One of these days I swear I'm going to get it together. Also, I'm changing the day I update this story since it's summer time now. I don't know which day it'll be now, but I'll figure it out. I am dividing this into two parts because I know that this is going to be long, and lots of slag is gonna go down so I don't want it to be too overwhelming.

Twenty-One: Coup De Foudre

Part One

Paradox onlined from recharge early the next cycle, the heavy feeling still in her chassis, but she pushed it away as she stood up and unsubspaced the onyx colored chip and held it in her digits. She already knew what was on it, she downloaded the information as soon as she returned to her quarters last night. She knew that she would need to get to the black markets to find this Red X, and she would be looking for a mech in particular named Hardwire. She knew the routes, information on this mech, and just about everything else she would need for this mission. It just didn't feel real...until she held it in her digits.

What was she thinking? She was an Autobot for Primus' sakes. An Autobot who was about to go somewhere highly un-Autobot like and steal some highly un-Autobot like substances for a scientist with some highly un-Autobot like morals. In fact, she doubted the maniacal scientist had any morals at all. But here she was, going against everything she believed to be right, in hopes of getting closer to unraveling the mystery that drifted on this eerie warship like fog. It was just her luck that she was off rotation today, so she wouldn't have to worry about making an excuse for work.

But she did find herself heading in the direction of the Med Bay, if only because she forgot to see Nightblade the other cycle. But to her disappointment, the hatches were locked and sealed shut. Confused, she peered around the slightly translucent walls, wondering if the blue medic was in there. The lights weren't on, and the automatics on the hatches were off, Nightblade must not have checked in yet.

With a sigh, she pulled out a datapad and wrote a quick note to her, looking around to find a good place to hide it. Once she found one, she slipped it under and hopped that the blue medic would be keen enough to pick up on it, before taking another deep breath and walked towards the ramp for the exit. She was glad she was up early, no one was in the halls and it felt more like a ghost town than a warship. She silently crept past the docks and down the ramps before being exposed to the natural air. The sky was still dark out, slowly tinting lighter as it reached to horizon. All around her was the rough, mountainous terrain of the Kaon region. Usually she would be astounded by the jagged mountain ranges that curved all around the region, and the scarlet sand and dirt that blanketed the grounds. But now, without the sun to light these red mountains, the darkness casted macabre shadows over the land, and the terrain seemed more like sharp, rigid claws, enclosing over everything around it.

"Thought I'd find you here." That same deep, bone-chilling voice spoke up from behind her.

The violet femme's spark momentarily leapt into her throat, and before her protocols kicked and she turned around with a blade in her servo, ready to slice whatever threat she faced to pieces. Not only an astrosecond later did she realize that it was Pyro, and even though he was a threat, she had no reason to pounce on him. So instead, she settled on glaring at him while he chuckled quietly at her reaction. Paradox couldn't for the life of her understand why this mech found such amusement in creeping up on her all the time.

"What do you want?" She gritted through her denta, trying to suppress the shock and calm her racing spark.

His amethyst optics glinted insidiously in the darkness, "I'd thought it would be nice to see you off, my little Para."

I'm not your little anything, She grimaced internally. But rolled her eyes and looked back at the terrain, "How touching."

"And to mention something that I hadn't included on the chip," Pyro added, and she turned to give him her attention, "When you get down there, let them know that I sent you."

She raised an optic ridge inquisitively, "Why?"

Pyro grinned, "I'm well known and respected in the business. Besides, that's the only way they won't kill you immediately, considering the fact that you're an outsider and all."

Her garnet optics widened, "What?!"

Pyro's grin stretched wider, "Well, it wouldn't be the black markets if every fool knew about it and where to find it. My designation is the only chance you have of getting in," And then he leaned in, his voice dropping a couple of octaves, "So don't forget it." She swallowed hard, but nodded. Pyro nodded in return, stepping back, "I'll see you in twelve joors."

Paradox nodded, before transforming down into her bi-pedal mode, and racing out across the red desert.

