Chương 44: LOG-041.

"Advance." The green light of the groundbridge washed over my form as I exited the swirling portal, pedes impacting and sinking into leaf covered dirt. The forest around me remained dead silent, even as a dozen Zakus followed my lead, the green mechs slowly spreading out from our arrival point and taking up defensive positions, right before our link to the Nemesis was cut, the portal shutting down. I would have preferably brought a far larger force for this, but this needed to be dealt with quietly.

Kept 'in house', so to speak. And Ultra Magnus would most definitely notice a fifth of the damn ship fucking off to go participate in a black ops mission. Glancing around, I took in the environment that, according to Soundwave, Airachnid had last been spotted in.

"Typical." A large forest, potentially the same one her ship had originally crashed in. I couldn't be sure without searching for the wreckage, and that wasn't exactly a priority right now. Raising my servo, I waved my task force forward, even as I allowed my Forge improved sensor suite to scan the surrounding area. For the next few minutes, the only sound within that forest was the echoing thumps of several Cybertronians crunching their way past organic detritus, up until my oldest Zaku stepped up next to me.

"Creator." Inclining my helm, I glanced at the armoured trooper.

"Zero. You needed something?" The Zaku's mono-optic glanced around for a moment, before the mech nodded.

"Our target, this Airachnid. I am unsure of her capabilities." Nodding, I brushed a particularly low hanging branch (by a large Cybertronian's standards anyway) out of my path before responding.

"She is a masterclass assassin and interrogation specialist, and excels in environments exactly like this." I allowed my volume to raise slightly, catching the attention of the rest of our unit.

"I am hopeful when I say that you should all know better than to fight her while isolated. She is an above average fighter, but is particularly dependant on fighting enemies one on one, or using hit and run tactics when a duel is no longer an option. In a single sentence? Do not split up. Or at least don't move beyond each other's sightlines."

The red light from my optic shined against some leaves, illuminating faint traces of blue liquid even as the sensor module I'd used the Forge to incorporate into my frame began to bring back immediate results. Degraded signal residue and extremely small energon emissions. So faint that I wouldn't even have detected it if not for the module's enhanced systems. Not particularly useful on it's own.

Hell, somewhat crude even, but when hunting a lone Cybertronian that could hide herself from more traditional methods of surveillance? An invaluable tool to have in one's kit. The fact that she was apparently injured was even better. Until she could stop the leaking, her very lifeblood would lead us right to her. Looking up, I hefted my cannon and resumed walking.

"Remain alert, she is likely nearby. Be prepared for a possible ambush."

Half an hour of walking, right up until we'd halted at the sight of a massive furrow in the earth. And in the distance? The scrapped remains of our spider femme's ship. And scrapped really was the right word, the thing would likely never fly again. Or do much of anything else, for that matter. Taking a step forward, I panned my helm, scanning the area.... Hm. Staring at the ship once more, I took note of the light energon trail we'd been following, coming to a distinct stop just short of the trench.

Silently shunting extra power to my cannon, I let my voice ring out, the sound echoing throughout the not-quite clearing.

"Airachnid! Reveal yourself!" A moment of silence passed. Then? A chuckle. One I couldn't quite pinpoint as I glanced around, my Zakus quickly shifting into a tighter formation.

"Shockwave, what a surprise! And you've brought some new underlings too. Interesting frames they have." Slowly raising my weapon, I took careful steps towards what I assumed to be the source of the Arachnicon's voice.

"You know, when I escaped the Autobot's headquarters, the last mech I expected to come looking for me was you. Aren't you meant to be rusting somewhere on Cybertron?" The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Shaking my helm, I allowed one of my subordinates to approach the particularly large fallen tree trunk, heat axe gripped tightly in his right servo.

"Reports of my demise were... greatly exaggerated. Now, how about you come out so we can talk?" Another chuckle.

"Face to face? I don't think that's quite an option for you!" The green mech slowly raised his weapon, before vaulting over the dead tree. Then the upgraded Vehicon paused, glancing down at something. A second of silence passed as the soldier ducked down and picked up a small, boxy looking device, seemingly cobbled together from various components. Ice flooded through my energon lines.

"Looking for me?" I grabbed Zero and threw myself backwards.

"Bomb-!" The IED detonated with a flash of blue light, even as several of my Zakus were thrown off their pedes by the force of the explosion. My own frame shook as I collided with the earth, Zero's smaller body slightly crushed beneath my bulk. Thankfully, I was back up on my pedes in seconds, cannon raised and aiming. My optic glanced at the remnants of the one that had picked up the disguised explosive.

His frame was mangled, optic blown out and chassis heavily warped by effectively tanking an explosion to the chest. Not to mention his left arm had been blown clean off. No ordinary Vehicon could have survived that kind of blast. Yet my vision just barely managed to pick out his remaining servo twitching sporadically, burned digits still clutched around the handle of the Zaku's heat axe in a death grip. He wasn't a Vehicon anymore, after all.

The upgraded armour had saved him, but he'd need substantial repairs if he were to remain online. Unfortunately, the heavily injured Zaku would just have to wait for now, as the distinct snap of a small twig being crushed prompted me to whirl around and open fire. Airachnid hissed from her position at the eastern treeline, just barely ducking out of the way of my shot. In turn, she hefted a small, cylindrical object and chucked it at me.

