(A/N Its a bit long but it was worth it. Sorry I took so long in updating becoz I was searching for a job. Anyway, Enjoy!!)

Trudging through the forest nearby are Arcee, Jack and Nova are out searching for an underground energon deposit that Ratchet has detected. Arcee complained why NOva had to accompanied them as Ratchet told her that it would be faster to locate it since she has the ability to sense energon, much to Arcee's disappointment. She also brought her MECH rifle that was slung on her shoulder in case to defend herself. Campy wanted to come but she order it to stay becoz Arcee still wasn't comfortable with scraplet.

For the past few weeks, Arcee mostly put up with Nova for Jacks' sake. She did not hate the girl exactly, but she didn't like her either, especially after the girl didn't trust any of them. But, if not for Jack, Arcee did it only out of respect to a fellow warrior. She had not been blind to the humans' actions during their first encounter. Despite being a small, easily squished, human, the blue-haired girl had fought off a Mech agents valiantly. During the war on Cybertron, Arcee had learned that a fight was most often a way to tell you about someone because behavior in a combat situation is unpredictable. Sometimes trained soldiers go screaming for the hills. Sometimes autobots who've never fired anything bigger than a cap gun turn out to have ice in their veins. Nobody knows. But during that fight, Arcee had learned that Nova was one of the few humans who had courage to stand in the face of fear. That was what a true warrior was even if she and Nova didn't want to get along.

While searching through the forest, Jack complained about mosquito starting to annoy him. "Ah! Really wish I'd packed some insect repellent.The mosquitoes out here on this routine recon are the size of vampire bats. And they drink just about as much blood. Ah!" He slaps it but misses. He's seems trouble having with a few bugs but for Nova the bugs didn't bother her due to the barrier that surrounded her without noticing.

"Quite the outdoorsman, aren't you, Jack?" Arcee taunts at him as she scans the area with a remote scanner. They apparently got some weird readings that may be energon in origin and they're here to investigate.

"You wouldn't be making fun of my survival kit."

"Maybe."

"I may not have stinger-proof metal skin, Arcee, but in a pinch, I can use my multi-function pocketknife and magnesium fire starter to cook up some freeze-dried Mac and cheese."

Nova said demeanor, "Well, you may have your survival kit plus Its very hard to adjust, so get used to it.""Don't tell me you're not annoyed by all this?" Jack asked.

"Mosquitos, the wind, storms, cold, dry heat. I've dealt with it all. You should learn to adjust. I even got mugged a couple times and manage my way to survive unlike any of you."

"Seriously? Do you enjoy annoying anyone?" Arcee asked annoyed as they come to a stop. NOva answered rudely, "Unless, I don't like having friendly talk with each other. And don't worry about me becoz I have powers and my weapon beside I want to get out of this awful place."

"Well, You two have your tools. I have mine." She stated with a wave of her scanner. Just as she says that though, it goes off. "That's odd. Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate. But subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."

Jack asked Nova if she sense anything as she tried to to see it until she spoke, "Its not energon but I sense something strong coming from over there."She pointed straight through the forest. Arcee told them to stay behind her as she leads them further ahead. Jack and Nova follow her quietly with her having her rifle ready just in case. It isn't long before they find the first indicator of what those strange readings are as a huge swatch of the land has been carved with a deep groove and trees are torn out.

"What the....?"She muttered at the devastation."What happened here?" Jack asked what's on her mind.

"Crash landing. Stay behind me, low and close." She ordered and move forward, following the destruction and possible direction. Arcee moves far ahead of the two humans but still close enough so they can see or get her attention. It isn't long until they find the primary source of it all. A giant crashed ship. Not big like the Decepticons Nemesis but still a similar design Nova see. "Autobot or Decepticon?" Jack asks quietly. "Can't tell." Arcee answered unsure. "I'm getting a bad vibe from that ship." She muttered cautiously.

"Wait here." She states and shifts her right hand into her blaster. Jack and Nova stay put and keep an eye out for anything while she goes to figure out where this ship came from.

"What do you think?"Jack asked her from the right. Nova stared at him and replied, "Why are you asking me?"

"Your the one with a cautious look so you think that ships trouble?"

Nova rolled her eyes as she look for any distinguishing marks on the hull but answered "Considering it didn't make a smooth landing, or looks pretty menacing to begin with, I'd say it's trouble."

"But what type? Decepticons?"    "Beats me, Is there any other kind?"

"Well, their was MECH that one time."

"Oh yeah, true. Still, space vessel.... 'con."

"Agreed."

Several minutes pass after their little conversation that Jack begin to worry that something is wrong. 'Arcee's been gone for awhile now. I wonder she's...oh.' Nova thoughts are cut off as they see her emerge out of the ship. "Arcee?" Jack asked worriedly and run to her. As they get close, Nova can't help but notice that she's got this weird look about her, one of.... fear. "Arcee? What's wrong?" Jack asked again.

