Whee. Another fic. I have never hated my brain so much. Riella and Melody (mentioned here, appearing later) belong to me; the rest belong to Hasbro. This takes place on Cybertron before Riella and Prowl had kids.

Warnings for this chapter: Clinical descriptions of severe injuries. Riella's "Spock-speak" (if that annoys you). She's on duty, so she talks like that. She'll relax later. I think. ;)

Diabolus Ex Machina

I Am the Scout Commander

Riella tapped her fingers together, staring at the small mech standing in front of her. "Please explain exactly what you saw, Rattletrap."

"Okay, but why do I hafta do it twice?" Rattletrap stared right back at her, his expression a bit too admiring for her tastes.

Riella arched an optic ridge. "Twice?"

"Yeah, once ta ya an' once ta the scout commander."

The technorganic sighed internally. "I am the scout commander. Now please explain."

"Right. Ya gotta be kidding." The streetwise mech smirked. "Pretty femme like ya? Everybody knows why your type gets into the military."

Riella almost growled, but managed to hold it back. She removed her ID card from her subspace and held it out. "Special Operations, Division 3 commander. Satisfied?"

"Whatever ya say." Rattletrap was still smirking, obviously not convinced of her effectiveness. "So, I was jus' outside Iacon, walkin' around, ya know."

"Yes." Riella suspected he meant something else, but chose not to ask. She really did not want to know. "Carry on."

"Well, I was jus' walkin' past, an' I saw this mech, kinda stumblin' around. Figured he was a bit overcharged, so I went over ta see if he needed help gettin' home. Then..."

"Then what?" Riella leaned forward, irritated by his dodging. "Tell me."

Rattletrap's optics widened in a way that would have been comic, if they weren't dealing with probable Decepticon activity very close to Iacon. "He jus'...fell over. Like someone...cut the cables, ya know? I went right up ta him, an' he wasn't showin' a spark signal. That's when I saw the energon. He was bleedin'. A lot. It's no wonder he wasn't really walkin' right -"

"Okay." The blue femme cut him off with a slight gesture. "So you panicked and called in to Special Ops. I can take it from here, but please do not leave the area. I may have more questions." With that, she turned and went to the body. Her trainee, Mirage, was already kneeling beside it. "Anything so far?"

Mirage shrugged one shoulder. "Lots of energon, so Rattletrap was right about that. I think it's mostly from this injury, right here." He turned the mech carefully, revealing a deep gash in his chest. "I'm no medic, though."

"Hmm." Riella leaned in for a closer look. "You are right about where the energon came from, but that is not his only injury. Look at this."

There was the sound of two engines humming, and Prowl and Jazz transformed behind them. Both hurried over. "Sorry we're late, Riella," Jazz apologized, his Polyhex accent a bit more pronounced than usual. "Traffic. What've we got here?"

"No problem." Riella pointed. "This is where the energon came from, and probably what killed him. It is not a blaster wound; he was stabbed with something nasty. But that is not really what concerns me. Do you see this?"

Prowl took a careful look at the marks she indicated. "The metal is significantly melted. And this is charring damage. You think he was caught in an explosion?"

"Nah," Jazz shook his head. "If he were, he'd be missin' a limb or two, 'cause the meltin' is on his chassis and face."

"Correct." Riella brushed away the dirt, revealing more injuries. "See here? Corrosion. That is not from an explosion. And here." She lifted the mech's right arm. It flopped at a rather grotesque angle. "The support strut was broken."

All four scouts looked up at each other simultaneously. Prowl broke the silence. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

Riella's lips tightened. "This mech was tortured."

Mirage looked at his teachers nervously. "How'd he get here?"

Jazz shrugged. "Dunno. Ya think they let him go?"

Prowl ran a hand lightly over the battered chassis. "No. Not with these injuries. Too incriminating."

"Any ID?" Jazz checked the symbol on the mech's upper chest. "Autobot for sure."

"No, but I have Melody checking the database." Riella stood up. "Let's check around. He may have left tracks that could tell us something."

"Sounds good." Prowl turned. "Riella, go south, Jazz, west. Mirage, with me, we're going east."

Riella arched a brow ridge. "Prowl, I think I should go with you. East is the direction the 'Cons were last seen in, and preliminary scans suggest that's the direction this mech came from. Not that I doubt Mirage's abilities, but I think we need to play it safe here."

Jazz shrugged. "Y'might have a point, but no need for ya ta take all th' risks. I'll go with ya, Prowl."

Irked, Riella shook her head. "Jazz, I am just as capable as you."

"No one was questioning your abilities, Riella," Prowl said, wrapping one arm around his mate's shoulders in a quick hug. "Jazz is right, though. You do not have to take all the risks. Besides, you took the last three missions."

With a reluctant smile, the femme returned the hug. "I know, I know. Be safe, alright?"

"When aren't we?" Prowl grinned before starting off east. "Come on, Jazz, and if I hear any complaining about the route, just remember that you volunteered..."

Riella shook her head again at her mate's teasing. "Alright, Mirage. You take south, I will take west. Keep your comm unit on."

Two and a half megacycles later, the femme sighed, resting her hands on her slender hips and staring out across the rocky landscape. Mirage stood next to her, as usual waiting for her to speak.

"So you saw nothing. No energon trace, no scuff marks, no paint tracks?" He'd already reported, but she wanted to be sure it was covered.

"Nothing." Mirage almost yawned. "Nothing at all. That's what I said. Weren't you listening?"

"Yes. Yes, I was." Riella looked around. "My apologies. Jazz and Prowl did not check in with you, did they?"

"No." Mirage shook his head. "Wouldn't they have called you first? You're the superior officer."

Riella closed her optics. "I was afraid of that. Yes, they should have, but Jazz doesn't always stick to the rules, at least not strictly. I was hoping this was one of the times he had."

"Why, what's wrong?" The young mech looked worriedly down at Riella. She might be his superior, but he'd been taller than her for solar cycles.

"Maybe nothing. Maybe everything." The technorganic pressed one finger to her comm unit. "Prowl, come in. Jazz, do you read?"

All she heard was static.

Mirage's invisibility projector shimmered, as if he wanted to disappear. "That's bad."

"Really bad." Riella turned and started jogging, moving east.

"Where are you going?" Mirage kept up with her easily.

"East."

"I can see that, but why?"

Sometimes the young noblemech could be a pain in the aft. He hadn't quite learned all the basics of scouting yet. "To check up on Prowl and Jazz," she said as patiently as possible. "If they are not calling in, something is wrong."

"I know, but should we go in alone? Don't we need backup?" Mirage looked worried.

"Mirage." Riella stopped in her tracks and looked him right in the optics. "We are the backup."

"Oh." Mirage blushed. "Right."

"Right. So follow my lead, please." Riella transformed and took off, her groundbike mode covering ground much faster than she could on foot. Without looking, she knew Mirage was right behind her.

Half a megacycle of driving later, Riella was starting to wonder if her mate had even gone east. "Mirage, I'm not picking up any sign of them. Maybe we should -"

With no warning, she hit the brakes hard, turning sideways and skidding. She stopped so fast that Mirage ran into her. He transformed immediately, blushing again. "Sorry, I didn't mean -"

"Mirage." Riella didn't turn to look at him. "Forget the apology and tell me. Do you see what I'm seeing?"

Mirage looked away from her and down the slight slope, only to gasp in horror. "What...what the frag..."

Riella shuttered her optics, wincing. "Well, this explains where our torture victim came from."

Just down the slope from them, scattered like so many dolls, were several bodies, broken and covered in energon. From their location, it was impossible to tell even if they had been mechs, femmes, or both.