The Monster of Kaon (Volume 2): Chapter 7

Iacon. Central Spire.

Sentinel Prime paced in the halls of his grand residence, thinking about what was to come, as his most loyal subordinate walked into the room.

Seeing Airachnid, Sentinel’s optics lit up with anticipation.

“Well?”

“It is done. Darkwing has thrown those two miners into Sublevel 50. The automated smelters down there should silence them for good.”

Sentinel could not help but grin at those words.

“And the unknowns in the race?”

“I have looked into them. Nothing to worry about. They are just regular citizens from Iacon who like to keep to themselves. The digital footprint checks out, and I have personally looked into their backgrounds.”

“Ahaha! Ever reliable, Airachnid. With that out of the way, we can finally go ahead with our usual tasks without worries.”

Airachnid just nodded at those words, following Sentinel towards the exit.

“How are the tributes looking?”

“Suboptimal. We won’t be able to meet the quota this time as well. The Energon output has reduced by a lot compared to last cycle despite the boost in productivity on the Miners’ part.”

Sentinel grimaced at those words.

“Well, let’s hope those monsters are in a forgiving mood this time. Have the workers load the ‘Toxic Waste’ onto the trains. We move out in a few.”

“Alright. I’ll prepare things on my end.”

With that, Sentinel transformed and flew off, preparing to polish his chassis and other vanity stuff and leaving behind Airachnid to handle his things for him.

Such was his trust in her.

Unfortunately, he had yet to realize that the Airachnid he always knew no longer existed.

As Airachnid flew through the air and arrived at a secluded storage unit. One that belonged exclusively to Sentinel that no one was allowed to enter aside from her and Sentinel himself (which he never bothered to do for many cycles now), she carefully looked around before locking the storage unit’s entrance behind her.

It was only when the insides of the container were lit up by the lights that the carnage was revealed.

Body parts scattered around the area, their silver sheen reflecting Airachnid’s form, as the lifeless red optics scattered on the floor glared at her form even in death.

And the most eye-catching thing in the room was, of course, the severed head that looked exactly like Airachnid, along with her dead spark chamber.

Airachnid smirked and tapped her chest plate, activating a hidden mechanism within her that she got from an old friend.

Instantly, her form shimmered, revealing that her present form was nothing more than a tactile hologram, reverting her to her original form.

Gone was the Airachnid that Sentinel Prime had personally raised from a sparkling into becoming his second in command.

Now, what stood in the room was a purple-black bot that did not look anything like any bot from this Cybertron, with her purple optics flaring in madness and mockery.

“You know, I really should thank you.”

She whispered as she walked towards the central console. The same one that she had connected the brain module of her counterpart to download all her memories.

“If you had not tracked me down, searching for the anomalous space-time reading of the Dimensional Bridge, I would never have found a way to help Maximus in his endeavors.”

“Not to say that I would not have found you eventually and replaced you, because let's face it, you and I? We are monsters like that. But you tracking me down only helped to speed things up.”

She manipulated the council, showing the various tracking systems across the city and even on the surface. Systems that she had deliberately blackboxed in such a way that only she was aware of them after taking over her counterpart’s identity and life.

Watching through the cameras and systems of Sublevel 50 as D-16, Orion Pax, and B-127 made their escape through the garbage chute of all things, ignoring the existence of a hidden doorway that she had deliberately opened a tiny bit, just enough to be noticeable, but not enough to be obvious.

With a sigh, she placed her head in her palms as she watched the video.

“To think that two of these three would one day become the greatest bots in the history of this world and the other would become the greatest scout of his generation.”

Then, she smiled as she zoomed out of those systems and started watching things through the systems on the surface of the planet, near an ancient abandoned city where her beloved and his sparklings were doing something with the Forge of Solus Prime.

“Then again, people do change when faced with trauma or desire.”

Madness gleamed in her optics as she traced Maximus’s image on the hologram with her finger.

“My dear Maximus. For you, I became a mother figure within the Ascenticons, looking after those worthless weaklings. For you, I changed myself, going against my very nature that got me banished from Eukaris and my sisters all those eons ago. For you, I betrayed the Ascenticons, fooled by that glitch Sentinel.”

The Madness slowly receded from her optics, replaced by despair.

“When I lost you, when Sentinel showed me that his promises to leave you alive in exchange for the destruction of the Ascenticons, I lost myself in my true nature.”

“And then, I really did lose you because of my own actions.”

Her smile became self-deprecating.

“You were right. My actions were my own. Sentinel’s worms only amplified what was always within me. And it was these actions that made you hate me so much.”

Then, the madness and unhealthy obsession returned to her optics as she watched his image.

“But no longer. This time, I have the chance to make things right. Make sure that no harm ever comes to you and yours ever again.”

“And if I need to destroy entire worlds to ensure that outcome? So be it.”

The grin that appeared on her face as she played with the lifeless brain module of her counterpart would send chills down anyone’s body as she continued whispering to herself in her madness and despair.

“Besides, I want to see if you have a younger counterpart of yourself here as well. I am curious to see what you looked like as a young and naive bot. How cute your cluelessness will be compared to how you are now.”

“I can’t wait~ Hehehe!”

Within the secret storage container, demented giggles, howls of despair, and laughter of madness echoed for a long time before the familiar visage of Airachnid from this Cybertron appeared from within, flying away to meet her ‘lord’ and then go to the surface to greet the Quintessons.