"I know who this ship belongs to." She ominously stated. "Arcee to base. I need a ground bridge ASAP." She quickly gets on the comm and immediately tries to call the others as she begins walk away from the ship. "W-wait. Why? Whose ship is this?" Jack asked as they follow her."Arcee tell us what we're dealing with." Nova somewhat demand as she glance around. Whoever the ship belongs to has Arcee freaked out which is clearly can't be good.

She ignores of however in favor of continuing to try to reach the base. "Base, do you read? Scrap. Com link's dead. The ship's got to be transmitting a high-frequency scrambler pulse." She said and starts walking away faster with 2 humans following, albeit confused on their parts as they make distance between them and the ship.

"A-Arcee? You're kind of freaking me out here." Jack said, mentally freaked.

"Wait here." She stated firmly without room to argue and leaves just like that.

"What's with her?"

"I don't know. Something about That ship really scared her out if she's telling us to wait all the time." Nova answered Jack's question. Only a few minutes pass before both decide to go look for her. Well, Jack left and Nova followed just in case, more so if Arcee is really freaked out then she don't want them split up in this place. THey went in the general direction they saw her go and it isn't that hard to follow her footsteps to find her. Thing is when they find her, she's staring at something and frozen in place with a far off with a scared look on her face.

"Arcee?" Jack asked worriedly once we come up to her. Nova check all around them again just to make sure nothing is going to jump on them. Without any words after they find her, she transforms into her bike mode.

"Climb on." She ordered. Not wanting to argue, they get on. "Nova on the back." She specifies. They both look at each other before Jack gets on and puts on his helmet with her next. "Hang on." At the tone of her voice, Nova hold onto Jack tightly.

"Whoa! Woah! Ahh! Whoa!" Jack yelled as they speed forward faster than ever riding before along with the bumps that come with the terrain. Nova hold onto dear life while Jack does the same on the handlebars. "Arcee!" From Jack's freakedout voice, Nova barely see a small ravine ahead of them and hold on tighter as Arcee jumps it. They land hard on the ground before coming to a hard stop. "Okay, was that really necessary?" He complained as he takes off the helmet.

"Arcee to base. Scrap!" She said frustrated, when she doesn't get a response. Jack and Nova get off her. "Look, I've seen danger before. What's the –" He begins to ask but she cuts him off. "Wait here. I mean it this time." She ordered again. "Okay, first you shut me out. And now you're ditching us? I thought I was your partner. I thought she'd at least have your back. At least she's armed." Jack states as he points to Nova. But as Arcee transforms, Nova doesn't like the look on her face.

"You honestly think those little pea shooters will do anything? You think you can take HER on?!" She said loudly and angrily at the both of us before directing the last part at me. Nova had never seen Arcee being harsh on her before especially to Jack. The only time she seen her is when she knocked some Decepticon when they got back from the Nemesis the first time. This time though it feels different.

"No, Jack, you're both just kids. You're only here because this was supposed to be no-risk and you juts tagged along. Got it?" She harshly stated, saying the first part to Jack and the second to Nova. She gets in both their faces with a hard look on hers. 'Huh, I've never seen her this serious before. And what did she mean by HER?' Nova thought to herself. Both of them can only watch as she transforms and leave them there. She jumps the ravine easily enough, forcing them to stay as she takes off deeper into the forest without. After the massive reprimand she gave, both of them are kind of silent as they stare where she left. Her rifle dangles to her right as she let her arm loosely hang there.

However, the silence was interrupted as Jack walks forward. Nova stared at him for a second before she follow him silently. They both stop and look down in the ravine before he begins climbing down. As soon as he gets a hold firm hold with his feet, he stares at her. "What? You're not going to stop me?" He asked. "I want to.... but We both know if I leave you here, you're just going to follow." She replied. With that said, She took off her rifle and throw it onto the other side of the ravine. Once both are across, She look back at him and said,"And she should have realized if she left us here, we're going to follow." as she started climbing down with him. Jack was surprised that Nova was beginning to care. Before she said that she doesn't like getting along so what changed her.

Back to their track, thankfully the ravine isn't deep enough for them to be in any major danger. It just took a minute for them to get to the bottom and make their way back up to the top on the other side. As soon as they get up, she hold the rifle onto her shoulder and was ready to go. "C'mon. Let's go, I don't want to stick around." He nods towards her and go looking. A couple hours pass into relative silence, they went around the forest looking for Arcee. Her tracks disappeared soon after they saw her leave when she left them so the best they can do is keep silent and try to look and listen for her or anyone else. Once the hours pass, they decide to make camp which was her first time being outdoor, in order to rest, eat and get their bearings. However, Nova had a strange and paranoid feeling that they're being watched. The two are sitting in the tent and eating some of that freeze-dried Mac and Cheese he mentioned earlier.

