Arcee dashed through the wreckage, dodging with razor-sharp reflexes as blasts exploded around her like metallic thunder. With an agile leap, she spun midair, landing a devastating kick to the face of a Decepticon charging toward her. Without losing momentum, she transformed her arm into a cannon and fired at another enemy's knee, bringing him down before delivering a brutal uppercut that shattered his jaw with a dry crack.
The Decepticon who received the kick collapsed and before he could recover. Arcee didn't hesitate: she aimed and fired at his face, ending the threat. Panting, she barely had time to breathe. More shots came her way. She dove behind debris, her sensors overloaded by the heat of battle.
"Don't these scrap-heaps ever quit?!" she growled, transforming her other arm into a cannon, ready to blast anyone who dared approach.
But when she aimed to return fire… she froze. The three Decepticons in front of her lay on the ground—heads severed from their bodies like broken dolls.
"What…?" she muttered, confused and alarmed.
"Oh, Arcee… I must say, it's almost fun to see that scared look on your face again." The voice dripped with venom and mockery. Perched atop the rubble, Airachnid sat with legs crossed, spinning the fake Allspark in her hand as if it were a toy.
Arcee aimed her cannons at the voice out of pure reflex. The appearance was different, but that voice... that voice was a nightmare. The past exploded in her mind: Tailgate... and prison.
Arcee's optics widened. She trembled, pain and hatred boiling in her spark.
"Ah… you do recognize me. How nice to see that fear again." Airachnid smiled with pure delight. "Like the new look? A lady deserves a form worthy of her, don't you think?"
Arcee fired in pure rage, but Airachnid's spider-like legs intercepted the shots with monstrous agility, scattering the blasts as if they were nothing.
"How rude, Arcee… I thought you'd learned not to provoke me." Airachnid teased, inspecting her claws with disdain.
Shaken, Arcee tried to attack again, but she was too slow. A techno-organic web pinned her to the ground with brutal force, immobilizing her limbs.
Airachnid descended in calculated steps, her claws clinking with metallic menace. She closed in like a predator certain of her victory. "So predictable… so pathetic." She raised the fake Allspark, its glow reflecting in Arcee's optics. "Ah… I see you've noticed."
"The Allspark… how… why…?" Arcee panted, fear growing at the thought of what Airachnid could do with that power.
Airachnid let out a low chuckle. "Surprised? I was too, when I found it… fascinating how this power transformed my body. Now… I'm perfect." She kept up the deception Lux had planned.
Arcee squirmed desperately. "No… not you…"
Airachnid stepped beside Arcee's head, the force of her foot creating a small crater. "Killing you now would be far too easy… and where's the fun in that?" she taunted, sliding a claw across her rival's face, leaving a shallow mark. "I have bigger plans today."
She moved away, the fake Allspark pulsing, simulating the radiation of living energy.
Arcee fought to break free. Terror suffocated her, but determination burned brighter. She couldn't let her escape.
With a powerful leap, Airachnid reached the highest point of the battlefield. From there, her voice echoed like a wicked announcement: "Let the games begin."
Arcee managed to free one arm with her forearm blade and activated her comm. "Optimus! Airachnid has the Allspark!" she warned, desperation clear in her voice.
At that moment, the fake Allspark released a wave of radiation so intense that every energon sensor in the area overloaded, creating interference across the battlefield.
In the midst of the battle, Optimus looked up reflexively, the Matrix of Leadership within him vibrating with force, resonating with what felt like the true Allspark. Ancient energy coursed through his circuits—a call he could not ignore.
"If you want the Allspark… come and get it!" Airachnid challenged them all, transforming into a gleaming Koenigsegg and speeding away, her tires adapted to the ruined terrain, launching the chase.
Megatron clenched his teeth, his crimson optics blazing with fury as the sky above turned gray, swallowed by the smoke of explosions. The battlefield was littered with wreckage, flames licking the remains of fallen ships, the scent of scorched metal hanging in the air. Winds carried dust and embers as distant thunder rumbled, heralding the destruction to come. Circuits boiling with rage, Megatron extended his arm toward Airachnid.
