Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Orion groaned, curling up in his web. His helm hurt and so too did his spider legs. Unfortunately, it seemed that human younglings didn't quite know that it was rude to tug on the extra limbs, and he could hear the joints creaking when they did. He was more than happy when their caretakers picked them up, it gave him the chance to drag himself back to base. 

He could feel the uncontrollable twitching from his limbs, and was very glad he didn't try to cross the city as a spider, otherwise he'd have to go through the mortifying process of being carried back by either Bulkhead or Blackarachnia again. 

It was strange, nice, but strange, to have been so worried and stressed over being accepted for becoming a Technorganic, and it turned out all for nothing. Everyone treated him as their friend and their leader like they always had, even if Bumblebee still ocassionally screamed at him in the dark. Even Blackarachnia had found herself joining this ragtag group of repair-bots, especially after last Halloween, where she'd tried to steal Sari's key. 

All of that to say, he still wasn't going to let Cybertron know what he really was. He still had nightmares of the lab, the scalpels just under the hybrid plating on his limbs as they worked through his protoform to get them off. The feeling of something pressing against his venom glands, a process that Sari had said was called "milking," just to get samples of his venom. Those nights were the worst, and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to sleep that night.

Hopefully, he could get sleep right now. No one should mind if he got a few clicks of recharge, right?

Unfortunately, no. Primus had other ideas.

"Did you just say the Elite Guard?" he asked, lifting his helm. Blackarachnia nodded, "Yup. The Elite Guard is on their way right now, to see how we're fairing with the whole "Decepticon" thing." Orion sighed, and sat up, mourning the loss of potential sleep. "Well, I guess we know what that means," he sighed, and she groaned. "You'd think I'd be happier pretending to be normal again," she muttered, a humorless laugh escaping Orion.

"Bottoms up," he said, downing the serum, as did she. A familiar burn spread through him, and when it was gone, he looked like any ordinary mech, as did she. "Look at us, we're a matching pair," Blacharachnia teased, poking his chestplate before leaving, and he shook his head. She was right, even as spiders they matched, gold and black, she was purple, he was red. 

Orion took one last look at his web, before leaving the room, unknowingly walking into danger.

Chapter Text

Blackarachnia really, really, wanted to claw Sentinel's face off. Primus, she forgot just how irritating he could be. Sadly, she had to be on her best behavior, mostly for Orion's sake. 

She couldn't let Sentinel know that Orion was Subject OR1-ON, otherwise he'd hunt down his former friend, and kill him.

That's why she wasn't letting him even speak to Sentinel without his faceguard up, otherwise they ran the risk of Sentinel recognizing him. "We've been handling things well, thank you," she ground out, and Sentinel immediately drew up to her. "I don't know who you think you are, talking to me like that," he said, clearly trying to intimidate her, but it wasn't working. She didn't face down spiders their height or escape from the Science Division's labs only to be cowed by a former friend.

"Show some respect, Sentinel," Ratchet sighed, before muttering, "young bots," to himself. "We haven't had too much trouble with the Decepticons, sir," Orion said, jumping in between Blackarachnia and Sentinel, before things got ugly. He shot her a quick glance, the both of them settling back, though that didn't stop her from quietly plotting how to kill Sentinel without Orion noticing. "You look kinda familiar," Sentinel said, and Blackarachnia could feel her spark drop into her tanks. "You're probably thinking of someone else," she interjected quickly, and Sentinel shrugged. Thank Primus, he fell for it, she thought, looking at an equally alarmed Orion. 

She still hated being in such close proximity to other Autobots. 

Blackarachnia remembered the science division labs, where they'd dragged Ori-Optimus after he changed. She remembered seeing the beast her friend had become, how incoherent he'd been on the way back to Cybertron. That was before she'd changed too, becoming his match. 

She could remember the feeling of them trying to tear her apart, before she'd turned her claws on them. That was why she didn't want to go back as she was. Why she didn't trust Autobots anymore.

That, and what she'd discovered when she stole some of the files of the Organic Neutralization program.

Something big was hiding beneath Cybertron's surface. Something big enough that terrified the Council and the Magnus. Originally, she was going to hand it over to the Decepticons, but now she strongly suspected that her and Orion's lives were in danger...

FAR AWAY, BENEATH IACON...

Crawling across a large web, a lone insect makes it's way to the large metallic structure, which had been held together by more webs. As it approched the entrance, two more insects crawled out, antennae twitching threateningly. The first insect stopped, pointing it's antennae to the other two, and they stepped back, to allow it passage. 

It crawled into the structure, passing many other insects, who wiggled their antennae in question. 

Further, and further it crawled, until it reached the heart of the structure, pausing momentarily, before continuing forward. The webs were thicker here, made to hold the weight of all of the insects crawling back and forth across them, as well as supporting any of the structures that were suspended by the sticky substance. Upon reaching solid ground, the insect stood, and transformed, approaching the throne.

"I bring news for the hive," he proclaimed to a bot standing by the throne. "I see you have returned safely, Bombshell. What is your news?" she asked, and Bombshell grinned widely. "Long have we Insecticons awaited the day that our Hive would be led to safety-" "We all know this," she interrupted.  He shot her a glance, before gesturing to the cave, "the Landmechs have put a stop to their plans to eradicate us, and I know why."

She raised an optical ridge, and gestured for him to continue, so he leaned in close, and whispered into her audial. 

"The one we've been awaiting, had been captured by them, but escaped."

Her optics cycled wider, and she looked at Bombshell, who nodded, and threw his arms in the air as he laughed, "the Queen will be found! Our Hive will be free!"

"The Insecticons will live forever!"

