A/N: This was originally written for the tf_speedwriting prompt Scenario - Watching someone else make a very bad choice and only now pulled off my hard drive and posted. Snowblind is not an OC; he's a minicon from the UT continuity that I found out about by clicking the 'random' button on the wiki until I got a minor character. Anyway, the title of this story was partly inspired by his Japanese name, Beacon, which is the only reason I bring him up. Enjoy!
Beacon in the Cold
Someone call the ambulance...There's gonna be an accident.
I'm coming up on infra-red, there is no running that can hide you,
'Cause I can see in the dark.
I'm coming up on infra-red, forget your running, I will find you.
-Infra-red, Placebo
The small organic – Timov, her memory banks supplied – was huddled up under the collapsed remains of the building's wall. From her position, her optics couldn't pick him up, but her infrared scanners could. He glowed like a beacon in her readings, the heat of his body a contrasting with the cold atmosphere of Garro. She smiled. Timov had given her a good chase, even he ultimately was going to die in this broken ruin of a building. She had to admit, though, that it had been clever to loop back into areas already destroyed by Decepticon forces, and weren't monitored as closely as areas that could still easily the Autobot resistance. But all good things come to an end, and she leapt forward off her perch and onto the ground.
As stealthy as she was, she was still heavy, and the floor was metal. As the reverberations of her landing rang around the room, Timov sat bolt upright, his tail whipping back and forth in surprise, but he was still blocked from her sight by the rubble.
"Snowblind!" he said, in a tone of voice he must have perfected – loud enough to carry, but too soft to cause much of a disturbance. "Snowblind, is that you?"
The hope in his voice almost made her laugh, but that would have ended this game a little too soon for her liking. Timov had gotten to his feet now, and was likely holding himself so that he could easily turn and flee.
"No," she said softly, gliding into view from behind a section of the fallen roof, "Your little Autobot friend isn't here."
"You!" he gasped, the white fins on the side of his head flaring to their full extent, such a fine contrast to his brown fur - with a little work, she could capture that look forever in her collection. "I –"
"Thought you'd lost me? I don't give up that easily, Timov. Splitting up with Snowblind was a bad idea. It only fooled me for a few hours, and even then it wasn't much trouble to get back on your trail. Oh, you had some clever ideas – you're one of the last of your species alive, did you know that? You aren't completely worthless, but you're so slow. I'd give you a head start now, to make up for that, but it wouldn't make much of a difference, you're so tired and weak."
He narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't intending to run."
Oh, so brave. "Really now? You know Snowblind is dead, of course. He won't be coming to save you."
She treasured the hurt in his eyes. Ooh, he hadn't known.
"I'm going to kill you," he said, flatly, all his anger worn out of him by the long years of war, like a cloth worn out from overuse. "I'll kill you for Snowblind." With that, the tiny organic, with no armor or weaponry and barely any battle training, launched himself at her, not even bothering to grab one of the bits of shrapnel littering the ground for a weapon.
This time, Airachnid did laugh.