Airachnid's Story

Prologue

Two femmes walked side by side, with a taller mech trailing behind. The trio were the best of friends, especially the two femmes. They did everything together, whether it be talking, laughing, or going to events together. The three of them had just signed up for training to become Autobots. War was ravaging their planet, buildings slowly losing their structural integrity. Luckily, the part of Cybertron that these bots lived on was currently safe from the enemies line of fire. Or so they thought.

The gold and blue femme darted ahead of the blue and pink one, giggling. "You'll never catch me, Arcee!"

"Oh, we'll see about that Elita-1!" the shorter femme grinned, and started chasing after her friend. Their mech friend followed behind, amused at the antics of the two femmes. Anyone with a pair of optics could see the romance blooming between the two, and he suspected it wouldn't long before the two were together, even with the war going on.

A loud explosion threw the three of them backward, and a loud ringing sounded in all of their audio receptors. The mech was the first to rise, and noticed a scary purple mech with one optic and a cannon for an arm. Said cannon was the source of the explosion, the mech surmised. However, his optics widened when he saw the barely conscious form of Elita-1 by the Decepticon's pedes. With one swift movement, the con had thrown her over his shoulder.

Arcee got to her pedes, and when she saw her favorite femme being held captive by the enemy, she was ready to attack, though she possessed no weapons and lacked the proper training. Instinctively, the red and green mech held her back, not letting her chase after her friend.

"Tailgate!" she shrieked. "Let me go! Let me save her! LET ME SAVE ELITA!"

Tailgate refused. "I can't let you do that, Arcee. You know as well as I that you're no match for Shockwave. He's much too powerful!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Arcee screamed. "I HAVE TO SAVE HER. I CAN'T LET HER BE TAKEN FROM ME!"

Tailgate didn't say anything, but a loud shriek across the broken metal caught both the remaining Autobots attention.

"Arcee!" Elita-1 cried out. "Tailgate! Don't let him take me!"

With renewed fervor, Arcee struggled to get out of Tailgate's grip. It was only when Elita-1 completely disappeared from sight that she went limp in defeat. She bit her derma, and stared at the ground as Tailgate hesitantly released her.

"I loved her..." she whispered. "And now she's gone..."

Tailgate merely rested his servo on her shoulder. "There was nothing we could have done, Arcee."

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Arcee shrieked as she turned on him. "WE COULD HAVE FOUGHT SHOCKWAVE!"

"With what training?!" Tailgate snapped back. "If we tried to fight, we could have been injured or killed and then we wouldn't be able to rescue our friend later in the fight!"

Arcee just glared at him, and stalked away. Tailgate watched her go with sad optics, but he knew she needed her space. Turning he stared in the direction that Shockwave and Elita-1 had disappeared, and promised himself that he would find the femme, or die trying.