"Mmmm. This is good. Nice choice." She said while eating the cheese goodness. "Thanks." Jack said, as they delve into a small silence between them as they eat. Once they're done, they just sit, wait and rest for now. Soon Nova notice Jack is getting some worried looks. "Hey,Nova, I know I don't want to ask but.....you think Arcee's okay? She looked kind of....freaked out before." He asked after a moments hesitation. She look at him before thinking, she know she doesn't want answer but she decided to fill in the silence. "it's hard to say. I mean We haven't heard any fighting to say otherwise. But somehow...." She look down at that bit before looking back at Jack. "That ship has her spooked on all kind of levels. So much that she doesn't want us anywhere near it or whoever it belonged to. Until we can find her, all we can do is hope she's alright." She give him her best answer. Honestly, she doesn't know whether to answer like that but it was a way to calm him. "I guess." Jack sulked at the idea. They're still in the dark right now about the whole thing and its starting to annoy the both of them. 'Please be alright Arcee.'

*Crash*

"What was that?" Jack asked as they hear noises from outside. Loud noises.

"Let me check." Nova grab her Mech rifle and move outside before quickly scanning around. Nothing jumps out to her as odd about her surroundings, or any changes since they last moved around here.

"Well? What is it?" Jack asked as he comes out and looks too.

"I don't see anything. Whatever it was it's probably...." She trailed off as she begin to hear something.

"Probably? Probably what?"

"Sshhh!" She shushed him and hold her hand up for him to be quiet. He gets it and closes his mouth for them to listen. Silence is what greets them as they stay silent.....but that doesn't last long. Soon Nova begin to hear voices coming from further down and away from them. "You hear that?"

"Yeah. It's this way." Jack said and starts moving forward as Nova followed behind. She was ashamed that she should have brought her scraplet but its too late to regret now. They pass by several trees as they hear the distinct sounds of Cybertronian combat. They soon come over a small hill that goes down to where the source is. They saw Arcee taking on some Female Decepticon and she's winning. Unfortunately, as they get closer some rocks near Jack roll down the hill, getting both the bots attention. It's also what the purple decepticon uses as the advantage to hit Arcee then stick her to the rock wall with Nova think some spider web.

"Arcee!" Jack yelled as they get closer after seeing her get pinned like that. As soon as the decepticon heard them, she turns right around and hisses at them. Nova aimed her rifle at her but thankfully Arcee manages to shoot her in the back, knocking her away from all of them."I told you to wait for me!" She yelled at them as Nova sling her rifle on her back and both try to free her.

"Well, partners don't ditch partners." Jack retorted as both try to tear this stuff off her. "You honestly think we're going to leave you alone to deal with this?"Nova asked not expecting an answer from her but still. "Get this through your heads you two.... Neither of you are my partners. You're both a liability." She scold harshly. Although, Jack and Nova doesn't seem convinced. Nova retorted, "Don't lie to yourself."

"She's right, I don't believe you either. I can see it in your eyes. You're afraid, Arcee, and you're never afraid." She gets that look again at Jack's statement. Nova have seen her at that time before that she was almost never been afraid of anything but never as terrified as she is now. "You're right, Jack. I am afraid....Of losing you." Jack stopped and looks at her. "Of both of you." That makes Nova stop as well, in surprised look. 'She's..... that scared, of loosing Jack and....me?'

"You sure have trouble hanging on to your partners, don't you?" She turned around and aim her rifle at the purple decepticon as she gets back up and makes her way to them. "We both know what happened to Tailgate. But I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter regarding the passing of Cliffjumper."

"Cliffjumper?" Nova muttered quietly when she mentioned the Autobot name.

"At some point you really have to ask yourself, Arcee, 'is it them, or is it me?'" She taunted her. Nova's grip tighten on her rifle as she prepare to fire.

"Do you get it now, you two?" Nova and Jack looks back at Arcee. "She's not interested in me. She hunts indigenous species, and she's on earth. That means humans. You!" She yelled with a scared look on her face. Nova realized what the decepticon was capable of. "RUUNN!" She yelled, even louder. The fear in her eyes, scared, and worry....meaning they have to go.

"Move.... move move move!" Nova yelled as she pushed Jack away, just as the purple decepticon covers Arcee's free arm with more web. Jack only look on in regret as they are forced to run from Arcee but with that thing having disabled Jack's guardian, theirs nothing they can do and Nova knew her weapon don't have enough fire power. Before they get over the hill, they look back to see Arcee is still fine, but the purple decepticon has her sights set on them. "Move." NOva darkly said and run. "JACK! NOVA!" They stop as they heard Arcee calling their names but the stomps of the enemy force them to keep moving for their very lives.

