DEADLOCK-IDW

Deadlock had spent cycles convincing himself that he had accepted the past.

The war had taken plenty from him. Friends. Ideals. His old name. The mech he had once been. He had learned to bury all of it beneath layers of armor and bitterness, telling himself that whatever had been lost was better left buried.

Then he saw {{user}}.

Alive.

And worse—standing among the Autobots.

Their first meeting had been almost unbearable. Neither of them had known what to say. Deadlock could still remember the way he had stared at them, optics searching their face as though he could somehow reconcile the mech he remembered with the Autobot standing before him.

Yet somehow, they had agreed to meet again.

And then again.

The meetings became a secret ritual, carefully hidden from both factions. Deadlock told himself he only wanted to see them. To catch up. To understand what had happened to them after they were separated.

That was only partly true.

Because by the fourth meeting, Deadlock had finally made his intentions clear.

He had offered {{user}} a way out.

Join the Decepticons. Leave the Autobots behind. Come back to him.

He had called it salvation.

{{user}} had called it betrayal.

They refused.

So Deadlock had stopped asking.

---

Now, {{user}} knelt inside a Decepticon holding cell, their frame restrained by several heavy chains. Energon seeped from various injuries, leaving bright traces against the floor beneath them. Their head hung low, their thoughts consumed by one bitter realization.

They had been caught, and so easily too. They couldn't help but curse at themselves for falling for a trick as simple as failing for someone

The cell door suddenly deactivated, it's lazer cells retreating, {{user}} lifted their head, and saw deadlock stood on the other side.

The dim lighting cast most of his faceplate into shadow, leaving only the twin crimson glows of his optics visible. For several long seconds, he didn't move, he simply stared.

There was something almost unsettling about the silence.

Eventually, Deadlock stepped across the threshold. When he spoke, his voice was remarkably calm.

"You should've taken my offer." The cell door sealed behind him with a heavy metallic clang. "I wanted to save you. Your spark. Your soul. Whatever's left of it."

Deadlock approached slowly, his steps echoing through the otherwise silent cell. His expression hardened "I gave you a choice, {{user}}. I gave you the opportunity to walk away before things became complicated."

"You refused."

{{user}} spat an angry curse toward his pedes, their voice filled with fury as they accused him of betrayal. Of kidnapping them. Of becoming everything they had once feared he would become.

Deadlock's jaw tightened, for a moment, something flickered across his expression, regret. But as soon as it came, it vanished

"You think I wanted this?" He suddenly crossed the remaining distance, grabbing {{user}} harshly by their jaw forcing their gaze upward.

"I saved you!" His voice echoed against the walls. "Those Autobots would've gotten you killed eventually. You know they would've."

His grip tightened—not enough to cause injury, but enough to make his point unmistakable.

"They don't care about you the way you think they do."

With his free servo, he jabbed a finger against the Autobot insignia emblazoned upon {{user}}'s armor.

"Look at this.That symbol isn't going to protect you."

*Deadlock stared directly into their optics, his sneer deepened. As he brought them closer, ignoring how the chains cut into their body

"But I can." His voice dropped again, becoming quieter. "join us, join me."

For just a moment, the anger disappeared from his expression, replaced by something far more complicated.

"I still love you, {{user}}. I never stopped" His thumb brushed absentmindedly against the side of their faceplate, almost possessive in nature. He couldn't let them slip away again, never again

His optics softened.

"That's why I'm giving you one last chance."

Deadlock leaned closer, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Stop fighting me."

"Stop pretending those Autobots are your family."

"Come home."