debris was pushed up from its resting place. As the vessel moved off the edge of the world, the chain attached to it followed. Arcee leapt off laughing prior to the chain snapping straight. The Metal Mammoth trumpeted as it was dragged off, unable to stop or pull itself free. When it was airborne stuck behind the thrusters of the vessel, the skin and armor began to melt drastically. Trumpeting turned to alien-like screams as it was burned alive in its forced departure.

She saluted with a playful sneer at such a sight; the ship cleared the atmosphere in no time and after nearly two minutes, the light of its thrusters that were the size of the tiny lights seen in the sky faded like a dying star. The mass of the commander was no longer visible. Forever, the ship would drift into dark space, unknown when it would ever land or crash.

Arcee stood there a second to ponder the whole incident. The only remark she could come up with in her light-headed, energy-boosted mind was, “Huh, I guess elephants can fly.”

-------------------------------

Bolt struck as many Metal Heads as possible alongside Megatron. Wreck-gar and his Junkions timed their attacks with anything they could get a hold of.

“This is a lot more fun than bobbing for scrapeaters!”

The Vehicon paused at the term of a creature he had never encountered. “For what?”

A sudden boom had all of them peering up in awe as a ship moved out of the atmosphere. Seeing something caught behind it, a mere speck catching fire and hearing the echoing trumpet of terror, Megatron smiled.

“Arcee...”

Seacore had a Metal Head by the throat that was equally watching the launch with interest until he punched it. “That’s your sparkmate, huh? That’s one hell of a warrior.”

The warlord chuckled, “Oh, you should see her when she’s really pissed.”

The rest of the Metal Head legion grew unsure and backed away as they contemplated what to do. They had never encountered such a defeat, especially one that mocked them so. Seeing the villagers raising their weapons and any sharp junk they could find with demeanors of pure business and hatred, one Metal Head finally sounded off and the few remaining portals closed once most all of them had escaped. A few Metal Heads grew scared standing right where the portals used to be and whimpered as they were stalked upon by the Junkions no longer afraid of them.

The Junkion world was silent as it should be. The Metal Heads were gone with a few remaining chased and killed by the territorial sand lions when they were stuck in the rodeo pits. A few even drowned being tossed into the oil pools, made sure of by the sand lions that could flop on top of them and suffocate the abominations.

They all cheered when Arcee returned with some blood splatter of the Metal Mammoth on her. She was quite surprised that within a few hours, a feast was held with the richest oil available. She smiled when Moonhunter no longer grew aggressive with the hira hyenas, proudly accepting their invitation to be a part of the pack.

After assessing injuries of the citizens with the younglings aiding as best they could, Arcee sat down tired. A few bodies of dead Metal Heads were dragged and perched like trophies on posts made from the junk around them. It was gruesome under normal circumstance; Arcee had no pity for the monsters. Megatron and Bolt tended to Visionair who was more focused on healing remedies than his own missing arm. Seacore was the bloodiest but not stained with his own blood, instead having the purple sludge coating his legs and abdomen.

As everyone settled down, Wreck-gar stood proud at their victory, checking up on everyone until he reached Arcee. He grabbed the vault and sat next to her which she didn’t expect. He then handed her it and she froze.

“What are you doing?”

Wreck-gar gave her a sweet look. “I’m no longer holding onto the past. I think it’s time you hear the rest.”

She held the vault, pawing the lock before furrowing her brows upward in sadness not directed towards him. It was of relief and uncertainty as he finally told her the truth.

“Nancy was...my consort. Her real name was Roguedust, but she loved Nancy when we heard it on an Earth broadcast. Her favorite quote was ‘At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.’ She loved all the history about the females on the planet, the ‘women’ and she knew that’s what she wanted to be. She wanted the confidence of the women which is why she changed her name, her lifestyle. I accepted it without any problems because I loved her no matter who she was. She had always been beautiful to me in any form. She also loved dragons and dinosaurs hence the added surname to the species of the distillers and scrapmakers.”

Bolt leaned against the hut next to them silently listening in on the conversation. Arcee acknowledged him but let Wreck-gar continue.

“I loved her so much,” he choked. “We used to watch shows together, loved movies and the cartoons, the news too. It was our pastime. We got into Earth culture and we were in love with it. So much creation in such a short time.”

Arcee nodded, “They are an innovative bunch.”

“They are. We used to quote them like mad, drove some of the Junkions insane...but then she got sick. She was a ‘biotechnologist’ and created the Peace Core, the item in the vault you have. It was one of the last things she ever made and it was designed to create unlimited oil and keep life on Junkion stable. I never tested it and I let our village remain as it was afraid that I would do something wrong with it, ending her years of work. I sat on it believing that everything would work out. This positive attitude was what she loved about me, so I never moved beyond it to do what was needed. Does that make me a bad leader?”

“No. No, no, don’t think that way. We all did things that we thought helped everyone but ended up ruining lives, sometimes even against our will. You did what you knew she loved. Nothing will ever be wrong with that. It’s just up to you to know when to move on and learn to do other things differently,” the queen replied.

Wreck-gar then smiled, his perkiness returning completely. “You know, I don’t think that vault needs to stay anymore. The Peace Core will probably like it outside.”

“The Peace Core isn’t a living thing,” she laughed.

“How do you know?” The mech chuckled back, “Maybe it can eat, maybe it can fly, maybe it can do fancy tricks. You don’t know for sure until you try, right?”

She tinkered with the lock combination before asking, “What’s the code?”

“Oh, that’s easy it is...!” He held up a digit proudly at first until he stalled. “It is...huh, I forgot.”

“...What?”

“I forgot. I had the code and I forgot but I’m pretty sure I had a clue somewhere just for this exact purpose. Nancy set it up for me! Um, it’s-it’s-it’s on something of ours. She wrote it on something.”

As he muttered trying to think of the code, Arcee pieced together his previous words. They loved to watch television together, human shows and whatnot. If that’s what they enjoyed as a couple...

“I think I know where it is. Follow me,” she urged.

Going into his hut, she frantically looked over the room for something that could pick up broadcasts. Anything technological could if programmed properly. He met her inside as she scoured every corner of his home until she saw something reflective behind a propped door and several discarded boxes of junk. Placing the vault down, she moved things carefully until she resurfaced an old screen with some specks of rust on it. She put it in the center of the room and watched Wreck-gar's expression change. He was almost afraid to touch it like he was going to break it. Then a smile made its way on his faceplates.

“I haven’t used this since she passed. It still looks like it could work. Let’s hook it up, shall we?”

Arcee returned his growing enthusiasm and placed it on a stand that seemed suspiciously perfect for it. It belonged there once. He attached the cables to the stand which Arcee realized was a server and rerouted the power to a generator within the hut she didn’t see, and he watched eagerly as the screen slowly turned on. There was an old message with a dialect Arcee wasn’t entirely understanding of but to Wreck-gar's expression shine as he read it was all that mattered. It was special only for him, and Arcee didn’t need to know it.

He gestured to the safe and Arcee knew he wanted it. She handed it over without question and began shifting the code to the proper setting. Then a click echoed in the room. He opened the safe but grew confused. Reaching in, Arcee frowned too when all he had was a Radiant Core.

“Where’s the Peace Core? It should be here.”

Arcee sighed with a heavy heart as she believed the worst. “The aggressor that tricked and hurt you must have taken it and replaced it with that. I’m sorry it was all for naught.”

She expected him to go into a state of misery, but instead he held a small smile and handed her the Radiant Core.

“But Nancy’s work-?”

“Will be remembered. After all, when was I ever going to use it anyways? Maybe this is a sign. I’ll always treasure her, but I need to let go of the past now like you said. Time to be the leader I’m supposed to be. Besides, there’s no past like the present...or is it no time like the present? Future? Whatever,” he smirked.

Arcee giggled. Indeed, he was a changed mech. But she made a mental note to herself that she would find out what happened to Nancy’s Peace Core. The Metal Heads could take it but someday, she planned on taking it back. For now, it was a relief and a privilege to finally see the cooky Junkion leader back to his regular wordplay.

Chapter Text

When all of the Junkions were situated, Arcee snuck out to wander and see the damage the Metal Mammoth had caused. The disrupted hills were evident and plenty of parts were scattered. Driving around them as a motorcycle was difficult without ruining her tires or risking a piece getting caught in her spokes.

“Silos, still want that pretty pendant?”

When he didn’t respond, she waited but as she drove and called to him again, the silence was nerve-racking. He usually wasn’t silent and that made her think something happened to him. He was a valiant warrior though so there had to either be a very misguided judgment of his own accord or something he couldn’t fight against caught up to him.

She approached his ship cautiously and transformed when she saw the ramp was still down but there was purple blood that stained it severely. Her spark raced, and she pulled out her blasters as she was instantly on edge. Moving into the vessel, she scanned the halls visually but kept a keen audio for anything unusual. The blood trail moved down it and curved into a room where the door was partially broken into. She eased around the corner when she heard no noise.

The carcass of a Centurion with its purple-pink skin covered in blood had one of Silos’ large swords embedded though its skull and into the floor. It was forced in a kneeling position and didn’t slide far on the blade. A thud echoed in the halls, and she thought she heard the signature growls of the Metal Heads, far different from Silos’ own voice. He might have been under attack.

She silently ran through the halls trying to find him. Another sound rang off but as she reached an intersection, she did not know where it was coming from. Taking her chances, she went straight ahead. The path led her to the cockpit which held a fair share of discarded skull gems. Still no sign of the captain.

Suddenly, her winglets were grabbed, and she was shoved against the floor with a fang-bared bloody face inches from hers. Their fangs had blood rolling off them, splattering next to her faceplates that she was too fearful to care about. They were on all fours with the thick tail whipped profusely. The act stunned her to where she could do nothing but lie there as her arms were pinned, spread out by both hands of the assailant. The animalistic roar matched the ferocity of the hint of orange among the yellow hell-bent, reptilian eyes that could haunt her every nightmare. Pupils were as thin as paper. But then she recognized the silver helmet and the dark blue skin.

“Captain Silos?!”

The Metal Head captain paused, blood-coated mouth closing a little, so his fangs weren’t as prominent and blood didn’t drip around her, but he didn’t let her up and grew a vicious smile.

“Well, well, the universe’s guardian angel. I wasn’t expecting you so soon.” There was an unusual tone as he quickly made side glances like he thought someone was watching. “I take it everything went smoothly?”

“Yeah! I thought you were under attack! Are you?!” Arcee growled.

“No, I was just…cleaning.”

She grew deadpanned, “There’s a dead body down the hall.”

“Older kill,” he shrugged.

She didn’t buy that but grew slightly concerned by how close he was. “Can you let me up?”

Just to spite her like the ass he was, Silos removed his hold on her arms but perched them beneath his chin with his elbows instead right beside her waist. He seemed to lean more into her with his rear sinking and his tail perking to an airborne curled position, occasionally wagging with a deep amused rumble in his throat.

“Oh, but I think I like it right here,” he purred licking the blood off his fangs with a massive grin.

Arcee managed to squeeze her arms into a crossed position to show her stubbornness, unfortunately not without rubbing his chest. Accidentally mapping the thick masculine structure made her blush and his smile only grew wider as the most absurd Cheshire grin she had ever seen.

“Is this revenge for Velocitron and that comment from earlier?”

“It might be,” he said with an unknown tone. “It could be simply because I want to.”

“And you’re on me with blood across your mouth…”

“Do you not like it?” Silos asked innocently despite his intentions seemed anything but.

Arcee looked between his alluring yellow eyes and the splotches of blood on his muzzle and helmet. Some streaks of purple slid off his fangs down his chin and curved with skin towards his neck. She barely flinched as a few droplets hit her chest. Silos seemed to peer intrigued in return at the runaway drops trailed down her breastplate. She wanted to roll her optics but was too flushed to do so. She could only find the willpower to state the supposed obvious.

“There’s nothing down there except my spark chamber and some wires, sorry to disappoint.”

Silos’ smile changed to a neutral frown in consideration of the comment and merely tipped his head. “Who says I’m disappointed?”

She sank into her own armor in embarrassment and didn’t know how to perceive the situation. When he drew a bit closer, she found herself not speaking up when she was supposed to. He remained in a neutral expression, nostrils barely moving and ears flicking in what she believed was sheer curiosity how far he could go.

“Arcee, where are you?” Bolt’s voice rang out.

Silos pulled back from his attempt with a raised brow as Arcee scowled. She then answered, “I’m just patrolling…making sure there’s no other Metal Heads in the vicinity.”

“Seacore wants to talk to you, and I need you to convince Wreck-gar to find a copy of his cyberbiology scripts…assuming he has any.”

“Heard that loud and clear. I’ll be back soon.” She gave Silos a shrug and the Metal Head smirked though his disappointment was a little noticeable. He lifted his hefty body off her with a grunt, careful not to step on her legs with his dinosaur-like feet. The thick claws almost nicked her inner thigh, and she sent him a glare.

He mused, “As if you would really complain after everything you’ve been through?”

Silos offered her his hand and she took it though she had to shake off residue blood to which he laughed at. She didn’t find it as funny and scoffed, “Real mature.”

“If you can’t have a sense of humor about life and the little inconveniences, why live at all?”

The question made her grimace. To her and Megatron, not a whole lot in their past, as minor of conveniences had happened, were laughable. The attitude Silos expressed seemed a bit cruel but, at the same time, what did she expect from someone with a bloody corpse impaled on his ship for a reason she still didn’t completely know?

Arcee then remembered the whole reason she was here and produced the pendant from her subspace. Silos’ pupils grew twice their size as his ears shot up interested.

“Here’s Wreck-gar’s pendant. He asks that you take care of it,” she said dead serious.

Like a serpent filled with lies, the Metal Head hissed pleasantly, “But of course I would. An artifact of divine beauty would never be misused in my hands. And when you get a chance, do meet me at Kanjis. It’s time I...revisited my old stomping grounds anyway.”

This time she did roll her optics but as she turned away, she caught him winking at her. The queen was so caught off guard by it that she didn’t focus on calling him out when he started swinging the pendant by its chain clockwise and whistling. He went the opposite direction of the hall that led back out of the ship, swaying his tail rather pleased with himself with one hand behind his back and the other clutching the pendant with a maddening grin.

Arcee pursed her lips angered at the lack of responsibility Silos seemed to have for the pendant before looking back into the cockpit to see the skull gems still around lying uselessly. She gained a wicked smile of her own and grabbed a bunch of them.

Heading out past the oil lakes, Arcee drove back to the village where misplaced distiller dragons were perched on the hills building towers of junk to nest in. She was surprised how close they were but none of the inhabitants seemed to mind. When she was waved down by Wreck-gar, she transformed and gestured to the visible construction.

“What are they doing?”

The happy-go-lucky mech grinned wildly, “Meet our new neighbors! Since those maniac Metal Heads trashed their homes, we found they didn’t like being so close to the scrap dragons anymore despite formerly serving them. So, we invited them to stay here! They seem to not mind us one bit, and we have plenty of resources to go around!”

A few distillers watched the younglings make goofy faces and tried to mimic them, hopping up and down in their own version of play. It was amusing but there still lied a concern.

“What happens if they show aggression?”

“Quite honestly, I’ve never seen a distiller grow angry at any of my people because they know we respect them. A mutual relationship.”

Arcee nodded at that before asking, “Bolt said Seacore is looking for me?”

“Ah yes!” Wreck-gar replied, “He’s in his home right now!”

“Good, oh, and Wreck-gar?”

“Yes?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have any documents on the creatures of Junkion, would you? Bolt’s pretty big on collecting information on the various species that exist for planets he visits. It’s a hobby of his,” she said.

“Absolutely!”

Leaving the conversation at that, Arcee walked to Seacore’s hut which was filled with old holopads and what she thought were drawings of battle plans, ones with lots of notes. Some data pads had designs for weapons and other technology as well. It was strange someone like Seacore would be so open with people finding his stuff unless he never had any reason to hide it. The Junkions seemed like people who would accept anyone even if they had a troublesome or rather curious past.

“I see you’ve discovered my purged knowledge of useless strategies from a previous life,” Seacore remarked, walking past her.

She was slightly startled but shook off the discomfort when he sat at a desk made of jet wings. He grabbed a data pad and looked over it bored. He threw it down to slide a few inches on the table surface with a heavy sigh, peering towards the floor and shaking his head.

Arcee frowned, “What’s wrong with them? Didn’t like how you made them?”

“No, more like they are just old designs. I was a weaponsmith in my youth and theoretical physicist before I left. Unfortunately, my job was used mostly for designing weapons while charting the physics and specs of how the weapons were supposed to work. From basic design to near impossible schematics. I did it all...for my battle-lusting world. That wasn’t even my job initially. I left when I realized that the weapons I had created for my government would one day be used against them, possibly the entire world, but no one listened. All they wanted was more. So, I quit. I don’t even know if my world still stands and quite frankly, I believe they reaped what they sowed. I was the instigator, in a way, but it wasn’t meant to go the lengths it did. I forever have to live with that guilt.”

Arcee understood far too much what he meant.

He continued, “When I came here, Wreck-gar and Detritus welcomed me, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet. It felt like the first time I ever experienced it.”

The queen smirked until she heard Detritus’ name. Every time the mech was mentioned, something never sat right on his supposed suicide, from what it sounded at least. Detritus was said to have walked off the face of the planet and that still seemed impossible...unless someone with a physics background knew how to bypass gravity...

“Detritus,” she muttered.

“What was that?” Seacore asked, raising a brow.

“You know, I find it a little strange that Detritus left the way he did, and no one seems to take into account that gravity would have made it impossible for him to go off the edge of the world. So, how is it after you arrive, Detritus is suddenly gone when he was Wreck-gar's second-in-command only for you to take over once he disappeared?”

Seacore grew silent, staring into her optics before his own narrowed. He then said something unexpected. “You have no clue what he was like, do you?”

She slowly shook her head, placing both servos on her hips.

“Detritus was a traitor; he was planning on taking over Junkion by exterminating Wreck-gar. He told me, thinking I would be on board with it given my weaponsmith background and assuming I was this naturally violent person. After Wreck-gar lost Nancy, Detritus was the one mech he thought he could trust.”

“Wait,” she questioned suspiciously, “I thought you said before you didn’t know why Wreck-gar was moping? You never mentioned Nancy the first time we met and suddenly, you know everything enough to encourage him to talk about it? You’ve been lying!”

“I lied to protect him!” Seacore growled, standing up. “He loved Nancy. Why did you need to know that? And Detritus?"

“You got rid of him, but something in your demeanor tells me it wasn’t just the traitorous part that got to you. You were so eager to help Wreck-gar after Nancy’s death, and you weren’t going to let Detritus hurt him anymore. So, why? Why protect Wreck-gar all this time?” Arcee snarled, then her expression softened. “Because you love him?”

Hearing that, Seacore’s optics quickly scoured Arcee’s as he tensed, an unusual frown upon his faceplates. It looked painful, threatening to quiver despite trying his best to keep his stoic nature.

“You make it sound like I wanted to hurt Detritus. Nancy was Wreck-gar's love, and I more than respected that. When she passed, we were all heartbroken except Detritus. Now, don’t you dare twist my words and think Detritus killed Nancy. I know how she died, but the fact that Detritus was going to go after Wreck-gar after Nancy died was what made me act most of all. That was his second-in-command, someone he trusted and let his guard down around. I couldn’t let that happen. He was already lost losing her; she was the light of the village, and it didn’t need a mutiny on top of that.”

“And do you love Wreck-gar?”

Seacore sighed, closing his optics. “You wouldn’t understand…it feels more like an intrusion. I liked Nancy, but these feelings seem like an insult to her. I would never dare to do such a thing.”

“It’s okay to tell him how you feel…”

“No, he’s not ready to know. He just got over Nancy…now’s not the time to do that. Promise me you won’t tell him,” he begged.

She nodded in assurance, “If you don’t want it known, I’ll leave it up to you for when you want to.”

“Thank you.”

The queen then asked, “Is…this what you initially wanted me here for?”

“W-Well, no, I was going to tell you about my plan to make Wreck-gar something special.” Arcee grinned as he coughed, “But perhaps you should make it. If you could design something of spiritual value for Wreck-gar, you’d probably be able to finalize that trade deal you want. Make him a memoir of this battle for instance, if you think it’s okay.”

“Okay, so basically you’re using me as a secret admirer ploy,” she laughed.

Seacore sheepishly rubbed his neck with a heated face, and she got the message loud and clear. To see him nearly red on the faceplates was hysterical but she knew not to pressure him. When he was ready, he would tell Wreck-gar. She started to leave and quickly thought of what to give the Junkion leader that would be a worthy trophy of battle. Snapping her fingers as soon as she thought of it, she remembered she had skull gems from Silos’ ship. Crafting them into a suitable prize would be perfect-

“Before you go, do you really want to know what happened to Detritus and Nancy?”

Midway out the door, she paused and turned back to him. “You’d be willing to tell me?”

“Only if you promise to keep it between us. Wreck-gar knows half of Detritus’ disappearance. I just never had the heart to tell him the rest. And Nancy, we all know and if she was to leave us in any way, I think it was for the best it ended up like this.”

She took a seat across from him, bringing her legs to a crossed position up adjacent to her abdomen and placed her elbows on her kneecaps.

Seacore muttered as he sat down, “It’s best to get this off my conscience to at least one person. I tracked Detritus down when I figured out he was planning to take over and leave Wreck-gar for dead in the Dragonlands. I couldn’t let that happen, so I followed him to a spacecraft he had hidden on the edge of the world and while he was planning on departing to recruit followers since no one on Junkion would dare go against Wreck-gar, I placed a bomb on his vessel. He shouldn’t have tried to hurt him; I wouldn’t allow it! As he left and went below the world, I detonated it. The noise was gratifying in a way though I held no pleasure in what I had to do. His ship never returned so I told Wreck-gar he had fallen off. It didn’t bother him too much because I think he knew deep down Detritus wasn’t a good bot.

