Twist

Chapter 22: Traitor

"Airachnid," Temptest scowled at the six-legged femme and folded her arms.

Knockout elbowed her. "Be nice."

Airachnid walked over. "Hi, Temptest."

Megatron looked between the three of them, considering something, and then grabbed Soundwave's arm and walked away. "We'll be contacting Agent Fowler in another room. Try to keep your voices down."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Temptest muttered. "Airachnid is really good at ignoring people."

Temptest pulled Knockout away, leaving the ex-Decepticon alone in her usually empty base.

Knockout stared at Temptest. "What a great job you did of thanking Airachnid for letting us stay in her base."

"I hate neutrals and I don't care."

"Airachnid is your friend!"

"Was."

Knockout rolled his optics. "You should be nicer to her. She's not a bad bot."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

Knockout stopped, pulling his arm out of Temptest's grip and glaring. "Breakdown and Starscream are both gone. We don't have a lot of options and we need Airachnid. You need to grow up."

"Did Soundwave tell you to say that?"

"It doesn't matter," Knockout groaned. "There is only four of us. We need help and Airachnid has proven time and again that she is trustworthy."

Temptest scowled. "She left us. She left us in the middle of a war for freedom so she could frolic with humans! I've got nothing against the humans, but she basically used us! We, the Decepticons, fought to free people like her from subjugation and the moment the exodus was proposed, she ran away. What does that say about her feelings for the cause? What doe-"

"It doesn't matter anymore!" Knockout grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little. "We need all the help we can get and it doesn't matter who we ask! Airachnid is here. Just because you don't like her doesn't mean she isn't valuable or trustworthy, and you most certainly can't define her allegiances for her."

"I don't have to," Temptest pulled away. "She defined them the moment she left."

Temptest turned around and started walking away, but Knockout followed. "That's not fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"That's not a good excuse."

Temptest whirled around and snarled. "I don't need an excuse!"

Knockout took a step back.

Temptest's gaze softened. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't... I didn't mean to make you upset."

Knockout looked down, his optics pained. "The war has taken my sparkmate, it's taken one of my best friends, and it's put all of us through hell. I'm already upset, but I don't let that ruin our chances of defeating the Autobots. I don't let it control me. Breakdown wouldn't have wanted that."

He grabbed her servo. "Temptest, you make me scared of you. You weren't like this before... But you need to stop. You can't sustain anger. That's not what our cause is about. It's not who you're supposed to be."

"What am I supposed to do?" Temptest demanded. "When the Autobots are killing us left and right, am I supposed to just lay down and die? The Decepticons were built on anger, we-"