Day 46: Breakfast

[repeatingfate]

For the second time, Rika found herself waking with a start. She blinked at the grey light streaming through the windows, and looked across the room. Anise was still asleep. So. I'm still here. Let me just check...Rika put on her slippers and walked over to the desk, checking the drawer and breathing a light sigh of relief. Good, the knife was

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Lockiedowners!

[stillandstrike]

Prowl had blacked out, but when he came back online he still seemed to be human. Must have been a glitch in Soundwave's program. How did he even keep coming back, anyway? And how did he get Prowl here after

[stillandstrike]

"...what happened to you?" Prowl asked. Talk of reprogramming. Perhaps Prowl's initial thought had been right after all. This was some strange twist on the Well. He didn't exactly care about Lockdown's fate, but if he was offline, it might help them solve the mystery of this place.

"...at night?" He'd arrived at night, but had barely left his room before blacking out again.

[ruthless_hunter]

"First time it happened, his goons drugged me and dragged me to the third floor. When I could think again, I was back in my chassis, and reprogrammed into guarding the place for the night." No need to tell Prowl how fun that'd been. "Second time was yesterday. They made me think I was really a meatbag, Lance. And it's not just me, Landel does it to almost everybody."

And the bait had been taken. "Everything unlocks and we get to roam the place. Only one problem: that's also when monsters are let loose on us." He motioned for Prowl to look under the table and lifted up his pant leg, showing the bandaged bite on his calf.

[stillandstrike]

"No, I mean... before..." But it was too late, he was more interested in this new information. "He returned you to your real form." Sounded like Soundwave.

Prowl looked at Lockdown's leg and managed not to smile. "I see. I'll be careful."

[ruthless_hunter]

"We're sure he's keepin' our real bodies on the third floor," Turning his attention to the first part of Prowl's reply, he said, "Before I got here? That what you meant? Went into recharge after our little incident with Starscream, woke up here." That made him think for a moment. Had anything big happened in their world after Lockdown had been taken?

"It's dangerous," Lockdown replied. "Really dangerous. You probably won't live to see morning if you try and go out alone yer first night without a weapon." Okay, he was exaggerating a little bit, but he would say anything to get Prowl on his side. "Landel's also been usin' nighttime to frag our processor lately."

[stillandstrike]

"I see." Prowl was pretty sure none of this was real and 'Landel' could change what he wanted when he wanted. But there was no need to share that.

"Starscream... the clones?" But that...was so long ago. And the times they'd met since. Lockdown had NO idea how angry Prowl was. Hm.

His eyes narrowed. "I'll be quite alright. I assume you're managing on your own?"

[ruthless_hunter]

"Yeah, that's right," Hm, Prowl looked puzzled. Lockdown narrowed his optics at the younger bot. "Why, what happened to you before you got here?"

At the question, Lockdown replied, "I'm doin' fine, but I've got weapons. It's safter to travel in groups." His first night here, he and Starscream had been lucky enough not to run into any monsters. He'd been in a huge group when those dogs attacked them and gotten out without a scratch. "Plus, I know my way around the place, you don't."

[stillandstrike]

"Nothing important," he said, shaking his head. "Just... how long have you been here? I'm sure you were alone and weaponless to begin with and, while I appreciate your concern, I'm quite certain I will manage alone." Once he'd gotten as much information as he could, anyway.

[ruthless_hunter]

"About a week," Lockdown replied. "And as much as I like your fiestiness, would you quit bein' stubborn for one cycle? It was you who wanted the partnership last time, remember?" He didn't want Prowl to turn up dead one morning. That and he wanted to use the opportunity to worm his way closer to Prowl. As for his relationship with HK, well, there was no need for him to know about Prowl and vise-versa.

"What're you afraid of, that I'll murder you in the dark, or give you to someone for a reward? I already told you, even if I wanted to, I'd get nothin' outta it."

[stillandstrike]

Well. It had been much longer than a week since Prowl had seen him. But he wasn't going to scratch out the possibility of clones just yet.

"Temporarily. You were the one who wished for it to continue."

It was an interesting question, really. Was he afraid of death? It had happened once, as far as he knew and, while there was certainly a desire to keep going, was he really afraid?

Anyway, Prowl was planning on hurting Lockdown.

"Not afraid, simply cautious. It would slow down my escape."

[ruthless_hunter]

Okay, Lockdown had to admit that was true. He hadn't planned on keeping Prowl at first, but the more time he spent with the ninja, the more he grew on the bounty hunter. Lockdown had been disappointed when Prowl turned him down, and would probably have come back to Earth to try and convince Prowl to change his mind if he hadn't been captured and put in this Pithole.

"Actually, kid, I'm your best chance of gettin' out of here alive. Face it, kid, I'm all you've got here."

Lockdown pulled out his journal, opened it, tore out a corner of the page, and wrote something on it. Holding it out to Prowl, he said, "Just take my room number, so you'll know where to find me."

[stillandstrike]

"I don't need any-" Hold up. He might not need help, but an opportunity might be good. Prowl took the room number, feeling a cold rush of dread when he realised it was few doors up from him, and sighed.

"I don't need help but... I suppose it can't hurt. And if it does? I will make sure you suffer with me."

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown smiled. "Relax, kid, ol' Lockdown'll make sure nothin' happens to ya'." He trusted Prowl could take care of himself (just one of many reasons Lockdown liked him), but the ninjabot was in an unfamiliar place, and could easily get lost in the dark here.

"Also, there's a bulletin board in the Sun Room here. If you ever need me, write me a message there. Only thing is, the slaggers in charge watch it like sentry drones, so yer gonna have to be clever 'bout it." Which reminded him, he'd have to post a message out on the bulletin for someone who could do something with those metals he had.

[stillandstrike]

There was only one word to describe Lockdown and that was 'creep'.

Prowl looked towards the Sun Room and nodded. He'd seen a few people milling about over there, now he knew why.

"I will use a code name. For myself," he said slowly, still gazing to the door. There was 'James', but if the nurses were watching, he didn't really want to get caught out that way. He needed something stupid that Bee would have come up with. Just....less Bee-centric. Or not. He needed something unique in that nobody else would use it, but bland enough to go unnoticed.

Sparkplug?

"Jet."

Like the one in the films. Of course, it had Decepticon connotations, but it would due. 'Bruce' risked being more popular.

[I couldn't think of anything else and it was about the only sane thing I could think of him using beyond Bonsai Master]

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown raised an eyebrow at Prowl's chosen codename. He then shrugged, "Fine. I'll be..." He thought for a klik. Lockdown wasn't too creative, so it took him a little while to think of something. Eventually he just went with something that would relate to his alt. mode, "Spike." Well, at least this way the Decepticons would be in the dark about their alliance.

"You could also try leavin' me an annonymous note in Cybertronian if you need to. The meatbags watch for symbols though, so try and make up a good reason for puttin' it up or they'll tear it down." Yesterday might have been fuzzy to him now, but he did recall some announcement about bulletin censorship. He'd stopped by the Sun Room on the way here and, sure enough, found that notes had been edited or just taken down altogether.

[stillandstrike]

"Spike?" Rather fitting, really. And easy to remember, not that prowl hoped to have to use it. As far as he was concerned, he'd just go to this room tonight, 'borrow' a weapon and destroy Lockdown.

"Is there anything else I should know? About others here?" Or about the missing time situation. But how to put that across as a question.

"I... think it would be best to avoid drawing attention to myself that way." Prowl was, essentially, a ghost. He felt it was best to remain that way. "If...you come across any other Autobots, I would appreciate it if you didn't make contact."