"What if I were to tell you that the Predacons have a new recruit conscripted to their ranks?" Omega Scion asked.

Megatron shuddered.

"You mean the Predacons will have a new minion, right?" countered Ultra Magnus. "Let us see it."

"Very well.. In three... two... one..."

On the distant sky of a remote jungle where Energon is sparingly abundant, a stasis pod of unusually large size lays embedded between an Energon deposit. Cheetor, on a recon mission spotted the stasis pod from the air.

"Long range recon report." Cheetor reported. "This kitty's keen sense of discovery has uncovered a mondo stasis pod, but it's thoroughly trashed. It plowed into a big load of residual Energon...and it's branded with a big, bad-lookin' 'X'."

"Just hang on. I'm on my way." Primal ordered then turned to Silverbolt "Silverbolt, you're with me."

As soon as they began their departure...

"Primus help us all if that thing survived." Rhinox muttered.

"Have faith Rhinox. That stasis pod will survive. As Airazor survived because of your actions." Prime assured.

"Yet still, Cheetor reported that the stasis pod was unlike any of the stasis pods they have seen before. I wonder why." Ultra Magnus pointed out.

However, Cheetor's reconnaissance mission was not undetected by the enemy, for the Predacons observed from afar.

"A big stasis pod?" Megatron asked in wonder. "A big soldier, yessss." Megatron called "Blackarachnia, Waspinator, prepare for recruitment drive." both aforementioned Predacons were called to their lord's side. "Whatever this protoform is, I want it flying the flag of the Predacons, not the Maximals." he ordered.

"Always eager to welcome a new comrade-in-arms." Blackarachnia replied enthusiastically. They departed but not before a bug was spotted behind her back.

"What the? What's that?" asked Brawl.

"Spiders spin their webs, yessss. But I spin them larger." Megatron monologued, under his throne is likely a transponding device.

But it is not of his design, it's of Tarantulas'. "So, the treacherous female is undertaking a journey. How dangerous, especially if I catch her first." he monologued, eventually departing from his new lair.

"Tarantulas. Mostly to spy on Megatron, considering that he is now independent." said Dreadwing.

Primal and Silverbolt regrouped around the stasis pod, and examined it. "Perhaps it did expire."

"What is this thing, Bigbot?" Cheetor asked.

"The dark secret of the Axalon's journey. It was originally an attempt to replicate Starscream's mutant, indestructible spark with a Maximal." Primal clarified.

The Renegatrons snorted at the irony.

The Autobots were shocked. Prime glared. For something that he would never approve.

"Indestructible? 'fraid not." Cheetor scoffed.

"Well, it was a mistake to even try. Though brilliant, it was hopelessly treacherous, and incapable of being recycled."

The Renegatrons looked upon the sequential intervals the protoform went through.

"Ironic. The Autobots despise us for the experiments we conducted in their soldiers and friends, yet here their descendants are, conducting experiments they considered immoral." Shockwave commented.

"And to think my plans for the dead could outclass this." Starscream laughed.

Dreadwing, Skyquake, Cliffjumper and Arcee were unhappy at the reminder.

"Though, it surprises me that your Spark is insanely resilient, Starscream. It's proven throughly to me how you've survived even the worst that could have destroyed many before and after you." Megatron expressed.

"Well, master, even I do not know why I even survive it all, when I should have been deactivated in those situations."

"Regardless, your persistence impresses me the slightest. But that is all I can give to you."

Starscream had a scrap-eating grin at Megatron's compliment.

"It was put on the Axalon for what reason, Optimus?" Silverbolt asked.

"To dump it. Somewhere far. Someplace barren." The protoform's leg twitched. Primal heard flatulence from his youngest subordinate.

Cheetor farted. Much to Silverbolt's disgust.

"Oh, sorry." Cheetor apologized. "My Transmetal bod's been soaking up so much Energon, I'm about to blast one off."

Some of the veteran Autobots and Renegatrons retched with disgust.

"I'm glad we don't have that feature in our afts..." Bulkhead groaned.

"Tell me about it." Wheeljack agreed.

As Primal moved in to inspect the stasis pod, an explosion goes off. Misinterpeting it as another of Cheetor's farts, both him and Silverbolt turned to the cheetah Maximal.

"It wasn't me!" Cheetor denied.

Another explosion goes off, revealing Waspinator and Blackarachnia flying in the mist, heavily armed.

