Chapter Text
Dreadwing grabbed two newspapers for him and his brother and payed the young bot his money.
He started walking to the factory he worked when something caught his attention.
'Attention everyone in a developing city-state:
Send a photo and a letter about yourself to one of the following papers for a chance that a bot to sponsor you coming to Iacon in exchange for you to be their conjunx endura.'
Its important to understand that by seeker beauty standards,Dreadwing was by no means attractive. He felt like he understood this better than anyone. He had a very bulky frame and didn't have that natural shine other seekers did. He was built for hard work,not to be optic candy.
He was just,for lack of a better word,ugly. He had accepted this a long time ago. But something just told Dreadwing that there was going to be someone who would choose him to be their bride.
Someone had to have liked the sturdy frames,right?
Skyquake held up the camera while his brother smiled. He clicked it a few times,and then Dreadwing relaxed his face. Skyquake handed the photo to his twin.
"Whats this for again?" Skyquake asked. Dreadwing just smiled,using a clip to put his photo to the letter he wrote about himself. "I heard about it in the paper. If I send this to a newspaper in Iacon,they'll list me. And there's got to be someone who will agree to conjunx me,and if I agree,they'll take care of all of our expenses coming there." He explained. "That sounds unnecessarily complicated." Skyquake said after Dreadwing left the house to take it to the post office.
Arcee handed out the weekly newspaper to the group. She worked to help print them,and she always took 6 to give out to her friends. "Thank you,Arcee." Optimus said,and began reading. Finally,the femme reached Soundwave,and then sat down next to Cliffjumper and opened it to the first page.
Optimus noticed Megatron was looking intently at something. He couldn't help but look over the mech's pauldron. "Third page." Megatron responded,not even looking up.
"Alright…" Optimus said,flipping to said page. His optics widened once he realized what this page contained:the bride catalogue.
He saw all kinds of bots listed,some skinny,some bulky,some colorful,others drab,but there were two constants—
They were all smiling in some form,and were all on the younger side,at least a young adult,and were from poorer,developing city-states. Optimus decided to look at some of the biography written by the bots listed.
Zen,aged 20 stellar cycles. 'My designation is Zen. I am a cassette carrier with two. Their designations are Fal and Klal. We all have medical expertise,making us perfect if you desire a medic conjunx. I also…'
Optimus moved to the next one.
Dreadwing,aged 25 stellar cycles. 'My name is Dreadwing,and I'm a seeker from the poorer regions of Kaon. I have a twin named Skyquake,and it would be excellent if someone would be willing to pay for both our travels,at once. I am also not opposed to having sparklings. I also know how to fight as well.'
"'There has been a rise in people moving to Iacon?' Tell us something we don't already know!" Bulkhead rolled his optics. Ratchet huffed. "One of them started working at the hospital last hecto-cycle. His names Knock Out. He said he was from Velocitron." Bulkhead looked up.
"Did he say he has a conjunx named Breakdown?" He asked. "He didn't say much,but he wore these tight gold rings around his neck. He said they were to show he was conjunxed." Ratchet explained.
Optimus read on,seeing a variety of mechs,all with addresses listed to write back to them. None truly caught his attention—until the last one.
Predaking. Aged 20 stellar cycles. 'I am a predacon and my name is Predaking. I have two younger brothers named Skylynx and Darksteel. I am smart and I also know how to take care of sparklings. My brothers are both 12 stellar cycles old. I am from the city of Polyhex.'
Interesting…
"Letter for Shockwave." The postbot said upon Shockwave opening the door to his apartment. "Thank you."
"Mum? Is it father?" Ravage asked,rising from his spot on the couch in the living room besides Rumble and Frenzy.
"I believe so." Shockwave said,tearing open the envelope. Inside was shanix. Ever since Soundwave left to go to Iacon almost 5 stellar cycles ago,he had been sending money to cover their expenses and they had saved the rest for going to Iacon.
Oh how he longed for Soundwave's touch once more. Oh,how he loved the feeling of Soundwave standing behind him,servos wrapped around his waist. Soundwave had promised they'd be together in Iacon eventually.
Predaking walked out of the theater's backdoor angrily. The owner had shouted at him again,all because he was mad one of the high-class patrons groped Darksteel. And it wasn't like,a light touch on his aft—while he was walking,a patron reached over,cupped his aft,and squeezed.
Oh,Predaking wanted to rip him apart after that. He hated his career as a performer. Yes,he did rely on the patrons for shanix,but when did that give them the right to treat them like objects?
Performers like him relied on their charms and sex appeal,but he had heard many say that they hated interfacing. He hated how he agreed.
Darskteel and Skylynx trailed behind him,looking around the now desolate streets. Skylynx remembered how Predaking dreamed of wanting to go to college. But then their creators died,and they ended up getting offered this job because they were Predacons. They said rich bots would love to see a real predacon on stage,not a regular bot in costume. They begrudgingly agreed to take the job. That was when Predaking was 15 and they were 7.
Darksteel was just grateful he and Skylynx didn't have to perform the more 'extreme' things,unlike their older brother,and were just limited to things like private dances and kissing.
Halfway through at a crosswalk,the two younger predacons saw a femme staring at a poster on a light pole. She had six spider limbs on her back. She had a mostly black color,with some purple and gold. She had a white faceplate with pink optics. She didn't move,she just…kept staring at it.
"Hey brother?" Skylynx tugged Predaking's arm. Predaking stopped,looking down. "Look." Skylynx gestured towards the femme.
She had her digit on the poster,moving it across the words. She was slowly reading it.
"Re—ward…for…the ca-apture…of fuu-gi…tive…slaves." She finally got out.
"What are you reading?" A voice said behind her,making her jump. She looked. There were three predacons a few feet away from her.
"I apologize,miss,we did not mean to startle you." The largest one said. "It is alright." She said,straightening up.
"My name is Airachnid." She told them,bowing her torso. It felt good to finally introduce herself. Back on Southeastern Caminus she was only to tell her name when asked,and even then her master usually spoke for her when they were present. But that was behind her. Airachnid was on mainland Cybertron,free as can be.
Upon discovering Airachnid had no place to go,Predaking,the name of the eldest one,decided to offer her to come to their house. She had accepted that offer. And so,here she was. Airachnid could quite easily deduce that they were by no means well off. She got herself a serving of energon,was about to start eating in silence when Darksteel asked why she was there.
"See I am an insecticon from Southeastern Caminus. Many a bot like me are enslaved to the wealthy of Caminus." She explained. "Do you have any fabric?"
"We've got an old blanket we don't use…" Darksteel responded. The femme smiled, "That will do nicely."
They handed it to her,and she got to work cutting it. She thanked them,and wrapped it around her helm,so it was covered. Then,someone came knocking on the door. Airachnid instinctively hid under the table,and Predaking got up to answer it.
"Airachnid its fine its just the postbot." He said,opening the letter addressed to him. The return address said Iacon. This could only mean one thing:
Someone responded to his ad in the paper!