It had been several years since Airachnid left Cybertron. She bounced from planet to planet, occasionally receiving word on how the war was doing and where it was. It seemed to have bounced from planet to planet just as she did, though they had much different purposes than she did.

She was merely trying to collect trophies for her ship, whereas the Decepticons were trying to win a war. The latest she had heard was that they were on a planet called Earth. She heard that Starscream had killed Cliffjumper, who she learned through the constantly updating information on her ship was that Cliffjumper was another partner of Arcee.

It made her sad, and she wanted to give Arcee her condolences, but she knew that the femme would not accept them. Not after what Airachnid did. Not after she killed their mutual friend, even if Arcee doesn't know that. Airachnid sighed and did some research on the next planet she was approaching.

Earth. The dominant species were humans. Airachnid stared at her screen in surprise. Earth. That's where the war had been for the past several years. She didn't think she would be going there next. She started navigating her ship towards the planet. She didn't get very close to it when her ship started to overheat. She tried to pull away from the planet, but by then, gravity had taken hold and she couldn't escape. So she turned all her systems off and hurried to the stasis inducer. It would keep her safe until they crash landed. 

Once inside the stasis inducer, she drifted off, thinking of running into the blue femme she still loved after all these years.
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Arcee smiled down at her human friend, who was swatting at a mosquito, whilst complaining about it. "Quite the outdoorsman, aren't you, Jack?"

"You wouldn't be making fun of my survival kit", Jack smiled at his newfound friend. They hadn't been friends long, only a few weeks, but they were already close. Even with Arcee's recent loss of Cliffjumper.

"Maybe", Arcee glanced away from her device long enough to respond to Jack, who laughed at her short response.

"I may not have stinger-proof metal skin, Arcee, but in a pinch, I can use my multi-function pocket knife and magnesium fire starter to cook up some freeze-dried mac n cheese."

 Arcee shook her head in amusement, not knowing what mac n cheese was, but she assumed it was food of some sort for Jack. Her mind went back to her two former partners, and her best friend, all three deceased. They had been on her mind lately, and she missed them dearly. Especially Elita-1. She had loved the femme and never got to tell her. Arcee sighed, catching Jack's attention.

"Arcee? Are you okay?" His voice startled Arcee out of her memory, and she looked down at him.

"Yeah. Just... thinking." The blue Autobot focused back on the device she held. "Let's focus on our mission."

Jack nodded, uncertain on whether or not to believe his guardian, but choosing not to focus on it in fear of making her even more upset. Arcee continued walking, and Jack followed, not wanting to get left behind, though he knew he could take care of himself if he got separated from her. Of course, he still worried for the femme, but he wasn't going to let her know that. Not yet anyway.
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Airachnid groaned as the stasis pod opened. Even waking from stasis, she could tell it was a rough landing. She hurried to the bridge of her ship, hissing in annoyance when she realized everything was offline. She needed to find the dominant indigenous species on this planet, get one of their heads, and then fix her ship to what it used to be so she could move on. She didn't want to stay on Earth longer than she had to in case of running into any unwanted guests. Like Arcee. The spiderbot didn't know what she do if she ran into Arcee here. 

She scurried out into the forest, searching for any sign of human activity. She wandered for a while, slowly growing more and more frustrated. 'Are there any humans on this pathetic planet?!' After a few more minutes, she came across a hill and saw a tent. She tilted her head slightly, and turned on her x-ray vision. She grinned when she saw a human inside. "Time for humankind to feel my sting", she hissed, transforming and slowly stalking forward.

Airachnid lunged, only to be knocked out of the way by something small and blue. The black femme cursed silently. 'I left my guard down!'

Tumbling around with her attacker, she got a glimpse of the Autobots face and internally groaned. The very femme she was trying to avoid decided to make her stay on Earth a little longer than it needed to be. Airachnid grunted as she finally pushed Arcee into a stone wall, only to be kicked away by the very femme she tried to pin against the wall.

Her anger rising, the spiderfemme rose from the ground, staying in her spider form as she moved forward. "Arcee", she greeted. "Small universe."

"Too small, Airachnid.", Arcee growled, watching as the Decepticon slowly moved to her left.

