OLD PROMPT Spooky Weekend 2013 #7
Title: Chapter twenty-eight of For a Few Upgrades More
Warnings/content advice: setting things right
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: Spooky Weekend 2013 #7 Lay my ghosts to rest. With Inspiration from: Skillet - Awake and Alive
~~~~~~~~~~~~
First, the summoning of AllSpark shards ceased. No one knew why, until later, except for Jazz. Then, a powerful field surrounded the sole, functioning Starscream Supreme, along with Megatron and Optimus Prime. Few witnessed this, as most humans and automatons both had taken to indoor, even underground, shelters. The Autobots were there to see it. A few of the cities many camerabots captured what they were able. Lockdown was there along with Soundwave. Wreck-gar was there, coming after the others, as the pull had stopped and his arms were yet pinned to his torso with cables. Some few humans who had tried to defend their city rather than hide were there. None of them would likely forget what they saw.
Something allowed Optimus Prime through the field. Some later would say they saw a light there, or the shape of something. It was not until much later, when Jazz would arrive, that any would give the mysterious force a name.
By then, they would see the explosion contained within the field, and as it dissipated, smoke.
When Jazz came down from the tower, the Autobots were cheering their victory, until they saw the sparkless shell of Prowl.
Lockdown almost ran to them, but Soundwave kept him back. Whatever Lockdown thought he felt: real grief; loss of one he respected, admired, hated, envied, loved; or relief; it would do no good to draw attention to his presence now. It was fortunate, perhaps, because then Soundwave had someone nearby when they saw Megatron was not in fact dead.
Lockdown couldn't guess what his companion felt. He didn't know the whole story, but he knew Megatron had created Soundwave's body for some purpose of his own, and Soundwave had become sentient. He only dared call Megatron "father" when speaking through his avatar, and it sounded bitter when he did. But, Lockdown was catching on to the fact that Soundwave sometimes said things through his avatar that he would never otherwise, as if he pretended another person said the words.
Megatron, damaged, went up against the young Prime, again, and was defeated. His life was spared, but for one who would rather have died fighting, perhaps this was not truly kindness.
Soundwave was not sure what he felt, so he called Slipstream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was on Dinobot Island, as some called it, working on the large, purple, Omega Sentinel abandoned there. She had enough Starscream in her to understand how to deactivate the explosives and timer, though she hated to draw on these skills. They were so him.
Had he finally gone offline?
She received the comm from Soundwave, then spoke to the minions nearby: Soundwave's keytar-bat and guitar-condor. "Stay here. The risk of explosion is gone, but the Dinobots don't need to know that right now. I'll go to Soundwave."
It was a quick flight into the city, and she found Soundwave and Lockdown within the proximity of Sumdac Tower, looking toward a section of freeway ramp, where Autobots were moving about. She saw then the outcome of what the others had witnessed: Prowl's empty shell in the arms of his fellow ninja-bot, and Megatron broken and cuffed in Optimus' custody.
She didn't laugh.
Slipstream seemed to really notice Lockdown was near, then, but wasn't ready to speak to him. Instead she took Soundwave by the hand and walked around a building to get another vantage point on the retreating Autobots.
"Do you want us to rescue him?" She asked.
"His choice. He survived the explosion, could have retreated in smoke. He attacked the Autobots."
"That's not the same as answering the question," Slipstream sighed. She knew. She did the same thing frequently.
"Should have known this Prime would not offline him."
"No," Slipstream said, though hesitantly, she had to drawn on the Starscream in her for this answer also. "He's been at war so long, our faction without access to the AllSpark or Vector Sigma, that he might not comprehend an Autobot not wanting him destroyed." She thought about this a while longer. "Optimus Prime might not be like normal Autobots, having been away from Cybertron so long."
"He should have been happy."
"Who?"
"Megatron. Starscream. That the AllSpark and Key did grant him new Decepticons."
"One would think." Slipstream ignored the part about Starscream, for the moment. She drew Soundwave against her side. "There's not much we can do for Megatron, anyway, especially while they have Omega Supreme online. But, we might be able to even the odds. I left the little fliers on the island. The Supreme there: I deactivated the explosive device."
"We would need to determine if repairs are possible, and if it can be controlled- If it is sentient."
"Exactly." Slipstream reached behind her back then brought her closed hand forward. In it were two AllSpark shards. She picked up just one, the slightly larger, and offered it to Soundwave. The second, she clutched in her hand once again.
"For the Supreme?"
"It has at least one, but in case it needs more...you can break-off what you need."
Soundwave understood. He could have what he needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lockdown was set on giving Slipstream some time, but he wanted to talk to her. Soundwave had to know what they'd said. He heard everything. Yet, he hadn't changed his attitude toward Lockdown at all. Seeker was too temperamental for her own good sometimes. But, he could almost see her point.
