Blackie's POV

I am soooooooo bored!

I am tired of all of this dumb patrolling and all of these dumb men!

If Megatron needs someone to patrol or someone to do something completely boring, he always chooses me. Always, always, always!

Here I am. I'm standing outside the Pred base, bored out of my processor, (yeah, I've mentioned that) and having nothing to do, I think about Silverbolt. Yeah, Silverbolt the Maximal warrior. Big whoop. So I have an attraction to a Maximal. I was intended to be a Maximal originally, so why not have an attraction? So he is annoying, too chivalrous for his own good, and kind of stupid. He is still cute.

"Spider-bot there?" comes Waspinator's voice from my communicator.

Scowling to myself, I answer. "Yeah, I'm here. Whaddya want?"

"Not spider lady!" whined the wasp. "Spider- bot. He is missing! Boss-bot not seen him in hours!"

"Maybe he's hiding in his secret lab again…not that Megatron is smart enough to figure THAT one out."

"What was that?" comes a deep voice from my communicator.

My spark nearly leapt out of my chest. "Mr. Megatron, sir!" I say, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Oh, save it! If you're so smart, femme, then why don't you find Tarantulas, bring him back, and then spend the rest of the day polishing the hull of my ship, yessss?"

"What?!" I protest. There is a growl on the other end. I straighten; swallow my pride, and say, "Yes sir. I'm on it, sir."

"Good. Now go, and don't come back until you have my scientist, yessss," hissed Megatron.

I turn my communicator off. Find old eight-legged and ugly and then wipe down the hull of the Darksyde.

Suddenly, guard duty doesn't sound so bad.

Did I mention that Megatron always chooses me for this kind of thing?

After searching for two hours, I sit down and give up. I'm very near Maximal territory. It is actually really nice here, with a large water-fall and a peaceful feeling. The only bad part about this place is the fact that at the bottom of the falls, there are massive, spiked rocks, which could impale a 'bot that was unlucky enough to fall down there.

I am in my spider form, keeping all of my eyes closed. It feels good to finally spend some time by myself.

I open my eyes and sigh. If only Silverbolt was-

Wait.

What is that?

I transform and activate my binocular vision. At the top of the waterfall, standing at the very edge, is a certain Transmetal spider-bot.

Tarantulas!

Scowling, I transform into my spider form and begin to scale the cliff, heading up to him. I was going to kill him. I was really going to kill him. He had put me through enough for this lifetime and he was going to be hurt for that. I swear that I am going to-!

I reach the top, and get behind him. "Hey! Legs!" I shout angrily.

He doesn't say anything. He didn't even acknowledge my presence.

"Hey!" I shout again. "Are you even-!"

He turned to me. His optics filled with sadness. His look is so pitiful it makes me stop what I am saying. I have never seen Tarantulas, the great warrior Tarantulas, seem so sad. It was like he was a different person - a different man.

He doesn't say anything, but he mouths the word, "Goodbye."

I realize that something is very, very wrong.

Then I come to another, more horrible revelation: I am not going to kill him. He is going to kill himself.

He turns away from me and jumps.

Everything seems to move slower, as I watch him jump. My mind is filled with a collection of questions. Why is he doing this? Why does he want to do this? Is this my fault? Is it Megatron's? is it Waspinator's? …Oh, who am I kidding? Waspinator can barely hurt a fly.

When I finally get a grip of myself, I take action. Megatron is going to make me do a whole lot more then scrub the hull if I let Legs die. I run to the edge, pull out my grappling hook-gun, point it down the waterfall, and fire.

The cable wraps around Tarantulas' left leg and stops his fall, nearly bringing me over the edge. I grip the ground with my claw for support. After a great deal of effort, I am able to pull him up.

He doesn't look happy. Figures!

"What are you doing?" he hisses at me, still dangling from my line.

"Saving your neck again!" I snap back.

"Does it look like I want to be saved?!" he screams. "If someone jumps off a cliff on purpose then it usually means that they don't want to be saved!"

I growl. All of this hard rescuing work, just to get yelled at! "Idiot! Why in the slag were jumping of a slaggin' cliff!"

