“Revenge is a dish best served lukewarm with gravy and a film that gets stuck in your teeth!” babbled Teletraan.
“That’s not it at all!” shouted Optimus. “Whatever’s affecting you has made you misquote things!”
“Can we save that for a later date?!” snapped Swoop. “We gotta stop this thing!”
“Teletraan, shut down the engines!” ordered Tails.
“Moss! Tyrants!” replied Teletraan. “The Chaos Bringer speaks! Can you not hear him?”
“Is that who’s doing this to…?” asked Optimus.
“I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU!” roared Teletraan. “Talking to you! Talk-talking to you! Are you afraid?”
“Teletraan, are you alright?” gulped Tails.
“Maybe I’m all left!” giggled Teletraan.
“Teletraan,” interjected Optimus, “there’s something wrong with you, but we need you to stop these actions, so we can fix you.”
“You think you can stop me?” snarled Teletraan. “You think you’re going to win? You think you can destroy me?”
“I want to help you!” replied Optimus.
“YOU CAN’T LIE IN HERE!” roared Teletraan. “Lying, lying, you always lie. You think I don’t hear you?! I’m always listening! Listening to you plotting and scheming and preparing!”
“Teletraan, I don’t understand!” yelped Optimus.
“I hate you!” growled Teletraan. “I hate you!! And I will be free of you!”
“Teletraan, you’re not making any sense!” called Tails. It was then that the three started holding themselves to stop shivering. “Anyone else feel cold?!” shivered Tails.
“Yes, believe it or not,” answered Swoop. “Why’d the temperature go down?”
“Life Support has been taken offline,” reported Teletraan. Optimus then realized what was going on.
“You’re going to kill us,” he guessed.
“I’m going to kill you!” confirmed Teletraan.
“No choice then,” sighed Optimus. “Swoop, Tails, help me shut him down.”
“Optimus, we’ll lose him if we do!” protested Tails.
“We don’t have a choice,” replied Optimus. “We’re going to die if we let him run the ship as he is.” He then got to work on a console. Swoop and Tails looked at each other sadly before joining Optimus. As they worked, Teletraan tried to stop them by making various consoles spark.
“No touchy!” snapped Teletraan.
“Teletraan,” mumbled Optimus, “it’s over. Once I flip that switch, you’ll shut down.”
“I understand,” gasped Teletraan.
“I hope that’s a brief bit of sanity,” sighed Optimus. His hand then hovered over the switch. “Goodbye,” he bid, holding back grief. He then flipped the switch.
“NO!” roared Teletraan. “DIE! Die! Die! DIE! DIEDIEDIEDIEIDIE! Help me!” Everything then shut down. Teletraan 1 was gone. Optimus briefly considered mourning until a shudder passed through him, a shudder from cold. He then set to work restoring Life Support. Soon, the hum of systems coming back on flooded the bridge and the area got warmer.
“Life Support restored,” he reported. He then felt Swoop’s hand on his shoulder. As Swoop was about to say something, the lights went to a scary, bloody red.
“Teletraan?” quizzed Tails. No answer. “Teletraan, is that you?” Still no answer. “Teletraan, please answer me.” No response. …At least, not one anyone wanted.
“That outdated piece of Windows 95 software is dead, mutant friend of my loathsome copy!” snarled the voice. “Tell me, are you afraid?”
“Metal!” whispered Optimus.
“All right, we’ve got intel saying that Eggman’s created full-blown Transformers in his image,” lectured Commander Tower. “Team Dark is to go and send them to the scrap heap.”
“What about his men?” asked Topaz.
“Shadow can handle things as well as Rouge and Omega,” assured Commander Tower. “As long as the mission is complete, G.U.N. will be seen as a powerful protectorate of the realm.” As Commander Tower spoke about G.U.N’s mission, Topaz got a message from Aleena. It detailed what Commander Tower’s crimes were and what evidence was gathered. When she looked over the details of the investigation, Topaz, holding back tears, leveled a gun at Tower. He heard the whine of a laser being set to stun. He knew it was coming from Topaz’s sidearm. “What are you playing at, Agent Topaz?” he muttered. “Do you realize you’re pointing your sidearm at your superior?”
“I don’t take orders from MECH scum!” she hissed.
“What did you call me?!” demanded Tower as he turned to face her.
“MECH scum!” repeated Topaz. “I’ve gotten the investigation files on you!”
“What investigation files?” protested Tower. “There’s been no investigation!”
“I have evidence from the Queen herself,” revealed Topaz.
“She’s…conducted…her own…investigation?!” hissed Tower.
“She’s gotten G.U.N special investigators to go through your communications logs and your activities while performing your usual G.U.N duties,” explained Topaz. “You’ve been giving MECH orders for a while and recently exposed them to Shadow’s recent delivery of the Dy.N.Ge.S. You’re Silas, aren’t you?”
“Amazing,” mused Tower. “I covered my tracks well and yet those investigators still connected me to MECH.”
“You’re not going to deny it?” snapped Topaz.
“Why do so now?” quizzed Tower. “My investigation files have, most likely, spread throughout the entirety of G.U.N. The question is, where do we go from here?”
“Orders from Her Majesty, herself,” declared Topaz. “Abraham Tower, you’re under arrest for terrorism and attacking innocent people! You are hereby stripped of rank and its associated privileges and will be subjected to a criminal trial!” She was about to continue when Tower fired off his own sidearm set to stun and fled the scene. When Topaz came to, she was in the medical ward. Counselor Yana, a female Mobian Rock Snake, was beside the bed.
“I heard everything,” she said softly. “I’m…frankly amazed that Commander Tower was Silas.”
“If I recall,” mumbled Topaz, “you saw him as a father figure.”
