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June let out a scream that made everyone almost jump out of their skins--everyone except Silas. He glanced calmly up at her, looked over his shoulder at the monitors in time to catch a glimpse of Airachnid clamping a hand around Jack's torso and carrying him out of the camera's range. Silas returned his attention to the still-unconscious, still cocooned Arcee with a smirk and waited for his men to finish cutting through the webbing that kept her immobile.

June stared at the screen and wept.

"Shit," the man to her right said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, June," Dr. Madsen, on her left, said. He and the rest of the medical team had regained consciousness in time to watch Airachnid overpower her son and drag him out of sight. "I'm so sorry."

All she could do was continue crying. Finally, once she was able to catch her breath long enough to force a few words out, she shrieked, "Silas, you murdering son of a bitch!" She dissolved into tears again before she could continue.

He flicked his eyes up toward her, but didn't move otherwise.

"Finally," one of his men muttered, turning off his blowtorch and standing up. "We've cut through the last of it."

"Good." Silas remained motionless, simply watching as four other men pried the webbing away from Arcee. When they'd pulled the last of it off, he nodded at her chest. "Open her up."

A fresh burst of sobs wracked June until she could barely breathe.

A movement on the screen caught her attention. The air seemed to ripple near the spot where Airachnid had grabbed Jack.

The two duffel bags he'd dropped levitated and flitted to the left, vanishing behind one of the warehouses.

What the hell? After a few confused seconds, it sank in. Stealth armor. Miko! How did she follow--oh, who cares? Jack still has a chance! She had no idea what sort of insane stunt the girl might pull, but it could be Jack's only chance at survival.

One of Silas's men approached Arcee with a saw designed to cut metal, and June's heart lurched again. Wake up, Arcee! Oh, please, wake up!

The saw started up, filling the warehouse with a horrible, echoing, mechanical scream.

June sobbed and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't bear to watch what was about to happen.

A thud, crunching of numerous bones, and a grunt came from across the room, barely audible over the shrieking saw--but then the saw stopped. June opened her eyes just as the saw hit the floor and the man who'd been wielding it flew through the air. He landed, skidded and rolled to a stop a few yards from June, his neck broken and his skull shattered.

She gasped and looked over at Arcee.

Her eyes were open and she was sitting upright. From her pose, June figured she'd just swatted the man off her chest and out of the gene pool.

Before the rest of them could recover from the sudden shock, Arcee backhanded the four nearest guys, crushing their bones and pulping their internal organs and sending their bodies tumbling toward the darkened edges of the room.

Finally, the others aimed their rifles at her.

"No," June moaned. Only the top half of Arcee's body had been freed; her legs were still cocooned, her mobility severely limited.

She leaned back, swinging her legs upward, and lashed out at another nearby man with her left arm. He leaped backward, but she caught him and hurled him at the group directly in front of her. He slammed into one of them, knocking him off his feet. Arcee slammed her webbing-encased feet down on the others, flattening all but three. The result was much like someone stomping on a ketchup packet from a restaurant.

Arcee rolled to the right as the remaining men opened fire. The bolts from their rifles arced into the wall behind her. She snapped up the chair in front of Silas's console and pitched it at one of them, plowing it into his chest and sending him cartwheeling all the way to the far wall.

Two men left.

They shifted their aim, tracking her as she rolled back into a reverse somersault and landed face-down. She rolled to the left just as they fired, and the blasts missed her by mere inches. She threw herself forward, scooped them up in her right hand, and grabbed at Silas. He turned and tried to run, but she clamped her fingers around his leg before he could get out of her reach. She tossed him into the air and caught him, pinning his arms to his sides.

"Okay," she snarled, "now we can have a little talk."

"Arcee!" June yelled. "Airachnid dragged Jack away somewhere--I don't know where, none of the cameras were pointed in the right direction."

Arcee stared at her with a suddenly horrified look. She turned to glare at Silas. "Where did Airachnid take him?"

Silas gazed back at her, unflinching, and said nothing.

"I won't ask you again. Answer my question, or--"

"Or what?" Silas kept his cold stare aimed straight into her optics. "Would Optimus Prime approve of you torturing information out of me? Is that something he would do?"

Arcee hesitated. She glanced at the monitors and her expression hardened. "No, he wouldn't. But he's not here, is he?" She pushed herself upright. The webbing around her legs flexed enough for her to bend her knees, and she lifted Silas and his men to a nerve-rattling height. "Tell me where Airachnid took Jack, or I'll--"

"You're not a murderer. At least, you're not if you're as noble as your leader likes to believe." A hint of smugness seeped into his face. "You won't--"

Arcee raised the two men in her right hand and rocketed them straight down.

