It wasn't that
hard to actually find Tracks; the Firebird usually put off so much
energy anyway that it could be felt for miles. It was
getting him to actually stop moving; catching Tracks was the
problem.
The Firebird was busily enjoying himself in the Reck
Room, absentmindedly playing with one of the tools he had recently
stolen from Ratchet's office when Prowl had found him. The
cop's fury was somewhat subdued, but he knew that by Tracks'
surprised expression that anger was still showing on his
face. Tracks clutched the energon scalpel as he dropped
his feet off of the table and onto the ground and glared at Prowl,
who growled back. The cop's fists were clenched tightly
and his optics were narrowed as his arms began to shake from the
strain it took to hold himself back from just jumping on the Firebird
and killing him where he stood, but almost immediately after wished
he had attacked because the Firebird made the first move. In
that split-second hesitation, Tracks threw the scalpel at him and
disappeared through the North doors.
Prowl yelped as the scalpel's
blade sank into his newly-mended shoulder and snarled, pulling it out
and throwing it at the wall. He charged after Tracks into
the North halls and heard the Firebird's light footfalls heading
toward the ark's entrance. He quickly chased after
Tracks, his mind filled with anger and worry at the same time. If
Tracks got outside, then he could easily fly off and Prowl would
never catch him. He scowled then jumped and transformed in
the air. He knew he was faster in his alternate mode and
was ready to prove it as his tires slammed onto the ground and
screeched away, producing the longest burnout Prowl had ever made,
the sound echoing through the halls. He soon saw the
Firebird's blue body up ahead and transformed back to his robot
form, simultaneously pulling out a heavy blaster, which he fired upon
Tracks. He heard a cry as one of the fires slammed into
Tracks' back, slamming the Firebird into the ground right outside
the ark.
Prowl ran to the mech, scowling down upon the Firebird in
angry disgust, the barrel of his blaster pointed right at Tracks'
head. Every synapse in his body screamed at him to pull
the trigger, to blow apart Tracks' head on the spot, but he chose
instead to go with an idea that he had a long time ago; make this
traitor's death as painful as possible.
In Prowl's hesitation
Tracks whirled around on the ground and kicked his leg out, tripping
Prowl and causing him to fall. Squirming, he scuttled and
ran again to try and get away from the ark to be able to transform
and take off with no problem. Prowl's rage at the
Firebird was beginning to take over his better judgment as he got up
and chased after Tracks. His mind was getting clouded and
distorted and he felt as though some unbeknown force was controlling
him, showing him nothing but red anger and blind rage. His
body was pulsing with hot feelings he could not describe as his body
changed slightly, his right arm sparking red and flowing with hot
energy as the giant cannon appeared again, jutting out from his elbow
and from his shoulder.
Tracks saw his opportunity to escape and
transformed, his boosters kicking into life as he jumped into the
air, about to fly off when Prowl jumped and landed on him. The
cop's weight was too much for Tracks to bear on top, so his tires
hit the ground again and Tracks sped up, trying to shake the cop
off. Prowl roared savagely and pointed the cannon at one
of Tracks' wings. Hot energy surged through him before
the blast came, the huge energy twisting and breaking the metal in a
flurry of red sparks as he heard Tracks scream out in agony. Prowl
got off of Tracks and the Firebird transformed, the pain too much for
the Firebird to bear in car mode. Tracks rolled on the
ground, cursing at Prowl as he felt the cop's weight on top of
him. He lashed out, catching the side of Prowl's head
with a powerful blow and sent the mech off of him, followed by a
flurry of bullets from a blaster that the Firebird had procured,
firing upon Prowl's body.
The cop knew he was injured from the
attack, but could feel no pain, the anger too strong, his will to
kill too intense for him to know anything but blind, white-hot
rage. Prowl hated this bot with all his Spark and wanted
to see to it personally that Tracks was killed. Prowl knew
that killing would be easy, but he wanted the blue mech to suffer for
what he had done.
"What the Fragging Hell is wrong with
you?!" Tracks' fists were raised as he spoke. "Why are you
attacking me??" Tracks was playing dumb, and Prowl knew it.
"Why
the Fragging Hell do you think?!" Prowl's rage spat out at
him. He shot at Tracks, the cannon's energy surged
toward Tracks, but he dodged, hiding behind an outcrop of rock. "If
you have nothing to hide, Firebird," Prowl continued, his voice
full of poison. "Then why are you running?" Prowl slowly walked
over to the rock that Tracks was hiding behind, but before he could
do anything, he got a blaster to the face.
Prowl fell back in
agony as he clutched at his face, the point-blank shot cracking one
of his optics and distorted and blurred his vision. Prowl
heard footsteps fading and knew that the coward was running away
again, and Prowl would be damned if he let Tracks get away with what
he had done. Rolling over, he lifted the cannon and fired,
the huge blast pummeling into one of the Firebird's legs, slamming
him into the earth once more.
Getting up, the first-in-command
walked to Tracks who was screaming slightly and clutching at his
right leg, the leg blown off at the knee. He cried out and
sent evil curses to the cop's audios in Autobot. Prowl
smirked down at Tracks and kneeled over him. The Firebird
lifted the blaster in his hand, but the cop grabbed his hand and
twisted, forcing the blue mech to drop his weapon. Prowl
took Tracks' blaster, pointed it at the Firebird's chest and
pulled the trigger, feeling insanely satisfied when he heard Tracks
screaming in agony as the three point-blank blasts ripped easily
through the Firebird's chest armor. Prowl knew he didn't
hit the Spark, but knew he came damn close to it.
Tossing the
small blaster aside, he placed the cannon's barrel against Tracks'
chest, letting the heavy weapon push against him. He
growled at the blue mech, but silenced himself as he was surprised to
suddenly hear sobbing.
