They won the tournament! They had won the tournament! Shockwave felt dizzy. For once his fighting partner dedication toward the mythical buyout didn't seem so unrealistic. They could gamble... A vorn or two.. make it five or six, still it was achievable.

Shockwave's processor was 100% loaded with probability calculations and he nearly missed the arena boss festival speech. Only when Soundwave grabbed his wrist in silent excitement did he realize that they were going to Kaon. Apparently, as part of the show before the major showdown of the vorn, they were to be presented to the broad public.

Shockwave didn't know what to expect, so he decided not to expect anything and was positively blinded, deafened and dizzy with all the lights and noise and the glamour of it - it was his first time in the city of Kaon, in any city, first time outside slave premises without extensive supervision. They were the champions, and these mechs and femmes gathered to greet them, cheer for them.

All the creds flowing in as bets and admissions softened their boss moods somewhat. He was dragging them along with him from one festive to another, until finally they made it to a grand reception in the city hall.

"No high grade for you" - he reminded both his fighters and his guards before letting them socialize with the free folk. Soundwave nodded solemnly and Shockwave said "yes, boss"

Shockwave felt out of place and ill at ease among all these shiny and assertive mechs and femmes. Especially the femmes. Every phase they said to him seemed ambiguous and he wasn't sure he was getting enough context. In the end he nearly hid behind his partner's back after yet another weird and illogical remark from a femme.

Thankfully, the reception didn't last long.

Dizzy. He was positively dizzy, his swap stakes got overflown with emotions. He deprioritized them and set an internal alarm to analyze them later.

As they left the party, the boss turned to them. His lighter than usual moods were clearly boosted by the high-grade:

"Well, guys, I've decided to reward you and to stimulate you to continue your winning spree. The rest of this cycle is yours, go get some fun, and don't get plastered. Rendevouz at the western ground bridge in 6 orns - don't be late. I would hate to scrap you before the finals" - with that he handed them a datapad with a temporary pass.

"You're just letting us roam around?" - Shockwave had to make sure he had no glitch in his audials.

"Do I look like sparkling caretaker to you?! Stay out of trouble and be on the rendevouz point on time. I have things to attend to. Oh, and.." he motioned to one of his guards who took a small token out of his subspace and held it out "alerting token. Ping me if you're in trouble. And pray to Primus that you don't have to"

"We've got it" - Soundwave cut in, taking the said token out of the guard's servo "we'll be out of trouble and on time. Thank you, boss"

And she pulled the astounded tech along the street.

"He just let us go" - Shockwave stated incredulously.

"Don't be naïve, of course he didn't. He gave us a small slack. And we better use it, not question it. So... I'm gonna stretch my wings and maybe place a few bets of my own. Get some booze. You?"

Shockwave must have looked like an idiot then. "I... do you think I can get into a library or something?"

"No kidding? Your first time in Kaon?"

"My first time anywhere"

Soundwave kept silent for a few nanoclicks. "ookaay. I guess I have to stick to you then. If you get in trouble, my buyout perspectives are ruined. Follow me, you're in for a city tour."

Shockwave did as he was told, marveling how his partner managed to navigate her way through a complex maze of different level traffic and the most bizarre turns and road junctions while filling him in on the vicinities and attractions. He carefully stored every bit of info given, net even trying to analyze it all yet.

"So, it's all there is about downtown. As you see, no library. If you really want to waste your free orns on datapads, Iacon is where you should go. The archive is open to all the citizen at any time... at least the public part of it. " She stopped abruptly "They won't let you in though"

"Because I'm a slave?"

"Not just that. You have been sparked slave. Once you are a citizen, your name is in the archive and their records never get updated beyond that unless you're scrapped. They don't disavow your access if you lose your status. But you have never been a citizen."

They stopped at a small energon depot on a corner. Soundwave quickly purchased a cube of med-grade and plugged into the payment interface.

"You're slaves" - the depot tech stated looking at his security display.

"Yes. And we're legit. And we pay." - Soundwave sounded a little annoyed. She took out a datapad the arena boss gave them and showed it. "Two tubes" - she added.

"As long as you're creditable, you're welcome. But you have to sit outside" - the tech said, supplying the energon.

They perched on the sidewalk and divided the energon. It was rich on flavor and saturating, nothing like the leftovers they use to have in the pit. The grades were there, sure, though not enough to overstimulate.

"Nice.." Soundwave ex-vented. "I'm always hungry since I got to the Pits"

Shockwave savored his part a little longer. "I was hoping..." he said "I was hoping I could update my tech databases, I have a feeling I can do a better job at the repairs... I have saved up some creds. Do you think I could by a reference pad or something?"

Soundwave appeared to be staring at him from behind her mask. "You really want to spend the creds you spilled your energon for to be able to better patch up your fellow pit-walkers ?" - she asked slowly, measuring every word.

"Is it ... naïve?"

