Prompt #2 quote as first line
Title: Chapter twenty of For a Few Upgrades More
Warnings/content advice: martial arts fighting, Lockdown being introspective.
Rating: Pg-13
Continuity: Transformers Animated
Characters: Lockdown, Slipstream, Soundwave, with supporting Laserbeak and Ratbat
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro et al, not to me
Prompt: #2 "You have to rely on whatever sparks you have inside." ― Lisa Kleypas, Sugar Daddy. Plus this epic showdown music: Muse - Knights of Cydonia. Marcato's lines are from the song.
"You have to rely on whatever sparks you have inside." Fortune goodie scrap that Yoketron dished out in the Corps, but Lockdown had remembered it. Hard to forget the Master repeatedly drawing attention to his shortcomings. "Lockdown fails to understand, once again," Yoketron would say.
He could do the physical stuff no problem. Demonstrate all the cyber-katas. Metallikato. Crystalocution. Even Circuit-su, which slaggin relied on his own spark energy! But that wasn't good enough.
Spark, he'd tried! It had confused him from the start why the saying used plural 'sparks', like a bot could have more than one. Lockdown'd lost count of the number of mediation sessions he'd devoted to the slaggin' cyber-koan. What he got outta the saying was the sense that Lockdown himself was the only thing he could well and truly rely on. The only spiritual guidance he needed was the tendencies of his own spark.
And after all the seeking and meditation and reminders of his failings, Lockdown's spark was set on
getting what he sought, for once. Yoketron could go on about the dangers, his scrap about cause and effect and transforming into a turbofox - whatever that meant. Lockdown realized that there was a world of professions outside the Corps, and all that function, caste, and faction rhetoric could get slagged, too!
The pit-slagged thing was, Lockdown thought he might just have figured out what the fraggin' koan meant. Now, Yoketron dead by his own actions, and Prowl off wearing the Master's armor, Lockdown suspected he was the fool that had missed something that should have been obvious.
He probably should have caught on when he ran into Prowl on Earth. The offer of partnership that was rejected left a cold, empty feeling in his spark. Mostly, Lockdown hadn't wanted to admit it had anything to do with missed companionship, and convinced himself he just didn't like how Prowl - who hadn't showed himself to be any better a student and had run off on his own personal quest - could throw Yoketron's teachings at Lockdown with such apparent righteousness. "it's not the weapon that make the bot, but the bot that makes the weapon." Scrap.
No, it was now, involved in a showdown against a trio of marks at the zero-g core of a major space station, with Marcato broadcasting his manifesto via a hi-jacked, station-wide comm system. The Eurythmans had passed-off the Lead-sulfide to some Nebulan named Galen - what his Council planned to use such a quantity for Lockdown didn't know - in exchange for what sounded like some kind of political favor. Lockdown hadn't cared to wait to see what Galen answered, but sprung his own trap.
It had worked, too, at least so far as he'd gotten the three where he wanted them. Their intel hadn't suggested Marcato had such technical knowledge, but maybe that could be tallied as oversight during the time Lockdown had apparently been off his game. Allegra'd had a whole lot of tech in the room where he'd met her.
If he had lost something, Lockdown had it back now. He was calling the shots, and Slipstream wasn't ranting about any mistakes, and Soundwave wasn't improvising elaborate coverstory. Lockdown had seen Octavian and Lacrimosa position themselves to defend Marcato. Lacrimosa had begun throwing out lengths of fabric attached to her clothing, and Lockdown had remembered Allegra's warning about hypnotic ability. seemed logical to send Soundwave. He wasn't as powerful in his holomatter avatar, but if any of them had a chance it was him. Slipstream he'd needed to go after Octavian, because if his noise cancelling and sonic attacks posed a threat to Soundwave, one accused of riding Starscream's wake into Decepticon hierarchy must be able to use disruptions in the air to advantage.
They'd listen to him. Sure he caught them gesturing to each other in agreement, but they'd both done what Lockdown said he needed done. That left the primary bounty head for Lockdown, which was just the way he liked it. Didn't even need upgrades or the arsenal back in his shell. His moves had never been what Yoketron criticized, and, Lockdown still had 'em.
He hopped to a railing and launched himself through the interior toward a video billboard on which Marcato's brown face with fuzzy chin-stripe rapped and sang his political agenda:
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
Lacrimosa's scarves and sashes flowed through the air, hypnotizing onlookers into doing her bidding, but Soundwave seemed unaffected and well able to catch her strands of fabric and use them against her.
Octavian used a combination of vocal and electronic instruments against Slipstream, but she only advanced on his position propelled by series of slight movements.
Seeing this, Lockdown pushed off the billboard at a specific angle, aiming for Marcato's position. Martial arts in microgravity was its own thing, but there were plenty combos that pushed or pulled an opponent toward the next body surface with which a practitioner intended to strike. You had to keep your opponent in your space.
It was easy. Marcato was a lot more political radical than fighter. A few grappling holds combined with sharp strikes disabled him. Shame really, Lockdown thought, he would have welcomed a challenge.
Slipstream and Soundwave subdued their own opponents. Soundwave had to fight off a few hypnotized visitors - some basic but direct street fighting moves - looked like they recovered their own minds when Lacrimosa was held still. Lockdown thought Seekers were usually weak when it came to servo-to-servo combat, but Slipstream did all right playing it defensive until she found the window of opportunity she wanted.
Getting the three Eurythmans to the Death's Head wasn't any more difficult. Job had gone real smooth. But maybe that was because Lockdown understood what Yoketron had been trying to tell him. "You have to rely on whatever sparks you have inside," and, "Lockdown fails to understand."
