Strategic Omissions: Chapter One
Twins x Prowl x Jazz
Characters: Prowl, OCs (Blacklight, Slipstreak, Inclement, SpotOn), Knock Out, Scrapper, Hood, Scavenger, Mixmaster, LongHaul, Soundwave and cassettes
Rating: T
Words: 2187
Summary: Prowl is Spec Ops, charged with the undercover mission of infiltrating Tactics with a mech masquerading as his lover to transmit information, but he's left behind on Cybertron after attaining his rank and almost revealing his former occupation and is also separated from the mech that was his lover. Prowl x Jazz – Prowl x Twins – Twins x Prowl x Jazz
Pre-Story Author's Note: There will be a lot of time skips in this story, but should mainly be between chapters and not in them, except for this one since it's just scenes from random times in Prowl's development. Reviews and the like are extremely welcome since I'm not quite entirely sure of this idea or how it will play out.
A slightly built black and white mechling looked up at his Carrier with a rather blank faceplate – unusual for one so young to have already learned. He didn't know what exactly had just happened, but his Creator had just slapped his Carrier and stormed out after reading the data pad that the medic that had given him his upgrades had handed him. Slipstreak, his Carrier, frowned after the black and purple mech before looking at the results displayed on the screen that she had picked up and turned so that she could read it. The information astounded her since: A) Blacklight wasn't listed as her mechling's Sire, but was her Bonded – something she had expected, B) the mechling had some kind of systems glitch that she regarded with no little amount of disgust, and C) she didn't even read as being his Carrier though she quite clearly had been – she had the spark scarring to prove it. The listed Sire was one Inclement, who she was intimately familiar with, and the listed Carrier was one SpotOn, who she was quite clearly not since she had sparked - something that femmes were unable to do together but mechs were capable of, and SpotOn was listed as a femme. How that happened, only Primus knew. Had Blacklight been cheating on her just as she had been cheating on him? Had those two's spark energies somehow merged together within a sparkmerge between the bondmates to create the coding for this youngling?
The youngling looked up at her again after having lowered his faceplate to examine the joins between the plates of the metal floor. He had no idea what was happening as his processors were not quite developed enough to register or understand a lot of the words or looks used, but he had a peculiar feeling that nothing was going in his favor at that particular moment. Creator had never been abusive to his Carrier before in front of him, so something was going on and it had most likely come about because of that data pad. He edged back towards the medic as his Carrier looked up at him again, his little wing nubs flicking about in muted distress at her dark look. The degree of analysis in his thoughts never even gave him pause as it was how he had always thought and he had never suspected that his were any different from the other younglings he was around on a normal basis since it was only in this newly upgraded and scanned frame that he would begin learning how to talk and structure his sentences. The orn care workers had commented on his deductive abilities, but that was not overly uncommon in young sparklings as they all learned quickly – he was just quicker than most others.
"We don't want him. He has neither of our coding, so why would we? Give him away to the first couple you see," she spat, standing to leave and began walking briskly to the exit, anger and rage permeating her being which was easy to tell since her frame was extremely rigid and was moving jerkily, surprising the medic as he was expecting the femme to only be upset but not leave her youngling behind! He didn't want the responsibility of caring for one!
"I still need to be paid! His upgrades weren't exactly that easy!" the medic protested, following after the femme with waving arms and an outraged air about him.
She turned sharply and threw a credit chip at the mainly red mech. "Here's your fraggin' payment! Just keep that thing out of my sight! He's no youngling of mine!"
The little doorwinger glanced around himself, taking in his surroundings in relation to his newly greater height as his Carrier left him behind. The slight bond he had still shared with his Creators was now severed, but it had never really affected him in the first place since they had been present so weakly. If that data pad had told them that they weren't his true Creators, he could have told them that since he had never reacted to their attempts to calm him using only the bond as strongly as he should have. It had surprised him that they hadn't ever figured out that there was something wrong with their connection. Even the orn care center workers knew that there was something off since neither Blacklight or Slipstreak had been able to just walk over and pick him up out of the crowd but had stopped and looked around the room before picking him out of the mechlings there. In fact, he had been painted black and white for just that reason, so he stood out from the others. Most sparklings were colorful since their Creators wanted them in bright, happy colors as it was said to influence their moods. He had never seen where it had worked since many of them were bullies and not happy like they should be.
The sporty red mech looked at what was apparently supposed to be his new ward. He had no idea what he was going to do with the little thing since he ran a clinic in downtown Kaon. It was not the best place to raise a sparkling in the best of times, which was not at that point in time with all of the riots, knifings, shootings, and accidents of all kinds happening as often as they had started to.
"Well, little one. Looks like it's just you and me now. At least I got the credits from your caretakers." He paused, "By the way, my designation is Knock Out."
He looked up at the red opticked mech and hesitantly reached out a hand to grasp his forearm. The little doorwinger needed at least a little bit of stability at that time, even if it was only in the physical sense.
"Just watch the finish, little one. We'll get you painted and learning everything in no time."
Prowl clicked and whirred at him for a short moment as he carefully cuddled into the red plating, being extra sure to not leave any scuffs or scratches since he had been asked as he knew that his developing chevron was really sharp. He'd sliced the plating on his fingers open often enough to know.
"You know, I even contacted your two listed Creators to see if they would take you, but they actually had dissolved their bond over their cheating a few orns before this and didn't want you. You'd be too much of a reminder of that, I guess. Too bad since you're such a cute little thing."
