part three

Barricade leaned against the wall, staring at Prowl. The Autobot merely stared back, no hint of fear or disgust in his faceplates. He was completely blank. With a sigh, Barricade drew his blade from its subspace compartment and began cleaning it. It was his fourth day standing guard over the prisoner while Megatron recovered. He was getting bored.

"I wasn't aware gladiators used curved blades."

His gaze snapped up from the weapon. "They don't." Barricade said shortly, glaring at the prisoner. "I thought you were comatose."

"Hardly." Prowl said dryly.

"Why are you talking to me?"

A small smile curved those lips again, and Barricade felt his spark flutter. There was something dangerous in that smile, as if Prowl was the one in control and not the Decepticons, and that intrigued Barricade to no end. "As boring as it is watching a mech hang from his wrists," Prowl said quietly, "it's even more boring being the mech hanging from his wrists."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Barricade resumed cleaning his blade.

"Entertain me. Who knows – I may return the favor."

Barricade chuckled at that. "I'm not a gladiator." he answered the unspoken question. "I was actually sparked here, in Kaon. My creators handed me over to Megatron's army, before the war really got started. The mech who trained me favored blades." He glanced up at Prowl. "Satisfied?"

"For now."

"Good. My turn." Barricade finished his task and returned the weapon to its subspace compartment. "So, how did a mech like you wind up an Autobot?"

Prowl tilted his helm to the side. "Elaborate."

"Those firewalls are not standard issue." Barricade said dryly. "In fact, I'd place good credits on Prime not knowing you have them. They've been outlawed for a while now."

Prowl's small smile returned. "They have been. Prime knows I have good firewalls, but not how good they really are."

"No way to deactivate them without off-lining you." Barricade said conversationally. "Which Megatron won't do, since no doubt you have your battle computer set to self-destruct if you get taken off-line."

"Naturally."

"You really have thought of everything."

"I was captured once before." Prowl explained, his voice low and controlled despite the anger simmering in his optics. "Luckily for the Autobots, I was young and didn't know enough to be damaging."

"You trained yourself to withstand torture?"

"I installed my new firewalls."

Barricade grunted. "So you've always been this tough. Must not have grown up in Iacon then." he observed. "Your build suggests Praxus, but I doubt that as well. You may have been created there, but that's not where you grew up." Prowl remained silent, helm still tilted to the side with that odd smile on his face. Barricade had to suppress a shiver. "I would almost say you were raised in Kaon. You have the right attitude for it."

Prowl lifted his chin. "Officially, I grew up in the Harlem District."

"Still Praxus." Barricade shot back. "Which means it's a lie." He pushed himself off the wall and came to stand in front of Prowl. "So – were you really raised in Kaon?"

"Perhaps."

Barricade clenched his fists. "If you insist on playing this game, I will cease to entertain you." he threatened. "I can always trade shifts with Starscream, or even Soundwave. They wouldn't just watch you hang there. They would want to have some fun with you."

Prowl didn't seem to care. "You are entertaining me." he said instead. "I am a tactician, after all. Planning and strategy is fun for me."

That made Barricade hesitate. "So basically you're making a game out of me trying to figure out where you come from?" he asked.

"Essentially."

"Aren't you afraid I'll find out something you don't want me to know?"

"What are you going to do with the location of my younglinghood?" Prowl pointed out dryly. "And if you ask me anything about the Autobots, I'll merely cease to talk to you, and you'll go back to being bored."

"So will you."

"No. I'll have the satisfaction of seeing you fight for something you'll never get. Either way, I win."

Barricade hesitated. A slow smile spread across his face. "You're good." He resumed his position leaning against the wall. "Okay – you were raised in Kaon, yet born in Praxus. And for whatever reason, you're lying about it. I wonder why?"

Prowl seemed inordinately pleased with himself. "Let's see if you can figure it out."

/-/

From the monitor room, Megatron watched the entire exchange with disgust. Hook hovered by his shoulder the entire time. "Barricade is getting attached to the filthy Autobot." Megatron growled. "This is most distressing."

Hook merely grunted. "He's bored, Lord Megatron. What did you expect him to do, start pounding on the glitch? He's not into torture."

"He should be. He's a Decepticon – born and raised. He has no choice in the matter."

Hook glanced sidelong at his leader. "Are you afraid the Autobot may convince him that he does have a choice?" he asked quietly.

Megatron glowered. "I won't give him the chance to." he declared. "Barricade is my soldier. Either he will prove his loyalty to me by harming the Autobot, or I will destroy the both of them."

Hook nodded. "You should move quickly, my lord. Soundwave's spies say that the Autobots are mobilizing. They must have a plan to free their tactician by now."

Megatron growled low in his throat. "They won't ever get the chance. Deploy troops to distract them – a few days at most. I need a bit more time. If I want to make my point clear to Barricade, he must be a bit more attached than he is." Megatron reached out and lightly flicked the screen. "Maybe if the Autobot thinks Barricade's life is in danger, he will willingly tell me what I want to know."

"Sounds like a great plan." Hook agreed a tad impatiently. "Now, can we please get back to my lab before you fall over? There's no way I can carry you back there on my own."

Megatron grunted and reluctantly abandoned the monitors.

In the brig, Barricade smirked at Prowl. "I'll figure you out yet, tactician." he teased. "I can keep a guessing game going for hours."

Prowl almost laughed at that. Almost. Barricade was proving to be far more pleasant company than he had originally thought. "I'll be here all night." he shot back, jerking pointedly on his chains. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

Barricade continued the friendly ribbing, wondering if Prowl realized exactly what he had done. No doubt Prowl had been trying to distract him from just getting bored enough to pound his lights out. Instead, he had provided Barricade with the perfect excuse not to.

Barricade didn't want to hurt Prowl. If Megatron ordered it, he would kill the Autobot without hesitation, but he didn't want to mindlessly damage the Autobot more.

That was his excuse, anyway.