June cringed. Beside her, the civilian snickered weakly.

"Whoa. Nice technique."

Arcee brought Silas up to her eye level and growled. "Don't question my resolve."

His eyes opened wider and his face paled, but he recovered quickly. "Kill me, or inflict enough pain for me to pass out, and you won't get any answers. Your lover will die before you can find him."

Arcee's glare intensified; she appeared to be considering squeezing the life out of him anyway.

"Arcee," June said, "get us out of these cocoons and I'll see if I can find any information on that console."

Arcee nodded and began pulling and tearing at the webbing around her legs. Once she'd finally freed herself, she ran to the back of the room and clamped onto the June's cocoon. She pulled gently, increasing the force gradually until the webbing tore away from the wall.

"Okay, June, tell me if I accidentally hurt you and I'll stop." Keeping Silas clamped in her left fist, she braced the back of her hand against the cocoon and pulled on it with her free hand. The webbing came off in short strips, but after several minutes, she'd ripped enough of it away for June to extract herself.

"Thank you!" June tried to hold more tears in, wiped her eyes, and headed for the console. "Cut everyone else loose. I'll see if I can find anything in the console."

"I could do this a lot faster if I didn't have to hold on to this bastard. We need to find something to tie him up with."

"What about the webbing? Is it still sticky enough?"

"Maybe, but the only manageable pieces are small. Might not be structurally sound enough."

"Well, lower him to the floor, then, but don't let him go." June waited for Arcee to bring Silas down to her eye level. "Silas, you know what's really nice about this new armor we've got? It gives your strength one hell of a boost."

She cocked her fist back and drove it into his face. The impact broke his nose, splattered blood over his mouth and chin, and snapped his head back. It lolled forward and his eyes remained closed. June stared at him.

"I. . .I didn't kill him, did I?"

"Nope. He's still breathing. He'll wake up with a bitch of a headache, though."

"Good. That's the least he deserves." June turned back to the console. "Free the others. I'll let you know if I find anything."

"On it." Arcee reached up to pry Dr. Madsen loose. "And find where they put my guns. It's time to do some hunting of my own."

#

Oh, hell. Jack stared at the cases lining one side of the carved-out, underground chamber as Airachnid carried him past them. Sixteen of them. Guess I found the heads from those bodies in the forest. His stomach churned and he looked away.

"I see you've noticed part of my collection." Airachnid chuckled. "This is only one of the chambers I've prepared for my trophies. Only one quarter of them are full, so far."

Oh, holy shit! Those sixteen corpses must not have been the first in this area, then. How long has she been at this?

"You'll be joining them soon enough, Jack." Airachnid smirked at him. "How soon depends on how long you can keep me entertained."

He glared at her, trying to will himself into a rage so he wouldn't give in to sheer terror. If I still had those bags of C-4, I'd keep you really fucking entertained.

They passed through more empty tunnels alternating with more display chambers. Jack tried to keep track of the twists and turns, but couldn't--mostly because he couldn't bring himself to look at those blankly-staring severed heads. After a while, he kept his eyes closed so he wouldn't have to catch a glimpse of one even accidentally.

"Here we are," she finally said, several minutes later, and he opened his eyes reluctantly, finding himself in a huge, round chamber. "My home away from home. As you can see, I managed to salvage a few things from the remains of my ship before your friends came to clean up the mess."

He looked around. Six tunnels branched out from here at equidistant points; this was the center of her lair, then. Between the exits were makeshift consoles and monitors, somewhat like Ratchet's setup, only this one served far more sinister purposes. On the far side of the room was a stack of three large, glowing blue cubes.

Energon. Where. . .? It came to him a second later--cubes like these wouldn't have survived the explosion of her ship, so she must have raided some of the Decepticons' energon supplies before Megatron moved them or blew them up. If she has more stored somewhere, Arcee and the others could really use it. If I can bring some of it out--

He glanced to the left and almost gagged. On a table at the edge of the room was a freshly decapitated body. The blood trickling off the table and dripping into a puddle on the floor had barely begun to congeal.

"Oh, pardon the mess." Airachnid laughed. "You and your friends arrived before I had a chance to tidy up."

Don't puke. You're wearing a helmet. Don't puke. It'd be really, really bad. His stomach churned again, and he turned his head away from the table.

Airachnid hoisted him abruptly. She held his hands against the ceiling and fired a quick burst from one of her web-launchers, enveloping his hands and gluing them in place. She took her other hand off him and he dangled at least thirty feet above the floor.

