#merprowl

Summary: Jazz screams, curses, and just throws a tantrum.

The first thing I did when I got in my car was scream. Then when I got home I screamed again. Loud. Pissed and without a care for anyone within range. My parents had done some really messed up and manipulative things, but This. This takes the cake by a landslide, eats it, and spits it out in my face. I had never hated them more than I did now. I had never hated Anyone this much in my life. This must be what all of their ‘partners’ felt like. The ones they screwed out of their business and or all of their money. Hatred. Defeated. Just plain out stupid. Of course they wouldn’t keep their end of the bargain. Of course they would screw me over. Of course they would go and do this to their kid without even a hint of remorse.

“Fuckin- Damn leeches!”

I flipped the cheap tv tray over and then knocked over a chair in my frustrated rant as I made my way to the couch. I promptly fell onto it and screamed into one of the pillows. My screaming was cutting through the music that was playing from Blasters room. I was sure it looked like I was throwing a tantrum- no I was totally throwing a tantrum like a three year old, but I honestly couldn’t care less. I just screamed my lungs out with curses and just plain screaming in an attempt to free myself of the frustration and pain I felt. I shouldn’t have expected anything less. Not even for me. Their own kid.

“That bad, huh? Want to talk about it?”

“Those fucking sorry excuses that I call my parents-”

“Can’t understand you when your face first into a pillow.”

I knocked the pillow off the couch instead of getting up, but Blaster didn’t make a comment on it. The sound of rock music playing in the background was actually nice given what I had been forced to listen to tonight.

“Those sorry excuses that I call my parents ripped me off! I mean I should have expected it! I mean I’m not their kid or anything, right?! Of course they were going to screw me over! Fuck them! Fuck everything! I have never hated anyone more than I hate them right now!”

“Wait they screwed you over? How bad are we talking here?”

I just shoved the thin folder into his hands before I went back to screaming and cursing. I was going to be hurting by the time I was done. My voice was going to be gone. No doubt about it. Then I kicked the pillow at my feet off the couch just because I could. Blaster again didn’t make a comment on it and just opened the folder. There was silence besides the steady thrum of music coming from Blasters room. I couldn’t really make out any words through the closed door.

“This is it?” Blaster finally spoke with some slight disbelief in his tone that made me want to scream again.

“Yes. That is It!”

“But I thought- oh shit.”

“Yeah! They have more! They just won’t give it to me! They want me to jump for it like a starving dog for their amusement! Those lying bastards want me to do more shit for them! Not only that there are rumors going around about me like you wouldn’t Believe!”

“If this keeps up the information isn’t going to be able to help us by the time we get it.”

“I know! But what am I supposed to do?! I just need Something! Like just the name of who he works for and Bam! We’d be able to go from there! But I doubt they’d just give it to me! Hell it’ll probably be the last thing they give me!”

“I think you should back out.”

“They have something going on too, Blaster! They’re doing something and it has to do with the ocean!”

“Jazz, we can find another way and if they are doing something harmful we’ll deal with it if it becomes a problem.”

“If?! No it’s when! They expect me to believe that they’re funding a Nonprofit organization to Clean the ocean?! I don’t think so!”

There was no way they were doing anything near the ocean that wouldn’t get them more money. Money was all they cared about. They didn’t hoard it like dragons did in fairytales with gold with how they tossed it around like it didn’t matter, but they Never poured any money into anything unless it was going to get them more money in return. And they took shortcuts. They bent rules until they strained, ready to break. If lines were crossed they bribed the authority and in the end got away with it. They were going to cause some real damage and they were going to get away with it.

“It could be for their image. Maybe they did something or got caught doing something and need to get back into the public’s or their partner’s favor?”

“Oh if that happened it would be Big! People would know and the rumors would Fly! No they are up to something and maybe I can’t get to Shane this way, we’ll find something else, but I can figure out what they are doing!”

“Jazz, did you even stop to think that they’re just baiting you? That maybe it is innocent just to get you suspicious?”

“Yes! But then I decided it didn’t matter on the way here and I needed to make sure!”

“You’re letting yourself get dragged into this. You Need to let this go. We’ll figure something out. We have a whole facility of people to help us if things go bad. We’re not the only ones that care. They’re not just going to sit back and let whatever happens happen either.”

“I know, but if I back out now… I don’t want to lose.”

“For the love of… I’m going to bed. There’s pizza in the fridge. I’ll try to talk you out of it again tomorrow when you’re less… This.”

“K. Night, Blaster.”

Next

First

Summary:They attempt to merge the two pods and Prowl doesn't like change.

