Work Text:
A darker side of things.
"Who are you?"
Both turned at the bitchy sounding voice and blinked. There, standing in the entrance, was a young femme. Older than the pair by several vorns but still a youngling. A seeker youngling, if the stubby wings were anything to go by.
"Who you?" Gambler shot back from behind his twin, who had his arms crossed and an appraising look on his faceplates.
"I asked first, morons. Plus, you're not seekers." She smirked.
".. Loanshark."
"Gambler."
"Cute names for groundpounders. Who are your 'Tors?"
"Than - HEY! What about you?" Loanshark growled. The seeker femme just giggled as she waggled a finger at the mechs, delighting in the way that they bristled. This was fun. Like watching the 'Tors teasing each other. Or one of them bossing Skyfire around or the cresh guardians having fits when some of the much younger hatchlings tried to fly.
"Well?" The one called Loanshark demanded, his optics narrowing as a scowl started to form.
"You can all me Slipstream." She did a little twirl, wings flicking slightly, much like Starscreams' did when he was showing off to his mates.
"Who are your creators?" Gambler pressed as he slowly came out from behind his twin, curious about the femme's attitude. It was brutal in its delivery and it attracted him somewhat.
"Around, working. Doing this and that." She was vague, too vague for the twins liking, but if she was hiding something, they really had no reason to complain. They too had something to hide, something that could see them separated for good.
"Oh.. Ours as well." It was sort of true. They were only waiting for the mech to return Motorcross then they'd be leaving, but that wasn't for another good few joors and they'd gotten bored. This had resulted in giving their nanny – Zerox- the slip again. It was always fun to watch him panic and flail at losing them. Again.
"Hmmph. But you should leave Vos... Outsiders aren't welcome." Slipstream aimed tiny nullrays at the pair, who whined softly. What was it with femmes being bossy? They didn't answer though, simply headed back the way that they came, each contemplating the strange seekerlet. She was cute, but they doubted that they'd ever see her again. Sire and Dam didn't like coming to Vos that much as where they could go was heavily restricted, almost to the point it wasn't worth getting out of the ship. Not that it had stopped them though given one of the better points for the Outsider traders was the blackmarkets of Vos.
Plus Dam had wanted to see if the Vosians made as good a katana as was claimed.
"There you two are."
The pair looked up when they heard Zeroxs' voice and smiled innocently. They fell into step beside him, allowing him to guide them back. They saw Motorcross there, looking worn, but neither really cared. Autobots were chattel; it's what they had been taught. Autobots existed to be used and abused as the Decepticons saw fit and that applied to their nannies as well. It was just life, nothing personal against Autobots.
"UP!" Gambler demanded as soon as he was in range of his dam. Prowl offered a tired smile, but obliged the youngest of his creations by picking him up, nuzzling a little. He didn't mind showing some affection in public - they were still young and it wasn't fair to ask them to grow up faster than they already were.
"Did you have fun, scraplet?" Lockdown was gruff as usual, but for those who knew the bounty hunter intimately, his tone held something akin to affection. Both twins nodded, grinning. Oh, they'd had fun and had found something worth coming back for when they could. A cute seekerlet.
Lockdown smirked. "Back into the ship with you lot then. Got the next job already." He didn't say that it was a capture alive one, nor that the twins would be confined to the playrooms. Prowl put Gambler down as he wriggled and the twins darted off to the ship, waiting there patiently for the door to be lowered. Both creators shared a look of fondness for their offspring. At only 15 vorns old they where still very much sparklings in frame and behaviour, though they would soon require upgrades.
"STOP!"
The cry caught their attention just as the door lowered. Prowl turned, frowning a little and prepared to dismiss it as an Autobot being an attention-whore. It wasn't though, and there was a hissed intake of air. He felt Lockdown shift beside him, but it didn't stop the unease. While he thought of himself as a Decepticon now, Prowl was still an Autobot at his core. Take away the red visor and the false signal and he was as good at chattel. Yet, despite the vorns of working as a bounty hunter, he still retained the morals. It was why he looked away, unwilling to witness what was happening.
"You know the rules, Autobot scum. The sparkling comes with us." The guard - a large black mech, growled while his partner held a struggling sparkling. "Slaves aren't permitted to raise sparklings."