"Now, let's see about getting that armor off." Airachnid slid her fingers over his body, searching for the latches that held each piece of armor in place. "I'd really like to know what Arcee finds so appealing."

"What Arcee and I have," he muttered, "you can't even understand. You're simply not capable of those sorts of feelings."

"Oh, know me so well, do you? After we met so briefly?" Airachnid smirked again.

"Are you kidding me? When we met, you hunted me like an animal. Like I'm nothing more than a vermin. You tried to kill me. That told me everything I needed to know about you."

"Hmm. Fair point." She shrugged and continued fiddling with the latches on his armor. "Not that it matters. I don't need your consent for what I have in mind. And believe me, taking you away from Arcee will merely be the beginning."

"What is it between you and Arcee, anyway? You want to fuck me just because she and I are in love? Why don't you go find your own boy-toy?"

"There's more to it than that. When you destroyed my ship, I admit I was quite angry at first, but once I cooled off, I realized how impressive it was. Someone as small and fragile as you, taking out my entire ship. How can I not find that intriguing?" She stroked the side of his helmet and slid her sharp fingertips under his chin. "And once I get my hands on a Pretender and integrate that technology into my body--"

My skin is never gonna stop crawling now. He glared at her, suddenly realizing that he didn't have to force himself to be angry--she was quickly cranking him up into a genuine rage. "I remember that night. For you, that was the night I blew up your ship, stranded you on this planet, and fucked up your entire life. But for me?" He smirked. "For me, it was Tuesday."

She pulled back a few feet, stared at him for a long moment, and placed her hands on her hips. "Alright. Since you're such a badass, you'll be able to escape with no trouble at all. So, go on. Escape."

Something thudded on the ground behind her and she glanced over her shoulder. Jack looked down and found a metal cylinder roughly the size of a human forearm rolling to a stop between Airachnid's legs.

What the hell? That's an anti-Cybertronian flash-bang. Where the hell'd it come from? He burst out laughing and Airachnid whipped her head around to scowl at him. He smirked again and said, "Okay."

He closed his eyes a split-second before the device detonated, filling the chamber with a nearly blinding light and an electronic pulse that overloaded Airachnid's systems. When he opened his eyes, she'd collapsed on her right side, staring blankly at the table with the headless body on it.

From what he'd already seen of those flash-bangs, a direct hit should keep Airachnid out of commission for at least a couple minutes.

He hoped it would be enough.

He swung his legs up to his head, braced his feet against the ceiling, and pulled. The webbing around his hands stretched gradually, and finally ripped free of the ceiling--and Jack plummeted straight down. He tried to flip himself upright, but only managed to hit the ground face-down. His armor prevented him from breaking any bones, but the impact still knocked the wind out of him.

Get up! Get up, damn it! He pushed himself onto his hands and knees, and finally managed to suck in a breath.

The air in front of him rippled and suddenly he was looking at a girl in pink armor. His jaw dropped.

"Miko?"

She glanced down at herself. "Well, I'm either Miko or Private Donut."

"Damn, I'm glad to see you--but how the hell did you even get here?"

"Hitched a ride on Arcee." Miko grinned and started prying at the webbing around Jack's hands. "Just clamped onto her rear end and stayed there until right before she drove into the lot with all those warehouses."

"She had to have noticed the extra weight." Jack moved his elbows apart, twisting and prying the semi-organic gunk around his hands, while Miko continued pulling.

"She probably did. Maybe she just didn't say anything in case MECH was listening in." Miko sat on the ground and waved a hand downward. "I have an idea. Crouch or sit or whatever, and hold your arms out." When he did as she'd asked, she scooted forward, braced her feet on his chest, grabbed the webbing with both hands, and pulled, throwing her entire body into it.

The webbing continued to stretch for several more seconds--then it finally slipped off Jack's hands and Miko flopped onto her back. She flung it aside, stood, and nodded at one of the exits.

"By the way, you dropped something back at that warehouse." She jogged over to the exit, leaned into the shadows, and picked up a pair of duffel bags.

The C-4. Hot damn. He grinned and slung one of the bags over his shoulder. Then he turned to look at Airachnid. I can finish the bitch off right here. I can do what I should've done in that first warehouse. He kept staring for a few more seconds, sighed, and unzipped the bag.

"Uh, Jack. . .?"

"I could've ended it earlier today, but I hesitated, and she almost killed me. I can't let her go again." He pulled one of the charges from the bag. "I'm not sure how to arm one of these, but I have to try."

Airachnid twitched suddenly, violently, and groaned.

Jack's stomach almost launched into his throat.

"Oh, shit!" Miko blurted.

Airachnid bolted upright, shook her head, and looked around.