Tracks was crying, but whether from pain or
fear, Prowl could not tell. "Please-" Tracks' strained voice
was feeble and sounded pathetically weak. "Please don't! Spare
me, I'm sorry-"
"You're sorry?!" Prowl's anger
rose again. "That's all you have to say?! You raped my
bondmate and almost kill him and all you have you say is sorry?!"
Prowl snarled at Tracks; he looked so pathetic under the cop's
cannon.
"For the love of Primus, Prowl, don't kill me!"
Tracks' pleading was pathetic and it was beginning to get on
Prowl's nerves.
The cop scowled. "Give me one good reason why
I shouldn't." he pushed the cannon into tracks' chest and heard
the Firebird yell out in pain. When Tracks produced no
answer to his prompting, Prowl smirked. "I thought so. Then,
perhaps, you could tell me why?"
Tracks' ace went from
desperately pitiful to angry faster than Prowl had ever thought
possible. The Firebird's arm came up and brutally
connected with the side of Prowl's head, slightly dislodging the
mech from Tracks' body. Prowl's fury came back to him
and, before he could really stop himself, he roared and the red hot
energy surged through his arm as the sound of the cannon going off
rocked through the flat landscape.
Prowl's arm went limp as the
energy from the cannon began to slowly dwindle. The cop
looked at Tracks' body with sight astonishment at what he had done,
a giant hole blasted straight through the bot's blue body to the
ground below. Prowl sat back, his optics locked on the
chasm through Tracks' chest as feeling slowly came back to his
body. The adrenaline and fury were dissipating quickly,
the cannon vanishing with it, coming back to a regular, solid arm.
He
groaned as he clutched at his side in slight surprise, now realizing
the wounds in his body from Tracks' blaster. Scowling,
he got up then looked down at Tracks' face, the blue optics dark
and devoid of life. He knew that he couldn't leave the
dead mech here, so he thought for a second and a simple, yet
effective, thought came to his mind as he quickly commed Omega
Supreme.
"Decepticons,"
he had told Ratchet when the Medic had seen Prowl's injuries. "A
seeker jumped on me." Prowl was pleased with his cover story of
what had happened to him, although the Medic didn't seem too happy
about having to fix him up again. He was now sitting next
to Jazz, who had been propped up on the Recharge Berth. Ratchet
needed to reboot the Porsche for a moment to see if everything was
connected alright in Jazz's arms, and he needed to be sitting up
for the test. Jazz's body was leaning against Prowl's,
the black head on his shoulders, and that suited the cop just
fine.
Ratchet had booted up a machine, which quickly gave Jazz a
spark of power. The Porsche jumped slightly as his optic
band flitted to life. Jazz tried to sit up but was forced
back down by Ratchet.
"Don't move, boy, I just have to run
some basic tests." Ratchet bustled away for a moment and Prowl
found Jazz's hands wandering over his body, as if trying to see who
was next to him; the Porsche couldn't see things very clearly
unless the visor was over his face.
Prowl took one of Jazz's
hands in his. "It's me, Jazz. It's Prowl."
Jazz's
face broke into a feeble smile and he squeezed Prowl's hand
slightly. "Prowl? Thanks Primus it's you!" He
sounded slightly anxious. "I was afraid you were…" he paused
and seemed to be slightly uncomfortable.
"Tracks?" Prowl
helped him finish his sentence. He watched Ratchet come
back over with some tools, but chose to ignore the medic for a
moment. "Don't worry, he won't bother you again." Prowl felt
awkward as he looked at Jazz's face. He had a sudden
urge to do something he had never done before, but before he could do
what he wanted, the Porsche spoke.
"You know?" Jazz asked
quietly, a hint of fear in his voice.
"I do, yes." Prowl
mumbled back as his head began to move closer to Jazz's. "And I
can promise you," He seemed to be moving and speaking
automatically, his body doing something that his mind wasn't
telling it to do. He slowly pressed his lips to Jazz's
white ones and engaged Jazz in a very awkward kiss as a small surge
of happiness flowed in his spark as he slowly pulled away from
Jazz. If he had been human, he was positive that he would
be blushing, an awkward feeling in his face. "It won't happen
again, Jazz."
Jazz smiled at Prowl, but was pulled away from the
cop's attention when a comm came through; Optimus Prime had
returned from his mission and had wanted a report. He
looked back at Jazz, but the Porsche's head was turned toward
Ratchet as the Medic began his tests. Sadly he bade
farewell to the two and left the Medbay to meet his leader in his
office.
Knocking on the door, Prowl entered Optimus Prime's
office and strode up to his leader, happily shaking the hand offered
him. "How was your mission, sir?" Prowl asked. Standard
protocol, always ask your superior how everything went, even if you
aren't interested.
"Oh, the basic routine, but very devoid of
Deception seekers." Prime replied with a sigh. "Not that I'm
complaining, or anything." Prowl chuckled at the joke and knew full
well why the seekers hadn't been there, but he just smiled at
Prime. "What about here?" Prime asked. "Anything catastrophic
happen while I was gone?"
Prowl smiled pleasantly at his leader
as he thought of the events that had passed in the last forty-eight
hours of his leader's absence. Certainly, the events
that had passed were nothing to smile about, right? One
event, though, stood out in Prowl's mind as the one satisfying
thing that occurred in the last two days of this hellish
nightmare. Sure, he liked the fact that he had a bondmate
now, but it was the more amusing factor of trying to hazard a guess
as to what the Junkions were going to use Tracks' body for.
"No,
sir," Prowl's smile widened as he let his imagination stray on
that subject for a while. "Everything worked out just fine."
