Understood
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Chapter 1
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Cyclonus looked over the assortment of mechs and femmes hanging about outside of the taverns of Overdock's notorious Seventh Cycle Street. Some leaned up against the walls. Some parked their afts on the guard rails. Others hung in the entryways of the cheap hotels above the taverns. It was a quiet night four days before the paymasters doled out wages, so there would be plenty of selection.
A few, familiar with the fright-faced purple warrior, smiled and beckoned surreptitiously, and Cyclonus smiled back. Being a known client of their sort gave him a little more bargaining power. Not that he needed to bargain. Megatron paid well enough. So well that Cyclonus really should have been frequenting the luxury brothels that catered to the officers and upper echelons of Kaonian society.
But he hated the mechs and femmes that worked at those places—fancy, overpaid things that expected to be treated like nobility and presented with gifts in exchange for even just speaking with them in their plush palaces. True, they were beautiful and damage free and could hold a conversation. But somehow he preferred the streetwalkers that crawled the seedier regions of Kaon—unpretentious, unassuming beings that were just trying to make a living through the hardships brought on by the long war. Most were refugees. Some were mentally or physically broken. Others were just lost in the chaos of life.
The saying that it was lonely at the top had proved true, and the higher he'd risen in the Decepticon ranks the lonelier it seemed to have gotten, every promotion and every advancement setting him a little further apart from his fellow soldiers. He came down to the Overdock district twice or thrice an orn to relax. Here he could always find someone to drink with and someone to 'face—mechs and femmes who didn't care a thing about his rank as long as he was buying. Their concern was his money. So what if he had to pay for attention? So what if his companions were only in it for the credits he offered in exchange for their time? At least everyone understood.
Outside of the Old Kaon Tavern he spied a cluster of minibots seated on the railing, a couple of which he'd never seen before, the four sharing a cube of cheap high-grade. But their purpose for being there was clear from the twist of black wires wrapped around each's upper left arm. Somehow this token had become the sign of a prostitute in Kaon long ago, well before the war had begun.
Cyclonus hated to admit that he had a thing for minibots, but of course he noticed them more than the other mechs selling themselves. Intrigued, he strolled over and smiled as the four looked up at his approach. "Hey... looking for a little bit of fun?" asked the pink and black one, a femme he knew he'd bedded at least once before if not twice. She familiarly wrapped her arms around his waist. For most, it would have been too brazen to touch him so openly. Minibots could get away with it.
"Better take two of us," said the dark blue mech next to her, yellow bio-lights flaring attractively. "We're small." He put one arm across the femme's shoulders indicating they could be had as a team.
"Perhaps," he said, looking at the blue and white and the red and white minibots he did not recognize. "I've not seen you two around here before."
"We're new to Kaon," said the red and white mech, his companion drawing somewhat behind him. "Nice and fresh if you're looking for something a bit different," he said enthusiastically, his blue visor glinting. "And you can have us as a pair, too," he said, not wanting to be outdone by the other two.
Intrigued, Cyclonus leaned to the side to look at the other. "Let me see your face," he ordered of the white and blue one.
Shyly, the minibot he'd addressed turned his head away. "It's not that pretty," the small thing said, his words trailing off.
The red and white one gasped and chided the other. "Tailgate! Don't ruin this for us. Show it to him for Primus-sakes!"
"But... but..."
Cyclonus chuckled and straightened up. "Yeah. Most of the Autobot spies don't like to show their faces." He turned to the other pair. "You two have three cycles to spare?"
The dark blue mech squeaked delightedly, and the pink and black femme one talked business with an encouraging smile. "Of course. Four hundred for each of us for the first cycle and three hundred for each additional cycle. An additional hundred and fifty credits if you wish to use our berth."
Cyclonus chuckled again. "I'll hire you both, but no thank you to trying to frag you two on a minibot's bed. I'll rent a room."
The red and white mech let out a deep whimper, which did not go unnoticed, for the tall purple mech turned and gave him a fixing glare. "Tell your friend to loosen up a little or he's going to have a hard time working like this."
"I'm sorry, sir," the red and white mech apologized. "He's very new. We're very new."
The Decepticon smiled a rather intimidating smile, and it only made the blue and white mech bury his face in his companion's plating. "Then maybe next time." He turned back to the other two. "Well? Ready?"
"Of course, big guy," grinned the femme, wrapping her arms again around his waist.
Swerve watched disgustedly as the trio walked off and into one of the hotel entrances, a happily giggling minibot on each arm. And then he turned on Tailgate, glaring hard.
"I'm... I'm sorry Swerve. I-I just got a b-bit nervous there because he l-looked pretty scary," Tailgate stuttered before the other mech could open his mouth.
"You just lost us two thousand credits!" Swerve blurted. "All you had to do was pull back that mask and show him those pretty lips of yours!" Angrily he crossed his arms over his chest. "We can't be fussy about who we work for. You know that. We talked about it. Once he had us in bed you could have kept your optics off!" He ended with a huff and then grabbed what remained of the cube of high-grade and downed it quickly.
"He might have hired us," Tailgate said softly, trying to downplay the situation. "We don't know for sure."
"Might have. But no, he certainly wasn't going to once you got all spooked on him."
Tailgate let out a huge sigh. "I'm sorry Swerve."
"That would have been half a month's rent in one night," Swerve moped. "And a hotel room. We could have had a nice hot bath afterwards instead of that disgusting cubicle our landlord calls a washrack."
"There will be others," Tailgate said, trying to placate his friend. "We know there will."
"Sure... there will be others. But it's four days until the army gets paid."
"It's only four days. We'll be fine, Swerve."
"We'll be hungry."
Tailgate sighed. "I know."
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"Understood" continues in Chapter 2
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Welcome to my AU Cygate story! Just to warn any serious readers, so far I've written over forty chapters for this story. Some chapters are quite short, little more than a vignette. Others have more substance. Sometimes I'll be posting multiple chapters at a time. If you don't want to miss anything, you'll want to give this a "follow." As always, feel free to leave commentary or constructive criticism, and PM's are always welcome too.
