Devcon was aware of the spinning in his processor before he could even feel the rest of his body. From the neck down he was numb and it wasn't much better from the neck up. A lot of his memory chips need to be de-fragged as did most of his sensory network. Whoever had got the drop on him had really done a number on his systems. They no doubt wanted to make sure he wasn't going to be moving quickly any time soon. Mission accomplished with over kill on that count. Carefully he tried to move his hands and found them tightly bound. Not that he wasn't expecting it, but he wasn't expecting his hands to be so numb. His neural network was so fragged he could barely feel what was binding him. Next he tried to move his legs with no luck. It looked like he was pretty much helpless.
"Great." Devcon mumbled, his voice weak.
After a few reboots his optics finally came back online. It took a long moment for the static to clear but went it finally subsided Devcon wished it hadn't.
Like he was waking up in a creepy old horror vid, Devcon looked around slowly, his anxiety rising as he observed his prison. Shelves upon shelves ringed the room he was a captive in and each and every one of them was packed full of body parts. His optics wandered over the grizzly displays that went on and on and on. It was like crash site; horrible and sickening but you just couldn't stop looking. Arms and legs of every shape, size and color where mounted on the top shelves and below them where a hodgepodge of self modifications. Some were identifiable and some were so bizarre Devcon couldn't even begin to fathom what they would do. Incapacitated and unable to even try to free himself Devcon's optics kept roaming farther and farther along the heaps of spare parts. It didn't look like any more than two parts where the same color leading Devcon to conclude that the number of Cybertronions these had come from was staggering. His spark constricted in revulsion. What kind of sick individual hunted his own brethren simply for their mods? Then, like a cago ship ramming into his chest, he knew who.
Devcon had heard rumors. Whispers of a Decepticon bounty hunter that cut trophies out of his victims. He had always dismissed the mumblings as gossip. He believed it story that had been blown way out of proportion and told by creators to misbehaving sparklings. Now he lay at the heart of that horror story, eating his own words as he waited for his fate in the gruesome mausoleum.
"Just what I needed." He grumbled.
It always put a damper on his cycle when he was captured and at the mercy of a sociopathic body snatcher. The swish of an unseen automatic door brought his attention back to his present situation. He quickly offlined his optics and lay still as death.
"You awake yet sleepyhead?" came a deep, patronizing voice.
Devcon didn't answer. He kept himself under control as he felt a presents draw closer. Something scraped across the floor and then Devcon he could feel the bot leaning over him. He wanted to lash out. He wanted to get his hands on his mech's face and crush it. He wanted to do anything. But all he did was clench his hands tight.
"Come on now. I invented the pretending to be recharging gag."
The energon in Devcon fuel lines began to boil. His iron like control was all that held him still. He didn't want to give this psychopath the satisfaction of calling him out on a bluff. A snort of amusement broke the silence as something cold grabbed Devcon's arm. The blue and red mech jerked away so hard he nearly tore his arm out of its joint but the unexpectedly violent movement made the touch disappear. Enraged, Devcon's optics flared to life as he barred his dental plates with an animal like snarl.
"Get your FILTHY servos OFF me!"
"So you are awake."
The pale face grinned as the other hunter leaned into the light. For the first time Devcon could get a good look at him. Despite his dark appearance his face plates where stark white. The only thing that kept the other hunter from looking comical where the dark tattoos that curved down through the red optics to his cheeks and two more jutting up from his chin. He seemed to have originally been green and black, but three of his limbs didn't match that color scheme. All three where were mismatched and different sizes. Clearly they didn't originally belong to the bounty hunter. Devcon felt his armor plating crawl as he tried to ignore the slap in the face conclusion as to what the mech was doing with the mods he was taking.
"So we finally meet face to face." The hunter said, cocking his head off to the side. "I gotta say, your smaller then I'd thought you'd be."
Devcon held his glossa as his glared at his captor in silence. The dark mech sitting at his shoulder leaned in farther and put a finger on the blue chest, seemingly to just to taunt his captive. Devcon's optics found the other mech's and glared into them.
