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

[ruthless_hunter]

"Just a few," Lockdown replied. "There's a few Decepticons here, Lugnut and some slagger, Scourge. Megatron, Starscream, and Blitzwing used to be here, but they've up and disappeared," the bounty hunter honestly wished they'd come back. They still owned him payments. "Also, there are meatbags who'll make ya' weapons if you set up an appointment and give 'em metal. I've got a stash of metal from a bathroom in my room. We could split it."

He nodded, "Yeah, I can do that." Just as well, since there were no other Autobots here. Just that Maximal. "What happened, you have a fallin' out with yer little buddies?"

[stillandstrike]

Well, the worst ones were gone. That was a relief. But the way it was worded was worrying. "Disappeared?"

His lips set into a tight line at Lockdown's offer. "No. Thank you." There was no way he wanted to owe Lockdown. Maybe he;d make use of it one the Bounty Hunter was out of the way, though.

"I simply don't want you bothering them."

[ruthless_hunter]

He shrugged, "One day they were here, the next they were just gone. Not a trace of 'em. Though, ol' Three-Face might'a gotten eaten by the zombies." He was still holding out on Blitzwing coming back, since people here had come back from the dead before. Happened to Forte, after all.

"Suit yourself," More for him. He wasn't giving up completely, though, "I still know where the best supplies are kept."

The bounty hunter couldn't hold back a smirk, "Afraid I'll kill 'em so I'll have you to myself? Or is there still somethin' you ain't telling me?" He had a feeling that the latter was true. Even if Prowl didn't tell him right away, he'd worm it out of him some day.

[stillandstrike]

That didn't sound go- wait, what?

"...zombies?" The living dead. W-was Prowl...a zombie?

"Well, if you wish to tell me, I would appreciate it..." If Lockdown was going to continue being so difficult, Prowl might have to put his plans on hold. So long as Lockdown kept his word not to start trouble.

Eurgh. He was at it again. Being a creep. What Lockdown and Prowl would do alone together, besides a job, he had NO idea. "I don't see it going well between you and them. That is all."

[ruthless_hunter]

"Yep, zombies. Happened a few nights back," He opened his notebook again and showed HK's detailed drawings of the zombies on the coat hooks and Lockdown tearing the zombie's head off. "One did a number on me," Lockdown lifted up one of the short sleeves of his shirt, showing Prowl his scars from where the big zombie had dug its claws into him.

"It'd be easier to show you," Lockdown insisted. He'd give Prowl a map only after he had the ninjabot under his thumb.

[stillandstrike]

"....I suppose I might as well believe you for now," he sighed. Stranger things had happened, after all. He inspected the pictures unsure whether to be impressed or disgusted. "Did you do these?"

For some reason, Lockdown's wound made him wish to express something he'd noticed about the bot upon first glance. "You....look a lot like yourself."

And, with a sigh, he relented. "Very well. I assume we are helpless until night?"

[ruthless_hunter]

"Nope. A friend did 'em," He closed the notebook again. He wondered what HK would think if he found out that Prowl was here now. Oh well, it wasn't like HK had to know right now.

Lockdown put a hand against his tattoos at Prowl's comment, "You like what you see?" He smirked at Prowl once again, "You ain't so bad lookin' yourself." Prowl was nice and lean, like his real self, with pretty human-optics the same shade of blue as his real optics and hair that was shiny and black. As far as humans went, Prowl was a mighty fine specimen.

"Yep. The good stuff's upstairs, in closets and kitchens." He'd make Prowl a copy of his map later tonight.

[stillandstrike]

"Friend?" Prowl asked. He dreaded to think what that really meant. What other bad sorts there were in this place. It was a good idea to find out about them, avoid them.

Prowl shifted away. There was something about the look Lockdown was giving him. He didn't like it. "I look different," he admitted. "Before... something like this happened. I looked different."

[ruthless_hunter]

"Nobody you need to concern yerself with," He wasn't about to tell Prowl that said friend was an outspokenly homocidal assassin droid. He especially wasn't gonna tell Prowl he'd slept with said droid. Not until he could push for a threesome, anyway.

Lockdown gave Prowl a curious look. "You've been human before?" When had that happened? "Different how?"

[stillandstrike]

"I'm only concerned so that I can avoid them, believe me."

Prowl played with his food a little and nodded. He supposed, ultimately, there was no harm telling Lockdown about Soundwave.

"A Decepticon called Soundwave trapped us in a virtual reality. We were all human, but it...felt different. It was a little easier to break free and... I didn't look like this. I looked like the holographic human I use in my bike mode."

[ruthless_hunter]

"Relax, I'll make sure they leave you alone," He didn't want a big jealousy rage from HK. The droid might hurt Prowl.

Lockdown had never heard of Soundwave. He must've been one of those Decepticons that worked on their own time, and wasn't part of Megatron's personal troops. After all, Transformers had been coming to Earth a lot lately, including Lockdown himself. Must've been a techie, if he could trap other bots in virtual reality.

He raised a black-inked eyebrow at Prowl's description of his previous human form. "Don't recall you ever usin' a hologram driver." Both times Lockdown had met him, Prowl had looked like a bike driving itself whenever he was in vehicle mode.

[stillandstrike]

"I'm not worried, I'd just rather avoid the trouble of meeting people you would associate with." They'd be needless setbacks that Prowl was, well, to tired to deal with. At some point he was going to have to sit and think about what had happened.

"I suspect Soundwave may be behind all of this. Come to think of it... I'm not entirely convinced you're real." Prowl leaned a little closer, staring Lockdown in the eyes. Perhaps Soundwave had only caught limited memory banks about Lockdown and this was all he could create. But why include Lockdown in the game?

"Mm, I didn't use it often. We weren't exactly a well kept secret."

[ruthless_hunter]

"Do you have to always assume the worst about me, Prowl?" Okay, so Lockdown's associates were of the less than honest or honorable type, but Prowl couldn't blame Lockdown for that.

The bounty hunter stared back, red locking with blue. "I ain't some processor trick, Prowl," He reached forward, pale fingers touching the ninjabot's cheek softly. "Trust me, I'm very real." He wasn't going to let Prowl dismiss him as some illusion.

He had to admit, though, the idea that a techie Transformer was behind this did sound kind of plausible. Nobody here had ever seen Landel, so for all they knew, maybe he was this Soundwave bot. However, Lockdown wasn't quick to put this all as just a simulation. He wasn't a techie himself, so he didn't know much about the mechanics of virtual reality. For now, this was all real until proven otherwise.

[stillandstrike]

"I'm not assuming anything. I'm drawing logical conclusions based on prior knowledge." It was impossible for Lockdown not to get involved with less than reputable people.

"Easy for an illusion to say," Prowl frowned, swatting Lockdown's hand away. The touch had certainly felt real. And weird.

"Do you ever hear strange music?" he asked. What sort of telltale signs were there? In all honestly, the illusion had been very good before, Prowl just...happened to be better. And now? Soundwave had improved. A lot.

[ruthless_hunter]

Prowl knew him all too well by now, huh? And all when they'd only met twice. Prowl was a fast-learner.

Lockdown frowned when Prowl rebuffed his touch. "Don't make me prove it by smackin' you." He looked harder into Prowl's optics, "Would some illusion remember that flash of pride in yer optics when you brought down both Starscreams?"

The bounty hunter thought about it. "No, don't think so. Though, a few nights back, I kept seein' stuff in the corner of my optics. But when I turned to look, nothin' was there. That was weird." He didn't think that would help in figuring this whole thing out, but it might be worth mentioning anyway.