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Episode 24 (S.U.V.):Tarantulas
It was a warm August day in Detroit. The wind rustled the leaves on the trees . The sun reflected itself in windshields, mirrors, screens, and various other objects. Midday traffic rushed along. All was peaceful, until without warning, a large ship rocketed out of the sky and into the streets below.
“Move it people! We don’t pay you to stand around gawking at the sights!” Captain Fanzone bellowed through his megaphone at the S.W.A.T. team that had assembled. Meanwhile, the Autobots, who had been alerted of the oncoming vessel, conversed amongst themselves in vehicle mode as they rushed to the scene.
“What do y’ think it’s gonna be, Boss-bot?”asked Bumblebee. “Maybe Starscream’s back?” Optimus shuddered at the name. “No, Bumblebee. It’s too big to be Starscream, Megatron, or any of the Decepticons we’ve encountered so far.”
“And it’s not coming down as gently,”Ratchet growled. He had just picked up the signal of the object, and observed, along with the rest, as it came into view and made a none-too-graceful halt in the middle of a busy highway, leaving a trail of wreckage behind it.
Screeching to a stop, the Autobots transformed and carefully viewed the ship. Realization dawned on them: they had seen this ship before. Standing at a respectful distance, they saluted as the ship door opened, a ramp came out, and four familiar figures stepped into view.
“Ultra Magnus, Sir, welcome back,”Optimus found the courage to say as he looked up in surprise at the Commander’s face. “I’m afraid we weren’t expecting you.”
“Save it, Prime. We can talk after you’ve been debriefed on the current state of things on Cybertron,” Ultra Magnus replied. Optimus made no comment as he and his crew were led into the ship, followed by Jazz, Sentinel Prime, and Blurr.
“Now as you know, Starscream escaped us during our trip back to Cybertron, and we were unsuccessful in capturing him,”Ultra Magnus began.
“And he returned to Earth to steal the Allspark,” Bumblebee interrupted. Ultra Magnus paused, frowned at Bumblebee slightly, then continued.
“At some point or other you must have found him, or his experiment, because we had an interesting little...event take place on Cybertron that had to do with a space bridge from Earth.”
Bumblebee and Bulkhead shifted in their seats uncomfortably, then turned to look at Optimus.
Optimus realizing that it was his turn to answer replied,”We did discover that Starscream had been making clones of himself, but not until he had made a sizeable group of them.”
Ultra Magnus frowned, thought for a moment, then said,”How many of these clones were there?”
It was now Optimus’ turn to think. “I’d say five, Sir.”
“And how many are there now?’‘
“I really don’t know, Sir. Two of them got sucked through an experimental spacebridge that the Decepticons created.”
“I see. Well in that case I’d better pick up where you left off.”
Optimus shifted slightly in his seat. “You found the clones, Sir?”
“Found the clones?” Sentinel roared startling everyone in the room,”how can you not find them when they come crashing right through the front window of your command center? Honestly, Optimus, don’t you think we get enough of your stupid questions during normal circumstances?”
“Lieutenant!” barked Ultra Magnus as he frowned at the frustrated Prime, who was still rather heated from his little outburst,”may I remind you that you are here to observe and not to question or refuse the words of Optimus and his team! You have spoken out of line, and are therefore confined to quarters until further notice. Is that understood?”
Sentinel scowled at Optimus.
“I said, Lieutenant, is that understood?”Ultra Magnus said sternly, his voice dangerously close to exploding.
Sentinel paused, still panting, then looked his commander in the optics. “Sir yes Sir,” he replied grudgingly. He turned, and walked out the door that led to the hall, but not before giving Optimus one last glare before closing it.
Ultra Magnus sighed, putting his head in his hands briefly, and then said,”My apologies for that outburst. Sentinel is rather...headstrong at times. I will have him make a full apology to you as soon as this meeting is over!”
“Thank-you, Sir,”Optimus replied, feeling a little awkward at this point. “I’m sure he meant no real harm. You know about our past together, you understand he’s rather...
“Yes of course,”Ultra Magnus interrupted. “But getting back to the point. The Lieutenant was right about the clones: One day, sometime after we had returned to Cybertron, something odd happened. A spacebridge opened up about four leagues away from our end of the planet and dumped several mechs, two Autobots, two Decepticons, into our gravitational field. It was later revealed to have come from Earth.”
At this, Optimus shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“We monitored the Bots and Cons for about twenty cycles,”Ultra Magnus continued,”until we got a confirmation on their location. They were headed in a direct crash-course with our building!”
Optimus and the other Autobots shuddered. They were sure they were going to get reprimanded now.
“Jazz, Sentinel, and I evacuated the building, but we were caught in the crash ourselves. And it turned out to be a good thing that we did. The two Decepticons attempted to escape soon after impact, but we caught them immediately. One of our lieutenants, named Blurr, who had been on Earth for some time and was one of the two Autobots from the spacebridge crash, was able to turn in a full report. It seems that you have been quite busy with the Decepticons!”
“Yes...Ultra-Sir!” Optimus replied nervously, accidently forgetting to call his commander by his proper title, ”we’ve had trouble with them lately. In fact, the most recent Decepticon-related incident we thwarted was the spacebridge you encountered!”
“Ah,” Ultra Magnus said calmly. He took no notice of the trembling Autobots sitting across the table from him, waiting for him to deal out his horrible wrath.
A bit taken aback at this, Optimus was the first to comment. “Sir, is there anything else that you want to discuss?”
“Not at the moment. You are dismissed. Now what am I forgetting? Hmm. Oh yes! Sentinel’s apology. I’ll have him sent up from his quarters to you immediately. Meeting adjourned.”
Sentinel scowled at the wall. He was sitting on his cot with the lights turned off. “Why on Cybertron,” he thought to himself,”am I being punished for this? I told them what happened! After all, I’m entitled to my opinion too!” A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He was just about to call “Come in!,” when he had a sudden thought. What if it was Optimus? Sentinel frowned at this, but decided to open the door anyway. When he did, he found, somewhat to his relief, that Jazz was standing outside waiting to talk with him.
