FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"We are almost at the deployment coordinates," Optimus said through the team's comms. "Five more minutes."

Acree glanced around at the others seated in Optimus's trailer. Jack sat beside her, leaning against the wall, clad in his new armor and holding his helmet on his lap, looking far calmer than he had the last time he'd faced Airachnid. If anything, his expression was a mixture of determination and anger, if she were reading it correctly.

Bulkhead's human-size body sat across from hers, with Miko to his right, also in her full armor. On the seat to her right was a large backpack. Arcee guessed it was loaded with synthetic energon-enhanced sticky bombs or something similar, based on the girl's actions in previous battles. Tomoko occupied the front end of the trailer, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, cycling through different color schemes, probably as an attempt to avoid thinking about the coming fight.

At the rear of the trailer sat what was left of Ashanti's team, DeeDee Washington and Josephine Chang. The latter two had just finished one last systems check on their armor, while Ashanti stared at something on a tablet.

Bumblebee, Ultra Magnus, and Smokescreen were outside, along with Steve and Khalilah, June's medical team, and a combat support squad. All were approaching Airachnid's location from different directions. Like the last time they'd tracked down the rogue Decepticon, they'd taken the ground-bridge to coordinates outside of sensor range to prevent her from detecting the energy spikes, and had converged on her position from there. The plan was to stop at the edge of sensor range, deploy the human and Pretender teams, and continue the search on foot.

Double-D tapped a control on her belt and glanced around at the others. Her gaze settled on Tomoko and she smiled.

"That one looks good. It's a nice shade of red."

"You think so?" Tomoko smiled and glanced at the black with red trim on her hands and arms. "It's called sunset red. I think I like it, too. I keep coming back to it when trying out colors."

"I've always liked that combination of colors. All of my vehicles in _GTA Online_have a similar color scheme."

"Oh, I didn't know you played that."

"When I'm off duty and have a few hours to spare, yeah." Double-D grinned. "So does General Sanchez, whenever he can find the time for it. His granddaughter got him hooked on it. He's joined Jensen on a few missions to help keep his morale up while he's in the infirmary."

"Nice. We should get together for a Heist sometime."

Glad she's assuming she'll survive today. Arcee smiled. That's a big step up from when we headed out.

"That'd be interesting." Ashanti glanced up from her tablet long enough to flick a lopsided grin at Tomoko. "The general likes to troll his subordinates. Not being mean or anything. He just thinks it's funny. You'll have to be on the lookout for that."

"Thanks for warning me. What's his gamer tag, so I can be on guard when he's in the same lobby?"

"Full Metal Jackoff."

Jack burst out laughing and Ashanti chuckled.

"The general's character is one creepy-looking motherfucker, too. He's got his face painted up like a clown. There've been a few times when I caught a close-up of it on my screen, and it was deeply unsettling."

"Hmm," Arcee said. "This sounds intriguing. I should get in on it sometime."

"Maybe when this is all over and we've scrapped Airachnid, we can give it a try as part of the celebration." Jack grinned. "Like a victory dance."

She put her arm around him. "Sounds like a plan."

"Count me in." Ashanti glanced at her watch, turned the tablet off, and slipped it into a belt pouch. Arcee motioned at it.

"Still going over replacement candidates?"

"I've managed to narrow it down quite a bit, finally. The higher-ups are talking about building an international team now that the whole world knows you exist. Which makes sense. It's their planet, too, so there's no reason they shouldn't fight alongside us to protect it. It just makes the list of candidates exponentially longer." Ashanti chuckled. "There's one I'm pretty sure I'll add to the team, though. Kefira Ben-Ari. She's ex-Mossad, spent the last few years working as a private contractor, and opted in when the search for new recruits started this morning. Her weapon of choice is a 44-caliber Mateba auto-revolver with an eight-inch barrel. And as a backup, she carries a .454 Casull. She's been out of commission since she lost both legs to a roadside bomb, but our medical division can fix that."