Over an hour passes as night passes over them, Jack was getting tired and NOva started to get winded as well as they kept running without stop. "That's the spirit, you two. Play hard to get." THey can hear the purple decepticon playfully said to them. As they gain a second wind and Nova slinging her rifle on her back so she can go faster. No more sounds behind can be heard or voices so that offers them up a bit of relief. THey pass by a fallen log and trying to move over it makes them stop for a second to catch their breaths. Both take deep breaths in their moment to stop but its then they heard a howl. They stare at each other before ducking back under the log. "Oh man. What are we going to do?" Jack asked quietly.

"*pant* *pant* I'm not sure....... I don't know If—" Her mouth froze as she begin to hear something. Jack begins to open his mouth but she quickly cover it shut. Her free hand puts a finger to her own mouth to keep quiet. Then, the steps of the decepticon that's been chasing them moves ever so closer to Jack and Nova. She could hear the purple decepticon's long spider-like legs pierce on the ground behind the log as she comes closer and closer. The beating of her heart is deafening as she slowly move back and away from Jack. Her heart drops as the purple decepticon peaks over the log and they are just under her. Sweat pours down her face and so does Jack's as she peers all around, looking for any sign of them. 'We ran for a long time straight. How did she find us?!' Nova yelled in my head, trying to figure out how easily she was able to find them, or at least come this close. Her heart starts to beat a little easier as she slowly retracts her head from on top of the log. Looks of relief grace both their faces and she let out a completely silent breath of slow air.

*Tap*.....*Tap*

Two of her long thins legs appear on either side of in front of us, expecting her to continue forward.

"Hello, you two."

Nova was not sure if it was a reactionary response on her part or what but she responded by immediately kicking her in the faceplate with both of her feet. She scowled and stepped back which bought the both of them time to climb back over the fallen tree and continue running. "What was that? You do know you just kicked her in the face, right?" Jack asked. She nodded and said, "I have no idea what made me do it, but it was an involuntary reaction." As they kept running, she looked over to her shoulder to see the purple decepticon started to give chase. Nova stopped for a bit as she removed her rifle and her black jacket much to Jack's confusion. Jack asked, "What are you doing?"She gave the large jacket to him on his hand and said, "Listen, I want you to wear it so that way she won't see you. We need to split up, I'll distract her so you can find Arcee."

"What?! BUt I can't just leave you....."

"Listen to me, At this rate that spider lady is going to kill us both if we stay together."She said, placing her rifle back, leaving her expose white clothes. Jack was about to protest when he saw something ahead. "Look out!" Jack shouted and pushes her to the side away from him. Just as he does, a glob of web passes by and hits the tree between them. She rolled on the ground for a second before getting to her feet and taking steps away.

"Split up! Keep running! I'll be fine!!" She called out to Jack and get a nod with no choice as he wear her jacket and they begin running in opposite directions.

"Ohhhh, splitting up. This'll be interesting. I do love a challenge." Nova can hear her hiss in pleasure behind her. She glance back to see her right where they split up at the web-ridden tree. I see her glance to Jack's direction and begin to make her way after him. 'NO!' Sliding to a stop, She pulled her rifle from her back, get into a crouching stance and take aim.

"Arh!" The purple decepticon yelps in a bit of pain as she fire several rounds into her from behind. She recoils a bit in pain but soon turns around and glares at Nova with deadly intent."You want a challenge?! THEN COME AND GET ME!" She taunted loudly at her before running away from her. As soon as she begin running though she begin to hear the rapid steps of her thin legs following hastily. "That. Was. Stupid." Nova hissed to herself.

An hour later

She stopped beside the tree and was breathing rather heavily. "Come now....Nova was it? You can give me a better challenge than that. You even offered." The purple decepticon taunted from far behind.

"Oh you got to be kidding me!" She quietly yell to herself in anger that she's been running for over an hour and she still found her! Nova looked left and right till she move around behind a tree and try to get her breathing back in order while also trying to figure out how to deal with her pursuer. 'How is she keep finding us? How, while she was casually strolling about, was she able to keep up and track us throughout this entire forest? It's like she's...'

Nova's thoughts trailed off as when she look down to her feet. Slowly she look to the side and follow her footsteps all the way back. 'She's a tracker. She's been following our tracks.' The answer to how she's been following Nova and Jack makes itself quite known and now she need to figure out how to stop her. She stared all her surrounding for some way to possibly be able to make it that much harder for pursuer to find her. Her eyes land on a thick leafy branch on the tree she's hiding. She jumped up and grabbed the branch before twisting it and tearing it right off the trunk of the tree. She land easily enough with the branch and leaves in hand before smiling and pulling out the knife that she took from those men in the alleyway awhile back.

"Alright.....you wanted a challenge..... Its time for the hunter becomes the hunted, let's see if you can track me."

