diff --git a/tractor/_spawn.py b/tractor/_spawn.py
index d893479..ca66de1 100644
--- a/tractor/_spawn.py
+++ b/tractor/_spawn.py
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ from multiprocessing import forkserver  # type: ignore
 from typing import Tuple
 
 from . import _forkserver_override
-from ._state import current_actor, is_main_process
+from ._state import (
+    current_actor,
+    is_main_process,
+)
 from .log import get_logger
 from ._portal import Portal
 from ._actor import Actor, ActorFailure
@@ -149,6 +152,27 @@ async def cancel_on_completion(
         await portal.cancel_actor()
 
 
+async def do_hard_kill(
+    proc: trio.Process,
+) -> None:
+    # NOTE: this timeout used to do nothing since we were shielding
+    # the ``.wait()`` inside ``new_proc()`` which will pretty much
+    # never release until the process exits, now it acts as
+    # a hard-kill time ultimatum.
+    with trio.move_on_after(3) as cs:
+
+        # NOTE: This ``__aexit__()`` shields internally.
+        async with proc:  # calls ``trio.Process.aclose()``
+            log.debug(f"Terminating {proc}")
+
+    if cs.cancelled_caught:
+        # XXX: should pretty much never get here unless we have
+        # to move the bits from ``proc.__aexit__()`` out and
+        # into here.
+        log.critical(f"HARD KILLING {proc}")
+        proc.kill()
+
+
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def spawn_subactor(
     subactor: 'Actor',
@@ -180,26 +204,15 @@ async def spawn_subactor(
     proc = await trio.open_process(spawn_cmd)
     try:
         yield proc
+
     finally:
+
         # XXX: do this **after** cancellation/tearfown
         # to avoid killing the process too early
         # since trio does this internally on ``__aexit__()``
 
-        # NOTE: we always "shield" join sub procs in
-        # the outer scope since no actor zombies are
-        # ever allowed. This ``__aexit__()`` also shields
-        # internally.
         log.debug(f"Attempting to kill {proc}")
-
-        # NOTE: this timeout effectively does nothing right now since
-        # we are shielding the ``.wait()`` inside ``new_proc()`` which
-        # will pretty much never release until the process exits.
-        with trio.move_on_after(3) as cs:
-            async with proc:
-                log.debug(f"Terminating {proc}")
-        if cs.cancelled_caught:
-            log.critical(f"HARD KILLING {proc}")
-            proc.kill()
+        await do_hard_kill(proc)
 
 
 async def new_proc(
@@ -277,9 +290,14 @@ async def new_proc(
                 # reaping more stringently without the shield
                 # we used to have below...
 
-                # always "hard" join sub procs:
-                # no actor zombies allowed
                 # with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
+                # async with proc:
+
+                # Always "hard" join sub procs since no actor zombies
+                # are allowed!
+
+                # this is a "light" (cancellable) join, the hard join is
+                # in the enclosing scope (see above).
                 await proc.wait()
 
             log.debug(f"Joined {proc}")