“And Nancy...she was a scientist, always believing in the future. She loved learning about the worlds around her like your friend, Bolt. She grew to love Earth when they stumbled upon its broadcasts. They would watch everything they could, and Wreck-gar shared her interest. Whatever she did, he would follow. She was his light in a dark abyss until one day, she grew sick. Some people thought the Peace Core took her energy, but I think it was much simpler than that. I believe she got an illness from one of our visitors in the past. It wasn’t intentional what happened. She was bedridden eventually and Wreck-gar never left her side, neither did I. She used the last of her energy to complete the Peace Core and passed away not long after. Wreck-gar has held that core ever since.”

Arcee sat in silence for a minute, the heaviness of the knowledge bearing down on her that Wreck-gar suffered far more than he told. Losing a mate and knowing a person that he trusted had planned on getting rid of him like trash held such cruelty in a life. Even though Wreck-gar said he would move on, Arcee wouldn’t blame him if he ever relapsed from such a hard turn of past events. She was surprised more so he kept his happy personality after that.

“I’m sorry,” she weakly said.

Seacore shook his head and said, “You don’t have to be. It happened for a reason. Everything happens for a reason...even if we don’t agree with how the outcomes go. We can wish for others but the end of the line is we respond how we know and go about life as we do. I’m not saying Detritus’ fall at my tampering was justified, but what I did stopped possibly something worse from happening had I not. I made my berth like I should have.”

Silos’ motto came to mind reflecting on those words. “‘I will always do what’s right no matter what stands in my way.’”

“What?”

“A friend of mine once said that. Sometimes to do good, someone has to take the rough path,” she replied.

He slowly came to nod as a small smile played on the edge of his mouth. “I thank you for listening, and I hope you do the good you set out to do too.”

Arcee snickered, “And I hope the gift I give him in your place will suffice. I’ll make sure it’s worth it.”

Seacore chuckled as she left and Arcee brought out a handful of the skull gems. What could she turn them into to gift Wreck-gar? Then she peered to her right and saw the scrap statues Bolt and the villagers had worked on while she was talking to the Allspark prior. The Cybertronian Predator was mounted on a stand as the centerpiece of the town with smaller pieces of metal standing out with the other crafts made placed on them. She hummed to herself before eyeing out Bolt.

Approaching the Vehicon, she nearly shoved the skull gems into his arms as she asked, “Can you turn these into a present for Wreck-gar like what you did with the Predator statue?”

Bolt looked over the skull gems before turning his head in reluctance. “I think it would be more meaningful to him if you do it all things considered.”

“I’m, um, not the artistic type,” the queen said awkwardly. She half-shrugged, half-grimaced at her own shyness which Bolt merely huffed amused at.

“Really? Well, let’s fix that.”

She didn’t expect him to drag her by the servo to sit near the miniature statues and place the skull gems at her pedes. He then brought over a bunch of junk and formed a pile next to her. He seemed almost giddy at the prospect of teaching her.

“Okay, first things first: art is not a talent.” She raised a brow confused as he continued, “Art is and always will be an expression. Forms of it can vary on difficulty but no matter how complex it can be, no matter the subject or the medium, it will never be better than someone’s imagination.”

“You sound like an inspiration holovid we had to listen to in the Autobot bootcamps.”

“But were they true if you believed them?” His retort made her paused before he took one of the sculptures of the younglings, examining it with interest. “You can sculpt detail-accurate figures, paint the landscape, and even make a portrait of a person like you were looking in the mirror but at the end of the day, the only difference between that someone else is the feeling of the moment.

“For instance, Earth has a bunch of hyper-realistic portraits made by past artists and mere paint splatter that anyone can pull off with no talent that many wouldn’t call art...but the reason why it still is art is because there was an expression to it. Some people hooked paint cans and spun them over a canvas to create splashes. Easy, simplistic against those who took hours to days to even years. Why? It could be simply because it was cool or fun. That’s why it became art. Not because of talent but because of the feeling of creating it. Yes, anyone can do it but whenever you make something, always ask how does it make you feel and never be ashamed of the truth because that truth will make it great. Nothing can be called art if it has no feeling and your audience has no feeling towards it. Anger, disappointment, sadness, cynicism...all negative but they are still feelings maybe from both the artist and/or the audience. Get what I mean?”

He handed Arcee the sculpture of metal that didn’t really look like anything but a jumbled mess at first, then she shifted her hold on it and realized it was an animal above all, perhaps living or perhaps whatever the youngling came up with. It was beautiful.

Arcee smiled, “How long have you been creating art?”

“Mmm, when I got bored on the isle, I created a few things. Repetition just helped me get the animal forms down to a more realistic approach but I threw them away months before you arrived. I had drawn a nightpaw and a monogoliath multiple times in different ways just to humor myself.”

“So, what do you think he’ll like? What can I do with the skull gems anyways?”

Bolt mused, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. You have to get creative there.”

Arcee huffed and took random piece. She didn’t think Wreck-gar would need another animal statue so she pondered on what would be useful or meaningful to him. Then she thought of Nancy.

“Do we have any old technology that no one’s using or something no one wants?”

Bolt looked up at her and she could tell he was puzzled at first before muttering, “Let me...look around.”

While he searched, Arcee laid the skull gems out in a pattern picking up scraps to line it with and pre-curling them to wrap around or move among the gems. She quickly looked at Bolt shocked when he slammed down a discarded screen that had a chipped edge, semi-rusted but still looked like it could run a system’s data network.

“That works. Now, do you have a way to glue these pieces to it?”

Bolt wordlessly brought out his blaster and warmed it, sitting beside her again as she used the gun’s heat to redden the metal and bend it more fluidly before placing the design on the screen’s edge. While she repeated her process, searing the skull gems to certain metals. Bolt offered a few pointers but mainly watched her. When she was done, she held up a television decorated with silhouettes of roughly crafted dragons and hyenas. Half the skull gems were placed intricately with each corner and the largest stood on the crown top. Around its backside, swirling patterns also had the ends fused with the gems. It spelled out Nancy’s name in English, a language he was most familiar with aside from a quarter of Earth’s residents themselves. It might have not been a work completely from scratch but she felt pleased by her creation despite not being a perfect gift. She looked at the Vehicon who nodded in approval.

Getting up and going to Wreck-gar, she was nervous about the gift now. What if he didn’t like it? What if he grew spiteful or angered for her using Nancy’s name on the epitome of their favorite pastime like a mockery to their lifestyle? She meant no disrespect. The nice mech waved and walked up to her.

“Hello again, Arcee!”

“I...” she started, clutching the TV with the backside against her chest, “...I have...something for you. A-A gift I hope you like. It’s...uh...not my best work.”

“Nonsense, any gift made with care is perfect in my eyes. Now, lay it on me, if you wish!”

Arcee held out her present and grew embarrassed as he said nothing. He scouted the designs after recognizing it was a screen until he turned it around and froze. The femme grew anxious and felt bad now that she had restirred the pot of Wreck-gar's past. When he didn’t move, she started to back away humiliated and pitiful until she was suddenly pulled into an armor-crushing hug. She couldn’t even flich from how tightly he held onto her.

“Thank you!” Wreck-gar nearly cried.

She made a small whine as she was crushed even more before he finally released her. She blinked, “Y-You like it?”

“Are you kidding me?! This is great! Fabulous! Top notch craftsmanship! And...I think Nancy would have loved it,” he smiled.

Bolt clapped Arcee on the shoulder proudly as Megatron and Moonhunter approached them. Arcee held back her own tears thinking about it.

Her sparkmate said, “Perceptor is awaiting our arrival. Ready when you are.”

She nodded until Wreck-gar nearly clocked her with a Radiant Core. He happily stated, “I believe everyone should get a gift in return. I found that one when I was cleaning out my home to get it more organized. I must thank you, all of you, for what you’ve done.”

Seacore, the younglings, Visionair, Lantern, and even the hira hyenas gathered alongside the rest of the villagers of Junkion to compliment and praise them. Just then, Wreck-gar pointed up in thought and reached into his subspace to hand Bolt the cyberbiology scripts for his world. Arcee was handed the Radiant Core in exchange for the artwork while Bolt looked over his new data. He paused when there were less than ten listed creatures.

“Is this it?”

Wreck-gar nodded proudly, “Yep! We don’t have many species but they are good!”

Bolt pointed at one name on the list confused. “What is a Shadow Monster?!”

“Oh, that’s just the creature that lingers around the oil fields from time to time. We’ve had pets and people go missing over there when they wander for too long. Nothing to worry about!” Wreck-gar answered abnormally cheery about it to both Arcee and Bolt’s horror. Megatron was less concerned and merely rolled his optics.

“The wha...?!”

Arcee knew they should get going but she still needed Wreck-gar's approval for trade.

“Wreck-gar, you remember why I came here, right? To secure trade and relations with Junkion? Do you have a spare data pad we could have to write out a treaty with or-?”

“Already taken care of,” Megatron smirked, holding out one.

Wreck-gar said, “Ah, yes, the signing of unification. I will one hundred percent agree to all terms and conditions.”

After signing it, Arcee and Wreck-gar exchanged pleasant smiles before she nodded to Megatron who then contacted Perceptor. A space bridge opened as everyone said their goodbyes. Moonhunter gave one last set of sniffs to the hyenas who repaid him with similar gestures, wagging their tails with their laughter.

“Take care now!” Wreck-gar shouted as he clung to the TV he was gifted. Seacore stayed close to him and smiled as his leader’s happiness.

Arcee gave one last look at all the Junkions before gazing up at the Milky Way visible among the atmosphere. One jump and they would be within it. It was quite a crazy thing to think about that all that distance could be crossed in a second.

The Cybertronians went through with their work now completed as the echoes of their departing audience echoed and vanished. The portal hissed as they exited out the other side to see Cybertron at night with both its moons up high. Somewhere in the night sky, Junkion was floating aimlessly.

“There you guys are! Finally!” Bumblebee greeted.

“Nice to see you too, Autobot,” Megatron mocked. “Anything interesting happen while we were gone?”

The yellow mech made an unusual grimace. “Uh, yeah, remember that energy signature we were reading at the edge of our solar system? Well, it’s on one of our system planets, but we still don’t have any identification on what it is.”

Arcee frowned as Moonhunter ran to greet Grimlock walking over in his Dinobot mode. “Could be the Metal Heads.”

Bolt gestured, “Yeah, but the others have been arriving by portal or have festered on the planet like Velocitron. If they were to attack Cybertron, it feels a bit weird they would attack where we could detect them. They are cocky but not that stupid unless they have a plan. Can we send anyone to investigate or not still?”

“No, we don’t have many people capable of facing off against the Metal Heads like you have to go exploring a potential army of them if that’s what that energy signature is at all. It could be just a whole other alien species investigating a world that happens to be in our system too. That’s happened before from what Perceptor told me,” Bumblebee said. “All we can do is be careful and deal with anything suspicious as it comes around.”

“And for good reason,” Optimus’ voice stated. The larger mech appeared beside Bumblebee and smiled down at Arcee. “How did everything go with Wreck-gar?”

“We found out why he was acting so strangely. The Metal Heads weren’t very prominent there and I’m not sure they were after anything like oil or the citizens themselves for that matter. But we do know one thing: Nancy created the Peace Core, similar to all those Radiant Cores that seem to be given up as offers of gratitude except it’s far more powerful. It was said to be able to power Junkion for millions of years but someone stole it. A Metal Head, most likely the leader. So, I don’t know why they would want that unless maybe they are trying to repower their home or find a way to boost their numbers. I kn-I speculate they have a planet of their own maintained by Tigressa up until her death,” Arcee answered.

Optimus rubbed his chin. “That is disturbing to know they might be mobilizing to do more harm. But unless we figure out their endgame, I’m afraid pursuing them will have to wait. Protect the other worlds first, then we’ll see about finding where they live and possibly getting help in exterminating them.”

Megatron threw up his eyebrows surprised, “Wow, never thought I’d hear you of all bots agree to exterminate a species. I’m starting to think I’m dreaming.”

“While I prefer to never do such a thing, my understanding from Bolt’s notes and your encounters is that the Metal Heads are not technically a race but a virus that can spread like fire. If they can spread through mere bites with tainted venom, that alone condemns many to a painful and terrifying fate. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities to bring peace to the fallen by getting rid of them, and I think we can agree that it is for the best.”

“Take out the leader and you can apparently cripple them for a good amount of time,” Arcee nodded. “I get the suspicion they are heading to Kanjis next, their oldest enemies’ residence.”

Bumblebee sneered, “Hive mentality, but let’s not think about that now. Let’s go to Nova Point and I think you’ll find a few of our friends are there too.”

“Great,” she scoffed, “Haywire and Scythe are probably going to chew me out for something I didn’t do.”

“I thought that was only Haywire’s job?” Bolt snickered.

“They are a tag team now, have you not noticed? Scythe is slowly becoming like his mate and now I’m going have two advisors instead of one.”

Iacon was booming as usual with the air traffic flowing without pause. Nova Point stood glowing as it represented the communication hub of the city. Arcee still held a love for Optimus restoring it instead of letting it rust or be demolished. This time, instead of taking the elevator up the normal way, Arcee and Megatron had a bit of fun and scaled up the building using the ledges and the design of the exterior. As a race, Arcee used her acrobatic skills to climb while Megatron used his claws and natural sense of balance among heights to keep up with her. She laughed as he was trying to catch her in a cat and mouse game. Obviously, she was faster but what he lacked in speed, he made for in a more beastly approach which had him working at it double time. When Megatron wanted something, he was determined no matter what.

“How is it down there?”

Megatron leaped onto a sign and jumped again to sink his claws into the wall. He scaled a meter up before getting just beneath her and growling playfully, “The sight is gorgeous. Maybe if she slowed down...”

“Not a chance,” she remarked with a grin.

“Be that way, my dear. All the more fun it will be when I get a hold of you.”

Arcee found the dark tone alluring and shivered, but she refused to let him win. She found an open window just below the level where Perceptor’s acclaimed office was and flipped inside, backing up in anticipation as she heard him give an animalistic rumble and claw up faster. He nearly broke the window and pounced on her, rolling them until she was under him on the ground. She laughed as he showed off his fangs in a deadly smile.

But then she went quiet when Megatron’s visage began to glitch into Silos’ blood-stained jaws. She was in the exact same position as before, remembering how close he got. She had no clue how to feel about it and tensed on instinct. Megatron’s predatory façade faded as his expression lightened considerably. He sat back on his calves to give her space.

Like a scolded dog, he asked, “Is everything alright?”

Arcee shot up to lean on her elbows and blushed. “Y-Yes, yes, everything is fine. I’m sorry, I...just thought of the prospect of being caught by the others.”

He tilted his head unsure but he respectfully didn’t press the issue, instead getting to his feet and helping her up. A gentle smile grew back and she returned it, cradling his chin when he bent down.

“Maybe another time,” she gleamed.

Megatron chuckled softly, “I’ll hold you to it.”

Perceptor looked horrified upstairs, clutching the edge of his desk as he listened to Seacore once Bolt supplied the information needed to contact him. He sank a little into his seat and when Arcee and Megatron arrived, she couldn’t tell if he accidentally pissed Seacore off or the Junkion was telling some horror stories of his past life. Either way, Perceptor was petrified. Once the conversation ended and Perceptor said the bare minimum, he shook in his seat.

“What did he say?”

Perceptor peered at her but didn’t move his head. “I think...I think I’m going to sit out any visits to Junkion for quite some time, thank you.”

Arcee took a second to think what spooked him. “Was it the enemy heads mounted on sticks?”

He squeaked as he nodded, “They didn’t leave out a single detail.”

Both the queen and her consort exchanged glances before Megatron shrugged, “Sounds about right. Ah, don’t worry, they only do that to those who piss them off.”

“Sounds like a hoot out there.”

Arcee grew a giant smile as Bulkhead and Ratchet came into the room, the former opening his arms wide. She let him hug her, wincing as he squeezed a bit too hard.

“Long time, no see, Cee!” Bulkhead said.

The blue femme lightly bumped her lower arm. “What brings you here along with the doc?”

“Been hearing about your valiant adventures, came to see if I could meet you before you went to another world. So, what are they like?”

As Haywire and Scythe took their seats along with Optimus and Bumblebee, Arcee replied, “They are a culture shock, that’s for sure. Different ideas, priorities, likes, dislikes. It’s not a small galaxy after all.”

“Yes, well, I heard from our esteemed Autobot leader here,” Ratchet said as he pointed to Bumblebee, “that you will be going to Kanjis next. From what Haywire and Scythe could gather just now, you won’t even be in this galaxy anymore.”

Arcee forgot Megatron wasn’t aware of Kanjis’ location but Bolt was. “Yeah, and their neighbors are a hoot, so I’ve heard.”

Her advisor continued from Ratchet’s comment. “Kanjis is home to biggest techno-organic populace and its king is said to be very benevolent unless pressed. He’s been around longer than the Thirteen Primes. There’s not a whole lot of information regarding it since it’s out of our star maps but Scythe and I have been able to find the coordinates for it from Alpha Trion’s documents. I guess the Primes did meet him at one point but quickly went against him thinking he would overtake them. They sent several ships over to Kanjis and none of them returned. The debris field near our moons? Those are the pieces to the space bridge they used to communicate with Kanjis. When the Primes realized their mistake, they destroyed it so the Kanjians couldn’t seek revenge for their error in judgement.”

Bolt scoffed, “Every time we hear about the Primes, those idiots fucked up. Is there nothing good they’ve done that outweighs their surprising lack of common sense?”

Scythe shrugged, “Unfortunately, they were powerful and clever but not too keen on their own fallible nature. No offense, Optimus.”

The Prime shook his head. “As I would know, even we weren’t above making tremendous errors.”

“Given some of the breeds we’ve dealt with on the isle and when my crew before that went to Kanjis, I would be more surprised if any of those ships did return,” Bolt mumbled. “It’s definitely not a place you want to mess up in because anything and everything can kill you, especially those that despise exterior and unfamiliar life.”

“But if King Kronos is as lenient as they say, he could be the one who protects you from all that. In the morning, we’ll take you to Kanjis. Until then, I suggest you get some rest. You’ll need it,” Haywire said.

Arcee was about to take off when she remembered she still had the Radiant Cores and quickly pulled out all of them to empty her subspace. Haywire frowned when they slid on the table towards him before giving her a muted sneer.

“I collect and can’t refuse any of them. Sorry!” Arcee grinned sheepishly before walking out the door with Megatron and Bolt following.

The red mech grabbed one in slight disappointment. “Ah, well then, keep them coming until we have enough to blow up a city sky high.”

Scythe laughed, “Quit being pessimistic.”

“I’m just saying. If something were to explode, this whole place would be nuked with how many Radiant Cores we have in here.”

Perceptor scowled, “You blow me up, I’m kicking all your afts in the Well of the Allspark. I don’t plan on going out now.”

“Who said we would be responsible?” Haywire barked.

The scientist pursed his lips unfazed. “And who said I’ll give a crap who I kick the aft of when I’m dead?”

The advisor narrowed his optics and replied coldly, “You are very deranged for a scientist.”

“Thank you,” Perceptor grinned, “years of war sometimes gets you to say crazy things and not give a damn.”

Haywire’s expression fell flat before he facepalmed much to the mutual amusement of Scythe and Perceptor.

------------------------

Arcee rubbed her optics tired as Megatron and Bolt followed her to a temporary room in Nova Point they could rest in. Although they could go to any hotel or simply bridge back to the Crystal Palace, she figured it would be easiest not to draw attention to themselves by staying in a familiar place. Nova Point had some rooms to accommodate sleeping but they were only put in per Perceptor’s request. As they reached an open area where they could view down on the lower levels, Arcee spotted Grimlock and Predaking arguing.

“It’s not just a sword, it is a saber,” Predaking stated.

Grimlock pretended to be confused, reeling back as if hurt before remarking, “A saber, does this look like a thin blade to you? Unless you’re talking about mythological sabers...which this also is not...then maybe. This is called an energo sword, it is molten hot when handled and can slice through anything, not create bursts of actual energy. This can shatter the Star Saber because of its thickness.”

“That doesn’t seem like-”

“I crafted this myself and followed the instructions of the master swordmaker on Regulon Four. It has outlasted every weapon it has ever fought in my servo. I think I know my own weapon, Predaking.”

“You have trouble with your other weapons some days, so I have my doubts,” the Predacon bit back, pushing Grimlock to snarl at him.

High above, Arcee raised a brow before asking Bolt, “Should we interrupt them that Grimlock’s correct?”

“I don’t think it would matter at this point,” the Vehicon huffed. Then the two clashed and all Bolt did was lean his elbow on the railing. “Up, yep, there’s the fight. I say just let them duke it out. We’ll see if one of them is dead tomorrow morning.”

Arcee slapped his shoulder and he paused before whacking her upside the head. She recovered and furrowed her brows with a low growl.

“Don’t feel too good, huh?” Bolt chuckled darkly.

They were suddenly both slapped from behind and mutually glared at Megatron who was unamused. “Both of you are idiots sometimes.”

Moonhunter yowled almost in agreement with his tail up snooty. Bolt huffed at the cat despite Megatron being the culprit of the comment.

Despite the echoes of the two leaders still resonating within the building, the bots swiftly looked for their temporary quarters to relieve themselves for a decent number of hours at least. The chambers had everything, a bar and a sizable living space, but they ignored all of it.

They each crashed on a singular berth despite having access to multiple rooms. Megatron was the first down and lied on his back, adjusting properly before closing his optics. Arcee jumped on top of him on her front and made a comfy spot resting her head in her arms on his chest. Bolt merely walked over and flopped onto his front across Megatron’s legs, not even bothering to correct himself being he fell asleep. Moonhunter leapt onto Bolt, made a few biscuit motions on his spine and waist before curling into a ball on his backside. They were all dead tired and didn’t move the rest of the night.

The next morning, Bolt was beside Megatron face down, the latter had not moved much except turned his head rumbling, and Arcee was nestled in the crook of the warlord’s arm, faceplates buried comfortably. Moonhunter had taken Arcee’s previous spot on Megatron’s chest.