Chapter Text

Blackarachnia crawled along the forest floor, keeping an optic out for anything strange. Doing the same, a few clicks away, was Orion, the two of them doing a sweep before the others came through. Sentinel had complained, but the rest of Orion's team had vouched for them, with Ratchet in particular being the loudest. "They're the best scouts this side of the galaxy," he said, and the Prime stood down, though not without complaint.

There had been signs of disturbances here, though something about this was off. A pile of rocks, stacked neatly, and the rusted remains of a weapon were in front of her. Something had been carved into the largest rock, but it was hard to make out. It looked Cybertronian, but it was a completely different dialect, to the point that she wondered if she was looking at a colony's language instead. 

She had no idea what it meant. Taking a quick photograph, she sent the file to Orion, tagged with a question mark. "Looks like a gravesite. We should probably leave it alone," he replied moments later, and she changed course. Something was starting to bother her, however, the feeling of being watched was strong. It wouldn't go away, no matter where she went, and it began to worry her.

The possibility that Decepticons were on their trail was never zero, after all.

"Blackarachnia. I need you to come to these coordinates." If Orion was calling her, then he'd found something, and if he was attaching coordinates, then it was something very big. "I'm on my way," she replied, glancing back and hurrying along. As she approached Orion, she transformed back into robot mode, her companion having already done so. "What'd you want me to see?" she asked, and he pointed. 

A large hole was directly in front of them, and neither of them could see the bottom. 

"It's not natural," Orion said, dusting dirt off of his servos, "someone or something dug this." He paced around the circumference, and she knelt, to try and see what was down there. "Wanna go down there?" she asked, giving him a lopsided, fanged grin, and he gave her a withering stare in response. "Lighten up, it was just a little joke," Blackarachnia said, rolling her optics, though she was secretly glad Orion didn't want to go down, since it reminded her too much of how they had almost died.

"I'll call the others, you got the vials?" She pulled her vial out, Orion doing the same, and she grinned at him. "Bottoms up," she said, downing the serum, and wincing as she felt the change happen. The familiar static crackle of a beacon followed after, Orion sending their coordinates to the others. "They'll be arriving shortly," he told her, as she knelt by the hole again, feeling the upturned earth. "Yup, something big made this. Probably not Decepticon," she said, watching for any activity. Orion sighed, before wincing when they heard Sentinel's engine roaring. "Ten credits says he falls in a ditch," Blackarachnia said, prompting a quiet groan from Orion. 

Sure enough, when he arrived, he was covered in mud and leaves, complaining about the "filth" the woods were filled with. Blackarachnia rolled her optics at him, but chose to ignore him when the others pulled up as well. "This isn't normal," Orion explained to the group, gesturing to the giant hole behind them. "It's too even to be a natural sinkhole, it honestly looks like someone took a giant drill to the ground," she stated, while Sentinel stared in complete bewilderment, and Bumblebee walked up to get a closer look. "You're kinda right," the Minibot said a moment later, poking at the dirt. "We might have to investigate just what made it, make sure there's no structural issues that could cause an actual sinkhole," Orion explained further, gently guiding Bumblebee away from the edge. 

Sentinel, of course, decided that it was the best time to simply push Orion in, under the auspices of "volunteering" him to investigate. Blackarachnia, of course, shoved him in after. Before anyone could say anything, she followed, shoving down the fear that gripped her spark at the idea of jumping into another deep, dark hole. Landing on her pedes, she found Orion and Sentinel having a heated argument about why pushing someone down a hole was bad. "At least we're down here, so let's get this done with," she said, glaring at Sentinel. Quickly taking the lead, the three of them headed further down, Orion sending a ping to the team that they were alright. 

The further they went, the darker it got, until they were forced to use their lights just to see. And what they saw was not good.

"Someone's been here," Orion said quietly, nodding to the treadmarks in the upturned earth. "Maybe it's Decepticons," Sentinel said, summoning his shield, while Orion just sighed. "It's not 'cons. These marks aren't deep enough, so they're a lighter weightclass. I can't tell what altmode they are, and these stupid webs are everywhere," she hissed, and something niggled in the back of her processor. Wait, webs? That means spiders, but no spider can create webs this big, except for the ones on Archa-7. It was clear the other two had come to the same conclusion, but something was off, especially when they found the wires.

Thick steel and copper cabling, braided and webbed for insulation formed an odd sort of electrified spider's web, humming a sinister song. The wires had come from a side tunnel, but it's source was down the same tunnel they were already in, so they went. The soft soil gave way to rough rock, as they entered a massive cave with a space bridge right in the center, albeit with some oddities. Namely, that it was suspended off of the ground by wires and webs. 

"Orion? Send a signal to the team," Blackarachnia said quietly, the crackle of static lightly brushing against her plates. While her plan was to wait and observe, Sentinel had different ideas, striding out into the middle of the cave, with no cover. She hissed at him to get back, but he soundly ignored her.

"Under authority of the Elite Guard, I order you to show yourselves!" Sentinel shouted, servos on his hips, and Blackarachnia audibly facepalmed. From the sound of it, so did Orion. 

A sound, like a demented horse echoed around the cavern, before the largest beetle they had ever seen descended from above, leering at Sentinel. He recoiled visibly, brandishing his lance at the beetle, who laughed. "You wanted me to show myself, did you not?" the beetle asked in a scratchy voice, green eyes dimming in amusement. Sentinel couldn't form an answer, and the beetle transformed before them, drool leaking from fanged dentae. It laughed in his face again, at the horrified expression he wore, and Blackarachnia decided to cut her losses, as much as it pained her, and dashed between him and the bot. Downloading Sentinel's shield, she held it out, dissuading an attack. "You. You smell like..."

It stepped back, and held two fingers to it's audial. "Bombshell reporting. Our Queen is within reach. Find them."