The chief security officer impatiently strode around her narrow cell in which she had been locked up since the night before. She was still furious about this slimy fragger who hadn't even thought twice before running to the master tactician and telling on her. It had been unlike her to be careless enough to do something like hacking without checking if the door was locked, but still that Primus-damned Outride had no reasons to do that. Or had he? Thinking about all that, the femme sank onto the berth with resignation. And that was when she heard that somebot was heading her way. She rose to her pedes only to see that it was neither general Quasar nor master tactician Detalus.
"What are you doing here?" She asked not without some surprise. Then he reminded herself that the mech before her was still of a higher rank so she quickly added 'Sir".
"That is a very strange question coming from you, after all you. broke. into. my. file! What do you have to say for your defense?" Counter didn't care to hide how angry he was about what the security femme had done.
For an astrosecond Low-Key felt genuinely ashamed for her little investigation that had caused so much trouble - probably to more mecha than just her and Counter. But soon the anger resonated within her again, she had done what she had done but in the end, she only had meant well and where did that get her?
"No offense but I found it suspicious that the mech who just got ambushed and imprisoned by the Cons is now miraculously free and back to our base. I just wanted to check who you are. That was a mistake and I'm sorry for that but there was nothing more to it, I assure you."
"That oh so miraculous rescue of mine was made possible by some of the mecha whose names were in that very same database you hacked into. Thanks to that I had to call pretty much every one of them back from their missions, just to make sure they weren't slowly slaughtered to deactivation by some con interrogators, and I can worry now about those who I wasn't able to contact."
"If you're implying that I might have sent that data over to the Cons, you're offending me and my position." The femme crossed her arms and glared at him. "I repeat, I meant neither harm to your agents nor to you. I was just curious and I'm paying for that right now."
"And what guarantee do I or any of my agents have that none of that information has leaked? Remember what I've told you why I am here? There is a spy on this base, it has been confirmed in the meantime that someone has sabotaged the cuffs which led to the prisoner escape. I have been caught once already because a top-secret information from this very base was leaked - of course we have to handle it as a worst-case scenario!"
That was a shocking news. A sabotage confirmed? Here on her shift? No way! The femme's optics grew larger upon hearing all that.
"What are you saying?" She whispered with trembling lip-plates. "Only the few mechas from the prison security had access to the cuffs and other equipment. How could anybot have the means and the time to sabotage the cuffs?"
"Someone poured a strong acid inside the keyholes, that way the locking mechanism was destroyed from the inside with nobot noticing. Wouldn't even have taken much acid, just a few drops all apply-able within astroseconds. Whoever the culprit was, walked in there probably the night before, sabotaged a bunch of those cuffs likely to be used on the next transport and then simply let the acid do its work. If it wasn't you, and in the moment, I don't have much reason to believe in your innocence in this matter, then who else had the opportunity? And I know you were on shift in the security hub for several joors that night." Counter asked sternly. He didn't really believe Low-Key would be able to contribute anything useful, but then he'd rather not overlook any possible clues in a matter this grave.
"If you really suspect me, why do you even tell me all that?" She mocked, but still she seemed not in a joking mood. Low-Key apparently remembered all too well that she had been on watch duty that night. As a security chief, this sort of fail at her job to keep the base safe had to be smarting. She would want to know the culprit as much as Counter.
"Look, to get to the prison storage unnoticed, the responsible mecha would need a prison key-card. That means only me, the other bots on guard-shift or someone of at least officer rank could have entered that room that orn. You can check of course who had been on shift back then but another question is – where did they even get that acid from and how? It's a well-guarded base, I can't believe somebot just smuggled it in. There are also frame-scanners to check on mechas returning from extended missions and regular maintenance checkups at the medbay, a chemical weapon wouldn't get unnoticed. Or do you think it could have been stolen from the research lab inside the base? Did you ask about their acid supplies already?"
That made Counter chuckle darkly: "As if that were of any help. In this base nothing is as it is supposed to be: No mechs are doing whatever shift they are ordered to be on, supplies get 'lost' for pranks and the security chief is the biggest threat to the security." He couldn't help to add that last barb. "I wouldn't be surprised if the science mechas here were missing half of their lab equipment for one reason or the other, not just a few drops of acid."