"Seize the Allspark now!" he roared, his voice thundering across the battlefield, as dozens of flying Decepticons launched like a swarm in pursuit. "Soundwave, keep our radars locked on Airachnid. Don't lose her!"
Megatron's red optics then turned toward Grimlock, who was slowly rising amidst the corpses of countless Decepticons.
"Damned monster… I don't have time for you. But when the Allspark is in my hands, your head and Optimus's will be framed on my throne."With a sudden leap, Megatron shifted into vehicle mode and took off with thrust — slower than usual, the damage Grimlock had inflicted taking its toll.
"Come back here, coward!" Grimlock roared, spitting a furious jet of flame, his optics burning with the desire to tear Megatron apart.
Optimus studied the Dinobot's wounds and tried to reason with him."Grimlock, we need to recover the Allspark. If you're not fit, stay here. Let Ratchet check your injuries."
But Grimlock only stared at him with contempt. "I don't want your pity, Prime," he growled, his voice low and full of scorn.
Bumblebee's characteristic beep sounded on Optimus's communicator, he was already chasing Airachnid, the moment she had transformed into her vehicle mode.
"All right, Bumblebee. I'm on my way," Optimus replied, sensors alert, but an uneasy premonition growing in him. Something was wrong; he felt it in the core of the Matrix of Leadership.
Grimlock shifted back to humanoid form in a brutal, deafening transformation. Metal plates creaked and slid like tectonic plates; sparks flew from his joints as the ground trembled beneath his colossal weight. The spectacle was overwhelming: gears meshing with animal precision, Grimlock's optics glowing with untamed fury, reflecting the surrounding flames. He planted one massive arm on the ground, knee bent. He tilted his head; his auditory sensors picked up a distant sound — the whir of rotors where the real Allspark was.
"I recommend not wasting energon on that chase," he said grimly, revealing nothing more.
Impatient, Ratchet responded upon hearing the dinobot's words: "What are you saying? Are you delirious now?!"
Grimlock glanced to the horizon as if seeing something beyond everyone's comprehension."Do as you wish. I don't care anymore."
Confused by the Dinobot's behavior, Optimus chose not to argue. The priority remained clear: recover the Allspark."Raf, can you open the portal at Ratchet's arrival coordinates?"
"I can, Optimus," the young man's voice replied firmly over the comm. He was already typing furiously on the notebook, prepping the Earthbridge systems for activation.
"I'm going now. I need to cut off the route and intercept Airachnid," Optimus explained.
"I'm already tracking her position. Energon readings have been so high since the Allspark appeared that it's easy to locate Airachnid and preemptively open a portal to reach her," Raf assured, eyes fixed on the screen. "Coordinates are ready."
Optimus cast a brief look at Ratchet and then at the silent Grimlock as conflicting thoughts crowded him — the weight of the decision amid the chaos of war, the responsibility not to fail, hope and fear colliding inside him. "I cannot fail. Not today," he murmured to himself before moving out.
"Good. Raf, I'm counting on you."
In vehicle mode, Arcee glided closer, transformed and stood beside Optimus, her hands trembling. The trauma of her encounter with Airachnid was still evident in her eyes, but she was determined.
"Optimus… I'm going with you."
Optimus hesitated for a second as he looked at her. He knew she was shaken, but also how much what came next could decide the fate of the war. There was no time for hesitation.
"All right, Arcee," he said, resolute.
The portal opened behind them in a blinding explosion of light, ripping the air like a wound in the fabric of space-time. The vortex spun with brutal force, emitting an ear-splitting roar that seemed to shake the battlefield to its core. Electric sparks danced along its unstable edge, casting trembling shadows that writhed like serpents of living energy. The air quivered and warped; reality seemed to bend before that luminous rift.
"Bumblebee, we're on our way. Keep a safe distance until we arrive."