"Seems like we both have a habit of breaking our toys." Lockdown offered Megatron a broad smile, and hefted the roll of tools that he had tucked under his left arm. He gave the Decepticon's underground base a leisurely look-over. "So, where's the patient?"

Megatron paid him little more than a disdainful glance, then waved one of his minions over. "Lugnut, take Lockdown to the prisoner."

Lugnut saluted Megatron, then fixed Lockdown with a cautious stare. The aperture of Lugnut's central optic contracted slightly; a sort of mechanical squint. Lugnut's faceplates may have prevented him from being particularly expressive, but his hostility towards the bounty hunter was obvious. He placed himself between Megatron and Lockdown, blocking the latter's view of the Decepticon leader, then pointed to a tunnel at the back of the cave. "That way."

Lockdown hesitated, then started towards the passageway; Lugnut lumbered after him, careful to keep Lockdown in view at all times.

Eventually, Lockdown was escorted to a small, dimly-lit cell. Lugnut unbolted the door and let Lockdown inside - the Decepticon then remained in the doorway, still watching Lockdown carefully. Lockdown ignored him.

A slender, broken form was slumped in one of the cell's corners. Lockdown recognised the mech at once, although he had looked considerably healthier the last time they had met.

"Didn't think they would have caught you, kid," he said. "Thought they might have captured that annoying yellow one, or that gormless leader of theirs, maybe. But not you. I figured that you'd be more careful. Guess I was wrong."

Prowl looked up - there was a rather unpleasant grinding noise of metal on metal as he lifted his head. He stared dully at Lockdown. Despite his poor physical state, he seemed as surprised to see Lockdown as Lockdown was to see him.

"...W-what are you doing here?"

Lockdown grinned. "I'm your medic."

Prowl's gaze hardened, and he tried to sit up slightly. "Megatron has already tried interrogating me. If he thinks that you can make-..."

Lockdown cut him off. "I'm not here to interrogate you. When I said I was your medic, it wasn't cutesy euphemism for anything. I really am a medic. Well. For now, at least."

Prowl responded with a derisive little laugh, causing a trickle of fresh energon to run from the corner of his mouth. "You. A medic."

"What? It's true. I know as much about putting mechs together as I do about taking them apart - and I know a lot about taking mechs apart, kiddo." Lockdown crouched down next to Prowl, and opened his roll of tools out on to the floor. "The 'cons didn't have any proper docbots in the area, so they called me in, as a last resort. Megatron must've thought you were about to drop dead on him, and a dead bot's no use to anyone. C'mon, let's take a look at you."

Prowl's expression remained sullen and guarded. He flinched away as Lockdown tried to examine him.

Lockdown was able to get a better estimation of Prowl's injuries. The Autobot's legs were severely damaged, and he radiated a sickly heat. Lockdown placed a hand on Prowl's chest. "You're too warm; there's something wrong with either your temperature regulator or coolant systems. 'Fraid I can't do much about your legs, either - I'd need a proper workshop for that. Looks like the best thing that I can do right now is tell ol' Buckethead to stop smacking you around so much."

Lugnut growled, just to remind Lockdown that he was, in fact, still there. Lockdown continued to ignore him.

"You'll live - for now, at least - but you won't be able to take much more damage." Lockdown busied himself with tidying up some of Prowl's more minor wounds, sealing away exposed wires and and cleaning the grit out of open wounds. He smiled to himself. "Damn, if you could see how pathetic you look right now..."

Prowl gave him a look of naked loathing. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"A little." Lockdown grinned, and his tone became more sardonic. "How much have you told them?"

Prowl tensed. "I haven't told them anything, and I never will."

Lockdown tsked. "You're going to crack, eventually. Everyonecracks."

"My friends'll rescue me soon."

"Yeah, I can see they're doing a great job of that. It's obvious that you've been here a while. Some of these injuries must be at least a hundred solar cycles old, judging by the self-repair that your body has been trying to do."

Prowl didn't reply.

"Don't do anything stupid, Prowl. Just give them what they want, before Megatron gets bored and decides to scrap you."

Prowl looked up again for a second, just long enough to give Lockdown another look of hatred.

Lockdown shrugged at him. He replaced his tools back in their roll, then stood up, turning his back on Prowl and walking out.

Megatron looked up from a console as Lugnut and Lockdown returned. "Well?"

"He's stable, but there's only so much more punishment that he'll be able to take. If you beat the slag out of him a few more times, then he's not even going to be good for spare parts."

Megatron didn't sound overly interested. "The worst of the damage is the result of his constant escape attempts. They were getting tiresome, so I had to break the main servos in his legs."

"Y'know..." Lockdown said. "I'm surprised that you captured him, and not the Prime."

"I've had more important things to concern myself with." Megatron regarded Lockdown with a mixture of boredom and quiet contempt. "Optimus Prime's sad band of stragglers is fairly low on my list of priorities. Capturing the autobot was mostly down to serendipity. I doubt that he knows much that can be of use, but he might serve as bait, at least."

It seemed as if Megatron wanted to terminate the conversation there, but Lockdown had something specific in mind; "Huh. Unfortunate. The Prime'd make a better bargaining chip."

Megatron gave him a bland look. "Lockdown, where are you going with this?"

"If I bring the Prime to you, can I have the ninjabot in exchange?"

"You're more depraved then I gave you credit for." Megatron sounded mildly amused, at least.

"Thanks. So, is it a deal?"

"It's a deal, if you can bring me the Prime," Megatron replied. "...And that remains to be seen. I know that the Autobots have given you trouble before. Furthermore, if I do agree to let you have the prisoner, then I don't want to see him ever again, is that clear? If he tries to take revenge on me, or whatever, then I'm going to be extremely disappointed in you. How can you guarantee that this won't happen?"

Lockdown tapped his temples with an index finger. "You know Cipher, right? He owes me a favor. I figured that I'd get him to edit the little fragger's memories a bit. After that, you won't see us around this part of the galaxy for a long time."

Megatron smiled, despite himself. "You know Cipher?"

"I'm a regular fraggin' social butterfly, me." Lockdown smirked.

"Of course you are. I'll credit your account with the payment for your help today. Do let me know if you ever manage to capture the Prime." Megatron still sounded somewhat skeptical; he turned away from Lockdown, and returned to the console that he had been working on.

Lugnut gave Lockdown a small nudge in the back with one of his fists, and escorted the bounty hunter out.