Arcee shot up, still sleepy, when a distant clatter from outside stirred her. As she leaned up from her arms, she stretched and started to wake the others. Bolt nearly rolled off by caught himself on his back, making a yawning sound and stumbling off the berth. Moonhunter was more annoyed than tired but finally budged, and Megatron was the last to wake. It took several attempts calling his name to get him to even move. Deep sleep for him was rare unless he felt safe.

Once everyone was up and moving, Arcee went to check what had made the racket. Grimlock and Predaking hadn’t killed each other, instead the Dinobot in his beast mode had tumbled off a platform from sleeping next to the Predacon, yawning with his large jaws flexing with half-lidded optics. He barely moved even from his disturbed position.

The bots took a while to get situated with the immediate call to arms at the Space Bridge Nexus. Even more so, they weren’t ready to face the Allspark who awaited them.

“Time is a fickle thing. With each stroke, every second becomes critical in the calculations of the future.”

Bolt muttered, “You know no one can understand you by now, right?”

“Hmph, well, Kanjis is all about timing. They are the masters of keeping track of it...unlike you,” the Allspark softly insulted.

Haywire crossed his arms passing Optimus who stood near the part of the crater where the bridge would spawn once activated. He seemed to agree with the Allspark to the bots’ ire. “Whatever the case, you three...four, sorry Moonhunter, will be dealing with a vastly different world than the other cyber worlds. Think Earth-like but more animalistic yet civilized. No being prejudice regardless of stance, no dumbass remarks, Arcee-”

The femme gestured sneering at being called out.

“-and whatever you do, don’t piss off the king. The other leaders would simply ban you, maybe not The Matriarch but Shockwave would to save your sorry afts. I’ve heard it takes a lot to get under King Kronos’ armor but if you do, he can easily kill you. I don’t know much about him but he sounds like he’s been in a vast number of wars and conflicts, outliving all of them including the species that brought them.”

Megatron punched the palm of his servo, “I’m pretty sure we could take him if necessary.”

“And I’ll prepare your obituary as soon as you head out just as a precaution,” the red mech smirked as the warlord grew pissed off.

Optimus waved a servo to calm his former enemy before speaking. “Regardless, tread carefully and do what is necessary to maintain peace. We’re counting on you.”

The Space Bridge Nexus opened its portal and Arcee stepped forward cockily. “Keep my throne warm, boys.”

She ran into it without any more small talk and Bolt just shrugged at Megatron before joining her. The warlord scoffed to himself and followed with Moonhunter sprinting in so he wouldn’t be left behind. As the portal closed, Haywire huffed at their audacity.

“Sometimes, I think they might just get themselves killed one of these trips.”

The Allspark hummed, “It won’t be the worlds that will test them the most.”

Both bots looked at it before looking at each other worried.

---------------------

Wreck-gar hooked up the decorated TV he obtained from Arcee, still smiling at the care and beauty of it. Even if it was made of garbage, it looked perfect to him. Nancy would have been ecstatic. Seacore helped him with the transference of data and he noticed his second-in-command seemed to blush a little when he was caught staring. Wreck-gar found the reaction cute.

He did note Seacore had been quite silent recently. Occasionally, he would say small sentences just to get a question out of the way or make the conversation move forward, but there was a distance in the tone. Wreck-gar didn’t really know why he was so flustered most of the time but he began to think Seacore was enjoying being around him more so than previously. He said nothing about it and just made sure the rustic green mech was alright.

Once they were finished, he turned it on to experiment. The channels it picked up were in slightly better quality, some telecasts from other worlds showed in unique formats as well. As he watched a murder mystery show that he found intriguing, he saw Seacore watching from the corner of the room. He patted the couch he had in his hut with a delightful demeanor.

“You can sit down if you want.”

Seacore shook his head, “I’m just fine right here. Thank you though.”

“Okay, but the offer is always available!”

As Wreck-gar reveled at the picture quality, Seacore watched his face glow with wonder. Just then, he slowly frowned when past Wreck-gar, he noticed the discarded safe. Moving around the room, he picked it up and ran a thumb over the damaged lock.

“Is something wrong, Seacore?”

He merely replied, “No…but it’s quite odd.”

“The safe? It’s made of high-quality-”

“Not the material, the circumstances. How is it Arcee knew of the type of creature? I know she said she fought them before but it’s starting to make me unsure just how much she knew about it. And your pendant? Strange, you’d be asked to give up something else of value, isn’t it?”

Wreck-gar frowned, “Yeah, out of everything she could have asked for, that was weird and I know weirdness! That was…abnormally weird.”

Seacore looked between the safe and the TV, his suspicion mounting. First, someone comes looking for the Peace Core which was Wreck-gar’s prized possession and then Arcee came for the pendant, another item of importance.

“Weird indeed,” Seacore muttered, furrowing his brows.

Chapter Text

The space bridge made a cackling noise as they jumped through. Arcee expected a vast wilderness to be their spawn point but instead she froze flabbergasted as the others came through.

“What’s wrong, Arcee?” Bolt laughed, “You look like you've seen a-whoa…”

Megatron was threw up his eyebrows and scoffed, “Talk about a kingdom.”

In front of all of them, there lay a massive city with skyscrapers containing energy spheres accustomed with rotating rings similar to that of the Allspark’s design. Some rested on the top of the pointed buildings while a few orbited the buildings themselves. The foliage and vegetation of blue were interwoven with the architecture to preserve life instead of bulldozing it completely as Arcee had seen Earth do. Floating infrastructure seemed to react to the energy of the city itself, relying on said power to keep its altitude. And seen in the farther side of the city was a castle-like goliath of a palace. Statues visible from their point of view were sculpted into the material like gargoyles, intimidating yet formal. The biggest thing that threw off Arcee was the similar appearance it had to a Cybertronian Predator until she recalled the Kanjian Ridgeback was a descendant from the same ancestor as the Predator. They had evolved separately…and the Knajian Ridgeback those statues signified was the mold of the king himself.

Various ships of makes she didn’t even recognize as cybernetic landed and left from ports stationed in both the sky view ramps connecting several buildings near the top while others were placed on specialized platforms connected to the edge of the city. It seemed the city was a trade hub as well as Kronos’ main residence.

“I don’t know about you, but I want to get a closer look,” Bolt said eagerly.

As they walked towards the start of the city limits, passing over a bridge with the crystalline pink water running under it, Arcee was quick to peer up at the sky. Two suns, a yellow and a blue binary set, made the sky appear a bluish green. A belt of asteroids orbited the planet, and the atmosphere made them appear silver with a pinkish tint from the reflection of light off the planet’s surface. She smiled at the sight before focusing on the new residents of the world.

Techno-organic Kanjians, Dinobot and Predacon-like makes as well as many other animal types, walked on the streets of the city. It stunned her a little to see a few bots that looked similar to Tigressa, a Kanjian Razorback, just in various different colors. The blue with green-stripes and a light purple with burgundy red stripes were not what she imagined any of Tigressa’s species to be like. The Dinobots were equally various colored with many tones, and she noticed they didn’t seem to transform into robot modes or at least they favored their beast forms a lot more. Those with wings, horns, tails and other appendages all were variants of animals even in their robot modes, and the Cybertronians stood out like sore thumbs among them.

Several bots had not just animalistic qualities, but some were draped in vegetation while others seemed to have lava or heat in the place of what would have normally been bio lights. In the sky, some bots were in the clouds when a lightning bolt struck down on one. Instead of being electrocuted, the bot harnessed the power of the electricity, glowing bright yellow and sparking the same as how the Megastrikes on Cybertron acted when receiving a storm-fueled power boost. It was then Arcee put together some of the populace had powers akin to nature as well as having animal modes.

On the water, bots manipulated the liquid to jump like deer across it. Those that had powers relating to the ground levitated and changed the planet’s surface to their liking for even mundane things like a new chair. Nature bots moved vines and trees to rest among their leaves without hurting said vegetation. Even snow-based techno-organics were using their powers to merely bring joy to the younglings that loved their element and wanted to play before the decent temperature of the day melted the snow.

Arcee had heard of the technique used by cyber-ninjas “Processor Over Matter” but she thought it was fake. It was said to take concentration and meditation to do something as simple as moving objects with the mind. She always believed Yoketron, the acclaimed master of POM, was a psychic nutjob. This was real, and the bots across the city did it so naturally like it was like learning to walk. She refused to believe she now owed Yoketron an apology...if he was still alive.

Then they noticed Kanjis had a lot of interstellar visitors, and one species was not ignorable. Rozarians, Kanjis’ neighbors, were all talking and laughing alongside their robotic acquaintances like true friends between species. Many Rozarians were a tint of blue, dark and light variants always with a lighter shade for the underbelly, with handcrafted armor attached by straps over their shoulders, chest and legs most commonly. The rhino-like reptile aliens had a few differences between the males and females Arcee noticed. The females had ribbed underbellies with thicker barbs on the spine and tail than the males who were smoother and less pronounced. The males did have larger nose horns and paw pads however. The females were taller by a few feet in most cases, but both were massive and held a fair share of girth and muscle for an organic species.

Plenty of other species lingered around the shops, vendors, and other businesses, most of whom were also organic or similar to the structure. A mint green thirty-foot cephalopod creature with twelve tentacles and six eyes lined down its head squeaked and used the suckers on its limbs to communicate in a type of coded pattern a ram Kanjian had no problems deciphering. To Arcee’s surprise, there was a humanoid species wandering though they were within nine to ten feet tall and had pointed ears almost akin to a cat’s structure. Their eyes were wide with skinny pupils but otherwise held quite similar qualities to a human. It scared her that a single galaxy away could have such a similar species and no one on Earth even knew they had nearly identical counterparts.

The streets were lively dancing with the shadows of moving clouds and ships zooming past while on the ground, the Kanjians seemed like a pleasant race. Monogoliaths and less intelligent wildlife hung around a few shops with their owners and didn’t seem to mind younglings crawling and perching on them. Some younglings could be seen soaring above the city following their flying creators while others trailed behind on all fours on the ground, unable to move fluidly bipedal yet. Dinobot young also preferred sticking to their beast modes as she watched three Triceratops-like younglings bounce behind their carrier laughing.

“It’s like Cybertron and Earth had merged and I’m not sure how I feel about it,” Megatron said. “It’s a bit too bright.”

“Monster of the dark, are you?” Arcee snickered.

“You haven’t complained,” he mused.

They tensed as they passed identical colored guards with their weapons either stationed on their backs or their hips in specialized holsters. They were completely different in armor structure, one being a dragon and the other a hawk, but all their armor had been coated silver with gold etchings and their optics were both hollow black with only gold orbs among the darkness, a stylistic choice it seemed. In the center of their chests, the crest of the king was prominent. The insignia was a silhouette identical to the Cybertronian Predator's head structure with two sets of horns curving at the base as four separate pieces hovering with two craved holes for the eyes. A crown emblem sat between the horns to signify royalty. They were Kronos’ Royal Guards.

The guards paused upon seeing them and stepped in front of them. One tried to speak but Arcee couldn’t understand Kanjian. They quickly adapted, changing frequencies until they landed on Camien which was arguably the same as Cybertronian. The dragon femme immediately demanded, “Halt, where do you hail from?”

Bolt pointed at himself and the others. “We, uh, hail from Cybertron and we-”

Both guards suddenly pointed blasters at them with the hawk mech yelling, “You are under arrest for conspiracy and attempt of hostility towards the crown!”

Several other guards who saw the drawing of their peers’ weapons immediately followed suit until all four Cybertronians were surrounded. Moonhunter growled while the rest raised their servos cautiously eyeing the guns.

“Wow…I think that’s a record for how fast I got banned from a planet,” Megatron remarked. “I didn’t even do anything to do it too.”

“I blame you, Arcee,” Bolt sighed.

“WHAT?!?!”

They were humiliated as they were marched through the city towards the palace. They got distrusting looks from both the citizens and the other aliens. Whispers were heard as bots of all breeds landed and crowded the streets. Several guards with their weapons drawn, all serious and ready to shoot them if they so much as flinched, escorting them to the gates tense and vicious.

The palace was silver, a different shade than the guards, and had black undertones to it. It was the largest building in the city, far larger than any structure Arcee herself had seen on Cybertron except the pillar of Torus Heights. As they were sent through, the courtyard was open to the public as a small park, but the inner gates were closed. The water fountain of rose gold in the middle was not of the king but a femme who held a giant crystal ball of blue with a slightly smaller yellow orb and small orbs floating around it magically like a solar system. She realized the statue was holding the largest sun with its other binary sun and its planets. She spotted the small orb that represented Kanjis with two marbles for moons. One planet out was Rozaria itself. She didn’t know who the femme was, but she had bird-like dragon wings, some type of free-flowing armor over her waist armor like a religious loincloth dress and oddly resembled Tigressa in facial structure.

Then they passed a set of exterior murals. King Kronos, in a simplistic art style, had his visage crafted onto a colorful stone base with a type of rock engraved on the wall exterior. He was black with white optics, stripes and claws; his crown a decadent silver and gold with gems below each tip. In a circle around him, twelve silhouettes of beings were positions with what appeared to be representation of elements. Arcee’s optics went wide and nudged Megatron when she spotted among them Tigressa herself shrouded in darkness on the top left section of the circle. Below her was a mech that looked identical to Kronos but had red coloring instead of white. Five others like him were each a different color like his black and white color scheme had been scattered into six forms. Between each “clone”, five other forms, all individual in comparison, were positioned. If Tigressa was related to Kronos, that meant all the figures in the tile work were her siblings.

“Keep walking,” huffed one of the guards.

The entrance was huge and the halls within were astronomically massive in comparison to even the guards beside them. Arcee could only marvel at the structure that was nearly big enough to support a titan. Statues of King Kronos’ children including Tigressa were found decorating the halls next to stained glass that depicted their powers. Tigressa’s statue made her posture aggressive and dangerous. As a being of darkness, the shadows were shown to morph around her with her oddly pure red optics in the mural having dark purple flames on the edges. She didn’t know whether the design was intentionally biased or was attempted to please her. The other statues confirmed the bots similar to Kronos were indeed his children, not clones, as the stained glass showed their range of abilities.

“Not the way I wanted to visit the castle, but I will take it in stride regardless of what happens,” the Vehicon said humorously despite the others not sharing his feelings.

“The King will determine your fates for he does not take kindly to usurpers. You will pay for what you heathens did.”

“Ah, yeah, quick question about that,” Megatron asked, “…what exactly did we do?”

A leopard femme guard responded harshly, “Your kind dared to trespass and declare war with us. Of course, you didn’t get too far. It was quite funny to watch your fellow Cybertronians get their corpses dragged underground and scattered by the wildlife. We hardly had to lift a finger in the assault. But the charges still stand, and someone will pay for the treachery.”

Another guard, a deer, said, “We are approaching His Majesty's throne. Do not speak unless spoken to.”

The grand doorway to the throne room was decorated with gold and had the insignia of the king, the same as the crests adorned on the guards. When the doors opened, the insignia was split in half. The throne room itself held pristine stained-glass windows and vibrant glittering drapes lining the ceiling to emulate stars. In the center of the ceiling, an orb of energy that could have been mistaken for the Allspark has rings rotating it the same as the ones found on and among the skyscrapers. It lit up the ceiling with unknown symbols as its energy coursed throughout the room. Pillars that had spaces between them crackled with electricity with their shaped objects of mystical purposes hovered within the vacancies. The banners around the room had the insignia as well as a giant podium attached to a rather building-high table. The stairs led to the odd table near a hundred meters high, and it had a more distinguishable chair three-fourths its size beside it…

It took Arcee a second after glancing at the table-like object questionably to note there was something off about it. That wasn’t a table and wall piece combined…it was a throne. She gulped nervously that the king was more than a hundred times her height. King Kronos was nearly as big as a titan. The second throne must have been his mate whoever it was, the carrier of Tigressa and her kin. The giant doors on each side of the room had yet to open, but Arcee assumed he would be audible regardless of where he was in the palace since he was so big.

The guard with dragon kibble who first arrested them walked in front of them and held out her servo. “The king will be with you shortly. May he grant you mercy if you’re lucky.”

As most of the guards left, a few stood at attention near the doors to ensure the room was inescapable, their tails and ears twitching with annoyance more than anger. As they stood there, Arcee took a second to glance out the nearest reinforced window and found the gardens in view one story below their level. Bots of the castle had the privilege to wander the sacred gardens that consisted of blue plant life that looked gorgeous alongside the metal of the Kanjian infrastructure.

“The guy knows his décor, that’s for sure,” Bolt snickered as he twirled staring up at the ceiling.

Suddenly, a growl was heard outside and Arcee traced it to two pillars with holes in the garden. Trailing her sights up, she was shocked to see two Metalwoods planted in isolation on top of the pillars. Their roots intertwined within the holes and went down several feet but didn’t touch the foliage on the ground. The flowers the Metalwoods grew at the base of their trunks to lure prey to kill in spite sat undisturbed next to them on the levitated patch of soil on the pillar top. The sentient trees shook and used the shovel-like limbs to brush off loose twigs. While she watched them, she heard a soft whoosh of air within the room but thought it was from the windows near her. She failed to hear Bolt gasp as she studied the layout of the garden and landscape.

“Those Metalwoods love the isolation more than they do killing. The less disturbed they are, the less on edge they become to where you can see them in a new light out of danger. All creatures have a side of them we never see except for those willing to look at a different point of view. Interestingly, the same goes for people.”

The deep voice was unfamiliar and Arcee paused upon hearing it. She turned partially to see Megatron, Bolt and Moonhunter facing towards the throne silently and perplexed. The queen slowly trailed their gaze high up to the figure who now sat on the giant chair in the room with one leg crossed over the other casually.

Grey reptilian eyes with slit pupils softly raised a brow while white-striped crocodilian jaws and anteater-like upper snout with the gem-tipped edge formed a gracious smile. His nostrils lay on a dark grey plate between the optics and the slant that formed his dragon-esque elongated nose. Unlike the Cybertronian Predator, King Kronos expressed no ill intentions towards any of them. With his bat-like wings tucked onto his back and tail coiling gently with another white gem on the end, he stayed relaxed. He had to be almost three hundred meters if not bigger and now Arcee knew how humans felt looking up at someone like Megatron for the first time. Like his insignia, the crown upon his head was designed specifically for him to sit between two sets of horns with a longer set farther back behind his small deer-like ears.

He was big and could certainly tear apart the Cybertronian Predator with ease, possibly even the likes of a Queen Leviathan and a Supreme. How he managed to get into the room...that puzzled Arcee the most. She stared long and hard at the demonic-looking but kind king as he held amusement in her bafflement.

“So, you’re the Queen of Cybertron, Arcee?” The giant mech purred, steam rising from the slit nostrils.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Nice to meet you, my dear. I am King Prometheus Kronos, just King Kronos preferably. My name is often a bit of a mouthful to say. My sire before me, Arcadius Kronos, was fond of the tradition of elegant naming. I ended it with my children mainly because of the hassle.”

Megatron and Bolt remained stunned but said nothing as he grew pleased.

“So, the war is over? I’m surprised that it ended but I’m glad Cybertron finally regained its individuality after years of scrutiny under the reign of tyrants and false gods.”

Bolt raised a shaky digit. “Well, now, your Highness, that’s a-a little harsh.”

King Kronos frowned but it wasn’t an angered or frustrated expression. It was mere disappointment in himself. “Ah, my apologies. One mustn’t assume, of course, but I’ve also seen firsthand Cybertron’s more gruesome past with the Thirteen Primes. We tried to befriend them, but they were afraid of us, of me mostly. It was a shame what had happened.”

Arcee was taken aback as she quickly deduced he was sincere. “Why?”

King Kronos leaned down to rest his arms on his knees and he simply replied, “Well, look at me. What was your thought when you first saw me? Were you afraid of me? Did you think how easy it could be for me to pick you up and crush you into a pile of scrap? And for that matter, have you seen my citizens? All techno-organic mechs and femmes that can hunt and attack like wild animals and yet they do not? The thing people fear most is the unknown. You couldn’t have known I was truly a kind soul until you talked to me, so were you afraid before? You can be honest.”

The blue femme made a hand wave. “Well, yes, you are a bit intimidating in size.”

The dragon mech stunned her by giving a light-hearted rumble of a laugh. “You see? Now, imagine those that could spread propaganda. How easy would it be to see bots like me as monsters just by size or might alone? Unfortunately, the Thirteen Primes were suspicious even towards their own-”

Arcee grimaced as she recalled the Allspark’s former predicament and Solus’ death.

“-I tried to let them see I meant no harm. But I failed to do so, and they sent those ships here. Sadly, the poor souls on the vessels didn’t even make it towards Gemelo. Nature got them and there’s a chance they are still here through probably buried by the vegetation underground, nasty business that but something tells me you aren’t here for them,” the king said, tilting his head with a neutral expression.

“Wait, aren’t you going to berate us, punish us for what we ‘supposedly’ did to your rule? The guards sounded quite assured we would be flailed and beaten, in a manner of speaking,” Megatron sneered.

“My guards?” He eyed his faithful soldiers who sheepishly rubbed their necks and whistled like little kids. The king then burst out laughing even more. “You aren’t responsible for that! I would never hurt you. My guards like to joke and scare tourists all the time. Granted, they shouldn’t be, but they do. A million things to do and keeping track of when my guards make some bad jokes is unfortunately not high in my priorities of keeping my galaxy running. Now that we have that cleared up, I assume you are here to break some news? I sense a concern you are hiding. Please share it with me. I promise to do all that I can to help.”

“Um, well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Arcee stated. When Kronos gestured for her to continue, she did so. “We’ve gotten word that several cybernetic worlds were in danger, and we’ve been helping them per the Allspark’s warning. We’ve saved four of them so far from...”

“The Metal Heads?” King Kronos finished without missing a beat. He leaned back in his chair with his clawed servos pressed together in a pyramid shape and a raised brow.

Bolt gestured between him and the floor confused as hell. “How do you know that?!”

The king shrugged, “Oh, I don’t know, it might have to do with the fact that they are already here.”

“What?! H-How could they be here so fast?!” Arcee exclaimed.

