Hey Everyone! This is chapter ten, yes, chapter ten. I'm getting an amazing amount done on this story and I'm very, extremely proud of it. The number of reviews is sad comparing to how many I know are visiting the story. I might start implementing a plan where I update if I get two reviews...although it never seems to work for me as I'm always too eager to post. :D Moving on to some more interesting things in this chapter. Constructive criticism is welcome, always. Enjoy the chapter and remember, it's unbeta-ed. If you would like to beta, drop me a pm or review.
Thankyou to Sideslip who dropped in a review and of course thanks to everyone else who has submitted a review or put this story on their favourites/alerts lists.
The next few vorns at the academy passed quickly despite the slow orns. Prowl never did let down his team like the others had suspected he would. His battle computer created problems for him at times, usually when the other bots in his team decided to talk about something totally illogical. At these times he would have to find a place to let his battle computer to go on the fritz, way away from his team mates and instructors at the academy. He was under no disillusion that his battle computer's little episode wouldn't get him a punishment for his team. In this manner he had to keep every fritz to himself.
It had been particularly hard when he had to take the psychology classes. Everything to do with psychology was illogical, especially considering it was to do with emotions. How Smokescreen managed it with his battle computer Prowl had no idea, only that his fellow Praxian coped far better than he did.
For short amounts of time the black and white mech would miss his creator or SparkSoul but the moments never lasted long. He was much too busy to linger, especially because he not only had to do his work but also the work Smokescreen didn't get finished.
Prowl ended up getting more and more work from the other bots in his team as the vorns went on. The mechs would go out and party more often than not, ignoring all of their set homework. In the end they wouldn't be able to finish it on time and to avoid punishment Prowl would have to complete it.
The upside to the academy had been that the training sessions hadn't been anywhere near as bad as they had been with Creator. The best thing was that there was medical help, albeit dodgy medical help, if someone got injured. In this manner the black and white mech found himself consuming less energon than he had back in Iacon.
By his last vorn in the academy Prowl was sick of it, and his teammates. The black and white mech was glad that he was getting out of there soon, to go and join the enforcer's ranks. He had already been guaranteed a place as a tactical officer due to his upgraded battle computer.
At some point during their time at the academy the other mechs and femmes in the same stage of training as Prowl had to admit his battle computer was much more advanced than theirs. So much for Smokescreen's declaration that they all had similar battle computers.
The orn finally came when Prowl and his teammates were released from the academy and put into the enforcer units. The black and white mech was thankful that he hadn't been placed with anyone from his team, he knew he wouldn't cope if that had happened. Instead he was placed in a fairly new team, just formed. His team consisted of only three mechs, himself, a mech called Barricade and a femme called Ashdancer.
The team was formed as a special strike force, designed to investigate issues to do with the crimes in the lower income areas of the city , especially the slums. The drug lords and gladiators did their business in this area of the city, well out of sight of the usual enforcers.
The team had been set up under the noses of the few mechs who were aligned with the gladiators and the rings. Of course this meant that there wouldn't be as much funding or back up if they needed it.
Although, seeing as how this was a known variable Prowl was confident he would be able to plan around these issues. Despite this the plans would be very dependent on his new team and their skills.
The rumour around the academy had been that there were bots coming in from Iacon to join the enforcers however Prowl was unsure if that was the bots coming into his team or other bots going into the other units.
Other rumours had said that there was a doorwinger coming, from Iacon, with amazing sleuthing ability and a penchant for shady dealings. The black and white doorwinger was unsure as to whether he should be worried or just let it pass. His battle computer told him it was illogical to think it would be bad so he just left well enough alone and decided to reevaluate when he met the team.
The building that would be used as his team's base was as dingy, if not dingier than the academy buildings. The base was located fairly close to the slums, in one of the in between neighborhoods.
Nothing could be heard save for the hum of working systems as Prowl entered the building. The floor was covered in dust and the lights flickered at random intervals. The first room the doorwinger entered was a reception area, the one desk within the room bare of anything and falling apart.
Continuing down the hallway Prowl came upon three offices, each with doors hanging wide open. Two of the doors were only just clinging to their hinges, sure to fall down if too much pressure was applied to them. Each of the offices was devoid of anything, including chairs.