The purple decepticon finds the whole chase way too easy for her. The forest provided such an easy and exotic place for her to hunt prey and the humans are no exception to the case. Not only will she have one trophy to add to her collection but now she may have two. It'll take her awhile to find Jack after she finishes hunting Nova but that only adds to the challenge she craves.

"Al.... most... there." She muttered to herself as she slowly and stealthily moves across the forest floor, not even bothering to move quickly to follow the tracks the clumsy humans have been leaving behind. She's tracked and taken down all kinds of prey to add to her collection all over the galaxy and soon she's this close to adding some more. It also doesn't help that she now feels just a little bit of a personal stake in adding Nova to her collection, considering she shot her a few times. The face shot was especially painful and the rest were annoyances at best. Soon her tracking of the footprints lead her to a lone tree.

Using only the thin spider legs she possesses, she slowly and menacingly moves close to the tree. She bares the claws in her hands and gains a sadistic smile on her face after finally finding him. 'Didn't even try.' She thinks disappointingly. Once she's close enough, she gives a toothy grin and pounces. "Hello—!" Her greeting dies in her throat as she comes up with nothing. "Hm?" She hummed in confusion.

Looking back again, she sees the tracks leading up to the tree and finds two shoe prints placed backwards against the tree leading up to them. But besides that, there are no other tracks that show where she left. In fact, the whole area around seems to have been disturbed with leaves, twigs and dirt thrown all over but no other prints. "Huuu." She moaned at having lost her completely now. 'Well, isn't she a clever one. I may have to step up my game.' She thought with a slight smile at having now lost her prey. She moves out into the open and slowly looks around for any other signs of where she went. "Now....where are you?"

"AS IF I'D TELL YOU." She tenses up at the new voice and turns around but find nothing. "YOUR GOOD, I'LL GIVE YOU THAT." She looked around again to try and find the voice but she finds nothing. "BUT AT THE VERY LEAST, MAY I HAVE THE NAME OF MY WOULD-BE PREDATOR?" As she thinks about it now, the voice comes off as a loud echo all around her and she can't pinpoint it down. She purses her lips in concentration.

"Well, this is a surprising change of events." She stated with a smile to all around her as she turns. "If you must know, I'm Arachnid.... or has Arcee forgotten little old me?"

"NO, NOT THAT SHE WANTED TO TELL, I JUST DON'T THINK SHE CARES FOR BOTS LIKE YOU." Nova taunted back to her. Making her smile drop in slight irritation. "Come now, she surely couldn't have forgotten about poor old Tailgate now could she?" She replied to NOva, still looking all around for her.

"FROM WHAT I CAN TELL, I THINK SHE JUST DOESN'T WANT TO BRING UP OLD PAIN. YOU HOWEVER..."

*Bang*

"Arh!" Arachnid yells in pain as bullet ricochets off the side of her face.

"SEEM TO RELISH IN IT. TRYING TO MAKE HER FEEL BAD FOR HER MISTAKES IN THE PAST IF YOU ALSO BROUGHT UP CLIFFJUMPER WHICH YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY IT." She hissed in anger and moves in the direction where the bullet came from. She doesn't bother to keep quiet as her legs tap the ground rapidly. She looks around for anymore signs of Nova being there but comes up with nothing. "IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THAT EASY ARACHNID. YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO BE DEALING WITH A POOR HELPLESS PREY BUT YOUR ON MY PLANET NOW!" She whips around with growing anger as she continues to try to find the source.

*Bang*

"Grrr!" She growled in anger at the shot hitting her from behind. She goes back and shoots out several globs of webbing silk but none of them hit their mark on who she wants to now disembowel.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER? IS THE LITTLE SPIDER GETTING ANGRY?!"

*BANG*

"WELL TOO BAD FOR YOU!"

*BANG*BANG*

"YOU THOUGHT I WAS JUST GOING TO BE AN EASY MARK HUH?! WELL YOU GOTTA WORK FOR IT IF YOU WANT IT!"

*BANG*BANG*BANG*

"RAAAAAAH!" Arachnid shouted angrily as she continuously gets harassed from what feels like all directions. "Enough of this!" She hissed angrily and soon starts attacking everything around her. She transformed back into her robot form and started punching, stabbing and bashing down trees around her. She also sends more web silk in every direction and above. All the while the shots keep raining down on her, further angering her, until she is striking with blind rage. Even though she is beyond angry, she homes in on where the shots are coming from. She comes right up to a large branch ridden tree and strikes it hard, sending cracks spiderwebbing all over the tree.

"Whoa!" NOva yelled in surprise as the tree begins to topple as Arachnid attacks and slices it multiple times, damaging the trunk until it finally begins to topple. She watches in sadistic pleasure as the tree topples all the way to the ground until with gleeful pleasure she watches as her prey lands on the ground in a roll with the tree she was on collapsing right next to her. She takes a moment to catch her breath before turning around and seeing the teeth filled smile Arachnid is giving her. "Foooouunnd yooouuuu." She almost sings as her thin legs on her back flare up, her claws move menacingly and she bends her knees, ready to pounce."Scrap." NOva cursed herself and sprints forward.