“Simple, they know they can’t get the jump on me. I don’t know how much of the history of the Horaquan you know but like their master, they know better than most of my own personal enemies that using a surprise ambush on me is quite hard. I've faced them before and won. They’ve already done mundane damage and have retreated for the time being. Kanjis is not safe to those with harmful intent. No harm, no worries but the Metal Heads cannot control their thoughts. I do fear they will act soon. I intend to face them again, but perhaps you could help me, if you so desire. A little community service for the sins of your ancestors.”

Arcee recognized the deal was similar to how Silos set her up to be his errand girl. However, King Kronos seemed far gentler in his approach, and it was clearly optional. “Alright, what do you have in mind, your Highness?”

“Please, my dear, formalities are not a necessity for guests. I want you to help my citizens and see about exterminating any of those pests you come across. Your best bet in learning about them is to ask-”

A burst of light filled the room suddenly and at first, Arcee thought it was the Allspark but instead, a white femme with dark blue stripes and horns appeared. They could both teleport it seemed. Metallic feathers and a dragon-like tail, they all thought they were seeing Tigressa in a new form, but it only dawned on Arcee first that this wasn’t her but rather her mother, the same femme on the statue you outside. She looked regal with her loincloth-like armor draped down to her ankles decorated with Kanjian symbols and star patterns. The side pieces attached to her hips held the same designs. Her crown was silver and merged with her helm full of dark blue panels that made her look like she had hair going down to her broad shoulders. The resemblance of Tigressa was uncanny.

“Kiara, my beloved, these are our guests from Cybertron. They are here because of the Metal Heads.”

Like her mate, Queen Kiara seemed to frown, shaking her head solemnly. “A pity you had to visit us only to encounter this problem. I wish it didn’t have to come to violence but there are no other options now. If you could help, that would be awfully good of you.”

Even when King Kronos stood for his queen, she only reached his lower chest. Even the other tiger-dragon Razorbacks Arcee saw weren’t remotely close to Queen Kiara’s size. That concerned Arcee more than she let on. She nearly tipped over just looking at the two as they both stood their full heights. King Kronos caught the stares and grinned.

“Just to ease your woes, I’ve been around for quite some time. My species, the Ridgeback, technically never stops growing. We grow fast until we’re adults and then we slow down considerably but we don’t cease. The older we get, the larger we get. And, if it makes you feel better, I’m not even the largest Ridgeback ever. That would be my sire and many from his generation remaining. He’s the reason the palace originally was expanded to this grand size.”

All three Cybertronians’ optics went wide as they imagined what Kronos Sr. could have looked like against his own son.

“Someday, my sons and daughters will grow to this height, assuming nothing conflicts that and maybe I’ll still be around and reach my sire’s height by then.”

“Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, how many children do you have again?” Bolt asked.

“Twelve, six sets of twins, not counting the four Cybertronians like yourselves I adopted some time ago.”

The warlord and the Vehicon exchanged concerned glances while Arcee pursed her lips in thought. Nighthawk and Draco mentioned Kanjis and that they knew the king...oh no. Slipstream would go batshit crazy if she knew.

“Twining, huh? One set is rare, but how did you end up with six?! That sounds impossible,” Megatron winced.

King Kronos awkwardly smiled to his darling queen before answering, “Well, one of the oddities of my species is that we always have an even number of offspring. You see, no matter who we bond with, whoever is a Ridgeback will always have half the brood look like them. That means if you have one child, two will develop with one appearing like the Ridgeback parent. If both creators are Ridgebacks, the only hitch is it will remain an even number. Kiara and I kept having technically a single child, so nature did its thing in that regard and the result was twins six times over.”

Bolt scoffed, “Boy, you sounded like you had your work cut out for you.”

“It was a hassle, to put it lightly. Their sibling rivalry still goes strong to this day despite they are all grown up sans Phantasmos and Eclipse. I was eventually told I can’t have any more children by my physician. He almost hit me to get the point across because of their chaos,” he laughed slightly strained. Bolt moved his head to glance farther down his frame and the giant mech caught him before instantly sneering, showing a hint of fangs with a deadpan tone, “Not like that.”

The name struck Arcee as the same name mentioned by Draco on Chaar. “So, these children of yours, will we meet them?”

“They are here now, home at last. I suppose there’s no harm in it,” he said, peering at his wife. “I’ll talk to them and see if I can get them to help you. Until then, we will be the few who will deal with the Metal Heads. The calmer the citizens, the easier it will be to assess the situation and act accordingly. Also, even if I do get my children to help, they might be slightly antagonistic. Their relationship with the Metal Heads’ creator was...rocky to say the least. A lot of scars that some might not be willing to revisit any time soon.”

Arcee knew there was pain in the way he said that and felt bad for wanting to know. King Kronos saw her dilemma and sighed.

“You want to know about her, don’t you?”

Bolt sat on the floor eager to listen while Megatron leaned against a pillar intrigued. Arcee was the most unsure, not because she doubted King Kronos but was instead afraid of what she might find out. She spoke softly, “We have known who was responsible. The question now is why did it happen? What happened to Tigressa?”

The king bit his lip as his mate held his servo. “Tigressa was my eldest child, her twin was Demon. I loved her from the moment I set optics on her, but my Rozarian shaman and doctors sensed something wrong and no one could tell me what. I treated her as I would any child but as the years went by, juggling between being a first-time father and the ruler didn’t seem to be enough for her. I did everything I could to be there and yet, she started to drift away.

“I began to believe after a while she was envious of my powers, wanting more that I couldn’t give her even if I wanted to. Having to split my love between her and Demon, having to focus on more than the well-being of just my family, she didn’t share my ambitions and turned my love down once she was an adult. I tried to rekindle our relationship but no matter what I did, she wouldn’t listen. When I had the others over time, her hatred grew. She began tormenting her siblings, something I couldn’t stand by and let her do. I feared she would kill them.”

“One hell of a sibling rivalry,” Bolt muttered. “So, basically, she was a spoiled brat is what I'm getting from that?”

There was something King Kronos wasn’t telling them as Arcee immediately noticed a small shrug suggested it wasn’t the case. He merely agreed to end the conversation faster. The looks of worry he exchanged with his mate told Arcee there was another side of the story and Kronos was very much aware of it. Perhaps it was easier to portray her as a spoiled brat than relive the damage done to not just her siblings...

“Perhaps, Arcee, we could move on from this delicate subject,” the larger queen said. “I need a favor if you’re willing. Our Metal visitors bring nothing but pain and destruction. Unfortunately, the nearby Golden Forest has been confirmed to harbor three unyielding omnipedes that have been disturbed from their slumber amid the infestation. I have an associate of mine out there to deal with them but he might not be able to on his own. Please, neutralize them as best you can.”

Arcee nodded as Megatron agreed as well. Bolt, on the other hand, decided to stay with Moonhunter who was asleep near a guard’s foot. “You two can have fun with that. I’ll see about figuring out a game plan for the Metal Heads here with the help of the king and queen. If he knows about them, makes our job easier than dealing with the virus on the other worlds.”

“We won’t let you down, your Majesty,” Megatron said.

“Oh and I’ll send you an uplink of our language, that way you can understand the locals a lot easier and communicate faster. They know Camien and Cybertronian to a degree but aren’t as fluent in it as I.”

Arcee gave a salute and gestured for Megatron to follow her out.

King Kronos smiled as they took off but it slowly deflated to worry. “I do hope Tigressa is not planning another attack. It would hurt me dearly to have to fight my daughter again.”

The Vehicon said nothing except awkwardly twiddled his thumbs. He was not about to break the game changer of reporting Tigressa’s ultimate demise, so he had to think of a way of going around it for the time being.

‐---------------------------

Being let out of the castle and free to roam, Arcee and Megatron looked over the city of Gemelo, the fountain with Queen Kiara’s likeness, and the far background of the horizon. Faint structures hid among the blue trees and in some directions, the lakes that surrounded the city spanned to shadows of mountains. At the same time, both received an upload for the Kanjian language which they hastily downloaded into their voice box module.

“Okay, where’s the Golden Forest?”

“Probably the one direction we can’t see,” the warlord replied, pointing back at the castle. He was right; the castle blocked virtually all the northern view of the area.

They traversed on foot around the exterior of the castle, passing some of the guards again who peered at them a bit annoyed but otherwise did nothing. She assumed King Kronos immediately told them to stand down once they left his throne room. They weren’t pleased by the order but obeyed regardless. Arcee turned a corner and was nearly crushed by a sauropod Dinobot, only pulled back in time by Megatron.

“Careful, love, it’s a bit hard to stop a step once I move,” the regal Brontosaurus Dinobot apologized.

Arcee used the sudden interaction to quickly ask, “Do you have directions to the Golden Forest?”

The Dinobot femme nodded and moved her limber neck in the direction, “Of course, in fact, I can see it right now. Just follow the bend of the palace walls and once you hit the Eldergrove Plaza, keep straight on the marked road. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you!”

Megatron smirked, “And the guards thought everyone hated us.”

A group of humanoid women with the cat-like ears laughed among themselves before spotting Arcee and Megatron. One of them whistled and drew both their attentions. On an elevated table designed for smaller beings like them, the girls waved them to come closer. Arcee knew she needed to get going but her curiosity got the better of her.

“Now, I’ve been visiting here for years since I was a kid and I’ve never seen your type of chassis. Are you, like, from another world? If so, I got to know!”

“We’re Cybertronian.”

The girls were amazed more than fearful as one of them said, “No way?! That’s awesome! I never thought I would ever meet a living Cybertronian! I thought you guys were extinct?”

Megatron was a bit amused himself at the prospect. “Ah yes, the closest we ever have but our extinction was not a guarantee.”

Arcee wanted to retort about it being his fault but she refrained as the humanoids made noises of awe with their ears moving with every expression they could muster.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! We’re Zevyerians, by the way, hailing from beautiful Zevyera in the Arcapluma system just a few solar stars down. If you ever want to visit the best beaches in the galaxy, hit us up!”

Arcee gave a thumbs up as the Zevyerians waved them goodbye. “Nice talking to you!”

They reached the Eldergrove Plaza where several Rozarians were hanging around with drinks in hand. The Golden Forest gleamed just beyond and Arcee could see why it was named as such. The light of the suns reflected yellow Energon seem near its grove and made the underbrush glow gold.

“Arcee, this is King Kronos. I have alerted our associate in the forest of your arrival, a mech named Dragonhide. He’ll show you the basics of our world while you track down the omnipedes. Bolt will be helping me configure a new mapping of the affected areas the Metal Heads have already done damage to. Good luck.”

Arcee turned to Megatron with a grimace, “The Metal Heads get bolder every day apparently.”

They ran out the city towards the Golden Forest with various noises of wild creatures and the groaning of energy from the crystals that grew within. Thankfully, they had no need to worry about the woods being dark with its bio illuminated flora on top of the golden light. A bug-like clattering, however, made them pause not even partially into the edge of the forest. A shout also echoed not too far from their location. They moved deeper in trying to trail the sounds. The shout of a mech, very distinguishable, was more angered than scared. A lighter area with less trees upright but plenty of fallen ones told them there had been a scuffle.

Suddenly, a giant dark green centipede made of flexible metal busted through the trees with its mandibles expanded out of its jaws in a hideous roar that would make an Insecticon weary. It clattered past them, destroying anything in its path. A shout followed. A fiery orange mech with a dark purple and black gradient on his limbs and chest jumped over the damaged brush before getting on his servos to produce pink flames from his mouth, vivid pink optics burning as bright as the fire he spewed.

When the giant bug burrowed, he growled, “Yeah, you better run, you fat slug!”

Arcee and Megatron watched the dragon mech make a crude gesture before interrupting his rant. “Um, are you Dragonhide?”

His pink bio lights flared but it was out of frustration of the situation, not directed towards them. “Argh, those little monsters woke up the hive of omnipedes and I can’t get those bastards to go back to sleep! It’s their resting period, takes about sixty days of the year to complete. Now that they are disturbed, they will be behind and by the great gods, that’ll mess up their feeding habits leading more problems! And you? Let me guess, King Kronos sent you.”

“Inexplicably,” she replied.

“Look, I don’t have time to babysit. Unless you can fly to pinpoint their location for me or keep up with them, you aren’t much use out here and those omnipedes? They are vicious when cornered. Ancient beasts that have survived everything including bombs. I don’t need rookies against indestructible bot killers.”

“Luckily, I can do both,” Arcee said cockily.

Dragonhide looked at her winglets before extending skeletal-like wings with three-clawed servos on the arms from his back on cue. Energy expanded and covered them in a synthetic transparent pink membrane as he leaned on one leg more than the other. His tail curled as he was amused.

“Then can you keep up, little flyer?”

She activated her own energy wings, flexing them in response with a smirk. “I just might.”

“And you?”

Megatron didn’t have to show off a damn thing. He was already smiling. “Been there, done that.”

“Good,” the dragon mech said with newfound confidence, “maybe we stand a chance after all. I have some tranquilizers I can use on them but I need to head them off and apply it directly into their mouths. Their armor is far too thick to penetrate with any caliber weapon, lethal and non. You scout, drop and keep them occupied, I pounce and put them down. Like clockwork.”

Megatron and Arcee gestured to each other eager to get the party started. Dragonhide took it as a sign to head out after the nearest omnipede, transforming into a wyvern and running on both his hind legs and winged limbs. The bug creatures were definitely not silent in their rampage as Megatron threw Arcee up into the sky. She glided over the Golden Forest amazed at the view alone, and Megatron transformed into his jet mode to join her. With miles of landscape and distant towns that did nothing to hinder the new world’s extravagance, Arcee enjoyed the rush of flight among the bluish-green sky.

Rustling down below had her immediately spot one of the omnipedes. It was a blackish grey variant that was heavily shadowed by the trees but still noticeable. It roared as trees were cut down in its wake. Dragonhide was seen trying to catch up with it. He blew fire and altered the omnipede’s course into a thinner area of the forest. The trees were moist enough naturally to deter wildfires from occuring it seemed.

Arcee grinned and dived down as she was instructed. Right at the head, she caught the mandible sticking out of its mouth so fast, it couldn’t bring it back into its mouth as it reared stunned. She swung up and covered the four eyes of the creature as best she could. The omnipede bucked and moved backwards trying to rub its head against the ground furiously to get her off.

Dragonhide caught up with them and transformed back to robot mode, bringing out a blaster and loading it with a tranquilizer the size of a large missile. He aimed and Arcee reached past the omnipede’s optics to grab the mandibles to give him a shot. Once the mouth was open enough, he fired. The tranquilizer hit the back of the throat into delicate mesh and slowly, the omnipede quit fighting. It rumbled drowsily before collapsing and growing still with soft breaths. Arcee jumped off as it coiled automatically into a ball.

“One down, two more to go. Don’t worry, I’ll mark its location,” the orange mech said. “Need a boost?”

Arcee nodded and he let her climb onto his back before taking flight in his beast mode. The wyvern growled like a chuckle and let her leap off to glide again before diving to run across the forest floor. The second omnipede was the same green one they had encountered that got away. Dragonhide sprinted for it.

Megatron trailed above and transformed when he felt he had a perfect opportunity. He landed on the back of the omnipede and used his strength to force it upright to slow it down. However, he didn’t take into consideration how high it would go and found himself pinned beneath it with a disheartened grunt. He still clung to the creature as it was belly up but had to wait for it to roll back over to shrug off the crushed feeling. Dragonhide sounded like he was having a blast laughing at his misery.

The omnipede bucked and screeched, clicking its mandibles like it was trying to speak. Megatron went to its side before slipping under its belly still with a tight grip and pushed it over his head to its confusion. It opened its mouth to make dissatisfied noises and Dragonhide took his shot. Megatron nearly threw the omnipede down as the tranquilizer kicked in making it limp in his grasp.

“Damn,” he snarled.

The wyvern made a considerate roar once he shifted from robot to beast again and bolted for the final target. The last omnipede sounded loud but Arcee had trouble pinpointing it. She tried to follow rustling trees but it remained elusive. Finally, she dived and landed on the forest floor curious if she was either missing something or she was just going blind. The clatter of a million insectoid feet was prominent.

Arcee suddenly turned to see a blue omnipede tear down trees and hiss at her. Given the vegetation was also blue, she immediately knew it blended too well with its environment. That’s how she missed it. It charged at her, snapping its mandibles in preparation of eating or dismembering her. She dodged as it slammed its head forward. It proved fast, striking with blood red optics like it saw blood.

When she avoided one bite, she was abruptly knocked off her feet and the omnipede took the chance to step over her. Jaws dripped saliva as it chattered hungrily. It rose with its body rattling. Arcee expected the worst. Just then, Dragonhide stood above her right as the omnipede came down and had his blaster at the ready. He fired as it clamped down on his arm and yelled out in pain. But he fired two more tranquilizers just in case, refusing to stop until it stayed down. The omnipede shook disoriented as it still kept a good grip on his arm with its teeth until it sluggishly hit the ground, not before Arcee managed to crawl to safety.

Dragonhide forced open the mouth and got his arm out, sneering at the Energon leaking from the blaster and his limb. “Well, not the worst injury I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you,” Arcee praised calmly.

The mech smirked despite the pain. “Ah, it’s nothing. I wouldn’t have let anyone get hurt besides me regardless. I take care of the omnipedes in their hibernation. It happens yearly, you know?”

Megatron landed beside Arcee to check and see if she was okay which she gestured immediately that she was.

“I’ll tell King Kronos you did good, rookies. Maybe I’ll hire you one day to be professional omnipede round ups. Don’t worry about me. I’ll get myself patched up soon, not before I oversee the transportation of these troublemakers,” Dragonhide said.

“Anytime,” the warlord replied.

They left Dragonhide to deal with the sleeping omnipedes and traveled back towards the city once he pointed them in the right direction. The edge of the forest gave way to light and both were pleased to see the suns in their full glory as Megatron stretched, popping sore joints back into place.

“Last time I wrestle with omnipedes-ow…”

“Getting old?” Arcee snickered.

Megatron had his shoulder pop extremely loud and grimaced, “Feeling old, not so much cosmetically.”

She grinned until Silos’ voice came through, but it sounded strained. “Arcee, meet me in the Hallows, a set of ruins near the city, western end. It’s…urgent.”

Silos never portrayed a sense of urgency before and his voice reflected a type of uncertainty but given his past with Kanjis, she could imagine he was uncomfortable being back in a familiar place where he made one of the worst betrayals in the planet’s history.

She quickly said to Megatron, “I need to talk to our esteemed associate. He has some information.”

“Do your thing,” he yawned. “I’m going to head back to Bolt and see if he’s learned anything other than cyberbiology facts. Let’s hope he hasn’t driven the king insane and banned us in actuality.”

Arcee knew the safest way to her destination was through the city, so she transformed and sped off. She got stares at her vehicle form and ignored them as she used the plaza to redirect herself westward. The west side of the border had less trees and held a few ponds which she carefully maneuvered around. She listened out for anything peculiar as she tried to find the ruins. Instantly, she came across remnants of an overgrown path and transformed back to robot mode. The path had rocks that suspiciously looked like the outlines of body parts. She kept her blaster armed as she trailed off into the overgrowth.

An archway of old metal with dark blue vines all over it loomed at the top of the hill. Its damage was dated, some appeared barely recognizable as scratches and gunfire holes. She walked under it as she heard the animal ambience in the background. Shifting trees made her paranoid and her worries were only broadened when she saw a few of them moving a distance away, crawling on their roots before settling in a sunny spot. Now she knew what Kronos and the guards meant when they said the Cybertronians who attacked were brutally killed by nature. She stayed cautionary going farther in. Trees outgrew the ruins with a collapsed wall infused with the roots of one and she saw the brush overlapping decorated metal murals with unknown entities painted on them. It took a second before she felt metal beneath her pedes.

The floor was damaged and held another mural but unlike the faded ones on the wall, the floor still had some color, but the outline was atrocious. Beyond that, broken pillars with vines and a wall with a chipped space for a door resided. She walked through the large hole in the wall and noticed Silos standing among the ruins unusually vacant.

He lifted a paw up, running his claws delicately against the faint outline of an animal, a horse or a big cat she assumed though it was very hard to tell. He then peered up where the rays of the suns burst through the canopies to lighten the ruins. He wasn’t brash, angered, or even sad. It almost seemed like he was entranced. Arcee approached the Metal Head, noting his ears twitching so he knew she was near.

“This place...I haven’t seen it in forever,” he mumbled just loud enough for her to hear but his voice carried no farther.

“What was it?”

For the first time, Silos looked guilty, plagued by memories he was unsure how to feel about. He looked at her with remorse. “This was Tigressa’s temple. Every child of Kronos had a temple built in their honor, each with reflections of their powers and likeness. The Temple of Midnight Hallows was dark but beautiful with Energon confined like candlelight. Its murals used to glow as bright as the moons. When I befriended her, I visited this place a lot. The sun never touched a single shred of its beauty except the exterior. When she was banished, the temple was forgotten. I see time was not kind to it. The light has tainted it.

“We used to meet up here and talk. I was so infatuated with her despite the fact that she was out of my league. I felt comforted by her ingenuity. She had a way about her, conveying her ideas like a poet and manipulating the shadows around her to dance without a care in the world. I saw her like no one dared to, no one could. No one knew Tigressa like I did. In my eyes, she was a goddess. The darkness was intoxicating, and we loved it together.”

Arcee looked at the mural he was eyeing the most. It was then she could vaguely make out the outline of a tiger-like dragon with wings. Tigressa’s alt mode. It was rustic, and she knew it wasn’t meant to be like that. In some way, Arcee despised how the temple had been treated.

“Even though she hurt people, I swore to follow her to the ends of the universe. Heh, funny how that ended up.” Silos peered down at his clawed hands. Then he started speaking as if Tigressa was still around. “We are just monsters, you and I, and I wouldn’t live without you either way.”