"I really think that KO regrets letting us train you, little one," Scrapper muttered as he rubbed the mechling's bright chevron, keeping it away from his sensitive neck cables at the same time since the mechling still enjoyed curling up against him like he had when he had first been allowed into the gestalt's care. The medic wasn't always able to watch him like he should and had turned to some of the mechs that he knew early in the mechling's development so that he wouldn't be neglected. As a plus, they'd all agreed to teach him something they thought that he should know about – not that the medic knew what was all being taught to the tiny doorwinger, he would have thrown a fit if he did know.
"Naw, Scrappah. 'E's ratha happeh that Ah'm helpin' him fix up 'is clinic. 'E's gotta do tha labah, but i's gettin' there. Not that 'e knows that Mixah is teachin' meh abou' incendiareh devicehs an' acids an' bases. 'E wouldn' be happeh 'bout that."
No sane Creator would be, he thought as he glanced over at Mixmaster, sending subtle reproach over their bond. "But he likes what Hook and Scavenger are teaching you, yes?"
"O' course. Scavenjah helps meh wit' identifyin' da metals and stuff 'e needs and 'ook is realleh good at da whole perfectionism thin' like KO is. 'E even lahkes LongHaul since 'e shows meh how ta do good papahwork. KO don' lahke doin' dat."
Scrapper chuckled, his frame vibrating with the low noise and gently shaking the much smaller mech in his lap with the movement. Something melted inside of the green and purple chassis as the youngling looked up at him through bright, happy optics much different from what they had been like when he was first introduced to the mechs that formed Devastator. At that time he had been a very closed off, scared, and wary mechling that analyzed everything before deciding on a course of action. Though he still did so for the most part, he also chose to act impulsively around those that he had come to know. Hook had a feeling that it was because they were relatively known variables and Prowl was able to guess easily as to what their respective reactions would be. It seemed true since, when they took him out to a park, he was wary around strangers but would play freely and with abandon when alone or away from the other mechlings. They all found it rather strange but had come to expect it of the little one that they were allowed to mentor.
"Ah t'ink KO is gonna be here soon. Ah'll meet 'im at da door since Mixah is gonna be doin' somet'in' 'e ain' gonna wanna see happenin' neah meh. Will see ya all next orn or so. And try ta keep Hook from gettin' too enthralled wit' 'is new projec'."
Soundwave looked around his small apartment carefully before settling his optics on the scene that he had walked in on just a short moment ago. His oldest creation, Ravage, lay curled around a small Praxian doorwinger frame with the avian twins perched on the back of the couch behind her. The little black and white mechling was nuzzling up against the feline in his recharge while the panther steadily purred her engine. He stepped silently over to his creations and lightly patted them each in turn before moving on and into the small kitchenette to get a cube of energon from the dispenser. He also made sure to grab a small one of enriched fuel for Prowl since he was able to feel the changes in processor activity signaling that he was coming out of recharge and would soon be looking for a little bit to give him some more energy since his tanks were as yet too small to hold a large enough amount to power him throughout the entire orn from infrequent fuellings.
"Recharge: satisfactory?" the tape deck inquired as he seated himself on the far end of the couch just as the mechling finished coming out of a post-recharge haze.
"Mmmm…. Yeah. Was good," his muffled voice said as he burrowed his faceplates further into the panther's plating, trying to deny that he had to get up.
"Good. Requirements: energon. After: return to Knock Out's clinic. Orn: fun?"
Prowl reached for the small cube of energon as he sat up, rubbing at his slightly hazy optics. "Ah'm goin' back dis soon?"
"Next stay: longer. Knock Out: agrees. Also: new paint job. Paints: acquiring early next orn."
The mechling's optics brightened as they looked up at him over the rim of the cube. He had been looking forward to having his colors redone since he had found out that they could be. What he didn't know was what they were going to be changed to.
"Colors: burgundy and aqua. Chevron: remains red. Red: matches optics."
He grinned up at the tape deck. "And dey look good togetha, righ'?"
He looked up at his guardian as the plating was replaced over the wires and cables of his lower leg where he had somehow snapped some kind of wire. It was a total accident since he had no idea how it had happened, but after a vorn of living with the red medic he was rather accustomed to pain of varying degrees and hadn't even uttered a peep about his injury until they had returned to the clinic after playing in the park for a while – longer than they normally stayed there as Scavenger had engaged him in a game of hide and seek that he had eagerly participated in.
"You need to tell me when something happens to you, Prowl. This injury could have become much worse than it was – which it thankfully wasn't. You need to be in top condition and take care of yourself. Primus smiles on the well-repaired and kept up. Keep that in your processor." He sighed lowly, knowing that it wasn't going to happen. The mechling always seemed to avoid getting his injuries fixed until he wasn't busy any longer. "In any case, there are two upgrades ready for your frame. There's a retractable visor and I also now have the wires I need to allow you to change your optic color. I've even been able to make sure that you can still use them in whatever form you decide to take on."
Post-Story Author's Note: Most of Prowl's history will be explained in later chapters, but I mainly just wanted to give a taste of the mechs that he grew up around and the skills that he would have learned at a young age that affect him later in life. I may also just start a little fic that is only for his sparkling/youngling moments in this AU. The next chapter is after a pretty significant time skip and set during his time as a Spec Ops agent and the beginning of his undercover mission. This chapter will probably not be elaborated on any more, so if there is anything added to his sparklinghood than it will be in a separate little fic. It may be a fic that is just for random little things from any character in this AU though. ^^