At the very end of the hallway the Praxian found an open plan room. To one side was a bank of highly sophisticated computers while the other side of the room was set up as a recreational area. This room had the only furniture out of the whole building in it, and the only occupant.
Sprawled across one of the couches was a mech with a black and white frame, similar to Prowl's own chassis. This unknown mech had to be Barricade, the second team member. His chassis was heavy set, thick armour protecting his chest and legs. The doorwings perched upon Baricade's back had a larger span than Prowl's doorwings.
As Prowl stepped further into the room Barricade spoke. "So you are the tactician of the team. I was wondering when you would get here."
The mech's head turned as he spoke, revealing his four optics. The sight of them unnerved Prowl slightly although he would never admit it.
"Yes, my designation is Prowl. I did not know that you wished for me to be here earlier than the set time. Have you met Ashdancer yet?" Prowl responded, asking a question of his own.
"Ashdancer just stopped by one of the shops in the uptown district, she should be here soon. I travelled with Ash to Praxus as we are both from Iacon. I always make it a point to get somewhere early and prefer it when other's do too. Of course you couldn't have known this as you've only just met me," Barricade responded as he looked at Prowl, subtly assessing his chassis.
"Hey Barricade, oh and you must be Prowl," trilled a high voice as a whirl of grey and white entered the room, moving at high speeds. "I'm so sorry I'm late but I got some energon for us to have mid-orn."
"It is quite all right Ashdancer, and you are correct in assuming I am Prowl. I only just arrived myself so you are not too late," Prowl said as he watched the femme all but twirl through the room on light pedes.
"Oh that's good, I didn't want to be too late, that would be just rude. Have any of you seen this place? I didn't have time because I just got here and I was in such a rush to make sure I wasn't late," Ashdancer asked, not leaving much time for response.
"I had a brief look at each of the rooms. It seems as though there isn't much here in the way of furniture in the other rooms. This seems to be the only area properly set up," Prowl replied as Ashdancer took a break from talking.
"I checked out the place before either of you got here. This room is equipped with everything we'll need. We've got a below ground base in case we need it, the entrance is under the couch I'm currently sitting on. Despite the lack of furniture and run down look of the place there is a good security system set up," Barricade said as he settled more comfortably into the couch.
"Do either of you know when we will be given our first mission to accomplish? I haven't heard anything since being told to meet here," Prowl said as he walked over to one of the unused couches and sat himself down, doorwings drawn close to his body and chassis held stiffly.
"I haven't heard anything but I assume they want us to get to know eachother or something before we go out to tackle any tasks. I'm sure the head of the department will be here soon enough to check we're settled in or something," Barricade said, lazily flicking his doorwings backwards and forwards.
"Well, I'm just much too hyped to sit still, I'm going to take a look around the place, won't take me long but it will help me burn off some energy. I'm always so energetic after travelling…" Ashdancer said, her voice trailing off as she darted out of the room, never able to keep still.
Prowl took the moment of silence to collect his thoughts about his new team. The black and white doorwinger thought that he would get along with this team better than his team back at the academy. Already Barricade didn't seem like such a bad mech and didn't grate on his nerves as much as Smokescreen did. Ashdancer, well she might end up being slightly annoying. Her peppy attitude and fast talking was starting to wear Prowl down. The high pitch of her voice was annoying Prowl's audio receivers. The black and white mech decided to recalibrate his audio receivers when he got off duty next.
"So you were brought up here in Praxus? Doesn't seem like such a great place to live from what I've seen of it so far. Everyone always talks about the beauty of Praxus and it's crystal gardens but I don't think they've seen the poorer areas of the city," Barricade commented, obviously trying to start up a conversation.
"I was brought online in this city however I stayed in Iacon for most of my youngling hood. I came to the enforcer academy here and just graduated. I never saw the slums when I was younger, I was in the well to do suburbs. I suppose visitors only see what the occupants of the citty want them to see, such as the cities beauty. What about yourself, Barricade, where were you brought up?" Prowl asked, somewhat curious as to Barricade's back round. Of course this information could be useful in the future when planning anything for the team to do.