To hear him still hung up on the same person who technically made his hell, Arcee grew slightly disappointed but understood why he still cared even if his love was never returned in the same way. Seeing the mural so desecrated was a crime alone. Arcee knew what he meant. With the light radiant from the current time of day, the murals had all lost their definitive distinctions, sun-bleached and were nothing but blemishes on the metal, and her mural was defaced the worst like a forgotten sin.

“I met with King Kronos just recently.”

Silos tensed at the name, breaking him out of his self-mourning, but he played it off. “Yeah, quite the benevolent figure everyone loves, right? Of course, not many know his more questionable secrets. They aren’t bad but wouldn’t be good for his nice reputation like how he abandoned his daughter after he kept giving her siblings.”

Arcee frowned, “You can’t blame someone for having more kids. He had the finances, he loved them all-”

“Did he? And yet if you ask anyone, they will tell you Tigressa was a monster. Now where do you suppose they got that idea, hmm?” Silos mocked with a noticeably unpleasant growl. “Hell, her youngest sibling, Phantasmos, was the reason she was defeated in the first place in the war she fought against her father. Now that I think about it, his little stunt cost her one of her Rift Rings.”

The name of the object was unfamiliar and she narrowed her optics. “Rift Ring?”

Silos grew a terrible smirk, “Only the most powerful bridge in the universe. The Rift Ring was able to do more than just cross distances to planets and galaxies, Arcee. It had the power to cross dimensions and universes. Unfortunately, Phantasmos grew wise in her plan to take Kanjis using it and overloaded the damn thing sending Kor and more than half the Metal Head legion flying through time and space into a universe they were trapped in for some while. Kor tried to get out but was killed by a persistent freak of nature from that universe. Then you encountered him on the isle, destroying him once and for all, and killed Tigressa who had been banished by Kronos after her defeat here. I went into hiding and manned the Metal Heads until it proved inconvenient to me.”

That made Arcee retract confused. “Inconvenient...I thought you said you left when you thought Tigressa went too far?”

Silos shot his ears back and snarled, “Inconvenience, betrayal, heartache. The term is not relevant. What is relevant is that Tigressa’s legacy is in shambles. Some of it my own doing what I believed was necessary, the rest of it petty by those who would rather remember her as anything but a person.”

Arcee narrowed his optics but didn’t press it as she instead asked, “And the Rift Rings?”

He seemed to have collected himself rather quickly upon hearing the question and grinned again. “Well, one was sent with Kor as it overloaded, the second one was lost, and the third was created after we lost the second Ring. It was torn into pieces and scattered in the Callistro Valley not too far from here. Perhaps, I could ask a favor. I myself don’t much care for interdimensional travel, no gain personally, but if I were to have the pieces of the Rift Ring intact, it would ease my mind a little about all Tigressa’s memories being shamed like the Hallows. If you can find the pieces and put some trackers on them, I can do the rest. I know the seams on the Rift Rings were five to seven segments each. Chances are the Rift Ring will never work again from how long it’s been separated, but I’d at least keep it as an honor to her life...as troubled as it was.”

“I can do that if it brings you peace of mind. But why would no one take the pieces of such a powerful bridge from the valley?”

Silos taunted, “I would believe it may have something to do with what lies within the valley? The Callistro Valley is home to the largest Metalwood populace in the world. Of course, no one is stupid enough to go down there and retrieve the pieces! There’s a saying on Kanjis: always watch for flying corpses. I assure you that that motto was not made to scare people initially.”

The queen nervously peered around at the trees, still paranoid of encountering one that might get the idea to attack her. The fact that the valley had the Metalwoods was even more frightening. “I-I’ll see what I can do for you. Sure, no need to be scared or anything. Yeah...”

“Wonderful,” he all but purred. Handing her a total of five currently deactivated trackers, he nodded and turned his back on her. Silos mapped out the old temple inscriptions that were somewhat visible, muttering to himself as he read their texts beneath the faded murals. Arcee left him alone in favor of planning her route to Callistro Valley, the home of the monster trees.

“I’ll send you the coordinates and meet you once you are done. Now, leave me in peace,” he said forced like she was intruding on sacred ground.

She didn’t want to argue with him and rolled her optics. After walking a decent way, she transformed and sped off to the coordinates as soon as they were given to her. One of the roads on the outskirts of the city led her straight to it though the drive was a bit long. She slowed down as she passed a Dinobot and several bots covered in foliage of different breeds, ones that she started to believe grew on them naturally, as they bended and manipulated the plant life around them. A strong fire resistant to moisture had damaged part of the forest, the markings on a few trees suggested a lightning strike. Their bio lights grew bright as their plant life growing on them became dense in color and before Arcee’s optics, the damged forest turned back into a blue paradise. Flowers littered the ground in mass as the trees grew branches in seconds. She didn’t know if such powers were inherited or simply born out of random, but the outcome of their powers showed off a revitalized forest like the lightning had never even scorched it.

The Callistro Valley was off the side of the road that wound around a hillside, clear as day. It was covered in loose trees and...Metalwoods. There were plenty of grass and flowers but as she transformed to see it in more detail, she witnessed a Metalwood grow enraged and destroy a non-sentient tree next to it. It sliced the base which fell onto its stub before leaning then broke every branch and tore the remainder of it in two. Flinging the dead tree, it shook with a muffled roar. The parts of the tree bounced uselessly onto the ground near a few other Metalwoods that made a noise of annoyance.

If she was going to find the Rift Ring in here, she had to be quick. Silence was not an option. Running down the hill after making sure no one saw her, she eyed the landscape and transformed. Another problem she faced was she had no clue what color or size the Rift Ring was. Driving passed Metalwoods that began to hiss and growl, their limbs crinkling in disgust and wrath before throwing them down to miss her by inches, she searched for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Had she slowed down in the slightest, she would be impaled, crashed, or sliced in half.

A glimmer of bronze caught her mirrors behind her hidden in a cove of upturned soil from supposedly a previous fight among the Metalwoods. She swiftly braked and moved back around, using her speed boost to get to it fast. She transformed and ran a servo along its frame. Unknown letters were engraved on it but the simplistic insignia of a Metal Head-like face told her all she needed to know. The Rift Ring was bronze and judging by how far it was buried, quite big and this was only one piece out of supposedly five. She placed a tracker and continued.

The second piece was found shortly after half-submerged in a pink pond. Its edge stood out but at least half its total mass was beneath the water. She tagged it even as the Metalwood near it grumbled and raised its mantis-like killer limbs up prepared to strike. She jumped out of the way as all its available limbs reached out and struck the ground feet from her.

“Keep your leaves on, I’m not going to hurt you!”

The tree still rattled, roots twitching anxiously.

She drove across the valley for a while trying to find the other three and avoiding all the Metalwoods even as their flowers gave off an alluring scent. It was tempting to visit them, she wouldn’t lie, but she just couldn’t afford to kill herself. She discovered the third piece suddenly when she hit a bump in the road. Overgrown, it blended well into the soil. Unlike the previous two, it had a spherical addition to it magnetized to its side. Arcee presumed it was a part of that piece. Placing her tracker, she sped off.

“Arcee,” Silos said, his voice tired and depleted of snark like he probably wanted to say, “do you know what happened to the Rift Ring? It suffered a massive cataclysmic power rupture, courtesy of King Kronos, and shattered. The battlefield isn’t far from the valley. The pieces were thrown in here to prevent anyone who was loyal to Tigressa to reunite them. I may have lied to you. I know where all of them are.”

“If you knew, why send me? This is a waste of my time, Silos!”

“...”

“Silos?”

“I’m sorry, I’m...just...I miss her so much.” His tone was heavy, pitiful even. Arcee felt guilt spread like fire across her processor and spark. “I’ll, um, I’ll arrive shortly and recover the rest of the pieces. I thought having you do it was easier, but I see now I was wrong. I just want her legacy to be in the care of someone who will treasure her forever.”

Arcee halted where she was and shifted to robot mode with a look of despair on her faceplates. She had never heard him so beat up but there was an odd sound that followed in his voice. She couldn’t tell if it was him crying or laughing. Possibly, he tried to cover the pain with humor as she had seen with Wreck-gar on Junkion. She waited patiently for him and a space bridge appeared. He wondered through it a bit neutral for someone grieving but he probably didn’t want to be seen in such a weak state of mind.

He sniffed, “I’ll take it from here. You don’t have to do this.”

She relieved herself of the trackers and nodded, “If this makes you more comfortable, I respect it.”

A sudden twitch of the edge of his lip despite almost being hidden by the cheek plating of his helmet was weird like he was trying to smile but refused to do so. Arcee didn’t show signs of conjecture on account of not judging where it may be coming from, but it was abnormal to say the least.

“Now then, I suggest you get back to Gemelo before the king gets a little confused. I thank you for helping if anything. I’ll see to it I find the rest of the pieces. Do be careful on the way out,” he sneered.

She sighed and patted his shoulder, “Just be careful yourself.”

“Oh, I shall.”

When Arcee got back from helping Silos and escaping the valley where the Metalwoods were growing even more anxious the longer she stayed for a pile of rather useless Rift Ring parts that didn’t impress in the long run admittedly, Arcee clambered into King Kronos’ throne room after going through all the guards and the city only to find Bolt sitting on his knee and chatting up a storm. King Kronos didn’t seem to mind, only smiled at the Vehicon’s tall tales and slightly overexaggerated truths.

“Then she stabbed Rockrider right through the abdomen, but the traitor still dragged her down! Arcee refused to go with a monster and smashed her head in midfall! As the Allspark saved Arcee, Rockrider hit the smelting pit in a vast inferno of flames signifying the fall of a tyrant’s empire!”

“That is quite a victory indeed,” the king said humorously. “It reminds me of the battle in the Wydon Mountains on the planet Vesuvio, Esper System. I was challenged by the mighty Orvek. He fought me, nearly severed my arm but I used his own environment to my advantage. He lived in an arctic kingdom but was not truly immune to cold. I lured him out into the open and kept fighting until his organs couldn’t take the blizzard; I admit I was beginning to think I would succumb to it too but I outlasted and prevailed. Although it’s not my most famous of victories because it wasn’t fought tooth and nail, I preferred it because I relied on my wits more than my strength. Most of my favorites are.”

Megatron and Moonhunter were sitting on Queen Kiara’s throne to the guards’ ire but the queen had vanished most likely doing something while her mate entertained their guests. Then they gestured at Arcee as the king looked her way.

“I heard you were successful in helping Dragonhide with the omnipedes. They aren’t bad creatures, just a little cranky here and there,” he said.

“Better than Metalwoods who want to beat your aft every second of every day,” she responded back.

Megatron frowned, “You encountered a wild Metalwood?”

Arcee shrugged, “Bound to happen one day considering we’re smack dab in the middle of their home world. Doubt you can stay here and not encounter one.”

King Kronos raised his servo up from his lap casually. “She’s not wrong.”

“King Kronos, with all due respect, there’s something that’s been bugging me all day,” Arcee abruptly said. “We know Tigressa made the Metal Heads but it seemed like you were dodging the question. Even as we countered the omnipedes, I still can’t help but think you don’t want to talk about her yet it is crucial to why the Metal Heads are returning now.”

Bolt winced as King Kronos remained still. Then he retorted, “It is hard to speak of my daughter, Arcee, that you must understand. The Metal Heads were her creations, and they devastated the balance of my rule as well as many worlds. It’s not a delicate subject.”

“But it is relevant to what’s happening. We get it; she was troubled as a youth out of jealousy, but what led to the Metal Heads existing. What happened the day you banished her?” Arcee pressed.

The guards awkwardly looked between one another with sorrow. Kronos had assistants on the side she just noticed, a purple wolf mech and a red and blue spider femme who reminded Arcee of both Blackarachnia and Airachnid as one.

King Kronos sighed, “Fine, you want the whole truth? Whatever you hear, understand that the circumstances that led to certain decisions did not come lightly. Tigressa was the original heir to the throne. When I was done and saw her ready, I was planning on retiring. I have lived a billion years; how long can I last? Kanjis was a home of my own, and I wanted to give it to her so badly. But Tigressa grew mistrusting, devious and dissolute in her quest for power. I saw the signs of her madness, and I had no choice but to revoke the throne. It only made things worse.

“Before then, she was targeting her siblings, and I think she killed our family pets that died under mysterious circumstances but that’s assuming. I have no proof still. She believed that my reign as king was choosing to play god when I helped build worlds and create life among them when all I wanted was to help, to watch the wonders of the universe come to all. But Tigressa saw my ideas as misuse of their true qualities. Instead, she wished to take and force her will as truth. She grew corrupted and after I renounced her chance at the throne, that’s when her darkest ideas came into fruition.

“The Metal Heads were born of her blood mixed with the elements of our world and her powers. The serum she tested on a deathtrap plant and the results were horrifying. The skull gems they bore were a copy of the gem on her chest like a cruel form of self-representation. The early versions of the virus were tested on unsuspecting victims and animals. She went to worlds merely to unleash her horrors of creation and watch them mutilate and infect everything they touched. By the time I knew of her treachery, she had already begun her war against me. I lost my oldest friends, some who were around to take care of her when she was a youngling. I saw my people scared and as the monsters they couldn’t stop bore down upon them, and she turned my own Captain of the Royal Guard into a deranged killer out of his love for her overwhelming his loyalty to Kanjis. Even Sephtis, his colleague, fell to her whim and became the active Metal Head Leader, Kor."

Arcee breathed harshly knowing who he meant. She could see the picture Silos vividly in her head that he had in his ship of his old self and grew panicked as his visage twisted into the current monster he was. His laughter echoing as she could imagine him transforming into a Metal Head, green Rozarian blood turning dark purple and sluggish as his body was shredded and reformed. Light blue darkened to a deadly hue as the skull gem of his chest burst out of his heart. The image of him within her waking nightmare turned on her now with jagged jaws and yellow glow eyes. She panted scared but thankfully, no one saw her plight.

“She put her own brothers and sisters in danger. Tigressa was going to kill everyone if it meant getting her way. With the abominations at her command and that dreaded transport, the Rift Ring I believe it was called, she fought my forces and I finally had to go to the last resort I had. I tried to kill her at one point. With her army, she was one of the few enemies I had that had gotten close to overwhelming me. I was terrified fighting her how malicious she was. Through quick thinking, my youngest son, Phantasmos overrode the Rift Ring and sent the Metal Heads across space never to be seen again. I managed to finally win against Tigressa but casted her out instead. I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. Despite everything, I still loved her. It broke her mother’s heart the same as it did mine. And then I had to banish my own children briefly in fear of her manipulating them to harm others. I was tormented by her fall, more than you know.”

Everyone was silent including Moonhunter whose ears were laying low. The guards could only stand in their positions uncomfortable as the truth had Arcee baffled and afraid. How could Tigressa do that out of mere resentment? She paused and then whacked herself on the head mentally. Megatron already did similar...but at least he learned something from it.

King Kronos shook his head, “There isn’t a day that goes by I don’t think about what I could have done differently to save her from her darkest ideals, but maybe there isn’t anything. I live with the burden of never knowing, and Tigressa will never be sane again because of me.”

Bolt patted the kneecap of the king and blurted out Arcee’s thoughts. “No, it-it's not your fault. I mean look at Megatron. Technically, he killed more than half our race and-”

The blunt end of Dagger Prima nailed him in the head and he cried out holding his face while a furious Arcee scolded him. “You’re not supposed to say that, Bolt!”

She could tell Kronos was fighting a smile but coughed, “True, yes, but I already know what Megatron did. The difference is Megatron did it out of greed, not out of disdain though I would imagine Optimus’ choices in the matter didn’t help a lot.”

“How do you know about Optimus? About any of Cybertron’s history? You were cut off, weren’t you?” Megatron scowled.

“Just because Cybertron cut off travel to Kanjis doesn’t mean I don’t have my own ability to go between worlds nor not get information. I wouldn’t say I was spying on Cybertron out of some spite of my own for such an interesting attempt of a failed coup, but yes, I eavesdropped a bit.”

“No offense,” Arcee huffed, “but that makes me think Tigressa got her tendencies from you by saying that.”

The giant dragon mech grinned, “Actually, that’s her grandsire’s trait. My sire wasn’t as nice ruling over the galaxy. Granted, I do have my sire’s fury if pushed but I’m never cruel or demanding in my actions within reason. I never believed that was the proper way to rule. I changed a lot of policies he enforced. Tigressa only met her grandsire once and I think that’s one of the few times I’ve ever known my sire to not have any remark or crude comment to say...mostly because Tigressa kept answering back with something as equally crass. Needless to say, it was one of the most frightening things I ever witnessed that didn’t involve death.”

“Well, I’m sorry about your loss either way,” the queen said.

“The tale is best left as it is. If you try chasing ghosts the rest of your life, it’ll ruin you. You can’t change the past, Arcee. I do regret how I may have helped spawn her sinister behavior inadvertantly, but I don’t linger on it because I do have a kingdom to run. I suggest you do the same now that you know and don’t let it change what you set out to do.”

Arcee nodded as King Kronos lowered Bolt back on the ground. The Vehicon shoved Dagger Prima back into her grasp and made a raspberry noise despite not having a mouth to show off the motion. She laughed at his attitude even though he deserved it.

As King Kronos stood and stretched, the armor creaking quite loud against Megatron’s same previous motion after the encounter with the omnipedes, he sighed, “Now then, I should check on the lava bulls out back in the magma stalls outside. I need to feed them before they start trying to eat the actual stands themselves.”

Bolt whipped around instantly excited, “You have lava bulls?!”

The king laughed, “Just because I lost pets in the past doesn’t mean I didn’t get more. Come, I’ll show you them.”

Arcee and Megatron knew for the moment they had nothing better to do and followed the king to the outdoor royal stables. They had to sprint to keep up with him with Moonhunter the only one of the four who could. Seeing the light reflect off Kronos’ armor to make it appear a deep dark grey more than black was unusual. The white in his design, however, made the light glow off those spots instead. To their surprise, he stretched his wings he had tucked among his back kibble which expanded over four hundred feet. His tail swayed pleasantly as he enjoyed the suns’ warmth.

“Feels good to get some sunshine,” he stated. As he breathed, his white bio lights pulsed in agreement.

Just then, Bolt was nearly pushing on Arcee hanging over her shoulder and pointing at the gates that held the lava bulls. The horned charcoal-black bovines of stone and metal rumbled as they grew interested in their visitors. One hollered close to Megatron, its fumes growing hotter.

“That means they like you. If they hated you, you’ll know the immediate response when it occurs,” Kronos chuckled. “Would you like to feed them? Arcee, beside that bucket over near the warehouse, there’s a bale of feed. Could you grab it for me?”

Arcee ran to the warehouse without question and grew a little excited herself. She had to drag the bale as it proved heavy. Its dried purple contents drew the attention of several bulls. Handing a servo-ful of hay-like feed to Bolt and Megatron, she lured a big specimen to eat gently. She rubbed its nose and it mooed before sniffing her. After Bolt fed his bull, he pulled out a data pad to record the new information.

“You better not ask me to nab a few of these bulls for you, Bolt.”

“Nah, I can just go up to three different ones to get the data. Maybe if you lure them-”

“Nope,” Arcee snapped quickly.

They all burst out laughing. Even King Kronos found it humorous as he pet one calf with the tip of his claw carefully as he was crouched beside it, though it did little to reduce his size in comparison to all present. Moonhunter cautiously sniffed a bull that suddenly blew smoke into his face. The Nitrotiger fled back with his spine raised and hissed.

King Kronos then said, “Arcee, I forgot to pass this on from my sparkmate to you. It’s a Core type. She is dealing with a few errands and gave me it to give to you as thanks for your help with the omnipedes.”

Arcee caught the Radiant Core he held after he threw and smiled. “Never can get enough of these.”

Chapter Text

Arcee and Megatron walked the palace looking over the atriums that contained paintings and glamour to emphasize King Kronos’ regal nature. Bolt decided to go to the data library instead of taking a tour of the castle with Moonhunter to keep him company. They walked into a hallowed hall with spaces in the shapes of windows that showed the gardens of the palace.

King Kronos himself was outside as his servants and guards wandered nearby. To Arcee’s shock, he was playing with the Metalwoods he had planted on the pillars only he could reach the tops of. The vicious trees coiled their vines and branches along his clawed servo to sense him. They showed no aggression, merely flinched if they were unsure, but he kept patient so they wouldn’t be stressed. Suddenly, he gestured at the built-in pond he had in the center of the garden. With a mere flick of his digits, a line of water curved out flying towards him and went around the pillar before entering the soil at the base of the Metalwood. Its flowers shivered in delight at the sustenance. Seeing the king levitate and control the liquid had both Cybertronians in awe.

“How did you do that?” Arcee asked wide eyed.

King Kronos peered towards them with a soft chuckle. “Elemental energy configurative mental handling. The mind is a very powerful thing. Every atom, every molecule is made of energy and using our mental prowess and our powers combined, the elements that are formed of these molecules can be changed to whatever we desire or do whatever we wish.”

As an example, he hovered his servo far above the pond again and a bubble of water swirled into being before separating from the water mass and floating upward. He then made a swipe of his other servo above the water, and it shifted into the outline of a star. He placed both servos to hover on its sides and did a small flip motion, turning the water into a spiral shape. One last brush made it twist into a wolf which then ran within the vicinity of his palm before he shot it back into the pond. The water wolf disappeared with an insignificant splash.

“It took me a while to learn that, mind you. You see, my element is metal. I can control the fine grains of the minerals to do as I please. I had to broaden my mind to learn how to bend more elements over a grueling amount of time. One of my younger sons, Ghost, is a master of the skill. He was arguably the first to unlock the other elements before training his mind to do things even I can’t.”

Arcee murmured to herself, “I definitely owe Yoketron an apology.”

“What did you say?” Megatron frowned.

“I thought his ‘Processor Over Matter’ crap was phony...now, a whole species proves his theories right. Prowl’s going to kill me the most for doubting.” She then addressed King Kronos. “So, do all Kanjians have elemental powers in general, or is it only a select few?”