Seemed like the sadistic femme had helped herself to some of the Autobots' armory before making her escape through their groundbridge, judging by the fact the bitch was chucking Wheeljack's fucking grenades at me! Levelling my cannon, I snapped off a quick shot and braced myself as the crimson bolt slammed into the explosive, causing it to detonate midair.

Around me, the rest of the squad were finally recovering, some raising their rifles and firing at Airachnid's position, others unholstering their heat axes and beginning to sprint forward in a likely futile attempt to catch up to the eight limbed Decepticon and engage in melee. I fired a few more warning shots to keep the femme humble, even as she continued to rush through the treeline, her extra limbs allowing her to run what were effectively circles around us.

Grunting, I kept trying to track the quickly moving target, even as I shoved Zero toward his fallen comrade.

"Get him into cover-Airachnid! It didn't have to happen this way!" That prompted a laugh from the rogue Decepticon, even as she leaned out from the large boulder she was using as cover and snapped a pair of shots off at me. The first splashed harmlessly against my chest, barely scratching the paint, while the second got worryingly close to hitting my optic, only to fall short and impact with my neck instead. Right. Now I was actually starting to get almost pissed off. The Shadowplay kept most of it at bay, however.

"Oh, I'm sure you were planning to peacefully welcome me back to the ranks! That's what the death squad is for, right!?" I held back a snarl as the femme ducked back down, presumably preparing another grenade. Right, fuck this. My pedes left the ground as I took a short leap into the air and shifted into my aerial alt mode, form turning and shifting until I finally clicked into the shape of a familiar Cybertronian jet. Thanks again, Megatron.

Blasting off from the ground, I forced my way through the air, charging upwards before beginning to arc back down sharply. Airachnid's shocked purple optics had less than a second to widen in pure disbelief before I fired a shot at her, the femme throwing herself to the side in order to dodge the blast. Unfortunately for Airachnid, the shot wasn't meant to hit her. Just throw her off-balance.

"What the-!?" was as far as the Arachnicon got before I slammed right into her, the sharp profile of my front section digging into her abdominal plating as I forcefully ripped her from the ground and began to ascend. Transforming, I ignored the sharp, stinging sensation of her spider-like limbs striking my sides, instead focusing on keeping her trapped while we began to freefall.

"Le-let go! LET! GO!" A clenched fist slammed into my optic, the femme's other servo transforming into a blaster and firing a dozen shots into my abdomen. If my frame wasn't as heavily armoured as it was, that might have worked. Instead, I just ignored the damage reports flooding into my processor and kept the now swearing Cybertronian locked beneath me, all while locking my joints into place. And then? Impact. To say that the earth shook as two giants fell from the sky would be an understatement.

Dirt exploded around us as Airachnid crashed against the ground. Then I crashed on top of her. My vision briefly winked out, right before internal rapid-repair systems brought my optic back online. Nanolathes were convenient like that. Aside from some strain on my internal systems and a fuck load of scratching on my exterior, I'd come out of the impromptu flying tackle relatively intact.

Airachnid was far worse off, the femme's frame damn near bent in half, with several of her extra limbs seemingly having been torn loose by the impact. Energon continued to leak from her likely shattered back, even as she kicked feebly at me, a snarl on her mouth.

"Fragging-ugh. Gl-itch." I rolled a dented shoulder, even as the rapid pedefalls of the Zakus catching up to and surrounding us caused the femme to slump, a smirk taking over her expression.

"That's me t-then. Go on, finish it, mono-optic freak. Neat trick, using Megatron's alt mode. Hah! Didn't think I'd go out to you of all slaggers..." Forcing myself up from my position pinning her, I began to crawl forward, allowing the miniature nanolathe projector to extend from my digit. Airachnid's bitter, defeated expression shifted to visible concern as she watched me get closer.

"What are you doing...? Stop. Stop!" A cracked servo tried to halt my advance. A resistance I quickly crushed as I batted it aside with my cannon, before crushing it beneath my knee. The destruction of her servo prompted a yell from the femme pinned beneath me, but it didn't stop her increased struggling. Even if said struggling was just her other servo clawing at my leg. Impressive, really. Especially considering the fact that I was about eighty percent sure her spinal strut was either dented or cracked entirely.

"Sto-stop! Get off of me you fragger!" The femme stilled as I punched my cannon's barrel into her neck, locking her helm in place. Her terrified expression drawing a small twinge of regret from my processor. Most certainly not large enough to stop me, however. The discomfort quickly vanished as I locked down that particular emotion, muting it. I'd already gone and created something similar to the Backbite from my human side's memories, after all. May as well follow through and forge Ser-Ket as well.

Though there would be no saving of personality, not this time. Honestly, it was an excellent opportunity to both remove Airachnid from the board and test my replica of the Forge's reconstructive systems as well. Stab. Airachnid screamed as I forced my digit through her right optic, shattering it entirely and allowing the nanolathe within unfettered access to her processor.

Her faceplate went blank, remaining optic going dark, and her body finally stopped thrashing beneath me (save for the occasional twitch) as the green mist of my freshly fabricated nanites began to infiltrate her most crucial systems. [Capture protocols: initiated.]" I am recycling resources. And from now on, you will call me, Commander."

Zero crouched down next to the smoking, scratched up and generally not at all okay looking Zaku that had taken the brunt of the explosive, likely meant for their creator.

"You alright?" The trooper's shattered optic let loose a spark, even as his helm slowly moved along damaged struts to glance in the direction of Zero's voice.

"Ow..."