CHAPTER 70

"One more bounty…"

His ship sailing through space, Fracture was comfortably settled in his chair. On his Pad, he'd opened a window to have an access to the bounty hunters' network. Just like after a victorious hunt, he updated his number of captured bounties. He was quite satisfied with the result. He was at eighty now. That's definitely more than usual, since most of bounty hunters hardly reached the number of twenty. On the other servo, the conflict went so intense and most of his competitors had given up. They just abandoned their job to run from Cybertron's destruction.

Not Fracture. He explored the network through his Pad in order to have a look on the other hunters' profile. Especially groups' profiles. He clicked on Ronins' one in order to check the number of their captured bounties.

He was a bit reassured. They were at fifty. However, he noticed that their activity was much more frequent than usual. Their last bounty had happened the day before. The one before, one week ago.

He frowned a bit at the idea. He'll need to keep a watch on them. Well, right now, he was still superior to them. Whenever he checked rankings, Fracture was always the one having the greatest number of bounties. Ronins were far from him, though they were still second. Anyway, Fracture will not let them go better than him.

Anyway, it had been a long time since he'd come across them. Good. It gave him some vacation actually.

Nearby, Divebomb and Airazor were in control, piloting the ship. Fracture looked up back from his Pad, silently observing the way they piloted. It wasn't that bad. Well, they'd probably piloted ships before. Fracture had thought they would be slow to learn, that Fracture would have to repeat a million of times before they get the information. In reality, they actually adapted to new situations quite well. To the point Fracture could leave commands to them, and he could go to mind his own business. Meaning of business? Recharging.

"Where is the next bounty, boss?" Airazor curiously asked.

Fracture wasn't used to be called 'boss'. He'd always been a loner. It was quite a pleasant feeling, being the boss of something, as small as it was. He glanced back at his Pad.

"On a planet named Earth"

"What are its coordinates?"

"A place named Japan or something"

Divebomb nodded then entered the next informations on the screen. Fracture put the gadget near him and stretched out. Some months had passed since the two miniatures had been at his employ.

Truth to be told, at first, Fracture had thought it wouldn't last. At first. Indeed, he had never have any subordinates before. It had meant some more constraints. Sharing his space, even though both of them weren't that big at all, sharing energon, sharing his money…Well, Fracture just gave them the quarter of whatever he received but these Minicons didn't complain at all. Quite the contrary. He could give them two poor Shanix and they would still feel happy. However, it wasn't a normal situation to him. During the first days, Fracture had felt so overwhelmed by their presence that he'd found any and every reason to kick them out. After all, everyone was on their own. Slow, dependent, incompetent Minicons not being able to endure their Master's wrath?

No. None of this. It had just surprised him more. Quite the contrary. Both of them were actually independent. Divebomb was a bit more resourceful than Airazor who tended to follow whatever his cohort did. However, both of them had gained a great knowledge about the ship and its functioning. Not only that but Fracture hadn't needed to explain his own ways to work. After a first experience, they'd known almost everything about him. They weren't slow. They were quite fast to accomplish their duties. Furthermore, they worked quite well.

And Fracture could burst out in anger, as much as against them than against a bounty, they never commented anything. Well, they didn't share their thoughts about it. But Fracture didn't care.

Beside some disadvantages, Divebomb and Airazor were actually some useful weapons. Fracture thought back of Drift's tools. His Minicons.

Fracture wasn't worried. After all, he felt that his own tools would be enough against Drift's orange and black disks. They were sneaky, devious…and another good point is that they shared their Master's point of view about treachery and fight without any rules.

Yeah. He was their Boss. Their Master.

And with such useful weapons, he'll be able to remain the greatest bounty hunter…all bounties would belong to him and not to his competitors.

Silence fell down. Fracture just heard keyboard' noises.

Then Divebomb spoke up.

"Boss…Why did you become a bounty hunter?"

Airazor froze. He stared back at his partner, a shocked expression. Immediately afterward, Fracture let out a growl. What? Was he asking his own Master to explain his story? The reply was quick.

"Did I ever ask you the reason why you two decided to serve other Deployers as their Minicons?"

Divebomb froze. Fracture didn't need to let him know he'd committed a mistake. The Minicon looked down. He's afraid of receiving a blow…

"Forgive me, Boss. I shouldn't have…It was rude of me"

"Don't forget your place, Divebomb"

He'd been too familiar. It didn't have been the feeling Fracture had got when he'd observed them with their previous Master. Fracture wondered if that's a good or a bad thing. However, he wouldn't bear any insolence.

"I'm sorry…"

"Divebomb didn't mean anything, boss" Airazor added.

