Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s a quiet night in Praxus,there were hardly any mechs or femmes out in the streets or online, as it was late into the orn and almost everyone was recharging in their berths at home with the exception of the cybertronians who were out having fun, either going to bars to get overcharged or some other kind of activity, or those unfortunate ones who had late shifts where ever it is that they worked at. The lights were on making the many crystals in the city shine and glow almost as though they were alive, the crystal gardens were the most beautiful, looking almost like a beacon in the night, able to be viewed and seen from almost anywhere in the city if you just looked in the direction they were in. A few stray turbofoxes or other mecha animals scampering and skitting about in search of any energon they may find in trash bins or in alleys. The many stars were out twinkling in the dark sky accompanied by cybertrons twin moons, which were full that night. There was also a slight chill in the air, though it wasn’t so cold as to be uncomfortable instead feeling rather pleasant on your plating.

It was on this night that Prowl, Chief of the Praxus enforcers, found himself walking through the mostly quiet streets on his way to his apartment, not feeling the want to transform and drive back to his home and since it’s purposefully near enforcer headquarters there is no actual need to drive rather than walk back to it. It had been a long orn, needing him to work late into the orn to deal with all the paperwork and filing that comes with arresting a murderer when they tracked the mech to a bar in downtown Praxus long on his way to getting overcharged already. Clank was charged with offlining a couple who were found to be on their way back from an adoption centre planning to adopt a sparkling or youngling after they found out from a medic known as shock that neither was capable of sparking due to problems with their sparks and decided they wanted a family or their own no matter what and were unfortunate enough that they happened to pass by an alley where the unstable clank had been lurking.

Prowl sighed almost inaudibly as he lifted a servo in order to rub at his stiff shoulder struts which was the result of not leaving his desk or office for the entirety of the orn except to take a brief break mid-orn to refuel ‘I enjoy my job greatly but I am immensely looking forward to getting a good recharge and relaxing in my home, maybe even read a crime novel before recharging?’ Prowls musing was abruptly cut short when he heard a scuffing sound coming from behind him and he turned around, looking around, for what or who could have made the sound but as he saw nothing he turned back around relaxing and mutters quietly to himself “Probably just a glitchmice”, however, as he turned back around and was about to continue his walk back home he felt a sharp sting on his neck cables and immediately he felt incredibly drowsy with his optics flickering in and out of focus and as he realised what has happened his last coherent thought before he went offline was ‘I hope someone finds me soon’.

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Prowl woke sometime later with a processor ache and slightly dim optics in a sparsely lit, damp room with no windows and as a result unable to see the exit or much or the room. ‘Where am I? What happened?’ Prowl shakes his helm in a vain attempt to clear some of the fog that was enveloping his mind ‘Why is my mind so hazy?’ when he was close to giving up trying to find answers to his questions before the fog clears it all came back to him in a rush ‘I remember now, I was walking back to my apartment after my long shift at enforcer headquarters and thought I had heard something, but there was nothing that I could see, then I felt a sharp sting in my neck cables before I lost awareness. There is a high chance that I was drugged by whatever or rather whoever I heard and it would explain why my mind and processor are so hazy, also the processor ache’. At remembering this Prowl went to lift an arm to attempt to alleviate the processor ache from whatever he was injected with, however he found he could not when he felt his wrist tug on something and he frowned as he looked down to at last notice the thick metal restraints that were keeping his arms and legs firmly strapped to the solid metal slab he was laying on. His frown morphed into a scowl at this new information and he muttered quietly under his breath his voice laced with annoyance “perfect”.

He decided to pass the time as well as to make sure that nothing was out of place or changed in his systems to run some scans and diagnostics on his frame and coding and ,thankfully, found his frame and code to be mostly unharmed and unchanged with the exception of his chronometer being disabled and his com system being down. There was one other change in his coding as he found a foreign program now apart of his own coding and now knowing what it is but having a slightly foreboding feeling, which he ignored as it wasn’t logical, he started to try and purge or get rid of it, but with growing dread every one of his attempts was met with blocks and walls preventing him from doing so.

He stopped in his struggles to get rid of the foreign code in his systems as he began thinking about what this code could be and what was its purpose, however he could not come up with any plausible explanation that had a high probability of being correct and so he knew that if he wanted to know he would have to wait for whoever it was that put the code there to tell him themselves or failing that wait until he escaped or was rescued and have a medic look over it if he had to. With lack of anything else to do but wait he renewed his efforts to purge the foreign code or at the very least figure out what it is and does to come up with, if necessary, some potential countermeasure for it. Not too long after he was interrupted by an ominous screech of what more than likely was an old, worn door being opened coming from behind him where he could not see. ‘Now I know where the door probably is and it appears to be time for me to meet my captors’ was the last thought he had before he heard heavy pedesteps rounding the slab he is strapped to and after a few moments a large, strong-looking, gunmetal grey mech came into his view, with what could only be described as a cruel smile adorning his faceplates and stopped in front of him.

“Ah, it is good to see you awake at last, chief of the Praxian enforcers.”

Chapter Text

As soon as Prowl heard the door being opened he schooled his expression to one of an emotionless facade, blank and stoic, that he had mastered a long time ago to aid him in his job as an enforcer and make sure he appeared, to all who looked, completely calm and unperturbed by anything to do with his current predicament.

He studied the mech that now stood in front of him trying to figure out how much of a threat he could pose to him and looking for any hint as to who this mech is and why he had decided to drug and kidnap him. ‘He does look vaguely familiar but why? Where have I seen him before? It is unlikely that it was in passing as he does not look like a mech from Praxus or one that I would have any contact with. He appears to be strongly built so I would probably be unable to overpower him in order to escape. There seems to be something else, something more, he makes me feel on edge and I get a sense of foreboding for what is to come.’ In the time it took Prowl to study the mech, come to his conclusions and think up dozens of different reasons for what a mech like this could want with him, the mech had settled into a comfortable position leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chassis and focusing his attention entirely on the mech strapped down.

After Prowl was done studying the mech in front of him he decided that the tense silence that had settled has stretched on long enough he spoke in a voice completely devoid of emotion and inflection “Why did you kidnap me? What is it that you want from me?” this only served to make the unknown mech smirk and it was in such a way that it was clear he thought he was already victorious and so after several long breems of silence Prowl decided to ask a different question, one that has been nagging at his processor since he first discovered the new code that was now in his core systems. “What have you done to my coding and what is the purpose of it?” In response the unknown mech simply reached into his subspace and pulled out a small device with nothing except a single button on it and at seeing the device Prowl tensed, even more than he already had been, his battle computer and processors immediately shooting off probabilities as to what the purpose of the device is.

He got an answer to his own question when the mech pressed the button and the restraints keeping him strapped down to the metal slab retracted revealing it to be nothing but the controller for the restraints. Prowl sat up slowly, both mindful of his ongoing processor ache (that will probably stay for several orns) and both wary and suspicious of what his captor has in mind by doing this.

It was then that the predominantly grey mech spoke up for the first time “You will figure out the answers to your own questions as soon as you stand and try to leave” the mechs voice was deep and growly and if Prowl was any other mech he would have probably shuddered at the sound. Prowl weighed his options silently, deciding on the best course of action, making sure to always keep at least one optic on the mech in the room with him. ‘There is a high probability that that I attempt to leave either the mech with physically stop me or whatever that new code is will, however, I do need more information on what that coding is and what it does and if attempting to leave will aid me in gaining that insight then the best option is for me to try and leave.’

With that thought in mind Prowl turned and planted his pedes on the metal floor pushing himself to stand and after he wobbled unsteadily for several moments as a result of his equilibrium systems being out of sync more than likely from a mixture of the drug he was injected with and being laid down on his back for a prolonged period of time with no other movement. At the reminder of how he had been laid and that he had been laid there for what is likely to have been several orns, he felt how stiff his frame and joints felt, especially his sensitive doorwings which twitched unhappily before settling into a still and neutral position.

Prowl slowly and carefully took a few steps around the slab to test his balance whilst keeping an optic on the mech still leaning against the wall with that smirk, which he was already beginning to increasingly dislike,and deciding that the mech was indeed staying put he started to walk for the door, now with much more steady steps thanks to his equilibrium systems stabilizing, however, as he neared the door and was starting to foolishly believe that perhaps he really was allowed to go and that this was all just an elaborate prank the grey coloured mech said firmly to him “Stop” but Prowl ignored him determined to escape which he soon regretted as something seemed to get struck in the foreign code as it came to life and he seemed to freeze in place for a moment before the code set his systems to light and he distantly realised that he was screaming so loudly his vocaliser started to glitch as white hot, searing pain spread throughout his frame from his core like hell fire and he collapsed to the ground with the loud clang of metal hitting metal, more than likely denting something with how hard he fell, writhing in pure agony.

After a couple of breems of it seeming like the torture would never stop the pain slowly started to ebb away and he was left a panting, shaking heap on the floor as his vents worked furiously to cool him because of his overheated systems, unable to summon the strength to do anything more than lay there. After several breems when Prowl felt like his frame and systems were finally returning to normal and drawing in enough cool air he managed to force out through gritted denta, still feeling phantom pain all through his frame “What have you done to me?”.

Chapter Text

Prowl found himself walking down a dimly lit and sketchy looking street that before recent events he never would have found himself in unless he had an arrest or investigation in such an area to do. He found himself here after getting literally thrown from the transport that had taken him back to Praxus from what he had found to be Kaon when they escorted him to the transport, not bothering with stasis cuffs or knocking him offline which seemed to only solidify that they knew Prowl couldn’t do anything to them without severe repercussions.

He had no specific destination in mind, simply wandering aimlessly in the less pleasant districts of the city. He felt numb right down to his spark and did nothing to stop the occasional stumble as he walked paying no mind to and ignoring the glaring looks being directed at him from mechs and femmes hiding in the shadows of alleys between degrading and graffitied buildings, trying to decide if he had anything of worth that they could try and steal from him.

It seems that a couple of mechs deemed the risk to be worth the potential reward as when he passed by a dark alley between what appeared to be 2 bars, arms appeared from the shadows, grabbed him and then dragged him into the alley and out of sight. He didn’t put up a fight as the pair of mechs started hitting him and beating him up before forcing his subspace open and stealing all of the credits and spare energon he had on him, giving him one final kick before sneering at him and leaving with a parting comment.

“You cops ain’t all your cracked up to be eh walking around like you own this city. Hah. Pathetic.”

He didn’t respond and just laid on the ground, now covered in dents and cuts sluggishly bleeding energon onto the ground.

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there before he shifted and struggled to push himself up on shaking servos and struts as a result of not having any energon or recharge since before he was taken, the energon dripping to the ground seeming to almost mock him and not helping his severely energy depleted frame.

When he managed to at last push himself up to standing after failing twice he placed a hand on a nearby wall to steady him and once he felt that he could stand and walk without falling again, without aid he pushed off the wall and left the alley, once again wandering the streets aimlessly.

At least the glowing optics that were once watching him constantly had almost entirely abated now seeing that he either had already been done in by someone else or that he wasn’t someone they should be messing with for fear that some of the energon littering his frame wasn’t entirely his own even though the truth was that it was all his and his assaulters didn’t get so much as a scratch on their frames.

His processors were stuck in a loop, replaying the conversation he had, had with his kidnapper and recent events over and over. His mind seemed to be stuck in denial over what he had been told and what his fate would now be and that it is completely out of his control.

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‘The gunmetal grey mech walked over to stand beside him and loomed over the struggling black and white still on the ground, his pedes filling the vision of the lowered helm, a nasty and cruel smile stealing over the scarred faceplates as he spoke.

“I own you now and if you ever even consider disobeying or ignoring any tasks assigned to you it won’t be just you paying the price for it.”

His pain addled processor couldn’t quite comprehend what the mech meant so he asked with trepidation and dread filling his spark.

“What do you mean?”

“That new coding I had installed in your core programming will ensure your complete cooperation and if you aren’t up to the tasks given perhaps your younger siblings are? Or perhaps your creators Shadowstalker and Blazer I believe?”

At this his helm shot up, ignoring the flare of pain that coursed through his sensor net when he did. All he could do was stare up at the large mech in muted horror as his new reality unwillingly thrust upon him closed around him in stark focus as he started to fully realize how truly hopeless his situation has suddenly become.

He couldn’t fight back and pull his family into this and cause them to suffer in the same fate as him or potentially worse fate and if he were to disobey he had no doubt the same pain he has just experienced would once again be inflicted on him or more than likely extraordinarily worse. His only choices were to either fight and disobey causing the ones he cared deeply about to suffer or to accept his new fate and do whatever this unicron spawned mech told him to do no matter what it is, how much it goes against who he is, how much he doesn’t want to or how much it makes him suffer in order to protect his friends and family.

As soon as he had laid out his limited choices in his mind he immediately knew what he would do because any amount of pain or torment he experienced was worth it if those he cared about stayed safe and out of this mechs cruel clutches and he knew that this mech would go through with his threats and more.

So Prowl chose the only option he could.

He dimmed his optics till they were almost offline and hung his helm in complete submission to this mech and even without words the larger mech standing over him knew that he had won.

“It’s good to have you on board Chief Prowl. I’m greatly looking forward to your continued cooperation and successful completion of any tasks assigned to you.”

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After his processor does another replay of the memory file he manages to once again snap back to reality just enough to find himself standing in front of a crumbling, decrepit, old building that wouldn’t surprise anyone if it were to suddenly collapse out of nowhere one orn as it is clearly on its last legs from long vorns of disuse and neglect.

He stood there staring at the building for he wasn’t sure how long he noticed that it seemed to almost be a physical representation of his current self: Broken, alone, hopeless and pathetic and as he stood there he heard a soft pitter-patter sound and dragged his head up to look at the sky which had at some point grown to be filled with ominous grey clouds and he realised that the pitter-patter was of acid rain slowly starting to fall and he couldn’t help but think that his day couldn’t get any worse right now.

He didn’t care about the building possibly collapsing on top of him and crushing him or about finding better shelter and so as the acid rain continued to pelt down from the sky he stumbled into the building making his way to what was mostly likely once the top floor and going through a doorway that probably used to have a door but was now nothing more than a cracked, buckling, metal doorframe which he had to duck under to enter what appeared to have once been some kind of office when the building was still in use.

His optics landed on a corner that looked at least half-clean and at least a partially good cover from the rain and he all but fell into it rolling carelessly onto his doorwings that immediately sent pain through his sensor net, however he didn’t care and stared blankly at the dark sky through a hole in the ceiling just across from him. Some distant part of his mind realising that neither of the planets twin moons were shining that night rendering the only light he had to be the stars that occasionally peeked through the clouds but even they seemed dim to him tonight.

As he stared up at the sky going over all that has happened he manages to utter the first words he has spoken since he was dumped back in Praxus many joors ago.

“I’m sorry Smokescreen, Bluestreak, Sire, Carrier. I have a feeling I’m about to do a lot of things you may hate me for but… at least you’ll be safe.”

That seemed to be the last straw, his voice cracked and ended up laced with static at the end as tears filled his optics and for the first time possibly since he was a newly upgraded youngling he curled up into a tight ball not caring for the sudden aches it caused to his dented and scratched frame and tucked his helm as he sobbed, keened and clicked like a distressed sparkling into the abandoned, lonely building the acid rain that was now pelting down from above covering up the sounds he made as he sobbed, not knowing what he is meant to do now, for joors on end, long past the end of the rain fall until the first specks of light on the horizon started to appear signalling the start of a new orn as he finally cried himself into an exhausted and fitful recharge vaguely aware in the back of his processors that someone could find him here and offline him with him being none the wiser and he honestly wouldn’t care if he did get offlined if not for the danger it would now put his family in.

Chapter Text

Prowl groans as his systems start to boot up, having to force his optics online. He feels drained and exhausted seemingly all the way through to his spark even though he can tell that he is waking up from a long recharge he doesn’t feel the slightest bit rested.

After a moment to clear some of the haze from his processor he slowly and painstakingly lifts his helm from where it is tucked uncomfortably between his legs and looks around with blurry and unfocused optics and he becomes aware that for whatever reason he seems to be in some kind of abandoned building, though from what parts of the architecture that are still standing he can tell he’s still somewhere in Praxus.

“What?...Where am I and what am I doing here?”

His voice sounds hoarse, scratchy and is filled with static which only serves to confuse him further as his voice should not be like this from a simple recharge cycle, it doesn’t make sense.

As he looks around attempting to recall how he got to where he is he tilts his helm up to look through a hole in the ceiling at the night sky and as he gazes at the stars everything that happened all comes rushing back to him and he has to force his vocalizer off to prevent any strangled sounds from escaping his abused vocalizer.

It all comes back, the kidnapping, the cruel grey mech, the pain, the threats to his family, becoming a slave, getting thrown back in Praxus, his aimless wandering, getting attacked, the downpour of acid rain, breaking down into sobs and finally slipping into recharge.

He puts a servo over his mouth to stifle any sounds he couldn’t quite stop completely during the rush of memories in case anyone hears and comes looking, based on his last and fairly recent experience with mechs in this area he doesn’t want to risk it.

“I’m a slave now… all of that truly happened and that is my new reality.” his voice is barely more than a whisper as he speaks, struggling to accept and come to terms with his situation but in the end, he knows he has no choice but to acknowledge and accept it, he can’t stay in denial forever.

When he is sure that he won’t break down into tears again he takes a deep calming invent and looks back up to the dark sky. ‘I must have recharged through the whole orn.’and with a quick glance at the chronometer of his Hud he confirms that suspicion.

For a short while, Prowl stays lying motionlessly on the floor, and if not for the dim glow of his optics he would have appeared to be completely offline, as his processor thinks over what to do next.

‘What do I do? What can I do? I can’t stay here forever, I have been gone for at least 3 orns so someone is going to be looking for me by now and my family is going to be worried.’ That last thought manages to bring a small barely noticeable smile to his face.

He knows he can’t tell the truth of what happened to him to anyone, that would put people in danger, meaning he needs some kind of story that sounds plausible to tell his family and friends. He will more than likely have to explain it to the media as well, the chief disappearing without a trace, as something tells him the mechs that did this would not be so sloppy as to leave a trail back to them, is bound to attract attention and that is something he is especially not looking forward to, he hates dealing with the media, however that is not his biggest concern right now, he has time to deal with that later.

His biggest concern is his lack of energon.

Prowl glances to the bottom left corner of his Hud where a warning has been flashing for low energon, it’s down to a meager 11% if he doesn’t get some energon in him and soon he will fall into stasis lock, probably never get back to his home and most likely offline permanently and he thinks, with growing determination, that he can’t allow that to happen, it’ll put his loved ones in danger and if he’s going to be forced to do whatever that grey mech wants him to do the least he can do is not make someone else suffer the same fate as him and… no, Prowl shakes his helm in an attempt to stop himself even contemplating that thought, that kind of thinking is unacceptable. Also if he’s stuck in this situation he will save as many mechs and femmes as he can as an enforcer, doing his job. That much, thankfully, can’t be taken from him by anyone, not even by the mech he is now forced to serve.

‘So,’ he wonders ‘How do I get some energon and quickly, with no credits?’

Prowl picks at this dilemma for a moment going over all his options as quickly as possible before deciding on 3 possible solutions for his predicament.

He can either beg for it on the streets, steal it or go searching for it in dumpsters.

After rechecking his options to be sure he didn’t miss anything and seeing that he truly has no other options he goes over each of them and quickly decides that begging for some in the streets is out of the question, he doesn’t have the time to waste begging for it as chances are he’ll fall into stasis before he manages to get any, plus it’s unlikely any mech or femme in this area has any to spare as they themselves are barely getting through the orns.

Stealing is also out of the questions, he would rather avoid doing anything illegal or bad for as long as he possibly can, even though with his new, however unwilling, role he knows that there is no avoiding doing such things eventually so he plans to hang onto that luxury until he doesn’t have a choice but to let it go.

That just leaves him with rifling through dumpsters in the slim hope that someone has thrown out some energon recently, it’s hardly a pleasant option but it’s the best of his 3 options from his perspective.

With his decision made he uncurls and stands up as best he can with his low energon levels and injuries, stumbling only slightly before making his way out of the building, being careful to disturb as little as possible this time compared to his stumbling when he first entered the ruined building.

Once out of the building he cast his gaze down each end of the street for a dumpster with the highest chance of having some energon and he spots one in an alley beside one of the better looking bars a little ways down the street and immediately heads in that direction at a brisk pace trying not to draw any attention but also not having any time to waste.

When he reaches the bar, which is called ‘Black light’ according to the neon sign flickering and barely hanging on above the door, he glances around before slipping, unnoticed, into the alley outside of the establishment and heads straight for the dumpster as his energon levels tick down to a measly 10%. At 5% he’ll slip into emergency stasis and probably not too long after his spark will gutter and he’ll offline, permanently.

