Chương 45: LOG-042.

[CAPTURE COMPLETE.] Slowly, I pulled my digit out of the femme's shattered optic, rolling off of her and falling flat on my back. My brief rest lasted less than a few seconds, right before being interrupted by the sound of multiple figures approaching me.

"Are... are you alright Commander?" Staring up at the darkening sky for a moment, I nodded.

"Yes, just calculating some of the damage my frame took. I'll need repairs." Shaking my helm, I sat up, then accepted the outstretched servo of one of my Zakus, the trooper pulling me to my pedes with a bit of effort.

"How is everyone else? Did we lose anyone?" My processor immediately sprung to the potentially dead soldier that had practically eaten the improvised explosive device's blast. The squad glanced at each other, before one pointed towards the cratered area indicating the remnants of our target's little trap.

"Just one injured, sir. Zero's got him." Rolling a shoulder-joint and internally wincing at the agonized groan that erupted from the somewhat mangled part, I nodded before moving towards the pair and waving my servo behind me.

"Keep your weapons trained on her. She doesn't move a digit until I say so." I ignored the chorus of affirmatives from behind me, instead stepping over to and crouching next to Zero. My helm panned from my first prototype to our injured soldier, even as I raised my servo and activated the nanolathe probe. The thing really was coming more and more in handy. I'd have to take care not to get overly reliant on it.

"Status?" Zero's crimson optic snapped to mine, even as the Zaku gently pushed his groaning brother back onto his side.

"Heavy damage, creator. Mostly exterior, though his energon intake valve is... well. Mostly shrapnel." Tilting my helm, I poured some nanites through the indicated hole in where the downed trooper's throat would be, were he human. The little green scouts told me everything I needed to know.

"He'll need an energon drip in order to actually refuel until we can get him a replacement valve, but he'll survive. If Knockout hasn't grossly misinterpreted my directions, you should all be equipped with emergency weld patches. Plug the largest of his wounds and try to stop him from losing energon too quickly. I'll see about getting us a groundbridge back to the Nemesis."

Zero nodded silently, reaching for the barebones 'medpack' at his side and pulling out a few units of what could technically be considered plasters, if one wanted to be silly about it. In turn, I stood up straight and hobbled my way back over to my previous position, hurrying my pace despite the groan of protestation that erupted from my left pede as I heard several rifles beginning to charge up.

The Zakus had already been tense, but now they were actively aiming their weapons at the Arachnicon splayed out on the ground, even as said femme slowly looked around with a single functioning optic. Then said optic locked onto my form, and the frown marring her faceplate shifted into what I would charitably designate a polite smile, the Cybertronian dipping her helm in a makeshift bow.

"Commander." I stared at what had once been Airachnid for a moment, before holding out my servo.

"Get up, we're leaving." The Arachnicon just continued smiling, even as her comparatively smaller and thinner digits locked around my own servo. Hauling her up, I idly sent Soundwave a quick ping through my comm link.

'Airachnid neutralised. Requesting groundbridge back to Nemesis.' If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. My request was confirmed a moment later as a swirling green portal manifested into reality just a few meters away from us. Waving a servo at a pair of Zakus, I pointed to Zero and what would soon be Knockout's latest patient.

"Move him through the groundbridge. And be careful about it, we don't want to jostle any potentially loose parts." As the pair of soldiers ran off towards their comrades and the rest began to file through the portal, I turned back to my newest (tentatively successful) experiment. That lone purple optic continued to unerringly stare at me, even as the femme remained in an attentive pose, extra limbs splayed out behind her, seemingly at rest.

My processor briefly flicked back to my short time with Unicron before I forced the memory away, gesturing to the groundbridge.

"Just through here." I began to move, then paused as her voice rang out.

"Commander?" Turning to glance back at the femme, I tilted my helm.

"Yes?" Her normally intimidating faceplate was briefly marred as it took on a lost expression, confusion flitting through the assassin's sole optic.

"What... who am I? I can't seem to access that particular data from my memory banks."... Damn it. Knew I'd forgotten something. I hadn't plugged in the holes I'd left while ripping out her more personal memories. I pat my chestplate with my servo, then pointed to her with a digit.

"Your current designation is Ser-Ket, though formerly you would have been known as Airachnid. You are a personality construct I created and then installed into your current frame, which in turn belonged to an enemy I disabled and captured. Your own existence is mostly based off of her original code, though your loyalty subroutines and ethical protocols have been updated to remain in line with my own goals. Do you follow?"

