Captured Spark

Outspoken

Yes, another chapter! I'm so excited to bring you guys this one - well, every one I've written - but I'm more excited for all that coming up! I won't hold you back any longer, so, ENJOY!

Proposition after proposition was made that day in the courts of Crystal City. Among the chanting voices was Sharpshoot who upheld his deal of the silent bargain that he'd be the most arrogant. Per his words, Iacon was a beautiful city, filled with beautiful life, and Kaon was a city overridden with ravagers. To decimate the brute city, would be to rid the fear of their overtaking.

Not that it was a true fear, but it was in some feeble minds of the higher caste. Not hers, not with how well she knew Megatronous. He was well regarded there, a firm but kind dictator for those who listened. He would never let destruction come to either cities. As oppressive as Iacon was to Kaon, she knew that he would be willing to spare it for those who believed in him.

Already they were devising their non-evasive plan to save Cybertron and make it whole again. To unite all Cybertronians as one, and succeed over tearing apart what could be greatness. She would be the liaison and mediator between the two cities. As of now her titles were to be kept secret between her, Megatronous, and Orion whenever they finally got him in on the information. Hopefully he'd be for it and not retreat back into his small shell of an office to forget he'd ever said anything.

He had such a strong mind, a pity his own anxieties kept him from using it properly.

"And, lastly, I believe, that by doing this, we will be creating a greater justice for the more working and functional cities. It may seem cruel, but which is worse to your optics, cities far opposite from each other, struggle against each other and bring one another down. Or the cities that are the best placed at the top to succeed even farther than they could, while the lesser cities fall into ruins. We can use those resources to build up our cities even more, make them greater, so they won't be useless. We will not destroy without rebuilding."

Stoneblaze could feel something rising in her. But no, she needed to keep quiet, she didn't need that attention drawn to her at such a crucial time.

"So you're saying, that we destroy Kaon and such cities to build our own – not to rebuild theirs?" One of the council asked.

"Exactly." Sharpshoot's expression fell for only a momentary second, only something Stoneblaze noticed. He always did it as a sparkling through all of his years, a sign that he felt losing was close if he didn't change his tactics. "I don't want the torn down cities to be useless, instead we can use them for our benefit."

It was wrong, all wrong, he shouldn't have even been allowed to say anything of the topic. Stoneblaze forced herself to remain seated.

"What will happen to those who reside in the lesser cities?" One of the councilfemme's voices spoke up.

"We'll put the criminals, such a looters and murders and gladiators behind bars, and we'll give sanctuary to those who deserve it."

"Sanctuary?"

"Wherever we can house them, we can even have them work for housing, to use the resources they have as individuals to include them into our higher society. Seeing most because they would not have the means to live here properly in the higher caste."

"Slaves," Stoneblaze spoke up to the surprise of most of the crowd. No, she should have bit her tongue. It was too late though. "Essentially you want to bring them in and use them as slaves."

"No," Sharpshoot gave her a glare that she was sure everyone could see. He was mad at her for speaking up, for reciting his words as they really were. "Not slaves. But we cannot house so many by our government, it would be far too much on our expenses. Instead, individuals could house them, and those from the lesser cities being housed, it would be a way for them to earn their keep."

"They don't deserve to earn their keep," Stoneblaze stood up. "Because they don't deserve to have their city burned to the ground."

"Do you have something to say, Stoneblaze, daughter of Truvulous, of the council of Iacon?" One of the council mechs asked, cocking an optic ridge. She hated his high and might words, how he made her feel as if she was unimportant for being simply the sparkling of a council member.

"I-" She wished she wouldn't have said anything in the first place. Surely she now had dug herself into a hole her Sire would never allow her out of. It wasn't her place, the daughter of a council mech, but not of the council herself. But she didn't have time, every pair of optics was trained on her, waiting patiently for her to say her piece.