He leans over the edge of the dumpster as he shifts trash and waste around looking and hoping that he will find at least a scrap of energon to keep him going to find more but as his levels drop to 9% and he still hasn’t found any. He starts to believe it’s hopeless but then he sees a very faint and dull glow under an old newspaper and he all but lunges for it snatching up what is indeed a half cube of energon, obviously poor quality but he can’t bring himself to care as he gulps it down almost spitting it back up at the first taste of the putrid flavour but he manages to avoid doing that by reminding himself that he can’t afford to waste a drop if he is to have any chance as his energon levels climb slowly to 12%.

He knows he can’t feel relieved or relax yet though, that small amount of low quality energon isn’t enough to get him anywhere and so with an internal grumble that he barely stops from being expressed out loud he trudges out of the alley resigned to the fact he’s going to need to raid several more dumpsters and consume more of the slag that barely passes for energon before he can find his way back to where he lives.

‘Just perfect.’

Chapter Text

5 orns.

It’s been 5 orns since I’ve heard anything from my brother, not a comm., not a single sign,nothing to point me or anyone in the direction of where he is. I don’t even know if he’s even alive.

These were the types of thoughts flitting through his processor as Smokescreen, with Bluestreak clutching tightly, almost desperately, at his servo,trudged down the increasingly familiar street to the enforcer headquarters for the 5th orn in a row.

Prowl had failed to show up to pick him up from the academy and, more worryingly, BLuestreak from his pre-school to take us on a trip to the park for a picnic on one of the rare times his brother decided to take a day off after Prowl himself decided he had been overworking and needed a short break and thought with their creators currently being out of Praxus for a few orns long trip to visit a resort in Altihex for their anniversary in would be a perfect chance for some sibling only time and had promised to pick them up after the end of their orn and in all the time Smokescreen ahs known Prowl (his entire life) his brother has never been late or broken a promise especially not one he made to our youngest sibling.

So when he didn’t show up to take them he knew immediately that something was wrong and headed straight to the enforcers, and after hr finished explaining the situation to them they agreed that something wasn’t right having known Prowl for many vorns and decided to look into it, checking his apartment or the few places he may go to. 5 orns later and everyone was getting increasingly concerned as there continued to be no sign of him anywhere.

After our creators were informed of Prowls disappearance they cut their holiday short and got back to Praxus as soon as possible have haven’t gotten more than a few joors of recharge since, looking constantly all orn, every orn for any sign of Prowl that they can find at all even the slightest thing.

Bluestreak has been having nightmares and crying every night just wanting his big brother back already and he has barely spoken a word, which for a mechling who has a talent for rambling on and on and who usually is non-stop talking it is troubling to say the least.

Smokescreen hasn’t been back to the academy since he vanished instead spending most of the orn waiting, hoping for any update on his missing brother, almost recharging as little as his creators. Holding and comforting Bluestreak when he’s woken from recharge by a nightmare about Prowl never being found… or worse.He have to be even considering such things, he’s not even a youngling yet.

Smokescreen reached the enforcers station with hope filling his spark as he took in a deep in vent before stepping through the door. However, as soon as he saw the somber and dejected expressions on the enforcers, who looked towards him when he entered anyway, his hope was dashed and ground to a pulp just like the previous orns he had come here.

With a heavy spark he sat down at a vacant seat with Bluestreak taking a seat to his right still clutching tightly at his servo refusing to let go for even a klik.As they sat there the joors ticking by Smokescreen couldn’t stop the hopeless thoughts creeping into his processor like a virus, though like if there is even a point to all this investigating, it just seems more and more pointless, hopeless and what if after all this all they find is a dead and offline frame?

He felt coolant pricking his optics as these thoughts raced through his mind and he shook his helm as if to physically shake these thoughts from his processor earning a curious and worried look from the mechling at his side who he shot as reassuring a smile as he could which, thankfully, seemed to assuage him enough as he returned to gazing at the enforcers rushing back and forth.

As he watched Bluestreak from the corner of his optic he reminds himself that he needs to be strong, not just for himself but for Prowl and Blue too. They’ll be plenty of time to cry later but for now he must be there for his family. He just hopes that by the end of all this that his family doesn’t get smaller.

‘Prowl… where are you? Please… be okay big brother.’

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Meanwhile…

Prowl hefted himself out of another dumpster,in another alley, outside of yet another seedy establishment for what he hopes is the last time in a very long time as he adds his spoils, another 2 half-cubes of low-quality energon, to what he has already amassed in his subspace over the past few joors.

As he exits the alley some part of him knows that he’s using the hunting of energon to distract himself from recent events and he knows that during the long trek back to his home all those thoughts and feelings are going to flood back into his processors and haunt him.

As he finally begins what will most likely be the most difficult trek of his life with his spark twisting painfully and in his quickly returning anguish he bows his helm and his optics dim as he shuffles along.

It doesn’t take long into his journey that he realises how much he takes for granted his ability to transform as right now all he wants is to return home as soon as possible to make sure his family truly is okay and to curl up on his berth and pass out, to be free of the thoughts and emotions currently plaguing him even for just a short period of time. Unfortunately though that is impeded as the 2 mechs from earlier that had assaulted him seemed to of damaged his ability to transform and so he has no choice but to walk and prolong what will undoubtedly be the most dreadful and painful experience of his life so far.

A few joors of walking later, though it felt more like vorns, Prowl found himself entering the more upstanding areas of Praxus after an agonising trip where he either tripped and fell or had needed to stop several times because of the raw and ever-worsening emotions writhing and tearing up his spark.

It was here he paused as it occurred to him that there is no way he will be able to get through Praxus as battered up as he was, at least not without attracting a lot of attention from mechs and femmes who are out and about completing tasks, working or something else and even though he managed to get away with not being recognised in the lower parts of the state there was no way he would be able to pull that off here where he’s often patrolling or investigating a case and if he’s being honest with himself he has no desire to deal with anyone currently.

He just wants to check on his family, then go home and collapse on his berth before he needs to get control of himself before inevitably needing to deal with the onslaught of questions and probing coming his way from his aforementioned family and other enforcers alike.

As the only solution to his predicament pops into his processor he can’t prevent a bitter and self-deprecating laugh from escaping him, not that he tries all that hard to stop it, for the solution seems to flash mockingly in his mind, taunting him.

After calming he slips into the shadows of an alley and after one last belittling though ‘I may as well get practice right?’ he heads farther into Praxus using the shadows and back alleys to avoid being spotted and is disgusted to find that he appears somewhat talented at sneaking around unnoticed.

It is as he entered an alley outside a nice restaurant that he hears a familiar voice from the opposite end ‘Smokey!’ and after hearing it he rushes through the alley and gasps as he spots his 2 brothers and creators walking dejectedly down a street and he feels a mix of relief and sorrow at the sight of them.

Relief that they’re okay and sorrow at how he can see his disappearance has affected each one of them. His creators and Smokescreen look undercharged and Bluestreak is crying in our creators arms shouting out for me in despair.

It takes every ounce of willpower for me to not run straight for them but he manages knowing he’s in no state of mind to be re-acquainted with them, he knows he’ll spill everything, even those things he knows he absolutely can not tell his family or friends and so with a choked sound he muttered “Sorry” as he slips away and resumes his trudge to his apartment.

Only 30 breems later he is slipping through his own window like some kind of criminal (though, he suppose,he will be one soon won’t he?) in order to avoid any unwanted inquiries about his state or where he’s been from the mech at the reception of the apartment complex and after he reaches his room he collapses onto his berth in a heap before promptly going offline from the stress, exhaustion, injuries and everything that has happened knowing it’s only the beginning.

Chapter Text

Prowl woke to an incessant beeping in his audios and he let out a quiet groan as dim optics flickered slowly online.

He glanced around his apartment, bewildered and confused for several kliks wondering how exactly he had come to be in his apartment, a part of his hoping that maybe, just maybe, it had all been some horribly and twisted dream before the memories of the previous orn returned.

He shuttered his optics briefly and took a deep, calming in-vent momentarily overwhelmed.

“I’m home… “

He struggled to process this fact as although it hadn’t been anywhere near that long at his guess, it felt like he hasn’t been back home in millennia.

Going to work, solving cases, returning home, occasionally going out with his family and friends… it all felt so long ago, so distant.

As he onlines his optics again he is reminded of what had woken him in the first place and he immediately turns off the warning as the beeping had apparently been his HUD informing him that he was dangerously low on energon again.

With a sigh he pushes himself up and off his berth to his pedes wincing slightly at the aches that have made themselves known from his injuries before half-walking , half-staggering to the energon dispenser in his small and sparsely stocked kitchen, as he had never had the time to cook anything special usually too busy with his job and work, pouring himself a plain cube and drinking it all in only a few gulps deciding not to savour the energon and to just somewhat fill his tanks.

His optics brighten slightly as his systems got a taste of the first influx of fresh, good-quality energon ins at least 2 orns.

After finishing fueling he walks over and drops,slumping onto his plain grey couch turning on the vid-screen in his main living room and setting the channel to the news to see if there was any news on his disappearance or of something else important.

“This is the 6th orn since Prowl, who is the chief of the enforcers, vanished without a trace… “

Prowl shot up straight in alarm at the first words he hears, his optics widening in shock and surprise.

‘6 orns!? I’ve been gone for 6 orns!?’

“Enforcers continue their frantic and desperate search for the missing chief, growing more agitated and worried the longer time goes on as hope that he is even still alive dwidles with every passing orn.”

Prowl learnt back heavily processing this new piece of information and all that it could possibly mean.

‘6 orns. I’ve only been conscious for 2 orns at my estimation… that means there’s 3-4 orns missing… clearly it was during that time that my captors gave me whatever that Primus forsaken code is but who knows what else they could have done to me in that time whilst I was unconscious.’

As the reporter continues talking about his disappearance and other newsworthy events that have happened recently prowl listens with half an audio as he runs a more thorough scan of his systems than the one he had done when he had first woken up in that room back in Kaon.

Thankfully, when the scan flashes that it is completed it reports that nothing else was amiss though he’s aware that doesn’t necessarily mean that he can relax at the result, a more thorough scan should be done by a medic… though he knows he can’t allow that as if he can pick up on the new coding a more advanced scan by a medic most definitely will and he can’t allow that to happen but he can’t avoid being scanned forever meaning that he will need to create something to block any scans from detecting the code eventually.

As he glanced behind him at a simple silver chronometre on the wall he notes that it’s more than half-way through the orn and he can’t being himself to be surprised at how long he had ended up recharging but grimaces at the realisation that he can’t, not to mention shouldn’t ,put off heading to the enforce station any longer and so with a dejected sigh he turns off the vid-screen and after briefly debating in his processor he deduces it’s probably best that he leaves the same way he had entered his apartment the previous orn, through the window, not wanting to be asked why he had returned to his apartment before going to the enforcers or he got into his apartment which would bring forth even more questions.

On his way t enforcer headquarters he stuck to the shadows of alleys for the first half of the trp in order to gain some semblance of calm before slipping back out into the open streets when he felt that he would be able to face all the questioning and probing that is to come and still manage to keep his composure throughout.

He fully expects to get spotted and recognised quickly in this part of Praxus and so is unsurprised when within a street or 2 he hears the loud and unmistakable sirens of enforcers closing in, fast but as they get closer he continues to walk even knowing that they would easily catch up regardless of f he keeps walking or not but wanting even a few kliks more to go over his lie, his fabricated story that he made before appearing on the streets regarding what happened during his disappearance and also to solidify the semblance of calm he has somehow managed to gain as much as he possibly could before facing them.

As the enforcers pull up just in front of him he stops walking and waits as they transform, some gasping quietly at the state of their chief before Prowl was near instantaneously surrounded by the group of mechs and femmes bombarding him with a cacophony of questions too fast for even someone with his processors to properly process what they were all saying.

“Chief! Where have-”

“Are you okay chief-”

“What happened to-”

“We were so worr-”

After roughly 2 breem of the non-stop noise and performance, that was attracting attention much to his displease, he had, had enough he did not want to deal with this so soon.

“Enough!”

Immediately everyone stopped their incessant questioning and snapped to attention and Prowl almost sagged in relief.

“I understand you all have a lot of questions and I will gladly answer them all but first as per protocol, that you should all know by now, if someone is-” \prowl hesitated slightly as memories flitted through his processor of his capture, though thankfully no one seemed to notice his slight pause “”kidnapped and then they suddenly turn up again you are to take them back to headquarters to question them in case the wish not to divulge what happened to them in public, in case they have information that needs to be kept confidential or is a potential flight risk and to immediately have them checked over by a medic in case they need immediate medical attention.”

The group of enforcers all looked slightly sheepish and chastised at that dressing down but several couldn’t keep their smiles off of their faces at how typical of Prowl that is increasing their relief that their chief is truly back with them and that they are not merely imagining things and that he seems fine aside from the obvious dents, scratches and minor injuries littering his frame. However, a few of the enforcers all looked at Prowl appraisingly sensing that something was off and not quite right but after a moment they brushed it off. He has been missing for over half a decaorn afterall and probably just need to recover.

“Right sir. SHall we head there now then?”

“Of course, though we will need to walk. My ability to transform has been damaged.”

The enforcers nodded in acquiescence and gestured for Prowl to take the lead, which he did with a flick off his doorwings as he walked calmly down the street, his back straight and doorwings still acting for all the world like he didn’t want to turn around and run back to his apartment, locking the door so no one can get in and disturb him.

It wasn’t long until the small group were walking through the entrance to the enforcer building where he was almost knocked over by his 2 younger brothers, who has been waiting tensely after they were told by an enforcer that Prowl has been found and they were going to go and get him, crying happily that he was back.

“Prowl!”

“Big brother!”

“We miss you so much.” Was nearly shouted simultaneously by his 2 siblings and after a moment of surprise he knelt down and wrapped his arms around his brothers tightly pulling them into a hug, even though he wasn’t usually much of a hugger.

“Blue… Smokey… I missed you both too, I’m so glad you’re both okay.”

“Prowl… is that really you?”

Prowl looked up at the quiet and disbelieving voice, spotting his creators approaching hesitantly, seeming to be afraid that if they got too close he would vanish again.

“Creators?”

That quiet utterance seemed to be all the confirmation they needed that they weren’t hallucinating as they seemed to almost teleport to him wrapping their own arms around their eldest creation, one they had almost let themselves believe they would never see again.

Even his usually stoic creator was in tears at his return.

“Don’t you ever disappear again! I could never handle this again!” was exclaimed by is carrier as he sobbed nearly as much as his brother having always been the most emotional of his creators.

He almost couldn’t vent but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to protest afterall he may have seen his family briefly the previous orn but being here, surrounded by his entire family made him truly register that they were okay and unharmed and that he was home, so he pushed all thoughts of the past 6 orns, of his new reality, of everything other than his brother and creators out of his mind, knowing he would have to face them soon but wanting to just thoroughly enjoy and cherish this moment.

Chapter Text

The enforcers tried to give Prowl as much time as they possibly could to reunite with his family but much too soon they had to take their chief for a check up with a medic in case of any life threatening injuries he has that they are unaware of before needing to take him to question him about what had happened during his disappearance and kidnapping.

So it was only half a joor later that Prowl found himself seated in an uncomfortable and unforgiving chair in interrogation room 6 waiting for whatever mech or femme was coming to question him about the details of what has happened to him over the past 6 orns.

Prowl sat up straighter flicking his doorwings as he sensed someone approaching and as he expected a few moment later the plain metal door opened with a quiet squeak letting in a bulky framed mech that was mostly white and lime green in colour and one he knows rather well as he was Prowl’s partner for a long time, ever since he had joined the enforcers, though even to this orn he still can’t understand why the mech willingly wore that combination of colours as they have never appealed to him.

“Hello Compact”

“Hey there prowl, good to see you again, sadly not because of a good circumstance.”

“Likewise”

Compact sat down opposite him and roved his plain blue optics over his old partners battered frame worriedly.

“They couldn’t patch you up fully before bringing you here?”

“It was both protocol, as you know, and at my personal request I didn’t want to chance forgetting anything of importance that I remember by waiting longer to get repaired when none of my injuries are fatal.”

Though the truth of the matter was that Prowl didn’t want to lose the grip he had on his composure nor any part of his quickly made fabrication during the time it would have taken to get patched up. Usually any extra time, even just a few kliks or breems, would help him improve upon anything he may have come up with but nothing about his situation was usual in the slightest and he wasn’t sure he could keep control of his thoughts and stop himself from completely reliving everything that has happened to him if he had time alone to think. He also just wants to get this difficult part over and done with.

Compact nodded and sighed at his friends typical workaholic ways knowing he was right and completely oblivious to Prowls dilemma and true reasons for his hastiness.

“Right… so Prowl, what do you remember of your initial kidnapping?”

“I was walking down the street after a long and tiring shift, I was trying to get enough work done to take my brother out like I had previously promised them, heading home when I felt a sudden prick on the side of my neck and then nothing.”

“Did you see any glimpse of your kidnapper?”

“No. Nothing, it was too sudden.”

Compact wrote down his answer on a datapad that he had brought in with him before moving onto the next question.

“What happened when you woke up?”

Prowls optics dimmed nearly imperceptibly as he answered “I woke in a room of some kind, hazy from the drug that had been injected in me and a door I couldn’t see opened and a few mechs walked in, insulting and mocking me.”

A grey mech…

“Once they were finished with the verbal assault they moved onto a more physical one as they began to attack me and I couldn’t fight back because of the drug, whatever they used was rather strong.”

Falling to the ground, pain… nothing but pain…

“This happened many times during my capture, I wasn’t give time to heal nor given any energon, only more of that drug, it was more than likely used to keep me somewhat docile and since my chronometre wasn’t working I started to lose track of the passage of time.”

Giving in to the inevitable, submission…

“At some point they were trying to give me more of that drug but at the time I was at my most lucid and I managed to find an opening to escape. I think by that point they were letting down their guard because I had yet to really resist but I’m not sure, I could have just been lucky.”

Getting thrown out of the transport, walking through the streets aimlessly…

“I’m… honestly not sure how exactly I got into the streets, I just remember running and my captors chasing me relentlessly.”

Beaten and broken…

“I recall the rain stinging and burning my plating, the pursuit ending and an abandoned building where I waited out the rain.”

The rain, curling up in a ball, sobbing and keening in despair…

“I ended up recharging for a short time, then woke and noticed I had dangerously low energon levels and went back out into the streets to scavenge for some energon before I slipped into stasis. Once I had gathered enough I headed back here from where I was though I had to work because one those mechs had damaged my ability to transform but I eventually made it back.”

Slinking through the shadows, my family, collapsing on my berth…

“And now I’m being questioned as you know.”

Compact listened carefully, almost religiously, to every word Prowl was saying, writing it down word for word in the datapad he had making sure he didn’t miss anything of what had happened to his friend.

“Can you describe anything about the mechs that… assaulted you?”

“No, I was under the influence of the drug too much, everything was blurry and the room was dark, too dark to make out anything other than faint outlines.”

‘Yes! I remember every single detail of that mech.’ He yelled in his own mind knowing he couldn’t say anything out loud and nearly screaming in his feelings of hopelessness, though his outward demeanor stayed the same, though barely, he could feel his composure slipping farther away with each passing klik.

Compact nods his understanding, “What of where you escaped from? Do you remember anything of your surroundings?”

Prowl shakes his head in the negative “No, my first clearest memory is of the building I had took cover in, after I escaped.”

Kaon…

Compact nods again looking over the information he has managed to get from the black and white and frown at how little there is of it, he wants to personally find these mechs that saw fit to hurt his friend and make sure they get what they deserve.

“Did you over hear of find out why they took you in the first place?”

“No I didn’t other than insulting me they never really said anything to me and the room I was in was silent, probably soundproofed.”

To make him a slave…

With a sad sigh he looks at his friend with worry and sympathy filling his optics as he asks his final question to see if he can get even the smallest bit of extra information.

“Prowl… do you remember anything else? Anything at all that can help us find these mechs?”

Yes…

“No, I’m afraid not… “

Compact watches his friend closely in some vain hope Prowl suddenly remembers something but after several moments of nothing he sighs again and subspaces the datapad and stands offering his a servo to Prowl which he gratefully accepts getting pulled to his pedes.

“If you remember anything at all, no matter how seemingly insignificant, comm me immediately.”

“I will Compact, I know the drill.”

Compact smiles somewhat sheepishly in response to that.

“Of course you do,I’m just worried Prowl, that’s all.”

“I know Compact, thank you for that. Now I must go to see a medic about my injuries.”

“Right, of course. Cya partner. Compact waves a little as he watches the injured mech leave, wanting to give him a hug but knowing that his friend wasn’t one for hugging many people. However, as he watched him leave something was nagging at the back of his processor that something wasn’t quite right but he shrugs to himself putting it down to seeing his friend beaten up and to him over thinking things because of recent events before leaving to file and go over his notes to see if he can possibly figure something out.