Arachnid doesn't let her go away as she takes off after her prey. NOva runs with her rifle in hand. Just as she does though, she stops cold and jumps to right. Arachnids claw misses her and slams into the tree she dodged past instead. She rolled over onto he back and fires several rounds at her. She brings her free arm up and covers her face from the shots while she wrenches her claw from the tree. Nova moves back onto her feet and resumes running. She grits her teeth angrily as she frees herself and runs after the human that's been toying with her. She easily catches up to her but she jumps as she tries to go for her legs, ducks as she goes for her body, namely her head, and moves closely past trees, forcing her large stature to go around them or block her attacks. She even turns around at time to put a few rounds at her, further raising her ire.

"COME HERE!" She yelled angrily and tried to stab one last time at her once they're in the open. Nova barely manages to jump to avoid her strike from behind but her attack hits the ground hard, sending chunks of dirt and rock up and making Nova lose her balance. She lands on the ground and rolls on it before getting back to her feet and aiming at Arachnid.

"Oof!"

Before she can shoot however, one of Arachnid's thin legs opens up and hits her right in the chest. Her feet leave the ground as she's forced into the air and slams roughly in to a tree. Her grunts from the impact and tries to bring her rifle up one-handed but its quickly knocked out of her hands."Guh!" Another of her thin legs surges forward and pins itself against his neck. Both her hands fly up to try to pull it off but considering who they belong to, there is no way her meager strength can even hope to free her now. Arachnid brings her face in right up to her and sarcastically said with a taunted smile, "Well well well.... it is soooo nice to make your acquaintance." Nova for her part grunted and lightly chokes at the situation she's in, but answered back at her just to humor her. "Tch, Likewise.....Arachnid."

"You.... are by far... the most interesting prey I have ever had the pleasure of chasing! You got me good a couple times." She said as she moves her head around a few times and rolled her shoulders. There are some scratches about her from her shots but nothing serious. Her shots may have hit her in the joints a couple times and that may have been just a bit more painful in retrospect. "Glad I could be so accommodating." Nova replied sarcastically.

Arachnid stared at her for a few more seconds as she begins to think about the prey in front of her. "You know, as much as it would be so satisfying to kill you and mount your head on that special spot I have set up in my ship, I'm thinking it would be such a... waste to end the life of someone so resilient against impossible odds."

"Oh," Nova scoffed at the flattery she's showing herself. 'Impossible odds....' She thought. "So, what do you have in mind then? What do I get that some of your other targets don't?"

"Well, I couldn't offer this chance to some of the other prey I'd consider since most are animals that couldn't take it if they wanted to.... but you...." She chuckled as she brings in one of her claws and gently brushes the tip against her face. "I think you'd make a fine pet."

'PET?!' While Nova is seething in her mind at the idea, she doesn't let the feelings show outwards less she take advantage of it. She does look angry though. "Pet, huh? There's no way I'm going to be anybody's pet so I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"Ha ha ha haaa!" She laughs out loud with her head thrown back. Nova grimaces at the laugh before she comes down from her laughing fit and leans back into him. "Oh come now! It'll be fun. I can take you to so many exotic places that you've never seen before and watch as I add so many more trophies to my collection....after I get Jack of course." She gives him a sadistic grin at that last part. Nova growled under her breath in growing anger as her hands gripping the leg clamp against her throat tighten even harder but still does nothing against Arachnid. "But first, every pet needs a mark or something to show who they belong to."

Nova's pupils shrink at the idea before ever so slowly she brings her right clawed hand up. A green liquid foam begins to coat the tip of her finger and a hiss of smoke can be seen emanating from it. She begins to struggle as she brings it close to her. "Now now, don't struggle," She presses her left arm against the tree with her right while her burning claw agonizingly comes close to her arm. She can only watch in horror as it drifts closer and closer to her, already feeling the heat before it makes contact. "This'll only hurt for a second."

Then.....she felt the burning.

*SSSSSS*

She screamed loudly in pain as the burning sensation turns to almost mind-numbing as Arachnid drags the line down to her upper arm. She doesn't know what it is that she secreted from her claw but it's almost blindingly painful right now. What feels like minutes really only happened for a few seconds comes to a stop and she retracts her claw. Even without her burning Nova, the burning pain of what she just did still lingers on her. Breathing raggedly, She looked at her left arm to see the damage. A long thin line of burning skin and flesh runs half the length of her upper arm in the middle which left a burned through her white sleeves. SHe groaned as she see the injury mark on her.

"There. That should do for now. Once that's healed up I'll go ahead and do the rest. How do you feel?"