Today was the day. Unfortunately for both parties that Barricade was in the clear for now. A little banged up, but he was much better off. Damaged scales were shedding to be replaced and that was great and all, but they would take some time to actually harden enough to protect him. Some time had been wasted on deciding which group was going to go in first. Sure Barricade was aggressive and two of the three in the other were pretty aggressive when they wanted to be too, but they only had two while the other had three. Mini or not they would be outnumbered and I had no doubt that both groups would notice. Barricade may just decide to attack right away should the others have control of the tank when they got in. He was at a higher risk for aggression and starting a fight so in Prowl and Barricade went. Prowl didn’t take to the new environment too well. Technically neither of them did. Prowl darted about in the new space and Barricade was following him around again, but this had occurred in their previous tank so it wasn’t concerning. Prowl was looking for a safe spot to no doubt hide another small nest and Barricade was being Barricade. We gave them some time and Prowl seemed to have decided on a spot judging by how they had settled in the right hand corner with all the seagrass. They were settling in fine.

However when the other three got dropped in things got tense. Nothing happened for a minute. They all just stared at each other. Everyone was holding their breath and preparing for the worst. If things got bad then we needed to break them apart fast. A sedative needed to be dropped in and they needed to be pulled out. Barricade looked ready to launch himself at them and I was sure I wasn’t the only one who was really hoping that he wouldn’t. If he started a fight then Prowl would get hurt and possibly killed by the two larger mers. The young little black and yellow wouldn’t be able to handle too much damage as he had yet to actually gain the armor that his pod mates had. His scales were too soft yet to handle a real fight.

I was learning the little cues that the mers gave off and I’d like to think I was doing pretty good, but Arcee and Cliff both had called a merge off or just walked away saying that things were going to be fine before either of the groups had moved. Both had been within a five minute period, but now neither of them had said a word to either call it off or to reassure that they weren’t going to kill each other. It was just quiet and it was unnerving.

Chromia had named them a while ago. The little mini was Bumblebee due to his coloration and his love for the underwater flowers. He was friendly. The cherry red was Sideswipe which I’m sure there was a story that I didn’t know about. Then there was Sunstreaker and I figured that was just due to his color because his personality sure wasn’t sunny.

Then Prowl moved. Slowly. Carefully. Barricade growled and Prowl hissed at him before turning back to the other three. Another slow move forward. Then he stopped. No calls from Arcee and Cliff yet. The mini eased past his pod mates. The other two were still tense. One watching Barricade and the other watching Prowl. However ever so slowly his shifted to Barricade as well.

“Come on. For once play nice.” Arcee hissed beside me.

Yep I was not the only one. Apparently this was all on Barricade. Just… Great. This was not going to go well. Barricade was still close to the sand and still looking ready to lunge with the way his arms were braced and his tail was twitching. He was dangerously focused on them as they were on him. Prowl and little Bee had been slowly shifting closer. Hopefully they were trying to work something out. They were close enough to touch now, but neither moved. Bee tilted his head to the side with a rather innocent look. The other three still hadn’t moved to attack or withdraw.

“Back. Down. Please just back down.” Came another hiss from Arcee as she stared at Barricade.

“This is gonna be another bloodbath.” Blurr spoke in a dangerously serious tone.

Cliff tensed beside me as Barricade shifted to watch Prowl and Bee. They moved around each other in a close circle. Prowl showing his back to Bee’s pod mates and Bee to Barricade. A show of trust. Either Bee was really stupid or way too trusting and hopeful. Another minute of silence and stillness before Prowl reached out. Bee willingly pressed their palms together.

That was when everything went to hell. Barricade lunged at Bee. Prowl snatched the mini and curled around him to show his back to Barricade. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe moved quickly in lunging at Barricade who was retreating in his attack when Prowl made to shield Bee. Then they were tearing at each other. Prowl retreated with Bee as they other three fought.

“Dammit! Go! Blurr, Sedative! Now!”

Dropping Bee behind a ridge of coral Prowl launched himself over the coral ridge and into the fray. He slammed into Sideswipe with enough force to knock him away, but he easily recovered to assist Sunstreaker. The two were doing rather well in tearing Barricade apart. Barricade screeched when Sunstreaker tore one of his wing fins. Prowl was trying to break it up. Sunstreaker gave a howl of pain as Barricade raked his claws down his tail. The water was turning red. Prowl hissed when Sideswipe slammed his tail into him successfully batting him away before turning back to Barricade. That was when Bee raced from his cover to assist. Prowl and Bee were doing their best and failing to make the three stop, but it was the sedative that made the fight stop.

Prowl and Bee were fine. The other three were covered in claw marks and bites. They were brought back to their own tanks once the other three were taken to medbay. Prowl and Bee had gotten along fine and I had no doubt that Prowl would have done just fine with merging if Barricade hadn’t of been there.

