Okay, recap time! Prowl has been going nuts trying to figure out who's been doing what pranks, and only has a few of them figured out and keeps trying to get answers from people who don't want to tell him anything and the pranks are continuing and I keep getting stuck on two of them and my plotbunnies ran away and I broke my funnybone ow.
(whew! I can't believe I fit all that into one sentence Maybe I've had a little too much coffee I don't know do I sound like Blurr yet?)
o.O
Ahem...
whatI was really trying to say too paragraphs ago and wound up rambling was this:
to Thatredcar: Thank you so much for the reviews! I have a really bad habit of putting things off, and your reviews help me keep writing. Thanks again!
to everyone else who reviewed: thanks, and keep 'em coming!
well, I think I'm finally on the next-to-last chapter. I'm only planning on writing eight chapters, but I'm thinking about writing another sequel, this time involving the year-before pranks.
Just thinking about it, though.
-
Well, here's another round of the-picking-on-the-Bumblebee. (I don't know why Prowl thinks he can get answers from him. Maybe it's because he's so soft and scare-able and he'll tell everything he knows if he thinks he's in trouble?)
anyway, enjoy.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Bumblebee looked at the floorpanels, his gaze not meeting the tactician's.
"I know you have information about who's been doing these pranks, Bumblebee." Prowl replied. He didn't have to say it, Bumblebee thought. He knew he was had. He'd known he was in trouble the instant he was called to Prowl's office.
He risked a glance up at the 2CO, who replied with a firm but knowing look.
"I know you were in on these pranks. And thought they might have been repercussions from last year's incident, we have to put end end to it before things get too out-of-control, and someone gets hurt." he surmised.
Bumblebee glanced up again. Whatever he had deduced so far, he obviously hadn't gotten any hard evidence.
his thoughts were cut off when Prowl said:
"Jade told me about you stealing Jazz's music"
she'd sold him out!
"But if you can tell me about what's going on, I can understand the situation better. I don't want to accuse anyone of something they didn't do"
Bumblebee was sure he was in trouble now. Prowl probably knew about what the twins were up to, too. He wondered if Jade had toldJazz he had stole his music. She probably had.
the minispy knew he never should have gotten involved in this stuff!
As though reading his mind, Prowl gave him an understanding look. "I know that you might have unwillingly been a part of these pranks, or even a willing participant. But I want to know who was planning it all. I'm sure you know."
the tactician pegged the minispy with a look. "If you're protecting whoever did these pranks, it's the same as being an accomplice to them"
Great.
He made it sound like a crime was being committed.
Bumblebee thought for a second. But after all, what did he have to lose? He might gain a few extra duty shifts, maybe. And if Prowl allready knew the twins had masterminded so much of it, they probably allready assumed he'd told on them. So it was now or never. And telling Prowl everything he knew would not only clear his poor overridden conchience, but save him from a lot of blame. And possibly some punishment.
he hoped.
The Volkwagen took a deep breath and let it out, then started to speak.
"It all started last year. Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Jazz, Tracks, Jade and I got into a little tiny prank war."
he paused, still unsure whether he'd get in trouble for admitting his guilt like this, but he was certain it was better than continuing to be an accomplice, and risking more trouble later.
Prowl folded his hands on the desk in front of him, and leaned forward slightly.
"Go on"
"Well, it all started when the twins stole Jazz's music and had me hide it for them"
that made sense. Jade had admitted she stole the music and given it to the twins beforehand. So that was what happened afterward.
"And then Jade found it"
Bumblebee gazed at the floorpanels, wishing he could just sink right thru them. As for Prowl, though, he was allready assessing the fact that Bublebee was being truthfull, (or a damn good actor), and that he was finally going to get to the bottom of this.
"And I though it was wierd when Spike wanted me to run him to the grocery so late at night..."
"Spike?" Prowl echoed. He certainly hadn't seen that one coming. But then again, April Fools day was a human holiday, too. He was going to have to speak with that human. Spike should have known better than to take part in such immature activities. Besides the fact he was only a guest at the Arc. Not one of it's troups.
Bumblebee glanced up at the ventilation duct, wondering if Prowl had noticed the one in his quarters missing the covering yet. He abruptly brought his thoughts back to the present, though.
"Well, Jade was acting kinda funny, too. Like she wanted to know who you thought rigged the dispenser"
Prowl noted how she hadn't visited said dispenser that morning. "Do you think she and Spike were in on it together?" the tactician asked.
"Maybe, I don't know. " the minispy shrugged.
"Do you know who stole Wheeljack's paint, Bumblebee?" Prowl questioned.
"It wasn't stolen." the yellow VW answered softly.
"It...it was a setup. So no one would think twice about where it went." he flicked a glance up at the black and white Datsun, the spoke quickly, hoping to get the words out before he could lose his nerve and stop himself. whether for better or worse.
"here goes." he thought.
"We were trying to get back at Bluestreak for painting hippie flowers all over me last year, but I took a wrong turn. Or someone gave us the wrong maps...You two look so much alike, especially in the dark, and we couldn't tell it was you, I swear"
Prowl raised his hands.
"Calm down, Bumblebee. who is 'we'?"
"Myself, Wheeljack, and Wyldkat."
"The blue Reliant?"
"yeah, that's her"
"okay." Prowl wondered just how they had gotten into his room. He allways made sure his door was locked from the inside before going into recharge at night. Only an officer had the code to override it.
"What do you mean by 'map'?" he'd suspected the perpetrators had used the ventilation crawlways to enter his quarters. Why else would the grating over his recharge berth be missing?