"Touch me again," he growled through clenched dental plates. "And you'll lose a hand."
The pale face close to his actually smiled.
"Been there, done that."
Devcon watched carefully as his captor leaned back and produced his right hand. Only it wasn't a hand. At the end of the yellow arm where a hand should have been there was a silver hook. Devcon growled as the hook was rested on his chest. The very contact burned him like acid.
"Get your… hook… off me or you'll lose that too."
"You should be a little more grateful. If it weren't for me you'd be dead and rusting right now."
"I have a policy against being grateful to bots I don't know that take me prisoner."
The red optics widened slightly with surprise.
"You don't know who I am? Have you been living on an organic backwater or something?"
"I don't make it a point to know individual Decepticons. Just how to kill them."
"Huh. I would have thought my reputation preceded me."
"Reputation? More like you're sick disease." Devcon spat as he jerked his head in the direction of the stolen self modifications. "I've heard about that."
"Sick disease?" Lockdown scoffed. "That's pretty preachy coming from the mech that's said to be one of the best bounty hunters and yet no one's ever seen him get paid for his work. It's almost like you like killing."
Devcon's face went blank and he turned his face away. Instead, he intently looked at a gold and black helmet that seemed vaguely familiar.
"I strike a nerve receptor with that one? A little too close to home?"
"If you're going to kill me get on with it already. I'm tired of dealing with a con."
"Did you take a good look at me? There ain't a Con brand on me. I'm freelance. If the Elite Guard paid better you'd be calling me an Autobot."
"It's not the brand, it's your actions." Devcon snarled.
"That makes you a Decepticon yourself then. You got a body count up there with the best of em'."
"You'll regret saying that Decepticon."
"You can't see it, but I'm terrified right now."
The pale faced hunter grinned before setting both his elbows on Devcon's chest, pretending not to notice the venomous look on the other hunter's face.
"We might as well get used to each other seeing as you're going to be here a while. So you better start using my name cuz this "Decepticon" slag is starting to get on my nerves. You can call me Lockdown, Devcon."
"Stop saying my name like we're friends." Devcon snarled.
"You know, after I gift wrapped those Decepticons for you ya' should show me a little gratitude."
Devcon whipped back around to the smirking face of Lockdown who grinned knowingly.
"Yeah it was me. I know Con's are dumb but you really think their dumb enough to go off into the unknown on a suicide charge? I tracked ya down and gave them your exact coordinates and might have mentioned you where wounded or something like that. Just a little blood in the water and they fell for it. You would not believe have badly they wanted you dead."
"You sent five heavily armed Deceptions after me and you expect me to be grateful?"
"I sent five heavily armed Decepticons after you with misinformation about your condition and weapons and sent set them up on a killing field for ya. Besides I was there the whole time and would have stepped in but all I to do was just swoop in at the end when you weren't looking."
"And I'm supposed to be grateful for that? I nearly got my head blown off and you want me to be friendly and thank you? I'd sooner bite through my own glossa and bleed to death."
"I like you." Lockdown grinned as he stood and patted Devcon on the shoulder. "I think we'll get along great. Devy."
As Lockdown began to leave Devcon twisted as far as the reinforced steal cables would let him go.
"I'll rip your spark out and make you watch as I crush it!"
Lockdown paused in the open doorway for a moment, seemingly thinking. When he turned around an amused smiled played across his lips.
"You sure have a mouth like a Decepticon for someone that hates them so much Devy."
And then Devcon was left alone once again. All he could do was hope that the sheer force of his hatred could cut him loose.
Devcon had been situations like this before. Admittedly in the past his hadn't been captured by a professional, but he was still confident he could get out of this. There were several strategizes he could try the next time Lockdown decided to visit him.
There was the ever reliable hit him fast and hard the second his restraints where loosened. But seeing as how Lockdown probably wouldn't release him, even to cut a mod out of him, that idea was out. Something with a little more drama was faking an injury or sickness. That one might be doable, though it hinged on Lockdown's compassion. It was a Hail Mary play at best. He could always get free and lay in wait for a surprise attack, but seeing as how he had tied for joors and joors on end to undo his restrains and failed, option three was out. He'd have to come up with something and soon if he wanted to get out of here with all his pieces.