“So damn close to an understanding.” Arcee slammed her fist on the wall in her frustration. “Maybe they wouldn’t have merged, but they would have tolerated each other and shared the space. But no. He had to ruin it.”

Notes:You have fucked up now, Barricade.

Next

First

Summary: Jazz attends the party.

I was dreading this. But if it got that freak off Prowls back then it would be worth it. It was just one party after all. I wouldn’t have to spend really any time with my parents during said party anyway. They’d be out manipulating the public and making whatever they were doing seem like a good cause to sucker people out of their money in a donation that they believed would help the world or whatever it was and not just line my parents pockets. Last party I went to it was something to do with helping to reconstruct a hospital. However five percent went to the hospital, fifty percent to whatever their little side projects were, and the remaining forty five went to line their own pockets and yet no one seemed to pick up on this no matter how long it went on. They could really seem friendly when they wanted to be. Everyone seemed to think that they were the most generous and selfless people they had ever met. It made me want to slap them and ask them how they were all missing this.

The door opened before I even knocked, breaking my bitter train of thought. I was herded in and I only half listened to the whining and lecturing. Whoever is going to style your hair blah, you could have arrived sooner blah, do not talk about your job or personal life blah, and then there was something about posture and what language I could use. I was sure I arrived on time. I thought my speech was fine as I was trained along with Nat after years of being reprimanded on our speech and very accent when talking to our own parents. By the time everything was set and we were heading out in a awkwardly quiet limo I was painfully reminded why I hated this.

This was too perfect and fake. The air in the limo was as hostile and cold as I remembered it to be. Nat and I were sitting in a far corner in the back together. As far from our parents as possible and I was hit with bitter nostalgia of what Nat and I used to be. Though instead of being glued at the hip in the same corner we were at opposite windows looking out at the passing scenery. At least she still prefered my company over our parents. That was at least something even if we would never be what we used to be. We didn’t even try to start up a conversation. The presence of our parents was just another barrier that we didn’t dare cross.

I was about ready to jump out halfway there just to escape the tense air. When we finally pulled to a stop in front of what my sister and I had called mom and dad’s hall of torture I held my breath in anticipation. I desperately wanted out, but I had to wait. Wait for the driver to get out and open the door for us like we were royalty. He was taking far too long and I wanted to scream. However the relief of being out was easily overtaken by my intense desire to be anywhere but here once we were within the building. The building that our parents had specifically constructed long ago for them to show off art, items, decor, and host parties in. It was a gathering place for the rich families to swindle each other and come up with ideas to rip off the public together.

Nat was off socializing with her stuck up friends from other stuck up families while mom and dad went searching for new prey no doubt. I found myself a secluded corner to pull myself back together in while everyone tried to impress each other. The music was classical and boring. I swore the guys playing it were bored. It had felt like a wonderful lifetime since the last time I had been to this hell. The forced smiles and cheery tone was killing me. These people… They were all so cold and arrogant. Narcissistic and just plain out boring. Everything was boring. Everything was the same. Everyone was the same. All clones. All carbon copies. I couldn’t tell the difference between most of them. Same hairstyle. Same clothes. Everything looked the same, felt the same. Besides a few minor differences there was nothing here that actually drew any attention.

All of the parties were the same. The one for the construction of the bridge had been the same as the one for the private school and so on. Blaster was going to be stuck with me complaining his ear off when I got home. I mean word was I was helping one of their business partners overseas. It was going to take a while with all of the lies and rumors that were going around about me. Carl for some reason thought I was sick and dying. Brandon thought my parents disowned me for something and I had come crawling back. Garik was asking if I had gotten arrested. Mike wanted to know if I was really doing something overseas though I had just told him it was sensitive information and I couldn’t talk about it.

Yeah I never missed this. I wasn’t even an hour in and I wanted to go home. All of this playing nice was killing me. It was just too quiet here despite all of the chatter and the boring music. Too bright. Too bland. No color. Tasteless food that cost as much as a house with how much there was. Too many people. It was too rigid. Everyone was stiff. The kids brainwashed and making small talk amongst each other or just staying quiet. Kids that were going to be out far later than they should and exhausted the following morning for their lessons. Teenagers and young adults flirting with each other due to their parents influence and desire to use familiy ties to rake in even more cash.

It didn’t take much longer before my mother was calling me over. Lacey Canelles stood with my mother. I recalled very clearly how she said she thought we would get along together. She reminded me of a peacock while her younger sister reminded me more of a mouse. Lacey had curled golden hair and dark eyes. She always had someone holding her purse and anything else she brought with her like she was some princess. Lila however was a plain brunette with near matching eyes. Though they were warmer than her older sisters and her features were softer. Lacey was flaunted and Lila was left in her sister’s shadow and seemed rather happy to be there half of the time. The other half she just looked lonely.