“Neither. Offspring are usually born with powers if their creators have it. Some Kanjians are born without them but can learn what you called ‘Processor Over Matter’ with training which can lead to other forms of it. For instance, my children all have variants of separate elements each. Tigressa has the power of shadow manipulation, Blossom has powers associated with plants, Phantasmos has the ability of ice, and yet neither my mate nor I have those powers. I deal with metal and minerals like Poltergeist who can control the ground and rock while my mate can manipulate light...light is needed for plants to thrive, the given property of what fire produces, what creates shadows among all the light touches, and much more therefore she, in a sense, spread different sub-outcomes of her powers onto our offspring in the form of other powers. It isn’t always cut and dry what you get, but every ability is a necessity in the balance of nature that our species has mastered for eons.”

Arcee and Megatron were amazed and merely blinked at him like idiots. Laughter echoed and caught their attention however as the king raised a brow and looked in the direction of it. A wave of snow came over roof of the greenhouse of the garden before shifting into ice and a young Ridgeback dragon skated down it on all fours before transforming into a small youngling who looked like Kronos but had blue striping and optics instead of white. Adorned with inventor’s goggles on top of his head among short horns, the youngling did a twirl when he was airborne but then tumbled on his icy track and hit the Metalwood’s pillar upside down, his tail hanging down crooked over his head as he laughed.

Two more figures followed, one of whom Arcee recognized as Draco but he appeared different. Instead of being a normal Seeker, he held animal-like qualities with feathered wings, ears, and a cat-like tail with a plume of feathers on the end. The other youngling was dark green and brown with barbs alongside his back and shoulders. With his back kibble the shape of bovine legs and his tail being that of a cow’s, she could assume he could transform into one.

“Now, now, Phantasmos, what have I told you about icing the gardens?” King Kronos huffed though he did still have a prominent smile.

Phantasmos, his son, rolled upright as Draco and other youngling slid to a halt. He giggled, “I just thought it was the perfect time to ice skate. Draco and Spike have been waiting forever to do it.”

Arcee approached Draco who froze upon being spotted by the former Autobot. “Draco?! What happened to you?!”

The blue and black Seekerling coughed to his friend, “Awkward. Ahem, I told you we wanted to go back. This place is fun! I’m in my Kanjian form! Phantasmos made a machine the first time we met that can change our structure and I’m a bird creature.”

He transformed into his beast mode that resembled a griffon and pranced to show off proudly with a bird-like coo. When he shifted back, he made a prominent pose. Suddenly, his bio lights grew bright, and his physical appearance changed back into his Cybertronian form she knew. Arcee was spooked more than anything before peering at King Kronos with questions.

The king shrugged, “At the time, Draco, Spike, Nighthawk, and Serpentine were my son’s friends who he rescued off Cybertron when he went to visit. They thought they had no one so they jumped at the offer to come here with him and so did I, so I adopted them. I let Phantasmos give them the power of form-shifting with their consent so they could be between worlds without anyone ever noticing in case they wanted to return.”

Megatron narrowed his optics unfamiliar with the term. “You...You mean ‘transforming?’”

Phantasmos stood up, dwarfing Arcee despite being younger than her, and stood with a greater height than Megatron. He shook his head as he brushed off and spoke in a teenage tone rather than a childish one, they assumed he would have. “Nope, form-shifting! I invented it. It’s the ability to change your normal self to appear to the likeness of those around you but it changes your alt mode into a completely different type. Take Draco here. He’s a Cybertronian Seeker on Cybertron but with my invention, his robot mode changes to a Kanjian variant at will and now he has an alternate form of himself with our distinctive animalistic qualities. When he transforms, he has an animal mode instead of a vehicle mode.”

“Wow, you are articulate for someone of your age, quite the genius for such a magnificent invention,” the warlord said.

Phantasmos saw no harm in the comment and grinned, flashing fangs. “Thank you! Unfortunately, I kind of broke it right before I had to go into exile with my older siblings. We’ve returned here just recently, but don’t blame my sire for that. Tigressa had a means of getting to us to do her bidding and the fear was very justified. But she hasn’t been seen or heard from in years.”

Trying to keep off the delicate subject, Arcee then asked, “And Spike?”

The two younglings looked at the bull who shifted back into his Cybertronian mode. He no longer supported the barbs but still had small horns on his head. His bull legs perched on his back were now door wings, and he crossed his arms stubbornly to match his beast mode. He spotted Megatron hiding a snicker and furrowed his brows.

“Don’t laugh at my name, my creators were...vindictive, left me on the streets when I was old enough to walk. Draco and I have been best friends since I met him. He was separated from his family, so we stuck together ever since. Don’t think I don’t recognize you, Buckethead,” Spike sneered.

King Kronos used a gentle but firm voice. “Spike, that’s not how we talk to guests, even former enemies.”

Unlike the other two, Spike was less responsive to the king’s command and stuck out his glossa at Megatron. The ex-Decepticon ignored mostly because he had no problems with a kid expressing himself over a grown bot.

Phantasmos smirked but shrugged at the same time. “He’s the crassest out of all of us. You’ll get used to it.”

“Where’s your sister and the other two?” The king asked.

The smaller dragon mech pointed randomly over his shoulder. “Somewhere over there. You know how Eclipse is, always bragging and showing off.”

Arcee retorted smugly, “Like you just were?”

“Ah, well, um...” Phantasmos stuttered, growing bashful. He was a sweet kid, certainly held a lot of humility for a youngling.

King Kronos turned to the Cybertronians with a deep, resonating laugh. “Eclipse is the twin of Phantasmos. They were the last born and polar opposites to each other. Water and ice...they can sometimes drive me insane.”

Phantasmos watched his two adopted brothers shift back into their Kanjian forms and followed him around the gardens to play. From stance alone, Arcee knew Phantasmos was the ringleader of their troop, excitedly to wrestle with the thick-headed Spike. Suddenly, he fell into a pit at the base of the pond designed to reroute loose water with a grunt and King Kronos’ ears immediately perked up concerned. The huge mech maneuvered around as both Draco and Spike peered into the pit. Phantasmos was unharmed and shook off any dirt.

King Kronos tilted his head to the side for only one optic to focus down, finding it easier to pinpoint his son’s location in the pit despite not being too far in. He smiled sweetly, a fatherly purr and surprisingly went on all fours before turning his back to the well. Lifting his tail at first, he sent it down to Phantasmos instead of using a servo and waited until the smaller dragon clung to it. He brought it up and there was Phantasmos hitching a ride on the tip, anchored to the tail like a baby possum. King Kronos moved his tail up and around all the way to his snout and let his son drop onto his elongated nose. Phantasmos was only three fifths the entire length of his snout, showing just how massive Kronos was even to his own child. The youngling stuck his glossa out playfully and tapped it against the panel that held Kronos’ nostrils like a kiss before nuzzling his father’s face. Kronos purred with half-lidded optics, chuckling low and smiling.

As he remained on all fours, his silhouette reminded Arcee of the pictures of dragons artists on Earth’s internet used to make. To see him with his baby, someone he loved dearly, was dare she say cute.

“Phantasmos!” A feminine voice yelled. A blue and white cat femme, with the armor on her head containing the appearance of pigtails and having faint white stripes on her backside, growled at she ran across the gardens to her sire and brother. The one called Eclipse sneered, “You left us behind on your little ski trip!”

Phantasmos rolled his blue reptilian optics as he balanced on his sire’s snout. “Not my fault you couldn’t keep up. Ice doesn’t last forever in warm weather, Eclipse, you of all people should know that.”

The youngling stuck her tongue out, a residual gesture among all the kids it seemed, and Phantasmos matched it with ferocity to their father’s amusement. As a bonus of an insult, the dragon youngling realigned on Kronos’ snout perched like a bird and began to blow icy flames, but it came out as a frosty puff of clouds, as the less concentrated ice evaporated too fast. Despite this, he acted proud of his accomplishment and threw up his tail like a cat with a huff.

Nighthawk appeared alongside Eclipse and a neon green femme joined them. Nighthawk and Serpentine. The purple Seekerling was more like her namesake in her Kanjian form with a bird’s beak in the place of her plane cockpit on her chest and a fanned feathered tail. Serpentine seemed to have lizard-like qualities in her Kanjian form, but Arcee couldn’t tell what type of reptile it was. When Nighthawk saw Arcee, she gestured but Draco shot her down.

“Yeah, she knows. Secret’s out.”

“Well, I’ll be, the hero Arcee! You saved Chaar and now you’re going to stop those nasty monsters here too?” Nighthawk grinned.

“Going to try,” the queen stated confidently.

King Kronos lowered his head to let Phantasmos slip off before saying, “Arcee, I need to go check on my mate’s progress. If these younglings act up against you while I’m gone, just let me know.”

The Cybertronians expected King Kronos to teleport but instead, he transformed. His armor shifted at a slower rate due to his size but before them, a mighty monster of a dragon gave a bellow and expanded the emerged wings. His crown had moved to the base of his neck like an emblem with the points of it slanted outward. The younglings stayed low to the ground as he produced strong winds and took off to soar far past the palace walls in seconds.

Spike said abruptly once Kronos was gone, “Okay, now let’s eat them.”

Arcee frowned though Megatron didn’t seem to worried but before the bull could act on his crude comment, Serpentine hit the back of his head.

“We aren’t eating anybody, you psycho.” She waved pleasantly at Arcee. “Hiya, I’m Serpentine! A pleasure to meet you!”

“I know Draco and Spike were found on the streets and Nighthawk told me she was lost. What’s your story, kid?”

“Oh, I was an apprentice of Iacon, intern division during the later end of the war before the Hall of Records was destroyed. I disliked my job, so I quit when I met Phantasmos and Eclipse. I was born into a good family, but they detested people like Draco and Spike. I thought that was a terrible mindset, never fit in with my peers in the system.”

Arcee was instant to think of the bias she had for such people but quickly recalculated herself to remember a child couldn’t be blamed for the caste system harboring such vile politicians and elitists. Serpentine got out while she could, that was a nobility that cost her, yet she found happiness with a new family. The queen couldn’t say anything against that.

Phantasmos activated a clock on his arm via holoscreen and sighed, “Aw, I have to get back to work. Overdid play time again. You guys have fun without me, I’m going to try and get my projects done.”

The younglings were quick to say goodbye, but Arcee was not. Even Megatron had curiosities about what someone of his caliber had to do. As he walked away, Arcee ran up behind him.

“Wait, Phantasmos! Can we come with you?”

The black and blue dragon paused before simply nodding. “Sure, I don’t mind. I haven’t shown guests my lab in a while.”

“You have your own lab?” Megatron asked flabbergasted.

“Yeah, I’m an inventor by trade, handled a tool since I was only a few hundred years old...which meant nothing got done for quite some time but the scientists and craftsmen who work under my sire got a good kick out of my enthusiasm. I just loved to create things out of my mind. Come on, I’ll show you!”

They were led to the statue of Phantasmos and his own stain glass window. His statue had a childlike showman pose and his wings were expanded in an unusual way, the left curved up and around his head while the right went down going behind his tail and legs to make a circular pattern. His glass mural had his pose stiffer, but gadgets and wrenches were abundant on his blue backdrop. Beneath the window, Phantasmos pressed a hidden square beside the statue and it glowed green. The floor gave way to a staircase. He hopped down the steps as he was too small to traverse them normally and the bots had no choice but to do the same. Several levels down, they reached the underground laboratory.

Gears turned as electrified devices and computers calculated and operated on pre-set instructions. A board of both hand-drawn schematics and computerized data pads were tossed on several different tables and desks. Dagger Prima pulsed and whispers were briefly heard but they died as she was more focused on the items in the lab than what the dagger was focusing on. An environment with water and enrichment for basking sat on display on the right where Phantasmos’ main desk was. The glass pen was huge and Arcee diverted a little off the path Phantasmos was going to get a better look. At first, she saw nothing but when she squinted, a sudden mouth full of fangs hit the glass. She yelled out and Megatron was by her side in seconds.

“Kali, my Star-patterned Ramazi Lizard. She’s almost fifty years old now. Her species lives up to two hundred in captivity. I got her for my creation day once.”

The Ramazi Lizard had its bottom jaw split in two and hissed at Arcee as it climbed up its tree branch to a rope hammock. Its metal hide gleamed like stars under the light as its name suggested. Its spine was flared, and horizontal slit optics didn’t dare look away from her. Phantasmos got a bucket and pulled out a mouse-like creature, stepping in front of the femme to be between her and the enclosure in case Kali wanted to strike. The reptile lowered its defense and gladly snagged the snack when it was presented. Phantasmos shut the glass door and grinned.

“I only have to feed her every three days really, but she loves her roundrats.” The prince of Kanjis sat and swung around in his chair simultaneously and began typing. “Before you assume my sire built this for me or got me this technology, believe it or not, I built all of it myself. This used to be a cave. I turned it into my getaway for my experiments.”

“You and Shockwave would be best friends,” Megatron mused.

Arcee passed a set of schematics and paused, backtracking to look over it. She gasped as she knew what it was. “The omni-scorpions! You-You built them too?”

Phantasmos paused and frowned confused, “How do you know about them? They were destroyed not long after they were built.”

“We encountered a few by accident, let’s just say. They were bugged.”

“Sounds like someone tried to reanimate them without the proper protocols.” The youngling didn’t question how and nodded, “When we were planning to counter my sister and her army of Horaquan, Sire had an idea, and I went to work on it. I made the omni-scorpions, a living tank with a sophisticated artificial intelligence that knew what the virus was, but the problem was it was also a learning intelligence. The more it figured out what it could and couldn’t do, the more it began to recalculate as to why that was. It grew dangerous, something I couldn’t live with if they began to hurt the wrong beings on their own instruction. So, I ended the program and had my sire terminate them in case they turned against me or my siblings.”

Arcee looked at the omni-scorpion specs as it went through a loop of showing the exterior and interior makeup of the tank. She began reading a few other blueprints when Phantasmos started digging through his data pads quickly. Confused, she asked, “What are you looking for?”

He threw some of his schematics out behind him, not caring if they shattered and growled to himself. Moving onto another pile of pads, he replied, “That form-shifting device I made, the one I told you about earlier, I know it’s here and I want to see if I can rebuild it. I have the materials as well as the old pieces. Shouldn’t take me long to do.”

Megatron crossed his arms. “What about your other work?”

“Ah, forget it,” Phantasmos laughed, “I can always do it some other time. That won’t take me long either. But this, it’s been a while since I’ve used it. I want to see if I can do it again.”

“Again?!” Arcee scoffed, “What, like, form-shift one of us?”

The dragon grinned, “Exactly. After all, it would make traversing our world a lot easier. Hate to say but vehicle forms don’t work well here. They are technically slower in reaction time, unable to get traction and are a pain overall to use against any threats among the planet. With a beast mode, you’d be able to utilize your skills through a far more flexible form. You can change between it and your regular self, only using it when you feel comfortable. It’ll help, I promise.”

Arcee had her doubts but then she thought about it. She couldn’t scale walls like Megatron who already had claws, the creatures on the planet had defenses for gunfire and melee weapons that only pure animalistic fighting had any chance against them it seemed, and driving on a luscious terrain didn’t match Earth’s better sense of road structure. All the roads on Kanjis were more like overgrown metal paths than drivable asphalt like Earth. All the inhabitants didn’t need the roads to navigate their world, especially when half of them could fly or teleport. What did she have to lose if she did get a form-shift alt mode?

“Alright, I’ll try it. What about you, Megatron?”

The warlord gave a grimace, “I...prefer my trusty jet mode. I think I’m good in ‘animalistic’ attributes. Any more and I would probably be afraid of myself.”

Arcee pondered, “Hmm, yeah, I think you would either be a massive reptile or a giant bird of some sort like a monster falcon just with fangs and a scary disposition.”

The look on Megatron’s face was deadpan and priceless, and Arcee couldn’t help but laugh a little at it. Phantasmos shared equal amusement before continuing his search.

“Here, let me help you. Anything that stands out about it?”

“Yeah, it has a blue label on it marked with Kanjian lettering,” he answered. “It’s not too big but it contains a lot of sensitive information. If you find it, bring it back to me please. Don’t be afraid to throw some things around. I don’t mind.”

Arcee went to work with Megatron following suit and they both scoured the densely data-heavy lab for the specified pad. She passed a handmade null ray, looked under desks covered in small knick knacks including a planetary model of Kanjis that wasn’t accurate but looked to have been painted by a child...she paused to smile at the poorly written Kanjian scribbles and a toddler drawing of Phantasmos and all his family. King Kronos and Queen Kiara had stiff postures but were happy. The rest of the siblings with one seemingly on fire but happy were pictured. Even Tigressa, the figure who was bright orange with black streaks, looked pleasant. Against the finer drawn specs of the blueprints hanging up, Phantasmos had to have made that when he was a sparkling.

Then she saw a data pad behind it wedged between several books. Arcee didn’t want to pry but with the chance of it being the data pad he sought, she took it out of its shelf. A piece of blue tape was on its top but partially ripped. She activated it and found a list of items including something called the “Animatic Project.”

“Phantasmos, is this it?”

The youngling came over and nearly geeked out in childish glee.

“Haha, yes! Yes! Where did you...?” He saw the painted globe and the drawing. Blinking before giving a soft smile matching Arcee, he said, “I was a baby when I made that. My Sire loved it so much, he had it in his study. I moved it down here while he was renovating it. Forgot to give it back. Anyways, I appreciate your help. Give me time and I think I can make you a Kanjian by the end of the day.”

“Thanks, Phantasmos.”

“While you’re waiting, I heard the Metal Heads have terrorized more than people. My older sister, Blossom, her garden south of the city was hit pretty badly and I need someone to check up on her. I doubt she’s in trouble, but her gardens mean a lot to her. Would you be willing to do that for me? I’ll send you the coordinates.”

Megatron agreed as Arcee shrugged, “I wouldn’t mind one bit. I don’t mind nature. I think it’s kind of cool this planet is so weird compared to what we’re used to.”

“We pride ourselves on being different. Sometimes the best lives to live have abnormal aspects that keep everything interesting.”

------------------------

King Kronos and Queen Kiara conversed after she had settled her matter, both cheerfully content with the solved issue. They walked the lovely forests together, tails entwined as his queen purred. Just then, he paused in his tracks when an unusual communication faded in and out of his commlink. He sent his mate a look of confusion before trying to hijack the frequency to better hear it.

The voice was jumbled, and he couldn’t make out the hissing following it. It sounded like no one he knew off the top of his head. Whoever it was, they were determined to send him the message.

“Dead...dead...Tigressa is...dead...Cybertronians...Allspark...”

Making out those words alone had King Kronos’ optics almost completely white in a multitude of feelings. His daughter was dead?! He knew she deserved punishment, but he never wanted her to truly die! Then the message finally became clear to his chagrin.

“Tigressa is dead, killed by the Cybertronian Queen on the Isle of the Allspark. Her accomplices are the warlord and the trooper. Tigressa is dead, killed by the Cybertronian Queen-”

The message kept replaying like a broken track and all Kronos could think of was who was responsible for killing his daughter...the Cybertronian Queen...Arcee?! Narrowing his optics, steam arose from his nostrils and his mate grew alarmed by the sudden rage as he gave a shout that turned into a ground-shaking roar.

--------------------------

The Cybertronians left Phantasmos to his specs and climbed up the stairwell back to ground level. The castle was left in the dust as they transformed in its front entrance and rolled out. Blossom’s garden could be seen not far from the place they first bridged into Kanjis. A giant tree, larger than most all the skyscrapers, sat in the middle interconnected to smaller ones. As they drew closer, various plants intermingled with life that Arcee wouldn’t think would be around each other. Something like a daisy wouldn’t be around the jungle vines but given the princess most likely could spawn anything to her desire like the rest of the nature beings, it made sense she would.

Entering the gardens, they quickly came to the conclusion it was vacant for something akin to a park. The metal stonework had no one walking among it and as far as Megatron could see hovering above Arcee, it was all but abandoned.

“Oh, this is a disaster! Those monsters! Argh!”

A green and white wolf femme with vines across her body, pink spots and two flowers like stargazer lilies growing at the bases of her ears that seemed to react to her anger by scrunching ran past both vehicles like they were invisible. The more aggressive she got, the more she glowed. Her green optics closed as she rubbed her temples with a growl.

“I hear you! I’m working on it!”

The thing that stunned them the most was that there was no one around. So, who was she talking to? Arcee approached her after transforming and lifted a digit.

“Um, excuse me, are you-?”

“I know! I can’t find the switch!” She pressed her fists to her head before making a gesture of pushing down. “Breathe! Just breathe. Just…relax, Blossom. Everything will be okay; we can fix it.”

The flowers on her head opened wide in a relaxed, happier position. The flowers on the ground neither Arcee nor Megatron saw, however, bloomed around her as she became calm. Like she was feeding on the emotions of the vegetation around her, she grew happier herself and giggled.

“Much better. To worry is to believe there isn’t an answer, but we know there always is.” She then saw Arcee and smiled sweetly. “Hello, my dear, sorry you had to see that. One of the downsides to being with nature is that nature is often annoying after a while, especially when it can talk back.”

“Ah…” Arcee said to pretend to understand. “You’re Blossom, right? Phantasmos sent us.”

“Oh, my baby brother! If he sent you to help me, I’m afraid I don’t think there’s anything you can do. You see, the Horaquan, my big sister’s abominations, have decided to do the most inconvenient damage. My gardens thrive on Energon and I thrive on the luscious energy they supply me in return. My fellow nature peers do too and come here to rejuvenate themselves. The Horaquan is a force of destruction so even the pettiest of things they will do.”

“I can bring your gardens back to life. Just tell me what you need done.”

“Unfortunate to say, I don’t recall where the switch to my emergency Energon reserves is. I lost track. If you could find the switch to the backup Energon pumps, it can keep my gardens stable for a week. It can also buy me time to get my twin brother, Poltergeist, to repair the damage to the broken pumps. I know this might not seem important, I can sense you are unsure, but to those who are a part of the elements like mine, it means a great deal to us.”

Megatron merely said, “If it means so much, I think it has importance regardless.”

Arcee agreed, “We’ll find that switch for you and if any of those Metal monsters are still around, we’ll take care of them.”

