CHAPTER54
"Deadlock…Please, focus"
Drift didn't talk. In each corner of the metallic wall that surrounded them, small cameras were pointed on them. The orange bot didn't even pay attention to it. He was used to it anyway. There was no intimacy in that place. Wherever he would go, he was always observed. By cameras, guards, other prisoners and whatsoever…
Here as well.
He'd been placed at a table, in an isolated room. Drift was still handcuffed, however someone had put a cube of energon in front of him. Drift didn't even touch it. Anytime he tried to swallow something, he immediately felt sick afterward. Guards had warned him many times, but warnings almost amused him. Autobots were truly naïve.
They pretended to treat their foes with respect by feeding them and giving them some kinds of rights. Yet it didn't prevent them from locking them up in together and let prisoners slaughtering each other in a cell. But Drift had enough of it. He'd been enough of criticizing Autobots.
It didn't matter anymore anyway.
By his side, a yellow and orange bot with a weasel face condescendingly stared back at him. According to guards, he was his lawyer.
"I told you many times: your trial will happen soon." He repeated the same sentence over and over. That's probably the millionth time since Drift's entrance in that room.
The lawyer sounded as irritated as Drift was to be here. The orange bot didn't react. He remained in the same position; his handcuffed wrists lying down on the table. Of course he knew, even if he still ignored the date. A trial. For Decepticons? Definitely an Autobot idea. They could simply get them executed and having an advantage over Decepticons in the conflict but they preferred to waste everything in a trial. And of course, they have the right to use a lawyer.
"We must prepare your defence. We have little time for it."
Drift had no illusion. He wouldn't win. The lawyer was probably paid by Autobots in order to be the cheapest one ever. They would get a verdict of guilty the easiest way possible.
Yet, he was forced to spend at least one hour with him. Drift wasn't even listening to him. Why should he?
"You know there are so many charges against you. You are on a very dangerous ground. That's the state of emergency. Murder, theft, assault…all these crimes are punishable by death."
A death sentence? He would get it anyway. Decepticons didn't even bother to use a trial. They just killed their prisoners right immediately after their capture. Autobots only slowed down their condemnation.
In one way, they were even more sadistic and vicious than Decepticons.
Drift remained silent while his lawyer was getting angry on his own.
"Primus, Deadlock! Are you even listening to me?"
No.
He just wanted to go back to his cell and recharge.
"…My name is Drift" He replied, an empty voice.
"It's the name Deadlock written in your file!"
He'd changed it to make a fresh start. A fresh start along with Wing.
He needed to read his messages.
He needed to talk to him. Just hearing his voice.
He must be worried sick.
But here…he couldn't do anything.
"Answer, Deadlock! Explain yourself! Why are you here, in that prison?"
The lawyer definitely got him bored to death. Drift would soon get a helmache. He looked away. He didn't feel any shame, any awkwardness…only tiredness.
He was tired…why couldn't he be left alone?
"…I'm a Decepticon" He begrudgingly admitted.
"What about your acts?"
He could just give them whatever they wanted. They would execute him in the end, anyway.
Might as well get it over with.
"I attacked. I robbed. I killed. Is that what you wish to hear?"
"Why did you do that? Did you follow up Megatron's orders?"
Definitely not.
"I was a Shadow" He explained, like a dull recitation.
"A Shadow?"
"…The Clan of Shadows. I was under Shadow Raker's orders. I only wanted to survive"
Why should he lie? The lawyer wrote something down on his Pad.
"And he didn't have been arrested? That Shadow Raker…his name isn't in the Iacon Decepticon criminals' database."
Because you are incompetent, Drift thought.
"It isn't my problem"
"No one will buy that you've been pressured to commit all these crimes."
"So, why are you wasting your time with me?"
Of course. He wouldn't be spared by Autobots only because he'd been 'manipulated'. Especially because it wasn't the case…or rather, he would refuse to believe it.
The lawyer glared at him.
"Your life is at stake"
"I know"
He didn't care.
"Primus, finish your cube! People starve to death outside!"
"You can just give it to them"
Drift pushed the cube forward. The lawyer had his arms crossed, looking scandalized. He didn't care. Lawyers…Only privileged bots could get access to such a profession. Just like medics or warriors. That bot had never lived in streets. He'd never fought to survive, to the point of becoming a thief.
No. All that mattered had been Shanix.
He was finished with it anyway. The lawyer gestured a guard to bring Drift back to his cell. When they arrived, he barely noticed that it was empty.
Drift didn't even feel any relief.
At least, he would get to sleep.