The inner city of Kaon was just as captivating as it was the first time she stepped foot into it. It was still crowded, even at this hour. The vendors were just now opening up shops, restocking their goods and supplies while some bots were already up looking around. Oh well, the early bird gets the worm. Paradox navigated through the narrow streets, due to her memory of before, and she passed by the large curved citadel that supposedly stood at the center of Kaon. She maneuvered covertly, making sure to keep a low cover, since this wasn't an official mission, and if she was caught by and Decepticon soldiers in the city, she would most likely have to answer to Soundwave, since he was also in charge of security. And the last thing she wanted to do on this planet is see Soundwave, even if her spark burns in her chassis at the thought of him.

A couple of blocks later, and she finally reached her destination, looking up at the tall metal building that stretched like a "U" around a statue of the last governor of Kaon. This statue, was of course, torn down with only the foundations of it remaining in place. Paradox didn't know a lot about the black markets, before she came to Kaon she assumed that they were just dreadful rumors. But what she did know from stories were that they had been secretly running the city for a long time, way before Megatron rose to power. And it was ironic of course, that the black market rings took place, right below the city hall of Kaon. Or at least, it was the city hall.

The building has been abandoned for almost two decacycles now, and nobody dared to go near it. But the violet femme got in easily enough through a door with old, rusted hinges and slipped into the dark, hollow halls. Despite the Decepticons vicious takeover of the Kaon government, the rooms in city hall remained quite nice. Even the biggest room; the meeting room, where a long table that stood high on a lifted stage stretched around the room where the officials would sit still remained intact. Paradox peered around the large room curiously, using her advanced night-vision settings, her doorwings arched high on her shoulder-plates, straining for any sounds or clues to give away the entrance. There was nothing.

She frowned, looking around a couple more times while running as many scans as she could across the weary building. But just as it seemed that all hope was lost, she picked up on something that glimmered briefly in the darkness. It was a microphone, that was centered right in the middle of the large table, meant for the governor of Kaon to speak in. Something about this microphone was off though, and as the violet femme walked closer to it, the more she could feel it. There was no light in this room, there should be no way for the metallic microphone to reflect, and even if it could, it has been sitting here untouched by the elements which the building was exposed to from lack of maintenance. The metal everywhere was dark, slowly rusting, while the microphone was as shiny as ever. Paradox frowned as she walked up to the head of the table, peering at it closely. They were made from the same metal...why hasn't it began to rust yet?

Without another thought she reached out to touch it, and jumped from the quick rush of electricity that ran through her digits before the room began to shake. A low grumble thundered the dead silence as the wall on the other side creaked and groaned as it shifted opening up to reveal a passageway.

"Tunnels," She muttered, once the rumbling stopped, "It's always secret tunnels with these mechs."

She walked through the tunnels, her blade extracted from her subspace, just incase. She hadn't forgotten Pyro's warning about her being an 'outsider'. Her doorwings stretched to its limits with monitoring sound and feeding her enough data to tell her that no one else was in the passage way. But she didn't put her weapon back, if anything, she only gripped it tighter and took another breath before entering the tunnel. If she thought it was dark in city hall, it was truly nothing compared to the inky darkness that descended upon her in this tunnel. The night-vision almost wasn't enough, and she had to inflate her armor enough for her biolights to shine through and help with the lighting. Even though her optics glowed a menacing red, her biolights gave off a soft shade of royal blue. Just like her optics were when she was in Iacon.

But her armor clamped together when she sensed another spark signature, and her frame stiffened immediately, claws twitching to fight as she readied herself. She crouched down low, listening to pick up on any sound.

"Foolish femme," a voice boomed out, "I only exposed myself to you because I knew you were coming. There's no use to try and pull an attack on me."

Paradox didn't recognize the voice, and she was wary, but it seemed she had no other choice. With a weak sigh, she sprouted up from her hiding place, and locked gazes with the fiery orange optics in front of her. She couldn't see much about the mech, other than that he was big, but that didn't come to a surprise to her because almost every mech was bigger than her. But size didn't matter; she'd put up a fight if she had too and she'd put up a pit of a good fight. That is why she kept her blade just out of sight of the bigger mech's view.

The mech's orange gaze narrowed, "Who sent you here, outsider?"

"Pyro." She said, making sure her voice was loud and firm to convey that she wasn't intimidated.