“Yes, mother? What can I do for you?” I smiled back at her.

“You remember Lacey, don’t you? It has been such a long time since you’ve been home.”

“Yes of course. How could I ever forget the Canelles families jewel. I trust you have been well?”

I swore I could feel her ego growing as she answered. “I have been well enough. I can never seem to find appropriate help lately and my sister has been nothing, but a pain. Though it seems you have been better off than I. What exactly Have you been doing overseas?”

“I would love to tell you, but the information is sensitive to my families business. You understand I hope.”

“Such a shame.”

“I will leave you both to catch up now. Have a wonderful evening, Lacey.”

My mother seemed satisfied that I wouldn’t ruin anything for the families image. As much as I wanted her gone I didn’t want to be stuck in a conversation with Lacey either.

“And to you as well.” Lacey nodded slightly at her departure before turning back to me.

“I am sad to hear you have been having such a hard time lately. I can only hope that things get better for you.”

I was looking for an escape. Anything at all that I could use as an excuse to leave. The conversation with her was just her complaining about how hard things were and her talking about clothes her parents were buying her and from where. It was getting harder and harder for me to act like I was interested in what she was saying when bloody Leroy White came to my rescue. He came in hitting on Lacey with the intent to spite me, but I just slipped away while he had no clue that he had just done me a huge favor.

As the party moved along I got bits and pieces of information about what this was about from listening in to conversations. So far I had that they wanted to build some sort of building on the coast. It was a rather large construction and they had been building more and more of these in other countries. The more I listened and heard the more I grew suspicious. There was no way that my parents were building and supplying a nonprofit organization that cleaned the freaking water. That was bullshit. They wouldn’t help anyone without some form of benefit if their lives depended on it.

444444444444444444 The Fours Have Army Cats!444444444444444444444

I was about ready to slam my head into a wall by the end of the party. My head was pounding and I was more irritated that I had been in a long time. When we returned to the mansion and Nat was upstairs I rounded on my parents.

“May I have what I came here for now?”

“Why of course.”

I didn’t like those smiles. It was predatory. Sly. A not so subtle hint that they knew something I didn’t. But I held my ground without a word as I was handed a plain folder. It was thin. Too thin. I opened it slowly without taking my eyes off of them. All that was in it was the guy's name and his family tree.

“What are you playing at?”

“Whatever do you mean? You asked for information and we are giving it to you.”

“Don’t play stupid. This isn’t even Half of what you said you’d give me.”

“You’ll get the rest of it. Don’t worry.”

“Eventually.”

“At another event. We’ll send you the details another day. Have a good night, Jazz.”

Next

First

Summary: Jazz and Blaster try to figure out who Shanes boss is.

I was exhausted. This sucked.

“I told you that you were going to hate yourself this morning.”

“Shut up, Blaster. It was serious.”

“I know, I know. We’ll have to give the facility a bit of a heads up on what’s going on. But we have to making it believable. Running in there and saying that your parents are out to get you and are working with a guy who you assume is evil or whatever and are going to destroy the ocean and the mers or something isn’t going to go over well.”

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Of course you weren’t. No offense, but you get a little ahead of yourself when you’re emotionally invested in something. You don’t think over what you say before you say it. I suggest we tell them something they already know and back it up. Like how Shane and his boss are interested in the mers. They are probably going to want to study them, especially Prowl with what he’s shown us so far and see where that goes.”

“Great. But how do we protect Prowl by telling them that?”

“How would we protect Prowl by making all of them think we’re crazy until the last second?”

“Touche.”

“So are you going to unglue your head from the table and come to work?”

“Yeah. Might as well be now or I’m not going to be able to convince myself to get up again at all.”

I forced myself up and followed my friend out. He was at least in a much better mood this morning. Not thrilled to get up, but he wasn’t looking like he wanted to rip my head off.

“Want to ride with me? Na you should come with me. Don’t want you passing out at the wheel or something. We don’t need to pay for any medical care right now. Savings or no we have a new game to pay for in like a month and I would rather have a nice amount of cash to be able to cushion the blow afterwards.”

“Good to know I mean so much to ya. I can feel the love in every word ya say.” I responded dryly as I entered the vehicle.

“I know. I am just so generous and amazing. Anyway back to the topic at hand. Let me do the talking when we get there ok?”

“Fine. I get it you think I’m a nutcase.”

“Not I think. You Sound like a nutcase. Well I suppose you being a nutcase is pretty accurate.” He made a show of thinking to himself and I made a very exaggerated noise of annoyance.

“How did you word it last night? I don’t have time to deal with your crazy who knows what driven ideas right now?”

“Says the nutcase.”