Wreck-gar came into view, still struggling with the cables. "You want some help with that?" Lockdown asked.
"My hero~" Wreck gar called as he skipped over.
"Hardly," Lockdown told him, but he reached out and picked at the cables, finding the ends to untie the mass. When he had them loose, Lockdown stood looking down at the magnetic grappling lines. He'd so wanted the ones Optimus had. "You- you need these back?"
"Wreck-gar can make use of anything~ But, I do not need for anything~"
Lockdown looked at his hand, and his hook, holding the grappling lines. "You could make use of them."
"Lockdown."
He looked up. Wreck-gar was no longer smiling, but standing very straight, with blank expression. "That's my name." He wasn't sure he'd told Wreck-gar that.
"Thank you." Wreck-gar didn't sound like himself, though it was his voice.
"T'was nothin'?"
"Thank you for making sure I did not unintentionally take a life."
Lockdown went rigid with fear. He felt like his spark was shrinking. "Prowl?"
"I am glad Wreck-gar and those others live. It was my choice to surrender my spark, as Master Yoketron did before me."
Lockdown was speechless. This was really Prowl, talking through Wreck-gar?
"He was still alive when I found him, and I tried to save his life by using one of the remaining protoforms, but he chose to surrender his spark instead. He told me that we should never sacrifice the future to save the past."
"Sounds like Yoketron," Lockdown managed.
"We are pleased you finally understood the cyber-koan that had been so difficult for you."
No way Prowl, or Wreck-gar for that matter, should know of that! Lockdown's spark twinged, he thought he might just go into spark arrest right here. Voices from the Well were speaking to him?
"Remember, Lockdown, it's the ninja-bot, not the weapon." Then, as suddenly as it had come over him, Wreck-gar was himself again. "Never know when another bot might need saving~ Consider them a thank you gift~" Wreck-gar held up one hand and finger, as pointing out the imaginary lightbulb over his head, "I never finished collecting trash!" At that, he transformed, backed-up with a beeping noise, then drove away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slipstream flew over the area surrounding Sumdac Tower, looking for signs of Starscream, or his fallen shell. She spotted him, mainly for the impact crater of his fall; his shell had gone the color of the surrounding asphalt.
Slipstream transformed and descended to the roadway. She approached slowly. There would not have been time to save him without losing herself and Ratbat. Still, it seemed a horrible way to go, even compared to all the many times Megatron had slagged him. At least he'd sorta gone down fighting.
Slipstream touched him, half afraid the shell would crumble, but it didn't. It was still metal, just dead. Neither hotter or colder than what surrounded it. Carefully, she manipulated his wings to turn his shell. He didn't look like himself. He looked like he could be any of them. Like he was merely in stasis. Peaceful.
Slipstream groaned. "I know I am going to hate myself for this...."
She took out her last spare AllSpark fragment. Holding it in one hand, she forced the cockpit open. It gave with a creak. Slipstream pushed the AllSpark fragment into Starscream's chest, into the empty spark chamber.
She rose quickly and stepped back. She was determined to do this, but that didn't mean she wanted to deal with him if he should rise.
The color started to come back. Oh, slag, it was working. Slipstream retreated further.
His optics lit.
His face went from peaceful straight to obnoxious. "Honey! I'm Home!"
"Idiot."
Starscream started demanding answers. What had happened? Where was he? Who was there? Then finally, "Slipstream?"
"We're even!" She called back, then transformed and flew off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Death's Head landed on Dinobot Island, near the fallen Lugnut Supreme. It's holographic cloak now resembled a new outcropping of rock. Lockdown exited from the airlock, as if from the entrance of a cave, and saw Slipstream, Soundwave and the pets moving atop the fallen behemoth. They had one of those construction bots with them.
Lockdown leapt up onto a leg then walked over its surface to join them. He sat down on some part of the torso, near where Slipstream was working on some open panel.
"Might be able to help. I've seen the insides of Autobots before." It was cloned from an Autobot, anyway.
"Your expertise is not in doubt."
"But you still doubt me."
He saw her nod.
"I'm sorry."
Slipstream looked up. "You just saying that?"
"I have a problem. With the upgrading. Mods."
Slipstream smiled. She touched his shin pipes. "Yeah. You do, but admitting it's a start."
"Shouldn't have got so worked up about mods I thought they were the same- important- like bots I care about." He brought out the grappling lines, looked down at them. "Didn't take these. They were a gift. Maybe- I mean, I'd like you to hold onto them for a while."
Slipstream reached out and took the lines. "Can't believe a badaft bounty-hunting-space-cowboy-ninja-bot needs mods to get the job done."