“Sentinel.”
“What?”
“Ultra Magnus wants to see you in the control room, and he’s not too happy.”
“Lieutenant, that little outburst during the meeting was absolutely disgraceful. Not only did you embarrass yourself, but you put the reputation of the entire Elite Guard to shame! This must be delt with, and quickly if you are to keep your position as First Lieutenant. I’m afraid there is no real way I can force you to learn from this, but as Commander, it is my duty to make sure that you are held responsible for your actions and are delt with accordingly”!
“Now,” Ultra Magnus said sternly, “to be sure that this is resolved, you will make a full apology, in person, to Optimus Prime, who, as Commander of this sub-division, is the one to whom you owe the real debt.”
“But, but, Sir...”
“No ‘buts’, Lieutenant. If you are to correct your mistake then this is how it must be done.
Optimus was last seen in the outer west garage. You will go to him now and apologize. If he is not there, do not stop searching until you find him! Dismissed!”
“Most interesting. Most interesting indeed,” BlackArachnia murmured to herself. She was standing behind a table in Meltdown’s lab, on Dinobot Island, going through his vast supply of different chemicals. “Of course! It all makes sense now! These three in the bell-shaped jars combined with the two in the triangular are just the right chemicals I need to create a new, more powerful cyber-venom!” BlackArachnia cried. “Ooo the possibilities are endless...”
As she mixed the concoction, she couldn’t help but think how dark and lurid it looked. How vile and poisonous. For the first time since she had begun, she felt unsure. No matter what she put into it, it would all be going into her body. It was finished now: A thick, black, sticky liquid that looked like it could knock out an entire regiment of Autobot solders.
“Well, here goes,” BlackArachnia murmured, and gulped the liquid.
It was the most putrid-tasting thing she had ever put in her mouth. She choked on it instantly, coughing and spluttering and dropping the glass to the floor. Soon, after catching her breath, she became eager to test her new creation.
“Now all I need is a test subject...”she mused to herself.
Sentinel plodded glumly down the halls of the Autobot’s Earth base. Optimus was still in the outer west garage. He was helping Prowl load up Bulkhead with some old oil barrels, car part shipping boxes, and other junk that was piling up. The busy trio did not notice their watcher, who was standing nervously just outside the door, wishing that it was just Optimus and not the other two. Sentinel coughed and cleared his vocal processor once or twice to make sure his voice was in good condition for what was about to come. He dreaded walking through that door, but it didn’t look like there was any way out of this one, so he prepared himself for the worst. He took a deep breath and knocked once, twice, three times on the metal wall outside of the door-less doorway to get the attention of the busy ‘Bots inside.
Optimus paused, as did the other two, to look up from what he was doing. Someone was knocking on the wall outside the doorway.
“Um, Optimus,” Sentinel’s head peeked around the doorway,”can I see you for a moment?”
“Sure thing, Sentinel,” Optimus replied. He dismissed the other two, then motioned for Sentinel to come in.
“So what’s on your mind?” Optimus asked. He knew well enough why Sentinel was visiting him, and he was enjoying the moment.
Sentinel, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. He had been trying, all the way up to this moment, to think of something polite to say to Optimus, but now just looking at him made the Elite lieutenant’s oil boil over in his tubes.
“Well I was thinking about the meeting today and, well I ...admit that I did speak out of turn.”
Optimus smiled to himself. “So you came to apologize?
Without warning, Sentinel’s temper flared. He couldn’t stand the humiliation of it any longer!
“Don’t get the wrong idea here, Opt-ti-mas. There’s no way I’m apologizing to you !”
Optimus was a bit taken aback by this, but not for long. He realized almost instantly what had happened. However, his temper was pretty short too, after the long day of hauling boxes and barrels, and Sentinel wasn’t helping.
“Look, Sentinel. I know why Ultra Magnus sent you to me, and I’m not going to argue. If I were you, I’d listen to my commander instead of going off by myself to pick fights!”
“Well, I’d say the fight’s been picked now wouldn’t you?’
“Knock it off, Sentinel. I’m not in the mood for this!”
“Oh really? Too good for me, eh?
“My, you’re handling things smoothly!”
“About as smoothly as you handled Elita!”
There was a long pause. The two Primes stood glaring at one another. Then, suddenly, without a word, Optimus started to walk away. Still frustrated, Sentinel called after him.
“Fine! Just walk away! See if I care!” And then to himself,”Stupid Optimus.”
Sentinel stalked out of the garage. He was so busy grumbling to himself about Optimus, that he didn’t notice two pairs of very attentive optics observing him. He continued to complain as he strolled haughtily into the city. He wandered throughout Detroit, until he had worked off most of his anger, then stopped to catch his breath in an ally. He had no idea where he was, but he reasoned that he could easily scan his way back to the Base. He was just beginning to relax, when he suddenly paused. He could have sworn he heard a noise from the wall behind him. A sort of scuffling, scratching noise. A rather spider-ish noise. He turned around immediately, but saw nothing. Backing up a few steps, his spark-beat gradually began to calm again.
“There’s nothing there, there’s nothing there. Giant spiders don’t live on this planet. I hope,” he kept thinking to himself.
Then, just as he had almost calmed down, he bumped into something warm and pulsing. He whipped around, and when he did his oil froze in his tubing with horror. He was directly face to face with a giant spider! Before he could even cry out, it was upon him! Keeping him pinned with part of its body and two of its legs, it hissed savagely in his face, staring directly into his optics. Then, just as Sentinel feared the worst, it did a most unexpected thing. It transformed! Before he knew quite what was happening, Sentinel found himself staring up into the optics of a beautiful femme-bot. She stared back at him with a confidant smile on her face.