Tarantulas didn't answer. However, he pulled out his buzz- saw weapon and activated it. He began to reach for my cable with it, hoping to sever it.

Idiot!

I yank the cable. Hard. The force surprises him, and he drops the weapon.

Clumsy Idiot!

He watches the weapon fall down the waterfall and land (Splash!) in the water. He loses control and bursts out crying. I can see, with a little pity, though if you say that out loud, I'll deny it, that he is truly desperate to end his life.

"Wh-why won't you le-let me die?"

"You lunatic!" a say through clenched teeth. "What're you trying to pull? Faking your own death? Let me guess: you have an escape-pod, don't you? You're finally gonna get off of this blasted planet and you're not gonna tell me!"

"No escape pod…" he muttered.

"Then what in the slag are you doing!!!" I finally lose it. "Why in the 'Verse are you so eager to get away from us!?"

"So I can get away from you!!!" He finally loses it. "I created you! I made you and gave you life! And all you've done to me is betray me! Nearly kill me on more occasions then I can count! And cheat on me, on all Predacons, by seeing that Silverbolt!!"

My spark stops. He knows.

"It is time for me to end this!" he hisses. "Let. Go. Of. The. Cable."

"Make me!" I counter.

"Gladly!"

He seized his gun, and pointed it at the ledge I'm standing on. My optics widen: he pulls that trigger and we're both going over the cliff, and we're both going to die.

We stare at each other for good time. My life in his hands, and his life in mine.

After a good long time of staring, he turns the gun away from me and places against his forehead.

"No!" I scream, activating the machine guns on the side of my arms. I pelt him with deadly bullets until he drops the gun - which is still attached to his arm…

Oh no.

I pull his limp, motionless form up, and lie him on the ground.

He's wounded bad. Red mech fluid is dripping out of him like a river. He looks pretty banged up. He looks up at me weakly. "Finish it…"

"No!" I protest. "I am not going to let you die like this! Megatron'll…I'll miss you!" I blurt out, surprising myself.

He looks at me and makes a light chuckle before closing his optics. I close mine as well, fighting back a tear.

He is dying! Because of me!

I look into the sky, hoping to see some sort of miracle, some sort of angelic power, fall from the sky and save him. However, all I see in the sky is a robotic wasp and a Transmetal Tyrannosaur with jet boosters coming at me. Megatron obviously thought we were gone too long.

I swallow and begin waving my hands, trying to think of a good excuse.

I hit the ground. Hard.

I tried the good ol' "Maximal warriors attack" excuse, but Megatron didn't buy it. I am a coward by heart, no matter how much I say otherwise, but Megatron knows that. He knows that I wouldn't fight Maximals by myself without running away. So that is why a raging robot is standing above me, while a frightened Waspinator stands by Megatron, scared about his boss's anger, yet happy he isn't being blamed.

Megatron points his gun at my face, its tip still smoking with energy. "I am going to ask one last time!" he hissed. "Did you, or did you not, do this to Tarantulas? And don't you dare tell me that this was a Maximal-!"

"Blackarachnia…" hissed a weak sounding voice.

Tarantulas, though wounded, was making a visible effort to stand up. If I was not pinnde down by Megatron's gun, I might've helped him.

"Tarantulas…" Megatron remarked calmly.

"Spider-bot okay?" asked Waspinator.

"Are…the Maximal…gone?" Tarantulas asked. It took me two full spark beats to realize he was talking to me.

He was going along with it!

"Yes," I lie. "They are gone. Too bad they scraped ya up, huh?"

"Indeed," said Tarantulas, closing his optics again.

A surprised Megatron looked at me. "So, you did fight Maximals, yessss."

I nod. I try to keep myself from smiling.

"Very well then." Megatron smiled again. "Now I do believe that you have a certain ship hull to scrub, yesss."

I remember my punishment. I frown.

"Now. Go take care of business," says Megatron, pointing in the direction of the ship. "Me and Waspinator will keep an eye on the wounded scientist until Quickstrike arrives with the medical supplies."

I nod and straighten, heading off to fulfil my grueling task. I look back to Tarantulas. He briefly - very briefly - opens his optic and winks.

I find myself smiling and winking back.

END