Ser-Ket's lone optic briefly widened for a moment, thoughts and ideas visibly running through her processor. I knew what her ultimate response would be, however. Confused frown morphing back into a smile, the femme nodded.

"Understood, Commander! Then if I may ask, what is my next directive?" I'd designed her, after all.

"Follow." Turning back to the groundbridge, I hobbled along, even as the reformatted Arachnicon quickly took a position at my side, drawing a glance from me as her servos moved to support my frame. At my stare, she merely continued smiling. I just mentally noted down that the ingrained loyalty seemed to have set in without major issues and continued making my way forward.

The hangar bay was awash with activity, Vehicons and Zakus running to and fro even as I made my way out of the groundbridge, Ser-Ket at my side and my escorts around us. Right behind our group, Zero and the last two members of the squad helped carry our sole casualty along, careful not to let his frame shift too much. Sighing, I finally ground to a stop as I spotted the duo presumably waiting for us. Soundwave stood as silent as ever, visor panning to take us all in, before focusing on Ser-Ket and I's forms.

Namely the fact that the former was practically glued to the latter. Knockout on the other hand, was much more vocal in greeting us, the crimson mech stepping forward with a cheery grin. One that faltered upon spotting our unexpected (to him) tagalong.

"Shockwave! And... Airachnid! Well isn't that a... pleasure?" The medic just watched in confusion as we continued forward, flinching slightly at Ser-Ket's staring back at him with her remaining optic for a moment, right before the femme went back to focusing on the ever so noble task of making sure I didn't fall over. Truly, she was already proving herself an invaluable subordinate. And tackling people from the fucking sky was a stunt I would not be repeating very often.

Not until I installed some proper shock absorbers at least. Heh, shock absorbers. That almost drew up some amusement from my admittedly crude human components. Hm, actually.

"Ah... Shockwave? Would you-" Knockout finally shut up as we came to a stop in front of a still silent (nothing new) Soundwave, even as I allowed amusement to slip past the Shadowplay barrier for a moment. Not too much, just enough to enjoy it. Said enjoyment was temporarily shoved to the side as I gently tried to get Ser-Ket to let go.

A second push finally told the femme what I wanted, the Arachnicon stepping slightly behind me and to my side as Knockout (giving her a fairly wide birth) stepped around the reprogrammed Con and stood next to Soundwave. Before the two could say or do anything, I gestured to Ser-Ket with my cannon and nodded.

"Airachnid's dead. Repurposed her frame. Knockout, we have injured, tend to them please. Soundwave, I require a route to my lab that will avoid any contact with Ultra Magnus, though if I'm not being overly assumptive he'll likely still be at the bridge." The spymaster just nodded silently, even as Knockout raised a digit, curling and pointing it at Ser-Ket.

"W-wait. What? Just like that? Quick fight and she's an entirely new bot?" My own response was cut off as Ser-Ket leaned forward, prompting Knockout to lean backwards in order to maintain his current distance.

"The Commander is very capable. Now if you would please follow his orders?" Knockout just stared at the femme's serious face, before throwing his arms in the air.

"Fine! Sure! I'm the only one who finds this moderately disturbing! And that's coming from me!" The old human compulsion to roll my nonexistent eyeballs was real, even as I strode past the complaining mech, following behind Soundwave.

"I've already performed a similar procedure with Starscream, and no one complained when I did that." Knockout huffed, even as he turned to begin approaching the group of Zakus loitering next to the groundbridge generator.

"That was Starscream! And he doesn't act like a newly made Vehicon! I'm used to Airachnid acting a certain way! Mostly threatening everyone and making snarky comments!" Shrugging, I allowed Ser-Ket to support me once again. Soundwave hadn't even glanced back once, just opening a door leading into the main hallway and continuing forward. The mech clearly wasn't very invested in our nonsense... which I honestly couldn't blame him for.

"Well get used to it. Ser-Ket will be replacing Airachnid permanently. If it alleviates your discomfort, I will be altering her frame in order to avoid issues with the Autobots as soon as I tend to my own injuries." Knockout just grunted in disbelief, waving us off even as he crouched next to the injured Zaku, the door closing back up and cutting us off.

"... Did he know this Airachnid?" I glanced at Ser-Ket for a moment, before nodding.

"We all did. Though I sincerely doubt she will be missed by anyone here. Try to forget the name, you will prove a more than adequate replacement." The reformatted femme just nodded in response. Then we continued our pursuit of Soundwave, the intelligence officer waiting for us at the next intersection.