Summary: The continuing adventures of Brooder Prowl and his ever-growing band of Cybertronian chicks. Along with some revelations about the past.

A/N: Well it's been a while since I've posted for this series. Hopefully I didn't contradict myself and kept as much of the old tone as possible.

For the 2020 prowlxjazz challenge
Prompt: Dark Past

Slang:
grounded = seeker slang for Praxian doorwing mechs (flightless descendents of seekers)
wing-spawn = derogatory Praxian slang for seekers

italics = internal thoughts (also book titles)
bold = external comm

Prowl's decision to put the seemingly nonsensical trio of Brawn, Windcharger and Blades as caregivers for Wildrider made a lot more sense the third time someone on monitor duty watched Blades haul Windcharger out of the Ark to levitate their wayward charge off the ground so Brawn could tow the rambling Stunticon back to the safety of the quarters the three of them were sharing. Blades was still living with the other Protectobots which meant was that there were four more sets of optics watching out for the crazy Stunticon.

The other new charges drew a different response from the local Autobots.

How can anyone allow a charge to wander around in this condition? Tracks grumbled, wise enough to keep it out of his field and strictly to a comm call. The half-grown mech Tracks was scrubbing down was covered with grime and badly neglected scratches and didn't need to hear this kind of chastisement. It wasn't the poor things fault he'd been neglected. You'd think it would be humiliating for a Seeker to have creations looking like this. I'd let my own frame go before I'd let a sparkling of mine be left in this terrible state.

Not everyone has our sense. Mirage agreed from the other side of the washrack as he rinsed the third round of cleanser off the femme. The new trio Smokescreen had discovered hated being separated and struggled frantically when they couldn't see one another. Judging by the condition of this femme's frame no one has cared for them in a long time. As neglected as they've been I'm not certain why Skywarp bothered to bring them to us.

Prowl's already determined we will be taking them in and caring for them until they develop enough trust to be willing to accept separate caregivers so that they can have the individual attention they need. Jazz added as he tried to draw a giggle from the red sparkling by dropping a towel briefly over his own head before lifting it back up again. Right now they need to stick together for their sanity, and we have the space in the new room since Dead End hangs out with the Dinobots so much. Wildrider isn't sane enough to interrogate right now, but Prowl and Red Alert already asked Dead End about them. He has no idea who they are or where Skywarp got them from. I doubt Deady'll trigger much reaction now that he's removed the faction logo.

Tracks and Mirage shared a glance. Tracks was the one that made the mutual offer. If you need help detailing them or helping with showering let us know. Any local cleansers, polishes and waxes suitable for our frames should be good enough for their systems as they build up their armor and strengthen their protoforms.

"I hear the preparations for more sparklings are going well," Jazz said quietly as he slipped out of the nursery and joined Prowl on their berth. "There's some grumbling about the resources going into the frames we're planning to lose in convenient spots, but even Gears is upset about the shoddy condition Arcee and Springer were in when they were handed over to us."

"Fortunately Ratchet's testing indicates none of them are creations of local Decepticons although they are all at least partially from Seeker lines," Prowl's engine rumbled angrily as he recalled the extensive deprivation revealed in the medical briefing. "Cybertron does not currently have the resources to support sparklings, but most Seekers don't think when they get the urge to reproduce."

"Is that why they dump their sparklings on Praxians?" Jazz asked. He'd gotten the same debriefing that all the other Autobots had received, but Smokescreen had admitted that Prowl might know more given his own nature as a brooder and time in the Enforcers who'd had the duty to handle these kinds of situations within Praxus.

Prowl settled against up against Jazz and began explaining the lost history of his city and kin. "According to the records Seekers did once tried to take care of their own sparklings but found the duty difficult given their own nature and responsibilities. They realized that their flightless descendants did not seem to have those kinds of problems. Some of the Seekers sought out related Praxians for help because we had developed a reputation for taking in abandoned or orphaned sparklings. At first they would offer gifts and trade services with the Praxian brooders in exchange for the nurturing their offspring needed. Once those young Seekers were mature enough to keep up with their adults they would join the Seeker flocks. Those now grown Seekers continued the tradition, and the Praxian clans gained valuable allies and resources."

"Sounds like a good thing that couldn't last," Jazz said thinking over the scenario and seeing how problems could appear within it.

"The Seekers began to change their ways and slowly stopped dropping by to negotiate and offer gifts to the potential sparkling hosts. More and more seemed to believe that it was their right to bless a clan with their offspring without helping with the resources needed to properly raise sparklings. Some even went so far as to simply drop their offspring inside a compound knowing that any brooder who saw it would be compelled to protect and care for it. When hard times struck some of the clans couldn't support additional sparklings without the outside help originally, so members without brooder protocols began driving away any unfamiliar Seekers approaching carrying a sparkling," Prowl's systems whined in distress at the idea. "What Smokescreen saw Skywarp do with those four is a version of what the Praxian clans encountered."

"Why'd the Seekers raised by Praxians go along with it?" Jazz asked trying to figure out why anyone would do something like that to their caregivers knowing the strains and tensions it would cause.

"Some medics thought that something changed in the Seeker base reproductive coding," Prowl thought about Hound's nature programs for an analogy. "They became almost like cuckoos perpetuating the exploitative cycle. Others started taking it as a challenge; it became a bragging right to sneak a sparkling into a Praxian camp. As Praxus grew from small camps into a city-state with walls and guards it got harder and harder for them to do it. Smokescreen thinks the Seekers went along with destroying Praxus because they thought we broke the natural order created by Primus when we denied them a place to deposit their sparklings."

"That makes some twisted sense but I bet you don't completely agree," Jazz said as he pressed Prowl against his shoulder and stroked the chestplate and midsection where his own creation was developing. "If I was in their pedes I think I'd aim to take the brooders not offline them. Destroying Praxus makes no sense given how excited they were to discover you here."

"Praxian medics never found any coding in the sparklings that proved the hypothesis that something changed the Seekers, but they never stopped looking even as the number of Seeker sparklings in Praxis dwindled," Prowl glanced at his chronometer and sent a quick comm to Dead End. You have one hour left of your viewing time in the day's schedule. Do not allow the Dinobots to convince you otherwise; they need their recharge as well.

I'll try, but I doubt they'll listen to me since they're watching A-Team. The maroon racer replied before shifting his focus back to the explosions on the screen.

"Ratchet might be able to figure out more; he's the best and has several sets of coding to compare," Jazz gave Prowl a nuzzle. "Relax and get some recharge. You've got a busy day tomorrow if you're going to start reading The Book of Three. Hopefully it'll go as well as The Lord of the Rings went."

"The humans have a multitude of interesting perspectives compared to what I found within most of our longer-lived race. Hopefully the young will continue to learn from the stories," Prowl agreed as he allowed Jazz's presence to settle his processor so he could recharge.

"Is that Breakdown?" Wildrider skidded to a halt and almost rammed Hot Spot who'd cut sharply in front of him on the way to storytime. Transforming he launched himself over the fire truck to see what was happening. "It is! It is feaky! Hey, Breakdown! You gonna be stuck here too?"

"Don't call me that!" the blue and white Lamborghini yelled as he fumbled away from the trio of symbiots headed for storytime. "You promised I'd be safe. They're all looking at me!"

I told you he was getting worse. Ravage commed from the brush as Prowl stepped beside Wildrider and motioned Dead End to approach his gestalt mate. Continue keeping those three out of my armor on a regular basis and we'll call it even. Ravage said before heading back to report a successful mission.