“Hello, Sentinel.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
“Search downtown. He could be anywhere!” Jazz said to Prowl and Blurr as they took off from the Detroit Police Station, followed by a S.W.A.T. team. Jazz sighed as he watched them start their search.
“Oh, Sentinel, Sentinel,” he thought to himself as he transformed and took command of his own team,”what have you gotten yourself into now?”
Ultra Magnus paced up and down in one of the hallways inside the station. After leaving Sentinel, Optimus had gone to his room to clear his thoughts, then reported the scenario, in detail, to the Elite Commander. Upon hearing about the episode, Ultra Magnus sent for Sentinel immediately. Receiving no reply, he decided to allow Sentinel to return, then give him his demerit. After waiting a considerable amount of time, he became anxious, and summoned Jazz, telling him to question everyone on Sentinel’s last appearance. He discovered, much to his dismay, that the last everyone, except Optimus, had heard of the Lieutenant was at the meeting that afternoon. After Jazz and Blurr had checked the perimeter of the base, with nothing to report, Ultra Magnus had ordered that a full search of Detroit be conducted. He now continued to pace in the hall, waiting for anything that might shed some light on the disappearance of his First Lieutenant.
“Blast! The new venom’s effects seem to wear off almost instantly. He’s already stirring!”BlackArachnia complained to herself. “And without any of my old venom, there’s not much I can do about it!”
Just as she finished saying this, she heard noises coming from the street behind her. Dogs barking, people shouting, car breaks screeching, it was all too much. Transforming into beast mode, she fled up the nearest wall, disgustedly grumbling to herself about the evening. Fortunately for BlackArachnia, the S.W.A.T. team, headed by Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Sarri, passed the ally completely. If they had not ,however, they would have ben quite surprised at what they saw.
Sentinel was having a nightmare. In it, he was wandering through a black and red haze, trying to find his way out. For some reason, though he didn’t know why, he was uncontrollably afraid. Someone or something was watching him, just waiting for an opportunity to strike! Suddenly, he came to a walled-in area that blocked his path. There was a large iron door in the middle of the brickwork, and Sentinel pounded on it, demanding admittance. That “who” or “what” was coming closer, he could feel it. And just as his knees were beginning to knock together, he paused, because something was breathing on the back of his neck! He spun around on his heels, and found himself looking into horrifying yellow eyes belonging to a dark silhouette. Then, the thing began chuckling. It wasn’t a friendly, pleasant chuckle, but the kind that sends chills down your spine and makes you want to crawl into the nearest crevice. That was how Sentinel felt at the moment. The thing began advancing on him, and he had no choice but to back into the wall with the door. Just as the silhouette was about to make its lunge, the wall behind Sentinel dissolved completely, and he found himself falling. The thing’s chuckles turned into maniacal laughter as Sentinel fell, crying out in fear, into the abyss!
“Sentinel! Sentinel! Wake up!” Jazz called anxiously as he shook the Lieutenant’s shoulders.
“Wwhat?” Sentinels optics opened slowly as he started to come out of stasis lock.
“Thank Primus we finally found you !” Jazz exclaimed, happy to see his friend back online. “But where have you been for the last half a solar-cycle?”
“Half a solar-cycle?” Sentinel groaned. He was completely confused now. He was on the ground in an ally. Suddenly it dawned on him,”Hey this isn’t the alley I was ambushed in!” he exclaimed.
“Ambushed in? I think something’s wrong with your central processor!” Jazz joked grimly as he checked the Lieutenant’s body for injuries. “We’ll talk about it later. In the mean time, you just try relax while I take you back to the base. It’ll be a long walk, and I’m not big enough in vehicle mode to carry you, so you’ll have to lean on me,” Jazz said as he got to his feet. He allowed Sentinel to try first before offering assistance.
Sentinel groggily attempted to get to his feet.
“Ooooo, my head,” he moaned, as he staggered dizzily, attempting to keep his balance. Jazz grabbed him by the arm before he fell over, and pulled him up until he was resting his weight on the ninja-bot’s shoulder. The odd-looking pair stumbled off on their journey, while Captain Fanzone, who had been a part of Jazz’s team, contacted the other teams, and the station, to alert them of the news.
“Look I’m telling you I don’t remember anything!” Sentinel yelled. He was seated at a table, with his head in a bandage, discussing the incident with the other Elite and Optimus. He was throughly annoyed by now, because he had been repeating the same answer over and over again to at least five or six different parties, some had even asked more than twice. “All I know is that this female spider-bot mugged me, and the next thing, I’m waking up to Jazz’s face in a place I’ve never even seen!”
Sensing that his Lieutenant would lose his temper completely if this went on much longer, Ultra Magnus wisely replied,”That’s fine, Sentinel. We’re just trying to get a little better grip on the situation. If no one else has anything to say, I think this would be a good time to end the meeting.”
There was a long pause. Presently, Blurr remarked”Ican’tbelieveyoudon’trememberanythingafter-shehityou! Thereshouldhavebeensomesortofcluethatexplainswhyyouwerelyinginthatally. Perhapsyour-memorybanksaredamaged?”
“They are not damaged!” Sentinel snapped, glaring at Blurr. “Besides, unless you’d rather listen to some hokey dream instead of real facts, then I suggest you stick with what I tell you!”
“Hokey dream?” Ultra Magnus repeated curiously. “What dream? Can you tell us about it?”
“Not you too!” groaned Sentinel. “Alright fine! But you laugh or scoff, hey! I didn’t just ‘dream it up’ on purpose, so live with it!” He described, in accurate detail, his entire dream. The other four consider it, conversing amongst themselves in quite tones. Sentinel began to feel somewhat anxious. Did they take him for a madmech? Presently, Ultra Magnus looked up, and addressed him.
“We have decided that this ‘dream’ of yours is actually a set of suppressed memories, coming back in the form of a nightmare. We think that the reason they are suppressed is because of the injury on your head.” Sentinel rubbed the back of his head briefly, where the energon-custard pie-sized dent was.