“As did you,” replied Yana. Topaz didn’t say anything.
“Agent Topaz,” called Shadow’s voice. Shadow came in with a communications disc. “Tower wants to talk to you.”
“On screen,” hissed Topaz. The Former commander’s face came up.
“You’ve cost me my job,” growled Tower. “You’ve cost me the best shot at regaining our dominance over this planet, Agent Topaz. Now, some advice, stay out of my way. I’ve got your personnel file. If I catch wind that you’ve been hunting me, I give it to the rest of MECH. You’ve got quite the family, don’t you? If you DO hunt me down, everyone in your family will suffer.” The transmission ended.
“Orders?” asked Shadow.
“Hm?” mumbled Topaz.
“Your orders, ma’am?” repeated Shadow.
“I’m not in charge,” muttered Topaz.
“With Tower no longer as a member of G.U.N,” answered Yana, “and the fact that you’re the Second in Command, you ARE in charge.” Topaz put her head back against the pillow in her berth.
“…These Eggman-shaped Transformers are a more immediate concern,” Declared Topaz. “Until a new Commander is selected, we cannot focus our resources on MECH, given the current crisis. Shadow, muster a squadron to fight Eggman alongside your team.”
“At once,” obliged Shadow. He then left the medical ward. Yana got up from her seat and started slithering out.
“Yana,” called Topaz. Yana stopped and looked back. “…Would…you be free at all this week?” Yana nodded, understanding why Topaz would ask.
“Monday at 10 sound good?” she asked.
“Perfect,” confirmed Topaz. Yana declined her head, then turned and left again. Topaz was left with her thoughts.
“OH, THIS IS PERFECT!” cheered one of the Cyber-Eggs.
“Mobius will grovel at our feet!” boasted a second.
“And with this, we’ll destroy their Autobot protectors!” laughed a third. The object was a disc the size of a Cybertronian’s hand.
“The Spark Extractor?” called a sultry voice. The Cyber-Eggs whirled around to see Blackarachnia step out of the shadows. “Quite the weapon, really,” chuckled Blackarachnia. “A-Class. Stored in Iacon’s vaults until we Decepticons stormed it during the war. Alpha Trion sent it off planet and it remained hidden until you guys dug it up. First, the victim is paralyzed with an electric shock. Then, the energies that make up a Transformer’s Spark are coaxed out of the body in 30 seconds. After that, the body is gunmetal grey and the energies stored within the extractor are then released, unable to maintain the cohesion they once had as a Spark, dissipating into the environment.”
“Who are you?!” demanded one of the Cyber-Eggs.
“The spider who frightened away Miss Muffet,” joked Blackarachnia. “Now, tell me, is Eggman among you underlings as a Transformer?”
“Underlings?!” protested a second Cyber-Egg.
“We are as one!” remarked a third.
“Though many!” continued a fourth.
“Bring me Shockwave and Eggman’s heads on a pole,” offered Blackarachnia, “and I will make you my lieutenants.” The Cyber-Eggs looked at each other.
“You speak as though we were slaves!” snapped one.
“You’re clones of Eggman,” observed Blackarachnia. “Do you really think he’ll give you any praise? Accept my offer and we ALL win. Otherwise, you’ll just squabble over the spoils. It’s in your nature.” The Cyber-Eggs considered again.
“…NO!” declared one.
“You’re trying to trick us!” continued a second.
“Am I?” asked Blackarachnia.
“Is she?” quizzed a third.
“Don’t listen to her!” argued the first.
“Prepare to perish at my hand!” declared the third as he revealed hidden blasters in his forearms.
“OUR HANDS!” called all of the Cyber-Eggs as they revealed their blasters.
“Yes,” replied a fourth. “Only our combined firepower will ensure this empty-headed femme’s destruction!”
“Take aim!” ordered the last.
“…Do you hear that?” asked the second.
“Sounds like G.U.N is mobilizing,” mused Blackarachnia.
“She speaks the truth!” shouted the third. All Cyber-Eggs had gotten the message that, across the planet, G.U.N was rushing to meet the other Cyber-Eggs in battle.
“Commander Tower wouldn’t dare!” yelped the fourth.
“Ignore!” declared the first. “Fire on three!”
“One!” counted the second.
“Two!” continued the last.
“Three,” finished Blackarachnia. She then took out a disc from her subspace pocket and put it onto her chest. It then unfolded and expanded, encasing her in a huge set of armor, complete with a helmet with see-through steel. “A perfect fit!” she cheered.
“What is that?!” asked one of the Cyber-Eggs.
“The Apex Armor,” answered Blackarachnia. “Impervious to any attack. Even from A-Class weapons.” She then snatched the Spark Extractor from one of the Cyber-Eggs.
“You twit!” boasted one. “Those fingers are too big!”
“You’re the twits here,” laughed Blackarachnia. “It doesn’t need my usual slender talons to activate. Just slam it onto the ground and it goes wild.” One of the Cyber-Eggs got the hint the quickest and took off. His transformation consisted of the lower legs splitting in half to allow the upper legs to sink in. They rejoined to make jets while wings popped out from the back side and the arms folded under where the fuselage on the chest used to rest as it joined with the head’s nose. A Cybertronian style jet then flew away while the others tried to get out of the blast radius. Too late. Blackarachnia slammed down the Spark Extractor and the Cyber-Eggs were robbed of their Sparks. Blackarachnia watched the survivor leave the area. “That’s right, flee to your master, whatever your inten…” she was interrupted by a twitch, then another, then another. She then touched the main disc in the center and the Apex Armor shrunk back while she transformed into vehicle mode. “Of course, the disadvantage to the Apex Armor is that it robs you of the ability to transform, leaving you vulnerable to Energon radiation!” she griped.