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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”