"I was brought up in Kaon, on the other side of Cybertron. I went to the Iacon academy and studied to become an enforcer there. This is my second time here in the city of Praxus," Barricade answered, not giving Prowl too much information about himself.
The information sounded true though, the inflection of emotion in the words to do with Kaon displayed much. Prowl recognized the emotion in the words but didn't try to analyse it, undoubtedly his battle computer would go on the fritz. The revelation that this mech was quite emotional threw the black and white mech, it would be difficult to keep his battle computer from frying during work. Worse, it would be hard to keep the glitch hidden from his new teammates. It had been hard enough with his team at the academy where none of the mechs really paid close attention to him or even noticed his existence. Here it would be noticed if anything went wrong with his battle computer and undoubtedly this Barricade would think of him as weak or pathetic.
A silent resolve was made as they sat there, Prowl would try his absolute hardest to keep the secret hidden. If Ashdancer or Barricade found out about it he would have to leave, failing that he may have to kill them. The thought alarmed the black and white mech but he pushed his personal morals, long buried, to the back of his processor. He would have to do worse things if his Creator had anything to do with it.
"What are you thinking so hard about there, Prowl?" Barricade asked as he noticed that the black and white mech across from him wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. The question garnered no response so Barricade left his fellow black and white alone.
Inside his processor Barricade was in a whirl. Mainly because he wasn't actually the mech called Barricade, he was Jazz. The sight of his youngling friend had rocked him to the core. Jazz had thought Prowl to be offline or still in Praxus. To see his friend now in his adult frame and with such an advanced battle computer through him for his own loop.
He had heard the rumours that there was a mech in Praxus with a battle computer much more advanced than any other one currently in use. Jazz hadn't thought much of it until he heard a description of the mech. Of course, there were many mechs out there with a black and white frame as well as doorwings however the mannerisms the mech was said to have sounded exactly like Prowl's.
Some research had presented him with a picture of the mech in question, undoubtedly his youngling friend from the orn care. The description of the mech had given him more information than he had ever known about Prowl. From there he had drawn conclusions, Prowl must have had a battle computer back at the orn care and his creator had been preparing him to be an enforcer.
Prowl's description of where he had moved had astonished Jazz. To think his friend had been in the same city as him for vorns. Jazz had moved to the academy as soon as he had finished the orn care, the Iacon Academy.
Of course he couldn't tell Prowl who he actually was, not while he was in his disguise. There was no way to break his cover and still get the marks from his class. Instead of studying to become an enforcer (like his cover Barricade) he was studying to go into special ops. This was one of his final assessment pieces, if he blew his cover he wouldn't be able to graduate. Jazz had waited much too long to graduate to blow it now.
However he really wanted to get to know Prowl, as he was now. Jazz figured it wouldn't hurt his cover too much to get close to Prowl. Of course he would have to wait for the right time which would take quite a while if Prowl was still like he was as a youngling.
A sound from the front of the building brought Barricade out of his thoughts. Getting up quickly he spared a glance for Prowl, who was still deep in his thoughts. The movement of the larger frame not disturbing the small black and white mech.
Barricade drew a short energon dagger as he moved down the hallway, still not spotting anything which could have made the noise. His sensors were on high alert as he stealthily moved forwards. His doorwings gathered every bit of data they could, not leaving anything as "unuseful" information.
When he reached the reception area it was devoid of anything, except it's large desk. The front door to the building hung open, as though it had been left ajar by someone leaving , or coming, in a hurry.
The slightest of movements was detected by Barricade's doorwings as he peered around the doorway. To the right of the building was a shadow, an outline of a mech. The shadow stayed stationary as the black and white mech moved slowly towards the corner, energon dagger held in preparation before his chassis.
Upon reaching the corner of the building the large doorwinger stopped for a few seconds, before leaping around the corner, prepared to take the unknown bot down.
Barricade swung his arm wide, grabbing hold of the mech who had started to flee. Pressing the energon dagger to the gold mech's main energon line he held him close.
"What are you doing here?" Barricade snarled, keeping the mech facing away from him.