His optics widened briefly, before he nodded and turned around, more sounds of the walls grumbling filled her audio receptors. Another room was revealed, this one filled with dim, neon light. Paradox glanced at the big mech with orange optics again, who nodded in the direction of the open door silently. She entered without another thought, hearing the sounds of many mechs speaking. Her spark thrummed louder than before, and she wondered with dread what she was going to encounter next.

It was a chasm, full of mechs in every direction. In some ways, it reminded her of the tunnels for orientation into the Decepticon troops. She tried not to stare too much, but it was too hard not to. So many things were going on at once; there were auctions held at every corner, some selling off what looked to be mass weapons of destruction, drugs, rare animals, strange organic species, and even other Cybertronians. She couldn't believe that one, and had to blink several times to make sure what she was seeing was true.

They were trafficking. Three terrified femmes that didn't look much older than her, standing there on a platform with chains on their wrists and roped tied around their mouths to keep them shut. While another mech stood and bid over them. This was worse than a fragging pleasure house!

Anger boiled up quickly inside her, but she had to force herself to push it to the side and remember her mission. The real reason why she was here in the first place; Red X. So with much hatred, she had to force herself to tear her gaze away from the femmes, and keep pushing through the crowd. So far, she was doing good. It seemed no one realized that she was an outsider. Now, all she had to do was find Hardwire, who was supposedly in charge of the controlled substances in the rings. But where would she start? This place was enormous. Asking around was too risky, and her cover would be blown immediately. But what else could she do?

She stepped out of the way, just in time to avoiding getting slammed into by a drunk mech. He eyed the violet femme, his red optics brightening at the sight of her and she internally rolled her own.

"I haven't seen you around here," He slurred, and Paradox grimaced, "You must be a new catch."

He probably thinks she is a pleasure femme. Paradox shook her helm, and turned, obviously giving off that she was not interested. And, to no one's surprise, the mech became persisted. He had slurred something else, but she ignored it, only reacting when he leaned down to touch one of her wings. She tensed up immediately, brandishing her blade again as she grabbed him by his midsection, and with all her force slammed him against the wall, with the blade pressed fatally close to his throat cables. Her optics burned with unadulterated irritation and hatred as she gave him her most darkest, threatening glare.

"Hey! What the fra-" His protest was quickly cut off by her pressing the blade deeper. And instead he made an uncomfortable spluttering noise.

"I'm only going to tell you this once, so get it through your thick helm you two-bit fragger," She hissed darkly, "I am not a pleasure bot. Do not approach me again." and with that, she threw him to the ground, where he coughed loudly. Loud enough to gather a few optics.

She cursed lowly again, slipping into the crowd again before anyone could get to her. She needed to stop letting her emotions get to her, before she frags this up majorly. She stayed in between the crowds, shoving herself around large enough mechs to hide her even if the constant contact with her doorwings drove her insane. It wasn't until the sight of eerily glowing chemicals that looked similar to the canisters both Shockwave and Pyro had pulled her out of the current, and drew her closer to the two mechs who were speaking.

"...talkin' about somethin' big, and it's goin' down tonight." One voice with a thick Polyhexian accent muttered.

"Really?" The other one asked, he was from Kaon.

They were speaking so quietly, she had to strain her audio receptors to pick up anything.

"...all part of the plan...take the materials...to Tarn-"

Was all she heard, before a servo had gripped her shoulder plating rather violently. A surprised yelped had escaped her mouth before she was turned around forcefully to face the mech who she had threatened earlier. His dark optics were now bright with grim satisfaction as he smirked down at her, and Paradox snarled at him, pulling out her blade, only seconds away from slicing his-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, little femme." A harsh, raspy voice invaded her audio receptors and sent a shiver down her strut. She snapped her gaze in the direction of the voice, and her optics widened with a look that was mixed between shock and horror. She recognized the mech with cold, piercing red optics, and thick black armor. His size could rival Optimus, even Megatron. And if that wasn't intimidating enough, then the fact that his sharp fangs were twisted into a crooked smile surely did.

It was Hardwire.

Frag.

Told ya slag was gonna go down, and we're just getting started too. Lol, thank you for reading, make sure to review!