Knockout finally finished my upgrades, and I was on my way to meet Arachnid. For some reason she didn't want to meet on the war ship, and asked to have our first meeting in the middle of fragging no where. I was already on edge, and she went and made it worse. At this rate we were going to be rivals rather than friends... Darn it, Knockout was already winning the bet. And I did not want to go back to the Autobots. Not yet, not ever if I could manage it! 

         "Soundwave, I could use a Groundbridge please, to Arachnid?" 

The silent Third in Command obliged, and I walked through the bridge to find myself in a very spacious field, surrounded by tall trees and grasses that came up to my knee joint. I saw who I believed to be Arachnid near the middle of the field. To be honest she was quite stunning, and much slimmer than me. 

         "I believe you to be Wildstryke?" She called from her spot. 

         "And you must be Arachnid?" 

         "I see you've done your studying." 

She turned, revealing her faceplate and it's slim features. If I wasn't so confident in myself I would have had a femme crush right then and there, but alas, no such thing surfaced. She definitely  lived up to her name as I noticed her spider-like features. 

         "Well when you're the talk of the entire ship, didn't have to do much digging." I replied.

         "I should say the same about you, considering I hear your name mentioned many a time by Lord Megatron." 

         "Yes... he seems to have a rather unhealthy fascination with me." I commented, making Arachnid chuckled as she made her way to me, in turn, I came forward as well. 

         "You know I think we'll get along just fine." She held out a servo for me to take. 

         "What is it that you have against me already?" I asked, optics narrowed. 

         "Nothing, call it a test if you will," She flicked the metal eating liquid from her digits, "And I do believe you passed." 

         "Wow, I feel under-prepared suddenly. I don't have anything to test you with." 

         "From what I heard you're neutral, so I didn't think you would, making me think you'd trust me to the point of your own demise." She smirked, her purple optics obviously amused. 

I showed no sign of fear, how could I? I have none, not of her. Crossing my arms, and putting most of my weight on my dominant hip, I mimicked her expression. 

         "Well sorry to disappoint." 

A comfortable silence fell between us as we sized each other up. I might have been shorter, though only by a bit, but I knew I take her if she decided to attack, even at such close range. I waited. She waited. And when nothing happened, we both started to laugh, mine boisterous, and hers a witch's cackle. We were stuck like this for some time as we laughed together, neither in any condition to attack or defend. 

         "How about we go back and get some energon before we end up low from laughing." I suggest through small gasps. 

Arachnid was faster in sobering herself, "That sounds like a good plan, though I have to wait for that oaf of a mech." 

         "Oh? But Breakdown's back on the war ship isn't he? ... Yeah cause I-" 

         "You obviously haven't met him yet, which is quite astonishing, he's hard to miss." 

I waited for her to continue, and when she didn't, I asked about this new recruit. 

         "He must have shown up while you were gone, like I did. His name is Dreadwing, twin brother of Skyquake." 

I had heard something of Skyquake, a tragic tale to say the least... maybe I should set Dreadwing loose on Starscream... Naw, I don't know if he knows of his twin's death by the Seeker's servo's. And while it would be interesting to find out, I want to keep the walking-talking bean-pole around for just a bit longer. He's amusing. 

     Arachnid started to bite at the tip of a digit as she waited impatiently for said mech. Apparently they were there for clean up of an empty escape pod, most likely thought to contain an ally. Dreadwing had apparently gone off to investigate something, and hadn't come back for a good few Earth minutes, enough to make one worry.

         "Maybe we should check up on him?" 

         "Please, if he gets captured by either humans or the Autobots, he doesn't deserve to be in the Decepticon ranks." Was her relentless reply. 

Luckily, the mech was soon tromping his way back. 

     To be honest I didn't expect anything less than what I saw when I heard his name. If I was any one else, I would have been intimidated by his bulk alone, but I'm (Y/N), so nothing along those lines even dared show it's ugly face. 

         "Who is this?" He boomed, obviously not to pleased about my presence. 

         "This is Wildstryke, you may know her from Lord Megatrons rants." 

He gave me a glance as he stood, proud and tall. I smiled sweetly, an out-of-place thing among the Decepticons. 

         "Indeed. I am Dreadwing." 

         "So I've heard," I replied, "And I can imagine the dread you bring to your enemies." 

This made Arachnid crack a small smile as she scoffed, already hating me in the friendly way of a BFF, at least, that's what I hoped. 

         "Shall we call for a groundbridge?" Dreadwing asked, though it was more of an order, seemingly unfazed by my poke of fun. 

Somehow, oddly enough, I had a sneaking suspicion that he found it at least somewhat funny. If not my pun then Arachnid's reaction to it. 

     Soon enough, all three of us were back on the Nemesis, Dreadwing going his separate way as us two femmes went to acquire some energon. We made it in a minute or two, talking the whole way there, though I stopped every once in awhile to speak to a Vehicon or two. 

         "You seem... close, to the hired help of this ship." Arachnid commented. 

         "Well, first of all, 'hired help' get payed, they don't, second, I prefer to know who I'm working with, makes things easier when giving orders." 

         "What did you do," She chuckled, "Interview every one individually?" 

I smirked in return, "No. I simply observed. Though there are my favorites of the bunch." 

     We continued our little talk, and as time went on we found much in common. Arcee's rivalry (of which we both laughed at), being the only femme in the Decepticon ranks for quite some time, and our fascination with causing mayhem, though her idea was much different from mine. 

         "So you're bipolar when it comes to your allegiance," I sipped at the energon cube. 

         "What?" Was the startled response. 

         "Don't worry, I know more secrets than I should on this airship, some I'd much rather forget, but you know, can't un-hear or un-see what you observe naturally." I shrugged. 

For awhile, Arachnid stared at me with this completely uncertain look. After awhile though she started to laugh. 

         "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were Soundwave's heir with that kind of observation skills." 

I started to laugh as well, knowing that to be completely untrue. 

         "You will be pleased to know, that I have NO relation to him." 

Together, our next stop was the Medical wing, so I could show off our new friendship to Knockout. Beat this ya Cherry!

(What's that? I think I hear the distant crunching of metal in a 'no rules' match... though I won't say whose >:) Here's a slightly Spark-breaking picture too! You're welcome! Thanks for reading!)