“This hypotheses,” continued Ultra Magnus,”has no medical evidence to back it up. However, we will be testing it tomorrow, with the aid of Optimus’ field medic, Ratchet. For now, just get some rest, and we’ll deal some more with this later. Dismissed.”
Sentinel was asleep on the cot in his room. Suddenly, his optics popped open. But they were not his optics. They were yellow, and there were four pairs of them! Strange hissing and clicking noises came out of his mouth as he pushed himself up off of the cot. His left hand, which just moments before had been an ordinary left hand, was now twisted into an odd shape, possessed only three fingers, and was covered in purple scales, with savage claws on the ends! He hobbled, with an odd gait, over to his special case in which he kept all of his most prized possessions, tore th lock off of it, and peeked inside. Among the other things was a genuine Decepticon war helmet! He reached for it, taking it gently off its shelf, and placing it onto his own head. The helmet’s optic-holes filled with yellow light as the helmet, which fit perfectly, slid down onto his head. There was a mouth-plate on the bottom of the helmet, and from this strange noises came. Presently, it opened, and a hideous magenta and black tongue snaked out and back in, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.
“Heh heh heh haaaaaaaaa!”
Bumblebee shifted slightly in his sleep, and turned over. He did this again, then opened his optics. What was that noise? He could here some sort of banging coming from outside. Yawning sleepily, he rolled off the cot, onto the floor and dragged his feet slowly to the door. He opened it, stuck his head outside, and listened. After a couple moments, he realized that the noise was coming from the Elite Guard ship. Bumblebee wasn’t really feeling curious at this hour, especially after peeking back at the contraption humans call a “clock” and seeing it was midnight. But he did want the noise to stop so he could get some rest. In the end, he found himself plodding slowly over to the ship. After knocking didn’t do any good, he tried pushing different keys on the button panel outside a small door an the other end. This worked, eventually, and soon he had reached the hall in which the noise was loudest. After a moment of listening, he realized that the noise was coming from Sentinel’s room. Walking to it, he knocked on the door sleepily.
“Sentinel? Open up! It’s me, Bumblebee. Do you have any idea what time it is? Sentinel? Sen-tin-el?”
Receiving no reply, Bumblebee pressed the button on the mini-keyboard that would allow him to access Sentinel’s quarters. There was no light in the room and none in the hall so Bumblebee used his headlights as stepped carefully into the room. There was a lot of wreckage. The cot had been overturned and most of the furnishings inside, smashed.
“Sentinel?”
Just then, there was a ruckus in the lefthand corner of the room, furthest from the door. Shining his lights in this area, Bumblebee’s spark suddenly skipped a beat with terror.
There was a monster in Sentinel’s room!
“Optimus!”
The creature paused, looking up directly into Bumblebee’s headlights. It stared him for serval cycles (minutes), giving Bumblebee and Optimus, who came upon the scene about three cycles later, a chance to look at the creature.
It was one of the ugliest things you could imagine! Its legs were shaped like a two-legged dinosaur’s, so its two, clawed, scaly toes and the balls of its feet were the only things that touched the ground, and its knees were bent over in an awkward position. Its body and torso were almost identical to BlackArachnia’s, but bigger and stronger and with different markings and yellow eyes. Its left arm, was a sort of oval shape, with a wrist, hand, and three clawed fingers on the end of it. It could easily be called a “human” arm because it was the general shape of one. The only differences were that it was much bigger, and covered with purple scales. The head was covered with an odd-looking ninja-type helmet from which a yellow optic, that was shaped like Prowl’s, protruded. There were three pairs of optics below this one, but they were much smaller. There was a mouth-guard at the bottom of the helmet, from which an ugly-looking black and magenta tongue, that was shaped like an arrow head on the end, came twisting out of. The top crest of the helmet was adorned with a single, green, exotic jewel. The same type of jewel was carved into small circles, and these formed a line on either side of the top crest, just a little below the large one. And on either side of the helmet, a small horn protruded.
By this time, Jazz had been awakened by the noise, and came to see what was going on.
“Is everything ok in there?” he called out to the two maintenance-bots.
The sudden noise startled the creature. It turned completely into the light to get a better view of its observers. When it did, Bumblebee and Optimus got another shock. Not all of the creatures body parts belonged to its body! The right arm was blue, with five white fingers. And the chest was adorned with an Elite Guard symbol! They watched in horrid fascination as the arm slowly changed shape, size, color, and texture until it matched the left arm. The symbol on its chest turned from red to purple. Soon it was a Decepticon symbol instead of Autobot.
“Guys?” Jazz called as he rushed into the room. This was too much for the creature. With a noise that was halfway between a hiss and a snarl, it flipped backwards and jumped through the window! The three Autobots had to duck as shattered glass came flying back towards them.
“Did that thing get Sentinel?” Jazz whispered in the ghost of a voice.
“No, Jazz,” Optimus sighed. “I think that thing is Sentinel!”
The thing, which had once been Sentinel, bounded madly through the streets of Detroit. It did not like the loud noise or the bright lights of the city. Stopping to rest at a nearby wharf on the edge of the city, it noticed the boats tied to the docks. Being naturally curious, it slunk aboard one of the vessels, and crept on its hands and feet on the deck. The boat was unoccupied, and although the thing which Sentinel had turned into was of Cybertronian build, right now it had the intelligence of a mad animal, so it had no idea why its new terrain suddenly started moving after it had accidently pushed the key, which was in the boat at the time, into its slot. The board pulled free of the rope that held it, and took off, crazily skimming in a strait corse until it finally ran aground on the southern shore of Dinobot Island. The creature lay dazed in the bow of the boat for some time.
BlackArachnia prowled the Island. Something had bothering her, keeping her awake all night. Now, for some reason, her tension was eased. Something in her spark was telling her to go a certain way. Cross this log. Climb that rock. It was all very strange to her. Still, at this point, she had no real reason to resist, so she raced onwards.
