A/N: The last chapter was a little too short for my liking. Like I said: I'm a beginner, so I won't be chucking out 100k stories anytime soon, but I will try to make these chapters a little longer.
I moved this to the Justice League archive cause I have no idea what category I had it in before. This centers around the 'bots and Batman, I don't know if I will include other Justice League members or not. We'll see!
Disclaimer: I don't own squat. I don't own Batman or Transformers either. I don't even own the cover art. Whoever made it is awesome!
WARNING!: Rating has been raised to T for violence/blood and gore and Cybertronian swearing in later chapters.
Chapter 2: They don't call it GOTHam for nothing.
The three mechs that had been chosen for this mission were in a storage room packing supplies. Mostly energon, since that was pretty much all they were going to need besides their weapons and comm links. At the moment Prowl was getting a medical examination while Jazz and Mirage were packing energon cubes in their subspaces.
"I'm kinda hoping there are 'Cons in Gotham, it'll give us something to do. They've been awfully quiet lately." said Mirage as he finished filling his subspace.
Jazz had also finished and the two mechs walked out of the storage room and down the halls towards the med lab to greet Prowl after he finished his check-up.
"That could be why we haven't had any problems with 'em lately. They probably been plannin' somethin' big this whole time, somethin' that can only happen in Gotham. Maybe another power plant? No, they could get those anywhere. Maybe it's worse than stealing, maybe they teamed up wit one of them super villains dat Prime told us about and they're plannin' on taking over da world!" the black and white mech worried.
"It is possible that the Decepticons would team up with a super villain, but it is highly unlikely that the partnership would last more than a few days. When they're not getting stabbed in the back, they're doing the stabbing."
"Who? The 'Cons? Or the super villains?"
"Either one, probably both. Anyway, I think you're right about Megatron planning something big. They're like sparklings, the only time you should be worried is when they're quiet."
At this Jazz burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that he was bent over and clutched his stomach from the force of it.
Mirage let out a chuckle at his friends hysteria. "What's so funny?"
"Aha ju-just what ya said about the 'Cons actin' like spah-sparklings, aha, made me picture them fightin' like sparklings over everythin'! Aha ha ha ha!" He burst out again, his laughing fit renewed with the reminder of the humorous image. Mirage joined him in his mirth at the picture that was described.
"Ha ha! Th-they do act like sparklings! Their always fighting over who gets to b-be leader. Aha ha ha! 'I'm the leader! No, I'm the leader! I wanna be leader! No, me!'" "I think we should attack the humans!" "No, I think we should attack the Autobots!" "I'm a much better leader than you are!" "No, I am!" "I am!" And they started laughing all over again.
As the two laughed over the childish portrayal of their enemies Prowl had finished his examination and heard them as he walked down the hall. He turned the corner to see them still trapped in bouts of laughter. "What's so funny?" he asked out of curiosity.
They stifled their laughter as best they could at his question, though a few giggles escaped despite their efforts.
"Nuthin' man! Just Decepticon sparklings!" Jazz blurt out. "What?" Prowl wasn't even sure he wanted to know anymore. "It's nothing important." assured Mirage. "We were just on our way to get you." "Oh, well we need to go over our course for tomorrow. Follow me." He lead them to his office and pulled out a map from his desk. Laying it out on the desktop he pointed to a line that started at their base on the map and made a twisted line towards their destination "I've mapped out the route we're going to take, and it should get us there in about a day and a half. Have you packed yet?"
"Yes sir" "Yup!" the team members replied.
"Good. Now from the time we leave tomorrow morning to when we either return or engage the Decepticons, we are to stay in our vehicular modes at all times. We will communicate via comm link while we're there so as not to arouse suspicions."
"This is gonna be fun." Mirage said sarcastically, and then groaned. "I'm gonna be soooooooo stiff by the end of the month!"
The next morning:
They got up at the crack of dawn and left right after refueling and were sent off by Optimus. They were currently driving down a dusty road in the middle of a desert, with Jazz and Mirage singing '99 energon cubes on the wall'. By 68 cubes Prowl decided he was going to kill Spike for teaching them that song. It was so repetitive! It was like an annoying perpetual motion! What insane asylum escapee wrote this?
When they got to 42 cubes on the wall he couldn't take anymore. "Jazz...Jazz...Jazz!...JAZZ!" "Ya take one down, pass it around, 41 energon cube- what? Sorry man, what did you say?" "Can you sing something else please? That song is driving me crazy!" "Oh, sure man! We can finish it later. What do you wanna sing 'Raj?" "Um...let me think...Ooh! How about this one?
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens."
"What in the Allspark?" said Prowl.
"I know this one!" said Jazz as he joined in.
"Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens."
"Wild geese that fly with a moon on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things!"
They sang together.
"Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things!"
"I'm surrounded by idiots." Prowl grumbled.
Undaunted by his grumpiness they continued singing. "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver-white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things!"
The classic song was starting to grow on the police car. It did have a nice tune, even though the lyrics were a little odd. At least it was better than '99 energon cubes on the wall'.
"When the dogs bites! When the bee stings! When I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feeeeel so baaaaaad!" They finished with a flourish.
"That was a good movie, lot's of great songs." Said Mirage.
"Yeah, it was. Now let's sing something a little more upbeat!" announced Jazz.
