Hey! It's me again! If you read my profile, (which you probably haven't) then you already know that I decided to finish the entire episode.
I have three reasons why:
1.) I couldn't leave it hanging unfinished. Something in me just squirms at the idea of leaving someone hanging.
2.) Writing it will give me experience with how the characters think, feel, and "sound" on "paper".
3.) It will bring me one step closer to being a beta, which I am looking forward to.
So…enjoy!
Sunday morning found Prowl in uptown Detroit: O'Neil Park, to be precise. Having already arranged his living space in the run-down factory, he decided to explore the city in the hopes of finding something that would pique his interest…
…Probably not the best idea, considering the circumstances.
The Starscream/ All Spark incident had only happened a couple of weeks prior, and the nanobots not even a week before that. Needless to say, Detroit's "brave band of heroes" was the talk of the town, the state, the country, and even a few of the more up-to-date countries overseas. So, of course, reporters and camera-bots within a hundred miles were having a field day, scrambling to get at least a glimpse of any of the Autobots they could. Even during their volunteer cleanup work after the Starscream Incident, they were constantly swatting at the things like they were bothersome flies. But who could blame them? They were giant alien robots with technology and intelligence that makes poor Sumdac Systems seem insignificant.
Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, depending on how you look at it) very few actual reporters came near.
But hey, they didn't complain.
Even though not many were speaking up, humankind still had questions that it wanted answered. Like 'Where are they from?' 'How did they get here?' 'WHEN did they get here?' 'How long will they stay?' and on, and on, and on. This, combined with the ever bolder-growing reporters, made quiet exploration next-to impossible… but there was one question both Autobot and human alike wanted answered.
'How different are they from us?'
Prowl was trying to discover that for himself.
He had stumbled upon this quiet little park one day while helping reconstruct a damaged overpass. It hadn't seen direct exposure to the All Spark's power like some of the others had, but the flying debris and earthquake-like rumbling of the fight had done enough.
So, whenever he had a spare moment, or it just struck his fancy, he came here. It had become a habit for him to simply find a dark area of the park, get comfortable, and observe the daily routines of all who passed by. Once, he had tried an experiment he was curious about. He had wanted to test the humans' ability to notice the things around them. He had come early in the morning, and stood next to the statue of an organic named "Andrew Carnegie".
For six hours he did not move, did not speak, and did not make any noise whatsoever. He was so still, in fact, that a flock of pigeons thought he would make a better stoop than the perfectly good statue next to him. Life carried on all around him, and no one seemed to notice the twelve-foot tall robot standing among them. It was only when an Autobot fanatic happened to pass by that anyone realized he was there.
He had learned a lot that day: not just that humans are very unaware of both themselves and the things around them, but also not to allow pigeons the opportunity to roost for too long on one's body. The sticky white goop he found on his head he quickly surmised was not something to be desired, judging by the disgusted looks on the peoples' faces.
So on this early Sunday morning, after dodging a few dozen camera-bots, Prowl snuck over to his favorite spot in the city, and climbed a tree.
Not every day you get to see an alien robot climb a tree, is it? Not that anyone actually saw him do it, but nonetheless seconds later there he was, arms crossed and hanging upside-down by his knees (or what counts for them) in a giant organic deciduous tree.
At the moment, he was studying a small sunshine-yellow bird, no bigger than the centerpiece of his chevron. It had been flittering around the park for the last ten minutes, and decided that the branch just level with his head was perfect to rest on while it twittered and whistled to its' companions elsewhere in the park.
It truly did create quite the racket, and as it did it would flutter and rustle its feathers, as if to show off it's almost painfully bright plumage.
Funny, it seemed rather similar to a certain bot he wished he didn't know back at the factory.
Subtle movement on the ground near the tree line caught his optics. A small organic creature was gracefully slinking towards his tree. Upon diagnosing its features and physical characteristics, the spying Autobot came to the conclusion that it was a feline, or cat, as it was more widely referred to. It had reached the base of the tree, and was now appraising the large structure with wide green eyes. There was careful calculation in those eyes; intelligence he could identify with.
This was a hunter.
The small black and white creature bobbed its' head slightly, then after a second of hesitation, tensed its' muscles and darted up the tree. A few seconds of branch-hopping later, and it was only a couple feet away. One last soundless calculated leap later, and it was on the birds' branch slowly creeping up behind it. The small bird either was ignoring it, or did not know it was there; Prowl tended to think the latter. With every careful step, there was purpose, precision, and planning.
Finally, the graceful creature was only a step away from being directly on top of its intended prey…and it stopped, lowered its body, and closed its eyes. It even went so far as to start purring, making little "mraws" in contentment.
The bird had finally noticed the danger it could be in, but at the unimposing and uninterested demeanor the feline gave off, simply ignored it and went back to its twittering.
This went on for a while, and the small annoying bird seemed to forget that the cat was there. But, just as the bird seemed to decide to flit off to another tree, a single white paw shot out and pinned its tail to the branch. The bird was squawking indignantly and frantically flapping its' bright wings, and the triumphant hunter seemed to almost be smirking in satisfaction.
Prowl gasped. He had been just as surprised as the bird- not by the hunt, but by the suddenness of the action.
"Fascinating…" he murmured.
Suddenly, bright flashing lights and clicking noises jarred him out of his reverie. The cat and bird both made swift getaways, quickly forgetting that just seconds ago, one was about to eat the other for breakfast. Looking down (or up, from his perspective), he realized two camera-bots had snuck up on him, and a single young man was staring up at him in awe.
"Hey everybody, look over here! It's one of the Autobots!" he shouted.
People of all sorts quickly rushed over, lobbying to get a glimpse of the strange Autobot who climbed trees for fun.
"Which one?"
"Oh, cool!"
"I wanna see it!"
"Lemme see, lemme see!"
His cover was blown, he was tired of the paparazzi, and frankly he had nowhere else to go, so he resigned himself to returning to the factory. Growling his frustration, he pulled himself back up into the tree. By now, there was a sizeable crowd below, and Prowl was feeling quite cornered. Quickly surmising a diversion was needed, he utilized his holographic projector and sent his doppelganger launching out of the tree, transforming, and jetting across the park into the small forest. A large portion of the crowd broke away to give pursuit and see where his copy was going. Those who remained simply shrugged their shoulders and shuffled away.
When only an elderly couple remained, he silently slid down the tree and shot into the woods, no more than a whisper in the wind.
Well, there ya go! H.I.W.T.S.I. part deux. Please leave a review, even if it's mean, cuz I need all the criticism I can get! I feel like I may be getting "too many big word-ish" as my friends say, but I won't actually know for sure unless you (points finger) review.
Thanks for reading,
Kalee