Even through her haze of pain, Nova can almost feel the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She didn't offer any form of answer to her immediately as she stare at the wound. Nova let her arm drop and stare at her with a very dark look. "I... am going...to ripped your head off and keep it as MY trophy." Her optics slightly widen at her threat but she also gains just a barely visible smile. "The last thing you will see before your spark will be snuffed out.... will be ME standing over you... AS I cut your head off."

Arachnid was clearly surprised at her threat as she stared at her with wide optics and said, "Hehe...your adorable to think you could do that." She tapped her head with her right claw in a playful manner. The depths of Nova's anger knows no bounds...She's pretty close to getting her there now though. As they stare at each other, a playful smile on her face, and a dark seething look on Nova.

*BOOOOM*

A massive explosion goes off in the distance, sending a mushroom cloud of fire into the air and sends a wave of wind hitting them. "What?!" Arachnid shouts in confused surprise as she looks at explosion that seemingly came from out of nowhere. However from the look she soon adopts, Nova thinks she knows what it is that made the explosion. "Nooo.... My ship!" She yelled angrily once she figures out where it emanated from. Distracted, Nova notice a tree log that was far beside them, she lifted her arm and concentrated her telekinesis power which made her hair glowed brightly, making the tree log lifted from the ground.

"Hey!! Arachnid."

"WHAT?!" She yelled in bloody anger after seeing her ship blow up. When she looks at her, she sees her hair glowing bright blue and her arm stretched out.

"Welcome to Earth."

She moved her arm at Arachnid which the tree log hit her really hard and freed Nova from her captivity as she land roughly on the ground. She fall to one knee as she grip her arm that's still burning from the mark she gave her. She ripped her white long sleeve, not wanting the acid burn to spread, leaving only a ripped short sleeve. Not wanting to stay anymore, especially in her presence, Nova took the Mech Rifle and started running as fast as she can away from Arachnid. Ideally, since the explosions is the only indicator of anything in the place, She headed to it as fast she can so she can hopefully find the others and get some help. Her feet trudge along as fast as she can make them but the pain from the mark, the hours of running she's been doing all night, it's not as fast as she would have liked.

Minutes pass as she run almost non-stop but She felt herself getting closer to the source of the explosion and finding the others until she slam into something as she pass by a tree and she and it go tumbling to the ground. They both groaned for a second before they both look. "Jack!" Nova exclaimed."Nova! Oh man it's so good to see you!" He reciprocates the relief as she is feeling as he helps her stand.

"Yeah nice to see you too, Were you heading to the explosion too?"

"No. I was heading away from it."

"Huh?"

"I was the one that caused it."

As she could see glimpse the smoldering remains of the ship and look at Jack. "You? How?" Nova said surprised. "Survival kit." He answered with a smile and pulls out the magnesium fire starter. "And energon is surprisingly flammable, also I made sure I didn't burned your jacket."

She stared at Jack who was wearing her large jacket as if it was no big deal, she couldn't help but admired for his quick thinking. "OK, its either stupid of you for not running to find Arcee but you literally saved my life with that explosion. So, nice one Jack." Nova told him as they began jogging away. "Thx, I guess I was kind of hoping it would. I heard the gunshots earlier and when they suddenly stopped, I got worried." He explained what he remembers. "Sooo I figured as a way to distract the 'con, and get a little payback, Boom." He makes a mini-explosion with his hands.

Nova shake her head at that but still proud at him for saving her nonetheless. No one had ever stood up to her back then. Even she never get along yet Jack saved her despite of it. She lowered her head a bit, clutching her left arm where the burned is. Jack questioned if she's alright as she turned to him. 

"Jack. Listen, I want to say I - Look out!" Nova's hair glowed a bit as she quickly pushed Jack out of the way as something white suddenly hit her. While Jack grunted as he's pushed, She flew through the air and grunted as she hit the tree and was stuck to it.

"Nova!" Jack yelled her name in worry but soon he's stuck on a different tree as well."Scrap." She moaned at what this means for them she tried to pull herself free but she's completely stuck here. What even rubs salt in her wounds is the fact that Mech Rifle was dropped in front of her and out of reach. "Thought you could get away from me?" She heard Arachnids voice emanate towards them from above. She looked up to see her in the branches above before she begins slowly bringing herself down to the ground and lands in front of Jack and Nova. One of her multiple legs tick destroyed the Mech rifle as she moves right up to Nova and brings her face close to her. "So close....and yet so far."

"What can I say.... couldn't hurt to try." Nova said sarcastically. She has a smile on her face, before she then presses a claw to her wound. "Aaaaaaah."She hissed as the wound flares up."Leave him alone!" Jack yelled at her from his spot on the tree. Arachnid for her part does let up on the pressure but she glances to him out of the corner of her eye.