"No! You can't! He's too young -" the Autobot cried out as it was backhanded, crashing into a heap. The sparkling wailed even more, kicking. A quick optic flicker to their own slaves had Lockdown's optics narrowing at the femme's behaviour, though it looked like Zerox was trying to keep her in place. Good. The bounty hunter didn't need a scene. Not in public. He could deal with any outburst that happened on his ship, but in public. It would be a pain to say the least and he'd rather not be embarrassed. As it stood he could feel 'Blazing' shift within. That wasn't good.
"Please... "
It was that whimper that snapped Motorcross's control and she lunged, ignoring Zeroxs' startled cry and Lockdowns' growled order to stop. She wouldn't - she couldn't just let Decepticons take a sparkling away from it's creators. It wasn't right.
"Give it back to him!"
"Or what, Autobot? What can a thing like you do?" the guards laughed, the black one catching her by the arm and reeling her in. "You're nothing, just chattel. Sparklings aren't allowed for chattel. "
She glared, kicking out, anything to fight back. She was so sick of this, so sick of the way her kind was treated, especially on Cybertron. It wasn't as bad in some parts of Decepticon held space, but Cybertron seemed the worst.
"Who owns this thing?"
"I do." Lockdown was fuming and his optics blazed a little, showing that 'Blazing' was there, but not yet coming out. He grabbed his slave roughly, bending her arm painfully behind her back, almost breaking the hydraulics in her shoulder and elbow joint. She whimpered, kicking weakly out, trying to hide the fear. Without waiting for the guard to acknowledge, Lockdown hauled her way, Prowl and a subdued and tense Zerox following.
"You're going to wish that you'd not done that in public." His optics blazed to life, 'Blazing' awaking with a dark and cruel smirk. The femme would pay for embarrassing him, dearly.
"It's been dealt with." 'Blazing' was in a foul mood when he came up from the brig, energon staining his hand and hook. "I left it alive, barely, locked in the brig. It's out of bounds until I decide otherwise."
Prowl nodded emotionlessly. While he didn't agree with what his mate had done, the way that femme had behaved had been out of order. It'd embarrassed both him and Lockdown. It was unacceptable and while he was sickened by the taking of Autobot sparklings from the creators, he was also numb to it. But this one...
"I'm going to meditate for awhile."
'Blazing' nodded, watching his ninja leave. He wouldn't disturb him, he could tell that Prowl was shaken, yet refusing to show it.
Stoic aft that he was.
But he was their – both his and Lockdown's - stoic aft. With a shrug, 'Blazing' sat down in the pilots chair; content to let things be, if only as he was liable to get shurikened if he disturbed his mate right now.
Prowl looked at the broken and battered femme that lay on the other side of the bars. Energon stained her and from the looks of it, Lockdown'd had fun in almost dismembering her. Prowl didn't care if he'd interfaced with her or not. It hardly mattered in the long run. She was simply a credit making whore whose use would one day run out. That was the cold hard truth.
But, the ninja had to admit that he was curious as to why she'd disobeyed an order and tried to help the Autobot sparkling.
"Why did you do it?"
"Be... Because... It's not right..." She rasped out, vocaliser almost smashed beyond repair making it extremely painful to talk. Moving was also painful and iInternal repairs were slow and what little energon she got didn't help.
"How so? You are simply chattel. Should you come with sparkling-"
"Like that would... ever happen." She gave a bitter laugh. "I can't."
Prowl blinked. She had to be lying. Every mech had a creation matrix on the inside of the sparkchamber. The creation programing in the spark linked to that. It was how a mech, or a femme, carried a spark until it was at full term and ready to be transferred into it's first frame. "Can't?"
"Yes... A... virus... attacked me when I was a youngling.." the femme's face twisted in pain at the memory. "It swept through the outlying Delta sector outposts like a plague. Likely got other sectors to before the anti-virus was made..."
Again, Prowl blinked. He supposed that it could be true. He knew very little about the going ons of his early vorns other than what had happened on Cybertron. He'd never really paid much attention to news that didn't affect him either.
"I can't create...It's why what you Decepticons do is wrong.. to take away a spar...sparkling... you break the desire for more.." She didn't know that for sure, but... It was worth a shot. "And even if I did... I'd reveal your secret if I ... If I lost my own creation.."
"I would kill you, publicly." Prowl's optics hardened as he looked at the femme. "As it stands, you're going to be in here for a very long time."
She glowered as she watched him leave, nothing but hatred for the traitor in her spark and optics. One day, she would be free. Both her and Zerox.
Prowl's recharge was not that pleasant that orn, plagued by a stasismare like none other.