“Hurry, hurry!” said the voice in her spark.
At last she reached her destination: the nearest beach.
“But why here?” she thought herself.
Hiding in an overhanging tree, in beast mode, she looked out over the beach. Presently, she spotted something coming up the beach. It was a creature of some sort, with eight appendages sticking out of the back of its body. BlackArachnia knew those appendages well. She had already guessed what she was dealing with, but wanted to be cautious. Carefully waiting until her prey was in range, she webbed the creature and quickly drained its energy. Dragging it behind her, she rushed back to the lab as fast as her legs would carry her.
“Wake up, my little creation.”
The creature’s optics opened slowly. It blinked several times to get its sight into focus. A surgical lamp was shining into its face. It squinted against this, for it did not like bright lights. BlackArachnia stuck her face in front of the lamp and stared directly into the thing’s optics.
“You poor creature. Imagine, traveling all the way from the mainland just to find me! Not like you had any choice, I suppose. Instinct and all that, but still...”
The creature was uncomfortably strapped to a surgical table, with electrical cords and pads attached to its body. It did not like the way the Decepticon femme was staring at it, so it began to struggle, hoping vainly that it could somehow escape.
“Now stop struggling. I’m not going to hurt you, I’m trying to help you! Your beast mode is still feral, which means that right now, you’re being controlled by animal instinct. But don’t worry, I’m going to fix that!” And with those words, BlackArachnia left the table and went to a control panel that was shielded behind a plexiglass wall. She pushed some buttons and pulled a large lever, and suddenly, the room that the creature was trapped in was filled with an eerie blue light, as electricity surged through the wires and pads planted on the thing’s body.
“Aiiiiiiiiiiiiegh!”
BlackArachnia was busy scheming how to test her new invention on the Autobots. After she had started the initial process of awaking the creature’s spark, she no longer had to be present for it to continue. So she had retreated to a more comfortable section of the building to plan her next move, which was what she was doing at the moment, sitting on a throne the Dinobots had built for her.
“Let’s see. If we were to raise some sort of commotion at one of the big public places, we could attract attention and that would give him a chance to use his powers..”
“An excellent plan, my dear. However, have you considered adding a little excitement to the plot?” said a high, whiny voice. BlackArachnia whipped around. It was the creature! But it was more that a creature now. It was clearly a male cyber-organic Decepticon, who had taken the form of a spider instead of a vehicle. He stood taller now, with less of a hunch, and when he spoke, it was with the air of a man who has been on long trip and is just returning home, only to be greeted by his favorite person.
BlackArachnia was speechless.
“Allow me,” said her new accomplice as he picked up a portable keyboard that was sitting on a nearby table. With quick fingers, he wrote something, mused over it for a cycle, changed it, then handed it to her. BlackArachnia looked it over and smiled.
“Very well. I see the point in your plan. Why go to the Autobots when they can come to us?”
“A simple, yet effective strategy, referred to quite often as ‘Cat and mouse’. Or more appropriately, ‘Spider and fly’. But before we begin, why don’t survey the Island? I have a few ideas...”
It was early morning in Detroit. The council room on the Elite Guard ship was full. After the creature had escaped, the three witnesses had alerted everyone else of his presence, and the entire group had sleepily assembled in this room to discuss exactly what Optimus, Jazz, and Bumblebee had seen.
“Clearly, when Sentinel was cornered in that ally, his attacker did more than just knocking him unconscious,” Ultra Magnus stated. “This has been derived from the facts that we know. However, what we do not know is what this femme-bot did, or how it was done.”
“I believe I can explain part of it, Sir,” Optimus volunteered.
“Excellent, Prime! Please continue,” Ultra Magnus exclaimed.
While Optimus described BlackArachnia’s abilities, Jazz noticed that everyone was starting to look a little worse for wear. So after the discussion had finished, he politely noted that it was now morning, and that almost everyone wanted to get a little rest before they began a new search. Ultra Magnus agreed to allow a short period of rest before beginning the hunt, as long as they were clear on what to look for. The facts and new assumptions were listed once more, and then the room was dismissed.
It was a long, fruitless search. By five o’clock in the afternoon almost every inch of Detroit had been cleared, and still no sign of Sentinel or his attacker. They had gotten a report of a mysterious boat theft at one of docks on the southern end of the city, but no one had seen anything, and there weren’t any security cameras. They were just giving up, when one team, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Prowl, and Sarri, caught a news report.
“This just in. At four thirty-one this afternoon, dock workers on the southern end of Detroit reported seeing some strange disturbances in the water, but nothing else out of the ordinary. Only minutes later, several witnesses on the waterfront in this area claimed to have seen ‘Giant, metal dinosaurs traveling steadily towards the city.’ Now, it appears that these monsters, known as the ‘Dinobots’, are terrorizing downtown Detroit. Citizens are requested to stay in their homes, I repeat, stay in your homes! Do not attempt to physically visit or contact other citizens in this area. This is a message from your local law enforcement. Thank you.”
“Great! Just great!” Bumblebee grumbled as he used a small recorder they had brought along to replay the message for the other groups.
“It looks like Sentinel will have to wait,” Optimus sighed as he looked in the direction of the crisis.
“Not necessarily,” Jazz stated “Why don’t you take your maintenance crew and see to the Dinobots? The rest of us can search for Sentinel.”
“Good plan,” Optimus answered. “We’ll meet you outside of the Sumdac Systems tower once we’ve finished with the Dinobots.”
“Me Grimlock bored. When truck-bots and car-bots get here?” Grimlock grumbled. He and the other two Dinobots had spent an hour and a half smashing and burning cars, buildings, and other public property in downtown Detroit. It had been fun at first, but after all the people had disappeared, and things had slowed down, it had gotten rather dull. Plus, the beautiful day had turned into a dark and stormy night, and it looked like rain was on the way.
“Me Swoop say we try further,” screeched Swoop as he indicated a freeway that led West.
“No! Black-rachnia say wait here!”