In some languages, "you" could be plural.
Warnings/content advice: martial arts fighting, Lockdown being introspective.
Rating: Pg-13
Continuity: Transformers Animated
Characters: Lockdown, Slipstream, Soundwave, with supporting Laserbeak and Ratbat
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro et al, not to me
Prompt: #2 "You have to rely on whatever sparks you have inside." ― Lisa Kleypas, Sugar Daddy. Plus this epic showdown music: Muse - Knights of Cydonia. Marcato's lines are from the song.
"You have to rely on whatever sparks you have inside." Fortune goodie scrap that Yoketron dished out in the Corps, but Lockdown had remembered it. Hard to forget the Master repeatedly drawing attention to his shortcomings. "Lockdown fails to understand, once again," Yoketron would say.
He could do the physical stuff no problem. Demonstrate all the cyber-katas. Metallikato. Crystalocution. Even Circuit-su, which slaggin relied on his own spark energy! But that wasn't good enough.
Spark, he'd tried! It had confused him from the start why the saying used plural 'sparks', like a bot could have more than one. Lockdown'd lost count of the number of mediation sessions he'd devoted to the slaggin' cyber-koan. What he got outta the saying was the sense that Lockdown himself was the only thing he could well and truly rely on. The only spiritual guidance he needed was the tendencies of his own spark.
And after all the seeking and meditation and reminders of his failings, Lockdown's spark was set on
getting what he sought, for once. Yoketron could go on about the dangers, his scrap about cause and effect and transforming into a turbofox - whatever that meant. Lockdown realized that there was a world of professions outside the Corps, and all that function, caste, and faction rhetoric could get slagged, too!
The pit-slagged thing was, Lockdown thought he might just have figured out what the fraggin' koan meant. Now, Yoketron dead by his own actions, and Prowl off wearing the Master's armor, Lockdown suspected he was the fool that had missed something that should have been obvious.
He probably should have caught on when he ran into Prowl on Earth. The offer of partnership that was rejected left a cold, empty feeling in his spark. Mostly, Lockdown hadn't wanted to admit it had anything to do with missed companionship, and convinced himself he just didn't like how Prowl - who hadn't showed himself to be any better a student and had run off on his own personal quest - could throw Yoketron's teachings at Lockdown with such apparent righteousness. "it's not the weapon that make the bot, but the bot that makes the weapon." Scrap.
No, it was now, involved in a showdown against a trio of marks at the zero-g core of a major space station, with Marcato broadcasting his manifesto via a hi-jacked, station-wide comm system. The Eurythmans had passed-off the Lead-sulfide to some Nebulan named Galen - what his Council planned to use such a quantity for Lockdown didn't know - in exchange for what sounded like some kind of political favor. Lockdown hadn't cared to wait to see what Galen answered, but sprung his own trap.
It had worked, too, at least so far as he'd gotten the three where he wanted them. Their intel hadn't suggested Marcato had such technical knowledge, but maybe that could be tallied as oversight during the time Lockdown had apparently been off his game. Allegra'd had a whole lot of tech in the room where he'd met her.
If he had lost something, Lockdown had it back now. He was calling the shots, and Slipstream wasn't ranting about any mistakes, and Soundwave wasn't improvising elaborate coverstory. Lockdown had seen Octavian and Lacrimosa position themselves to defend Marcato. Lacrimosa had begun throwing out lengths of fabric attached to her clothing, and Lockdown had remembered Allegra's warning about hypnotic ability. seemed logical to send Soundwave. He wasn't as powerful in his holomatter avatar, but if any of them had a chance it was him. Slipstream he'd needed to go after Octavian, because if his noise cancelling and sonic attacks posed a threat to Soundwave, one accused of riding Starscream's wake into Decepticon hierarchy must be able to use disruptions in the air to advantage.
They'd listen to him. Sure he caught them gesturing to each other in agreement, but they'd both done what Lockdown said he needed done. That left the primary bounty head for Lockdown, which was just the way he liked it. Didn't even need upgrades or the arsenal back in his shell. His moves had never been what Yoketron criticized, and, Lockdown still had 'em.
He hopped to a railing and launched himself through the interior toward a video billboard on which Marcato's brown face with fuzzy chin-stripe rapped and sang his political agenda:
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
Lacrimosa's scarves and sashes flowed through the air, hypnotizing onlookers into doing her bidding, but Soundwave seemed unaffected and well able to catch her strands of fabric and use them against her.
Octavian used a combination of vocal and electronic instruments against Slipstream, but she only advanced on his position propelled by series of slight movements.
Seeing this, Lockdown pushed off the billboard at a specific angle, aiming for Marcato's position. Martial arts in microgravity was its own thing, but there were plenty combos that pushed or pulled an opponent toward the next body surface with which a practitioner intended to strike. You had to keep your opponent in your space.
It was easy. Marcato was a lot more political radical than fighter. A few grappling holds combined with sharp strikes disabled him. Shame really, Lockdown thought, he would have welcomed a challenge.
Slipstream and Soundwave subdued their own opponents. Soundwave had to fight off a few hypnotized visitors - some basic but direct street fighting moves - looked like they recovered their own minds when Lacrimosa was held still. Lockdown thought Seekers were usually weak when it came to servo-to-servo combat, but Slipstream did all right playing it defensive until she found the window of opportunity she wanted.
Getting the three Eurythmans to the Death's Head wasn't any more difficult. Job had gone real smooth. But maybe that was because Lockdown understood what Yoketron had been trying to tell him. "You have to rely on whatever sparks you have inside," and, "Lockdown fails to understand."
In some languages, "you" could be plural.