"the velilation ducts. The twins gave us the map, but it must've been a wrong one. I didn't know. I'm sorry." so he had noticed. This was not good at all.
Prowl only nodded. There was only one main ventilation shaft, big enough to accomadate anything larger than a human, that went to that level of the ship. After that, the ductwork split of into two slightly smaller crawlways, one on either side of the corridor, behind the crew quarters, and one directly above it. And since the officer's quarters were on the level directly above the crew quarters, they could have easily been misdirected.
Where the twins got the ships blueprints, however, was yet to be discovered.
Bumblebee was still staring at the floorpanels, sure has was in really big trouble this time. Prowl looked at him sternly, but said. "I will think about what type of reprimand to give you for your involvement in these pranks. But that will have to wait until all the other perpetrators are caught, and the exact circumstances of your involvement are clarified."
The minibot's head shot up, suprised.
"Dismissed." Prowl said crisply. Bumblebee had a deer-in-the-headlights look for a moment, but came back to reality, and decided to flee Prowl's office before anything else could be said.
"Most interesting." the tactician said, smirking to himself. He turned to his computer to type out a report, and go over a few other bits of evidence. A secondary camera in the commons room, crew duty rosters, and... what was this?
An email, sent directly to his computer from Teletraan-1? a tight-band transmission sent from the ark. Not through teletraan, but directly through a sattelite network in orbit. A transmission to a...cellphone?
Teletraan automatically picked up and recorded such transmissions for security purposes. But who would have a cellphone inside the Arc? None of the humans had one that he knew of.
But there was one Autobot on the premises, the only Autobot who could send and recieve tight-band transmissions over long distances. The tactician opened the folder and hit the "PLAY" button.
------
Wyldkat stalked towards the Arc's cafateria/rec room, wondering why she kept getting funny looks from everyone who passed. The steel-blue colored car had the feeling she was going to have a bad day. She frowned to herself as she entered the cafateria and headed for the energon dispenser. Was it just her, or did something keep bumping her legs? She turned in a circle, being carefull where she stepped in case it was spike or Carly.
nope.
Neither human was in sight. But she did catch one of the Autobots stifling a snicker. A green military-type jeep. Hound, was that his name? She had only met him once, when she and Windstriker were on patrol once. But that was back when the two were still with Syus's group. That was more than half a year ago, now. Her scowl turned to suprise when she reached the dispenser, and saw her reflection in the glass.
Someone had thought it would be amusing to attach a pair of catlike ears and a long tail to her chassis. Not to mention the 'whiskers' painted on her face , complete with a black dot on the tip of her nose.
"Someone is going to PAY for this." she thought.
Outwardly, though, she kept her demeanor calm and normal, as though she had never seen her reflection. The Plymouth Reliant retrieved her cube, and turned to head back to her quarters, hoping she wasn't making it obvious she was trying to hurry.
"Meow"
she identified the voice as belonging to the red minispy seated at a table across the room.
Cliffjumper.
She acted as though she hadn't heard it, deciding not to give the prankster the satisfaction of getting a reaction from her, if he was in the room.
"Mrowrr"
her inward annoyance grew a little at the second jab, but she instead walked out, heading back to her quarters to get rid of the 'kitty costume', and find out who was behind it.
-----------------
later that day...
The Arc's control room was a flurry of voices, obviously some sort of discussion about the recent events. Wyldkat noted the loudest one, belonging to the Arc's security chief, Red Alert. Something about firecrackers in the security office last night. The second one was Tracks, complaining about how nothing had been done about his computer being rigged up to play a children's cartoon, and hadn't been investigated.
"This has to stop!" Red Alert screeched, well aware he was several decibels over normal yelling volume.
"If they can sneak into the security office, they can infiltrate any part of the Arc! What if it had been a Decepticon! if Anyone can just hop into a ventilation shaft and..."
Prowl cut him off. "ventilation?"
Red Alert narrowed his eyes, his voice becoming very tight, and edged with fury.
"You heard me. the veltilation ductwork"
Obviously, the only thing from keeping the security officer from exploding with anger right now was the fact that Prowl was his superior.
"I see."
Red Alert fumed, but held his tongue (figuratively). He glanced around, and spotted Wyldkat.
"And where wre you last night!" he demanded.
Prime stepped in with: "Now Red, let's not go accusing anyone before we can prove it"
Red Alert glared daggers, still furious over the security breach that had happened.
Ironhide stepped up "Whoever is doin' this has gotta be stopped b'fore it goes too far."
everyone started to talk at once, again.
Wyldkat shook her head at the scene. The noise was starting to give her a headache.
Prime raised his hands to shush the group. He sounded none too pleased at the situation.
" I agree. This has to be ended. and now, before things can get anymore out of hand."
Wyldkat moved aside as the leader stepped in front of teletraan-1
"Attention all Autobots, you are to assemble in front to the Arc in ten minutes." he turned to Prowl
"I just hope you found enough evidence to make the responsible parties come forward on their own. I don't want to make any blind accusations, but this has to be stopped"
the tactician only nodded. "I've made corrolations to all the pranks except one." Prowl handed the Red and blue semi the datapad.
"I think there's enough there to prove who was involved in which pranks"
Prime looked over the datapad, then up at Prowl and nodded.
"well done."
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well, it's been much fun writing this, but it all has to come to an end sometime. The next scene is going to be where everything gets revealed, including the two latest pranks. I wanted to add in some other hijinks (pranks), but I decided I've dragged this out long enough. That and I think I broke my funny bone. (ow.) (oo)
But I'll have a suprise in store for the final chapter. So don't worry. (I think you'll like it. (wink))