“Me Snarl say this bor-ing!”
That was as far as Snarl got, because at that moment he was rudely interrupted by another voice.
“Grimlock, Snarl, Swoop, what’s going on?” Optimus called as he and his team screeched to a stop.
“Now me Grimlock leave,” said Grimlock as he got up from a sitting position.
“Oh no ya don’t!” yelled Bumblebee as he transformed and fired his stingers.
Grimlock deflected them, switching to beast mode, and breathing a quick jet of fire at Bumblebee before running off to join the other two who had started their retreat.
“After them!” shouted Optimus as he rolled forward, with his team in close pursuit.
Bumblebee couldn’t help but think how much nicer it would have been if Sarri could have come along. She was ordered to stay with the other team, and there was no escaping Jazz, so for the moment, she was stuck.
They reached the Island, but in the process also lost track of the Dinobots.. They did not see any sign of them as they cautiously switched to robot mode and surveyed the Island.
“Where are the birds?” asked Prowl.
“You’re right! There aren’t any bird noises. In fact, there isn’t any noise!” observed Optimus.
Prowl was right. Dinobot Island was deathly still, as if waiting for something. There were no birds, no crickets, not even a breeze in the leaves! All was quiet, but not a peaceful quietness. It was a forced silence.
“Well, I’m not gonna wait around all night for something to happen. Let’s get star-aaaaaargh!” Bulkhead’s statement ended with a cry as he was suddenly electrocuted. He had been walking through fringe of trees when this happened.
“Everyone, get back!” Optimus yelled, jumping back himself.
“What for, Boss-bo-yaaaaaaaaah!” Bumblebee screamed as he too was short circuited.
“Electrical cables!” Ratchet exclaimed as he peered down at the ground. “Someone’s been expecting us.”
Gently, he used his magnets to lift the two unconscious bots away from the cables, and onto the safer ground near his feet.
“They’ll be ok, Prime. A few touchups, a little rest, and you won’t be able to tell they were even out!”
“Good work, Ratchet. We’ll keep searching the Island. Let us know when you can start looking again and we’ll meet up with you,” Optimus replied.
“That’s what you think, Optimus Prime,” hissed the spider-con. He was seated at a large computer, observing everything that his prey was doing.
“Hey,” called BlackArachnia interrupting his thoughts,”have you come up with a name for yourself yet?”
“I have indeed,” mused her partner,”I have indeed.”
The night was filled with oddities. Shooting sticks, rocks with security cameras implanted on them, exploding logs and coconuts, and many more. In fact, there were so many booby-traps that Optimus lost count. He also discovered that they were being jammed. They had lost all contact with Ratchet, and everyone else. After wandering for what seemed like ages, they finally picked up the Dinobot’s energy signatures, and locked onto them.
“This is it. Meltdown’s lab,” Optimus stated as he and Prowl stood before the building. In the odd light, it appeared quite dark and ominous. There were no windows, so it was difficult to tell whether there was anyone inside or not.
“It’s so silent,” Prowl said.
“I agree. It’s not like the Dinobots to be this quiet. Something’s going on. I suspect BlackArachnia, but we can’t be sure.”
“I say we split up. That way we’ll cover more ground.”
“No, Prowl. If we split up, we have less of a chance of defending ourselves. We’ve already lost Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee, and I’m not going to lose you too! Besides, if it is BlackArachnia, then we’ll stand more of a chance against her together, than if we split up.”
With that, they entered the building. It was quite simple, really. You pushed a button on a little plate on the wall, which was similar to a human-sized doorbell, the doors opened, and there you were.
The doors shut almost immediately. It was quite dark inside too, so they used their headlights.
It was a dull, quiet room. There was no sign of any lamps or light switches, yet there was decor. A large, earthen vase, with a plastic bouquet; a big, comfortable-looking sofa; a round, wooden coffee table; and a few abstract paintings here and there for color.
“Look! A door!” Prowl called as he pointed to his find.
The next room was filled with exercise acquitment, but still no lights. This went on for several rooms: A teapot room, a clock room, a painting room, and a yarn room. At last, the reached a door that had light coming from underneath it. Nodding to each other, Optimus and Prowl silently counted to three and...
Wham! The door fell down with a deafening thud. Optimus rushed in, prepared to fight, and...there was no one in the room. Looking around, Optimus carefully stepped around the door, and into the center of the room. The room itself was full of computers and gadgets and tables topped with various chemicals.
“This must be one of Meltdown’s experimenting rooms,” Optimus whispered to himself. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a groan and a thump. Spinning on his heels quickly, Optimus observed the situation.
“Oh no! Prowl!” Optimus cried, rushing to his fallen comrade. Prowl was still alive, but unconscious.
“Spider poison,” Optimus said grimly.
“Why, indeed it is!” said a high, whiny voice behind him. “How clever of you to notice, Optimus.”
Optimus spun around. A dark silhouette, with yellow eyes, stared back at him. In the faint light, he could make out the shape of a spider-bot, but neither the voice nor the size or shape matched BlackArachnia. This one was bigger, and his body was more twisted in frame, with more parts sticking out.
“Who, or what are you?” asked Optimus. He knew this was the creature they had been looking for all afternoon, for he recognized its appearance. But it stood taller now, with a more civilized look to it. It was clear that this thing was a Transformer, but a very strange one to say the least.
“Ah yes. Just who and what am I? They call me Tarantulas and I am an entrepreneur, of sorts.
With those words, Tarantulas lunged. He and Optimus rolled over and over on the floor, throwing punches and kicks. The spider had almost won, until with a loud crash, the door on the other side of the room was broken down. In rushed Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead. Tarantulas hissed menacingly, jumped up onto a tube on the ceiling, and proceeded to enter the ventilation system.
“He’s getting away!” yelled Bumblebee who jumped in to the ventilation too.