Lockdown smirked, from her, that was a serious vote of confidence. "I don't."
Warnings/content advice: setting things right
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: Spooky Weekend 2013 #7 Lay my ghosts to rest. With Inspiration from: Skillet - Awake and Alive
~~~~~~~~~~~~
First, the summoning of AllSpark shards ceased. No one knew why, until later, except for Jazz. Then, a powerful field surrounded the sole, functioning Starscream Supreme, along with Megatron and Optimus Prime. Few witnessed this, as most humans and automatons both had taken to indoor, even underground, shelters. The Autobots were there to see it. A few of the cities many camerabots captured what they were able. Lockdown was there along with Soundwave. Wreck-gar was there, coming after the others, as the pull had stopped and his arms were yet pinned to his torso with cables. Some few humans who had tried to defend their city rather than hide were there. None of them would likely forget what they saw.
Something allowed Optimus Prime through the field. Some later would say they saw a light there, or the shape of something. It was not until much later, when Jazz would arrive, that any would give the mysterious force a name.
By then, they would see the explosion contained within the field, and as it dissipated, smoke.
When Jazz came down from the tower, the Autobots were cheering their victory, until they saw the sparkless shell of Prowl.
Lockdown almost ran to them, but Soundwave kept him back. Whatever Lockdown thought he felt: real grief; loss of one he respected, admired, hated, envied, loved; or relief; it would do no good to draw attention to his presence now. It was fortunate, perhaps, because then Soundwave had someone nearby when they saw Megatron was not in fact dead.
Lockdown couldn't guess what his companion felt. He didn't know the whole story, but he knew Megatron had created Soundwave's body for some purpose of his own, and Soundwave had become sentient. He only dared call Megatron "father" when speaking through his avatar, and it sounded bitter when he did. But, Lockdown was catching on to the fact that Soundwave sometimes said things through his avatar that he would never otherwise, as if he pretended another person said the words.
Megatron, damaged, went up against the young Prime, again, and was defeated. His life was spared, but for one who would rather have died fighting, perhaps this was not truly kindness.
Soundwave was not sure what he felt, so he called Slipstream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was on Dinobot Island, as some called it, working on the large, purple, Omega Sentinel abandoned there. She had enough Starscream in her to understand how to deactivate the explosives and timer, though she hated to draw on these skills. They were so him.
Had he finally gone offline?
She received the comm from Soundwave, then spoke to the minions nearby: Soundwave's keytar-bat and guitar-condor. "Stay here. The risk of explosion is gone, but the Dinobots don't need to know that right now. I'll go to Soundwave."
It was a quick flight into the city, and she found Soundwave and Lockdown within the proximity of Sumdac Tower, looking toward a section of freeway ramp, where Autobots were moving about. She saw then the outcome of what the others had witnessed: Prowl's empty shell in the arms of his fellow ninja-bot, and Megatron broken and cuffed in Optimus' custody.
She didn't laugh.
Slipstream seemed to really notice Lockdown was near, then, but wasn't ready to speak to him. Instead she took Soundwave by the hand and walked around a building to get another vantage point on the retreating Autobots.
"Do you want us to rescue him?" She asked.
"His choice. He survived the explosion, could have retreated in smoke. He attacked the Autobots."
"That's not the same as answering the question," Slipstream sighed. She knew. She did the same thing frequently.
"Should have known this Prime would not offline him."
"No," Slipstream said, though hesitantly, she had to drawn on the Starscream in her for this answer also. "He's been at war so long, our faction without access to the AllSpark or Vector Sigma, that he might not comprehend an Autobot not wanting him destroyed." She thought about this a while longer. "Optimus Prime might not be like normal Autobots, having been away from Cybertron so long."
"He should have been happy."
"Who?"
"Megatron. Starscream. That the AllSpark and Key did grant him new Decepticons."
"One would think." Slipstream ignored the part about Starscream, for the moment. She drew Soundwave against her side. "There's not much we can do for Megatron, anyway, especially while they have Omega Supreme online. But, we might be able to even the odds. I left the little fliers on the island. The Supreme there: I deactivated the explosive device."
"We would need to determine if repairs are possible, and if it can be controlled- If it is sentient."
"Exactly." Slipstream reached behind her back then brought her closed hand forward. In it were two AllSpark shards. She picked up just one, the slightly larger, and offered it to Soundwave. The second, she clutched in her hand once again.
"For the Supreme?"
"It has at least one, but in case it needs more...you can break-off what you need."
Soundwave understood. He could have what he needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lockdown was set on giving Slipstream some time, but he wanted to talk to her. Soundwave had to know what they'd said. He heard everything. Yet, he hadn't changed his attitude toward Lockdown at all. Seeker was too temperamental for her own good sometimes. But, he could almost see her point.
