Content advice: verbal harassment, implied slash.


.


Prowl leant over Teletraan One, watching the brig security feed while he waited for Hot Spot's report to load.

"What's he doing?" Bumblebee asked.

Prowl counted to ten before turning around. It was a technique he'd borrowed from Sparkplug, who seemed to use it a lot with Spike nowadays. "How are you in here?"

"Huh?" Bee crept a little closer to the monitor. "Seriously, what's he doing?"

The screen showed Vortex upside down in his cell, spinning around on his helm. Prowl sighed, and muted the display.

"Hey, I was watching that!"

"Not any more, you're not," Prowl responded. "Go do something useful."

"Like what?"

"Anything, as long as it's somewhere else."

It took a full ten minutes before Prowl began to regret the final part of that sentence. Having brought the security display back up, it wasn't long before he noticed Bumblebee casually wander into the brig.


.


Vortex was still spinning on his helm. His optics were offline and his vocaliser was emitting a high-pitched whirring sound.

"What are you doing?" Bee asked. He leaned against the wall beside the outer door. "Hey, psycho-copter, I know you can hear me."

The whirring stopped, but Vortex continued to spin. "First Aid?" he asked.

"Nope," Bee said. "Why'd you want him?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Vortex responded. He came to a graceful halt and flipped over into a predatory crouch. Bee got the impression that he was grinning behind his battle mask. His darkened visor was just plain creepy.

"Um, no, not particularly," Bee said. "What were you doing, just then?"

Vortex's optics came online with a startling flash. "Making my own entertainment," he replied.

"Uh, Ok."

"You're very small," Vortex said. "Did you bring me some energon?"

Bee suppressed a shudder. All of a sudden, his folded arms felt far less nonchalant and a bit more like a shield. "No."

"Shame. How's Defensor?"

Bee opened his mouth, then shut it again. Vortex on the monitor was one thing, but Vortex on the other side of the room with only two sets of energon bars between them was entirely another.

A blur of movement, and Vortex no longer crouched, but sat against the side of his cell, knees up and chin resting on his hands. A few of his fingers appeared to have been crushed, but it didn't seem to bother him. "You've come to… interrogate me?"

Bee shook his head. For some reason, his vocaliser had developed a hitch.

"That's disappointing." Vortex sighed. "No one seems to want to interrogate me. I might as well not exist."

"That's… messed up."

"Hey, I'm all on my own here," Vortex said, staring dolefully at the floor.

Bee coughed static. "That's, ah…"

"The thing about prison? Yeah. But usually there's more laser scalpels and less processor-numbing tedium." Vortex sighed again. "This is boring."

"I think it's meant to be," Bee said. He jolted sideways several feet as the door behind him opened. A large, white hand pressed gently on his shoulder.

Bee looked up, and further up. He managed a weak smile. "Hi, Skyfire."


.


"I didn't know you were on brig duty," the large 'bot said. Hmm, so that was Skyfire, interesting. Vortex focused the light from his optics and used it to trail a transient pattern on the floor of his cell. The outline of a wing, the curve of a cockpit. Pretty.

"I, uh…" The little yellow 'bot stammered a bit, then seemed to concede that the game was up. "I was just going."

"You do that," Skyfire said.

"Come again with some energon!" Vortex called. "And bring a friend!"

The minibot glanced back, once, then vanished around the corner. Strange little thing. Too curious for his own good; could be entertaining, might even be useful at a stretch.

Skyfire settled down in an oversized chair, and reached for a datapad.

"They trust you in here?" Vortex asked.

Skyfire glanced up, briefly, but didn't respond.

Vortex stretched out on the floor, chin resting on his undamaged hand, knees bent and feet in the air. "They're forgiving sorts I take it," he said. "Autobots. I suppose they'd have to be after… you know… So, do you get your pick of the fliers?" That earned him a slightly longer look. "I'll take that as a yes. I'm thirsty, got any high grade?"

Kicking out one long white leg, Skyfire spun his chair so that Vortex was no longer in his field of vision.

"Nice wings," Vortex said. "I could polish them for you if you like? Do Autobots have that thing where you can do what you want with prisoners, 'cause I'm kinda bored."

"I could disable your vocal apparatus," Skyfire said. His voice was pleasant, cultured; far better than silence.

"What else could you do with me?" Vortex asked, but Skyfire simply shook his head.

Vortex rolled onto his back. Skyfire upside down through the energon bars was marginally more interesting than Skyfire the right way up. If only the big 'bot was closer, he could use the light trick to trace little seeker designs on that smooth, clean armour.

"So," Vortex said. "What're you reading?"

"Nothing that's any of your business," Skyfire replied.

"I was only trying to be friendly." Vortex shuffled closer to the bars and retracted his battle mask. "Ever wondered what energon bars taste like?" he asked.

"No."

"Me either. It hadn't occurred to me to try until now." The explosion was small, but worthwhile. A mouthful of sparks, some residual numbness, and a pleasant tingling feeling along his main fuel lines. "I could do that again."

"If you like," Skyfire said. "It's all the same to me."

"You really are cold," Vortex said, as though the revelation had shocked him. "I wouldn't have thought it, after what Screamer said… Well, I shouldn't say."

"No," Skyfire said, but this time there was a harder edge to his voice. "You shouldn't."

"I hear your name a lot," Vortex mused. Skyfire didn't respond, but his engines were quiet, and the arm which held the datapad was utterly still. Vortex snapped his battle mask back in place and grinned. "Mainly when I'm hoping I'll hear mine, if you get my meaning." Ha! There it was, that blink-and-you'll-miss-it twitch of the right wingtip. Vortex stretched out; the field dressing bolted to the hole in his back scraped against the floor. "I remember back in Kaon," he said. "In the early days when Megsy was just starting out. There was always something off about Screamer, y'know? Like he was missing something."

Another tick, this time a slight adjustment of the right leg.

"I think," Vortex said. "I might be looking at that something."

Skyfire huffed, a sigh of fans kicking up. Not for the sake of cooling, Vortex guessed, but to generate noise.

"And you know what?" Vortex said, over the growing hum. "It's one hell of a view."