Jack winced. "It was traumatic enough for me, but I was able to get my new legs pretty quickly. I can only imagine what it must've been like to go for weeks or months thinking it was all over."

Ashanti nodded. "She held herself together remarkably well, which is one of the reasons I'm seriously considering her. She's a badass. Right after her legs were blown off, she somehow managed to apply an experimental gel to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wounds, dose herself with painkillers, drag herself to the mission objective and take out any enemy troops who got in her way. A few weeks later, when someone asked her how she kept going, she just said, 'The job wasn't finished yet.' So I figure she'd be a good addition to the team."

Chang nodded, but her face had paled slightly. "She sounds kind of terrifying, actually."

"Well, she's got a great service record and according to her colleagues, she's got a good sense of humor." Ashanti smiled. "And I'm told she has a TARDIS keychain, so I think she'd fit right in with the rest of us geeks at Groom Lake."

"I like her already." DeeDee grinned.

"We have arrived," Optimus reported in. "Communications are being jammed."

"That's Airachnid's schtick, alright," Arcee said. "Either the jammer is built into her body, or she's got a large supply of them that she sets up wherever she builds her lair. We've run into it before."

"Let's make sure this is the last time." Jack stood and put his helmet on. "I was worried about your link to your mini-me being jammed as well, but it looks like it's on a frequency her jammers don't touch."

"I was worried about the same thing." Arcee tried to suppress a shiver. Nothing would've been worse than being cut off abruptly, trapped in her crippled body back at the base, unable to know whether Jack and the rest were still alive, and unable to do anything at all to keep them safe. "It's a huge relief to still be operating this body."

Ashanti locked her helmet on, plucked her rifle from the clip on her back, and reached out to the door handle.

"Let's move out."

---

"Oh, hi." Jensen glanced at the door to his hospital room, smiled, and waved at Khalilah. Her human-size, remote-controlled Doppelgänger entered the room, treading lightly to reduce the noise of her metal feet on the floor, and stopped at his bed. She held out the tablet in her hand.

"General Sanchez said you were feeling down, so he sent you a few things to cheer you up."

"Aw, that was nice of him. I'll be sure to thank him next time we talk." He accepted the tablet and held her hand for a moment. "I'm not 'down,' exactly. Just a little antsy because my team's heading out on a major op while I'm stuck here with a leg that's broken in four places."

"The whole team is with them, plus me and Steve and a full support unit, and they're going after a single target. The odds are in their favor."

"I hope I don't distract you, though. I want you coming back without a scratch."

"I'll do my best. I can keep you updated on the battle's progress while I'm here." She leaned over to touch his shoulder. "I've had friends before, but while serving the Decepticons, I never had anyone care as much for me as you do."

"Well, I guess we just 'clicked.' You're a sweet girl."

"Thank you. I wanted to leave those power-hungry maniacs for so long, but never had anywhere to go until now. The sheer relief of escaping them feels like an enormous pressure has suddenly vanished, and I can finally be myself." She patted his shoulder and pointed at the tablet. "The general said this is an outtake from one of the interviews conducted by the news team that recently arrived at the base. He found it while vetting their recordings. This one won't be made public, apparently, but he thought it'd give you a laugh."

"Can't wait to see it, then." Jensen woke the tablet and found the clip already loaded in the media player. He tapped the play button and chuckled at the sight of Miko sitting on a bench beside Bulkhead's human-size Pretender body. "Oh, this oughta be good."

The reporter, Tenesha Hargrove, sat on the end of the bench and smiled at them. "So, you two have known each other for only a few months, but you appear to get along quite well."

"Bulkhead's like a big brother. I never knew what that was even like until we met. Turns out we have almost the same taste in music, TV shows, movies, and so on." Miko fired off a wicked grin. "We don't see eye-to-eye on_everything_, though."

"Oh, here we go." Bulkhead chuckled.

"For instance, Bulk is_really_ into Coldplay. Just loves 'em. Me?" Miko grimaced. "Can't stand 'em."