Her mouth opened, but it was cut close by a platform raising up to her. "Please take a stand on the platform if you wish to speak. We will not have a riot break out in the stands." She nodded, not wanting to infuriate the council any more than she was sure she had. She had just been given the chance to sit back down and she didn't take it. There was only hope now that this would end well.

Clearing her throat as she was placed next to Sharpshoot, she kept away from his gaze that bore holes into her. "All I am simply saying, is that if we follow Sharpshoots propositions, we need to be more kind about how we work with them. The cities that we deem lesser are not worthy of being destroyed, but rebuilt. I agree that criminals and looters should be captured and brought to justice."

"And gladiators!" Sharpshoot cut her off.

"And so," She mumbled. "They are worthy of being rebuilt. Bring down those who are destroying the city, those who exploit its dark sides, tear down all that makes the city broken and build it back up. Use what makes it good, every city had resources we can use, if only we look for them. If we do that, I can guarantee that one day those cities would become as great as ours. It's not fair to destroy what we fear, but instead turn it to the light."

"Your sire has locked you away for far too long, sparkling," Council Mech Traikter bellowed.

The crowd around her laughed. They laughed! If it were her Sire who said that, they'd all agree and nod their heads. But it was her, his sparkling, unimportant, useless, only good for looking like she belonged and smiling with a nod of agreeance at everything, even if it was wrong.

"You would follow the propositions of someone who proposes to tear down a whole society and turn its innocent lives into slaves, then breaking down the evil of it and rebuilding the good?"

"We have to go with whatever is economically benefitting to every high society. We cannot physically look after every lesser society as equally as we do our high societies." One of the far council members chimed.

"What if our lesser societies would one day be able to be turned into high societies? Would you destroy possibility?"

"I think you've said quite enough, Stoneblaze," Sharpshoot groaned next to her, taking a tight hold of her arm. "You need to let those who were invited to talk, do the talking."

Blaze cut off his grasp from her and snarled at him. "This isn't how society should work. We shouldn't tear down what we deem is lesser just to make it work for us. We need to give those who don't have a chance, something to fight for. I don't think any of what you're saying is right, we need to fight for everyone, not just those who agree with us."

"This is ludicrous!" Sharpshoot's denta snapped at her. "You may be the daughter of a high caste council member, but that does not give you the knowledge, nor the power to be allowed to speak. Your job is to sit idly by and nod your head."

"You're as bad as my sire!" Stoneblaze's optics blazed. The crowd, the council members, they were nothing to her now, simple pinpricks of color in her vision. All she could focus on was Sharpshoot and his idiocy. He didn't understand, he never would. "All you care about is being heard, being accepted, and having as much power as you can take. It's wrong, all wrong, and I won't take it anymore." Her arms raised in anger.

He grabbed them and shoved them against her side. "I will not allow you to act like this, Stoneblaze. You are a femme of the high society, and I will not have your actions seared to my name in such a way."

She leaned in close, anger raging through her. "If you think I will ever bond with you, you can be rest assured that your ignorance is as blatant as your greed." She shook his grip until he let her go and she turned back toward the council who's mouths could only hang by a thread against their jaws. "I am finished."

The platform glided from the open floor back to her spot. Stepping back, she climbed out of the plethora of seats filled with shocked viewers. She needed to get out without being fully noticed. She had to get away from Crystal City, away from all the hate she knew she'd be hit with soon as the shock wore off – her, speaking out like that, it was unheard of. The whole thing had been live broadcasted through all of Cybertron, and there was no doubt that her sire was as blazing mad as she was – only for a reason other than hers.

It was obvious that her sire and Sharpshoot had the same agenda. They both wanted to destroy the 'lesser' cities and use their scraps for their own uses. They didn't even stop to think how it would affect those who lived in those cities. All the thought was how the survivors could be used for their gain. It was sickening, wrong in any and all ways, and would break Cybertron into nothing but a shell of what they had once been.

Other planets used to look to theirs for guidance, sustenance, protection, and what would they be now?