The flyer shook her head slowly. "Naive doesn't even come close to describing it. Come on." - she jumped up to her peds. "I know what to do"

Yet again they were navigating through overcrowded streets of Kaon, bright, noisy and extreme in any way. Shockwave had no idea where they were going but at some point they turned off the main street into a real maze of narrow corridors. One didn't have to be a genius to see that this here was no glamorous part of the city. The mechs they passed were grim and spotted off nearly as many scars and dents as Shockwave did. Finally they entered a small passageway under a sturdy, though poorly kept building.

"I do the talking. You keep silent" - Soundwave whispered to her partner, leading the way in.

Inside was what Shockwave recognized to be a tech depot, the place filled with consoles and screens. Most of them were turned away so that the visitors would not have a chance to have a look. A few facing the door displayed some stock info, it would seem. In the middle of this abundance there was a relatively small courier-class vehicon, busy bustling over numerous keyboards.

He looked up with a cheerful expression, but dropped it immediately as he noticed Soundwave.

"You!"

"Me." - Soundwave responded with a grim satisfaction, watching the vehicon fight down the initial panic. "Block the door" - she said to Shockwave and he obliged.

"You were reported scrapped" - he said as if in a way of justifying his obvious lack of composure. Shockwave was glad his monocular face allowed to hide his surprise easily.

"Authorities lie. Surprise." - Soundwave was clearly enjoying it, though Shockwave noticed that her voice sounded more mechanical than usual, the tone still masking her identity. So this mech didn't know.

"I'm here to cash that favor you owe me"

The smaller mech's agile fingers assaulted the keyboard again. "I can't be indebted to a slave" he said dismissively. Shockwave nearly expected his partner to go violent at that, but Soundwave surprised him.

"Let me guess, Sideways... You faked your own demise in case I gave you out. You thought that was enough. Had they scrapped me, you would be peachy, lurking in these shadows, conducting your trade... and here I am, with just a few free orns and I have found you. What chance were there that you'd manage to dive clear if they would have been _really_ looking for you? Every ounce of Kaon would be scanned and searched. Every single tie you have questioned and examined. Where would you be now?"

The courier looked a little ill at ease. "Yes, I admit, it was noble of you to hold your glossa... However.."

"Weren't you the one who said you honor your word? I'm not going to stay slave forever, you know... Might as well repay me now."

Sideways cackled "I do prefer to keep my end in bargain... is good for reputation... But it's my good will, not an obligation. And you are not in the position to make demands, are you?"

Soundwave hovered over the mech, apparently loosing her patience "So you acknowledge your debt and are asking for a leverage to pay it?!" - her voice dropped to a threatening whisper "That can be arranged"

She turned abruptly, and headed for the door. The courier-class flicked his gaze from Soundwave to her unknown companion who stepped aside to let the flyer pass: "Wait... what is it you want?"

The flyer's fingers stopped inches from the door. "Now you're talking"

"A citizenship? Even if I could clear him of slavery status, that would be discovered in an orn. And he still would be stamped. Out of the question!"

"I'm not asking you to make him a citizen, 'Ways, all I'm asking is to create an evidence, that he had been one before. It's no big deal for someone of your abilities... unless you got rusty?"

Shockwave got a feeling he got himself into something that could be described as "trouble". At the same time, it was the most invigorating cycle in his existence so far and he was determined to see it through.

The negotiation didn't take long. Somehow the violet tech suspected that Sideways was putting a show of haggling specifically for him. He couldn't really pin the details that led to this conclusion, though. Finally the talking was over and the working was on.

It took Sideways about 20 clicks to hack into the needed systems. He ran several scans before he found a suitable scrapped sparkling record to update.

Both gladiators were rooted behind him, staring at the screens. At least, Shockwave was staring. He was getting probably as much as he would from a reference pad just staring at the code running across the consoles.

"Stop invading my field!" - the hacker snapped at him when the tech hovered over to take a closer look.

"I apologize, - Shockwave said, - I find myself in need of tech intel. I am assigned tech and..." - Soundwave's hand touched his shoulder and passed him a small electric surge in a warning to shut the scrap up.

Apparently, the courier found it below him to converse with a slave. "I don't appreciate being supervised, you know that, Soundwave. There are pads up there" he motioned toward the farther corner of the room - "Go get yourself busy, slave boy"

Shockwave looked at his companion and only after she gave him a slight nod he allowed himself to the pads the hacker was referring to. The pads were news issues mostly, though he found an interesting note on battle class neuron net. He got so enthralled by the pad, that he nearly missed the fateful conversation:

"I'm going to need a name. How does he call himself?" - the small vehicon's fingers didn't slow down their frantic typing

"He doesn't"

"But I need a name. You want me come up with.."

"Shockwave. His name is Shockwave" - The violet tech looked up from the pad to see Soundwave looking at him, her hand resting on Sideway's forehand, pausing his typing. "Unless" - she raised her voice - "You object?"

He rolled the name around in his voice box. "It is perfect" - he said. And it was.