Vengeance Is A Lazy Form Of Grief

'On wrongs, swift vengeance awaits' - Alexander Pope

'Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people's minds the thought of victory and the thought of punishing the enemy coincide.' - Barbara Deming

-JF-

There was going to be energon shed tonight.

And for once, the overly vain medic didn't care if it was his target's energon, or his own. Either way, only one Cybertronian would be walking away still functioning after tonight.

Knockout drove through the deserted Nevada desert for what seemed like hours, reflecting back on memories and trying to figure out where everything went wrong. What had he done to lose the one mech closest to him? His friend, the only one who understood and could tolerate him.

Breakdown.

Even the very thought of his assistant was enough to send a new wave of depression through his spark. He hadn't deserved to die. There was still so much he never got to do, so much more left to experience in life besides war and constant fighting. Slaggit, he had been so young...

Braking hard, Knockout had to transform just to keep from skidding off a cliff. The wear on his tires from the terrain should have concerned him more, but there was too much on his processor for him to really care at the moment. All he could focus on was Breakdowns untimely death.

His first clue that Breakdown had died should have been when Megatron announced that Breakdown's energy signal had disappeared completely. But that could've been caused by a signal jammer, so he had thought nothing of it. Then he started hearing the drones talking about how Dreadwing and Breakdown had been sent on a 'suicide' mission. Even though the rumors unnerved him a little, it wasn't until Dreadwing came back through the ground bridge that his spark froze in absolute dread. The energy signal, the suicide mission, Dreadwing coming back alone with a sullen look on his faceplates...and the webbing covering his frame.

The realization hit him like Breakdown's hammer to his face.

His partner, assistant, best friend...was dead. And his killer was still out there.

Airachnid.

Depression quickly morphed into anger at the very thought of the spider femme. The eight-legged freak who had won Megatron's favor (if only for a short while), abandoned the Decepticons twice now, and was the cause for his recent flourish of emotions.

The worst part about figuring out Airachnid was the culprit? Breakdown had a crush on her.

"You idiot. I told you she wasn't your type."

Looking up to the full moon that illuminated the area, Knockout remembered a time when Breakdown had stumbled into the med bay covered in stray webbing and acid burns. He had been ranting about how she had him glued to her berth and was intent on torturing him until he broke down.

After the initial shock and a few high-grades to calm him down, he had asked Breakdown, 'So, what have we learned from this little ordeal?'

To which Breakdown jokingly replied, 'Love hurts.'

He didn't know whether or not Breakdown had continued trying to court her after he recovered, but evidently, it didn't end well.

Knockout grit his dentals and glared at nothing in particular while he continued seething. He had promised Breakdown that he would teach him some real medical procedures if any more drones came in heavily damaged. Of course, almost all the drones offlined before they could reach the medbay, but just remembering the excitement that lit up Breakdown's face...

You were so young...

Shaking his helm, Knockout tried to drive Breakdown's image from his processor as he started thinking of a way to catch Airachnid. Her main advantage was that she had flight, but if he could shoot her down...slag, he only had his medical instruments and his energon prod on him, and he wasn't about to throw his favorite weapon at her.

Breakdown could've used his shoulder canon...

Throwing his servos into the air in exasperation, Knockout gave up trying to erase any image of Breakdown from his mind. It was obvious his subconscious wasn't going to allow him any respite for a very long while.

"I swear to Primus, I will find you Airachnid. I will make you suffer, like I'm sure you made Breakdown in his final moments. I will give Breakdown the vengeance he so rightfully deserves!"

"And here I thought I was the only one with a grudge against Airachnid."

Spinning around and immediately assuming a defensive stance, Knockout was met with blue optics that held the same rage that he felt towards the she-spider. Optics, and a voice, that could only belong to the Autobot Arcee.

"And what, prey tell, has she done to you that could possibly relate to what she's taken from me?"

"She took the life of my first partner, Tailgate. So don't think for one second you're the only one here who's lost a friend because of her."

Studying her optics, Knockout resumed his more relaxed posture when he realized she was telling the truth. There was no reason for her to lie about something like that, and it gave him an opportunity to formulate a plan. Maybe this Autobot could be of some use to him. She had a pair of blasters after all.

"Feisty aren't we? Listen, this might sound a little far-fetched, but would you consider aiding me in capturing, or at least catching up with Airachnid?"

Arcee's skeptical look required he try a more direct approach.

"I know what you're thinking, that teaming up with a Decepticon is a bad idea or against your rules in general. But think about it; we both have a valid reason to want her offline, and with your help, I-We might be able to finally put an end to her worthless existence. What do you say?" He held out his servo to finalize the deal.

