An I.O.U

Chapter 1

Facedown in a mess of sheets lay the Combaticon Vortex, the rotary content to sleep away the afternoon. At least he would have been had a certain annoyance not interrupted his recharge with his obnoxious vocalizer.

"Come on Texy', you know what today is! I told you I have a very important client that's paying good cred to see you work it tonight"! Swindle said with a yank of the tangled blankets off the berth, watching his Gestaltmate hit the floor with an unpleasant groan. Vortex could be annoyed all he wanted, time was cred and cred was everything to the con artist.

Snarling under his breath, Vortex slowly pulled his body up into a sitting position, his rotors flexing to fold into his sides with the end of the grey faded sheet dropping off to hit the floor. " I ain't slow, I already knew and I was planning on showing up late".

Swindle narrowed his purple optics with a servo slapping against his hip strut. "Late means I lose out on cred, which means you owe me more. So get your canister moving".

If it wasn't for that dreaded I.O.U that the Interrogator had taken out, he would have never been in such a predicament. Rolling a snarl off his glossa, Vortex slowly rose to his pedes, taking his time to irritate the rushing smaller mech further. " Whatever, I dont care about any of that slag. The only reason I'm even doin' it is for my own amusement". He said with a grumble, rubbing his kinked neck with his taloned servo in boredom. Swindle's idea of fun was nothing like Vortex's and it showed. The smaller mech got off on highway robbery, while the low flying aerial needed to sate his constant nag to make someone beg for his mercy. He was a true Psychopath after all, not capable of anything but heinous murder and torture so vile that it made the steel veterans of each faction purge their tanks.

Swindle grew irritated but he took a calming exhale to cool off his vents with his arms folded neatly across his chassis. It was Vortex's job to get under one's clear coat and he did a bang-up job at finding every one of someone's last nerve. However, two could play at this game, and besides Swindle had already won. He had a special premiere booked at one of the hottest gigs in town, an Alpha Caste club where they paid quadra numbers for some high-end exotic dancers. Rumor had already gotten out that a certain Decepticon criminal was going to be making a showing and a royal crowd like that got off on being up close and personal with danger. It was the perfect setup for the Combaticon swindler to rake in the goods with little to no effort on his end. "I bet you're going to overload with all this *self-amusement* that you've got planned", Swindle openly mocked with his digits making the quotation marks at his Gestaltmate who now stood in front of him with a toothy sneer.

" Nah, whatever your twisted processor conjured can't be good enough ta keep me entertained for more than a mega-cycle". Vortex snapped back, his lip curled to show his sharp denta.

"Sure, whatever you say sweetness. Just get your aft dressed and let's go. I put your outfit in the cleansing rack for you, try not to tear it". Swindle said with an almost purr, turning on his heels to strut back towards the open sliding door. " And yes you have to wear everything". He called out over his shoulder, not bothering to give the Heliformer a chance to bark back at him.

Vortex blinked with a scowl scrunching upon his facial features. Just what was he supposed to wear that Swindle knew he was going to protest against? "Tch", he snorted out to make his way to the separate shower room. An automatic sensor detected his presence to power up the room and start up the water heater. Dark pink steam hissed from the showerhead, pelting the granite flooring to leave mini puddles forming in the flatter parts. Red optics surveyed the room with disinterest until he spotted it. There it was laid out for him on the counter, sparkling with bedazzled jewels that reflected the overhead lighting.

" What"?! Vortex spat out going up to the pink monstrosity that was a half shirt that barely went past his pierced grey nipples, short shorts that would give him one hell of a cramp to his valve, and it just got worse! "You've gotta be yankin' my crankcase! There's no way in Kaon that I'd wear this! Frag you Swindle, ya couldn't even pick a color that matched"?! Optic lid twitching, the rotary threw the outfit into the sink picking up the rhinestone collar in the process, the band bedazzled to spell 'Glitch'. This I.O.U went beyond any morals, but the rotary didn't complain any further. Frag it, he'd rock that glitter two-piece, he'd make it look so good that poor Swindle wouldn't gain any satisfaction in his pathetically selected torture scheme.