"The Predacons claim that Protoform!" Blackarachnia then fired, knocking Silverbolt down.

"AMBUSH!"

"We saw that Warpath, calm those circuits."

"Back off, grandpa!"

Waspinator soon fired, separating Primal and Cheetor, the latter then fired back, knocking Waspinator out.

"This is unnecessary. Its spark is extinguished!" Primal reasoned. "We were too late!"

"Pardon me if I don't buy that load, monkey!" She fired her weapon not at Primal, but at the rock formation behind Primal, burying him beneath a pile of rocks.

"Primal!" Bumblebee shouted.

"Calm down! It'll take more than rocks to bury that big ape, kid!" Ironhide assured.

"Silverbolt! Widow alert!" Cheetor warned. As Silverbolt regained his bearings, he ducked as a shot knocked Cheetor down.

Blackarachnia went on to beat up Silverbolt hand-to-hand, slowly growing frustrated with the latter refusing to fight her.

"Come on! Fight back!" Blackarachnia demanded, slowly growing despondent.

Silverbolt shouted "Stop with your knight sensibility scrap and destroy her, darnit!"

"How far will you carry this silly chivalry?" She knocked Silverbolt away with a knee to the chest. "'Cause this dark damsel is not impressed!" and brandished her gun at him.

Silverbolt gritted his teeth. "I swear, I will tear your Spark out from your chest, you slithering scrap heap!"

But before long, Tarantulas grabbed her from behind, holding her hostage.

"You!" Blackarachnia hissed. "What are you doing here?

"You've got information I want." Tarantulas then demanded. 

"Yes, let's hear it." Megatron said hearing her from the bug attached to her back.

"Fine, Tarantulas. Here's the scoop." Blackarachnia replied sardonically "Megatron is a slag-suckin' saurian. Got it?"

Unbeknowst to her, Megatron overheard her contemptible chatter and snarled "She'll pay for that."

"Ha! For someone meant to be a spy, Blackarachnia has lost her sense of discretion at that insult!" Starscream commented.

"Perhaps this Megatron has known better than to trust her considering her suspicious motives." Onslaught stated.

"Foolish spider. Let's see if playing my shield will improve your sense of reason." Tarantulas replied, not buying Blackarachnia's lie.

Silverbolt stood up and pontificated "Though threatening your own comradeis no doubt business as usual in the Predacon Guide to Villainy." he struck at Tarantulas, releasing Blackarachnia from his grasp and picked up Tarantulas "it is simply unacceptable behavior in my book!" and threw Tarantulas at the stasis pod knocking him out.

Starscream groaned. He had heard those speeches reminsicent of Prime himself.

Dreadwing smirked.

Silverbolt was impressed, though he had wished his ancestor would know better than to set aside the chivalry.

But in the process, causes an explosion of Energon that caused a catastrophic storm of wind and lightning that knocked Silverbolt and Blackarachnia away. But the storm had just began, blowing Primal away, and prompting Tarantulas to hold on to the stasis pod. Even still, the wind was too strong that it had Tarantulas lose his grip on the stasis pod and sucked both into the vortex.

Elsewhere, as both Silverbolt and Blackarachnia recuperated from their injuries. Right after they crashed to the ground roughly. They raised weapons at each other.

"Do it! Do it! Destroy her!" Silverbolt yelled.

"Are you...damaged?" Silverbolt asked.

"Just enough to make me...interesting." Blackarachnia replied.

"Well I suspect Tarantulas will still come after you."

"Well, I expect you're right." Blackarachnia admitted. Tarantulas never stopped tormenting her.

"Well, I... I will not let him harm you." he assured.

Silverbolt facepalmed. While Jazz grinned. "My plan for them both's coming to play..." while the Autobot rubbed his hands together creepily.

"I'm counting on that. Now why don't you make like a hero and... fly me outta here?" Blackarachnia asked.

"Don't do it. The moment you offer her your wings, she will poison you to deactivation!" Silverbolt protested.

"Jeez, you hate Blackarachnia that much?" Cliffjumper asked. "Go join Arcee then."

He got slapped in the back of the head by his partner.

"I'm unable." Silverbolt tries to ready his wings, but they fail to respond. "My wing mechanism is offline." He suggested. "We must journey by foot to that mountain peak above the storm, where we can contact our respective bases."

"Not my first choice, but..." Blackarachnia relented. "lead the way."