"I…I was just coming this way to try to find some energon. I didn't mean to trespass on your turf or anything…it was a mistake, I swear to Primus," the mech said, trembling slightly.
It was then that Barricade noticed that it wasn't a chassis of a fully grown mech, instead the chassis of a youngling. The armour the frame held was thick and heavy, making the shadow appear to be one of a mech. The bright coat of paint was scratched in numerous places and in other places the metal was completely devoid of colour. The yellow youngling's shoulder joint sparked from time to time, the wires inside obviously damaged.
Barricade's grip loosened for just a second as he noticed that the bot he was holding was a youngling and the youngling in question took advantage immediately. Lashing out the yellow coloured mechling forcibly got himself out of the black and white mech's grip. Twirling around he entered into a fighting stance, one suited to the gladiator pits. Optics blazing the youngling stood ready to battle with Barricade.
The look in the youngling's optics was one which told a story of battle and survival. It also gave Barricade a hint as to what age he was exactly. It wouldn't be long before this youngling would be in his adult frame, his attitude giving his maturity away.
However his actions were that of someone frightened, not for themselves but for someone else. A bonded? Barricade didn't think so, the mechling didn't seem quite like the early bonding type. A sibling? Much more likely.
Barricade let his servo clenched around the energon dagger drop to his side, signifying his wish not to fight. The youngling didn't move though, still wary of the large mech who was quite obviously armed.
"I'm sorry for jumping you like that, I only just got to the building and haven't really checked the perimeter yet. I heard you creeping up to the building and just jumped to conclusions," Barricade said, trying to calm the youngling slightly, if only to get information out of him.
His true mission wasn't to play goody-goody with the enforcers; it was to uncover secrets within the gladiator rings. This youngling may be the first link to the rings Barricade had come across and he wasn't going to waste an opportunity.
"Ok, I'll just be going then," the youngling said as he lowered his servos and started walking backwards, optics still fixed on the larger frame.
"Wait! Didn't you need energon?" Barricade asked, wanting to at least get the youngling's name.
"Yeah," the yellow youngling answered, halting his backward motion.
Pulling two cubes of energon from his subspace Barricade offered them to the youngling.
Darting forwards the youngling snatched the two energon cubes out of the black and white mech's servos, giving him a curious look when he saw that there were two.
"Thanks, I guess. Why did you give me two cubes?"
"You seemed to have someone else you were worried about when you turned to face me. As for the thanks, it would be much more beneficial for me to be given a contact in the gladiator rings," at the look of horror on the young mech's face Barricade continued on, "just think about it for a bit, you can always find me here if you decide to help me."
The yellow youngling didn't reply as he turned and fled from the building. Barricade stood there silently for a few moments, looking into the direction where the young mech had disappeared to. Jazz filed away the direction in mind, he case he needed to find the youngling again. It wouldn't prove too challenging to locate the youngling, not if he lived around the new enforcer's building.
Barricade turned around the corner in order to make his way back inside only to find Prowl standing at the open doorway to the building. The tactician's doorwings were held stiffly, even more stiffly than they had been when he was inside.
The smaller black and white mech's optics narrowed as he spotted Barricade coming around the corner towards him.
"I did not see you leave the room. Was there an issue?" Prowl asked, his voice cool and almost devoid of any emotion. However, just under the surface of the voice a small amount of self-annoyance could be heard.
"I tried to tell you before I left the room but you were too deep in thought. I detected a prescence near the building and decided to check it out. Turns out it was only a curious youngling looking for some energon," Barricade replied, not at all flustered by the cool tone his team mate used with him.
"I apologise for being so deep in thought. I assume you dealt with the youngling appropriately? We should return inside, Ashdancer has finally had a look at our new headquarters," Prowl said as he turned and walked through the doorway, expecting Barricade to follow, the manner reminiscent of Creator Three.
The larger black and white mech followed Prowl inside to reconvene with the whole team, wondering what had changed to make his friend even colder and more detached than he had been as a youngling. It would be just one of the many pieces of information he would have to pry out of the tactician once they became friends again.
Thanks for reading this chapter. What did you like or not like? Were my talking scenes ok? Did it flow ok?