The automatic door swished open again, and this time, Devcon was ready with a snappy insult.
"Oh look, it's my "friend" come to visit again." He said sarcastically.
"You're warming up ta me." Lockdown chuckled.
Once again the other bounty hunter pulled up a seat by Devcon's shoulder. The two traded stares for a long moment until Devcon couldn't take the silence.
"If you're going to stare at me like you're going to cut me open you could at least have the decency to get it over with."
To that Lockdown only shrugged.
"Not sure what I want out of you yet. You didn't show off those mods of yours when you where fighting."
"So sorry to inconvenience you. If you want a swift kick in the aft I'd be more than happy to oblige though."
Devcon's sneer was matched by a dark smile.
"That's some attitude you've got on you. I don't suppose you'd want to make things easy and just tell me what your best modification is?"
"I'd have to say it's my winning personality." Devcon smiled coldly, his optics shooting daggers. "Couldn't you guess?"
"I'd definitely want a crack at that… personality of yours."
"My schedule wide open you pale faced freak."
Lockdown put his hand to his chin as he leaned back and looked Devcon up and down. His optics seemed to linger longer than necessary as they roamed the blue and white chassis.
"Watch your mouth if you want to keep it."
"Or what? You'll tie me up and rip off a limb? Well it's a little late for that so now what? Are you going to torment me with your ugly face some more?"
"Pity I can't take out that attitude of yours. But if you keep opening your mouth I'm going to have to teach you to keep it closed."
"If I scared that easy I wouldn't be a bounty hunter would I?"
Lockdown's tattooed face leaned in close as his optics narrowed.
"You should be scared. You have no idea what I'm capable of."
"I believe I mention the ripping out of body parts. You're pretty much a one trick pony. All you Decepticons are."
The shinnying silver hook whipped out and dug into the blue wrist. Devcon hissed and offlined his optics as the hook dug painfully into his joint. He arched his back to try to get away but Lockdown forced him back down. When Devcon's optics rebooted his innards clenched and his breathing stopped. Lockdown's face was thrust in so close to his own their nose plates where nearly touching. The red optics bored into his blue ones.
"Don't," Lockdown growled darkly. "Call me that. Again."
"Or what?" Devcon snarled right back.
"Things are going to be a lot easier for the both of us if you just shut that mouth of yours and do as I say. Now, don't you want this to be easy?"
Devcon liked to pride himself on being smart and controlled, but staring into the ruby optics and having been ordered to do as he was told enraged him. In broke his control and the little voice in the back of his head that told him to do whatever he needed to do to survive was silenced. To him, it was a declaration of war.
"De-cepti-con." He snarled.
The stare down lasted a quiet moment as the very air between the two swirled with animosity.
"You'll regret that.
"Why don't you make me regret it?"
"Don't tempt me."
"What? Afraid of little old me?"
"You know, it sounds like you could use a good beat down."
Devcon tensed with anticipation as Lockdown's hook moved from his wrist to the cables binding him. He just needed a few inches of wiggle room and then he could… the hook stopped short of what Devcon had assumed its goal was.
"Just a quick question." Lockdown purred. "How stupid do you think I am?"
Lockdown pulled his hook away with a smirk on his lips.
"You are so easy to play its almost sad. Did you really think I'd just let a fully trained cyber-ninja lose?"
"I SWEAR TO PRIMUS IF YOU DON'T RELEASE ME IN TWO SECONDS…!"
"You'll what?" Lockdown cut over him. "Yell some more?"
"I'll rip your spark out through your mouth!"
"Oh so scary!" Lockdown mocked. "Nice to know I'm already pushing you buttons."
Then with a laugh Lockdown rose and left once again. Devcon managed to control himself long enough for the door to close before he screamed and thrashed against the cables in his fury.