"You're still holding a grudge?" Airachnid asked, disbelief coating her voice. 'Of course she is, I did kill her partner. May as well play the part of the villain, since she'll never see me as anything but.' "The war's been over for megacycles."

"Tell that to the Decepticons!" Arcee said, getting into a battle stance.

"These days I travel solo, in pursuit of my new hobby", Airachnid smirked, waiting to see what Arcee would say.

"I got a look at your souvenir case", the blue Autobot snarled. Airachnid let out a breathless laugh.

"You mean my trophies?" Airachnid moved closer to Arcee. "I collect endangered species. Of course, they aren't really endangered... until they meet me. And I have a slot reserved for human."

 Arcee growled. "Not gonna happen." The blue femme darted at Airachnid, who merely did what was necessary to defend herself while she thought about how defensive her past lover seemed to be about the humans. The Decepticon femme couldn't help but wonder if Arcee was close friends with a human. She'll have to take Arcee's human friend's head then. But then... Arcee would be even more mad at her. Of course, Arcee would be mad at her regardless. And she was playing the villain. So may as well embrace it.

Airachnid was so lost in thought, that Arcee finally managed to pin her, but she got distracted by the sound of rocks tumbling  down the hillside. Airachnid used that to her advantage, ignoring the human causing the ruckus. At least for now. She shoved Arcee back, and used web to stick her to the cliffside.

"Arcee!", the human cried out, running toward the femme. 'Ah. So this is the human that Arcee cares so much about.'

Airchnid turned and hissed, ready to remove the human's head in front of Arcee so she could experience the pain of losing a partner all over again. 'As revenge for leaving me behind', Airachnid thought to herself, though she knew it was true.

A shot to her back pushed her away from the human, and knocked her into the hillside. Airachnid groaned softly, before feigning unconsciousness so she could take them both by surprise.

Airachnid ignored their conversation until Jack brought up something that struck the Decepticon femme to the core. 

"You're afraid, Arcee. And you're never afraid!"

Airachnid's mind rushed back to when she was kidnapped. There was fear in Arcee's eyes that day. As well as when she witnessed the death of Tailgate by an old friend, turned enemy. Though Arcee didn't know that, nor did she need to know that.

Airachnid finally got up, smirking at the duo as Arcee yelled at Jack.

"You're right, Jack. I am afraid... of losing you!"

Airachnid chose to speak up then. "You sure have trouble holding onto your partners, don't you? We both know what happened to Tailgate. But I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter about the passing of Cliffjumper. Not to mention, just after you joined the Autobot cause, you lost your friend Elita-1. Though I'm not sure she would count as a partner. Although I have heard some rumors that you loved her. Am I right in that regard?"

Arcee growled and pushed away from the wall, but didn't get very far due to the sticky web. "Don't you dare speak her name! You have no right to!"

"Don't I, Arcee? After all... I did know her. I can't say she lived very long after Shockwave took her. But trust me when I say, her last moments where in anguish. The same might be said for your little friend here. Because once I get my hands on him, you won't be able to get his screams out of your helm."

The blue femme ignored Airachnid and looked down at Jack. "Do you get it now, Jack? She's not interested in me. She hunts indigenous species, and she's on Earth. That means humans. You! RUN!"

Jack instantly took off running, and the spider-femme shot more web at Arcee, ignoring the human as he ran past her. She was giving him a head start, because she knew she could catch up easily. She approached Arcee, chuckling.

"And that's why I now prefer to work alone." Airachnid stabbed the cliff next to Arcee's helm. "It's so sad when bad things happen to those close to you. But don't get me wrong... I fully intend to snuff out your spark." Airachnid climbed up the rock cliff, and now hung upside down in front of Arcee. "And, believe me... I will make it hurt. But that won't compare to the pain you'll feel knowing I'm adding your human to my collection."

Airachnid turned to look at the human who was just barely getting up the hillside. She hissed in excitement of the hunt that this would surely bring. She leapt off the cliff-face and walked slowly towards Jack, grinning at the sound of Arcee screaming Jack's name.

This was going to be an exciting hunt.