The femme's faceplate heated up heavily. As furious as it must make her, she knew that Counter had a point – there was not enough discipline in the Macron Gamma base and no bot would even bother to report such minor disturbances, if not for the seekers' escape and the related incidents.
"So what are you planning to do? Are you just gonna sit and wait until somebot will find that acid inside the weapon they were supposed to fire? Or eating through the cables holding the elevator they are in? How are you gonna find the traitor before more incidents happen?"
"Maybe a prayer to Primus is in order," Counter replied sarcastically, "because if we manage to catch that spy – always assuming it wasn't you after all – before they strike again, it will be nothing less than a miracle. But I guess I can try my luck with interviewing the scientists and the medics while I am at it. So excuse me now, I have work to do."
Honestly Counter doubted by now that Low-Key was the true perpetrator, but still this left him, where exactly? The real spy had managed to hide his tracks surprisingly well.
The Spec Ops commander was about to leave when the femme suddenly perked up:
"Wait," she called after the mech, "you could also ask Outride."
That made Counter turn around sharply.
"Outride? Why Outride?"
"Because he's the only mech I know who uses an acid squirt gun. He has to re-fill it somewhere, right?"
"That is not an Autobot standard weapon."
While acid weapons were not exactly illegal, they were very unusual among the troops. Normally each soldier got a blaster or a laser-rifle to train with upon recruitment. Autobots who were fighting with different weapons usually had previous training with them from before the war, like nobles, law enforcers and the occasional criminal. But from what he had seen in the personal files, Outride did not have any background that fit that description.
"I am hearing far too much about this mech lately." He finally put into words what had been nagging at him for a while now.
The femme only rolled her optics.
"Tell me about it. You think I don't know it was him who reported on me to the master tactician? And before you start assuming, that I'm now trying to repay him by telling you about his weapon, let's make it clear – I'm not accusing Outride, I'm just suggesting his private supply could have been used on those cuffs. Even though he has a keycard and the rank, he really hates the Cons - only barely survived an airstrike on his city. He joined up with us almost right after the rescue team dug him out of the rubble. I can't imagine him as a Con spy! I mean he only recently has barely survived a Con-attack for the second time."
"Maybe I should indeed rather talk with the medics than with the scientists. But not about hidden weapons but which state he was exactly in when he was rescued after that last attack." Counter said, everything he had heard or seen about the mech so far seemed to add up to quite a dishonest character. "How comes you suspect it was him who snitched on you by the way?"
"I don't 'suspect', I know it was him," she huffed in irritation. "He walked in on me while I was reading your data. Should have locked the door, I guess..."
"Which data exactly did he see?" Counter cursed inwardly, of course there was more than one leak and this probably had been overlooked by the investigating officers.
"I'm not sure, just a list with the names probably."
"Just a list with names." Counter groaned. And since he for once knew who had been on security shift last night cycle – namely himself, he didn't need to check that Outride hadn't even been put on 'no leave' status, the mech had gone out last night to get a drink and then been back punctually before curfew.
"I gotta leave, medics to interrogate, a CTO to ask about his assistant and to ground a certain green mech until further notice."
Low-Key stopped him for the second time.
"Hold on, do you really think Outride is a suspect?"
"From what I have learned since I came here, the mech is actively taking part in disrupting the shift roster, despite being an officer. He has been requesting to be put on prison duty, where he has groped a female prisoner. He has also agreed to withhold information from his superiors about a prank that resulted in loss of supply material, which delayed getting that big gaping hole in the prison wall being repaired. He has an unusual weapon mod which he most likely already had when he signed up as an Autobot, despite his background saying he was a mid-level sales mech before enlisting. His weapon mod could very well be the source for the acid, that was found in the sabotaged cuffs in a storage room he had a keycard for, he is the only mech who came back alive from an ambush and last but not least: He snitched on an aquaintance."
