Blast From The Past.
"Another head aches, another heart breaks
I am so much older than I can take
And my affection, well it comes and goes
I need direction to perfection, no no no no
Help me out
Yeah, you know you got to help me out
Yeah, oh don't you put me on the back burner
You know you got to help me out
And when there's nowhere else to run
Is there room for one more son
These changes ain't changing me
The gold-hearted boy I used to be
(…)
Over and in, last call for sin
While everyone's lost, the battle is won
With all these things that I've done
All these things that I've done
If you can hold on
If you can hold on."– The Killers "All the things that I've done".
Warnings: Violence, explicit language, maybe some sex (but I'm not sure) – you know, the usual.
Timing: Post season 2 finale, in my very own Beauty of the Beast Prime timeline.
Rating: T to M (and possibly even MA).
Pairings: multiple.
Starring: Airachnid.
Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.
Closer.
"Through every forest
Above the trees
Within my stomach
Scrapped off my Knees
I drink the honey
Inside your hive
You are the reason
I stay alive (…) – Nine Inch Nails „Closer (Precursor) 1)"
oOo
Cybertron's Underground. Wartime.
The Undergrounders always steered clear of the surfacers' business. While the Nova Prime and his Functionists established their rule on the surface… or rather what passed as surface on Cybertron, Undergrounders stayed true to their own, ancient laws, not paying much mind to anything that stretched beyond their deep sub-levels of the planetary structure. Nova and then Nominus didn't dreamt in their wildest fantasies to ever subdue the Undergrounders to their will, the depths had their own set of rules and laws, and the unspoken agreement was that Undergrounders would be left alone in exchange for not meddling with upper levels. Both sides honoured it. Undergrounders had no need for the surface, and didn't want to try their luck with heavily armed soldiers of upper levels. Nova and Nominus didn't want to try their luck with fierce and deadly Undergrounders. And the Undergrounders kept the various types of vermin in check.
It worked well. But then one of Nova's successors, or – as many Undergrounders learned later – each and every one of Nova's successors failed and the war started. At first Underground was unmoved, skirmishes and fights happened on the Surface every now and then, just as there were fights in the Underground itself. It never lasted long.
But then the conflict lasted, it reached deeper and deeper and finally it reached the Underground. Agents of both sides: Autobots and Decepticons came down with offers. At first these offers were rejected, but then the laws of Underground came into play.
Laws of the Underground were simple and true: the stronger ruled over the weaker. Anyone could challenge anyone else for power. If one could win and then keep the power, their word was a law. Anything was allowed if it was not forbidden. And finally, anyone could do as they pleased as long as it did not involve anyone else.
The power in Underground shifted, leadership changed hands and Undergrounders were no longer bound by law of isolation.
Insecticons, who lived in swarms, remained mostly neutral, but the others searched for their luck on the surface – a place that was fascinating and new to them. Especially to the younger ones. And they were highly appreciated especially that most of them had flying modes – a handy thing in multileveled Underground where there were no lifts and bridges.
Airachnid was one of young and eager Undergrounders. A rare type too, not a Tripplechanger but with two base forms and flying alt mode. A highly intelligent and predatory spider former was something to behold, especially for Decepticons who she chose to join mostly by sheer coincident.
Her first commander quickly noticed that he had someone extraordinary and sent her to training facility; it would be a crying shame to waste someone talented. And that was how Airachnid found herself learning to become an interrogator and tracker.
As an Undergrounder she was natural predator and catching an unsuspecting prey was simple to her. She was allowed to hone her skills in environment vastly different from the deep levels of the planet that she spend majority of her life, and she proved to be just as sufficient in all situations. Then she was taught how to obtain information from her prey, and she was a fast learner.
The Spider Femme knew instantly that she has found her calling on the Surface. This was what she was sparked to do. This was what she wanted to do all her life: hunt down intelligent and demanding prey, not just mindless vermin or dig for energon crystals. This was for her. Perfect.
oOo
This was not her most lucky time. She had series of successes but as any series, it had to come to an end. But why had it be such a spectacular failure? Not only she failed to gain the information she was after, but on top of that she was discovered! What High Command didn't know would not bother them, especially if she was able to deliver results. But now… It was double… No, triple failure. She knew she was breaking Tyrest Accord (to which Megatron agreed and actually kept it), but she wanted results, and if a prisoner didn't made it to tell… That was just too bad. But now, a prisoner lived to tell, and on top of that the femme was rescued.
Two Autobots raided her secret lair in the middle of final round of interrogation, shot her Vehicons down (she had to evacuate to not fell to their servos) and rescued her prisoner. Her one failure!
It didn't automatically mean that Megatron would know of her trespassing, but it wasn't a good idea to stay behind and find out. She needed to be on the move.
oOo
Departing with Decepticons wasn't the most difficult thing in her life. Actually, it was pretty easy, but as an Undergrounder she wasn't accustomed to creating bonds. Underground was a cruel place and one learned quickly that even the closest friend could back stab you if it would improve their situation (only Insecticons were reasonably trustworthy but only because they lived in swarms, and even they weren't attached to their fellow Insecticons too tightly).
She found a spaceship that suited her needs and… commandeered it. Many Cybertronians were leaving the planet at the time; one more ship wouldn't surprise anyone. Airachnid quickly left the planet and set her course to look for other worlds. She wasn't sure what she would be doing there, but chances were that she would find some exotic life forms that she could hunt, and maybe even collect trophies? That was an excellent idea. And maybe, one day, she would return, look for that one femme that escaped her and finish her off? But for now she was excited by the new idea of hunting among the stars. She always enjoyed a good hunt after all.
Next: Starscream.
1) Somehow it also fits into my Slenderman story too (I'm still working on it though) but I used it here, because somehow it also worked its way into my brain when I was watching Airachnid in "Predatory" (no, I'm not fond of the Japanese dub's idea of Airachnid being the female, transformer version of Pepe le Pew).