“Wait, Bumblebee!” Optimus called. But it was too late. The young mech had already taken off after the Decepticon, and since none of them, except perhaps for Prowl, who was still sick and unconscious from spider poison, could fit through the vents, there wasn’t much they could do.
“Ratchet, take care of Prowl. Bulkhead, follow me!” ordered Optimus as he rushed through the nearest door.
Bumblebee crawled through the endless vents.
“Where is that creep?” he muttered.
‘Right behind yoooou!” sang out a voice.
Bumblebee turned, but there was nothing there. He was sure that he had seen a shape whip past him though.
Suddenly, the vents were filled with cackling laughter.
“Did you enjoy my little mind maze, Autobot? Each room was filled with objects used in psychological testing. Ooo how I love games! Heh heh heh haaaaaaaa ha ha ha!”
Bumblebee was confused, and his temper was starting to wear thin. Presently, he came to a part of the vent that divided into four sections. With Tarantulas’ laughter still in his audio receptors, he cried out angrily, and shot madly. Standing there panting, he turned around -right into the face of a giant purple, yellow, and black spider!
In truth, Tarantulas was bigger then BlackArachnia, and more powerful too. He stared into the optics of the frightened Autobot that trembled before him. He liked the feeling he got when he did this, and he chuckled softly and ominously to himself.
At that moment, they were interrupted by Optimus’ ax, which came slicing through the metal sheet beneath them.
“Boss-bot!” Bumblebee called.
Tarantulas noiselessly faded into the background.
”Bumblebee, are you alright?” Optimus called though the hole he had made.
“Yeah, I’m fine. But you’d better hurry ‘cause the spider-con is getting away!”
‘Which way did he go, Bumblebee?”
“North, he went north”
“So this is the mighty warrior,” BlackArachnia crowed sarcastically.
“A minor setback. They were more powerful than I anticipated,” Tarantulas replied. “However, this should go well with our plans, since I have now seen them and had a chance to test them.”
“You should have used your powers,” BlackArachnia sniffed.
“I am not here to dwell on what should have been done. I am well aware of my mistakes, and I am using the knowledge I have gained to attack this problem. Besides, if you think you could do better, why don’t you go out and fight the Autobots yourself?” he snapped turning to her.
“Because...” BlackArachnia began cautiously. She did not want to lose her new, more intelligent servant, as she preferred his company to the Dinobots. “Because you’re so much more powerful, and clever, and...handsome.” She placed her hand on his helmet and caressed it, at the same time, placing the other one on his chest.
The three Autobots ran though the building. Opening every door, peeking in every cabinet, and checking every vent along the way, they finally reached the one place they hadn’t looked: Meltdown’s main laboratory. The door opened with a slam as it was forced aside by Bulkhead. Optimus thought hard as he surveyed the two Decepticons, who stood watching him cautiously, ready to fight at any point.
“Fighting didn’t work last time, so it probably won’t work now. Maybe we can reason with him.” Optimus whispered to his teammates. During their search, he had filled them in on everything he had learned.
“Tarantulas,” he called to the other end of the huge room,”listen to me.”
There was silence. Optimus took a deep breath.
“BlackArachnia is using you. Since your arrival, has she done anything towards your cause?”
“Don’t forget, I helped you win the Dinobots,” BlackArachnia whispered urgently to her accomplice.
“Has she helped you when you’ve been attacked? Besides turning you into what you are, what has she ever done for you?”
Tarantulas looked uncomfortably at BlackArachnia, taking a few steps away from the femme-con. He realized it was true that he had done all the major accomplishments. Except for getting the Dinobots to follow his orders, she hadn’t contributed anything to their time together. All the flirting and caressing, he realized, was just a way of getting him to do more of her work.
Looking back and forth, first at the Autobots, and then at BlackArachnia, Tarantulas seemed to have trouble deciding where he wanted to go. Suddenly, he lashed out webbing at his partner and forced her into a kneeling position.
“Good work,” Optimus started to say, but was stopped by an unusual sight. Tarantulas was laughing. It started out as an unpleasant chuckle, then it grew to a howl, and before anyone could stop him, the crazed Con bounded past Bumblebee, on hands and feet, and jumped through the nearest window. His laughter rang out into the night. The Autobots hurried in fast pursuit.
“He’s getting into a boat!” Bumblebee warned.
“Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee, you take care of Prowl and BlackArachnia.”
“But, Prime...”
‘Save it, Ratchet. Someone’s got to go after Tarantulas!”
Boom! Thunder rumbled and lightning danced across the sky as the wind whipped madly on the water. Tarantulas sat silently in the front of the boat, steering and thinking. Plans had already formed in his mind, but he was determined to carry out one in particular. He wanted Prime. BlackArachnia and the others could wait, Optimus was his quarry tonight.
Optimus’ wheels finally hit dry ground. Cautiously, he transformed and surveyed the area. There was fresh webbing clinging to a building, so Optimus climbed it.
“Good evening. Are you, perchance, looking for me?”
Optimus whirled around, only to see Tarantulas’ silhouette staring back at him.
“As a matter of fact, yes.”
“You waste your time, Autobot, if you think you can convince me to join your little ‘side’.”
“You were an Autobot, once. Or have you forgotten?”
“You’re talking to the wrong bot, Optimus. The Sentinel Prime you knew is all but extinguished. Once, I was nothing but a parasite,” Tarantulas continued. “I had a full personality, a sentient mind, and then, a spark and a body to use. In his weakened state, your Autobot comrade could not fight me, so he had little choice but to allow me to take over! Now, after I have used his body and my talents to gain power, I am not just a part of his spark. I am my own mind, a separate person almost entirely. However, I am still connected to his spark, and therefore to him.”
“You’re insane!” Optimus cried.
“So they say!” the spider-con retorted, laughing.
Tarantulas leapt from the side of the building. Using his webbing like a rope, he shot it to the next closest one and swung there. Apparently, he could crawl on walls, ceilings, and other odd places in beast or robot mode.