"Come on, they're not that bad, are they?"

"Every Coldplay song I've ever heard sounded like my grandparents fingering each other."

Jensen barked out a laugh as Tenesha's face twisted up like she'd just bitten into a rotten lemon. Bulkhead snickered and another voice burst into laughter. The guy holding the camera, Jensen guessed.

A light flashed on the console on the far side of the room. Ratchet and Optimus walked over to it as Agent Fowler's face appeared on the screen. Miko glanced over her shoulder at the image, turned to Bulkhead, and nudged his shoulder.

"Hey, d'ya think Fowler's ever been, like, just fuckin' hammered?"

Bulkhead guffawed again and shrugged. "Well, I've seen what he's like when he wakes up after being knocked out for a few hours. I figure it's probably a lot like that."

The next words out of Miko's mouth were apparently so profane that they had to be censored. With a huge grin and an evil glint in her eye, she leaned over to Bulkhead and said, "D'ya think Fowler likes_[BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]_?"

Bulkhead stared blankly at her. The guy holding the camera emitted an audible gasp. Tenesha's "I ate a rancid lemon" expression twisted up even further.

Jensen snort-laughed. "Oh,wow!"

In the background, Rosalina walked into the frame, stopped, did a double-take, and stared at Miko with her mouth hanging open. Miko glanced around and shrugged.

"Come on, people in high-pressure jobs like his are probably into some weird shit. I betcha anything Fowler [BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]_and dresses up like _[BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP] with a bunch of_[BLEEEEEEEEEEP]_ and [BLEEEEEEEEEEEEP] twinky little_[BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]_ and, like,[BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP] ice cream cones_[BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]_."

Jensen laughed until he couldn't breathe and tears streamed from his eyes. The image on the tablet jolted around as the camera guy struggled to keep it steady. Behind Miko, Rosalina laughed so hard that she had to brace her hands on her knees.

Just when Jensen managed to regain his composure, Tenesha turned slowly to gape into the camera, which set Jensen off again.

"Yeah," Tenesha muttered, "we won't be able to use that."

The guy behind the camera caught his breath long enough to say, "May ... maybe it can be an extra on the Blu-Ray." He lost it again, and the image whip-panned downward until the blurry floor filled the frame. The clip ended, and Jensen continued chortling for nearly a minute before pulling himself together.

"That kid is somethin' else." He grinned at Khalilah. "Thanks for bringing this. Really brightened my day."

"Glad I could do my part." She held his hand between both of hers.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well. How much longer until the op starts?"

"We've reached the coordinates and are beginning our search."

He nodded and kept silent, letting her concentrate on the mission, but still wished he could be there for his team.

Get the job done and come home safe, everyone.

---

"Well, this is thrilling," Double-D muttered with a forced chuckle. "Almost half an hour and still nothing."

"She'll turn up sooner or later." Jack had spent the past twenty-plus minutes refreshing his memory on his new armor's features. In addition to the EMP generator, it also had built-in thrusters and upgraded servos to boost the wearer's speed and strength. There hadn't been time for any training on them, but he figured he could get the hang of it if he were careful. The speed boost would probably be tricky.

He glanced over at Arcee as they marched through the snow. "How're you holding up?"

"It's not cold enough here to shut any of us down, but even so, I'd be pretty uncomfortable if I were here in person."

"It's plenty cold enough for me," Miko said over the comlink. "Even with this armor, I bet my nipples could punch through solid steel right now."

One of the support team members snickered. "I won't be able to concentrate on combat with images like that in my head."

"Christ," another squad member grumbled, "she's fifteen."

"I know." The guy had an audible shrug in his voice. "I feel so dirty."

"What makes it even worse," Miko continued as if she hadn't noticed the comments, "is that my chest has already been kind of sore for a while. Like, kind of tender." She paused for a few seconds and drew in a quick breath. "Oh! Y'know what that means? It means I'm _finally_growing tits!"

Several laughs came over the comms, followed by June's voice.

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry to grow up."