Perceptor scratched his chin. "That Energon storm must have effectively disabled his systems."

"May you clarify, Perceptor?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"If you remember when Rhinox, Dinobot, Cheetor and Rattrap suffered from blindness due to Energon contamination, and recalling that the raw Energon themselves block communications, perhaps this may mean that excessive Energon may affect the Cybertronian chassis to the risk where it may cause system failure."

"But the alien ray had condensed and contained the Energon." Bulkhead pointed out.

"Yes, but in here, when unleashed in amounts beyond the normal count of Energon, it may cause their systems to fail to respond due to power excess." Perceptor continued to theorize.

"In that case, our descendants' chassis has developed less significantly than ours. To the point where they cannot tolerate Energon excess." Knockout concluded.

"Exactly."

"Then in that case, danger may come worse for Silverbolt and Blackarachnia." Prime realized.

Elsewhere, Tarantulas survived, and moved into the open stasis pod, but no protoform was found. From behind, he gulped in fear as he turned around and saw the protoform shadowing him.

Primal and Cheetor overheard his screams.

"Whoa! That was... totally terrifiying." Knockout quipped.

"Primal said that the protoform had no Spark to begin with, but that Energon storm must have given him rebirth." Ratchet theorized.

"Optimus to Silverbolt." Primal tried to hail, but no response came from the Fuzor. "Do you read?"

"It's like I said, Big Bot." Cheetor replied. "Not fur nor feather of him anywhere." He suggested. "Come on, we gotta log some cycles in the CR chamber, or we're no good to anybody."

"Wherever you are, Silverbolt, keep safe. And watch your back." Primal muttered as they retired back to the Axalon. They were suffering from Energon build-up as well as a result of the storm.

"I was gonna say go back for Maxie-Bolt, but seeing that they're affected as well, I don't think they can go on without risking Energon contamination flooding their systems." Smokescreen commented.

"Good for you, Smoke. Being a team player." Arcee complimented.

He just rubbed his head nervously.

Meanwhile, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia walked together.

"I consider myself a creature of darkness, but this place is even making my skin crawl." Blackarachnia complained.

"That's ironic, given that black widows are epitomes of silent darkness." Knockout commented.

But they stopped before "Tarantulas!" Blackarachnia gasped. Up on the tree by the branch she spotted, but it's only a piece of Tarantulas.

"Where?" Silverbolt piped up protectively.

"Do not worry... he has...been disarmed. To say the least." Blackarachnia joked. And they laughed.

"Did she... make him laugh?" Jazz asked.

"It may be another human method of courtship, Jazz." Knockout stated.

Silverbolt shook his head in denial.

With the Predacons, Inferno and Megatron looked and listened in confusion, intrigue, surprise and suspicion.

"They... they laugh together?" Inferno asked.

"Don't underestimate her." Megatron assured. "With Tarantulas gone, she may reconsider the Maximal's usefulness."

"On what grounds? Her systems are as broken as his." Megatron pointed out.

"Across here." Silverbolt suggested before a log used as a bridge. He crossed first and reached to the other side. But as he turned around, seeing the Predacon brandish her weapon at him and hearing a potential danger lurking behind Blackarachnia, he yelled "Behind you!"

"Don't be pathetic." Blackarachnia sneered, ignorant of the danger behind her. Until it was too late. A saber-toothed tiger leaped from behind, preparing to maul her.

"Do it! Rip her head off!" Silverbolt demanded.

"Whoa..." Air Raid backed off. He never saw Silverbolt being so bloodthirsty before.

Unwilling to let this stand, Silverbolt transformed and leaped towards the tiger, until it gained the upper hand over him for a time. Silverbolt rolled over towards the cliff, sending both him and the tiger falling. Blackarachnia saw him transforming and holding on to a vine, which was beginning to snap due to his weight.

"I understand. You are, after all, a... Predacon." the vine snapped, sending Silverbolt falling, but Blackarachnia fired a grappling hook at the Fuzor to pull him back up to her.

Jazz smirked. "Returning the favor for your favorite knight in shining armor, eh widow?"

"Are ya... damaged?" Blackarachnia asked.

"Just enough to make me... interesting. Why did you save me?" he asked, surprised at her rescue attempt

"Well uh, there... might be other... creatures." Blackarachnia replied, trying to fight off the beats her Spark was making.

"Don't ya deny it, you want that Silverbolt." Jazz teased.

