Chapter 25: Barricade

I didn't really think that this would get this long. I was going for a 1.5k chapter but it turned out like this. I hope you all don't mind. Thank you for supporting this story with me! Enjoy!

All rights reserve... I don't own Transformers. If you don't know Hasbro does... then now you know...

Barricade was with his mech sire that time and they were on a mission to rescue whoever had given the distress signal just a city away from them. The signature was familiar for the youngling and it was making him go haywire with worry as they neared the location.

Prowl was mostly the calm one on this mission as he worried for his young creation. Losing control is not allowed but who was he to stop his sparkling for worrying so much after Prowl had come to accept all of the similarities that Barricade had with his sparkmate.

So, instead of reprimanding his sparkling, the older mech chided every now and then as he tried to put much logic to ground the other. He knew that Barricade was thankful for the support he was giving with those soft but bright curlean blue optics kept glancing towards his direction. It reminded Prowl all too much of Jazz whenever the other was cheery-thankful of something.

When they got through the destroyed terrain, Prowl reminded Barricade first of the things that they could encounter here. All scenarios are possible so he wanted the young one to keep a sharp mind and optic out for any signs of danger coming. Their relationship now as commander and officer but the older black and white mech thinks it is not really necessary for this mission.

With a nod, their stances changed and they engage the terrain with caution. To the youngling's delight, the scouting they did on the perimeter showed that there was no sign of their enemy as he then went on to look for their objective.

There, at the side of a destroyed pillar was the black youngling that he got to know as his friend, emitting the distress signal in his awful state. It was faint now but he could still pick it up at his location which was just another climb or two. Barricade smiled as he knew that the other youngling was also an Autobot in his own right but never did he gone and made it official since he reasoned that there are far greater things he needs to worry about than to be in the army. Blackout was never a mech of war and prefer to help others rather than getting them offlined. It was just a large burden that he could not take.

Barricade's spark soon had jumped rapidly in his chest plates as he neared the other youngling. Looking up close, his friend was lying in a pool of energon while sparks fly here and there from the ripped wires the other had. Though, in his state, the black one was able to show a glint of consciousness as he sputtered something the other could not comprehend.

Internally, the black mech was screaming. He was screaming his spark out to the other to get away, hide, leave him alone but it was too late as he felt a rush in his system, crying for his inability to at least protect his friend from the mech that had done this to him.

"Blackout! Thank Primus that you hadn't been offlined!" Barricade signed in relief as he spotted his commander at the distance, slowly approaching his location and still surveying the place. The black and white youngling hurriedly skidded to the damage other's side and pulled out his first aid from his subspace, already noting the damages that he could patch up before they take him back to base to get help from Ratchet.

As his sparkling work, Prowl remained observing their surroundings for movement… He didn't trust the mechling to be that much insightful at a time like this so he had to make at least another sweep of the surroundings. He let the younger one tend to the damages as he ushered him to hurry before any Decepticon comes back –which is more likely going to cause them casualty.

The older mech neared while he observed how the way Barricade fussed over the other. A smile crept on to his face plate until it fell off with alarms going on in his head. There was movement… and that movement came from gap of the black youngling's helm!

"Barricade! Don't-!" The older mech was too late to give that warning as he saw his mechling sporting a horrified look, questioning his friend when the other's optics gleam till it blackened. The chopper's servo, then, had shot up, encasing Barricade's own helm, sporting a smug expression and a tint of madness around his sinister smirk.

But then, a flash of blue washed over the red tinted optics as the mechling whispered… "Run…"

Something slid in Barricade's platings before Prowl could fully separate the two with a tackle. The older mech didn't want to risk whatever was happening but he knew that if he made contact, he was going to experience the same thing that happened to the other youngling.

The younger Autobot resisted the intrusion in his processor. He was coming undone from the malicious malware, destroying every firewall he had been installed with. He knew that his systems still needed to be updated but the way that the malware was destroying anything in its path was terrifying him. He resisted it to his utmost capability as his optics dimmed once again and a mech's voice came speaking.

'It seems that I need to make modifications seeing that you and your friend can still resist it, young Autobot… How about we do this?' a sinister cackle resonated in his helm as Barricade screamed in mad fury for that entity to stop what he was doing to him.

Prowl had immediately contacted for backup at this state as he tried to stop Blackout from dicing him and his sparkling alive. Urgency had spread within his frame as he heard Barricade scream out in pain, making him encourage the young one to fight the intrusion until the other team comes.

The fight between him and the black youngling was intense since the older mech didn't really want to totally damage the other. It was proving to be hard though as the other soon got the upper hand but when the air grew quiet, he knew all too well that something bad had happened as he turned his helm to Barricade's direction.

In one fell swoop, he was soon outnumbered with his youngling now mixing in their fight. Red optics glim as the two fought in tandem together at him. Prowl didn't know now what to do as his logic and spark came to a confusion. He did not want to damage… he did not want to inflict pain… most of all, he did not want to lose his sparkling to this war (Ever!) so he had to do something!