Jack turned toward the exit and gave Miko's shoulder a push as Airachnid spotted them, snarled, and hurled herself at them. "Run!"

#

"Miko? Can you hear me?" Arcee gave it a few seconds and shook her head. Still jammed, same as her previous encounter with Airachnid a few months ago. It could've been a device the rogue 'Con had in her lair, or maybe even something she'd installed in her own body millennia ago.

I shouldn't have let Miko ride along. Should've left her with Ashanti's team. Miko could've been their ace in the hole, but still. . . I shouldn't have gambled with her life. Who knows what kind of trouble she might throw herself into?

Arcee tried to shake it off. There was nothing she could do about it now. All she could do was hope recent events had drilled some sense into the girl's head.

She crouched again, studying the rain-soaked gravel, looking for Airachnid's distinctive spider-leg footprints, scuff marks on the pavement, snapped branches on the trees around her--anything that might give her a clue as to where Airachnid had gone. Once she'd freed June's medical team and the civilian, one of the nurses had found some rope which they'd used to tie Silas to a chair. Arcee had scanned for other human life forms to be sure he didn't have any reinforcements, and had found none. She'd left the med team to keep an eye on Silas while she headed off in search of Jack.

June hadn't been able to access any information in the console, and Silas clearly wouldn't tell them anything. Beating him to death wouldn't get them anywhere, as much as she wanted to, so she had simply gone hunting.

Two hours later--nothing.

Poor Bulkhead must be worried sick about Miko. Hell, all of them are probably worried about all of us. But until I can disable the jammer, none of us can radio out.

She moved on, looking around and grumbling. This place was literally in the middle of nowhere, nothing but tree-covered mountains on all sides and constant, pouring rain. Not a single house, gas station, or even an outhouse in sight. Only a winding road that appeared to lead from nowhere to nowhere.

She continued walking, and almost missed it. In the corner of her optic, there was a small pile of gravel that didn't look right. Arcee crouched, leaning over to take a better look.

The gravel lining the road had been moved--sculpted into the letter M with an arrow beside it. It was small enough that Airachnid wouldn't have noticed it unless she'd been examining every square foot of the ground as Arcee had been. And since Airachnid already had Jack, she wouldn't have had any reason to look that closely.

Thank you, Miko! Grinning, Arcee followed the arrow, scanning the ground in front of her, looking for the next marker. She found it a few minutes later; an M and an arrow carved into the trunk of a tree a quarter-mile down the road. It appeared to have been carved by a standard Bowie knife that came with the armor Jack and Miko had been given; ineffective against any 'Con bigger and better-armored than a Pretender, but it clearly had its uses.

Arcee continued onward, following each marker Miko had left, until the trail dead-ended at a hillside. Frowning, Arcee scanned the ground in front of her. Nothing but grass and trees and--

Hold on. She stepped up to a mass of vines and shrubs, and scanned it more thoroughly. It's hollow.

She scanned one more time, for explosives or other booby traps, and yanked the bushes away, revealing a hole in the ground barely large enough for Airachnid to wriggle through on her belly. Being smaller, Arcee was able to walk through the tunnel without much difficulty, half-crouching as she advanced. It gradually widened enough for her to walk upright.

After nearly five minutes of creeping through the dark tunnels with both shotguns in her hands, she began to wonder if she'd missed one of Miko's pointers and wandered into an abandoned mine shaft. But then she emerged from the tunnel into a slightly larger chamber lined with display cases.

Many of them were. . .occupied. Too many.

Arcee grimaced. My fault. All of these. If I'd finished Airachnid off the last time we fought, none of these people would've died. Rescuing Jack had been more important to her at the time, but the few seconds it took to tear the webbing off him had given Airachnid the opening she needed to burrow into the ground before Arcee could get to her.

Don't think about it. Focus on what you need to do now_._

She kept going, deeper underground, passing through more chambers filled with Airachnid's trophies. Many more than the sixteen that had drawn her and Jack here. Goddamn it.

Another long tunnel, another trophy-packed chamber. Arcee tried not to look at any of the cases, but one caught her attention and she stopped in her tracks. Her optics opened wider and cried out softly.

"No. . ." The shotguns slipped from her hands and hit the dirt floor with a double-thump. "No, no, no, no. . ."

She staggered back until she bumped into the wall.

"Jack. . ." Her legs buckled and she collapsed, slumping against the wall. "Jack!"

Her entire world imploded. Unable to form a coherent thought, she opened her mouth and released a long, echoing scream. And she didn't stop. She stared at the horror in front of her and screamed. . .and screamed. . .and screamed. . .