damned_institute | Day 40: Lunch

*hobble wobble*

"Damn that SCOURGE!" Starscream cried out, the slowly-filling cafeteria producing a jarring echo of his raspy voice. His limping, already bad enough from not knowing how to properly use his crutches, was now exacerbated from the injuries he'd received the shift prior. Despite the gauges in his non-casted leg so lovingly provided by the aforementioned 'patient', Starscream could still put some weight on it, but not so much that he could really stop and rest; relieving the soreness under his arms was out of the question. The nurse that walked behind him with his tray, already upset at having to deal with yet another troublesome inmate, was growing rather impatient as his charge slowly made his way down the food line.

"Just...give me a standard serving of the aquatic creature's flesh, some of those fried potato slices, two bananas, and three bottles of juice," Starscream sighed, his anger from just a moment ago assuaged by the physical exertion needed to move the way he did. "I'm going to sit down here...bring it to me when you're done."

He was hardly surprised to find that one of the bananas was completely bruised along its inner curve, or that the handful of 'chips' on his plate were all on the small side. Tired and frustrated as he was, however, he could barely muster a 'damned flesh-creature' before moving his fingers to the plate, picking one of the longer 'chips' and shoving it into his mouth listlessly.

There was an unusually high concentration of sodium chloride crystals on it. Of COURSE.

[For Tony Stark]

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Lockdown shrugged, and took a sip of liquid. "One particular unit hires me more than others. When you spend enough time with someone, you get to know them quite well." Ever since the war ended, work hadn't been as bustling as it used to be. "Every other mech who hired me, it was usually a one-time deal, and I never heard from them again. That particular unit were my best customers."

When he put it like that, it wasn't surprising. Since when were Blitzwing and Lugnut capable of pulling anything worth slag off without outside help? But even if they didn't seem too much of a threat (especially with their somewhat uneasy truce still in place), a repeat performance from Lockdown implied talent. And that had the potential to be very, very bad for him indeed.

"So you're pretty in-demand, huh. Must be worth the holo-chips." A statement, not a question. "Level with me here. Just how good would you say you were?"

"Yes, holo-chips are nice, but I usually only take them as payment when the employer has no good upgrades or mods to pay me with." Not that he couldn't scavage what he could off his prey.

He started on his salad, taking one bite before deciding that he didn't like the sauce he had poured on it. Pushing his salad aside, Lockdown answered Depth Charge's question, "Well, you could say that I'm the greatest bounty hunter on Cybertron. I'm a weapons expert and know many different fighting styles, including Circuit-Su and Metallikato. I've never failed a mission." Well, that wasn't true for one instance, but Lockdown wasn't about to let that slip. He remembered Starscream's reaction to his capture of Optimus Prime, and he wondered if Depth Charge would have the same reaction. "Not to mention that I once subdued and captured Optimus Prime."

A scavenger too, huh? Depth Charge's hands jerked a little, as if out of a latent desire to protect his parts from roving thieves. Not that they have been much use to Lockdown, even if he had still been in his original form; from the sounds of things, Lockdown was a lot larger than Depth Charge had ever been. One of those evolutionary changes that had occurred between the Great War and the present day.

The 'con's other claim, however, attracted a little more attention. "Optimus Prime?" he managed, barely able to keep the surprise and (begrudging) respect out of his voice, "The Optimus Prime? As in, the big guy? Leader of the Autobots?" He sat back, shaking his head. "I don't buy it."

If it was true, though... he eyed Lockdown suspiciously, face unreadable. If it was true, the guy had just gotten a Pitload more dangerous.

Lockdown was pleased when Depth Charge gave the desired reaction. So, he was right, the Optimus Prime from these other universes was indeed more famous and high-ranking than the Prime of his own universe. From the sound of it, the other Prime was to them was Ultra Magnus was to the Autobots of his universe.

"That's right, the Optimus Prime. He went down without much trouble. Neither did the little rescue party that came after him." He purposely left out the part where Ratchet had gotten the better of him. The more dangerous he made himself sound, the better chance he had of Depth Charge not trying anything against him in the future.

Depth Charge had to hand it to him. That was a pretty impressive resume, providing none of it was a lie. And there was no way he was going to swallow it all without some kind of proof. He sat back, watching Lockdown's face warily for any twitches or tics, any tell-tale sign that would tell him just how truthful he was being. Well, that smug grin certainly spoke volumes; whatever the case, the guy was obviously pretty slagging pleased with himself. But there was one thing that the Maximal didn't understand...

"If you managed to capture Optimus Prime, why is the Crazy Brigade still howling for 'bot mech-fluid? Surely that would have ended the war?"

Lockdown's grin faded. Depth Charge had a very good question. He tried to think of a way to get out of this snag, and came up with only one solution. He would have to come clean with the second half of the story.

"He... got away," He begrudgingly admitted. "One of the other Autobots managed to get the drop on me, which allowed him and Prime to escape. It was the only mission I've ever failed."

Day 40: Lunch

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