On the other hand, Barricade was screaming internally for his control to come back. He also thought alike his sire and did not want to damage the old mech even if he was doing it together –like before- with his friend. In one tackle, hesitation was met with downfall as Blackout produced yet another one of those things. Barricade could only watch as he screamed before falling into stasis lock from the stress in his system.

The next time he had woken up, he was met face to face with Shockwave. He knew this mech from the reports the come to his sire whenever he was there helping with reports. And as Shockwave addressed him, he recognized his voice as the mech within his helm.

"What have you done!" shouted Barricade as he struggled from his chains and straps. His frame was aching and he felt as if his spark was about to break.

"Oh…you can still struggle, young one? But don't worry… Soon, you won't be fighting back at me when I'm done with you…" The violet mech had an amused tone as he went away even though his face remained the same stoic thing he uses.

Barricade struggled, cursed, shouted and squirmed. And when all hope seemed lost, he was able to wiggle out his left servo free. Thinking that this was a great opportunity, he tried to release the other parts until a mallet had come down and crushed his servo. He screamed in pain from the shock as he came face to face with the scientist.

The scientist burst out into a fit of cackling as he saw the youngling's expression. Like the servo, he had just crushed the glim of hope in those blue optics.

"Do you think that you could escape from here, young Autobot? Too bad… you don't have a processor as powerful as your sire to save you from your punishment. You should have stayed on my good side as long as I had one…" Shockwave said before Barricade could feel the creeping on his frame again and everything turned dark.

Everything was like a film for the black and white youngling as he watched himself kill all those mechs; raise chaos within the Autobot faction; and break the sparks of all those he loves. He left his sire broken as he damaged his own carrier… He turned his back on the family that took care of him with all their love… And this put him in agony every single cycle, klik or nanosecond that passes.

His distraught could never reach anyone since his bond was blocked, broken or shattered in the long run. He felt cold. He felt lonely… and all that could provide him a great distraction from those feelings that ate him was the pain as he stared at what his frame was doing, praying to Primus for all of this to end. Let his misery end! Let this screen fade to black!

After vorns though, it did when Bumblebee was able to hit one of his plating quite hard enough to lay damage on the malware compact. The youngling he had once known to be a sparkling was able to damage part of his spark chamber with his cannons that killed off that slagging parasite. But still, that slagging thing was generating so he had just locked himself up while internal repairs do their thing.

It took a while but consciousness began slipping away from him again… Until one time, he found himself thinking clearly. He contemplated for a while on how it had happened and was ecstatic that he could control his own systems again. Later, he was met with an organic from the planet that he had come to know as the teen, Miles.

Miles had taken it off him with a hack saw that once made him –undeniably- stasis lock from fear. Who knows what the puny flesh bag could do to damage him even more? But he survived it thankfully with nothing more than a pair of scars marring his plating. After surviving from that, he was happy and thankful towards the organic but he will not really voice that to the teen at his state and status as a Decepticon-in-hiding.

He found himself in expert care of two other organics who knows what they were doing as he put himself at ease for the rest of his days recovering. The femmes though, were more insightful than the other so he had to be more careful of them. He was cautious to actually eased up towards them. Something that was ingrained to his processor ever since was to be careful. But he was just so longing for a bond that he couldn't really deny that he liked these squishies more than any other.

They took care of him as he wanted to take care of them. It gave him the sense of living as he spent his days protecting them. It wasn't once or twice that a Decepticon or Autobot would come within vicinity and he had to lure them away.

One of his time away with them was when he decided to meet with Blackout who was sending a signal… de javu -as the humans call- as he felt their meeting to be familiar. But this time, he was the going to do his mission right. He annihilated the parasite from Blackout's systems which thankfully had no more than just one. Scorponok cheered at the feeling of his partner getting lighter and clearer in the processor as the symbiot thank Barricade for whatever he had done.

With a clearer processor, Blackout asked what would be their next step now after they had been released from it. Barricade didn't really know the answer to that since they knew that not all Decepticons have this kind of thing controlling their systems. Some had willingly joined for their own purposes. They couldn't just go there and keep offlining those things since they would be in Shockwave's territory.

The chopper then made a suggestion about how they could go to the Autobots but Barricade had immediately shut it down. The black and white mech did such no thing as to divulge his reasons to the other but when he had talked with the femmes, it seems like there was a flood of emotions within him that he couldn't contain no matter how much he tried.

It started with interacting with her as a holoform. He may have changed it to match his style; with a clean face and a much younger looking him with a black crown though he did not change the way he dressed. It was who he is… a dream to become like his sire and carrier was still within his will. And instead of the constant thrum of turmoil in his spark, he felt it steady as time pass by with them. It came with attachment that he could not stop from forming... before he knew it, he has already made them his charges.

Although this was a great thing, there was still the energon lust wracking within his frame. The want to kill such feeble, inferior insects kept popping up in his mind as a sneer leered over his faceplates. He just filed that thought as a side effect like what happened to Blackout. His friend was never such an aft if it comes to those who are weaker than him.