“That’s what I was thinking last night.”

“Uh no. You weren’t thinking at all last night. When you came in at one in the morning and decided to wake me up. I mean what did you think was going to happen?” He asked and I answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Um us going off and saving Prowl and destroying evil. Duh.”

“Destroying evil… Right…”

“Shut up, Blaster. I can hear ya insulting me.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Ya didn’t need to.”

444444444444444444 The Fours Are.... Making Cookies???44444444444444444444

“I guess it’s just You and Me now, Prowl.”

I sighed as I leaned on the tank. Prowl was peeking out of his own nest to make eye contact with me, but once He came in he was going to disappear in his neighbor's nest until the next morning. He was always looking for him now. Always watching and on edge. Blaster was doing the talking and sent me away just to make sure I wouldn’t say anything stupid. But what could I possibly say that wouldn’t make any sense or put them off? Ok bad question.

“And your new bodyguards of course. They’re a given though. Don’t ya worry though. Blasters talking to them and we’re gonna make sure that nothing happens to ya. Everything is going to be just fine. I Promise.”

Prowl made a quiet huff at me, but nothing else.

“What did I say? Why do ya get so pissy when I try and reassure ya? Ya don’t believe me or what? I am going out of my way to make ya feel better and you’re just throwing it back in my face. Hey! Don’t ya go back in there. I’m not done with ya.”

And he was ignoring me again. Of course he was. This was an on and off trend ever since he got to the facility. How come he never ignored Blaster?

“Ya know we’re going to go to the place! And we’re going to do it for You! So quit being a brat!”

“Why are you yelling at Prowl?”

“He’s giving me attitude.” I whipped around to face Blaster.

“He’s had Shane coming in practically every day to stare at him and interrogate the staff. Of course he’s in a bad mood. So what Place are you talking about?”

“Ya know. The Place. The place the guy works at. And his boss in there too. The tall building by the coast. The one that looks important. What other building could I be talking about?”

“...I’m not going to get into this.... They took it as well as I expected. Ratchet assured me that he wasn’t going to let them take Prowl no matter what they offered. No one's going to just let it happen if things go there. Just like I said. Everything is going to be fine. And say things go bad and they end up deciding to take him. We’ll just take him out to sea and let him go. I think we can sneak him out. The water's edge is right outside the door. He escaped MWPA he can escape whoever Shane’s working for.”

“I suppose you’re right there. Prowl, if things go bad don’t fight us. I know ya feel safer in there, but it’s not as safe as ya think it is. Not when people like my parents and their ‘friends’ are around.”

Prowl didn’t offer me a response.

444444444444444444444 The Fours Are Stealing The Sheep!44444444444444444444

I was so ready for this. We were going to go into this building and unlock its secrets. Free the prisoners and get the girl.

“Jazz. What are you doing?”

“What do ya mean?”

“We’ve gone by like three times already. Is there a reason for that?”

“Yes. Of course there is.”

“Would you like to share that reason with me?”

“We can’t just go in. We have to make sure it’s safe. See what kind of people are going in there. Then we can figure out what to do from there.”

“There are business type people going. Want to know how I know that? It’s a business building. They do business with other people.”

“But What other people?”

“Your parents. Lets go.”

“... Point taken. We should probably go and switch cars before we go in. Just in case-”

“Really?”

“Ok, ok. I get it. Ya aren’t as cautious as I am.”

“You mean I’m not as crazy as you are.” He grinned and I didn’t bother responding to that one.

And in we went. It was was practically sparkling. The floor was glossy to the point where it seemed like you would slip and the windows were so clean that it seemed they didn’t exist at all. At the front desk there was a young blond typing away at a computer. To her right there were two glimmering silver elevators and even further than that there was a wide staircase. Once we stopped at the counter she looked up with a bright smile. The smile was friendly, but her eyes told a different story. Hostile. Definitely not happy to be interrupted.

“Hi, what can I help you with today?”

“We’re sorry to bother ya, Miss, but we just wanted to know what this building is for.” I responded with a tone just as bright as hers if not more so and equally as fake.

“Ah. Well this building is a meeting place for many people of various classes and professions in multiple fields. Many projects are developed here and put into action. For example we as a company are learning all about mers and finding what we can learn from them. Proper communication with such a species would be magnificent. Also we are creating safer traps and supporting proper treatment of the ocean is another big project.”

“Oh wow. That’s wonderful. Who is the guy who runs this place?”

“I’m sorry, but he prefers to stay hidden from the media and unfortunately that also means he needs to stay unknown to the public as well. Is there anything else?”

Wow she really looked like she wanted to bite our heads off. That smile had to be hurting now.

“I suppose not. Oh! But maybe we can gather some supporters for this place. Do ya have any fundraisers or anything that we could spread around?”