-----------

As soon as the interrogation rooms door shuts behind him with a muted thump his doorwings droop so low on his back they were almost completely hidden but before heading to his next destination he physically shakes his helm and raises his doorwings back up and heads towards the small medbay in the building reminding himself that it won’t be much longer before he can go home and rest, till he can try and forget everything for even just a short while.

As Prowl enters the small medical area mhe is spotted immediately and beckoned over to an empty medical berth by a femme medic who was clearly waiting for him and he goes over to it.

Once seated on the berth, that is decidedly far more comfortable than the chair, she swiftly got to work repairing the worst of the damage done to his frame first before moving onto the smaller injuries such as the smaller cuts littering his body.

As the medic finished up and runs a final check scan to check for anything she might have possibly missed just to be sure, it’s best to be safe than sorry afterall, once done with that she speaks up for the first time since he entered the med bay.

“Chief, I’m putting you on medical leave for the next 2 decaorns in order to allow you to rest and fully recuperate after this whole debacle and in case that drug hs any nasty, latent side effects on your systems. I have already informed your second in command of this.”

Prowl nods in agreement and understanding, glad no one else is in the room to see how easily he accepted a vacation when everyone knows usually he would fight it with everything he can.

“Okay drink this cube of medical grade energon and you’re good to go, come see me or contact me if you start to feel or experience anything you shouldn’t be such as excessive dizziness or blackouts. Understood?”

Prowl nods once again and drinks the medical grade energon he is given before pushing himself off, of the medial berth and exits the med bay area of the enforcer building in search of where his family is no doubt waiting for him to be done with what he had to do.

He was proven correct when he stepped out into the lobby of the building, where mechs and femmes came to report to enforcers about a missing person or some kind of crime, and a small grey and blue mechling promptly latches onto him.

Prowl looks down and smiles slightly at the mechling, gently rubbing Bluestreaks helm. “Hey there Blue.”

He looks up again when he hears pedesteps getting closer and sees his creators and Smokescreen heading towards him.

“Hello dear, how are you doing?” His carrier asks him, worry tinging his voice.

“I’m okay Carrier, jut been put on medical leave for 2 decaorns to fully recuperate.”

“IF you want you are more than welcome to come and stay at our home with us and your brothers.”

Prowl hesitated a little to response, feeling slightly guilty as he realise that he doesn’t want to spend time with his family after all his disappearance has already put them through but decides in the end to bury his guilt, be honest and say ‘no’ as he doesn’t feel ready to be around everyone yet.

“I’m sorry carrier but I… I want to think over all of what has happened alone.”

His carrier looked at him sadly but nodded his understanding, his creator placing a servo on his shoulder to reassure him that it’s alright and Prowl smiles at them gratefully for their support and understanding.

After that Blazer kneels down to try and coax his youngest creation to let go of his eldest creation.

“NO! I don’t want to… what if he disappears again?” Bluestreak looks up at his family with tears filling his optics and Prowl feels another pang of guilt at being the ‘cause of those tears and kneels down to reassure his brother face to face.

“Bluestreak I promise I won’t disappear again, comm me at any time tomorrow and I promise I will answer no matter what I’m doing to show you that I@m still here okay?” Prowl speaks softly so as to make sure he doesn’t accidentally upset Bluestreak any further.

Bluestreak shakes his helm tearfully tightening his grip on Prowl and in the end it took the combined effort and coaxing of both his creators and Smokescreen to get Bluestreak to release him and afterwards he walks them out of the enforcer building and waved goodbye to them as they took headed back.

Once they were out of site he heads back to his apartment and collapses on his berth going into recharge near instantly form a combination of exhaustion and stress from needing to pretend and lie all orn.

It was late into the night cycle when Prowl is abruptly startled awake from a restless and nightmare filled recharge by a comm which he answers to after a moment of delirium, as a result of getting woken from recharge so suddenly, and with his processor addled by recharge.

“Hello?” Prowl answers with his voice tinged with static and mumbled.

“Hello chief prowl, were you having a good recharge?” was spoken by a cruel and laughter filled voice that has begun to haunt his thoughts and one that causes him to shoot up in his berth, now fully awake and aware.

“You!”

Chapter Text

“You!”

“Hello Chief Prowl.”

The smug and mildly taunting tone in the mechs voice made anger boil in his spark and as already on edge and stressed as he was, having not had any time to fully process anything or to even get his bearings yet, Prowl couldn’t keep the frustration, loathing and disdain out of his voice as he addressed the grey mech.

“What do you want? Can’t you leave me alone for even a kilk?”

Of course the emotions apparent in his voice only seemed to please his new ‘Master’ making his own loathing for the mech climb even further if that was even possible.

“Now why would I do that? I own you now and can do and bother you whenever I want. Now as for what I want; you are to come to Kaon at sometimes during your 2 decaorns off for some early training and introductions I want to make you useful sooner rather than later. Make sure you have some kind of a disguise that can’t be seen through as well.”

Prowl could only stare at the wall opposite his berth in stunned silence and disbelief before a growl found it’s way unconsciously into his voice.

“You can’t be serious! You piece of scrap! I only just got back and how do you even know that I have 2 decaorns off?”

“I have my ways and I assure you I am very serious. Now I’ll be expecting you soon, don’t disappoint me. You never know what may happen if you do.”

With that parting warning the call was ended with no further words and Prowl was once again left alone not knowing whether to scream in anger or sob in despair as his new ‘orders’ and that warning bounced around in his processor.

“This is so unfair… I only just got back with my family and I already have to leave them?”

He was aware that he may have sounded like he was just whining to anyone who may have overheard him but he couldn’t care less as his doorwings dropped so low on his back they scrapped lightly against his berth.

The rest of the night was spent staring forlornly at the wall, his thoughts circulating and flying through his processor rapidly and seemingly without end.

He was only broken out of those spiraling thoughts by a firm yet gentle knock on his apartment door and after shuttering his optics a few times to shake off the last dredges of his thoughts he stood, stumbling slightly as his healing frame and joints protested the sudden movement after sitting still for who knows how long.

As he reached his front foot voices that he recognised floated through the metal and reached his audios growing louders and cleaning the closer he got.

“Bluestreak? Smokescreen?” He questioned as he opened his door.

“Creator? Carrier? What are you doing here so early in the orn?”

His creators and brothers pushed passed him and into his apartment and he shut the door before following them into his small living area.

“What do you mean ‘what are we doing here?’ we’re here for you obviously, you need and deserve all the support you can get after this whole ordeal.” His carriers soft voice spoke to him, the familiar care and love in his voice already making him feel better and happier than he has been feeling all night… until he remembered the call and voice that woke him overshadowing his carriers softer tones.

“Ah right. Thank you all for coming to see me. I’ll go get you all some energon to drink.”

Though right as he turned to head to his small kitchen he felt a servo on his arm and he looked to see his carrier stopping him from going any further, confusing him.

“Nonsense Prowl. You just went through a horrible experience the least I can do for you is go and get the energon myself.”

“But Carrier…”

“No buts Prowl, now go and st on the couch with you brother and creator and I’ll be right back.”

He was going to protest and argue more, they were his guests afterall, but then he felt a small servo tugging on his other arm and he switched his gaze to look down at his youngest brother and after seeing the hopeful look in his optics made any protest die on his glossa and he looks back to his carrier reluctantly nodding.

“Alright Carrier.”

He let Bluestreak tug him over to the couch and once he was seated he pulled Blue up and sits him in his lap making the small mechling giggle, in turn making him smile slightly.

“So, Prowl, how are you holding up?”

Prowl looked up at the sound of his creators deep tenor.

“I’m fine creator, just need some rest and I’ll be back to being 100% functional.”

His creator silently looks over his frame checking to make sure his eldest creation truly is fine as he knows his creation has a tendency not to admit to when he’s injured and Prowl hopes that his creator doesn’t pick up on anything as he does.

Luckily his creator doesn’t seem to as he nods in acceptance of his answer.

“Good. We’ve all been worried about you Prowl, especially your carrier and Bluestreak.”

“Sorry to worry you all but it’ll be fine now.”

“Yes I hope so. It’s all in the past now.”

Prowl has to fight the urge to flinch at those words, sighing internally, as he looks back to his youngest brother seated in his lap happily chatting to Smokescreen.

‘I wish it was all in the past but for me it’s my future…’

After that the room fell into a comfortable silence aside from Bluestreaks constant chatter and Smokescreens occasionally remark but Prowl finds it difficult to focus on his family and surrounding as his thoughts begin to spiral downwards again until his carrier walks in with a tray, 5 steaming cups of energon on it as he hands them out to each mech.

“Here you go dears and be careful Bluestreak it’s still rather hot.”

After everyone has their cubes conversation fills the living space as his family informs him of everything he missed and what’s been going on whilst he was gone successfully distracting him for the remainder of the morning.

Unfortunately it couldn’t last forever as his creator needed to go to work as his carrier needed to get his brothers to school as they had a great deal to catch up on, having not attended and neglected school during the time he was missing.

So he said his goodbyes to his creators and Smokescreen giving each one a hug before bending down slightly and picking up Bluestreak making him giggles again.

“Now behave yourself at school blue and don’t get into too much trouble alright?”

“I won’t big brother.”

“Do you promise?”

Bluestreak grins at him as he responds. “I promise I’ll be good.”

Prowl can’t help but smiles in response, the false stern look slipping off his face as he kisses his youngest brother in the middle of his red chevron before placing him back down on his pedes.

After that he waves goodbye to his family, shutting his door behind them once they were gone.

As soon as the door is shut and there are no possible witnesses the smiles fall off of his face.

It’s not that he wasn’t happy to be spending time with his family it’s that he has no time to bask in his joy of spending time with them, as much as it pains him to admit it, his biggest and most pressing concern is the call that he had gotten.

He doesn’t have the freedom to spend too much time with his family or even to continue what he was doing before they showed up, wallowing in his own misery and the unfairness of his whole situation like a youngling.

He has been given an order and a time limit and he really doesn’t want to contemplate much less find out what the..punishment could be if he disappoints that mech, for him or his family.

He’s doing all of this for them or at least that’s the thought he’ll cling to for all that he’s worth in order to get through this.

He forcefully shakes his helm to dislodge those thoughts before they can consume him yet again and focuses his processor on what it is he needs to do.

‘Okay first of all I need to find a way that will stop my anyone from looking for me for at least a few orns and after disappearing for over half a decaorn it will be difficult to accomplish that.’

He scoffs slightly at his own thoughts and how much of an understatement that it before continuing to get things in order in his processor.

’Secondly, I need to get a full proof disguise, clearly that mech doesn’t want people to know who I actually am and that suits me just fine I don’t want anyone to know who I am either.’

‘Lastly I need a way to get to Kaon, that should be the easiest one to achieve especially once I get a disguise.’

With those thoughts in mind he set about cleaning up the cubes left behind in his living space before sitting back own on his couch.

He has some things to think about and plan, he can’t screw this up.

Chapter Text

Prowl spent the first decaorn of his medical leave to recover as much as he could from his injuries, to reassure his family that h was indeed okay, thinking and planning and fighting off/avoiding any and all reporters that seemed to be in every single place he went wanting first hand information on his kidnapping and what had transpired.

On the bright side he has managed to plan out what he’s going to do about his orders and the constant questioning from his friends, family and the reporters has helped him perfect his false account on what had happened to him to the point that he could probably recite the whole story in his recharge.

There’s only so long one could delay the inevitable though and time was running out.

That mech hadn’t commed or contacted him since to ‘remind’ him of his orders or for anything else. He seemed to be completely confident that Prowl would follow through and do as he was told. This only served to irk him further and make him curse the mech many times in many different ways in his processor because he hates that he’s right, he will do as he’s told for his family.

So it was with a heavy spark that late into the night, when any sensible and respectable mech would have already been in recharge, that Prowl snuck out of his own home and travelled through the shadows or alleys as much as he could heading to a meeting with a known criminal. The only reason this mech hadn’t been sent to prison was that he never left any substantial evidence behind of his dealings and fortunately (or maybe unfortunately he really wasn’t sure anymore) that is exactly what he needs right now.

He had arranged this meeting 2 orns after he had received the comm with his orders. He had used his above average processors to hack into the enforcer database, as using his own access codes as chief would be easy to trace if anyone got suspicious, in search of the perfect criminal to get him what he needs discreetly and without proof,and as ashamed as he was to admit it, that is precisely what he requires.

The time after finding the right mech was spent tracking him down and getting his comm frequency in order to make his request and choosing a suitable time and place for him to go and retrieve it from the mech without anyone finding out.

This was proven more difficult since he had refused to tell him his name or who he was until we met in person. Afterall if he had told him that he was the chief of praxus’ enforcers he would have immediately ended the comm and vanished.

He managed to succeed though, after much persuasion and effort, and was not heading to the location with his spark feeling heavy and almost physically weighing him down.

It was almost like he had somehow still been able to stay in some kind of denial about this whole situation even as his thoughts were plagued with nothing else but now that he was heading to meet a known criminal in order to get an illegal item, that he himself had requested, with no intention of arresting him that there was truly no possible way to deny it any longer.

A joor later and Prowl fodun himself in one of the more abandoned areas of Praxus that was filled with long disused warehouses and half rusted buildings.

It was in one these warehouses that he was to meet the known black market dealer known as Silverback.

Prowl entered through one of the few windows in the warehouse that had a rusty walkway under it and after landing safely, much to his relief as he wasn’t sure it wouldn’t just collapse under his weight, he flicked his doorways slightly to check for any unwanted surprises .

He had told Silverback that he wanted to meet alone but, unsurprisingly, his doorwings picked up slight movements of several of the mechs lackeys scattered around the space behind old boxes or even, as he looked down from his perch, in plain view of everything. The mech wasn’t even trying to pretend that he had held to their ‘agreement’.

With a resigned sigh Prowl stood from his crouch and jumped down to land in front of Silverback, a mostly silver mech with bits of black on his servos and pedes, who was stood in the middle of his room with 2 of his underlings behind him, one mostly green and the other predominantly orange with flashes of blue.

The mech startled slightly not having expecting anyone to drop from above before pulling out a plasma pistol and aiming it directly at his spark the moment he recognised who Prowl was ad sneered at him

“I knew this was a fraggin trap. Enforcer scum.”

Prowl held up his servos as a sign showing he meant no harm and hoping it wouldn’t get him shot.

“What’s the Chief enforcer doing here huh? Where’s the rest of you fraggers?”

Prowl wouldn’t help t as he let out a short bark of self-deprecating laughter at that question and Silverback tensed further at the unexpected sound not knowing what it meant.

“Believe it or not there are no other enforcers and none are coming. I’m completely alone.”

Now Silverback was getting confused and rightfully so at that but sent out a couple of his mechs to check the perimeter just in case but they came back a couple breems later reporting nothing amiss.

He’s a known criminal who the enforcers have been trying to catch for awhile now so why would the Chief of these mechs come alone? After a moment he decided to cpice his confusion.

“Why would you come meet me alone… “

Silverback trailed ff slightly toward the end of his question as his processor seemed to actually register the voice of the black and white mech and realised it sounded familiar and Prowl just waited silently for the mechs processor to put two and two together.

“You, you’re the mech who requested this item but if it’s not a trap then that means… “

Silverback trailed off once again before he burst out laughing in sick delight, laughing hard enough to need to clutch at his stomach plating with one arm.

The mechs underlings all glanced at each other and then at their hysterical boss incredulously not understanding what was so funny but wisely they stayed silent as they waited for their boss to calm himself down.

Silverback, once having calmed down enough to properly speak, grinned at Prowl as he spoke.

“At least you neglecting and having no wish to tell me even your name is understandable now.”

Prowl just glared darkly at the mech in response.

“Who would have thought that the mech referred to frequently as the most upstanding Chief Praxus has had in vorns is a dirty cop in reality.”

“I assure you it wasn’t willing and doing this was not considered lightly. Now to you have what I want or not?”

Silverback pulled out a small innocuous chip form his subspace.

The pure glee in the mechs voice as he spoke only made Prowls glare grow darker as he used a servo to slowly reach into his subspace, fully aware of the gun still pointed at his spark, to retrieve a common credit stick that you could find anywhere and hold it out to the mech.

Silverback waved a servo towards one of his lackeys to call him over and a rust coloured praxian framed mech walked over and took the credit stick checking that the credits were all there.

“I do hope the check doesn’t offend you officer. It’s best to be safe than sorry afterall, especially in such a unique situation.”

Prowl grinded his denta slightly at the tone the mech spoke in as he nodded, his own tone clipped and terse.

“Understandable.”

Silverback glanced at his underling as the rust mech nodded in affirmation that it was all there and Silverback once again grinned in glee at the further proof of how genuine Prowl is about this deal as he placed the chip in prowls still outstretched palm that had previously held the credit stick.

“If you find my wares faulty do call again. It was truly a pleasure doing business with such an upstanding officer as yourself, bye now.”

Prowls glare got more heated at that particular farewell as the now much more high spirited, than he had been when he first arrived, silver mech left with his lackeys leaving Prowl alone in the warehouse.

Prowl gazed down at the innocent looking chip before shoving it in his subspace and leaving the warehouse himself intent on getting home sooner rather than later.

Another joor passed and Prowl found himself stood in his washracks in front of a mirror staring at the chip that was once again in his palm as the only one thought went through his processor.

If he does this there really is no going back.

What this chip essentially does is permanently change parts of his core programming and inadvertently making his ‘disguise’ a core part of his frame and spark.

A chip that just adds another colour scheme to a mechs or femmes systems may seem harmless at first but there are very good reasons that these chips were made illegal.

When they were first created everyone thought they were as harmless as they appeared and considered them just a fun little thing to do for a prank or something equally harmless but soon some mechs and femmes that had bought one of these chips and installed it started to act completely different from who they were before.

Calm, collect and good sparked mechs had been changed into hot headed, violent people who constantly got into first fights and arguments even with those they were closest to like best friends or family. There were even reports of mechs and femmes getting killed or seriously injured.

It worked on the opposite side of the spectrum too at least. As mechs and femmes who were known to be ruthless criminals or killers were found balling in front of enforcer stations sobbing their optics out and confessing to all of their crimes not believing how they could have done such cruel things and wanting to atone for their sins, so to speak.

Not all of the changed were that drastic but it came as no surprise to anyone that not long after their initial release the chips were declared illegal to own, sell or install and people were told to destroy any and all chips that they had or found and it was also forbidden for any more to be created.

Everyone one is sparked with a unique colour scheme that reflects core aspects of your spark and programming. That’s not to say that your colours define you as the core aspects that were reflected in your colours can have varying degrees in how much they exactly define you as you grow and develop.

For example he was sparked with a black and white colour scheme and as he grew up the aspects that are typically connected to this set of colours defined him to the that as an adult he chose to become an enforcer and enforcers upheld the law seeing everything in a kind of ‘black and white’ or ‘right and wrong’ mindset.

Yet someone else sparked with the same colour scheme of black and white could be defined by those connected aspects very little, becoming a musician or journalist.

What truly matters and define you is the environment you grew up in, how you were raised, the different experiences you have and so on.

And so using these chips to add a colour scheme to your core, introducing other core aspects that you may not have had originally can result in potentially changing who you are completely depending on how much the changes affect your spark and systems and how much it does depends entirely on the mech or femme, individually.

Prowl could have gone with much less risky and harmless options like just using paint to cover his natural colour scheme or even use a hologram over his frame, however paint is temporary and can be easily washed off or chipped and a hologram isn’t solid and someone could easily discover he was using one.

He doesn’t want any disguise that could be so easily discovered, revealing who he is and putting his family in danger and causing them to suffer under the grey mech if his cover is blown. It would also show who he’s connected to, willingly or not, and his family probably wouldn't ever be able to forgive him for that regardless of his reasons for doing this.

So, yes, in his mind a temporary one is unacceptable.

Prowl stares at the chip for several more breems before clenching his free servo tightly enough to make the metal threaten to give as he opens up a panel on his chest and, after taking a deep steadying intake, inserting the chip into the appropriate slot.

It only takes a few kliks for the download to start and only several more kliks for it to finish. The moment ‘installation complete’ flashes briefly on his HUD he feels almost as if something physically shifts within him as his frame starts to shift colours.

The white parts of this frame darken to pure black with only nearly invisible wisps of white remaining, almost like smoke along his plating. His doorwings follow also turning mostly black as his enforcer decals disappearing as a dark red streak, almost the same shade as his chevron usually is but darker, spreads along the top of his doorwings from one end to the other. His chevron is next as it changes to a dark shade of purple before at last his optics brighten and change to a molten gold colour.

After another deep invent and, thankfully, not yet feeling any adverse effects as a result of installing the chip he examines the colours he had chosen for his disguise.