“He’s more powerful than BlackArachnia!” Optimus realized out loud as he jumped to the same building Tarantulas had. Using his ax like a climbing spike, Optimus reached the top, just in time to see Tarantulas leap off the roof to another one that was close by.
This went on and on for many miles. Eventually, they reached a warehouse that was property of Sumdac Systems. Tarantulas looked behind him, only to discover that his prey was gone. Thinking that the physical strain of the trip had slowed Optimus down, he sat and waited for his quarry to arrive. That was his first mistake. Optimus had snuck around to the other side of the building and climbed up there, thinking that he might have a chance to take Tarantulas by surprise. He was rewarded for his effort. Tarantulas had no idea what was happening, when he was suddenly picked up by his waist, hurled up in an ark, and found himself on the ground again. Getting up with a hiss, he charged his attacker, knocking Optimus off his feet. Optimus in turn pushed himself up, gripped Tarantulas by the leg, and tossed him. The Decepticon landed in a pile of boxes. Optimus gasped raggedly as he got to his feet. It took a moment for his systems to return to their regular pattern. As they did, he planned to nab Tarantulas as soon as they finished. However, when he reached the box pile, there was no sign of the spider.
“Tarantulas?” Optimus called. Turning to his right, Optimus noticed an open, roofed door that was big enough for a mech of his size to fit through.
“So that’s where he went,” Optimus muttered grimly. He opened the door and stepped in, only to find himself sliding down an immense tube.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
When he reached the bottom, Optimus discovered that he was now on the floor of the warehouse.
Instantly, he was on guard for Tarantulas. Walking slowly through the building, headlights turned on, he surveyed his surroundings. When he was almost in the center of the complex, he stopped to listen. Just as he was about to move on, he heard a faint click. A click like something making contact with metal. A click like spider legs letting go of the ceiling! Optimus barely made it as Tarantulas cam hurtling upon him. The immense spider missed him by a fraction, but was quickly in robot mode and pursuing his prey. Optimus pulled out his ax. In a flash of lightning, he watched as Tarantulas revealed his weapon: A twisted version of Sentinel’s sword and shield. The two dueled, but Tarantulas was gaining the upper hand. Optimus was growing weary, while his opponent showed no sign of tiring.
Then, it began to rain. Not just a light sprinkle, but sheets of wet, hard, ice cold misery. Between the slick, wet, metal roof, and the wind blowing hard against him, Optimus suddenly lost his footing. In a flash, Tarantulas was upon him. Optimus tried to push the Con off, but he was too weak at this point. Tarantulas laughed as lightning flashed and illuminated the fear in his victim’s optics. He raised his pincers up, ready for the final blow.
Optimus thought frantically. He knew it was no good attempting to reason with Tarantulas now. But maybe... Tarantulas had said that Sentinel was all but extinguished. If Sentinel still excised, then he might be strong enough now to fight back.
“Sentinel!” Optimus cried out as the pincers drew nearer, “If you can hear me, you must fight back. Gain control! I know you can do it, Sentinel. Sentinel!
Optimus closed his optics as the pincers were about to strike. But they never did. Just as Tarantulas was claiming his prey, he stopped. “Nnno!” he cried. But it was not just his voice. Its was Sentinel’s too, and the two voices spoke and cried together in unison. Tarantulas made various choking noises as he reached out to drain Optimus, and then pulled away. This went on for several nanoclicks (seconds), then the spider pulled away. Optimus lay for a moment, then got to his feet. When he did, he stepped back a little in surprise. Tarantulas was having convulsions! Power fluctuations ran all down his body. Little blue tongues of electricity raced up and across him.
“Yaaaaaaaaah!” he roared, raising his hands and face to the sky. He turned and made one final grab at his opponent, then stopped, swaying like a drunk.
“Optimus!” he screeched as his knees bent under him. He reached out a clawed hand, then fell over on his back as his legs gave way.
The transition was complete. Instantly, he began to change form. The purple and black became blue. The spider legs disappeared. Wheels came in and the scaly appendages became smooth and metal. The helmet toppled to the ground. Sentinel, now himself again, stared panting at Optimus. Suddenly, his optics closed, his head fell backward, and he went into stasis lock.
It had been a long night. The search for Sentinel had been unsuccessful, because he wasn’t even on the mainland. Jazz’s search party had met up with Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead soon after the latter had reached shore. They had rushed back to base with their patent and prisoner in tow. There, they spent a long four hours, during which BlackArachnia escaped, waiting for Optimus. He finally came, exhausted, damaged, and carrying an unconscious Sentinel Prime. Everything was in an uproar after their return. Optimus was asked question after question until Ratchet requested that they leave the young Prime alone so he could rest after his adventure. It was now the next day. Sentinel had gone back into his regular stasis pattern, and was now asleep. Ratchet said that his new patent would need lots of rest, and Ultra Magnus consented, giving Sentinel the rest of the week off in the process
“Will he be alright?” Jazz asked already unsure. He, Sarri, Optimus, and Bumblebee stood around Sentinel’s cot.
“I think so. Ratchet said he should recover completely in a solarcycle(day) or so,” Optimus replied.
“Do you think he’ll ever become that...thing again?” Sarri asked uncomfortably.
“I can’t say. Ratchet ran some tests, and he says the venom is lying dormant in his system. Since it’s attached directly to his spark, there’s no real way of removing it without critically injuring him...or worse. Thankfully, Ratchet says we shouldn’t be hearing from Tarantulas anytime soon. It’s over...for now.”
.......................................................................................................
Please give me your honest opinions on it. I've only had one of my stories reviewed,and the person never told me whether he liked it or not.
Like I said,I'm not entirely satisfied with this fic yet,and my time was limited in writing it for that infernal english assingment!!! 
It practicaly drove me up the wall! 
Who knew he was a sailor? 
Speaking of which,I have another fanfic that is currently in my head only,in which the Decepticons are forced to set sail. Blitzwing gets pretty seasick though. 