The femme fell silent upon hearing all that. Finally she nodded her acknowledgment. While any of those facts would have been relatively inconspicuous on their own, together they added up to a very nasty picture.
"This has to be carefully inspected. Normally I'd offer my help but under these circumstances..." She gestured at the prison bars with her helm. "Anyway, I hope you will find the truth before any more damage is done."
"Yes, it was a very interesting talk, Low-Key, but this can really wait no longer." Counter nodded at her in parting and hurried away, already on the comm with the science team, demanding for the results of the material analysis.
The science mech verified Counter's suspicion, hydrafloric acid, which had been found in the cuffs' locking mechanisms was a strong weapon grade acid that was neither stocked in the science wing nor in the medical storage. While the armory had a very limited supply of acid pellets for a few non-standard guns, neither weapon nor ammunition for it seemed to be missing. The armsmaster responsible for the depot had been surprised by Counter's sudden interest. Projectile weapons like pellet guns were unpopular since they were far less accurate to aim than standard lasers or blasters.
A detour to the medics had not yielded the results counter wished for. The chief medical officer had insisted on the patient-medic confidentiality and blatantly told Counter off, so he hadn't been able to verify Low-Key's statement that Outride had indeed a hidden, inbuilt acid gun.
However, one of the medical assistants had not been able to suppress a giggle when Counter had asked, if anything had been unusual about Outride's injuries after being rescued from the Con ambush. Pulling the giggling mech aside after their shift without the chief medic noticing had been easy enough to accomplish.
Apparently aside from all the other damage, Outride had been sporting a very interesting, not very deep bitemark in his neck cabling. The med-tech had winked at Counter, saying that Outride apparently had been gone on that mission not realizing his lover –whoever that was- had bitten him the night before. Counter had a very different idea as of when exactly that may have happened. And another look at the security footage from the time the doomed convoy was departing the base showed a very clear shot of Outride's pristine and undamaged neck.
Finally a check into the base reports stamped by the master tactician listed the irregularities in the building supplies not as the results of a prank with so far unknown perpetrators but as the fault of the supplier. So apparently Outride had indeed lied to his direct superior. Counter made sure to have a video-file of the pranksters sneaking through the corridors with the missing metal plates attached to a report of his own, including the overheard conversation between Outride and the construction mech, a remark that Diode had been on security duty at that time and a recommendation to lock out the latter from the security hub for a lifetime.
Now he felt ready to have a talk with tactician Detalus about his subordinate.
oOo
While Counter Balance was busy at the medical wing, Outride had been paying a little visit to the security hub at the prison block. The mech who greeted him there looked quite happy to see him. All the times he had socialized with low ranked soldiers and done the most boring duties for them apparently made the bots think they were friends. And that worked for Outride just fine.
"How are you doing, Diode?"
The guard-mech replied with a hand gesture.
"Fine, just bored as usually. These monitoring shifts are the worst!"
Outride nodded understandingly. He knew that Diode was not a type of bot who could concentrate on something for longer than two breems without falling into an instant reboot cycle. Unless of course that thing to concentrate on was a cube of high-grade or a femme's curvy bumper.
"I know, I just wanted to ask how is Low-Key doing? Anything new? I'm worried about her," he lied.
The other mech thought about it for a moment.
"Nah, she's fine," he shrugged.
"But she must be even more bored than you. Did anybot even visit her, yet?" Outride insisted. He needed to know, if his plan to distract everyone on the base with Low-Key's hacking affair was working.
"Well... I think that new, yellow-helmed mech went to talk to her today, that's all."
The blue optics of the junior tactician widened a bit upon hearing that revelation.
"You mean, Counter Balance? And what did he say?"
"I don't know," Diode brushed him off. "I was here watching mostly empty cells and construction mechas slacking off the whole time."
"And who was on a guarding shift?"
"Tapwire, I guess. Wait, where are you going?"
Outride didn't feel like explaining himself in front of a moron like Diode, he just strode out of the security hub to find the other guards-mech. He had to know what the Primus-damned spec ops commander would possibly want with Low-Key. Those two sharing information definitely spelled trouble.