He chose colours that he thought would fit in with the kind of environment he’s going to find at kaon but that also looked completely different to his usual colour scheme and as he checks the changes he concludes that it seems as though he has succeeded in that.

After continuing his examination for a few more breems and also making sure the chip isn’t going to cause any kind of glitches or malfunctions to his systems Prowl reaches up to his chest and removes the chip crushing it in his palm now that he no longer needed it and closing the compartment on his chest with a quiet ‘click’.

He changed back to his regular colours relaxing slightly when he sees that he’s back to looking normal again before exiting his washracks and laying down on his berth.

Before recharging Prowl mentally went over his checklist again ‘marking off’ what he had completed that night.

Now all that’s left is to inform jos family that he’ll be unavailable for several orns, he is not looking forward to that conversation, when they visit tomorrow and then head to Kaon. He also needs a false name to go by as he can’t go around Kaon calling himself ‘Prowl.

With those thoughts in his mind he shutters his optics initiating and falling into an uneasy recharge once orn and one step closer to meeting up with that grey mech again.

Chapter Text

The orn after he met with Silverback and gained his second identity, he woke early with a sense of dread in the pit of his tank that caused him to need several breems before he managed drag himself out of his berth and leave his room.

He couldn’t quite explain it, what he was feeling at the moment, he mused as he stared into his morning energon. He had chosen to have plain energon this orn, no additives to give it a kick, a sourness or a sweetness, t felt strangely… appropriate.

But as he stared into his cube he couldn’t quite get himself to drink it just yet. He just stared into the swirling depths of blue trying to puzzle out what he was feeling. Perhaps he hoped to lose himself in the soft blue depths or perhaps even hoping it would somehow swallow him up.

It was strangely hypnotising, drawing him in. He mused to himself, in some distant part of his mind, that it kind of looked like a spark, it almost seemed to pulse with it’s soft ethereal glow everytime the stillness of the surface was disturbed.

He knew his own spark still pulsed within his chest but it, like everything else, felt strangely… distant this orn.

By the end of this orn he would be on his way to Kaon and in only a few joors he would be wiping the smiles of his family's faces and replacing it with worry and concern as he told them he would be unavailable for the next few orns.

So yes, he couldn’t quite describe what he was feeling in this moment.

Perhaps it was sadness? Or maybe it was rage, loneliness, guilt, hopelessness, hate, love?

Or maybe an amalgamation of all of those emotions and more?

After the initial dread he had felt when he had first woke some strange indescribable numbness or detachment had crept up and enveloped him in it’s clutches.

He had no idea, not definitively, how his family would react to his revelation, maybe they’ll be hurt? Upset? Angry? They did just get him back afterall and he was leaving again for several orns, he wouldn’t blame them. He may not even survive what it is that mech wants him for and so a few orns could morph into an eternity.

Likewise he had no idea what, exactly, was in store for him from here on out, he can draw thousands of conclusions and possibilities but there is no way for him to know for certain until he is suffering through it first hand.

Should he feel some kind of fear? For himself or his family?

Should he feel anger? Of what this mech has done to him or will do to him?

Should he feel regret? For the deal he made with the devil or for the things he has not done or will do in the future?

Perhaps frustration? For how hopeless he is, how he can’t do anything to stop this?

Or maybe even some twisted sense of relief? That eh was the one chosen instead of another, from someone elses family or his own?

Yes he can’t explain how he’s feeling or should feel, just that it’s raw and relentless as it batters his spark.

He at last deigns to take a sip of his bland energon and indeed finds the taste both fitting and ironic for his situation but it is once again a distant thought somewhere in the back of his processor.

He feels his frame shake slightly and he hears a sound. It takes him a moment to realise that the sound is him laughing. At his situation? At himself? He’s honestly not sure.

He can tell the sound is a hollow and empty one. How one might describe a grave site. Hollow, empty maybe even haunted though he couldn’t say why haunted fit the sound so well, he hasn’t done anything yet. Maybe it’s the possibilities that make it haunted? The imagination can create some truly horrifying ones if given the right fuel.

He lifts the cube to his lips again but instead of a sip this time he opts to tip the whole thing back and drink it in one gulp as he suddenly realises his family will be arriving soon.

He stands and walks to his small kitchen washing the cube before putting it away and as he does he hears the expected knocking on his door and he moves out of the kitchen to let them in.

He thinks that he smiled at them as they entered his apartment and he knows he kneels down and picks his youngest sibling up and carries the giggling little mechling in his arms to his living space, sitting down with him in his lap.

The evening passes by in a haze of sound, colours and sensation. He knows that at some point he talked, drank energon and had fun with his family but if you asked him what was discussed he wouldn’t have an answer. That strange numbness engulfing him the whole time.

He can tell when it’s time for them to go and time for his announcement. He can tell he opened his mouth and told them as he saw their expressions fall but the words sounded garbled to his own audios. He sees them nod their helms in sad understanding as they mutter farewells to him and say they’ll see him in a few orns then and he felt his mouth pull upwards into a smile though he doesn’t know why.

Before they leave he feels himself kneel down in front of Bluestreak and actually hears and understands the words he speaks and the words spoken to him for the first time that orn.

He hears himself, almost whispering to the mostly grey mechling in front of him.

“I’m sorry Blue.”

He’s not sure why he’s apologising to the mechling nor does he understand what he’s saying sorry for.

Maybe it’s solely for his unexpected leaving but he has a feeling deep in his spark that he’s apologising for so much more than that.

He can’t say what Bluestreak sees in his optics and sad smile or hears in his voice but the mechling smiles and whispers back, too quiet for the others to hear.

“It’s okay big brother, I forgive you.”

He nearly breaks and shatters into millions of pieces right there and the numbness that had enveloped him almost since he first woke seemed to waver and weaken at those words.

Bluestreak is probably just forgiving him for his unexpected leave but… somehow it feels like he’s forgiving him for so much more. For things he has yet to even do.

He finds that he had, at some point in the last 2 kliks, wrapped his arms tightly around his youngest brother almost burying his face in the crook of his brothers neck. Bluestreak hugs him back and he felt as though he could stay like that forever but he knows he can’t if he hugs him like this for much longer his family may get worried and not let him have these next orns and he needs to leave, as much as he wishes he didn’t.

Soon after, his family leaves. He watches them as they go down the hall. He usually doesn’t watch them as they leave but maybe he’s somehow trying to etch every part of them into his mind permanently so he can draw strength from them during the next few orns.

They vanish from sight in little time and he steps back into his apartment shutting the door in front of him.

He finds himself staring blankly at the door for what felt like joors, but was only a few breems, until he felt something wet and war sliding down his cheeks and dripping to the floor landing with soft pitter-patter sounds on the metal surface, first slow and occasional but soon turns fast and continuous.

It took him several long moments to realise what was happening as the numbness seemed to eventually disappear as though it was never there and he found that he was crying silently into his quiet, empty apartment.

He stood there for several breems, crying a seemingly endless amount of tears, before deciding to wipe them from his optics. It took more effort to stop crying than it should have but he, at last, managed to stop and step away from his front door.

He spent the next few short joors cleaning up, arranging his bookshelves, making sure nothing was out of place. Basically keeping busy to stop himself from thinking and soon time passed and it was time for him to head out and catch the transport that would take him straight to Kaon.

He stood near his window gazing out at his apartment bath in the soft light of Cybertrons twin moons and the many twinkling stars in the night sky. Aware that he may not see his pace, his home , again if something went wrong on this trip.

It gave his home, in this moment, a surreal feeling and as mulled over that thought he say that in a way it fit what was happening.

He couldn’t linger long though or he’d miss his transport and so soon he left his apartment behind walking the quiet streets where only a stray mecha animal or rodent occasionally made a sound and as he looked to the sky he couldn’t help thinking that this night was much like the night where his life was turned upside down and irrevocably changed.

He let his thoughts idle after that choosing instead to continue gazing at the night sky but after awhile he came upon a darkened and shadowed alley that he slipped into emerging on the other side with his disguise on, his second persona if you will.

One was an enforcer who upheld the law and protected.

The other was a criminal who broke the law and hurt others.

He shook his helm slightly to rid himself of that brief epiphan as he carried on down the street transforming after a breem in order to make it to the transport on time.

Not long after he arrived at the mostly empty transport station with only a few other mechs and femmes around and found the correct transport that would take him to aon but as he was about to enter he paused and staring at the hulking transport suddenly becoming aware that he could, quite literally, be heading straight to his death.

He turned his helm, ignoring the annoyed mech that shoved past him in order to get on the transport himself, and stared at what he could see of Praxus remembering his family and friends, for those he’s doing all of this for before finally taking that last step onto the transport.

Nothing groundbreaking happens as he does so, not that he was expecting such a thing, and it almost felt… anti-climatic he suppose. Entering this transport was both nothing at all and so much all at once.

He physically shook himself out of the slightly melancholic state he had fallen in to and took his seat near the back of the transport next to a window.

He gazes out at the beautiful city of Praxus, his home, as the engines start to hum with life before taking off. He watches as the bright lights and crystals of his home grew further and further away as the transport took him closer and closer to Kaon with every passing klik.

Soon Praxus was barely a speck on the horizon. The crystals, lights and buildings of his hoe replaced by the far more barren and dead lands of nothing that existed between the city states and any form of town, city or camp that were scattered around Cybertron and dotted around the lands.

He soon turned his gaze up to the sky and the stars that were now nothing but bright, enchanting blurs on an endless expanse of thick black and he thought of his home once again, his past, present and future and as he feels his spark pulse slowly in his chest and felt how it occasionally seemed to pause and stutter he couldn’t help but feel that he had left behind a piece of himself, a piece he would never be able to get back.

Chapter Text

During the long trip to the downtrodden city state of Kaon Prowl had gazed out of the window, lost in thought as the scenery whizzed by and oblivious to any mechanisms that boarded or disembarked from the transport.

When the transport had slowed to a stop at Polyhex, the last stop before he reached Kaon, and most of the remaining mechs stepped off of the transport Prowl was dimly aware in some far away corner of his processor that almost all of the mechs that did remain were individuals in a advanced stage of disrepair or didn’t seem like the average citizen. Afterall, no one went to Kaon if they weren’t some kind of criminal or had fallen further and further in life till they had completely run out of options and had no where else they could go outside of Kaon anymore.

Once everyone who was getting off of the transport to enter Polyhex had finished disembarking the transport fell still and silent. Usually when the passengers have finished getting off at a city state there is several breems for any mech or femme to board if they are heading to the next city state in the line but as the next and final stop was Kaon no one was boarding the drabby transport, in fact everyone seemed to be avoiding the transport like there was some kind of invisible force field surrounding it, no one wanting or daring to come close to the transport doomed for Cybertrons worst city state.

Inside the transport no one was speaking or even shuffling in their seats, everyone tried to avoid optic contact and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, it was at complete odds to the controlled chaos taking place only metres away as mechs, femmes and families rushed around trying to board their own transports for different reasons, be it a family trip, travelling or for business.

The still and silent atmosphere inside the transport was at long last broken as the engines were started up and came back online with a subdued rumble. Kliks later the transport was speeding away, leaving Polyhex behind and beginning the last stretch of its journey to the ruined state of Kaon.

Several joors passed before the transport slowed to a stop at Kaons transport station and Prowl was jerked from his circulating thoughts as he rose from his seat and walked off of the transport and in to the city commonly referred to as the pit of Cybertron.

Kaon was so clearly different from his home city of Praxus. Whilst the buildings in Praxus shimmered and shone with life, with the daylight and streetlights always glinting off of the polished crystals incorporated into the buildings structure or design. Here in Kaon the buildings were the complete opposite. They were caked in dirt, grime and rust from the ground level all the way up to there summit.

Where as in Praxus the streets and mechs were clean and free of trash and filth, here the streets seemed to ooze it from its every crevice and darkened back alleys that rivaled the open maw of some dark mythical creature born from the pit. Mechs and femmes walked the streets, optics dull, paint bleak and chipping off, their frames half starved, from lack of any proper sustenance, and covered in just as much filth as the streets or in some cases more than the streets.

In Praxus mechs held their helms high and hope, happiness and life filled their optics as they went about the orn with a purpose or chasing after a dream. Here mechs lowered their helms, avoiding optic contact as much as possible and flinching away if it is accidentally made. They shuffled along, their optics filled with nothing but defeat, sorrow and death. Everyone seemed to have completely given up on ever achieving anything or ever seeing a life better than the one they currently trudge through day in and day out.

Prowl has to suppress a shudder at those dead optics as he looked around the transport station trying his best to ignore the environment so unlike what he’s used to. That mech had not given him any instruction or hint as to how or where he would meet him and considering there is no way for even a mech like him to know what his disguise looked like he assumed there would be some kind of sign around here that would help him to figure it out.

Prowl was, unsurprisingly, proven correct as he spotted a couple of annoyed and disgruntled looking mechs with a sign half black and half white that simply read ‘Chief’ and after a flash of annoyance at how direct an address that is he headed towards them.

It didn’t take them long to notice him approaching and called out to him in a tone matching their less than pleased expressions.

“Is this sign about you mech?”

Prowl nodded “Most likely, yes.”

The mechs expressions soured further at his blunt confirmation.

“It’s about fragging time mech. We were forced to wait in this dump every orn for you, slaghead.” The comment was followed by a venomous glare which gave him some petty form of amusement and satisfaction in his situation.

“I do sincerely apologise.” His tone was anything but sincere “let us go I want to get his trip over and done with quickly.”

The so far silent mech of the duo seemed to gawk at his tone for a moment before he heeded the words and walked to the road transforming and taking off in the direction they were heading, quickly followed by the second mech with Prowl following last.

Prowl drove through the filthy streets memorising what he saw and the route they were taking, certain that he would be forced to drive along these roads again and again many times in the future.

After several breems had passed Prowl had more or less figured out where he was most likely being led to and he couldn’t say he was surprised in the least.

The gladiator arena near the centre of the forsaking city loomed in the distance growing closer and larger with every twist and turn through what made up Kaons roads and streets. It was a rightfully imposing and well known place where many a mechanism have met their end. Stories of what happens inside the large structure are spread throughout all of Cybertron as myth and tales. The blood sport of Cybertron where fights to the death are commonly held for the higher echelons of society to watch, revel in and bet on to their sparks content.

It was a place that Prowl would love to have shut down permanently but knows it is not possible. Not with the amount of corrupt wealthy mechs and femmes that participate on a daily basis.

A joor passed before the 2 mechs he was following transformed in front of the arena and headed inside. Prowl swiftly following suit so as to not get left behind in such a place.

They led him through a twisting maze of turns and corridors, past waiting rooms, training areas, quarters for the more successful gladiators, a run down medbay and many bleeding and broken mechs until they at last reached a non-descript door deep in the bowels of the arena. Prowl watched as the mechs pinged for access that was quickly granted as the door swooshed open, unexpectedly, smoothly permitting them entry.

The area they entered was some kind of living space more lavish than anything else he has seen since entering Kaon and something he would never have thought could be in such a run down place. Prowl glanced around this new area with curiosity, though outwardly it appeared as nothing but disinterest.

It was fairly simple in design with a couple of couches and chairs dotted around in relatively decent condition, a vid screen on one of the walls, a few trinkets on shelves, a table with datapads scattered on it and a simple cabinet off in one corner of the room.

Once he finished with his brief examination of the room he stood in the middle of the room silently wondering how long he would be made to wait here, his time afterall was limited.

Thankfully, he wasn’t made to wait too long as less than a breem after he was led into the room one of the doors on the far side opened and a mech he was growing to loath walked in with his hands folded behind his back. The mech nodded to the other 2 mechs in unspoken dismissal which they quickly moved to obey as they exited the room with the doors locking automatically behind them once they were gone.

Prowl locked optics with Megatron, molten gold meeting fiery garnet, and a tense several kliks passed as Megatron seemed to examine his new look before sending him an approving look that made Prowls plating crawl in disgust. Once he seemed to finish a cruel smile stretched across the scarred face as he spoke.

“Glad to see you made it here at last Prowl or do you prefer something different whilst your here?”

Prowls optics flashed as the grey mechs expression twisted knowingly and he bit out his chosen alias.

“Noctis.”

The mechs twisted smile grew into an unpleasant grin that made Prowls tanks feel nauseous.

“An excellent choice in name, fitting even, and a rather fine choice of paint. It must have taken quite a while to apply.”

Prowl couldn’t stop himself from recoiling slightly at those words as it reminded him that he had essentially gone against what he believes in as an enforcer in order to acquire the paint job. Unfortunately for him Megatron seemed to pick up on it and Prowl cursed his lack of control around this mech as he glared daggers at him.

“Is there something I should perhaps be aware of?”

Prowl growled lowly, his chassis rumbling quietly in his anger at both himself and this mech as he determinedly stayed silent.

“How about this, the sooner you tell me the sooner we can move on to what I have planned and the sooner you can run back to your Praxus.”

Prowl remained stubborn for several more kliks, even though he knew he wouldn’t be getting away without telling him what he wants to know, before his doorwings sank down on his back and he averted his gaze forcing out the words that he knew would undoubtedly please his ‘master’.

“...Nanite altering chip.”

He was, unsurprisingly, proven correct as the mech leaned back and released a loud bark of dark laughter.

“How wonderful. I knew I made the right decision choosing you as my pawn.”

At being referred to in such a way Prowl returned his heated glare to the smug mech in front of him with his doorwings raising high on his back once again.

The mech paid no mind to his glare of raised doorwings as he moved forward seating himself on one of the couches and gesturing doe Prowl to take the other, which he reluctantly did seeing no point in refusing.

“Now before we move on to later events I would like to introduce you to a few mechs who have been instrumental in my plans, they will also know your true identity and not just your alias. I trust that you won’t be inclined to spread the truth around to anyone else. That would be unfavourable for both of us but more so for you.”

Prowl nodded stiffly and sat in silence waiting for whoever these mechs were.

Several tense breems passed before his helm shot to the door as he sensed some mechs approaching and sure enough a few kliks later the door opened permitting entrance to 3 mechs before it closed and locked again.

He looked over the new mechs critically as they grew closer to see if he could recognise them or what they did. One was a cassette player sporting a red visor and mask, another was a purple one opticed mech and the last was a tri-coloured seeker who wore a snide expression. The first to reach them was the cassette player who bowed slightly to megatron before taking a seat across from him.

“This is Soundwave, he gathers information and spies for me mainly.”

The next to reach them was the tri-coloured seeker or simply nodded and addressed megatron in a snide tone matching his expression.

“Master.”

“This is Starscream my alleged SIC and future air commander.”

The last to reach them was the one opticed mech who regarded him coldly before bowing his helm to Megatron in a similar fashion to the first.

“Lord Megatron.”

“And this is Shockwave, my scientist with a knack for experimentation and helps to provide funds whenever they are needed.”

Prowl nodded curtly to each in turn committing their names, faces and positions to memory for future reference but saying nothing.

The last 2 mechs also sat taking up the chairs in the room each one of them watching him and wondering exactly who he was to garner the attention of all of them.

Prowl returned their looks with a glare, his doorwings twitching minutely in his displeasure of the situation.

An uncomfortable silence settled of the group for several kliks that seemed to drag on before it was broken when the seeker lost his patience.

“So who is this mech? I have more important things to be doing than meeting some random mech.” Starscream jerked a thumb in Prowls direction which he scowled at.

Megatron grinned at the question more than happy to answer the question.

“His name is Prowl, Chief of the enforcers in Praxus. Quite infamous for his skills and for going out of his way for the good of others.”

The emphasis and mocking tone on that last part made Prowls optics flash in anger as he clenched his hands into fists at his side.

Starscream gawked slightly at both Prowl and Megatron before finding his voice again.

“How the frag did you pull that off? Isn’t he supposedly the most incorruptible enforcer on Cybertron?”

“I have my ways Starscream, you should know this by now. I always get what I want.”

Prowl scoffed at that gaining the attention of everyone in the room as he spoke for the first time since the 3 mechs had walked into the room, his tone tinged with hate at uncharacteristic anger.

“‘Ways’ my aft. You anslaved me against my will, I had no choice in the matter.”

Megatron merely shrugged, not caring in the slightest, as the purple mech regarded him with more interest than before making his spark seem to shrivel slightly in his chest.

“Interesting. I trust you have a rather effective method of controlling him?”

“Indeed I do Shockwave.”

Prowl focused his molten gaze more intently on the grey mech as if daring him to show off his ‘method’ right now.

The cassette player spoke next, startling him slightly as he hadn’t said a work or moved once so far.

“Query: alias?”

“Ah yes, trust you to realise he has one and thank you for reminding me Soundwave. I would prefer his true identity be kept as a secret between us and so in public address him only as ‘Noctis’ and nothing else. Understood?”

There was an underlying warning to the mechs tone and all of the mechs heeded it and nodded in acquiescence.

