{Teaser}
Had a sudden idea for my spark-glitch concept; rather than have Prowl hiding out among the Autobots, have him be a neutral. This, of course, evolved into an angsty love story (I've imagined way too much angst lately.)
This is unedited, unbetaed, and rather embarrasing; I might lock it so no one but me sees it.
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When the average mech wakes up, they take between thirty seconds and three minutes to completely boot up. Their processor warms up, lubricating fluid in the joint start to flow, and power is increased to all parts of the frame. Spark harmonics shift almost instantaneously, and subconscious input is logged.
At least, that was the way it used to be. The war had changed everything. Nowadays, the lowest soldier had more equipment, needed more power, and was in more danger than any Golden Age worker or noble would have been. The average boot up time was now five seconds maximum; the entire design of mos bots was radically different to allow for more efficiency and faster reaction time.
The problem with this change was that the awareness of the just-onlined mech was much lower. During the first few seconds of waking, the mech had only basic awareness of his surroundings: it was fight or flight, and most mechs had basic battle programming to run durng their first minute of waking. The other problem with this fast reaction upon coming fully online was that most mechs reacted as if they were still in the same situation they had been when they went into recharge or stasis.
Jazz's first impression was that Shockwave had him in some kind of brace so that he couldn't squirm during torture, and he was hooked into some kind of machine designed to screw up his spark-to-processor emotional input. There was an undercurrent of feeligns that were not coming form his spark, and he reacted as if he was being hacked.
For a few seconds, Jazz was still being tortured. Then he recognized the source of the emotional input and relaxed; he was safe. His sparkmate was close, close enough that Jazz could feel the air charged between their frames.
The sense of worry and guilt and pain was fading in intensity as Jazz finished onlining non essential systems and checked his status. A sense of profound relief fell over him.
Hey.
You're awake early.
Ah wish ah wasn't. No optics, barely any audio function, my voicebox is fragged, ah'm in one those stupid braces that keeps me from bendin' anythin', and everythin' hurts. Stasis was sorta nice.
No response.
This the med bay?
Yes.
Ya plannin' on giving' answers longer than three words?
I will consider it.
Yer unhappy.
You were down to ten percent when I found you. My repairs destroyed thirty percent of your circuitry. You were dying.
Ya found me in time.
Barely.
Don't get all guilty on me now. Ah hardly ever see ya as it is.
Prowl was silent, and Jazz felt the bond start to close, before he caught himself.
Any good news?
Shockwave is dead. I killed him.
Thought you said he was useful.
He would have killed you.
Ah've been tortured by him before.
I can replace Shockwave. I can't replace you.
Flatterer. How goes the colony?
Fine. What were you looking for on Shockwave's ship?
...is it safe ta tell ya this?
Obviously, Jazz.
We're looking for his latest weapon's design.
I preserved his processor. You can take it.
Autobots don't hack other bots, Prowl.
He's offline. If you don't take it, I'll sell it. Someone with lower moral standards will get it.
Stick it in my subspace, then. Ah'll give it ta Prime. Yer a cheater, by the way.
"He's awake already? Slagger can't give me a break." Ratchet stormed in. "You can leave."
"I will." Prowl had no intention of going anywhere until he was certain than Jazz was well, and Ratchet knew that, but the medic didn't trust Prowl not to hurt Jazz in some way.
"You can leave now. Prime wants you."
"Does he."
Go on. Ah'll be here when ya get back.
Ratchet won't let me in.
Like that'll stop ya?
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Wow, that was way longer than I thought it was going to be, and much more involved. Now I feel compelled to add this to the long list of ics I want to write. Screw you, plot chickens.
This is unedited, unbetaed, and rather embarrasing; I might lock it so no one but me sees it.
--------------------------------------
When the average mech wakes up, they take between thirty seconds and three minutes to completely boot up. Their processor warms up, lubricating fluid in the joint start to flow, and power is increased to all parts of the frame. Spark harmonics shift almost instantaneously, and subconscious input is logged.
At least, that was the way it used to be. The war had changed everything. Nowadays, the lowest soldier had more equipment, needed more power, and was in more danger than any Golden Age worker or noble would have been. The average boot up time was now five seconds maximum; the entire design of mos bots was radically different to allow for more efficiency and faster reaction time.
The problem with this change was that the awareness of the just-onlined mech was much lower. During the first few seconds of waking, the mech had only basic awareness of his surroundings: it was fight or flight, and most mechs had basic battle programming to run durng their first minute of waking. The other problem with this fast reaction upon coming fully online was that most mechs reacted as if they were still in the same situation they had been when they went into recharge or stasis.
Jazz's first impression was that Shockwave had him in some kind of brace so that he couldn't squirm during torture, and he was hooked into some kind of machine designed to screw up his spark-to-processor emotional input. There was an undercurrent of feeligns that were not coming form his spark, and he reacted as if he was being hacked.
For a few seconds, Jazz was still being tortured. Then he recognized the source of the emotional input and relaxed; he was safe. His sparkmate was close, close enough that Jazz could feel the air charged between their frames.
The sense of worry and guilt and pain was fading in intensity as Jazz finished onlining non essential systems and checked his status. A sense of profound relief fell over him.
Hey.
You're awake early.
Ah wish ah wasn't. No optics, barely any audio function, my voicebox is fragged, ah'm in one those stupid braces that keeps me from bendin' anythin', and everythin' hurts. Stasis was sorta nice.
No response.
This the med bay?
Yes.
Ya plannin' on giving' answers longer than three words?
I will consider it.
Yer unhappy.
You were down to ten percent when I found you. My repairs destroyed thirty percent of your circuitry. You were dying.
Ya found me in time.
Barely.
Don't get all guilty on me now. Ah hardly ever see ya as it is.
Prowl was silent, and Jazz felt the bond start to close, before he caught himself.
Any good news?
Shockwave is dead. I killed him.
Thought you said he was useful.
He would have killed you.
Ah've been tortured by him before.
I can replace Shockwave. I can't replace you.
Flatterer. How goes the colony?
Fine. What were you looking for on Shockwave's ship?
...is it safe ta tell ya this?
Obviously, Jazz.
We're looking for his latest weapon's design.
I preserved his processor. You can take it.
Autobots don't hack other bots, Prowl.
He's offline. If you don't take it, I'll sell it. Someone with lower moral standards will get it.
Stick it in my subspace, then. Ah'll give it ta Prime. Yer a cheater, by the way.
"He's awake already? Slagger can't give me a break." Ratchet stormed in. "You can leave."
"I will." Prowl had no intention of going anywhere until he was certain than Jazz was well, and Ratchet knew that, but the medic didn't trust Prowl not to hurt Jazz in some way.
"You can leave now. Prime wants you."
"Does he."
Go on. Ah'll be here when ya get back.
Ratchet won't let me in.
Like that'll stop ya?
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Wow, that was way longer than I thought it was going to be, and much more involved. Now I feel compelled to add this to the long list of ics I want to write. Screw you, plot chickens.