Even though every part of her screamed to not trust the Con, the idea of finally putting an end to Airachnid's endless killing spree was too tempting to decline. Reluctantly ignoring the invisible warning signs that were flashing through her processor, she grabbed the Cons servo and sealed the deal.

"Fine. But when we find her, DON'T attempt anything brash. I know how to deal with Airachnid, so leave her to me."

Releasing his servo from her surprisingly solid grip, Knockout scoffed and folded his servos across his chassis. "Plan on ripping her spark out yourself? That doesn't sound like an Autobot attitude to me. More like a-"

"Shut it. I don't plan on ripping out her spark, or whatever other sadistic ideas you might be thinking of doing to her yourself. But if you want to survive an encounter with her, I suggest you listen to me when I tell you to leave her to me." The seriousness in her voice made Knockout rethink any idea he had been forming regarding his approach to Airachnid. He decided to humor the femme, if only for a little while.

Casually pacing around her now, he wanted to see how many rules she would break in order to catch the spider. "Alright fräulein, have it your way. Airachnid's all yours. But now comes the matter of finding her. Any clue as to where she might be?"

By the way her optics followed his every movement, he could tell she was still wary of him. It was quite amusing actually. To see a respected Autobot act and sound so much like a Decepticon, it genuinely surprised him. He mentally shook his mind into focus when he realized she had been talking.

"Come again?"

"To busy thinking of dying patients? I said that I could probably get a reading on her last known location back at my base. But we'll only have a small window of opportunity before the others realize I'm gone and they look up the coordinates for the ground bridges last known activation point."

"Then tell them you're going on patrol or something. Its not like you Autobots have never lied before. Or is that also against the rules?"

"Patrol in the very location where we had spotted Airachnid dueling Megatron with her Insecticon warrior? What a coincidence! They'll never suspect that I might want to revisit an area where she was last seen in order to extract some revenge. Because apparently to you, Autobots are too stupid to put two and two together."

At any other time, Knockout might have found some amusement with the femmes brutal sarcasm, but right now, he was starting to regret his decision to work alongside her. "I'd watch what you say around me from now on Autobot, lest you begin to dig yourself a deeper grave than what I'm sure Airachnid already has you digging."

Arcee was nearing her breaking point as well. As savvy as this Con acted, he also had a knack for pushing his luck a little too far.

"Don't threaten me and this might-" She paused. Something Knockout said just occurred to her, "Wait, digging...she's underground." Seeing Knockout's puzzled look, she elaborated, "If Airachnid feels cornered, she'll bury herself underground. And seeing as the cave we saw her in last had many deeper passages to it, I'd bet anything that's where she fled."

Catching on, Knockout revved his engine in anticipation. "So what are we waiting for? Our partners aren't going to avenge themselves y'know."

-JF-

The long drive to the location where Arcee had last seen Airachnid was long, tedious, and eerily silent. Neither wanted to break the silence lest the unspoken truce between the two factions would be shattered. Soon, the only noises to be heard in the following hours were the sounds of growling engines pushing their limits in speed and power and the crunch of gravel under sturdy tires. It wasn't until the feel of rocks disappeared and the sensation of something much softer under his tires did Knockout realize that they were now in a forest. Suddenly, an uneasy feeling made him slow his pace down until he came to a complete stop. There was something about the broken trees that made him restless...it almost appeared as if a struggle had taken place here recently.

And then he saw the thin wisp of webbing caught in between the upper branches in a few of the surrounding trees. The realization of where he was almost made his spark skip a beat.

This was the forest Breakdown had died in. It was where his last mission had ended so horribly, not even his body could be recovered.

"Knockout? You alright?"

Not wanting the Autobot to hear the slight waver in his voice, Knockout revved his engine as he spoke, "I'm fine. Continue leading the way."

Now speeding closely behind the Autobot, Knockout felt a renewed sense of vigor flow within him. Oh yes, he was going to make sure Airachnid felt the same, if not more pain than Breakdown felt in his final moments.

On the outskirts of the forest, Arcee transformed with Knockout following suit behind her. If they were going to make this plan work, some rules were going to have to be laid out.

"Alright listen. I'll take point and engage Airachnid first. If you want to get a few good swings in on her, be my guest, but in the end, she's mine. Understand?"

Nodding distractedly, Knockout barely registered her explain that the caves might be booby-trapped, and that they need to watch out for any walls lined with webbing. All he was focused on was finally confronting the spider femme.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Gesturing to the mouth of the cave, Knockout mockingly bowed. "Ladies first."