After that and for the next joor, much to Prowls annoyance, the 4 mechs conversed and discussed different topics/ Ignoring Prowls presence and pretending as if he wasn’t there glaring at all of them venomously.

Thankfully, that joor eventually ended and the 3 other mechs stood and after saying their farewells  left Prowl alone with Megatron once more.

A silence settled over the pain of mechs until Prowls patience, surprisingly low around Megatron, frayed until it snapped like a twig and he stood to his pedes facing the mech with the glare that seemed to have been permanently affixed to his face since he arrived in Kaon.

“Well what is it you dragged me here to do? I want to get it over and done with so I can leave this place already.”

With a smile that could freeze the engeron in a mechs lines Megatron answered his question. “I wouldn’t be in such a hurry if I were you. You may very well end up regretting it.”

“I don’t care. I just want to go home and get away from this forsaken city.”

With a grin like ice Megatron rose from his seat. “Very well. Do follow me Prowl.”

With that the grey mech left the room and Prowl quickly followed, walking just behind the mech so as to not lose track of where him or where he was going and traversed through the twisting maze of corridors again.

As they were walking the halls Prowl noticed a few things. He noticed that anyone they passed nodded their helms or bowed to Megatron as a sign of both respect and subservience to the gladiator as though they worshipped him. It caused a growing sense of hate to bubble up in his spark as he wondered what they saw in a monster such as Megatron. It also served to remind him og his new position as a slave to this mech.

It also did a very good job of reminding Prowl that in Kaon, in his new life. He was alone and surrounded by enemies. It washed away the hate, drawing his focus away from his anger and replaced it with a sorrow that tugged at his spark. He seemed to drown in it for a moment before he ruthlessly forced that part of his spark into a box, locking it away before it swallowed him whole. He was determined not to be so weak in front of this mech and in this place, instead he choose to focus on the anger and hate that this mech had planted in his spark in order to avoid that.

He continued to notice different things around him such as the looks of thinly veiled curiosity and intrigue that were thrown his way, mechs most likely wondering who the praxian was that was walking behind their much beloved leader.

Prowl choose to actively ignore the looks and whispers that followed him wherever he was led.

Megatron led him deeper and deeper down in the gladiator arena and Prowl started to feel a chill along his plating the further down they ventured, instinctively knowing that whatever he was made to do down here would never leave him but he was determined to not show his unease and continue to follow Megatron without showing any hesitation.

Prowl wasn’t sure exactly how long the trek was that took them into the bowels of the area but he did noticed that the amount of mechs wandering or loitering in the halls and passages had continued to dwindle until there was less than a handful left and then finally there was only him and Megatron.

Prowl wasn’t sure whether to be glad about this or not. On one hand there was less mechs standing around and gawking at him like he was some kind of side show or zoo animal. On the other hand the lack of mechs made him wonder why no one ventured down here and left an ominous feeling hanging over him like a cloud.

They finally came to a stop in front of a dark metal door that looked worn and tattered as it was littered with scratches, dents and paint transfers from the mechs that had been here in the past.

All in all the fact that they stopped at such a door probably didn’t bode well for him at all.

Prowl chanced a glance up at the imposing form of the gunmetal grey mech beside him waiting for him to hurry up and open the door, as hesitant as he was to enter the room on the other side he really did want to get this over and done with and go home.

After several kliks passed Megatron finally reached forward and inputted a coe into a well concealed keypad and the door slid open slowly, creaking as it did so. Once it was fully open Megatron stepped to the side and gestured with his arm for Prowl to enter ahead of him.

“After you chief. I wouldn’t want you to run away now, not when the good part is about to start.”

Prowl gazed at the hulking mech warily, not at all liking those words or the anticipating grin adorning his face before squaring his shoulders and stepping into the room.

Completely unaware of what lies in store for him inside.

Not even a klik had passed before he heard the far heavier tread of Megatron as he too stepped into the room before the unmistakable thunk of the door closing behind them echoed around the room, truly sealing him in here with the fate that awaits him.

Prowl looked around the room critically in an attempt to discern the purpose of them being here but he couldn’t see a thing since the lights were off and the room was shrouded in pitch black darkness.

Shortly after he finished pursuing what little he could see a bright light lit up the centre of the room and after a quick moment for his optics to adjust to the sudden brightness Prowl couldn’t help but suck in a sharp vent of air at what he saw.

In the middle of the room on a slab of metal, eerily similar to the one he himself had woken up on 2 decacorns ago, lay a predominantly green mech with red highlights on his calves and forearms, bound in restraints looking around in a mix of confusion and fear.

Furthermore, Prowl could see what looked to be stains of energon and other bodily fluids all over the ground, most likely from things he didn’t even want to contemplate, showing that some unspeakable things have no doubt taken place in this room.

But he couldn’t stop staring at the bound mech in a mix of horror and shock, he was frozen in place as his processor was sent whirling both trying to figure out the reason he was brought to this room of all places, none of them good and getting worse the longer he thought about it, and also experiencing flashbacks to when he found himself bound in a similar fashion not to long ago and about how it changed his life.

He had a sickening feeling his life was about to change even more.

Eventually, he managed to tear his optics away from the sight before him and to the grey mech next to him, grinning down at him, seeming to be waiting for the inevitable questions.

“What is this? Why did you bring me here?”

“Don’t you like it Noctis? I prepared this especially for you.”

“No I don’t like it! How could you do this to a mech?”

“You see this mech here in under suspicion of giving information to those who would seek to do me and my cause harm.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

By now the mech had noticed the 2 mechs and the conversation they were having as he began to shake his helm in near desperation, already having a better idea of where this was heading and what was going to happen than Prowl did from his own experiences serving under the gladiator.

Prowl himself glanced briefly at the now slightly struggling mech, his doorwings having picked up on the movement, before he returned his attention to Megatron.

“As I said before, I did this just for you. This is your first task as my… subordinate and a sort of initiation if you will.”

“My first task?” Prowls voice was filled with confusion not yet understanding how the mech bound in the middle of the room could be part of any kind of ‘task’.

“Yes. You are to figure out if he did leak information and what this information might be by any means necessary.”

The dark tone underlyed with smug amusement and anticipation as Megatron waited for the pin to drop had Prowl needing to contain a shudder before he had even fully processed the actual words spoken.

Of course, when he did his processor was sent reeling and his spark stuttered in its casing as he stared at the large mech with a renewed sense of horror.

‘Any means necessary? Does he mean… torture? He expects me to torture a mech?’

Prowl slowly turned his helm back to the struggling mech in the middle of the room before managing to respond in an unmistakably strained voice.

“You can’t be serious… That’s a living mech! I can’t do something like that to him.”

“Oh but you don’t have a choice here Prowl.”

“I don’t have a choice? I’m an enforcer and more than that I’m not a monster like you, I can’t do anything like that to a mech!”

“I’m sorry I suppose you do have a choice. Either you do what I;ve told you to do or I can force one of your siblings to. Who do you think would be the better choice? Smokescreen? Or perhaps even young Bluestreak?”

Prowl snaps his helm back to the mech beside him, outrage and horror shining in his overly bright golden optics.

“Stay away from them! Don’t you even think of going near them!”

“So you’ll do it them? That’s great to hear.”

Prowl stared at the maliciously grinning mech towering over him like some kind of demon, his processor reeling and his spark constricting in his chest as he is torn over what to do but in the end, as he knew it would, his family won and his helm dropped as though he didn’t even have the energy or will to keep it up any longer, his doorwings lowering into a submissive position as he gave in and conceded his defeat.

“Fine... I’ll do it.”

“I knew I could count on you. Get to it then, I’ll be sure to watch the whole thing from the side.”

With that Megatron retreated to the shadows that surrounded the room, with the exception of the middle, and seemed to disappear entirely, his darkly coloured frame allowing him to easily blend in with the darkness but Prowl knew he was watching and would continue to watch.

So with his helm still lowered he slowly trudged into the middle of the room, his spark feeling heavier with each step he took.

He felt like chains were coming out of the black and ensnaring him, wrapping around and cutting into his limbs and spark like an unforgiving vice. Chains that he knew from here on would never break and forever trap him, bind him and enslave him.

He reached the center of the room after what felt like an eternity and it took another breem before he could bring himself to list his helm. When he did he accidentally locked optics with the bound mech and his spark spasmed painfully at the fear, horror and pleading those optics reflected and he knew that expression would forever haunt him until the day he offlined.

After tearing his gaze away from the mech on the slab Prowl caught sight of a tray covered in tools and devices that had been cleverly hidden behind the slab so that he couldn’t see it from the entrance, probably so that Megatron could tell him what was going to happen himself without him figuring it out beforehand.

At the sight of them he choked down a strangled cry and he wanted to scream but he stopped himself, trying to force down the pain.

He more or less knew the basics of how torture and interrogation worked. You couldn’t be an enforcer for as long as he has without seeing some truly horrible and disturbing scenes. He had even walked in when someone was in the midst of torturing others once or twice but he never thought he would ever get so low as to do such a thing himself, even if he is an unwilling participant.

Prowl looked back at the green mech, careful to avoid optic contact this time as he wasn’t sure he could handle such a look again without breaking. He hesitated for several kliks before he stiffly lifted one of his servos and removed the gag that had prevented the mech from shouting and screaming.

Immediately after the begging and pleading started.

“Lord Megatron! I didn’t leak anything I swear, please believe me! Don’t do this please, please.”

This continued for several breems and it sent pain to Prowl spark as his invisible chains tightened with every word the mech uttered, knowing he couldn’t do a thing to stop this.

It only got worse as the mech finally seemed to realise Megatron wasn’t going to listen and stop this and he directed his pleading at Prowl who felt every word like a dagger to his spark.

“Please mech, you don’t have to do this! Let me go, please! I have a family, please don’t do this to me please!”

Prowl couldn’t take it anymore as he interrupted the mechs babbling, his tone tight and tinged with the pain that he was feeling.

“PLease… tell me the truth. I don’t want to do this… please just tell me so I don’t have to do this… please.”

“I didn’t do anything I swear to Primus I didn’t do anything. You have to believe me!”

Prowl opened his mouth to respond but hesitated and in that moment Megatron's voice boomed and filled the room.

“I tire of waiting. Hurry it up or I’ll be forced to get someone else to do it instead and I don’t think you want that, do you?”

Prowl invented shakily before speaking to the bound mech, his voice wavering.

“I..I’m sorry, please forgive me… I don’t have a choice… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… forgive me.”

Before the mech on the slab could even attempt to respond Prowl reached out with a shaking servo to the tray, beyond caring of how pathetic he probably looked with his armor rattling and shaking, and beggan what would haunt his dreams and be in his nightmares for vorns to come.

Throughout the torture Prowl would often find himself muttering about how sorry he was and the bound mechs pleads would dissolve into screams that echoed off the walls and left static in his audios. The cries for mercy that filled the pauses soon turned into curses and hate that he would spit at Prowl for doing this to him.

Megatron didn’t tell him to stop for a long time and when he stopped himself would remind him of how little choice he had in the matter and he would continue.

When Megatron finally called a stop to the torture, perhaps joors later. Prowl had lost track of time a long time ago, Prowl stared down at the mutilated form of what had once been a mech much like him in a mix of num detachment and dismay.

What was once an intact and undamaged frame was now a mangled mess of ripped and shredded armor, missing limbs, wires, cables and congealed or free flowing energon that had long since formed a puddle on the ground.

He could barely even hear what Megatron was saying, his voice seemed so far away, his aze was firmly fixed upon what he had done to a living mech, a mech with a family, friends, people who would miss him and that cared for him and he had just…

He was jarred from his cascading thoughts by a scarred hand landing on his shoulder and Prowl jumped, startled and shot his gaze up to the gladiator who was grinning down at him from audio to audio in some form of sick and twisted joy.

“Well done. I am proud of you chief not to mention impressed, who knew you would have such a talent for such things. Why don’t I show you to a nearby washroom to clean, you made quite the mess.”

Prowl couldn’t get himself to respond and he following silently behind the large mech. His helm was once again lowered as he stared at his energon covered servos and energon splattered frame. He was coated from helm to pede in that mechs eneron, he was leaving a trail where he walked as it dripped off his frame to splat against the cold, hard, metal floor and all he fell was disgust, hatred and loathing and all of it directed at himself for what he had done.

He was disgusted with himself, with what he’d done and self-hatred bubbled in his spark. He hated and loathed the mech who had forced him to do this with ever nano fibre of his being. The mech dangled his family in front of him, holding them hostage and manipulating him into doing such abhorrent things. He wanted to make thh smug mech pay for everything, to stop doing what he's told to do.

And yet… Prowl knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t, do it. His family was the most important thing to him and if doing such abominable things protected them from pain and suffering… he would do them again and again.

But Prowl couldn’t even recognise himself right now, who he has become and he was afraid of what he will become in the future.

Eventually, they stopped outside of another door only a breem or so later and Megatron gestured for him to enter.

“Now I’m sure it’s not nearly as glamorous as what you’re used to but by all means take your time, I’ll have a subordinate lead you out of here once you are done. I’m sure you can find yourself back to Praxus from here yourself thought. Until next time my dear chief.”

When Megatron was doen talking Prowl found himself pushing past him and into the shabby and rusted washracks, shutting the door in his face, wanting to get the energon off of his frame as soon as possible.

As soon as the ice cold solvent hit his frame, thought he took little notice of the temperature, Prowl began scrubbing vigorously at his plating, uncaring if he scratched his paint or not. He just wanted to get rid of every spec, trace and bits of evidence of what he’d done, of how low he had sunken, off of his frame.

He didn’t know how long he had been in there, maybe more than a joor, but when he did emerge from the washracks he, unsurprisingly, didn’t feel any better or cleaner and he still felt disgusted as he looked down at his frame, as all he’s able to think about and see is his frame still covered in another mechs energon.

Prowl did find a brown and burgundy coloured mech waiting for him as Megatron had said and when the nameless mech jerked his helm sharply in indication that he should follow, Prowl wordlessly did so and was led back up and through the maze of corridors, back to the entrance he had originally entered the arena through.

Once outside Prowl nodded curtly at the mech and transformed, taking off back down the streets as fast as he could, using the quickest route he knew of to the transport station, intent on getting home as soon as possible and on getting as far away from Kaon and what he had done as he could.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unbeknownst to Prowl his departure was being watched by none other than Megatron himself, who was watching from a room near the top of the arena. Next to him was Soundwave who knew of what Prowl had been tasked to do during his visit.

“Query: was that wise? Sward: loyal follower.”

“Indeed he was and it may have been a bit of a waste of such a loyal soldier however, his sacrifice was more than worth the training of such a valuable asset as Prowl.”

“Lord Megatron: knew Sward had nothing to admit to. Lord Megatron: used Sward, lied to Prowl.”

Megatron shoulders shook slightly as a cruel laugh burst from him.

“Yes I did. No matter if Sward had been disloyal or not it forced Prowl to do what he did. An ingenious plan if I do say so myself right Soundwave?”

“Affirmative.”

Chapter Text

Half a vorn later…

Time passes and Prowl can almost say he has gotten used to the way Megatron treats him as though he were a plaything or a pet, he has long moved past any bitterness caused by pride at being treated as such, such things turn out to be useless and more of a detriment to protecting his family.

Megatron has made him run ‘errands’, jobs such as taking confidential information to and from secret allies of his or using his processors to make full proof plans to help him secure victory and success in a large variety of different things.

Prowl knows the only reason he gets ‘trusted’ with such affairs after so little time is because Megatron knows he wouldn’t risk ever betraying him as long as his family is still being held hostage. Even so, he knows the mech is up to something as lately, between his job as an enforcer and the sheer amount of datapads he has been made to transport, he has gotten little to no recharge or breaks of any kind.

All in all, the things he has been made to do are against his will are not too bad, at least so far.

Prowl sighed and stared dejectedly at his terminal in his office, these thoughts circulating through his helm in a seemingly never ending loop, his processor constantly thinking of various worst case scenarios for when he’s made to do something, anything more. They were distracting him from the only thing he can do that doesn’t make him feel the despair at what he is playing an active role in, the one thing he can do that can actually help people.

With a shake of his helm he sits up straighter in his chair and picks up a datapad with information on a cold case that has remained unsolved for 3 vorns.

The case is about the murdering of a small family of middle class mechs. One victim was a femme known as Vex, another was her bonded, a mech named Fritz and their 2 children, a young mech only a few vorns into full adulthood designated Jackwire and lastly… a sparkling mech only 7 vorns old designated Silversea.

They had all been shot cleanly in the back of the helm by a basic blaster. It was obvious that the murders had been at least partially planned by someone with a reason to do so but that the cause didn’t stem from anything like a grudge or emotions, if it had been caused by either then there’d be significantly more damage to at least one of the family.

There were indications that the family knew the killer as there were no signs of forced entry anywhere in the modest home they had owned, furthermore all of the windows have been locked with no signs of them having been used for entry or exit so they had to have willingly let the culprit into their home.

There were no witness reports of anyone entering or exiting the home as, conveniently, a festival was being held nearby, close enough for the noise of gunfire to be masked but far enough away that no one saw a thing.

There had been no paint transfers or scratches, other than from the family itself, anywhere in the home. Absolutely no sign that anyone had been there except for the family themselves.

If Prowl didn’t know any better he would believe some kind of supernatural entity killed them.

After a thorough investigation into every mech and femme the family knew they’d discovered that the family had, had no enemies to speak of and that they were actually rather well liked by everyone in the neighbourhood.

They were an average middle class family that made enough credits to live comfortably and to have the occasional treat but not wealthy enough for anyone to try and steal their credits.

They had no known connection to anyone or anything important or dangerous so there was also no motive for anyone, stranger or otherwise, to murder them for information or as a cover up.

There were no drugs found in their systems or even anything to indicate they may have been eating something that could have been drugged. No puncture marks either. No signs of a struggle.

It’s like they all just stood in a line and let themselves be killed one by one.

He was missing something, something that was staring him in the face, a key clue to determine the culprit.

As he read and re-read the known information for the 27th time, each time considering a different angle, a different set of variables that it dawned on him. Everyone in the neighbourhood and beyond had gone to enjoy the festivities so why wouldn’t this family go too? Especially one with a sparkling?

Which would mean they had gone to the festival, they must have.

Grasping onto this thread Prowl re-read over the statements taken from the families known friends and neighbours. Sure enough in several of the statements the mech or femme that was being questioned mentioned seeing and conversing with the victims during the festival.

Why is this not even mentioned as important in the case file? Prowl scowls and glares at the datapad as he looked at the names of the enforcers who were in charge of this investigation. He saw no reason to look initially.

As he finds the names his glare only intensifies and he immediately regrets not looking up this information from the start.

Crash and Chainlink.

He fired them from the enforcers 2 vorns ago when they had been found to be taking bribes from some of the more frequent criminals that passed through the station. He doesn’t stand for any corruption in his ranks.

He immediately flinched after the thought, his optics darkening as he thought ‘Except me now, I am far worse than those 2 ever were’

Forcing the thought away he focused back on to the cold case he was determined to solve.

The reason for the negligence explained he went through each statement and analyzed them thoroughly to piece together a series of events that could lead to what may have happened that orn.

2 Joors later and he runs across a particular statement that mentions the family with another, unknown, youngling at some point and that, although he had been drinking some high grade, he swore the youngling was covered in energon.

Prowl considered what this could mean and knew it was highly likely that someone had just spilt energon on him, during such festivities, it's quite common, but something didn’t feel right about that conclusion.

Ultimately deciding it to just be a strange coincidence of some kind he moved onto the next statement which seemed to have been taken not too far from the previous one.

As he read it his frown noticeably grew. It was from another mech who mentioned the youngling coming out of a gap between buildings with the family and that the family seemed slightly in shock and overly concerned about the youngling and that their sparkling looked scared.

Hoping to find more statements from that area Prowl was about to go to another and sift through any others taken from that area when he noticed that this statement was also tagged in another case.

Searching up the case number he quickly read through it and stared as pieces of the puzzle then began to click into place.

The second case file was about a mech found heavily damaged during a festival 3 vorns ago.

The mech had been found in an alley between 2 buildings, his vocalizer had been destroyed, his frame littered with cuts and scratches, his throat slit and with a clean blaster shot through the head and another shot through his spark chamber.

The killer had been discovered when the enforcers followed a lead that the victim had been having illegal dealings with a vicious gang in the outskirts of Praxus.

They discovered that the gang had sent the son of the head of the gang after him to make him pay for planning to rat them out to the enforcers.

The killer had been a shock to everyone involved. He was no more than a youngling in his second frame but during his interrogation he had said ‘So what? He deserved to die for planning to betray us.’ The enforcers in charge of the questioning had even wrote that the youngling had unnerved them.

The younglings name was Redshift and, despite his young age, he was tried as an adult due to the nature of the crime and is currently serving a 25 vorn sentence in a juvenile prison whilst also receiving psychological help in an attempt to save the youngling from returning to a life of crime when released.

