ch 13

Prowl remembered this place. He had been an adolescent, barely old enough for his adult upgrades, the last time he visited here. A particular enforcer had caught him stealing and brought him to the precinct just outside of Kaon. Prowl – well, he had been called Meister at the time – had slit the mech's throat and walked away without a second glance. It wasn't too long after that that Galvatron recruited him.

Optimus examined the abandoned enforcer precinct with a small amount of distaste. "How do you know this place, Prowl?" he asked quietly. Prowl smiled faintly.

"I grew up in this sector." he replied. The carefully built persona of 'Prowl' had been stripped away the moment Galvatron had gone after what was his. "Here was where I found out what I was best at."

Prime glanced at Prowl. There was something different about his SIC – not something he could quite figure out – and quite frankly, it frightened him. He chose not to ask for clarification. "So, how would you handle this situation?" he asked instead.

"Let me go in and scout the place out." Prowl replied immediately. "We need to know where the Twins are – Barricade told me they were the most injured. I'll find them and comm. you to let you know where to send Ratchet. Then I'll find Barricade and Jazz and guide the rest of you to our position."

Windcharger chuckled. "You think you can do all of that and not get caught?" he teased.

Prowl flashed him a cold grin. "I know I can."

"Optimus," Ratchet said, speaking up for the first time since Prowl had let it slip he was bonded to Barricade, "it is a good plan."

Prime scowled. "I don't like this, Prowl."

"You don't have to. You never like all of my plans." Prowl pointed out reasonably.

Optimus chuckled. "True. Fine then – go. We'll be waiting for you here."

Prowl nodded and vanished into the rapidly darkening night. Ratchet watched him go.

There was so much Optimus Prime did not know about his own troops. Ratchet was their secret keeper, and he was good at it. He kept secrets; he kept more than one mech sane, and that was saying something. Now at least one secret was going to come out, and Ratchet wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't sure at all.

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The first place Prowl snuck into was the basement. It was specifically designed to hold the more troublesome suspects, and Meister had been stuck down there a few times himself. It pleased Prowl to know he could still get in and out without anyone noticing his presence. A small smile curved his lips as he snuck past the guards. He hesitated a moment, considering, then drew an energon dagger and slit both of their throats with one easy movement. They dropped soundlessly to the ground.

"Prowl."

The voice was weak, but Prowl's helm snapped around. He crept silently across the floor to the opposite side of the basement. There were cells lining the walls, but only two were occupied. Prowl thought the cells a tad ridiculous – Sunstreaker was awake, but Sideswipe was out cold and not coming around for a while yet. Prowl reached through the cell bars, and Sunstreaker grabbed his hand. "Knew ya'd come for us." the yellow twin gasped out.

Prowl nodded. "Always, Sunstreaker. How's Sides doing?"

"Not good. Fragger took him down first – I had to surrender." Sunny shook his head. "Fragger knows what he's doing, Prowl. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear he knows who you are."

Prowl shook his helm. "Doesn't matter." he said quietly. "After today, everyone is going to know." He opened up a secure channel with Optimus. ::Prowl to Prime.::

::Prime here. Did you find the Twins?::

::I did. They're in the basement – get Wheeljack to melt the bars. The guards are taken care of.:: Prowl cut the transmission before Prime could start asking questions. He squeezed Sunny's hand. "Prime and the others are coming. Ratchet'll look after you. I need to get Jazz and Cade out."

Sunstreaker nodded. "Do it. And Prowl?"

"Yes?"

"Kill the fragger for me." He glanced at Sideswipe. The red mech was still leaking energon from his half-removed arm. Prowl's optics darkened to black. He nodded sharply, then let go of Sunny's hand and vanished into the shadows. He moved quietly up the stairs, not making a sound as he skirted the squeaky parts on the rusted metal. His doorwings provided him with the location of every guard on his way up the stairs, and he took each and every one of them down with ease. By the time he reached the first floor, six more mechs had fallen to his dagger.

"Tell me where he is."

Prowl froze. He still recognized that voice all too well, even after all these vorns. He watched from the shadows as Galvatron advanced on Jazz, anger making his optics glow a pale violet. Prowl subspaced his dagger.

"Ah told ya, Ah don' know who ya talkin' bout." Jazz muttered darkly. "Ah don' know nothin' bout Meister past his name."

Galvatron cast him one final glare before turning his attention to Barricade. "What about you?" he practically purred. "I hear you fragged of Megatron good. For that, I don't want to hurt you. So tell me – what do you know about Meister?"

Barricade simply shrugged. Prowl smirked.

"Oh, leave them alone, Galvatron." He stepped out of the shadows, stalking quietly towards the three mechs. Jazz tensed and tried to ping Prowl's comm. link, but Prowl had it shut down. He didn't need the distractions. "You never did master the art of interrogation."

Galvatron examined him slowly before a large, vicious grin spread across his face. "Meister."

Prowl smirked. "You caught me."