"Come on, most of the girls in my school got their tits when they were thirteen. It's taken me two extra years. Let me enjoy the moment. I've been waiting for it long enough."

"Okay." June snorted. "Sorry."

Jack rolled his eyes and checked his armor's sensors again. Still no sign of Airachnid even though they were well within range by now. He kept sweeping his gaze over the landscape, taking in the hills and cliffs and snow-covered trees.

_The temperature probably drops well below zero at night. Cybertronians can't handle extreme cold. Airachnid must really be a masochist._A memory flashed through his mind despite his efforts not to think about it - Arcee and Optimus stranded in the Arctic, damn near freezing to death while the base was swarmed with Scraplets a few months ago. He hadn't even known they were in that much trouble until after the Scraplets were dealt with, but once he'd found out that Arcee had almost died, it was one of the first times he'd realized his feelings for her went far beyond friendship.

At least I don't have to worry about that now. If her Pretender body is disabled, we can repair it or build a new one once the fabricators are finished.

The voice of a woman on the support squad interrupted his thoughts. "This is what I hate about missions like these. Hours of nothing happening. The tension keeps you sharp for a while, but then boredom sets in and your attention wanders."

"And with everything around us white," another guy said, "it's even easier to lose your focus."

"Well, let's see if we can keep everyone awake and alert. Replace one word in a movie title with the word 'vagina' - go!"

"The Vagina Strikes Back," another woman said almost instantly.

"The Vagina Reloaded," another guy chimed in, and Chang giggled.

"Monty Python and the Holy Vagina."

Everyone burst into laughter.

"The Vagina Chainsaw Massacre," Miko said, and Ashanti snorted.

"Kid, you are a_disturbing_ person."

"Thanks!"

Arcee laughed softly. "I've got one. A Fist Full of Vagina."

Chuckles, a guffaw, and several snort-laughs rippled around the team.

"Dirty Vagina," Double-D said, and everyone burst into laughter.

Jack grinned. "The Full Vagina."

Arcee laughed and nudged his shoulder. "That's what mine will be on your eighteenth birthday."

Jack nearly stumbled while descending a gentle slope, prompting another laugh from nearby team members. Up ahead, Optimus glanced over his shoulder at them and smirked ever so slightly. Jack wondered if he really understood what they were talking about or if he was just happy that Arcee was able to crack a few jokes while hunting down the one person in the galaxy she hated more than any other.

"At the stroke of midnight," Arcee added with a wink, and Jack almost tripped over his own feet again.

"Watch it, you two," June said with a grin in her voice. "I'm monitoring Jack's vitals, and there are some serious spikes."

"That's just all the blood leaving my head, Mom."

"Easy, tiger." Arcee smirked at him before taking another slow look around. "As cold as this place is, if you kissed me, your lips would stick to my skin."

"I can think of worse positions to be stuck in." Before he could laugh, something off to the right pinged his motion sensors and a chill oozed through his guts. "I've got -"

"Contact right," Double-D said, turning all-business and keeping her tone soft.

"I saw it," one of the other men said. "The snow shifted about fifteen yards away."

"Last time we faced Airachnid," Jack said - and Arcee finished his sentence.

"She had an underground lair. Watch your step, everyone!"

"Something's tunneling toward us," another support-squad member said, snapping her rifle up. "Looks like -"

The snow dropped out from under the man behind her, almost as if something had sucked it down. Jack caught a glimpse of him yanking a grenade from his harness before he vanished into the hole in the ground.

"Fire in the hole!"

He launched into the air, propelled by his armor's thrusters, and arched overhead. He hit the ground, rolled forward, and came up on his feet before the grenade detonated.

Whump!

Chunks of ice and dirt sprayed out of the hole - and then Jack noticed the ground vibrating under his feet. Cracks formed across the hard-packed snow, the ground splitting open all around the team. Arcee's optics opened wide.

Jack glanced around and realized there was a drop-off only thirty feet to the left. An instant later, the ground fell our from under him.