Prowl compared the 2 cases and confirmed his suspicions. The alley was the same one in both cases and they occurred at the same time.

His processor rapidly began to put together the rest using details from both cases and the many statements that had been taken in either case.

It’s likely Fritz and Vexx happened upon the crime by chance and their creations were with them. Maybe the youngling had threatened them?...No that’s unlikely, it would have more likely made the family panic and cause a commotion that was sure to get noticed during such a busy time.

No there is a much higher probability that Redshift acted like a traumatized youngling to make them let their guard down. It would explain the adults' shock and the sparklings fear, it’s how most would react to seeing a dead frame. They also doubtlessly intended to call the enforcers and inform them of what they had seen once they were sure the youngling was okay.

With the festival going on around them it isn’t surprising or likely to raise questions to see a youngling, stranger or not, wandering around so no one put together the pieces.

It would explain the no forced entry, they would have let a ‘traumatised’ youngling into their home willingly out of concern.

Chances are that Fritz and Vex couldn’t bring themselves to harm a youngling when he revealed his true colours, even in self-defence, having creations of their own so young, that it’s likely they were frozen in shock, not knowing what to do and by the time they may have been able to stop Redshift it was already too late.

He calculated a high chance that the creators once they knew they were going to be offlined, and having witnessed the aftermath of the other killing, begged for Redshift to at least spare their creations, if not them.

Redshift probably lied and told them he would before coldly shooting first Fritz in the back of the helm, moving then onto Vex who was likely reeling and in pain at the freshly severed bond. Jackwire was next, too full of grief at seeing his creators killed that he didn’t even notice the killer moving onto him leaving only the sparkling who didn’t stand a chance left.

It was a tragic series of events brought about by chance and bad luck, cutting off the lives of 4 good cybertronians far too soon.

Prowl released a deep ex-vent as he set about confirming his conclusions and finally bringing closure to the families friends and relatives.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Several joors later and Prowl leans back in his chair rubbing at his brow ridge in response to a building helmache that was most likely the result of both his lack of recharge and how long he had been staring at his terminal screen. Though thankfully he had been correct and one more cold case is no longer an unsolved mystery.

Unfortunately, now his processor had the time and lack of a  distraction enabling his thoughts to return to their previous state of thinking about Megatron and the tasks he is made to do that will undoubtedly become much, much worse sooner or later. ( He can’t be tricked into believing that delivering messages is all he’ll be made to do. Megatron wouldn’t have needed to go through the trouble of… acquiring him for that.)

He knows Megatron is just waiting for the right time, knowing he can take all the time he wants because he has Prowl exactly where he wants hi, completely at his mercy.

His thoughts flash to an image of Redshift standing over the dead family and the mech killed in the alley only instead of Redshift, Bluestreak was the one responsible with such a look of murderous intent it made him shudder.

Prowl shook his helm near violently to rid his mind of that disturbing image but it seemed to now be seared into his processor and it made him want to purge.

He abruptly stood from his desk and turned his terminal off, leaving the station and heading home all the while that image flashed in his mind, making him increasingly nauseous.

He could not let Megatron turn his sweet, innocent and loving sibling into such a thing, no matter what he was made to do.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2 decaorns later… 

‘I want you to deliver this to Airwave, the address is on the datapad, good orn Prowl’

His comm. faded to static before falling to silence, along with Megatron's voice.

He stared at one of Soundwaves symbionts called Laserbeak and the datapad clutched in her beak, making no move to grab it as he clenched and unclenched his servos into fists and took a deep vent as he felt anger and frustration bubbling just beneath the surface. Such things having been rather unlike him till his life was turned upside down.

Now, at this point, having been Megatron's errand mech for a little over half a vorn he had gained a sort of resignation at being sent all over Praxus, and occasionally beyond, delivering the grey mechs oh so secret messages to any number of mechs, learning of places he hadn’t even known existed and he had lived in this city his whole functioning.

However, the trend of being made to deliver one nearly every orn, primarily in the dead of night, continuing the consequence of getting little to no recharge along with his life as the cities Chief enforcer and he had about reached his limit.

He unclenched one of his servos and all but scratched the datapad out of Laserbeaks mouth, earning an unhappy squark in protest from the mechanical bird which he turned away from and ignored, hearing the symbiont leave through his open window not long after.

He waited several breems to be sure she had really left before switching the datapad on and seeing that it was very well encrypted and if he was guessing correctly the encryption was more than likely done by Soundwave.

That brought a strange mix of increased frustration and concern. Being an enforcer and a good one at that he of course always wanted to find out the truth, the facts and solve any mystery. All this running around lately of course had to be related to something big happening and he wanted to know what.

He stared at the bright screen of the datapad, making sure he actually wanted to go through with what he was thinking, it could end in much pain for him but probably not for his family and he could blame it on his consistent lack of recharge leading to him not thinking straight.

He quickly ran through the odds in his processor, ending up with a nearly 0% chance his family would be put in harms way. That mostly erased the rest of his trepidation and he grit his denta briefly before plugging one of his own cables into the datapad and set his whole processor to the task of decrypting the datapad.

He was going to find out what Megatron was up to, dragging him around ragged with all these Primus-forsaken messages, even if he couldn’t do anything with what was on it, he wasn’t glitched in the helm enough to do something so risky and futile.

As he began he got a good look at the coding for the encryption and saw how strong it was and knew it was going to take all night but really, what did he have to lose? Megatron wouldn’t offline him or threaten his family for something so small when he had no intention of actually telling any mech what he saw, at least he hoped not.

Any chance of getting recharge this night were already lost with him needing to deliver this to the designated mech anyway, why not use the joors of lost recharge for this?

And so Prowl spent the next several joors bent over the datapad, his optics flashing every time he broke through another layer with something skin to spiteful glee.

He knew Soundwave was not going to be happy when he finds this out, and he knew the mostly silent mech would find out eventually.

It was just as light began to filter through his window, signalling the start of a new orn that he cracked the last layer of encryption with a show of triumph, that he hadn’t done since he was a freshly upgraded youngling, as he pumped his fist in the air and grinned.

Of course as he turned his attention to the datapad and read the now revealed message on the screen, his triumph turned to disbelief.

There, blinking innocently on the screen was a short message that simply read.

THE PLAN TO BLOW UP THE TOWERS IS NEARLY COMPLETE. THE MECH HAS BEEN CHOSEN.

The disbelief faded quickly, much quicker than it would have at the start of this mess, and all he could now feel was a sort of hopeless resignation before he looked at the time. He had a few Joor left before his shift, it would be cutting it close but he would make it, barely.

He unplugged himself from the datapad and switched it off, leaving his apartment and heading to the address which hadn’t been encrypted. Changing colour at a darkened underpass nearer to his destination.

As he knocked on the door of the small but modest house in his disguise he had a passing thought of comming Megatron himself and asking about what he had seen but tried to push it to the back of his mind as an average sized, unassuming magenta coloured mech answered the door looking annoyed.

Prowl shoved the datapad in his face saying a curt “This is for you.” before turning and walking away, changing back to his usual paint job in an empty alley.

Another advantage of the chip, quick and easy colour changes when in a rush.

He arrived at HQ soon after and headed straight for his office, locking the door behind him after entering.

After working for a few joors with that message he had seen always at the edge of his thoughts he put down the paperwork he had been working on and pinched the bridge between his optics as he felt his exhaustion weighing heavily on his mind and frame.

Prowl sighed as not focusing on work brought the message he’d seen from the edge of his mind, to the forefront of his mind and he found himself growling lowly in his throat before grumbling a quiet “Fine” under his breath.

Against his vehement protests at his own mind (Primus he was losing it) he decided he’d comm. Megatron once he got home.

Funnily enough that finally shut his intrusive thoughts up and made him wish he had just given in to the idea earlier as he was, at last, able to fully focus on his work for a few more joors before his exhaustion began to get the better of him.

He glanced thoughtfully at his locked door with a small frown.

‘What are the odds someone will come looking for me?’

A breem later he determined it was very unlikely and stood from his desk, heading to the rarely used couch in the corner of his office and laid down on it shutting his optics and getting comfortable.

He was not dealing with Megatron on so little recharge.

‘I never did such things before I was kidnapped by Megatron and turned into his slave’

The thought brought a brief scowl to his face at that mech having caused him to resort to this during his shift before he forced himself to relax once again and settle down for a nap.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Several joors passed before Prowls icy optics blinked open and hazily looked around, momentarily forgetting where he was before a persistent knock came from his locked door immediately jolting him fully awake as he got up and sat back at his desk, giving no indication he had just been recharging as he sent a signal to unlock his door.

“Come in”

The door slid open to reveal his second in command designated Flintlock, a primarily black and blue coloured mech, he was slightly bulky and good at hand to hand combat.

“Chief Prowl sir, I have more paperwork that needs your signature”

Prowl sighed internally but gave no outward reaction as he gestured to a corner of his desk.

“Thank you Flintlock. Just leave them there and you can go”

The mech nodded and quickly deposited the datapads on his before leaving his office and Prowl allowed himself to partially slump at his desk once he was gone.

He let out a small sleepy yawn and checked the time to see how long he had been in recharge for.

Apparently he had been in recharge for roughly 5 joor, that meant he only had 2 more joors before his shift was over, not much time to get through all of the datapads stacked on his desk but he couldn’t bring himself to regret doing so out of character, like taking a nap, as he felt much better now.

Leaning slightly over his desk he swiftly got to work, intending to do as much as feasibly possible in the remaining 2 joors. 

When his 2 joors were up he sat back with a sigh. Luckily he had managed to get through the majority of the datapads before the end of his shift came, he might even say his nap had made him more productive.

After a breem he pushed up from his desk and stretched, working out the kinks that had formed from sitting hunched over his desk for so long before exiting his office. He nodded to a few of his subordinates that still remained as he left for his apartment.

Once safely away in his home he found himself pacing a hole into hos floor and putting off comming Megatron. Yet another thing out of character for him, he wasn’t one to second guess or delay any decisions he had previously made.

‘I’m doing alot of out of character things this orn. First getting frustrated enough to hack into a datapad, next taking a nap in my office and now this.’ He thought bemusedly.

Shaking his helm he stopped his pacing “Enough of this” and without letting himself think about it anymore, he commed Megatron. This being the first time he had commed Megatron rather than the other way around.

It was only a few kliks before the gunmetal grey mech answered in an amused tone of voice.

“Well isn’t this a pleasant surprise my dear Prowl”

Prowl scowled at one of the walls in his home and spoke with mild irritation at the way he was addressed.

“Cut the foolishness Megatron”

Megatron only laughed, clearly in a good mood, Prowl can guess why, between his ‘plan’ seemingly finished and being on the receiving end of a comm. From him for the first time…

“Am I not allowed to enjoy this momentous occasion? You’ve never been the one to contact me before”

Prowl growled which of course just brought the twisted mech more amusement.

“Right, I’m sure you have a good reason for comming me, so why don’t you tell me what it is?”

“I… “ prowl noticeably hesitated which only piqued Megatrons interest further. “I hacked the datapad I was ordered to deliver before delivering it. I saw what was on there and decided I needed to inquire about it”   

There was an equally noticeable moment of silence on Megatrons end of the comm. And Prowl grew nervous as it continued. Had he made a grievous mistake?

When Megatron did, at last, react he was surprised. He expected to be shouted at or punished at the very least, not for Megatron to bark out a thoroughly amused laugh and being Soundwave into the comm.

“Hey Soundwave, Prowl here says he managed to hack your encryption.”

There was a brief silence before Soundwave spoke.

“Hacking:not possible”

“You sure? Prowl why don’t you tell us exactly what was written on the datapad?”

Prowl was still very confused at the reaction his action was receiving but did as he was told.

“‘The plan to blow up the towers is nearly complete. The mech has been chosen’”

There was more silence before Soundwave actually grumbled, Prowl hadn’t known him long but he knew the mech wasn’t one to grumble.

“You aren’t going to punish me for hacking that datapad?” Prowl finally voiced his concern.

“No. You were going to find out sooner or later anyway. Besides knowing you have a talent in hacking is something we can develop and use in the future.”

Prowl ignored the last part of what the grey mech had said, unsurprised but he was confused by the first part.

“Explain.”

“Now Prowl, don’t be so disrespectful, remember who the master is here”

Prowl growls but doesn’t comment.

“Anyway, you would have found out because the mech chosen to destroy the towers is you”

Silence once again fell as Prowl processed this revelation ‘ME?’

“I’ll be destroying the towers? When? Why?!”

“Yes, it is planned for the orn exactly 1 vorn after you became mine”

Prowl heard clear amusement still prevalent in the mechs voice at that twist and he was shocked at this news. 

“As for why, it’s where many of Iacons upper class resides and they deserve to perish”

So that was going to be his first real mission? He knew it was coming but this…  As for the horror and spark wrenching despair over this? He shoved it deep inside his spark and refused to let it affect him.

“Understood Megatron” and if Megatron could hear the cold anger in his voice? He didn’t care.

“Very good” Megatrons voice was downright gleeful, his already good orn and mood now even better.

“Goodbye Prowl, Recharge well.” Megatrons voice gained a tint of mocking in his farewell.

Prowl expected the sound of static as the comm. ended but it didn’t and a few kliks later came Soundwaves voice.

“Prowl: will never break my encryption again”

His voice was annoyed and tinged with hurt pride and Prowl, despite himself, felt a rush of smug satisfaction at the tone of voice and comment and responded with that smug satisfaction clearly in his voice and with mild sarcasm, taking it as a challenge.

“Of course. I’m sure I never will.”

Then the comm. Ended with a click and a burst of static and that was that.

Chapter Text

It has been 15 decaorns since the orn he learned he was to be the one to take down the towers and all this time he’s been waiting and waiting and waiting for the orn Megatron will come calling and tell him it’s time. 

‘Can that sadistic mech hurry up and tell me at least the when ’

Hs processors have gone over it again and again asking questions such as:

When will it happen?

How will Megatron accomplish such a feat when the towers are heavily guarded?

How will he get Prowl to Iacon to even do it?

For once he was actually starting to hate how active and highly advanced his processors are.

Prowl sighed and sat back in his office chair, massaging his growing helmache. Logically he knew that Megatron wasn’t stupid and knows that in order to blow up the towers he’ll need a plan (and a damn good one at that) but the wait was torturing him.

He found himself both wishing it would never come to fruition, that Megatron would get himself caught and arrested, even if it meant that he was dragged along as an accomplice. On the other hand he wished that it would happen already so he could stop wondering when and how it would happen, when he would be made to kill innocents. 

He swears that if one orn Megatron didn’t kill him then this wait would.

Now usually he was a very patient mech, he understood that waiting was necessary for many things both in a professional and personal capacity but his usual patience is wearing thin after 15 decaorns.

Prowl sighed leaning back and staring up at the uniform gray of his ceiling. There was also the question of how he would smuggle bombs into one of the most highly guarded and secure locations on Cybertron.

Does he have servants of the towers under his command? No… that was highly unlikely as such mechs rarely left the towers much less Iacon and Megatron is in the pits of Kaon.

Prowl shook his helm, for what felt like the millionth time, to try and stop thinking of such things for even 2 blessed breems of silence but alas all shoving away those thoughts did was bring worse ones to his attention.

It will be his first real mission for Megatron, a mech who if noticed by the senate will be one of the most wanted mechs on Cybertron, a mech just doesn’t defy the senate like that if they want to live.

Though honestly aside from the time he first found out about it, it’s like it’s not even real. He’s an enforcer who’s very duty is to protect innocent lives and prevent the terrorism he is going to end up being apart of, whether he likes it or not, and that’s a fact.

Though were the mechs at the pinnacle of society really as innocent as he believes? He’d heard many stories during his career as an enforcer, mostly passed on by other enforcers who spent some time stationed in Iacon. Some he had overheard as he went out on patrol and wandered past non-praxians who had chosen to live in Praxus be it for the city's culture, history, crystals or something else entirely.

As his mind mulled over this new (though far more disturbing) line of thought he felt a sort of numbness settle over his mind and spark reminiscent of the day he told his family that he would be unavailable for awhile, the orn he went to Kaon to meet Megatron.

The stories he had heard went something like the mechs in the towers lived in luxury as more and more mechs ended up creditless and living on the streets, barely making enough of a living to fuel themselves, some even needing to sell their bodies and spark to avoid deactivation.

There were stories that said the high caste only sought to line their own accounts with credits and ignored those struggling every orn even when with all that money they could do so much to help those in need.

Endless corruption.

Was any of that true? For some reason he couldn't help but wonder. He’d never been to Iacon himself and personally never really planned nor expected to visit anytime soon, too focused on being an enforcer and protecting Praxus’ citizens.

It’s where many of Iacons upper class resides and they deserve to perish

Of course it was this moment Megatrons words decided to echo in his helm. No longer influenced by his shock he remembers that there was a strong undercurrent of venom and malice seemingly reserved purely for the higher castes of Cybertron.

Why did Megatron hate the higher castes so much?

Prowl dropped his helm into his servos with a muffled clang as a new question managed to lodge itself in his processor and he quietly groaned into them.

Prowl knew without a shadow of a doubt that Megatrons actions were out of some twisted kind of joy but now he doubted that, that was the only reason for them.

He stared blankly at his desk through the gaps in his hands and after several breems of this new chain of thought circling through his helm like some sick joke he felt a subtle, barely noticeable, shift in his mind and spark or perhaps he was imaging it and he was truly being driven insane by the last vorn for not 5 kliks after that strange feeling he watching one of his servos move and rise to the side of his helm in the universal sign of being on a comm.

He watched it as though not truly comprehending what he was seeing, his optics dim and the numbness seeming to block his awareness of what he was doing.

Logically, he knew it had to be himself moving the limb, himself settling it on the side of his helm and knew it had to be him sending out a request for a comm.

Some part of him knew that something was happening and he was disassociating himself so he could protect his emotions and psyche but that he was also choosing to ignore that fact and not put a stop to it.

The time between initiating the comm. and the other mech picking up was a full 10 kliks this time and he felt a strong flash of annoyance before it was smothered by the numbness he was feeling.

When the mech did eventually pick up Prowl spoke, not even giving the other mech a chance to mock him, insult him or ask about why he had been commed.

“What did you mean by the higher castes needing to perish?”

Even to his own audios his voice sounded stilted and broken but so far away.

There was a long pause after he spoke which was followed by a deep throaty laugh that lasted for a lengthy half a breem.

“Well Prowl, have you not heard the stories and rumours of how those mechs hoard all of the credits and leave those lower than them to suffer? They even frequent gladiator fights and laugh at our pain and suffering, using the lowers castes solely for their own amusement and entertainment. Treating us like toys rather than mech with a right to a life and freedom.”

Prowl could tell the mech wasn’t lying. He didn’t trust the mech as far as he could throw him but his instincts, honed by vorns as an enforcer, were telling him that right at this very moment the mech was being completely serious with him.

“Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?” His curious tone turned gleeful as he quickly came to his own conclusions “Do you perhaps realise that those mech deserve to pay for what they’ve done?”

‘Do I?’ Prowl felt confused and conflicted ‘Maybe they do?’

That last thought that flickered through his mind was enough to shatter the numbness and like an elastic band his spark and mind snapped back into reality.

‘NO!!! What am I doing? What am I thinking? This isn’t me! I’m an enforcer, I protect all lives and Megatron has to be wrong, no one deserves to perish. What is happening to me??’

Prowl stared at his free servo both horrified and scared at his thoughts, the horror soon turned into anger that burned and licked through his spark like molten fire, anger at himself, at Megatron, at his cruel fate and before he knew it he had grabbed a datapad off of his desk and threw it against the wall, the delicate piece of technology shattering and crumbling to the floor like glass.

He then remembered that he was still in a comm. With Megatron and spat out a curt goodbye, ending the comm. Before the Kaonite could respond.

There was something wrong with him lately.

He took several deep invents to calm his racing spark before he moved and knelt by the shattered datapad, all the anger having left him as abruptly as it had come.

Luckily it had been a datapad he’d already dealt with and nothing was lost. He carefully scooped the pieces into his subspace, planning to throw them away when he got home in order to avoid any potential questions about why there was a shattered datapad in the first place.

Prowl had just stood back up when his SIC entered and Prowl had a momentary flash of panic that the mech had seen what he had been doing.

Luckily it soon became apparent that he hadn’t seen anything when all he did was speak to him with a sense of urgency.

“Sir it’s Iacon. They have an urgent comm. Request for you.”

‘Iacon? Why would they call Praxus?’

His doorwings flicked up subtly at his surprise before he resettled them and nodded at his SIC to lead the way with a gesture of his servo before following him out of his office.

He was taken to the command room, a room typically used for big operations such as large scale raids or a large attack from gangs or terrorists that pose a threat to the city.

