Chapter 3: More Trouble

That night, Shockwave sat in his new room. It wasn't anything special but it satisfied Shockwave. He noticed a rack of books on a shelf beside the berth. He hoped Moonstriker wouldn't mind and he picked one up. He admired Moonstriker's choice of books. Shockwave enjoyed novels and had a love for reading. He could be seen reading almost everywhere he went. He layed on his back with one leg wrapped on top of the other. As he read he became more and more interested. It was getting late and he was getting sleepy but everytime his optic would close he would find an interesting part of the book and become wide-awake. He desperatly tried to keep himself awake but after another hour he had fell into recharge. The book was laying beside him still open. Moonstriker came in to check on him, but saw he was asleep. He quietly walked over and placed the book back on the shelf, smiling slightly about what he was reading. Just the way Shockwave was laying made Moonstriker let out a tiny laugh. He left the room and cut the light off. Shockwave hadn't noticed a thing. The next morning, Shockwave awoke and stretched. He noticed the book was placed back on the shelf and shrugged. He was going to read it that night again. He walked out of the room to see if Moonstriker was up. He wasn't. Shockwave didn't want to disturb him, so, he went to the kitchen to get some energon himself. As he proceeded to do so, curiousity got the best of him when he looked through the wondow. He nearly fell on his aft when he saw Prowl looking around. Shockwave growled when he saw him, but ducked when Prowl looked his direction. Shockwave didn't know if Prowl was still looking. As he slowly looked through the window again, Prowl was staring right at him with an evil glare. Shockwave's optic got bigger. He was screwed. He watched as Prowl looked like he was calling somebody over. That somebody was Barricade. When Barricade looked in, he also grinned.

"We see you runt!" Barricade snarled.

"Don't come outside if you know what's good for ya!" Prowl warned.

Shockwave got angry and he wanted revenge. He thought he might as well have some fun with them since he wasn't planning on going outside. He opened the latch on the window and leaned out of it.

"I'm not scared of you two anymore, I shouldn't have been the first time!" Shockwave said.

"You should be scared runt, we were just warming up on ya!" Barricade snarled.

"Yeah, sure!" Shockwave rolled his optic. This made the enforcers angrier.

"If your not scared, come on out of there and fight us like the mech you claim to be!" Prowl challenged taking a few step towards the window.

"Nah, you're not worth it!" Shockwave said.

"LISTEN YOU ONE-EYED FREAK, ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YA AND YOU'RE DEAD!" Barricade threatened. "I DON'T CARE HOW YOUNG YOU ARE!"

Shockwave's response was to flip them off. Barricade and Prowl lunged for the window, but Shockwave closes it just in time as the enforcers bang into it cracking it. Shockwave gasped.

"Uh...you just cracked Moonstriker's window!" Shockwave said.

"WHAT! THIS IS MOONSTRIKER'S HOUSE? WE THOUGHT IT WAS YOURS!" Prowl screamed in alarm.

"YOU'RE DONE RUNT, WE'LL BE BACK!" Barricade growled as he and Prowl scrambled away.

Shockwave clawed the top of his head. He was in big trouble now! But wait...was it his fault? He didn't break it, they did. He felt better knowing what he can tell Moonstriker. He went back to his room with an energon cube in servo only to be stopped by Moonstriker who was getting ready for work.

"Morning Shockwave!" Moonstriker happily said.

"Morning Moonstriker...uh...I need to tell you something!" Shockwave said putting the cube down.

"What?"

"The enforcers saw me from the window in the kitchen and they mistook the house for mine and they cracked your window!" Shockwave said.

"What? THOSE FRAGGERS!" Moonstriker snarled.

Shockwave fell on his aft. He never saw Moonstriker angry before and he looked very scary. He knew he was going to have a nightmare tonight. Moonstriker's optics glowed a very dark red. Shockwave backed up into a wall but could not keep his optics off the angry mech.

"I'll deal with them personally later on! Right now..." He took a moment to calm himself and unclench his fists. "...I have to go to work!"

"Uh...can I come?" Shockwave asked fearing the enforcers were lurking around.

"Sorry kid, but you have to stay! If those punks come around, call me and I will deal with them alright?" Moonstriker said beding to Shockwave's level.

"Yes sir!" Shockwave said.

He watched as Moonstriker exited the house and transformed into a huge monster truck. Once he was out of sight Shockwave ran back to his room and closed the blinds on his window. He tried to forget about the enforcers and watch some TV.

"Why do those creeps want to hurt me so much? I was just innocently walking by. Now I'm a target! They will definately want to offline me next time they see me! I'm too young to be offlined. But...as long as I stay in my room and only go out when Moonstriker does, I'll be safe. They wouldn't dare try to break in here. Moonstriker would offline them in a second...they're not that crazy...are they?" Shockwave thought.

