An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
In the twilight of Cybertron’s Fundamentalist age, two mechs met. After a time, they bonded on Conjux Endurae. Their names were Sideways and Prowl.
Sideways was a covert operative; the closest word in English was “cyber ninja”. His assigned task was fulfilling the orders of the Cybertronian government on a grand scale, both domestic and foreign, by whatever means necessary.
Prowl was an Enforcer, or cop, whose task was to maintain and enforce peace and order among the general population according to the law. Something that was considerably difficult due to the rumbles of opposition against the oft times oppressive Fundamentalist regime.
It did not help that there were different types of political opposition: one of a more civil nature & the other calling for more violent means.
(Prowl was thankful he had a friend in his fellow officer Orion Pax, a rare function re-assignment from a dock worker.)
It eventually got to the point where the violent Decepticons earned the label of terrorists.
Prowl, Orion, Ironhide, & a number of the more civilized Autobots worked in conjunction with the higher ups to combat the Decepticon threat.
One day, however, Sideways was declared missing presumed dead. Prowl was both devastated and furious that his Conjux’s superiors would not go looking for him after they sent him off-world.
Determined, Prowl snuck into his husband’s office in Cyberninja headquarters in order to find where Sideways was sent. However, he discovered something that broke his world.
Hidden in such a way that only someone who knows him as well as Prowl did, was undeniable proof.
Sideways was double-agent and Decepticon spy.
It completely blindsided Prowl… but it also made a terrible kind of sense. Sideways always resented his function: being controlled by others who view him as a tool that should be grateful for an assigned purpose in life.
Sideways had to fight tooth and nail to keep his identity, much less love Prowl and have a family together.
Sideways wanted power and revenge.
Spark-broken by his husband’s betrayal, Prowl gave up looking for him. Out of love for Sideways and fear of retribution on their son and unborn child, Prowl destroyed the evidence.
The only one he told the truth to was Orion.
As civil unrest became war, the Autobots became the officially recognized Cybertronian authority against the tyranny of the Decepticons.
As he climbed up the Autobot ranks, Prowl made a decision that was the only one he could make.
The former Enforcer, now officer, opted to give his children to bots he could trust to be both caregivers and mentors.
Ostaros, still a baby, was given to Kup, an experienced veteran of Cybertron’s last great war. To protect & hide him from any future retribution from Prowl’s enemies, he was renamed Springer by Kup.
The newly born Side Burn, who existence his carrier carefully hid, was given to X, a relative of Prowl’s who also had served in the military.
Giving up his children was the final piece of Prowl’s metamorphosis. Once upon a time, Prowl was a skilled young cop who believed in Justice and Serving the People. A mech who dreamed of a Cybertron that would allow he and his family to travel to other worlds.
Now, Prowl was the right-hand man of Optimus Prime, the military strategist of the Autobots, and a stickler for the rules and regulations of their military.
The warm-hearted mech with a wild streak was buried under the drone-like logic and patience for which he became known. It was not until many years later, during a mission with Ironhide and Silverbolt to rescue and support the Maximals, that his other side was seen.
Little did Prowl know, Sideways had survived his disastrous mission. If by survive, his body was completely ruined and his memories utterly vanished. He was eventually found by a Decepticon scout ship that returned with the barely alive mech to their masters.
The mech with no name eventually rebuilt himself - as Tarantulas, the mad scientist of the Predacons. At times, should his Supreme Lord Megatron require it, Tarantulas dons the identity of Double Face, a con artist and associate of the Decepticons.
Tarantulas never really cared about his missing past. His life is one he made. His only regrets?
The failures from achieving his evil goals. Namely:
- destruction of the Maximals & Autobots
- doing his unethical experiments in peace
- taking over a planet with a consort (preferably Black Arachnia)
During one of their battles with the Maximals, the winning Predacons were surprised by enemy reinforcements. That blasted “hero” Silverbolt came swooping in with two strangers: a Lion-shifter and an Elephant-mech.
After being soundly beaten and driven off by MagnaBoss, the Predacons licked their wounds and swore revenge!
For Tarantulas, however, something tickled at the back of his mind. Something he couldn’t put a claw on…
It wasn’t until reviewing hacked Maximal footage that he realized the “tickling” came from that Lion-shifter, Prowl!
The relaxed way he talked, the wildness just beneath the surface of a logical, patient mind… Prowl was a confident predator whose strategy and ferocity go hand in hand.
Tarantulas, never one to release something that had his attention (whether experiment or prey), dove into his newest project.
The result - the return of his memories.
And a desperate hunger to reclaim what was HIS.
Sometime later, Prowl led a small team to investigate a possible abandoned Decepticon refinery. Their communications were jammed as soon as they entered.
What followed, as described by Sideswipe (one of the few team members who would actually talk about it), was the equivalent of a Halloween horror movie
where the least terrifying part was Prowl as a DAMSEL IN DISTRESS.
Suffice to say, Prowl’s subordinates, coworkers, allies, & few friends were concerned.
The cop car’s Amica on the other hand… well… a furious Ironhide was always scary.
But no one, and I mean absolutely no one, ever wants to exist around an enraged Optimus Prime.
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