ch 9
The weeks had turned into months had turned into a year. Such a short amount of time for a Cybertronian, but it seemed much longer. Barricade sighed and stretched, doorwings twitching as he worked out the kinks. He hated patrol duty, especially when Prowl wasn't with him. He took a look around before smirking.
"You can't sneak up on an assassin, Hook."
"I was merely making sure you were not followed." Hook retorted, stepping out of the shadows. "The Autobots simply let you roam free?"
"I'm considered a Neutral now." Barricade replied. "Optimus saw it fit to give me patrol duty to keep me occupied. Sometimes I have a partner. Most of the time I don't."
"Prime must trust you a lot." Hook mused.
"Hardly. Prowl trusts me, and Optimus is willing to humor his Second." Barricade hesitated. "Has Megatron called off the search for me?"
"No." Hook growled. "He's furious with you, but right now, you're so far down his list of priorities that you could probably walk past the base without him noticing. Not that Galvatron knows that, of course."
Barricade froze, doorwings rigid. "Galvatron is here?"
"I thought the Autobots were aware of it."
"No. Or if they are, it hasn't made its way to the lower soldiers." Barricade shuttered his optics for a moment. "This is going to get nasty, isn't it?"
"Nastier than you can know." Hook replied gamely. "Galvatron is not a forgiving spark. Why he's here is anyone's guess."
"Megatron didn't call him in?"
"Are you kidding? Megatron would really like to shoot Galvatron in the spark chamber, but knowing our kind of luck, the old rust bucket would just get pissed. No, Galvatron is here on some sort of personal vendetta. No idea what, though." Hook shrugged. "I didn't really come here to swap stories – although if the Autobots can kill off that festering pile of scrap, feel free to sic them on him."
"You came to find out how I was doing." Barricade teased. "Aw, how sweet of you, Hook."
"Mute it, scrap. Or I'll just shoot you now and be done with it."
"Then you'd repair me."
"I hate you." Hook shook his head. "Sparklings, the lot of you. The Seekers have taken to taunting me too – Skywarp found out how stupid that was when I staked him to the ceiling by his wings."
Barricade winced. "Ow."
"So now that I know Prowl is doing fine – don't give me that look, anyone who can make Megatron scream is a good mech in my optics – how are you doing?"
Barricade shrugged. "Can't complain. I'm driving Optimus nuts, and it's funny as the pit. I made friends with all the spybots who were supposed to be my guards, so to speak." He grinned, and it wasn't pleasant. Hook smirked.
"What about Prowl? How are things going with him?"
Barricade merely looked at him. "I saved his life. He considers me his friend. Autobots are sentimental that way."
Hook pinned him with a hard look. "Is that all?"
Only Ratchet knew the truth. Prowl and Barricade had decided it would stay that way. Hook was his caretaker when he was a sparkling, but he was still a Decepticon. He wasn't loyal to Megatron, but he was loyal to the cause. Barricade just couldn't trust him with that vital piece of information, no matter how good it was to know Hook was still functioning.
"Yes. That's all."
/-/
Prowl examined the datapad with minimal interest. "Jazz, you do realize I can't understand a word of this, correct?" he asked flatly. Jazz flashed him a grin from across his desk. Prowl sighed. "All right – so what part of this do you want me to look at?"
"The part where Ah found out 'Meister' is an actual Decepticon spy." Jazz said, leaning forward and pointing to the appropriate spot on the datapad screen. His visor retracted, revealing the tell-tale white optics of a blind mech. Prowl merely gave him a look.
"Retracting your visor does not disturb me, you know." he pointed out. "Unlike most mechs, I know what blindness looks like."
Jazz laughed. "Slag, I can' get nothin' past ya, c'n I?" he teased. Abruptly, he grew serious. "Ya warned me once agains' usin' Meister's name. Wanna fill me in, or are ya jus gonna let me sit here and stew over it?"
Prowl shrugged. "I overheard something about it. It didn't sound right, and I didn't like the idea of you using that name before I could find out more information. It was the logical path to follow."
"Logic my shiny metal aft." Jazz growled. "Ya know somethin' about this Meister, don' ya?"
Prowl merely skimmed the rest of the report, searching for something readable. "Your grammar is atrocious, Jazz." he reprimanded lightly. "Did your creators not teach you how to write?"
"Mirage understands it." Jazz waved him off with his hand. "An' yer kinda tryin' ta distract me, and it ain' gonna work, ya know."
"You should get Mirage to translate these things." Prowl continued as if Jazz hadn't spoken. "Save me the processor – "
He broke off when Jazz slammed his fist into the desk. Prowl's optics immediately snapped back to Jazz. His visor was down again, his lips twisted in a snarl.
"Ya know somethin', Prowl! What aren't ya tellin' me?"
Prowl sighed. "I don't know that much, Jazz." he bit out. "Shortly before I was recruited in Praxus, I heard talk of a mech named Meister. They seemed to be in awe of the mech – or at least absolutely terrified of him. When you mentioned using the name, I wanted to make sure Meister wasn't real – or at least, not alive and able to object to the use of his designation. This is the first proof I've gotten that Meister really does exist."
For a long moment, Jazz and Prowl merely stared at each other. Suddenly, Jazz uttered a bitter laugh.
"Ya good at lyin', ya know that?" he muttered. "But 'm better at findin' them." He stood up. "Fine, don' tell meh. See if I care. But Prowl – sooner or later, ya gotta come clean. Keepin' secrets ain' healthy, not for normal mechs." He turned around and left the office.
A slow smile spread across Prowl's face. "Perhaps." he allowed quietly. "But then again, I am not normal." He examined the report again. He really was going to have to get Mirage to translate the thing. The former Decepticon noble would not ask too many questions.
Things were starting to change.
The door slid open once again. Prowl glanced up, his small smile becoming a brilliant smirk. "Finally get back from patrol, I take?" he teased. Barricade grinned and sauntered over to him, allowing the door to slide shut and lock.
"Yes, and it was long and boring, too." Barricade pretended to pout. He grabbed the back of Prowl's chair and pushed it away from the desk. He started to lean down, but Prowl stopped him.
"What's wrong?"
Barricade scowled. "Ran into Hook while I was out." he muttered.
"I won't tell if you don't." Prowl said mildly. "I know he's the only reason Ratchet found us when he did." Barricade nodded. Prowl tilted his helm to the side. "So what else happened? You wouldn't be so disturbed if it was just a friendly meeting."
"He mentioned something I find rather disturbing."
Prowl smiled and pulled Barricade into his lap. "Like what?"
Barricade considered. "I'll tell you tomorrow. Right now, I want something else first." He leaned forward and started to nibble on Prowl's neck. Prowl immediately arched into the touch; his low moan only served to heighten Barricade's desire. "I don't think I'll have any protests tonight."
"Pit no." Prowl reached up and stroked Barricade's doorwings. "However, I do believe we should take this to our quarters."
"You keep that up and I'll just lock the door."
"Unlike Jazz, I do not have soundproofing." Barricade couldn't help but note the hitch in Prowl's voice. He licked the side of Prowl's neck before biting down hard. Prowl uttered a soft cry that was more pleasure than pain. Barricade smirked. "Cade, please – "
"Cade? Since when do you call me Cade?"
Outside, Mirage simply locked the door. His report could wait, he thought with a small smirk. It sounded like Prowl had much more important things to worry about.
::Mirage to Optimus.::
::Optimus here.::
::I would advise taking Prowl off the roster for the rest of the day. I believe he is currently relaxing.::
::It's about slagging time. Thank you for telling me.::
::Yes sir. Mirage out.::