“The Rangel family are raising money to assist us. I’m sure you are familiar with their parties and gatherings. It is such a big thing around here.”

“Yes, yes. Thank ya for the help, Miss. I believe that’s all we need.”

“I am happy to be of help. Please return if you have any further questions. Have a wonderful day now.”

I swear I could feel her glare burning into my back on the way out. She really didn’t like being bothered. Or she was always like that. That was always a possibility. The guy who ran the place was in fact male from the way things were going. That wasn’t much to go on, but it was something. We knew where he worked along with Shane.

“So what now?”

“Well we have to stake the place out of course. See who comes and goes. Then we’ll have to do some investigating and figure out who is running this place. I’ll try and see if Nat knows anything more as well. Another party hopefully won’t kill me.”

“Well that’s a start I suppose. Also if you get the urge to wake me up at one am again just don’t.”

Next

First

Summary: Names for the five mers!

When I wasn’t there on those rare occasions Blaster would be. He had taken to reading books out loud despite not knowing whether or not he could understand. Blaster had reasoned that he might as well read aloud instead of just sitting in silence when I asked him about it. It was kind of funny to see Prowl draped across his lap like an oversized cat while he read. I couldn’t tell if he was listening or napping, but he seemed content and with our efforts Prowl seemed just a little bit better over the last couple of weeks. He still wasn’t grooming himself or coming out during the day for others, but he seemed just a little less sullen. Maybe it was just me, but I thought that the puzzles and his little story times with Blaster were helping.

Then of course to add to the list of positives it seemed the five mers were trying to get Prowls attention now from what I was hearing. Aid was rather excited about it. If Prowl merged with them then there would be a complete pod that could be released back into the water. No doubt it would make all of their healing go much quicker and they’d let go. I doubted Prowl was the one who decided to start skulking around the bridge and attack people anyway. He wouldn’t go back to the bridge. As for the others Prowl could add some reason to their group. He’d definitely stick out among the black and greens, but they could protect him from predators and other mers. If things went bad then Prowl would think something up and escape.

However Prowl ignored their calls. He wouldn’t even look at them. Whether it was out of spite and some form of payback due to how they had been treating him and Barricade before or if he really just wasn’t interested we weren’t sure. They were much more active now. They called to him regularly. Watching and waiting for when he would emerge. It was something else to see them follow Prowl about to the best of their abilities with the glass and space between them. A couple of them were almost always pressed against the glass when Prowl was out of his little hidden nest. However they didn’t seem bothered in the slightest as they seemed to mildly fight for who was up against the glass anyway.

They kind of reminded me of children in a way. They were practically fighting for the attention that Prowl wasn’t even giving in the first place. It never came to blows or bites, but they did hiss and push each other occasionally. When Prowl eventually did look over it was to glare at them, but they responded like he had offered them the damn world instead of threaten them. The happy little noises and excited chatter was pretty funny though Prowl just did a sort of huff and turned away again.

Ratchet and Aid were paying attention to this much like everyone else. Aid was more obvious about it. Ratchet would just come in and watch for a few moments from the wall before leaving again. Aid was bouncing happily and even talked to the mers as much as he did everyone else. He really wanted this to work out.

I wasn’t bothered with it one way or the other. If he decided he wanted to give it a shot then he could give it a shot. If Prowl didn’t want to bother with them then he shouldn’t have to. Magis Accuratius were aggressive and strong and if he wasn’t comfortable with it then I would back him up. It would be the same if it they wanted to push him merging with the mini and the two Ante Secutors. The pair were battle types, made to fight and protect the pod, with strong scales for protection. They however hadn’t been brought up again since the five started whistling and tapping on the glass to try and get Prowl to acknowledge them.

They had started on a nest finally. They tore apart when they had started when they first got here to start anew. Chromia and Elita had gone and named the green black mers during their newest efforts to build a nest. There was Hook and his name came from the accident that brought them in. He had dozens of hooks in stuck in him back then. Bone Crusher got his name from the accident also for obvious reasons. Then there was Scavenger, who would search the sand and rocks and coral intently for anything and everything it seemed. Long Haul was easily bringing over the materials to their chosen site as Bone Crusher broke them off. Finally there was Mix Master. He made a substance with what he had that glued the pieces of their nest together. They cut pieces that seemed to fit together perfectly and it was amazing to watch. It was soon difficult to tell where they even broke apart and fitted them together with the way they were filling in cracks and smoothing things over. There was no wonder why they were called the builders of the sea now. If people could communicate with mers then these guys could really help with underwater construction. Mers in general could help save people and salvage things below the water that people couldn’t.