More days spent, more Drift had difficulties to wake up at the morning. He didn't even react to guards' knocks anymore. He just wandered in his cell, to the point guards urged him to hurry up, some of them even kicking him out of his cell.
If he could, he wouldn't even wake up. Guards gave him strange looks, as if he was like a kind of odd animal. Drift didn't pay any interest to them. He didn't even tell Fracture to get scrapped whenever that one agreed to interact with him.
What for?
Today, his chore was cleaning and repairing the prison's roof. This morning, as soon as someone handed him a cube, Drift just threw the yet full cube away, despite prisoners' protests. Drift didn't hear them. He just joined the line. Other prisoners had been assigned to that same chore. He noticed Fracture was part of the group but Drift didn't go to him.
They arrived on the roof. Drift realized now, that the prison was a huge building. There were other skyscrapers around them…but judging by how high they were at, the prison towered over all of them.
Drift went to his chore without any complaint. The goal was simple: repairing some holes caused by explosions. Drift knelt down to one, his tools at servo.
It didn't stop gossips around him.
"Yeah. Executed"
"Wow. A bullet in the head"
"He should be happy. At least, it had been quite fast. Decepticons just throw their prisoners in flames. They slowly suffer before they die."
"He should be happy? He's dead"
"We'll die soon as well"
Drift didn't stop. He kept doing his chore, not commenting over whatever he's hearing.
These people had been executed but he hadn't known them.
Their fates weren't his business. They'd committed crimes…just like him.
Your crimes are punishable by death.
Drift turned around, staring at the sight in front of him.
He couldn't distinguish whatever's down there. The half of the building was plunged into the mist. Above them, prisoners could catch sight of clouds forming all around the prison, the view going blurry.
There was one thing he was sure of: how deadly the fall would be, if any prisoner received a misplaced blow.
"Hey! What are you waiting for? Get back to work!" One of the guards shouted at him, before walking away.
Drift let out a sigh.
He didn't wish to wait any longer. He didn't even want to wait for his trial.
Waiting wasn't painful…it was just…long.
Drift closed his optics, enjoying the cool wind. Some rain drops fell over his face.
It felt…good.
He just went back to his thoughts. He thought of Jetstorm and Slipstream.
What were they doing now?
Had they been resold? Were they with another bot? A bot who would treat them well? A bot who would view as assistants rather…than tools? Who would train them up?
Why was he thinking about it?
They were probably locked up in somewhere else…
Maybe their nightmare was worse than his.
Or…maybe they were nowhere.
They'd been destroyed.
Destroyed…because of him.
Because he'd swore to protect them…
Protecting them from Shadow Raker…from Star Saber…
He slowly put his tools down.
What a joke.
Someone called him. Drift didn't pay attention to it.
He'd swore to make a fresh start. He'd promised to protect them from anyone that would want any harm to them. He'd chosen to become their Deployer.
You can become somebody.
In the end, he was nothing.
Only a homeless bot, Decepticon…without any worth. Someone who'd chosen the path of the crime. He'd tried to atone…but he couldn't change what he was.
He couldn't change who he was.
Wherever he would go, whoever he met…he caused harm to them. It ended badly because of him.
Dai Atlas had died because he'd met him.
Jetstorm and Slipstream had been taken away because they'd met him.
All that pain because of him…
Yes. The lawyer had been right. His life was at stake…and it was well-deserved.
What had Wing seen in him?
Why had he welcomed him? Why had he loved him? That's ridiculous. He wasn't even Gasket.
Why had Jetstorm and Slipstream followed him?
Drift looked down then walked ahead. One step. Two steps.
He didn't want any defence because there was nothing to defend in his case. He wasn't better than the other prisoners. He'd tried to escape but…where would he go?
He walked ahead again. One step. Two steps. At his pedes, mist. Clouds. Prison.
The void.
Someone called him again.
His parents had died during the war…but despite everything, they'd accomplished great things. Things he would have never been able to accomplish himself.
What had he accomplished?
Someone shouted his name.
There was no place for him.
Thanks for the training, Mister Deadlock.
He was at the edge, now. One more step…and everything would be over.
He'd abandoned Jetstorm and Slipstream…he'd been unable to help them.
He'd been helpless against Shadow Raker…and he'd killed Star Saber…
Wing was clinging to their relationship…while he deserved someone better.
Your crimes are unforgivable.
I'm the one who made you. You can't escape me.
Would he meet Primus?
No. Definitely not. Not Him.
Jetstorm…Slipstream…
A scream now. His name again.
Primus doesn't hate me, Drift bitterly thought. He'd already forgot about me. I'm nothing to Him.
He stepped forward.
At this time, everything went black as soon as he fell.