It was also one of the few rooms with any consoles that can connect to other city states live, in case another city needed help from Praxus, a rare occurrence but it does occasionally happen.

He was led to the console furthest in the back to offer some privacy.

As he sat he took note of the other mech on the screen a somewhat bulky green mech with a grim frown on his face.

“Are you commander Prowl?”

“Yes and who are you might I ask?”

“My name is Hound and I word for the Iaconi enforcers”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Hound. May I inquire as to the purpose of this call?”

Hound nodded “There was a large attack during a festival by what we believe to be an unknown group of terrorists and there were a number of casualties, particularly enforcers. We believe that we were the target of the attack and the festival merely a way to get our attention.”

‘Enforcers were the target of terrorists? I have a bad feeling about the mechs behind this’ Keeping his thoughts to himself he nodded for him to continue.

“Many of our higher command were deactivated or severely injured. In fact I hold the highest rank of the survivors and I’m only a second lieutenant”

“2nd lieutenant? That must mean you lost your commander, his SIC and all of his generals. Am I correct?”

“Yes. The only one who did survive was actually our SIC Ultra Magnus and he is still in critical condition. We are still unsure if he will survive.”

Prowl dipped his doorwings and helm “I am sorry for the loss of what I’m sure were many good and honourable enforcers and I pray that Ultra Magnus survives.”

Hounds optics dimmed in grief. He most likely lost friends of his own in the attack.

After several kliks Prowl gently prompted the mech to get to the root of why he was called.

“Please tell me why you took the time to call during such a difficult time.” Prowl felt a flash of guilt as he knew he probably sounded a little cold but he still hasn't recovered from whatever it was that had happened in his office. 

“Well you see sir, we have come to a decision and would like to ask you to come to Iacon for a few decaorns and help us get back on our feet until Ultra Magnus is well enough to take over.”

Prowl could clearly see desperation shining in the mechs optics but still… 

“Are you unable to do this yourself? It’s extremely rare for another city state to send their own enforcer commander to aid another city in such a way and I can’t imagine that everyone will be pleased with this arrangement.”

“Yes, I know sir but… I am fully aware that no one here, including myself, could handle the responsibilities that come with leadership during this time. Many of us lost friends during the attack and still may lose more and we would like to get back to saving who we can but we know in our current state we may do more harm than good without direction given recent events.”

Prowl thought about it for a long moment. Thinking of mechs who would need to take some of his usual workload whilst he was gone.

Eventually, he gave Hound a small reassuring smile as he nodded “I would happily come and help another city in its time of need. When would you like me to arrive?”

He watched Hound visibly slump in obvious relief and the green mech gave him a shaky smile “As soon as you can be here would be great.”

“Then I shall be there within the decaorn.”

“Thank you sir, truly. I look forward to meeting you in person.”

“Likewise, good orn Hound”

“Good orn to you too sir.”

The call ended after their farewells and Prowl immediately rose to his pedes comming his SIC, who had left after leading him here.

“Something has happened in Iacon and I will need you to take over temporary leadership of the Praxus enforcers for an unknown period of time. Come you call Glacius, Swiftfall and Chaser to my office?”

“Yes sir. I’ll have it done immediately.”

“Thank you Roadwise.”

He ended the comm. and entered his office not long after to await the requested enforcers.

He knows Megatron had something to do with this, it was timed far too well for it to be a mere coincidence.

------------------------------

On the morning he was going to catch a transport to Iacon he woke to a datapad sitting innocently on his kitchen table and picked it up with his optics narrowed in suspicion.

It was the first datapad to have ‘mysteriously’ appeared in awhile so he felt he had every right to be wary of it.

He turned it on and internally scoffed at the message on the screen. Though he did find himself wondering how Soundwave got permission to do this from Megatron. Perhaps what happened before amused the tyrant more than he had thought.

Soundwave wanted to see if your hacking was a fluke or not so I allowed him to encrypt this and hide the original message. Do comm. me if you fail to get access.

He could just imagine the smug smile on Megatrons face when he wrote that last part but like pit was he going to comm. him especially so soon after that… incident several orn ago.

‘This ought to lighten my mood and give me something to do on the way to Iacon’

He slipped the datapad into his subspace and set about pressing himself a cube of strong magnesium infused energon in order to wake him up further.

He left it to brew and went back to his berthroom, subspacing a few of his personal effects and anything else he felt he may need during his stay in Iacon.

When he returned to the kitchen his cube had finished brewing so he grabbed it, sipping it as he went to a hidden compartment he had, had installed not long after he became chief and someone broke into his home. It was where he kept his spare rifle and acid pellet rounds. He didn’t know what the precinct in Iacon still had and he would rather use his own rifle that he’s comfortable with anyway.

Glancing at his chronometer he realised the time and quickly finished his energon, washing the empty cube before putting it back away.

Triple checking that he hadn’t forgotten anything he left his apartment and locked it securely, bidding it a temporary goodbye.

After a quick thought he opted to take the stairs and headed down to the ground floor, exiting the building into the cool early morning air. He had chosen a rather early transport, preferring to avoid crowds, and knew that most mechs and femmes were still dragging themselves out of recharge.

Moving to the road he transformed and began the relatively short drive to the transport station, glad to be out before the morning rush hour and avoid any traffic.

He took his time, enjoying the pleasant drive as he knew that once he got to Iacon he would likely have little time for such things, between both the state the enforcers were currently in and whatever it was that Megatron was planning for him. 

Reaching the transport station he transformed and headed to platform 4 where his transport should soon be arriving.

He ended up waiting only a couple of breems before the intercom announced the arrival of his transport.

Transport from Praxus to iacon will be ready for boarding shortly, please wait patiently until then.

He waited and noticed only a handful of other mechs waiting on the same platform as him and was happy to know it wouldn’t be crowded.

When it was time to board he went and took a seat at the far back right, hoping that no one would try and sit with him for ‘company’.

A further 30 breems later the transport closed his doors and was thankful that by that time no had seemed to want to deal with anyone else either this early in the orn and he was left blessedly alone.

The journey would be roughly 6 joors and he should arrive at Iacon early in the afternoon as long as his transport didn’t get delayed for some reason.

He watched the scenery go by, shifting from the sprawling crystal spires of his home to the vast open space that is dotted with the occasional view of a far off village or forests of Cybertrons metallic and glinting foliage unique to his home planet.

Approximately a joor into the journey, when they were passing a patch of vast nothingness, he decided it was about time that he pulled out the datapad he had received and find out what was on it.

As he turned it on he found himself laughing quietly as a stray thought fluttered through his mind like the bio-luminescent butterflies found underneath Cybertrons crust. 

At the start of his unwilling cooperation he never would have let a message from Megatron idle for so long, too afraid it would have been seen as defiance and he would be punished for insubordination or worse that the gladiator would harm his family to make a point.

Now though, unless specifically told to look at it ASAP, he would put it off a little more each time growing less concerned about it being seen negatively and now he’s ignored a message for well over twice as long as he ever had before and Prowl realises he doesn’t feel even a little afraid.

‘I suppose I now know that Megatron would rather keep me under his pede than injure my family and use the only leverage he has over me for such a small slight. Though I am under no illusions his threats are empty ones. I’m just a useful pawn, at least until he decides to sacrifice me or swap me for something better. I can’t let him do that, my family would have no protection if I did, I need to be useful to him. Though I still hate it.’

He pondered that for a few moments longer before he shifted his focus to the datapad and switched it on. Once it was powered up he jacked in and began to hack into it with an even stronger resolve.

It doesn’t take him long to notice that the cassette player has upped the difficulty and ,despite himself, he’s impressed. There’s more false code leading him to dead ends and sneaky traps that, if made lethal, could prove to be a major pain in his aft.

He finds himself smirking, surprisingly enjoying the challenge, it’s rare for mechs to prove a challenge to him in any area. He’s not being arrogant, it's just a fact.

In the end he ends up spending half of his remaining time focused entirely on breaking into the datapad. Eventually he manages to pull the encryption apart by poking at holes he finds here and there, finding himself examining the code as he goes, trying to learn how it is the mech encrypts his data.

It’s impressive, Soundwave  clearly has experience and talent for such things but if the mech wants to stop him hacking into his data he’s going to need to improve. He may have very little practice hacking into systems but it seems he has a talent for it (not that he’s pleased about how he found out about this ability) and though he’s far from an expert at it he’s a quick study and if the blue and white mech plans to continue challenging him, he fully plans to improve.

Finishing his analysis he turns his processors to what is actually on the datapad.

Enforcer Prowl,

I see that you figured out that you needed to head to Iacon. Not that you had much of a choice, you’re very welcome for that.

You may also note that it’s been nearly a vorn since you ah… saw things my way. I figure what better way to celebrate such a momentous occasion than for you to blow up those pit spawn holed up in their towers safe and sound.

After the first 2 decaorns in Iacon you are to come to the Eden club 5 joors after your shift, come as Noctis and don’t be late.

‘So it’s happening in 5 decaorns? Least I know the when now I suppose,

Prowl sat back in his seat with a wry half smile on his face.

‘You know, I think that was the most… civil he has ever spoken to me, truly is a momentous occasion.’

Prowl half snickered to himself before glancing back down at the datapad clutched so tightly in his servo it was threatening to crack.

‘Huh… when did that happen’

He loosened his grip with some difficulty before straightening back up and peering contemplating at the datapad.

‘If megatron plans to make me a murderer then I shall at least have a little fun with Soundwave’

With that he re-encrypted the datapad, remembering every line of code thanks to having been fully focused and his advanced processors. Though he did make a few alterations. He hoped Soundwave would think that he had won before realising that he had been completely defeated when he noticed the message he had embedded in the code.

Finishing he tucked the datapad back away with a small self-satisfied grin, he didn’t care if it was childish, if his very existence was out of his control then he would at least have some fun when he could.

Admittedly, he should be feeling horrified at what he’ll be doing in a mere handful of decaorns, instead all he felt was resignation. He knew he couldn’t get out of it, nor could he hope his stay in Iacon will be shorter than expected. Megatron no doubt has plans in place to delay his return to Praxus if such a thing seemed likely to happen.

Staring out the window he decided to spend the remainder of the journey getting some recharge.

He shifted to get into a more comfortable position, one that didn’t crush his doorwings against his seat, and shuttered his optics, starting to slip into recharge quickly. Though just before he sunk into the sweet oblivion of recharge he had one last lingering thought.

‘If this happened to anyone else or even during my first decaorns of slavery, would I be able to get over it and recharge so easily?’

-----------------------

Prowl was jolted awake a couple of joor later by the transport jerking to a slow stop and he looked out the window to see a bustling station filled to the brim with mechs and femmes of all shapes, sizes and ages boarding and exiting dozens of transports.

Tearing his gaze from the window and climbing to his pedes he followed the few mechs on the transport in disembarking, stepping out and onto a loud and crowded platform that immediately caused him to flinch at the unexpected noise and push of so many fields that overwhelmed the sensors in his doorwings.

He dialed down the sensors in his doorwings, bringing them close to his frame and tucking them as close as he could before pushing through the throng of mechs, looking around for any of the enforcers that should be waiting for him.

The noise was so different here than in Praxus as praxians are naturally aware of how sensitive doorwings are.

Thankfully it doesn’t take him long to notice Hound and one other on the street just outside of the station.

When Hound spotted him he saw the green mech smile and wave, relief flooding him as he headed in their direction.

“Greeting Hound.”

“Good orn sir.” noticing the tucked doorwings Hounds smile turned apologetic “Ah, sorry, I should have warned you about that. It can be a little much for mechs not used to it.”

Prowl brushed off the apology with a flick of his doorwings “No, it’s fine. I’m sure you’ve been rather busy.”

“Right. If you follow us we’ll take you to the place you’ll be living during your stay here so you can drop off your things. After that we’ll head to the precinct.”

Prowl nods his thanks and transforms after them, following them through the streets.

After dropping off the few things he’d brought with him, with the exception of his rifle, Hound took him to the precinct where he will be working. Which happened to only be around 10 blocks away from his temporary apartment.

Transforming back to bi-pedal at the entrance he continued to follow Hound in, expecting to be taken to the currently unoccupied commander's office and that’s probably where he would have been led if he hadn’t stopped the moment he had walked through the doors. The 2nd lieutenant noticed he had stopped only a few kliks later and looked at Prowl in confusion.

“Sir? What is it?”

What is it? This place was a thoroughly unorganized mess , no one seemed to know where they were meant to be or what they were meant to be doing. He even spotted a dark green and teal enforcer walk around the room 3 times , utterly lost until another, red and gold, mech helped him out.

He could feel his optic twitching and his doorwings rose high on his back, similarly twitching.

“Hound.”

Hearing the commanding tone of the praxians voice the green mech instinctually stood at attention.

“Yes sir?”

“Bring me a file of all the current enforcers, their investigation and whatever it was the previous generals were up to immediately.”

Confused but following his orders Hound ran off and came back several breems later with the requested info summarized on a single datapad. He handed it to Prowl and watched as the mech plugged in and downloaded all of the information, processing it unnaturally quickly thanks to his advanced systems.

Once he was finished he spoke to himself more than to Hound “Time to bring some order to this chaos.”

Hound was still confused as prowl stood ramrod straight and in such a way that he could see the entire room.

Raising his voice prowl shouted over the noise.

“Attention!!”

Many mechs stopped and gave Prowl their full attention, knowing a command from a superior officer when they heard one. The few too new to understand also soon quietened when they realised that everyone else was now silent.

“Thank you. My anime is Prowl and I will be taking over this precinct for a few decaorns to help you get back on your pedes as Ultra Magnus recovers. Now can railjack, Swiftsky and Fleetfoot come here.”

Prowls cool commanding voice radiated across the room and many of the enforcers felt it was a welcome relief after the chaos and difficulties of the past orns. It didn't take long for the requested mechs to be stood in front of him ready for their orders.

“You 3 will be taking over the duties of the generals Jackal, Patch and Detox respectively. I looked at your records and skill sets and you should be able to manage it for at least a few decaorn.”

The 3 mechs were speechless at having such responsibilities thrust upon them out of nowhere but soon realised that Prowl was expecting a response from them.

“Yes sir.”

“If you find you are struggling with anything you are more than welcome to come to me for help. I do not expect you to be comfortable with this job from the get go.”

Prowls stern expression softened for a moment to give the 3 mechs a small smile and they found themselves grinning back in appreciation.

“Yes sir. Thank you… commander” The 3 mechs gave him an Iaconian salute before heading to the former generals offices to get started.

After they were gone he proceeded to move onto the next task, addressing the previously spotted Dark green and teal mech.

“Vagrant I would like you to work with the mechs on the case about the tekkit gang.”

The mech nodded and hurried over to the team that were in charge of that case.

Prowl spent the next several joors shifting mechs around, giving them jobs and tasks and even assigning a couple of the mechs fresh out of the enforcer academy to clean up and organise the mess that permeated the entire room. He knew they weren’t particularly happy about it but ,unfortunately, it was a necessary task that needed to be done.

Needless to say when he finally made it to the commander's office he was exceptionally glad that he had chosen to get a few extra joors of recharge on the transport here.

Hound was about to turn and leave before noticeably pausing with his frame already half turned to the door.

“Thank you commander Prowl” Prowl looked at Hound confused, all he’d done was organize a precinct that was out of control.

“Alot of those mechs were lost after losing so many and didn’t know what to do. Thanks to you they now have tasks and jobs to not only take their minds off of things but you also gave them time to vent and settle back into things.”

Oh… now he understood.

Hound smiled warmly at him in gratitude and Prowl nodded in acceptance.

“I’m truly glad that it will help them. I know what it's like to lose friends on the job and it’s never easy. Now could you please aid me in getting acquainted with my duties here, that is if you don’t mind?.”

“Of course not sir.” Hound turned back around and headed in his direction and was it Prowl's imagination or was there more respect than before in the mechs voice?

Deciding to shrug it off as his imagination he set about settling himself into his own duties here.

Chapter Text

He’s been in Iacon for 2 decaorns and so far it has gone smoothly, the enforcers here have already come to respect him as a commander and it had honestly surprised him how easily they had, it was a pleasant surprise though.

‘The first in a vorn’ he thought wryly.

However, it was now time for him to get briefed on Megatrons plan for the attack on the towers. It was time for him to head to the Eden Club.

Leaving his apartment he headed down the stairs, using the extra time it gave him to mull over the last 5 joors.

Somehow he had managed to avoid thinking about this upcoming meeting during his actual shift, he supposed he could thank the homicide of a middle caste business mech for that. It had kept him sufficiently busy and distracted from the more unpleasant aspects of his life.

Reaching the streets he transformed and blended into the traffic smoothly.

That blessed peace and quiet ended 5 joors ago when he bid good night to his fellow enforcers and headed back to his apartment a few blocks away.

Reality began to creep up on him like a rust infection eyeing up it’s victim until it was ready to pounce. Really though, being able to spend 2 decaorns pretending everything was normal, as though that night nearly a vorn ago had never happened, had been nice, peaceful.

Unfortunately, one can only live in a dream for so long before they are forced to wake up.

‘It was truly enjoyable, doing what I am meant to be doing. Catching criminals, not aiding them.’

Roughly halfway to his destination he turned down a side road and drove under a rarely used underpass cloaked in pitch blackness from broken streetlights.

Changing his colour from black, white and red accents to nearly all black with wisps of white and a touch of purple before using a different side street to blend back in with the main bulk of traffic.

During the last 5 joors he had even entertained the idea of running back to Praxus and spilling what was happening to his creators before telling them to take Smokey and Blue and hiding somewhere in distant space.

That would be beyond foolish though and would just put his family in worse danger when Megatron sent his subordinates to hunt them down.

Transforming in front of the Eden Club, a low caste but popular bar and club he laughed humorlessly, ignoring the strange looks it earned him.

‘Sometimes I wish I was that foolish, then all of this would be over and I would be offlined and not have to deal with this anymore.’ It was a selfish thought, one he couldn’t control.

Staring up at the dimly lit glowing green sign he took one last steadying vent before stepping into the club, feeling very much like a mech walking willingly to his own execution.

His highly sensitive doorwings were immediately assaulted by the loud music and press of so many out of control fields surrounding him.

He considered turning down the sensitivity at the input that was bordering on pain but he ultimately decided against it, he wanted to be fully on guard and less input meant a higher chance of getting caught off guard.

Clenching his fists to help ward off the pain he walked deeper into the club, steeping around the other mechs and careful not to bump his already overtaxed doorwings, he doubted it would be pleasant.

‘This is going to ache like the pit later’

Going further into the club he scanned the different tables and booths for the somewhat familiar frame of Megatron. He paid particular attention to the darker booths hidden away at the corners of the room; assuming he wouldn't want to be out in the open.

After several breems he began to get frustrated, wondering if the mech was late.

Glancing over at the booth in the far right back he froze slightly as his gaze locked onto not Megatron but Soundwave. Shaking it off he made a beeline for that table, anything to get out of the throng of bodies.

Upon reaching the table he gave a curt nod to the cassette player.

“Noctis:Sit”

Accepting the offer Prowl slid into the seat across from him and waited for the mech to speak.

He expected to be given a datapad or for the near silent mech to swiftly jump into the explanation so they could end this quickly.

Instead Soundwave estured at the ratty menu “Want: High grade?”

Prowl opened his mouth to respond with a firm no but soon changed his mind. He wasn’t one who usually drank or got overcharged but given what this meeting would be about he wanted at least a slight buzz.

“Yes, why not? A cube of high grade may be nice”

He expected to be told to get them cubes whilst Soundwave waited or at least for him to call a server over but the mch managed to surprise him again.

“Soundwave: Will be back”

Prowl watched Soundwave disappear into the throng of dancing and drinking mecha before slumping back in his seat and staring at the ceiling, trying to relax for one last breem and shut his overactive processors up for just a moment.

Shuttering his optics he focused on the input to his doorwigs instead of ignoring it as much as it was saef to do and was briefly overwhelmed, lost in the flow of data. He had foreseen this though and was soon filtering out the unnecessary sounds until all he could hear was a faint tingle from the many fields. A quiet murmur of the never ending stream of voices. A dull thudding of the dozens of metal bodies jumping around. At last he managed to reach the music that had once been engulfed in the myriad of other sounds permeating throughout the club.

If he focused he could hear the lyrics, the beat and the melody of the music almost as clearly as the crystals of his home shone.

It wasn’t anything he had done before, having no need and seeing no appeal in any music he had heard before but he wanted something to focus on outside of his mind and reality.

So naturally he was shocked that, as the music bounced off of the sensors in his doorwings, he found the music rather enjoyable. It calmed his spark as it blocked out everything else that was tormenting it.

‘I never would have done this if I wasn’t in the position I am in. Maybe there are a few things I can still enjoy. Even though I thought there wouldn’t be anything I could enjoy anymore but...I guess even Megatron can’t taint something like music’

Prowl felt a small smile touch his mouth before his focus was abruptly snapped as Soundwave returned.