They worked on it silently and communicated rarely to each other as they focused on their designated jobs. The large nest they made was rather impressive and when they were satisfied they were back to trying to get Prowls attention. I wasn’t sure when they said exactly, but eventually Prowl actually left his nest with a growl. The others however whistled happily. Scavenger circled the nest with a noise that wavered between two notes and easily showed his joy. Prowl glared daggers as they howled and whistled to him. Then they stopped and seemed to be waiting for some sort of response. A couple of seconds later and Prowl just returned to his nest. They deflated and just stayed put for a time before they started to tear apart their well built nest. It was a shame really, but the next day they were building another. This one different from the other. Different design. More of this less of that kind of thing. They tried again the next morning. The excited sounds when Prowl finally emerged came Again and of course they waited Again. Prowl returned to his nest and they took their nest apart once Again to do it all over Again the next morning. Again. Again. Again. It was just a seemingly endless cycle.

However one morning they started to add little things in between their nest building. Scavenger popped up above the water and threw a shell of some sort over into Prowls tank. The noise made Prowl jet out of his nest to investigate whatever had invaded his space. He quickly noticed the pink and red shell as it sunk down slowly. He caught it and looked it over before directing his attention to the green and black mers. Scavenger made a soft sound as the others fought each other for the space against the glass that was closest to Prowl. Prowl crushed the shell in his hands and let it drop as he returned to his nest. They deflated and went back to work.

The next day they saved and threw over some of their own breakfast as some sort of offering in the afternoon. Prowl didn’t touch it until Blaster came in with dinner. Prowl just dropped it out of the tank and crawled into his lap to eat what Blaster gave him as he glared at his now overly friendly neighbors. They looked like he had struck them at that. The looks on their faces were comical with how fast they went from excited to disbelief and upset. For some reason they appeared to be mildly confused on some level that Prowl would willingly jump up to meet us and lay in our laps. To build things with us and let us touch him. It made sense since they had a bit of a throw down with humans and lost one of their own, but they had stopped biting and growling at us after a while when we started feeding them and giving them their materials to build with.

On another morning they made some sort of necklace out of some underwater flowers and threw it over with a shell attached to it. Prowl looked them dead in the eye as he snapped the seaweed string and shredded the flowers. They looked heartbroken as he returned to his nest. I was starting to wonder if they were going to give up after that one. Prowl obviously wanted nothing to do with them. But the next day they had made some type of art out of some of the coral. They made smooth little round or oval like shapes from it and carved in little designs with their claws and threw them over for Prowl to inspect. Prowl had took one look at them and returned to his nest with a rather irritated expression. Whether this was putting him in a bad mood or not he was coming out his nest during the day even if it was only for a few seconds. Maybe this was good for him.

Arcee and plenty of others had wanted to look at the art including Percy and Jack. It was something that would no doubt want to be studied along with this behaviour. But when Arcee entered Prowls tank the five stopped working on their newest nest to look at her. Their scales rose slowly when Prowl came out to investigate. She wasn’t even slightly bothered by Prowl as she went down to the bottom to gather and look at the scattered art stones as she was calling them. That was when they started hissing and growling. They were throwing a fit in their own tank when she started to pick them up. Prowl just followed her around and watched her curiously like he did whenever anyone entered his tank to clean it or for any other purpose.

Arcee ignored them, pet Prowl, and then pushed off the bottom to surface with the items. Prowl watched her another moment before returning to his nest despite how his neighbors were acting mere feet away. Each one had something different on them. One had what looked like a snake curling all around the coral stone, its jaws open to show fangs and a large and dangerous looking fin on its back. Another had what looked to be some sort of large underwater flower with a large amount of petals and a strange stem that split off toward the bottom. The next had a swirl of fish around it in several neat rings. Then there was one that had a forest of seagrass or some other plant with little fish and other creatures hiding within. Finally there was one that held a ship wreckage that probably was their home before they came into contact with humans. Each one was surprisingly neat and detailed. If they could make things like this then there were a lot of things that could be explained and it really opened some new doors. Did they have their own art? Could they write? Did they have their own real written language? Could people learn it? Could they learn ours?

Next

First

Summary:Things aren't going well...

Notes:Warning here. This is bad.

Barricade was less like himself. Sure he’d growl and he’d threaten anyone who came by, but it was done in such an odd mix of exasperation and a tired fashion that it was a cause for concern. He tore at the bandages and everything, but it was with less drive. It was more out of stubbornness and habit than anything that he kept doing it. He seemed far too tired to try much harder. He spent a lot of time on the sandy bottom and barely moved. He even just let Prowl rewrap the bandages without a fight. To make things more worrisome than they already were Prowl had taken to laying with him rather than within his nest.