Rolling her optics at her companions none-too-serious attitude, Arcee activated both blasters and swiftly ducked into the unguarded cave. Behind her, the sound of sparking electricity indicated Knockout had brought out his energon prod. Now, if only the feeling that he was going to stab her in the back with it would just go away...

"So Autobot, do you want to split up, or pick a passageway and hope for the best?"

Seeing as there were numerous passages leading deeper into the cave, it would be extremely easy to get lost in them, and the last thing Arcee wanted was to wander into one of Airachnid's traps alone. She knew it was instinctively safer to travel in a group, but a small voice in the back of her processor admitted that she just didn't want Knockout to have the satisfaction of killing Airachnid if he had happened to find her while split up.

"We'll go through the entrance that I chased her down in before, and then work our way around from there. She's bound to have made some new tunnels during her time down here, so watch for any signs of anything recently dug up." Starting towards a passage entrance on the left side of the wall, she paused long enough to put one last word in, "Since we're working together, you may as well just call me Arcee. No need for 'formalities.'"

And just like that, she was gone. Knockout was grateful the tunnel only went one way, since the femme barely made a noise when she moved. It would be a shame to lose track of the only guide through these mazes of tunnels.

It only took a few minutes of quietly stalking though the caves before Arcee put up her fist, indicating a silent order to stop. Straining his audios, Knockout could faintly hear what must have alerted Arcee. A buzzing noise, and the 'clack-clack' sound of metal on something hard, like a cave wall. Airachnid was just up ahead. The time for vengeance had come.

Sliding down the rest of the way, Arcee landed in an enormous room lined with hundreds of pods. Stasis pods. Unhatched stasis pods. It looked like Airachnid literally had an entire army at her command. And it would only be a matter of time before she released them all.

Not hearing any signs that the spider was nearby, Arcee took a few cautious steps towards what looked like the center of the cavern. From this viewpoint, she couldn't even see the cave she and Knockout had just come from, let alone any other hole Airachnid might be hiding behind. Scanning for any other signs that her target was close by, Arcee stopped short when out of the corner of her optic, she saw a reflection in one of the stasis pods to her right. It was brief, but the quick flash of purple was enough to alert her to Airachnid lunging at her from behind, thus giving her just enough time to dive roll out of the way of the sneak attack.

Charging her blasters, Arcee took shots at Airachnid while she dove behind a nearby unopened pod. Airachnid had scurried back up the cave wall, but she was returning Fire as well, her shots getting dangerously close to hitting Arcee the higher up she climbed. She had to admit, Airachnid's ability to scale walls certainly had her at a slight disadvantage, but she more than made up for that setback by taking careful aim and finally shooting out one of the spider legs once Airachnid was practically above her.

Airachnid clawed at the ceiling, desperately trying to hold on to the upper hand, but the continuous shots from the Autobot below her made finding a grip near impossible. With one last pained cry as a well aimed shot hit her backside, Airachnid fell in a crumpled heap in front of Arcee. It wasn't in her nature to give up, but even she knew that her longtime rival was itching for revenge, and by the time she could regain her bearings, Arcee would have her blades ready for the killing blow. If this really was the end, she was at least going to get one last taunt in.

"Arcee, what would Tailgate say if he saw you like this? I mean, killing an injured bot while they're down? That doesn't sound like anything an Autobot would do. Would you be able to live with yourself knowing you went against everything you've been brainwashed to believe?"

Arcee never got the chance to answer. It wasn't because she hesitated though. It was because something had lodged itself in between her shoulder struts and was currently sending currents of electricity throughout her entire frame, rendering her paralyzed. When the object was finally yanked out none to gently, she barely registered Airachnid's optics widening in horror before the sensation of falling overtook her. Only instead of landing roughly on the ground, she felt servos wrap around her and gently lower her until she was on her back. Trying to register what was going on before stasis shut her systems down, she could just make out Knockout's frame leaning over her with what looked like a remorseful look on his faceplates.

"Sorry Arcee, but this is something I have to do. If it's any consolation, I'll do what I'm about to do for your friend Tailgate as well as Breakdown. They deserve that much."

Moving away from the almost unconscious Autobot, Knockout stopped short when he felt a weakened servo grab his leg. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Arcee struggle to get a final order out.

"Make...make her hurt. For both of us..." She waited until he nodded in understanding before finally succumbing to stasis lock.

Turning his attention to a petrified Airachnid, Knockout smirked a little too calmly as he positioned his energon prod against her spark chamber. He was going to take great pride in making the spider's last moments the most painful she had ever experienced.

Oh yes, there was definitely going to be energon shed tonight.