Unintentionally

Another Hole in the Head

A few weeks passed and Dreadwing was in the armory checking the firearms and explosives when he got orders from Megatron to take out Arachnid.

They went to an undisclosed location under the guise of scouting for Energon.

As Dreadwing and Breakdown walked with Arachnid, the two mechs were prepared to end the spider femme.

"Am I the only one here who considers this to be overkill on Lord Megatron's part? I mean, dispatching two of his most proficient warriors to track down one unconfirmed Energon spike." Arachnid said somewhat annoyed as she stepped over a rather large tree root.

"Megatron knows Me and Dreadwing here will get the job done." Breakdown smirked

"Actually, I was referring to Dreadwing and myself."

Breakdown lunged at her but Dreadwing caught him by the arm.

"Breakdown, remain on task. This must be a unified effort." Dreadwing warned him

"Indeed, Breakdown." Arachnid smirked. "I know we've never seen eyes to eye, but that doesn't mean we can't patch things up." She winked her eye at him

"That's it!" Breakdown roared charging at the femme.

"Don't! Aah!" Dreadwing tried to stop Breakdown but was pinned to a tree by the webbing, and Breakdown had some shot onto his face.

The spider webbed the two mechs up to the point they couldn't move.

"I knew something was going to happen. Let's see if I can send a little message to Megatron." Arachnid raised a finger and it began to hiss with acidic venom. "I am not to be trifled with."

As the spider bot prepared to strike there was a loud crack and a high impact sniper round blasted into Arachnid's chest, sending her to the ground as Breakdown pulled his hand away from his face but was still otherwise webbed to the ground.

A teenage mech that was bright red, yellow and orange ran up to Dreadwing and began pulling at the webbing.

A teenage seeker landed nearby and quickly began to free Breakdown.

"Autobots? What are you doing here?" Dreadwing demanded

"Mom I got him! That spider is still twitching!" The young bot yelled.

::I know. On my way down.:: Carbine replied

"Mom?" Dreadwing asked, surprised even more so after hearing Carbine's voice.

"We're adopted." The mech stated "Name's Hotrod. My winged brother over there is Jetstorm."

"Dreadwing what's going on?" Breakdown asked

"Do not attack them. I am not certain." Dreadwing ordered.

"It's a Bug hunt and an unsettled score." Carbine stated, appearing and walking over to Arachnid.

The black and silver femme stomped on Arachnid's back and grabbed her spider legs before brutally ripping them off making the spider femme scream in agony.

The two young mechs cringed at the sound of ripping metal.

"What are you doing out here getting your aft kicked?" Carbine asked Dreadwing pointedly.

"We were given the task of terminating Arachnid. I was to gain her post upon completion." Dreadwing replied as Hotrod finally freed him. "I was unaware you had younglings." He brushed himself off.

"You never asked. But for your information, I have three boys. I adopted them throughout the war when I came across them as orphans." Carbine dug her heel into Arachnid's back with barely contained rage and hate.

"Mom?" Hotrod asked startled.

"Hotrod, Jetstorm. go home and look after your brother." Carbine ordered sharply. It was clear their presence was what was keeping things from getting very ugly.

"But I wanted to help!" Jetstorm protested

"We can help!" Hotrod clenched his fists

"And you did a marvelous job my sweet boys but I've got plenty of help with Dreadwing and Breakdown right here. This isn't what Autobots do. And I don't want you involved."

"But-" Hotrod took a step forward.

"Listen to your mother." Dreadwing put a servo on Hotrod's shoulder. He could tell that what Carbine had planned wasn't going to be pretty.

"O-okay. I'll go back to the ship and help Chip with his homework..." hotrod backed up and left quickly like he was told with Jetstorm on his heels the boys glancing over their shoulders until they were completely gone.

"Thank you, Dreadwing." Carbine looked at him over her shoulder

"Who- are you?" Arachnid rasped

"Ohhh you don't remember me? Subject Alpha of Project Paragon?!" Carbine stomped on the spider viciously, making her scream again. "You and your sick twisted buddy Scorpinock had a real fun time tormenting me!" She kicked the spider into a tree and Arachnid got a good look at her.

"The pregnant femme?"

"That's right. Because of you and that scorpion bastard I lost my sparkling." Carbine hissed.

"Out for revenge? Optimus Prime would not approve." Arachnid mocked

Carbine chuckled "Prime isn't here. And I'm not an Autobot. Not anymore."

"Then what are you?" Arachnid tried inching away.

"I am the death rattle of a star. I am the leader of the Nova Corp."

The spider lunged to get away but Carbine grabbed her by the pedes and drug her back. "I lost everything because of you!" The femme punched Arachnid in the face and started beating the spider "After Prime rescued me, my sparkless ex dumped me! He didn't even know about the sparkling I lost. He didn't let me say anything! My support system was gone! I was homeless! I wanted to die but because of what you and the others on Project Paragon did to me I couldn't!"

Dreadwing strode over and caught Carbine's arm before she could throw another punch.

"Let me go Dreadwing."

"This isn't you. You know it's not right."

"You were going to kill her anyway. What's so important about how she dies? She and her twisted friends made us suffer before they extinguished the life of my unborn child. She deserves to die a brutal death for what she has done to me and so many others."

"Killing her like this won't change what happened." Dreadwing said sympathetically "it won't bring your child back."

"No. But it'll keep her away from my boys now."

"We'll finish this. You have done enough." Dreadwing said feeling drawn to Carbine, sympathetic to her grief. It was a different kind of grief from his own but no less intense.

"Make it hurt." Carbine told him, pulling out a pistol from her waist and handing it to Dreadwing.

He took the pistol and nodded, she got up off the spider and backed away.

Dreadwing took aim as Arachnid tried to crawl away. He pulled the trigger twice for the spark and twice in the helm to make absolutely certain she was dead. He handed the pistol back to Carbine.

She took a shaking breath. "One left."

"What's Nova Corp?" Breakdown asked.

Carbine sighed and pulled something out of her sub space. A recruitment pamphlet. "Here. If you're interested, the comm frequency is in the information. Just don't let bucket brain or Soundwave see it. I'm.... Gonna go lay down. I don't know what to feel right now."

Breakdown took it and looked interested before shoving it into his own subspace to hide it

Dreadwing was flabbergasted. This would have turned out very different if she hadn't come to their rescue but at the same time he didn't know if he should stop her as an autobot. She said she wasn't an autobot though. She had some explaining to do but he knew now wasn't the time to press her for information.