Break
by rumblebee25
When did things get so serious? There were times when Lockdown's spark literally burned so bad that it hurt. He never should have asked to see Prowl's spark. The heat of the moment blinded him and like an idiot he asked to taste it, to claim every bit of Prowl for himself. That sleek little thing overloaded while his own spark screamed at him to merge. And every time they did it, that dangerous need was harder and harder to ignore.
Then Swindle showed up, bringing a ton of bad memories. The black market dealer was a sleaze, dirty all the way down to his greasy spark. He'd wheel and deal in any weapon, any type of armor with no questions asked. Funny how that was once a turn on all those eons ago. Even after what happened between them Lockdown still felt something, just enough to spring the slimeball free. Not like the pest was in any trouble. Still Swindle owed him, so it wasn't a bad deal in the end. But it was another sign that it was time to leave.
He met Prowl near a lake, on a hill overlooking an island. The sun was dipping low on the horizon and the water shined like gold; a stupidly romantic setting. Prowl would appreciate the irony of this. In truth, Lockdown picked this time of day because that little nature loving, tree hugger was pretty in the sunset.
Prowl was waiting for him, sitting cross legged, looking out at the water. He turned his head, hearing Lockdown's approach. Red sky against a lean mech with a black and gold paint job, that image was burned into the bounty hunter's processor. Now was the moment, if he failed it was his undoing. Lockdown transformed and walked over. He sat down acting indifferent, as if the sunset and Prowl didn't matter.
"You're leaving," the ninja said, taking the weight off Lockdown's shoulders.
"Yeah," he said, resting his arms on his knees, "Things are getting deep, if you know what I mean."
"I understand," Prowl said. When Lockdown put his arm around little ninja, he stiffened at first and finally leaned against him.
"I don't want you to leave."
"I know you don't," Lockdown smirked and planted a kiss on Prowl's cheek, "Now what if I told you a pretty lie?"
"You don't have to lie. It's perfectly clear that you want to move on."
"Just hear me out. This is a good one," Lockdown said and he smiled for real, "Once upon a time, I was a mech with all his original parts." Prowl smirked and the bounty hunter said, "Hey, now that part is mine and you seem to like it a lot."
"True," Prowl said and Lockdown chuckled evilly, "So go on, this sounds interesting."
"Well, long ago I started switching out parts. Upgrading like mad. Unfortunately, I was way too careless back then. Shoulda stayed away from certain mechs and their promises. See where I'm going with this, kid? Now, I did this one major upgrade and things went bad."
"He broke your spark?" Prowl said with another a wry smile.
"Yeah, sort of," Lockdown said, "I wanted a bigger base frame and a larger power source, but couldn't go to a legit mechanic. My spark chamber cracked right open on the operating lift. They pieced me back together and I was fully functional, but the damage made my spark unstable."
"What?!"
"Hey, calm down," Lockdown teased, "This is just a lie, remember? So because of this, I can't merge. Not without permanently deactivating me. Sucks because I never took the leap."
"You've never merged?" The ninja's expression was priceless. After all the things they did together, that simple act was almost innocent. With Prowl it would have been.
"Not once. Never met anyone I wanted to get close too. Until to you complicated things," Lockdown said and Prowl looked at him, trying to figure if this was a lie or the truth. The bounty hunter chuckled and said, "This is the part where you pledge your undying love for me."
"Ah. And you say, "I can't resist you and I want to merge at least once, even if it off lines me."
"You're good," Lockdown chuckled when Prowl pushed him down on his back, "Then you tell me to go, but not before we interface like there's no tomorrow. After that, I vow to never touch another mech ever again and drive off into the sunset."
"You are a terrible liar," Prowl said, but he kissed Lockdown anyway.
"Ain't I though? So do I still get that interface or what?"
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Back on his ship, Lockdown was setting coordinates for somewhere outside this quadrant, just anywhere else before he changed his mind. He really wasn't expecting that, usually they just slapped his face and he called it a day. End of relationship. Prowl surprised him again and slag it all, if he didn't make it hard to leave.
"It wasn't a complete lie," Lockdown said and he smiled, hand on his spark chamber.
True. He never spark merged. Way too many secrets and in this business you didn't go around letting anyone know your weaknesses. Another truth. He really did have a damaged spark chamber and it was all Swindle's fault. The little sleaze was actually upset for arranging the upgrade disaster too. After Lockdown stabilized, the dealer hunted down the mechanic (who had fled) and off lined him in an extremely messy way. When Swindle returned, he tossed the mech's still warm spark chamber to Lockdown and apologized. That idiot could a slaggin' romantic when he wanted to be.
And then there was the lie. He wasn't gonna die from a merge. Yeah, his spark was banged up and it wasn't as sweet to the touch as Prowl's. That little bike had a glow that was like raiding a top secret, classified weapons cache, getting paid for it and then upgrading into a stupor. In other words, highly addictive.
And Lockdown just couldn't risk it.
Merging changed a mech. No secrets, no way to hide, everything just right there and out on the table in the ugly, full light of the sun. The kid would be disgusted at what he would find. Lockdown was, about some of things anyway. The trophies, the upgrading, that was the least of it. No, the kid would be totally disgusted at what happened before the bounty hunting started.
Being small, being weak and being pretty might as well be a death sentence in some quarters and most of the scars on Lockdown's spark happened before the accident. He wouldn't merge and the clients got mad. Then they turned mean. They already had his body and they tried their worst to get his spark to take them in. He didn't though and once he had a few connections, that's when the upgrades started.
Autobots didn't understand the thrill of sheer strength, the rush of not being helpless, to finally be able to grab some sick freak's neck and snap it like rusted iron. Power was its own reward. Ah, but Prowl knew. He understood and turned his back on it. That was Lockdown's greatest regret. Eh, maybe second greatest.
The bounty hunter tapped a few commands and Prowl's image come on screen, This time it was him at sunset and not the other images Lockdown usually liked to look at. The bounty hunter sat back his chair and grinned.
"Let me tell you a pretty lie," the bounty hunter said, " See, there was this mech who broke my spark. The only one I ever loved…"