Ashanti had just enough time to snarl an intensely disgusted, "Oh, shit!" The ground disintegrated under her feet and she tumbled out of sight.

We must've been standing on an ice shelf. The thought had barely formed when Jack plowed face-first into the ground. He rolled over and glanced up to find the snow falling away, revealing ice-encased dirt and rock which split off from the mountain and carried him down with it. He gasped.

"Arcee!"

A jagged chunk of ice the size of a car shot out of nowhere and slammed into his chest. A split-second later, he realized he had nothing but air under him. In the corners of his eyes, twisted and bare tree branches whipped upward as he plunged toward the ground far below. He managed to turn over, and almost wished he hadn't.

Shit, we're at least a mile up!_He gulped down several deep breaths and tried to focus. _Wait - the thrusters. He remembered from the specs he'd skimmed that they were controlled by brain impulses through an interface in the helmet. He concentrated on firing them and hoped he could do it correctly.

Ports in his chest and back plates opened and small jets lit up, jolting him as they counteracted his descent. He started to veer off to the left, but fought to keep himself in a straight drop. After he'd regained control, he risked a quick glance to the sides, and found Ashanti and Chang maneuvering as if they were skydiving, moving confidently, firing quick bursts from their thrusters to make course corrections.

He tried to mimic their poses, and found himself slowing a little more. Snow and debris tumbled past him.

Then he spotted Arcee plummeting past him, just out of his reach. Since she had no thrusters, there was nothing to stop her from hitting the ground hard enough to cause serious damage.

Jack twisted toward her and his suit thrusters fired accordingly, nudging him in her direction and accelerating to catch up with her. She seemed to realize what he was doing a fraction of a second before he reached out to her, and shook her head. He boosted his speed a little more and she came within reach. He grabbed her hand with both of his, clamped down as hard as he could, and flipped himself upright. He pushed his thrusters to maximum and hoped it would slow them enough to avoid being pulped on impact.

He caught a glimpse of Ashanti hitting the ground feet-first, throwing herself forward, tucking her shoulder, and rolling. She spun as she came back upright, crouching, glancing around for the rest of her team, and then staring at something above Jack.

The ground slammed into his feet and his legs buckled. He tried to roll, but ended up flopping face-down in the snow. He pushed himself upright and put his hand on Arcee's shoulder. Before he could speak, movement caught his eye and he glanced upward. Tons of snow, ice, dirt, and rocks slapped him in the face an instant after he spotted them, and suddenly his entire world turned pitch black aside from the soft blue glow from Arcee's optics.

Then, suddenly ... silence.

"Arcee," he whispered, trying to touch her shoulder, but he couldn't move.

"I'm okay. You?"

"I'm good, I think. Pretty sure we've just been buried under the avalanche."

"Yeah. It's too heavy even for me. I can't even twitch."

"Great." He took a slow breath. "Hey ... anyone out there? Uh, comm check."

The silence remained unbroken - until the ground shook, as if something _massive_had just slammed down.

"I wonder if that was Optimus?" Arcee's optics trembled as she tried to move.

"Hold on. I'm gonna try my suit thrusters again."

A scritching, scrabbling sound came from above, and he held his breath. The sound grew louder, accompanied by a muffled voice. After a few seconds, even though he couldn't make out what it was saying, he recognized the voice and its singsong tone.

"No," Arcee whispered. "Oh, no!"

The voice grew more distinct over the next few seconds, until Jack noticed faint light coming from above, filtering through the snow as giant metal hands dug it away. A few more seconds passed, and the voice was clear enough for him to understand what its owner was saying.

"Oh, Jack! I know you're in there!" The digging continued. "I'm coming for you!"

"Shit," he whispered. "Shit!!" His heart pounded hard enough to kick off another avalanche.

The last of the debris vanished, scooped away by an enormous, black and purple hand. Sunlight flooded him and he squinted - then it faded as Airachnid's grinning face filled his field of vision.

"Jack! So nice to see you again!"