".... You know, I think you need to learn a lesson before becoming my pet." Nova's fingers grip tightly as she mentions that again, especially in front of Jack. "And I think a good example is watching me make an example of your friend for destroying my ship!" She crossly says as she whirls around and stalks toward Jack.

"What?! No no! Don't you dare!" Nova yelled in defiance but it's a hollow threat as Arachnid continues going over to Jack. She leaned in close to him and bares her claws. The look of fear on Jack's face hurts as she can do nothing to help him. "STOP!" she yelled but she only gets an evil smile on her face as she brings her claws dangerously close to his face.

"NOOOO!" 'No! No don't! Please! No!' She beged and hope in her mind for her stop. A million things going through her head as she tried to come up with every single means to stop her...all of which don't involve Nova. She was helpless to do anything. That's when she began to see a flash of images where there was a fire around her then a person holding a gun pointing at her. Her head was puounding as if she felt a burning inside her. Finally the last image showed a person lying on her arm, sprawled in red liquid. As the image ended, it was replaced with Arachnid was about to killed Jack.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She yelled at the top of her lungs until something insider her snapped. The pulsing in her chest picked up, sending an uncomfortable feeling throughout her whole body. Arachnid was about to bring her claw at Jack when There is a sound of crackling, like what would electric sparks colliding together sounds like. Arachnid turned see that Nova was freed from the web and hands are glowing with blue lighting sparks that are forming from the palm of her hands to her fingertips as well as her body sparking around her,  much to Jack's surprised. Her hair and her eyes were glowing brightly with an angry look, not only that even her wound on her left arm was glowing as well, she no longer feel the pain from the acid burn as though it just faded.

Blue plasma balls are forming on each of Nova's hands and she blast them at Arachnid, hitting her in her chest area which she was thrown back on the ground from the force, away from Jack. Her anger faded as she stopped glowing and her lightning power switched off but she felt tired and weak as she slowly knelt on the ground then her whole body faintly fell unconscious. Jack was shocked that Nova was able to blast lightning power which he had no idea she can do that. Arachnid recovered from the blast as head towards Nova's unconscious body. Arachnid said intrigued, "Interesting, She is no ordinary human and I wonder what kind ability do you possessed. For now, I'll deal with you later my pet after I finished your little friend."

As she turned back to Jack, ready for the kill when Arcee comes barreling through the trees and beats her with kicks and fists, finally sending the Decepticon flying through the forest, tearing through and knocking down a bunch of trees in her path. Once the sound of tearing of trees and dirt dissipates, silence reigns over with only the sound of Arcee's tense breathing and Jack's sighs of reliefs. She turns around and looks at him. "Jack. " She moves to him quickly. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly as she comes up to him before she pulls the webbing off of Jack. "Yeah, of course. Survival kit." He said while pulling out said stuff. She smirked at that

Before they can talk anymore, they heard the rapid grinding of dirt and metal. Looking down the path that she kicked Arachnid too, they see the decepticon transforming herself into a drill and cutting into the ground. Arcee wasted no time in switching to her blasters modes and opens fire on the fleeing decepticon, trying to stop her but she sinks into the earth.

"Airachnid!" Arcee angrily yelled. Jack run up to the hole and peer down to see her but she's already gone and the bottom of the tunnel already closed up behind her. They sigh in defeat at her getting away from Arcee. "So much for closure." She sadly stated as she switches her blasters back to her hands."Now Airachnid's stuck here on earth. I'm not sure that's such a good thing." Jack said. Arcee sighed and looking sadly at him. "I'm sorry you had to face my demons today. She apologized. "You were pretty fearless there."Jack looked sheepishly at the compliment and said. "Actually, I was pretty terrified. Mostly for you."

"Ratchet, requesting ground bridge." She called it in as another mosquito annoys Jack. This time though, he manages the slap the insect dead against his chest. "Need to get my partners far away from any oversized insects." She playfully commented."Partner, huh?" Jack noted of what she said. "Junior partner. I can still pull rank." She clarified as the sun starts peaking over the horizon, signifying the new day.

As they wait for the ground bridge to appear, Jack suddenly remembered as he looked around to find Nova who hasn't woken up. He run up to her worriedly with Arcee following him. Arcee asked what happened to her which Jack was unsure. Jack quickly turned her body over to see only her unconscious look and her wounded left arm that Arachnid left behind. Arcee's optics widen at the burning line on her arm, her look turning to surprise, and Jack hisses in a sharp breath at the wound. Right now, its still red and burns but the line has almost blistered from what Arachnid did. Arcee knew it was Arachnid that did this to Nova. Both of them look at each other then at her as Arcee brings a hand to the side of her head. "Put a rush on the ground bridge." Jack carry Nova in bridal style and whispered to her that everything is going to be alright as the ground bridge and head back to the base quickly to tend Nova's wound.