/ He smiled down at the little newborn sparkling, watching as his optics blinked on. Gambler they'd called him. But that was before they knew his optic colour. Lockdown had changed, ever since they'd come into contact with that energy, he'd been different. More demanding, harsher, not as forgiving. He still loved the bounty hunter, but... It was strained. This wasn't the Lockdown that he'd grown to like, to love as a mate and a fellow mech.
And now he feared for the safety of Gambler. The medic that they'd kidnapped had been tossed into a cell and no doubt was going to be terminated if he didn't do something.
Looking around, Prowl made a noise of distress. There was nothing that he could use to hide Gambler's optics and it scared him, deeply. He didn't want to lose the younger.
"Let me see him." 'Blazing' didn't wait for Prowl to give permission as he took the sparkling, optics narrowing in distaste. "He'll be sold when he'd old enough."
"NO!" Prowl shook his head, unwilling to accept this. How could the Decepticon be so callous about it? Gambler was an innocent, someone who had no idea what his optics meant, and to curse him to a life of slavery based on optic colours... It was ridiculous.
"Are you contradicting me?" Red optics flared golden.
"Yes." Prowl lunged, using all his speed and training to snatch his sparkling away. Let Lockdown, or whoever it was that was now in control of that frame, have Loanshark. Prowl wanted Gambler to be safe.
Using his smaller stature to his advantage, the ninja darted out, keying the door to lock after him - from the outside. He then darted down to the cells, keying open the one to the medic's cell.
"Take him, and run as far and as fast as you can. His name's Gambler. Please." He all but begged as he pushed the tiny sparkling into the mech's arms.
"Alright." Zerox, who was the medic. nodded.
"An escape pod's on the lower level. Hurry."
Zerox nodded, and then took off. Prowl turned, moving to find Lockdown. He'd buy time for Zerox to escape to safety with Gambler. He had to, there was no choice left.
He just felt like he was going to his execution or worse... /
Prowl awoke with a harsh gasp, red optics widening as he pulled in air, trying to cool his overheating systems. Beside him, Lockdown stirred.
"Kid?"
"Just… Just a stasismare... "
"Oh?"
"Yea... It... was nothing.." Prowl lay back down, cuddling Lockdown.
"Ya sure?"
".. No. I... You would never force me to give up Gambler would you?"
"Never. The scraplet's as much as mine as he is yours. And if anyone ever found out..." He gave a smirk and Prowl gave a weak grin back. He knew what his mate meant, but it didn't stop the unease and shakily feelings from the stasismare taking hold.
It took him a while to fall back into recharge.
"Where's ya shadow?"
"Taking care of business. Why are you here?" Prowl shifted, defensive and alert at the same time as he looked at the much older ninja, who was a great war veteran, as he'd come to find out.
"Passin' through, ya know? We got word that Megatron's got himself a Prime." Jazz didn't see the harm in telling Prowl that much. Just not the name of the Prime.
"And you're trying to stage a rescue? How cute."
Jazz shifted. He missed the old Prowl, the one that hadn't picked up on Lockdown's sense of humour, or some of his habits. He missed the more innocent Prowl, almost as much as he missed the one that had been killed in the Great War. He'd been reborn, but.. he wasn't anything like he was in the past. And it hurt. But now he had the jet twins to look after, and try and keep his hands off until they where ready. Not that pair helped with the unintentional come on's at Jazz. But that was neither here nor there. "Maybe. Also looking for something else."
"What?"
"Now now.. I ain't gonna tell a bounty hunter." Jazz went on alert. Prowl could sell his plans out if he wanted to, and he wasn't gonna risk that at all.
"Hmph. If you're going to Cybertron, make sure that you keep your emotions under check if you see sparklings being taken from a slave." Prowl paused then fished out a data stick then tossed it to Jazz. "Here, knock yourself out."
"Wha?" Jazz blinked but caught the data stick.
Only a smirk and a sarcastic wave was Prowl's answer. He owed Jazz nothing. As he watched Prowl walk away, Jazz had to wonder: just how much had Prowl changed if he'd been able to say such a thing so flatly, so.. unbitterly, Like it was nothing, if not beneath him to even mention? But the data stick…. Jazz wondered what it was about. He'd take it to Inferno and Red Alert. See what they made of it.
The saboteur turned ninja didn't think that he ever wanted to find out the answer to the riddle about Prowl. He feared that it would taint the remaining memories he had of him.
- FIN-