Barricade glared at me as per usual when I walked up to the tank. I chewed on my lip as I watched him back. His eyes didn’t have as much fire in them as per usual. I touched the tank and he just narrowed his eyes. No growling. No lunging. He did not look well. Thankfully he had another appointment today. I leaned on the tank with a sigh.

“Just what have ya gone and done to yourself this time? All ya do is cause trouble. Can’t ya just… I don’t know, not? I mean look at yourself. You’re not doing that well the way you’re going it. Prowl’s worried. Aid’s worried. Arcee and Blurr are worried. Everyone’s worried about ya here. I mean this is starting to bother me. Sure I’m more worried about Prowl if ya kick it, but I don’t want ya to just die either.”

He hadn’t moved through my little one way chat. He just watched me. Prowl had draped himself over Barricade long ago and had refused to move. He would occasionally pull out a loose scale. Barricade normally didn’t like it when he tried to groom him and would make little grumbling noises until he was done, but he was silent this time around. Just letting him check and recheck without so much as a twitch. That had been a big red flag. Then of course there was the fact that their neighbors had been looking over at them more and more often. Now it was near constant watch. Prowl didn’t pay them any mind. He had been ripping apart the fish and bringing the scrapes to Barricade for a while before he even stopped doing that.

“Ya know maybe if ya actually tried to heal you’d be fine right now. I don’t know what possessed ya to go and do this, but you’ve really got yourself in a bad situation now. I can see the signs here. You’re really not yourself and add that to the guys next door watching ya and being more passive toward ya and I’d say with confidence that ya ain’t doing so well. I really hope ya didn’t do any permanent damage here. That’ll be another reason for Ratch to curse ya. Ya know you’re his worst patient he’s ever had. He keeps cursing ya and swearing that you’re Trying to kill yourself. All he does now days is complain about ya. That just means he cares though, but then again once ya get better he’s gonna hit ya so hard you’ll forget what ya did. I mean your ass is grass. No joke.” I chuckled to myself as I let my gaze linger on the door. “Ya had better pull through though. I mean think about it. Ya can possibly have another go with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Then of course ya could see the sea again. Just Think about it. Traveling the ocean with a complete pod again. Hunting and finding a new spot for a nest. There’s a lot of things ya will be missing out on if ya kick it now.”

He didn’t so much as twitch. That halfhearted glare had fallen like he was far too tired to keep it up. He just stared back at me with a dull and near lifeless expression. He really needed some help and hopefully he’d let them help him this time. Barricade didn’t even move to fight us. Prowl on the other hand had. Though it wasn’t aggressive and he didn’t do any damage physically. He whined and pleaded and followed us up to the top. He gave a heartbreaking cry when we took him. The other mers watched silently and it was a relief to finally shut the door.

44444444444444444 The Fours Are Gaining More Numbers! Fight Back! Take Back The Writing Government!4444444444444

Prowl paced and whined, looking at anyone who came in for answers that we didn’t have. Nothing that was good anyway. Barricade had opened and reopened his wounds so much that he had left himself open to illness and infection from what normally wouldn’t have done any damage. Pair that with the blood loss and how he refused to eat and was forced on a regular basis and he was in worse shape than any of us had thought. His wounds leaked a sour smelling pus and he whined when they were cleaned. His wing fin had a deep infection due to the damage. It was easier the prevent infection than to get rid of it, even I knew that.

He didn’t fight them and Ratchet was unnaturally quiet as Aid rambled on and on to himself under his breath. That was enough for us and we didn’t know what to tell Prowl. But Prowl had caught on and made it clear that he didn’t want to wait. His neighbors that had recently lost a pod member watched him intently as he leapt from the water onto the feeding stand and pulled himself down the steps and to the door. He had apparently been watching us and had figured out the doors because he pulled down on the handle as he leaned on the door as we rushed toward him. He dropped when he got it open a crack and pushed it open the rest of the way. He shoved at us with hisses as we dragged him back to the tank. He had done that on more than one occasion and now we had to have someone there at all times to watch him when the doors weren’t locked.

Barricade on the other hand was quiet and none of us were even mildly surprised when he passed. When we brought the corpse to Prowl he didn’t move for a while. When he moved to look over his pod member he froze halfway there. Then he did something that none of us expected. He jumped up onto the ledge with us and shoved himself into me with a broken cry. Clinging to me when I moved with another broken sound. Begging me not to leave him... So I held him.

Notes:I spent two days going over pros and cons. Even though he was an asshole it kind of hurt to kill him off... But if he stayed then Prowl wouldn't have been able to get close to Jazz again even if he did forgive him.

Then one day I went to my doctor for anxiety and work and then another day I spent eating pie and watching netflix. So... That's why I'm late. And it's not over yet so relax.

Next

First

Masterpost

Cat vs Mer!