A joke, a broken, war ridden, hate-filled pit, nothing but a ghost of what it once was. She wasn't going to let that happen, in any way. She needed to head back, get to Megatronous, for surely she had just blew her chance at being the inside liaison between Iacon and Kaon.

She couldn't think about that, but on what she could do. She could rebuild trust, blame the outburst on boulders of stress that happened to hit her all at once at that moment. Heavens knew her carrier had moments of rioting outbursts, not that she ever saw them, but she knew of them. Her Sire would brush it off as genetics, get her some sort of help, then set her off in own little world again.

It wasn't the perfect plan, and it would take an immeasurable amount of time, but it would work.

Sinking back into the room, she let out a deep sigh. That was possibly one of the dumbest, but yet, most thrilling things she'd ever done. The meeting would go on for a few more hours, so she had time to pack and leave before anyone could notice she was gone.

Behind her, the door clicked open, then abruptly clunked shut, as if someone helped slam it into place. She could almost feel her sparkbeat rising.

Turning around, she couldn't gather her thoughts before Sharpshoot wrapped his servo around her wrists and shove her hard against the wall. "Who is it!? I want to know!" The look in his optics was of pure insanity. He was far past controlling himself except through his emotions.

"What are you talking about?" Blaze squirmed under his grip. She'd never realized how strong he was, how angered he could become.

He snarled, his eyes flashing from their cold cerulean blue to a hazy crimson red. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. The many times you disappear at night, the things you're hiding from me, your Sire, I know you've got something you're not telling me. . . Someone you're not telling me about. I want to know who it is!"

"Even if I had someone I was meeting behind your back, I wouldn't tell you!" Sharpshoot let her go and swung his hand back. Cowering, she couldn't run from him fast enough before his servo collided with the side of her face. She could feel his digits scratching across her metal, digging in and leaving marks for everyone to see.

"You will not speak to me that way!"

"And you will not control me!" She knocked her elbow into his chest, forcing him to stumble back. "You, nor my Sire are allowed to control me. I am not a puppet, nor are you my puppeteer. I want you to understand that right now!"

"I understand fully," He snarked. "That you think you have control in his situation, but you don't. You're sire will hear of this and he will understand the severity of this situation, and how mad you have become. Whoever this mech is, I will find him, and I will rip his spark from his chamber and I will be the only one you'll be able to run to! Not him, me! Me!"

"No!" She stomped past him. She would leave without any of her belongings, especially if that meant getting away from him faster.

He gripped her upper arm and forced her to face him. "At least tell me it is not some mech from Kaon or one of those disgusting cities." The rage in his voice bellowed through the room. "They're germs who infest everything we own, is that why you're so defiant? Why you side with them so much?"

"All you need to know, Sharpshoot, is that they're far more worthy my time than you ever will be." He let her go and she turned her back on him.

"You leave now, you won't ever be able to come back to Iacon. You'll be an outcast, your Sire will disown you."

Her head hung and she let out a defeated sigh. It was a thought she didn't want to let swim around her mind. But it was one that she'd often contemplated, and already come at peace with. "He disowned me the moment my Carrier died."

"W-where will you go?" The slick compassion in his voice irked her. He was so good at letting his anger get the best of him, the way he could slap her and then turn into someone who others would think was kind and compassionate. No sorry, no remorse, she knew he believed she deserved it, but he seemed to think that after that she'd bow down to his every whim. And when she didn't, he'd act as if nothing had happened, to get her to follow his thought patterns. He was a snake, and far more worse than Megatronous ever was, even as he fought in the Pits.

"I have places." She walked out of the room, holding in what tears she had as the door clinked shut behind her. Part of her wanted to ask Shockwave if he would allow her to use his Spacebridge, but the other part wanted the peace and quiet of the maglev as she went back. Either way, she'd make her way to Kaon and to Megatronous, or even Seafare, whoever was closest, whoever would hold her and tell her everything was alright, that what she had done didn't ruin everything. That maybe there was, in some way, still a chance that they could save Cybertron. It all hinged on one thing now. . .

Hope.