Wreck-gar came into view, still struggling with the cables. "You want some help with that?" Lockdown asked.
"My hero~" Wreck gar called as he skipped over.
"Hardly," Lockdown told him, but he reached out and picked at the cables, finding the ends to untie the mass. When he had them loose, Lockdown stood looking down at the magnetic grappling lines. He'd so wanted the ones Optimus had. "You- you need these back?"
"Wreck-gar can make use of anything~ But, I do not need for anything~"
Lockdown looked at his hand, and his hook, holding the grappling lines. "You could make use of them."
"Lockdown."
He looked up. Wreck-gar was no longer smiling, but standing very straight, with blank expression. "That's my name." He wasn't sure he'd told Wreck-gar that.
"Thank you." Wreck-gar didn't sound like himself, though it was his voice.
"T'was nothin'?"
"Thank you for making sure I did not unintentionally take a life."
Lockdown went rigid with fear. He felt like his spark was shrinking. "Prowl?"
"I am glad Wreck-gar and those others live. It was my choice to surrender my spark, as Master Yoketron did before me."
Lockdown was speechless. This was really Prowl, talking through Wreck-gar?
"He was still alive when I found him, and I tried to save his life by using one of the remaining protoforms, but he chose to surrender his spark instead. He told me that we should never sacrifice the future to save the past."
"Sounds like Yoketron," Lockdown managed.
"We are pleased you finally understood the cyber-koan that had been so difficult for you."
No way Prowl, or Wreck-gar for that matter, should know of that! Lockdown's spark twinged, he thought he might just go into spark arrest right here. Voices from the Well were speaking to him?
"Remember, Lockdown, it's the ninja-bot, not the weapon." Then, as suddenly as it had come over him, Wreck-gar was himself again. "Never know when another bot might need saving~ Consider them a thank you gift~" Wreck-gar held up one hand and finger, as pointing out the imaginary lightbulb over his head, "I never finished collecting trash!" At that, he transformed, backed-up with a beeping noise, then drove away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slipstream flew over the area surrounding Sumdac Tower, looking for signs of Starscream, or his fallen shell. She spotted him, mainly for the impact crater of his fall; his shell had gone the color of the surrounding asphalt.
Slipstream transformed and descended to the roadway. She approached slowly. There would not have been time to save him without losing herself and Ratbat. Still, it seemed a horrible way to go, even compared to all the many times Megatron had slagged him. At least he'd sorta gone down fighting.
Slipstream touched him, half afraid the shell would crumble, but it didn't. It was still metal, just dead. Neither hotter or colder than what surrounded it. Carefully, she manipulated his wings to turn his shell. He didn't look like himself. He looked like he could be any of them. Like he was merely in stasis. Peaceful.
Slipstream groaned. "I know I am going to hate myself for this...."
She took out her last spare AllSpark fragment. Holding it in one hand, she forced the cockpit open. It gave with a creak. Slipstream pushed the AllSpark fragment into Starscream's chest, into the empty spark chamber.
She rose quickly and stepped back. She was determined to do this, but that didn't mean she wanted to deal with him if he should rise.
The color started to come back. Oh, slag, it was working. Slipstream retreated further.
His optics lit.
His face went from peaceful straight to obnoxious. "Honey! I'm Home!"
"Idiot."
Starscream started demanding answers. What had happened? Where was he? Who was there? Then finally, "Slipstream?"
"We're even!" She called back, then transformed and flew off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Death's Head landed on Dinobot Island, near the fallen Lugnut Supreme. It's holographic cloak now resembled a new outcropping of rock. Lockdown exited from the airlock, as if from the entrance of a cave, and saw Slipstream, Soundwave and the pets moving atop the fallen behemoth. They had one of those construction bots with them.
Lockdown leapt up onto a leg then walked over its surface to join them. He sat down on some part of the torso, near where Slipstream was working on some open panel.
"Might be able to help. I've seen the insides of Autobots before." It was cloned from an Autobot, anyway.
"Your expertise is not in doubt."
"But you still doubt me."
He saw her nod.
"I'm sorry."
Slipstream looked up. "You just saying that?"
"I have a problem. With the upgrading. Mods."
Slipstream smiled. She touched his shin pipes. "Yeah. You do, but admitting it's a start."
"Shouldn't have got so worked up about mods I thought they were the same- important- like bots I care about." He brought out the grappling lines, looked down at them. "Didn't take these. They were a gift. Maybe- I mean, I'd like you to hold onto them for a while."
Slipstream reached out and took the lines. "Can't believe a badaft bounty-hunting-space-cowboy-ninja-bot needs mods to get the job done."
Lockdown smirked, from her, that was a serious vote of confidence. "I don't."