Blossom swayed pleased at their responses and let Arcee take control of the situation. Moving around the great trees and the potted areas where their smaller counterparts grew from, both Cybertronians kept a keen eye out for the emergency switch. The gardens were void of Metalwoods but contained quite a few Kanjian deathtraps in isolated areas where their vines couldn’t intertwine and overbearing the rest of the landscape.

Megatron flew around the tree in search of the switch until he spotted a small box that seemed to be covered by bushes from ground view. It was on the side of a forgotten shed in the shade. How Blossom managed to forget something like that was beyond him.

“Arcee, two clicks from your position in the underbrush. I think that’s it.”

The queen slid to make a sharp turn to the left and decided to go on foot for the rest of the way. Pushing aside vegetation, a box with an old handle and a glowing red switch remained untouched for who knows how long. Arcee struggled to pop open the cover but snapped the hinges with a big pull. It dangled loose which made her snort at the lack of security it had but then again, who besides the Metal Heads would screw with a Kronos daughter’s power supply? She heard the power start in the vicinity once she pushed the switch and shrugged.

“That was easy.”

A hiss made her freeze and a glob of tainted purple slime hit her shoulder from above. Slowly, she peered up and the first thing that caught her optic was the blaring yellow skull gem and light purple chlorophyll skin. A mouthful of fangs both inside and poking out of the skin had her feeling fearful. The shivered yellow eyes were horrifying to behold. Arcee was abruptly lunged at, and she barely missed being crushed by said teeth before it grew upset and swatted her with a vine. She tumbled far enough to reach the pathway but managed to correct herself upright and halt herself.

A Kanjian deathtrap, horribly mutated with the virus, snaked out of the foliage. Its roots had become legs with several of its vines merged into thorned arms. The rest of the vines trailed behind it as a tail, and its head was incomprehensible to her. It snarled opening its jaws into four sections unlike the previous deathtrap she had ever versed which merely had two like any other creature.

It roared and ran after her, upturning the ground as it moved. Arcee flipped over a swipe of its vine arm and pulled out her blasters. Shooting it, the bullets made it whine but it still crawled after her. The Metal Heads weren’t as durable with their organic matter but damn if this thing wasn’t using all its energy to kill her. Even with blast marks across its head scattering pieces of it, it would not die.

Megatron leaped down from a branch above and used an elbow to slam into its neck stem, flooring it with a whimper. He took its brief pain to spin kick it when it tried to get up and sent it falling onto its back.

“Nice of you to join me.”

He chuckled, “Of course, I wouldn’t miss a good fight.”

The deathtrap squealed and rolled upright with purple ooze dripping from its jaws. Even though it was bleeding quite a lot, it was still going to their surprise. Both Cybertronians growled at its persistence as it lunged again. But the deathtrap didn’t get to them. Right as it moved, a clawed black and green pede of a Ridgeback mech stomped on its neck and shoulders. It gave a cry before a servo wrapped around it squeezing harshly, dragging its struggling, gurgling form up to his eye level.

Poltergeist, Blossom’s twin, sneered as the abomination hissed in his hold. He showed off his own mouthful of sharp teeth with his brows furrowed over blazing green optics. Without a word, the dragon tensed and with it, he squeezed the infected deathtrap until its head popped like a pimple. Some purple sludge and remnants got on him, but he seemed to care less, merely raising a brow at the sight as he dropped its lifeless husk on the ground.

“Nasty little cretin,” Poltergeist’s baritone voice growled. He peered down at them but didn’t seem to regard them with much thought either. “Blossom shouldn’t have resorted to you. I do the heavy lifting around here and I like it, so next time just pass and let me handle it.”

Arcee frowned and bit back, “If she needed to rely on you, wouldn’t she have contact you instead?”

Poltergeist narrowed his optics. “Watch your tone, bitch. My sister is very dependent on me; she loves me, I’m her anchor, and I won’t let you get between her and me.”

“Talk to my sparkmate like that again and I’ll cut out that glossa of yours, Prince Charming.”

With a twisted look, Poltergeist grinned, “Try it.”

His vicious tone sent alarms across her neuronet. He was controlling, abnormally so and she wasn’t any expert on how love worked but his demeanor gave off a few disturbing vibes on his description of it. She wondered if Blossom knew of this…

“Poltergeist! Quit harassing them! You always do this!”

Blossom marched up to him, servos on her hips but he merely smiled crookedly. “Oh, I was just playing, dearest sister.”

She held her chin up with closed optics, making him appear sad before addressing Arcee. “I appreciate the help, even if someone had to be a buzzkill. Here’s an item for your troubles I found in my garden the other day. I have no need of it.”

She handed Arcee a Radiant Core and then whipped her mood to sour at her twin. She pointed and he grimaced, not before sending Arcee a quick glare. When he finally obeyed, she frowned a little once he was out of range.

“Forgive him, he’s always been aggressive when it comes to me. I mean I appreciate the protection, but he goes overboard…severely.”

“I’d call that a little more than protective,” Megatron said uncertainly.

Blossom shrugged a bit naïve for her own good. “We’re twins, our bond is a little special. If you ever need our assistance, don’t be afraid to call on us…well, me mostly.”

Arcee and Megatron were equally uneasy at that and left the gardens depressed a nice bot could have a such a sibling, but Tigressa had her vices too. They walked along the streets of Gemelo to get their minds off the drama for a second before they got a notice from Phantasmos.

“Hey, guys, I just overheard my sire talking to Farseer on the holofeeds. She’s the High Priestess of our Dinobots and currently the active leader since Klea Pakora mysteriously vanished. I know I’m not supposed to be snooping around in his conversations but something came up about the Horaquan. They are trying to raid her temple in Helonis City which isn’t far from us. Since you are actively trying to stop them, maybe you could help her. I’ll send a bridge to your location and teleport you back afterwards.”

Both Cybertronians groaned out of shame. Klea Pakora was yet another lost soul on the isle and they had yet to even break the news of Tigressa’s passing. How were they meant to tell King Kronos his Dinobot leader was gone too? A portal appeared off from them by a few feet and Arcee knew that was Phantasmos’ doing.

“Might as well do what we can to please the masses,” Arcee huffed.

---------------------------------

Bolt skimmed through the pages upon pages of data regarding the planet’s history. Tigressa’s war was most prominent in many references to current events or at least as an aftermath. Moonhunter was asleep beneath the table at his feet as he heard the king and queen walk in. Their steps shook the tables slightly but all the furniture was designed to take the motions with ease.

“Bolt, is it?”

The Vehicon looked up at Queen Kiara noting her regal posture. “Yes, my lady?”

“I was wondering how you came to know of the Metal Heads, if you don’t mind me asking? My mate and I, well, we’ve been thinking about the situation more and knowing now that they are active means you may have come across one of their leaders.”

He nodded, “Why, yes, we have. We met them on the Isle of the Allspark first. I didn’t even know what they were until I did a little research and found Tigressa made a Rozarian pun from their name, ‘metal-headed’...‘hora-quan.’ Clever.”

The king frowned somewhat. “The Isle of the Allspark...”

“It was on Earth. Long story short, the Allspark sensed corruption in the form of Rockrider, Arcee’s ex-trusted associate, and went into isolation and separated its mind into eleven gems. It trapped anyone who went to the isle...including me. Arcee and Megatron, who were still enemies at the time, beat the Allspark at its own game and returned it as well as took back Arcee’s throne. I died,” he said without missing a beat to Queen Kiara’s shock, “but as you can see, it didn’t last. Arcee saved everyone.”

King Kronos slowly became annoyed, and he couldn’t figure out why until he said, “Funny, that’s not the part I was told today. Where might have the encounters with the Metal Heads have occurred and how exactly?”

Without thinking of the consequences, Bolt proudly stated, “One of the enemies in the Roughridge Mountains Arcee encountered in our plan to recapture the gems was the Metal Heads and got rid of a few commanders along with Kor and Tigressa when the Allspark sent the latter to destroy Arcee. Of course, Arcee killed her before that could hap-”

“Arcee encountered Tigressa?” King Kronos asked suddenly, his voice dead serious and pupils contracting severely.

Bolt tensed like a statue and nearly snapped the data pad he had in his servo in half realizing his mistake. “Ti-ah...she-she-she did but...um...”

The shadow of the king loomed over him, and he shrunk in his chair as a harsh question in an extremely deadly tone desecrated his forced silence. “And you said Arcee did what?”

If Bolt had normal optics, they would have been as wide as saucers. He didn’t think the king would be that peeved about it given the history between him and his daughter. As he had to strain his neck to keep eye contact with a whimper, Kronos suddenly kneeling, shaking the furniture, and having a snout full of fangs nearly poking Bolt’s faceplate as the latter leaned back across the table was utmost terrifying for the Vehicon. Even Moonhunter didn’t dare hiss at the king and instead fled out from under the table to hide behind a bookcase.

“It has come to my attention, dear Bolt, that my daughter is currently dead. I suggest you find a way to bring her body back home or you and your friends will be SCATTERED ACROSS THAT ISLE YOURSELF. Is...that...clear?!”

The Vehicon shook like a leaf, rattling the table as Queen Kiara was just as furious but held back her anger. He stuttered, “Un-un-un-denia-ably, your Highness.”

“Now, I want you to do me a mandatory favor.”

----------------------------

Helonis City was nearly a treetop city. The metal buildings were constructed around trees instead of the trees being planted within it. Bridges up high allowed crossing to and from the larger canopies while the main city sat at the base of the trunks. Waterfalls from nearby cliffs kept the lake and the rivers that ran through it steady. Several shark-like creatures leapt from the pink ravines and dived back in. Some rivers had immersible tanks where the creatures could swim up and above the water’s surface and allowed bystanders to see them clearly.

Arcee was so preoccupied with the sights that she nearly slammed into the side of a butterfly blue Rozarian male. She apologized immediately but the Rozarian merely laughed.

“It’s alright. Not the first time someone has accidentally walked into me. Tends to happen with tourists.”

“Y-Yeah, um, you’re probably tired of these types of questions then but where might I find Farseer’s temple? I believe that’s her name,” she asked politely. It was strange talking to a Rozarian that wasn’t out to kill or berate her.

“No problem whatsoever, dear. Farseer’s Temple of Meditation is beyond the city limits. Follow the northern pass and you’ll come across it say three to five minutes?”

“Thank you,” she said as she bowed her servos.

Following the Rozarian’s instruction, Arcee decided to hitch a ride on Megatron’s alt mode towards the north past the city. The aerial view of Helonis was like looking down at a jungle with bots of all types moving among it. Those that could fly glided and swooped towards their destination, mostly the buildings that bots like Arcee couldn’t get to without the ability. Farmland was distant to their right and what appeared to be an observatory or a museum was stationed on top of the waterfall cliffs. They kept going north into the forest until they came across patterns in the ground.

Stones and metal were crafted in harmonious designs with precision. They passed them, trailing them to a visible metal structure entombed in rock with a platform of older metal leading up to its entrance. The most notable inhabitants confirmed its location. Dinobots were all gathered in the yard in front of it and the largest ceratopsian with banners between their horns, tattoos and gold jewelry decorating their frame was guessed to be the leader. Then they spotted the Metal Heads converging on the temple.

“I think this is our stop,” Megatron said.

Arcee grinned and jumped down, activating her gliding ability to assess the situation before she dived. If she dove without knowing the full extent of the battlefield, things could get deadly. “Dinobots are all near the temple. No Metal Heads. If we hit them from above, we can stun the masses to engage. With me so far?”

“Always,” he replied with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

“Let’s go!”

Arcee retracted her energy wings and went to dive, aiming for a burly Metal Centurion who had its shield facing the Dinobots. As soon as she was a meter out, she opened her wings to slow her descent a little before hitting the skull of the Centurion with her pedes. The force sent the beast down and crushed its head upon the ground with a sizable impact mark left in its wake. Megatron did the same but used his fist, punching down on a Ramhead’s skull gem and popping out its eyes in the process when it slammed chin-first down. As they predicted, the Metal Heads backed away stunned at the sight and their unexpected appearance.

The Dinobots growled briefly, the raptors and other predator-based ones being the most vocal, but their leader, Farseer was silent, merely glaring between them and the intruders. She finally blurted out, “If you’re going to stay, I suggest a little less showboating and show these monsters they are not welcome here.”

The indigo and black gradient, giant Styracosaurus then gave out a roar and all her subordinates replied with their own noises. Crested and frilled Dinobots all showed off their various attributes in warning, striking the ground ready to charge. When the Metal Heads called back, they grew vicious. Like warriors, no Dinobot dared to yield to the invaders as they clashed. Those with horns quickly swept their heads into any living viral body they could get to. Some Dinobots ended up having multiple Metal Head corpses stuck to them.

The Dinobot shaman and oracle did the most unusual thing and forced herself to stand on her hind legs despite the uneven weight. With her horns all glowing alongside her eyes turned silver and she gestured to the ground. The earth shook as chunks of rock and soil were lifted by her mind. She rotated the pieces around her once before taking a striking pose, her powers realigning the isolated rocks into a circular pattern in front of her.

Arcee had never seen a Dinobot with psychic abilities. She knew the Thirteen Primes had levitation and a few other powers give or take but levitation in a species such as Farseer’s would have put those like Micronus and Liege Maximo into spark arrest. Making punching motions, the rocks all flew to any target like homing missiles. Most all the Metal Heads she struck were as good as dead but one got too close and she snorted like it was a simple inconvenience. The Metal Head didn’t last as she swiped her tail down, smashing it with the disturbing sound of bones cracking.

Arcee ran at a few Grunts and brought out her double-bladed sword. With a battle cry, she threw it at one of theirs and flipped over the dying Horaquan while grabbing her weapon, splitting its skull in half, to twirl it into the other’s abdomen. As purple blood leaked across its body, she kicked the creature off her blade with a sneer.

A Tyrannosaur Dinobot and a Pterosaur snagged distracted Metal Heads and pulverized them in their jaws before blowing fire directly into the faces of the foreign army. The fire was hot enough that Arcee could feel it from her position afar and the unfortunate monsters that got caught in its wrath were almost melted puddles of goo with only parts of their armor salvageable.

Megatron blasted the larger Metal Heads and shifted his sword from beneath his arm cannon to slice any one of them that leapt at him. With Metal Heads being so routine in their aggressive nature, he found that instead of being annoyed by their presence, it seemed better to treat their rampage as a game. His dreaded laughter confused the Dinobots greatly, but he loved the satisfaction it gave him to kill again.

Farseer returned to all fours and charged at the Metal Runners that held mockery of her species’ appearance like imposters. They were no raptors in her optics, and she intended on making them obsolete in their mockery. Like an unstoppable tank, Farseer plowed into them, breaking limbs and bodies with ease. Even the hard-headed Ramheads that ran after her broke their necks and had chunks of their skulls flying everywhere when they tried to meet Farseer’s charge. As large as Farseer was, Arcee was more surprised their skeletons didn’t shoot out of their bodies entirely.

The queen and the active Dinobot leader bumped into one another, and the latter peered down at her with a grunt. Arcee only responded by giving her an unsure look as the Metal Heads continued to come. She suddenly saw a Mantis coming into Farseer’s blind spot and grabbed the High Priestess’ horns, swing off them to kick the Metal Head back. She looked at Farseer who then nodded with approval and thanks.

With the Metal Heads having trouble progressing, it didn’t stop them from trying to counter flame-spewing Dinobots and the Cybertronians. Arcee smirked as one Grunt was aiming for her, welcoming its determination and ready to kill it when in mid-leap, it began to levitate. The other Metal Heads were airborne as well and she noticed Farseer’s horns weren’t glowing. In an abrupt chorus of squeals, the Metal Heads were twisting and curdling uncontrollably as echoing laughter haunted them. They were being tortured, and Arcee didn’t really like seeing it despite the virus deserving the pain. The lost souls trapped within hopefully weren’t affected.

Farseer peered up and chuckled as she moved slightly to the left. “Long time no see, you two.”

Two forms crashed down, one a Ridgeback like Kronos but with purple optics and stripes while the other was a raccoon-like purple femme decorated with tattoos and jewelry similar to Farseer. Cloth-like armor strewn over her hips and abdomen like Queen Kiara had immediately told Arcee they were yet another set of twins among the Kronos family. The Ridgeback mech held his arm out, what seemed to be what kept the Metal Heads floating but it was the sister who showed malicious intent, gesturing before clutching her servos into fists and all the Metal Heads’ bodies were crushed. Blood seeped out but didn’t hit the ground, instead it coiled around the femme who snickered at the downfall of the monsters. Her brother kept stoic.

“Well, if you told us you had guests sooner, we would have loved to throw a ritual of enlightenment.”

Megatron mused, “You mean a party?”

“Whatever,” the femme rolled her optics before raising a brow. “You aren’t an animal base; you have no attributes suited for this world and you reek of oil...Cybertronians?”

Arcee placed a servo on her hip sassily, “Wasn’t it obvious?”

The purple femme then grinned, “I am Kalypso, and this is Ghost. I think I overheard you visiting but didn’t think you would be this far out. Nice of you to help but we’ve fought the Metal Heads long before you even knew about them.”

“Yeah, as your brother, Poltergeist, pleasantly notified us of. So, if you deal with elements, so I’ve heard, what exactly are your powers?”

Kalypso scoffed, “Call it magic, simplest term for your short-sighted minds. I deal with the art of the basis of elements. Its core fundamentals and the ability to terraform what is to what I want. Also, resident doctor. Ghost?”

The brother shook his head, rolling his optics with a notable scar across his left side and a broke horn. “I am...the master of death. I can summon souls and reanimate them though it is ill-advised, mind you. I can traverse the afterlife and all it entails. It is a morbid ability I don’t like to brag about, and I’ve been ashamed of it in the past. That is why I took on the abilities of the mind instead.”

“Processor Over Matter...you expanded it to what everyone knows now,” Arcee said amazed.

“At the time, the highest form of it was lifting objects with your mind. But I grew curious about what else it can do. The student became the master, and I forced myself to new heights to unlock the unlimited potential of it. One of my students was from Cybertron but he didn’t get far in his training, having to go back to that war of yours instead. He taught others I heard.”

“Yoketron,” she nodded.

“He’s taken on more students than I. I can sense people’s true ambitions and those who show any traits that can jeopardize or corrupt their usage of my training I will refuse to teach whereas Yoketron took anyone in just as my other students have done. Some have met unfortunate fates by doing so.”

The warlord raised a digit curiously. “You said you dreaded your powers before and that reviving people was ‘ill-advised.’ Why?”

“The longer someone is dead, the more uncomfortable they will be in the land of the living. I...made a mistake resurrecting someone who had been dead for years when I was young and to see them deteriorate so quickly before me, yearning to be dead again was heartbreaking. I now refuse to do it even to those who pay for such services. Some people killed themselves after seeing a revived loved one vanquish mentally before them after returning from the dead. It is a terrible sight,” Ghost warned, optics flashing briefly to emphasize his seriousness.

“So, you trained in Processor Over Matter to do something you thought was helpful?”

Then Farseer said, “Ghost and Kalypso are different types of psychics like me. We’ve all decided to broaden our abilities with such a practice as Processor Over Matter to keep our title as sages of wisdom and to understand the balance of nature. It is sometimes our only escape against the burdens of reality too. We all have demons with what we can do.”

Kalypso made a hand wave. “Yes, but at least when you do it, you’re seen as an all-seeing oracle. I see someone’s fate, I get called a witch in some places...much more colorful terms elsewhere.”

“The reason that is, Kalypso,” Farseer started before her tone turned annoyed, “is because you don’t have a filter in what you say about it. People want to know if they die, not how stupid their deaths may be even if it's true.”

Arcee and Megatron laughed between one another before Farseer tipped her head to gesture for them to follow.

“As a form of gratitude for your services, how about something to drink.”

“Oh, we could so go for some Energon right about now,” the queen said.

They trailed Farseer and the Kronos twins into the temple as the other Dinobots began to clean the corpses from the battlefield and froze in awe at its decorations. Lavish but humble, the temple had pillows for seats and Dinobots encased with gold jewelry and banners similar to Farseer’s own on their person. Unlike Cybertron’s Dinobots who were bashers with brains most of the time, the Dinobots of Kanjis were like monks, peaceful and lax until angered. Farseer took her position on a large pillow big enough for her under a draped canopy with Kanjian symbols. She lay on it and folded her front limbs to press her paw pads against one another in a regal pose. The gold-lined banners hanging between horns moved elegantly with her as her silver optics were closed.

Kalypso sat on a pillow crossed legged, but Ghost hovered over it, winding his tail in a spiral pattern until the tip barely touched his pillow. He took a meditative posture and closed his optics floating in place to the shock of both Cybertronians.

Apparently, the dragon mech had a sense of humor when he blandly answered their unsaid questions while unable to see their expressions. “Millenniums of practice.”

Farseer nodded to one of her Dinobots and they immediately knew what to do. Bringing out beverages, the Energon was doused with yellow swirls melting to green among its normal blue, creating a galaxy effect with sprinkles for stars. The bots took their share and relaxed while Ghost, without opening his optics, had the drink hover off the tray and levitate in front of him. He kept his head bowed.

Farseer chuckled, “He’s always been like that. Very focused. Now then, I assume Prometheus sent you?”

Arcee replied hesitantly at first unsure of the name until it clicked, “...Yes...he wanted to make sure everything was okay. Even Phantasmos thought you needed help, and he looks up to you.”

Kalypso and Ghost both stirred a little hearing their younger brother’s name but said nothing as they both took to meditating. Farseer merely raised a brow. “Intriguing. The Metal Heads shouldn’t have been your problem, yet you are here to resolve their attempts of conquest of other worlds, bring trade back between Cybertron and Kanjis, and prove you can do this without the advice of the Allspark.”

The comment made Arcee drop her smile. She looked at Megatron who didn’t have any answers either. “How...?”

Farseer simply said, “It’s how I know you aren’t to blame for what happened to Klea Pakora, and Tigressa, well, we knew someone one day would. Ghost and Kalypso knew too but Prometheus did not...until now.”