“Noctis: Functioning well?”

His smile fell and Prowl couldn’t help wince as all of that input got muddled up again. Sitting up straight he nodded at the mech and accepted the cube of high grade held out to him.

“Yes. Thank you”

‘Perhaps I should make a patch program to make it easier to filter like that in the future and not abruptly lose it, it could come in handy to be able to focus on a singular input from my doorwings in such noisy places’

Taking a sip of the potent high grade. He felt it burn down his throat before settling in his tank but made sure to hide the mild discomfort it caused at his lack of familiarity with high grade.

After reseating himself Soundwave briefly parted his mask to down half of his own cube before it swiftly slid shut again.

“Noctis:Understand reason you are here?”

“I assumed it was to be given details on my upcoming task.”

“Affirmative. Soundwave: Also on personal mission”

“A personal mission? What do you mean?”

“The datapad.”

‘Datapad?... Oh he must mean the one I hacked on the transport’

Realisation sinking in Prowl felt a smirk slowly tilt up his mouth which he hid by drinking more of the high grade. Wiping his face of the expression and replacing it with an annoyed scowl he lowered his cube and placed it on the table before beginning to root around in his subspace.

“To be honest, I completely forgot about that, I was too preoccupied with… other matters” he was careful not to reveal that he was an enforcer, lest someone accidentally overheard.

“I have it right here, so you can find what you want to know yourself.”

Handing over the datapad Prowl picked his cube back up, feigning annoyance as he turned to stare out at the crowd. He made sure to keep the blue and white mech in the corner of his optic.

Although it was hard to tell with the mech's face covered in a visor and mask, Prowl swore that Soundwaves grip tightened near imperceptibly on the datapad as he powered it on and saw his encryption fully in place. One that must have been re-applied as he knew Prowl hadn’t commed anyone for access.

Prowl drank more of his cube as he chuckled internally at the sign of frustration.

‘The real surprise has yet to be seen just yet Soundwave’

It was far more obvious when his little message had been found as Soundwaves helm turned to face him directly and Prowl could practically feel the glare being directed at him from under that visor.

There was silence from the host mech for several more breems before he spoke.

“Explain.”

Turning his full attention back on the mech seated with him Prowl drained the rest of his high grade before placing his empty cube down and speaking in as much of a faux innocent voice as he could.

“Explain what?”

Soundwave leaned closer to him in an effort to loom over him.

“Noctis: Not innocent. Noctis: Broke my encryption”

He widened his optics innocently, in as good an imitation as he could muster, of how his brother Smokescreen looked when he had caused trouble and been caught.

“I did? I don’t know what you mean Soundwave”

He could feel Soundwaves glare darken and chuckled as he dropped the innocent act.

“I'm guessing you found my message?”

“Affirmative. Noctis’ message as follows: ‘Better luck next time Soundwave’.”

He chuckled once more “And what did you think?”

“Soundwave: Surprised… frustrated. Noctis: Only one”

“The only one that’s ever managed to break your encryption?”

“Affirmative. Explain.”

Prowl sighed “To be honest, I can’t be certain. I did it on the journey to Iacon. Thanks to my advanced processors I was able to remember every line of code with just a little focus. In a rather uncharacteristic moment I decided to have some fun with it, to spite Megatron was only part of the reason”

Soundwave seemed to mull over what he’d said for a few kliks before coming up with a response, which was more curious than confused.

“Why?”

“What? Do this? Side form the obvious?” Soundwave nodded so he answered “Well to be blunt; It’s rare to find anyone who can challenge me”

“Soundwave:... Understands that”

And Prowl could tell the other mech did understand. However, he really did not want to dwell on it, it made something uncomfortable rise in his spark to know he had anything in common with someone close to Megatron.

“Right…well hacking is relatively new to me so I can’t say I’m surprised it is providing a challenge given my limited knowledge in that area of expertise.”

Soundwave seemed more than able to pick up on his discomfort, no matter how he tried to hide it but thankfully all he did was send Prowl a curious look and shrug it off.

“Noctis: New to hacking?”

As monotone as his voice comes across Prowl is still able to pick up on the subtle but genuine surprise at this new piece of information.

“Yes. The datapad I hacked into from Megatron that first time was also the first system I had ever actively hacked.”

Soundwave tilted his helm ever so slightly, clearly intrigued, and looked at him in much the same way that a sparkling looked at a new toy.

“Noctis: Must be talented”

“I suppose, though I am not pleased to discover such a talent”

“Talent:Useful to Lord Megatron”

“I’m aware” Prowl spat out as he glared at his empty cube.

“Noctis: Explain hacking process? Noctis: more high grade?”

Prowl turned his golden glare on the host mech for aklik before deflating with a terse nod.

“Sounds like a good plan”

2 joors and several more cubes of high grade later and Prowl had a pleasant buzz and enough extra charge running through his systems that he felt unnaturally warm.

He was careful not to tip over to being fully overcharged, he really didn’t want the helmache that was likely to cause and he was here on business not pleasure, at least for the moment.

“You now know every little weakness I found in your encryption. Can you tell me the details of my task so I can get back to my apartment and get some recharge before shift tomorrow?”

Some may argue that you shouldn’t tell an enemy all of their weaknesses and allow them to get stronger but in this case it was more beneficial to Prowl that Soundwave did get better at encrypting things, afterall, as reluctant as his participation in Megatrons cause was he was still involved and he didn’t want anything that may mention him or his alias slipping through and being picked up by anyone.

“Soundwave: Thanks Noctis for information. Soundwave: Will explain details of task.”

Accepting the datapad that was held out to him Prowl nodded and flicked it on, skimming through its contents quickly. His optics shuttering several times at what he was seeing, he hoped he was mistaken.

“... Does this mean what I think it means?”

Soundwave nods “Affirmative. Noctis: Will assemble bombs himself”

Oh. So he wasn’t imagining things. Just perfect.

Flicking through the datapad again Prowl re-read the specific instructions the datapad held. About how to put together different components to make a bomb.

“Megatron knows I am more likely to blow myself up assembling this than the towers doesn’t he?”

“Megatron: Believes you will succeed. Megatron: instructs Noctis to learn before the orn arrives.”

Prowl scoffs “Of course he does”

“Noctis: Able to succeed?”

Prowl frowns as he goes over the bits and pieces he read in his processors before reluctantly nodding.

“It's possible, yes”

“Acceptable. Components: Will be onsite”

“How did Megatron get these components into the towers?”

“Components: Normal on own. Only dangerous together.”

Sighing, he stared at his empty cubes in unexpected longing.

“Any other bombshells you are informing me on this orn?”Prowl muttered dryly.

“Yes. Noctis: called to towers in 3 decaorns. Noctis: Will plant bombs in these locations.”

Soundwave handed him a second datapad which he subspaces together with the first.

“Memorise. Destroy.”

“Yes. I understand. Now is that all?”

Soundwave sent Prowl a look at the borderline defiant tone but nevertheless nodded.

“Affirmative. Soundwave: Must leave.”

Standing from his seat Soundwave nods shallowly once more before departing after a final word.

“Soundwave: Guarantees Noctis will not hack data again.”

Despite all the other revelations of the night, Prowl couldn’t help himself when he shot the mech a smug smirk and taunted the other.

“Oh yea? Try me.”

If Prowl could see under Soundwaves mask he had a feeling he would see his smirk returned with another.

“Soundwave: Gladly will.”

After being left alone Prowl finished the last dregs of his cube and prepared to leave. That is till a particularly nasty thought struck him like a punch to the gut and spread like rust.

‘3 decaorns and I will be commit mass murder like a terrorist’

It made him sick to his tank and he hissed in anger at his overactive processor that seems unable to give him even a klik to vent.

‘Times like this I wish I had a switch I could use to just turn it off’ 

Changing direction he headed to the bar and dropped onto one of the rickety stools lining the worn surface calling out to the bartender.

“A cube of your strongest high grade if you will.”

The mech behind the bar nodded and swiftly returned with his requested drink in under a breem.

“Pleasure or pain?” the mech asked.

Prowl mused over the question for a klik debating both whether to answer and how to do so. Abruptly, downing half his cube he opted to answer.

“Both. Pleasure to forget the pain.”

The mech nodded and returned with another cube for him without being prompted.

“I get that alot mech.”

Inclining his helm Prowl smiled bitterly “I bet you do. Thanks…?”

“Ah, my name is Mixer” Mixer held out his servo and Prowl took it, hesitating only a moment before returning the gesture. “Noctis.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Noctis” Mixer smiled kindly.

It really was strange to hear someone who had no knowledge of the dark truth call him by the alias.

“Likewise Mixer”

‘I’ll just have to get used to it for I guess in 3 decaorns I will truly be both Prowl and Noctis’

--------------------------

It was several joor later when Prowl stumbled out of the bar, overcharged and his mind blessedly blank.

He waved off the concern of a passing bystander as he looked both ways down the street before remembering which way it was to his apartment.

Luckily he was not quite beyond rationality to forget that he shouldn’t be driving right now and that, as he stumbled into a deserted alley bouncing off a wall, he shouldn’t change his colours where anyone can see.

He couldn’t quite put a finger on why that was so important to remember right now but he just shrugged it off and exited the alley on the other end, now black and white.

It took a good joor to trip and stumble to his apartment and then his berthroom, collapsing face down with his doorwings twitching on his back before passing out.

-----------------------------

Prowl woke to his internal alarm with a pained groan, wanting nothing more than to recharge for the rest of the orn. He knew he couldn’t though, he had duties to perform.

‘Frag. Why does my helm hurt so much? I remember talking with Soundwave and receiving 2 datapads. One was about the bombs and the other...locations?’

Pushing himself up he stretched, popping a few plates back into place as he tried to recall anything else. Like why his helm felt like it was being used as a punching bag.

Standing to his pedes he was about to make his way to his living area when his tanks gurgled ominously and his optics widened in realisation before he dove for the waste bin and purged whatever highgrade and energon remained in his tank.

The energon going back up his throat burned and his helmache worsened making his wince at a particularly nasty jolt.

“Fragging pit” muttering to himself he rubbed at his helm and at last made his way to his living area.

Grabbing a cube of regular midgrade he sipped at it carefully to avoid upsetting his tank and purging again. Having yet to remember anything else he was about to give up hope when a memory flashed through his mind. He recalled laying face down on a bar counter, surrounded by empty cubes.

“Well, that confirms it. I definitely got overcharged last night”

He couldn’t really say he was surprised, not because of the very obvious signs that was his helmache coupled with him purging but because of what little he could remember of the previous night that was coming to him in bits and pieces. 

He could tell that he definitely had needed a break and from what he could recall he had definitely succeeded in getting said break. He has not been that relaxed and unconcerned since his rather unfortunate kidnapping.

There was none of the self-loathing and hate filled thoughts present that had become so common in his mind this past vorn.

‘Maybe getting thoroughly overcharged every once in a while isn’t so bad…’ Scoffing and shaking his helm at his own thoughts he drank the remainder of his cube before tossing the empty container in the sink to wash later.

Looking at his chronometre he found himself cursing, he had overslept.

‘Damnit. Why did I not check the time sooner?’

He ran out of his kitchen and passed through his living area again, this time his optics caught on a datapad that he knew he hadn’t left there, leading him to only one possible conclusion.

“Frag you Megatron. Can’t you give me a Primus-forsaken break already?”

Scowling he swiped the datapad into his subspace with the others, without turning it on, and exited his apartment.

Knowing he didn’t have enough time to take the stairs he went to the elevator and slipped in, quickly pressing the button for the ground floor.

As it smoothly ascended (too slowly in his opinion) he kept glancing at his chronometre impatiently. He was going to be late!

Since his first orns as a beat cop he had always made an effort to arrive for his shift one joor early. He became very glad he had developed such a habit as when he became chief there never seemed to be an end to the paperwork required to run the precinct on an orn by orn basis.

Venting in relief when the door slid open he rushed out of the building and transformed, weaving in and out of traffic as safely as he could whilst wanting to gun his engine.

He reached the precinct just as his chronometer reached the joor he was meant to be there and transformed, composing himself as he entered.

He immediately began for his office returning the greetings from many of the enforcers with a small smile, though thankfully nothing pressing seems to have happened overnight as no one ran up to him in an urgent panic.

Entering his office he locked the door in a clear message that he was busy at the moment unless an emergency occurred and slumped heavily into his chair.

Closing his optics for a breem he tried to push away the lingering helmache with only minimal success.

Sighing and resigning himself to having to put up with it until it passes on it’s own, though he severely wished he had, had some simple medical supplements in his possession that could lessen the pain.

Onlining his terminal he checked through his messages for anything important that needed his immediate attention.

Finding nothing except basic status reports from different enforcers about where they are in their investigations, a few asking to borrow some specific enforcers from different departments that they really needed help from to advance their cases.

He signed off on the majority of them, the rest were unfortunately too busy with other tasks to assist easily and he sent quick messages to those who had requested a mech that was unavailable, promising to inquire further and see if they were likely to get freed up any time soon to assist.

Finishing up with these within a couple joors he moved onto his personal messages. He found he only had a few.

One was from his second in command back in Praxus, reassuring Prowl that things were running well for the time being and asking how he was doing.

Smiling at the worry he typed up a response.

It is good to hear everything is running smoothly. I do hope the increased workload isn’t too much for you? As for my current condition I am functioning well and am content… though I will admit I deeply miss Praxus, Iacon is a wonderful place and the mechs equally so but there’s nothing that can truly compare to my home. I can’t wait to return in a handful more decaorns.

Hitting send prowl moved onto his other messages, responding to ones from friends and reading through the rest carefully. As he reached the last few he spotted one from his family and smiled bittersweet.

Hello there my beautiful creation we all hope you are doing well, me and your Sire are worried but we know you’re strong so I’m sure it’s for nothing. We can’t wait to see you again, we barely managed to spend any time at all with you after you returned and it’ll be lovely to see you again and spend some proper time together.

Love Carrier and Sire

‘Love you too creators’ he thought fondly with a warm smile.

Hey big bro! I hope you’re doing well in Iacon and that no ones causing you trouble, if they are tell me and I’ll give them a piece of my mind! Anyway I have something amazing to tell you, our creators were going to tell you the good news but I wanted to tell you myself! Ready? I got accepted into the higher academy. I’ll be taking psychology! Isn’t it amazing? You have to get back soon so we can properly celebrate, you still haven’t taken me or Blue on that picnic you promised to a vorn and you never break your promises right? See you soon big bro.

Smokescreen

Prowl chuckled quietly imaging Smokescreen tell a bunch of enforcers off for ‘upsetting his big bro’

Big brother! I miss you so, so much! Though you probably already know that but I wanted you to know I miss you lots just in case! Smokey misses you too but he probably didn’t tell you or maybe he did? Sorry I shouldn’t just be guessing on stuff like that should I? Sorry! Right anyway did you know I’m a big mech now! Last vorn of mechling school then I’ll be in the academy! I can’t wait to make a bunch of new friends and introduce them to you. Did you know I’m also getting closer to getting my youngling upgrades, I can’t wait for them.  Actually you probably do know that cause you know lots and lots of stuff. I wish I was as smart as you so I’d know alot too but don’t worry I’m not jealous or anything, promise! I can’t wait to see you again soon, Smokey says you’re taking us on that picnic you promise? Um Sire and Carrier said I should wrap this up or it will never end and so never get to you. Sorry I know I talk alot so see you soon big brother, I love you!

Bluestreak

Prowl smiled brightly as he finished Bluestreaks' admittedly long message. His spark felt light and warm in his chest, he missed his family dearly and he decided that when he did get back to Praxus he would take his brothers on that picnic. He did promise afterall an he did really miss them.

Feeling a pang of longing thrum though his spark he closed his personal messages, deciding to respond at a later time. They deserved a response not limited on time and right now he had a lot of information to learn and memorise as ordered by his...master but he was doing it for his family.

Sighing, his good mood officially ruined by the bitter truth he took the 3 datapads out of his subspace and laid them out across his desk.

He braced himself, venting deeply because he knew that everything on these datapads would be seer in his mind to haunt him for eternity. He couldn’t afford to forget anything. For the lives he would take. For his loved ones. He couldn’t afford to fail.

Steeling himself he picked up the datapad in the centre, honestly glad it was the one that just held blueprints and the specific locations the bombs would be. It was something he was used to doing, though usually it was locations of known homicides to track a killer's movements or criminal hideouts set to be targets in an upcoming raid.

There were 5 locations per tower for a total of 30, all on primary support columns with the 5th being around halfway up the tower in high traffic areas for maximum damage as they tend to be popular hang outs. The 5th bomb in each tower did differ slightly depending on individual groups of nobles preferences.

Prowl was impressed. This has clearly been a plan in the making for quite awhile or they would never have such accurate information on the nobles. They almost never made an appearance in public and rarely hired new servants, preferring to keep to themselves.

He spent a joor going over the locations and blueprints several times until he had every room, corridor, servant passage and note memorised.

Placing that datapad back down he shifted his gaze from the one to the left and the one to the right, mulling over the 50/50 choice before choosing the one on the left.

Onlining it he found the plans for the bombs themselves and sighed with a glare shot in it’s direction. He was hoping that this datapad would be the last one he read.

Continuing to glare at the innocent datapad as though it had personally offended him in some way he debated putting it down and reading the third, mystery datapad first. Unfortunately, he was too stubborn and refused to do so, if he did that it would feel like he was getting laughed at by Megatron for being weak. It was just information, statistics and numbers. Nothing to be afraid of.

Closing his optics briefly he pushed away the need to glare death at the thin slab of technology and dripped onto the calm Prowl was usually known for with an iron grip before setting about memorising the information stored on it.

It took 3 joors to commit the information to memory, due in part to getting interrupted a few times to receive reports and due in part to not being able to tand what he would do with it. No enforcer should have this much in depth knowledge about bombs and how to make them unless they were a forensic bomb specialist.

Eventually, he finished and stared bemusedly at the now dark screen of the datapad, lost in thought.

‘It really is as easy as Soundwave said it was to smuggle materials for bombs into the towers. I never would have guessed a bit of energon, a magnesium and lithium compound you can create at home and certain crystals with an appropriate spark could make for an efficient, if unstable explosive’

Turns out he had been right when he spoke to Soundwave. He was just as likely to blow himself up as well as the towers. He made any mistake creating the bombs and he would both fail Megatron and get himself killed.

Prowl slumped back in his chair, doorwings drooped low on his back, with a dull and blank expression. As he thought over the information he had learned, puzzling over how to make these without being discovered by either the nobles or the towers many, many servants.

At some point his expression started to twitch, his blank face lifting into a self-deprecating smile as a dark feeling writhed in his chest and made his frame feel hot. The despondent smile grew and his frame began to rattle and shake.

Soon he began to laugh, the force of it causing his frame to quickly overheat and burn as he curled into himself, bringing his legs up and wrapping his arms around them. His doorwings followed and curled to cocoon his frame as it was riddled with laugher that made him gasp for cool air.

If one were to happen upon Prowl and looked close enough they would see the torment and conflicting emotions, shining in his icy optics, that were steadily leaking tears that fell to ping on the armor of his legs and chest rhythmically.

The gasping laugher was tinged with pain as he stressed his systems but he continued to laugh, seeming unable to stop, as his arms tightened around himself, clutching at his own frame so tightly his fingers left dents and grooves as they creaked in protest.

It took a long while for the laughter to peter off until he was left vetting heavily in an effort to cool his overheated frame.

Loosening a servo with some effort he wiped away the last remnants of the tears he had shed.

He stayed cocooned by his doorwings and limbs for another joor before he felt ready to try and push away the dark presence in his spark and get ahold of himself.

‘I guess… I wasn’t handling everything as well as I had initially thought… the datapads seemed to have been the last straw.’

Managing to falsify a semblance of calm and stability he slowly uncurled his frame, placing his pede back on the ground and settling his doorwings still and straight on his back with only the occasional quiver.

Leaning down he picked up the datapad that had been knocked to the ground during his hysterical laughter and placed it back on his desk, only to pause when he saw a spiderwebbed crack shattering the smooth pane of glass.

Prowl found himself staring at the crack and feeling a sort of… understanding flash through him at the sight of a usually solid and smooth plane of glass, being damaged and marred before he placed it with the others.

There was one datapad left, the mystery datapad he had found that orn and he quickly decided that he couldn’t risk another… breakdown at the moment, not in the precinct where anyone could accidentally stumble upon him. He had gotten lucky this once and he doubted he would have such luck again. He couldn’t let anyone see him in such a state, it would bring questions he couldn’t answer and suspicion he couldn’t afford.

Decision made he scooped them up and deposited them back in his subspace, his gaze lingering on them for only a klik, the third and last datapad a klik longer.