Falsely Accused
Prowl lingered after his Master’s spark faded. He hadn’t intended on staying long, but he wanted to pay proper respects before he left. He intended to leave Cybertron after, though what he’d do exactly he didn’t know. Unfortunately, that proved to be his undoing. Had he left as soon as Yoketron’s frame greyed, he would have made it to the shipyard to purchase a ship of his own and left the planet. As it was, his hesitation cost him.
It was just as he was about to stand and leave that he heard the sound of mechs racing through the Dojo. He tensed, thinking it was his Master’s killer come back for more, but it only proved to be other Autobots. There was confusion as they all stared at each other, and Prowl realized he recognized them from the busts of graduates. Springer, Axe, and Dai Atlas, the name plaques had said. He was about to explain what had happened, when Dai Atlas’s face shifted into an expression of rage.
Quicker than Prowl could react, he was tackled away from his Master’s still frame and pinned underneath the heavier mech. Before he even knew to struggle, his arms were yanked behind his back, stasis cuffs locking around his wrists. He went still, processor racing with shock and confusion as the paralytic effect of the cuffs took hold. He attempted to question the older ninjas, to defend himself and explain, but Springer only growled at him to shut up, calling him a murderer in the same breath. He tried again, but a muzzle was clamped over his mouth and if he could have flinched he would have.
After that, things happened quickly. He was dragged to the stockades and left there until his trial. All over Cybertron, news spread of the death of the Masted of the Ninja Corps, and how it had been his student who had done it. How he’d been slain in his own Dojo and the protoforms stolen, all by the bot he had trained and taken under wing. The Dojo was investigated, and camera footage was half corrupted, but the only clear image showed that Prowl had been the only one to enter the Dojo. Combined with the fact that he had been found by Yoketron’s body...well, that was enough. It didn’t matter if de-corrupting the camera footage might have shown another mech. For those in charge, they had all the information they needed.
Ultra Magnus was particularly enraged. Yoketron was an old friend, his oldest friend perhaps, and to hear that the old mech had been murdered had crushed his spark. To learn that the protoforms, an entire generation of Cybertronians, had been stolen at the same time...it was enough to make his rage cloud his judgement. He didn’t bother to realize that Prowl had neither the ability nor the means to defeat Yoketron in battle, kill him, and steal the protoforms all at once. It was only made worse when the Praxian did not reveal the location of the stolen protoforms. (How could he? He knew as much as his accusers, after all.)
There was a trial, but everyone knew how it would turn out. Prowl was not even allowed to defend himself. He remained cuffed and muzzled, shackled to the floor as he was sentenced to live out the rest of his existence locked away. At the end of the trial, his Autobrand was stripped away and he was dragged to Trypticon. Trypticon, where Deceptions and traitors were sent to rot.
His wardens were not kind to him. Everyone knew of Master Yoketron, in the same way everyone knew Of Ultra Magnus, for the position of Master of the Ninja Corps was high ranking, well known and revered. Yoketron himself had been beloved by all who knew him personally and deeply respected by all those who only knew his name. He was kind and clever, and rumor had even spoken that he was stronger than Ultra Magnus, but he’d never used his strength to hurt anyone. So when his apparent murderer was locked away, those who were tasked with keeping him in line were not shy about using force to do so. In their optics, he was worse than even the Decepticons in the prison. After all, he was a traitor.
And so, Prowl spent years there, losing hope with each passing day. Eventually, he gave up altogether, his his goal became to merely survive each new day that greeted him. He knew, at this point, it was all he could do.
(Mega-cycles and Mega-cycles later, another of Yoketron’s students joined the Elite Guard and served directly under the Magnus. He took many a mission, and one such mission to track down a wayward informant he ran into a well-known bounty hunter. The informant was dead at the mech’s pedes, and the student was captured and brought aboard the bounty hunter’s ship to be stripped of useful parts. He managed to free himself, but it was as he was leaving that he saw an item among the bounty hunter’s trophies that stilled the air in his vents and made his spark go cold. It was Master Yoketron’s helmet.)
Who do y’all think the mysterious student is? :D Also, let me know what y’all think! I might continue it if there’s enough interest. If you’re curious about any aspects of this AU, sent me an ask and I’ll answer!