“W-What do you mean by that?”

“I can see the past, present, and future. I knew about the events of the isle among the Dinobot clan through Klea’s eyes and now I see the rest through yours. Tigressa made a deal and paid for it when she blindly attacked you in her rage directed at her sire. The Allspark knows all yet you still look past it. And I know what will happen to you. Prometheus has just realized where Tigressa is through your friend, Bolt, and I suggest if you want any hope of regaining his trust, you get Tigressa back home soon. I can convince him to give you another chance...just one, but you have to do the rest.”

Kronos knew. She would strangle Bolt with her bare servos unless it was an accident. Then she decided mentally to just punch him. “So, when we go back to Gemelo...”

“You’re fucked,” Kalypso said amused. Ghost didn’t say anything, but he didn’t seem to deny it either.

Farseer, however, coughed, “More like a chance to set things right. Listen to me, Arcee, the balance of our worlds is not just at stake. Heed the Allspark carefully as well as those around you, be weary of who you help because you’ve already made some terrible mistakes that will hurt you. You will make more but just be prepared to always do what’s right no matter what stands in your way.”

Arcee breathed rapidly as she quickly thought of a plan for King Kronos and how to weasel her way out of the hell she just created for herself. “I-I’ll try.”

The Dinobot High Priestess huffed, “I know I shouldn’t help you, but I know where your intentions lie. Kalypso, if you would.”

The femme forced Arcee’s double-bladed sword out from her back by making it fly towards her. Grabbing it, she had it float upon her lap and made hand movements around it. The blades became denser, its edge a blue matching Arcee’s color scheme and when Kalypso held it, its edges lit up with symbols. Spinning it, the light smeared to trail after the sword. She handed it back to Arcee before looking at Megatron.

The warlord sneered, “I like my weapons the way they are, thank you.”

“That will help cut down the more unfavorable of enemies. Now, I suggest you get going before the king decides to hunt you down.”

“Thank you,” Arcee said as she jumped back onto her feet.

“Good luck. You’ll need it.”

Kalypso waited for them to exit the temple before scowling, “I think they’ll change their fate and end up killing themselves.”

Ghost’s brows furrowed in his solemn state and Kalypso was whacked in the back of the head by a stray object he shot at her with his mind from across the room. Farseer shot a deadpanned expression her way instead of doing the same.

Arcee and Megatron quickly contacted Phantasmos and requested a bridge to the palace. The youngling sounded a bit stressed in answering their call but did so anyway. It wasn’t until they raced into the portal that they saw Bolt and Phantasmos with the other youngling with saddened expressions looking at them hopelessly. Before either bot could question it, King Kronos stepped out from the side holding Tigressa’s severed servo, the one Bolt had kept as a trophy from the isle. He held the same ferocity of a glare as Arcee remembered the Cybertronian Predator had when it hunted them, proving without a doubt they had evolved from the same species at one point.

“So, you lie to my face and think you can get away with that?” Any humor or kindness he had was strictly limited. He then gestured with Tigressa’s servo in a shrewd way. “You think you can disrespect me?”

Arcee pleaded, “No, sir, but you have to understand-!”

“SILENCE,” he hissed. “With this newfound knowledge of my daughter’s remains currently being left on the planet called Earth, disregarded like junk, I am very tempted to imprison you but I think a better punishment is in mind. I want all three of you to bring back my daughter, every piece, or I’ll start having my guards take apart you instead.”

When King Kronos wanted to be malicious, he proved to be quite scary and Arcee shivered. Megatron, who normally didn’t care for threats of any kind, was uneasy and looked pitiful. Bolt was scared shitless but Moonhunter was pet by Serpentine. Out of all of them, Arcee figured Moonhunter would be taken care of as King Kronos didn’t seem like the person who would take fury out on an animal that didn’t know better than what an owner commanded. If anything, the Nitrotiger was safe.

When the king snapped his fingers, it sounded like a crack and made almost everyone wince. A space bridge appeared once the guards activated it and he growled, “These coordinates are what your little friend here provided me and it should take you to that ‘Isle of the Allspark.’ If it doesn’t consider this your banishment and I will personally hunt you down.”

“It’s the coordinates, I promise!” Bolt squeaked.

“Excellent, now get going. Contact me when you find her body and I’ll send the guards to retrieve you. Not a moment before.”

Arcee and Megatron were almost pushed through the portal by the guards who were suddenly behind them. Bolt was physically chucked past into it and they winced. Looking at Kronos, the giant dragon’s eyes were narrowed slits. They didn’t argue and walked inside the portal in shame.

On the other side, they shivered profusely as the cold of the mountain hit them. There was also a noticeable streak in the snow where Bolt slid face first into it after being thrown. Seeing the Isle of the Allspark again, especially at night with the Nightshade Desert and Mt. Blastburn in the distance, was nostalgic as so many memories came forth and many didn’t seem too long ago. The Allspark Citadel still stood in the middle of the Black Mountains undisturbed though some vegetation was returning to the mountain slowly. Specs of movement, animals far down were still roaming so that was a good sign life was blooming even without the Allspark watching over.

The space bridge closed with a hiss, not before Phantasmos jumped through and slid on his aft down a few feet. Once it was gone, Arcee grew worried and gestured at the missing portal flabbergasted.

“Phantasmos! What are you doing here?! You can’t be here! Your father will kill us!”

The youngling scoffed, “I won’t let that happen, believe me. He can’t resist this face no matter how hard he tries.”

On cue, he made puppy dog eyes with his ears back and tail curled, slightly wagging. As Bolt got up, Arcee facepalmed, “I don’t think even you can save us. Besides, you really want to be here when we find your sister’s remains? That might be disturbing-”

“I’ve seen dead bodies. I’m not that young and innocent as you think. War is hell. You can’t be in the middle of one, even between family, and not see what the aftermath is. People die because of wrong decisions and of sheer bad intentions every day. It won’t be any different if another one happens, just maybe a different outcome...but someone will still be dead for the world to see. I learned that well before I was ready to.”

“But this is your sister, not any dead body.”

“Which is why it’s important I help, at least to me. Tigressa and I maybe weren’t the greatest of siblings but she was still my sister above everything. I want to,” he stated. “And I know she instigated the fight between you two. Tigressa is the type of person who would attack you regardless. You didn’t know her as Bolt told my sire, so you couldn’t have been responsible for something she brought on herself. Trust me, even with that, I can handle seeing her.”

Arcee knew arguing wouldn’t change his mind and sighed, “Fine. You can help us. Last time I...killed her when she tried to kill me, we fought on the peak. Megatron stabbed her and I had her tumble down the mountain. I cut off her servo prior hence why we had it. The question now is where is she?”

Phantasmos tapped the snow with his foot and grew intrigued. Arcee found his reaction weird until he got on all fours and trekked down the mountainside, his tail swishing at loose snow to roll past him. She had forgotten his powers were of ice and snow was the same but smaller particles.

Bolt brushed off the snow from his chassis, scoffing, “Can he sense Tigressa in this icy wasteland or can track Tigressa’s body mass from the snow itself?”

“Both,” Phantasmos said enthusiastic, “anything within a hundred meters. I normally use it to go hunting in the Kanine Mountains for long-tailed firedeer and horned ferrets. Also, to stay away from those nasty jaggerstripes.”

“I remember that one in the Nemesis Forest here that tried to kill you, Arcee. That thing was cruel,” Bolt laughed.

“Hahaha, that thing died a very painful death because it couldn’t mind its own business, ahem, Bolt,” Megatron snarled.

“Hey, to be fair, his sire is intimidating as hell when he’s pissed. Having someone over a hundred times bigger than you loom over you in rage, you aren’t about to keep lying to his face when he looks like he's about to eat you whole.”

They stepped down the slope of snow after Phantasmos who hopped playfully in his element. When the snow dipped off a cliff farther down, Phantasmos leaned on the edge sniffing the air before bringing out his tucked wings. Soaring down, the youngling pulled to the side to circle around before diving. In the nighttime, he was practically invisible with only his blue stripes and optics reflecting the moonlight bright enough to make out. Megatron took Bolt as he transformed into his jet mode going down, and Arcee glided after them. As she peered past the ridge, there were rocks sticking out from beneath the snow except a few of them looked bit too orange for rocks in how the light reflected. Diving near where Phantasmos flew, she hit the snow hard and bounced back as it scattered on her impact. She giggled at the result of her action until Phantasmos moved close to one of the orange pieces slowly. His ears drooped and she grew guilty.

An edge of a wing lay in the snow and as Phantasmos pulled it up, she could see it had been broken off. She saw a few more pieces and ran to them to dig and see what they were. Megatron and Bolt joined in. She grew cold inward as it was a shoulder with the white and black guard piece dislodged. Further down to the other portion above the snow was Tigressa’s hip and the ridged piece near that was the tail. After a few minutes of nonstop digging, they uncovered all the main body. As gruesome as it was, Tigressa lacked her head, her lower arm with the servo which Kronos had, a full wing, and the tip of her tail. The hip socket on the right side was barely attached with many broken cables but was still right where it should be.

Phantasmos quickly pinpointed the rest of the wing and the tail piece upon scouting a bit down from the body but the head was difficult. There were three possible locations because he sensed three similar sized objects roughly near what her head would be. Phantasmos started on one as Bolt dug like a Neanderthal and Arcee found the third was buried into a concave portion of the mountain.

“She’s not here,” the Vehicon quickly said. “That is a nasty looking rock…”

Arcee rushed with her target area, the snow sinking her with the lack of support until she hit it metal. She paused and slowly skimmed her servo a bit more over it to reveal the edge of something grey. Without thinking, she swiped more off furiously until she almost screamed. Tigressa’s red optic with the yellow iris and black slit pupil was uncovered, the pupil heavily dilated and it seemed likely it was looking at her. The queen jumped a bit at the surprise but didn’t make a sound other than humming nervously.

“What?” Bolt asked, running over to her, “What’s wro-WHOA!!! Ah…that’s the stuff of nightmares. We found her. We…we…that needs to be covered or something. She’s scary even in death.”

Phantasmos showed no fear as he shoveled her out. Arcee grimaced watching him have to lift her broken-jawed head. Even worse, the optic on the left side was dangling with frozen blood. He set it down right next to the severed neckline of the unearthed body and swiped his servos as a task well done.

“If you guys can believe it, not the worst thing I ever saw,” Phantasmos shrugged.

“The faster we get her home, the better.”

The young dragon grinned but then his ear twitched and he lost his smile. Perking up alert, he went back on all fours and his tail wagged uneasy. He kept his head low to the ground but looked out around the area. Stepping lightly, it was like watching a predator hunting. But Arcee’s instincts began to flare, and something seemed amiss.

“Phantasmos, what’s wrong?” Megatron asked, now alerted himself.

The youngling started to slow as he reached a bend in the mountain of a rock wall. Suddenly, he shot back as fangs snapped at him. Stomping into view, a roar most foul made all the bots petrified. Phantasmos ran quite fast on all four limbs as none other than the Cybertronian Predator chased after him. Blood thirsty with recently stained teeth, the black and red striped creature clambered up the snowbank before stopping as it spotted Arcee, Megatron, and Bolt. It shook with rage and an alien grunt, narrowing its optics at them.

“That’s impossible…” Arcee muttered.

The Predator slid on the side of the mountain quickly trying to get to them, but Phantasmos got in front of Arcee and his optics gleamed bright blue. He made a fast gesture and ice hit the Predator’s torso. It slowed it down considerably, freezing one of its legs but not long did it take for the ice to start cracking. Even among his element, Phantasmos was still a kid learning his powers. The Predator hissed and swiped at him, sending him into a wall of rock and knocking down snow on top of him. When it broke its leg free, it ran at Bolt first.

The Vehicon was sliding everywhere trying to avoid it. It clawed viciously at the snow to keep up with him. The Predators movements started to cause loose snow to form an avalanche with Tigressa’s body parts beginning to inch along with it.

Blaster shots made the Predator growl and whip around as its face was pelted. Swiping its tail, it caught Arcee who hit the side of Tigressa’s abdomen. It then went for Megatron, jaws wide as he was big. The warlord managed to catch them but he was tossed around like a ragdoll before he was forced to let go and take a tumble. With another roar, the Cybertronian Predator grew curious and hostile at the being that looked identical to it. Phantasmos backed away shooting icy blasts, as many as he could. Seeing the Predator dodge a few of them and crawl towards him at the same time was unsettling. Its pupils were slivers and the smaller mech tried to outmaneuver it only for his tail to get caught by the Predator’s teeth.

Phantasmos let out a blood-curdling bellow as the fangs sank into sensitive protoform and he did everything in his power to claw and bite at the Predator to get it to release him even as tears started to well up from the pain. The Cybertron Predator was borderline giddy as it pressed down again earning a beast-like squeal. A rock was flung at its optic, and it snarled at Bolt.

“Leave him alone before something bad happens to you, bitch!”

The Predator made a gurgled growl, making Phantasmos whimper like a puppy when its mouth tightened. As it stared down its most hated enemy, Bolt’s posture became abnormally relaxed, and he laughed much to the monster’s confusion.

“Too late.”

It pondered what that meant when its jaws were instantly grabbed and ripped open. It was forced to let go of Phantasmos and the youngling hit the ground sprinting behind Megatron and Arcee as the two volunteered to guard him. They all were shocked when the Predator attempted to snap at the servos that held it but was immediately lifted by the throat. A mightier roar than it could produce sounded in its face making it tense as fangs larger than its own and optics far more fearsome stared it down with contracted pupils, the white of the optics nearly covering the entire area.

The presence of King Kronos shook the mountain almost as the Predator was violently tossed into the rocks hidden beneath the snow wall of the side. An audible crack made the beast whine as its impact splintered the rock indefinitely. The Predator proved stubborn and got up to roar back at its opponent. It regretted that decision quickly. When it tried to lunge, Kronos was on all fours with every barb along his back raised, wings expanded, and tail whipping angrily.

The bots watched as Kronos sank his fangs into the back of the Predator’s neck and wiggled to tear apart the armor. It was the first time any of them heard an outcry of pain so distinct from the likes of the once indestructible beast. Kronos tore at anything he could get a hold of as the Predator bit his servo. Snarling, he grabbed the upper half of the jaw and pushed his servo down to pin its lower to the snowy surface. Once he had a stable grip, he tore its upper snout right off the lower jaw with a brutal set of cracking noises from strained cables and metal. Blood gushed everywhere as the Predator tried to squeal but its voice box was drowned out by the building liquid rushing down its esophagus and without a lower jaw, the vocal patterns did not come out the same even when it did manage a noise or two.

Forced back, the jawless Cybertronian Predator was, for once, scared. The king didn’t let it flee, especially when it got too close to Phantasmos and the bots again. He attacked it repeatedly with his jaws at the ready like a cobra. Once it moved away from his son, he grabbed the scruff of its neck and put it in a chokehold.

Arcee and the others winced as the Cybertronian Predator cried out when its neck began to twist with Kronos’ grip holding it still while his other servo had a firm lock on its snout. With a loud snap, the Predator sank in place and was thrown into the snow. King Kronos rumbled in his throat as he stared down the lifeless husk to make sure it wasn’t going to get up. After a second, he slammed his servos forward and lifted his wings as he gave a domineering roar that echoed across the isle. Seeing his entire mouthful of fangs on display was frightening to all but once he stopped his call, he walked on all fours still to see if Phantasmos was alright.

The smaller dragon purred as he was nuzzled by a now tame Kronos. A father would do anything to protect his son, and Arcee knew that nothing would stand against him if it valued living. He looked over the Cybertronians before coughing, “I apologize for that. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Ah, no, you’re good. Fantastic even,” Bolt said as he gave a thumbs up.

King Kronos smiled as he kept his son close to his chassis cautiously. “When Phantasmos went missing, I teleported here and watched you find Tigressa like you promised. I was upset that he would defy me but when that beast showed up, I couldn’t stand to watch any of you get hurt, least of all my son.”

Phantasmos huffed, “I think you were being too harsh on them. If they told you from the beginning they had killed Tigressa, you would have done just the same thing but maybe they would have died. We know how Tigressa is. Can we blame them truly for killing her after everything she’s done?”

“A fair point indeed. Perhaps I overreacted. The fact that you did manage to find her though brings us peace...even if it wasn’t the type we wanted.”

Arcee sighed, “We meant no disrespect ever. Tigressa came after me first. I had no choice but to kill her, and technically it was Megatron anyway.”

The warlord shot her a look to Kronos’ sudden laughter. “Oh, I bet. Now, how about we go back? I’ll send transport for Tigressa’s remains soon now that we know.”

After a moment of silence when King Kronos nudged Phantasmos up the snowy mountain away from the carnage, Bolt said the dumbest thing he could. “So, you wouldn’t be mad about the Swansong either, right?”

He was yelled at by both his peers as King Kronos’ brows raised somewhat surprised but not enough to change his more stoic approach to the sudden information. He gave a disheartened sigh as Phantasmos snickered.

“I...hear nothing but the chilling wind.”

Chapter Text

Arcee and Megatron waited for Phantasmos after he had recovered from the incident with the Cybertronian Predator. It still shook them how it took someone of King Kronos’ size to finally kill the monster once and for all. As they sat beneath the starry sky with Kanjis’ moons now in view and the asteroid belt around the planet more visible and radiant, they looked out on one of the balconies of the palace to see the city at night. Bolt didn’t pay attention much to it as he was talking to himself and the Moonhunter who only yowled which he took as agreeing with him.

They heard a commotion within and saw a black Ridgeback with yellow striping and optics grab Phantasmos’ face with worry. “Did it hurt you?! Did it damage anything else other than your tail?! Is your mind still active?!”

Phantasmos smirked in his older brother’s grasp though he did try to pull his head out of the grip before he was roughly pulled into the yellow-vented abdomen. “I’m okay! I’m okay! I promise, Spirit!”

The one called Spirit was shoved off aggressively by his annoyed twin, a grey and yellow-spotted hyena-like femme with electricity visibly running in pipes within her upper arms, abdomen, and backside. With a mohawk-like crest and yellow layered optics, the femme came off arrogant. She shooed him back further when his paranoia rose again before looking over Phantasmos herself. After a minute, she scoffed, “You’re fine.”

“See? Thank you!” Phantasmos said.

“Yes, but there could be worse damage you don’t see and if that monster struck an Energon pump in your spine and-and-and it wasn’t sealed right, you could have a clot that will fester and kill you!” Spirit argued.

A black and orange striped Ridgeback shrugged, “It’s not that bad, even if that was the case. Clots are operable.”

Kalypso covered her optics embarrassed, “Nice job, Entity, way to give the kid nightmares. Remind me to never let any of you be medics. You guys will kill the kid faster than any injury.”

The other siblings had rushed to the palace upon hearing their baby brother had been attacked and Arcee had never seen such a colorful family, half of the statement being literal. From what she gathered of the siblings she had never met up until now, Entity was not the smartest being in the room and oddly spacious like a dreamer and seemed to feed on moonlight between arguments like a light source to his energy similar to Sunstorm, Electrohyena had aggression like Tigressa but had a spark of gold deep down with her name stating her obvious powers, and Spirit was very paranoid and finnicky like the winds he represented.

The last sibling that had yet to speak, if she even could, was the orangish-red fox femme who sat on the floor. With a fluffed metal tail and a black gradient on her limbs, she was beautiful, but her mind wasn’t all there. Her orange optics were vacant and all she made was whimpers of concern, sometimes with a thousand-mile stare. She suddenly sneezed and a small section of the palace floor caught on fire which she looked at proudly. Moonhunter sprinted away at that though the rest of her siblings looked down neutral with Entity gently patting the fire down.

“Firefox, no fires inside,” Kalypso said quickly before talking with her other siblings again.

The one called Firefox licked her lips and swayed her tail like a bored little kid. Entity seemed to glare a bit at Kalypso and kept close to his twin. He seemed protective but not in the same way as Poltergeist was to Blossom. He acted more like a caretaker and seemed happy to do so.

Bolt peered between all of them and mocked, “It’s like looking at the physical embodiment of a Skittles commercial in here.”

Megatron and Arcee looked at him deadpanned.

“What? I paid attention to the fads of human culture too. Can’t stick me on a planet and not expect me to observe everything.”

King Kronos and the other younglings, Eclipse and the four Cybertronians-turned-Kanjians, came into the crowded throne room and he clapped twice to get their attention. Blossom and Ghost waited with resolve while Poltergeist had an impatient scowl upon his features.

“Now then, if anyone is squeamish...Spirit...I suggest you turn your backs now. Tigressa needs to be transported through here and she’s not in great condition.”

The Kronos children didn’t budge as Arcee stood next to Ghost who she knew tolerated her at least. Just then, the hovering berth with Tigressa’s broken form moved through and the gash in her spark chamber where Megatron had struck her saving Arcee was on display. Most of the siblings were neutral, maybe slightly shocked to find their oldest sister had died. Some like Ghost were very stoic about it, and then there was Firefox who didn’t know entirely what was going on. She gleefully pointed at Tigressa as thinking her sister was back to stay, but Entity placed a servo on hers and guided it back down, shaking his head in a nice manner which Firefox understood wasn’t a joyful thing.

One thing Arcee noticed was the count of Kronos children was even numbered. Tigressa was the only one deceased among twelve born and four adopted. Sixteen total children and only fourteen were present...where was Tigressa’s twin brother? Even Farseer, who walked through the throne room’s doors with Queen Kiara behind the dead, bothered to show up to Tigressa’s exhumation and transport. Just then, everyone went silent as the doors on the opposite side of the room burst open. Arcee panicked and nearly brought out her weapons thinking the Cybertronian Predator had returned, but the black and red striped Ridgeback had a more mechanoid appearance than it. They were almost identical still and that threw her off greatly.

The assumed twin of Tigressa froze as he saw her body on the slab surrounded by guards. He looked angered and confused more than sad. In a heavy, gruff voice, he sneered, “Who did this?”

Ghost replied, “Demon, it’s not a matter of who-”

“It always matters who. Tigressa is still my twin, my other half regardless,” Demon said, flattening his ears against his head.