He never really truly looked back at what he did before but then, all of it came rushing to the front of his helm as the Autobots came. The bonds he once have had all flared awake like a supernova, cracking with emotions that were raw and far difficult to process. Urgency, need, worry, surprise, anger, longing, distrust… everything came smashing with his own which made it hard for him to concentrate on escaping.

Barricade knew that the older femme must have sensed it so without really arguing, he trusted her directions. He just needed the time to control his processors as this happens. He would really have gone into his carrier's welcoming arms and just bask in the feel of it but because of shame, he ignored the pings that was flooding him.

His own worry kept rising for both his charges and his carrier but he dampened all the bonds and bolted. He could have gone back and apologize to the mech who had been there to co-raise him but he just couldn't. Turmoil began to bubble again within him until he was so lost in thought.

A pat on his helm came and snapped him out of it though. His optics then had landed on the youngest of his charges. She had a small smile as she shook her head.

"Wallowing about the object of the past or anything of the past won't take you anywhere, Mr. Copper…" Her voice was soft and in a whisper but with how she said it near his audios, he was able to pick it up.

"You had told me that yourself when my sister wasn't around." She then smiled at him and patted his cheek plate.

"And what made you think that I am wallowing about the past?" Barricade irritably shot back at the girl before he saw her raise an eyebrow at his query.

"Oh… Then I'm sorry that I took you wrong… Maybe you really are just constipated…" Noi snorted at him as she slid down his chest plate and steadied herself on his leg. Barricade twitched as he heard Miles who was looking at them at the far corner, had cackled at the thought.

"You don't know what you are talking about, fleshling. Go back to your family unit and monitor her vitals." He told her with a glare shot towards at the blonde. After that though, he expected her to go but she surprised him with remaining there and looking at him lividly.

"Do you know that we are at the same situation but in different stances? I may not know what has happened but I sure do know the feeling that is tearing your spark. Just don't keep it all to yourself, sir Copper. My sister's wise words are that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. –Quote from Isaac- And that action was from a choice with an underlying intent. We are here because we made it so and for a greater reason that one cannot really see." She finished as she hoped off.

"You can talk to her about your problem, sir Copper. Unlike me, she has more things hidden under that facade of hers." She waved him off and went to Miles who then was approached by Scorponok.

Barricade didn't really let Noi's words get to him as he grunted and scowled. What does the other femme got to know of his predicament? What could the other possibly do for him when that individual is just a weak puny squishy organic? He cannot fathom what but he soon realized it when the older girl had spoken with him.

He then got to know of their involvement in the last battle. That was when he had just collapsed from the group as he glitched with the repairing parasite. It broke him even more when he saw his creator had almost been offlined from the distance. The involvement he had soon was nothing as he disappeared from all of it again.

He went into hiding until Miles found him half stasis to the well. His processors got clearer and then there, he found himself caring again. The energon stained servos where still there but when he looks at them -the organics-, it was like he could atone for his sins.

Those servos that had offlined so many… Those servos that had offlined his sire…

Missing link…? How foolish the girl was of thinking of him like that! He wasn't because he knew that he had offlined his sire with his own bare servos. He saw it happen through that screen and that haunted him till this waking day.

"But hadn't you thought of that maybe the scientist might have been making you believe something that is a lie?" She shot at him.

"He might have made you think that he died when your sire did not." She sighed and placed a hand to cover her face.

"How can you say that he is really offlined when we all know that Shockwave could have done something to make Prowl feel dead to all of you… for him to play dead in front of you…" She jogged his processor, gears started turning again at the thought. How can they really know?

"That happened a long time ago in Cybertron…." He muttered quietly. "How can we be sure that he hasn't since then? And the bond didn't really flare! He has been gone a long time ago even before I was turned into this!" He snapped at her as she fell off her perched, landing with a groan from the fall.

She didn't cry; she didn't complain… She just stayed there and told him. "You don't know what might Hook have done. We don't know if he had made it… But all I can do is jog your memory… Maybe he has a device made for stopping sparks? For cutting off bonds? Maybe he created a spark inhibitor that does it and installed it in your mech. He then activated it timely to your last blow and made you think that he died!" She screamed frustrated.

"He might have been living under your nose all this time… under Shockwave… Hook… Heck, even Soundwave! You pick one… but I know that Megatron wouldn't like that so he might have no clue of it. Meaning… there might be another head that is working over all of you… without all of you knowing…" She finished as she sat up and stared at him.

Barricade was impressed to hear her own speculations. He had not done that because he was too focused on the lost but now… it can make sense. They would need to get direct to the point if they could truly say that she was right all along.

A glimmer of hope that was once lost had shined once again in the mech but even though it was like that, Mae could see the darkness wrapping its trendils around him. She feared… What if she was wrong? What if he had really killed his sire that day? What if-? She could not say. But she feels it… something pulsating in that realm…

All missed spellings and grammars are my brain's fault. Though maybe it was my hands' fault... I don't know and care.

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