"Keep working. That's all you must do"

Fracture didn't need to repeat himself. A few seconds later, they were completely focused on what they were doing.

Fracture let out a sigh. He let some minutes pass, watching as stars passed in the space. It gave him…a calm feeling. A peaceful one. Something he'd come to like…Well, the bounty was the gift…but the sight of space…every time they took the ship to hunt…it was the extra gift.

The unpleasant feeling he'd got slowly vanished…

Maybe that's the reason why, in the end, he chose to answer to Divebomb's question.

"…I chose to become a bounty hunter because I wanted to become someone."

Both Minicons tore their optics off the screen, focusing on him.

Fracture didn't understand why he'd chosen to reveal such a thing. But it sounded…quite natural.

After all, they worked together now. Maybe it was normal to learn more about one or another.

He kept on.

"…Life is short on Cybertron. You may die every day. You wonder if you should even wake up every morning. You don't need me to explain that feeling. That's the reason why I decided to get a goal. Conflict between Autobots and Decepticons had never interested me anyway"

Airazor glanced back at him.

"…And why becoming a bounty hunter?"

Fracture let out a sigh. He didn't even look back at him. He just focused on space. Should he tell them? Or would it be too familiar?

Well, beside the three of them, there was no one else on that ship. Who would they talk to? Fracture had his arms crossed. Like any time he'd to reveal something extremely personal…even if it rarely happened.

Very rarely.

"…Someone"

Divebomb and Airazor exchanged a look, hesitant.

"…Were they an important person to you?" Divebomb cautiously asked.

Oddly enough, Fracture didn't feel bothered by the question. He should be.

"Yeah"

More important than anyone else. Did Fracture view someone else with such a value? No. Fracture searched through his mind. Everybody else could get scrapped.

"…It's obvious indeed, boss" Airazor said.

"He gave me a goal. He stopped for me. He's the one who made me become the person I am today."

Be a bounty hunter before being a Decepticon.

This day, he'd protected him. A thing his own parents should have done, a long time ago. However, they'd been weak. They didn't deserve any time to waste.

But him…

From that exact moment…he'd never given up. Nothing else had mattered. Moondream had called him a careerist. But if he'd really owned the power of reading people's mind, he would have understood why.

Well, he didn't care about the others' feelings about him. To many of them, bounty hunters were monsters to slaughter. Fracture wasn't an exception. Maybe was he even more targeted than many of bounty hunters. Because he was better.

On his profile, many bots left some reviews. Some of them were positive. Fracture was quite good in his job, excellent results…

But most of them shared Moondream's opinion.

You monster. You killer. Just disappear and die.

Fracture was completely indifferent to it. Feelings belonged to weak people anyway. These scums on his profile just irritated him. They felt clever behind their screen. But if they met him in real life, things would turn out differently. He was sure that they would keep their mouths shut in front of him.

He was viewed as a monster. Good. They wouldn't bother him because they were scared of him. They wouldn't confront a monster, after all.

He preferred being a monster rather than a corpse.

"…What happened…to this person?"

Fracture's expression went darker.

"I don't know. Many people think he's dead. Maybe that's true"

He should accept that. He wished he'd met him one last time…just because he'd wanted to show him what he'd become, thanks to his words.

Now, he was the most feared bounty hunter in the entire galaxy…If he'd been alive, Fracture wouldn't have managed to be the number one at rankings.

In one way, it comforted him. Even if it was a bit of a disappointment.

He focused back on the two tools.

"Was it your best memory?" Airazor asked him.

"You mean, beside memories of these captured bounties and that gained money? Yes. Probably"

Divebomb let out a small smile. That wasn't the usual crooked smirk that got his face split whenever they accomplished their job. No. It was a bit more reserved, without any eccentricity.

"It's rare to have some good memories" The Minicon declared.

"We share your feelings" Airazor stated, focusing back on the screen.

Fracture frowned.

"What does it mean?"

"Whenever a person gives us a goal, we understand why they become important to us" Divebomb completed.

That unpleasant feeling again…

But this time, it didn't last long.

Because Fracture understood.

Divebomb and Airazor had someone in mind.

He just stood up from his seat. They'd talked enough. He needed to recharge.

"Keep working" He ordered them.

"Yes, boss"

Boss…

Fracture left the room, his tools focusing back on their task.

They all needed to be efficient for the next target.

At the same time, Forager connected to his own network. As he read some ads, he caught sight of one about a bot who'd escaped from Cybertron. According to the last news, the target was in Japan.

The racoon smirked. That's a very good information…and they could gain much from it.