"I'm glad you came Ambulon."

"Just glad I was close when you commed. What you described . . . well, it sounds like things are escalating."

"That's ver-very likely."

"Go ahead and take a seat Tumbler . . . You still keep the pictures in your room?"

"Yeah, yeah. Jus-just next to the bed."

"I'm going to get one and have you look at it while I'm linked in. Go ahead and lay down if you start feeling worse, I'll be right back."

"Okay. . ."

"You really need to clean your room more-Tumbler! I said lay down if you feel worse, not go stand by the window!"

"But some of them are out there. I have to see-I'm not a sparkling-see that nothing bad's happening to them."

"*grunt*"

"Seriously Ambulon, I'm not a sick youngling; I can walk. Put me down."

"*huff* You certainly out mass a youngling. But until you learn to take care of yourself, I'll continue treating you as such. Now, stay in that seat, I don't need you walking off while I'm jacked in."

"You're very funny sometimes. Do you know that?"

"Open your neck port. How so?"

"The picture you choose. It's from the first day we all met."

"You'll have to jog my memory. Everything was kind of fuzzy when Rewind showed up."

"My talking won't distract you?"

"Quite the opposite Tumbler. While I'm no mnemosurgeon, if you're recalling memories, things will go faster."

"Okay then. It was the evening after we had to run from the enforcers for taking energon from a refinery."

"I remember that. Scary as the pits. Please, try not twitching too much."

"Yeah it was. . . . We were sleeping under some scrap metal. Well, trying to, a little. The energon we took was tainted and using it made us sick."

"Sounds nasty. Autochecks are coming back clean. I'm going to run a few more tests."

"We were trying to not purge and you said there might be some discarded additives in a dumpster that could make us feel better. So, I went to check."

"Hhh, I cringe at any health advice I gave back then. You're going to feel some tingling in the extremities."

"Anyway, I opened a dumpster and-uhhg, you weren't kidding about a tingle-and he was inside, playing with toy blocks. And he said his sire left him there and told him to be quiet. He said he would come back and get him, but he didn't and Rewind was scared and wanted to be held. You remember that, right? He was so young when we met, you could almost hold him with one arm. He'd snuggle up close and take pictures of random things and-and-and then they-they did that to him and-"

"Relax Tumbler. Shhhhhh. Rewind's in a better place now. He's happy."

"I don't want what happened to him to-to happen to them."

"Tumbler, look at me, don't look at the window, look at me. The children out there are safe right now. You need to focus on keeping your health up."

"How could you know that?!"

"Gak! I told you those are sensitive! Don't just pull them out like that!"

"You don't know they're safe. Primling Grove wasn't safe, but creators still let their children play there at night unattended."

"Come away from the window."

"I had to protect them Ambulon. I had to keep them from being hurt like Rewind."

"I know. I know. But let's just sit here for a while. Relax. You're shaking. Relax."

. . .

"What did the scans say Ambulon?"

"You are destabilizing. Your spark's destabilizing."

"Of course."

"We knew this would happen Tumbler. We've known for a long time. It's what happens when immature bonds are severed."

"Thank you. I will keep my shorter lease on life in mind."

"Okay. . . I must leave now. My shift starts soon."

"Go then. I'll come into the station this evening."

"Bye Tumbler."

"Bye."

. . .

"Oh Tumbler, my friend, what am I going to do? What are you going to do? The enforcers already suspect the Night Stalker, the mech who murdered those younglings, works for them. It won't belong before the investigators start looking at you. What will I do?"

. . .

"Oh! Good morning officer Nightbeat."

"Hey! Good morning to you too Ambulon. Sure is a nice day out."

"Indeed."

"Say, I was thinking about you yesterday."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I have a question about the autopsies you did on the younglings killed a few months back. Mind talking for a little?"

"I'm on duty soon, but it should be okay."

"Excellent! Let's just step over here, out of the flow of traffic."

"So, what did you want to talk about Nightbeat?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice in the preliminary pictures, the youngling's brain modules were fairly dinged up from when that pirv destroyed their visual storage. All of them but one, actually. The tan one they found in the water. The preliminary shot isn't very good, but there's enough clarity to see it was almost pristine."

"What are you getting at Nightbeat?"

"Well, Ambulon, the post autopsy pictures have a better shot of the brain, and it's all banged up. Can you tell me why a brain module looks like it had a rush mnemo job done to it when you were supposed to be the only one working on it?"

"I think you are relying far too much on a poor picture officer. Besides, I do not have the skills or tools required for removing memories."

"And that's what had me confused. See, you couldn't have done it. And when our mnemosurgeon came in to give it a look over, you were in the same room the whole time. Plus, your desk cam should have recorded the whole thing."

"It seems to me then, you shouldn't try to accuse me of anything until you have better evidence."

"Yeah well, I looked at the old feed from your desk cam, and guess what. It filmed nothing but the floor for the whole procedure. It wasn't until Tumbler left that you readjusted it."

"I don't like where you are taking this."

"Ambulon, you're a good mech. I just want to give you the chance to come clean and tell me what Tumbler did before I take this to the chief. If you do, I promise we can work out a reduced sentence for you."

"Hhhhhhh. You'd do that if I tell you? You haven't told anyone else your suspicions? I'm not going to talk into the station and get arrested before we talk with the chief? I'm not going to go home and find a lynch mob waiting?"

"No. I want us to handle this quietly. I'll protect you through the whole thing if you confess and tell us what Tumbler has been doing."

"That's reassuring, but I just want to be sure. You have not told anyone about this?"

"Not a spark. Just come with me and w-guh"

"Thank you, officer. This is going to be so much easier now."

"Ambulon, stop. I want to help you."

"I really don't want to have to do this to you-"

"Ambulon. Ambulon, put the knife down."

"But we've looked out for each other for so long.-"

"Don't do this. You can still sto-huh."

"Shhhh. Shhhh. Don't fight the pull. Your spark's fading will hurt more if you do."

"Tz-tz-tz-tz-tz."

"I know, I know. I didn't want this to happen either. He was doing so much better after we left Tetrahex. He quit chasing disposables that looked like him. he quit attacking younglings. Maybe I just wanted to believe he was better."

"Tz-rrrr-tztz-rrrr-rr-r-r"

"Oh, this is the worse part."

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r-rhhhh."

"You were a great detective Nightbeat. But I'm a better friend."