Shockwave looked through the front window to see if they were around. Down the street from where they were at, the alley where some enforcers hung was located nearbye. He gulped as he thought about how many people were over there. He proceeded to go back to his room where he recieves a hard punch to the face knocking him across the hallway. Shockwave recovered from the blow to find Barricade and Prowl right in front of him. He gasped.

"YOU TWO? How did you guys get in?" Shockwave asked staggering back a bit.

"You left your window open, as if those blinds were going to stop us!" Barricade said.

"You can't be in here, this is Moonstriker's house, I will get him to offline you two if you don't get out of here." Shockwave warned.

"If you live to tell him!" Prowl snarled advancing towards Shockwave.

Shockwave was forced to run. They chased him down some stairs and down another hallway heading towards the basement. Shockwave had never been in the basement but knew which door it was. The enforcers were catching up and were able to knock Shockwave off the basement stairs just as he opened the door. Shockwave hit the floor with a thud. As he tried to get up he felt a large foot press him back to the ground. He struggled to stay on all fours and sunk his claws into the floor. Barricade kept his foot on Shockwave's back.

"Give us one good reason we shouldn't crush your face into the floor!" Barricade said moving his foot to the back of Shockwave's head.

"I...I don't know, but I don't want to be offlined. I want to live my life, I'm young!" Shockwave pleaded.

"That's what you get for messing with us!" Prowl said.

Shockwave found himself able to get back up, only to be shoved into a wall. Barricade pinned him there and stared into the frightened youngling. Shockwave knew he was going to die.

"You think you can just do whatever you want to us and get away with it?" Barricade snarled.

"I didn't think I would forever!" Shockwave said.

"Yeah? Well looks like it's our turn for payback runt!" Barricade snarled.

Barricade clenched a fist slowly then jabbed Shockwave right in the chest hard. Shockwave winced in pain but couldn't bend over. Barricade grinned evily and backhanded Shockwave to the ground. Shockwave clutched his chest that was dripping with energon.

"You guys just wait till I'm older. I'll probably be stronger than you and will get you back!" Shockwave snarled looking down.

"And we will be waiting!" Prowl snarled coming over and grabbing Shockwave's antennas again to pull his head up.

"Like you're going to do anything about it!" Prowl said. Shockwave just gave him an angry stare.

Suddenly, a loud and menacing growl came from behind the enforcers. As they turned, they saw a very angry Moonstriker looking right at them. Moonstriker's optics were back to glowing red, he bared his sharp teeth and his fangs extended an inch. His claws also extended a bit. Barricade and Prowl were speechless. Shockwave was relieved.

"Uh...Moonstriker...he-he...you're here...early!" Prowl studdered.

"It's his break!" Shockwave butted in.

"Moonstriker wait this isn't what it looks like!" Barricade said nervously.

Moonstriker growled and walked over to them. The enforcers were too scared to move. The monster mech grabbed them and shoved them into the wall. Shockwave sat up and looked at them.

"YOU. TWO. ARE. GOING. TO. PAY!" Moonstriker snarled.

Before the enforcers could act, Moonstriker rammed them into the wall with such force that the two left their outline in the wall. Moonstriker gripped them by their necks and and stared violently in their optics. Shockwave got up and leaned against a wall to support himself.

"You two really think you can just do whatever you want in this town don't ya?" Moonstriker snarled.

Barricade and Prowl couldn't answer. They were too frightened to speak. Moonstriker's grip on their necks tightened making them gasp.

"You two are lucky I'm not in the mood to kill right now! If you ever mess with Shockwave or me again, I will offline you slowly and painfully. Leave him alone, he's done nothing wrong! If you want to get away with your lives in this city, I suggest you stay away from us or move out!" Moonstriker threatened. "GOT IT?"

Barricade and Prowl nodded quickly and Moonstriker slowly released them. Shockwave ran over and hid behind Moonstriker.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Moonstriker growled making the enforcers walk away and up the stairs.

Barricade turned his head slightly towards Shockwave. Shockwave had a look that meant "Sucker". Barricade gave him a small scowl before disappearing up the stairs. Moonstriker made sure they exited the house, then turned to Shockwave.

"You alright?" Moonstriker asked bending down to Shockwave's optic level.

"Yeah, thank you for saving me!" Shockwave said.

"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you! But I'm sorry you had to see that!" Moonstriker said fully calmed down.

"It's alright! That was cool!" Shockwave said.

"They won't be bothering you again, so it should be safe to go outside by yourself!" Moonstriker assured.

"I'm glad!" Shockwave said wishing he could smile.

The days passed and Shockwave hadn't been bothered by the enforcers. Many people on the block made sure of that. When Shockwave would find them, they would quickly look away and ignore him. Shockwave was even invited to join Moonstriker at work and the other workers loved having him around. As the years passed the enforcers eventually moved away without telling anyone. This was a big break for many mechs in Kaon. Little did Shockwave know though...he hadn't seen the last of them!

To be continued...