Silverbolt attempted to grab Jazz but he was stopped by Air Raid and Jetfire.

"Eww, yuck." Megatron groused in disgust upon hearing his treacherous minion.

"The feeling is not mutual, I'm afraid." Megatron replied in sarcasm.

Aboard the Axalon, Primal recovered completely as Dinobot then began suggesting "Forget the rescue plan, Optimus, and start devising an attack plan. Megatron has lost two. We have only lost one."

"I'll remember that...next time you're missing in an Energon storm." Primal replied back. As he and Cheetor departed.

"Victors do not spurn opportunity." Dinobot commented. Now in his lonesome, he took the opportunity to then connect himself to the systems. "It may yet be up to me."

"What are you up to now, Dinobot?" Prime asked.

"Something drastic, I think. I... can't shake off the cold feeling inside me, Prime." Grimlock explained.

"So do I... for a strange reason." agreed Dreadwing.

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia then began to debate like couples would. While walking in the jungles

"Lest you forget, you were originally a Maximal protoform." Silverbolt pointed out.

"Don't even go there." Blackarachnia snapped.

"But saving me was indicative of your more noble heritage. So obviously..."

"I said, drop it!" Blackarachnia hissed.

"Uh oh, somebody's going through the denial phrase!" Jazz teased.

Bumblebee looked at him "Why are you doing this?"

"Because Silver-Bee, there's a heatup between both Maxie-Bolt and Widow-Girl there and I aim to see how it goes in this future!" Jazz replied.

"Just admit there is a spark of goodness deep inside you. And then..."

Blackarachnia turned around and fired her appendages rapidly, but Silverbolt quickly took cover before she fired. "Shall I... elaborate?" She asked in a dangerous undertone. She walked away.

"Ehh, perhaps not." Silverbolt had decided to keep her mouth shut, hopefully to prevent inciting more of Blackarachnia's wrath.

"Now it's onto the domineering wife phase!" Knockout laughed.

They moved closely to find Tarantulas' remains scattered and torn off erractically, now intrigued.

"Tarantulas... but that storm didn't destroy him, who did? Or what did?" Prime wondered, worried that they may be in danger.

"He's gone into stasis lock. That explosion didn't do this." Blackarachnia suggested.

"No... this is the work of..." Silverbolt was slowly piecing together the events.

"Of what?" Blackarachnia asked in confusion.

"...Protoform X." Silverbolt concluded.

"What?" she gasped in surprise and intrigue. "I thought it extinguished." as Megatron overhears her.

"Apparently it did not. And apparently... it may never."

"Interesting." Megatron then turned "Computer, fashion for me a blade, curved, very sharp, and composed of Energon."

[Acknowledged.]

"A blade made of Energon? What is Pred-Megs up to?" asked Sideswipe asked.

"If I know, perhaps as a means to control this Protoform X." Predaking answered.

Megatron frowned. Remembering Unicron's control and oppression over him made it worse.

Feeling fear of a potential predator lurking around them, Blackarachnia behaved erractically.

"You're... you're leaving him behind?" Silverbolt's assuring hand did not help.

"I want out of here... now!" Blackarachnia screamed. As soon as they tried to leave, a crab-like monstrosity barred their way, snapping like a fercious predator. Upon his transformation, it revealed himself.

It's Protoform X in the metal.

The young Autobots screamed as if they saw a horror come to life.

"That must be Protoform X!" Bulkhead pointed out.

"What's it going to do?" Bumblebee asked in fear.

"Likely to tear them both apart like it did with Tarantulas." answered Wheeljack.

"Get outta there, the both of you!" Warpath shouted yet he felt afraid.

As Protoform X approaches them with a presence that screams unimaginable terror, ready to tear into their chassis, into their circuits, laughing manically, Silverbolt stepped in between him and Blackarachnia. Finding the gesture laughable, Protoform X swept Silverbolt away like a fly.

Standing alone, Blackarachnia unleashed her machine gun appendages at Protoform X, but the gunfire did little to harm him. In response, he pulled out a triple-barrelled hand cannon and fired at Blackarachnia, dealing her great damage. Silverbolt threw one of his explosives at him, but Protoform X saw the attack and fired twice, destroying the explosive and knocking down Silverbolt in the process. He then transformed.

The Autobots were horrified.

The Renegatrons were mixed.

Starscream smirked in anticipation, the Combaticons