"Dare to be stupid!"
"Oh no, not this!" Groaned Prowl. Why couldn't they sing songs like the one they just did? He was just starting to like them.
To Prowl it felt like it had been a half an hour before the song was over. They sang all sorts of songs throughout the journey. Prowl didn't hear most of them for he had turned off his audio receptors after a while. When he was sure their voice boxes were completely worn out he turned them back on. He vented a sigh of relief when he discovered they were no longer singing. But his happiness was short-lived when Mirage burst out in another upbeat song.
"How about we take a break with the songs Mirage? We should really start using our comm links now, we'll be there in a few hours and don't want to draw attention to ourselves."
"Aw c'mon man! Can't we have a little fun? It's boring just driving down this road." Jazz pleaded.
"Well...You can sing to each other over your comm links, just not out loud."
"Thanks Prowl!" the visored mech said over the comm link. "Now where were we? Oh yeah! 41 energon cubes on the wall! 41 energon cubes! Ya take one down, pass it arou-" Prowl quickly cut off the comm at his end and left the two singers to their fun.
By now they had long left the desert behind and were driving through a densely populated forest, and on top of all that it was getting dark, making the forest seem a bit ominous. Good thing they should be arriving at Gotham any minute.
As they drove through the dark forest they could start to see the tops of the buildings right above the treetops. They continued to drive down the long winding road. Prowl could hear Jazz quietly listening to the radio, but it was switched off when they came to the outskirts of Gotham. This place seemed like a city and a graveyard at the same time. It was very busy, there were lots of people going about their business, cars driving around the densely populated streets, but at the same time they felt like they shouldn't say anything or make any sound, it was weird and spooky. Maybe it was the stone gothic buildings that were scattered around. Maybe it was the gargoyles on the corners of those buildings glaring down on those who passed. Maybe it was just because they had arrived at night, it might look more inviting during the day. Whatever it was it was making the Cybertronians uneasy, the sooner they finished this mission the better.
"Boy, this place gives me the creeps! Maybe that's why the 'Cons chose it." Jazz shivered.
"I almost feel like we should have painted ourselves black before coming, it might have helped us blend in better." said Mirage, looking nervously at a gargoyle on a nearby building.
"This is just another city, there's no need to get so worked up over some architecture." Prowl said.
They drove around the city taking in the sights and familiarizing themselves with the layout, also checking for any signs of Decepticons. While it was highly unlikely that they would see any within the first hour of their arrival there was no harm in trying to end the mission as soon as possible. And it was not because they were afraid of the dark city. Even though it had given a very threatening appearance at first glance they grew used to it and thought it interesting, beautiful even.
"You know, this place grows on you after awhile, maybe Optimus was exaggerating when he said it was overrun with crime? I haven't seen any crime so far, have you?" questioned Mirage.
As if he had been heard by Murphy himself they heard a high pitched scream coming from an alleyway down the street.
"Ugh, spoke too soon." he grumbled.
They immediately sped over to the mouth of the alley where they had heard the scream originate from and saw a sight that confirmed Optimus' statement about the city.
The body of a woman was lying against the wall off to one side, blood pouring from severlal stab wounds in her torso. A man in a hoodie stood over her holding a bloody knife in his hand, blood splattered on his front. The screams that they had heard came from another woman across the gruesome scene, pressed against the wall, blood on her face from a gash on her head, tears streaming down her horror stricken face.
Jazz didn't waste a second and transformed into his bipedal mode, ignoring Prowls cries of 'Jazz no!' he ran over to the murderer. Unfortunately the man had seen the cars racing toward them and started running. He ran into one of the buildings where Jazz couldn't follow and disappeared from sight. Prowl and Mirage had transformed as well since the woman had already seen them, fortunately the alley would shield them from anyone in the street. Prowl went to the dying woman, but one look and he knew she was dead.
"I'm so sorry ma'am, there's nothing we can do for your friend, she's gone. We'll find the man who did this and bring him to justice."
But the woman screamed again in response, she scrambled onto her feet and ran to the mouth of the alley screaming 'Help! Police! Giant robots! Murder! Help me somebody!' all the way.
When she had turned the corner they thought that their troubles were over. But then they heard: "What is it ma'am?" "There are giant robots in that alley! My friend is dead! They're gonna kill me! Please help me!" "Alright ma'am, just calm down, we'll look into it. C'mon Earl let's check it out."
They heard footsteps coming toward them. But the alley was too small for them all to transform, and even if they could it would look pretty suspicious having three cars in a narrow alleyway, especially if one was a police car. The police would think they belonged to the murderer and run their plates and find out they were not registered here, and the investigation would eventually lead to the discovery of their true identity! But the officers were at the only exit! Only here a few hours in and already they were about to fail their mission.
The officers sat the woman down in the back of their cruiser and turned towards the alley. They took out their flashlights and cautiously made their way to the mouth. They turned the corner to find that the woman was right in her accusation.
-TBC-
A/N: I was going to post more but then I thought 'Why not stick in a little cliffhanger?'
Are the 'bots going to have to trust these people to keep their secret? Or are they going to have to use more drastic measures to keep them quiet? Is their mission already a failure? Wait and see!
Next chapter will focus on Batman, and the chapter after will return to the 'bots.
Please review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is appreciated.
