Airachnophobia (Airachnid X Male Reader)

24. Matching Ice

     Airachnid groggily took in her hazy surroundings. Generally, she didn't like Earth as much as Cybertron, or even the neighboring planets, colonized by her kind. She was accustomed to the beautiful metallic shine that denoted the horizon. On Earth, however, the horizon was a bright, hazy glow. The atmosphere that kept the beings on the planet alive diffused the light of their star, casting colors of every kind across the vapor trails that lined the sky.

     The warmth was a stark contrast to the sensation of icy-cold servos raking her radial appendages. She knew her failing body would be forced into stasis lock soon, and she would be in the hands of fate after that. For the most part, it was a death sentence. It was unlikely anyone would ever find her unconscious husk, and even more unlikely that someone who did would be friendly.

     The femme had no clue what had become of the motley crew of Cons that had chased her. She wasn't naive enough to believe she had given them the slip with her mediocre flying. Whatever had distracted them or turned them away, it was simply delaying the inevitable. Rather than dwell on it any longer, she decided to just let the overpowering void of her systems shutting down take over.

~~~~~

     "It does seem like a bit of an oddball. Most of the humans we've held captive have been, while belligerent, willing to bargain for their survival. This one..." Knockout made a circular gesture with his servos, hoping Starscream would understand his line of thought.

     "Yes, as you mentioned before, the results of the cortical psychic patch were mystifying. Navigating a human's mind is more organic, less structured than a Cybertronian's. I never want to go back in there." The Decepticon second in command shuddered.

     "At least we got what we needed." Knockout provided. His commander nodded, loosening up a little. "The fleshie didn't seem phased by the prospects of punishment we put in front of it, though. My sensors indicated that there was a spike in adrenaline, which humans tie to fear often, but nothing like the first ones we captured upon coming to Earth." The medic pinched his digits together to clean some dust out of their crevices. His idle thought was broken by the pedesteps of a passing duo of armada patrol members.

     "Say, Screamer," Knockout looked up at the seeker who was still loitering in the passageway next to him. "What ever happened to the despicable insect?" Starscream looked offended for a moment, but his faceplates quickly took on a frustrated expression.

     "We had her cornered, but Megatron, in all his wisdom, decided to call us back for his grand plan to destroy the Autobots. Of course, they escaped before we even returned, and now that disease Airachnid could be anywhere." The slender mech gritted his dental. "I know she iced your bodyguard, but you're not the only one who would throw her to a swarm of scraplets."

     Knockout frowned. He wasn't keen on Starscream bringing up Breakdown again, since he still had a shard of his spark missing from that little incident, but he could tell the mech had something other than petty malice behind his thousand yard glare.

     "Something bugging you?" The medic smirked at his own wordplay despite himself. The seeker returned the comment with a look that genuinely sent a shiver down Knockout's back struts.

     "If I ever told you, it would be only after I violently removed your internals." Starscream vented aggressively before storming off. Due to his uncharacteristic behavior, Knockout was quite interested in whatever incident led to such a reaction. Instead of doing any private investigation, though, he decided to do his job for a bit.

     "Shockwave," Knockout commed the scientist, "I need a stasis pod. The human has outlived its usefulness information-wise, but it may be a useful bargaining chip later." A moment passed with no response before a crackling signified the cycloptic mech received his message.